Marine vessels and offshore structures functioning in Earth's frigid zones require ice management to continue their routine operations. Icebreakers are the most influential vessel in assisting marine operations in Polar Regions. The present study is set to analyze the clearance area of level ice using Azimuthing propeller jet in bollard condition, by means of full-scale and model scale experiments. Moreover channel widening and heeling test is performed to analyze the escorting ability of an icebreaker with only using propeller jets. Scope of the current investigation can be incorporated in designing new icebreakers and maintaining desired channel width based on propeller jets effect.
 Propeller jets can be used to break level ice, when the ship is stationary or moving, where the amount and capacity of breaking or clearing the ice are based on the thrust of the propeller, angle between the propeller jet axis and free surface, and thickness of the ice as well as propeller running time. This paper presents a comparison between full-scale experiments data (carry out in the Gulf of Bothnia, March 2017) and model scale trials performed in Aker Arctic testing facility on the level ice sheet. These experiments were based on image data from external camera and propeller flow parameters, where the area, as well as coordinate calculation, were within 3% of the accuracy from the acquired images. Full-scale ice thicknesses utilized in the experiments were selected and confirmed from surveillance videos. Model-scale images were corrected using Hugin software while ImageJ was used to calculate ice clearance parameters.
 Propeller thrust and area analysis show 10-22 % of the variation in the results of the model and full-scale experiments for 16 mm thick model ice. 16 mm thick model ice results are much closer to full-scale trials than 25 mm thick model ice. Test results at 30° and 90° pod angles could be extrapolated to design a prototype vessel.
 Channel widening shows worthy outcome, with the use of Azipods at a speed of 8 kn channel width of 36 m can be attain by positioning the stern Azipods at 30° puller configuration. Changing the pod inclination by 30% will increase the channel width to 20%. In the widening of new level ice channel, 30° pod angle is the most suitable.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) eradicates tumors by the local activation of a photosensitizer with near-infrared light. One of the aspects hampering the clinical use of PDT is the poor selectivity of the photosensitizer. To improve this, we have recently introduced a new approach for targeted PDT by conjugating photosensitizers to nanobodies. Diverse G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) show aberrant overexpression in tumors and are therefore interesting targets in cancer therapy. Here we show that GPCR-targeting nanobodies can be used in targeted PDT. We have developed a nanobody binding the extracellular side of the viral GPCR US28, which is detected in tumors like glioblastoma. The nanobody was site-directionally conjugated to the water-soluble photosensitizer IRDye700DX. This nanobody–photosensitizer conjugate selectively killed US28-expressing glioblastoma cells both in 2D and 3D cultures upon illumination with near-infrared light. This is the first example employing a GPCR as target for nanobody-directed PDT. With the emerging role of GPCRs in cancer, this data provides a new angle for exploiting this large family of receptors for targeted therapies.


Maize is among the top three grain crops in the world. In Africa, especially Southern Africa,maize is the basic ingredient in fermented soft porridge known as Mahewu. Mahewu is a refreshing drink, produced at the household level using various practices and ingredients as a fermentation enhancer. The underprivileged consume Mahewuas the main meal of the day and hence, Mahewuisasource of dietary nutrients for many populations in Africa and South Africa. The ingredient and practices of making Mahewudiffer from one ethnic group to another. However, some of the indigenous practices are not well reported. These practices are fading away, hence, there is limited information on some indigenous practices. This paper reports some traditional practices of making MahewuinZulu-based households in Ntambanana, a rural municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. An ethnographic research approach was adopted for the study to gain insight into the traditional practices of making Mahewu. Probing of key informants, interviews, and observations were complemented by four focus group discussions, within the range of 10-12 regular consumers of Mahewu. Four focus group discussions were conducted in Buchanana and LuwambainNtambanana; findings consistently reveal that Mahewuis popularly known as "umdokwe" and is consumed by all age groups beginning from four months to the aged. Irish potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), imbiliso, inserting a saucer, or a spoon deep down into the Mahewucontainer were mentioned and identified as fermentation enhancers which are lacking in other studies. Therefore, indigenous practices are diminishing while some practices are being lost between generations. Inadequatetransfer of these practices might make the drink, to soon be accessible only commercially. To prevent this dilemma, the retention of traditional techniques of making Mahewu with sweet potatoes could promote food and nutrition security while retaining the indigenous practices. This study reports the preparation, storage, and utilization of Mahewu, a non-alcoholic maize meal beverage in Ntambanana, South Africa. It is recommended that campaigns promoting indigenous food consumption should form part of health, social development, as well as welfare, hence, food and nutrition interventions should be implementedin rural communities.


Italy is a seismically active country and has been the site of several large and extremely damaging earthquakes since historical times. Tragic examples of these earthquakes in the past century include the M 6.8 1905 Calabria, the M 7.0 1908 Messina-Reggio Calabria, the M 7.0 1915 Marsica, the M 6.7 1930 Irpinia, the M 6.5 1968 Belice, the M 6.5 1976 Friuli, and the M 6.9 1980 Irpinia (Boschi et al. 2000). All these earthquakes caused extensive damage and hundreds to tens of thousands of casualties.

In recent years, the Dipartimento per la Protezione Civile (Italian Civil Protection Department [DPC], which answers directly to the prime minister) has supported several projects in the field of seismology aimed toward a better understanding of the occurrence of earthquakes on Italian territory and their associated ground shaking. In this context, project DPC-S4 2004–2006 was directed specifically at the quick assessment of ground-motion shaking in Italy (see http://www.ingv.it/progettiSV/Progetti/Sismologici/sismologici\_con\_frame.htm, in Italian). The DPC in Italy, and civil defense agencies in general, are indeed in great need of rapid and accurate information on where earthquake damage is located, so they can properly direct rescue teams and organize an emergency response. For these reasons, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) has implemented the software package ShakeMap, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program (Wald et al. 2006) and specifically designed to generate maps of the peak ground-motion (PGM) parameters and the instrumentally derived intensities.

ShakeMap is capable of generating maps of ground shaking of various PGM including peak ground acceleration (PGA), ground velocity (PGV), and spectral acceleration response (PSA) at 0.3, 1.0 and 3.0 s, and instrumentally derived intensities. At its core, ShakeMap is a seismologically based interpolation algorithm that exploits the available data of the observed ground motions and the …


When the Susan G. Komen foundation pulled funding for Planned Parenthood's breast exam program, the public uproar brought new focus to the high political and economic stakes faced by nonprofit organizations. The missions of 501(copyright)(3) and 501(copyright)(4) organizations, political action committees, and now Super PACs have become blurred as issues of advocacy and political influence have become increasingly entangled. Questions abound: Should a nonprofit advocate for its mission and its constituents with a goal of affecting public policy? What are the limits of such advocacy work? Will such efforts fundamentally jeopardize nonprofit work? What can studies of nonprofit advocacy efforts reveal? Editors Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka recognize the urgent need for relevant research and insight into these issues as direct and indirect government services are squeezed by federal cutbacks. Nonprofits and Advocacy defines advocacy and clarifies the differences among advocacy, lobbying, political activity, and education, as well as advocacy measurements. Providing original empirical data and innovative theoretical arguments, this comparative study is organized into two parts. The first part focuses on local and national dimensions of nonprofit advocacy, and the second part looks at organizational politics and strategies. The conclusion considers basic questions about nonprofit advocacy and seeks to draw lessons from research efforts and practice. Providing a critical look at the multidimensional roles and advocacy efforts of nonprofits, this volume will be valued by scholars, students, leaders, and activists-many of whom advocate for the interests of their organizations while delivering services to their organizations' constituents. The research is also relevant for policymakers involved in cross-sector public policy initiatives as they strive to provide more efficient public-private solutions to challenging governance issues.


We present a robust distributed algorithm for approximate probabilistic inference in dynamical systems, such as sensor networks and teams of mobile robots. Using assumed density filtering, the network nodes maintain a tractable representation of the belief state in a distributed fashion. At each time step, the nodes coordinate to condition this distribution on the observations made throughout the network, and to advance this estimate to the next time step. In addition, we identify a significant challenge for probabilistic inference in dynamical systems: message losses or network partitions can cause nodes to have inconsistent beliefs about the current state of the system. We address this problem by developing distributed algorithms that guarantee that nodes will reach an informative consistent distribution when communication is re-established. We present a suite of experimental results on real-world sensor data for two real sensor network deployments: one with 25 cameras and another with 54 temperature sensors.


Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) risk is determined by both genes and environment. One of the most striking features of MS is its geographic distribution, particularly the pattern of high MS frequency in areas with low sunlight exposure, the main inducer of vitamin D synthesis. Recent epidemiologic, experimental, and clinical evidence support an effect for low environmental supplies of vitamin D in mediating an increased susceptibility to MS. Objectives: We 1) examined the association of serum 25-hydroxy-vitaminD [25(OH)D] concentrations and MS status and 2) assessed the genetic contribution to serum 25(OH)D concentrations and tested for its association with genetic variants in 2 candidate genes [vitamin D receptor and 1-α-hydroxylase (CYP27B1)]. Design: We used a twin study approach, comprising adult pairs identified from the longitudinal population-based Canadian Collaborative Project on Genetic Susceptibility to MS. Monozygotic (MZ; n = 40) and dizygotic (DZ; n = 59) pairs, both concordant and discordant for MS, were studied. End-of-winter serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay, and genotypes were assessed by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay. Results: Serum concentrations of 25(OH)D were highly correlated in MS-concordant pairs (r = 0.83, P < 0.001), but they were not significantly associated with having the disease (P = 0.4) when analyzed by logistic regression. Intraclass correlation for 25(OH)D concentration was significantly greater in MZ pairs (MZ, r: 0.71 > DZ r: 0.32, P = 0.006). Significant associations of 2 CYP27B1 SNP variants and 25(OH)D concentrations were observed. Conclusion: The findings indicate important genetic influences on regulation of seasonal circulating 25(OH)D concentrations in MS twins.


We conducted a literature review of participatory monitoring and existing PMRV approaches to identify strategies and conditions that support the development and implementation of sustainable PMRV in the REDD+ context. To identify data and processes that should be included in PMRV, we reviewed MRV requirements in the REDD+ context. The literature is analyzed to summarize the lessons learned from participatory monitoring, examine when, where and how PMRV has been developed and implemented, and identify any knowledge gaps. With Indonesia as our case study, we explored the feasibility of PMRV implementation and assessed how PMRV could be integrated into the national MRV system. We examined the proposed national MRV system in Indonesia, compiled a database of REDD+ projects and conducted short interviews with selected project proponents.


Summary

A major challenge in the conservation of threatened and endangered species is to predict population decline and design appropriate recovery measures. However, anthropogenic impacts on wildlife populations are notoriously difficult to predict due to potentially nonlinear responses and interactions with natural ecological processes like density dependence.
Here, we incorporated both density dependence and anthropogenic stressors in a stage-based matrix population model and parameterized it for a density-dependent population of peregrine falcons Falco peregrinus exposed to two anthropogenic toxicants [dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)]. Log-logistic exposure–response relationships were used to translate toxicant concentrations in peregrine falcon eggs to effects on fecundity. Density dependence was modelled as the probability of a nonbreeding bird acquiring a breeding territory as a function of the current number of breeders.
The equilibrium size of the population, as represented by the number of breeders, responded nonlinearly to increasing toxicant concentrations, showing a gradual decrease followed by a relatively steep decline. Initially, toxicant-induced reductions in population size were mitigated by an alleviation of the density limitation, that is, an increasing probability of territory acquisition. Once population density was no longer limiting, the toxicant impacts were no longer buffered by an increasing proportion of nonbreeders shifting to the breeding stage, resulting in a strong decrease in the equilibrium number of breeders.
Median critical exposure concentrations, that is, median toxicant concentrations in eggs corresponding with an equilibrium population size of zero, were 33 and 46 μg g−1 fresh weight for DDE and PBDEs, respectively.
Synthesis and applications. Our modelling results showed that particular life stages of a density-limited population may be relatively insensitive to toxicant impacts until a critical threshold is crossed. In our study population, toxicant-induced changes were observed in the equilibrium number of nonbreeding rather than breeding birds, suggesting that monitoring efforts including both life stages are needed to timely detect population declines. Further, by combining quantitative exposure–response relationships with a wildlife demographic model, we provided a method to quantify critical toxicant thresholds for wildlife population persistence.


Promoting Information Literacy through Teacher School Library Media Specialist Collaboration Pamela D. Taylor MA, Valdosta State University, 2004 BS, Brewton Parker College, 1996 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Teacher Leadership Walden University December 2015 Abstract Schools that support collaboration between teachers and school library media specialists (SLMS) outperform those that do not. Teachers at a rural Georgia middle school were not using the library media program or being trained on how to collaborate with the SLMS to promote student achievement. Guided by Bruner's socioconstructivist theory of learning, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to investigate teachers'Schools that support collaboration between teachers and school library media specialists (SLMS) outperform those that do not. Teachers at a rural Georgia middle school were not using the library media program or being trained on how to collaborate with the SLMS to promote student achievement. Guided by Bruner's socioconstructivist theory of learning, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to investigate teachers' experiences with integrating technology and information literacy into the curriculum and to examine the collaborative services the SLMS could provide to enhance integration. Eight teachers in Grades 6th through 8th comprised the sample. Data sources included teacher lesson plans and interviews. Data analysis included line-by-line coding of interviews and lesson plans to generate themes. According to study results, teachers were limiting the integration of technology and information literacy into the curriculum because of their lack of awareness of the SLMS's role as an instructional partner, students' lack of information literacy skills, fear, and time constraints. The resulting project was a series of professional development sessions to increase awareness among teachers of the role of the SLMS as an instructional partner in promoting technology use and information literacy among students. This project may facilitate social change by promoting a collaborative culture as teachers and SLMS work together to expose students to information literacy and technology, ultimately creating students who are skillful researchers and critical thinkers, better prepared for lifelong learning. Promoting Information Literacy through Teacher School Library Media Specialist Collaboration by Pamela D. Taylor MA, Valdosta State University, 2004 BS, Brewton Parker College, 1996 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education


PURPOSE
To examine the influence of a range of individual player characteristics and match-related factors on activity profiles during professional Australian football matches.

METHODS
Global positioning system (GPS) profiles were collected from 34 professional Australian football players from the same club over 15 competition matches. GPS data were classified into relative total and high-speed running (HSR; >20 km/h) distances. Individual player aerobic fitness was determined from a 2-km time trial conducted during the preseason. Each match was classified according to match location, season phase, recovery length, opposition strength, and match outcome. The total number of stoppages during the match was obtained from a commercial statistics provider. A linear mixed model was constructed to examine the influence of player characteristics and match-related factors on both relative total and HSR outputs.

RESULTS
Player aerobic fitness had a large effect on relative total and HSR distances. Away matches and matches lost produced only small reductions in relative HSR distances, while the number of rotations also had a small positive effect. Matches won, more player rotations, and playing against strong opposition all resulted in small to moderate increases in relative total distance, while early season phase, increased number of stoppages, and away matches resulted in small to moderate reductions in relative total distance.

CONCLUSIONS
There is a likely interplay of factors that influence running performance during Australian football matches. The results highlight the need to consider a variety of contextual factors when interpreting physical output from matches.


We applied the cDNA-AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) technique to mRNA from the parents of a cassava (Manihot esculenta) genetic mapping population, and obtained more than 500 transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) that were unique in either parent. A subset of 50 TDFs were cloned and sequenced. Sequence alignment of the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) revealed mostly genes of unknown function. Six of the TDFs were mapped on to the cassava genetic map. We also demonstrated by genetic mapping of the TDFs, as RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) markers, that TDFs are more polymorphic than random cDNAs. Generation of ESTs as differentially expressed sequences, in time or between different varieties, is proposed as a way of developing ESTs around specific traits for the candidate locus approach to mapping complex traits.


abstract The literature on economic geography suffers from a lack of attention to the emergence of new industries. Recent literature on "regional branching" proposes that new industries emerge in regions where preexisting economic activities are technologically related to the emerging industry. This article provides a more grounded basis for the emerging literature on regional branching by confronting the regional branching thesis with the realities of an emerging industry, namely, the fuel cell industry. The analysis is based on patent data and qualitative interviews conducted in a selection of European NUTS2 (nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) regions. The findings can be summarized as follows. First, the analysis reveals that in the case of the emerging fuel cell industry, regional diversification is dominated by firm diversification, which complements previous studies' findings that entrepreneurial spin-offs dominate regional diversification. Second, the study corroborates the assumption that the process of regional branching relies on knowledge generated by nonindustrial actors such as universities and research institutes. Third, the findings suggest that care should be taken in ascribing the underlying logic of regional branching to the principle of technological relatedness alone. The article shows how some regional diversification processes occur in regions where preexisting economic activities are not technologically related to the emerging industry, for instance, when user industries apply new technologies to their product portfolio. The importance of further investigating and disentangling different dimensions of relatedness and their impact on regional branching is stressed.


The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) aimed to create jobs and promote economic growth while addressing the Nation's social and environmental needs. The USDA Forest Service received $1.15 billion in economic recovery funding. This report contains key findings and lessons learned from a socioeconomic assessment of Forest Service Recovery Act projects. The assessment examines how Forest Service economic recovery projects at eight case study locations around the United States are contributing to socioeconomic well-being in rural counties affected by the economic recession of 2007 through 2009. It also investigates how Forest Service mission-related work can be accomplished in a manner that creates local community development opportunities. This report is a companion to general technical report PNW-GTR-831, which contains the full case-study reports.


The fossil fauna of freshwater turtles from the Bauru Basin, south central Brazil, includes only podocnemids (Pleurodira, Pelomedusoides). A new genus and species, Cambaremys langertoni n. gen., n. sp., represents a taxon in the stem-lineage to the crown-Podocnemidae. This phylogenetic position is given by the joint presence of a plesiomorphically expanded coracoid and an apomorphic cranially displaced caudal margin of the pectoral scute. Its holotype and only specimen was collected from Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) rocks of the Serra da Galga Member (Marilia Formation, Bauru Group), in the area of Uberaba, Minas Gerais. Although no autapomorphic features were recognised for Cambaremys langertoni n. gen., n. sp., the taxon is distinct from all other South American Cretaceous podocnemids based on an unique suite of shell features, namely: a narrow nuchal plate, seven neural plates, a second neural plate that contacts the first costal plates, a pectoro-abdominal sulcus that does not penetrate the mesoplastra, and xiphiplastra with a deep anal notch and subtriangular ischiadic sutures.


PURPOSE
It has been proposed that the lateral rectus (LR), like many skeletal and craniofacial muscles, comprises multiple neuromuscular compartments subserving different physiological functions. To explore the anatomic potential of compartmentalization in all four rectus extraocular muscles (EOMs), evidence was sought of possible regional selectivity in intramuscular innervation of all rectus EOMs.

METHODS
Whole orbits of two humans and one macaque monkey were serially sectioned at 10 μm thickness and stained with Masson's trichrome. Three-dimensional reconstruction was performed of the intramuscular courses of motor nerves from the deep orbit to the anterior extents of their arborizations within all four rectus EOMs in each orbit.

RESULTS
Findings concorded in monkey and human orbits. Externally to the global surface of the lateral (LR) and medial rectus (MR) EOMs, motor nerve trunks bifurcated into approximately equal-sized branches before entering the global layer and observing a segregation of subsequent arborization into superior zones that exhibited minimal overlap along the length of the LR and only modest overlap for MR. In contrast, intramuscular branches of the superior and the nasal portion of the inferior rectus were highly mixed.

CONCLUSIONS
Consistent segregation of intramuscular motor nerve arborization suggests functionally distinct superior and inferior zones within the horizontal rectus EOMs in both humans and monkeys. Reduced or absent compartmentalization in vertical rectus EOMs supports a potential functional role for differential innervation in horizontal rectus zones that could mediate previously unrecognized vertical oculorotary actions.


In this paper we provide a computational method for evaluating the complexity of a large class of mathematical problems in a uniform way. The method, which is inspired by A New Kind of Science [1], is based on the possibility of completely describing complex mathematical problems, such as the Riemann hypothesis, in terms of very simple programs. The method is illustrated on a variety of examples from different areas of mathematics and its power and limits are studied.


Many experiments in the field of quantum foundations seek to adjudicate between quantum theory and speculative alternatives to it. To do so, one must analyse the experimental data in a manner that does not presume the correctness of the quantum formalism. The mathematical framework of generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs) provides a means of doing so. We present a scheme for determining what GPTs are consistent with a given set of experimental data. It proceeds by performing tomography on the preparations and measurements in a self-consistent manner, i.e., without presuming a prior characterization of either. We illustrate the scheme by analyzing experimental data for a large set of preparations and measurements on the polarization degree of freedom of a single photon. We find that the smallest and largest GPT state spaces consistent with our data are a pair of polytopes, each approximating the shape of the Bloch Sphere and having a volume ratio of $0.977 \pm 0.001$, which provides a quantitative bound on the scope for deviations from quantum theory. We also demonstrate how our scheme can be used to bound the extent to which nature might be more nonlocal than quantum theory predicts, as well as the extent to which it might be more or less contextual. Specifically, we find that the maximal violation of the CHSH inequality can be at most $1.3\% \pm 0.1$ greater than the quantum prediction, and the maximal violation of a particular noncontextuality inequality can not differ from the quantum prediction by more than this factor on either side.


Background: The purpose of this discussion is to explore the theory, evidence base, and practice of Qigong for individuals with cancer. Questions addressed are: What is qigong? How does it work? What evidence exists supporting its practice in integrative oncology? What barriers to wide-spread programming access exist? Methods: Sources for this discussion include a review of scholarly texts, the Internet, PubMed, field observations, and expert opinion. Results: Qigong is a gentle, mind/body exercise integral within Chinese medicine. Theoretical foundations include Chinese medicine energy theory, psychoneuroimmunology, the relaxation response, the meditation effect, and epigenetics. Research supports positive effects on quality of life (QOL), fatigue, immune function and cortisol levels, and cognition for individuals with cancer. There is indirect, scientific evidence suggesting that qigong practice may positively influence cancer prevention and survival. No one Qigong exercise regimen has been established as superior. Effective protocols do have common elements: slow mindful exercise, easy to learn, breath regulation, meditation, emphasis on relaxation, and energy cultivation including mental intent and self-massage. Conclusions: Regular practice of Qigong exercise therapy has the potential to improve cancer-related QOL and is indirectly linked to cancer prevention and survival. Wide-spread access to quality Qigong in cancer care programming may be challenged by the availability of existing programming and work force capacity.


Background and aim Chemical accidents cause significant danger for residents living close to chemical facilities. For this reason, this study assessed the impacts of a simulated chemical accident on surrounding residents in the city of Ray, Iran. Methods In this scenario-based case study in 2015, the Areal Location of Hazardous Atmospheres (ALOHA) model was applied to simulate a toxic chemical release from a chlorine warehouse in Shourabad, Ray, Iran. The population of the area was calculated based on the latest census in Iran, 2011. The atmospheric variables included were wind speed, air temperature, and relative humidity. We also included data on pollution source such as diameter, length and volume, and condition of chemicals. The simulation was repeated for each seasonal period. The simulated threat zones were mapped using Geographical Information System. The percentage of residents sustaining injuries and death was calculated using probit. Results The maximum and minimum simulated threat zones by chlorine release are during summer and winter at 8.8 and 6.4 kilometers respectively. The total affected population was estimated at approximately 30,000 people. The greater percent of injuries and death was estimated to occur in the winter and autumn, compared to summer and spring, because of greater climatic instability. The number of individuals affected by chlorine release in the spring, summer, autumn and winter at 8.3, 8.8, 7.6 and 6.4 kilometers, are estimated at 22,500, 25,000, 28,100 and 27,500, respectively. Populations located in hot and warm zones of toxic chemical releases should have access to medical resources. Conclusions The results showed that relevant factors impact human vulnerability, and these should be examined to mitigate the harmful consequences of chemical accidents. Establishing a multi-level Emergency Response Program is also recommended in the area under study.


Neuroinflammation has a key role in the pathology of cognitive decline. This study sought to determine whether peripherally expressed inflammatory transcripts had significant associations with cognitive performance or cognitive decline, using genome-wide and focussed candidate gene analyses. The study used data from 691 participants from the InCHIANTI study of ageing. Participants had undertaken Mini-Mental State Examinations at enrolment and at year 9 of follow-up, and provided peripheral whole blood samples for RNA extraction at year 9. Global gene expression data was generated using the Illumina Human HT12 BeadChip microarray. The study analysed global and inflammatory-focussed gene expression associations with cognitive performance and decline, and gene pathway associations with cognitive performance/decline. A candidate-driven RT-PCR expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis was also performed to determine whether genetic variants associated with cognitive decline affected gene expression abundance in association with phenotypic variation. Raised expression of a single transcript, C-C chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2), had a significant association with poor cognitive performance at global expression analysis and with both cognitive performance and cognitive decline in focussed inflammatory subset analysis. Expression of CCR2 in transgenic animals has previously been associated with both cortical Alzheimer disease pathology and peripheral vascular disease. eQTL analysis identified five significant eQTLs for local genes but no significant associations between peripheral expression of these genes and cognitive decline. This study's analyses present little evidence that peripheral inflammatory gene expression is playing a significant role in cognitive impairment or preceding 9-year cognitive decline in this cohort. Only one inflammatory transcript (CCR2) was significantly associated with cognitive impairment at genome-wide analysis. The CCR2 knockout mouse has been shown to have Alzheimer's-like pathology; results of this study indicate that the mouse model may have relevance for the human population.


Tracheomalacia and tracheobronchomalacia may be primary abnormalities of the large airways or associated with a wide variety of congenital and acquired conditions. The evidence on diagnosis, classification and management is scant. There is no universally accepted classification of severity. Clinical presentation includes early-onset stridor or fixed wheeze, recurrent infections, brassy cough and even near-death attacks, depending on the site and severity of the lesion. Diagnosis is usually made by flexible bronchoscopy in a free-breathing child but may also be shown by other dynamic imaging techniques such as low-contrast volume bronchography, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Lung function testing can provide supportive evidence but is not diagnostic. Management may be medical or surgical, depending on the nature and severity of the lesions, but the evidence base for any therapy is limited. While medical options that include bronchodilators, anti-muscarinic agents, mucolytics and antibiotics (as well as treatment of comorbidities and associated conditions) are used, there is currently little evidence for benefit. Chest physiotherapy is commonly prescribed, but the evidence base is poor. When symptoms are severe, surgical options include aortopexy or posterior tracheopexy, tracheal resection of short affected segments, internal stents and external airway splinting. If respiratory support is needed, continuous positive airway pressure is the most commonly used modality either via a face mask or tracheostomy. Parents of children with tracheobronchomalacia report diagnostic delays and anxieties about how to manage their child's condition, and want more information. There is a need for more research to establish an evidence base for malacia. This European Respiratory Society statement provides a review of the current literature to inform future study. This statement provides a comprehensive review of the causes, presentation, recognition and management of children with tracheobronchomalacia written by a multidisciplinary Task Force in keeping with ERS methodology http://bit.ly/2LPTQCk


In this paper, the problem of automatically assigning a piece of traditional Turkish music into a class of rhythm referred to as usul is addressed. For this, an approach for rhythmic similarity measurement based on scale transforms has been evaluated on a set of MIDI data. Because this task is related to time signature estimation, the accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated and compared with a state of the art time signature estimation approach. The results indicate that the proposed method can be successfully applied to audio signals of Turkish music and that it captures relevant properties of the individual usul.


I. INTRODUCTION In 1665, Diego Velazquez painted what was to become one of the great works of western art, Las Meninas. The large canvas portrays Velasquez painting the Infanta Margarita, daughter of King Phillip IV and Queen Mariana of Spain, along with members of the court. The work was completed at the height of belief in preformationism. Preformationism was an early theory of development that saw children as arriving into the world as miniature adults, physically and socially. (1) In the painting, Infanta Margarita, who can be no more than five or six, appears all the miniature queen. Starting with Locke and Rouseau, preformationist conceptions of children's social, cognitive, and moral development gradually gave way to a more complex understanding of childhood as a sequence of developmental changes. (2) Preformationism was also a theory of biological development. (3) Well into the 1990s, we could have said that U.S. environmental policy took a preformationist view of children--to the extent that children were considered at all. In fact, the rallying cry of the efforts to bring children's health concerns into federal environmental policy was "children are not just little adults." The driving concern behind this cry was that environmental standards were set based on the impact of environmental hazards on adult health. And yet, physiologically, children are not little adults. As children pass through complex developmental phases, they are affected by environmental conditions quite differently than adults. Often, as with the case of neurotoxin exposure during critical periods of brain development, these differences can be severe and permanent. Several statutes and rules now recognize this explicitly. (4) For the past decade or more, regulatory science has been working out the implications of taking children's physiological differences from adults seriously. (5) Environmental economics has been going down the same path, but more slowly. (6) Under the 1997 Executive Order 13045, titled "Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks", the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to conduct economic analysis of economically significant environmental regulations that the agency believes may disproportionately affect children. (7) But to a large extent, it is fair to say that environmental economics is still preformationist in what it can contribute to regulatory analysis. In this article I explore what it might mean for environmental economics to take the implications of a modern understanding of children's cognitive, social, and moral development seriously. Environmental economists recognize that taking children seriously poses significant challenges to standard economic practice. (8) In particular it challenges conventional notions of consumer sovereignty that underlie much of economic analysis. Economists' commitment to consumer sovereignty reflects a belief that each individual is the best judge of his or her own preferences and well-being. One of the major themes of the discussion that follows is that focusing on children challenges this assumption and is forcing economists to think about who can best represent the changes in children's welfare created by environmental programs. I will try to show that as economists consider the implications of child development more seriously, they can learn a great deal from law, as well as from their sister social sciences. EPA has been investing in economic research focused on children's health valuation and has developed preliminary guidance on valuing benefits of reducing risks to children's health. (9) The agency is explicit in noting that this is only interim guidance because so little research has yet been completed on valuation of environmental programs that protect children's health. But the guidance is also clear in that the agency does not expect the value placed on protecting children's health will necessarily be the same as the value placed on protecting adult health. …


After having briefly presented some institutional aspects of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the present report analyses forty of its leading cases in order to assess the general characteristics of the legal reasoning developed by the Court in interpreting the Treaties. The report underlines the importance of teleological interpretation and arguments from precedents, the frequency and cogency of the arguments based on the principle of the rule of law, the difficulty for the Court in referring to the political nature of the Union and the tendency to eschew constitutional rhetoric. Above all, the report underlines the high degree of impersonality that the Court is able to achieve in its judgments and concludes that it depends on a variety of factors such as the collegiate nature of the judgments, their subject matter, the declining but persisting influence of the French model, the need for translation and informatisation, the extensive use of precedents and literal self-quotations, and the contradictory and unsettled status of the Court of Justice as sensu lato constitutional court of the European legal space.


The integration of Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) and Machine Learning (ML) provides many promising opportunities, yet this research field is underdeveloped. Different reasons are given for this lack of integration, including a shortage of behavioural data and technical implementation difficulties. However, we think that one crucial problem is being overlooked. In our educational system, we teach topics one by one and do not explicitly focus on the integration of various modelling paradigms. This is a missed opportunity that should be addressed, to prepare our students for a world where models are increasingly complex and where data and model integration becomes inevitable. In this paper, we share our experiences in a course in Geoinformatics, where integrated ABM and ML modelling is central. In our class, we use the Living Textbook to work on interlinked concept maps, and we have an overarching case study assignment. Preliminary outcomes show that students' learning and project work could benefit from simplifying the case study assignment and introducing the parallel teaching of ABM and ML. In general, different teaching methods and setups still need to be explored, to ensure that our future model designers are well equipped for their task.


Context. Since the external regions of the envelopes of rapidly rotating early-type stars are unstable to convection, a coupling may exist between the convection and the internal rotation. Aims. We explore what can be learned from spectroscopic and interferometric observations about the properties of the rotation law in the external layers of these objects. Methods. Using simple relations between the entropy and specific rotational quantities, some of which are found to be efficient at accounting for the solar differential rotation in the convective region, we derived analytical solutions that represent possible differential rotations in the envelope of early-type stars. A surface latitudinal differential rotation may not only be an external imprint of the inner rotation, but induces changes in the stellar geometry, the gravitational darkening, the aspect of spectral line profiles, and the emitted spectral energy distribution. Results. By studying the equation of the surface of stars with non-conservative rotation laws, we conclude that objects undergo geometrical deformations that are a function of the latitudinal differential rotation able to be scrutinized both spectroscopically and by interferometry. The combination of Fourier analysis of spectral lines with model atmospheres provides independent estimates of the surface latitudinal differential rotation and the inclination angle. Models of stars at different evolutionary stages rotating with internal conservative rotation laws were calculated to show that the Roche approximation can be safely used to account for the gravitational potential. The surface temperature gradient in rapid rotators induce an acceleration to the surface angular velocity. Although a nonzero differential rotation parameter may indicate that the rotation is neither rigid nor shellular underneath the stellar surface, still further information, perhaps non-radial pulsations, is needed to determine its characteristics as a function of depth.


This paper presents the second edition of the "drone-vs-bird" detection challenge, launched within the activities of the 16-th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Video and Signal-based Surveillance (AVSS). The challenge's goal is to detect one or more drones appearing at some point in video sequences where birds may be also present, together with motion in background or foreground. Submitted algorithms should raise an alarm and provide a position estimate only when a drone is present, while not issuing alarms on birds, nor being confused by the rest of the scene. This paper reports on the challenge results on the 2019 dataset, which extends the first edition dataset provided by the SafeShore project with additional footage under different conditions.


Abstract. Obtaining continuous aerosol-optical-depth (AOD) measurements is a difficult task due to the cloud-cover problem. With the main motivation of overcoming this problem, an AOD-predicting model is proposed. In this study, the optical properties of aerosols in Penang, Malaysia were analyzed for four monsoonal seasons (northeast monsoon, pre-monsoon, southwest monsoon, and post-monsoon) based on data from the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) from February 2012 to November 2013. The aerosol distribution patterns in Penang for each monsoonal period were quantitatively identified according to the scattering plots of the Angstrom exponent against the AOD. A new empirical algorithm was proposed to predict the AOD data. Ground-based measurements (i.e., visibility and air pollutant index) were used in the model as predictor data to retrieve the missing AOD data from AERONET due to frequent cloud formation in the equatorial region. The model coefficients were determined through multiple regression analysis using selected data set from in situ data. The calibrated model coefficients have a coefficient of determination, R2, of 0.72. The predicted AOD of the model was generated based on these calibrated coefficients and compared against the measured data through standard statistical tests, yielding a R2 of 0.68 as validation accuracy. The error in weighted mean absolute percentage error (wMAPE) was less than 0.40% compared with the real data. The results revealed that the proposed model efficiently predicted the AOD data. Performance of our model was compared against selected LIDAR data to yield good correspondence. The predicted AOD can enhance measured short- and long-term AOD and provide supplementary information for climatological studies and monitoring aerosol variation.


Using new data on roll-call voting of US state legislators and public opinion in their districts, we explain how ideological polarization of voters within districts can lead to legislative polarization. In so-called "moderate" districts that switch hands between parties, legislative behavior is shaped by the fact that voters are often quite heterogeneous: the ideological distance between Democrats and Republicans within these districts is often greater than the distance between liberal cities and conservative rural areas. We root this intuition in a formal model that associates intradistrict ideological heterogeneity with uncertainty about the ideological location of the median voter. We then demonstrate that among districts with similar median voter ideologies, the difference in legislative behavior between Democratic and Republican state legislators is greater in more ideologically heterogeneous districts. Our findings suggest that accounting for the subtleties of political geography can help explain the coexistence of polarized legislators and a mass public that appears to contain many moderates.


According to classical Ricardian trade theory, overall productivity differences between countries are manifested as differences in real labor incomes (absolute advantage), while the sectoral pattern of productivity differences determines trade patterns (comparative advantage). This paper investigates both of these principles, with a focus on the Pacific Basin. I first examine the trends and relationships between productivity and labor compensation in aggregate manufacturing. Wages and productivity are broadly related, as the theory of absolute advantage suggests. The paper then tests the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage on bilateral and multilateral trade flows using the OECD STAN (Structural Analysis Industrial) database, which disaggregates manufacturing into about 50 sectors for a number of OECD countries, including Mexico and Korea, over 1970-1992. The STAN database is used to calculate bilateral trade patterns, productivity, and unit labor cost by sector. Cross-section seemingly unrelated regressions of sectoral trade flows on sectoral unit labor costs are run for a number of countries vis-a-vis the United States. Comparative advantage helps to explain trade patterns, albeit to a limited degree. In terms of both absolute and comparative advantage, the results for Japan are the most consistent with the Ricardian theory, despite the popular view that Japan is "different" and immune from normal mechanisms.


This presentation video is from the Research Symposium at the 2018 annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association held in Boston, MA.The abstract for the accompanying article is below. This article is part of the JSLHR Forum: Advances in Neuroplasticity Research on Language Recovery in Aphasia.Purpose: Understanding the brain basis of language and cognitive outcomes is a major goal of aphasia research. Prior studies have not often considered the many ways that brain features can relate to behavioral outcomes or the mechanisms underlying these relationships. The purpose of this review article is to provide a new framework for understanding the ways that brain features may relate to language and cognitive outcomes from stroke.Method: Brain–behavior relationships that may be important for aphasia outcomes are organized into a taxonomy, including features of the lesion and features of brain tissue spared by the lesion. Features of spared brain tissue are categorized into those that change after stroke and those that do not. Features that change are further subdivided, and multiple mechanisms of brain change after stroke are discussed.Results: Features of the stroke, including size, location, and white matter damage, relate to many behavioral outcomes and likely account for most of the variance in outcomes. Features of the spared brain tissue that are unchanged by stroke, such as prior ischemic disease in the white matter, contribute to outcomes. Many different neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms may drive changes in the brain after stroke in association with behavioral recovery. Changes primarily driven by neurobiology are likely to occur in brain regions with a systematic relationship to the stroke distribution. Changes primarily driven by behavior are likely to occur in brain networks related to the behavior driving the change.Conclusions: Organizing the various hypothesized brain–behavior relationships according to this framework and considering the mechanisms that drive these relationships may help investigators develop specific experimental designs and more complete statistical models to explain language and cognitive abilities after stroke. Eight main recommendations for future research are provided.Turkeltaub, P. E. (2019). A taxonomy of brain–behavior relationships after stroke. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(11), 3907–3922. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-RSNP-19-0032


End-to-end active network monitoring infers network characteristics by sending and collecting probe packets from the network edge, while probes traverse the network through multicast trees or a mesh of unicast paths. Most reported methods consider given source and receiver locations and study the path selection and the associated estimation algorithms. In this paper, we show that appropriately choosing the number of sources and receivers, as well as their location, may have a significant effect on the accuracy of the estimation; we also give guidelines on how to choose the best "points of view" of a network for link loss monitoring purposes. Though this observation applies across all monitoring methods, we consider, in particular, networks where nodes are equipped with network coding capabilities; our framework includes as special cases the scenarios of pure multicast and network coding. We show that, in network-coding enabled networks, multiple source active monitoring can exploit these capabilities to estimate link loss rates more efficiently than purely tomographic methods. To address the complexity of the estimation problem for large networks, we also propose efficient algorithms, including the decomposition into smaller multicast inference problems, belief-propagation, and a MINClike algorithm.


Bacterial identification is important for the proper treatment of infected patients hospitalized with serious infections especially in critical care units. Identification by conventional methods used in microbiology laboratories takes at least 16 hours since a culture is positive. The introduction of mass spectrometry, specifically MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer) in the microbiology laboratory could mean a radical change in the identification accuracy, turn around time (6 minutes per bacteria) and cost (about 5 times cheaper than conventional identification). Since its introduction in clinical microbiology laboratories in 2008, many reports about its usefulness in identifying microorganisms from colonies, as well as directly from positive blood cultures and urine samples have been published. This review describes MALDI-TOF MS methodology, its identification performance for bacteria (aerobic and anaerobic), mycobacterium and yeasts, its future applications in microbiology and its main disadvantages.


With the federal government's perceived failure to enforce the immigration laws as a backdrop, this paper explores how the Supreme Court's recent decision in Chamber of Commerce v.Whiting upholding the Legal Arizona Workers Act exposes some of the tensions and contradictions in modern preemption doctrine. Examining the relationship among express, field, impossibility and obstacle preemption, I explore three emerging trends, all evident in Whiting. The first is an increasing reluctance of the Court to find implied obstacle preemption. The second is an inclination to expand the scope of impossibility preemption beyond the physical impossibility cases. The third is a tendency to no longer explicitly apply the presumption against preemption, and in some cases, to do exactly the opposite: presume preemption. The Court's decision in Whiting is a harbinger of things to come, as challenges to state and local laws regulating immigrants make their way to the Court and a growing number of states adopt their own versions of Arizona's S.B. 1070 and the Legal Arizona Workers Act. I first offer an overview of preemption jurisprudence, focusing on the nearly-forgotten legacy of McCulloch v. Maryland in planting the roots of obstacle preemption. I also examine recent case law showing a tendency on the Court's part to substitute impossibility and obstacle preemption with a "direct conflict" or "logical contradiction" test. I then address the implications for S.B. 1070 and state and local copycat laws of the Supreme Court's and lower federal courts' apparent willingness to uphold state laws modeled after federal law when enacted to redress a gap in federal enforcement. I conclude that the Supreme Court's adoption of a new direct conflict test as the standard for conflict preemption would be a dramatic paradigmatic shift that would provide lower courts with the means to uphold state and local laws regulating immigrants and immigration to the extent that these laws track federal enforcement measures.


Master Microsoft Office Word 2007 skills easily with the highly visual, full-color Illustrated Course Guides! Lessons are presented in a clean, easy-to-follow two-page spread focusing on teaching a single skill at a time, with steps on the left and visuals on the right. These practical, easy-to-navigate, spiral-bound books allow users to learn quickly, while serving as an excellent reference tool.


This paper addresses the sensitivity of the cylindrical near-field technique to some of the critical alignment parameters. Measured data is presented to demonstrate the effect of errors in the radial distance parameter and probe alignment errors. Far-field measurements taken on a planar near-field range are used as reference. The results presented here form the first qualitative data demonstrating the impact of alignment errors on a cylindrical near-field measurement. A preliminary conclusion is that the radial distance accuracy requirement may not be as crucial as was stated in the past. This paper also shows how the NSI data acquisition system allows one to conduct such parametric studies in an automated way.


Gay rights litigation and advocacy traditionally have focused on the unequal treatment of gay and lesbian individuals and couples; less attention has been dedicated explicitly to the legal rights of the children of gay and lesbian parents. This article asserts that a child of same-sex parents denied a government benefit has a cognizable equal protection challenge – a legal claim that is separate and distinct from that of the child's gay and lesbian parents. It is well-settled equal protection law that the government may not treat non-marital children differently than marital children because of the moral disdain of their parents' relationship, and, such distinctions are subject to intermediate scrutiny. Today, a majority of states exclude children of same-sex parents from the economic benefits derived from their non-biological same-sex parent, including health insurance, workers' compensation benefits, child support and social security benefits. When medical events, divorces, lay-offs, and death occur in the lives of children of same-sex parents in these "no-protection" states, they are denied important economic safety nets – safety nets that children of married and unmarried opposite-sex parents enjoy. As a subset of non-marital children, children of same-sex parents exercise no control over their parents' conduct but suffer concrete economic injuries because of the state's imputation of morality upon them. Such government-sponsored discrimination is not justified on the basis of preserving traditional family values or to ensure administrative efficiency. No-protection states must dismantle the insurmountable barrier that blocks children of same-sex parents from establishing a legal relationship to their non-biological same-sex parent and place them on equal footing with their opposite-sex parented peers.


The thermal runaway hazards pose a serious threat to the application and transport of lithium-ion batteries on the aircraft. Hence, the researches of thermal safety in flight condition are necessary. In this study, the tests were conducted in a dynamic pressure chamber to study the effects of ambient pressure and heating power on the thermal runaway characteristics. The results show that the fierce behaviors of jet fire, deflagration, and explosion only were observed in high ambient pressure with high heating power. The open time of the safety valve is advanced as pressure from 95 kPa to 20 kPa. The parameters of heat release rate (HRR), total heat release (THR), cell surface temperature, peak concentration of CO2, and mass loss decrease as the descend of external pressure or heating power. The peak values of hydrocarbon (CHx) and CO increase with the descent of pressure but decrease as the reduction of heating power. The effects of ambient pressure on the thermal runaway (TR) fire behaviors mainly attribute to the low oxygen density. The time of heating and smoking may account for the difference of TR behaviors with various heating power. It is revealed that the fire risk and the hazards of toxic/flammable gas emissions are tightly relative to the TR behaviors. These results provide valuable proposals and inspiration for the safety warning and hazard reduction under low pressure.


Over time, many people accumulate extensive email repositories that contain detailed information about their personal communication patterns and relationships. We present three visualizations that capture hierarchical, correlational, and temporal patterns present in user's email repositories. These patterns are difficult to discover using traditional interfaces and are valuable for navigation and reflection on social relationships and communication history. We interviewed users with diverse email habits and found that they were able to interpret these images and could find interesting features that were not evident to them through their standard email interfaces. The images also capture a wide range of variation in email practices. These results suggest that information visualizations of personal communications have value for end-users and analysts alike.


This thesis examines the feasibility of two different configurations of gyromultiplier, both of which operate at the fourth harmonic of the electron cyclotron frequency. The full numerical modelling and design of components for the testing of a novel, single cavity gyro-multiplier experiment has been documented. In addition, numerical simulations of a configuration featuring three distinct cavity sections have also been conducted. The introduction of an eight-fold azimuthal corrugation into the walls of a cylindrical cavity allows for the realisation of a single cavity gyro-multiplier arrangement, with generation of 2nd harmonic, TE2,2, and 4th harmonic, TE4,3, resonances, at frequencies of 37.5 GHz and 75 GHz, respectively. The interaction region is of mean radius, 8 mm, with a corrugation depth, 0.7 mm, and is 39 mm in length. The idealised electron beam utilised is of voltage, 60 kV, with current between 5 A and 10 A, confined in a magnetic field of ~0.7 T. Separation of the two emission frequencies was intended through the use of a 6 mm length cut-off taper; however, mode conversion to two above cut-off modes has been numerically demonstrated. The power contained in the 4th harmonic has been estimated at ~10-50 W. Extension of the output taper has proven to be sufficient to reduce the mode converted signals by an order of magnitude, while not impinging on the propagation of the 4th harmonic signal. The design and simulation of a knife-edge electron gun and kicker system has also been performed, with the final beam predicted to have a velocity spread of ~19%. In order to demonstrate the "cold" response of the interaction region to the 2nd harmonic signal, the design, construction and testing of several additional components are also documented. Novel slotted wall mode converters, capable of generating TEm,1 modes from a rectangular TE1,0 input signal, have demonstrated high spectral purity and large, ~10% bandwidth. A set of TE2,1 launchers, of 3.98 mm radius, operating between 37-41 GHz have demonstrated ~56% conversion efficiency, while a similar set for the TE4,1 mode, of 3.78 mm radius, demonstrated 20% conversion efficiency, between 70-80 GHz. A set of ripple wall mode converters, of maximum radius, 8.7 mm, featuring a 20 period, axial sinusoidal ripple, of depth 0.30 mm, designed to convert the TE2,1 mode to a TE2,2, have also been demonstrated. These converters display ~20 MHz bandwidth, at ~38 GHz. Using these couplers demonstrated the corrugated interaction region dispersion was insensitive to the polarisation of incident quadrupole modes, in keeping with theory. By examining a gyro-multiplier setup with three distinct cavity sections, it has been demonstrated that by operating the first and third cavities at the fundamental harmonic, effective generation of a 4th harmonic signal can be realised from a second cavity of radius slightly larger than that of the initial cavity. The interaction regions examined were of radius 0.7 mm, 0.783 mm, and 1.5 mm, and of lengths 2.4 mm, 2.4mm and 3.6 mm, respectively. By using an idealised electron beam of voltage, 80 kV, beam current of 0.7 A, and pitch factor of 1.4, generation of the TE1,2 and TE1,3 modes at a fundamental frequency of 342.5 GHz, and 4th harmonic, polarised in the TE4,6 mode at a frequency of 1.37 THz has been predicted, for a modest confining magnetic field of ~14.15 T. Although sensitive to the magnitude of the applied field, the maximum power contained in the 4th harmonic signal has been estimated to be 120 W.


A two-wavelength laser-diode interferometer that is based on heterodyne detection with one phasemeter has been constructed. Two laser diodes are frequency modulated by mutually inverted sawtooth currents on an unbalanced interferometer. One can measure the tested phase at a synthetic wavelength from the sum of the interference beat signals by synchronizing them with the modulation frequency. The experimental result presented shows a phase-measurement range with a 4.7-μm synthetic wavelength.


Ebola virus disease is a lethal human and primate disease that requires a particular attention from the international health authorities due to important recent outbreaks in some Western African countries and isolated cases in European and North-America continents. Regarding the emergency of this situation, various decision tools, such as mathematical models, were developed to assist the authorities to focus their efforts in important factors to eradicate Ebola. In a previous work, we have proposed an original deterministic spatial-temporal model, called Be-CoDiS (Between-Countries Disease Spread), to study the evolution of human diseases within and between countries by taking into consideration the movement of people between geographical areas. This model was validated by considering numerical experiments regarding the 2014-16 West African Ebola Virus Disease epidemic.
In this article, we propose to perform a stability analysis of Be-CoDiS. Our first objective is to study the equilibrium states of simplified versions of this model, limited to the cases of one an two countries, and to determine their basic reproduction ratios. Then, in order to give some recommendations for the allocation of resources used to control the disease, we perform a sensitivity analysis of those basic reproduction ratios regarding the model parameters. Finally, we validate the obtained results by considering numerical experiments based on data from the 2014-16 West African Ebola Virus Disease epidemic.


The decomposition of domestic effluent by mycoflora was investigated. The microbial load enumerated for the period of 13 days, using standard microbiological techniques revealed the average total bacterial count between the range of 1.97 x 10 6 CFU/ml and 1.25 x 10 7 CFU/ml, the total coliform count have a mean range between 1.29 x 10 6 CFU/ml and 0.56 x 10 7 CFU/ml while the total fungal count showed a mean range of 3.17 x 10 6 CFU/ml to 2.14 x 10 7 CFU/ml. One hundred and twenty fungal isolates were obtained from the wastewater with the highest occurred organism as Fusarium moniliforme (19.2% occurrence), followed by Fusarium oxysporium (14.2%) and the least occurred organism Aspergillus versiculor (0.8%). The acidic pH and turbidity values obtained ranged from 3.41 - 5.98 and 1.63 - 1.79 respectively. Only 39 (32.5%) of the fungi isolates showed ability to degrade lipids with varying potentials; of which four (10.3%) were grouped among high and slight lipolysis. Among the lipolytic fungal isolates, Aspergillus spp. showed the highest occurrence of 79.5%, followed by 5.1% occurrence of Penicillium spp., Fusarium spp. and Rhizopus spp. while Absidia spp. and Thermophillus spp. showed the laeast occurrence (2.6%). It is significant that fungi associated with oil-rich wastewater also attribute the potentials of degrading the lipid component of sewages, an advantage in the treatment process. Keywords: Mycoflora, oil-rich wastewater, lipolytic, fungi


Software-defined networking (SDN) continues to grow in popularity because of its programmable and extensible control plane realized through network applications (apps). However, apps introduce significant security challenges that can systemically disrupt network operations, since apps must access or modify data in a shared control plane state. If our understanding of how such data propagate within the control plane is inadequate, apps can co-opt other apps, causing them to poison the control plane's integrity. We present a class of SDN control plane integrity attacks that we call cross-app poisoning (CAP), in which an unprivileged app manipulates the shared control plane state to trick a privileged app into taking actions on its behalf. We demonstrate how role-based access control (RBAC) schemes are insufficient for preventing such attacks because they neither track information flow nor enforce information flow control (IFC). We also present a defense, ProvSDN, that uses data provenance to track information flow and serves as an online reference monitor to prevent CAP attacks. We implement ProvSDN on the ONOS SDN controller and demonstrate that information flow can be tracked with low-latency overheads.


We have studied the temperature dependence of phosphorescence (Ph) and delayed fluorescence (DF) in two series of poly(p-phenylene) derivatives within a temperature range from 10 to 300 K under quasi-stationary conditions. One set of materials consists of the dimer, trimer, and polymer of ethylhexyl-substituted poly(fluorene) (PF2/6) and thus allows us to assess the effects of oligomer length. The second series addresses the influence of energetic disorder and conjugation length by being composed of the polymers alkoxy-substituted poly(p-phenylene) (DOO-PPP), poly(indenofluorene) (PIF), and ladder-type poly(p-phenylene) (MeLPPP). Under low light intensities, the DF features a maximum at a certain temperature T(max). For the dimer and trimer, the T(max) coincides with the temperature at which the phosphorescence has decayed to 1/2 of the value at 10 K, while T(max) shifts to lower temperature values along the series DOO-PPP, PIF, and MeLPPP and approaches T = 0 K for MeLPPP. By applying conventional kinetic equations we show that the occurrence of a maximum in the DF intensity is the consequence of generalized thermally activated triplet exciton transport toward quenching sites. We find the quenching rates at 0 K to be in the range of 1 s(-1) for the polymers, while they are more than an order of magnitude lower for the oligomers.


This paper investigates the characteristics of educated immigrants' occupational choices using microdata from the 2000 and 2010 Japanese censuses. Considering the practices of the Japanese labor market, we assume that educated immigrants who missed the timing of "port of entry" just after graduation find it difficult to join individual firms' internal labor markets, and such people have little choice but to work in Type I (professional or technical) occupations using general skills or their country-specific skills to complement Japanese workers. In contrast, we assume that educated immigrants who have lived in Japan for relatively longer or Japan-educated immigrants can choose either Type I or Type II (managerial or clerical) occupations and commit to the Japanese employment system (JES). Using data analysis, we observe striking differences between Type I and Type II immigrants. Immigrants from developed countries are more likely to work in Type I occupations while those from East Asian countries, such as Korea and China, are more likely to work in Type II occupations. This variation can be partly explained by the industry in which they concentrate, their period of stay in Japan, and their place of education (Japan or otherwise). The different nature of embeddedness in the JES also affects the networks on which workers of each type depend when they are looking for employment in a given region. While Type I immigrants are more likely to obtain a job in an area with a greater number of Japanese workers in the same industry as compared with Type II immigrants, they are less likely to work in an area with a larger population of immigrants of the same nationality. Instead their decisions on occupational location have been more affected by a highly-skilled network regardless of nationality. Also, for Type I workers, the highly-skilled immigrants' network has contrasting effects depending on economic conditions.


Children's oral poetry is an important genre in the way it uses verse to inculcate social values and conditions the child's mind to conform to social expectations. It is potent in lodging in the child's memory social lessons through stylistic presentation of social expectations. It is not only a pedagogical tool but also a commentary on the society from
which it emerges. While one would expect the poetry to make the children conform to / social norms designed by adults, the poems stage stylistic, thematic and performative moments of subversion against certain values embraced by the privileged especially adults. Children are not passive recipients of the message, but are active participants in the creation of an ideal society. Looking at themes, performance, stylistic devices and the social background against which the poetry is created, the thesis analyses the tension between conformity and subversion engendered in the children's oral poetry.The agency of children performers has not been systematically analysed. Most studies of children's literature seem to see children as passive objects that need to be moulded into whole subjects through literature. The study attempts to fill this gap in scholarship by investigating whether Gikuyu children's oral poetry exhibits patterns that express subversion and conformity at the same time. It also analyses how the conflicting issues of conformity and subversion are reconciled into an aesthetic and thematic unity. It examines whether the songs' themes, style, and the artists' performance provide reconciliation of the conflicting elements. The study uses library research, preliminary field survey, actual collection of data and finally processes and analysis. The study investigates whether children's oral poetry expresses the gender, philosophical and moral consciousness subject to their composition, performance and reception. The overriding question is whether stylistic devices employed in the composition and performance are appropriate for the content of the poetry.The study is anchored on ethnopoetics theory which is complemented by deconstruction, hermeneutics and psychoanalysis as theoretical tools to probe the dialectical relationship between conformity and subversion.The study critically investigates and analyses how the tension between conformity and subversion in Gikuyu children's oral poetry impacts on composition, performance and reception of that poetry against a backdrop of adult values. We make the assumption that Gikuyu children's oral poetry uses thematic, stylistic and perforrnative patterns that bring together subversion and conformity, and that the conflict between conformity and subversion is an expression of the social consciousness of the Gikuyu children. This study is justified by its pertinent concern for and contribution to the understanding of contemporary children's art. This study makes a contribution to an area that is gaining popularity not only in Kenya but other parts of the world. It stimulates further research into the area. By association, the study illuminates our lives as products of our childhood.


Background: Recent years have seen strong tendencies toward high-protein diets. However, the implications of higher protein intake, especially during developmentally sensitive periods, are poorly understood. Conversely, evidence on the long-term developmental consequences of low protein intake in free-living populations remains limited.Objective: We examined the association of protein intake in pregnancy with offspring metabolic health at age 9-16 y in a longitudinal cohort that oversampled pregnancies with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Design: Six hundred eight women with an index pregnancy affected by gestational diabetes mellitus and 626 controls enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort were used for the analysis. Protein (total, animal, vegetable) intake was assessed by using a food-frequency questionnaire in gestational week 25. The offspring underwent a clinical examination including fasting blood samples and a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan (subset of 650) from which metabolic outcomes were derived. Multivariable analyses were conducted applying a 1:1 substitution of carbohydrates for protein.Results: The mean ± SD protein intake in pregnancy was 93 ± 15 g/d (16% ± 3% of energy) in GDM-exposed women and 90 ± 14 g/d (16% ± 2% of energy) in control women. There were overall no associations between maternal protein intake and offspring fasting insulin and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). We found that maternal total protein intake was associated with a tendency for a higher abdominal fat mass percentage (quartile 4 compared with quartile 1: 0.40 SD; 95% CI: -0.03, 0.83 SD; P = 0.07) in GDM-exposed offspring and a tendency for a higher total fat mass percentage among male offspring (quartile 4 compared with quartile 1: 0.33 SD; 95% CI: -0.01, 0.66 SD; P = 0.06), but a small sample size may have compromised the precision of the effect estimates. GDM-exposed offspring of mothers with a protein intake in the lowest decile (≤12.5% of energy compared with >12.5% of energy) had lower fasting insulin (ratio of geometric means: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.68, 0.99; P = 0.04) and a tendency toward lower HOMA-IR (ratio of geometric means: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.66, 1.02; P = 0.07), but there was no evidence of associations with body composition. Male offspring seemed to derive a similar benefit from a maternal low protein intake as did GDM-exposed offspring.Conclusions: Overall, our results provide little support for an association of maternal protein intake in pregnancy with measures of offspring metabolic health. Further studies in larger cohorts are needed to determine whether low maternal protein intake in pregnancy may improve glucose homeostasis in GDM-exposed and male offspring.


During recent decades, the good performance of the export sector has been one of the main sources of fast economic growth in the Chilean economy. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of some public promotion instruments on the export sector. Using plant level data, the econometric evidence shows that these kinds of policies have generated a positive impact on firm performance. We identify qualitative and quantitative effects. In qualitative aspects, we find a positive impact on technological innovation and several aggressive activities in international markets. In quantitative terms, we can infer that promotion instruments are effective for increasing exports and markets. However, there is no evidence of any positive impact on the number of products exported by the firms. In addition, our results suggest that only some instruments, specifically export committees, are effective for opening new markets and for increasing exports.


Combining networks of static sensors with minimalist robotic swarms might enable a new generation of micromachinery equipped with sensor and actuator networks for inspection, maintenance, and repair. In such a scenario, limited capabilities of swarm members (due to miniaturization or for economical reasons) might render deterministic algorithms unfeasible and require a self-organized approach. Driven by a case study concerned with the autonomous inspection of a jet turbine engine, we identify three main research axes: development of appropriate hardware, modeling and design of self-organized dynamical systems, and synthesis of robot controllers to achieve a desired collective behavior, which is for instance provided by an human operator during runtime. We also present our developments of embedded communication systems for miniature robots, allowing for communication within the swarm and static nodes in the environment. Such networks of static and mobile nodes might allow for sophisticated spatio-temporal coordination, which would otherwise require localization and navigation abilities that are unfeasible on miniature platforms.


Typical large-scale recommender systems use deep learning models that are stored on a large amount of DRAM. These models often rely on embeddings, which consume most of the required memory. We present Bandana, a storage system that reduces the DRAM footprint of embeddings, by using Non-volatile Memory (NVM) as the primary storage medium, with a small amount of DRAM as cache. The main challenge in storing embeddings on NVM is its limited read bandwidth compared to DRAM. Bandana uses two primary techniques to address this limitation: first, it stores embedding vectors that are likely to be read together in the same physical location, using hypergraph partitioning, and second, it decides the number of embedding vectors to cache in DRAM by simulating dozens of small caches. These techniques allow Bandana to increase the effective read bandwidth of NVM by 2-3x and thereby significantly reduce the total cost of ownership.


Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT) is a standard tool in most branches of chemistry, but accuracies for many molecules are limited to 2-3 kcal/mol with presently-available functionals. Ab initio methods, such as coupled-cluster, routinely produce much higher accuracy, but computational costs limit their application to small molecules. We create density functionals from coupled-cluster energies, based only on DFT densities, via machine learning. These functionals attain quantum chemical accuracy (errors below 1 kcal/mol). Moreover, density-based ∆-learning (learning only the correction to a standard DFT calculation, ∆-DFT) significantly reduces the amount of training data required. We demonstrate these concepts for a single water molecule, and then illustrate how to include molecular symmetries with ethanol. Finally, we highlight the robustness of ∆-DFT by correcting DFT simulations of resorcinol on the fly to obtain molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories with coupled-cluster accuracy. Thus ∆-DFT opens the door to running gas-phase MD simulations with quantum chemical accuracy, even for strained geometries and conformer changes where standard DFT is quantitatively incorrect. ∗Contributed equally. †To whom correspondence should be addressed. M.E.T.(email:email@example.com), K.-R.M.(email:email@example.com), K.B.(email:email@example.com)


What is the growth and direction of healthcare support groups grow in virtual worlds? Data was collected on over 300 groups from virtual worlds, Second Life, IMVU, There, and Kaneva. A collection of non-virtual world support groups was added. Similar categories of groups were found to be generally popular across worlds. The percentage of groups in categories of healthcare issues was also generally analogous between worlds. The long tail effect was shown- only a few groups had high populations. Group creation rate displayed generally similar growth between worlds. The worlds' demographics and features were suggested to account for differences. Limited data availability and vague definitions of groups and categories hampered analysis.


Abstract—An accuracy digital map must satisfy the users for two main requirements, first, map must be visually readable and second, all the map elements must be in a good representation. These two requirements hold especially true for map generalization which aims at simplifying the representation of cartographic data. Different scales of maps are very important for any decision in any maps with different scales such as master plan and all the infrastructures maps in civil engineering. Cartographer cannot project the data onto a piece of paper, but he has to worry about its readability. The map layout of any geodatabase is very important, this layout is help to read, analyze or extract information from the map. There are many principles and guidelines of generalization that can be find in the cartographic literature. A manual reduction method for generalization depends on experience of map maker and therefore produces incompatible results. Digital generalization, rooted from conventional cartography, has become an increasing concern in both Geographic Information System (GIS) and mapping fields. This project is intended to review the state of the art of the new technology and help to understand the needs and plans for the implementation of digital generalization capability as well as increase the knowledge of production topographic maps.


Ask a dozen talking heads about the course of action we should take to right the economy and youll get thirteen different answers. But what if we possessed a handful of basic principles that could guide our decisionsboth the personal ones about how to save and spend but also those national ones that have been capturing the headlines? Robert H. Frank has been illustrating these principles longer and more clearly than anyone else. In The Economic Naturalists Field Guide, he reveals how they play out in Washington, on Wall Street, and in our own lives, covering everything from healthcare to tax policy to everyday decisions about what we do with our money. In todays uncertain economic climate, The Economic Naturalists Field Guides insights have more bearing than ever on our pocketbooks, policies, and personal happiness.


The Lecanora dispersa group in North America is revised based on about 1900 specimens from 25 herbaria. The following 19 species are recognized in the study area: Lecanora agardhiana Ach., L. albescens (Hoffm.) Florke, L. cf. andrewii B. de Lesd., L. crenulata Hook., L. dispersa (Pers.) Sommerf., L. fl owersiana H. Magn., L. fugiens Nyl., L. hagenii (Ach.) Ach., L. invadens H. Magn., L. juniperina Śliwa, L. percrenata H. Magn., L. perpruinosa Froberg, L. persimilis (Th. Fr.) Nyl., L. salina H. Magn., L. sambuci (Pers.) Nyl., L. semipallida H. Magn., L. torrida Vain., L. wetmorei Śliwa, and L. zosterae (Ach.) Nyl. The morphology, anatomy, lichen products, and ecology of the species are discussed. Based on the combinations of morphological, anatomical and chemical characters, four distinctive subgroups of species are identifi ed: L. dispersa s.str. gr., L. semipallida gr., L. crenulata gr., and L. hagenii gr. A key for the identifi cation of the species is provided, and all species are illustrated. The North American species have varied distribution patterns, which are illustrated on maps. The taxa differ also in frequency: common species including L. dispersa, L. semipallida and L. hagenii; frequent species but with limited distributional ranges such as L. fl owersiana, L. wetmorei, and L. zosterae; relatively rare species including L. albescens, and L. fugiens; and taxa known only from a single locality, such as L. agardhiana, L. perpruinosa, and L. salina. Seven of the species are reported for the fi rst time from the continent: L. agardhiana, L. cf. andrewii, L. fugiens, L. invadens, L. percrenata, L. perpruinosa, and L. semipallida. Nomenclatural and taxonomic clarifi cations include the typifi cation of L. crenulata, L. persimilis, and L. sambuci, and the synonymy of L. turbinata Poelt & Leuckert with L. zosterae var. beringii. Two new combinations are made: L. zosterae var. beringii (Nyl.) Śliwa comb. nov. (= L. beringii) and L. zosterae var. palanderi (Vain.) Śliwa comb. nov. (= L. palanderi). Moreover, Lecanora elenkinii Mereschk., L. fl otoviana Spreng., L. thallophila H. Magn., and L. utahensis H. Magn., which at fi rst were considered members of the group, were excluded from the study as they proved not to be related.


In this study an attempt has been made to investigate the effects of economic factors on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Pakistan, India and Indonesia. Simple log linear regression model for each country has been used and the method of least squares has been applied. Empirical results show that market size, domestic investment, trade openness, and physical infrastructure are the important economic determinants of FDI. Further, this study also found that the empirical results of the economic determinants of India matched with empirical results of Pakistan except two determinates (i.e., trade openness and government consumption), while that of Indonesia do not match with Pakistan and India. For attracting more FDI into Pakistan and India, the management authorities' needs to ensure economic and political stability, provision of infrastructure, peace and security, encouraging domestic investment and adoption of appropriate macroeconomic stabilization policy. Furthermore, this study recommend the same measures for Indonesia and suggest that more future research work are required for empirical investigation of determinants of FDI in Indonesia, to enhance the desirable level of FDI into the country.


This study focuses on links of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), inorganic nutrients (DIN and DIP) and bacterioplankton growth with specific coral reef water types. At 5 reef stations along the SW coast of Curacao (Netherlands Antilles), 6 different water types (4 reef water types (live coral surface contact water, reef crevice water, reef bottom water, reef overlying water) and 2 reference water types collected offshore from each station at 2 and 8 m depth) were analysed for DOC, DIN and DIP, bacterial production and abundance. Consistent patterns were found: reef waters were enhanced in DIN, DIP and specific bacterial growth rate (µn) compared to offshore waters. DOC, DIP, and µn were higher close to the reef bottom than in the reef overlying water. Coral surface contact water was significantly enhanced in DOC compared to reef crevice and reef bottom water, suggest- ing that the major source of DOC in reef waters are the live corals. DIN concentration was highest in reef crevice water, suggesting that crevices are the major net N-regenerating spaces on reefs, more important than the reef bottom between corals. Small-scale DIP distribution suggested net P regen- eration in reef crevice and coral surface contact water. The highest specific growth rates of bacterio- plankton were found in the coral surface contact water, with slightly lower rates in reef crevice water. Experiments showed that the labile DOC fraction (LDOC) in reef crevice water was substantially smaller than in coral surface contact and reef overlying water, which suggests that crevices are apparently sinks of LDOC. In reef crevice and reef bottom water the low substrate LDOC:DIN ratios suggest that LDOC might be the growth-limiting factor of bacterioplankton in these water types. In coral surface contact and reef overlying water the substrate LDOC:DIN ratios of more than 40 (and LDOC:DIP ratios of over 800) and the significant relations between µn and DIN (DIP) suggest nutrient limitation of bacterioplankton growth in these water types. This study clearly illustrates the close link in reef waters between coral reef benthos and bacterioplankton trophodynamics.


Background: Bipolar affective disorder (BD) is a chronic recurrent disorder having a definite link with metabolic abnormalities, including obesity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Drugs approved for the treatment of BD include sodium valproate but have weight gain as a metabolic side effect. An increase in weight is one of the common reasons for discontinuation of mood stabilizers. There is a need for a weight loss agent which will not increase mood symptoms in bipolar disorder. This study looks at the effect of acetazolamide on weight when combined with sodium valproate in patients diagnosed with BD in remission. Materials and Methods: This pilot quasi-experimental open-label 8-week follow-up study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital following clearance from the institutional ethics committee. Thirteen outpatients with BD who reported weight gain on sodium valproate monotherapy received oral acetazolamide 500 mg/day. A specialized pro forma was used to record demographic and physical data with side effects. Results: The mean baseline weight was 70.15 ± 8.75 kg and the mean baseline body mass index was 25.09 ± 2.61. The mean sodium valproate dose of the study population was 692 mg/day. Ten of 11 individuals who completed the study showed some reduction in weight and nine showed a slight decrease in abdominal girths. Conclusion: There was a nonsignificant decrease in weight and abdominal circumferences at the end of 8 weeks, however, since it is a small pilot study, we need more evidence.


Rule 68, the offer of judgment rule, has been described as among the most enigmatic of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This Rule allows a defendant to serve an offer of judgment on the plaintiff and makes the plaintiff who rejects the offer liable for post-offer costs if she fails to improve on the offer at trial. It is universally accepted today that Rule 68 was adopted to encourage settlements, but the Rule's text makes it an extremely poor settlement device. The Rule operates only one-way (in favor of defendants); the penalty is too small to be meaningful; the requirement of a judgment (rather than just a settlement) discourages its use, and the Rule's timing requirements are puzzling. The mystery is why intelligent lawyers and judges in 1938 would have drafted such a poor settlement promotion tool. This Article solves that mystery. Contrary to the conventional view, the 1938 drafters did not intend Rule 68 to encourage settlement in the way we understand that today. They adopted the offer of judgment rule that existed in state practice, the primary purpose of which was litigation fairness not settlement promotion. The state rules aimed to prevent plaintiffs from imposing costs unfairly when the defendant offered everything the plaintiff was entitled to receive from trial. The text of Rule 68 makes much more sense when it is viewed in fairness terms. The prevailing settlement promotion view became entrenched in the 1970s and 1980s, when concerns about litigation cost, case backlog, and litigation delay grew acute and interest in settling cases intensified. Because the settlement promotion view has caused problems for interpretation of the Rule and for efforts to revise it, clarifying the history of Rule 68 is important. Moreover, empirical work on Rule 68 is nearing completion and the Advisory Committee is considering another look at the Rule, so the time is ripe for a clearer understanding. With the FRCP about to celebrate their seventieth anniversary, the history of Rule 68 also sheds light on two of the most important changes in federal civil procedure over the past seventy years: the rise of settlement and the politicization of the rulemaking process.


Habitat fragmentation is a major driver of biodiversity loss and among reptiles has been attributed as a cause of species decline. The negative effect of habitat fragmentation has also been shown to be worse for species that are habitat specialists. The Dunes Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus Degenhardt and Jones, 1972) is a species that specializes on the shinnery oak (Quercus havardii Rydb.) sand-dune landform of the Mescalero–Monahans Sandhills ecosystem in western Texas and eastern New Mexico, USA. This landform has been fragmented by roads and well pads used for the extraction of oil and gas resources. The effects of fragmentation on the home range and movements of this species can lead to the effective isolation of populations and increased risk of localized extirpations. We showed that home-range size was larger in an unfragmented area and that the mean distance of movements was greater. We also observed that roads in the fragmented areas restricted movements of S. arenicolus. We concluded that roads can be barriers to movements even though only narrow strips of habitat are altered.