Abstract. The reconstruction of Building Information Modeling objects for as-built modeling is currently the subject of ongoing research. A popular method is to extract building information from point cloud data to create a set of parametric objects. The automation of this process is highly desired by the industry but is currently hindered by occlusions, clutter and the complexity of the building geometry. To create an as-built BIM, it is vital to not only accurately reconstruct the building's structure but also to compute the topology between the objects. More specifically, we target the topology of the reconstructed partial wall geometry as this forms the basis for other objects. In this work, a novel method is presented to automatically adjust the topology of wall geometry in an as-built BIM. We present a semi-automated method that procedurally evaluates the configuration of reconstructed objects and adjusts them to create a more faithful BIM. A wall connection evaluation algorithm is proposed that takes as input the centrelines of partial wall geometry and a set of floor and ceilings mesh segments and outputs the topologically adjusted objects. The method is tested on a variety of scenes and shows promising results to reliably compute the topology of as-built models. The generated geometry is similar to the geometric modification proposed by expert modelers. A key advantage is that the algorithm operates directly in Revit and Rhino and can be used for new models as well as for updating existing models.


The survey process is a highly complex and situationally dependent one, in need of careful management. If poorly designed and administered, surveys can create disappointment and even disaster. Little has. been written so far for those responsible for designing and implementing surveys in organizations. These authors have drawn on their extensive consulting experience to develop a concise, pragmatic, seven-step model covering the entire process, from initiation, to final evaluation, to making the results meaningful to the future of the organization. They pay special attention to the political and human sensitivities concerned and show how to overcome the many potential barriers to a successful outcome.


Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of self and professionally applied desensitizing agents in relieving dentinal hypersensitivity after single direct topical application. Study Design: This was a randomized controlled trial conducted among 57 patients. 8% Arginine paste was self-applied by the subject and Gluma desensitizer was applied by investigator. Numeric rating scale was used to measure hypersensitivity after tactile stimulus, Schiff scale was used for cold and air blast stimuli respectively. Scores were recorded at baseline, immediately, 15 and 30 days after the application. Friedman, Wilcoxon test as post hoc was used to analyze within group differences, between group differences analyzed using Mann Whitney U test (P<0.05 considered significant). Results: 8% Arginine paste elicited significantly higher reductions in sensitivity (P<0.05) than that of Gluma group at all follow ups. There was a significant decrease in hypersensitivity for both the groups from baseline till final follow-up (P<0.05) for all three stimuli. 8% Arginine paste was found to be more effective than Gluma desensitizer in providing immediate relief from dentine hypersensitivity and also sustained the effect significantly for a period of 30 days. Conclusions: Self applied 8% Arginine paste is effective than professionally applied Gluma desensitizer in relieving dentinal hypersensitivity immediately and over a period of one month. Key words:Dentine hypersensitivity, arginine, gluma, desensitizing agents.


I am engaged in a practice led thesis, which has been challenged and shaped by thinkers in the fields of critical theory and philosophy. Although I work in dialogue with these theorists, I am principally a visual practitioner who is most at home with traditional, wet process photography.I began with a general concern regarding my own resistance to landscape photography as the depiction of the view, which has led me to question the persistence of the (illusion of) the unified photographic moment. My visual process, which began quite simply as a reaction against the pervasiveness of the view in photography, has, in dialogue with writers such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida and Rosalind Krauss, enabled me to theorise my own photographic practice as a form of writing. Central to this has been the investigation of different theoretical configurations of the semiotic sign.I contend that Rosalind Krauss' conception of Surrealist photography as a practice of écriture, in fact accounts for photographic practice more broadly speaking. The spacing of the photographic sign, which Krauss describes as an 'invagination of presence,' defers the confluence of the signified and the signifier thus rupturing the illusion of presence in the photographic moment: the shutter differences the image from the world and the practice of photography reconfigures the world as a form of writing. However, not simply in the sense of a surface inscribed by light, but writing as a space in which the possibility for meaning is realised.


ABSTRACT This study explores the associations among parental education, weekly work hours, child behaviours, and parental daily hassles and parents desires for continuity between home and childcare. Data were collected using questionnaires from 82 parents with a child attending centre-based childcare in the Midwestern US. Results indicate that parent education and work hours are directly and indirectly related to the desire of continuity of practice between home and childcare programme and parental daily hassles. Path analysis results show higher parental education decreases parents desire for continuity of practices, while more weekly work hours increases parents desire for continuity of practices. Additional findings related to education, parental daily hassles and child behaviours are reported. Future research should investigate the perceptions of parents and the fit between the offerings of the centre and parental expectations for both familial and child adjustment.


Background: Biosurfactants are the surface-active molecules produced by the living micro-organisms. They have wide application in the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industry due to its physiological and functional properties. Objectives: In the present study, biosurfactant produced from Pseudomonas sp. was used for its physiochemical characterizations and anti-tumergenic property against colon cancer cell line (SW480). Materials and Methods: The biosurfactant was produced in Bushnell Haas Broth media and extracted by solvent extraction method. The physiochemical characterizations such as water solubility index, water activity, foaming index, oil holding capacity of extracted biosurfactant were performed. The degree of toxicity of biosurfactant was measured using a conversion assay of 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) dye against SW480 and mouse L292 fibroblastic cell line (non-tumergenic). Furthermore, acridine orange-EtBr (ethidium bromide) staining, Dichlorofluorescein Diacetate (DCF-DA) staining, wound healing assay were performed to determine the anti-colon cancer activity of biosurfactant. Results: The oil holding capacity, water activity (aw), foaming capacity and water solubility index for biosurfactant were found to be 4.36 ± 0.05 g/g, 0.32 ± 0.03, 52.28 ± 0.10 % and 80.86 ± 0.20 % respectively. In the MTT assay, after 48 h of incubation, 84.7% of cell viability on L292 was observed at 250 μg/ml (maximum concentration) for biosurfactant. Whereas, only 50% cell viability was observed after 48 h of incubation on SW480 at 168.52 μg/ml biosurfactant concentration. Conclusion: The biosurfactant could be a bench-mark as a non-cytotoxic biosurfactant which may be used as a possible biological substance in the food industry as a stabilizing agent and in pharmaceutical industry as an anti-colon cancer agent.


This paper investigated on the dual characteristics of good language learner in a foreign language (FL): autonomy, group cohesiveness and group norm. Data were collected by adopting methods of selecting good learners based on the achievement test and class participation, activity, and questionnaires. Fifty six learners took part in this study with more or less the same proficiency level. The results of the study showed that good language learners were more observant of the class norms rather than group cohesiveness. In addition, all of the good language learners were autonomous. The study had some certain implications regarding pedagogy in that teachers should assist poor language learners to increase their autonomy so that they may get closer to the ideal of being a good language learner.


In a technologically overloaded world, is it possible to use technology to support wellbeing activities and enhance human flourishing? Proponents of positive technology and positive computing are striving to answer yes to that question. However, the impact of technology on well-being remains unresolved. Positive technology combines technology and positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on well-being and the science of human flourishing. Positive computing includes an emphasis on designing with wellbeing in mind as a way to support human potential. User experience (UX) is critical to positive technology and positive computing. UX researchers and practitioners are advocating for experience-driven design and third wave human-computer interaction (HCI) that focuses on multi-dimensional, interpretive, situated, and phenomenological aspects. Third-wave HCI goes beyond cognition to include emotions, values, culture, and experience. This research investigated technology-supported meditation in a threedimensional (3D) virtual world from a positive technology perspective to examine how technology can support engagement, self-empowerment, and well-being. Designing and evaluating technology for well-being support is complex and challenging. Further, although virtual worlds have been used in positive technology applications, little research exists that illuminates the experience of user engagement in virtual worlds. In this formative exploratory study, experienced meditators (N = 12) interacted with a virtual meditation world titled Sanctuarium that was developed for this research. Using a third wave HCI approach, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to understand the nature of engagement with a virtual world and the experiential aspects of technologysupported meditation. Results supported using virtual worlds to produce restorative natural environments. Participants overwhelmingly reacted positively to the islandscape including both visual and sound elements. Findings indicated that Sanctuarium facilitated the meditation experience, similar to guided meditation – although participants remarked on the uniqueness of the experience. Aspects of facilitation centered on the concepts of non-distraction, focus, and simplicity of design and instructions. Participants also identified Sanctuarium as a good tool for helping those new to meditation. Meditators described positive effects of their meditation experience during interviews and also rated their experience as positive using the scale titled Effects of Meditation During Meditation. Phenomenological analysis provided a rich description of the nature of engagement while meditating with Sanctuarium. Meditators also rated engagement as high via an adapted User Engagement Scale. This interdisciplinary work drew from multiple fields and contributes to the HCI domain, virtual worlds' literature, information systems research, and the nascent areas of positive technology and positive computing.


Forty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into honey (1.0ml/100g honey), honey control (1.0ml/100g 0.9% NaCl), nicotine (0.5mg/100g nicotine), nicotine control (0.1ml/100g 0.9% NaCl) and nicotine-honey (0.5mg/100g nicotine and 1.0ml/100g honey) groups and treated for 60 days. On day 61, the rats were sacrificed and blood was drawn for blood hormone analysis. The testes were fixed in Bouin's solution followed by Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining technique. This treatment did not significantly affect the testosterone level for all five groups (p≥0.05). The N (263.79±2.17μm) group showed significantly lower diameter of seminiferous tubules compared to the other four groups. The NH (135.02±1.66μm) and HC (130.61±2.05μm) groups were observed to have significantly higher diameter of lumen. The H (34.96±0.40μm) group showed significantly larger width of spermatocytes compared to the N and NH groups (p<0.05). Densely packed and abundant spermatogenic cells were observed in the H, HC, NC and NH treated rats. Degeneration of spermatogenic cells, lower numbers of Leydig and Sertoli cells were observed in the N group. ThSese findings imply that Tualang honey can significantly improve the spermatogenesis process in rats and suggest its potential healing properties to reduce the effects of nicotine in humans.


Over the past few years, the European Union has undertaken an active and broad process of harmonization of Private Law and Private International Law. Focusing on choice-of-law rules, many diverse areas of law have been influenced by this harmonization, so that today a growing set of common choice-of-law rules exists within the European Union. Nevertheless, this process, directly grounded upon Article 81 TFEU, is far from being finished. The harmonization effort will likely increase in the near future so as to embrace many domains not yet governed by the European instruments. These future developments will vastly alter the basis and current situation of PIL in Europe, leading to a dramatic change of scene in the years to come. Besides, harmonization will create an additional effect; the process undertaken will foster an even more rapid expansion of international and interstate trade and, therefore, increase the number of cross-border cases arising within the EU integrated territory.Focusing primarily on what is still to be undertaken within the process of harmonization of PIL in Europe, there is still some concern about the lack of a common set of rules governing the application of foreign law by EU judicial and non-judicial authorities. Although this is a longstanding and well known issue, no common action has been taken so far in Europe, which has created a real and insurmountable weakness in the whole process of harmonization4 that is capable of undermining the very effectiveness of the designed common system of choice-of-law rules. The Article deals with the current situation and analyzes the so-called Madrid Principles, approved in February 2010 in order to foster the adoption of a common EU rule on this area.


Pathway diagrams, similar to the graph diagrams using a node-link representation, are used by biologists to represent complex interactions at the molecular level in living cells. The recent shift towards data-intensive bioinformatics and systems-level science has created a strong need for advanced pathway visualization tools that support exploratory data analysis. User studies suggest that an important requirement for biologists is the need to associate microarray data to pathway diagrams. A design space for visualization tools that allow analysis of microarray data in pathway context was identified for a systematic evaluation of the visualization alternatives. The design space is divided into two dimensions. Dimension 1 is based on the method used to overlay data attributes onto pathway nodes. The three possible approaches are: overlay of data on pathway nodes one data attribute at a time by manipulating a visual property (e.g. color) of the node, along with sliders or some such mechanism to animate the pathway for other timepoints. In another approach data from all the attributes in data can be overlaid simultaneously by embedding small charts (e.g., line charts or heatmap) into pathway nodes. The third approach uses miniature version of the pathways-as-glyph view for each attribute in the data. Dimension 2 decides if additional view besides pathway diagrams were used. These pathway visualizations are often linked to other type of visualization methods (e.g., parallel co-ordinates) using the concept of brushing and linking. The visualization alternatives from pathway + microarray data design space were evaluated by conducting two independent user studies. Both the studies used timeseries datasets. The first study used visualization alternatives from both dimension 1 and dimension 2. The results suggest that the method to overlay multidimensional data on pathway nodes has a non trivial influence on accuracy of participants' responses, whereas the number of visualizations affect participants' performance time for pre-selected tasks. The second study used visualization alternatives from dimension 1 that focuses on method used to overlay data attributes on pathway nodes. The study suggests that participants using pathway visualization that display data one attribute at a time on nodes have more controlled performance for all type of tasks as compared to the participants using other alternatives. Participants using pathway visualization that display data in node-as-glyphs view have better performance for tasks that require analysis for a single node, and identifying outlier nodes. Whereas, pathway visualizations with pathways-asglyph view provide better performance on tasks that require analysis of overall changes in the pathway, and identifying interesting timepoints in the data. An insight-based method was designed to evaluate visualization tools for real world biologists' data analysis scenarios. The insight-based method uses different quantifiable characteristics of an 'insight' that can be measured uniformly across participants.


Rhizophora mangle L., the predominant neotropical mangrove species, occupies a gradient from low intertidal swamp margins with high insolation, to shaded sites at highest high water. Across a light gradient, R. mangle shows properties of both "light-demanding" and "shade-tolerant" species, and defies designation according to existing successional paradigms for rain forest trees. The mode and magnitude of its adaptability to light also change through ontogeny as it grows into the canopy. We characterized and compared phenotypic flexibility of R. mangle seedlings, saplings, and tree modules across changing light environments, from the level of leaf anatomy and photosynthesis, through stem and whole-plant architecture. We also examined growth and mortality differences among sun and shade populations of seedlings over 3 yr. Sun and shade seedling populations diverged in terms of four of six leaf anatomy traits (relative thickness of tissue layers and stomatal density), as well as leaf size and shape, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf internode distances, disparity in blade-petiole angles, canopy spread: height ratios, standing leaf numbers, summer (July) photosynthetic light curve shapes, and growth rates. Saplings showed significant sun/shade differences in fewer characters: leaf thickness, SLA, leaf overlap, disparity in bladepetiole angles, standing leaf numbers, stem volume and branching angle (first-order branches only), and summer photosynthesis. In trees, leaf anatomy was insensitive to light environment, but leaf length, width, and SLA, disparities in bladepetiole angles, and summer maximal photosynthetic rates varied among sun and shade leaf populations. Seedling and sapling photosynthetic rates were significantly depressed in winter (December), while photosynthetic rates in tree leaves did not differ in winter and summer. Seasonal and ontogenetic changes in response to light environment are apparent at several levels of biological organization in R. mangle, within constraints of its architectural bauplan. Such variation has implications for models of stand carbon gain, and suggest that response flexibility may change with plant age.


Action research is a systematic approach to investigation that enables people to find effective solutions to problems they confront in their everyday lives. A significant feature is that action research lays claim to the professional development in education. Action research as any systematic inquiry conducted by teachers, administrators, and counselors with a vested interest in the teaching and learning process, for the purpose of gathering data about how their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how their students learn. Education is perhaps the most prolific source of action research resources. Action research can be done by teachers in their own classrooms with the goal of improving pedagogy and student learning.This research aims to conduct a review on Springer's action research approach for teachers and others involved in schools to engage in systematic inquiry with the intent of improving their educational practices or solving significant problems they experience in their professional life. This review article shows action research provides a fruitful avenue of investigation for teachers, administrators, and others involved in education. This study describes the process of Springer's action research that enables teachers to keep track and take account of the many aspects of their work with students through a systematic routine.


Spatial management measures are currently being used to manage bycatch and discards, given the spatial heterogeneity of fish distributions. However, permanent fishing closures are often poorly implemented, unresponsive to stock dynamics and do not achieve their management objectives. Recently, real-time spatial management tools for managing bycatch and discards implemented under either a comanagement or self-governance approach have been introduced in Europe and the US. Real-time catch and discard information is shared among fishers to incentivise and encourage vessels to leave areas of high bycatch. Here, the similarities and differences, in governance, implementation and management of ten real-time spatial management systems from across Europe and the US are reviewed. A framework is developed to characterize the attributes associated with voluntary, private and regulatory real-time spatial management tools. Challenges and management practices in the different case studies are reviewed providing insights for designing these spatial management tools. The results illustrate that real-time spatial management approaches can create incentives for fishers to develop, use and share information and technology to avoid undesired catch. Compared with Europe, the US has developed spatial management tools with more truly real-time mechanisms and with greater involvement of the fishing industry in designing and operating the tools.


The acid dissociation constants (pKas) of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) have been the subject of discussion in the literature; for example, values from -0.2 to 3.8 have been suggested for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The dissociated anionic conjugate bases of PFCAs have negligible air-water partition coefficients (KAWs) and do not volatilize from water. The neutral acids, however, have relatively high KAWs and volatilization from water has been demonstrated. The extent of volatilization of PFCAs in the environment will depend on the water pH and their pKa. Knowledge of the pKas of PFCAs is therefore vital for understanding their environmental transport and fate. We investigated the water-to-air transfer of PFCAs in a novel experimental setup. We used ∼1 μg L(-1) of PFCAs in water (above environmental background concentrations but below the concentration at which self-association occurs) at different water pH (pH 0.3 to pH 6.9) and sampled the PFCAs volatilized from water during a 2-day experiment. Our results suggest that the pKas of C4-11 PFCAs are <1.6. For PFOA, we derived a pKa of 0.5 from fitting the experimental measurements with a volatilization model. Perfluoroalkane sulfonic acids were not volatilized, suggesting that their pKas are below the investigated pH range (pKa <0.3).


THE CORRELATION BETWEEN CHURCH LEADERS' UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISSUE OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AND PREVENTIVE STEPS TAKEN WITHIN THEIR CHURCHES Dawn R. Morton, Ed.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005 Chairperson: Dr. Katheryn L. Webb The research examined the relationship between knowledge of faith-based church leaders regarding the facts of child sexual abuse and the practice of child sexual abuse prevention steps utilized within the church. It examined the historical, theological, biblical, and ethical concerns about child sexual abuse and the church. The biblical accounts of David and Bathsheba along with the story of Tamar and Amnon were reflected upon within the historical and biblical context of sexual abuse. The theological understanding of sin and its results was analyzed in the context of child sexual abuse. A chronological exploration of the history of child abuse in the United States along with statistics for the represented years was included in the study. Exploration of the abuse of power, the multi leveled aspects of denial, the victim, the perpetrator, prevention steps available to the church and parental partnership were included. The common prevention steps discussed were: a written policy and procedure manual, screening form, interview, reference checks by phone or written, criminal background checks (fingerprinting), keeping doors open, windows in the classrooms, hall monitor system, a 2-adult rule, computer on-line check for sexual offenders, waiting six months from membership, prevention training at the local church, prevention training at denominational level, adequate church insurance, and a team of members ready to deal with any accusations that may occur. There was a description of the research process. The study was descriptive quantitative research by use of a research instrument (developed from the precedent literature and validated by an expert panel) that examined the relationship between knowledge and practice of faith-based church leaders regarding child sexual abuse and prevention. The research instrument consisted of five sections: Demographics, Likert Response Scale, Prevention Steps Checklist, Hindrances, and Comments. The Likert Response Scale included questions on knowledge of child sexual abuse facts, knowledge of prevention steps, higher education, and the issue of denial among church leaders. There were 2,1 3 seminary students who were church leaders that participated in the research study. Displays of the data, analysis of the data, and interpretation of the data were included along with a description of the research implications and applications, along with possible further research. Pearson r correlation was conducted to determine if there was a relationship found between knowledge and practice of church leaders. Recommendations were made to the church on the subject of child sexual abuse prevention.


I present a hypothesis concerning the neuronal, mental and behavioral effects of all kinds of affective (emotional) stimuli, i.e., of unpleasant and pleasant stimuli. I use the term stimulus in its broad sense. Affective stimuli evoke two associated percepts: "cognitive" and "affective". A food in the mouth, for example, evokes the gustatory percept and the percept of pleasure. However, affective percepts are unstable parts of cognitive-affective compounds. Five types of affective percepts are pain, fear, pleasure, "desire" and appetite in the broad sense of these words. Desire is evoked by inadequate pleasant stimuli. Affective percepts are "lower" or "higher". The latter are not directly associated with bodily needs. Esthetic and social percepts are higher, for example. Although pain and pleasure are essentially innate, they can be modified by sensory experience. Alimentary and esthetic preferences and social values are modifiable, for example. The neurons of pain and fear and of the unpleasant components of desire and appetite motivate four types of voluntary actions. These are, respectively, escape, avoidance, "optimization" and approach actions. All these actions eliminate the motivating displeasure. In addition, avoidance actions protect from the signaled pain, optimization actions increase the existing pleasure and approach actions provide the signaled pleasure. Thus, voluntary actions associated with different percepts occur according to one universal principle. Voluntary actions are "internal" and behavioral. During internal actions a goal and then an action plan are decided. These actions often provide the images of the goal stimuli and of particular movements.


This study investigated the urban growth dynamics of urban regions. The study area was the Marmara Region, one of the most densely populated and ecologically diverse areas in Turkey. Using CORINE land cover data for 2006, 2012, and 2018, the study utilized multiple correspondence analyses and cluster analyses, to analyze land cover changes. The resulting maps, visualized in GIS, revealed the rapid urban transformation of the regional structure, formerly comprised of four distinct areas, into a more complex structure, in which densification and sprawl occur simultaneously. Our findings demonstrated a dissonance between the spatial dynamics of the Marmara Region during the study period, and the capacity and scope of the simultaneously initiated regional policies and mega-projects. This uncoordinated approach has endangered the region's sustainable development. The paper, therefore, discusses the importance of land use planning and transboundary collaboration for sustainable regional development. Beyond the local case, the results contribute to critical theories in regional planning by linking theory and practice.


The increasing use of social media platforms like Twitter has attracted a large number of online users to express their attitude toward certain topics. Sentiment, opinion, and action, as three essential aspects of user attitude, have been studied separately in various existing research work. Investigating them together not only brings unique challenges but can also help better understand a user's online behavior and benefit a set of applications related to online campaign and recommender systems. In this paper, we present a computational model that estimates individual social media user's attitude toward controversial topics in terms of the three aspects and their relationships. Our model can simultaneously capture the three aspects so as to predict action and sentiment based on one's opinions.Experiments on multiple social media campaign datasets demonstrated that our attitude model can more effectively predict people's sentiment, opinion and action than approaches that treat these aspects separately.


This paper studies the universal approximation property of deep neural networks for representing probability distributions. Given a target distribution $\pi$ and a source distribution $p_z$ both defined on $\mathbb{R}^d$, we prove under some assumptions that there exists a deep neural network $g:\mathbb{R}^d\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ with ReLU activation such that the push-forward measure $(\nabla g)_\# p_z$ of $p_z$ under the map $\nabla g$ is arbitrarily close to the target measure $\pi$. The closeness are measured by three classes of integral probability metrics between probability distributions: $1$-Wasserstein distance, maximum mean distance (MMD) and kernelized Stein discrepancy (KSD). We prove upper bounds for the size (width and depth) of the deep neural network in terms of the dimension $d$ and the approximation error $\varepsilon$ with respect to the three discrepancies. In particular, the size of neural network can grow exponentially in $d$ when $1$-Wasserstein distance is used as the discrepancy, whereas for both MMD and KSD the size of neural network only depends on $d$ at most polynomially. Our proof relies on convergence estimates of empirical measures under aforementioned discrepancies and semi-discrete optimal transport.


The paper presents the geometry and structure of a mechatronic system that defines the functions of a prehensor.By assembling the elements within the structure, it can be obtained prehensors configured with 2 to 5 elements, which by geometrical configuration can reproduce the dynamics of the human hand. The quality of the prehension is determined by the degree of mobility between the object and the prehensor during the functional activity specific to the programmed task.The mechanical characteristic of the proposed prehensor for the selfadaptive control represents the function generated by the linear and circular displacements of the elements that define the geometrical structure equivalent to the human hand.There are presented the kinematic diagrams, which each describe the rotational movement respectively, the translational movement.The combination of the geometrical elements of the two schemes defines the kinematic structure of a self-adaptive prehensor with complex movements.With this structure presented in the paper, objects with different geometric shapes, simple and complex or combined, can be prehensat. The mechanical particularities of the self-adaptive prehensor are realized by the mechanical independence of each arm or finger.The proposed self-adaptive control allows the definition of the geometric shapes of prehensat objects. Key-words: prehensor, self-adaptive, grippers, kinematic scheme, arms, jaw.


The present research offers the rare opportunity to compare the human remains of an ancient (3rd-1st century BC) population from the North Cemetery of Demetrias, Thessaly, and a modern (late 19th-late 20th
century AD) one, the Athens Collection, from various cemeteries in Athens, Greece. Its main purpose is to explore the biological similarities and differences between the two populations and among the subsets within each one of them, as these are defined by biosocial parameters, namely sex/gender, and purely social, that is socioeconomic status. An attempt is made to associate biological with social variation through oral pathology and wear and address questions as to whether the health status of burial populations can indeed reflect socioeconomic conditions and status in life.
Data analysis produced very conclusive differences between the two populations, and among sex/gender and socioeconomic status groups and suggests that dental caries, antemortem tooth loss, occlusal wear and dental enamel defects are very sensitive indicators of social position and conditions in general. Comparisons between the ancient and the contemporary population reveal that environmental, cultural and socioeconomic circumstances did not have the same effect on all oral conditions. Moreover, variations between the sexes are quite evident in Demetrias and they appear to reflect the inferior social position of both women and female infants/children. In contrast, in Athens, there is no evidence to indicate gender discrimination or favourable treatment of male infants. Social class differentiation manifests itself in the distribution of oral pathology and wear between status groups in both assemblages, but it is clearly more pronounced in Demetrias. Finally, this thesis contributes towards a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between biological and socioeconomic status and of the Hellenistic biocultural history. It also emphasises that analysis of human remains should be carefully contextualised culturally, archaeologically and historically.


This paper explores the process of self-reflection undertaken by a History lecturer with a view to promoting the same type of critical awareness among a group of thirdyear History students at a South African university. The study draws on student experiences of and responses to a critical pedagogy that offered a deconstruction of past identities and enabled an emerging discourse of agency with contemporary relevance. By means of a qualitative methodological approach, openended, reflective questionnaires were used amongst a focus group to gauge student perspectives. The paper concludes that via creative and innovative pedagogy, History can become a vehicle for promoting self-awareness and in turn critical citizenship in South Africa's current social context.


Considering the ever-increasing government debts of industrial countries as well as missing financial resources of emerging and developing countries, the international press outdoes themselves with headlines on the subject tax, tax evasion, tax dodging and tax shifting. International corporations like Amazon, Apple, Google, Ikea or Starbucks are obviously able to shift their profits legally across the world in order to deliberately save tax payments. The arising tax loss out of such activities in Europe is estimated to be around one trillion Euro, while in Germany it is estimated to be around 160 billion euros. In order to counteract this phenomenon states as well as the OECD are developing concepts, practices and actions to combat tax shifting of corporations on an international base. The true objective is, to pay taxes where the actual added value creation takes place.
This bachelor thesis considers the general representation of this subject and provides a deeper look on the different parties involved in tax shifting operations as well as on their respective motifs. Basic constructions of techniques are outlined and shown. By assumption models it can be determined that in Non-Tax haven countries tax shifting leads to a substantial economic loss, whereas for countries considered as tax havens this characteristic does not necessarily lead to a greater economic growth in the country. Further it is illustrated to which extent companies are able to establish a competitive advantage over other companies through tax shifting methods. Additionally it becomes obvious that the use of tax havens is finally leading to a closure of gaps in the law within the different tax systems and consequently it will lead to an increased tax justice in the long run.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether there was a difference in morbidity, recurrence rate, and length of hospital stay between patients undergoing open or laparoscopic incisional hernia repair.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Single-institution cohort study. We compared prospectively collected patient cohorts undergoing laparoscopic or open intraperitoneal onlay mesh repair. Statistical analysis was performed by Fisher exact test and analysis of variance.

PATIENTS
Between October 1995 and December 2005, data from 360 consecutive patients who had undergone open or laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh repair of a ventral hernia were prospectively collected in a database and were supplemented by record review.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Morbidity, hernia recurrence, and length of hospital stay. Postoperative complications of Clavien grade II or greater were considered major complications.

RESULTS
Intraperitoneal onlay mesh repair was performed in 233 patients by the open approach and in 127 patients using the laparoscopic approach. The groups were similar for sex and body mass index (calculated as the weight in kilograms divided by the height in meters squared); the mean age of the laparoscopic group was 3 years younger; and the mesh was larger in the laparoscopic group. Mean follow-up was 30 and 36 months for the laparoscopic and open groups, respectively; the conversion rate was 4%. Major morbidities were 15% in the open group vs 7% in the laparoscopic group (P = .01). Recurrence rates were 9% in the open group vs 12% in the laparoscopic group (P = .36). Postoperative inpatient admission was more frequent after the open procedure than after the laparoscopic procedure (28% vs 16%, respectively; P<.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Outcomes did not differ with respect to recurrence rates after long-term follow-up; however, the lower rate of major morbidity and increased outpatient-based procedure rates favor laparoscopic repair in this study.


Social work field placement is essential unit in the social work studies at university. At Vytautas Magnus University, Social Work Department, there is established special group for organizing field placement for social work students, which aims that every student would have possibility to have individual process of experiential learning during the field placement. It is emphasized that in the learning process in the field for the future social worker it is particularly important to master practical knowledge through reflecting, conceptualizing and modifying facing the unexpected situations while working with the client. There are important roles in the learning process during field placement together constructing the content: student, mentor, tutor and lecturers. The aim of the article is to disclose the peculiarities of content creation during field placement as experiential learning process. During the field placement there is important active input of every partner in the creation of the content. Student in this process experience two stages of professional development: from unclear and unlimited client's situations, where social work has no comprehensive identity, to ability to tolerate paradoxical client's situation and social work clearer identity. The professionals in the agencies working as professional social workers, who are supporting students during field placement, should perform mastery in their professional role, also be able to lead the student as an inexperienced colleague through learning process. Tutor is promoting student's ability to reflect practice situations, implement theoretical knowledge attempting to explain real situations, and thus find certain tendencies in experience during the practice placement.


This paper presents asymmetric-shaped tapers (or windows) for speaker recognition. Symmetric tapers (e.g., hamming), having the linear phase property and longer time delay, are widely used for short-time analysis of speech signals. Since human speech perception is relatively insensitive to short-time phase distortion, the linearity constraint on phase can be removed without any adverse effects. Use of asymmetric tapers, having better magnitude response and shorter time delay, in speaker recognition can lead to a better recognition performance. Speaker verification results on the telephone and microphone speech of the latest NIST 2010 SRE corpus show that the asymmetric-shaped tapers perform better than the symmetric hamming window.


Multiparty session types (MST) are a well-established type theory that describes the interactive structure of a fixed number of components from a global point of view and type-checks the components through projection of the global type onto the participants of the session. They guarantee communicationsafety for a language of multiparty sessions (LMS), i.e., distributed, parallel components can exchange values without deadlocking and unexpected message types. Several variants of MST and LMS have been proposed to study key features of distributed and parallel programming. We observe that the population of the considered variants follows from only one ancestor, i.e., the original LMS/MST, and there are overlapping traits between features of the considered variants and the original. These hamper evolution of session types and languages and their adoption in practice. This paper addresses the following question: What are the essential features for MST and LMS, and how can these be modelled with simple constructs? To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this question has been addressed. We performed a systematic analysis of the features and the constructs in MST, LMS, and the considered variants to identify the essential features. The variants are among the most influential (according to Google Scholar) and well-established systems that cover a wide set of areas in distributed, parallel programming. We used classical techniques of formal models such as BNF, structural congruence, small step operational semantics and typing judgments to build our language and type system. Lastly, the coherence of operational semantics and type system is proven by induction. This paper proposes a set of essential features, a language of structured interactions and a type theory of comprehensive multiparty session types, including global types and type system. The analysis removes overlapping features and captures the shared traits, thereby introducing the essential features. The constructs of the language are simple and fundamental, based on the $\lambda$ and $\pi$ calculi. Analogously, our global types reflect what is omitted and introduced in the language. Our system covers all the features of the original and variants, with a better ratio of the number of language and type constructs over the number of covered features. The features of the original, variants, and our system along with the number of constructs in the respective language and global types to model them are presented through a table. The syntax, operational semantics, meta-theory and type system of our system are given. We modelled all the motivating examples of the variants in our model, describing the reduction and typing steps. The work discusses how new features, in particular the non-essential ones (formerly excluded) and advanced ones can be either modelled atop the essential ones or added with minimal efforts, i.e. without modifying the existing ones. The fundamental properties of typed processes such as subject reduction, communication safety, and progress are established.


IoT (Internet Of Things) is fast emerging technology which involves interaction among things through internet without human interference. It has made human life easier and comfortable. Now-a-days digital devices in home are increasing rapidly due to which there is a need of accessing and controlling the devices remotely. This paper represents an affordable and flexible home control system using an Arduino, web server with IP connectivity for interacting with devices and appliances remotely using Android based Smart phone app. It demonstrates the usefulness of the system using devices such as light switches, temperature sensors, and water-level sensors. In addition to remote control it also provides reminders, voice commands functionality. This project is very useful for people with physical disability. It also plays a vital role in maintaining living standards and provide secure and flexible environment.


This paper introduces and validates quantitative performance measures for a rhythmic target-hitting task. These performance measures are derived from a detailed analysis of human performance during a month-long training experiment where participants learned to operate a 2-DOF haptic interface in a virtual environment to execute a manual control task. The motivation for the analysis presented in this paper is to determine measures of participant performance that capture the key skills of the task. This analysis of performance indicates that two quantitative measurestrajectory error and input frequencycapture the key skills of the target-hitting task, as the results show a strong correlation between the performance measures and the task objective of maximizing target hits. The performance trends were further explored by grouping the participants based on expertise and examining trends during training in terms of these measures. In future work, these measures will be used as inputs to a haptic guidance scheme that adjusts its control gains based on a real-time assessment of human performance of the task. Such guidance schemes will be incorporated into virtual training environments for humans to develop manual skills for domains such as surgery, physical therapy, and sports.


This article examines how the criminal justice agencies are implementing the legislative and administrative measures designed to enable child witnesses to give their best evidence in criminal proceedings. It draws upon empirical research that found that child witnesses are not always being afforded the benefits that the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 envisages should be available to them. One of the reasons for this may be the exclusion of child defendants from the protective regime. The research found a perceived need for parity of treatment where both the defendant and other witnesses in the case are children.


This guide's purpose is to house and provide access to numerous tutorial videos and related materials to enhance patrons' information literacy skills and help them navigate the library collections effectively.


The Pecos country of this report includes most of the Pecos Valley drainage area from 60 mi north of Roswell to the New Mexico-Texas line. The area of some 12,500 sq mi is dominantly surfaced by Permian carbonate and evaporite rocks of the San Andres Formation and the Artesia Group, both mostly of the Guadalupian age. A wide swath of alluvium and terrace gravel covers the broad lowland of the Pecos River and its tributaries. Tributary drainage to the valley is quite asymmetrical as the result of the broad high uplifts to the west and the low Llano Estacado to the east. From the west nine major tributary systems 50-100 mi long contrast with the few short washes from the east.Aside from one small inlier of Precambrian crystalline rocks at Pajarito Mountain, Leonardian siltstone, sandstone, gypsum, and dolomite of the Yeso Formation are the oldest rocks exposed in the area. At the Pajarito Precambrian area the Yeso is as little as a few feet thick, but in surrounding areas it ranges from about 1,000 ft in several exposures to its full thickness of 1,300-2,000 ft.The San Andres Formation has been divided into three new members named, in ascending order; Rio Bonito, Bonney Canyon, and Fourmile Draw. Glorieta Sandstone tongues extend into the area from the north, and northward, not far beyond the mapped area, the Rio Bonito Member becomes the Glorieta Sandstone. The Bonney Canyon Member is thickest in the central part of the area. In the north it thins, and at least locally, grades into evaporite beds. To the south, the Bonney Canyon thins and is lost approaching the shelf margin in thick or massive beds. The Fourmile Draw Member is essentially the upper, noncherty member of Hayes in the back-reef country.Formations of the Artesia Group are mapped individually as exposed east of the Pecos River and north of Roswell. Grayburg and Queen are mostly covered in the broad alluvial valley from the Seven Rivers area north to Roswell, where they are mapped together in an undivided sequence. Yates, Seven Rivers, and Tansill are mapped individually, but north of Hagerman, the Tansill is lapped out by Triassic beds or covered by alluvium. In the Capitan reef area, the Artesia formations are individually mapped close to the structureless reef or bank at the shelf edge. It is suggested the Lamar tongue near the top of the Bell Canyon Formation may project to near the base of the Yates Formation rather than high in the Tansill Formation.The Castile Formation is mapped into lower and upper members, and it is suggested that both might be basin facies of the part of the Yates and Tansill Formations. Known Mesozoic units are mapped where present, but not given special attention. Triassic Santa Rosa Sandstone is mapped east of the Pecos, stepping down northward across the area from Dewey Lake Formation in the south to Yates in the north. In the Capitan-Ruidoso country, Dakota Sandstone is mapped southward, stepping down from Triassic Chinle Shale to the San Andres Formation.


Whenever feasible, market power determinations should rest on competitive benchmark prices rather than the typical market concentration approach. Government regulators in many countries have issued guidelines on the evaluation of market power in the merger context and other areas that define relevant markets and calculate market shares - along with a summary measure of market concentration, usually the Hirschman-Herfindahl index (HHI). However, competition authorities recognize that high concentration measures are generally not a sufficient condition to infer market power. Use of other structural factors in a market often does not lead to any clearer conclusion. We show that prices that consumers pay for the product in question often offer a superior quantitative measurement that leads to a clearer conclusion than the HHI approach. Further, because prices form the basis for the evaluation of consumer welfare (consumers surplus), they also provide important information for competition authorities, whose goal is typically the protection of consumer welfare. To demonstrate our argument, we examine a decision by the Irish telecommunications regulator, ComReg, which used the EU competition guidelines and the HHI approach to determine that Ireland's two largest mobile providers, Vodafone and O2, had joint dominance and were exercising significant market power. We demonstrate how our benchmark prices approach is superior to the HHI approach. We thank the ABA for granting permission to post the article.


The aggregation behaviour of the cationic pinacyanol chloride in aqueous solution is investigated using absorption and linear dichroism spectroscopies, optical microscopy and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). The investigations are focused on solutions in a concentration range from 50 μM up to 1 mM. At a concentration of 0.7 mM H-aggregates are detected that are characterized by a broad absorption band centred at ∼511 nm. The aggregates possess a tubular architecture with a single-layer wall thickness of ∼2.5 nm and an outer diameter of ∼6.5 nm. Linear dichroism spectroscopy indicates that the molecules are packed with their long axis parallel to the tube axis. These H-aggregates are not stable, but transform into J-aggregates on the time scale of weeks. The kinetics of J-aggregation depends on the dye concentration and the route of sample preparation, but can also be enhanced by shear stress. J-aggregates possess a split absorption spectrum composed of two longitudinally polarized J-bands and one H-band that is polarized perpendicular to the aggregate axis. The J-aggregates are ∼9 nm wide and several micrometer long fibrils consisting of stacked pairs of ribbons with a dumbbell-shaped density cross-section. Upon aging these ribbons laterally stack face-to-face to form tape-like aggregates.


Organisations make use of e-mail marketing messages, with Swedish companies spending SEK40 million on this form of marketing communication. The purpose of this paper was to examine the attitudes of decision-makers in the Swedish manufacturing industry regarding e-mail marketing messages received. The authors used a quantitative research approach with an online-survey in order to collect the necessary data. The population was decision-makers within the manufacturing industry in Sweden and 1 777 responses from decision-makers were received and analysed. The majority of decision-makers tend to have negative attitudes toward e-mail marketing messages. Differences in attitudes exist between those of different ages and positions within companies. While respondents indicated that they check their e-mail frequently, no significant differences in attitudes to e-mail marketing messages could be identified. Marketers can attempt to improve attitudes among recipients by building relationships with the recipients prior to sending e-mail marketing messages, and paying attention to the layout and content of the e-mails.


The immersion of foreign terrorists in the long-running Moro Islamic insurgency in the southern Philippines turned the Philippines into a front line in the regional war on terror. The direct links between terrorist safe havens in Mindanao and the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 brought this traumatically home to Australia. The decade-old peace process between the Philippine government and the largest insurgent group, the MILF, offers the best chance of permanently ending the insurgency and its links to regional terrorism. This paper by Malcolm Cook and Kit Collier analyses the prospects for peace in Mindanao and the threats facing the peace process. It also offers a number of policy recommendations for the involved foreign governments to better the odds that a sustainable peace deal can be struck and implemented.


We present a 1.1mm wavelength imaging survey covering 0.3 deg^2 in the COSMOS field. These data, obtained with the AzTEC continuum camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, were centred on a prominent large-scale structure overdensity which includes a rich X-ray cluster at z ≈ 0.73. A total of 50 mm-galaxy candidates, with a significance ranging from 3.5 to 8.5σ, are extracted from the central 0.15 deg^2 area which has a uniform sensitivity of ∼1.3 mJy beam^−1. 16 sources are detected with S/N ≥ 4.5, where the expected false detection rate is zero, of which a surprisingly large number (9) have intrinsic (deboosted) fluxes ≥5 mJy at 1.1 mm. Assuming the emission is dominated by radiation from dust, heated by a massive population of young, optically obscured stars, then these bright AzTEC sources have far-infrared luminosities >6 × 10^(12)L_☉ and star formation rates ≥1100M_☉ yr^(−1). Two of these nine bright AzTEC sources are found towards the extreme peripheral region of the X-ray cluster, whilst the remainder are distributed across the larger scale overdensity. We describe the AzTEC data reduction pipeline, the source-extraction algorithm, and the characterization of the source catalogue, including the completeness, flux deboosting correction, false-detection rate and the source positional uncertainty, through an extensive set of Monte Carlo simulations. We conclude with a preliminary comparison, via a stacked analysis, of the overlapping MIPS 24-μm data and radio data with this AzTEC map of the COSMOS field.


A decrease in student attendance at lectures both nationally and internationally, has prompted educators to re-evaluate their teaching methods and investigate strategies which promote student engagement. The flipped classroom model, grounded in active learning pedagogy, transforms the face-to-face classroom. Students prepare for the flipped classroom in their own time by watching short online videos and completing readings. Face-to-face time is used to apply learning through problem-solving with peers. To improve the engagement and learning outcomes of our second year cohort, lectures were replaced with short online videos and face-to-face time was spent in a flipped classroom. The impact of the flipped classroom was analysed through surveys, attendance records, learning analytics and exam data before and after the implementation of the flipped classroom. Results suggest an increase in student engagement and a positive attitude towards the learning method. However, there were no measurable increases in student learning outcomes.


Introduction Since the 1960's it has been generally acknowledged that user participation in the Information Systems (IS) development process increases the likelihood of project success (Barki & Hartwick, 1994; Foster & Franz, 1999). Put another way, lack of communication between users and developers has been a common theme in the well-documented reasons for failures in IS implementations (Bussen & Myers, 1997). User involvement is likely to result in increased user satisfaction (Garceau, Jancura, & Kneiss, 1993), and the perceived usefulness of the application (Foster & Franz, 1999; Franz & Robey, 1986; McKeen, Guimaraes, & Wetherbe, 1994). Foster and Franz (1999) emphasise the need for user involvement, most importantly in the early stages of development, concluding, "managers should actively seek user involvement in systems development activities" (p.345). The portfolio of applications being developed today has changed with the emergence of the E-Commerce (EC) business paradigm. Organisations are capitalising on the potential of new technologies such as the Internet, Intranets and the World Wide Web to improve communications and transaction efficiency, reduce operation costs and increase market share. This paradigm shift in business has been supported by applications with a different focus. While organizations continue to implement IS for internal use and to integrate with known business partners, the focus of this paper is business-to-customer (B2C) applications that are available for universal use. The literature to date regarding user participation in IS development has not differentiated between applications designed for traditional environments or for B2C. In comparing the two domains, Fraternali (1999) states: "Applications for the Internet in such domains as electronic commerce, digital libraries and distance learning are characterized by an unprecedented mix of features that makes them radically different from previous applications of information technology" (p. 227). However the underlying process for developing applications is addressed by Yourdon (2000), who questions whether e-business/Internet projects are really that different by suggesting "E-business projects face the same demands pressures and risks as any other kind of IT development project, but to a greater degree". This added pressure comes from not only squeezed timeframes for delivery, but also from the necessity to change accompanying business processes. He suggests also that "the e-business phenomenon is much more fundamental because it creates a much more intimate connection with customers, vendors and suppliers". One feature of B2C systems that differentiates them from traditional MIS applications is the identity of the "user". Traditional systems are developed for a clearly defined set of known users either in-house or business partners. The development may be undertaken in-house or by external parties, but either way, the user communities are clearly identifiable. They are often championing the project and possibly funding it from their budget. Likewise off-the-shelf packages allow organisations to see what they are getting before software purchase. Customisation of the package to meet the organisations needs can then precede implementation. Again the known, distinguishable in-house user community is able to be involved in decisions regarding the adoption and adaptation of the product. In the global business environment of today, a B2C application is inviting the consideration of the world at large. Rather than serving a known user group, B2C sites may target the world at large. Potential users are diverse in all respects, ethnically, culturally as well as geographically. They are also diverse in their computing skills as noted by Fraternali (1999), "Universal access by individuals with limited or no skills in the use of computer applications introduces the need of new man-machine interfaces capable of capturing the customer's attention and facilitating access to information" (p. …


Non-linear systems may undergo abrupt transitions as a result of a gradual change in system drivers. Such regime
shifts, or critical transitions, have been described for a large range of spatio-temporal systems, including those
studied in the social sciences, ecology, geology, and climatology. Regime shifts are considered undesirable
because they cause large changes in values of system variables and because such changes are often difficult to
reverse or even irreversible. Thus, the ability to forecast the probability and timing of a shift may be essential for
designing adaptation strategies to avoid shifts. However, it is hard to even detect upcoming regime shifts because
mean values of observable system state variables show little change before a transition occurs. This problem has
sparked much research focused on finding alternative properties of a system that show a more marked change
before a transition is coming. It turns out that such properties exist, and include higher order statistics of state
variables and patch size distribution.
Despite the identification of these early-warning signals, limited evidence exists that they can be used to
forecast the actual timing of a critical shift. Here, we propose a probabilistic approach to forecast the timing of
a shift by combining uncertain prior information about the ecosystem dynamics (parameters and drivers) and
sampled spatial and temporal correlation and variance of ecosystem states, which are well known early-warning
signals. In our approach, systematic and random sampling error is included in the calculation of the early-warning
signals. These sources of information are combined with a sequential solution of Bayes' equation, solved using
the Particle Filter data assimilation scheme. This scheme takes into account and balances the uncertainty in the
system state and the uncertainty in the observed early-warning signals.
For a synthetic ecosystem of logistically growing vegetation under linear increase in grazing pressure, we
show that the use of sampled early-warning signals results in a lower prediction uncertainty in forecasted timing
of shifts compared to forecasts made with sampled mean state variables. In addition, we show that uncertainty in
all ecosystem drivers and parameters decreases well ahead of a shift. An important conclusion of our study is that
the use of early-warning signals in forecasting of shifts is promising, provided that a large number of samples is
collected (n ≈ 10,000 in our study). This would be feasible with large data sets of biomass that can be derived from
remote sensing data. The large number of samples required explains the limited success of finding early warning
signals from field studies of real world ecosystems because these mostly rely on small data sets from field sampling


Integrated assessment models (IAMs) of climate change combine dynamic descriptions of the energy‐economy system, the climate system, and climate impacts to support the formulation of global, and possibly regional, climate policy. Originally they have been designed to inform mitigation policy but some of them are now applied in the context of adaptation policy as well. This article reviews the modeling of climate impacts and adaptation in global IAMs, including both models with an economic focus and models with a science focus. Key advances in the representation of climate impacts in IAMs during the last decade include improved consideration of differences in impacts across regions, the development of nonmonetary reduced‐form climate impact models, and coupling of global IAMs with regional and sectoral impact models to assess climate change together with other sustainability issues. Further advances include a stronger focus on probabilistic analysis and attempt at considering large‐scale climate instabilities. Adaptation has received only limited attention in global IAMs so far, mostly due to the mismatch in spatial scales at which mitigation and adaptation decisions are generally made. Some recent IAMs attempt to identify optimal levels of adaptation in climate‐sensitive sectors or do include adaptation to climate change explicitly as a decision variable. The main reason for the consideration of adaptation in global welfare‐maximizing IAMs is to assess the sensitivity of mitigation targets to different assumptions about the magnitude and effectiveness of adaptation. IAMs with geographically explicit impact models may also provide information that is useful for adaptation planning. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


From the mid-60s to the mid-80s there has been a gradual but fundamental change in the nature of trade protection. International trade has become increasingly restricted by quotas and other nontariff barriers, as the level of tariffs have fallen and governments have devised other forms of protection for sectors facing increased foreign competition. The paper shows such non-tariff barriers have very different effects and implications from tariff for the welfare outcome of a regional integration agreement. Indeed, binding quotas, differently from tariffs, succeed to preserve the trade volumes with the rest of the world, and lead to welfare improving customs unions and free trade areas since trade between the partners is not expanded at the expense of trade with the outside world. By relating the existence of welfare enhancing regional integration to the systematic change in the type of trade policy conducted by most countries, this paper emphasizes that the desirability of piecemeal reforms has increased through time and justifies a renewed and grown policy interest in preferential trade in the 90s, when NTBs had a greater weight in trade policies. This can contribute to explain the spurt of regionalism observed in the data.


The impact of nanoparticles, NPs, at the single cell level has become a major field of toxicological research and different analytical methodologies are being investigated to obtain biological and toxicological information to better understand the mechanisms of cell–NP interactions. Here, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in the single cell measurement mode (SC-ICP-MS) is proposed to study the uptake of silver NPs, AgNPs, with a diameter of 50 nm by human THP-1 monocytes in a proof-of-principle experiment. The main operating parameters of SC-ICP-MS have been optimized and applied for subsequent quantitative analysis of AgNPs to determine the number of particles in individual cells using AgNP suspensions for calibration. THP-1 cells were incubated with AgNP suspensions with concentrations of 0.1 and 1 μg mL−1 for 4 and 24 hours. The results reveal that the AgNP uptake by THP-1 monocytes is minimal at the lower dose of 0.1 μg mL−1 (roughly 1 AgNP per cell was determined), whereas a large cell-to-cell variance dependent on the exposure time is observed for a 10 times higher concentration (roughly 7 AgNPs per cell). The method was further applied to monitor the AgNP uptake by THP-1 cells differentiated macrophages incubated at the same AgNP concentration levels and exposure times demonstrating a much higher AgNP uptake (roughly from 9 to 45 AgNPs per cell) that was dependent on exposure concentration and remained constant over time. The results have been compared and validated by sample digestion followed by ICP-MS analysis as well as with other alternative promising techniques providing single cell analysis.


In the network comprising thousands of iBGP peers exchanging millions
of routes, many routes are reachable via more than one next-hop. Given
the large scaling targets, it is desirable to restore traffic after
failure in a time period that does not depend on the number of BGP
prefixes. In this document we proposed an architecture by which
traffic can be re-routed to ECMP or pre-calculated backup paths in a
timeframe that does not depend on the number of BGP prefixes. The
objective is achieved through organizing the forwarding data
structures in a hierarchical manner and sharing forwarding elements
among the maximum possible number of routes. The proposed technique
achieves prefix independent convergence while ensuring incremental
deployment, complete automation, and zero management and provisioning
effort. It is noteworthy to mention that the benefits of BGP-PIC are
hinged on the existence of more than one path whether as ECMP or
primary-backup.


The emerging concept of bioeconomy offers several opportunities to address societal challenges. The bioeconomy is mainly driven by advances in microbiology, which can be applied to various processes that use biological resources by shifting consumer preferences and by yielding new insights into resource constraints related to such issues as climate and land. Although expectations are high, less is known about the economic importance of the bioeconomy. This article reviews the methodological challenges of measuring the bioeconomy, the approaches used, and the outcomes reported. The results show that measuring the bioeconomy is still in its infancy and faces a number of methodological challenges. Bioeconomy cuts across sectors and therefore cannot be treated as a traditional sector in economics. Economics must catch up with bioeconomy realities. For a comprehensive economic assessment, information about bioeconomy resources, compounds, and product flows is required. We outline innovations in data storage an...


The global population is ageing, and with it the demand for health and social care. However, the number of people working in the sector is not keeping pace with the change, and the people who have traditionally provided informal and voluntary care are under increasing pressure. This growing gap between need and resources presents a challenge to countries in Europe and beyond, and all are seeking care and support arrangements that are better adapted and prepared for the future. This policy paper is one outcome from a project which investigated these issues across a range of European countries.
There is evidence from research and practice that technology can help to meet the challenge. However, it is still rare to find good matches between the technology and needs, and many potentially useful technical solutions do not find their way to those who could benefit.
The reasons for success or failure of technologies in care are comparable if not the same in the participating countries. Expectations are often unrealistic; the range of products and services is too complex and diverse for people to have a clear overview; appropriate infrastructure (and especially broadband coverage) is often inadequate; and research and development projects sometimes focus more on "selling" a technology than understanding what care recipients and carers might need or prefer. There is a clear need for better information for users on the options, their costs and benefits, and there is also relatively little accessible research into the level and nature of technology use and its social impact.
The key recommendations are
A vision of good later life: Developments in technology and caring need to be seen in the context of a vision of good later life, as understood by those who receive care and those who provide it, and in a framework of human rights. This matters because while it is clear that technology can play an important part in improving the quality of life of older people, technological interests are sometimes prioritised over client needs.
Policy coordination: Governments should aim for better coordination of public policymaking. This should include not only the most obvious Departments – health and social care services - but also digital services, housing, transport, employment, vocational training and others. This matters because technological development is taking place on a piecemeal basis, and relevant government Departments and agencies are not always involved or coordinated. This leads to inefficient use of resources.
Consumer information: A service or agency is needed, ideally at European level, to undertake independent evaluation of the technologies and tools available, and use that to provide information in appropriate forms to government, organisations providing care, carers and older people themselves. This matters because although a great deal of relevant creative technological innovation is taking place in Europe, and it is difficult to establish what is available, what works, in what circumstances, for what groups of older people and at what cost. As a result, governments, care providers and older people themselves, risk making poor investment decisions, in the development of tools and their purchase, delivery and use.
Digital literacy: Governments should ensure that appropriate education is available to enable older people and their carers to confidently make use of the technologies available. This matters because older people are the least likely group to have developed digital skills, although their quality of life, and the efficient use of the services available, will increasingly depend on confident use of technologies. Carers must be included because, while they can be valuable in supporting older people in the use of technologies, they can also be a barrier when they lack the necessary digital skills themselves.


MUSE CSP (Multiply SEgmented Constraint Satisfaction Problem) [5, 61 is an extension to the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) which is especially useful for problems that segment into riultiple instances of CSP that share variables. In Belzerman and Harper [6], the concepts of MUSE node, arc, and path consistency were defined and algorithms for MUSE arc consistency, MUSE AC-1, and MUSE path consistency were developed. MUSE AC-1 is similar to the CSP arc consistency algorithm AC-4 [ l j ] . Recently, Bessikre developed a new algorithm, AC-6 [I], which has the same worst-case running time as AC-4 and is faster than AC-3 and AC-4 in practice. In this paper, we focus on developing two faster MUSE arc consistency algor~thms: MUSE AC-2 which directly applies Bessikre's method to improve upon MUSE AC-1, and MUSE AC-3, which uses our new "lazy" evaluation method for keeping track of the additional sets required by the MUSE approach. These new algorithms decrease the number of steps required to achieve arc ccnsistency in randomly generated MUSE CSP instances when compared to MUSE AC-1. Keyvrords: Problem Solving, Constraint Satisfaction, MUSE arc consistency.


In order to support multiple antennas on compact wireless devices, transceivers are often designed with matching networks that compensate for mutual coupling. Some works have suggested that when optimal matching is applied to such a system, performance at the center frequency can be improved at the expense of an apparent reduction in the system bandwidth. This paper addresses the question of how coupling impacts bandwidth in the context of circular arrays. It will be shown that mutual coupling creates eigen-modes (virtual antennas) with diverse frequency responses, using the standard matching techniques. We shall also demonstrate how common communications techniques such as Diversity-OFDM would need to be optimized in order to compensate for these effects.


Health in All Policies is an approach that seeks to strengthen public policy-making across health and other sectors in order to achieve the most favourable health impacts. There is currently interest in understanding how Health in All Policies is applied in different contexts; whether it makes a difference to policy practices, health outcomes and health equity; and what is required to equip the different sectors to work effectively to improve the health equity impacts of their policies. This article presents findings from a review of domestic policies and practices of Health in All Policies in countries across the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region. The findings illustrate that there is a strong foundation for action, particularly given prior intersectoral action and the important convening point that issues like non-communicable diseases and transport provide for Health in All Policies within the Western Pacific Region. However, the consideration of health equity in Health in All Policies needs more explicit attention. This knowledge can be used for building capacity within the health sector and other sectors to undertake sustainable and effective intersectoral collaboration for improved health equity.


This study aimed to identify the main sources of drinking water, evaluate public perception and satisfaction with regards to tap water and compare it with the distance from provider in Florianopolis city, Southern Brazil. Physicochemical and microbiological parameters of water at daycare centers were also assessed. Questionnaires were applied to 1,298 residences in six districts regarding water quality and consumption preferences and analyzed by adjusted binary logistic regression. Tap water physicochemical and microbiological parameters at the selected districts were assessed during summer and winter seasons. Of the 581 questionnaire respondents, 93% did not drink tap water, mostly due to a lack of confidence in water safety and taste. Only 39% were satisfied with water quality and approximately 30% reported that water is worse in summer season. Most water samples collected were not in accordance with Brazilian regulations. Thirty percent of samples were positive for total coliform, and one sample was positive for infectious adenovirus (38 PFU/L). Chlorine concentration was higher in some districts closer to the provider and during the summer season. These results could be useful in informing political resolutions aiming to improve the quality of drinking water, and to protect human health.


Today several philosophers have begun to develop a positive ethics of self-fashioning, which is non-universalist, aestheticist, and very influenced by Nietzsche. Philosophers who have championed this aesthetic ethics of self-fashioning include Michel Foucault, Richard Shusterman, Alexander Nehamas, Stanley Cavell, and Richard Rorty. Another group of philosophers has focused alternatively on the problems of globalized justice, the importance of spreading democracy, globalized cosmopolitanism, communicative deliberation in the public sphere, and critical approaches to unjust background conditions. These thinkers include John Rawls, Jurgen Habermas, Karl-Otto Apel, Martha Nussbaum, and, again, Richard Rorty. This second group finds the first group to be highly problematic, because its ethics is elitist, not at all democratic. Rather than focus on what universal humanity requires, they focus on "the art of living," "perfectionist techniques of self-enhancement," "aestheticist practices in the arts of narrative self-writing," and so on-and the poor of India do not factor in to that discussion. They do so unabashedly, with no apologies, and find their aestheticism to be a natural outcome of the very democracy the cosmopolitans have helped to champion and bring about. Can these two groups, self-fashioners and cosmopolitans, be reconciled? Rorty, who fits into both groups, thinks they can be reconciled only minimally, and makes a strong division, the strongest in fact in his entire philosophical oeuvre, between the private sphere and the public sphere: that is, he relegates the self-fashioners to the private sphere, and democratic philosophers to the public sphere, with nothing whatever to discuss. The present discussion, however, argues that the two groups are much closer together, much more intrinsically intertwined than that, and that the charge of elitism may be at least partially defused. In order to understand this split, and how it may be reconciled, it is first necessary to understand something about the twentieth century split between modernity and postmodernity. These terms help to mark the philosophical terrain of the latter half of the twentieth century, and still continue to exert their influence today. Modems hold that even after Nietzsche, reason, while hardly pure, still has emancipatory content, still is the only path to freedom and equality, and still provides the only lighthouse in a spreading fog of nihilism. They continue to elevate Kant as the central figure of philosophy, and advance the idea of a globalized democracy as the ultimate telos of history, a final Kingdom of Ends in which ideals of freedom and equality reign supreme. This movement continues to find strong advocates in Apel and Habermas, who have also mounted the strongest critique of postmodernism.1 In contrast to modems, postmoderns have significantly less hope for reason, reject projects of grounding, justification, and emancipation, and turn a skeptical eye toward the goal of a total world state of the kind Kant imagined. Ever since Nietzsche, "reason" has been unmasked as strategic and power-- laden, an instrument of colonization and social distortion, only manipulating a self-image of "emancipatory" and "just" so as to make its distortions more subversive and efficient. Once peeled back, however, a more pluralistic and culturally creative layer comes to the surface: now each culture, and each individual, rather than on-the-way to Enlightenment, is viewed by the postmoderns as narrativally embedded, and normatively self-contained. Moreover, with no ethical view from nowhere for discerning ethical universals, no single cultural narrative-particularly the Enlightenment-has a right to assume pride of place over the others; none, that is, has any right to become a "metanarrative," to use Jean Frangois Lyotard's term. In fact, it was Lyotard who, as spokesman for postmodernity, defined the postmodern condition as precisely this death of belief in metanarratives, and a general skepticism toward the very idea of political universalism. …


A 10-GHz filter/receiver module is implemented in a novel 3-D integration technique suitable for RF and microwave circuits. The receiver designed and fabricated in a commercial 0.18m CMOS process is integrated with embedded passive components fabricated on a high-resistivity Si substrate using a recently developed self-aligned wafer-level integration technology. Integration with the filter is achieved through bonding a highevanescent-mode cavity filter onto the silicon wafer using screen printable conductive epoxy. With adjustment of the input matching of the receiver integrated circuit by the embedded passives fabricated on the Si substrate, the return loss, conversion gain, and noise figure of the front-end receiver are improved. At RF frequency of 10.3 GHz and with an IF frequency of 50 MHz, the integrated front-end system achieves a conversion gain of 19 dB, and an overall noise figure of 10 dB. A fully integrated filter/receiver on an Si substrate that operates at microwave frequencies is demonstrated.


IMPORTANCE
Interventions that prevent falls, facilitate discharge after hospitalization, and reduce hospital readmissions assist occupational therapy practitioners in demonstrating professional value, improving quality, and reducing costs.

OBJECTIVE
In this systematic review, we address three outcome areas of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014: prevention and reduction of falls, facilitation of community discharge and reintegration, and prevention of hospital readmission.

DATA SOURCES
We conducted a search of the literature published between 2009 and 2019. Study Selection and Data Collection: We developed operational definitions to help us identify articles that answered the search question for each outcome area. This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

FINDINGS
We found 53 articles that address the three outcome areas. Regarding the prevention and reduction of falls, low strength of evidence is available for interventions focusing on a single fall risk and for customized interventions addressing multiple risks. Moderate strength of evidence supports structured community fall risk prevention interventions. Low strength of evidence was found for community discharge and reintegration interventions that include physical activity and educational programming. Low to moderate strength of evidence was found for readmission prevention interventions for patients with four types of condition. Conclusion and Relevance: Several intervention themes in the three outcome areas of interest are supported by few studies or by studies with a moderate risk of bias. Additional research is needed that supports the value of occupational therapy interventions in these outcome areas. What This Article Adds: Our study provides important insights into the state of the evidence related to occupational therapy interventions to address three outcome areas of the IMPACT Act.


Causality discovery without manipulation is considered a crucial problem to a variety of applications, such as genetic therapy. The state-of-the-art solutions, e.g. LiNGAM, return accurate results when the number of labeled samples is larger than the number of variables. These approaches are thus applicable only when large numbers of samples are available or the problem domain is sufficiently small. Motivated by the observations of the local sparsity properties on causal structures, we propose a general Split-and-Merge strategy, named SADA, to enhance the scalability of a wide class of causality discovery algorithms. SADA is able to accurately identify the causal variables, even when the sample size is significantly smaller than the number of variables. In SADA, the variables are partitioned into subsets, by finding cuts on the sparse probabilistic graphical model over the variables. By running mainstream causation discovery algorithms, e.g. LiNGAM, on the subproblems, complete causality can be reconstructed by combining all the partial results. SADA benefits from the recursive division technique, since each small subproblem generates more accurate result under the same number of samples. We theoretically prove that SADA always reduces the scale of problems without significant sacrifice on result accuracy, depending only on the local sparsity condition over the variables. Experiments on real-world datasets verify the improvements on scalability and accuracy by applying SADA on top of existing causation algorithms.


Respiratory complications of preterm birth are an important cause of infant mortality and morbidity. This article looks at how advances in perinatal care have improved outcomes for preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome and chronic lung disease.

Respiratory distress syndrome of prematurity is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. Primarily, respiratory distress syndrome is caused by deficiency of pulmonary surfactant. Surfactant is a complex mixture of phospholipids and proteins that reduces alveolar surface tension and maintains alveolar stability. As most alveolar surfactant is produced after about 30-32 weeks' gestation, preterm infants born before then will probably develop respiratory distress syndrome. In addition to short gestation, several other clinical risk factors have been identified.

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Pathogenesis of respiratory distress syndrome is a "vicious cycle"

Preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome present immediately or soon after birth with worsening respiratory distress. The presenting features include tachypnoea (respiratory rate > 60 breaths per minute); intercostal, subcostal, and sternal recession; expiratory grunting; cyanosis; and diminished breath sounds.

View this table:

Risk factors for respiratory distress syndrome

If untreated, infants may become fatigued, apnoeic, and hypoxic. They may progress to respiratory failure and will need assisted ventilation. High airway pressures may be required to ventilate the stiff, non-compliant lungs, thereby increasing the risk of acute respiratory complications, such as pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, and pulmonary interstitial emphysema.

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Endotracheal intubation and ventilation: intercostal drain for pneumothorax

Over the past 20-30 years, two major advances in perinatal management—the use of antenatal corticosteroids and exogenous surfactant replacement—have greatly improved clinical outcomes for preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome.

### Antenatal corticosteroids

Corticosteroids that cross the placenta (dexamethasone or betamethasone) given to women at risk of preterm delivery accelerate fetal surfactant production and lung maturation. The beneficial effects for preterm infants, including a 40% reduced risk of mortality, respiratory distress syndrome, and intraventricular haemorrhage …

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An integrated processing scheme is described for the conversion of a cellulosic waste (newsprint) to sugars by enzymatic hydrolysis and then to ethanol and yeast by fermentation. The unconverted solids are burned to produce process energy requirements and surplus electrical power. Preliminary designs and cost studies are developed to provide a rough perspective on the potential economic feasibility of this method of cellulose utilization.


ABSTRACT A paleontological reconnaissance survey on Cretaceous and Paleogene terrestrial units along the Yukon River drainage through much of east-central Alaska has provided new chronostratigraphic constraints, paleoclimatological data, and the first information on local biodiversity within an ancient, high-latitude ecosystem. The studied unnamed rock unit is most notable for its historic economic gold placer deposits, but our survey documents its relevance as a source rock for Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates, invertebrates, and associated flora. Specifically, new U-Pb ages from detrital zircons combined with ichnological data are indicative of a Late Cretaceous age for at least the lower section of the studied rock unit, previously considered to be representative of nearly exclusively Paleogene deposition. Further, the results of our survey show that this sedimentary rock unit preserves the first record of dinosaurs in the vast east-central Alaska region. Lastly, paleobotanical data, when compared to correlative rock units, support previous interpretations that the Late Cretaceous continental ecosystem of Alaska was heterogeneous in nature and seasonal.


We observe a large fraction of circular polarization in radio emission from extensive air showers recorded during thunderstorms, much higher than in the emission from air showers measured during fair-weather circumstances. We show that the circular polarization of the air showers measured during thunderstorms can be explained by the change in the direction of the transverse current as a function of altitude induced by atmospheric electric fields. Thus by using the full set of Stokes parameters for these events, we obtain a good characterization of the electric fields in thunderclouds. We also measure a large horizontal component of the electric fields in the two events that we have analyzed.


Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has become an important forensic archaeology tool used by law enforcement agencies to search for buried bodies of homicide victims. However, these agencies most often secure outside consultants to perform searches because of equipment expense and the specialized training required to operate the equipment and interpret results. This article provides a thorough discussion of GPR methodology and implementation of this technology by law enforcement agencies for clandestine body searches. The discussion provides investigators with basic knowledge of the GPR process, enabling an understanding of how the equipment is used to search for buried bodies and how investigators can secure the services of a properly trained GPR operator. Benefits of forming forensic archaeology partnerships between law enforcement agencies and academic forensic practitioners to secure GPR equipment are also discussed, with the recently established partnership between the University of Central Florida and the Orange County Sheriff's Office as an example.


Larger foraminifera of the Tertiary a1 (Thanetian) to Tertiary b (Priabonian) of the Far Eastern Letter Stages are recog- nized in the upper Paleocene to upper Eocene limestones of Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya. The occurrence of Pellatispira preceded both oc- currences of Lepidocyclina spp. and Nummulites fabianii. Three new genera and species, Meghalayana indica, n. gen., n. sp., Raoia indica, n. gen., n. sp., and Protogypsina indica, n. gen., n. sp. are described after Orbitosiphon tibetica, Paleocene orbitoidal foraminifera as a group with Orbitosiphon.


A new efficient palladium(II)-catalyzed oxidative carbocyclization has been developed. It was found that allene-substituted olefins 1 cyclized in the presence of 1 mol % Pd(O2CCF3)2 and p-benzoquinone (2 equiv) to give bicyclic ring systems 2 in good to excellent yields. The cyclization constitutes a new type of carbon-carbon bond forming reaction between an allene and an olefin under oxidative conditions.


Free and open source software communities develop their governance norms and practises as they grow from small to medium to large size social groups. Communities with a small number of participants typically organise informally.  As the community grows, the need for coordination grows as well and at some point more pronounced organisation becomes necessary. The growth stages are defined by the coordination mechanisms applied - ad-hoc coordination for the initial small group, consensus focused auto-organisation for the medium size group, and structured, more formalised coordination for the large size group.  The main interest of the communities is to attract and retain contributors and to facilitate contributions to their products.  The communities studied in this qualitative embedded multiple-case study exhibit governance related debates and conflicts as they reached a large size, leading to difficulties in further growing the number of involved contributors and sustaining the community activities. The paper researches the emergence of governance norms in these communities and the role these norms, once established, play in the management of the communities in their current stage. The study finds that the governance norms in communities are commonly developed by participants that do not think them necessary for a community that does not want them at the time. The result is a pre-eminence of implicit, under-documented norms that increase barriers of entry for newcomers and afford incumbent contributors with instruments to derail unwanted decisions. The paper isolates the essential contradiction that the communities aim to maintain devolved authority at the contributor level, but require effective decision making and policing mechanisms to implement and maintain that. It recommends that communities, instead of deferring or down-playing the need to set up explicit governance norms, purposefully develop norms that explicitly define structure and processes so that they support, enforce and protect the devolved authority their participants should have.