In recent years, the ability to make available, locate and access copyright protected content over the Internet has increased considerably. Some business models are directly aimed at linking or locating content already made available by other services. Such business models may create value for end users by making it easier to locate and find content on the Internet, but at the same time, they may be deemed to appropriate value from the rightholders or their service providers. In some cases, this has led to tensions and even litigations between the providers of these new business models and the rightholders or their service providers. These tensions are reflections of the underlying policy concerns inherent in the field of copyright law on the necessity to strike a fair balance between the protection of creative content and measures to foster its dissemination. This article will discuss, analyse and draw conclusions from two recent cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union on Internet linking and meta search engines, Svensson and Others and Innoweb, and relate them to the underlying policy concerns in copyright law.


Foraging and provisioning strategies of the light-mantled sooty albatross (LMSA) Phoebetria palpebrata were studied during chick-rearing at Bird Island, South Georgia, in January to May 2003. Virtually all trips of satellite-tracked birds were restricted to Antarctic waters. Individual birds followed a diversity of foraging routes, the majority to shelf and shelf-slope areas along the southern Scotia Arc or to oceanic waters in the mid Scotia Sea, with only a few trips extending as far south as the marginal ice zone in the Weddell Sea. Sympatric white-chinned petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis, black-browed Thalassarche melanophrys and grey-headed albatrosses T. chrysostoma also exploit these areas. Unlike LMSA, these species and the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, also forage on the shelf and shelf-slope waters surrounding South Georgia, or at the Antarctic Polar Front (APF), where the larger albatrosses and smaller, more manoeuvrable white-chinned petrel may out-compete LMSA for access to prey. As a consequence, foraging distances and maximum ranges are greater, chick-feeding frequencies are lower and chick growth rate is slower in LMSA than in sympatric Thalassarche albatrosses, and adult LMSA appear to have little capacity to regulate provisioning according to chick condition. Nonetheless, LMSA seem well-adapted to exploitation of distant foraging grounds, apparently using the wind to reduce flight costs and, in comparison with other albatrosses, spending more of the night on the wing and returning with food loads that represent a greater proportion of adult mass.


In recent years, discussions of narrative in music seem to have fallen into decline. This circumstance might register the effects of the strong stances taken by a few influential writers in the early 1990s regarding the extent to which music can be understood as narrative. This article shifts focus to a different concern, the extent to which music can be related to narrative metaphorically. Using narrative as flexible conceptual framework, it considers Charles IvesOs The Unanswered Question, a piece whose foundational narrative impulse few would dispute. The central narrative aspects include compositional techniques particular to the twentieth century, such as reordered chronologies and the layering of seemingly independent material. These features suggest comparison with various aspects of narrative structure and narration in literary and filmic narratives. The comparison suggests new ways of conceptualizing IvesOs music, showing how new techniques intersected with narrative forms, and it suggests that a broader case could and should be made for the continued utility of narratological approaches to music of many different kinds. Particular attention is given to IvesOs short programmatic note of the early 1930s. The existential program, as expressed through this text and amplified by the music, intersects with the language, imagery, structure, and worldview conveyed in Ralph Waldo EmersonOs poem The Sphinx and IvesOs "Emerson" essay from Essays before a Sonata. These connections strengthen the notion that both the program and the music were creative reactions to EmersonOs writings and that some protoversion of the 1930s program existed in Ives mind on composing the 1908 version of the piece. Seeing the presence of Emerson behind IvesOs original conception of The Unanswered Question helps us to understand the origins of the distinctly narrative aspects of the work and suggests other potential narratives besides the familiar one offered in IvesOs note.


The main objective of this work was to confine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) at the interface of binary blends by functionalizing MWCNT with desired polymers and study the effects of localization of MWCNT on the properties of the composites. In order to achieve this purpose, commercial MWCNT with amino groups were grafted with polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and random copolymers of styrene and methyl methacrylate (P(MMA-co-S)). Since PS is miscible with poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) (PPE) and PMMA has good miscibility with poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) copolymers (SAN) with specific acrylonitrile content, the grafted polymers on the surface of MWCNT are expected to provide a driving force to confine MWCNT at the interface of immiscible SAN/PPE phases.
The first part of this dissertation studied the functionalization of MWCNT by "grafting-from" and "grafting-to" methods. In both approach, the polymerization of selected polymers was realized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). In order to obtain sufficient functionalized MWCNT in one batch for preparing composites, the reactions of functionalization via "grafting-from" were significantly up-scaled. FT-IR spectra clearly indicated that the selected polymer chains were successfully grafted on MWCNT step by step from anchoring initiator to synthesize polymer via ATRP. From thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) results, the content of grafted PS was found to proportionally increase with the molecular weight of polymer, which implied good controllability of ATRP reaction in the presence of MWCNT. Similar results and phenomena were also observed in the case of functionalized MWCNT with PMMA under optimum reaction conditions. The formation of grafted P(MMA-co-S) random copolymers was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR), where signals of the main chains and the pendant groups were broad in all spectra and pronouncedly different from the ones of homopolymers. The controllability of the reaction was characterized by the fact that both the content and the molecular weight of grafted polymer increased linearly with the conversion of total amount of monomers. In present work, functionalizing MWCNT via "grafting-to" was also attempted by means of a Diels-Alder reaction between furfuryl-capped polymer and MWCNT. However, although both of PMMA and PS chains were successfully grafted on individual nanotubes, a much lower content of grafted polymer was achieved by "grafting-to" compared to the one in case of "grafting-from" because of the limited reactivity of MWCNT.
Then, the nanocomposites of SAN/PPE 40/60 blends filled with MWCNT were prepared by solution casting and melt processing. The localization of MWCNT in composites was characterized by transmission electron micrographs (TEM). The functionalized MWCNT with PS was found to migrate from the pre-mixed SAN phase to the PPE phase which had a better miscibility with grafted PS. The degree of migration was considerably influenced by the molecular weight of grafted PS. Nevertheless, as the dispersion of MWCNT in the pre-mixed phase was random, it was difficult to uniformly locate MWCNT at the interface through migration. Hence, introducing copolymer which contained both MMA and styrene units was considered as an alternative method. Through functionalizing with P(MMA-co-S) copolymers, many nanotubes were preferentially located at the interface of the blends. In contrast, pristine MWCNT were observed to concentrate selectively in the SAN phase, which was in agreement with theoretical prediction according to the calculated wetting efficiency. However, when molecular weight of grafted copolymers increased, pronounced agglomeration was observed nearby the boundary which should be contributed to a micellization of the high molecular weight P(MMA-co-S) copolymers covering MWCNT and the formation of SAN/PPE/P(MMA-co-S) ternary blend with a specific composition of copolymer. For the rheological properties, the dynamic moduli and the complex viscosity of SAN/PPE blends were enhanced after filling pristine MWCNT. The values further increased when MWCNT were functionalized with low molecular weight P(MMA-co-S) copolymers, as MWCNT locating at the interface formed a CNT-CNT network with good contacting with each other even if the boundary of blend was not entirely occupied by MWCNT. However, when molecular weight increase, the composites showed a similar behavior to the neat blends with low dynamic moduli, which resulted from the softening effect of the grafted copolymers and the agglomerations of MWCNT. Besides, since a well conductive network of MWCNT was not formed and negative effect of grafted polymer, little improvement of electrical conductivity was achieved in the composites with functionalized MWCNT.
In summary, grafting selected polymer chains on the surface of MWCNT presented a possible approach to tune the localization of MWCNT in binary phase separated blends. The molecular weight of grafted polymer shows a significant influence on the localization of MWCNT and the properties of composites. When the grafted polymers had specific relationship (either miscible or immiscible) with both components in the blends, MWCNT might be more easily to be located at the interface, such as functionalized MWCNT with random copolymers. The functionalizing approach used in this thesis is not only valid in binary blends but also helpful to control the localization of MWCNT in block copolymers. Moreover, although the influence of composition of grafted copolymer on the localization of MWCNT was not discussed in this work, it is possible to achieve more uniform localization of MWCNT at the interface by grafting random copolymer on MWCNT with specific composition which leads to good miscibility with both SAN and PPE. . It could be very interesting and promising for future investigation. The work studied in this dissertation also shows a potential of further investigation on the localization of other kinds of nanofillers, such as silica nanoparticles, metallic nanoparticles, and cellulose nanofibers, etc.


A Three dimensional (3D) electrical impedance tomography (EIT) planar array sensor is established for imaging detection. The advantages of a 3D planar array EIT are that they are low cost, mobile and of a non-invasive nature. The sensor is based on the impedance distribution within a closed domain. However, the inverse problem of EIT planar array is invasive and ill-conditioning. This means that a small error (noise or invalid data) of in the conductivity data can have a detrimental effect on the quality of reconstructed images. The Singular Value Decomposition is used to reduce noisy. In this report, a brief history of EIT and methodology are introduced. and an EIT model is described. In this research, a constant current is inputted and voltage readings are collected on a four-electrode-by-four-electrode array placed on the subsurface of the tank. An Electrical impedance and diffuse optical reconstruction software (EIDORS) project is used to reconstruct images by using electrical boundary measurements. Because of the general nonlinear and ill posed properties of EIT, a finite element forward model and algorithms of total variation are used to solve the forward and inverse problems respectively. In order to achieve a stable and fast image reconstruction process, a redundancy analysis method for EIT data is proposed. According to the redundancy analysis, the collected EIT data is divided into valid and invalid data. When the image is reconstructed from the useful data, singular value decomposition (SVD) is used to evaluate the effectiveness and the sensitivity map. The 3D images are reconstructed by the total variation regularization method. The results are shown by simulation and experimental tests. Through comparison of the reconstructed images of all the collected data and valid data, the quality of reconstructed images is not degraded, and the images reconstruction processing time can also be reduced. University of Bath Quanbao Wu


In this paper, an efficient genetic algorithm has placed burnable poisons (BPs) into all of the fresh fuel positions in the core employing the optimized BP configurations and techniques developed in two previous papers. Of importance was the previous development of a Kinf filter, which greatly reduced the computational time. The Kinf filter eliminated many of the invalid genotypes/phenotypes before making a precise core depletion analysis. An extensive BP library was generated by the CASMO-4/TABLES-3 codes. The process was automated with a user-friendly program developed for this purpose. The BPs were vendor UO2/Gd2O3 fuel assembly designs used in a reference Three Mile Island Unit 1 core. The optimized UO2/Gd2O3 fuel pin configurations have small residual binding at end of cycle (EOC), and BP loading optimization results with 97.2 ppm soluble boron at EOC while it was 94.4 ppm with the available vendor designs. The result was that optimized UO2/Gd2O3 fuel pin configurations were developed with unique self-shielding properties and residual binding that also provided a 6.89% reduction in the total required Gd amount, providing extra savings in fuel cost.


We live in a data-rich age. But Fourth Amendment doctrines have failed to adapt to our current reality. Legal principles that evolved to cabin the scope of physical searches seldom constrain searches of digital devices. As a result, a warrant to search a digital device gives police officers unfettered access to all of our information. While many scholars have argued that courts should address this problem by adopting rules that directly limit the scope of digital searches, this Comment argues that some courts have already eschewed this approach in favor of rules that encourage legislatures to regulate digital searches. Legislative regulation of digital searches is preferable because the legislative branch is better equipped to deal with a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Unfortunately, however, courts have not gone about incentivizing legislative action effectively. This Article posits that if courts want to encourage legislatures to act, they should adopt a penalty default rule that disadvantages the police. Specifically, courts should temporarily ban the plain view doctrine during searches of digital devices until legislatures limit the scope of digital searches.


OBJECTIVE
Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) take part of the human skin and mucous membranes, but they are also involving in infections with the increasing use of prosthetic, indwelling devices or intravascular catheter-related bacteraemia. They are more resistance than Staphylococcus aureus against a wide range of antimicrobial agents, and it have been observed an increase in morbidity and mortality of patients with incorrect treatment.

METHODS
To analyze the results obtained by different commercial techniques: two automatic microdilution systems (MicroScan and Vitek2 Compact), PBP2a agglutiation test, with and without 1 μg oxacillin disk induction, and detection of mecA gene by nucleic acids amplification techniques, for the diagnosis of methicillin resistance staphylococci in 170 strains of CoNS isolated from blood cultures.

RESULTS
One hundred and seventy methicillin resistance staphylococci were detected by MicroScan, 167 strains by Vitek 2 Compact, 115 strains were PBP2a positive without oxacillin induction and 168 after oxacillin induction. Finally, 167 strains were mecA gene positive detected by nucleic acids amplification techniques.

CONCLUSIONS
It is necessary to do oxacillin induction before PBP2a test to avoid false negatives. There are a great variability in the phenotypic expression of methicillin resistance in CoNS.


Inorganic–carbon hybrid materials are an emerging class of nanostructured catalysts that can enhance various energy-oriented electrochemical reactions. Despite recent progress, it is still very challenging to controllably generate the hybrid carbon architecture and its inorganic components with a single approach. Inspired by the flexible redox properties of conductive polyaniline (PANI) polymer, we develop a redox-unit cooperative assembly strategy to synthesize hierarchically-ordered and integrated inorganic–carbon hybrids by electrochemically constructing the nanostructures of PANI and then modifying their redox states to controllably bond different metal complexes. The needle-branched PANI nanofibers are assembled in situ into a three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical framework on carbon paper by an anion induced electrochemical polymerization. Interestingly, tuning the redox states of PANI with a potentiostatic method achieves a controllable metal complex loading. The theoretical calculations show that the oxidized units can strongly bond metal complexes while reduced units don't react significantly due to a high formation energy. Both units with proper proportions can cooperatively control the concentration and spatial distribution of metal complexes in the PANI framework. After thermal treatment, the metal/PANI composites are transformed into a series of inorganic–carbon hybrids including metals and metal oxides, carbides, and sulfides. This novel strategy not only significantly improves the catalytic performance of non-noble metal hybrid materials but also greatly increases the utilization efficiency of noble metal catalysts in the hydrogen evolution reaction. Surprisingly, the optimized Pt@NC catalyst exhibits an ultrahigh mass activity that is ∼5.3-times better than the commercial Pt/C catalyst.


Background/Context The field of social studies education is hardly lacking in historical investigation. The historiography includes sweeping chronicles of longtime struggles over the curriculum as well as case studies of momentous eras, events, policies, trends, and people, with emphases on aims, subject matter, method, and much more. Curiously, scant attention has been paid to the history of social studies teacher education. This study fills a gap in the literature by considering what effect, if any, teacher education in the social studies has had on the development of the field over time. Specifically, the study focuses on history/social studies teacher education in the decades immediately preceding and following the National Education Association's landmark report, The Social Studies in Secondary Education, which commonly is credited with establishing social studies as a school subject. Purpose A basic premise underlying this study is that stability and change in social studies curriculum and instruction may be someway related to stability and change in social studies teacher education. Because the enterprise of social studies teacher education exists in large part for the sake of supporting the enterprise of social studies in the schools, changes in social studies in the schools may well affect the preparation of teachers to teach the subject, and changes in social studies teacher preparation may well affect the teaching of the subject in schools. This study interrogates how teacher education programs contributed and/or responded (or not) to the emergence of social studies as a school subject in the early part of the twentieth century. Research Design This document-based historical study looks back nearly a century to the origins of the social studies field and considers the interrelationship between social studies as it was envisioned in the schools and social studies as it was configured in teacher education programs. The study is based on published monographs, reports, and articles on the status of history (pre-1916) and social studies (post-1916) teacher preparation programs that largely have been overlooked by social studies historians to date. Findings/Conclusions The story that emerges reinforces some longstanding assumptions about the development of the field: For example, there was little agreement among subject matter and education specialists regarding what constituted the social studies curriculum, so there was little agreement on what social studies teachers and students needed to know. But, it also suggests that disarray in the social studies field may have been as much a function of disorder in the realm of teacher education as it was of conflict among curriculum-makers about the nature of social studies in the schools.


Self-tracking and Persuasive eCoaching in Healthy Lifestyle Interventions: Work-in-progress Scoping Review of Key Components. This presentation is given during the Workshop Behavior Change Support Systems (BCSS 2016): Epic for Change, the Pillars for Persuasive Technology for Smart Societies. The presentation is about the work-in-progress paper 'Self-tracking and Persuasive eCoaching in Healthy Lifestyle Interventions: Work-in-progress Scoping Review of Key Components.' The combination of self-tracking and persuasive eCoaching in healthy lifestyle interventions is a promising approach. The objective of this study is to map the key components of existing healthy lifestyle interventionscombining self-tracking and persuasive eCoaching using the scoping review methodology in accordance with the York methodological framework by Arksey and O'Malley. Seven studies were included in this preliminary scoping review. Components related to persuasive eCoaching applied only in effective interventions were reduction of complex behavior into small steps, providingpositive motivational feedback by praise and providing reliable information to show expertise. Concerning self-tracking, it did not seem to matter if more action was required by the participant to obtain personal data. The first results of this study indicate the necessity to identify the needs and problems of the specific target group of the interventions, due to differences found between variousgroups of users. In addition to objective data on lifestyle and health behavior, other factors need to be taken into account, such as the context of use, daily experiences, and feelings of the users.


Pearls, People, and Power is the first book to examine the trade, distribution, production, and consumption of pearls and mother-of-pearl in the global Indian Ocean over more than five centuries. While scholars have long recognized the importance of pearling to the social, cultural, and economic practices of both coastal and inland areas, the overwhelming majority have confined themselves to highly localized or at best regional studies of the pearl trade. By contrast, this book stresses how pearling and the exchange in pearl shell were interconnected processes that brought the ports, islands, and coasts into close relation with one another, creating dense networks of connectivity that were not necessarily circumscribed by local, regional, or indeed national frames.

Essays from a variety of disciplines address the role of slaves and indentured workers in maritime labor arrangements, systems of bondage and transoceanic migration, the impact of European imperialism on regional and local communities, commodity flows and networks of exchange, and patterns of marine resource exploitation between the Industrial Revolution and Great Depression. By encompassing the geographical, cultural, and thematic diversity of Indian Ocean pearling, Pearls, People, and Power deepens our appreciation of the underlying historical dynamics of the many worlds of the Indian Ocean.


Rebecca Walkowitz, citing Said and others, suggests that the critical cosmopolitanism inherent in the work of several British modernists was underpinned by an awareness (among other things) of "the entanglement of domestic and international perspectives" and an "attempt to operate in the world... while preserving a posture of resistance". Cosmopolitan modernism in these kinds of 'critical' robes offers a useful space in which to examine the work of settler colonial expatriate woman modernists. In particular, this paper will investigate the powerful, disruptive and often uneven return to home ground in the shape of Stead and Mansfield's modernist narratives about their provincial cities of origin on the Pacific Rim. This paper takes as its starting point Christina Stead's early work, Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934). While acknowledging the pressing complications of her identification with international socialism, what kind of interpretive traction do we gain by positing Stead's participation in both Pacific and transnational modernism in her rendition of Sydney? Katherine Mansfield's earlier New Zealand stories will provide further and quite different material for Tasman/Pacific oriented speculation about the nature of the expatriate modernist woman's worldly recuperation of her colonial hometown.


ABSTRACT Introduction The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions used for improving ADR reporting by patients and healthcare professionals. Areas covered A systematic review of literature was conducted by searching Medline, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled of Trials. Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs; n = 5) was conducted to estimate the pooled risk ratio for the effectiveness of interventions on ADR reporting rates. Data from observational studies were synthesized using narrative synthesis approach. Expert opinion A total of 28 studies were included. All except one study targeted healthcare professionals using educational, technological, policy, financial and/or mixed interventions. The results showed that financial and face-to-face educational interventions improved quality and quantity of ADR reporting when compared with interventions not involving face-to-face interactions. However, the quality of studies was generally low. Meta-analysis showed a statistically significant 3.5-fold overall increase in reporting of ADRs [RR 3.53; 95% CI (1.77,7.06)] in the intervention group compared to the control. There was a lack of consideration of theory and sustainability in the design of the interventions. There is a need to develop and test theory-based interventions and target patient reporting. More research needs to be conducted in the low- and middle-income countries.


Objective : This paper aims to inform on opportunities for librarians to assist faculty with research data management by examining practices and attitudes among life sciences faculty at a tier one research university. Methods : The authors issued a survey to estimate actual and perceived research data management needs of New York University (NYU) life sciences faculty in order to understand how the library could best contribute to the research life cycle. Results : Survey responses indicate that over half of the respondents were aware of publisher and funder mandates, and most are willing to share their data, but many indicated they do not utilize data repositories. Respondents were largely unaware of data services available through the library, but the majority were open to considering such services. Survey results largely mimic those of similar studies, in that storing data (and the subsequent ability to share it) is the most easily recognized barrier to sound data management practices. Conclusions : At NYU, as with other institutions, the library is not immediately recognized as a valuable partner in managing research output. This study suggests that faculty are largely unaware of, but are open to, existent library services, indicating that immediate outreach efforts should be aimed at promoting them.


Courses in product design are offered within the United Kingdom at the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex and in both cases are run within engineering departments alongside traditional engineering courses. This paper outlines some of the intrinsic pedagogic practices that are employed by these, and other, design courses. It highlights why creativity is a central tenet within these courses, which has underpinned the successful bid by the universities to jointly become the UK Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Creativity (CETL in C), and why, in particular, creativity is a key requirement in sustainable design. It supposes why these practices might, and should, offer a suitable role model for more traditional engineering courses.


Radioisotope heat sources and power systems, traditionally fuelled by 238Pu, have been developed and used for spacecraft thermal management and to provide electrical power during many deep space and planetary science missions. The use of fission reactors in space, however, has been limited to high power applications in Earth orbit. Previous ground based research programs conducted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission demonstrated the principal of nuclear thermal rocket propulsion but to date, flight heritage of nuclear propulsion has been limited to nuclear-electric propulsion. The development of space nuclear systems and tributary components that are capable of meeting the rigors of space flight is of paramount importance. Performance, lifetime and operational safety under all foreseeable conditions are essential considerations that must be made. The selection of appropriate materials and environmental compatibility is vital to the success of any given design. The ability for radioisotope heat sources to survive the extreme temperatures and mechanical loads associated with launch related accidents, is both legally mandated and necessary for the protection of life and the Earth's environment. Nuclear fuels for fission systems must provide equal protection during accidents while the integral design ensures that a reactor remains in a safe configuration. A historical overview of nuclear systems for space is presented. Traditional and modern system designs and fabrication techniques are discussed. Applicable solid state and mechanical power conversion methods are described and their performances are evaluated. Consideration is made for the effect of radioisotope selection and heat source encapsulation architecture upon radiation safety. The identification of 241Am as an alternative isotope fuel is made. Other candidate isotopes such as 210Po, 242Cm and 244Cm are assessed.
The development of encapsulation methods that are resistant to the extraction and dispersion of the radioactive materials enclosed is increasingly attractive for security reasons. Spark Plasma Sintering
(SPS) processes are presented as novel, simple and rapid techniques for the encapsulation of radioisotopic materials within tungsten ceramic-metallic or cermet matrices. Computational modelling via Monte-Carlo simulation has shown that the encapsulation of radioisotopes within heterogeneous tungsten cermet matrices may reduce the neutron, X-ray and Gamma-ray radiation dose delivered to the localised environment. The prevention of fabrication related volatilisation of radioisotopic compounds is fundamental to the success of the encapsulation process. SPS is empirically demonstrated via the use of CeO2 as an inert simulant for radioisotopic compounds such as PuO2, AmO2 and UO2. The chemical compatibility of americium oxides within a tungsten matrix is also demonstrated through pressureless sintering within a Differential Scanning Calorimetric furnace. The techniques developed for radioisotope encapsulation are also demonstrated in context of cermet fuel fabrication for high temperature space power and propulsion reactor systems. The use of tungsten cermet fuels may eliminate material incompatibilities and failures experienced by historical nuclear thermal propulsion programs.
Finally, three novel concept applications of nuclear energy as an enabling technology for planetary exploration are presented. Melt penetration of icy surfaces and long range mobility on planetary surfaces is proposed via the use of pulsed high power heat capacitive radioisotope sources. In-situ resource utilization is considered for propellant production. The use of CO2 is proposed as a propellant for a radioisotope thermal rocket in the context of a 'Mars Hopper'. A CO2 propellant is also considered in the context of a high temperature (3000°C) nuclear thermal propulsion system for a single stage surface ascent vehicle under a Mars sample return mission.


The unitary Cayley graph $X_n$ has vertex set $Z_n=\{0,1, \ldots ,n-1\}$. Vertices $a, b$ are adjacent, if gcd$(a-b,n)=1$. For $X_n$ the chromatic number, the clique number, the independence number, the diameter and the vertex connectivity are determined. We decide on the perfectness of $X_n$ and show that all nonzero eigenvalues of $X_n$ are integers dividing the value $\varphi(n)$ of the Euler function.


This paper describes a method to extract stroke information from static two dimensional images. Our approach avoids the usage – and thereby the side effects – of morphological thinning and introduces a heuristic approach optimized for human handwriting. The algorithms structure makes it possible to isolate and independently implement key elements, such as ink detection or the location of junction points. A local approach is introduced to estimate the stroke sequence and thereby determine the relation of different strokes connected to junctions. Some issues of the algorithm are highlighted and – as far as possible – also eliminated. Finally an experimental validation of the algorithm is presented and evaluated. The recovered strokes can be used to recover temporal information from the images, thereby allowing existing off-line handwriting recognition and signature verification methods to be traced back to their simpler on-line equivalents.


BACKGROUND
Baker's cysts are commonly encountered in pain management practices.

OBJECTIVE
To ascertain if sclerotherapy treatment of a Baker's cyst could produce objectively verifiable MRI imaging changes.

DESIGN
Case report.

METHODS
A 52-year-old white male with a posterior horn of the medial meniscus tear and a large Baker's cyst who had failed conservative care and drainage was imaged before treatment with sclerosing. Three injections of 12.5% dextrose and anesthetic with sodium morrhuate were injected intraarticular into the right knee after drainage.

RESULTS
The Baker's cyst resolved on both postoperative imaging after the completion of care as well as on physical examination.

CONCLUSIONS
Prolotherapy in this case study seemed to be an effective treatment for Baker's cyst in this patient.


The IDB has been financing the collection of data from Latin America and the Caribbean for several years for the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) program. ASTI is an open-access and reliable source of data on agricultural research systems in developing countries, linked to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and part of the CGIAR Program. ASTI works with a broad network of national partners to collect, compile, and publish data on human, financial, and institutional resources, at the national and regional levels, from government organizations, higher education institutions, non-profit entities, and (where possible) private for-profit agricultural research organizations.


This paper describes the use of high-level synthesis in conjunction with logic synthesis for designing an industrial product specified at system-level in behavioral VHDL and realized in FPGAs. The designers' experiences from using the high-level synthesis tool and its interaction with the other tools are analyzed. Important problems were the handling of precise timing constraints and feedback of adequate technology information to the high-level synthesis.<<ETX>>


Abstract Sedimentary geology and planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy have shed light on the geological development of the northern, active continental margin of the Southern Neotethys in the Kyrenia Range. Following regional Triassic rifting, a carbonate platform developed during Jurassic–Cretaceous time, followed by its regional burial, deformation and greenschist-facies metamorphism. The platform was exhumed by Late Maastrichtian time and unconformably overlain by locally derived carbonate breccias, passing upwards into Upper Maastrichtian pelagic carbonates. In places, the pelagic carbonates are interbedded with sandstone turbidites derived from mixed continental, basic volcanic, neritic carbonate and pelagic lithologies. In addition, two contrasting volcanogenic sequences are exposed in the western-central Kyrenia Range, separated by a low-angle tectonic contact. The first is a thickening-upward sequence of Campanian–Lower Maastrichtian(?) pelagic carbonates, silicic tuffs, silicic lava debris flows and thick-bedded to massive rhyolitic lava flows. The second sequence comprises two intervals of basaltic extrusive rocks interbedded with pelagic carbonates. The basaltic rocks unconformably overlie the metamorphosed carbonate platform whereas no base to the silicic volcanic rocks is exposed. Additional basaltic lavas are exposed throughout the Kyrenia Range where they are dated as Late Maastrichtian and Late Paleocene–Middle Eocene in age. In our proposed tectonic model, related to northward subduction of the Southern Neotethys, the Kyrenia platform was thrust beneath a larger Tauride microcontinental unit to the north and then was rapidly exhumed prior to Late Maastrichtian time. Pelagic carbonates and sandstone turbidites of mixed, largely continental provenance then accumulated along a deeply submerged continental borderland during Late Maastrichtian time. The silicic and basaltic volcanogenic rocks erupted in adjacent areas and were later tectonically juxtaposed. The Campanian–Early Maastrichtian(?) silicic volcanism reflects continental margin-type arc magmatism. In contrast, the Upper Maastrichtian and Paleocene–Middle Eocene basaltic volcanic rocks erupted in an extensional (or transtensional) setting likely to relate to the anticlockwise rotation of the Troodos microplate.


The terrain between grid points is used to modify locally the background error correlation matrix in an objective analysis system. This modification helps to reduce the influence across mountain barriers of corrections to the background field that are derived from surface observations. This change to the background error correlation matrix is tested using an analytic case of surface temperature that encapsulates the significant features of nocturnal radiation inversions in mountain basins, which can be difficult to analyze because of locally sharp gradients in temperature. Bratseth successive corrections, optimal interpolation, and three-dimensional variational approaches are shown to yield exactly the same surface temperature analysis. Adding the intervening terrain term to the Bratseth approach led to solutions that match more closely the specified analytic solution. In addition, the convergence of the Bratseth solutions to the best linear unbiased estimation of the analytic solution is faster. The intervening terrain term was evaluated in objective analyses over the western United States derived from a modified version of the Advanced Regional Prediction System Data Assimilation System. Local adjustment of the background error correlation matrix led to improved surface temperature analyses by limiting the influence of observations in mountain valleys that may differ from the weather conditions present in adjacent valleys.


Abstract Purpose A novel phantom‐imaging platform, a set of software tools, for automated and high‐precision imaging of the American College of Radiology (ACR) positron emission tomography (PET) phantom for PET/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) and PET/computed tomography (PET/CT) systems is proposed. Methods The key feature of this platform is the vector graphics design that facilitates the automated measurement of the knife‐edge response function and hence image resolution, using composite volume of interest templates in a 0.5 mm resolution grid applied to all inserts of the phantom. Furthermore, the proposed platform enables the generation of an accurate μ‐map for PET/MR systems with a robust alignment based on two‐stage image registration using specifically designed PET templates. The proposed platform is based on the open‐source NiftyPET software package used to generate multiple list‐mode data bootstrap realizations and image reconstructions to determine the precision of the two‐stage registration and any image‐derived statistics. For all the analyses, iterative image reconstruction was employed with and without modeled shift‐invariant point spread function and with varying iterations of the ordered subsets expectation maximization (OSEM) algorithm. The impact of the activity outside the field of view (FOV) was assessed using two acquisitions of 30 min each, with and without the activity outside the FOV. Results The utility of the platform has been demonstrated by providing a standard and an advanced phantom analysis including the estimation of spatial resolution using all cylindrical inserts. In the imaging planes close to the edge of the axial FOV, we observed deterioration in the quantitative accuracy, reduced resolution (FWHM increased by 1–2 mm), reduced contrast, and background uniformity due to the activity outside the FOV. Although it slows convergence, the PSF reconstruction had a positive impact on resolution and contrast recovery, but the degree of improvement depended on the regions. The uncertainty analysis based on bootstrap resampling of raw PET data indicated high precision of the two‐stage registration. Conclusions We demonstrated that phantom imaging using the proposed methodology with the metric of spatial resolution and multiple bootstrap realizations may be helpful in more accurate evaluation of PET systems as well as in facilitating fine tuning for optimal imaging parameters in PET/MR and PET/CT clinical research studies.


This article first outlines the activities of the Bank's regional offices and looks at how regional economic analysis fits into the Bank's decision-making process. The changing role of the regional offices in communications and in information gathering is examined, focusing on the quarterly surveys of industries and associations. The second section reviews, from a regional perspective, economic developments since the Asian crisis and future prospects.


We have studied the flow of superfluid 4He generated by a vibrating wire. As the drive force increases, the velocity of the wire grows in the laminar‐flow regime, until it suddenly drops at the onset of the turbulent‐flow regime. As the drive force decreases, the turbulence disappears at a critical velocity. This result suggests that the vortices on the wire are confined within a finite size, even in turbulence. We have measured the critical velocity of seven vibrating wires, whose resonance frequencies range from 0.5 kHz to 9 kHz, at 1.4 K and found that the critical velocity is almost constant below an oscillation frequency of 2 kHz and increases above this frequency. We have also observed the response of a vibrating wire in superfluid 4He at a low temperature of 30 mK. We find that the resonance frequency jumps upward at the same moment as the entry of the flow to a turbulent state. The frequency jump may be caused by vortex dynamics such as expansion, entanglement, and reconnection occurring in the tu...


Poverty has many dimensions, which, in practice, are often binary or ordinal in nature. A number of multidimensional measures of poverty have recently been proposed that respect this ordinal nature. These measures agree that the consideration of inequality across the poor is important, which is typically captured by adjusting the poverty measure to be sensitive to inequality. This, however, comes at the cost of sacrificing certain policy-relevant properties, such as not being able to break down the measure across dimensions to understand their contributions to overall poverty. In addition, compounding inequality into a poverty measure does not necessarily create an appropriate framework for capturing disparity in poverty across population subgroups, which is crucial for effective policy. In this paper, we propose using a separate decomposable inequality measure - a positive multiple of variance - to capture inequality in deprivation counts among the poor and decompose across population subgroups. We provide two illustrations using Demographic Health Survey datasets to demonstrate how this inequality measure adds important information to the adjusted headcount ratio poverty measure in the Alkire-Foster class of measures.


In the present study a relaxation approach to modelling sound propagation in porous media
has been developed. A frequency domain model has been formulated and is shown to allow
an analytical transformation of the governing equations in the time domain. The model
proposed is an extension of an earlier work by Wilson at al. (1997) and is based on the use of
two relaxation times. The model presented requires a set of six measurable parameters, e.g.
static flow resistivity, porosity, tortuosity, thermal permeability, viscous and thermal
characteristic lengths. It will be shown that the model satisfies the physically correct low and
high frequency limits evaluated by Johnson et al. (1987) and therefore allows the prediction
of a porous material's behaviour in a wide range of frequencies (and pulse durations when
used in time domain). It will also be demonstrated that two different model formulations are
necessary depending on the material shape factor values and physical reasons for this are
identified. The model has been validated by performing laboratory measurements and
numerical simulations in both frequency and time domains for a range of granular and fibrous
porous materials. The well-known equivalent fluid model by Johnson et al. (1987),
Champoux and Allard (1991) and Lafarge et al. (1997) has been formulated analytically in the
time domain and its predictions are compared with those of the relaxation model and the data.
In the last section of the work a nonlinear model is developed for finite amplitude sound
propagation in porous media and validated using laboratory data for acoustic pulses with
different durations and amplitudes.


This week the Greek government reached agreement with the European authorities and the IMF for 130 billion euros in lending, as part of a new adjustment package to replace the current IMF program that began in May of 2010. Although the agreement should allow the government to avoid default in March, there are grave doubts as to whether the agreed upon program will lead the country to a point where it returns to growth, has a sustainable debt burden, and can borrow from private markets. The most important problem with the commitments that Greece has made in the past two years is that its fiscal policy is pro-cyclical – that is, the government has been, and is committed to, tightening its budget while the economy is in recession.


This article analyses public policies about cyberbullying in Brazil starting with an Internet investigation about bills pending in National Congress, existent legislations and UNESCO's recommendations. The goal is to verify, by means of critical discourse analysis, to whom these policies are destined, which are the predominant discourses and the values and intentions that they represent. The problem found is in the absence of specific public policies to the cyberbullying phenomenon due to subdivisions made to wide legislations and the influence of international agencies. To decrease violence that is produced by virtual bullying, strategies are suggested, such as inserting education as protagonist of public policies that may be implemented, taking into account the human rights paradigm as a fundamental value.


BACKGROUND
Dental caries remains a major public health problem in most industrialised countries, affecting 60% to 90% of schoolchildren and the vast majority of adults. Milk may provide a relatively cost-effective vehicle for fluoride delivery in the prevention of dental caries. This is an update of a Cochrane review first published in 2005.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of milk fluoridation for preventing dental caries at a community level.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Oral Health Group Trials Register (inception to November 2014), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library, 2014, Issue 10), MEDLINE via OVID (1946 to November 2014) and EMBASE via OVID (1980 to November 2014). We also searched the U.S. National Institutes of Health Trials Register (https://clinicaltrials.gov) and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (http://apps.who.int/trialsearch) for ongoing trials. We did not place any restrictions on the language or date of publication when searching the electronic databases.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), with an intervention and follow-up period of at least two years, comparing fluoridated milk with non-fluoridated milk.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently assessed trial risk of bias and extracted data. We used standard methodological procedures expected by The Cochrane Collaboration.

MAIN RESULTS
We included one unpublished RCT, randomising 180 children aged three years at study commencement. The setting was nursery schools in an area with high prevalence of dental caries and a low level of fluoride in drinking water. Data from 166 participants were available for analysis. The study carried a high risk of bias. After three years, there was a reduction of caries in permanent teeth (mean difference (MD) -0.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.24 to -0.02) and in primary teeth (MD -1.14, 95% CI -1.86 to -0.42), as measured by the decayed, missing and filled teeth index (DMFT for permanent teeth and dmft for primary teeth). For primary teeth, this is a substantial reduction, equivalent to a prevented fraction of 31%. For permanent teeth, the disease level was very low in the study, resulting in a small absolute effect size. The included study did not report any other outcomes of interest for this review (adverse events, dental pain, antibiotic use or requirement for general anaesthesia due to dental procedures).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is low quality evidence to suggest fluoridated milk may be beneficial to schoolchildren, contributing to a substantial reduction in dental caries in primary teeth. Due to the low quality of the evidence, further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate. There was only one relatively small study, which had important methodological limitations on the data for the effectiveness in reducing caries. Furthermore, there was no information about the potential harms of the intervention. Additional RCTs of high quality are needed before we can draw definitive conclusions about the benefits of milk fluoridation.


Previous research has yielded conflicting answers to questions about the relationships between scores obtained on tests of executive function and IQ tests. This study correlated scores on the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System with the Wechsler Intelligence Scales-III for 197 participants between 8 and 64-years-old. All of the participants had been referred for neuropsychological assessment. When all age groups were included in the analyses, Delis-Kaplan subtest scores generally correlated positively with Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance IQ scores. Even executive function tests that do not requite a verbal component were correlated with Verbal IQ score; similar even tests relying solely on verbal comprehension and responses were correlated with Performance IQ score. There were more, stronger, correlations for adults than for children. While the hypotheses that the scores would be correlated were supported, for some age groups some of the Delis-Kaplan subtests were not correlated with IQ score. These findings support the use of both intelligence tests and executive function tests in psychological· assessment, and make a case for developing a test that examines both domains. Degree Type Dissertation


Rights to human dignity and to environmental quality have evolved co-incidentally, if independently, as drivers in modern constitutionalism. Most constitutions recognize a right to a quality environment, a right to human dignity, or both. Both rights are relatively recent inventions, and few — if any — modern constitutions are adopted or amended without attention to both of these features. Moreover, they share commonalities, inter alia, related to identifying causes of action, appropriate parties, and the scope of judicial review and remedies. And both involve complex legal, philosophical, and political dimensions.Notwithstanding such positive correlations, courts from around the globe have been considerably more inclined to engage constitutionalized rights to human dignity than constitutionalized rights to a quality environment. Simply, jurists, advocates and scholars have tended to overlook or ignore threads entwining human dignity and environmental rights jurisprudence. This article aims to tie these loose ends.After sampling both dignity and environmental rights jurisprudence and then examining the association between the two, this article concludes that environmental and dignity rights jurisprudence can correspond in more mutually complementary ways. First, dignity can play a more prominent place in judicial treatment of environmental rights. Second, dignity rights jurisprudence can do more to engage the ways in which environmental degradation diminishes human dignity. As the two areas develop in tandem, jurisprudential outcomes in each area stand to benefit.


This paper argues that rigid wages cannot provide the underpinnings of a universally valid theory of the business cycle, simply because wages are not universally rigid. Several different statistical techniques suggest that wage rates in the U.K. and Japan are between three and 15 times more flexible than in the U.S. during the postwar period. Corresponding to greater flexibility in wages, these two countries also exhibit more stable employment behavior over the business cycle. In historical data covering the period between the late-nineteenth-century and 1940, U.S. wage behavior appears to be much more similar to that in Britain and Japan. The contrast between the prewar data and the postwar data, where the U.S. is a definite outlier, suggests that the 1948 invention of the three-year staggered U.S. wage contract may be the crucial factor underlying sluggish U.S. postwar wage dynamics. A theoretical section attempts to distill from recent literature those features of labor market institutions that are regarded as optimal by economic theory. Japanese institutions exhibit more similarity to this theoretical paradigm than those in the U.S. or U.K. Economic theory predicts that long-duration contracts, like those in the postwar U.S., are more likely to emerge when the perceived cost of renegotiation is high, but we must appeal to history and cultural differences to explain why conflict avoidance plays a more prominent role in the development of Japanese labor market institutions than in the American case. In this comparison Britain is the odd-man-out, with well-publicized industrial strife, together with short contract durations. I appeal to history, the different legal tradition, and the nature of the British unions themselves to explain why the three-year contract became established in America but not in Britain.


Aim Analysing how species niches shift between native and introduced ranges is a powerful tool for understanding the determinants of species distributions and for anticipating range expansions by invasive species. Most studies only consider the climatic niche, by correlating widely available presence-only data with regional climate. However, habitat characteristics and disturbance also shape species niches, thereby potentially confounding shifts attributed only to differences in climate. Here we used presence and abundance data for Oxalis pes-caprae, a species native to South Africa and invading areas globally, to understand how niche shifts may be influenced by disturbance at habitat and landscape scales in addition to climate. Locality Mediterranean climate areas world-wide. Methods We used available presence-only data and also conducted extensive surveys of the abundance of Oxalis (c. 11,000 plots) across different habitats in South Africa and in the introduced range in the Mediterranean Basin. We extended principal component analysis methods for measuring niche shifts by using Bayesian generalized linear models to identify climatic and disturbance niche shifts. Results We found a large climatic niche expansion towards stronger seasonality and lower temperature in the introduced range, but this expansion was greatly reduced when considering only conditions available in both ranges. Oxalis occupied more natural landscapes in the native range that remained unoccupied in the introduced range ('niche unfilling'). In contrast to the similar abundances in natural and disturbed habitats in its native range, Oxalis was more abundant in disturbed habitats in the introduced range. Conclusions The large climatic niche expansion most likely reflects significant plasticity of Oxalis rather than rapid evolution. Furthermore, the unfilling of its disturbance niche in the introduced range suggests high potential for further invasion of natural areas. Together, these findings suggest that the potential for future spread of invasive species may be underestimated by approaches that characterize species niches based only on climate or partial information about their distributions.


We consider a Bayesian model for inversion of observed amplitude variation with offset data into lithology/fluid classes, and study in particular how the choice of prior distribution for the lithology/fluid classes influences the inversion results. Two distinct prior distributions are considered, a simple manually specified Markov random field prior with a first‐order neighbourhood and a Markov mesh model with a much larger neighbourhood estimated from a training image. They are chosen to model both horizontal connectivity and vertical thickness distribution of the lithology/fluid classes, and are compared on an offshore clastic oil reservoir in the North Sea. We combine both priors with the same linearized Gaussian likelihood function based on a convolved linearized Zoeppritz relation and estimate properties of the resulting two posterior distributions by simulating from these distributions with the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm. The influence of the prior on the marginal posterior probabilities for the lithology/fluid classes is clearly observable, but modest. The importance of the prior on the connectivity properties in the posterior realizations, however, is much stronger. The larger neighbourhood of the Markov mesh prior enables it to identify and model connectivity and curvature much better than what can be done by the first‐order neighbourhood Markov random field prior. As a result, we conclude that the posterior realizations based on the Markov mesh prior appear with much higher lateral connectivity, which is geologically plausible.


The stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) display provides a 3D image by inducing binocular disparity for the observers who wear special glasses. With the rapid progress in flat panel display technologies, the stereoscopic 3D display is becoming a new benefit-model of the current display industry, and several kinds of commercial stereoscopic 3D products have been released and are attracting people. Nowadays, the motion picture quality of the 3D image becomes as important as resolution or luminance since most of the commercial 3D products are 3D televisions or 3D monitors which are required to display a clear motion 3D image. In this paper, an analysis and simulation of the motion picture quality of stereoscopic 3D image is proposed, and a comparison of the motion picture performance among the current stereoscopic 3D technologies is also provided.


The generalization performance of kernel methods is largely determined by the kernel, but spectral representations of stationary kernels are both input-independent and output-independent, which limits their applications on complicated tasks. In this paper, we propose an efficient learning framework that incorporates the process of finding suitable kernels and model training. Using non-stationary spectral kernels and backpropagation w.r.t. the objective, we obtain favorable spectral representations that depends on both inputs and outputs. Further, based on Rademacher complexity, we derive data-dependent generalization error bounds, where we investigate the effect of those factors and introduce regularization terms to improve the performance. Extensive experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and coincide with our theoretical findings.


Considering a simple regenerative Brayton cycle, the impact of using different fuel blends containing a variable volumetric percentage of hydrogen in methane was analysed. Due to the potential of hydrogen combustion in gas turbines to reduce the overall CO2 emissions and the dependency on natural gas, further research is needed to understand the impact on the overall thermodynamic cycle. For that purpose, a qualitative thermodynamic analysis was carried out to assess the exergetic and energetic efficiencies of the cycle as well as the irreversibilities associated to a subsystem. A single step reaction was considered in the hypothesis of complete combustion of a generic H2/CH4 mixture, where the volumetric H2 percentage was represented by fH2, which was varied from 0 to 1, defining the amount of hydrogen in the fuel mixture. Energy and entropy balances were solved through the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) code. Results showed that global exergetic and energetic efficiencies increased by 5% and 2%, respectively, varying fH2 from 0 to 1. Higher hydrogen percentages resulted in lower exergy destruction in the chamber despite the higher air-excess levels. It was also observed that higher values of fH2 led to lower fuel mass flow rates in the chamber, showing that hydrogen can still be competitive even though its cost per unit mass is twice that of natural gas.


Designing for the stage involves the consideration of many aesthetic elements, one of the most important being colour. Colour can affect the audience physically, psychologically and emotionally. There are also many cultural, social, historical and religious links with colour that can influence audience response. A scenic designer needs to understand how to use colour effectively in order to effectively evoke appropriate audience responses. In order to address my topic, I have compiled my research into effective colour design into sections to facilitate the reader's understanding of the 'why' and the 'what' of colour usage in scenic design. The 'why' are the choices we make in our designs, why we do what we do, whilst the 'what' is the response we induce from the viewer. Designing purely for aesthetic beauty is insufficient in my view: there is a strong need for an understanding as to why the choices we make may actually be powerful.

The case studies in this thesis involve a collection of scenic designs I have worked upon since 2010. As my understanding of this topic has developed, my designs have also evolved.


Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) feature low cost, stability, and environment friendliness and are thus a promising substitute for traditional silicon solar cells. DSSCs have received intensive research attention and have been rapidly developing in the last two decades. The efficiency of DSSCs should be increased to promote their commercialization and large-scale application. This brief review summarizes the major progress in advanced nano/micromaterials to improve photoanodes and enhance the conversion efficiencies of DSSCs. Commonly used methods to improve photoanodes include semiconductor film nanoarchitecture, light-scattering material application, compositing, doping, interfacial engineering, and TiCl4 post-treatment. This review provides insights into DSSC improvement and development of other photovoltaics, such as perovskite solar cells and photoelectrochemical cells.


The objective of this paper is to discuss how policy makers may deal with irrigation water pricing under asymmetric information, positive transaction costs on payments and cost recovery constraints. The issue is dealt with through the development of a principal agent model and its application to a pilot case study in Emilia Romagna, Italy. The results show that using a menu of contracts may improve the overall social welfare derived from irrigation. However, differences in performance among instruments (and hence the choice of the optimal pricing strategy) are critically determined by the amount of the full cost of water and of transaction costs. Moreover, differentiation among farmers may encounter policy obstacles as a potential source of conflicts.


RFC 4762 describes a mechanism to remove or unlearn Media Access
Control (MAC) addresses that have been dynamically learned in a
Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) instance for faster convergence on
topology changes. The procedure also removes MAC addresses in the VPLS
that do not require relearning due to such topology changes. This
document defines an enhancement to the MAC address withdraw procedure
with an empty MAC list (RFC 4762); this enhancement enables a Provider
Edge (PE) device to remove only the MAC addresses that need to be
relearned. Additional extensions to RFC 4762 MAC withdraw procedures
are specified to provide an optimized MAC flushing for the Provider
Backbone Bridging (PBB) VPLS specified in RFC 7041.


Based on growing knowledge on the distribution of stable isotopes in marine food webs, a powerful tool to study movements and trophic position of seabirds has been developed. Here we provide an updated review of isotope studies in the Southern Ocean and use δ 13 C and δ 15 N to evalu- ate diet and foraging areas of a small pelagic seabird, the thin-billed prion Pachyptila belcheri, breeding on the Falkland Islands. We found that close to egg laying, adults foraged in Falkland waters or northerly, but used more southerly foraging areas during courtship and chick rearing. Feathers grown during winter indicated that most individuals migrated south, although a small num- ber of adults migrated north every year, consistent with regular winter observations of this species off Patagonia and southern Brazil. Thus, Antarctic waters are used regularly, but not exclusively, during the breeding and inter-breeding season. We document sex-specific segregation in foraging for the first time in this species. Males and females differed in δ 13 C and δ 15 N during courtship and chick feeding. On average, males foraged at a higher trophic level and further north than females. The iso- topic signatures of blood sampled from individual chicks at different ages were correlated, indicating consistent behaviour of adult pairs over the chick-rearing period. Analysis of differences among years revealed more depleted isotope values during warmer years, suggesting more southerly foraging and a lower trophic level diet. This agrees with previous studies suggesting that warm sea surface waters depress local food availability, forcing prions to undertake longer foraging trips further south.


Marine organisms are exposed to a pH decrease and to alteration of carbonate chemistry due to ocean acidification (OA) that can represent a source of oxidative stress which can significantly affect their antioxidant defence systems efficiency. The polychaetes Platynereis dumerilii and P. massiliensis (Nereididae) are key species of the benthic community to investigate the effect of OA due to their physiological and ecological characteristics that enable them to persist even in naturally acidified CO2 vent systems. Previous studies have documented the ability of these species to adapt to OA after short- and long-term translocation experiments, but no one has ever evaluated the basal antioxidant system efficiency comparing populations permanently living in habitat characterized by different pH conditions (acidified vs. control). Here, individuals of both Platynereis species, sampled from a natural CO2 vent system and from a nonventing "control" site in three different periods (April 2016, October 2016, and February 2017), were compared highlighting signals which suggested the ability of both species to acclimatize to high pCO2–low pH with slight seasonal variations of their antioxidant efficiency and the absence of disturbances of the oxidative status of Platynereis spp. tissues.


[1] Bath's law, the observation that the largest aftershock is, on average, 1.2 magnitudes smaller than its main shock, independent of main shock size, suggests some degree of self-similarity in earthquake triggering. This behavior can largely be explained with triggering models in which the increased triggering caused by larger magnitude events is exactly compensated for by their decreased numbers, and these models can account for many features of real seismicity catalogs. The Bath's law magnitude difference of 1.2 places a useful constraint on aftershock productivity in these models. A more general test of triggering self-similarity is to plot foreshock and aftershock rates as a function of magnitude m relative to the main shock magnitude, mmax, of the largest event in the sequence. Both computer simulations and theory show that these dN/dm curves should be nearly coincident, regardless of main shock magnitude. The aftershock dN/dm curves have the same Gutenberg-Richter b-value as the underlying distribution, but the foreshock dN/dm curves have the same b-value only for foreshock magnitudes less than about mmax − 3. For larger foreshock values, the dN/dm curve flattens and converges with the aftershock dN/dm curve at m = mmax. This effect can explain observations of anomalously low b-values in some foreshock sequences and the decrease in apparent aftershock to foreshock ratios for small magnitude main shocks. Observed apparent foreshock and aftershock dN/dm curves for events close in space and time to M 2.5 to 5.5 main shocks in southern California appear roughly self-similar, but differ from triggering simulations is several key respects: (1) the aftershock b-values are significantly lower than that of the complete catalog, (2) the number of aftershocks is too large to be consistent with Bath's law, and (3) the foreshock-to-aftershock ratio is too large to be consistent with Bath's law. These observations indicate for southern California that triggering self-similarity is not obeyed for these small main shocks or that the space/time clustering is not primarily caused by earthquake-to-earthquake triggering.


The environmental impact of fossil fuel consumption has been a significant issue over the last decade. Mainly because of public awareness, increased fuel cost and stricter legislation. Today's technological improvements have reduced fuel consumption and also emission of vehicles considerably. One of the most important solutions to this problem is hybridization. Hybridization in vehicle is using two or more distinct power sources. Additionally, the main objective of hybridization in vehicle is improving the fuel consumption and reducing hazardous air pollutants without lowering vehicle performance and other satisfaction criteria. Development of hybridization systems can be fallen into two categories: electric and hydraulic hybrids. This project illustrates performances of HHV (hybrid hydraulic vehicles) and HEV (hybrid electric vehicles) in NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) and 10-15 mode (Japanese Driving cycle) by using simulation models, which has been done by the LMS Imagine Lab Amesim rev 7 th and 8 th . The following paper compares HRB (hydraulic regenerative braking system) as a hydraulic system and a parallel hybrid electric system (HEV) with the Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery on the light weight vehicle (1 ton). Results show higher performance in HEV, about 13.7% during NEDC and 25.4% during (10-15) improvement in fuel consumption although high energy density and low power density are inherent battery characteristics. Also, all the evidence point to high cost components and shortlife time. The HRB model saves around 11% during NEDC and 23.3% during 10-15Mode in fuel consumption in addition to high power density and low energy density .In other words, limitation for accumulating energy is an intrinsic system character. However, high response, low component cost and weight with long life time are advantages of HRB. Two problems exiting in HRB model are: firstly, the necessity of using big size pumps for fully charging hydraulic accumulators that would be impossible in a light vehicle; and secondly the limitation of capturing huge amount of energy in accumulators. In this paper the attempt is made to explicate some of the brand new solutions to alleviate some of these weak points. 3 Hybrid Electric & Hydraulic Drives INDEX ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 2 INDEX .................................................................................................................................. 3 Figures: .................................................................................................................................. 4 Tables: ................................................................................................................................... 5


Patients with bladder cancer (BCa) with clinical lymph node (LN) metastasis have extremely poor prognosis. VEGF-C has been demonstrated to play vital roles in LN metastasis in BCa. However, approximately 20% of BCa with LN metastasis exhibits low VEGF-C expression, suggesting a VEGF-C-independent mechanism for LN metastasis of BCa. Herein, we demonstrated that BCa cell-secreted exosomes-mediated lymphangiogenesis promoted LN metastasis in BCa, which was in a VEGF-C-independent manner. We identified an exosomal long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), termed lymph node metastasis-associated transcript 2 (LNMAT2), stimulated HLEC tube formation and migration in vitro and enhanced tumor lymphangiogenesis and LN metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, LNMAT2 was loaded to BCa cell-secreted exosomes by directly interacting with heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2B1 (hnRNPA2B1). Subsequently, exosomal LNMAT2 was internalized by HLECs and epigenetically upregulated prospero homeobox 1 (PROX1) expression by recruitment of hnRNPA2B1 and increasing the H3K4 trimethylation level in the PROX1 promoter, ultimately resulting in lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis. Therefore, our findings highlight a VEGF-C-independent mechanism of exosomal lncRNA-mediated LN metastasis and identify LNMAT2 as a therapeutic target for LN metastasis in BCa.


Endorsed from Cloud Computing, clients can achieve a thriving and modest practice for information sharing among gathering individuals in the cloud with the characters of low upkeep and slight administration cost. Then, security authorizations to the sharing information records will be given since they are outsourced. Extremely, due to the never-ending change of the enrolment, sharing information while giving protection saving is still a testing issue, predominantly for an untrusted cloud since of the agreement attack. In accumulation, for standing plans, the security of key dispersion be contingent on the harmless communication channel, then again, to have such channel is a solid feeling and is difficult for practice. A safe route for key dispersion with no safe correspondence channels, and the clients can safely acquire their private keys from gathering administrator is proposed. Besides, the plan can accomplish fine-grained access control, any client in the gathering can utilize the source in the cloud and refused clients can't get to the cloud again after they are rejected.


Objective: To describe the perceptions of pharmacist-delivered vaccination services among community members that live in a diverse urban metropolitan area and to identify potential strategies to improve the use of vaccines provided by pharmacists.
Design: Qualitative study. Setting: Metropolitan urban diverse community in Wayne County, MI. Participants: Individuals 50 years of age and older that reside in a defined urban metropolitan community. Intervention: Four, 45-minute, focus group discussions were conducted to gather the experiences and perceptions of participants around pharmacists that immunize. A focus group guide was developed to facilitate focus group sessions. Main Outcome Measures: Focus group discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed. Content analysis was used to analyze data and identify relevant themes. Results: Three main themes were identified related to the use of pharmacist-delivered vaccination services: trust with vaccine providers, interaction with pharmacy personnel, and the factor of accessibility. Conclusion: Study participants expressed views that will guide the development of interventions aimed to reduce disparities in vaccine utilization. It is suggested that future efforts improve accessibility to pharmacy-delivered vaccines in this community and enhance the interaction between patients and pharmacists.

Type: Original Research


Transdisciplinary food systems research aims to merge insights from multiple fields, often revealing confounding, complex interactions. Computational modeling offers a means to discover patterns and formulate novel solutions to such systems-level problems. The best models serve as hubs—or boundary objects—which ground and unify a collaborative, iterative, and transdisciplinary process of stakeholder engagement. This dissertation demonstrates the application of agent-based modeling, network analytics, and evolutionary computational optimization to the pressing food systems problem areas of livestock epidemiology and global food security. It is comprised of a methodological introduction, an executive summary, three journalarticle formatted chapters, and an overarching discussion section. Chapter One employs an agent-based computer model (RUSH-PNBM v.0.8) developed to study the potential impact of the trend toward increased producer specialization on resilience to catastrophic epidemics within livestock production chains. In each run, an infection is introduced and may spread according to probabilities associated with the various modes of contact between hog producer, feed mill, and slaughter plant agents. Experimental data reveal that more-specialized systems are vulnerable to outbreaks at lower spatial densities, have more abrupt percolation transitions, and are characterized by less-predictable outcomes; suggesting that reworking network structures may represent a viable means to increase biosecurity. Chapter Two uses a calibrated, spatially-explicit version of RUSH-PNBM (v.1.2) to model the hog production chains within three U.S. states. Key metrics are calculated after each run, some of which pertain to overall network structures, while others describe each actor's positionality within the network. A genetic programming algorithm is then employed to search for mathematical relationships between multiple individual indicators that effectively predict each node's vulnerability. This "metametric" approach could be applied to aid livestock epidemiologists in the targeting of biosecurity interventions and may also be useful to study a wide range of complex network phenomena. Chapter Three focuses on food insecurity resulting from the projected gap between global food supply and demand over the coming decades. While no single solution has been identified, scholars suggest that investments into multiple interventions may stack together to solve the problem. However, formulating an effective plan of action requires knowledge about the level of change resulting from a given investment into each wedge, the time before that effect unfolds, the expected baseline change, and the maximum possible level of change. This chapter details an evolutionary-computational algorithm to optimize investment schedules according to the twin goals of maximizing global food security and minimizing cost. Future work will involve parameterizing the model through an expert informant advisory process to develop the existing framework into a practicable food policy decision-support tool.


Thought to have originated in Uganda in the late 1930's, West Nile Virus (WNV) was introduced in to North America in 1999 in New York City (Nash et. al, 2001). From its first occurrence within the United States, the virus spread across the contiguous forty-eight states and southern Canada in five years resulting in 18,000 human cases and over 700 fatalities (West Nile Virus, 2013). An important vector for the transmission of the WNV, Culex pipiens is widely distributed throughout the world with the exception of Australia and Antarctica (Farajollahi et al., 2011). This study seeks to utilize Remote Sensing, GIS, and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) Modeling in developing a presence-only habitat probability model of the known WNV bridge vector, Cx. Pipiens in Forsyth County, North Carolina by defining ecogeographical parameters that promote the mosquito species' larval development. Mosquito sampling was conducted in sixty-nine localities across the study area over a twenty-eight week period during the 2013 breeding season (April to October). Final habitat suitability maps produced as a result of this research will serve to guide future trap placement toward areas of high Cx. pipiens presence throughout the study area in an effort to optimize vector control measures and reduce the risk of WNV transmission. MaxEnt modeling results for the predicted probability of Cx. pipiens geographical distribution in Forsyth County highlighted the largest concentrations of Cx. Pipiens habitats within and along the periphery of the Winston-Salem municipality. Secondary areas of higher probability were located in the north central portion of the county, an area marked by irrigated cropland and deciduous forest.


Abstract. Gladius-bearing coleoids are rare in the fossil record. For the Cretaceous period, these cephalopods are mainly recorded in a few Lagerstätten in Lebanon (Haqel, Hajoula, En Nammoura, and Sahel Aalma). Here, we study 16 specimens of gladius-bearing coleoids from these Upper Cretaceous Lebanese Lagerstätten to investigate their taxonomic diversity. Besides two species that were already reported (Dorateuthis syriaca and Glyphiteuthis libanotica), one new species is identified in the Cenomanian site of Hajoula: Rachiteuthis acutali n. sp., as well as another form of Glyphiteuthis from En Nammoura. Several studied specimens exhibit well-preserved soft-part characters. Among them, we document for the first time two transverse rows of sessile suckers in D. syriaca and we confirm the absence of tentacles, as well as the presence of a crop in this species. This strongly supports the phylogenetic proximity of D. syriaca with modern vampyropods rather than with modern decabrachians. In turn, the similarity in gladius morphology between this taxon and modern squids is regarded as convergent.


Theoretical accounts of grammatical limitations in specific language impairment (SLI) have been polarized between those that postulate problems with domain-specific grammatical knowledge, and those that regard grammatical deficits as downstream consequences of perceptual or memory limitations. Here we consider an alternative view that grammatical deficits arise when the learning system is biased towards memorization of exemplars, and is poor at extracting statistical dependencies from the input. We examine evidence that SLI involves deficits in extracting nonadjacent dependencies from input, leading to reliance on rote learning, and consider how far this may be part of a limitation of procedural learning, or a secondary consequence of memory limitations.


In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era of financing for development, the international community is placing substantial emphasis on the mantra 'leave no one behind' (Ki-moon 2015). To meet this commitment, an improved ability to assess disability inclusive development efforts of development agencies is required. This study piloted a methodology to monitor the inclusion of people with disabilities in development efforts of the World Bank and aligns findings against progress towards the SDGs by asking two research questions: 1) Are active World Bank projects inclusive of persons with disabilities (PWDs)? and 2) What areas of development and which SDG do disability-inclusive projects focus on? While disability inclusive projects make up only a small percentage of the overall active World Bank portfolio (2.0%), preliminary analysis indicates an investment focus in several areas, such as social protection systems and measures, technical assistance and partnerships, education, health, and affordable housing. The article closes by considering implications for future efforts to track the inclusiveness of development finance as we move forward in implementation of the SDGs.


Recent years have seen significant changes in the social policies of many liberal welfare-states; this is especially true of social programs for families with children. Increasingly, governments are making family policy trade-offs, reducing support for some families but improving it for others. Why are such trade-offs occurring, and how do governments differ in their approach to family social policy? This study addresses these questions by examining the political, demographic, and socio-economic factors influencing the restructuring of family-related programs in OECD countries. Adopting a feminist political economy approach, Maureen Baker shows that while some governments encourage their citizens to see children as 'future resources,' and promote strong support for reproductive health programs, child welfare services, women's refuges, subsidized childcare, and pay equity, others make these claims while simultaneously reducing family incomes through the deregulation of labour markets and restrictions on income support. Ultimately, Baker demonstrates that nation states with the best outcomes for families offer a variety of social supports, which are increasingly important as global markets reduce economic security for some families while improving the financial situation of others. This study also explores strategies employed by states to incorporate or resist international pressures, and the reasons why some states tenaciously defend their family policy traditions while others restructure according to international guidelines. Drawing from nation-based research, cross-national studies, and international data bases, Restructuring Family Policies successfully integrates mainstream academic debates about restructuring welfare states with feminist research findings and current policy concerns.


Coordinated ground-based observations of Titan were performed around or during the Huygens atmospheric probe mission at Titan on 14 January 2005, connecting the momentary in situ observations by the probe with the synoptic coverage provided by continuing ground-based programs. These observations consisted of three different categories: (1) radio telescope tracking of the Huygens signal at 2040 MHz, (2) observations of the atmosphere and surface of Titan, and (3) attempts to observe radiation emitted during the Huygens Probe entry into Titan's atmosphere. The Probe radio signal was successfully acquired by a network of terrestrial telescopes, recovering a vertical profile of wind speed in Titan's atmosphere from 140 km altitude down to the surface. Ground-based observations brought new information on atmosphere and surface properties of the largest Saturnian moon. No positive detection of phenomena associated with the Probe entry was reported. This paper reviews all these measurements and highlights the achieved results. The ground-based observations, both radio and optical, are of fundamental importance for the interpretation of results from the Huygens mission.


The Weather Regional Forecast (WRF) model is used in this study to downscale low-resolution data over West Africa. First, the performance of the regional model is estimated through contemporary period experiments (1981-1990) forced by ARPEGE-CLIMAT GCM output (ARPEGE) and ERA-40 re-analyses. Key features of the West African monsoon circulation are reasonably well represented. WRF atmospheric dynamics and summer rainfall compare better to observations than ARPEGE forcing data. WRF simulated moisture transport over West Africa is also consistent in both structure and variability with re-analyses, emphasizing the substantial role played by the West African Monsoon (WAM) and African East- erly Jet (AEJ) flows. The statistical significance of potential climate changes for the A2 scenario between 2032 and 2041 is enhanced in the downscaling from ARPEGE by the regional experiments, with substantial rainfall increases over the Guinea Gulf and eastern Sahel. Future scenario WRF simulations are characterized by higher temperatures over the eastern Tropical Atlantic suggesting more eva- poration available locally. This leads to increased moisture advection towards eastern regions of the Guinea Gulf where rainfall is enhanced through a strengthened WAM flow, supporting surface moisture convergence over West Africa. Warmer conditions over both the Mediterranean region and northeastern Sahel could also participate in enhancing moisture transport within the AEJ. The strengthening of the thermal gradient between the Sahara and Guinean regions, particularly pronounced north of 10N, would support an intensification of the AEJ north- wards, given the dependance of the jet to the position/ intensity of the meridional gradient. In turn, mid-tropo- spheric moisture divergence tends to be favored within the AEJ region supporting southwards deflection of moist air and contributing to deep moist convection over the Sahel where late summer rainfall regimes are sustained in the context of the A2 scenario regional projections. In con- clusion, WRF proved to be a valuable and efficient tool to help downscaling GCM projections over West Africa, and thus assessing issues such as water resources vulnerability locally.


Background: Inadequate nutrition during hospitalization is strongly associated with poor patient outcome, but ensuring adequate food intake is not a priority in clinical routine worldwide. This lack of priority results in inadequate and unbalanced food intake in patients and huge amounts of wasted food. Objectives: We evaluate the main factors that are associated with reduced meal intake in hospitalized patients and the differences between geographical regions. Design: We conducted a descriptive analysis of data from 9 consecutive, annual, and cross-sectional nutritionDay samples (2006–2014) in a total of 91,245 adult patients in 6668 wards in 2584 hospitals in 56 countries. A general estimation equation methodology was used to develop a model for meal intake, and P -value thresholding was used for model selection. Results: The proportion of patients who ate a full meal varied widely (24.7–61.5%) across world regions. The factors that were most strongly associated with reduced food intake on nutritionDay were reduced intake during the previous week (OR: 0.20; 95% CI: 0.17, 0.22), confinement to bed (OR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.44, 0.55), female sex (OR: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.5, 0.56), younger age (OR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.85) and older age (OR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.74; 0.88), and low body mass index (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.79, 0.90). The pattern of associated factors was homogenous across world regions. Conclusions: A set of factors that are associated with full meal intake was identified and is applicable to patients hospitalized in any region of the world. Thus, the likelihood for reduced food intake is easily estimated through access to patient characteristics, independent of world regions, and enables the easy personalization of food provision. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02820246.


Recently, Kenyon and Wilson introduced Dyck tilings, which are certain tilings of the region between two Dyck paths. The enumeration of Dyck tilings is related with hook formulas for forests and the combinatorics of Hermite polynomials. The first goal of this work is to give an alternative point of view on Dyck tilings by making use of the weak order and the Bruhat order on permutations. Then we introduce two natural generalizations: $k$-Dyck tilings and symmetric Dyck tilings. We are led to consider Stirling permutations, and define an analogue of the Bruhat order on them. We show that certain families of $k$-Dyck tilings are in bijection with intervals in this order. We enumerate symmetric Dyck tilings and show that certain families of symmetric Dyck tilings are in bijection with intervals in the weak order on signed permutations.


The metamorphic Bethesda Formation forms part of the Areachap Group, a volcano-sedimentary unit affected by the 1.2 to 1.0 Ga tectonothermal event in the Namaqua Sector of the Mesoproterozoic Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Province. It comprises mainly pale brown biotite- and muscovite-rich metapelitic and quartzitic schist and gneiss with subordinate amphibolite, quartzite and calc-silicate rocks. It is commonly migmatitic with pegmatitic leucosomes and veins, deeply weathered and generally poorly exposed. The extrusion of volcanic rocks in the Areachap Group is constrained between 1.30 and 1.24 Ga, whereas the Bethesda Formation is younger than 1224 ± 20 Ma based on detrital zircon dating. The regional foliation of the Areachap Group generally strikes northwesterly, reflecting isoclinal F 2 folding which obscures contact relationships. Upper amphibolite facies metamorphism in the Bethesda Formation at about 18 km depth is dated at 1205 ± 16 Ma. The close association of the Bethesda Formation with the calc-alkaline metavolcanic Jannelsepan Formation, with which it is in contact, suggests that they both formed in a volcanic arc setting shortly before the onset of the Namaqua orogeny. The Areachap Group as earlier defined included the Sprigg, Van Wykspan, Rateldraai, Bethesda and Jannelsepan Formations in the Upington area. Lithological correspondence between the Bethesda Formation and the quartzo-feldspathic Van Wykspan and contact-metamorphic Rateldraai Formations suggests that these formations should be included in the Bethesda Formation, as implemented here. The conglomeratic Sprigg Formation might be younger than the other formations of the Areachap Group, but more data on detrital zircons is needed to evaluate this. For practical reasons the original name Bethesda Formation for this mappable unit is retained, although there is a complete lack of primary characteristics, way-up and base or top criteria.


Application of the partial LTR (Loop Transfer Recovery) technique to design integral controllers for discrete-time non-minimum phase plants is discussed. We focus our attention to the feedback property at the plant input side assuming that unit step computation delay exists in a controller. First, based on the all-pass/minimum phase decomposition of the plant transfer function matrix, we construct the minimum phase state feedback (MSF) integral controller which feeds back the minimum phase state of a plant. For the output feedback case, we construct the minimum phase estimate feedback (MEF) integral controller by replacing the minimum phase state in the MSF integral controller by its estimate generated by the prediction type Kalman filter. We show that the feedback property achieved by the MEF integral controller approaches that of the MSF integral controller as the intensity of a fictitious disturbance inserted between the minimum phase and the all-pass parts tends to infinity. For the performance index consisting of the quadratic forms of the plant output and input, the feedback property achieved by enforcing the conventional LTR technique coincides with that achieved by the partial LTR technique. This fact clarifies the system theoretic significance of the enforcement of the conventional LTR technique. It should be noted that this fact does not make the partial LTR technique obsolete because it provides more design freedom than the conventional technique. A numerical example making use of the freedom is presented.


Zea mays L. ssp. mays, or corn, one of the most important crops and a model for plant genetics, has a genome approximately 80% the size of the human genome. To gain global insight into the organization of its genome, we have sequenced the ends of large insert clones, yielding a cumulative length of one-eighth of the genome with a DNA sequence read every 6.2 kb, thereby describing a large percentage of the genes and transposable elements of maize in an unbiased approach. Based on the accumulative 307 Mb of sequence, repeat sequences occupy 58% and genic regions occupy 7.5%. A conservative estimate predicts approximately 59,000 genes, which is higher than in any other organism sequenced so far. Because the sequences are derived from bacterial artificial chromosome clones, which are ordered in overlapping bins, tagged genes are also ordered along continuous chromosomal segments. Based on this positional information, roughly one-third of the genes appear to consist of tandemly arrayed gene families. Although the ancestor of maize arose by tetraploidization, fewer than half of the genes appear to be present in two orthologous copies, indicating that the maize genome has undergone significant gene loss since the duplication event.