Introduction: In the wake of the imminent retirement of the "baby-boomers", combined with the increase in life expectancy overall, concerns with the quality of life is become increasingly as (or more) important than the quantity of years. Future retirees are seeking financial security, freedom (and resources) to travel or to engage in some type of leisure activity, to invest, and to leave legacies for loved ones. They do not expect to become a financial or social burden for their families due to a lack of good planning or unrealistic expectations. The United States, as well as other developed countries in the global community, is tasked with maintaining the health, livelihood, and general well-being of all of its members, and in particular its aging population. The most well-known and applicable retirement program in the United States is Social Security. The topic of Social Security in the United States has garnered widespread attention in recent years, and has been discussed in regards to solvency and privatization, and in terms of "saving" Social Security. The prediction for the future of Social Security has been (at best) that Social Security will continue to exist, though barely functional. Social Security The Social Security Act, signed into law on August 14, 1935, was a reaction to the Great Depression, was a broad-based social insurance agent designed to address some of the difficulties brought on by the Great Depression, which was characterized by mass unemployment, the disruption or loss of pensions by thousands of workers, and the loss of lifetime savings by many. Two main issues were old-age insecurity and unemployment. Other insurance programs set up by the Social Security Act included unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, veterans' disability compensation, armed forces and civil service pensions. (Atchley, 1997). Title I of the Social Security Act provided for a federal-state program of public assistance for older people called "Old Age Assistance". It was for the aged poor, regardless of employment history. Title II of the Act set up a national social insurance system to provide pensions for retired and disabled workers. In 1939, survivors of workers were added. Old--Age (retirement), Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)--popularly referred to as Social Security is administered by the Social Security Administration and is a Title II program that bases benefits primarily on an individual's own contribution to the insurance system, not on economic need. OASDI provides monthly benefits to workers and their families when earnings stop or are reduced because the worker retires, dies, or becomes disabled. (SSA Congressional Statistics, December 2006). Social Security was set up as a safety net for retired workers at age sixty-five (65) and their families, and designed to replace approximately forty percent (40%) of the worker's average income. Currently, Social Security pays benefits to closely 32 million workers and their families. The median monthly benefit amount in 2006 was approximately $989.50. Over 90% of Americans have family members who rely on Social Security for income and healthcare benefits (SSA, 2006). Poverty In 2006, single persons with a total annual income of $9800.00 (or $816.67 per month) or less, were considered at or below the poverty line. Sources indicate that more than one in ten Americans (10.1%) were below 100% of the poverty line in 2006 (DHHS, March 2007). For certain groups, identified as high-risk, the percentage is much higher. The poverty rate of African-Americans over age 65 overall is more than 1 in 5 (23.2%). For African-American women over age 65, the rate is 25.2%, or more than 1 in 4. Overall, for all ethnic groups with the exception of Asian-American women, the poverty rate for women is significantly higher than for men. According to the National Academy of Social Insurance (August, 2000), elderly women comprise almost 70% of the poor elderly in the United States. …


Fiber-reinforced Soft Pneumatic Actuators (SPAs) are found in mobile robots, assistive wearable devices, and rehabilitative technologies. Being intrinsically compliant and readily manufacturable they are attractive for use where safety and customizability are a priority. While different types of SPAs can be found to match the force performance requirements of a variety of applications, outlying system-level issues of robustness, controllability, and repeatability are not traditionally addressed at the actuator level. The SPA pack architecture presented here aims to satisfy these standards of reliability as well as extend the basic performance capabilities of SPAs by borrowing advantages leveraged ubiquitously in biology; namely the structured parallel arrangement of lower power actuators to form the basis of a larger, more powerful actuator module. An SPA pack module consisting of a number of smaller SPAs will be studied using an analytical model and a physical prototype. For a module consisting of four unit actuators an output force over 112 N is measured, while the model indicates the effect of parallel actuator grouping over a geometrically equivalent single SPA scales as an increasing function of the number of individual actuators in the group. A 23% increase in force production over a volumetrically equivalent single SPA is predicted and validated, while further gains appear possible up to 50%, reasonably bounded by practical limitations from material properties and manufacturability. These findings affirm the advantage of utilizing a fascicle structure for high-performance soft robotic applications over existing monolithic SPA designs. An active wearable belt will be presented to demonstrate the capability of SPA pack modules to affect human trunk posture while standing, while further work may enable active modulation of trunk angle during walking to provide corrective assistance or gait modifying perturbations.


Property market not only plays a major role in the Australian real estate economy but also holds a large portion of the country's overall economic activities. In the state of Victoria, Australia alone, residential property values surpassed one trillion dollars in 2012. A typical weekend property auctions in Victoria could see tens of millions of dollars change hands. Residential property evaluation is important to banks or mortgage lenders, real-estates, policy-makers, home buyers and those involved in the housing industry. A tool which can predict prices is essential to the housing market.
Residential properties in Victoria are re-valued manually every two years by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria, Australia (DSE) with up to 30%± uncertainty of the market values. Municipal councils use the values established by DSE to determine property rates and land tax liabilities. According to rpdata.com, there are currently five types of Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) used in residential property valuation in Australia: sales comparison approach, cost approach, hedonic, income capitalisation approach and price indexation. The calculation backbone for these AVMs is still based on traditional statistics approach. At the time of writing this thesis, only a handful of researchers in the world have used Artificial Neural Network (ANN) in AVM to estimate residential property prices.
In this research work, a Conceptual Automated Property Valuation Model (CAPVM) using ANNs was proposed to evaluate residential property price. The ultimate goal was to produce long-term house price forecast for urban Victoria. The CAPVM was first optimised and then its residential property price forecast capability was investigated. Optimisation of CAPVM was achieved by determining the best number of the hidden layers, the hidden neurons and the input variables, and finding the best value of training error threshold. CAPVM was excellent in predicting 86.39% of residential property prices within the accuracy margin of 10%± error of the actual sale price, a better performance than DSE's manual valuations and National Australia Bank's published figures. It successfully modelled the annual changes in residential property prices for hard to predict periods 2007-2008 during the global financial crisis and 2010-2012 residential property boom when the interest rates were on a downwards trend. CAPVM also outperformed the prediction performance of multiple regression analysis.


We approach cover song identification using a novel time-series representation of audio based on the 2DFT. The audio is represented as a sequence of magnitude 2D Fourier Transforms (2DFT). This representation is robust to key changes, timbral changes, and small local tempo deviations. We look at cross-similarity between these time-series, and extract a distance measure that is invariant to music structure changes. Our approach is state-of-the-art on a recent cover song dataset, and expands on previous work using the 2DFT for music representation and work on live song recognition.


Conservation management of degraded land has the potential to build soil fertility, restore soil functions, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions as a consequence of surface soil organic matter accumulation. Literature from the southeastern United States was reviewed and synthesized to: (i) quantitatively evaluate the magnitude and rate of soil organic C (SOC) sequestration with conservation agricultural management; (ii) evaluate how conservation management affects surface SOC accumulation and its implications on ecosystem services; and (iii) recommend practical soil sampling strategies based on spatial and temporal issues to improve the detection of statistically significant SOC sequestration. Soil organic C sequestration was 0.45 ± 0.04 Mg C ha -1 yr -1 (mean ± standard error, n = 147, 20 ± 1 cm depth, 11 ± 1 yr) with conservation tillage compared with conventional tillage cropland. Establishment of perennial pastures sequestered 0.84 ± 0.11 Mg C ha -1 yr -1 (n = 35, 25 ± 2 cm depth, 17 ± 1 yr). Stratification of SOC with depth was common under conservation agricultural management and appears to be integrally linked to abatement of soil erosion, improvement in water quality, and SOC sequestration. Sampling of conservation management systems should ideally occur repeatedly with time in controlled and replicated experiments, but there is also an urgent need for chronosequence and paired-field surveys of SOC on working farms in the region to validate and expand the scope of inference of experimental results. Landowners in the southeastern United States have great potential to restore soil fertility and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions with the adoption of and improvement in conservation agricultural systems (e.g., continuous no-till, high-residue crop rotations, high organic matter inputs).


Marcan Christology: The debate of the last ten years The article discusses the developments in the methodological debate on Mark's gospel during the last decade. It shows that the focus in Marcan research shifted from the traditional redactional-historical research towards a literary-critical approach. Some authors also combine the approaches. The author discusses the implications for the Christological debate on the Son of Man and Son of God traditions, with reference to works of Matera, Brower, Hooker, Marcus, Chronis, Motyer, Jackson, Van Iersel and Scharberg, and discerns some prospective avenues for future research.


The Procedural Reasoning System, a generic reasoning system based on the rational-agent architecture, is described. The system has been applied to several real-time applications, including mobile robot control, system control for a surveillance aircraft, and air traffic management. Two applications that are relevant to process industries handling malfunctions for the reaction control system of NASA's Space Shuttle and diagnosing and controlling failures and overloads in a telecommunications network are discussed. Specifically, the representation and management of malfunction-handling procedures and tasks.<<ETX>>


The Australian Aboriginal language Arrernte has four coronal consonants in the stop, nasal and lateral series. This paper presents EPG data for th e four coronal stops of Arrernte in inter-vocalic context for one female speaker of the language. Results show comparatively little variability in th e laminal articulations, and comparatively greater variability in the apical articulations. An interes ting finding suggests that a retroflex harmony may exist in the language, whereby a retroflex consonant later in the word may cause a previous alveolar consonant to harmonize.


Abstract. The ionospheric plasma can significantly influence the propagation of radio waves and the ionospheric disturbances are capable of causing range errors, rapid phase and amplitude fluctuations (radio scintillations) of satellite signals that may lead to degradation of the system performance, its accuracy and reliability. The cause of such disturbances should be sought in the processes originating in the Sun. Numerous studies on these phenomena have been already carried out at a broad international level, in order to measure/estimate these space weather induced effects, to forecast them, and to understand and mitigate their impact on present-day technological systems. SWIPPA (Space Weather Impact on Precise Positioning Applications) is a pilot project jointly supported by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The project aims at establishing, operating, and evaluating a specific space-weather monitoring service that can possibly lead to improving current positioning applications based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). This space weather service provides GNSS users with essential expert information delivered in the form of several products - maps of TEC values, TEC spatial and temporal gradients, alerts for ongoing/oncoming ionosphere disturbances, etc.


Regarding to importance of modeling calibration, this study will be focused on probabilistic role of different strategies in calibration and verification steps. Tank lumped conceptual model was selected as a hydrological platform to investigate the effects of each optimization strategy on model performance. However, much considerable efforts are required to calibrate a large number of parameters in conceptual models to obtain better results. With development of artificial intelligence, three probabilistic Global Search Algorithms (GSAs) including Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Rosenbrock Multi-Start Search (RBN) and also three Objective Functions (OFs) consisted of NashSutcliffe (NSE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) were employed for model calibration (comparing the performance of different GSAs versus OFs). The best set of parameters, which is derived from the calibration step, will be used as prediction coefficients for the model verification stage. Performance evaluation of the simulation results was undertaken using Coefficient of Correlation (r) and Descriptive Statistics. Results indicated that all of optimization strategies have a relative ability to retrieve optimal values of eighteen parameters of the Tank model. However, the best GSAs for daily runoff simulation are SCE (0.871) and GA (0.864), respectively, for calibration and verification phases. In case of the OFs result, NSE (0.763) and RMSE (0.834) are more performant for calibration and verification of the model. Engineering EPiC Series in Engineering Volume 3, 2018, Pages 827–835 HIC 2018. 13th International Conference on Hydroinformatics G. La Loggia, G. Freni, V. Puleo and M. De Marchis (eds.), HIC 2018 (EPiC Series in Engineering, vol. 3), pp. 827–835 Finally, the best strategy was selected by combining the results of GSAs and OFs models. Finally, SCE*MAE (0.906) and GA*RMSE (0.868) were selected as a top series.


An introvert? Great at sales? YES.Sales is a skill anyone can learn and master — and introverts are especially good at it once they learn how to leverage their natural strengths.Introverts aren't comfortable with traditional tactics like aggressively pushing a product or talking over a customer's objections. That's the beauty of The Introvert's Edge: it doesn't focus on the sale itself but on a sales system that helps introverts feel sincere instead of sales-y. Powerful and practical, the book reveals how to:Find natural confidencePrepare for every situationPresent your value so that customers want to buySidestep objectionsJudge when the customer's ready to buyAsk for the sale — without askingContinually adapt and improveProfit from a process that doesn't rely on personalityEnjoy salesWith stories of introverted entrepreneurs, salespeople, and business owners who went from stagnant to success, The Introvert's Edge shows you how to succeed in sales — without changing who you are.


Information on the age of individuals is often required for models assessing the status of stocks. Techniques used to estimate age of tuna have varied across species and agencies, precluding meta-analyses of age and growth. We compared age estimates obtained from commonly used ageing techniques for four important tuna species: bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, southern bluefin tuna, and albacore tuna. Estimates of age from counts of annual increments in transverse-sectioned otoliths were generally higher than those from counts of daily increments in transverse and longitudinal sections for all species, particularly for fish older than two years. However, annual counts produced younger estimates, on average, relative to daily counts for bigeye and yellowfin tuna younger than one year. Estimates derived from daily increments in longitudinal and transverse sections were generally similar, although longitudinal sections produced relatively older age estimates for individuals older than two years. A linear or non-linear increase in the magnitude of differences between ageing methods was the best-approximating model in all cases except when comparing daily-increment counts between transverse and longitudinal otolith sections for southern bluefin tuna. These observations are consistent with a narrowing of daily increments with increasing age, resulting in underestimates of age relative to those derived from annual increments. We conclude that (i) daily increments are unsuitable for ageing individuals over two years, especially for southern bluefin and albacore, (ii) longitudinal sections are more precise and produce older age estimates than transverse sections for daily-age estimates, (iii) there are considerable differences in these trends between species, likely dependent on longevity, and (iv) parameter estimates and/or conclusions based on meta-analyses using age data derived from different ageing methods are likely confounded with methodological biases. This result demonstrates that greater effort is required to provide consistent, validated methods for routine age determination to support the assessment and management of these valuable populations.


Component minimized multi-machine drives have recently become an area of much research interest. One such drive comprises two three-phase induction motors supplied by a five-leg voltage source inverter. With only five legs available to supply two three-phase motors one inverter leg is connected to both motors and the drive is controlled in such a way that both machines can operate independently. Many PWM modulation methods have been suggested for such a drive system. However, they all suffer from serious drawbacks that impact negatively on the overall drive performance. This paper presents a new PWM modulation method that overcomes many of the issues experienced using the existing methods. The method effectively utilizes standard three-phase modulators in conjunction with additional logic to generate modulation signals for all five legs of the inverter and enables an arbitrary distribution of the available DC bus voltage between the two machines.


The authors state the hypothesis that the reindustrialisation tends to be globally understood as having different features for every country. The industrial policy of each state to reindustrialize the national economy determines these special features. The methodology of the research is presented by the wide range of different tools and methods. It includes the systematic approach to the interpretation of reindustrialisation, structuring the existing interpretations of reindustrialisation, criteria-based analysis of broader concepts, historical analysis of statistic data. Furthermore, we used basic scientific methods of analytical summary, quantitative analysis, deduction and abstraction. To prove the suggested hypothesis, the authors have compared key trends in the global economy with the existing theoretical approaches to reindustrialization in national and foreign economic research. We have analyzed the interpretation of reindustrialization as a global economic trend and as a specific state policy. The main features of reindustrialization process and its difference from reshoring- are examined. We have classified the key interpretations of "new industrialization†and "reindustrialization†terms tacking into account their correlation. To identify the common and specific features of the new industrialization and reindustrialization processes, the author used the criteria-based analysis. This allowed us to determine the most important qualitative and quantitative features of reindustrialization as a global tendency. Furthermore, we have classified the basic tools of state reindustrialization policy in number of developed and developing countries.


This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: Formulations and Numerical Methods, Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications, Flexible Multibody Dynamics, Contact Dynamics and Constraints, Multiphysics and Coupled Problems, Control and Optimization, Software Development and Computer Technology, Aerospace and Maritime Applications, Biomechanics, Railroad Vehicle Dynamics, Road Vehicle Dynamics, Robotics, Benchmark Problems. The conference is organized by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona. The organizers would like to thank the authors for submitting their contributions, the keynote lecturers for accepting the invitation and for the quality of their talks, the awards and scientific committees for their support to the organization of the conference, and finally the topic organizers for reviewing all extended abstracts and selecting the awards nominees.


Background: A simple, sensitive, linear, precise, and accurate method by gradient reversed-phase-high performance liquid chromatography for the simultaneous estimation of metformin (MET), voglibose (VOG) and glimepiride (GLI) in bulk and in their combined tablet dosage form was developed and validated. Materials and Methods: The separation of the three drugs was based on the use of Inertsil ODS 3V (150 × 4.6 mm, i.e. 5 μm) column in a gradient mode. Mobile phase consisted of 0.02 M Phosphate buffer adjusted to pH 2.5 using dilute orthophosphoric acid (solvent A) and acetonitrile (solvent B) was set with gradient programming for 18 min and was delivered at 1 ml/min fl ow rate and effl uents are achieved with variable wavelength: Photodiode array detector at 230 nm. Results: The retention times of MET, VOG and GLI were found to be 2.423, 8.191, and 11.708, respectively. The percentage assay of MET, VOG and GLI was found to be 99.92%, 99.32, and 99.72%, respectively. Calibration curves were linear for MET, VOG and GLI at concentration ranges of 200-600 μg/ml, 0.08-0.24 μg/ml, and 0.8-2.4 μg/ml with the regression coeffi cient of 0.999 for all the three drugs and precise with (% relative standard deviation <2). The limit of detection for MET, VOG and GLI was found to be 0.05 μg/ml, 0.004 μg/ml, 0.002 μg/ml, and limit of quantitation for MET, VOG and GLI was found to be 1.5 μg/ml, 0.012 μg/ml, and 0.006 μg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: The method was validated by determining its linearity, accuracy, precision, system suitability and can be employed for routine quality control analysis as per International Conference on Harmonization guidelines.


The main subject of this thesis concerns the optimum design of experiments for discriminating between two rival mathematical models. In addition, optimality of designs for parameter estimation is investigated although restricted to binary response models. Optimal design theory and generalized linear models form the background for this work. The former provides the tools for construction of the optimum designs whereas the latter provides the framework in which the methods are developed. For model discrimination the procedures which are proposed may not only be applied to compare two regression models but also to compare two generalized linear models as long as they belong to the same subclass. The principle of the so called T-optimality criterion, originally introduced for discriminating between two regression models, is extended to other classes such as generalized linear models. Within each context a theorem based on the General Equivalence Theorem from the optimal design theory is shown to hold thus allowing both constructing and checking optimum designs. Optimum experimental designs to estimate the parameters of a binary response model is the other subject of this thesis. Initially, well known link functions such as logit, probit and complementary log-log are considered. Later, this range is widened by introducing a family of link functions which includes the logit and the complementary log-log links as particular members. One common feature of these two problems is that classical optimal designs depend on the unknown values of the model parameters. Therefore, only locally optimal designs can be obtained unless observations may be taken sequentially, in which case several methods to search for the optimum are available in the literature. As an alternative to locally and sequentially optimal experiments, Bayesian designs are introduced for both model discrimination and parameter estimation.


Abstract. Sea salt seeding of marine clouds to increase their albedo is a proposed technique to counteract or slow global warming. In this study, we first investigate the susceptibility of marine clouds to sea salt injections, using observational data of cloud droplet number concentration, cloud optical depth, and liquid cloud fraction from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instruments on board the Aqua and Terra satellites. We then compare the derived susceptibility function to a corresponding estimate from the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM). Results compare well between simulations and observations, showing that stratocumulus regions off the west coast of the major continents along with large regions over the Pacific and the Indian Oceans are susceptible. At low and mid latitudes the signal is dominated by the cloud fraction. We then carry out geo-engineering experiments with a uniform increase over ocean of 10 −9 kg m −2 s −1 in emissions of sea salt particles with a dry modal radius of 0.13 μm, an emission strength and areal coverage much greater than proposed in earlier studies. The increased sea salt concentrations and the resulting change in marine cloud properties lead to a globally averaged forcing of −4.8 W m −2 at the top of the atmosphere, more than cancelling the forcing associated with a doubling of CO 2 concentrations. The forcing is large in areas found to be sensitive by using the susceptibility function, confirming its usefulness as an indicator of where to inject sea salt for maximum effect. Results also show that the effectiveness of sea salt seeding is reduced because the injected sea salt provides a large surface area for water vapor and gaseous sulphuric acid to condense on, thereby lowering the maximum supersaturation and suppressing the formation and lifetime of sulphate particles. In some areas, our simulations show an overall reduction in the CCN concentration and the number of activated cloud droplets decreases, resulting in a positive forcing.


In this work the oxidation of various low-valent phosphorus species with halomines and halogens has been studied. (^31)P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been used to follow the reactions, and the pairwise additivity rule has been tested to determine if it is possible to predict the chemical shifts of the new species prepared. The reaction of Me(_2)NX (X = C1 or Br) with a number of phosphorus(III)species produced the phosphonium salt of the corresponding halide by simple amination at the phosphorus atom. This reaction occurred for(Me(_2)N)(_n)PX((_3-n)), (X = F, C1, Br and n = 1, 2) except for Me(_2)NPF(_2); for Ph(_n)PR((_3-n)) (R = Me, C(_6)H(_11), Me(_2)N, and n = 0-3) except for (Me(_2)N)(_3)P; and for the species Me(_2)PC1, MePC1(_2), (C(_6)H(_11))(_2)PC1 and Bu(^n)(_3)P. The fluorine containing phosphorus species studied, where there was more than one fluorine on the phosphorus (PF(_3) and Me(_2)NPF(_2)), gave more complex reactions which probably occurred due to rearrangement of the intially formed phosphorus(V) species. The overall stoichiometery of one such reaction was found to be: 2Me(_2)NPF(_2) + 3Me(_2)NBr = [(Me(_2)N)(_3)PF]Br + (Me(_2)N)(_2)PF(_3) + Br(_2) In the case of (Me(_2)N)(_3)P halogenation was found to occur with formation of tetramethylhydrazene. Reaction of dimethylchloramine and dimethyl bromamine with phosphorus(III) species containing the MeO group ((MeO)(_n)PX((_3-n), X -= C1 or Ph and n = 1-3) may well have formed a phosphonium salt but the observed products were the halomethane and a phosphorus(V) species contain a P=0 bond, e.g. (MeO)(_3)P + Me(_2)NBr = Me(_2)NPO(OMe)(_2) + MeBr. In the case of the aryl and thioesters studied ((MeS)(_3)P and (PhO)(_3)P) the intermediate species are observed.


For the first lime since 1965, Congolese have elected their representatives and leaders in 2006 and 2007. Beside the fact that the election has punished President the RCD (former rebel movement) in eastern and President Kabila in western parts of the country, the results of the election has increased the identity based tensions within the northern Province of Kivu, already being devastated by poorness of ifs population, by crimes of former Rwandan soldiers, lnterahamwe Militias, DRC soldiers and rebels of Laurent Nkunda. The election has also facilitated the Nande and Hutu tributes to negociate their own interests regardless to those of the other groups. The victory of President Kabila to that election is evident/y becoming more and more an illusion in the northern Kivu province.


China's "Belt & Road" initiative ("BRI") has the potential to redefine international trade governance and the laws that establish its order. As a result, new international legal norms are emerging that are characteristically "Eastern". With a new international trade and investment order will come disputes over its interpretation. However, current dispute resolution mechanisms, including Investor State Dispute Settlement ("ISDS"), may not be efficient in resolving disagreements between the BRI's participating states, or investors therein. In order to overcome this practical challenge, this paper examines some important legal aspects of the BRI and offers a new concept of dispute regulation in general. As such, it firstly introduces the BRI as well as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and explores their relationship. Secondly, it tackles selective legal aspects, norms and questions that are emerging as a result of the BRI. For the central argument, four traditional dispute resolution mechanisms are analyzed to inform a new BRI paradigm. This is supported by the special nature of the BRI, and the unique characteristics of countries participating in it. The paper is intended to begin a discussion of some emerging trends in international trade and the rules that relate to it, in the context of the BRI.


Consent, a powerful concept that lies at the heart of contract law, has received a great amount of scholarly attention. Recently, some contract law scholars have been criticizing consent and suggesting alternative concepts. Contrary to this approach, this Article offers a nuanced description of consent that could pave the way for a better application of consent in contract law. At present, courts ascribe only a narrow meaning to consent, namely, that consent is either informed and freely given, or it is not. However, consent is not simply a "yes or no" question; consent is more complex than such an analysis suggests and can be both gradual and continuous. Rejecting a binary framework which views consent as an on/off concept, this Article asserts that consent is better understood as a spectrum that ranges from "no consent" to "solid consent," and that contains many gray areas in between. These gray areas include, but are not limited to, hesitation, deliberation, negotiations, mixed feelings and reservations. Further complicating the matter is the fact that consent is often contextual. Consent is shaped by the relationship between the consenter and the consentee. Factors of power, intimacy, trust, arm's length relations and more all differently influence consent. Moreover, consent is socially constructed. Factors such as gender, race and class directly influence the choices and constraints present for both parties in the background of a consensual decision, as do factors such as social context and policy considerations. Consent must be recognized as deriving not only from the individual mindsets of the parties, but also from the relevant public and social circumstances. As such, consent to a prenuptial agreement, consent to an employment agreement and consent to a consumer contract must be recognized as distinct from one another, in that they are shaped by their unique social contexts. By exploring the many shades of consent, this Article may serve as a starting point in the development of a diverse and heterogenic yet useful and practical concept of consent.


By coating a single-mode-multimode-single-mode (SMS) structure with a complex refractive index thin-film the central wavelength of the transmission and attenuation bands of the optical spectrum can be shifted. By adequate selection of multimode segment length and diameter, the thin-film thickness and the thin-film refractive index, the sensitivity of the device to the surrounding medium refractive index, the thickness of the thin-film or the refractive index of the thin-film can be optimized. Experimental results are corroborated numerically with the transfer matrix method.


Recently, metamaterials with near-zero refractive index have attracted much attention. Light inside these materials experiences no spatial phase change and extremely large phase velocity, makes these peculiar systems applicable for realizing directional emission, tunneling waveguides, large-area single-mode devices and electromagnetic cloaks. In addition, epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials can also enhance light transmission through a subwavelength aperture. Impedance-matched all-dielectric zero-index metamaterials which exhibit Dirac cone dispersions at center of the Brillouin zone, have been experimentally demonstrated at microwave regime and optical frequencies for transverse-magnetic (TM) polarization of light. More recently, it has been also proved that these systems can be realized in a miniaturized in-plane geometry useful for integrated photonic applications, i.e. these metamaterials can be integrated with other optical elements, including waveguides, resonators and interferometers. In this work, using a zero-index metamaterial at the inner and outer sides of a subwavelength aperture, we numerically and experimental study light transmission through and its extraction from the aperture. The metamaterial consists of a combination of two double-layer arrays of scatterers with dissimilar subwavelength dimensions. The metamaterial exhibits zero-index optical response in microwave region. Our numerical investigation shows that the presence of the metamaterial at the inner side of the aperture leads to a considerable increase in the transmission of light through the subwavelength aperture. This enhancement is related to the amplification of the amplitude of the electromagnetic field inside the metamaterial which drastically increases the coupling between free space and the slit. By obtaining the electric field profile of the light passing through the considered NZI/aperture/NZI system at this frequency we found out that in addition to the enhanced transmission there is an excellent beaming of the extracted light from the structure. We have theoretically and experimentally shown that using a zero-index metamaterial at the inner and outer sides of a metallic subwavelength slit can considerably enhance the transmission of light through the aperture and beam its extraction, respectively. This work has been supported by TUBITAK under Project No 114E505. The author H.C. also acknowledges partial support from the Turkish Academy of Sciences.


Introduction In the present day world, the ecology that the human beings inhabit is laden with various kinds of spaces and places. Our ecology encompasses different kinds of cyberspaces and market places that continuously sway our mind. This character of continuously influencing and controlling the human psyche according to Herbert Simon makes our economy an 'attention economy'. The concept of 'attention economy' revolves around the innumerable existing spaces and places and the human attention. Attention Economy is considered to be one where there is scarcity of human attention. Davenport & Beck defines attention as, "focused mental engagement on a particular message or piece of information" and the attention economy as one where the scarcest resource is no longer just "capital, labour, information and knowledge," but human attention (Davenport & Beck 2001, 20). In the attention economy there is a constant competition among different spaces and places to attract the maximum segment of the scarcest modern resource. In the modern world of consumerism only those survive the tide who seeks the attention of many. Identity assertion can be stated as the order of the day. This continuous strive of representation and recognition by the individuals and institutions determine the entities success and failure. Looking at the way the nature of the modern society restructures itself Lanham writes, "We are moving from material to method. Stuff in them is getting evaporated before our stuff-clouded eyes ... [and] the world has become a stage, staging itself for a visitor's eye" (Lanham, 2006). Lanham means to say that the present day world has adapted 'change' as its permanent character. Today, the world is moving so fast that it takes no time for a mode of technology to become outdated. In the attention economy life and death of every thing depends upon the attention it attracts and the changes it adapts. In this sense attention plays a significant role in the development of libraries also. Herbert Simon was the pioneer to articulate the concept of attention economics when he wrote: "... in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it" (Simon, 1971). According to him, in the attention economy the information has the power to consume the attention of the people. The scarcity of attention is the result of overload of information. Therefore, the competition is among the varieties of information in the environment. Generally, a person looks at the thing that draws his/her attention. In doing so the capacity to look at other things diminishes. This is why it is important in the attention economy for information organizations to define ways they can command and hold the attention of prospective patrons. In the attention economy representation of guarantees the sustenance of the organization. Identity crisis may be due to inadequate representation in the attention economy. The identity crisis in the attention economy may be recurring, as in the changing world we are required to constantly redefine and represent ourselves. We are in the time when stability is an exception and change the rule. To make their presence felt in such overloaded information economies and the fast moving world libraries and librarians will have to represent themselves. In the attention economy presence of libraries in the society would not help them get the users. They need to make their presence felt as a significant channel in knowledge generation and dissemination process. To gain recognition they will have to move away from the traditional way the libraries functioned. …


The author of this article participated in the litigation of Andersen v. King County, Washington in which lesbian and gay couples unsuccessfully sought access to marriage. Although part of the plaintiffs' litigation team, she is a feminist anti-assimilationist and as such, is generally opposed to articulating marriage as a priority of the lesbian/gay civil rights movement. Confronted with the undeniable reality that marriage has become the central demand of the lesbian and gay movement, the author explores the tensions and contradictions encountered during the litigation. The article examines how one might critically manifest resistance even while working for an assimilationist goal.


The paper contains a report on the first collections of Xerocomus silwoodensis in the Czech Republic. The authors present a macroand microscopic description of this species based on a study of material collected from one Bohemian and one Moravian locality. Characters distinguishing X. silwoodensis from related species of the genus Xerocomus Quél. s. str. (X. ferrugineus, X. subtomentosus, and X. chrysonemus) are discussed.


Although consumer responses to signs and symbols lie at the heart of trade mark law, courts blow hot and cold on the relevance of empirical evidence – such as surveys and experiments – to establish how consumers respond to alleged infringing marks. This ambivalence is related to deeper rifts between trade mark doctrine and the science around consumer decision‐making. This article engages with an approach in 'Law and Science' literature: looking at how cognitive psychology and related disciplines conceptualise consumer decision‐making, and how counterintuitive lawyers' approaches appear from this perspective. It demonstrates how, especially when proving confusion, decision‐makers in trade mark demand the impossible of empiricists and are simultaneously blind to the weaknesses of other sources of proof. A principled divergence, without seeking to collapse the gaps between legal and scientific approaches, but taking certain small steps, could reduce current problems of proof and contribute to better‐informed, more empirically grounded decisions.


Postpartum psychosis occurs in approximately two out of every 1000 women after childbirth. Although rare, it is a very serious illness with a potential for suicide and infanticide. The suffering associated with this illness and the effects on the entire family system are severe. Nurses need a comprehensive understanding of this disorder, how women present andexperience the illness and the nursing care required to keep women and their newborns safe. They also need to promote early detection to facilitate prompt treatment. To date, there is little research examining the women's experiences and the nursing care provided to this population.Two descriptive qualitative studies were completed. One study analyzed internet narratives of ten women with the diagnosis of postpartum psychosis and the other study analyzed ten interviews with psychiatric nurses working on inpatient psychiatric units in Sweden. These two studies and subsequent secondary analyses addressed four research questions. How do women diagnosed with postpartum psychosis describe theirexperience?What are psychiatric nurses' descriptions of women with postpartum psychosis and what are their responses to these women when caring for them on an inpatient psychiatric unit?What nursing care strategies are used by nurses in caring for women with postpartum psychosis?How do psychiatric nurses describe the use of presence when caring for women with PPP?The women described overwhelming fear, a detachment and inability to care for their babies, delusions and hallucinations, shame and guilt, sleep deprivation, a sense of being controlled, disorganized, confused and paranoia during hospitalization. A number also felt abandoned and discontented with the nursing staff and the nursing care they received. The nurses described a kaleidoscope of symptoms and a range of positive and negative emotionalresponses they had towards the women. Nursing strategies included satisfying basic needs, keeping the women and babies safe and secure, connecting the women with reality, creating a partnership, teaching the women and their family members, giving hope and facilitating recovery. The nurses described their use of physical presence in great detail and the learning that took place in the context of caring for this population.Future research studies need to examine the on-going interaction ofpatients and nurses on inpatient psychiatric units. Nurses and nursing studentsneed education about disease manifestations, women's experiences, nursingcare strategies and ways to address nurses' own emotional reactions.


Pressure to utilize research evidence in decisions about patient care and population health, so-called evidence-based medicine, has swept the health care systems of most industrial countries. In the UK, the attention of policy makers has recently turned from the production of more 'effectiveness information' to the more fundamental challenge of understanding the factors involved in influencing the attitudes and practices of health care professionals. This article seeks to contribute to this process by reporting the findings of an evaluation of a clinical effectiveness initiative established in Wales between 1996-9 (Locock et al . 1999). The study shows that a number of different factors are involved in improving the implementation of effectiveness information, including the strength of the evidence, and the role of peer influence. However it is the interaction of various elements rather than any single factor, which appears to be crucial. These findings are important not only for health but for informing future interventions across other parts of the public sector.


The lifetimes of nonfixed holograms in LiNbO3:Fe crystals with doping levels of 0.05, 0.138, and 0.25 wt % Fe2O3 have been measured in the temperature range from 30 to 180 °C. The time constants of the dark decay of holograms stored in crystals with doping levels of 0.05 and 0.25 wt % Fe2O3 obey an Arrhenius-type dependence on absolute temperature T, but yield two activation energies: 1.0 and 0.28 eV, respectively. For these crystals, two different dark decay mechanisms are prevailing, one of which is identified as proton compensation and the other is due to electron tunneling between sites of Fe2 + and Fe3 + . The dark decay of holograms stored in crystals with the doping level of 0.138 wt % Fe2O3 is the result of a combination of both effects.


Degradation mechanisms of unglazed solar absorber surfaces based on aluminium substrate were studied. Rough graphite-aluminium surfaces were total-immersion subjected to aerated and de-aerated simulated neutral and acid rain. Test conditions were based on calculated absorber stagnation temperature and global rain acidity measurements. Changes in optical properties, elemental composition and sample mass were examined by spectrometry, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and thermogravimetry, respectively. The absorbers exhibited almost no degradation at pH value of 3.5. At pH 5.5 alumina on the surface hydrated significantly degrading the optical properties of the surfaces severely in most cases. Therefore these absorber surfaces can not be recommended to be used in nonglazed applications if they are exposed to rain with pH exceeding ~3.5 – 4.5. The total-immersion test needs to be developed further as the test results exhibited poor temperature and time dependency thus preventing accurate service lifetime estimates. Still, these tests were useful in determining favourable and non-favourable operating conditions for the absorber surfaces based on aluminium substrate.


Abstract There are several methods to create visualizations of speech data. All of them, how-ever, lack the ability to remove microphone-dependent distortions. We examined the useof Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and theCOmprehensive Space Map of Objective Signal (COSMOS) method in this work. To solvethe problem of lacking microphone independency of PCA, LDA, and COSMOS, we presenttwo methods to reduce the influence of the recording conditions on the visualization. Thefirst one is a rigid registration of maps created from identical speakers recorded underdifferent conditions, i.e. different microphones and distances. The second method is anextension of the COSMOS method, which performs a non-rigid registration during themapping procedure. As a measure for the quality of the visualization, we computed themapping error which occurs during the dimension reduction and the grouping error as theaverage distance between the representations of the same speaker recorded by different mi-crophones. The best linear method in leave-one-speaker-out evaluation is PCA plus rigidregistration with a mapping error of 47% and a grouping error of 18%. The proposedmethod, however, surpasses this even further with a mapping error of 24% and a groupingerror which is close to zero.Keywords: Speech intelligibility, speech and voice disorders, speech evaluation, dimen-sionality reduction, Sammon mapping, QMOS, COSMOS, COmprehensive Space Map ofObjective Signal


The paper describes a number of practical uses of a spreadsheet that vary across the novice-expert continuum in terms of the development of skills required for career paths in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines. To this end, three types of skills are introduced: basic, professional and advanced. Using a spreadsheet as a background and Vygotskian perspective on learning and development as a conceptual framework, the paper demonstrates how purposeful applications of the skills transform one type into another, encourage concept learning, and broaden technology integration into problem solving. The relationship between a spreadsheet and other software tools is discussed.


BSL Healthy Minds (BSLHM) is a national psychological therapy service in primary care that provides cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and counselling for deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL). There are 211 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England and BSLHM has the onerous task of developing a relationship with each one to set up a contract that would enable BSL users to have the same access to psychological therapies as the general population. This article will consider the obstacles faced when negotiating the ever-changing face of the CCGs, the complex relationships with commissioners, the issues Deaf people face when accessing mainstream mental health services and specialist status. There are possible solutions to the immense difficulties BSLHMs experiences when considering commissioning and this article offers recommendations for changes within the funding structure for the future.


BACKGROUND
Approximately one-fifth of all subfertile couples seeking fertility treatment show clinically relevant levels of anxiety, depression, or distress. Psychological and educational interventions are frequently offered to subfertile couples, but their effectiveness, both in improving mental health and pregnancy rates, is unclear.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effectiveness of psychological and educational interventions for subfertile couples on psychological and fertility treatment outcomes.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched (from inception to 2 April 2015) the Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group Specialised Register of Controlled Trials, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; Issue 2, 2015), MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, EBSCO CINAHL, DARE, Web of Science, OpenGrey, LILACS, PubMed, and ongoing trials registers. We handsearched reference lists and contacted experts in the field.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included published and unpublished randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster randomised trials, and cross-over trials (first phase) evaluating the effectiveness of psychological and educational interventions on psychological and fertility treatment outcomes in subfertile couples.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently assessed trial risk of bias and extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional information. Our primary outcomes were psychological measures (anxiety and depression) and fertility rates (live birth or ongoing pregnancy). We assessed the overall quality of the evidence using GRADE criteria.As we did not consider the included studies to be sufficiently similar to permit meaningful pooling, we summarised the results of the individual studies by presenting the median and interquartile range (IQR) of effects as well as the minimum and maximum values. We calculated standardised mean differences (SMDs) for continuous variables and odds ratios (ORs) for dichotomous outcomes.

MAIN RESULTS
We included 39 studies involving 4925 participants undergoing assisted reproductive technology. Studies were heterogeneous with respect to a number of factors, including nature and duration of interventions, participants, and comparator groups. As a result, we judged that pooling results would not result in a clinically meaningful estimate of a treatment effect. There were substantial methodological weaknesses in the studies, all of which were judged to be at high risk of bias for one or more quality assessment domains. There was concern about attrition bias (24 studies), performance bias for psychological outcomes (27 studies) and fertility outcomes (18 studies), and detection bias for psychological outcomes (26 studies). We therefore considered study-specific estimates of intervention effects to be unreliable. Thirty-three studies reported the outcome mental health. Only two studies reported the outcome live birth, and both of these had substantial attrition. One study reported ongoing pregnancy, again with substantial attrition. We have combined live birth and ongoing pregnancy in one outcome. Psychological outcomesStudies utilised a variety of measures of anxiety and depression. In all cases a low score denoted benefit from the intervention.SMDs for anxiety were as follows: psychological interventions versus attentional control or usual care: median (IQR) = -0.30 (-0.84 to 0.00), minimum value -5.13; maximum value 0.84, 17 RCTs, 2042 participants; educational interventions versus attentional control or usual care: median = 0.03, minimum value -0.38; maximum value 0.23, 4 RCTs, 330 participants.SMDs for depression were as follows: psychological interventions versus attentional control or usual care: median (IQR) = -0.45 (-0.68 to -0.08), minimum value -3.01; maximum value 1.23, 12 RCTs, 1160 participants; educational interventions versus attentional control or usual care: median = -0.33, minimum value -0.46; maximum value 0.17, 3 RCTs, 304 participants. Fertility outcomesWhen psychological interventions were compared with attentional control or usual care, ORs for live birth or ongoing pregnancy ranged from minimum value 1.13 to maximum value 10.05. No studies of educational interventions reported this outcome.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The effects of psychological and educational interventions on mental health including distress, and live birth or ongoing pregnancy rates is uncertain due to the very low quality of the evidence. Existing trials of psychological and educational interventions for subfertility were generally poorly designed and executed, resulting in very serious risk of bias and serious inconsistency in study findings. There is a need for studies employing appropriate methodological techniques to investigate the benefits of these treatments for this population. In particular, attentional control groups should be employed, that is groups receiving a treatment that mimics the amount of time and attention received by the treatment group but is not thought to have a specific effect upon the participants, in order to distinguish between therapeutic and non-specific effects of interventions. Where attrition cannot be minimised, appropriate statistical techniques for handling drop-out must be applied. Failure to address these issues in study design has resulted in studies that do not provide a valid basis for answering questions about the effectiveness of these interventions.


The increasing need for materials and steel in particular for specific applications has led to development of theories, models, software, and practices which are now of immense value in the design of steel. The world stood still recently as the first bulk nanostructured metal was produced by Tata Steel and Rolls Royce Plc. This underscores the strategic position of steel in propelling technology. This paper reviews the theories, development, properties and application of this class of iron alloys in engineering design.


Back, belly, and jowl fat samples of pigs fed control corn-soybean meal-based diets and diets containing 4 sources of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) were used to determine the impact of feeding DDGS with variable oil content on pork fat quality and to evaluate the precision and accuracy of published iodine value (IV) prediction equations. Dietary treatments consisted of 4 corn-soybean meal diets containing 40% DDGS from different sources with 10.7, 5.6, 14.2, or 16.0% ether extract (EE; as-fed) content. Diets did not contain any other supplemental lipid sources. Regardless of fat depot, SFA content (g/100 g fat) of pigs fed 5.6% EE DDGS (35.4) was greater ( < 0.05) than that of pigs fed 14.2 or 16.0% EE DDGS sources (34.4 and 30.2, respectively) and tended to be greater ( < 0.10) than that of pigs fed 10.7% EE DDGS (34.6). Pigs fed 10.7 and 14.2% EE DDGS had greater ( < 0.01) SFA concentration than pigs fed 16.0% EE DDGS. Regardless of fat depot, MUFA content (g/100 g fat) of pigs fed 10.7, 5.6, and 14.2% DDGS sources were similar (43.7, 43.1, and 43.0, respectively) but were greater ( < 0.01) than that of pigs fed 16.0% EE DDGS (40.0). A dietary treatment × fat depot interaction was observed for PUFA ( < 0.05) and IV ( = 0.079). Pigs fed 10.7, 5.6, and 14.2% DDGS sources had reduced ( < 0.01) PUFA concentration and IV compared with pigs fed 16.0% EE DDGS, but the magnitude of responses in PUFA and IV to the variable oil content of DDGS was greater in backfat than in belly and jowl fat. Carcass fat IV data were used to evaluate prediction error (PE) and bias of published carcass fat IV prediction equations. Equations using dietary C18:2 content or IV product as a single predictor resulted in highly variable PE (g/100 g) ranging from 3.43 to 8.36 and bias (g/100 g) ranging from -5.05 to 5.66. Using equations that included additional diet composition information and pig growth performance factors decreased PE (3.27 to 4.73) and bias (-3.37 to 1.73) of prediction for backfat compared with equations only based on the characteristics of dietary lipid, but this improvement was limited in the prediction for belly and jowl fat. Predictions based on percentage of DDGS in diets had the greatest PE (6.66 to 9.19) and bias (5.53 to 8.00).


Stable, caring relationships in early life are fundamental to children's healthy development (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010). The importance of parent-child attachments is increasingly being emphasised within the wider socio-economic and political context (Meins, 2017), particularly in terms of policy development and intervention. As such, it is pragmatic and valuable to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions derived from attachment theory. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to examine the efficacy of attachment-based interventions for biological parent-child dyads on children's emotional, behavioural and relational outcomes. 15 of the 19 studies reviewed reported positive change for children in terms of enhanced attachment security, improved internal mental representations of themselves and their caregivers, increased responsiveness and communication with their caregivers and a reduction in externalising behaviours. However, a number of methodological limitations were identified. These included a lack of objectivity in the measures used and limited follow-up data on children's outcomes. Accordingly, Educational Psychologists (EPs) should reflect carefully before recommending attachment-based interventions and ensure due consideration is given to other factors which may be impacting on children's functioning, beyond their attachment style. Directions for future research include the use of longitudinal study designs and the use of more objective measures completed by a range of individuals. A review of qualitative studies as well as consideration of outcomes for parents would also enable an increased understanding of the mechanisms by which attachment-based interventions may be working. The empirical paper utilised a mixed-methods design to explore the impact of Nurture Group (NG) intervention on children's social skills. NGs are a short-term, psychotherapeutic intervention which aim to provide reparative attachment experiences for children within an educational setting (Hughes and Schlӧsser, 2014). The social skills of 16 children (aged between 6 years and 9 years 9 months) were assessed through their verbal responses to hypothetical, challenging, social situations. Teachers also rated children's social skills in problematic, social situations. The Parent-Child Relationship Scale (Pianta, 1992) was completed by parents to assess whether there were any benefits of NGs to the parent-child relationship. Measures were completed prior to children joining the NG and again 15 weeks later. Thematic analysis of six semi-structured interviews with children was conducted to explore their experiences and perceptions of NG intervention in relation to their social skills. Findings suggested that over time, children used significantly more socially appropriate responses. Teachers' ratings of children's social skills also improved, although this change fell just short of statistical significance. There was no change in parental perceptions of the parent-child relationship. Children's own views of NGs suggested that they enjoyed attending and that NGs helped them improve their social skills. However, children also reported experiencing challenges engaging with peers outside of the NG, particularly on the playground. Implications for practice were highlighted, including the need to think about how practitioners can help to facilitate the generalisation of children's developing skills beyond the NG context.


Learning representations from data is one of the fundamental problems of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Many different approaches exist for learning representations, but what constitutes a good representation is not yet well understood. In this work, we view the problem of representation learning as one of learning features (e.g., hidden units of neural networks) such that performance of the underlying base system continually improves. We study an important case where learning is done fully online (i.e., on an example-by-example basis) from an unending stream of data. In the presence of an unending stream of data, the computational cost of the learning element should not grow with time and cannot be much more than that of the performance element. Few methods can be used effectively in this case. We show that a search approach to representation learning can naturally fit with this setting. In this approach good representations are searched by generating different features and then testing them for utility. We develop new representation-search methods and show that the generate-and-test approach can be utilized in a simple and effective way for learning representations. Our methods are fully online and add only a small fraction to the overall computation. They constitute an important step toward effective and inexpensive solutions to representation learning problems.


Ion beam analysis (IBA) has been used as a powerful tool for studying materials for many years. Depending on the specific experimental design, IBA techniques can provide a non-destructive means of analysing samples to obtain such information as the elements or isotopes present and diffusion or depth profiles. Ion beam analysis has the ability to keep up with the rapid progress in new materials both as technology improves and as scientists have the creativity to develop existing and new techniques. Many different types of IBA exist. The experiments reported in this thesis were carried out using backscattering of the beam ions, ion induced X-ray emission, and ion induced nuclear reactions. The two experimental projects involved the use of modem cadmium-telluride detectors, including a unique array of CdZnTe detectors. The subsidiary project investigated using nuclear reaction measurements to study moisture diffusing into epoxy resin bonded with aluminium. Current standard techniques cannot measure diffusion profiles directly, resulting predictions rely on assumptions as to the particular mode of moisture migration. I have shown that the ion beam analysis technique can be applied to directly study moisture diffusion profiles parallel and perpendicular to the interfacial region whilst the bond remains intact. Further use of the technique would be of importance in studying the effect of moisture on bond integrity in automotive and aerospace industries - this would result in better predictions of the longevity of adhesive joints. For the main experiment, novel ion beam methods were developed to characterise, for the first time non-destructively, gold flecks dispersed within low density foam cylinders. The techniques allow the measurement of both the mass of gold in the cylinders and the average size of the individual gold flecks. Several different problems not previously encountered in ion beam analyses have been addressed and understood.


We define the notion of almost n-layered QTAG-modules and study their basic properties. One of the main result is that almost 1-layered modules are almost (ω + 1)-projective exactly when they are almost direct sum of countably generated modules of length less than or equal to (ω + 1). Some other characterizations of this new class are also established.


In order to successfully deploy multicast services in QoS-aware networks, pricing architectures must take into account the particular characteristics of multicast sessions. With this objective, we propose a charging scheme for QoS multicast services, assuming that the unicast cost of each interconnecting link is determined and that such cost is expressed in terms of quality of service (QoS) parameters. Our scheme allows determining the cost distribution of a multicast session along a cost distribution tree (CDT), and basing such distribution in those pre-existing unicast cost functions. The paper discusses in detail the main characteristics of the problem in a realistic interdomain scenario and how the proposed scheme would contribute to its solution


The mapping of acoustic speech signals onto linguistic representations is highly complex, and a number of competing models of both system architecture and auditory processing mechanisms have been proposed. Detailed investigation of processing in both normal and aphasic listeners provides insights into the nature of the underlying processing mechanisms, and can be used to test the empirical validity of theoretical models. Three related experiments were designed to explore aspects of the complex interrelations between phonetic, lexical and semantic levels of representation in the auditory speech processing of five adults with chronic aphasia and ten controls. The first experiment explored whether the effects of word frequency and imageability that affect recognition of words heard in isolation exert the same influence when words are heard in the context of a meaningful sentence. The second experiment compared discrimination of voice, place and manner contrasts in nonword and word minimal pairs, to explore the effect of the lexical status of the carrier syllable on phonological encoding. The third experiment used a picture-word verification task to explore the effects of semantic contexts provided by pictures on discrimination. Stimuli were closely matched across experiments two and three to allow detailed comparison of lexical and semantic influences on processing. Accuracy and reaction time data were collected, with control group data indicating normal patterns of performance. Aphasic data were analysed mainly as a series of single cases, and interpreted in the light of each individual's performance on a range of language processing assessments. The results revealed a number of different patterns in the effects of linguistic context for control and aphasic listeners, with aphasic listeners showing greater influences of lexical and semantic contexts on processing. The results of all three experiments are discussed in relation to competing theoretical models of auditory processing. It is argued that a distributed connectionist model currently accounts for the data more effectively than either localist connectionist or cognitive neuropsychological models.


If there is fundamental U.S. international income tax reform, regardless of the reform option chosen, the United States must decide how to handle the $2.4 trillion to $2.6 trillion of previously untaxed foreign income accumulated by U.S. multinational corporations. In this report, Fleming, Peroni, and Shay argue that the proper approach is to treat the income as a subpart F inclusion in the year before the effective date of fundamental reform and to tax it at regular rates with an option to make the payments in installments that bear market-rate interest. The authors explain why the case for a low or deferred tax on this income is inferior to the case for full immediate taxation.


Elementary-age children are among the largest user groups of computers and the Internet, so it is important to design searching and browsing interfaces to support them. However, many interfaces for children do not consider their skills and preferences. Children can perform simple, single item searches, and are also capable of conducting Boolean searches involving multiple search criteria. However, they have difficulty creating Boolean searches using hierarchical structures found in many interfaces. These interfaces often employ a sequential presentation of the category structure, where only one branch or facet at a time can be explored. This combination of structure and presentation keeps the screen from becoming cluttered, but requires a lot of navigation to explore categories in different areas and an understanding of potentially abstract high-level categories.
Based on previous research with adults. I believed that a simultaneous presentation of a flat category structure, where users could explore multiple, single-layer categories simultaneously, would better facilitate searching and browsing for children. This method reduces the amount of navigation and removes abstract categories. However, it introduces more visual clutter and sometimes the need for paging or scrolling. My research investigated these tradeoffs in two studies comparing searching and browsing in two interfaces with children in first, third, and fifth grade. Children did free browsing tasks, searched for a single item, and searched for two items to create conjunctive Boolean queries. The results indicate that a flat, simultaneous interface was significantly faster, easier, likeable, and preferred to a hierarchical, sequential interface for the Boolean search tasks. The simultaneous interface also allowed children to create significantly more conjunctive Boolean searches of multiple items while browsing than the sequential interface. These results suggest design guidelines for others who create children's interfaces, and inform design changes in the interfaces used in the International Children's Digital Library.


The affinity of a user to a type of items (e.g., stories from the same publisher, and movies of the same genre) is an important signal reflecting the user's interests. Accurately estimating of the user type affinity has various applications in ranking and recommendation systems. For frequent users, simply dividing the number of interactions with content (e.g., clicks) by the number of impressions (e.g., the number of times the content is presented to each user) would be a good estimate. However, such estimates are erroneous for users who have sparse interaction history, (e.g., new users). To alleviate the problem, feature-based approaches aim to learn functions predicting the affinity score using only none-click features, such as user demographics, locations, and interests. Likewise, such approaches do not take full advantage of the interaction history of frequent users. Motivated by the limitations of the two approaches, we propose a Gamma-Poisson model that aims at utilizing the interaction history of frequent users, as well as leveraging a feature-based model for infrequent users. Our intuition is that we should rely more on the interaction history when estimating affinity for frequent users, and weigh more on feature-based model for infrequent users. We present experimental results on large-scale real-world data in a publisher content clicks prediction task to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in estimating user type affinity scores.


Microgrids are small-scale power systems including distributed generation (DG) units, storage devices and controllable loads, and can operate either connected or isolated from the utility grid. Ensuring an efficient, reliable, economic and environmentally friendly microgrid operation, an environomic power dispatch system is needed. In this paper, a formulation of an environomic scheduling approach in microgrids is proposed using multi-objective decision making method. The application aims to fulfill the time-varying energy demand while minimizing the costs and emissions of the internal production and imported energy from the utility grid. Operational constraints such as generator limits, operation and maintenance costs and the intermittency renewable energy sources (RES) will be satisfied. A representative microgrid structure, including measurement data, is studied as an example and some simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the environomic scheduling approach.


We study massive galaxies at z ~ 1-3.5 using HST optical imaging, ground-based near-IR imaging, and Spitzer observations at 3-24 μm. From Ks-selected galaxies in the ≃130 arcmin2 GOODS-S field, we identify 153 distant red galaxies (DRGs) with (J - Ks)Vega ≥ 2.3. This sample is approximately complete in stellar mass for passively evolving galaxies above 1011 M☉ and z ≤ 3. Roughly half of the DRGs are objects whose optical and near-IR rest-frame light is dominated by evolved stars combined with ongoing star formation (at zmed ~ 2.5), and the others are galaxies whose light is dominated by heavily reddened (A1600 ≳ 4-6 mag) starbursts (at zmed ~ 1.7). Very few DRGs (≲10%) have no indication of current star formation. DRGs at z ~ 1.5-3 with stellar masses ≥1011 M☉ have specific star formation rates (SFRs per unit mass) including the reradiated far-IR emission that range from 0.2 to 10 Gyr-1. Based on the X-ray luminosities and rest-frame near-IR colors, roughly one-quarter of the DRGs contain AGNs, implying that the growth of supermassive black holes coincides with the formation of massive galaxies. At 1.5 ≤ z ≤ 3, the DRGs with M ≥ 1011 M☉ have an integrated specific SFR comparable to the global value of all galaxies. In contrast, galaxies at z ~ 0.3-0.75 with M ≥ 1011 M☉ have an integrated specific SFR less than the global value and more than an order of magnitude lower than that for massive DRGs. At z ≲ 1, lower mass galaxies dominate the overall cosmic mass assembly. This suggests that the bulk of star formation in massive galaxies occurs at early cosmic epochs and is largely complete by z ~ 1.5. Further mass assembly in these galaxies takes place with low specific SFRs.


In this paper, we have proposed a new method to develop secure image-encryption techniques using a Chirikov Standard Map and Logistic Map . In this technique, a Chirikov standard map is used to shuffle the pixels of the image and hence creating the confusion. The 1D logistic map is further used to create diffusion in the image. Various test images are used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm. The results of experiments show that the proposed algorithm for image cryptosystems provides a no correlation between the original image and cipher image. The scheme is highly key sensitive and shows good resistance against brute force attack and statistical attack.


textabstractIntroduction
For much of the 1990s, the tourist town
of Bergama was the epicentre of Turkey's most effective and visible
environmental social movement against
a multinational mining corporation
aiming to establish the first modern gold
mine in the country. Bringing relatively
prosperous peasants together with a
small group of ambitious policy
entrepreneurs, the movement marked a
turning point in environmental politics in
Turkey. Motivated primarily by the
environmental and public health risks
posed by cyanide leaching, the peasant
activists waged an unprecedented
campaign that acted as a forceful
reminder of the potential of social
mobilization to impart lasting change
both at the local and national level.
While the peasant activists failed at the
end to stop the operation of the mine,
their campaign sparked a national
discussion over the environmental costs
of rapid economic growth in Turkey.


Characterization of the speciation of iron and copper is an important objective of the GEOTRACES Science Plan. To incorporate speciation measurements into such a multinational program, standard practices must be adopted that allow data from multiple labs to be synthesized. Competitive ligand exchange‐adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (CLE‐ACSV) is the primary technique employed for measuring metal‐binding ligands and determining metal speciation in seawater. The determination of concentrations and conditional stability constants of metal‐binding ligands is particularly challenging, as results can be influenced both by experimental conditions and interpretation of titration data. Here, we report an investigation between four laboratories to study the speciation of iron and copper using CLE‐ACSV. Samples were collected on the GEOTRACES II intercomparison cruise in the North Pacific Ocean in May 2009 at 30° N, 140° W. This intercomparison was carried out shipboard and included an assessment of the viability of sample preservation by freezing. Results showed that consensus values could be obtained between different labs, but that some existing practices were problematic and require further attention in future work. A series of recommendations emerged from this study that will be useful in implementing multi‐investigator programs like GEOTRACES.


Successful conservation planning for the Canadian boreal forest requires biodiversity data that are both accessible and reliable. Spatially exhaustive data is required to inform on conditions, trends and context, with context enabling consideration of conservation opportunities and related trade-offs. However, conventional methods for measuring biodiversity, while useful, are spatially constrained, making it difficult to apply over wide geographic regions. Increasingly, remotely sensed imagery and methods are seen as a viable approach for acquiring explicit, repeatable and multi-scale biodiversity data over large areas. To identify relevant remotely derived environmental indicators specific to biodiversity within the Canadian boreal forest, we assessed indicators of the physical environment such as seasonal snow cover, topography and vegetation production. Specifically, we determined if the indicators provided distinct information and whether they were useful predictors of species richness (tree, mammal, bird and butterfly species). Using cluster analysis, we also assessed the applicability of these indicators for broad ecosystem classification of the Canadian boreal forest and the subsequent attribution of these stratified regions (i.e. clusters). Our results reveal that the indicators used in the cluster creation provided unique information and explained much of the variance in tree (92.6%), bird (84.07%), butterfly (61.4%) and mammal (22.6%) species richness. Spring snow cover explained the most variance in species richness. Results further show that the 15 clusters produced using cluster analysis were principally stratified along a latitudinal gradient and, while varied in size, captured a range of different environmental conditions across the Canadian boreal forest. The most important indicators for discriminating between the different cluster groups were seasonal greenness, a multipart measure of climate, topography and land use, and wetland cover, a measure of the percentage of wetland within a 1 km2 cell.


Electricity is a fundamental input to every modern economy. Electricity consumption per capita in Myanmar is among the lowest in Asia and had been growing very slowly since the 1980's. It gently grew from 45kWh per capita in 1987 to 99 kWh in 2008, a 3.8 percent annual growth rate. However, since 2008, the production of electricity has jumped very quickly. This 50 percent jump in three years is about 15 percent per year, far higher than in the past. The CSO does not report any increase in installed capacity since 2009/10, so the existing system is being worked much more intensively. This creates problems, such as the risk of sudden outages from failures in generators. Indeed, there has been an increase in blackouts in the Yangon and Mandalay areas in the last year in spite of higher output - and even during the wet season. With increases in tourism, exports and overall economic activity, electricity demand will continue to soar. Even with 2011-12 output, estimated consumption in Myanmar is only about 160 kWh per capita, compared to 2009 consumption of over 250 kWh per capita in Bangladesh and nearly 600 in Indonesia. Vietnam had over 1000 kWh per capita in 2011.


Notwithstanding their many environmental, economic and social advantages, renewable energy technologies (RE) account for a small fraction of the world's primary energy supply. One possible cause for this limited diffusion is that private investments in the RE sector, although potentially appealing, remain insufficient. The lack of adequate financing is also a clear indication that our understanding of the process by which investors fund RE ventures is still incomplete. This paper aims to fill in this gap and to shed new light on RE investment decisions. Building upon behavioral finance and institutional theory, we posit that, in addition to a rational evaluation of the economics of the investment opportunities, various non-financial factors affect the decision to invest in renewables. We analyze the investment decisions of a large sample of investors, with the objective to identify the main determinants of their choices. Our results shed new light on the role of institutional and behavioral factors in determining the share of renewable energy technologies in energy portfolios, and have important implications for both investors and policy makers: they suggest that RE technologies still suffer from a series of biased perceptions and preconceptions that favor status quo energy production models over innovative alternatives.


Mammography refers to the X-ray examination of the human breast, and is considered the single most important diagnostic tool in the early detection of breast cancer, which is by far the most common cancer among women. There is good evidence from clinical trials, that mammographic screening can reduce the breast cancer mortality with about 30%. The side effects include a small and age related risk of carcinogenesis due to the exposure of the glandular tissues in the breast to ionising radiation. As for all X-ray examinations, and of special importance when investigating large populations of asymptomatic women, the relationship between radiation risk and diagnostic accuracy in mammography must be optimised. The overall objective of this thesis was to investigate and improve methods for average glandular dose (AGD) and image quality evaluation in mammography and provide some practical guidance.

Language of Abstract: English Swedish Arabic Chinese Danish Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Icelandic Italian Japanese Latin Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian SpDose protocols used for so-called reference dose levels in Sweden 1989 (Nordic) and 1998 (European) were compared in a survey of 32 mammography units. The study showed that the AGD values for a "standard breast" became 5±2% (total variation 0?9%) higher at clinical settings, when estimated according to the European protocol.

For the Sectra MDM, a digital mammography (DM) unit with a scanning geometry, it was impossible to follow procedures for characterisation of the X-ray beam (HVL=half value layer) specified in the European protocol. In an experimental setup, it was shown that non-invasive measurements of HVL can be performed accurately with a sensitive and well collimated semiconductor detector with simultaneous correction for the energy dependence. AGD values could then be estimated according to 3 different dose protocols.

A dosimetry system based on radioluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence from Al2O3:C crystals was developed and tested for in vivo absorbed dose measurements. It was shown that both entrance and exit doses could be measured and that the dosemeters did not disturb the reading of the mammograms. A Monte Carlo study showed that the energy dependence could be reduced, primarily by reducing the diameter of the crystal.

It is proposed that radiation scattered forward towards the breast from the compression paddle, a scanning device etc, should be considered with greater clarity in the breast dosimetry protocols, and be described with a forward-scatter factor, FSF, for the various geometries and conditions proposed.

Low contrast-detail (CD) phantoms of simulated glandularity 30, 50 or 70%, and thickness 3, 5 or 7 cm, were used to compare three different mammography systems. The same number of perceivable objects was visible for the full-field DM system at 20-60% of the AGD necessary for the screen-film (SFM) system, with the largest dose reduction potential for the thickest phantoms with the highest glandularity. However, more recent research shows that CD phantoms with a homogeneous background, as used here, must be used with care due to the presence of "anatomical noise" in the real clinical situation.

Image quality criteria (IQC) recommended in a European Guideline 1996 for SFM were adjusted to be relevant also for DM images. The new set of IQC was tested in two different studies using clinical images from DM and SFM, respectively. The results indicate that the new set of IQC has a higher discriminative power than the old set. The results also suggest that AGD for the DM system used may be reduced.


: Russia-Africa relations have entered a rapid phase of de-cline in political and economic terms after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Under the imperatives of the post-Cold War era, Russia-Africa relations were in need of a comprehensive stage of reconstruction. In the first decade of the 21 st century, Russian foreign policy started to be reconstructed on the principles of economic benefit and pragmatism. At this stage, the perception of Africa in Russia changed within the framework of the new national priorities, and Russia-Africa relations gained a new positive momentum. This article argues that the rising trend of the African continent in the international arena presents a new series of opportunities to Russia in economic and political domains. With the effect of the new foreign policy understanding that depended on the control of economic and energy resources during the Putin period, geo-political relations are gradually supplemented by geo-economic relations. Significant countries of the world that hold political and economic powers currently aim to develop economic interests and political influence on the African continent. Russia uses every opportunity to demonstrate its willingness to acquire its former prestige among world states. Therefore, Russia is willing to come back to the African continent slowly, pursuing a 'brand new' road map this time.


Women diagnosed with breast cancer within 5 years postpartum have poor survival rates. The process of postpartum mammary gland involution, whereby the lactating gland remodels to its prepregnant state, promotes breast cancer progression in xenograft models. Macrophage influx occurs during mammary gland involution, implicating immune modulation in the promotion of postpartum breast cancer. Herein, we characterize the postpartum murine mammary gland and find an orchestrated influx of immune cells similar to that which occurs during wound healing. Further, the normal involuting gland may be in an immunosuppressed state as discerned by the transient presence of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells and IL‐10+ macrophages with T cell suppressive function. To determine the influence of the postpartum immune microenvironment on mammary tumor promotion, we developed an immune‐competent model. In this model, mammary tumors in the involution group are sixfold larger than nulliparous group tumors, have decreased CD4+ and CD8+ T cell infiltrates and contain a greater number of macrophages with the ability to inhibit T cell activation. Targeting involution with a neutralizing antibody against the immunosuppressive cytokine IL‐10 reduces tumor growth in involution group mice but not in nulliparous mice, implicating the involution microenvironment as the primary target of αIL‐10 treatment. Relevance to women is implicated, as we find postlactational human breast tissue has transient high IL‐10+ and Foxp3+ immune cell infiltrate. These data show an immune modulated microenvironment within the normal involuting mammary gland suggestive of immunosuppression, that when targeted reduces tumor promotion, revealing possible immune‐based strategies for postpartum breast cancer.


The objective of the present study is to hold a preliminary analysis and design of a lunar global satellite navigation system able to provide accurate positional information to operators on the surface or in low lunar orbits. The outcome is a set of indications concerning the implications inherent in such a system. This set of indications consists in the main objectives, requirements and constraints needed during the definition and implementation of an infrastructure for global precise positioning on the lunar surface.
In any preliminary mission analysis it is important to determine the design drivers. In our case, the main drivers are the orbital height, the number of satellites in the constellation, the orbital inclination and the number of orbital planes. These four parameters are the main characteristics that define the constellation performance, therefore their final selection is crucial for the mission success. In our case, two constraints have been applied in order to determine the constellation: (1) no more than three orbital planes and (2) no more than 18 satellites. The constellation selection process has been carried out with the help of computer simulation. Thanks to it, we were able to choose the constellation whose parameters combination resulted in the best performance. The final constellation has a height of 6500 km, three orbital planes, 15 satellites and an inclination of 90°.
In order to maintain the correct performance of the constellation, a station-keeping strategy has been developed. Computer simulation of the chosen constellation allowed us to quantify the perturbation effects on the satellites and to identify which perturbation is the primary source of orbital deviations. Central body gravitation, third body-perturbations and solar radiation pressure have been computed for a period of one year with the result of a propellant (also known as Δv) budget of 1 km/s.
Payload selection is an important step in the design process. The characterization of its mass, power and thermal requirements, and components influences the design of all the other subsystems. Relativistic effects on time are taken into account because the accuracy of the system depends on clock errors. The study concludes that, although relativistic effects on time are less significant on the constellation than on the terrestrial GPS system, they still need to be corrected.
This study also undertakes a preliminary design of the satellite subsystems. Power and mass budget are made and a preliminary analysis of the propulsion, thermal and communications subsystems are also carried out. The proposed preliminary satellite design consists in a 1000kg-1600W class platform which will transmit in the L-band (to the lunar surface) and in the X-band (to the Earth). If the station-keeping is carried out by a bipropellant thruster, the propellant budget needed is 225 kg. However, some indications for electrical propulsion for the station-keeping maneuvers are also provided. The thermal environment is the biggest challenge of the mission because of the Earth eclipses1. They can last more than 5 hours which leads to the temperature getting as low as -35°C. During lunar2 eclipses, secondary batteries can produce around 1300 W which will probably not be sufficient to maintain the spacecraft temperature within operational limits during Earth eclipses, so an extra set of batteries will be needed.


The Belgian defence budget for 2018
increases by a factor of 4.7 in
commitment credits. Not only does this
allow for offsetting the significant
investment shortfalls of the previous
years, it also provides a window of
opportunity for regenerating the Belgian
armed forces with a view to meeting
future challenges. This Security Policy
Brief makes the case that the longawaited
modernisation of the major
weapon systems needs to go hand in
hand with a significant recruitment effort
to address the critical human resources
situation the Ministry of Defence finds
itself in. Yet adding up personnel and
equipment, the 25,000-strong force
structure outlined in the Strategic Vision
still risks being insufficient for meeting
future requirements as they emerge in
both the national and the international
context (NATO/EU). As such, defence
planners will need to engage with the
question how best to redevelop the force
structure from this minimum baseline in
function of how the strategic
environment evolves. For strengthening
Belgium's national security and
diplomatic position in the twenty-first
century the present window of
opportunity is not to be missed.