A Miscellany of five secular Yiddish chapbooks was created in late sixteenth-century East Swabia. Two of the chapbooks, "Keyser Oktavian" and a collection of "mayses", were illustrated by their scribe Yitzhak bar Yuda Reutlingen. A Jewish owner also drew on a blank folio. This essay seeks to address two issues. First, although in the past these drawings have often been dismissed as derivative or crude, this article will dispute this assertion. Then this essay will question the ways in which some scholars have masked the manuscript's Jewish identity, and will explore how the scribe and owner express the distinctly Jewish nature of the Miscellany through their drawings.


OBJECTIVE
The transsphenoidal route to pituitary adenomas challenges surgeons because of the highly variable sinunasal anatomy. Orientation may be improved if the appropriate information is provided intraoperatively by image guidance. The authors developed an advanced image guidance protocol dedicated to sinunasal surgery that extracts information from multiple modalities and forms it into a single image that includes fine sinunasal structures and arteries.The aim of this study was to compare the advantages of this novel image guidance protocol with the authors' previous series, with emphasis on anatomical structures visualized and complication rate.

METHODS
This retrospective analysis comprised 200 patients who underwent surgery for pituitary adenoma via a transnasal transsphenoidal endoscopic approach. The authors' standard image guidance protocol consisting of CT for solid bone, T1CEMRI for soft tissues, and MRA for the carotid artery was applied in 100 consecutive cases. The advanced image guidance protocol added a first-hit ray casting of the CT scan for visualization of fine sinunasal structures, and adjustments to the MRA to visualize the sphenopalatine artery (SPA) were applied in a subsequent 100 consecutive cases.

RESULTS
A patent sphenoid ostium-i.e., an ostium not covered by a mucosal layer-was visualized significantly more often by the advanced protocol than the standard protocol (89% vs 40%, p < 0.001) in primary surgeries. The SPA and its branches were only visualized by the advanced protocol (87% and 91% of cases in primary surgeries and reoperations, respectively) and not once by the standard protocol. The number of visualized complete and incomplete sphenoid septations matched significantly more commonly with the surgical view when using the advanced protocol than the standard protocol at primary operation (mean 1.9 vs 1.6, p < 0.001). However, in 25% of all cases a complex and not a simple sinus anatomy was present. In comparison with the intraoperative results, a complex sphenoid sinus anatomy was always detected by the advanced but not by the standard protocol (25% vs 8.5%, p = 0.001).Furthermore, application of the advanced protocol reduced the cumulative rate of complications (25% vs 18% [standard vs advanced group]). Although an overall significant difference could not be determined (p = 0.228), a subgroup analysis of reoperations (35/200) revealed a significantly lower rate of complications in the advanced group (5% vs 30%, p = 0.028).

CONCLUSIONS
The data show that the advanced image guidance protocol could intraoperatively visualize the fine sinunasal sinus structures and small arteries with a high degree of detail. By improving intraoperative orientation, this may help to reduce the rate of complications in endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery, especially in reoperations.


In traditional grid, grid user can not validate whether grid service registered in grid platform can execute correctly or not because the system does not provide the measurement mechanism for grid service. In order to solve this problem, we propose a series of strategies and methods for trusted grid. These strategies and methods include: an access control policy for reference database, an integrity attestation for reference datasheet, a construction method of reference datasheet, a trusted storage algorithm of reference datasheet and a report algorithm of reference datasheet. All these constitute the measurement mechanism of service for trusted grid. Some experiments are done in order to validate the feasibility and the availability of this mechanism. The results show that it is feasible and efficient to validate whether grid service registered in trusted grid platform can execute correctly or not.


Since the beginning of the fall of monetarism in the mid-1980s, mainstream macroeconomics has incorporated many of the principles of post-Keynesian endogenous money theory. This paper argues that the most important critical component of post-Keynesian monetary theory today is its rejection of the "natural rate of interest." By examining the hidden assumptions of the loanable funds doctrine as it was modified in light of the idea of a natural rate of interest--specifically, its implicit reliance on an "efficient markets hypothesis" view of capital markets--this paper seeks to show that the mainstream view of capital markets is completely at odds with the world of fundamental uncertainty addressed by post-Keynesian economists, a world in which Keynesian liquidity preference and animal spirits rule the roost. This perspective also allows us to shed new light on the debate that has sprung up around the work of Hyman Minsky, calling into question to what extent he rejected the loanable funds view of financial markets. When Minsky's theories are examined against the backdrop of the natural rate of interest version of the loanable funds theory, it quickly becomes clear that Minsky does not fall into the loanable funds camp.


High-precision astrometry can identify exoplanets and measure their orbits and masses while coronagraphic imaging enables detailed characterization of their physical properties and atmospheric compositions through spectroscopy. In a previous paper, we showed that a diffractive pupil telescope (DPT) in space can enable sub-μas accuracy astrometric measurements from wide-field images by creating faint but sharp diffraction spikes around the bright target star. The DPT allows simultaneous astrometric measurement and coronagraphic imaging, and we discuss and quantify in this paper the scientific benefits of this combination for exoplanet science investigations: identification of exoplanets with increased sensitivity and robustness, and ability to measure planetary masses to high accuracy. We show how using both measurements to identify planets and measure their masses offers greater sensitivity and provides more reliable measurements than possible with separate missions, and therefore results in a large gain in mission efficiency. The combined measurements reliably identify potentially habitable planets in multiple systems with a few observations, while astrometry or imaging alone would require many measurements over a long time baseline. In addition, the combined measurement allows direct determination of stellar masses to percent-level accuracy, using planets as test particles. We also show that the DPT maintains the full sensitivity of the telescope for deep wide-field imaging, and is therefore compatible with simultaneous scientific observations unrelated to exoplanets. We conclude that astrometry, coronagraphy, and deep wide-field imaging can be performed simultaneously on a single telescope without significant negative impact on the performance of any of the three techniques.


Merchants of e-commerce Websites expect recommender systems to entice more consumption which is highly correlated with the customers' purchasing propensity. However, most existing recommender systems focus on customers' general preference rather than purchasing propensity often governed by instant demands which we deem to be well conveyed by the questions asked by customers. A typical recommendation scenario is: Bob wants to buy a cell phone which can play the game PUBG. He is interested in HUAWEI P20 and asks "can PUBG run smoothly on this phone?" under it. Then our system will be triggered to recommend the most eligible cell phones to him. Intuitively, diverse user questions could probably be addressed in reviews written by other users who have similar concerns. To address this recommendation problem, we propose a novel Question-Driven Attentive Neural Network (QDANN) to assess the instant demands of questioners and the eligibility of products based on user generated reviews, and do recommendation accordingly. Without supervision, QDANN can well exploit reviews to achieve this goal. The attention mechanisms can be used to provide explanations for recommendations. We evaluate QDANN in three domains of Taobao. The results show the efficacy of our method and its superiority over baseline methods.


Two packages, oro.dicom and oro.nifti, are provided for the interaction with and manipulation of medical imaging data that conform to the DICOM standard or ANALYZE/NIfTI formats. DICOM data, from a single file or directory tree, may be uploaded into R using basic data structures: a data frame for the header information and a matrix for the image data. A list structure is used to organize multiple DICOM files. The S4 class framework is used to develop basic ANALYZE and NIfTI classes, where NIfTI extensions may be used to extend the fixed-byte NIfTI header. One example of this, that has been implemented, is an XML-based "audit trail" tracking the history of operations applied to a data set. The conversion from DICOM to ANALYZE/NIfTI is straightforward using the capabilities of both packages. The S4 classes have been developed to provide a userfriendly interface to the ANALYZE/NIfTI data formats; allowing easy data input, data output, image processing and visualization.


ABSTRACT: The aim of medical education is to produce doctors who promote healing in all people. This aim can only be reached by cooperation between medicine and psychology. One role of psychology is to educate physicians as to recent developments in pre- and perinatal psychology. A truly ecumenical medicine will consider all of the factors in the environment of the patient, rather than take a narrow view of physical healing. INTRODUCTION "The aim of medical education", according to the World Federation for Medical Education, "is to produce doctors who will promote the health of all people, and that aim is not being realized in many places, despite the enormous progress that has been made during this century in the biomedical sciences. . . . Thousands suffer and he every day from diseases which are preventable, curable or self-inflicted, and millions have no ready access to health care of any kind. These defects have been identified for a long time, but efforts to introduce greater social awareness into medical schools have not been notably successful" [7]. That is because decisive improvements cannot be achieved only by professional medicine itself. The principle intent of this paper is to indicate that this can be done only through the cooperative efforts of medicine and psychology. Hippocrates has already stressed the necessity of constant self-education for physicians. However, he could not predict the present rapid development of knowledge applicable to medicine. For the physician preoccupied with his everyday practice, it is especially difficult to master current scientific advances while taking into account human rights to life, health, happiness and liberty. Medicine has traditionally applied only that part of psychology that can be directly applied in the nursing, treatment and rehabilitation of a people. But this is not enough! It is the psychologists who deserve the credit for the popularization of psychological achievements among medical doctors on the one hand, and psychomedical problems among priests, educators, artists, sociologists, journalists, etc. on the other. DEFINITION OF MEDICINE Medicine constitutes one of the fundamental criteria of human achievement; Man, being at the same time object and subject, is extremely concerned about psycho-emotional and biological well-being. The level of health awareness of a society as well as of the individual depends on the very existence and accessibility of all the various devices of diagnostics, treatment, nursing and rehabilitation. Their availability is influenced by social, political and religious views. Owing to the growing necessity of environmental protection, an ecological approach is coming to dominate contemporary medicine, as previously it was dominated by morphology/anatomy, biochemistry, cybernetics, immunology, or molecular biology. Ecology deals with the relationships between all living organisms and their environment. While it is necessary to stress that people as well as animals and plants constitute the subject of ecological concern, only man is able to foresee the future, to meditate on the phenomenon of life or to control consciously his own instincts and human relations. In this regard, the humanities and particularly psychology acquire a special value for medicine. People influence each other not only through their deeds, but also through their exclusively human form of communication-words. And, what is more, the eventual effect of words has implications in mediating the emotional/affective status of a man, a status that is still difficult to explore and recognize. Reciprocal tolerance and respect, kindness and compassion, responsibility, samaritanism and the will to promote the good and combat the evil; these are features which among others inform ecumenical medicine. Such features also distinguish it from medicine understood only in narrow, ecological, terms that are more suitable, perhaps, for veterinary medicine [21]. …


The outcome of data analysis depends on the quality and completeness of data. This paper considers various techniques for filling in missing precipitation data. To assess suitability of the different methods for filling in missing data, monthly precipitation data collected at six different stations was considered. The complete sets (with no missing values) are used to predict monthly precipitation. The arithmetic averaging method, the multiple linear regression method, and the non-linear iterative partial least squares algorithm perform best. The multiple regression method provided a successful estimation of the missing precipitation data, which is supported by the results published in the literature. The multiple imputation method produced the most accurate results for precipitation data from five dependent stations. The decision-tree algorithm is explicit, and therefore it is used when insights into the decision making are needed. Comprehensive error analysis is presented.


Recent epidemiologic studies have associated nut consumption with a reduced incidence of car- diovascular mortality. However, little is known about the contribution of nut polyphenols to antioxidant and cardiovascular protection. In this investigation, polyphenol-rich extracts from English walnuts (Juglans regia) were studied and compared with ellagic acid for their ability to inhibit in vitro plasma and LDL oxidation, as well as their effects on LDL a-tocopherol during oxidative stress. In addition, the Trolox equivalent antioxidant activity (TEAC) was determined and liquid chromatography electrospray detection mass spectrometry (LC-ELSD/MS) analyses of the walnut extracts were performed. 2,29-Azobis9(2-amidino propane) hydrochloride (AAPH)-induced LDL oxidation was significantly inhibited by 87 and 38% with the highest concentration (1.0 mmol/L) of ellagic acid and walnut extract, respectively. In addition, copper-mediated LDL oxidation was inhibited by 14 and 84% in the presence of ellagic acid and walnut extract, respectively, with a modest, significant LDL a-tocopherol sparing effect observed. Plasma thiobarbituric acid reacting substance (TBARS) formation was significantly inhibited by walnut extracts and ellagic acid in a dose-dependent manner, and the extracts exhibited a TEAC value greater than that of a-tocoph- erol. LC-ELSD/MS analysis of the walnut extracts identified ellagic acid monomers, polymeric ellagitannins and other phenolics, principally nonflavonoid compounds. These results demonstrate that walnut polyphenolics are effective inhibitors of in vitro plasma and LDL oxidation. The polyphenolic content of walnuts should be considered when evaluating their antiatherogenic potential. J. Nutr. 131: 2837-2842, 2001.


Context: Software reference architectures (SRA) have emerged as an approach to systematically reuse architectural knowledge and software elements in the development of software systems. Over the last years, research has been conducted to uncover the artifacts that SRAs provide in order to build software systems. However, empirical studies have not focused on providing industrial evidence about such artifacts. Aim: This paper investigates which artifacts constitute an SRA, how SRAs are designed, the potential reuse of SRA's artifacts, and how they are used in practice. Method: The study consists of a case study made in collaboration with a multinational consulting company that designs SRAs for diverse client organizations. A total of nine European client organizations that use an SRA participated in the study. We analyzed available documentation and contacted 28 practitioners. Results: In the nine analyzed projects, we observed that the artifacts that constitute an SRA are mainly software elements, guidelines and documentation. The design and implementation of SRAs are influenced by the reuse of artifacts from previous software system development and experiences, and the reuse of an SRA across different business domains may be possible when they are platform-oriented. Regarding SRAs usage, we observed that conformance checking is seldom performed. Conclusions: This study reports artifacts of SRAs as stated by practitioners in order to help software architects and scientists in the inception, design, and application of SRAs.


PURPOSE
To present new tools in CERR (The Computational Environment for Radiotherapy Research) to analyze image registration and other software updates/additions.

METHODS
CERR continues to be a key environment (cited more than 129 times to date) for numerous RT-research studies involving outcomes modeling, prototyping algorithms for segmentation, and registration, experiments with phantom dosimetry, IMRT research, etc. Image registration is one of the key technologies required in many research studies. CERR has been interfaced with popular image registration frameworks like Plastimatch and ITK. Once the images have been autoregistered, CERR provides tools to analyze the accuracy of registration using the following innovative approaches (1)Distance Discordance Histograms (DDH), described in detail in a separate paper and (2)'MirrorScope', explained as follows: for any view plane the 2-d image is broken up into a 2d grid of medium-sized squares. Each square contains a right-half, which is the reference image, and a left-half, which is the mirror flipped version of the overlay image. The user can increase or decrease the size of this grid to control the resolution of the analysis. Other updates to CERR include tools to extract image and dosimetric features programmatically and storage in a central database and tools to interface with Statistical analysis software like SPSS and Matlab Statistics toolbox.

RESULTS
MirrorScope was compared on various examples, including 'perfect' registration examples and 'artificially translated' registrations. for 'perfect' registration, the patterns obtained within each circles are symmetric, and are easily, visually recognized as aligned. For registrations that are off, the patterns obtained in the circles located in the regions of imperfections show unsymmetrical patterns that are easily recognized.

CONCLUSIONS
The new updates to CERR further increase its utility for RT-research. Mirrorscope is a visually intuitive method of monitoring the accuracy of image registration that improves on the visual confusion of standard methods.


Summary Differential expression analysis using high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data is widely applied in transcriptomic studies and many software tools have been developed for this purpose. Active development of existing popular tools, together with emergence of new tools means that studies comparing the performance of differential expression analysis methods become rapidly out-of-date. In order to enable researchers to evaluate new and updated software in a timely manner, we developed DEAR-O, a user-friendly platform for performance evaluation of differential expression analysis based on RNA-seq data. The platform currently includes four of the most popular tools: DESeq, DESeq2, edgeR and Cuffdiff2. Based on the DEAR-O platform, researchers can evaluate the performance of different tools, or the same tool with different versions, with a customised number of biological replicates using already curated RNA-seq datasets. We also initiated an online forum for discussion of RNA-seq differential expression analysis. Through this forum, new useful tools and benchmarking datasets can be introduced. Our platform will be actively maintained to ensure new major versions of existing tools and new popular tools are included. DEAR-O will serve the community by providing timely evaluations of tools, versions and number of replicates for RNA-seq differential expression analysis. Availability and implementation The DEAR-O platform is available at http://cnsgenomics.com/software/dear-o; the online discussion forum is https://groups.google.com/d/forum/dear-o Contact email@example.com and email@example.com


A new species, Carrionia panamensis, is described. The genus Ucayalia Fennah is synonymized with its senior synonym Carrionia Muir, and Carrionia nigrovittata (Fennah) becomes a new combination. Keys to the 3 genera and 7 species and illustrations of the frons, vertex, and forewing of each species are provided.


Reaction of 1,1,3,3-tetramethoxypropane with 1,8-diaminonaphthalene in presence of a nickel(II) template in aqueous medium generates the free acyclic ligand 1-(8'-amino-alpha -naphthyl)-4-(8'-amino-alpha -naphthylamine)-1-azabuta-1,3-diene (LH; H: dissociable proton) as a 1.5 hydrate. The ligand undergoes acid dissociation in non-aqueous solvents which is reflected in its C-13 NMR spectrum in deuteriated dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO). Its pK(a) value determined in DMSO from conductivity data is 5.18. With copper(II) perchlorate, LH forms. air sensitive complexes of type CuL(ClO4). 3H(2)O and CuL(ClO4). DMF (DMF: dimethylformamide). In both the complexes, the perchlorate anion is weakly bound to the metal as revealed by their conductivity in DMF suggesting a CuN4O2+ chromophore. Their EPR spectra in DMF-toluene glass at 77 K are almost identical and have rhombic features ( , 2.40; , 2.08; , 2.01; , 137x10(-4) cm(-1); , 18x10(-4) cm(-1)) indicating that the coordination sphere around the copper ion is of distorted square-pyramidal type. ZINDO calculations show that the CuL+ fragment has a butterfly like shape with the naphthalene fragments spanning like two wings and the metal in the N-4 plane. In cyclic voltammetric experiments in DMF at a platinum electrode, the complexes show a quasireversible two-electron ligand oxidation with an E-1/2 of 0.12 V vs saturated calomel electrode (SCE) and an irreversible metal oxidation process at a low potential (< 0.5 V vs SCE).


Hydatidosis or cystic echinococcosis (CE) is caused by Echinococcus granulosus (EG) complex, which infects humans especially children and several species of wild and domestic animals including camels, cattle, equines, sheep and goats. Infection come from the consumption of Echinococcus granulosus eggs with contaminated food, and therefore the syndrome is of public health significance. There are several genotypes nearly ten from genotype 1 to genotype 10, which are found all over the world based on genetic diversity. Several studies are conducted on the genetic diversity of hydatid cyst on Egyptian camels (Camelus dromedaries) at Qalyubia Governorate, Egypt, and this study is the continuation of previous works. In this study a total of 55 hydatid cysts samples were collected from the lungs of camels admitted to abattoir of Qalyubia Governorate, Egypt. Brood capsules, free solitary scolices, and sediment of hydatid fluid, were the source of DNA, which was extracted by the commercial kit. For polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, two gene primers, the cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (cox1 gene), and the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (NADH1 gene) were used and the partial sequences obtained were analyzed by gene sequencing and then phylogenetic analysis was carried out. Results of this study showed that 90.5% (n = 49/55) of the samples were identified as Echinococcus canadensis genotype 6 (G6), and 9.5 % (n=6/55) were identified as Echinococcus ortleppi (G5) which newly imported from Sudan for slaughtering. The presence of Echinococcus ortleppi of the cattle isolate (G5) in the Egyptian camels was concluded for the first time.


This body of work, comprising an exhibition, catalogue, website and education programme (252 events), results from a three-year collaborative research project with the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia (SCVA, UEA). The project investigates the cultural role of cloth in the development of contemporary textile practices emerging from traditional practice, and extends the field of research in this area through its exploration of the transition from the repetition of traditional practice, to the development of a contemporary language of making, and the factors that influence that development.

The research adopted a cross-disciplinary, open-ended approach, taking as its starting point a material enquiry into the processes of making in order to identify the cultural context ingrained within these processes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on an individual basis with 35 artists from Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania and UK. In each of these countries textiles have traditionally played a central role economically and as a carrier of the narrative of place; and contemporary textile artists are using that embedded narrative within the discourse surrounding their practice. This was the first time that the work of contemporary textile artists from these countries had been brought together in the context as identified by this research.

The project has been disseminated through an exhibition of new work, created to exemplify the thesis, to a wide academic and non-academic, specialist and non-specialist audience. The exhibition at SCVA in 2008 placed the research within a framework of cultural transition epitomized by the World Art Collection, SCVA; it has also toured to the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester.

The research was funded by: SCVA, The Gatsby Foundation, Arts Council England, The Japan Foundation, The Daiwa Anglo Japanese Foundation, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, and the Embassies of Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.


For airline pilots, the call of 'checklist complete' is officially prescribed talk to claim that the crew's joint conduct of a checklist is over, and the task can be understood as closed. However, very often this call is not the final talk for the task. This paper 1 uses naturally occurring data, transcriptions of pilots interacting on actual passenger flights, to show that the recipient pilot commonly says something in response. That pilot might say thank you or okay. These two non-official responses do interactional work. They allow the other pilot to know that the call of 'checklist complete' was itself heard, and that there is now a shared crew understanding that the checklist is closed. Such an understanding is critical in the airline cockpit where it is crucial to perform tasks in strict sequential order. Thank you and okay are evidence of pilots' orientation to their work as a progression through a series of tasks, and where there is value in making salient that one task is closed and it is legitimate to move to a next task. The paper examines how officially scripted talk for work is actually realised in situ.


This book provides a detailed presentation of modern quantum theories for treating the reaction dynamics of small molecular systems. Its main focus is on the recent development of successful quantum dynamics theories and computational methods for studying the molecular reactive scattering process, with specific applications given in detail for a number of benchmark chemical reaction systems in the gas phase and the gas surface. In contrast to traditional books on collision in physics focusing on abstract theory for nonreactive scattering, this book deals with both the development and the application of the modern reactive or rearrangement scattering theory, and is written in a fashion in which the development of the reactive scattering theory is closely coupled with its computational aspects for practical applications for realistic molecular reactions. The volume includes such topics as methods for calculating rovibrational states of molecules, fundamental quantum theory for scattering (nonreactive and reactive), modern time-independent computational methods for reactive scattering, general time-dependent wave packet methods for reactive scattering, dynamics theory of chemical reactions, dynamics of molecular fragmentation, semiclassical description of quantum mechanics, and also some useful appendices.The book is intended for the reader to not only understand the molecular reaction dynamics from the fundamental scattering theory, but also utilize the provided computational methodologies in their practical applications. It should benefit graduate students and researchers in the field of chemical physics.


At a time of global and domestic economic crisis, the financial aspects of domestic and familial relationships are more important and more strained than ever before. The focus of this book is on the distribution of wealth and poverty in traditional and non-traditional familial relationships. The volume takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore the way in which money matters are structured and governed within close personal relationships and the extent to which they have an impact on the nature and economic dynamics of relationships. As such, the key areas of investigation are the extent to which participation in the labour market, unpaid caregiving, inheritance, pensions and welfare reform have an impact on familial relationships. The authors also explore governmental and legal responses by investigating the privileging of certain types of domestic relationships, through fiscal and non-fiscal measures, and the differential provision on relationship breakdown. The impact of budget and welfare cuts is also examined for their effect on equality in domestic relationships.


We develop a 2D slip-weakening description of a self-healing slip pulse that propagates dynamically in a steady-state configuration. The model is used to estimate patterns of off-fault secondary failure induced by the rupture, and also to infer fracture energies G for large earthquakes. This extends an analysis for a semi-infinite rupture (Poliakov et al. , 2002) to the case of a finite slipping zone length L of the pulse. The dynamic stress drop, when divided by the drop from peak to residual strength, determines the ratio of L to the slip-weakening zone length R . Predicted off-fault damage is controlled by that scaled stress drop, static and dynamic friction coefficients, rupture velocity, principal prestress orientation, and poroelastic Skempton coefficient. All damage zone lengths can be scaled by ![Graphic][1] , which is proportional G /(strength drop)2 and is the value of R in the low-rupture-velocity, low-stress-drop, limit. In contrast to the Poliakov et al. (2002) case R / L = 0, the region that supports Coulomb failure reaches a maximum size on the order of ![Graphic][2] when mode II rupture speed approaches the Rayleigh speed. Analysis of slip pulses documented by Heaton (1990) leads to estimates of G , each with a factor-of-two model uncertainty, from 0.1 to 9 MJ/m2 (including the factor), averaging 2–4 MJ/m2; G tends to increase with the amount of slip in the event. In most cases, secondary faulting should extend, at high rupture speeds, to distances from the principal fault surface on the order of 1 to 2 ![Graphic][3] ≈ 1–80 m for a 100-MPa strength drop; that distance should vary with depth, being larger near the surface. We also discuss gouge and damage processes.

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Armenia is the only country in the Caucasus region that has been operating nuclear power plants for over 30 years. Qualified specialists exist at the Armenia Nuclear Power Plant, the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Centre, and other institutes, but further developments are needed to address emerging issues and challenges in view of the decision for developments of new nuclear unit(s) in Armenia. Processes and plans for assessment of needs, development of new training capacities for the new unit(s), and curriculum development at Armenian educational institutions are described.


The present study reported simultaneous measurements of particle number concentration (PNC), particle mass concentration, water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), particulate morphology and main elemental properties. The measurements were conducted in a museum located in the downtown area of Shanghai. The impacts of storey, particle size and decorative flooring on particle characteristics inside museum were investigated. Size fractionated PNC in display halls belonging to the same storey exhibited similar daily variations. Particles within the range of 0.3-0.5 µm were identified as the most significant contributors to the overall size distribution measured, as ambient fine particles penetrated through the mechanical ventilation system. Multi-lognormal fitting OC concentrations can be assigned to the presence of tourists in the museum or originate from secondary OC formation. The latter can be estimated by comparing the relationship between OC and EC, as well as OC and WSOC.


Motion planning research has been successful in developing planning algorithms which are effective for solving problems with complicated geometric and kinematic constraints. Various applications in robotics and in other fields demand additional physical realism. Some progress has been made for non-holonomic systems. However systems with complex dynamics, significant drift, underactuation and discrete system changes remain challenging for existing planning techniques particularly as the dimensionality of the state space increases. This thesis develops a novel motion planning technique for the solution of problems with these challenging characteristics. The novel approach is called Path Directed Subdivision Tree Exploration algorithm (PDST-EXPLORE) and is based on sampling-based motion planning and subdivision methods. PDST-EXPLORE demonstrates how to link a planner with a physical simulator using the latter as a black box, to generate realistic solution paths for complex systems. The thesis contains experimental results with examples with simplified physics including a second order differential drive robot and a game which exemplifies characteristics of dynamical systems which are difficult for planning. The thesis also contains experimental results for systems with simulated physics, namely a weight lifting robot and a car. Both systems have a degree of physical realism which could not be incorporated into planning before. The new planner is finally shown to be probabilistically complete.


The present study aimed at investigating the susceptibility of the microorganisms Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis to ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEP) from three regions of Kenya (Taita, Tana and Samburu). Propolis was extracted using four different concentrations of ethanol: pure, 70%, 50%, and 30%. Ethanol (70%) and Streptomycin were used as controls. The agar diffusion method using filter paper disks was employed. Antibacterial activity was determined as an equivalent of the inhibition zones diameters (in millimeters) after incubation at 37°C for 24h. Significant differences in the antibacterial activities of propolis were observed among the three regions, depending on the test microorganisms and on the procedure used for the preparation of propolis extract. Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus were the most susceptible bacteria and 70% EEP had the best antibacterial effect.


Forested lands serve multiple needs, and the priorities that go into balancing the competing demands can vary over time. In addition to being the source of timber and other natural resources, forested lands provide a number of other services such as biodiversity conservation and opportunities for outdoor recreation. While allocations that enhance conservation and recreation can involve expenses and lost revenue, mechanisms exist to provide landowners with incentives to make such contributions. Here, we review the literature and present a conceptual framework that can help landowners envision possible contributions towards bolstering outdoor recreation opportunities on their lands. The framework classifies forests within a simple conceptual space defined by two axes: (1) the spectrum of intensity of recreational use, and (2) the level of economic contribution required by landowners to meet recreational demands of visitors to their lands. The resulting matrix consists of four broad categories that can be used in forest management zoning as seen from an outdoor recreation perspective: general and special considerations for recreational opportunities and biodiversity, wilderness and nature reserves, and service areas. These categories have different tolerances for active silviculture and require shifting harvest practices spatially within the forest property. While timber revenues may decrease with shifting allocations, other sources of revenue may open up. With an increasingly urban population and rising demands for natural resources, it is prudent for landowners and land use planners to consider zoning their properties to better handle potential conflicts. The framework presented here provides a simple, structured approach to visualize future challenges and opportunities.


Ringvassøy is one of a chain of large coastal islands representing the Archaean to Paleoproterozoic West Troms Basement Complex (WTBC), west of the Caledonides. On Ringvassøy, a basement of mainly tonalitic gneiss is overlain by the Ringvassøy Greenstone Belt (RGB), which is metamorphosed up to middle amphibolite facies. Tonalitic gneiss in the west and southeast of the island has U–Pb zircon ages of 2.84–2.82 Ga, similar to U–Pb zircon ages of 2.85–2.83 Ga for metavolcanics in the RGB. Mafic dykes cutting the basement have U–Pb zircon and baddelyite ages of 2.40 Ga, with a titanite age (metamorphic overprint) of 1.77 Ga; the same dykes seem to occur in the RGB. The focus of this study is a highly Fe-sulphide-mineralized, quartz-mica rich unit ('keratophyre'?), which is suggested to be auferious. This unit be traced from the western to eastern limits of the RGB and coincides with a geophysical resistivity anomaly. The unit was mapped and sampled to identify enrichments of Fe-sulphides and Au, in all types of encountered mineralizations. Structurally in the RGB, D1 is represented by the main ductile foliation (S1) parallel to primary bedding/layering, rare isoclinal folds, and foliation-parallel shears (S1), and occurred between 2.8 Ga and 2.40 Ga. Most of the post-D1 structures, which cut the mafic dykes, formed in greenschist-facies conditions possibly during the Svecofennian Orogeny (c. 1.80–1.75 Ga), and include: macroscale upright folds and related lowangle ductile shears (S2), and moderately to steeply plunging folds associated with steeply dipping, ductile shears (S3). Samples of the quartz-mica rich unit were collected across and along strike, and include all observed variations in lithology and mineralisation. Samples were also collected from syn-tectonic mineralisation and quartz veins in. Geochemical data, combined with the S1-concordant position of the quartz-mica rich unit throughout the RGB, offer the possibility that it originated as a stratiform unit in a volcano-sedimentary setting. The unit may then have been hydrothermally altered and mineralized in the vicinity of a black smoker complex. A gold mineralization is identified in the bordering lithologies, thus, presenting no relation to the quartz-mica rich unit. These findings again state the potential for gold in the RGB, and provide important knowledge for further prospecting.


Efficient performance tuning of parallel programs is often hard. We describe an approach that uses a uni-processor execution of a multithreaded program as reference to simulate a multiprocessor execution. The speed-up is predicted, and the program behaviour is visualized as a graph, which can be used in the performance tuning process. The simulator considers scheduling as well as hardware parameters, e.g., the thread priority, no. of LWPs, and no. of CPUs. The visualization part shows the simulated execution in two graphs: one showing the threads' behaviour over time and the other the amount of parallelism over time. In the first graph it is possible to relate an event in the graph to the code line causing the event. Validation using a Sun multiprocessor with eight processors and five scientific parallel applications shows that the speed-up predictions are within +/-6% of a real execution.


Five new species of sandperch (Pinguipedidae: Parapercis ) from southeast Asia and northwest Australia are described. Parapercis soliorta sp. nov., known from a single specimen acquired from the Iloilo Central Market, taken off Iloilo, Panay Island, Philippines, is readily distinguished by a unique colour pattern including a series of nine brilliant yellow-ringed red spots along the body and caudal fin. Parapercis rubricaudalis sp. nov. is described from 15 specimens trawled between Dampier and Cape Leveque, Western Australia in 70–119 m and a single specimen taken by aquarium fish collectors off Zambales, Luzon, Philippines. It has the posterior end of the opercular ridge armed with two or three strong spines, the margin of the preopercle, subopercle and interopercle strongly serrated, and colouration including six broad irregular orange to reddish bands across the body, and the pelvic fins and lower third of the caudal fin crimson-red. A complex of three closely related species, Parapercis flavipinna sp. nov. from the Philippines, Parapercis caudopellucida sp. nov. from Myanmar and Parapercis hoi sp. nov. from northwest Australia and the Philippines, share a series of six or seven irregular dusky double blotches along the sides, a series of small black spots along the base of the soft dorsal-fin, a pair of dusky blotches on the caudal-fin base, and mostly similar meristic values. Parapercis hoi sp. nov. is known from four specimens trawled off Broome, Western Australia, in 97–109 m and one specimen trawled in the Sibuyan Sea, Philippines, in 73–84 m. It may be distinguished from its two closest congeners by cycloid cheek scales, a distinctive anal-fin colouration, and lower pectoral-fin ray, gill raker and lateral-line scale counts. Parapercis caudopellucida sp. nov., trawled in 125–129 m in the Andaman Sea off southern Myanmar, is described from two specimens. It differs from its two closest congeners most obviously by cycloid cheek scales, caudal-fin colouration, and the presence of a dusky bar extending posteroventrally from the tip of the maxilla to the anteroventral edge of the preopercle. Parapercis flavipinna sp. nov. is described from two specimens acquired from the Iloilo Central Market, taken off Iloilo, Panay Island, in the Philippines. It is distinguished most readily by the presence of ctenoid cheek scales and colouration including rows of bright yellow spots on the anal and caudal fins, a yellow upper lip, a series of yellow streaks and spots on the head, and fleshy pectoral-fin base with a large dark purplish grey blotch followed by a distinct white-edged black bar.


The thresholds of human observers detecting line targets improve significantly when the targets are presented in a spatial context of collinear inducing stimuli. This phenomenon is referred to as spatial facilitation, and may reflect the output of long-range interactions between cortical feature detectors. Spatial facilitation has thus far been observed with luminance-defined, achromatic stimuli on achromatic backgrounds. This study compares spatial facilitation with line targets and collinear, edge-like inducers defined by luminance contrast to spatial facilitation with targets and inducers defined by color contrast. The results of a first experiment show that achromatic inducers facilitate the detection of achromatic targets on gray and colored backgrounds, but tend to suppress the detection of chromatic targets. Chromatic inducers facilitate the detection of chromatic targets on gray and colored backgrounds, but tend to suppress the detection of achromatic targets. Chromatic spatial facilitation appears to be strongest when inducers and background are isoluminant. The results of a second experiment show that spatial facilitation with chromatic targets and inducers requires a longer exposure duration of the inducers than spatial facilitation with achromatic targets and inducers, which is already fully effective at an inducer exposure of 30 ms only. The findings point towards two separate mechanisms for spatial facilitation with collinear form stimuli: one that operates in the domain of luminance, and one that operates in the domain of color contrast. These results are consistent with neural models of boundary and surface formation which suggest that achromatic and chromatic visual cues are represented on different cortical surface representations that are capable of selectively attracting attention. Multiple copies of these achromatic and chromatic surface representations exist corresponding to different ranges of perceived depth from an observer, and each can attract attention to itself. Color and contrast differences between inducing and test stimuli, and transient responses to inducing stimuli, can cause attention to shift across these surface representations in ways that sometimes enhance and sometimes interfere with target detection. @ 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


max. 2000 char.): This report contains the slides of the presentations at the Aeroelastic Workshop held at Risø-DTU for the wind energy industry in Denmark on January 27, 2011. The scientific part of the agenda at this workshop was • Anisotropic beam element in HAWC2 for modelling of composite lay-ups (Taeseong Kim) • Nonlinear beam element in HAWC2 for modelling of mooring systems (Bjarne Kallesøe) • Enhanced BEM including wake expansion and swirl (Christian Bak) • Unsteady viscous-inviscid interactive airfoil code for wind turbines (Néstor Ramos García) • PIV measurements on model scale wind turbine in water channel (Robert Mikkelsen) • Potential of fatigue and extreme load reductions on swept blades using HAWC2 (David Verelst) • Aeroelastic modal analysis of backward swept blades using HAWCStab2 (Morten H. Hansen) • Aeroelastic rotor design minimizing the loads (Christian Bak) • A small study of flat back airfoils (Niels N. Sørensen) • Status of airfoil design and plans for wind tunnel tests of new thick airfoils (Christian Bak) The presented results are mainly obtained in the EUDP project "Aeroelastic Optimization of MW Wind Turbines (AeroOpt)" funded under contract no. 63011-0190. ISSN 0106-2840 ISBN 978-87-550-3885-1 Contract no.: EUDP 63011-0190 Group's own reg. no.: 1110073 Sponsorship:


Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) confined in a two-dimensional (2D) harmonic trap are known to possess a hidden 2D Schrodinger symmetry, that is, the Schrodinger symmetry modified by a trapping potential. Spontaneous breaking of this symmetry gives rise to a breathing motion of the BEC, whose oscillation frequency is robustly determined by the strength of the harmonic trap. In this paper, we demonstrate that the concept of the 2D Schrodinger symmetry can be applied to predict the nature of three dimensional (3D) collective modes propagating along a condensate confined in an elongated trap. We find three kinds of collective modes whose existence is robustly ensured by the Schrodinger symmetry, which are physically interpreted as one breather mode and two Kelvin-ripple complex modes, i.e., composite modes in which the vortex core and the condensate surface oscillate interactively. We provide analytical expressions for the dispersion relations (energy-momentum relation) of these modes using the Bogoliubov theory [D. A. Takahashi and M. Nitta, Ann. Phys. 354, 101 (2015)]. Furthermore, we point out that these modes can be interpreted as "quasi-massive-Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes", that is, they have the properties of both quasi-NG and massive NG modes: quasi-NG modes appear when a symmetry of a part of a Lagrangian, which is not a symmetry of full a Lagrangian, is spontaneously broken, while massive NG modes appear when a modified symmetry is spontaneously broken.


A method is described for the identification of similar "supramolecular constructs"
 (sub-components of complete crystal structures) of 0-, 1- or 2-dimensionality in different crystal structures of specific molecules (polymorphs) or crystal structures of similar molecules (families) and of 3-dimensionality in isostructural assemblies. A computer program, XPac, has been developed to enable a convenient application of the method, and procedures for the quantification of similarity relationships are proposed. The method is demonstrated and discussed on the basis of a number of case studies. It has been found that supramolecular constructs of different dimensionality are frequent and, therefore, likely to be important features in the consideration of nucleation, crystal growth and polymorphism.


This guide is a tool for those individuals and organisations who wish to explore why, when and how they can use EntreComp, the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework. The entrepreneurship competence is increasingly recognised as a competence for life, relevant to personal development and fulfilment, finding and progressing in employment, as well as initiating new ventures ranging from community campaigns, social enterprises to new start-up businesses. Why a competence for life? Being creative or thinking about how to do things in new ways is equally relevant to progressing your career as well as coming up with new business ideas. Taking the initiative and mobilizing others to get involved are useful skills when fundraising for your local sports team, or establishing a new social enterprise. Understanding how to put a plan into action and use finances wisely are relevant for your own life and for business planning in an SME. EntreComp is new, so those using it are just starting out in their use of the framework and exploring how it can be implemented in practice. The examples gathered here are intended to illustrate the breadth and depth of potential for using EntreComp, but this will of course evolve through time and experience. This guide is intended to inspire more actors across Europe and beyond to get involved, to join a community of participants committed to embedding these competences for life into education, communities, work and enterprise.


This thesis is a contribution to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) project at the Department of Engineering Cybernetics, which is a project where contributions from master students and Phd students will result in an autonomous aerial vehicle. The unmanned vehicle laboratory has its own UAV, the Odin Recce D6 delta-wing aircraft which is to be considered in the overall project. When the UAV is in the air on a mission, one important thing is to ensure that the UAV detects obstacles, such as mountains, buildings and other aircrafts. No-fly areas should be avoided by the path planner. This thesis considers a guidance system that will set up a path from the initial position to the final destination, and make sure that the generated trajectory is safe. One problem with the design of the optimal path has been that the designed path gives textit{corner cutting} when obstacles from the environment is included in the path-planner. To avoid this problem, which happens because discrete time is considered, two different solutions to avoid this problem have been discussed closer. Implementation of constraints and different cost functions for path planning with collision avoidance using the Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) is one of the purposes of this thesis. The MILP algorithm is developed for the case of planar motion where the UAV has to fly around the obstacle, and can't fly over or under it. The design of the path path planner using MILP is done in two different ways. One where obstacles are known at the beginning of the optimization, and one where obstacles are added as information to the path planner when they are in the range of the UAVs radar. It is shown that the implementation with obstacle radar detection is more realistic, and that it also improves the computation time. As the author knows this method has not been published in articles up to this date. Two different approaches for search of a defined area with an arbitrary number of UAVs with camera systems have been developed and implemented through this thesis. As far as the author of this thesis knows these approaches for search have not been published up to this date. Efficient search and low computational complexity has been important design factors during the development of these approaches. The final systems are simulated in MATLAB for some test-scenarios. Also, reflection and discussion on further improvement on the path planning system are included in the report. This includes further improvement of the guidance system using receding horizon strategies. A literature study on path planning with receding horizon has been done.


The etiology of biliary atresia (BA) is unknown. Given that patterns of anomalies might provide etiopathogenetic clues, we used data from the North American Childhood Liver Disease Research and Education Network to analyze patterns of anomalies in infants with BA. In all, 289 infants who were enrolled in the prospective database prior to surgery at any of 15 participating centers were evaluated. Group 1 was nonsyndromic, isolated BA (without major malformations) (n = 242, 84%), Group 2 was BA and at least one malformation considered major as defined by the National Birth Defects Prevention Study but without laterality defects (n = 17, 6%). Group 3 was syndromic, with laterality defects (n = 30, 10%). In the population as a whole, anomalies (either major or minor) were most prevalent in the cardiovascular (16%) and gastrointestinal (14%) systems. Group 3 patients accounted for the majority of subjects with cardiac, gastrointestinal, and splenic anomalies. Group 2 subjects also frequently displayed cardiovascular (71%) and gastrointestinal (24%) anomalies; interestingly, this group had genitourinary anomalies more frequently (47%) compared to Group 3 subjects (10%). Conclusion: This study identified a group of BA (Group 2) that differed from the classical syndromic and nonsyndromic groups and that was defined by multiple malformations without laterality defects. Careful phenotyping of the patterns of anomalies may be critical to the interpretation of both genetic and environmental risk factors associated with BA, allowing new insight into pathogenesis and/or outcome. (Hepatology 2013;58:1724–1731)


Through comprehensive case studies of privately planned cities and neighbourhood in Asia, Europe and North America, this book characterizes the theoretical basis and empirical manifestations of private urban planning. In this innovative volume, Andersson and Moroni develop an under-studied aspect of urban planning and re-evaluate conceptions of our urban future.


In the mid‐2000s, several highly‐cited papers called for improving conceptual coherence and methodological transparency in vulnerability research to support greater policy relevance. As reducing vulnerability rises on political agendas, identifying empirically validated measures will become increasingly important in the design and evaluation of multi‐site and multi‐scale programmatic interventions. Using a systematic review methodology, we analyze the current range of conceptual frameworks, operationalizations and research methodologies as used in empirical studies of local‐level vulnerability in agricultural settings. Detailed analysis of theories and methods provides a platform for moving toward reporting that supports valid comparisons between disparate studies. This in turn, enables the design and implementation of empirically‐informed programmatic interventions. The results show that earlier concerns remain relevant. Even the best reported cases do not support aggregated analysis because conceptual ambiguity and methodological heterogeneity renders each study effectively unique. While conceptualization is broadly consolidating around the IPCC framework, declaration of that framework does not predict consistent operationalization. Furthermore, emerging alternative frameworks, especially Vulnerability as Expected Poverty, reveal important limitations of the IPCC framework. Findings also highlight that reporting practices in vulnerability research perpetuate problematic ambiguity. When designing and reporting research, we recommend addressing six key questions that can help specify the objectives of the study: (1) Is this system vulnerable? (2) To what is this system vulnerable? (3) How vulnerable is this system? (4)What is causing this system to be vulnerable? (5) How is vulnerability distributed within the system? (6) What is causing the observed distribution of vulnerability within the system? WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e464. doi: 10.1002/wcc.464


A study of the approbation of religious actions and artefacts and an investigation of the various authorities in religious activities in classical and Hellenistic Athens. New esthetic and social aspects and a new view of polis control of religion emerge.


Over the last decade, watching videos online has become one of the primary uses of the internet, with streaming services accounting for more than 60% of global internet traffic. In this paper we use a novel data set on Netflix, the largest streaming platform worldwide, to estimate the patterns of catalogue availability (extensive margin) and number of clicks per title (intensive margin) across twenty countries. This data set also gives us a unique opportunity to estimate the importance of quality in viewing patterns. Our results show evidence of the gravity framework explaining both margins of Netflix watching. In addition, we find that there is a strong preference for domestic content, better-rated titles, and Netflix Original productions. These findings suggest that as Netflix produces more content, this will interact with its streaming dominance to provide a significant advantage in reaching viewers and promoting specific content. JEL Classification: F10, L82, Z10


Our aims were to describe the socio‐economic circumstances faced by families supporting a child at risk of disability and to investigate the extent to which disability is associated with hardship once family income is held constant. We analysed data on 7070 family units containing 12,916 children aged under 17. Families supporting a child at risk of disability were significantly more disadvantaged across a wide range of indicators of socio‐economic position. The hardship experienced by these families was only partly accounted for by between group differences in income, debt and savings. Children who are already at risk of disability as a result of a range of physical and cognitive impairments are more likely than other children to live under conditions that have been repeatedly shown to impede development, increase the risk of poor health and (additional) disability and increase the risk of social exclusion.


The Brazilian aquaculture sector has experienced growth in recent decades, and economic data from the sector is needed to characterize the supply chain, the consumer markets and financial indicators of fish producing units. Reliable statistical data on the Brazilian aquaculture sector is also needed to aid in the research efforts toward the sector. This dissertation analyzes data collected from experiments, suppliers and consumers of tilapia and tambaqui, the two most important fish farming species in Brazil, in three essays. The first essay aims to fill a gap in the literature by assessing the economic returns to lettuce and juvenile tilapia production in an aquaponics system. Experimental data that varied fish stocking density and feeding rate when co-producing fish and lettuce in Brazil is analyzed. Using different nonparametric efficiency testing methods, a set of undominated technologies in the form of input mix, is identified. In addition, sensitivity analysis is used to assess the ranges for prices over which the choice of technology is robust. Results from the technical efficiency analysis show that it is possible to get marketable lettuce in synchronization with the fish production cycle using a reduced level of feed. At observed average regional market prices (0.18 R$/tilapia fingerling, 2.8 R$/kg for fish feed, 20 R$/kg for juvenile fish and 1.70 R$/lettuce plant), the highest profit alternative in the experimental design is from an initial stocking density of 250 fingerlings per m3, feeding at the recommended rate, and harvesting on the 29th day. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the choice of best input combination is sensitive to only the prices of fish feed input and juvenile fish output. A complete financial analysis was based on this production strategy, and results indicate that a 10-year project is economically viable.Consumer demand for tilapia and tambaqui product attributes is studied in the second essay. Seafood supply chains, from fish farmers to supermarkets selling direct to consumers, must understand consumer demand for product attributes to ensure production and availability of desired products. Consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for tilapia and tambaqui fillets was estimated taking consumer demographics into account for each of the five Brazilian regions. A random parameters logit model was used to analyze data from discrete choice experiments conducted in-person at supermarket seafood counters. On average, Brazilian fish consumers prefer tilapia to tambaqui, and fresh to frozen fillets. Stated preferences were found to be related to knowledge about fish. This study is the first known analysis of national seafood preferences considering factors such as product form, species, and familiarity with fish and fish products in Brazil. In the third essay, a spatial analysis of the supply chain of tilapia and tambaqui is conducted with a focus on potential policy interventions and changes in the economic environment. The analysis is based on a partial equilibrium model of the sector and is the first comprehensive model of the aquaculture supply chain for Brazil. The demand component of the model is estimated econometrically using synthetic data based on the previous consumer choice experiment combined with secondary data on aggregate fish demand. The resulting demand system reflects asymmetric cross price impacts violating Samuelson's integrability condition. Rather than imposing symmetry during estimation, the model is formulated as a complementary problem. The spatially disaggregated model is applied to the evaluation of the impact of factors such as governmental incentives (subsides of fish feed), international oil price shocks (changes in the cost of transportation), increases in consumers' income (shifts in demand), and decreases in retailers' margins on the regional pattern of tilapia and tambaqui production and final consumption. Changes in transportation costs, impacted by oil prices or road improvements had little impact on market outcomes. A 10% reduction on retailers' gross margins decreased prices by 5.2% and increased quantity demanded by 5.4%, while an 8% reduction in fish feed costs due to tax cuts indicates, on average, 5.4% lower selling prices for farmers.


The first Labor Day parade was held on September 5, 1882, in New York City. It, and the annual holiday demonstrations that followed in that decade and the next, resulted from the growth of the modern organized labor movement that took place in the context of the second industrial revolution. These first Labor Day celebrations also became part of the then ongoing ideological and tactical divisions within that movement. By the early 1900s, workers' desire to enjoy the fruits of their labor by participating in popular leisure pursuits came to characterize the day. But union leaders, who considered such leisure pursuits a distraction from displays of union solidarity, continued to encourage the organization of parades. With the protections afforded to organized labor by the New Deal, and with the gains made during and after World War II (particularly among unionized white, male, industrial laborers), Labor Day parades declined further after 1945 as workers enjoyed access to mass cultural pursuits, increasingly in suburban settings. This decline was indicative of a broader loss of union movement culture that had served to build solidarity within unions, display working-class militancy to employers, and communicate the legitimacy of organized labor to the American public. From time to time since the late 1970s unions have attempted to reclaim the power of Labor Day to make concerted demands through their display of workers' united power; but, for most Americans the holiday has become part of a three-day weekend devoted to shopping or leisure that marks the end of the summer season.


When Gerald Bordman's Oxford Companion to American Theatre appeared in 1984, the distinguished actor Jose Ferrer proclaimed, "I'm in awe of the scholarship and research that have gone into the making of this book." The Los Angeles Times Book Review called it "the almost perfect gift book for both the student and the theatre lover," while Back Stage hailed it as "a major reference work [that] provides a wealth of authoritative information." The book quickly established itself as the standard one-volume resource on the American stage. Now Bordman gives us an abridgement of his massive original volume, eliminating many entries on minor plays and figures but preserving those articles that are of the widest general interest. The major achievements of playwrights Eugene O'Neill, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and many more are represented in hundreds of biographical sketches and summaries of individual plays. Also here are entries on performers ranging from Edwin Booth to John Barrymore, from Jessica Tandy to James Earl Jones. Extensive coverage is given to that most American of theatrical forms, the musical, and the often neglected achievements of the nineteenth century are also represented. In addition, this volume updates information on contemporary topics and includes a number of new articles. Altogether there are more than 2,000 entries, accessibly and attractively arranged in the two-column, A-Z format for which the Companion series is famous. Affordable, compact, and eminently "companionable," this work retains those qualities of erudition and entertainment that so distinguished the parent volume and makes them available to a much wider readership.


In the great tradition of moral argument about the nature of the economic market, Rebecca Blank and William McGurn join to debate the fundamental questions?equality and efficiency, productivity and social justice, individual achievement and personal rights in the workplace, the costs and benefits of corporate and entrepreneurial capitalism. And they do so grounded in both economic sophistication and religious commitment.

Rebecca Blank is an economist by training and describes herself as ?culturally Protestant in the habits of mind and heart.? She has also chaired the committee that wrote the statement on Christian faith and economic life adopted by the United Church of Christ. Addressing market failure, for her, requires that sometimes "freedom to choose" give way to other human values.

William McGurn, a journalist and a Roman Catholic, uses his expertise in economics to reflect on the teachings of the church concerning the morality of the market. For McGurn, humans reach their fullest potential when they are free from the constraints of others. He writes that "our quarrel is not so much with Adam Smith or Milton Friedman but with the Providence that so clearly designed man to be his most prosperous at his most free."

This book grapples with the new imperatives of a global economy while working in the classic tradition of political economy which always treated seriously the questions of morality, justice, productivity, and freedom.


We have succeeded in fabricating a low-loss and long length photonic crystal fiber (PCF) by improvement of fabrication process. The fiber is 10 km long and has a lowest loss of 0.37 dB/km at 1550 nm ever reported. We also succeeded in reducing the OH absorption loss to 3 dB/km. This is almost the half of the value ever reported. Using the low-loss PCF, we performed the first DWDM transmission experiment. DWDM signal of 8/spl times/10 Gbit/s is successfully transmitted through the PCF.


The Irish potato famine of the 1840s, perhaps the most appalling event of the Victorian era, killed over a million people and drove as many more to emigrate to America. It may not have been the result of deliberate government policy, yet British 'obtuseness, short-sightedness and ignorance' - and stubborn commitment to laissez-faire 'solutions' - largely caused the disaster and prevented any serious efforts to relieve suffering. The continuing impact on Anglo-Irish relations was incalculable, the immediate human cost almost inconceivable. In this vivid and disturbing book, Cecil Woodham-Smith provides the definitive account. 'A moving and terrible book. It combines great literary power with great learning. It explains much in modern Ireland - and in modern America' - D.W. Brogan.


Purpose
Using an econometric approach, this study aims to examine Mid-Atlantic USA wine consumers' willingness to participate in winery or vineyard tours based on their wine knowledge, wine drinking occasions, demographical factors, past experience with wine tourism and wine purchasing behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach
An internet-based consumer survey (N = 977) conducted 22-24 October 2014 was used to collect data. The screening criteria for the survey participants were: 1) being a resident of the Mid-Atlantic region (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, USA), 2) at least 21 years old, 3) not an industry member, and 4) having purchased and consumed wine within the past year. In addition to descriptive statistics, a logistic regression was used to estimate consumers' willingness to participate in winery or vineyard tours. Independent variables were categorized into five groups: sources of wine knowledge, wine drinking occasions, demographical factors, past experience and wine purchasing behaviors.

Findings
With 736 valid observations, the logistic regression shows that males are more likely to be interested in winery or vineyard tours, while young adults (<25 years old) are less likely. Learning about wines from winery tasting room staff members, from wine magazines or from local and regional magazines are the top three positive influencers on interest in these activities. Past wine tourism experience in the Mid-Atlantic region, drinking wine as an everyday beverage and giving wines as gifts also show a positive relationship with likelihood of participating in these activities.

Practical implications
Study results can help the Mid-Atlantic wine industry understand wine tourists' behaviors and preferences. Advertising in wine magazines and local and regional magazines can be used to target wine consumers interested in winery or vineyard tours. Attributes (i.e. past experience with wine tourism and gaining knowledge from winery tasting room staff) that are related to the quality of wine tourism experience were identified. Participants were also interested in purchasing wine from the winery during or after participating in wine tourism activities; therefore, wineries should focus on guest interactions to encourage such purchases.

Originality/value
This survey collected data from both consumers who had or who lacked wine tourism experience, which allowed us to gather input from wine drinkers who had not necessarily visited tasting rooms. This survey instrument can be used to collect data from wine consumers residing in regions where the presence of wineries and wine tourism is low, which can provide insight that otherwise might be influenced by currently offered wine tourism activities. This paper uses an econometric approach to understand consumer interests in wine tourism in the Mid-Atlantic region and provides a comprehensive, clear and informative profile of likely wine tourism participants who reside in a region that has not been studied comprehensively.


The present work provides an experimental study of the effect of the glycerol concentration on removal performances in a Submerged Aerobic Fixed-Film (SAF) Reactor performing in batch mode. This study consisted in adding various initial substrate concentrations of synthetic solutions (glycerol) in order to assess their effects on biodegradation kinetics and then on bacterial cells adaptation. For this purpose, three series of tests were made. The first two series were carried out with initial Chemical Oxygen Demand concentrations respectively of 330 mgO2/L (SL) and 1120 mgO2/L (SH). The third series (SS) was carried out with gradually increasing concentrations, in which initial COD values were 480, 590 and 760 mgO2/L. It has been found that the adaptation time decreased when the initial concentration increased. But, when synthetic solutions were renewed for a new adaptation, better performances were observed. Increasing initial COD solutions (SS test) showed excellent performances; in fact, it seems combine both, the advantage of low substrate concentration (better adaptability, interesting time for adaptation – case of SL test) and of a high concentrated synthetic solutions (better treatment performance and high biodegradation kinetics constant – case of SH test). Received 16 Feb 2016, Revised 17 Apr 2016, Accepted 25 Apr 2016


Adaptive fuzzy interpolation strengthens the potential of fuzzy interpolative reasoning. It views interpolation procedures as artificially created system components, and identifies all possible sets of faulty components that may each have led to all detected contradictory results. From this, a modification procedure takes place, which tries to modify each of such components, termed candidates, in an effort to remove all the contradictions and thus restore consistency. This approach assumes that the employed interpolation mechanism is the only cause of contradictions, that is all given observations and rules are believed to be true and fixed. However, this may not be the case in certain real situations. It is common in fuzzy systems that each observation or rule is associated with a certainty degree. This paper extends the adaptive approach by taking into consideration both observations and rules also, treating them as diagnosable and modifiable components in addition to interpolation procedures. Accordingly, the modification procedure is extended to cover the cases of modifying observations or rules in a given rule base along with the modification of fuzzy reasoning components. This extension significantly improves the robustness of the existing adaptive approach.


Entropy regularization, smoothing of Q-values and neural network function approximator are key components of the state-of-the-art reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms, such as Soft Actor-Critic [1]. Despite the widespread use, the impact of these core techniques on the convergence of RL algorithms is not yet fully understood. In this work, we analyse these techniques from error propagation perspective using the approximate dynamic programming framework. In particular, our analysis shows that (1) value smoothing results in increased stability of the algorithm in exchange for slower convergence, (2) entropy regularization reduces overestimation errors at the cost of modifying the original problem, (3) we study a combination of these techniques that describes the Soft Actor-Critic algorithm.


Antecedents in the literature suggest that vitamin D (VD) play a role in overweigh/obesity. The present study evaluated the effect of VD deficiency diet intake and fat hight on overweight/obesity about white adipose tissue (WAT) and body mass (BM) gain. Animals were divided into four experimental groups according to the lipid and VD content of their diets; G1: CVD+ (C: control diet with VD+; n=5), G2: CVD(control diet without VD-; n=5), G3: HFVD+ (high fat diet, with VD+; n=5), G4: HFVD(HF diet without VD-; n=5). The diets were administered for three months and BW was monitored weekly. At the end of this period all animals were euthanized. Epididymal (EFM), retroperitoneal (RFM) and subcutaneous (SFM) fat mass were removed, weighted. At 12 weeks the body mass of the animals that were fed without VDdiets; G2: 507.60±17.31 g, and G4: 528.50±13.50 g were significantly higher (p < 0.05), than the counterparts G1: 485.0±11.29 g and G3: 521.20±26.20 g respectively. Similarly, the animals fed with VDdiets had a greater EFM and SFM (p < 0.05) compared with the respective controls (VD+). Nevertheless, the animals fed with high fat diet had equal RFM (G3: 12.2±4.10 g, G4: 12.88±2.3 g, p > 0.05). The results demonstrate that the nutrition of rats with diet deficient in VD and high fat, promotes overweight by increasing fat deposits, suggestion a cause-effect relationship between VD deficiency and overweight. These results suggest that VD deficiency increases the risk of visceral fat obesity in males.


Abstract:Most Black women who experience psychological distress do not receive mental health services because the dominant model of service delivery is often inaccessible and culturally disengaged. This mismatch of westernized approaches to mental health neglects the cultural significance of informal helping networks, spirituality, and interdependence found in the Black community. Based in Africana Womanism, an exploration of healing modalities in traditional African societies reveals the influential role of hair and spirituality in holistic wellness practices. Therefore, "PsychoHairapy" is a community health model created to secure space for Black women to address mental health and well-being through hair care. PsychoHairapy is grounded in traditional African spiritual systems that are culturally relevant by focusing on relationships that promote healthy practices. The theory and the practice of PsychoHairapy includes training hair care professionals in micro-counseling techniques, psychologists housing private psychotherapy sessions within the hair care setting, facilitating salon-based group therapy, and the distribution of psychoeducational materials and workshops to Black women.


A study was conducted at sites in subtropical Georgia, seasonal and humid Iowa, and arid southeastern California to evaluate the field hydrology of compacted clay covers for final closure of landfills. Water balance of the covers was monitored with large (10 by 20 m), instrumented drainage lysimeters for 2 to 4 yr. Initial drainage at the Iowa and California sites was <32 mm yr−1 (i.e., unit gradient flow for a hydraulic conductivity of 10−7 cm s−1, the regulatory standard for the clay barriers in this study); initial drainage rate at the Georgia site was about 80 mm yr−1 The drainage rate at all sites increased by factors ranging from 100 to 750 during the monitoring periods and in each case the drainage rate exceeded 32 mm yr−1 by the end of the monitoring period. The drainage rates developed a rapid response to precipitation events, suggesting that increases in drainage rate were the result of preferential flow. Although no direct observations of preferential flow paths were made, field measurements of water content and temperature at all three sites suggested that desiccation or freeze–thaw cycling probably resulted in formation of preferential flow paths through the barrier layers. Data from all three sites showed the effectiveness of all three covers as hydraulic barriers diminished during the 2 to 4 yr monitoring period, which was short compared with the required design life (often 30 yr) of most waste containment facilities.


Megaflaps are steep stratal panels that extend far up the sides of diapirs or their equivalent welds. They have multiple-kilometer fold widths and structural relief and are thus distinct from smaller-scale composite halokinetic sequences. Maximum dips range from near-vertical to completely overturned. Although overturned megaflaps are associated with flaring salt, there is no direct link between megaflap formation and the initiation of salt sheets. Strata within a megaflap are usually convergent, and the lower boundary is typically concordant with the top salt. The upper boundary ranges between a prominent onlap surface and a more diffuse zone of gradual rotation and thinning, and growth strata likewise display both onlap and stacked wedge geometries. We use quantitative cross-section restoration to elucidate the origin and development of megaflaps. Megaflaps typically represent the relatively thin roofs of early salt structures that include single-flap active diapirs, passive diapirs, salt pillows, and salt sheets. They develop during halokinetic drape folding as the minibasin sinks, during contractional squeezing of the diapir and its roof, or during some combination of the two. The kinematics are dominated by either limb rotation or kink-band migration, in which roof strata move through a fold hinge into a lengthening steep megaflap. Both restoration results and direct field evidence suggest that internal strain is minor, with little bed lengthening and thinning. Recognition and understanding of megaflaps are critical to successful petroleum exploration of three-way truncation traps against salt. Megaflaps also have implications for the lateral seal of stratigraphic traps and fluid pressures in minibasins.


In Australia and the United Kingdom over the past two decades, the way human service professionals have been involved in 'communities', whether defined by 'place', 'interest' or 'exclusion', has varied with the political complexion of the government in power. This has resulted in both opportunities for and constraints on human services practice and community participation. In this article, the terminology and the conceptual frames associated with work both in and with communities are critically scrutinized. However, it is also contended that spatial analysis and social entrepreneurship can enable those working in the field to respond productively to the New Public Management and 'Third Way' approaches that have shaped the policy context of human services practice. It is argued that a form of spatial analysis and of social entrepreneurship can be used to facilitate meaningful participation in decision-making processes in a variety of communities and to re-forge social connections at a range of levels.


We are interested in identifying single gene mutations that are involved in trans-acting dosage regulation in order to understand further the role of such genes in aneuploid syndromes, various types of dosage compensation as well as in regulatory mechanisms. The Lighten up (Lip) gene in Drosophila melanogaster was identified in a mutagenic screen to detect dominant second site modifiers of white-blood (wbl), a retrotransposon induced allele of the white eye color locus. Lip specifically enhances the phenotype of wbl as well as a subset of other retroelement insertion alleles of white, including the copia-induced allele, white-apricot (wa), and six alleles caused by insertion of I elements. We isolated six alleles of Lip which are all recessive lethal, although phenotypically additive heteroallelic escapers were recovered in some combinations. Lip also suppresses position effect variegation, indicating that it may have a role in chromatin configuration. Additionally, Lip modifies the total transcript abundance of both the blood and copia retrotransposons, having an inverse effect on the steady state level of blood transcripts, while showing a non-additive effect on copia RNA.


Following the 2009 G-20 clearing mandate, international standard setting bodies (SSBs) have outlined a set of principles for central counterparty (CCP) risk management. They have also devised formulaic CCP risk capital requirements on clearing members for their central counterparty exposures. There is still no consensus among CCP regulators and bank regulators on how central counterparty risk should be measured coherently in practice. A conceptually sound and logically consistent definition of the CCP risk capital in the absence of a unifying CCP risk measurement framework is challenging. Incoherent CCP risk capital requirements may create an obscure environment disincentivizing the central clearing of over the counter (OTC) derivatives transactions. Based on novel applications of well-known mathematical models in finance, this paper introduces a risk measurement framework that coherently specifies all layers of the default waterfall resources of typical derivatives CCPs. The proposed framework gives the first risk sensitive definition of the CCP risk capital based on which less risk sensitive non-model-based methods can be evaluated.


Website developers can use Adobe's Flash Player product to store information locally on users' disks with Local Shared Objects (LSOs). LSOs can be used to store state information and user identifiers, and thus can be used for similar purposes as HTTP cookies. In a paper by Soltani et al, researchers documented at least four instances of "respawning," where users deleted their HTTP cookies only to have the HTTP cookies recreated based on LSO data. In addition, the Soltani team found half of the 100 most popular websites used Flash technologies to store information about users. Both respawning and using LSOs to store data about users can reduce online privacy. One year later, we visited popular websites plus 500 randomly-selected websites to determine if respawning still occurs. We found no instances at all of respawning in a randomly-selected group of 500 websites. We found two instances of respawning in the most popular 100 websites. While our methods are different from the Soltani team and we cannot compare directly, our results suggest respawning is not increasing, and may be waning. As in the Soltani study, we found LSOs with unique identifiers. In the 100 most popular websites, LSOs were set at 20, and 9 used their LSOs to store unique identifiers. In 500 randomly selected sites, LSOs were set at 41, and 17 used their LSOs to store unique identifiers. Unique identifiers may, or may not, be keys into back-end databases to perform cookie-style tracking. However, unique identifiers could be benign, for example, uniquely identifying a specific animation or music clip. While we can use contextual information like variable names to guess what a given unique identifier is for, using our study methods we cannot conclusively determine how companies use unique identifiers. We cannot quantify how many, if any, sites are using unique identifiers in LSOs for any purpose that might have privacy implications. Even assuming a pessimistic worst case where all websites with unique identifiers in LSOs are using them to track users, the percentage of such sites studied is low — 9% of the top 100, and only 3.4% of the randomly-selected 500 sites we studied. However, over 40% of the LSOs in each data set used unique identifiers, and especially with the top 100 sites, many people could be affected. Because we found sites using LSOs as unique identifiers, we believe further study is needed to determine if these sites are using LSOs to evade users' choices. However, without visibility into back-end databases, it is difficult to determine how unique identifiers are used. We conclude our paper with policy options and a discussion of implications for industry self-regulation of Internet privacy.


Nordic governments frequently broadcast their ambition to do more together on the international stage. The five Nordic states (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway) also share many basic goals as foreign policy actors, including a steadfast and vocal commitment to safeguarding the 'rules-based international order.' Why then, do we not see more organized Nordic foreign policy collaboration, for example in the form of a joint 'grand strategy' on core foreign policy issues, or in relation to great powers and international organizations? In this article, we draw on Charles Tilly's concept of 'repertoires' to address the discrepancy between ambitions and developments in Nordic foreign policy cooperation, highlighting how the bundles of policy instruments—repertoires—that each Nordic state has developed over time take on an identity-defining quality. We argue that the Nordic states have invested in and become attached to their foreign policy differences, niches, and 'brands.' On the international scene, and especially when interacting with significant other states, they tend not only to stick to what they know how to do and are accustomed to doing but also to promote their national rather than their Nordic profile. While Nordic cooperation forms part of all the five states' foreign policy repertoire in specific policy areas, these are marginal compared to the distinctive repertoires on which each Nordic state rely in relation to more powerful states. It is therefore unlikely that we will see a 'common order' among the Nordic states in the foreign policy domain in the near future.


This thesis is devoted to a range of questions in applied mathematics and signal processing motivated by applications in error correction, compressed sensing, and writing on non-volatile memories. The underlying thread of our results is the use of diverse combinatorial methods originating in coding theory and computer science.
The thesis addresses three groups of problems. The first of them is aimed at the construction and analysis of codes for error correction. Here we examine properties of codes that are constructed using random and structured graphs and hypergraphs, with the main purpose of devising new decoding algorithms as well as estimating the distribution of Hamming weights in the resulting codes. Some of the results obtained give the best known estimates of the number of correctable errors for codes whose decoding relies on local operations on the graph.
In the second part we address the question of constructing sampling operators for the compressed sensing problem. This topic has been the subject of a large body of works in the literature. We propose general constructions of sampling matrices based on ideas from coding theory that act as near-isometric maps on almost all sparse signal. This matrices can be used for dimensionality reduction and compressed sensing.
In the third part we study the problem of reliable storage of information in non-volatile memories such as flash drives. This problem gives rise to a writing scheme that relies on relative magnitudes of neighboring cells, known as rank modulation. We establish the exact asymptotic behavior of the size of codes for rank modulation and suggest a number of new general constructions of such codes based on properties of finite fields as well as combinatorial considerations.


Macro Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) under recorded and forecasting rainfall scenarios helps to overcome the water shortage problem. Eastern Sinjar District-Iraq had been investigated for the potential of RWH with a catchment area of four basins. Three recorded rainfall scenarios (S1, S2, and S3) were diagnosed representing seasons of the maximum, minimum and average weekly rainfall events for the period 1990-2011. Forecasting the rainfall depths for the same catchment area were estimated depending on Box-Jenkins methodology to build Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models for weekly rainfall data for the period 2012-2016. Three forecasting rainfall scenarios (S4, S5, and S6) were diagnosed to represent the seasons of the maximum, minimum and average weekly forecasting rainfall events. The results of these scenarios were compared with an average area to be irrigated obtained from the results of 19 years record. The results indicated that in wet years RWH technique with supplemental irrigation help to give total irrigated area larger than a total specified average irrigated area. In average and dry years, the amounts of the additional needed water were estimated to irrigate the total areas that should be increase in order to satisfy the specified average irrigated area.


We demonstrate how slow group velocities of light, which are readily achievable in photonic-crystal systems, can dramatically increase the induced phase shifts caused by small changes in the index of refraction. Such increased phase sensitivity may be used to decrease the sizes of many devices, including switches, routers, all-optical logical gates, wavelength converters, and others. At the same time a low group velocity greatly decreases the power requirements needed to operate these devices. We show how these advantages can be used to design switches smaller than 20 µm×200 µm in size by using readily available materials and at modest levels of power. With this approach, one could have ∼105 such devices on a surface that is 2 cm×2 cm, making it an important step towards large-scale all-optical integration.


A point vortex located above and convected parallel to a wall is an important model of the process by which a boundary layer becomes unstable due to external disturbances. Often it has been assumed that the boundary layer due to the passage of the vortex is inherently unsteady. Here we show that for a vortex convected by a uniform shear flow, there is a steady solution when the speed of the vortex cv is sufficiently fast. The existence of the steady solution is demonstrated analytically in the limit of large vortex velocity (cv→∞) and numerically at more moderate speeds. This solution may provide a useful base state about which to investigate the stability of a boundary layer induced by external disturbances.


The cancer stem cell (CSC) theory posits that a small population of cells with stem celllike features is responsible for tumor growth, resistance, and recurrence in many malignancies. This theory could be a useful paradigm for designing innovative targeted drug therapies. Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide, with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) as the predominant forms. Hepatic stem/progenitor cells are believed to be the origin of HCCs and CCAs; however, this remains a controversial topic. Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is the main enzymatic system responsible for the clearance of acetaldehyde from the hepatocytes in the liver tissue. Therefore, ALDH1 has been suggested to be a potential, biological and CSC marker in liver cancers. We here provide an overview of the current state of knowledge of CSCs in liver and the role of ALDH1 in the development and progression of liver cancers and discuss its potential value as a prognostic and diagnostic biomarker.


In this paper equations for the output mean and variance of the intensity-dependent spread (IDS) filter and its reconstruction are derived for images corrupted by white Gaussian and white Poisson noise. These equations are then used to compute the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in both the filtered image and the reconstructed image. We show that for additive Gaussian noise the SNR in the reconstructed image varies as the square root of the mean intensity and for additive Poisson noise the SNR is constant. We compare the SNR in the reconstructed image with that of the linear-shift-invariant Gaussian filter, and we show that the IDS filter can achieve a specified minimum SNR over the image with substantially less blur than a Gaussian. We also derive a formula to trade off blur for SNR by adjusting the spread factor of the IDS kernel.


In this paper, we study the robustness of state-of-the-art automatic fingerprint verification systems against hill climbing and brute-force attacks. We compare the performance of this type of attacks against two different minutiae-based systems, the NIST Fingerprint Image Software 2 (NFIS2) reference system and a Match-on-Card based system. In order to study their success rate, the attacks are analyzed and modified in each scenario. We focus on the influence of initial conditions in hill-climbing attacks, like the number of minutiae in the synthetically generated templates or the performance of each type of modification in the template. We demonstrate how slight modifications in the hill-climbing algorithm lead to very different success rates


We discuss the transport of optical waves in the fascinating intermediate regime between fully disordered (diffusive systems) and ordered (photonic crystals). In particular we study the transport of short optical pulses in Fibonacci quasi-crystals and optical superlattices with broken symmetry and report the observation of Bloch oscillations of light waves.


A basic principle of law is that damages paid by a liable party should equal the harm caused by that party. However, this principle is not correct when account is taken of litigation costs, because they too are part of the social costs associated with an injury. In this article we examine the influence of litigation costs on the optimal level of damages, assuming that litigation costs rise with the level of damages.