The current global economic crisis has led to greater prominence for the issue of strengthening social protection systems in Asia. This paper analyzes the key factors determining and the possible avenues for strengthening social protection systems in Asia. The choice of an appropriate combination of avenues depends on the initial starting point, public policy objectives, institutional, fiscal, and other capabilities. Following introductory remarks, Section 2 discusses demographic and labor market trends in Asia. It stresses that rapid ageing and large, informal labor markets pose challenges for Asian social protection systems, while making the role of the state even more essential. This is followed in Section 3 by an overview of social security systems in Asia. The key point is that while there are fairly elaborate social security programs in Asia, primarily for formal sector employees, this does not necessarily imply that the schemes are well designed, have wide coverage, or are financially sustainable. Section 4 discusses four general avenues to strengthening social protection systems. These emphasize greater professionalism, parametric and systemic reforms, social assistance, and social pensions, as well as others such as microfinance institution-initiated pensions. The final section provides concluding observations. The global economic crisis provides a potential opportunity for strengthening social protection systems. However, the construction of multitiered social protection systems will require much greater professionalism, experimentation, political and organizational leadership, and vision.


The task of content – based retrieval is to provide users with the multimedia documents that best match their wishes. This process is not free of uncertainty; the role of the user profile is to remove a part of this uncertainty, using the information it contains concerning the user's preferences, and thus improve the precision. For this aim MPEG-7 introduced description schemes representing users' preferences and tools supporting user interaction. In this paper, using a formal representation of user preferences and a semantic knowledge base, we expand the user profile representation introduced in MPEG-7 in order to acquire more semantic information about the user. Furthermore, using the notion of context, we identify the part of the profile that is related to the user's query, thus preventing irrelevant interests from affecting the process of content – based retrieval.


Baltimore, Md. The Maintenance of Certification module series is designed to help the clinician structure his or her study in specific areas appropriate to his or her clinical practice. This article is prepared to accompany practice-based assessment of preoperative assessment, anesthesia, surgical treatment plan, perioperative management, and outcomes. In this format, the clinician is invited to compare his or her methods of patient assessment and treatment, outcomes, and complications, with authoritative, information-based references. This information base is then used for self-assessment and benchmarking in parts II and IV of the Maintenance of Certification process of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. This article is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject. Rather, it is designed to serve as a reference point for further in-depth study by review of the reference articles presented. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 126: 2177, 2010.)


Parallel file subsystems in today's high-performance computers adopt many I/O optimization strategies that were designed for distributed systems. These strategies, for instance client-side file caching, treat each I/O request process independently, due to the consideration that clients are unlikely related with each other in a distributed environment. However, it is inadequate to apply such strategies directly in the high-performance computers where most of the I/O requests come from the processes that work on the same parallel applications. We believe that client-side caching could perform more effectively if the caching subsystem is aware of the process scope of an application and regards all the application processes as a single client. In this paper, we propose the idea of "collective caching" which coordinates the application processes to manage cache data and achieve cache coherence without involving the I/O servers. To demonstrate this idea, we implemented a collective caching subsystem at user space as a library, which can be incorporated into any message passing interface implementation to increase its portability. The performance evaluation is presented with three I/O benchmarks on an IBM SP using its native parallel file system, GPFS. Our results show significant performance enhancement obtained by collective caching over the traditional approaches.


Forest fires have multifaceted impacts on societies. When integrated in an effective firefighting strategy, the rapid access of aerial resources to remote areas can play a crucial role. However, the efficiency of an aerial drop, due to the erratic atmospheric conditions and reduced visibility, depends essentially on the pilot's expertise since on-board systems for computer-assisted drops are unavailable. This work addresses the development of a numerical model for the real-time simulation of an aerial drop of firefighting products. The gas-phase is modelled through a vegetative canopy model coupled to a modified surface-layer model under diabatic conditions. For the particulate phase, the primary breakup of the retardant jet is obtained through the continuous stripping of droplets from the exposed surfaces by Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. The formed droplets are then subjected to distortion and secondary breakup due to aerodynamic forces mostly based on experimental correlations defined in terms of the Weber number. During the process, droplets are dispersed applying a Lagrangian approach. The code is linked to a GIS-based graphical interface, thus privileging the use by operational people. Computed ground pattern has been compared, with generally good results, with experimental data from a set of real scale dropping tests in which both conventional and constant flow-rate delivery systems were used. The model has potential to be used as a demonstrative application in firefighters training; as an operational tool during firefighting operations; or in the development of new products, as an alternative method to real scale dropping tests.


Cause Lawyers and Social Movements. By Austin Sarat and Stuart A. Scheingold. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006. Pp. x+341. $29.95 paper. This collection is the fourth edited volume on cause lawyering that Sarat and Scheingold have co-produced. Given that these authors have virtually cornered the market on this topic, the challenge of this review is to consider whether this volume is distinctive enough to recommend it to both those who are and those who are not familiar with this literature. The authors have succeeded in providing a distinctive book that will appeal to a broad audience. First, the authors seek to "move from an analysis of causes to a concern with social movements" (p. 1; emphasis added). This may seem like a subtle distinction, but it allows each author to address the larger contextual and structural constraints imposed on activist lawyers. For example, one of the most valuable essays is the second one in the volume, an account by McCann and Dudas that provides an historical and theoretical background on social movements for the pieces in the volume. Peppered with fascinating and diverse examples, it could serve as an introduction to the topic in a number of venues. Second, the authors wish to "turn attention from the way cause lawyering articulates with the project of the organized legal profession to the explicitly political work of cause lawyers" (p. 2) in order to show what lawyers do to and for social movements. The editors' introduction indicates that the book examines under what circumstances cause lawyers in social movements move from an elitist, professional ideology privileging litigation, to a political, activist, or grassroots one that challenges traditional definitions of professionalism. A final, though less fleshed-out task, is to discuss how the methods of left and right cause lawyers converge in tactics, if not in content. Section 1 examines the life cycles of social movements and of the roles of the lawyers who inhabit them. In Section 2, the chapters focus on the professional identities of cause lawyers. Section 3 contains three scenarios in which lawyers move beyond traditional litigation to embrace other roles in social movements (e.g., writing legislation, community mobilization, and even participating in movements as nonlawyers). The editors include a wide range of compelling empirical case studies on social movements from both sides of the political spectrum-including gay and lesbian rights, consumer rights, the prolife movement, and environmental justice. Though the material focuses on the energies of leftist movements, scholars of conservatives (and perhaps even conservative scholars) will find something to appreciate in objective reports by den Dulk and in the pieces by McCann and Dudas, and by Sarat and Scheingold themselves. …


Tasks for sensor networks often have constraints such as lifetime and latency. Performance of a sensor network like energy consumption and latency is largely affected by how the task is mapped to the nodes in network. This paper presents an energy-efficient task assignment and migration framework for sensor networks. With proposed framework, optimal task transformation and assignment is sought so as to minimize given cost function. Cost function reflects total energy consumption in a network, maximum energy consumption among nodes and maximum latency. Simulated annealing method is used to solve the task transformation and assignment problem. For run-time support, we developed distributed task migration method. While executing tasks in a node, if the remaining energy is less than threshold level, such tasks are migrated into neighbor node which is healthier. With demonstrative examples, we evaluate our task assignment framework and distributed task migration features through Sensorsim simulation which is an extension of ns-2 simulator. We demonstrate that our framework can handle node heterogeneity and various cost function requirements. The experimental results show that elaborate assignments can save more energy than simple assignment of aggregation functions and help in improving performance.


In Ideas on Language in Early Latin Christianity , Tim Denecker investigates the views held on the history, diversity and properties of language(s) by Christian Latin authors from Tertullian (b. c.160) until Isidore of Seville (d. 636).


Bead on an Anthill is the story of a Lakota girl's experiences growing up in Nebraska and on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1960s and 1970s. Raised in a home without books, Delphine Red Shirt relied on family and friends as her "books" and wove their stories into her own. Like her ancestors, she felt a powerful connection to the openness of the Plains. She participated in coming-of-age ceremonies and learned the special rules for stringing beads together and the messages conveyed by hairstyles. At the same time, Red Shirt became increasingly aware of the distance between her world and that of her ancestors. Ringing with insight and honesty, this memoir gives voice to an emerging generation of Lakota women who attempt to navigate the difficult paths of a bicultural world.


Reliable operation of lab-on-a-chip systems depends on user-friendly, precise, and predictable fluid management tailored to particular sub-tasks of the microfluidic process protocol and their required sample fluids. Pressure-driven flow control, where the sample fluids are delivered to the chip from pressurized feed vessels, simplifies the fluid management even for multiple fluids. The achieved flow rates depend on the pressure settings, fluid properties, and pressure-throughput characteristics of the complete microfluidic system composed of the chip and the interconnecting tubing. The prediction of the required pressure settings for achieving given flow rates simplifies the control tasks and enables opportunities for automation. In our work, we utilize a fast-running, Kirchhoff-based microfluidic network simulation that solves the complete microfluidic system for in-line prediction of the required pressure settings within less than 200 ms. The appropriateness of and benefits from this approach are demonstrated as exemplary for creating multi-component laminar co-flow and the creation of droplets with variable composition. Image-based methods were combined with chemometric approaches for the readout and correlation of the created multi-component flow patterns with the predictions obtained from the solver.


Purpose of the present study was to record the type and the anatomical position in relation to diagnosis of muscular skeletal injuries in recreational tennis players. Also, questions to record the mechanics of injury according to athlete's opinion were applied. 100 recreational tennis players (80 male) reported a total of 170 injuries. In their tennis participation period 12 players injured once (15%), 45 injured twice (56%) and 22 player (28 %) injured 3 times and 5 players more than 3 times (6%). According to their personal opinion the injury happens due to "Inadequate warm up" "Fatigue" and "High intensity matches" The repetitive arm and elbow joints movements causes overuse injuries in the upper extremity while the enrich running tennis patterns leading at an increased risk for acute injury for the lower extremities. Fortunately, the low total tennis injury rate places the tennis not only a pleasant but a safe sport for junior athletes.


This research analyzed trends in Internet security through an investigation of 4,299 security-related incidents on the Internet reported to the CERT$\sp\circler$ Coordination Center (CERT$\sp\circler$/CC) from 1989 to 1995. Prior to this research, our knowledge of security problems on the Internet was limited and primarily anecdotal. This information could not be effectively used to determine what government policies and programs should be, or to determine the effectiveness of current policies and programs. This research accomplished the following: (1) development of a taxonomy for the classification of Internet attacks and incidents, (2) organization, classification, and analysis of incident records available at the CERT$\sp\circler$/CC, and (3) development of recommendations to improve Internet security, and to gather and distribute information about Internet security.
With the exception of denial-of-service attacks, security incidents were generally found to be decreasing relative to the size of the Internet. The probability of any severe incident not being reported to the CERT$\sp\circler$/CC was estimated to be between 0% and 4%. The probability that an incident would be reported if it was above average in terms of duration and number of sites, was around 1 out of 2.6. Estimates based on this research indicated that a typical Internet domain was involved in no more than around one incident per year, and a typical Internet host in around one incident every 45 years.
The taxonomy of computer and network attacks developed for this research was used to present a summary of the relative frequency of various methods of operation and corrective actions. This was followed by an analysis of three subgroups: (1) a case study of one site that reported all incidents, (2) 22 incidents that were identified, by various measures as being the most severe in the records, and (3) denial-of-service incidents. Data from all incidents and these three subgroups were used to estimate the total Internet incident activity during the period of the research. This was followed by a critical evaluation of the utility of the taxonomy developed for this research. The analysis concludes with recommendations for Internet users, Internet suppliers, response teams, and the U.S. government.


In analysing the performance of the international monetary and financial system (IMFS), too much attention has been paid to the current account and far too little to the capital account. This is true of both formal analytical models and historical narratives. This approach may be reasonable when financial markets are highly segmented. But it is badly inadequate when they are closely integrated, as they have been most of the time since at least the second half of the 19th century. Zeroing on the capital account shifts the focus from the goods markets to asset markets and balance sheets. Seen through this lens, the IMFS looks quite different. Its main weakness is its propensity to amplify financial surges and collapses that generate costly financial crises – its "excess financial elasticity". And assessing the vulnerabilities it hides requires going beyond the residence/non-resident distinction that underpins the balance of payments to look at the consolidated balance sheets of the decision units that straddle national borders, be these banks or non-financial companies. We illustrate these points by revisiting two defining historical phases in which financial meltdowns figured prominently, the interwar years and the more recent Great Financial Crisis.


We have observed a dramatic dependence of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) reflectivity of Mo/Y multilayers on the oxygen content of yttrium. This is explained as being due to a change in the microstructure and an increase in roughness of the yttrium layers and not just to an increase in absorption owing to the amount of oxygen within the yttrium layers. We found that the best reflectivity of 38.4% was achieved with an oxygen content of 25%, which was reduced to 32.6% and 29.6% for multilayers manufactured from oxygen-free yttrium and 39%-oxygen yttrium, respectively. These results highlight the importance of including experimentally determined optical constants as well as interface roughness in multilayer calculations. In addition, the lifetime stability of Mo/Y multilayers with different capping layers was monitored for 1 year. The molybdenum- and palladium-capped samples exhibited low surface roughness and approximately 4% relative reflectivity loss in 1 year. The relative reflectivity loss of the yttrium-capped sample (yttrium with 39% oxygen) was approximately 8%. However, the reflectivity loss in all three capping layers occurred within the first 100 days after the deposition, and the reflectivity remained stable afterward.


Contingent valuation (CV) or defensive behavior data is often used to estimate the economic value of water quality. Although combining these data (i.e., stated and revealed preferences) mitigates the potential bias from using either type of information, the costs of collecting both could overwhelm the benefits. We attempt to find a convenient estimation method by using a proxy indicator for revealed preferences in the analysis of stated preference data. Specifically, this study explores the effect of individuals' reported defensive behavior on their stated preferences for groundwater quality. Logit models based on random utility theory were estimated using referendum CV data at household level collected in Maine, US. The results suggest that failure in accounting for defensive behavior in the valuation could result in a bias willingness to pay estimate for groundwater quality. We also found that the monetary value for groundwater quality was small, even though subsoil water constituted an important drinking water supply in the survey period. The results also revealed that respondents' averting behavior were mainly influenced by their perception of groundwater quality. Implications of our findings for welfare analysis are discussed.


The Athenian tragic dramatist Sophocles wrote over 120 plays in his sixty-year career, of which only seven have survived complete. This volume presents what is known, or can be inferred or conjectured, about half a dozen plays known to us only from quotations, indirect references, and occasionally a papyrus. The selection includes four plays about the Trojan War and its aftermath, all concerned with Achilles or his son Neoptolemus (The Diners, Troilus, Polyxene, and Hermione), and two presenting episodes from Athenian legend (Tereus and Phaedra). The editors have taken a special interest in the history of the myths that Sophocles dramatised and the often startling modifications he made to them; several of the plays also throw important light on parallel dramas of Euripides such as Hippolytus, Andromache, and Hecuba. The book presents Greek text with facing-page translation.


This paper estimates empirically the effect of preference utilization on export growth at the level of the firm using a unique transaction-level dataset of Colombia's imports from Argentina, Peru and Uruguay over 2000-2011, a period during which Colombia granted improved market access to Argentina and Uruguay. We show that preference utilization induces sorting among exporters on the basis of size and intermediates sourcing. We also show that preference utilization correlates strongly with export growth after controlling for firm-specific, time-variant unobservables through a powerful array of firm-year and product-year fixed effects. Our results suggest that the cost of complying with rules of origin is higher for larger firms because those tend to source internationally their intermediates.


The EU TEMPUS programme is currently funding projects to improve libraries in Higher Education within the theme of improving university processes and management in the countries on the fringes of the European Union area. After working on a project led by Humboldt University in Berlin to help certain university libraries in Serbia modernise, particularly necessary after they had been cut off from the rest of the world through sanctions, Middlesex University Learning Resources was awarded funding to promote e-resources in Yerevan State University (YSU) in Armenia. This involved working informally with eIFL (electronic Information for Libraries) to get good deals for licenses for e-resources and then encouraging librarians to use them.

In comparison with Serbia, Armenia was a world apart. There had been enough librarians in the Serbian target libraries who knew English to be able to work with e-resources and to have followed progress in the formative years of e-resources to know what western libraries were doing. In YSU, there were few librarians who knew English and there was a feeling that dealing with e-resources was the task of computer specialists (who tended to be younger and to know English better), while librarians should concentrate on managing printed books and serials. A programme of visits was part of the project and on one occasion a senior librarian expressed amazement at the enthusiasm of library staff in the UK and at Middlesex University in particular, since back at home librarians were supposed to be quiet and reserved.

One of the main conclusions to be drawn from this project was that the main inhibitor of progress lay in the education of librarians which had never been modernised since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1990. Middlesex and RGU had previously been involved in a similar project in the Near East where the impetus for libraries to be more proactive was in many cases coming from the academics who before the project had not realised that librarians were supposed to be able to help with e-resources. As a result of the experience in Armenia, another project was proposed for Armenia and accepted by the EU to re-train, with the help of the Department of Information Management at RGU, library school lecturers not only in Armenia, but also Uzbekistan and Georgia. A project team was established and the project is now under way.

Interestingly in the initial meetings we have observed a tendency for the requirements for librarianship professional training in the target countries to be divided into the classical and the technical, which might if we were not careful result in the confirmation of the views of the CIS partners to divide support for library materials into two, traditional and electronic, which we feel must surely be inappropriate; this paper will outline the thinking behind the project and describe its progress particularly illustrating the ways in which progress is being made to follow a model closer to what is found in western Europe.


A bifurcation analysis of the dynamical behavior of a horizontal Rijke tube model is performed in this paper. The method of numerical continuation is used to obtain the bifurcation plots, including the amplitude of the unstable limit cycles. Bifurcation plots for the variation of nondimensional heater power, damping coefficient and the heater location are obtained for different values of time lag in the system. Subcritical bifurcation was observed for variation of parameters and regions of global stability, global instability and bistability are characterized. Linear and nonlinear stability boundaries are obtained for the simultaneous variation of two parameters of the system. The validity of the small time lag assumption in the calculation of linear stability boundary has been shown to fail at typical values of time lag of system. Accurate calculation of the linear stability boundary in systems with explicit time delay models, must therefore, not assume a small time lag assumption. Interesting dynamical behavior such as co-existing multiple attractors, quasiperiodic behavior and period doubling route to chaos have been observed in the analysis of the model. Comparison of the linear stability boundaries and bifurcation behavior from this reduced order model are shown to display trends similar to experimental data.


Allpa is a Peruvian craft trading company providing marketing assistance to artisan groups and family workshops throughout Peru. In addition, Allpa provides technical help, product development advice, skills training, tools and appropriate equipment to artisans. Artisans can access short-term and mid-term loans to improve infrastructure and their workshops. Allpa works with families located in Cusco, Ayacucho, Chulucanas, Cajamarca and Huancavelica as well as Shipibo people living in the Amazon rainforest area of Pucalepa. For most of these people, craft production is a sole source of income.
In 1982, a group of economists, anthropologists and sociologists of the Universidad Catolica of Lima created Allpa to improve living standards of handicrafts producers. Allpa began active work as an alternative trading organization in 1986.

In September 2010 R Winter undertook a short trip (7 days) to Lima
R Winter and Allpa used this trip to research and establish where design and technical consultation would be of most benefit. Although very short, this trip was invaluable and gave Robert Winter an insight into the capabilities of the potteries concerned.
R Winter concluded that the potteries are well equipped with all suitable materials and equipment for hand and cast made pottery. However it was foreseen that other techniques and alternative production methods which may be introduced may need additional equipment and perhaps support from Allpa, Traidcraft and The University of Sunderland

2011 Workshop/Trip
The workshop covered three distinct areas of interest:
 A design and making workshop was delivered at the Chullucanas pottery and a shorter design and making workshop at the Lima pottery .
 A design and technical workshop took place to establish the capability of the Lima pottery to produce a range of specific products for the European Market

These workshops were led by Robert Winter and Maria del Carmen director of Allpa assisted by three phd students fromn the University of Sunderland

Design Workshops

Chullucanas Prject ( North Peru)
New designs for Smoke Fired Ware

The emphasis was on methods of production and design. The goal of the visit was to implement the development and design of a range of new pieces which will improve the products' place in the modern ceramics market. Students arrived with designs ready for production and oversaw this with RW and Maria del Carmen.
The designs were for a new range of highly decorative thrown vessel forms and two new designs for nativity sets. Both ranges used the traditional technique of Berbatine and Burnishing combined with Smoke Firing

Key Areas

Methods of Production: Establishing production and firing methods in line with existing practice.

Design: Collating possibilities of design changes based on key elements from the market trend and existing Peruvian production. (Colour, form, decoration, functionality)

Range: Expanding/adapting existing range to suit modern market, adding new products suitable to modern market place

Materials: Adapting existing /available materials to new designs, possibility of introducing alternative materials suitable to new designs and function.

Lima Project
Glazed Earthenware decorated with Cuerda Seca technique

Key Areas

Methods of Production: Establishing production and firing methods in line with existing products ( brightly coloured earthenware).
Design: Producing designs based on key elements from the Que de seca style. Colour form and decoration technique

Materials: Adapting existing /available materials to produce required designs, possibility of introducing alternative materials suitable to achieve designs and function.

Project Expectations

RW was asked to establish whether it was possible to
create the Pottery known widely as Que de seca Not only would the work need to be consistent in quality the pottery would have to be able to produce a high number of pieces.
The pieces are slip cast or 'jigger and jolly' made white earthenware which is then glazed with brightly coloured glazes and the black wax resist which gives the pottery its name.


Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is produced primarily in the Northern Great Plains and the Pacific Southwest of the United States. Current germplasm is predominantly of the spring growth habit. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of winter durum production in Virginia based upon both yield and quality parameters. Adaptation and yield potential of available winter durum lines were assessed from 1993-1998, in three physiographic regions in Virginia. The highest average durum yields were produced in the northern piedmont plateau at the Orange County location. Winter durum yields generally averaged 1600-2800 kg/ha less than soft red winter wheat, traditionally grown in the state. The price premium for high quality durum can compensate for this difference in yield. Based on average durum yields, and assuming the grain meets U.S. No. 2 Hard Amber Durum standards, durum production in Virginia would have been more profitable than soft red winter wheat production in 1994 and 1997. Physical and chemical quality analyses of the top 19 performing durum lines were performed to determine grain marketability, suitability for pasta, and potential consumer acceptance of the end product. Protein content and gluten strength of the Virginia grown durum were acceptable. Color, firmness, and cooking loss of pasta produced from Virginia grown durum were comparable to pasta produced from commercial semolina. Requirements for U.S. No. 2 Amber Durum were met by 21% of the lines in both 1996 and 1997. Overall, the wet, humid Virginia climate was the greatest hindrance to durum production and quality. The field trials and quality analyses showed that high quality durum production in Virginia is possible, but not consistent over all years.


Leadership educators looking to successfully create and implement an interdisciplinary leadership minor can often find themselves overwhelmed and apprehensive. Little exists to help guide our way as we attempt what often is an initial academic beachhead on campus. This paper explores the creation, implementation, and outcomes of a highly-successful leadership minor on a small, private, urban campus. Reflections are offered concerning the difficulties faced in gaining approval of the minor, the problems created if you are too successful, the importance and cost of mentoring, issues of gender and race, the importance of evaluation, and the necessity of constant collaboration. A practical step-by-step guide is offered as a possible exemplar for leadership educators plucky enough to bring a new leadership minor to campus.


The effects of hydropeaking and intra- and interspecific competition on the growth performance (growth in length, mass and lipid content) of juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar and brown trout Salmo trutta were studied in six experimental channels (three experiencing hydropeaking and three controls with a stable discharge of water). Changes in the water-covered area in the hydropeaking channels were small to avoid fish stranding. Each channel was divided into three similar-sized sections and stocked with either low or high density of Atlantic salmon, or a mix of Atlantic salmon and brown trout, with the density of the latter equalling the high-density treatment of Atlantic salmon. A marked effect of competition was visible as salmon in the low-density treatment were significantly larger (27–33%) and had a higher mass (30–38%) than salmon in both the high-density salmon treatment and the high-density salmon and trout treatment. Hydropeaking had only minor and insignificant effects on the growth performance: overall final length, mass and body lipid content in the salmon experiencing hydropeaking differed by −9%, −7% and +2% compared with controls. Furthermore, there was no indication that the competitive regime influenced hydropeaking effects. The increase in both intra- and interspecific competition among the juvenile salmon had a pronounced and significant effect on growth. Our study adds to the growing evidence that energetic consequences of hydropeaking are likely to be small for Atlantic salmon and that stress and mortality associated with stranding represent the main source of population impact.


Background: Social interests and the prevalence of skin disease have increased rapidly along with social development and improvement of life quality. Information on skin diseases and aesthetics are available through the internet and mass media. However, there have been few studies on the value of this information and the treatment-seeking behavior of patients. Objective: To evaluate the recognition of skin health and diseases in patients who visit dermatology clinics and to improve the role of dermatologists in the process. Methods: From March, 2008, to April, 2008, 1901 patients were asked to complete a questionnaire in 62 dermatologic hospitals. The questions covered: purposes of visiting the clinic; duration of skin disease; treatment-seeking behavior; recognition of the prescribed medicine; compliance and common sense about representative skin problems. Results: Patients visited the dermatologic clinic because of skin disease for 67.39% of patients, esthetic treatment in 22.88% of patients, and both in 9.73% of patients. For visits to a dermatology clinic for skin problems, 61.28% of patients visited a clinic but 38.72% did not. Most (81.38%) patients followed the doctor's prescription. Most negative responses to prescribed medicine were due to the internet and mass media or wrong information from pharmacists (52.24%). Moreover, patients who learned about skin diseases and prescription medicines through the internet usually lacked compliance and common sense regarding their skin problems. Conclusion: The internet can provide good information about healthy skin and skin diseases, but we have to consider its disadvantages of exaggeration and misbelief. The effects of this tool have been overstated and excessively publicized in comparison to actual established clinical results. Use of the internet may delay diagnosis and decrease compliance. Consequently, dermatologists have to provide correct information to minimize the disadvantages of internet information. Patients who have abnormal skin problems should visit dermatologic clinics to be evaluated and treated appropriately.


We estimate a canonical sovereign default model from Arellano (2008) for Argentina via maximum simulated likelihood estimation to understand how well it performs in terms of predicting default events. The estimated model accounts for the overall default patterns of Argentina and closely matches the default data. Out-of-sample forecasting shows that the model performs better than a logit model in predicting the onset of default events. In terms of the business cycle statistics, the findings of the model are consistent with the data and Arellano (2008), with some caveats.


The neuropeptide melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) plays a key role in energy maintenance by decreasing energy expenditure and stimulating feeding behavior. Furthermore, it is involved in diabetes, gut inflammation, sleep, depression, and cilia beat function. The biological function of MCH is mediated by two G-protein coupled receptors, MCH receptor 1 and 2 (MCHR1 and MCHR2). Since only the MCHR1 is functional in rodents, the physiological importance of MCHR2 remains unknown due to the lack of appropriate animal models. The involvement of the MCHergic system in a variety of pathologies, especially endocrinological diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, makes it interesting as a new target to treat human disorders. Many pharmaceutical companies have pursued the development of MCHR1 antagonists for the treatment of obesity. Moreover, positron emission tomography (PET) tracers targeting the MCHR1 have been developed in order to gain a deeper understanding of the role and distribution of the MCHR1. As a high-end technique, PET allows noninvasive in vivo visualization and quantification of receptor systems, as well as monitoring and following hormone receptor status and related pathologies. Therefore, a MCHR1 PET tracer could help to guide pharmacological intervention via the MCHR1.


The Seattle Water Department (SWD) service area and watersheds lie in seismic zone 3, in which there is potential for major earthquakes (Richter magnitude 7.5 or greater). The SWD system was initiated at the turn of the century, with the result that many of the facilities are more than 50 years old and were designed prior to the existence of seismic design requirements in the building codes. Because of the importance of maintaining an operable water system after a major earthquake, in late 1988 the SWD undertook a comprehensive assessment to determine the seismic reliability of their water system. This assessment is one of the largest of its kind to have been undertaken for a major metropolitan water supply system. This paper describes the methodology by which the vulnerability assessments were conducted. It discusses the level of earthquake ground motion used to conduct the facility assessments along with key findings and observations. Based upon the conclusions and recommendations resulting from this study, the SWD is now undertaking a 6-year program to retrofit and upgrade all of its major facilities, along with its emergency response plan and communications systems.


The research was an attempt to understand the condition of the insulation system and to classify the data according to its condition. Data mining processes was used to create a model to gain insight into the data and the condition of the insulation system. An analysis was done using self-organizing maps. The model thus created was compared to the expert's assessment. The patterns in the different features of the model due to ageing were observed and classified. The model correlated well with the expert's opinion. New data was qualitatively assessed and classified according to the deterioration of the insulation system using the model.


Potential evaporation (PET) is one of the main inputs of hydrological models. Yet, there is limited consensus on which PET equation is most applicable in hydrological climate impact assessments. In this study six different methods to derive global scale reference PET daily time series from Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data are compared: Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor and original and re-calibrated versions of the Hargreaves and Blaney-Criddle method. The calculated PET time series are (1) evaluated against global monthly Penman-Monteith PET time series calculated from CRU data and (2) tested on their usability for modeling of global discharge cycles. A major finding is that for part of the investigated basins the selection of a PET method may have only a minor influence on the resulting river flow. Within the hydrological model used in this study the bias related to the PET method tends to decrease while going from PET, AET and runoff to discharge calculations. However, the performance of individual PET methods appears to be spatially variable, which stresses the necessity to select the most accurate and spatially stable PET method. The lowest root mean squared differences and the least significant deviations (95% significance level) between monthly CFSR derived PET time series and CRU derived PET were obtained for a cell-specific re-calibrated Blaney-Criddle equation. However, results show that this re-calibrated form is likely to be unstable under changing climate conditions and less reliable for the calculation of daily time series. Although often recommended, the Penman-Monteith equation applied to the CFSR data did not outperform the other methods in a evaluation against PET derived with the Penman-Monteith equation from CRU data. In arid regions (e.g. Sahara, central Australia, US deserts), the equation resulted in relatively low PET values and, consequently, led to relatively high discharge values for dry basins (e.g. Orange, Murray and Zambezi). Furthermore, the Penman-Monteith equation has a high data demand and the equation is sensitive to input data inaccuracy. Therefore, we recommend the re-calibrated form of the Hargreaves equation which globally gave reference PET values comparable to CRU derived values for multiple climate conditions. The resulting gridded daily PET time series provide a new reference dataset that can be used for future hydrological impact assessments in further research, or more specifically, for the statistical downscaling of daily PET derived from raw GCM data. The dataset can be downloaded from http://opendap.deltares.nl/thredds/dodsC/opendap/deltares/FEWS-IPCC .


PREFACE This master's thesis was written as the final step towards my master's degree, and it thereby marks the ending of my time at NTNU. The master's thesis was developed due to a proposal made by Texas Instruments, under the offered supervision of Oddgeir Fikstvedt. My supervisor at NTNU was Morten Olavsbraten. This report describes the design of a power amplifier in the 90nm CMOS technology. The power amplifier is designed to deliver 1W output power at 5.8GHz with a peak efficiency of 50%. Both the class-E and the inverse class-D amplifier are described and examined, but the final choice in amplifier design is the inverse class-D amplifier. Simulation results on a realistic inverse class-D amplifier model are presented as the final outcome. Trondheim, 2009-07-16 Nina Tofte Roislien ABSTRACT Recently CMOS has been introduced as a technology for RF-front end applications. This results in higher levels of integration, which saves fabrication cost and area. The power amplifier often contributes to the highest power consumption, and the efficiency becomes very important. This master's thesis handles the design of a CMOS power amplifier at 5.8GHz. The design goals were an output power of 30dBm, a Power Added Efficiency of 50% and a gain of 25dB. The main challenge in the CMOS-technology is the low breakdown voltage. This leads to a higher current and a lower load resistance compared to traditionally used RF-technologies. This makes it harder to design a high efficiency amplifier because of more power loss in the parasitic, and a more complex matching network. Two different amplifiers were investigated, both of the switching type; the class-E amplifier and the inverse class-D amplifier (current mode). The class-E amplifier has been studied by others for this kind of use, and has an advantage because of the load network that is synthesized to give non-overlapping voltage and current, even if the device switching time is appreciable fractions of the ac cycle. One can also utilize the high output capacitance of the CMOS-transistor as part of the load network. The inverse class-D amplifier has an advantage of being differential which provides a higher voltage swing across the load, and thereby a higher load resistance and a lower current compared to the class-E. In contrast with conventional voltage-mode class-D amplifiers, the inverse class-D features "zero voltage switching" which eliminates the output capacitance discharge loss. This output capacitance is also utilized as part of the resonance filter in the load network. No previous work of others that uses the inverse class-D amplifier in a similar configuration (RF, CMOS) was discovered. It was found that the inverse class-D amplifier was the best suited for this application. The load resistance of the class-E amplifier became too low compared to the parasitic losses to achieve the design goals. The ground inductance was also totally destructive for the class-E waveforms because of the single-ended topology. Since the inverse class-D amplifier instantly showed much more promising behavior, no time was used trying to solve this problem. The resulting inverse class-D amplifier design has a peak efficiency of 51%, an output power of 30.04dBm. The gain is 25dB for an output power of 28dBm, but sadly it decreases below the design goal to 20.06dB at the point where Pout=30dBm and PAE=50%. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to give great thanks to Oddgeir Fikstvedt and Morten Olavsbraten for invaluable support during this time, and for making this thesis possible. I would also like to give great thanks Trond Ytterdal for his help with Cadence, and to Tore Barlindhaug for help with some fatal last minute Cadence problems.


We reviewed the temporal, geographic, and biogeographic distribution, as well as relevant research and publication attributes, of 512 documents addressing the effects of fire on avian communities, to provide an assessment of the scope of this literature and recommendations for future research. We summarized relevant attributes of all documents to identify patterns that were then tested against appropriate null models. Most documents reported on original research, with the literature evenly divided between studies investigating controlled fire and those reporting on uncontrolled wildfires. Conceptual reviews made up the second largest category; methodological reviews, bibliographies, and meta-analyses were rare. Although the literature examined spans nearly a century, most documents were published within the last 15 years, with new literature being added at an increasing rate. However, increases seem to be skewed towards original research at the expense of synthesis. An overwhelming majority of documents were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and in English. Other important publication outlets included MS and PhD theses and conference proceedings. The spatial distribution of documents by continent and biogeographic domain and division differed significantly from expectations based on land area. Future research on avian community response to fire should focus on (1) continued synthesis, emphasizing methodological reviews, bibliographies, and North America; (2) increasing research efforts in areas currently underrepresented in the literature, including Africa, Asia, and South and Central America; and (3) meta-analyses.


The current dogma is that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) promotes circulating tumour cell (CTC) formation and is ultimately a driver of metastasis. There is also accumulating evidence that EMT-phenotype changes are commonly associated with therapy resistance. Thus, capturing EMT-phenotype CTCs is expected to yield important clinical information in regard to prognosis and response to therapy as well as allowing the study of metastatic processes. However, the isolation and identifica‐ tion of EMT-phenotype CTCs with commonly used isolation/detection methods are suboptimal, and current efforts on improving the isolation of EMT-phenotype CTCs are associated with pitfalls that need to be overcome. This chapter explores the signifi‐ cance of EMT in CTC formation and the role of EMT in cancer metastasis and resist‐ ance to therapy. We also comprehensively review the past and current limitations of evaluating EMT phenotypes in CTC isolation and analysis and discuss how CTCs can be seen in a more holistic fashion as important biomarkers for clinical management.


Abstract. Long term, high quality estimates of burned area are needed for improving both prognostic and diagnostic fire emissions models and for assessing feedbacks between fire and the climate system. We developed global, monthly burned area estimates aggregated to 0.5° spatial resolution for the time period July 1996 through mid-2009 using four satellite data sets. From 2001–2009, our primary data source was 500-m burned area maps produced using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance imagery; more than 90% of the global area burned during this time period was mapped in this fashion. During times when the 500-m MODIS data were not available, we used a combination of local regression and regional regression trees developed over periods when burned area and Terra MODIS active fire data were available to indirectly estimate burned area. Cross-calibration with fire observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) and the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) allowed the data set to be extended prior to the MODIS era. With our data set we estimated that the global annual area burned for the years 1997–2008 varied between 330 and 431 Mha, with the maximum occurring in 1998. We compared our data set to the recent GFED2, L3JRC, GLOBCARBON, and MODIS MCD45A1 global burned area products and found substantial differences in many regions. Lastly, we assessed the interannual variability and long-term trends in global burned area over the past 13 years. This burned area time series serves as the basis for the third version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED3) estimates of trace gas and aerosol emissions.


Abstract Elliott, K. J. and J. M. Vose (Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Otto, NC 28763). Effects of prescribed burning on shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.)/mixed-hardwood forests. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 132: 236–251. 2005.—We examined the effects of a single dormant season fire on overstory and understory species diversity and composition and tree seedling regeneration patterns the first and second years following a prescribed burn in the Conasauga River Watershed of southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia. We asked: Can a single dormant season fire initiate a trajectory of overstory and understory species change consistent with restoring Pinus echinata/mixed-oak/bluestem (Andropogon gyrans and Schizachyrium scoparium)-grass community types? Six sub-watersheds (similar in vegetation, soil type, stream size, and disturbance history) were located within the Conasauga River Watershed; four of the sites were burned in March 2001, and two sites were designated as controls. Within each site, vegetation was measured in layers: the overstory layer (trees ≥ 5.0-cm DBH), the midstory layer (woody stems < 5.0-cm DBH and ≥ 0.5 m height), and the ground flora layer (woody stems < 0.5-m height and all herbaceous species). All plots were sampled before the prescribed burn (Sept. 2000) and after the burn in July of 2001 and 2002. Consistent with the goals of the land managers, all the prescribed fires resulted in low-to-moderate intensity and low severity fires. However, we found no significant change in overstory, midstory, or ground flora species diversity after burning. We found no regeneration of P. echinata seedlings after the prescribed fire. Although fire reduced basal area of woody species in the midstory, prolific sprouting from hardwoods resulted in higher density of fire-sensitive hardwoods such as Acer rubrum, Oxydendrum arboretum, and Nyssa sylvatica. Density of Pinus strobus, an undesirable species, was reduced by 20% and its basal area was reduced by 50% after the burn. Overstory mortality occurred in small size class hardwoods as a result of the fire, but most of the mortality occurred in P. echinata and P. virginiana Miller due to infestation with pine bark beetles. The prescribed fires were not of sufficient intensity to: reduce overstory basal area, prepare a seedbed for successful pine germination, affect diversity of any of the vegetation layers, or promote A. gyrans and S. scoparium recruitment. Thus, additional fire treatments or a combination of fire and thinning treatments will be necessary to restore these ecosystems to P. echinata/mixed-oak/bluestem grass community types.


world has been, and continues to be, one of the most difficult tasks in AI research. Since 1987, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have been investigating one such task. Their research has been focused on using adaptive, vision-based systems to increase the driving performance of the Navlab line of on-road mobile robots. This research has led to the development of a neural network system that can learn to drive on many road types simply by watching a human teacher. This article describes the evolution of this system from a research project in machine learning to a robust driving system capable of executing tactical driving maneuvers such as lane changing and intersection navigation.


In one-class classification problems, a model is synthesized by using only information coming from the nominal state of the data generating process. Many important applications can be cast in the one-class classification framework, such as anomaly and change in stationarity detection, and fault recognition. In this paper, we present a novel design methodology for one-class classifiers derived from graph-based entropy estimators. The entropic graph is used to generate a partition of the input nominal conditions, which corresponds to the classifier model. Here we propose a criterion based on mutual information minimization to learn such a partition. The α-Jensen difference is considered, which provides a convenient way for estimating the mutual information. The classifier incorporates also a fuzzy model, providing a confidence value for a generic test sample during operational modality, expressed as a membership degree of the sample to the nominal conditions class. The fuzzification mechanism is based only on topological properties of the entropic spanning graph vertices; as such, it allows to model clusters of arbitrary shapes. We show preliminary - yet very promising - results on both synthetic problems and real-world datasets for one-class classification.


Effect of plant essential oils on seed germination and seedling growth of Parthenium hysterophorus was examined. Essential oils of Eucalyptus, Camphor, and Lemongrass were used in the experiments at different concentrations (0 to 20 ml.l -1 ). Water imbibed (36 h) seeds were germinated at 25°C ± 1 in petriplates containing 3 layers of filter papers soaked in distilled water and added with 1.5 ml of a given essential oil of particular concentration. Experiments were carried out taking three replicas. Observations were made at an interval of 24 h from the 4th day of incubation till 20th. All essential oils significantly (P 0.05). Key words : Noxious weed, terpenes, sesquiterpenes, essential oil. doi: 10.3126/eco.v15i0.1945 ECOPRINT 15: 69-73, 2008


This study is an analysis of the translation of a French text regarding the use of pesticides in agriculture. The French text has been translated into Swedish by the author of this paper. There have been some problems in producing an idiomatic translation in some cases. Some of the noun phrases, infinitival phrases and participle phrases were especially complicated to translate. The main purpose of this study is to analyse how these problems were solved in a communicative translation. The analytic framework is mainly based on the works of Eriksson (1997), Ingo (2007), Fredriksson (2011) and Sall (2004). The French language has a tendency of using infinite phrases, participle phrases and long noun phrases. When translating into Swedish one needs to bear in mind that the finite verb, in the present and past tense, is far more used than the infinite and participle forms. Actions are for example often expressed with finite verbs in the Swedish language. When completing a main clause, you often use a subordinate clause in Swedish. In a French text it is more common to see an infinite phrase as a complement of a main clause. Noun phrases with many words are often avoided in the Swedish language. As a result, Swedish texts can be shorter compared to French texts. The French language is also said to be more abstract than the Swedish language, because there is not so much semantic value in many of the French words compared to Swedish words. The result is that there can be more words in a French text than in the translated Swedish text. In some cases, you can omit words that are not necessary for the context.


Importance The genetic relationship between cognition, autism, and schizophrenia is complex. It is unclear how genes that contribute to cognition also contribute to risk for autism and schizophrenia. Objective To investigate the interaction between genes related to cognition (measured via proxy through educational attainment, which we call 'edu genes') and genes/biological pathways that are atypical in autism and schizophrenia. Design Genetic correlation and enrichment analysis were conducted to identify the interaction between edu genes and risk genes and biological pathways for autism or schizophrenia. Results First, edu genes are enriched in a specific developmental co-expression module that is also enriched for high confidence autism risk genes. Second, modules enriched for genes that are dysregulated in autism and schizophrenia are also enriched for edu genes. Finally, genes that overlap between the two above modules and educational attainment are significantly enriched for genes that flank human accelerated regions, suggesting increased positive selection for the overlapping gene sets. Conclusion Our results identify distinct co-expression modules where risk genes for the two psychiatric conditions interact with edu genes. This suggests specific pathways that contribute to both cognitive deficits and cognitive talents, in individuals with schizophrenia or autism. Key Points Question How do genes for educational attainment interact with risk genes for autism and schizophrenia? Findings We show that genes for educational attainment (edu genes) are significantly likely to be mutated in autism and intellectual disability. We further show that edu genes also interact with co-expression modules that are associated with autism or schizophrenia and are enriched for differentially expressed genes in autism or schizophrenia. Finally, we identify that the enrichment between risk genes for autism and schizophrenia and human accelerated regions are driven, in part, by their overlap with edu genes. Meaning Edu genes interact with schizophrenia and autism risk genes in specific pathways, contributing to both cognitive deficits and talents.


Recent advances in mobile computing and augmented reality (AR) technology have lead to popularization of mobile AR applications. Touch screen interfaces are common in mobile devices, and are also widely used in AR applications running on mobile devices, such as smartphones. However, due to unsteady camera view movement in handheld AR environment, it is hard to carry out precise interactions, such as drawing, especially when tracing physical objects. In this paper, we investigate two types of interaction techniques, Freeze-Set-Go and Snap-To-Feature, that help users to perform more accurate touch screen based AR interactions. The two techniques are compared in a user experiment with a task of tracing physical objects, which can be encountered when making annotation on or modeling physical objects within the AR scene. The results from the experiment show that a combination of these two makes a significant difference in accuracy and usability of touch screen based AR interaction.


This Note examines the use of litigation to stop gas flaring in Nigeria's Niger Delta, and proposes an alternative solution to the ongoing gas flaring in the Niger Delta region. In exploring an alternative solution, this Note (1) details the history of gas flaring in Nigeria; (2) discusses Nigeria's gas-flaring legislation and its implementation; (3) analyzes the impact that landmark gas flaring cases have had on the stoppage of gas flaring; and (4) details how litigation has been used as a tool to combat gas flaring, juxtaposing the concept of the rule of law. This Note concludes by suggesting that other solutions should be explored in combating the gas flaring problem in Nigeria's Niger Delta.


Frequency-selective surface (FSS) is a two-dimensional periodic structure consisting of a dielectric substrate and the metal units (or apertures) arranged periodically on it. When manufacturing the substrate, its thickness and dielectric constant suffer process tolerances. This may induce the center frequency of the FSS to shift, and consequently influence its characteristics. In this paper, a bandpass FSS structure is designed. The units are the Jerusalem crosses arranged squarely. The mode-matching technique is used for simulation. The influence of the tolerances of the substrate's thickness and dielectric constant on the center frequency is analyzed. Results show that the tolerances of thickness and dielectric constant have different influences on the center frequency of the FSS. It is necessary to ensure the process tolerance of the dielectric constant in the design and manufacturing of the substrate in order to stabilize the center frequency.


Final electricity consumption across the EU-27 showed an absolute increase of 28.7% between 1990 and 2005. The average electricity use per capita in the EU-27 is almost 2.5 times the global average and 3.5 times that for China. World electricity generation will increase by 77 % from 2006 to 2030. These are some of the facts that set a big question mark on how the CO2 emission goals can ever been achieved for 2020 even talking of a modest reduction of 20%. These growing tendencies still take place despite the emergence of countless number of energy saving devises. The production and consumption of electronic devises is, at the same time growing a high speed. As a matter of fact the European ecological foot print is currently 2.2 times bigger than the surface required re-producing the resources internally consumed in the EU. Thought there is almost an international consensus that one of the solutions to the current environmental challenge will be based on low carbon technologies, there are many issues that set a barrier for its adequate development and still many actors in these sectors are sceptical about the possibilities. Illumination is a very interesting sector to target since it uses 19% the total electricity produced on the world. Consequently this paper takes the Danish office lighting sector as a study object and discusses the question: what are the main barriers and possibilities for the energy saving illumination technologies to efficiently reduce their ecological footprint. The discussion is supported using relevant elements of the cradle to grave, eco-design and environmentalinnovation theories. It is based on active participation in interdisciplinary projects and face to face in-depth interviews with relevant actors along the entire Danish illumination value chain. The study points to the most relevant possibilities within the Danish office illumination sector to achieve reduction of energy within a holistic framework.


The incidence of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is approximately 50% higher in men than women. In order to understand the molecular basis of this gender disparity, we examined sex specific gene expression patterns in control and diseased, human and murine kidney samples. Using the Affymetrix platform we performed comprehensive gene expression analysis on 42 microdissected human kidney samples (glomeruli and tubules). We identified 67 genes with gender biased expression in healthy human kidneys and 24 transcripts in diseased male and female human kidneys. Similar analysis performed in mice using male and female control and doxorubicin induced nephrotic syndrome kidneys identified significantly larger number of differentially expressed transcripts. The majority of genes showing gender biased expression either in diseased human and murine kidneys were different from those differentially expressed in healthy kidneys. Only 9 sexually dimorphic transcripts were common to healthy human and murine kidneys and five showed differential regulation in both human and murine diseased kidneys. In humans, sex biased genes showed statistical enrichment only to sex chromosomes while in mice they were enriched to sex chromosomes and various autosomes. Thus we present a comprehensive analysis of gender biased genes in the kidney. We show that sexually dimorphic genes in the kidney show species specific regulation. Our results also indicate that male and female kidneys respond differently to injury. These studies could provide the basis for the development of new treatment strategies for men and women with kidney disease.


While much work has studied crowdsourced transcription via Amazon's Mechanical Turk, we are not familiar with any prior cross-platform analysis of crowdsourcing service providers for transcription. We present a qualitative and quantitative analysis of eight such providers: 1-888-TypeIt-Up, 3Play Media, Transcription Hub, CastingWords, Rev, TranscribeMe, Quicktate, and SpeakerText. We also provide comparative evaluation vs. three transcribers from oDesk. Spontanteous speech used in our experiments is drawn from USC-SFI MALACH collection of oral history interviews. After informally evaluating pilot transcripts from all providers, our formal evaluation measures word error rate (WER) over 10minute segments from six interviews transcribed by three service providers and the three oDesk transcribers. We report the WER obtained in each case, and more generally assess tradeoffs among the quality, cost, risk and effort of alternative crowd-based transcription options.


An element of Feeling is neither a part of self-consciousness nor is set up over against selfconsciousness. But the consciousness of compulsion in sensation as well as the consciousness of willing necessarily involves self-consciousness and also the consciousness of some exterior force. The self and the not-self are separated in this sort of consciousness. The sense of reaction or struggle between self and another is just what this consciousness consists in. Hence, to give it a name, I propose to call it altersense. To avoid circumlocution, I will speak of the altersense element of sensation, as Sensation simply. Thus, Altersense has two varieties, Sensation and Will. The difference between them is that Sensation is an event in which a feeling is forced upon the mind; while Volition or Willing, is an event in which a desire is satisfied, that is, an intense state of feeling is reduced. In Sensation, a feeling is forced upon us; in Willing, feeling forces its way out from us. Commens |


In response to increasing cultural diversity within student populations in Australia as well as Britain, Europe and North America, there have been ongoing calls to diversify the teaching profession. Such a strategy is based on assumptions that teachers who are of ethnic and racial minority are well placed to act as role models for minority students, will understand students' cultural practices and beliefs and how they shape them as learners, and will contribute diverse cultural perspectives to school curricula. In this article I draw on data from two separate studies that investigated the experiences of culturally diverse teachers working in Australian schools. I illustrate how the participants are constructed, first and foremost, as ethnic and racialised teacher subjects, a positioning that shapes the nature of their work and professional identities. I suggest that the work of racially and ethnically diverse teachers and the construction of their professional selves are underpinned by naive assumptions about them as a homogenous group, as educators who can address the education needs of all culturally diverse students and as cultural experts who can incorporate diverse cultural perspectives into school curricula. In light of these findings I critique the assumptions about culturally diverse teachers that underpin arguments to diversify the profession. I also make visible some of the tensions and complexities that shape their work in schools.


Lake ecosystems face a variety of pressures arising from catchment-based anthropogenic activities and long-term changes in background environmental conditions, which greatly threaten their structure, function and the sustainable provision of essential ecosystem services. The response of lakes to external perturbations is controlled by a complex interaction of top-down (predation) and bottom-up (resource availability) food web processes. A better understanding of how these processes interact is vital if they are to be effectively manipulated in the remediation of degraded lakes. In this study, Esthwaite Water, a eutrophic lake in the English Lake District, was used as the model ecosystem to investigate the relative importance of these two opposing forces in determining water quality changes in response to anthropogenic pressures, specifically eutrophication and climate change. The research is presented as three studies which address the historical, contemporary and future impact of stressors on the ecological structure and function of Esthwaite Water. Analysis of long-term monitoring data determined that phosphorus availability was the main driver of water quality degradation throughout the study period (1970 to 2014). Despite substantial reductions to the external phosphorus load in later decades, water quality improvements were not observed. Phosphorus release from lake sediments and the effects of climate change on phytoplankton community structure appear to have buffered against the desired impact of reduced external nutrient loads. Analysis of contemporary surface sediments revealed a legacy of phosphorus enrichment from years of high external loading, including from aquaculture cages previously installed on the lake. Much of the sediment phosphorus was determined to be stored in release-sensitive forms. The PROTECH lake model was used to test the response of the phytoplankton community to variations in both nutrient availability and zooplankton grazing rate. The dominant controlling factor on total phytoplankton biomass was nutrient availability. When nutrient loads were high, cyanobacteria dominated the phytoplankton community. Such conditions limited the potential for top-down regulation by herbivory owing to food quality constraints upon zooplankton. The inclusion of climate warming in modelling scenarios resulted in the exacerbation of the symptoms of eutrophication. As such, it is recommended that future attempts at water quality improvement take a bottom-up approach, with a focus on controlling the internal phosphorus load.


Controllable-polarity silicon nanowire transistors (CP-SiNWFETs) are among the promising candidates to complement or even replace the current CMOS technology in the near future. Polarity control is a desirable property that allows the online configuration of the device polarity. CP-SiNWFETs result in smaller and faster logic gates unachievable with conventional CMOS implementations. From a circuit testing point of view, it is unclear if the current CMOS and FinFET fault models are comprehensive enough to model all the defects of CP-SiNWFETs. In this paper, we explore the possible manufacturing defects of this technology through analyzing the fabrication steps and the layout structure of logic gates. Using the obtained defects, we then evaluate their impacts on the performance and the functionality of CP-SiNWFET logic gates. Out of the results, we extend the current fault model to a new a hybrid model, including stuck at p-type and stuck-at n-type, which can be efficiently used to test the logic circuits in this technology. The newly introduced fault model can be utilized to adequately capture the malfunction behavior of CP logic gates in the presence of nanowire break, bridge, and float defects. Moreover, the simulations revealed that the current CMOS test methods are insufficient to cover all faults, i.e., stuck-Open. We proposed an appropriate test method to capture such faults as well.


The growing movement in search of ideal glycemics indexes, with the use of tight insulin protocols, greatly increased the incidence of hypoglycemic episodes in hospitals. Given this scenario, the study aimed to answer the clinical flaming question: On client of high complexity, what is the effective to prescript of nursing 'hypoglycemia management' for the treatment of risk of unstable glycemy? To answer the question, we realized a data collection using the PICO strategy through computerized search in electronic databases SciELO, LILACS, MEDLINE and PubMed/MEDLINE via PICO. Were selected 08 articles that met the inclusion criteria of this study, analyzing them and discussed in order to obtain the best available evidence for nursing practice. Was concluded that the episodes of hypoglycemia are still underreported, despite the increase in incidence and that the establishment of protocols for rapid management of hypoglycemia as well as the continuing education of nursing professionals have brought improvement and efficiency to services in which they were applied.


Traditionally, people have tried to compare the effectiveness of traditional teaching with Computer Aided Learning (CAL), however, it is very difficult to work out which of them is best. In our research we want to show that the use of the computers in learning processes can represent an important element in improving them. The results obtained show that many of the contents worked on with the help of the new technologies are better assimilated by the students as they get better results than using a traditional method. However, we should highlight that although we use the new technologies, the figure of the teacher will always be necessary and that in the design of computer applications the interaction of the technician with an expert in educational methods is very important.


Automating camera control for third-person perspective computer games is a difficult and time-consuming task. One of the challenges games developers confront is how to manage the trade-off between implementation complexity and system usability. In this study, we investigate the application of constraint weighting techniques to the autonomous camera control problem. We demonstrate that this technique can significantly simplify autonomous camera control and reduce the gap between implementation and usability requirements. We describe the use of weighting profiles to control the behaviour of the camera and specialized heuristics for efficiently searching for the solution. We also describe a novel integrated visibility maintenance method. As part of the experimental study, we implemented a 3D game engine that supports dynamic environments; and demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of constraint solving techniques for autonomous camera control problems.


Knopfmacher [13] introduced the idea of an additive arithmetic semigroup as a general setting for an algebraic analogue of number theory. Within his framework, Zhang [19] showed that the asymptotic distribution of the values taken by additive functions closely resembles that found in classical number theory, in as much as there are direct analogues of the Erdős–Wintner and Kubilius Main Theorems. In this paper, we use probabilistic arguments to show that similar theorems, and their functional counterparts, can be proved in a much wider class of decomposable combinatorial structures.


Troglitazone is a new orally active hypoglycemic agent that has been shown to reduce insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia in both diabetic animal models and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) subjects. To determine whether this drug could prevent the development of fructose-induced insulin resistance and related abnormalities, we studied the effects of troglitazone on the insulin resistance induced by fructose feeding in rats. Normal male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a high-fructose diet for 3 weeks with and without troglitazone as a food admixture (0.2%) or were fed normal chow to serve as a control group. In vivo insulin resistnace was measured by the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp technique at two different insulin infusion rates, 29 (submaximal stimulation) and 290 (maximal stimulation) pmol.kg−1 · min−1. Fructose feeding markedly reduced submaximal glucose disposal rate (GDR) (113.8 ± 8.3 vs. 176.0 ± 5.6 µmol.kg−1 · min−1 P < 0.05) and maximal GDR (255.9 ± 5.6 vs. 313.6 ± 10.5 µmol.kg−1 · min−1 P < 0.05), reduced the suppressibility of submaximal hepatic glucose production (HGP; 45.5 ± 5.0 vs. 11.7 ± 5.0 µmol.kg−1 · min−1 P < 0.05), and resulted in hypertriglyceridemia and hypertension. Troglitazone treatment completely restored the GDR (submaximal 158.2 ± 5.6, maximal 305.3 ± 6.1 µmol.kg−1 · min−1) and submaximal HGP (9.4 ± 2.8 µmol.kg−1 · min−1) to control levels and also normalized the elevated plasma triglyceride concentration and systolic blood pressure levels in fructose-fed rats. These results suggest that troglitazone treatment could completely prevent the insulin resistance, hypertension, and hypertriglyceridemia induced by a diet high in fructose and that the drug might prove useful in the treatment and/or prevention of nonhyperglycemic insulin-resistant states as well as in the treatment of established NIDDM.


We discuss potential applications of multicolor solitons supported by periodic lattices imprinted in quadratic nonlinear media. Such lattice solitons can be packed together with appropriate relative phases to form stable soliton trains that can be treated as bit sequences. We describe controllable splitting of the trains into their soliton constituents and the angle- and power-controlled steering and trapping of solitons moving across the lattice into the desired guiding channel.


the Supreme Court addressed the doctrine of nonobviousness, the ultimate question of patentability , for the first time in thirty years. In mandating a flexible approach to deciding nonobviousness, the KSR opinion introduced two predictability standards for determining nonobviousness. The Court described predictability of use (hereinafter termed "Type I predictabil-ity")-whether the inventor used the prior art in a predictable manner to create the invention-and predictability of the result (hereinafter termed "Type II predictability")-whether the invention produced a predictable result-both as a means for proving obviousness. Although Type I predictability is easily explained as part of the flexible approach endorsed by KSR, Type II predictability represents a potentially radical shift in the nonobviousness doctrine. Instead of focusing on whether reasons already existed to create the invention, like Type I predictability does, a Type II predictability analysis takes the inven-tion's creation as a given and examines instead the invention's operation. Type II predictability moves the analysis away from the gap between the prior art and the invention to the invention only. The United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO"), the Federal Circuit, and lower courts are using Type II predictability fairly extensively after KSR. The problem with this usage is that Type II predictability runs counter to statutory language, introduces hindsight bias, discriminates against certain technologies, and conflicts with basic patent theory. Accordingly, the USPTO and courts need to reconsider the use of Type II predictability and their interpretation of KSR.


This paper investigates a new approach for training discriminant classifiers when only a small set of labeled data is available together with a large set of unlabeled data. This algorithm optimizes the classification maximum likelihood of a set of labeledunlabeled data, using a variant form of the Classification Expectation Maximization (CEM) algorithm. Its originality is that it makes use of both unlabeled data and of a probabilistic misclassification model for these data. The parameters of the labelerror model are learned together with the classifier parameters. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach on four data-sets and show the advantages of this method over a previously developed semi-supervised algorithm which does not consider imperfections in the labeling process.


Using a qualitative retrospective approach, this paper investigates how some work-related demands led to burnout among four professional coaches. Self-determination theory (SDT) offered a sound theoretical framework to better understand the motivational process leading to serious negative outcomes (Ryan & Deci, 2002). Findings indicated that all coaches experienced working in a maladaptive environment, exemplified by experiencing very heavy workloads, a lack of leader support, and work-related conflicts. These experiences had a detrimental effect on the coaches' motivation. Psychological need thwarting and a shift towards a more controlled form of motivation explained why coaches became increasingly at risk for burning out, a process that evolved over time. All four coaches experienced a wide range of burnout symptoms. Findings from this study highlight the importance for sports organizations to better cater for the psychological needs of professional coaches to prevent burnout.


Inspired by advertising markets, we consider large-scale sequential decision making problems in which a learner must deploy an algorithm to behave optimally under uncertainty. Although many of these problems can be modeled as contextual bandit problems, we argue that the tools and techniques for analyzing bandit problems with large numbers of actions and contexts can be greatly expanded. While convexity and metricsimilarity assumptions on the process generating rewards have yielded some algorithms in existing literature, certain types of assumptions that have been fruitful in offline supervised learning settings have yet to even be considered. Notably missing, for example, is any kind of graphical model approach to assuming structured rewards, despite the success such assumptions have achieved in inducing scalable learning and inference with high-dimensional distributions. Similarly, we observe that there are countless tools for understanding the relationship between a choice of model class in supervised learning, and the generalization error of the best fit from that class, such as the celebrated VCtheory. However, an analogous notion of dimensionality, which relates a generic structural assumption on rewards to regret rates in an online optimization problem, is not fully developed. The primary goal of this dissertation, therefore, will be to fill out the space of models, algorithms, and assumptions used in sequential decision making problems. Toward this end, we will develop a theory for bandit problems with structured rewards that permit a graphical model representation. We will give an efficient algorithm for regretminimization in such a setting, and along the way will develop a deeper connection between online supervised learning and regret-minimization. This dissertation will also introduce a complexity measure for generic structural assumptions on reward functions, which we call the Haystack Dimension. We will prove that the Haystack Dimension characterizes the optimal rates achievable up to log factors. Finally, we will describe more application-oriented techniques for solving problems in advertising markets, which again demonstrate how methods from traditional disciplines, such as statistical survival analysis, can be leveraged to design novel algorithms for optimization in markets. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Computer and Information Science First Advisor Michael Kearns


Although not as prominent in the public eye as automobile engines, emissions from non-road engines contribute significantly to global air pollution. In 2005, the United States Government fined Volvo Powertrain Corp. seventytwo million dollars for manufacturing non-road engines at its foreign subsidiary because these engines were not in compliance with emissions standards and therefore violated a consent decree between Volvo Powertrain Corp. and the federal government. In United States v. Volvo Powertrain Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld an interpretation of the consent decree and financial penalty put forth by the lower court. This Comment argues that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct in holding Volvo Powertrain liable for the emissions violations of its subsidiaries' engines. Volvo Powertrain subjected itself to United States jurisdiction by requesting certificates of emissions compliance from the Environmental Protection Agency for the engines manufactured abroad by their foreign subsidiary.


A study was carried out in Dwangwa area of Nkhotakota district in Malawi to determine the effect of ethanol distillery effluent from the Ethanol Company on the water quality of the receiving waters of Lake Malawi. Water samples were collected from six sites located along Dwangwa River, in the effluent ponds and in the lake at week intervals for 8 weeks. The samples were analysed for BOD, COD, DO, pH, alkalinity, acidity, turbidity, ammonia, nitrate, phosphorous, potassium, calcium and chlorophyll. Concentration levels of pollutants, BOD, COD, DO and alkalinity generally decreased from the source downstream to the lake with a few exceptions. This was attributed to the dilution factor and evaporation of some components. Concentration levels in the receiving waters were found to be within the tolerable limits except for ammonia. On average the levels of DO, BOD, pH, Chlorophyll, Nitrate, Phosphorous and Ammonia were 6.24 ppm, 30.54 mg/l, 7.48, 5.05 ppm, 0.29 ppm, 0.22 ppm and 2.1 ppm respectively. The levels detected for ammonia were generally ranging between the suggested toxic concentration of 0.6 and 2 mg/l, for most of the species in water (Smith and Piper, 1975). However, concentration of pollutants in the effluent was found to be higher than the acceptable limits. It was therefore concluded that the ethanol effluent from the factory was potentially hazardous to the aquatic life in the receiving waters.


Confocal microscopy is a potentially powerful technique for obtaining equation-of-state (EOS) data for fluids in a diamond anvil cell. Unlike conventional microscopy, a confocal microscope scans the cell in three dimensions. From the intensity profile of the reflected laser light, we calculated the index of refraction and optical thickness of the sample contained in the cell. These measurements, combined with the cross-sectional area of the sample, enabled us to calculate the volume. As a test of the experimental technique and analysis, we produced a pressure-volume curve for liquid water at 300 K. The results agree with published EOS data within experimental error.


Author: Dowling, Sarah, N. MS Institution: Purdue University Degree Received: August 2019 Title: Detection and Quantitation of Hazardous Chemicals in Environmental Matrices using Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry Committee Chair: Nicholas Manicke Paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS) is an ambient ionization technique that has been proven useful in many types of investigative analyses. However, the use of this technique with regards to environmental samples has been largely unexplored since the technique's development. In this work, paper spray mass spectrometry was utilized to detect and quantify compounds for environmental, forensic and chemical defense applications. Due to the sensitive nature of some projects, the work was split into two volumes. Volume 1 focuses on the detection of pharmaceuticals in soil using paper spray (Chapter 2) and the detection of chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulants and CWA hydrolysis products (Chapter 3). Volume 2 focuses on the detection and quantitation of fentanyl analogs in environmental matrices. Chapter 5 focuses on the rapid analysis of fentanyl analogs in soil matrices. The following chapter evaluates the ability of PS-MS to detect low concentrations of fentanyl analogs in water (Chapter 6). Throughout this work, paper spray has proven to be an effective, rapid alternative to chromatography for the analysis of environmental samples.


The method of random projection has been a popular tool for data compression, similarity search, and machine learning. In many practical scenarios, applying quantization on randomly projected data could be very helpful to further reduce storage cost and facilitate more efficient retrievals, while only suffering from little loss in accuracy. In real-world applications, however, data collected from different sources may be quantized under different schemes, which calls for a need to study the asymmetric quantization problem. In this paper, we investigate the cosine similarity estimators derived in such setting under the Lloyd-Max (LM) quantization scheme. We thoroughly analyze the biases and variances of a series of estimators including the basic simple estimators, their normalized versions, and their debiased versions. Furthermore, by studying the monotonicity, we show that the expectation of proposed estimators increases with the true cosine similarity, on a broader family of stair-shaped quantizers. Experiments on nearest neighbor search justify the theory and illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed estimators.


The University of Canterbury has embedded design projects into each of the three professional education years (years 2-4 of the degree) in its new Mechatronics programme. The goal is to create an educational mechanism that links engineering sciences and individual class topics to integrated applications. A series of application-oriented laboratory projects using a Programmable Logic Controller is built into the second-year (1st professional year) curriculum. In the third year (2nd professional), a mobile robotic system design project encompasses electromechanical design, embedded control, software development and system integration. In the fourth and final year (3rd professional), students advance to working on mechatronics research projects that address real-life complex engineering problems facing the industrial sponsors. Embedding design projects progressively into multidisciplinary engineering education has proven to be an effective pedagogy to reinforce students' systems thinking, hands-on abilities, and cross-course linkage.


Objective: To identify and prioritize research questions of concern to the practice of pediatric critical care nursing practice. Design: One-day consensus conference. By using a conceptual framework by Benner et al describing domains of practice in critical care nursing, nine international nurse researchers presented state-of-the-art lectures. Each identified knowledge gaps in their assigned practice domain and then poised three research questions to fill that gap. Then, meeting participants prioritized the proposed research questions using an interactive multivoting process. Setting: Seventh World Congress on Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants: Pediatric critical care nurses and nurse scientists attending the open consensus meeting. Interventions: Systematic review, gap analysis, and interactive multivoting. Measurements and Main Results: The participants prioritized 27 nursing research questions in nine content domains. The top four research questions were 1) identifying nursing interventions that directly impact the child and family's experience during the withdrawal of life support, 2) evaluating the long-term psychosocial impact of a child's critical illness on family outcomes, 3) articulating core nursing competencies that prevent unstable situations from deteriorating into crises, and 4) describing the level of nursing education and experience in pediatric critical care that has a protective effect on the mortality and morbidity of critically ill children. Conclusions: The consensus meeting was effective in organizing pediatric critical care nursing knowledge, identifying knowledge gaps and in prioritizing nursing research initiatives that could be used to advance nursing science across world regions.


Summary: We evaluated a time-of-flight three-dimensional MR angiographic sequence with an ultrashort echo time for its ability to characterize the perfusional state of cerebral aneurysms that had been treated with Guglielmi de-tachable coils and to depict adjacent cerebral arteries. The results were compared with findings at conventional MR angiography and digital subtraction angiography. Adjacent vessels were seen better in 36% of patients imaged with the new technique. Both MR angiographic methods detected residual cerebral aneurysmal perfusion with a tendency to overestimate the patent portion of the aneurysm.


BACKGROUND
Large numbers of United States residents travel each year to countries where malaria, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and other vaccine-preventable diseases are prevalent. However, relatively little is known about how United States travelers perceive risks associated with travel or how they prepare for their international voyages. This airport survey was therefore performed to determine the travel health knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of United States travelers.

METHODS
Questionnaires were administered to international travelers, aged 18 years or more, departing from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York who were going to destinations that were high risk for malaria or hepatitis A.

RESULTS
Overall, 404 questionnaires were completed, including 203 focused on malaria and 201 on vaccine-preventable diseases. Latin America and Asia were the most common destinations. Only 36% of travelers sought travel health advice, despite the fact that more than half prepared their trip at least a month in advance. Only 17% of travelers considered themselves at high risk for hepatitis A. Although the majority of travelers (73%) to a high-risk malaria-endemic region perceived malaria as a high health risk, only 46% of them were carrying antimalarial medications. Additionally, although the majority of travelers believed that vaccines were effective for prevention, few were vaccinated for their journey: 11% for tetanus, 14% for hepatitis A, 13% for hepatitis B, and 5% for yellow fever.

DISCUSSION
This airport survey demonstrated important shortcomings in the travel health KAP of international travelers. A substantial proportion of the travelers were not adequately protected against malaria, hepatitis A or hepatitis B. Future efforts need to focus on improving the level of awareness of travelers regarding their risk of disease acquisition overseas and the importance of pre-travel education, immunizations, and malaria chemoprophylaxis.


Seasonal dynamics and reproductive phenological parameters of four Carabus species (C. convexus, C. coriaceus, C. germarii and C. hortensis) common in Hungary were studied by pitfall trapping and dissection. Beetles were collected in an abandoned apple orchard and in the bordering oak forest near Budapest (Central Hungary), in 1988–1991. The sex ratio was male-dominated, but this was significant only for C. coriaceus. The catch of C. germarii adults showed relatively short activity period with unimodal curve, but activity was longer and bimodal for the other three species. Adults of C. germarii and C. hortensis reached sexual maturity in July, and C. coriaceus adults were matured by early August. We did not find newly hatched individuals of C. coriaceus or C. germarii. The reproductive period was approximately four weeks in C. hortensis, five weeks for C. coriaceus and six weeks for C. germarii. Reproduction lasted much longer, for about four months, in C. convexus. The mean number of ripe eggs per female were 4.2 in C. convexus, 5.4 in C. coriaceus, 6.6 in C. germarii, and 7.4 in C. hortensis. The maximum number found was about three times the average in all studied species. The reproductive allocation (ratio of egg complement mass/body mass) was lowest in C. germarii (0.133) and highest in C. hortensis (0.196), and did not depend on body size. There was minimal overlap of the activity and reproductive periods of the four species.