Despite the growing number of women in the IT field in Bahrain, they are under-represented in senior management positions in the Information Technology (IT) field. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to gain better understanding of the factors that influence Bahraini women in their career advancement to upper managerial levels within the IT field. The underrepresentation of women in the IT field has been widely studied in the context of Western countries, however, there are few studies in Eastern Arabic countries. This study will explore how the culture in Bahrain society, which is Arabic and Islamic, shape the experiences of women working in the IT field. The Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT (IDTOGIT) (Trauth, 2002; Trauth et al., 2004; Queensberry & Trauth, 2007) was used in this study as a conceptual and an analytical framework for understanding the factors that influence women's career advancement in the IT field. This theory examines the variations between women's personal characteristics and their ways of responding to the environmental influences in understanding women's participation in the IT profession.
An interview methodology was used for investigating the work experience of a group of ten Bahraini women in a senior or middle management position in the IT field. The interview methodology helps in getting a more complete picture of what happened in their career advancement, and how they achieved high managerial positions in the IT field. Face-to-face and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the cases in order to investigate the factors that hinder or facilitate their career advancement in the IT field. The constructive grounded theory analysis (Charmaz, 2006) was used for analysing the data of the interviews. The key findings of this study are that women in IT careers, especially at the early age of their career, need to show a high level of performance, productivity, and competencies in the work. Women's career advancement in the IT field also demands a high level of commitment and motivation to the organisation, determination, challenge and ambition, and interest in IT work. The data analysis has showed that all of these identified individual characteristics are necessary and have a significant impact on the ability and way of responding to the environmental influences identified in this study. The most important environmental influences identified in this study are management support, relationship with peers, training, organisational structure and rules, understanding the IT role, cultural impact on women in the IT field, and work-life balance. Examining the influence of these individual and environmental factors together and the links between them helped to understand the participation of Bahraini women in the IT profession.
The research findings will help in understanding some of the reasons behind gender segregation and women's under-representation in the IT field in Bahrain. The study findings further offer insights into how to improve women's career advancement in the IT field. Also, it provides a contribution to knowledge in the area of IT and gender by addressing the factors influencing women's career advancement in the IT field. It is an original contribution to the body of knowledge by establishing the basis of further studies of women in IT careers in Bahrain focusing on career advancement.


Economists have long recognized that competition and innovation interact as key drivers of economic growth (Schumpeter, 1943; Arrow, 1962; Aghion and Howitt, 1992). Acknowledging this, regulators carefully scrutinize competitive behaviors that potentially affect innovation incentives, in particular in the field of M&A (Shapiro, 2012). Do acquisitions of innovative targets spur or stifle innovation? To address this question, we test the Innovation Arms Race hypothesis, providing a first large scale empirical investigation of M&A effects on acquirer rivals' incentives to innovate and the equilibrium outcome resulting from this competitive process. Our results are consistent with the Innovation Arms Race hypothesis predictions: acquisitions of innovative targets push acquirer rivals to invest more in innovation, both internally through research and development (R&D) and externally through acquisition of innovative targets (the correlated investment prediction) and this increase in innovation investment under pressure of rivals leads to a decrease in firm market valuation (the value decrease prediction). These results are robust to endogeneity and are driven by High-Technology and (to some extent) Healthcare industries. This arms race process appears stronger for leaders and (to some extent) firms under strong competitive pressure (so-called neck-and-neck firms). Initial patents and patent citations based evidence shows no sign of innovation investment efficiency decline, suggesting that the Innovation Arms Race generates a transfer of economic rent favorable to consumers.


We study large-scale kernel methods for acoustic modeling and compare to DNNs on performance metrics related to both acoustic modeling and recognition. Measuring perplexity and frame-level classification accuracy, kernel-based acoustic models are as effective as their DNN counterparts. However, on token-error-rates DNN models can be significantly better. We have discovered that this might be attributed to DNN's unique strength in reducing both the perplexity and the entropy of the predicted posterior probabilities. Motivated by our findings, we propose a new technique, entropy regularized perplexity, for model selection. This technique can noticeably improve the recognition performance of both types of models, and reduces the gap between them. While effective on Broadcast News, this technique could be also applicable to other tasks.


In a 2009 speech, prominent Māori lawyer Moana Jackson said that the novel Once Were Warriors (Duff, 1990) could have been more appropriately named Once Were Gardeners (New Zealand Drug Foundation, 2009). By doing so he argued against the notion that Māori possess a "warrior gene" predisposing them to violence. Instead, Jackson maintained, Māori were more likely to have a predisposition for gardening. Gardening, or mahi māra, has been practised by Māori for centuries in Aotearoa New Zealand. Although motivations may have changed, mahi māra remains an important expression of what it means to be Māori. This affirmation is particularly relevant when it comes to the recent Māori occupation of Ihumātao, one of the oldest Māori settlements in Aotearoa. This article explores the idea that gardens and gardening demonstrate a form of Māori protest and resistance. It also examines the importance of māra at Ihumātao and its occupation to Kelly Marie Francis, known as "The Whenua Warrior", a member of the group occupying Ihumātao, Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL). Understanding the occupation acknowledges the importance of māra in te ao Māori.


From the Publisher:
This book is designed to help people improve their decision-making skills by learning decision-aiding software. The learning process can be greatly facilitated through the self-teaching features of this book. The book presupposes no prior knowledge of computers, software, or decision analysis. It begins at an introductory level describing data input, tentative analysis, and what-if analysis. "Teach Yourself Decision-Aiding Software" then proceeds to an intermediate level where the software is used to overcome obstacles to systematic decision-making such as multiple dimensions on multiple goals, multiple missing information, multiple alternatives that are too many to determine the effects of each one. The book then proceeds to an advanced level where the software is concerned with prediction, explanation, and causal analysis, rather than prescription, evaluation, and normative analysis. It also deals with special conditions of decision-making. This book is coordinated with the P/G% decision-aiding software. In the back of the book, a floppy disk contains the program plus ten illustrative data files that correspond to the examples used in the book.
Author Biography: Stuart S. Nagel is Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois in Urbana. Lisa Bievenue is Specialist in Education at the National Center for Super Computing Applications in Illinois. John Long of the University of Illinois is co-author of the software.


High-contrast microscopy of semiconductor and metal edifices in integrated circuits is demonstrated by combining laser-scanning confocal reflectance microscopy, one-photon optical-beam-induced current (1P-OBIC) imaging, and optical feedback detection via a commercially available semiconductor laser that also serves as the excitation source. The confocal microscope has a compact in-line arrangement with no external photodetector. Confocal and 1P-OBIC images are obtained simultaneously from the same focused beam that is scanned across the sample plane. Image pairs are processed to generate exclusive high-contrast distributions of the semiconductor, metal, and dielectric sites in a GaAs photodiode array sample. The method is then utilized to demonstrate defect localization and imaging in an integrated circuit.


This work proposes a novel end-to-end convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to automatically quantify the severity of knee osteoarthritis (OA) using X-Ray images, which incorporates trainable attention modules acting as unsupervised fine-grained detectors of the region of interest (ROI). The proposed attention modules can be applied at different levels and scales across any CNN pipeline helping the network to learn relevant attention patterns over the most informative parts of the image at different resolutions. We test the proposed attention mechanism on existing state-of-the-art CNN architectures as our base models, achieving promising results on the benchmark knee OA datasets from the osteoarthritis initiative (OAI) and multicenter osteoarthritis study (MOST). All code from our experiments will be publicly available on the github repository: this https URL


This paper considers the situational awareness function associated with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) arriving at an uncontrolled air(cid:12)eld. Given no air traffic control service available within such a terminal area, the UAV needs to establish a good level of situation awareness by using its onboard sensors to detect and track other traffic aircraft. Comparing to existing works which mainly use sensor observations in the (cid:12)ltering process, this paper exploits the circuit (cid:13)ight rules to provide extra knowledge about the target behaviour. This is achieved by using the multiple models to describe the target motions in different (cid:13)ight phases and characterising the phase transition in a stochastic manner. Consequently, an interacting multiple model particle (cid:12)lter with state-dependent transition probabilities is developed to provide the required situation awareness function.


This paper attempts to explore the possibilities of a viable transport network in the long run which can respond to the demand for communication by people of Tripura as well as the demand of Tripura's projected economy. Since, Tripura is constantly facing the problem of lack of a smooth transportation and naturally, it is an economic imperative for this landlocked state to seek benefits for itself through greater regional integration. Most of the cargo originates from Kolkata (Port) and terminates at Guwahati and distributed to various destinations of north eastern states. This paper examines the perspectives of such cargo movement from Kolkata to Agartala and the strategic options of the transiting countries, namely Bangladesh and Myanmar. The development of a new transit route through Myanmar, depriving Bangladesh of its former monopoly, has modified the situation profoundly. The thrust of the paper is an analysis of the strategies that Bangladesh and Myanmar may pursue in transiting cargo for Agartala in terms of a game theoretic structure. The long run sustainability of such transit route from Kolkata to Agartala depends on regional cooperation among these countries in a political emotional state of nature.


This paper elaborates on the potential to design and conduct process-oriented user tests on public e-Services. The purpose is to use key constructs of business process orientation (BPO) to develop a basis for design and communicating the value of user tests in a public e-Service context. Our hypotheses are that user tests can provide valuable results for all actors involved in e-Service development, not only in terms of how to conduct user tests per se, but also to provide incentives for a customer driven focus and highlighting the value derived from user tests. In the municipality case, actors and stakeholders are involved municipalities in an inter-organisational collaboration on e-Service development, i.e. different municipalities, locally and regionally, as well as the supplier. Citizens partaking in a university course conduct the user tests with the eye tracking technology. In total 71 users performed in test sessions on 11 different e-Services in a standard platform provided by one supplier. In this paper, we elaborate on a BPO test design based on basic constructs in the approach compared with findings from reconstructing the test process design used with an implicit approach 2012 and an explicit BPO approach in 2013. Contributions include a generic test-process design for data collection, analysis and delivery to stakeholders in an overall e-Service development. Furthermore, findings from our test sessions and test process design will inspire and guide other universities to collaborate with practitioners. Beside the strength with a real case for the students, user test sessions in collaboration can be an eye-opener to not only for municipalities but also suppliers. Thus, the potential for impacts from test results to be applied in the further development of e-Services has thereby increased.


High-performance parallel file systems are a critical component of the largest computer systems, are primarily proprietary, and are specialized to high end computing systems that have many access patterns known to be unusual in enterprise and productivity workplaces. Yet little knowledge of even the basic distributions of file systems and file ages are publicly available, even though significant effort and importance is increasingly associated with small files, for example. In this paper we report on the statistics of supercomputing file systems at rest from a variety of national resource computing sites, contrast these to studies of the 80s and 90s of academic and software development campuses and observe the most interesting characteristics in this novel data.


Introduction. Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patients have a germline mutation in the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene. The APC protein interacts with beta-catenin, resulting in the activation of the Wnt signalling pathway. This results in alterations in cell proliferation and apoptosis. We investigated the expression of beta-catenin and related proliferation and apoptotic factors in FAP patients, exploring the expression along the adenoma-carcinoma sequence. Methods. The expression of beta-catenin, p53, bcl-2, cyclin-D1, caspase-3, CD10, and Ki-67 proteins was studied by immunohistochemistry in samples of colonic nonneoplastic mucosa (n = 71), adenomas (n = 152), and adenocarcinomas (n = 19) from each of the16 FAP patients. Results. The expression of beta-catenin, caspase-3, cyclin-D1, and Ki-67 was increased in both adenomas and carcinomas in FAP patients, compared with normal mucosa. p53 and CD10 expression was only slightly increased in adenomas, but more frequently expressed in carcinomas. Bcl-2 expression was increased in adenomas, but decreased in carcinomas. Conclusion. This is the first study investigating collectively the expression of these molecules together in nonneoplastic mucosa, adenomas, and carcinomas from FAP patients. We find that beta-catenin and related proliferative and apoptotic factors (cyclin-D1, bcl-2, caspase-3, and Ki-67) are expressed early in the sequence, in adenomas. However, p53 and CD10 are often expressed later in the sequence, in carcinomas.


Master the language of PROC SQL! Get faster and better results when you use the SQL procedure with this step-by-step, example-driven guide in your hands. You will find information about implementing both American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines and non-ANSI features. A broad range of SAS users including applications programmers, database designers and administrators, statisticians, and systems analysts will find techniques to enhance their data access, manipulation, and presentation prowess. Topics examined include database design; an introduction to SQL, dictionary tables, and tables; coding PROC SQL logic as well as complex queries; working with views; troubleshooting and debugging SQL code; and tuning for performance. With the growing popularity of databases, PROC SQL is becoming the language of choice for SAS users around the world. Intermediate and advanced users will appreciate the straightforward explanations and numerous examples.


The performance of the dark spectrum fitting (DSF) atmospheric correction algorithm is evaluated using matchups between metre- and decametre-scale satellite imagery as processed with ACOLITE and measurements from autonomous PANTHYR hyperspectral radiometer systems deployed in the Adriatic and North Sea. Imagery from the operational land imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, the multispectral instrument (MSI) on Sentinel-2 A and B, and the PlanetScope CubeSat constellation was processed for both sites using a fixed atmospheric path reflectance in a small region of interest around the system's deployment location, using a number of processing settings, including a new sky reflectance correction. The mean absolute relative differences (MARD) between in situ and satellite measured reflectances reach <20% in the Blue and 11% in the Green bands around 490 and 560 nm for the best performing configuration for MSI and OLI. Higher relative errors are found for the shortest Blue bands around 440 nm (30-100% MARD), and in the Red-Edge and near-infrared bands (35-100% MARD), largely influenced by the lower absolute data range in the observations. Root mean squared differences (RMSD) increase from 0.005 in the NIR to about 0.015-0.020 in the Blue band, consistent with increasing atmospheric path reflectance. Validation of the Red-Edge and NIR bands on Sentinel-2 is presented, as well as for the first time, the Panchromatic band (17-26% MARD) on Landsat 8, and the derived Orange contra-band (8-33% MARD for waters in the algorithm domain, and around 40-80% MARD overall). For Sentinel-2, excluding the SWIR bands from the DSF gave better performances, likely due to calibration issues of MSI at longer wavelengths. Excluding the SWIR on Landsat 8 gave good performance as well, indicating robustness of the DSF to the available band set. The DSF performance was found to be rather insensitive to (1) the wavelength spacing in the lookup tables used for the atmospheric correction, (2) the use of default or ancillary information on gas concentration and atmospheric pressure, and (3) the size of the ROI over which the path reflectance is estimated. The performance of the PlanetScope constellation is found to be similar to previously published results, with the standard DSF giving the best results in the visible bands in terms of MARD (24-40% overall, and 18-29% for the turbid site). The new sky reflectance correction gave mixed results, although it reduced the mean biases for certain configurations and improved results for the processing excluding the SWIR bands, giving lower RMSD and MARD especially at longer wavelengths (>600 nm). The results presented in this article should serve as guidelines for general use of ACOLITE and the DSF.


American power and a pervasive globalization are the central realities of today's world, and the source of its thorniest dilemmas. Yet while America's unprecedented might should be the source of global security, Americans today feel less secure than ever. Globalization promotes American dominance even as it breeds anti-American resentment. In The Choice, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski addresses the historic choice facing America at this very moment: Will it strive to dominate the world, or lead it? Reminding us that American dominance should not be confused with omnipotence, Brzezinski shows how America's well-being and the world's are entwined, and that America must find a way to be both guarantor of global security and promoter of the global common good."When it comes to what might be called the 'philosophy' of foreign policy-the relationship of U.S. power and policy to broader historical and cultural trends-no statesman of Brzezinski's generation is in his league...A tour d'horizon of U.S. foreign policy [that] discusses the inevitable contradictions and tensions that enmesh a democratic society that is also a global hegemon, criticizes the Bush administration, and articulates his own vision of the way forward-all in a little over 200 pages. Even those who do not accept Brzezinski's critique of the Bush administration will admire the sagacity of his views; for Democrats attempting to assemble a serious and thoughtful alternative to Bush's foreign policy, The Choice is indispensable."-Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs


Two clinically euthyroid patients with multinodular goiter were found to have high "free" thyroxin (Amerlex-M, Amersham and Coat-a-Count, DPC) and triiodothyronine (Amerlex-M) concentrations (FT4 and FT3, respectively). The presence of antibodies to T4 and T3 was confirmed by the finding that polyethylene glycol precipitated a far greater proportion of radioactivity when radiolabeled FT4 or FT3 analog (Amerlex-M) was incubated with serum from these patients than was true for normal subjects. With this method we could not demonstrate antibodies to thyroid hormones in 116 healthy volunteers. Of 101 hyperthyroid patients tested, one had antibodies to T4 but none had antibodies to T3. One patient had antibodies to T4, and one to T3, of 36 hypothyroid patients tested. All patients with thyroid hormone antibodies also demonstrated antithyroglobulin antibodies (measured immunoradiometrically). Evidently, the presence of thyroid hormone antibodies should be suspected when results of thyroid-function tests are discordant with the clinical state, and we suggest that measurement of thyrotropin by an assay with improved detection limits will aid in correctly determining thyroid status.


A study of random-dopant-fluctuation (RDF) effects on the trigate bulk MOSFET versus the planar bulk MOSFET is performed via atomistic 3D device simulation for devices with a 20 nm gate length. For identical nominal body and source/drain doping profiles and layout width, the trigate bulk MOSFET shows less threshold voltage (Vth) lowering and variation. RDF effects are found to be caused primarily by body RDF. The trigate bulk MOSFET offers a new method of VTH adjustment, via tuning of the retrograde body doping depth, to mitigate tradeoffs in VTH variation and short-channel effect control.


We propose a new off-axially distributed image sensing (ODIS) using a wide-angle lens for reconstructing distortion-free wide-angle slice images computationally. In the proposed system, the wide-angle image sensor captures a wide-angle 3D scene, and thus the collected information of the 3D objects is severely distorted. To correct this distortion, we introduce a new correction process involving a wide-angle lens to the computational reconstruction in ODIS. This enables us to reconstruct distortion-free, wide-angle slice images for visualization of 3D objects. Experimental results are carried out to verify the proposed method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the use of a wide-angle lens in a multiple-perspective 3D imaging system is described.


Antigen-specific helper factor was induced in vitro from lymphoid cells of monkeys and mice by using an antigen derived from Streptococcus mutans. Helper activity was removed from supernatants of monkey cells by affinity chromatography on Sepharose 4B insolubilized antibodies specific for human beta 2-microglobulin (H beta 2M) prepared in chicken, rabbit and rat, and an insolubilized monoclonal mouse anti-H beta 2M antibody-bound monkey helper factor activity. However, guinea pig antibody to human beta 2M was inactive. In parallel studies, the pattern of absorption of mouse helper factor (HF) was different from that of the monkey in that insolubilized guinea pig anti-H beta 2M bound helper factor, whereas rabbit and monoclonal anti-H beta 2M failed to do so. Although these findings were not compatible with an intact beta 2M chain being present in helper factor, they may imply a cross-reactivity of beta 2M with a "constant region" of helper factor that may share common sequences with beta 2M. This may suggest that factor genes have evolved from the same ancestral genes as beta 2M.


While the trade in human organs remains largely in the darkness as it is hardly reported, detected or scientifically researched, a range of key institutional stakeholders, professionals, policy-makers and scholars involved in this field show remarkable high levels of moral condemnation and share a rather unanimous prohibitionist line. Some have equated this phenomenon to genocide or talk about 'neo-cannibalism', others present it as dominated by mafias and rogue traders. However, organ trafficking takes very different shapes, each one with their own ethical dilemmas. Simplistic formulaic responses purely based in more criminalisation should be critically evaluated. Based on a qualitative study conducted on the demand for kidneys (transplant tourism) in and from the Netherlands, we present in this article some of the main empirical results and discuss their implications. But before doing that, this contribution briefly describes the global patterns of contemporary organ trade and the way the problem has been framed and constructed by international policy bodies, professional (transplant) organisations and some scholars.


Introduction:The main objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of apolipoprotein E (Apo E) and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1) polymorphisms and their influence on the development of Alzheimer disease (AD) in the Ecuadorian population. Methods:The authors performed an analytic transversal case-control study. The study group (n = 39) consisted of patients with AD and dementia. The control group (n = 39) comprised elderly adults who have not been diagnosed with dementia and have the same age and education as the study group. Their inclusion period was from 2007 to 2008. Later on, after obtaining informed consent and after finishing a structural interview; the next step forward was to collect blood and extract DNA by standardized protocols. Besides, the authors performed polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique to determine the genotype of each individual. Results:The authors found a positive association between ϵ4 and ϵ2 alleles of Apo E. The GPX1 gene shows an association of leu allele, whereas pro allele shows a negative association. The odds ratio test shows no significant relative risk. Conclusions:Apo E is not a risk factor, nor a protective one for AD, whereas the leu allele of GPX1 is a possible risk factor for the disease.


A theoretical treatment of the morphology-dependent resonances of a dielectric sphere on or near a plane surface of infinite conductivity is presented. The scattering theory for this problem is reviewed, and computational procedures are described. Resonance peaks are identified and correlated with the corresponding resonances in the isolated sphere. The study examines how the locations and widths of the resonances change as the particle approaches the surface. The locations of the TE resonances (expressed as size parameter) shift to higher values, the locations of the TM resonances shift to a lower values, and the widths are broadened. As the particle approaches the surface, 90% of the change in location occurs within a distance of ∼ 0.1 of a particle radius from the surface. The reason for this behavior is discussed. An example case is presented that shows how a narrow resonance that is completely suppressed by internal losses in an isolated sphere can become an active and strong resonance when the sphere is brought near a conducting surface.


Here I reply to the main points raised by the commentators on the arguments put forward in my Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs (OUP, 2009). My response is aimed at defending a modest doxastic account of clinical delusions, and is articulated in three sections. First, I consider the view that delusions are in-between perceptual and doxastic states, defended by Jacob Hohwy and Vivek Rajan, and the view that delusions are failed attempts at believing or not-quite-beliefs, proposed by Eric Schwitzgebel and Maura Tumulty. Then, I address the relationship between the doxastic account of delusions and the role, nature, and prospects of folk psychology, which is discussed by Dominic Murphy, Keith Frankish, and Maura Tumulty in their contributions. In the final remarks, I turn to the continuity thesis and suggest that, although there are important differences between clinical delusions and non-pathological beliefs, these differences cannot be characterised satisfactorily in epistemic terms.


Melanocortin peptides are endogenously produced peptides originating from the posttranslational processing of the pro-opiomelanocortin hormone (POMC), exerting their effect by binding to class A G-protein-coupled 7 transmembrane domain receptors, positively coupled to adenylate cyclase. To date five melanocortin receptors have been identified and termed MC1 to MC5. MC1 and MC3 have previously been proposed to exert anti-inflammatory effects by modulating the host inflammatory response. The expression and the functional activity of both receptors was identified and confirmed in the C-20/A4 chondrocyte cell-line, isolated primary bovine and in situ bovine articular chondrocytes. Pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-?, produced by activated articular chondrocytes significantly up-regulate matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) gene expression, and inhibit the chondrocyte's compensatory synthesis pathways required to restore the integrity of the degraded extracellular matrix (ECM). Human C-20/A4 and primary bovine articular chondrocytes were found to produce CC and CXC chemokines, which induced the release of matrix degrading enzymes and activated cell apoptotic pathways. TNF-? significantly up-regulated the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1 and MMP1 and 13 from C-20/A4 cell line and freshly isolated primary bovine articular chondrocytes. An effect attenuated in the presence of ?-MSH and D[TRP]8-?-MSH. The MC3/4 antagonist SHU9119 blocked the effects of D[TRP]8-?-MSH but not ?-MSH. TNF-? (60.0 pg/ml) stimulation caused ~30% cell death and was partially, but significantly inhibited by treatment of the cells with the melanocortin peptides. The antiinflammatory and chondroprotective effect of melanocortin peptides were then tested on in situ bovine articular chondrocytes, injured by a single blunt impact delivered by a drop tower. The mechanical injury caused significant cell death and up-regulation of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8, which were significantly reduced on pre-treatment of cartilage explants with melanocortin peptides. Modulation of pro-inflammatory pathways and inflammation-modulated cartilage destruction with subsequent chondrocyte apoptosis appears to be logical development in the potential medical therapy of OA. The small molecular weight of melanocortin peptides should facilitate the absorption from the GI tract and the movement to the cartilage matrix, which together with creative drug delivery methods might potentially prove to be potent therapeutic agents in the future.


Abstract The Livingstone Formation and the middle Opal Member of the Mount Head Formation of western Canada are Mississippian carbonate deposits, tens to hundreds of meters thick, that are interpreted to have accumulated in a mid-ramp, wave-dominated, sub-thermocline environment, at water depths up to 100 m or more. The rocks are predominantly pelmatozoan grainstones and packstones that contain abundant physical sedimentary structures. The most common sedimentary structures are planar lamination, swaly and hummocky cross-stratification, and normally graded event beds that are interpreted as having been formed by oscillatory (wave) currents or oscillatory-dominated combined flows. The abundant oscillatory currents are interpreted to have been generated by swell waves and to a lesser extent by local storms. High-angle, planar-tabular cross bedding is also present in rare, discrete beds produced by unidirectional offshore-directed currents. The unidirectional currents that produced the dunes are interpreted to have been generated by coastal set-up that produced downwelling storm currents during the rare storms that occurred along the Mississippian coastline. It is hypothesized that local storms were not common due to the west-coast location and the tropical latitude of the study area. Instead it is postulated that swell waves, approaching from the broad Panthalassa Ocean to the west, were responsible for most sediment remobilization and deposition across the mid and outer ramp. Swell waves are believed to have resuspended sediment to greater depths than short-period, less-organized storm waves. These Mississippian deposits suggest that in situ grain production on the ramp, without need for the offshore transport of sediment from the shoreface, resulted in two major differences from siliciclastic wave-dominated settings: 1) swaly cross-stratification was not restricted to environments shallower than hummocky cross-stratification on the upper shoreface, because sand-size sediment was generated across a large portion of the ramp; and 2) aggradation by means other than sediment supply from shallower water caused preservation of deep-water swell-dominated deposits.


Circular saws are a common tool for cutting a variety of materials like stone, wood or alloys. Cutting results are significantly influenced by vibrations occurring during processing. Negative consequences are for example increased cutting width and noise emissions. Vibration results from impulses generated at the entrance of the tool teeth into the work piece, from axial run of the cutting tool as well as vibrations transmitted from the machines drive. Therefore, the implementation of effective and cost efficient damping measures is of significant interest. Passive damping approaches are favored because of their low costs.One approach to dampen vibrations in circular tools and tool flanges passively is the use of shape memory alloys (SMA) as damping elements. SMA and especially NiTi are able to convert large amounts of mechanical stress into heat energy by a stress induced austenite-martensite phase transformation providing the potential to dampen vibrations with more compact damping elements in contrast to other common damping materials like steel or copper used in circular saws. SMA are suitable for damping low frequencies at high amplitudes, e.g. during earthquakes and the damping of single or repetitive shocks, such as those occurring in positioning. The attenuation of higher-frequency vibrations caused by machining with fast rotating cutting tools has so far been considered inadequate but has not been sufficiently investigated in relevant frequency ranges for industrial circular saws.This paper compares the damping properties of NiTi to those of copper and steel for industrial circular saws. Therefore, the first chapter introduces different sources and types of vibrations in industrial cutting processes while the second chapter describes exemplarily the vibrations occurring in an industrial circular saw. Based on this, the third chapter illustrates common approaches to modify the static and dynamic behavior of circular saws. The fourth chapter gives a brief description of internal damping mechanism, especially the damping mechanism of SMA. The experimental methodology and evaluation of NiTi, steel and copper is in the focus of the fifth chapter. The paper concludes with a summary of findings and an outlook on following work packages.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Aim/Purpose This study empirically analyzed and examined the effectiveness of the online advocacy banners on customers' reactions to make replacements with the similar products in their shopping carts. Background When a product in a shopping cart is removed, it might be put back into the cart again during the same purchase or it may be bought in the future. Otherwise, it might be abandoned and replaced with a similar item based on the customer's enquiry list or on the recommendation of banners. There is a lack of understanding of this phenomenon in the existing literature, pointing to the need for this study. Methodology With a database from a Taiwanese e-retailer, data were the tracks of empirical webpage clickstreams. The used data for analyses were particularly that the products were purchased again or replaced with the similar ones upon the advocacy banners being shown when they were removed from customers' shopping carts. Few pre-defined Apriori rules as well as similarity algorithm, Jaccard index, were applied to derive the effectiveness. Contribution This study addressed a measurement challenge by leveraging the information from clickstream data – particularly clickstream data behavior. These data are most useful to observe the real-time behavior of consumers on websites and also are applied to studying click-through behavior, but not click-through rates, Effects of Advocacy Banners 166 for web banners. The study develops a new methodology to aid advertisers in evaluating the effectiveness of their banner campaign. Findings The recommending/advocating titles of "you probably are interested" and "the most viewed" are not significantly effective on saving back customers' removed products or repurchasing similar items. For the banners entitled "most buy", "the most viewed" might only show popularity of the items, but is not enough to convince them to buy. At the current stage on the host website, customers may either not trust in the host e-retailer or in such mechanism. Additionally, the advocating/recommending banners only are effective on the same customer visits and their effects fade over time. As time passes, customers' impressions of these banners may become vague. Recommendations for Practitioners One managerial implication is more effective adoption of advocacy/recommendation banners on e-retailing websites. Another managerial implication is the evaluation of the advocacy/recommendation banners. By using a data mining technique to find the association between removed products and restored ones in e-shoppers' shopping carts, the approach and findings of this study, which are important for e-retailing marketers, reflect the connection between the usage of banners and the personalized purchase changes in an individual customer's shopping cart. Recommendations for Researchers This study addressed a new measurement which challenges to leverage the information from clickstream data instead of click-through rates – particularly retailing webpages browsing behavior. These data are most useful to observe the real-time behavior of consumers on websites and also are applied to studying click-through behavior. Impact on Society Personalization has become an important technique that allows businesses to improve both sales and service relationships with their online customers. This personalization gives e-marketers the ability to deliver real effectiveness in the use of banners. Future Research The effectiveness is timeand case-sensible. Business practitioners and academic researchers are encouraged to apply the mining methodology to longevity studies, specific marketing campaigns of advertising and personal recommendations, and any further recommendation algorithms.


Over the past twenty years, a number of state statutes purporting to reform the law of torts have been struck down by state courts as unconstitutional under state constitutions. Commentators on all sides have treated these decisions as a new phenomenon in American law. In fact, American tort law has developed for over a century in the shadow of state (and occasionally federal) constitutional law. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, state tort reform legislation came under sustained constitutional critique. Late nineteenth and early twentieth-century state courts developed a small number of time-tested outer bounds on the legislative power to alter the rules of tort suits. The current generation of state constitutional decisions reviewing tort reform legislation are thus merely the latest incarnation of what has been more than a hundred years of interaction between American constitutions at the state and sometimes even federal levels, on one hand, and the law of torts, on the other. This history, in turn, is a cautionary tale for all those who would intervene in today's tort reform efforts. Supporters of modern tort reform have little occasion for seeing unprecedented threats to basic constitutional principles. But those who would use state constitutional litigation to ward off legislated tort reform should be wary, too, for under the guise of judicial review, state courts have all too often used state constitutional provisions to obstruct experiments in public policy that over time have come to be widely respected.


The Psittaciformes order taxonomically classifies families such as Loriidae (Lori parrots or false budgerigars), Cacaduidae (parrots with crest and nymph parakeets) and Psittacidae (true parrots and budgerigars). More and more intense desire to obtain specimens with plumage and especially a spectacular colors, in many cases meant reproduction by repeated inbreeding and very close kinship (even repetition of multiple generations of mother-son or father-daughter matings). Furthermore, the maintenance conditions have not always been correlated with the needs of those species, in many cases the knowledge about the eco-biology of captive-breeding psittacines is rather poor. In recent years, we are confronted in the clinic of these bird species with extremely diverse pathologies or metabolic changes that have never been described or even observed in wild parrots. Proper diagnosis using modern methods (including cyto-histological methods) allows for rapid therapeutic intervention and positive results. The most difficult pathological problems regarding diagnosis and therapeutic behavior are neoplastic diseases, some of which have never been described or even observed in wild parrots.


We study a fair division problem with indivisible items, namely the computation of maximin share allocations. Given a set of $n$ players, the maximin share of a single player is the best she can guarantee to herself, if she would partition the items in any way she prefers, into $n$ bundles, and then receive her least desirable bundle. The objective then is to find an allocation, so that each player is guaranteed her maximin share. Previous works have studied this problem mostly algorithmically, providing constant factor approximation algorithms. In this work we embark on a mechanism design approach and investigate the existence of truthful mechanisms. We propose three models regarding the information that the mechanism attempts to elicit from the players, based on the cardinal and ordinal representation of preferences. We establish positive and negative (impossibility) results for each model and highlight the limitations imposed by truthfulness on the approximability of the problem. Finally, we pay particular attention to the case of two players, which already leads to challenging questions.


Layered Li2MnO3 as a cathode material is well known for its high lithium storage capacity. However, its poor cycling performance restricts its applications due to surface oxygen release and structural degradation. So it is highly desirable to search for new structures of Li2MnO3 with longer cycle life. In this work using pressure as an effective method in synthesis and global structure search, we find two metastable phases of Li2MnO3 that belong to the space group of C2/C and RC, respectively. The former one has the following features: a narrow band gap of 0.17 eV, a high open-circuit voltage of >4.4 V, a better structural stability against oxygen release (long cycle-life), a higher reversible capacity than the conventional layered Li2MnO3 phase, appropriate three-dimensional migration energy barriers of 0.45–1.14 eV and enhanced ionic mobility when more vacancies were introduced, while the latter one is metallic with an average open-circuit voltage of 4 V, comparative delithiation ability, and lower migration barriers of 0.10–0.69 eV. Both of them exhibit some merits over the conventional layered phase when used as cathode materials.


The organizing principle of American succession law — testamentary freedom — gives decedents a nearly unrestricted right to dispose of property. After surveying the justifications for testamentary freedom, I examine the circumstances in which it may be socially beneficial for courts to alter wills, trusts, and other gratuitous transfers at death: imperfect information, negative externalities, and intergenerational equity. These justifications correspond with many existing limitations on the freedom of testation. Yet, disregarding donor intent to maximize the donees' ex post interests, an increasingly common justification for intervention, is socially undesirable. Doing so ignores important ex ante considerations, including a donor's happiness, a donor's incentive to work, save, and invest, and the structure and timing of a donor's gifts. If donors believe courts may not facilitate their intent, donors may be less happy, accumulate less property, and alter gifts during life. Moreover, because the law often affects donor behavior, ignoring donative intent to benefit particular donees may harm not only the donors but also donees as a class. Thus, the living may themselves benefit if the law allows a certain degree of "dead hand" control.


This paper contributes, through traversing contested notions of sustainability, social justice, development and food sovereignty, to discourses around creation of sustainable rural learning ecologies. There has always been at least in the realm of scientific discourse, an attempt to dissociate the natural or physical environment from the social and human environment. This trend did not only affect the two spheres of existence only. It is further imbued and spawned fragmented and pervasive terminology, practices and human thought. Drawing from the 'creating sustainable rural learning ecologies' research project that commenced in 2011, I challenge and contest the use of such discourses and argue for the transcendence of such. This would, in my opinion, create space for harmonious and fluid co-existence between nature and humanity, such that the contribution of learning practices exudes and expedites sustainability in rural ecologies.


The effects of precommercial thinning on the quantity and external quality of young Scots pine stands were examined over two 10-year periods in an experiment comprising five stands growing on sub-dry sites in Finnish Lapland, northern Finland. The thinning treatments applied resulted in stand densities of 625, 1111, 1600, 2500 and 4444 stems ha" and a no-treatment, unthinned plot with a randomised block lay-out of two or tree replications in each stand. The dominant height of the stands varied between 4 and 8 m at the time of thinning. The trees reacted only slightly to the increase in growing space during the first ten years following precommercial thinning. During the second 10-year period, increased growing space was reflected more clearly in diameter and volume increment. These reactions were more evident in stands thinned at an early stage. The increment of the thinnest 100-200 trees ha" in each treatment was poor. The results showed that when the main principle in precommercial thinning is to achieve even spacing, the remaining smallest trees fail to react positively to the increase in growing space. In other words, the target of precommercial thinning should be to concentrate the increment on the tallest trees, even though they are located in groups. The external quality of the trees in stands where precommercial thinning was carried out at a later stage was high, and the diameter of the thickest branch along the butt log remained under 20 mm. Branch diameter was greater in stands thinned at an early stage. The effect of precommercial thinning on branch diameter when comparing the extreme treatments averaged 5 mm. When the aim of stand management is to combine high quality and good yield in naturally regenerated Scots pine stands in northern Finland, precommercial thinning should not be carried out before the dominant height of 7-8 m. The intensity of precommercial thinning depends on the yield targets of the first commercial thinning. A spacing of 2500 stems ha" satisfies the requirements of both high quality and adequate yield.


Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy is applied to study molecules, passing through a small observation volume, usually subjected to diffusive or convective motion in liquid phase. We suggest that such a technique could be used to measure the areal absolute concentration of fluorophores deposited on a substrate or imbedded in a thin film, with a resolution of a few micrometers. The principle is to translate the solid substrate in front of a confocal fluorescence microscope objective and to record the subsequent fluctuations of the fluorescence intensity. The validity of this concept is investigated on model substrates (fluorescent microspheres), DNA-chips, and dye-stained histidine molecules anchored on silanized glass surfaces.


We calculate the force operator for a charged particle in the field of an Aharonov-Bohm flux line. Formally this is the Lorentz force, with the magnetic field operator modified to include quantum corrections due to anomalous commutation relations. For stationary states, the magnitude of the force is proportional to the product of the wavenumber k with the amplitudes of the `pinioned' components, the two angular momentum components whose azimuthal quantum numbers are closest to the flux parameter α. The direction of the force depends on the relative phase of the pinioned components. For paraxial beams, the transverse component of our expression gives an exact version of Shelankov's formula (Shelankov A 1998 Europhys. Lett. 43 623-8), while the longitudinal component gives the force along the beam. Nonstationary states are treated by integrating the force operator in time to obtain the impulse operator. Expectation values of the impulse are calculated for two kinds of wavepacket. For slow wavepackets, which spread faster than they move, the impulse is inversely proportional to the distance from the flux line. For fast wavepackets, which spread only negligibly before their closest approach to the flux line, the impulse is proportional to the probability density transverse to the incident direction evaluated at the flux line. In this case, the transverse component of the impulse gives a wavepacket analogue of Shelankov's formula. The direction of the impulse for both kinds of wavepacket is flux dependent. We give two derivations of the force and impulse operators, the first a simple derivation based on formal arguments, and the second a rigorous calculation of wavepacket expectation values. We also show that the same expressions for the force and impulse are obtained if the flux line is enclosed in an impenetrable cylinder, or distributed uniformly over a flux cylinder, in the limit that the radius of the cylinder goes to zero.


Research giving of filter cake on sawdust medium for the cultivation of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) aims to increase the production of oyster mushroom to the best, and determine the best dose will increase the production. This research has been conducted in the village of Kubang raya of Siak Hulu Kampar district in Riau Province in July through September of 2013 this research was carried out experimentally using a complete randomized design (CRD) comprising administering a dose of 5 treatments in the filter cake: Without giving a dry filter cake (control), giving 20 g / baglog, 40 g / baglog, 60 g / baglog, 80 g / baglog. The data obtained were further tested by Duncan's New Multiple Range Test (DNMRT) at the level of 5%. Results of analysis of variance showed that administration can affect the filter cake and enhance the enjoyment of the production. The use of a dose of 60 g of filter cake on sawdust medium gave the highest production of oyster mushrooms is 149.33 g / baglog. Keywords : oyster mushrooms, filter cake ABSTRACT Research giving of filter cake on sawdust medium for the cultivation of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) aims to increase the production of oyster mushroom to the best, and determine the best dose will increase the production. This research has been conducted in the village of Kubang raya of Siak Hulu Kampar district in Riau Province in July through September of 2013 this research was carried out experimentally using a complete randomized design (CRD) comprising administering a dose of 5 treatments in the filter cake: Without giving a dry filter cake (control), giving 20 g / baglog, 40 g / baglog, 60 g / baglog, 80 g / baglog. The data obtained were further tested by Duncan's New Multiple Range Test (DNMRT) at the level of 5%. Results of analysis of variance showed that administration can affect the filter cake and enhance the enjoyment of the production. The use of a dose of 60 g of filter cake on sawdust medium gave the highest production of oyster mushrooms is 149.33 g / baglog. Keywords : oyster mushrooms, filter cake


Recent years have seen a rapid increase of sociolinguistic interest in the use of English in the British Asian diaspora. The focus of this work has usually been on locally-born speakers (e.g. Heselwood & McChrystal 2000; Hirson & Sohail 2007; Cheshire et al. 2011; Sharma 2011; Stuart-Smith et al. 2011) with some studies also looking into cross-generational variation (Evans et al. 2007; McCarthy et al. 2011; Sharma & Sankaran 2011). The present paper contributes to this growing body of research by providing insight into patterns of dialect variation and change among East African Indians in Leicester, a community of South Asian twice migrants who settled in Britain via East Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Like Fiji Indians in New Zealand (Hundt, this volume), East African Indians in Britain present an interesting case study for the linguistic outcomes of dialect contact in secondary diaspora situations, an under-researched type of contact setting. The aim of this paper is to determine how the complex migration pattern of East African Indians in Leicester has influenced their variety of English and, furthermore, whether and how linguistic patterns change across generations. To this end, I examine variation in the use of postvocalic /r/ in a group of first- and second-generation migrants. The results indicate that, despite a strong sense of affiliation with East Africa, first-generation speakers have predominantly maintained Indian English patterns in their use of this variable whereas second-generation subjects show accommodation to the local variety of British English. Evidence from the community's social history accounts for the findings.


Finding an instrument that is orthogonal to the disturbance term in the wage equation has been a topic of great deal of debate. Recently, Chesson et al. (2006) proposed that higher discount rates are significantly associated with a range of sexual behaviours, including having sex before age of 16 years. Following their paper, we use unprotected sexual behaviour and earlier age of sexual intercourse as alternative instrumental variables to account for endogeneity in schooling. The Bound et al. (1995) F-test indicates that our instruments are strongly correlated with schooling. We fail to reject the test of over-identifying restrictions, which demonstrates that the proposed instruments are valid and not correlated with the current earnings. In line with previous studies, our results suggest that the IV estimates of the returns to schooling are higher than the OLS estimates. In addition to the conditional mean, the proposed instruments are applied over the wage distribution using Chernozhukov and Hansen (2008) instrumental variable quantile approach.


In an increasingly globalized world of research, communicating with scholars in the same language and culture and with scholars from other cultures and linguistic background is a sine qua non in/of all sciences, including those using qualitative social research. The nature of language is at least latently recognized especially by those scholars who communicate with their peers in a non- native language, such as English, which has become de facto the scientific lingua franca. Although many are aware of the difficulties of rendering something a scholar wants to say in another language, the nature of language as a non-self-identical process is hardly if ever articulated. Instead, the metaphysical idea of the same "meanings" that can be rendered in multiple languages by means of translation—literally, "carried across"—is endemic to the scientific culture. In the very definition of science (e.g., in the description of research methods), experiments must operate the same (must be reproducible) wherever and by whomever these are conducted. In this contribution to the debate concerning translation, conducted in the context of the FQS debate "Quality of Qualitative Research," I articulate theoretical and pragmatic dimensions on the topic, drawing on empirical investigations, literary works, and philosophical investigations to explicate how translation is both theoretically impossible and pervasively achieved in/as everyday praxis.


The introduction of agriculture to the Canadian prairie by European settlers brought about many changes to the natural landscape. The changes, resulting from removing the natural vegetation and cultivation~ accelerated geomorphic processes such as erosion and deposition. The general design of this study is based on the lakecatchment system approach and the wetland and its drainage basin are therefore considered one ecological system. The objective of this research project is to relate changes in the sedimentary record of a wetland drainage basin to documented land use changes that have occurred since the onset of settlement. This thesis project is part of the PECOS study. The objective of the PECOS project is to evaluate land use and communities in Census Region 3BN from the perspective ofsustainability. A 52-cm sediment core from a wetland slough in the northeast portion of Census Region 3BN was analyzed to determine physical and chemical characteristics. The sediment was separated into allogenic and authigenic fractions to help identify the source of the sediment. Close interval <>:Pb and Cs dating allowed calculation ofthe influx of sediment and individual elements to the wetland. There were several episodes of intense influx of sediment to the core. Pre-settlement episodes of increased influx are beyond the time period of documented land use and therefore most likely due to naturally occurring, high magnitude, low frequency events. The post-settlement sediment characteristics, however, are consistent with human disturbance that occurred near the wetland. A postsettlement period of increased sedimentation rates occurred from 1941 to 1943, the years following the drought and depression of the 1930s. This period also corresponded to a peak in the number of acres under summmerfallow. Sedimentation rates and chemical influx to the wetland began to increase following the damming of the slough in 195 5. Sedimentation rates continued to increase from 1965 to 1968, at a time when agriculture intensified around wetland. The second highest peak in sedimentation rates occurred from 1989 to 1991. This period occurred at the time when the island in the wetland was seeded following the drought of 1988. Two conclusions were drawn after evaluating the impact of anthropogenic activity on wetland sedimentation. First, the onset of agriculture was associated with an influx of geochemical elements associated with topsoil erosion as shown by increases in allogenic AI, and fertilizer application as shown by increases in trace elements such as U. The


The problem of maximizing a utility function while limiting the outage probability below an appropriate threshold is investigated. A coded-division multi access wireless network under mixed Nakagami-lognormal fading is considered. Solving such a utility maximization problem is difficult because the problem is non-convex and non-geometric with mixed integer and real decision variables and no explicit functions of the constraints are available. In this paper, two methods to the solution of the utility maximization problem are proposed. By the first method, a simple explicit outage approximation is used and the constraint that rates are integers is relaxed yielding a standard convex programming optimization that can be solved quickly but at the price of a reduced accuracy. The second method uses a more accurate outage approximation, which allows one solving the utility maximization problem by the Lagrange duality for non-convex problems and contraction mapping theory. Numerical results show that the first method performs well for average values of the outage requirements, whereas the second one is always more accurate, but is also more computationally expensive.


The mechanical behavior of a glass-ceramic matrix composite, SiC/CAS (calcium aluminosilicate reinforced with unidirectional SiC fibers), is studied. Results based on uniaxial tension experiments are presented for specimens with fibers aligned in the loading direction. Axial and transverse strain gages on all four gage section surfaces and in situ acoustic emission and ultrasonic wave speed measurements were used to monitor the evolution of damage. All measurements were made with high-resolution, continuous data acquisition. Post-test optical and scanning electron microscopy was also used to identify the various micromechanisms of damage. The experimental results demonstrate the existence of "zones of deformation" which are associated with the onset of different damage mechanisms. It is shown that the observed stress-strain behavior can be explained in terms of the material properties of the matrix and the fiber, the material processing, and the postulated zones of deformation.


A detailed analysis and comparison is carried out for optical wireless communications (OWCs) with coherent and subcarrier-intensity-modulation-based systems, which are the two major implementations for detection-threshold-free operation without irreducible error floors. Error rate performance is studied for communications with binary phase-shift keying, differential phase-shift keying, and noncoherent frequency-shift keying over weak-to-strong (gamma-gamma distributed) turbulence conditions. Series-form error rate expressions are also derived for diversity reception schemes, including maximum ratio combining, equal gain combining, and selection combining. Based on our analysis, it is found that coherent OWC systems typically outperform subcarrier intensity modulation systems, with 24-30 dB improvements in sensitivity, mainly due to their elimination of thermal and background noise effects. The performance improvements of coherent systems are confirmed through numerical studies. The findings can offer significant benefits for future OWC systems that are subject to transmitted power limitations.


We have ample evidence of cultural bias influencing music cognition in a variety of ways including memory. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of various musical elements on Western-born listeners' cross-cultural recognition memory performance. Specifically, we were interested in whether the enculturation effect found in previous studies would be observed when tuning, timbre, texture, and rhythm were equalized in the presentation of music from two different cultures. In addition we wanted to explore the possible influence of music preference on recognition memory performance. Listeners were randomly assigned to hear Western and Turkish music in one of three musical context conditions (full, monophonic, isochronous) and subsequently tested on their recognition memory. Results indicated that memory performance was superior for in-culture music regardless of contextual condition, with no significant correlation between preference and memory performance. This points to the statistical properties of pitch sequences as a possible source of culturally biased responses in music listening.


Humans may differ remarkably in their preferences for objectively similar rewards. Brand preferences, for instance, largely account for differences in shopping behaviour. In the present functional MRI study, we explore whether subjective brand preferences can be measured on the neural level. For this purpose, we implement a wheelof-fortune game comprising a prospect phase and a subsequent outcome evaluation phase. Participants played for vouchers that they could redeem for sneakers of three differentially preferred brands. The results clearly demonstrate that neural activation in structures related to reward processing is linearly associated with the subjective brand preference hierarchy. Further, modulation of neural activity by preferred brands occurs in distinct neural regions during prospect and evaluation phases. Playing for more preferred compared to less preferred brands evokes an intensified state of wanting in the participant and facilitates action preparation—a mechanism that may underlie approach behaviour in real-life choice situations. Keywords— Reward; Brand; Affect; Motivation; fMRI; Nucleus accumbens


Routing protocols for disruption-tolerant networks (DTNs) use a variety of mechanisms, including discovering the meeting probabilities among nodes, packet replication, and network coding. The primary focus of these mechanisms is to increase the likelihood of finding a path with limited information, and so these approaches have only an incidental effect on routing such metrics as maximum or average delivery delay. In this paper, we present rapid, an intentional DTN routing protocol that can optimize a specific routing metric such as the worst-case delivery delay or the fraction of packets that are delivered within a deadline. The key insight is to treat DTN routing as a resource allocation problem that translates the routing metric into per-packet utilities which determine how packets should be replicated in the system. We evaluate rapid rigorously through a prototype deployed over a vehicular DTN testbed of 40 buses and simulations based on real traces. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to report on a routing protocol deployed on a real DTN at this scale. Our results suggest that rapid significantly outperforms existing routing protocols for several metrics. We also show empirically that for small loads RAPID is within 10% of the optimal performance.


Prediction techniques based on data are applied in a broad range of applications such as bioinformatics, disease spread, and mobile intrusion detection, just to name a few. With the rapid emergence of on-line technologies numerous techniques for collecting and storing data for prediction-based analysis have been proposed in the literature. With the growing size of global population, the spread of epidemics is increasing at an alarming rate. Consequently, public and private health care officials are in a dire need of developing technological solutions for managing epidemics. Most of the existing syndromic surveillance and disease detection systems deal with a small portion of a real dataset. From the communication network perspective, the results reported in the literature generally deal with commonly known network topologies. Scalability of a disease detection system is a real challenge when it comes to modeling and predicting disease spread across a large population or large scale networks. In this dissertation, we address this challenge by proposing a hierarchical aggregation approach that classifies a dynamic disease spread phenomena at different scalability levels. Specifically, we present a finite state model (SEIR-FSM) for predicting disease spread, the model manifests itself into three different levels of data aggregation and accordingly makes prediction of disease spread at various scales. We present experimental results of this model for different disease spread behaviors on all levels of granularity. Subsequently, we present a mechanism for mapping the population interaction network model to a wireless mobile network topology. The objective is to analyze the phenomena of malware spread based on vulnerabilities. The goal is to develop and evaluate a wireless mobile intrusion detection system that uses a Hidden Markov model in connection with the FSM disease spread model (HMM-FSM). Subsequently, we propose a software-based architecture that acts as a network function virtualization (NFV) to combat malware spread in IoT based networks. Taking advantage of the NFV infrastructure's potential to provide new security solutions for IoT environments to combat malware attacks. We propose a scalable and generalized IDS that uses a Recurrent Neural Network Long Short Term Memory (RNN-LSTM) learning model for predicting malware attacks in a timely manner for the NFV to deploy the appropriate countermeasures. The analysis utilizes the susceptible (S), exposed (E), infected (I), and resistant (R) (SEIR) model to capture the dynamics of the spread of the malware attack and subsequently provide a patching mechanism for the network. Our analysis focuses primarily on the feasibility and the performance evaluation of the NFV RNN-LSTM proposed model.


Data privacy issues are increasingly becoming important for many applications. Traditionally, research in the database community in the area of data security can be broadly classified into access control research and data privacy research. Surprisingly, there is little overlap between these two areas. In this paper, we open up a discussion that asks if there is a suitable middle-ground between these areas. Given that the only infrastructure provided by database systems where much sensitive data resides is access control, we ask the question how the database systems infrastructure can step up to assist with privacy needs.


In this report, the prediction performances of two rule evaluation measures, accuracy and weighted relative accuracy, are compared. These two measures were used in two different versions of CN2 algorithm for inducing classification rules. The first version (CN2-acc) is the original one, where the accuracy measure for evaluating rules is used. The second one (CN2-wracc) uses weighted relative accuracy. The performance of two versions of CN2 was compared in sense of classification accuracy as well as number and length of the induced rules.


This article presents the results of a study on professional development in Chilean statefunded early childhood education. Based on a multiple-case study design and drawing on qualitative methods we explored teachers' perspectives on professional development at two early childhood educational centers. Two centers' directors and four early childhood teachers employed at the two major institutions offering initial education in Chile described and discussed their experiences in a variety of professional development activities. Findings reveal that, although participants value professional development and have access to a wide range of activities, their experience of professional development could be improved in several ways. Conditions identified as critical to maximize the benefits derived from professional development include (a) access to ongoing training activities for a greater number of teachers, (b) greater duration and depth in professional development sessions, (c) more opportunities to receive training guided by experts, (d) more training focused in topics related to language and socioemotional development, (e) improvement of teacher's preservice education, and (f) improvement of working conditions. The article concludes with suggestions for teacher education programs, professional development designers, and policymakers, offered in the light of the results.


We study substitution between fixed and mobile broadband services in South Africa using survey data on 134,000 individuals between 2009 and 2014. In our discrete-choice model, individuals choose fixed or mobile voice and data services in a framework that allows them to be substitutes or complements. We find that voice services are complements on average but data services are substitutes. However, many consumers see data services as complements. Our results show that having a computer and access to an internet connection at work or school are more important than reducing mobile data prices by 10% in driving broadband penetration.


Agricultural intensification and the loss of winter stubble fields are widely accepted as the
most widespread reason for the decline of many species of farmland birds. Farming
practices have changed dramatically in the last fifty years and the effects on birds have been
known since the 1970's. After much research in to this topic, farmland birds, almost a third
of which were species designated as Species of European Conservation Concern, have
began to steadily increase due to the measures taken to reverse this intensification.
Shorter vegetation is likely to enhance foraging efficiency and reduce predation risk
however this varies for particular species. This study is an investigation in to how the crop
and the crop structure can affect the species diversity and abundance of farmland birds.
Ashcroft field, forms part of Newton Rigg estate, which lies near to the town of Penrith in
Cumbria. On Ashcroft field six species of crop were sewn. The field consisted of four land
based renewable crops; landmark, nebula galactica and finola and two food crops; wheat
and barley. This particular field was left fallow over winter from September 2006. From
October 2006 to December of the same year thirty days of flush counts of eleven species of
birds was undertaken.
Birds recorded were the blue tit Parus caeruleus, chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, dunnock
Prunella modularis, feral pigeon Columba livia, great tit Parus major, greenfinch
Carduelis chloris, siskin Carduelis spinus, starling Sturnus vulgaris, tree sparrow Passer
montanus, buzzard Buteo buteo and kestrels Falco tinniculus.
4
The relationship between the bird and the crop it was flushed from were analysed using
analysis of variance. Results showed that landmark was the most favoured crop of all six
with nebula being the least favoured.
A comparison between the four land based renewable crops, wheat and barley showed that
there are preferences shown by certain species of birds. This depended on the stubble
density of the crop and also the plant cover. The study also shows the importance of
hedgerows and game cover crops for a large number proportion of the birds recorded.


Purpose: To investigate whether chewing and consuming selected dried fruits affect the viability of salivary bacteria in children.
Methods: Fifteen 7 to 12 years old children of all genders and race enrolled in this randomized controlled, crossover study. The children refrained from oral hygiene the night before and the morning of the testing. A baseline non-stimulated whole saliva sample was first collected over a five-minute period. The participants then chewed 20g of one of the dried test fruits (raisins, craisins or banana chips) or the control (a non-flavored gum base) for five minutes. Their saliva samples were collected 30 minutes after test fruits consumption, then serially diluted and the total viable bacterial counts (CFU/ml) before and after consumption were determined. There was a three-day washout period between visits.
Results: After chewing and consuming craisins (dried cranberries), there was a reduction of total salivary bacterial counts of 3.39% (P<.01). The other test foods did not reduce salivary bacteria. Significant difference in reduction was noted between craisins and banana chips or craisins and raisins.
Conclusions: After chewing and consuming, dried fruits such as craisins reduced salivary bacteria in children between 7-12 years of age. These dried fruits may be a healthier alternative over the popular sugary snacks while providing protective benefits against oral pathogens and contribute to oral health.


'All the books published by a certain publisher could be seen as links in a single chain'. In this fascinating memoir and manifesto the author and publisher Roberto Calasso meditates on the art of book publishing. With his signature erudition and polemical flair, Calasso transcends Adelphi to look at the publishing industry as a whole, from the essential importance of graphics, jackets and cover flaps to the consequences of universal digitization. And he outlines what he describes as the 'most hazardous and ambitious' profile of what a publishing house can be: a book comprising many books, akin to that of other twentieth-century publishers, from Giulio Einaudi to Roger Straus, of whom the book offers brief portraits.


All currently used scaling models for Terrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclide (TCN) production rates are based on neutron monitor surveys. Therefore, an assumption underlying all TCN studies is that production rates are directly proportional to secondary cosmic ray intensities for all cosmogenic nuclides. To test this crucial assumption, we measured cosmogenic 3He and 21Ne in artificial quartz targets after one year of exposure at mountain altitudes in the Swiss Alps. The targets were inconel steel tubes containing 1 kg of artificial quartz sand (250–500 µm), degassed for one week at 700 °C in vacuum prior to exposure. From August 2006 until August 2007, ten of these targets were exposed at five locations in Switzerland and Italy: Zurich (556 m), Davos (1560 m), Santis (2502 m), Jungfraujoch (3571 m), and Monte Rosa (4554 m). Additionally, a sixth set of two blank targets was kept in storage and effectively shielded from cosmic ray exposure. Cosmogenic noble gases were measured at room temperature and at 700 °C. Up to 9% of the cosmogenic 3He was measured in the cold step, indicating that 3He diffuses out of quartz at room temperature on short time scales. The remaining 3He and all 21Ne were released at 700 °C, as shown by a repeat measurement at 800 °C for the Monte Rosa target, which yielded no additional cosmogenic helium and neon. As expected, the Monte Rosa target contained the highest cosmogenic nuclide content, with 1.56 ± 0.07 × 106 atoms of excess 3He and 4.5 ± 1.2 × 105 atoms of excess 21Ne (all errors are 2σ). The raw measurements were corrected for non-atmospheric blanks, shielding (roof + container wall), tritiogenic helium and solar modulation (normalised to the average neutron flux over the past five solar cycles). The 3He/21Ne production rate ratio of 6.8 ± 0.9 indicates that cosmogenic 3He production by the container walls is negligible. The main goal of the artificial target experiment was to determine the production rate attenuation length. Because all our targets had an identical design and were exposed under identical conditions, all systematic errors cancel out in the calculation of an attenuation length. Our best estimates for the 3He and 21Ne attenuation lengths are 134.8 ± 5.9 g/cm2 and 135 ± 25 g/cm2, respectively, agreeing very well with currently used scaling models. We conclude that TCN production rates are indeed proportional to neutron monitor count rates, and that 3He and 21Ne production rates follow the same altitudinal scaling relationships as the cosmogenic radionuclides. Finally, the measurements were scaled to sea level and high latitude using the empirical attenuation length, yielding weighted mean production rates of 107.6 ± 6.6 at/g/yr for 3He and 15.4 ± 2.1 at/g/yr for 21Ne. Despite the significant uncertainties associated with the corrections for shielding, solar modulation and especially the 3He/3H branching ratio, these estimates are in good agreement with production rates derived from long-term exposure experiments at natural calibration sites and physics-based simulations.


This paper mainly analyzes the power shortage in Nepal by using the system dynamics (SD) tools. From the last ten years, Nepal has been facing the challenge of load shedding and it is increasing year by year because the demand of electricity is much higher than the generation and price of the electricity is fixed so the dynamic pricing on the Nepalese electricity market solves the blackout in the short time. It also increases the satisfaction of need of the consumers. All the data used in this thesis has been taken from the NEA annual report. By the use of dynamic pricing (DP) policy, the price of the electricity varies according to the demand of the electricity such as higher price during the peak hours and lower price in off hours. This is the best fit policy in the Nepalese electricity market to eradicate blackout. However, without understanding the concept of dynamic pricing (DP) and how it's affect on demand and supply of power as well as the consumers satisfaction of needs. This thesis tries to address the issue by developing the system dynamics model on the basis of dynamic pricing in the electricity market of Nepal. And the conclusion is that the smart market pricing (SMP) policy able to balance the demand and supply of electricity with the help of price elasticity of demand in the Nepalese electricity market and it also able to increase the satisfaction of customers need. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD I ABSTRACT II ABBREVIATIONS V LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES VI TABLE OF CONTENT III


The paper analyses the effect of mother tongue on labor market outcomes of Swiss residents. This type of analysis can shed light on an important policy question. Is the Swiss labor market well integrated, or can one find instead segmentation along language borders? Improving on previous research in this area, we use a nationally representative household survey, the Swiss Household Panel 1999 and 2000, and we explicitly account for self-selection of workers into language areas. Overall, we find no evidence to suggest that the Swiss labor market is not perfectly integrated or that internal migrants are positively selected.


A stochastic dynamical system is a system composed of many interacting components which includes stochastic behavior. Feedback control theory is designed to use information from the current state of the system in order to temper the final state toward the desired outcome. In this dissertation, I perform studies on two choices of classic and quantum dynamical systems to cover vast variety of statistical tools and methods. For classical model, I perform a study on finite-size effects at the phase transition in the Nagel-Schreckenberg traffic model as an example of non-equilibrium many body stochastic dynamical system. For quantum mechanical model, I introduce an optimal measurement-based feedback control protocol for cooling a single qubit as an example of complex system with one cell and many degrees of freedom. I examine the Nagel-Schreckenberg traffic model for a variety of maximum speeds. I show that the low density limit can be described as a dilute gas of vehicles with a repulsive core. At the transition to jamming, I observe finite-size effects in a variety of quantities describing the flow and the density correlations, but only if the maximum speed Vmax is larger than a certain value. A finite-size scaling analysis of several order parameters shows universal behavior, with scaling exponents that depend on Vmax The jamming transition at large Vmax can be viewed as the nucleation of jams in a background of freely flowing vehicles. Feedback control of quantum systems via continuous measurements involves complex nonlinear dynamics. As a result, even for a single qubit the optimal measurement for feedback control is known only in very special cases. I show here that for a broad class of noise processes, a series of compelling arguments can be applied to greatly simplify the problem of steady-state preparation of the ground-state, while loosing little in the way of optimality. Using numerical optimization to solve this simplified control problem, I obtain for the first time a non-trivial feedback protocol valid for all feedback strengths in the regime of good control. The protocol can be described relatively simply, and contains a discontinuity as a function of feedback strength.


Background. The optimal surgery in lesional neocortical temporal lobe epilepsy is unknown. Hippocampal electrocorticography maximizes seizure freedom by identifying normal-appearing epileptogenic tissue for resection and minimizes neuropsychological deficit by limiting resection to demonstrably epileptogenic tissue. We examined whether standardized hippocampal electrocorticography (hippocampography) guides resection for more consistent hippocampectomy than unguided resection in conventional electrocorticography focused on the lesion. Methods. Retrospective chart reviews any kind of electrocorticography (including hippocampography) as part of combined lesionectomy, anterolateral temporal lobectomy, and hippocampectomy over 8 years . Patients were divided into mesial (i.e., hippocampography) and lateral electrocorticography groups. Primary outcome was deviation from mean hippocampectomy length. Results. Of 26 patients, fourteen underwent hippocampography-guided mesial temporal resection. Hippocampography was associated with 2.6 times more consistent resection. The range of hippocampal resection was 0.7 cm in the mesial group and 1.8 cm in the lateral group (p = 0.01). 86% of mesial group versus 42% of lateral group patients achieved seizure freedom (p = 0.02). Conclusions. By rationally tailoring excision to demonstrably epileptogenic tissue, hippocampography significantly reduces resection variability for more consistent hippocampectomy than unguided resection in conventional electrocorticography. More consistent hippocampal resection may avoid overresection, which poses greater neuropsychological risk, and underresection, which jeopardizes postoperative seizure freedom.


In beginning a project of this scope, I first spent months considering the genre in which I wanted to work. Once I committed to an Oratorio, more months were spent reading and finding the story I needed to tell and the orchestral medium through which to tell it. Thus began Restoration , an oratorio based on the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. I came to this story for several reasons: first, though comprising a unique moment in Old Testament history, it has not been told through music. More importantly, I believed that the themes of this story were ones that needed to be told today: people returning from exile to rebuild their homes and their lives. I sensed in their narrative some of the same cultural issues facing our world now: the question of isolationism on a social and political scale, the oppression of people because of belief, and the overarching issue of philosophical worldview put into action. Because of this, I was not content to simply retell the story: something more needed to be said. Why should this story matter in twenty-first century America? Thus I created a third soloist, Sarah, who would represent the modern voice seeking to learn what lessons she could from the experience of Ezra and Nehemiah and apply those lessons in her own context. Musically, this led me to personify each character. For Ezra, a scribe grounded in the Law, I chose to use a Baroque or early classical operatic style. Nehemiah, a public servant more willing to speak his mind, brought to my mind the nuanced musical character of the Romantic period. Sarah, the frustrated, realist voice of the twenty-first century, fit best into the genre of spoken poetry. I chose a smaller orchestra featuring strings, winds, and percussion. Between these various instruments the accompaniments could be created for any of the musical spirits of the characters. Finally came the choir. Functioning most as the traditional Greek chorus, the choir varies from representing the population as a whole in the story to providing an objective, third-party commentary on the narrative. Fiat pax!


This research aimed to know and analyze the influence of components of Risk based bank rating method (risk profile, Good Corporate Governance, earnings, and capital) to profitability of Islamic Bank in Indonesia, measured by Return On Assets (ROA). Whereas the ratio used in this research to represent the components of RGEC are risk profile measured by Non Performing Financing (NPF) and Financing to Deposit Ratio (FDR), implementation of GCG by composite score of GCG, earnings by Operational Efficiency Ratio (OER), and capital by Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR). Sample of this research are 11 Islamic Banks in Indonesia from 2011 to 2014. The analysis techniques used is multiple linear regression. Based on the analysis result, it can be concluded that NPF, FDR, GCG, OER, and CAR had simultaneous significant effect to ROA. Partially, NPF, FDR, and BOPO have significant effect to ROA. However, CAR and GCG don't affect ROA significantly.


Almost five decades after his death, there is still ample reason to pay attention to the life and legacy of Bertrand Russell. This is true not only because of his role as one of the founders of analytic philosophy, but also because of his important place in twentieth-century history as an educator, public intellectual, critic of organized religion, humanist, and peace activist. The papers in this anthology explore Russell's life and legacy from a wide variety of perspectives. This is altogether fitting, given the many-sided nature of Russell, his life, and his work.

The first section of the book considers Russell the man, and draws lessons from Russell's complicated personal life. The second examines Russell the philosopher, and the philosophical world within which his work was embedded. The third scrutinizes Russell the atheist and critic of organized religion, inquiring which parts of his critical stance are worth emulating today. The final section revisits Russell the political activist; it directs an eye both at Russell's own long career of peace activism, but also at his place in a highly political family tradition of which he was justifiably proud.

This book thus constitutes an invitation, if one were needed, to the world of Bertrand Russell. Those new to Russell, but with an interest in biography, philosophy, religion, or politics, will hopefully find something to learn here. This may spark an interest in learning more about Russell. But this book is not just intended for the Russell neophyte. The book sheds fresh light on a number of topics central to Russell studies—his connections to other philosophers, for example. Scholars well-versed in Russell studies will enjoy grappling with the treatment given to these topics here.


An increasing number of court rulings and legislation worldwide are recognizing rights of nature to be protected and preserved. Recognizing these rights also entails the recognition that nature has the right to stand in court and to be represented for its defense. This is still an incipient field and every step taken in this direction constitutes a precedent from which to learn and on which to base new rulings and legislation initiatives. Within this doctrine, rivers seem to be on the spotlight and court rulings on the rights of rivers are the ones setting precedent. These cases have taken place in New Zealand, Ecuador, India, and Colombia. This review looks into what all these rulings and legislation worldwide say about the rights of nature and what legal and systemic considerations should be taken into account as the recognition of the rights of nature moves forward.


Extracted from text ... 28 IMFO ? Winter 2006
In terms of the present provisions of the VAT Act ("the
Act"), "taxable supplies" by municipalities are limited to
activities specifically listed in section 1. No input tax may
be claimed on expenses incurred in connection with any
goods or services supplied that does not constitute
"taxable supplies". As a consequence of this, together with
the fact that some expenses are incurred partly for the
making of "taxable supplies" and partly for other purposes,
municipalities are left with a complicated VAT administration
in respect of the apportionment of input tax.
The proposed amendments include ..


THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WEIGHT LOCUS OF CONTROL, SELF-RATED ABILITIES FOR HEALTH PRACTICES, SELF-COMPASSION AND WEIGHT LOSS OUTCOME AMONG ADULTS POST-BARIATRIC SURGERY by GINA M. KEARNEY, PhD, RN-BC, AHN-BC Overweight and obesity have become growing threats to our nation's health. Bariatric surgery, although its incidence has been reported to have reached a plateau, remains the most effective weight loss therapy available for the extremely (morbidly) obese. However, significant weight regain is often observed and evidence of weight loss maintenance has not been clearly or consistently demonstrated. Through the use of Self-Determination Theory as a theoretical underpinning and guiding model, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological variables (weight locus of control, self-rated abilities for health practices, and self-compassion) and weight loss outcome (downward change in BMI) among adults following bariatric surgery. Using a cross-sectional, correlational design, survey data were analyzed from 138 adults across the United States. Descriptive and correlational analyses were used to examine the relationship between the study variables. The results of the analysis indicated that among patients who underwent Lap-Band surgery for weight loss and those who reported current participation in a structured/formal weight loss program, an internal weight locus of control, greater levels of self-rated abilities for health practices and self-compassion were positively correlated with BMI change. While sample sizes were small and more sophisticated multivariate statistical analyses were not possible for this study, this research provides foundational quantitative evidence to build upon through replication and further study in order to determine the psychological factors most closely associated with optimal weight loss outcomes for individuals following bariatric surgery so that more appropriate and effective targeted interventions may be developed. Dedication To Timmy, my special angel in Heaven—we did it.


Abstract
 Laurel wilt disease (LWD), caused by the fungus Raffaelea lauricola and transmitted by Xyleborus glabratus (Redbay Ambrosia Beetle [RAB]), has killed millions of Persea borbonia (Redbay) trees throughout the southeastern Coastal Plain. Laurel wilt also has been detected in Sassafras albidum (Sassafras) in widely dispersed locations across the southeastern US. We established long-term laurel wilt disease-progression plots in Redbay and Sassafras stands in southeastern Georgia and monitored them through 4 years to document mortality rates and investigate long-term effects of LWD on Redbay and Sassafras survival and regeneration. Laurel wilt disease killed 87.3% of Redbay and 79.5% of Sassafras trees in the plots. The time from initial LWD detection to inactivity (no new mortality) in Redbay stands ranged from 1.1 to 3.6 years, with rate of disease progression positively related to host-tree size and abundance. Larger trees died at a higher rate in both Redbay and Sassafras stands, and mortality curves were similar for both species. All diseased Redbay trees died to the ground level, but the majority produced persistent below-ground basal sprouts, rapidly providing potential replacement stems. Few below-ground basal sprouts were observed on Sassafras trees killed by LWD, but over a quarter had epicormic shoots that survived up to several years after infection, and small trees remained alive on most sites, suggesting some level of tolerance to LWD. Substantial numbers of RAB were only captured in baited traps located adjacent to plots in an advanced-active stage of disease progression with abundant infested trees, both in Redbay and Sassafras stands. However, lingering presence of small numbers of RAB in post-epidemic areas and scattered LWD mortality in small-sized Redbay regeneration sprouts and seedlings suggest that secondary disease cycles may occur as Redbay trees there reach greater numbers and size in the future. Documentation of RAB and LWD spreading in Sassafras in the absence of Redbay supports concern that LWD will continue to spread into areas with abundant, large Sassafras trees, which would increase the probability that RAB and LWD will expand into extensive populations of other laurel species present in the western US and Central and South America.


This GIS overlay is a component of the U. S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Field Center's, Gulf of Mexico ArcView GIS database. The Gulf of Mexico GIS database is intended to organize and display USGS held data and provide on-line (WWW) access to the data and/or metadata.