Since the 21st century, the global outbreaks of infectious diseases such as SARS in 2003, H1N1 in 2009, and H7N9 in 2013, have become the critical threat to the public health and a hunting nightmare to the government. Understanding the propagation in large-scale metapopulations and predicting the future outbreaks thus become crucially important for epidemic control and prevention. In the literature, there have been a bulk of studies on modeling intra-city epidemic propagation but with the single population assumption (homogeneity). Some recent works on metapopulation propagation, however, focus on finding specific human mobility physical networks to approximate diseases transmission networks, whose generality to fit different diseases cannot be guaranteed. In this paper, we argue that the intra-city epidemic propagation should be modeled on a metapopulation base, and propose a two-step method for this purpose. The first step is to understand the propagation system by inferring the underlying disease infection network. To this end, we propose a novel network inference model called D 2 PRI, which reduces the individual network into a sub-population network without information loss, and incorporates the power-law distribution prior and data prior for better performance. The second step is to predict the disease propagation by extending the classic SIR model to a metapopulation SIR model that allows visitors transmission between any two sub-populations. The validity of our model is testified on a real-life clinical report data set about the airborne disease in the Shenzhen city, China. The D 2 PRI model with the extended SIR model exhibit superior performance in various tasks including network inference, infection prediction and outbreaks simulation.


The study examined the extent to which there were changes in pre-service teachers' beliefs, expectations and other teacher preparation issues over a four-year period at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. The study was guided by the conceptual framework of Calderhead and Shorrock (1997) – the personal, critical, academic, practical and technical orientation - and compared pre-service teachers' reflections on these five components before and after their exposure to the practicum at the university. The participants in the study were 36 pre-service beginning teachers who were never exposed to any teacher training programme. There were 12 males and 24 females whose average ages were 24 years. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews at the beginning and the end of the four year period. The interview data were audio-taped and later transcribed in the tradition of grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Systematic coding was used to uncover key features and emerging themes from the first and second phases of the study. Five categories consistent with the conceptual framework of the study were identified: beliefs and expectations, mentorship support, resource adequacy, content and pedagogical knowledge and adequate classroom experiences. The findings suggested there were some changes in pre-service beliefs and expectations and other preparation issues. There were also mixed messages from the beginning teachers with regard to adequate resources, mentorship support and classroom experiences. Recommendations were made for the continuing professional development of these novice teachers.


The diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma in effusion cytology specimens is controversial. BAP1 immunohistochemistry and p16 fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) have recently been reported as reliable markers of malignancy in biopsies of mesothelioma. To determine whether these markers, singly or in combination, might also be useful in effusion cytology specimens, we examined 15 biopsies of epithelial mesotheliomas and 3 benign mesothelial reactions and corresponding effusion cytology paraffin-embedded cell blocks. Four cytology specimens were too scanty for p16 FISH analysis but were interpretable for BAP1 immunohistochemistry. Overall, loss of BAP1 and/or deletion of p16 was seen in 11/11 (100%) of matched cytology and tissue biopsy specimens. BAP1 loss alone was seen in 10/15 (67%) biopsies and 10/15 (67%) cytology specimens. Homozygous deletion of p16 by FISH was found in 12/15 (80%) biopsy specimens and 8/11 (73%) evaluable cytology specimens. Seven of 15 (47%) biopsies and 5/11 (42%) cytology specimens showed loss of both markers. All mesothelioma biopsy/cytology pairs showed exactly the same pattern of BAP1 or p16 retention or loss in the biopsy and cytology specimens. The 2 peritoneal mesothelioma cases demonstrated loss of BAP1 but not p16. None of the benign mesothelial reactions or corresponding cytology specimens showed loss of either marker. We conclude that both BAP1 immunohistochemistry and p16 FISH analysis provide reliable markers of mesothelial malignancy in effusion cytology specimens, especially where the atypical mesothelial proliferation is well sampled. BAP1 is easier to interpret with scanty specimens. On the basis of small numbers of cases, use of both markers appears to increase sensitivity.


We present Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) High-Band Array observations of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole survey area. The survey we have carried out, consisting of four pointings covering around 142 deg(2) of sky in the frequency range 126-173 MHz, does not provide uniform noise coverage but otherwise is representative of the quality of data to be expected in the planned LOFAR wide-area surveys, and has been reduced using recently developed 'facet calibration' methods at a resolution approaching the full resolution of the data sets (similar to 10 x 6 arcsec) and an rms off-source noise that ranges from 100 mu Jy beam(-1) in the centre of the best fields to around 2 mJy beam(-1) at the furthest extent of our imaging. We describe the imaging, cataloguing and source identification processes, and present some initial science results based on a 5 sigma source catalogue. These include (i) an initial look at the radio/far-infrared correlation at 150 MHz, showing that many Herschel sources are not yet detected by LOFAR; (ii) number counts at 150 MHz, including, for the first time, observational constraints on the numbers of star-forming galaxies; (iii) the 150-MHz luminosity functions for active and star-forming galaxies, which agree well with determinations at higher frequencies at low redshift, and show strong redshift evolution of the star-forming population; and (iv) some discussion of the implications of our observations for studies of radio galaxy life cycles.


The reflectance spectra of chirped fiber Bragg gratings can depend substantially on the direction from which the measurement is taken. The measured difference between forward and backward reflectance spectra measured in a linearly chirped grating was shown to be due to the measured excess loss. Simulation using the popular transfer-matrix model demonstrated that the observed asymmetric behavior could be obtained only when excess loss has an asymmetric spectral shape about the local Bragg wavelengths. Application of cladding mode excess losses to the result of a transfer-matrix model accounted for the experimental observation.


Having recently retired from the University of Pennsylvania's Department of City and Regional Planning, I was going through the boxes of files I had accumulated over the years, when I came upon folders containing three unpublished interviews I had done in the early 1960s. These conversations were with Reyner Banham, Walter Gropius, and Jose Luis Sert. Reading them over, I thought the Gropius interview was still worth publishing as a historical artifact, and so I contacted JSAH (Figure 1).

Figure 1
Walter Gropius, 1955 (photo, Hans G. Conrad/Rene Spitz Collection).

This is how the Gropius interview came about. In the summer of 1960, before returning to the Yale School of Architecture that fall, I had a job in the editorial offices of the Architectural Record . Jonnie Davern, who was effectively the managing editor (although she was not confirmed in that title until later), sent me across town to interview Philip Johnson at his office in the Seagram Building.1 Johnson was in good form and enjoyed the idea of being interviewed by someone studying to be an architect. The Record was pleased with the interview and published it that December.2

Davern gave me some additional interview assignments when I went off to New Haven that fall, expecting me to fit them in during the academic year. She commissioned the Banham interview when she found out that he was visiting Yale; other assignments sometimes required me to travel. In 1961 and 1962, the Record published my interviews with Pietro Belluschi, Edward L. Barnes, Edward D. Stone, and Paul Rudolph.3 I also submitted my interviews with Banham, Sert, and Gropius, but Emerson Goble, the editor in chief, apparently decided that the ones the Record published were enough.

Walter Gropius was actually one of the first of my interview assignments. I …


This study examines language complexity, readability and suitability, of written health information materials given to patients undergoing colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery. The overall aim is to investigate whether the implementation of adapted, person-centred information and communication for patients with CRC undergoing elective surgery, can enhance the patients' self-care beliefs and well-being during recovery in the phase following diagnosis and initial treatment. Several explorative, qualitative studies are planned and will function both as a basis for the proposed interventions and provide explanations for the actual processes leading to the desired outcomes. Patients' knowledge enablement will be reached by several interrelated intervention strategies and specific activities. One of these strategies deals with means to facilitate patients' information seeking patterns and the goal is to provide patients with written information materials according to preferences for complex and detailed or legible texts. Thus, the interventions planed aim to enhance a movement from receiving information and instructions to participating in knowing. Written and printed patient information material from 28 Swedish clinics for patients diagnosed with CRC undergoing elective surgery were selected for analysis by means of standard metrics and more elaborate language technology techniques. Various text parameters such as lexical variation, frequency bands and the use of terminology were examined. The material was also analysed using a Suitability Assessment Instrument in order to examine content, literacy demand, graphic illustrations, layout and typography, learning stimulation and finally cultural appropriateness. In addition, five focusgroups were conducted where patients were asked to give their experiences of using written information. Results from the language technology analysis showed a variety in materials, where it could be divided in to easy, medium and difficult to read and comprehend. Patients in focusgroups told they would like written materials to be levelled in order to gain information stepwise, but also stressed the importance of information given both orally and in writing, and that they must correspond. Using the SAM-instrument was a good complement for deeper understanding, and taking all three analyses in account, we aim to design a balanced toolkit for how to best design written information materials where a person tailored approach can be offered.


We studied the effects of heavy and prolonged rainfall associated with four El Nino events on the reproduction of Darwin's finches on the Galapagos island of Daphne Major. Rainfall varied in the El Nino years from 195 mm to 1359 mm, exceeding the maximum in the other years by 40% to 1000%. Two species were studied: Geospiza fortis, Medium Ground Finch, and G. scandens, Cactus Finch. Almost all eggs, nestlings, and fledglings produced by banded females were recorded in the El Nino years of 1983, 1987, 1991, and 1998. Finch production in these years was compared with production in 10 other years of breeding in the period 1976-1990; there was no breeding in three drought years, 1985, 1988, and 1989. Breeding differed in the two sets of years in several ways. More broods were produced in El Nino years than in non-El Nino years (maximum 10 clutches per female vs. five clutches), the period of breeding was longer (maximum eight months vs. four), average clutch sizes (range 2-6 eggs) were distinctly larger (four vs. three), and average egg and fledgling production per female was larger by a factor of four. The two species differed in some features of breeding, but differences were minor in comparison with the marked seasonal and annual variation. Finch production varied among El Nino years, being greatest in the year of most rain over the longest period (1983), and least in the next wettest year (1998). The surprisingly low production in 1998 is attributed in part to interactions with other finches, and in part to exceptionally high temperatures. Temperature, although postively correlated with rainfall, had an independent negative effect upon hatching and overall breeding success of G. fortis. Breeding by both species in the year of birth (hatch) occurred in two El Nino years with the most extended wet seasons: 1983 and 1987. Young breeders had lower clutch sizes and breeding success than did contemporaneously breeding older birds. Observations in different El Nino years show that finch population responses to major climatic perturbations such as elevated rainfall vary for two major reasons: the perturbations themselves vary in strength and duration, and responses to them are determined, in part, by preceding conditions. Those preceding conditions, in turn, are determined by whether drought or normal conditions precede the perturbation, and on the interval since the previous El Nino event. Thus, perturbations of natural systems can be fully understood only in a broad temporal context.


Germ cells must develop along distinct male or female paths to produce the spermatozoa or oocyte required for sexual reproduction. Male germline stem cells maintain spermatogenesis in the postnatal human testis. Here we show that a small population of bone marrow cells is able to transdifferentiate to male germ cell-like cells. We show expression of early germ cell markers (Oct4, Fragilis, Stella and Vasa) and male germ cell specific markers (Dazl, TSPY, Piwil2 and Stra8) in these cells. Our preliminary findings provide direct evidence that human bone marrow cells can differentiate to putative male germ cells and identify bone marrow as a potential source of male germ cells that could sustain sperm production.


Procedure Appropriateness Category Relative Radiation Level MRI spine area of interest without and with IV contrast Usually Appropriate O MRI spine area of interest without IV contrast Usually Appropriate O Radiography spine area of interest May Be Appropriate Varies 3-phase bone scan complete spine May Be Appropriate ☢☢☢ Gallium scan whole body May Be Appropriate ☢☢☢☢ CT spine area of interest with IV contrast May Be Appropriate Varies CT spine area of interest without IV contrast May Be Appropriate Varies WBC scan and sulfur colloid scan complete spine Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢☢ MRI spine area of interest with IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate O FDG-PET/CT whole body Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢☢ CT spine area of interest without and with IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate Varies


Measuring productivity growth in construction is especially difficult due to the nature of production in the industry and the limitations of available data. In particular, the price indexes used to deflate output are a major problem because reliable deflators are sparse and the available data suggest productivity has declined for many decades, which is somewhat difficult to believe. This paper first reviews Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates of productivity growth in the overall construction sector. Second, we develop measures of labor productivity growth in three industries in construction where reliable output deflators already exist: single and multiple family residential construction from 1987 to 2011, and the construction of highways, streets, and bridges from 2002 to 2011. These data, which currently cover almost one quarter of construction output, show no sign of any sustained productivity decline. Productivity growth continues to be positive when subcontractors are included as labor input. On the other hand, the new PPIs increase more rapidly than previous unreliable output deflators did; such evidence suggests that negative long-term productivity trends are more likely than the current long-term time series data suggest. Third, we analyze labor shifts among 31 industries in construction. Previous work (Allen, 1985) has shown that, from 1968 to 1978, shifts from high to low productivity industries reduced productivity in construction by 0.46 percent a year. Our results indicate that labor shifts still cause a considerable decline in productivity. Over the last two decades, shifts across industries reduced productivity by approximately 0.26 percent a year. However, most of the productivity decline, especially between 1997 and 2007, still remains to be explained. Fourth, we present evidence that land use regulation, measured in each state in each year, has a small but statistically significant negative effect on productivity growth in construction. The evidence also indicates that the regulation share of total costs, the amount by which regulation increases construction costs, is 3.7 percent. However, we estimate that increases in regulation reduced productivity growth in construction by only 0.1 percent a year.


Abstract. A combination of marine (Alboran Sea cores, ODP 976 and TTR 300 G) and terrestrial (Zonar Lake, Andalucia, Spain) geochemical proxies provides a high-resolution reconstruction of climate variability and human influence in the southwestern Mediterranean region for the last 4000 years at inter-centennial resolution. Proxies respond to changes in precipitation rather than temperature alone. Our combined terrestrial and marine archive documents a succession of dry and wet periods coherent with the North Atlantic climate signal. A dry period occurred prior to 2.7 cal ka BP – synchronously to the global aridity crisis of the third-millennium BC – and during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (1.4–0.7 cal ka BP). Wetter conditions prevailed from 2.7 to 1.4 cal ka BP. Hydrological signatures during the Little Ice Age are highly variable but consistent with more humidity than the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Additionally, Pb anomalies in sediments at the end of the Bronze Age suggest anthropogenic pollution earlier than the Roman Empire development in the Iberian Peninsula. The Late Holocene climate evolution of the in the study area confirms the see-saw pattern between the eastern and western Mediterranean regions and the higher influence of the North Atlantic dynamics in the western Mediterranean.


Bilateral thyroidectomy was performed in 106 cats with hyperthyroidism by one of three techniques: original intracapsular, modified intracapsular, or modified extracapsular. Hypocalcemia was detected in the first 3 days after surgery in 11 (22%) of 50 cats treated by the intracapsular technique, 10 (33%) of 30 cats treated by the modified intracapsular technique, and 6 (23%) of 26 cats treated by the modified extracapsular technique. Hypocalcemia was classified as mild or severe. No signs of hypoparathyroidism developed in any of the 13 cats with mild hypocalcemia. Of the 14 cats with severe hypocalcemia, 8 had clinical signs of hypoparathyroidism before and during treatment with calcium and vitamin D, 3 were treated and no clinical signs developed, 2 were not treated but no clinical signs developed, and 1 was lost to follow-up. No cat required permanent calcium or vitamin D supplementation after surgery. Severe hypocalcemia and clinical signs of hypoparathyroidism occurred in 3 (6%) of the 50 cats treated by the intracapsular technique, 4 (13.3%) of the 30 cats treated by the modified intracapsular technique, and 1 (3.8%) of the 26 cats treated by the modified extracapsular technique. Twelve cats had recurrence of hyperthyroidism at a median time of 23 months. The intracapsular technique was used in 11 of these cats, and the modified extracapsular technique was used in 1. No clinical signs of hypothyroidism were detected in any of the cats. The modified intracapsular and modified extracapsular techniques of bilateral thyroidectomy are effective procedures for the treatment of feline hyperthyroidism.


During aging, some individuals are resilient to the decline of cognitive functions whereas others are vulnerable. These inter‐individual differences in memory abilities have been associated with differences in the rate of hippocampal neurogenesis measured in elderlies. Whether the maintenance of the functionality of neurons generated throughout adult life is linked to resilience to cognitive aging remains completely unexplored. Using the immediate early gene Zif268, we analyzed the activation of dentate granule neurons born in adult (3‐month‐old), middle‐aged (12‐month‐old), or senescent (18‐month‐old) rats (n = 96) in response to learning when animals reached 21 months of age. The activation of neurons born during the developmental period was also examined. We show that adult‐born neurons can survive up to 19 months and that neurons generated 4, 10, or 19 months before learning, but not developmentally born neurons, are activated in senescent rats with good learning abilities. In contrast, aged rats with bad learning abilities do not exhibit activity‐dependent regulation of newborn cells, whatever their birthdate. In conclusion, we propose that resilience to cognitive aging is associated with responsiveness of neurons born during adult life. These data add to our current knowledge by showing that the aging of memory abilities stems not only from the number but also from the responsiveness of adult‐born neurons.


About the book:
The power of modernity to secularise has been a foundational idea of the western world. Both social science and church history understood that the Christian religion from 1750 was deeply vulnerable to industrial urbanisation and the Enlightenment. But as evidence mounts that countries of the European world experienced secularising forces in different ways at different periods, the timing and causes of de-Christianisation are now widely seen as far from straightforward.
Secularisation in the Christian World brings together leading scholars in the social history of religion and the sociology of religion to explore what we know about the decline of organised Christianity in Britain, Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. The chapters tackle different strands, themes, comparisons and territories to demonstrate the diversity of approach, thinking and evidence that has emerged in the last 30 years of scholarship into the religious past and present. The volume includes both new research and essays of theoretical reflection by the most eminent academics. It highlights historians and sociologists in both agreement and dispute. With contributors from eight countries, the volume also brings together many nations for the first consolidated international consideration of recent themes in de-Christianisation. With church historians and cultural historians, and religious sociologists and sociologists of the godless society, this book provides a state-of-the-art guide to secularisation studies.


Objective: To compare socioeconomic, sociodemographic, and living area differences in children's use of GP services in five Nordic countries from the 1980s to the 1990s and to analyse trends during the period. Design: Cross sectional population surveys using random samples comprising 3000 children aged 2–17 years were conducted in 1984 and 1996 in five Nordic countries. Time trends in use of GP services were studied in each country by age, sex, parents' highest level of education, and living area. Setting: Five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden in 1984 and 1996. Participants: A total sample of 15 000 children aged 2–17 years. Altogether 3000 children were selected at random from the national population registers of the national bureaus of statistics in each country. Main outcome: Health services utilisation on the basis of responses to a questionnaire item asking whether the parents had consulted a GP with regard to their children's health during the previous three months. Main results: The prevalence of children's utilisation of GP services varied from 14% in 1984 in Sweden to 28% in 1996 in Iceland. A clear time trend towards increasing utilisation of GP services (p<0.05) was found in all countries except in Denmark. Odds ratios for time trends (1984 = 1.00) varied from 1.22 (1.02 to 1.46) in Sweden to 1.92 (1.62 to 2.30) in Norway. After adjusting for independent variables, a statistically borderline significant declining utilisation trend (OR = 0.85 (0.70 to 1.03)) was found for Denmark. Conclusion: Children's use of GP services has increased significantly in four of the five Nordic countries.


Curt Holmer was always interested in the practical applications of statistical energy analysis, and the author had many discussions with him regarding its uses, and areas of transition to deterministic analysis. In some of the latest discussions, the topic of the ''mid‐frequency range'' dominated, referred to by the author as ''the awkward zone.'' In this transition range between deterministic and fully probabilistic models, the greatest uncertainty may be in the joints—their actual location, and their rigidity. This suggests a hybrid approach, in which the substructures are treated as deterministic, and the joint locations and rigidities are uncertain, or in popular terms, fuzzy. This approach is exemplified by the joining of two plates by a link having a location and stiffness that are variable over a small range. The results of the analysis support such an approach, in that they show the kind of transition that has been noted in the awkward zone.


The quantum predictions for a single nonrelativistic spin-1/2 particle can be reproduced by noncontextual hidden variables. Here we show that quantum contextuality for a relativistic electron moving in a Coulomb potential naturally emerges if relativistic effects are taken into account. The contextuality can be identified through the violation of noncontextuality inequalities. We also discuss quantum contextuality for the free Dirac electron as well as the relativistic Dirac oscillator. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.87.022109


We assessed the question of side effects and of the accountability of mitigation measures in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses (AFOLU) sector in national greenhouse gas inventories, proposing a novel classification system of available mitigation measures on the basis of 'mitigation strategies' and 'mitigation mechanisms'. While the first differentiates measures which require collection of data from those for which specific emission factors or parameters need to be developed, the second groups mitigation measures according to the 'term' that is exploited to achieve emission reductions. We find that current IPCC methodologies provide a good basis to account for the majority of mitigation measures. Most of them will be reflected in national greenhouse gas inventories if default tier 1 approaches or (in some cases) national level tier 2 approaches are used (according to IPCC terminology). Efforts should be concentrated on improving data availability especially about management options, which is often the major obstacle in accounting for the effect of mitigation efforts. Examples include mitigation measures focusing on the improvement of feed intake of animals, or actions aimed at incrementing the soil organic carbon stock in agricultural soils through appropriate management practices. We conclude that simple farm level tools may have a good potential in collecting the data required, and offer the opportunity of full flexibility for the farmers to select concrete farm practice changes and monitor their performance.


Saline pollution attack is an important factor that leads to the deterioration of the concrete, especially in industrial plants. In spite of research address the sustainability of concrete and particularly steel rebar submeserged in it steel rebar is the most important causal factors the deterioration in the reinforced concrete the main aim of this research is study the effect of additives added to reduce superior degree water and two types of mineral additives that include silica fumes and steel fiber, as well as the combined effect of these additives on the properties of concrete. The experimental work of this measure include concrete specimens have been partially submerged in a solution of chlorides and sulfates in concentrations similar to those found in aggressive conditions. The properties of concrete specimens were evaluated through the properties investigated included ultrasonic plus velocity, compressive strength electrochemical potential for various types of mixes. Concrete mixed with 10% of silica shown development all properties of concrete, while these properties deceases values of mix reference coated with natural rubber (RFCNR) and steel fiber coated with natural rubber (STFCNR). The result coated specimens has shown resistance to corrosion greater than specimens without coated when immersion in salt solution. Thus group (RFCNR )shown more develops in all properties as compared with all other mixture immersed in salt solution for 180 days at odds with group ( SF-SP) which had development in all properties as compared with the reference mixture at 180 days of immersion in salt solution .


This work is devoted to an qoldq defect and its annealing characteristics, namely the divacancy center in Si. IR spectroscopy is applied to study the annealing kinetics of divacancy-related absorption peaks in electron-irradiated Czochralski-grown samples doped with B. In all specimens the kinetics show an exponential decay (first-order process) and a model taking into account both diffusion and dissocn. as annihilation mechanisms gives excellent quant. agreement with the exptl. results. Activation energy values extd. for diffusion and dissocn. are 1.28 eV and 1.71 eV, resp. In highly B-doped samples (0.1 Wcm), a strong dependence of the absorption bands on the Fermi-level position is obsd. during annealing .ltorsim.200 Deg and concurrently, a change of the divacancy charge state from neutral to singly pos. takes place. [on SciFinder (R)]


Abstract Quantitative X-ray mapping using an electron probe enables quantitative evaluation of inhomogeneities within rocks. Recent studies have proposed methods to construct quantitative chemical maps by combining X-ray maps with referential spot analyses within a mapped area. These approaches address matrix effects by assuming each pixel in the mapped area represents a single phase. In such cases, the spatial resolution of the X-ray maps must be sufficiently high to separate mineral phases. This study proposes a new procedure to reliably quantify centimeter-scale X-ray maps even if the maps contain an ineligible number of pixels analyzing multiple phases because of a large mapping probe diameter. Such multi-phase pixels are statistically classified into their constituent phases by introducing a distribution-based clustering analysis. Furthermore, based on referential spot analyses, we implemented corrections for matrix effects and the backgrounds of single- and multi-phase pixels. Our technique, termed QntMap, was developed as an open source R package and distributed on a social coding platform, GitHub (https://github.com/atusy/qntmap). We applied QntMap to calculate local bulk compositions within an ultrahigh-pressure eclogite from Nové Dvory, Czech Republic. The studied sample is a garnet-rich bimineralic eclogite that includes a 3 mm thick pyroxene-rich layer. A mapped area is approximately 3 × 1 cm in size and oriented normal to the layer. A profile normal to the layer shows increases in Cr2O3 (0.0 to 0.3 wt%) and XMg [Mg/(Fe+Mg) = 0.5 to 0.8] from the garnet-rich matrix toward the pyroxene-rich layer. A large variation in XMg and high-Cr2O3 contents in the pyroxene-rich layer are inconsistent with a cumulate origin. We suggest that the pyroxene-rich layer was derived from a pyroxenitic melt that intruded the eclogite.


Sociologists have theorized U.S. universities as a heterogenous organizational ecology. We use this lens to compare student debt and college prices for low-income students across public universities according to their research intensiveness and varied state grant aid policies. We show that students at research-intensive public universities have had an easier time repaying student loans than at other schools. By linking multiple data sets, we also provide the first comprehensive assessment for all 50 states of state-level need-based grant aid programs, which might alleviate loan repayment challenges. We find large disparities. California, Washington, Wyoming, and New Jersey spent more than $4,000 on aid per low-income student in 2015, more than the federal expenditure on Pell Grants for their state. Most states spend little in comparison. Contra the Bennett hypothesis, we also find that state need-based aid is strongly associated with both lower net prices and lower student loan nonrepayment rates.


Lean Manufacturing is currently the most important management method for manufacturing companies. The method, used in conjunction with the quality tool called "six sigma", is based on Toyota Production System and has been adapted by Womack and Jones, in 1995, for Western companies, referring to the real basic capabilities. Lean Manufacturing means flexible assembly cells or lines, more complex works, highly skilled workers, well manufactured products, a much larger variety of interchangeable parts, compulsorily an excellent quality, reduced costs by improving the production process, international markets and global competition [2]. TRW is an example of the practical application of these concepts, in the leather product preparation sector.


Contact: email@example.com. The authors declare that they have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. Also, the authors declare that the submitted paper is their original work and that, upon publication, nothing contained in it will not constitute an infringement of any copyright. Paper received 17.04.2017. Approved 30.05.2017.This paper is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derives 3.0. License. This paper is published with Open Access at www.humsettlement.net.


Susan Sontag (1933-2004) spoke of the promiscuity of art and literature--the willingness of great artists and writers to scandalize their spectators through critical frankness, complexity, and beauty. Sontag's life and thought were no less promiscuous. She wrote deeply and engagingly about a range of subjects--theater, sex, politics, novels, torture, and illness--and courted celebrity and controversy both publicly and privately. Throughout her career, she not only earned adulation but also provoked scorn. Her living was the embodiment of scandal. In this collection, Terry Castle, Nancy K. Miller, Wayne Koestenbaum, E. Ann Kaplan, and other leading scholars revisit Sontag's groundbreaking life and work. Against Interpretation, "Notes on Camp," Letter from Hanoi, On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, I, Etcetera, and The Volcano Lover--these works form the center of essays no less passionate and imaginative than Sontag herself. Debating questions raised by the thinker's own images and identities, including her sexuality, these works question Sontag's status as a female intellectual and her parallel interest in ambitious and prophetic fictional women; her ambivalence toward popular culture; and her personal and professional "scandals." Paired with rare photographs and illustrations, this timely anthology expands our understanding of Sontag's images and power.


Audio fingerprint techniques should be robust to a variety of distortions due to noisy transmission channels or specific sound processing. Although most of nowadays techniques are robust to the majority of them, the quasi-systematic use of a spectral representation makes them possibly sensitive to pitch-shifting. This distortion indeed induces a modification of the spectral content of the signal. In this paper, we propose a novel fingerprint technique, relying on a hashing technique coupled with a CQT-based fingerprint, with a strong robustness to pitch-shifting. Furthermore, we have associated this method with an efficient post-processing for the removal of false alarms. We also present the adaptation of a database pruning technique to our specific context. We have evaluated our approach on a real-life broadcast monitoring scenario. The analyzed data consisted of 120 hours of real radio broadcast (thus containing all the distortions that would be found in an industrial context). The reference database consisted of 30.000 songs. Our method, thanks to its increased robustness to pitch-shifting, shows an excellent detection score.


In this article, to assess the use of renewable energy sources, the method of social efficiency of substituting non-renewable fuels with renewable energy sources was used. Social efficiency means the difference of energy-environmental, economic or sociological effects connected with producing the same amount of usable product in conditions of applying reference fuel and renewable substitute energy source. The amount of useful product should equal the use of one substitute energy unit. The proposed method constitutes a generalization of the existing method of economic effect evaluation on the basis of the Economic Efficiency of Energy Substitution indicators (EEES). Furthermore, the relations of calculations which enable defining dimensionless indexes for the effects of interest and method of standardization of the social efficiency index were described. The procedure is applied for the evaluation of renewable energy sources (solar energy in solar collectors, boilers powered by biofuels and heat pumps using geothermal energy) to prepare hot tap water.


I and II Esdras is Volume 42 in the Anchor Bible series of new book-by-book translations of the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha, each by a preeminent scholar. Jacob M. Myers is Professor of Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg and the author of three earlier volumes in the series: I Chronicles and II Chronicles and Ezra, Nehemiah. The present work constitutes the first English commentary on I Esdras in sixty years and the first on II Esdras in forty.
 Written about 10 BCE, I Esdras is a history ranging from the pious reign of Josiah to the religious reforms of Ezra. For this period Josephus follows I Esdras in his Antiquities of the Jews.
 An apocalyptic work, written 250 years later, II Esdras seeks to offer strength, courage, and hope to those whose faith was severely shaken in the gloom and despondency that followed upon the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Its chief purpose was to inspire trust in God and the ultimate triumph of righteousness, if not in this world, then in the world to come. "Tracts for the times such as II Esdras," writes Dr. Myers in his preface, "have a message for us who in a revolutionary age are obsessed with the impatience reflected by Ezra; it was not that he lacked faith in God but that he, like Job, questioned his ways and the delay, perhaps seeming inactivity, in the face of what appeared to the prophet to be terrible urgencies. The questions posed are still asked in the context of our age."
 Eight photographs of ancient Near Eastern sculpture and coins help the reader visualize both the events recounted in I Esdras and the apocalyptic imagery in II Esdras. Each book has its own introduction and bibliography.


"This study is an attempt to develop and test a comprehensive model for Global Virtual Team (GVT) effectiveness based on development of collaborative partnership among diverse team members and the moderating role of collaborative technology and task. The conceptual model is based on traditional I-P-O framework for understanding GVT effectiveness. Team diversity in terms of surface level, functional, and deep level are treated as the central tenet of team inputs. Collaborative partnership elements are at the process level, moderated by task features and collaborative technology. At the outcome level, this study is more interested in GVT effectiveness as measured by team performance and individual team member satisfaction. Results from a field survey of 58 GVT in various industries indicate three levels of diversity and confirm the moderating role of task interdependence and collaborative technology. Results do not confirm the moderating role of task complexity on the relationship between diversity and collaborative partnership. Results also confirm mediating role of collaborative technology on the relationship between diversity and GVT effectiveness."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


ABSTRACT Many of the features that make estuaries among the most productive natural systems on earth also make them prone to acidification. Understanding the effects of estuarine acidification on different components of an ecological community is an important step in identifying indicators of ecosystem degradation. This study examined the impact of estuarine acidification, as a result of acid sulfate soil runoff, on wild Sydney rock oysters Saccostrea glomerata and their associated epifaunal communities in estuaries experiencing acid sulfate soil runoff in New South Wales, Australia. The responses of oysters and their invertebrate epifaunal communities to chronic acidification (greater than 6 mo; represented by oyster source site conditions) were assessed by examining the differences in oyster communities associated with moderate acidification (3.5 km from the source of acidification) or low acidification (8.2 km from the source). Oysters from moderate- or low-acidification sites were transplanted to a site with high exposure to acidification (less than 3 km from the source) or back to their original source sites (control) to mimic episodic acidification (2 wk). Epifaunal mussels Xenostrobus securis and limpets Patelloida mimula showed a negative association with oyster mortality, suggesting that these communities are closely tied to oyster survival. Oyster-associated epifaunal communities exposed to both chronic and episodic acidification were significantly different from communities with low exposure. Epifaunal communities exposed to episodic acidification were significantly less diverse than the control. Spionid and syllid worms were significantly less abundant and the mussel X. securis was significantly more abundant on oysters with moderate exposure or chronic exposure to acidification, as compared with communities from areas with low exposure to acidification. The mussel X. securis and the snail Bembicium auratum were significantly less abundant in oyster communities that were exposed to episodic acidification, as compared with the control. In systems where community composition depends on a single habitat-forming species, maintaining resistance may rely on the ability of that species to persist in the face of environmental stress.


Background: A limited or absent bronchodilator response is used to classify chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and can determine the treatment offered. The reliability of the recommended response criteria and their relationship to disease progression has not been established. Methods: 660 patients meeting European Respiratory Society (ERS) diagnostic criteria for irreversible COPD were studied. Spirometric parameters were measured on three occasions before and after salbutamol and ipratropium bromide sequentially or in combination over 2 months. Responses were classified using the American Thoracic Society/GOLD (ATS) and ERS criteria. Patients were followed for 3 years with post-bronchodilator FEV1 and exacerbation history recorded 3 monthly and health status 6 monthly. Results: FEV1 increased significantly with each bronchodilator, a response that was normally distributed. Mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was reproducible between visits (intraclass correlation 0.93). The absolute change in FEV1 was independent of the pre-bronchodilator value but the percentage change correlated with pre-bronchodilator FEV1 (r=−0.44; p<0.0001). Using ATS criteria, 52.1% of patients changed responder status between visits compared with 38.2% using ERS criteria. Smoking status, atopy, and withdrawing inhaled corticosteroids were unrelated to bronchodilator response, as was the rate of decline in FEV1, decline in health status, and exacerbation rate. Conclusion: In moderate to severe COPD bronchodilator responsiveness is a continuous variable. Classifying patients as "responders" and "non-responders" can be misleading and does not predict disease progression.


Geometrical birefringence in circular- and elliptical-hole square-lattice holey optical fibers having a core consisting of a multiple defect is investigated. The effect of unidirectional extension of the core area on the birefringence of these holey fibers (HFs) is discussed. We demonstrate that, as expected, a high birefringence can be induced in circular-hole HFs by unidirectional extension of the core area. In contrast, the maximum birefringence of elliptical-hole HFs, the holes of which have their major axes parallel to the long axis of the core, is achieved in a core structure that has a single defect. We also found that for elliptical holes having their major axes orthogonal to the long axis of the core, an exchange of the fast and slow modes occurs between the two orthogonally polarized fundamental modes by birefringence compensation.


(1.) In a paper published in the Annals of Philosophy for November and December 1824*, I gave an account of the order and characters of the strata which occur beneath the chalk on the coast of part of the Isle of Wight and of Dorsetshire, and stated some reasons for supposing that a similar arrangement would be found to exist in the interior of England. The principal objects of that paper were; First, to distinguish as a separate group, the series of strata now called the Lower Green-sand;––which had previously been confounded either with the beds containing green particles immediately below the chalk, or with the sandy and ferruginous strata conspicuously exhibited on the coast at Hastings, and then called "Iron-sand." Secondly, to indicate more clearly than had been done before, the peculiar characters of the group, which succeeds in a descending order to that just mentioned, and is remarkably distinguished by its fossils from the strata immediately in apposition with it, both above and below. For this latter group, which includes the Weald clay, the sand of Hastings, and the Purbeck limestone, and is well entitled to a separate denomination, I have adopted the name of " Wealden," proposed by Mr. Martin, in his valuable memoir on the West of Sussex †. (2.) The objects of the inquiries which have produced the following pages were, to compare some portions of the series of strata between the chalk and the Oxford oolite, in different parts of the South-east of


Albino strain KB20M1 of Monascus purpureus was genetically transformed to hygromycin B resistance with cosmid pMOcosX, using biolistic bombardment. Conidia and mycelial fragments were used as the recipient material and rupture disk strengths of 6.2 and 9.3 MPa each yielded a transformed isolate from five bombardments. Southern analysis suggested a single copy of the cosmid had integrated into each of the transformants. Both of the independent transformants formed cleistothecia but ascospore formation was greatly reduced or absent, suggesting the integration and expression of the genes carried on pMOcosX interfered with fertilization and/or ascospore formation in this homothallic fungus.


To quantify cellular toxic responses to drug treatment or environmental stresses such as nanoparticles, a high throughput imaging modality with automated image analysis protocol is applied. Fluorescence images from human H4 neurogliomal cells exposed to different concentrations of CuO nanoparticles were collected by a high content fluorescence microscopy. A fully automated fluorescent cellular image analysis system has been developed for the consequential image analysis for cell viability. A data-driven background algorithm was used as adaptive multiple thresholding algorithm to categorize the cells into three classes: bright cells, dark cells, and background. Our image analysis approach includes: (1) the scale-space theory, namely Gaussian filtering with proper scale has been applied to the acquired images to generate local intensity maxima within each cell; (2) a novel method for defining local image intensity maxima based on the gradient vector field has been developed; and (3) a statistical model was proposed to overcome the problem of cell segmentation. Our data have shown that the automated image analysis protocol can achieve 90% success rate of cell detection compared to manual procedure. Cellular image analysis further indicated that H4 neuroglioma cells had a dose-dependent toxic response to the insult of CuO nanoparticles.


The unit hydrograph (UH) is a hydrological tool that represents the unit response of a watershed to a unit input of rainfall. UH models based on lumped reservoir and channel conceptual cascade assume that rainfall is evenly distributed, thus limiting the use of UHs to relatively small watersheds of less than around 500 km2 in area. In this paper, a new hydrograph prediction method, named the generalized concentration curve (GCC), was derived that can be applied to large heterogeneous watersheds. The GCC method divides the watershed into subareas by isochrones. In each subarea, an independent linear reservoir-channel cascade model that considers both attenuation and translation is established. Comparative application of the GCC and the traditional Nash instantaneous unit hydrograph to 18 storm events from three medium-sized watersheds (727, 1,800 and 5,253 km2 in area) revealed superior performance of the GCC, with the average Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient higher by 7.66%, and the average peak discharge error lower by 4.14%. This study advances the theory of UH and expands the scope of application of UH to larger watersheds.


The Cambridge University's Gordon Laboratory, in collaboration with Fibertech and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in the UK, has developed a novel melt spun fiber bore called 'Fibrecore', fabricated entirely from stainless steel with thin faceplates. Fibrecore is typically manufactured by 5mm-long and 70μm thick stainless steel fibers, produced by a melt overflow process. Its entirely metallic construction allows spot welding and tungsten inert gas welding without difficulty. Fibrecore exhibits different energy absorption mechanisms such as core cushioning, core-faceplate delamination, and plastic faceplate deformation, often in a concertina-like fashion. Its low-cost, high structural efficiency and good energy absorption characteristics make it attractive for a range of commercial and military applications. Such applications being evaluated include vehicle body panels, exhaust system noise reduction, low cost filters, and lightweight physical protection. In addition to these characteristics, Fibrecore exhibits properties such as corrosion protection, vibrational damping, and thermal insulation, which also extend its applications.


Both in the days of Yugoslavia as well as after its collapse commitment has become the key category for reading Danilo Kis's works. It is exactly the category of the ethical commitment that became the point of reference of discussions about the writer associated with the existence of postmodernism in Serbia. It is also the same category that established Kis's status as one of the most noted writers of Central and Eastern Europe. The history of attacks on Kis will be supplemented with the newest postcolonial reinterpretations of his achievements initiated from the position of "commitment". The presented ways of using Kis's image and his artistic work confirm the Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's thesis that ethical purpose of postcolonial research is in fact "experiencing the impossible".


Get up to speed quickly with this compelling, full-color guide to Autodesk 3ds Max With its real-world, hands-on exercises, Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 Essentials helps new users learn the fundamentals of Autodesk 3ds Max quickly become productive. The task-based tutorials add real-world context that help you become familiar with the workflow scenarios of a professional environment, and provide that extra level of understanding to make you more proficient overall with the software. Updated for 3ds Max 2015 and recommended as a preparation resource for the 3ds Max certification exam, this guide teaches the basics of modeling, texturing, animating, and visual effects. You'll have fun creating a retro-style alarm clock, animating a thrown knife, modeling a chair, and more, all while you learn modeling, rigging, animating, rendering, architectural visualization, and other career-essential techniques. This colorful, engaging book features: Chapter-opening learning objectives Step-by-step tutorials Full-color screenshots and illustrations Downloadable exercise files Learn all the crucial techniques you'll need from authors Randi and Dariush Derakhshani, Autodesk Certified Instructors with years of professional experience under their belts. Artists, students, educators, and hobbyists will benefit from the guide's techniques and tutorials, getting to know the program as a whole and gaining insight into which aspects of the 3D production pipeline are most appealing. Whether you're a beginner or migrating from another 3D application, Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 Essentials provides the solid foundation.


The infrared limb spectra of the Michelson Inter- ferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on board the Envisat satellite include detailed information on tropospheric clouds and polar stratospheric clouds (PSC). However, no consolidated cloud product is available for the scientific community. Here we describe a fast prototype processor for cloud parameter retrieval from MIPAS (MIP- clouds). Retrieval of parameters such as cloud top height, temperature, and extinction are implemented, as well as re- trieval of microphysical parameters, e.g. effective radius and the integrated quantities over the limb path (surface area den- sity and volume density). MIPclouds classifies clouds as ei- ther liquid or ice cloud in the upper troposphere and polar stratospheric clouds types in the stratosphere based on statis- tical combinations of colour ratios and brightness tempera- ture differences. Comparison of limb measurements of clouds with model results or cloud parameters from nadir looking instruments is often difficult due to different observation geometries. We therefore introduce a new concept, the limb-integrated sur- face area density path (ADP). By means of validation and radiative transfer calculations of realistic 2-D cloud fields as input for a blind test retrieval (BTR), we demonstrate that ADP is an extremely valuable parameter for future compar- ison with model data of ice water content, when applying limb integration (ray tracing) through the model fields. In ad- dition, ADP is used for a more objective definition of detec- tion thresholds of the applied detection methods. Based on BTR, a detection threshold of ADP = 10 7 µm 2 cm 2 and an ice water content of 10 5 g m 3 is estimated, depending on the horizontal and vertical extent of the cloud. Intensive validation of the cloud detection methods shows that the limb-sounding MIPAS instrument has a sensitivity in detecting stratospheric and tropospheric clouds similar to that of space- and ground-based lidars, with a tendency for higher cloud top heights and consequently higher sensitivity for some of the MIPAS detection methods. For the high cloud amount (HCA, pressure levels below 440 hPa) on global scales the sensitivity of MIPAS is significantly greater than that of passive nadir viewers. This means that the high cloud fraction will be underestimated in the ISCCP dataset com- pared to the amount of high clouds deduced by MIPAS. Good correspondence in seasonal variability and geographical dis- tribution of cloud occurrence and zonal means of cloud top height is found in a detailed comparison with a climatology for subvisible cirrus clouds from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) limb sounder. Overall, val- idation with various sensors shows the need to consider dif- ferences in sensitivity, and especially the viewing geometries and field-of-view size, to make the datasets comparable (e.g. applying integration along the limb path through nadir cloud fields). The simulation of the limb path integration will be an important issue for comparisons with cloud-resolving global circulation or chemical transport models.


A 40-year-old male presented with a fresh case of pulmonary tuberculosis and itchy oozing rashes distributed characteristically over the sun exposed areas of the skin. These rashes had developed since six days following 10 days of start of antitubercular drugs (streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol at standard dosages). A possibility of drug-induced reaction was entertained and all the antitubercular drugs were discontinued; subsequently they were reintroduced in a sequential manner starting with small dosages, gradually increasing them to their normal dose. The rashes reappeared after introduction of pyrazinamide. We tried to desensitize this very important antitubercular drug but were not successful as the rashes reappeared. The patient was labeled as having pyrazinamide-induced phototoxicity and was started on a regimen containing streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol. Five months following treatment, the patient is now sputum negative for AFB. Pyrazinamide forms the integral part of most of the short course regimens, included in all the three categories of DOTS and with increasing coverage of DOTS therapy these rare cases may well be frequently encountered.


Knowledge of the partitioning behavior of trace elements between solid and liquid is a prerequisite for modern igneous and mantle petrology. Most of the mathematical models simulating melt generation, migration and evolution within the mantle and/or the crust require the availability of reliable solid/liquid partition coefficients for the mineral phases involved in the process.

Calcic amphiboles are extremely important for the understanding of lithospheric processes because of both their common occurrence in a variety of igneous and metamorphic rocks types and their capability of hosting a large number of geochemically important trace elements. A series of studies on the partitioning behavior of trace elements between calcic amphibole and silicate melt have therefore been carried out at different pressures, temperatures and system compositions during the last 15 years. However, due to the complex crystal chemistry of amphiboles, only few studies focused on the role of crystal structure and composition on amphibole-liquid partition coefficients (Amph/LD). In this chapter, present knowledge of the solid/ liquid trace element partitioning between calcic amphiboles and silicate melt is summarized and the role played by the crystal structure and melt composition on Amph/LD variations is highlighted in addition to the effects of pressure and temperature. The dataset used in this chapter includes only the results of experimental studies performed under well constrained P - T conditions for which trace element determinations were carried out with highly sensitive in situ microanalytical techniques.

The available dataset considered in this work are listed in Table 1⇓. Although far less common than the calcic amphiboles, potassic-richterites are potentially important in the generation of potassic magmatic rocks and in re-enrichment processes occurring in the subcontinental mantle lithosphere sampled as xenoliths in kimberlites. A comprehensive experimental study of trace element partitioning between synthetic potassic richterites and silicate melts has …


Competitive and facilitative interactions are common throughout the rocky subtidal and may be important when determining organism distribution and abundance. In this study, we used the corallimorpharian Corynactis californica to examine these relationships as they develop spatially and temporally between 2 kelp forest habitats. Sampling along Santa Catalina Island, California, USA, demonstrated that C. californica densities are up to 4-fold greater under canopies of the stipitate kelp Eisenia arborea than in areas just outside the canopy. Stipitate kelp canopies can act as foundation species by modifying critical resources (e.g. light and flow) that mediate understory assemblages. It was determined that the understory algal community is 17% less dense and is distinguished by branching red algae, whereas the non-shaded community is characterized by dense stands of foliose and decumbent brown algae. This study quantified the relationship among benthic macroalgae and C. californica to determine whether macroalgae were negatively or positively affecting C. californica distributions. Permanent 25 × 25 cm quadrats were established in both the canopy and open habitat, and understory algal biomass was manipulated with 3 treatments: (1) 100% removal; (2) thinning by 50%; and (3) no removal (control). All treatments were censused and maintained monthly for 1 yr. C. californica abundance increased in the control treatments in both habitats, and to the greatest extent under E. arborea canopies, suggesting a positive interaction between understory macroalgae and C. californica. The results of this study indicate that E. arborea creates a unique habitat that dif- fers in water flow, light attenuation, and in composition and density of macroalgae. The combination of these factors under the E. arborea canopy may support large aggregations of C. californica (up to 3200 m -2 ) in an otherwise sub-optimal habitat compared to subtidal vertical walls.


The variance-to-mean ratios of counts accumulated during a time-gate were measured as a function of gate width for several Geiger-Mueller(GM) and neutron proportional counters. The measured ratios asymptotically decreased with an increase in gate width. The ratio for a GM counter was saturated in about 400 μs of gate width, while that for a neutron counter was done in about 40 μs. Applying the first- and second-order formulae derived from the Muller's expression for the variance-to-mean ratio, the dead times of these counters were inferred from these saturated ratios. In the count-rate range above 1,000cps for the GM counter and above 12,000cps for the neutron counter, the dead times obtained by the first-order formula apparently depended on count rate. On the contrary, the application of the second-order formula sufficiently reduced the count-rate dependence. The dead times obtained by the second-order formula were consistent with those by the previous two-source or reactor-power variational methods.


ABSTRACT Pu, R.; Bell, S., and English, D., 2015. Developing hyperspectral vegetation indices for identifying seagrass species and cover classes. Seagrass habitats are characteristic features of shallow waters worldwide and provide a variety of ecosystem functions. To date, few studies have evaluated the efficiency of spectral vegetation indices (VIs) for characterizing aquatic plants. Here we evaluate the use of in situ hyperspectral data and hyperspectral VIs for distinguishing among seagrass species and levels of percentage submerged aquatic vegetation (%SAV) cover in a subtropical shallow water setting. Analysis procedures include (1) retrieving bottom reflectance, (2) calculating correlation matrices of VIs with %SAV cover and F value matrices from analysis of variance among species, (3) testing the difference of VIs between levels of %SAV cover and between species, and (4) discriminating levels of %SAV cover and species by using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and classification and regression trees (CART) classifiers with selected VIs as input. The experimental results indicated that (1) the best VIs for discriminating the four levels of %SAV cover were simple ratio (SR) VI, normalized difference VI (NDVI), modified simple ratio VI, and NDVI × SR, whereas the best VIs for distinguishing the three seagrass species included the weighted difference VI, soil-adjusted VI (SAVI), SAVI × SR and transformed SAVI; (2) the optimal central wavelengths for constructing the best VIs were 460, 500, 610, 640, 660, and 690 nm with spectral regions ranging from 3 to 20 nm at band width 3 nm, most of which were associated with absorption bands by photosynthetic and other accessory pigments in the visible spectral range. Compared with LDA, CART performed better in discriminating the four levels of %SAV cover and identifying the three seagrass species.


Abstract The amount of dissolved CO2 (CO2aq) in Lake Nyos, Cameroon, has been measured annually since January 2011. First, concentration was estimated by a chemical analysis with the assumption of equilibria between CO2aq, and . The estimated was correlated with the observed electrical conductivity of lake water. The profile of [CO2aq] was generated from the electrical conductivity, pH and temperature profiles. The [CO2aq] profile was integrated over the water column to obtain the total amount of CO2aq. The amounts were 8.4, 6.8, 5.5, 4.4 and 3.9 Gmol (=109 mol) in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. The fast reduction between 2011 and 2013 was attributed to the installation of two additional degassing pipes in April 2011. However, the rate of reduction decreased between 2014 and 2015 due to the reduced [CO2aq] at the inlet of the degassing pipes.


An ordinary differential equation model was developed to simulate dynamics of Staphylococcus aureus mastitis. Data to estimate model parameters were obtained from an 18-month observational study in three commercial dairy herds. A deterministic simulation model was constructed to estimate values of the basic (R0) and effective (Rt) reproductive number in each herd, and to examine the effect of management on mastitis control. In all herds R0 was below the threshold value 1, indicating control of contagious transmission. Rt was higher than R0 because recovered individuals were more susceptible to infection than individuals without prior infection history. Disease dynamics in two herds were well described by the model. Treatment of subclinical mastitis and prevention of influx of infected individuals contributed to decrease of S. aureus prevalence. For one herd, the model failed to mimic field observations. Explanations for the discrepancy are given in a discussion of current knowledge and model assumptions.


English plays a key role in Kenya's educational system, not only as an important subject but especially as the medium of instruction. It has been claimed that the model and the norm of the English used in Kenya, apart from pidgin varieties, is the British Standard variety and in particular, Received Pronunciation (RP) (Schmied, 1990; Zuengler, 1982). Is this indeed the case? If not, what are the actual norms of correctness and appropriateness with regard to pronunciation, grammar, semantics, or pragmatics within the Kenyan community? There exists a discrepancy between the theoretical norm and the actual language behaviour, what challenges does this state of affairs present to an education system that relies heavily on the use of the English language? In examining these issues the paper adopts a historical perspective and discusses the factors that indicate the presence of a discrepancy between a theoretical norm and the actual language behaviour and then explores the consequences of such a situation. It also considers the valuable lessons that could be learnt, firstly from local creative writers' adaptation to the sociolinguistic/sociocultural reality, secondly from the move towards the democratisation and Africanisation of education in Kenya's history, and thirdly from what is happening in other non-native English contexts.


Reef sharks (fam. Carcharhinidae) are high-order predators, found throughout the Indo-
Pacific. I examined the abundance, growth, reproduction and demography of two
species of reef carcharhinid; the grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) and the
whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus), and investigated the genetic stock structure of
T. obesus across the Indo-Pacific.

Underwater visual census protocols were successfully developed, and provided realtime,
fisheries-independent estimates of reef carcharhinid abundances. Visual censusing
of a minimally-exploited reef system ascertained that reef crest was the preferred habitat
of T. obesus and C. amblyrhynchos, while the blacktip reef shark (C. melanopterus) was
more abundant in reef flat and lagoon habitats. Reef carcharhinid densities were low,
and even in the most abundant habitat, did not exceed 3.5 sharks hectare-1. Visual
censuses across reef systems in the Indian and Pacific Oceans found consistently low
numbers of reef sharks, with most regions having less than 0.5 sharks hectare-1. Closer
investigation of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) revealed a significant effect of
fishing management on reef shark abundance. All levels of fishing pressure impacted
upon reef carcharhinid abundance, with reductions on fished reefs of up to 80% and
97% for T. obesus and C. amblyrhynchos, respectively. This suggests that reef shark
populations are particularly vulnerable to population depletion. The inability of marine
protected areas to provide refuge for reef carcharhinids was highlighted and discussed.

Age and growth characteristics of T. obesus and C. amblyrhynchos populations from the
Great Barrier Reef were examined through vertebral thin sections. Both shark species grew slowly, with longevities of 19 years. Females out-lived males in both species.
Both sexes of C. amblyrhynchos grew at similar rates, while sexually-dimorphic growth
rates were observed in older T. obesus. Age estimates were preliminarily validated
through oxytetracyclined recaptures of C. amblyrhynchos, while characterisation of the
vertebral edge provided strong evidence that T. obesus also lays annual growth bands.

Females matured 1-2 years later than males, at 8 and 11 years for T. obesus and C.
amblyrhynchos, respectively. Mean litter sizes were comparable with smaller (<1 m)
carcharhinids. Litter sizes initially increased with female body size in C.
amblyrhynchos, reaching 3-4 pups per breeding for most of their reproductive life.
Litter sizes ranged between 1-4 pups per breeding in T. obesus, with a mean of 2 pups
per breeding, irrespective of female somatic size. Breeding occurs biennially in both
species, with an offspring sex ratio of 1:1. For the longevities recorded, maximum
reproductive output was estimated at 12 pups per female for both species.

Population dynamics of the two species were analysed using age-based (Leslie)
matrices. Using two methods of mortality estimation, annual decline rates of 6.3-8.8%
year-1 and 10.3-15.2% year-1 were found for T. obesus and C. amblyrhynchos,
respectively. This suggests that reef carcharhinids are overfished on the Great Barrier
Reef. Based on current (albeit exploited) demographic parameters, the natural rates of
population growth were estimated at 3.4-5.7% year-1 for T. obesus, and 0.8–3.5% year-1
for C. amblyrhynchos. Elasticity analyses and reproductive values showed that juvenile
survival is the most important component of each species lifespan. However, catch
analyses revealed that a high proportion of juveniles are taken in both species
(especially C. amblyrhynchos). At the current rates of decline, abundances of T. obesus
and C. amblyrhynchos are forecast to decline to 16-27% and 4-12% of current levels on
fished reefs in the next 20 years, respectively.

Development of an in-situ underwater biopsy probe enabled non-lethal, minimally
invasive, collection of reef carcharhinid tissues. High levels of genetic differentiation
were found in T. obesus across the Indo-Pacific, as well as between two contiguous sites
on the Great Barrier Reef. Genetic separation did not correlate with geographic
separation, suggesting that T. obesus has a high degree of site fidelity on coral reefs,
even when migrations are possible. On an evolutionary scale, it was found that the
Indian Ocean was invaded first by T. obesus, with Pacific Ocean invasion occurring
simultaneously with a second Indian Ocean invasion.

The unique combination of fisheries-independent abundance counts, population
dynamics and investigation of genetic stock structure provides a comprehensive
overview of the low abundance and slow population dynamics of coral reef
carcharhinids. Findings from this PhD provide further evidence of the variety of age and
reproductive strategies employed by the family Carcharhinidae, and a scientific basis
for future decisions regarding reef carcharhinid management.


In 1962 The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission published TLD-14844, "Calculation of Distance Factors for Power and Test Reactors" which specified a release of fission products from the core to the reactor containment in the event of a postulated accident involving a "substantial meltdown of the core." This "source term," the basis for the NRC's Regulatory guides 1.3 and 1.4, has been used to determine compliance with the NRC's reactor site criteria, 10 CFR Part 100, and to evaluate other important plant performance requirements. During the past 30 years substantial additional information on fission product releases has been developed based on significant severe accident research. This document utilizes this research by providing more realistic estimates of the "source term" release into containment, in terms of timing, nuclide types, quantities, and chemical form, given a severe core-melt accident. This revised "source term" is to be applied to the design of future Light Water Reactors (LWRs). Current LWR licensees may voluntarily propose applications based upon it. These will be reviewed by the NRC staff.


Much of the way in which rehabilitation practitioners, educators, and researchers undertake their work is guided by the model of disability to which they subscribe (Harper, 1991; Tate & Pledger, 2003). Models of disability define disability, determine casual and responsibility attributions, influence professional practice, drive payment systems, and guide legislation (Dembo, 1982; Hahn, 1993; Nagi, 1969; Zola, 1989). Models of disability permeate every professional relationship in rehabilitation; these models also serve as the structure for rehabilitation and disability research development, providing the rationale for the funding of large studies. Further, every type of rehabilitation/disability resource allocation has its basis in a model of disability and agency policies and regulations trace their origins to a model of disability (Albrecht, 1981, 1992; Berkowitz, 1987; Bickenbach, 1993; Fox, 1993; Wolfensberger, 1972). Thus, the daily lives of people with disabilities, if and how they are educated, if and where they work, and their social and familial life, in large part are determined by models of disability. Perhaps, most important, models of disability exert a powerful influence on the public perception of disability and the public's response to people with disabilities. Consequently, models of disability have the capacity to shape the self-identity of those with disabilities (Conrad, 2004; Davis, 1997; Hannah & Midlarsky, 1987; Hulnick & Hulnick, 1989; Longmore, 1995; Nagi, 1969). Surprisingly, the power of models of disability is rarely acknowledged or addressed; nor, are these models questioned or challenged (Gill, Kewman, & Brannon, 2003; Harper, 1991; Pledger, 2003). Indeed, most practitioners are only marginally aware that there are other models and that patients/clients/consumers may, and often do, subscribe to a different model. A therapeutic alliance, therefore, is difficult to establish if the professional and client define the disability differently and, as a result, envision different treatments and services. Most practitioners function in the way in which they have been educated and trained (Bauman & Drake, 1997; Bluestone, Stokes, & Kuba, 1996; Gill et al., 2003; Hogben & Waterman, 1997; Kemp & Mallinkrodt, 1996; Parsons, Hernandez, & Jorgensen, 1998). For example, if a practitioner has been trained to view disability as solely a clinical concept, he or she will conceptualize the necessary response to be clinical treatment. Models of disability are the underlying structure for large, complex diagnostic/defining systems, such as the International Classification of Disabilities, Impairments, and Handicaps--2 (ICIDH-2) (WHO, 1993, 2001) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV--Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000) and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF, World Heath Organization, 2001). In turn, these diagnostic systems are used not only for clinical purposes but also for research development, and administrative and social planning. Diagnoses, therefore, have profound political, social, and financial consequences (Hahn, 1985; Smart, 2005b). Models provide both casual and responsibility attributions; these attributions determine which academic disciplines study and teach the disability experience. If disability is viewed as only a medical concern, then the cultural, historical, social, and political aspects will not be taught in psychology, sociology, political, science, law, or history curricula. Moreover, most people with disabilities, after medical stabilization has been achieved, consider the social, cultural, and political aspects of the disability experience to be their most important concern (Bowe, 1980; Dembo, 1974; Smart, 2005a, 2005b). However, it is likely that there are few professionals, who possess the adequate background, training and clinical experience to provide these social, cultural, and family support services. …


Yasuda Yojūrō's 1936 "Nihon no hashi" (Japanese bridges) was among the most influential essays of its time. A discursive reflection on the place of Japanese bridges in the Japanese cultural imagination, "Nihon no hashi" earned Yasuda, the inspirational center of the Japanese Romantic Movement, the fervent devotion of his readers during the 1930s and the vilification of intellectuals after the war. Yasuda's aura, projected from this essay as from no other, made him an emblem and embodiment of an age and a spirit. To many of his readers, in essays like "Nihon no hashi" Yasuda provided an antidote to a spiritual and cultural crisis in the beautification of sacrifice and violence; to later critics like Ōoka Makoto, Yasuda and his writing were toxic, to be treated like "radioactive substance disposed of deep in the sea." This translation of "Nihon no hashi" attempts to give a sense of the power and strangeness of the original work by preserving its slippery and at times maddeningly opaque expository slides.


The Ninth Malaysia Plan, which is one step on the way to achieve Vision 2020, features a separate section on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). It assigns responsibilities for TVET teacher education at the various levels to specific institutions such as polytechnics and community colleges. Malaysia will also face significant challenge as the country is set to become industrialized. Strategic knowledge and skill have to be the basic form of capital to position Malaysia towards industrialization. The education system especially in TVET must yield K-workers to push Malaysia into the K-economy. The Malaysian government has been dedicated to reform the education system and to place Malaysia into a world-class education hub. One critical strategy taken by the government is to implement the National Dual Training System (NDTS). Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) has been the key institution that strives to fulfil the national objective. UTHM offers and supply qualified TVET professionals at the academic levels of Bachelor, Master, and PhD programme to enrich the human capital of the nation. Due to the active international involvement and excellence recognition of UTHM as a TVET provider, a cross country research project involving UTHM from Malaysia, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) from Spain, The Institute Technik und Bildung (ITB), Universitat Bremen from Germany and Vocational Education Development Centre (VEDC) Malang, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) Bandung and Technical Education Development Centre (TEDC) Bandung from Indonesia has agreed to partnership cooperation on a research project funded by the European Union Asia Link project headed by ITB. The research is focus on the development of trans-national standards of teacher training, their accreditation as well as the development of curricula. To strengthen the international collaboration, UTHM has taken an innovative initiative to work closely with the Universitat Bremen from Germany to structure a German-Malaysian PhD programme. The cooperative program will facilitate the reorganization of Malaysia's professional training scheme by benchmarking the German's work-based TVET system. Currently, 18 candidates have already enrolled into the programme pursuing their doctorate academic advancement. As the Prime Minister of Malaysia put forward in his speech "We will need more thought-leaders, creators and innovators to achieve our aspirations", this PhD graduates will definitely becoming the backbone to our NDTS transformation. The paper will highlight the existence, process and implementation of the innovative German-Malaysia Joint PhD programme.


I. INTRODUCTION The development of environmental standards at financial institutions is arguably among the most important international environmental law developments in the past two decades, yet these standards bear little resemblance to traditional visions of international law and may not even rightly be labeled international law at all. The standards are neither treaties nor custom, although they may reflect emerging principles of international law.1 Moreover, their development and implementation owe less to nation-states, the traditional monopolizers of international lawmaking authority, than to the financial institutions and civil society networks formed to influence those institutions. Environmental and social standards now exist for virtually all international sources of project finance capital: the World Bank ("Bank") and other multilateral development banks ("MDBs"),2 the International Finance Corporation ("IFC"),3 export credit and insurance agencies ("ECAs"),4 and even many private commercial banks.5 These financial institutions ("FIs") have each established their own sets of environmental and social policies, frequently with cross-references to one another's standards. This mutual incorporation reflects a process of upward harmonization driven largely by three factors: (1) cross-fertilization of ideas and demands made by interconnected civil society organizations ("CSOs") and networks;6 (2) recognition by FIs and their clients, particularly private sector borrowers, that compliance with harmonized standards would be easier than with a multiplicity of different standards; and (3) efforts to reflect the goals and objectives of international law relating to sustainable development.7 This Article describes the recent emergence of standards for sustainable finance across a variety of FIs and the implications of those standards for the progressive development of international environmental law. Section II examines the evolution of sustainable development standards at the various FIs. Section III describes the structure and impact of the CSO networks that have influenced development of the standards and continue to monitor their implementation. Section IV identifies some of the implications of the development of these standards for international environmental lawmaking more generally. II. THE EVOLUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL STANDARDS IN INTERNATIONAL FINANCE A. DEVELOPMENT OF SAFEGUARD POLICIES AT THE WORLD BANK GROUP The public became concerned over the World Bank's role in controversial infrastructure projects during the 1970s and 1980s. Projects such as the Sardar Sarovar dam in India's Narmada Valley and the Polonoroeste highway in the Brazilian Amazon led to worldwide civil society opposition, because they were designed with limited concern for impacts on local communities and the environment.8 In response to these criticisms, the World Bank Group began to strengthen its policies to protect vulnerable communities, to ensure sustainable use of natural resources, and to encourage greater community participation.9 These environmental and social policies, collectively known at the World Bank Group as the "safeguard policies," require, among other things, environmental assessments ("EAs") of projects before financing is approved,10 compensation for people involuntarily resettled for bank-financed projects,11 and protection for certain procedural and substantive rights of indigenous peoples when projects impact their lands.12 Key requirements in each of the ten environmental and social safeguard policies are summarized in the table below. The cornerstone of the World Bank's safeguard policy system is the environmental assessment policy. All World Bank-financed projects are screened into three categories depending on the extent of environmental impacts associated with the project. "Category A" projects, which have "significant adverse impacts that are sensitive, diverse, or unprecedented," must undergo a full environmental assessment. …


While a nascent body of research investigates the shift in sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA's) disease burden towards non-communicable diseases (NCDs), very few studies have investigated mental health, specifically depression and anxiety (DA), in SSA. Using the 2012--13 Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH), this paper provides a first picture of the demography of DA among mature adults (= persons aged 45+) in a low-income high HIV-prevalence context. DA are more frequent among women than men, and individuals are often affected by both. DA are associated with adverse outcomes, such as less nutrition intake and reduced work efforts. DA also increase substantially with age for both females and males, and mature adults can expect to spend a substantial fraction of their remaining life time---for instance, 52% for a 55 year old woman--affected by DA. The positive age-gradients of DA are not due to cohort effects, and they are in sharp contrast to the age pattern of mental health that have been shown in high-income contexts where older individuals often experience lower levels of DA and better subjective well-being than middle-aged individuals. While socioeconomic and risk/uncertainty-related stressors are strongly associated with DA, they do not explain the positive age gradients and gender gap in DA. Stressors related to physical health, however, do. Hence, our analyses suggest that the general decline of physical strength and health with age, as is indicated by hand grip strength, and the interference of poor physical health with daily activities, are key drivers of the rise of DA with age among mature adults.


Studies conducted since the late 1970's have estimated the net energy value of corn ethanol. However, variations in data and assumptions used among the studies have resulted in a wide range of estimates. This study identifies the factors causing this wide variation and develops a more consistent estimate. We conclude that the net energy value of corn ethanol has become positive in recent years due to technological advances in ethanol conversion and increased efficiency in farm production. We show that corn ethanol is energy efficient as indicated by an energy ratio of 1.24.


In the face of global climate change and the need to urgently transition from fossil fuels to a low carbon economy, bioenergy derived from plant biomass has the potential to provide a diverse range of renewable and sustainable solid and liquid fuels. Second generation (2G) lignocellulosics are dedicated bioenergy crops; ideally cultivated on marginal lands with minimal agricultural inputs or competition with food production. The model tree poplar is a fast growing, genetically diverse and widespread hardwood and has great potential for commercial development as a feedstock for cellulosic biorefineries. At this time however, lignocellulosics such as poplar have not received the same research and breeding effort as many food crops. Chapter 2 of this work demonstrates that a substantial yield gap exists for 2G bioenergy crops, which will hamper commercialisation. This yield gap may be closed through sustainable intensification and advanced, molecular breeding techniques offer the potential to increase the efficiency and timeliness of this improvement process. These advanced breeding techniques require an understanding of the genetic basis of traits of interest. To this end Chapters 3 and 4 are centred on a natural, wide population of Populus nigra Linnaeus (black poplar) genotypes, drawn from across the western European range of this species. This highly diverse population has been cultivated under short rotation coppice (SRC) in two field trials in the UK and Italy and phenotyped for important bioenergy traits related to biomass yield, wood quality, leaf development and drought tolerance. The population has also been genotyped; firstly using an Illumina 12K BeadChip array and secondly with targeted, sequence capture genotyping by sequencing (GBS) of the annotated gene space. These single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been employed to analyse the population genetic structure of European P. nigra and in genome wide association genetics; identifying trait-marker associations and candidate genes for quantified phenotypes. These data will be valuable for the molecular breeding and commercialisation of bioenergy poplar.


This year sees the 300th anniversary of Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi–The Art of Conjecturing. It transformed gamblers' "expectations" into modern mathematical probabilities. More importantly, it sets forth what Bernoulli called his "golden theorem"– the law of large numbers – which underpins the whole of statistical inference. Professor Anthony Edwards digs deep.


This document provides benchmarking terminology and methodology for
next-generation network security devices including next-generation
firewalls (NGFW), intrusion detection and prevention solutions (IDS/
IPS) and unified threat management (UTM) implementations. The document
aims to strongly improve the applicability, reproducibility, and
transparency of benchmarks and to align the test methodology with
today's increasingly complex layer 7 application use cases. The
main areas covered in this document are test terminology, traffic
profiles and benchmarking methodology for NGFWs to start with.


Technological advances have allowed neuroscientists to identify brain differences between women and men, which may lead to explanations for sex-biased population differences in behavior and brain-based disorders. Although the research is at its early stages, this is an appropriate time to examine some of the potential legal implications of these findings. This Article examines that question in the context of tort law, especially how scientific findings may affect the use of the reasonable person standard in emotional injury claims. Specifically, studies suggest that there may be distinct sex-based mechanisms involved in reactions to extreme stress, raising the question of whether women experience and process stress and trauma differently than men.

This Article argues that these studies may eventually inform the use of the reasonableness standard for freestanding emotional harm claims. As science further develops, courts may either apply a reasonable woman standard in limited contexts or at least allow jurors to consider evidence of sex-based differences in applying a reasonable person standard. Recognizing these differences, courts have already begun to apply the reasonable woman standard to hostile workplace environment claims, and science may support broader use of that standard, especially for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional harm claims.


ABSTRACT Analysis of 511 syringoporid coral colonies, collected from 64 Mississippian sections totalling about 140,000 stratigraphic ft (42,672 m) in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains, indicates that three genera, five species and four subspecies are present. Parameters considered important in differentiation are wall thickness and tabular pattern for generic, and corallite diameter and spacing (frequency) for specific and subspecific differentiation. Genera recognized are Syringopora, Pleurosiphonella and Oharaia nov. Species of Syringopora are S. harveyi White from the Banff and Pekisko Formations; S. harveyi subsp. A. nov., S. harveyi subsp. B. nov. and S. harveyi subsp. rudyi Nelson from the Shunda Formation; and S. harveyi subsp. dingmanae Nelson and S. bassoi Nelson from the Mount Head Formation. Syringopora from the underlying Turner Valley Formation belong to the S. harveyi group but are too sparsely distributed for analysis. In Canada these species of Syringopora range from Kinderhookian through Meramecian. They are diagnosed by having thin walls and centrally or subcentrally located infundibular tabulae. They contrast with Pleurosiphonella and Oharaia that have overlapping and higher ranges -- from Meramecian through Chesterian -- and are diagnosed by proportionally thicker walls and exocentric infundibular or vesicular tabulae. Pleurosiphonella has very thick walls and vesicular tabulae; Oharaia has proportionally thinner walls and typically infundibular tabulae. Pleurosiphonella, represented only by P. virginica (Butts), is Meramecian and very low Chesterian, extending through the Mount Head and lower Etherington Formations. Oharaia is represented by O. magnussoni (Nelson) and O. drummondi (Nelson). Oharaia magnussoni is Upper Meramecian and Lower Chesterian; that is, upper Mount Head to lower Etherington. Except for one questionable occurrence in the Mount Head, O. drummondi is known from only one locality in the uppermost Etherington Formation, considered Upper Chesterian. Syringoporid corals show promise in intra- and intercontinental correlation. The three subspecies of the Osagean Shunda S. harveyi appear to be present in the approximately coeval Redwall Formation of Arizona. Pleurosiphonella virginica, a common and characteristic Meramecian species, extends from Virginia to the northern Yukon Territory and may be conspecific with P. crustosa Tchudinova from the Ural Mountains and Armenia of the U.S.S.R. Oharaia drummondi has been identified from Wyoming, appearing in the same stratigraphic position as its Canadian counterpart.


The basic economic goal of copyright law is to balance an author's incentive to create with his or her ability to build on prior work in order to maximize social wealth. This balance is extremely important for computer software. On the one hand, software is often expensive to create and companies therefore need protection in order to recoup their investment. On the other hand, software is often expensive to create and companies can save costs by reusing pre-existing work. Quite often, the same companies that want to protect their software also want to use pre-existing work. As a result of the competing costs and benefits of copyright protection and the general complexity of computer software, the state of copyright law with respect to computer software has been in flux since the early 1980's and is still not settled. It appears that federal courts have been able to determine efficient economic outcomes based on the cases before them, but they have been unable to settle on a rule that definitively determines how much reuse to allow in each case. How should a court go about deciding when reuse should and should not be allowed? While case law and traditional economic analysis provide general solutions, they do not guide courts in specific cases. This paper analyzes the problem that courts face in computer software copyright cases, presents an economic model that describes this problem, and presents a set of economic based factors that can be used by courts to obtain efficient solutions in each case.


This paper examines James Steuart's explanation of the emergence of commercial nations. Unlike other Scottish thinkers of the time, Steuart argues that artifice is necessary for the rise of commercial societies. He uses the term "artificial" to refer to a devised process, one that is an alternative to the supposedly natural process arising from innate propensities. The system of trade and commerce is an "artifice" created by merchants to obtain benefits, and established by the sovereign for his ostentation and personal prestige, until it became generalized as a commercial nation. Steuart's explanation of the emergence of commercial nations accounts for how individuals become dependent on and subordinate to the public market. This paper concludes that Steuart's Political Œconomy promotes a science of the artificial that seeks to understand the functioning of non-natural mechanisms and to create instruments that the statesman adapts to the needs and objectives of individuals.


ALU Insertion Polymorphisms in Populations of the South Caucasus An analysis of eight Alu insertion loci (ACE, ApoA1, PV92, TPA25, NBC27, NBC102, NBC148 and NBC182) was carried out in three ethnic groups of the South Caucasus (Abkhazians, Armenians and Georgians). Genetic differentiation between these groups (Gst = 1%) was half as much as in European populations and four time less than in populations of Dagestan. Although it was not possible to determine a contribution of Neolithic farmers to the Caucasian gene pool, the principal component analysis showed clear differences between these populations and those of Europe, Siberia and Asia. No evidence of correlation between genetic and linguistic data in our populations was disclosed. However, long-term habitation on common territory has led to common cultural, anthropological and detectable genetic traits.