Public funders and private investors are pouring billions of dollars into Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) in the developing world. In REDD+, investors pay people to preserve carbon in trees, and then sell credits based on the stored carbon to those who wish to offset their own greenhouse gas emissions. REDD+ promises a dynamic synergism that mitigates climate change, conserves biodiversity, and alleviates poverty. When done poorly, however, REDD+ may dispossess already impoverished people from their sources of sustenance and may do little to mitigate climate change or conserve biodiversity. Including indigenous, forest-dependent, and other local people in all aspects of planning and implementing REDD+ is not only prudent practice — it is increasingly required by international law, and, I explain, is an essential ingredient in sustainable (effective, synergistic, and equitable) REDD+ Yet fulfilling these Environmental Democracy norms is nigh impossible in REDD+. What then? In this project, I review the current international legal status of Environmental Democracy, i.e., the right to participate in environmental decision making; the right to acquire information on environmental decisions; the right to redress and remedy when environmental rights are violated; and the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent when decisions are made that will affect vital resources and lands. I explain and expand current thinking of how the aspirational language of the principles ought to be implemented, and connect the principles' relevance to REDD+, currently the most important laboratory for expanding Environmental Democracy in international conservation and development work. To illustrate how Environmental Democracy is or is not working in REDD+, I explore examples from Vietnam and Cambodia, where I conducted fieldwork in December 2012. I conclude that while stakeholders in REDD+ are making progress towards genuine Environmental Democracy, they have a ways to go to fulfill their legal and ethical obligations towards communities in which REDD+ is launching. After explaining why genuine Environmental Democracy in REDD+ is currently impracticable — and perhaps impossible — I conclude that REDD+'s promised benefits nonetheless justify carefully continuing it. I suggest how REDD+ project developers can fulfill the legal exigencies of Environmental Democracy, both as a matter of equity, and as a pragmatic approach to maximizing benefits for human and nonhuman communities.


When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd o by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.


Objective: to evaluate the safety and applicability of the ultrasound diagnostic procedure in comparison to Radiography for detecting femur bone fractures in lower limbs.
Methods: We assessed 30 injured patients with suspected femur bones fracture that had presented to the ED. The patients were older than 18 years that transferred to the resuscitation room of the ED. Then, bedside ultrasound was performed for them. After the clinical conditions became stable, the patients were referred to the radiography unit for imaging. The findings are separately and blindly assessed, then would be compared with together. Sensitivity, specificity, the positive and negative predictive values and P-value were measured to appraisal the accuracy of ultrasound as compared with radiography (gold standard).
Results: The results of sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for bones fracture of femur with linear array transducer of portable sonography and P-value not significant statistically. Sensitivity, positive predictive value and P-value for diagnosis of femur shaft fractures with deep array transducer of ultrasound were 90%, 47.3% and 0.0006 (<0.05), respectively.
Conclusion: In our study, evidences showed ultrasound is accurate equally to radiography for fractures diagnosis of shaft of femur in lower limb with deep array transducer of ultrasound in adults.


The Campanian Shannon Sandstone Member of the Cody Shale forms the reservoir for several significant oil fields in the western Powder River Basin of Wyoming. The extensive data set available for this economically important unit makes it one of the best known ancient analogs to the sand ridges of modern shelf seas. The Shannon Sandstone was deposited as linear ridges by intermittent, along-shelf, southerly storm flows in a transgressive middle- to outer-shelf environment of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway. Comparison of Shannon sandstone bodies with modern sand ridges shows that they were formed in response to the kind of flow field observed over the modern systems. The long axes of these bodies are aligned northwest-southeast to north-northwest--south-southeast. The sandstone bodies are asymmetric in transverse section: northeastern flanks are shorter and steeper than the gentle accretion surfaces on the southwestern flanks. Paleocurrent direction is southerly; hence, the sandstone bodies are aligned obliquely with respect to the prevailing transport direction, as required by hydrodynamic theory. The four basic lithofacies types recognized in these sand ridge deposits are cross-bedded sandstone; thin-bedded sandstone: bioturbated, silty sandstone; and lenticular-bedded to bioturbated siltstone. The cross-bedded lithofacies has tabular, trough, glauconitic trough cross-bedded and bioturbated variants. This lithofacies grades down-section and down-current into a thin-bedded lithofacies comprising flaser- to wavy-bedded sandstone and low-angle, laminated sandstone. This thin-bedded lithofacies overlies a widespread, massively bioturbated sandstone lithofacies which in turn rests disconformably on a siltstone lithofacies. The distribution of lithofacies within a Shannon sandstone body is most readily explained in terms of the velocity distribution over a sand ridge, and textural modification by the distortion of the regional flow field over the growing sand ridge. The up-current flank underwent erosion, and deposition occurred on the crest and down-current side, so that the sand ridge grew and migrated in a southwestward direction. Each sand ridge served as a fractionation mill in which successive environments on the transport pathway across the ridge extracted successively finer grades of sand from the transported load.


Mouse embryos homozygous for the mutation embryonic ectoderm development (eed) exhibit a growth defect and fail to gastrulate normally. While extraembryonic mesoderm is produced extensively, very little embryonic mesoderm is detected in eed mutant embryos, and there is no subsequent organization of mesoderm into node, notochord, or somites. The phenotype is consistent with a defect in the distal primitive streak. Here we report additional phenotypic analyses that include mRNA in situ hybridization of genes whose expression reflects the function of different regions of the primitive streak and their derivatives. These studies have confirmed that mesoderm derived from the proximal primitive streak is specified appropriately. Despite the absence of a morphologically distinct node, sparse axial mesoderm cells in eed mutant embryos are specified, as reflected by expression of Brachyury (T), Sonic hedgehog, and Tcf3b/HNF-3 beta, and definitive endoderm is produced. Specification of these cell types is also independent of correct expression of nodal, Fgf4, and gsc. Finally, T and Evx1 display ectopic expression in cells not normally fated to ingress through the primitive streak. The data presented are discussed in terms of mechanisms for establishment of the eed phenotype, and are consistent with the eed gene product playing an early role in primitive streak formation and/or organization.


The present investigation is concerned with transient wave propagation in a rock mass with a set of parallel joints by using a recursive method. According to the displacement field of a rock mass with a set of parallel joints, the interaction between four plane waves (two longitudinal-waves and two transverse-waves) and a joint is analysed first. With the displacement discontinuity model and the time shifting function, the wave propagation equation based on the recursive method in time domain for obliquely longitudinal-(P) or transverse-(S) waves across a set of parallel joints is established. The joints are assumed linearly elastic. The analytical solution obtained by the proposed method is compared with the existing results for some special cases, including oblique incidence across a single joint and normal incidence across a set of parallel joints. By verification, it is found that the solutions by the proposed method match very well with the existing methods. The applicability and limitations of the new method are then discussed for incident waves with different properties.


To extend geographical coverage, refine spatial resolution, and improve modeling efficiency, a computation- and data-intensive effort was conducted to organize a comprehensive hydrologic data set with post-calibrated model parameters for hydro-climate impact assessment. Several key inputs for hydrologic simulation – including meteorologic forcings, soil, land class, vegetation, and elevation – were collected from multiple best-available data sources and organized for 2107 hydrologic subbasins (8-digit hydrologic units, HUC8s) in the conterminous US at refined 1/24° (~4 km) spatial resolution. Using high-performance computing for intensive model calibration, a high-resolution parameter data set was prepared for the macro-scale variable infiltration capacity (VIC) hydrologic model. The VIC simulation was driven by Daymet daily meteorological forcing and was calibrated against US Geological Survey (USGS) WaterWatch monthly runoff observations for each HUC8. The results showed that this new parameter data set may help reasonably simulate runoff at most US HUC8 subbasins. Based on this exhaustive calibration effort, it is now possible to accurately estimate the resources required for further model improvement across the entire conterminous US. We anticipate that through this hydrologic parameter data set, the repeated effort of fundamental data processing can be lessened, so that research efforts can emphasize the more challenging task of assessing climate change impacts. The pre-organized model parameter data set will be provided to interested parties to support further hydro-climate impact assessment.


The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) is a space observatory for optical follow-ups of gamma ray bursts (GRBs), aiming to explore the first 60 seconds of GRBs optical emission. UFFO is utilized to catch early optical emissions from GRBs within few sec after trigger using a Gimbal mirror which redirects the optical path rather than slewing entire spacecraft. We have developed a 15 cm two-axis Gimbal mirror stage for the UFFO-Pathfinder which is going to be on board the Lomonosov satellite which is to be launched in 2013. The stage is designed for fast and accurate motion with given budgets of 3 kg of mass and 3 Watt of power. By employing stepping motors, the slewing mirror can rotate faster than 15 deg/sec so that objects in the UFFO coverage (60 deg × 60 deg) can be targeted in ~1 sec. The obtained targeting resolution is better 2 arcmin using a close-loop control with high precision rotary encoder. In this presentation, we will discuss details of design, manufacturing, space qualification tests, as well as performance tests.


This article explains why these new gender identity policies are unlawful and why they are bad policy. For example, when Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments in 1972, no one could have thought that "sex" meant "gender identity." "Sex" did not mean "gender identity" then, and "sex" does not mean "gender identity" now. Federal bureaucrats have unlawfully attempted to rewrite federal law. And in doing so they have attempted to impose a bad policy on the nation. The Obama administration turned the purpose of Title IX on its head and favored the concerns of students who identify as transgender while entirely ignoring the concerns of other students. As this article explains, valid safety, privacy, and equality concerns exist, and the Obama administration ignored them. States and local schools should take these concerns seriously and find solutions that respect all Americans.
Part of the problem in using long-standing antidiscrimination laws to now enforce "gender identity" policies is that there is no clear understanding of what counts as "discrimination" on the basis of "gender identity." This article explains that commonsense policies regarding bodily privacy and sound medicine are now simply being redefined as "discrimination"—just as "sex" is being redefined as "gender identity."
This article closes with a roadmap on what needs to be done. In February 2017, the Trump administration took the first steps to reject the unlawful redefinition of "sex" from the Obama era. Congress should ratify this action and prevent a future administration from undoing it by specifying that the word "sex" in our civil rights laws does not mean "gender identity" unless the people, through their elected representatives, explicitly say so. And the people should not say so: neither Congress nor the states should elevate "gender identity" to a protected class in our civil rights laws. Instead, they should let private institutions make their own policies, and they should specify that access to sex-specific facilities in public institutions is to be generally based on biology, but any individual uncomfortable with this should be given a reasonable accommodation. Meanwhile, the courts should respect the democratic process by refraining from imposing new meanings on existing antidiscrimination statutes.


Abstract. The assessment of the impacts of extreme floods is important for dealing with
residual risk, particularly for critical infrastructure management and for
insurance purposes. Thus, modelling of the probable maximum flood (PMF) from
probable maximum precipitation (PMP) by coupling hydrological and hydraulic
models has gained interest in recent years. Herein, we examine whether
variability in precipitation patterns exceeds or is below selected
uncertainty factors in flood loss estimation and if the flood losses within a
river basin are related to the probable maximum discharge at the basin
outlet. We developed a model experiment with an ensemble of probable maximum
precipitation scenarios created by Monte Carlo simulations. For each rainfall
pattern, we computed the flood losses with a model chain and benchmarked the
effects of variability in rainfall distribution with other model
uncertainties. The results show that flood losses vary considerably within
the river basin and depend on the timing and superimposition of the flood
peaks from the basin's sub-catchments. In addition to the flood hazard
component, the other components of flood risk, exposure, and vulnerability
contribute remarkably to the overall variability. This leads to the
conclusion that the estimation of the probable maximum expectable flood
losses in a river basin should not be based exclusively on the PMF.
Consequently, the basin-specific sensitivities to different precipitation
patterns and the spatial organization of the settlements within the river
basin need to be considered in the analyses of probable maximum flood losses.


Bipolar disorder is a chronic psychiatric disorder with a variable course and significant impact on patients' social, occupational, and general functioning and wellbeing. Although there are effective pharmaceutical and psychosocial interventions for patients with bipolar disorder, many patients receive poor-quality care. Prospective longitudinal studies demonstrate that less than half of bipolar disorder patients have a good long-term response to treatment, long-term outcome is highly variable, and many patients do not fully recover. There is substantial evidence that bipolar disorder is associated with significant impairment to functioning and wellbeing.However, few clinical trials comparing treatments for bipolar disorder have incorporated health-related quality-of-life (HR-QOL) assessments. Existing studies suggest that, while treatment improves HR-QOL, there is limited evidence for differences between the mood stabilisers in terms of HR-QOL outcomes. Additional clinical trials are needed to evaluate patient-reported outcomes associated with the most frequently used pharmacological treatments to determine whether there are meaningful differences between treatments. There are challenges in measuring HR-QOL in patients with acute mania, and future studies should assess the psychometric qualities of HR-QOL instruments in these and other bipolar disorder patients. HR-QOL outcome data may be useful in informing psychiatrists, patients and patient family members of the effects of treatment for bipolar disorder on patients' everyday lives, functioning and wellbeing.


Abstract This paper details the development of a multidialectical text-to-speech (TTS) application, Sintéiseoir, for the Irish language. This work is being carried out in the context of Irish as a lesser-used language, where learners and other L2 speakers have limited direct exposure to L1 speakers and speech communities, and where native sound systems and vocabularies can be seen to be receding even among L1 speakers – particularly the young. Sintéiseoir essentially implements the diphone concatenation model, albeit augmented to include phones, half-phones and, potentially, other phonic units. It is based on a platform-independent framework comprising a user interface, a set of dialect-specific tokenisation engines, a concatenation engine and a playback device. The tokenisation strategy is entirely rule-based and does not refer to dictionary look-ups. Provision has been made for prosodic processing in the framework but has not yet been implemented. Concatenation units are stored in the form of WAV files on the local file system. Sintéiseoir's user interface (UI) provides a text field that allows the user to submit a grapheme string for synthesis and a prompt to select a dialect. It also filters input to reject graphotactically invalid strings, restrict input to alphabetic and certain punctuation marks found in Irish orthography, and ensure that a dialect has, indeed, been selected. The UI forwards the filtered grapheme string to the appropriate tokenisation engine. This searches for specified substrings and maps them to corresponding tokens that themselves correspond to concatenation units. The resultant token string is then forwarded to the concatenation engine, which retrieves the relevant concatenation units, extracts their audio data and combines them in a new unit. This is then forwarded to the playback device. The terms of reference for the initial development of Sintéiseoir specified that it should be capable of uttering, individually, the 99 most common Irish lemmata in the dialects of An Spidéal, Músgraí Uí Fhloínn and Gort a' Choirce, which are internally consistent dialects within the Connacht, Munster and Ulster regions, respectively, of the dialect continuum. Audio assets to satisfy this requirement have already been prepared, and have been found to produce reasonably accurate output. The tokenisation engine is, however, capable of processing a wider range of input strings and when required concatenation units are found to be unavailable, returns a report via the user interface.


This thesis is about how space technology is experienced in the social domain and how its purpose is recast from different viewpoints. The author is an artist and the approach taken foregrounds qualities of experience and viewpoint in which artists have a particular investment. This approach opens up the ways that affect, agency and authorship cross social domains that are directly and indirectly associated with the production of space technologies. A key focus is a group project led by the author that was initiated in response to the launch in October 2008 of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The project took place in Bengaluru, India where the spacecraft was built. Taking the ambivalence that surrounds the uses and purposes of space technologies as a starting point, a description of the spacecraft is developed from a number of viewpoints, including the mission scientists, public media and the participants of the artist-led project. The interventionist strategies of the project shed light on the ways that technologies can be accessed through their imaginaries and this has significance for large-scale technologies, such as spacecraft, for which physical access is delimited and much of the infrastructure is invisible or hidden from public view. The thesis proposes ways of reinstating missed qualities of viewpoint and experience within the affective spaces of space technology through the imperative to articulate first-person engagements with the world that is bound into artistic interpretation. What is further proposed is that by picturing the interrelations and flows of space technology in social domains through the lenses of experience and viewpoint, a 'technographic picture' is created that then becomes available as a tool with which to re-imagine spacefaring. This is a crucial addition to discussions about the interplay between science, technology and society that recognises the intimate spaces at the core of such large-scale concepts. It offers a new transdisciplinary modality that incorporates an artistic approach with which to make sense of the structurally ambivalent pursuits of spacefaring.


Concrete is probably the most widely used construction material in the world. In the
Arabian Gulf region, deterioration of concrete due to the aggressive environment is
recognized to be the main factor affecting their structural integrity. The durability of
concrete structures can be preserved by various protection methods; however, using
cement replacement materials is one of the most effective and economic methods of
maintaining their stability as well as extending their service life.
The aim of this project is to study four interrelated aspects, namely, (1) the effect
of hot environment on the properties of fresh concrete incorporating mineral
admixtures, (2), the influence of exposure environment on the engineering properties of
hardened concrete, under various curing conditions, without and with mineral
admixture, (3), the differences in porosity and pore structure of the same set of mixes,
and, (4) the effect of outdoor exposure on the durability-related properties of concrete.
To achieve the above aims, the experimental programme involved the study of five
different mixes of combinations of silica fume/slag and silica fume. The effects of real
exposure to the Arabian Gulf environment of these mixes subjected to four curing
regimes, namely, continuous water curing, no water curing after demolding, and air
drying after 3 and 7 days of initial water curing were investigated.
The properties investigated include (1) consistency and setting times of cement
pastes, workability and workability loss with time, (2) engineering properties such as
compressive strength, dynamic modulus of elasticity, pulse velocity, shrinkage,
expansion and thermal expansion, (3) microstructural properties such as porosity and
pore size distribution, (4) durability-related properties such as permeability, water
absorption and carbonation depth.
The results show that exposure to hot environment results in rapid setting times,
faster loss of slump, higher porosity, coarser pore structure and more permeable
concretes. It was found that part cement replacement by silica fume and slag improves the quality of concrete mixtures, refined the pore structure and produced concretes with
very low porosity and continuous pore diameter in both indoor and outdoor
environment. The properties of concrete containing mineral admixture appear to be
more sensitive to poor curing than the plain concrete, with the sensitivity increasing
with increasing amount of slag in the mixture.


Approximately 99% of all viruses are still to be described, and in our changing world, any one of these unknown viruses could potentially expand their host range and cause epidemic disease in wildlife, agricultural animals, or humans. Avian avulavirus 1 causes outbreaks in wild birds and poultry and is thus well described. However, for many avulavirus species, only a single specimen has been described, and their viral ecology and epidemiology are unknown. Through the detection of avian avulaviruses in penguins from Antarctica, we have been able to expand upon our understanding of three avian avulavirus species (avian avulaviruses 17 to 19) and report a potentially novel avulavirus species. Importantly, we show that penguins appear to play a key role in the epidemiology of avian avulaviruses, and we encourage additional sampling of this avian group. ABSTRACT Wild birds harbor a huge diversity of avian avulaviruses (formerly avian paramyxoviruses). Antarctic penguin species have been screened for avian avulaviruses since the 1980s and, as such, are known hosts of these viruses. In this study, we screened three penguin species from the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula for avian avulaviruses. We show that Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are hosts for four different avian avulavirus species, the recently described avian avulaviruses 17 to 19 and avian avulavirus 10-like, never before isolated in Antarctica. A total of 24 viruses were isolated and sequenced; avian avulavirus 17 was the most common, and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated patterns of occurrence, with different genetic clusters corresponding to penguin age and location. Following infection in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens, all four avian avulavirus species were shed from the oral cavity for up to 7 days postinfection. There was limited shedding from the cloaca in a proportion of infected chickens, and all but one bird seroconverted by day 21. No clinical signs were observed. Taken together, we propose that penguin species, including Antarctic penguins, may be the central reservoir for a diversity of avian avulavirus species and that these viruses have the potential to infect other avian hosts. IMPORTANCE Approximately 99% of all viruses are still to be described, and in our changing world, any one of these unknown viruses could potentially expand their host range and cause epidemic disease in wildlife, agricultural animals, or humans. Avian avulavirus 1 causes outbreaks in wild birds and poultry and is thus well described. However, for many avulavirus species, only a single specimen has been described, and their viral ecology and epidemiology are unknown. Through the detection of avian avulaviruses in penguins from Antarctica, we have been able to expand upon our understanding of three avian avulavirus species (avian avulaviruses 17 to 19) and report a potentially novel avulavirus species. Importantly, we show that penguins appear to play a key role in the epidemiology of avian avulaviruses, and we encourage additional sampling of this avian group.


This lavish book focuses on Parisian and British couture between 1947 and 1957, a decade that Christian Dior described as fashion's 'golden age'. Dior's 'New Look' collection of 1947 shocked and delighted the fashion world, creating a style that symbolised a new femininity. The full skirts and hour glass silhouettes were considered highly decadent, synonymous with luxury and extravagance, in marked contrast to the austerity of the war years. Nevertheless, the 'New Look' caught the public imagination and ushered in a period of remarkable creativity. "The Golden Age of Couture" features stunning gowns and exquisite tailoring from designers such as Balenciaga, Balmain, Givenchy, and Dior as well as evocative photographs by the likes of Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton.


In the adult mammalian body, self-renewal of tissue stem cells is regulated by extracellular niche environments in response to the demands of tissue organization. Intestinal stem cells expressing Lgr5 constantly self-renew in their specific niche at the crypt bottom to maintain rapid turnover of the epithelium. Niche-regulated stem cell self-renewal is perturbed in several mouse genetic models and during human tumorigenesis, suggesting roles for EGF, Wnt, BMP/TGF-β, and Notch signaling. In vitro niche reconstitution capitalizing on this knowledge has enabled the growth of single intestinal stem cells into mini-gut epithelial organoids comprising Lgr5(+) stem cells and all types of differentiated lineages. The mini-gut organoid culture platform is applicable to various types of digestive tissue epithelium from multiple species. The mechanism of self-renewal in organoids provides novel insights for organogenesis, regenerative medicine, and tumorigenesis of the digestive system.


One batch of herring (Clupea harengus) was spice-salted fresh and as thawed after 32 days of frozen storage at -24 °C. After salting, samples of both groups were sent to participating laboratories in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Germany and England. The herring was kept at 5 ± 1 °C and sampled three times during a 26 week storage period. The development of taste and texture characteristics (determined by sensory evaluation and instrumental texture measurements), formation of low-molecular-weight nitrogen compounds and changes in proteolytic activity were followed in both groups. The sensory evaluation results showed that thawed salted herring ripened in a similar manner to herring salted fresh, but at a faster rate. Instrumental texture analysis showed a faster rate of tenderising in thawed salted herring. Proteolytic activity measured as general activity and with specific synthetic substrates was higher in the thawed salted herring. The formation of trichloroacetic acid-soluble nitrogen and free amino acids was faster in the previously frozen herring. The results show an accelerated but similar rate of ripening in thawed spice-salted herring in comparison with fresh salted herring. (C) 2000 Society of Chemical Industry.


International trade has changed some of the challenges faced by antitrust authorities: it has added an international dimension. Under the current system of international antitrust, the backbone of enforcement is unilateral: each country applies its own tools to deal with international antitrust issues within the constraints imposed upon it by public international law. This enforcement pattern is sometimes coupled with cooperation agreements which are based on the realization that while cooperation among firms might be anti-competitive, this is generally not true for cooperation among countries. Yet such cooperation is often limited. This paper, which is part of a book on Cooperation, Comity And Competition Policy (Oxford University Press, 2009), analyzes the effects that a unilateral enforcement system has on a small economy, by focusing on a specific case study: Israel. The case of Israel is interesting not only as a stand-alone case study, but mostly because it provides useful insights into the reality of enforcing antitrust in a globalized world by a small economy. As the paper indicates, even when it possesses the legal tools to tackle international antitrust issues, Israel often suffer from serious practical deficiencies. Most importantly, it frequently cannot create a credible threat to large, multinational firms that engage in anti-competitive conduct which harms its economy. It also has limited resources and incentives to deal with international anti-competitive conduct, especially when such conduct is addressed by other jurisdictions. As a result, despite the sometimes severe effects of anti-competitive conduct on its markets, Israel, like other small economies, is a marginal player in the globalized antitrust regime and is generally a passive bearer of the effects of international anti-competitive conduct and of the enforcement actions of larger jurisdictions rather than proactive confronters of such issues and actions. This observation has important implications for a globalized antitrust regime. The paper also analyzes some intriguing issues which arise from public international law doctrines of extraterritoriality. For example, it analyzes the issue of whether the effects doctrine acts as a pre-condition for a finding of an anti-competitive conduct if some of the parties are foreign or does it apply only if there is a finding of an anti-competitive conduct that has direct legal implications for a foreign firm. It also analyzes the issue of whether presumptions of illegality can apply in cases which involve foreign firms and in which jurisdiction is based on proof of "a significant and direct" anti-competitive effect.


Evidence-based practice aims to provide clinicians and patients with choices about the most effective care based on the best available research evidence. To patients, this is a natural expectation. To clinicians, this is a near impossible dream. The US report Bridging the quality chasm has documented and drawn attention to the gap between what we know and what we do.1 The report identified 3 types of quality problems—overuse, underuse, and misuse. It suggested "The burden of harm conveyed by the collective impact of all of our healthcare quality problems is staggering." Although attention has focused on misuse (or error), a larger portion of the preventable burden is likely to be the evidence-practice gaps of underuse and overuse.

Research that should change practice is often ignored for years—for example, crystalloid (rather than colloid) for shock,2 supine position after lumbar puncture,3 bed rest for any medical condition,3 and appropriate use of anticoagulants and aspirin in patients with atrial fibrillation.4 Antman et al documented the substantial delays between cardiovascular trial results and textbook recommendations.5 However, even when best practices are well known, they are often poorly implemented: national surveys show that most hypertensive patients are undetected, untreated, or inadequately controlled,6 which has led to the current interest in knowledge translation.7

What role does evidence-based practice 8 have in bridging the research-practice gap? Surveys of clinicians suggest that a major barrier to using current research evidence is the time, effort, and skills needed to access the right information among the massive volumes of research.9 Even for a (mythical) up to date clinician, the problem of maintaining currency is immense. Each year Medline indexes >560 000 new articles, and Cochrane Central adds about 20 000 new randomised trials. This is about 1500 new articles and 55 …


We propose and analyze a short-length silicon-on-insulator polarization splitter using two horizontally slotted silicon waveguides. A polarization splitter with a 46.7 microm length and a 22 dB extinction ratio (ER) is achieved. Around 1550 nm, it also exhibits an 18 nm bandwidth for ER>20 dB. The effects of the slot thickness, the waveguide spacing, and the refractive index of the slot on the splitting length and ER are investigated.


The pair Real and Immanence makes reference to two concepts employed respectively by the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and the philosopher Gilles Deleuze. My proposal is that there is a strong affinity between these two concepts, and that they can contribute to clarifying a specific capacity of art, in particular that of cinema. According to scholars who criticize the application of psychoanalysis to the arts, psychoanalysis always misses what should be its object – the work of art – studying the artist's unconscious (or characters' unconscious) or the unconscious of the viewers1. I think, rather, that it is possible to study the phenomenon of art using some psychoanalytical concepts, at the same time considering art in its formal procedures and not only in its narrative or figurative contents. I believe that considering artistic content as if it was a shell containing the unconscious of the author that leads fatally to a failure of interpretation2. Instead, observing and pointing out the similarities between ordinary psychic processes and the experiences that we all have of art, cinema, in this case, is a decisive step towards clarifying some aspects of its nature and its features. In such a perspective, aesthetic experience is an experience that cannot be dissolved in ordinary life, because it maintains its own specificity, but it is not totally separate (something considered as a luxury, something that you can consider at the end, when the needs of other more "serious" dimensions of our existence have been satisfied). During the aesthetic experience of a work of art, or that of a film rich with aesthetic qualities, the constituent aspects of nature and human life appear visible, enhanced, intensified, and reconfigured. I therefore propose to think in this way the interplay between aesthetics and psychoanalysis, on the questions of the Real and Immanence: aesthetic experience is a space where some psychic processes of ordinary experience appear in a more intense way.


The result of Indonesia Health Demographic Survey in year 2002-2003 showed that providing exclusive mothers milk for a baby less than 2 months was only 64%. It was caused by as follows : a baby directly was taken a bath after birth, was provided formula milk, and was put separately from a mother during treated at a hospital. A midwife is one of health profession that has a big influence within community, and has a responsibility to make a program of exclusive mothers milk succesfully. According to World Health Organization (WHO), midwives must be able to provide tratment, supervision, and advices to a mother during period of pregnancy, childbirth, and post partum. Beside that, midwives must be able to guide a childbirth process based on their responsibility and to promote mothers milk for a baby.
Aim of this researchwas to obtain information about midwives practice in service of providing exclusive mothers milk for a baby in Merak II room at Sorong Public Hospital Type C. This was a qualittaive research using in-depth interview, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), and triangulation. Number of respondent was five midwives who worked in Merak II room. FGD was performed towards four persons who were the Head of room. In-depth interview was done for triangulation purpose towards the Head of room, the Hospital Director, and five post partum mothers who were hospitalized in Merak II room at Sorong Public Health Type C.
The result of this research shows that most of the informants have sufficient understanding about exclusive mothers milk, and support the program of providing mothers milk for a new birth baby. Unfortunately, in fact, a baby drinks formula milk; most of the midwives have a low motivation because they obtain sufficient reward from a formula milk industry; and no punishment that will be received by midwives if they provide formula milk for a baby. All of the midwives said that they have never been supervised. Most of the midwives said that the inhibitor factors in service of providing exclusive mothers milk are: there is no policy that regulates management of lactation and training, and there is no standard operating procedures.

Sumber Utama : www.mikm.undip.ac.id


We present a numerical two-step reconstruction procedure for digital off-axis Fresnel holograms. First, we retrieve the amplitude and phase of the object wave in the CCD plane. For each point we solve a weighted linear set of equations in the least-squares sense. The algorithm has O(N) complexity and gives great flexibility. Second, we numerically propagate the obtained wave to achieve proper focus. We apply the method to microscopy and demonstrate its suitability for the real time imaging of biological samples.


This article presents a reflective case study of an applied consultancy experience with a 22-year-old professional rugby league player. The primary aim of the intervention was to provide the client a confidential space where he could discuss his experiences in and outside of a sporting context while also exploring and challenging his core values and beliefs. The consultancy process lasted for 12 mo, leading to the development of a strong relationship. During this time, the client experienced multiple critical moments such as deselection from the first-team squad and contract negotiations, which at times led to reductions in his well-being and forced the trainee sport and exercise psychologist to consider his scope of practice in relation to mental health and depression. Reflections are provided that explore the possibility of referral during these moments. The case study also provides insight into the trainee sport and exercise psychologist's philosophy of practice and how influential this can be when considering referral of a client. The importance of supervisor support during uncertain moments is highlighted, and the case study concludes with reflections from the client, trainee practitioner, and peer supervisor regarding the efficacy of the intervention and the decision not to refer.


My interests lie primarily with the energy behind the design of products. In pursuing the question of that energy and its potential, it has become clear to me that prior to any claims regarding transferability it is vital to first document and analyze the components that comprise the whole of design energy. Design Energy, in this case, is the creativity and intellect behind the process of design, from idea generation to production. I have focused on the creation of a method for documenting the design process that incorporates scans and images and other process data by utilizing AutoCAD, 3DMax, Photoshop, Morpheus, and various animation creating software. Through this method I re-visited my generative process in three phases; one by searching and selecting snapshots of my creative work, two by manipulating these found images using morphing software, and three by comparing and mimicking aspects of other design processes as explained by Nigel Cross. By looking back at my process I was able to reevaluate my steps through comparing them to other processes and through my analysis method of using morphing software which led to new idea generation.


Foodborne pathogens pose a serious threat to food safety especially in developing countries where hygiene facilities are not well developed and operational practices in abattoirs and retail shops are often poor. Shigella species are known to cause foodborne complications in humans including shigellosis that is not only characterized by destruction of the epithelium of the colon but usually results to an inflammatory response. The transmission of Shigella species to humans most often results through the consumption of contaminated food, meat and water. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify Shigella species from carcass of cattle in some abattoirs in the North West Province, South Africa and determine the virulence gene profiles of the isolates using PCR assays. A total of 97 carcass swabs were obtained from the abattoirs that were sampled. Swabs were properly labeled and transported on ice to the laboratory for analysis. The swabs were washed in 2% (w/v) peptone water and plated on Salmonella-Shigella agar. Standard identification tests (Gram staining, oxidase test, TSI test and 16S rRNA) were used to confirm the identities of 97 (one from each sample) presumptive isolates. Large proportions (85% to 100%) of the isolates from Rustenburg and Zeerust were oxidase positive. None of the isolates produced hydrogen sulphide gas on TSI medium but utilize glucose as a source of carbon. A large proportion (75.3%) of the isolates was positively identified as Shigella species based on PCR analysis. The number of isolates confirmed as Shigella species was higher in Zeerust (54.8%) than in Rustenburg (45.2%). Shigella species were most often isolated from samples that were collected outside than inside the carcass. Generally a large proportion (74.0%) of the isolates possessed the IpaH gene while64.4% of these isolates were positive for the IpaBCD gene that encodes for the invasion plasmid antigen. An analysis of the isolates from the different sampling sections indicated that 46.3% and 55.3% of the isolates from Zeerust possessed the IpaH and the IpaBCD genes, respectively while 53.7% and 44.7% of the isolates from Rustenburg possessed these genes. The detection of virulent Shigella species in beef carcasses demonstrates the need for a continued surveillance of this pathogen in meat in order to ensure the implementation of improved food safety measures.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the extent of transactivation response DNA-binding protein with a molecular weight of 43 kDa (TDP-43) pathology in the central nervous system of patients with clinically and autopsy-confirmed diagnoses of frontotemporal lobar degeneration with and without motor neuron disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with and without cognitive impairment.

DESIGN
Performance of immunohistochemical whole-central nervous system scans for evidence of pathological TDP-43 and retrospective clinical medical record review.

SETTING
An academic medical center.

PARTICIPANTS
We included 64 patients with clinically and pathologically confirmed frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitinated inclusions with or without motor neuron disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with or without cognitive impairment.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Neuronal and glial TDP-43 pathology.

RESULTS
We found evidence of neuronal and glial TDP-43 pathology in all disease groups throughout the neuraxis, albeit with variations in the frequency, morphology, and distribution of TDP-43 lesions. Moreover, the major clinical manifestations (eg, cognitive impairments, motor neuron signs, extrapyramidal symptoms, neuropsychiatric features) were reflected by the predominant distribution and burden of TDP-43 pathology.

CONCLUSION
These findings strongly suggest that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal lobar degeneration with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or motor neuron disease, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitinated inclusions are different manifestations of a multiple-system TDP-43 proteinopathy linked to similar mechanisms of neurodegeneration.


A targeted high-throughput sequencing (HTS) panel test for clinical diagnostics requires careful consideration of the inclusion of appropriate diagnostic-grade genes, the ability to detect multiple types of genomic variation with high levels of analytic sensitivity and reproducibility, and variant interpretation by a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) in the context of the clinical phenotype. We have sequenced 2,396 index patients using the ThromboGenomics HTS panel test of diagnostic-grade genes known to harbour variants associated with rare bleeding, thrombotic or platelet disorders (BTPD). The molecular diagnostic rate was determined by the clinical phenotype, with an overall rate of 49.2% for all thrombotic, coagulation, platelet count and function disorder patients and a rate of 3.2% for patients with unexplained bleeding disorders characterized by normal hemostasis test results. The MDT classified 745 unique variants, including copy number and intronic variants, as Pathogenic, Likely Pathogenic or Variants of Uncertain Significance. Half (50.9%) of these variants are novel and 41 unique variants were identified in 7 genes recently found to be implicated in BTPD. Inspection of canonical hemostasis pathways identified 29 patients with evidence of oligogenic inheritance. A molecular diagnosis has been reported for 894 index patients providing evidence that introducing an HTS genetic test is a valuable addition to laboratory diagnostics in patients with a high likelihood of having an inherited BTPD.


This paper discusses Australia's oldest and largest undergraduate science communication program: that offered at the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University. We outline the history of the program, and explain the pedagogy that drove its development. In particular, we address the assessment of student learning, which focuses on 'real-world' tasks. The four main assessment approaches discussed are 1) online blogs and opinion pieces; 2) a student conference, 3) research publication, and 4) work-integrated learning. These assessment approaches specifically target skills required by graduates to achieve both within the university and professionally. The different approaches require students to employ diverse communication techniques and strategies appropriate to their chosen audience. Students also gain practical experience outside of the university context, allowing them to recognise the relevance of their studies within an industry, private or government environment. Although these assessment practices are embedded in a specific science communication curriculum, we suggest that they can be incorporated within any science discipline major.


Nanograined bulk alloys based on bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) are the dominant materials for room-temperature thermoelectric applications. In numerous studies, existing bulk phonon mean free path (MFP) spectra predicted by atomistic simulations suggest sub-100 nm grain sizes are necessary to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity by decreasing phonon MFPs. This is in contrast with available experimental data, where a remarkable thermal conductivity reduction is observed even for micro-grained Bi2Te3 samples. In this work, first-principles phonon MFPs along both the in-plane and cross-plane directions are re-computed for bulk Bi2Te3. These phonon MFPs can explain new and existing experimental data on flake-like Bi2Te3 nanostructures with various thicknesses. For polycrystalline Bi2Te3-based materials, a better explanation of the experimental data requires further consideration of the grain-boundary thermal resistance that can largely suppress the transport of high-frequency optical phonons.


Abstract The aim of this paper was to examine, via a scoping review, how the literature focusing on immigrant women's health, based on selected criteria, has been able to capture not only sex and gender differences but also the other socially grounded determinants of health. Using selected health databases as well as a diversity of keywords, a final sample of 59 was obtained after a number of steps to increase validity and credibility of the process were taken. Since "women" was one of the main keywords, all of the studies included women either by themselves (n=20/59) or along with men (n=39/59). In 34 (57.6%) of the papers reviewed, gender was defined above and beyond 'sex' (i.e. some discussion was provided regarding the social context of the study population prior to the presentation of the goal of the study). Ethnicity was merely mentioned without being expanded upon and at times being substituted with race in 26 (44%) of the papers reviewed. Migration was defined in 22 (37.2%) of the papers and was predominantly operationalized by length of stay in the country. While the concepts at hand represent important units of analysis within women's health research, most studies neglected to either capture gender specificities beyond sex as a biological variable, or to define migration experiences beyond ethnic identity. Anchored within women's health scholarship seeking for conceptual clarity and accuracy, this paper pleads for an improved consideration of the multiple and interactive social and biological determinants of health, as well as structural conditions at the basis of structural inequities; If the production of socially grounded women's health research depends upon accurate, fully integrated and applied conceptualizations of relevant dimensions, how can this be facilitated by policy-makers, health research funding bodies, the researchers themselves and ultimately by health care practitioners? Keywords: Gender, Ethnicity, Migration Introduction Many factors have been studied in terms of the influence they may have on health. These include economic, genetic and behavioural patterns, as well as physical and social environments and health systems (Adams, De Jesus, Trujillo & Cole, 1997; Agnew, 1996; Alexander, Patrick, Bovier, Gariazoo, Eytan & Loutan, 2003). Income, social support and housing, for example, have been shown to influence the physical and emotional well-being of individuals, neighbourhoods and communities (Allotey, 1998; Anand, 1999; Anand, Peter, & Sen, 2004; Blackford & Street, 2002; Boyd & Grieco, 2003). Such studies reveal a complex interrelationship between various factors that work together to determine health (Agnew, 1996; Allotey, 1998). The concept of social determinants (6) draws attention to social and economic circumstances which strongly affect the health of women, men, families, groups and populations. Hillary Graham argues that this concept should play a pivotal role in the development of programs and policies (Graham, 2004). Raphael (2004) also insists on health promotion programs and policies that move beyond biomedical and behavioural risk factor approaches, anchored in the perspective that the social gradient in health runs fight across society. Such programs and policies should aim to decrease impairments in health while accounting for different levels of underlying social advantage. A growing body of immigrant health research seeks to establish sex, gender, ethnicity and migration as social determinants of health (Aroian, 2001; Boyd & Grieco, 2003; Des Meules, Gold, Kazanjian, Manuel, Payne, Vissandjee, 2004; Dunn & Dyck, 2000; Dyck and McLaren, 2002; Hacking, 2005; Iglesias, 2003; Jolly, Reeves & Piper, 2003; Kazemipur, 2002; Krieger, 2004, 2005, 2006; Meadows, Thurston & Melton, 2001; Nazroo, 2003; Thurston & Vissandjee, 2005; Raphael, 2004; Vissandjee et al., 2001; Vissandjee et al. …


The prevalence rates of type2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) continues to rise among British Pakistanis. The aim of this project was to explore T2DM perceptions and any preventative intentions among British Pakistani women and to discover whether they are doing anything to prevent the onset in themselves and their families. Initially a systematic review was conducted to investigate 20 existing prevention interventions and to assess their effectiveness (n=12,419). Mixed methods approach was adopted and three studies were conducted. The first study consisted of two focus groups with T2DM mothers (n=8) and three focus groups with non-T2DM mothers (n=17). The second study consisted of four focus groups young British Pakistani females (n=11). All focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Following these a quantitative study was undertaken comprising of a questionnaire survey; 12 prevention-perception items (derived from the qualitative data) and the Illness-Perception Questionnaire Revised (IPQ-R) using participants from the same populations: T2DM mothers (n=41), non-T2DM mother (n=47) and young women (n=42). Results were analysed using multiple/hierarchical regression. The systematic review highlighted that the most effective prevention programmes focussed on behaviour and lifestyle with a combination of support and education to participants. The research studies demonstrated that T2DM was seen as an older person's disease to be dealt with if/when it happens. T2DM mothers demonstrated knowledge and prevention understanding. There were non-significant relationships between prevention perceptions and T2DM illness perceptions across all three groups. The finding of this thesis emphasised that lifestyle interventions are crucial to aiding T2DM preventions as a good healthy diet and regular physical activity are the key components to T2DM prevention, and the importance of personal experience in perceived severity and lay-beliefs regarding T2DM and on family/cultural influences in British-Pakistanis. The findings of this project can be used to design culturally specific interventions towards preventing T2DM in the British Pakistani community.


This study focuses on municipal health policy in the Netherlands. The objective of health policy is to maintain or improve the health status of (parts of) the population by means of measures, intervening in the determinants of health (Ministry of Health 1986). These policy intentions were made explicit in the Memorandum 2000 that distinguishes as determinants of health biological factors, physical environment, social environment, lifestyle, and the health care system. This health concept, except for the biological factors, was operated in this study.


Britain's reputation in the Middle East had been reduced to shreds by the fiasco of the Suez War in 1956 but by 1967 - as a result of quiet diplomacy and long-standing contact with the region - recovery seemed possible. But all seemed shattered by the Six-Day War and especially by the 'Big Lie' - alleging that Britain and the USA colluded with Israel in the war and were thus vital in defeating the Arab side. Britain, the Six-Day War and its Aftermath is a cool, detailed and detached account by a top mandarin at the heart of British policy who refutes the allegations and shows Britain as pursuing an even-handed policy while promoting long-standing British diplomatic and - vitally for Britain's flagging economy and global position - economic interests.


Abandoned properties of the deportee Armenians is a new topic in the literature which began to attract the interest of scholars. As a general tendency, most of the related studies focused on the evaluation of the rules and regulations on the abandoned properties. Even though it is important to take legal framework into consideration, this article would rather focus on the analysis of the actual process in an Ottoman locality, Kayseri. By doing this, it tries to go beyond presenting the 'mentality' of the ruling elite, and construct the actual history of the process. In the first part of the article, the studies on the abandoned properties would be analyzed, and in the second part, the distribution of the Armenian abandoned properties in the sanjak of Kayseri would be detailed.


The diverse uses of derivatives arise from the skewing effect that options strategies have on the returns distribution of portfolios. In particular, it is widely believed that the performance of pure-stock portfolios can be enhanced by incorporating different options strategies, the most popular strategies being protective-put buying and covered-call writing. The present study considers these two popular options strategies, and applies them to a sample of fifty-five stocks listed in National Stock Exchange F&O segment, using corresponding stock options, in order to find out which of these strategies yields maximum returns, as compared to a pure-stock position. The study also compares the performance of in-the-money (ITM) and out-of-the-money (OTM) protective-put buying and covered-call writing. The results of the study suggest that protective-put buying performs better overall than covered-call writing, and that the mean and standard deviation of the returns distribution of the underlying stock affected the optimal strategy: buying protective-puts was optimal for stocks for which the returns distribution had relatively higher mean values and lower standard deviations, while selling covered-calls was optimal for stocks for which the returns distribution had relatively lower mean values and higher standard deviations.


Predicting overlapping trigrams of class labels is a recently-proposed method to improve performance on sequence labelling tasks. In this method, sequence elements are effectively classified three times, therefore some procedure is needed to post-process those overlapping classifications into one output sequence. In this paper, we present a rule-based procedure learned automatically from training data. In combination with a memory-based leaner predicting class trigrams, the performance of this meta-learned overlapping trigram post-processor matches that of a handcrafted post-processing rule used in the original study on class trigrams. Moreover, on two domain-specific entity chunking tasks, the class trigram method with automatically learned post-processing rules compares favourably with recent probabilistic sequence labelling techniques, such as maximum-entropy markov models and conditional random fields.


With advances in geo-positioning technologies and geo-location services, there are a rapidly growing amount of spatio-textual objects collected in many applications such as location based services and social networks, in which an object is described by its spatial location and a set of keywords (terms). Consequently, the study of spatial keyword search which explores both location and textual description of the objects has attracted great attention from the commercial organizations and research communities. In the paper, we study two fundamental problems in the spatial keyword queries: top k spatial keyword search (TOPK-SK), and batch top k spatial keyword search (BTOPK-SK). Given a set of spatio-textual objects, a query location and a set of query keywords, the TOPK-SK retrieves the closest k objects each of which contains all keywords in the query. BTOPK-SK is the batch processing of sets of TOPK-SK queries. Based on the inverted index and the linear quadtree, we propose a novel index structure, called inverted linear quadtree (IL-Quadtree), which is carefully designed to exploit both spatial and keyword based pruning techniques to effectively reduce the search space. An efficient algorithm is then developed to tackle top k spatial keyword search. To further enhance the filtering capability of the signature of linear quadtree, we propose a partition based method. In addition, to deal with BTOPK-SK, we design a new computing paradigm which partition the queries into groups based on both spatial proximity and the textual relevance between queries. We show that the IL-Quadtree technique can also efficiently support BTOPK-SK. Comprehensive experiments on real and synthetic data clearly demonstrate the efficiency of our methods.


In association mapping, haplotype-based methods are generally regarded to provide higher power and increased precision than methods based on single markers. For haplotype-based association mapping most studies use a fixed haplotype effect in the model. However, an increase in haplotype length raises the number of parameters in the model, resulting in low accuracy of the estimates especially for the low-frequency haplotypes. Modeling of haplotype effects can be improved if they are assumed to be random effects, as only one parameter, i.e. haplotype variance, needs to be estimated compared to estimating the effects of all different haplotypes in a fixed haplotype model. Using simulated data, we investigated statistical models where haplotypes were fitted either as a fixed or random effect and we compared them for the power, precision, and type I error. We investigated five haplotype lengths of 2, 4, 6, 10 and 20. The simulated data resembled the Danish Holstein cattle pedigree representing a complex relationship structure and QTL effects of different sizes were simulated. We observed that the random haplotype models had high power and very low type I error rates (after the Bonferroni correction), while the fixed haplotype models had lower power and excessively high type I errors. Haplotype length of 4 to 6 gave the best results for random model in the present study. Though the present study was conducted on data structure more frequent in livestock, our findings on random vs. fixed haplotype effects in association mapping models are applicable to data from other species with a similar pedigree structure.


Kutahya Province is a significant cultural heritage area of Turkey; it is susceptible to flooding when sudden heavy rain falls and is located in a high-risk earthquake region. The objective of this study was to acquire geo-information from Kutahya Province and interpret the risk levels to the population from floods and earthquakes. In this study, the Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission Reflection Digital Elevation Model of Kutahya Province was used to create maps that illustrate the digital terrain model and the 3D fly-through dynamic model of the study region. The maps exhibit landform characteristics, fault zones, earthquake locations, thermal locations, stream drainages and water-flow accumulation areas. From the interpretation of the maps, the results revealed that the most susceptible areas to flooding are the settlements and agricultural plains of Kutahya, Altintas, and Simav, in decreasing order. Gediz, Simav, Kutahya, Emet, Tavsanli, Dumlupinar, Domanic, Hisarcik, Pazarlar and Saphane are at high risk of earthquake damage, in decreasing order. The results of this study can help planners involved in regional urban and infrastructure development as well as environmental planning in Kutahya province.


Despite the rapid economic growth after the Korean War, and the state's considerable investment in education, Korea's suicide rate has steadily risen as their economic conditions change. South Korean students are ranked at the bottom of international happiness survey. Adolescence is an important period for the development of personality and formation of the self-identity. The objective of this thesis is to investigate cross sectional data in the relationship between ecological development and adolescent life satisfaction. Data from the 2015 National Youth Policy Institute (N = 1533 across 78 high schools in Korea) in high school students were analysed applying OLS and ordered probit model for measuring level of life satisfaction. The ndings reveal that the most important variables associated with the happiness of students are level of health, recognition of community, school adaptation, and good peer relationships in high school. More researchers are starting to investigate adolescents' life satisfaction, but few studies have conducted life satisfaction in accordance with their gender using KCYPS data. Gender e ect is signi cant for parental attention, school adaptation, and household income. These interesting examinations contributed to the determinants of happiness research can be used by policy makers for high school students. It found that boys and girls react di erently, therefore, developing di erent environment in relation to gender is needed.


Identification and genetic diversity of phytoplasmas infecting tropical plant species, selected among those most agronomically relevant in South-east Asia and Latin America were studied. Correlation between evolutionary divergence of relevant phytoplasma strains and their geographic distribution by comparison on homologous genes of phytoplasma strains detected in the same or related plant species in other geographical areas worldwide was achieved. Molecular diversity was studied on genes coding ribosomal proteins, groEL, tuf and amp besides phytoplasma 16S rRNA. Selected samples infected by phytoplasmas belonging to diverse ribosomal groups were also studied by in silico RFLP followed by phylogenetic analyses. Moreover a partial genome annotation of a 'Ca. P. brasiliense' strain was done towards future application for epidemiological studies.
Phytoplasma presence in cassava showing frog skin (CFSD) and witches' broom (CWB) diseases in Costa Rica - Paraguay and in Vietnam – Thailand, respectively, was evaluated. In both cases, the diseases were associated with phytoplasmas related to aster yellows, apple proliferation and "stolbur" groups, while only phytoplasma related to X-disease group in CFSD, and to hibiscus witches' broom, elm yellows and clover proliferation groups in CWB. Variability was found among strains belonging to the same ribosomal group but having different geographic origin and associated with different disease. Additionally, a dodder transmission assay to elucidate the role of phytoplasmas in CWB disease was carried out, and resulted in typical phytoplasma symptoms in periwinkle plants associated with the presence of aster yellows-related strains.
Lethal wilt disease, a severe disease of oil palm in Colombia that is spreading throughout South America was also studied. Phytoplasmas were detected in symptomatic oil palm and identified as 'Ca. P. asteris', ribosomal subgroup 16SrI-B, and were distinguished from other aster yellows phytoplasmas used as reference strains; in particular, from an aster yellows strain infecting corn in the same country.


Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
Magister of Technology: Dental Technology
In the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences
At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012


Purpose The study aimed to investigate the association between body composition and frailty in elder inpatients. Patients and Methods This is a cross-sectional study including 656 elder inpatients (275 females and 381 males) aged ≥65 years, from department of geriatrics of Zhejiang Hospital between January 2018 and March 2019. Sociodemographic, health-related data and anthropometric measurements were evaluated. Body composition was assessed by bioimpedance analysis (BIA), mainly including skeletal muscle mass, body fat mass, total body water, fat-free mass,percent body fat, basal metabolic rate. Frailty was assessed by Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Univariate logistic regression was used to analyze the association between body composition and frailty. Results Frailty was present in 43.9% of the participants. Frail inpatients showed higher waist circumference, body fat mass and percent body fat, non-frail inpatients showed greater upper arm circumference, calf circumference, skeletal muscle mass, total body water, fat-free mass and basal metabolic rate. Subjects with underweight (body mass index (BMI)<18.5 kg/m2; odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI)=4.146 (1.286–13.368) P=0.017) and those with high waist circumference (OR 95% CI=1.428 (0.584–3.491) P<0.001), body fat mass (OR, 95% CI=1.143 (0.892–1.315) P<0.001) presented a higher risk of frailty compared to normal subjects. Skeletal muscle mass (OR; 95% CI=0.159 (0.064–0.396) P<0.001) was a protective factor for frailty. Conclusion Frailty in elder Chinese inpatients was characterized by a body composition phenotype with underweight, high waist circumference, low skeletal muscle mass and high body fat mass. Underweight, abdominal obesity and sarcopenic obesity may, therefore, be targets for intervention of frailty.


The human accommodation system has been extensively examined for over a century, with a particular focus on trying to understand the mechanisms that lead to the loss of accommodative ability with age (Presbyopia). The accommodative process, along with the potential causes of presbyopia, are disputed; hindering efforts to develop methods of restoring accommodation in the presbyopic eye. One method that can be used to provide insight into this complex area is Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The effectiveness of FEA in modelling the accommodative process has been illustrated by a number of accommodative FEA models developed to date. However, there have been limitations to these previous models; principally due to the variation in data on the geometry of the accommodative components, combined with sparse measurements of their material properties. Despite advances in available data, continued oversimplification has occurred in the modelling of the crystalline lens structure and the zonular fibres that surround the lens. A new accommodation model was proposed by the author that aims to eliminate these limitations. A novel representation of the zonular structure was developed, combined with updated lens and capsule modelling methods. The model has been designed to be adaptable so that a range of different age accommodation systems can be modelled, allowing the age related changes that occur to be simulated. The new modelling methods were validated by comparing the changes induced within the model to available in vivo data, leading to the definition of three different age models. These were used in an extended sensitivity study on age related changes, where individual parameters were altered to investigate their effect on the accommodative process. The material properties were found to have the largest impact on the decline in accommodative ability, in particular compared to changes in ciliary body movement or zonular structure. Novel data on the importance of the capsule stiffness and thickness was also established. The new model detailed within this thesis provides further insight into the accommodation mechanism, as well as a foundation for future, more detailed investigations into accommodation, presbyopia and accommodative restoration techniques.


OBJECTIVE: We compared the metabolic and cardiovascular parameters of a reference group of women with those of women who used 2 contraceptive regimes that are used worldwide: the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device and oral contraceptives. STUDY DESIGN: We investigated a cohort of 2814 women at age 31 years from the general population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort who were born in 1966. Women were classified as oral contraceptive users (n 687 women), levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device users (n 168 women), or no use of hormonal contraception (reference group; n 1959 women). The analyses were adjusted for body mass index, current alcohol use, household income, and area of residence. RESULTS: Compared with the reference group, oral contraceptive users had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, raised levels of inflammatory indices (C-reactive protein), and impaired insulin sensitivity. Levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device users displayed a lower high-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol, but a similar cholesterol/ high-density lipoprotein ratio, and higher leukocyte count compared with the reference group. Oral contraception users were insulin-resistant compared with levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device users with higher blood pressure, raised lipid levels (such as total cholesterol and triglycerides) and insulin levels, and lower homeostasis model assessment and insulin sensitivity, despite smaller waist and lower waist-hip ratio. CONCLUSION: Oral contraception usage was associated with adverse findings in several metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory parameters, which is consistent with an increased future risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. These findings should invite more criticism of recent trends that encourage the prescription of oral contraceptives for years during reproductive life and especially in premenopausal women. In contrast, levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device or progestin-only pills may offer long-term health benefits over oral contraceptives and should be preferred to oral contraceptives for women in their forties and/or with metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus.


In this paper, we set out to explore conditions in which the use of large linguistic corpora can be optimally employed by judges and others tasked with construing authoritative legal documents. Linguistic corpora, sometimes containing billions of words, are a source of information about the distribution of language usage. Thus, corpora and the tools for using them are most likely to assist in addressing legal issues when the law considers the distribution of language usage to be legally relevant. As Thomas Lee and Stephen Mouritsen have so ably demonstrated in earlier work, corpus analysis is especially helpful when the legal standard for construction is the ordinary meaning of the document's terms. We argue here that four issues should be addressed before determining that corpus analysis is likely to be maximally convincing. First, the legal issue before the court must be about the distribution of linguistic facts. Second, the court must decide what makes an interpretation "ordinary." Third, if one wishes to search a corpus to glean the ordinary meaning of a term, one must decide in advance what to search. Fourth, there are different reasons as to why a particular meaning might present a weak showing in a corpus search and these need to be understood. Each of these issues is described and discussed.


The population of livestock in Bali has continuously increased from year to year. However, some problems are encountered with parasitic infections in livestock. Parasitic infections may be caused by worms, protozoa or ectoparasites. In cattle, the most common infections are those caused by Oesophagostomum sp, Ostertagia sp, Haemonchus sp, Mecistocirrus sp, and Cooperia sp which is the most dominant. Neoascaris vitulorum was reported to be as high as 29.1% in calves. Fascioliasis in cattle was found highly prevalent, between 34.9 to 56.7% and was caused by Fasciola gigantica. Also Paramphistomum infection was reported to be highly prevalent (50.1%). In addition, Boophilus microplus was recorded as high as 36.9%. In goat and sheep, the incidence of Haemonchus contortus was 27.7% and 53.6% respectively. Infestation of Paramphistomum sp in goat was 9.27%. Concerning ectoparasites, Sarcoptes scabiei was reported to be the cause of death of 67% of young goats and up to 11% of older gats in Br. Penginuman, Gilimanuk Negara. Parasitic infections in pigs were caused by Cysticercus tenuicollis (11%) and Ascaris suum (24.2%) and 21.1% showed Metastrongylus apri and also Sarcoptes scabiei was reported to be the cause of skin disease in pigs. In poultry, parasitic infection were caused by Raillietina (96%), Heterakis gallinae (66.7%), Capillaria sp (6.6%), Ascardia galli (56.7%), Oxyspirura mansoni (50%), Acuaria spiralis (13.3%) and Syngamus trachea (3.3%). Multiple infections are common.


Bats are assumed not to use vision for communication, despite recent evidence of their capacity for color vision. The possibility that bats use color traits as signals has thus been overlooked. Some tent-roosting bats have a potential for visual signaling because they exhibit bright yellow skin, a trait that in birds often acts as a sexual signal. We searched for evidence of sexual dichromatism in the yellow bare skin of Honduran white bats Ectophylla alba, the first reported mammal with a capacity to deposit significant amounts of carotenoid pigments in the skin. We found that skin yellow chroma, a measure that reflects carotenoid content, increases in the ears and nose-leaf during development probably due to an increase in dietary carotenoid accumulation. Once in the adulthood, the yellow color of the nose-leaf becomes brighter in males, representing the first evidence of sexual dichromatism in a bat. The nose-leaf brightness tends to covary positively with the body condition of males. We also found that the skin shows a reflectance peak at 530 nm that virtually coincides with the main reflectance peak (540 nm) of the back side of Heliconia leaves used as roosts. This suggests that these leaves were selected because of camouflage benefits, and the rich lighting conditions of these roosting places then favored the use of skin coloration as a sexual signal. These findings open a new perspective in the physiological and behavioral ecology of bats in which vision has a more relevant role than previously thought.


The implementation of the EU's integrative policies has resulted in relatively recent resistance to the integration process. Said popular politicization challenges further prospects for integration as it brings layers of identities to clash. A national identity persists within Member States, which views that boundaries should rest on the state level. This conflicts with the supranational identity implied by EU integration as it often necessitates the removal of national barriers. It is argued that this clash becomes activated through the manner in which news is reported in national medias. From this, a model is unpacked, positing the employment of narrative formats that frame events and issues with European aspects in national terms. Thus, media portrays national identity as conflicting legitimately with supranational integration, suggesting resistance to the EU project as the appropriate stance if the clash is to be resolved. Finally, possible application of the model is discussed.


Hybrid Manufacturing Processes (HMP) can significantly reduce time to customer, waste, and tooling costs per part, while increasing possible part geometric complexity for small batch parts. In the following chapter, HMP is defined by the production of parts produced first with a near-net shape process using methods including: additive manufacturing, casting, injection molding, etc., which is then coupled with multi-axis computer numerical control (CNC) subtractive machining or some other secondary material removal process. Creating process plans for such hybrid manufacturing processes typically takes weeks rather than hours or days. This chapter outlines several hybrid manufacturing processes and the intricacies required to develop process plans for these complex linked processes. A feature-based advanced hybrid manufacturing process planning system (FAH-PS) uses feature-specific geometric, tolerance, and material data inputs to generate automated process plans based on user-specified feature precedence for additive-subtractive hybrid manufacturing. Plans generated by FAH-PS can optimize process plans to minimize tool changes, orientation changes, etc., to improve process times. A case study of additive-subtractive methods for a patient-specific bone plate, demonstrates system capabilities and processing time reductions as compared to the current manual process planning for hybrid manufacturing methodologies. Using the generated FAH-PS process plan resulted in a 35% reduction in machining time from the current hybrid manufacturing strategy.


This work focuses on the parametric study of film cooling effectiveness on turbine vane endwall under various flow conditions. The experiments were performed in a five-vane annular sector cascade facility in a blowdown wind tunnel. The controlled exit isentropic Mach numbers were 0.7, 0.9, and 1.0, from high subsonic to transonic conditions. The freestream turbulence intensity is estimated to be 12%. Three coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios (MFR) in the range 0.75%, 1.0%, and 1.25% are studied. N2, CO2, and Argon/SF6 mixture were used to investigate the effects of density ratio (DR), ranging from 1.0, 1.5 to 2.0. There are 8 cylindrical holes on the endwall inside the passage. Pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique was used to capture the endwall pressure distribution for shock wave visualization and obtain the detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions. Both the high-fidelity effectiveness contour and the laterally (spanwise) averaged effectiveness were measured to quantify the parametric effect. This study will provide the gas turbine designer more insight on how the endwall film cooling effectiveness varies with different cooling flow conditions including shock wave through the endwall cross-flow passage.


Graphics software tools open up new possibilities for researchers and scientists, but learning graphics programming might seem time-consuming or difficult, and the many new graphics tools might seem overwhelming. Fortunately, if you know how graphics work and the functions of basic graphics tools, you can understand and employ some of the tools without becoming a graphics expert. Our purpose is to introduce and categorize some graphics tools and their applications, though not to provide an exhaustive list of tools and their explicit functions, because new graphics tools with various combinations of functions emerge every day. Through explaining and categorizing a few graphics tools and their primary applications, we hope to show you the different functions and applications of computer graphics so visualization, modeling, simulation, and virtual reality can complement your work.


Although the differentiation of oncogenically transformed basal progenitor cells is one of the key steps in prostate tumorigenesis, the mechanisms mediating this cellular process are still largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that an expanded p63+ and CK5+ basal/progenitor cell population, induced by the concomitant activation of oncogenic Kras(G12D) and androgen receptor (AR) signaling, underwent cell differentiation in vivo. The differentiation process led to suppression of p63-expressing cells with a decreased number of CK5+ basal cells but an increase of CK8+ luminal tumorigenic cells and revealed a hierarchal lineage pattern consisting of p63+/CK5+ progenitor, CK5+/CK8+ transitional progenitor, and CK8+ differentiated luminal cells. Further analysis of the phenotype showed that Kras-AR axis-induced tumorigenesis was mediated by Gli transcription factors. Combined blocking of the activators of this family of proteins (Gli1 and Gli2) inhibited the proliferation of p63+ and CK5+ basal/progenitor cells and development of tumors. Finally, we identified that Gli1 and Gli2 exhibited different functions in the regulation of p63 expression or proliferation of p63+ cells in Kras-AR driven tumors. Gli2, but not Gli1, transcriptionally regulated the expression levels of p63 and prostate sphere formation. Our study provides evidence of a novel mechanism mediating pathological dysregulation of basal/progenitor cells through the differential activation of the Gli transcription factors. Also, these findings define Gli proteins as new downstream mediators of the Kras-AR axis in prostate carcinogenesis and open a potential therapeutic avenue of targeting prostate cancer progression by inhibiting Gli signaling.


Hemospray (Cook Medical, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA) is a hemostatic agent recently introduced for the management of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). To date, there is little experience with this fairly new hemostatic tool. The aim of this case series was to reflect the use and effectiveness of Hemospray as a treatment option in GIB in everyday clinical practice at two tertiary referral centers. Consecutive patients (n = 16) with active GIB of various origins were treated with Hemospray. The rate of successful initial hemostasis was 93.75 % (15 /16; salvage therapy 92.85 % [13/14]; monotherapy 100 % [2 /2]). The rebleeding rate within 7 days was 12.5 % (2/16). One patient, in whom interventional radiology also failed, had to undergo surgery as salvage therapy. The effectiveness of Hemospray in the management of GIB in various clinical situations is promising. Future multicenter randomized prospective trials for clearly defined bleeding situations are needed for greater generalizability of case series findings.


Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are a heterogeneous group of devastating conditions characterised by impairments of the central nervous system early during course of development and maturation. Although common NDDs tend to have complex aetiology, other major NDDs are inherited disorders with a known single-gene or chromosomal abnormality. Effective treatments are rare for these diseases. The most critical challenges in therapeutic development are the broad, complex neuropathology and circumventing the blood–brain barrier. Gene therapy has been a promising approach for treating NDDs, especially monogenic disorders. With recent progress in understanding the disease mechanisms, and improvements to gene delivery vectors and strategies, the clinical potential of gene therapy for NDDs is being realised. This is particularly true for the neuropathic lysosomal storage diseases, in which multiple promising vector administration approaches are under development.

Key Concepts:

Gene therapy provides therapeutics by delivery of targeted genes.

Monogenic NDDs are good candidates for gene therapies that target the root causes.

Neuropathology of NDDs is usually broad or global in the CNS.

The blood–brain barrier poses a major challenge for CNS gene delivery.

Adeno-associated virus serotype 9 vector has the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier.

Keywords:

neurodevelopmental diseases (NDDs);
CNS gene delivery;
viral vectors;
adeno-associated virus;
blood–brain barrier (BBB)


RANS models in CFD are used to predict the liner wall heat transfer characteristics of a gas turbine annular combustor with radial swirlers, over a Reynolds number range from 50,000 to 840,000. A three dimensional hybrid mesh of around twenty five million cells is created for a periodic section of an annular combustor with a single radial swirler. Different turbulence models are tested and it is found that the RNG k- model with swirl correction gives the best comparisons with experiments. The Swirl number is shown to be an important factor in the behavior of the resulting flow field. The swirl flow entering the combustor expands and impinges on the combustor walls, resulting in a peak in heat transfer coefficient. The peak Nusselt number is found to be quite insensitive to the Reynolds number only increasing from 1850 at Re=50,000 to 2200 at Re=840,000, indicating a strong dependence on the Swirl number which remains constant at 0.8 on entry to the combustor. Thus the peak augmentation ratio calculated with respect to a turbulent pipe flow decreases with Reynolds number. As the Reynolds number increases from 50,000 to 840,000, not only does the peak augmentation ratio decrease but it also diffuses out, such that at Re=840,000, the augmentation profiles at the combustor walls are quite uniform once the swirl flow impinges on the walls. It is surmised with some evidence that as the Reynolds number increases, a high tangential velocity persists in the vicinity of the combustor walls downstream of impingement, maintaining a near constant value of the heat transfer coefficient. The computed and experimental heat transfer augmentation ratios at low Reynolds numbers are within 30-40% of each other.


This study seeks to provide a clear and comprehensive overview on the various aspects related to the current status and the future prospects of renewable energy (namely solar and wind) in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMCs). In order to do so, the study will first provide a comprehensive analysis of the regional energy market, particularly focusing on the booming energy -and electricity- demand. This key trend is likely to further accelerate in the future, at a level that might create additional risks to the economic sustainability of the region, considering the extensive use of universal fossil-fuel consumption subsidies. Meanwhile, solar and wind energy continue to cover less than 1% of the region's electricity generation mix: a figure that strongly collides with the region's abundant solar and wind resources. In fact, SEMCs are endowed with a huge solar and wind energy potential. The exploitation of this potential could bring various benefits to the region, such as meeting the rising energy/electricity demand at a lower cost, freeing up additional export volumes of oil and gas in energy exporting countries, reducing energy bills in energy importing countries, creating new jobs, alleviating energy poverty, enhancing the quality of the environment and enhancing cooperation both among SEMCs and between SEMCs and the EU. Notwithstanding all the efforts to promote renewable energy carried out over the last decade both at the regional level and at the European level (e.g. Desertec, Mediterranean Solar Plan, etc.), SEMCs continue to lag far behind most other regions in the world in terms of solar and wind energy deployment. This study will try to explore the reasons of this paradox, particularly focusing on the key barriers to the development of renewable energy in the region: the extensive use of energy subsidies and the lack of adequate electricity infrastructures, energy regulatory frameworks and financing mechanisms. On the basis of this in-depth analysis, the study will propose an innovative approach to tackle these barriers, involving a joint action of MedTSO, MEDREG and key financial institutions under the umbrella of a newly-established "Euro-Med Renewable Energy Platform" designed to become -on the basis of an inclusive, pragmatic and bottom-up approach- the new catalyst for the development of renewable energy in SEMCs.


REALIZING CYBER RESILIENCE WITH HYBRID INTRUSION TOLERANCE ARCHITECTURES Ajay Nagarajan, M.S. George Mason University, 2017 Dissertation Director: Dr. Arun Sood The current approach to security is based on perimeter defense and relies on firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and intrusion prevention systems (IPS). These systems require a priori information about attack patterns and system vulnerabilities. With ever-increasing bandwidth and thousands of unique malware signatures coming out every day, it is becoming impractical to prevent every intrusion. And so, intrusion tolerance assumes that intrusions are inevitable and focuses efforts on minimizing the impact of intrusions. The variety and complexity of cyber-attacks is increasing. Various industry data breach investigation reports suggest that customized malware are difficult to detect and data ex-filtration often occurs over a period of days, weeks and months. The attackers' strong motivation leads to organized and targeted cyber-attacks. The current intrusion detection and prevention approaches are reactive in nature and inadequate to prevent all attacks. Given the clear need to design intrusion tolerant architectures, my work focuses on extension and application of recovery driven intrusion tolerance systems that make the attacker work harder by reducing the server's exposure time to the internet. This approach relies on using hybrid architectures that combine reactive and proactive systems to protecting the cyber infrastructure. My research framework entails a) Proposing hybrid architectures founded on SCIT, a recovery driven intrusion tolerance approach; b) determining the influencing factors of each hybrid strategy and studying the impact of their variations within the context of an integrated intrusion defense strategy; c) defining economic models to assess the efficacy of proposed hybrid architectures; d) using mathematical models to evaluate proposed hybrid architectures and assess optimal operational parameters; and e) validating research using test bed experiments and simulations outlining impact of proposed architectures on system attack surface and intruder work factor. To system architects and executive management alike, this work can constitute as the basis for making informed decisions while piling layers of security as part of defensein-depth strategy.


In this paper we demonstrate distributed shape sensing based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in a multi-core fiber (MCF). Brillouin optical time-domain analysis with differential pulse-width pairs is implemented to measure the local tangential strain-induced variation of the Brillouin frequency shift along different cores of the fiber. Employing the differential strain measured in multiple off-center cores in the MCF, distributed profiles of both bending angle and fiber curvature are parametrically retrieved. The paper presents the first demonstration of distributed bending sensing, providing the cornerstone to further develop the system into a fully distributed 3D shape sensor.


Keys are character based tools for plant identification. They are based on the decomposition of the plant into very small, atomistic parts. These parts are described with the technical and often arcane terminology of plant taxonomy. Even the best electronic keys (Delta, Lucid) make use of this terminology. Keys are not based on pattern recognition, the forte of visual experts. Instead they demand that the user look at the plant as if it consisted of a series of isolated parts that are classified by name. Keys would be more effective if they were visually based. They would be easier to use for visual experts because accurate perception is their providence. They would also be easier to use for novices because they would not depend on knowledge of arcane terminology. This paper proposed an innovative image-based key system for species recognition.


Time series for the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and global tropospheric temperature anomalies (GTTA) are compared for the 1958−2008 period. GTTA are represented by data from satellite microwave sensing units (MSU) for the period 1980–2008 and from radiosondes (RATPAC) for 1958–2008. After the removal from the data set of short periods of temperature perturbation that relate to near-equator volcanic eruption, we use derivatives to document the presence of a 5- to 7-month delayed close relationship between SOI and GTTA. Change in SOI accounts for 72% of the variance in GTTA for the 29-year-long MSU record and 68% of the variance in GTTA for the longer 50-year RATPAC record. Because El Nino−Southern Oscillation is known to exercise a particularly strong influence in the tropics, we also compared the SOI with tropical temperature anomalies between 20°S and 20°N. The results showed that SOI accounted for 81% of the variance in tropospheric temperature anomalies in the tropics. Overall the results suggest that the Southern Oscillation exercises a consistently dominant influence on mean global temperature, with a maximum effect in the tropics, except for periods when equatorial volcanism causes ad hoc cooling. That mean global tropospheric temperature has for the last 50 years fallen and risen in close accord with the SOI of 5–7 months earlier shows the potential of natural forcing mechanisms to account for most of the temperature variation.