There has been much research conducted to find suitable methods for the determination of available Cd in soils. In recent years, an isotope exchange kinetics (IEK) technique has been tested to describe the kinetic transfer of ions from the soil solution to the solid phase. Although the IEK technique has been successful in describing nutrient availability in soils, it has not been widely applied to study contaminant availability. In this study, experimental conditions to determine exchangeable Cd in soils using IEK were determined along with a measurement of Cd availability using the IEK technique for 20 topsoils. The results indicated that isotopically exchangeable Cd [E (t) values] predicted from short-term isotopic kinetics (≤60 min) were only successful in predicting exchangeable Cd up to 24 h of exchange. After 24 h, E (t) values were significantly overestimated when compared with measured E (1) values. A compartmental analysis revealed that there were differences in the distribution of Cd in exchange pools between soils contaminated with Cd from different sources. The percentage of Cd located in the E (1 min) pool, was on average 21% of total Cd for the P-fertilizer soils compared with 13% for the biosolids-amended soils. In contrast, the biosolids-amended soils had on average 42% of total Cd located in the E (1 min-24 h) pool compared with 25% for the P-fertilizer soil. The E (>24 h) pool averaged 57% for the P-fertilizer soil compared with 46% for the biosolids-amended soil. The IEK technique may be a useful tool to provide information on Cd availability in soils.


We present a probabilistic framework for nonlinearities, based on doubly truncated Gaussian distributions. By setting the truncation points appropriately, we are able to generate various types of nonlinearities within a unified framework, including sigmoid, tanh and ReLU, the most commonly used nonlinearities in neural networks. The framework readily integrates into existing stochastic neural networks (with hidden units characterized as random variables), allowing one for the first time to learn the nonlinearities alongside model weights in these networks. Extensive experiments demonstrate the performance improvements brought about by the proposed framework when integrated with the restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), temporal RBM and the truncated Gaussian graphical model (TGGM).


ABSTRACT The IMF was created right after World War II to manage an international payments system based on fixed exchange rates. In its early years the Fund's remedy to balance-of-payments crises consisted in reducing domestic aggregate demand. As a result, its policies were seen as recessive. With the collapse of the fixed exchange rates system in the early 70s, the Fund lost its clients in the developed world and turned to developing countries. In the Fund's approach, developing countries suffered crises not because of temporary maladjustments between aggregate supply and demand but because of structural problems. Accordingly, the Fund began to impose structural reforms as conditionalities for its loans, curbing the autonomy of developing countries to adopt the policies they would see as favorable to growth.


A measurement is reported of the jet mass distribution in hadronic decays of boosted top quarks produced in pp collisions at sqrt[s]=13  TeV. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9  fb^{-1}. The measurement is performed in the lepton+jets channel of tt[over ¯] events, where the lepton is an electron or muon. The products of the hadronic top quark decay t→bW→bqq[over ¯]^{'} are reconstructed as a single jet with transverse momentum larger than 400 GeV. The tt[over ¯] cross section as a function of the jet mass is unfolded at the particle level and used to extract a value of the top quark mass of 172.6±2.5  GeV. A novel jet reconstruction technique is used for the first time at the LHC, which improves the precision by a factor of 3 relative to an earlier measurement. This highlights the potential of measurements using boosted top quarks, where the new technique will enable future precision measurements.


Dwell times at stations and inter-station run times are the two major operational parameters to maintain train schedule in railway service. Current practices on dwell-time and run-time control are that they are only optimal with respect to certain nominal traffic conditions, but not necessarily the current service demand. The advantages of dwell-time and run-time control on trains are therefore not fully considered. The application of a dynamic programming approach, with the aid of an event-based model, to devise an optimal set of dwell times and run times for trains under given operational constraints over a regional level is presented. Since train operation is interactive and of multi-attributes, dwell-time and run-time coordination among trains is a multi-dimensional problem. The computational demand on devising trains' instructions, a prime concern in real-time applications, is excessively high. To properly reduce the computational demand in the provision of appropriate dwell times and run times for trains, a DC railway line is divided into a number of regions and each region is controlled by a dwell-time and run-time controller. The performance and feasibility of the controller in formulating the dwell-time and run-time solutions for real-time applications are demonstrated through simulations.


Statistical pattern recognition occupies a central place in the general context of machine learning techniques, as it provides the theoretical insights and the practical means for solving a variety of problems ranging from character recognition to face recognition, from malignant nodules classification to speaker identification, to name just a few domains of application. In this very general framework, the work presented in this thesis focuses on two theoretical aspects – feature extraction and pattern classification – and a more practical one – human face class modeling. We first propose a new framework for using the autocorrelation-based features for pattern classification. In this context, we extend their use to higher orders by exploiting a property of the inner product of two autocorrelation feature vectors. As a large number of classification algorithms may be cast into a form in which data is involved only by means of inner products between vectors, this property provides a very convenient way of avoiding explicitly computing the feature vectors – an operation which is normally very costly. Using this approach, we show that, practically, there is no upper limit for the order of autocorrelation functions used – rather this limit depends on the application. By defining different topologies over which the autocorrelation feature vectors are applied, we obtain extended feature vectors, for which the inner product property still holds. We illustrate the use of autocorrelation feature vectors by first showing how one can perform Principal Component Analysis in the autocorrelation space and we apply it to the classification of unidimensional signals. Another application presented uses Support Vector Machines (SVM) for detecting human faces described in terms of extended autocorrelation feature vectors. Next, we develop a family of algorithms that generate sparse representations of the discriminant functions. This family is based on a recently proposed algorithm, the Kernel Matching Pursuit [176] (KMP), which is considerably extended and enhanced. Using as a starting point the theory of n-term greedy function approximation, we justify the introduction of different versions of KMP. Firstly, we introduce the Weak KMP which uses a learning rate-like parameter for controling the importance of the decisions taken at each iteration. We propose then another version – Stochastic KMP – designed to make the application of KMP to large datasets feasible. Finally, two approaches for building adaptive versions of KMP are presented and compared. All these algorithms are tested on various standard datasets and their performance is compared to that of SVM. On the application side we discuss various aspects of human face detection. In this context we introduce a new method for estimating the performance of the face detection and localization algorithms which is designed to make the results comparable in an objective way. At the core of the technique is the precise definition of what a good detection or localization means. Using our definition we set the performance criteria and the evaluation method. As an example, we apply this technique to a standard detector and we discuss its performance. Finally, we present an approach to human face class modeling using SVM trained in the eigenfaces space. We discuss different issues that arise in building the eigenfaces space and training the SVM and we propose a new method for building a composite classifier based on SVMs which has various advantages over using a single SVM. We compare then the results of applying two face detectors (a classical one based on SVM trained in the pixel space and one using an SVM trained in the eigenfaces space) on a large dataset using the technique described before and we show that the new proposed method is superior.


Fire-breaks, by legislation, are burnt annually before mid-winter in the southern Drakensberg, affecting 5–10% of the landscape, and resulting in marked selection for the early season flush by both livestock and wildlife. This study investigated whether this severe defoliation regime has had an effect on surface soil properties, botanical composition, plant diversity, phytomass production, and the nutrient content of phytomass by comparing paired samples of grassland and immediately adjacent fire-breaks. Firebreaks differed quantitatively in composition from adjacent grassland although both were characterised as Themeda triandra–Tristachya leucothrix grassland. Only two grass species of lesser abundance, Brachiaria serrata and Eragrostis racemosa, were clearly more abundant on fire-breaks. Differences in plant diversity (species m–2, species 20m–2) were slight. Surface soil of fire-breaks compared with grasslands was slightly more acidic (0.2 units), lower in carbon (1% difference), and lower in total nitrogen (0.03% difference), suggesting deterioration of soil conditions on fire-breaks. Phytomass of fire-breaks and of grasslands burnt in early spring in the season sampled (biennial or greater burning frequency) were equivalent by February, indicating there has been no decline in productivity over time. Concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc and copper in above-ground phytomass did not differ between fire-breaks and grasslands, although concentration of manganese tended to be greater in grassland. Expected seasonal trends, especially for nitrogen and phosphorus, were apparent. Fire-breaks therefore appear to be a sustainable management practice, in part because mid-winter burning allows sufficient recovery of canopy cover to mitigate against erosion by high intensity spring storms and the duration of grazing impact is alleviated by spring burning elsewhere. Grazing impact on fire-breaks may become more severe if grassland burning becomes more infrequent.


In this dissertation the incorporation of cross-cultural imagery and its assimilation is focused on the work of Maggie Mikula, a ceramist from KwaZulu-Natal. Producing within the 1970's and 1980* s. her work is investigated within the historical context of the socio-political background of South Africa. Syncretism in the visual arts reflects problems associated with identity and authenticity and this dissertation analyses these issues. A reference is made to select artists and ceramists in South Africa who approach their work in this manner, in particular with reference to the influence that Maggie Mikula has had in their work. Chapter One discusses the history of borrowing in South Africa citing examples of work by artists including amongst others Walter Battiss, Alexis Preller and Cecil Skotnes. This is based around the broad political and ideological relationships in the country that framed local art making. The assimilation and the breakdown of barriers in African/western art in a South African context is argued through a post-colonial reading. The chapter deals with the problems of borrowing related to appropriation and stereotyping from a postmodernist perspective. Chapter Two introduces the history of South African ceramics examining its development and styles, focussing on changing premises within the medium. The second part of the chapter positions Mikula's work, interests, personal history and ideals. Chapter Three deals with the development of Mikula's ceramic work, referring to her technology, processes and sourcing. The reception of Mikula's work and the attitudes to cross-cultural assimilation in the 1980's, as well as current perceptions are addressed in Chapter Four. Her influence on this creative medium is shown with specific examples. Personal interviews attempt to contextualise her position and situate her within the ceramic world. Acknowledging that there is a wealth of collections through out South Africa, the ceramic work predominately researched for this paper is from KwaZulu-Natal. It has been sourced both from the immediate family, and from individual collectors, as this was the site of her production. Other collections have been accessed from around South Africa including the Corobrik collection in Pretoria (of which there are two pieces one which is broken), the large piece is documented photographically (see Fig.22) and referred to on Page 66. The Nelson Mandela Museum, Port Elizabeth, (accessed on-line and via photographs from the artist's records) has a notable collection, but given the nature of this research, these pieces do not demonstrate any significant features over and above those that were already sourced. This paper is not intended as a catalogue, but is meant to show a variety of Mikula's work to demonstrate her influence and style. Each piece is chosen for its specific aspects and unique features that would support this research. Given the nature of this investigation, the author has been obliged to read widely, including writers such as Berman, Sacks, Cruise and the complete edition of APS A newsletters and magazines to give a comprehensive over view of the changes in style and influence within South African art and specifically, ceramics.


Constraints allow developers to specify desired properties of systems in a number of domains, and have those properties be maintained automatically. This results in compact, declarative code, avoiding scat- tered code to check and imperatively re-satisfy invariants. Despite these advantages, constraint programming is not yet widespread, with imperative programming still the norm. There is a long history of research on integrating constraint program- ming with the imperative paradigm. However, this integration typically does not unify the constructs for encapsulation and abstraction from both paradigms. This impedes re-use of modules, as client code written in one paradigm can only use modules written to support that paradigm. Modules require redundant definitions if they are to be used in both paradigms. We present a language - Babelsberg - that unifies the constructs for encapsulation and abstraction by using only object-oriented method definitions for both declarative and imperative code. Our prototype - Babelsberg/R - is an extension to Ruby, and continues to support Ruby's object-oriented semantics. It allows programmers to add constraints to existing Ruby programs in incremental steps by placing them on the results of normal object-oriented message sends. It is implemented by modifying a state-of-the-art Ruby virtual machine. The performance of Ruby code without constraints is only modestly impacted, with typically less than 10% overhead compared with the unmodified virtual machine. Furthermore, our architecture for adding multiple constraint solvers allows Babelsberg to deal with constraints in a variety of domains. We argue that our approach provides a useful step toward making constraint solving a useful tool for object-oriented programmers. We also provide example applications, written in our Ruby-based implementation, which use constraints in a variety of application domains, including inter- active graphics, circuit simulations, data streaming with both hard and soft constraints on performance, and configuration file management.


A registration network of family practices (Registratienet Huisartspraktijken) has recently been established in the Netherlands. Forty two general practitioners in 15 practices, with a patient population of 80,000 people, are using a general practice health information system to establish a central computerized anonymous database containing certain patient characteristics and all relevant health problems. By September 1990 patient characteristics and problem lists for 32,972 patients had been entered and a total of 94,476 health problems had been identified. The database has been set up primarily as a sampling frame, allowing researchers to identify patients with particular health problems. The database can also provide descriptive data on prevalence and incidence rates, fulfil a monitoring function and provide data for practice audit, medical education and health management.


Home Life is an exploration of environmental aesthetics as it applies to the domestic realm. I consider Kevin Melchionne's argument that through notions of taste, grace, and performance, everyday domestic chores can become heightened artistic practices. I argue that this does not go far enough in overcoming the traditional view of art as aesthetically superior to popular or everyday artefacts and practices; rather, it encourages the limitations of traditional aesthetics values within the domestic setting. Through examples, including Pauliina Rautio's study on laundry, I consider the possibility that domestic practices are made up of actions that are not performed with a viewer in mind but are completed out of necessity or desire. Synthesizing Arnold Berleant's engagement and Richard Shusterman's somaaesthetics, I argue that, in addition to sensory engagement, imagination and memory play a crucial role in our experience of domestic life.


The first in silico models of self-reproduction only focused on the logic of the mechanisms that execute and copy the genome or renew the membrane, but neglected associated physical constraints. This may have resulted from modeling through cellular automata, which are unable to represent the cohesion of objects in movement and interaction. In previous work I presented a new, well structured and powerful tool based on a graph rewriting system embedded in a spatial automaton. This tool employs combinations of a unique symbol and can represent an unlimited variety of moving and interacting objects. As transitions are local and occur at random, each trajectory of the system differs. However, dependent events can always be represented in their natural order. With this tool, I built a representation of an autopoietic individual. More recently, I hypothesized that this model could also be used to demonstrate self-reproduction because most of the mechanisms required for growth are already available in the autopoietic individual and few additional functions are needed. Here, I report the advancement of the model to demonstrate the ability of the autopoietic individual to self-reproduce. During self-reproduction, autopoiesis remains active and the lifespans of the various components are unchanged. Pathological morphologies can be observed when some metabolic pathways are disturbed. Using appropriate approximations, some thermodynamic parameters can be evaluated. Additionally, a second autopoietic and selfreproductive individual can be represented within the same environment. Further, the model could be used to describe the space phase domain and invariants characteristics of each of these individuals, whose systematic enumeration and classification can be envisioned. Based on this model, I propose that autopoiesis facilitates self-reproduction.


Business leaders are increasingly coming to recognise that there is more to business success
than technical and cognitive competence. Personnel leadership is proving to be critical for
business bottom-line achievements considering that most business outcomes are achieved
through human capital. Emotional intelligence can be used to the advantage of organisations
by developing an emotional intelligence audit. The objective of this study was to investigate
the psychometric properties of the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) developed by Schutte,
Malouff, Hall, Haggerty, Cooper, and Golden (1998) for employees in the mining industry in
South Africa. The psychometric soundness of the EIS was tested.
The general objective of the research was to standardise a psychometric instrument of
emotional intelligence and determine the validity of the Schutte Emotional Intelligence
Questionnaire (EIS) (Schutte, et al., 1998). A valid and reliable measure of emotional
intelligence could be valuable in the organisation to identify specific EI needs that could be
developed through the implementation of EI development programmes. In this context a
standardised psychometric instrument of EI could be of use in organisations during the
training and development of employees.
A cross-sectional survey research method with an availability sample (N = 324) from
employees in the mining industry was used. Exploratory factor analysis was used to confirm
the construct equivalence of the EIS in different racial pups. The results supported a one-factor
model of emotional intelligence. ANOVA analysis was conducted to determine the
levels of emotional intelligence in terms of various demographic aspects such as gender,
racial groups, language groups, and age groups. The results indicated that there are no
significant differences between different demographics aspects and the level of emotional
intelligence. Recommendations for future research were made.


This paper presents an overview of the research on learning statistical models from relational data being carried out at the University of Washington. Our work falls into five main directions: learning models of social networks; learning models of sequential relational processes; scaling up statistical relational learning to massive data sources; learning for knowledge integration; and learning programs in procedural languages. We describe some of the common themes and research issues arising from this work.


— We introduce a new design style called extended burst-mode. The extended burst-mode design style covers a wide spectrum of sequential circuits ranging from delay-insensitive to synchronous. We can synthesize multiple-input change asynchronous finite state machines, and many circuits that fall in the gray area (hard to classify as synchronous or asyn-chronous) which are difficult or impossible to synthesize automatically using existing methods. Our implementation of extended burst-mode machines uses standard CMOS logic, generates low-latency outputs, and guarantees freedom from hazards at the gate level. In Part I, we formally define the extended burst-mode specification, provide an overview of the synthesis method, and describe the hazard-free synthesis requirements for two different next-state logic synthesis methods: two-level sums-of-products implementation and generalized C-elements implementation. We also present an extension to existing theories for hazard-free combinational synthesis to handle non-monotonic input changes.


Introduction: Lower eyelid cancers are common. Basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma are responsible for 5 to 10% of all skin cancers. Complete reconstruction after excision of a tumor that creates a defect involving more than 50% of the eyelid is a challenge. Reports vary regarding the best method of reconstruction, and most available literature is in the form of case reports, leading to inconsistency in the evidence presented. Methods: This retrospective study examined the medical records to evaluate the functional results achieved by the author in patients who underwent total lower eyelid reconstruction after cancer resection between May 2012 and May 2016. The Hughes myotarsoconjunctival flap was used for reconstruction of the internal lamella, and the Destro VY skin advancement flap was used for the external lamella. Results: Of 13 patients with a mean age of 72.61 years, basal cell carcinoma accounted for 11 cases. No comorbidity was observed in the flap donor areas. Contralateral symmetry and palpebral closure were achieved in 12 cases; 1 case of ectropion was successfully treated, but no other functional problems were identified. Conclusion: The combined use of the Hughes flap and Destro flap is a valuable alternative for total reconstruction of the lower eyelid and can achieve favorable functional and aesthetic outcomes with donor tissue, similar to that of resected tissue. ■ ABSTRACT


The inheritance system is beset by formalism. Probate courts reject wills on technicalities and refuse to correct obvious drafting mistakes by testators. These doctrines lead to donative errors, or outcomes that are not in line with the decedent's donative intent. While scholars and reformers have critiqued the intent-defeating effects of formalism in the past, none have examined the resulting distribution of donative errors and connected it to broader social and economic inequalities. Drawing on egalitarian theories of distributive justice, this Article develops a novel critique of formalism in the inheritance law context. The central normative claim is that formalistic wills doctrines should be reformed because they create unjustified inequalities in the distribution of donative errors. In other words, probate formalism harms those who attempt to engage in estate planning without specialized legal knowledge or the economic resources to hire an attorney. By highlighting these distributive concerns, this Article reorients inheritance law scholarship to the needs of the middle class and crystallizes distributive arguments for reformers of the probate system.


Today, institutional leaders face numerous struggles: intervention from boards of trustees, alumni, and state legislators; decline in financial support from the states; and competition in an increasingly global marketplace. While it is agreed that effective governance structures allow institutions to respond creatively to these challenges, how best to allocate control in order to maximize institutional efficiency, preserve academic freedom, and ensure institutional identity remains unclear. Increasingly, administrators look to non-academic institutions for governance and management strategies. In Competing Conceptions of Academic Governance, William G. Tierney brings together faculty members, administrators, and policy experts to discuss differing views of academic governance at institutional, state, and international levels. Topics include the effects of globalization and the prospect of international accreditation; balancing the entrepreneurial and philosophical goals of higher education; the interaction between state governments and public universities; and the conflicting interests and roles of boards of trustees, administrators, and faculty. Carefully weighing various models and strategies, Competing Conceptions of Academic Governance provides new ways of understanding and addressing the changes that are transforming higher education.


Computational experiments were run using an optimization criterion based on independently motivated definitions of perceptual contrast, articulatory cost and learning cost. The question: If stop+vowel inventories are seen as adaptations to perceptual, articulatory and developmental constraints what would they be like? Simulations successfully predicted typologically widely observed place preferences and the re-use of place features ('phonemic coding') in voiced stop inventories. These results demonstrate the feasibility of user-based accounts of phonological facts and indicate the nature of the constraints that over time might shape the formation of both the formal structure and the intrinsic content of sound patterns. While phonetic factors are commonly invoked to account for substantive aspects of phonology, their explanatory scope is here also extended to a fundamental attribute of its formal organization: the combinatorial re-use of phonetic content. Keywords: phonological universals; phonetic systems; formal structure; intrinsic content; behavioral origins; substance-based explanation


Abstract. We present data on several previously undescribed species from six genera of New World non-pollinating fig wasps. We show that many of these species have a negative effect on the reproductive success of both the pollinator wasps and the host figs. Our results suggest that the two most abundant genera of non-pollinating wasps, the Idarnes and the Critogaster, compete for the same pool of female flowers as the pollinating wasps in the Urostigma and Pharmacosycea figs, respectively. Wasps from the genus Aepocerus induce and develop within large galls, in the Urostigma figs. By draining resources from the fruit these wasps may have a detrimental effect on the production of pollinator wasps and viable seeds. Some of the species investigated are parasitoids of other non-pollinating species. We examine the importance of the various forms of spatial heterogeneity in the parasitism rate that can act to stabilise the host-parasitoid interaction. Finally, we discuss the factors underlying the large variation in the abundance and diversity of the non-pollinating wasps both among and within fruit crops.


Sustainability is one of the key issues that organizations confront today, and ecologically responsible ("green") information systems (IS) initiatives are manifestations of sustainable business practices. Engaging in green IS initiatives can be challenging due to poor understanding of their holistic process. In this research, we develop a multi-theoretical framework to provide a holistic understanding of the process of implementing and adopting green IS initiatives. The framework examines how these initiatives' structures, organizational attributes, and environment may influence this process. The framework also provides an agenda for how future studies of green IS can use the constructs proposed and develop them, undertake case studies to expand our propositions, and conduct surveys to verify propositions. In addition, practitioners can use our framework to better understand the differences between various types of green IS initiatives, identify which organizational and environmental factors to adopt, and gain a holistic view of the entire process.


Kinetochore Targeting Chromosomes must be segregated accurately during cell division. This is facilitated by the attachment of mitotic spindle microtubules to the kinetochore at the chromosomal centromere. The centromere is marked with the histone H3 variant CenH3 (CENP-A in human), and CENP-C forms part of the inner kinetochore. Kato et al. (p. 1110) used structural biology, biochemistry, and mutagenesis to show that CENP-C recognizes CENP-A chromatin via several different interactions. The CENP-C "central domain" makes close contact with the acidic patch of histones H2A/H2B, and the highly conserved "CENP-C motif" senses both the acidic patch and recognizes the hydrophobicity of the otherwise nonconserved CenH3 tail, supporting a conserved mechanism of centromere targeting by the kinetochore. The structural links between the chromosomal centromere protein CenH3 and the kinetochore protein CENP-C are determined. Chromosome segregation during mitosis requires assembly of the kinetochore complex at the centromere. Kinetochore assembly depends on specific recognition of the histone variant CENP-A in the centromeric nucleosome by centromere protein C (CENP-C). We have defined the determinants of this recognition mechanism and discovered that CENP-C binds a hydrophobic region in the CENP-A tail and docks onto the acidic patch of histone H2A and H2B. We further found that the more broadly conserved CENP-C motif uses the same mechanism for CENP-A nucleosome recognition. Our findings reveal a conserved mechanism for protein recruitment to centromeres and a histone recognition mode whereby a disordered peptide binds the histone tail through hydrophobic interactions facilitated by nucleosome docking.


We conducted to investigate the tooth color change caused by 15% carbamide peroxide (CP) used as a self-bleaching agent containing 5.4% low-concentration H2O2 with nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasma, and the effect of such tooth bleaching method on staining sensitivity to red wine. Ten extracted intact human teeth without signs of fracture, dental caries, or structural anomalies were used in this experiment. One half of each tooth was randomly assigned to either the control or the experimental group. Group 1 (control group) was treated with a uniform 1mm layer of 15% CP gel application which contained 5.4% H2O2 (every 10 min, Kool White 15%, Pac-Dent International, Walnut, CA, USA) alone. Group 2 (experimental group) received a 15% CP and plasma for 30 min. The tip of the static plasma device was positioned at a 1 cm distance from the tooth surface. And then, the teeth were immersed in red wine (Palacio De Anglona Tinto Semidulce-red wine subgroup) for seven days. The buccal surface of each tooth was based on the Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) Lab Color System which is widely used for tooth color evaluation. The control and experimental groups showed significant differences in brightness after 30 min. After 7 day immersion in red wine, the mean ΔE values for the plasma and 15% CP combinational treatment were approximately 1.56-fold smaller than those for the treatment without plasma (P<0.05). The combinational treatment with nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasma and 15% carbamide peroxide (CP) has an excellent tooth bleaching effect and can maintain the bleached tooth's color stability due to its low staining sensitivity to pigmentation after bleaching.


Resting-state fMRI studies have revealed that individuals exhibit stable, functionally meaningful divergences in large-scale network organization. The locations with strongest deviations (called network 'variants') have a characteristic spatial distribution, with qualitative evidence from prior reports suggesting that this distribution differs across hemispheres. Hemispheric asymmetries can inform us on constraints guiding the development of these idiosyncratic regions. Here, we used data from the Human Connectome Project to systematically investigate hemispheric differences in network variants. Variants were significantly larger in the right hemisphere, particularly along the frontal operculum and medial frontal cortex. Variants in the left hemisphere appeared most commonly around the temporoparietal junction. We investigated how variant asymmetries vary by functional network and how they compare with typical network distributions. For some networks, variants seemingly increase group-average network asymmetries (e.g., the group-average language network is slightly bigger in the left hemisphere and variants also appeared more frequently in that hemisphere). For other networks, variants counter the group-average network asymmetries (e.g., the default mode network is slightly bigger in the left hemisphere, but variants were more frequent in the right hemisphere). Intriguingly, left- and right-handers differed in their network variant asymmetries for the cinguloopercular and frontoparietal networks, suggesting that variant asymmetries are connected to lateralized traits. These findings demonstrate that idiosyncratic aspects of brain organization differ systematically across the hemispheres. We discuss how these asymmetries in brain organization may inform us on developmental constraints of network variants, and how they may relate to functions differentially linked to the two hemispheres.


Cavitation erosion of Francis turbines continues to impose costly repairs and loss of revenues. This erosion is primarily caused by leading edge cavitation. A revue of the literature reveals the non-existence of an absolutely validated detection technique of this cavitation in operating Francis turbines. Considering the impulsive character of the implosion of a cavitation structure, the assimilation of cavitation erosion to a process of mechanical fatigue of materials and the vibratory response at high frequencies of a linear structure to multiple random excitations whose responses add on a power basis, we have proposed that the vibratory response of a Francis turbine at high frequencies is tightly related to its cavitation erosion rate. The absolute measurement of cavitation aggressiveness on the blades can be made by the normalization of lower guide bearing vibration measurements by an average Transmissibility function measured by reciprocity with the runner underwater. The proposed method has been validated and it is now possible to state that the MSV of inferred forces at the cavitation impact rate of hydrodynamic origin is proportional to the erosion rate. The approach has been validated in excellent manner in laboratory set-ups with little or no flows by comparison to absolute cavitation aggressiveness assessment methods such as the DECER electrochemical technique and the pit counting technique on polished material samples. The validation was then pursued with laboratory homologous flows on a NACA 009 profile in the LMH high-speed cavitation tunnel with blade mounted DECER sensors as reference. Once again, impact frequencies of hydrodynamic origin, following here a Strouhal law, were observed and the MSV of the profile acceleration at high frequencies was proportional to the average erosion rate on the profile. Notwithstanding the difficulty of the measurements, the results were excellent and fared well with the erosive power of the flow in V3L2 (V= flow velocity, L= length of the attached vapour cavity). Preliminary measurements on a Francis model with blade mounted DECER sensors agreed well with the MSV of lower guide bearing acceleration at high frequencies. Later measurements on the Rapide Blanc model confirmed the damage model observed on the NACA profile. Hydrodynamic impact frequencies were however not governed by the tunnel Strouhal law but were found to be determined by the blade passage frequency. Stationary measurements at the lower guide bearing were equivalent to runner on board measurements. Reciprocity, typical to linear structures, was verfied. As on the profile, maximum aggressiveness on the runner blade occurs in the leading edge cavity closure area. This was confirmed by the application of "Prescale" pressure sensitive film on the blades for operating conditions generating maximum vibratory response at the cavitation hydrodynamic frequencies. High-speed video recordings shot at 2000 frames/s allowed detailed observation of the dynamics of the cavitation structures at the blade passage frequency. Visual observations of cavitation developments along with implosion frequencies allowed observing that the MSV of vibratory response at high frequencies at the cavitation impact occurrence rate was coherent with the calculated value of the flow erosive power inasmuch as the implosions occurred on the blades and not beyond the blade trailing edges. These results on the Francis model therefore supported the proposed vibratory detection approach. The application of the developed techniques, including the measurements of Transmissibility with the runners underwater, allowed assessing the difference in absolute cavitation aggressiveness on an existing and proposed replacement model runner for the Beauharnois power plant. The applicability of the proposed measurement and calibration methods was confirmed on prototype N°6 of the Rapide Blanc power plant. Measurements on fixed and rotating elements of the machine are equivalent and reciprocity also applies. The recurrence frequency of the cavitation impacts was however different from that of the model. The difference appears to be due to the semi-spiral case utilized on the model. It was not fully homologous to the full spiral case of the prototype. It would thus appear that on the model, the wake of the semi-spiral case tongue plays a determinant role in the generation and implosion process of cavitating structures while on the prototype the wakes of the wicket gates fill that function. The ultimate validation of the vibratory approach to the detection of erosive cavitation on Francis prototypes occurred in 1995 on unit 44 of the Manic 5 PA power plant. This was done using on board sensors (pressure, DECER and accelerometer) on severely eroded blade 4 and polished 316L stainless steel disks mounted in this same blade after removal of the pressure sensor housings. Paint removal and pit counting tests had previously correlated well in 1993 with the MSV of global modulation of high frequency acceleration at the lower guide bearing at the cavitation hydrodynamic impact occurrence rate which was for this prototype the wicket gate passing frequency for a rotating observer. The 1995 correlation of the MSV of the blade 4 high frequency acceleration modulation at the wicket gate passage hydrodynamic frequency with the volume pitting rate of the 316L stainless steel disks and the DECER erosion current was excellent. The existence in the flow of the 60Hz (rotation speed, 180 r.p.m., 20 wicket gates) hydrodynamic frequency was confirmed by dynamic pressure measurements on blade 4 and in the draft tube just below the runner. The per blade inferred forces were calculated for each set of test conditions with the average Transmissibility measured by reciprocity on five blades with the runner underwater. The MSV of high frequency inferred forces agrees better with the real aggressiveness than does the wideband acceleration but not as well as the MSV of the acceleration modulation at the hydrodynamic frequencies of the cavitation impacts. Improvements on this subject have been incorporated in the cavitation erosion monitoring system now in operation at Hydro-Quebec. Tu summarize, the MSV of the vibratory response at the lower guide bearing modulated at the cavitation hydrodynamic frequencies describes well its relative aggressiveness with varying operating conditions and the use of an averaged Transmissibility measured with the runner underwater allows to estimate it on an absolute basis.


Abstract Beam absorbers play an important role both in electron cyclotron heating systems at high power and in millimeter-wave diagnostics that need a low level of stray or reflected power. In the first case short- and long-pulse loads are used, whose back-reflection can be kept within a few percent with proper techniques. In the second case, absorbers or scramblers are envisaged, to be put in hostile environments. At Istituto di Fisica del Plasma in Milan, a number of calorimetric loads have been developed, adopting several techniques for overall reflectivity reduction, which are suitable for beam sinking with calorimetric capability. They achieve a low overall reflectivity and high-power capability by a properly chosen power distribution in the absorbing wall provided by a dispersing mirror, by a smooth geometrical shape, by heat-resistant absorbing coatings of optimized thickness, and by accurate trapping of most of the escaping radiation with preload structures. Fundamental, when it becomes impossible to diffuse the incoming beam by the mirror alone, mostly because of side lobes at large angles, is the use of a newly developed phase-scrambling surface presented in this paper. It provides the necessary spreading, complementing all the other techniques into a set that can be helpful in designing millimeter-wave systems and diagnostics, in order to reduce spurious or unwanted signals.


In this paper, we study the problem of fair clustering on the $k-$center objective. In fair clustering, the input is $N$ points, each belonging to at least one of $l$ protected groups, e.g. male, female, Asian, Hispanic. The objective is to cluster the $N$ points into $k$ clusters to minimize a classical clustering objective function. However, there is an additional constraint that each cluster needs to be fair, under some notion of fairness. This ensures that no group is either "over-represented" or "under-represented" in any cluster. Our work builds on the work of Chierichetti et al. (NIPS 2017), Bera et al. (NeurIPS 2019), Ahmadian et al. (KDD 2019), and Bercea et al. (APPROX 2019). We obtain a randomized $3-$approximation algorithm for the $k-$center objective function, beating the previous state of the art ($4-$approximation). We test our algorithm on real datasets, and show that our algorithm is effective in finding good clusters without over-representation or under-representation, surpassing the current state of the art in runtime speed, clustering cost, while achieving similar fairness violations.


Pediments are gently sloping, low-relief bedrock erosional surfaces at the bases of mountain ranges. Pediments tend to form more readily in arid climates and in weathering-resistant lithologies, but the processes responsible for pediment formation are still not widely understood after more than a century of debate. In this paper, I investigate the behavior of a coupled numerical model for the evolution of mountain ranges and their adjacent piedmonts that includes bedrock erosion in channels, soil production and erosion on hillslopes, and the fl exural-isostatic response of the lithosphere to erosional unloading. For relatively small values of the fl exural parameter, erosion of the mountain range leads to suffi cient fl exural-isostatic tilting of the adjacent piedmont that a suballuvial bedrock bench is exhumed to form an erosional surface on the piedmont. In addition, slope retreat at the mountain front and subsequent tilting of the abandoned surface can contribute to pediment formation by lengthening the pediment in the upslope direction. The rate of erosion on the piedmont must also be greater than or equal to the rate of soil production, thereby creating an erosional surface that has, at most, a thin veneer of soil or regolith. The rate of soil production depends primarily on climate and lithology, with lower soil production rates associated with more arid climates and more resistant lithologies. The model predictions are compared to morphometric analyses of pediments in the southwestern United States and to the detailed morphology of two classic pediments in southern Arizona.


OPAL: IN VIVO BASED PRESERVATION FRAMEWORK FOR LOCATING LOST WEB PAGES Terry L. Harrison Old Dominion University, 2005 Director: Dr. Michael L. Nelson We present Opal, a framework for interactively locating missing web pages (http status code 404). Opal is an example of "in vivo" preservation: harnessing the collective behavior of web archives, commercial search engines, and research projects for the purpose of preservation. Opal servers learn from their experiences and are able to share their knowledge with other Opal servers using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). Using cached copies that can be found on the web, Opal creates lexical signatures which are then used to search for similar versions of the web page. Using the OAI-PMH to facilitate inter-Opal learning extends the utilization of OAI-PMH in a novel manner. We present the architecture of the Opal framework, discuss a reference implementation of the framework, and present a quantitative analysis of the framework that indicates that Opal could be effectively deployed.


The development objective of the Power Sector Guarantees Project for Nigeria is to contribute to alleviating the power supply deficit by creating a conducive environment for private sector to invest in and operate power generation companies and sell power to the state-owned bulk trader. Negative impacts include: air quality, noise pollution, soil erosion, water pollution, waste, and safety. Mitigation measures include: 1) spray surfaces prior to excavation and clearing, apply liquid asphalt and use binder materials for exposed surfaces and fit dust suppression/extraction to equipment; 2) cover trucks transporting spoil and waste; 3) all vehicles to be regularly maintained; 4) develop detailed noise control plan, use temporary noise barriers and use 'low noise' equipment; 5) train construction staff on noise control plan during health and safety briefings; 6) develop and implement of a waste management plan; 7) use oil/water separators and silt traps; 8) adequate sewage collection and treatment; and 9) adequate sewage collection and treatment. Each volume of this report has different authorship: Environmental Resources Management (ERM) is the author of volumes 1 and 2, ExxonMobil of volume 3, and the Transmission Company of Nigeria of volume 4.


Professional English in Use Law is suitable for upper-intermediate to advanced students and contains 45 units covering a wide variety of legal vocabulary. Topics include corporate and commercial law, liability, contract law and intellectual property. The book also introduces general legal vocabulary related to legal systems, the legal professions and the skills lawyers need in their daily working lives. Professional English in Use Law is also an ideal companion for learners preparing for the new Cambridge International Legal English Certificate (ILEC) and covers key topics and vocabulary from the exam.


The major prerequisite of successful entrepreneurship venture is quality of decision-making process. Decision in investment is the most important financial decision. It is a part of both long-term business planning process and strategic business definition. Using available investment appraisal methods, entrepreneur should make positive or negative investment decision. Within the development of the economic theory and the practice many of methods made decision-making process rational and gave the scientific and practical base for successful project evaluation.


Road transport network reliability has recently become important, with the increasing emphasis on 'just-in-time' production methods and reducing the impacts of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis). This has led to increased efforts to mitigate the impacts of disruption of road transport networks, and the inclusion of changes in network reliability in economic appraisals of road network improvement proposals. This paper discusses the sources of unreliability, and the relative merits of alternative measures of reliability and models for predicting reliability. Methods for assessing and mitigating the impacts of degradation of inter-urban and urban road networks, and for estimating the economic value of reducing travel time unpredictability, are described. The paper also outlines research into the resilience of road networks and the users/organisations which rely upon them. The paper focuses on fundamental issues and methodological problems, and concludes that several such issues and problems are yet to be resolved.


The article describes a pilot research project which uses the output of a number of searchers performing the same search, to identify those factors that affect search success. The empha sis is not on any specific printed source or database, but rather on the underlying search process, which involves the use of a number of different information sources. Some comparisons have been made between manual and online sources. Some of the issues that have affected relative manual/online search success are: subject coverage of sources, selection of relevant references, time span coverage of databases, equivalence of sources, errors, abstracts, index and search terminology, search strategies, browsing, thesauri, search time, learning and refer ence location. The project is seen as the basis for a more controlled investigation into the relative success of the searcher/information interface in searching manual and online sources, respectively.


"Chapter Review," "Glossary," "Suggested Readings," and "References" follow each chapter. 1. Growing Older: A Sociological Explanation. Aging: A Definition. The Definition of a Social Problem. The Importance of Research. Critical Connection: The Importance of History. 2. Two Realities: Demography and Aging. The History of Aging. Aging in America: An Historical View. Aging Around the World. Future Prospects. Critical Connection: The Importance of Numbers. 3. The View From the Tower: Theoretical Perspectives. Sociology and Social Theory. Sociological Frameworks. Gerontological Frameworks. Critical Connection: What We Believe is What We See. 4. Society, Socialization, and Stereotypes. The Structure of Society. The Influence of Society. Stereotypes of Aging: A Consequence. Critical Connection: What We See is Socially Constructed. 5. Family Relationships Among the Elderly. Family Relationships. The Formal and Informal Support System. Critical Connection: It's Who You Know That Counts. 6. Aging in a Changing Economy. The World of Work. The Changing Job Market. Age Discrimination. The Meaning of Retirement. The World of Unemployment. Poverty. Critical Connection: What You Have Determines What You Get. 7. Aging and Health Care. The Health of the Elderly. The "Crisis" of Health Care Coverage to the Elderly. The Future of Health Care for the Elderly. Critical Connection: If I Have My Health I Can Do Anything. 8. Aging and the Political Process. Governmental Attitude and Action. Who Decides Who Governs. The Elderly in Politics. Aging and Powerful. Critical Connection: The Powerful Don't Change, They Just Get Older. 9. Double Jeopardy/Triple Jeopardy. The Significance of Sex, Marital Status, Race and Ethnicity. Women and Aging. Feminism Among the Elderly. The Importance of Marital Status. The Feminization of Poverty Among the Elderly. Aging Among Minority Populations. Critical Connections-Ageism, Sexism, and Racism-Conditions for Discrimination. 10. Living Arrangements. Migration. Location of the Elderly. Physical Settings. Independent Living Arrangements. Critical Connection-Integrated or Segregated Living Arrangements-Democratic Ideals or Safety. 11. Victims and Criminals. Victimizing the Elderly. The Elderly as Criminals. Critical Connection: Victimization is not Just Physical. 12. Death and Dying. The Historical Context of Death and Dying. The Sociology of Death and Dying. Who Dies and How. Suicide and Euthanasia. The Institutionalization of Death. Critical Connection: There is More to Growing Older than Dying. 13. A Reassessment: Aging in America. Growing Old in America: The Sociology of Aging. Intergenerational Relations. A Window of Opportunity for the Future-The Importance of Social Policy. Critical Connection: Demographic Realities and the Power of Definition.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to characterize sensory integration (SI) and praxis patterns of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and discern whether these patterns relate to social participation.

METHOD
We extracted Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests (SIPT) and Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) scores from clinical records of children with ASD ages 4-11 yr (N=89) and used SIPT and SPM standard scores to describe SI and praxis patterns. Correlation coefficients were generated to discern relationships among SI and praxis scores and these scores' associations with SPM Social Participation scores.

RESULTS
Children with ASD showed relative strengths in visual praxis. Marked difficulties were evident in imitation praxis, vestibular bilateral integration, somatosensory perception, and sensory reactivity. SPM Social Participation scores were inversely associated with areas of deficit on SIPT measures.

CONCLUSION
Children with ASD characteristically display strengths in visuopraxis and difficulties with somatopraxis and vestibular functions, which appear to greatly affect participation.


This study conducted a comparative assessment of the gasification performances of torrefied and untorrefied bagasse with emphasis on feed size, gasifier design and operating conditions that would influence gasification efficiency. Torrefaction greatly improved the characteristics of bagasse and had significant impact on its gasification performance. The gasifier design parameters studied were throat angle and throat diameter. Temperature of input air and feed input were the gasifier operating conditions examined in the course of the gasification processes of both torrefied and untorrefied bagasse. These parameters were considered the most critical operating parameters that affect gasifier performance and, correlation between the parameters was established in the course of gasification. The results obtained showed higher gasification efficiency for torrefied bagasse in comparison to untorrefied bagasse under varied conditions of gasification, which was attributed mainly to changes in the characteristics of the torrefied material.


This paper outlines the aims and methodology of the Information Literacy Resource Bank ( http://ilrb.cardiff.ac.uk ) project. The Resource Bank has been developed to help meet the challenge of embedding information literacy into the taught curriculum at Cardiff University. It contains "bite-size" interactive tasks, images, diagrams, cartoons and short tutorials which each focus on a particular information literacy topic. Hosted on the University's web pages, they can either be used in situ or downloaded and inserted into the tutors' own resources in BlackBoard, PowerPoint or even printed handouts. The intention is that the learning objects are suitably granular for integration, as required, within different teaching environments and are adaptable to the many different approaches to embedding information literacy. After describing the background and development of the Resource Bank, the authors evaluate, through case study examples of their use, whether the resources are truly re-purposable and whether the resources can be regarded as a successful source of support for embedding information literacy into teaching programmes.


One of the principal components of mass exchange within the soil−plant−atmosphere system is soil water extraction by plant roots. Adequate evaluation of water extraction is a prerequisite for correct predictions of plant transpiration and soil water distribution in the root zone. The main objective of the present study is to contribute to the development of sufficiently realistic, yet algorithmically simple models of water exchange between soil and plant roots applicable for numerical simulation of soil water responses to atmospheric forcing. In our case, a simple macroscopic, vertically distributed plant root water uptake approximation based on a traditional water‐potential‐gradient (WPG) formulation was adopted and implemented in a one‐dimensional dual‐continuum model of soil water flow based on the Richards' equation. This combined model was used to simulate soil water movement at a forested site. The results were compared with observations (sap flow, soil water pressure, and soil water content) as well as with simulations produced using the standard semi‐empirical model of Feddes. Principal aspects of the WPG prediction, such as root‐mediated soil water redistribution, compensation for local water scarcity, and transpiration reduction, are exposed and discussed.


"The real treasure is in the minds of our children, and all we have to do is extract it." Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah writes in website Queen Rania Foundation For Education And Development www.qrf.org/en. Rania Al Yassin was born on August 31, 1970. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the American University of Cairo in 1991. She applied this, first, to a banking career in Jordan and, later, to the information technology sector. After marrying Prince Abdullah bin Al Hussein on June 10, 1993, they went on to have four children: Prince Hussein, Princess Iman, Princess Salma, and Prince Hashem. In addition to being a wife and mother, Queen Rania works hard to lift the lives of Jordanians by supporting their endeavours and helping to create new opportunities for them. Locally, she is committed to breathe new life into the public education system; empower communities and women especially through microfinance initiatives; protect children and families; and drive innovation, technology and entrepreneurship, especially amongst young people. Internationally, Queen Rania is an advocate for tolerance, compassion and bridge building between people of all cultures and backgrounds. Her efforts to simultaneously challenge stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims, and promote greater understanding and acceptance between people of all faiths and cultures, have won her global recognition. Her Majesty's passion is education. She believes that every Jordanian girl and boy, and all children, should have access not only to stimulating classrooms and modern curricula, but inspiring teachers and technology that can connect Jordan's children to the world and the world to Jordan's children. Her efforts in the education sector complement the work of the Ministry of Education through initiatives such as the Jordan Education Initiative, the Queen Rania Teachers Academy, Madrasati, Edraak and others. To realize these and so much more, Queen Rania has encouraged private sector partners to drive improvements and strengthen the foundations of Jordan's education system. Queen Rania is also a global voice for access to quality education for children around the world. In 2009, Her Majesty championed the 1 Goal campaign for education; she is Honorary Chair of the UN Girl's Education Initiatives and has advocated access to education in forums and gatherings around the world. Her work and her efforts to improve the learning opportunities for children have been recognized at the highest levels, nationally, regionally and internationally. Additionally, through her position on their boards, Her Majesty contributes to the work of the United Nations Fund and the World Economic Forum. She is the Eminent Advocate for UNICEF; and she was part of the UN appointed High Level Panel who advised on the shape and content of the Sustainable Development Goals which aim to improve the lives of millions of people before 2030. In recognition of her work, Her Majesty has humbly accepted many awards, locally, regionally and globally. These include the Walther Rathenau Award from the Walther RathenauInstitut in Germany for her efforts to greater peace and understanding; the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award from Tech Awards, USA; the Arab Knight of Giving Award from Arab Giving Forum, UAE; the North South Prize by the North South Prize, Portugal; as well as the YouTube Visionary Award. Her Majesty authored several books primarily for children including the Sandwich Swap, which was inspired by her own childhood experiences.


A pulsed optical parametric oscillator (OPO) is pumped at 355 nm and injection seeded at two distinct idler wavelengths at ∼855 nm; these are separated by a frequency interval Δ falling within the 350-GHz free-running OPO bandwidth. Above-threshold operation of this dual-frequency seeded OPO causes sidebands to be observed at multiples of Δ in the spectrum of the 607-nm signal radiation. The sideband spacing varies smoothly as Δ is tuned (with the injection-seeded OPO cavity misaligned to reduce its effective finesse), and corresponding sidebands are observed on the transmitted 355-nm pump radiation. This is interpreted as direct evidence of backconversion of signal and idler waves in a pulsed OPO, consistent with previous temporal observations and other aspects of OPO performance. Signal-wave sidebands are observed well beyond the regular free-running OPO gain profile, which is understood in terms of the different phase-matching conditions for the various OPO pump and idler (seed) frequencies that are involved.


This article reports the findings of a correspondence audit study that examines how online bachelor's degrees affect labor market outcomes. The study involves sending 1,891 applications for real job openings using 100 fictitious applicant profiles. The applicant profiles are designed to be representative of recent college graduates from established universities. Using random assignment to degree type, applicant profiles that indicate a traditional (in-person) degree receive nearly twice as many callbacks as those that indicate an online degree. Findings suggest that, at least currently, completing an online degree program would significantly limit the labor market prospects of typical college students.


Fully updated for version 1.1 of the .NET Framework, .NET Framework Essentials, 3rd Edition is an objective, concise, no-nonsense overview of the Microsoft .NET Framework for developing web applications and services. Written for intermediate to advanced VB, C/C++, Java, and Delphi developers, .NET Framework Essentials, 3rd Edition is also useful to system architects and leaders who are assessing tools for future projects. .NET Framework Essentials touches all the bases--from the Common Language Run-Time (CLR) and key class libraries to the specialized packages for ASP.NET, Windows Forms, XML Web Services, and data access (ADO.NET). The authors survey each major .NET language, including VB.NET, C#, J#, and Managed C++, as well as MSIL, clearing away the noise and hype, and presenting a clear, practical look at the underlying technologies. .NET Framework Essentials also provides a handy reference to the most commonly used features of .NET Framework. Written by two veteran web applications developers, .NET Framework Essentials, 3rd Edition is one of the most complete, concise, and ultimately useful books to describe the breadth of technology represented by .NET. Compact and free of fluff or proprietary hype, .NET Framework Essentials is an outstanding value for experienced programmers and architects who need to get up to speed quickly.


What if Jacques Lacan--the brilliant and eccentric Parisian psychoanalyst--had worked as a police detective, applying his theories to solve crimes? This may conjure up a mental film clip starring Peter Sellers in a trench coat, but in Lacan at the Scene, Henry Bond makes a serious and provocative claim: that apparently impenetrable events of violent death can be more effectively unraveled with Lacan's theory of psychoanalysis than with elaborate, technologically advanced forensic tools. Bond's exposition on murder expands and develops a resolutely Zizekian approach. Seeking out radical and unexpected readings, Bond unpacks his material utilizing Lacan's neurosis-psychosis-perversion grid. Bond places Lacan at the crime scene and builds his argument through a series of archival crime scene photographs from the 1950s--the period when Lacan was developing his influential theories. It is not the horror of the ravished and mutilated corpses that draws his attention; instead, he interrogates seemingly minor details from the everyday, isolating and rephotographing what at first seems insignificant: a single high heeled shoe on a kitchen table, for example, or carefully folded clothes placed over a chair. From these mundane details he carefully builds a robust and comprehensive manual for Lacanian crime investigation that can stand beside the FBI's standard-issue Crime Classification Manual.


Abstract : This paper presents a method of formally representing the information that is available to a user of a relational database. The intended application area is deductive question-answering systems that must access an existing relational database. To respond intelligently to user inquiries, such systems must have a more complete representation of the domain of discourse than is generally available in the tuple sets of a relational database. Given this more expressive representation, the problem arises of how to reconcile the information present in the database with the domain representation so that database queries can be derived to answer the user's inquiries. In this paper, the author takes the formal approach of describing a relational database as the model of a first-order language. Another first-order language, the metalanguage, is used both to represent the domain of discourse and to describe the relationship of the database to the domain. The formal advantages of this approach are presented and contrasted with other work in this area.


House was probably the first freestanding building of the prehistoric humans. This field of architectural design and construction remains of crucial importance from the social, cultural, economic, and environmental points of view until today. Take, for example, the influence of housing construction sector on the environment due to the development of industrial construction technologies, and the increasing world's population, or the emotional, psychological impact of the closest everyday built environment on the human development. Considering this, we have decided to analyze the links between types, forms, and features of housing and ethical approaches towards the environment. This research has a historical dimension: we have analyzed the importance of different land management (landscape architecture) criteria in housing development in different historical periods and tried to identify the genesis of and conditions for the environmental concern in this field. The analysis of challenges of the present situation in the housing sector development has allowed us to identify main conditions of uncertainty, constant change, and diversity of possible architectural, technological, and ethical approaches that shape this field today. We propose that housing solutions may vary from low-tech buildings made with vernacular technologies and local building materials to ecological high-tech buildings still maintaining the environmentally friendly approach; however, taking into account the constant housing shortages and the increasing world's population, the sector of affordable sustainable housing should be given a priority. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.62.4.2358


The paper reports the results of a collapse test performed on a 6 m span timber-concrete composite beam with glued re-bar connection. The beam was first ramp loaded to failure, then some push-out tests were performed on specimens cut from the end of the beam in order to fully characterise the connection. During the tests all relevant quantities such as deflections, slips and strains were monitored. The experimental results are compared with those carried out using a FE numerical software and the analytical procedure proposed by Ceccotti according to the Eurocode 5 (EC5). An overall good correspondence was found, as long as realistic properties of the connection such as those obtained through push-out tests are used. Conversely the approximate formulas suggested by the EC5 for evaluating the connection properties are too conservative. Their use may lead to too stiff and strong connections, with possible undesirable brittle failure of the whole composite beam.


A new risk/return optimization model is described that overcomes much of the instability inherent in traditional mean-variance optimizers with a minimal sacrifice of efficiency. The robust frontier model identifies portfolios that are close to the efficient frontier, less likely to produce extreme results, and—most importantly—are much more stable to changes in input assumptions. Practitioners using this model can approach the task of asset allocation with confidence that small errors in forecasts will not be the primary driver of asset allocation outputs, and that if the model is used over time it will not produce huge swings in allocations with consequent high transaction costs.


Source/filter models have frequently been used to model sound production of the vocal apparatus and
musical instruments. Beginning in 1968, in an effort to measure the transfer function (i.e., transmission
response or filter characteristic) of a trombone while being played by expert musicians, sound pressure
signals from the mouthpiece and the trombone bell output were recorded in an anechoic room and
then subjected to harmonic spectrum analysis. Output/input ratios of the signals' harmonic amplitudes
plotted vs. harmonic frequency then became points on the trombone's transfer function. The first such
recordings were made on analog 1/4 inch stereo magnetic tape. In 2000 digital recordings of trombone
mouthpiece and anechoic output signals were made that provide a more accurate measurement of the
trombone filter characteristic. Results show that the filter is a high-pass type with a cutoff frequency
around 1000 Hz. Whereas the characteristic below cutoff is quite stable, above cutoff it is extremely
variable, depending on level. In addition, measurements made using a swept-sine-wave system in 1972
verified the high-pass behavior, but they also showed a series of resonances whose minima correspond
to the harmonic frequencies which occur under performance conditions. For frequencies below cutoff the
two types of measurements corresponded well, but above cutoff there was a considerable difference. The
general effect is that output harmonics above cutoff are greater than would be expected from linear filter
theory, and this effect becomes stronger as input pressure increases. In the 1990s and early 2000s this
nonlinear effect was verified by theory and measurements which showed that nonlinear propagation takes
place in the trombone, causing a wave steepening effect at high amplitudes, thus increasing the relative
strengths of the upper harmonics.


Stencils are a family of widely used computational patterns that play a critical role in various scientific and engineering applications. Stencil computations are known to be memory-bandwidth bound, thus a number of different techniques and algorithms that optimizes memory bandwidth usage have been proposed. However, existing techniques fall short in addressing the needs of large stencils, particularly more advanced stencil patterns involving non-axis aligned grid points. To handle non-axis aligned grid points, existing methods either use 3D caching or 2D caching schemes with more than one pass over the stencil per iteration, which suffers from the high intensity of memory accesses. The large number of memory accesses in these methods hinder the available performance. In this work, we present a new GPU-based implementation technique called "SWiC" that focuses on using 2D caching to efficiently implement advanced 3D stencil patterns, involving non-axis aligned grid points, and reducing global memory transactions by increased data reuse while only requiring a single pass per iteration. In contrast to the current approaches that maintain input register queues, the proposed approach maintains and updates the output register queue instead. The analysis shows that SWiC achieves a significant reduction in memory transactions which translates to a significant application speedup, 1.6x to 5.76x, when compared to the current state-of-the-art GPU stencil implementation. "SWiC" was evaluated across the latest three Nvidia GPU architectures as of the writing of this paper, as well as various stencil patterns and sizes. We also show that "SWiC" does not suffer from performance penalties when applied to simpler 3D stencils without non-axis aligned grid points, covering a wide application range. When running on a multi-node setting, we study the scaling efficiency of SWiC and show that it is able to achieve a weak scaling efficiency of about 96%.


This paper presents a novel vehicle detection approach for detecting vehicles from static images using color and edges. Different from traditional methods, which use motion features to detect vehicles, this method introduces a new color transform model to find important "vehicle color" for quickly locating possible vehicle candidates. Since vehicles have various colors under different weather and lighting conditions, seldom works were proposed for the detection of vehicles using colors. The proposed new color transform model has excellent capabilities to identify vehicle pixels from background, even though the pixels are lighted under varying illuminations. After finding possible vehicle candidates, three important features, including corners, edge maps, and coefficients of wavelet transforms, are used for constructing a cascade multichannel classifier. According to this classifier, an effective scanning can be performed to verify all possible candidates quickly. The scanning process can be quickly achieved because most background pixels are eliminated in advance by the color feature. Experimental results show that the integration of global color features and local edge features is powerful in the detection of vehicles. The average accuracy rate of vehicle detection is 94.9%


Background—Left and right carotid baroreflex afferents participate in generating the spontaneous variability of heart rate (HR), arterial pressure (AP), and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), but the relative contribution of each side is unclear. Pathophysiological conditions unilaterally affecting carotid baroreceptor function might result in abnormal changes of HR, AP, and MSNA variability, thus markedly affecting prognosis. We tested the hypothesis that unilateral carotid baroreceptor perturbation might differentially affect HR, AP, and MSNA variability compared with stimulation of the opposite side. Methods and Results—In 12 healthy volunteers, 4 sinusoidal neck suction procedures (0.1 Hz, from 0 to −50 mm Hg) were applied at the right, left, and combined right and left sides of the neck, in concordance or with phase opposition. Respiration was controlled at 0.25 Hz. Power spectrum analysis assessed the changes in the 0.1-Hz oscillatory component of the R-R interval, systolic AP (SAP), and MSNA variability induced by rhythmic baroreceptor stimulation. Mean R-R interval, SAP, and MSNA were unchanged during all procedures. The increase of the 0.1-Hz component of R-R and SAP variability during right and combined right and left carotid baroreceptor stimulation was greater than the changes induced by left-sided stimulation. The increase in the 0.1-Hz oscillatory component of MSNA variability was similar during all neck suction procedures. Conclusions—Right carotid baroreflex loading was as efficient as bilateral stimulation and more effective than left carotid suction in modulating R-R and SAP variability. There was no asymmetry in neural sympathetic discharge responses after single-sided carotid baroreceptor stimulation.


The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) helps countries implement the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an agenda for tackling major societal issues such as poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation by the year 2030. A key service provided by UNDP to countries that seek it is a review of national development plans and sector strategies by policy experts to assess alignment of national targets with one or more of the 169 targets of the 17 SDGs. Known as the Rapid Integrated Assessment (RIA), this process involves manual review of hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of documents and takes weeks to complete. In this work, we develop a natural language processing-based methodology to accelerate the workflow of policy experts. Specifically we use paragraph embedding techniques to find paragraphs in the documents that match the semantic concepts of each of the SDG targets. One novel technical contribution of our work is in our use of historical RIAs from other countries as a form of neighborhood-based supervision for matches in the country under study. We have successfully piloted the algorithm to perform the RIA for Papua New Guinea's national plan, with the UNDP estimating it will help reduce their completion time from an estimated 3-4 weeks to 3 days.


In this paper, we examine whether the existing stock of migrant firms induces more new firms of the same co-ethnic group in the same sector and province. We do so by analyzing the number of new firms created each year by country of origin, sector, and province, drawing on administrative data of the population of individual entrepreneurs observed over the period 2002-2013. We find support for a strong attractiveness (pulling) effect. We also find that this effect significantly differs by gender: female migrant entrepreneurs show lower reactiveness to the existing stock of firms compared to their male counterparts. We finally show that such gender differences are stronger for migrants coming from more gender-unequal countries. On the contrary, the degree of gender inequality in the region of destination does not matter.


We experimentally demonstrated significant enhancement of terahertz-wave absorption in monolayer graphene by simply sandwiching monolayer graphene between two dielectric media in a total internal reflection geometry. In going through this structure, the evanescent wave of the incident terahertz beam interacts with the sandwiched graphene layer multiple (up to four) times at varying incidence angles. We observed extremely large attenuation (up to ∼70% per reflection), especially for s-polarized radiation. The experimental results are quantitatively consistent with our calculations, where we modeled the experiment as an electromagnetic wave reflection process in monolayer graphene. We also derived analytical expressions for the absorptance, showing that the absorptance is proportional to the amount of Joule heating on the graphene surface induced by the terahertz radiation.


Cultural fit is widely believed to affect the success of individuals and the groups to which they belong. Yet it remains an elusive, poorly measured construct. Recent research draws on computational linguistics to measure cultural fit but overlooks asymmetries in cultural adaptation. By contrast, we develop a directed, dynamic measure of cultural fit based on linguistic alignment, which estimates the influence of one person's word use on another's and distinguishes between two enculturation mechanisms: internalization and self-regulation. We use this measure to trace employees' enculturation trajectories over a large, multi-year corpus of corporate emails and find that patterns of alignment in the first six months of employment are predictive of individuals' downstream outcomes, especially involuntary exit. Further predictive analyses suggest referential alignment plays an overlooked role in linguistic alignment.


Self-assembly of cationic bolaamphiphiles is usually reported to form one-dimensional (1D) or zero-dimensional (0D), rather than two-dimensional (2D) structures. Here we have found a facile counterion-directed structure switch for such amphiphilic moieties. 0D/1D structures formed by self-assembly of cationic bolaamphiphiles can be converted into 2D planar structures by a simple counterion change to tosylate. As indicated by the single crystal structure and variable-temperature NMR studies, the strong binding between tosylate counterions and cationic headgroups drives the formation of 2D planar structures. It is highly anticipated that this approach may present as a simple methodology to control the stacking of the embedded conjugated cores in bolaamphiphiles, therefore modulating optoelectronic properties and function in such assemblies.


The simulation of routing and distribution of water through a regulated river system with a river management model will quickly result in complex and nonlinear model behaviour. A robust sensitivity analysis increases the transparency of the model and provides both the modeller and the system manager with a better understanding and insight on how the model simulates reality and management operations. In this study, a robust, density-based sensitivity analysis, developed by Plischke et al. (2013), is applied to an eWater Source river management model. This sensitivity analysis methodology is extended to not only account for main effects but also for interaction effects. The combination of sensitivity indices and scatter plots enables the identification of major linear effects as well as subtle minor and nonlinear effects. The case study is an idealized river management model representing typical conditions of the southern Murray–Darling Basin in Australia for which the sensitivity of a variety of model outcomes to variations in the driving forces, inflow to the system, rainfall and potential evapotranspiration, is examined. The model outcomes are most sensitive to the inflow to the system, but the sensitivity analysis identified minor effects of potential evapotranspiration and nonlinear interaction effects between inflow and potential evapotranspiration.


In this paper, details of a numerical model development for simulation of fluid flows with moving free surface are presented. The unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on a fixed grid system are used to obtain velocity and pressure values in the computational domain and volume of fluid (VOF) method is used to determine free surface location. In order to reduce numerical smearing and increase accuracy of numerical modeling of fluid flow with moving free surface, a new free surface-tracking method is proposed. The proposed method is a combination of genetic algorithm and free surface tracking method based on donor and acceptor scheme. The specification of the new combinational method can be summarized in determining orientation vector and plane constant to represent the free surface orientation in each cell. The proposed algorithm can be easily used in any unstructured grids. In this method, the fluid flow equations are explicitly discretized with the finite volume method and the projection method is used to determine the velocity and pressure magnitude in computational domain. Validity of the new solution algorithm is demonstrated through its application to the dam break and the bore motion examples.


Recent experimental and theoretical efforts have focused on the effect of dissipation on quantum many-body systems in their many-body localized (MBL) phase. While in the presence of dephasing noise such systems reach a unique ergodic state, their dynamics is characterized by slow relaxation manifested in nonexponential decay of self-correlations. Here we shed light on a currently much debated issue, namely, the role of interactions for this relaxation dynamics. We focus on the experimentally relevant situation of the evolution from an initial charge density wave in the presence of strong dephasing noise. We find a crossover from a regime dominated by disorder to a regime dominated by interactions, with an accompanying change of time correlators from stretched exponential to compressed exponential form. The strongly interacting regime can be explained in terms of nucleation and growth dynamics of relaxing regions—reminiscent of the kinetics of crystallization in soft matter systems—and should be observable experimentally. This interaction-driven crossover suggests that the competition between interactions and noise gives rise to a much richer structure of the MBL phase than anticipated so far.


We developed a computer program for the simulation of plasma insulin and glucose dynamics after subcutaneous injection of insulin. The program incorporates a pharmacokinetic model to calculate the time courses of plasma insulin for various combinations of popular preparations (regular, NPH, lente, and ultralente). With the use of a pharmacodynamic model describing the dependence of glucose dynamics on plasma insulin and glucose levels, the program can predict the expected time course of plasma glucose in response to a change in carbohydrate intake, insulin dose, timing, or regimen. A set of typical parameters has been obtained by analysis of data from the literature. The results of several computer simulations are presented showing the effect on a 24-h insulin and glucose profile of systematically changing insulin regimen, dose, timing of meals, or timing of preprandial insulin administration. The program can be used to explore on a theoretical basis the impact of various factors associated with glycemic control in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. As an educational tool, the program provides a realistic environment for demonstration of the combined or isolated effects of insulin and diet on glycemia


God has major reasons for intervening in human history by becoming incarnate himself—to identify with our suffering, to provide atonement for our sins, and to reveal truths. Given there is at least a significant probability that there is a God, there is at least a modest probability that he would become incarnate and live a life and provide teaching appropriate to one who sought thereby to realize these goals. Jesus lived and taught in the appropriate way. If it was God Incarnate who did so live and teach, he would need to show us that it was God who had done so, and so could be expected to put his signature on that life and teaching by a super-miracle, such as the Resurrection. So there is a modest prior probability in advance of considering the direct historical evidence of the Resurrection, to expect that it would happen to someone who lived and taught as Jesus did. Jesus is the only person in human history about whom there is significant evidence both that he led the appropriate kind of life, and that his life was culminated by a super-miracle. So we do not need too many witnesses to the empty tomb or too many witnesses who claimed to have talked to the risen Jesus, to make it probable that Jesus did indeed rise. We do have some such witness evidence, which it is very improbable would occur (in connection with someone who led the appropriate sort of life) unless the Resurrection occurred. In consequence it is overall very probable that the Resurrection occurred. 1. Swinburne, The Resurrection of God Incarnate (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). PrePrint CoPy (1/23/12)


To observe the toxic effects of nicotine on the growing chick and to observe the role of antioxidant camellia sinensis for prevention of these effects. The Random Sampling technique was used. The study was done in the department of Anatomy, Army Medical College (NUST) Rawalpindi from 2nd November 2011 to 1st November 2012. The ethical Review Committee approved the procedures followed in the research project. Fresh fertilized eggs at zero hour of incubation of Fayoumi species were selected. Temperature in hatchery was controlled at 37.5 degree centigrade. The humidity was maintained at 75% and proper ventilation was observed. Four groups were made, each group was comprised of the ten numbers of eggs. The control group G1 was given normal saline, regarding experimental groups, G2 was given green tea extract, G3 was given 0.0001% nicotine solution and G4 was given both 0.0001% nicotine solution and green tea extract. Double exposure of doses was given. First exposure was given at 48 hours of incubation and second at 48 hours of hatching (post natal dose). The survival rate of chick was observed till one month of their age. Experimental groups which were treated with nicotine, such as, G3 &G4 were showing a less number of chicks which survived till the one month of age as compared to the control group G1 and experimental group G2. In case of experimental group G4, both nicotine and green tea extract were given to this experimental group showed better survival in comparison to only nicotine treated experimental group G3, but the number of survival of chick was less in comparison to G1 and G2. Camellia sinensis antioxidant property helps to neutralize the oxidative injury by the use of nicotine, but unable to recover it fully.


Agricultural water management (AWM) is the adaptation strategy for increasing agricultural production through enhancing water resources availability while maintaining ecosystem services. This study characterizes groundwater hydrology in the Kothapally agricultural watershed, in hard rock Deccan plateau area in India and assesses the impact of AWM interventions on groundwater recharge using a calibrated and validated hydrological model, SWAT, in combination with observed water table data in 62 geo-referenced open wells. Kothapally receives, on average, 750 mm rainfall (nearly 90% of annual rainfall) during the monsoon season (June to October). Water balance showed that 72% of total rainfall was converted as evapotranspiration (ET), 16% was stored in aquifer, and 8% exported as runoff from the watershed boundary with AWM interventions. Nearly 60% of the runoff harvested by AWM interventions recharged shallow aquifers and rest of the 40% increased ET. Water harvesting structures (WHS) contributed 2.5 m additional head in open wells, whereas hydraulic head under natural condition was 3.5 m, resulting in total 6 m rise in water table during the monsoon. At the field scale, WHSs recharged open wells at a 200 to 400 m spatial scale.


To understand the relationship between behavior and neural activity, experiments in neuroscience often include an animal performing a repeated behavior such as a motor task. Recent progress in computer vision and deep learning has shown great potential in the automated analysis of behavior by leveraging large and high-quality video datasets. In this paper, we design Disentangled Behavior Embedding (DBE) to learn robust behavioral embeddings from unlabeled, multi-view, high-resolution behavioral videos across different animals and multiple sessions. We further combine DBE with a stochastic temporal model to propose Variational Disentangled Behavior Embedding (VDBE), an end-to-end approach that learns meaningful discrete behavior representations and generates interpretable behavioral videos. Our models learn consistent behavior representations by explicitly disentangling the dynamic behavioral factors (pose) from time-invariant, non-behavioral nuisance factors (context) in a deep autoencoder, and exploit the temporal structures of pose dynamics. Compared to competing approaches, DBE and VDBE enjoy superior performance on downstream tasks such as fine-grained behavioral motif generation and behavior decoding.


There have been few systematic experimental studies testing different restoration techniques in varying environments on the same property. The present experimental work was done to provide a basis for re-establishing sclerophyll forest on agricultural land located on the Tasman Peninsula. In determining appropriate habitat restoration goals it was necessary to reconstruct the original vegetation. Thus the first goal was to conduct a vegetation survey of the field site with the aim of identifying and mapping the vascular plant species and community types present. The results from the vegetation survey showed that the remnant vegetation consisted of sedgey Eucalyptus ovata woodland, shrubby E. obliqua forest and heathy E. obliqua/E. amygdalina forest and that the pasture consisted of five floristic communities dominated by exotic grasses. The environmental envelopes of the three native vegetation communities were then compared to those of the exotic vegetation communities. This process allowed the exotic species combinations to be used as analogues of the former distribution of the native vegetation communities.
The level of intervention that was required to promote the successful re-establishment of native vegetation was investigated. The sowing of native seeds resulted in poor germination of all native species, with the exception of Acacia verticillata and A. melanoxylon, with germination the greatest in unfenced areas where weed colonisation of gaps was slowest. The reintroduction of Eucalyptus and Allocasuarina seedlings into three different exotic weed communities demonstrated that soil properties had a greater influence on seedling survival and growth than competition from exotic weeds and that species did best on sites in which they would have naturally occurred.
In the field of restoration ecology there is little research on whether the simultaneous reintroduction of tree, shrub and groundcover species could accelerate forest restoration on agricultural land compared to plantings of single species. The results obtained from the field trial that examined the neighbour interactions of E. obliqua, Allocasuarina littoralis and Poa labillardierei showed that the presence of neighbours could promote greater seedling growth than that of individuals planted without neighbours. For A. littoralis and E. obliqua the greatest growth occurred when its neighbours were four A. littoralis seedlings, whilst the greatest growth by P. labillardierei occurred when its neighbours were a mixture of itself and E. obliqua. These results suggest that intra- and interspecific interactions can have a positive effect on the growth of the three species.
The field trials at the study site indicate that competition from weeds and lack of native seed storage limit the ability of native vegetation to re-establish on the abandoned pasture. Poor establishment from the sowing of native seeds onto gaps created in the grass sward illustrated the need to re-introduce seedlings to promote the restoration of native species in the exotic weed communities. The seedlings of different dominant tree species varied in their survival and growth in different exotic weed communities, indicating the importance of adjusting restoration processes to variations in microhabitat. Restoration may also be accelerated by planting mixtures of tree, shrub and groundcover species.


Technological progress has eroded one of community banks' traditional advantages— the information edge from being located close to their customers. Is the community bank business model still viable in a world where financial relationships do not depend on face-to-face contact? The authors review some of the existing evidence and look forward to a research conference where participants will offer new evidence. ESSAYS ON ISSUES THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK JUNE 2002 OF CHICAGO NUMBER 178