Effects of Osmotic dehydration on water loss, solids gain, and weight reduction during osmotic dehydration were investigated in order to determine the usefulness of this technique as pre-treatment for further drying of bananas slices. Banana slices, 10 mm thick, were immersed in sucrose solutions with concentrations of 30, 40 and 50 Brix at 40, 50 and 60 0 C for 60, 90 and 120 minutes. Water loss, weight reduction and solids gain increased with treatment time. Longer treatment time in high concentrations of sucrose resulted in a very soft product, which is difficult to handle and unsuitable for further drying. Increasing concentration at the same temperature did not cause significant increments in weight change. Higher concentrations of sucrose caused higher rates of water removal. The effective Normalized moisture content for water and Normalized solid content were determined, considering banana as slices configuration. The temperature was controlled using constant temperature stirred water bath. The ratio of the volume of slices to that of the medium was maintained at 1:4, 1:5 and 1:10 in order to ensure that the concentration of the osmotic solution did not change significantly during the experiment. The samples were withdrawn, rinsed quickly in water, blotted gently with a tissue paper in order to remove adhering water and then dried in a hot air oven at 70 0 C for 18 hours. The regression analysis was done by response surface method.


General Electric has created case-based reasoning systems for remote diagnostics, call center automation, and internal productivity projects. CBR applications have been used to remotely diagnose x-ray machines, locomotives, and aircraft engines. Call centers have CBR systems that assist call takers in helping customers, provide web based customer self-service, and suggest standard responses to e-mail message. Productivity tools based on CBR have automated the appraisal of residential property for GE Mortgage, helped GE Plastics determine the correct pigments for creating a custom color plastic, and allowed GE Plastics to provide a web based tool for selecting a plastics' color


Background: Studies devoted to improving past tense verb production in Broca's aphasic patients are sparse. Of the existing studies few have produced generalised improvement on untreated verbs, although one study has shown improvement on untreated regular, but not irregular, verbs (Weinrich, Boser, & McCall, 1999). Within a single mechanism account of past tense verb production (McClelland & Patterson, 2002a, 2002b), irregular verbs fall into clusters that share similar transformations from their stem to past tense. No studies to our knowledge have explored whether strengthening irregular verb representations during rehabilitation can support production on untreated irregulars from the same irregular clusters. Aims: The aim of the current paper was to test the single mechanism claim that generalised improvement can be directed via irregular verb clusters in a Broca's aphasic participant (DS). We treated past tense verb production in sentences by using a mapping therapy, with the aim of maximising improved production of past tense verbs at both the single word and sentence level. Methods & Procedures: The study used a thematic mapping procedure requiring DS first to describe what was happening in a picture with two characters twice, beginning with different characters each time. Two thematic questions followed and DS was asked to produce the canonical and non-canonical sentences again. Non-canonical sentences required past tense verb production. Pre- and post-treatment baselines were administered to test gains in sentence production, sentence comprehension, and verb production. Generalised verb production was assessed using three untreated sets: regular verbs, irregular verbs from the same "clusters" as treated items, and irregulars from other verb clusters. Outcomes & Results: Generalised improvements were seen in the production of non-canonical sentences. Regular and irregular past tense verb production also improved, in both single word and sentence production modalities. There was significant generalised improvement to the untreated regular verb set. Interestingly, the improvement on treated irregular verbs generalised only to untreated irregulars from the same clusters as treated verbs. Conclusions: The findings suggest that past tense verb production can be improved by promoting mapping between semantic and syntactic levels of sentence processing. The generalisation to untreated verbs with similar transformations from their stem to their past tense is promising from a clinical standpoint, suggesting that generalisation may be directed in this way. Our findings also demonstrate how rehabilitation studies can contribute to the current theoretical debate between competing models of past tense verb production. Here, the findings support an account positing generalisation across clusters of irregular verbs.


Detailed investigations of optical anomalies and surface texture of birefringent grossular-andradite from Kamaishi mine, Japan, were made by optical polarizing microscopy, electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA) and back-scattered electron imaging from the standpoint of crystal growth. This garnet shows one-to-one correlation between surface features and the internal texture. The average chemical composition measured by EPMA near rim is Adr 78.6 Grs 21.1 Sps 0.2 and near core is Adr 57.0 Grs 42.2 Sps 0.7 . The surface features correspond to internal texture observed under crossed polarizers. The triangular sectors in rhombic blocks under cross polarizers are symmetric with [001] axis and show sector twins. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed a pyramidal shape of rhombohedral growth hillocks consistent with spiral growth mechanism. The vicinal faces of blocks show extinction angles of 31–40° with respect to the crystallographic direction [001]. This andradite is optically biaxial with 2V z of about (−) 70° in both {110} sectors. The principal direction X is almost normal to (110) and coincides with the growth direction [110]. The positions of Y and Z rotate by up to 19° from the crystallographic direction [001] and [110] respectively, around X . The value of X varies slightly from sector to sector; however, a 2-fold axis is parallel to [110]. The symmetry determined optically for the garnet is monoclinic or triclinic.


Knowledge management innovations provide essential pathways through which teachers, researchers, students, and knowledge management professionals who are interested in understanding and applying knowledge management theory and practice can transfer their insights and experiences into both organizational and educational settings.Knowledge Management Innovations for Interdisciplinary Education: Organizational Applications is a detailed resource on knowledge management and innovations that has been written and edited to provide flexibility and in-depth knowledge management innovations, strategies, and practices. The combination of a primary emphasis on theory and practice with applications to interdisciplinary education, as well as organizational environments, makes this book unique among the burgeoning literature on knowledge management.


Māori investment organisations are an influential component of the Māori economy, and yet little is known or written about them and how they function. The thesis will examine three Māori investment organisations and explore their investment philosophy, the elements they consider in their investment decision-making, their decision-making style, and the influence tikanga Māori has in the investment decision. My thesis focusses on Māori investment organisations which invest and manage collectively owned assets for the benefit of Māori people.
The thesis will offer a unique view of Māori investment practices through a whakapapa lens. Each of the three case studies draws on a combination of elements, and highlights areas where a whakapapa investment philosophy is at work. The thesis also discusses a decision-making style that is consistent with a whakapapa investment philosophy.
Kaupapa Māori research is the overarching research methodology used and is combined with inductive and qualitative grounded theory methods. A collective case study approach is used to provide insights into a particular phenomenon occurring within the chosen organisations and to identify the emergence of ideas amongst current practices. The thesis focuses on three investment organisations, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Wakatū Incorporation and Poutama Trust.
A whakapapa investment philosophy privileges a Māori worldview and offers Māori investment organisations another way to think about investing that considers their history, relationships, knowledge, tikanga, behaviours, and aspirations alongside financial, economic, social and environmental elements. I suggest it will enhance our knowledge of the elements that influence Māori investment organisations, and enhance their ability to provide for their people to live well.


Th e alteration of scavenging communities can reduce basic ecosystem services and increase risks to human and wildlife health. Recent work demonstrated that scavenging communities in agricultural landscapes are extremely effi cient: superabundant mesopredators sequestered system energy by dominating scavenging activity. To explore how the disturbance of these communities aff ects the stability of carrion removal as an ecosystem function, we experimentally manipulated a scavenging community within an agricultural landscape by reducing the abundance of the dominant scavenger, raccoons Procyon lotor . We then monitored the fates of 676 mouse Mus musculus carcasses placed in 13 control and 13 removal woodlots from June 2007 – May 2008. Th e diversity of vertebrate scavengers did not change between control and removal woodlots and scavenging by invertebrates was unaff ected by our experiment. Although Virginia opossums Didelphis virginiana and other scavengers exhibited a functional response when raccoons were reduced in abundance, the increases did not change the proportional allocation of carcasses among scavengers. Finally, the reduced abundance of a major scavenger aff ected system effi ciency. More carcasses remained un-scavenged at the end of trials in removal woodlots than in control woodlots. Th is experiment demonstrates the vulnerability of a critical ecosystem service, carrion removal, to perturbations of the scavenging community and serves to highlight the method by which scavenger communities may respond to perturbations.


This paper formalizes the notion of justified plans, which captures the intuition behind "good" plans. A plan is called justified if it does not contain operators that are not necessary for achieving a goal. We explore several different types of justification, present algorithms for removing "useless" operators from a plan, and show that the task to remove all useless operators is NP-complete.


Lack of sufficient oxygen within sewer networks leads to anaerobic bioprocesses occurring, including hydrolysed organic degradation by methanogensis and sulfate reduction. These anaerobic processes produce methane, a greenhouse gas twenty-one times more potent than carbon dioxide; and hydrogen sulfide, a toxic and corrosive gas responsible for severe sewer corrosion and public odour nuisance. These gases are typically controlled by chemically dosing oxygen or nitrate into the sewers. Urine contains roughly 80% of the nitrogen in wastewater and can be easily separated at the household using specialized toilets. If nitrified decentrally it could be discharged to sewer as nitrate to control sewer gas while achieving simultaneous nitrogen removal in the underground sewer network. In this study a 13.8 L lab-scale urine nitrification sequencing batch reactor was operated for 335 days to assess its performance treating real urine diluted to 30%, a concentration that could be expected from urine-source separating toilets. The reactor had a daily 1 hr anoxic fill and was aerated at 5 L/min for the remainder of the day by coarse bubble diffuser. The influent volume was increased from 1 to 2.65 L/d over the first 170 days of operation. The reactor was settled for 10 mins and decanted once the exchange volume capacity was exceeded, which occurred every 2–5 days depending on influent volume. Alkalinity as NaHCO3 was added stoichiometrically in the influent at a ratio of 1.05 mol:mol-N to allow complete nitrification. Seeding sludge was taken from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Between days 227–335 twelve batch tests were done to understand the activity of the various microbial groups including ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB), nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and heterotrophic bacteria (HB) under varying pH (7–9), free ammonia (42–194 mg-N/L) and free nitrous acid concentration (0–0.205 mg-N/L). In these tests a 5 L reactor was operated for 6 hours with approximately 700 mg-VSS/L of biomass measuring changes in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and chemical oxygen demand (COD) which were used to calculate biomass specific removal/production rates. The diluted urine in this study had an average total nitrogen concentration of 1790 mg-N/L, a COD of 1460 mg/L and a pH of 9.3. Nitrification was stable throughout the study with a maximum volumetric rate of 450 mg-N/L.d achieved and nitrate as the final nitrification product. In the batch inhibition testing it was found the optimal pH of the system for ammonia oxidation was at 8.5 with only an 11% reduction in oxidation rate at the highest pH tested of 9. This reflected operational conditions of the reactor where the pH exceeds 9 at the start of a reactor cycle when nitrification begins. Conversely, nitrite oxidation rates were greatest at the lowest tested pH of 7. In a normal reactor cycle ammonia oxidation reduces the pH by consuming alkalinity. Due to the faster growth of AOB and high demand for oxygen the NOB were generally suppressed in a typical cycle until ammonia oxidation was complete, at which time the pH was near 7. This indicated a niche group of organisms adapted to the operational conditions and surrounding microbial community within the reactor. Under varying free ammonia concentrations it was shown that inhibition for ammonia oxidation and organic oxidation began somewhere near 100 mg-N/L which corresponded roughly with the maximum levels encountered in the reactor. On the other hand free nitrous acid caused a 24% reduction in nitrite oxidation at a concentration of 0.1 mg-N/L. This was not significant as free nitrous acid in a typical reactor cycle did not exceed 0.04 mg-N/L but could prevent NOB growing if nitrite build-up occurred, in which case concentrations could exceed 0.4 mg-N/L. Organic oxidation was inhibited by free nitrous acid somewhere above 0.1 mg-N/L, but during the initial two hours of a cycle when organics are predominantly degraded free ammonia concentrations are typically less than 0.001 mg-N/L. This study demonstrates the feasibility of decentralized urine nitrification to produce nitrate under stable conditions. The features and ability of the microbial community in such a reactor is strongly associated with the operational conditions imposed.


The current study investigates how attitudes towards seeking psychological help relate to internal working models of attachment (self-model and other-model) and ruminative tendencies. The study includes 589 Turkish university students (278 females, 308 males and 3 unknown) by implementing a convenient sampling procedure. The average age of the participants was 22.4 years (SD = 2.2). Participants were administered the Attitudes toward Seeking Psychological Help-Short, the Relationship Questionnaire and the Rumination Scale. The results of the study indicate that the other-model and rumination have a relationship to women's help-seeking attitudes whereas the self-model has a relationship to men's help-seeking attitudes. The results are discussed in light of the related literature.


The adoption of low carbon energy technologies such as variable renewable energy and electric vehicles, coupled with the efficacy of energy efficiency to reduce traditional base load has increased the uncertainty inherent in the net load shape. Handling this variability with slower, traditional resources leads to inefficient system dispatch, and in some cases may compromise reliability. Grid operators are looking to future energy technologies, such as automated demand response (DR), to provide capacity-based reliability services as the need for these services increase. While DR resources are expected to have the flexibility characteristics operators are looking for, demonstrations are necessary to build confidence in their capabilities. Additionally, building owners are uncertain of the monetary value and operational burden of providing these services. To address this, the present study demonstrates the ability of demand response resources providing two ancillaryservices in the PJM territory, synchronous reserve and regulation, using an OpenADR 2.0b signaling architecture. The loads under control include HVAC and lighting at a big box retail store and variable frequency fan loads. The study examines performance characteristics of the resource: the speed of response, communications latencies in the architecture, and accuracy of response. It also examines the frequency and duration of events and the value in the marketplace which can be used to examine if the opportunity is sufficient to entice building owners to participate.


Introduction: One of the most common causes of occupational injuries in industrialized and developing countries is musculoskeletal disorders. Determining the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders can be helpful, choosing the right method for interventions and detailed studies. This study aimed to evaluate the ergonomic risk factors in operators of pressurized irrigation equipment production. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a pressurized irrigation equipment manufacturing company. In this study, a new method based on observation was used to evaluate the ergonomic aspects of operators' activities. In order to assign tasks and sub-tasks, direct observation and video recording equipment were used. Ergonomic assessment was carried out on all the sub-tasks identified. Then, the criticality of the task was determined. Results: Among the tasks identified, 53 highly critical, 61 critical and 82 lowly critical postures were determined. The ergonomic points in the ball valve production line were 0.6 and 0.68 respectively for tow operators. For drop valve and automatic valve production lines, the ergonomic points were 0.52 and 0.67, respectively. Conclusions: According to the results, the posture analysis method used in this study was easy and accurate. The advantage of this method is 14 ergonomic domains that covered the whole body and time fragment of each task. Findings of previous studies showed good correlation between results from this method and the OCRA method. In this study, The most critical posture was related to operator's wrist; so, it is recommended that control measures on wrist posture correction should be considered. Received: 27.06.2016 Accepted: 11.09.2016


Controlling and animating the facial expression of a computer-generated 3D character is a difficult problem because the face has many degrees of freedom while most available input devices have few. In this paper, we show that a rich set of lifelike facial actions can be created from a preprocessed motion capture database and that a user can control these actions by acting out the desired motions in front of a video camera. We develop a real-time facial tracking system to extract a small set of animation control parameters from video. Because of the nature of video data, these parameters may be noisy, low-resolution, and contain errors. The system uses the knowledge embedded in motion capture data to translate these low-quality 2D animation control signals into high-quality 3D facial expressions. To adapt the synthesized motion to a new character model, we introduce an efficient expression retargeting technique whose run-time computation is constant independent of the complexity of the character model. We demonstrate the power of this approach through two users who control and animate a wide range of 3D facial expressions of different avatars.


Efficiency and flexibility are critical, but often conflicting, design goals in embedded system design. The recent emergence of extensible processors promises a favorable tradeoff between efficiency and flexibility, while keeping design turnaround times short. Current extensible processor design flows automate several tedious tasks, but typically require designers to manually select the parts of the program that are to be implemented as custom instructions. In this work, we describe an automatic methodology to select custom instructions to augment an extensible processor, in order to maximize its efficiency for a given application program. We demonstrate that the number of custom instruction candidates grows rapidly with program size, leading to a large design space, and that the quality (speedup) of custom instructions varies significantly across this space, motivating the need for the proposed flow. Our methodology features cost functions to guide the custom instruction selection process, as well as static and dynamic pruning techniques to eliminate inferior parts of the design space from consideration. Furthermore, we employ a two-stage process, wherein a limited number of promising instruction candidates are first short-listed using efficient selection criteria, and then evaluated in more detail through cycle-accurate instruction set simulation and synthesis of the corresponding hardware, to identify the custom instruction combinations that result in the highest program speedup or maximize speedup under a given area constraint. We have evaluated the proposed techniques using a state-of-the-art extensible processor platform, in the context of a commercial design flow. Experiments with several benchmark programs indicate that custom processors synthesized using automatic custom instruction selection can result in large improvements in performance (up to 5.4/spl times/, an average of 3.4/spl times/), energy (up to 4.5/spl times/, an average of 3.2/spl times/), and energy-delay products (up to 24.2/spl times/, an average of 12.6/spl times/), while speeding up the design process significantly.


Lipreading is the task of decoding text from the movement of a speaker's mouth. Traditional approaches separated the problem into two stages: designing or learning visual features, and prediction. More recent deep lipreading approaches are end-to-end trainable (Wand et al., 2016; Chung & Zisserman, 2016a). However, existing work on models trained end-to-end perform only word classification, rather than sentence-level sequence prediction. Studies have shown that human lipreading performance increases for longer words (Easton & Basala, 1982), indicating the importance of features capturing temporal context in an ambiguous communication channel. Motivated by this observation, we present LipNet, a model that maps a variable-length sequence of video frames to text, making use of spatiotemporal convolutions, a recurrent network, and the connectionist temporal classification loss, trained entirely end-to-end. To the best of our knowledge, LipNet is the first end-to-end sentence-level lipreading model that simultaneously learns spatiotemporal visual features and a sequence model. On the GRID corpus, LipNet achieves 95.2% accuracy in sentence-level, overlapped speaker split task, outperforming experienced human lipreaders and the previous 86.4% word-level state-of-the-art accuracy (Gergen et al., 2016).


Abstract The etymological meaning of the name Liahona has been touched on before, but Curci seeks to deliver a more plausible etymology than has previously been given. By transliterating the word back into the Hebraic idioms of the time of Lehi and evaluating the grammatical elements to form the name, he has settled on the meaning of " direction of the Lord." The name is broken into three parts, and Curci argues that each part is Hebraic in origin, including the meaning and interpretation of each part. The etymological evidence regarding the name Liahona strengthens the claim that the book was written by a group of ancient Hebrews and not Joseph Smith. BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Smith, Robert F. (2007) "Assessing the Broad Impact of Jack Welch's Discovery of Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies : Vol. 16 : No. 2 , Article 9. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol16/iss2/9  Download


This chapter focuses on multifunctional properties of ultrafine-grained (UFG) metallic materials processed by severe plastic deformation (SPD), such as enhanced mechanical properties, excellent superplasticity, and wear resistance. Based on these multifunctional properties, the potential innovative application for UFG materials processed by SPD is introduced in the next section, including innovative application in micro-forming, nano- implants, electro-connections, and sport engineering.


Counselling psychology in Canada is a distinct and vibrant professional area representing the contributions of many people and events within a unique context. This article elaborates a number of defining moments or actions that reveal the distinct nature of this professional area through a recursive and interactive process with the social context. A number of ways forward are proposed as specific professional developments, as well as the resolution of a number of substantive issues identified within the recently adopted definition of counselling psychology. Moving forward as a discipline and a practice will actualize the potential of counselling psychology as both world and life enhancing. Keywords: counselling psychology, Canada, history, future The counselling psychology field in Canada has a rich history contributing to a prospering and dynamic professional area with a promising future. This article begins with a description of the defining moments within Canadian counselling psychology that contributed to a distinct and vibrant professional field. These defining moments represent the efforts and achievements of many people over the years who shaped counselling psychology within the unique Canadian context, which itself also influenced the defining process. One particularly important defining moment was the definition of counselling psychology in Canada, discussed in this article. This definition implicitly identifies a number of substantial issues that will contribute to the ways to move forward for counselling psychology in Canada. These issues include counselling as a practice with its emphasis on empathy and emotion; the social context in which lives are lived which includes culture, indigenity and social justice; and the conceptual and research frameworks, including qualitative research. Our conceptualisation of defining moments and possible future directions for this professional area, draws from contextual action theory and sociological theory of professions. From contextual action theory, as described by Young and Valach (2004) and Young (2009), defining activities are complex, interacting with each other and with the context in which they take place. The sociology of professions, also conceptualizes the process of defining professional identities as a recursive and interactive process (Brock, 2006; Morell, 2007), involving individuals, groups and organisations that influence the nature of the field in everyday actions. Counselling psychology is, therefore, influenced by the social context in which it is enacted, but also has an influence on Canadian society and culture. This active process creates the potential for future developments in counselling psychology to have a significant impact locally and internationally. Defining Moments in Canadian Counselling Psychology Selecting and describing the defining moments within the professional area of Canadian counselling psychology will be guided by the meaning of the word "defining" (Merriam- Webster, 2011). Defining refers to acts of identifying the essential qualities of something, clarifying its limits, and detailing what is distinctive about it. It involves taking action to discover and manifest the essence of what is being created in the moment. However, defining moments are considered to mean more than the simple act of defining. Defining moments are particular points in time during which the essential nature of something is revealed, each of which is "an occurrence that typifies or determines all related events that follow" (Dictionary.com, n.d.). It is presumptive of us to choose defining moments within the professional area of counselling psychology, because we are not able to predict the future and know with any certainty that these defining acts will be essential to the meaning of this professional area. We also realise that the day-today practices of individual counselling psychologists comprise defining moments as each one individually interprets and creates the meaning of counselling psychology within a unique context. …


Among the insinuations that Tacitus bequeaths to posterity in the negative segment of his post mortem of Augustus (Ann. 1.10) is the emperor's putative role as machinator doli in the death of the consul Hirtius during the fighting at Mutina in the spring of 43. The historian is thinking of a focal moment in the Aeneid when Sinon releases his fellow Greeks from within the wooden horse. I quote Aen. 2.264–7. Among the heroes who descend from the animal's belly are Ulixes, Neoptolemus et Menelaus et ipse doli fabricator Epeos. invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam; caeduntur vigiles, portisque patentibus omnis accipiunt socios atque agmina conscia iungunt.


Extant literature on Imposter syndrome primarily focuses on Asian Americans. This current review of literature seeks to make a comparison of Imposter syndrome between two marginalized communities – Asian Americans and African Americans. Imposter syndrome, also referred to as the imposter phenomenon, refers to an individual who doubts their own skills, abilities, successes, and overall capabilities in their life (Parkman, 2016). Asian American students are stereotyped as the model minority and are believed to be intelligent, hardworking, high achieving, and academic and seen to be free from any emotional or adaptive problems. Although these stereotypes are perceived to be positive, they also place a great deal of pressure on Asian American students to excel in school and this can produce increased anxiety and distress. Among African-Americans, shame-proneness manifests differently. It is directly related to a fear of intimacy and self-deprecation (Austin, 2009). Researchers looking at the relationship between Imposter syndrome and mental health among student populations have found it to be a predictor of mental health, it has been found to be positively correlated with anxiety, depression, psychological distress, and minority student status stress (Parkman, 2016). This review will seek to answer which of the two aforesaid stated student populations of first-generation students, Asian American and African American experience a greater detriment in mental health and if there are any specific patterns of mental symptoms of psychological distress that are found among each of these student populations.


Where else would you find a complete set of back issues of the journal The Management Accountant of India? Or photos of the 1907 staff baseball team of Haskins & Sells, a predecessor firm of Deloitte & Touche? Or you might want to go back to where it all started and inspect an original volume of Luca Pacioli's Summa de Arithmetica, printed in 1494 and considered the first published description of double-entry bookkeeping. You could do it all at the 126,000-volume library that the AICPA donated to the University of Mississippi in 2001. The collection forms the core of the National Library of the Accounting Profession at Ole Miss, the world's largest accounting library. "It's a source of great pride for the university and the state of Mississippi," said James W Davis, a professor of the E.H. Patterson School of Accountancy at Ole Miss. Davis was dean of the school when the AICPA made the donation and when, a month later, 14 tractor-trailer loads began arriving from New York and New Jersey with the collection. Upward of 5,000 large cardboard boxes held the books, pamphlets and other materials that swelled the university's library by 10% and made its already distinguished holdings in accounting history the foremost English-language library of accountancy. "Basically, it's everything published [on accounting] in the 20th century in English, anywhere in the world," said Dale Flesher, a professor of accounting in the Patterson School at Ole Miss. Flesher, who also played a major role in bringing the AICPA collection to Ole Miss, frequently uses it in his historical research (see "Eight Special Women in Accounting" accompanying this article) and displays an infectious enthusiasm for the collection's rarities and curiosities. "We're always surprised at how much of the material in the collection is unique," said Royce Kurtz, reference librarian and professor of library science at Ole Miss, who has led the effort to catalog the collection and digitize parts of it. Looking back six years over the mammoth undertaking, "I'm still amazed," Kurtz said, even though it's not entirely finished. "We're down to the last 50 or 60 boxes now," he said. Those boxes are still yielding nuggets of accounting's past, such as 50-year-old employee directories of major accounting firms. In a snug back room recently, Kurtz reached into one box where pamphlets awaited digital scanning. Out came a 1932 booklet, Uniform System of Accounts for Dried Fruit Cost Accounting. Digging deeper, he found the firm tax return from 1928 of Frank Broaker, holder of what is believed to be the first CPA license, issued in New York in 1896. "There are a lot of little treasures like this in the library," Kurtz said. A poster nearby lists the accounting library's holdings: 35,000 books, 94,000 pamphlets, 1,300 periodical titles, 900 journal subscriptions, 191 rare books and more than 500 photographs. A PRIORITY FROM THE START The collection's size attests to the priority early organizers of the AICPA and its predecessor organization, the American Association of Public Accountants, placed on building and maintaining a repository of accounting literature. Directors of the earlier organization passed a resolution in 1896 to seek headquarters space in New York City "for the purpose of acquiring a library and for general purposes." By 1918 it had a librarian, an endowment and 2,000 books and pamphlets. The library operated as a research resource to accountants, with an emphasis on serving the smaller accounting firms, since larger firms had their own libraries. The following year, a library catalog was published and mailed free to members, the beginning of regular updates of a printed index that grew with the library's holdings through the years. It became a computerized database starting in 1977. By 1955, when head librarian Miriam Donnelly retired (see accompanying article "Eight Special Women in Accounting"), the four-person library staff made 9,574 book loans that fiscal year and answered nearly 19,000 inquiries assisting more than 11,500 visitors. …


We analyze micro-ring resonator chains that have a system response with N-th order poles and zeroes when the chain consists of N unit cells. These include the recently proposed zigzag micro-ring resonator chains exhibiting new fast- and slow- light properties and a dual ring chain for which the explicit expression of the system function is given. We discuss the realization of ultrahigh order structures with sharp peaks and large out-of-band rejection filters, ultra-sharp notch optical filters for optical carrier suppression and the general properties of slow and fast light phenomena in this type of systems. All the analyses are based on the pole-zero representation of the system function. A tuning mechanism for the modified dual-ring structures acting as notch filters is also proposed.


[1] Extensive intercomparison of columnar and near-surface aerosols, simulated over the South Asian domain using the aerosol module included in the regional climate model (RegCM4) of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) have been carried out using ground-based network of Sun/sky Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) radiometers, satellite sensors such as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), and ground-based black carbon (BC) measurements made at Aerosol Radiative Forcing over India (ARFI) network stations. In general, RegCM4 simulations reproduced the spatial and seasonal characteristics of aerosol optical depth over South Asia reasonably well, particularly over west Asia, where mineral dust is a major contributor to the total aerosol loading. In contrast, RegCM4 simulations drastically underestimated the BC mass concentrations over most of the stations, by a factor of 2 to 5, with a large spatial variability. Seasonally, the discrepancy between the measured and simulated BC tended to be higher during winter and periods when the atmospheric boundary layer is convectively stable (such as nighttime and early mornings), while during summer season and during periods when the boundary layer is convectively unstable (daytime) the discrepancies were much lower, with the noontime values agreeing very closely with the observations. A detailed analysis revealed that the model does not reproduce the nocturnal high in BC, observed at most of the Indian sites especially during winter, because of the excessive vertical transport of aerosols under stable boundary layer conditions. As far as the vertical distribution was concerned, the simulated vertical profiles of BC agreed well with airborne measurements during daytime. This comprehensive validation exercise reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the model in simulating the spatial and temporal heterogeneities of the aerosol fields over South Asia.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) image-fusion-guided target localization system and a mask based stereotactic system for fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT) of cranial lesions. A commercial x-ray image guidance system originally developed for extracranial radiosurgery was used for FSRT of cranial lesions. The localization accuracy was quantitatively evaluated with an anthropomorphic head phantom implanted with eight small radiopaque markers (BBs) in different locations. The accuracy and its clinical reliability were also qualitatively evaluated for a total of 127 fractions in 12 patients with both kV x-ray images and MV portal films. The image-guided system was then used as a standard to evaluate the overall uncertainty and reproducibility of the head mask based stereotactic system in these patients. The phantom study demonstrated that the maximal random error of the image-guided target localization was +/-0.6 mm in each direction in terms of the 95% confidence interval (CI). The systematic error varied with measurement methods. It was approximately 0.4 mm, mainly in the longitudinal direction, for the kV x-ray method. There was a 0.5 mm systematic difference, primarily in the lateral direction, between the kV x-ray and the MV portal methods. The patient study suggested that the accuracy of the image-guided system in patients was comparable to that in the phantom. The overall uncertainty of the mask system was +/-4 mm, and the reproducibility was +/-2.9 mm in terms of 95% CI. The study demonstrated that the image guidance system provides accurate and precise target positioning.


The objective of this research was to evaluate the data on the health of the elderly population available in the Brazilian information system and their correspondence with the North American statistics using the Internet. The North American publication "Older Americans 2000: Key Indicators of Well-Being" was used as a standard. The databases and instruments used in the North American and Brazilian surveys are presented. The North American data are based on the Supplement on Aging and Second Supplement on Aging; Health and Retirement Study; National Health Interview Survey and National Long Term Care Survey. The Brazilian data were collected from the Mortality Information System; Information System of the National Program of Immunizations; National Household Sample Survey conducted in 1998 and 2003 and from the Household Survey on Risk Behavior and Morbidity from Not Transmissible Diseases of 2002-2003. There is a great number of Brazilian information about the aged population of the Country available in the Internet and with few exceptions the information on aged Brazilians corresponds to the information available about aged North Americans.


Abstract. Mobile devices provide a huge amount of multimedia information sending to the members of social groups every day. Sometimes it is required to authorize the sending information using the limited computational resources of smartphones, tablets or laptops. The hardest problem is with smartphones, which have the limited daily energy and battery life. There are two scenarios for using mobile watermarking techniques. The first scenario is to implement the embedding and extraction schemes using proxy server. In this case, the watermarking scheme does not differ from conventional techniques, including the advanced ones based on adaptive paradigms, deep learning, multi-level protection, and so on. The main issue is to hide the embedding and extracting information from the proxy server. The second scenario is to provide a pseudo-optimized algorithm respect to robustness, imperceptibility and capacity using limited mobile resources. In this paper, we develop the second approach as a light version of adaptive image and video watermarking schemes. We propose a simple approach for creating a patch-based set for watermark embedding using texture estimates in still images and texture/motion estimates in frames that are highly likely to be I-frames in MPEG notation. We embed one or more watermarks using relevant large-sized patches according to two main criteria: high texturing in still images and high texturing/non-significant motion in videos. The experimental results confirm the robustness of our approach with minimal computational costs.


"Shouldn't everyone receive a stake in society's wealth? Could we create a fairer world by granting a guaranteed income to all? What would this mean for our health, wealth and happiness? Basic Income is a regular cash transfer from the state, received by all individual citizens. It is an acknowledgement that everyone plays a part in generating the wealth currently enjoyed only by a few. Political parties across the world are now adopting it as official policy and the idea generates headlines every day. Guy Standing has been at the forefront of thought about Basic Income for the past thirty years, and in this book he covers in authoritative detail its effects on the economy, poverty, work and labour; dissects and disproves the standard arguments against Basic Income; explains what we can learn from pilots across the world and illustrates exactly why a Basic Income has now become such an urgent necessity."


The paper argues that the systematic review of qualitative research is best served by reliance upon qualitative methods themselves. A case is made for strengthening the narrative literature review and using narrative itself as a method of review. A technique is proposed that builds upon recent developments in qualitative systematic review by the use of a narrative inductive method of analysis. The essence of qualitative work is described. The natural ability for issues of ethnicity and diversity to be investigated through a qualitative approach is elaborated. Recent developments in systematic review are delineated, including the Delphi and Signal and Noise techniques, inclusion of grey literature, scoping studies and meta-ethnography. A narrative inductive interpretive method to review qualitative research is proposed, using reflective teams to analyse documents. Narrative is suggested as a knowledge-generating method and its underlying hermeneutic approach is defended as providing validity and theoretical structure. Finally, qualities that distinguish qualitative research from more quantitative investigations are delineated. Starting points for reflecting on qualitative studies and their usefulness are listed. Key words: Qualitative Systematic Review, Evidence-Based Policy, Grey Literature, Scoping Studies, Delphi, 'Signal and Noise', Meta-ethnography, Narrative Review, Narrative Method, and Reflective Teams


Pupillometry, the measurement of pupil size, is a technique used widely in psychological research to infer arousal, cognitive effort and processing load in various observer settings. Specifically, pupil dilation has been linked to increased effort in extended visual search (Porter, Troscianko & Gilchrist, 2007) and with the detection of targets in rapid serial visual presentation (Privetera et al., 2010). Whether pupil dilations elicited by target detection during visual search can be resolved against the backdrop effects of search-induced effort is a question of current interest. We sought to addresses this question with a novel signal-detection-style brief visual search paradigm. Pupil size was recorded as participants searched for a feature-distinct target item in arrays of similar items, responding either 'target present' or 'target absent' for each trial. Targets were presented briefly at the centre of the screen and participants were asked to maintain central fixation, which minimised eye movements and the pupil-size measurement errors they cause. The factor levels Target (present vs. absent) and Set Size (6 vs. 12) combined in equal parts to make four conditions. Overall, reaction times (RTs) were greater for target-absent trials. Pop-out search effects for target-present trials were evidenced by near-identical RTs for the two set sizes, whereas a marked difference in RTs for target-absent trials suggested that greater effort was required to arrive at the correct response for the larger set sizes. Despite the pop-out search effects on target-present trials and the greater effort required for target-absent searches, pupil dilation was consistently greater when a target was present. These results suggest that pupil dilations resulting from target detection could be reliably separable from the background effects caused effort during visual search. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Our advances in technology allow us to sequence DNA to uncover genetic differences not only between individuals, but also between normal and diseased cells within an individual. However, there is still a lot we have yet to understand regarding the epigenetic mechanisms that also contribute to our individuality and to disease. The 80th Biochemical Society Annual Symposium entitled Epigenetic Mechanisms in Development and Disease brought together some leading researchers in the field who discussed their latest insights into epigenetic mechanisms. Methylation of DNA has been the focus of much study from both a developmental perspective and imprinting of genes to its contribution to diseases such as cancer. Recently, the modification of methylcytosine to hydoxymethylcytosine within cells was uncovered, which opened a host of potential new mechanisms, and a flurry of new studies are underway to uncover its significance. Epigenetics is not confined to a study of DNA, and the post-translational modifications on the histone proteins have a significant role to play in regulating gene expression. There are many different modifications and, as shown at the Symposium, new variations used by cells are still being uncovered. We are some way to identifying how these modifications are added and removed and the protein complexes responsible for these changes. A focus on the function of the complexes and the interactions between individual modifications to regulate gene expression is advancing our knowledge, as discussed in the accompanying papers, although there are clearly plenty of opportunities for new breakthroughs to be made.


Chris Brunker provides a synopsis and brief review of a selection of recently published research articles of interest to neuroscience nurses, highlighting the key points to keep you up to date. A full reference is provided for those who wish to read the research in more detail.


"Kant's Critique of Pure Reason" remains one of the landmark works of Western philosophy. Most philosophy students encounter it at some point in their studies but at nearly 700 pages of detailed and complex argument it is also a demanding and intimidating read. James O'Shea's short introduction to "CPR" aims to make it less so. Aimed at students coming to the book for the first time, it provides step by step analysis in clear, unambiguous prose. The conceptual problems Kant sought to resolve are outlined, and his conclusions concerning the nature of the faculty of human knowledge and possibility of metaphysics, and the arguments for those conclusions, are explored. In addition he shows how the "Critique" fits into the history of modern philosophy and how transcendental idealism affected the course of philosophy. Key concepts are explained throughout and the student is provided with an excellent route map through the various parts of the text.


We consider proof systems with sequents of the formU |- F for proving validity of a propositional
modal mu-calculus formula F over a set U of
states in a given model. Such proof systems usually handle
fixed-point formulae through unfolding, thus allowing such formulae
to reappear in a proof. Tagging is a technique originated by Winskel
for annotating fixed-point formulae with information
about the proof states at which these are unfolded. This information
is used later in the proof to avoid unnecessary unfolding, without
having to investigate the history of the proof. Depending on whether
tags are used for acceptance or for rejection of a branch in the proof
tree, we refer to ``positive'' or ``negative'' tagging, respectively.
In their simplest form, tags consist of the sets U at which
fixed-point formulae are unfolded. In this paper, we generalise results
of earlier work by Andersen, Stirling and Winskel which, in the case
of least fixed-point formulae, are applicable to singleton U sets only.


Direct comparison of ancient extinctions to the present-day situation is difficult, because quantitative palaeontological data come primarily from marine invertebrates, fossilized species are usually drawn from the more abundant and widespread taxa, and time resolution is rarely better than 10 $^{3}$ -10 $^{4}$ years. A growing array of techniques permits quantitative error estimates on some of these potential biases, and allows calculation of species extinction intensities from genus-level data, which are more robust. Extensive as today's species losses probably are, they have yet to equal any of the Big Five mass extinctions. Background extinction patterns are potential sources of insight regarding present-day biotic losses; over 90% of past species extinction has occurred at times other than the Big Five mass extinctions. Mean durations of fossil species vary by more than an order of magnitude even within clades, rendering uninformative any global average for background extinction. Taxon-specific variation is evidently related to intrinsic biotic factors such as geographic range and population size. Approaches to extinction analysis and prediction based on morphological variety or biodisparity should be explored as an adjunct or alternative to taxon inventories or phylogenetic metrics. Rebounds from mass extinctions are geologically rapid but ecologically slow; biodiversity recovery and the re-establishment of some communities typically requires 5-10 million years.


The BIOPRO® first metatarsophalangeal hemiarthroplasty is a reliable alternative to fusion of the first metatarsophalangeal for patients with grade III or IV hallux rigidus. The implant was introduced in 1952, and Townley reported 93% good or excellent results on 279 implants with an 8-month to 33-year follow-up. One hundred three first metatarsophalangeal hemiarthroplasties have been performed at our center over 4 years, and we report no cases of deep infection or loosening. Postoperative arthrofibrosis is the most common complication and is addressed with manipulation, which restores functional dorsiflexion. A structured postoperative physical therapy program is important to maintain range of motion and favorable outcomes. A prospective, long-term follow-up study is currently underway.


Thesis (M.A.)--Georgetown University, 2009.; Includes bibliographical
 references. Given the array of complex global challenges that human societies face in the 21st
 century, it has been argued that the accepted role of business in society must change in order
 to help meet these challenges. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term often used to
 convey this sentiment - and to prescribe the necessary changes. The primary goal of this
 research project is to examine how CSR spreads across society from both an individual and
 organizational perspective. First, how do individuals identify responsible companies? Second,
 what factors drive companies to adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR), and what does
 adoption entail? Diffusion of innovations is a theoretical framework used to explain the
 spread of ideas, opinions, and products (various types of innovations) across members of a
 social system. This study combines the lens of diffusion theory with the current literature on
 CSR, which allows us to define CSR as an innovation, or a tool, that companies adopt to serve
 a specific purpose or to achieve certain objectives. The data collection process includes both
 an online survey to identify individuals' CSR perceptions and how these are shaped; as well as
 personal interviews with six CSR experts and practitioners to identify the utility of CSR for
 companies. At the individual level, this study finds that individuals' opinions and
 perceptions of CSR are shaped by a combination of interpersonal and mass media communication
 channels; companies are more likely to be perceived as responsible if the communications that
 shape overall perception also provide useful CSR information. At the organizational level,
 this study finds that CSR helps companies meet various objectives including: crisis/reputation
 management; recruiting talent and engaging employees; promoting innovation; maintaining
 competitive position; and market entry. Reasons for adoption vary by company and the
 competitive context in which it operates; but the context in which adoption occurs shapes the
 implementation and development of CSR. Finally, this study suggests several possibilities for
 future research including the role of social networks in the diffusion of
 CSR.


The purpose of this investigation was to learn the effect of a soccer coaching education course upon the coaching efficacy as measured by the Coaching Efficacy Scale (CES; Feltz, Helper, Roman, & Paiement; 2009) of coaches participating in the course. 122 responses from participating coaches were used for pre-course analysis, and 35 were used for analysis of pre- and post-course measurements. MANOVA testing for differences between male and female pre-course scores revealed no overall significant difference, and univariate tests revealed no significant differences for any of the individual domains between male and female coaches pre-course scores. There were no significant differences among the groups based upon level of experience. In comparing the 4 CES domains (Game Strategy, Technical Instruction, Motivation, and Character Building), a significant multivariate difference was found between pre-and post course scores indicating a positive change in coaches CES ratings. Univariate analysis revealed positive significant differences between pre-and post-course CES measures for the Motivation, Game Strategy, and Technical Instruction domains. These results point towards the ability of a coaching education program to bring about positive changes in coaches' confidence in their abilities to be an effective coach. In addition, coaches were asked open-ended questions. Coaches were asked to list the three most important things learned from the course. Themes cited by coaches included Methodology, Drills and Exercises, Tactics, Psychology/Confidence, Networking/Contacts, Knowledge, and Organization. Coaches were asked to list three ways in which their coaching would change. These ways included Knowledge, Organization, Communication, Increased Confidence, Use of Coaching in the Game Methodology, a General Increase in Coaching Skills, No Change in Coaching, and Use of New Drills. Results of this study indicate a coaching education program can bring about positive changes in coaching efficacy. Open-ended question revealed factors coaches perceived as important to their educational experience that would impact their coaching. These results are encouraging regarding the value of coaching education programs as a method to improve coaching efficacy.


This multi-author article aims to demonstrate that, despite the traditional understanding that tort law should serve the sole purpose of remedying the harm caused as precisely as possible, there are growing indications in several continental European legal systems that damages awards are not entirely immune from extra-compensatory, punitive features. This is evident particularly with regard to moral damages, to 'compensation' for the violation of privacy rights and of intellectual property rights. Moreover, statutory civil sanctions, conceived of as alternatives to criminal and administrative penalties, are increasingly being adopted by national legislatures to deter anti-social behaviour. Based upon scholarly work and case law from different European jurisdictions, the authors argue that extra-compensatory damages are frequently applied by national judges, albeit not always in an overt manner, and that such a phenomenon should not be deemed a priori in conflict with the principles of European law.


We search for correlations between the positions of extragalactic objects and the arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with primary energy E ⩾ 40 EeV as observed by the surface detector array of the Telescope Array (TA) experiment during the first 40 months of operation. We examine several public astronomical object catalogs, including the Veron-Cetty and Veron catalog of active galactic nuclei. We count the number of TA events correlated with objects in each catalog as a function of three parameters: the maximum angular separation between a TA event and an object, the minimum energy of the events, and the maximum redshift of the objects. We determine the combination of these parameters that maximizes the correlations, and we calculate the probability of having the same levels of correlations from an isotropic distribution of UHECR arrival directions. No statistically significant correlations are found when penalties for scanning over the above parameters and for searching in several catalogs are taken into account.


Vasoactive neuropeptides (VNs) such as pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) have critical roles as neurotransmitters, vasodilators including perfusion and hypoxia regulators, as well as immune and nociception modulators. They have key roles in blood vessels in the central nervous system (CNS) including maintaining functional integrity of the blood brain barrier (BBB) and blood spinal barrier (BSB). VNs are potent activators of adenylate cyclase and thus also have a key role in cyclic AMP production affecting regulatory T cell and other immune functions. Virchow-Robin spaces (VRSs) are perivascular compartments surrounding small vessels within the CNS and contain VNs. Autoimmunity of VNs or VN receptors may affect BBB and VRS function and, therefore, may contribute to the aetiology of neurological-related conditions including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. VN autoimmunity will likely affect CNS and immunological homeostasis. Various pharmacological and immunological treatments including phosphodiesterase inhibitors and plasmapheresis may be indicated.


Introduction: Pain is a very common reason for presenting to the Emergency Department (ED). While the causes for pain are diverse, ranging from fractures and other injuries to chest or abdominal pain or headache, the provision of effective, timely analgesia should be one of the principal goals of emergency staff . Inadequate pain relief and poor treatment in pain management in ED was highlighted by Wilson and Pendleton and they coined the term oligoanalgesia to describe this phenomenon. They found that only 44% of patients with pain received analgesics in the ED, and sub therapeutic dosing was common. Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted in HGH ED after approval from Department of Emergency Medicine Audit & Ethical Committee, investigators were divided over shifts in ED for 2 weeks. Total of 448 patients were recruited. Inclusion criteria were any patient presented to Ed in acute pain over the last 24 hour, age >18 years old. Patients in life threatening conditions, major trauma, altered mental status or communication difficulties were excluded. Results: Total of 448 patients were recruited. Of which 358 number were males, 90 Number were females. Trauma-related cases composed about 100 number (22.3%) of the pain cases. The number of pain medications prescribed to patients throughout the ED course and upon discharge was recorded. Conclusion: The administration of pain-relieving medications in the ED was associated with significant pain reduction upon disposition. However, pain was still inadequately treated and scoring was not adequately recorded in patient files. Need for proper structured approach for pain management in HGH ED is warranted.


MySpace is an online social network site (SNS) where users regularly communicate via a particular part of the profile page known as "the wall". This article uses a discursive approach to study the construction of identity in communication on the wall. The analysis shows that wall communication constitutes a set of relational positions that need to be discursively organised in order to manage the presence of a mediated community of other MySpace users. Drawing on the work of Celia LURY, the paper explores this issue in terms of a set of practices for managing the dilemma of closeness and distance that stems from the new forms of individualism that is inherent to a "prosthetic" culture. The article is concerned with the way MySpace users negotiate the issue of distance and closeness as part of the process of identity construction in MySpace. A broader discussion in terms of discourse, community and technology is included. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1103160


Ask the mayor of a city in the Andes Mountains about the outcome of the December 2009 climate negotiations in Copenhagen and you may be met with a shrug. Ask about the drought that has left parts of his city without drinking water, and you will almost certainly get an earful. The notion that climate change and local water supplies may be connected comes as no surprise to mayors, governors, and presidents in Latin America. But like politicians everywhere, they must respond to immediate problems while keeping an eye on the polls. Not surprisingly, the plummeting level of a local freshwater reservoir can seem like a higher priority than rising concentrations of atmospheric CO^sub 2^. This perennial tension between immediate and long-term priorities was one of several factors that prevented a more ambitious agreement out of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The tasks of negotiating an emissions-reduction framework and finding ways to finance mitigation and adaptation measures were daunting in and of themselves. But delegates from developing countries faced an additional challenge. Simply put, they had to persuade their citizens that the abstract risks of climate change were just as important as the tangible imperatives of health, food, education, jobs, and safety in countries where millions of people still lack these essentials. Very few leaders were willing or able to make that argument last December, but this may be starting to change. In Latin America, water issues may soon bring climate change policy into municipal politics and local elections. Moreover, the intersection of water and climate could help to reconcile some of the disagreements that emerged in Copenhagen, opening a new path towards North-South collaboration on climate issues. THE BLESSINGS OF ABUNDANT WATER Water is more tightly linked to human potential and economic competitiveness in Latin America than almost anywhere else. If water were petroleum, Latin America would be considered a hydrological Middle East. While holding only 8 percent of the world's population, Latin America and the Caribbean control roughly 31 percent of the planet's freshwater resources. This vast water advantage has yielded benefits on several fronts. Latin America as a whole gets around 68 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric sources, compared to a global average of less than 17 percent. The steady expansion of this clean, renewable, and comparatively inexpensive energy source has been crucial to the region's economic expansion over the past half century. Latin America's lucrative commodity exports-primarily in mining and agriculture-depend on extraordinary quantities of water. The region exported nearly $68 billion worth of metals and minerals in 2008, including more than one-third of the world's copper. As mining executives in Chile's copper-producing northern region are quick to point out, their industry could not exist without the millions of cubic meters of water that are used to process ores and to refine metals. Latin America has cemented its role as a global breadbasket over the last decade, with the value of its agricultural exports doubling to more than $100 billion in 2008. Millions of people in Asia, Europe, and Africa now depend on Latin American food imports. The region dominates the production of crops like soybean (60 percent of global exports in 2008), sugar (51 percent), and coffee (52 percent) that require vast quantities of predictable rainfall. And Latin America has become the leading exporter of animal protein, such as beef (50 percent of global exports) and poultry (36 percent), partly because countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay have abundant rain-fed grass and can cheaply grow the grains needed for animal feed. In contrast to geographic regions where land and water for agriculture are severely constrained, Latin America has the potential to vastly expand food production. …


The use of dialogue systems as a medium for human-machine interaction is an increasingly prevalent paradigm. A growing number of dialogue systems use conversation strategies that are learned from large datasets. There are well documented instances where interactions with these system have resulted in biased or even offensive conversations due to the data-driven training process. Here, we highlight potential ethical issues that arise in dialogue systems research, including: implicit biases in data-driven systems, the rise of adversarial examples, potential sources of privacy violations, safety concerns, special considerations for reinforcement learning systems, and reproducibility concerns. We also suggest areas stemming from these issues that deserve further investigation. Through this initial survey, we hope to spur research leading to robust, safe, and ethically sound dialogue systems.


This article is the first part of a two-part review of the author's work in developing text mining procedures. The focus of Part I is Scientometrics. Novel approaches that were used to text mine the field of nanoscience/nanotechnology and the science and technology portfolio of China are described. A unique approach to identify documents related to an application theme (e.g., military-related, intelligence-related, space-related) rather than a discipline theme is also described in some detail.


We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel scheme to generate optical frequency-locked multicarriers by using double recirculation frequency shifter loops based on different frequency shifting direction single-sideband modulation in I/Q modulators driven by RF clock signals. By changing the phase difference of I and Q RF drive signal, each loop generates long wavelength and short wavelength subcarriers, respectively. The tone-to-noise ratio (TNR) performance with amplified spontaneous emission noise and the effect of polarization state are theoretically analyzed and experimentally investigated for the first time. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis. Using this scheme, we successfully generate 104 frequency-locked subcarriers with TNR larger than 17 dB and carrier spacing at 12.5 GHz covering 10.21 nm from 1545.01 to 1555.22 nm which shows that this scheme has great potential in future Tb/s per channel communications. The feasibility of this scheme is demonstrated by the experimental results.


Abstract. Origin-destination flow maps represent movement between locations using lines of optionally varying width connecting points or areas. When flow lines intersect or overlap, legibility can be improved by curving flows to avoid each other, which is a time-consuming process to do by hand when there are many flows.We present a tool for ArcGIS Pro that implements a force-directed method developed by Jenny et al. (2017) for curving flows. This method reduces overlaps and intersections by curving flows away from nodes, other flows, and arrowheads, taking flow map design principles into account (Jenny et al., 2018). Users provide node coordinates and ids, and a table describing the volume of movement between the nodes. The tool produces two map layers, one containing curved flow lines, and another containing points that includes data about the total quantity of movement to and from each point. The new line and point layers are then added to a map in ArcGIS Pro. The width of each line represents the relative quantity of movement represented, and the diameter of each node represents the total movement in and out of that location. Users can opt to produce either net flows (the difference in movement between points) or total flows (the sum of movement between points in both directions). In the case of net flows, arrowheads are added to flows to indicate flow direction, and the ends of flows are clipped to prevent arrowheads from overlapping destination points. Arrowheads of smaller flows are made slightly larger to improve visibility. Users have several options to help reduce map clutter, including modifying the maximum width of flows and nodes, creating additional space between flows and their endpoints, and displaying only a selected number of the largest flows.We also introduce more advanced experimental features that we implemented in standalone prototype software. Our prototype can create parallel flow lines for bidirectional flows. This avoids inconsistently spaced opposing flow lines between a pair of origin and destination nodes. The prototype can shorten flow lines to reduce overlaps with other flows, nodes and arrowheads, and keep a minimum distance between flow lines. We will also discuss placing flow lines between areas instead of nodes and demonstrate an algorithmic implementation for creating flows between areas. Our prototype provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface and will be released as free and open-source software.


Tracking multiple moving targets is known to be challenged by the nonlinearity present in the measurement equation, and by the computationally burdensome data association task. This paper introduces a grid-based model of target signal strengths leading to linear state and measurement equations, that can afford state estimation via sparsity-aware Kalman filtering (KF), and bypasses data association. Leveraging the sparsity inherent to the novel grid-based model, a sparsity-cognizant KF tracker is developed that effects sparsity through ℓ1-norm regularization. The proposed tracker does not require knowledge of the number of targets or their signal strengths, and exhibits considerably lower complexity than the hidden Markov filter benchmark, especially as the number of targets increases. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the sparsity-cognizant tracker enjoys improved root mean-square error performance at reduced complexity when compared to its sparsity-agnostic counterparts.


his research on the concept of body parts held by preschool, second and fourth grade children with and without special needs provides relevant information on how they construct their body parts concept. Most of the studied students with special needs show body concepts related to body characteristics and qualities, although some of them also make reference to body skills. It is important to highlight that these concepts are not all too different from those expressed by the group of students without special needs. The number of body parts listed by students increases with their educational level, as shown in the graphic representations the students made of their bodies. However, most special needs students have greater difficulty in locating body parts and their laterality. We have found that as students with special needs increase their level of education, they are more likely to take on domestic chores and to find school activities more difficult. They also report feeling uncomfortable when people of higher rank make comments related to their bodies. Even so, most students with and without special needs show a positive perception of their bodies and feel respect for themselves. Based on these findings, we recommend that all educational processes take into account students' previous knowledge and emphasize not only the teaching of body-related concepts but also concepts related to body image. Teaching activities must also allow students to experience and construct the studied concepts, thus avoiding any wrong learning in the acquisition of concepts about their bodies, or compensating for the educational needs that may derive from a disability.


Rivers and river systems serve as conduits for nutrients and organisms, function as corridors for fish and wildlife passage, and provide resources for humans. Streamflow has been called the master variable in a river because it affects habitat diversity and availability through its impact on physical factors that influence habitat quality. However, land use changes such as urbanization and irrigation, can have major effects on stream hydrology. Modifications of the land surface due to urbanization alters natural stream hydrographs by increasing flood peaks, decreasing time to peak flows, and causing higher runoff velocities. Irrigation may produce the opposite effects. In order to preserve a spectrum of stream functionality, rivers must maintain seasonally adequate flows. For example, low flows can affect stream connectivity, restrict movement of aquatic organisms, concentrate prey into limited areas, purge invasive species from riparian corridors, and enable recruitment and evolution of floodplain plants. State agencies throughout the Northeast U.S. are considering policies linked to low-flow thresholds that sustain these ecosystem services. Methods that set minimum flow standards often result in conflicting values, due to differing environmental goals and levels of protection they aim to achieve. Two such methods, the USFWS Aquatic Base Flow (ABF) method and the Wetted Perimeter method have been widely used. The USFWS ABF method recommends using the median of August flows and has been refined for Rhode Island (RIABF). The wetted perimeter method uses stream cross-sections at riffle locations to determine critical flow values to maintain flow based on the wetted perimeter of the channel. In addition to setting flow standards, methods to minimize the adverse effects of urbanization have also been proposed. Low impact development (LID) has emerged as a strategy to reduce the hydrologic impacts of urbanization on aquatic ecosystems by combining site planning and design processes with runoff reduction and treatment practices. Within a given climatic region, water resource managers seeking to optimize stream ecosystem services need a clear understanding of the importance of land use, physical/climatic characteristics, and hydrography on different components of stream hydrographs. Within 33 Southern New England watersheds (average area 80 km), we assessed relationships between watershed variables and a set of low flow parameters: 1-, 7and 30day minimum flows. We used an information theoretical approach to develop regression models to identify relationships between landscape attributes and parameters that describe different components of the flow regime. The key variables identified by the AIC weighting factors as generating positive relationships with median annual minimum flow events included percent stratified drift (greater infiltration and storage), mean elevation (likely related to higher snowfall), drainage area and mean August precipitation. The extent of wetlands in the watershed was negatively related to low flow magnitudes likely due to the capacity of those ecosystems to remove water from the basins via evapotranspiration during drought conditions. Of the various land use variables, the percent developed land was found to have the highest importance, but it was less important than wetlands and physical/climatic features. The extent of impervious cover in the study watersheds was primarily less than 10% and the study watersheds were generally larger than watersheds used in other studies relating impervious cover to stream health. Our results suggest that even with watersheds located within close spatial proximity, strategies focused on balancing water extraction to sustain low flows in fluvial systems can benefit from attention to select watershed features. We draw attention to the finding that streams located in watersheds with high proportions of wetlands may require more stringent approaches to withdrawals to sustain these ecosystems during drought periods. We then determined the minimum flow requirements at three locations (riffle zones) along the Beaver River, located in southern Rhode Island, using both the wetted perimeter method and the RIABF method. In order to determine stream flow at ungaged locations, runoff was modeled using the HEC-HMS rainfall/runoff model. To assess biological conditions, we reviewed macroinvertebrate, fish and temperature data obtained within the watershed. Biological conditions of the Beaver River indicated that the Beaver River is a well-functioning stream habitat. Minimum stream flow requirements using ABF and WP methods were investigated. Stream flows were found to be below the ABF value between six to 21% of the time and below the WP flow between 37 to 72% of the time. Physical and biological sampling done in the watershed indicate the river is a well-functioning, river, comparable to pristine sites; however minimum flow criteria set by the wetted perimeter method suggest that the river is flowing below critical flow values over 50% of the time. Our results suggest that minimum flow values obtained from the wetted perimeter method for southern New England rivers should be approached with caution and should be compared to results obtained from other methods to determine the accuracy and applicability of the critical flows prior to using these values for any type of instream flow regulations. We also assessed the effect of increased impervious cover for both conventional and LID-based urbanization on low flow metrics and flow depths in riffle habitats in a small, relatively undeveloped watershed located in southern Rhode Island. We employed a hydrologic model to simulate stream flow, base flow and storm flows under different land cover scenarios and then compared these results to the effects of direct stream withdrawals from agricultural irrigation. We found baseflow to be negatively correlated to impervious area. On pervious surfaces, direct runoff is likely to be infrequent during the summer months, when most of the precipitation that falls is utilized for the soil moisture deficit. In contrast, connected impervious area (IA) will generate immediate runoff to streams from rainstorms that would have otherwise infiltrated the soil. During periods of excess precipitation, the falling limbs of those hydrographs generated prolonged periods of comparatively elevated flows. Combining baseflow and storm flow shows that increased values of IA can generate higher flow values during the summer months during periods with excess precipitation. As IA increases through the different land use scenarios, storm related runoff increases immediately following precipitation events, causing higher stream flows. The small decreases in base flow input to the stream due to increased IA are negated by the impacts of the higher storm flows, causing summer stream flows to be higher under the developed land use scenarios than existing conditions. Changes to the channel depth of the riffles were also relatively minor. During a year with median precipitation, the model predicted a lower frequency of low flows with both conventional development and with LID compared to the predictions for the limited development present in current conditions. Both conventional development and LID also display fewer low flow periods during a dry year, but the pattern reverses, with LID predicted to have slightly lower frequencies of low flows than the conventional development. Over the summer, storm runoff and the associated falling limb of the runoff hydrograph that results from connected impervious cover occurs with enough frequency to influence the low flow thresholds we use for metrics. During the dry year, rainfall occurrences were very infrequent and the higher baseflow associated with LID accounts for the slight increase in flows compared to the conventional development. Irrigation scenarios decreased both flows and depths. Changes in land use generally increase river flows while water withdrawals decrease river flows. The occurrence of low flows within the Beaver River was found to be relatively resilient to the extent of development and water withdrawals simulated by this study. These analyses will help inform future water management decisions in watersheds with the diversity of land uses that occur in southern New England.


We study the nonequilibrium dynamics of photoinduced phase transitions in charge ordered (CO) systems with a strong electron-lattice interaction and analyze the interplay between electrons, periodic lattice distortions, and a phonon thermal reservoir. Simulations based on a tight-binding Hamiltonian and Boltzmann equations reveal partially decoupled oscillations of the electronic order parameter and the periodic lattice distortion during CO melting, which becomes more energy efficient with lower photon energy. The cooling rate of the electron system correlates with the CO gap dynamics, responsible for an order of magnitude decrease in the cooling rate upon the gap reopening. We also find that the time-dependent frequency of coherent oscillation reflects the dynamics of the energy landscape, such as transition between single-well and double-well, which sensitively depends on the photon energy and the pump fluence. The results demonstrate the intricate nonequilibrium dynamics in CO materials.


Shared Explanatory Models (EM) of High Blood Pressure (HBP)/Hypertension (HTN) were explored using systematic data collection and analysis methods from cognitive anthropology. Older adults who were members of a Medicare HMO in Los Angeles were asked to list all the illnesses experienced by older adults that they could recall, and those listing HBP or HTN were asked to further list and discuss its symptoms, causes, treatments and prevention. Responses were tape recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to develop a systematic "sentence completion by card sort" follow-up procedure. Consensus Analysis (CA) of the systematically collected data identified shared EM for HBP/HTN. The model presented here is similar to models of HBP/HTN described by researchers working with patients from different regions and different ethnic groups, suggesting that there is a widely shared lay or popular model for this disease. Stress, lifestyle (diet, exercise, weight, and substance use), heredity and aging are thought to be the major causes of HBP/HTN. Physicians are thought to be the appropriate source of care, as HTN/HBP is serious, life threatening, and potentially disabling. The study of cultural understandings and shared EM of disease has direct relevance for clinical practice and public health education. For a disease such as HTN/HBP, knowing where and how such explanations differ systematically between patients and clinicians, and what impact this may have on patterns of adherence to prescribed treatment is a crucial area of concern.


Chaotic message encoding and decoding in unidirectionally coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with polarization-preserved and polarization-selected optical injection has been studied experimentally. A GHz message has been successfully encoded in the chaotic transmitter and decoded from the receiver with polarization-preserved optical injection. In contrast decoding using polarization-selected optical injection was achieved at only 330 MHz. It has also been demonstrated that GHz message extraction can be achieved using both normal and inverse chaos synchronization thus providing an opportunity for exploiting polarization properties of VCSELs for duplexed chaotic message transmission.


Local zones of compressional deformation, spatially coincident with the ocean-continent transition. occur in the NE Atlantic off western Iberia, on the northern margin of the Bay of Biscay and in the southern Rockall Trough. The deformation zones are typically broad oceanward-facing monoclines several tens of kilometres in width. The amount of shortening is small, although the structures may also accommodate some strike-slip motion. Deformation peaked during the Mid-Late Eocene in Biscay. off Galicia Bank and in Rockall Trough, and in the mid-Miocene off western Iberia. These deformation pulses were contemporary with the Pyrenean and Betic Orogenies in western Europe and may have resulted from structural reorganizations within the evolving orogens driven by changes in plate motion. Possible mechanisms which might concentrate deformation at the ocean-continent transition include slip within serpentinized peridotite underlying the transitional region and reactivation of a pre-existing detachment fault within the thinned continental crust. Our observations may imply that rifted continental margins, when reactivated, can develop into new sites of plate subduction.


Hybridization methods enable the analysis of hybrid automata with complex, nonlinear dynamics through a sound abstraction process. Complex dynamics are converted to simpler ones with added noise, and then analysis is done using a reachability method for the simpler dynamics. Several such recent approaches advocate that only 'dynamic' hybridization techniques---i.e., those where the dynamics are abstracted on-the-fly during a reachability computation---are effective. In this paper, we demonstrate this is not the case, and create static hybridization methods that are more scalable than earlier approaches. The main insight in our approach is that quick, numeric simulations can be used to guide the process, eliminating the need for an exponential number of hybridization domains. Transitions between domains are generally time-triggered, avoiding accumulated error from geometric intersections. We enhance our static technique by combining time-triggered transitions with occasional space-triggered transitions, and demonstrate the benefits of the combined approach in what we call mixed-triggered hybridization. Finally, error modes are inserted to confirm that the reachable states stay within the hybridized regions. The developed techniques can scale to higher dimensions than previous static approaches, while enabling the parallelization of the main performance bottleneck for many dynamic hybridization approaches: the nonlinear optimization required for sound dynamics abstraction. We implement our method as a model transformation pass in the HYST tool, and perform reachability analysis and evaluation using an unmodified version of SpaceEx on nonlinear models with up to six dimensions.


Commercial bottom trawling is a successful and commonly used method to catch marine shrimps. However, the shrimp fishing gears are poorly selective, and in addition to the target species they catch and retain large quantities of non-target species (bycatch). This study presents data concerning species composition and depth distribution of the crustacean fauna (stomatopods and decapods) associated with Heterocarpus vicarius catches from Pacific Costa Rica. A total of 74 samples (three to five 20 min-tows each month) were taken between January 2004 and December 2005 with commercial shrimp trawlers at depths varying between 192 and 350 m. In all depth ranges analyzed, total catch of crustaceans was significantly higher than that of fishes. A total of 28 decapods and two stomatopod species were identified. In comparison to other bycatch composition of comparable fisheries in Latin America, the crustacean fauna of the H. vicarius fishery in Costa Rica is highly diverse. Most common species were Solenocera agassizii (Solenoceridae), Squilla biformis (Squillidae), Plesionika trispinus (Pandalidae), and Pleuroncodes sp. (Galatheidae), reaching total catch percentages of 57.2 %, 81.5 %, 91.8 %, and 99.6 % of individual catches, respectively. The results presented herein may contribute to the development of responsible management strategies for the deepwater fisheries in Costa Rica and Central America.


Operating microwave receivers with remote mixers in a system requires the LO power to be flat over broadband frequencies. In large systems, this is difficult to attain due to long RF cables. Most systems require significant engineering to ensure the LO power level to the mixer is adequate. To help understand the problem, commonly used techniques have been evaluated while recommending a particular approach. Operating over a small fundamental frequency range with harmonic mixing has the advantage of lower RF cable insertion loss but results in high mixer conversion loss. Using negative slope equalizers and amplifiers, RF cable slope and attenuation can be sufficiently combated. However, this requires extensive system engineering and customization to match cable losses, thereby making it expensive. The approach is also designed to only work with a certain set of RF cables. A more viable approach includes independently controlling the attenuators and amplifiers for the signal and reference channels which can be configured to provide optimal LO power to the respective mixer. A simple setup file configures components in each channel to adapt to any set of RF cables. Positive experimental results of implementing this technique in different configurations are presented.


In dialogical action research, the scientific researcher does not "speak science" or otherwise attempt to teach scientific theory to the real-world practitioner, but instead attempts to speak the language of the practitioner and accepts him as the expert on his organization and its problems. Recognizing the difficulty that a practitioner and a scientific researcher can have in communicating across the world of science and the world of practice, dialogical action research offers, as its centerpiece, reflective one-on-one dialogues between the practitioner and the scientific researcher, taking place periodically in a setting removed from the practitioner's organization. The dialogue itself serves as the interface between the world of science, marked by theoria and the scientific attitude, and the world of the practitioner, marked by praxis and the natural attitude of everyday life. The dialogue attempts to address knowledge heterogeneity, which refers to the different forms that knowledge takes in the world of science and the world of practice, and knowledge contextuality, which refers to the dependence of the meaning of knowledge, such as a scientific theory or professional expertise, on its context. In successive dialogues, the scientific researcher and the practitioner build a mutual understanding, including an understanding of the organization and its problems. The scientific researcher, based on one or more of the scientific theories in her discipline, formulates and suggests one or more actions for the practitioner to take in order to solve or remedy a problem in his organization. Dialogical action research recognizes that the practitioner's experience, expertise, and tacit knowledge, or praxis, largely shapes how he understands the suggested actions and appropriates them as his own. Upon returning to his organization, he takes one or more of the suggested actions, depending on his reading of the situation at hand. The reactions or responses of the problem to the actions or stimuli of the practitioner would embody, in the practitioner's eyes, success or failure in solving or remedying the problem and, in the scientific researcher's eyes, evidence confirming or disconfirming the theory on which the action was based. The scientific researcher may then suggest, based on her theories, additional actions, hence initiating another cycle of action and learning. To illustrate dialogical action research, this paper reconstructs some dialogues between an information systems researcher and a managing director at a European company called Omega Corporation.


The purpose of this article is to present one aspect of a larger research project. The Spirit tradition (Charismatic) and its liturgical rituals as well as the Meal tradition (Liturgical Movement) and its liturgical rituals through history were researched as well as the concomitant theology. The aim was to gain a better understanding of whether the future of Charismatic worship can benefit from a somewhat closer integration of aspects of the meal tradition, especially the celebration of the Lord's Supper. This article will mostly be focused on the empirical research done in this project within three Charismatic churches in Gauteng, South Africa. This research seeks to contribute to Robert Webber's model of bringing old and new together in synergy. In the end, this article poses a new model for Charismatic worship when liturgical-rituals of the Spirit are combined with the celebration of communion in a way that worshippers experience as being more meaningful.


T his is an overview of flow control experiments and simulations for flow separation control on high-lift configurations performed over the last seven years at the German Aerospace Center within national and European projects. Emphasis is placed on the low speed atmospheric and cryogenic experimental setups using the DLR F15 high-lift airfoil and on the numerical verification and validation of the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) solver TAU for active flow control (AFC) simulations. The wind tunnel studies concern leading edge boundary layer control and flap separation control, both by means of pulsed blowing. The computational effort is mostly dedicated to the most promising technology out of the two concepts, namely the pulsed blowing through slots on the trailing edge flap. Experimental examples of successful flow control for enhancement of lift are given for moderate and high Reynolds numbers to prove the feasibility of the technology for implementation on real aircraft. The computational process chain is validated with wind tunnel measurements, but also applied for an optimization of the trailing edge flap shape for separation control.


Future generations of avionic equipments are expected to embed multi-core processors. Using Components Off-The-Shelf (COTS) processors is considered both by the industrial and academic communities, as well as certification authorities. However, in the safety-critical domain, a common issue with COTS multi-core processors is their lack of predictability, directly linked to the difficulty to foresee and manage inter-core interferences due to shared hardware resources. A possible solution consists in defining a Usage Domain that constrains the use of shared resources down to a level for which interference situations are known and their impact on software execution time is acceptable. Nevertheless, COTS processors have not been designed to see their behavior restricted by such usage domains, and do not provide dedicated mechanisms for that purpose. Hence the usage domains are enforced by more complex mechanisms implemented in dedicated pieces of software running below the applicative level. We call them Deterministic Platform Software (DPS). The objective of this paper is to propose an overview of existing DPS solutions, and propose criteria leading to a uniform classification. Additionally, we propose a mapping of these solutions to a selection of avionic use cases.