Wetlands are commonly understood to have the capacity to reduce the loads of excess nutrients, pathogens, sediments, and other contaminants generated by various activities in their catchment areas. However, quantifying these "services" is difficult and most research in this field has concentrated on artificial treatment wetlands. Understanding the value of their water treatment characteristics, as well as the other services they provide, is increasingly recognized as essential to achieving a balance between conservation and activities that degrade or replace wetlands. The aim of this study is to estimate the water treatment capacity of wetlands on a landscape scale in the South Western Cape of South Africa and estimate the economic value of the service performed. We collected samples at the outflow points of 100 subcatchment areas and measured the loads of nitrogen, dissolved phosphorus, and suspended solids, which were analyzed with respect to detailed spatial data on land cover and wetlands area. Wetlands play a significant role in the reduction of nitrates, nitrites, and ammonium, but not dissolved phosphorus or suspended solids. Estimated removal rates range from 307 to 9,505 kg N per ha-1 year-1, with an average of 1,594 ± 1,375 kg N per ha-1 year-1. Data from a number of water treatment works suggest that the cost of removal of ammonium nitrogen is in the order of ZAR 26 per kilogram. Applied to the wetlands in the study area—assuming wetlands do play a role in total phosphorus removal—this suggests that the average value of the water treatment service provided by wetlands in the study area is about ZAR 14,350 ± 12,385 ha-1 year-1. These values are high enough to compete with the alternative land uses that threaten their existence. The results suggest that wetlands should be given considerably more attention in land-use planning and regulation.


Abstract Changes in landscape cover in the Great Plains are resulting from the range expansion and invasion of eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana). By altering the landscape and local vegetation, red cedar is changing the structure and function of habitat for small mammals. We examined effects of invasion by eastern red cedar on small mammals in 3 plant communities (tallgrass prairie, old field, and cross-timbers forest) in the cross-timbers ecoregion in Oklahoma. We sampled small mammals seasonally from May 2001 to August 2002 by using Sherman live traps and mark–recapture techniques on 3.24-ha, 450-trap grids in each plant community. We sampled vegetation in two hundred twenty-five 12 × 12-m cells within each grid. The structure of the small-mammal community differed among the 3 habitat types, with higher species diversity and richness in the tallgrass-prairie and old-field sites. Overall, the small-mammal community shifted along a gradient of increasing eastern red cedar. In the old-field and tallgrass-prairie plots, occurrence of grassland mammals decreased with increasing red cedar, whereas only 1 woodland mammal species increased. In the cross-timbers forest site, percent woody cover (<1 m in height), rather than cover of red cedar, was the most important factor affecting woodland mammal species. Examination of our data suggests that an increase in overstory cover from 0% to 30% red cedar can change a species-rich prairie community to a depauperate community dominated by 1 species, Peromyscus leucopus. Losses in species diversity and changes in mammal distribution paralleled those seen in avian communities invaded by eastern red cedar. Our results highlight ecological effects of invasion by eastern red cedar on diversity and function at multiple trophic levels.


Research on word of mouth WOM is recently becoming more prominent in marketing literature. Word of mouth (WOM) is recognized for quite some time as a powerful source of products and services' information dissemination (Brooks 1957). For example, referral programs generate more profitable customers in the short and long term (Schmitt, Skiera and Van den Bulte 2011), high-uniqueness consumers (the consumer that prefers to differentiate from members of his or her reference group) were more likely to recommend privately consumed products (Cheema and Kaikati 2010), and a "word-of-mouth equity" is proposed as an index of a brand's power to generate messages that influence the consumer's decision to purchase (Court, Gordon and Perrey 2010). Online communities have increased in size, number, and character to make companies recognize the growing importance of WOM. This paper is a result of a preliminary and exploratory research about WOM. We aim to study the WOM behavior and analyze the impact of on/off line communication and online Activity on consumption. We tested four hypotheses with evidence of a survey with 248 online users. As our research model implies on antecedents, mediator variables and outcome variable, we estimated a three sets of ordinary least square regressions. Our results show an indirect impact of a company's communication, by WOM behavior and WOM activity, on online consumption. The direct impact of communication on consumption is interestingly negative. Consumers may look suspicious all kind of direct manipulation of press or customer evaluation. Consumers have become overloaded and skeptical about traditional company-driven communication. On the other hand, communication impact online consumption through WOM behavior and online activity. It appears that the right communication messages echo and expand within interested social networks, affecting product perceptions. The rise of online communities and communication has increased the potential for significant and far-reaching momentum effects. Our study attempts to help understand the WOM behavior and to identify those who influence online activity and consumption. The starting point for managing WOM is understanding WOM behavior and online activity. WOM analysis can detail the nature of the antecedents of consumption. The highest-impact messages, contexts, and social networks are essential components of a companies' communication strategy and sales.


The HVSR method applied to seismic noise can be a very useful technique to map the site effects of the territory, to identify the thickness of the soft covering and so the depth of the seismic bedrock. The case of the urban area of Oliveri is presented. Because of its high seismic hazard this area has been subject of first level seismic microzonation. The town lies on a large coastal plain made of mixed fluvial/marine sediments, overlapping a deformed substrate. In order to identify points on the area probably suffering of relevant site effects and to define a preliminary Vs subsurface model, 23 HVSR measurements were performed. A clustering technique of continuous signals has been used to optimize the calculation of the HVSR curves and 42 reliable peaks, in the frequency range 0.1-20 Hz, have been identified. A second clustering technique has been applied to the set of 42 vectors, containing coordinates, frequency and amplitude of each peak, to identify subsets attributed to the same seismic discontinuities. Three main clusters have been identified. The two characterized by lower frequencies have been considered in the HVSR data inversion, as stratigraphic peaks probably caused by the seismic bedrock. Finally, the morphology of the top of the seismic bedrock has been mapped. The deepening of the seismic bedrock below the mouth of the Elicona Torrent suggests the possible presence of a buried paleo-valley.


HIGH RESOLUTION SPECTRA OF CARBON MONOXIDE, PROPANE AND AMMONIA FOR ATMOSPHERIC REMOTE SENSING Christopher Andrew Beale Old Dominion University, 2017 Director: Dr. Peter F. Bernath Spectroscopy is a critical tool for analyzing atmospheric data. Identification of atmospheric parameters such as temperature, pressure and the existence and concentrations of constituent gases via remote sensing techniques are only possible with spectroscopic data. These form the basis of model atmospheres which may be compared to observations to determine such parameters. To this end, this dissertation explores the spectroscopy of three molecules: ammonia, propane and carbon monoxide. Infrared spectra have been recorded for ammonia in the region 2400-9000 cm. These spectra were recorded at elevated temperatures (from 293-973 K) using a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS). Comparison between the spectra recorded at different temperatures yielded experimental lower state energies. These spectra resulted in the measurement of roughly 30000 lines and about 3000 quantum assignments. In addition spectra of propane were recorded at elevated temperatures (296-700 K) using an FTS. Atmospheres with high temperatures require molecular data at appropriate conditions. This dissertation describes collection of such data and the potential application to atmospheres in our solar system, such as auroral regions in Jupiter, to those of planets orbiting around other stars and cool sub-stellar objects known as brown dwarfs. The spectra of propane and ammonia provide the highest resolution and most complete experimental study of these gases in their respective spectral regions at elevated temperatures. Detection of ammonia in an exoplanet or detection of propane in the atmosphere of Jupiter will most likely rely on the work presented here. The best laboratory that we have to study atmospheres is our own planet. The same techniques that are applied to these alien atmospheres originated on Earth. As such it is appropriate to discuss remote sensing of our own atmosphere. This idea is explored through analysis of spectroscopic data recorded by an FTS on the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment satellite of carbon monoxide. The effect of the atmosphere's chemistry and physics on this molecule is measured through its isotopologues, primarily CO (carbon-13 substituted carbon monoxide). Isotopic chemistry allows a key analysis of the atmosphere as it may be used as a tracer for chemical reactions and dynamical processes. The carbon monoxide fractionation results in Chapter IV present the first global measurements of isotopic fractionation of CO, showing significant fractionation in the upper atmosphere (60-80 km) as a result of the photolysis of carbon dioxide (CO2).


This dissertation aims to unravel Israel's pronatalist fertility regime as co-produced by ongoing histories of Zionist settler colonialism and biocapitalism. Rather than adhering to dominant culturalist viewpoints on (assisted) reproduction in Israel, which focus on the particularity of fertility in Jewish culture, law and religion, State of the //ART// of the State advances a gendered political economy perspective. This transdisciplinary perspective looks into the sociomaterialities of ART in Israel/Palestine at the intrasecting logic of biocapital accumulation and demographic elimination, by bringing to the fore its mutually constituting power hierarchies of class, race, gender, biology, sociality, life and death.
Taking reproductive technologies and practices such as IVF, Pergonal, egg donation and transnational surrogacy as case studies that have been studied through qualitative fieldwork in Israel/Palestine, I have unpacked the gendered political economy approach by consistently looking into four key themes: 1) settler colonial demographies, 2) ART's life and death function, 3) biocapitalism's underlying property –and labour regimes and 4) the (re)productive role of women and their bodies. Using ARTs as a looking glass to understand how Zionism transformed from a European ideology into a practice in Palestine/Israel, has exposed the intimate ways through which reproductive technologies and practices have co-produced a settler colonial state, nationalised bodies, racialised populations and 'pioneering' bio-markets, and vice versa.
I concluded that Zionism's demographic arithmetic directed at manufacturing a Jewish majority at the expense of Palestinian life, has enabled the development of an innovative reproductive-embryonic industry, in which women and their bodies play a crucial role, both as reproducers of the settler nation and as (unrecognised) producers of biovalue. Although the sphere of biological and social reproduction constitutes a powerful perspective to understand Zionist policies of demographic control, elimination and biocapital accumulation, it is also a fertile starting point to explore, imagine and construct anticolonial political horizons.


Abnormal climate changes cause adverse physical and geographical processes (erosion of soils, waterlogging, flooding, etc.) over the world. This situation stipulates study on effect of soil foundation malleability on pipeline transition strength because of its important diagnostic value.
The article develops an engineering approach for stress–strain state estimation of oil pipeline overground transitions, laid in mountainous areas. A mathematical statement was made and analytical solutions of the boundary-value problem were described, which take into account overland transition contact with soil foundation. In order to carry out the force analysis, a tubular rod simulated the oil pipeline contacting with the soil foundation on the adjacent to the overground transition section according to the Fuss-Winkler hypothesis. The overground transition was schematised with a thin-walled shell at the final stage of the assessment of strength. The maximum axial stresses were determined for overground transition operation, considering transition's two-dimensional thermoelastic state. The final assessment of the strength was carried out according to the energy criterion. The proposed method for the overground transition simulation makes possible considering the soil foundation property effects on the behavior of the oil pipeline transition and presents the results in the form of concise analytical expressions convenient for engineering practice. The conducted researches showed the effect of significant redistribution of loading in the oil pipeline overground transition caused by changes of soil foundation stiffness. Also, the boundary effect of perturbation of the stressed state in adjacent underground sections was found. It was determined the zone sizes the boundary effect has significant manifestations. The boundary state of the pipeline is most often achieved in its lower fibers at a short distance from the edge of the underground section. The obtained results of researches were tested on real constructions of overground transitions of oil pipeline laid in mountainous areas.


Numeral classifier system is an instance of linguistic device for categorisation, a cognitive process that is indispensable in human cognition and language development. The current study investigated the acquisition of eight Malay shape-based numeral classifiers through a matching comprehension task in 140 6 to 9 year old children. The aim is to examine the developmental patterns observed in the comprehension of Malay shape-based numeral classifiers. Specifically, the study focused at examining if the complexity of the semantic features of individual numeral classifiers plays a role in numeral classifier comprehension order, and if the degree of typicality of numeral classifier exemplars has an effect on the comprehension order. Results indicated that semantic complexity and exemplar typicality play a significant role in Malay numeral classifier comprehension.This suggests that multiple factors interact with each other and contribute to the developmental pattern of numeral classifier.


This paper defends Plotinus' reading of Sophist 248e-249d as an expression of the togetherness or unity-in-duality of intellect and intelligible being. Throughout the dialogues Plato consistently presents knowledge as a togetherness of knower and known, expressing this through the myth of recollection and through metaphors of grasping, eating, and sexual union. He indicates that an intelligible paradigm is in the thought that apprehends it, and regularly regards the forms not as extrinsic "objects" but as the contents of living intelligence. A meticulous reading of Sophist 248e-249d shows that the "motion" attributed to intelligible being is not temporal change but the activity of intellectual apprehension. Aristotle's doctrines of knowledge as identity of intellect and the intelligible, and of divine intellect as thinking itself, are therefore in continuity with Plato, and Plotinus' doctrine of intellect and being is continuous with both Plato and Aristotle.


This paper analyses how audio features related to different musical facets can be useful for the comparative analysis and classification of music from diverse parts of the world. The music collection under study gathers around 6,000 pieces, including traditional music from different geographical zones and countries, as well as a varied set of Western musical styles. We achieve promising results when trying to automatically distinguish music from Western and non-Western traditions. A 86.68% of accuracy is obtained using only 23 audio features, which are representative of distinct musical facets (timbre, tonality, rhythm), indicating their complementarity for music description. We also analyze the relative performance of the different facets and the capability of various descriptors to identify certain types of music. We finally present some results on the relationship between geographical location and musical features in terms of extracted descriptors. All the reported outcomes demonstrate that automatic description of audio signals together with data mining techniques provide means to characterize huge music collections from different traditions, complementing ethnomusicological manual analysis and providing a link between music and geography.


Better health, better environment, better science: better use the precautionary principle

Article 174 of the Amsterdam Treaty of the European Union says "Community policy on the environment […] shall be based on the precautionary principle". European law, at its highest level, is explicit and uncompromising. As promotion and protection of human health is one of the key motivations of environmental preservation, the provision of the Treaty is good news for public health too. In fact the importance and relevance of the precautionary principle in the health domain has been attracting growing interest.1 Ministers of health, together with ministers of environment of the Member States in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region (52 of them in 2004) declared: "We reaffirm the importance of the precautionary principle as a risk management tool, and we therefore recommend that it should be applied […]".2 These are only two of many acts or laws where the precautionary principle is referred to. So what is this principle and why is it important for public health as well as the environment?

Born in the environmental domain in the 1970s, the precautionary principle gained political profile in the 1980s and 1990s, and has attracted the attention of many involved in matters of environmental protection.3 Despite its resonance, there is no unanimously agreed definition of the principle. Quite simply, it is usually taken to state that lack of scientific certainty must not be used as a reason to ignore or postpone preventive or remedial action when there are other good reasons to do so, as has happened many times in the past.4 The prescription to err on the side of caution, the "better safe than sorry" approach, may …


Whilst 'occupation' and the links between occupation and health have been central tenets of occupational therapy since its inception (Reilly 1961), the place and meaning of occupation within our therapeutic repertoire has evolved and changed as the profession has developed (Wilcock & Hocking, 2015). Utilising the principles of auto/biography and autoethnography (Adams, et al 2015), this poster will explore the nature of 'occupation' from a professional and personal perspective across a 40 year career pathway. In the mid-1970s occupational therapy was a medical model profession working from a reductionist and bottom-up perspective. Crafts, such as basketry, were the main focus of the first year of the Diploma of Occupational Therapy and 'Refer to Occupational Therapy' (Shopland, et al 1975) provided a blueprint for their application into practice. With the advent of graduate level education, the application and critical analysis of 'occupation' has replaced craft learning and as therapists we engage with service users to help them to develop and re-develop meaningful occupations. From a personal perspective, baking has been a meaningful and restorative occupation. Baking has provided a means of remaining connected with friends and colleagues during a period of illness; it has become a focus for fundraising activity and the opportunity for creativity, challenge and the development of new skills. It has been a conduit for doing, being and becoming (Wilcock & Hocking, 2015). By exploring 'occupation' within an historical, auto/biographical and autoethnographic context this poster will give participants the opportunity to reflect on the nature and location of 'occupation' for themselves both professionally as occupational therapists and personally as occupational beings. By reflecting on the history of our profession we can understand not only the past but can clearly articulate our place in the health and social care of the present and the future. Refs: Adams T E, Jones S H, Ellis C (2015) Autoethnography. Oxford: Oxford University Press Reilly M (1961) Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture. Occupational therapy can be one of the great ideas of 20th-century medicine. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 16: 1-9 Shopland A J, Hardial P M, Unwin A M, Vickers S M, Westmore V R, & Williams A J (1975) Refer to Occupational Therapy. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. Wilcock A, & Hocking C (2015) An Occupational Perspective of Health (3rd edn). Thorofare NJ: Slack Incorporated Learning outcomes: Give participants the opportunity to reflect on their personal and professional interpretations of 'occupation' Give participants the opportunity to reflect on the evolving place of 'occupation' within our profession


Around ten years ago the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) recognised the need to align the Professional Practices Framework (PPF) of Internal Auditing. In the meantime the Internal Audit has gained in importance due to different legislative and regulatory initiatives aimed at improving the Governance, Risk Management and Internal Control of an organization. The PPF has established itself as the structural basis for the activities of the Internal Audit. It is a self-contained framework which is recognized internationally by various regulatory authorities. For example, in Switzerland the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) refers to the guidance of the IIA. As a consequence, the Internal Audit profession faced higher expectations and new challenges, which increased the need for rules and guidelines for Internal Auditing. The IIA met these needs by changing the PPF and creating additional requirements, however, the development and mandatory nature of these were not always understood.
With this background the IIA created a task force in 2006 to revise the scope and structure of the PPF and the process for developing and reviewing the individual elements of the framework. The aim of this review was to create more clarity as to the mandatory nature of the elements, to improve transparency in relation to the development of the elements, and to ensure the elements are updated quickly in a predefined development and review process. The framework proposed by the task force was approved by the IIA summer 2007. In order to emphasize the international focus of the framework, it was renamed as the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF). The process was completed and became effective as off in January 2009. At first sight the changes appear to be of rather subordinate character, however the IPPF contains some important changes which are explained in this article. First, the individual elements of the framework are described, then, the important changes to the Standards are introduced and finally, the conclusion evaluates the changed framework and gives an outlook for the future development of the IPPF


We have described in this paper a novel human interferon (IFN) with antigenic and cross-species reactivity of α-IFN and physicochemical properties of γ-IFN. This IFN is produced by normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells during an immune response but has also been associated with autoimmune disease (10). The system described here will be useful in elucidating the biological significance and cell of origin of this IFN.


Description: Handbook of Natural Zeolites provides a comprehensive and updated summary of all important aspects of natural zeolites science and technology. The e-book contains four sections covering the relevant scientific background, established technologies, recent discoveries and future perspectives. All 28 chapters in this handbook are presented by highly respected scientists and leaders in natural zeolites science and include extensive references. The text in this e-book is supported by excellent figures and tables. As a result, novices and established scientists alike will find this comprehensive volume a great resource for years to come.


Background COVID-19 has caused a global public health crisis affecting most countries, including Ethiopia, in various ways. This study maps the vulnerability to infection, case severity and likelihood of death from COVID-19 in Ethiopia. Methods Thirty-eight potential indicators of vulnerability to COVID-19 infection, case severity and likelihood of death, identified based on a literature review and the availability of nationally representative data at a low geographic scale, were assembled from multiple sources for geospatial analysis. Geospatial analysis techniques were applied to produce maps showing the vulnerability to infection, case severity and likelihood of death in Ethiopia at a spatial resolution of 1 km×1 km. Results This study showed that vulnerability to COVID-19 infection is likely to be high across most parts of Ethiopia, particularly in the Somali, Afar, Amhara, Oromia and Tigray regions. The number of severe cases of COVID-19 infection requiring hospitalisation and intensive care unit admission is likely to be high across Amhara, most parts of Oromia and some parts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region. The risk of COVID-19-related death is high in the country's border regions, where public health preparedness for responding to COVID-19 is limited. Conclusion This study revealed geographical differences in vulnerability to infection, case severity and likelihood of death from COVID-19 in Ethiopia. The study offers maps that can guide the targeted interventions necessary to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Ethiopia.


The adsorption of Ni(II) by a thermo-sensitive adsorbent of methylcellulose/calcium alginate beads (CAMCBs) was studied using batch adsorption tests to determine the adsorption process and properties, the effects of adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, adsorption time and temperature. The adsorption process was further investigated using kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamic methods. The kinetics and isotherms studies showed the adsorption of Ni(II) on CAMCBs was fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isothermal adsorption model, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic at lower temperature, and the entropy of the adsorption process was negative. In the study of regeneration, it was confirmed that under the temperature of 60 °C, the desorption agent of CaCl2 with concentration of 3 g·L−1 was more conducive to the desorption of Ni(II) from CAMCBs. Both adsorption capacity and mechanical strength of the used CAMCBs could be basically recovered to the level of fresh CAMCBs after desorption. The prepared CAMCBs had a good property of adsorption of Ni(II) and an excellent regeneration performance.


The main aim of this research was to investigate the mechanism of cavitation in
conforming and partially conforming tribological conjunctions. The effect of cavitation
on load carrying capacity and frictional performance of is also investigated. This is
important with regards to fuel efficiency in internal combustion (IC) engines. Friction
accounts for 15–20% of IC engine losses. The piston–cylinder system contributes to
40–50% of these, with the compression ring(s) being responsible for most of this.
This is because the primary function of the ring is to seal the combustion chamber,
thus small emerging gaps lead to increased friction. In fact, compression ring(s)
expend 3–5% of engine input fuel energy. The share of frictional losses of engine
bearings is approximately 20–25%.
Traditionally, prediction of performance of tribological conjunctions has been studied
using Reynolds equation. When the effect of cavitation is considered, various
cavitation algorithms with associated boundary conditions for lubricant rupture and
reformation are proposed. These include Elrod, and Elrod and Coyne algorithms, as
well as boundary conditions such as Swift-Stieber, JFO and Prandtl-Hopkins. There
are a number of assumptions embodied in these approaches, as well as the use of
Reynolds equation itself. These approaches do not uphold the continuity of mass
and momentum in multi-phase flow, in cavitation beyond the lubricant film rupture.
A detailed methodology for multi-phase flow, comprising simultaneous solution of
Navier-Stokes, energy and lubricant rheological state equations is developed. [Continues.]


Society increasingly requires the engineer to quantify and manage the risk which people, property and the environment are exposed to. The role of the geotechnical engineering profession is to reduce exposure to threats, reduce risk and protect people. Hazard, reliability and risk approaches are excellent tools to assist the geotechnical engineer in design, selection of engineering foundation solutions and parameters and decision-making. The significance of factor of safety is discussed, and basic reliability and risk concepts are briefly introduced. The importance of designing with a uniform level of reliability rather than a constant safety factor prescribed in codes and guidelines is illustrated. The paper illustrates the use of the reliability and risk concepts with "real life" case studies, in particular for situations encountered for Nordic environments. The calculation examples are taken from a wide realm of geotechnical problems, including avalanche, railroad safety, mine slopes and soil investigations. The synergy of research and practice and their complementarity for increasing safety and cost-effectiveness is illustrated. With the evolution of reliability and risk approaches in geotechnical engineering, the growing demand for hazard and risk analyses in our profession and the societal awareness of hazard and risk makes that the methods and way of thinking associated with risk need to be included in university engineering curricula and in most of our daily designs.


Verne Global, a pioneering startup created to build the first large-scale data center in Iceland, faces critical challenges regarding its green strategy. Verne Co-Founder Isaac Kato is tasked with evaluating how the company can most successfully market and sell the green components of its service offering. Using only renewable energy in its data center facility, Verne can drastically reduce customers' carbon emissions, enabling customers to meet emerging government regulations and to capture the financial benefit of public goodwill arising from green initiatives. But how valuable are Verne's green benefits, and are they sufficient to compel customers to pay a premium for Verne services? Further, how can Verne best integrate its green strategy into its marketing and sales message? Finally, will Verne's green benefits enable the company to overcome obstacles in the sales process, or will they alternatively overcomplicate an already complex sales message? Kato's decision allows discussion of the emerging role of green marketing and sales and to help to identify how a product or service which is good for the environment can also be good for the bottom line.


The traditional neutral voltage problem in low-voltage (LV) four-wire multigrounded distribution networks can be aggravated due to an unbalanced allocation of one-phase photovoltaic (PV) units. Inherent limitations restrict the performance of the traditional strategies to mitigate the combined effect of load and PV unbalance. To overcome the shortcoming of traditional approaches, a new dynamic mitigation approach using community energy storage (CES) is proposed in this paper. A power balancing algorithm is developed to perform the balancing operation while minimizing power drawn from the CES. A charge/discharge control strategy is developed that will continuously balance and dynamically adjust the power exchange with the grid in a real time, and mitigate the neutral current and neutral voltage rise. To investigate the applicability of the proposed approach under physical time delays associated with battery and PV systems, a suitable dynamic model is developed. An Australian LV distribution system is used to verify the proposed approach under daylong variations of load and PV, and also during short-term variations of PV output caused by cloud passing.


Online Material: Additional site maps, plots and correlation fits.

The recent 2011 M w 9.0 Tohoku, Japan, and the 2004 M w 9.15 Sumatra–Andaman superquakes have humbled many in earthquake research. Neither region was thought capable of earthquakes exceeding M w∼8.4. Appealing proposed relationships to predict the size of earthquakes in subduction zones, such as that between earthquake magnitude and parameters such as lower plate age and convergence rate (Ruff and Kanamori, 1980) and plate coupling based on anchored slabs (Scholz and Campos, 1995), at least have many exceptions and may not be valid. Both earthquakes occurred where the subducting plate edge was quite old, ∼50–130  Ma. The role of thick sediments smoothing the plate interface and maximizing rupture area has been considered a contributing factor, and it seems to influence many recent great earthquakes (Ruff, 1989). The Tohoku event is also contrary to this hypothesis. Clearly, much remains to be learned about these great events, so much so that most previous estimates of maximum earthquake size in subduction plate boundaries should be considered suspect, and perhaps other fault systems as well (McCaffrey, 2007, 2008).

Our perspective on this issue is clearly hampered by short historical and even shorter instrumental records. The examples noted earlier indicate that basing estimations of maximum earthquake size or models of earthquake recurrence on such short‐term records alone clearly cannot encompass the range of fault behavior, even when historical records may be >1000 years long as in Japan. Here, we present several examples of areas where long geologic and paleoseismic records can illuminate a much wider range of seismic behaviors compared with those deduced from historical and instrumental data, and speculate on models of long‐term fault behavior based …


Revised and condensed from David Norton's acclaimed A History of the Bible as Literature, this book, first published in 2000, tells the story of English literary attitudes to the Bible. At first jeered at and mocked as English writing, then denigrated as having 'all the disadvantages of an old prose translation', the King James Bible somehow became 'unsurpassed in the entire range of literature'. How so startling a change happened and how it affected the making of modern translations such as the Revised Version and the New English Bible is at the heart of this exploration of a vast range of religious, literary and cultural ideas. Translators, writers such as Donne, Milton, Bunyan and the Romantics, reactionary Bishops and radical students all help to show the changes in religious ideas and in standards of language and literature that created our sense of the most important book in English.


Multiple layers of sapropels occur widely in the sedimentary record of the Mediterranean Sea and record repetitions of paleoclimatic conditions that favored increased production and preservation of marine organic matter. A combination of hydrogen and carbon isotope analyses of Pleistocene sapropels from the Tyrrhenian Sea reveals new aspects of the factors leading to their deposition. Organic matter dD values that are significantly more negative in sapropels than in adjacent marls indicate a combination of dilution of surface waters by meteoric waters and increased burial of lipid-rich organic matter during periods of sapropel deposition. Organic δ 13 C values in sapropels that are less negative than those in marls suggest periods of markedly elevated marine biological production. The opposite but concordant excursions of these two isotopic parameters imply that the sapropel layers formed from increased export of marine organic matter from the photic zone to the sea floor during periods of greater fluvial delivery of continental nutrients to the Mediterranean Sea. Furthermore, the isotopic evidence indicates that periods of wetter climate were widespread in southern Europe at the same times as in northern Africa.


To implement computationally-intensive tasks, typically, various levels of parallelism are used. Depending on the applications, the best possible results are produced by different parallelism approaches. Pipelining is an example of hardware-implemented parallelism; multithreading is effective for the software that supports it. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy logic algorithm for dynamic load balancing in a distributed cluster performing 3D video rendering for a simulated robotic vision tests. We present results taken from a production processing environment, rather than simulations. We have tested the algorithm within comprehensive virtual reality simulator Initiative Software Earth (ISE), a project of Computer Engineering Framework (CEF). The experimental results gathered on 50+ core Linux cluster, demonstrate that the proposed approach performs better compared to conventional methods such as static and gradient load balancing.


Kimberly O'Brien, an associate professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, has been concerned about the nutritional needs of children since she began to understand that there was a huge gap in that knowledge, especially about how minerals are metabolized by the body under situations of physiological stress or increased needs. It was that realization that has led her to focus much of her research on the nutritional effect of pregnancy, particularly in teenagers who become pregnant before they reach age 19. O'Brien, who joined Human Ecology's faculty in September 2005, uses the college's new 5,007-square-foot, state-of-the-art Frances A. Johnston & Charlotte M. Young Human Metabolic Research Unit for her research. She is also chair of the unit's advisory board. As such, she is responsible for its operation, research direction, and management. Utilizing the unit's mass spectrometry lab, O'Brien investigates the absorption and metabolism of calcium, as well as iron and zinc. Mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical technique that is used to identify unknown compounds, to quantify known compounds, and to elucidate the structure and chemical properties of molecules. Detection of compounds can be accomplished with very minute quantities. This means that compounds can be identified at very low concentrations in chemically complex mixtures. In her research, O'Brien found in one study that 30 percent of the adolescents, shortly after giving birth, had low bone mass when compared with expected total body or lumbar spine bone mass for a teen of the same age. In addition, in a separate study involving data obtained in 1,100 pregnant adolescents, O'Brien found that the femur of the developing fetus was significantly shorter in teens with low calcium (dairy) intake when they began prenatal care. "Teenage mothers are still building much of their total bone mass during these years," O'Brien explains. The unborn baby's need to develop its skeleton may compete with the teenage mother's need for calcium to build her own bones, compromising her ability to achieve peak bone mass that will help protect her from osteoporosis later in life. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pregnancy is a calcium drain, and it is not known whether adolescent mothers can regain lost bone after their pregnancy ends and/or they stop breastfeeding, and will be able to go on to achieve their genetic potential in peak bone mass. Nor do experts agree on dietary recommendations for teens or what should be done to maximize the bone health of the teen mom and the baby. In pregnant adolescents, O'Brien used oral and intravenous stable (nonradioactive) calcium isotopes as tracers to compare rates of calcium absorption during the teens' third trimester of pregnancy and the early postpartum period. The isotopes were then measured using mass spectrometric techniques. Total-body and lumbar spine bone-mineral densities were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). What O'Brien and colleagues found was that teens who consumed more calcium during pregnancy showed less bone loss when tested postpartum, compared to those with poor or average calcium intakes. They also found that a low calcium intake limits fetal bone growth in pregnant teens. Now she is taking her research and her advanced instrumentation to the next level to better understand the in-utero environment, as well as the long-term impact of early pregnancy and breastfeeding on a teen's ability to reach peak bone mass. "We need the tools to trace what is happening between the teen and her fetus," O'Brien says. "The more we understand, the better we will know what to recommend to ensure that girls get adequate calcium to prevent or minimize losses and avert any detrimental, long-term effects on bone growth. …


Indicators show that we live in a time of unprecedented global crises. Violence and abuse are epidemic, social inequalities are increasing, the global socioeconomic system is locked on a path of ecocidal growth, and a climate catastrophe looms. These patterns indicate that our social systems are failing and require radical change. However, most social accounting research ("SAR") and practice, in line with most of the wider fields of accounting research and practice, have ignored or underplayed these grave realities and have failed to analyse critically the systems of power from which these crises have arisen. And critical scholars have shown that this unreflective lack of critique is due in part to social accounting research and practice being inadvertently "captured" by hegemonic discourses and theories that serve as ideological props for existing systems of power.  This thesis explores how SAR and practice could be re-oriented so as to be more effective in addressing the social and ecological crises we face today, first, by making use of a range of critical social theories to examine how social accounting research and practice might be "captured" and become complicit in perpetuating these crises, and secondly, by using ideas from Paulo Freire's radical pedagogy to explore how they could more honestly confront these realities. The empirical centrepiece of the analysis is the Building Capacity for Sustainable Development ("BCSD") project's National Sustainability Scenarios initiative – a social accounting case study which forms part of this PhD – and it is extended to an interrogation of dialogic SAR and SAR more broadly.  The contributions of this thesis are four-fold: methodologically, it offers analytical heuristics for making sense of social accounting research and practice as hegemonically structured and ideologically-laden fields that are directly implicated in perpetuating social-ecological crises, and for evaluating engagement practices from a critical pedagogical standpoint; empirically, this thesis evaluates a case study using a social accounting technology – scenario planning – that to date is under-researched; in terms of analysis, it builds on earlier critiques of social accounting "capture" by extending it to "critical" forms of SAR and interrogates this "capture" in relation to systems of power such as capitalism, industrial civilization, white supremacy and patriarchy that tend mostly to be overlooked in the literature, both singularly and as intersecting systems; and in terms of reconstructive exploration, this thesis offers insights on how social accounting research and practice might look if driven by the critical pedagogical imperatives of truth-telling – that is, facing rather than evading the realities of systemic violence and structural power that we are confronted with today.  Although SAR is broadly concerned about social justice and ecological sustainability, this thesis shows that much of it legitimates the intersecting systems of predatory capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy and downplays the realities of imperialism, colonization, class warfare, patriarchal violence, and ecocide that these systems of power produce. Moreover, and perhaps more problematically, although the BCSD case study, and the dialogic SAR literature which was considered, appeared to be underpinned by many of the ethical principles of critical pedagogy, deeper analysis revealed that they too align more closely with an uncritical liberalism, rather than critical pedagogy, in their unwillingness to challenge the social hierarchies and ongoing realities of imperialism, colonization, and catastrophic violence to which they give rise. A reconstruction of the initiative, drawn from more radical interpretations of Freire's approach, suggests that more critical approaches to social accounting and engagement praxis are possible, although not without challenges because they would require that social accounting scholars privilege the intellectual and moral values of truth and justice over those of privilege and power.


Groundwater ecology is the study of ecosystems that occur in the subsurface within
groundwater. Groundwater often contains a diverse range of organisms, and those that live in
groundwater and generally do not live above the ground surface are called Stygobites.
Stygobites species come from several different taxonomic groups of animals. Many animals
found in groundwater are Crustaceans (Copepoda, Ostracoda, Amphipoda, Isopoda,
Syncarida, Cladocera) but species of Oligocheata and Hirundinea from the phyla Anelida
(worms), Mollusca (snails and slugs) and Nematoda (roundworms) also live in groundwater.
Groundwater Ecology is important because stygobites provide a unique contribution to global
biodiversity. Stygobites have unusual adaptations to their subsurface environment and there
is a high degree of endemism therefore they provide insight into fundamental questions of
evolution, ecology and biodiversity. Stygobite studies can also be used to investigate past
changes in geomorphology and climate, and the distribution of stygobites can inform aquifer
characterisation. Groundwater ecosystems also provide important "ecosystem services" due
to their role in biogeochemical cycling, and they can enhance contaminant attenuation.
Groundwater fauna can also be useful indicators of the environmental health of aquifers.
There are however many threats to groundwater ecosystems including habitat removal by
opencast quarrying, groundwater abstraction which removes organisms and causes physical
and chemical changes to the habitat, and aquifer contamination.
Most records of stygobites in the UK are from caves in the Carboniferous Limestone and
boreholes in the Chalk. Ten species of stygobite are known in the UK and Ireland but
groundwater organisms have not been well studied, and there may be undiscovered species.
The groundwater fauna of many areas of the UK, and many rock types has not yet been
investigated. More comprehensive studies have been carried out in other countries and this
has lead to insight into the best methods of sampling stygobites, and some understanding of
their diversity and distribution in groundwater. Sampling should be designed to take into
account variability in geology and hydrogeology as well as regional variations. The best
sampling methods in boreholes are net hauling and pumping, and repeated sampling generally
increases the number of species found.
Determining the factors controlling the distribution of species in groundwater is difficult
because there are many factors which interact in a complex way. Sophisticated computational
data analysis techniques are needed to unravel these complexities. Some of the most
important regional scale factors thought to determine stygobite distributions are glacial
history and geology. The composition of groundwater ecosystems also depends upon the type
of aquifer (karstic, porous, fracture, compact), and in karst aquifers whether the ecosystem is
in the vadose or phreatic zone. It is believed that local effects, (e.g. aquifer heterogeneity,
water chemistry, and the location of the water table), also affects species diversity and
abundance in groundwaters.
Future work might include a survey of the groundwater fauna in the UK to assess
groundwater biodiversity and investigate the distribution of stygobites in different geologies.
Future hydrogeological research areas might include studies of the physical hydrogeological
controls on stygobite diversity such as targeted sampling of inflows into boreholes to
determine where in the aquifer stygobites live, and the frequency that stygobites enter
boreholes. Hydrochemistry research might focus on assessing the "ecosystem services"
provided by groundwater ecosystems such as their role in biogeochemical cycling,
contaminant attenuation processes, and sustaining surface groundwater dependent
ecosystems. Multi-disciplinary studies involving collaboration between hydrogeologists and
biologists and ecologists would be particularly beneficial.


Based on a case study on pupils at a Danish upper secondary school this paper reveals that the pupils' media experiences in school are dominated by frustrations and feelings of ambiguity. Two pupil groups with different attitudes towards digital media were identified: one 'IT positive' group that call for more activating uses of digital media, and an 'IT skeptic' group that call for less experimentation and a return to traditional teaching methods and paper books. The case study reflects several ways in which new technologies challenges our educational system. This results in schools today generally being caught between practices of the literate, book-based environment, on the one hand, and the interactive, networked digital environment, on the other. The paper uses the concept of affordances to demonstrate how different media environments shape learning possibilities differently, and that any technology elicits desirable learning outcomes as well as undesirable learning outcomes — or challenges. Essentially, the educational system faces a fundamental challenge of balancing logics and principles of digital learning with traditional, paper-based learning. On this basis, a theoretical framework is developed that sets up didactical principles — distinguishing between affordances at individual, social and societal levels — for applying digital technologies in learning contexts. The paper concludes by demonstrating the principles through a learning design case concerning the climate debate.


Escalating demands on freshwater resources coupled with decreasing supplies dictates the need for improved groundwater modeling techniques and a more direct linkage between groundwater and riparian vegetation. This study describes the development and application of a new methodology and associated software model to simulate riparian and wetland evapotranspiration (RIP-ET). Traditional groundwater modeling, based on a quasi-linear relationship between evapotranspiration (ET) rates and groundwater elevation, has been used to predict changes in regional groundwater levels, and thus riparian vegetation potential. Our new approach uses multiple non-linear, segmented flux curves that more accurately reflect plant eco-physiology, thus simulating riparian and wetland ET in a manner that more realistically reflects the complexity inherent in these ecosystems. By decoupling evaporation and transpiration, both processes are more accurately defined and quantified. Plant functional groups (PFGs) based on water tolerance ranges and rooting depths are used to describe the interactive processes of plant transpiration with groundwater conditions. ET flux rate curves set the extinction and saturation extinction depths and define the group's ET flux rate as a function of water table depth. For each group, the curve simulates transpiration declines that occur both as water levels decline below rooting depths and as waters rise to levels that produce anoxic soil conditions. Each of the multiple transpiration curves reflects a particular plant functional group, thus reflecting the variability in vegetative conditions.The RIP-ET model also improves accuracy by more effectively dealing with spatial issues of plant and water table distribution. ET can now be calculated by delineating the area of all plant assemblages (or habitat types), assigning accurate elevations to the individual polygons and then applying multiple ET curves to a single model cell. The ability to assign a unique surface elevation to each area, allows for a better representation of both ET and community/plant spatial relationships. Detailed information on the distribution of plant functional groups across land surface elevations effectively captures the range of ET responses across the topographic-hydrologic gradients.Case studies demonstrate that RIP-ET produces significantly different ET estimates and thus ecosystem interpretation than the traditional method. The development of physiologically based transpiration curves combined with the traditional linear curve for bare soil/open water results in more accurate determinations of riparian ET, improved basin scale water budgets and riparian vegetation water requirements. When combined with vegetation mapping and a supporting software (RIP-GIS), RIP-ET enables predictions of riparian vegetation response to changing water availability. The use of PFGs in combination with the new RIP-ET package provides an explicit link between groundwater and riparian/wetland habitat conditions and offers an opportunity to better manage and…


The Juppé Plan, enacted on 15 November 1995, is the most important reform of the French social protection system (SWS) since its creation in October 1945. First, we describe the French system which is inspired by the Bismarckian model, a work-based model, and its long-term trends in terms of benefits and contributions. Second, we describe the decisions made as part of the Juppé Plan, and their gradual implementation under the Juppé and Jospan governments: more planned care provision in the health-care sector; a set of family policies geared more to those most in need; the intro duction of private pensions in a new funded scheme; and above all the introduction of new, more universal mechanisms of funding social security. A project on social cohesion (fight against social exclusion) has also been added to the plan. Third, we analyse the three main conse quences of the Juppé Plan: the end of the doc trinal unity of the French system; the economic and financing uncertainties surrounding the implementation of the reforms ; and the pol itical confusion which largely explains why the new left-wing Jospin government can carry on with the implementation of the reform.


Climate change, food security, and energy efficiency have become universal challenges for global economic development and environmental conservation that demand in-depth multidisciplinary research. Biofuels have emerged as a decisive factor in the fight against global warming and air pollution from fossil fuel use, and they can play an important role in the development of poor as well as rich regions. In this work, we investigate the implications of biofuels for regional development in Brazil given its historic experience as an ethanol producer. We compare the environmental and economic impacts of the two predominant ethanol production techniques, in order to understand their effects on output, employment and income and also their potential to reduce the intensity of fossil fuel use and emissions of greenhouse gases. As we focus on a developing country, we also examine the distributional impacts of ethanol technology deployment, in terms of its potential contributions to poverty alleviation and the reduction of regional income inequalities. The production technologies currently used to produce ethanol differ spatially in Brazil, with a capital-intensive technology being used in the Southern regions of the country, and a traditional labor-intensive technology in the Northern regions. We take advantage of this regional variation to conduct a comparative regional analysis of ethanol production technology choice. We evaluate and compare the direct and indirect relationship between output, employment, income, energy intensity, and pollution emissions at the subnational level for the two ethanol production technologies, showing quantitatively the interrelations between the ethyl alcohol industry and the rest of the economy. We hypothesize that the adoption of capital-intensive ethanol production technology provides greater output and employment and lower environmental and energy costs than more traditional technologies and, in contrast, that the implementation of the traditional technology alleviates income inequality by increasing the income received by households in economically deprived regions.


Advancement in technology is brought up for both the industrialization and urbanization, which imitates the diverse pollutants as by-products to air-water ecosystem. Utilization of carbon is a very well-known age-old practice used for environmental remediation. In recent past years, a tremendous research inclination has been witnessed toward the sustainable development of nanocarbons specifi-cally for environment remediation and energy applications. The new sustainable synthesis approached has been investigated for the development of sustainable nanocarbons. Tailoring the nanocarbon with polymer as a nanocomposite material has spotlighted a new class of environmentally benign bio-compatible materials. Herein, the present perspective is summarizing the basic-advanced research.


The Watts-Strogatz algorithm of transferring the square lattice to a small world network is modified by introducing preferential rewiring constrained by connectivity demand. The evolution of the network is two-step: sequential preferential rewiring of edges controlled by p and updating the information about changes done. The evolving system self-organizes into stationary states. The topological transition in the graph structure is noticed with respect to p. Leafy phase - a graph formed by multiple connected vertices (graph skeleton) with plenty of leaves attached to each skeleton vertex emerges when p is small enough to pretend asynchronous evolution. Tangling phase where edges of a graph circulate frequently among low degree vertices occurs when p is large. There exist conditions at which the resulting stationary network ensemble provides networks which degree distribution exhibit power-law decay in large interval of degrees.


Infrared light emitting diodes (LEDs) with a half-intensity angle Φ1/2 ≃ 10° are suitable for electronic-toll-collection (ETC) applications. However, the radiation patterns of commonly available low-cost commercial infrared LEDs are irregular to some extent, which result in difficulties to construct an infrared ETC system with a proper communication area. Most low-cost infrared LEDs with a half-intensity angle Φ1/2 ≃ 10° exhibit a common irregularity in their radiation pattern – a notch in the central radiant direction. The adverse influence bccause of such irregularities can be reduced by a proper design of an LED array in the emitter. High attenuation for the infrared signal of some windshields is also a serious problem for infrared ETC systems, which leads to severe shrinkage of the communication area if the emitter has not been properly designed. In this study, the authors present some successful designs with the aid of an optimisation algorithm to adjust the mounting angle of each constituent LED. In spite of the aforementioned irregularity, the proposed design still exhibits good performance in terms of the ability to withstand high signal attenuation and extended communication area in the vehicle-travelling direction.


We propose a novel notion of fluid bisimulation equivalence that allows one to compare and reduce the behavior of labeled fluid stochastic Petri nets (LFSPNs) while preserving their discrete and continuous properties. The underlying stochastic model for the discrete part of the LFSPNs is a continuous time Markov chain (CTMC). The performance analysis of the continuous part of the LFSPNs is accomplished via the associated stochastic fluid models. For the fluid bisimulation on the discrete markings of two LFSPNs, we require it to be a (strong) Markovian bisimulation. On the continuous markings, for every pair of Markovian bisimilar discrete markings, the fluid flow rates of the continuous places in the first LFSPN should coincide with those of the corresponding continuous places in the second LFSPN. We prove that the resulting fluid bisimulation equivalence preserves fluid density and distribution, as well as discrete and continuous performance measures.


One third of the Indian companies are controlled by one or another family members in concert. In recent past corporate governance crisis is surfaced in few family controlled business houses. We studied financial & market performance of 44 top Indian companies listed in Forbes Global 2000, which includes 19 family controlled companies. We compared financial & market performance of family based companies with the non-family based companies. It is observed that family based business have higher revenue and profit generating capabilities, but we observed greater fall in market value of their securities during 2008. Our research identified companies, which faced corporate governance problem. It is found that one third of the family based companies have corporate governance problems. Our investigation shows that in spite of strong corporate governance framework & series of legislation in India, top management violates governance norms either to favor family members or due to jealousy amongst sibling. It is found that there is lack of supervision and inefficiency in prosecuting violators. We investigated in detail the recent serious governance failure at India's 4th largest IT firm, Satyam Computers Services Limited and reasons of such large magnitude failure of checks & balances in action. We have used primary & secondary data to substantiate the conclusion using appropriate research techniques. The research is useful to the policy makers in designing & implementing corporate governance framework in general & special to family based companies.


Bacteria invest in a slow-growing subpopulation, called persisters, to ensure survival in the face of uncertainty. This hedging strategy, which we term cellular hedging, is remarkably similar to financial hedging where diversifying an investment portfolio protects against economic uncertainty. In this work, we provide a new foundation for understanding cellular hedging by unifying the study of biological population dynamics and the mathematics of financial risk management. Our approach explicitly incorporates environmental volatility as a stochastic process, and we seek to find the persister strategy that maximizes the expected per-capita growth rate by formulating a stochastic optimal control problem. The analysis demonstrates that investing in persister production is only advantageous in the presence of environmental volatility, suggesting a stochastic model is essential to elucidate the phenomenon. Analytical and simulation results probe the optimal persister strategy, revealing results that are consistent with experimental observations and suggest new opportunities for experimental investigation. Overall, we provide a new way of modeling cellular decision making by unifying previously disparate theory from mathematical biology and finance.


Alkali-activated materials are a new class of sustainable materials that can help supplant highly CO2-intensive ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Chemical admixtures and additives that manipulate the hydration and setting of OPC are readily utilized in the construction industry. However, for alkali-activated materials, the impact of these additives on the evolution of the atomic structure of the binder gel is largely unknown. Here, we utilize nano-ZnO (nanoparticles of zinc oxide), a known retarder for OPC hydration, and investigate its influence on the alkali-activation reaction in high and low calcium alkali-activated materials (slag and metakaolin systems, respectively). Using isothermal calorimetry and in situ X-ray pair distribution function analysis, the mechanism of nano-ZnO retardation in alkali-activated materials is uncovered, revealing that calcium plays a pivotal role in dictating whether nano-ZnO has an impact on the alkali-activation reaction. These results also provide important insight on the ability of slag and metakaolin-based alkali-activated materials to effectively immobilize zinc within the binder gel, which is of relevance to the waste solidification/stabilization community.


Living systems are characterized by complex adaptations which require multiple coordinated mutations in order to function. Empirical studies of fitness landscapes that result from the many possible mutations in a gene region reveal many fitness peaks and valleys that connect them. Thus, it is possible that some complex adaptations have arisen by evolutionary paths whose intermediate states are neutral or even deleterious. When intermediates are deleterious, traversing such an evolutionary path is known as "crossing a fitness valley". Previous efforts at studying this problem have rigorously characterized the rate at which such complex adaptations evolve in populations of roughly equally fit individuals. However, populations that are very large or have broad fitness distributions, such as many microbial populations, adapt quickly, which substantially alters the fate and dynamics of individual mutations due to the action of genetic draft. We investigate the rate at which complex adaptations evolve in these rapidly adapting populations in regions without recombination. We confirm that rapid adaptation overall increases the time required to cross a valley; however, rapid adaptation can make it easier for deeper valleys to be crossed relative to the time required for single beneficial mutations to sweep to fixation.


This study examines the key drivers of sovereign default risk in five euro area periphery countries and three euro-candidates that are currently pursuing independent monetary policies. We argue that the recent proliferation of sovereign risk premiums stems from both domestic and international sources. We focus on contagion effects of external financial crisis on sovereign risk premiums in these countries, arguing that the countries with weak fundamentals and fragile financial institutions are particularly vulnerable to such effects. The domestic fiscal vulnerabilities include: economic recession, less efficient government spending and a rising public debt. External 'push' factors entail increasing liquidity- and counter-party risks in international banking, as well as risk-hedging appetites of international investors embedded in local currency depreciation against the US Dollar. We develop a model capturing the internal and external determinants of sovereign risk premiums and test for the examined country groups. The results lead us to caution against premature fiscal consolidation in the aftermath of the global economic crisis, since such policy might actually worsen sovereign default risk. The model works well for the euro-periphery countries; it is less robust for the euro-candidates that upon a future euro adoption will have to pursue real economy growth oriented policies in order to mitigate a potential increase in sovereign default risk.


Mrs. Clark's case was an ordinary consult in an extraordinary time. She was refusing dialysis, but the psychiatric unit had concluded that she lacked capacity for such decision-making. The only difference between Mrs. Clark's current hospitalization and the last two was that it was April 2020 and a virus called Covid-19 had overtaken our hospital. As the chief of Montefiore Medical Center's bioethics service, when I received a consult before the virus, I always saw the patient. Whether the patient had been in a vegetative state for a day or for years, it didn't matter. I would lay my hand on a leg or an arm and observe. But Covid-19 enforced physical boundaries between my team and our patients; I would not be able to meet Mrs. Clark. Our hospital responded to the attack on human connection by getting creative. We asked ourselves, which tools are still available to us? Answering this involved, in part, finding new ways for our team of clinical ethicists to support the clinicians caring for Mrs. Clark.


This article uses conversation analysis to investigate reported speech in talk-in-interaction. Beginning with an examination of direct and indirect reported speech, it highlights some of the design features of the former, and the sequential environments in which it occurs. Recent research on direct reported speech in interaction has shown that although it purports to be the accurate replaying of a former locution, speakers can simultaneously convey their assessment of the utterance while reproducing it. This investigation focuses on how speakers implicitly comment on a reported utterance, exploring the design and sequential placement of the device within the ongoing talk. It is found that direct reported speech recurs in making complaints and telling amusing stories. In addition, explicit assessment of the reported utterance is made commonly by the recipient in the next turn, and the reporter often collaborates with the recipient's response by producing a similar one in overlap. Thus, participants react concurrently to the reported utterance.


This dissertation explores the relationship between the experience of colonisation and the experience of self for Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa. The study suggests that an indigenous experience of self exists within a discursive relationship to colonisation processes. Using a modified systematic literature review located within a kaupapa Māori research framework, the study considers colonisation and the resultant disruption to an experience of indigenous 'selves'. The work examines the process of racialisation: the construction and resulting interiorisation of Indigenous Peoples as 'Other'. The review contends that this process has the effect of disrupting indigenous ontologies creating a divided and alienated experience of self for Indigenous Peoples. Within Aotearoa, the phenomenon of whakama and mate Māori are hypothesised as the indigenous experience of this alienated and divided self. The study suggests that arguably all psychological issues for Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa arise to some degree from these experiences. Implications for psychotherapy are considered. Psychotherapy and psychotherapists are challenged to re-evaluate both the underlying positivist conceptualisations of self, and ongoing processes of colonisation, in order that they may be more fully equipped to effectively work alongside Indigenous communities in Aotearoa.


Widely tunable single channel fiber lasers operating in the l550nm wavelength
region are needed as laser source for applications such as wavelength-division-multiplexed
(WDM) communication systems, fiber sensors, spectroscopy, and optical
fiber gyroscopes.
Fiber lasers are emerging as an attractive alternative technology for wavelength-selectable
WDM source for direct compatibility with fiber-optic transmission medium,
excellent amplifying properties of rare-earth doped fibers, rapidly continuing progress in
novel fiber gain media, maturity and robustness of the laser diode pumps used, and
availability of fiber-based components.
The tunable laser applications of interest in this work have distinct performance
requirement, which is the need for wide tunability (the ability to tune the lasing emission
through a wide range of wavelengths). In this thesis, the design and development of a single channel continuous wave
erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL), with novel loop mirror configuration, is experimentally
studied. Based on design parameters of a fiber laser (launched pump powers, erbiumdoped
fiber lengths and output reflectivities of fiber laser), three fiber laser
configurations; backward, forward, and bi-directional pumping are demonstrated.
Throughout this work different lengths of erbium-doped fiber with various output
reflectivities have been examined to extract the optimum output performance of a fiber
laser. The performance of the fiber laser is presented in terms of threshold pump power,
slope of efficiency, output peak power, linewidth, tuning range, and side mode
suppression ratio (SMSR). This new fiber loop configuration exhibits considerably high
performance. Output power of 27.7 mW and efficient noise suppression of more than 70
dB have been achieved. A threshold power as low as 2.5 m W and slope efficiency of
20% is realized. Narrow spectral width of 0.058nm over a tuning range of 40 nm is
obtained.


Background: Estimates of the total number of prevalent HIV infections attributable to the major routes of infection make an important contribution to public health policy, as they are used for planning services. Methods: In the UK, estimates were derived through the "direct method" which estimated the total number of diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV infections in the population. The direct method has been improved over a number of years since first used in 1994, as further data became available such as the inclusion of newly available behavioural survey data both from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal 2000) and community surveys of men who have sex with men (MSM). These data were used to re-estimate numbers of people unaware of their infection and provided ethnic breakdowns within behavioural categories. The total population was divided into 10 mutually exclusive behavioural categories relevant to HIV risk in the UK—for example, MSM and injecting drug users. Estimates of the population size within each group were derived from Natsal 2000 and National Statistics mid-year population estimates. The total number of undiagnosed HIV infections was calculated by multiplying the undiagnosed HIV prevalence for each group, derived from the Unlinked Anonymous HIV Prevalence Monitoring Programme surveys (UAPMP), by the population size. These estimates were then added to the prevalent diagnosed HIV infections within each group derived from the national census of diagnosed HIV infections, the Survey of Prevalent HIV Infections Diagnosed (SOPHID). The estimates were then adjusted to include all adults in the UK. Because undiagnosed HIV prevalence estimates were not available for each of the behavioural categories, the UAPMP prevalence estimates were adjusted using available data to provide the best estimates for each group. Results: It is estimated that 53 000 individuals are infected with HIV in the UK in 2003, of whom 27% were unaware of their infection. Of the total of 53 000, an estimated 26 000 were among heterosexually infected and 24 500 among MSM. Conclusion: The direct method uses an explicit framework and data from different components of the HIV surveillance system to estimate HIV prevalence in the UK, allowing for a comprehensive picture of the epidemic.


Automatic face recognition (AFR) technologies have made many improvements in the changing world. Smart Attendance using Real-Time Face Recognition is a real-world solution which comes with day to day activities of handling student attendance system. Face recognition-based attendance system is a process of recognizing the students face for taking attendance by using face biometrics based on high definition monitor video and other information technology. In my face recognition project, a computer system will be able to find and recognize human faces fast and precisely in images or videos that are being captured through a surveillance camera. Numerous algorithms and techniques have been developed for improving the performance of face recognition but the concept to be implemented here is Deep Learning. It helps in conversion of the frames of the video into images so that the face of the student can be easily recognized for their attendance so that the attendance database can be easily reflected automatically. Keyword: Face recognition, Face detection, Deep Learning, Convolution Neural Network (CNN), Python OpenCV


Abstract We report two-dimensional simulations of drop dynamics on a substrate subject to a wetting gradient and an external pressure gradient along the substrate. A phase-field formulation is used to represent the drop interface, and the moving contact line is modelled by Cahn–Hilliard diffusion. The Navier–Stokes–Cahn–Hilliard equations are solved by finite elements on an adaptively refined unstructured grid. For a single drop and a pair of drops, we consider three scenarios of drop motion driven by the wetting gradient only, by the external flow only, and by a combination of the two. Both the capillary force and the hydrodynamic drag depend strongly on the shape of the drop. Since the drop adapts its shape to the local wetting angles and to the external flow on a finite time scale, hysteresis is a prominent feature of the drop dynamics under opposing forces. For each wetting gradient, there is a narrow range of the magnitude of the external flow within which a single drop can achieve a stationary state. The equilibrium drop shape and position depend on its initial shape and the history of forcing. For a pair of drops, the wetting gradient or external flow alone tends to produce catch-up and coalescence. The flow-driven coalescence arises from a viscous shielding effect that relies on the asymmetric shape of the trailing drop once it is deformed by flow. This mechanism operates at zero Reynolds number, but is much enhanced by inertia. With the two forces opposing each other, the external flow favours separation while the wetting gradient favours coalescence. The outcome depends on their competition.


Hyaluronic acid (HA) has important applications in the field of orthopedics, ophthalmology and cosmetics. This polymer can be present in cosmetic products or can be used as a dermal filler. The latter frequently contains cross-linked HA. Today's methods to quantify the amount of cross-linked HA are not very specific. In this paper the development and validation of a specific identification and quantification method is described. The proposed method utilizes an essential pre-extraction step prior to identification by infra-red spectroscopy followed by an identity confirmation and quantification with the carbazole micro-assay. The method was successfully validated using the "total error" approach in accordance with the validation requirements of ISO-17025. During the validation a variety of formulations including those present in legal HA containing dermal fillers were taken into consideration. As a proof of principle, legal and suspected illegal dermal fillers intercepted in 2016 were assessed. All legal samples and 2 out of 14 suspected illegal samples were conform for the amount of HA claimed and present in the sample. Most of the suspected illegal samples contained much less than what was claimed on the package. Taken together, the newly developed and validated method can be used for the identification and quantification of HA in legal and suspicious HA-containing dermal fillers. Furthermore, this method doesn't require the use of expensive instrumentation or reagents and can therefore be executed in any laboratory equipped with a centrifuge, micro-plate reader and heating block.


This paper focuses on two related subtasks of aspect-based sentiment analysis, namely aspect term extraction and aspect sentiment classification, which we call aspect term-polarity co-extraction. The former task is to extract aspects of a product or service from an opinion document, and the latter is to identify the polarity expressed in the document about these extracted aspects. Most existing algorithms address them as two separate tasks and solve them one by one, or only perform one task, which can be complicated for real applications. In this paper, we treat these two tasks as two sequence labeling problems and propose a novel Dual crOss-sharEd RNN framework (DOER) to generate all aspect term-polarity pairs of the input sentence simultaneously. Specifically, DOER involves a dual recurrent neural network to extract the respective representation of each task, and a cross-shared unit to consider the relationship between them. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework outperforms state-of-the-art baselines on three benchmark datasets.


David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments-hedge funds, private equity, real estate-given the impact of the recent market turmoil. The case explores the risks and benefits of a different asset allocation strategy and also considers how to classify some of the different assets. It highlights the issues around allocations across different subclasses, e.g., between venture capital, hedge funds, and real assets.Learning Objective: To introduce students to asset allocation anti fund choice from an LP's perspective.


This mini-review is concerned with the characterization of synthetic and natural product pharmaceuticals by functional group analysis using electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry. Studies of the electrospray ionization–ion trap mass spectrometry behavior of selected synthetic and natural product pharmaceuticals of low molecular mass have shown certain characteristic fragmentations in that functional groups are generally cleaved from ring systems either as even electron inorganic or organic molecules such as H2O, CO, CO2, alcohols, carboxylic acids, or as odd electron entities such as methoxy and methyl. This is particularly energetically favorable in the former case with the standard heat of formation at 298.15 K of the ejected neutral molecule having a relatively high negative value. Fragmentation of pharmaceuticals involving the generation of odd electron entities such as the methyl radical is structure dependent and is to a large extent correlated with the stability of the newly formed free radical ions. The fragmentation data therefore provides useful information on the structure of these pharmaceuticals, their degradation products and metabolites. In some cases, the cleaving of functional groups may parallel the production of certain metabolites. In addition, electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry data on even and odd electron mass losses may be cross-referenced with data obtained from unknown analytes such as bioactive molecules isolated from natural sources which can then be of value in their structural characterization, assisting in the dereplication process. This mini-review on functional group analysis of selected pharmaceuticals by electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry provides examples of drug characterization following cleavage from ring systems of even electron molecules (e.g., hypnotic drugs, coumarins, phloroglucinols, and polyphenols) and odd electron entities (e.g., the alkaloid tetrandrine). Parallels between the cleaving of functional groups as even electron mass losses and the metabolic reactions of the macrocyclic antibiotic rifapentine are also discussed.


This paper evaluates the relative financial efficiency of twenty three matched-pairs of U.S. firms and Brazilian (BR) firms. In this study, efficiency is measured in terms of profitability, debt management, asset management, and liquidity management. Paired comparison is employed and ten hypotheses are tested on the basis of the defined ratios. Because matched pairs are used, an appropriate test is the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranked test. All the data for the study were compiled by the author from Mergent on Line. These include the most recent five-year time-series data that were available in 2013 for all the ten ratios that were tested. The analysis presented in this paper indicates the absence of any statistically significant differences between the two sets of firms with regard to most of the ratios examined, suggesting that the U.S and the Brazilian firms are similar to each other with respect to their financial efficiency. The only exception is that BR firms have higher return on equity (ROE) ratios than the United States firms.


We study the nature of judicial bias in bankruptcy proceedings following the enactment of the 1998 bankruptcy law in Russia. The two main findings are as follows. First, regional political characteristics affected judicial decisions about the number and types of bankruptcy proceedings initiated after the law took effect. Controlling for indicators of firms' insolvency and the quality of the regional judiciary, reorganization procedures were significantly more frequent in regions with politically popular governors and governors who had hostile relations with the federal center. Poor judicial quality was also associated with higher incidence of reorganizations. Second, the quality of the regional judiciary affected performance of firms under the reorganization procedure: in regions with low quality judges, firms that were reorganized according to the 1998 law had significantly lower growth in sales, labor productivity, and product variety compared to firms not subject to bankruptcy proceedings. In contrast, in regions with high quality judges, firms in reorganization outperformed firms not in bankruptcy proceedings. This effect of judicial quality on the performance of reorganized firms was stronger when governors were politically popular. These findings are consistent with the view that politically strong governors subverted enforcement of the 1998 bankruptcy law. Journal of Comparative Economics35 (2) (2007) 254-277.


In The Global and the Local: An Environmental Ethics Casebook, Dale Murray presents fifty-one compelling case studies. By interweaving theoretical considerations into case studies, Murray illuminates a comprehensive range of the most pressing environmental issues facing our biosphere.


The occurrence of highly resistant bacterial pathogens has risen in recent years, causing immense strain on the health-care industry. Hospital-acquired infections are arguably of most concern, as bacterial outbreaks in clinical settings provide an ideal environment for proliferation among vulnerable populations. Understanding these outbreaks beyond what can be determined with traditional clinical diagnostics and implementing these new techniques routinely in the hospital environment has now become a major focus. This brief review will discuss the three main whole genome sequence techniques available today, and how they are being used to further discriminate bacterial outbreaks in nosocomial settings.


While the threat of collisions with recreational watercraft continues to be a serious concern for the Florida manatee population, a growing threat in the future is likely to be the loss of available winter habitat. Manatees are at risk of illness or death in water temperatures less than 20°C. To meet their thermoregulatory needs, manatees rely on sources of warm-water habitat. Currently the majority of the population is utilizing thermal discharges at coastal power plants to stay warm during winter cold periods; however, most of these power plants are expected to close down in the next t20 to 50 years. Since 1998 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has collected time-series temperature data at various sites used by manatees in winter. The goal of my project was to evaluate the thermal characteristics of 10 suspected warm-water sites in southern Florida to assess their potential suitability as winter habitat for manatees. Sites were assessed based on how frequently they were at temperatures considered threatening to manatee health and mortality, and on how many consecutive days they remained below these threshold temperatures. Delta-T and regression analysis were also used to compare the temperature of potential warm-water sites to that of nearby ambient sites. The results of this analysis will be used to make recommendations to the FWC about which sites might provide suitable warm-water habitat and should be further investigated with more detailed monitoring efforts in the future. This information could be used to meet the agency's long-term goal of creating a protected network of warm-water habitat throughout the state.


In 1997, the World Health Organization formed the Global Alliance to Eliminate Blinding Trachoma by 2020 (GET 2020), a coalition of governmental, non-governmental, research, and pharmaceutical partners. In 1998, the World Health Assembly urged member states to map blinding trachoma in endemic areas, implement the SAFE strategy (which stands for surgery for trichiasis, antibiotics, facial-cleanliness and environmental change, such as clean water and latrines) and collaborate with the global alliance in its work to eliminate blinding trachoma.

Over these past 13 years, much progress has been made. Pfizer Inc has committed to donating the Zithromax necessary for eliminating blinding trachoma by 2020, non-governmental organisations have scaled up their support to national programmes to implement the SAFE strategy, and some trachoma-endemic countries are now close to reaching their intervention goals. Since the Pfizer donation began in 1999 through the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI), more than 155 million Zithromax treatments have been distributed.

But trachoma remains a blinding scourge. It is still believed to be endemic in 57 countries (Figure (Figure1).1). Globally, 1.2 billion people live in trachoma-endemic areas, primarily in the poorest communities in low- and middle-income countries. Nearly 41 million people, mostly women and children, have active trachoma and could benefit from treatment. An estimated 8.2 million already have trichiasis, the end stage of the disease, and are at risk of becoming blind or visually impaired.

Figure 1

Trachoma-endemic countries

Source: Mariotti SP, Pascolini D, Rose-Nussbaumer J, "Trachoma: global magnitude of a preventable cause of blindness," British Journal of Ophthalmology 2009:93: 563-568

We only have ten years left to reach the goal of eliminating blinding trachoma. In order to achieve this, all endemic countries must have the full scale SAFE strategy in place by 2015 to allow enough time for implementation to have an impact. Enormous challenges lie ahead of us. Some of the remaining endemic countries are in conflict or have just come out of conflict, and lack infrastructure and resources to fully address the disease. Even countries free of conflict lack financial resources for the epidemiological surveys to determine which districts need intervention, or to support intervention in endemic districts. Implementing the SAFE strategy can be a strain on resources as well, since providing access to clean water and latrines is not inexpensive.

However, we believe that, together, we can overcome these challenges and reach our goal.

In this issue of the Community Eye Health Journal, a series of articles begins on blinding trachoma, which has incapacitated families and communities for centuries in nearly every corner of the world. The goal of this series is to explore what is new in the campaign to eliminate the disease, including recent developments in trichiasis surgery, mass drug administration, and cost-effective ways to improve sanitation and hygiene. Previous editions of the Community Eye Health Journal that focused on trachoma (editions 32 and 52) remain important resources for trachoma.

The first article in the series is about national trachoma task forces. We hope that this new series will provide tools to assist those who are implementing programmes to eliminate blinding trachoma.

Mass distribution of antibiotics is one of the four components of the SAFE strategy. ETHIOPIA

Robert Essel/International Trachoma Initiative


Societal values are emerging as critical variables in providing context relevance to extending international management research. A hallmark of the 1990s was the widespread adoption of market cultures in Asian nations that embraced large‐scale reform and restructuring. These programmes brought about dramatic changes at organisational level, but the links between the societal upheavals of economic transformation and micro level changes have yet to receive sufficient academic attention. For instance, similarity or dissimilarity about held societal values of managerial groups, within an organisation, as identified by gender, age, educational qualification or family upbringing, or even by the size of the company in which they work, requires comprehensive scrutiny if these reform programmes are to succeed. Since 1991 the Indian economy has embraced economic reform to move towards more empowerment for individual organisations in all spheres. The study reported in this paper explores managerial social orientations in the context of micro‐level organisational functioning. The results of this study, with 421 senior Indian managers, demonstrate that in a relatively short time the fundamental attributes of a competitive market economy have subjugated societal qualities reinforced over hundreds of years and thought to be unchangeable.


Reconstructions of the Pacific and Nazca plates suggest that both the Nazca and Tuamotu Ridges originated from a melting anomaly which existed beneath the Pacific-Farallon Ridge during the time interval between anomalies 19 and 11, as would be predicted from the fixed-hotspot hypothesis. The hotspot hypothesis, interpreted according to morphology of the Easter-Sala y Gomez-Nazca trace, would further suggest that the hotspot was located entirely beneath the Nazca plate during the time interval between anomalies 11 and 2′. At the end of this interval, the eastern boundary of the Easter plate formed, centered above the hotspot. According to this scheme, the present location of the hotspot is about 200 km west of Easter Island.

However, the Easter model is incompatible with the hotspot model for the Hawiian-Emperior chain, if the hotspots are fixed relative to one another, as the age of the point on the Tuamotu Ridge which corresponds with the Hawaiian-Emperor bend (53 to 55 m.y.) is significantly greater than the age of the bend (43 m.y.). The fixed-hostpot hypothesis can be satisfied by the two traces only if one or a combination of the following conditions is met: the kinematic age of the Hawaiian-Emperor bend is substantially greater than the isotopically dated age, the magnetic-anomaly time scale is in significant error, and/or magnetic-anomaly identifications in the vicinity of the Tuamotu Ridge are erroneous.

It might appear that other mechanisms for the origin of hotspot traces are preferable to the hotspot hypothesis. The most promising of these involves propagating fractures resulting from intraplate stress. This hypothesis has the advantage of accommodating anomalies in some hotspot traces, such as persistence of igneous activity long after passage of the trace over the hotspot.


Covalent triazine frameworks are an emerging material class, which have shown promising performance for a range of applications. In this work, we report on a metal-assisted and solvent-mediated reaction between calcium carbide and cyanuric chloride, as cheap and commercially available precursors, to synthesize two-dimensional triazine structures (2DTSs). The reaction between dimethylformamide and cyanuric chloride was promoted by calcium carbide and resulted in dimethylamino-s-triazine intermediates which in turn undergo nucleophilic substitutions. This reaction was directed into two dimensions by calcium ions derived from calcium carbide and induced the formation of 2DTSs. The role of calcium ions to direct the two-dimensionality of the final structure was simulated using DFT and further proven by synthesizing molecular intermediates. The water content of the reaction medium was found to be a crucial factor that affected the structure of the products dramatically. While 2DTSs were obtained at anhydrous conditions, a mixture of graphitic material/2DTSs or only graphitic material (GM) was obtained in aqueous solutions. Taking advantage of the straightforward and gram-scale synthesis of 2DTSs, as well as their photothermal and photodynamic properties, they are promising materials for a wide range of future applications including bacteria and virus incapacitation.