Buckley v. Valeo has been the leading case governing the constitutionality of campaign finance laws in the United States since the Supreme Court decided it in 1976. But it is an unlikely candidate for influence and longevity. The decision upheld federal limits on campaign contributions but it struck down federal limits on campaign spending as violating the First Amendment. It was a compromise opinion written by a committee of Justices; three of the eight Justices deciding the case dissented from parts of its core holdings on contributions and expenditures. Over the years, there have been Court majorities ready to overturn parts of Buckley, though Buckley has remained good law because the Justices have not agreed on which parts to overturn and Justices in the Court's center have refused to overturn any of Buckley's central tenets. The Court's later campaign finance cases have vacillated wildly in their treatment of the First Amendment issues – yet each of these cases has claimed fidelity to Buckley. More than one commentator, including this author, has declared the case on the verge of death. Yet Buckley has survived.This Chapter tells the story of Buckley v. Valeo, beginning with an examination of the legislation that prompted the litigation, the 1974 Amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). It situates the legislation and litigation in the context of the early 1970s, a time when there was increasing public distrust of politicians and social turmoil, driven especially by controversy over the Vietnam War, changes wrought by the civil rights and women's rights movements, and a series of political scandals culminating with Watergate and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The story of Buckley v. Valeo's origins turns out to be two stories, both drawn from the themes of that era. One story is that of good government reformers, especially the group Common Cause, who adopted a legislation and litigation strategy aimed at rooting out corruption among politicians. The other story is that of skeptics of government power, including the American Civil Liberties Union, conservative United States Senator (and now D.C. Circuit judge) James Buckley and liberal United States Senator Eugene McCarthy. They mistrusted campaign finance regulation, which they saw as a form of incumbency protection and government censorship. They filed the Buckley litigation, challenging the core provisions of the FECA, to prevent what they viewed as government tyranny.The chapter then traces Buckley through the litigation process. The D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, upheld the contribution and spending limits on both anticorruption and political equality grounds. The Supreme Court too divided on the law's constitutionality, and it produced a Solomonic unsigned opinion that left both sides in the litigation partly unsatisfied. The Chapter concludes with the unlikely story of how Buckley has survived as a precedent, and looks into the future of campaign finance jurisprudence. In the last decade, the current Supreme Court has moved from its period of greatest deference toward campaign finance legislation to its period of greatest skepticism. All the while, the Court has (at least formally) adhered to the Buckley precedent, perhaps more as a result of political compromise by Court centrists than coherent legal reasoning. However, change could be on the way. The Supreme Court's most recent significant campaign finance decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, struck down spending limits imposed on corporations and labor unions. Citizens United overruled earlier cases upholding such limits; unsurprisingly, both the earlier cases and Citizens United relied upon Buckley. The Court in Citizens United indicated great skepticism about the constitutionality of all limits on campaign financing, putting new pressure on the Court to overrule that part of Buckley upholding contribution limitations. But do not count on Buckley being overruled; it may last longer than the readers of this chapter.


Introduction : Triggered by the Asian currency crisis, Indonesia plunged into the times of violent change. With the downfall of the long-standing Soeharto rule in May 1998, changes of the state order started with great magnitude and rapidity under a new banner of "reformasi" (reform). What changes have occurred in this reformasi period? What do these changes signify? To answer these questions, it would be better to have a certain yardstick to allow us comparison. One possibility is to use a yardstick of history. What picture will emerge if we see the current array of changes in long-term historical perspectives is a main question of this paper. This paper intends to provide a bird's-eye picture illustrating where in the Indonesian history the current restructuring of the state order is located. Rather than focusing on a specific area, I here attempt to broaden our outlook on Indonesia's political, economic and social arenas in order to identify what are happening in these arenas, how they are mutually related, and what those events signify in the Indonesia's historical context.


Using a law within Social Security that provides clear financial incentives to delay marriage, we estimate the financial value of a month of marriage. Specifically, the law provides that widows who are eligible for Social Security benefits on their deceased spouse's earnings records are eligible for benefits at age 60, unless they remarry before that age. If they remarry before that age, they cannot claim widow benefits and must wait until at least age 62 to claim spousal benefits on their new husband's record, which are typically less generous than widow benefits. To generate an estimate of what this behavior implies about the value of marriage, we use data from five panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation linked to administrative data from Social Security. We estimate the cost of marrying before age 60 imposed by the Social Security program. We develop a model that reflects the institutional details of Social Security and generate a likelihood function that reflects that model. By taking advantage of the variation in these costs and when or whether widows remarry before age 60, we estimate the benefit of marriage to be $8000/month. These estimates appear to be reasonable in the context of the short length of time widows are willing to wait and the high value of Social Security benefits.


Serious games (SGs) are video or computer games designed for training or educational purposes. Thanks to the wide variety of opportunities they provide, e.g. interactivity, immersion, simulation, etc they have become universally embraced in both academic and non-academic fields alike. However, the selection of the most suitable SG with regard to a given learning goal seems to be less well addressed in the literature. This paper tries to bridge this research gap by building a new Characterizing and Assessing Serious Games Grid (CASGG). The research was based on a design science method. The CASGG was built during a series of meetings (i.e. working group with professionals (education experts), brainstorming with students and teachers) and pilot tests with students. Subsequently, it was tested in the higher education field with 41 graduate students to assess their learning performance according to leaning goals using a specific SG. The tested SG was StarBank the Game and the learning goal was to understand the principal mechanisms of banking. The findings revealed that there is no difference in terms of learning performance between students who have used the SG and those who have followed the theoretical course. With reference to learning satisfaction, the first category of students expressed much more enthusiasm and motivation for learning. Using the SG was for them more enjoyable and engaging. The game play succeeded in capturing their attention, challenging their curiosity and enhancing their interest in the theoretical knowledge. Moreover, owing to this research the design science approach proved most suitable for the building and application of the CASGG by demonstrating its practical feasibility and use. Regarding the context of SGs, the CASGG is actually not only an empirical elaboration of an SG assessment instrument, but also a starting point for further research in this area.


The specific and subspecific taxonomies of African primate populations such as Cheirogaleus and the Galagidae have been challenged in recent years (Bearder, Honess, Bayes, Ambrose, and Anderson 1995; Groves 2000), and it has been suggested that the taxonomy of another group, Perodicticus, may not adequately reflect the diversity of its members either (Schwartz and Beutel 1995; Grubb, Butynski, Oates, et al. 2003). Taxonomies are an organizational framework used by researchers conducting comparative studies, and their completeness and accuracy is important for evolution and systematics.A representative sample (N=132) of specimens allocated to Perodicticus, representing the entire known geographic range of the genus, was examined and described by dentition, cranium, post-cranium, and pelage. Measurements were taken with sliding calipers, and tape and non-metric descriptions are supported by photographs. The descriptions (observed values) were then compared to summaries of distinguishing and diagnostic descriptive traits received from previous taxonomies (expected values).Specimens were found that were highly congruent with traditional descriptions of the taxa Perodicticus potto edwardsi, Perodicticus potto ibeanus, and Perodicticus potto potto. A single specimen was found that matches the expected description for Perodicticus potto faustus, which is not taken as support for reviving that taxon out of its synonymy with Perodicticus potto edwardsi. Specimens were found that partially resemble the descriptions for Perodicticus potto ju-ju and have been tentatively identified as such. Previously undescribed features present in the population assigned to the genus Perodicticus have also been found, including a bowed fin on the mesial margin of the lower (caniniform) anterior premolar in most of the specimens conforming to the descriptions for P. p. ju-ju and P. p. potto.


This paper uses the GTAP-RD model (Aguiar et. al., 2018; 2019) to facilitate tracking of structural change and calibration of economic baselines for long-term trade policy simulations. We track both the supply-side drivers of structural change (i.e., changes in primary factor mix and efficiencies, input output structures, and intensification of services) and the demand-side drivers of trade using observed data to update our initial GTAP 10 Data (Aguiar et al., 2019) base from 2014 to 2017. We then use these observed changes to calibrate our baseline up to the year 2030. The main aim of this paper is to craft an economic baseline informed by historical sources of structural change. This is possible as GTAP-RD's dynamic module allows for changes in endowments, technology and preferences over time. In terms of endowments, labor force is imposed exogenously using external projections while supplies of land and natural resources are modeled via an upward-sloping supply curve. Capital stock changes are modeled using the standard capital motion equation wherein capital stock at the beginning of period t is equal to beginning of period capital stock at t-1 plus net investment (i.e., gross investment less depreciation) at t-1. In addition, technological changes are used to target externally imposed GDP per capita growth rates and to model differences in labor productivity growth across sectors. GTAP-RD also allows for preference changes (e.g., domestic versus imported goods, imported goods across trading partners, or labor versus capital use in value added mix) in a cost-neutral way by employing the twist approach developed by Dixon and Rimmer (2002).


Sparse representations of images in well-designed dictionaries can be used for effective classification. Meanwhile, training data available in most realistic settings are likely to be exposed to geometric transformations, which poses a challenge for the design of good dictionaries. In this work, we study the problem of learning class-representative dictionaries from geometrically transformed image sets. In order to efficiently take account of arbitrary geometric transformations in the learning, we adopt a representation of the dictionaries in an analytic basis. Then, the proposed algorithm learns atoms that are attracted to the samples of their own class while being repelled from the samples of other classes so that the discrimination between different classes is promoted. The dictionary learning objective is formulated such that it enhances the class-discrimination capabilities of individual atoms rather than the ones of the subspaces they generate, which renders the designed dictionaries especially suitable for fast classification of query images with very sparse approximations. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of the proposed method in handwritten digit recognition applications.


We propose a classification scheme that unifies terminology for all primary volcaniclastic deposits, assigns initial depositional mechanism as the basis for classifying them, and refines the grain-size classes used to pigeonhole samples. By primary volcaniclastic deposits and rocks, we mean the entire range of fragmental products deposited directly by explosive or effusive eruption. This definition thus focuses on the primary transport and deposition of particles, rather than those processes by which the particles form or the nature of the fluid in which they are carried. We favor this approach for all primary volcaniclastic deposits because they typically contain assemblages of clasts formed by different processes and/or at different times that are subsequently brought together during eruption.


Emerging applications of neuroimaging outside medicine and science have received intense public exposure through the media. Media misrepresentations can create a gulf between public and scientific understanding of the capabilities of neuroimaging and raise false expectations. To determine the extent of this effect and determine public opinions on acceptable uses and the need for regulation, we designed an electronic survey to obtain anonymous opinions from as wide a range of members of the public and neuroimaging experts as possible. The surveys ran from 1st June to 30 September 2010, asked 10 and 21 questions, respectively, about uses of neuroimaging outside traditional medical diagnosis, data storage, science communication and potential methods of regulation. We analysed the responses using descriptive statistics; 660 individuals responded to the public and 303 individuals responded to the expert survey. We found evidence of public skepticism about the use of neuroimaging for applications such as lie detection or to determine consumer preferences and considerable disquiet about use by employers or government and about how their data would be stored and used. While also somewhat skeptical about new applications of neuroimaging, experts grossly underestimated how often neuroimaging had been used as evidence in court. Although both the public and the experts rated highly the importance of a better informed public in limiting the inappropriate uses to which neuroimaging might be put, opinions differed on the need for, and mechanism of, actual regulation. Neuroscientists recognized the risks of inaccurate reporting of neuroimaging capabilities in the media but showed little motivation to engage with the public. The present study also emphasizes the need for better frameworks for scientific engagement with media and public education.


The frequency of exposure to media violence and eight additional risk factors were path-analyzed in a 2-year longitudinal study. The exposure to media violence (total score) affected students' later violence (β = .28) and later violent delinquency (β = .30) more strongly than other risk factors. Direct effects were also caused by risk factors assessed at Time 1, which in turn were reinforced by the remaining risk factors on the second or third stratum of analysis. Of particular importance are the findings that (1) playing violent electronic games is the strongest risk factor of violent criminality and (2) both media-stimulated and real experiences of aggressive emotions associated with the motive of revenge are core risk factors of violence in school and violent criminality. The results of our study show that the more frequently children view horror and violence films during childhood and the more frequently they play violent electronic games at the beginning of adolescence the higher will these students'...


The OSIRIS cameras (optical, spectroscopic, and infrared remote imaging system) onboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft observed comet 9P/Tempel 1 for 17 days continuously around the time of NASA's Deep Impact mission. The cyanide-to-water production ratio was slightly enhanced in the impact cloud, compared with that of normal comet activity. Dust particles were flowing outward in the coma at >160 meters per second, accelerated by the gas. The slope of the brightness increase showed a dip about 200 seconds after the impact. Dust Afρ values before and long after the impact confirm the slight decrease of cometary activity. The dust-to-water mass ratio was much larger than 1.


Abstract Understanding the behaviour of particles entrained in a fluid flow upon changes in flow direction is crucial in problems where particle inertia is important, such as the erosion process in pipe bends. We present results on the impact of particles in a T-shaped channel in the laminar–turbulent transitional regime. The impacting event for a given system is described in terms of the Reynolds number and the particle Stokes number. Experimental results for the impact are compared with the trajectories predicted by theoretical particle-tracing models for a range of configurations to determine the role of the viscous boundary layer in retarding the particles and reducing the rate of collision with the substrate. In particular, a two-dimensional model based on a stagnation-point flow is used together with three-dimensional numerical simulations. We show how the simple two-dimensional model provides a tractable way of understanding the general collision behaviour, while more advanced three-dimensional simulations can be helpful in understanding the details of the flow.


ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the relationship between learning styles and student performance for students enrolled in a basic business statistics course. We performed this study in order to assess our success in creating a course that facilitated learning for students regardless of learning style. To accomplish this analysis, we utilized quantile regression, a statistical technique from the economics literature developed by Koenker and Bassett (1978) that supplements the classical ordinary least squares regression. Quantile regression allowed investigation of a more complete picture of student performance over the entire population as opposed to the mean effect from least squares regression. Learning style was not significant in determining a student's overall course score for the entire group of students. For small cohorts of students, learning styles were significant for exam average. That is, some students experienced either a disadvantage or advantage by their learning style for the course's exam component. However, for the overall course performance, a student with a particular learning style was neither advantaged nor disadvantaged. INTRODUCTION As faculty, one of our goals is to provide the best possible learning environment for our students. In order to create an ideal learning environment, it is important to understand our students' different learning styles (Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone, 2004; Dunn, Griggs, Gorman, & Beasley, 1995). Students "preferentially focus on different types of information, tend to operate on perceived information in different ways, and achieve understanding at different rates" (Felder, 1993, p. 286). Acknowledging that students have different learning styles then behooves the instructor to utilize a variety of teaching strategies in order to engage students of all learning styles (Buxeda & Moore, 1999). AU students will then have opportunities to use their preferred learning style and opportunities to improve their less-preferred learning style (Hawk & Shah, 2007). Having incorporated a variety of learner-centered and integrative teaching strategies into a business statistics course, we wanted to know if a student's learning-style had an effect on their course performance. It is important to design a course that allows students of all learning styles to succeed. As noted by Felder, "Students whose learning styles are compatible with the teaching style of a course instructor tend to retain information longer, apply it more effectively, and have more positive post-course attitudes toward the subject than do their counterparts who experience learning/teaching style mismatches," (Felder, 1993, p. 286). If the results of our study had shown a relationship between the overall course score and a student's learning style, then additional components could have been designed into the course or students could have been appropriately advised about how best to adapt to the teaching style that does not match their preferred learning style (Campbell, 1991; Coffield, et al. 2004). To accomplish this analysis, we collected student performance data on the various components of the course (quizzes, exams and projects), attributes of student learning styles, achievement on pre- and post-assessment, and attendance in the course. We analyzed the data using ordinary least squares regression analysis and quantite regression (Koenker & Bassett, 1978). Quantile regression allowed investigation of a more complete picture of student performance over the entire student population distribution. For example, a least squares regression analysis for course score with learning styles as the independent variables estimated the mean effect of learning styles on course performance. Quantile regression, however, provided information about the performance of, for example, the lower performing 25% of the class. The significant factors that affected performance for the lower 25% could have been different from the significant factors that affected the performance for the top performing 25% and this difference could only be discovered using quantile regression. …


Some people have better psychological wellbeing than others; thus, they are more functioning individuals. On the other hand, working students are confronted with a variety of challenges that may affect their psychological wellbeing. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of social support and spirituality to the psychological wellbeing of working students. This descriptive-correlational research utilized 302 conveniently sampled college working students from three sectarian institutions in Luzon, Philippines. An expert-validated four-part questionnaire was used to gather data. Data were analyzed using Predictive Analysis Software (PASW). Based on the findings, the respondents had a low social support yet, they were highly spiritual. They also had a moderately high psychological wellbeing. Social support and spirituality were significantly related to all the dimensions of the psychological wellbeing of the respondents. On the other hand, there was no significant difference on all the dimensions of psychological wellbeing when age, sex, and length of stay were considered. Moreover, dormitory dean's support was a significant predictor of the respondents' psychological well-being in terms of self-acceptance, purpose in life, environmental mastery, and positive relations with others while support from friends/peers was a significant predictor of the respondents' psychological wellbeing in terms of purpose in life. Finally, spirituality was a significant predictor of the respondents' psychological wellbeing in terms of self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy, and positive relations with others regardless of age, sex, and length of stay. It is recommended that a replicate study be done among non-working students and/or non-sectarian institutions.


Monte Carlo algorithm and Stokes-Mueller formalism are used to simulate the propagation behavior of polarized light in turbid media. The influence of single scattering and multiple scattering on backscattered Mueller matrix in turbid media is discussed. Single and double scattering photons form the major part of backscattered polarization patterns, while multiple scattering photons present more likely as background. Further quantitative analyses show that single scattering approximation and double scattering approximation are quite accurate when discussing the polarization patterns near the incident point.


This anthology reflects the current interest in the concept of space as a revitalising approach to literary, social, mental, political and discursive phenomena. The contributions, which examine novels, films, art, and cultures, invite the reader to consider the function of space in human constructions as symbolic representation, analytical tool, discursive strategy and haunting effect. In a wider context they demonstrate the extent to which spatiality impacts on our lives and has ethical, political, historical and cultural implications. The contributors represent a wide range of disciplines in the Humanties: Literature, Photography, Art, Human Geography, Ethnic Studies, and Cultural Studies. Maria Holmgren Troy and Elisabeth Wenno are Associate Professors in English Literature at Karlstad University, Sweden


Escherichia coli serotype O25b:H4 is involved in human urinary tract infections. In this study, we sequenced and analyzed E. coli O25b:H4 isolated from a patient suffering from recurring UTI infections in an intensive care unit at Hera General Hospital in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. We aimed to determine the virulence genes for pathogenesis and drug resistance of this isolate compared to other E. coli strains. We sequenced and analyzed the E. coli O25b:H4 Saudi strain clinical isolate using next generation sequencing. Using the ERGO genome analysis platform, we performed annotations and identified virulence and antibiotic resistance determinants of this clinical isolate. The E. coli O25b:H4 genome was assembled into four contigs representing a total chromosome size of 5.28 Mb, and three contigs were identified, including a 130.9 kb (virulence plasmid) contig bearing the bla-CTX gene and 32 kb and 29 kb contigs. In comparing this genome to other uropathogenic E. coli genomes, we identified unique drug resistance and pathogenicity factors. In this work, whole-genome sequencing and targeted comparative analysis of a clinical isolate of uropathogenic Escherichia coli O25b:H4 was performed. This strain encodes virulence genes linked with extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) that are expressed constitutively in E. coli ST131. We identified the genes responsible for pathogenesis and drug resistance and performed comparative analyses of the virulence and antibiotic resistance determinants with those of other E. coli UPEC isolates. This is the first report of genome sequencing and analysis of a UPEC strain from Saudi Arabia.


The maintenance of substations is crucial for the safety of the electrical grid and power industry. However, for long time, the maintenance teams in the field and the experts in the power companies are divided. The data and expertise exchanges between the on-site maintenance teams and data center are delayed due to the lack of effective communication. This paper introduces an on-site smart operation maintenance system for substation equipment based on mobile network. It is able to establish real-time communication and data exchange channels between the maintenance teams and data center. It consists of an operation and maintenance system platform located on the data center side and smart operation and maintenance boxes with mobile APP which are carried to the field side by the maintenance teams. As the kernel of the system, the smart boxes are bridges between the data center and operation sites. On one hand, it is able to formally upload data to the data center in real-time. One the other hand, the operation and maintenance personnel are able to call for help from the resource on the data center anytime. Using the system proposed in the paper, both efficiency of the operation and maintenance and the normalization of the data can be improved.


The study attempts to estimate the profitability of crops cultivated in Cauvery river basin of Karnataka. The study uses primary data pertaining to Mandya district, which is the major beneficiary of the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) Project of Cauvery basin for irrigation purpose. For this study, 120 farm households were selected through appropriate sampling procedure. The data thus collected were processed using statistical tools including descriptive analytical tools, Cobb-Douglas Production Function and Garrett ranking method. The results revealed that, in the study area, sugarcane was the most profitable crop with a mean net returns of ̀ 1,47,288 per ha and a benefit-cost ratio of 2.02. The corresponding figures for paddy were ` 31,342 per ha and 1.52, while for ragi, they were ` 3,159 per ha and 1.12. Over the last decade, maize, banana, sesamum and coconut have gained importance as indicated by their significant positive high compound annual growth rates in cropped area, which is a desirable change replacing the age-old monotonous sugarcane-paddy cropping system. Labour scarcity and high wage rate were the serious problems faced by the sample respondents in crop production. Amongst the irrigation related problems, untimely and inadequate release of water from the dam for irrigation purposes and sedimentation in canals and tanks were the most serious ones, which needs the attention of the policy makers on priority basis, in order to have a sustainable crop production system in the region.


Egg hatching of winter-collected Ochlerotatus albifasciatus was studied for six months. Batches of eggs were divided into two groups, one of them was stored in the laboratory at 23 degrees C and 12:12 photoperiod, and the other in the field under dead leaves. Every month, from July to December, eggs from the two groups were flooded under both laboratory and field conditions. Unhatched eggs were returned to the original condition and flooded two more times separated by ten-day intervals. Results show that egg diapause is expressed in different intensities, not only on eggs exposed to different conditions but also in those exposed to the same condition, even when they were laid by the same female. Successive inundations yielded incomplete hatches of eggs, and favored the hatching response in the next flooding. Low environmental temperatures before and during the flooding depressed hatching response. This shows that eggs need a warm period before flooding as well as warm temperatures during flooding, to hatch. As drought period was longer hatching response increased, but this was also accompanied by warmer environmental conditions. The experiment performed in laboratory did not show that increment. Field studies showed that a layer of dead leaves protected eggs from extreme temperatures.


To obtain the "1.2 million additional research personnel, including 700.000 additional researchers" necessary to "irrigate" the industries science-based, The EU stresses that it is not sufficient increase the investment in Research. We have to stop the European Brain Drain. We have to reverse it; "Europeans who have moved abroad would love to come home". We have to remember that the "Brain Drain should work in both directions", then we have to attract foreign brilliant scientists and compete to the US A. In this paper we give a survey of the principal "Brain Drain Competition" policies implemented in Europe. The key strategies and mechanisms found are: making the academic system more open and flexible; improving the regulatory conditions particularly on immigration; better sign-posting and information at national level; dedicated grants for foreign researchers; adapting income situations to market forces; providing tax reductions specifically for researchers and knowledge workers; more active international marketing and support for international researchers. Finally, we analyse the effects of these policies on the Brain Drain in Europe by giving examples of countries (i.e. UK, France, Germany, Belgium, etc) that that effectively reverse the Brain Drain and attract foreign researchers, and the exemplum of the Italy that it is "a countries that supplies talent to Europe and the Americas".


The First and the Second Russian International Conferences on Material Protection, Control and Accounting (MPC&A), held in 1997 and 2000, under the US-Russian programme of the MPC&A cooperation, proved to be a useful tool for Russian and US specialists and experts from other countries for sharing their opinions and exchanging achievements in this sensitive area. The recommendation to hold the third MPC&A Conference in Russia was formulated in the final document of the second conference in 2000. The results of the US-Russian cooperation are especially valuable because they demonstrate how much can be done through the joint efforts of even previously adversarial countries. This paper gives a summary of the main findings of the Third Russian Conference on the MPC&A with a specific emphasis on physical protection of Russian nuclear materials and nuclear facilities.


Sensitive behaviors such as self-reported performance or (un)ethical behaviors often carry strong social connotations of appropriate or inappropriate conduct. In return, social norms can artificially inflate or deflate individuals' responses and bias scientific results on their prevalence and effects. As a core part of governments' mitigation strategy against the outbreak of COVID-19, social distancing might represent one of these behaviors. Can researchers expect honest responses when surveying citizens about their social distancing behaviors? This question is examined using the sensitive survey technique, "the crosswise model", to elicit aggregate-level prevalence estimates of (1) self-reported social distancing, and (2) honest reporting in a prediction dice game. Since the number of wins in the dice game follows a known probability distribution, it offers an excellent setting for illustrating the utility of the crosswise model before applying it to self-reported social distancing. In a survey of 1,059 adults living in the US, the crosswise model outperforms direct questioning in revealing respondents' dishonest behavior in the dice game. While the crosswise model also indicates some social desirability bias when asking respondents directly about their social distancing behaviors, the extent of this bias seems small and does not appear to overtly inflate individuals' self-reported measures of social distancing.


Ostracoda or mussel-shrimps are small, bivalved Crustacea. Because of their excellent fossil record and their broad variety of reproductive modes, ostracods are of great interest as a model group in ecological and evolutionary research. Here, we investigated damage and repair of one of the most important biological mutagens, namely UVB radiation in the putative ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni from Belgium. We applied three different methods: the Polymerase Inhibition (PI) assay, Enzyme-Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) and dot blot. All three techniques were unsuccessful in quantifying UVB damage in D. stevensoni. Previous experiments have revealed that the valves of D. stevensoni provide an average UVB protection of approximate 60%. Thus, UVB damage could be too little to make quantitative experiments work. Additional variation between individual ostracods due to season and age most likely contributed further to the failure of the three used experimental approaches.
In a second experiment, we investigated the influence of temperature on survival of D. stevensoni during UVB exposure. The estimated lethal UVB dose at 4°C was with 50 kJ/m2 significantly lower than at room temperature with 130 kJ/m2. This could either indicate adaptation to low temperatures and/or the presence of metabolic processes against UVB damage in D. stevensoni. These results could also explain why the estimated lethal UVB dose of D. stevensoni is similar to that of other non-marine ostracods where valves provide around 80% protection, although the valves of D. stevensoni provide less protection. If such metabolic processes can repair UVB damage fast, they might be an alternative explanation why we could not quantify UVB damage in D. stevensoni.


Voltage-gated ion channels localized to dendritic membranes can shape signal processing in central neurons. This study describes the distribution and functional role of a high voltage-activating K+ channel in the electrosensory lobe (ELL) of an apteronotid weakly electric fish. We identify a homolog of the Kv3.3 K+ channel, AptKv3.3, that exhibits a high density of mRNA expression and immunolabel that is distributed over the entire soma–dendritic axis of ELL pyramidal cells. The kinetics and pharmacology of native K+ channels recorded in pyramidal cell somata and apical dendrites match those of AptKv3.3 channels expressed in a heterologous expression system. The functional role of AptKv3.3 channels was assessed using focal drug ejections in somatic and dendritic regions of an in vitro slice preparation. Local blockade of AptKv3.3 channels slows the repolarization of spikes in pyramidal cell somata as well as spikes backpropagating into apical dendrites. The resulting increase in dendritic spike duration lowers the threshold for a γ-frequency burst discharge that is driven by inward current associated with backpropagating dendritic spikes. Thus, dendritic AptKv3.3 K+ channels influence the threshold for a form of burst discharge that has an established role in feature extraction of sensory input.


This article examines the new trends in research on capital flows fueled by the 2007–2009 Global Crisis. Previous studies on capital flows focused on current account imbalances and net capital flows. The Global Crisis changed that. The onset of this crisis was preceded by a dramatic increase in gross financial flows while net capital flows remained mostly subdued. The attention in academia zoomed in on gross inflows and outflows with special attention to cross-border banking flows before the crisis erupted and the shift towards corporate bond issuance in its aftermath. The boom and bust in capital flows around the Global Crisis also stimulated a new area of research: capturing the "global factor." This research adopts two different approaches. The traditional literature on the push–pull factors, which before the crisis was mostly focused on monetary policy in the financial center as the "push factor," started to explore what other factors contribute to the co-movement of capital flows as well as to amplify the role of monetary policy in the financial center on capital flows. This new research focuses on global banks' leverage, risk appetite, and global uncertainty. Since the "global factor" is not known, a second branch of the literature has captured this factor indirectly using dynamic common factors extracted from actual capital flows or movements in asset prices.


A dipole-quadrupole electron-impact excitation model, consistent with molecular symmetry rules, is presented to fit ro-vibronic spectra of the hydrogen Fulcher-α Q-branch line emissions for passively measuring the rotational temperature of hydrogen neutral molecules in kinetic plasmas with the coronal equilibrium approximation. A quasi-rotational temperature and quadrupole contribution factor are adjustable parameters in the model. Quadrupole excitation is possible due to a violation of the 1st Born approximation for low to medium energy electrons (up to several hundred eV). The Born-Oppenheimer and Franck-Condon approximations are implicitly shown to hold. A quadrupole contribution of 10% is shown to fit experimental data at several temperatures from different experiments with electron energies from several to 100 eV. A convenient chart is produced to graphically determine the vibrational temperature of the hydrogen molecules from diagonal band intensities, if the ground state distribution is Boltzmann. Hydrogen vibrational modes are long-lived, surviving up to thousands of wall collisions, consistent with multiple other molecular dynamics computational results. The importance of inter-molecular collisions during a plasma pulse are also discussed.


Access control systems are among the most critical of computer security components. Faulty policies, misconfigurations, or flaws in software implementations can result in serious vulnerabilities. To formally and precisely capture the security properties that access control should adhere to, access control models are usually written, bridging the gap in abstraction between policies and mechanisms. Identifying discrepancies between policy specifications and their intended function is crucial because correct implementation and enforcement of policies by applications is based on the premise that the policy specifications are correct. As a result, policy specifications represented by models must undergo rigorous verification and validation through systematic verification and testing to ensure that the policy specifications truly encapsulate the desires of the policy authors. Verifying the conformance of access control policies and models is a non-trivial and critical task, and one important aspect of such verification is to formally check the inconsistency and incompleteness of the model and safety requirements of the policy, because an access control model and its implementation do not necessarily explicitly express the policy, which can also be implicitly embedded by mixing with direct access constraints or other access control models. Keywords— Access Control, Authorization, Policy, Policy Verification, Policy Testing, Policy Tool, Model Checking.


Cap-and-trade and carbon-tax policies generate streams of tax revenue or of valuable allowances, which represent the value of using the atmosphere for storing carbon emissions. The common ownership of the atmospheric commons suggests equal ownership of the value stream it provides. If equal ownership is granted, governmental appropriation of carbon revenues becomes an equal-dollar-per-person (capitation) tax. The social norm against capitation taxes allows comparison of carbon-tax and cap-and-trade policies with their "equitable" counterparts that mimic equal ownership. Both the "green employment tax swap" proposed by Gilbert E. Metcalf and the U.S. cap-and-trade system proposed by Robert N. Stavins are found to compare unfavorably with equitable policies.


In a real-world environment, a vehicle on the road is subjected to a range of flow yaw angles, the most severe of which can impact handling and stability. A fully coupled, six degrees-of-freedom CFD and vehicle handling simulation has modelled the complete closed loop system. Varying flow yaw angles are introduced via time dependent boundary conditions and aerodynamic loads predicted, whilst a handling model running simultaneously calculates the resulting vehicle response. Updates to the vehicle position and orientation within the CFD simulation are achieved using the overset grid method. Using this approach, a crosswind simulation that follows the parameters of ISO 12021:2010 (Sensitivity to lateral wind - Open-loop test method using wind generator input), was performed using the fastback variant of the DrivAer model. Fully coupled aerodynamic and vehicle response was compared to that obtained using the simplified quasi-steady and unsteady, one way coupled method. Between the quasi-steady and unsteady simulations, an overshoot in aerodynamic yaw moment for the latter resulted in a larger lateral deviation of approximately 8%. However, the differences in responses between the transient, one-way and fully coupled methods were small for this particular geometry. It is expected that by increasing gust length, differences will appear, as the vehicle is exposed to the larger flow yaw angle for a longer period.


DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS TO PROPAGATE ENERGY DENSITY AND PREDICT FARFIELD DIRECTIVITY USING NEARFIELD ACOUSTIC HOLOGRAPHY Scott R. Woolston Department of Mechanical Engineering Masters of Science Acoustical-based imaging systems have found merit in determining the behavior of vibrating structures. This thesis focuses on the continued development of the nearfield acoustic holography (NAH) approach. Conventional NAH consists of first measuring the pressure field on a two-dimensional conformal surface and then propagating this data back to the vibrating structure to obtain information about the source, such as the normal velocity distribution. Recent work has been done which incorporates particle velocity information into the traditional NAH measurements to reduce the number of measurements required. This advancement has made NAH a more affordable tool for acoustical imaging and sound field characterization. It is proposed that the inclusion of velocity information into traditional NAH can further increase its usefulness. By propagating the velocity and pressure values independently and recombining them on the reconstruction surface, the pressure field and energy density fields can be predicted at any point in the sound field. It is also proposed that the same NAH measurement can be used to predict farfield directivity. The inclusion of velocity values into the NAH technique also provides a means for predicting energy density (ED) anywhere within the acoustic field. These two developments would allow a single NAH measurement to provide much more information about an acoustic source and its radiated sound field. Experimental testing shows that NAH is successful at predicting the shape of the resulting ED field and directivity pattern with some error in amplitude. The best performance of the technique is with a planer source resulting in an average amplitude error of 18.5% over the entire field.


The following fields are preferred but not strictly limited for the manuscripts submitted to TEECS: Circuits and Systems Analog Circuits Digital Circuits Mixed Signal Circuits Nonlinear Circuits and Systems Sensing and Sensor Networks Filters and Data Conversion Circuits RF and Wireless Circuits Photonic and Optoelectronic Circuits Low Power Design and VLSI Physical Design Biomedical Circuits Assembly and Packaging Test and Reliability Advanced Technologies (i.e. MEMS and Nano-electronic Devices) Computers and Information Technology Computer Architecture Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Knowledge and Data Engineering Learning Technologies Multimedia Services and Technologies Mobile Computing Parallel/Distributed Computing and Grid Computing Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence Software Engineering Visualization and Computer Graphics Communication Systems Communication Theory and Information Theory Antenna and Propagation Microwave Theory and Techniques Modulation, Coding, and Channel Analysis Networks Design, Network Protocols and Network Management Optical Communications Wireless/Mobile Communications & Technologies Controls Control Theory and Applications Adaptive and Learning Control System Fuzzy and Neural Control Mechatronics Manufacturing Control Systems and Applications Process Control Systems Robotics and Automation Electrical Power Systems Power Engineering and Power Systems Electromagnetic Compatibility Energy Conversion High Voltage Engineering and Insulation Power Delivery Power Electronics Illumination Signal Processing Signal Processing Theory Digital Signal Processing Algorithms Digital Filter Design & Implementation Array Processing Adaptive Signal Processing Audio, Speech and Language Processing Image Processing Video Processing Medical Signal Processing & Medical Imaging


The establishment of breeding and selection programs to improve the genetic potential of poultry necessitates estimation of genetic parameters for different production and reproduction traits, Restricted maximum likelihood (REML) software was used to estimate the heritability (h2) and genetic correlations (r) of body weights in Japanese quails (C. japonica) from hatch to fifth week of age. A total of 224 Japanese quails composed of 56 males and 168 females arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) served as the base population. Body weight records, measured weekly from hatch to fifth week, were utilized to estimate the genetic parameters. Heritability estimates were 0.093±0.004, 0244±0.010, 0.031±0.001, 0082±0.004, 0325±0.016 and 0.025±0.001 for body weights at hatch (BW0), first week (BW1), second week (BW2), third week (BW3), fourth week (BW4) and fifth week (BW5), respectively. Low heritability estimates depict a decrease in additive genetic variance as the generations progressed. Negative genetic correlation was found between BW0 and BW4 (r=- 0.027). The significant positive genetic correlations of BW0 with BW1 (r=0.271); BW1 with BW2 (r=0.270), BW3 (r=0.294), BW4 (r=0.255), and BW5 (r=0.243); BW2 with BW3 (r=0.561), BW4 (r=0.649), and BW5 (r=0.503); BW3 with BW4 (r=0.726), and BW5 (r=0.551); and BW4 with BW5 (r=0.689) are expected to bring correlated responses in the other traits.


Britain is experiencing a period of dramatic change that challenges centuries-old understandings of British constitutionalism. In the past fifteen years, the British Parliament enacted a quasi-constitutional bill of rights; devolved legislative power to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; and created a new Supreme Court. British academics debate how each element of this transformation can be best understood: is it consistent with political constitutionalism and historic notions of parliamentary sovereignty, or does it usher in a new regime that places external, rule-of-law-based limits on Parliament? Much of this commentary examines these changes in a piecemeal fashion, failing to account for the systemic factors at play in the British system.This Article assesses the cumulative force of the many recent constitutional changes, shedding new light on the changing nature of the British constitution. Drawing on the U.S. literature on federalism and judicial power, the Article illuminates the role of human rights and devolution in the growing influence of the U.K. Supreme Court. Whether a rising judiciary will truly challenge British notions of parliamentary sovereignty is as yet unknown, but scholars and politicians should pay close attention to the groundwork being laid.


Numerous attempts to discover the origin of yeoman failed to produce definitive results. The element -man poses no difficulties. The problem is yeo-, a relic of some prefix or of an independent word. Among the putative etymons of yeoman two have enjoyed special popularity: *gāman 'villager' and yongman 'young man.' Neither is fully convincing. The OED cites yeomath 'a second crop of grass' and traces yeo- in it and in yeoman to a form of young. However, yeomath has analogues in German and Dutch, where its first element has been explained as meaning 'additional.' Consequently, yeoman must have been 'an additional man/servant.' Yet some problems pertaining to the circumstances in which the word was coined and to its phonetics remain.


This paper describes a telematic system based on an intelligent van which is able to trace pharmaceutical drugs over delivery routes from a warehouse to pharmacies, without altering the carriers daily tasks. The intelligent van understands its environment, including: its location, the assets and the predefined delivery route; and can report incidences to carriers in case of failure according to the established distribution plan. It is a non-intrusive solution which represents a successful experience of using smart environments and a RFID in a viable way to resolve a real industrial need.


Both ovarian and pituitary hormones are required for the pubertal development of the mouse mammary gland. Estradiol directs ductal elongation and branching, while progesterone leads to tertiary branching and alveolar development. The purpose of this investigation was to identify estrogen‐responsive genes associated with pubertal ductal growth in the mouse mammary gland in the absence of other ovarian hormones and at different stages of development. We hypothesized that the estrogen‐induced genes and their associated functions at early stages of ductal elongation would be distinct from those induced after significant ductal elongation had occurred. Therefore, ovariectomized prepubertal mice were exposed to 17β‐estradiol from two to 28 days, and mammary gland global gene expression analyzed by microarray analysis at various times during this period. We found that: (a) gene expression changes in our estrogen‐only model mimic those changes that occur in normal pubertal development in intact mice, (b) both distinct and overlapping gene profiles were observed at varying extents of ductal elongation, and (c) cell proliferation, the immune response, and metabolism/catabolism were the most common functional categories associated with mammary ductal growth. Particularly striking was the novel observation that genes active during carbohydrate metabolism were rapidly and robustly decreased in response to estradiol. Lastly, we identified mammary estradiol‐responsive genes that are also co‐expressed with estrogen receptor α in human breast cancer. In conclusion, our genomic data support the physiological observation that estradiol is one of the primary hormonal signals driving ductal elongation during pubertal mammary development. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 76: 733–750, 2009. Published 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Renal infarction is a common clinical problem and often misdiagnosed because the symptoms are subtle. We are presented our patient who applicant with left flank pain and diagnosed renal infarction. 49-year-old male patient has come with 2 days of severe left flank. Pathologic were; left costovertebral angle tenderness, creatinine: 1.3 mg/dL, C reactive protein: 11.4 mg/dL. On Computed Tomography Angiography renal arteries there was no contrast matter transmission to left arcuat artery distale and there were ischemic regions. With renal infarction diagnose, patient was hospitalized. Organized thrombosis seen inside apical left ventricular aneurysm with transesophageal ecocardiography Patient was discharged from hospital with plannings of policlinic controls for INR follow-ups. We want to emphasize that it should be kept in mind that the diagnosis of renal infarction in the clinical management of patients with flank pain.


ABSTRACT: Regular physical activity can cause some long term effects on human body. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of sport rock climbing (SRC) training at 70 % HRmax level on echocardiography (ECHO) and heart rate variability (HRV) for one hour a day and three days a week in an eight-week period. A total of 19 adults participated in this study voluntarily. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups as experimental (EG) and control (CG). While the EG went and did climbing training by using the top-rope method for 60 minutes a day, three days a week for 8 weeks and didn't join any other physical activity programs, CG didn't train and take part in any physical activity during the course of the study. Same measurements were repeated at the end of eight weeks. According to the findings, no significant change was observed in any of the ECHO and HRV parameters. However, an improvement was seen in some HRV parameters [average heart rate (HRave), standard deviation of all NN intervals (SDNN), standard deviation of the averages of NN intervals in all five-minute segments of the entire recording (SDANN), percent of difference between adjacent NN intervals that are greater than 50 ms (PNN50), square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent NN interval (RMSSD)] in EG. An exercise program based on SRC should be made more than eight weeks in order to have statistically significant changes with the purpose of observing an improvement in heart structure and functions.Keywords: Echocardiography, heart rate variability, sport rock climbing


Although urbanization is a leading threat to wildlife conservation, some species have adapted to a synanthropic lifestyle. We used a population of raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in the Akasaka Imperial Grounds in central Tokyo, Japan to investigate how latrine-using carnivores can maintain their socio-spatial organization with human disturbance. Between 2012 and 2014, we selected 4–11 latrines per year (from a max. of 18 latrines recorded in the area) using 1 camera per latrine. We focused on latrines that included varying levels of human disturbance. We analyzed the temporal patterns of 3,257 latrine visits, of which 878 included defecation events. Overall, latrine use (i.e., visits with and without defecation events) increased as winter approached, coinciding with dispersal, and showed a seasonal shift from diurnal to nocturnal use patterns as days got shorter. Generalized linear mixed model results confirmed that temporal visiting and defecation patterns were affected by human disturbance and shifted from diurnal to nocturnal, although overall frequency of visits and defecation events did not decrease at disturbed latrines and raccoon dogs continued to use disturbed latrine sites. Raccoon dogs likely perceive human disturbance as predation risk and avoided this by shifting their temporal, but not spatial, activity pattern to minimize disturbance. Minimizing the amount of disturbance around raccoon-dog latrines at sensitive sites and times of day would allow them to co-exist with people with the minimal compromise to their latrine-centered socio-spatial organization. 2018 The Wildlife Society.


We present contemporaneous X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), optical, and near-infrared observations of the black hole binary system Swift J1753.5−0127 acquired in 2012 October. The UV observations, obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, are the first UV spectra of this system. The dereddened UV spectrum is characterized by a smooth, blue continuum and broad emission lines of C iv and He ii. The system was stable in the UV to <10% during our observations. We estimated the interstellar reddening by fitting the 2175 Å absorption feature and fit the interstellar absorption profile of Lyα to directly measure the neutral hydrogen column density along the line of sight. By comparing the UV continuum flux to steady-state thin accretion disk models, we determined upper limits on the distance to the system as a function of black hole mass. The continuum is well fit with disk models dominated by viscous heating rather than irradiation. The broadband spectral energy distribution shows the system has declined at all wavelengths since previous broadband observations in 2005 and 2007. If we assume that the UV emission is dominated by the accretion disk, the inner radius of the disk must be truncated at radii above the innermost stable circular orbit to be consistent with the X-ray flux, requiring significant mass loss from outflows and/or energy loss via advection into the black hole to maintain energy balance.


Along the path of water flowing in a river basin are many water-related human interventions that modify the natural systems. Rainwater harvesting is one such intervention that involves abstraction of water in the upstream catchment. Increased water withdrawal at upstream level is an issue of concern for downstream water availability to sustain ecosystem services. The Modder River basin, located in the central South Africa, is experiencing intermittent meteorological droughts causing water shortages for agriculture, livestock and domestic purpose. To address this problem a technique was developed for small scale farmers with objective of harnessing rainwater for crop production. However, the impact of a wider adoption of this technique by farmers on the water resources has not been quantified. In this regard, the SWAT hydrological model was used to simulate the impact of such practice on the water resources of the river basin. The scenarios studied were: pasture (PAST), conventional agriculture (Agri-CON) and agriculture using rainwater harvesting (Agri-IRWH). The result showed that the highest mean monthly direct flow was obtained on Agri-CON land use (18 mm), followed by PAST (12 mm) and Agri-IRWH land use (10 mm). The Agri-IRWH scenario reduced runoff by 38% compared to Agri-CON, which justifies its intended purpose. On the other hand, it was found that the Agri-IRWH contributed to more groundwater recharge (40 mm) compared to PAST (32 mm) and Agri-CON (19 mm) scenarios. Although, there was a visible impact of the rainwater harvesting technique on the water yield when considered on a monthly time frame, the overall result showed that there was a substantial benefit of using the rainwater harvesting technique for agricultural production (Agr-IRWH) without impacting significantly on the mean annual water yield.


We have studied V alpha 2 and J beta usage by V beta 6+CD4+ peripheral T cells isolated from the congenic mice strains BALB/c (Mls-1b) and BALB.D2 (Mls-1a). We found that the TCR beta-chain of V beta 6+CD4+ T cells present in adult Mls-1a mice differed from those in Mls-1b mice; the fraction of V beta 6+CD4+T cells using the J beta 2.7 segment was reduced, while the number of V beta 6+CD4+ T cells using J beta 1.2 was augmented. These results indicate that the CDR3 region of the TCR beta-chain participates in recognition of the Mls superantigen. We also found that in Mls-1a mice an increased fraction of V beta 6+CD4+ T cells expressed the V alpha 2 chain. The study of J beta usage by V beta 6+CD4+V alpha 2+ and V beta 6+CD4+V alpha 2- T cells indicates that both J beta segment and TCR V alpha 2 chain expression confer complementary protection against deletion by Mls-1a superantigen. These results suggest a novel view of Mls-1a-driven selection, where the CDR3 region of the V beta chain modulates superantigen recognition, and the affinity/avidity of the TCR-MHC-superantigen complex determine the fate of the T cell.


This paper develops an equilibrium model of speculative bubbles that can be used to explore the role of various policies in either giving rise to or eliminating the possibility of asset bubbles, e.g. restricting the use of certain types of loan contracts, imposing down- payment restrictions, and changing inter-bank rates. As in previous work by Allen and Gorton (1993) and Allen and Gale (2000), a bubble arises in the model because traders are assumed to purchase assets with borrowed funds. My model adds to this literature by allowing creditors and traders to enter into a more general class of contracts, as well as by allowing speculators to trade strategically.


JACK OF ALL TRADES:" THE METAMORPHOSIS OF ARMORED CAVALRY IN VIETNAM Robert Manson Peters August, 2005 This thesis is a chronological historical examination of armored cavalry doctrine and execution during the Vietnam War, with a focus on comparison of the armored cavalry's doctrinal missions of reconnaissance, security, and economy of force with the reality of execution on the ground. In Vietnam, a metamorphosis occurred between these doctrinal missions and actual execution due to a series of factors, such as the nature of area warfare and a relative lack of doctrinal preparedness, the latter largely due to the doctrinal flux of the early 1960s, myths about warfare in Vietnam, and institutional resistance. The metamorphosis also occurred because it had to, and could, because of the many positive attributes of the cavalry, and because a series of other new enablers supplanted and masked the loss of cavalry in performing their doctrinal missions. The enablers ranged from new reconnaissance concepts and units, to the rise of technologies and increased surveillance abilities. Despite all the changes in execution from doctrine due to the demands of an extremely complex and multi-faceted war, cavalry and armor doctrine returned to its conventional focus following the war, while most of the adapted doctrine was relegated to peripheral manuals.


Human rights lawyering in China can be categorized into three ideal types: moderate lawyering, critical lawyering and radical lawyering. Lawyers take corresponding political stance and use different strategies in their legal representation. This article uses three examples to illustrate the different types of lawyering and the degree to which the lawyers rely on law in the legal battles. In particular, this article examines the different type of interaction between lawyers and judges: 1) a moderate type in which lawyers rely on law to make a confined and technical legal argument strictly within the boundaries of law; 2) a critical type in which lawyers use law proactively and strategically to influence public opinions and the political process so as to shape judicial decisions to a particular direction; and 3) a radical type in which lawyers challenge law and use the case to advocate a larger legal or policy change. The three cases are the defence of Xia Junfeng in his murder trial; the defence of Falun Gong practitioners who are charged with various criminal offences; and the legal support for labour activists in China who are punished for organizing industrial action.


Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consolidate policy, research, evidence and good practice around strategies tackling fuel poverty and affordable warmth for older people aged over 60 to support the development of more effective services for this life course stage and to tackle physical and mental health inequalities. Design/methodology/approach We consolidate current policy, research, evidence and examples of good practice in exploring effective interprofessional approaches that contribute to affordable warmth for older people through 'desktop analysis'. We support this with qualitative data from Health and Wellbeing Boards, health inequalities and environmental health from research comprising 4 longitudinal case studies in the Midlands and North of England over 18 months and semi structured interviews with members and support officers. A total of 50 interviews were undertaken and 55 hours of Health and Wellbeing Board meetings observed. Findings There are numerous older people living in fuel poverty. The depth of fuel poverty increases with age particularly the over 75s and physical and mental ill health are affected. There are an increasing number of tools to help estimate health care costs around the cost effectiveness of interventions and there is a real need for more local evidence about what is working well, how and why. However there is no mandatory requirement for fuel poverty strategies and more creative local strategies are required taking organisational and interprofessional relationships into account. The emphasis in integrated care provides new impetus and scope to encourage preventative services but these new partnerships need to be effective in what is a complex policy environment. There is still a long way to go in places. The challenges of ageing are numerous, complex and not fully understood and sit across multiple policy areas. Originality/value Fuel poverty strategies tend to be delivered on a geographical or income bases rather than by life course approach and a focus on older people. We need to focus more specifically on older people, a rapidly growing population and to better understand thermal properties of our ageing housing stock and how best to intervene to protect and improve health and safety. Emerging approaches need to overcome artificial statutory and non statutory divides and move toward sustainable, evidence based affordable warmth strategies for older people to protect and improve health.


In this paper, we compare several non-tight degree evaluation methods i.e., Boura and Canteaut's formula, Carlet's formula as well as Liu's numeric mapping and division property proposed by Todo, and hope to find the best one from these methods for practical applications. Specifically, for the substitution-permutation-network (SPN) ciphers, we first deeply explore the relationships between division property of an Sbox and its algebraic properties (e.g., the algebraic degree of its inverse). Based on these findings, we can prove theoretically that division property is never worse than Boura and Canteaut's and Carlet's formulas, and we also experimentally verified that the division property can indeed give a better bound than the latter two methods. In addition, for the nonlinear feedback shift registers (NFSR) based ciphers, according to the propagation of division property and the core idea of numeric mapping, we give a strict proof that the estimated degree using division property is never greater than that of numeric mapping. Moreover, our experimental results on Trivium and Kreyvium indicate the division property actually derives a much better bound than the numeric mapping. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to give a formal discussion on the relationships between division property and other degree evaluation methods, and we present the first theoretical proof and give the experimental verification to illustrate that division property is the optimal one among these methods in terms of the accuracy of the upper bounds on algebraic degree.


"Big data" discussions typically focus on scale, i.e. the problems and potentials inherent in very large collections. Here, we argue that the most important consequences of "big data" for scholarship stem not from the increasing size of datasets, but instead from a loss of control over the sources of data. The breakdown of the "control zone" due to the uncertain provenance of data has implications for data integrity, and can be disruptive to scholarship in multiple ways. A retrospective look at the introduction of larger datasets in weather forecasting and epidemiology shows that more data can at times be counter-productive, or destabilize already existing methods. Based on these examples, we look at two implications of "big data" for scholarship: when the presence of large datasets transforms the traditional disciplinary structure of sciences, as well as the infrastructure for scholarly communication.


We propose a unified framework to study policy evaluation (PE) and the associated temporal difference (TD) methods for reinforcement learning in continuous time and space. We show that PE is equivalent to maintaining the martingale condition of a process. From this perspective, we find that the mean--square TD error approximates the quadratic variation of the martingale and thus is not a suitable objective for PE. We present two methods to use the martingale characterization for designing PE algorithms. The first one minimizes a ``martingale loss function", whose solution is proved to be the best approximation of the true value function in the mean--square sense. This method interprets the classical gradient Monte-Carlo algorithm. The second method is based on a system of equations called the ``martingale orthogonality conditions" with ``test functions''. Solving these equations in different ways recovers various classical TD algorithms, such as TD($\lambda$), LSTD, and GTD. Different choices of test functions determine in what sense the resulting solutions approximate the true value function. Moreover, we prove that any convergent time-discretized algorithm converges to its continuous-time counterpart as the mesh size goes to zero. We demonstrate the theoretical results and corresponding algorithms with numerical experiments and applications.


The objectives of this study were to determine whether plane of nutrition (PON) of milk replacer previously provided to calves, and dosage level of Mannheimia haemolytica (MH), influenced inflammatory responses to a combined viral-bacterial respiratory challenge. Holstein calves (1 d of age; n = 30) were assigned to treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial with pre-weaning PON and MH dose as main effects (n = 5 per treatment). Calves were fed either a low (LPN; n = 15) or a high PON (HPN; n = 15) from birth through weaning. Calves fed LPN were fed 436 g of dry matter (DM) per d of milk replacer until weaning, and HPN calves were fed 797g of DM per d of milk replacer from d 1 to 10 and 1080 g of DM per d from d 11 until weaning. Calf starter and water were offered ad libitum. Calves were step-down weaned beginning at d 54 and moved into an enclosed barn at d 70. Indwelling rectal temperature (RT) recording devices and jugular catheters were inserted at d 80. Calves were challenged with 1.5 × 108 plaque-forming units (pfu) per mL of bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) in each nostril at d 81 and with either 106, 107, or 108 cfu of MH at d 84. Blood samples were collected at varying intervals relative to BHV-1 and MH challenges. Four LPN calves either died or were euthanized soon after the 144-h observation period, whereas all HPN calves survived the entire observation period. As dosage of MH administered increased, acute and systemic inflammatory responses increased. Higher doses of MH resulted in increased leukocyte, neutrophil, and haptoglobin concentrations in infected calves. Data from the current study suggest that the highest dose, 108 cfu, triggered weaned calves' acute disease response, whereas the lower doses, 106 and 107 cfu, caused more moderate inflammation and disease. The effects of PON on inflammation responses to the disease challenge indicated that calves previously fed the LPN diet had more severe pathophysiological responses. Calves fed LPN showed higher peripheral neutrophil and leukocyte counts and serum haptoglobin concentrations following the BHV-1 challenge. Additionally, following the MH challenge, LPN calves had higher peripheral neutrophil counts, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios, and serum tumor necrosis factor-α concentrations. These data demonstrate that higher doses of MH increase the acute inflammatory response and prolong inflammation, and that calves previously fed LPN responded more severely to the combined viral-bacterial respiratory challenge.


Enterocyte cholesterol homeostasis reflects aggregated rates of sterol synthesis, efflux, and uptake from plasma and gut lumen. Cholesterol synthesis and LDL uptake are coordinately regulated by sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBP), whereas sterol efflux is regulated by liver X receptors (LXR). How these processes are coordinately regulated in enterocytes, the site of cholesterol absorption, is not well understood. Here, we treat mice with ezetimibe to investigate the effect of blocking cholesterol absorption on intestinal SREBPs, LXRs, and their effectors. Ezetimibe increased nuclear SREBP-2 8-fold. HMG-CoA reductase (HMGR) and LDL receptor (LDLR) mRNA levels increased less than 3-fold, whereas their protein levels increased 30- and 10-fold, respectively. Expression of inducible degrader of LDLR (IDOL), an LXR-regulated gene that degrades LDLRs, was reduced 50% by ezetimibe. Coadministration of ezetimibe with the LXR agonist T0901317 abolished the reduction in IDOL and prevented the increase in LDLR protein. Ezetimibe-stimulated LDLR expression was independent of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PSCK9), a protein that degrades LDLRs. To maintain cholesterol homeostasis in the face of ezetimibe, enterocytes boost LDL uptake by increasing LDLR number, and they boost sterol synthesis by increasing HMGR and other cholesterologenic genes. These studies reveal a hitherto undescribed homeostatic network in enterocytes triggered by blockade of cholesterol absorption.


The fields of Medicaland Bio-informatics are bearing witness of the application of the discipline of Formal Ontology to the representation of biomedical entities and (re-)organization of medical terminologies also in view of advancing electronic health records (EHR). In this context, the electrocardiogram (ECG) defines one of the prominent kinds of biomedical data. As a vital sign, it is an important piece in the composition of the EHR of today, as likely in the EHR of the future. This thesis introduces an ontological analysis of the ECG grounded in the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and axiomatized in First-Order Logic (FOL). With the goal of investigating the phenomena underlying this cardiological exam, we deal with the sub-domains of human heart electrophysiology and anatomy. We then outline an ECG ontology meant to represent what the ECG is on both sides of the patient and of the physician. The ontology is implemented in the semantic web technology OWL with its SWRL extension. The ECG Ontology makes use of basic relations standardized in the OBO Relation Ontology for the biomedical domain. In addition, it takes inspiration in the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) and applies the Ontology of Functions (OF). Besides the ECG ontological theory itself, two applications of the ECG Ontology are also presented here. The first one is concerned with the off-line integration of ECG data standards, a relevant endeavor for the progress of Medical Informatics. The second one in turn comprises a reasoning-based web system that can be used to offer support for interactive learning in electrocardiography / heart electrophysiology. Overall, we also reflect on the ECG Ontology as well as on its two applications to provide evidence for benefits achieved with the employment of methodological principles in terms of both ontological foundations and ontology engineering in building a domain ontology.


The impact of elephant and other browsers may be magnified when they are restricted within small, fenced reserves. These reserves are becoming commonplace in southern Africa. The composition and structure of the woody vegetation of a portion of the 30 000 ha Ithala Game Reserve, South Africa, was monitored annually from 1992 to 2000. Woody species described a continuum from those that declined in abundance and were threatened with extirpation (e.g. Aloe marlothii, Acacia davyi ), through those that remained relatively stable (e.g. Rhus lucida, Gymnosporia buxifolia), to those that increased in abundance (e.g. Scolopia zeyheri, Euclea crispa). Species that declined in abundance were generally well utilized by herbivores and showed low recruitment and high mortality rates. Species that increased in abundance were characterized by high recruitment, low mortality and low levels of herbivory. Species composition changed towards species less preferred by herbivores. Browsers other than elephants and environmental stress (e.g. drought) caused threefold the damage of elephants. Ensuring the persistence of all woody species requires management of the entire browser community.


The notion of fertility in word alignment (the number of words emitted by a single state) is useful but difficult to model. Initial attempts at modeling fertility used heuristic search methods. Recent approaches instead use more principled approximate inference techniques such as Gibbs sampling for parameter estimation. Yet in practice we also need the single best alignment, which is difficult to find using Gibbs. Building on recent advances in dual decomposition, this paper introduces an exact algorithm for finding the single best alignment with a fertility HMM. Finding the best alignment appears important, as this model leads to a substantial improvement in alignment quality.


Humans and the effects of their activities now substantially influence the entire planet, including its oceans, its climate, its atmosphere, and its lands. Human influence has become so large that earth scientists have debated whether to identify a new geologic time period, the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene will surely have substantial effects on human societies and economies, and law will be no exception. The Anthropocene is the product of the aggregation of millions and billions of individual human actions, and human effects on global systems are exponentially increasing because of growing technology and population. Humans will inevitably respond to the Anthropocene, if only to adapt to the major changes in oceans, climate, biodiversity, and other critical functions that human society depends upon. Human responses to the Anthropocene will ineluctably lead to greater government involvement in a wide range of human activities, and constant updating of government laws and regulations to respond to new challenges. The result will be pressures on a wide range of legal doctrines in public and private law, including torts, property, constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal law. These changes will parallel similar revolutionary legal changes associated with industrialization and the development of a national economy in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Just as with those legal changes, the legal changes of the Anthropocene will put pressure on normative commitments at the heart of American law, including that classical liberal paradigm that government intrusion into individual action should be the exception, rather than the norm. Managing the impacts of these legal changes will be a key challenge for the legal system in the next century.


Abstract The Integrated Fuel Assessment IFA-432 experiments from the International Fuel Performance Experiments database were designed to study the effects of gap size, fuel density, and fuel densification on fuel centerline temperature in light water reactor fuel. An evaluation of nuclear fuel pin heat transfer in the FRAPCON-3.4 and Exnihilo codes for uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel systems was performed, with a focus on the densification stage (2.2 GWd/tonne UO2). In addition, sensitivity studies were performed to evaluate the effect of the radial power shape and approximations to the geometry to account for the thermocouple hole. The analysis demonstrated excellent agreement for rods 1, 2, 3, and 5 (varying gap thicknesses and density with traditional fuel), demonstrating the accuracy of the codes and their underlying material models for traditional fuel. For rod 6, which contained unstable fuel that densified an order of magnitude more than traditional, stable fuel, the magnitude of densification was overpredicted, and the temperatures were outside the experimental uncertainty. The radial power shape within the fuel was shown to have a significant impact on the predicted centerline temperatures, whereas the effect of modeling the fuel at the thermocouple location as either annular or solid was relatively negligible. This has provided an initial benchmarking of the pin heat transfer capability of Exnihilo for UO2 fuel with respect to a well-validated nuclear fuel performance code.


We elaborate a mechanism for the formation of stable solitons of the semivortex type (with vorticities 0 and 1 in their two components), populating a finite band gap in the spectrum of the spin-orbit-coupled binary Bose-Einstein condensate with the Zeeman splitting, in the two-dimensional (2D) free space, under conditions which make the kinetic-energy terms in the respective coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations negligible. Unlike a recent work which used long-range dipole-dipole interactions to construct stable gap solitons in a similar setting, we here demonstrate that stable solitons are supported by generic local interactions of both attractive and repulsive signs, provided that the relative strength of the cross- and self-interactions in the two-component system does not exceed a critical value $\ensuremath{\approx}0.77$. A boundary between stable and unstable fundamental 2D gap solitons is precisely predicted by the Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion, while all excited states of the 2D solitons, with vorticities $\left(m,1+m\right)$ in the two components, $m=1,2,...$, are unstable. The analysis of the one-dimensional (1D) reduction of the system produces an exact analytical solution for the family of gap solitons which populate the entire band gap, the family being fully stable. Motion of the 1D solitons in the trapping potential is considered too, showing that their effective mass is positive or negative if the cubic nonlinearity is attractive or repulsive, respectively.


We identify and analyze a class of leaky modes in two coupled identical photonic bandgap (PBG) slab waveguides. These leaky modes originate from the modes of the array structure that separates the two waveguides and may introduce additional losses to the coupled PBG waveguides when operating as a directional coupler. We derive an approximate formula to show explicitly how the leakage losses of such modes decrease exponentially with an increase in the thickness of the guiding layers. With numerical examples, we show that the leakage losses vary over a wide range, depending on the waveguide parameters. These leaky modes precede the guided modes according to the ranking of the mode indices and thus affect the orders of the guided modes. Their presence provides a simple physical explanation of the unusual phenomenon that the orders of the symmetric and antisymmetric guided modes of two coupled PBG waveguides depend on the number of the high-index elements in the array structure between the waveguides.


Three-dimensional seismic datasets have provided unrivalled insights into magma flow within sub-volcanic systems. One of the key revelations is that sills appear to be constructed of a series of discrete magma lobes that form during the emplacement of magma into host-rock. We focus on a large sill, within the Faroe–Shetland Basin, North Atlantic, that is well imaged on seismic data, and identify the presence of 'broken bridges' within the sill, developed between elongate magma lobes, and reveal for the first time in three dimensions the development of broken bridges. Critically, by relating the imaged structures to key outcrop-scale examples we confirm that bridge and broken-bridge structures are oriented perpendicular to the magma flow direction. This work thus demonstrates a key link that can be made between seismic-scale investigation of intrusions and sub-seismic (outcrop-scale) processes, highlighting the seemingly scale-invariant nature of the magmatic emplacement process.


The type of support clinicians' offer and provide to caregivers whose children have mental health disorder is an important topic for mental health professionals to consider in their own practice. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to gain insight in to how clinicians' support caregivers of children with mental health needs initially and over the course of their child's treatment. The researcher audio recorded a semi-structured interview with four mental health professionals. The researcher transcribed the interviews and conducted a qualitative analysis on the results. The researcher and research chair identified five major themes from the data analysis: intervention strategies, clinician skills to support caregivers, caregiver stigma, emotional impact, and family needs. Additionally, the following categories from the overarching themes emerged from the data analysis: identify the client, psycho-education, check-ins, tools to use, evidencebased practice, validation, empowerment, engagement, frustration, overwhelmed, relief, grief, emotional needs, and financial and basic needs. The researcher found several similarities and differences between the study's findings and the current literature in children's mental health. The findings from this study expand on the research documented in the literature and provide valuable insights to mental health professionals, especially social workers, working with caregivers of children with mental health needs.


Using hedge funds' holdings of IPO stocks, we find that stocks with hedge fund holdings beyond what can be explained by publicly available information yield abnormal returns, suggesting that hedge funds possess private information in IPO stocks. Moreover, compared to other investors, hedge funds have more predictive ability for future stock returns in post-IPO trading and are able to sell IPO stocks before underperforming periods start. Finally, hedge funds earn higher abnormal returns in "connected" stocks when their prime brokers serve as the IPO underwriters, indicating that such connection is an important source of private information for hedge funds.


Disturbed sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythmicity are associated with cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Employing a tissue-isolated human breast xenograft tumor nude rat model, we observed that glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), an enzyme critical in metabolism and cell proliferation/survival, exhibits a circadian rhythm of phosphorylation in human breast tumors. Exposure to light-at-night suppresses the nocturnal pineal melatonin synthesis, disrupting the circadian rhythm of GSK3β phosphorylation. Melatonin activates GSK3β by inhibiting the serine-threonine kinase Akt phosphorylation, inducing β-catenin degradation and inhibiting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, a fundamental process underlying cancer metastasis. Thus, chronic circadian disruption by light-at-night via occupational exposure or age-related sleep disturbances may contribute to cancer incidence and the metastatic spread of breast cancer by inhibiting GSK3β activity and driving epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in breast cancer patients.


Building on the success of the 2003, 2004 and 2005 workshops, this year the workshop sought to further develop the roadmap for research on the essential middleware abstractions and infrastructures for ad-hoc and pervasive computing in general, and sensor-based services in particular.Over the past decade, large-scale ad-hoc and pervasive computing environments have grabbed the attention of the research community as evidenced by the large number of research and development projects in the area. However, despite considerable progress, the promise of pervasive computing still remains elusive. The diversity in currently available devices, networking infrastructure and information content has complicated research efforts, forcing many projects to focus only on point-examples of this technology.This workshop is premised on our belief that underpinning middleware mechanisms are central in weaving together the multitude of sensing, computing, communication and information technologies. In this respect, middleware for pervasive computing and ad-hoc networking provides two core research areas. In particular, pervasive computing middleware will allow you to take advantage of the resources in your environment to tailor your services and applications for seamless access and unrestricted mobility. Ad-hoc networking middleware will permit the formation of ad-hoc communities for new applications. However, such pervasive and ad-hoc environments pose some serious challenges to existing middleware technologies and approaches. In recent years research efforts have started to focus on addressing the middleware challenges posed by pervasive and ad-hoc computing environments, with relevant papers appearing in the main middleware conference program. Despite these efforts, proposed approaches are far from being the definitive answer to the issues raised, as there are still significant areas in need of further exploration. In this process the MPAC workshop continues to play an important role as a venue for discussing novel middleware abstractions and infrastructures.This year the workshop received a high number of quality submissions. Ten papers out of the twenty four originally submitted were chosen for these proceedings. These papers cover a broad range of issues including service discovery, trust and connectivity management in ad-hoc environments; and modeling, architectural issues, and context information dissemination in pervasive computing environments. More specifically, Lee at al. propose a scheme for the efficient propagation of service information in ad-hoc environments, while Flore-Cortes et al. develop a framework supporting multi-protocol service discovery. In the area of ad-hoc computing systems, Siegemund et al. propose a system that manages connectivity across different networks using visual tags displayed on the mobile devices, while Repantis and Kalogeraki propose a reputation system for managing trust in ad-hoc, peer-to-peer networks. In the area of pervasive computing, Norbisrath et al. introduce a configuration model for the development of e-Home systems, while Williamson et al. and Shi et al. focusing on the issues of management and dissemination of context information, the former proposing an epidemic gossip-based platform for information dissemination, while the latter exploring the use negotiation between context providers to satisfy context information requirements. In the theme of architectural issue in pervasive computing, Malek et al. describe a middleware infrastructure that directly supports architectural abstractions for pervasive systems development, Bunde-Pedersen et al. propose an adaptive hybrid architecture that combines the advantages of centralized and peer-to-peer designs, while Ahmed et al. propose a lightweight component management infrastructure that supports flexibility and reconfigurability in ubiquitous computing environments.


Any near-term gains in reducing extreme poverty will be maintained only if environmental sustainability is also achieved. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are designed to inspire efforts to improve people's lives by, among other priorities, halving extreme poverty by 2015 (1). Analogously, concern about global decline in biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services (2) gave rise in 1992 to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD target "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss" was incorporated into the MDGs in 2002. Our lack of progress toward the 2010 target (3, 4) could undermine achievement of the MDGs and poverty reduction in the long term. With increasing global challenges, such as population growth, climate change, and overconsumption of ecosystem services, we need further integration of the poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation agendas.


Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) root extract is very useful herbal medicine since from ancient time. The current study designed to investigate the impact of The Trivedi Effect® - Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment on the structural properties of the ashwagandha root hydroalcoholic extract using LC-MS, GC-MS, and NMR spectroscopy. Ashwagandha root extract was divided into two parts – one part was control (without treatment), while other part was treated with the Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment remotely by seven renowned Biofield Energy Healers and defined as the Biofield Energy Treated sample. The LC-MS analysis revealed that the retention time of the phytoconstituents remained same in both the control and treated samples, whereas the peak area % at respective retention time was significantly altered. The peak area% of the treated sample at Rt of 5.3, 5.5, 6.4, 6.5, 6.8, 6.9, 7.1, 7.3, 7.8, 7.9, 8.0, 8.2, 8.4, 8.6, 8.8, 9.0, 9.1, and 10.1 minutes were significantly reduced by 0.57% to 38.10% compared to the control sample. In addition, the peak area% of the treated sample at Rt of 5.7, 6.7, and 8.1 minutes were significantly increased by 16.00%, 244.44% and 19.62%, respectively compared with the control sample. A total of 21 withanolides such as withanoside IV, coagulin Q, viscosa lactone B, withanolide A, withaferin A, withanone, withanolide D, ixocarpalactone A and withanolide sulfoxide, ixocarpalactone A, withanolide sulfoxide, withanolide B, etc. were proposed with their structure from the molecular mass at m/z 783, 569, 621, 489, 473, 767, 471, 505, 992, and 455 at retention times of 6.4, 6.5, 6.8, 7.1, 7.9, 8.1, 8.4, 9.1, and 10.1 minutes with the help of GC-MS and NMR data of both the control and Biofield Energy Treated samples. There were significant changes observed in the peak intensity values at the same retention time in the Biofield Energy Treated sample in the range of -75.32% to 108.51% compared with the control sample. These findings suggest that The Trivedi Effect® - Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment could be beneficial for altering the concentration of the phytoconstituents in the ashwagandha root extract by modifying their intrinsic physicochemical properties, which might be helpful to improve the bioavailability of active constituents of W. somnifera extract that might provide better therapeutic response against inflammatory diseases, immunological disorders, stress, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, sexual disorders, aging and other chronic infections.


This paper deals with the boundary feedback control of an open channel with arbitrary cross sections, which is modelled by the nonlinear Saint-Venant equations. The characteristic form of the Saint-Venant initial-boundary value problem is established in terms of Riemann invariants. In order to develop the boundary feedback control laws for a canal with arbitrary cross sections, the simplest boundary conditions are deduced to satisfy the stability conditions for the characteristic form. According to these simplest boundary conditions, a set of boundary feedback controls is derived for a canal with arbitrary cross sections. Then a unified design approach for the boundary feedback control is proposed. The control design method is illustrated with applications in a single canal with several typical types of cross sections and with various control gates.