Most writing center tutors who work on campuses with substantial numbers of ESL students know that the misunderstandings and confusions that occur in tutorials go well beyond language difficulties. While a Korean student might tend to put verbs at the end of the sentence or omit articles, she might also find herself struggling to speak in her own individual voice–something an American tutor is likely to encourage. Indeed, many problems faced every day in writing centers can be traced to conflicts that arise when the individualism associated with the ethics, ways of seeing the world, and pedagogical practices that characterize American universities come into conflict with the more communal epistemologies and practices that we often associate with Asian students. Although I do not want to rehearse the experiences of countless Asian students who struggle to make a transition from "we" to "I" (Staben and Nordhaus 73), I would like to suggest that a simple binary opposition between a Korean, Japanese, or Chinese "we" and an American "I" fails to account for the complex ways in which the writing center interrogates, manipulates, and reconfigures this binary. The very nature of a writing center tutorial puts pressure on the opposition of Asian collectivism to American individualism, for it asks students–perhaps contradictorily–to collaborate one-on-one. But if the structure of the tutorial often causes confusion, it also offers an opportunity to
reflect productively on the "we" and the "I," especially when the tutorial is understood in the context of larger events such as the Virginia Tech shootings in April 2007. This event in particular, which resonated quite differently for Korean and American students, offered a striking opportunity to explore the political tensions inherent in writing tutoring within a larger, real-life context. Recognizing the politics of the tutorial–the interested and opinionated way in which it approaches ideas such as "the individual" or "the collective"–allows for greater understanding and more effective communication between tutors and the students they seek to help.


New results from the new variables/loop representation program of nonperturbative quantum gravity are presented, with a focus on results of Ashtekar, Rovelli and the author which greatly clarify the physical interpretation of the quantum states in the loop representation. These include: 1) The construction of a class of states which approximate smooth metrics for length measurements on scales, L, to order lPlanck/L. 2) The discovery that any such state must have discrete structure at the Planck length. 3) The construction of operators for the area of arbitrary surfaces and volumes of arbitrary regions and the discovery that these operators are finite. 4) The diagonalization of these operators and the demonstration that the spectra are discrete, so that in quantum gravity areas and volumes are quantized in Planck units. 5) The construction of finite diffeomorphism invariant operators that measure geometrical quantities such as the volume of the universe and the areas of minimal surfaces. These results are made possible by the use of new techniques for the regularization of operator products that respect diffeomorphism invariance. Several new results in the classical theory are also reviewed including the solution of the hamiltonian and diffeomorphism constraints in closed form of Capovilla, Dell and Jacobson and a new form of the action that induces ChernSimon theory on the boundaries of spacetime. A new classical discretization of the Einstein equations is also presented. bitnet address: SMOLIN@SUHEP


Contrary to experimental animals, it is well known that pig oocytes show low developmental competence after IVM, fertilization and culture despite of the attempts to improve the IVM technology. One of the reasons causing such low developmental ability of porcine oocytes seems to be the culture condition, especially the gas phase for IVM because there is a large differences in oxygen tension between in vitro and in vivo conditions. Indeed, our preliminary study revealed that oocytes matured in vivo had larger perivitelline space than oocytes matured in vitro, which could be affected by in vitro culture condition. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of oxygen tensions on nuclear maturation, cumulus expansion and glutathione synthesis of porcine oocytes during IVM. COCs at the germinal vesicle stage were collected from ovaries of prepubertal gilts and cultured in modified NCSU37 either under 2, 5, or 20% O2 for 44 h (Group 2%, Group 5%, and Group 20%, respectively). Five percent CO2 was used for all groups. After culture, the cumulus expansion was morphologically evaluated by classification to three grades (Grade 1: excellent [the length of expanded cumulus cells was longer than the diameter of the oocyte], Grade 2: good [the length of expanded cumulus cells was less than the diameter of oocyte], Grade 3: poor [oocyte having partial or single layer of expanded cumulus cells]). All experiments in this study were replicated more than 5 times. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and then shown as mean ± SD%. The rate of Grade 1 in Group 2% (16.8 ± 8.3%, 32/189) was significantly lower than those in Group 5% (68.2 ± 11.2%, 149/228) and Group 20% (78.6 ± 6.9%, 162/201) (P < 0.05). As for rates of Grade 2 and Grade 3, there were no significant differences between the groups. After evaluation of cumulus expansion, cumulus cells were removed and oocytes were stained by aceto-orcein for evaluation of nuclear maturation. The rates of metaphase II-stage oocytes were 41.0 ± 12.4% (86/210), 47.6 ± 20.5% (119/263) and 47.7 ± 12.9% (100/199) in Group 2%, Group 5%, and Group 20%, respectively. There were no significant differences among the groups. In order to clarify the effect of oxygen concentration on cytoplasmic maturation, COCs were cultured for 44 h and glutathione level of the oocytes was measured by 5,5′-dithio-bis-2-nitro-benzonic acid-glutathione disulfide reductase recycling method. Regardless the oxygen concentration, glutathione level was increased from the start of culture (6.2 ± 3.9 pmol/oocyte). But there were no significant differences in the glutathione level among groups. These results suggest that oxygen concentration during IVM could affect cumulus expansion but not nuclear maturation and cytoplasmic glutathione level in pig oocytes. This work was supported in part by the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, Grant-in-Aid for Matching Fund Subsidy for Private Universities to J.I. and N.K.


We study how buyer group affects buyer power when sellers compete with non-linear tariffs and buyers operate in separate markets. In the baseline model of two symmetric sellers and two symmetric buyers, we characterize the set of equilibria under buyer group, the set without buyer group and compare both. We find that the interval of each buyer's equilibrium payoffs without buyer group is a strict subset of the interval under buyer group if each seller's cost function is strictly convex, whereas the two intervals are identical if the cost function is concave. Our result implies that buyer group has no effect when the cost function is concave. When it is strictly convex, buyer group strictly reduces the buyers' payoff as long as, under buyer group, we select the Pareto-dominant equilibrium in terms of the sellers' payoffs. We extend this result to asymmetric settings with an arbitrary number of buyers.


The advantage of a multi-faceted institution like the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is its capacity for connecting different aspects of the film industry to one another. For example, TIFF's archive houses a large quantity of ephemeral material that correlates to its databases; this binds collections together through metadata. The Atom Egoyan collection is particularly robust; all that stems from the wealth of information can be extracted from the paper ephemera that were donated in 1999. I use this opportunity to detail the general indispensability of ephemera when it comes to treating films as legacy objects and not just forms of entertainment, and by carefully examining and cataloguing the Egoyan collection, in particular. I created a digital catalogue that ties together item level titles, descriptions, dates, physical locations, and other forms of identification; this in turn builds upon the previous finding aid by strengthening the information taken from it.


Music expertise is the ability to understand the structural elements of music compositions by reading musical scores or even by simply listening to music performance. Although the most common way to learn music is through the study of musical scores, this approach is demanding in terms of learning ability, given the required implicit knowledge of music theoretical notations and concepts. In this work we define a two-level color-based approach, that exploits graphical visualization techniques to represent data structures of classical music, and to perform harmonic analysis of musical compositions. Our main goal is to make easier and very quick the study of classical notations (recognized as a tedious and difficult task in the field), by providing individuals with a mechanism that clarifies complex relationships in music using visual clues. We performed a preliminary study to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach as well as participants' perceptions about its usefulness and pleasantness. The results of the study provided us with overall positive feedback about the effectiveness of our approach as well as further directions to explore.


The most frequent diabetes-related complications are diabetic foot and glaucoma, which lead to amputation and loss of vision, respectively. Current scientific and technologic developments have permitted the design and implementation of prosthetic systems that are optimal for these patients, as the latter adapt themselves to them and can resume activities of daily living. The lack of economic resources compromises the quality of the prostheses patients can afford, as they resort to «artisanal» or «rustic» systems that hamper their adaptation process. We present herein the case of a 47 year-old female patient, housewife, with bilateral paresthesias and phantom limb sensation associated with amputation neuromas resulting from type II diabetes mellitus that had affected the patient for eight years. This patient of a low socioeconomic stratum underwent a post-amputation assessment and was diagnosed as being heavily dependent when performing activities of daily living and required assisted wheelchair for ambulation. This is a frequent variant resulting from bilateral loss of lower limbs together with complete loss of vision. We describe the rehabilitation therapy during the pre- and post-prosthetic stages, together with the results of the assessments to show the effectiveness of the treatment process, without forgetting the participation of the caregiver as a fundamental co-therapeutic element in this process.


A review of all dextropropoxyphene poisoning episodes in a stable representative population during the past 10 years showed that Distalgesic accounts for most overdoses, and it has become an increasingly popular component of self-poisoning coktails. Sudden respiratory depression due to dextopropoxyphene potentiated by other common ingested agents is the main danger, and at least one-third of patients take a potentially lethal dose (20 tablets of Distalgesic and alcohol or benzodiazepine). Naloxone is an effective antagonist but, because of the rapidity of deterioration, 40% of patients sustain irreversible cerebral damage before reaching resuscitation facilities. Consequently Distalgesic has become the ingested agent principally responsible for self-poisoning deaths over the age of 12 years. This rise to prominence has paralleled a pronounced increase in prescriptions for the drug. The reason for the increased rise in selfpoisoning remains elusive. As effective treatment of the cause is not possible the only way to mitigate its serious consequences is prompt treatment and restrictions on the availability of the drug. No analgesics are devoid of danger in overdose, but in dextropropoxyphene the evidence suggests that its dangers outweigh its analgesic properties.


A multifunctional adsorbent, silica modified with iminodisuccinic acid (IDS), was used for phosphorus removal for the first time. The IDS-silica adsorbent could be directly used in vegetable oils to convert nonhydratable phospholipids (NHPs) into hydratable phospholipids (HPs), thereby further removing phospholipids and other metal ions from the oil phase. The adsorbent chelated with metal ions (IDS-Fe3+-silica) could be used for the removal of phosphorus in the aqueous phase. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the multifunctional adsorbent, it was compared with the commonly used iminodiacetic acid (IDA)-silica adsorbent, and the phosphorus removal mechanisms in oil and aqueous phases were separately discussed. Whether applied in the oil or aqueous phase, IDS ligand adsorbents exhibited better phosphorus removal effects than IDA ligand adsorbents, especially in the aqueous phase, indicating that the effect of phosphorus removal depends on the number of coordination atoms of the ligand bonded on the adsorbent. In the oil phase, hydrating phospholipids with the IDS-silica adsorbent was proposed for the first time, in which coordination exists between the ligand and the metal ions adsorbed on NHPs. However, in the aqueous phase, the IDS-Fe3+-silica adsorbent removed inorganic phosphorus by coordination between Fe3+ chelated on the adsorbent and inorganic phosphorus.


To accurately calculating the flow rate of cycloid rotary pump, as well as to correctly understand its trapped oil phenomenon. Firstly, the instantaneous flow rate formula of cycloid rotary pump was established based on the method of swept area, and compared with the two present approximate formulas by an example. Secondly, based on the just established flow rate formula and the created trapped oil model in present literature, the trapped oil pressure of a single cavity near in the minimum volume position was simulated. It is pointed that for cycloid rotary pump by an example, the flow non-uniform coefficient is 6.45%, in contrast, the flow nonuniformity coefficient of external gear pump is 21.2%; Relative to the accurate results, the two present approximate errors of flow rates are 1.93% and 2.90%; and the present approximate error of flow non-uniform coefficient is 7.13%; when the minimum position angle is added by 0.5° or 1° or 2°, relative to discharge pressure of the pump, the corresponding maximum peak of trapped oil pressure is increased by 1.6% or 6.0% or 21.7%. The results indicate that the flow characteristics of cycloid rotary pump is better than external gear pump; the two present approximate errors of flow rate are little, but the present approximate error of flow non- uniform coefficient is higher; also there is a trapped oil phenomenon in cycloid rotary pump, but not obvious.


Event-processing systems can support high-quality reactions to events by providing context to the event agents. When this context consists of a large amount of data, it helps to train an analytic model for it. In a continuously running solution, this model must be kept up-to-date, otherwise quality degrades. Unfortunately, ripple-through effects make training (whether from scratch or incremental) expensive. This paper tackles the problem of keeping training cost low and model quality high. We propose AQuA, a quality-directed adaptive analytics retraining framework. AQuA incrementally tracks model quality and only retrains when necessary. AQuA can identify both gradual and abrupt model drift. We implement several retraining strategies in AQuA, and find that a sliding-window strategy consistently outperforms the rest. AQuA is simple to implement over off-the-shelf big-data platforms. We evaluate AQuA on two real-world datasets and three widely-used machine learning algorithms, and show that AQuA effectively balances model quality against training effort.


Thanks to the Cassini spacecraft onboard instruments, it has been known that Titan's ionospheric chemistry is complex and the molecular growth is initiated through the photolysis of the most abundant species directly in the upper atmosphere. Among the pool of chemical compounds formed by the photolysis, N‐bearing species are involved in the haze formation, but the chemical incorporation pathways need to be better constrained. In this work, we performed low‐pressure extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photochemical laboratory experiments. The APSIS reactor was filled with a N2/CH4 (90/10%) gas mixture relevant to the upper atmosphere of Titan. The cell was irradiated by using a EUV photon source at 73.6 nm, which has been difficult to produce in the laboratory for previous studies. The photoproducts (both neutral and ionic species) were monitored in situ with a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The chemical pathways are explained by confronting experimental observations and numerical predictions of the photoproducts. The most interesting result in this work is that methanimine was the only stable N‐bearing neutral molecule detected during the experiments, and it relies on N 2+ production. This experimental result is in agreement with the relatively high abundance predicted by 1‐D photochemical models of Titan's atmosphere and comforts methanimine as an intermediate toward the formation of complex N‐bearing organic molecules. This experiment is only testing one part of the overall chemical scheme for Titan's upper atmosphere due to the selective wavelength but demonstrates the capability to probe the chemical pathways occurring in Titan's atmosphere by minimizing bias coming from wall surface reactions.


In several European countries, the number of surveillance cameras in schools has risen dramatically during the last decade. For example, in Sweden, the development has gone from only one school with surveillance cameras in 1997 to 20% of all schools in 2008. In 2012 a survey showed that more than half of these schools had a higher number of cameras than permitted by the National Data Inspection Board, and/or used them longer hours than permitted. In the UK, the instalment of CCTV cameras have spread, from placements outdoors aimed at protection against intruders to corridors and other indoor spaces aimed at monitoring bad behaviour (Hope, 2009). According to Monahan (2009) one profound effect of surveillance in schools is the integration of law enforcement that may displace other social and educational missions of the everyday school activities. There is interplay between how media describes adolescents and increased camera surveillance in schools. Media contributes to a culture of fear in which schools produce so-called "victims" and "criminals" (Giroux, 2004; Monahan, 2009).This paper uses newspaper coverage to map 1) the occurrence of articles regarding surveillance cameras in schools over time, and 2) the stated arguments for using them.The articles forming the basis for the analysis were selected using a national data base (Retriever)[1] covering the absolute majority of Swedish newspaper press, including trade press. The selected articles were published spanning the years 2002‑2012 and contained the key words "surveillance" and "school". The search yielded a total amount of 1600 articles. This paper is based on an analysis of the 120 most relevant articles. Data has been analysed using thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998).The number of articles on camera surveillance in schools rose from 22 in 2002 to 323 in 2010, after which there is a decline. The larger part of the newspapers was located in areas marked by marginalization and segregation.The arguments given for placing camera surveillance in schools are (in order from the most common to the least): to 1) reduce vandalism, 2) reduce costs, 3) prevent criminal acts, and 4) improve the work environment for the students and the staff.Discussions of underlying causes of problems are rare, and the developments seem to be part of the risk discourse where a wider range of behaviours are criminalized. An overall result of the article analysis is a trend that is in line with the development of surveillance in schools that already have taken place in United States and Great Britain.


&NA; This research investigated the physiochemical and functional characteristics of chicken liver protein isolate, which was extracted by alkali (CLPI) and ultrasound‐assisted alkali (UCLPI), respectively. Protein yield of UCLPI was increased by 55.4% over that of CLPI (P < 0.05). Several amino acids were significantly higher and methionine was lower in UCLPI (P < 0.05). Ultrasound treatment reduced the particle size and prolonged the stability of the protein isolate during 7 d storage. Lower pH and a higher amount of total solubilized proteins (68.5%) were found in UCLPI by comparison with CLPI (61.8%). Surface hydrophobicity increased greatly by 63.0% compared with CLPI, but the total/reactive sulfhydryl groups and the primary structure molecular weight profile between them were not significantly different (P > 0.05). However, the enthalpy of denaturation in UCLPI decreased by 41.7%, which was related to the changes in its second structure. This resulted in better water/oil holding capacity and emulsifying properties for UCLPI. The changed physiochemical characteristics and improved functional properties of UCLPI demonstrated the potential utilization of ultrasound‐assisted alkaline extraction in the food industries.


The Betä Isra'el (Ethiopian Jews) have a unique history and religious tradition, one of the most fascinating aspects of which are the mäloksocc, commonly referred to as monks in scholarly and popular literature. The mäloksocc served as the supreme religious leaders of the Betä Isra'el and were charged with educating and initiating Betä Isra'el priests. They lived in separate compounds and observed severe purity laws prohibiting physical contact with the laity. Thus, they are the only known example in medieval and modern Jewry of ascetic communities withdrawing from the secular world and devoting themselves fully to religious life.
This book presents the results of the first comprehensive research ever conducted on the way of life and material culture of the ascetic religious communities of the Betä Isra'el. A major part of this research is an archaeological survey, during which these religious centres were located and documented in detail for the first time.


To align the neuropsychological functioning of our adult euthymic patient group with that reported in previous studies on euthymic bipolar disorder (BD), we used a neuropsychological battery that examined sustained attention (Rapid Visual Information Processing Task), verbal memory (California Verbal Learning Task), executive functioning (Intradimensional-Extradimensional Shift Task, Barrett Impulsivity Task, and Framing Task), and emotion responsiveness/regulation (Positive Affect/Negative Affect Scales, Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation Scale, and Affective Lability/Affective Intensity Scales) in patients versus healthy volunteers (HV). Our results corroborated existing evidence of reduced sustained attention, impaired verbal memory and executive functioning, and abnormal emotional responsiveness and regulation in euthymic BD relative to healthy controls (Chapter 2). To investigate how abnormal development of brain function in BD leads to deficits in decision-making, motor inhibition, and response flexibility, we examined child and adult BD using a novel risky decision-making task, and used cross-sectional (age x diagnosis) functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) designs to examine neural activation associated with motor inhibition and response flexibility in BD relative to HV. During the risky decision-making task, adult euthymic BD patients were no different from healthy controls in their proportion of risky lottery choices over a range of competing lotteries. This matched behavioral performance was associated with similar prefrontal and striatal brain activation between the patient and control groups during response, anticipation, and outcome phases of decision-making (Chapter 3). These results are different from previous studies that have shown increased risk taking during decision-making in euthymic BD. Similarly, young BD patients were no different from age-matched healthy and patient controls in their pattern of decision making during the risky choice task. This was evidenced by a similar number of risky lottery selections over the range of changing expected values between the young BD group and control groups (Chapter 4). Using a cross-sectional, fMRI analytic design during the stop signal task, we found that child and adult BD showed similar behavioral performance to child and adult HV during motor inhibition. However, this matched behavioral performance was associated with abnormal neural activation in patients relative to controls. Specifically, during unsuccessful motor inhibition, there was an age group x diagnosis interaction, with BD youth showing reduced activity in left and right ACC compared to both age-matched HV and adult BD, and adult BD showing increased activation in left ACC compared to healthy adults. During successful motor inhibition there was a main effect of diagnosis, with HV showing greater activity in left VPFC and right NAc compared to BD (Chapter 5). These neuroimaging data support existing laboratory-based evidence of motor inhibition impairments in BD relative to HV, and indicate brain dysregulation during motor control is important to BD pathophysiology. A previous behavioral study showed impaired response flexibility in young BD patients relative to age-matched controls when using the change task. Here, we used the change task during fMRI to examine response flexibility in child and adult BD compared to child and adult HV. We found that patient and control groups showed similar change signal reaction times in response to change cues. However, this matched behavioral performance was associated with abnormal age group x diagnosis activations in brain regions important in signal detection, response conflict, response inhibition, and sustained attention. Specifically, during successful change trials, child BD participants showed frontal, parietal, and temporal hyperactivation relative to healthy children and adult BD, while adult BD showed hypoactivation in these regions relative to healthy adults. These novel fMRI findings during the change task indicate impaired neural activation during response flexibility may be important to the pathophysiology of BD development.


The aim of the present work was to evaluate the refined sugar industry in Brazil and to identify its market behavior in the central region in Southern Brazil. Accordingly, this study analyzed the influence of distinct levels of competition concerning price and entrance barriers on the market structure, described by Sutton (1991). Some exogenous factors, such as public regulation, sectorial organization, and strategies to set up costs, were also verified to determine the market sector's concentration. Results of the present study were compared to those reported by Sutton (1991). The result evidences the high index of set up costs and existence of barriers of entrance. The industry of refining sugar in Brazil was initiated with small and average commercial groups, with a regionally-concentrated sector. During the regulated period the industry was highly concentrated (by the 1980s the CR4 was about 80%). In the 1990s, there was a great entrance of new brands and consequently a decline in the leader brand (Uniao). One of the reasons that such industry is highly concentrated is the huge sunk cost. Like the refined sugar industry analyzed in other countries, the Brazilian refined sugar industry presented, in 2003, high exogenous sunk cost in relation to the size market.


The verification of the location information utilized in wireless communication networks is a subject of growing importance. In this work, we formally analyze, for the first time, the performance of a wireless location verification system (LVS) under the realistic setting of spatially correlated shadowing. Our analysis illustrates that anticipated levels of correlated shadowing can lead to a dramatic performance improvement of a received signal strength (RSS)-based LVS. We also analyze the performance of an LVS that utilizes differential received signal strength (DRSS), formally proving the rather counter-intuitive result that a DRSS-based LVS has identical performance to that of an RSS-based LVS, for all levels of correlated shadowing. Even more surprisingly, the identical performance of RSS and DRSS-based LVSs is found to hold even when the adversary does not optimize his true location. Only in the case where the adversary does not optimize all variables under his control, do we find the performance of an RSS-based LVS to be better than a DRSS-based LVS. The results reported here are important for a wide range of emerging wireless communication applications whose proper functioning depends on the authenticity of the location information reported by a transceiver.


A competitive enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection and quantitation of zeranol has been developed. The assay involves the use of excess second antibody adsorbed onto the walls of a microtitration plate well. Enzyme-labelled zeranol, prepared by the N-succinimidyl ester method, and standard or samples are added to the wells followed by zeranol-specific monoclonal antibody. The working range of the EIA is between 10 and 800 pg/well with a limit of detection of 10 pg/well (CV less than or equal to 10%). Comparison of radioimmunoassay with the EIA gave a correlation coefficient of 0.99. This EIA offers an alternative to the well-documented radioimmunoassay with regard to sensitivity, specificity and precision.


Cavitation can be often observed in soft materials. Most previous studies were focused on cavitation in an elastomer, which is under different mechanical loadings. In this paper, we investigate cavitation in a constrained hydrogel induced by drying. Taking account of surface tension and chemo-mechanics of gels, we calculate the free energy of the system as a function of cavity size. The free energy landscape shows a double-well structure, analogous to first-order phase transition. Above the critical humidity, a cavity inside the gel is tiny. Below the critical humidity, the size of the cavity is large. At the critical humidity, the cavity size grows suddenly and discontinuously. We further show that local large stretches can be induced in the gel during the drying process, which may result in fractures.


Sue Hobart and her husband built their dream home in 2007 on a quiet, wooded lot outside Falmouth, Massachusetts. Five years later they abandoned it. Less than 1,500 feet from the empty house stands a mammoth wind turbine erected three years ago by Notus Clean Energy. Three blades mounted upon the 262-foot tower sweep an area of the sky equal to 1.3 acres, the size of a football field. They are visible through the forest from the house's meticulously landscaped yard.

But the problem with the property wasn't the degraded view—at least not for the Hobarts. The problem was the noise. Shortly after the turbine switched on in 2010, Sue began experiencing headaches, dizziness, insomnia, and a ringing in her ears. When she noticed the symptoms briefly disappeared during trips out of town, she began attributing them to the arrival of the turbine. Within two years she was ready to leave.

Fellow Falmouth resident Annie Hart Cool can relate. "We live on two and a half acres of land, and we can't use it because of the noise," she says. Cool and her husband live near one of two city-owned turbines installed in 2010 and 2011 that power a nearby wastewater treatment facility, with the excess energy providing a source of revenue for the city. "We were all so excited about it until it turned on, and then we realized we couldn't live with it," Cool says.

In all, 41 Falmouth families have formally complained to city leaders—as have countless other wind-farm neighbors in countries including Australia, Canada, and England. And a small but growing body of evidence suggests that the health impacts of wind farms can be very real.


: The effects of mental age (MA), knowledge of results, and social reinforcement on performance on a speed motor task by mildly mentally retarded children was investigated. Significant main effects were found for the variables of MA and social reinforcement and significant interactions for the MA x Social-Reinforcement conditions and the Knowledge of Results x Social-Reinforcement conditions. Post hoc analysis indicated that high-MA subjects performed significantly better under verbal praise conditions than did low-MA subjects. Also, knowledge of results was most effective in the presence of verbal praise. We suggested that verbal praise sensitized subjects to attend to the knowledge of results cue.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the author's research experiences in northern Mozambique in order explore the multiplicity of gatekeeper relations that arose while seeking to arrange access to both "the field" and respondents, as well as the impacts that these relationships had on the research process. Although this dynamic has been thoroughly described within methodological literature, there exists a tendency to presume research–gatekeeper relations as static; once established, there is little discussion on how the relationships develop or can be managed, once access has (or has not) been achieved.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws upon qualitative fieldwork conducted predominantly in rural communities in northern Mozambique. The study analysed the development of the Nacala Development Corridor programme and the N13 Highway Rehabilitation Project in northern Mozambique in order to examine the impacts of the development on local citizens and examine the relationship between citizen and state within development processes. Fieldwork consisted of three different phases of semi-structured and open-ended interviews with key stakeholders and affected persons, spanning five different interview schedules, and a total of 77 individual interviews and 27 community focus groups conducted along the N13.

Findings
The study found that duality of Mozambican governance which includes both local officials and traditional leadership contributed to a multiplicity of local gatekeepers which impacted the research process in a multitude of ways. As a result, researcher–gatekeeper relations were not static, but had to be managed throughout the duration of the study.

Originality/value
This discussion provides a more dynamic representation of the challenges involved with establishing and managing gatekeeper relations in rural, developing, and in particular, southern African, contexts, while offering cautious practical advice to researchers working within rural or southern African contexts.


Recent increases in fueling costs have created new interest in energy storage technologies for transportation applications. Railroad locomotives often have high peak-to-average demand for power, which leads to poor fuel efficiency from diesel prime movers, or arcing and pitting of overhead cantenary. One approach to this problem has been the development of diesel-battery hybrid locomotives. A large bank of lead-acid batteries provides peak instantaneous power, while a constant speed, high-efficiency diesel-electric generator set provides average power to the battery bank. This arrangement has proven practical in the Green Goat and other hybrids, although sizing of the generator set for a particular application, such as switching a railyard, becomes crucial. In addition, battery wear must be accurately predicted for peak performance, and the battery bank itself must be replaced after a few thousand cycles, increasing cost and creating a lead disposal hazard. Advances in capacitor design have created a new family of devices, known as super- or ultracapacitors. These devices have a mass-energy density which approaches lead-acid batteries, but with dramatically lower internal resistance and potentially limitless cycle life. However, the volumetric-energy density is much lower than batteries, thwarting a direct application in a practically sized rail vehicle. In this paper, a multi-stage drive is proposed, which takes advantage of the best properties of each energy storage device - capacitor, lead-acid battery, and diesel prime mover. The capacitor provides high peak instantaneous power, absorbing the cyclic nature of the locomotive's power demands. The battery bank acts as a buffer stage, with fewer full discharge cycles and longer life. The diesel prime mover provides longterm sustaining power for the system. In electric railway applications, adding an ultracapacitor stage reduces peak current through the wire-pantograph interface, reducing wear and improving lifetime of the entire system. By increasing the size of the ultracapacitor stage to practical limits, a traction system may be constructed which reduces or eliminates the need for the cantenary/third-rail supply and interface, substantially reducing the cost of electrified rail transportation.


Background and Objectives: To evaluate the effect of operative time on the risk of symptomatic venous thromboembolic events (VTEs) in patients undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). Methods: We reviewed the records of all patients at our institution who underwent RARP by a single surgeon from January 2007 until April 2011. Clinical and pathologic information and VTE incidence were recorded for each patient and analyzed by use of logistic regression to evaluate for association with VTE risk. All patients had mechanical prophylaxis, and beginning in February 2008, a single dose of unfractionated heparin, 5000 U, was administered before surgery. Results: A total of 549 consecutive patients were identified, with a median follow-up period of 8 months. During the initial 30 days postoperatively, 10 patients (1.8%) had a VTE (deep venous thrombosis in 7 and pulmonary embolism in 3). The median operative time was 177 minutes (range, 121–360 minutes). An increase in operative time of 30 or 60 minutes was associated with 1.6 and 2.8 times increased VTE risks. A 5-point increase in body mass index and need for blood transfusion were also associated with increased risk of VTEs (odds ratios of 2.0 and 11.8, respectively). Heparin prophylaxis was not associated with a significant VTE risk reduction but also was not associated with a significant increase in estimated blood loss (P = .23) or transfusion rate (P = .37). Conclusion: A prolonged operative time increases the risk of symptomatic VTEs after RARP. Future studies are needed to evaluate the best VTE prophylactic approach in patients at risk.


Agriculture, climate change and food security are topics of high societal relevance and have been addressed within the Knowledge Hub MACSUR between 2012 and 2017. Substantial progress has been made in the modelling and assessment for parts of the agri-food system affecting and being affected by climate change with MACSUR. The paper aims to review this progress within the context of international research activities in this field of research and points to key challenges that require attention for future work. MACSUR has developed from its initial focus in the first project phase on thematic research for the improvement of crop, livestock and agricultural economic modelling towards more integrated assessment and modelling approaches including stakeholder interactions in the second phase. Selected highlights of this research are presented. Particular emphasis is given to activities that successfully filled research gaps and advanced understanding of the agri-food system in interaction with climate change. Links to important international research projects such as AgMIP (Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project) and cross-benefits of such interactions are pointed out. Reference is also made to the impact and valorisation of MACSUR research as evident from the diverse forms of outputs and impacts in the scientific literature, on other research projects, on policy-making and beyond. Achievements of MACSUR are contrasted with recent developments in other sectors and the society affecting agriculture such as international political agreements (for example the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Climate Conference COP 21 in Paris in 2015), new technologies (for example remote sensing, ICT and robotics), changes in the food retailing sector and the development of the bioeconomy. Emerging challenges for agriculture are highlighted and new research topics are identified. The important role of and demands for integrated assessment and modelling to support this development are determined and conclusions for future activities of MACSUR are drawn.


Optimal control problems including partial differential equation (PDE) as well as integer constraints merge the combinatorial difficulties of integer programming and the challenges related to large-scale systems resulting from discretized PDEs. So far, the Branch-and-Bound framework has been the most common solution strategy for such problems. In order to provide an alternative solution approach, especially in a large-scale context, this article investigates penalization techniques. Taking inspiration from a well-known family of existing exact penalty algorithms, a novel improved penalty algorithm is derived, whose key ingredients are a basin hopping strategy and an interior point method, both of which are specialized for the problem class. A thorough numerical investigation is carried out for a standard stationary test problem. Extensions to a convection-diffusion as well as a nonlinear test problem finally demonstrate the versatility of the approach.


This is a preliminary report in a new program of research to evaluate the basic failure processes occurring in dense ceramics during projectile penetration, and, in particular, to study the role played by mechanical constraint in inhibiting some failure modes. In this contribution we describe a method for monitoring the response of selected ceramics to a highly localized pressure pulse under conditions of controlled constraint and distinguish the effect of constraint on the three primary failure modes: 1. Crushing, comminution and erosion in the zone of high compressive stress which exists near the contact surface between the projectile and the impacted ceramic. 2. Nucleation and propagation of a cone cracck, predominantly in mode II (the shear stress mode) to form a ceramic plug ahead of the advancing projectile. 3.Fragmentation associated with radial (long-term) cracks nucleated and propagated by tensile stresses in the target material surrounding the contact zone


Retinoic acid induces the differentiation of NTERA-2 cl. D1 human embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells into neurons, cells permissive for the replication of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), and other cell types that cannot as yet be classified but are distinguishable from the stem cells. We tested several additional agents for their ability to induce the differentiation of these EC cells. No differentiation was induced by butyrate, cyclic AMP, cytosine arabinoside, the tumor promoter 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA), or the chemotherapeutic agent cis-diaminedichloroplatinum, although morphological changes were detected at the highest concentrations of these agents that permitted cell survival. However, retinal, retinol, 5-bromouracil 2'deoxyribose (BUdR), 5-iodouracil 2'deoxyribose (IUdR), hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA), dimethylacetamide (DMA), and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) all induced some neuronal differentiation, but to a lesser extent than retinoic acid. Also, BUdR, IUdR, HMBA, and DMA induced the appearance of many cells permissive for the replication of HCMV. Differentiation was, in all cases, accompanied by the loss of SSEA-3, a globoseries glycolipid antigen characteristically expressed by human EC cells. However, another glycolipid antigen, A2B5, which appears in 60%-80% of differentiated cells 7 days following retinoic acid induction, was detected in less than 20% of the cells induced by the other agents studied. This implies that the HCMV-permissive cells induced by retinoic acid are not identical to those induced by BUdR, IUdR, and DMA.


This paper studies relation between government spending on agribusiness sector and the political business cycles. Governments try to improve their reelection prospects with the help of expansionary fiscal policies. Rising fiscal deficits before elections are followed by fiscal consolidation afterwards. Namely, this paper examines the relation between elections and government spending on agribusiness sector. It is supposed that government expenditure has been grouped into two categories: social protection and "economic affairs". Further, it is supposed that the category 'economic affairs' covers support programmes, subsidies and public infrastructure spending in the agribusiness sector. Therefore, the structure of government expenditure is summarized by a downward-sloping curve, yielding a trade-off between government spending on social protection (as a short-run goal before election) and government spending on "agribusiness affairs" (as a long-run goal afterward). An opportunistic incumbent policy-maker has no preferences over government spending on social protection and government spending on "agribusiness affairs" per se and cares only about re-election. Government spending much more on social protection versus "agribusiness affairs" increases before elections. The basic aim of this paper is to set the model which describes the cyclical movement of the government spending on agribusiness sector. This model explains why government intervention causes cyclical movement of the government spending on agribusiness sector. The main source of conflict occurs between the short-run and long-run government goals.


Increasing insulation thickness may reduce the energy consumption and environmental load in building operation phase, but may also increase those in insulation production phase. Therefore, the life cycle energy consumption and environmental load of insulation design for a typical residential building were analyzed in this paper. Cases in four typical cities -Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou- in four different climate zones in China were compared. The results indicate that increasing insulation thickness based on the active design standards for buildings in Harbin, Beijing and Shanghai, is helpful to reduce building life cycle energy consumption and environmental load. But for buildings in Guangzhou, the insulation thickness should not be increased any more.


This is a copy of a short letter from the "Multisectorial" and community of Abra Pampa addressed to Walter Barrionuevo, Governor of the province. It appears to be a draft, since it is unsigned and is not on any kind of letterhead. It states that they write to give him the "following petition" and demands an immediate response. The language is quite direct, and warns of "forceful measures" if it receives no response. The quality of the copy is low.


Relatively large amounts of newberyite, MgHPO4�3H2O, are found in old or very large urinary calculi. Single crystals of struvite, MgNH4 PO46H2O, sometimes show some decomposition to newberyite on aging. The fact that large amounts of struvite are also found in ancient stones implies, however, that special conditions, as yet unknown, are required for decay to occur.


Surface defective or heterojunction sites of catalysts generally afford remarkable catalytic activity thanks to their high-surface-energy. Regularly-generating multiple defective sites on the surface of a catalyst is exceedingly promising in many reactions. In this study, we report an unexpected Co/Fe–Co planar hybrid composite nanosheet with serried surface defects including surface biphasic junction sites or defective holes. A facile thermal-induced process was applied to trigger the generation of defective sites on planar Co/Fe–Co hydroxides. Through a controlled thermal process, massive serried CoO nanocrystals were in situ dissolved out of the surface of cobalt hydroxide, while defective surface holes were formed on the Fe-doped Co(OH)2 nanosheets under a prolonged thermal procedure. The morphology and microscale structure of the resulting Co/Fe–Co hybrid 2-dimensional (2D) composites were systematically examined by virtue of various characterization techniques. As expected, the obtained surface defective Co/Fe–Co planar composites showed obviously enhanced catalytic activity in the Fenton-like reaction. Based on a catalytic study, we proved that the CoO nanocrystals densely-distributed on thinlayer Co(OH)2. Uniformly-introduced Fe heteroatoms in the inter-structure of Co(OH)2, along with the formed surface defective holes on Fe–Co hybrid composites, are synergistically responsible for increased catalytic removal efficiency of MB in the presence of peroxomonosulfate.


An effective call admission control scheme is proposed in order to solve the problem due to handoff. The proposed call admission control is based on estimation of call dropping probability. When a new call is generated, the proposed scheme estimates the call dropping probability of the cell where the new call exists and accepts the call only when the estimated probability does not exceed a certain value of threshold set in advance. By computer simulation, we evaluate the call blocking probability and the call dropping probability of the proposed scheme and show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.


Recent work on medieval heresy has emphasized the 'constructedness' of heresy by orthodox power, thus undermining the coherence of heretical sects and tending to suggest that those tried as heretics were essentially unwitting victims. This article examines the evidence from the entire range of surviving Lollard trials, and argues that we can see consciously 'dissenting' speech alongside the standard theological positions associated with (and perhaps imposed upon) Lollardy. In each area of dissent anticlerical, sceptical, disputational and rebellious a wider cultural context is explored, demonstrating that the language of dissent is not limited to 'Lollardy'; at the same time however it is argued that it is precisely through the voicing and reception of such wider referents that a heretical movement comes to exist. The article traces trends in medieval speech through which specific opinions and beliefs are voiced as a challenge, and the linguistic and social contexts within which they give rise to wider meanings—including collective identifications. Thus, whilst we may wish to foreground the impositions of power and orthodoxy that 'made' heresy, we should not make 'heretics' disappear completely. Through the records of prosecution, we can still hear something of the voices of those who chose to voice dissent; and we can give recognition to that choice as a form of dissenting agency—dependent also however on the reception and interpretation of those voices by neighbours, witnesses and inquisitors.


The Lisbon Treaty has introduced new categories of acts that cut across the familiar typology of instruments provided for in Article 288 TFEU. The three main innovations are "legislative acts", "regulatory acts" and "delegated acts". The article critically analyses these legal concepts in the light of the institutional practice recently developed under the EU Treaties. It includes the first generation of "special" legislative acts adopted by the Council, the landmark rulings of the General Court in Inuit and Microban, the Comitology Regulation of February 2011 and the "Common Understanding on delegated acts" concluded in March 2011. The theme common to the three studies is the progressive parliamentarization of the Union. The Lisbon Treaty's re-arrangements in the system of legal acts are part of the difficult process of reworking the EU's constitutional settlement in view of a powerful European Parliament and the demand to translate this new political reality into the operations of the legal order. For instance, Parliament's persistent objection to the previous regime of supervising the Commission's law-making powers through a system of committees was the driving force behind the new rules of Articles 290 and 291 TFEU. In the case of "regulatory acts", however, the parliamentarization of the Union has provoked a dysfunctional spillover into EU procedural law.


Measuring trust in technology is a mainstay in Human Factors research. While trust may not perfectly predict reliance on technology or compliance with alarm signals, it is routinely used as a design consideration and assessment goalpost. Several methods of measuring trust have been employed in the past decades, but one self-report measure stands out due to its popular use, the Trust in Automated Systems Survey (Jian, Bisantz, & Drury, 2000). We conducted a study to assess whether the survey could create biased responses, and found evidence the original scale is in fact skewed toward positive ratings. Assessing the literature revealed the survey has been used in unaltered form across at least 100 different reports and remains frequently administered – therefore, the potential impact of this bias may be widespread. Future directions, considerations, and caveats for our assessment, and for using this scale, are discussed.


Foreground detection is an important task in computer vision applications. In this paper, we present an efficient foreground detection method based on a robust linear regression model. First, a novel framework is proposed where foreground detection has been cast as an outlier signal estimation problem in a linear regression model. We regularize this problem by imposing a so-called fused sparsity constraint, which encourages both sparsity and smoothness of vector coefficients, on the outlier signal. Second, we convert this outlier signal estimation problem into an equivalent Fused Lasso problem, and then use existing solutions to obtain an optimized solution. Third, a new foreground detection method is presented to apply this new model to the 2-D image domain by merging the results from different vectorizations. Experiments on a set of challenging sequences show that the proposed method is not only superior to many state-of-the-art techniques, but also robust to noise.


Endothelial Progenitor Cell (EPC) based therapies continue to be of interest to treat ischemic events based on their proven role to promote blood vessel formation and thus tissue revascularisation. Current strategies for the production of clinical-grade EPCs requires the in vitro isolation of EPCs from peripheral blood followed by cell expansion to provide sufficient quantities EPCs for cell therapy. This study aims to examine the use of different biomolecules to significantly improve the current strategy of EPC capture and expansion on collagen type I (Col I). In this study, four different biomolecules were immobilised on a surface and then investigated for their capacity to support EPC capture and proliferation. First, a cell microarray platform was fabricated by coating a glass surface with epoxy functional allyl glycidyl ether plasma polymer (AGEpp) to mediate biomolecule binding. The four candidate biomolecules tested were Col I, collagen type II (Col II), collagen type IV (Col IV) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), which were arrayed on the epoxy-functionalised surface using a non-contact printer. The surrounding area between the printed biomolecules was passivated with polyethylene glycol-bisamine (APEG) to prevent non-specific cell attachment. EPCs were seeded onto the microarray platform and cell numbers quantified after 1 h (to determine capture) and 72 h (to determine proliferation). All of the extracellular matrix (ECM) biomolecules printed demonstrated an ability to capture EPCs within 1 h of cell seeding with Col II exhibiting the highest level of attachment when compared to the other biomolecules. Interestingly, Col IV exhibited the highest increase in EPC expansion after 72 h when compared to Col I, Col II and VEGFA. These results provide information for significant improvement in the capture and expansion of human EPC for further application. Keywords—Cardiovascular disease, cell microarray platform, cell therapy, endothelial progenitor cells, high throughput screening.


I often say when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind. — Lord Kelvin Let proportion be found not only in numbers and measures, but also in sounds, weights, times, and positions, and whatever force there is. — Leonardo da Vinci


ABSTRACT Most work in causal inference considers deterministic interventions that set each unit's treatment to some fixed value. However, under positivity violations these interventions can lead to nonidentification, inefficiency, and effects with little practical relevance. Further, corresponding effects in longitudinal studies are highly sensitive to the curse of dimensionality, resulting in widespread use of unrealistic parametric models. We propose a novel solution to these problems: incremental interventions that shift propensity score values rather than set treatments to fixed values. Incremental interventions have several crucial advantages. First, they avoid positivity assumptions entirely. Second, they require no parametric assumptions and yet still admit a simple characterization of longitudinal effects, independent of the number of timepoints. For example, they allow longitudinal effects to be visualized with a single curve instead of lists of coefficients. After characterizing incremental interventions and giving identifying conditions for corresponding effects, we also develop general efficiency theory, propose efficient nonparametric estimators that can attain fast convergence rates even when incorporating flexible machine learning, and propose a bootstrap-based confidence band and simultaneous test of no treatment effect. Finally, we explore finite-sample performance via simulation, and apply the methods to study time-varying sociological effects of incarceration on entry into marriage. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


'Word' is a cornerstone for the understanding of every language. It is a pronounceable phonological unit. It will also have a meaning, and a grammatical characterization - a morphological structure and a syntactic function. And it will be an entry in a dictionary and an orthographic item. 'Word' has 'psychological reality' for speakers, enabling them to talk about the meaning of a word, its appropriateness for use in a certain social context, and so on. This volume is about 'word' in its many guises. It is a logical progression from our earlier volume Word: A Cross-linguistic Typology, edited by R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), incorporating new facts, new insights, and new generalizations.
The volume starts with a typological introduction summarizing the main issues to do with 'word', with special focus on phonological and grammatical word and on their interactions. It is followed by revised versions of papers presented at the International Workshop "'Word": its manifestations and functions' organized by the editors and held at the Language and Culture Research Centre, James Cook University, 3-4 October 2018. An earlier version of Chapter 1 was circulated to the contributors, with a list of issues to be addressed, so as to ensure that the studies of individual languages within this volume were cast in terms of a common set of parameters. This is the tenth monograph in the series Explorations in Linguistic Typology, devoted to volumes from International Workshops organized by the Language and Culture Research Centre and its predecessors.
The Workshop and subsequent discussions between the editors and the authors were intellectually stimulating, with cross-fertilization of ideas and scholarly debate. Each author has undertaken intensive fieldwork and has firsthand in-depth knowledge of their languages, in addition to experience of working on linguistic typology, historical and comparative linguistics, and language contact and areal diffusion. The analysis is uniformly cast in terms of basic linguistic theory-the cumulative typological framework which provides the foundation for sound empirically-based descriptive and analytic works. We avoid formalisms (which provide restatements rather than explanations, and come and go with such frequency that any statement made in terms of them is likely to soon become inaccessible).


Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have been fabricated in polymer photonic crystal fibre (PCF). Results are presented using two different types of polymer optical fibre (POF); first multimode PCF with a core diameter of 50μm based on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and second, endlessly single mode PCF with a core diameter of 6μm based on TOPAS cyclic olefin copolymer. Bragg grating inscription was achieved using a 30mW continuous wave 325nm helium cadmium laser. Both TOPAS and PMMA fibre have a large attenuation of around 1dB/cm in the 1550nm spectral region, limiting fibre lengths to no longer than 10cm. However, both have improved attenuation of under 10dB/m in the 800nm spectral region, thus allowing for fibre lengths to be much longer. The focus of current research is to utilise the increased fibre length, widening the range of sensor applications. The Bragg wavelength shift of a grating fabricated in PMMA fibre at 827nm has been monitored whilst the POF is thermally annealed at 80°C for 7 hours. The large length of POF enables real time monitoring of the grating, which demonstrates a permanent negative Bragg wavelength shift of 24nm during the 7 hours. This creates the possibility to manufacture multiplexed Bragg sensors in POF using a single phase mask in the UV inscription manufacturing. TOPAS holds certain advantages over PMMA including a much lower affinity for water, this should allow for the elimination of cross-sensitivity to humidity when monitoring temperature changes or axial strain, which is a significant concern when using PMMA fibre.


Several approaches for immobilization of arsenic (As) based on the transformation of its soluble forms (compounds) into highly insoluble arsenate apatite Ca5(AsO4)3OH have been proposed. These immobilization techniques are successfully applied in treatment of industrial waste containing As. Quite the contrary, treatment of soil contaminated with As by apatite amendments, instead of immobilization of this toxic element, increases its mobility and bioavailability. The mechanism underlying these opposite effects still remains elusive. Here, the stability analysis of different calcium arsenates: Ca5(AsO4)3OH, Ca4(AsO4)2(OH)2, Ca3(AsO4)2 Ca5H2(AsO4)2 and CaHAsO4 was performed, which is based on the calculation of the ion-ion interaction potential (IIIP). It has been demonstrated earlier that IIIP, representing the main term of the cohesive energy, is a suitable parameter for assessment of mineral stability. According to the results of this analysis, arsenate apatite with IIIP value of -0.578 Ry represents the most stable chemical form among analyzed compounds. Based on this finding, we proposed a mechanism of formation of arsenate apatite in the presence of hydroxyapatite. This mechanism can explain the suitability of this approach for the treatment of industrial waste and its limitations for in situ treatment of soil and water contaminated with As.


We introduce an approach that enables continuous monitoring of airborne nanoparticles by online detection and quantification of the collected species. Our method uniquely combines ultra-high flow rate sampling (up to thousands of liters per minute) with sensitive detection based on localized fluorescent complexation, permitting rapid quantitative measurement of airborne nanoparticle concentration. By coupling these components, we show initial results demonstrating detection of airborne ultrafine Al2O3 nanoparticles at environmental concentrations below 200 μg m−3 in air sampled at 200 L min−1. This capability suggests potential for online monitoring, making it possible to establish dynamic exposure profiles not readily obtainable using current-generation personal sampling instruments. The underlying fluorescent complexation interactions are inherently size and composition dependent, offering potential to straightforwardly obtain continuous detailed characterization.


Fleroxacin is a new broad-spectrum quinolone which can be given by the oral route. The present study was designed to assess the influence of bacteremia on the pharmacokinetics of a single oral dose of fleroxacin. Thirteen patients with proven bacteremia (one or more pairs of positive blood cultures, no hypotension) were given a single 400-mg fleroxacin dose orally on two occasions while also receiving standard antibiotic therapy. The first dose was administered 12 to 36 h after the last positive blood culture was drawn (day 1), and a second dose was administered 7 days later (day 7 +/- 2) to compare the pharmacokinetics between the acute and the convalescent phases of the disease. Following each administration of fleroxacin, serial plasma samples were collected for up to 72 h and were analyzed for unchanged drug by a reversed phase high-pressure liquid chromatography technique. There were no significant changes in the following pharmacokinetic parameters (mean standard deviation) the maximum concentration of drug in serum (6.4 +/- 1.5 versus 6.7 +/- 1.9 mg/liter), the minimum concentration of drug in serum, defined as the concentration of drug in serum at 24 h postdose (3.0 +/- 1.7 versus 2.5 +/- 1.2 mg/liter), the time to the maximum concentration of drug in serum (2.3 +/- 1.4 versus 2.0 +/- 1.2 h), and the elimination half-life (19.7 +/- 8.0 versus 17.9 +/- 6.9 h). Fleroxacin clearances were compared for each individual patient. A positive correlation (R2 = 0.787) was found between the values measured on day 1 and day 7. Oral clearance of fleroxacin (CL = CL/F, where F is bioavailability was slightly, but not significantly, reduced during the bacteremic phase (oral clearance, 43.8+/- 23.5 versus 48.5 +/- 17.5 ml/min.). When compared with previous results obtained in healthy young subjects, longer times to the maximum concentration of drug in serum and elimination half-lives and higher areas under the curve were observed. This could be due to the bacteremic state, the old age of the patients (mean, 66 years), and the low renal clearance (mean calculated creatinine clearance, 71.1 ml/min). A single oral dose of 400 mg of fleroxacin provides sufficient levels in serum to cover susceptible microorganisms for at least 24 h in bacteremic patients. Renal function appeared to be the key element that had to be taken into consideration to adapt fleroxacin dosage profiles in our patient population. Bacteremia itself appeared to amplify that phenomenon, but to a much lesser extent than renal function did.


PURPOSE
The aim of this survey was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of Iranian elementary school teachers with regard to emergency management of dental trauma, in a northwestern urban area.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 160 teachers from 40 schools, all selected randomly, were included in the study. A three-part self-administered questionnaire surveying teachers' background, knowledge of the growth patterns of children's dentition, general dental trauma, fractured and avulsed teeth, as well as attitudes regarding dental trauma was used. Chi-square analysis was performed to examine the effect of educational background, gender, length of service and topics they teach on their knowledge and attitudes on the management of dental trauma.

RESULTS
A majority of the participants had received tertiary education. Regarding the management of tooth fracture, 52.4% provided appropriate answers. A similar proportion (50.6%) realised that they should replant a permanent avulsed tooth. However, they had little knowledge on the correct procedures; less than a fifth were acquainted with the urgent need for action. Only 38% knew about appropriate washing mediums and about a third were familiar with proper storage media. Health teachers and those with higher educational background (16 years of education) were significantly more knowledgeable regarding the disciplines of avulsion management. Teachers with a high level of experience (third decade) were also more knowledgeable in terms of prevalence of dental trauma accidents.

CONCLUSIONS
The current survey indicated a substantial lack of knowledge regarding dental trauma management among elementary school teachers. Educational campaigns to improve their knowledge and awareness seem crucial for this group of adults who are usually the first to respond in cases of dental trauma accidents in schools.


Abstract While scholars are slowly coming to realize that Kant's moral philosophy has a distinctive theory of moral education, the import of religion in such education is generally neglected or even denied. This essay argues that Kant's reflections on religion in parts II and III of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason interpret religion specifically as one aspect of moral education, namely moral ascetics. After first clearly distinguishing between a cognitive and a conative aspect of moral education, I show how certain historical religious practices serve to provide the conative aspect of moral education. Kant defines this aspect of moral education as practices that render the human agent 'valiant and cheerful in fulfilling his duties' (MS, 6: 484). By this it is meant that certain practices can inspire moral interests either by justifying rational hope in living up to a certain standard of moral perfection (Christology) or by endeavouring to unite human beings in a universal, invisible ethical community that inspires cooperation rather than adversity (ecclesiology).


The Lincoln Reader is a biography of Abraham Lincoln written by sixty-five authors. Paul Angle, the noted Lincoln scholar, selected passages from the works on contemporaries, later biographers, and even Lincoln himself, to form a composite portrait of one of the wisest and most beloved American presidents. These passages, interwoven by Angle's running commentary, blend into a single vivid narrative of Lincoln's life, from his boyhood in Indiana to his assassination and funeral. First published in 1947, The Lincoln Reader has long been considered the most definitive, complete, and authentic retelling of the life of Abraham Lincoln


The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of demineralisation on the fluorescent properties of dentine. The fluorescence emission at 529 nm due to 515 nm excitation of in vitro demineralised lesions was determined with a micro-Raman spectroscope as a function of location. Results were compared with the mineral loss profiles of the same lesions measured by microradiography. The root surfaces of 6 in vitro demineralised human third molars (lactic acid CMC gel, pH 5; six groups: 0,4,7,14,18 and 21 days) were used in the experiment. Thin slices of ± 130 μm were cut perpendicular to the tooth axis. The fluorescence scans corresponded to mineral loss profiles. Confocal microscope images showed increasing fluorescence with increasing mineral loss. From these results it is concluded that this mineral loss causes an increase in auto-fluorescence by a factor of at least 10, therefore the chromophore causing this green fluorescence must be organic in nature. De-quenching or modification of this fluorophore due to the demineralisation process is probably the cause for the increase of the green fluorescence.


Locational marginal prices (LMPs) are influenced by various factors such as load uncertainty, thermal limit, capacity reserve, and market power. We build a system model to quantitatively analyze the effects of these individual factors and their interactions on the mean and standard deviation of the LMPs, assuming that the factors are either active or inactive. According to the sensitivity analysis results from convex quadratic programming, LMPs are piecewise linear functions of demand variation, which is a key property used in the computation. This paper attempts to answer the following types of questions: (1) To what extent does market power raise the LMPs above the marginal cost? (2) What effects will generation or transmission capacity expansion have on relieving high LMPs under high demand scenarios? An IEEE 30-bus test system is used as an example to demonstrate our approach.


This paper studies zero-rating, an emerging business practice consisting in a mobile internet service provider (ISP) excluding the data generated by certain content providers (CPs) from its consumers' monthly data cap. Being at odds with the principle of net neutrality, these arrangements have recently attracted regulatory scrutiny all over the word. I analyze zero-rating incentives of a monopolistic ISP facing a capacity constraint in a two-sided market where consumption provides utility for homogeneous consumers as well as advertising revenue for CPs. Focusing on a market with two CPs competing with each other and all other content which is never zero-rated, I identify parameter regions in which zero, one or two CPs are zero-rated. Surprisingly, the ISP may zero rate content when content is either very unattractive or very attractive for consumers, but not in the intermediary region. I show that zero-rating harms consumers if content is unattractive, whereas it improves social welfare in the case of attractive content.


The field study for Kenya, a part of the strategic formative evaluation on CCCD, was carried out August 16-23, 2009. This country study aimed at studying CCCD as an approach for development and how it was applied by Plan Kenya. The executive summary covers the main findings and recommendations of the field study in Kenya. Detailed findings and recommendations concerning Plan Kenya are described in this report. Findings and recommendations when relevant are incorporated in the synthesis report: Strategic Evaluation Study on CCCD for Plan NLNO. After the introduction the report starts with an overview on the country context and Plan Kenya. The third chapter presents how Plan staff and partners view CCCD, fourth chapter is on how CCCD works in practice, chapter 5 looks in more detail on partnerships. The report ends with a summary of the findings and recommendations. CCCD was introduced in Kenya in 2004. Programmes undertaken by Plan Kenya do take child centredness and community development as their main point of departure.


Context information and context-awareness are some of the drivers for the Internet-of-Things paradigm, whereas a well-stated and defined model is the key element of any context information system. An appropriate context model ensures that the information gathered by a context information system can be represented, manipulated and accessed, and even linked to different systems and domains. This paper highlights the various modeling approaches used in different Internet-of-Things contexts and introduces our module designed especially for application in E-healthcare systems.


Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process was used to fabricate the nanocomposites through integrating carbon nanofiber paper into traditional glass fiber reinforced composites. The carbon nanofiber paper had a porous structure with highly entangled carbon nanofibers and short glass fibers. In this study, the carbon nanofiber paper was employed as an interlayer and surface layer of composite laminates to enhance the damping properties. Experiments conducted using the nanocomposite beam indicated up to 200-700% increase of the damping ratios at higher frequencies. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization of the carbon nanofiber paper and the nanocomposites was also conducted to investigate the impregnation of carbon nanofiber paper by the resin during the VARTM process and the mechanics of damping augmentation. The study showed a complete penetration of the resin through the carbon nanofiber paper. The connectivities between carbon nanofibers and short glass fibers within the carbon nanofiber paper were responsible for the significant energy dissipation in the nanocomposites during the damping tests.


Abstract. In this work, a new method was described for spatial discretization of threedimensional Navier Stokes equations in their primitive form, on unstructured, staggered grids. Velocities were placed on the cell faces and pressure in cell centers and were linked with the projection method. Thanks to the variable arrangement, no stabilization procedure was needed to avoid spurious pressure/velocity fields. A way around the deferred correction was also described and used in this work. Several laminar cases were computed to show the validity of the method. Computation of velocities on the cell faces and the ability to integrate in time with projection method without any stabilization procedure make the proposed method a good candidate for large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulence in complex geometries.


A single-step synthesis for monodisperse and hexagonal-phase (β) NaYF4:Yb, Er upconversion nanophosphors (UCNPs) with a consistent hexagonal prism shape in the size range from 18 to 200 nm was achieved. The kinetic mechanisms for the particle phase transition and growth were examined. The β-UCNPs were obtained via co-thermolysis of trifluoroacetate precursors in octadecene (ODE) with combined ligands of oleic acid (OA) and trioctylphosphine (TOP). The experimental results showed that the combined OA–TOP ligand was crucial for changing the surface energy and controlling the particle shape over a broad size range. It was found that the particle sizes could be controlled by varying the molar ratios of Na(CF3COO)/Re(CF3COO)3 (Re = Y, Yb, and Er). A high Na/Re ratio accelerated the cubic-phase transition and promoted the growth of smaller β-UCNPs. The formation of β-UCNPs was classified into kinetic and diffusion controlled stages, depending on the reaction temperature and the dominant crystalline phases formed in each stage. In stage I, 250–310 °C, NaF generation was the limiting step and α-UCNPs were formed via a 'burst of nucleation'. In stage II, above 310 °C, the α-UCNPs formed were re-dissolved and the growth of β-UCNPs was a diffusion controlled process governed by the Gibbs–Thompson effect. A quasi-steady-state species assumption for NaF and a chemical potential equilibrium in the solution were introduced to explain the particle size dependence on Na/Re ratios. The study of UC luminescence showed that the UC intensity was proportional to the sizes of the β-UCNPs.


Inequality and social justice are key issues in a context marked by endemic interconnectedness. However, traditional accounts of social justice deploy explanatory frameworks that are state bound. By contrast, it is argued that globalisation has led to the emergence and entrenchment of forms and structures of power and influence that operate beyond and across national boundaries and that are capable of perpetrating inequity and injustice. In response theorists have begun to argue for the need to recognise the demands of social justice in non-state territorial contexts. Whilst extant theories offer a high level of abstraction, we ground these theories by examining the global labour market for seafarers as an example of a multinational workforce operating in a global context. The paper offers a detailed examination of these workers raising a global social justice claim within an international forum. In so doing we argue that this case leads to a significant problematisation of global social justice as an empirical phenomenon and conceptual object; one that escapes extant theoretical resources. In conclusion we highlight conceptual and pragmatic issues associated with theorising and realising global social justice, and the role that sociology has to play in this endeavour.


In-fiber Bragg gratings are key components for optical sensing. As embedded sensors, in-fiber gratings find important applications in mechanical structural health monitoring, vibration detection, pressure monitoring and acoustic sensing. However, the current state-of-the-art grating sensors inscribed in standard fiber only provide for the detection of stress and vibration in one dimension, along the axial dimension (length) of the fiber.In this thesis, we developed fiber Bragg grating sensors in specialty micro-structural fibers that can not only detect structural stress along the fiber, but also can detect stress along the transverse directions with high sensitivity. Finite element analysis (ANSYS) was used to design and study both longitudinal and transverse strain induced in microstructural fibers by external loads. Air holes were strategically placed in the fiber cladding to focus the external stress into the fiber cores to enhance the response of the fiber Bragg grating sensors. Stress-induced birefringence in the fiber core was studied in both standard and two-hole microstructural fibers with various air hole and fiber core configurations. Based on simulation studies, the optimal position to place the fiber core was determined to maximize the influence of transverse stress on the fiber cores. To validate the simulation results, Bragg grating sensors was inscribed in two-hole microstructure fibers for transverse stress sensing. Transverse stress, as measured by resonance peak splitting of the grating sensor, was used to compare with both predictions from simulation results. Both the simulation and measurement results indicate that the sensitivity of grating sensors to the transverse stress can be enhanced eight times more in a two-hole fiber than in a standard fiber.


Introduction Cognitive impairment is one of the commonest mental health problems in the elderly. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment in the elderly (age >60 years) population in Karachi, Pakistan and to determine the association between social support and cognitive impairment in this group. Methods A population based cross sectional study of the elderly in Karachi Pakistan was carried out between November 2010 and March 2011. Participants were randomly recruited in 30 clusters from 18 towns in Karachi using a multi-stage cluster sampling technique. Face-to-Face interviews were conducted with 730 eligible participants using structured questionnaires. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was assessed through Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). For illiterate participants cognitive impairment was defined as a score of <21; for literate <23. Data analysis is underway using SPSS 16. Logistic regression analysis will be used to determine the association between social support and cognitive impairment. Results This study is currently in progress. We anticipate that prevalence of cognitive impairment will be higher and will be attributable to the social support received by the elderly. Conclusion Conclusion will be based on the results of this study. However, we suggest that the younger generation should be sensitised towards their responsibilities for the elderly and the government should also formulate effective health policies for this group. Further, longitudinal studies should be planned to identify other factors that are associated with cognitive impairment in the elderly.


Men's ministries are initiatives that respond to a perceived feminization of the church and which seek to encourage men back into the church by creating masculine spaces and forms of worship. This is largely achieved by appealing to what men's ministries perceive to be appropriate signifiers for masculinity, which include sporting, military and mythopoetic images, and a particular understanding of servant leadership within the home. This paper extends previous analyses by demonstrating how men's ministries also appeal to hunting and meat consumption as signifiers for masculinity, which results in a way of engaging the non-masculine world in a violent and sexualized manner.


According to the characteristics of self-anchored suspension bridge, a new method to detect damage is introduced in this paper.It works in two stages.First, a BP neural network model is built to predict damaged position. Next, based on the characteristics of genetic algorithm and simulated annealing algorithm, a new approach, genetic-simulated annealing algorithm, is put forward to identify damage extent of detected positions. Compared with the traditional genetic algorithm, the global convergence effect of this algorithm is enhanced by using of the Metropolis acceptance rule of the simulated annealing algorithm in the searching process.


Feature modeling technology is the requirement of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT). It is one of the key technologies of CAD/CAPP/CAM integrated system to build a shared part feature model. A feature modeling system can provide not only the geometry information of a part, but also the processing information of the part, which is needed by the latter CAM system, to realize information share and exchange between CAX systems. In the paper, feature concept, feature classification, model structure and modeling method based on features are introduced. Then, an interactive feature modeling method is presented. According to the requirement of CAPP, the system developed can supply the processing information to generate the corresponding manufacturing feature model that can be output in XML file format for a CAPP system.


Abstract. In the last decades the consumer and industrial market for non-projective cameras has been growing notably. This has led to the development of camera description models other than the pinhole model and their employment in mostly homogeneous camera systems. Heterogeneous camera systems (for instance, combine Fisheye and Catadioptric cameras) can also be easily thought of for real applications. However, it has not been quite clear, how accurate stereo vision with these cameras and models can be. In this paper, different accuracy aspects are addressed by analytical inspection, numerical simulation as well as real image data evaluation. This analysis is generic, for any camera projection model, although only polynomial and rational projection models are used for distortion free, Catadioptric and Fisheye lenses. Note that this is different to polynomial and rational radial distortion models which have been addressed extensively in literature. For single camera analysis it turns out that point features towards the image sensor borders are significantly more accurate than in center regions of the sensor. For heterogeneous two camera systems it turns out, that reconstruction accuracy decreases significantly towards image borders as different projective distortions occur.


Intracapsular oxygen availability is one of the main factors affecting embryo development of marine gastropod species with encapsulation. This is because the low solubility and diffusion rate of O2 in water, plus the low oxygen diffusion rate that the capsule wall presents, reduces oxygen inside capsules. In addition, temperature affects embryo development inside capsules through its effect on embryo metabolic rate and oxygen availability. In spite of both factors being highly correlated and that a synergic effect on embryo development may be expected, there are few studies evaluating temperature and intracapsular oxygen availability simultaneously. In this work we evaluated the role of the capsule wall of the marine gastropod Chorus giganteus as a barrier for oxygen diffusion and its interaction with temperature affecting intracapsular oxygen availability and embryonic development. For that, we cultivated capsules in seawater at three different temperatures, 9, 12 and 15°C, for a time to complete embryo development. Oxygen level was measured inside capsules with and without embryos, and outside capsules at all temperatures. The number of capsules successfully hatched at the end of the experiment, and early and late embryo mortality were recorded. Finally, we measured embryo metabolic rate at the three different temperatures assayed. We found that embryo mortality and abnormal morphological development were more frequent at higher temperatures. Intracapsular oxygen availability decreases at higher temperatures in capsules with and without embryos. These results may be explained by an increase in the total intracapsular embryo metabolic rate (per capsule) with temperature and an inadequate oxygen diffusion rate from seawater through the capsule wall and intracapsular fluid to the embryonic cells. Our findings suggest that encapsulation is constrained at high temperatures in C. giganetus affecting significantly its reproductive success. This may have important consequences in a scenario of global warming.


The development of SMEs is largely determined by the existence of MFIs that offer financing models are diverse. It can be said that MFIs become a partner of SMEs in this regard as a financial services provider, through diverse financing models. But on the other hand the diversity of financing models offered by MFIs have not been fully able to be utilized This study used exploratory research, descriptive, experimental and applied research conducted in stages for the development of a comprehensive model of microfinance accommodative Informants determined based on the information needs. Using a descriptive and qualitative analysis of the MFI deliberately selected examples illustrate the following: (A) The existence of MFIs is recognized community has a strategic role as an intermediary in economic activity that has not affordable public services of banking institutions / conventional banks; (B) service MFIs have demonstrated success, but success can still be in business economics. Skim MFI lending to businesses has not received the priority, it is characterized by a relatively small ceiling (budget allocation) to support farming, which is less than 10% of the total ceiling of MFIs; (C) A critical factor in the development of the agricultural sector MFI lies in the institutional legality, capability management, seed capital support, the economic viability of farming, farm characteristics and technical assistance clients / service users MFIs; (D) To initiate the growth and development of agricultural MFIs needed guidance enhanced capabilities for HR candidates MFI managers, support the strengthening of capital and technical assistance to customers of credit users. Keywords: Financial Institutions Micro, Small Business Micro


The study looked into the current scenario of food security in Rwanda. After analysing the national level institutional and food security scenarios by using available secondary data, the researchers used primary data that have been collected from a random sample of 200 households spreading over six sectors of the Huye district by using structured interview schedule, as well using a case study of a rice cooperative in Huye district. Focus group discussions with all stake holders concerned with food security at local level enriched the data that we collected by other means. The general conclusion that emerges from the study is that in order to attain the food security at local level in Rwanda lot more to be done. Among other things, strengthening existing local institutions like farmer cooperatives, improving agricultural production technology, diversifying household income sources for better access, and genuine integration of food security concerns in the district development plans. The researchers come out with certain policy recommendations that may make the local level food security more sustainable which includes, among others, the orientation of the households well into the new modes of agricultural production and planning of household income. The need for much more local level institutional support in many areas is highlighted. On the whole, the study addressed the concerns of food access among rural households in Rwanda, and also the much wanted institutional support being exposed. Key words: Food access, institutional environment, food production, district development plans, farmer cooperatives, household food security.


ABSTRACT This paper proposes IoT-based an enterprise health information system called IoTPulse to predict alcohol addiction providing real-time data using machine-learning in fog computing environment. We used data from 300 alcohol addicts from Punjab (India) as a case study to train machine-learning models. The performance of IoTPulse is compared against existing work using various parameters including accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and precision which shows improvement of 7%, 4%, 12% and 12%, respectively. Finally, IoTPulse is validated in FogBus-based real fog environment using QoS parameters including latency, network bandwidth, energy and response time which improves performance by 19.56%, 18.36%, 19.53% and 21.56%, respectively.


Inmany languages, A-extraction of local subject arguments behaves differently from the extraction of other arguments, for example in triggering specializedmorphosyntactic processes or being subject to additional restrictions. I argue that many such interactions are due to an anti-locality constraint on movement, which bans movement which is too short. Subject extraction is often distinguished due to the high canonical position of subjects in their clauses (e.g. Spec,TP), making their movement to the clause edge (e.g. Spec,CP) uniquely in danger of violating the Spec-toSpec Anti-Locality constraint (Erlewine, 2016). Concretely, three subject extraction asymmetry behaviors are discussed and analyzed: complementizer-trace effects, subject anti-agreement effects, and bans on subject resumption, including the socalled Highest Subject Restriction. In each case, we observe that the special behavior associated with subject extraction (a) can be obviated by increasing the distance of movement, (b) also applies to exceptionally high non-subjects, and (c) does not correlate with other subjecthood properties. These facts are straightforwardly explained by the anti-locality-based approach to these asymmetries, but are challenging for alternative accounts.


In this study; QStE 420 TM steel sheet plate material with fine grained and micro alloy structure, which is widely used in sectors such as defense industry and automotive industry, has been welded separately by massive and fluxed cored filler wire in metal active gas welding method. The mechanical and metallurgical effects of different filler wires on the weld zone (main metal, heat affected zone and weld metal) were investigated by tensile, guided bend, notch impact, hardness measurement tests and macro graphic, micro graphic examinations. As a result of the tests performed; it was observed that the selected welding parameters provided the expected mechanical and metallurgical properties of welded joints.


This study was conducted to determine the physical properties of Western Sudan watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris) and watermelon seeds to be used in the design of a machine to harvest and separate watermelon seeds from the pulp. The samples were selected from the 2003/04 and 2004/05 growing seasons. The actual volume of watermelon was determined by water displacement method and then the watermelon density and specific gravity were determined. The three axial diameters were measured using an overhead projector. The relationship between the actual volume and the measured dimensions was determined to verify that the estimated volume may be used as a criterion to decide that if these dimensions were sufficient to define watermelon form. The shape of Western Sudan watermelon was resembled by sphere, oblate spheroid and prolate spheroid. The predicted watermelon volumes using the three geometric shapes models were related to the actual volumes. The actual watermelon surface area was determined using a digital planimeter then the rind thickness was measured using a vernier caliper. The predicted surface areas using the three geometric shapes were related to the actual surface areas. The actual watermelon surface area was related to its weight and volume by assuming a linear and non-linear regression models. The predicted surface areas using these two models were related to the actual surface areas. The initial moisture content of watermelon seeds was determined using an air oven method. Then the specific gravity of watermelon seeds was determined using the method of pycnometer and toluene. The weight of 100 seeds, the percentage of red and brown seeds and the percentage of large seeds were recorded to be used in grading the watermelon seeds. The oil content of each watermelon seed variety was found using a soxhelt extracting apparatus. The results showed that both the watermelon density and specific gravity were 0.876 g/cc and 0.892, respectively. The estimated watermelon volume can be used as adequate criterion then the measurement of three axial dimensions, gave a complete theoretical specification of the watermelon shape and size. The oblate spheroid model was found to be more accurate in predicting the volume and surface area of Western Sudan watermelon compared to the sphere and the prolate spheroid models. This suggested that the watermelon shape can be described by an oblate spheroid. The average rind thickness of watermelon was 0.37 mm. Linear regression models were developed to correlate the watermelon surface area with both its weight and volume. It was found that there was strong correlation between the watermelon surface area and its volume than with its weight. Also it was found that the oblate spheroid model was the most accurate predictor of the watermelon surface area among the models tested. The average initial moisture content of the watermelon seeds dried at 105±1°C for 48 hrs was 38.2% (moisture, w. b.). Based on this moisture content, the average specific gravity of the watermelon seeds was 1.016. The watermelon seeds involved in this study were graded as Super Casheir, Casheir, Normal White and Farrasha – third. The watermelon seeds yield a valuable amount of oil ranged from 20.05 to 24.05%.