This study proposes a novel additive Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) based sentence score function for Automatic Text summarization (ATS), which is a method to handle growing amounts of textual data. ATS aims to reduce the size of a text while covering the important points in the text. For this aim, this study uses some sentence features, combines these features by an additive score function using some specific weights and produces a sentence score function. The weights of the features are determined by FAHP - specifically Fuzzy Extend analysis (FEA)-; which allows the human involvement in the process, uses pairwise comparisons, addresses uncertainty and allows a hierarchy composed of main features and sub-features. The sentences are ranked according to their score functions values and the highest scored sentences are extracted to create summary documents. Performance evaluation is based on the sentence coverage among the summaries generated by human and the proposed method. In order to see the performance of the proposed system, two different Turkish datasets are used and as a performance measure, the F-measure is used. Resulting performance improvements show that the porposed model will be useful for both researchers and practitioners working in this research area. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.itc.46.1.13051


—A thick succession of 28–38 Ma alkalic lava flows, volcaniclastic sedimentary deposits, and minor welded trachytic ash-flow tuffs is preserved in the northwestern Sierra Blanca volcanic field (SBVF) on the western flank of the Sierra Blanca massif, on Barber Ridge, and in the Godfrey Hills. Here, we present a stratigraphic framework for this succes - sion based on geologic mapping, geochronology, and geochemistry. Three sequences of volcanic rocks are preserved on the Sierra Blanca massif. The 38 to 36 Ma lower sequence is composed of three units that are relatively continuous (listed from bottom to top): interbedded debris flows and pyroxene-phyric basalt to basaltic trachyandesite flow breccias and lava flows (Hog Pen Formation), plagioclase-phyric basaltic trachyandesite flows (Rattlesnake Member of the Three Rivers Formation), and fine-grained trachybasalt to trachyte flows interbedded with maroon volcaniclastic sediment (Taylor Windmill Member of the Three Rivers Formation). The northward-thickening, 36 Ma rheomorphic Argentina Spring Tuff caps the lowest sequence. The middle sequence consists of laterally discontinuous volcaniclastic debris flows, basaltic trachyandesite, phonotephrite, and trachyte of variable thickness (Double Diamond Member of the Three Rivers Formation, 36–34 Ma). The highest sequence on the Sierra Blanca massif is composed of thick, biotite- and potassium feldspar-bearing, 33–31 Ma flows filling paleovalleys cut into the older lavas. Volcanic rocks on Barber Ridge between Sierra Blanca and the Godfrey Hills are composed exclusively of the 38–37 Ma debris flows and pyroxene-phyric flow-breccias and lavas of the Hog Pen Formation. The Godfrey Hills, on the hanging wall of the north-striking, west-dipping Godfrey Hills normal fault, preserve the younger part of the volcanic succes - sion of the SBVF. The oldest units in the Godfrey Hills are distal equivalents of the Hog Pen Formation, and the Rattlesnake Canyon and Taylor Windmill members of the Three Rivers Formation on Sierra Blanca. A thin lithic-rich tuff with biotite and brown porphyritic clots, the Buck Pasture Tuff, lies above the Taylor Windmill Member; this tuff may correlate with a similar tuff above the Argentina Springs Tuff on Sierra Blanca. The upper succession in the Godfrey Hills is divided into two units, the older (34 to 28.7 Ma) Lopez Spring Formation with lavas of variable composition and the younger Husk Windmill (28.7–28.2 Ma) Formation dominated by trachytic lava and tuff. The northwestern SBVF primarily formed during two widespread pulses of volcanic activity at 38–34 Ma and 29.4 -28.2 Ma and a more localized episode 33–31 Ma. The youngest volcanic rocks dated so far in the northwestern SBVF were erupted at ca. 28.2 Ma; the youngest sill is ~27 Ma.


INTRODUCTION
The treatment of inoperable patients in terminal stages of chronic arterial occlusive disease is difficult and associated with high incidence of limb amputations and lethal outcomes [1]. Prostacyclin (Pgl2) is a strong vasodilator and the most potent endogenous platelet aggregation inhibitor in men [1-6]. Application of Pgl2 in such conditions is justifiable since it represents the exogenous substitution therapy [7, 8].

MATERIAL AND METHODS
An open blind study included 80 patients with inoperable peripheral arterial occlusion (Fontens stages III and IV) who were divided in two groups: Prostacyclin (PG) and Pentoxyfillyne (CG). Clinical characteristics of the groups were comparable (Table 1). Diagnosis of unreconstructable state was based on clinical and arteriographic results. Prostacyclin in the form of Epoprostenol sodium (Flolan) was used in doses of 5 ng/kg/h of continuous intravenous infusions during 24 h (9), 48 h (21) and 72 h (12). Pentoxyfillyne was also administered in continuous intravenous infusions during 24 h (2), 48 h (3) and 72 h (33) in daily dose of 300 mg. Duration of treatment was based on the subjective condition of the patients, i.e., when the patient reported the improvement the therapy was discontinued. Following the completion of infusion therapy, medicamentous therapy was initiated in all patients (Pentoxyfillyne 3 x 400 mg, Aspirin 100 mg). Routine laboratory tests (RBC, haemoglobin, haematocrit, platelet count, WBC, urea, glycaemia, Na, K, lipids, cholesterol, triglycerides), platelet aggregation (Collagen 60 mg/ml; ADP 1.5 mM/ml; RI-PA 1.5 mg/mL), BP, ABI (Doppler) indices and claudication distance were evaluated in all patients after day 1, 7 and 90 following the end of the therapy.

RESULTS
The infusion treatment led to subjective reduction or elimination of pain in 52 (32 PG, 20 CG) patients during the immediate course (up to 7 days). The therapy induced no significant changes in laboratory findings, platelet count and BP during the whole follow-up period. Significant decrease in platelet aggregation was recorded 24 hours and 7 days after the initiation of the study only in PG group, while after 3 months no significant decrease in aggregation was found (Table 2). Doppler index changes in both groups were not significant. Significant improvement in claudication distance was recorded 3 months after the infusion therapy: in PG for distance under 100 m (15 patients) and more than 100 m (17 patients), in CG for distance under 100 m (22 pts). In the course of infusion therapy the following complications were recorded: blushing (3 PG), tachycardia (2 PG, 1 CG) and nausea and vomiting (1 PG, 2 CG). Deceleration or temporary discontinuation of infusion led to the improvement of condition, and thus none of the patients was withdrawn from the study. Over a three-month follow-up period 4 lethal outcomes were recorded (2 PG, 2 CG). Causes of death (diabetic nephrosclerosis and renal insufficiency, septic endocarditis, heart insufficiency, CVI) could not have been related to infusion therapy. Due to the progression of gangrene, extremity amputation on different levels was performed in 27 patients (12 PG, 15 CG) of which 15 (7 PG and 8 CG) were performed during the immediate 7-day period while the other amputations were carried out 8-90 days after the treatment.

DISCUSSION
The use of prostacyclin leads to temporary and limited distant improvement in arterial flow in patients with occlusive diseases [1]. During the immediate course these effects are manifested by complete absence of pain at rest and initial demarcation of the gangrenous process [1, 4]. Doppler index values established in our series suggest that prostacyclin does not reduce vascular resistance in the major blood vessels; however, it expresses potent vasodilation, antiaggregation and disaggregation effects at the level of microcirculation flow [6, 7]. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)


The access privileges in distributed systems can be effectively organized as a hierarchical tree that consists of distinct classes. A hierarchical time-bound key assignment scheme is to assign distinct cryptographic keys to distinct classes according to their privileges so that users from a higher class can use their class key to derive the keys of lower classes, and the keys are different for each time period; therefore, key derivation is constrained by both the class relation and the time period. We propose, based on a tamper-resistant device, a new time-bound key assignment scheme that greatly improves the computational performance and reduces the implementation cost.


The skeleton of deposited coral species Porites lutea can provide information to determine the life growth rate of the coral that can be seen on its annual bands. The coral sampling was carried out by using pneumatic drill and then it was analyzed to determine the direction, age, and growth rates of the coral, using X-ray. Result of the research showed that the growth rate of P. lutea coral in northern station (windward) was in ranged of 0.6 – 2.5 cm/year while the average growth rate was 1.44 cm/year, and in the southern station (leeward) was in ranged of 0.5 – 2.2 cm/year while its average growth rate was 1.21 cm/year. The growth rate of P. lutea both located North station (Winward) and the South station (leeward) showed no significant difference.


Deep neural networks are vulnerable to small input perturbations known as adversarial attacks. Inspired by the fact that these adversaries are constructed by iteratively minimizing the confidence of a network for the true class label, we propose the anti-adversary layer, aimed at countering this effect. In particular, our layer generates an input perturbation in the opposite direction of the adversarial one and feeds the classifier a perturbed version of the input. Our approach is training-free and theoretically supported. We verify the effectiveness of our approach by combining our layer with both nominally and robustly trained models and conduct large-scale experiments from black-box to adaptive attacks on CIFAR10, CIFAR100, and ImageNet. Our layer significantly enhances model robustness while coming at no cost on clean accuracy.


Abstract. Wind observations are important for a wide range of domains including among others meteorology, agriculture and extreme wind engineering. To ensure the provision of high quality surface wind data over Belgium, a new semi-automated data quality control (QC) has been developed and applied to wind observations from the automated weather stations operated by the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium. This new QC applies to 10 m 10 min averaged wind speed and direction, 10 m gust speed and direction, 2 m 10 min averaged wind speed and 30 m 10 min averaged wind speed records. After an existence test, automated procedures check the data for limits consistency, internal consistency, temporal consistency and spatial consistency. At the end of the automated QC, a decision algorithm attributes a flag to each particular data point. Each day, the QC staff analyzes the preceding day's observations in the light of the assigned quality flags.


ABSTRACT Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive imaging technique that can visualise samples' interior by using the signal coming from mobile protons. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of oil content and peanut/raisin addition on cake quality and to illustrate the power of MRI in analysis of moisture and oil distribution. For this purpose, MR images were acquired with a spin echo sequence and relaxation times T1 and T2, and moisture content and firmness of cakes were measured. High oil cakes (HOC) had higher moisture content and lower firmness than low oil cakes (LOC). However, addition of raisin/peanut did not affect the firmness of cakes significantly. In MR images, HOC cake crumb, owing to its higher oil content, displayed larger signal intensities. Signal acquired from different slices demonstrated an increase in moisture content from crust to centre of the cakes. Peanut and raisin signals were suppressed in fat and water suppression sequences, respectively. Significant correlation between transverse relaxation time (T2a) and oil content (R2 = 0.99) was found. Moreover, longitudinal relaxation time (T1) was found to be strongly correlated with moisture content (R2 = 0.99). The results demonstrated MRI's power as an accurate and non-invasive analysis method in baking.


Context. During September and October 2014, the OSIRIS cameras onboard the ESA Rosetta mission detected millions of single particles. Many of these dust particles appear as long tracks (due to both the dust proper motion and the spacecraft motion during the exposure time) with a clear brightness periodicity. Aims. We interpret the observed periodic features as a rotational and translational motion of aspherical dust grains. Methods. By counting the peaks of each track, we obtained statistics of a rotation frequency. We compared these results with the rotational frequency predicted by a model of aspherical dust grain dynamics in a model gas flow. By testing many possible sets of physical conditions and grain characteristics, we constrained the rotational properties of dust grains. Results. We analyzed on the motion of rotating aspherical dust grains with different cross sections in flow conditions corresponding to the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on the OSIRIS observations, we constrain the possible physical parameters of the grains.


We develop a union bound on the error performance of group-wise symbol detectors in frequency-flat Rayleigh fading channels. The bound is applicable to detectors that search over a subspace of the total symbol space. It provides a means to investigate tradeoffs among system parameters such as group size versus error performance.


We investigate the effect of cylindrical nano-confinement on the phase behaviour of a rigid model of carbon dioxide using both molecular dynamics and well tempered metadynamics. To this aim we study a simplified pore model across a parameter space comprising pore diameter, CO2-pore wall potential and CO2 density. In order to systematically identify ordering events within the pore model we devise a generally applicable approach based on the analysis of the distribution of intermolecular orientations. Our simulations suggest that, while confinement in nano-pores inhibits the formation of known crystal structures, it induces a remarkable variety of ordered packings unrelated to their bulk counterparts, and favours the establishment of short range order in the fluid phase. We summarise our findings by proposing a qualitative phase diagram for this model.


In this paper, we are interested in estimating the entropy of a non-negative random variable. Since the underlying probability density function is unknown, we propose the use of the Poisson smoothed histogram density estimator to estimate the entropy. To study the per- formance of our estimator, we run simulations on a wide range of densities and compare our entropy estimators with the existing estimators based on different approaches such as spacing estimators. Furthermore, we extend our study to residual entropy estimators which is the entropy of a random variable given that it has been survived up to time $t$.


Head movements, combined with gaze, play a fundamental role in predicting a person's action and intention. In non-constrained head movement settings, the process is complex, and performance can degrade significantly in the presence of variation in head-pose, gaze position, occlusion and ambient illumination. In this thesis, a framework is therefore proposed to fuse and combine head-pose and gaze information to obtain more robust and accurate gaze estimation. Specific contributions include: the development of a newly developed graph-based model for pupil localization and accurate estimation of the pupil center; the proposal of a novel iris region descriptor feature using quadtree decomposition, that works together with pupil localization for gaze estimation; the proposal of kernel-based extensions and enhancements to a fusion mechanism known as Discriminative Multiple Canonical Correlation Analysis (DMCCA) for fusing features (proposed and traditional) together, to generate a refined, high quality feature set for classification; and the newly developed methodology of head-pose features based on quadtree decompositions and geometrical moments, to better integrate roll, yaw, pitch and jawline into the overall estimation framework. The experimental results of the proposed framework demonstrate robustness against variations in illumination, occlusion, head-pose and is calibration free. The proposed framework was validated on several datasets and scored: 4.5° using MPII, 4.4° using Cave, 4.8° using EYEDIAP, 5.0° using ACS, 4.1° using OSLO and 4.5° using UULM datasets respectively.


A one-year-old Suffolk ram was evaluated after a four-month history of intermittent left-sided bloating and regurgitation. The ram had been slowly losing condition while other sheep in the cohort were gaining weight. Severe megaoesophagus was confirmed on lateral thoracic and neck radiographs and a firm, 6-cm mass at the oesophageal sphincter was palpated during standing exploratory laparotomy. Postmortem examination confirmed an abscess was the cause of the partial oesophageal obstruction. The abscess yielded pure light growth of Streptococcus alactolyticus, an organism not reported to be associated with infection in sheep. Intermittent bloating is an unusual presentation in ruminants, and acquired megaoesophagus has been reported only very occasionally in sheep. This case report expands the list of differential diagnoses for abnormal regurgitation and intermittent bloating, and provides another specific cause of obstructive gastrointestinal disease in sheep. Acquired megaoesophagus was an unusual sequela of this primary disease.


During the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, new variants of the virus have emerged and spread worldwide. The increased transmissibility and proclivity of some of these variants to cause more serious disease threatens public health responses against the virus, and they are classified as variants of concern (Variants of Concern, VOCs). While Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS) is the gold standard to identify VOC, it cannot always be rapidly implemented in some settings to provide information as an early warning tool. Duplex quantitative real time RTqPCR assays offer a sensitive and easy-to-use tool to detect, discriminate, and estimate relative proportions of SARS-CoV-2 variants containing VOC-specific signature mutations from variants lacking it, using allelic discrimination probes. We developed three multiplexed RTqPCR assays that can detect Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1) and Delta (B.1.617.2) VOCs by targeting 22281_22289DelCTTTACTTG, 28262_28263InsAACA and 22029_22034DelAGTTCA deletions/insertions in their genomes, respectively. Beta and Delta deletions are mapped to the S gene (residues 241/243 and 157/158, respectively), while Gamma insertion is located between the end of ORF8 and the beginning of N gene. Our specific duplex RTqPCR assays have been adapted from a previously designed duplex RTqPCR assay used to estimate the relative proportion of genomes containing 21765-21770DelTACATG mutation affecting residues HV69/70, a signature mutation of Alpha VOC (Carcereny et al., 2021). All duplex RTqPCR assays targeting signature mutations of VOCs may be used as a complementary tool to NGS for rapid variant tracking and surveillance in wastewater-based epidemiology.


Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a subset of pulmonary hypertension caused by acute and recurrent pulmonary emboli. Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy is the treatment of choice, but 10–50% of patients are ineligible for this procedure. We describe the case of a 25‐year‐old, morbidly obese (228‐kg, body mass index 83.5 kg/m2) pregnant woman (G3P2) who presented at 24 weeks' gestation; bilateral pulmonary angiography revealed filling defects and confirmed the diagnosis of CTEPH. The patient was evaluated and deemed to present too high of a risk for pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, so a multidisciplinary team initiated medical therapy. Sildenafil 20 mg orally 3 times/day was started at week 24 of gestation, and inhaled iloprost was added at 26 weeks and titrated to 5 µg inhaled every 2 hrs in order to optimize hemodynamic status prior to a cesarean section delivery scheduled to be performed 6 weeks later. At 32 weeks of gestation, the patient's pulmonary arterial systolic pressure was 77 mm Hg, right atrial pressure was 15 mm Hg, and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure of 16 mm Hg, and a healthy 1741‐g male infant was delivered by cesarean section. The patient was transferred back to the medical intensive care unit in stable condition and discharged home 9 days following the procedure. Pharmacotherapeutic strategies for patients with CTEPH who become pregnant are limited to phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors and prostacyclin analog therapies due to the teratogenicity of the other drug classes used to treat the disorder (endothelin receptor antagonists and soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators). To our knowledge, this is the first case report of inhaled iloprost use in addition to oral sildenafil to improve patient symptomatology and hemodynamics during the peripartum period of a young pregnant patient with inoperable CTEPH. This drug therapy was used safely, with no noted adverse effects to the newborn or to the patient.


The theory of operation and experimental test results of a microwave instrument for measuring pressure and temperature in liquid sodium are described. At discrete frequencies, the single, all-metal, hollow cylindrical sensor absorbs energy provided by a wide-bandwidth sweep-frequency microwave oscillator. For the designed sensor, the frequencies of two detected absorption signals relate to temperature whereas the difference frequency relates to pressure. Operational characteristics of the sensor and associated instrumentation were determined over a temperature range of 350 to 1100°F and over a pressure range from atmospheric to 190 psia. Time response of the unit for pressure transients was also ascertained. Total duration of the test approximated 350 hours.


We consider transmission of correlated sources over multiuser channels where the receiver(s) have access to correlated side information. Our goal is to characterize necessary and sufficient conditions for lossless transmission and uncover scenarios where separation of source and channel coding, either in the traditional dasiainformationalpsila sense (where both source and channel encoders and decoders are designed independently) or in the 'operational' sense (where the encoders are independent, but the source and channel decoding is done jointly), is optimal. We first study a multiple access channel where the source signals are independent given the receiver side information. We prove an informational source channel separation theorem for this communication system. We next investigate source and channel coding for the compound multiple access and interference channels. We give general sufficient conditions for lossless transmission of each source for both channels, and then provide necessary conditions that hold under certain assumptions on the nature of the source and the receiver side information. For the interference channel, the necessary conditions hinge on a strong source- channel interference condition which depends not only on the channel but on the source and side information correlations as well. Our results suggest the optimality of informational or operational separation depending on the correlation structure of the side information and the amount of interference.


The helminth Fasciola hepatica is known as a master of immunomodulation. It suppresses antigen specific Th1 responses in concurrent bacterial infections while promoting the Th2/Treg regulatory responses, thus demonstrating its anti-inflammatory ability in vivo. We have recently demonstrated that a single intraperitoneal injection with native F. hepatica Glutathione S-Transferase (nFhGST), mostly comprised of mu-class isoforms, can suppresses the cytokine storm and increasing the survival rate in a mouse model of septic shock (1). Knowing that the peritoneal macrophages in response to microbial stimuli play essential roles in the defense, tissue repairment, and maintenance of homeostasis, the present study aimed to determine whether nFhGST could modulate the amount and dynamic of these cells concurrently to the suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The remarkable findings described in this article are, (i) nFhGST suppresses serum IL-12, TNF-α, and IFN-γ in BALB/c mice challenged with a lethal dose of LPS, (ii) Although nFhGST does not elicit IL-10, it was able to significantly suppress the high levels of LPS-induced IL-10, which is considered a key cytokine in the pathophysiology of sepsis (2). iii) nFhGST prevent the disappearance of large peritoneal macrophages (LPM) whereas significantly increasing this population in the peritoneal cavity (PerC) of LPS treated animals, (iv) nFhGST promotes the alternative activation of macrophages whereas suppress the classical activation of macrophages in vitro by expressing high levels of Ym-1, a typical M2-type marker, secreting the production of IL-37, and preventing the production of TNF-α, iNOS2 and nitric oxide, which are typical markers of M1-type macrophages, (v) nFhGST suppress the bacterial phagocytosis of macrophages, a role that plays both, M1-and M2-macrophages, thus partially affecting the capacity of macrophages in destroying microbial pathogens. These findings present the first evidence that nFhGST is an excellent modulator of the PerC content in vivo, reinforcing the capacity of nFhGST as an anti-inflammatory drug against sepsis in animal models. Importance Sepsis is an infection that can lead to a life-threatening complication. Sepsis is the consequence of a systemic bacterial infection that exacerbates the immune cells' activation by bacterial products, resulting in the augmented release of inflammatory mediators. A critical factor in the pathogenesis of sepsis is the primary component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria known as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is sensed by toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). For this reason, scientists aimed to develop antagonists able to block the cytokine storm by blocking TLR4. We report here that a mixture of mu-class isoforms from the F. hepatica glutathione S-transferase (nFhGST) protein family administered intraperitoneally 1 h after a lethal LPS injection, is capable of significantly suppressing the LPS-induced cytokine storm in a mouse model of septic shock whereas modulate the dynamic and abundance of large peritoneal macrophages in the peritoneal cavity of septic mice. These results suggest that nFhGST is a prominent candidate for drug development against endotoxemia and other inflammatory diseases.


Synthetic biology uses genetically encoded devices and circuits to implement novel complex functions in living cells and organisms. A hallmark of these genetic circuits is the interaction among their individual parts, according to predefined rules, to process cellular information and produce a circuit output or response. As the number of individual components in a genetic circuit increases, so does the number of interactions needed to achieve the correct behavior, and hence, a greater need to fine-tune the levels of expression of each component. Transcriptional promoters play a key regulatory role in genetic circuits, as they influence the levels of RNA and proteins produced. In multicellular organisms, such as plants, they can also determine developmental, spatial, and tissue-specific patterns of gene expression. The 35S promoter from the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV 35S) is widely used in plant biotechnology to direct high levels of gene expression in a variety of plant species. We produced a library of 21 variants of the CaMV 35S promoter by introducing all single nucleotide substitutions to the promoter's TATA box sequence. We then characterized the activity of all variants in homozygous transgenic plants and showed that some of these variants have lower activity than the wild type in plants. These promoter variants could be used to fine-tune the behavior of synthetic genetic circuits in plants.


Background. Confrontation naming tasks are useful in the assessment of children with learning and language disorders. Objectives. The aims of this study were (1) providing longitudinal data on confrontation naming; (2) investigating the role of socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence, age, and gender in confrontation naming; (3) identifying relationship between confrontation naming and reading abilities (fluency, accuracy, and comprehension). Method. A five-year longitudinal investigation of confrontation naming (i.e., the Boston Naming Test (BNT)) in a nonclinical sample of Italian primary school children was conducted (n = 126), testing them at the end of each school year, to assess nonverbal intelligence, confrontation naming, and reading abilities. Results. Performance on the BNT emerged as a function of IQ and SES. Significant correlations between confrontation naming and reading abilities, especially comprehension, were found; BNT scores correlated better with reading fluency than with reading accuracy. Conclusions. The longitudinal data obtained in this study are discussed with regard to reading abilities, intelligence, age, gender, and socioeconomic status.


Measurements in sandy ocean sediments over a broad range of frequencies show that the sound speed dispersion is significantly greater than that predicted by the Biot‐Stoll model with constant coefficients, and the observed sound attenuation does not seem to follow a consistent power law. The observations may be explained in terms of the Biot‐Stoll model with frequency‐dependent complex frame bulk and shear moduli that are governed by the grain‐grain contact physics, and random motion at the grain level. In the case of water‐saturated sands, the contact stiffness is dominated by squirt flow and viscous drag of a thin fluid film that permeates the contact area. Using this approach, the observed sound and shear wave speeds and attenuations may be modeled over a broad band of frequencies.


BACKGROUND
In Sweden, few alternatives to a hospital birth are available, and little is known about consumer interest in alternative birth care. The aim of this study was to determine women's interest in home birth and in-hospital birth center care in Sweden, and to describe the characteristics of these women.

METHODS
All Swedish-speaking women booked for antenatal care during 3 weeks during 1 year were invited to participate in the study. Three questionnaires, completed after the first booking visit in early pregnancy, at 2 months, and 1 year after the birth, asked about the women's interest in two alternative birth options and a wide range of possible explanatory variables.

RESULTS
Consent to participate in the study was given by 3283 women (71% of all women eligible). The rates of response to the three questionnaires were 94, 88, and 88 percent, respectively. One percent of participants consistently expressed an interest in home birth on all three occasions, and 8 percent expressed an interest in birth center care. A regression analysis showed five factors that were associated with an interest in home birth: a wish to have the baby's siblings (OR 20.2; 95% CI 6.2-66.5) and a female friend (OR 15.2; 95% CI 6.2-37.4) present at the birth, not wanting pharmacological pain relief during labor and birth (OR 4.7; 95% CI 1.4-15.3), low level of education (OR 4.5; 95% CI 1.8-11.4), and dissatisfaction with medical aspects of intrapartum care (OR 3.6; 95% CI 1.4-9.2). An interest in birth center care was associated with experience of being in control during labor and birth (OR 8.3; 95% CI 3.2-21.6), not wanting pharmacological pain relief (OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.3-4.1), and a preference to have a known midwife at the birth (OR 2.2; 95% CI 1.6-2.9).

CONCLUSION
If Swedish women were offered free choice of place of birth, the home birth rate would be 10 times higher, and the 20 largest hospitals would need to have a birth center. Women interested in alternative models of care view childbirth as a social and natural event, and their needs should be considered.


Focusing on the Canadian settler context, this article analyzes two of Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore's interactive works that enact alternatives to colonial understandings of voicing and listening that have centred the human ear and vocal apparatus. In particular, I analyze Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan: Speaking to Their Mother (1991), where Belmore constructed a large wooden megaphone for participants to speak into and address the land directly, and Wave Sound (2017), where Belmore installed four sculptural listening tubes in Canadian National Park and reserve sites that invited visitors to listen to the land. Through my analysis of these two iterative performances, I examine how the echo functions as a decolonial gesture and multisensorial (re)mapping that can generate alternatives to modernity's spatial-temporal-sensorial order and unsettle the coloniality of the voice. Engaging critical work in sound studies and Native feminist theories to think about vibration, I propose that voicing and listening can be understood as a set of social relationships between people and space/time.


40 patients diagnosed with GBS recruited from neuropsychiatry department of Nasser Institute Hospital. They were assessed clinically using the Hughes scale at onset and 3-6 months later. In follow up patients were divided into GBS with good and those with poor prognosis according to their score, Good prognostic group has only 2 or less in the Hughes score while above two patients were considered having poor prognosis At presentation, some lab studies were done to them including CSF examination. Nerve conduction study was done to all the 40 patients. They were treated with plasma pharesis sessions with different number of sessions (6 or less versus more than 6). Reassessment of patients using Hughes GBS disability scale, and nerve conduction study; done 3-6 months after onset.


Although the psychological stress created by terror has been extensively researched, little has been written about the subjective experience of living with terror. How do people perceive risk and how do they adjust their daily lives? The Lebanese capital Beirut suffered from a wave of bomb attacks following the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005. In order to examine people's reactions and ways of coping with these events, 14 focus group interviews (n = 77) were conducted in targeted areas. The findings suggest that Beirutis could no longer rely on the taken-for-granted routines of daily life. By changing their routes to school or work and avoiding public places, they restricted their daily activities. However, the data also suggest that targeted people attempted to normalize their everyday lives. Two strategies were employed. The first can be described as bracketing in time and space, which means that people tried to benefit from periods they perceived as moments of reprieve, and that they defined business and private space as safe havens. Bracketing can also be described as re-normalization, i.e. as an attempt to return to the previous state of `normality'. The other strategy can be described as crisis normalization and means that the new evaluations of the risks and new patterns of action adopted, which originally deviated from people's established routines, themselves became routinized.


The ORC GP42 class was launched as part of the new ORC Level Class in August 2005. Following the success of the TP52 class, the smaller and more affordable GP42 is expected to help reinvigorate the Grand Prix racing seen which has been so inactive since the demise of the old IOR ton classes. The aim of this project was to design a GP42 targeted at the Mediterranean racing circuit. The design process started with the development of a base hull, appendage package, sailplan and detailed weight estimation. This provided the grounds on which to carry out a VPP study in order to evaluate a range of parametric hull variations. The extremely high sail area – displacement ratio of these yachts is likely to result in a performance not dissimilar to that of a TP52. It is unlikely that the standard VPP force model will accurately predict the resistance characteristics of these boats, which are expected to make the jump into the planing mode downwind. As a result it was decided that a full matrix of tank test runs (upright and heeled and yawed) should be carried out with a view to creating a design-specific VPP. This was achieved using the Wolfson Experimental Method (WUX), where tank test data was regressed to define the resistance characteristics of the yacht over a range of operating speeds and conditions. Unfortunately due to very steep induced drag factor slopes, possibly brought on by appendage flutter, there were difficulties obtaining reasonable heel and induced drag WUX coefficients. While it was felt that the coefficients were not wholly reliable, VPP predictions from the experimental force model were compared with predictions from the standard force model and with a second experimental model derived from the VPP's own resistance predictions for the tank test runs. The experimental model derived from the tank data did not provide a reliable source on which to carry out further analysis, but enough insight was gained through observations made during the tank sessions and from the initial VPP study from which to develop a final design.


With 1 figure and 1 table

Abstract

Potato cyst nematode (PCN) is a major pest of potato crops. Marker-assisted selection of PCN-resistant cultivars is consequently a key objective of many potato breeding programmes. The genetic marker TG689, linked to the resistance gene H1, is the current marker of choice for the prediction of PCN resistance. Polymorphism at TG689 was evaluated across 373 cultivars from Australian and Scottish breeding programmes, revealing the loss of association between the predictive allele and trait locus. Two recently identified genetic markers flanking the H1 locus were then evaluated for association with PCN-resistant phenotypes across 73 cultivars. With a single exception, presence or absence of a 452-bp amplicon for the 57R marker was predictive for the target phenotype. Further evaluation of the 57R marker on more than 300 cultivars from the Australian and Scottish potato breeding programmes provided additional evidence for robust diagnostic capability. To enable routine implementation, the 57R marker was converted into a high-throughput, fluorochrome detection–based assay and screened across a broader collection of parental cultivars and advanced breeding selections for the prediction of PCN resistance.


This Research Guide acts as a resource to locate information about black history by linking to books, e-books, articles, videos, and websites.


Social media provides political news and information for both active duty military personnel and veterans. We analyze the subgroups of Twitter and Facebook users who spend time consuming junk news from websites that target US military personnel and veterans with conspiracy theories, misinformation, and other forms of junk news about military affairs and national security issues. (1) Over Twitter we find that there are significant and persistent interactions between current and former military personnel and a broad network of extremist, Russia-focused, and international conspiracy subgroups. (2) Over Facebook, we find significant and persistent interactions between public pages for military and veterans and subgroups dedicated to political conspiracy, and both sides of the political spectrum. (3) Over Facebook, the users who are most interested in conspiracy theories and the political right seem to be distributing the most junk news, whereas users who are either in the military or are veterans are among the most sophisticated news consumers, and share very little junk news through the network.


Power Integrity problem for a high speed power plane is discussed in context of selection and placement of decoupling capacitors. The s-parameters data of power plane geometry and capacitors are used for the accurate analysis including bulk capacitors and VRM, for a real world problem. The optimal capacitors and their optimum locations on the board are found using particle swarm optimization. A novel and accurate methodology is presented which can be used for any high speed Power delivery Network.


Solitary rectal ulcer syndrome (SRUS) is often resistant to medical and surgical treatment. This study assessed the effect of biofeedback in decreasing the symptoms and the healing of endoscopic signs in SRUS patients. Before starting the treatment, endoscopy and colorectal manometry was performed to evaluate dyssynergic defecation. Patients were followed every four weeks, and during each visit their response to treatment was evaluated regarding to manometry pattern. After at least 50% improvement in manometry parameters, recipients underwent rectosigmoidoscopy. Endoscopic response to biofeedback treatment and clinical symptoms were investigated. Duration of symptoms was 43.11±36.42 months in responder and 63.9 ± 45.74 months in non-responder group (P=0.22). There were more ulcers in non-responder group than responder group (1.50 ±0.71 versus 1.33±- 0.71 before and 1.30 ± 0.95 versus 0.67 ±0.50 after biofeedback), although the difference was not significant (P=0.604, 0.10 respectively). The most prevalent symptoms were constipation (79%), rectal bleeding (68%) and anorectal pain (53%). The most notable improvement in symptoms after biofeedback occured in abdominal pain and incomplete evacuation, and the least was seen in mucosal discharge and toilet waiting as shown in the bar chart. Endoscopic cure was observed in 4 of 10 patients of the non-responder group while 8 patients in responder group experienced endoscopic improvement. It seems that biofeedback has significant effect for pathophysiologic symptoms such as incomplete evacuation and obstructive defecation. Improvement of clinical symptoms does not mean endoscopic cure; so to demonstrate remission the patients have to go under rectosigmoidoscopy.


The Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) Project is aimed at providing the reinsurance industry with uniform soft law rules governing reinsurance contract law, which parties may choose to apply to their contracts. The rules may be viewed as an optional instrument that will only apply when parties agree to 'opt in'. With that in mind, the ideas underlying the PRICL can nevertheless be likened to those of the Restatements of the American Law Institute (ALI) in the USA. The ALI were founded 'to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work'. It is the same aim, albeit at a transnational level, that is pursued in drafting the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law.


(Bis) 6-membered cyclic carbonates were prepared from methyl 10-undecenoate, which is produced from ricinoleic acid, a main constituent of castor oil. Kinetic studies on these new fatty acid-based 6-membered cyclic carbonates revealed that they are much more reactive than their homologs, 5-membered ones (30 times). Poly(hydroxyurethane)s (PHUs) were then synthesized from these bis 6-membered cyclic carbonates at a temperature as low as room temperature and in the solvent or bulk. Unexpectedly, chemical gels were obtained. The latter were the consequence of side reactions of carbonate ring-opening with the hydroxyl groups of the formed poly(hydroxyurethane)s. Quenching with a large excess of hexylamine enabled the breaking-up of the gel with the formation of urea linkages.


Human ovarian tumors tissue taken from four surgical specimen were transplanted subcutaneously into female nude mice. The primary tissue transplantations were all successful, and the mean survival time was 15 weeks. One of the four ovarian carcinomas has been successfully transplanted to the 9th passage. Time needed for each passage was 4-6 weeks. The transplanted tumors examined histologically, cytologically and by electro-microscope, resembled the original ovarian cancer. Immunohistochemical tests were positive. Chromosome number was subdiploid and aneuploid.


This thesis reconceives the productive possibilities of incoherence in four works of contemporary conceptual writing. Despite a pervasive 'recognition' of incoherence in literary criticism, we find little formal theorisation of its structure. Against existing evaluative and mystifying impressions of incoherence in literary analysis, I propose a revised concept of incoherence. This is equivalent to the existence of a contradiction (A and not-A) in a work that problematises the work's identity. I test this concept in four recent works of conceptual writing: Expeditions of a Chimæra by Oana Avasilichioaei and Erín Moure (with interruptions by Elisa Sampedrín); An Arranged Affair by Sally Alatalo; The Happy End / All Welcome by Mónica de la Torre; and Hu Fang's Garden of Mirrored Flowers, translated by Melissa Lim. Each of these works extends the illogical permissibility of early conceptual thought, re-shaped by contemporary concerns. As a result, these works explore alternative representational possibilities inaccessible to the coherent arrangement. The work of these texts is self-reflexive—in respect to their own identity within a context. Consequently, we observe the ways in which incoherent texts map misalignments and contradictions in the literary system itself; drawing attention to associative constellations misconceived as causal and the uncertain divide of representation and real.


Software plays an increasing role in the safety critical systems. Increasing the quality and reliability of the software has become the major objective of software development industry. Researchers and industry practitioners, look for innovative techniques and methodologies that could be used to increase their confidence in the software reliability. Fault tree analysis (FTA) is one method under study at the Software Assurance Technology Center (SATC) of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to determine its relevance to increasing the quality and the reliability of software. This paper briefly reviews some of the previous research in the area of Software Fault Tree Analysis (SFTA). Next we discuss a roadmap for application of the SFTA to software, with special emphasis on object-oriented design. This is followed by a brief discussion of the paradigm for transforming a software design artifact (i.e., sequence diagram) to its corresponding software fault tree.


The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II (PSII) is a unique Mn4O5Ca cluster that catalyzes water oxidation via four photoactivated electron transfer steps. As the protein influence on the redox and protonation chemistry of the OEC remains an open question, we present a classical valence model of the OEC that allows the redox state of each Mn and the protonation state of bridging μ-oxos and terminal waters to remain in equilibrium with the PSII protein throughout the redox cycle. We find that the last bridging oxygen loses its proton during the transition from S0 to S1. Two possible S2 states are found depending on the OEC geometry: S2 has Mn4(IV) with a proton lost from a terminal water (W1) trapped by the nearby D1-D61 if O5 is closer to Mn4, or Mn1(IV), with partial deprotonation of D1-H337 and D1-E329 if O5 is closer to Mn1. In S3, the OEC is Mn4(IV) with W2 deprotonated. The estimated OEC Em's range from +0.7 to +1.3 V, enabling oxidation by P680(+), the primary electron donor in PSII. In chloride-depleted PSII, the proton release increases during the S1 to S2 transition, leaving the OEC unable to properly advance through the water-splitting cycle.


Nonconvex matrix recovery is known to contain no spurious local minima under a restricted isometry property (RIP) with a sufficiently small RIP constant $\delta$. If $\delta$ is too large, however, then counterexamples containing spurious local minima are known to exist. In this paper, we introduce a proof technique that is capable of establishing sharp thresholds on $\delta$ to guarantee the inexistence of spurious local minima. Using the technique, we prove that in the case of a rank-1 ground truth, an RIP constant of $\delta<1/2$ is both necessary and sufficient for exact recovery from any arbitrary initial point (such as a random point). We also prove a local recovery result: given an initial point $x_{0}$ satisfying $f(x_{0})\le(1-\delta)^{2}f(0)$, any descent algorithm that converges to second-order optimality guarantees exact recovery.


For a quiver with potential, we can associate a vanishing cycle to each representation space. If there is a nice torus action on the potential, the vanishing cycles can be expressed in terms of truncated Jacobian algebras. We study how these vanishing cycles change under the mutation of Derksen-Weyman-Zelevinsky. The wall-crossing formula leads to a categorification of quantum cluster algebras under some assumption. This is a special case of A. Efimov's result, but our approach is more concrete and down-to-earth. We also obtain a counting formula relating the representation Grassmannians under sink-source reflections.


Most population genetic studies concern spatial genetic differentiation, but far fewer aim at analyzing the temporal genetic changes that occur within populations. Vector species, including mosquitoes and biting midges, are often characterized by oscillating adult population densities, which may affect their dispersal, selection, and genetic diversity over time. Here, we used a population of Culicoides sonorensis from a single site in California to investigate short-term (intra-annual) and long-term (inter-annual) temporal variation in genetic diversity over a three year period. This biting midge species is the primary vector of several viruses affecting both wildlife and livestock, thus a better understanding of the population dynamics of this species can help inform epidemiological studies. We found no significant genetic differentiation between months or years, and no correlation between adult populations and the inbreeding coefficient (FIS). However, we show that repeated periods of low adult abundance during cooler winter months resulted in recurring bottleneck events. Interestingly, we also found a high number of private and rare alleles, which suggests both a large, stable population, as well as a constant influx of migrants from nearby populations. Overall, we showed that the high number of migrants maintains a high level of genetic diversity by introducing new alleles, while this increased diversity is counterbalanced by recurrent bottleneck events potentially purging unfit alleles each year. These results highlight the temporal influences on population structure and genetic diversity in C. sonorensis and provide insight into factors effecting genetic variation that may occur in other vector species with fluctuating populations.


Nanowire-mesoporous network structured fluorocarbon polymer films were prepared by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering of a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) target on a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate. The fluorocarbon films were used as precursor materials to prepare fluorocarbon/ZnO double-layered hybrid films by reaction sputtering of a Zn target on the fluorocarbon films. The hybrid films had strong UV absorption that was far larger than the sum of the individual absorptions of fluorocarbon film and ZnO film because of a synergistic effect. The hybrid films exhibited multi-enhanced ultraviolet absorption due to the π-conjugated molecular structure, the nanoparticle-mesoporous reflection of fluorocarbon polymer films, and the absorption effect of nanosized ZnO particles.


Introduction: Pharmacogenomics deals with inherited differences in the response to drugs. Genomic information may allow more accurate prediction of an individual9s drug response and selection of the appropriate drug dosage. Information for Phase I trial are limited to define maximum tolerated dose and define toxicity of drugs. To optimize the objectives of Phase I trials we decide to propose concomitant screenings of anticancer drugs on yeast. Methods: Our pharmacogenomic tool uses yeast as first step to identitfy gene(s) that potentially affect(s) pharmacodynamics of anticancer drugs. Yeast has proven to be a powerful instrument to this purpose: its small, compact genome has completely been sequenced showing that many yeast proteins share similarity to human ones. Several of these are involved in human diseases (Hartwell et al., 1997), making this simple organism very appealing for anticancer drug discovery. We intend to use yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system to identify drug responsive genes that will be then validated in human cells and tissues (second step). A concomitant screening on yeast model/phase I trial will be performed in IFOM /IEO in order to identify mutants that exhibit resistance or hypersensitivity to drug treatments. Mechanistic studies will be carried out when applicable. Results: From 2006 at IFOM a pharmacogenomic platform is operative and devoted to the identification of the chemical genetic profiles of several anticancer drugs. Several drugs have been tested on the 6000 yeast mutants grown on solid medium. We will screen for those mutants exhibiting sensitivity or resistance to the drugs. This will be carried out by using a Virtek robotic station to replica-plate the mutant libraries. Mechanistic studies are also ongoing aimed at elucidating the mechanistic aspects of drug activity. In particular, the results concerning genes involved in pharmacosensitivity and resistance to cisplatin will be presented at the Meeting (Ferrari E et al). Furthermore, we will proceed by investigating the "status" of the genes of interest in human tissues. Frozen tissues will be microdissected by Laser Capture Microdissection in order to obtain purified cell populations from tumor. The cDNA from these tissues will be used to retrospectively understand whether there is a correlation between the expression of the genes identified, measured by RT-PCR, and tumor response to chemotherapy. The DNA of the genes of interest will also be sequenced to investigate the presence of mutation or polymorphisms. Conclusions: The yeast system allows analysing of gene knock-out and mutations, whereas in the mammal cell lines we can study only gene knock-out. An additional advantage is that many of these model systems use cell lines and associated genomic data that are publicly available. Furthermore co-studies will be exploring on animal models the sequencing of drugs for phase I trials. Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2193.


Originalism is a term used modernly to describe a particular and controversial approach to constitutional interpretation in which the text of the document is understood and applied as "intelligent and informed people of the time" of enactment would have understood and applied it. Originalism's most ardent proponents on the current United States Supreme Court include Justice Antonin Scalia and, with increasing frequency and rigidity, Justice Clarence Thomas. In Morse v. Frederick, the Court's most recent foray into First and Fourteenth Amendment protection of student speech in a public school setting, these two Justices seem to part company over the relevance and utility of an originalist analysis. Justice Thomas wrote a separate concurring opinion in which he argues that a commitment to originalism compels a fundamental reexamination of whether public school students enjoy any free speech rights at all. This Essay examines the Court's various opinions in Morse, focusing in particular on the lessons about originalism - in the school speech setting and more generally - that might be gleaned from a careful look at Justice Thomas's opinion and its failure to attract support even from other originalist-minded Justices.


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Since the 1990's, network reliability has been considered as a new index for evaluating transportation networks under uncertainty. A large number of studies have been revealed in the literature in this field, which are mostly dedicated to developing relevant measures that can be utilized for the evaluation of vulnerable networks under different sources of uncertainty, such as daily traffic flow fluctuations, natural disasters, weather conditions, and so fourth. This paper addresses the resource allocation problem in vulnerable transportation networks, in which multiple performance reliability measures should be met at their desired levels, while the overall cost of upgrading links' performances should be minimized simultaneously. For this purpose, a new approach has been considered to formulate the two well-known performance measures, connectivity and capacity reliability, along with their application in a bi-objective nonlinear mixed integer goal programming model. In order to take into account the uncertain conditions of supply, links' capacities have been assumed to be random variables and follow normal distribution functions. A computationally efficient method has been developed that allows calculating the network-wise performance indices simply by means of a set of functions of links' performance reliabilities. Using this approach, as the performance reliability of links are themselves functions of the random links' capacities, they can be simply calculated through numerical integration. To achieve desirable levels for both connectivity reliability and capacity reliability (as network-wise performance reliability measures) two distinct objectives have been considered. One of the objectives seeks to maximize each of the measures regardless of what is happening to the other objective function which minimizes the budget. Since optimization models with two conflicting objectives cannot be solved directly, the well-known goal attainment multi-objective decision-making (MODM) approach has been adapted to formulate the model as a single objective model. Then the resultant single objective model has been solved through the generalized gradient method, which is a straightforward solution algorithm coded in existing commercial software such as MATLAB programming software. To show the applicability of the proposed model, numerical results are provided for a simple network. Also, to show the sensitiveness of the model to decision maker's direction weights, the results of sensitivity analysis are presented..


The financial crisis shifted the focus of monetary policy. Whereas before the crisis the main goal of using monetary policy instruments was to keep the inflation rate low after the crisis policy makers put much emphasis on stabilizing the financial system. The economic literature has started to elaborate on the issue of macroprudential regulation only recently. Financial turbulences, by their very nature, constitute a complex dynamic phenomenon. Hence, an analysis employing tools of system dynamics should help to improve our understanding of the underlying feedbacks. In order to link economic reasoning and the systems approach a model of financial behavior developed by Stein is introduced and used to create building blocks for a basic dynamic simulation model.


The hydrodynamic mechanisms responsible for the genesis and facies variability of shallow‐marine sandstone storm deposits (tempestites) have been intensely debated, with particular focus on hummocky cross‐stratification. Despite being ubiquitously utilized as diagnostic elements of high‐energy storm events, the full formative process spectrum of tempestites and hummocky cross‐stratification is still to be determined. In this study, detailed sedimentological investigations of more than 950 discrete tempestites within the Lower Cretaceous Rurikfjellet Formation on Spitsbergen, Svalbard, shed new light on the formation and environmental significance of hummocky cross‐stratification, and provide a reference for evaluation of tempestite facies models. Three generic types of tempestites are recognized, representing deposition from: (i) relatively steady and (ii) highly unsteady storm‐wave‐generated oscillatory flows or oscillatory‐dominated combined‐flows; and (iii) various storm‐wave‐modified hyperpycnal flows (including waxing–waning flows) generated directly from plunging rivers. A low‐gradient ramp physiography enhanced both distally progressive deceleration of the hyperpycnal flows and the spatial extent and relative magnitude of wave‐added turbulence. Sandstone beds display a wide range of simple and complex configurations of hummocky cross‐stratification. Features include ripple cross‐lamination and 'compound' stratification, soft‐sediment deformation structures, local shifts to quasi‐planar lamination, double draping, metre‐scale channelized bed architectures, gravel‐rich intervals, inverse‐to‐normal grading, and vertical alternation of sedimentary structures. A polygenetic model is presented to account for the various configurations of hummocky cross‐stratification that may commonly be produced during storms by wave oscillations, hyperpycnal flows and downwelling flows. Inherent storm‐wave unsteadiness probably facilitates the generation of a wide range of hummocky cross‐stratification configurations due to: (i) changes in near‐bed oscillatory shear stresses related to passing wave groups or tidal water‐level variations; (ii) multidirectional combined‐flows related to polymodal and time‐varying orientations of wave oscillations; and (iii) syndepositional liquefaction related to cyclic wave stress. Previous proximal–distal tempestite facies models may only be applicable to relatively high‐gradient shelves, and new models are necessary for low‐gradient settings.


In this paper, I describe the application of genetic programming to evolve a controller for a robotic tank in a simulated environment. The purpose is to explore how genetic techniques can best be applied to produce controllers based on subsumption and behavior oriented languages such as REX. As part of my implementation, I developed TableRex, a modification of REX that can be expressed on a fixed-length genome. Using a fixed subsumption architecture of TableRex modules, I evolved robots that beat some of the most competitive hand-coded adversaries.


In the present study, mixed systems composed of SDS in the presence of neutral cyclodextrins were considered. Firstly, the effect of the CDs on the CMC of the surfactant was evaluated by CE experiments. Furthermore, a new CE approach based on electric current measurement was developed for the estimation of the stoichiometry as well as of the binding constants of SDS-CDs complexes. The results of these investigations were compared to those obtained with a different technique, electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The obtained results suggested that methylated CDs, in particular (2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (DM-beta-CD), strongly affect the micellization of SDS in comparison to the other studied CDs. This effect also paralleled the chiral CD-MEKC performance, as indicated by the enantioresolution of (+/-)-Catechin, which was firstly selected as a model compound representative of important chiral phytomarkers. Then a CD-MEKC system, composed of sodium dodecyl sulfate as surfactant (90 mM) and hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (25 mM) as chiral selector, under acidic conditions (25 mM borate – phosphate buffer, pH 2.5) was applied to study the thermal epimerisation of epi-structured catechins, (-)-Epicatechin and (-)-Epigallocatechin, to non epi-structured (-)-Catechin and (-)-Gallocatechin. The latter compounds, being non-native molecules, were for the first time regarded as useful phytomarkers of tea sample degradation. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of more than twenty tea samples of different geographical origins (China, Japan, Ceylon), having undergone different storage conditions and manufacturing processes.


The essay tries to offer a constitutional view of the "surrogacy". It would analyse the legal interests protected by the Italian absolute prohibition of surrogacy, as laid down by the law on medically assisted procreation no. 40/2004. It starts by explanation the two different perspectives to observe the prohibition laid down by the article 12, co. 6 of the law no. 40/2004. Especially, the paper considers the "ex post" perspective that is when intended parents apply for recognition of legal parentage. The paper analyses the most recent jurisprudence regarding "public order limit" and "the best interests of the child" to demonstrate the irrelevance about woman position. Moving from the Constitutional Court sentence no. 272/2017, the paper suggests to interpret the surrogacy prohibition in accordance with articles no. 2, 3 and 32 of Italian Constitution.


Cache-coherent non-uniform memory access (ccNUMA) systems enable parallel applications to scale-up to thousands of cores and many terabytes of main memory. However, since remote accesses come at an increased cost, extra measures are necessitated to scale the applications to high core-counts and process far greater amounts of data than a typical server can hold. In a similar manner to how applications are optimized to improve cache utilization, applications also need to be optimized to improve data-locality on ccNUMA systems to use larger topologies effectively. The first step to optimizing an application is to understand what slows it down. Consequently, profiling tools, or manual instrumentation, are necessary to achieve this. When optimizing applications on large ccNUMA systems, however, there are limited mechanisms to capture and present actionable telemetry. This is partially driven by the proprietary nature of such interconnects, but also by the lack of development of a common and accessible (read open-source) framework that developers or vendors can leverage. In this paper, we present an open-source, extensible framework that captures high-rate on-chip events with low overhead (<10% single-core utilization). The presented framework can operate in live or record mode, allowing both real-time monitoring or capture for later post-workload or offline analysis. High-resolution visualization is available either through a standards-based (web) interactive graphical interface or through a convenient textual interface for quick-look analysis.


Abstract Objectives In the present analysis, we seek to establish a relationship between time spent on food-related activities and food security status as well as between time spent on these activities and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program) participation and benefit level. Design After matching similar households using Coarsened Exact Matching, we estimate the relationship between food-related time, food insecurity and SNAP participation and benefit level using a comprehensive data set that combines two subsets of the Current Population Survey from years 2004–2010: the Food Security Supplement and the American Time Use Survey. Setting City, suburban and rural areas of the USA. Subjects Non-institutionalized US population over the age of 15 years. Total sample size is 10 247 households. Results In single households, food insecurity and SNAP participation are associated with 20 % more time in meal preparation and 13 % less time eating. Similarly, in married households, SNAP participation and benefit level are associated with 32 % less time in meal preparation while food insecurity is associated with 17 % less time eating and 14 % less time in grocery shopping. Conclusions A significant relationship exists between time spent on food-related activities and food insecurity and SNAP. This implies that federal and state government may need to consider the time constraints many low-income households face when reforming food assistance programmes.


Offspring desertion is often a plastic behavioral strategy that requires precise timing as the termination of parental care may have profound consequences for the fitness of parents and offspring. However, the decision process involved with termination of care is still poorly understood. Snowy Plovers Charadrius nivosus show highly flexible brood care with some females deserting the brood early and re-mate, whereas others provide extended care until the young are independent. Using a dynamic modeling framework, we investigated the effect of multiple factors on the decision-making process of female brood care in Ceuta, Mexico over a 7-year period. Females were more likely to stay with larger broods, while their probability of care was lower at the beginning of the season, when re-mating opportunities are higher than later in the season. Offspring condition at hatching did not influence the length of female care. Chick death and offspring desertion frequently coincided, suggesting that deteriorating offspring condition may trigger female desertion. Females deserted broods with high survival prospects when their absence did not impact negatively chick survival. Conversely, females deserted broods with low survival prospects when chick mortality despite female care reduced the value of the brood and re-mating was still possible. This suggests that female Snowy Plovers are sensitive to the needs and the value of their broods and adjust their parental care strategy accordingly. Taken together, we conclude that offspring desertion is a highly plastic behavior that allows females to maximize their reproductive success in a stochastic environment.


Bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma ( Trypanozoon ) brucei were observed in Vitro to possess long filaments arising from both the posterior end and the tip of the flagellum, and also to become attached to various substrates, including themselves. The filaments were examined by negative staining and thin-section techniques and found to have a structure resembling filopodia. However, as their functional significance is still questionable, their designation as filopodia must be considered provisional. The possible functions of these structures, such as mediation of attachment, and release of antigenic material, are discussed.


The state of global water resources and the environment is rapidly deteriorating despite international conservation efforts. The situation in the Asian monsoon region and regions in Africa, in particular, has become serious. Many past measures to conserve water resources have been ineffective because of weak governance and lack of capacity to tackle environmental and water-related issues. Adequate knowledge and information is therefore vital in the sound management of water resources, and a number of databases have been developed to share information on water issues. Only a few, however, deal in a unified manner with laws and regulations, how they have been evolving, and cases of policy response as governments strive to cope with water issues. In practice, in order to strengthen governance of the water environment, governmental officers and other stakeholders need to integrate past experiences into new approaches to effectively address water problems. A database including such background information would be an important tool for decision-makers. To this end the objective of the Water Environment Partnership in Asia project (WEPA), proposed by Japan's Ministry of the Environment at the Third World Water Forum in 2003, is to provide a platform to share knowledge and experiences related to the water environment in the Asian monsoon region and to promote good governance in this area by providing important information and past experiences.


The surfaces of macroalgal thalli are colonized by planktonic propagules (larvae, spores, cells, etc.) from a wide diversity of eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Colonization (here defined broadly to include processes such as settlement, attachment, metamorphosis, biofilm formation, and infection) of seaweed surfaces can be both induced and inhibited by metabolites produced at those surfaces. However, detailed examples of chemically mediated interactions at seaweed surfaces for which chemical cues have been characterized, quantified in situ, a biological effect determined, and the consequences to the demography of the seaweeds or colonizers demonstrated are very rare. Here we briefly review the literature on both deterrents ("natural antifoulants") and inducers of colonization and on interactions at seaweed surfaces between the hosts and associated bacterial biofilms. One theme that emerges is the strong need to integrate ecology, cell biology, and chemistry to understand the distribution of surface‐active molecules in situ and their ecological consequences. This multidisciplinary approach is further emphasized for research on biofilms on seaweeds, where recently developed molecular tools for characterizing bacterial communities are opening up an entire new area of marine chemical ecology. Finally, we emphasize an integrated approach to the topic, as we believe that many aspects of somewhat disparate fields including, for example, induction of larval settlement, algal pathogenesis, and the molecular biology of bacterial signaling can be usefully viewed within the overall framework of chemical mediation of surface colonization.


The Android operating system is currently dominating the mobile device market in terms of penetration and growth rate. An important contributor to its success are a wealth of cheap and easy-to-install mobile applications, known as apps. Today, installing untrusted apps is the norm, though this comes with risks: malware is ubiquitous and can easily leak confidential and sensitive data. In this work, we investigate the extent to which we can specify complex information flow properties using existing specification languages for runtime monitoring, with the goal to encapsulate potentially harmful apps and prevent private data from leaking. By modelling a set of representative, Android-specific security policies with Tracematches, JavaMOP, Dataflow Pointcuts and PQL, we are able to identify policylanguage features that are crucial for effectively defining runtime-enforceable Android security properties. Our evaluation demonstrates that while certain property languages suit our purposes better than others, they all lack essential features that would, if present, allow users to provide effective security guarantees about apps. We discuss those shortcomings and propose several possible mechanisms to overcome them.


Significance Hydrocarbon production from unconventional sources is growing rapidly, accompanied by concerns about drinking-water contamination and other environmental risks. Using noble gas and hydrocarbon tracers, we distinguish natural sources of methane from anthropogenic contamination and evaluate the mechanisms that cause elevated hydrocarbon concentrations in drinking water near natural-gas wells. We document fugitive gases in eight clusters of domestic water wells overlying the Marcellus and Barnett Shales, including declining water quality through time over the Barnett. Gas geochemistry data implicate leaks through annulus cement (four cases), production casings (three cases), and underground well failure (one case) rather than gas migration induced by hydraulic fracturing deep underground. Determining the mechanisms of contamination will improve the safety and economics of shale-gas extraction. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have enhanced energy production but raised concerns about drinking-water contamination and other environmental impacts. Identifying the sources and mechanisms of contamination can help improve the environmental and economic sustainability of shale-gas extraction. We analyzed 113 and 20 samples from drinking-water wells overlying the Marcellus and Barnett Shales, respectively, examining hydrocarbon abundance and isotopic compositions (e.g., C2H6/CH4, δ13C-CH4) and providing, to our knowledge, the first comprehensive analyses of noble gases and their isotopes (e.g., 4He, 20Ne, 36Ar) in groundwater near shale-gas wells. We addressed two questions. (i) Are elevated levels of hydrocarbon gases in drinking-water aquifers near gas wells natural or anthropogenic? (ii) If fugitive gas contamination exists, what mechanisms cause it? Against a backdrop of naturally occurring salt- and gas-rich groundwater, we identified eight discrete clusters of fugitive gas contamination, seven in Pennsylvania and one in Texas that showed increased contamination through time. Where fugitive gas contamination occurred, the relative proportions of thermogenic hydrocarbon gas (e.g., CH4, 4He) were significantly higher (P < 0.01) and the proportions of atmospheric gases (air-saturated water; e.g., N2, 36Ar) were significantly lower (P < 0.01) relative to background groundwater. Noble gas isotope and hydrocarbon data link four contamination clusters to gas leakage from intermediate-depth strata through failures of annulus cement, three to target production gases that seem to implicate faulty production casings, and one to an underground gas well failure. Noble gas data appear to rule out gas contamination by upward migration from depth through overlying geological strata triggered by horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing.


The recent installation of a full metal, ITER-like, first wall provided the opportunity to study the impact of the plasma-facing materials on plasma initiation or breakdown. This study for the first time presents a full experimental characterisation of tokamak breakdown at JET, using all discharges since 2008, covering both operations with a main chamber carbon and a beryllium ITER-like main chamber wall. It was found that the avalanche phase was unaffected by the change in wall material. However, changes in out-gassing by the wall and lower carbon levels resulted in better controlled density and significantly lower radiation during the burn-through phase with the ITER-like wall. Breakdown failures, that usually developed with a carbon wall during the burn-through phase (especially after disruptions) were absent with the ITER-like wall. These observations match with the results obtained from a new model of plasma burn-through that includes plasma–surface interactions (Kim et al 2012 Nucl. Fusion 52 103016). This shows that chemical sputtering of carbon is the determining factor for the impurity content, and hence also radiation, during the burn-through phase for operations with a carbon wall. As seen experimentally, with a beryllium main wall, the plasma surface effects predicted by the model do not raise the radiation levels much above those expected for pure deuterium plasmas. With the ITER-like wall, operation with higher pre-fill pressures, and thus higher breakdown densities, was possible, which helped maintaining the density after breakdown.


Chapter 4 A Comprehensive Approach to Cyber Security – Trends, Challenges and the Way Forward Raphael Perl and Nemanja Malisevic 1 Growing dependence on information technology (IT) and increasing interconnection of critical (information) infrastructures have made a secure cyberspace vital to the functioning of a modern state. Consequently, cyber threats or "cyber terrorism" remain one of the crucial concerns to be addressed by decision makers – not just political decision makers, but those from industry and civil society as well. This chapter will showcase how dependency on cyberspace is increasing and outline cyber security threats not only to governments and industry but also to the individual Internet user. Specific challenges to cyber security will be highlighted and concrete options offered on how such challenges can best be addressed by implementing an OSCE-type comprehensive approach to cyber security.2


Unit testing represents the foundational basis of the software testing pyramid, beneath integration and end-to-end testing. Automated software testing researchers have proposed a variety of techniques to assist developers in this time-consuming task. In this paper we present an approach to support developers in writing unit test cases by generating accurate and useful assert statements. Our approach is based on a state-of-the-art transformer model initially pretrained on an English textual corpus. This semantically rich model is then trained in a semi-supervised fashion on a large corpus of source code. Finally, we finetune this model on the task of generating assert statements for unit tests. The resulting model is able to generate accurate assert statements for a given method under test. In our empirical evaluation, the model was able to predict the exact assert statements written by developers in 62% of the cases in the first attempt. The results show 80% relative improvement for top-1 accuracy over the previous RNN-based approach in the literature, as well as 33% improvement over the recent Transformer-based T5 approach. We also show the substantial impact of the pretraining process on the performances of our model, as well as comparing it with assert auto-completion task. Finally, we demonstrate how our approach can be used to augment EvoSuite test cases, with additional asserts leading to improved test coverage. CCS CONCEPTS• Software and its engineering → Software testing and debugging; • Computing methodologies → Machine translation.


Epilepsy is among the most frequent findings in many, especially autosomal, chromosome aberrations. Its incidence, however, is very variable, and there are very few aberrations in which epilepsy is a constant finding. Even siblings and monozygotic twins with the same aberration are often discordant for seizure disorders. Similar observations can be made for congenital (major) malformations in chromosome aberrations. The common explanation is that in these instances epilepsy is not caused by the action of a single gene in single or triple dose, but is influenced by the combined action of a number of genes within and outside of the aneuploid segment. The situation is comparable to a polygenic model of inheritance. Gene mutations associated with epilepsy are known, to date, only for two disorders: the lissencephaly 1 gene in Miller-Dieker syndrome and mutations in the UBE3A gene in Angelman syndrome. Chromosome aberrations in which epilepsy is a major and consistent finding include Angelman syndrome due to loss of the maternal 15q11.2-q12 segment, tetrasomy of the maternal segment 15pter-q13 due to an additional inv dup chromosome, Miller-Dieker syndrome due to deletion of the 17p13.3 segment including the lissencephaly1 gene, ring chromosome 20, and Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome due to deletion of at least the 4p16.3 segment.


Cost of data centers has risen sharply in the past few years. Today, it represents about 3% of total US energy consumption with projections to increase further in the coming years. In this paper, we focus on the server infrastructure and observe that workload consolidation techniques, which maximize power efficiency of server systems, do not automatically optimize the overall system power efficiency especially when compute engines and the corresponding on-board cooling systems are considered holistically. We design SpinSmart, a framework that explores optimal server fan speeds to minimize the overall system energy consumption. We explore core capping strategies that estimate the desired number of CPU cores to be used at any given time to minimize combined CPU+fan power. Our experimental results show that we are able to achieve 1) energy savings of up to 10% of total energy and 80% of cooling energy when compared to workload consolidation without core capping strategy; 2) cooling energy savings up to 42% when compared to the strategy that randomly assigns jobs to all the servers and cores.


Usage of Instructional Multimedia to Enhance Interactivity Through Web-Based Learning in P-12 Settings Sharon L. Teabo The purpose of this study was to analyze multiple media as instructional technologies used to enhance interactivity in a web-based environment and to illustrate the potential for improved learning with interactive multimedia. This study identified instructional media that teachers use, the level of engagement with the media, and determined that there was a correlation between the types and use of instructional media and cognitive level of learning. Research shows that web-based instruction has the ability to engage learners in realworld tasks. This type of authentic learning has the potential to promote higher order thinking provided students are properly skilled in the use of instructional technologies and confident in the use of the web. This study examines the types and use of instructional media integrated in web-based lessons of P-12 study participants. The correlation between types and use of instructional media and cognitive levels of learning are examined with Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and Tomei's Instructional Technology Taxonomy. These two taxonomies were customized to reflect integrated instructional media and associated instructional strategies based on web-units completed by study participants. An in-depth analysis of an intensity sampling who exhibited high use of active instructional media was conducted to corroborate results gathered through quantitative methods, to add validity to this study, and to examine participants' perceptions of instructional media and their use. The study shows a correlation between the types and use of specific instructional media. Specific instructional media were integrated more frequently at low levels on each taxonomy than others. In-depth analysis corroborated findings and analysis of emergent themes yielded additional insight regarding the types and ways in which instructional media were integrated.


Nutrition plays a major role in maternal and child health and it is widely recognized that optimum nutrition in early life is the foundation for long-term health. A healthy maternal dietary pattern, along with adequate maternal body composition, metabolism and placental nutrient supply, reduces the risk of maternal, fetal and long-term effects in the offspring. While undernutrition is mainly an issue of low-income countries, malnutrition, due to poor quality diet, is becoming a global health problem.Preconceptional counseling of women of childbearing age should spread awareness of the importance of maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy and should promote a cultural lifestyle change, in favor of a healthy weight before conceiving and balanced healthy diet with high-quality foods consumption. Supplementation and/or fortification can make a contribution when recommended micronutrient intakes are difficult to be met through food alone. In industrialized countries, although a balanced diet is generally accessible, a switch to a high-fat and low-quality diet has led to inadequate vitamin and mineral intake during pregnancy. Evidence do not support a routine multiple micronutrient supplementation but highlights the importance of an individualized approach, in order to recognize nutritional deficiencies of individuals, thus leading to healthful dietary practices prior to conception and eventually to tailored supplementation. Proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Neonatology and Satellite Meetings · Cagliari (Italy) · October 26th-31st, 2015 · From the womb to the adultGuest Editors: Vassilios Fanos (Cagliari, Italy), Michele Mussap (Genoa, Italy), Antonio Del Vecchio (Bari, Italy), Bo Sun (Shanghai, China), Dorret I. Boomsma (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Gavino Faa (Cagliari, Italy), Antonio Giordano (Philadelphia, USA)


A method for evaluating the line sharpness in digital printings is established. First of all, a test diagram, with some lines spaced with the same distance as the lines width, orienting in horizontal and vertical direction, was designed. A digital printer was used to output the test diagram on eighteen kinds of paper commonly used in market. From the eight attributes of line quality in ISO/IEC 13660 standard, three attributes, that are contrast, edge raggedness and line width, which were extracted our to be the main index describing the line sharpness. Furthermore, connecting them with the subjective evaluation, an evaluation model for predicting the perceived line sharpness were established, and the model show that the perceived line sharpness was highly correlated with these three attributes, among which quantified contrast exhibits the highest correlation with subjective, while raggedness and width exhibits a similar and weaker correlation. The perceived line sharpness was able to be predicted through a linear model.


Polymer-free drug-eluting stents (PF-DES) were designed with the expectation of avoiding late restenosis and thrombosis related to the polymer used in traditional DES platforms. Furthermore, due to similarities with bare metal stents after drug elution, PF-DES has been considered as particularly suitable for patients at high bleeding risk. A variety of PF-DES platforms have been clinically tested. Despite their theoretical advantages, PF platforms showed comparable clinical outcomes with modern permanent- or biodegradable polymer-based DES up to 5 years after implantation. Use of more biocompatible polymers on the modern DES platforms is one of the reasons therefore. Their improved safety profile allows already less intensive antithrombotic regimes after DES. Hence, nowadays PF-DES platforms can be considered as one of many DES options for percutaneous treatment of coronary artery disease.


The similarities in scope and objectives between information literacy and media literacy education are remarkable. On the surface, each is concerned with issues of access, analysis, evaluation, and use or production. Even beyond these basic tenets, guiding learners toward critical thought, creative agency, ethical use and production of information, and civic empowerment are shared concerns. In fact, as librarians begin to work with the generation of students dubbed "Generation M" by the Kaiser Family Foundation, we will increasingly find the distinctions between information and media literacies breaking down. Generation M, or the media generation, has grown up steeped in media exposure and with unprecedented access to technologies enabling information consumption and production. Recognizing and addressing the unique relationship this generation feels to media and information offers us an exciting opportunity to re-imagine information literacy instruction at the college level. Additionally, media literacy instruction invites librarians to forge dynamic working partnerships with professors, information technologists, and local media activists. While the term "information literacy" might alienate some potential allies, media studies scholarship is a familiar discipline for faculty and media-makers already working with film, television, cyberjournalism, and digital media.


Fault is one of the most important factors affecting tunnel instability. As a significant and casual construction of Jinping II hydropower station, when the drain tunnel is excavated at depth of 1600 m, rockbursts and water inrush induced by several huge faults and zone of fracture have restricted the development of the whole construction. In this paper, a progressive failure progress numerical analysis code-RFPA (abbreviated from Rock Failure Process Analysis) is applied to investigate the influence of faults on tunnel instability and damaged zones. Numerical simulation is performed to analyze the stress distribution and wreck regions of the tunnel, and the results are consistent with the phenomena obtained from field observation. Moreover, the effects of fault characteristics and positions on the construction mechanical response are studied in details. Some distribution rules of surrounding rock stress of deep-buried tunnel are summarized to provide the reasonable references to TBM excavation and post-support of the drain tunnel, as well as the design and construction of similar engineering in future.


The analysis focuses on the government budget constraint and the resolution of inconsistent implications of different policy instruments under that constraint. We show how, under floating exchange rates, external shocks or internal structural reforms may cause jumps in inflation and the exchange rate through their impact on the government budget. In order to achieve a sustainable reduction in inflation an exchange rate freeze or crawling peg is shown to require restrictions not only on domestic credit, but also on the rate of increase in interest-bearing public debt. We endogenize regime collapse by introducing rational speculation against the central bank, and show that if an exchange rate freeze collapses, post-collapse inflation will exceed the rate prevailing before the freeze started.


Magnetic susceptibility variations observed in Quaternary loess sequences of China have been linked to pedogenesis and used to characterize terrestrial climatic variations through glacial-interglacial transitions. To date, however, magnetic studies of loess sequences have been applied exclusively to Quaternary deposits. Here we demonstrate preservation of magnetic susceptibility variations in an upper Paleozoic loessite sequence of western North America. Magnetic susceptibility through a continuously exposed test section of the loessite varies by more than an order of magnitude: low values occur in unaltered loessite horizons, and high values are found in sedimentologically confirmed or suspected paleosol horizons. Low-temperature remanence and hysteresis data indicate that the susceptibility variations between paleosol and loessite horizons relate to differences in concentration and grain size of the magnetic carrier. These results are consistent with in situ formation of ultra-fine-grained (superparamagnetic) material during pedogenesis. We suggest that these susceptibility variations relate to periodic pedogenesis linked to late Paleozoic climatic fluctuations in low latitudes of western Pangea.


With a new administration in Washington and a new consensus that carbon dioxide emissions are causing catastrophic climate change, it is becoming clear that the United States will soon adopt some form of market-based regulation scheme. Though many would argue that the United States should have instituted a regulatory scheme years ago, the country will reap one distinct advantage from having a late start: the ability to learn from the European Union's ambitious efforts to tackle the problem of industrial carbon emissions for nearly five years. There are many ways that governments and other regulating bodies can regulate and control industrial carbon emissions, but two of the main methods are the traditional "command and control" strategy in which government sets unwavering limits on how much carbon each business can emit, and a system of "tradable emissions permits"—sometimes called cap and trade—in which a government sets an emissions limit, or cap, for each business or industry and issues permits that correspond to the allowed emissions amounts. Businesses within the system can buy and sell emissions permits to each other, enabling those who need and can afford to emit more carbon to do so without the overall limit being exceeded.


Population growth and intense consumptive water uses are generating pressures on water resources in the southeast of Spain. Improving the knowledge of the climate change impacts on water cycle processes at the basin scale is a step to building adaptive capacity. In this work, regional climate model (RCM) ensembles are considered as an input to the hydrological model, for improving the reliability of hydroclimatic projections. To build the RCMs ensembles, the work focuses on probability density function (PDF)-based evaluation of the ability of RCMs to simulate of rainfall and temperature at the basin scale. To improve the spatial calibration of the continuous hydrological model used, an algorithm for remote sensing actual evapotranspiration (AET) retrieval was applied. From the results, a clear decrease in runoff is expected for 2050 in the headwater basin studied. The plausible future scenario of water shortage will produce negative impacts on the regional economy, where the main activity is irrigated agriculture.