Belief Propagation (BP) is a widely used approximation for exact probabilistic inference in graphical models, such as Markov Random Fields (MRFs). In graphs with cycles, however, no exact convergence guarantees for BP are known, in general. For the case when all edges in the MRF carry the same symmetric, doubly stochastic potential, recent works have proposed to approximate BP by linearizing the update equations around default values, which was shown to work well for the problem of node classification. The present paper generalizes all prior work and derives an approach that approximates loopy BP on any pairwise MRF with the problem of solving a linear equation system. This approach combines exact convergence guarantees and a fast matrix implementation with the ability to model heterogenous networks. Experiments on synthetic graphs with planted edge potentials show that the linearization has comparable labeling accuracy as BP for graphs with weak potentials, while speeding-up inference by orders of magnitude.


Abstract We introduce martingales defined by probabilistic strategies, in which randomness is used to decide whether to bet. We show that different criteria for the success of computable probabilistic strategies can be used to characterize ML-randomness, computable randomness, and partial computable randomness. Our characterization of ML-randomness partially addresses a critique of Schnorr by formulating ML randomness in terms of a computable process rather than a computably enumerable function.


This paper documents the development, calibration, and evaluation of a novel simulation model for understanding and predicting failures of wastewater pipe systems. The model is presented and subsequently calibrated and evaluated, within the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation framework, against a historical record of pipe failures in the Newcastle region. It is shown that the model has significant utility in many aspects of the operational management of the pipe system by providing a framework for disaggregation of the multiple environmental factors that contribute to the overall failure rate. The disaggregation is achieved within an uncertainty framework, thus providing quantified uncertainty estimates. Such analysis will be of significant use in life cycle analyses and costing of networks, and hence in optimizing replacement strategies, as well as in the assessment of regulatory compliance. Additionally, it is argued that the developed model can provide a rigorous basis for real-time forecasting of major trends in system failures through coupling to ENSO phenomena forecasts, thus providing valuable managerial insight into periods of expected high repair/replacement costs, to which current practice is largely reactive.


In ATM networks, preventive congestion control is widely recognized for efficiently avoiding congestion, and it is implemented by a conjunction of connection admission control and usage parameter control. However, congestion may still occur because of unpredictable statistical fluctuation of traffic sources even when preventive control is performed in the network. The authors study another kind of congestion control, i.e., reactive congestion control, in which each source changes its cell emitting rate adaptively to the traffic load at the switching node (or at the multiplexer). The intention is that, by incorporating such a congestion control method in ATM networks, more efficient congestion control is established. They develop an analytical model, and carry out an approximate analysis of reactive congestion control algorithm. Numerical results show that the reactive congestion control algorithms are very effective in avoiding congestion and in achieving the statistical gain. Furthermore, the binary congestion control algorithm with push-out mechanism is shown to provide the best performance among the reactive congestion control algorithms treated. >


Department of Defense· contractors must be established for ASTIA services, or have their " need-to-know" certified by the cognizant military agency of their project or contract.


Most scientists, especially women, are fascinated by Marie Curie. In the early part of the twentieth century, when professional opportunities for women were rare, she was the first woman to obtain a doctoral degree from the Sorbonne. Curie carried out groundbreaking research, providing the first detailed description of radioactivity and using its detection to discover two new elements: polonium and radium. She was awarded Nobel prizes in physics (1903) and in chemistry (1911). In 1995 her (still-radioactive!) ashes were interred in the Pantheon in Paris, making her the first and only woman to receive such an honor.

Obsessive genius: the inner world of Marie Curie, a biography by Barbara Goldsmith, appears at a time when women are still underrepresented in most fields of science. Perceptions that women are less competent than men in math and science persist, although there is no evidence to support the idea. There is also the opinion that achieving professional success in science is so demanding that women who wish to pursue a scientific career must forgo family life.

Curie's life and accomplishments directly contradict these ideas. She overcame significant prejudices against professional women. She combined her scientific career with a fulfilling and devoted marriage to Pierre Curie, her scientific collaborator. After her husband's death, Curie raised their two daughters alone. Understanding her life provides insight and inspiration for all scientists.

Goldsmith's work is compact and readable. Her goal is to understand the real woman behind the myths created by the general public and Hollywood filmmakers. To a significant extent, she has achieved this goal. Goldsmith has drawn heavily from primary sources, including Curie's publications, diaries, and journals as well as family biographies, some of which have only become available recently.

The book is successful on several levels. The scientific questions that Marie and Pierre Curie investigated are explained in a way that makes them easy to understand, even for lay readers. Goldsmith also provides a context for the Curies' discoveries by describing the personalities and scientific achievements of their contemporaries, including Rutherford, Becquerel, and Rontgen.

Goldsmith describes each phase of Curie's life with candor and an appealing lack of sentimentality. Her tone, while basically sympathetic, is analytical and nonjudgmental. The section on Curie's formative years is particularly fascinating. Curie was the fifth child of impoverished intellectual parents in Poland. Her parents placed importance on academic achievement and had a low opinion of "frivolous" concerns such as social life, pleasure, or personal appearance. In fact, her father was never satisfied with Curie's accomplishments. As he was dying, she told him she had succeeded in purifying radium. He commented, "What a pity it is that this work has only theoretical interest."

Her time as a governess in Poland, where she fell in love with the son of her employers, is described in a straightforward way, along with the family's rejection of their marriage. Curie survived this personal disappointment by immersing herself in scientific study, a pattern often repeated in later life. Her days as a poverty-stricken student in Paris are also recounted, without exaggeration.

The most striking aspect of Curie's life, and a continuing theme in the book, is her persistent devotion to her research. She was not deterred by physical or personal hardships. Her notable qualities were a love of science, high intelligence, the strong conviction that her work would provide important benefits for humanity, and the ability to persevere in light of the difficulties she faced.

Goldsmith does not shy away from aspects of Curie's life that show her personal weaknesses. She suffered throughout her life from bouts of depression. As a mother, she was driven more by a desire to fulfill her parental duties than by any strong affection for her daughters. After Pierre's death, she had a love affair with a married colleague, which led to a scandal when her letters to him were released to the press. Most remarkably, she was unable to achieve an unbiased understanding of the dangers posed by the radioactive elements she had discovered. While many of her contemporaries began to appreciate the increasingly apparent dangers of radioactivity and took precautions to protect themselves, Curie used her bare hands in her work and often pipetted by mouth. She even kept a vial of pure radium salts by her bedside to enjoy its "fairy-like glow."

Nevertheless, there are times when the book is disappointing, when more detailed information is sorely needed. For example, why did Curie refuse to allow Lise Meitner, another talented female physicist, to join her laboratory? Why did she delay providing the pure radium she had promised to the world community for use as a standard? Did installation of her daughter as director of the Curie Institute indicate good scientific judgment or nepotism? It is not clear whether Goldsmith failed to pursue these issues out of a desire to shield Curie's historical reputation or whether information was simply not available.

This biography is an important addition to the literature on Marie Curie. From it emerges a better understanding of a very unusual woman who was a giant among scientists of either sex or any age. The story of Curie's life makes the point that the most important thing for a scientist is to possess a passion for discovery — to be energized by curiosity and the ability to pose scientific questions and design experiments to answer them.


Surface geochemical prospecting involves the search for near-surface or surface anomalies of hydrocarbons, which could indicate the occurrence of petroleum accumulations in the sub-surface. The methodology, as applied in offshore basins, covers a range of techniques, from observation of visible oil seepage at the surface to detection of micro-seeps in near surface sediments using sensitive analytical technique. Since most rock types are not totally impervious to hydrocarbons, both light and heavy hydrocarbons will migrate upwards, from either mature source rocks or reservoirs, to near surface sediments. While the methodology for surface geochemical surveys is the subject of continuous development, the current, most favoured practice is to detect possible migration pathways from the deep to the near-surface with the aid of seismic data, often together with remote sensing data (satellite imaging etc.). The expression of such pathways at the surface is then the focus of surface geochemical prospecting grids. Most articles concentrate on the analysis of the samples and integration of the geochemical data with the geological framework. It is, however, important that the samples are collected properly and preserved in such a way that the original hydrocarbon assemblage present in the samples when they are brought onboard are preserved for analysis, i.e. care must be taken that there is no bacterial activity after the samples are collected and before they are analysed. Another important factor when undertaking surface geochemical studies is cost. In all such studies, sampling constitutes by far the greatest cost. It is therefore important that the methods used for sampling are streamlined for the purpose, i.e. that methods are not used merely because they give apparently impressive results without increasing the quality of the samples. It is very easy to double the sampling cost by using expensive techniques which do not enhance the quality of the samples. The authors have experience from a number of deep-water exploration areas. In this paper we will discuss sampling methods, preservation of samples and present data from three North Atlantic Margin studies and compare the geochemical data with drilling results where such are available.


Tourism demand is one of the major areas of tourism economics research. The current research studies the interdependencies of international tourism demand across 24 major countries around the world. To this end, it proposes to develop a tourism demand model using an innovative approach, called the global vector autoregressive (GVAR) model.
While existing tourism demand models are successful in measuring the causal effects of economic variables on tourism demand for a single origin-destination pair, they tend to miss the spillover effects onto other countries. In the era of globalisation, tourism destinations become interdependent on each other. Impacts of a distant event can be transmitted across borders and be felt globally. Hence, modelling international
tourism demand requires one to go beyond a particular origin-destination pair, and take into account the interdependencies across multiple countries. The proposed approach overcomes the 'curse of dimensionality' when modelling a large set of endogenous variables.
The empirical results show that, to different extents, co-movements of international tourism demand and of macroeconomic variables are observed across all the 24 countries. In the event of a negative shock to China's real income level and that to China's own price level, it is found that in the short run, almost all countries will face fluctuations in their international tourism demand and their own price. But in the long
run the shocks will impact on developing countries and China's neighbouring countries more deeply than on developed countries in the West.
The current research contributes to the knowledge on tourism demand. It models tourism demand in the setting of globalisation and quantifies the interdependencies across major countries. On the practical front, tourism policy makers and business practitioners can make use of the model and the results to gauge the scale of impacts of unexpected events on the international tourism demand of their native markets.


Healthcare informatics has drawn substantial attention in recent years. Current work on healthcare informatics is highly interdisciplinary involving methodologies from computing, engineering, information science, behavior science, management science, social science, as well as many different areas in medicine and public health. Three major tracks, (i) systems, (ii) analytics, and (iii) human factors, can be identified. The systems track focuses on healthcare system architecture, framework, design, engineering, and application; the analytics track emphasizes data/information processing, retrieval, mining, analytics, as well as knowledge discovery; the human factors track targets the understanding of users or context, interface design, and user studies of healthcare applications. In this article, we discuss some of the latest development and introduce several articles selected for this special issue. We envision that the development of computing-oriented healthcare informatics research will continue to grow rapidly. The integration of different disciplines to advance the healthcare and wellbeing of our society will also be accelerated.


Isolated growth hormone deficiency is a condition caused by a severe shortage or absence of growth hormone. Growth hormone is a protein that is necessary for the normal growth of the body's bones and tissues. Because they do not have enough of this hormone, people with isolated growth hormone deficiency commonly experience a failure to grow at the expected rate and have unusually short stature. This condition is usually apparent by early childhood.


For students of Chinese art and culture this anthology has proven invaluable since its initial publication in 1985. It collects important Chinese writings about painting, from the earliest examples through the fourteenth century, allowing readers to see how the art of this rich era was seen and understood in the artists' own times. Some of the texts in this treasury fall into the broad category of aesthetic theory; some describe specific techniques; some discuss the work of individual artists. Presented in accurate and readable translations, and prefaced with artistic and historical background information to the formative periods of Chinese theory and criticism. A glossary of terms and an appendix containing brief biographies of 270 artists and critics add to the usefulness of this volume.


This article explains the history of Thai language development for computers, examining such factors as the language, script, and writing system, among others. The article also analyzes characteristics of Thai characters and I/O methods, and addresses key issues involved in Thai text processing. Finally, the article reports on language processing research and provides detailed information on Thai language resources.


Background: People with Parkinson's disease (PD) may suffer from reduced mobility and resulting secondary issues. Participation in therapeutic exercise program may help ameliorate the undesired effects of decreased mobility as well as help augment optimal functional outcomes. The physical as well as cognitive benefits of aerobic exercise such as bicycling have been well documented in healthy population. Limited references to literature suggest preserved ability of bicycling, even in the face of freezing of mobility, namely gait. However, this role or ability of bicycling in PD has yet not been adequately represented in research. Objectives: The objective of the study is to assess and explore the relevance of the phenomenon of bicycling ability in PD through a review of literature. Study Design: This study was a brief review report. Methods: Articles published in indexed journals in PubMed over a period of 10 years from 2007 to 2016 were accessed and collected from their online database and were reviewed for their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms, their content, level of evidence, and study design. Results: Ten articles that included case report, single group cohort, and comparative studies were chosen in the study. The articles included were found pertaining to the phenomenon of bicycling and its relation to the freezing of gait episodes. The phenomenon of imagining cycling to reduce freezing episodes along with the preserved ability to cycle aiding in the diagnosis of typical and atypical parkinsonism was also explored. Conclusion: There is a definitive relevance of the phenomenon of bicycling in the assessment, treatment, and measuring outcome in both typical and atypical parkinsonism. Further research is required to establish a consensus on the exact role of bicycling ability and identify novel avenues for its implementation in the care of people with PD.


Predictive deconvolution has been predominantly used as a method for attenuating multiples. The inconsistency of vertical spacing and amplitude of a primary and its corresponding multiples hinders the feasibility of applying this method to shot gathers. Algorithms used to overcome this problem may select a new operator and gap length for each trace with increasing offset. An alternative, less tedious method is presented which maps the shot gather into a more suitable domain. This approach utilizes the invariability between spacing of multiples and primary reflections for a larger range of offsets in the radial domain. The results indicate better attenuation of multiples for shot gathers in the radial domain and less sensitivity of the choice of operator length and stability factor in predictive deconvolution.


There is substantial evidence that our ability to monitor our actions is based on the use of an internal forward model that uses an efference copy of the motor command to predict the sensory consequences of an action. This prediction is used to attenuate the sensory consequences of our actions. There is accumulating evidence that our ability to understand and predict the actions of others and their consequences is based on the same systems that are involved in monitoring our own actions. This thesis describes a series of experiments investigating the neural mechanisms underlying our ability to monitor our actions and predict their sensory consequences, and our ability to understand and predict the actions of others. I describe two fMRI experiments investigating the neural mechanism underlying sensorimotor attenuation during eye-blinks. I find that the neural response to visual stimulation is actively suppressed during eye-blinks. Another two studies provide evidence that our ability to monitor the actions of others and their consequences is based on the same neural mechanisms that are involved in monitoring our own actions and predicting their sensory consequences. They also suggest that the mirror system acts in a predictive manner, anticipating the actions of others, rather than merely responding to sensory input. I also examine the possibility that, in addition to using our motor systems to understand the actions of others, we understand the sensations experienced by others by representing these sensations in our own sensory cortices. I find evidence of a touch mirror system, which responds to both the observation and experience of touch. Finally, I describe two electroencephalography experiments that shed light on the development of our ability to understand other people's actions, providing evidence for the early development and involvement of the mirror system in action observation and in predicting the sensory consequences of actions.


Molecular dynamics simulations show that plastic deformation behavior of model Stillinger-Weber amorphous Si is very sensitive to the density of the initial unstressed state. Low-density systems exhibit a pronounced yield phenomenon, strain softening, and a dramatic drop in pressure during deformation at constant volume. This behavior is explained by the interplay in every system of the prevailing solid-like and liquid-like components, with the latter being denser and more amenable to plastic flow.


THENERVOUS SYSTEM constitutes arguably the most complex organ system in the human body, which contributes to the oversusceptibility of disease in this area. Although brain tumors were once an automatic death sentence, the outlook for recovery has brightened significantly in the past decade. The pathologist plays an indispensable role in surgical diagnosis; he or she must accurately diagnose a potentially wide array of disease entities, determine the spread of disease within millimeters, and assess patient prognosis. This new and modern reference in neuropathology comprehensively covers all the methods used by pathologists to accurately diagnose a wide array of neurologic illnesses. Brain and spinal cord tumors are the predominant focus, but a full spectrum of infectious, inflammatory, and congenital disorders are also covered in detail, in both pediatric and adult populations, with a full range of diagnostic modalities. The book is illustrated with more than 1,200 full-color photomicrographs and accompanied by a CD-ROM of all images in a downloadable format.


BACKGROUND
Noroviruses (NoVs) are the most common cause of epidemic gastroenteritis; however, the relative impacts of individual factors underlying severe illness are poorly understood. This report reviews published NoV outbreak reports to quantify hospitalization and mortality rates and assess their relationship with outbreak setting, transmission route, and strain.

METHODS
Using a string of terms related to "norovirus" and "outbreak," we 2435 nonduplicate articles identified in PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Knowledge published between January 1993 and June 2011. Inclusion criteria included outbreaks with a minimum of 2 ill persons with a common exposure and at least 1 reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction-confirmed case of NoV disease. Univariate analyses were performed, and multivariable models were fitted to estimate the independent effect of each factor.

RESULTS
We analyzed 843 NoV outbreaks reported in 233 published articles from 45 countries. Based upon 71724 illnesses, 501 hospitalizations, and 45 deaths, overall hospitalization and mortality rates were 0.54% and 0.06%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, genogroup 2 genotype 4 (GII.4) NoV strains were associated with higher hospitalization (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 9.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.1-14.4; P< .001) and mortality rates (IRR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.3-7.6; P = .01). Deaths were much more likely to occur in outbreaks occurring in healthcare facilities (IRR, 60; 95% CI, 6-109; P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS
Our review suggests that hospitalizations and deaths were more likely in outbreaks associated with GII.4 viruses, independent of other factors, and underscores the importance of developing vaccines against GII.4 viruses to prevent severe disease outcomes.


Abstract Economists are used to associate the rationality of individual choice behaviour with simple and unchanging individual preference patterns, typically predicting unique behavioural outcomes in a choice situation − leaving little room for probing apparent inconsistencies (except in situations of game-theoretic stratagems used by the choosers), and no provision for analysing genuine dilemmas. The paper comments on the (in this respect) richer contents of two recent extensions of the concept of rational choice: the first involved in Sen's theory of meta-ranking, and the second implied in Scitovsky's distinction between "pleasure" and "comfort" as the two constituents of the state of individual welfare. The paper then proceeds to suggest a somewhat similar extension of rationality implied, it is argued, in the idea of "development" or "becoming" as part of a chosen, distinct, and articulated process involved, specifically, in education, or more vaguely, in "modernisation". The emerging concept of rationality which permits of changes in individual preference patterns consistently, in steps, and in a direction initiated and chosen by the individual himself, is claimed in the paper to be more appropriate for the analysis of choice situations likely to be encountered by rational individuals in a complex developing society. The consistency conditions for individual behaviour permitted by such rich, "directional", rationality have, however, yet to be specified.


Abstract State authorities have taken a variety of measures aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic. One group of those measures constitutes restrictions on the freedom of economic activity. In the paper the author analyses the provisions establishing prohibitions on performing specific economic activities introduced in Poland in the period from 14 March 2020 to 31 May 2021 in order to verify whether they have sufficient legal bases. For that purpose it was necessary to establish the constitutional conditions for introducing restrictions on the freedom of economic activity. Subsequently the author verified what legal bases for the implementation of the restrictions were indicated in the legal acts introducing those restrictions and how those prohibitions have been defined. The main research method used for the purpose of the paper is the dogmatic method of analysing the provisions contained in the legal acts.


BACKGROUND
Fractures are a manifestation of osteoporosis, but therapeutic interventions to reduce the risk of recurrent fractures are not widespread.

OBJECTIVE
To identify predictors of osteoporosis treatment in postmenopausal women following distal forearm fracture.

METHODS
This population-based retrospective cohort study included all postmenopausal women, 45 years or older, residing in Olmsted County, Minnesota, who sustained a distal forearm fracture due to minimal trauma (a fall from standing height or under) in 1993 to 1997. Complete medical records were reviewed for each subject and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the relationship of baseline demographic and clinical characteristics to therapeutic interventions for osteoporosis within 12 months following the fracture.

RESULTS
A total of 343 women with a mean age of 70.5 years had a minimal trauma distal forearm fracture. Within 12 months, 83% had seen a nonorthopedic physician. Of these, 17% had a pharmacologic osteoporosis intervention and the 12-month actuarially estimated cumulative incidence of any intervention was 18% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14%-22%). In a multivariate analysis, treatment was more likely to be offered to those with a prior diagnosis of osteoporosis (relative risk [RR], 2.08; 95% CI, 1.21-3.58), previous distal forearm fracture (RR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.30-4.34), or history of cigarette smoking (RR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.11-3.12).

CONCLUSIONS
Effective osteoporosis interventions are underutilized among postmenopausal women who experience an osteoporotic fracture. Further work is needed to overcome barriers to optimal osteoporosis management in these women who are at high risk for future complications of osteoporosis.


For count-limited PET imaging protocols, two different approaches to reducing statistical noise are volume, or 3D, imaging to increase sensitivity, and statistical reconstruction methods to reduce noise propagation. These two approaches have largely been developed independently, likely due to the perception of the large computational demands of iterative 3D reconstruction methods. The authors present results of combining the sensitivity of 3D PET imaging with the noise reduction and reconstruction speed of 2D iterative image reconstruction methods. This combination is made possible by using the recently-developed Fourier rebinning technique (FORE), which accurately and noiselessly rebins 3D PET data into a 2D data set. The resulting 2D sinograms are then reconstructed independently by the ordered-subset EM (OSEM) iterative reconstruction method, although any other 2D reconstruction algorithm could be used. The authors demonstrate significant improvements in image quality for whole-body 3D PET scans by using the FORE+OSEM approach compared with the standard 3D Reprojection (3DRP) algorithm. In addition, the FORE+OSEM approach involves only 2D reconstruction and it therefore requires considerably less reconstruction time than the 3DRP algorithm, or any fully 3D statistical reconstruction algorithm.


Abstract The transition from care is a critical phase for care leavers in general, and even more complex for those who have arrived in Sweden as unaccompanied minors and belong to an ethnic minority group. The aim of this article is to examine unaccompanied minors' experiences of leaving care, and to explore the experience in relation to perceptions about ethnicity and culture within a transnational space. Interviews were completed with 11 care leavers who had been received in Sweden as unaccompanied minors. The results show that these young people have to deal with multiple adjustments. Conquering obstacles as care leavers involves not only resolving general issues such as reintegration into society, but also adjustment to perceived and created views of how to become Swedish. From the young people's point of view, this seems to be necessary to make a successful transition from care into adulthood.


Restriction enzyme digestion and field inversion gel electrophoresis were used to analyze the chromosomes of strains of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and the related organism Mycoplasma flocculare. The chromosome size for the M. hyopneumoniae type strain was calculated from individual fragments to be 1,011.3 +/- 32.9 kbp. The chromosomes of M. hyopneumoniae field strains were approximately the same size. The restriction patterns obtained for the chromosomes of phenotypically similar M. hyopneumoniae strains were quite different. Therefore, the species M. hyopneumoniae seems to be very heterogeneous. A field inversion gel electrophoresis analysis of the entire chromosomes allowed us to distinguish M. hyopneumoniae strains easily and hence to characterize further the species M. hyopneumoniae. The chromosome size for M. flocculare was calculated to be 988.3 +/- 39.5 kbp. Restriction enzyme XhoI, which statistically should cut the M. hyopneumoniae chromosome frequently, did not cut the DNA of any of the M. hyopneumoniae strains but did digest M. flocculare DNA, indicating that there is a site-specific modification at CTCGAG which probably belongs to a restriction modification system in M. hyopneumoniae and is absent in M. flocculare.


Soil and nutrient properties, via their influence on nutrient diffusion rates in the soil, may play a key role in determining the outcome of plant competition for nutrients. We used two models to explore the potential contributions of nutrient uptake kinetics, root density, soil properties, and nutrient type to interspecific plant competition for soil nutrients. The first model uses well-known nutrient diffusion and absorption relationships to generate soil nutrient concentration maps and nutrient uptake at the scale of individual roots (PARIS- M). A second model (PARIS-E) was developed based on a fit of the Hill equation to the output of PARIS-M. The PARIS-E model provides an accurate and simple means of de- termining the relative contributions of sink strength (root surface area X uptake kinetics) vs. space occupation (number of roots per unit area) to competition at equilibrium as modeled by PARIS-M. An analysis based on these two models suggests the following: (1) Diffusive supply (soil nutrient buffer capacity x effective diffusion coefficient) determines the relative im- portance of space occupation vs. sink strength for nutrient competition. (2) At the low range of reported values of diffusive supply, competition depends on space occupation and, therefore, the species with the most roots per unit area is the most competitive. Sink strength gains in importance as diffusive supply increases and dominates competitive interactions at the high end of the range of reported diffusive supplies. (3) The relative importance of space occupation vs. sink strength depends primarily on soil water content and soil texture, because diffusive supply is sensitive to these factors. Diffusive supply is relatively insen- sitive to nutrient type. This analysis suggests that nutrient competition models should include the effects of soil properties as a determinant of the relative contributions of sink strength vs. space occupation.


This paper presents technology requirements that agent is used in intrusion detection system. An intrusion detection framework based on agent is designed. In host there are different agents who implement respective task. Agents found action base through learning mechanism. Through extracting and reasoning to action base agent gets intrusion information and appends the information to intrusion rules base. Finally, simulation and implementation of the framework are done using aglets represent agents technology. The conclusion is gotten that intrusion detection based on agent has higher detection efficient and lower failure report.


Abstract. The analysis of natural hazards is still lacking in real-time and comprehensiveness. To enhance the intelligent analysis of disasters, reduce natural disasters, and provide more timely and accurate disaster warnings. The method of constructing a natural disaster research event graph using the abstracts of research literature related to natural disaster analysis as the data source is proposed. First, a rule-based matching algorithm combined with syntactic analysis is used to extract the events of the disaster analysis process and spatio-temporal information from the abstract; Then build an event storage model based on Neo4j to store the event chain and related information; Then use Word2vec to convert events into word vectors, and define the event similarity as a linear sum of the object similarity and predicate similarity of the two events, combine event similarity setting equation to calculate core nodes and perform event generalization and fusion of graphs. Based on the above method, soil erosion is used as an example to construct an event graph and provide the basis for decision making services for intelligent analysis of natural disasters.


This paper aims to examine ways in which cultural factors shape the adoption and use of information technology for online teaching. This research focuses on influential early adopters in the tertiary education sector in Turkey who have become change-agents by inspiring small networks of their peers. The study examines the operation of trust and inspiration in networking and teamwork in the Asian academic environment. Findings from this research can assist individuals and institutions to better understand ways in which to optimize the online teaching and learning experience for staff.


Indentation as a method to characterize materials has a history of more than 117 years. However, to date, it is still the most popular way to measure the mechanical properties of various materials at microscale and nanoscale. This review summarizes the background and the basic principle of processing by indentation. It is demonstrated that indentation is an effective and efficient method to identify mechanical properties, such as hardness, Young's modulus, etc., of materials at smaller scale, when the traditional tensile tests could not be applied. The review also describes indentation process via both experimental tests and numerical modelling in recent studies.


– Millimeter wave (mmWave) is playing a central role in pushing the performance and scalability of wireless networks by offering huge bandwidth and extremely high data rates. Millimeter wave radios use phased array technology to modify the antenna beam pattern and focus their power towards the transmitter or receiver. In this paper, we explore the practicality of modifying the beam pattern to suppress interference by creating nulls, i.e. directions in the beam pattern where almost no power is received. Creating nulls in practice, however, is challenging due to the fact that practical mmWave phased arrays offer very limited control in setting the parameters of the beam pattern and suffer from hardware imperfections which prevent us from nulling interference. We introduce Nulli-Fi, the first practical mmWave null steering system. Nulli-Fi combines a novel theoretically optimal algorithm that accounts for limitations in practical phased arrays with a discrete optimization framework that overcomes hardware imperfections. Nulli-Fi also introduces a fast null steering protocol to quickly null new unforeseen interferers. We implement and extensively evaluate Nulli-Fi using commercial off-the-shelf 60 GHz mmWave radios with 16-element phased arrays transmitting IEEE 802.11ad packets [33] . Our results show that Nulli-Fi can create nulls that reduce interference by up to 18 dB even when the phased array offers only 4 bits of control. In a network with 10 links (20 nodes), Nulli-Fi's ability to null interference enables 2 . 68 × higher total network throughput compared to recent past work.


Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) is widely used to identify factor binding to genomic DNA and chromatin modifications. ChIP-seq data analysis is affected by genomic regions that generate ultra-high artifactual signals. To remove these signals from ChIP-seq data, the ENCODE project developed comprehensive sets of regions defined by low mappability and ultra-high signals called blacklists for human, mouse (Mus musculus), nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans), and fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). However, blacklists are not currently available for many model and non-model species. Here we describe an alternative approach for removing false-positive peaks called greenscreen. Greenscreen is easy to implement, requires few input samples, and uses analysis tools frequently employed for ChIP-seq. Greenscreen removes artifactual signals as effectively as blacklists in Arabidopsis thaliana and human ChIP-seq dataset while covering less of the genome and dramatically improves ChIP-seq peak calling and downstream analyses. Greenscreen filtering reveals true factor binding overlap and occupancy changes in different genetic backgrounds or tissues. Because it is effective with as few as two inputs, greenscreen is readily adaptable for use in any species or genome build. Although developed for ChIP-seq, greenscreen also identifies artifactual signals from other genomic datasets including CUT&RUN. We present an improved ChIP-seq pipeline incorporating greenscreen that detects more true peaks than other methods.


Tactile feedback about, at least, hand aperture and grasping force, is required for (1) optimal control of a myoelectric forearm prosthesis, (2) to reduce the burden on the visual system and (3) to enable more subconscious use of the prosthesis. In this thesis, the possibilities of vibrotactile and electrotactile stimulation to provide this feedback to the user are investigated. Vibrotactile stimulation was preferred over electrotactile stimulation, because it is more comfortable and did not increase task durations. Several stimulation configurations (longitudinal vs. transversal oriented arrays and amplitude vs. frequency modulation, etc.) and different vibrotactile stimulators (an array of little coin motors and a C2 tactor) have been compared in virtual grasping tasks. Most of the investigated options resulted in increased grasping performances compared to situations without feedback, with no large differences between the evaluated configurations and stimulators. Subsequently, hand aperture and grasping force feedback were successfully combined in one system and it was shown that this combination also enabled discrimination of object stiffness. Experiments that are more related to daily life practice were set up by adding distractive counting tasks, by incorporating EMG control, by including upper-limb loss subjects and finally by evaluating grasping performance in daily life grasping tasks performed with a real myoelectric forearm prosthesis. Distractive tasks and EMG control did not reduce the grasping performance with vibrotactile feedback and no differences in grasping performance with vibrotactile feedback were found between healthy subjects and upper limb loss subjects. It was shown that vibrotactile feedback about hand aperture and grasping force can increase the grasping performance with a real myoelectric forearm prosthesis (for example in object identification) in situations where sight on the prosthesis is blocked. However, when visual feedback is available, no effect of the vibrotactile feedback was found after a short period of use, although subjects did perceive the feedback as helpful.


This presentation will show how an improved understanding of multicrystalline wafer quality can explain the variations in cell performance across multicrystalline silicon blocks. Using infrared scanning a silicon block was sorted out with precipitates in the middle of the block. Photoluminescence combined with defect etching revealed needle-like precipitates along the grain boundaries. The precipitations lead to reduced shunt resistance. In the middle of the block numerous crystallographic defects were identified that lower the current collection and the final cell efficiency.


Background: Within nursing, the concepts of home and homelike have been used indiscriminately to describe characteristics of healthcare settings that resemble a home more than an institution. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the concept of home (hem in Swedish). The main questions were as follows: What does the concept of home entail etymologically and semantically? Of what significance is the meaning of the concept to caring science and nursing? Design and methods: This study had a qualitative design with a hermeneutical approach guided by Gadamer. Eriksson's model of concept determination was partly used to determine the etymology and semantics, the essence and epistemic category of the concept of home. In this study, etymological dictionaries and 17 Swedish language dictionaries published between 1850 and 2001 were investigated. Ethical consideration: In all parts of this study, ethical guidelines have been followed concerning both gathering data from dictionaries and other sources and during the interpretation of these sources. Findings: The home, framed as the ethos of caring, can be drawn as a three-dimensional picture where the three dimensions have a common core, enclosed and inviolable. Symbolically, the picture of home can be seen as the ethos of the human being's innermost room, the human being's manner of being and the tone expressed in the external or abstract room where the human being lives and interacts with others. Conclusion: Based on the findings in this study, we conclude that home as ethos is an inner ethical dimension within the human being. Human beings who are in contact with their ethos, the self, feel at home and dare to follow the voice of their heart. Nurses who experience at-homeness have an ability to invite the patient into a caring relationship. The home and the feeling of being at home have significant meaning in terms of human beings' health and well-being.


We report the generation of thin (< 50 nm) fluorescence layers on a glass substrate in the focal region of a high-numerical-aperture lens by employing subpicosecond pulses of 0.75-TW/cm2 peak intensity. The conditions for generating the fluorescence layers are described. We find that the fluorescence molecules at the glass interface are less affected by bleaching than those in the surrounding area. The fluorescence layers are suited for measuring and monitoring the axial resolution of two-photon fluorescence microscopes.


Are managers who style-rotate successful at timing style shifts? Or, does this type of activity erode fund value? It is well documented that fund styles exposures vary over time, whether it be a result of passive style drift or strategic changes by managers to capitalise on broad style movements. It is therefore reasonable to expect that funds with high style rotation ought to be capable of timing broad style movements. This paper investigates whether funds that frequently change investment styles are capable of timing style movement, and how this behaviour influences performance. Time-varying fund style exposures are estimated for a sample of US domestic equity mutual funds from a dynamic state-space factor model as well as from a holdings-based approach. Style-timing ability is measured from four-factor Treynor-Mazuy and Henriksson-Merton models. The results show that funds that more aggressively rotate portfolios across market, size, value and momentum exposures are less capable of timing movements in these respective style categories and as such perform worse than those that maintain consistent style exposures.


Background:  The Northern Province of Zambia has recorded outbreaks of Cholera in Nsumbu area over the years including the year 2008 and 2012. Recently, an outbreak of cholera was reported in Northern Province between March and April 2016. This study aims to document the appropriateness of the response to the cholera outbreak to guide outbreak preparedness and timely response in the future.
Method: A prospective study where a team was put in place to investigate an outbreak of diarrhoeal disease of undetermined cause. The team comprising of surveillance, medical, environmental and laboratory staff was formed to investigate this outbreak within the context of cholera an on-going cholera epidemic Lusaka and other parts of Zambia.
Stool samples and water samples were taken for laboratory investigations. Various interventions including contact tracing and community sensitisation were employed to contain the outbreak. A descriptive analysis of the data and review of literature was used to determine the quality of detection, investigation and response to this cholera outbreak.
Results: Sixty six people were clinically affected 8 of who were laboratory confirmed for strain 01 Ogawa. The case fatality rate (CFR) was 4.5%(3/66). The outbreak was detected and contained within 24 days.
Discussion: The CFR was high compared to the WHO standards of a similar scenario in the 2012 outbreak in the same area. Of the 3 deaths, one was brought in dead and a week into the outbreak while the other two died at the health facility.   The two fell sick in Congo DR and brought to Kapisha health post for treatment. Although the high CFR indicates inadequate response or poor case management the general response and management of the cases seemed adequate with detection and response within 48 hours of the notification. The interventions employed played a pivotal role in containing the outbreak.
Conclusion: Based on the CFR, the response to the outbreak was inadequate. However, the outbreak was generally well managed. The interventions implored as a response to the outbreak and active and rapid response contributed to the containment of the cholera in Nsama district within a short period.


Abstract Isolation by Distance (IBD) is a genetic pattern in which populations geographically closer to one another are more genetically similar to each other than populations which are farther apart. Black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) (Rosaceae) is a forest tree species widespread in eastern North America, and found sporadically in the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Guatemala. IBD has been studied in relatively few North American plant taxa, and no study has rigorously sampled across the range of such a widespread species. In this study, IBD and overall genetic structure were assessed in eastern black cherry (P. serotina Ehrh. var. serotina), the widespread variety of eastern North America. Eastern North America. Prunus serotina Ehrh. var. serotina (Rosaceae). Dense sampling across the entire range of eastern black cherry was made possible by genotyping 15 microsatellite loci in 439 herbarium samples from all portions of the range. Mantel tests and STRUCTURE analyses were performed to evaluate the hypothesis of IBD and genetic structure. Mantel tests demonstrated significant but weak IBD, while STRUCTURE analyses revealed no clear geographic pattern of genetic groups. The modest geographic/genetic structure across the eastern black cherry range suggests widespread gene flow in this taxon. This is consistent with P. serotina's status as a disturbance‐associated species. Further studies should similarly evaluate IBD in species characteristic of low‐disturbance forests.


As the popularity of cloud storage services grows rapidly, it is desirable and even essential for both legacy and new end-user applications to have the cloud storage capability to improve their functionality, usability, and accessibility. However, incorporating the cloud storage capability into applications must be done in a secure manner to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of users' data in the cloud. Unfortunately, it is non-trivial for ordinary application developers to either enhance legacy applications or build new applications to properly have the secure cloud storage capability, due to the development efforts involved as well as the security knowledge and skills required. In this paper, we propose SafeSky, a middleware that can immediately enable an application to use the cloud storage services securely and efficiently, without any code modification or recompilation. A SafeSky-enabled application does not need to save a user's data to the local disk, but instead securely saves them to different cloud storage services to significantly enhance the data security. We have implemented SafeSky as a shared library on Linux. SafeSky supports applications written in different languages, supports various popular cloud storage services, and supports common user authentication methods used by those services. Our evaluation and analysis of SafeSky with real-world applications demonstrate that SafeSky is a feasible and practical approach for equipping end-user applications with the secure cloud storage capability.


The report discusses a method of long-term catheterization of the celiac artery by lumbo-transaortal access. Intraarterial regional chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil was administered to 56 cases of gastric cancer, stage III, before and after surgery. A significant drop in postoperative complication rate from 47.8 +/- 6% after surgery to 16.0 +/- 4% after combination treatment was recorded. During two years after operation, metastases and recurrences were registered in II out of 52 patients receiving intraarterial chemotherapy (21. +/- 5%), as compared with 34 out of 58 (58.6 +/- 6%) in controls without chemotherapy.


The Debris Resistive Acoustic Grid Orbital Navy Sensor (DRAGONS) is a spacecraft-mounted instrument designed to detect microscopic sized particles in polar and sunsynchronous orbits at 800-900 km which are currently undetectable by ground-based systems. Current orbital debris detection systems are dependent on ground based radars, which only have the capabilities to detect particles with a characteristic size greater than 0.5-1 cm at ranges less than 1000-2000 km [2]. Microscopic orbital debris can travel at relative velocities of 14 km/sec, which have the ability to severely damage subsystems of spacecrafts [1]. DRAGONS will provide quantitative information on microscopic orbital debris by combining two systems for particle detection, an acoustic subsystem as the primary system and a resistive grid subsystem as the secondary system. The acoustic subsystem measures the characteristic waveforms of impacting particles at the surface of the spacecraft. This impact is then verified simultaneously using the resistive grid subsystem, which changes in resistance as resistive lines break due to impacts on the surface of the spacecraft. The goal of the DRAGONS project is to use low power and inexpensive equipment that will update current debris models that have not accounted for these microscopic sized particles.


Transmedia narrative entails a new configuration of cultural projects mediated by communication channels, combining traditional (television, radio, print media) and contemporary (online media, social media) ones. In them, the single management of messages is transcended and planned so that it makes sense through the media, and the timing of message delivery is diversified. As an heir to the conceptual rock album, the visual album establishes an extended music video format, whose prominent features are unity and coherence of the visual discourses. The article examines the visual motifs as recognizable symbols of the Spanish tradition and cultural appropriation by Rosalia's visual album El Mal Querer (2018). The analysis is part of a reflection on the current music video and other well-known visual albums.


Low-frequency torque oscillations in the load can induce frequency components in the vicinity of that of rotor faults (RFs) resulting in false alarms when applying motor current signature analysis (MCSA). False RF indications due to load oscillations (LO) are most common in applications that employ speed reduction couplings for high torque, low-speed operation. Recently, ideas for separating RF and LO have been proposed in the literature; however, the case where two components overlap at the same frequency has not been investigated. Several cases where RF- and LO-induced components are identical have been observed in the field by the authors with commercial MCSA equipment. It is shown in this paper that overlap between the two components can produce a false positive or false negative indication because they can add or cancel depending on the relative phase between the components. Alternative options for reliable RF testing among existing test methods are evaluated and verified in this paper for cases where the two components overlap and produce false indications.


The presence of the capacitative Ca(2+) entry mechanism was investigated in porcine oocytes. In vitro-matured oocytes were treated with thapsigargin in Ca(2+)-free medium for 3 h to deplete intracellular calcium stores. After restoring extracellular calcium, a large calcium influx was measured by using the calcium indicator dye fura-2, indicating capacitative Ca(2+) entry. A similar divalent cation influx could also be detected with the Mn(2+)-quench technique after inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate-induced Ca(2+) release. In both cases, lanthanum, the Ca(2+) permeable channel inhibitor, completely blocked the influx caused by store depletion. Heterologous expression of Drosophila trp in porcine oocytes enhanced the thapsigargin-induced Ca(2+) influx. Polymerase chain reaction cloning using primers that were designed based on mouse and human trp sequences revealed that porcine oocytes contain a trp homologue. As in other cell types, the capacitative Ca(2+) entry mechanism might help in refilling the intracellular stores after the release of Ca(2+) from the stores. Further investigation is needed to determine whether the trp channel serves as the capacitative Ca(2+) entry pathway in porcine oocytes or is simply activated by the endogenous capacitative Ca(2+) entry mechanism and thus contributes to Ca(2+) influx.


The distinction of risk vs uncertainty as made by Knight has important implications for policy selection. Assuming the former when the latter is relevant can lead to wrong decisions. With the aid of a stylized model that describes a bank's decision on how to allocate loans, we discuss decision making under Knightian uncertainty. We use the info-gap robust satisficing approach to derive a trade-off between confidence and performance (somewhat analogous to confidence intervals in the Bayesian approach but without assignment of probabilities). We then contrast how decisions change when following this approach by comparison to the other main non-probabilistic approach available in the literature, namely min-max.


The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of training and work motivation on employee performance. Training measured by the dimensions of skills and knowledge, while working motivation dimension is measured by motives, expectations, and incentives, and the employee's performance can be measured by indicators of quantity of work, quality of work, cooperation, understanding of the task, initiative, discipline and reliability. Respondents in this study were 200 employees of accounting staf who work in manufacturing companies in Batam, technique which is used to analyze this study is simple linear regression analysis. Results of the study found that training and motivation work have positive influence on employee performance. Based on these results it's advisable for the company to provide adequate training and increase employee motivation to improve the productivity of the company. This study is confined to the accounting staf employees in manufacturing companies in Batam, so further research is recommended to use the different samples and from other types of companies.


As many as 3033 patients with myocardial infarction residing in rural areas were kept under observation. In this population, myocardial reinfarction (MRI) was diagnosed in 411 subjects, with 78.8% having had it for 4 years. Those MRI patients ranging between 51 to 60 years showed the greatest prevalence (44.3%). The ratio of micro- to macrofocal (through-and-through) MRI was 1:3, that of males to females 9:1. Microfocal MRI was commonly associated with a pain-free variant of the disease (23.5%) with low frequency of thromboembolic complications (3.1%). Every fifth patient with macrofocal (through-and-through) renecrosis presented with aneurysm of the heart. In a 10-year and longer follow-up, mortality from MRI was 43.6 percent among patients with macrofocal MRI, while deaths attributable to microfocal MRI were estimated to be 28.9 percent. High mortality rates suggest great severity of illness and low efficacy of the drug therapy adopted.


Nurses play vital roles in preventing errors and improving the quality of care for patients. However, in the breakthrough Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System (IOM, 1999) and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (IOM, 2001), it was estimated that about 44,000-98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors. Gibson and Singh's (2003) book, Wall of Silence: The Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes That Kill and Injure Millions of Americans, shared real-life stories of medical mistakes to help raise awareness and create a sense of urgency for the issues surrounding healthcare errors. Gibson and Singh (2003) also included aspects of the human side of errors-the perceptions of the healthcare providers regarding their errors and the responses of patients who had been harmed. .


Background: After two decades of conflict, Somalia remains a fragile state where large scale displacement and inadequate access to functioning health services have left children vulnerable to morbidity and mortality from vaccine preventable disease. Children residing in the autonomous zone of Somaliland are similarly vulnerable to poor access to health care services. Following the conduct of a UNICEF-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in Somaliland during 2011 which captured information on immunization system performance, a survey was conducted to better understand the reasons for non-vaccination among children in Somaliland. Methods: The Somaliland Routine Immunization Non-Participation Survey (RINPS) was conducted in November 2012 to better understand the reasons for non-participation in both Child Health Days (CHDs) and Routine Immunization Services (RIS). RINPS was a cross-sectional household survey which used a two-stage sample design in order to obtain a representative sample of children 0 - 59 months of age residing in Somaliland. Thirty clusters were randomly selected from the 303 clusters for participation in the 2011 Somaliland MICS. A total of 867 children aged 0 - 59 months were identified and included in the analysis (overall response rate, 96%). Findings: Caregivers lacked motivation to take their children to CHDs and for RIS and lacked information about why children need immunization. Routine vaccination or CHD cards were available for few children at the time of the survey. Almost one-fifth of children aged 0 - 59 months in Somaliland had not received at least one dose of vaccine for DTP, polio or measles vaccine from either CHD or RIS. Conclusion: Child Health Days have a role in at least some area of Somaliland to expand the reach of immunization services. The availability and delivery of sustainable routine immunization services need to be strengthened in Somaliland with a strong social mobilization program to raise awareness about the importance of routine immunization.


Photocatalysis is a potentially promising approach to harvest aromatic compounds from lignin. However, the development of an active and selective solid photocatalyst is still challenging for lignin transformation under ambient conditions. We herein report a mild photocatalytic oxidative strategy for C–C bond cleavage of lignin β-O-4 and β-1 linkages using a mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride catalyst. Identifications by solid-state NMR techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that π–π stacking interactions are most likely present between the flexible carbon nitride surface and lignin model molecule. Besides, low charge recombination efficiency and high specific surface area (206.5 m2 g–1) of the catalyst also contribute to its high catalytic activity. Mechanistic investigations reveal that photogenerated holes, as the main active species, trigger the oxidation and C–C bond cleavage of lignin models. This study sheds light on the interaction between complex lignin structures an...


The geographical distribution of radon gas is very uneven. The gas occurs naturally in all buildings at concentrations which can vary from below the United Kingdom national average of 20 Bq m(^-3) to more than 2,000 Bq m(^-3). Five counties have been identified by the NRPB as 'Affected Areas' where more than 1% of homes have radon levels in excess of the current Action Level of 200 Bq m(^-3) (Miles et al., 1992). These counties are Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire. The level of radon gas in buildings is largely dependent on the underlying geology but geology does not always provide a full answer as to why spatial variations in radon occur. The implication of land capability on indoor radon levels in the five Affected Areas has been assessed using ARC/INFO and in Northamptonshire die influence of social factors (population density, social class and the proportion of households consisting only of pensioners) has been analysed. There are some similarities in the results for the Affected Areas (especially between the counties located in the south-west of die country) as well as some striking differences (for example, the relationship between urban areas and radon levels differs in all the Affected Areas). Results in Somerset and Northamptonshire are strongly influenced by one or more dominant radon category or land capability grade. In general, higher radon levels are associated with poor quality agricultural land and, in Northamptonshire, with high population density at ward level. The areas of Northamptonshire which have above average proportions in social classes I and II (1991 Census) are more likely to be associated with low radon levels (at district level), whereas areas with high proportions of households consisting only of pensioners tend to be associated with areas where more than 10% of homes are above the Action Level (at ward level).


Magnesium and calcium transport was studied in the superficial proximal tubule, loop of Henle, and superficial distal tubule of the rat by in vivo microperfusion. Magnesium chloride was used to vary plasma and perfusate magnesium concentration. Perfusion with magnesium-free Ringer solution resulted in little magnesium entry into the tubule lumen in either normomagnesemic or hypermagnesemic rats. Magnesium concentration increased with water abstraction along the perfused proximal tubule whether markedly above or below plasma concentrations. Absolute proximal magnesium reabsorption increased with perfusate concentration; however, fractional magnesium and calcium reabsorption decreased in proportion to net sodium reabsorption with elevated extracellular magnesium. Magnesium absorption increased in the loop of Henle proportional to luminal magnesium concentration. Sodium and calcium reabsorption was not affected. Acute elevation of plasma magnesium, however, significantly depressed absolute magnesium reabsorption to a greater degree than calcium whereas sodium was unchanged. The effects of extracellular magnesium onloop reabsorption were reflected in the final urine. Reabsorption of sodium, calcium, and magnesium in the perfused distal tubule was concentration-dependent and not altered by luminal or extracellular magnesium concentration.


Preclinical and clinical studies on mebendazole revealed its potential as an anticancer agent. We therefore aimed to investigate its binding interactions with one of the most important cancer targets (the tubulin protein) depending on its structural similarity with the original co-crystallized ligand (nocodazole), besides characterization of the electronic configuration at the molecular level. By reviewing the binding mode and hydrogen bond lengths between the three polymorphs of mebendazole (MBZ) and the colchicine binding site on the tubulin protein, form B of MBZ is the form expected to bind more efficiently with the tubulin protein among the other forms. The calculated physicochemical properties revealed also that form B is the most lipophilic form, and hence can more flawlessly cross the blood brain barrier in order to target brain tumors. Our study has ramifications to consider form B of MBZ in clinical trials of repurposing MBZ in oncology, because only forms A and C have been considered while form B was abandoned.


Poly(ADP-ribos)ylation, originally described as a mechanism of DNA break repair, is now considered as part of a complex regulatory system involved in dynamic reorganization of chromatin structure, transcriptional control of gene expression and regulation of metabolism. In plants poly(ADP-ribos)ylation has received surprisingly little attention. It has been implicated in abiotic and biotic stress responses, cell cycle control and development; however, the molecular mechanisms and proteins involved are largely unknown. In this review we summarize current knowledge on plant PARP, PARG and PARP-like domain containing proteins and discuss their possible roles in plant development, immune responses, programmed cell death and stress responses in general. The genome of the model plant Arabidopsis contains three genes encoding PARP proteins, two of which have been shown to be active PARPs, and two genes encoding PARG proteins, one of which was shown to possess enzymatic activity. In addition, SROs (Similar to RCD One) represent a plant specific family of proteins containing a PARP-like domain. Although bioinformatics and biochemical data suggest that the PARP-like domain in SRO proteins does not have PARP activity, these proteins play a significant role in stress response as revealed by mutant analyses. SRO proteins interact with transcription factors involved in various stress and developmental responses and are suggested to serve as hubs in many signaling pathways. Altogether current data imply that poly(ADP-ribos)ylation plays significant regulatory role in many aspects of plant biology.


In experiments with white mice it was shown that in contrast to hydroxythiamine and other known vitamin B1 antagonists, triphosphate esters of thiochrome and tetrahydrothiamine possess a selective anticoenzyme activity with respect to the only one of the thiamine pyrophosphate-dependent enzymes, i.e. pyruvate dehydrogenase.


This paper explores the value of purchasing joint life annuities for married couples. It describes the existing market for joint life annuities, and summarizes the range of annuity products that are currently available to couples. It then considers the value that married couples would place on access to an actuarially fair annuity market, and defines a measure of willingness-to-pay for annuities. This calculation differs from the analogous one for a single individual for two reasons. First, joint-and-survivor life tables differ from individual life tables. The life expectancy of the second-to-die in a married couple is substantially greater than that for a single individual. Second, joint life annuities provide time-varying payouts, because survivor benefit options permit the payout when both members of a couple are alive to differ from that when one member has died. The paper develops a new annuity valuation model and applies it to evaluate a married couple's utility gain from annuitization. The findings suggest that previous estimates of the utility gain from annuitization, which applied to individuals, overstate the benefits of annuitization for married couples. Since most potential annuity buyers are married, these findings may help to explain the limited size of the private market for single premium annuities.


Abstract In the years from 1817 to 1825 when Dr John Bigsby was stationed in Canada with the British Army, he studied the geology from the lower St Lawrence Valley to the centre of the continent. In sedimentary strata of the Great Lakes, he collected a wealth of fossils, many of unusual size. He described the mineralogy of the Canadian Shield, recognizing the igneous origin of the basalt precipices of the north shore of Lake Superior. In 1819 when the International Boundary Commission was surveying the western end of Lake Erie, the whole staff fell ill with malarial fevers and some died. Bigsby was appointed in 1820 as medical officer to the Commission. He accompanied the British survey team from 1820 to 1823 to provide medical care. In his leisure time he collected fossils from the shores of the Great Lakes. In 1823 Bigsby travelled by canoe with the surveyors completing the survey from Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods. During the journey he observed the great volcanic formations of that region. Bigsby returned to England in 1825, resigning from the British Army in 1830. He entered private medical practice but maintained a life-long interest in geology, particularly fossils.


Twenty dogs with naturally occurring lymphosarcoma were histologically diagnosed, clinically staged, and treated with combinations of drugs, including corticosteroids, alkylating agents, plant alkaloids and antimetabolities. Clinical response was categorized as complete, partial, or unsatisfactory. Of the 20 dogs, 17 responded to the chemotherapy completely or partially, with a mean objective remission duration of 104.8 days. The mean survival time for 19 dogs was 211.5 days, whereas the mean survival time for 16 dogs which responded completely or partially was 233.7 days.


OBJECTIVES
To determine whether nurse staffing in California hospitals, where state-mandated minimum nurse-to-patient ratios are in effect, differs from two states without legislation and whether those differences are associated with nurse and patient outcomes.

DATA SOURCES
Primary survey data from 22,336 hospital staff nurses in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in 2006 and state hospital discharge databases.

STUDY DESIGN
Nurse workloads are compared across the three states and we examine how nurse and patient outcomes, including patient mortality and failure-to-rescue, are affected by the differences in nurse workloads across the hospitals in these states.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
California hospital nurses cared for one less patient on average than nurses in the other states and two fewer patients on medical and surgical units. Lower ratios are associated with significantly lower mortality. When nurses' workloads were in line with California-mandated ratios in all three states, nurses' burnout and job dissatisfaction were lower, and nurses reported consistently better quality of care.

CONCLUSIONS
Hospital nurse staffing ratios mandated in California are associated with lower mortality and nurse outcomes predictive of better nurse retention in California and in other states where they occur.


The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation therapy and manual therapy on foot pressure changes related to leg length discrepancy. The subjects of this study were 13 subjects (5 males, 8 females) with differences in leg length who agreed to participate in this study. Leg length was measured in a prone position, and foot pressure changes induced by weight support were determined using Gaitview (alFoots, Korea). The measurements were conducted prior to treatment, 15 minutes after TENS, and 40 minutes after manual therapy. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the results derived prior to the experiment, after the TENS therapy, and after the manual therapy. No statistically significant difference in sole pressure was found among the pre-treatment, post-TENS treatment, and post-manual therapy results. But Pressure differences between the left and right feet tended to gradually decrease prior to treatment, after the TENS therapy, and after the manual therapy. And asymmetry in foot pressure tended to decrease, that is, in terms of foot pressure differences between the fore and rear feet. TENS and manual therapy for the treatment of differences in leg length do not considerably affect foot pressure but reduce differences in left and right leg pressure and pressure between the forefoot and rear foot, thereby positively affecting foot balance.


The Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a pulmonary lesion of multifactorial cause in which the surfactant system is altered owing to inactivation and impairment of composition and metabolism. The use of exogenous pulmonary surfactant is a therapeutic option with the objective to maintain alveolar stability thus improving the pulmonary compliance (increasing the residual functional capacity), oxygenation and ventilatory mechanics. A study carried out on two pediatric patients with ARDS submitted to mechanic pulmonary ventilation, applying a single dose of exogenous pulmonary surfactant is described. The patients were evaluated using arterial and venous gasometry before and after the use of surfactant, observing increment in oxygenation, reduction of shunt fraction, improvement in ventilation immediately after exogenous pulmonary surfactant instillation and return to the previous situation after 240 minutes in case 1 and 120 minutes in case 2. More prospective clinical and randomized studies are needed to effectively evaluate this therapeutic modality.


Esophageal adenocarcinoma is a virulent malignancy that is rapidly increasing in incidence. Overexpression of p53, a tumor‐suppressor gene with prognostic significance in many malignancies, has not been adequately evaluated in this disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pattern and importance of p53 protein accumulation in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded tissue from 24 patients, all of whom had early stage disease. Nineteen of 24 patients underwent surgery, and 16 had complete tumor resection. p53 oncoprotein immuno‐reactivity was demonstrated in 50% (12/24) of patients overall and 50% (8/16) of patients undergoing esophagectomy. p53 overexpression was more common in patients with well‐differentiated tumors (P=0.07). The tissue surrounding tumor stained positive for p53 in six patients, four of whom had no evidence of Barrett's epithelium. Among the 16 patients who underwent esophagectomy, those whose tumors demonstrated p53 overexpression had a longer overall (28 vs. 13.5 months) and disease‐free (24.3 vs. 13 months) median survival. The difference in disease‐free survival was significant (P=0.05). Our findings suggest that p53 overexpression may serve as a marker of improved survival in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Alleviating poverty amongst the rural left-behind elderly is not only an important goal for China's rural revitalization, but also for improving pension security amongst the rural left-behind elderly. However, due to the application age range of the elderly-care policy and the shortage of support within rural society, the left-behind elderly always adopt the practice of labour participation to fund their pensions. Based on this fact, in order to study the effect of culture as an informal institutional constraint on the left-behind elderly's ability to self-fund their pension through labour participation, we adopt the study of 2014 by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, which surveyed data collected from thousands of rural Chinese villages. From the research, we show that the cultural constraints caused by religion have significantly increased the probability of labour participation by the left-behind elderly. However, this effect is not decided by culture's "value identification", but is more a reflection of culture's "economic function". Specifically, the construction of a social network, substitution of human capital and the supplement of an official security system are important channels by which culture could play a role in supporting the left-behind elderly.


Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is reviewed as an alternative nuclear analytical technique for the determination of radioisotopes. The latest development and utilization of collision and reaction cells in ICPMS is presented. These cells are used to promote reactive and non-reactive collisions with resultant benefits in interference reduction, isobar separation, and thermalization/focusing of ions in ICP-MS. Novel ion–molecule chemistry schemes, using a variety of reaction gas reagents selected on the basis of thermodynamic and kinetic principles and data, are now designed and empirically evaluated with relative ease, and a significant body of ICPMS applications now exists in the literature. Results for separations of isobaric overlaps via cation reactions with NO, N2O, O2, CO2, C2H2, and CH3F in an inductively coupled plasma collision/reaction cell mass spectrometer (ICP-CRC-MS) are reviewed.


Workstation networks are an underutilized yet valuable resource for solving large-scale parallel problems. In this paper, we present "idle-initiated" techniques for efficiently scheduling large-scale parallel computations on workstation networks. By "idle-initiated", we mean that idle computers actively search out work to do rather than wait for work to be assigned. The idle-initiated scheduler operates at both the macro and the micro levels. On the macro level, a computer without work joins an ongoing parallel computation as a participant. On the micro level, a participant without work "steals" from some other participant of the same computation. We have implemented these scheduling techniques in Phish, a portable system for running dynamic parallel applications on a network of workstations.<<ETX>>


It is fairly well established that fly ash can improve many of the properties of fresh and hardened concrete as well as reduce the greenhouse gas (GFG) footprint associated with the use of portland cement. However, the use of fly ash at higher replacement levels may produce some undesirable properties such as a slower set time and strength development or increased carbonation or salt scaling. Consequently there is a need to optimize the fly ash content of concrete for different applications. This paper discusses how the optimum the level of fly ash is dependent on the properties of the fly ash, the performance requirements for the fresh and hardened concrete, the climatic conditions during construction and the exposure conditions and durability requirements during service. In many cases, the optimum level of fly ash may be 40% or more.


Context: The danger of unintended pregnancies and the difficulties associated with abortions remain high due to the inefficiency in terms of contraceptive use that results from a lack of general knowledge and awareness coupled with misconceptions on the part of health-care providers. Aims: This study, therefore, aimed to explore the knowledge, awareness, perceptions, and practice regarding contraceptive use among Vietnamese medical students. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 695 medical students, including 311 students attending public universities and 384 students attending private universities, in Vietnam between January 2017 and April 2017. Materials and Methods: The utilized questionnaire was divided into five parts, namely, the students' demographic data as well as their knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and practice regarding contraception. Results: Among the 695 participating medical students, there were 225 (32.4%) males and 470 (67.6%) females. Some 585 (84.5%) students were studying at the bachelor's level, while only 110 (15.8%) were studying at the diploma level. The contraceptive-related knowledge was comparatively higher among the 5th-year students (P < 0.001), the students studying at the bachelor's level (P < 0.001), and the students attending public universities (P < 0.001) when compared to their respective counterparts. The mean knowledge score was 5.18 ± 1.30, while the average awareness score was 19.55 ± 3.51. A large proportion of participants agreed or strongly agreed (86.6%) that healthcare providers should provide counseling concerning contraceptive methods. More than half of the students (55%) agreed that there had been a general change in the male attitude toward using contraceptives, while only 66 (9.5%) agreed that using contraceptive methods is complicated. Further, 177 (25.5%) students had previously used contraception, with condoms (132) being the most commonly used method. Conclusions: Overall, it was observed that the majority of Vietnamese medical students exhibited great knowledge, perceptions, awareness, and practice regarding contraception. This study, hence, suggests that future studies should be conducted in different medical schools nationwide to bolster the present findings.


Exploring for shallow targets onshore normally involves low drilling cost but higher seismic cost to illuminate objectives with desired resolution. However, in underexplored acreage, the area covered by 3D seismic becomes an issue and should be balanced against the resolution needed to identify drillable prospects. If the play concepts are not well understood, exploration expenditures should be focused on wide 3D seismic acquisition and on cheap exploration drilling. If an economic discovery occurs, more sophisticated seismic acquisition could focus on the discovered reservoir. A "focused on target" acquisition might increase cost and limit the area extent.


40Ar+ related product ions in an octopole reaction cell (ORC) were observed with an inductively coupled plasma tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer (ICP-QMS/QMS). In order to simplify the ion composition of the plasma, the carrier gas was directly connected to the torch injector, i.e. without introduction of the sample solution. The m/z of the first QMS was set to 40 permitting the passage of 40Ar+. Isotope enriched oxygen gas (18O2) was used as the reaction gas in order to separate the spectra of O3+ and Ar2O2+. The intensities of the ions produced in the ORC were measured by the second QMS. As the products of the reactions among 40Ar+ ions and 18O2 molecules in the ORC, the following ions were observed: 18O+, 18O2+, 18O3+, 18O4+, 40Ar18O+, 40Ar18O2+, 40Ar218O2+, and 40Ar18O22+. At a reaction gas flow rate of 0.3 mL min−1, the ionic species with the highest signal intensity was 18O2+, followed by 40Ar+ and 18O+. The maximum signal intensities of different product ions were obtained at different flow rates of the reaction gas. A lower flow rate of the reaction gas benefited the production of 40Ar18O+ and 18O3+, while a higher flow rate of the reaction gas benefited the production of 40Ar18O2+ and 40Ar218O2+. The maximum transfer efficiency from 40Ar+ to the resulting ionic species was 91%, 2.0%, and 0.12% for 18O2+, 18O+, and 40Ar18O+, respectively. The maximum transfer efficiency to the other investigated ionic species was less than 0.023%. By using 18O2 as the reaction gas, the mechanisms of 40Ar+ resulted ionic species interfering with the measurement of 32S16O+ were confirmed. The results showed that the contributions of 16O3+ and 40Ar2O2+ were almost equivalent to each other.


In order to begin to elucidate the genomic basis of the attenuation of mouse-adapted, poliovirus type 2 strain W-2 (PV2/W-2), we have cloned and sequenced the virus and compared it with the virulent, mouse-adapted PV2/Lansing strain. In addition, we have performed computer-generated comparisons of PV2/W-2 to the non-mouse-adapted, attenuated PV2/Sabin strain to determine whether mutational patterns occur that result in attenuation. The PV2/W-2 genome is 7434 nucleotides in length, which is three bases shorter than PV2/Lansing. The 5' non-coding region of PV2/W-2 is 747 nucleotides in length (compared to 744 in PV2/Lansing) and shares 98.8% identity with PV2/Lansing and 82.3% identity with PV2/Sabin. Overall, the PV2/W-2 polyprotein (2205 amino acids) is two amino acids shorter than that of either PV2/Lansing or PV2/Sabin (2207 amino acids). These contiguous deletions fall within the P3-D region (polymerase). Within these 2205 amino acid residues only 26 differences were observed between PV2/W-2 and PV2/Lansing (98.8% identity), whereas 92 occurred between PV2/W-2 and PV2/Sabin (95.8% identity). The 3' non-coding region of PV2/W-2 is 72 nucleotides in length and shares 100% identity with PV2/Lansing and 98.6% identity with PV2/Sabin. Amino acid changes in the capsid protein region occurred in neutralization sites 1 and 3, areas previously shown to be important for pathogenicity. The cleavage site between non-structural proteins P2-C/P3-A consisted of a glutamine-serine pair, in contrast to other sequenced polioviruses which have a glutamine-glycine dipeptide.


This Essay takes a look at the movement for social change around menstruation, especially through the lens of the criminal legal system and prisons and jails in particular. Part I reviews the issues of period poverty and justice that are driving a larger social movement to recognize that safe and ready access to menstrual hygiene products should be framed through a lens of full civic participation in order to understand its full implications for the lives of people who menstruate. Part II dives into the particular needs and problems of abuse and control that incarcerated and detained people face related to menstruation. Part III examines the growing movement to transform menstruation in America along equity lines that focuses both on the rights of all menstruators while bringing social pressure to bear on behalf of the most vulnerable—incarcerated people, the unhoused, students, and those living in poverty—to demand greater governmental and cultural support for the needs, inclusion, and dignity of all people who menstruate. This Part particularly takes note of the fact that the menstrual equity movement gains strength and force when it centers the leadership and voices of people who menstruate as key players demanding social change and evolution of the culture as a whole. Part IV examines the importance of the momentum and success this social movement represents for potential litigation strategies to develop constitutional jurisprudence regarding incarcerated people and menstrual equity. It observes that the pertinent "evolving standards of decency" that inform Eighth Amendment jurisprudence must and will be influenced by the prevailing movement for menstrual equity as a deliberate strategy to ensure that incarcerated people who menstruate are not left out of the social development and rights framework that menstrual equity demands. At the same time this evolution in jurisprudence represent the opportunity for Eighth Amendment jurisprudence—and constitutional framework generally—to place a greater focus on the need for human dignity as a cornerstone of the law.


Ultra-class surface mining haul trucks are commonly used to transport ore and waste material. They account for a significant portion of a total equipment fleet and maintenance budget. The payloads they carry are important when considering truck reliability, as balance and magnitude contribute to performance. Unbalanced payloads cause increased rack (twist), pitch and roll (bias) events, resulting in increased maintenance and lost production through loss of availability. Excavator operators often report a restricted visibility of the truck body during loading, with limited aids to assist in balancing placed loads. In order to provide payload placement assistance, payload modeling has been developed based on the work of Chamanara and Joseph. Haul truck strut pressures were used to estimate and display the location and shape of a payload within the truck body. To verify the model, data from an operating Caterpillar 785C haul truck and lab tests using a scale Caterpillar 797B model were analyzed. Although the model accuracy will decrease for materials that clump and do not flow freely, the results were found to be useful for field implementation.


This paper is an extension of the single-phase cohesionless dry granular avalanche model over curved and twisted channels proposed by Pudasaini and Hutter (2003). It is a generalisation of the Savage and Hutter (1989, 1991) equations based on simple channel topography to a twophase fluid-solid mixture of debris material. Important terms emerging from the correct treatment of the kinematic and dynamic boundary condition, and the variable basal topography are systematically taken into account. For vanishing fluid contribution and torsion-free channel topography our new model equations exactly degenerate to the previous Savage-Hutter model equations while such a degeneration was not possible by the Iverson and Denlinger (2001) model, which, in fact, also aimed to extend the Savage and Hutter model. The model equations of this paper have been rigorously derived; they include the effects of the curvature and torsion of the topography, generally for arbitrarily curved and twisted channels of variable channel width. The equations are put into a standard conservative form of partial differential equations. From these one can easily infer the importance and influence of the pore-fluid-pressure distribution in debris flow dynamics. The solid-phase is modelled by applying a Coulomb dry friction law whereas the fluid phase is assumed to be an incompressible Newtonian fluid. Input parameters of the equations are the internal and bed friction angles of the solid particles, the viscosity and volume fraction of the fluid, the total mixture density and the pore pressure distribution of the fluid at the bed. Given the bed topography and initial geometry and the initial velocity profile of the debris mixture, the model equations are able to describe the dynamics of the depth profile and bed parallel depth-averaged velocity distribution from the initial position to the final deposit. A shock capturing, total variation diminishing numerical scheme is implemented to solve the highly non-linear equations. Simulation results present the combined effects of curvature, torsion and pore pressure Correspondence to: S. P. Pudasaini (firstname.lastname@example.com) on the dynamics of the flow over a general basal topography. These simulation results reveal new physical insight of debris flows over such non-trivial topography. Model equations are applied to laboratory avalanche and debris-flow-flume tests. Very good agreement between the theory and experiments is established.


In developing nations, Moringa oleifera leaves are used for their nutritional and medicinal values and are rich in minerals and vitamins. Twenty rabbit bucks of mixed breeds, aged four to five weeks which weighed between 627.4g to 631.5g were used to evaluate the effect of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) on testicular morphometry and sperm quality. Five bucks were randomly assigned to each of the four diets containing MOLM at 0%. 5%, 10% and 15% levels of inclusion. After eight weeks of ad libitum feeding, the bucks were sacrificed and evaluated for testicular morphometry and epididymal sperm characteristics. No significant effect (p > 0.05) of diets was observed on all the parameters studied. The results show that MOLM had no adverse effect on the testicular morphometry and epididymal sperm quality of rabbit bucks at inclusion level of up to 15%. It is suggested that Moringa oleifera leaves could be used in rabbit diets. Keywords: Moringa oleifera, rabbit, sperm quality and testicular morphometry.


In most countries, the central bank is required to hold reserve assets as a means of providing credibility for the value of the fiat currency. These assets can be in the form of gold, foreign exchange, or some other internationally recognised reserve asset and are held to permit the country to engage in international transactions. Within recent years, cryptocurrencies have been increasingly utilised for international transactions, and it is possible their use might expand in the future. This paper therefore examines the potential role of cryptocurrencies as part of the portfolio of external assets held by a central bank. Using the case of Barbados, the paper also provides a simulation of the effect holding some proportion of their asset base would have had on the stability of the foreign reserves as well as the return on the portfolio of assets.


ABSTRACT: Reactions of cycloaliphatic thioketones with phenyl azide in the presence of an electron-deficient C-C-dipolarophile have been studied. It was shown that the course of the reactions and the structures of the products depend strongly on the type of the dipolarophile used. Only in the case of fumaronitrile the interception product of the intermediate thiocarbonyl-S-imide was obtained.


One of the main goals of the Hyperspectral and Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) mission is to provide global observations of surface attributes at local and landscape spatial scales (tens of meters to hundreds of kilometers) to map volcanic gases and surface temperatures, which are identified as indicators of impending volcanic hazards, as well as plume ejecta which pose risks to aircraft and people and property downwind. Our project has created precursor HyspIRI data sets for volcanological analyses, using existing data over Mt. Etna, Italy. We have identified 28 EO-1 Hyperion data acquisitions, and 12 near-coincident ASTER data acquisitions, covering six eruptive periods between 2001 and 2010. These data sets provide us with 30 m hyperspectral VSWIR data and 90 m multispectral TIR data (satellite). They allowed us to examine temporal sequences of several Etnaean eruptions. We addressed the following critical questions, directly related to understanding eruption hazards: 1) What do changes in SO2 emissions tell us about a volcano's activity? How well do these measurements compare with ground-based COSPEC measurements? 2) How do we use measurements of lava flow temperature and volume to predict advances of the flow front? 3) What do changes in lava lake temperatures and energy emissions tell us about possible eruptive behavior?


A new genetic estimator of the effective population size (N(e)) is introduced. This likelihood-based (LB) estimator uses two temporally spaced genetic samples of individuals from a population. We compared its performance to that of the classical F-statistic-based N(e) estimator (N(eFk)) by using data from simulated populations with known N(e) and real populations. The new likelihood-based estimator (N(eLB)) showed narrower credible intervals and greater accuracy than (N(eFk)) when genetic drift was strong, but performed only slightly better when genetic drift was relatively weak. When drift was strong (e.g., N(e) = 20 for five generations), as few as approximately 10 loci (heterozygosity of 0.6; samples of 30 individuals) are sufficient to consistently achieve credible intervals with an upper limit <50 using the LB method. In contrast, approximately 20 loci are required for the same precision when using the classical F-statistic approach. The N(eLB) estimator is much improved over the classical method when there are many rare alleles. It will be especially useful in conservation biology because it less often overestimates N(e) than does N(eLB) and thus is less likely to erroneously suggest that a population is large and has a low extinction risk.