This paper models criminal behavior in a dynamic optimization setting where psychological factors such as subjective risk perception and time preferences play a key role in inducing illegal actions. When psychological perceptions over the actual magnitude of the reward and over the subjective risks of finding a victim or of being caught are dynamic, their influence on crime efforts could vary. Specifically, increasing punishment over rewards, ceteris paribus, deters crime, but increasing punishment and monitoring simultaneously, may encourage crime in the long term. It is also demonstrated that it may not be possible to distinguish between the impacts of hyperbolic discounting and probability weighting on criminal behavior.


Abstract: Previous research has established a strong relationship between a rodent's preference for novelty and sensitivity to psychomotor stimulants. Rats with greater sensitivity to the motoric effects of amphetamine exhibit higher preferences for novelty. Additionally, animals with high novelty preference scores are more easily drug conditioned and are more sensitive to, and can more accurately discriminate, amphetamine doses. Novelty preference in animals has been compared to sensation seeking in humans and is strongly correlated with drug use and addiction vulnerability. Thus, the present studies employed a playground maze procedure to measure changes in novelty preference across age following either four or eight habituation trials using eight distinct objects. Early‐adult (postnatal day [PND] 59) animals did not exhibit a significant preference for a novel object regardless of total number of habituation trials. Early‐adolescent animals (PND 34) exhibited a preference for the novel object in fewer than four habituation trials, but exhibited no preference with increased habituation trials. These results are counterintuitive and may demonstrate an overgeneralization of the habituation trials specific to adolescent animals. Given that adolescence is a period of heightened exploration, one would expect adolescent animals to demonstrate an enhanced preference for novel stimuli using this paradigm. However, it is possible that the complexity of the task, as presented, reveals differences in the establishment and behavioral manifestation of associations during adolescence. To address this issue, a separate novelty paradigm was implemented using an open‐field habituation procedure followed by the introduction of a single novel object during the testing period. This revised design provides the foundation needed to better assess novelty‐induced locomotor activity and novelty preference in adolescent rats.


Arrays of ordered carbon nanotubes (OCNT) was synthesized successfully using aluminated mesoporous silica as hard template. XRD tests and TEM observations showed that OCNT was composed of carbon nanotube arrays in p6mm symmetry. N2 sorption analyses demonstrated that OCNT possesses typical mesoporous structure and centralized mesopore distribution. OCNT are superior to Maxsorb, an active carbon with super high surface area, in capacitive behavior and power output due to their ordered pore-structure, which favors the fast diffusion of hydrated ions. As evidenced by cyclic voltammetry measurements, OCNT show good capacitive behaviors (exhibiting a high capacitance of 180 F/g even at very high sweep rate of 50 mV/s, as compared with much reduced capacitance of 73 F/g for Maxsorb at the same sweep rate). OCNT can provide very high power density while still maintaining good energy density, thus having potential uses in electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC), particularly where both high power output and energy density are required.


Fecal incontinence is not a rare clinical pathology in general population. Although it is more common in geriatric population, fecal incontinence should not be underestimated in younger genders. Obstructive defecation syndrome (ODS) has become a well-known syndrome with different clinical etiology and symptoms. The main symptom is inability of proper rectal emptying, but it can also overlap with symptoms of incontinence. In this chapter, we emphasize on the assessment of ODS, focusing on the coexistence and clinical relation to fecal incontinence. Anorectal studies are of great importance for the evaluation of the symptoms. Biofeedback is the key to the proper management of patients with ODS, showing significant improvement in incontinence as well. Surgical treatment of anatomic deformities that cause ODS is also important.


When German-Jewish refugees arrived in New Zealand in the 1930s fleeing Hitler's Europe, they brought with them everything they could from their former homes: furniture, luggage, personal documents, musical instruments, artwork, books, silverware, linen, a typewriter. These humble and remarkable domestic objects survive today, a few in public heritage collections, but most in the private family homes of descendants. But while the Jewish refugee migration story is well known in public and academic circles, less so is the story of those objects. This thesis explores the relationship between refugee families, their descendants, and the material objects they have inherited.  To what extent do refugee objects embody the memory of the prewar, European past? And how do the objects' meanings change for refugees and their descendants, over time and in different custodial contexts? A major part of this thesis involved oral history interviews with refugee survivor families (mainly second-generation participants), and studying the interviews, letters, memoirs, and reminiscences of the first generation. Material culture objects were also analysed, and curated in an electronic archive (available for review).  This thesis charts the slowly evolving significances of the objects throughout the various stages of the object migration journey. It examines themes of cultural identity, intergenerational memory, collection practices, and the private-public tensions inherent in the institutional custody of family objects. These themes are explored in three chapters, the first of which defines the German-Jewish refugee archive in New Zealand against the existing literature on displaced Jewish objects, by contextualising the New Zealand objects within the specific historical circumstances determining their owners' migration journeys. The final two chapters analyse the usage and meanings of the objects in the 'private archive' of the family, and the 'public archive' of local and international collecting institutions.  Drawing on insights from migration, material culture, Holocaust, and memory studies, this thesis is premised on the widely accepted argument that such mementoes function as mobile depositories of cultural identity and knowledge to ensure continuity between generations. Considering objects as nodes of memory for remembering a German-Jewish past (between Europe and New Zealand) characterised by the traumatic rupture of first generation silence, brings my research into conversation with the work of second-generation scholar Marianne Hirsch and Nina Fischer. But by addressing the role of collective memory and cultural identity in determining the future location and preservation of such artefacts, this thesis significantly extends the findings of Hirsch and Fischer beyond the private sphere to interrogate the perspectives of both families and collecting institutions. In doing so, it argues that New Zealand's German-Jewish refugee objects bear multiple identities and meanings as a result of their dispersed, transnational history. In light of current international repatriation movements to return such artefacts to Germany, the provenance and significance of these objects is particularly pertinent today, as the first person authenticity of survivors rapidly fades, and the memorial sphere transforms to accommodate this change.


When properly performed, analysis of serum theophylline concentrations can yield important data for management, whether one is dealing with premature babies being treated for apnea or older children being treated for asthma. Serum levels are not fault-free and must be interpreted in concert with historical and clinical observations. One day we will monitor serum levels of theophylline and a number of other drugs as frequently and as accurately as we currently monitor serum electrolytes.


The aim of the present study was to determine if there is a circadian rhythm in serum and lymph apolipoprotein (apo) AIV and what factors determine this rhythm. Male Sprague-Dawley rats with chronic right atrial catheter were housed in a room illuminated from 0600 to 1800. With ad libitum feeding, serum apo AIV concentration showed a circadian rhythm concomitant with the feeding pattern. In 24-h fasted rats, the serum apo AIV concentration maintained a circadian rhythm and was high during the dark. With mesenteric lymph diversion, serum apo AIV concentration diminished and the circadian rhythm was abolished. The lymph flow, lymph apo AIV, cholesterol, triacylglycerol, and phospholipid contents all exhibited the same circadian rhythm in fasting, with the levels higher in the dark. These circadian rhythms were abolished after bile diversion. In conclusion, serum apo AIV in ad libitum-fed and fasted rats exhibits a circadian rhythm governed by lymph apo AIV output. Furthermore, bile was an important determinant of the circadian rhythm of lymph flow, lymph apo AIV, triacylglycerol, cholesterol, and phospholipid output.


Peatlands can accumulate organic matter into long‐term carbon (C) storage within the soil profile. This study used solid‐state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13C‐NMR) to investigate the transit of organic C through a peatland ecosystem to understand the molecular budget that accompanies the long‐term accumulation of C. Samples of biomass, litter, peat soil profile, particulate organic matter, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) were taken from the Moor House National Nature Reserve, a peat‐covered catchment in northern England where both the dry matter and C budget for the ecosystem were known. The results showed that: The interpretation of the 13C‐NMR spectra shows that polysaccharides are preferentially removed through the ecosystem, while lignin components are preferentially retained and come to dominate the organic matter accumulated at depth in the profile. The DOM is derived from the oxidation of both biomass and the degradation of lignin, while the particulate organic matter is derived from erosion of the peat profile. The DOM is differentiated by its proportion of oxidized functional groups and not by its aromatic content. The changes in functionality leading to DOM production suggest side chain oxidation resulting in C‐C cleavage/depolymerisation of lignin, a common reaction within white rot fungi. The 13C‐NMR budget shows that O‐alkyl functional groups are disproportionately lost between primary production and accumulation in the deep peat, while C‐alkyl functional groups are disproportionately preserved. The carbon lost as gases (CO2 and CH4) was estimated to be composed of 93% polysaccharide‐derived carbon and 7% lignin‐derived carbon.


The increase in production of rice commodities, corn, and soy (Pajale) continues to be encouraged by the Government to provide adequate needs to avoid exports. This Program has been conducted intensively on the activities of the state BUDGET-year 2017.  The purpose of this research is 1) to know the response of farmers to the soy UPSUS program, and 2) to know the income received by farmers in the soybean UPSUS Program. The method of research is conducted using survey method, the form of primary data collection by providing questions to the respondent, hereinafter, to know the level of admission of soybean farming is done using R/C ratio analysis. As the results, the average age of farmers in productive age (45), all farmers have participated in formal education, and among them, there are 17 people at basic educated. Mostly there are three people as Family members.   Experience farming range between 26 and 32 years, and the area of land tenure > = 1.7 ha.  Revenue acquisition of farmers Upsus in the 1-time production process (on average four months) obtained a net profit of IDR 4.960.000, -with R/C Ratio acquired the value of 2.03, which means that soybean cultivation deserves to cultivate


AbstractSwedish upper secondary education includes special secondary schooling for students with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of students' experiences of attending special secondary schools. An interpretative approach was used to analyse data from repeated in-depth interviews with 14 female and 12 male students from 5 different schools. Analysis revealed participants' school experiences could be categorised in three different ways; having a sense of awareness, a sense of confidence, and a sense of uncertainty, while their overarching attitudes towards school attendance were characterised by dejection, determination, or a combination of these. These different experiences of school and attitudes towards it demonstrate the complexity of the participants' situation, the advantages and disadvantages of this type of schooling, and the participants' experiences of being categorised as deviant by others.


We seek to assess the effect of commercial property price movements on the behaviour and performance of individual banks in a range of industrialised economies, extending the existing micro literature on bank performance. Our results suggest that commercial property prices tend to be positively associated with bank lending and profitability, and negatively associated with banks' net interest margin and bad loan ratios. Such an impact exists even when conventional independent variables determining bank performance are included as controls. Further extensions show that the magnitude of this impact is related to the size of the bank, the strength of bank capitalisation, the direction of commercial property price movements, and regional factors. The results have implications for risk managers, regulators and monetary policy makers. Notably, they underline the crucial relevance of commercial property prices as a macroprudential variable that warrants close scrutiny by the authorities. JEL Classification Numbers: G12, G21


Sunscreen resources mostly obtained from plants in form of natural substances which are ability to absorb ultraviolet ray in the UVA region. This paper evaluates UV absorption ability of flowers from Clitoria ternata Linn (Fabaceae), Canna indica Linn (Scitaminaceae), as an anti-solar agent. Extracts were prepared by maceration with a mixture of distilled water and methanol (1:1). The method is performed by UV spectrophotomety in the range of 200 to 400 nm and results of all the extracts shows effective UV absorption in the given range.


Effective-medium theory is often helpful for understanding the behavior of subwavelength gratings with small period-to-wavelength ratios. By analytically solving Maxwell's equations in the small-depth limit, we show that the effective properties of subwavelength gratings strongly depend on the grating depth. Moreover, the effective properties are shown to depend not only on the grating structure but also on the optical indices of the surrounding media. A simple expression for the effective indices of one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) gratings with arbitrary depths is proposed. Comparison with rigorous computations shows that for TE polarization of 1-D gratings the depth dependence of the effective index prediction is accurate. For TM polarization of 1-D volume gratings and for 2-D volume gratings a slight deviation between rigorous computation and the prediction is observed for approximately quarter-wave depths. For TM polarization of 1-D surface-relief gratings and for 2-D surface-relief gratings, no closed-form expression for the depth dependence of the effective indices is found, but a very sharp variation of the effective index at small thicknesses is predicted. This prediction is confirmed by rigorous computation.


Since the first introduction of the Cerec system (Sirona) in the early 1980s, the use of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacture (CAD/CAM) technology has spread widely in modern adhesive dentistry. Thanks to this innovative technology, it has been possible to carry out chairside restorations fully managed by the clinician, with the advantages of lower costs for the patient, more rapid execution of the restorations, and the exclusion of the provisional phase. With further improvements in chairside technologies and materials, specifically in the field of composite resin blocks, it is now possible to fabricate multiple ultrathin, minimally invasive or even noninvasive restorations in one single appointment. The clinical case presented here was solved using an innovative approach: It was entirely studied and realized chairside by a dentist on a computer, without any plaster cast or classic articulator. Vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO) augmentation was projected with the 'Incisal Tip' tool on the virtual articulator of the Cerec system. Eight composite resin overlays were designed on the non-prepared posterior teeth of a patient suffering from generalized tooth loss principally caused by a history of bulimia nervosa. The maxillary anterior teeth were restored with six palatal veneers modified with direct composites from the vestibular side, in order to improve the esthetic integration of the restorations. The mandibular posterior teeth were built up with direct composites.


Abstract. Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) managed forests in Galicia (Northwestern Spain) have important cultural, economic and ecosystem values. However, due to rural exodus chestnut stands are being degraded. In order to take restoration and conservation measures knowledge of these forests' location, expanse and stage is needed. The available Spanish official cartography is based on photointerpretation which is inaccurate in terms of chestnut forest location and classification. However, remote sensing has recently been proven to be an effective tool for this purpose. Sentinel 2 multi-temporal classification is recently acquiring importance as a method to classify tree species. This project intends to detect chestnut forests using LiDAR and Sentinel 2 multi-temporal data and to compare these results with those obtained using the official cartography. It also intends to assess how the use of different phenological stages could improve classification results. The results obtained provide an overall accuracy of 76% when a three-month combination is used: (March, July and September) leaf-off stage, flowering and leaf-on stage. Overlapping of the current map and the official cartography lead to an accuracy and precision increase; highlighting the utility of the presented methodology to acquire knowledge about chestnut forests location.


In the transformation of the low-level, ambiguous retinal signal into a vivid and meaningful phenomenological experience, certain aspects are as essential as the input coming from the external environment. The semantic knowledge stored in memory, figure-background segmentation, grouping principles, and current mood and expectations of the person are equally important. Visual illusions, which might be described as the discrepancy between the objective properties of the external world and their subjective representations, is a common feature of the visual perception that provides meaningful insights with regards to the structure and function of the complex information processor in the brain. In this context, visual illusions are the end results of the optimization strategies that allow the effective use of limited neuronal and metabolic resources, and thus reflect the natural working principles while coping with these limitations, rather than restrictions inflicted upon the system. In this review, we present a compilation of illusions and summarize the key principles of visual perception on the basis of these visual phenomena. In the final section, we also discuss a number of recent topics within the context of Bayesian inference and psychopathology, illusions and alpha brain oscillations and time perception to describe the current directions in the field. Keywords Visual perception, visual illusions, visual system


The design of a 2-D laser heterody ne interferometer w ith 2nm uncertainty
and 0. 5nm r esolutio n w ithin 50Lm measuring range is proposed in the paper. The acousto-optic modulator and frequency-stabilizing He-Ne laser will be used to obtain an orthogonal polarized frequency laser beam with less than 200 kHz frequency difference. Both polarization interfero-meters at X and Y axes are differential interferometer. Phase demodulation technology will be used for heterodyne interference signal processing.


More than 30 years ago R\'enyi [1] introduced the representations of real numbers with an arbitrary base $\beta > 1$ as a generalization of the $p$-adic representations. One of the most studied problems in this field is the link between expansions to base $\beta$ and ergodic properties of the corresponding $\beta$-shift. In this paper we will follow the bibliography of Blanchard [2] and give an affirmative answer to a question on the size of the set of real numbers $\beta$ having complicated symbolic dynamics of their $\beta$-shifts.


The effect of optical nonlinearities on the formation of the near-field images over a semiconductor surface is studied by Green's function methods in the case of a nonequilibrium exciton distribution generated by a strongly focused laser pulse. It is shown that inclusion of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility in the system dramatically changes the near-field images if the excitonic system is in resonance. Our calculations predict the dynamic configurational resonances arising as peaks on a ∼1 ps timescale in the intensity of the near-field image in the far-field pump–near-field probe experiments. For all other cases it is shown that the role of nonlinearity in the formation of the near-field images is insignificant. These results anticipate a further deep insight into exciton dynamics under incoherent nonequilibrium carrier distributions and provide better understanding of ultra-fast near-field experiments.


We consider the problem of certification of arbitrary ensembles of pure states and projective measurements solely from the experimental statistics in the prepare-and-measure scenario assuming the upper bound on the dimension of the Hilbert space. To this aim, we propose a universal and intuitive scheme based on establishing perfect correlations between target states and suitably-chosen projective measurements. The method works in all finite dimensions and allows for robust certification of the overlaps between arbitrary preparation states and between the corresponding measurement operators. Finally, we prove that for qubits, our technique can be used to robustly self-test arbitrary configurations of pure quantum states and projective measurements. These results pave the way towards the practical application of the prepare-and-measure paradigm to certification of quantum devices.


CONSPECTUS: Human−machine interactions in the era of the Internet of Things call for the development of intelligent bionic materials. Inspired by the biological tissues' macromolecular networks and ionic signals, quasi-solid ionic conductors, including artificial hydrogels and nonvolatile ionic elastomers, have attracted increasing interest as a promising candidate to facilitate the human−machine interactions. Benefiting from many bionic features such as biocompatibility, softness, and ionic conductivity, the quasi-solid ionic conductors evolve various functions and achieve a broad scope of applications. This Account highlights the recent progress of bioinspired quasi-solid ionic conductors as a versatile platform for human−machine interactions. It covers topics ranging from materials, processing, and applications to future opportunities and challenges. We begin by introducing bioinspired concepts and the history of artificial ionic conductors. Then, we discuss the optimization of quasi-solid ionic conductors in terms of mechanical performance, sensory capabilities, optical properties, and environmental stability. Afterward, we introduce processing methods and discuss the integration possibility and recyclability of quasisolid ionic conductors. Next, we show the human−machine interactions enabled by the quasi-solid ionic conductors, including skinlike sensors, theranostic patches, and ionic power supplies. In the end, we describe the exciting future of integrated artificial ionic systems and briefly discuss opportunities in bioinspired designs and practical applications of the quasi-solid ionic conductors.


The stomach of newborn pig contains a proteinase that is immunologically closely related to calf chymosin (rennin) (EC 18.104.22.168.). None of the pepsins from the stomach of adult pig is present in the newborn pig. Pig chymosin has optimal general proteolytic activity around pH 3.5. The ratio of milk-clotting activity to general proteolytic activity is about 30--70 times higher than that of pyloric and fundic pepsins.


Prulifloxacin (PUFX), a new quinolone antimicrobial agent, was administered to a total of 122 patients and carriers to investigate its clinical efficacy, safety and usefulness in infectious enteritis (bacillary dysentery, enteritis caused by Salmonella spp. and enteropathogenic E. coli, cholera and so on). In addition, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of UFX (active compound) was determined against each clinical isolate, and compared with that of ciprofloxacin (CPFX), ofloxacin (OFLX), tosufloxacin (TFLX) and nalidixic acid (NA). The correlation between the concentration of UFX in feces and the change of the fecal microflora were also investigated when PUFX was administered to the patients with acute infectious enteritis. A daily dose of 400 mg of PUFX was administered orally in two divided doses (morning and evening) for 5 days, with the exception of 7 days administration against salmonella enteritis and 3 days administration against cholera. 84 cases were adapted for evaluating the usefulness. The clinical efficacy was 100% in all the enteritis except salmonella enteritis, in which it was 88.9% (8/9 cases). On the bacteriological efficacy, the elimination rate was 100% in all isolates except Salmonella spp., in which it was 75.0% (12/16 cases). As for the adverse effect, uriticaria in moderate degree was observed in 1 (0.9%) of 109 cases. Abnormal changes in laboratory findings were seen in 3 (3.0%) of 100 cases, consisting of 1 with eosinophilia and 2 with elevated S-GPT, although they were all slight in degree. The usefulness rate was 65.5% (55/84 cases) for "very useful" and 95.2% (80/84 cases) for "very useful" and "useful". MIC90 of UFX against Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., E. coli and V. cholerae, was 0.025, 0.05, 0.025 and 0.05 microgram/ml, respectively. These values were the same as those of CPFX and TFLX, and superior to OFLX and NA. UFX concentrations in feces followed by administration of PUFX in 3 cases with acute infectious enteritis were higher than that of MIC90 of UFX against Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., E. coli and V. cholerae. The changes of the fecal microflora, which influence the efficacy and safety of PUFX, were not observed.


This study examined the effect of dividend tax policy on dividend payout in selected Nigerian food and beverages firms. The study employed a cross-sectional approach using both explanatory and exploratory design. Fifteen out of twenty one quoted food and beverages firms on the Nigeria stock exchange (NSE) as at December 2018 were randomly selected to constitute the study sample. Four hundred copies of structural questionnaire were distributed but only three hundred and twenty copies were correctly completed and useful for the analysis. The study revealed that dividend tax policy was significant on a dividend payout (f-statistic =27.52; p=0.000) with R-square =0.285. When the moderation variable effect (inflation) was considered, it was also found that dividend tax policy influenced dividend payout of the selected firms (F-statistic=15.89; p=0.000).The study further revealed that tax policy has significant effect on dividend payout in the selected firms. The study therefore recommended that management of firms should adopt more of stock dividend policy than cash concluded payout. <br>


The aim of this study was to compare the Pull Test—Retropusion Test and the Push and Release Test (P&R) as regards their ability to predict Parkinson (PD) fallers and nonfallers in relation to their medication state. Eighty‐two PD patients participated in the study. Fallers (N = 36) and nonfallers (N = 46) were grouped on the basis of their fall history. Fallers were those who had fallen at least once within the last 6 months. The two groups were compared on the basis of the patients' performance in the Pull and the P&R tests, both in their "OFF" and "ON" medication state. The overall accuracy of the classification of PD patients as fallers and nonfallers was determined by means of binomial logistic regression (BLR) and the analysis of the "area under the receiver operating characteristics curve" (AUC). In the OFF medication state, the statistical analysis revealed that the Pull Test was accurate (methods BLR (AUC)) in 85.4% (0.87) of cases and the P&R Test in 86.6% (0.90). In the ON medication state, the Pull Test was only 76.8% (0.78) accurate, while the P&R Test was 87.8% (0.87) accurate. Both clinical tests are valid and relatively equivalent when assessing patients in their OFF medication state; however, the P&R Test is more accurate than the Pull Test in the ON state. This indicates that it is more widely applicable in clinical practice. © 2008 Movement Disorder Society


This paper investigates the effects of a fiscal stimulus when financial frictions and a liquidity trap are present. These two conditions make a government spending expansion and a reduction in capital income taxes more efficient in stimulating output. In contrast, a reduction in labor income taxes may aggravate the economic conditions. In addition, small implementation delays in government spending may result in big spending multipliers in the short run. All of these results rely partly on the dynamic interaction between inflation and the external finance premium. Lastly, simulations of the ARRA stimulus package predict that the output gains due to the presence of financial frictions may lie between 1.3 % and 2.5 % of GDP.


Growing home comfort is causing increasing energy consumption in residential buildings and a consequent stress in urban medium and low voltage distribution networks. Therefore, distribution system operators are obliged to manage problems related to the reliability of the electricity system and, above all, they must consider investments for enhancing the electrical infrastructure. The purpose of this paper is to assess how the reduction of building electricity consumption and the modification of the building load profile, due to load automation, combined with suitable load control programs, can improve network reliability and distribution efficiency. This paper proposes an extensive study on this issue, considering various operating scenarios with four load control programs with different purposes, the presence/absence of local generation connected to the buildings and different external thermal conditions. The study also highlights how different climatic conditions can influence the effects of the load control logics.


Cells are exposed to reactive oxygen species (ROS) that derive both from internal and external sources. The formation of cellular ROS is linked to ageing and age-related diseases like cancer. Because of conflicting data, the link between ROS and ageing or cancer is not exactly clear. ROS are in some ageing studies found to decrease lifespan and in other studies found to act as a pro-survival factor. These conflicting data demonstrates that more research is needed to unravel the signalling and damaging effects of ROS. Knowledge of the different effects that ROS can have in time, in space and on individual proteins within cells can subsequently be used to predict whether ROS is beneficial or harmful in a certain situation. To increase this knowledge this thesis describes amongst others the effects that ROS can have on individual proteins that are known to be involved in ageing and age-related diseases as cancer (e.g. FOXO/DAF-16 and p16) via cysteine-dependent redox signalling.

In this thesis we studied the functional effects of redox regulation of DAF-16 in C. elegans. Redox signalling towards FOXO4 (human homolog of DAF-16) was already known to induce its nuclear transport via a cysteine-dependent binding to the nuclear importer transportin-1. We show here that the delayed nuclear translocation of DAF-16 upon transportin-1 knockdown is accompanied by a paradoxical increase in DAF-16-dependent thermotolerance and longevity. Furthermore we could show here that cysteine- and possibly redox-dependent signalling towards FOXO/DAF-16 plays a role in developmental rate and thermotolerance in the model organism C. elegans.

In addition we studied the redox control of the human tumour suppressor and cell cycle regulator p16. We show that the dynamics of a p16 imposed cell cycle arrest are altered under oxidizing conditions in a cysteine-dependent manner. Our data suggests that these changed dynamics and the related decrease in inhibitory capacity of p16 could be caused by a combination of a conformational change and the effect of a redox- and cysteine-dependent binding partner.

Another theme of this thesis is protein homeostasis. The loss of protein homeostasis is a hallmark of ageing and age-related diseases. Protein synthesis or degradation, two components of protein homeostasis are often altered in models of ageing but the exact relation between protein turnover and ageing is, just as the effect of ROS on ageing, unclear. To increase the knowledge of the relationship between protein turnover and ageing we studied proteome-wide protein turnover in several C. elegans models of longevity and age-related diseases (Parkinson's). To study proteome-wide protein turnover, a quantitative mass-spectrometry based method was set up that enabled the estimation of the half-life of individual proteins. With this method we found large changes in average protein half-lifes when comparing different C. elegans models of longevity and age-related disease (Parkinson's). We found that protein turnover, at least in the developing animal does not necessarily correlate with eventual lifespan or healthspan. Furthermore, the total shift of protein turnover, and biological component analysis suggest that protein turnover is probably regulated at organismal level.


ABSTRACT From February to November 2007, chicken meat preparations (n = 656) were sampled at 11 processing companies across Belgium. All samples were tested for Campylobacter by enrichment culture and by direct plating according to standard methods. Almost half (48.02%) of the samples were positive for Campylobacter spp. The mean Campylobacter count was 1.68 log10 CFU/g with a standard deviation of ± 0.64 log10 CFU/g. The study revealed a statistically significant variation in Campylobacter contamination levels between companies; processors with a wider frequency distribution range of Campylobacter counts provided chicken meat preparations with higher Campylobacter incidences and concentrations. There was no significant difference between the counts of Campylobacter spp. in various preparation types. However, the Campylobacter counts and incidences in chicken wings were the highest and portioned-form products (legs, wings, and breasts) showed a higher probability of being Campylobacter positive compared to minced-form products (sausages, burgers, and minced meat). The proportion of Campylobacter-positive samples was significantly higher in July than in other months. Recovery of Campylobacter spp. recovery by direct plating was higher (41.0%) compared to detection after enrichment (24.2%). Statistical modeling of the survey data showed that the likelihood of obtaining a positive result by enrichment culture increases with an increase in the Campylobacter concentration in the sample. In the present study, we provide the first enumeration data on Campylobacter contamination in Belgian chicken meat preparations and address proposals for improving Campylobacter monitoring programs.


Tonghak, or Eastern Learning, was the first major new religion in modern Korean history. Founded in 1860, it combined aspects of a variety of Korean religious traditions. Because of its appeal to the poor and marginalized, it became best known for its prominent role in the largest peasant rebellion in Korean history in 1894, which set the stage for a wider regional conflict, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Although the rebellion failed, it caused immense changes in Korean society and played a part in the war that ended in Japan's victory and its eventual rise as an imperial power. It was in this context of social change and an increasingly perilous international situation that Tonghak rebuilt itself, emerging as Ch'?ndogyo (Teaching of the Heavenly Way) in 1906. During the years before Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, Ch'?ndogyo continued to evolve by engaging with new currents in social and political thought, strengthening its institutions, and using new communication technologies to spread its religious and political message. In spite of Korea's loss of independence, Ch'?ndogyo would endure and play a major role in Korean nationalist movements in the Japanese colonial period, most notably the March First independence demonstrations in 1919. It was only able to thrive thanks to the processes that had taken place in the twilight years of Korean independence. This book focuses on the internal developments in the Tonghak and Ch'?ndogyo movements between 1895 and 1910. Drawing on a variety of sources in several languages such as religious histories, doctrinal works, newspapers, government reports, and foreign diplomatic reports, it explains how Tonghak survived the turmoil following the failed 1894 rebellion to set the foundations for Ch'?ndogyo's important role in the Japanese colonial period. The story of Tonghak and Ch'?ndogyo not only is an example of how new religions interact with their surrounding societies and how they consolidate and institutionalize themselves as they become more established; it also reveals the processes by which Koreans coped and engaged with the challenges of social, political, and economic change and the looming darkness that would result in the extinguishing of national independence at the hands of Japan's expanding empire.


We identify a geometric symmetry on the two-flavor Bloch sphere for collective flavor oscillations of a homogeneous dense neutrino gas. Based on this symmetry, analytical solutions to the periodic bipolar flavor evolution are derived. Using numerical calculations, we show that for configurations without this symmetry, the flavor evolution displays deviations from the bipolar flavor motion or even exhibits aperiodic patterns. We also discuss the implication of our finding for more general three-flavor and inhomogeneous cases.


Most social network analysis works at the level of interactions between users. But the vast growth in size and complexity of social networks enables us to examine interactions at larger scale. In this work we use a dataset of 76M submissions to the social network Reddit, which is organized into distinct sub-communities called subreddits. We measure the similarity between entire subreddits both in terms of user similarity and topical similarity. Our goal is to find community pairs with similar userbases, but dissimilar content; we refer to this type of relationship as a "latent interest." Detection of latent interests not only provides a perspective on individual users as they shift between roles (student, sports fan, political activist) but also gives insight into the dynamics of Reddit as a whole. Latent interest detection also has potential applications for recommendation systems and for researchers examining community evolution.


The aim of the study was to establish the relationship between physical activity and sedentary time, and academic performance of Grade 7 learners in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Incorporating a once-off cross-sectional research design, the adapted Children's Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS) questionnaire was used to determine the physical activity levels and time spent on sedentary behaviours of 230 Grade 7 learners (114 boys and 116 girls) from three schools of different socio-economic backgrounds. Learners' first language, Mathematics and year-end average marks were used as a measure for academic performance. The results indicate statistically and practically significant positive relationships between academic performance and the minutes spent on physical activity during weekends, as well as on high-intensity physical activity during weekends. Negative relationships were found between academic performance and sedentary behaviour during weekends, and between academic performance and the total time spent on sedentary activities per week. The regression analyses revealed that, in addition to gender and ethnic groups, the total time spent on sedentary behaviour during the week, contributed most to the variation in academic marks. Learners demonstrating high levels of physical activity and lower levels of sedentary behaviour perform better academically. Keywords : Physical activity; Sedentary time; Academic performance; Adolescents.


The configuration of channels in stream networks is vital for their connectivity, biodiversity, and metacommunity dynamics. We compared the capacity of three process domains—lakes, slow‐flowing reaches, and rapids—to disperse and retain plant propagules by releasing small wooden cubes as propagule mimics during the spring flood and recording their final locations. We also measured the geomorphic characteristics (planform, longitudinal profile, cross‐sectional morphology, and wood) of each process domain. The three process domains all differed in morphology and hydraulics, and those characteristics were important in shaping the transport capacity of mimics. On average, lakes retained more mimics than slow‐flowing reaches but did not differ from the retainment of rapids. Living macrophytes were the most efficient element trapping mimics. In rapids and slow‐flowing reaches, most trapped mimics remained floating, whereas in lakes, most mimics ended up on the banks. The decay curves of retention varied substantially among and within process domains. The results suggest that managers who rely on natural recovery of restored sites by means of plant immigration may benefit from understanding landscape patterns when deciding upon the location of restoration measures in stream networks.


This paper compares the cost and quality incentive effects of cost reimbursement and prospective payment systems in the health industry. When a provider cannot refuse patients who require high treatment costs or discriminate patients by qualities, optimally designed prospective payments can implement the efficient quality and cost reduction efforts, but cost reimbursement cannot induce any cost incentive. When the provider can refuse expensive patients, implementation of the first best requires a piecewise linear reimbursement rule that can be interpreted as a mixture of pure prospective payment and pure cost reimbursement, Under appropriate conditions, prospective payment can implement the first best even when the provider can use qualities to discriminate patients.


The focus is on the protracted dispute (2009 - 2011) between British Airways (BA) and its cabin crew and their union BASSA (British Airlines' Stewards and Stewardesses Association). Against a historical legacy of adversarial employment relations, the dispute was triggered by the company's imposition, in disregard of collective bargaining procedures, of reduced crewing levels, transformed working arrangements and a new 'mixed fleet' on inferior terms and conditions. Despite the fact that the company marshalled considerable resou rces against the union, including a 'strategy of decapitation' of the BASSA leadership, the cabin demonstrated a profound commitment to collective action that saw very large ballot majorities and 22 days of strike action. The question driving the paper is how to explain such powerful collectivism given the adverse conditions facing the crew. Specifically, the paper is concerned with how BASSA was able to organise when confronted with a number of spatial problematics, including the residential disaggregation of it crews and the dispersal across the globe of a transient workforce. Drawing on testimony deriving from extended in-depth semi-structured interviews, the paper provides compelling evidence of BASSA's and crews' utilisation of internet-based communication to organise members and to help overcome the problems of dispersion and distance. Particular emphasis is placed on the effectiveness of the BASSA Forum and Crew Forum. The paper engages with a recent literature on union use of internet-based communication and social media and both challenges those who have exaggerated the importance of their capacity to generate a 'distributed discourse' and those who have been overly-sceptical of unions' ability to effectively use such technologies. In the BA-BASSA dispute of 2009 - 2011 virtual forms of organising were integrated with the real, although in the final analysis mass meetings, and rallies and effective picketing were the fulcrum of action on strike days. Internet-based communication and interaction certainly contributed to successful organising but of most import for collectivism was BASSA's embeddedness in the work lives of their members.


In this study a combination of neutron diffraction measurements and empirical potential structure refinement (EPSR) was used to investigate the time-averaged structure of a 0.30 mol fraction solution of urea in water at both 25 and 35 °C. These two temperatures were chosen in order to compare the structure of an undersaturated solution at 35 °C with that of a supersaturated solution at 25 °C. The results indicate that in moving into the supersaturated state the solutions show a significant and unexpected change in the self-aggregation of urea molecules. Urea−urea interactions present in the undersaturated solution become suppressed in the supersaturated region, in favor of interactions between urea and water so that overall the urea becomes more hydrated. Such a change may be viewed as a response of the system to the imposed supersaturation and a factor playing an important role in the observed metastability of the solutions.


In rats, central vagal stimulation by thyrotropin-releasing hormone protects against ethanol-induced gastric damage by muscarinic release of prostaglandins. In contrast, gastroprotection following capsaicin-induced stimulation of afferent neurons is prostaglandin-independent. Capsaicin-evoked protection is abolished by blockade of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptors and inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) synthase. Various peptides including gastrin 17, cholecystokinin octapeptide, thyrotropin-releasing hormone, bombesin, corticotropin-releasing factor, epidermal growth factor, peptide YY, neurokinin A analogs and intragastric peptone exert gastroprotection that is abolished by afferent nerve denervation, blockade of CGRP receptors and inhibition of NO synthase. Indomethacin attenuates the protection of some peptides but has no effect with others. The hyperemic response to peptides is mediated by the afferent nerve/CGRP/NO system without contribution of prostaglandins. Furthermore, it was shown that NKA analogs exert afferent nerve-, CGRP- and NO-dependent gastroprotection in the face of substantial reduction of gastric mucosal blood flow indicating that gastroprotection is not necessarily mediated by mucosal hyperemia. In the rat stomach with functioning afferent nerves neither selective inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 nor COX-2 is ulcerogenic and only simultaneous inhibition of both COX isoenzymes induees mucosal lesions. In the face of pending injury such as intragastric acid a COX-1 inhibitor evokes dose-dependent damage whereas COX-2 inhibitors are not injurious as long as the function of afferent nerves is not impaired. After afferent nerve denervation, however, COX-2 inhibitors or dexamethasone which suppresses the acid-induced up-regulation of COX-2 are highly ulcerogenic. In conclusion, release of prostaglandins following nerve stimulation can mediate protective effects under certain conditions but is not a prerequisite for neurally mediated mucosal defense. Prostaglandins are of particular importance for the maintenance of gastric mucosal integrity when neuronal defense mechanisms are impaired.


The facts of social sciences are ones that stem from scientific expertise, but in the social world, everyone is their own expert. Everyone lives in society, and experiences either first-hand, or closely second-hand, the same phenomena that social scientists investigate. Consequently, people are not only the subjects of scientific investigation, but are themselves amateur reflexive scientists: observing and making sense of their own experiences in social and economic affairs, And, in a democratic community, such personal experience claims a legitimate place in knowledge discussions. These two qualities mean that the observations from personal experience can not be so lightly dismissed by the social scientist, in the same way as the traditional observations of folk-lore can be trumped by the facts of scientific knowledge in the natural sciences. Yet, these facts of personal experience may not travel easily, for the possibilities of voicing that experience depend in part on the nature of the social science involved and in part on the civic epistemology of the environment within which they can be expressed. The considerations which underlie the successful articulation of experienced knowledge suggest that "voice" differs from both "engagement" and "understanding" as a way to characterize public participation in social science – as opposed to natural science – knowledge discussions.


In order to fully describe the dynamic behavior of the magnetic levitation ball system which has nonlinear, open-loop instable and rapid response characteristics, RBF-ARX model with linear functional weights (LFWRBF-ARX model) was established. Different from a general RBF-ARX model, the LFWRBF-ARX model introduces a local linear structure as the weights of output layer. This model varies with the working-point, it is a locally linear ARX model when the working-point is fixed and it becomes a globally nonlinear ARX model when the working-point changes. According to the model structure, a structured nonlinear parameter optimization method (SNPOM) was applied to identify the structure, linear and nonlinear parameters of model. Then the identified model-based predictive controller was designed. The results show that the LFWRBF-ARX model may capture the local and global dynamic characteristics of the magnetic levitation ball system well, and the ball may be controlled to levitate stably. The control results are better than those of the general ARX model and RBF-ARX model-based control.


BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most common cause of hospital-acquired infectious diarrhea. OBJECTIVE To analyze the methodological quality, content, and supporting evidence among clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) on CDI prevention. DESIGN AND SETTING We searched medical databases and gray literature for CPGs on CDI prevention published January 2004-January 2015. Three reviewers independently screened articles and rated CPG quality using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument, composed of 23 items, rated 1–7, within 6 domains. We reported each domain score as a percentage of its maximum possible score and standardized range. We summarized recommendations, extracted their supporting articles, and rated individually the level of evidence using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Levels of Evidence. RESULTS Of 2,578 articles screened, 5 guidelines met inclusion criteria. Median AGREE II scores and interquartile ranges were: clarity of presentation, 75.9% (75.9%–79.6%); scope and purpose, 74.1% (68.5%–85.2%); editorial independence, 63.9% (47.2%–66.7%); applicability, 43.1% (19.4%–55.6%); stakeholder involvement, 40.7% (38.9%–44.4%); and rigor of development, 18.1% (17.4%–35.4%). CPGs addressed several common strategies for CDI prevention, including antibiotic stewardship, hypochlorite solutions, probiotic prophylaxis, and bundle strategies. Recommendations were often not consistent with evidence, and most were based on low-level studies. CONCLUSION CPGs did not adhere well to AGREE II reporting standards. Furthermore, there was limited transparency in moving from evidence to recommendations. CDI prevention CPGs need to better adhere to AGREE-II and be transparent in moving from evidence to recommendations, and recommendations need to be consistent with available evidence. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:901–908


Sorption potential of hemp powders as sorbents converted from wasted hemp fibers for Zn2+ ions from diluted aqueous solution was explored. Spectrophotometric method was selected to determine the concentration of Zn2+ ions in the solutions. The influence of different factors on the sorption, such as pH, amount of hemp powder applied as well as initial concentration, were studied, respectively. The obtained results show that the sorption capacity for Zn2+ was the maximum when the pH was 5.85. Increasing the initial concentration of the solutions resulted in increased sorption capacity. Depressed uptake capacity was obtained while amount of hemp powders was increased.


This paper presents an approach to answer the question of what is the level of valueadding activities that infrastructure projects usually operates. Considering the Lean Construction concepts, waste definitions and Value Stream Mapping, added to an Operational Excellence perspective, the paper bring the result of nine infrastructure projects conducted by a consultancy company in seven Brazilian Construction Companies. In the presented analysis, eight projects took place in Brazil and one in Trinidad and Tobago. The methodological analysis here presented consists of two standard phases of the referred consultancy projects where on-site and data analysis, construction value stream mapping, and "gemba-walk" are used to understand the project and quantify the level of value-adding activities and wastes in the construction process. The Multi Moment Analysis will be used to measure wastes and value added in operations performed on-site. The results show a low level of value-adding activities, representing, in the general analysis, 26% percent of the total available time. The results are also divided for project and type of operation, i.e. earthworks, steel assembly, pre-fab, for example. That analysis brings the possibility to understand specifics characteristics of each project product and different approaches towards planning and production control and a new managing attitude in each company. This understanding was hold in those construction companies and may be a great improvement opportunity for the infrastructure construction sector.


In the current economy, a shift can be seen from stand-alone business organizations to networks of tightly collaborating business organizations. To allow this tight collaboration, business process management in these collaborative networks is becoming increasingly important. This paper discusses automated support for this networked business process management: automated means to manage business processes that span multiple autonomous organizations. The author starts this paper with a treatment of intraand inter-organizational business processes to provide a conceptual background for business process management in business networks. The author describes a number of research approaches in this area, including the context of these approaches and the architectures of the automated systems proposed by them. The approaches are described from early developments in the field relying on dedicated technology to current designs based on standardized technology in a service-oriented context. The paper thereby provides an overview of developments in the area of inter-organizational business process management in the spectrum from simple, static business networks to complex, dynamic networks. The author observes that the described BPM research efforts move from pushing new BPM technology into application domains to using BPM to realize business-IT alignment in complex application contexts. Networked Business Process Management


Boolean tensor has been broadly utilized in representing high dimensional logical data collected on spatial, temporal and/or other relational domains. Boolean Tensor Decomposition (BTD) factorizes a binary tensor into the Boolean sum of multiple rank-1 tensors, which is an NP-hard problem. Existing BTD methods have been limited by their high computational cost, in applications to large scale or higher order tensors. In this work, we presented a computationally efficient BTD algorithm, namely \textit{Geometric Expansion for all-order Tensor Factorization} (GETF), that sequentially identifies the rank-1 basis components for a tensor from a geometric perspective. We conducted rigorous theoretical analysis on the validity as well as algorithemic efficiency of GETF in decomposing all-order tensor. Experiments on both synthetic and real-world data demonstrated that GETF has significantly improved performance in reconstruction accuracy, extraction of latent structures and it is an order of magnitude faster than other state-of-the-art methods.


Up until the recent past, zoos served limited function, primarily
existing for entertainment value. Today's zoos, however, are serving many
roles, chief among them: species conservation of captive animals. The biggest
zoo in Brazil, S?o Paulo Zoological Park Foundation, has among its 2000 animals
and many species of wild cats. The presence of domestic cats living freely in
zoos is common and can be a source of spreading disease. The aim of this study
was to verify the variety and prevalence of parasites found in the feces of
felids (feral and wild) living in the S?o Paulo Zoo. The results of this
parasitological analysis have been obtained from the laboratory of clinical
analysis and correspond to the 4-year period beginning January/2009 and ending
December/2012. Eight species of parasites were identified in the feces of
captive wild cats and three in the feces of feral cats. For those captives, Toxocara cati (7.95%) had the highest prevalence, followed by Toxascaris leonina (7.58%), Isospora sp. (2.03%), Hymenolepis nana (0.92%), Eimeria sp., Giardia sp. and Blastocystis sp. (0.37% each) and Ascaris sp. (0.18%). Among the feral cats, we found Toxocara cati (59.26%), Giardia sp. (22.22%) and Isospora sp. (11.11%). For the captive group, we also
distinguished natives from exotic species, finding native species to be more
frequently parasitized than the exotic ones. Key to our findings, though, was
the fact that a few parasite species were found among all groups of felids, specifically (Toxocara
cati, Giardia sp. and Isospora sp). Further research is
needed, however, to confirm that transmission of these parasites is occurring
between and among these groups.


In this paper, classification of traffic signs in Turkey with the help of their some features such as color and shape is explained. In the algorithm that is generated in MATLAB, firstly trafic signs are distinguished from the other objects of the image and then filtered by their colors. After filtering, edge detection is processed and then Hough Transform and SVM are used for shape classification.


Customer experience is increasingly the differentiator between successful companies and those who struggle. Currently, customer experiences become more dynamic; and they advance with each interaction between the company and a customer. Every customer conversation and any effort to evolve these conversations would be beneficial and should ultimately result in a positive customer experience. The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolving customer experience management landscape and the relevant challenges and opportunities. A case study on the "paper machine" companies is chosen. Hence, this paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities in customer experience management of paper machine companies for the case of "road to steel". Road to steel shows the journey of steel from raw material to end product (i.e. paper machine in this paper). ALPHA (Steel company) and BETA (paper machine company), are chosen and their efforts to evolve the customer experiences are investigated. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with experts in those companies to identify the challenges and opportunities of the evolving customer experience management from their point of view. The findings of this paper contribute to the theory and business practices in the realm of the evolving customer experience management landscape. Keywords—Customer experience management, paper machine risk analysis, value chain management.


This paper estimates the impact of health on employment and earnings among individuals aged 15-39 years in South Africa. Though one of the richest countries in Africa, South Africa is plagued by substantial disease burden especially from communicable diseases, injuries, maternal and child mortality, and non-communicable diseases. The country also has very high unemployment rates, with the unemployment rate among those aged 15-24 years exceeding 50% in 2014 (according to the International Labour Organization definition). The National Income Dynamics Study, a nationally representative panel survey of South African individuals and households, is used for the analysis. Using the second and third data waves (collected in 2010 and 2012 respectively) and controlling for genetic unobserved heterogeneity using sibling fixed effects, we find robust negative and statistically significant impact of adverse health status on employment and wages. These findings indicate that ill health is an added hindrance to young South Africans' employment and earnings, and is therefore likely to worsen poverty. Health policy can be a tool for improving the employment and earnings of young South Africans.


Professor Ernest Weinrib has argued that restitutionary damages must be understood, not as a deterrent to wrongful conduct, but as a requirement of commutative Justice. Professor Gordley agrees, but claims that a purposive understanding of commutative Justice can shed more light on restitutionary damages than the formal understanding of Professor Weinrib. A purposive understanding enables us to distinguish appropriation of a right from mere inteference, to distinguish true restitutionary damages from damages in lieu of a forced sale or hold-up; and to explain why, normally, it should not matter whether the defendant acted wilfully or innocently.


It is widely recognized that there is a body of mathematics which is crucial to the underpinning of computer science, software engineering, and information and communications technology. For the most part, at undergraduate level, such mathematics is generally considered to consist of discrete mathematics, including formal logic. At a research level, one expects to find abstract algebra, category theory, topos theory, etc.

In this paper we discuss a body of mathematics which is foundational to formal methods per se and used for the modelling of the usual sort of system artefacts: monoids and their morphisms. In particular we show how a single notion of distribution leads to better insights into many of the standard models in use. This discussion leads naturally to salient remarks on both the need for, and suitable direction to be taken in, a proposed education reform with a particular emphasis on mathematics for Information Technology.


Staff attributions for challenging behaviour are purported to relate to staff responses to such behaviour. To elucidate this relationship, much recent work has relied on eliciting staff attributions to written descriptions of a client engaging in challenging behaviour. However, current attribution theory suggests that eliciting attributions in relation to written descriptions is likely to be qualitatively different from attributions to known clients with challenging behaviour. Thirty-four staff completed the Challenging Behaviour Attribution Scale (CHABA) with respect to a client with whom they worked before, during and after completing a longitudinal course in assessment and intervention for challenging behaviour. Significantly more staff attributed challenging behaviour to negative reinforcement and self-stimulation after training. There was a significant reduction in the number of staff attributing challenging behaviour to positive reinforcement after training. However, a number of deficiencies in the CHABA were identified which may render interpretations inconclusive.


Author(s): Krumpak, Miles | Advisor(s): Barandiaran, Javiera | Abstract: The Cuban Revolution has generated remarkable social achievements through a unique style of people-centered development. However, economic productivity has remained low, and for much of the Revolution agriculture has strongly revolved around the cultivation of sugarcane. The fall of the Soviet Union caused severe hardships in Cuba, leading to contractions in the economy and decreases in food imports. The government responded to these circumstances through measures like promoting tourism and foreign direct investment, legalizing the U.S. dollar, permitting self-employment, and creating farmers markets in which supply and demand determined prices. While during the 1990's these were regarded as temporary actions to meet needs, President Raul Castro has sought to change the structure of Cuba's socialist model. The 2011 Sixth Conference of the Communist Party marked a turning point in the reform process and stressed decentralization the economy, achieving higher economic productivity, and moving away from notions of egalitarianism. Castro noted that "updating" the Cuban economy could not occur overnight, and that implementing the revised model would take at least five years. This thesis examines how recent economic reforms to decentralize the economy have affected the lives of individuals. I utilize farmers markets as a case study of these reforms and ask: What do the experiences of sellers and buyers in farmers markets indicate about the larger process of change in Cuba? To examine this question, during 2016 I conducted ethnographic interviews with market sellers and potential buyers in the cities of Havana and Santiago over a period of nearly two months. When comparing the markets where entrepreneurs sold to those operated by the state, I found that entrepreneurs consistently offered a wider range of higher quality products, but at elevated prices (three times state levels in Havana, and two times in Santiago). These prices were unaffordable for many individuals, yet particularly affected the elderly and those without remittances. While farmers markets are beneficial in terms of making produce available, not all can purchase what they need. Interviews showed that the quality and variety of entrepreneurs' produce resulted from possessing autonomy in decision-making, feeling a sense of ownership, and knowing that their efforts would yield tangible results. While market sellers worked as entrepreneurs because it offered necessary financial benefits, at the same time sellers highlighted that socialism possessed various merits. General participants in this study utilized a wide range of strategies to fulfill their needs, and often described these strategies through the terms "invent" (inventar) or "resolve" (resolver). Although food is where the low purchasing power of the Cuban peso is most problematic, other basic necessities also result costly. However, not all Cubans face the same realities. This was demonstrated by the manner in which interviewees viewed the ration book- while some no longer used their monthly allotments, for others they continued to play a significant role in satisfying food needs. One participant went so far as to say that certain people would starve if rations were removed. Overall, this study finds that individuals perceive the changes occurring in Cuba to be gradual, and mostly restricted to the economic realm. While socialism remains important, some interviewees were inclined towards pragmatism. They were much more concerned with whether government policies would improve their quality of life, than if these policies were socialist or capitalist per se. Although economic reforms have produced gains for some, ensuring the well-being of all Cubans will require additional updating of the economy in the coming years.


The aim of our investigation was to examine the mechanisms of protective features of plaferon LB and fenovit in mice infected with Rausche virus. It was found that in erythroblasts from peripheral blood and spleen, which appeared 12-14 days after infection, the highest percent of determined virus antigens was approximately 47% (range 35,5 to 58,4) which was followed by decrease of the concentration of virus antigens (between 5-12%) in following days and increase of uninfected cells as a result of division of non-contaminated erythroblasts. Mechanism of action of plaferon LB and fenovit was manifested in the reconstitution of mechanisms of apoptosis among erythroblasts, which did not contain synthesized Rausche virus. Impairment of functional activity and antivirus resistance of macrophagal phagocytes are playing an important role not only in the pathogenesis of murine viral leukemia caused by Rausche virus, but also during human leukemia. Correction of functional status of above -- mentioned diseases using plaferon LB and fenovit is presenting as a new and prospective way.


Ultrastructural changes of the rat diaphragm muscle fibers and electron histochemical distribution of calcium ions were studied following chlorophos administration in 5, 15 and 45 minutes (dose - 300 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). The local swelling of mitochondrial matrix and the appearance of contractures were found first in postsynaptical region. Then the postsynaptical alterations increased; the swelling and fragmentation of sarcoplasmic reticulum were observed in addition to desorganization of mitochondrial ultrastructure. Granules of the histochemical product were revealed in mitochondria, in the sarcoplasmic reticulum and in filaments. Changes in distribution of calcium ions in the rat diaphragm muscle fibres after chlorophos administration and the role of Ca++ the in the mechanism of muscle alteration discussed.


Cholera toxin (CT), the enterotoxin of Vibrio cholerae, is a potent mucosal immunogen as well as a strong mucosal adjuvant to related and unrelated antigens. The mucosal immune response to CT is T cell dependent and MHC class II restricted. The epitopes on CT recognized by T cells have not been identified. The purpose of this study was to determine the fine specificity of T cell recognition of both the CT A subunit (CT‐A) and the CT B subunit (CT‐B) by using a range of synthetic peptides. After immunization with CT‐B or CT‐A in CFA subcutaneously, the peripheral lymph node T cells were stimulated with different synthetic peptides in vitro The peptide specificity of T cell recognition was identified by assaying T cell proliferation and interleukin‐3 production. T cells from C57BL/6 (H‐2b) high responder mice recognized one immunodominant epitope (peptide 89–100) and one weak epitope (peptide 31–50) on CT‐B and two epitopes (peptide 21–39 and 180–194) on CT‐A. The immunization of C57BL/6 mice with synthetic immunodominant CT‐B peptide 89–100 induced T cell immunity to the pentameric CT‐B. Induction of tolerance to CTB peptide 89–100 by i.v. injection in high responder C57BL/6 mice induced unresponsiveness to mucosal immunization with CT, compatible with an immunodominant role for this T cell epitope.


htmlabstractTo make compilers more maintainable, one could build the language implementation in a modular way. This would mean adding only new les to the existing base language. Rascal is a language workbench that supports this for Domain Specific Languages (DSLs), as claimed
by it's developers. To test this, a DSL is build to verify this claim. The language built, is a re-implementation of the existing DSL Derric, a forensic DSL to describe le formats and to generate a Java class to test files if they conform to this format. During implementation a
number of issues came forward. There is no override-keyword for functions in Rascal; developers cannot add cases to switch or visit statements later; it is not possible to rename imports; string templates are closed for modification and modules are copied often just to change just one import. Most of these problems generate duplication. In this thesis for four of the five issues, modication of Rascal is suggested. Only the closed switch and visit statements can already be
remedied by using Pattern Based Dispatch, a way of defining a function multiple times, based on the input value. This research concludes by
confirming the claim by the creators of Rascal.


Cover crops have become an important part of cropping systems in the United States, especially in the Mid-Atlantic region. Rapeseed is a popular choice due to its deep growing taproot which creates soil macropores and increases water infiltration. If not properly terminated rapeseed can become problematic due to its pod-shattering tendency and its difficulty to terminate with herbicides once it enters reproductive growth. Results indicate termination of rapeseed is most effective when the cover crop is small. Combinations that successfully terminated rapeseed include glyphosate plus 2,4-D and paraquat plus 2,4-D. Halauxifen-methyl is a new Group 4 herbicide marketed for preplant burndown horseweed (Conyza canadensis L.) control. Previous research indicates that halauxifen effectively controls glyphosate-resistant horseweed. However, little is known about control of other common winter annual weeds by halauxifen. Results indicate halauxifen has a narrow spectrum of control providing adequate control (>80%) of horseweed, henbit (Lamium amplexicaule L.), and purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum L.), while failing to control cutleaf evening-primrose (Oenothera laciniata Hill), curly dock (Rumex crispus L.), purple cudweed (Gamochaeta purpurea L. Cabrera), common chickweed (Stellaria media L.), and mousear chickweed (Cerastium L.). Little is known of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) tolerance to halauxifen applied preplant burndown. Results indicate cotton is more tolerant to halauxifen than 2,4-D or dicamba when the interval between preplant application and cotton planting is less than 30 days.


In this paper we analyze the behavior of tornado time-series in the U.S. from the perspective of dynamical systems. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from a cumu-lonimbus cloud down to the ground. Such phenomena reveal features that are well described by power law functions and unveil characteristics found in systems with long range memory effects. Tornado time series are viewed as the output of a complex system and are interpreted as a manifestation of its dynamics. Tornadoes are modeled as sequences of Dirac impulses with amplitude proportional to the events size. First, a collection of time series involving 64 years is analyzed in the frequency domain by means of the Fourier transform. The amplitude spectra are approximated by power law functions and their parameters are read as an underlying signature of the system dynamics. Second, it is adopted the concept of circular time and the collective behavior of tornadoes analyzed. Clustering techniques are then adopted to identify and visualize the emerging patterns.


Achieving optimal transfection efficiency is the most critical step in overcoming the primary obstacle to success in nonviral-mediated gene therapy. Several transfection parameters were being examined including the effects of different types of transfection media, glucose concentration, reporter DNA concentration, and incubation time in lipotransfectant. Efficiency of transfection obtained was highest for Opti-MEM I (29 ± 2.28%; p = 0.001) followed by M199 (24 ± 1.54%; p = 0.009), both of which performed significantly better than DMEM (14 ± 0.28%) as a transfection medium. The rate of transfection was affected by glucose levels in only DMEM with higher efficiency achieved using low glucose containing DMEM (17 ± 0.38%) than its counterpart. Furthermore, transfection rate and cell viability were severely hampered by lengthened exposure to transfection complexes, leading to an overall mean efficiency of 5 ± 0.87%. However, doubling the DNA content in the transfection mixture did not significantly change the mean rate of transfection in M199 medium (24 ± 1.54% to 27 ± 1.54%; p = 0.273). The overall range of mean efficiency acquired with our protocol under different transfection conditions was between 14% and 29%. Hopefully results from this study will further potential success in nonviral-mediated gene transfer.


A novel frequency multiplier using a composite right/left-handed transmission line and defected ground structure (DGS) is proposed. The left-handed transmission line (LH TL) in the proposed frequency multiplier suppresses the fundamental component (f0), while the dumb-bell or spiral shaped DGS diminish unwanted harmonics such as second, third, and fourth harmonic. The frequency multipliers are designed at f0 of 1 GHz by the proposed technique and measured results are presented. The measured output power at 2f0, 3f0, 4f0, is -3.77 dBm, -6.70 dBm, -6.58 dBm, respectively, when the fundamental input power is 0 dBm.


The aims of this study were (1) to compare the accuracy of conventional D- and E-speed film radiography and direct digital radiography using the RadioVisioGraphy and Visualix systems for the detection of enamel approximal caries lesions and (2) to compare the accuracy of D- and E-speed films and the Visualix system for the detection of dentinal occlusal caries lesions. In total, 122 approximal surfaces were examined in vitro by 3 observers and 65 occlusal surfaces by 2 observers. The true caries diagnosis was based on histological assessment of the surfaces after sectioning the teeth. Approximal surfaces were deemed diseased by the presence of a demineralization in enamel, while occlusal surfaces were deemed diseased by the presence of a demineralization into dentine. The diagnostic accuracy for each radiographic method was expressed as a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve area. For the approximal surfaces, the areas under the ROC curves ranged from 0.53 (Visualix) to 0.70 (E-speed film). For the occlusal surfaces, the areas ranged from 0.62 (Visualix) to 0.79 (D- and E-speed films). No statistically significant differences between mean ROC curve areas for the radiographic methods were found either for the approximal or for the occlusal surfaces. It was concluded that radiography was of almost no value in the detection of enamel approximal caries lesions, but of some value in the detection of dentinal lesions in occlusal surfaces.


Livestock supply chain greenhouse gas emissions account for 14.5 % of anthropogenic gases worldwide, which indicate that the sector is an important GHG contributor. In addition, this sector plays a significant role for income and employment generation. At the same time, livestock productive activity is directly influenced by the impacts of climate change. For such reasons, identifying and implementing management practices that promote sustainable production in a climate change context, becomes a challenge. In Ecuador, the livestock production systems are evaluated from a climate-smart perspective by considering three objectives: 1. sustainably increasing productivity; 2. adapting to climate change; and 3. reducing greenhouse gas emissions whenever possible. The Climate Smart Livestock Project (CSLP) quantified GHG emissions from beef and dairy cattle in the country using local information to derive the estimates. For 2016, the preliminary results show a value of 16547 Gg of CO2-eq from direct emissions, being 76.92% CH4 form enteric fermentation, 18.12% NO2 from manure in pastures, 2.66 % CH4 and 2.30% NO2 from manure management. Regarding climate risk, the CSLP conducted a study to compare the relationship between intense rains, droughts, heat waves and frosts; with the exposure in three dimensions (environmental: pasture area, socioeconomic: number of animals per producer, governance: established productive associations). The results show that the increase of extreme events in drought and intense rains constitute threats with high impacts on livestock systems. Based on the preliminary results, the CSLP compiled 126 good livestock practices that contribute to a climate-smart management, a efficient production systems that are adapted to climate change and aim to reduce GHG. A customized set of practices were implemented on 165 pilot farms, being pasture and water sources management the most relevant factors for the development of intervention strategies at field level. The impact of implementing the practices in the pilot farms is monitored through two web apps, developed by the CSLP, applying algorithms to estimate emissions and climate risk using herd management (number of animals, production, reproduction, weights, etc.) and farm data (area, conservation area, pastures, infrastructure, etc.).


Increasing the number of bits per cell and technology scaling are ways to reduce the cost per gigabyte of flash memories and solid-state drives (SSDs). Unfortunately, this trend has a negative impact on data retention capability and cycling endurance. Periodic data refresh allows dealing with a reduced retention time and, indirectly, may be used to improve cycling endurance. A worst case data refresh frequency is not optimal in the presence of important temperature variations as it may become unnecessarily pessimistic and alter the SSD response latency and energy consumption. Here, a flexible data refresh methodology is proposed based on approximations of the Arrhenius-curves employed to describe the temperature impact on the retention capability of flash memories. These approximations may be implemented with the help of a small module called A-timer. For an asymmetric temperature distribution between 30°C and 70°C, it is estimated that the refresh frequency can be reduced by more than 63× and almost 3× for respectively charge detrapping and SILC failure mechanisms.


In this paper, a design technique for multirate linear digital control systems is described. This technique takes into account all the sampling rates involved in the system and generates a multirate system that mimics the dynamics of a desired single-rate closed-loop system. The desired closed-loop system is referred to as an ideal linear time-invariant single-rate system (ISRS) since it operates at the fastest sampling rate present in the system. The multirate system is designed to achieve state matching, at the fastest rate, with the ISRS and to exhibit a ripple-free response with zero steady-state error in response to a step reference signal. Unlike prior work in the literature, which is applicable only to static-feedback ISRS, the proposed state-space design procedure is applicable for any dynamic-feedback ISRS. The proposed design is successfully implemented on a hard-disk-drive platform for the seek control of the read-write arm. A representative sample of the experimental results are shown and discussed to highlight the proposed multirate technique.


There is ample evidence that Kosovo has no legitimacy in the normal sense of a sovereign state, and that, if it was to be recognized as such, it would further erode the credibility of the international system. Kosovo does not meet any historical standards for sovereignty. For Kosovo to be recognized as a legitimate sovereign state, the international community must violate the sovereignty of another recognized state, the Republic of Serbia. One should also take to consideration that Kosovo is already a territory run as a criminal enterprise, with links into jihadist movements. Already Kosovo is becoming like Afghanistan under the Taliban. And like the Taliban destruction of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan, the Albanian Islamist process of destruction of the Christian Churches will be complete if Kosovo is granted independence. The chaos of changing borders— such as we are seeing today in the Balkans, and elsewhere — is fertile ground for criminality. Europe is a major target for the global jihadist movements, and not only those under the al-Qaida label, but also those fi nanced and logistically made viable by the Iranian Government. Western fears have been strengthened by intelligence derived by European countries on the existence of a strong Islamist network in Kosovo and Bosnia. The "al-Qaida" phenomenon owes its success to the fi nancial links with what we are calling the Albanian mafi a, just as the Albanian criminals owe their success to the logistics and networks of al-Qaida. As far as Islamists are concerned, their goal is consolidation of their control over parts of the Balkans, specifi cally the so-called "Green transversal" belt which links the Adriatic Coast through Albania, FYR of Macedonia, the Serbian Kosovo and Metohija region, the southern Serbia/northern Montenegro Rashka (Sanjak) region, through the Gorazde Corridor into Bosnia, not only as a terrorist corridor but also to facilitate a clear highway for narco-traffi cking and weapons shipments. Signifi cantly, the Serbian Government within the union of Serbia & Montenegro, had, until the recent Serbian elections, attempted to ignore the growing incitement to a new outbreak of violence and unrest on the part of the Muslim community of southern Serbia (Rashka) and Kosovo because it did not wish to be seen to be drawing attention to the growing Muslim agitation. Finally, Kosovo Liberation Army still, and is able to access much of its narcotic product, because of its close interrelationship with jihadist movements worldwide and foreign state sponsors. There is no ground for optimism in the future. The wars to break up Yugoslavia are still unfi nalized. And in many of the new wars we will see savagery abound as groups "re-discover" old identities, and seek to capitalize on the permissive climate of change and chaos. However, it not just Balkans that is endangered. Deeply placed sources within the Islamist community in Kosovo have identifi ed the source and type of the explosives used in the jihadist terrorist bombings in London on July 7, 2005, and the Madrid commuter railway bombings of March 11, 2004.


fragile X syndrome but only a page and a half on all single gene disorders including the mucopolysaccharidoses, degenerative disorders, phenylketonuria, etc. The detailed illustrations in the chapter on cerebral palsy are worth a thousand words and could have been used to good effect when describing dysmorphic syndromes elsewhere in the text. The chapter on educational underachievement describes specific learning disabilities including reading disability (dyslexia), motor disability (clumsiness), and attention deficit disorder (hyperactivity). The most important lesson is that the changes in terminology do not necessarily indicate improvement in understanding and that the management of children displaying such difficulties is often based on fashion rather than evidence. As expected when a child psychiatrist is a coauthor, the behavioural and emotional aspects of developmental disorders are given prominence both throughout the text and in the separate chapter on managing behaviour problems. The response of parents and family to disclosure and subsequent management is described for each group of disorders. Possible reasons for different parental responses are discussed, for example a parent's feeling of rejection by a blind baby because of the importance of eye contact in establishing human relationships. It will give excellent insight to doctors in training into the strain of looking after a child with a disability. What could be improved? A more balanced approach to the discussion of individual conditions would, I think, improve the book overall. A paperback edition at reduced cost would make it more accessible to impoverished trainees. But the authors are to be congratulated on the production of an excellent source book for the community paediatric syllabus which contains references as recent as 1995 and is therefore both accurate and timely.


Several studies, performed during the past 20 years in different experimental animal models of hypertension and in men, have allowed to clarify important pathophysiological and clinical aspects of the hypertensive cardiovascular disease, i.e. the pathological condition characterized by marked structural and functional alterations of the heart induced by arterial hypertension. Epidemiological studies have indeed clearly shown that the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in large hypertensive population samples is markedly high (40-50%) and that the electrocardiographic evidence of cardiac hypertrophy adversely affects patient's prognosis, by significantly increasing cardiovascular morbidity (myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias) and mortality (sudden death). It has also been shown that cardiac hypertrophy is characterized by profound functional alterations in myocardial contractility and impairs neural reflex responses to beta-adrenergic stimulation and to deactivation of cardiopulmonary volume receptors, which are involved in physiological conditions in blood volume homeostasis control. Finally, several interventional studies have unequivocally shown that antihypertensive drugs may allow to obtain, even following 3-6 months of treatment, along with a blood pressure reduction, a clearcut regression of cardiac hypertrophy. By improving cardiovascular hemodynamics and neural control of circulation, regression of cardiac structural alterations is associated with a significant reduction in the patient's cardiovascular risk profile.


Summary The studies of the hepatoxic and hepatocarcinogenic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) have shown that ( a ) The conventional testing for toxicity and its evaluation on the basis of death occurring a few days after dosing is meaningless for carcinogenic agents. ( b ) A single dose of a water-soluble substance, the main part of which is metabolized and excreted in a few hours after ingestion and which does not cause immediately obvious illness, can induce tumors that become apparent a long time after its administration. The induction of tumors appears to resemble a ripening process, which can be accelerated by repeated dosage of the same or of certain other compounds (and presumably could also be delayed). ( c ) The first impact of a carcinogenic agent on a cell is the inhibition of its division, possibly through interference with a "mitotic factor." ( d ) The very young are more susceptible than adults to PA9s; if ingested by lactating females, the latter may remain unscathed, while the suckling young will suffer the ill effects and may develop tumors when still very young. ( e ) The elimination of the toxin in the milk may be a factor in the greater resistance of the lactating female to such agents. ( f ) Sexual hormones affect the response to PA9s, adult males are more susceptible than adult females to these hepatotoxins. ( g ) The hepatotoxic entity is probably a product formed from pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the course of their metabolism in the liver and possibly also in other tissues. The effects of age, sex, diet, and animal species may thus be related to the concomitant variations in the metabolism of PA9s. ( h ) Hepatotoxic PA9s induce in primates mainly pulmonary and venoocclusive lesions. ( i ) Man is also susceptible to the hepatotoxic PA9s. Vascular lesions described as Chiari9s syndrome in South Africa and as "venoocclusive disease" in Jamaica have been correlated with the ingestion of PA9s.


Corporate information that moves stock-market prices sits at the center of modern securities regulation. The Great Depression-era securities laws at the foundation of the field require much mandatory disclosure of this type of information. They also include a strict anti-fraud regime to ensure the credibility of those disclosures of that information. And for a half century now, that regime has been interpreted to prohibit insiders from trading on the same information.Today, a new body of securities law is emerging on top of this regulatory structure built around corporate information. That body — which we call "information-dissemination law" (IDL) — focuses on how important information is revealed to the market. The current defining feature of IDL is found in requirements that such information must be disseminated to all investors at the same exact time in the name of ordinary-investor fairness. Yet, using a market-microstructure-based understanding of securities markets, our analysis shows that the ordinary-investor benefits of such equal-timing efforts are far from clear. Indeed, it shows that simultaneity is perversely harming the most vulnerable ordinary investors. Accordingly, the Article defines this nascent area of law, subjects its fairness rhetoric to economic realities, and explores ways in which it might be reformed to further its primary stated goal or those of the field more generally — or even better, both.


Objective: To determine impact of structured meetings on learning and faculty development Methodology: The observational cross sectional study was conducted at Bahria University Medical & Dental College from October 2010 to March 2011. Feed back of all faculty members of university was acquired on weekly structured meeting (with alternating theme of journal club and problem based scenario presentation) by a self reported questionnaire. The responses obtained on a 5-point Likert scale were divided into two groups; I, senior faculty (professors, associates and assistants) II, junior faculty (lecturers). Chi square test was applied to compare categorical variables and results considered significant with p value< 0.05. Result: 49 faculty members; 15 in Group I and 34 in Group II responded, 90% respondent considered it to be a healthy activity. Senior faculty agreed to the usefulness of structured meetings in terms of faculty development, social interaction, provision of learning opportunities, upgrading of presentation, communication, listening and critical appraisal skills, understanding of biostatistics, self awareness, personal productivity and tolerance to listen to criticism more than the junior faculty (p-value 0.000). Conclusion: The perception regarding weekly structured meeting indicated that it enhanced faculty's knowledge, improved presentation skills, enhanced confidence level, developed positive attitudes and promoted educational leadership qualities in the faculty all through interaction and dialogue.


This paper investigates how well the rainfall regime on which many livelihoods depend, in Ghanais well represented by the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX). The objective of the study is to demonstrate how well the ten CORDEX models are able to capture the spatial and temporal rainfall seasonality over the southern and northern sub-sections ofGhana. The choice of the sub-sections is based on the fact that south of 8°N experiences a bi-modal rainfall regime while the north has a uni-modal regime. The results indicate that the rainfall overGhanais associated with high levels of variability at the inter-annual time scale. Particularly over the southern part ofGhana, all the models follow the same trend as represented overGhanawith similar rainfall values as the observation. Over the northern part ofGhana, models record relatively low rainfall agreeing with the observation. However, most of the models overestimate the northern region rainfall as it is in the case of the southern Ghana. CORDEX as shown in this analysis could be useful in providing Ghana with at least 10 different model outputs for impact analysis. Caution is however given that, since individual models give different performance and the fact that models in general have their inherent deficiencies, an ensemble mean of the models could provide a better result.


The steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is a thermal in-situ technology that has been successfully used to enhance the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen in the Western Canada and in the Eastern Venezuela basins. Pressure and temperature variations during SAGD operations induce complex changes in the mechanical and acoustic properties of the reservoir rocks as well as of the caprock. To study these changes, measurements of ultrasonic wave velocities Vp, Vs were performed on both reconstituted samples and natural samples from oil sands reservoir. Reconstituted samples were made of Fontainebleau sands with a slight cementation formed by a silicate solution. They have a high porosity (about 30 % to 40 %) and a high permeability (up to 10 D). Natural oil sands samples are unconsolidated sandstones extracted from the fluvio-estuarine McMurray Formation in Alberta (Canada). The saturating fluids were bitumen and glycerol with a strongly temperature dependent viscosity. The tests were carried out at different temperatures (in the range 40° and +86°C) and at different effective pressures (from 12 bars up to 120 bars). Experimental results firstly showed that the elastic wave propagation velocities measured are strongly dependent on temperature and pore fluid viscosity whereas little effect of effective pressure was observed. Velocities decreased with increasing temperature and increased with increasing effective pressure. These effects are mainly due to the variations of the saturating fluids properties. Finally, the tests were modelled by using Ciz and Shapiro (2007) approach and satisfactory velocities values were obtained with highly viscous fluids, a case that cannot be easily explained by using the poro-elastic theory of Biot-Gassmann.