This paper considers the two-cell two-hop multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel, where two source groups consisting of multiple users with a single antenna wish to communicate with two multiantenna destinations by sharing two multiantenna relays. For such a channel, an inner bound on the degrees of freedom is derived for different channel knowledge assumptions and relay operations. Assuming global channel knowledge at the relays and full-duplex relay operation, it is shown that two cascaded interfering links can be decomposed into two independent parallel relay channels while sharing the spectrum. The key to showing this result is a novel amplify-and-forward interference-free relay transmission method, which performs interference-shaping during reception and interference neutralization during transmission. Assuming that the relays have global channel knowledge only for the first hop, a spectrally efficient relaying protocol is proposed that overcomes the loss due to half-duplex relaying constraint. The proposed protocol improves performance compared to a trivial time-division-multiple access method for the two-cell two-hop MIMO interference channel.


I. INTRODUCTION
The Meissner effect of black holes describes their
property to expel any exterior magnetic field in case the
black holes become extremal. This was discovered in
Refs. [1–3] and has since then been discussed for electromagnetic
test fields [4,5] and particular classes of black
holes surrounded by a strong magnetic field [6–10].
In the recent paper [11], we proved that the Meissner
effect holds even for generic uncharged black holes in
equilibrium that are distorted by exterior matter and
electromagnetic fields. This implies that the expulsion of
the electromagnetic field is not due to the specific geometries
like the Kerr geometry investigated so far. Still, its
physical origin is not entirely understood. Therefore, the
current paper serves two purposes. First, we will show that
charged black holes exhibit the Meissner effect for strong
electromagnetic fields as well, which will include all
previous results. Second, we will relax as many assumptions
as possible to still be able to prove the result to
identify the physically necessary ones.
In order to understand the conceptual problems related to
the first task, it is instructive to discuss first the classical
example of superconductors in external magnetic fields,
which lends its name to this property of black holes.
Let a neutral superconducting sphere that is above its
critical temperature Tc be embedded in a magnetic field.
When cooling it belowTc, the magnetic field is expelled. The
behavior of uncharged black holes is analogous to this
standard case. Now, consider a superconducting sphere at
a temperature above Tc that carries some net charge, say,
because it is doted with ions. If that sphere rotates, it generates
itself already a magnetic field that penetrates its surface. Ifwe
apply now an external field and cool the superconductor
below its critical temperature, the external field will still be
expelled. However, the magnetic field produced by the
moving interior charges still causes a nonvanishingmagnetic
flux across its surface. Hence, the Meissner effect does not
predict that the total magnetic flux vanishes but only that the
flux caused by external fields vanishes.
Similarly, consider the Kerr-Newman metric, which has
an electric charge QE. Due to its rotation with respect to
inertial observers at infinity, it also exhibits a magnetic field
penetrating the horizon. This would be additional to any
other magnetic test fields generated by external sources.
Clearly, also here, the Meissner effect discussed in Ref. [4]
can only make a statement about the flux caused by the
external matter.
In the test field approach, both contributions to the
magnetic flux, the one from the black hole and the one from
the test field, can be trivially disentangled, and the Meissner
effect can be formulated for the test field alone; see, e.g.,
Ref. [4]. However, for strong magnetic fields, this disentanglement
is more involved because of the nonlinearity of the theory. Thus, it is not obvious which part of the flux
needs to vanish. Technically, this means that in our proof in
Ref. [11], the argument that the vanishing charge of the
horizon implies that the integration constants and consequently
the fields vanish, does not apply anymore. But as
described above, it should not be expected that the total
magnetic flux is vanishing. It should rather be understood
that the magnetic field penetrating an extremal horizon
does solely depend on the properties of the horizon like its
electric and magnetic charge and not on the configuration
of the external matter. This can be made more precise using
the initial value problem of the underlying partial differential
equations. To solve them, initial data need to be
provided at the horizon and a null surface N intersecting it.
The former describes horizon properties, whereas the latter
describes the external matter and fields. The flux is now
supposed to be independent of any initial data given on N.
This implies then that the matter and electromagnetic fields
in the exterior can be distributed arbitrarily without
changing the magnetic flux across the horizon.
In contrast to our previous work [11], we will allow for
more general situations, in addition to allowing for a charge
of the black hole. For example, we will allow strings
piercing the horizon as it is the case for the C-metric [12],
where the Meissner effect was already observed for test
fields [13]. Additionally, we will relax the equilibrium
condition further generalizing the notion of isolated horizons
to almost isolated horizons. Lastly, we will not assume
that the full Einstein equations hold but rather that only one
of its projections does to allow for modified theories of
gravity.
The paper is structured as follows. In Sec. II, we
introduce the notion of charged almost isolated horizons
as well as the constraint equations, which need to be solved
at the horizon. In Sec. III, we assume additionally axial
symmetry to solve the constraint equation explicitly. This
shows that the electromagnetic flux across the horizon
depends only on horizon properties, which we parametrize
in terms of the electric and magnetic charge and dipole and
quadrupole moment of the almost isolated horizon, for
illustration. The results are summarized and discussed in
Sec. IV, where we also give the main Theorem 1.
Throughout the paper, we use geometric units, in which
c ¼ G ¼ 1, and the metric signature diagðþ1;−1;−1;−1Þ.
Moreover, we use the abstract index notation, cf. Ref. [14].
By some abuse of notation, we use the same alphabet for
the abstract indices of quantities regardless of the manifolds
on which they are defined.


Renewed interest in theories and perspectives of embodiment has emerged in conjunction with advances in ubiquitous computing and the development of technologies that inherently change the character of human computer interaction. The very nature of technologies such as tangible, multi-touch, sensor and mobile technologies offers opportunities for exploiting a wider range of perceptual-based experiences than traditional desktop computing. Primarily they offer opportunities to exploit more bodily-based physical experiences in new ways, for example, through manipulation of physical objects linked to a variety of digitally augmentations; enhancing contextually based experience in real world environments through mobile devices, fostering new forms interaction and new ways of thinking. These developments are important in explaining the contemporary interest in concepts of embodiment, in the context of digital technologies that foster more embodied forms of interaction and experiences. However, notions of embodiment have a long and complex history, with continued debate from various disciplinary perspectives. This working paper provides a brief history of theoretical approaches to embodiment, an introduction to ways in which embodiment is described within different disciplines, and outlines key ways in which these perspectives are of interest in the current context of digital technology research.


BACKGROUND
Pathogenic strains of Yersinia enterocolitica harbor a virulence plasmid of 45-48 megadalton that can be detected using different techniques. Rodents are important reservoirs of Y enterocolitica.

AIM
To investigate the carrier status of Y enterocolitica in murine rodents.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Two hundred sixty-one mice and rats were captured in rural and urban areas of Valdivia. Y enterocolitica was cultured from viscera and fecal homogenates. Virulence plasmids were detected using crystal violet binding.

RESULTS
Thirteen Y enterocolitica strains were isolated from 11 rodents. Ten strains belonged to the biotype 1 and three to the biotype 4, serotype O:3. The most frequently infected rodent species were R norvergicus (20%), followed by A longipilis (11%), A olivaceus (2%) and O longicaudatus (2%).

CONCLUSIONS
Rodents, and specially the domestic rat, can be an important source of Y enterocolitica infection for human and susceptible animal species.


A mathematical model of a dynamical process, often in the form of a system of differential equations, serves to elucidate underlying dynamical structure and behavior of the process that may otherwise remain opaque. However, model parameters are often unknown and may need to be estimated from data for a model to be informative. Numerical-integration-based methods, which estimate parameters in a differential equation model by fitting numerical solutions to data, can demand extensive computation, especially for large stiff systems that require implicit methods for stability. Non-numerical integration methods, which estimate parameters in a differential equation model by fitting solution approximations to data, do not provide an impartial measure of how well a model fits data, a measure required for the testability of a model. In this dissertation, I propose a new method that steps back from a numerical-integration-based method, and instead allows an optimal data-fitting numerical solution to emerge as part of an optimization process. This method bypasses the need for implicit solution methods, which can be computationally intensive, seems to be more robust than numerical-integration-based methods, and, interestingly, admits conservation principles and integral representations, which allow me to gauge the accuracy of my optimization. The Escherichia coli Min system is one of the simplest known biological systems that demonstrates diverse complex dynamic behavior or transduces local interactions into a global signal. Various mathematical models of the Min system show behaviors that are qualitatively similar to dynamic behaviors of the Min system that have been observed in experiments, but no model has been quantitatively compared to time-course data. In this dissertation, I extract time-course data for model fitting from experimental measurements of the Min system and fit established and novel biochemistry-based models to the time-course data using my parameter estimation method for differential equations. Comparing models to time-course data allows me to make precise distinctions between biochemical assumptions in the various models. My modeling and fitting supports a novel model, which suggests that a regular, ordered, stability-switching mechanism underlies the emergent, dynamic behavior of the Min system.


The Constitution provides the political branches broad discretion to test the substantive ideologies of prospective federal judges as qualifications for judicial office. However, the Religious Test Clause limits political branch discretion to establish qualifications by providing that "[n]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification for holding public office." Having no operational consensus regarding the Religious Test Clause's appropriate scope, the political branches have routinely considered judicial candidates' religious qualities without regard for constitutional implications. For most of the past century, religion influenced the judicial selection process - usually serving as a quiet tool for courting religious voters. With President George W. Bush's public announcement that he would only nominate judges who believe that our rights were derived from God and intense controversy regarding whether Senators unconstitutionally considered judicial candidates' religious affiliations and ideologies, religion's role is no longer quiet. Indeed, these controversies provoked members of both political parties to charge members of the opposite party with unconstitutionally manipulating religion in their judicial selection decisions. The superficial disjunct between the political branches' broad discretion and the Religious Test Clause's prohibition of religious tests as a qualification for office requires an analysis of the particular qualities of judicial candidates sufficiently religious to be considered beyond political branch scrutiny. I attempt to resolve the constitutional tension by distinguishing between the Religious Test Clause's appropriate prohibitions and the traditional sphere of ideological inquiry. After drawing these distinctions, I concludes that the Religious Test Clause should prohibit denominational and theological tests for judicial office while it should permit ideological inquiry regardless of possible religious motivation.


The notion of diminishing marginal value had a profound impact on the development of neoclassical theory. Early neoclassical scholars had difficulty convincing contemporaries of the new paradigm's value until political economists used the critical assumption of diminishing marginal value to link utility and demand. While diminishing marginal value remains a key component of modern economic intuition, there is little direct verification of this behavioural property. This paper reports experiments on a myriad of subject pools to examine behaviour in both price and exchange settings. We report results from nearly 900 subjects across 19 treatments and find strong evidence of diminishing marginal value.


Particulate matter and photo-oxidant processes in the Eastern Mediterranean have been studied using the UAM-AERO mesoscale air quality model in conjunction with the NILU-CTM regional model. Meteorological data were obtained from the RAMS prognostic meteorological model. The modeling domain includes the eastern Mediter- ranean area between the Greek mainland and the island of Crete. The modeling system is applied to study the atmo- spheric processes in three periods, i.e. 13-16 July 2000, 26- 30 July 2000 and 7-14 January 2001. The spatial and tempo- ral distributions of both gaseous and particulate matter pol- lutants have been extensively studied together with the iden- tification of major emission sources in the area. The mod- eling results were compared with field data obtained in the same period. The objective of the current modeling work was mainly to apply the UAM-AERO mesoscale model in the eastern Mediterranean in order to assess the performed field campaigns and determine that the applied mesoscale model is fit for this purpose. Comparison of the modeling results with measured data was performed for a number of gaseous and aerosol species. The UAM-AERO model under- estimates the PM10 measured concentrations during summer and winter campaigns. Discrepancies between modeled and measured data are attributed to unresolved particulate matter emissions. Particulate matter in the area is mainly composed by sulphate, sea salt and crustal materials, and with signif- icant amounts of nitrate, ammonium and organics. During winter the particulate matter and oxidant concentrations were lower than the summer values.


Using waste to produce a new type of air entraining agent (AEA), carrying out research of the concrete's mixture performance, mechanical properties and frost resistance durability after mixing with the AEA, with results showing that amount of air entrained in the concrete mixture and the water reducing rate increases along with the increase of the addition of the new AEA, and its compressive strength loss laws are similar with that of normal AEAs. During the frost-thaw cycle test, when the weight loss rate has reached its limit, concrete with the new AEA added can withstand almost 300 cycles, and at this time the relative dynamic modulus of the concrete, when the amount of air entrained in it is 4.5%, is 83.5%, and the relative dynamic modulus is 85.4% when the amount of air entrained is 5.3%. The addition of the AEA has obviously improved the pore structure of the concrete, and significantly raising its frost resistance durability.


Avian studies conducted in the 1970s on Alaska's Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) indicated that coastal littoral habitats are important to Arctic-breeding shorebirds for staging prior to fall migration. However, relatively little recent, broad-scale, or quantitative information exists on shorebird use of staging areas in this region. To locate possible shorebird concentration areas in the littoral zone of the ACP, we conducted aerial surveys from the southwest end of Kasegaluk Lagoon on the Chukchi Sea to Demarcation Point on the Beaufort Sea during the summers of 2005–07. These surveys identified persistent within- and between-year concentrations of staging shorebirds at Peard Bay, Point Barrow/Elson Lagoon, Cape Simpson, and Smith Bay to Cape Halkett. Among river deltas in the Beaufort Sea, the Sagavanirktok and Kongakut deltas had large concentrations of staging shorebirds. We also collected data on shorebird community characteristics, staging phenology, and habitat use in 2005 and 2006 by conducting land-based surveys at six camps: Kasegaluk Lagoon, Peard Bay, Point Barrow/Elson Lagoon, Colville Delta, Sagavanirktok Delta, and Okpilak Delta. The shorebird community was more even and diverse (evenness E and Shannon Weiner H' ) along the Beaufort Sea compared to the Chukchi Sea and in 2005 versus 2006. Staging phenology varied by species and location and differed for several species from that reported in previous studies. Our results suggest the existence of three foraging habitat guilds among the shorebird species observed in this study: gravel beach, mudflat, and salt marsh/pond edge. A comparison to data collected in the mid-1970s suggests that these foraging associations are conserved through time. Results from this research will be useful to land managers for monitoring the effects of changing environmental conditions and human activity on shorebirds and their habitats in Arctic Alaska.


The automatic identification of the source of a contamination is an important component of an early warning and event management system for security enhancement of water supply networks. Whilst a number of algorithms have been published on the algorithmic development, only few information exists about the integration within a comprehensive realtime Event Detection and Management System. In the following the analytical solution and the software implementation of a real-time source identification module and its integration within a web-based Event Management System is described. The 10 development was part of the project SAFEWATER, which was funded under FP 7 of the European Commission.


P2012 is an area- and power-efficient many-core computing fabric based on multiple globally asynchronous, locally synchronous (GALS) clusters supporting aggressive fine-grained power, reliability and variability management. Clusters feature up to 16 processors and one control processor with independent instruction streams sharing a multi-banked L1 data memory, a multi-channel DMA engine, and specialized hardware for synchronization and scheduling. P2012 achieves extreme area and energy efficiency by supporting domain-specific acceleration at the processor and cluster level through the addition of dedicated HW IPs. P2012 can run standard OpenCL and OpenMP parallel codes well as proprietary Native Programming Model (NPM) SW components that provide the highest level of control on application-to-resource mapping. In Q3 2011 the P2012 SW Development Kit (SDK) has been made available to a community of R&D users; it includes full OpenCL and NPM development environments. The first P2012 SoC prototype in 28nm CMOS will sample in Q4 2012, featuring four clusters and delivering 80GOPS (with single precision floating point support) in 15.2mm2 with 2W power consumption.


Microporous materials are, nowadays, majorly known as zeolites and metal–organic frameworks. Although layered inorganic solids like swelling-type clay minerals are also considered microporous materials because of the expandable and modifiable interlayer nanospace, well-defined open micropores still remain difficult to form there, which can cause disadvantages (e.g., slow diffusion and poor shape-selective adsorption). Layered silicates with microporous layers, so called microporous layered silicates, are a unique class of microporous materials having both zeolite-like micropores within the layers or cup-like cages as part of the layers and expandable interlayer spaces like layered clay minerals. Here, we review recently reported microporous layered silicates, AMH-3, CIT-10, ITQ-8, magadiite, HUS-1 and HUS-5. We highlight how the structures of these microporous layered silicates affect their properties and applications. Some of them exhibit applications, including molecular recognition, that are not delivered by usual layered silicates and zeolites.


Histophilus somni (H. somni) is a Gram-negative bacterium currently classified as a member of the Haemophilus- Actinobacillus-Pasteurella group. Clinical syndromes associated with H. somni infection involve thromboembolic meningoencephalitis, pneumonia and disease of the reproductive tract in cattle. Animals can be carriers of non-pathogenic variants of the organism, mainly in the genital mucosa. The causes of these differences in virulence between strains are not defined. Several determinants of virulence of the pathogen are proposed. However, many of these factors cannot be clearly related to clinical disease. H. somni avoids killing by phagocytic cells. Thus, it is able to evade the immune response by intracellular survival in the infected host. The bovine adaptive immune response against H. somni is not completely characterized. IgG2 antibodies are thought to be protective. However, the major antigen determinants of the bacterium are still unknown. Studies with H. somni bacterins have inconsistent results, especially because the factors involved in pathogenesis and immune response remain unclear.


Abstract We give a complete classification of umbilical submanifolds of arbitrary dimension and codimension of ${{\mathbb{S}}^{n}}\,\times \,\mathbb{R}$ , extending the classification of umbilical surfaces in ${{\mathbb{S}}^{2}}\times \mathbb{R}$ by Souam and Toubiana as well as the local description of umbilical hypersurfaces in ${{\mathbb{S}}^{n}}\,\times \,\mathbb{R}$ by Van der Veken and Vrancken. We prove that, besides small spheres in a slice, up to isometries of the ambient space they come in a two-parameter family of rotational submanifolds whose substantial codimension is either one or two and whose profile is a curve in a totally geodesic ${{\mathbb{S}}^{1}}\times \mathbb{R}$ or ${{\mathbb{S}}^{2}}\times \mathbb{R}$ , respectively, the former case arising in a one-parameter family. All of them are diffeomorphic to a sphere, except for a single element that is diffeomorphic to Euclidean space. We obtain explicit parametrizations of all such submanifolds. We also study more general classes of submanifolds of ${{\mathbb{S}}^{n}}\times \mathbb{R}$ and ${{\mathbb{H}}^{n}}\times \mathbb{R}$ . In particular, we give a complete description of all submanifolds in those product spaces for which the tangent component of a unit vector field spanning the factor $\mathbb{R}$ is an eigenvector of all shape operators. We show that surfaces with parallel mean curvature vector in ${{\mathbb{S}}^{n}}\times \mathbb{R}$ and ${{\mathbb{H}}^{n}}\times \mathbb{R}$ having this property are rotational surfaces, and use this fact to improve some recent results by Alencar, do Carmo, and Tribuzy. We also obtain a Dajczer-type reduction of codimension theorem for submanifolds of ${{\mathbb{S}}^{n}}\times \mathbb{R}$ and ${{\mathbb{H}}^{n}}\times \mathbb{R}$ .


Nashrurrokhman M, Sayekti PR, Safitri A, Purwestri YA, Pratiwi R. 2019. Macronutrient and mineral contents of five local black rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars in Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 3647-3653. Nutrient composition is important information that can be used to support the development of black rice as functional food. In this study, the macronutrient and mineral compositions of five black rice cultivars were determined by measuring the contents of total carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, and levels of the minerals Ca, Fe, and Zn of whole rice, refined rice, and rice bran. Rice samples were obtained from farmers who planted the black rice cultivars of Woja Laka, Toraja, Cempo Ireng "Seyegan", Melik "Bantul" and Wedomartani. Proximate analysis and spectrophotometric methods were performed to measure the contents of macronutrients and minerals. Statistical analysis of all quantitative data was conducted by using One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) (p<0.05) using the SPSS-25 program. Results showed that the contents of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in the five rice cultivars varied in the range of 61.80%-65.58%, 7.13%-9.10%, and 1.98%-3.23%, respectively. Carbohydrates found in refined rice were in the range of 62.71%-67.89%, while rice bran had protein and lipid contents varying in the range of 10.95%-11.48% and 5.70%-6.86%, respectively. Rice bran also had the highest mineral content and the highest mineral content was 30 μg/g Ca compared to Fe and Zn. Therefore, the macronutrient and mineral composition varied among the five black rice cultivars and rice components. The highest carbohydrate content was found in refined rice, while the highest proteins, lipids, and minerals (Ca, Fe, and Zn) contents were found in rice bran.


The present study is a 15 month project which involved data collection from Hong Kong managers at three points to examine mechanisms by which age would relate to work well-being. A total of 634 managers, both male 位ld female , was drawn by random sampling and purposive sampling methods. The results showed that age was negatively related to job strains and quitting intention, and positively related to job satisfaction. Furthermore, older managers reported fewer sources of stress, better control coping, and a more internal work locus of contro l. Multiple regression analyses suggested that relations of age with job satisfaction and well-being can be attributed to the better coping, greater internality, lower sources of stress, higher organizational level, and longer tenure of older managers , although differences occurred as a function of gender and the specific well-being measure.


The socioeconomic development, level of motorization and alarming rate of road crashes have strong interrelationship in Thailand. The uprising trend of motorization level has a serious impact on road safety issue in Thailand among other ASEAN countries. Economic losses from the road traffic crashes also demonstrate quite a high figure in terms of GNP which is 3.4% annually. Death toll from road crashes indicates over 12,000 Thai people every year according to the statistics. It shows on an average that 2 Thai people become fatal in one hour and corresponding drain from Thai national economy amounts over 12 million Baht (about US $300,000) per hour. Statistical analysis also indicates that road traffic accidents in Thailand are considered as one of the major causes of premature death and disabilities among the working adults age group over the last two decades, which has brought road safety issue into the national attention. Although numbers of studies have been carried out to search for remedy measures, they are merely just accident analysis. Unfortunately, road crash investigation and reconstruction to carry out in-depth study in a systematic approach has yet to be conducted in practice in Thailand. Nevertheless, this is a common phenomenon that such in-depth study to identify the contributory factors in road crashes in any developing countries has not been conducted so far. This problem was addressed by conducting such in depth study in this study. Subsequently, this study also investigates the factors which contributed to the crashes. Specifically, it aims to describe how and why vehicular crashes occur in Thailand. It is believed that this study is the first of its kind to carry out such crash investigation and reconstruction in Thailand. Conventional hand calculations were carried out to describe the crash scenario. The findings of this study comprise of over speeding for heavy vehicles (i.e. trucks) as a case study resulting in slight injury. Application of Event Tree to focus on the events prior to crashes demonstrated complex human interaction with vehicle, and road and environment. Finally, the possible contributory factors of this crash were highlighted.


Abstract
There is an ever increasing need for the development of new antibiotics to fight the
emergence of antibacterial resistant strains of pathogens. Developing antimicrobials with
'novel scaffolds' and modes of action is an effective way to combat pathogens that are
resistant to compounds currently in clinical use. The pacidamycins are a member of the
uridyl peptide class of antibiotics that are produced by the soil dwelling bacterium
Streptomyces coeruleorubidus. They show specific activity against the pathogen
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, using a currently unexploited mode of action against a cell wall
biosynthetic enzyme target. This thesis reports the investigation into the biosynthesis of
pacidamycin, more specifically, into the function of the hypothetical protein genes present
in the pacidamycin gene cluster and the biosynthesis of the non-proteinogenic amino acid,
(2S, 3S)-diaminobutyric acid (DABA), which is at the core of the pacidamycin structure and
other related antimicrobials.
A multidisciplinary approach has been taken in this investigation, utilising biophysical,
biochemical and genetic approaches. Protein crystallographic studies have deduced the
structure of Pac17, postulated to be a lyase involved in DABA biosynthesis along with
structural determination of the protein bound to the proposed substrate aspartate. Site
directed mutagenesis of a number of the Pac17 active site amino acids also showed their
essentiality for aspartate binding. In vitro biochemical approaches to study the enzymatic
activity of the DABA biosynthetic proteins were inconclusive, with no activity observed.
Genetic disruptions of the genes under investigation revealed the function of pac13 as a
dehydratase, responsible for dehydrating the furan ring of the uridyl nucleoside present in
the pacidamycin structure. Further to this, these studies established the essentiality of the
DABA biosynthetic genes pac19 and pac20 for pacidamycin production in the native
producer.


The atmospheric circulation during the South Asian summer monsoon season is analyzed in moist isentropic coordinates. The horizontal mass transport is sorted in terms of its equivalent potential temperature and is separated into the upper- and lower-tropospheric contributions. This technique makes it possible to trace the transport of air parcels over long distances, identify regions of convective motion in the tropics, and assess the impacts of diabatic processes. The goal here is to assess the thermodynamic characteristics of the atmospheric overturning associated with the South Asian monsoon and to connect this thermodynamic structure to horizontal transport. The monsoon is associated with a low-level inflow of warm and moist air, compensated by an upper-tropospheric outflow at high potential temperature. The South Asian monsoon differs, however, from other monsoonal systems in two important ways. First, the ascending air exhibits an unusually high equivalent potential temperature, which results in global lifting of the tropopause during the boreal summer. Second, on a seasonal basis the main monsoon regions appear to be shielded from dry air intrusion from the extratropical regions.


The complete DNA sequence was determined for strain U1102 of human herpesvirus-6, a CD4+ T-lymphotropic virus with disease associations in immunodeficient settings and a possible complicating factor in AIDS. The genome is 159,321 bp in size, has a base composition of 43% G + C, and contains 119 open reading frames. The overall structure is 143 kb bounded by 8 kb of direct repeats, DRL (left) and DRR (right), containing 0.35 kb of terminal and junctional arrays of human telomere-like simple repeats. Since eight open reading frames are duplicated in the repeats, six span repetitive elements and three are spliced, the genome is considered to contain 102 separate genes likely to encode protein. The genes are arranged colinearly with those in the genome of the previously sequenced betaherpesvirus, human cytomegalovirus, and has a distinct arrangement of conserved genes relative to the sequenced gammaherpesviruses, herpesvirus saimiri and Epstein-Barr virus, and the alphaherpesviruses, equine herpesvirus-1, varicella-zoster virus, and herpes simplex virus. Comparisons of predicted amino acid sequences allowed the functions of many human herpesvirus-6 encoded proteins to be assigned and showed the closest relationship in overall number and similarity to human cytomegalovirus products, with approximately 67% homologous proteins as compared to the 21% identified in all herpesviruses. The features of the conserved genes and their relative order suggested a general scheme for divergence among these herpesvirus lineages. In addition to the "core" conserved genes, the genome contains four distinct gene families which may be involved in immune evasion and persistence in immune cells: two have similarity to the "chemokine" chemotactic/proinflammatory family of cytokines, one to their peptide G-protein-coupled receptors, and a fourth to the immunoglobulin superfamily.


Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that applies low amplitude current via electrodes placed on the scalp. Rather than directly eliciting a neuronal response, tDCS is believed to modulate excitability – encouraging or suppressing activity in regions of the brain depending on the polarity of stimulation. The particular application of tDCS is often determined by the electrode configuration and intensity of stimulation. MRI-derived finite element models have been developed to analyze the effect of these parameters allowing novel electrode configurations to be tested in subject specific models. By creating a subject specific model of an obese subject, the effect of fat on tDCS was examined. The inclusion of fat into the model led to an increase in cortical electric field intensity. To further investigate the influence of fat the conductivity was varied from that of skull to that of skin. Cortical electric field intensity did not change monotonically with fat conductivity. It was postulated that this may be due to a shunting effect both when the shell of fat surrounding the skull is too resistive for penetration and when the fat is so conductive as to lead current around rather than through the head. The effect of electrode positioning was then examined in a new 2x1 Hybrid montage utilizing both HD electrodes and sponge pads. Systematically varying the location of both the anode and cathode led to changes in the electric field distribution. This is in contrast to the old heuristic convention of placing the "active" electrode over a region of interest and neglecting the influence of the "return" electrode. Lastly the radial directionality of electric field was examined in a 4x1 ring configuration. Previous models have predicted the spatial focality of the 4x1 ring configuration. Polarity specificity, the ability to selectively apply either anodal or cathodal stimulation, was demonstrated in a 4x1 montage over the motor strip. The customization of models for specific populations and montages provides new avenues for clinical practice.


ZnO nanoparticle reinforced polytetrafluoroethylene/polyimide (PTFE/PI) nanocomposites were prepared and their corresponding tribological and mechanical properties were studied in this work. The influences of ZnO loading, sliding load, and velocity on the tribological properties of ZnO/PTFE/PI nanocomposites were systematically investigated. Results reveal that nanocomposites reinforced with 3 wt% ZnO exhibit the optimal tribological and mechanical properties. Specifically, the wear loss decreased by 20% after incorporating 3 wt% ZnO compared to unfilled PTFE/PI. Meanwhile, the impact strength, tensile strength, and elongation-at-break of 3wt% ZnO/PTFE/PI nanocomposite are enhanced by 85, 5, and 10% compared to pure PTFE/PI blend. Microstructure investigation reveals that ZnO nanoparticles facilitate the formation of continuous, uniform, and smooth transfer film and thus reduce the adhesive wear of PTFE/PI.


LiFePO4/C powders were synthesized by carbothermal reduction method using Li2CO3 (A.R), FePO4 (A.R) and glucose as raw materials. In this paper, the carbothermal reaction courses were characterized by Thermo-gravimetric (TG)/Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). It was found that the different synthesis temperatures and the different reducing atmosphere in systems could lead to different reactions, resulting in different final products and a direct impact on material performance. At around 350 °C LiFePO4 is directly formed without intermediate phase. In lower temperature of 400-500 °C, the sample included a certain amount of Li3PO4 and Fe2O3 impurity phases. When calcination temperature rose to 550 °C, the sample could be pure LiFePO4 phase.


We update our previous studies of nuclear-matter effects on J/Psi production in proton-nucleus for the recent LHC pPb runs at sqrt(s_NN)=5 TeV. We have analysed the effects of the modification of the gluon PDFs in nucleus, using an exact kinematics for a 2->2 process, namely g+g->J/Psi+g as expected from LO pQCD. This allows to constrain the transverse-momentum while computing the nuclear modification factor for different rapidities, unlike with the usual simplified kinematics. Owing to the absence of measurement in pp collisions at the same sqrt(s_NN) and owing to the expected significant uncertainties in yield interpolations which would hinder definite interpretations of nuclear modification factor --R_pPb--, we have derived forward-to-backward and central-to-peripheral yield ratios in which the unknown proton-proton yield cancel. These have been computed without and with a transverse-momentum cut, e.g. to comply with the ATLAS and CMS constraints in the central-rapidity region.


Abstract In addition to being a strong competitor with cotton and other row crops, Palmer amaranth has developed resistance to numerous important agricultural herbicides, including glyphosate. The objective of this study was to determine if the glyphosate-resistance trait can be transferred via pollen movement from a glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth source to a glyphosate-susceptible sink. In 2006 and 2007 glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth plants were transplanted in the center of a 30-ha cotton field. Susceptible Palmer amaranth plants were transplanted into plots located at distances up to 300 m from the edge of the resistant pollen source in each of the four cardinal and ordinal directions. Except for the study plots, the interior of the field and surrounding acreage were kept free of Palmer amaranth by chemical and physical means. Seed was harvested from 249 and 292 mature females in October 2006 and 2007, respectively. Offspring, 14,037 in 2006 and 13,685 in 2007, from glyphosate-susceptible mother plants were treated with glyphosate when the plants were 5 to 7 cm tall. The proportion of glyphosate-resistant progeny decreased with increased distance from the pollen source; approximately 50 to 60% of the offspring at the 1- and 5-m distances were resistant to glyphosate, whereas 20 to 40% of the offspring were resistant at the furthest distances. The development of resistance was not affected by direction; winds were variable with respect to both speed and direction during the peak pollination hours throughout the growing season. Results from this study indicate that the glyphosate-resistance trait can be transferred via pollen movement in Palmer amaranth. Nomenclature: Glyphosate; Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats. AMAPA; cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L.


The high mortality of newborn infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) can be partly attributed to pulmonary hypertension causing extrapulmonary right-to-left shunting with subsequent severe hypoxemia. Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) may reduce elevated pulmonary artery pressure and has been successfully improve arterial oxygenation in some newborns with CDH. However, it is not clear whether inhaled NO will actually improve survival of newborns with CDH. We therefore investigated the effect of inhaled NO on the survival rate of newborn rats with CDH following intrauterine exposure to nitrofen. A total of 151 newborn rats (9 litters) were exposed to nitrofen on day 11 of pregnancy, After spontaneous delivery, 63 newborn rats (4 litters) were allowed to spontaneously breathe air containing NO (80 parts per million), while 88 newborn rats (5 litters) were given air without NO. Survival was checked 15 min after birth and then hourly until the animals were sacrificed at 24 h of age to verify the absence or presence of CDH. The 2 groups of newborn rats breathing air with or without NO did not differ significantly with respect to the presence or size of CDH. Twenty-four of 63 (38%) newborn rats breathing air with NO survived for 24 h, compared to 12 of 88 (14%) rats breathing air alone (p < 0.01). Of newborn rats that were actually found to have CDH (n = 113), 8 of 42 (19%) animals breathing air with NO survived for 24 h, compared to 2 of 71 (2.8%) animals breathing air alone (p < 0.01). In animals with CDH confirmed by autopsy, the median survival time was significantly longer with NO (p < 0.001) ( 2 h, interquartile range 2h-15h), than those breathing or without NO (median/interquartile range 15 min). We conclude that in the nitrofen rat CDH model, significantly improved survival rates occur with inhaled NO as a sole intervention. The combined impact of inhaled NO and mechanical ventilation remains to be determined.


Networking technology has been advancing faster than CPU technology in many ways, and this has created a need for new design approaches for chips used in networking settings. The NPU market started small several years ago with a few start-up companies but has since grown and begun to consolidate around several leading vendors. In addition, the technology has matured in terms of programming tools, interfaces, and ecosystems for integrating NPUs into finished products. Network-product design has evolved as network speed, functionality, and complexity have increased. Early networking devices were built with a combination of CPUs, discrete logic, and ASICs. Chip makers subsequently developed NPUs for data-communications equipment as a system on chip (SoC) combining CPUs' programmability and ASICs' speed. NPUs are programmable like a CPU. By enabling carriers to provide many services, NPU integration gives them the opportunity to earn more service-based revenue.


Living cells, including spermatozoa, stored under aerobic conditions require oxygen to support their normal metabolism. Excessive levels of metabolites (reactive oxygen species; ROS) can cause cell damage or lipid peroxidation. The ROS and lipid peroxidation can be detected during preparation and cryopreservation of mammalian spermatozoa. The negative effects of ROS can be partially ameliorated by the action of antioxidants. The aims of this thesis were to 1) study the effects of antioxidants on cryopreserved epididymal spermatozoa from the domestic cats and to apply the results from domestic cats to cryopreserved wild felid ejaculated spermatozoa (flat-headed cats; Prionailurus planiceps) in Thailand; 2) detect lipid peroxidation and its effects on post-thaw epididymal cat spermatozoa and 3) evaluate basic seminal characteristics of captive flat-headed cats. In the first study, the semen extender was supplemented with two types of non-enzymatic antioxidants (cysteine and a water soluble vitamin E analogue Trolox). Vitamin E had positive effects on post-thaw sperm motility, progressive motility and membrane integrity. In the second study, centrifuged post-thaw epididymal cat spermatozoa were resuspended in media with or without egg yolk and with or without a transition metal (Fe2+) (which induces lipid peroxidation). Lipid peroxidation was measured by using a lipophilic dye probe (BODIPY581/591 C11). The results demonstrated that BODIPY581/591 C11 could be used to detect lipid peroxidation in cat spermatozoa. This reaction did not significantly increase during incubation unless induced by Fe2+. In the third study, enzymatic antioxidants (catalase, glutathione peroxidase; GPx and superoxide dismutase) were added to the semen extender. Lipid peroxidation was induced after thawing. Supplementation of GPx resulted in positive effects on post-thaw motility, linear motility, mitochondrial activity, membrane and DNA integrity. Although antioxidants had positive effects on sperm quality, the concentration of antioxidants used in this study did not reduce lipid peroxidation. In the last study, the basic seminal traits of captive flat-headed cats were evaluated, as were the effects of adding the vitamin E and GPx to the semen extender for flat-headed cat spermatozoa. The results demonstrated that the captive flat-headed cats were affected by teratozoospermia. The GPx had positive effects on the post-thaw quality of flat-headed cat spermatozoa in a similar manner to domestic cat sperm quality but it did not significantly affect in vtiro heterologous fertility tests. In conclusion, oxidative stress might be one of the factors causing damage during preservation of domestic and non-domestic cat spermatozoa. Post-thaw sperm quality was enhanced by the action of antioxidants.


The study examines the interrelationships between trade union structures and functions during the late 1970s by comparative investigation of the traditions, activities and power structures of the trade union movements of Britain and the Federal Republic. The study includes an historical review of the comparative movements which shaped the organisations of the period in question. It also takes account of the academic sources of critical analysis of the objects and methods of trade unions published up to the end of the decade. Case studies conducted in Germany in 1978 and 1979 investigated the activities of selected unions in the public services, mining and textiles. The investigation relied upon structured interviews with full-time officers. It revealed details of union activity, suggesting alternative and accommodating power structures within their organisations correspondent to the changing systems of collective bargaining, political action and internal democracy. The empirical and comparative historical evidence leads to conclusions about the dynamic relationship between union structures and functions and its impact on the cohesion of the industrial relations system as a whole. Collective bargaining remains the primary function of trade unions, not least because it provides for a structural fusion of union effectiveness with democratic control. The methods employed to achieve given trade union objectives embrace the 'power' structures of the particular organisation and the wider IR system. The example of the 1970s indicates that the parameters of power structures within industrial relations systems may emerge partly historically from the structural and political development of organisation and institution, partly from the rate and direction of change in the economic and social conditions at the time of investigation. Stability within industrial relations relies upon 'positive bargaining' between parties from positions of strength. Organisational structures which are incompatible with positive bargaining may diminish cooperation within the system, and therefore its stability.


A concentrator is an interconnection network with n inputs and m outputs, n > m, wherein any specified subset of inputs of size less than or equal to some number, called the network's actual capacity, can always be simultaneously connected to some equal-sized but unspecifiable subset of outputs. Guaranteed throughput as described by actual capacity has heretofore been the principle measure for evaluating concentrator performance. In many applications, however, a more practical measure of a concentrator's capability is a probabilistic measure of its throughput in the following sense: given an input subset of size k, k ≤ m, what is the average number of inputs that can be connected to outputs? This measure will be called expected capacity. This paper considers the expected capacity of a special class of sparse crossbar concentrators called ( m 2 ) networks. It is seen that the expected capacity values for ( m 2 ) networks are usually quite close to k.


Physician Data Query (PDG) is the National Cancer Institute's computerized database of current information regarding cancer treatment consisting of four major files: (1) a cancer information file providing prognostic and treatment information on all major cancers; (2) a protocol file containing investigational and standard therapy protocols; (3) a physician directory of 10,000 physicians devoting a major portion of their clinical practices to cancer treatment; and (4) a directory of approximately 2,000 organizations and institutions providing care to cancer patients. While PDQ's primary user group is practicing physicians requiring information for patient care, it can be of use to other health professionals. Searches are rapid, inexpensive, and can be performed through medical and hospital libraries, via individual direct accession, or in conjunction with other online vendors.


Current advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving systems (ADS) rely on high-definition (HD) maps to enable a range of features and functions. These maps can be viewed as an additional sensor from an ADAS or ADS perspective as they impact overall system confidence, reduce system computational resource needs, help improve comfort and convenience, and ultimately contribute to system safety. However, HD mapping technology presents multiple challenges to the automotive industry. Unsettled Issues on HD Mapping Technology for Autonomous Driving and ADAS identifies the current unsettled issues that need to be addressed to reach the full potential of HD maps for ADAS and ADS technology and suggests some possible solutions for initial map creation, map change detection and updates, and map safety levels.


In the field of Product design, basic and applied research addresses the issue of inclusion through a theoretical-methodological and experimental development approach, aimed at specific user groups with personal needs (anthropometric, postural and use) or with reduced possibility of action and movement.Thus, the solutions and product innovations on the market are mostly partial, specialized and hyper-functional, and they don't consider, as far as possible, everyone's needs through an inclusive approach to the project.Today, the culture of design evolves towards Design for All (DfA). It is the design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality (EIDD Declaration of Stockholm, 2004), which aims, instead, to extend the active and autonomous, comfortable and pleasant use of products to the widest variety of subjects, different from each other for culture or perceptive, motor and cognitive abilities.In this problematic context and in the perspective of the transition towards social inclusion, this paper proposes a discussion and a theoretical-critical reflection on the application of DfA tools and methods and presents the results of the elaboration and experimental development referred to a dynamic Top concept for a highly inclusive kitchen. The aim of this research is to prefigure a kitchen system able to offer users a more inclusive and personalized access, to respond to the cognitive and physical needs of the different possible targets, in an equitable way and without creating ghettoizations or specializations, to modify and adapt its own characteristics over time in order to guarantee a socially inclusive use.In particular, the studio is critically confronted with the experiences that take place in many parts of the world that develop and manufacture more accessible products in the kitchen supplies sector, to arrive at the development of a concept of a highly inclusive kitchen worktop by applying the methodology of DfA.The design process activities concern a pre-concept phase for the identification of problematic nodes, and, by means of an anthropometric verification, of the size and minimum dimensions of the product.This is followed by a phase of generation and selection of the most promising ideas to come finally, in the final phase, to the development of the product concept and a subsequent empirical validation of the degree of innovation achieved through virtual models and scale prototypes.The concept of a typically innovative kitchen worktop for all, represents the starting point and the methodological basis for the search for new solutions in the various areas of Product design, able of responding effectively to the pressing and urgent questions posed by inclusive society. The result demonstrates the concrete possibility of overcoming the concept of design for disability by proposing as an alternative a design for all approach that promotes equality and equity of use.


High endurance ovonic threshold switch (OTS, here, TeAsGeSiSe-based) is integrated with phase change memory (PCM, here, doped Ge2Sb2Te5) to form a 3-D stackable pillar-type device. With the help of an etch buffer layer and a damage-free pillar reactive-ion etching process, we successfully demonstrate one-selector (OTS)/one-resistor (PCM) (1S1R OTS-PCM) pillar device without OTS/PCM composition modification. High temperature 400 °C annealing tests show this 1S1R OTS-PCM pillar device is back end of line compatible. We report the fundamental behavior of the OTS and the operation scheme of the 1S1R OTS-PCM device. The new Vth read scheme is proposed and excellent electrical performance is demonstrated. It provides the fast turn ON/ OFF speed which enables 10-ns fast RESET speed. Program endurance greater than 109 cycles is achieved, and read endurance is higher than 1011 cycles.


In this work, the biodegradation of nonylphenol by Rhodotorula sp. in batch culture was investigated over a wide concentration range (11~160 mg/l). Experimentally nonylphenol was an inhibitory type substrate to Rhodotorula sp.. Five kinetic models (Haldane, Webb, Yano, Aiba, and Teissier) were fit for the experimental growth kinetic data. It was found that the Haldane model was the most suitable one to predict the degradation of nonylphenol. The kinetic analysis demonstrated that bacterial growth and nonylphenol degradation of Rhodotorula sp. were based on a substrate concentration inhibition model. Analysis of growth factors indicated the highest specific growth rate (μ) of 0.127 h-1 was obtained at the initial nonylphenol concentration of 12.76 mg/l.


Soil microbial biomass (SMB) is the main driving force in nutrient cycling and good indicator of soil productivity. A greenhouse experiment was designed to assess the effect of soil compaction, cropping system [sole maize, rotation 1 (inoculated soybean-maize), rotation 2 (un-inoculated soybean-maize) and intercrop 1(inoculated soybean-maize)and intercrop 2(un-inoculated soybean-maize)] and nitrogen fertilizeron soil microbial biomass C (SMB-C) and N (SMB-N) and their proportion to soil organic C and total N. SMB-C and SMB-N were higher in un-compacted than compacted soils with percent differences of 2.63 and 6.04% respectively. However, they were 19.32 and 36.36% lower in sole maize compared to rotation 1, 7.83 and 15.36% for rotation 2, 22.19 and 20.06% for intercrop 1 and 14.62 and 12.54% for intercrop 2. The results also showed that the application of 120 kg N ha-1 produced the highest soil microbial biomass as a percent of soil organic carbon, followed by 80 kg N ha-1, while the least value was obtained under zero application of nitrogen. Microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen as a percent of soil total nitrogen was significantly higher up to 80 kg N ha-1 before it decline at 120 kg N ha-1 suggesting better soil productivity improvement at 80 kg N ha-1 under the cropping systems with inoculated soybean. The findings indicate the need for inoculation in soybean-maize cropping systems to improve soil microbial biomass especially under less soil disturbances.

 Key words: Compaction, Brandyrhizobium Inoculation, Nitrogen fertilizer, microbial biomass, greenhouse.


The characteristic basis function method (CBFM) has been hybridized with the adaptive cross approximation (ACA) algorithm to construct a reduced matrix equation in a time-efficient manner and to solve electrically large antenna array problems in-core, with a solve time orders of magnitude less than those in the conventional methods. Various numerical examples are presented that demonstrate that the proposed method has a very good accuracy, computational efficiency and reduced memory storage requirement. Specifically, we analyze large 1-D and 2-D arrays of electrically interconnected tapered slot antennas (TSAs). The entire computational domain is subdivided into many smaller subdomains, each of which supports a set of characteristic basis functions (CBFs). We also present a novel scheme for generating the CBFs that do not conform to the edge condition at the truncated edge of each subdomain, and provide a minor overlap between the CBFs in adjacent subdomains. As a result, the CBFs preserve the continuity of the surface current across the subdomain interfaces, thereby circumventing the need to use separate ldquoconnectionrdquo basis functions.


We present the Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) stopping rule, applied to Computer Vision problems, to automatically detect changes in either parametric or nonparametric distributions, online or off-line. Our approach is based on using the previously received data of the sequence to detect a change in data that are to be received. We assume that no significant change has occurred up to an unknown time instance. Then a change in the distribution of the observations occurs and the objective is to estimate this instance. We test the hypotheses of no change occurs vs. a change occurs at the current frame, which is done by the CUSUM stopping rule. We apply our framework to the case of continuous 3D hand tracking, where the high dofs, the fast finger articulations, the large rotations and the frequent occlusions often cause error accumulation. Also we illustrate the performance of our approach in video segmentation, and specifically in segmentation of fingerspelling in American Sign Language (ASL) videos.


The value of genetic test feedback for common conditions is widely debated. This is principally because of the lack of impact on behaviour change of feedback for genes with small effect sizes, but also because of concern about the risks of fatalistic responses to positive test results or false reassurance from negative results. This thesis describes research using feedback for one gene, FTO, implicated in the development of obesity, as a model to investigate motivational and emotional reactions to testing for genetic susceptibility. It comprises a series of six studies examining the benefits and harms associated with genetic test feedback. They incorporated a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, used hypothetical and real genetic feedback, and tested predominantly normal-weight students and overweight/and obese individuals from a web panel. Fatalism or false reassurance in response to FTO genetic test feedback was not observed in any of the studies. Genetic test feedback was consistently perceived as motivating, and negative emotional effects of a higher-risk FTO gene result were minimal. Overweight and obese individuals found the test result helpful for alleviating guilt and stigma; although in response to an unexpected lower-risk genetic test result, some were disappointed. University is notoriously a life stage with risk of weight gain but not all students gain weight. One study examined associations between genetic risk status and weight gain, and found that students with at least one higher-risk allele were more likely to gain weight. The final study was a randomised controlled trial examining the effect of giving FTO feedback alongside simple weight control advice to first year students. Short-term (one month) results showed that weight control intentions were significantly higher in those randomised to receive FTO feedback and weight control advice than weight control advice alone, but there was no effect on weight or reported behaviour change. Although the studies in this thesis had many limitations, the findings indicate that people are unlikely to misinterpret or overstate the impact of genetic test results, at least in the context of a single gene implicated in a multifactorial condition. However, effects on behaviour remained elusive. This indicates the need for future research to learn how to harness the potential of genetic information to promote personalised prevention.


Research and anecdote dealing in autistic sexual and gender identities present the picture of a group of people who may not conform to (cis)gender binaries, (hetero)sexual norms, or discrete sexual categories of a 'heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual' nature. Considering that the 'over-representation' of sexual and gender diversity amongst autistic people requires attention, research in the field largely emphasises perceived autistic deficits to explain this phenomenon. In this way, the authenticity of autistic sexual and gender subjectivity is called into question, while both deficit readings of autism and assumptions of a stable, binary reading of sexuality and gender are left untroubled. Leaning on Halberstam's use of failure, I challenge the grounding of autistic sexual and gender diversity in deficit, considering instead autistic experience of gender and sexual identity as valid and authentic. This approach offers epistemological, ethical, and ontological opportunities and turns the research gaze away from supposed autistic deficit, interrogating instead the often unquestioned assumptions of the 'imperfect systems' of sexual and gender norms. I briefly present three alternative and emergent theoretical approaches with the potential to question both what we think we know about autism and what we may be able to know about sexuality and gender through autism.


Bird remains that are difficult to identify taxonomically using morphological methods, are common in the palaeontological record. Other types of challenging avian material include artefacts and food items from endangered taxa, as well as remains from aircraft strikes. We here present a DNA-based method that enables taxonomic identification of bird remains, even from material where the DNA is heavily degraded. The method is based on the amplification and sequencing of two short variable parts of the 16S region in the mitochondrial genome. To demonstrate the applicability of this approach, we evaluated the method on a set of Holocene and Late Pleistocene postcranial bird bones from several palaeontological and archaeological sites in Europe with good success.


Recently,
CuH-catalyzed reductive coupling processes involving carbonyl compounds and
imines has become an attractive alternative to traditional methods for
stereoselective addition to carbonyls due to the ability to use readily
accessible and stable olefin-derived pronucleophiles as surrogates for
organometallic reagents. However, the inability to use aldehydes, which traditionally
reduce too rapidly in the presence of copper hydride complexes to be viable
substrates, has been a major limitation. We show that by exploiting relative
concentration effects through slow addition, we can invert this intrinsic
reactivity and achieve the reductive coupling of 1,3-dienes with aldehydes.
Using this method, both aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes can be transformed to
valuable products with high levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity and in
the presence of many useful functional groups. Furthermore, using a combination
of theoretical (DFT) and experimental methods, important mechanistic features
of this reaction related to stereo- and chemoselectivity were uncovered.


In this paper, based on the finite element program ANSYS, the model of a simply supported railway bridge with and without isolation using lead rubber bearing is established. Seismic response time-history analyses of the bridge subjected to high-level earthquakes are carried out considering and not considering train live loads. Through the comparison and analyses of the results, the effects of train live loads on seismic calculation of non-isolated railway bridges and isolated railway bridges are obtained. The results of the research will support the further study on seismic design and isolation design of simply supported railway bridges.


This work proposes a complete adaptive numerical methodology which uses 'advanced' elastoplastic constitutive equations coupling: thermal effects, large elasto‐viscoplasticity with mixed non linear hardening, ductile damage and contact with friction, for 2D machining simulation. Fully coupled (strong coupling) thermo‐elasto‐visco‐plastic‐damage constitutive equations based on the state variables under large plastic deformation developed for metal forming simulation are presented. The relevant numerical aspects concerning the local integration scheme as well as the global resolution strategy and the adaptive remeshing facility are briefly discussed. Applications are made to the orthogonal metal cutting by chip formation and segmentation under high velocity. The interactions between hardening, plasticity, ductile damage and thermal effects and their effects on the adiabatic shear band formation including the formation of cracks are investigated.


Consumers seek restitution for disputed financial services by filing complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). We find that filings from low-socioeconomic (i.e., low-income and African American) zip codes were 30% less likely to be resolved with the consumer receiving financial restitution. At the same time, low- and high-socioeconomic zip codes submitted an equal share of the CFPB complaints. The socioeconomic gap in financial restitution was scarcely present under the Obama administration, but grew substantially under the Trump administration. We attribute the change in financial restitution under different political regimes to companies anticipating a more industry-friendly CFPB, as well as to the more industry-friendly leadership of the CFPB achieving less financial restitution for low-socioeconomic filers. The financial restitution gap cannot be explained by differences in product usage nor the quality of complaints, which we measure using textual analysis.


This paper covers the results of the radio architecture studies towards common multistandard compatible radio front-ends carried out within the RACE Project 2123 GIRAFE (Gigahertz Radio Front Ends) which is a research project in the area of mobile telecommunications focused on the application of advanced microelectronics integration and packaging techniques for RF components to be used in terminals of future mobile communications systems. These terminals will be based on combinations of available second generation systems in Europe (GSM, DCS1800, DECT and INMARSAT). The objective is to create a set of RF building blocks (RX and TX mixers, 90/spl deg/ phase shifters, VCO and prescaler) and develop multistandard RF front-ends in high frequency bipolar process, complemented by the investigation and adaptation of novel packaging techniques which have a major low cost, high volume RF components.


FHA provides mortgage insurance to encourage lenders to make homeownership possible for people who need lower down payments and more flexible underwriting than are permitted by the private conventional market. FHA's role in expanding homeownership and its ongoing contributions to affordable lending are reviewed in this paper, which finds that low-income and minority groups continue to rely heavily on FHA for access to homeownership, even though conventional lenders substantially improved their affordable lending performance during the 1990s. Significant income and racial gaps in homeownership, combined with the fact that minorities are becoming a larger share of our population, suggest that a strong FHA is needed to ensure that all families have access to mortgage credit and the dream of homeownership.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of online conferencing platforms for focus group discussions with teenage girls.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the use of online conferencing for focus group discussions with Australian teenage girls aged 12–14 years who were participating in a study about their online interaction with friends. It examines both the practical application of online conferencing as a qualitative method as well as the inherent challenges of this context for youth research. Design decisions are explained and methods for ensuring rich contribution are detailed.

Findings
Online conferencing offers three distinct advantages for focus group work. First, the environment consciously engages participants in spontaneous interaction with other participants by using communication tools familiar to them. Second, elaborated discussion can be stimulated by introducing ideas and trends through visual mediums and artefacts. Third, the virtual setting provides remote access by the researcher which shifts power relationships so discussions flow more naturally between participants.

Practical implications
Outcomes indicate that online conferencing is an effective method for encouraging participants to share ideas and experiences about aspects of their lives that are often private and/or sensitive.

Originality/value
Technological advances in online collaboration tools have resulted in an increased use of online conferencing platforms across disciplines especially for teaching and learning contexts. However, application of online conferencing for focus group discussions with young people has not received much attention. Research presented here demonstrates that it is a useful tool for engaging teenage girls in focus group discussions.


Tracking and analyzing the movement trajectories of individuals and groups is an important problem with applications in crowd management and the development of transportation systems. However, real-world tracking is limited due to the size of the trackable area and the precision with which a person can be tracked. Experiments in virtual environments have many advantages, including practically unlimited sizes and the precise measurement of spatial behavior. However, the generalizability of research using virtual environments to real-world scenarios is often limited by the translation of participants' movements to those of their avatars. We compared human movement patterns in virtual environments with different control interfaces: a handheld joystick, a mouse-and-keyboard setup, and a keyboard-only setup. With each of these controls, participants completed several movement-related tasks of varying difficulty in a limited amount of time. Questionnaires indicated that participants preferred the mouse-and-keyboard setup over the other two setups. Standard performance measures suggested that the joystick underperformed in a variety of tasks. Movement trajectories in the final task indicated that each of the control setups produced somewhat realistic behavior, despite some apparent differences from real-world trajectories. Overall, the results indicated that, given limited resources, mouse-and-keyboard setups consistently outperform joysticks and produce realistic movement patterns.


BACKGROUND
Persecutory delusions are common in dementia. This study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence, associated factors, and characteristics of persecutory delusions in demented patients.

METHOD
The sample population included 167 demented patients (DSM-III-R criteria) admitted to a geropsychiatric ward. Patients were assessed for the occurrence of any persecutory delusions since the onset of dementia. The content of persecutory delusions, the patients' response to the delusions, and any concomitant psychiatric symptoms were also explored.

RESULTS
Of the 167 demented patients, 45 (26.9%) showed symptoms of persecutory delusions. Patients with persecutory delusions had a higher prevalence of other delusions, hallucinations, and physically aggressive behaviors. The deluded patients often thought that their caregivers were their persecutors and had a wide range of responses to their delusions. After they were hospitalized, many of these patients attacked medical staff and were uncooperative with treatment.

CONCLUSION
Persecutory delusions are common in dementia of various types. Deluded patients often have vigorous responses to their delusions including physically aggressive behaviors and suicide attempts. Careful evaluation is needed to assess the potential for violent and suicidal behaviors in these patients. Medical staff should be alert to clinical strategies for handling the treatment of such patients when they become violent or uncooperative.


The current study examined the extent of knowledge concerning agricultural innovation systems amongst researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers, while determining their attitude towards collaborating with agricultural innovation systems. Through using a simple random sampling technique; researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers were selected as the study population. Information was gathered by distributing a structured questionnaire amongst the various participants and analysing the data gained concerning their wealth of knowledge and their corresponding willingness to collaborate. The results show that researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers are aware of, and have adequate knowledge of, these systems available to them, to be able to utilise them effectively. However, they expressed different attitudes towards collaboration with agricultural innovation systems.


During the British election campaign of 2010, David Cameron produced the idea of the 'Big Society' as a cornerstone of his political agenda. At the core of the idea is a stronger civil society and local community coupled with a more withdrawn government. Although many commentators have dismissed this message as an embellishment mainly intended to mask the British government's economical drive, the big society certainly does exist. We see society at present rapidly emancipating, and citizens being increasingly better informed and in many cases quite capable of taking care of themselves. In some cases they are even better able to fulfil public tasks than government itself. The highly intensive use of the internet strongly underpins this empowerment of society. This essay places the trend towards a big society in the context of this far-reaching digitisation of society. Digitisation enables today's citizens to position themselves radically different towards the state than they did before. Moreover, we are only at the beginning of this trend and – as this trend continues – we will see a radicalisation of the network society.


Background and Objectives Aclidinium bromide is a long-acting muscarinic antagonist approved for the longterm maintenance treatment of bronchospasm associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This 12-week phase III study evaluated efficacy and tolerability of aclidinium 200 or 400 lg in patients with moderate-tosevere COPD. Methods In this double-blind study, 544 patients with COPD were randomized to placebo or twice-daily aclidinium 200 or 400 lg administered by Genuair/Pressair. Lung function, health status [measured by the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ)], dyspnea [measured using the Transition Dyspnea Index (TDI)], and safety were assessed throughout the study. Results Mean changes from baseline in morning trough forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) at week 12 (primary endpoint) were significantly higher for aclidinium than for placebo (200 lg, 51 mL; 400 lg, 72 mL; both p \ 0.05). Aclidinium also significantly improved other lung function outcomes. At week 12, improvements from baseline were observed with aclidinium in SGRQ total score (200 lg, -6.0; 400 lg, -5.4) and TDI focal score (200 lg, 1.0; 400 lg, 1.3). Furthermore, clinically important improvements in SGRQ total and TDI focal scores were achieved by 45 and 51 % of patients, respectively, who received aclidinium 400 lg, with a significant difference versus placebo for TDI (p \ 0.05). Anticholinergic-related adverse events (e.g., dry mouth) were infrequent, occurring \2 % for any event in any treatment group. Both aclidinium doses were well tolerated. Conclusion This study demonstrates efficacy and safety of aclidinium in COPD patients. Unexpected baseline imbalances between treatment groups may have impacted the aclidinium treatment benefit in this study.


OBJECTIVE
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to evaluate gender influences on alcohol-associated changes in brain metabolism.

METHOD
Concentrations of N-acetylaspartate, choline-containing compounds, myo-inositol, and creatine plus phosphocreatine in frontal lobe gray matter and white matter were estimated in eight women and 17 men who were recently detoxified from long-term alcoholism. Twelve women and 13 men with no history of alcoholism were used as a comparison group.

RESULTS
In male and female alcoholics, frontal lobe white matter concentrations of N-acetylaspartate were significantly lower (-8.8%) than those seen in nonalcoholic comparison subjects. In the frontal lobe gray matter region, a significant alcoholism status-by-gender interaction and follow-up analyses revealed that female alcoholics had significantly lower N-acetylaspartate concentrations (-10.73%) relative to female comparison subjects, while male alcoholics and male comparison subjects had similar levels of this metabolite (<1% difference).

CONCLUSIONS
Lower concentrations of white matter N-acetylaspartate, which may indicate neuronal loss or dysfunction, is equally severe in men and women with comparable alcohol abuse histories. However, female alcoholics exhibited significantly less N-acetylaspartate in frontal gray matter relative to female nonalcoholic comparison subjects, which could mean that female alcoholics are more susceptible to gray matter injury than their male counterparts. However, this finding could also be explained by higher-than-expected levels of N-acetylaspartate in the healthy female comparison group.


Regression-based strategies along with propensity score matching (PSM) were used to assess the farm-level economic impact of community action (CA) strategies associated with ecologically based rodent management (EBRM). The paddy yield and real net income of rice farmer beneficiaries of the EBRM approach in An Giang Province, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, were analyzed using panel data from 151 rice farmers. PSM along with the difference-indifference framework using the fixed-effect approach were found to be the most appropriate methods to evaluate the farm-level economic impact of the adoption of the CA strategies. The EBRM through CA did not replace what the farmers were doing, but rather built on their practices and incorporated a scientific basis by encouraging farmers to work together at key times of a cropping season. In terms of labor use for rodent control, CA only entailed an additional 0.3 man-days/ha for every CA. Normally, for a 40-hectare (ha) rice field, around 30 persons participated in each CA including men, women, and children. With two to three times done in a season, a total of 1 man-day/ha is as an additional labor for the whole season. The adoption of the EBRM through CA had a significant and positive impact on paddy yield and real net income of rice farmers. The mean paddy yield increased by 0.43-0.45 ton per ha and real net income of the beneficiaries increased by VND1.16–1.19 million/ha (approximately USD65-67/ha). These findings imply that the adoption of the CA strategies in rodent pest management as part of EBRM may not only have partly contributed to food security and increased household income of the rice farmer-beneficiaries but also to environmental improvement in these communities.


Abstract : A study was made of the probable cause or causes of the fuel pump failures that have been encountered in some Naval ships since conversion to navy distillate (ND) fuel. The study concentrated on the pumps of the USS Constellation, since this ship has suffered a very high rate of fuel pump failures. Analysis of the heavy load region of the idler bore showed that the film thicknesses in this region are very small with ND, in the range of 50 to 110 microinches. This analysis and the inspection of failed pumps showed that ultimate failures resulted from rupture of this film and subsequent high wear of the idler bores. Heavy contamination of the fuel with hard particles was at least a contributing factor in the failures. The processes whereby the various types of contamination (by solid particles, water, entrained gas, and ND-NSFO emulsions) can induce or contribute to pump failures is discussed. Materials for improved tolerance of the operating conditions are also discussed. Recommendations aimed at preventing future pump failures are provided. These include a run-in procedure necessary to burnish the surfaces in the idler bore region so that they can sustain a full, separating fluid film. Desirable revisions in start-up and operating procedures are identified. The need to reduce contamination level is stressed, however, acceptable levels should be experimentally established. (Author)


Bay anchovy egg abundance in the Manatee River estuary, Florida, was compared with conditions in the spawning ground before and after spawning to distinguish prey-supply-based spawning responses from post-spawning advective effects. Plume fronts were a prominent feature of the spawning ground. Egg distribution, copepod distribution and front development were surveyed 25 times across a wide range of freshwater inflow conditions. Surface-front strength (maximum inter- polated salinity slope) was strongly correlated with the size of the frontal zone, as defined by surface areas having slopes >1 psu km -1 . Eggs were most abundant landward of the frontal zone at a location with consistently high abundance of the copepod Acartia tonsa, which is consumed by adult and larval bay anchovies. Large, significant changes in egg abundance were observed over both long (seasons) and short (<3 d) periods (Tukey 95% HSD multiple range tests). An El Nino-associated flood event caused the rapid evolution of a large, seaward-moving frontal system that initially had a negative effect on egg abundance. Spawning resumed in reduced salinity following passage of the front, demonstrating a level of plasticity in spawning response to salinity change. A stepwise regres- sion model explained 92% of the variation in egg abundance and suggested that tidal amplitude was not a significant determinant of abundance. Instead, egg abundance appeared to be determined ini- tially by pre-spawning prey supply and temperature, and subsequently by variable retention behind the frontal zone.


A MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF OPTIMAL VACCINATION STRATEGIES IN EPIDEMIOLOGY. L. Nemaranzhe M.Sc thesis, Department of Mathematics, University of Western Cape. We review a number of compartmental models in epidemiology which leads to a nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations. We focus an SIR, SEIR and SIS epidemic models with and without vaccination. A threshold parameter R0 is identified which governs the spread of diseases, and this parameter is known as the basic reproductive number. The models have at least two equilibria, an endemic equilibrium and the disease-free equilibrium. We demonstrate that the disease will die out, if the basic reproductive number R0 < 1. This is the case of a disease-free state, with no infection in the population. Otherwise the disease may become endemic if the basic reproductive number R0 is bigger than unity. Furthermore, stability analysis for both endemic and disease-free steady states are investigated and we also give some numerical simulations. The second part of this dissertation deals with optimal vaccination strategy in epidemiology. We use optimal control technique on vaccination to minimize the impact of the disease. Hereby we mean minimizing the spread of the disease in the population, while also minimizing the effort on vaccination roll-out. We do this optimization for the cases of SIR and SEIR models, and show how optimal strategies can be obtained which minimize the damage caused by the infectious disease. Finally, we describe the numerical simulations using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method.


A study of the flow physics around a cylindrical turret with the application of open-loop control has been performed. The evaluation of flow control performance is accomplished by analyzing the changes in the turbulent flow time/length scales across the turret surface for three cases. Even though these quantities are not direct measures of the aero-optics, literature suggest there is a strong relationship between them. Previous results open-loop results demonstrate reductions in both RMS and Reynolds shear stress over the separated region. Autocorrelations of the unsteady pressure sensors for the actuated low speed tests exhibit a more organized almost periodic behavior. We are interested in developing a low dimensional description of the flow field over a 3D turret through the use of velocity measurements. The use of snapshot POD for two cases: baseline and lumped measurements. Reconstruction of the velocity field using 75% of the energy was accomplished using only 13 and 20% for baseline and lumped POD, respectively.


In this thesis, an actuation system is developed for a Two-Axis Gyroscopic (TAG) adapter. This adapter is a fixture with two auxiliary axes which is used for the Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) technique to enhance a three-axis mill to have five-axis capabilities. With five-axis mill capabilities, variable angles between line segments of the toolpath and the tool can be obtained. To achieve specialized angles between a line segment and the SPIF tool, the sheet is rotated. Inverse kinematic equations for the TAG adapter are derived to calculate the required rotations for the TAG adapter's auxiliary axes for a line segment of a toolpath. If the next line segment requires a different orientation of the sheet, the sheet is rotated while the tool follows the rotation of the sheet to maintain its position at the connecting point of the line segments of the toolpath. Five equations of motions are derived to calculate the three translations of the mill and two rotations of the TAG adapter's frames, during forming. A toolpath execution algorithm is implemented in MATLAB which uses the five equations of motion to execute a toolpath. The algorithm generates an array of data points that can be used by a Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine to follow a desired path. A visual representation for the execution of the toolapth is implemented in MATLAB and is used to illustrate the successful completion of a toolpath. A computer controlled motor system is selected and tested in this thesis which will ultimately be integrated with a worm gear system and a CNC machine to develop a full CNC actuation system.


A casual listener may not have the relevant cognitive tools to relate to electroacoustic music as an independent art form. Even music students who have had several years' formal training may not know how to listen purposefully to it. The authors investigate the hypothesis that by engaging in the composition of musique concrète, students will become more informed listeners to electroacoustic music in general. This study describes a teacher and ten 16-year-old high school students who use a digital audio editor (Cool Edit Pro) to manipulate sound and to structure sound events. A variety of teaching approaches are tested. Having experienced the creative process, the participants display a growing ability to engage in higher-order critical thinking skills in relation to electroacoustic music.


Soil erosion is recognized as one of the major environmental problems in the hilly red soil region of Jiangxi province, southern China. An eight-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of grass cover in the sloping citrus land on water and sediment runoff. Soil moisture regimes were also analysed based on the in-situ soil moisture measurement. Four treatments were carried out in the runoff plot experiment: (1) no vegetation, bare land (BL); (2) conventional treatment, citrus without grass cover (CK); (3) citrus with strip planting of Bermuda grass (SP); (4) citrus with full cover of Bermuda grass (FC). Results showed that the annual runoff volumes were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced using SP (27.2 mm) and FC (33.0 mm) compared with CK (311.4 mm) and BL (456.7 mm) treatments. The SP and FC treatments significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the annual average sediment yield by as much as 99.38% to 99.67%, compared with CK treatment. Soil moisture variations at the four depths (0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–40 cm) were consistent with the seasonal precipitation patterns. Within the soil profile, soil moisture content increased with depth. In 3 of the 4 depths, the soil moisture contents of SP (21.20–27.84 m3/m3, mean value) were the highest. Soil moisture contents of FC (14.92–26.30 m3/m3, mean value) were lower than in SP because of the water consumption by plant transpiration, but were still higher than those of CK (16.03–25.00 m3/m3, mean value). Based on Richards' equation numerical model, optimization tool and observed soil moisture data, actual evapotranspiration was calculated, and water balance analysis was carried out during drought and rain periods. The results indicated that planting grass in sloping citrus land can effectively reduce surface water runoff and soil erosion and increase water infiltration, but the risk of drought, resulting from planting grass, should be noticed. Compared with FC, the drought risk of SP was much lower during the drought period, and SP contributed to storage of more water in the root zone during the rain period. In conclusion, SP was a recommendable treatment.


Technology transition stage in 21st century try to reach the goal of elaborate the educational quality for knowledge transfer in learning process. Blended learning is interest variety of technologies utilization that combined from face-to-face learning and E-learning process. This study intends to convey the role of blended learning based on teacher's perception with respect to attitude conception. The student attitude is the major affective factor to language instruction and become a predictor of successful language learners. Therefore, the presence of blended learning was providing opportunities for students to independently hold control of achieving the learning goals. Data was gained from 68 students and teachers as the fundamental facilitators or as the main controlled of attitude process in students by applying blended learning and students as a subject of instructional process. The data gained was analyzed qualitatively that create from observation and interview. The results of study were [1] blended learning is more appropriate than traditional learning, [2] percentages of blended learning for environmental education is frequently occurring on Self-Paced Learning which obtained 41% , and [3] the role of blended learning seen from attitude conception that found on the students integrative motivation, instrument motivation, and attitude toward the environmental education. Thus, this study suggested controlled teacher's perception for teaching that might help students for instructional technology skill by attitude from role of blended learning on preparing suitable digital literacy.
S


Based on the analysis of high‐speed optical and electric field change data, we present three observed cases in which a naturally occurring bidirectional lightning leader initiated and developed in virgin air near a previous established positive leader channel. Twice a new leader formed near an upward propagating positive leader that had initiated from a tower during an upward flash and once a new leader formed near a downward propagating positive leader prior to a positive cloud‐to‐ground return stroke. There were clear and consistent behavioral differences between the positive and negative leader ends of the newly formed bidirectional leader, and the positive end grew more slowly than the negative end in each case. In all three cases, the negative end of the bipolar leader connected with the previously formed positive leader channel creating a new positive leader branch. These rare observations show the bidirectional nature of naturally occurring lightning and suggest that positive leaders can gain branches by connection with newly formed bipolar leaders.


Monitoring the tool condition of machining processes is important but challenging. Several automated tool condition monitoring solutions are available, but often not used due to existing restrictions or disadvantages. A new approach can be the detection and measurement of tool conditions analyzing the sound of an air jet impingement on tools. Due to the availability of compressed air as a working and cleaning medium for many processes, this approach can be used for various condition monitoring and measuring tasks. In this paper the procedure and its functionality are first presented on simple shapes and then tested on the tool wear of inserts.


OBJECTIVE
It is unclear whether neonates with interrupted aortic arch (IAA) and a smaller left ventricular outflow tract may have improved outcomes with a Yasui operation (ventricular outflow bypass procedure) over a primary complete repair. This study sought to identify preoperative echocardiographic parameters to differentiate which neonates may have improved outcomes with a primary vs Yasui operation.

DESIGN
Patient demographics, cardiac surgery type, complications, need for reoperation and/or interventional catheterization, and date of last follow-up were collected on neonates who underwent a biventricular repair for IAA from 2003 to 2014. Preoperative echocardiograms were analyzed for: IAA type, valve annulus size, aortic valve morphology, ventricular size and aortic arch anatomy.

RESULTS
Seventy-seven neonates underwent IAA repair between 2003 and 2013. 60 neonates had a primary repair and 17 a Yasui operation. Neonates that underwent a Yasui operation had significantly smaller mitral and aortic valves with aortic arch hypoplasia. Within the primary repair group, a decreasing aortic root z-score on univariate analysis increased the odds of reoperation by twofold [OR = 1.98, 95% CI: (1.15-3.42), P = .014]. A significant interaction between repair type and aortic root z-score was identified on multivariable analysis (P = .039), for neonates with aortic root z-scores less than -2.5, the probability of reoperation during the follow up time period [mean 4.5 years (3.3 months-10 year)] was significantly higher in the primary repair group compared to the Yasui group (64.3% vs 37.5%).

CONCLUSIONS
Neonates with IAA and an aortic root z-score less than -2.5 have lower odds of subsequent reoperations with a Yasui operation compared to a primary repair over the follow up period. These findings suggest a Yasui operation should be considered if the preoperative aortic root z-score is less than -2.5. Careful evaluation of these morphologic predictors on preoperative echocardiograms can be helpful in surgical planning in neonates with IAA.


In 2009 it was ten years since the adoption of the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of an Armed Conflict. To celebrate this anniversary, a variety of contributions, focussing on the legal and cultural aspects of the Protocol are presented by Van Woudenberg and Lijnzaad. The innovative aspects of the Second Protocol such as enhanced protection, criminal responsibility and jurisdiction, and the protection of cultural property in armed conflicts not of an international character are addressed. Some country-specific studies are included. It is hoped that this publication will inspire States to accede to the Protocol and that it will serve as a source of inspiration to legal advisers, military personnel and cultural property experts.


In the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) carrier phase data processing, cycle slips are limiting factors and affect the quality of the estimators in general. When differencing phase observations, a problem in phase ambiguity parameterization may arise, namely linear relations between some of the parameters. These linear relations must be considered as additional constraints in the system of observation equations. Neglecting these constraints, results in poorer estimators. This becomes significant when ambiguity resolution is in demand. As a clue to detect the problem in GNSS processing, we focused on the equivalence of using undifferenced and differenced observation equations. With differenced observables this equivalence is preserved only if we add certain constraints, which formulate the linear relations between some of the ambiguity parameters, to the differenced observation equations. To show the necessity of the additional constraints, an example is made using real data of a permanent station from the network of the international GNSS service (IGS). The achieved results are notable to the GNSS software developers.