Most readers will be familiar with at least the title of Dan Brown's 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code. In the novel, a cryptic code holds the key to valuable knowledge held by the Templars that has been hidden from the world for centuries. Likewise in this paper Nicholson and Slavin discuss valuable information about the Templars that has been effectively concealed within the documents drawn up at the time of the Templars' arrests in Britain and Ireland and during the proceedings against the Templars. This valuable information comprises data revealing the extent of the Templars' estates and their moveable and immoveable property at the time of the arrests and at intervals thereafter, and the income and expenditure of those estates during the time that they were administered by the English king's officials. The data were recorded by royal officials and are preserved in the National Archives of the UK in Kew, but these records' heavily abbreviated state and sometimes poor state of preservation renders them effectively unintelligible to the majority of readers: hence they are effectively encoded. In this paper, the authors explain how these documents were produced, summarise the information that they contain, and then present a detailed analysis of some of the data within them.
This paper is founded in Nicholson and Slavin's planned research project into the Templars' properties in England and Wales. The goal of this research is to publish the records for England and Wales (the records from Ireland were published in 1967), to make them available to all scholars with an interest in medieval estate records; but with the particular intention of establishing exactly how wealthy or poverty-stricken the Templars in Britain were in 1308, and what property the Hospitallers actually inherited here in 1313.


In the nutritional assessment study - two popular rice varieties in Malaysia namely,
MR 185 and MR 219 were examined. Significant variations in straw nutritional
composition were observed between plant fractions of rice varieties. Variations were
also observed between the cut and stubble fraction of rice plants. The leaves of cut
fraction for MR 185 straw variety showed higher nutritive quality, in terms of crude
protein concentration (6.8%), fiber (ADF 46.8% and NDF 69.5%), total digestible
nutrients (50.4%) and digestible energy (2.2 MJ/kg) compared to the stubble and uncut
plant parts. Therefore, cut fraction of straw was recommended to be collected for
ruminant feed and the stubble could be incorporated into the soil to maintain land
productivity for the next crop or other purpose.
In another experiment, changes of protein and fiber concentration of rice straw were
observed over time. Rice straw was exposed to open weather in the field for 30 days.
Nutritive values of rice straw were found to be relatively stable when they were
iv
exposed to the weather. There was no significant reduction of CP concentration but
fiber concentration increased with delaying straw collection from the field.
Therefore, farmers could delay straw collection from the field but earlier collection
of straw was suggested for feeding ruminants.
In the nutritive value improvement study - two straw treatment (urea and steam)
methods of rice straw were evaluated. Urea increased CP concentration of treated
rice straw by 47% compared to untreated rice straw. In vitro DM and OM
digestibility of urea treated rice straw was increased by 29.3% and 35.9%,
respectively compared to the untreated rice straw. This was confirmed by the in vitro
gas production at a sequential incubation with buffered rumen fluid. Potential gas
volume was higher in urea treated rice straw (52.2 ml/200mg) than untreated rice
straw (41.9 ml/200mg) and steam treated rice straw (50.9 ml/200mg). Steam
treatment caused a significant decrease in lignin (ADL) concentration (30.3%)
compared to urea treated rice straw (34.1%) and untreated rice straw (35.0%) due to
the effect of high pressure and rapid decompression to weaken the cell wall structure
and the release of fermentable sugar from the depolymerized lignin and cell wall
matrix. The disruptions and the physical changes in rice straw cell wall structure due
to steam treatment enable microbes to penetrate to the cell wall matrix resulting in
improved digestibility.
In the feed evaluation study – iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric various formulation of
total mixed ration was examined. Three straw treatments (untreated, urea and steam
treated) and three levels (40, 55 and 70%) of straw inclusion were used together with
other ingredients to make total mixed ration.
v
In a feeding trial, dry matter intake of the ration and average daily gain of the Malin
local-bred lambs was examined. The ration comprising 40% steam treated straw
showed highest intake (126.5 g kg-1W0.75) and gave highest daily gain (176.8 g d-1).
Untreated straw with 70% inclusion showed lowest intake (71.7 g kg-1W0.75) and
gave the lowest weight gain (50.0 g d-1). Steam treated ration increased intake by
27.4% and urea treated ration by 21.5%; average daily gain of the lambs increased by
73.5% in steam and 65.0% in urea treated ration compared to untreated ration.
Increasing level of straw inclusion from 40 to 70% reduced intake by 21.1% and
weight gain by 38.8%.
In the digestibility study, there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in nutritional
quality among the rations. No significant differences were also obtained in rate of
particulate particle constant, mean retention time and solid flow rate. However,
increasing level of straw inclusion tended to increase retention time due to the slower
passage rate. Therefore, this study concluded that the rice straw has a potential to be
utilized in ruminant feeding system by using straw treatment and improving its
nutritive value with the addition of other ingredients. Hence, production of TMR is
worth trying and this could conceivably be practiced by large farms for intensive
ruminant production.


In a field experiment at Bundaberg, Queensland, sugarcane trash was incorporated into soil with, or without, additional nitrogen supplied as either soybean residue or ammonium nitrate. The carbon inputs from plant material (lOtC/ha) were the same in all treatments, while both plus-nitrogen treatments received the same amount of nitrogen (210kgN/ha). Sugarcane was planted 23 weeks after amendments were incorporated, and 24 weeks later there were 95%fewer lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus zeae) in roots growing in amended soil than in roots from the unamended control. Populations of P. zeae and Tylenchorhynchus annulatus in amended soil were reduced by 85%and 71%, respectively. Bioassays in which forage sorghum was planted in soil collected during the experiment and inoculated with P. zeae indicated that amended soils were suppressive to the nematode at 20 weeks but not after 47 weeks. All amendments increased readily oxidisable carbon, microbial biomass, microbial activity and numbers of free-living nematodes, but had no effect on known predators of nematodes (i.e. dorylaimid and mononchid nematodes and three naturally occurring species of nematode-trapping fungi, Arthrobotrys conoides, A. thaumasium and Drechslerella dactyloides). However, an unidentified predatory fungus was found only in soil amended with sugarcane trash and was possibly involved in the suppression of plant-parasitic nematodes.


Constructions of the animal and animality are often pivotal to religious discourses. Such constructions create the possibility of identifying and valuing what is "human" as opposed to the "animal" and also of distinguishing human beliefs and behaviors that can be characterized (and often disparaged) as being animal from those that are "truly human." Some discourses also employ the concept of savagery as a bridge between the human and the animal, where the form of humanity but not its ideal beliefs and practices can be displayed. This paper explores the work of the influential scientist, philosopher, and theologian A. N. Whitehead in this context. His ideas of what constitutes "the animal." the "primitive" and the "civilized" are laid out explicitly in his now little-used history of religions text, Religion in the Making.This paper explores these ideas in this history and then considers how the same ideas permeate his currently more popular philosophical and theological writing Process and Reolity. Drawing on some work in post-colonial theory the paper offers a critique of this understanding of animality, savagery, and civilization and suggests that using Whitehead to underpin modern theological work requires considerable caution. A. N. Whitehead is often regarded as one of the most significant philosophers and metaphysicians of the early twentieth century. His work led to the development of a school of philosophical and theological


An integrated project can take many forms depending on available data. As simple as a horizontally isotropic model with estimated hydraulic fracture geometries used for simple approximations, to a large scale seismic to simulation workflow. Presented is a large-scale workflow designed to take into consideration a vast source of data.
 In this study, the team investigates a development area in the Eagle Ford rich in data acquisition. We develop a robust workflow, taking into account field data acquisition (seismic, 4D seismic and chemical tracers), laboratory (geomechanical, geochemistry and PVT) measurements and correlations, petrophysical measurements (characterization, facies, electrical borehole image), real time field surveillance (microseismic, MTI, fracture hit prevention and mitigation program through pressure monitoring) and finally integrating all the components of a complex large scale project into a common simulation platform (seismic, geomodelling, hydraulic fracturing and reservoir simulation) which is used to run sensitivities.
 The workflow developed and applied for this project can be scaled for projects of any size depending on the data available. After integrating data from various disciplines, the following primary drivers and reservoir understanding can be concluded. At a given oil price, optimum well spacing for a given completion strategy can be developed to maximize rate of return of the project. Many operators function in isolated teams with a genuine effort for collaboration, however genuine effort is not enough for a successful integrated modelling project, a dedicated multidisciplinary team is required.
 We present what is to our knowledge, one of the most complete data sets used for an integrated modelling project to be presented to the public. The specific lessons from the project are applied to future Eagle Ford projects, while the overall workflow developed can be tailored and applied to any future field developments.


Background: Because of the traditional use of propofol drugs for relaxation in dilatation and curettage is used. Recently, doctors have taken into consideration the importance of dexmedetоmidine treatment. Since quantitative reports on the use of long-acting diuretics in the practice of dilatation and curettage, this study aimed to compare the effect of dexmedetоmidine and placebo (normal saline) on the rate of patient recovery instead, the amount of pain in recovery and hemodynamic parameters, and the need for drugs and hypnosis drugs. Methods: This double blind clinical trial was conducted between two groups of 50 patients with dexmedetоmidine (D) and placebo (P). At first, group D received 1μg/kg dose of dexmedetоmidine for 10 minutes and P group received 1μg/kg normal saline for 10 min. Then, 2 mg/kg fentanyl and both groups received 1.5 mg anesthetic Injecting propofol per kilogram to Ramsey relaxation score of 3-4, and during the hemodynamic operation, it was recorded and compared with the amount of opioid and propofol needed. Results: In group D, the maximum blood pressure and minimum blood pressure in the 5th minute after the start of the operation were significantly different with the P group (P<0.05). Also, in group D, heart rate was significantly different in the 5th and 10th minutes after surgery with P group (P<0.05). There was a significant difference between groups in D group with recovery group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Since the use of Dexmedetomidine in comparison with placebo has hemodynamic stability, the patient's greater satisfaction and less pain in recovery, it is deduced that Dexmedetоmidine is a suitable alternative for short-term surgery.


Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (TDS) has emerged during the last two decades as a very popular technique for characterizing the low-energy excitations of several materials, gaseous, liquids and solids, as well as artificial materials as for instance epitaxial heterostructures and more. In recent years, the advances in THz technology allowed obtaining nonlinear optical effects with THz photons, showing remarkable results. In particular, THz Hyper-Raman Spectroscopy greatly expands the spectroscopic capability of the standard THz-TDS by combining intense and broadband THz pulses with a detailed analysis of the spectral content of the generated signal. It is evident that this improvement needs an adequate software support. The main parameter for coding the software which differs with respect to a standard THz-TDS software is the control of a motorized grating (monochromator), but several routines employed in the setup optimization stage rather than the actual measurement are needed as well. In this paper we present the TeraVision software, based on LabVIEW code, in order to highlight the solutions we adopted to tackle the main experimental challenges as well as to give a pleasant and user-friendly experience to expert users.


This paper presents a new methodology to assess sediment connectivity at the catchment scale. The proposed index CCI (Catchment Connectivity Index) is based on a combination of factors in a GIS environment that determine the connectivity of sediment in different elements (slopes, basins, channels) of the river system. The factors evaluated are the transport capacity on hillslopes (TC), check-dams' trap efficiency (TE), the presence of geomorphological barriers (GF), flow conditions (FC) and the sediment transport capacity in channels (SP). This index was applied to estimate connectivity in the Upper Taibilla catchment (314 km2) (SE Spain) for different land use (1956 and 2006) and management (check-dams) scenarios. This catchment has suffered major land use and land cover changes over the last 50 years. The intense agricultural abandonment process and the implementation of soil erosion control measures (reforestation and check-dams) have strongly affected sediment dynamics of the basin. Calculation of the CCI allows identifying which landscape elements have most impact on the sediment (dis)connectivity at catchment scale. The results show a significant reduction in the connectivity of 76% between 1956 and 2006. However, it is observed that the check-dams contribute only 3% to this reduction. Land use changes had a much higher impact on reducing sediment connectivity, except in some areas with steep slopes, or with the development of agriculture along the main channels of the drainage network. Altogether, CCI showed to be a relatively easy and effective method that can be used for spatio-temporal sediment connectivity analyses in areas with natural and human disturbances.


Abstract A new method for the high-order harmonic generation on the quantum dots is proposed. Interaction of the kicking laser field with a single-electron cylindrical quantum dot without and in the presence of an external magnetic field is considered. The finite hard wall model and heterostructured semiconductor quantum dot are assumed in order to provide relation to real system which could be studied in an experiment. In particular, quantum dot is examined throughout the paper. Harmonics to a very high-order are obtained which is significant for the attosecond pulse generation. This result can be explained on the basis of the quantum-confined Stark effect. During the kick, the electron energy is increased and it is associated with the pronounced quantum-confined Stark effect in the energy spectrum. The electron transitions to the inner shells give such harmonic emission as a result. It is shown that the range of the harmonic spectrum is strongly dependent on the pulse duration. The influence of a realistic form of kick present in experiments, as the Gaussian approximation for function, to the harmonic emission is examined.


In human fetuses, the left hepatic artery (LHA) issues the marginal artery that runs along the umbilical vein and, sometimes, reaches the umbilicus. The further observation demonstrated that, in 5 of 12 Japanese midterm fetuses (crown-rump length mm: 46, 50, 54, 59, 102), the marginal artery issued not only a thin umbilical branch but also a liver parenchymal branch that took a posterosuperior recurrent course in a peritoneal fold and supplied the anterior surface of the liver left lobe (segment III). However, in 22 Spanish fetuses of which gestational ages corresponded to the Japanese ones, we did not find the parenchymal branch. Therefore, between human populations, there seemed to be a considerable difference in the incidence as to whether or not the marginal artery issues the liver parenchymal branch. The parenchymal branch might be degenerated at the later stages due to friction between the liver free surface and growing diaphragm.


This article examines the emerging practice on victims' claims for reparation in the context of international criminal proceedings. International criminal courts have followed the model of domestic jurisdictions allowing criminal courts to order compensation by the convicted person to the victim. Yet, remedies for victims in domestic criminal courts function far from optimally. Domestic courts face various problems, relating to technical questions of civil law concerning applicable law, evidence and statute of limitation. These civil law problems often prevent domestic criminal courts from ordering compensation, referring victims to civil courts instead to obtain reparation. The question arises how international criminal courts handle the obstacles inherent in civil law claims that are examined during criminal proceedings.


Machine learning programs need to scale up to very large data sets for several reasons, including increasing accuracy and discovering infrequent special cases. Current inductive learners perform well with hundreds or thousands of training examples, but in some cases, up to a million or more examples may be necessary to learn important special cases with conndence. These tasks are infeasible for current learning programs running on sequential machines. We discuss the need for very large data sets and prior eeorts to scale up machine learning methods. This discussion motivates a strategy that exploits the inherent parallelism present in many learning algorithms. We describe a parallel implementation of one inductive learning program on the CM-2 Connection Machine, show that it scales up to millions of examples, and show that it uncovers special-case rules that sequential learning programs, running on smaller datasets, would miss. The parallel version of the learning program is preferable to the sequential version for example sets larger than about 10K examples. When learning from a public-health database consisting of 3.5 million examples, the parallel rule-learning system uncovered a surprising relationship that has led to considerable follow-up research.


This retrospective observational study aimed to characterize the severity and distribution of OA in the stifle joints of small and medium dogs with CCL injury and/or MPL. Radiographs of the stifle joints from 218 dogs from 10 small and medium breeds were included; 127 joints had CCL injury, 76 joints had MPL, and 73 joints had CCL injury and MPL. OA was graded at 33 sites within the joint. The mean ± SD OA score was 20.3 ± 9.9. For all joints, OA was more severe in heavier than lighter dogs (P = 0.003). Joints with MPL (14.9 ± 8.2) had lower OA scores than joints with CCL injury (22.2 ± 10.0, P = 0.003) or CCL injury and MPL (22.6 ± 9.4, P < 0.001). OA scores were higher in joints with MPL for older dogs (r = 0.408, P < 0.001) but did not change with age in joints with CCL injury. The pattern of OA did not differ among joints with CCL injury or MPL. The retrospective nature of the study limited findings to associations but did not allow conclusions regarding factors causing OA or enhancing its progression. We concluded that, in small- and medium-breed dogs, the patterns of stifle OA joint after CCL injury and MPL are similar. Radiographic OA after CCL injury is more severe than MPL. An increase in age leads to an increase in OA at the time of presentation at a referral hospital in stifle joints with MPL and without CCL injury.


Transactional Analysis-Mark Widdowson 2009-09-10 Transactional Analysis (TA) is a versatile and comprehensive system of psychotherapy. Transactional Analysis: 100 Key Points and Techniques synthesises developments in the field, making complex material accessible and offering practical guidance on how to apply the theory and refine TA psychotherapy skills in practice. Divided into seven manageable sections, the 100 key points cover: the philosophy, theory, methods and critique of the main approaches to TA TA perspectives on the therapeutic relationship diagnosis, contracting and treatment planning using TA a trouble shooting guide to avoiding common pitfalls refining therapeutic skills As such this book is essential reading for trainee TA therapists, those preparing for examinations as well as experienced practitioners who will find much practical guidance on the skilful and mindful application of this cohesive system of psychotherapy.


There is a gap between yield potential of maize varieties and the realized yield on farmers' field in South Western Nigeria. There is need to reduce this yield disparity to boost farmers' productivity. A study was conducted at three outstations of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, covering three agro-ecological zones of Nigeria to determine the extent of the yield gap in maize varieties and possible solutions. Four maize varieties- BR9943DMRSR-W, BR9928DMRSR-Y, SUWAN 1-SR and ART/98/SW6-OB were evaluated at Ilora, Kishi and Orin-Ekiti between 2013-2017. Each variety was planted to one hectare and repeated three times. Data were collected on yield, seed yield, percentage seed yield and percentage yield gap. Data were subjected to analysis of variance. Means were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT). Mean squares of variety, location, year and their interactions were significant for all the traits. Variety BR9928DMRSR had the highest mean yield (1.35t/ha), seed yield (1.25t/ha) with the least yield gap (39.9%). The highest mean yield was recorded at Orin-Ekiti, while the least yield and highest yield gap were recorded at Kishi. The highest yield was obtained in 2016 and the least in 2015. ART/98/SW6-OB and BR9928DMRSR-Y performed best at Orin-Ekiti. This study revealed that the yield potentials of most maize varieties according to breeders' presentations are not realized in South Western Nigeria. Hence, effort towards non-limiting management such as good soil management, adequate soil moisture through irrigation, optimum plant population density and timely management practices throughout the crop growth cycle should be intensified.


Recently we showed that an expressive class of mathematical equations can be automatically translated into simulation codes. By focusing on the expressivity of equations formed from continuous functions, this work did not accommodate a wide range of discrete behaviors or a dynamic collection of components. However, the interaction between continuous and hybrid components in many cyber-physical domains is highly coupled, and such systems are often highly dynamic in both respects. This paper gives an overview of a proposed core language for capturing executable hybrid models of highly dynamic cyber-physical systems.


Abstract Background The clinical presentation of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) has changed greatly during the past few decades. Our aim was to evaluate whether the clinical presentation at diagnosis differed according to age. Methods We evaluated retrospectively a monocentric series of 462 consecutive patients with PHPT, dividing them according to a cutoff of 65 years of age. Results No differences were found in the mean serum PTH, calcium, or vitamin D levels. In older patients (n = 212; 45.9%), the urinary calcium levels were significantly lower (median, 205 mg/24 hour; interquartile range, 220 mg/24 hour) compared with those in younger patients (median, 308 mg/24 hour; interquartile range, 233 mg/24 hour). In addition, renal involvement was significantly less frequent (25% vs 49.2%), and bone involvement significantly more frequent (58% vs 44%) in older patients compared with younger patients. The clinical presentation was significantly different between the two age groups, with a lower frequency of symptomatic forms and a greater frequency of asymptomatic forms not meeting surgical criteria in the older patients (44.4% vs 57.2% and 18.4% vs 5.6%, respectively). Osteoporosis was significantly more frequent in the older adults than in their younger counterparts. The most affected bone site was the forearm in older adults and the lumbar spine in younger ones (50.3% and 50.5%, respectively). Conclusion The clinical presentation of PHPT differs according to age, and this difference can affect the selection of management modalities.


Climate change is causing a persistent increase in the number of hot summer days. Offices and homes are getting hotter, and the nights bring little respite from the heat. Against this backdrop, a significant increase in new cooling systems installations is anticipated, which in turn will give rise to increased energy consumption. One potential cost-effective alternative is to use existing heating systems. According to an analysis by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, the heat pumps in these systems can be reverse operated to provide effective cooling.


Sunspots are dark areas of irregular shape on the Sun's surface, some as large as 50,000 miles (80,000 km) in diameter. They move across the surface, contracting and expanding as they go, and are often big enough to be seen with the naked eye. Given their elusive cyclical nature, and the fact that it is both painful and dangerous to observe the Sun directly, it is little wonder that records of sunspots are almost non-existent in Europe before the seventeenth century. Mentions of sunspots were ignored by early astronomers and philosophers, who followed Aristotle in believing that the heavens were perfect. Judit Brody charts the fascinating history of our efforts to understand sunspots, and the lives and quarrels of those dedicated astronomers who first charted their mysterious patterns and whose records are still of vital importance. Today solar emissions are thought to coincide with major effects in global weather patterns, and a deeper scientific understanding of the Sun's nature and behaviour, using modern telescopes and other instruments, has never been more important.


Curcumin is a natural product with several thousand years of heritage. Its traditional Asian application to human ailments has been subjected in recent decades to worldwide pharmacological, biochemical and clinical investigations. Curcumin's Achilles heel lies in its poor aqueous solubility and rapid degradation at pH ~ 7.4. Researchers have sought to unlock curcumin's assets by chemical manipulation. One class of molecules under scrutiny are the monocarbonyl analogs of curcumin (MACs). A thousand plus such agents have been created and tested primarily against cancer and inflammation. The outcome is clear. In vitro, MACs furnish a 10–20 fold potency gain vs. curcumin for numerous cancer cell lines and cellular proteins. Similarly, MACs have successfully demonstrated better pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles in mice and greater tumor regression in cancer xenografts in vivo than curcumin. The compounds reveal limited toxicity as measured by murine weight gain and histopathological assessment. To our knowledge, MAC members have not yet been monitored in larger animals or humans. However, Phase 1 clinical trials are certainly on the horizon. The present review focuses on the large and evolving body of work in cancer and inflammation, but also covers MAC structural diversity and early discovery for treatment of bacteria, tuberculosis, Alzheimer's disease and malaria.


Exposure to respirable elemental carbon (REC), a component of diesel exhaust (DE), was assessed for an epidemiologic study investigating the association between DE and mortality, particularly from lung cancer, among miners at eight mining facilities from the date of dieselization (1947–1967) through 1997. To provide insight into the quality of the estimates for use in the epidemiologic analyses, several approaches were taken to evaluate the exposure assessment process and the quality of the estimates. An analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the variability of 1998–2001 REC measurements within and between exposure groups of underground jobs. Estimates for the surface exposure groups were evaluated to determine if the arithmetic means (AMs) of the REC measurements increased with increased proximity to, or use of, diesel-powered equipment, which was the basis on which the surface groups were formed. Estimates of carbon monoxide (CO) (another component of DE) air concentrations in 1976–1977, derived from models developed to predict estimated historical exposures, were compared to 1976–1977 CO measurement data that had not been used in the model development. Alternative sets of estimates were developed to investigate the robustness of various model assumptions. These estimates were based on prediction models using: (i) REC medians rather AMs, (ii) a different CO:REC proportionality than a 1:1 relation, and (iii) 5-year averages of historical CO measurements rather than modeled historical CO measurements and DE-related determinants. The analysis of variance found that in three of the facilities, most of the between-group variability in the underground measurements was explained by the use of job titles. There was relatively little between-group variability in the other facilities. The estimated REC AMs for the surface exposure groups rose overall from 1 to 5 μg m−3 as proximity to, and use of, diesel equipment increased. The alternative estimates overall were highly correlated (∼0.9) with the primary set of estimates. The median of the relative differences between the 1976–1977 CO measurement means and the 1976–1977 estimates for six facilities was 29%. Comparison of estimated CO air concentrations from the facility-specific prediction models with historical CO measurement data found an overall agreement similar to that observed in other epidemiologic studies. Other evaluations of components of the exposure assessment process found moderate to excellent agreement. Thus, the overall evidence suggests that the estimates were likely accurate representations of historical personal exposure levels to DE and are useful for epidemiologic analyses.


Recently the global variation of the Planck mass in the General Relativistic Einstein-Hilbert action was proposed as a self-tuning mechanism of the cosmological constant preventing vacuum energy from freely gravitating. We show that this global mechanism emerges for generic local scalar-tensor theories with additional coupling of the scalar field to the field strength of a three-form gauge field that turns the scalar field constant on the domain of the action. Evaluation of the resulting integral constraint equation over the observable Universe yields a self-consistent framework with General Relativistic field equations and arbitrary radiatively stable residual cosmological constant. We argue that the expectation value for this residual is in good agreement with the magnitude of the observed cosmic acceleration.


The increasing role the media continue to play in the overall societal development arena is immense. In recent times, not only the mainstream media is helping in the consolidation and upholding role in amplifying vibrant democracy, but even the newest evolving new media is doing a far greater job in enlightening the people. This, of course, is incredibly attributed to new sophistication media tools. These networking sites include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, the list goes on. These platforms are adding further spice and also influencing crucial decisions in the area of politics, electioneering as well as societal change phases. The power of social media, particularly the visibility aspect is aiding voters to make crucial decisions when it comes to voting and assessing relevant information relating to policy. Countless people rely on the new media in search of daily news feeds, following online debates on domestic politics amongst other useful issues. Perhaps, this is needed now more than ever before in the current political climate and increasing political consciousness across Sub-Saharan countries like The Gambia. As the study of a single country, The Gambia, the findings go further to ascertain and analyse truly ways in which social media have contributed to democratic transition and the gains it might have ushered in for the country's political scene.This research undertaking evaluates the ever increasing significant role played by social media in The Gambia's 2016 Presidential Election. It further examines the influence of social media in relation to the political consciousness on the part of Gambian voters in the December 1, 2016 Presidential polls. If anything, it helped bring an end to the 22-year dictatorial regime overnight in the West African nation.Further, a quantitative method was applied in the research to establish the findings. The study methodology employed to analyse the collected data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). This was done to ascertain whether social media had any meaningful impact on the mind-sets of ordinary citizens in the passage of crucial decision in the election. Again, as a result of increasing trend of social media usage for information consumption in the public space, the curiosity of this study interrogates this question, can it translate into massive voter turnout in elections as a prime case of The Gambia? Keywords: Social Media; Election; Political Consciousness; Social Movement; The Gambia DOI : 10.7176/NMMC/84-04 Publication date :October 31 st 2019


The Guidelines for Science, Technology Development and Innovation for 2021–2027 developed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia focus on promoting research excellence and increasing the social and economic value of research. Considering the previously mentioned, higher education institutions' goal is not only the transfer of knowledge but also the creation of economic and social value, which communicates to society through learning and research results. Social innovation as a driver of social change promotes societal openness and active participation in socio-economic processes. The introduction of new forms of social innovation as Responsible Research and Innovations (RRI) can bridge the gap between science and societal needs by engaging in social debate and policy decisions in society and fostering collaboration between scientists from different sectors. The study aims to analyze Social Innovation's essence and the academic and administrative definitions and dimensions of the Responsible Research and Innovation approach. In order to achieve the aim of the study, a systematic literature analysis was performed. The study reveals the main features of Social Innovation and the perspective of Responsible Research and Innovation implementation in higher education in the institutional and processual dimensions.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of postoperative wound drain salvage and autotransfusion system in haemophilic patients undergoing elective total knee arthroplasty (TKA). No literature exists on reinfusing drained blood in patient with haemophilia undergoing TKA. Eighty‐eight knees of 66 patients received cemented TKA due to end‐stage haemophilic arthropathy (group I; with autotransfusion in 59 knees, group II; without autotransfusion in 29 knees). In group I, the postoperative shed blood was transfused within 6 h after surgery. The amount of blood drainage and reinfused blood, rate and amount of allogenic transfusion, postoperative change of haemoglobin level, prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time were analysed. The mean postoperative blood drainage was 932 ± 479 mL in group I and 830 ± 492 mL in group II (P > 0.05). The mean volume of blood reinfused was 530 ± 265 mL in group I. Allogenic transfusion was needed in six knees (10.2%) of group I and eight knees (27.6%) of group II (P = 0.036). The mean volume of allogenic transfusion was 480 ± 49 mL in group I and 1041 ± 691 mL in group II (P > 0.05). Changes of all the laboratory results before and after TKA showed no statistically significant difference except PT was prolonged in group I (P = 0.008) at postoperative day 1. Moreover, there was no significant complication related to either reinfusion or allogenic transfusion in both groups. This study showed that reinfusion of drained blood is a simple, safe and efficacious method in patients with haemophilia undergoing TKA.


Nitrogenase-3 of Azotobacter vinelandii is synthesized under conditions of molybdenum and vanadium deficiency. The minimal metal requirement for its synthesis, and its metal content, indicated that the only transition metal in nitrogenase-3 was iron [Chisnell, Premakumar and Bishop (1988) J. Bacteriol. 170, 27-33; Pau, Mitchenall and Robson (1989) J. Bacteriol. 171, 124-129]. A new species of nitrogenase-3 has been purified from a strain of A. vinelandii (RP306) lacking structural genes for the Mo- and V-nitrogenases and containing a mutation which enables nitrogenase-3 to be synthesized in the presence of molybdenum. SDS/PAGE showed that component 1 contained a 15 kDa polypeptide which N-terminal amino acid sequence determination showed to be encoded by anfG. This confirms that nitrogenase-3, like V-nitrogenase, comprises three subunits. Preparations of the nitrogenase-3 from strain RP306 contained 24 Fe atoms and 1 Mo atom per molecule. Characterization of the cofactor centre of the enzyme by e.p.r. spectroscopy and an enzymic cofactor assay, together with stimulation of the growth of strain RP306 by Mo, showed that nitrogenase-3 can incorporate the Mo-nitrogenase cofactor (FeMoco) to form a functional enzyme. The specific activities (nmol of product produced/min per mg of protein) determined from activity titration curves were: under N2, NH3 formation 110, with concomitant H2 evolution of 220; under argon, H2 evolution 350; under 10% acetylene (C2H2) in argon, ethylene (C2H4) 58, ethane (C2H6) 26, and concomitant H2 evolution 226. The rate of formation of C2H6 was non-linear, and the C2H6/C2H4 ratio strongly dependent on the ratio of nitrogenase components.


The United States shellfish industry is regulated under the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, administered federally by the U.S Food and Drug Administration, and at the state level by departments of health or agriculture. Shellfish authorities are empowered to close shellfish harvest if water quality drops below food safety levels. Because monitoring for all human pathogens in growing areas is not feasible, fecal coliform bacteria are used as indicator organisms for the potential presence of pathogens from fecal contamination. Every decade, sanitary surveys are conducted during adverse pollution conditions to establish equations and rules for conditionally approved growing areas to predict rainfall levels when fecal coliform levels might exceed the "NSSP 14/43" safety standard. Modifying these rules requires an extensive sampling programs and analyses. As watersheds change, there is pressure to reclassify growing sites and to modify closure rules. The AQUARIUS program is the first tool developed to directly evaluate closure rules for the shellfish industry, and to perform a series of "what-if" scenarios for selected variables. AQUARIUS uses the actual rainfall data to simulate the open/close status of a given growing site for any length of time under two closure rules: one the current rule and the other proposed new rule. AQUARIUS then uses the actual fecal coliform data from the site to calculate the "NSSP 14/43" standards for three situations: "site open under current rule", "site open under new rule", and "site open during critical period". AQUARIUS then runs a series of statistical procedures to compare the fecal coliform level of "site open under current rule" versus "site open under new rule"; and to compare the fecal coliform level of "Site open under current rule" versus "site open during critical period". Based on the results of SSP 14/43" standards and T-Tests, the new closure rule is either accepted or rejected.


We present a QoS management framework that enables us to quantitatively measure QoS, and to analytically plan and allocate resources. In this model, end users' quality preferences are considered when system resources are apportional across multiple applications such that the net utility that accrues to the end-users is maximized. We previously worked with continuous QoS dimensions, and assumed that the utility gained by improvements along a QoS dimension were always representable by concave functions. In this paper we relax both assumptions. One, we support discrete QoS operating points. Two, we make no assumptions about the concavity of the utility functions. Using these as the basis, we tackle the problem of maximizing system utility by allocating a single finite resource to satisfy the QoS requirements of multiple applications along multiple QoS dimensions. We present two near-optimal algorithms to solve this problem. The first yields an allocation within a known bounded distance from the optimal solution, and the second yields an allocation whose distance from the optimal solution can be explicitly controlled by the QoS manager, We compare the run-times of these near-optimal algorithms and their solution quality relative to the optimal allocation, which in turn is computed using dynamic programming. These detailed evaluations provide practical insight into which of these algorithms can be used online in real-time systems.


Nowadays Italian borrowers can choose among a variety of mortgage contracts. Using a special Bank of Italy survey on 400 Italian banks over the period 2006-2013, we analyse the supply of 'non-conventional' mortgages (loan-to-value ratio greater than 80 per cent, duration longer than 30 years or with a flexible maturity). We build a synthetic indicator measuring the degree of differentiation of mortgages across banks to examine how local market competition and bank-specific characteristics have influenced this process. Our findings – potentially influenced also by customer preferences we cannot control for – suggest that larger, less risky banks and those that have adopted scoring systems are more likely to offer non-conventional mortgages. Moreover, banks operating in more competitive markets and in markets where other banks offer non-conventional loans tend to diversify their supply more. Most of these indications are confirmed by analysing the quantities actually granted. These results suggest that the structure of the local markets does matter and that there could be a non-price competition effect among banks in providing differentiated mortgage contracts.


Humic acids are a part of humus material, are abundant in nature, and form a substantial pool of natural organic matter. They participate in the transport of both beneficial and harmful species. Due to their structure and properties, they can interact with metal ions and, with them, form relatively stable complexes. These substances are thus responsible for the so-called self-cleaning ability of soils. Lignite as a young coal type contains a relatively high amount of humic acids which can be used as an environmentally-friendly adsorbent for heavy metals. In this work, we compared the adsorption of single Cu2+ ions with the simultaneous adsorption of several different metal ions (Cd2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, and Zn2+). The adsorption efficiency of humic acids was very high, almost 100% in the case of the single adsorption of Cu2+ ions and more than 90% for the adsorption from the mixture of metal ions. The stability of formed complexes, considered on the basis of the leaching in different extraction agents, was higher than 80%; only 9–18% was in the mobile phase. After adsorption, metal ions are contained in humic acids after adsorption in mainly strongly bonded form (60–73%) and can be liberated from their structure only in low amounts.


The extension of the Natura 2000 European ecological network to the Romanian marine territory (1 site according to the Birds Directive requirements and eight sites according to the Habitats Directive requirements, one also being a natural reserve and one part of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve) might cause conflicts between the Romanian marine fishery and these sites. In order to minimize such conflicts, the evaluation of the interaction between fishery and the preservation objectives of the Natura 2000 sites is compulsory and extremely important. The assessment of the environmental impact is a key tool of the EU environmental legislation, which is used in evaluating the effect of human activities on the ecosystem. In addition, the involvement of all interested stakeholders in the development of the fishery on the Romanian littoral and in environmental protection will be the key to success in finding viable co-management solutions in the Natura 2000 sites. The present paper aims to examine how the fisheries interact with the marine environment on the Romanian coast in the network of marine protected areas.


In this paper, we reported a ZnO quantum dots-based pH-responsive drug delivery platform for intracellular controlled release of drugs. Acid-decomposable, luminescent aminated ZnO quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized as nanocarriers with ultrasmall size (∼3 nm). The dicarboxyl-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) had been introduced to NH2-ZnO QDs, which rendered it stable under physiological fluid. Moreover, a targeting ligand, hyaluronic acid (HA), was conjugated to ZnO QDs for specifically binding to the overexpressed glycoprotein CD44 by cancer cells. Doxorubicin (DOX) molecules were successfully loaded to PEG functionalized ZnO QDs via formation of metal-DOX complex and covalent interactions. The pH-sensitive ZnO QDs dissolved to Zn(2+) in acidic endosome/lysosome after uptake by cancer cells, which triggered dissociation of the metal-drug complex and a controlled DOX release. As result, a synergistic therapy was achieved due to incorporation of the antitumor effect of Zn(2+) and DOX.


We report four patients who presented early in life with intermittent claudication, caused by popliteal artery entrapment. In three of them this was the result of an abnormality in the anatomy of the popliteal fossa. In the fourth, however, muscular hypertrophy alone led to arterial entrapment. Three patients were successfully treated by simple myotomy. In the fourth arteriography showed a total occlusion of the popliteal artery. An arteriotomy was performed. In was then seen that the vessel was still patent, and the opening was closed with a vein patch. The result of this procedure was also satisfactory. It is the authors' opinion, based on their own experience and that of other workers as reported in the literature, that vascular reconstruction is only indicated when irreversible vascular changes have occurred, or where other lesions have complicated the condition.


When feminist translation is discussed, it tends to be proposing a feminising
translation strategy to give women their own voice. My thesis, however, presents
a de-feminising translation. This results from the over-feminising convention in
Japanese literature, both original and translated. Female characters' speech has
been over-feminised despite the dissonance with real Japanese women's
language use, and the convention has reinforced and maintained gender
ideology in Japanese society.
My study offers theoretical description and a prescriptive approach. In the
theoretical description, I offer empirical and statistical analyses to describe the
over-feminising convention, which is a new contribution in this research area. I
also investigate the history of the convention and its function in society from an
ideological perspective, and then explore translation problems of the convention.
The systematic explanation of the translation problems in relation to the overfeminising
convention is also a new area of research in translation studies. The
prescriptive approach is an attempt to integrate theories into practical translation
by presenting an empirical de-feminising translation.
Through my project, I have become aware that when western feminist theory is
used in the Japanese context, we should adjust the idea to the recipient culture.
Feminism, in the western sense, has not been widely accepted in Japanese culture
and there is a danger in presenting a radical feminist translation. Having worked
as a book editor in Tokyo, Japan, I am aware that most of the publishers cannot
ignore the commercial side of the book business. Thus, if I translated a text with a
radical feminist approach, it might not be accepted by the intended readership
and this is not my aim. Therefore, the proposed strategy searches for the best
balance between an academic approach and commercial acceptance.


The Internet of Things (IOT) refers to the environment where network connectivity and computing capability extends to objects, sensors and everyday items not normally considered computers. These items are then capable to generate, exchange and consume data with minimal human intervention. This paper gives an overview of Internet of Things (IOT).


Keywords: Terra Preta; Amazonian Dark Earths; Shifting cultivation; Homegardens; Intensification; Diversification; Smallholder farming. Andre Braga Junqueira (2015). Anthropogenic soils in central Amazonia: farmers' practices, agrobiodiversity and land-use patterns. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, with summary in English, 163 pp. Rural Amazonia is increasingly experiencing environmental and socio-economic changes that directly affect smallholder farmers, with potential negative effects for environmental quality, agrobiodiversity and livelihoods. In this dynamic context, there is an urgent need to support pathways for smallholder agriculture that guarantee farmers' economic and food security while maintaining and enhancing ecosystem functions. Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE, or Terra Preta) are anthropogenic soils created by pre-Columbian populations. Due to their high carbon content and enhanced fertility, ADE have been considered models for sustainable agriculture, based on the idea that transforming soils by mimicking some of the properties of ADE would benefit farmers, sequester carbon and reduce pressure on forests. Investigating the current use of ADE and surrounding soils by smallholder farmers allows us to evaluate the relevance of anthropogenic soils and of soil heterogeneity for smallholder farming in Amazonia, and to identify opportunities and constraints associated with the cultivation of fertile soils. The main objective of this thesis is to understand how ADE are understood and cultivated by smallholder farmers in Central Amazonia, and how these soils influence cultivation systems, agrobiodiversity and land-use patterns. Ethnographic data indicated that farmers' understanding of ADE – and of soils in general – is based on their historical and shared knowledge about soil variation across the landscape, on physical attributes of the soil, and mainly on the recognition of different soil-vegetation interactions. A widespread perception about ADE is that these soils are suitable for the cultivation of 'almost everything' and always produce decent yields, but they require much more weeding during cultivation. Farmers' decision-making in shifting cultivation is grounded in this differential understanding of soil-vegetation relationships, and weighed against the labor demands. Soil and vegetation inventories in swiddens used for shifting cultivation showed that the soil fertility gradient between surrounding soils and ADE was associated with more intensive cultivation (shorter fallow periods, shorter and more frequent cultivation cycles, higher labor requirements) and with changes in the crop assemblages, but with similar or larger numbers of species cultivated. In homegardens, vegetation structure and crop diversity were mainly influenced by natural variation in soil texture (homegardens on sandier soils being denser and more diverse), while the soil fertility gradient between ADE and adjacent soils influenced mainly the crop assemblages. At the farm level, the relationship between farmers' use of ADE and the need to open areas for shifting cultivation was strongly dependent on the labor availability of the household. Instead of driving specific trends in land use, fertile soils are incorporated into local livelihoods as part of an extensive repertoire of resource management activities; most often, farmers with enough available labor manage multiple plots, combining more intensive cultivation on ADE with typical long-fallow shifting cultivation on poorer soils. Farmers' access to increased soil fertility, therefore, does not necessarily lead to reduced pressure on forests. This thesis has shown that cultivation systems on ADE are associated with specific knowledge, practices and agrobiodiversity, providing increased opportunities for farmers to diversify their cultivation systems and grow a greater diversity of crops. Despite these advantages, ADE can also be associated with conventional intensification practices that can lead to environmental degradation and pose threats to local livelihoods. It cannot be assumed, therefore, that the use of more fertile soils will be associated with sustainable cultivation, neither that it will reduce pressure on forests. Initiatives aiming to promote sustainable pathways for agriculture in Amazonia should promote (and make use of) the heterogeneity of soils and of cultivation strategies, and should aim at increasing and not narrowing farmers' opportunities for resource use and management.


We investigated the forgiveness decision as an error-management task and demonstrated how tools from decision science can facilitate testing precise predictions about bias and its cognitive implementation. We combined decision modeling (using a weighting-and-adding model and a lexicographic heuristic) with process-tracing tools that track response times as well as the pattern of information acquisition. Our modeling results indicate that individuals adopted a decision bias commensurate with the relative cost of errors and that they also adjusted their bias after the perceived costs of errors were experimentally manipulated. Even though the 2 decision models were accurate in fitting the decisions (accuracies of around 85%), they were less successful in fitting the process measures. Our process-tracing results do not support either model—response times were in favor of the heuristic, whereas information-acquisition patterns favored the linear model, albeit slightly. Nevertheless, our methodology used to investigate the forgiveness decision can be a seen as a "blueprint" of how the cognitive processes of other error-management tasks can be investigated and how a more detailed mapping of the adapted mind can be achieved.


A key House subcommittee last week approved a 1997 Department of Health and Human Services appropriation bill that would give the National Institutes of Health (NIH) a budget increase of 6.9%—more than Congress allowed in 1996 (5.7%) and much more than the 4% the Administration is requesting. The bill—the first step in the appropriations process—would also give the NIH director more administrative flexibility, while curbing the authority of NIH's Office of AIDS Research. And it would partly lift a ban on human embryo research imposed earlier this year by Congress.


Due to growing interest in bacterial probiotic incorporation within juvenile marine finfish production, multiple commercial products are currently available. The following trial was conducted to test the effect of incorporation of a commercially available Bacillus spp. probiotic blend (EcoAqua) on population growth dynamics of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis. Incorporation consisted of 0.1 mL L−1 daily probiotic additions directly to rotifer cultures and 0.1 μL mL−1 additions to feed mixtures during preparation. Probiotic-treated cultures' daily mean populations were found to be significantly greater (Pα(2),4,4 < 0.05) on multiple culture days. This trend was confirmed as significant (Pα(2),1,45 < 0.001) using ancova. Logistic population growth curves fit for each treatment were statistically non-coincident (Pα(2),5,40 < 0.001). Substantial differences between treatment and control parameter estimates were observed; however, statistical comparisons could not be employed. Population variability was also reduced by probiotic inclusion as evidenced by lack of significant, positive correlation for probiotic daily population standard deviations (r = 0.0022, P = 0.99) and detection of a significant, positive correlation for control absolute value regression residuals (r = 0.50, P = 0.013) with Day of Culture. The tested bacterial probiotic improved rotifer culture population dynamics, suggesting potential production benefits from its utilization.


The preparation of automotive catalysts and commercial oxidation catalysts in stationary sources use a large amount of noble metal precursors. Moreover, during their preparation high energy (gas and temperature) is necessary for treatment processes. In order to develop a higher sustainable process, the plasma-assisted catalysts synthesis could be a solution. The use of plasmas for catalysis is already well developed and plasma treatment was already used in a low pressure system to replace the thermal calcination steps of the catalysts. Fluidized bed reactors offer the possibility to lead to homogenous treatment and have the additional advantage of excellent heat transfer rates between the gas and the particles, so that it can modify the catalytic properties of the prepared materials. The aim of our work is to prepare plasma-assisted catalysts dedicated to pollution abatement in stationary or mobile sources. For stationary sources, the first prepared catalysts are palladium based catalysts, which were chosen since the main reducing agent in combine heat power is methane. In the case of mobile sources, we have worked with silver based catalysts since ethanol could be chosen as a sustainable alternative reducing agent to replace ammonia. After the preparation of the different catalysts, the low fluidized bed plasma reactor was used to modify Pd/ γ-alumina and Ag/γ-alumina catalysts. A comparison with "classical calcination" in air at 500°C was performed in order to show the advantages of plasma treatments. The first catalytic results show that plasma treated catalysts lead to higher pollutant abatement than classically prepared ones. Thus, concerning the plasma process, we have studied the role of the plasma treatment time as well as the nature of the gas treatment. The characterization of the catalysts is in course in order to understand the influence of plasma treatment parameters on catalytic results.


Nanofibrous membranes have a high specific surface area and large porosity, which are beneficial for being used as adsorbents to remove heavy metal ions from water. In this work, electrospun nanofibers were wrapped with a hydrogel layer with a tunable thickness, which endowed the membrane with excellent superhydrophilic performance. Because of good water-retention properties and abundant functional groups originating from the hydrogel layer, as a static adsorbent, the maximum adsorption capacity of Pb(II) was up to 146.21 mg g 1 according to the Langmuir model. Meanwhile, the electrospun membrane also possessed water permeability as a flow-through membrane for dynamic adsorption, which was obviously different from traditional hydrogel adsorbents. As a result, the rejection ratio of Pb(II) can remain over 55% after running for 72 h under high pH conditions and at low initial ion concentrations. Apart from these, cycle operations confirmed the regeneration of the membrane, and competitive adsorption experiments illustrated the selective removal of Pb(II) in a mixed ion solution.


Spotty liver disease (SLD) is a bacterial disease of chicken, causing mortalities and reduction in egg production, hence, contributing to economic loss in the poultry industry. The causative agent of SLD has only recently been identified as a novel Campylobacter species, Campylobacter hepaticus. Specific primers were designed from the hsp60 gene of Campylobacter hepaticus and PCR followed by high-resolution melt curve analysis was optimised to detect and differentiate three species of Campylobacter (Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter hepaticus). The three Campylobacter species produced a distinct curve profile and was differentiated using HRM curve analysis. The potential of the PCR-HRM curve analysis was shown in the genotyping of 37 Campylobacter isolates from clinical specimens from poultry farms. PCR-HRM curve analysis of DNA extracts from bile samples or cultures from bile samples, were identified as Campylobacter hepaticus and confirmed by DNA sequencing. The DNA sequence analysis of selected samples from each of the three HRM distinctive curves patterns showed that each DNA sequence was associated with a unique melt profile. The potential of the PCR-HRM curve analysis in genotyping of Campylobacter species was also evaluated using faecal specimens from 100 wild birds. The results presented in this study indicate that PCR followed by HRM curve analysis provides a rapid and robust technique for genotyping of Campylobacter species using either bacterial cultures or clinical specimens.


A review of published reports showed that the sex ratio (proportion of boys) was low among infants conceived after ovulation had been induced. The difference between the observed sex ratio and an expected one of 0 . 514 was highly significant. These findings suggest that maternal gonadotrophin concentrations at the time of conception directly affect the sex of the zygote.


Deep networks are well-known to be fragile to adversarial attacks, and adversarial training is one of the most popular methods used to train a robust model. To take advantage of unlabeled data, recent works have applied adversarial training to contrastive learning (Adversarial Contrastive Learning; ACL for short) and obtain promising robust performance. However, the theory of ACL is not well understood. To fill this gap, we leverage the Rademacher complexity to analyze the generalization performance of ACL, with a particular focus on linear models and multi-layer neural networks under `p attack (p ≥ 1). Our theory shows that the average adversarial risk of the downstream tasks can be upper bounded by the adversarial unsupervised risk of the upstream task. The experimental results validate our theory.


Good governance-or the absence of it-has concerned policy makers and other stakeholders in the transport sector for decades. Most stakeholders recognize that effective governance is crucial if improvements in transport infrastructure are to endure and contribute to sustainable economic growth. In Africa, billions of dollars have been spent on improving and rehabilitating transport infrastructure, but it has been long recognized that the poor performance of the transport sector is due to far more than merely inadequate finance or technical capacity constraints. Poor governance occurs at many levels of the policy cycle-from the ways in which legislation is drafted and regulations, systems, and procedures are worded and applied in practice, to how services are eventually delivered to the users of transport and whether their expectations are met. This paper sets out to identify a critical subset of governance indicators in the transport sector that can be used to demonstrate in a clear, measurable way the quality of governance in a particular country, sector, or subsector. By means of consultation with key transport sector stakeholders, it examines transport sector governance issues in four pilot countries in order to determine whether there is a consensus on what transport sector governance means in practice; why it matters; how it can be measured; and in what priority ways improvements in governance might make a real difference in the sector and its contribution to national development. At its core, the study attempts to reduce the indicator set to what is at the heart of the governance matter.


Dr. Clark-Kennedy has had an unusual career, for he is at the same time a'fellow of a Cambridge college, a physician, and the dean of a London medical school. It is, therefore, not surprising that, with his intimate experience of different aspects of the teaching and practice of medicine, he has written an unusual book. There is reason to believe that he wrote much of it during the war, when the hours of waiting provided leisure to think, and the threat of imminent destruction prompted thought on the meaning of existence and the role of the physician in the prevention of sickness and premature death. Nevertheless the spirit of the university inspires him rather than that of the medical school, the university in which men of different faculties and disciplines meet in a single community and have the opportunity to share and test each other's ideas. The author's 'aim is to provide a philosophical foundation on which a knowledge of medicine can be built as experience accumulates. In this first volume he considers body and mind, symptoms and signs, heredity and environment, reactions of the body and the mind, and the nature of disease. The author admits that this "may seem a strange and unusual prelude to the study of clinical medicine. But the art of medicine is concerned with human bodies made of matter, transforming one form of energy into another. They are partly dominated by mind and individual personality. Everyone does live a finite life in space and time in a mysterious universe. It is natural and logical to start by considering the nature of matter, energy, life and mind, and the relationships which exist between them in so far as matter, energy, life and mind are really comprehensible to the limited capacity of the mind of man. Clinical medicine cannot altogether avoid metaphysics and philosophy." The adult medical reader will enjoy this delightful book; there has been nothing quite like it since Trotter's writings. The author expresses himself clearly, and again and again excites our imagination by synthesizing information from widely different fields. Many will find it an excellent bedside book, an aid to knitting up the ravelled threads of the day. It is difficult to know how it will affect the beginner. We wonder whether its individualistic flavour will be altogether to the taste of the younger generation. It contains nothing about positive health, social medicine, or demography; in fact, as the spubtitle indicates, the author is concerned with the patient and his disease. Though the cash nexus between patient and doctor may be broken, sickness must always remain a problem of the individual as well as of the community. Dr. ClarkKennedy clearly presents the problem and the solutions which materialist and idealist have given to it. L. J. Wrrrs.


Fully convolutional neural networks (FCNs) have shown outstanding performance in many computer vision tasks including salient object detection. However, there still remains two issues needed to be addressed in deep learning based saliency detection. One is the lack of tremendous amount of annotated data to train a network. The other is the lack of robustness for extracting salient objects in images containing complex scenes. In this paper, we present a new architecture—PDNet, a robust prior-model guided depth-enhanced network for RGB-D salient object detection. In contrast to existing works, in which RGB-D values of image pixels are fed directly to a network, the proposed architecture is composed of a master network for processing RGB values, and a sub-network making full use of depth cues and incorporate depth-based features into the master network. To overcome the limited size of the labeled RGB-D dataset for training, we employ a large conventional RGB dataset to pre-train the master network, which proves to contribute largely to the final accuracy. Extensive evaluations over five benchmark datasets demonstrate that our proposed method performs favorably against the state-of-the-art approaches.


This work develops and describes a formal probabilistic protocol via which the process of identifying lines of evidence for climate change, assessing likely causes for changes in the evi- dence, and combining the lines of evidence to make overall attributions of cause to greenhouse gases can be made. This open and detailed model of the detection and attribution process is designed to identify issues at stake in detection and attribution, and to facilitate scrutiny and understanding on this contentious issue in broader communities. The protocol provides a convenient means to make each of the judgements in this issue explicit. These judgements are characterized via expert elicita- tion techniques in both quantitative and qualitative form. The protocol focuses on detecting climate change and attributing causes to the enhanced greenhouse effect rather than on more general anthropogenic change, because the former is more consequential. Major uncertainties identified in the protocol relate to characterization of natural variability for each line of evidence, non-greenhouse forcings, and the climate response to forcing. The relative roles of uncertainty in climate sensitivity and climate forcings are still unclear in making determinations of attribution. Measures of attribution need to account for both the amount of signal explained by a postulated cause as well as its associ- ated probability. When combining lines of evidence to form overall measures of attribution, the level of dependence assumed among lines of evidence is critical. Finally, the protocol highlights the need to reevaluate standards of evidence for attributing greenhouse climate change.


On August 1, 1975, a magnitude 5.9 (mb) earthquake occurred approximately 8 km SSE of the town of Oroville, California. This earthquake and its associated foreshock-aftershock sequence are of particular interest because of their possible relation to the impounding of the 4.3 billion m3 Lake Oroville. Hypocenter locations for 336 aftershocks that occurred during August define a fault plane striking N3°E and dipping 60° to the west to a depth of 10 km. Dimensions of the epicentral area are approximately 7 km in an east-west direction by 15 km in a north-south direction. The fault plane passes beneath Oroville Dam at 5-km depth, and if projected up dip, would crop out beneath the reservoir to the east. The distribution in space and time of foreshocks and aftershocks suggests that rupture began at depth and progressed up dip and to the north and south.


This thesis illustrates the use of Single Walled Carbon Nanotube based materials for the solution of various computational problems by using the process of computer controlled evolution. The study aims to explore and identify three dimensions of a form of unconventional computing called, `Evolution-in-materio'. First, it focuses on identifying suitable materials for computation. Second, it explores suitable methods, i.e. optimisation and evolutionary algorithms to train these materials to perform computation. And third, it aims to identify suitable computational problems to test with these materials.

Different carbon based materials, mainly single walled carbon nano-tubes with their varying concentrations in polymers have been studied to be trained for different computational problems using the principal of `evolution-in-materio'. The conductive property of the materials is used to train these materials to perform some meaningful computation. The training process is formulated as an optimisation problem with hardware in loop. It involves the application of an external stimuli (voltages) on the material which brings changes in its electrical properties. In order to train the material for a specific computational problem, a large number of configuration signals need to be tested to find the one that transforms the incident signal in such a way that a meaningful computation can be extracted from the material. An evolutionary algorithm is used to identify this configuration data and using a hardware platform, this data is transformed into incident signals. Depending on the computational problem, the specific voltages signals when applied at specific points on to the material, as identified by an evolutionary algorithm, can make the material behave as a Logic gate, a tone discriminator or a data classifier.

The problem is implemented on two types of hardware platforms, one a more simple implementation using mbed ( a micro- controller) and other is a purpose-built platform for `Evolution-in-materio" called Mecobo.

The results of this study showed that the single walled carbon nanotube composites can be trained to perform simple computational tasks (such as tone discriminator, AND, OR logic gates and a Half adder circuit), as well as complex computational problems such as Full Adder circuit and various binary and multiple class machine learning problems.

The study has also identified the suitability of using evolutionary algorithms such as Particle Swarm Optimisation algorithm (PSO) and Differential evolution for finding solutions of complex computational problems such as complex logic gates and various machine learning classification problems.

The implementation of classification problem with the carbon nanotube based materials also identified the role of a classifier. It has been found that K-nearest neighbour method and its variant kNN ball tree algorithm are more suitable to train carbon nanotube based materials for different classification problems.

The study of varying concentrations of single walled carbon nanotubes in fixed polymer ratio for the solution of different computational problems provided an indication of the link between single walled carbon nanotubes concentration and ability to solve computational problem.

The materials used in this study showed stability in the results for all the considered computational problems. These material systems can compliment the current electronic technology and can be used to create a new type of low energy and low cost electronic devices. This offers a promising new direction for evolutionary computation.


Resilient control systems in critical infrastructures require increased cyber-security and state-awareness. One of the necessary conditions for achieving the desired high level of resiliency is timely reporting and understanding of the status and behavioral trends of the control system. This paper describes the design and development of a fuzzy-neural data fusion system for increased state-awareness of resilient control systems. The proposed system consists of a dedicated data fusion engine for each component of the control system. Each data fusion engine implements three-layered alarm system consisting of: 1) conventional threshold-based alarms, 2) anomalous behavior detector using self-organizing maps, and 3) prediction error based alarms using neural network based signal forecasting. The proposed system was integrated with a model of the Idaho National Laboratory Hytest facility, which is a testing facility for hybrid energy systems. Experimental results demonstrate that the implemented data fusion system provides timely plant performance monitoring and cyber-state reporting.


Abstract:Monika Fludernik's Toward a Natural Narratology (1996) develops a detailed historical account of how the textual structures of experientiality identified in the theoretical framework have developed in English fiction since the 17th century. According to Fludernik's account, the English novel gets progressively better at matching the cognitive schemata underlying such experientiality. The present article argues, however, that such an understanding of the historical dimension of experientiality is an instance of "the curse of realism," that is, of discussing early modern texts in light of the expectations established by 19th-century realism. It proposes an alternative model for engaging with the historical dimension of cognitive narratology, which is rooted in embodied cognition and predictive processing.


Objectives: The current study aimed to determine whether acute hypoxia exposure in laboratory conditions associated with exercise induces an increase in systemic blood pressure (BP) in normotensive and hypertensive patients, and whether hypertensive patients are more prone to develop severe acute mountain sickness (sAMS). Finally, to determine if BP changes at exercise in acute hypoxia in hypertensive patients are predictive factors for sAMS. Methods: From 2012 to 2015, 852 normotensive and 106 hypertensive patients went through an acute hypoxia exercise test before a sojourn at high altitude. A subgroup of 228 normotensive was selected to match age, sex ratio, body weight and BMI and compared with the hypertensive group. Results: In normotensive and hypertensive patients, for a given workload, BP was higher in hypoxia than in normoxia, whereas, for a given heart rate, it was lower in hypoxia than in normoxia. Hypertensive patients treated by beta-blockers showed lower arterial oxygen saturation (vs. other treatments) and blunted cardiac and ventilatory responses to hypoxia at exercise. Based on questionnaires filled out at high altitude, hypertensive patients were not more prone than normotensive patients to develop sAMS. During the laboratory acute hypoxic exercise test, hypertensive patients suffering from sAMS, although taking acetazolamide showed similar BP than hypertensive patients without sAMS and without acetazolamide. Discussion and conclusion: We hypothesize that acute hypoxia with exercise in laboratory conditions induces a peripheral vasodilation that balances vasoconstriction and tachycardia centrally induced through the adrenergic system. Hypertensive and normotensive patients behave similarly during exercise in acute hypoxia. Acute hypoxia does not exacerbate the exercise-induced increase in BP. BP variation, during the acute hypoxia exercise test, is not a useful predictor of intolerance to high altitude. Based on laboratory tests in acute hypoxia, hypertensive patients may not be at higher risk to develop sAMS at high altitude.


INTRODUCTION Each year across Canada, millions of dollars of damage to agricultural crops can be attributed to vertebrate pests. Estimates for 1975 indicated that approximately $240,000,000 damage was incurred by agricultural pests (Solman et al. 1975). Worldwide impact of these pests must certainly be staggering, especially during the current trend of rising production costs and demand for food. In Canada and the United States, pest control programs may be attacked by increase-ingly active and vocal environmental groups. Recently, the killing of blackbirds (Icteridae) and starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in Kentucky and Tennessee evoked strong objection (Graham 1976, 1978; Jackson 1976). As a result, politically sensitive civil servants may feel justified in avoiding programs which involve the killing of vertebrate pests. While decision-making within the government is subject to public scrutiny and criticism, prior knowledge of public attitudes toward potential policies may enable public servants to make acceptable decisions regarding wildlife management (Hendee and Potter 1973) Unfortunately, there is a paucity of sociological research addressing the question of public attitudes toward pest control. Arthur et al. (1977) assessed the attitudes of Americans toward the conflict between environmentalists and livestock ranchers regarding the killing of coyotes (Canis Iatrans), and Buys (1975) examined the attitudes of New Mexico ranchers toward coyotes and coyote control. From these studies it was found that ranchers harbor attitudes which are resistant to the implementation of non-lethal control techniques, and that, in general, the public was more concerned about the humaneness and species specificity of control than cost effectiveness. These facts are particularly relevant to the controversy concerning red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phaeniceus) damage to corn (Zea mays) in southwestern Quebec, where members of the agricultural communities have encouraged the use of lethal control measures to decrease blackbird populations (Weatherhead et al. these proceedings). The objectives of this paper are to examine and assess the attitudes of Canadians visa -vis agricultural pest control and to include Quebec farmers' evaulations of the blackbird population, crop damage and control techniques. To achieve these objectives, the results from 3 surveys conducted during the period 1975-1978 were examined. The first was a study of the attitudes of Quebeckers toward environmentally-related outdoor activities and agricultural pest control (Clark 1979). Next, a survey of Quebec farmers was used to locate roosts, obtain crop-damage estimates and assess attitudes toward blackbirds and their control. And third, a random survey of Canadians examined attitudes toward the control of red-winged …


An efficient and compact recursive numerical solution of the wave equation is developed and applied to cylindrically symmetric optical systems. Numerical results are given for wave propagation through an aperture and in linear and nonlinear optical fibers. This code is most useful for multiwave mixing and wave propagation in nonlinear media.


The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly, Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann) is a pest of over 300 fruits, vegetables and nuts. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a control measure used to reduce the reproductive potential of populations through the mass release of sterilized male insects that mate with wild females. However, SIT flies can display poor field performance, due to the effects of mass-rearing and of the irradiation process used for sterilization. The development of female-lethal RIDL (release of insects carrying a dominant lethal) strains for medfly can overcome many of the problems of SIT associated with irradiation. Here, we present life-history characterizations for two medfly RIDL strains, OX3864A and OX3647Q. Our results show (i) full functionality of RIDL, (ii) equivalency of RIDL and wild-type strains for life-history characteristics, and (iii) a high level of sexual competitiveness against both wild-type and wild-derived males. We also present the first proof-of-principle experiment on the use of RIDL to eliminate medfly populations. Weekly releases of OX3864A males into stable populations of wild-type medfly caused a successive decline in numbers, leading to eradication. The results show that genetic control can provide an effective alternative to SIT for the control of pest insects.


Ink-jet printing of nano-metallic colloidal fluids on to porous media such as coated papers has become a viable method to produce conductive tracks for low-cost, disposable printed electronic devices. However, the formation of well-defined and functional tracks on an absorbing surface is controlled by the drop imbibition dynamics in addition to the well-studied post-impact drop spreading behavior. This study represents the first investigation of the real-time imbibition of ink-jet deposited nano-Cu colloid drops on to coated paper substrates. In addition, the same ink was deposited on to a non-porous polymer surface as a control substrate. By using high-speed video imaging to capture the deposition of ink-jet drops, the time-scales of drop spreading and imbibition were quantified and compared with model predictions. The influences of the coating pore size on the bulk absorption rate and nano-Cu particle distribution have also been studied.


Aim of the study On the available reports to assess the possibility of the infection with pyloric Helicobacter (H.pylori) from external sources via contaminated food and water. Basic concepts H. pylori was established to be unable to multiply in dairy and other products, but under favorable conditions, can survive in the limited time. There are obtained epidemiological data about the feedback between the prevalence of H.pylori infection in the region and the availability of safe water. There was recorded ability of bacteria to survive for a short time in water in bacillary virulent form. In different water sources in different countries there was found H.pylori coccal form. Conclusion H. pylori ability to survive in the commonly used product supports the hypothesis that contaminated food (tank -human) may serve as a conductor of infection. The literature data testify to the possibility and importance of the waterway for H. pylori infection transmission that changes the approaches to prophylaxis and the prevention of associated with it diseases.


Many route-location problems can be regarded as the minimisation of some accumulated cost, impact, or similar friction per unit length. Analogies can be found with paths of light and other least-time paths, and with geodesics. The problem is often solved by finding a path through a lattice of sample costs, with the use of modified shortest-path algorithms. Lattice paths do not converge to continuous-space paths. The differences are shown to depend on the set of permitted moves in the lattice, with the use of three cases. The continuous-space problem is solved for surfaces described by simple functions and for choropleth surfaces, and compared with lattice solutions. Three heuristic approaches for large problems are reviewed, with emphasis placed on regular spatial aggregation.


The intention of this study was to investigate the structure of public debt in Jordan and its impact on economic growth, over the period 1980-2012. The statistical techniques which were employed in this study include Johanson co-integration test, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to explore the association between domestic debt and external debt ratio of GDP as independent variables and the total debt relative to GDP as the dependent variable, Also Fully modified least squares (FMOLS) approach is employed in order to describe the impact of internal and external debt on economic growth. The co-integration test procedure reveals that there is one relationship, consequently an (VECM) was estimated revealing that 9 % of the departure from equilibrium is cleared annually, and the results of Causality test showed that independent variables have uni-directional relationship with the total debt as the dependent variable . Based on regression coefficient, it was found that external debt has a negative influence, and domestic debt has positive influence on economic growth . The study recommended that the external debt must be re-oriented toward invested in productive projects in order to the burden of debt service


The general trend in NLP is towards increasing model capacity and performance via deeper neural networks. However, simply stacking more layers of the popular Transformer architecture for machine translation results in poor convergence and high computational overhead. Our empirical analysis suggests that convergence is poor due to gradient vanishing caused by the interaction between residual connection and layer normalization. We propose depth-scaled initialization (DS-Init), which decreases parameter variance at the initialization stage, and reduces output variance of residual connections so as to ease gradient back-propagation through normalization layers. To address computational cost, we propose a merged attention sublayer (MAtt) which combines a simplified average-based self-attention sublayer and the encoder-decoder attention sublayer on the decoder side. Results on WMT and IWSLT translation tasks with five translation directions show that deep Transformers with DS-Init and MAtt can substantially outperform their base counterpart in terms of BLEU (+1.1 BLEU on average for 12-layer models), while matching the decoding speed of the baseline model thanks to the efficiency improvements of MAtt. Source code for reproduction will be released soon.


ABSTRACT A constructivist approach has been adopted in Turkey as a result of the primary curriculum that was implemented in the 2005–2006 academic year. This approach, which emphasizes students' activeness in the learning process and the importance of alternative assessment approaches, is changing perceptions of learning. It has therefore become necessary to provide best practices for active learning and alternative assessment approaches, such as self-assessment and peer assessment, for pre-service teachers during their education. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of self- and peer assessment on primary pre-service teachers' pedagogical beliefs and the self-efficacy of alternative assessment in active learning environments. A quasi-experimental (pre-test/post-test) research design with a control group was used in this research study. This study provides the first empirical evidence of the effects of active learning practices supported by alternative assessment methods on pre-service teachers' professional development. The findings of this research contribute to the debate on effective teacher education.


Biological cell injection is laborious work which requires lengthy training and suffers from a low success rate. Although the development of biomanipulation technology has enabled steps towards automation of adherent cell injection, the automation of suspended cell injection remains a significant challenge. In this paper, a prototype cell injection system for automatic batch injection of suspended cells is proposed. To facilitate the process, these suspended cells are held and fixed by a specially designed cell holding device. A micropipette equipped with a PVDF micro force sensor is integrated in the proposed system. A force sensor is utilized to measure real time injection force applied to the cells during the injection process. With the force feedback provided by the PVDF micro force sensor, the motion of the injecting pipette during insertion, which cannot be directly observed by the microscope, is controlled utilizing the calibrated desired injection force trajectory. A vision and force algorithm is then proposed and applied to the motion control of the injection pipette in three-coordinate directions during an "out-of-plane" cell injection process. Finally, experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


This dissertation examines the development of Indian Policy by the British Imperial Government in North America following its transition from the military to the civil branch of government. Through detailed analysis of primary and secondary material it will argue that there was a determined effort by the Church and State to destroy, in whole or in part, the social, political, spiritual, and other cultural traditions of the indigenous peoples in Canada. The dissertation will contextualise the Victorian ideology of superiority, and will provide a fresh outlook on the aboriginal-white relationship as it developed in the settlement era of Canadian expansion. The dissertation's overall argument is that the culturally destructive intentions of Eurocentric policy makers and evangelisers should be seen as a kind of "cultural genocide", because they imposed measures to dismantle forms of indigenous culture, with the intent of transferring or assimilating the physical person, as an individual, into the settler society.

The dissertation explores different forms of genocide from the definition ratified at the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948 which focused solely on physical destruction. These forms of cultural destruction include political, spiritual, and economic genocide. The dissertation develops the argument that cultural genocide was limited to article 3 (e), and should include other aspects of destruction that undermined First Nations' traditions, such as: forms of government, gender roles, economic pursuits, ceremonies, and spiritual beliefs.

An introduction contextualizes Eurocentricism, the ideology of superiority based upon European socio-political and religious belief, and the changing white perception of aboriginals from warrior to "expensive social nuisance". A chapter on the Church-State effort to civilize the 'Indian' reveals how philanthropic measures intended to assist indigenous people were ultimately hindered by the assumption of Victorian superiority. Two further chapters – one an in-depth analysis on 'Indian' legislation, the other on historic treaties– highlight that economic prerogatives for a coast-to-coast settler society undermined Native sovereignty. The dissertation concludes that the Aboriginal-white relationship deteriorated as a result of the Civil Indian Policy; Indigenous people became wards of the State, were reduced spiritually and morally to a sub-human status; and were economically demoted to a peasant class that barely survived maybe?


Abstract. Four years of noctilucent cloud (NLC) images from an automated digital camera in Trondheim and results from a ray-tracing model are used to extend the climatology of gravity waves to higher latitudes and to identify their sources during summertime. The climatology of the summertime gravity waves detected in NLC between 64 and 74° N is similar to that observed between 60 and 64° N by Pautet et al. (2011). The direction of propagation of gravity waves observed in the NLC north of 64° N is a continuation of the north and northeast propagation as observed in south of 64° N. However, a unique population of fast, short wavelength waves propagating towards the SW is observed in the NLC, which is consistent with transverse instabilities generated in situ by breaking gravity waves (Fritts and Alexander, 2003). The relative amplitude of the waves observed in the NLC Mie scatter have been combined with ray-tracing results to show that waves propagating from near the tropopause, rather than those resulting from secondary generation in the stratosphere or mesosphere, are more likely to be the sources of the prominent wave structures observed in the NLC. The coastal region of Norway along the latitude of 70° N is identified as the primary source region of the waves generated near the tropopause.


The principal alternative mechanisms are described that might be considered by local governments for achieving prompt notification of the public in a natural or technological emergency. These alternatives include face-to-face warnings, mobile loudspeakers, sirens, commercial radio and television, NOAA Weather Radio, newspapers and telephones. Each of the alternatives is evaluated on the basis of the number of people who can effectively be warned, specificity of the message that can be transmitted, degree of message distortion, coverage of the population at risk, dissemination time and cost. Data collected following the eruption of Mt. St. Helens are presented that illustrate how rapidly informal warning networks act to disseminate threat information in an emergency.


Life Cycle Service defines services and conventions for creating, deleting, copying and moving objects. Because CORBA-based environments support distributed objects, the Life Cycle Service defines conventions that allow clients to perform life cycle operations on objects in different locations. This overview describes the life cycle problem for distributed object systems. Figure 6-1 illustrates the problem of a client in one location creating an object in another. Figure 6-1 Life Cycle service defines how a client can create an object " over there " .


Background: Extant literature suggests that due to a variety of factors, diving causes long-term neurological sequelae. Effects on cognitive functions have been assessed in previous studies; however, the presence and extent of resultant cognitive impairment is still unclear. This study was done to test the presence of cognitive deficits in divers. Further, the deficits were correlated with the years and depth of diving. Materials and Methods: In this comparative study carried out at a tertiary care hospital, 46 healthy divers were exposed to neuropsychological tests to evaluate their attention, concentration, visuospatial processing, memory, and executive functions. Their performance was compared to that of 46 healthy-matched nondiving sailors. Their performance was also correlated to the years and depth of diving. Results: The study found that the divers performed worse than nondivers in the following indices in the psychometric tests; Stroop Word Component (P = 0.035), Trail A (P = 0.045), number of categories completed in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (P = 0.007); and in delayed recall (P = 0.007) and visual recognition (P = 0.031) in the Memory Scale. It is inferred that the cognitive domains of visuospatial processing, executive function, and verbal and visual memory are affected. Increase in depth of diving showed worse performance in digit backward (P = 0.032) and verbal memory (P = 0.048) that points to impaired attention, concentration, working memory, and verbal memory. Conclusion: The study suggests that residual cognitive effects are seen in divers. Worsening of the cognitive function is correlated with depth of dives but not total years of diving. The study recommends that further research in the field of cognitive effects of diving is warranted.