In this time, there are a lot of accidents, like flood, landslide, fire, dryness, storm, tsunami, earthquake, and mount eruption. A lot of victims in these disasters. The victim have never represented an object choice, even victim have never chosen. Social reality describing to live together that demand a good social relationship and interaction of intersubjectivity. The Gabriel Marcel's concept is the most relevant concept. The problems are what is the nature of "I" according to Marcel? How about the concept of relation of intersubjectivity? What is the concept of Love and Hope? What relevancy the Gabriel Marcel's concept with human and emphaty with the victim of disaster? The Result of research are: According to Marcel's view of existence of human being cannot be objectivied. The existence is my real experience as a subject in the world. In other word, existence represents the complexity of all factors that signs my live. Because of Marcel'concept gave appreciation for relation, he sure that man is the dynamic creature, always be achieve the level of to be. This level require to be confessed because to become to be myself, somebody will depend on its relationship. Intersubjective relationship according to Marcel marked with attendance. The mystery of human being is on this relationship. Attendance represents the meeting I – Thou, not only be comprehended simply as a meeting someone in the space. Attendance realized with the love, and faithfulness. These unsure are the important elements in understand and feel disaster victim, not as an object felt pity. Expectation will penetrate the certainty, which can make the calm human being and not afraid to death, also for the disaster. Expectation will appear the belief. Despair becaused of losing the expectation, belief, and love. These elements will realize the awareness to the eternity love, inclusive of God. Love represents the philosophic key on Marcel'concept which find the balance solution. Love gives the meaning of intersubjective relationship. With Love, the object will never died. Love gives the eternity meaning, to remove the hate each other, like expectation when removing the fear, despair. The contrary, expectation gives someone the confidence, certainty to uncertainty. Love and expectation confirm the self- faithfulness to the others inclusive of God.


A livestock system is a productive unit, but in addition, if it pursues an optimal use of natural resources, it can increase overall sustainability. In order to evaluate the fulfillment of this objective, it is necessary to carry out a diagnosis of the system to describe and evaluate its degree of sustainability. One methodological option for this diagnosis is the construction of sustainability indicators. The MESMIS method is a methodological tool that analyses the interrelations between the results of the environmental, social and economic dimensions through a battery of indicators. The aim of this work is to assess the sustainability, using the MESMIS methodology, of different management systems of a sample of dairy sheep farms in Castilla y León (Spain). In general, the semi-extensive group obtained the highest overall score (8.40), and the intensive group achieved the highest volume of productivity. In conclusion, semi-extensive systems were more sustainable than intensive or semi-intensive systems in all attributes, especially those related to stability, adaptability and equity.


Background Systemic rheumatic diseases (SRD) are a rare and heterogeneous group of diseases, associated with a high mortality rate due to the natural evolution of the disease and/or consequences of their specific treatments (infections, toxicity). Objectives To describe the clinical features, outcomes and prognostic factors for patients with SRD admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods Single-center retrospective observational cohort study of 98 patients with SRD over an 11-year period in an ICU of a French teaching hospital. Results Ninety-eight patients (57% women; median age, 57 years [19–81years]) accounted for 108 admissions. Connective tissue disease (primarily systemic lupus erythematosus) and systemic vasculitides (mainly ANCA-associated vasculitides) represented respectively 55% and 30% of SRD. For nineteen patients, diagnosis of SRD was made at admission. Reasons for admission were: SRD exacerbations (43%), isolated infections (34%), SRD exacerbations associated with infections (12%) or other (11%). Respiratory failure was the most common organ dysfunction. Mechanical ventilation was necessary for 43 patients (44%), vasoactive drugs for 47 (48%) and extra-renal replacement therapy for 38 (39%). The ICU mortality rate was 30% and 37% one year after admission. Infection was the main cause of death (69%). The factors significantly associated with mortality in the ICU were (multivariate analysis): diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and immunosuppressive treatments on admission. At 1 year of follow-up, additional risk factors were: number of organ dysfunction at ICU admission and mechanical ventilation. It is to be noted that at 1 year of follow-up, diabetes was not anymore a prognostic factor. Conclusions Patients with SRD admitted to the ICU have a severe prognosis. Causes of mortality are mainly infections. Our study points out the importance of vaccination and developing new therapeutic strategies. Diagnosis of SRD in the ICU is not rare and should be systematically considered on admission. Prognostic factors of mortality in the ICU were patient comorbidities and immunosuppressive therapy at admission. In addition, mechanical ventilation and multiple organ failure were risk factors for mortality at 1 year. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Solid coordination frameworks (SCF) are crystalline materials based on connections between metal ions through organic ligands. In this sense, combination of polycarboxylate anions and dipyridyl ligands is an effective strategy to produce extended structures. In this context, this work is focused on two novel CuII-based SCFs incorporating PDC (2,5-pyridinedicarboxylate) and bpe (1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethylene): Cu2[(PDC)2(bpe)(H2O)2]·3H2O·DMF (1), and Cu[(PDC)(bpe)0.5(H2O)]·2H2O (2), where DMF is dimethylformamide. Both compounds were synthesized by slow evaporation, and their crystal structures were determined by X-ray diffraction. Further structural, thermal and magnetic characterization was carried out by means of IR, TG/DTG, DTA analysis, EPR, and measurements of the magnetic susceptibility. The crystallographic analysis revealed that compounds 1 and 2 can be described as herringbone-type layers formed by helicoidal Cu–PDC–Cu chains connected through bpe ligands. Solvent molecules are crystallized between the layers, providing the inter-layer connections through hydrogen bonds. Differences between the two compounds are attributable to these solvent molecules, being indicative of the flexibility of this type of SCFs. On the other hand, due to the variety of structures found in the literature that have been described as "herringbone arrays", this work also presents a crystallochemical study based on them. The study considers stoichiometry and structural parameters leading to the identification of two types of herringbone arrays, depending on the number of connections for the metal nodes (i.e. 3- and 4-connected).


Every marriage aimed to form eternal and happy family. In family, there also properties, whether gathered-properties or brought-properties. Divorce could create a serious problem in properties share. The research have statement of problems: (1) How to share marriage-properties when there was divorce in Religion Court of Malang City?; (2) How to share marriage-properties when there was divorce in State of Court of Malang City?  The research aimed to find out the marriage properties share when there was divorce in Religion Court of Malang and State of Court of Malang City. The research used socio-juridical approach, where the discussion based on existing act related with the fact existed in society. Data collection technique was interview with judge and registrar. Data documentation found from archives, as data primary source. Research data was analyzed in descriptive way using secondary data which were library study and documentation. Result in Religion Court of Malang City showed that the properties was divided in fair-half for each husband and wife, without considering whose effort to get the properties, or whose name, as long as there was no marriage deal. In State of Court of Malang, according existing system, the share was 1:1, but the system was not absolute since the State of Court share was paid more attention to the case. Keyword : Pembagian, Harta Kekayan Perkawinan, Perceraian Related Link :  http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/315/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2009-fannyyunit-15733-PENDAHUL-N.pdf


developing fatal colorectal cancer. Aspirin seems to have immunostimulatory and tumoricidal properties in the colon' 2 thus accounting for the protection. It is these properties that may also make low dose aspirin useful in the chemoprevention of colorectal cancer in high risk patients.3 This is supported by the data of Manzano et al. Preneoplastic ulcerative colitis is associated with T lymphocyte immunosuppression and this may permit immunologically unchallenged malignant degeneration in a chronically inflamed mucosa. Aspirin may therefore be useful in the chemoprevention of colorectal cancer by augmenting the immune system thus destroying early tumours. This principle also applies in the oesophagus as there are several similarities between the carcinogenesis of colorectal and oesophageal cancer. Chronic inflammation may be a pre-neoplastic lesion in both organs4 while Barrett's oesophagus is also associated with immunosuppression.5 NSAIDs may thus be useful in the chemoprevention of both colorectal and oesophageal cancer6 in patients with pre-neoplastic disease. I agree with Choi and Zelig that longterm studies of low dose NSAID prophylaxis are warranted in patients receiving surveillance.


Ras-proteins are guanine nucleotide binding proteins, which, in the GTP bound state emit a strong mitogenic signal. In the GDP bound state, the protein appears inactive. We have found that stimulation by insulin of cells expressing elevated levels of insulin receptors results in a ra pid conversion of Ras-GDP into Ras-GTP. This process is part of the signalling pathway leading to immediate-early gene expression and a mitogenic response. There seems to be no involvement of Ras-GTP formation in the process of insulin stimulated glucose transport. Though the precise mechanism by which Ras is converted to the GTP bound state remains to be established, a tight correlation exists be tween receptor autophosphorylation and Ras-GTP forma tion.


Large‐scale clinal variation in body size and other life‐history traits is common enough to have stimulated the postulation of several eco‐geographical rules. Whereas some clinal patterns are clearly adaptive, the causes of others remain unclear. We present a comprehensive intraspecific population comparison for the cosmopolitan yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria (Diptera: Scathophagidae) to check for consistent world‐wide patterns. Common garden assessment of various life history traits permitted continental comparison of (clinal) quantitative genetic differentiation (Qst) with putatively neutral genetic differentiation (Fst) derived from field‐caught flies. Latitudinal clines in fly development time, growth rate, and overwintering propensity were consistent among North American, European and Japanese populations. Increased winter dormancy incidence and duration at higher latitude, combined with a faster growth rate and shorter development time, suggest that flies are adaptated to season length more than to temperature. The resulting body size clines, in contrast, were not very consistent; importantly, they were not negative, as expected under seasonal constraints, but flat or even positive clines. Quantitative genetic differentiation QST exceeded neutral molecular variation FST for most traits, suggesting that natural selection plays a consistent role in mediating global dung fly life histories. We conclude that faster growth and development in response to shorter growing seasons at higher latitudes may indirectly counteract expected direct effects of temperature on body‐size, potentially resulting in flat or inconsistent body size clines in nature.


The MMOC procedure for approximating the solutions of transport-dominated diiusion problems does not automatically preserve integral conservation laws, leading to (mass) balance errors in many kinds of ow problems. The variant, called the MMOCAA, discussed herein preserves the conservation law at a minor additional computational cost. The application of the MMOCAA to a problem in two-phase, immiscible ow in porous media is discussed.


A variety of biologically active compounds with pharmacological applications has been reported to occur in marine sponges. The present study was undertaken to provide a set of data about an extract from Aplysina caissara, a Brazilian marine sponge. The antinociceptive and anti‐inflammatory effects were investigated against different experimental models in mice. When evaluated against writhing test intraperitoneally (60 and 90 mg/kg), the extract significantly inhibited abdominal constriction by 33.7% and 41.4% respectively. In the formalin test (60 and 90 mg/kg), the extract of sponge inhibited 43.6% and 51.6% in the first phase and 98.2% and 97.2% in the second phase respectively. When evaluated against the hot plate test, both doses demonstrated activity. An increase in the hot plate latency was observed after 60 min. The anti‐inflammatory effect was evaluated by formalin‐induced mice paw edema. Extract from A. caissara (60 and 90 mg/kg) significantly reduced hind paw swelling. Mortality increased with increasing doses, with LD50 of 212.2 mg/kg for intraperitoneal administration. These results demonstrated that the extract of the marine sponge A. caissara possesses antinociceptive and anti‐edematogenic effects.


We report on the first implementation of a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) in 130 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The SPAD is fabricated as p+/n-well junction with octagonal shape. A guard ring of p-well around the p+ anode is used to prevent premature discharge. To investigate the dynamics of the new device, both active and passive quenching methods have been used. Single photon detection is achieved by sensing the avalanche using a fast comparator. The SPAD exhibits a maximum photon detection probability of 41% and a typical dark count rate of 100 kHz at room temperature. Thanks to its timing resolution of 144 ps full-width at half-maximum (FWHM), the SPAD has several uses in disparate disciplines, including medical imaging, 3D vision, biophotonics, low-light illumination imaging, etc.


ABSTRACT Community-based Ecotourism (CBE) has been promoted and widely adopted as an approach for funding conservation initiatives, while at the same time contributing to the wellbeing of the host communities. However, it often fails to live up to its promise and thereby lets the local people return to their old ways of doing things. The study is to explore the potentials of CBE on the indigenous human wellbeing by conducting a case study in the Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park (VSSPNP). For this research work, tourists, indigenous households, key informants, and local leaders were interviewed. We found that the participants received only 6% of the total revenue per year, despite 63% annual growth in number of tourists. The gibbons increased the recreational value of forest and significantly contributed to enhance tourist satisfaction. The program had significantly reduced their freedom for livelihood activities, and feeding condition of their families. On the contrary, it had significantly increased their groups and networks, and collective action and cooperation for conservation. But the wellbeing regarding basic materials and health conditions were not significantly changed by the ecotourism program. Therefore, without addressing the wellbeing of the participants, ecotourism programs would struggle in achieving sustainable outcomes.


Background Digital health interventions have demonstrated efficacy for several conditions including for pediatric chronic pain. However, the process of making interventions available to end users in an efficient and sustained way is challenging and remains a new area of research. To advance this field, comprehensive frameworks have been created. Objective The aim of this study is to compare the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) and Behavior Interventions using Technology (BIT) frameworks with data collected from the web-based management of adolescent pain (WebMAP Mobile; WMM) randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods We conducted a hybrid effectiveness-implementation cluster RCT with a stepped wedge design in which the intervention was sequentially implemented in 8 clinics, following a usual care period. Participants were 143 youths (mean age 14.5 years, SD 1.9; 117/143, 81.8% female) with chronic pain, from which 73 were randomized to receive the active intervention. Implementation outcomes were assessed using the RE-AIM and BIT frameworks. Results According to the RE-AIM framework, the WMM showed excellent reach, recruiting a sample 19% larger than the size originally planned and consenting 79.0% (143/181) of eligible referred adolescents. Effectiveness was limited, with only global impression of change showing significantly greater improvements in the treatment group; however, greater treatment engagement was associated with greater reductions in pain and disability. Adoption was excellent (all the invited clinics participated and referred patients). Implementation was acceptable, showing good user engagement and moderate adherence and positive attitudes of providers. Costs were similar to planned, with a 7% increase in funds needed to make the WMM publicly available. Maintenance was evidenced by 56 new patients downloading the app during the maintenance period and by all clinics agreeing to continue making referrals and all, but one, making new referrals. According to the BIT, 82% (60/73) of adolescents considered the treatment acceptable. In terms of adoption, 93% (68/73) downloaded the app, and all of them used it after their first log-in. In terms of appropriateness at the user level, 2 participants were unable to download the app. Perceptions of the appearance, navigation, and theme were positive. Providers perceived the WMM as a good fit for their clinic, beneficial, helpful, and resource efficient. In terms of feasibility, no technical issues were reported. In terms of fidelity, 40% (29/73) completed the treatment. Implementation costs were 7% above the budget. With regard to penetration, 56 new users accessed the app during the maintenance period. In terms of sustainability, 88% (7/8) of clinics continued recommending the WMM after the end of the study. Conclusions For the first time, a real-world digital health intervention was used as a proof of concept to test all the domains in the RE-AIM and BIT frameworks, allowing for comparisons. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.1016/j.cct.2018.10.003


Abstract
 The lesser mulberry pyralid, Glyphodes pyloalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is a monophagous and dangerous pest of mulberry that has been recently observed in Guilan province, northern Iran. In this study, the crude methanol extract of sweet wormwood Artemisia annua L. (Asterales: Asteracaea) was investigated on toxicity, biological and physiological characteristics of this pest under controlled conditions (24 ± 1 °C, 75 ± 5% RH, and 16:8 L:D photoperiod). The effect of acute toxicity and sublethal doses on physiological characteristics was performed by topical application. The LC50 and LC20 values on fourth instar larvae were calculated as 0.33 and 0.22 gram leaf equivalent/ mL, respectively. The larval duration of fifth instar larvae in LC50 treatment was prolonged (5.8 ± 0.52 days) compared with the control group (4.26 ± 0.29 days). However larval duration was reduced in the LC20 treatment. The female adult longevity in the LC50 dose was the least (4.53 ± 0.3 days), while longevity among controls was the highest (9.2 ± 0.29 days). The mean fecundity of adults after larval treatment with LC50 was recorded as 105.6 ± 16.84 eggs/female, while the control was 392.74 ± 22.52 eggs/female. The percent hatchability was reduced in all treatments compared with the control. The effect of extract in 0.107, 0.053, 0.026 and 0.013 gle/mL on biochemical characteristics of this pest was also studied. The activity of &agr;-amylase and protease 48 hours post—treatment was significantly reduced compared with the control. Similarly lipase, esterase, and glutathione S-transferase activity were significantly affected by A. annua extract.


Two hundred forty-six full-term, first-born well infants were randomly assigned to receive well-baby care during their first year in one of four ways: six visits by a physician; three visits by a physician; six visits by a pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP); or three visits by a PNP. One hundred sixteen of the study babies received care in a clinic setting and 130 in a private-practice setting. The adequacy of care rendered was assessed by measurement of gain in maternal knowledge important for competence in child-rearing, level of maternal satisfaction, degree of maternal compliance, and attainment of the health supervision planned. These endpoints were subjected to two-way and three-way analyses of variance to determine if there were differences across the setting, provider, or schedule variables. Essentially no differences were observed in the endpoints measured within settings between providers of care, between visit schedules, or between any of the provider and visit schedule combinations. These results indicate that well-baby care during the first year delivered by PNPs is as adequate as that delivered by physicians and the use of abbreviated visit schedules by either professional does not reduce the adequacy of care.


In recent years, deep learning has achieved tremendous success in image segmentation for computer vision applications. The performance of these models heavily relies on the availability of large-scale high-quality training labels (e.g., PASCAL VOC 2012). Unfortunately, such large-scale high-quality training data are often unavailable in many real-world spatial or spatiotemporal problems in earth science and remote sensing (e.g., mapping the nationwide river streams for water resource management). Although extensive efforts have been made to reduce the reliance on labeled data (e.g., semi-supervised or unsupervised learning, few-shot learning), the complex nature of geographic data such as spatial heterogeneity still requires sufficient training labels when transferring a pre-trained model from one region to another. On the other hand, it is often much easier to collect lower-quality training labels with imperfect alignment with earth imagery pixels (e.g., through interpreting coarse imagery by non-expert volunteers). However, directly training a deep neural network on imperfect labels with geometric annotation errors could significantly impact model performance. Existing research that overcomes imperfect training labels either focuses on errors in label class semantics or characterizes label location errors at the pixel level. These methods do not fully incorporate the geometric properties of label location errors in the vector representation. To fill the gap, this article proposes a weakly supervised learning framework to simultaneously update deep learning model parameters and infer hidden true vector label locations. Specifically, we model label location errors in the vector representation to partially reserve geometric properties (e.g., spatial contiguity within line segments). Evaluations on real-world datasets in the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) refinement application illustrate that the proposed framework outperforms baseline methods in classification accuracy.


Laser damage threshold of optical thin film is a critical parameter in measuring laser induced damage. The key to testing damage threshold is judging the injury incident accurately. It has been found that when high-energy laser on the film, there will be sounds generated. In the present paper, acoustic method was applied to determine thin films damage. A brief analysis will be given on feasibility of acoustic method in judging thin films damage. Acoustic acquisition system will be established. In the experiment, we will average laser energy into 10 grades, each grade test 10 points. The sound wave of each point will be record. At the same time, we use image method judge damage of the thin films and record the result. By studying the sound waves of the thin films in different laser energy,it is easy to judge whether the optical films is damaged. The measured result is compared with image method. Both of them have a preferable consistency. The analysis shows that the acoustic method can be used effectively to determine laser-induced damage and it can be used in online inspection conveniently.


Background: Immunosuppressants are used commonly in two conditions: to prevent graft versus host rejection in transplantation and autoimmune disorders. Autoimmune diseases are chronic in nature requiring lifelong treatment. Organ transplantation is also expensive. Therefore, affordability of these medicines is crucial. To address the problem of affordability, government caps the prices of drugs included in National List of Essential Medicines. However, even cost variation among various brands of the drugs included in essential medicine list is of concern as majority of prescriptions are written using brand names. Hence this study was undertaken to evaluate impact of essential medicine list on cost variation of these drugs. Materials and Methods: Immunosuppressant drugs were broadly classified into two categories – drugs listed under National List of Essential Medicines and drugs not included. Prices of the drugs belonging to both the groups were obtained from website "Pharma Sahi Dam". Later, cost ratio, percentage cost variation was calculated. The multiple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate association between percentage cost variation and essentiality/number of brands. Results: Immunosuppressant drugs showed wide cost variation. Overall higher cost variation was seen among drugs not included in essential medicine list. This was further substantiated by multiple regression analysis ( β = 0.316, p = 0.021). However, number of brands had no effect on cost variation. Conclusion: Hence, to improve affordability of these drugs which are mainstay in autoimmune disorders and organ transplantation, regulatory bodies should widen the inclusion criteria for essential medicine list. Also, efforts are needed to create awareness of cost variation among prescribers.


Biological wastewater treatment plants can be adversely affected by influent toxicity. The effects can range from poor clarifier biomass settling and elevated effluent BOD and ammonia levels to total plant kills. These problems could be minimized or eliminated if an effective method existed for continuously monitoring biological wastewater treatment plant influent for toxicity to the treatment plant microorganisms.

Current influent screening methods have not been proven to be adequate for adaptation to continuous screening in the field. The primary reasons include the batch-wise nature of the assays and an inadequate correlation between the assays and plant performance. The goal of the research team was to create new bioluminescent biosensors from different types of bacteria found in biological wastewater treatment plants for the development of a multi-channel continuous monitoring system. A system built from multiple biosensors would make it possible to differentiate between potential influent toxicity effects to different classes of bacteria (such as nitrifying and heterotrophic bacteria).

The research team found it unexpectedly challenging to apply common microbiological transformation methods for laboratory strains to the wastewater treatment plant strains. The research team generated six new bioluminescent bioreporters from bacteria that are typical constituents of activated sludge. Of particular significance is a bioreporter developed using a Hyphomicrobium sp., which is a slow growing bacterium known to be present in significant numbers in some activated sludge plants. Of the six generated, initial bioluminescence and toxicity screening indicated that one strain (a Pseudomonad) was a particularly promising candidate due to its ease of cultivation and high light production. Further toxicity testing, however, determined that the response of the strain to 48 organic compounds and 8 metals commonly found in wastewater was similar to that of a previously created strain, Shk1 (also a Pseudomonad). Further work is therefore needed in the generation of appropriate biosensors and test conditions for populations not represented by the new heterotrophic biosensor.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series

ISBN: 9781780404196 (eBook)

ISBN: 9781843397144 (Print)


This is a conceptual paper that examines the role of a well-conceived and clearly articulated vision statement in the long-term success of an organization. It is not based on empirical research, and its purpose is to provoke discussion rather than to provide answers. In that sense, it is an exploratory paper, and its methodology is primarily one of probing inquiry rather than systematic research. The role of visionary leaders in the success of organizations has been discussed in management literature for many years (Tichy & Devanna 1986, Bennis 1989, Nanus 1995, Collins and Porras 1991, 1996). The importance of articulating this vision in the form of a "vision statement", and the ideal form and structure of such vision statements, are also topics that have been explored at length (Lipton 1996, Collins and Porras 1996). This paper takes another look at the construct of organizational vision, and examines whether a vision statement has a more central role to play in the long-term success of an organization than generally thought. It also examines whether a vision statement ought to be framed in the context of the broader global business environment. In many ways, this paper is a re-affirmation of what Lipton has stated in his seminal article on the subject, although it does differ conceptually in some respects, as explained later (Lipton 1996). In view of the increasing size and complexity of organizations world-wide, as well as increased diversity due to globalization, it is becoming harder for leaders to frame and articulate a unified organizational vision (Collins and Porras 1991). We thought this was an appropriate time to revisit the subject. The conclusion reached in this paper is that the vision of an organization's leaders and the clarity and effectiveness with which it is articulated are instrumental in an organization's long term success. It argues that the measure of a good vision statement is not whether it reads well, has uplifting language or can be easily memorized, but whether (a) it is framed within the context of the changes taking place in the global environment; (b) it conjures up a desired state for the organization at a chosen point in time; and (c) it inspires a significant number of the employees to greater effort toward attaining that desired state.


Precise Point Positioning (PPP) is a positioning technique providing centimeter-level error. PPP processes dual-frequency pseudorange and carrier-phase measurements from a single user receiver, using detailed physical models and corrections, and precise GNSS orbit and clock products calculated beforehand. PPP is different from other precise-positioning approaches like RTK in that no reference stations are needed in the vicinity of the user receiver. The only observation data that must be processed are measurements from the user receiver. Another advantage of PPP is that since the GNSS orbit and clock products are by nature global, the PPP solutions are also global, i.e., the PPP approach works for a receiver located anywhere on or above the Earth surface, and the resulting position is referred to a well-known terrestrial reference frame (normally ITRF). PPP can be applied at post-processing level and also in real-time applications, provided that real-time input orbits and clocks are available. One disadvantage of standard PPP however is its relatively slow convergence time, which is of the order of half an hour for decimetric accuracy, as compared to nearly instantaneous convergence with centimetric accuracy in short-baseline RTK.

After the last launch of Galileo IOV satellites in October 2012 and the foreseen launches in late 2014 and early 2015, the European GNSS constellation will soon reach a worthy of consideration size. Even before it reaches its Full Operational Capability, Galileo is already providing an increase in satellite availability with respect to the GPS+GLONASS scenario, providing the additional advantage with regard to the GPS+GLONASS scenario of not having to estimate the so-called inter-frequency biases (as for the case of GLONASS), but a single inter-system bias with respect to GPS.

GMV's magicGNSS suite (www.magicgnss.gmv.com), already allows a registered user to perform multi-GNSS Precise Orbit Determination (POD) processing based on observation RINEX files. The products for the different satellite constellations are generated in an Orbit Determination and Time Synchronisation (ODTS) process. This process receives as input dual-frequency code and phase measurements from a network of reference stations and produces as output satellite orbits and clocks, together with additional estimated parameters such as station clock biases, tropospheric delays and phase ambiguities.

The disposition of the 4 Galileo IOV satellites provides up to 3 hours of common view over Europe, making it feasible to perform a Galileo only PPP solution. By means of the aforementioned magicGNSS suite, GMV has already tested the achievable performances of a Galileo only PPP in batch mode, obtaining centimetric positioning error.

GMV has been developing over the last years an infrastructure for the generation of precise GPS and GLONASS orbits and clocks in real time. This infrastructure acquires via NTRIP data streams from a worldwide IGS station network, and produces orbit updates every fifteen minutes and clock updates every second from a combined GPS and GLONASS solution that can be then used consistently for real-time PPP applications.

In parallel to the real time HA products generation platform, a real-time GPS+GLONASS PPP client has been also developed and integrated in a portable hardware device supporting in-the-field real-time PPP. This device connects to a standard geodetic-class receiver through a serial interface to retrieve the observations, and features mobile communications with the PPP corrections server using GSM or Iridium. The communications have been optimized in order to provide a good balance between the data provider costs (mainly when using Iridium) and the positioning performances. This approach allows the use of a real-time PPP service with many existing geodetic-class receiver (although in the future it is foreseen the availability of dual-frequency receivers at reasonable prices) without the need for upgrading or replacing them, thus extending their operational capabilities.

Both the aforementioned real-time products generation server and the real-time PPP client have been recently redesigned and evolved in order to turn them into a fully multi-GNSS infrastructure. This has enabled GMV to test in the end user improvements obtained when adding Galileo to the already processed GPS and GLONASS constellations.

In this paper we describe the real-time server and PPP client developments undertaken, and we present both the server (i.e. orbit and clock) performances achieved and the resulting positioning performances, together with the performance improvement when adding Galileo to a challenging kinematic PPP scenario.


Aims: The aim of the current study was to develop and validate a short-form of the internet overuse screening questionnaire (IOS-Qs). Methods: A total of 571 adults were recruited from a representative, stratified, and multistage cluster sample. Among participants, 188 and 383 were used in the development and validation of the IOS-Qs, respectively. Results: Experts' ratings and Rasch model analyses led to the selection of 8 items from the IOS-Qs; latent-class analysis using these 8 items revealed an estimated prevalence of 8.6% (33 out of 383) of problematic internet over-users. Problematic internet over-users were positively associated with a 1-year prevalence rate of any mental disorder (OR 3.08, p = 0.008), mood disorder (OR 7.11, p = 0.003), and depressive disorder (OR 5.22, p = 0.016). The receiver operating characteristic curves identified an optimal cutoff score of 9.5 for differentiating problematic internet over-users from unproblematic internet users with 94% sensitivity and 94% specificity. Conclusion: The results suggest that the IOS-Qs was valid, and items including social isolation were crucial to the brief distinction of at-risk internet users. Because of its brevity, the questionnaire can be effectively administered as a large-scale survey.


Abstract : The U.S. missions to Bosnia and Kosovo and the current operation in Iraq make it clear that winning wars accomplishes little if we cannot also win the peace. The strategic goals for which the wars are fought can only be achieved if the follow-on mission leaves an occupied territory more stable and democratic than before. Civil-military cooperation (CIMIC) is the key to achieving such stability. Although such cooperation has occurred in the past, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization developed its own CIMIC doctrine in response to the humanitarian interventions of the 1990s. Humanitarian intervention requires the intervening military force to provide security and lend its considerable assets to relief operations and rebuilding. CIMIC provides the mechanism for such cooperation and support. Like any concept employed in coalition warfare, CIMIC application varies widely. Examining diverse national approaches to CIMIC in the field reveals best practices and common mistakes. Properly analyzed and learned, these lessons can inform the conduct of current and future operations. This study is based on field work in Kosovo, supported by several years of research on peace operations. Its principal value is as a historical record of where the U.S. military was with regard to CIMIC in the 1990s. Much progress has been made, though more remains to be done. The study concludes with general recommendations for all militaries engaged in humanitarian intervention and specific suggestions for improving the U.S. approach to CIMIC.


Education and debate p 318

A revolution is under way in health care. After decades of patriarchal provision of services governments are now accepting that patients should have a say in what is provided. Debates on priority setting have brought the case for public participation in difficult healthcare choices sharply into focus.1 Each new high profile drug launch or controversial therapy spurs further public discussion about what a national health service should provide and who should decide (p 273).2 At the level of individual patients there is a growth in demand for information,3 and a review published this week draws attention to the need to improve its quality (p 318).4 The launch of a new journal to promote debate about public participation in health care5 and the Council of Europe's recommendation that patients must be involved in defining quality of care underline that the movement is gaining momentum.

If services are to be shaped by patients' views, methodologically sound ways of …


Abstract - In this contribution, we show a method for the boundary feedback stabilization of the Stokes problem around a stationary trajectory. We derive a formal low-rank algorithm for solving the stabilization problem in operator notation. The appearing operator equations are formulated in terms of stationary partial differential equations (PDEs) instead of using their finite dimensional representations in terms of matrices. A Galerkin method, satisfying the divergence constraint pointwise locally is especially appealing since it represents appropriately the action of the Helmholtz projection. The main advantages of the composite technique are the efficient assembly of element matrices, the reduction of computational costs using static condensation, and the diagonal mass matrix. The non-conforming character of the composite element guarantees a better sparsity pattern, compared to conforming elements, due to the lower number of couplings between basis functions corresponding to neighboring cells. We also achieve the pointwise mass conservation on sub-triangles of each element.


Organic bioelectronics have shown promising applications for various sensing purposes due to their significant advantages in term of high flexibility, portability, easy fabrication, and biocompatibility. Here, a new type of organic device, organic photo‐electrochemical transistor (OPECT), is reported, which is the combination of an organic electrochemical transistor and a photo‐electrochemical gate electrode modified with CdS quantum dots (QDs). Thanks to the inherent amplification function of the transistor, the OPECT‐based biosensor exhibits much higher sensitivity than that of a traditional biosensor. The sensing mechanism of the OPECT is attributed to the charge transfer between the photosensitive semiconductor CdS QDs and the gate electrode. In an OPECT‐based DNA sensor, target DNA is labeled with Au nanoparticles (NPs) and captured on the gate electrode, which can influence the charge transfer on the gate caused by the exciton–plasmon interactions between CdS QDs and Au NPs. Consequently, a highly sensitive and selective DNA sensor with a detection limit of around 1 × 10−15 m is realized. It is expected that OPECTs can be developed as a high‐performance platform for numerous biological detections in the future.


Hypoxia is a fundamental stimulus that impacts cells, tissues, organs, and physiological systems. The discovery of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) and subsequent identification of other members of the HIF family of transcriptional activators has provided insight into the molecular underpinnings of oxygen homeostasis. This review focuses on the mechanisms of HIF activation and their roles in physiological and pathophysiological responses to hypoxia, with an emphasis on the cardiorespiratory systems. HIFs are heterodimers comprised of an O(2)-regulated HIF-1α or HIF-2α subunit and a constitutively expressed HIF-1β subunit. Induction of HIF activity under conditions of reduced O(2) availability requires stabilization of HIF-1α and HIF-2α due to reduced prolyl hydroxylation, dimerization with HIF-1β, and interaction with coactivators due to decreased asparaginyl hydroxylation. Stimuli other than hypoxia, such as nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species, can also activate HIFs. HIF-1 and HIF-2 are essential for acute O(2) sensing by the carotid body, and their coordinated transcriptional activation is critical for physiological adaptations to chronic hypoxia including erythropoiesis, vascularization, metabolic reprogramming, and ventilatory acclimatization. In contrast, intermittent hypoxia, which occurs in association with sleep-disordered breathing, results in an imbalance between HIF-1α and HIF-2α that causes oxidative stress, leading to cardiorespiratory pathology.


: This paper describes a model that extends affordance theory to encompass human/computer interaction to computer interfaces. First, an activity-centric model is developed that identifies how a user interacts with his or her environment, perceives and conceives available action opportunities, chooses from among these options, then is notified of the results of their actions. The model is extended to encompass multiple users who share a common goal, and identifies how one user can influence another to change their perceptions and actions. The multiple user scenario is then used to describe interactions between a system designer and a system user, both who share a goal that the user interface can be quickly and easily used to accomplish certain tasks. The model is validated by providing empirical analyses of subjects who were asked to perform tasks using several different user interfaces to determine if their perceptions and actions can be mapped to the elements within the model. Problems encountered during the usability study are then examined to determine how the model presented here improves the designer's ability to improve the user interface.


Additive manufacturing (AM) is a well-known technology for making real three dimensional objects, based on metal, ceramic and plastic material used for various applications. The aim of this review is to explore and offer an insight in to the state of the art polymer based nanocomposites in to additive manufacturing applications. In context to this, the developing efforts and trends in nanocomposites development particularly for additive manufacturing processes were studied and summed up. The scope and limitations of nanocomposites into Stereolithography, selective laser sintering and fused deposition modeling was explored and highlighted. The review highlights widely accepted nanoparticles for range of applications including mechanical, electrical, flame retardance and crossing over into more biological with the use of polymer matrices. Acquisition of functional parts with limitations in regard to printing is highlighted. Overall, the review highlights successes, limitations and opportunities that the union of AM and polymer based nanocomposites can bring to science and technology.


This paper reports on the effects of Ag addition on physical properties of high temperature superconductors DyBa2Cu3O7-δ (Dy123). A series of the Dy123 - Agx composite was prepared by solid state reaction method with varying amount of metallic silver (x = 0 – 0.3). Resistance versus temperature measurement was done using the four-point-probe method in the temperature range of 79 K to 300 K. Pure DyBa2Cu3O7-δ was found to superconduct with Tc onset of 91 K and Tc zero of 78 K. Addition of Ag at x = 0.05 caused both Tc onset and Tc zero to increase to 93 K and 84 K, respectively. However, Tc onset and Tc zero dropped for higher silver contents. We found that the optimum silver content in DyBa2Cu3O7-δ for best superconducting behavior and hardness is between x = 0.05 and 0.10. Microstructure analysis using SEM and EDAX showed that most of the silver is uniformly distributed along the grain boundaries filling the pores and hence increasing the hardness of the samples.


The most important considerations for the planning, design and development of degree programmes in translation/interpreting are over what educational philosophies are to be followed and what pedagogical models are to be adopted, with regard to curriculwn structure, course material and the approaches and methods of teaching to be used, so that the given goals of education will be achieved. This paper offers a discussion of these issues within the Hong Kong context. It first surveys the general situation of Translation Studies (TS) degree education in Hong Kong, covering bachelor, master and doctoral degree programmes across the region. It then studies the case of the Translation Programme of the Hong Kong Baptist University. The discussion aims to throw light not only on how TS degree education operates in Hong Kong but also on how developments in Hong Kong may serve as a benchmark to compare parallel TS degree programmes elsewhere, especially in the greater China region.


Inaccurate soft contact lens parameters can create a variety of problems for the practitioner and patient. Most soft contact lenses are dispensed to the patient without the benefit of verification. Of particular importance, sagittal depth best predicts tightness or looseness of fit. A tight or loose fitting lens can cause many problems for the patient. Manufacturer-published values of sagittal depth may vary from the actual measured parameter. Sagittal depth, diameter, and power of 215 soft contact lenses were measured for 11 of the more common disposable/daily wear brands. Measurements were made with a prototype of the HydroscopeTM contact lens analyzing device. Tables and graphs are included which can aid the practitioner in fitting these lenses. The effect of eye temperature, approximately 93°F, versus room temperature was analyzed. No significant change in the measured parameters was noted.


BACKGROUND
Cancer was and still a very stressful and urgent disease condition representing a leading cause of death in developed as well as developing countries. Although, much research work in both medical and pharmaceutical fields has evolved in the past few years in addition to some promising clinical trials and few market products, cancer becomes much wilder, threatening and getting more lives. Most approaches have focused on the synthesis of new active ingredients or chemical modification of available ones, formulating them in suitable dosage forms aiming for targeted and effective drug delivery with minimal side effects.

METHOD
Recently, application of nanotechnology through formulation of nanocarriers has acquired much more attention in treating different types of cancer tumors. Being explored in cancer therapy, nanocarriers have shown a promising capability to enhance intracellular uptake of active agents, promoting their accumulation in the tumor mass in addition to the reduction of the cellular toxicity compared to conventional chemotherapeutics.

RESULTS
In view of the above findings, this review discusses recent advances in nanotechnology-based carriers for cancer drug delivery, providing detailed description of different nanocarriers from historical perspective since the first developed carrier up to the new strategies adopted to formulate novel multifunctional targeted nanocarriers for cancer therapy.

CONCLUSION
The findings of this review illustrate the potential of nanotechnology-based carriers as an emerging technology for more satisfying and selective cancer therapy.


Contact centers help solve consumer demand for immediate access to information, technical support, and the latest products or services. The majority of contact centers use advanced technologies to connect customers with the most appropriate company representatives. Although centers typically place representatives into jobs that emphasize a particular skill set, such as customer service or sales, nearly all of these jobs require representatives to interact with an assortment of customers while using a computer to access information necessary to provide assistance. Contact centers pressure representatives to move quickly from one customer to the next and track almost every aspect of performance electronically. Constant pressure, continuous monitoring, and an endless line of customers can overwhelm unprepared representatives and may lead to undesirable and costly outcomes, such as absenteeism, turnover, and dissatisfied customers. Many centers have responded to these consequences by adopting multimedia simulations to more rigorously evaluate applicants' potential to handle the job(s) before making hiring decisions. INDUSTRY BACKGROUND


Patients with nonseminomatous germ-cell tumors of the testis can be divided into two broad groups. The first includes patients with negative lymphograms or small-volume metastases confined to the abdominal nodes. The overall cure rate with orchiectomy and nodal irradiation is 80%. A policy of early detection of relapse and treatment with chemotherapy is advocated. Adopting this approach, no deaths have occurred in this group of patients treated in 1976 and 1977, and only one (associated with acute myeloblastic leukemia) occurred in 1975. The second group consists of patients with other stage categories who receive chemotherapy as initial treatment, followed in stage II and II and selected stage IV patients by radiation therapy to sites of initial involvement and surgery. Preliminary experience has shown this to be a practicable and promising approach. The prognosis for stage IV patients depends upon metastatic site and volume; in those patients with limited lung disease 80% are surviving disease-free.


Since 2003, the Chinese government has been increasing its social expenditure and initiated new social welfare programmes to provide universal social protection and meet citizens' welfare needs. This article uses the wider socio-economic and socio-political contexts to critically examine whether there is a new welfare regime on the rise in China, with a particular reference to whether the increase in social expenditure has really marked a new welfare philosophy or prompted the transformation of China into a protective welfare regime. By analysing prefecture-level data for government expenditures in education, health, social security and assistance programmes between 2003 and 2012, we show a continuation of the Chinese welfare regime in 'paternalistic welfare pragmatism' for two reasons. First, government social expenditures are set on the basis of the prefecture-level government's fiscal capacity. Second, variations of welfare programmes are associated with the dichotomy between the urban formal and informal sectors.


The authors review extensively Canadian law and practice on the exercise of extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction, and the extent to which that may have changed in recent years. They conclude that, while there are now many more instances of Canada asserting extraterritorial jurisdiction, any change in policy is more apparent than real. What has changed is how often the situations that prompt extraterritorial jurisdiction arise, particularly in that there are now many international treaties requiring Canada to exercise jurisdiction in this way. The authors also argue that this policy of cautious expansion and constructive engagement with international practice is desirable and will continue to serve well both Canada and the international community.


Carl Freedman traces the fundamental and mostly unexamined relationships between the discourses of science fiction and critical theory, arguing that science fiction is (or ought to be) a privileged genre for critical theory. He asserts that it is no accident that the upsurge of academic interest in science fiction since the 1970s coincides with the heyday of literary theory, and that likewise science fiction is one of the most theoretically informed areas of the literary profession. Extended readings of novels by five of the most important modern science fiction authors illustrate the affinity between science fiction and critical theory, in each case concentrating on one major novel that resonates with concerns proper to critical theory. Freedman s five readings are: Solaris: Stanislaw Lem and the Structure of Cognition; The Dispossessed: Ursula LeGuin and the Ambiguities of Utopia; The Two of Them: Joanna Russ and the Violence of Gender; Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand: Samuel Delany and the Dialectics of Difference; The Man in the High Castle: Philip K. Dick and the Construction of Realities."


An important source of cyber-attacks is malware, which proliferates in different forms such as botnets. The botnet malware typically looks for vulnerable devices across the Internet, rather than targeting specific individuals, companies or industries. It attempts to infect as many connected devices as possible, using their resources for automated tasks that may cause significant economic and social harm while being hidden to the user and device. Thus, it becomes very difficult to detect such activity. A considerable amount of research has been conducted to detect and prevent botnet infestation. In this paper, we attempt to create a foundation for an anomaly-based intrusion detection system using a statistical learning method to improve network security and reduce human involvement in botnet detection. We focus on identifying the best features to detect botnet activity within network traffic using a lightweight logistic regression model. The network traffic is processed by Bro, a popular network monitoring framework which provides aggregate statistics about the packets exchanged between a source and destination over a certain time interval. These statistics serve as features to a logistic regression model responsible for classifying malicious and benign traffic. Our model is easy to implement and simple to interpret. We characterized and modeled 8 different botnet families separately and as a mixed dataset. Finally, we measured the performance of our model on multiple parameters using F1 score, accuracy and Area Under Curve (AUC).


Regulation of MUC1 expression and removal is a salient feature of embryo implantation, bacterial clearance, and tumor progression. In some species, embryo implantation is accompanied by a transcriptional decline in uterine epithelial expression of MUC1. In other species, MUC1 is locally removed at blastocyst attachment sites, suggesting a proteolytic activity. Previously, we demonstrated that MUC1 is proteolytically released from the surface of a human uterine epithelial cell line, HES, and identified TNFalpha converting enzyme/a disintegrin and metalloprotease 17 as a constitutive and phorbol ester-stimulated MUC1 sheddase. The aims of the current study were to test the ability of soluble factors elevated during the periimplantation interval in vivo to stimulate ectodomain shedding of MUC1 from HES uterine epithelial cells and to characterize the nature of this proteolytic activity(ies). We identified TNFalpha as a prospective endogenous stimulus of MUC1 ectodomain release and of MUC1 and TNFalpha converting enzyme/a disintegrin and metalloprotease 17 expression. Moreover, we established that TNFalpha-stimulated MUC1 shedding occurs independently of increased de novo protein synthesis and demonstrated that the TNFalpha-induced increase in MUC1 gene expression is mediated through the kappaB site in the MUC1 promoter. Finally, we determined that the TNFalpha-sensitive MUC1 sheddase is inhibited by the metalloprotease inhibitor, TNFalpha protease inhibitor (TAPI), and the endogenous tissue inhibitor of metalloprotease-3. Collectively, these studies provide the initial in vitro characterization of a putative physiological stimulus of MUC1 ectodomain release and establish the nature of the metalloproteolytic activity(ies) involved.


In high-value manufacturing sectors, many manufacturing processes are still performed manually, such as polishing operations for small metallic parts. Increasing volume, the need for consistency in quality, and health and safety issues are some of the reasons for industry to search urgently for alternative solutions for manual polishing processes. This article reports the development of an intelligent automated polishing system to achieve consistent surface quality and removal of superficial defects from high-value components, such as those used in aerospace industry. The article reports an innovative method to capture manual polishing processes by skilled operators. The captured polishing parameters are then used to develop and control a robotic polishing system that can adopt various polishing patterns. A brief summary of existing fully and semi-automated polishing systems and their inadequacy for industrial applications are discussed. The need for building automation system based on manual operations are explained and a systematic data capturing process for a specific aerospace-based component is defined. The development of the process capturing device is explained, the data analysis and interpretations are discussed and the migration from manual operation to an automated polishing system is reported. Further detailed information is given in relation with combining data from various sensors and building of an automated system based on learning from manual operations. The research results are also briefly discussed and conclusions are drawn regarding applicability of automated systems for highly skilled manual operations. Type the keywords here Automated Polishing, Robotic grinding, manual operation, data capture through mechatronic devices


Abstract:Sex research is viewed as being particularly susceptible to volunteer bias, especially those studies that involve genital response measurement. Willingness to participate in sex research may be affected by study procedures, including the intrusiveness of devices measuring genital response, but this topic is seldom examined empirically. A community sample of 364 women and 117 men completed an online survey assessing willingness to participate in 15 sex research scenarios as well as measures of sexual attitudes, behaviours, and personality. As hypothesized, the presence versus absence of genital exposure, rather than the degree or type, impacted willingness ratings, such that participants were more willing to partake in studies in which they remained clothed versus studies that involved getting undressed. Erotophilic attitudes were associated with willingness to participate in unclothed and clothed research procedures for women and men, and sexual orientation impacted women's willingness ratings for both types of research. Although some personality factors were correlated with willingness ratings, they generally did not explain additional variance in willingness beyond the associations of other correlates. This study provides a critical update on volunteer bias in sex research and demonstrates that self-selection biases may impact the generalizability of sex research assessing community samples of women and men.


BACKGROUND
Debates about the developmental origins of adult face processing could be directly addressed if a clear infant neural marker could be identified. Previous research with infants remains open to criticism regarding the control stimuli employed.

METHODS
We recorded ERPs from adults and 3-month-old infants while they watched faces and matched visual noise stimuli.

RESULTS
We observed similar amplitude enhancement for faces in the infant N290 and adult N170. In contrast, the infant P400 showed only a latency effect, making it unlikely to be the main precursor of the adult N170.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that there is some degree of specificity of cortical processing of faces as early as 3 months of age.


Object-based image analysis (OBIA) is employed to classify forest types, including deciduous, evergreen and mixed forests, in a U.S. National Park unit using very high spatial resolution (VHR) IKONOS satellite imagery. This research investigates the effect of scale on segmentation quality and object-based forest type classification. Average local variance and spatial autocorrelation analyses are utilized to determine the quality of segmentation. This research also examines the effect of grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) texture measures on forest classification results. The comparison of a manual interpretation revealed that three distinct levels of segmentation quality were yielded depending on scale: over-, optimaland under-segmentation. Oversegmentation produced larger number and smaller size of image objects (or segments) than those of manually interpreted forest stands. Under-segmentation generated the smaller number of image objects with larger average size compared with manual interpretation. On the other hand, optimal segmentation with a scale (i.e., scale parameter) of 18 generated similar image objects much resembling manually interpreted forest stands in number and average size. Based on visual assessment, image segments were similar to manually interpreted forest stands in terms of location, shape, number and average size. Statistical analyses supported these results. A graph of average local variance against segmentation scale also indicated an optimal scale of 18. According to spatial autocorrelation analysis, this research found that overand under-segmentations were related to positive autocorrelation, while optimal segmentations achieved lower, or even negative, Moran's I values. This research discovered that optimal segmentations achieved higher accuracy of forest type classification than overand under-segmentation. In particular, a scale of 19 produced the highest overall classification accuracies when using only spectral bands (79 % in overall accuracy and 0.65 in Kappa). The research found that the incorporation of individual texture measures did not improve OBIA forest classification at scale 19. Instead, the use of multiple texture measures enhanced OBIA forest type classification accuracies to 83 % in overall accuracy and 0.71 in Kappa by disentangling classification confusions. OBIA with multiple GLCM texture measures are expected to be a useful approach to automatically classify forest types. In addition, OBIA will play a role in closely coupling remote sensing and GIS with its ability to create a GIS database to be utilized for further GIS analyses. INDEX WORDS: Object-based image analysis, IKONOS, Segmentation quality, Spatial autocorrelation, Forest type classification, Grey-level co-occurrence matrix texture OBJECT-BASED SPATIAL CLASSIFICATION OF FOREST VEGETATION WITH


up to examine the long-term effects of therapy and also the incidence of second (possibly treatment-related) neoplasms. There is some evidence (from our own experience and the data of others1 2) that the incidence of testicular tumours is increasing. Agreement on treatment protocols and clinical studies and national co-operation on histological and staging assessments (including serum marker levels), which would result from setting up a national study group based on specialist treatment centres, should help ensure that the maximum possible number of these young men survive to enjoy a normal life span, and also lead to an increase in the understanding of the biology of this uncommon but interesting group of tumours. PETER J CORBETT WILLIAM G JONES


The coccidia and gastrointestinal nematode infections were monitored in 273 Jakhrana goats maintained at the Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makhdoom, Mathura, India to study the prevalence rate and to determine the effects of various environmental factors on intensity of infection. The animals were reared under semi intensive feeding system. The fecal samples were collected and examined for a period of 2 years. The data on faecal egg/oocystes count (FEC/FOC) were analyzed by least-squares analysis after suitable log transformation (Loge FEC/FOC + 100). The prevalence and intensity of infection were determined in animals according to their ages (0-3 month, >3-6 month, >6-12 month and >1 year), sex, year and season of sample collection. The pre-dominant coccidia oocysts were Eimeria ninakohlyakimovae, and the major gastrointestinal nematode species identified as Haemonchus contortus The overall prevalence rates for coccidial and gastrointestinal nematode infections manifested as singles or concurrent states were 42.86 and 39.19%, respectively. The coccidial oocysts was highest (92.31%) in >3-6 month aged kids followed by >6-12 month (75.51%) and >1 year of age (40.86%). Females had higher occurrence (49.86%) than males (45.20%) for coccidial infection. The prevalence rate of oocysts was highest in rainy season (54.55%) followed by summer (46.0%) and winter (37.0%) season. The gastrointestinal nematode prevalence was 33.33, 0.0, 57.14 and 41.00 percent in 0-3 month, >3-6 month, >6-12month and >1 year aged animals, respectively. Seasonal prevalence of gastrointestinal nematode infection was 28.74, 67.27 and 13.98 percent during summer, rainy and winter season, respectively. Concurrent infection with Eimeria and gastrointestinal nematodes were found in 17.22% of animals and restricted to animals of >6-12 month of age and above. The overall least-squares means for GOPG (oocysts/g of faeces) and GFEC (eggs/g of faeces) were 268.71 and 74.16, respectively. The effect of age, year and season of sampling had significant (P<0.01) effect on nematode infection, however; only the effect of age was significant (P<0.01) for coccidia infection.


This paper produces aggregate and industry estimates of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) for New Zealand. TFP is estimated based on Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production functions that permit varying assumptions about factor augmentation and that allow for industry-specific values of the elasticity of substitution between inputs. The CES approach simultaneously explains changes in labour share and output over time, and provides estimates of the contribution of capital and labour to productivity in New Zealand. The results suggest that negative capital- augmenting technical change in several industries has weighed on productivity in New Zealand.


Endothelial cells (ECs) form the innermost layer of all vasculature and constantly receive both biochemical and biomechanical signals, yielding a plethora of biomechanical responses. In response to various biochemical or biomechanical cues, ECs have been documented to generate biomechanical responses such as tractions and intercellular stresses between the cell and substrate and between adjacent cells in a confluent monolayer, respectively. Thus far, the ability of endothelial tight junctions and adherens junctions to transmit intercellular stresses has been actively investigated, but the role of gap junctions is currently unknown. In addition, there is no report of the independent influence of hyperglycemia on endothelial biomechanics present in the literature. To fill these gaps, we conducted a two-fold study where we investigated the influence of endothelial gap junction Cx43 and hyperglycemia in endothelial tractions and intercellular stress generation. In the first study, we selectively disrupted and enhanced EC gap junction Cx43 by using 2',5'-dihydroxychalcone and retinoic acid, respectively and in the second study, we cultured ECs in both normal glucose and hyperglycemic condition for 10 days. In both studies, tractions and intercellular stresses were calculated using traction force microscopy (TFM) and monolayer stress microscopy (MSM), respectively. Our results reveal that Cx43 downregulation increased as well as decreased endothelial avg. normal intercellular stresses in response to a low (0.83 μM) and a high dose (8.3 μM) chalcone treatment, respectively, while Cx43 upregulation decreases avg. normal intercellular stresses in both treatment conditions (2.5 μM and 25 μM) compared to control. In addition, we observed a decrease in intercellular stresses with the hyperglycemic condition compared to control. The results we present here represent, for the first time, a detailed and comprehensive biomechanical analysis of endothelial cells under the influence of glucose and the gap junction Cx43. We believe our results will provide valuable insights into endothelial permeability, barrier strength as well as leading to a greater understanding of overall endothelial mechanics.


Premarketing trials of olanzapine reported an incidence of peripheral oedema of 3%. Outpatients, who were actively receiving treatment with olanzapine, were evaluated for peripheral oedema. Twenty-eight (57%) out of 49 subjects exhibited oedema, including five (10.2%) to a severe degree. There were no significant differences regarding gender, time/dose on olanzapine, concomitant diagnoses or psychotropic medication. There was a tendency (P < 0.10) for older age and greater frequency of thyroid abnormalities in those individuals with oedema. In the oedema group, there was a positive correlation (P < 0.05) between age and severity. Our finding, far from demonstrating that olanzapine causes oedema at this frequency, suggests that there maybe patients who are vulnerable to developing this side-effect.


Climate change models predict that ecotones, which are boundaries between two biomes, are likely to be the first place we see the effects of climate change. However, very little baseline data exist for these areas and their current community structure. In order to better understand the community dynamics of an ecotonal forest, a 2.2 ha 60 year-old upland forest in northeastern Kansas was monitored for 10 years. This oak-hickory forest at the ecotone with the tallgrass prairie biome is growing more slowly than other forests of similar species composition farther east, possibly due to lower levels of available soil moisture or nutrient-depleted soil. The aboveground biomass (122 Mg/ ha) was l5%-25% less than more eastern forests of similar composition and age. The study area contained three slightly different landscape units, typical of the regional matrix of land-use histories, edaphic char acteristics, and forest compositions. A portion of the study area with a history of greater disturbance had the greatest number of small trees and a higher biomass and density of early successional species. Over the 10 year study period, differences among landscape units became less pro nounced, with tree biomass and species composition becoming more uniform. We expect that in the next 50 years, the forest will become more homogenous across the study area with respect to aboveground biomass and species composition. This suggests that land-use history plays a minor role in determining community composition in this ecotonal for est, and that biological and environmental factors play a larger role. 1 Current Address: Proctor Maple Research Center, University of Vermont, P.O. Box 233, Underhill Center, VT 05490


Kostmann disease or severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) is an autosomal recessive disorder of neutrophil production. Homozygous HAX1 mutations were recently identified in SCN patients belonging to the original family in northern Sweden described by Kostmann. Moreover, recent studies have suggested an association between neurological dysfunction and HAX1 deficiency. Here we describe a patient with a compound heterozygous HAX1 mutation consisting of a nonsense mutation (c.568C > T, p.Glu190X) and a frame‐shift mutation (c.91delG, p.Glu31LysfsX54) resulting in a premature stop codon. The patient has a history of neutropenia and a propensity for infections, but has shown no signs of neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2009;53:1143–1146. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A cyclic depsipeptide isolated from the marine tunicate Aplidium albicans. Plitidepsin displays a broad spectrum of antitumor activities, inducing apoptosis by triggering mitochondrial cytochrome c release, initiating the Fas/DC95, JNK pathway and activating caspase 3 activation. T his agent also inhibits elongation factor 1-a, thereby interfering with protein synthesis, and induces G1 arrest and G2 blockade, thereby inhibiting tumor cell growth. Qeios · Definition, February 2, 2020


Image De-noising of noisy image is play an important role in the field of image processing. Different Image De- noising methods are used for different noisy images. In this paper we have shown the different results of image De-noising of noisy image using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). De- noising of natural images used in this paper corrupted by Gaussian noise using wavelet techniques are very effective because of its ability to capture the energy of a signal in few energy transform values. The performance of image de-noising of noisy image is shown in terms of PSNR, MSE and visual perception. The performance of calculated result shows improved Mean Square Error and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio.


Context. Multi-planet systems are important sources of information regarding the evolution of planets. However, the long-period planets in these systems often escape detection. These objects in particular may retain more of their primordial characteristics compared to close-in counterparts because of their increased distance from the host star. HD 22946 is a bright (G = 8.13 mag) late F-type star around which three transiting planets were identified via Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry, but the true orbital period of the outermost planet d was unknown until now.
Aims. We aim to use the Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS) space telescope to uncover the true orbital period of HD 22946d and to refine the orbital and planetary properties of the system, especially the radii of the planets.
Methods. We used the available TESS photometry of HD 22946 and observed several transits of the planets b, c, and d using CHEOPS. We identified two transits of planet d in the TESS photometry, calculated the most probable period aliases based on these data, and then scheduled CHEOPS observations. The photometric data were supplemented with ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations) radial velocity data. Finally, a combined model was fitted to the entire dataset in order to obtain final planetary and system parameters.
Results. Based on the combined TESS and CHEOPS observations, we successfully determined the true orbital period of the planet d to be 47.42489 ± 0.00011 days, and derived precise radii of the planets in the system, namely 1.362 ± 0.040 R⊕, 2.328 ± 0.039 R⊕, and 2.607 ± 0.060 R⊕ for planets b, c, and d, respectively. Due to the low number of radial velocities, we were only able to determine 3σ upper limits for these respective planet masses, which are 13.71 M⊕, 9.72 M⊕, and 26.57 M⊕. We estimated that another 48 ESPRESSO radial velocities are needed to measure the predicted masses of all planets in HD 22946. We also derived stellar parameters for the host star.
Conclusions. Planet c around HD 22946 appears to be a promising target for future atmospheric characterisation via transmission spectroscopy. We can also conclude that planet d, as a warm sub-Neptune, is very interesting because there are only a few similar confirmed exoplanets to date. Such objects are worth investigating in the near future, for example in terms of their composition and internal structure.


In this paper, a three‐dimensional (3‐D) global hybrid simulation code and a 3‐D geocoronal hydrogen model are used to systematically study the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emissions at 30.4 nm produced by solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) in the Earth's magnetosheath, associated with different solar wind‐interplanetary magnetic field (SW‐IMF) conditions and different imaging perspectives. We have found that the EUV emission intensities in the magnetosheath are highly variable from several mR to ~1200 mR and increase with the flow speed, the density, the temperature, and the He2+/H+ density ratio of the solar wind; the northward IMF leads to a minimum emission in the magnetosheath, whereas the southward IMF generates a maximum emission; with the increase of the magnitude of IMF, the emission pattern in the nightside splits from single field‐aligned shape into a butterfly shape around the magnetic equator; and the EUV emissions vary with the imaging positions, reflecting different latitudinal and longitudinal information of the magnetosheath. It is noted that the SWCX EUV emissions in the magnetosheath for highly disturbed solar wind conditions should be considered in processing the Moon‐based plasmaspheric EUV images. We suggest that EUV imaging of the global magnetosheath requires an EUV imager with large field‐of‐view, high‐sensitivity, large dynamic range, and low intrinsic dark count rate. This investigation could provide us with an overall understanding on SWCX EUV emissions in the magnetosheath which can potentially be used to image the global magnetosheath to study the solar wind‐magnetosphere coupling in the future.


Although stones in the common bile duct (CBD) can be endoscopically removed [1, 2], stone impaction in the CBD occasionally occurs as a severe complication [3, 4]. We encountered a case of stone impaction in the CBD after endoscopic papillary balloon dilation (EPBD), which could be successfully treated by electrically cutting the stone using a needle-knife. A 68-year-old man visited our hospital because of acute cholangitis. Abdominal computed tomography revealed a calcified stone of 10mm in diameter in the CBD (▶Fig. 1). After obtaining informed consent, we attempted endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) using a duodenoscope (JF260V; Olympus, Tokyo, Japan), and diagnosed choledocholithiasis (▶Fig. 1). We performed EPBD (QBD-8X3; Cook Medical, Inc., Bloomington, Indiana, USA) (▶Fig. 2). Although we attempted stone extraction using a basket catheter (Nitinol-lithotomy basket, 4 wires, 25× 40 mm; MTW Endoskopie, Wesel, Germany), the stone was tightly impacted within the biliary orifice (▶Fig. 3). After cutting and removing the outer sheath of the impacted catheter, we exchanged the instrument to a forward-viewing endoscope (GIF-Q260; Olympus) with a hood (Elastic Touch, slit&hole, F-010; Top Corp., Tokyo, Japan) attached to its tip. After positioning the endoscope close to the impacted stone, we electrically cut the stone using a needle-knife (KD-1L-1; Olympus) (Forced Coagulation 50W, ICC200; Erbe, Tübingen, Germany) under direct visualization, in a fashion similar to the technique of endoscopic submucosal dissection [5] until stone reduction was confirmed (▶Fig. 4; ▶Video1). After breaking the stone with grasping forceps (FG-47L-1; Olympus) (▶Fig. 4; E-Videos


Our understanding of large P(_t) phenomena from the point of view of the quark-parton model is reviewed in this thesis. For this purpose some necessary experimental and theoretical background related to low P(_t) phenomena is given in the first chapter. We show in particular that the inclusive single particle cross section at low P(_t) follows a simple curve but that this falls far below the data when it is extrapolated to high P(_t). This suggests the existence of small constituents. In the second chapter we show how the existence and properties of these constituents are established in the simpler situation of lepton-hadron scattering processes. The constituents are approximately point-like, spin one-half, quarks. In the third chapter we see how large P(_t). hadronic processes can be used to probe the small scale structure of hadrons, and how the experimental results confirm the quark structure. We discuss several versions of the model and show that a reasonably consistent picture emerges. There are, however, some difficulties which can hopefully be overcome by the introduction of QCD (gluon) corrections. For this mixed experimental-theoretical review, kinematics concerning two-body and inclusive reactions are given in Appendices A and B. Also, related to the low P(_t) discussion of the first chapter, some theoretical background (e.g. scaling, limiting fragmentation and Regge-Muller formalism) is given in Appendix C.


Recently, we reported the selective accumulation of hypericin in transitional cell carcinoma cells following intravesical instillation of hypericin in humans. This observation infers that hypericin, a potent photosensitizer, could be used as a selective PDT (photodynamic therapy) tool against superficial bladder cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate in vitro whether hypericin exhibits specific affinity for TCC transitional cell carcinoma) bladder cells and to assess its photocytotoxic effect. Three human TCC cell lines (J-82, T-24 and RT-4), a chemically induced rat TCC cell line (NBT-II), but also non-bladder carcinoma cells (HeLa, A431, MCF-7 and MCF-***ADR) and normal cells (HEL229, RPE and PHK), were used in this comparative study. Flow cytometric analysis of cells treated with different hypericin-containing vehicles for various incubation times (2 hours or 24 hours) indicated that short exposure of the cells (2 hours) to hypericin in the absence of serum results in the highest intracellular accumulation of the compound. As expected, prolonging the incubation time increased both the cellular accumulation and photocytoxicity of hypericia. With the exception of the RT-4 and MCF-7 cells (which were less sensitive to hypericin), all the other carcinoma cell lines examined showed equal sensitivity to the photoactivated hypericia, independently of their histological origin (bladder or non-bladder). Moreover, normal cells exhibited the same pattern of hypericin photosensitivity as shown by the cancer cells, indicating that, in cultured cells, hypericin cellular uptake and subsequent photokilling is not selective. This suggests that in vivo factors other than the cancer cells themselves are responsible for the specific accumulation of hypericin in urothelial carcinoma lesions.


ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Weight regain in the postoperative period after bariatric surgery is directly related to the relapse of preoperative comorbidities and a negative impact on the patients' biochemical profile. AIMS: To assess the metabolic impact of weight regain on preoperative comorbidities and on patients' biochemical profiles, in order to show the impact of the complications on the metabolic outcomes of bariatric surgery. METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out with 75 women in the late postoperative period of bariatric surgery who presented pathological weight regain (≥20% of the maximum weight loss). Data of interest consisted of glycemic, lipid, and inflammatory profile measurements at three different moments of evaluation: preoperative period, at the weight nadir (minimum weight), and after weight regain. A multivariate analysis was performed. RESULTS: The mean age was 46.39±12.09 years. Preoperative body mass index was 40.10±4.11 kg/m2. There was an overall increase of 3.36 points in the mean body mass index between the nadir and after regain: from 26.30±3.9 kg/m2 to 29.66±4.66 kg/m2. The mean time to reach the nadir was 18±7.6 months, with an average percentage of excess weight loss of 91.08±11.8%. The median time for pathological weight regain was 48 months, and the mean regain amongst the sample was 8.85±5.65 kg. There was a significant correlation between pathological weight regain and levels of insulin (r=0.351; p<0.011), C-peptide (r=0.303; p<0.011), C-reactive protein (r=0.402; p<0.001), and vitamin D (r=-0.435; p<0.001), the last two being the most influenced by the percentage of weight regained. CONCLUSIONS: The pathological weight regain in the postoperative period of bariatric surgery results in losses in the patients' metabolic and inflammatory profiles. However, the biochemical benefits are sustained up to the preoperative levels of the parameters analyzed.


In the world of print, paper choice influences every design project and designers often complain about the lack of genuinely good reference material for projects requiring a strong design input. "Choosing and Using Paper for Great Graphic Design" fills this gap. Case studies detail how the paper was chosen, the innovative treatments applied (folding, binding, cutting, embossing, printing, etc), and why they make the piece successful. By highlighting what was made possible through the paper choice, and how it affected the final design, this guide shows how paper influences and enhances graphic design and explains how to choose and use the right paper for the job. It explains how to turn ideas into reality. A primary resource to inspire original creative thought, it showcases the very best designs created through the ingenious and groundbreaking use of paper and printing techniques.


Much of the literature relating to the history of miners
has been written from a union orientated perspective. In
this study a broader understanding of the lives of miners
and their families is sought. Notions of community and
communal belonging are central throughout the investigation.
The extent of migration is considered. Clear evidence of
residential clustering of migrants is uncovered. This had a
significant impact upon community development within the
settlements.
The study acknowledges the centrality of the workplace in
mining communities. Primary evidence suggests, though, that
the mining workplace was not a cohesive social unit.
Divisions within the workplace were as significant as those
bet ween capital and labour. Longstanding, rigid divisions
between grades of mining employees were uncovered which
impacted upon their lives outside work.
An examination of women's lives within the settlements
questions the general assertion that they played an
economically passive role within mining settlements. Women
participated actively in the public life of the settlements
through their involvement in mining disputes and other
communal expressions of approbation, such as rough music.
Religious and leisure activities revealed much about how
individuals sought to construct their own identities and
those of their settlements. Both boundaries of belonging and
the triumph of custom over capitalist relations were
affirmed through events such as
celebrations.
The study reveals the composite
belonging. Individuals engaged in
the annual feast
nature of community
a multiplicity of
communities ranging from the micro-community of the family
to the macro-community of the nation. The nature of
individuals' communal participation was determined by
factors such as their: age; gender; workplace position; and
marital status. Communal belonging was fluid. Particular
aspects of communal identity fluctuated in significance
depending upon circumstance.


SYNOPSIS Under the fair value option, SFAS No. 159, firms have full discretion over electing to report specified financial instruments at fair value on a contract-by-contract basis. Building on Henry's (2009) study of early adopting banks, this paper examines to what extent firms' election of instruments benefited their current or future earnings. Our sample comprises the constituents of the S&P 1500 Index for the first quarters of fiscal years 2007 and 2008. Expanding the sample across industries and over time allows us to obtain a more complete picture of the adoption of the fair value option. We identify 72 adopters, two-thirds of which are not commercial banks. We do not find evidence of systematic opportunistic election of the fair value option. In only a handful of cases—concentrated among early adopters with an earnings shortfall—did firms experience a significant improvement in current or future earnings that casts doubt on whether their adoption was keeping with the intent and spirit of the stand...


Energy crisis, global warming and other environmental issues are what motivate researchers to find new strategies to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Recently, using phase change materials (PCM) in the building's envelopes has drawn significant attention as an energy-saving method, which helps in increasing the building's thermal capacity. In the present research, the effects of the main thermal parameters including climate conditions, PCM layer thickness and its position, wall thermal resistance, and type of HVAC system on the PCM energy-saving potential has been investigated using EnergyPlus software. A climate study has been undertaken in Iran which may be categorized into five climatic regions. Basing on the results, an effective PCM layer is almost 2–4 cm in thickness, and is embedded in the most interior layer of the wall. This conclusion does not depend on the type of HVAC system. In addition, the results showed that the southern strip of Iran, with a warm humid climate, and a relatively high solar irradiation, has the greatest potential to embed PCMs in the building's envelopes as a factor for reducing its energy demand. This research and its results are useful in getting a better understanding of the PCMs and their effects on reducing the building's energy consumption and CO2 emission. Article history:


Oil crops occupy an important position in the world economy in the past twenty-five years. The production of oil crops has increased twice and oil products are mainly used for food, fodder, mechanical, smelt, soap, paint, rubber, plastic, medical and other areas. Information visualization provides new ways for scientometrics and knowmetrics in recent years. This paper does the visual analysis of international oil crop. Based on analytic techniques such as co-citation analysis, co-appearance analysis and information visualization, this paper maps the co-citation network, hot words of most cited papers and front words of oil crop using the CiteSpace software. It identifies the content of high cited documents, analyzes the research focus of international oil crop.


Abstract Purpose: This study aimed to examine the lived experience of older adults who seek medical help for perceived memory problems, defined as "help-seekers." We examined how they make sense of their experience of memory problems, the effect on everyday life and the role of personal and environmental factors. Materials and methods: A qualitative approach was used. Twelve help-seekers recruited from geriatric clinics participated in qualitative interviews, using thematic analysis with an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: Four themes emerged: (1) memory problems in daily life; (2) negative beliefs and emotional responses; (3) coping with memory problems; and (4) memory problems in context. The study describes the implications of memory problems on engagement in meaningful and self-defining occupations, and the negative beliefs and emotions embedded in the experience of memory loss. The results revealed three types of coping responses: active problem solving, reframing perception of the problem and avoidant behaviors. The study highlights the importance of both the social environment and aging process in the lived experience of help-seekers. Conclusions: Multiple personal and social factors interacted and mediated the meaning of memory loss in help-seekers. The study reveals a complex clinical picture that may impede successful occupational engagement of help-seekers. Implications for rehabilitation The evaluation of older adults reporting memory problems should include assessments of everyday functioning, memory related beliefs, emotional status, self-efficacy, and the social environment. The interaction between memory problems and bio-psycho-social changes related to aging should be considered in treating older adults with reported memory problems. Design of group interventions addressing daily functioning, coping strategies and memory related beliefs are recommended


Collecting DNA from crime scenes and individuals and storing it in databases is regarded increasingly as critical for criminal investigation and prosecution. This article considers the development of non-conviction DNA databases in the United States and England and Wales, and examines why current legal trajectories are in opposite directions, with the United States becoming more permissive in terms of database expansion and England and Wales less so. It posits that any such trend is contingent on many factors. Political and cultural variables in England and Wales prompted database expansion, facilitated by the absence of robust constitutional protection for privacy. Nevertheless, the jurisprudence of the European Convention on Human Rights now limits this scheme. In contrast, classical liberal ideology and the construal of the norm of privacy provided a brake in the American context, yet it appears that non-conviction databases will become more common there given extant interpretation of the US Constitution.


Carbon-doped GaN was grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy using carbon tetrachloride vapor as the dopant source. For moderate doping mainly acceptors were formed, yielding semi-insulating GaN. However at higher concentrations p-type conductivity was not observed, and heavily doped films (>5 µ 10 20 cm -3 ) were actually n-type rather than semi-insulating. Photoluminescence measurements showed two broad luminescence bands centered at 2.2 and 2.9 eV. The intensity of both bands increased with carbon content, but the 2.2 eV band dominated in n-type samples. Intense, narrow (~6 meV) donor-bound exciton peaks were observed in the semi-insulating samples.


In Harvey v Umhlatuze Municipality 2011 1 SA 601 (KZP) ("Harvey") the High Court had to decide whether it was competent to order the re-transfer of expropriated property to the previous owner when the purpose for which the property was expropriated could not be realised. The court refused to order the re-transfer of the property due to the absence of legislation that authorises the Court to re-transfer expropriated property upon the non-realisation of the purpose of the expropriation. In March 2013, a draft Expropriation Bill was released for public comment. This note shows that the Expropriation Bill, if passed into law, does not address the issue that was present in Harvey, but only allows for the re-transfer of previously expropriated property in very limited circumstances. Since the Expropriation Bill does not effectively address the issue that was present in Harvey, recommendations are made that should resolve the issue that was present in that decision. The main objective of the amending provisions should be to indicate the nature of the right of re-transfer, the persons entitled to claim re-transfer, the time-frame within which the expropriated owner can reclaim the property upon non-implementation of the purpose, setting up a framework for calculating the amount that has to be repaid, as well as the circumstances under which the state would not be required to re-transfer the property to the previous owner. Including detailed legislation that effectively resolves the issue in Harvey v Umhlatuze Municipality, the state would be prevented from changing the purpose for which expropriated property is used at its own discretion. It would also prevent the state from using a valid public purpose as a smokescreen to use the property for a different purpose after the property has been expropriated.