Founded in the mid1950s, the field of system dynamics has intellectual roots reaching much further into the past. The Archives section of the Review seeks to publish material from that past which can contribute to current theory and practice. The section welcomes previously unpublished but deserving system dynamics work, classics from past system dynamics literature that should receive renewed attention, and previously published articles from other disciplines of particular significance to current system dynamicists. Contributions emphasizing the philosophy and theory of model building, validation, implementation, education, and generic structures are particularly encouraged. Submissions may range in length from notes to main articles but may be edited. Send suggested material, together with a brief introduction placing it in historical and current contexts, to John D. Sterman, System Dynamics Group, MIT E40294, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA The first system dynamics work did not include the use of causal-loop diagrams. Feedback structure was portrayed by equations or stock-and-flow diagrams. Such representations were natural for engineers. In an attempt to make system dynamics accessible to a wider range of people, causal-loop diagrams have become increasingly popular. In many texts and courses they are the first tool described. Indeed, recently several analysts have proposed that system dynamics studies can be carried out without the development of formal models at all (Morecroft 1985; Wolstenholme and Coyle 1983; Wolstenholme 1985). Causal-loop diagrams often figure prominently in such analyses. Yet even those who advocate the use of qualitative system dynamics are careful to point out that in all the successful applications of such qualitative methods the analysts have had extensive experience with formal model building. Nevertheless, it seems inevitable that people at all experience levels will continue to rely on causal-loop diagrams. In the following paper dating from 1976, George Richardson describes a variety of problems which often arise in causal-loop diagramming, both in the development of the diagrams and the explication of behavior from them. The main difficulties arise because causal-loop diagrams obscure the stock and flow structure of systems. We sometimes emphasize so heavily the role of feedback structure in generating behavior that the crucial role of accumulation processes is lost. Even experienced modelers are easily misled by causal-loop diagrams. I suggest the following experiment: take the causal-loop diagram for the family feud described in Richardson's paper and ask a random sample of system dynamics modelers or students how it will behave. In my experience, one will not only receive a wide range of answers but most of these will be incorrect. Then repeat the experiment using the stock-and-flow diagram (with a different group of people, obviously). While answers will still vary, the number of correct responses should rise. In recognition of these difficulties, there has been a revival of stock-and-flow diagrams as a means of communicating structure (Morecroft 1982). Richardson's paper should not be taken as an argument to abandon causal-loop diagrams or qualitative system dynamics, however. But it serves as a caution to the facile use of an easily abused technique. Despite their problems, causal-loop diagrams are likely to remain important tools for the communication of feedback structure.


One hundred and seventy-eight patients underwent surgical therapy for oral and cervical cancers from 1964 to 1975. About 25 percent of the patients underwent neck dissection and/or "pull-through" procedures. However, majority of patients required a spectrum of reconstructive techniques extending from marginal mandibulectomy with or without skin flaps (39), partial mandibulectomy with immediate prosthetic mandible reconstruction (36), to extended resections with skin flaps or staged reconstructive procedures (48). The advantages and disadvantages of each reconstructive procedure have been observed and a scheme of graded management has been developed. The therapeutic goal is to maximize functional oral reconstruction without compromising tumor cure. There were two operative deaths--one from myocardial infarction after operation and one from halothane hepatitis. The tumors were grouped according to TNM classification. In the follow-up of the 178 patients, 47 per cent are known to be alive and free of tumor. The better results (greater than 70% free of tumor) are in the group with smaller tumors (less than 2 cm.) and no node involvement, and there are less favorable rates for those patients with larger tumors and nodal metastasis or invasion of adjacent structures. There was a 49 percent 2 year survival rate and 12 of the deaths were from nontumor causes. Ninety percent of these patients smoked more than one pack of cigarettes per day, accounting for the high rate of synchronous or subsequent oroairway cancers (7 percent). Seventy-five percent were considered to be "heavy alcoholics" with evidence of cirrhotic liver disease. These two factors significantly decreased the survival from rate 54 to 47 percent. The series shows that planned primary reconstructive surgery can be done at a low risk, that it can enhance resectability of head and neck cancers, and that it does improve oral function after operation.


The purpose of this study is to focus on the gap between users' understanding and actual auditing practices, and the extent to which this gap can be narrowed through the role of auditing education at Jordanian universities. The data was collected by a questionnaire survey of randomly selected members that looked at four interest areas: duties, legal and ethical structure, reliability and responsibility, and audit report. This study contributes in an important way to narrowing the audit education gap and identifying the public's misunderstanding of audit regulations.


Purpose: We report ophthalmic manifestations in four Jacobsen syndrome cases, review the literature, and suggest phenotype-genotype correlations. Methods: Chart review of Ocular Genetics Program patients at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Results: Four del11qter cases are presented. Hypertelorism/telecanthus, abnormally slanted palpebral fissures, abnormal retinal findings, nasolacrimal duct obstruction, anomalous extraocular muscles, amblyopia, and microcornea were found. Conclusions: We report typical findings and novel ocular presentations. Visual prognosis is generally good. Retinal dysplasia and coloboma seem associated with del11q23. ABCG4, NCAM, and Mfrp are candidate genes in this region that theoretically may be disrupted.


Molecules are an attractive option to develop nanoscale electronic devices. Experimental measurements of current-voltage characteristics of individual molecules have been possible for several years and have revealed rich structure and diverse behavior. This paper reviews recent theoretical work by the authors in which current-voltage characteristics of individual molecules are computed using a fully quantum-mechanical parameter-free method. The results provide detailed understanding of transport in molecules in the context of data and go further by obtaining information about the role of molecule-electrode contacts and predicting the behavior of three-terminal molecular devices and the factors that control their performance.


Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are limited in their propagation operators. In many cases, these operators often contain non-negative elements only and are shared across channels, limiting the expressiveness of GNNs. Moreover, some GNNs suffer from over-smoothing, limiting their depth. On the other hand, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) can learn diverse propagation filters, and phenomena like over-smoothing are typically not apparent in CNNs. In this paper, we bridge these gaps by incorporating trainable channel-wise weighting factors $\omega$ to learn and mix multiple smoothing and sharpening propagation operators at each layer. Our generic method is called $\omega$GNN, and is easy to implement. We study two variants: $\omega$GCN and $\omega$GAT. For $\omega$GCN, we theoretically analyse its behaviour and the impact of $\omega$ on the obtained node features. Our experiments confirm these findings, demonstrating and explaining how both variants do not over-smooth. Additionally, we experiment with 15 real-world datasets on node- and graph-classification tasks, where our $\omega$GCN and $\omega$GAT perform on par with state-of-the-art methods.


Modal logics are widely used in computer science. The complexity
 of modal satisfiability problems has been investigated since the
 1970s, usually proving results on a case-by-case basis. We prove a
 very general classification for a wide class of relevant logics:
 Many important subclasses of modal logics can be obtained by
 restricting the allowed models with first-order Horn formulas. We
 show that the satisfiability problem for each of these logics is
 either NP-complete or PSPACE-hard, and exhibit a simple
 classification criterion. Further, we prove matching PSPACE upper
 bounds for many of the PSPACE-hard logics.


Bistatic radar measurement of clear‐air winds in the atmospheric boundary layer is considered. The context is three‐dimensional wind field measurement using dense networks of short‐range radars configured to operate in bistatic geometries. Such networks exploit a combination of Rayleigh scattering from insects and Bragg scattering from refractive index turbulence, the latter exhibiting enhanced scattering intensity in forward scatter geometries compared to the monostatic case. Bistatic radar fundamentals are reviewed, and beam‐limited scattering volumes are considered. Measurements with sufficient precision (<1 m s−1) are achievable with relatively low average powers (100 W) with reasonably short dwell times (1 s) for transmitters and receivers separated by as much as 15 km. For a fixed antenna aperture size, frequency dependence of sensitivity for the Bragg component of the composite scattered signal is weak (λ2/3), provided that the Bragg‐resonant wave number for the forward scattering geometry lies within the inertial subrange of refractive index turbulence. In contrast, the strong (λ4) frequency‐dependent Rayleigh insect echo dominates the scattered signal for short wavelengths (i.e., X band and higher frequencies) under many conditions except for small forward scatter angles. Owing to this dominance and to the tendency for refractive index turbulence and insects to occur together in the atmospheric boundary layer, reliance on the bistatic Bragg scattering mechanism is not warranted for short‐range, short‐wavelength radar networks.


We demonstrate efficient wavelength conversion using a four-wave-mixing (FWM) effect in a silicon photonic wire waveguide with spot size converters. Applying a continuously operated 160-mW pump, power density in the waveguide's core was increased up to around 430 MW/cm/sup 2/, and the FWM effect was remarkably enhanced. Internal conversion efficiency obtained in an experiment was -10.6 dB. The efficiency was significantly limited by the free-carrier absorption effect.


Using a survey of over 4,000 female microfinance clients in Vietnam, this study examines the effects of cognitive abilities on willingness of low-income Vietnamese females to invest in business development services (BDS) training. A probit model with sample selection model is used. The paper focuses on three cognitive abilities (numeracy, fluency, and recall), and finds that they all positively affect the willingness to pay for such BDS training. These results have important implications for policies designed to provide BDS training to the poor, and should help shape the business models of microfinance providers. Testing cognitive abilities may help target the most profitable low-income markets.


Domestic technical measures such as SPS and TBTs can enhance import demand via information disclosure and quality improvement, or hamper foreign export supply via imposing sizeable compliance costs, or both. The traditional gravity equation model estimates the net effect of these measures on international trade with a loss of useful inference on separate effects. We stipulate a generalized gravity equation model to disentangle the two effects. We apply the augmented approach to agricultural trade among OECD countries in 2004. We find that technical measures in agriculture often jointly enhance import demand and hinder export supply with the net effect of promoting the propensity to trade. Further disaggregated data analysis reveals heterogeneity across sectors in terms of net effects of technical measures, despite common demand-enhancing and supply-hindering effects. These measures in the net decrease the probability of intra-OECD trade in dairy products, whereas they increase that of intra-OECD trade in cereal preparations.


Recent studies of information systems suggest a coalescing around a limited set of methods and subject areas, particularly led by a dominance of technology adoption studies and research methods that orbit around the technology adoption model (TAM). This is interpreted as evidence of a maturing of a discipline and the development of scientific foundations. I would suggest that far from this being the case, the dominance of particular method and topics is resulting in a disciplinary stagnation and the fueling of an increasing irrelevance of information systems studies to both practice and research innovation. Having illustrated this with reference to two recent information systems trends studies, and briefly critiqued the dominant information systems paradigm, I draw on a recent study of the evolution of behavioural sciences using computer models. I suggest that the development of information systems is an example of bad science, constrained by social and economic forces. I offer some suggestions on how different environmental forces could be applied to reinvigorate information systems. However, I conclude by suggesting that regardless of changing evolutionary forces, there is a deeper underlying philosophical concern which is catalysing the malaise of information systems.


The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources, the demand for more energy efficient electricity production and the increase in distributed electricity generation causes a shift in the way electricity is produced and consumed. The downside of these changes in the electricity grid is that network stability and controllability become more difficult compared to the old situation. The new network has to accommodate various means of production, consumption and buffering and needs to offer control over the energy flows between these three elements.
In order to offer such a control mechanism we need to know more about the individual aspects. In this paper we focus on the modelling of distributed production. Especially, we look at the use of microCHP (Combined Heat and Power) appliances in a group of houses.
The problem of planning the production runs of the microCHP is modelled via an ILP formulation, both for a single house and for a group of houses.


Interleukin-6 (IL-6)-deficient mice are prone to ethanol-induced apoptosis and steatosis in the liver; however, the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Mitochondrial dysfunction caused by oxidative stress is an early event that plays an important role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. Therefore, we hypothesize that the protective role of IL-6 in ethanol-induced liver injury is mediated via suppression of ethanol-induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. To test this hypothesis, we examined the effects of IL-6 on ethanol-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial injury, and energy depletion in the livers of IL-6 (-/-) mice and hepatocytes from ethanol-fed rats. Ethanol consumption leads to stronger induction of malondialdehyde (MDA) in IL-6 (-/-) mice compared to wild-type control mice, which can be corrected by administration of IL-6. In vitro, IL-6 treatment prevents ethanol-mediated induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), MDA, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT), and ethanol-mediated depletion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in hepatocytes from ethanol-fed rats. Administration of IL-6 in vivo also reverses ethanol-induced MDA and ATP depletion in hepatocytes. Finally, IL-6 treatment induces metallothionein protein expression, but not superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in cultured hepatocytes. In conclusion, IL-6 protects against ethanol-induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in hepatocytes via induction of metallothionein protein expression, which may account for the protective role of IL-6 in alcoholic liver disease.


Tracking and detection of objects often require to apply complex models to cope with the large intra-class variability of the foreground as well as the background class. In this work, we reduce the complexity of a binary classification problem by a context-driven approach. The main idea is to use a hidden multi-class representation to capture multi-modalities in the data finally providing a binary classifier. We introduce virtual classes generated by a context-driven clustering, which are updated using an active learning strategy. By further using an on-line learner the classifier can easily be adapted to changing environmental conditions. Moreover, by adding additional virtual classes more complex scenarios can be handled. We demonstrate the approach for tracking as well as detection on different scenarios reaching state-of-the-art results.


Governments and Industries alike have desired reshoring of U.S. apparel manufacturing for several years now, but the labor-intensive manufacturing processes of apparel have made reshoring financially infeasible. While industry efforts focus on technological innovation to find a cost-efficient manufacturing process, the innovation of the business model has remained behind. This paper demonstrates a case study on a North Carolina based leather products manufacturing company that has adopted an innovative business model. This case explains how U.S. apparel manufacturing could potentially learn from this company to support U.S. apparel reshoring initiatives.


In its consideration of American Indian literature as a rich and exciting body of work, "The Voice in the Margin" invites us to broaden our notion of what a truly inclusive American literature might be, and of how it might be placed in relation to an international - a "cosmopolitan" - literary canon. The book comes at a time when the most influential national media have focused attention on the subject of the literary canon. They have made it an issue not merely of academic but of general public concern, expressing strong opinions on the subject of what the American student should or should not read as essential or core texts. Is the literary canon simply a given of tradition and history, or is it, and must it be, constantly under construction? The question remains hotly contested to the present moment.Arnold Krupat argues that the literary expression of the indigenous peoples of the United States has claims on us to more than marginal attention. Demonstrating a firm grasp of both literary history and contemporary critical theory, he situates Indian literature, traditional and modern, in a variety of contexts and categories. His extensive knowledge of the history and current theory of ethnography recommends the book to anthropologists and folklorists as well as to students and teachers of literature, both canonical and noncanonical. The materials covered, the perspectives considered, and the learning displayed all make "The Voice in the Margin" a major contribution to the exciting field of contemporary cultural studies.


This paper takes a critical look at the view that the Internet can serve as a laboratory of political experimentation for reconfiguring the repertories of political actions. The overall discourses on information and communications technology (ICT) are too often focused on technology and infrastructure, when the question of its use should be central. In order to comprehend how ICT can serve as a democratic enhancer, this paper critically examines the African anthropology of the state and of the public sphere. It captures the African endogenous productions of political modernity and the subsequent way ICT is appropriated and indigenized by African local instances. African states and civil societies do not fit into prescriptive Western paradigms. In order to encourage the effective use of new technologies, this paper has developed the so-called "African model of ICT practice", which proposes a set of hypotheses that aim to enable the effective usage and integration of ICT within the democratic process in the context of an African self-defined political reality.


In order to determine the optimal proportion of magnesium phosphate cement mortar, the influences of ratio of magnesium phosphate cement-based binder (MPB) to sand (MPB/S), effects of fly ash on fluidity and strength development of MPB mortar, and the compatibility between MPB and traditional concrete and shrinkage of MPB mortar were investigated in this paper. The optimal proportion in this test was: setting adjusting agent of 12%, P/M ratio of 1:2(in weight), MPB/S ratio of 1:1 and FA/S ratio of 15%. The results showed that the MPB mortar met the higher early strength requirement of rapid-repair materials, with compressive strength beyond 50MPa and flexural strength more than 9.1MPa at 3 hours, and at later ages no reduction of strength happened. There was a good compatibility between MPB and traditional concrete. The shrinkage of MPB mortar at 28 days was less than 2.89 × 10-4. Therefore MPB is very suitable for rapid repairing of concrete structures.


Objectives: In the contemporary ICU, mechanically ventilated patients may not have arterial blood gas measurements available at relevant timepoints. Severity criteria often depend on arterial blood gas results. Retrospective studies suggest that nonlinear imputation of PaO2/FIO2 from SpO2/FIO2 is accurate, but this has not been established prospectively among mechanically ventilated ICU patients. The objective was to validate the superiority of nonlinear imputation of PaO2/FIO2 among mechanically ventilated patients and understand what factors influence the accuracy of imputation. Design: Simultaneous SpO2, oximeter characteristics, receipt of vasopressors, and skin pigmentation were recorded at the time of a clinical arterial blood gas. Acute respiratory distress syndrome criteria were recorded. For each imputation method, we calculated both imputation error and the area under the curve for patients meeting criteria for acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FIO2 ⩽ 300) and moderate-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FIO2 ⩽ 150). Setting: Nine hospitals within the Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury network. Patients: We prospectively enrolled 703 mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the emergency departments or ICUs of participating study hospitals. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: We studied 1,034 arterial blood gases from 703 patients; 650 arterial blood gases were associated with SpO2 less than or equal to 96%. Nonlinear imputation had consistently lower error than other techniques. Among all patients, nonlinear had a lower error (p < 0.001) and higher (p < 0.001) area under the curve (0.87; 95% CI, 0.85–0.90) for PaO2/FIO2 less than or equal to 300 than linear/log-linear (0.80; 95% CI, 0.76–0.83) imputation. All imputation methods better identified moderate-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FIO2 ⩽ 150); nonlinear imputation remained superior (p < 0.001). For PaO2/FIO2 less than or equal to 150, the sensitivity and specificity for nonlinear imputation were 0.87 (95% CI, 0.83–0.90) and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.88–0.93), respectively. Skin pigmentation and receipt of vasopressors were not associated with imputation accuracy. Conclusions: In mechanically ventilated patients, nonlinear imputation of PaO2/FIO2 from SpO2/FIO2 seems accurate, especially for moderate-severe hypoxemia. Linear and log-linear imputations cannot be recommended.


Effectively evaluating preparation programs for health services administrators is important for program providers, trainers, future employers, the health care system, and the American public. Because the methods employed for evaluation do not exist in a vacuum, policy formation with respect to learner outcomes assessment is a critical concern for all those interested in health care management issues. During the 1990s, the prevalent trend in evaluation is "assessment," which emphasizes performance-oriented outcomes rather than traditional testing approaches. This article examines the evolving role of assessment from a higher education policy perspective. Current trends and issues in general education, teacher testing, and nursing home administrator preparation are brought to bear on the problem of how to implement the goals of assessment. Realistic expectations of assessment are subsequently offered.


Self-supervised visual representation learning has recently attracted significant research interest. While a common way to evaluate self-supervised representations is through transfer to various downstream tasks, we instead investigate the problem of measuring their interpretability, i.e. understanding the semantics encoded in raw representations. We formulate the latter as estimating the mutual information between the representation and a space of manually labelled concepts. To quantify this we introduce a decoding bottleneck: information must be captured by simple predictors, mapping concepts to clusters in representation space. This approach, which we call reverse linear probing, provides a single number sensitive to the semanticity of the representation. This measure is also able to detect when the representation contains combinations of concepts (e.g.,"red apple") instead of just individual attributes ("red"and"apple"independently). Finally, we propose to use supervised classifiers to automatically label large datasets in order to enrich the space of concepts used for probing. We use our method to evaluate a large number of self-supervised representations, ranking them by interpretability, highlight the differences that emerge compared to the standard evaluation with linear probes and discuss several qualitative insights. Code at: {\scriptsize{\url{https://github.com/iro-cp/ssl-qrp}}}.


Background and Objective: Traffic and transport, as a political and social phenomenon, play an important role in the quality and socioeconomic structure of a society. This phenomenon constitutes one of the foundations of modern urban life and social needs of populations. Regarding this, the present study was performed to investigate the impacts of urban traffic and transport on the social determinants of health (SDH) based on the viewpoints of urban residents and key informants in Sanandaj, Iran. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was conducted on 22 urban residents and 8 key informants selected through purposive sampling technique. The data were analyzed through conventional content analysis approach. Data collection was conducted using four focus group discussions (FGDs) (including 22 residents) and eight in-depth interviews. MAXQDA10 was applied for the purpose of data management. Results: The SDHs that were negatively affected by Sanandaj urban traffic and transport included socio-cultural (e.g., recreation and free times, daily work trends, safety of within-city commuting, tobacco use, and education) and environmental factors (e.g., vegetation, antiquities, noise pollution, urban aesthetic status, and environment, and soil, food, and water status). Conclusion: Urban traffic/transport stakeholders, health policy makers, and health professionals in Iran should pay much more attention to the impacts of urban traffic/transport plans on health and its determinants. It seems necessary to comprehensively assess urban traffic/transport on health status and its determinants in Iran.


The present study was undertaken to investigate the beneficial effects of Atorvastatin and Simvastatin in cognitive dysfunctions of rats. Alprazolam, Scopolamine and high fat diet (HFD) induced amnesia served as interoceptive memory models where as, Water-maze and Elevated plus-maze served as exteroceptive models. A total of 38 groups of rats were used in this investigation. Escape latency time (ELT) recorded during acquisition trials conducted from day 1 to day 4, in water maze was taken as an index of acquisition, where as mean time spent in target quadrant during retrieval trial on day 5, was taken as the index of retrieval (memory). On elevated plus-maze, transfer latency (TL) measured on 1st d served as the index of acquisition and TL recorded on 2nd d was taken as the index of retrieval (memory). Alprazolam (0.5 mg kg(-1) intraperitoneally), Scopolamine (0.4 mg kg(-1) intraperitoneally) and HFD treated (for 90 days) rats exhibited amnesia as reflected by impairment in learning ability as well as memory, when tested on both, water maze and elevated plus maze. Atorvastatin (5 mg kg(-1) orally) as well as Simvastatin (5 mg kg(-1) orally) significantly attenuated Alprazolam, Scopolamine and HFD induced amnesia. These results highlight the ameliorative role of statins in experimental amnesia with possible involvement of their cholesterol dependent as well as cholesterol independent actions.


Raul-Condestable is a >32 million metric ton (Mt) iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit located on the Peruvian coast, 90 km south of Lima. The ore occurs as veins, replacement "mantos," and disseminations consisting of a chalcopyrite-pyrite-pyrrhotite-magnetite-amphibole mineral association. The geology of the studied area comprises a series of superposed volcanic edifices of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age, which are part of a larger volcanic island to continental arc system. Particularly good exposures of the tilted host sequence allow the mapping of the Raul-Condestable IOCG deposit in a nearly complete oblique cross section, from its associated volcanic edifice down to a paleodepth of about 6 km.

U-Pb zircon ages indicate that in the deposit area felsic magmatic activity took place between 116.7 ± 0.4 and 114.5 ± 1 Ma, defining a new Raul-Condestable superunit, the oldest so far, of the Peruvian Coastal batholith. This superunit is located west of the main part of the batholith and includes a dacite-andesite volcanic dome and a subvolcanic quartz-diorite porphyry sill-dike complex that were emplaced at 116.7 ± 0.4 and 116.4 ±0.3 Ma, respectively, followed by tonalite stocks and dikes emplaced between 115.1 ± 0.4 and 114.5 ± 1 Ma. All these rocks contain hornblende and/or biotite but no pyroxene and correspond to silica- and water-rich magmas following a calcic differentiation trend. Hf isotope data on zircons (eHf(115 Ma) = 5.2–7.5) and Pb isotope data on whole rock, combined with lithogeochemical results, suggest that magmas were generated by partial melting of the upper mantle, enriched through hydrous metasomatism and/or melting of subducted pelagic sediments. The lack of zircon inheritance suggests that there was no direct involvement of continental crust.

The Raul-Condestable IOCG deposit is connected in space and time with the magmatism of the Raul-Condestable superunit. The mineralization was emplaced in the core of the dacite-andesite volcanic dome at a paleodepth of 2 to 3 km, surrounding two tonalitic intrusions formed at 115.1 ± 0.4 and 114.8 ± 0.4 Ma. The U-Pb age of hydrothermal titanite from IOCG veins at 115.2 ± 0.3 Ma indicates that the mineralization was coeval with (or more probably just followed) the emplacement of the tonalites. Re-Os geochronology on molybdenite did not yield reliable ages due to apparent Re loss. Copper ore is associated with a zoned alteration pattern, which surrounds the tonalite intrusions. It consists of a core of biotite alteration and quartz stockwork, grading outward to actinolite (±magnetite, ±chlorite, ±titanite, ±scapolite, ±albite, ±epidote) and upward to sericite + Fe chlorite alteration. An upper distal alteration halo consisting of hematite-chlorite surrounds the sericite + Fe chlorite and actinolite alterations laterally. Most of the ore is spatially associated with the actinolite alteration and, to a lesser extent, with the sericite + Fe chlorite alteration.

The results of this study confirm that the 110 to 120 Ma age range was a productive time period for Andean IOCG deposits. The characterization of the hydrous intermediate magmatism related to the mineralization, as well as the subvolcanic position of the deposit and its related alteration pattern provides further criteria that may be used when exploring for IOCG deposits in a convergent plate tectonic setting.


Summary 1.Disentangling the role of nutrient pollution and climate change on lake ecosystem functioning is paramount to protect water quality in lake catchments worldwide. For more effective management, however, we need to determine whether these two forcing factors interact at different spatial and temporal scales. 2.This study compares centennial-scale archival data and lake sediment records of eutrophication from Blelham Tarn and previously published data from Lake Windermere's North Basin in the English Lake District. We aimed to quantify how lake morphometry, catchment characteristics and landscape position influence the relationship between climate, local land use and algal community change. 3.Redundancy analysis revealed that increases in cyanobacterial pigments and stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon in sediments of Blelham Tarn from the 1970s onwards correlate strongly with rising densities of sheep and cattle in the catchment. Concomitant installation of piped water and sewage processing facilities appeared to lead to the expansion of filamentous cyanobacteria. In contrast, elevated fossil pigments from siliceous algae after 1990 were related inversely to winter precipitation, suggesting seasonal changes in hydraulic flushing also influenced the algal community response to centennial-scale fertilisation. 4.Abundance of vernal algae increased synchronously in Blelham Tarn and Lake Windermere's North Basin after regional agricultural intensification in the mid-nineteenth century. In contrast, differences in timing of wastewater disposal and treatment at each site led to asynchronous changes in summer taxa such as filamentous cyanobacteria. 5.This study highlights that lake catchments can act as local filters to regional climate change, both due to differences in localised land-use and intrinsic hydrological features (e.g. catchment:lake area, flushing rate). Further, this paper highlights the ability of palaeolimnology to aid identification of significant nutrient sources over different spatial scales for effective catchment water management.


This paper estimates a panel FDI investment function that seeks to identify some of the major economic and institutional determinants of net FDI flows to nine major Latin American countries during the 1980-2014 period. First, it utilizes Dunning's OLI model to identify some of the major economic and institutional determinants of FDI. Second, the paper provides an overview of FDI flows to Latin America during the 1990-2017 period, with particular emphasis on their contribution to the financing of gross fixed capital formation. Third, an economic rationale is provided for the included variables and their expected signs. Fourth, the paper reports estimates for a Fully Modified Ordinary least Squares (FMOLS) panel regression designed to explain the variation in FDI flows to Latin America during the 1980-2014 period. The estimates suggest that real GDP (a proxy for market size), credit provided by the private banking sector, government expenditures on education, and the level of economic freedom as measured by the Fraser Institute have a positive and significant effect. On the other hand, public investment spending, the volatility of real GDP and the real exchange rate have a negative and significant effect on FDI flows. The panel unit root and (Pedroni) panel cointegration tests suggest that there is a stable, long-term relationship among the included variables; i.e., the selected variables in the reported regressions are cointegrated over the relevant time period.


In a GSM system, where coverage areas are divided into cells in planning phase, the division method and its parameters have a great importance. This study explains GSM system and cell planning process, and gives information about the features of fuzzy logic algorithm. Fuzzy logic solves problems better than other control algorithms in which initial parameters are needed to be assigned by the designer, which have variables that aren't defined well and change with time and where system expert's knowledge and experience in design process have great importance. Cell planning has same important problems that aren't defined well, change with time. These important problems of cell planning are the cell radius, base station number and power, TRU (transceiver unit) number, N (number of cells per cluster), cost, CIR (channel interference ratio), Ds (distance between two cells which use same frequency at the same time) are found for urban, suburban and rural areas by using omni or three sector antennas. GSM cell planning is simulated by using fuzzy logic algorithm, a computer program is written to determine what kind of configuration changes have to be made so as to minimize the number of base station, and hence the total system cost, and also to maintain the requirements of the maximum traffic demand. In addition, input and output data can be defined through the interface which is created in C++ Builder programming language.


As a result of extensive alcohol research conducted on both humans and animals, it is possible to predict a BAC, given pertinent data. In addition, it is possible to estimate from a given BAC the quantity of alcohol consumed. Caution must be used in these predictions, for certain factors will affect the final estimation. Absorption of alcohol is influenced by gastrointestinal contents and motility, and also the composition and quantity of the alcoholic beverage. The vascularity of tissues influences the distribution of alcohol, and their water content will determine the amount of alcohol present after equilibrium. Elimination of alcohol begins immediately after absorption. The elimination rate varies for individuals but falls between .015 percent to .020 percent per hour, with an average of .018 percent per hour. In addition to these factors, a BAC will depend on the subject's weight, percentage of alcohol in the beverage, and the rate of drinking. The principal effect of alcohol in the body is on the central nervous system. Its depressant effect consists of impairment to sensory, motor and learned functions. When combined with some other drugs, a more intoxicated state occurs. Although tolerance to alcohol at low blood concentrations is possible, the tolerance most noted is a learned tolerance among chronic drinkers. contamination of antemortem blood samples collected for alcohol analysis is minimal when swabbing with an ethanolic antiseptic is performed with routine clinical technique; sloppy swabbing has been shown to increase the BAC determination significantly. The alcoholic content of blood used for transfusion does not contribute significantly to the BAC of the recipient, since extensive dilution occurs; nor does the alcohol present in injectable medication contribute significantly. Although many factors may alter the concentration of alcohol present in autopsy specimens, postmortem synthesis of alcohol receives the most attention. The microorganisms that cause postmortem ethanol production can be inhibited by adding a preservative to the samples and storing them under refrigeration. Should putrefaction be present, it is recommended that, in addition to blood, several different specimens be collected and analyzed for the presence of alcohol. Antemortem blood samples containing ethanol, collected using sterile tubes and techniques, may be analyzed up to 14 days later with reasonable certainty that the ethanol level reflects that which was present at the time of collection.


We report a micro-scale optical parametric oscillator (/spl mu/OPO). Oscillations are observed at record low threshold values (170 micro-Watts) with highly ideal (97%) signal-to-idler photon emission. High conversion efficiencies (36%) are achieved.


Abstract Human health decline is most commonly manifested by pain and sometimes fever in the initial phase of the disease. Analgesics, antipyretics and anti-inflammatories serve as drugs with various chemical structures which showcase in different proportions their main actions. They represent medicines that suppress pain and fight fever. The aim of the paper is studying the usual types of therapeutic indications using modern spectral analysis, based on the analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory actions. The following spectral analysis methods are used to control the chemical compositions of the studied drugs: UV-VIS analyses and IR analyses.


To link the presence of intrathecal virus‐specific oligoclonal immunoglobulin G (IgG) in multiple sclerosis patients to a demyelinating activity, aggregating rat brain cell cultures were treated with antibodies directed against two viruses, namely, rubella (RV) and hepatitis B (HB). Anti‐RV antibodies in the presence of complement decreased myelin basic protein concentrations in a dose‐dependent manner, whereas anti‐HB antibodies had no effect. A similar but less pronounced effect was observed on the enzymatic activity of 2′,3′‐cyclic nucleotide 3′‐phosphohydrolase, which is enriched in noncompact membranes of oligodendrocytes. These effects were comparable to those in cultures treated with antibodies directed against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), previously found to be myelinotoxic both in vitro and in vivo. Sequence homologies were found between structural glycoprotein E2 of RV and MOG, suggesting that demyelination was due to molecular mimicry. To support the hypothesis that demyelination was caused by anti‐RV IgG that recognized an MOG epitope, we found that anti‐RV antibodies depleted MOG in a dose‐dependent manner. Further evidence came from the demonstration that anti‐RV and anti‐MOG IgG colocalized on oligodendrocyte processes and that both revealed by Western blot a 28 kDa protein in CNS myelin, a molecular weight corresponding to MOG. These findings suggest that a virus such as RV exhibiting molecular mimicry with MOG can trigger an autoimmune demyelination. J. Neurosci. Res. 65:446–454, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Mining has always played an important role in human development. The growing demand for miningnowadays puts under threat biodiversity and ecosystem services, which leads to many conflicts based on choicebetween environment protection and social and economical development. Studying a case of a limestone quarryon Northern Gotland as one of the most representative cases of such conflict, gave an opportunity to investigateand analyze the cost of the decision-making in mining as well as interaction between stakeholders affecting andbeing affected by the decision from the perspective of the group opposing to mining. The research showedweakness of communication between the stakeholders; the weakness of the argument supporting social andeconomical development and giving it higher priority than the environment; and the best possible solution whichwould be turning the whole area of interest into a national park, even though such solution would not fulfilltheinterests of the mining company.


A small but significant literature concludes that terrorism impacts the economy, although the impact of mass-shooting has not yet been addressed by economists. We compare the economic effects of two tragedies: the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing and the 2012 Sandy Hook School Shooting. Fatal attacks are rare on any given day, and to estimate their effects we combine RDD with differences-in-differences. Using diaries of daily activities for a representative, random sample of Americans, we find a decline of over half an hour per day in average hours worked, while time spent accessing the media increased slightly. Active leisure fell after the BMB but increased after the SHSS. Daily data on emotional feelings reveal that subjective well-being fell dramatically after the BMB, and especially so for women, who are likely more averse to risk; but the findings are mixed for the SHSS. The latter induced a significant increase in meaningfulness, which was greatest for respondents with college education. We discuss these differences against economic, a priori, and drive conclusions that may be relevant for policy.


OBJECTIVE
To compare classification levels and trunk stabilization of wheelchair basketball players and to identify their norm values of trunk balance.

PARTICIPANTS
113 wheelchair basketball players in the super and first Turkish leagues.

INTERVENTIONS
A modified Wheelchair Skills Test (WST) (version 4.1) was used to evaluate trunk stabilization. Two skills were chosen that correspond to the stationary wheelie activity in WST, the 30-s stationary wheelie and stationary wheelie in 180°.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
There are no statistical differences between WST rates and point means.

RESULTS
The skills and success and safety rates of the players with 1.5 points (51.9%, 44.4%) were lower than those of the players with 1.0 point (70%, 66.7%). In players with 2.5 and 2.0 points, the most successful and safest percentage values were 78.6%, 78.6% and 82.1%, 75%.

CONCLUSIONS
Although it is expected that trunk stabilization would be better in players with high points, in our study we encountered conflicting results between the points and sitting balance or trunk stabilization. Our study supports the studies in the literature suggesting modifications in the functional-classification system.


Ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (us-AuNPs, <3 nm) have been recently recognized as surprisingly active and extraordinarily effective green catalysts. Their stability against sintering during reactions, however, remains a serious issue for practical applications. Encapsulating such small nanoparticles in a layer of porous silica can dramatically enhance the stability, but it has been extremely difficult to achieve using conventional sol-gel coating methods due to the weak metal/oxide affinity. In this work, we address this challenge by developing an effective protocol for the synthesis of us-AuNP@SiO2 single-core/shell nanospheres. More specifically, we take an alternative route by starting with ultrasmall gold hydroxide nanoparticles, which have excellent affinity to silica, then carrying out controllable silica coating in reverse micelles, and finally converting gold hydroxide particles into well-protected us-AuNPs. With a single-core/shell configuration that prevents sintering of nearby us-AuNPs and amino group modification of the Au/SiO2 interface that provides additional coordinating interactions, the resulting us-AuNP@SiO2 nanospheres are highly stable at high temperatures and show high activity in catalytic CO oxidation reactions. A dramatic and continuous increase in the catalytic activity has been observed when the size of the us-AuNPs decreases from 2.3 to 1.5 nm, which reflects the intrinsic size effect of the Au nanoparticles on an inert support. The synthesis scheme described in this work is believed to be extendable to many other ultrasmall metal@oxide nanostructures for much broader catalytic applications.


Postcoital (pc) cervical mucus was collected in 73 menstrual cycles of cynomolgus monkeys and in 43 cycles of rhesus monkeys at 2, 6, 10, 30 hr pc. Videomicrography was used to analyze sperm numbers and movement in the mucus. Both cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys had comparable populations of motile sperm in the mucus at 2 hr pc. However, by 6 hr pc, cervical mucus from cynomolgus monkeys contained twice as many total sperm and motile sperm as mucus from rhesus monkeys (P less than .05). Mean swimming speeds of the free-swimming cervical sperm were similar for the two species at this time. No motile sperm were recovered in mucus from rhesus monkeys at 30 hr pc. In cynomolgus monkeys, however, 14 of the 26 animals examined at 30 hr pc had motile sperm in their mucus. These sperm exhibited lower percent motility, percent free-swimming sperm, and swimming speed than those sperm observed at 6 hr pc. Uterine sperm were collected by transcervical or transuterine aspiration from cynomolgus monkeys. In the transcervical technique, sperm were successfully obtained in four of nine animals examined at 6 hr and in four of five animals at 30 hr pc. The percentage of motile sperm in the uterine fluid was high, 82% +/- 4%, and the swimming speeds (86 +/- 2 microns/sec) were higher than those observed in cervical mucus. Approximately 5-10% of the uterine sperm exhibited swimming motions similar to the hyperactivated motility seen in most mammals. These findings indicate that the sperm cervical mucus interaction in vivo in cynomolgus monkeys has more similarities to the human situation than does the interaction in rhesus monkeys.


This paper describes an educational innovation that survived only 2 years. The pilot program introduced team teaching, based on a middle-school philosophy, into three high schools in a relatively large midwestern school district. The interdisciplinary team sought to help ninth-graders make the transition from middle to high school. Despite concerns of district funding and the viability of such a program in high schools, the failure of the teacher-designed project is largely attributed to the .a.tions of one of the principals. The paper describes the influence of the principal and how he was influenced by a small group of vocal, high-socioeconomic-status parents. Data were obtained through: (1) formal interviews with the 9 team teachers, 3 high school principals, and 3 central administrators; (2) informal interviews with other staff; and (3) observations of schooland district-level planning meetings. Findings indicate that despite problems that existed between and within levels of the district, they were insufficient in themselves to end the program. Rather, the principal lobbied to use project funding for other interests, expressed no interest in the project, and participated in making decisions that eventually ended it. It appears that he vetoed the project because he wanted to please a vocal, affluent constituency and because the innovation did not fit his favored data-driven approach. Since only the more powerful and affluent parents contacted the principal, who really become the winners and losers? (LMI) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** THE MICROPOLITICAL INFLUENCE OF SES ON A BUILDING PRINCIPAL AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SCHOOL INNOVATION Bruce S. Frana University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association


A discussion and review are given of the service and design requirements of transmitting tubes intended for application in the ultra-high-frequency spectrum. These requirements fall in two classes: (1) those imposed by service conditions and (2) those imposed by the frequency at which the tube is operated. The fulfilling of these requirements has led to certain design and manufacturing problems, such as the reduction of grid emission, choice of anode material, choice of a suitable mechanical structure, etc. A description of the novelfeatures of construction and the operation of three new ultra-high-frequency transmitting tubes are also given. Two of these tubes are the RCA-815 and RCA-829 which are push-pull beam tetrodes while the third tube, the RCA-826, is a triode. Some precautions necessary for obtaining satisfactory operation with these tubes are given.


The seismic reflection method has been used extensively in mineral exploration and for imaging crustal structures within hardrock environments. In this research the seismic reflection method has been used and studied to address problems associated with hardrock settings. Papers I and II, address delineating and imaging a sulfide ore body and its surrounding rocks and structures in Garpenberg, central Sweden, at an active mine. 3D ray-tracing and finite-difference modeling were performed and the results suggest that although the detection of the ore body by the seismic reflection method is possible in the area, the presence of backfilled stopes in the mine makes seismic imaging of it difficult. In paper III the deeper structures of the Parvie fault system in northern Sweden were revealed down to about 8 km through 2D seismic reflection profiling. The resulting images were interpreted using microearthquake data as a constraint. Based on the interpretation, some locations were suggested for future scientific deep drilling into the fault system. In paper IV, the seismic signature of complex geological structures of the Cue-Weld Range area in Western Australia was studied using a portion of a deep 2D seismic reflection profile. The pronounced reflections on the seismic images were correlated to their corresponding rock units on an available surface geological map of the study area. 3D constant velocity ray-tracing was performed to constrain the interpretation. Furthermore, the proposed structural model was tested using a 2D acoustic finite-difference seismic modeling method. Based on this study, a new 3D structural model was proposed for the subsurface of the area. These studies have investigated the capability of the seismic reflection method for imaging crustal structures within challenging hardrock and complex geological settings and show some its potential, but also its limitations.


End-to-end test cases that exercise the application under test via its user interface (UI) are known to be hard for developers to read and understand; consequently, diagnosing failures in these tests and maintaining them can be tedious. Techniques for computing natural-language descriptions of test cases can help increase test readability. However, so far, such techniques have been developed for unit test cases; they are not applicable to end-to-end test cases. In this paper, we focus on the problem of computing naturallanguage labels for the steps of end-to-end UI test cases for web applications. We present two techniques that apply natural-language processing to information available in the browser document object model (DOM). The first technique is an instance of a supervised approach in which labeling-relevant DOM attributes are ranked via manual analysis and fed into label computation. However, supervised approach requires a training dataset. So we propose the second technique, which is unsupervised: it leverages probabilistic context-free grammar learning to compute dominant DOM attributes automatically. We implemented these techniques, along with two simpler baseline techniques, in a tool called CRAWLABEL (available as a plugin to Crawljax, a state-of-the-art UI test-generation tool for web applications) and evaluated their effectiveness on open-source web applications. Our results indicate that the supervised approach can achieve precision, recall, and Fl-score of 83.38, 60.64, and 66.40, respectively. The unsupervised approach, although less effective, is competitive, achieving scores of 72.37, 58.12, and 59.77. We highlight key results and discuss the implications of our findings.


The activated carbon-filled cellulose acetate (CA) hollow-fiber membranes were prepared by using phase-inverse technique and subsequently characterized by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermal mechanical analysis (TMA), and tensile analysis. The SEM observation demonstrated that the activated carbon-filled CA hollow-fiber membranes possess four-layer structure, which consists of an external skin dense layer, an external void layer, a central sponge layer, and an internal skin dense layer, whereas the pure CA hollow-fiber membranes lack the macrovoid layer. As the measurement of AFM, the roughness of both internal and external surface of activated carbon-filled fibers is much higher than that of pure CA fiber, respectively. Higher Young's modulus and storage modulus of filled membranes indicate that the activated carbon particles were homogeneously dispersed in the polymeric matrix. To investigate the feasibility of the newly developed hollow-fiber membranes for cell immobilization cells and to evaluate the inhibitory effect of phenol on immobilized cells, Pseudomonas putida ATCC 17484 was chosen to be immobilized on both pure CA and activated carbon-filled hollow-fiber membranes. Batch experiments for phenol biodegradation were carried out for both free suspension and immobilized cells at the initial concentration of 1500 mg/L phenol. In the case of free suspension, neither cell growth nor phenol degradation occurred to any measurable extent up to 35 h. We found that both pure CA fiber and activated carbon-filled fiber immobilization systems can completely degrade the phenol. However, the biodegradation rate of activated carbon-filled fiber system was higher than that of pure CA fiber system. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 76: 695–707, 2000


Abstract : This case study describes the development of a method for evaluating computer and software suppliers for the pharmaceutical industry. The study describes the role of government regulation within the industry and the need for standardized audits of computer and software suppliers. The audit method consists of six steps: initiation, pre-work, auditing, observations and reporting, decision, and follow-up. Each of these steps is described in detail, as are several features of the method: a data collection tool, an audit repository, and extensive auditor training supervised by an industry-regulated oversight agency. Finally, the report describes the benefits of this audit method, together with a set of lessons learned about the audit of computer and software suppliers.


Non-trivial supergeneralization of the Kerr-Newman solution is considered as representing a combined model of the Kerr-Newman spinning particle and superparticle.
We show that the old problem of obtaining non-trivial super black hole solutions can be resolved in supergravity broken by Goldstone fermion. Non-linear realization of broken N=2 supersymmetry specific for the Kerr geometry is considered and some examples of the super-Kerr geometries generated by Goldstone fermion are analyzed. The resulting geometries acquire torsion, Rarita-Schwinger field and extra wave contributions to metric and electromagnetic field caused by Grassmann variables.
One family of the self-consistent super-Kerr-Newman solutions to broken N=2 supergravity is selected, and peculiarities of these solutions are discussed. In particular, the appearance of extra `axial' singular line and traveling waves concentrated near `axial' and ring-like singularities.


ABSTRACT With rising energy demand in Asia, the high potential for hydropower development and the need for low-carbon energy development, hydropower would seem to have a significant role in South Asia's energy future. However, the extent of hydropower development will depend on several risk factors, including the cost of alternative energy sources, the environmental sustainability of hydropower and social issues of equitable development. Using a risk-analysis framework, it is concluded that the future of hydropower will depend on how well policies and institutions manage the risks, facilitate efficient financial markets, and promote fair and friendly cross-border electricity trade.


In lower-limb rehabilitation programs, patients that suffer from neuromuscular disorders with manual muscle test (MMT) level 2 are able to perform voluntary muscle contraction and visible limb movement provided that a therapist assists the patient to eliminate the weight of his/her leg. In addition, the physical therapist is clinically needed to guide the patient performing a hip-only or knee-only motion during rehabilitation. The objective of this paper is to present a new assistive training device that replaces the function of the therapist in helping the MMT-level-2 patients self-training their hip and knee flexion/extension motions under an antigravity environment. First, we will present a novel reconfigurable mechanism, which can possess two working configurations for guiding the knee-only and hip-only training, respectively. Then, based on the theory of static balancing, two linear springs are attached to the device to generate an antigravity training environment in both configurations for the patient. The static balance design is verified by a numerical example with the support of software simulation. A prototype is built up and tested on healthy subjects. By using the electromyography (EMG) measurement, the myoelectric signals of four major muscles for the subject with/without the aid of the device are analyzed. The results show that the myoelectric voltages of the stimulated muscles are significantly reduced when the subject is assisted with the device. It further demonstrates that moving the fixation positions of the limb segments to other positions could distinctly reduce the assistive force from the device, which suggests multiple training modes to the patients in strengthening the training intensity. In conclusion, this paper presents a successful pioneering work on the design of rehabilitation devices via the integration of the principles of reconfigurable mechanisms and static balancing.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Background: A recent randomized trial showed that recombinant thrombomodulin did not benefit patients who had sepsis with coagulopathy and organ dysfunction, suggesting that the effects of thrombomodulin are heterogeneous across sepsis phenotypes. We examined the latent phenotypes of sepsis with coagulopathy and the associations between thrombomodulin treatment and 28-day and in-hospital mortality for each phenotype.Methods: This was a secondary analysis of multicenter registries containing data on adult patients (aged ≥16 years) who were admitted to intensive care units for severe sepsis or septic shock in Japan. Three multicenter registries were divided into derivation (two registries) and validation (one registry) cohorts. Phenotypes were derived using k-means with coagulation markers, platelet counts, prothrombin time/international normalized ratios, fibrinogen, fibrinogen/fibrin-degradation-products (FDP), D-dimer, and antithrombin activities. Associations between thrombomodulin treatment and survival outcomes (28-day and in-hospital mortality) were assessed in derived clusters using a generalized estimating equation.Results: Four sepsis phenotypes were derived from 3,694 patients in the derivation cohort. Cluster dA (n = 323) had severe coagulopathy with high FDP and D-dimer levels, severe organ dysfunction, and high mortality. Cluster dB had severe disease with moderate coagulopathy. Clusters dC and dD had moderate and mild disease with and without coagulopathy, respectively. Thrombomodulin was associated with a lower 28-day (adjusted risk difference [RD]: −17.8% [95% CI −28.7% to −6.9%]) and in-hospital (adjusted RD: −17.7% [95% CI −27.6 to −7.8%]) mortality only in cluster dA. Sepsis phenotypes were similar in the validation cohort, and thrombomodulin treatment was also associated with lower 28-day (RD: −24.9% [95%CI −49.1% to −0.7%]) and in-hospital mortality (RD: −30.9% [95%CI −55.3 to −6.6%]).Conclusions: We identified four coagulation marker-based sepsis phenotypes. The treatment effects of thrombomodulin varied across sepsis phenotypes. This finding will facilitate future trials of thrombomodulin, in which a sepsis phenotype with high FDP and D-dimer can be targeted.


The paper analyses the current situation and perspectives of construction waste management in the territory of Jablanica district, Serbia. Considering the importance of construction waste management for the ecosystem, the state and perspectives are assessed through the assessment of the possibilities of reuse and recycling. According to Rulebook on waste categories with catalogue in Serbia, construction waste found at the landfill Donja Jajina is classified and observed in this research. Based on a six-month daily monitoring of the material flow of construction waste at the landfill in Dona Jajina, the current estimated state of the amount of waste as well as further growth of waste at the landfill is presented. Using MATLAB simulation code, predictions for the next 15 years are obtained, and conclusions are made. At the moment, concrete, brick, asphalt, as well as other construction waste are being buried at the landfill in Donja Jajina, and no further waste treatment is being done. The landfill has a lot of material that could be further used and put into use. It is necessary to build a stationary recycling plant on the landfill itself that would produce recycled aggregates and thereby reduce the use of natural aggregates.


Objective: The present study made an attempt to produce commercially valuable citric acid by the fungal strain Aspergillus niger from molasses and corncob using submerged fermentation, as the best alternative to the sugar substrate. Methods: Three types of production media were prepared including control (sucrose) by following standard fermentation conditions. The acid production was indicated by the reduction of pH levels. The citric acid content and residual sugars of the final hydrolysate were estimated by the Marrier and Boulet method and Anthrone Sulphuric acid method respectively. Results: The control production medium gave yield of 4.6 milligrams per milliter (mg/ml) at pH 3.0 on 10th Conclusion: Molasses and corncob when replaced with sucrose in the fermentation medium produced significant amount of citric acid. The results imply the effective use of molasses and corncob as an alternative substrate for the production of commercially valuable, citric acid with a cost effective approach. day. The medium containing molasses and other compositions gave the yield of 10.4 mg/ml, whereas corncob medium and other compositions gave the yield of 5.3 mg/ml at pH 2.5. The medium containing molasses and corncob separately with 5 percent (%) sucrose gave the highest yield of 12.6 mg/ml and 6.7 mg/ml at pH 3.0 respectively. Different factors affecting citric acid production by fermentation were also studied. Sucrose was found superior for maximum citric production at optimum incubation temperature at 30 degree Celsius ( ). The nitrogen supplements, ammonium sulphate and ammonium chloride at a concentration of 0.25 % and 0.5% respectively gave the highest yield, whereas the methanol concentration of 2% was found optimum for obtaining maximum yield of citric acid.


A unified approach of designing cost-effective, power-efficient and high intercept point passive double balanced mixer (DBM) is reported. This work is based on switching devices as a mixing cell (dual FETs) where gate's capacitances are resonated by using hybrid resonance network for minimization of LO power level and nonlinearity of the mixing cell. The passive reflection FET mixers based on present approach can operate with low noise figure and high dynamic ranges without the need of excessively high LO drive level. This paper is based on patent pending approach that gives input intercept points (IIP3) in excess of 40 dBm and conversion loss less than 9.5 dB with the LO power typically 17 dBm for the frequency bands (RF: 650-1500 MHz, LO: 700-1700 MHz, IF: 50-200 MHz). The interport isolation is improved by minimizing signal leakage between ports through amplitude and phase cancellation techniques, and is better than 30 dB for broadband applications. To our knowledge, the mixer circuits reported in this work exhibit best performance (for this class of circuits and given size and cost) to date, and easily amenable for integration in MMIC form. The circuit topology is not limited to these frequencies, and can be easily extended for other frequency band to meet the requirement of present and later generation of communication systems


Boko Haram, six years after it declared war on the Nigerian state, has extended its operation to the neighboring countries of Cameroun and Chad and ranks as the world's deadliest terrorist organization. These developments have lent credence to the view that it is on a mission to eradicate Western cultural influence in Nigeria. However, the conventional narrative does not explain the Jonathan administration's inability to dismantle or significantly degrade it despite an apparently favorable balance of power. Furthermore, it does not explain the government's failure to nip it in the bud during the period of radicalization that for ten years preceded the inception of its terrorist mission. To bridge the existing knowledge gap pertaining to Boko Haram's resilience and growth, this article posits that the Islamist terrorist group and other insurgencies are symptomatic of the dysfunctionality of the Nigerian state. State dysfunction or failure derives from the chronic inclination of the national elites to abuse their role as custodians of public institutions and resources. As evidenced by key national decisions related to constitutional separation of state and religion, Nigeria's membership in the Organization of Islamic Countries, the adoption of sharia by northern states, and the Jonathan administration's counterinsurgency strategy, the autonomy of the Nigerian state and its ability to safeguard the safety of life and property within its borders have been severely compromised by elite behavior marked by political expediency and obsession with personal aggrandizement. Contrary to the conventional narrative, politicians from throughout Nigeria, including those in the south, contributed to the conditions that gave rise to Boko Haram.


Indexes are ubiquitous. Examples include associative arrays, dictionaries, maps and hashes used in applications such as databases, file systems and dynamic languages. Abstractly, a sequential index can be viewed as a partial function from keys to values. Values can be queried by their keys, and the index can be mutated by adding or removing mappings. Whilst appealingly simple, this abstract specification is insufficient for reasoning about indexes that are accessed concurrently. We present an abstract specification for concurrent indexes. We verify several representative concurrent client applications using our specification, demonstrating that clients can reason abstractly without having to consider specific underlying implementations. Our specification would, however, mean nothing if it were not satisfied by standard implementations of concurrent indexes. We verify that our specification is satisfied by algorithms based on linked lists, hash tables and BLink trees. The complexity of these algorithms, in particular the BLink tree algorithm, can be completely hidden from the client's view by our abstract specification. General Terms Algorithms, Concurrency, Theory, Verification.


Although HFO refrigerants are considered the low GWP solutions to the global warming problem, some properties of HFO refrigerants prohibited the direct drop in replacement application in the refrigeration system. As a result, to replace the high GWP HFC refrigerants, HFC & HFO refrigerants are blended to combine their properties to become a workable solution. Both HFC and HFO refrigerants have similar basic properties; however, one of the HFO refrigerants properties is good miscibility to incumbent refrigeration lubricants, especially HFO-1234ze. Generally speaking, refrigerant-oil mixture with highly miscible property in low temperature evaporator will lead to more soluble phenomenon in high temperature compressor. Therefore, when refrigerant is well miscible with refrigeration oil, the dissolved refrigerant will reduce working viscosity of refrigerant-oil mixture in compressor, which could results in lower lubricity, increase wear of sliding parts, and shorter compressor durability. In our studies, we discuss the influence of lubricant in HFC & HFO blend refrigeration system, such as R513A or R450A. Compared to the lubricant performance in HFO refrigerants, the same lubricant in the HFC & HFO blend refrigerants do not lead to severe refrigerants dilution of lubricant viscosity, which causes poor lubricity due to high solubility. According to our previous study, we know the better miscibility brings the better solubility in R1234ze system. We also developed lubricants with different miscibility properties in HFC & HFO blend refrigerants in order to investigate the miscibility, solubility and lubricity performance in the HFC & HFO refrigeration systems.


This paper presents a new technique for dynamic, frame-by-frame compensation of the Gaussian variances in the hidden Markov model (HMM), exploiting the feature variance or uncertainty estimated during the speech feature enhancement process, to improve noise-robust speech recognition. The new technique provides an alternative to the Bayesian predictive classification decision rule by carrying out an integration over the feature space instead of over the model-parameter space, offering a much simpler system implementation, lower computational cost, and dynamic compensation capabilities at the frame level. The computation of the feature enhancement variances is carried out using a probabilistic and parametric model of speech distortion, free from the use of any stereo training data. Dynamic compensation of the Gaussian variances in the HMM recognizer is derived, which is simply enlarging the HMM Gaussian variances by the feature enhancement variances. Experimental evaluation using the full Aurora2 test data sets demonstrates a significant digit error rate reduction, averaged over all noisy and signal-to-noise-ratio conditions, compared with the baseline that did not exploit the enhancement variance information. When the true enhancement variances are used, further dramatic error rate reduction is observed, indicating the strong potential for the new technique and the strong need for high accuracy in estimating the variances associated with feature enhancement. All the results, using either the true variances of the enhanced features or the estimated ones, show that the greatest contribution to recognizer's performance improvement is due to the use of the uncertainty for the static features, next due to the delta features, and the least due to the delta-delta features.


In recent years, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have become an excellent solution to the selective and sensitive determination of target molecules in complex matrices where other similar and relative structural compounds could coexist. Although MIPs show the inherent properties of the polymers, including stability, robustness, and easy/cheap synthesis, some of their characteristics can be enhanced, or new functionalities can be obtained when nanoparticles are incorporated in their polymeric structure. The great variety of nanoparticles available significantly increase the possibility of finding the adequate design of nanostructured MIP for each analytical problem. Moreover, different structures (i.e., monolithic solids or MIPs micro/nanoparticles) can be produced depending on the used synthesis approach. This review aims to summarize and describe the most recent and innovative strategies since 2015, based on the combination of MIPs with nanoparticles. The role of the nanoparticles in the polymerization, as well as in the imprinting and adsorption efficiency, is also discussed through the review.


Waveguides with anisotropic surface impedance boundaries have been investigated for the purpose of matched feeds for offset reflectors. Matched feeds employ higher order waveguide modes to cancel out cross polarization introduced by the offset geometry. Since the higher order modes propagate at different speeds than the fundamental mode in conventional waveguides, it is challenging to meet phase relationship requirements over a large band. We have found that traditional corrugated waveguides are poorly suited for matched feed applications. However, other surfaces that satisfy the balanced hybrid condition, but have a small capacitive longitudinal reactance and large inductive azimuthal reactance show very promising properties: In a large band, HE11 and HE21 have similar propagation characteristics.


In a software development life cycle, software requirements specifications (SRS) writ- ten in an incomprehensible language might hinder the success of the project in later stages. In such cases, the subjective and ambiguous nature of the natural languages can be considered as a cause for the failure of the final product. Redundancy and/or controversial information in the SRS documents might also result in additional costs and time loss, reducing the overall efficiency of the project. With the recent advances in machine learning, there is an increased effort to develop automated solutions for a seamless SRS design. However, most vanilla machine learning approaches ignore the semantics of the software artifacts or integrating domain-specific knowledge into the underlying natural language processing tasks, and therefore tend to generate inaccurate results. With such concerns in mind, we consider a transfer learning approach in our study, which is based on an existing pre-trained language model called DistilBERT. We specifically examine the DistilBERT's ability in multi-class text classification on SRS data using various fine- tuning methods, and compare its performance with other deep learning methods such as LSTM and BiLSTM. We test the performance of these models using two datasets: DOORS Next Generation dataset and PROMISE-NFR dataset. Our numerical results demonstrate that DistilBERT perform well for various text classification tasks over the SRS datasets and shows significant promise to be used for automating the software development processes.


Summary
A group of six phages, GV-1 to GV-6, was characterized. These phages use a strain of Bacillus thuringiensis var. galleriae, serotype V, esterase type 5, as host. The phages were divided into three types: Group I, phages GV-1, GV-2 and GV-4; Group II, phages GV-3 and GV-5; Group III, phage GV-6. Their morphology, plaque morphology, host range, serum neutralization, adsorption rates, one-step growth characteristics, calcium requirements, thermal inactivation and stability were examined. Distinction between the groups was clear-cut, and sufficient differences were observed between individual phages within a group to allow differentiation. Group I phages do not resemble any of the phages previously reported as replicating in B. thuringiensis; group II phages resembled the B. subtilis phage GA-1 (Bradley, 1965); GV-6 phage may be similar to a previously reported B. thuringiensis phage (Chapman & Norris, 1966).


A case of paracoccidioidomycosis by accidental innoculation on the back of the left hand in a female patient is presented. Clinically the manifestation was of a hard and painful nodular lesion. This lesion was completely excised surgically. This lesion was completely excised surgically. The material obtained revealed the "Paracoccidioides brasillensis" by direct and histopathologic microscopic examinations. No culture was obtained. The histopathologic aspect of the lesion was of a tuberculoid granuloma. The immunological study demonstrated a positive intradermic test and negative results by complement fixation and preciptin reactions. The lesion cured completely after the surgical excision and sulfadimetoxin treatment.


The article brings into the focus the corporate value creation and the main value drivers. The first goal of the study is to classify the most relevant value drivers, and their function of the firms' value. Further objective of this paper is to present the effects of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. This article demonstrates the following. The first part introduces the value chain and illustrates the primary and the support activities of the companies. The second section briefly presents the 2007-2008 global economic crisis, introducing its causes, events and financial aspects. The third empirical part of the paper analyses the database featuring data from 18 European countries, 10 sectors and 1553 firms in the period between 2004 and 2011. At the end, the fourth part contains conclusions. Based on the related literature reviewed and in the conducted empirical research it can be assessed that 2008 can be seen unambiguously as the year of the crisis. In this year, all independent variables had a negative effect on the dependent variable.


This guide will tell you more about The Human Library -- what it is, why it's important, and how you can participate. Join us for this event happening at Hillman Library on April 4, 2019!


Purpose: A meta-analysis of randomized trials in advanced ovarian cancer showed a longer survival with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (CAP) than with cyclophosphamide and cisplatin (CP; P .009). In contrast, the results of the large International Collaborative Ovarian Neoplasm Study (ICON2) showed no survival difference between CAP and carboplatin (P .98). In this article, we show how these discrepant results can be reconciled through the estimation of expected survival curves. Materials and Methods: A proportional hazards model, fitted to the meta-analysis data, was used to construct the expected survival curve for each treatment arm of the ICON2 trial. Expected survival curves were compared with observed survival curves in the ICON2 trial at all time points using a nonparametric test. Results: The prognostic model for survival obtained in the meta-analysis included extent of residual disease, age, histologic grade, and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage. When this model was applied to the ICON2 data, there was no difference between the expected and observed curves in the CAP arm. In contrast, the observed survival curve for carboplatin was far superior to the expected survival curve for CP (P < .01). Conclusion: These analyses provide indirect evidence that better results are achieved with carboplatin alone at an optimally tolerated dose, compared with the CP combination at a cisplatin dose of 50 to 60 mg/m 2 . The expected survival may provide valuable insight when direct comparisons between randomized groups yield discrepant results across different studies. J Clin Oncol 21:1682-1687. © 2003 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.


Objective: To determine whether safety culture factors varied across the intensive care units (ICUs) of a single hospital, between nurses and physicians, and to explore ICU nursing directors' perceptions of their personnel's attitudes. Design: Cross‐sectional surveys using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire‐ICU version, a validated, aviation industry‐based safety culture survey instrument. It assesses culture across six factors: teamwork climate, perceptions of management, safety climate, stress recognition, job satisfaction, and work environment. Setting: Four ICUs in one tertiary care hospital. Subjects: All ICU personnel. Measurements and Main Results: We conducted the survey from January 1 to April 1, 2003, and achieved a 70.2% response rate (318 of 453). We calculated safety culture factor mean and percent‐positive scores (percentage of respondents with a mean score of ≥75 on a 0–100 scale for which 100 is best) for each ICU. We compared mean ICU scores by ANOVA and percent‐positive scores by chi‐square. Mean and percent‐positive scores by job category were modeled using a generalized estimating equations approach and compared using Wald statistics. We asked ICU nursing directors to estimate their personnel's mean scores and generated ratios of their estimates to the actual scores. Overall, factor scores were low to moderate across all factors (range across ICUs: 43.4–74.9 mean scores, 8.6–69.4 percent positive). Mean and percent‐positive scores differed significantly (p < .0083, Bonferroni correction) across ICUs, except for stress recognition, which was uniformly low. Compared with physicians, nurses had significantly lower mean working conditions and perceptions of management scores. ICU nursing directors tended to overestimate their personnel's attitudes. This was greatest for teamwork, for which all director estimates exceeded actual scores, with a mean overestimate of 16%. Conclusions: Significant safety culture variation exists across ICUs of a single hospital. ICU nursing directors tend to overestimate their personnel's attitudes, particularly for teamwork. Culture assessments based on institutional level analysis or director opinion may be flawed.


AIMS
To describe the clinical characteristics of trigeminal neuralgia (TN) in a multi-ethnic Malaysian population and to relate them to standardized measures of pain severity, anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL).

METHODS
Patients fulfilling the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria for TN were prospectively interviewed for their demographic and clinical data. Pain intensity was rated with a visual analog scale (VAS), anxiety and depression were determined by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and QoL was assessed by the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, and Spearman correlation tests were used to test for differences considering a significance level of P < .05.

RESULTS
Of the 75 included patients, 52 (69.3%) were women with a mean ± standard deviation (SD) onset age of 52.0 ± 12.7 years, and 57.3% were Chinese, 24.0% Malay, and 18.7% Indian. Pain was more common on the right side (69.3%) and in the maxillary and mandibular divisions. VAS scores for pain at its worst were higher in anxious/borderline anxious patients compared to non-anxious patients (89.5 ± 15.9 vs 80.9 ± 17.2, respectively; P < .05), and VAS scores for pain at its least were higher in depressed/borderline depressed subjects compared to non-depressed subjects (38.4 ± 25.8 vs 23.0 ± 19.2, respectively; P < .05). Chinese patients had lower VAS scores for pain at its least compared to Indian patients (19.7 ± 16.1 vs 39.9 ± 24.7; P < .01). TN patients scored lower in all eight domains of the SF-36 compared to the general population. Indian patients had lower scores in role limitations due to physical health (8.9 ± 23.2 vs 49.4 ± 43.8; P < .01) and social function (56.3 ± 13.6 vs 76.5 ± 23.6; P < .01) than Chinese patients, and Malay patients had lower mental health scores compared to Chinese patients (59.1 ± 19.5 vs 73.0 ± 21.0; P < .01).

CONCLUSION
Clinical characteristics of TN patients were similar to those of other populations. There were differences in pain ratings and QoL between TN patients of different ethnicities, as well as between those with anxiety and depression.


The surge of corporate scandals has led to an increased scientific interest in understanding the dynamics of unethical leadership (Sanders et al., 2016). Multiple recent theoretical papers across publications have called for future research to explain the emergence of the phenomenon of unethical leadership (e.g. Brown and Mitchell, 2010; Unal et al, 2012). These calls collectively note that existing unethical leadership research has predominantly examined the role of executive leaders' traits and behaviours in promoting followers' transgressions. In doing so, a number of critics (Hoogervorst, 2011; Eisenbeiz and Brodbeck, 2013; and Brown and Trevino, 2013) point out that the business ethics literature could benefit from studies that systematically explain why leaders themselves engage in unethical leadership in the first place. While studies examining the antecedents to the "dark" side i.e. socially undesirable (Mills and Boardley, 2016) side of leadership have been initiated, a major challenge with these existing studies is that they are fragmented across a variety of constructs such as abusive, toxic and destructive leadership which Tepper (2007) argues has led to a poorly integrated literature will proliferation of terms. Much work remains in the specific field of unethical leadership (Brown and Mitchell, 2012; Eisenbeiz and Brodbeck, 2013); this paper will contribute to the unethical leadership and business ethics literature by articulating employee perceptions surrounding the preceding influences that elicit the process of unethical leadership within the financial services industry in Europe.

Participants across top, middle and non-managerial levels from 7 firms in Germany, England and Switzerland across 3 sectors i.e. investment banking, insurance and financial service providers were interviewed for this study. Semi structured interviews were conducted and a line by line coding was performed via NVivo. An initial analysis reveals 7 broad themes i.e., lead time of financial products, extent of leaders' religious beliefs, grey areas while dealing with ethical dilemmas, leaders' inherent values, superficial in-house compliance tests/audits, the volatile nature of the very financial services sector and remission of smaller transgressions leading to habituated unethicalleading at the meso and macro levels.

Based on empirical data collected across the financial services industry, this paper will present perspectives on unethical leadership scholarship and contribute theoretically by addressing a) Brown et al's argument that a majority of theoretical research has focussed on outcomes of unethical leadership rather than the antecedents of such leadership b) by empirically studying internal and external influences mediating processes of unethical leadership, widening Brown and Mitchell's (2010) theoretical and leader- centric study on the antecedents of unethical leadership. Results from the study could help practitioners develop an understanding of how and why unethical leadership emerges in financial services industries. Without understanding this emergence, it is difficult to create interventions that improve ethical organizational life, both on an individual and collective level.


A surveillance study was conducted at a University Hospital in Buenos Aires City aimed to assess the rates of colonization with carbapenemase-producing strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, which are bacteria of utmost epidemiological importance. To this end, rectal swabs collected from all inpatients were cultured for the presence of these bacteria. Two point prevalence surveys showed high prevalence rates (up to 25%). The following variables were evaluated in all inpatients: place of origin (home or other chronic care center), age, prolonged hospitalization, antibiotics for at least 72 hours prior to swabbing, intensive care unit requirements for at least 24 hours, mechanical ventilation assistance for more than 4 days, hemodialysis requirements, need for surgery, enteral feeding through a nasogastric tube, and functional evaluation according to the Karnofsky performance scale. The variable associated with the highest statistical significance was the use of nasogastric enteral feeding. Also, the length of stay was significantly higher and the functional status was significantly worse in colonized patients. As for the prior use of antibiotics, results were close to statistical significance but without reaching it. Measures were implemented in order to control the spread of the microorganism in the acute setting and beyond. Upon implementation of such measures, a third prevalence survey was performed that showed a decrease in the horizontal transmission of the microorganism.


This study presents the design and implementation of a web-based remote laboratory for a multi-mode single-leg power converter, which is a topic in advanced power electronics course. The proposed laboratory includes an experimental test rig with a multi-mode single-leg power converter and its driver circuits, a measurement board, a control platform, and a LabVIEW-based user interface program that is operated in the server computer. Given that the proposed web-based remote laboratory is based on client/server architecture, the experimental test rig can be controlled by a client computer with Internet connection and a standard web browser. Although the multi-mode single-leg power converter can work at four different modes (main boost, buck–boost, boost–boost, and battery boost modes), only the buck–boost mode is used in the experiment because of page limit. Users can choose the control structure, control parameters, and reference values, as well as obtain graphical results from the user interface software. Consequently, the feedbacks received from students who conducted remote laboratory studies indicate that the proposed laboratory is a useful tool for both remote and traditional education.


[1] Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important pathway of trace element and nutrient cycling in the coastal ocean. Since terrestrial and marine SGD driving forces are usually superimposed, it is difficult to separate their relative contributions. This work uses continuous, long-term (∼2 years) records of seawater 222Rn to estimate total SGD rates and hydrological observations to examine the driving forces of SGD at a coastal site on the Gulf of Mexico. While seasonal cycles cannot be clearly identified, short-term fluctuations were ubiquitous. Radon-derived SGD was strongly associated with the neap spring tidal cycle, at least during a period of extreme drought when minimum external disturbances were present. We applied multiple independent approaches to separate the relative contribution of fresh and saline SGD. A salinity mixing model indicated that the contribution of fresh SGD ranged between 3 and 12%. The rate of freshening of water within a seepage meter required vertical freshwater advection of ∼0.9 cm d−1 at low tide, which is <10% of the total SGD estimated from 222Rn (∼11 cm d−1). Darcy's law calculations and water table decline rate also suggested a fresh SGD contribution <5%. The temporal trends in total SGD and the reasonable agreement of our multiple approaches indicate that transient marine forces, likely tidal pumping, dominate benthic advective exchange in these permeable sediments. Compared to regional river inputs, our conservatively extrapolated saline SGD is on the same order of magnitude, but fresh groundwater only represents a small fraction. Future investigations should refine techniques for scaling up local observations.


Much has changed since penalty-free Roth conversions were inaugurated in 2010. Tax rates have gone up and down. The re-characterization provision went away. Heirs can no longer stretch out inherited Roth accounts over a lifetime. Medicare surcharges were expanded and began to adjust for inflation. The age to begin Required Minimum Distributions was pushed out to age 72 and the IRS changed the RMD divisor tables to further slow the pace of distribution. Given these developments it seemed worthwhile to re-examine the rationale for Roth conversions. That effort exposed multiple flaws in conventional wisdom:
• Future tax rates need not be higher for a conversion to pay off;
• Nor is it all that helpful to pay the tax on conversion from outside funds;
• Nor are Roth conversions especially beneficial for top bracket taxpayers as compared to middle class taxpayers;
• Rather, the greatest benefit accrues to taxpayers who can make the conversion partly in the zero percent tax bracket, i.e., during a year with no other taxable income.

While the benefits from a Roth conversion are often small and slow to arrive, a Roth conversion will almost always pay off if given enough time, i.e., for life spans that extend past 90 and so long as annual distributions from converted amounts are not taken. Roth conversions work because of compounding, which requires the conversion to be left undisturbed for a long time. The paper elucidates the role played by the mathematics of compounding in underwriting the success of Roth conversions.


The abundance of lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and agricultural lands of the Flathead and Smith Valleys in northwest Montana attracts a significant number of migratory waterfowl moving from wintering grounds to breeding habitats each spring. These diverse habitats provide food and resting areas for thousands of waterfowl and other waterbirds each year. These valleys are also undergoing rapid habitat transformation due to growth in human population with concomitant conversions from rural agricultural and riparian habitats to more residential and commercial development. To quantify the current extent, distribution, importance, and species that use this area as a spring stopover, we initiated a randomly stratified, weekly, simultaneous waterfowl survey of selected areas from early March through April. We began in spring 2010 and will continue through spring 2012. The data will be extrapolated to the entire study area and for the 2-month period to develop an estimate of total annual waterfowl feeding days by species. Habitat data are also being incorporated. Preliminary results from first 2 years of data indicate that the 4 most common migrant waterfowl species, in order of total numbers counted, are Mallard, Northern Pintail, Canada Goose, and American Wigeon. Preliminary extrapolations of waterfowl survey data in terms of bioenergetics will be summarized.