Individuals are not merely passive vessels of whatever beliefs and opinions they have been exposed to; rather, they are attracted to belief systems that resonate with their own psychological needs and interests, including epistemic, existential, and relational needs to attain certainty, security, and social belongingness. Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, and Sulloway (2003) demonstrated that needs to manage uncertainty and threat were associated with core values of political conservatism, namely respect for tradition and acceptance of inequality. Since 2003 there have been far more studies on the psychology of left-right ideology than in the preceding half century, and their empirical yield helps to address lingering questions and criticisms. We have identified 181 studies of epistemic motivation (involving 130,000 individual participants) and nearly 100 studies of existential motivation (involving 360,000 participants). These databases, which are much larger and more heterogeneous than those used in previous meta-analyses, confirm that significant ideological asymmetries exist with respect to dogmatism, cognitive/perceptual rigidity, personal needs for order/structure/closure, integrative complexity, tolerance of ambiguity/uncertainty, need for cognition, cognitive reflection, self-deception, and subjective perceptions of threat. Exposure to objectively threatening circumstances—such as terrorist attacks, governmental warnings, and shifts in racial demography—contribute to modest "conservative shifts" in public opinion. There are also ideological asymmetries in relational motivation, including the desire to share reality, perceptions of within-group consensus, collective self-efficacy, homogeneity of social networks, and the tendency to trust the government more when one's own political party is in power. Although some object to the very notion that there are meaningful psychological differences between leftists and rightists, the identification of "elective affinities" between cognitive-motivational processes and contents of specific belief systems is essential to the study of political psychology. Political psychologists may contribute to the development of a good society not by downplaying ideological differences or advocating "Swiss-style neutrality" when it comes to human values, but by investigating such phenomena critically, even—or perhaps especially—when there is pressure in society to view them uncritically.


Using two-dimensional electrophoresis, we have recently identified in human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid a novel protein, termed B166, with a molecular mass of 17 kDa. Here, we report the cloning of human and rat cDNAs encoding B166, which has been renamed AOEB166 for antioxidantenzyme B166. Indeed, the deduced amino acid sequence reveals that AOEB166 represents a new mammalian subfamily of AhpC/TSA peroxiredoxin antioxidant enzymes. Human AOEB166 shares 63% similarity with Escherichia coli AhpC22 alkyl hydroperoxide reductase and 66% similarity with a recently identifiedSaccharomyces cerevisiae alkyl hydroperoxide reductase/thioredoxin peroxidase. Moreover, recombinant AOEB166 expressed in E. coli exhibits a peroxidase activity, and an antioxidant activity comparable with that of catalase was demonstrated with the glutamine synthetase protection assay against dithiothreitol/Fe3+/O2 oxidation. The analysis of AOEB166 mRNA distribution in 30 different human tissues and in 10 cell lines shows that the gene is widely expressed in the body. Of interest, the analysis of N- and C-terminal domains of both human and rat AOEB166 reveals amino acid sequences presenting features of mitochondrial and peroxisomal targeting sequences. Furthermore, human AOEB166 expressed as a fusion protein with GFP in HepG2 cell line is sorted to these organelles. Finally, acute inflammation induced in rat lung by lipopolysaccharide is associated with an increase of AOEB166 mRNA levels in lung, suggesting a protective role for AOEB166 in oxidative and inflammatory processes.


ABSTRACT Background General consensus exists between clinicians as to the incorporation of discourse outcome measures into language assessment for persons with aphasia (PWA). The development of core lexicon measures (CoreLex) has enabled clinicians to reduce time and labor intensive preparatory work for discourse analysis, which has been considered as an alternative measure to quantify word retrieval ability in discourse in a clinical context. Although previous studies have investigated the quality of the measure, CoreLex has rarely been longitudinally explored. Aims We aimed to investigate the adequacy of CoreLex to document linguistic changes in PWA over time. Specifically, we examined (1) whether natural language recovery from acute to chronic stages is manifested differentially by tasks and (2) the extent to which the ability to retrieve words in isolation predicts the ability to retrieve words in context. Methods A total of 19 PWA participated in the study. They completed a language assessment including confrontation naming tasks (Boston Naming Test [BNT] and Hopkins Action Naming Assessment [HANA]) and a picture description task using the Cookie Theft picture at acute and chronic stages. Discourse samples from the picture description task were quantified using CoreLex. Results We found significant differences across tasks and time-points by PWA. Moderate correlations between the confrontation naming tasks and CoreLex were found at the acute stage but not at the chronic stage. Additionally, McNemar's tests demonstrated a significant difference in PWA's performance in CoreLex from the acute to the chronic stages. Conclusions Our findings show that performance by PWA improves over time on all tasks, but language gains are manifested differentially by tasks. Performance in confrontation naming moderately predicts word retrieval in context acutely. However, lack of correlations between confrontation naming tasks and CoreLex later endorse inadequacy of using confrontation naming tasks as a proxy measure for discourse-level performance and improvement for PWA.


Potato is the fourth most important staple crop in China. To meet the increased demand and environmental objectives, potato production should be enhanced by sustainable practices that aim to maximize yield and resource use efficiencies and minimize environmental impacts. Most experiments so far have taken place on experimental stations, while on-farm experimentation is needed to evaluate, demonstrate and scale more sustainable practices. On-farm field experiments were conducted in two years (2017, 2018) in northern China to investigate and demonstrate the effects of different nitrogen (N) fertiliser and irrigation input levels on potato yield, quality, resource use efficiency and environmental impacts. The 2017 experimental results on one farmer's field showed that under irrigated conditions, adding N fertiliser (from 0 to 267 kg ha−1) did not increase yield due to the high soil N supply, rather it reduced tuber quality. The 2018 experimental results, in which four additional farmers were involved, indicated that, under irrigated conditions, reducing N fertiliser from the current rates (189–252 kg ha−1) to lower levels (109–181 kg ha−1) did not affect yield nor quality; while further reducing N fertiliser inputs (to 9–117 kg ha−1) resulted in a yield reduction (18% on average) in some fields. In both years, irrigation improved tuber yield and quality compared to that under rainfed conditions. The nitrogen use efficiency was improved and N surplus was reduced by applying irrigation and reducing N fertiliser input. Farmers expressed they were willing to reduce N fertiliser input by 10–20%, and indicated that a widespread adaptation of drip irrigation is hindered by the high costs and labor requirements. Site-specific recommendations on optimum N fertiliser and irrigation management must be provided, which should preferably be based on regular quantitative monitoring of soil N supply and soil moisture content.


Comparisons of the starch-gel patterns of uninoculated aseptic control samples from rabbit and pig muscle with similar samples inoculated and incubated with Clostridium perfringens, Salmonella enteritidis, Achromobacter liquefaciens, and Kurthia zopfii were made. Results indicated that C. perfringens caused extensive alteration in the proteins or enzymes, or both, of the sarcoplasmic fraction of porcine muscle, whereas S. enteritidis and S. faecalis caused complete breakdown of only myoglobin. Neither A. liquefaciens nor K. zopfii showed any measurable amount of proteolysis in the sarcoplasmic fraction from pig muscle. Although some of the bands in the starch-gel pattern of rabbit muscle decreased in size and intensity of staining, complete proteolysis of any protein fraction was absent for all test organisms. The disc-gel patterns of the 8 m urea-soluble proteins showed that C. perfringens caused extensive proteolysis in pig muscle and a lesser extent of proteolysis in rabbit muscle. None of the other organisms utilized in this study had any measurable effect upon the urea-soluble proteins. In addition, a simple procedure for aseptic isolation of muscle samples for studying meat spoilage is outlined. Results indicate that careful sanitation and cleanliness will give suitable samples for meat spoilage investigations.


Some of the most disheartening things that can happen to restorative dentists is to be faced with problems, complications, and failures in their own fixed prosthodontics. A highly advantageous technique for removing existing restorations and creating removable cement-retained fixed prosthodontics has been described. In the history of crown and bridge prosthodontics, there has not been a proven precision technique to remove these restorations, with the exception of screw-retained implant prostheses, which exhibit many disadvantages. This new paradigm provides a new dimension to the practice of dentistry and allows for the repair, service, and maintenance of restorations in ways that have never been done in the past. Removing crowns and fixed bridges can be learned like any other dental skill, such as endodontics or taking accurate impressions. Skill and confidence comes when the technique has been performed on a large variety of cases. Being able to quickly and easily remove these restorations can certainly be rewarding and reduce a lot of stress.


Hulun Lake, located in a remote, semi-arid area in the northeast part of Inner Mongolia, China, shares a transboundary basin with Mongolia and supports a unique wetland ecosystem that includes many endangered species. Decadal scale decreases in the lake stage and increased salinity make an understanding of the lake's water and salt sources critical for appropriate design of strategies to protect and manage the lake. Multiple tracers (chloride, and δ18O and δ2H in water) in samples collected from lake water, rivers, and nearby water wells were used in conjunction with an annual water balance based on historic data to better understand the lake's major water and salt sources. The average annual water balance was conducted for two time periods: 1981–2000 and 2001–2013. The contribution of river discharge to the annual lake input decreased by half (from 64% to 31%) between the two time periods, while the volumetric contribution of groundwater discharge increased four-fold (from about 11% to about 50% of the total lake input). Significant evaporation was apparent in the stable isotope composition of the present-day lake water, however, evaporation alone could not account for the high lake water chloride concentrations. Limited domestic well water sampling, a regional salinity survey, and saline soils suggest that high chloride groundwater concentrations exist in the region south of the lake. The chloride mass balance suggested that groundwater currently contributes more than 90% of the annual chloride loading to the lake, which is likely four times greater than the earlier period (1981–2000) with lower groundwater input. The use of water and chloride mass balances combined with water isotope analyses could be applied to other watersheds where hydrologic information is scarce.


Model selection procedures play an important role in many researches especially quantitative research. In science research and Biological sciences, the analysis and model selection of experiments are often used. In this article, we studied a 22 and 32 factorial design. Only qualitative factors were considered. These designs are used in this study for model selections by using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC), using p-value from ANOVA (P-Value Method), and Stepwise Procedure. In additional, there are two types under this study of the model specified: Type I and Type II corresponding to a model having "relatively few" important effects and a model having "many" important effects respectively. The results of this study will be presented for the model selection performance and for comparisons of selected models that match between methods. For each design and types of models, a model is selected and the proportion of selected models that are the true or "correct" model is recorded. These results will point to which model selection methods select the correct model more often than others. Furthermore, the final models of two model selection methods will be compared using the proportion of selected models that match for each of the 500 simulated replications. These results indicate which methods tend to select the same or different final model. The conclusions for a 22 factorial design, the model selection methods that selected the correct models and the model that match related with replicates per experimental treatment and the value of parameter for both model types. For a 32 factorial design, the P-value and Stepwise Methods selected the corrected model often the other method and also selected the same model more often than the other pair of method for all replicates per experimental treatment (n=2, 4), all values of the parameters and both model types.


What quantitative lessons can we learn from models of endogenous technical change through innovative investments by firms for the impact of changes in the economic environment on the dynamics of aggregate productivity in the short, medium, and long run? We present a unifying model that nests several canonical models in the literature and characterize both their positive implications for the transitional dynamics of aggregate productivity and their welfare implications in terms of two sufficient statistics. We review the current state of measurement of these two sufficient statistics and discuss the range of positive and normative quantitative implications of our model for a wide array of counterfactual experiments, including the link between a decline in the entry rate of new firms and a slowdown in the growth of aggregate productivity. We conclude with a summary of the lessons learned from our analysis to help direct future research aimed at building models of endogenous productivity growth that are useful for quantitative analysis.


Abstract Long-term trends, interannual and intra-seasonal variability in the mass-balance record from Djankuat glacier, central Greater Caucasus, Russia, are related to local climate change, synoptic and large-scale anomalies in atmospheric circulation. A clear warming signal emerged in the central Greater Caucasus in the early 1990s, leading to a strong increase in ablation. In the absence of a compensating change in winter accumulation, the net mass balance of Djankuat has declined. The highest value of seasonal ablation on record was registered in the summer of 2000. At the beginning of the 21st century these trends reversed. Ablation was below average even in the summer of 2003, which was unusually warm in western Europe. Precipitation and winter accumulation were high, allowing for a partial recovery of net mass balance. The interannual variability in the components of mass balance is weakly related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Scandinavian teleconnection patterns, but there is a clear link with the large-scale circulation anomalies represented by the Rossby pattern. Five synoptic categories have been identified for the ablation season of 2005, revealing a strong separation between components of radiation budget, air temperature and daily melt. Air temperature is the main control over melt. The highest values of daily ablation are related to the strongly positive NAO which forces high net radiation, and to the warm and moist advection from the Black Sea.


The article deals with defining the current problems of legal texts translation. Nowadays the accurate translation of legal texts has become highly significant as the Ukrainian government have chosen the European way of development and the incorrect translation of documents could lead to negative consequences in this regard. Consequently, the translation of European Union legal texts into other languages, Ukrainian in particular, faces many difficulties on different levels. The paper points out the importance of performing a professional translation, which is one of the most important elements to be considered when discussing the language of law. Furthermore, the paper presents an overview of existing classifications of legal texts and their communicative purposes. This paper is also an approach to underline the relevance of the parallel education of translation students in connection with successful employment and career development.


It is imperative that an appropriate balance is reached between three key principles: equality, diversity and social cohesion. In many countries across the world, however, there is a discernible move away from a concern for equality and diversity as the problem of order looms larger. I shall focus here on Britain in presenting my central thesis that there is a very real danger that a new nationalist discourse centred on community cohesion and integration is trouncing any duties on us to promote racial equality and respect cultural diversity. The paper comprises three sections. I shall firstly identify a radical hour when there was for the first time official recognition that institutional racism existed in British society and some urgency that this needed to be combated. I shall secondly highlight the fragility of such progressiveness and identify threats from the changing nature of racial discourse since 2001. Here, I shall highlight in particular how the prominence given to institutional racism, with the publication of the Macpherson report, was remarkably short lived and how multiculturalism has come under increasing attack, not least because of its purported threat to social cohesion. I shall finally offer some tentative proposals for a more positive way forward.


The effect of lip thickness of fuel nozzle on the liftoff of an attached diffusion methane flame with and without a coflow was experimentally and analytically investigated. Three fuel nozzles made of a long pipe with the same internal diameter but different nozzle lip thickness were tested. The co-airflow was also varied to assess its impact on the liftoff of jet diffusion flame. The results showed that the effect of fuel nozzle lip thickness on the liftoff of a free jet flame (i.e., no coflow) is marginal. However, the presence of a weak to moderate coflow (0.05 m/s < Uco < 0.3 m/s) reduced the liftoff velocity of an attached flame. The reduction rate of the liftoff velocity with co-airflow was found to be more significant for the fuel nozzle with the smaller lip thickness. At a relatively higher coflow (Uco > ∼0.3 m/s), a more pronounced drop in the liftoff velocity with coflow was observed. Flow field characteristics obtained using PIV measurements showed that the coflow stream experienced a transition to the turbulent regime for Uco > ∼0.3 m/s range which is believed to cause the inception of the flame liftoff to occur. A model for predicting the liftoff velocity of an attached flame in the presence of a coflow was developed based on the stoichiometric mixture velocity equation. This model showed good agreement with the present experimental data. However, although it can predict successfully the observed trends in the literature, further experiments are required to generalize it.


In an urban rail transit line, train services are performed by the rolling stocks that are initially stored at depots. Before the start of the operation period, rolling stocks consecutively leave the depots and run without passengers (deadhead routing) to the origin station of their corresponding first departure train service in an operation day (first train service) using either direct or indirect routes. This paper investigates the rolling stock deadhead routing problem in an urban transit line with multiple circulation plans, depots, and rolling stock types. Given the rolling stock circulation plans, the problem is to identify a deadhead route for the rolling stock required by the train services to cover the initial operation. By pregenerating all direct and indirect candidate deadhead routes in a polynomial manner, the problem is then nicely formulated as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to minimize the total deadhead mileages. A real-world case from the urban rail transit line 3 of Chongqing in China is adopted to test the proposed method. Computational results demonstrate that the problems of large-scale instances can be quickly solved to optimality by commercial optimization solvers on a personal computer. In addition, our optimization method is better than the empirical practices in terms of the solution quality. Meanwhile, alternative measures can further decrease the total deadhead mileages according to the proposed model, e.g., opening idle switch stations and prolonging the time that is used for the rolling stock departure. Finally, the model is further extended to consider operating costs, and more computation cases are tested for better adapting to the practical operating conditions.


We have carried out a comprehensive analysis of data from the high‐frequency coherent radar located near Yekaterinburg, ground‐based ionospheric, riometric, and magnetic stations, situated within the radar field of view and in the vicinity of it, as well as from eight radio paths crossing the Asian region of Russia. Using these data, we studied dynamics of ionospheric disturbances over wide longitudinal sector during the first 3 days of the St. Patrick's two‐step severe geomagnetic storm and determined the main mechanisms of their development. We showed that on 17 March during the main and early recovery storm phases, the major contribution to the generation of the ionospheric disturbances had been made by impact ionization by precipitating magnetospheric particles. This had lead to appearance of intense sporadic layers, alternating with intervals of total absorption. The main features of the storm were the large latitude width of the auroral precipitation zone and an expansion of this zone to corrected geomagnetic latitude ~ 45°. We suppose that these peculiarities were due to high variability of interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind impacted on the magnetosphere. The most probable cause of the negative ionospheric disturbance on 18 March might have been a change in the neutral atmosphere composition. Significant differences between measured and simulated values of maximal electron concentration in F2 layer point to the need to improve the existing empirical models of thermosphere, auroral precipitations, and magnetospheric convection in order to use them for modeling of ionospheric parameters during severe geomagnetic storms.


This 33-year-old Guatemalan man presented to a medical mission camp with generalized bilateral knee pain and inability to extend his leg without pain. The 4-ft 11-in patient had mild scoliosis, increased elbow carrying angles, and hypoplastic patellae. He had had dysplasia of the nails with triangular lunulae since birth. The fingernails were absent on the first and second digits of both hands. His mother had had similar physical findings. He had not had regular medical care.


Abstract Fast-paced environmental changes require that managers quickly sense opportunities for organizational innovation. Information systems (IS) that support business intelligence and analytics help managers access and analyze data from various sources, thereby providing insight into potential opportunities. Building on the dynamic managerial capability perspective, we investigate the extent to which two managerial IS use behaviors—routine use and innovative use—influence a manager's volume and diversity of ideas for organizational innovation. We also examine the moderating role of three organization-level entrepreneurial orientation characteristics—autonomy, innovativeness, and risk taking. We test our research model with survey data collected from 248 managers. Our results show that routine IS use is not related to volume or diversity of ideas for organizational innovation. However, innovative IS use is positively related to idea volume and idea diversity. Furthermore, organizational autonomy and innovativeness positively moderate the aforementioned innovative use/idea relationships. Our study contributes to the literature by linking postadoptive IS use behaviors to managerial sensing ability, an important dynamic managerial capability. We also further the understanding of how organizational factors such as entrepreneurial orientation play a key role in determining whether, when, and how managers use IS to develop ideas for organizational innovation.


Green pepper production based on the package of recommendations developed has not given the desired growth and yield performances in the world and specifically Kenya. Information is required with which to evolve the agronomic practices that will be adopted to maximize yield in green pepper production. Great attention should be paid when selecting the most appropriate spacing where there are very few reports and limited information regarding plant spacing in cultivation of the crop under the agro-climatic conditions of Kenya. Therefore, a field study was carried out at the Alupe Research Station, Busia County, to evaluate the growth and yield responses of green pepper under three row plant spacings namely: 50x40 cm, 40x40 cm and 30x40 cm during the long and short rainy seasons of 2015. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The treatment effects were measured on plant growth for 12 weeks and ripe fruit yield parameters which were later cleaned statistically analyzed. The plant spacing had significant variation in almost all the growth and yield components except the fruit length. In Original Research Article Edgar et al.; ACRI, 7(3): 1-9, 2017; Article no.ACRI.33101 2 both seasons, the number of branches per plant, stem girth and number of fruits per plant were found to be significantly increased with the increasing of plant spacing but the plant height, number of leaves per plant, fruit breadth and yield per plant were found to be significantly increased with the decreasing plant spacing. The highest yield per plant of 555.1 g and 551.8 g were realized during the short and long rainy seasons respectively in the 40 by 40 cm spacing treatment. Considering the yield of fruits per plant, the 40 by 40 cm plant spacing appeared to be the most recommendable for the cultivation of green pepper.


The technological features of the use of high-performance Ural-20R combines in the conditions of potash mines in Russia are described. It is shown that when the capacity of the worked potash seams is over 4 m, a two-layer ore extraction is used. The formation of cutting process, implemented by the second course of the combine in the treatment chamber, is carried out by an incomplete section of the executive bodies. The standard control system, display and protection of the Ural-20R combine does not allow monitoring and reliable estimation of the magnitude of dynamic components on the drives of the mining machine loads, as well as tracking the feed rate of the combine to the face. The regulation of the operating parameters and the assessment of the degree of loading of the drives of the excavating machine in real time are assigned to the operator. The fundamentals of the experimental research methodology for assessing the loading of drives of Ural-20R combines with the destruction of the potash mass by an incomplete section of the executive bodies are described. The device and the operating procedure of the "Vatur" software-recording complex, which measures, records and records the electrical parameters of the drive motors of a mining machine, is described. The process studies results of forming loads on drive elements of Ural-20R combines when mining a face with an incomplete section of executive bodies are presented. It is proved that the work of combine harvesters on the undercut of the formation with a high feed rate is accompanied by significant dynamic loads on the drives of planetary organs and an overload of the drives of the Berm organs, which leads to an accelerated consumption of the resource and emergency failures of the gearboxes and motors of the extraction machine.


We previously showed (Frace, A.M. and H.C. Hartzell. 1993. Journal of Physiology. 472:305-326) that internal perfusion of frog atrial myocytes with the nonselective protein phosphatase inhibitors microcystin or okadaic acid produced an increase in the L-type Ca current (ICa) and a decrease in the delayed rectifier K current (IK). We hypothesized that microcystin revealed the activity of a protein kinase (PKX) that was basally active in the cardiac myocyte that could phosphorylate the Ca and K channels or regulators of the channels. The present studies were aimed at determining the nature of PKX and its phosphorylation target. The effect of internal perfusion with microcystin on ICa or IK was not attenuated by inhibitors of protein kinase A (PKA). However, the effect of microcystin on ICa was largely blocked by the nonselective protein kinase inhibitors staurosporine (10- 30 nM), K252a (250 nM), and H-7 (10 microM). Staurosporine and H-7 also decreased the stimulation of ICa by isoproterenol, but K252a was more selective and blocked the ability of microcystin to stimulate ICa without significantly reducing isoproterenol-stimulated current. Internal perfusion with selective inhibitors of protein kinase C (PKC), including the autoinhibitory pseudosubstrate PKC peptide (PKC(19-31)) and a myristoylated derivative of this peptide had no effect. External application of several PKC inhibitors had negative side effects that prevented their use as selective PKC inhibitors. Nevertheless, we conclude that PKX is not PKC. PKA and PKX phosphorylate sites with different sensitivities to the phosphatase inhibitors calyculin A and microcystin. In contrast to the results with ICa, the effect of microcystin on IK was not blocked by any of the kinase inhibitors tested, suggesting that the effect of microcystin on IK may not be mediated by a protein kinase but may be due to a direct effect of microcystin on the IK channel.


Dam removal has recently emerged as a growing trend in river rehabilitation in the United States. The rate of dam removal has been increasing rapidly since 2000, but is doing so with large gaps in our understanding of how the fluvial system will respond to this disturbance. Most of the structures removed to date have been relatively small and, in the vast majority of cases, have not received any pre- or post-removal monitoring. Very few large structures have been removed but, when such removals occur or are proposed, they tend to attract more monitoring activity because of the generally larger volumes of water and sediment involved. It is thus important to understand the form-process-response interactions that occur during the removal of large dams and the extent to which these may be applicable to other removals of varying sizes.

The proposed removal of the Glines Canyon Dam from the Elwha River in Washington, USA provides such an opportunity. The 67-m high dam is due to be incrementally removed in 2011 but its reservoir, Lake Mills, contains 80 years-worth of uncontaminated sediment that has the potential to adversely impact the aquatic and human environment once released into the channel downstream from the dam. In order to better understand the dynamics that control how sediment might be transported into the downstream channel, a series of scaled physical model experiments was performed in which the principle variable investigated was the magnitude of the drop in reservoir water surface elevation.

Four main findings emerged from the research. First, the hypothesised relationship between increasing magnitudes of baselevel drop and increasing delta erosion volumes is only weakly developed. Furthermore, the small increases in additional erosion volume for very large increases in magnitude of drop suggest that there may be an upper limit beyond which the volume of sediment eroded does not increase substantially, irrespective of the magnitude of drop. The reasons for this are explored.

Second, the volume of delta sediment eroded was greatly affected by the channel's position on the delta surface at the start of each experimental run. The erosion volumes were greatly modulated when the channel was close to the basin boundary (marginal runs), because the boundary inhibited lateral channel movements and the formation of meander bends. When the channel ran through the middle of the delta surface (central runs) the erosion volumes were much larger, because meander bends were able to more fully develop and the channel had a greater overall freedom to adjust laterally over the entire delta surface. In contrast, the marginal runs generally incised slightly more along the full length of the delta than the central runs, despite a more extensively developed armour layer.

Related to the channel's starting position, a strong element of topographical steering of the incising channel in the original delta area was observed during the marginal runs. When the channels started close to the left basin boundary (left marginal runs), the left hand curvature of this boundary tended to direct the majority of the flow's erosive power away from the main body of the delta. In contrast, during the right marginal runs, the cross-basin downwards slope from basin right to basin left allowed the incising channel to move downslope and into the main body of the delta, particularly during the post-dam removal flood flows.

Third, the armour layer in the central runs generally extended less far downstream through the original delta area than during the marginal runs and this may be because of a frequently observed mobility reversal in sediment transport, which meant that gravels were more effectively flushed out of the original delta area than during the marginal runs.

Finally, a phenomenon hitherto unreported in the literature was observed on many occasions over the course of the experimental runs. Bed Elevation Lowering Without Armour Layer Break-up (BELWALB) occurred when the finer sub-armour sediment was eroded, thus undermining the armour layer and allowing the coarser grains to roll forward by a distance equivalent to a few grain diameters. This undermining action was able to migrate a certain distance upstream, either at the onset or end point of more extensive armour layer disturbance, thus causing subtle changes to bed morphology which are important in understanding how the system approached thresholds of stability and how it responded once these thresholds were exceeded.


We study in this paper the structure of solutions in the random hypergraph coloring problem and the phase transitions they undergo when the density of constraints is varied. Hypergraph coloring is a constraint satisfaction problem where each constraint includes K variables that must be assigned one out of q colors in such a way that there are no monochromatic constraints, i.e. there are at least two distinct colors in the set of variables belonging to every constraint. This problem generalizes naturally coloring of random graphs (K=2) and bicoloring of random hypergraphs (q=2), both of which were extensively studied in past works. The study of random hypergraph coloring gives us access to a case where both the size q of the domain of the variables and the arity K of the constraints can be varied at will. Our work provides explicit values and predictions for a number of phase transitions that were discovered in other constraint satisfaction problems but never evaluated before in hypergraph coloring. Among other cases we revisit the hypergraph bicoloring problem (q=2) where we find that for K=3 and K=4 the colorability threshold is not given by the one-step-replica-symmetry-breaking analysis as the latter is unstable towards more levels of replica symmetry breaking. We also unveil and discuss the coexistence of two different 1RSB solutions in the case of q=2, K⩾4. Finally we present asymptotic expansions for the density of constraints at which various phase transitions occur, in the limit where q and/or K diverge.


Purpose: In this study, essential oil (EO) compositions of the dried and fresh aerial parts of Origanum majorana cultivated in the research field and collected from f from Mersin was investigated. Material and Methods: EO was distilled by using Clevenger type apparatus for 3 h and the chemical compositions were detected in GC-MS. While, the oil yields of the the collected marjoram was determined to be 2,5 ml both in dried and fresh aerial parts, the yields of the cultivated plants for fresh and dried parts were 3.6 ml and 5 ml, respectively. The cultivation of the plant had positive effects on the EO yield. Drying of the material also increased the oil yield in the cultivated marjoram. Results: While there were 42 and 35 of EO components were observed in the fresh and dried parts of the collected marjoram, respectively; in the cultivated plants there were 30 and 40 components detected. Besides EO yields, in this research the differences with respect to composition and components were determined between the cultivated and collected plants. On the other hand, in this study, it was determined that the EO compositions varied with respect to be fresh or dry of the plant parts. It was observed that carvacrol and linalool were the major EO contents. Conclusion: The aim of the study to compare of differences between the EO compounds and compositions varied according to be the plant fresh or dry and collected or cultivated.


Establishing species distributions is particularly challenging in large tropical genera of inconspicuous plants. One such genus is Oberonia (Orchidaceae) which we are currently revising for Thailand. When encountering material of a putatively new species, great care has been taken to make a wide geographic search for matching extra-Thai taxa. Against this background, we here record 12 species as new for Thailand: O. dissitiflora, O. evrardii, O. gracilis, O. insectifera, O. lotsyana, O. microphylla, O. orbicularis, O. semifimbriata, O. singalangensis, O. stenophylla, O. suborbicularis, O. wenzelii. Seven records are based (at least in part) on older collections, suggesting that many gaps in currently known species distributions can be filled through revision of existing collections alone. Our wide geographic search for taxonomic matches had three important implications: 1) we succeeded in identifying five species that had not previously been recognized for Thailand or neighbouring regions; 2) we realized that circumscription of three species should be widened, with implications for their known distributions; 3) comparison of numerous collections enabled us to report additionally six new records (O. evrardii for Myanmar; O. insectifera for Papua New Guinea; O. semifimbriata for Borneo; O. wenzelii for India, Myanmar and Java). Eventually, we draw attention to new online tools and resources that facilitate improvements of taxonomic and geographic knowledge in large tropical genera.


ABSTRACT In this article, we empirically test the sustainability of women's empowerment using representative and rich individual-level panel data from India for the years 2004−5 and 2011−12. Sustainability is defined in terms of durability (whether empowerment is carried forward or continues in the long run) and diffusion (whether empowerment has positive spillover effects). A domain-based framework is used to capture the multidimensional nature of empowerment. In terms of durability, we find that the majority of the women remained empowered over time. The baseline characteristics that determine empowerment durability are (1) individual capabilities such as age, education, and wage work, (2) asset endowment, and (3) opportunity structure such as access to water, electricity, and owning a toilet. Additionally, we find that a change in collective assets over time is positively and significantly correlated with empowerment durability. Finally, we observe that empowerment has a significant diffusion effect from empowered women to other women in the same household as well as to women who do not co-reside but share family ties. These findings imply that empowerment is dynamic and the social benefit of empowering women appears considerably higher than what has been previously estimated when its long-term effects are considered.


Should the praxis of meditation necessarily lead to avoidance of the world or could it be seen as an activity that can open a vision and level of engagement that will enable the contemplative person to be connected more faithfully and compassio-nately with this world? With this question as point of departure the researcher explores the possible function of Christian meditation as a means of interacting faithfully and integrally with the space of service delivery in its local manifestation, as well as in its distinctive fluidity in South-African society. Reflecting on the dynamics of a responsible theological entry into this social space, two perspectives from the Reformation regarding the function of meditation in the Christian life are re-visited: Martin Luther's deployment of the interactive sequence 'oratio, meditatio, tentatio', as well as John Calvin's use of the phrase 'meditatio vitae futurae'. By bearing the implications of these two perspectives in mind, an attempt is made to draw normative theoretical lines for a Word-anchored meditative praxis that can become instrumental in opening up a vision for continuity between the present alienated situations in service delivery and their re-created future; an energizing vision that will enable contemplative people to minister the first fruits of a kind of service that entails much more than we could have imagined.


Title of Document: REVERSE LOGISTICS NETWORK DESIGN WITH CENTRALIZED RETURN CENTER Sahar Nabaee, Master of Science, 2014 Directed By: Professor Ali Haghani Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering Natural resources and landfills have been overused and exhausted, resulting in the necessity of product recovery. Today, as a growing number of producers engage in product recovery, the need for efficient reverse logistics networks has become more significant than ever. An optimization modeling approach is used to develop a generic integrated forward and reverse logistics network for a firm involved in product recovery. The proposed modeling framework demonstrates and compares the performance of centralized return centers (CRC) and conventional collection centers in the reverse logistics network. Several case studies are used to analyze the sensitivity of the network structures and performances to various modeling parameters including product return ratio, product disposition ratios, and processing and handling costs at collection centers. Lastly, recommendations are made to remove model limitations and improve reverse logistics network models.


As a non-Gaussian statistic model, alpha stable distribution has gained much attention due to its generality to represent heavy-tailed and impulsive interference. Unfortunately, there is no closed form expression for the probability density function of alpha-stable distributions. Hereby, finding the approximate expressions is of importance for signal detection and denoising. In this paper, we present a novel approximate expression, which is a simplified version of Cauchy-Gaussian mixture (CGM) for symmetric alpha-stable (SalphaS) distribution, called Bi-parameter CGM (BCGM). Such a model has a complete closed-form expression, and hence is more tractable than classical GMM and CGM.


Service branding is a particular form of emotional management, where employees are regarded as adaptable media, who can be trained to convey corporate values while interacting with customers. This paper examines the identity work of butchers during the brand revitalisation campaign of Kvickly, a Danish supermarket chain. During the implementation of the "Best Butcher in Town"project, Kvickly's shop floor becomes an engineered servicescape where the norms of good salesmanship must be performed. By documenting the disloyal behaviour of butchers, we demonstrate that the affective commitment towards corporate brand values is closely related with self-enactment opportunities of occupational communities. Total service-orientation threatens butchers' perception of autonomy and may therefore result in the emergence of resistant sub-cultures.


This research represents a methodology that control model transformation from CIM level to PIM level in accordance with MDA approach. Our approach is founded on establishing a good CIM level, through well-selected rules, to facilitate transformation to PIM level. However, we create a rich PIM level through use case diagram model, state diagram model, class diagram model and package diagram models. Then, we establish transformation rules to ensure a semi-automatic transformation from CIM level to PIM level. Our Approach conform MDA approach by taking into consideration the business dimension in CIM level, since, we present this level through DFD and UML activity diagram. However, we model into PIM by UML diagrams, because UML is recommended by MDA in this level.


MY INTEREST in the suprascapular nerve stems from the year 1946, when I encountered in rapid succession three cases of causalgia with phantom limb and spasms in arm stumps, attaining permanent relief in all by alcohol block of the suprascapular nerve. 1 One of these patients reported recently to show me the latest type of artificial limb he was using. He has had no recurrence of the painful phenomenon in the 8 years. However, finding the standard posterior approach too involved, I sought a more facile anterior approach, with the result shown in the Figure, in which the nerve is all but subcutaneous (subfascial). With the incentive offered by this handier approach, I have studied 50 cases of suprascapular neuritis through the 8-year period since the occurrence of this case. From these data (Tables) there emerges a definite syndrome. SUPRASCAPULAR NERVE SYNDROME The patients come into the office complaining of


BACKGROUND
Spirometry plays an essential role in the diagnosis and management of pulmonary diseases. The accurate interpretation of spirometric data depends on comparison to a reference population to identify abnormalities in ventilatory function. National guidelines recommended the use of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES) III data set as the preferred reference population for those persons 8 to 80 years of age in the United States.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the effect of using NHANES III reference equations, compared to those of Crapo et al (Crapo), Knudson et al (Knudson), or Morris et al (Morris), on spirometric interpretations in non-Hispanic white patients.

METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study of all white patients undergoing spirometry testing at our hospital from January 2000 through May 2007. Patients were classified as normal, restricted, obstructed, or mixed, based on the American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS) guidelines, using the Crapo, Knudson, Morris, and NHANES III prediction equations. Differences in the classifications based on the reference data set were evaluated.

RESULTS
At total of 8,733 subjects (62.4% male subjects) were identified, with a mean age of 53 years. Discordance was most common when the results from prediction equations by Knudson and Morris were compared to those of NHANES III (45.5% and 35.3%, respectively). Diagnostic recategorizations occurred less frequently when the prediction equations by Crapo were compared with those of NHANES III (15.9%). Relative to NHANES III, the prediction equations by Knudson, Crapo, and Morris tend to overclassify obstruction and underclassify restriction.

CONCLUSIONS
There is significant discordance between the prediction equations put forth by Crapo, Knudson, Morris, and the NHANES III. Our data suggest that the diagnostic reclassification of many patients undergoing pulmonary function testing will occur when ATS/ERS guidelines are implemented. Pulmonologists and other physicians interpreting spirometry need to be aware of the presence and nature of these changes.


For the successful organization and management of their own learning, the students have to meet several requirements related to the appropriate combination of adequate knowledge, skills, attitudes, and competences. A Personal Learning Environment (PLE) project that we started two years ago at Technical University of Sofia and RWTH Aachen University has shown that students do not possess all needed competences for self-organization, self-learning and self-cognition that would impact the effectiveness of their learning. The aims of this paper are to explore the students' competences profiles and their capabilities for behavior activities to organize and plan learning according to a given learning situation and to examine the functionality of a PLE to facilitate the achievement of missing competences. A competences model for personal and professional development is created after a literature review of key competences for engineers and lifelong learners and after gathering the students' opinion through several surveys. This competences model is refined and a solution how the tools of a PLE can be used in support of it is proposed.


Meiotic cell cycle progression during vertebrate oocyte maturation requires the correct temporal translation of maternal mRNAs encoding key regulatory proteins. The mechanism by which specific mRNAs are temporally activated is unknown, although both cytoplasmic polyadenylation elements (CPE) within the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of mRNAs and the CPE-binding protein (CPEB) have been implicated. We report that in progesterone-stimulated Xenopus oocytes, the early cytoplasmic polyadenylation and translational activation of multiple maternal mRNAs occur in a CPE- and CPEB-independent manner. We demonstrate that polyadenylation response elements, originally identified in the 3′-UTR of the mRNA encoding the Mos proto-oncogene, direct CPE- and CPEB-independent polyadenylation of an early class of Xenopus maternal mRNAs. Our findings refute the hypothesis that CPE sequences alone account for the range of temporal inductions of maternal mRNAs observed during Xenopus oocyte maturation. Rather, our data indicate that the sequential action of distinct 3′-UTR-directed translational control mechanisms coordinates the complex temporal patterns and extent of protein synthesis during vertebrate meiotic cell cycle progression.


Purpose of review This article reviews the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in promoting the progression of atherosclerosis in patients with cancer. Recent findings Radiotherapy is associated with an increase in the incidence of atherosclerosis with the effects being related to the site of irradiation and dose of radiotherapy. Cranial irradiation is associated with dyslipidaemia and the metabolic syndrome secondary to effect on growth hormone secretion. Chemotherapeutic oncological therapies are associated with numerous cardiac diseases including valve disease, pericarditis and cardiomyopathy but can also promote atherosclerosis. Therapies directed against vascular endothelial growth factor including tyrosine kinase inhibitors have a direct effect in raising blood pressure and increase rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Antimetabolites such as 5-fluorouraciland capecitabine cause chest pain and increase CVD events. Anthracyclines cause heart failure and may increase CVD risk. Summary There is increasing evidence that radiotherapy and some chemotherapeutic agents are associated with increased rates of CVD. Patients who have received treatment for cancer should be considered at higher risk of developing atherosclerosis and require increased monitoring, further investigation and earlier treatment than would be suggested by classical risk factor management strategies.


When it comes to nurse shift schedules, it is found that the nursing staff have diverse preferences about shift rotations and days-off. The previous studies only focused on the most preferred work shift and the number of satisfactory days-off of the schedule at the current schedule period but had few discussions on the previous schedule periods and other preference levels for shifts and days-off, which may affect fairness of shift schedules. As a result, this paper proposes a nurse scheduling model based upon integer programming that takes into account constraints of the schedule, different preference ranks towards each shift, and the historical data of previous schedule periods to maximize the satisfaction of all the nursing staff's preferences about the shift schedule. The main contribution of the proposed model is that we consider that the nursing staff's satisfaction level is affected by multiple preference ranks and their priority ordering to be scheduled, so that the quality of the generated shift schedule is more reasonable. Numerical results show that the planned shifts and days-off are fair and successfully meet the preferences of all the nursing staff.


Many first-order probabilistic models can be represented much more compactly using aggregation operations such as counting. While traditional statistical relational representations share factors across sets of interchangeable random variables, representations that explicitly model aggregations also exploit interchangeability of random variables within factors. This is especially useful in decision making settings, where an agent might need to reason about counts of the different types of objects it interacts with. Previous work on counting formulas in statistical relational representations has mostly focused on the problem of exact inference on an existing model. The problem of learning such models is largely unexplored. In this paper, we introduce Counting Markov Logic Networks (C-MLNs), an extension of Markov logic networks that can compactly represent complex counting formulas. We present a structure learning algorithm for C-MLNs; we apply this algorithm to the novel problem of generalizing natural language instructions, and to relational reinforcement learning in the Crossblock domain, in which standard MLN learning algorithms fail to find any useful structure. The C-MLN policies learned from natural language instructions are compact and intuitive, and, despite requiring no instructions on test games, win 20% more Crossblock games than a state-of-the-art algorithm for following natural language instructions.


My research goal is to build large-scale intelligent systems (both single- and multi-agent) that reason with uncertainty in complex, real-world environments. I foresee an integration of such systems in many critical facets of human life ranging from intelligent assistants in hospitals to offices, from rescue agents in large scale disaster response to sensor agents tracking weather phenomena in earth observing sensor webs, and others. In my thesis, I have taken steps towards achieving this goal in the context of systems that operate in partially observable domains that also have transitional (non-deterministic outcomes to actions) uncertainty. Given this uncertainty, Partially Observable Markov Decision Problems (POMDPs) and Distributed POMDPs present themselves as natural choices for modeling these domains.
Unfortunately, the significant computational complexity involved in solving POMDPs (PSPACE-Complete) and Distributed POMDPs (NEXP-Complete) is a key obstacle. Due to this significant computational complexity, existing approaches that provide exact solutions do not scale, while approximate solutions do not provide any usable guarantees on quality. My thesis addresses these issues using the following key ideas: The first is exploiting structure in the domain. Utilizing the structure present in the dynamics of the domain or the interactions between the agents allows improved efficiency without sacrificing on the quality of the solution. The second is direct approximation in the value space. This allows for calculated approximations at each step of the algorithm, which in turn allows us to provide usable quality guarantees; such quality guarantees may be specified in advance. In contrast, the existing approaches approximate in the belief space leading to an approximation in the value space (indirect approximation in value space), thus making it difficult to compute functional bounds on approximations. In fact, these key ideas allow for the efficient computation of optimal and quality bounded solutions to complex, large-scale problems, that were not in the purview of existing algorithms.


After a brief description of Helga Kuhse's arguments on the place of caring in moral decision-making in her recent book, Caring: Nurses, Women and Ethics, the author suggests that Kuhse is committed to reasons externalism and to a moderate form of motivational externalism. This compartmentalizes the psychology of moral agency and fails to see caring as the holistic stance toward patients which some nursing theorists have been espousing. The author then goes on to sketch such a holistic conception and to overcome difficulties relating to objectivity, the place of practical reason, and to weakness of will, which the new conception raises.


1Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics and Pharmacogenomics, Department of Pharmaceutical Biochemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, Interfaculty Cathedral of Laboratory and Molecular Diagnostics, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz 90-151, Poland; 2Department of Pathology, Cathedral of Oncology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz 92-213, Poland Background: Colon cancer is one of the most common types of malignant tumor worldwide. The molecular mechanism of colorectal carcinogenesis is very complex and not yet fully understood. The TGFβ (transforming growth factor β) signaling pathway plays a significant role in the development of many cancers, including colorectal cancer pathogenesis. Changes in TGFβ pathway are associated with increased colorectal cancer risk, because this pathway participates in the control of important cellular processes such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, or apoptosis. The family of SMAD (similar to mother against decapentaplegic) proteins is closely correlated to this pathway. SMADs genes expression affects modulation of the transcription of many genes, which leads to the inhibition of cell-growth and apoptosis in colon epithelial cells. The presence of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) in SMADs genes encoding proteins involved in the control of biological processes important for the cell may play a significant role in the predisposition to the development of colorectal cancer, or in the regulation of the severity of changes related to tumor growth. Extension of data in this field may provide clinically significant conclusions influencing the implementation of personalized treatment based on specific changes characteristic of a patient with colorectal cancer. Purpose: The subject of this research was genotyping polymorphisms of SMAD3 (rs6494629) and SMAD4 (rs10502913, rs12968012, rs1057520801) genes in the group of patients with colorectal cancer and in the control group, and comparing the genotypic frequency distributions with clinical-pathological features within the study group and between the groups. Materials and Methods: SNP genotyping analysis was performed on genomic DNA isolated from 84 frozen tissue sections of colorectal cancer and from 60 peripheral blood samples of patients without cancer. To evaluate the polymorphic variants of SMAD genes, the restricted fragment length of a polymorphism reaction (PCR-RFLP) was used. Results: The results obtained in the study showed no significant association between the examined polymorphisms and the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Conclusion: More extensive studies to confirm the results obtained in this study are needed. Further studies on a larger study group divided according to the clinical stage and histological differentiation may allow finding or excluding the significance of the studied SNPs as potential markers of colorectal cancer in relation to the clinico-pathological data.


In this video we show the capabilities of the OP:Sense system. OP:Sense is an integrated rapid application development environment for robot assisted surgery. It mainly aims on MIRS and on open head neurosurgery as OP:Sense is developed for the EU Projects FP7 SAFROS and FP7 ACTIVE that aim on these use-cases. Besides the framework, OP:Sense also integrates applications. Thus it is not only the framework itself but also a system that demonstrates how robots can be used for surgical interventions. Core of the system is the ACE TAO framework [1] [2] that implements realtime CORBA for communication between distributed systems. We built interfaces based on CORBA for use in Matlab and Simulink. Also there are modules for 3D Slicer and applications for the control of devices like robots, or surgical tools. As Matlab is a mighty tool for rapid application development it can be used to develop applications in a faster way compared to using C++ or similar programming languages. We use Matlab for setting up our environment and for tasks and computations that does not need to run in realtime. For Realtime tasks like telemanipulation we use Simulink models.


Questions: (1) What impact does adaptive movement away from areas of high predation risk have on the dynamics of a prey species and its resource? (2) What can experiments that introduce or remove predator cues tell us about the answer to question (1)? Mathematical methods: These questions are addressed using a two-patch meta-community model in which predators and/or their cues are incorporated into a system consisting of a prey species and its resource. Predators and/or cues may be introduced to one or both patches. Key assumptions: Prey species move adaptively to maximize their instantaneous rate of increase, but also make some random movement. Predators move randomly or do not move. Resources seldom or never move between patches. Consumer species have saturating functional responses. Conclusions: (1) Adaptive movement can stabilize or destabilize the dynamics of the tri-trophic system. (2) Monitoring densities in a single patch may give a misleading indication of the global change in densities. (3) Adaptive prey movement in response to predator cues may increase or decrease prey density. (4) Predator introduction may cause an increase or decrease in the size of the prey population. (5) Short-term experiments with local measurements may greatly overestimate the impact of predators on prey and the behavioural component of that impact. (6) The dynamics and interspecific effects in a system with predators and adaptive avoidance by prey cannot in general be deduced from separate experiments with cues alone and with predators in the absence of the cues. (7) Conclusions from recent empirical studies should be reassessed in light of these results.


Scenario-based requirements specifications are the industry norm for defining communication protocols. However, such scenarios often contain race conditions. A race condition occurs when events are specified to occur in a particular order, but in practice, this order cannot be guaranteed. The paper considers UML/MSC scenarios that can be described with standard partial order theoretic asynchronous behavioral semantics. We define these to be partial order scenarios. The paper proves there is a unique minimal generalization of a partial order scenario that is race free. The paper also proves there is a unique minimal race free refinement of the behavioral semantics of a partial order scenario. Unlike the generalization, the refinement cannot be realized in the form of a partial order scenario, although it can always be embedded in one. The paper, also proves the results can be generalized to a subclass of iterative scenarios.


Wealth inequality is increasingly recognized as a culprit for stagnant economic demand, political marginalization, civic division, and a lack of social well-being. Solutions, however, have been hard to come by, because the current economic order maintains a veneer of inevitability. The modern social imaginary legitimizes the free market and justifies its inequitable consequences as an unavoidable but temporary byproduct of economic development. This essay seeks to provide a theological response in four parts: first, a challenge to the fairy tale of the self-regulating economy; second, a critique of the anthropological assumptions beneath current economic practice; third, an examination of the nature of ownership and the sin of excess; and fourth, an analysis of value and the good. It concludes with a proposal for alternative policies and practices to strengthen the church's witness and nurture the common good.


Power metallurgy has been used to produce compacts by two different routes. In this work, porous three-dimensional (3-D) substrates were prepared by the conventional pre-forms sintering method. Titanium powders were uniaxial pressed at 110 Mpa and vacuum (1 x 10-5 Pa) sintered at 1500 K. Another group of substrates were obtained by the space holder technique. Irregular shaped carbamide particles (210 – 250 m diameters) were mixed to Ti powders, pressed and sintered. Before the sintering the compacts were heated at 470 K for 3 h to eliminate the spacing holder agent. Nanodiamond films were grown by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition technique on such substrates at 870 K from a mixture of Ar/H2 (80%-18,5%) respectively and a solid carbon source. SEM images show the substrates totally covered by a nanodiamond film including deeper planes. Raman Spectra confirm the good quality of the nanodiamond film.


Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are important mediators of the immune response and homeostasis in barrier tissues of mammals. However, the existence and function of ILCs in other vertebrates is poorly understood. Here, we use single-cell RNA sequencing to generate a comprehensive atlas of zebrafish lymphocytes during tissue homeostasis and following immune challenge. We profiled 14,080 individual cells from the gut of wild-type zebrafish, as well as of rag1-deficient fish which lack T and B cells, and discovered diverse populations of helper ILC-like cells. Unexpectedly, fish displayed a rorc-positive, naïve subset that established a Type 3 or Type 2 response only upon immune challenge. Specifically, naïve ILC-like cells expressed il22 and tnfa following exposure to inactivated bacteria, or il13 following exposure to helminth extract. Cytokine-producing ILC-like cells express a specific repertoire of novel immune-type receptors, likely involved in recognition of environmental cues. We identified additional novel markers of zebrafish ILCs and generated a cloud repository for their in-depth exploration.


Technology has always created new opportunities for storytelling, but in the last few decades the rate of change in technology has accelerated enormously, and our technological platforms have become fluid and uncertain. This is a problem because there is a relationship between the affordances and characteristics of the technology, and the poetics of our storytelling using that technology. In essence, different types of technology are good for telling different types of story in different ways, and yet technology is developed without any sense of its embedded poetics, and writers are left to experiment with the results. For example, location-based systems are now common, and there are many apps that experiment with location and storytelling, but the poetics of location-based narratives are poorly understood, and thus have not informed the development of those apps. In this paper we present a research framework, drawing on techniques from participatory design, UX, and Games Design, for exploring how writers can be involved in the process of building new software and as a result co-create both location-based technology and new location-based narrative forms.


In a communications channel based on the timing of information, noise is introduced by any delay of the information as it is transmitted across the network. We examine this noise by measuring the deviation of timing differences as packets are transmitted across local area networks. Parameters affecting these timing differences are determined to include the operating system, the level of background network traffic, and the performance characteristics of the host computer and network.


Objective: to know the main nursing care provided to victims of cranioencephalic trauma. Methods: this is an integrative review, the search in the literature was carried out in the databases SciELO, LILACS, BDENF, CUMED and MEDLINE. It was established as inclusion criterion articles available in full, available in the English, Spanish or Portuguese languages, during the period between January 2004 and December 2016. Results: the review was structured through 11 articles, data analysis was conducted in a descriptive way, the studies were grouped into 3 categories. The categories are composed of the knowledge about the cranioencephalic trauma and the main interventions performed by the nurse. Conclusion: the care of victims of TBI is based on following the protocol of advanced life support, prioritizing the lesions with imminent risk of death, preventing the worsening of existing lesions and avoiding the appearance of secondary brain lesions.


Background: Dabigatran, a non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant, has been shown to prevent stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Nonetheless, studies show that 10%–30% of those prescribed dabigatran experience dyspepsia that may eventually lead to discontinuation of therapy and loss of clinical benefit. Aim: To evaluate the gastrointestinal tolerability of dabigatran utilizing a validated questionnaire, as well as determining subsequent non-compliance and drug discontinuation. Method: This is an observational study. All patients were assessed by a validated questionnaire, Hong Kong dyspepsia index, prior to drug prescription and again 4 weeks later. Results: In this study, 115 patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (mean age: 74.6 ± 11.4 years; mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 3.39 ± 1.59) were prescribed dabigatran. At baseline, the mean Hong Kong dyspepsia index was 12.9 ± 1.6 and nine patients had significant dyspepsia (Hong Kong dyspepsia index ⩾ 16). After 4 weeks, the mean Hong Kong dyspepsia index was similar at 12.6 ± 1.9 (p = 0.23). There was no change in Hong Kong dyspepsia index after initiation of dabigatran in 59 (51.3%) patients, and improvement in 37 (32.2%). Only 19 (16.5%) patients had worsening of Hong Kong dyspepsia index, and among these 19 patients, only 1 patient (0.9%) discontinued dabigatran due to significant dyspepsia. Conclusion: Worsening of dyspepsia with dabigatran 110 mg twice daily was uncommon with correct drug administration and clear instructions provided. Systematic assessment of dyspeptic symptoms using a validated questionnaire (i.e. Hong Kong dyspepsia index) before and after treatment initiation allows a more objective comparison of dyspeptic symptoms.


A 3-D multiview video gives users an experience that is different from that provided by a traditional video; however, it puts a huge burden on limited bandwidth resources. Mixed-resolution video in a multiview system can alleviate this problem by using different video resolutions for different views. However, to reduce visual uncomfortableness and to make this video format more suitable for free-viewpoint television, the low-resolution (LR) views need to be super-resolved to the target full resolution. In this paper, we propose a virtual-view-assisted super-resolution algorithm, where the inter-view similarity is used to determine whether the missing pixels in the super-resolved frame need to be filled by virtual-view pixels or by spatial interpolated pixels. The decision mechanism is steered by the texture characteristics of the neighbors of each missing pixel. Furthermore, the inter-view similarity is used, on the one hand, to enhance the quality of the virtual-view-copied pixels by compensating the luminance difference between different views and, on the other hand, to enhance the original LR pixels in the super-resolved frame by reducing their compression distortion. Thus, the proposed method can recover the details in regions with edges while maintaining good quality at smooth areas by properly exploiting the high-quality virtual-view pixels and the directional correlation of pixels. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach with a peak signal-to-noise ratio gain of up to 3.85 dB.


A TiO2/P3HT hybrid solar cell was fabricated by infiltrating P3HT into the pores of TiO2 nanorod arrays. To further enhance the photovoltaic performance, anthracene-9-carboxylic acid was employed to modify the interface of TiO2/P3HT before P3HT was coated. Results revealed that the interface treatment significantly enhances the photovoltaic performance of the cell. The efficiency of the hybrid solar cells reaches 0.28% after interface modification, which is three times higher compared with the un-modified one. We find that except for the increased exciton dissociation efficiency recognized by the previous reports, the suppressing of electron back recombination is another important factor leading to the enhanced photovoltaic performance.


Although multiple channels are supported in the physical layer, the IEEE 802.11 MAC layer mechanism is designed for using a single channel. Exploiting multiple channels enhances spatial reuse and reduces transmission collisions and thus improves network throughput. Designing a multi-channel MAC protocol is much more difficult than designing a single-channel one. New challenges, such as the channel allocation problem and the missing receiver problem, must be overcome. Existing multi-channel MAC protocols suffer from either higher hardware cost (because of applying multiple transceivers) or lower channel utilization (due to limited transmission opportunity). In this paper, a fully distributed channel hopping solution, the Cyclic-Quorum-based Multi-channel (CQM) MAC protocol, is proposed. We use the cyclic quorum in a novel way and the proposed protocol has several attractive features. First, only a single transceiver is needed for each node. Second, any sender is guaranteed to meet its receiver in a short time. Third, each node's channel hopping sequence is derived from its node ID. This avoids exchanging control messages, such as each node's hopping sequence or available channel list. Fourth, multiple transmission pairs can accomplish handshaking simultaneously. The proposed protocol is simple and efficient. Simulation and real system implementation results verify that our mechanism is a promising multi-channel MAC protocol for mobile ad hoc networks. Index Terms Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, IEEE 802.11, Multi-Channel MAC Protocols, Quorum Systems.


Assembly lines are flow-oriented production systems that are of great importance in the industrial production of standard, high-volume products and even more recently, they have become commonplace in producing low-volume custom products. The main goal of designers of these lines is to increase the efficiency of the system and therefore, the assembly line balancing to achieve an optimal system is one of the most important steps that have to be considered in the design of assembly lines. The purpose of the assembly line balancing is to assign tasks to the workstation called the station, so that prerequisite relationships, cycle times, and other assembly line constraints to be met and a number of line performance criteria to be optimized. In this study, considering the social responsibility related objective function, a mathematical model is proposed for scheduling and balancing the cost-oriented assembly line that has resource constraints with cost uncertainty. The box set robust optimization is applied and the obtained model is solved with the augmented epsilon constraint in the GAMS and some test problems and their results are presented. Finally, the cost parameter has been changed in a robust optimization approach and the obtained results have been analyzed for different costs.


A number of measurement challenges exist within the realms of dimensional metrology and Non Destructive Testing (NDT). In particular, metallic Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly growing field, which offers the potential to become a massively disruptive technology within high value manufacturing. Despite the rapid growth in research and industrial interest, the ability to identify non-conformances in high value parts is holding back large scale uptake of the technologies in industry. Still in its infancy, non-destructive inspection of AM parts has mainly been carried out using by X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT). However, this method is prohibitively expensive and often far exceeds requirements. Offering high resolution imaging and the ability to compensate for complex surfaces, ultrasonic synthetic aperture imaging could provide an alternative with comparable capabilities, but at a significantly lower cost. While research into solutions such as this are required for new technologies like AM, mature techniques are also in need of novel measurement applications. Specifically, while highly accurate methods of dimensional measurement are available for forged parts, there is no commercial measurement equipment which allows for dimensional measurement of parts during the forging process. Due to the heat applied to parts, contact and even optical techniques can be contraindicated. In order to provide dimensional information on hot parts during forging, new techniques need to be created and existing methods must be adapted. Therefore, this work presents early stage investigations into both dimensional measurement of hot parts using optical reconstruction methods and non-destructive investigation of additively manufactured parts using full matrix capture and ultrasonic synthetic aperture image reconstruction.


The effects of incorporation of Moringa leaf fibre (a by-product of leaf processing which contains 24% Crude Fibre by dry weight at 0, 5 and 10 % substitution of wheat flour in cookies was investigated. Three products containing wheat flour: Moringa leaf fibre ratios of 100:0, 95:5, and 90:10 respectively were prepared, and a commercial cookie was used as a standard. Proximate composition of each of the products was determined and sensory evaluation of the cookies was performed on a 7-point hedonic scale (with the standard commercial cookie as control) using a 20- man sensory panel. There was no significant (P< 0.05) difference in the dry matter content of the four samples. The 10% Moringa leaf fibre cookie blend had the highest moisture, fat and crude fibre content (0.57 % CF, relative to 0.44 and 0.54% CF observed in the 0:100 and 5:95 recipes respectively), while the commercial cookie had the lowest values for these parameters (0.36% CF) but with highest value for protein. The 100% wheat flour cookie ranked best in sensory evaluation, followed by the 5% fibre substituted cookie. All the cookies were acceptable; scoring above 4 on the 7-point hedonic scale. Addition of moringa leaf waste up to 10 % in cookies is feasible, though better at 5%. Cookies with Moringa leaf by-product have the advantage of being good sources of some of the daily requirements of dietary fibre. Keywords: Moring a leaf waste fibre, by-product, cookies, dietary fibre, sensory evaluation.


North perimeter pipeline and secondary apron terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta airport project is a project of construction of PT. Pertamina (Persero) aviation pipeline undertaken PT. Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk, as contractor. Project scope comprises installation of 20" underground pipe from DPPU- terminal 3 along 17.25m and installation of underground pipes in aircraft parking area consisting of 20" and 8" pipes. The purpose of this project to meet needs of refueling aircraft at terminal 3 airport Soekarno-Hatta. Appropriate protection for corrosion rate prevention is necessary to support performance of pipeline. Company considers replacing all SACP protections into ICCP to avoid undesirable risks that will affect pipeline of the company. Final project is designed to provide results related to leakage cathodic protection currents, including addition of surface area to be protected, comparison of ICCP systems before and after occurrence of leakage current, and how impact on potential of existing pipes. The result this research show that the problem of leakage current, in surface area of pipe, valve chamber, casing pipe, rebar valve chamber to be protected by ICCP to 37.549,358 m², current needed to protect 938,734 ampere, requires anode as 169 pieces anode, and required output voltage of transformer rectifier 19130,695 volts


Abstract The electrical resistivity of landfill base soil changes when leachate infiltrates into the soil, due to leakage through the liner. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the effects of fluid (water and/or leachate) content of soil, and type of leachate on the electrical resistivity of Perth landfill base soil. The experimental apparatus used for the resistivity measurements was fabricated as per Australian standard AS 12188.8.131.52-1997. Three leachates were procured for the experimentation. The infiltrating fluid consisted of a mixture of water and leachates in varying concentration, to simulate the base soil contamination in field situations. The test results showed that the electrical resistivity of the Perth sandy soil decreased rapidly when the fluid content increased. The resistivity of the soil was found to decrease significantly with increase in the leachate content in the fluid. However, the rate of decrease of resistivity became less significant for fluid contents over 9%, irrespective of the leachate content in the fluid. Additionally, it was observed that the rate of decrease of resistivity was almost independent of the type of leachate for leachate contents more than 20%. The resistivity-leachate content curves for each of the leachates demonstrated a point of inflection at leachate content of 30%. The results indicate that the changes to the resistivity arising from changes to the fluid content are more significant than the effect of varying the leachate content or type within any specific mixture of water and leachate. Newly developed correlations between the resistivity and the geotechnical properties of the soil infiltrated with leachates, have also been presented.


Current biocompatible metals such as steel and titanium alloys have excellent corrosive properties and superior strengths. However, their strengths are often too high and as a result have a negative effect on the body. Therefore, Magnesium (Mg) alloys with relatively low strengths are ideal biocompatible metallic materials. The problem with Mg implants is how to control corrosion rates so that the degradation of Mg implants may match with bone growth. The high compressive residual stress induced by laser shock peening (LSP) has a great potential to slow down the corrosion rate. LSP is a known surface treatment method to impart compressive residual stress in subsurface of a metal. Therefore, LSP was initiated in this study to investigate surface topography and integrity produced by peening a Mg alloy. A 3D semi-infinite simulation has also been developed to predict the topography and residual stress fields produced by sequential peening. The dynamic mechanical behavior was modeled using a user material subroutine of the internal state variable plasticity model. The temporal and spatial peening pressure was modeled using a user load subroutine. The simulated dent agrees with the measured dent topography in terms of profile and depth. Sequential peening was found to increase the tensile pile up region which is critical to tribological applications. The predicted residual stress profiles are also presented.© 2009 ASME


Computer models have been used for almost a decade to model and analyze various aspects of solid waste management Commercially available models exist for estimating the capital and operating costs of landfills, waste-to-energy facilities and compost systems and for optimizing system performance along a single dimension (e.g. cost or transportation distance). An alternative to the use of currently available models is the more flexible macro material flow modeling approach in which a macro scale or regional level approach is taken. Waste materials are tracked through the complete integrated waste management cycle from generation through recycling and reuse, and finally to ultimate disposal. Such an approach has been applied by the authors to two different applications. The STELLA simulation language (for Macintosh computers) was used to model the solid waste management system of Puerto Rico. The model incorporated population projections for all 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico from 1990 to 2010, solid waste generation factors, remaining life for the existing landfills, and projected startup time for new facilities. The Pacific Northwest Laboratory has used the SimScript simulation language (for Windows computers) to model the management of solid and hazardous wastes produced during cleanup and remediation activities at the Hanford Nuclear Site.


The everyday practices and socio-cultural identities of migrant youth have become a focal point of contemporary sociological research in Western countries of immigration. This article engages with the concept of transcultural capital to frame the possibilities and opportunities embodied in young migrants' multi-layered identities and cross-cultural competencies in the context of an increasingly interconnected and diverse world. By re-conceptualising diversity and difference as agentic, transformational capitals to be valued, fostered and mobilised, this transcultural approach brings to the fore the multitude of skills, networks and knowledge that migrant youth access and develop through multiple cultural repertoires. Drawing on the narratives of migrant youth in Melbourne (Australia), this article argues that access to different – and not necessarily oppositional – cultural systems opens up a space for understanding the ability of migrant youth to instigate, negotiate and maintain valuable socio-cultural connections in ways that recognise, disrupt and transform social hierarchies.


Differentiating requires more than just a simple bag of tricks. Teachers need to have concrete strategies if they want to provide choice and challenge for all learners in their classroom. The strategies included in this book were chosen based on their ease of implementation and modification. In addition, they all encourage student engagement, provide inherent opportunities for differentiation, and are appropriate for multiple grade levels.Differentiation That Really Works provides time-saving strategies and lesson ideas created and field-tested by practicing professionals in their own heterogeneous classrooms. These lessons can be used as written or can be modified to meet the needs of a particular classroom. The book also provides templates that can be used to develop new lessons using each strategy. These strategies, including exit cards, choice boards, cubing, graphic organizers, learning contracts, and tiered lessons, help pave the way to a differentiated classroom that meets all students' needs!Grades 3-5


In the vehicles, there are many components which has important role beside the major role as a transportation tool. And each of vehicles has one of the parts which important like brake. It is used to stop the vehicle when it runs or parks.
According to the reason above, the researcher was interested in investigating about this brake system deeply. And the problems that was rised were: 1. The factors which affect the braking ability, 2. Doing the treatment of brake economically, 3. Knowing the pressure power of the types of disc brake and drum brake, 4. The power of braking and the amount of pressure, 5. The analysis of the comparation between the disc brake and drum brake.
Furthermore, the quantitative was used in this research because it refered to the empiric data. And this research used some of the method such as: field observation, literature of the data and from the guidance.
From the result of the study could be known that combination usage of the disc brake in front wheel and drum brake in rear wheel was better because the vehicle load will rest on the front wheel of the vehicle when it was braking. Therefore, the front wheel needs types of brake which has great pressure and fast like disc brake. In addition, the treatment is needed once in month like cheking the oil brake, brake lining and the others.


Sixteen steroids with different endocrine activities were administered to female rats for 6 or 7 days, in a broad range of doses. Liver growth was recorded by measuring weight and DNA contents and monooxygenase activity by assaying the turnover of five different substrates. According to their effects on these parameters steroids were assigned into one of the following three groups: (a) Estrogens estradiol and ethinylestradiol, as well as the progestins norethynodrel and norethisterone (norethin-drone) which have estrogenic activity in rats. These agents induced pronounced liver growth and excessive DNA increase which was not associated with major monooxygenase induction, (b) A different type of response consisted of liver growth and DNA increase associated with a pronounced induction of monooxygenase(s) in a characteristic pattern. tins progesterone, cyproterone acetate, and medroxyprogesterone (but not gestoden and levo-norgestrel), by the antimineralocorticoid spirono-lactone and by the glucocorticoids cortisol and dexamethasone. Appar ently, this response pattern was not related to any specific endocrine action but to certain structural features, in particular to the presence of a saturated, at least two-membered alkyl substituent at C17 of the steroid ring system, (c) No or small effects were observed after gestoden, levo-norgestrel and the androgens testosterone and methyltestosterone. Dose-response studies revealed that estrogens estradiol and EE2 in duced hepatic effects more potently by four orders of magnitude than progestins. The response patterns observed may be relevant to the tumor-promoting activity of some of the steroids tested.


Chitosan membranes were prepared by solvent cast method. In order to increase cell adhesion of the chitosan membranes, oxygen plasma treatment was applied to improve the hydrophilicity of the surface of chitosan membranes. The surface properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle analyzer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The effects of exposure time, plasma generating power, and chamber pressure on water contact angle of the chitosan membranes were investigated. The water contact angle of chitosan membranes decreased from 94.1° to 49.2° after plasma treatment. Which suggested the surfaces became more hydrophilic. XPS analysis showed that the oxygen content and the ratio of O/C increased markedly after oxygen plasma treatment. Furthermore, it was found that C-H bonds were broken with oxygen plasma treatment. C-OH group had been increased after plasma irradiation.


Blast is one of the most common disease of the Rice crop caused by Pyricularia oryzae. Blast of Rice is a recurrent problem of Rice producing countries declines productivity drastically. Mycelium growth and sporulation of P. oryzae is depend upon many factors i.e. humidity, temperature, availability of nutrients etc. Like other fungi P. oryzae also requires some nutrients in very minute quantity for their physiological and metabolic activities. Regulating these micronutrients or trace elements we can control the growth and spore production in P. oryzae. In this paper, we studied effect of four trace elements i.e. Zinc (Zn), Boron (B), Magnesium (Mg) and Copper (Cu) on growth and sporulation of P. oryzae. Zinc, Boron and Copper are most effective and promote growth and sporulation at 2 ppm (parts per million) concentration when we increased concentration of these elements in the medium, growth and sporulation decreased .On the other hand less growth and sporulation reported in the absence of Magnesium. Minute quantity of Magnesium is required for optimum growth i.e. 2 ppm. after this increasing concentration of Magnesium is not significant.


Fungal infection should be taken into consideration in neonates after the failure of adequate antibiotics therapy. The yeast Candida usually causes systemic mycosis. In this study, to determine the cause of systemic mycoses 1 ml of blood from the neonates with therapeutics failure was plating onto sabouraud dextrose agar. The isolates were further identify with sugar assimilation- fermentation test and continue with rice cream – Tween 80 agar for any doubtful results. The prevalence of systemic candidosis is 62.96% among neonates with therapeutic failure of antibiotics. Species identification showed C. tropicalis in the first rank followed by C. guilliermondii, C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. lusitaniae and T. variabile. The infection either multiple causes by more then one species or single infection. Failure of antibiotics therapy might be caused by fungal infection and it was concluded that there is a shift from C. albicans to Candida non C. albicans species as the cause of systemic infection, in this study by C. tropicalis. Keywords: C. tropicalis, C. guilliermondii, C. glabrata, T. variabile


This paper discusses critical findings from a two-year EU-funded research project involving four European countries: Austria, England, Slovenia and Romania. The project had two primary aims. The first of these was to develop a systematic procedure for assessing the balance between learning outcomes acquired in education and the specific needs of the labour market. The second aim was to develop and test a set of meta-level quality indicators aimed at evaluating the linkages between education and employment. The project was distinctive in that it combined different partners from Higher Education, Vocational Training, Industry and Quality Assurance. One of the key emergent themes identified in exploratory interviews was that employers and recent business graduates in all four countries want a well-rounded education which delivers a broad foundation of key business knowledge across the various disciplines. Both groups also identified the need for personal development in critical skills and competencies. Following the exploratory study, a questionnaire was designed to address five functional business areas, as well as a cluster of 8 business competencies. Within the survey, questions relating to the meta-level quality indicators assessed the impact of these learning outcomes on the workplace, in terms of the following: 1) value, 2) relevance and 3) graduate ability. This paper provides an overview of the study findings from a sample of 900 business graduates and employers. Two theoretical models are proposed as tools for predicting satisfaction with work performance and satisfaction with business education. The implications of the study findings for education, employment and European public policy are discussed.


Case studies use real life examples of business and management issues to help develop skills in decision making, collaboration, and problem solving.


As research material, 521 broiler carcasses, 308 of which were cut up manually and 213 of which were cut up with machine, were used. The carcasses cut up were divided into 6 groups based on their weights. In both methods, the whole weights of the carcasses were determined first and recorded. After that, they were divided into 3 parts as wings, legs, and breast. It was found that the process of cutting up takes 12 s by hand and 50.5 s with machine. As a result of cutting up, net income increase was determined as 13.75% for manual cutting up and 11.37% for mechanical cutting up.


Testing was conducted to evaluate the performance of a multistage Multotec SX7 spiral concentrator treating ultrafine bituminous coal. This spiral mimics a two-stage separation in that the refuse is removed after four turns, and the clean coal and middlings are repulped (without water addition) and then separated in the final three turns. Feed samples were collected from the spiral circuit of a coal cleaning plant located in southwestern Pennsylvania. The samples consisted of undeslimed cyclone feed (nominal − 0.15 mm) and deslimed spiral feed (nominal 0.15 × 0.053 mm). Testing was carried out to investigate the effects of slurry flow rate and solids concentration on spiral performance. Detailed size and ash analyses were performed on the spiral feed and product samples. For selected tests, float-sink and sulfur analyses were performed. In nearly all cases, ash reduction occurred down to approximately 0.025 mm, with some sulfur reduction occurring even in the − 0.025 mm interval. The separation of the + 0.025 mm material was not significantly affected by the presence of the − 0.025 mm material when treating the undeslimed feed. The − 0.025 mm material split in approximately the same ratio as the slurry, and the majority of the water traveled to the clean coal stream. This split ultimately increased the overall clean coal ash value. A statistical analysis determined that both flow rate and solids concentration affected the clean coal ash value and yield, though the flow rate had a greater effect on the separation.