Today the Muslim community is vying to establish a mosque / musholah. Because now the mosque / musholah not only used as a place of worship for Muslims. But also as a place of deliberation, a place to improve the intelligence and knowledge of the Muslims and the development and development of cadres of the leaders of the ummah.The type of this research is quantitativeand research method are correlation and regression analysis.Correlation analysis is used to test the significance and the relation between variables of Muslim population and mosque building. Meanwhile, regression analysis aims to determine the significance of the influence of Muslim population on building mosques in South Sulawesi Province. The results of this research indicate that the functional relationship between the number of Muslim population and the number of mosque buildings in South Sulawesi Province in 2015 is a positive linear pattern, the higher the Muslim population the higher the number of mosque buildings. Based on the results of correlation analysis obtained correlation coefficient between variables is strong that is 0.894 and significantly correlated. Meanwhile, based on regression analysis, it is found that there is significant influence between population and mosque building in South Sulawesi Province in 2015.


This paper presents the effect of magnetizing inductance on self-excitation. It also describes the loading analysis of an isolated induction generator, and how the operating frequency and generated voltage are affected by the change in operating slip value for regulated and unregulated rotor speed. Wind powered self-excited induction generators (SEIG) have an input wind which is not controllable, but they can be set to operate within a given variation of speed. The experimental and simulated results for a dynamic generated voltage, frequency and power are presented. The dynamic electromagnetic torque produced by the induction generator is also give. A dSPACE DS1102 DSP card is used for data acquisition and for control of the driven speed.


Metric learning has received conflicting assessments concerning its suitability for solving instance segmentation tasks. It has been dismissed as theoretically flawed due to the shift equivariance of the employed CNNs and their respective inability to distinguish same-looking objects. Yet it has been shown to yield state of the art results for a variety of tasks, and practical issues have mainly been reported in the context of tile-and-stitch approaches, where discontinuities at tile boundaries have been observed. To date, neither of the reported issues have undergone thorough formal analysis. In our work, we contribute a comprehensive formal analysis of the shift equivariance properties of encoder-decoder-style CNNs, which yields a clear picture of what can and cannot be achieved with metric learning in the face of same-looking objects. In particular, we prove that a standard encoder-decoder network that takes d-dimensional images as input, with l pooling layers and pooling factor f, has the capacity to distinguish at most fdl same-looking objects, and we show that this upper limit can be reached. Furthermore, we show that to avoid discontinuities in a tile-and-stitch approach, assuming standard batch size 1, it is necessary to employ valid convolutions in combination with a training output window size strictly greater than fl, while at test-time it is necessary to crop tiles to size n • fl before stitching, with n ≥ 1. We complement these theoretical findings by discussing a number of insightful special cases for which we show empirical results on synthetic and real data.Code:https://github.com/Kainmueller-Lab/shift_equivariance_unet


The alicyclic dianhydrides 1,2,3,4-cyclobutanetetracarboxylic dianhydride(CBDA) was polymerized with four kinds of fluorinated aromatic diamine, 2,2'-bis(trifluoromethyl)-4,4'- diaminobiphenyl(TFDB), 1,4-bis(4-amino-2-trifluoromethylphenoxy)benzene(6FAPB), 1,4-bis(4- amino-2-trifluoromethylphenoxy) diphenyl ether (6FAPE) and 1,4-bis(4-amino-2-trifluoromethyl- phenoxy)diphenyl(6FBAB) respectively, via a two-step polycondensation procedure to prepare four series of fluorinated polyimides(PIs) derived from CBDA. The obtained PIs displayed excellent solubility in aprotic polar solvents, such as NMP, DMAc, DMF and DMSO. These PIs showed good thermal stability with the 10% thermal decomposing temperatures higher than 457 in nitrogen and the glass transition temperatures higher than 267 . In addition, the PI films exhibited good optical transparency in the visible light region(400-700nm) with the transmittance higher than 80% at 450nm, and the PI films showed little absorption at the optocommunication wavelengths of 1.30µm and 1.55µm.


In this paper, we propose a boundary structure for improving performances of Single-sided Linear Induction Motors (SLIMs). In such machines, solid-plate conductors and back irons are usually used for secondary stators throughout operating regions. However, to take account of deformation due to thermal expansions, secondary stators are constructed from some sections of limited length. Therefore, a propulsive force characteristic declines when the primary armature crosses the boundary between secondary sections. In this study, by adopting a three-dimensional finite element method, detailed phenomena at the boundary between secondary sections have been clarified from the viewpoint of propulsive force and secondary current distributions. Besides the validity of calculated results is verified by the measured results. Further, to suppress the aggravation of characteristic caused by the secondary structural transition, we connect the secondary sections electrically. Finally, the propulsive force characteristic has been improved in spite of the existence of the boundary.


International protection of material cultural property
during armed conflict
The development of methods of modern armed conflict and the accelerating
pace of occurrence led to the violation of several provisions of international
humanitarian law, customary and the Convention, it was recognized not persons
and property from such abuses, which were of cultural property, especially
material whether real or movable for grave breaches, despite the emergence of
signs of protection ancient civilizations and religions. Therefore it was necessary
to develop legal rules on the provision of protection to the property, with the
need to develop standards and a basis for discrimination between them and
military targets; in that, since the adoption of the Hague Conventions of 1899
and 1907 rolled documents International urges greater protection of cultural
property during armed conflicts, was the Charter of the Roerich 1935 and the
Hague Convention and accessories for the year 1954 is the first international
document in this specialized subject, established as a special status such as the
protection of cultural property directly to public and private in terms of being an
integral part of the common heritage of humanity. The efforts culminated in the
adoption of Additional Protocol II to the Hague Convention of 1954, which gave
enhanced protection of cultural property.
Because the terms of protection can not be applied on the ground unless
supported with mechanisms see in an integrated framework to ensure respect for
and proper implementation, and this provided for the various conventions of
international humanitarian law relevant to the mechanisms assigned to that task,
whether of a preventive nature, is active before and during the conflict armed, or
regulatory in nature operate during armed conflicts to ensure the commitment of
the disputing parties to apply the provisions of protection. In addition to the
repressive mechanisms of the role of international criminal court, especially the
International Criminal Court as a permanent court and the owner of inherent
jurisdiction in the follow-up of States Parties to prove claimed responsibility for
the crimes of the cultural war.
The safeguards available to protect cultural property in situations of armed
conflict from the legal system and international mechanisms to ensure its
application, has not yet reached the size of the big challenges posed by
contemporary armed conflicts, in order to overcome these challenges are not
needed often to a comprehensive review of the rules of international
humanitarian law, but needs to process the implementation of these rules and
adapt them, and activate those mechanisms and coordinate their efforts. Must be
for that to overcome the political obstacles and considerations of self-interest
that impede the effective implementation of these rules with the work of an
international integrated between States and international organizations in order
to access the respect for cultural diversity and cultural specificity at the same
time, in order to block the return of armed conflict to the concept of total war.


We found that in the phosphate (PO4)‐depleted western subtropical North Atlantic Ocean, small‐sized pigmented eukaryotes (P‐Euk; < 5 μm) play a central role in the carbon (C) cycling. Although P‐Euk were only ~ 5% of the microbial phytoplankton cell abundance, they represented at least two thirds of the microbial phytoplankton C biomass and fixed more CO2 than picocyanobacteria, accounting for roughly half of the volumetric CO2 fixation by the microbial phytoplankton, or a third of the total primary production. Cell‐specific PO4 assimilation rates of P‐Euk and nonpigmented eukaryotes (NP‐Euk; < 5 μm) were generally higher than of picocyanobacteria. However, when normalized to biovolumes, picocyanobacteria assimilated roughly four times more PO4 than small eukaryotes, indicating different strategies to cope with PO4 limitation. Our results underline an imbalance in the CO2 : PO4 uptake rate ratios, which may be explained by phagotrophic predation providing mixotrophic protists with their largest source of PO4. 18S rDNA amplicon sequence analyses suggested that P‐Euk was dominated by members of green algae and dinoflagellates, the latter group commonly mixotrophic, whereas marine alveolates were the dominant NP‐Euk. Bacterivory by P‐Euk (0.9 ± 0.3 bacteria P‐Euk−1 h−1) was comparable to values previously measured in the central North Atlantic, indicating that small mixotrophic eukaryotes likely exhibit similar predatory pressure on bacteria. Interestingly, bacterivory rates were reduced when PO4 was added during experimental incubations, indicating that feeding rate by P‐Euk is regulated by PO4 availability. This may be in response to the higher cost associated with assimilating PO4 by phagocytosis compared to osmotrophy.


Myths unravel an overwhelmingly patriarchal order in society and consequently validate the androcentrism of language. As cultural texts, they show and legitimize the victimization of women. "Revisionist mythmaking" is a process, suggested by Alicia Ostriker, which tends to subvert the patriarchal structure of the cultural elements and "correct" the gender stereotypes of women. Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife is a remarkable addition to the tradition of revisionist mythmaking in English literature. Almost all the poems focus on hitherto invisible and "silenced" female counterparts of mythical and quasi-mythical characters. The ending of the stories remains unchanged, but the perspectives change as Duffy subverts the male-subject position into a female one. This paper argues that here the female speakers attain superiority mainly through speech and considers it the main strength of the process of revisionist mythmaking. Duffy's use of dramatic monologue, as the dominant genre in this collection, helps to capture the essence of "performance" through the speech in a brilliant way. The female-subject speakers give commands which are meant to be executed; they narrate acts of violence, stories of victimization, and experience of motherhood. They adopt colloquial language and masculine expressions which make the subversion more effective. Austin's speech-act theory has been used to explain the locutionary effect of the speeches. The paper also draws upon Judith Butler's notion of performativity, as it helps to theorize the revision of myth that occurs through subversion of the masculine discourse.


Aftershocks of the Tabas-e-Golshan earthquake (Ms = 7.7) of September 16, 1978 were recorded with a local network of portable seismometers. The main shock produced a discontinuous series of surface ruptures extending 85 km NNW and dipping ENE beneath the Shotori Range. The largest aftershocks located thus far are not concentrated in the hypocentral region of the main shock nor near the ends of the rupture zone but appear to be concentrated down-dip from gaps in the surface ruptures. This suggests that these features may extend to depth and act as barrier zones in the rupture process.
 The 65 km long zone of aftershock activity dips 40°ENE from the surface break, which agrees with the focal mechanism for the main shock in indicating thrusting on a NNW-striking, ENE-dipping fault. The aftershocks range in depth from 2 to 24 km with greatest concentration in the depth range 5 to 10 km.


Affinity purification coupled to mass spectrometry provides a reliable method for identifying proteins and their binding partners. In this study we have used Drosophila melanogaster proteins triple tagged with Flag, Strep II, and Yellow fluorescent protein in vivo within affinity pull-down experiments and isolated these proteins in their native complexes from embryos. We describe a pipeline for determining interactomes by Parallel Affinity Capture (iPAC) and show its use by identifying partners of several protein baits with a range of sizes and subcellular locations. This purification protocol employs the different tags in parallel and involves detailed comparison of resulting mass spectrometry data sets, ensuring the interaction lists achieved are of high confidence. We show that this approach identifies known interactors of bait proteins as well as novel interaction partners by comparing data achieved with published interaction data sets. The high confidence in vivo protein data sets presented here add new data to the currently incomplete D. melanogaster interactome. Additionally we report contaminant proteins that are persistent with affinity purifications irrespective of the tagged bait.


Taking the flood season (from May to October) precipitation in Hainan province as the forecast object, the application of fuzzy neural networks forecasting method with different forecast factors is studied. The results show that the new model based on principal component analysis is significantly superior to the traditional stepwise regression model and other fuzzy neural networks models which select other factors in prediction accuracy and prediction stability. It can be applied to operational short-term climate forecast.


Both a serious academic text and an intriguing story, this seventh edition reflects a significant update in research, theory, and applications in all areas. It presents a comprehensive view of the historical development of learning theories from behaviorist through to cognitive models. The chapters also cover memory, motivation, social learning, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The author's highly entertaining style clarifies concepts, emphasizes practical applications, and presents a thought-provoking, narrator-based commentary. The stage is given to Mrs Gribbin and her swashbuckling cat, who both lighten things up and supply much-needed detail. These two help to explore the importance of technology for simulating human cognitive processes and engage with current models of memory. They investigate developments in, and applications of, brain-based research and plunge into models in motivation theory, to name but a few of the adventures they embark upon in this textbook.


Abstract. Many of the species classified in Psychotria L. subg. Heteropsychotria Steyerm. (Rubiaceae), including the species of Psychotria ser. Axillares (Hook. f.) Steyerm., have been shown to belong to Palicourea Aubl. based on morphological and molecular characters. This section is now treated as Palicourea sect. Axillares (Hook. f.) Borhidi, and includes 14 species found from southern Central America through the Andes of northwestern and western South America with a center of diversity in eastern Colombia and western Venezuela. This section is characterized by the combination of laminar, well-developed, bilobed stipules and mostly capitate, pseudoaxillary or sometimes terminal, mostly sessile inflorescences with numerous well-developed bracts that enclose the flowers but without enlarged involucral bracts. It is circumscribed differently here than it is by Borhidi. The nomenclatural summary, key, and diagnostic discussions that separate the species included here are based on several new taxonomic circumscriptions. No infraspecific taxa are recognized in Pal. axillaris (Sw.) Borhidi, but one of its varieties from Venezuela is raised to species status as Pal. villipila (Steyerm.) C. M. Taylor. The circumscription of Pal. rosacea (Steyerm.) Borhidi is expanded, and four species are newly described here: Pal. aristata C. M. Taylor from the Andes of southern Ecuador, Pal. quibdoana C. M. Taylor from northwestern Colombia, Pal. santanderiana C. M. Taylor from the Andes of eastern Colombia, and Pal. winfriedii C. M. Taylor from northern Venezuela.


A medium that exhibits artificial magnetism can be formed by assembling an array of split ring resonators SRRs—planar conducting elements that exhibit a resonant response to electromagnetic radiation. The SRR exhibits a large magnetic dipole moment when excited by a magnetic field directed along its axis. However, the SRR also exhibits an electric response that can be quite large depending on the symmetry of the SRR and the orientation of the SRR with respect to the electric component of the field. So, while the SRR medium can be considered as having a predominantly magnetic response for certain orientations with respect to the incident wave, it is generally the case that the SRR exhibits magnetoelectric coupling, and hence a medium of SRRs arranged so as to break mirror symmetry about one of the axes will exhibit bianisotropy. We present here a method of directly calculating the magnetoelectric coupling terms using averages over the fields computed from full-wave finite-element based numerical simulations. We confirm the predicted bianisotropy of a fabricated SRR medium by measuring the cross polarization of a microwave beam transmitted through the sample. We also demonstrate that the magnetoelectric coupling that gives rise to the bianisotropic response is suppressed by symmetrizing the SRR composite structure and provide measurements comparing the cross polarization of the symmetric and asymmetric structures. © 2006 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2218033


usiness environment of industries of consists of various structure and system, which determines situation and condition of all industrial problems which industries are transacted. Those system and structure influence all industrial practice including construction industry, directly or indirectly. This research aims to identify a problem in construction industry in Indonesia. These research model have been adobted from aniekwuk's research in Nigeria.

These research includes 44 contractors which operate in many cities in java island. From these analysis about contractor perception about the business environment of the construction industry, had occurred 3 main problem in the business environment of the construction industry in Indonesia, in consecutively : a) Owners unwillingness to compensate fully for price escalation suffered for reasons beyond your control ; b) Problems of awarding most of the government contract to foreign firms; c) Difficulties in securing credit on reasonable terms from commercial banks for interim construction financing.

From all the problem in the business environment of the construction industry in Indonesia, the result in Spearman correlation describe that contractor's perception of the industry classification in order : 1) contracting and contract administration practice, has described the significant correlation ; 2) business environment of the construction industry, has described the significant correlation; 3) capacity and efficiency of the contractor, hasn't described the significant correlation ; 4) capable institution to cater for the progress of the construction industry, hasn't described the significant correlation.


This paper proposes AREA-MAC, a medium access control (MAC) protocol for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). AREA-MAC reduces latency and energy consumption of nodes by using low power listening (LPL) with short preamble messages. Other protocols like B-MAC use long preamble messages that cause higher latency, energy consumption, and control overhead on nodes. AREA-MAC provides a reasonable trade-off between vital parameters, such as system fairness, throughput, scalability, and adaptability to traffic conditions. Additionally, to minimize network latency and maximize its lifetime, two application-based optimization problems are formulated. The gain of AREA-MAC in terms of delay and energy efficiency and an OMNeT++ based simulation framework are also discussed.


This article examines the location of short sales for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks. We find that most exchanges execute a similar percentage of total trades and short sale trades, although Archipelago executes a substantially higher percentage of short sale trades than total trades. We find that both short sale volume and total volume exhibit U-shaped patterns. When we look at the percentage of short sale volume relative to total volume, we find that the relative short sale volume is lowest in the early intervals and highest in the last interval of the trading day on the NYSE. In contrast, we find higher relative short volume in the earliest interval for both the NASDAQ and Archipelago. We also find that relative short volume is positively related to price and volatility and negatively related to firm size, indicating that traders prefer to short higher priced, more volatile, smaller cap stocks.


The paper goals on the implementation of Mobile learning (M-learning) based Remote Laboratory to maximize the available resource as well as to improve self learning ability. The developed system provides practical experience to the learners in the field of   analog electronics. This laboratory permits the learners to conduct experiments on real time with the internet facility using developed android mobile application. A characteristic of     Junction Field Effect Transistors (JFET's) related to analog electronics has been considered for remote laboratory experimentation. The designed system can be expanded by adding new   experiments without any complexity. This M-learning based remote laboratory approach enables the sharing of resource between the institutions for the minimization of expense and also encourages learners by enhancing engineering education.


In this paper, in order to improve rejection capabilities of the paper currency recognition system for unknown currency patterns on promise of ensuring recognition capabilities for known currency patterns, a feed-forward neural network (FNN) with Gaussian activation function is proposed. The proposed activation function is a ridge-like function. Moreover, a hybrid-learning algorithm for optimizing the width parameters of the Gaussian function is proposed. In the network the Gaussian activation function instead of the sigmoid function is employed in all units of hidden and output layers. The algorithm consists of two steps, one is exploring local minima by employing the gradient descent search, and the other is extricating the search from local minima, in which a random search with the downhill simplex method is employed. The results of simulation reveal the potential effectiveness of the proposed activation function and the algorithm. The system with the proposed activation function and the proposed algorithm can recognize known currency patterns and reject the unknown currency patterns effectively.


A suite of isotopic methods were combined to provide a comprehensive investigation of organic matter transfer and consumer‐resource links in a large lake food web. We applied compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of nitrogen within amino acids of organisms, a relatively new method and one not yet widely applied to large lake systems, to determine the trophic positions of several dominant species. Comparison of this CSIA trophic designation to those calculated by traditional bulk stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios, as well as gut content analyses, revealed this CSIA method to be the most representative of known trophic links in Lake Superior. Limnocalanus macrurus, an omnivorous copepod, was found to occupy a trophic position higher than would have been predicted based on gut analyses, and one full trophic position above primary consumer Daphnia. Radiocarbon analysis of bulk zooplankton and fish tissue was employed as a modern carbon tracer to elucidate the relative ages of carbon incorporated into, and propagated through, the food web. Comparison of animal tissue, non‐living carbon pools (DOC, DIC), and POC radiocarbon content indicate the food web is supported predominately by newly synthesized autochthonous material. The uniquely depleted radiocarbon signature of the benthic amphipod Diporeia, attributed to consumption of aged sedimentary or allochthonous material, was not reflected in its known predators, indicating little overall incorporation of that aged carbon source into the pelagic food web. This multi‐method isotopic investigation extends our understanding of food web structure and organic matter flow in this large lake.


Disclosed are pipewort cleaning products, wherein each 1000g of the product comprises extract of pipewort 0.001-1000g, giant knotweed rhizome 0.001-550g, green chiretta 0.001-450g and balancing base material. The product provided by the invention not only has skin cleaning and moistening action, but also has certain suppressing and eradicating action for various bacteria and viruses, specifically, it has good eradication effect for viruses and bacteria of epidemic infestation diseases. The product can be appended into washing articles, cosmetics, moisture tissues, dry and wet paper towel, toothpaste and other daily use articles. The product has the effects of sterilization, disinfection and skin lotion but no stimulation to skin, no adverse effects, it can effectively prevent human body injury by various bacteria and viruses. The beneficial effects of the invention include easiness in use, low cost of production, easy production, good market prospect.


Background: Neuroblastomas (NBL) are tumors with a high rate of metastases (50% of patients). In general, in NBL MYCN amplification (NMA) is the most important prognostic factor. However NMA is infrequent and 70% of NBL are non-NMA tumors and not much is known about the driving oncogenic event. Recently, we identified among 17 NBL cell lines a group of non-NMA NBL cell lines with a distinct gene expression profile (HU133plus2.0 arrays, Affymetrix) and high expression of the AXL gene. AXL is a tyrosine kinase receptor, associated with the metastatic process of several cancers. We hypothesized that AXL contributes to metastsizing potential in non-NMA neuroblastomas and tested if AXL silencing diminishes malignant properties of high AXL expressing cell lines. Results: High expression of AXL was detected in G-IM-EN, SK-N-AS and two subclonal cell lines SH-EP-2 and SH-EP-21N. AXL was silenced (lentiviral AXL shRNA expression plasmids, pLKO.1_shAXL, Sigma-Aldrich) in GI-M-EN and SH-EP-2 with an infection efficiency of >90% and 80-85% AXL-mRNA knockdown. We examined the silencing effect on migration and invasion. A significant reduction of migration (74.7%) and invasion (99.8%) was achieved in GI-M-EN. In the intermediate AXL expressing expressing cell line SH-EP-2 migration reduction was less (41.9%). Furthermore, GI-M-EN and SH-EP-2 were compared for cytoskeletal, morphological changes after silencing. Cells became rounded with small lamellipodia and filopodia and F-actin fluorescent staining showed induction of F-actin positive stress-fibers (17.3%), both most prominent in high AXL expressing GI-M-EN. In SH-EP-2 the number of cells with stress fibers was increased (9.9%). Expression of, matrix metalloproteinase 9 frequent down-stream target of EMT-like processes, was not changed upon silencing of AXL. Also, we observed no effects on cell proliferation, apoptosis or downstream pathways (PI3K-AKT, MAPK-ERK pathway). Conclusion: The AXL gene is highly expressed in a subset of non-NMA NBL cell lines and seems involved in migratory and invasion properties. AXL is a possible mediator of NBL metastasis. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2490. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2490


A technical–economic assessment was carried out in this study to determine the possibilities for wind and solar power generation in Afghanistan's Helmand province. The results showed that most of the province has a solar irradiance of over 400 W/m2, and also showed that wind and solar power generated in the province can be up to twice as cheap as the official price of renewable power in Afghanistan. The most suitable site for solar and hydrogen production was found to be Laškar Gāh, where solar and hydrogen can be produced at a cost of 0.066 $/kWh and 2.1496 $/kg-H2, respectively. In terms of wind power production and hydrogen production from wind, the most suitable site was Sangīn, where wind power and hydrogen could be produced at costs of 0.057 $/kWh and 1.4527 $/kg-H2, respectively. Despite the high potential of wind and solar energy in the Helmand province, the most suitable place in this region to produce hydrogen from wind/solar energy was evaluated from technical, economic, and environmental perspectives with the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method. The Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) method was used for weighting criteria and the Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) method was used to prioritize locations. The results show that Sangīn is the most suitable place for the construction of a wind hydrogen power plant and Laškar Gāh is the most suitable place for the construction of a solar hydrogen power plant.


Current and emerging bone active pharmacologic agents are capable of producing substantial gains in bone mass. However, nutrition must be adequate if this potential is to be realized. Calcium and vitamin D supplementation, for example, have both been demonstrated to augment substantially the skeletal response to estrogen therapy in postmenopausal women. The bisphosphonates and selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERMs) have all been tested only in the context of supplemental calcium and vitamin D. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that these bone active agents would be effective in the absence of these nutrients. Adequate protein intake has also been demonstrated to protect bone mass in the elderly and to improve recovery from osteoporotic fractures. Phosphorus intake, less extensively studied, may be more important than currently recognized, particularly in elderly individuals living alone, eating little meat, and receiving anti-osteoporosis treatment agents.


Driving confidence is thought to influence driving exposure among older drivers and may affect driver safety. Studies to date have relied primarily on self-reported measures of driving exposure to explore this relationship. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between confidence and actual driving exposure among drivers aged 75 years and older. A cross-sectional analysis of survey data (function, confidence, personal circumstances) and naturalistic measures of driving exposure was conducted with 380 older drivers in northwest Sydney, Australia. Driving exposure, including total distance traveled, radius of travel from home, average trip distance, and nighttime driving, was measured for 1 week. The mean age of participants was 80 years. More males (n = 230) than females (n = 150) were enrolled. Successful instrumentation was achieved for 362 of 380 vehicles. Driving confidence was found to be independently associated with the farthest distance traveled from home, average trip distance, and night driving. Older drivers with lower confidence took shorter trips, stayed closer to home, and were less likely to drive at night. This study provided evidence of a responsive process in which drivers with lower confidence and poorer function were found to have different patterns of driving—specifically, driving in familiar areas, during daylight hours, and closer to home. It is likely that drivers in later life change their driving patterns to preserve safety and mobility. This understanding will help policy makers and educators shape responsive programs that help older drivers drive safely for as long as possible.


Changes in vegetation productivity based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) have been reported from Arctic regions. Most studies use very coarse spatial resolution remote sensing data that cannot isolate landscape level factors. For example, on Yamal Peninsula in West Siberia enhanced willow growth has been linked to widespread landslide activity, but the effect of landslides on regional NDVI dynamics is unknown. Here we apply a novel satellite-based NDVI analysis to investigate the vegetation regeneration patterns of active-layer detachments following a major landslide event in 1989. We analyzed time series data of Landsat and very high-resolution (VHR) imagery from QuickBird-2 and WorldView-2 and 3 characterizing a study area of ca. 35 km2. Landsat revealed that natural regeneration of low Arctic tundra progressed rapidly during the first two decades after the landslide event. However, during the past decade, the difference between landslide shear surfaces and surrounding areas remained relatively unchanged despite the advance of vegetation succession. Time series also revealed that NDVI generally declined since 2013 within the study area. The VHR imagery allowed detection of NDVI change 'hot-spots' that included temporary degradation of vegetation cover, as well as new and expanding thaw slumps, which were too small to be detected from Landsat satellite data. Our study demonstrates that landslides can have pronounced and long-lasting impacts on tundra vegetation. Thermokarst landslides and associated impacts on vegetation will likely become increasingly common in NW Siberia and other Arctic regions with continued warming.


This socio-sexual review of Ancient Egyptian society aims to increase awareness that the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is largely determined by the way a society is structured and how that structure functions. The prevalence of STDs in Ancient Egypt has been found to be low. This state of affairs was maintained for centuries. Although the structure of their society was rigidly hierarchical, Egyptian people made it function in an acceptable way. What might be learned is concerned more with prevention than cure. Whether this has any relevance today is discussed.


Opinionated news targets communities of likeminded viewers, relies on dramaturgical storytelling techniques, and shares characteristics with political satire. Accordingly, opinionated news should be understood as a specific form of political entertainment. We have investigated the mechanisms underlying the effects of opinionated news on political attitudes using an experimental design that employed manipulated television news items. Findings confirm that opinionated news positively affects policy attitudes via its presumed influence on others and subsequent perceptions of the opinion climate. However, opinionated news also negatively affects attitudes via hostile media perceptions and evoked anger, especially for people with incongruent political preferences. Due to these opposing processes, we found no total effect of opinionated news on policy attitudes. Conditions are discussed under which either the positive or the negative indirect effect is likely to dominate.19 19 A condensed version of this article is published as: Boukes, M., Boomgaarden, H. G., Moorman, M., & De Vreese, C. H. (2014). News with an attitude: Assessing the mechanisms underlying the effects of opinionated news. Mass Communication and Society, 17(3), 354-378. doi:10.1080/15205436.2014.891136.


A morphological examination of 27 rats flown onboard the biosatellite and sacrificed on the 1st-2nd and 26-27th postflight days demonstrated no significant changes in the structural organization of the vital organs and systems of the animal body. It was, however, found that the space exposure induced morphologically detectable changes in the musculo-skeletal system, hemo- and lymphopoiesis, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system and the juxtaglomerular apparatus of the kidneys. The changes were reversible and nonspecific, and could be seen in animals exposed to ground-based hypokinetic and other stress experiments. Postflight the animals developed some reactions that were similar to those in humans. This helps to identify the morphological substrate of certain changes in the human body and to investigate their pathogenesis.


SUMMARY The term heterotopic ossification refers to bone formation in normally non-ossifying tissue. It represents a benign, localized, self-limiting and well-circumscribed lesion, and the phenomenon is rather unusual in the immediate vicinity of bones. Likewise, it is very rare in soft tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, where it is also known as heterotopic mesenteric ossification (HMO). Intra-abdominal heterotopic ossification (IHO) is also known as intra-abdominal myositis ossificans, mesenteritis ossificans, heterotopic mesenteric ossification, and heterotopic ossification of the intestinal mesentery. It is extremely rare and only approximately 30 cases have been reported in the literature since it was first described in 1983. This paper presents the case of a male 14 year-old patient diagnosed with mesenteric ossification who was treated by the pediatric surgeons. Additionally, the authors present a review of the medical literature regarding this condition.


We report the updated observational search for tau neutrinos ($\nu_{\tau}$) using one of the Ashra light collectors, which faces to Mauna Kea,on Mauna Loa at 3300m above sea level on Hawaii Island. The earth-skimming $\nu_{\tau}$ technique of imaging Cherenkov $\tau$ showers was applied as a detection method. We checked the detection sensitivity and the reconstruction procedure for the Cherenkov $\tau$ shower well with sufficient statistics, i.e. 824 events of ordinary cosmic-ray air-shower Cherenkov images for a total of 1884 hours using the same instruments, but triggered with the attached trigger pixel layout to view the sky field above the mountain. The analysis of about 1863 hours of data taken towards the mountain of Mauna Kea and the Earth crust around it leads to a 90\% C.L. point source limit for ${\nu_{\tau}}$ in the energy range from 3PeV to 10EeV of about $\mathrm{E}^{2}_{\nu_{\tau}}\cdot\phi(\mathrm{E}_{\nu_{\tau}}) < 3.2 \times 10^{-7}~\mathrm{GeV}~\mathrm{cm}^{-2}~\mathrm{s}^{-1}$
assuming power-law $\nu$ spectrum with the index of -2. The analysis status of about 5783 hours of optical transients data is also presented.


Cost-efficient designs of aluminum autobody structures consist mainly of stampings using conventional technology. Progress in metallurgy and forming processes has enabled aluminum body panels to achieve significant market share, particularly for hoods. Fast bake hardening alloys with better hemming performance were developed for improved outer panel sheet products. Specific guidelines for handling and press working were established to form aluminum panels using similar schedules and production lines as steel parts. Stamping productivity was improved by optimization of the trimming process to reduce sliver/particle generation and resulting end-of-line manual rework. Both hemming formability and trimming quality not only depend on tooling setup but also on microstructural features, which govern intrinsic alloy ductility. Targets for the next high volume aluminum car body applications, such as roof panels and doors, require higher strength and/or better formability. The challenges of complex stampings can be met with optimized alloys and lubricants, with improved numerical simulation to fine-tune stamping process parameters, and with the introduction of new technologies. Warm forming was examined as a potential breakthrough technology for high volume stamping of complex geometries.


We have used a spectrophotometric method to monitor mean free extracellular calcium concentrations in isolated left atria of guinea pigs via extracellular application of the calcium-sensitive absorption dyes, antipyrylazo III and tetramethylmurexide. Exchange of extracellular free calcium with the bathing medium takes several minutes and closely parallels contractile response in this preparation. Under conditions favoring a rapid positive force staircase response during repetitive stimulation after a long rest period (2-10 minutes), cumulative depletions of extracellular calcium can clearly be differentiated from motion artifact due to muscle movement by multiple-wavelength spectrophotometry. Responses of similar magnitude and characteristics are obtained with both dyes employed. In the presence of 10(-7) M isoproterenol, the mean extracellular calcium concentration falls by at least 5% (0.25-0.8 mM total calcium concentration) in four beats at 0.5 Hz; extracellular calcium replenishes during rest with an apparent t1/2 of 25-60 seconds. A 10-minute pretreatment with 10(-8) M ryanodine greatly reduces the contraction force and motion artifact of the first beat after a rest period, whereby the magnitude of depletion response to one post-rest stimulation is increased 2- to 3-fold. With further ryanodine treatment, the magnitude of depletion responses remains stable, and the rate of calcium replenishment during rest increases many-fold. After ryanodine treatment and 10(-7) M isoproterenol, at least 10% of total dye accessible calcium (0.25-1.0 mM) is lost during two to five rapid stimulations, and returns to the extracellular space within 20 seconds of rest. Cumulative extracellular calcium depletion responses are strongly suppressed by 10(-6) M nifedipine. Cumulative depletion responses are also inhibited by 10 mM caffeine, whereby contraction and corresponding motion artifacts are increased at post-rest stimulation.


The direct cause of Sino-US trade frictions lies in the fact that the US believes that China's long-standing trade surplus has made China obtain the so-called "unequal interests". However, China bears the environmental pollution loss caused by the production of a large number of trade products in the large volume of import and export trade.This paper uses the real trade implicit pollution emission model to account for the industrial pollution emission implicit in import and export trade, and uses the structural decomposition model to analyze the reasons for the change of the implicit pollution emission in import and export trade from the five aspects of emission intensity, technical structure, import and export scale, import intermediate input and import and export structure, combining with the ExternE model and Logistic model to account for all kinds of implicit pollution emission in the trade. The economic loss caused by pollution and the environmental cost of pollutants are included in the trade interest system to evaluate China's real trade interest. It comes to the following conclusions: First, in 2007-2015, in addition to the V-shaped change in the implied emissions of smoke(dust), the closer industrial production links, technical links and the decreasing intensity of pollution emissions make the other implied emissions decrease year by year. This shows that the emission reduction strategy cannot be achieved at the expense of export scale, but should focus on the intensity of pollution emission, the upgrading of trade structure and the terminal treatment of pollutants. Second, the import intermediate input for export production should be eliminated from the import credits, otherwise, the import implied emissions of 23.08%-32.70% and the import implied wastewater emissions of 23.49%-33.59% will be overestimated, which will lead to the overestimation of China's real trade interests. Third, the loss of real welfare of the industrial sector's export trade caused by the three industrial wastes is about 9% every year. The human health loss caused by the exhaust gas accounts for the highest proportion of the total export implied emission environmental cost, followed by the agricultural loss and waste water loss caused by the exhaust gas. Fourth, there is no direct and inevitable relationship among the contribution rate of trade, the emission of industrial pollutants and the rate of economic loss.The marginal contributions of this paper are mainly reflected in four aspects: First, the implied environmental cost of net export is removed from the net added value of trade to examine a country's real trade interests. Second, the research on trade implied emissions is further expanded to study the environmental costs and real trade benefits of trade implied emissions, and the research object is also changed from single carbon dioxide emissions to general pollutant emissions. Third, the structural decomposition of the cross-period changes in the emissions of the implied pollutants of value-added trade is carried out in order to find out the impact mechanism behind them. Fourth, the research cycle is 2004-2014, which can make a more objective and in-depth analysis of the implied pollution cost and real trade benefits of China's value-added trade under different international economic and trade relations before and after the crisis.


In March of 2009, Samantha Burton went into labor only 25 weeks into her pregnancy. This is a very serious pregnancy complication that not only risks the pregnant woman's health, but also greatly reduces her potential child's chance of survival despite the most aggressive care. Ms. Burton's doctor prescribed, among other things, inpatient bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy, which would have required her to be separated from her two minor children at home. Ms. Burton found that recommendation unacceptable, and as a competent adult, asked to be discharged or to obtain a second opinion from another hospital. Instead of abiding by Ms. Burton's request, a court order was obtained that required Ms. Burton to submit to any and all care the doctor believed was "necessary to preserve the life and health of [Ms. Burton's] unborn child." Ms. Burton was eventually coerced into a cesarean section, during which the doctor discovered that her child had already died in utero.

Ms. Burton's case is tragic—she not only endured the trauma of losing her child, but the state's invasion into her basic autonomy. On appeal, the court overruled the decision, finding that the trial court had used the wrong legal standard in compelling Ms. Burton's care. As part of the Feminist Judgment Series, Nadia Sawicki adds a vital concurrence to that appellate decision, which would have also overturned the trial court's decision as unsupported by substantial evidence. Her contribution highlights the need to hold lower courts accountable for avoidable evidentiary errors in addition to legal ones. This commentary provides additional support and context to explain why the trial court's evidentiary missteps are so important to correct.


I have argued elsewhere that the origins of the existing international order follow a long pattern of powerful states engaging in order building not to be inclusive, but instead to exclude certain actors and entities in world politics. In this paper, I focus on an important extrapolation of this argument: the dynamics at work when two dominant powers simultaneously have the chance to build an exclusionary order that targets the other. This, I would argue, is the scenario that likely best describes the environment the United States and and China will find themselves in over the coming decades.To speak to the future, I look to the past. After introducing the core theory of exclusion and detailing the potential for competitive order-building spirals in systems with two dominant powers, I apply these arguments to the early Cold War. What each superpower feared for more than their physical security, I posit, was the prospect that the other would succeed in building an influential order from which it could amass global power, prosperity and influence at their expense. From this perspective, it was primarily fears of powerful contrary orders, not immediate military vulnerability, that drove early Cold War antagonisms. Focusing predominantly on order building on the less studied Soviet side, I reconstruct the origins of the Cold War as a prime example of what I call an antagonistic order-building spiral.


In the UK, choice is at the heart of government policies on education, training and careers guidance, as provision becomes more marketised and ever more diverse. The logic that has underpinned many of these policies is that people need high quality information about the provision on offer and if they have this, they will be able to make well-informed choices about their education and career pathways. This will, according to the policy literature, facilitate the functioning of the education and labour markets and ensure social inclusion. Choice has therefore become a highly charged concept. The term 'choice' conjures up strong ideas of human agency. The individual is free to select whatever action she or he desires or may discriminate between different available options and pick the most suitable. However, there are a number of difficulties with the idealised scenario offered by the policy focus on choice. First of all it infers that education and career choice is a linear process. Secondly it presupposes that education and career decision-making is an individualised practice. And thirdly, its assumptions imply some kind of deficiency on the part of those who appear to restrict their selection to specific fields. A study funded by the ESRC, and undertaken as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) has provided an opportunity to explore the educational and career decision-making of adults at different stages in the life-course. The project is examining the extent to which higher education is conceived as 'within the bounds of the possible' for non-participants and is exploring how attitudes to higher education and decisions about non-participation are embedded within 'networks of intimacy', consisting of family members and close friends. The study has involved case studies of sixteen networks of intimacy. We have identified non-participating adults, qualified to level 3, at different stages in the life-course in order to provide 'entry points' to each network. Each case study has involved two interviews with each 'entry point' individual, followed by semi-structured interviews with approximately five 'network members' who are identified as sources of influence in the decision-making process. Our evidence suggests that the reality of educational and career choice is:
• Messy rather than straightforward
• Often influenced at least as much by chance as by planning,
• Rational, but in a pragmatic way rather than a technical sense
• Both constrained and enabled by people's 'horizons for action' (the choices they believe possible for themselves)
• Strongly embedded and co-constructed within inter-generational networks of intimacy
• Influenced by class and gender (as well as life stage and disability)
• And, embedded in changing opportunity structures
In this paper, we will argue that the current terminology and framework of choice used in the policy literature is inappropriate. Initiatives aimed at increasing the range of post-16 educational and training choices and providing better guidance are commendable, but too simplistic. The policy focus on the individual detracts attention away from the need to understand the social embeddedness of decision-making and creates the illusion of control. If policy makers and practitioners are serious about doing something to ameliorate existing inequalities in post-16 participation then they must recognize the complexity of the decision-making process and understand that education and career "choices" are deeply embedded in different kinds of biographies and opportunity structures.


N-3 fatty acids, such as fish oil, have been reported to have some beneficial effects in patients with bronchial asthma by suppressing leukocyte function, followed by reduction of the need for pharmacologic agents. To examine the effects of dietary supplementation with perilla seed oil rich in α-linolenic acid (ALA), 23 patients with asthma took corn oil rich in linoleic acid (LA) for the former two weeks, perilla seed oil for the later two weeks. The asthmatic patients were classified into two groups by the changes of the generation of leukotrienes B4 (LTB4), C4 (LTC4), and B5 (LTB5) during the two courses of dietary modification: one was sensitive to dietary modification, and the other was insensitive to dietary supplementation. We compared the two groups in clinical characteristics. Significant differences were observed in peak flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1.0), IgE, sex, obesity index (OI), concentration of
serum total cholesterol, albumin, low density lipoprotein {LDL)-cholesterol, β-lipoprotein and phospholipids between two groups. This study indicated that these factors influence the generation of LTB4, C4 and B5 of asthmatic patients in dietary supplementation.


In this paper, we study energy-efficient transmit power control for multi-tier multi-antenna (MIMO) heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets), where each tier operates in closed-access policy and base stations (BSs) in each tier are distributed as a stationary Poisson point process (PPP). Each BS serves multiple users at a fixed distance away from it. We first study noncooperative energy-efficient power control, where each tier selfishly chooses its transmit power to maximize its network energy efficiency (EE). This is modeled by a noncooperative power control game. We prove the existence and the uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium of the game. Moreover, we analyze the effects of circuit power and BS densities of the tiers on their transmit power at the Nash equilibrium. Then, we investigate cooperative energy-efficient power control, where all the tiers cooperatively choose their transmit power to optimize their network EE. This cooperative power control is formulated as a multiobjective problem. To obtain Pareto-optimal solutions of the problem, we develop an algorithm that alternately updates the transmit power of the tiers. In addition to the transmit power, the circuit power consumption of the operating BSs and their active antennas affects the network EE. Due to the circuit power, activating all the BSs and turning on all the antennas may not be optimal in maximizing the network EE. Motivated by this observation, we also develop energy-efficient BS activation control and antenna activation control schemes. Finally, we extend the analysis to the highest signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) association, where each user connects to the BS that offers the highest SINR among the BSs in its tier. Simulation results show that the proposed energy-efficient designs significantly improve the network EE at the cost of small spectral efficiency loss compared with the spectral-efficient designs.


When calculating sound intensity by indirectly measuring way, the sound pressures obtained from two microphones should be mathematically averaged as the sound pressure of measured point. The research showed that the method exists lower of allowable value in the high frequency area. Using the geometric average value of two measured points to replace the sound pressure of measured point, studying the measurement of sound intensity in scattering field, the errors from which were compared. The result showed that the error of geometric average sound intensity was more flat than that of mathematic average. So the sound intensity obtained from geometric average sound pressure is more suitable for the measurement of a wider frequency range. And the computing time is short, which can raise the measurement efficiency and the real-time of measurement.


A "Multi-parametric system for the continuous assessment and monitoring of motor status in Parkinson's disease" (PERFORM), is an FP7 project from the European Commission that aims at providing an innovative and reliable tool, able to evaluate, monitor and manage patients suffering from motor neurodegenerative diseases. The current work is related to a module of the project that is in charge of assessing PD patients during locomotion. These initial analyses of gait are based on analyses of Sample Entropy in the acceleration signals. Four PD patients are compared to four healthy using a set of five wireless sensors located in the limbs and in the trunk. A metric to assess the level of symmetry during locomotion, an important clinical feature, is proposed. Results show considerable differences between the patients and the subjects, both for sample entropy (in 3 of the 5 sensors) and in the gait asymmetry index (left vs. right limbs). Future work is proposed including age-matched subjects and a larger sample.


Though heating, insulation, wall claddings and cavity-wall construction are considered as measures for remediating moisture and condensation in buildings, ventilation of wall cavities has however become a mantra among architects and other building professionals. Holes of any size and shape are made and located on building facades based on the accepted wisdom that a little air movement will keep the wall cavities dry. Whilst ventilation has been found to be successful in the control of moisture and condensation in rooms and larger enclosures, there is however insufficient understanding of how it works in thin spaces with high aspect ratios, such as the wall cavities studied in this thesis.In order to put in place good control and management practices in the remediation of moisture and condensation in vertical wall cavities by natural ventilation, it is vital to understand the dynamics of airflow in these cavities. In this thesis therefore, different size and shape of slots were employed to numerically investigate the effects of size, spacing and number of the slots on the characteristics of the velocity fields (patterns of airflow and distributions of velocity) in different cavity models. The Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) methodology was employed to simulate the cavity flows under different modelling conditions using FLUENT. The BS 5925 model, an empirical relation for predicting ventilation rates in rooms and other larger enclosures, was employed and modified to predict ventilation rates in these cavities. Experimentally, the mapping of the airstreams in these cavities was obtained under similar reference (inlet) wind speeds employed for the numerical investigations.The results of this study show that there exists a potential at higher wind speeds for natural ventilation in the remediation of moisture and condensation in the cavities of vertical walls. The steady state approach employed in the RANS-based computation of cavity flows in this thesis averages out the peak values of air velocities and therefore gives no information about regions of maxima or minima velocity values even at higher wind speeds. This makes the predicted air change rates insensitive to the inlet air velocities from the ventilation slots and therefore makes the results more applicable for long term control and management of moisture in these cavities. In order to therefore put in place short, medium and long term plans for remediation of moisture in these wall cavities, a time-dependent computation is required. This will also allow the efficiency of the cavity ventilation to be properly assessed. Using the modified BS 5925 model, reasonable predictions were obtained for the air change rates of the wall cavities with the different size of ventilation slots employed. Close agreements are also obtained at lower and higher wind speeds between the predicted ventilation rates from the modified BS 5925 model and the experimental results employed as benchmark for validating the results.


The USGS Southwest Repeat Photography Collection ( Collection ), formerly named the Desert Laboratory Repeat Photography Collection, is now housed by the Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) in Flagstaff, Arizona. It contains images from the late 1800s to mid-2000s, and was assembled over decades by now retired USGS scientists Drs. Robert H. Webb and Raymond M. Turner. There are 80 camera points, or stakes, along Kanab Creek in the Collection, with images and fields notes taken between 1872 and 2010 (a 138-year span). About one-fourth of the Kanab Creek film had been previously digitized, but none of the associated materials, including field notes, were digitized. The goal of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Kanab Creek data preservation project was to preserve all film and materials for the Kanab Creek stretch, which represents a small subset of the entire USGS Southwest Repeat Photography Collection. For the purposes of this project, we will be using assessments made during the digital preservation of this subset in order to estimate the time and protocols necessary to digitize and release the entire Collection, thus using this project as an example to model the preservation efforts for the rest of the Collection. As the Collection was compiled, every camera point or stake location ( stake ) was assigned a stake number denoted by the letter s in front of a number (e.g., s1234). It is important to note that since images were taken by various repeat photography expeditions at different times and for different research purposes, stake numbers do not follow a logical numerical or geographical order. Each stake has a physical folder where all materials collected over time have been consolidated, with the exception of film. The folders contain print photographs, field notes, Record of Repeat Photography note sheets and other paper materials. The photographic film (negative and positive) is stored within archival envelopes within fire safes at SBSC for security. The goal of this preservation project was to digitize the best quality film and other materials for each date at all stakes along Kanab Creek in order to preserve the long term visual record. The digitization process was slightly different depending on the type of material; all processes were documented and a detailed protocol has been provided as an attachment on the ScienceBase page. Geospatial data are also included in this release to provide users with a map representation of where the stake locations are situated along Kanab Creek. This data release contains 80 child items, each representing a different stake location along Kanab Creek. Each child item provides digital copies of images and field notes from all photographed years at each stake, and has an associated metadata record that describes the contents of the page. This main landing page includes all child items, geospatial references for all stake locations (SHP file), a spreadsheet with supplemental information for each stake (CSV file), a project level metadata record, a metadata record that describes both the SHP file and the CSV, and a document describing the scanning protocols used for this project.


Plasmas, especially when they are carrying electric currents, are prone to spatial nonuniformities in the form of filaments and striations that result from a variety of instabilities. Among them, thermal instability plays a leading role, especially when electrodes are present. A modal analysis of the thermal instability has shown that a constriction always starts near the electrodes. It is localized there, where the temperature dependences of the thermal and electrical conductivities are characteristic of plasma in MHD channels. In the case of practically full ionization and very large pressures that prevail in arc-driven railguns, the constriction expands axially over the entire length of the discharge. In this work, a single equilibrium temperature among the species of the medium is assumed. However, such an assumption becomes invalid as the pressure is reduced. For a low-pressure fully ionized plasma, it has been shown that ion temperature becomes much lower than that of electrons due to low collisionality. A modal analysis of the thermal instability of this situation has shown that the current constriction caused by the perturbations of thermal instability starts near the electrodes and gradually expands over the entire length of the discharge. The presence of nonequilibrium electron and ion temperatures introduces a stabilizing effect.<<ETX>>


Wet snow shedding from overhead power transmission cables due to periodically repeated impacts was simulated using the finite element software ADINA. It was simulated by point loads whose mass depended on the snow load on the cable. The adhesion between snow and cable was modeled by vertical springs whose stiffness was determined so that the spring force simulates tensile adhesion. Failure criterion for snow detachment from the cable was defined based on the acceleration of the snow-covered cable. This model was applied on a real scale cable with span length of 470 m. Time history of displacement at the excitation point was the input to the model, where varying impacts lead to different accelerations of the cable. The results showed the effects of increasing impact loads on cable jump and, consequently, on the rate of shedding.


The "feminization of poverty" concept should be retired, if it has not already been so. It should be retired, even though the concept has been extremely powerful as a discursive construct. In a phrase, the idea captured a seemingly universal phenomenon, inspired theoretical research into the nexus between women and poverty, and summoned coalitions of women by marking an agenda for, and among, women across the boundaries of race, ethnicity, and nationality. In short, it has been a war cry, demanding and framing analyses of women's poverty, and justifying and inspiring women's collective action. Nevertheless, the feminization of poverty construct should be retired because its definition is unclear and its meaning seems only partially accurate -- capturing the dynamics of poverty in some communities but not others. Specifically, the concept fails to adequately capture the dynamics at work in the creation and the maintenance of people, both women and men, in poverty. This is so particularly where poverty is the norm for both women and men, as it is in many U.S. communities of color and other national and sub-altern communities. Further, the feminization of poverty construct, by inadequately reflecting the gender dynamics of poverty in these communities, may also unnecessarily strain the intra-community coalitions of men and women of multiple sexualities whose survival may be more intimately and immediately tied to and dependent on each other. Moreover, because the construct relies on essentialized understandings of men and women, it may erase the experiences of and hinder coalition building with those "who transgress gender, moving through the categories of 'woman' and 'man'." Ultimately, the feminization of poverty concept should be retired because it may have served its purpose. This purpose is not to describe the existence of a recent but universal phenomenon but to spawn the research, debate, and investigation that has generated alternative notions and frameworks for understanding the lived experiences and conditions of all people in poverty. One of these notions or frameworks is simply the idea and reality of "gendered poverty." The notion of gendered poverty recognizes that gender relations are deeply embedded in the operation of market systems and other economic structures and that poverty itself is deeply gendered. In other words, it summarizes research confirming that men and women often come to poverty through different processes, are maintained in poverty in different ways, and experience poverty differently. Additionally, these gendered processes reflect and reinscribe the notion that gender is intransitive, reproducing current gender and sex roles that limit individuals and groups. Unlike the discursive feminization of poverty construct, the notion of gendered poverty lacks some of the flare, moral indignation, and outrage that propelled women into coalitions (based on a sense of common experience) and inspired substantial research into the lives of poor women. Further, and perhaps more importantly, the notion of gendered poverty fails to capture the fact that even where women are not poorer than men, they tend to be more vulnerable to poverty than men. In addition, the notion of gendered poverty does not, on its face, take into consideration the intersections of race, citizenship, and other conditions, which might deeply affect and be affected by various economic processes. Nevertheless, the notion of gendered poverty informs research into the nature of poverty and market relations as they relate to women and men, respectively and specifically. It also appears much more amenable to attachments. So, for instance, one might talk about racialized gendered oppression, gendered racial poverty, racialized transgendered poverty, or racialized gendered imperialism. Further, it potentially facilitates a broader range of coalitions, including coalitions of women, men, and transgendered people. Ultimately, however, neither a feminization of poverty nor a gendered poverty approach captures the range of subordinating structures that shape poverty. Therefore, an approach that seeks to understand the multidimensional nature of poverty and promotes anti-essentialist, anti-subordination principles and practices might better unravel the ties that bind people in poverty and be more inclusive, permitting shared agendas for building coalitions.


Efficient communications are crucial for disaster response and recovery. However, most current public safety land mobile radio (LMR) networks only provide narrowband voice service with limited support of low-speed data services. In this paper, we study to enhance the interoperability of LMR with commercial wireless cellular networks, by which a wide variety of benefits can be offered to disaster responders, including new multimedia services, increased data rates and low cost devices. Our approach is based on Session Initial Protocol (SIP) and a joint radio resource management framework. In addition, an optimal radio resource management scheme is proposed to maximize the overall radio resource utilization and at the same time guarantee service availability and continuity quality of service (QoS) for disaster responders. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated by numerical examples.


Background. The impact of the age of the donor on the outcome of living related liver transplantation is yet to be clarified. Methods. During October 14, 1996 and December 20, 1999, 34 living related liver transplantations were performed. Of these, 26 cases were performed using the extended left lobe graft, which were classified into three groups; younger donor group (group Y, donor age <30, n=7), middle-aged donor group (group M, 30≤donor age <50, n=13), and older donor group (group O, donor age<50, n=6). Early allograft function and regeneration were compared between these groups. Results. There was no difference in standard liver volume, and predicted or harvested graft size between the three groups. Although serum transaminase and total bilirubin levels within postoperative day 7 were not different between the groups, the prothrombin time on postoperative day 3 was significantly longer in group O than in group Y. One week after transplantation, group Y had significantly greater graft/standard liver volume ratio than group O, and greater graft volume than group M and O. One month after transplantation, however, there was no significant difference in such graft size parameters between the groups. Graft and patient survival were comparable between the three groups. Conclusion. Although function and regeneration of the allografts from older donors in living donor liver transplantation is worse than those of their younger counterparts, the outcome is not affected by the age of the liver.


This thesis examines some of the material factors affecting the publication of black British fiction during the last three decades of the twentieth century. It argues that a study of the publishing history of black British fiction in this period must take into account wider political and cultural issues, as well as the internal structure and mechanics of book publishing. It therefore explores how shifting cultural, political and commercial contexts influenced the selection, marketing, supply and reception of a number of black British texts. The importance of the interaction between such 'external' factors and the 'internal' modus operandi of book production and distribution is highlighted throughout. A distinctive aspect of this thesis is its use of archives and personal testimonies provided by significant figures in publishing as key sources of information.

The Introduction sets out the scope of the thesis, addressing, in particular, the label 'black British' and how it is to be used within the study. It also situates the research firmly within the discipline of Book History, considering some of the most influential models that have been proposed to help us understand the circulation of books in society.

Part One establishes the historical context. Beginning with the early publication of black writers from the Caribbean in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, it moves on to consider the ways in which black writers and writing were affected by changing political and cultural agendas throughout this period. It investigates the effect of multicultural policies and practice upon education and librarianship, as well as the response of local government and the Arts Council strategy to the changing make-up of British society, arguing that the impact of these wider developments had a significant influence upon the publication of black British fiction.

Part Two focuses on publishers, publishing and prizes. It opens by offering a critical analysis of the activities and legacy of two pioneering black British publishers, both established in Britain in the late 1960s: New Beacon Books and Bogle L'Ouverture. The contrasting approach of the niche publisher X Press provides an example of the variety of ways in which autonomous black British presses evolved over the course of three decades. Comparisons are made with the role played by feminist publishers in Britain in the promotion of fiction by marginal groups, and it is argued that the market success of African American women's writing was an important influence on decisions by feminist publishers to publish black British women writers in the UK.

This is followed by a detailed investigation of the literary prize phenomenon and its influence upon the publication of black British fiction. The final chapter of the thesis proffers a critical account of the success of some black British novelists in the light of this phenomenon. It argues that literary prizes with very specific entry criteria were to have a marked influence upon the literary careers of a handful of black British writers, and that this in turn had the effect of raising the profile of black British fiction more generally, thus demonstrating its commercial viability.

In conclusion, it is argued that the period from the early 1980s to the 2000s represented a very specific and important moment in the publishing history of black British fiction. There still remains a role in the current market for a number of different publishers of black British fiction. This now needs to be viewed, however, within a context where the relevance and contemporary significance of the label 'black British' is constantly being reassessed.


Cell migration is a physical process central to life. Among others, it regulates embryogenesis, tissue regeneration and tumor growth. Therefore, understanding and controlling cell migration represent fundamental challenges in science. Specifically, the ability of cells to follow stiffness gradients, known as durotaxis, is ubiquitous across most cell types. Even so, certain cells follow positive stiffness gradients while others move along negative gradients. How the physical mechanisms involved in cell migration works to enable a wide range of durotactic responses is still poorly understood. Here, we provide a mechanistic rationale of durotaxis by integrating stochastic clutch models for cell adhesion with an active gel theory of cell migration. We show that positive and negative durotaxis found across cell types are explained by asymmetries in the cell adhesion dynamics. We rationalize durotaxis by an asymmetric mechanotransduction in the cell adhesion behavior that further polarizes the intracellular retrograde flow and the protruding velocity at the cell membrane. Our theoretical framework confirms previous experimental observations and explains positive and negative durotaxis. Moreover, we show how durotaxis can be engineer to manipulate cell migration, which has important implications in biology, medicine and bioengineering.


Experiments were intended to study effects of profenofos and carbosulfan on the activities of dehydrogenase of freshwater fish, Labeo rohita. Healthy freshwater fish, Labeo rohita (Hamilton) were collected from the Nandivelugu fishfarm, India. Profenofos and carbosulfan pesticides were purchased from local pesticide store in Guntur, India, based on the preliminary lethal toxicity tests (96 hr LC50 i.e. 100 μg l-1; 1.2 mg l-1 and 1/10th 96 hr LC50 i.e.10 μg l-1; 0.12mg l-1 and) were selected as lethal and sublethal concentrations. After the acclimation, fish were exposed to lethal and sublethal concentrations in groups of 10 fish in 15 L of the test water in test chambers for 1 and 8 days. Fluctuations in succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) were observed in different tissues of the experimental animal. The activity of LDH was highly elevated following profenofos and carbosulfan exposure indicating increased anaerobic respiration to meet the energy demands where aerobic oxidation is lowered. Rapid depletion of SDH activity in all tissues of fish, L. rohita treated with sublethal and lethal concentrations of profenofos and carbosulfan. When compared to their respective controls. The general reduction in SDH activity due to pesticidal stress was associated with the inhibition of mitochondrial respiratory mechanism of dearrangement on ultra-structure, architectural integrity and permeability of mitochondria. Decreased MDH activity levels due to the inhibition exerted by oxaloacetate; maybe decrease in the activity of TCA cycle dehydrogenase is consistent with the disintegration of mitochondria of CO2 formation from acetate. Both profenofos and carbosulfan intoxication exerted a profound influence on the dehydrogenase enzymes of fish L. rohita but comparatively profenofos treated fish tissues showed more deterioration when compared to carbosulfan treated fish.


In this work, I trace and reconstruct Taiwan's nation-formation as it is reflected in literary texts produced primarily during the country's two periods of colonial rule, Japanese (1895-1945) and Kuomintang or Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) (1945-1987). One of my central arguments is that the idea of a Taiwanese nation has historically emerged from the interstices of several official and formal nationalisms: Japanese, Chinese, and later Taiwanese. In the following chapters, I argue that the concepts of Taiwan and Taiwanese have been formed and enriched over time in response to the pressures exerted by the state's, colonial or otherwise, pedagogical nation-building discourses. It is through an engagement with these various discourses that the idea of a Taiwanese nation has come to be gradually defined, negotiated, and reinvented by Taiwanese intellectuals of various ethnic backgrounds. I, therefore, focus on authors whose works actively respond to and engage with the state's official nationalism. Following Homi Bhabha's explication in his famous essay "DissemiNation," the basic premise of this dissertation is that the nation, as a narrated space, is not simply shaped by the homogenizing and historicist discourse of nationalism but is realized through people's diverse lived experience. Thus, in reading Taiwanese literature, it is my intention to locate the scraps, patches, and rags of daily life represented in a select number of texts that signal the repeating and reproductive energy of a national life and culture.


The study focused on the comparison of health of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, poultry and ostriches slaughtered in slaughterhouses in the Czech Republic based on the occurrence of findings detected during a postmortem veterinary inspection in the period from 2010 to 2019. The level of health was expressed as the so-called PA index obtained by the ratio of the number of findings to the total number of observations (15) during the pathoanatomical examination in the slaughterhouse multiplied by one hundred. Mammals (cattle, pigs, sheep and goats) generally had a higher PA index than birds (domestic chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, ostriches), with the exception of kids and rabbits. The highest PA index was found in cows (15.13) and piglets (12.18); whereas the lowest PA index was found in broiler chickens (0.102), rabbits, and geese (both 0.14). In poultry, the PA index values were below 1, with the exception of laying hens (PA index 2.165). A higher PA index was found in a group of adult animals (the PA index ranged from 2.17 to 15.13) and groups of young animals culled from farms (the PA index ranged from 10.79 to 12.18) than in fattened animals (the PA index ranged from 0.10 to 5.32). A comprehensive overview of the health condition of slaughtered animals enables the farmers, veterinarians, transporters and slaughterhouse operators to take appropriate and precisely targeted preventive measures, thereby increasing the animal welfare and health in the future while reducing the incidence of carcass damage.


In the process of Original Position Statistic Distribution Analysis, many abnormal higher spark signals exist. They are believed as inclusion signals. Analyzing the time sequence and position of the abnormal spark, It is found that the higher spark signals for S and Mn will appear simultaneously . The reason is that MnS inclusion caused the element concentration enrichment at these zone. Mixing some pure MnS crystal in pure iron powder and pressed by Heat Isostatic Pressing technology, reference samples of MnS inclusion were made . Criteria of abnormal higher spark signals for Mn and S is the measured value from the "blank sample ".After analyzing the spark behavior of these reference samples using OPA instrument, we can calculate the MnS inclusion concentration through such method. steel samples were analyzed and results is satisfactory.


Background Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with in‐hospital onset (AMI‐IHO) has poor prognosis but is clinically underappreciated. Whether its occurrence has changed over time is uncertain. Methods and Results Since 1987, the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study has conducted adjudicated surveillance of AMI hospitalizations in 4 US communities. Our analysis was limited to patients aged 35 to 74 years with symptomatic AMI. Patients with symptoms initiating after hospital arrival were considered AMI‐IHO. A total of 26 678 weighted hospitalizations (14 276 unweighted hospitalizations) for symptomatic AMI were identified from 1995 to 2014, with 1137 (4%) classified as in‐hospital onset. The population incidence rate of AMI‐IHO increased in the 4 ARIC communities from 1995 through 2004 to 2005 through 2014 (12.7—16.9 events per 100 000 people; P for 20‐year trend <0.0001), as did the proportion of AMI hospitalizations with in‐hospital onset (3.7%–6.1%; P for 20‐year trend =0.03). The 10‐year proportions were stable for patients aged 35 to 64 years (3.0%–3.4%; P for 20‐year trend =0.3) but increased for patients aged ≥65 years (4.6%–7.8%; P for 20‐year trend =0.008; P for interaction by age group =0.04). AMI‐IHO had a more severe clinical course with lower use of AMI therapies or invasive strategies and higher in‐hospital (7% versus 3%), 28‐day (19% versus 5%), and 1‐year (29% versus 12%) mortality (P<0.0001 for all). Conclusions In this population‐based community surveillance, AMI‐IHO increased from 2005 to 2014, particularly among older patients. Quality initiatives to improve recognition and management of AMI‐IHO should be especially focused on hospitalized patients aged >65.


We identify three design principles for reflection and metaprogramming facilities in object oriented programming languages. Encapsulation: meta-level facilities must encapsulate their implementation. Stratification: meta-level facilities must be separated from base-level functionality. Ontological correspondence: the ontology of meta-level facilities should correspond to the ontology of the language they manipulate. Traditional/mainstream reflective architectures do not follow these precepts. In contrast, reflective APIs built around the concept of mirrors are characterized by adherence to these three principles. Consequently, mirror-based architectures have significant advantages with respect to distribution, deployment and general purpose metaprogramming


In this paper, we present a distributed control framework for controlling the topology of dynamic multi-agent networks. Agents are equipped with local sensing and wireless communication capabilities, however, due to power constraints, they are required to switch between two modes of operation, namely active and sleep. The control objective investigated in this paper is to determine distributed coordination protocols that regulate switching between the operation modes of every agent such that the overall network guarantees multi-hop communication links among a subset of so called boundary agents. In the proposed framework, coordination is based on a virtual market where every request to switch off is associated with a bid. Combinations of requests are verified with respect to connectivity and the one corresponding to the highest aggregate bid is finally served. Other than nearest neighbor information, our approach assumes no knowledge of the network topology, while verification of connectivity relies on notions of algebraic graph theory as well as gossip algorithms run over the network. Integration of the individual controllers results in an asynchronous networked control system for which we show that it satisfies the connectivity specification almost surely. We finally illustrate efficiency of our scalable approach in nontrivial computer simulations.


• Determination of the concentration of pepsinogen in the urine can be technically practical and clinically useful. It may offer a better index of gastric peptic activity than does intubation, and it has been useful in the differential diagnosis of peptic ulcer versus gastric carcinoma. Uropepsinogen values can aid in locating the site of hematemesis and can assist in the diagnosis of pernicious anemia. The response of uropepsinogen to hormone stimulation may provide many diagnostic, as well as therapeutic, indexes to endocrinological conditions.


Herpes gestationis is a pruritic, blistering eruption of pregnancy and the puerperium. In three patients with immunologically verified disease, the clinical presentation consisted of widespread erythematous, edematous papules and plaques, grouped vesicles on erythematous bases, and tense bullae. Histologically, these lesions showed a moderately dense, mixed-inflammatory cell infiltrate around superficial and deep dermal blood vessels, and focal necrosis of epidermal basal cells. Papillary dermal edema, subepidermal bullae, and spongiosis were prominent. Eosinophils were frequently present in the subepidermal and intrepidermal vesicles. Differentiation of herpes gestationis from other blistering diseases and other dermatitides of pregnancy may be difficult.


Molecular dynamics is used to examine the melting of a free cluster of up to 1000 sodium and fluoride ions. An algorithm designed originally for the distributed array processor (DAP) is implemented on the Connection Machine (CM), and their performance for this problem is compared with that of the Cray 1. The CM would be twice as fast as the DAP using twice the number of processors as the DAP's 4096 were it not for saturation of the VAX front end. Saturation of the front end is shown to increase the run time by 50% in typical cases.<<ETX>>


Abstract This paper investigates the application of micro-level survival models to registered deaths in London and compares indices of mortality obtained with indices derived from aggregate life tables. Allowance for heterogeneity in mortality is made by parametric and non-parametric methods. A particular focus is on how far mortality differentials between different areas are explicable by the birthplace and social class of the deceased and on how far class or birthplace gradients may be understated by neglecting heterogeneity. Life expectancies are compared between heterogeneous and degenerate models, and no uniform effect is found toward a reduction in expectancy, either for micro- or for aggregate models. The data used come from registered deaths from 1988 to 1990 and from the OPCS Longitudinal Study for 1971-1985.


To enable valves for hot water microsystems, the possibility of using the volume expansion of the phase transition from solid to liquid in mannitol for strong high temperature actuators was studied. From room temperature to 160°C, a linear expansion of 4% was measured, and the expansion at the phase transition from solid to liquid at 160°C to 180°C was measured to be 7%. Stainless steel structures with a stainless steel diaphragm was filled and repeatedly heated up to 180◦C while measuring the deflection of the diaphragm using a laser sensor. The height differences was measured to be 25 μm at 180°C.In combination with a fluidic system, the mannitol actuator should capable as a valve for hot water microsystems.


This first comprehensive and thoroughly documented study of the political development of two of the newly formed nations of Central Africa presents the full story of the successful efforts of the people of Malawi and Zambia to achieve self-government. Following a detailed examination of the impact of British colonial rule, the author provides a new interpretation of the earliest demonstrations of native discontent and he explains how the forces of protest found expression through proto-political parties and the formation of religious sects and millennial movements. He also interprets the objectives and tactics of the ruling white settlers in their abortive effort to establish the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.Basing his analysis on archival and other primary sources, including interviews with leading figures, Robert Rotberg traces the origins of the full-fledged political parties in both countries and describes the early congresses which were to become the dominant movements during the struggle for independence in Central Africa. He ends with an analysis of that struggle, bringing the story to its successful conclusion in late 1964. A postscript discusses the important changes of 1965.


Monetary policy is primarily designed for national purposes, say price stability. However, its impact may vary significantly across regions. Why some regions respond more strongly to monetary policy is a challenging topic both theoretically and empirically. Indeed, three main hypothesis on this issue have been put forward: (i) regions with high share of manufacturing, (ii) regions that include higher proportion of small-scale firms and banks, (iii) regions which are more open to trade are likely to respond more strongly to changes in monetary policy. Although these hypotheses have been thoroughly and heatedly discussed by a strand of scholars, far little attention has been paid to the role of geographical factors and spatial spillovers. In fact, we precisely address this issue. Aim of the present paper is to examine the validity of three hypotheses and, additionally, the role of spatial spillovers in regional monetary transmission mechanism in Turkey. Our analyses indicate three major results: First, provinces respond quite heterogeneously to unexpected changes in monetary policy. Second, spatial spillovers and geographical proximity clearly matter in monetary transmission such that neighboring regions are likely to exhibit similar reactions to monetary policy. Third, among the hypothesis above bank size and trade openess are found to be significant.


Abstract of talk presented at meeting of the Australasian Yeast Network and the New Zealand Microbiological Society Eukaryotic Special Interest Group


Abstract The growth increments were investigated of late medieval, post-medieval and modern otoliths of plaice, cod and haddock from the North Sea. Thin-sectioned otoliths were used to age all the analysed individuals and to reconstruct their growth patterns. In addition, fish lengths of the archaeological specimens were calculated after the relation between otolith width and fish length was established using modern material. The age and fish length distribution, and the growth patterns obtained on the archaeological material allow inferences about fish trade, market strategies and consumption behaviour on producer sites (coastal sites) and consumer sites. Differences in growth patterns were observed between the archaeological and recent populations of the three demersal species analysed which may be related to a change in fishing pressure through time. However, diachronic changes in species distribution, temperature, food availability and selection of catch in function of market strategies may have played a role as well. Age and body size data allow some inferences about the exploited fishing grounds, but the growth patterns are of limited use in this respect.


Background and aims: Low birth weight is associated not only with poor birth outcome but also chronic health conditions such as hypertension in later life. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a prognostic factor of cardiovascular events in the general population. However, the association between birth weight and BNP remains unclear. Here, we examined the relationships among birth weight and risk factors for atherosclerosis, including BNP, in Japanese workers.

Methods: A total of 1109 (517 male, 592 female; age 40–70 years) participants in an annual medical checkup were enrolled. Subjects were divided into three groups according to birth weight, and the associations between their birth weight and risk factors for atherosclerosis were examined by statistical analysis.

Results: Jonckheere–Terpstra trend test according to birth weight category revealed that although birth weight was not correlated with BNP level, it was inversely associated with HbA1c in men and with diastolic blood pressure in women. Correlation coefficient tests for both categorical and continuous birth weight data confirmed the trend test findings. Multiple regression analysis indicated that birth weight was an explanatory factor for HbA1c in men and for diastolic blood pressure in women.

Conclusions: Although no significant association was observed between birth weight and BNP, inverse associations between birth weight and HbA1c in men and diastolic blood pressure in women were found. These findings suggest that birth weight may partially predict future risk of cardiovascular events.


Many papers have been written about the phenomenon of arc flash, the causes of arc flash, how to mitigate specific arc flash problems, and how to design arc flash issues out from the beginning. This paper will discuss the overall process of completing an engineering incident energy analysis and remediation project in a pulp and paper mill. Most mills are not fortunate enough to receive sufficient funding to do the whole study and a remediation process all at once. This paper explores how a Midwestern pulp and paper mill worked over several years to get through the process of the study, remediation efforts, and the establishment of an overall electrical safety program.


This paper examines the developmental causes and consequences of the shift from a parliamentary to a semi-presidential system in Sri Lanka in 1978, examining its provenance, rationale and unfolding trajectory. Drawing on a wide range of sources, it sets out an argument that the executive presidency was born out of an elite impulse to create a more stable, centralised political structure to resist the welfarist electoral pressures that had taken hold in the post-independence period, and to pursue a market-driven model of economic growth. This strategy succeeded in its early years, 1978–93, when presidents retained legislative control, maintained a strong personal commitment to market reforms and cultivated alternative sources of legitimacy. In the absence of these factors, the presidency slipped into crisis from 1994–2004 as resistance to elite-led projects of state reform mounted and as the president lost control of the legislature. Between 2005–14, the presidency regained its power, but at the cost of abandoning its original rationale and function as a means to recalibrate the elite–mass power relationship to facilitate elite-led reform agendas.