A learning management system (LMS) is a tool ostensibly designed to better manage, and therefore improve, the learning process. Much previous research has indicated the potential benefits for learning and pedagogy that an LMS affords (Heirdsfield, Walker, Tambyah, & Beutel, 2011; Lonn & Teasley, 2009; Morgan, 2003). This study aimed to examine the impact of LMS on teaching and learning in traditional classroom environments. More specifically, it sought to explore the experience and perceptions of faculty in the use of LMS for learning and teaching in Saudi higher education.

A mixed method approach consisting of a questionnaire and in-depth interviews was used to implement the research investigation. In the first phase, quantitative data were collected, via the questionnaire, from 132 faculty members to investigate the nature of their use of the LMS, and to identify which features they used most frequently as well as their reasons. In the second phase, in-depth semi-structured interviews with eleven faculty members were conducted to explore the impact of using the LMS on teaching and learning practices from the perspective of faculty members, and to identify the challenges and/or benefits that they encountered while using this system.

Generally, the study found that although the LMS was not used to its full potential by faculty, it was perceived as a useful educational tool that had a positive effect on their classes in terms of promoting communication with students, improving the quality of teaching, supporting student engagement in learning, maintaining transparency, protecting students' privacy, and clarifying students' responsibility. However, the study revealed some difficulties that might limit the achievement of these benefits such as the students' reluctance to use the system, the complexity of LMS interface and its reliability, as well as the lack of administrative support in terms of inadequate training programmes to meet the needs of faculty members and a lack of a system of incentives and rewards. The study suggests that the identified benefits are expected to increase when faculty become more familiar with the LMS and when the difficulties they face are resolved.


The authors propose indications and contraindications for endoscopy performed in 216 patients. The endoscopic picture of the most frequent causes of obstruction is given. In 113 patients endoscopy of the digestive tract was fulfilled also with curative aims, in 48 patients the phenomena of acute obstruction were resolved or considerably abated. This permitted performing the necessary operations in the planned order.


Objective: To determine whether diabetic patients have adequate information regarding foot care. Materials and Methods: We evaluated history of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) and data on self-foot care practices collected through face-to-face interviews from 64 diabetic inpatients in a university hospital. Foot care practices were scored based on 20 questions. Questions under the categories of "beware of risky behavior," "foot and nail care," and "elaborate on footwear" were grouped, and the practice subscores and total scores were calculated. A total score of >70% was assessed as "good practice", 50%–70% as "satisfactory practice," and <50% as "poor practice." Results: Fourteen (21.9%) patients had previous or ongoing DFU and five (7.8%) had undergone amputation. Only 44% of the patients stated that they had been informed about the prevention of diabetic foot after the diagnosis was established. This group differed from the uninformed group significantly in terms of regular medical control (p=0.006). The average foot care practice score was 72 for the informed group and 49 for the uninformed group; the percentage of "good practice" score was 46% in the informed group and 11% in the uninformed group. The percentages of having good practice score were found to be significantly high in women, those without DFU, and those informed about foot care (p<0.01). Conclusion: Foot care practices of the patients were found to be mainly inadequate. Health care providers and diabetic patients should be encouraged for good foot care practices.


Soil granulometric composition can impose constraints on ant species living in ground habitats, being an important factor in defining the habitat templet, which describes how certain animal life histories, including the trait of body size, can be selected. The ant fauna plays a central role in soil formation, and a vast literature describes such influence, but not the converse. Along with termites, worms and other invertebrates, these organisms promote the formation of channels, pores, and aggregates that influence gases and water moving through the soil profile. On the other hand, it is important to understand whether soil traits constrain insect colonization, so we here ask how soil traits can influence niche specificities, which seems to be a neglected ecological issue. A literature search using the key words 'ants or Formicidae' and 'soil structure or pedogenesis' revealed numerous references dealing with the influence of ants on soil, but not conversely. We here present a novel geomorphologic approach to habitat templets for two distinct riparian Neotropical ecosystems, based on the amalgamation of soil/sediment analysis with ecological processes and ant species biology. We found that predominance of fine grains favoured the preponderance of small ant species at a threshold of <5 mm in body length. Based on this, we propose the use of a quantitative, theoretically sound, statistical approach to bioindication. © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Ciência Ecológica e Conservação. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-


Informatics in biomedicine is becoming increasingly interconnected via distributed information services, interdisciplinary correlation, and crossinstitutional collaboration. Partnering with NASA, the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN), a program managed by the National Cancer Institute, has been defining and building an informatics architecture to support the discovery of biomarkers in their earliest stages. The architecture established by EDRN serves as a blueprint for constructing a set of services focused on the capture, processing, management and distribution of information through the phases of biomarker discovery and validation.


This research investigated the S wave velocity structure below SE Asia, by analyzing the seismograms of South Sumatra earthquakes at CHTO, QIZ, KMI, ENH and SSE stations, in the time domain and three Cartesian components simultaneously. The main data is waveform comparison between the measured seismogram and synthetic one, instead of travel time or indirect data from dispersion curve, as other seismological researches. The synthetic seismogram constructed from anisotropic PREM global earth model deviates greatly from the measured one, from surface wave to multiple core reflected waves. Corrections cover the gradient change of bh in the upper mantle layers, which turns from negative into positive, as stated in the anisotropic PREM, changes of earth crust depth and zero order coefficients of b velocity function in all earth mantle layers. So the fitting is obtained on the arrival time, the Love and Rayleigh surface wave, the S, and the repetitive core reflected ScS, ScS2 and ScS3 waves. This result reveals that South East Asia, being stretched due to tectonic release, has a mantle part with negative anomaly on S wave velocity and vertical anisotropy in all earth mantle layers. Error in CMT solution is shown by distinct amplitude differences in the surface waves.


Further improving energy efficiency in internal combustion (IC) engines is the research-topic for a large number of investigators. This project covers the integration of an IC-based cogeneration with a vapor-absorption chiller. Heat from the cogen is fed to the generator of the absorption chiller. It is to improve performance and efficiency of internal combustion engines for use in motor vehicles.Less than one third of the total energy in a given amount of fuel is transferred into the rotational motion that drives vehicles forward. The remainder is either used to overcome friction and drive mechanical devices such as the alternator and water pump or is rejected as heat through engine cooling and exhausted gas. The heat rejection from the exhaust is due to the Carnot law and it is low grade heat that cannot be efficiently converted to work in the engine and thus, requires a second system for energy recovery. The two forms of rejected heat each account for approximately a third of the available energy.Traditional methods of improving performance such as increasing capacity and air intake through forced induction also results in more fuel being consumed. Improving fuel efficiency meanwhile has resulted from running the engines leaner and downsizing engines. However the current methods have not taken advantage of the energy supply available in the exhaust stream.Harnessing the thermal waste energy in the exhaust can be achieved through integration of a heat exchanger in order to power a vapor absorption cycle for the purpose of cooling intake air. This cooler, denser charge improves both volumetric and mechanical efficiency of engines with the outcome being improved performance, better fuel economy and lower emissions.Recommendations for future work and other applications will be provided based on the analyzed results contained in the body of this paper.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


With the expanding of economic development and social demand of electricity, the issue of electricity behavior trust becomes into one of the bottleneck of the power supply enterprise on cutting down line loss and increasing profits. Traditional electricity behavior management level has certain limitations, therefore it have been established a hierarchy evaluation model for electricity behavior trust in each month and a assessment model based on sliding window for long-term electricity behavior trust. Considering the history and recent records, assisting managers not only grasp the current state of the customer's consumption behavior but also master the long-term development trends of behavior trust and improving the management level for the ultimate goal to increase the corporate profits from conserving energy and lowering line loss.


The work undertaken in this PhD thesis was to develop and use numerical models to investigate the multi-scale interactions between an offshore wind turbine and the local ocean and sediment dynamics. First, the interactions between the coupled ocean-sediment system and the atmospheric wake generated by an offshore wind turbine are investigated using an idealized two-dimensional model developed during this Phd thesis and written in fortran. The model integrates the shallow water equations for the ocean together with the Exner equation for the sediment bed. In a second part, the 3D scour phenomenon around a vertical cylinder in a steady current is studied using a two-phase flow eulerian-eulerian solver, sedFoam, written within the framework of the numerical toolbox OpenFOAM. The two-phase flow approach accounts for small-scale processes by avoiding the traditional assumptions made for sediment transport modeling, such as a local corre- lation between the sediment flux and the fluid bed shear stress.Regarding the atmospheric wake generated by a turbine, the results shows that its impact on the ocean's surface can generate vortices. The resulting turbulent ocean dynamics is controlled by the wake parameter S = CdD/H, where D is the wake diameter at the impact location on the ocean surface, Cd is the quadratic friction coefficient between the ocean and the sediment and H is the oceanic layer depth. A turbulence parameterization based on S is proposed, allowing for upscaling simulations in larger scales Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models. It is shown that the ocean dynamics has an effect on the available wind power. The results also show that the instantaneous sediment dynamics is strongly coupled with the ocean one but that the overall seabed elevation variations remain small (a few millimeters/month). The morphodynamic impact of the wake is thus negligible.Concerning the two-phase flow simulation of scour, sedFoam is first validated on 1D and 2D configurations. Then, 3D simulations around a vertical cylindrical pile are presented. At first, a validation of the Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) turbulence model developed in this work is performed on a configuration without sediment. The results show that the vortices structures responsible for scouring, the Horse Shoe Vortex (HSV) and the vortex-shedding in the lee of the cylinder are correctly reproduced. Then, 3D two-phase flow simulations of the scour around a cylindrical pile have been carried out in a live-bed configuration. This work is the first attempt to model 3D scour phenomenon using the two-phase flow approach. Such simulations represent a real challenge in terms of high performance computing. The good agreement between the numerical predictions and the literature experimental results provide the proof of concept that the two-phase flow approach can be used to study complex 3D and unsteady flow configurations. The relationship between the local bed shear stress, the sediment flux and the local sediment bed slope is further investigated. The deviation of the results from a uniform flow configuration is further analyzed to identify the relevant sediment transport mechanisms associated with the HSV, the slope in the scour mark and the vortex-shedding downstream of the cylinder. Finally, the numerical results show a grid sensitivity of the morphological predictions in the lee of the cylinder that are most probably related to small-scale resolved vortical structures. This highlights the need for two-phase flow Large Eddy Simulations on this configuration in the future.


The Europeanization of family law matters attracts attentions of the entire world. It is not just because the European Union has just successfully harmonized the jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement problems both in civil, commercial and matrimonial regimes by the Brussels Regulations I and II, and has set conflict of laws rules in contractual and non-contractual obligations by the Rome Regulations I and II, but also because the varied possibilities of marriages, registered partners and cohabitation contracts in the European Union has increased the difficulties for the harmonization of conflict-of-law rules in family law and has created vivid possibilities for the probable norms, such as just showed in the recent Council Regulation No 1259/2010 of 20 December 2010 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation (Rome Regulation III). * The article is an expanded version of the presented paper at the 'Reopening the Silk Road in the Legal Dialogue between Turkey and China'Conference, 12-14 June 2012, Law School of Marmara University, Istanbul/Turkey. MUHF – HAD, C. 19, S. 3 260 Following this trends for harmonization, in 2006 the European Commission published a Green Paper on conflict of laws in matters concerning matrimonial property regimes, including the question of jurisdiction and mutual recognition. Moreover, in March 2011, a Proposal for a Council Regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law and the recognition and enforcement of decisions in matters of matrimonial property regimes (Rome Regulation IV Proposal) was just announced. As indicated in the Proposal of Rome Regulation IV, the basic rule for determining the jurisdiction for matrimonial matters would follow the principles of determination of jurisdiction for divorce, legal separations or marriage annulment proceedings (art.4); for the event of the death of one of the spouse, the court of a Member State for succession would have jurisdiction. Besides, for the conflict-of law rules, it follows the principle of party autonomy (art.16) for the matrimonial property; finally, for the recognition of decision would be allowed under some exceptions (art.27). This new proposal would facilitate the harmonization of conflict-of-law rules in European family laws, and also set some references for other countries. For example, both in 2011, China and Taiwan has just promulgated their new Codes of Private International Law (CPIL). Basically, both in China and in Taiwan, there's no rule for the determination of jurisdiction in these Codes. For the applicable law to matrimonial property, both follow the principle of party autonomy, too. But in China, the choice of applicable law is limited among the law of habitual residence, lex partiae or the lex loci of the main property (art.24 of the CCPIL); in Taiwan, it will also be limited between lex partiae of lex domicilii (art.48 of the TCPIL) The reasons for these delicate differences in choice-of-law rule among the EU, China and Taiwan would be worthy of further analyses. So based on the European Union's Proposal of Rome Regulation IV, Chinese CPIL and Taiwanese CPIL, this article would try to establish some cross-county comparative perspectives for the further harmonization in the global conflict of laws in matrimonial property.


BACKGROUND
Lipid levels are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

OBJECTIVE
We investigated the association between plasma lipids, apolipoproteins levels, apolipoprotein B/low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Apo-B/LDL-C), and Apo-B/Apo-A ratios and rate of cognitive decline two decades later in men with coronary heart disease (CHD).

METHODS
A subset of 337 men (mean age at baseline 56.6±6.4 years) who previously participated in the Bezafibrate Infarction Prevention (BIP) trial (1990-1997) underwent cognitive evaluations 15±3 years (T1) and 19.9±1 years after baseline (T2) as part of the BIP Neurocognitive study. Lipid and apolipoprotein fractions were measured at baseline. Cognitive function for memory, executive function, visual spatial, attention domains, and composite score were assessed using the NeuroTrax Computerized Battery at T1 and T2 evaluations. Linear mixed models were used to assess change in cognitive function between the two cognitive evaluations.

RESULTS
Controlling for confounders, the decline in composite cognitive score (β= -0.161±0.06; p = 0.013) as well as in memory (β= -0.269±0.10; p = 0.009) and visual spatial function (β= -0.304±0.12; p = 0.010) was greater among patients in the upper (≥105 mg/dL) Apo-B tertile as compared to counterparts with < 105 mg/dL. The decline in the composite cognitive score (β= -0.124±0.06; p = 0.043) was also greater among patients in the estimated LDL-C≥160 mg/dL group compared to counterparts with LDL-C<160 mg/dL. Upper tertile of Apo-B/LDL-C ratio (≥0.75) compared to the lower tertiles was significantly associated with change in memory score (β= -0.210±0.10; p = 0.041).

CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that the plasma concentrations of Apo-B, LDL-C, and Apo-B/LDL-C ratio are potential predictors of accelerated late-life cognitive decline among men with CHD.


This article presents a discussion on the role of the referendum in Africa with a case study of Ghana. It reveals the importance of referendum and the types of referendum as experienced in many countries with concentration on Ghana. It has concluded that referendum is important as allows majority stance to be assimilated as a decision as opposed to few who make decisions in most decision making organs.  It expresses a true will of the people, and reveal aspirations and ambitious of the communities.  On the other side it does away with decisions that are of the few yet termed of the majority.  It is however, worthy and of merit when these referenda are used on only important concerns of the nation and for the nation.

 Key words: Referendum, decision making.


A strip of 20th-century landscape woodland planted alongside a 17th to mid-18th century ancient and semi-natural woodland (ASNW) was investigated by applied aerial spectroscopy using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a multispectral image camera (MSI). A simple classification approach of normalized difference spectral index (NDSI), derived using principal component analysis (PCA), enabled the identification of the non-native trees within the 20th-century boundary. The tree species within this boundary, classified by NDSI, were further segmented by the machine learning segmentation method of k-means clustering. This combined innovative approach has enabled the identification of multiple tree species in the 20th-century boundary. Phenotyping of trees at canopy level using the UAV with MSI, across 8052 m2, identified black pine (23%), Norway maple (19%), Scots pine (12%), and sycamore (19%) as well as native trees (oak and silver birch, 27%). This derived data was corroborated by field identification at ground-level, over an area of 6785 m2, that confirmed the presence of black pine (26%), Norway maple (30%), Scots pine (10%), and sycamore (14%) as well as other trees (oak and silver birch, 20%). The benefits of using a UAV, with an MSI camera, for monitoring tree boundaries next to a new housing development are demonstrated.


As the demand to weld higher strength materials through friction stir welding increases, the need for better non-consumable rotating tool increases as it has to be able to endure high frictional and thermal deformation while the workpiece undergoes intense plastic deformation at high temperatures. This project aims to make use of graphene (Young's Modulus = 1.0 TPa) in the improvement of friction stir welding tools. Nickel is coated on H13 Tool Steel substrate via Magnetron Sputtering to act as a catalyst for graphene growth. Graphene synthesis with methane gas is done through Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) process. Characterization of the interface layers are done with Raman Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope, and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. In this report, characterisation experiments revealed an absence of graphene on bare substrate as well as the allegedly nickel coated substrate. Analysis of the surface elements revealed no nickel coating which is inferred to be the main cause of the absence of graphene. Interestingly, FE-SEM revealed crystal like structure and graphitic is nature as determined by XPS and EDS techniques


Springtails are one of the most abundant groups of arthropods inhabiting soil and litter substrates within rainforest ecosystems, making significant contributions to ecological processes such as decomposition. The aim of this study is to assess the potential sensitivity of springtail assemblages to climate change by presenting some of the first data on the elevation stratification of springtail assemblages in subtropical rainforest. A standardised sampling protocol was used to compare the assemblages of families and species of springtails living within leaf-litter at three elevations in continuous rainforest in south-east Queensland, Australia. Leaf-litter was collected and springtails extracted from four replicate plots at approximately 700, 900 and 1100 m a.s.l. on two sampling occasions (January 2008 and December 2008). Environment variables (elevation of plots, tree species richness, composition and basal area, soil temperature and moisture and a range of physical and chemical properties of the soil) that may correlate with springtail distributions were incorporated into the analyses.

Springtail assemblages showed clear elevation patterns, despite some differences between the two sampling occasions. Springtail assemblages characteristic of different elevations particularly when examined at a finer taxonomic resolution (species compared with family-level identification) were identified. Plot elevation (m a.s.l.) correlated most strongly with patterns in springtail species assemblages, but was also highly correlated with several other environmental factors. The results indicate that springtails, as a group, respond strongly to the physico-chemical and/or biological changes that occur with increasing elevation, even over a relatively small elevation range, demonstrating that they have potential as monitoring targets as forests experience climate change.


This paper describes the design and development stages of a web-based framework, aiming to support the creation of mobile applications within the context of mobile learning. The suggested approach offers the opportunity to deploy and execute these applications on mobile devices. This web-based solution additionally offers the possibility to visualize the data collected by the mobile applications in a web-browser. Despite previous research efforts carried out in this domain, few of the projects have addressed these processes from a purely web-based perspective. Currently, a prototype of an authoring tool for creating mobile data collection applications is already implemented. In order to integrate and validate this solution in everyday educational settings, we are collaborating with a network of high schools. On the basis of workshops with teachers we will carry out, refinements and requirements for further enhancements will be collected and will be used to guide our coming efforts.


Historically research about diffusion has largely been focused on rates of adoption and explanations for them. This is a matter of secondary importance, arguably, to the question of the likely total level of adoption. In the case of agricultural innovations total adoption can be expected to be strongly correlated to the value attributed to the innovation by those producers for whom it is relevant. In this paper a model is presented which frames the components of the farm management context that substantially determine the valuation of innovations. This model has been developed over two decades of research into potential adoption.


This article considers the steady-state simulation output analysis problem for a process that satisfies a functional central limit theorem. We construct an estimator for the time-average variance constant that is based on iterated integrations of the sample path. When the observations are batched, the method generalizes the method of batch means. One advantage of the method is that it can be used without batching the observations; that is, it can allow for the process variance to be estimated at any time as the simulation runs without waiting for a fixed time horizon to complete. When used in conjunction with batching, the method can improve efficiency (the reciprocal of work times mean-squared error) compared with the standard method of batch means. In numerical experiments, efficiency improvement ranged from a factor of 1.5 (for the waiting time sequence in an M/M/1 queueing system with a single integrated path) up to a factor of 14 (for an autoregressive process and 19 integrated paths).


List of Contributors.Acknowledgements.1. Introduction (Graham Clarke and John Stillwell).PART 1: GEOBUSINESS2. Retail Applications of Spatial Modelling (Ken Jones and Tony Hernandez).3. Using Spatial Models to Solve Difficult Retail Location Problems (Mark Birkin, Graham Clarke, Martin Clarke and Richard Culf).4. Location-based Services for WAP Phone Users in a Shopping Centre (Antonio Camara and Antonio Eduardo Dias.5. Mass Appraisal and Noise: the use of Lifestyle Segmentation Profiles to Define Neighbourhoods for Hedonic Housing Price Mass Appraisal Models (Steve Laposa and Grant Thrall.PART 2: SOCIAL DEPRIVATION6. Target Clusters of Deprivation within Cities (Richard Harris and Paul Longley).7. Assessing Deprivation in English Inner City Areas: Making the Case for EC Funding for Leeds City (Paul Boyle and Seraphim Alvanides).8. GIS for Joined-up Government: the Case Study of the Sheffield Children Service Plan (Massimo Craglia and Paola Signoretta).9. The Application of New Spatial Statistical Methods to the Detection of Geographical Patterns of Crime (Peter Rogerson).PART 3: TRANSPORT AND LOCATION10. Modelling and Assessment of Demand-Responsive Passenger Transport Services (Mark Horn).11. The South and West Yorkshire Strategic Land-use/Transportation Model (David Simmonds and Andy Skinner).12. The Relocation of Ambulance Facilities in Central Rotterdam (Stan Geertman, Tom de Jong, Coen Wessels and Jan Bleeker).13. A probability-based GIS Model for Identifying Focal Species Linkage Zones across Highways in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (Shelley Alexander, Nigel Waters and Paul Paquet.PART 4: NATIONAL SPATIAL PLANNING14. Modelling Migration for Policy Analysis (Philip Rees, A. Stewart Fotheringham and Tony Champion).15. Modelling Regional Economic Growth by Means of Carrying Capacity (Leo van Wissen).16. Planning a Network of Sites for the Delivery of a New Public Service in England and Wales (Mike Coombes and Simon Raybould).17. New Methods of Assessing Service Provision in Rural England (Martin Frost and John Shepherd).18. Forecasting River Stage with Artificial Neural Networks (Pauline Kneale and Linda See).19. Undertaking Applied GIS and Spatial Analysis Research in an Academic Context (Robin Flowerdew and John Stillwell).Author Index.Subject Index.


Recently, amid growing awareness that computer algorithms are not neutral tools but can cause harm by reproducing and amplifying bias, attempts to detect and prevent such biases have intensified. An approach that has received considerable attention in this regard is the Value Sensitive Design (VSD) methodology, which aims to contribute to both the critical analysis of (dis)values in existing technologies and the construction of novel technologies that account for specific desired values. This article provides a brief overview of the key features of the Value Sensitive Design approach, examines its contributions to understanding and addressing issues around bias in computer systems, outlines the current debates on algorithmic bias and fairness in machine learning, and discusses how such debates could profit from VSD-derived insights and recommendations. Relating these debates on values in design and algorithmic bias to research on cognitive biases, we conclude by stressing our collective duty to not only detect and counter biases in software systems, but to also address and remedy their societal origins. Issue 4 This article belongs to Concepts of the digital society, a special section of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by Christian Katzenbach and Thomas Christian Bächle.


Background For the basic life support (BLS) renewal course, we have devised a new educational programme entitled a small-group-discussion (SGD) programme using personalised video-based debriefing. Objective We compared the efficacy in BLS skill improvement of the SGD programme with the currently used practice-while-watching (PWW) programme, which uses a standardised education video. Method This was a prospective, cluster randomised study, conducted in a single centre, over 6 months from May 2009 to October 2009. Training was performed in two groups of participants, each group with a different renewal education programme. The efficacy of the programmes was compared using the modified Cardiff test and skill-reporting manikins. Results Results from 2169 participants were analysed: 1061 in the SGD programme group and 1108 in the PWW programme group. There were no differences between groups on the pretest, either in compression or non-compression skills. However, on the post-test, the SGD programme gave better results for both compression skills and non-compression skills. Conclusions The new SGD renewal programme is more effective than the PWW programme for improving skills in BLS renewal training.


The registration of 3-D objects is an important problem in computer vision and especially in medical imaging. It arises when data acquired by different sensors and/or at different times have to be fused. Under the basic assumption that the objects to be registered are rigid, the problem is to recover the six parameters of a rigid transformation. If landmarks or common characteristics % between both objects to register are not available, the problem has to be solved by an iterative method. However such methods are inevitably attracted to local minima. This paper presents a novel iterative method designed for the rigid registration of 3-D objects. Its originality lies in its physical basis: instead of minimizing an energy function with respect to the parameters of the rigid transformation (the classical approach) the minimization is achieved by studying the motion of a rigid object in a potential field. In particular, we consider the kinetic energy of the solid during the registration process, which allows it to «jump over» some local maxima of the potential energy and so avoid some local minima of that energy. We present extensive experimental results on real 3-D medical images. In this particular application, we perform the matching process with the whole segmented volumes.


This article explores the language attitudes of young residents of the Republic of Buriatiia toward two official languages in the region, Buriat and Russian. The article also contributes to the research methodology on language attitudes and use, notably by employing a verbal guise technique in a psychosociolinguistic experiment. In the experiment, both phonetically authentic (native, accent-free) and inauthentic (non-native, phonetically nonstandard) Buriat and Russian voices are evaluated by representatives of both nationalities based on two distinct lines: achievement and character traits. The experiment revealed positive attitudes toward native speaking and perception of non-native speaking as a deviation from the norm that are indicative of the unconscious "one ethnicity—one language" idea in the mass consciousness of the youth in Buriatiia along with the strategies of tolerance and ethnocentrism.


The bleomycins are antitumor agents composed of various cationic amides of a common inactive bleomycinic acid. At 1 mug/ml at 37 degrees, the naturally occurring spermidine derivative of bleomycin (A5) was far more lethal to Escherichia coli than were several other bleomycins tested. An exponential loss of viability was produced for 2 hr in various strains of E. coli growing in a synthetic medium. In the stringent E. coli, strain 15 TAU (thymine-arginine-uracil) rel A+ (arginine), withholding thymine did not affect the rate of killing. However, uracil starvation completely blocked killing by the antibiotic. Arginine deprival partially inhibited bleomycin killing in the stringent cell but had little effect on the lethality of the antibiotic in a relaxed isogenic strain actively synthesizing RNA. Similar results were obtained with another isogenic pair, stringent CP78 and relaxed CP79. Thus, the lethality of the antitumor agent, bleomycin, which is reported to produce breaks in bacterial and animal cell DNA in vivo and in vitro appeared totally dependent on RNA synthesis in E. coli. Nevertheless, chloramphenicol, which blocks protein synthesis and relaxes RNA synthesis in the stringent strains, also significantly inhibited the lethal action of the antibiotic, reducing the exponential rate of killing.


The living environment, which constitutes a significant part of the historical center development in St. Petersburg, is assumed to be a unique object of urban planning activity, since its potential is exceptional, but the strategy for further use has not yet been determined. The active usage of huge residential areas in the city center is hindered due to the uncertainty of property relations, some missteps in the area of the cultural heritage conservation system, defects in the system of land use and land tenure. Taking into consideration that the intra-quarter environment has been hardly ever studied, the authors propose using the stagnation period to «stock-take» the quarters of the St. Petersburg center. In connection with the envisaged orientation of the city transport system to increasing the role of pedestrian flows in the city center, the role of the unique system of passage yards is emphasized and it is proposed to take it into account as an integral component of the city center as UNESCO historical heritage object. The decisive role of intra-quarter communications for the formation of urban development characteristic types is substantiated. It is pointed out that in order to assess the mass development potential in the center of St. Petersburg, it is necessary to provide each historical quarter with a corresponding certificate and organize a monitoring of possible evolutions.


Abstract. Future sea surface temperature and sea-ice concentration from coupled
ocean–atmosphere general circulation models such as those from the CMIP5
experiment are often used as boundary forcings for the downscaling of future
climate experiments. Yet, these models show some considerable biases when
compared to the observations over present climate. In this paper, existing
methods such as an absolute anomaly method and a quantile–quantile method
for sea surface temperature (SST) as well as a look-up table and a relative
anomaly method for sea-ice concentration (SIC) are presented. For SIC, we
also propose a new analogue method. Each method is objectively evaluated with
a perfect model test using CMIP5 model experiments and some real-case
applications using observations. We find that with respect to other
previously existing methods, the analogue method is a substantial improvement
for the bias correction of future SIC. Consistency between the constructed
SST and SIC fields is an important constraint to consider, as is consistency
between the prescribed sea-ice concentration and thickness; we show that the
latter can be ensured by using a simple parameterisation of sea-ice thickness
as a function of instantaneous and annual minimum SIC.


Five years after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007–09 began there is still no sign of a full recovery of the world economy. Consequently, concern has increasingly shifted from financial crisis and recession to slow growth or stagnation, causing some to dub the current era the Great Stagnation. Stagnation and financial crisis are now seen as feeding into one another.… To be sure, a few emerging economies have seemingly bucked the general trend, continuing to grow rapidly—most notably China, now the world's second largest economy after the United States. Yet, as [IMF Managing Director Christine] Lagarde warned her Chinese listeners, "Asia is not immune" to the general economic slowdown, "emerging Asia is also vulnerable to developments in the financial sector." So sharp were the IMF's warnings, dovetailing with widespread fears of a sharp Chinese economic slowdown, that Lagarde in late November was forced to reassure world business, declaring that stagnation was probably not imminent in China (the Bloomberg.com headline ran: "IMF Sees Chinese Economy Avoiding Stagnation.") This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


SMOKE AND STEEL . . . A bar of steel - it is only Smoke at the heart of it, smoke and the blood of a man. runner of fire ran in it, ran out, ran somewhere else, And left - smoke and the blood of a man And the finished steel, chilled and blue. So fire runs in, runs out, runs somewhere else again, And the bar of steel is a gun, a wheel, a nail, a shovel, A rudder under the sea, a steering-gear in the sky; And always dark in the heart and through it, Smoke and the blood of a man. Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Gary - they make their steel with men. In the blood of men and the ink of chimneys The smoke nights write their oaths: Smoke into steel and blood into steel; Homestead, Braddock, Birmingham, they make their steel with men. Smoke and blood is the mix of steel . . . Carl Sandburg Ernest Tener Weir was no saint. In public, fellow steelmen called him "difficult." In private, they called him other things (Time, 1941). Organized labor hated him and called him an "evil man" (Fortune, 1945). New Dealers labeled him a black reactionary. In an era where divorce was taboo, Weir had three marriages. Indeed, Ernest Tener Weir was no saint. What, then, was Weir? He was a maverick, a lone wolf, the last of the independent steel industrialists. Through ambition, enterprise, perserverance, and stubbornness, he built National Steel - a major, fully integrated, independent steel corporation that confronted the steel giants of the day and successfully competed with them. This paper is about Ernest Tener Weir and the impact he left on the steel industry. Weir's legacy to management history is a lasting one and examination of that legacy provides many benefits. First, while the literature in management history is replete with commentaries on presidents of steel colossi such as Benjamin Fairless, Charles White, and Arthur Homer, less emphasis has been placed on independent steel producers and the significant role they played in shaping the steel industry. Ernest Weir was one of the last of those independent producers. Examining Weir's legacy provides new insights on the role of the independent producer in the early steel industry and helps to fill a void in the literature. Second, Weir faced a fierce and turbulent competitive environment. He lived through a period of revolutionary changes in the steel industry. In the early years of his career, the industry was highly fragmented consisting of hundreds of independent producers. At the turn of the century, the industry was rapidly moving towards concentration with most independents either absorbed by the steel giants or crushed by them. Weir was an important transitional figure whose life spanned both eras. Modern managers can learn much by studying Weir's successful competitive strategies employed in besting the steel colossi of the day. Weir's life was a testimony that the "little guy" could not only compete, but come out ahead of his larger competitors. He succeeded in building a fully integrated steel corporation that challenged the mega-producers, and eventually ranked fifth among the Big Eight. Third, studying Weir's legacy can reveal the extent to which one man can influence the course of an entire industry. Time and again, it was the iconoclast Weir who forced changes in the price structure and labor costs in the industry. Finally, Weir left an everlasting imprint in history by creating the city of Weirton, West Virginia, where he employed tens of thousands of steel workers and their descendants for generations. ENTREE INTO THE STEEL INDUSTRY Ernest Tener Weir was born on August 1, 1875, in Pittsburgh, the son of James and Margaret Manson Weir. His father operated a livery stable in the Schenly Park area which provided a meager existence for the family. In 1880, the Weirs had a second son, David. When Ernest was fifteen his father died, forcing the boy to quit school and become the sole support of his family. Weir worked as an office boy first at the Braddock Wire Company, and then at the Oliver Wire Company (Current Biography, 1941). …


Crowdfunding is a new technology-enabled innovative process that is changing the capital market space. Internet-based applications, particularly those related to Web 2.0, have had a significant impact on sectors of society such as education, business, and medicine. The goal of this research is to fill a gap in the literature on mathematical modelling and prediction of ensemble learning in order to evaluate crowdfunding projects. The Mathematical model determines the cost of funding for the entrepreneur and the return investors will receive per period. A correct financial model is essential in order to keep all three stakeholders involved in the long term. The results show the designed model improved performance in predicting the evaluation of success or failure of Crowdfunding projects.


Heart failure timely and effective diagnosis and treatment directly affect the prognosis of patients, so early diagnosis of heart failure treatment is very important. The current diagnosis of heart failure has yet to be further improved. To investigate the relationship between plasma levels of Galectin-3 and cystatin-C and NT-proBNP in cardiac structure and function in patients with heart failure (HF) and the early detection of failure. Patients were recruited from the coronary care unit (CCU) of Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital and were admitted and verified as cases of HF by specialist cardiologists. Between the 1st of November 2017 and the 1st of April 2018; 48 patients (29 males and 19 females), were diagnosed to have HF and were included in the study. The total number of HF patients admitted to the CCU of the hospital during the study period was 100 patients but 52 patients were ruled out according to the exclusion criteria of the study such as Acute Myocardial Infarction, active myocarditis, Drug abuse or an alcohol drinker, renal failure. Apparently healthy subjects were recruited from the staff of Al-Mustansiryah Medicine College. They comprised (40) subjects (30 males and 10 females). Each subject who was recruited in the control group has undergone a full history and physical examination with a recording of age, gender, smoking, chronic diseases, and medications. Any subject in the control group must be fasting for 8-14 hours at the time of drawing of the blood specimens. Consent was taken from all subjects in the control group after being told about the aim of the study. The plasma Galectin-3 and cystatin-C and NT-proBNP levels were compared between the two groups to observe the value of plasma Galectin-3 and cystatin-C combined with NT-proBNP in the diagnosis of heart failure. The levels of plasma Galectin-3 and cystatin-C and NT-proBNP were significantly higher in patients with heart failure compared with the healthy control group. The levels of plasma Galectin-3 and cystatin-C and NT-proBNP increased significantly (P < 0.01). The area under the ROC curve for the combined detection of plasma Galectin-3 and cystatinC and NT-proBNP was greater than the area under the three alone tests. In conclusion, the combined detection of Galectin-3 and cystatin-C and NT-proBNP has high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of heart failure and can be used as a new detection mode.


With the concepts of self, nonself, antibody, vaccine and antigen in an intrusion detection and prevention system presented in this paper, the architecture of network intrusion and prevention based on immune principle is proposed. The intrusion information gotten from current monitored network is encapsulated and sent to the neighbor network as bacterin; therefore the neighbor network can make use of the bacterin and predict the danger of network. The experimental results show that the new model not only actualizes an active prevention method but also improves the ability of intrusion detection and prevention than that of the traditional passive intrusion prevention systems.


This paper models a two-sided market with two horizontally-differentiated platforms that conduct a game in prices. Platforms set only membership fees to both buyers and sellers. The game is single-stage as platforms choose prices and agents simultaneously choose which platform to join. Given the equilibrium prices to each side, the paper investigates the effects of inter-platform cost asymmetries. It finds that the magnitude of the effects of inter-platform cost differences on equilibrium membership depends on whether the asymmetric costs are borne by the platform or by developers on the platform. Under regimes with high network effects, differences in the platforms' costs of acquiring and serving customers have only limited impact, while the impact of cost differences for component production are less clear.


Rabbits were immunized by intraperitoneal injections of DNP-Ascaris antigen precipitated with aluminum hydroxide gel to form reaginic antibodies. Mesenteric lymph node cells from the primed rabbits were stimulated in vitro by incubating with homologous antigen for 24 hr and then cultured for 6 days in the absence of antigen. Measurements of IgG and reaginic antibodies in culture fluids showed that the lymph node cells from the rabbits which formed reaginic antibodies after primary immunization produced IgG antibodies. In vitro reaginic antibody formation was generally observed when donors of lymph node cells showed both primary and secondary reaginic antibody responses after the primary and booster injections. The titer of reaginic antibody in the culture fluid, as determined by the PCA reaction, did not correlate with the concentration of IgG antibodies in the fluid, or with the reaginic antibody titer of the serum of donors at the time of sacrifice. The molecular size of reaginic antibody in the culture fluids was intermediate between those of IgM and IgG antibodies. The skin-sensitizing activity of the antibody was completely lost by treatment with 0.01 M dithiothreitol followed by alkylation and slightly diminished after heating at 56°C for 2 hr. Such properties of the reaginic antibodies in the culture fluid were comparable to those of IgE antibodies in the serum.
 It was found that a removal of most of the adherent cells in lymph node cell suspension before antigen stimulation in vitro did not have a significant effect on the formation of IgG, IgM and IgE antibodies in the culture. An addition of monospecific anti-IgG with antigen for in vitro stimulation suppressed in vitro IgG and IgM antibody formation but not the IgE antibody formation.


Metropolitan Lima is subject to frequent seismic activity that can damage critical infrastructure such as schools and threaten the lives of schoolchildren. In Lima, more than 64 percent of schools are highly vulnerable to earthquakes, which leaves more than 600,000 children at risk. The Peruvian Ministry of Education (MINEDU), in partnership with the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), is working in Lima to mitigate against damage, protect students against the impact of earthquakes, and ensure the potential for educational development. Through the Probabilistic Risk Assessment (CAPRA) Program, an initiative that aims to strengthen institutional capacity for assessing, understanding, and communicating disaster risk, the World Bank and the government of Peru have worked to promote the application of risk-related data for better informed decision making. The program applies the use of CAPRA software, a free resource for risk analysis and decision-making. GFDRR has supported these efforts through technical assistance and advisory services. MINEDU will formulate the National School Infrastructure Plan to construct, rehabilitate, replace, improve, and maintain school infrastructure countrywide, as well as to identify, design, prioritize, and implement the required public investments according to the Plan. The World Bank and GFDRR will support MINEDU in preparing this plan in 2015.


The article investigates whether Shakespeare used Warwickshire, Cotswold or Midlands dialect, focusing on the sources of recent claims by Bate, Kathman and Wood, most of which derive from early dialect dictionaries compiled by 18 th and 19 th century antiquarians. It determines that all of these claims – frequently used as a defence against the Shakespeare authorship question – fall into four categories: those based on errors of fact, well-known or widely-used words, poetic inventions, and those derived through circular reasoning. Two problems are identified. Firstly, the source texts on which these dialect claims rest were written two- to three-hundred years after the plays, by which time language-use would not only have evolved, but would have been influenced by Shakespeare. Secondly, the continuing academic taboo surrounding the authorship question has meant that these claims, though easily refuted by searching the Oxford English Dictionary and the digitized texts of Early English Books Online , have gone unchallenged in academia. It demonstrates that querying the validity of arguments derived from an assumed biography can — without in any way disproving that the man from Stratford wrote the body of works we call ‗Shakespeare' — lead to a better understanding of the way Shakespeare actually used language, and the meanings he intended.


The history of the Candellas was first traced by Smith in an article in 1908 and then by Dr. H.C. Ray in a chapter of his Dynastic History of Northern India, Volume II, in 1935. These two scholars gave only a very brief political history of the dynasty with cursury references to other aspects of Candella history. This is the first effort to trace the full history of the Candellas with the help of inscriptions, contemporary literary works, Moslem sources, monographs and a large number of articles with important bearing on the Candellas. Besides the political history, I have discussed the administrative system, social, cultural and religious life in the Candella kingdom in detail. I have also tried to point out the significance of the Candellas in relation to the general history of India, and the history of Central and northern India in particular. The first chapter traces the origin, and early history of the dynasty. The second and third chapters deal with its rise under Harsa and Yasovarman and its supremacy under Dhanga and Vidyadhara. The fourth chapter discusses the decline of the Candellas and their revival under Kirtivarman. The fifth chapter traces their history from the reign of Madanavarman to their final collapse. The administrative, socio-economic, religious and cultural history of the dynasty is discussed in chapter VI and VII. The significance of the Candellas and their contribution to Indian history has been pointed out in the last chapter. Finally, in the Appendix, a critical estimate of the traditional sources has been made, and a few unpublished Candella inscriptions have been included with facsimilies.


Proponents of the "fast and frugal" approach to decision-making suggest that inferential judgments are best made on the basis of limited information. For example, if only one of two cities is recognized and the task is to judge which city has the larger population, the recognition heuristic states that the recognized city should be selected. In preference choices with >2 options, it is also standard to assume that a "consideration set", based upon some simple criterion, is established to reduce the options available. A multinomial processing tree model is outlined which provides the basis for estimating the extent to which recognition is used as a criterion in establishing a consideration set for inferential judgments.


The recent Arctic sea ice loss is a key driver of the amplified surface warming in the northern high latitudes, and simultaneously a major source of uncertainty in model projections of Arctic climate change. Previous work has shown that the spread in model predictions of future Arctic amplification (AA) can be traced back to the inter-model spread in simulated long-term sea ice loss. We demonstrate that the strength of future AA is further linked to the current climate's, observable sea ice state across the multi-model ensemble of the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). The implication is that the sea-ice climatology sets the stage for long-term changes through the 21st century, which mediate the degree by which Arctic warming is amplified with respect to global warming. We determine that a lower base-climate sea ice extent and sea ice concentration (SIC) in CMIP6 models enable stronger ice melt in both future climate and during the seasonal cycle. In particular, models with lower Arctic-mean SIC project stronger future ice loss and a more intense seasonal cycle in ice melt and growth. Both processes systemically link to a larger future AA across climate models. These results are manifested by the role of climate feedbacks that have been widely identified as major drivers of AA. We show in particular that models with low base-climate SIC predict a systematically stronger warming contribution through both sea-ice albedo feedback and temperature feedbacks in the future, as compared to models with high SIC. From our derived linear regressions in conjunction with observations, we estimate a 21st-century AA over sea ice of 2.47–3.34 with respect to global warming. Lastly, from the tight relationship between base-climate SIC and the projected timing of an ice-free September, we predict a seasonally ice-free Arctic by mid-century under a high-emission scenario.


Drought is one of the most significant and challenging natural disasters across the globe. In Southern Africa, the phenomenon has become more frequent and severe, with devastating impacts particularly on livelihoods of Namibian communities, their farming activities and availability of water resources. This study provides an overview of drought in a Namibian context, with special presented cases from the north central region. The study mainly employed secondary data from various existing in publications to explore the concepts, causes and forecasting of drought. Furthermore, relevant newspapers were reviewed to assess the impacts of the recent drought whilst interviews were conducted with key informants on drought prediction using indigenous knowledge. It is revealed in the study's findings that Namibia's climate and rainfall abnormalities are influenced by the interplay of the dominant Subtropical High Pressure Zone (SHPZ), the Temperate Zone and Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Thus, drought susceptibility of livelihoods often prevails and was traced in this study as far as 1911, during which thousands of people died largely due to famine. Although not as this many human lives were lost during the 2019 drought, three people instantly died as the wall of the dug well collapsed, at least 90 000 of livestock were reported to have died of thirst while one-third of the country's population was affected as the staple cereal production depreciated significantly. The study recommends improved early warning systems, possibly by merging the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis with relevant indigenous knowledge. Meanwhile, strategies on sustainable harvesting of groundwater from the discovered "Ohangwena II aquifer" need to be prioritized to support the affected livelihoods in the country.


In this paper, we propose an improvement to the transport protocol performance in Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) by exploiting the backoff algorithm of Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol. We are especially interested in the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) performance parameters like the throughput and end-to-end delay. This improvement is IB-MAC (Improvement of Backoff algorithm of MAC protocol) which proposes a new backoff algorithm based on a dynamic adaptation of its maximal limit according to the number of nodes and their mobility. The evaluation of our IB-MAC solution and the study of its incidences on TCP performance are done with AODV as like routing protocol, TCP New Reno as like transport protocol and varied network conditions such as load and mobility. The results are satisfactory and showed that our algorithm can outperform not only MAC standard, but also similar techniques that have been proposed in the literature like MAC-LDA and MAC-WCCP.


Most avalanche rescue plans were developed before 1990. Since that time the Incident Command System has become the standard working model for unified command. The Incident Command System (ICS) has specific organizational features and nomenclature. It is now essential that all rescue plans be designed or revised using this format. This allows for agencies to work together using common language. Individuals and resources understand how they will be organized and utilized. Although in the past certain titles, such as site commander, have been generally accepted they are no longer relevant. Although many of the tasks remain the same the individuals or groups need to have commonly recognized designations. This allows for multiple leaders over an incident or period of time to smoothly and effectively utilize and manage resources and tasks. In some cases the Incident Command System will redesign rescue plans. Groups may be reorganized into more effective formats. The ICS system will set limits on the scope of leadership and responsibilities, thus making leaders and resources more effective. In the case of those agencies that have not had to affect a large rescue the ICS system will provide a stencil of tasks and organization from which to plan. Once a stencil is in place agencies can begin assessing available and appropriate individuals and resources to fill positions. This allows for more effective preplanning. Once those individuals and resources are realized they become more effective. Those groups will begin to consider their tasks and how to be most effective. Preplanning exercises and drills become more effective. Individuals, groups and task forces know how they will be activated and will be better prepared. Preplanning in the ICS system also allows for assigning the appropriate personnel to the appropriate task. A presentation will be made outlining the ICS format. A brief explanation of the history and importance of the ICS system will be provided. It will be shown how previous commonly accepted titles can be reassigned to the ICS system. Suggestions will be made as to who and what to use to fill positions. Concepts will be proposed to facilitate expanded avalanche rescue preparedness and drills. Corresponding author address: Michael Ferrara PO Box 11988 Aspen, CO 81612 (970) 927-0998 email@example.com


The University of North Georgia (UNG) has begun to evaluate both fixed and rotary UAS platforms across the departments to evaluate their potential for furthering both student learning experiences and undergraduate research. A research project of the Institute for Spatial Analysis (IESA) at UNG has acquired the fixed wing eBee UAS and is currently piloting its integration into the undergraduate geospatial science curriculum. Limited very low altitude, line of sight calibration runs within areas of our campus have help us understand the capabilities that this technology brings to learning and research opportunities at UNG. In our pilot area of study on the UNG Gainesville Campus, we will collect overlapping imagery and generate 3-D models. These models will be compared with models based on LiDAR data. Geographic Object Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) methods are essential to the analysis of voluminous high resolution UAS data and the associated computational and regulatory issues are discussed. Several future interdisciplinary projects are envisaged with the eBee UAS and this project helps establish their viability.


In this paper we review a hypothesis put forth in 1980 by James Fries under the name of the compression of morbidity, as an example of theoretical development in the field of epidemiology. Initially we discuss some of the essential features of scientific theories and make a historical account of the most important causal models that epidemiology has embraced. Then, the basis for proposing that a compression of the morbidity is taking place are described focusing on its advantages and limitations when it is analyzed from the point of view of structuralism. Finally, we conclude that, to the extent that they are correct, models of this kind have the potential of describing and predicting the evolution of human health; hence, their systematic development entails an extraordinary importance for public health.


Drawing on both their own fieldwork from 1991 to 1999 and older written sources, Stewart and Strathern explore how the Duna have remade their rituals and associated myths in response to the outside influences of government, Christianity, and large-scale economic development, specifically mining and oil prospecting. The authors provide in-depth ethnographic materials on the Duna and present many detailed descriptions of ritual practices that have been abandoned.


Using transforms in video coding is an effective method in reducing the spatial redundancy. However, for some cases applying transforms does not reduce the spatial redundancy. For these cases, transforms are skipped and the prediction error is directly quantized and then entropy coded. To further reduce the spatial redundancy in the transform skipped blocks, a pixel-by-pixel lossy intra prediction method based on a two dimensional correlation model is proposed in this paper. In the proposed method, three reconstructed neighboring pixels are used to obtain the prediction. Neighboring pixels and the prediction weights change depending on the selected intra mode. The results of the experiments on different test classes in HEVC version 1 and HEVC Range Extension (RExt) reference softwares show that the proposed method can achieve gains up to approximately 0.5% BD-rate for All-Intra lossy coding compared to HEVC version 1 and the Range Extensions of the HEVC.


Pulsed lasers can generate ultrasound from stresses due to rapid thermal expansion. In this low power thermoelastic regime the material is not damaged. This paper concentrates on epoxy resins and aims to relate the observed amplitude of the longitudinal wave to the optical absorption depth of the epoxy. The ultrasound is generated using a high power pulsed laser and the absolute amplitude of the ultrasound is measured with a Michelson interferometer. In the thermoelastic regime, the laser beam is focused onto the sample, causing rapid expansion in times that are comparable to the rise time of the laser pulse. In metals, the laser radiation is absorbed in the thin electromagnetic skin depth but in non-metals the phenomenon is dominated by the optical absorption depth. The latter can vary from a few microns to several millimetres for materials such as epoxy resins. As a consequence, a bigger volume of the material is affected, the temperature rise is less and the amplitude of the longitudinal wave is greater. This condition is referred to as "a buried thermoelastic source". Two lasers were used in this study: a TEA CO2 and a XeCl excimer laser. The results are compared with optical transmission measurements.


Abstract Background Haemarthrosis whereby bleeding occurs within a joint is a significant feature of haemophilia. Despite the availability of prophylaxis clotting factor concentrates in the United Kingdom haemarthrosis is associated with worsening joint health and haemarthropathy in people with severe haemophilia. The ankle joint has been identified as the most affected joint followed by the knee and elbow. Whilst annual joint bleed rates (AJBR) are commonly reported in haemophilia research, bleed rates in individual affected joints and joint health status in paediatric and adult patients is yet to be established. Methods In 2018, paediatric (l18 years) and adult (≥18 years) patients with severe non-inhibitor haemophilia A and B registered with the United Kingdom Haemophilia Centres Doctors Organisation (UKHCDO) National haemophilia Database (NHD) were evaluated for haemarthrosis prevalence and associated joint health. Fully itemised Haemophilia Joint Health Scores (HJHS) were obtained from NHD records in combination with AJBR from Haemtrack (HT) compliant patients. Haemarthrosis prevalence and AJBR were reported as a total and for individual joints (ankles, knees and elbows). Results During 2018, 2233 individuals were identified; 273 reported ≥75% simultaneous HT compliance and electronic fully itemised HJHS data. The median (range) age of children is 10 (6-14) years and adults 40 (25-51) years. The joint bleed prevalence of haemophilia A and B in children is 33% and 47% respectively, and in adults 42% and 60% respectively. In children with haemophilia A (n = 80) the knee (data) was the most common site of bleeding. In haemophilia A adults (n = 157) the ankle and elbow were equally affected. In haemophilia B children (n = 17) and adults (n = 19) the elbow was the most prevalent site. Total HJHS scores in children with haemophilia A and B were 0.00 (1.00 SD) and 0.40 (0.90 SD) respectively. Total HJHS scores in adults with haemophilia A and B were 21.20 (16.80 SD) and 15.40 (15.10 SD) respectively. Mean HJHS scores itemised by joint were higher in adults compared with children. In children with haemophilia A and haemophilia B, mean (3.80) and median (4.00) scores for the ankle joint were higher than for the knee (2.90 and 1.00) and elbow joint (3.30 and 1.00). Conclusion Whilst there are limitations to this self-select subset of individuals with severe haemophilia, the prevalence of haemarthrosis is evenly distributed in all adult joints with a trend towards the knee in paediatrics. Despite prophylaxis 30% of children and 60% adults still reported bleeding over a 12-month period. Irrespective of the prevalence of joint bleeds in children with haemophilia the HJHS does not appear to be clinically sensitive enough to detect changes in joint health. Adults deemed adherent with prophylaxis and haemtrack still demonstrate worsening HJHS scores despite a low AJBR. Disclosures R.A. Wilkins Grants/research support; Funded by the National Institute for Health Research. H.J. Siddle Grants/research support; Funded by the National Institute for Health Research. G. Chapman None. A.J. Redmond None. H. Xiang None. M. Scott None. M. Richards None. L. Horn None. B. Palmer None. D. Stephensen None.


The focus of the present paper is to identify and defines the important factors of strategic management in SMEs with a specific focus on the service sector and to compare its current situation in the Czech Republic and Slovak republic firms. To shape the study, survey-based research planned and conducted in the Czech Republic and Slovak republic over SMEs in the service sector. The data were collected from the owners or top-level managers, the total sample used in the study was 822, 454 respondents from the Czech firms and 368 firms from the Slovak republic. The study employs basic statistics tools, percentages and mean values, used Z-score to compare the respondents in the Czech Republic and Slovak republic. The major findings of the study reveal that majority of the firms in both the countries use strategic management as an integral part of corporate governance and believe that strategic management usage improves the competitiveness of the firms and its stability in domestic and foreign markets. Another interesting finding reveals that the business sector is not a statistically significant factor in evaluating the sources of strategic risk, found from the firms of both countries. The paper adds to the existing literature of SMEs, investigated the use of strategic management tools for their sustainability and competitiveness. As the key aspects of strategic management are much used in large size organization but less explored in the smaller segment. The outcome of the study can help to understand the SMEs' attitude towards strategic management usage. It is very useful for long term survival, stability, and expansion, as both countries' economy is heavily depending on the SMEs.


Today, many services that can geocode addresses are available to domain scientists and researchers, software developers, and end‐users. For a number of reasons, including quality of reference database and interpolation technique, a given address geocoded by different services does not often result in the same location. Considering that there are many widely available and accessible geocoding services and that each geocoding service may utilize a different reference database and interpolation technique, selecting a suitable geocoding service that meets the requirements of any application or user is a challenging task. This is especially true for online geocoding services which are often used as black boxes and do not provide knowledge about the reference databases and the interpolation techniques they employ. In this article, we present a geocoding recommender algorithm that can recommend optimal online geocoding services by realizing the characteristics (positional accuracy and match rate) of the services and preferences of the user and/or their application. The algorithm is simulated and analyzed using six popular online geocoding services for different address types (agricultural, commercial, industrial, residential) and preferences (match rate, positional accuracy).


The construction-integration model (Kintsch, 1988) offers a frame for discourse analysis. This model defines four representation levels: the surface level or linguistic form, the base text or semantic level, the situation model built by combining information from the text and personal world knowledge, and the organization level. This study describes discourse produced by 46 Alzheimer patients and 53 normal elderly subjects in two picture-elicited production tasks: a single picture and a sequence of pictures. Globally, the single picture task is a more difficult situation for Alzheimer patients. The impaired levels in dementia are surface level, situation model and organization. Therefore, Kintsch model allows a distinction among discourse productions by normal elderly and mild to moderate Alzheimer patients.


In Denmark the official policy is to reduce heat loss in buildings by 40-50% and the consumption of fossil fuels by 100% before 2050. This means that at the supply side we are changing from stored fossil fuels to largely fluctuating renewable energy in combination with some biomass. In order to implement large shares of fluctuating renewable energy sources, mainly wind and solar energy it is necessary to integrate power production with heat and transportation. This means that when there is a lot of wind power for instance, this can be stored in hot water tanks for later use as heat. Or in batteries for later use in cars. Concurrently some wind power is transformed, to different fuels and syngas as energy supply for periods with no wind and or no sun. And in order to integrate fluctuating wind power into the smart energy system, it is economical to have large hot water tanks, which only are useful in district heating systems. The questions now is; how can reduction in the heat loss of buildings be combined with the development of integrated smart energy systems? This has to be done in the right way, by which we mean by developing low temperature district heating systems that fits to the introduction of an efficient heat supply systems mainly based on the use of large heat pumps. So the improvement of the houses should be introduced in such a way that the houses can be heated by means of low temperatures. This fits well with insulation of the houses, as better insulated houses can get heated with less heat which in the same pipes can be supplied with lower temperature. So it is possible, but it requires a planning where the house insulation is synchronized with the new heat supply district heating systems. What also is important is that the improvement of the energy efficiency of the houses is done in time, so that the energy supply systems are dimensioned to the future energy standards. If this time synchronization of house improvements and the investments in the supply system is not done, we risk a supply system that is oversized and therefore to expensive. But it is not from a policy point of view easy to establish incentives that furthers this optimal time synchronization of supply and demand measures.As a conclusion in the article, we will recommend policies that both make sure that the right type of house improvements are implemented and that this is done in such a way that investments in the supply and demand systems in an optimal way.


Smooth muscle tumors are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the female genital tract, including the vulva. Since vulvar smooth muscle tumors are rare, our understanding of them compared to their uterine counterparts continues to evolve. Herein, we present two cases of morphologically distinct myxoid epithelioid smooth muscle tumors of the vulva with novel MEF2D::NCOA2 gene fusion. The tumors involved 24 and 37-year-old women. Both tumors presented as palpable vulvar masses that were circumscribed, measuring 2.8 and 5.1 cm in greatest dimension. Histologically, they were composed of epithelioid to spindle-shaped cells with minimal cytologic atypia and prominent myxoid matrix. Rare mitotic figures were present (1-3 mitotic figures per 10 high-power field (HPF)), and no areas of tumor necrosis were identified. By immunohistochemistry, the neoplastic cells strongly expressed smooth muscle actin, calponin, and desmin, confirming smooth muscle origin. Next-generation sequencing identified identical MEF2D::NCOA2 gene fusions. These two cases demonstrate that at least a subset of myxoid epithelioid smooth muscle tumors of the vulva represent a distinct entity characterized by a novel MEF2D::NCOA2 gene fusion. Importantly, recognition of the distinct morphologic and genetic features of these tumors is key to understanding the biological potential of these rare tumors.


Neuronal signaling by G protein-coupled P2Y nucleotide receptors is not well characterized. We studied here the coupling of different molecularly defined P2Y receptors to neuronal G protein-gated inward rectifier K(+) (GIRK) channels. Individual P2Y receptors were coexpressed with GIRK1+GIRK2 (Kir3.1 + 3.2) channels by intranuclear plasmid injections into cultured rat sympathetic neurons. Currents were recorded using perforated-patch or whole-cell (disrupted patch) techniques, with similar results. P2Y(1) receptor stimulation with 2-methylthio ADP (2-MeSADP) induced activation of GIRK current (I(GIRK)) followed by inhibition. In contrast, stimulation of endogenous alpha(2)-adrenoceptors by norepinephrine produced stable activation without inhibition. P2Y(1)-mediated inhibition was also seen when 2-MeSADP was applied after I(GIRK) preactivation by norepinephrine or by expression of Gbeta(1)gamma(2) subunits. In contrast, stimulation of P2Y(4) receptors with UTP or P2Y(6) receptors with UDP produced very little I(GIRK) activation but significantly inhibited preactivated currents. Current activation was prevented by pertussis toxin (PTX) or after coexpression of the betagamma-scavenger transducin-Galpha.I(GIRK) inhibition by all three nucleotide receptors was insensitive to PTX and was significantly reduced after coexpression of RGS2 protein, known to inhibit G(q)alpha signaling. Inhibition was not affected 1) after coexpression of RGS11, which interferes with G(q)betagamma action; 2) after coexpression of phospholipase C (PLC) delta-Pleckstrin homology domain, which sequesters the membrane phospholipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate; (3) after buffering intracellular Ca(2+) with 1,2-bis(2-aminiphenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA-AM); and (4) after pretreatment with the protein kinase C inhibitor 3-[1-[3-(dimethylaminopropyl]-1H-indol-3-yl]-4-(1H-indol-3-yl)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione monohydrochloride (GF 109203X). We conclude that activation of I(GIRK) by P2Y receptors is mediated by G(i/o)betagamma, whereas I(GIRK) inhibition is mediated by G(q)alpha. These effects may provide a mechanism for P2Y-modulation of neuronal excitability.


We develop a simple model of collective experimentation and take it to the lab. In equilibrium, as in the recent work of Strulovici (2010), majority rule has a bias toward under-experimentation, as good news for a minority of voters may lead a majority of voters to abandon a policy when each of them thinks it is likely that the policy will be passed by a future majority excluding them. We compare the behavior in the lab of groups under majority rule and under the optimal voting rule, which precludes voting in intermediate stages of the policy experiment. Surprisingly, simple majority performs better than the (theoretically) optimal voting rule. Majority rule seems to lead to better outcomes than other forms of voting when players make mistakes.


Among developments in the field of business intelligence (BI), the notion of maturity has gained considerable interest for defining the directions to expected value, for summarizing the experience available, and for defining the possible avenues of BI development. There is considerable experience in creating and implementing BI systems, and many gaps separating the declared goals from the achieved results have been discovered. The time distance from the early stages of BI development allows more or less objective evaluation of these stages, while the current state of BI field is often controversial and ill-defined. A set of concepts called BI maturity models have been presented in the academic and professional sources, carrying basically the same mission – to evaluate the experience and extrapolate the future developments. The models, being more or less uniform in assessing the experience, are mostly different in their attitudes towards current state and especially the future (mature) developments of BI, creating controversy in the expectations regarding the future value of BI. The goal of this paper is to define the controversial elements in the existing maturity models, and to suggest a different position on the concept of business intelligence maturity, using most common dimensions of BI features to evaluate maturity expectations.


'There is a possible x which is A' means 'Possibly there is an actual x which is A.' In Chapter 4, the ontology of modalities of N. Hartmann, (already discussed in XIV 140(3),) and other conceptions, are clarified verbally and by figures. Leibniz's notion of compossibility is analyzed, 'q is compossible,' symbolized 'Cp(q)', is defined by 'M(q . <t>)', where fl> is the totality of assumed conditions. The dual notion of "conecessity" is introduced, defined: Cn(q) = ~Cp(~q) = fl> < q. Becker marvels that "conecessity has never been introduced into logic or into ontology"; however, it is the same as the notion of "relative necessity" defined in Lewis and Langford (p. 161). Heidegger's non-classical conception of modalities is discussed without formal analysis. Appendices have to do with independence proofs, distinction of S2 red. from a finite truth-value system, the three-valued systems of Lukasiewicz and Moisil, and other details. WILLIAM T. PARRY


The authors empirically investigate the investment impact of commonly used manager selection heuristics that involve redeploying assets from underperforming to outperforming managers. Studying portfolios constructed using the typical three-year evaluation periods employed by most pension funds, the authors find that investors who chose managers with poor recent performance earned higher benchmark-adjusted returns than those who chose managers with superior recent performance. Their findings pose a challenge for asset owners: If past performance is used at all in selecting managers, it is the best-performing managers who should be replaced, not the underperforming ones. Realistically, however, a policy of replacing successful managers with poor performers is unlikely to gain widespread acceptance. Instead, the practical implication of this article is that asset owners should focus on factors other than past performance. The authors offer alternate criteria for selecting managers.


Self-assembly of capped nanocrystals (NC) attracted a lot of attention over the past decade. Despite progress in manufacturing of NC superstructures, the current understanding of their mechanical and thermodynamic stability is still limited. For further applications, it is crucial to find the origin and the magnitude of the interactions that keep self-assembled NCs together, and it is desirable to find a way to rationally manipulate these interactions. We report on molecular simulations of interacting gold NCs protected by capping molecules. We computed the potential of mean force for pairs and triplets of NCs of different size (1.8-3.7 nm) with varying ligand length (ethanethiol-dodecanethiol) in vacuum. Pair interactions are strongly attractive due to attractive van der Waals interactions between ligand molecules. Three-body interaction results in an energy penalty when the capping layers overlap pairwise. This effect contributes up to 20% to the total energy for short ligands. For longer ligands, the three-body effects are so large that formation of NC chains becomes energetically more favorable than close packing of capped NCs at low concentrations, in line with experimental observations. To explain the equilibrium distance for two or more NCs, the overlap cone model is introduced. This model is based on relatively simple ligand packing arguments. In particular, it can correctly explain why the equilibrium distance for a pair of capped NCs is always approximately 1.25 times the core diameter independently on the ligand length, as found in our previous work [Schapotschnikow, R. Pool, and T. J. H. Vlugt, Nano Lett. 8, 2930 (2008)]. We make predictions for which ligands capped NCs self-assemble into highly stable three-dimensional structures, and for which they form high-quality monolayers.


Question: Is a mosaic structure apparent in the spatial distribution of trees in old-growth Abies amabilis forests? Location: Montane forests of the western Cascade Range, Washington, USA. Methods: Maps of tree locations were created for study areas located in two, 300-year old stands and a single 600-year old stand. Stand structure parameters were calculated using several subsample quadrats sizes (56.25 - 306.25 m 2 ), which were drawn randomly with replacement at a density of 250 quadrats per ha from the stem maps in the computing environment. Spatial cross-covariance functions between different canopy strata were estimated using the spline cross-correlogram. Results: Negative spatial correlation (segregation) between subcanopy tree density and areas of high overstorey occupancy was detected. Understorey and midstorey tree densities were positively spatially correlated. These general trends were apparent across the range of observational scales investigated. Significant spatial correlation between canopy strata was observed at spatial scales of 12 - 44 m and extended to the largest scales in the 600-year old stand. Conclusion: The observed spatial segregation between canopy strata supports the hypothesis that old A. amabilis forests form fine-scale structural mosaics. Structural segregation at small scales may be due to competitive interactions as well as exogenous forcing of tree locations (e.g. by mortality due to pathogens or disturbance), however segregation at large scales in the 600-year old stand is likely due to exogenous factors alone. This study reinforces the idea that horizontal heterogeneity is an emergent property of old-growth forests.


Virtual reality (VR) is a domain of increasing interest to marketers as this technology provides significant opportunities for engagement and consumer responses. However, to date, the field lacks a cohesive description of available VR technologies, especially in the marketing domain, and needs a guide for effective VR based on consumer product involvement. Therefore, we first outline a typology of VR based on different levels of product involvement delineating how brands might implement VR. Second, after conducting a comprehensive literature review, we propose a dual model of product involvement for VR strategies. High product involvement situations operate through the imagination, co-creation, and telepresence, directly influencing consumer responses. Meanwhile, low involvement contexts operate through the less cognitively taxing process of interactivity, leading to brand engagement and indirectly influencing consumer responses. This work includes nine propositions that outline elements of effective strategies in each route and offers several implications for theory and practice.


The difference between the measured atmospheric abundances of neon, argon, krypton, and xenon for Venus, Earth, and Mars is striking. Because these abundances drop by at least 2 orders of magnitude as one moves outward from Venus to Mars, the study of the origin of this discrepancy is a key issue that must be explained if we are to fully understand the different delivery mechanisms of the volatiles accreted by the terrestrial planets. In this work, we aim to investigate whether it is possible to quantitatively explain the variation of the heavy noble gas abundances measured on Venus, Earth, and Mars, assuming that cometary bombardment was the main delivery mechanism of these noble gases to the terrestrial planets. To do so, we use recent dynamical simulations that allow the study of the impact fluxes of comets upon the terrestrial planets during the course of their formation and evolution. Assuming that the mass of noble gases delivered by comets is proportional to the rate at which they collide with the terrestrial planets, we show that the krypton and xenon abundances in Venus and Earth can be explained in a manner consistent with the hypothesis of cometary bombardment. In order to explain the krypton and xenon abundance differences between Earth and Mars, we need to invoke the presence of large amounts of CO2-dominated clathrates in the Martian soil that would have efficiently sequestered these noble gases. Two different scenarios based on our model can also be used to explain the differences between the neon and argon abundances of the terrestrial planets. In the first scenario, cometary bombardment of these planets would have occurred at epochs contemporary with the existence of their primary atmospheres. Comets would have been the carriers of argon, krypton, and xenon, while neon would have been gravitationally captured by the terrestrial planets. In the second scenario, we consider impacting comets that contained significantly smaller amounts of argon, an idea supported by predictions of noble gas abundances in these bodies, provided that they formed from clathrates in the solar nebula. In this scenario, neon and argon would have been supplied to the terrestrial planets via the gravitational capture of their primary atmospheres whereas the bulk of their krypton and xenon would have been delivered by comets.


In the wake of the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, the city of San Francisco desperately needed reliable supplies of water and electricity. Its mayor, James Phelan, pressed for the damming of the Tuolumne River in the newly created Yosemite National Park, setting off a firestorm of protest. For the first time in American history, a significant national opposition arose to defend and preserve nature, led by John Muir and the Sierra Club, who sought to protect what they believed was the right of all Americans to experience natural beauty, particularly the magnificent mountains of the Yosemite region. Yet the defenders of the valley, while opposing the creation of a dam and reservoir, did not intend for it to be maintained as wilderness. Instead they advocated a different kind of development-the building of roads, hotels, and an infrastructure to support recreational tourism. Using articles, pamphlets, and broadsides, they successfully whipped up public opinion against the dam. Letters from individuals began to pour into Congress by the thousands, and major newspapers published editorials condemning the dam. The fight went to the floor of Congress, where politicians debated the value of scenery and the costs of western development. Ultimately, passage of the passage of the Raker Act in 1913 by Congress granted San Francisco the right to flood the Hetch Hetchy Valley. A decade later the O'Shaughnessy Dam, the second largest civil engineering project of its day after the Panama Canal, was completed. Yet conflict continued over the ownership of the watershed and the profits derived from hydroelectrocity. To this day the reservoir provides San Francisco with a pure and reliable source of drinking water and an important source of power. Although the Sierra Club lost this battle, the controversy stirred the public into action on behalf of national parks. Future debates over dams and restoration clearly demonstrated the burgeoning strength of grassroots environmentalism. In a narrative peopled by politicians and business leaders, engineers and laborers, preservationists and ordinary citizens, Robert W. Righter tells the epic story of the first major environmental battle of the twentieth century, which reverberates to this day.


The purpose of this article is to describe a module that solves the optimal power flow in a power system, which
includes wind parks and pump storage hydro units owned by Independent Power Producers (IPP) under large-scale
integration of dispatchable renewable energy sources (RES). When IPP are present in the system, the operation of
wind parks and pump storage hydro units is based on special contractual agreements for buying or selling energy
between each IPP and the power utility, so that additional physical and economic operation constraints must be
taken into consideration for the optimal operation of the system. Also the optimal co-ordination of RES units is
examined so that the best exploitation of RES is succeeded. A successive linear programming approach is utilized
for the solution of the problem.


At American colleges and universities, academic advising has been traditionally utilized as a tool to aid students in course registration and making sure they are on track towards graduation. However, as the student population continues to diversify, their needs and concerns need continual adaptation to be met as well. Students need an outlet to not only discuss their academic progress, but also to converse about how to tie in their interests and passions, extracurricular involvement, social life, and career and future aspirations with their academics. This opportunity for positive mentorship can go hand in hand with academic advising. Through this qualitative mixed methods study, surveys and interviews were conducted with 98 participants amongst different academic majors (Education, Business, and Criminology) and class years, to gauge an overall perspective of how this notion of holistic advising can be incorporated into the current academic advising experience. The findings and implications suggest that utilizing academic advising in this holistic manner can aid in the facilitation of a positive college student experience. Recommendations include shifting the mentality of what academic advising can entail, students meeting more frequently with their academic advisor, for faculty advisors to attend a mandatory academic advising orientation (with supplemental materials provided), as well as better communication to students about the power of mentorship through academic advising. THE INFLUENCE OF MENTORSHIP LeBel 3


I explore a spontaneous community art event involving pre-teen and teen refugee girls and their embodied experiences at a local café located in a Northeastern U.S. city. Their bodily encounters involved incipient actions—drifting, knitting, and wrist-tying performances—in the creation of a new space within the space of the café. Drawing on posthumanists' and new materialists' works, I engage the lived body as foci of understanding, necessitating an understanding of the body as "liberating to" rather than "liberating from." A central consideration of thing-power rather than human-power advances a framework of corporeal spatial/temporality for understanding curriculum and pedagogy. Understanding of the real, lived body informs a new direction for an art educational approach, one that offers a new materialistic agency that goes beyond the strictures of the humanist mindset. It opens up new ways of thinking about community art practice, as it organizes and reorganizes the senses.


It is well known that incorporating transaction costs into the portfolio construction process is important and often leads to different investment decisions and, ultimately, investment performances. However, it is obviously not sufficient to just blindly pick any arbitrary transaction cost model that is available. A bad transaction cost model can do more harm than good if it does not represent reality in terms of "true" average realized transaction costs. Consequently, if one uses a transaction cost model, it is crucial to be aware of the sources of transaction costs, to know which parts/components of transaction costs are modeled and which not, and to know how the model is defined, estimated, and, most importantly, tested and calibrated. This article sheds light on these considerations and discusses existing challenges along with possible remedies.


The response of an integrating ionization chamber at 10 g/cm2 depth in the atmosphere to particles of various rigidities is evaluated by using the change of ionization with latitude. This procedure yields the differential response curves at solar minimum and solar maximum and also the mean rigidity of response at any given latitude. For high latitude and Minneapolis, the mean responses are 2.5 bv and 3.2 bv, respectively, at solar minimum and 3.6 and 3.8 at solar maximum. The solar cycle effect at 10 g/cm2 is evaluated using 250 balloon flights at Minneapolis and at high latitude. Total ionization minimum lags about 18 months behind sunspot maximum. The high altitude ionization when compared with neutron monitors forms a single correlation curve over the solar cycle with significant deviations occurring only for a few months in 1957. We conclude that the relative rigidity effects between 3.6 and 15 bv are very similar during the decreasing and increasing phases of the solar cycle. Comparison of data from ionization chambers of Pioneer 5 and Mariner 2 with data from detectors on earth shows no definite gradient effects. The larger intensity changes show a correlation between earth and deep space, but real fluctuations of smaller amplitude are frequently not correlated.


Dr. Mary Katherine Watson is currently an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel. Prior to joining the faculty at The Citadel, Dr. Watson earned her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology. She also has BS and MS degrees in Biosystems Engineering from Clemson University. Dr. Watson's research interests are in the areas of engineering education and biological waste treatment.