This thesis is concerned with studying chemical dynamics using time-dependent quantum mechanics and in particular using the Fourier method. Various ways of implementing the Fourier method are described, both for calculations in one dimension and for those in many dimensions. The Fourier method is then used to simulate time-resolved femtosecond and picosecond pump-probe experiments, which investigate the B state of the sodium trimer. The simulation is divided into three stages: the initial wavefunction is generated by modelling the effect of the pump laser pulse on the ground state wavefunction of the X state of the sodium trimer; the wavepacket now on the B state is propagated in time; the observables are extracted from the time-dependent wavefunction. The calculations are carried out initially in two dimensions, corresponding to the bending and asymmetric stretch normal modes, and then in three dimensions, i.e. including the symmetric stretch normal mode. The simulation of the time-resolved experiments produced physically plausible results. The correspondence with the experimental results was only fair, but this could be mostly accounted for by the poor quality of the potential energy surfaces used. Thus, even the relatively simple model used to simulate the time-resolved experiments is useful to gain both a qualitative explanation of the results of these experiments and an insight into the dynamics of systems which are in non-stationary states.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there was a difference of serum D-dimer between patients with aortic intramural haematoma and patients with classic acute aortic dissection. Methods: According to results of computed tomographic angiography, all the patients, who had an established diagnosis of acute aortic syndrome in the past four years in an affiliated hospital, were retrospectively classified into two groups: classic acute aortic dissection (AAD) group and aortic intramural haematoma (AIH) group. The serum D-dimer concentrations at admission and other clinical baseline characteristics between the two groups were compared. Furthermore, the occurrence of the main clinical complications was compared between the two groups. Fifty-one subjects were included. Thirty-eight patients (74.5%) were in the AAD group and thirteen (25.5%) in the AIH group. Results: D-dimer levels were significantly higher in AAD group (3.50 ± 1.72 mg/mL) than in AIH group (1.54 ± 1.50 mg/mL, p < 0.05). All patients with AAD had D-dimer levels above the threshold of 0.50 ng/mL (sensitivity 100%). However, two patients in the AIH group presented with D-dimer levels below the threshold. The sensitivity of the D-dimer test in detecting AIH was 84.6% (11/13). But there was no significant difference in sensitivity between the two groups (p > 0.05). The main clinical complication rate was 39.5% (15/38) in the AAD group and 30.8% (4/13) in the AIH group (p > 0.05). Conclusion: D-dimer levels are lower in patients with AIH than those in patients with AAD. Although it shows no difference of sensitivity between AAD and AIH, D-dimer can be negative in AAD patients. Moreover, patients with AIH have a similar clinical evolution during hospitalization compared to patients with AAD.


The European Spallation Source (ESS), currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, will house a suite of 16 user instruments for neutron scattering experiments. The spallation source of the ESS will emit relatively long, 2.8 ms, neutron pulses with an integrated flux that will greatly exceed that of current facilities. This leads to both large advancements in instrument performance as well as to increased length and complexity of the beam delivery systems. The instruments will each be equipped with neutron beam monitors used for data normalisation and analysis, as well as commissioning and diagnostics. In this paper we present the requirements for beam monitors for the ESS and the strategy to meet these in a standardised approach. A large range of specifications in efficiency, dynamic range, time and position resolution, compatible materials are needed. A new feature for neutron beam monitors for some locations, is the ability to measure time profile of each source pulse individually. In general, event mode readout will be used for monitors, similarly to other neutron detectors at the facility. A selection of detectors based on different technologies will be available. Monitors will be integrated with beam lines and choppers in a way that allows to freely choose the type of monitor based on final requirements of an instrument. For this end, space for a standardised module, housing a monitor will be provided in conjunction with chopper assemblies and elsewhere on each beam line.


Waiting time for non-emergency medical care in developing countries is rarely of immediate concern to policy makers that prioritize provision of basic health services. However, waiting time as a measure of health system responsiveness is important because longer waiting times worsen health outcomes and affect utilization of services. Studies that assess socio-economic inequalities in waiting time provide evidence from developed countries such as England and the United States; evidence from developing countries is lacking. In this paper, we assess the relationship between social class i.e. caste of an individual and waiting time at health facilities—a client orientation dimension of responsiveness. We use household level data from two rounds of the Indian Human Development Survey with a sample size of 27,251 households in each wave (2005 and 2012) and find that lower social class is associated with higher waiting time. This relationship is significant for individuals that visited a male provider but not so for those that visited a female provider. Further, caste is positively related to higher waiting time only if visiting a private facility; for individuals visiting a government facility the relationship between waiting time and caste is not significant. In general, caste related inequality in waiting time has worsened over time. The results are robust to different specifications and the inclusion of several confounders.


Multimedia contents play an important role in our society. They serve as a means of communication and can be used not only as an entertainment, but also to inform or even to disseminate knowledge. The increasing relevance of multimedia contents, such as digital images, audio, or video sequences, has been tied to the development of editing software tools enabling their adjustment and enhancement, but ultimately allowing an unskilled person to easily manipulate them. As a consequence, their credibility as a source of information has been questioned and an important concern has arisen regarding their authenticity. With the aim of recovering trust on multimedia objects, this thesis presents new techniques to detect and localize forgeries, but likewise to infer information about the processing history undergone by a multimedia content. The design of the proposed approaches is based on the theoretical analysis of characteristic traces or footprints that emerge from the application of certain processing to multimedia contents. In this thesis the derived research work encompassing multimedia forensics is divided in two parts. The first part tackles the study of the resampling operation applied when a geometric transformation is performed to adapt a forged content to a genuine scene. The modeling of the resampling operation is addressed from different perspectives, establishing connections between this problem and other similar ones arising in distinct fields, and finally taking advantage of concepts from cyclostationarity theory, set-membership theory, or linear algebra, among others. We design different strategies for resampling factor estimation to characterize the particular transformation applied, providing estimates of the scaling factor or the rotation angle. The case of resampling detection is also considered to unveil the presence of resampling traces. The second part of the thesis is focused on the forensic analysis of video compressed sequences. We start exposing the presence of a new footprint stemming from the double compression of video streams. By exploiting this feature, the detection of double encoding and the estimation of part of the processing history of a double compressed video are further investigated. Then, being capable of extracting information from the first compression, we move to the localization of intra-frame forgeries by applying a subsequent double quantization analysis.


Abstract. Nearshore slope, defined as the cross-shore gradient of the subaqueous
profile, is an important input parameter which affects hydrodynamic and
morphological coastal processes. It is used in both local and large-scale
coastal investigations. However, due to unavailability of data, most
studies, especially those that focus on continental or global scales, have
historically adopted a uniform nearshore slope. This simplifying assumption
could however have far-reaching implications for predictions/projections
thus obtained. Here, we present the first global dataset of nearshore slopes
with a resolution of 1 km at almost 620 000 points along the global
coastline. To this end, coastal profiles were constructed using global
topo-bathymetric datasets. The results show that the nearshore slopes vary
substantially around the world. An assessment of coastline recession driven by sea level rise (SLR)
(for an arbitrary 0.5 m SLR) with a globally uniform
coastal slope of 1 : 100, as carried out in previous studies, and with the spatially
variable coastal slopes computed herein shows that, on average, the former
approach would underestimate coastline recession by about 40 %, albeit
with significant spatial variation. The final dataset has been made publicly
available at
https://doi.org/10.4121/uuid:a8297dcd-c34e-4e6d-bf66-9fb8913d983d (Athanasiou, 2019).


© Copyright by Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences © 2021 Author(s). This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Pol. J. Food Nutr. Sci., 2021, Vol. 71, No. 4, pp. 451–461 On-line ISSN: 2083-6007 Print ISSN: 1230-0322 DOI: 10.31883/pjfns/143584 http://journal.pan.olsztyn.pl

http://journal.pan.olsztyn.pl/pdf-143584-82375?filename=Impact of Sodium Alginate.pdf


It is a well known fact that PD (partial discharge) affects the lifetime and the deterioration rate of an insulation. Research work has shown that a mixture of magnitudes and frequencies of PD may appear, depending on the type of the applied voltage, its frequency, the electrode arrangement, the type of the insulation under test, and a number of other parameters, such as temperature, humidity and pressure. Various types of discharges also have been recorded, such as streamer like discharges, Townsend discharges, glow and pseudoglow discharges. A type of discharges not yet well understood is the so called SPMD (swarming partial microdischarges), which seem to appear just before breakdown. In this paper, only aspects of the latter type of PD are investigated. Some suggestions for further research regarding the SPMD are made.


The purpose of this paper is to explore the correlation between motivation, experience and the level of satisfaction among fully online adult learners in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution. These attributes is commonly studied separately to examine the level of its influence among online adult learners but infrequently collated as one in a study. Based on this, a survey was carried out to adult learners who are currently undergoing Bachelor of human resource and tourism management courses that are fully online. A structured questionnaire survey was used in data collection using Google Drive as the platform to distribute. Overall, 69 online students completed the survey. Although the sample is relatively small and may not contribute significantly to the literature, it does provide an essence to the institution of research as the fully online courses offered by the university are relatively new. Research from this viewpoint, shows that learners are highly motivated with the concept of online learning mainly agreeing that fully online courses allows them do well in class providing if the materials are studied appropriately. However, their experience and satisfaction with the fully online platform does not match the high level of motivation. Contributing factors to the dissatisfaction would be the limit of personal interaction and reliance on own self-discipline. Generally, the respondents showed an average level of satisfaction with the fully online courses. Nonetheless, flexibility of location and time provided by fully online learning remained to be the top reason for satisfaction. The implication of these findings discusses how instructors and course designers provide the necessary technical support to fully online learners in managing their level of motivation and satisfaction.


Temurui (Murraya koenigii [Linn.] Spreng) is a local plant of Aceh. The leaves of M. koenigii are used in most of the local foods as spices. Nowadays, cancer is claimed as the second deadly disease in the world where the number of sufferers increases every year. Cervical cancer (HeLa) is one of the most dominant cancers that happen in developing country, including Indonesia. Some chemotherapeutic agents using synthetic drugs have been used to treat cancer, but they are relatively expensive and cause poisoning that limits their use. Based on literatures, M.koenigii serves the potential secondary metabolites that could be developed as anticancer agent. This study aims to evaluate the cytotoxic activity from three extracts of M. koenigii leaves against HeLa cell line, including hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol. Methodology used included extraction process, phytochemical screening, and cytotoxicity evaluation. The result showed that all the three extracts demonstrated a potent cytotoxic activity for HeLa cancer cells. Hexane and ethyl acetate showed a very strong cytotoxic effect with CD50 values <1 μg/mL, whereas methanol extract showed cytotoxic effect with CD50 value of 2.25 μg/mL. These results prove the potential of M. koenigii as an anticancer agent.


ABSTRACT.
 The only virus sequenced and studied in triatomines is the Triatoma virus, from the Dicistroviridae family, which causes delayed development, reduced oviposition, and premature death of infected insects. With the goal of expanding the sequences already obtained in previous years and verifying if any changes occurred in their genomic sequences, 68 samples of triatomines from several provinces of Argentina were analyzed. Sixteen positive samples were obtained by Reverse Transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction using the VP3-VP1 subregion of open reading frame-2 as a diagnostic method; after sequencing, 11 samples were obtained from Triatoma infestans. These new sequences showed no significant differences in the analyzed regions, which were not grouped by species or habitat or geographical distribution. There were no differences when compared with the sequences found during 2002–2012, all obtained from the wild.We conclude that despite being an RNA virus, the different sequences show high homology.


Objectives
Koji iron, enriched with FeSO4 (Ultimine®; ULT), is a novel source of supplemental iron. Previously, we reported ULT had similar absorption as ferrous sulfate (FeSO4), while resulting in less reported adverse effects in women. Iron deficiency anemia is a common manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) due to malabsorption and gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. Therefore, the objective of our study was to identify the efficacy of 2 forms of iron supplementation on impaired GI integrity and anemia caused by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis.

Methods
Six wk old Sprague Dawley rats (n = 40) were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups (n = 10/group): 1) Control with no DSS; 2) Control + DSS only (Nfe); 3) DSS + ULT; 4) DSS + FeSO4. Animals were maintained on the AIN-93 G diets for 7 d. Colitis was induced by administering fresh 3.5% (w/v) DSS ad lib throughout the study. Daily iron supplementation (6 mg Fe/kg BW) was provided in a pulverized treat, and disease activity indices were observed (gross bleeding, stool consistency and weight loss). Histological scoring of colonic ulcerations, inflammation and grade were assessed. Iron status indicators and liver hepcidin were detected using ELISA and qRT-PCR, respectively.

Results
The severity score of IBD was significantly higher in the animals without iron supplementation than those treated with iron (P < 0.0001). Moreover, iron supplementation protected against diminished hemoglobin and hematocrit levels as a result of DSS treatment (P = 0.001 and P = 0.03, respectively); whereas, these parameters were not significantly (NS) different between ULT and FeSO4. Improvement was found with post mortem disease score of DSS-induced rats with ULT compared to FeSO4 and Nfe by 14% and 39%, respectively (NS). Compared to healthy controls, FeSO4 resulted in a 3.5-fold increase in liver hepcidin gene expression, whereas ULT caused no change.

Conclusions
The results of this study highlight the beneficial effects iron supplementation has on the disease activity evoked by severe GI inflammation. Furthermore, this data suggests ULT attenuates the progression of IBD by supporting iron homeostasis. Additional analyses will explore the possible mechanisms of these results by identifying the systemic inflammation.

Funding Sources
College of Human Sciences, Iowa State University Collaborative Seed Grant Program.


The present thesis investigated the recruitment-relevant post-larval and juvenile life-stages in Baltic sprat by examining individual age and growth patterns recorded in otolith microstructures.
Length back-calculation on the basis of daily otolith micro-increments is an important tool to investigate mechanisms influencing mortality in a yearly cohort. A new length back-calculation method, the Metamorphosis Inflection Point (MIP) method, was developed taking into account a non-linear ratio between fish length and otolith length on an individual basis. A change in the relationship between fish length and otolith length co-occurred with the otolith length when maximal increment widths were deposited on the otolith and with the mean fish length when the increase in body height was maximal during the development. This coincidence of three changing morphometric features formed the back-bone of the new back-calculation algorithm. Length growth in young sprat features two peaks, one smaller in the larval and one larger in the early juvenile stage. The MIP algorithm assigned the minimum in length growth to the maximum in otolith growth at metamorphosis. Compared to the results of the linear biological intercept method, higher length growth rates were found during the larval and the juvenile stage.
In an experiment, length, dry and wet mass and otolith growth during the early juvenile stage was examined under ad libitum conditions at different constant temperatures in the laboratory. The main goals were to investigate length and otolith growth under ad libitum feeding conditions between 16°C and 22°C and to quantify the amount of food consumed under ad libitum conditions. Juveniles were found to require ten times more food than post-metamorphic sprat. Optimal otolith growth in relation to temperature was described with a quadratic function. Results of the experiment were used to reconstruct feeding conditions from increment patterns of wild caught juvenile sprat from the Western Baltic Sea in 2003 and 2007. Assuming somatic and otolith growth are mainly influenced by three factors, size, temperature and food ingestion, one factor can be estimated when two are known. Hence, by calibrating the effect of temperature on otolith growth under ad libitum feeding at a fixed size in the laboratory, feeding conditions were inferred from otoliths of wild-caught sprat at the same size using daily surface temperatures measured in the Kiel Bight. In 2007, sub-optimal feeding conditions during the early juvenile life-stage of Young-of-the-Year survivors were found in contrast to optimal feeding conditions for the majority of Young-of-the-Year survivors in 2003. However, individuals that experienced peak temperatures of the season during the early juvenile stage suffered un-favourable feeding conditions, irrespectively of the year. These individuals were born early in the season. Thus, results confirm that summer born individuals had an advantage over spring born individuals. High temperatures in the early juvenile stage of spring born sprat elevate the metabolic rate and thus the amount of food needed to grow optimal.
The difference in growth performance of early and late born sprat leaded to the question which specific meteorological conditions influence the seasonal location of the main spawning time and hence the survival rates and subsequent recruitment. By analysing age and length growth of juvenile sprat from different years in the Western Baltic Sea, high water temperatures in spring and low summer water temperatures were found to cause a broad window of survival including spring and summer born individuals and a low mean length growth rate. In contrast, low spring water temperatures combined with high summer water temperatures were observed in a year with a late and narrow window of survival which was accompanied by a high mean length growth rate. Low growth rates occurred in a year with low recruitment, while high growth rates appeared in a year with high recruitment. The influence of spring and summer water temperature on recruitment was further investigated using yearly hydro-acoustic estimates of 0-group sprat for the Western Baltic Sea and surface temperatures between 1999 and 2010. A highly significant correlation was found between the abundance of juvenile sprat in autumn and the ratio between minimum and maximum water temperatures of the year. It was concluded that a cold spring will delay spawning and/or egg development and hence shift the main growth phase of larvae later into the summer season, where these larvae can benefit from high temperatures, while juveniles can experience optimal conditions after the peak temperatures of the year.


Current approaches have made great progress on image-to-image translation tasks benefiting from the success of image synthesis methods especially generative adversarial networks (GANs). However, existing methods are limited to handling translation tasks between two species while keeping the content matching on the semantic level. A more challenging task would be the translation among more than two species. To explore this new area, we propose a simple yet effective structure of a multi-branch discriminator for enhancing an arbitrary generative adversarial architecture (GAN), named GAN-MBD. It takes advantage of the boosting strategy to break a common discriminator into several smaller ones with fewer parameters, which can enhance the generation and synthesis abilities of GANs efficiently and effectively. Comprehensive experiments show that the proposed multi-branch discriminator can dramatically improve the performance of popular GANs on cross-species image-to-image translation tasks while reducing the number of parameters for computation. The code and some datasets are attached as supplementary materials for reference.


IQ is the score derived from a set of standardized tests of intelligence. 190 male fresh students, in the B Tech and the integrated MSc and other courses, who get admitted in Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur and other institutes are considered for the study to see the relationship of IQ with glucose assimilation,utilization and metabolism in respect to a glucose load and also the corresponding changes in serum insulin levels. The study also deals with relationship of IQ with some common bio-chemical parameters like lipid profile and serum bilirubin. It is being observed that with an increase in IQ level, the blood glucose absorption remains high with a rise in serum insulin level. Logically this will lead to more cerebral blood glucose availability. Correlation of IQ with different blood biochemical parameters shows a positive relationship with total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides and with serum bilirubin the correlation is found to be negative.


The chemopreventive effect of polyphenols from green tea [e.g. (–)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and (–)-epigallocatechin (EGC)] against cancer has been demonstrated in several studies. The aim of this investigation was to prove whether these compounds modulate the activity of antineoplastic drugs. Therefore, the influence of EGCG and EGC was tested on doxorubicin-resistant murine sarcoma (S180- dox) and human colon carcinoma (SW620-dox) cell lines. Both substances showed a sensitizing effect on the cell lines if they had been treated with doxorubicin. These results suggest that protein kinase C may be inhibited by EGCG and EGC, and this may lead to a reduced expression of some drug resistance related proteins.


The rapid development of the information and communication technologies has brought about the modernization of teaching and learning across the globe. Today, teaching and learning are made easy through the use of computer technologies and/or the electronic and other multi-media elements. It is widely accepted that electronic learning naturally leads to electronic assessments or examinations. e-ssessments and e-examinations are widely used all over the world in the Open and Distance Learning institutions and some conventional face to face institutions. We are thus, moving from the pen and paper assessments to a paperless e-platform and e-assessments, which are necessary constants in the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system. e-assessments tend to eliminate the limitations and give answers to many questions emanating from the traditional assessments/examinations. Higher institutions in Nigeria are therefore advised to embrace it. The rest of the paper looks at e-assessment as a global change in assessment, benefits of e-assessment, challenges, requirements and responsibilities.


Nitric oxide, when released into the bloodstream, is quickly scavenged by Hb in erythrocytes or oxidized to nitrite. Nitrite can also enter erythrocytes and oxidize Hb. The goals of this work were to determine the mechanism of erythrocyte nitrite uptake and whether this uptake causes oxidant stress in these cells. Erythrocytes took up 0.8 mM nitrite with a half-time of 11 min. Nitrite uptake was sensitive to temperature and to the pH and ionic composition of the medium but was not inhibited by the specific anion-exchange inhibitor DIDS. About 25% of nitrite uptake occurred on the sodium-dependent phosphate transporter and the rest as diffusion of nitrous acid or other species across the plasma membrane. Methemoglobin formation increased in proportion to the intracellular nitrite concentration. Nitrite reacted with erythrocyte ascorbate, but ascorbate loading of cells decreased nitrite-induced methemoglobin formation only at high nitrite concentrations. In conclusion, nitrite rapidly enters erythrocytes and reacts with oxyhemoglobin but does not exert a strong oxidant stress on these cells.


Aim: The aim of the present study is to screen the ethanolic extracts of medicinal herbal drugs against oral microbes. Objective: In this study, 3 medicinal herbs were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against five common oral bacteria as a screen for potential candidates for the development of natural antibiotics. Methods: Ethanolic extracts of medicinal herbs were tested for activity against Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Streptococcus mutans, and Streptococcus sanguis grown in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth. A broth microdilutionassay was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). A disk diffusion assay was performed by inoculating bacterial cultures on BHI agar plates with paper disks soaked in each of the medicinal herb extracts. Results: The ethanolic extracts of many of the 3 medicinal herbs showed antimicrobial activity against the five types of pathogenic oral bacteria. The extracts of Caralluma fimbriata, Hemidesmus indicus, and Grape seed effectively inhibited the growth of oral bacteria and showed distinct bactericidal activity. Conclusion: These results suggest that alternative medicines with proven antimicrobial effects, such as Caralluma fimbriata, Hemidesmus indicus, and Grape seed may be useful for the treatment of dental diseases.


Introduction: Despite prophylactic anticoagulant treatments, thrombotic complications may develop in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to evaluate anti-Factor Xa levels to determine the anticoagulant activity of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in COVID-19 patients.Materials and methods: We prospectively evaluated 80 COVID-19 patients, diagnosed using polymerase-chain-reaction test, who were admitted to our clinic and administered LMWH; enoxaparin was applied according to the weight, D-dimer levels, and clinical condition of patients. Anti-Factor Xa levels in blood, drawn 4h after the 3rd dose of LMWH, were measured and a level of <0.2IU/ml was considered subprophylactic. Patients were followed up clinically and anti-Factor Xa levels were re-examined before discharge.Results: Groups 1 and 2 included 13 and 67 patients with subprophylactic (0.18±0.06) and prophylactic (0.43±0.23) anti-Factor Xa levels, respectively. The proportion of eosinophils in patients was significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2 (2.96±2.55 vs 0.90±1.28;p=0.001). At the time of discharge the eosinophilic proportion of patients was significantly higher (3.06±1.49 vs 2.07±1.92;p=0.001) but the activated partial thromboplastin time was significantly lower (22.34±1.38 vs 24.38±3.58; p=0.01) in group 1 than in group 2. Of 14 patients with eosinophil content >4%, 6 were in group 1 ((6/13) 46.2%) while 8 were in group 2 ((8/63) 11.9%); (p=0.009), and all had a D-dimer level <1µg/mL (p=0.03). ROC analysis for the presence of anticoagulation at subprophylactic level revealed an area under curve of 0.79 (95% CI:0.64-0.93); p=0.001).Conclusions: In COVID-19 patients, eosinophil levels could be considered for determining effective prophylactic anticoagulant administration. (NCT04507282)


Most devices in ubiquitous network environment have limited memory and processing power, thus they can't provide all services even when in suitable locations. Mobile agent technology could be implemented to improve resource efficiency. The goal of this paper is to propose mobile agent technology in location-based service. The system consists of three parts: (1) mobile agent server, (2) location-based service server, (3) client. It is observed that mobile agent offers many advantages for ubiquitous and mobile computing settings.


This article considers the problem of ontology security through Asian educational discourse, which is structurally determined by the process of moral self-improvement. Considered are trends in improving the management of educational system by developing the culture of quality, which is considered as the next stage of the Asian education systems development after the "quality of education" stage. We suggest an approach for assessing the vitality of educational process and its product based on monitoring trainees' aptitudes system and school capabilities in developing and maintaining this system. In this study we refer to the concept of vitality and viability when describing the general theory of viability in connection with the core principles of Asian educational discourse. We outline main trends in the development of modern educational system in Asian university given the process of globalization and its impact on educational reforms in the Asia-Pacific region. Thus, the category of education quality in Asian system of higher education and narrative monitoring of Chinese students' cognitive structures viability at Altai State University are introduced.


We investigate the influence of the film thickness on the martensitic transformation for the example of Ni-Mn-Sn thin films. Epitaxial films with thicknesses ranging from 100 nm down to 10 nm were deposited on MgO by co-sputtering on heated substrates. The martensitic transformation is investigated using temperature dependent x-ray diffraction, magnetization and resistivity measurements. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy is used to study the growth and the martensitic structure of the films. We find that the martensitic transformation temperatures reduce and the transformation range increases with decreasing film thickness. We show that the transformation is still possible down to a film thickness of 10 nm. A systematic study on the resistance change caused by the martensitic transformation implies that the transformation is suppressed close to the interfaces to the MgO.


The 3D numerical model to simulate the toxic gas dispersion during phosphor firing.The model is based on the K-gradient transport model. The results of numerical experiment are presented.


Personal income tax is the tax paid by individuals from both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. While those on employment pay as they earn which is popularly known as PAYE, those in formal and informal sectors are directly assessed based on the income they generate from their entrepreneurial ventures, which is also known as Direct Assessment. The aim of this paper is to assess the contribution of personal income tax as a source of revenue for state governments in Nigeria. Data for the analysis were derived from published secondary sources. The paper has established a significant difference between the amount generated as internally generated revenue and the inadequacies of the internally generated revenue to cater for the states' total expenditure profiles. There is also an indication of a higher reliance on the federation account for the states revenue profile. It is recommended that the states must look inwards and develop new strategies to enhance their internally generated revenue base, most especially given the current dwindling prices of oil in the international market.


The effects of precariousness, as a product of the neoliberal transformation of the labour markets, go beyond the workplace to become a factor of everyday life, and as such can be regarded as a constitutive factor in the formation of a working class within the neoliberal context. Despite having similar experiences under precariousness, it would appear that tourism workers in Antalya do not develop a class consciousness, and as such do not constitute an organised class movement. According to the findings of a qualitative case study of 42 tourism workers in various tourism centres of Antalya, the spatial dispersion of workers is the predominant factor preventing the formation of a class consciousness.


Calcium aluminate (CaO–Al 2 O 3 ) phases play a critical role in the study of non-metallic inclusions in aluminium killed, and calcium treated steels. In this study, the Raman spectroscopy technique, a versatile and non-destructive approach, was used to characterise binary calcium aluminate phases qualitatively and quantitatively. Calcium aluminate samples with varying CaO/Al 2 O 3 ratios were synthesised to produce a binary phase samples mixture of C12A7–C3A and C12A7–CA. Quantitative estimation was based on plot-ting a linear regression calibration model between the ratio of Raman band intensities and the phase fraction in the samples. With the linear regression, the phase fraction of C12A7–C3A and C12A7–CA was estimated with average absolute errors of 2.97 and 2.55 percentage points. This work demonstrates the potential suitability of using Raman spectroscopy technique for evaluating whether calcium aluminate phases in oxide inclusions fall within the liquidus region at steelmaking temperatures.


The wind power industry is currently the fastest growing renewable energy sector throughout the world. This requires the technical expertise among engineers and researchers in the wind energy field to find technical solutions which do not slow down this process. Since the technology is being developed at such a rapid rate, the industry is facing many challenging problems, especially among systems and control researchers. To ensure an economically competitive wind power production, the trend is to increase the turbine size while at the same time minimize material usage. These factors result in increasing fatigue loads, which need to be accounted for by a well defined control design. In this work, the basic theories of wind turbines are reviewed firstly before proceeding with modeling, simulation, and controls implementation. What is suggested as a means of load reduction is firstly a Disturbance Accommodating Control (DAC) approach. This is then compared with the well-known Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controlling method. To improve the robustness of the LQG, an additional Loop Transfer Recovery (LTR) procedure will be implemented and compared with the results from the LQG. The main focus in this work is to use these modern control theories to reduce the torque variations by using speed control with collective blade pitch adjustments. Simulations show that better load reduction can be obtained by the dynamic compensator extracted from the LTR procedure than with a regular LQG regulator.


BACKGROUND
Most kidney failure risk calculators are based on methods that censor for death. Because mortality is high in people with severe, nondialysis-dependent CKD, censoring for death may overestimate their risk of kidney failure.

METHODS
Using 2002-2014 population-based laboratory and administrative data for adults with stage 4 CKD in Alberta, Canada, we analyzed the time to the earliest of kidney failure, death, or censoring, using methods that censor for death and methods that treat death as a competing event factoring in age, sex, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eGFR, and albuminuria. Stage 4 CKD was defined as a sustained eGFR of 15-30 ml/min per 1.73 m2.

RESULTS
Of the 30,801 participants (106,447 patient-years at risk; mean age 77 years), 18% developed kidney failure and 53% died. The observed risk of the combined end point of death or kidney failure was 64% at 5 years and 87% at 10 years. By comparison, standard risk calculators that censored for death estimated these risks to be 76% at 5 years and >100% at 7.5 years. Censoring for death increasingly overestimated the risk of kidney failure over time from 7% at 5 years to 19% at 10 years, especially in people at higher risk of death. For example, the overestimation of 5-year absolute risk ranged from 1% in a woman without diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or albuminuria and with an eGFR of 25 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (9% versus 8%), to 27% in a man with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, albuminuria >300 mg/d, and an eGFR of 20 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (78% versus 51%).

CONCLUSIONS
Kidney failure risk calculators should account for death as a competing risk to increase their accuracy and utility for patients and providers.


To define the association of age‐related changes in bone mineral content to gonadal function in normal men, we measured radial (largely cortical) and vertebral (largely trabecular) bone mineral content (BMC), testosterone (total and free), estrone and estradiol‐17B levels in 62 healthy subjects, ages 30 to 92. Radial BMC fell 2 to 3.4% per decade but vertebral trabecular BMC declined more rapidly at 12% per decade. Of the sex steroids measured the only statistically significant change occurred in free testosterone levels which decreased with age (r = −.57, P < .0001). Free testosterone levels correlated significantly with trabecular vertebral BMC (r = .458, P < .0002) but not with bone mineral measures at the predominantly cortical radial sites. However, by multiple regression analysis free testosterone did not add to the effect of age on vertebral BMC. There were no associations of total testosterone, estrone, or estradiol levels to bone mineral content at any of the three sites measured in these healthy men. Age‐related declines in male gonadal function do not appear to be of primary importance in male age‐related bone loss.


Analysis of work done by the secretaries attached to one medical unit in a general hospital showed that much was discretionary in character and entailed making decisions. Work in the unit was made easier and more efficient by this intelligent use of initiative by the secretaries. At present the pay given to medical secretaries in hospital is below a level that would be commensurate with their responsibility.


This study concerns teachers' use of digital technologies in student assessment, and how the learning that is developed through the use of technology in mathematics can be evaluated. Nowadays math teachers use digital technologies in their teaching, but not in student assessment. The activities carried out with technology are seen as 'extra-curricular' (by both teachers and students), thus students do not learn what they can do in mathematics with digital technologies. I was interested in knowing the reasons teachers do not use digital technology to assess students' competencies, and what they would need to be able to design innovative and appropriate tasks to assess students' learning through digital technology.

This dissertation is built on two main components: teachers and task design. I analyze teachers' practices involving digital technologies with Ruthven's Structuring Features of Classroom Practice, and what relation these practices have to the types of assessment they use. I study the kinds of assessment tasks teachers design with a DGE (Dynamic Geometry Environment), using Laborde's categorization of DGE tasks. I consider the competencies teachers aim to assess with these tasks, and how their goals relate to the learning outcomes of the curriculum.

This study also develops new directions in finding how to design suitable tasks for student mathematical assessment in a DGE, and it is driven by the desire to know what kinds of questions teachers might be more interested in using. I investigate the kinds of technology-based assessment tasks teachers value, and the type of feedback they give to students. Finally, I point out that the curriculum should include a range of mathematical and technological competencies that involve the use of digital technologies in mathematics, and I evaluate the possibility to take advantage of technology feedback to allow students to continue learning while they are taking a test.


This work uses several empirical approaches to examine the effects of poverty and inequality on violence in the seven metropolitan areas in Colombia. To this end, this study describes the main determinants of violence in these cities; these determinants are all fundamental features of social instability. For this description, this paper uses several econometric approximations to compare and determine an adequate estimator for the analysis of Colombian urban violence. This hypothesis was supported by evidence showing that factors related to poverty, inequality, and education directly influenced violence in the cities. Because of their effects over time and their incidence rates across society, these factors also had negative effects on the economic and social development of every city analysed.


Over the past decade there has been considerable interest and progress in the use of heavy ions such as protons and carbon in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy. Both have a physical advantage over photons because of their Bragg peaks, but only heavier ions such as carbon have a potential biological advantage. This has led to the claim that the most important heavy charged particle radiotherapy of the future is more likely to be with heavy ions rather than protons, and this is the premise argued in this debate.Arguments FOR the Proposition include:• relative to protons, heavier ions exhibit reduced lateral scattering, reduced range straggling, and increased dose to the tumor compared to the entrance dose• accurate positioning of the Bragg peak can be verified by in vivo measurements with heavier ions but not with protons• with heavier ions there is increased RBE in the tumor compared to normal tissues• with heavier ions there is increased effectiveness in hypoxic tumorsArguments AGAINST the Proposition include:• proton facilities cost 2-3 times less than those for heavier ions• cost and size of isocentric gantries for protons are much less• there are large uncertainties in the RBE in the heavier ion Bragg peak• with protons, there is the potential for reoxygenation during a course of therapy• due to fragmentation, heavier ion beams exhibit a tail of high-LET radiation beyond the Bragg peakArguing for the Proposition is Oliver Jakel, Ph.D. Dr. Jakel completed his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at the University Erlangen, Germany in 1994. He then moved to the Department for Medical Physics, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, where he is currently Full Professor and Director of the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Facility of the University Hospital. Arguing against the Proposition is Alfred R. Smith, Ph.D. Dr. Smith obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, in 1970. After completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Medical Physics at The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, he held faculty positions at several institutions until he moved back to M. D. Anderson in 2002 as a Full Professor and Director of Proton Therapy Development, a position he held until 2010.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand why heavy ions might be more suitable than photons for the treatment of some cancers 2. To understand the relative benefits of therapy with heavier ions compared with protons 3. To understand the relative benefits of therapy with protons compared with heavier ions.


Cell fusion experiments have been carried out with Chinese hamster cell mutants with different nutritional growth requirements. Conditions have been devised in which approximately 1 to 2 percent of the cell population remaining after fusion are fused, hybrid cells. The all-or-none nature of the genetic markers employed and the extremely low reversion rates insure that no contamination of the hybrid population with parental forms occurs. Hybrids between glycine- and hypoxanthine-requiring mutants are prototrophic, which indicates that both mutations are recessive. Hybrids between a glycine-deficient mutant and a singlestep mutant which requires glycine, hypoxanthine, and thymidine are relieved of the glycine dependency, an indication that the two loci associated with glycine dependence are different. This mutation to the triple-supplement requirement as well as a proline deficiency were also shown to be recessive mutations. The system appears applicable to a variety of genetic problems.


This paper examines the electrostatic integrity of ultrathin-body (UTB) germanium-on-nothing (GeON) MOSFET using theoretically calculated subthreshold swing from the analytical solution of Poisson's equation. Our results indicate that UTB GeON MOSFETs with the ratio of channel length ( Lg) to channel thickness ( Tch) around 4 can show comparable subthreshold swing to that of the silicon-on-nothing counterparts. The impact of buried insulator (BI) thickness ( TBI) and BI permittivity on the electrostatic integrity of the UTB germanium channel devices are also examined.


Some illustrations of the use of deuterium or tritium for isotopic tracing of hydrogen absorption, transport and trapping in nuclear materials are presented. Isotopic tracing of hydrogen has been shown to be successful for the determination of the boundaries conditions for hydrogen desorption or absorption in a material exposed to a hydrogen source. Also, the unique capabilities of isotopic tracing and related techniques to characterize H interactions with point defects and dislocations acting as moving traps has been demonstrated. Such transport mechanisms are considered to play a major role in some stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms. This article is part of the themed issue 'The challenges of hydrogen and metals'.


Why do some towns recover faster than others after intrastate conflict? Many important decisions about post-conflict recovery are made at the substate level, but little empirical work has investigated what causes differences in recovery outcomes within a country. This article suggests that proximity to ethno-religiously diverse neighbors slows a town's post-conflict recovery. A town has 'diverse neighbors' if towns with different plurality ethno-religious groups are nearby. This hypothesis is tested by exploring variation in recovery speed among Iraqi towns after the 2014–17 Islamic State insurgency (ISIL). The article constructs 81-month panels of economic activity for 379 Iraqi settlements occupied by ISIL by using satellite-observed nighttime light emissions as a proxy for economic activity. The panels reveal large variation in post-conflict recovery among towns during the first year of peace. Village-level survey data are then used to construct a measure of neighbor diversity, which is combined with lighting-based recovery scores in spatial autoregression. The results show that greater neighbor diversity is robustly associated with slower settlement recovery. The neighbor diversity penalty cannot be fully explained by cleavages between groups 'on opposite sides' of the conflict; proximity to out-group neighbors appears to slow recovery even between wartime allies. Several explanations are considered, and this article suggests that the types of post-liberation controllers that arise in diverse areas – which tend to be substate militias rather than the government – may be one important mechanism.


The Weibull distribution is a popular and widely used distribution in reliability and in lifetime data analysis. Since 1958, the Weibull distribution has been modified by many researchers to allow for non-monotonic hazard functions. Many modifications of the Weibull distribution have achieved the above purpose. On the other hand, the number of parameters has increased, the forms of the survival and hazard functions have become more complicated and the estimation problems have risen.This thesis provides an extensive review of some discrete and continuous versions of the modifications of the Weibull distribution, which could serve as an important reference and encourage further modifications of the Weibull distribution. Four different modifications of the Weibull distribution are proposed to address some of the above problems using different techniques. First model, with five parameters, is constructed by considering a two-component serial system with one component following a Weibull distribution and another following a modified Weibull distribution. A new method has been proposed to reduce the number of parameters of the new modified Weibull distribution from five to three parameters to simplify the distribution and address the estimation problems. The reduced version has the same desirable properties of the original distribution in spite of having two less parameters. It can be an alternative distribution for all modifications of the Weibull distribution with bathtub shaped hazard rate functions. To deal with unimodal shaped hazard rates, the third model with four parameters, named as the exponentiated reduced modified Weibull distribution is introduced. This model is flexible, has a nice physical interpretation and has the ability to capture monotonically increasing, unimodal and bathtub shaped hazard rates. It is a generalization of the reduced modified Weibull distribution. The proposed distribution gives the best fit comparing to other modifications of the Weibull distribution including those having similar properties. A three-parameter discrete distribution is introduced based on the reduced distribution. It is one of only three discrete distributions allowing for bathtub shaped hazard rate functions. Four real data sets have applied to this distribution. The new distribution is shown to outperform at least three other models including the ones allowing for bathtub shaped hazard rate functions.The new models show flexibility and can be used to model different kinds of real data sets better than other modified versions of Weibull distribution including those having the same number of parameters. The mathematical properties and statistical inferences of the new models are studied. Based on a simulation study the performances of the MLEs of each model are assessed with respect to sample size n.We find no evidence that the generalized modified Weibull distribution can provide a better fit than the exponentiated Weibull distributionfor data sets exhibiting the modified unimodal hazard function.


Prosocial media effects, short- and long-term intrapersonal changes in prosocial personality traits, values, emotions, and behavior caused by media use, have attracted much less attention than media violence research. Empirical examinations of current theories of prosocial media effects have focused on the indirect effects of prosocial media that explain why exposure to it results in prosocial behavior. However, they have neglected other types of media effects. Further, because of philosophical biases in the field of communication, only the social-cultural perspective has been used to explain the psychological antecedents and consequences of prosocial media effects. The origins and ultimate functions of prosociality in the processes of media effects are unknown. The intersection of evolutionary theories and media effects theories provides a more comprehensive explanation of prosocial media effects. Using various evolutionary perspectives on altruism, reciprocity, and cooperation, this article synthesizes 4 types of prosocial media effects: selective, indirect, conditional, and transactional, suggesting that the dramatic prosocial media learning process should be considered from a comprehensive nature-nurture interactive view. The research agenda, implications, and recent methodological advances are highlighted.


ZnS thin films were deposited on glass substrates using SILAR method at room temperature and ambient pressure. The relationship between refractive index and energy bandgap was investigated. The film thickness effect on the structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnS thin films was investigated. The crystalline and surface properties of the films improved with increasing film thickness. The energy bandgap values changed from 3.87 to 3.58 eV with increasing film thickness. The refractive index (n), high frequency dielectric constant (ε∞) values were calculated by using the energy bandgap values as a function of the film thickness. Also, ZnS thin film was deposited directly on n‐GaAs substrate for obtaining the Zn/ZnS/n‐GaAs/In sandwich structure at room temperature. The sandwich structure demonstrated clearly rectifying behaviour by the current–voltage (I–V) curves at room temperature. From I–V characteristics n and Φb values were calculated as 1.894 and 0.632 eV at room temperature, respectively.


Asian, 11% African American, 22% Hispanic of any race, and 29% White. Mean age was 45±14; mean age at diagnosis 29 ±12. Nearly half of respondents had a college degree. SDI at the baseline study visit ranged from 0 to 10 points, mean 1.8 ±2.0; 70% of the cohort had SDI>0. The regression model showed strong evidence (p=0.01) for interaction of age of diagnosis with race/ethnicity. As seen in the figure 1, SDI scores in racial/ethnic minorities were much higher among those diagnosed at younger ages; this relationship was not seen among whites. Conclusions In this multi-ethnic cohort of SLE patients, the association of diagnosis age and disease damage varied according to race/ethnicity, with whites diagnosed at younger ages accumulating less damage than those in other racial/ethnic groups diagnosed at comparable ages. Future research should examine if these differences are due to phenotypic differences among the groups, diagnostic delays, or other access to care issues. Funding Source(s): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U01 DP005120)


Respirable toxicants are a spectrum of irritant and nonirritant gases, vapors, fumes, and airborne particles that can be entrained into the body through the respiratory tract, resulting in exposures that cause pulmonary injury and/or systemic disease. Sources of respirable toxicants include structural fires, industrial accidents, domestic mishaps, and intentional releases of injurious agents on the battleground (warfare) or in civilian settings (acts of terrorism). Acute toxic inhalational exposures may result in respiratory failure, multisystem organ dysfunction, and death. Management of victims includes assessment and protection of the airway, monitoring and treatment of systemic toxicity, and delivery of exposure-specific and nonspecific therapies that improve outcomes. Treatments may include antidotes, hyperbaric oxygen, and other nonspecific life-supporting interventions.


Human respiratory cilia densely line the airways and beat continually removing mucus and debris from the respiratory tract. Ciliary damage may be primary, from genetic causes, or secondary due to a variety o f toxins, bacteria, or viruses. This may result in a reduction in ciliary beat frequency and abnormalities o f ciliary beat pattern. Digital high-speed imaging has been presented as a technique to measure both ciliary beat frequency and beat pattern. This has been evaluated against existing methods and found to be a gold standard. Using this method the ciliary beat pattern has been evaluated in detail for the first time. Cilia were found to beat with a forward power stroke and a recovery stroke within the same plane. Using digital high speed imaging normal reference ranges have been d been evaluated for both a paediatric and young adult population. Data has been collected for ciliary beat frequency, beat pattern and ultrastructural parameters. Having established normal reference ranges it has been possible to evaluate ciliary beat frequency, beat pattern and ultrastructure in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia. Different beat patterns were found to be associated with different ultrastructural defects. Summary Digital high-speed imaging is a gold standard for evaluation of ciliary beat frequency and beat pattern. With the availability of normal reference ranges it can be used confidently as a diagnostic and research method.


Forty-five patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, NYHA Functional Classes III-IV chronic heart failure with left ventricular ejection fraction 26.98+/-7%, who had undergone surgical left ventricular remodeling using an extracardiac conduit in combination with mitral or tricuspid valve correction and blood exfusion, were examined. Central hemodynamic monitoring was performed, by using a Swan-Ganz catheter in all the patients at surgery. In 11 patients, transpulmonary thermodilution in combination with pulmonary artery catheterization with a Swan-Ganz catheter (PICCO-Plus + VOLEF, Pulsion, Germany) was used in 11 patients to monitor central hemodynamics. Right atrial blood autoexfusion was carried out at a volume of 6-10 ml/kg prior to extracorporeal circulation. At blood sampling, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), central venous pressure (CVP), and pulmonary pressure were in the normal range. There were no significant changes in HR, BP, and CVP after blood exfusion. A significant lowering was noted in systolic and diastolic pulmonary pressure by 20-25%. Under the influence of blood exfusion, there was a reduction in cardiac pump function, which appeared as decreases in stroke index by 24% (p < 0.05) and cardiac index by 18% (p < 0.05). The parameters reflecting left and right ventricular myocardial contractility (functional state index, global ejection fraction, and dPmax) underwent no negative changes. According to the changes in systolic and diastolic BP and total peripheral vascular resistance index, left ventricular postload did not change either. At the same time, global end-diastolic volume index was reduced by 22% (p < 0.05), right cardiac and right ventricular end-diastolic volumes were decreased by 20% (p < 0.05) and 23% (p < 0.05), respectively; the left ventricular end-diastolic volume index tended to be lower. These data suggested that diminished cardiac pump function was caused by a predominant reduction in global preload, as evidenced by volumetric monitoring. At the same time the changes in CVP, BP, and HR did not reflect the altered volemic status. To prevent destabilization of the circulatory system, blood should be sampled just before extracorporeal circulation after aortic cannulation.


Supernatants from thymic epithelial cultures (TES), a putative analogue of thymic humoral function, are shown to induce strong cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses when added to primary mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC) with thymocytes as responder cells. No enhancing effects of TES are observed with spleen cells or hydrocortisone-resistant thymocytes. These effects of TES on functional T cell parameters are accompanied by a reduction in part of the thymocytes in Thy 1 antigen density and sensitivity to hydrocortisone (HC). Inasmuch as immunocompetent T cells are found only among the HC-resistant thymocytes expressing a low Thy-1 antigen density, these findings suggest a TES-induced maturation process of thymocytes.
 In addition, we attempted to answer the question of whether the enhancing effects of TES on T cell-proliferative capacity and T cell killer function of thymocytes are due to an effect on previously unresponsive immature T cells or merely to extra stimulation of already responsive cells. Using the peanut agglutinin (PNA)-agglutination technique as a reversible probe, we could now demonstrate that TES affects the T cell-proliferative and CTL responses of the PNA-agglutinating thymocytes only. These findings support the concept that TES induces maturation of immature thymocytes, inasmuch as the PNA-agglutinating cells represent the immunoincompetent cells which are rich in Thy 1 and poor in H-2 antigens and HC sensitive. The PNA-nonagglutinating thymocytes exhibited high reactivity in all the functional assays investigated (like HC-resistant thymocytes), and this could not be further enhanced by TES.
 Together with the observation that supernatants from nonthymic epithelial cultures or from thymic lymphocyte cultures exhibit no effects on any of the abovementioned parameters, these findings suggest that TES represents a relevant in vitro model for studying thymic humoral function.


Nodes having a self-centrically broadcasting nature of communication form a wireless ad hoc network. Many issues are involved to provide quality of service (QoS) for ad hoc networks, including routing, medium access, resource reservation, mobility management, etc. Previous work mostly focuses on QoS routing with an assumption that the medium access control (MAC) layer can support QoS very well. However, contention-based MAC protocols are adopted in most ad hoc networks since there is no centralized control. QoS support in contention-based MAC layer is a very challenging issue. Carefully designed distributed medium access techniques must be used as foundations for most ad hoc networks. In this paper, we study and enhance distributed medium access techniques for real-time transmissions in the IEEE 802.11 single-hop ad hoc wireless networks. In the IEEE 802.11 MAC, error control adopts positive acknowledgement and retransmission to improve transmission reliability in the wireless medium (WM). However, for real-time multimedia traffic with sensitive delay requirements, retransmitted frames may be too late to be useful due to the fact that the delay of competing the WM is unpredictable. In this paper, we address several MAC issues and QoS issues for delay-sensitive real-time traffic. First, a priority scheme is proposed to differentiate the delay sensitive real-time traffic from the best-effort traffic. In the proposed priority scheme, retransmission is not used for the real-time traffic, and a smaller backoff window size is adopted. Second, we propose several schemes to guarantee QoS requirements. The first scheme is to guarantee frame-dropping probability for the real-time traffic. The second scheme is to guarantee throughput and delay. The last scheme is to guarantee throughput, delay, and frame-dropping probability simultaneously. Finally, we propose adaptive window backoff schemes to optimize throughput with and without QoS constraints.


With increased emphasis on shareholder value addition, there has been an ongoing debate on choosing the right measure of corporate financial performance. There is need for a single measure of financial performance that not only measures corporate financial performance but also works as a financial flexibility tool. The financial performance measure employed by the firm measures the value generated by the firm. This necessitates the firms to choose the right performance tool which can reflect the accurate value added by the firm. We study the role and implications of Economic Value Added as a financial performance measure and further discuss its applicability as a tool for introducing financial flexibility. Flexibility is assessed by measuring the impact of organization's competitiveness and performance. The findings reveal that EVA as a tool enables the corporate to differentiate between value-creating and value-destructing activities and helps managers in taking right decisions which enhances shareholder value. Thus, finally the research makes a case for managers to use EVA as a tool to provide additional information to investors. Interestingly, EVA can also be adapted as a corporate philosophy for motivating and educating employees.


This project analyses six period drama productions in British television of the 2010s, expanding Claire Monk's term of 'post-heritage' into a critical framework. Its case studies establish a cycle of progressive representations of the past in recent television drama, which operate against the assumptions of 'heritage' nostalgia forwarded by earlier scholars. The post-heritage framework consists of five guiding elements: interrogation, subversion, subjectivity, self-consciousness and ambiguity. These inform the analysis of the project's case studies, while also allowing the existence of post-heritage elements to be recognised in earlier period drama productions. The thesis is split into three distinct parts, which allow the heritage and post-heritage elements of the case studies to be associated with the characteristics and theoretical concepts of television drama. The first chapter of each part evaluates the institutional context of its case study, identifying its impact upon production through textual examples from the programme. The second chapter of each part focuses on close analysis, demonstrating the extent to which post-heritage elements can assist innovation in television drama. Part I focuses on televisual style, identifying the naturalist, realist and modernist aesthetics of television drama. Scholarly sources are used to connect these with periods of British television history. This aesthetic discussion leads to theoretical concepts of identity and culture, which informs the case study analyses that follow in chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 concerns the BBC/Masterpiece revival of Upstairs Downstairs (2010-12), identifying its more developed post-heritage point of view in comparison to Downton Abbey (ITV/Masterpiece, 2010-15) and the original Upstairs, Downstairs (ITV, 1971-75). It also considers the circumstances that hindered the production of the BBC series' second season and contributed to its cancellation, establishing the impact of these on the programme's representation of the past. Chapter 2's case study is Dancing on the Edge (BBC, 2013), the interwar narrative of which allows the part's themes of identity and culture to be explored. The project's second part analyses televisual form, assessing the increasing hybridity between series and serial forms in twenty-first century television. The theoretical focus of part II is narratives of trauma, influenced by the dichotomy between Cathy Caruth and Dominick LaCapra's concepts of the traumatic experience. Chapter 3's analysis of The Crown (Netflix, 2016-present) reveals a Caruthian approach to trauma, its narrative impact recurring endlessly and allowing the British monarchy's tenuous position from the 1950s to reflect upon the present day. Chapter 4, meanwhile, considers the LaCaprian trauma expressed in The Living and the Dead (BBC/BBC America, 2016), suggesting a process of 'working through' that can find a resolution. These diverse approaches to trauma are connected to The Crown and The Living and the Dead's grounding in serial and series form respectively, asserting the continued importance of this distinction. The third and final part of the project turns to the analysis of television genre, with innovative works of literary adaptation used to explore the relationship between generic hybridity and a post-heritage approach to depictions of the past. The introduction to part III outlines the history of 'classic serial' adaptations on the BBC and the innovations to the genre apparent since the 1990s. Following this, chapter 5 uses the case study of Dickensian (BBC, 2015-16) to identify the potential of soap opera characteristics in establishing a work of adaptation. Dickensian takes advantage of the soap genre's economies of scale, while also establishing the difficulties this creates at a narrative level. Lastly, chapter 6 analyses the generic features of comedy within Parade's End (BBC/HBO, 2012), asserting its use of televisual features to offer both a revised reading of Ford Madox Ford's novels and a realisation of their literary characteristics on screen. The thesis concludes by placing the post-heritage critical framework in the context of broader trends in television drama of the 2010s, justifying its place in the field of television studies.


The introduction of novel predators into an environment can have detri- mental consequences on prey species, especially if these species lack the ability to recognize these predators. One such species that may be nega- tively affected by introduced predators is the federally threatened San Mar- cos salamander (Eurycea nana). Previous research found that predator-naive (captive-hatched) salamanders showed decreased activity in response to the chemical cues of both a native fish predator (Micropterus salmoides )a nd an introduced fish predator (Lepomis auritus), but not to a non-predatory fish (Gambusia geiseri). We tested the hypothesis that E. nana recognized the introduced Lepomis (and other non-native Lepomis) because they share chemical cues with other native congeneric Lepomis predators in the San Marcos River. We examined the antipredator response of predator-naive E. nana to chemical cues from (1) a sympatric native sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus; Perciformes: Centrarchidae); (2) a sympatric introduced sunfish (L. auritus); (3) an allopatric sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus); (4) a sympatric non-native, non-centrarchid cichlid (Herichthys cyanoguttatum; Perciformes: Cichlidae); and (5) a blank water control to determine whether individuals make generalizations about novel predators within a genus and across a family. Exposure to chemical cues from all fish predator treatments caused a reduction in salamander activity (antipredator response). Additionally, there were no differences in the antipredator responses to each predatory fish treatment. The similar responses to all sunfish treatments indicate that E. nana shows predator generalization in response to novel predators that are similar to recognized predators. Additionally, the antipredator response to H. cyanoguttatum indicates that predator generalization can occur among perciform families.


Offshore operations are normally involving the connection between two or more floating structures. The arrangement, connection framework and connection effects due to encountered weather conditions etc., have been studied by a series of research and development activities. This thesis project aims to determine the optimal connection and operation arrangement with regard to minimum operation power requirement for a floating hotel under different environment conditions.
The floating hotel is a semi-submersible accommodation unit, which should be attached to a turret moored FPSO and provide services to people working on the FPSO. The connection is organized by a strike gangway. However, the gangway connection is too weak to carry any loads, as it is meant for the transfer of people, tools, etc. between the two. The only way for this specific set up to work is if the accommodation unit follows the motions of the FPSO with the aid of a DP system, while fulfilling two specific conditions.
Firstly, the gangway length has a tolerance of only +/-3 meters. In case elongation beyond or shortening under that limit occurs, an alarm is set off and the vessels should be detached. It is essential that the deformation of the gangway doesn't exceed +/-5 meters at any time, as this would damage either the telescopic part of it or the connecting mechanism.
Secondly, the gangway inclination also has limits. If it reaches 3 degrees on either side, the connection should be interrupted. This condition isn't dependent on the DP system as much as on the sea-keeping, but it is the reason for the limiting sea states.
A number of simulations are done in order to investigate three different orientations between the vessels (parallel, diagonal and perpendicular) under various environmental conditions. In the end of the thesis, the results are compared in order to choose a preferable/optimal relative angle for the gangway connection and specific occurrences during the simulations are discussed.


The paper intended a case study of pollution control through prilling tower and other equipment, in urea plant the prilling tower is main pollution contributors .In India urea production through prilling rout is 100 % no granulation is used.A mathematical hydrodynamics,heat, and mass transfer between the urea and the cooling air aredeveloped in natural prilling tower. The height of the prilling tower is about 80 meter to 110 meter according to plant load and weather condition. The formation of biuret & triuret is the loss of ammonia is the source of pollution in this process.The prilling tower is the source of pollution in form of dust and ammonia and that can be control by simple technic also energy saving in terms of ammonia saving, ammonia is the harmful pollutant if you vent and useful product if you recovers. The company developed many techniques to reduced pollution after establishment of these modifications and techniques, prilling tower emission are safer than the local environment requirements and company were received many environmental awards. Key words-Pollution, ammonia, dust, Prilling Tower, energy, NOx, crystallization,


The Self at Work brings researchers in industrial and organizational psychology and organizational behavior together with researchers in social and personality psychology to explore how the self impacts the workplace. Covering topics such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, self-control, power, and identification, each chapter examines how research on the self informs and furthers understanding of organizational topics such as employee engagement, feedback-seeking, and leadership. With their combined expertise, the chapter authors consider how research on the self has influenced management research and practice (and vice-versa), limitations of applying social psychology research in the organizational realm, and future directions for organizational research on the self. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, graduate students, and professionals who are interested in how research on the self can inform industrial/organizational psychology.


Objective: The present experiment evaluated whether training involving throwing transferred to metric distance estimation (i.e., describing in feet and inches the distance between oneself and targets). Background: In prior work, we found that metric estimation training negatively transferred to throwing. We explained our results in terms of cognitive intrusion. The present study tested that possibility by swapping our training and transfer tasks. Method: During pretesting, participants verbally estimated the metric distances between themselves and targets, or they threw a beanbag to targets. During training, participants donned goggles that distorted their vision. While wearing the goggles, they threw a beanbag to targets. Half received feedback. During posttesting, participants removed the distorting goggles and completed the same task that they performed during pretesting. Results: The results indicated that the distorting goggles degraded throwing at the beginning of training, visual feedback improved throwing during training, the effects of training with feedback persisted into the throwing posttest, and the effects of training with feedback did not transfer to the verbal metric estimation posttest. Conclusion: Training involving throwing was effective, but did not transfer to verbal metric distance estimation. This supports our argument that the negative transfer observed in our previous study stemmed from cognitive intrusion. Application: The present experiment suggests that the creation of distance estimation training should begin with a careful analysis of the transfer task, and that distance estimation training programs should explicitly teach trainees that their training will not generalize to all distance estimation tasks.


With the fast evolution of digital data exchange, security of information becomes much important in data storage and transmission. Due to the increasing use of images in industrial processes, it is essential to protect confidential images from unauthorized access. We have proposed a new image encryption algorithm using random pixel permutation based on chaos logistic maps and prime modulo multiplicative linear congruential generators. The random-like nature of chaos is effectively spread into the encrypted image through permutation and transformation of pixels in the plain image. The pixel transformation results in the encryption scheme being resistive to cryptanalytic attacks. Simulation results show high sensitivity to key, plaintext and cipher text changes. From a cryptanalytic point of view, the scheme is highly resistive to known/chosen plaintext and cipher text attacks. The proposed technique gives good parametric and sensitivity results proving itself an eligible candidate for image encryption. Moreover it is a lossless encryption technique and hence apt for securing medical and military image.


sychological research of career life is usually devoted to individual choice of a career and career development. With the introduction of the concept of " career satisfaction " , and the definition of its types, components and factors into the scientific sphere, it is now possible to study the psychological characteristics and patterns of career satisfaction.The objective of the research is to reveal the psychological characteristics of career satisfaction in adulthood. The sample comprises 100 adults from 25 to 45 years of various jobs (teacher, shop assistant, commercial director, freight handler, psychologist, journalist, etc.). The research revealed that among the participants the average level of job satisfaction is observed (63 per cent). High level of job satisfaction is found in 7 per cent of the participants. Low and very low levels of job satisfaction is typical for 30 per cent of the participants. The comparison of the results in groups with different levels of job satisfaction in reference with the level of personal self-actualization (harmonious, adaptive and inert/ irrational) determines its basic indicators and identifies factors that allow career satisfaction, including both career-based and emotional ones. There are no significant differences in the content of career satisfaction in males and females. Significant differences were obtained within different age groups for personal barriers, internality and sociocentrism. The statistical analysis also shows that within " person-symbol " qualified employees indicators of activity, vigor, and internality are higher.


OXYS rats are the model of precocious senescence. Numerous studies addressed physiology and behavior in rats of this strain during a postnatal period of their life, however, preimplantation development in OXYS rats has not yet been investigated. This study is addressing preimplantation embryonic development in OXYS rats both in vivo and in vitro. Rats of the WAG strain were used as controls. For studying the in vivo development, the embryos were collected from OXYS and WAG rats on day 5 post coitum, the stages of embryo development were estimated, the percentage of embryos at blastocyst stage and the cell numbers in these blastocysts were counted. In a special experiment, for studying in vitro development, the embryos were collected from both rat strains on day 4 post coitum and were cultured in vitro in P1 medium for 48 hours with or without supplementation with IGF-1 (200 ng/mL). Thereafter the percentage of embryos at blastocyst stage and the cell numbers in these blastocysts were counted in the same manner as for the in vivo experiment. This study reports that in vivo derived blastocysts of OXYS rats contain fewer cells on day 5 of their development than in vivo derived blastocysts of WAG rats. In vitro culture of the early preimplantation embryos in P1 medium mitigated the difference in the rate of embryo development between these two strains, the addition of IGF-1 into culture medium exerts neither negative nor positive effect on the rate of in vitro embryo development in rats of both strains.


The "Assessment Movement" in higher education has generated some of the most wide-ranging and heated discussions that the academy has experienced in a while. On the one hand, accrediting agencies, prospective and current clientele, and the public-at-large have a clear vested interest in ensuring that colleges and universities actually deliver on the student learning outcomes that they promise. Anything less would be tantamount to a failure of institutional accountability if not outright fraud. On the other hand, it is no secret that efforts to foster a "culture of assessment" among institutions of higher learning have frequently encountered resistance, particularly on the part of faculty unconvinced that the aspirations of the assessment movement are in fact achievable. One consequence of this tension is the emergence of an embryonic literature devoted to the study of processes that monitor, enhance, or deter the cultivation of a "culture of assessment" with sufficient buy-in among all institutional stakeholders, faculty included. Despite employment of a wide-ranging host of research methods in this literature, a significant number of large unresolved issues remain, making it difficult to determine just how close to a consensual, culture of assessment we have actually come. Because one critical lesson of extant research in this area is that "metrics matter," we approach the subjective controversy over outcomes assessment through an application of Q methodology. Accordingly, we comb the vast "concourse" on assessment that has emerged among stakeholders recently to generate a 50 item Q sample representative of the diverse subjectivity at issue. Forty faculty and administrators from several different institutions completed the Q-sort which resulted in two strong factors: the Anti-Assessment Stalwarts and the Defenders of the Faith. Suggestions are offered regarding strategies for reconciling these "dueling narratives" on outcomes assessment.


Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced strong time- and dose-dependent secretion of corticosterone (CS) in C3H/HeN mice. In contrast, C3H/HeJ mice were very insensitive to LPS; 100,000 times more LPS was required with C3H/HeJ mice for producing a similar degree of CS secretion as that of C3H/HeN mice. However, C3H/HeJ mice could efficiently respond to other types of stressors, immobilization stress or injection of histamine, a possible mediator of LPS-induced CS secretion (28), leading to a striking increase in the serum levels of CS. Adoptive transfer of spleen cells from C3H/HeN mice converted x-irradiated C3H/HeJ mice to the donor phenotype. Injection of LPS produced a large increase in the activity of histidine decarboxylase (EC 18.104.22.168) in the spleen, lung, and liver of C3H/HeN mice, whereas C3H/HeJ mice were far less responsive. Transfer of spleen cells from the C3H/HeN mice made C3H/HeJ mice sensitive to LPS, leading to an increase in histidine decarboxylase activity in the spleen. There was a statistically significant relationship between the activity of splenic histidine decarboxylase and the serum levels of CS. These results suggest that the LPS-induced secretion of CS is mediated by histamine through induction of histidine decarboxylase in the spleen, lung, and liver. This may be significant in relation to the host-defense mechanism against endotoxemia.


We establish mean-field limits for large-scale random-access networks with buffer dynamics and arbitrary interference graphs. Although saturated buffer scenarios have been widely investigated and yield useful throughput estimates for persistent sessions, they fail to capture the fluctuations in buffer contents over time and provide no insight in the delay performance of flows with intermittent packet arrivals. Motivated by that issue, we explore in the present paper random-access networks with buffer dynamics, where flows with empty buffers refrain from competition for the medium. The occurrence of empty buffers thus results in a complex dynamic interaction between activity states and buffer contents, which severely complicates the performance analysis. Hence, we focus on a many-sources regime where the total number of nodes grows large, which not only offers mathematical tractability but is also highly relevant with the densification of wireless networks as the Internet of Things emerges. We exploit timescale separation properties to prove that the properly scaled buffer occupancy process converges to the solution of a deterministic initial value problem and establish the existence and uniqueness of the associated fixed point. This approach simplifies the performance analysis of networks with huge numbers of nodes to a low-dimensional fixed-point calculation. For the case of a complete interference graph, we demonstrate asymptotic stability, provide a simple closed form expression for the fixed point, and prove interchange of the mean-field and steady-state limits. This yields asymptotically exact approximations for key performance metrics, in particular the stationary buffer content and packet delay distributions.


Context Intercessory prayer (praying for others) has been a common response to sickness for millennia, but it has received little scientific attention. The positive findings of a previous controlled trial of intercessory prayer have yet to be replicated. Objective To determine whether remote, intercessory prayer for hospitalized, cardiac patients will reduce overall adverse events and length of stay. Design Randomized, controlled, double-blind, prospective, parallel-group trial. Setting Private, university-associated hospital. Patients Nine hundred ninety consecutive patients who were newly admitted to the coronary care unit (CCU). Intervention At the time of admission, patients were randomized to receive remote, intercessory prayer (prayer group) or not (usual care group). The first names of patients in the prayer group were given to a team of outside intercessors who prayed for them daily for 4 weeks. Patients were unaware that they were being prayed for, and the intercessors did not know and never met the patients. Main Outcome Measures The medical course from CCU admission to hospital discharge was summarized in a CCU course score derived from blinded, retrospective chart review. Results Compared with the usual care group (n=524), the prayer group (n=466) had lower mean±SEM weighted (6.35±0.26 vs 7.13±0.27;P=.04) and unweighted (2.7±0.1 vs 3.0±0.1;P=.04) CCU course scores. Lengths of CCU and hospital stays were not different. Conclusions Remote, intercessory prayer was associated with lower CCU course scores. This result suggests that prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care.


Ten years after the United Nation's recognition of the human right to water and sanitation (HRtWS), little is understood about how these right impacts access to sanitation. There is limited identification of the mechanisms responsible for improvements in sanitation, including the international and constitutional recognition of rights to sanitation and water. We examine a core reason for the lack of progress in this field: data quality. Examining data availability and quality on measures of access to sanitation, we arrive at three findings: (1) where data are widely available, measures are not in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, revealing little about changes in sanitation access; (2) data concerning safe sanitation are missing in more country-year observations than not; and (3) data are missing in the largest proportions from the poorest states and those most in need of progress on sanitation. Nonetheless, we present two regression analyses to determine what effect rights recognition has on improvements in sanitation access. First, the available data are too limited to analyze progress toward meeting SDGs related to sanitation globally, and especially in regions most urgently needing improvements. Second, utilizing more widely available data, we find that rights seem to have little impact on access.


Slowly migrating cells such as fibroblasts leave behind a "migration track," which has been assumed not to occur in fast-moving cells such as keratinocytes. Here we show that keratinocytes left behind "migration tracks" of cellular remnants consisting of membranous patches or macroaggregates that were anchored to a meshwork of extracellular matrix proteins consisting of collagen type IV, fibronectin, laminin, and laminin 5. According to their origin and localisation, two types of macroaggregates could be distinguished : (1) Spherical and elongated tubular structures (diameter about 50-110 nm) both of which were arranged like "pearls on a string" and that apparently derived from fragmentation of retracting fibres. (2) Spherical structures (diameter about 50 nm) left behind in the gaps between the retracting fibres and presumably derived from former focal adhesion sites. Both types of macroaggregates did not contain cytoplasmic proteins but carried on their surface adhesion proteins, particularly high amounts of integrins : type 1 macroaggregates contained alpha3beta1-integrins, whereas type 2 macroaggregates contained other types of integrins such as alpha6beta4-integrins. Modulation of keratinocyte adhesion by using poly-L-lysine coated cover slips resulted in an increased application of inhibitory beta1-antibodies and slightly reduced migration velocity and track formation. Within 24 h of migration, we observed a migration velocity-dependent loss of cellular beta1-integrin by macroaggregate formation of about 11% for fast and about 4% for slowly migrating keratinocytes. The physiological role of the migration track is unclear. However, with its multiple adhesion sites it may serve as a provisional basement membrane during reepithelialization of epidermal wounds.


Nowadays, the traditional energy sources used for greenhouse heating are fossil fuels such as LPG, diesel and natural gas. The global energy demand will continue to grow and alternative technologies need to be developed in order to improve the sustainability of crop production in protected environments. Innovative solutions are represented by renewable energy plants such as photovoltaic, wind and geothermal integrated systems, however, these technologies need to be connected to the power grid in order to store the energy produced. On agricultural land, power grids are not widespread and stand-alone renewable energy systems should be investigated especially for greenhouse applications. The aim of this research is to analyze, by means of a mathematical model, the energy efficiency of a photovoltaic (8.2 kW), hydrogen (2.5 kW) and ground source gas heat pump (2.2 kW) integrated in a stand-alone system used for heating an experimental greenhouse tunnel (48 m2) during the winter season. A yearlong energy performance analysis was conducted for three different types of greenhouse cover materials, a single layer polyethylene film, an air inflated-double layer polyethylene film, and a double acrylic or polycarbonate. The results of one year showed that the integrated system had a total energy efficiency of 14.6%. Starting from the electric energy supplied by the photovoltaic array, the total efficiency of the hydrogen and ground source gas heat pump system was 112% if the coefficient of the performance of the heat pump is equal to 5. The heating system increased the greenhouse air temperatures by 3–9 °C with respect to the external air temperatures, depending on the greenhouse cover material used.


During the life cycle of an XML application, both schemas and queries may change from one version to another. Schema evolutions may affect query results and potentially the validity of produced data. Nowadays, a challenge is to assess and accommodate the impact of theses changes in rapidly evolving XML applications. This article proposes a logical framework and tool for verifying forward/backward compatibility issues involving schemas and queries. First, it allows analyzing relations between schemas. Second, it allows XML designers to identify queries that must be reformulated in order to produce the expected results across successive schema versions. Third, it allows examining more precisely the impact of schema changes over queries, therefore facilitating their reformulation.


Schmitz and Motani (Reports, 6 May 2011, p. 705) claimed to definitively reconstruct activity patterns of Mesozoic archosaurs using the anatomy of the orbit and scleral ring. However, we find serious flaws in the data, methods, and interpretations of this study. Accordingly, it is not yet possible to reconstruct the activity patterns of most fossil archosaurs with a high degree of confidence.


Abstract. The persistence of tidal wetland ecosystems like salt marshes is threatened by human interventions and climate change. In particular, the threat of accelerated sea level rise (SLR) has increasingly gained the attention of the scientific community recently. However, studies investigating the effect of SLR on plants and vertical marsh accretion are usually restricted to the species or community level and do not consider phenotypic plasticity or genetic diversity. To investigate the response of genotypes within the same salt-marsh species to SLR, we used two known genotypes of Elymus athericus (Link) Kerguélen (low-marsh and high-marsh genotypes). In a factorial marsh organ experiment we exposed both genotypes to different flooding frequencies and quantified plant growth parameters. With increasing flooding frequency, the low-marsh genotype showed higher aboveground biomass production compared to the high-marsh genotype. Additionally, the low-marsh genotype generally formed longer rhizomes, shoots and leaves, regardless of flooding frequency. Belowground biomass of both genotypes decreased with increasing flooding frequency. We conclude that the low-marsh genotype is better adapted to higher flooding frequencies through its ability to allocate resources from below- to aboveground biomass. Given the strong control of plant biomass production on salt-marsh accretion, we argue that these findings yield important implications for our understanding of ecosystem resilience to SLR as well as plant species distribution in salt marshes.


Interpreting and enforcing the rules of parliament is a central part of a Speaker's responsibilities within
an Assembly. However, it is certainly not the only part of the job. A Speaker is also an ambassador of the
Assembly, and it is her or his responsibility to explain, educate and provide resources on parliamentary
democracy. A Speaker is, therefore, an advocate and exponent of democracy and democratic institutions.
In an effort to fulfill this role and communicate in a way that draws in a large audience, Alberta's
Speaker has created a new digital and social media campaign to engage with Albertans and visitors
interested in the province's parliamentary processes and traditions. In this article, the author outlines
aspects of the campaign and explains why a Speaker's neutral, non-partisan position makes him or her
uniquely equipped to advocate and explain parliamentary democracy to citizens and visitors alike.


We propose a model for generating low-frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) clutter that relates model parameters to physical characteristics of the scene. The model includes both distributed scattering and large-amplitude discrete clutter responses. The model also incorporates the SAR imaging process, which introduces correlation among image pixels. The model may be used to generate synthetic clutter for a range of environmental operating conditions for use in target detection performance evaluation of the radar and automatic target detection/recognition algorithms. We derive a statistical representation of the proposed clutter model's pixel amplitudes and compare with measured data from the CARABAS-II SAR. Simulated clutter images capture the structure and amplitude responses seen in the measured data. A statistical analysis shows an order of magnitude improvement in model fit error compared with standard maximum-likelihood (ML) density fitting methods.