The overall aim of this thesis is to examine HR practices within university settings in Saudi Arabia and the extent to which these HR practices as perceived by staff are associated with employees (academics) level of job satisfaction and their commitment to their universities. In addition, consideration was given to the potential influences of demographic variables and country or cultural context. The author contends that Saudi Arabia like other middle eastern countries possess distinctive characteristics in terms of culture, tradition and other factors relative to western countries and notably models of human resource practice tend to be dominated by Western HR systems. Furthermore, there appears to be a dearth of relevant literature in the Saudi country context or its GCC neighbours in relation to this study's aim and objectives. This study relies on the use of the mixed methods approach, i.e. quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews), with sample sizes of 534 academics and 22 (both academics, HR personnel/management participants), respectively. Furthermore, cultural aspects such as Saudisation and demographics were also addressed in the interview phase. Quantitative analyses utilised Multiple Linear Regression Analyses and Thematic Analysis for qualitative. Overall, the quantitative research showed that there is a poor perception of HR practices in Saudi universities but good levels of faculty's job satisfaction and organisational commitment to their universities. Regression analyses showed generally there is no association between perceived HR practices and job satisfaction and organisational commitment while the association was found between organisational commitment and job satisfaction. The surprising lack of association of Perceived HR practices with organisational commitment and job satisfaction, contrary to the academic literature, led the researcher to develop a second stage to investigate the potential influence of other factors such as contextual or cultural influences. Generally, qualitative data of both groups revealed there is generally a lack of knowledge and awareness of HR practices. Specifically, there is poor HR planning, ineffective attraction, retention strategies. However, they demonstrated mixed views in terms of HR development, which focused primarily on training courses. Both groups' perspectives indicated there are high levels of organisational commitment and job satisfaction within the universities. With respect to culture, it was emphasised by all participants that "Wasta" or "personal connections" are prevalent. However, it is a problematic issue that should have no place in any university and advocated employees be selected on skills alone. Furthermore, while the concept of Saudisation was welcomed, many believed that it should not be at the expense of high quality staff and advocated the need for diverse faculty in academia. In fact, the findings point to various challenges facing HR practices and how they are perceived in Saudi universities, and hence these should be addressed with the aim of improving job satisfaction and organisational commitment amongst faculty staff members. A key empirical contribution of this thesis is the expansion of academic research in the field of strategic HR management (SHRM) in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in general and in higher education in specific. Furthermore, this study provides an original research and a new insight into how HR practices are perceived. The findings may provide guidance on practical implications for universities as well as decision- and policymakers, but it also contributes to developing the theoretical and applied approach in relation to perceived HR practices. Moreover, the theoretical contribution is reflected through the identification of perceptions around HR practices within the context of organisational commitment and job satisfaction. It is important to understand that cultural aspects were considered, while the overall research approach should be more comprehensive in the future.


A decade ago Ansgar Nunning proposed that we distinguish between metafiction and metanarrative and offered an elaborate typology of metanarrative and its functions ("On Metanarrative: Towards a Definition, a Typology and Outline of the Functions of Metanarrative Commentary" 2004). This paper asks if Nunning's propositions can be helpful in making sense of graphic (pictorial) elements, which are so widespread in the contemporary novel that it is tempting to see them as one of the central features of "post-postmodern" literature. Are graphic elements such as photographs, images, fonts or unusual page design ornamental or functional? Can they be seen as equivalents to metacommentary? Can we distinguish between their diagetic, extradiagetic and/or paratextual aspects? Can the functions that Nunning proposes for the metanarrative comments of the narrator enable us better to articulate the different ways in which, say, photographs are employed in fictional narratives? Although historically not a new phenomenon and despite their ubiquitous presence today, graphic elements in fictional print narratives (excepting the graphic novel) have attracted relatively little critical attention. However, this situation is changing with publications such as Jessica Pressman's "The Aesthetics of Bookishness in Twenty-First Century Literature" (2009) and Alison Gibbons's Multimodality, Cognition, and Experimental Literature (2012). This paper shares with these studies some of the primary material that it deals with but differs from them in its much firmer narratological orientation.


Presents an official listing of accredited internship and postdoctoral residency programs for training in psychology. It reflects all Commission on Accreditation decisions through August 18, 2015. (PsycINFO Database Record


To date, cholera has cycle the world seven times through the seven pandemic cycles that has affected tens of millions of people. The objective of this study was to determine the presence and density as well as the antibiotic resistance profile of Vibrio cholerae isolated from catfish (Pangasius hypohthalamus). From the combination of the Most Probable Number-Polymerase Chain Reaction-plating on TCBS agar methods, V. cholerae was detected in 32 samples and V. cholerae O139 was detected in 7 samples, with a density ranging between <3.0 to 75.0 MPN/g and <3.0 to 9.3 MPN/g respectively. The results obtained in this study indicate that V. cholerae will continue to be a major healthcare burden, as the pathogen can be transferred from the aquatic environment to the catfish and the consumption of catfish by humans will present a route of exposure to V. cholerae. Proliferation of antibiotic and multiantibiotic resistant bacteria is a public health threat worldwide. Results of antimicrobial susceptibility investigation of V. cholerae isolates collected from catfish reported in this study will establish an important baseline data. All the V. cholerae isolates were multiantibiotic resistant towards the ten antibiotics tested, including 6 isolates that were resistant to all ten antibiotics and 38 antibiotic resistance patterns. The MAR index values of 0.2 to 1.0 indicate that the isolates were exposed to high risk sources in the environment. Taken together, the information on the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of V. cholerae indicate that catfish consumption presents a potential risk to human health and highlight the need for ongoing epidemiological and antimicrobial resistance surveillance.


The newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope has been used to obtain multi-band images of the nearby spiral galaxy M83. These new observations are the deepest and highest resolution images ever taken of a grand-design spiral, particularly in the near-ultraviolet, and allow us to better differentiate compact star clusters from individual stars and to measure the luminosities of even faint clusters in the U band. We find that the luminosity function (LF) for clusters outside of the very crowded starburst nucleus can be approximated by a power law, dN/dL ∝ Lα, with α = −2.04 ± 0.08, down to MV ≈ −5.5. We test the sensitivity of the LF to different selection techniques, filters, binning, and aperture correction determinations, and find that none of these contribute significantly to uncertainties in α. We estimate ages and masses for the clusters by comparing their measured UBVI, Hα colors with predictions from single stellar population models. The age distribution of the clusters can be approximated by a power law, dN/dτ ∝ τγ, with γ = −0.9 ± 0.2, for M ≳ few × 103 M☉ and τ ≲ 4 × 108 yr. This indicates that clusters are disrupted quickly, with ≈80%–90% disrupted each decade in age over this time. The mass function of clusters over the same M–τ range is a power law, dN/dM ∝ Mβ, with β = −1.94 ± 0.16, and does not have bends or show curvature at either high or low masses. Therefore, we do not find evidence for a physical upper mass limit, MC, or for the earlier disruption of lower mass clusters when compared with higher mass clusters, i.e., mass-dependent disruption. We briefly discuss these implications for the formation and disruption of the clusters.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has an immediate change to a wide range of attacks due to some distributed nature, limited sensor resources, and lack of tamper resistance. Once a sensor is corrupted, the adversary learns all secrets. Hence, most of the security measures become ineffective. Recovering secrecy after compromise requires either help from a trusted third party or access to a source of high-quality cryptographic randomness. Neither is available in Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs), often the sink visits the nodes. In previous results it has been shown that the sensor collaboration is an effective but expensive means of obtaining probabilistic intrusion resilience in static UWSNs. Hence it focus on intrusion resilience in Mobile Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks, where sensors move according to some mobility models. Such that a mobility feature could be independent from security (e.g., sensors move to improve area coverage). It defines a security metrics to evaluate intrusion resilience protocols for sensor networks. The proposed system uses cooperative protocol that by leveraging sensor mobility which allows compromised sensors to recover secure state after compromise. Hence it is obtained with very low overhead and in a fully distributed fashion.


We present an integrated system for training visceral needle puncture procedures. Our aim is to provide a cost effective and validated training tool that uses actual patient data to enable interventional radiology trainees to learn how to carry out image-guided needle puncture. The input data required is a computed tomography scan of the patient that is used to create the patient specific models. Force measurements have been made on real tissue and the resulting data is incorporated into the simulator. Respiration and soft tissue deformations are also carried out to further improve the fidelity of the simulator.


Macedonian municipalities should pass anti-corruption ordinances in order to reduce corruption. The paper reviews the legal issues involved in drafting such ordinances and provides legal advisers to local councils with the legal and economic analysis needed to tackle some of the more difficult and detailed questions. The most important issue revolves around the creation of a model ordinance which Macedonian municipalities (or the Association of Units of Local Self-Government of the Republic of Macedonia) could adopt in order to set-up and run municipal-level anti-corruption agencies. The location of such agencies as well as their competencies (to monitor conflicts of interests, oversee asset declarations, and conduct corruption risk-audits among others ) are analyzed. The paper also provides legal interpretations of Macedonian legislation and their likely impact on municipal council ordinance design in the area of anti-corruption -- providing the legal basis for positive administrative silence, the splitting of municipal procurement contracts, and (most controversially) qui tam rewards at the municipal level.


The base vCard 4.0 specification defines a large number of properties.
This specification adds two new parameters and six new properties to
vCard 4.0, which allow the use of cryptography and public-key
infrastructure (PKI) for identity assertion. Note Discussion and
suggestions for improvement are requested, and should be sent to
email@example.com.


Summary 1. Failing to account for uncertainty in the detection of invasive plants may lead to inefficient management strategies and wasted resources. Smart strategies to manage plant invasions requires consideration of the economic costs and benefits, and plant life-history characteristics as well as imperfect detection. 2. We develop a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) to provide optimal management actions when we are uncertain about the presence of invasive plants. The optimal strategy depends on the probability of being in a particular state. We ask the question, 'When is it preferable to use a less efficient, less costly action to a more efficient, more costly action?' We apply the POMDP to branched broomrape Orobanche ramosa, a parasitic plant species at the centre of a national eradication campaign in South Australia. 3. The optimal strategy depends on the ability to detect the invasive species and the location of the infested site. For high detection rates, if the site is a satellite infestation, management should employ the more efficient, more costly action (i.e. soil fumigation) the year the weed is detected followed by monitoring. When the detection probability is low, then it is optimal to employ the less efficient, low cost action (i.e. host denial) in the years the species is not detected. For sites in the centre of the infestation, management should employ the less costly, less efficient action. While the optimal strategy is insensitive to colonization, the likelihood of local eradication diminishes as colonization probability increases, highlighting the importance of limiting colonization if eradication is to be achieved. 4. Synthesis and applications. Providing decision support for managing ecological systems is a key role of applied research. Formulating this support within a decision theory context provides a framework for good decision-making. The POMDP model is a novel decision support tool for optimal sequential decision making when invasive plants are difficult to detect. The model can determine the best management action to employ based on the location of the infestation and can inform when to switch to alternative management actions that buffer against imperfect detection.


LED has the merits of high reliability, semi-permanent life, rapid-response and its small size for use as light source of head lamp. But the dependence of its performance and life on temperature affect on its practical use. Which dependence makes problem when the LED is heated up to a higher temperature level by self-generation of heat, due to "highly integration" to get enough quantity of light. To solve this problem, effective cooling system is needed that consider conduction, convection and radiation. This study points out the limits of natural convection cooling system and propose of forced convection with heat sink. Also, it describes a correlation between heat sink area and fluid velocity using numerical analysis to optimize the cooling system.


Motivated by the desire for wide-field images with well-defined statistical properties for 21 cm cosmology, we implement an optimal mapping pipeline that computes a maximum likelihood estimator for the sky using the interferometric measurement equation. We demonstrate this "direct optimal mapping" with data from the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization (HERA) Phase I observations. After validating the pipeline with simulated data, we develop a maximum likelihood figure-of-merit for comparing four sky models at 166 MHz with a bandwidth of 100 kHz. The HERA data agree with the GLEAM catalogs to < 10%. After subtracting the GLEAM point sources, the HERA data discriminate between the different continuum sky models, providing most support for the model of Byrne et al. We report the computation cost for mapping the HERA Phase I data and project the computation for the HERA 320-antenna data; both are feasible with a modern server. The algorithm is broadly applicable to other interferometers and is valid for wide-field and noncoplanar arrays.


Introduction Endovascular coil embolization of intracranial aneurysms has been proven to be safe and efficacious, withstanding side-by-side comparison to microsurgical clipping in multiple studies. Anterior communicating artery (ACOM) aneurysms comprise approximately 30% of all ruptured aneurysms and represent the most common site of rupture. There is no definitive data regarding the rate of thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications associated with coil embolization of ruptured ACOM aneurysms. Our goals were to quantify the periprocedural rate of thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications associated with coiling of ruptured ACOM aneurysms, identify aneurysm and treatment characteristics associated complications, and quantify the clinical outcomes following complications. Methods We retrospectively reviewed our institutional neurointerventional database from 1999 to 2010 and identified all patients with ruptured ACOM aneurysms treated with endovascular intervention. Thromboembolic and hemorrhagic periprocedural complications were identified on post-procedural CT or MRI. We determined the modified Rankin Score (mRS) of the patients with complications at discharge. χ2 test was used to determine the difference in rates of thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications with respect to aneurysm diameter less than or at least 7 mm, single or non-single catheter coiling method, use of post-procedural oral antiplatelet therapy, use of immediate post-procedural heparin infusion and date of treatment before or after 2005. T-test was used to determine the difference in mRS between the thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complication groups. Results Of the 419 patients presenting with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, 123 patients harboring ruptured ACOM aneurysms were treated with endovascular coil embolization. There were a total of 22 periprocedural complications (17.9%) comprised of 18 thromboembolic (14.6%) and 4 hemorrhagic (3.3%) complications. Statistical analysis show significantly more thromboembolic than hemorrhagic complications (p=0.002). Diameter at last 7 mm (32.1% vs 9.5%), non-single catheter coiling method (16.7% vs 14.5%), use of antiplatelet therapy (18.8% vs 13.2%) and treatment after 2005 (15.5% vs 7.7%) were associated with higher rates of thromboembolic complications whereas diameter <7 mm (4.2% vs 0%), single catheter coiling method (3.4% vs 0%), no use of antiplatelet therapy (4.4% vs 0%), no use of heparin infusion (3.4% vs 0%) and treatment before 2005 (7.7% vs 2.7%) were associated with higher rates of hemorrhagic complications. However, only aneurysm size at least 7 mm had a statistically significantly higher rate of thromboembolic complications than size <7 mm (p=0.003). The mean mRS of patients with thromboembolic complications (3.5) was higher than that of patients with hemorrhagic complications (1.7) but not significantly different (p=0.084). Conclusions In a large number of ruptured ACOM aneurysms treated by coil embolization, thromboembolic complications were found to be significantly more common than hemorrhagic complications. Thromboembolic complications were significantly higher in ACOM aneurysms with diameter at least 7 mm compared to those with diameter <7 mm. While hemorrhagic complications are generally more feared by interventionalists than thromboembolic complications, we found the clinical outcomes to be no different between the two groups. This suggests that we should perhaps be more aggressive with intraprocedural and post-procedural anticoagulation when considering endovascular treatment of ruptured ACOM aneurysms. Competing interests None.


Infection with certain types of human papillomaviruses (HPV) is highly associated with carcinomas of the human uterine cervix. However, HPV infection alone does not appear to be sufficient for the process of malignant transformation, suggesting the requirement of additional cellular events. After DNA damage, normal mammalian cells exhibit G1 cell-cycle arrest and inhibition of replicative DNA synthesis. This mechanism, which requires wild-type p53, presumably allows cells to undertake DNA repair and avoid the fixation of mutations. We directly tested whether the normal response of cervical epithelial cells to DNA damage may be undermined by interactions between the E6 protein expressed by oncogenic HPV types and wild-type p53. We treated primary keratinocytes with the DNA-damaging agent actinomycin D and demonstrated inhibition of replicative DNA synthesis and a significant increase in p53 protein levels. In contrast, inhibition of DNA synthesis and increases in p53 protein did not occur after actinomycin D treatment of keratinocytes immortalized with HPV16 E6/E7 or in cervical carcinoma cell lines containing HPV16, HPV18, or mutant p53 alone. To test the effects of E6 alone on the cellular response to DNA damage, HPV16 E6 was expressed in the carcinoma cell line RKO, resulting in undetectable baseline levels of p53 protein and loss of the G1 arrest that normally occurs in these cells after DNA damage. These findings demonstrate that oncogenic E6 can disrupt an important cellular response to DNA damage mediated by p53 and may contribute to the subsequent accumulation of genetic changes associated with cervical tumorigenesis.


Despite previous studies on Eastern Andalusian Spanish, interest on this geolect boomed only after the theory of vowel doubling was posited for this variety of Spanish. According to this theory, in Eastern Andalusian Spanish, vowels preceding /s/ aspiration or deletion change their quality, thus, carrying the semantic function of /s/. Since then, many researchers have studied the vowel and consonant systems of this variety of Spanish and the phonetic-phonological debate is still ongoing. This article reviews the main studies on Eastern Andalusian Spanish pronunciation between 1881 and 2016, comparing the different findings in that period and summarising them chronologically. The article finishes with an outline of widely accepted and debated features of Eastern Andalusian Spanish in order to identify future lines of research.


Thrombin is a serine protease involved in the blood coagulation reaction, and it shows maximum enzymatic activity in the presence of Na+. It has been supposed that Na+ binding promotes conversion from the inactive form, with a collapsed primary substrate pocket (S1 pocket), to the active form, with a properly formed S1 pocket. However, the evidence supporting this activation mechanism was derived from the X-ray crystallographic structures solved under nonphysiological conditions and using thrombin mutants; thus, it still remains elusive whether the activation mechanism is actually attributed to Na+ binding. To address the problem, we employed all-atom molecular dynamics simulations for both active and inactive forms of thrombin in the presence and absence of Na+ binding and examined the effect of Na+ binding on S1-pocket formation. In contrast to the conventional supposition, we revealed that Na+ binding does not prevent S1-pocket collapse virtually, but rather, the bound Na+ can move to the S1 pocket, thus blocking substrate access directly. Additionally, it was clarified that Na+ binding does not promote S1-pocket formation. According to these insights, we concluded that Na+ binding is irrelevant to the interconversion between the inactive and active forms of thrombin.


Stochastic models are often used to evaluate the average power output of an oscillating-water-column (OWC) wave power plant equipped with a Wells turbine and for defining optimal control criteria of the system. The application of the stochastic model to OWC devices is based on the hypothesis that the dynamic behavior of the system can be modeled by a set of linear differential equations and that the sea surface elevation, acting as an input, has a Gaussian probability density function. Under such hypotheses, from the theory of the random processes of the linear systems, it comes that the outputs of the system, such as the pressure in the chamber and the turbine flow coefficient, have a gaussian distribution. Actually, there are several non-linear phenomena that can alter the linear behavior of a OWC device: minor and major losses of the unsteady flow of water and air; compressibility of air and heat exchange with the walls of the air chamber; non-linear characteristics of the turbine. The stochastic model can be applied if such nonlinearities have, on the whole, limited effects or if a specific procedure able to take them into account is adopted, as suggested by the authors in previous papers. In the Authors' knowledge, no experimental validation of the application of the stochastic model to OWC devices are present in the open literature. This work, making use of data gathered during the experiment on a 1:10 scale model of a ocean OWC breakwater, put at the sea off the beach of Reggio Calabria, aims at verifying that the energy conversion process inside the OWC can be actually described as a gaussian process. To this purpouse, the frequency distribution of the main physical parameters, relevant to the system dynamics, are evaluated. Moreover, in order to characterize the behavior of the Wells turbine, the experimental values of the time averaged turbine torque and pressure drop are evaluated as a function of the © Proceedings of the 8th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Uppsala, Sweden, 2009 variance of the flow coefficient. The results show a very high level of correlation and a very good agreement with those that can be obtained from the application of the stochastic model, using as an input the characteristic curves of the turbine, yelded in the unsteady flow.


We read with interest David McQuoid-Mason's article concerning the legality of circumcision in South Africa in terms of the Constitution and the Children's Act. Unfortunately, his statement that circumcision could lead to 'reversal in the gains made against HIV infection' shows that his piece is one of proselytism, not scholarship. Like the AIDS deniers before him, McQuoid-Mason repudiates strong scientific evidence, global public health authorities and the World Health Organization, which has endorsed circumcision as a priority preventive intervention in the struggle against HIV.


Consumer interest has generated the widespread popularity of the alternative birth center (ABC) in recent years. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, recently incorporated such a center into a tertiary care educational facility. Intrapartum transfer of 39 (20%) ABC patients to a conventional delivery area demonstrated the need for careful clinical assessment of the patient. The cesarean section rate and forceps delivery rate of all ABC patients were less than half those of the overall obstetric population in the period studied. Serious fetal and maternal complications occurred infrequently but underscored the need for access to full hospital facilities. Low-risk, consumer-oriented obstetric service can be provided safely within the confines of a tertiary care referral service while providing the additional advantage of professional and patient education.


Leadership needs to be examined when a change process within a learning context renders significant problems. This thesis sets out to explore the nature of leadership, and its application in the context of implementation of a bible college programme. The literature review focused on discussion of leadership style, change, and culture and how they are interwoven in an educational setting. The concepts of vision and change are prominent. The research adopted a qualitative methodology involving empowerment evaluation of the effectiveness of a bible college leadership team to gain an in depth understanding of view and application of leadership, its process in developing a vision to move away from a discipleship based learning programme to the bible college model. The first phase of data collecting involved conducting interviews with leaders involved in the implementation about their views and practices of leadership. Concurrently learners were questioned about their experience in the bible college and their views of the leadership in its implementation through an online survey. The second phase findings from the leaders and learners data in phase one provided a discussion point for a leadership focus group with the leadership team to provide them with an alternative dimension and critique of the bible college leadership from those it directly affected. Themes that evolved from the findings were related to leadership integrity, a mismatch in needs of learners and vision. The research found that the leadership lack of commitment to the vision was mirrored by the learners. The recommendations that come from this research are that the bible college needs to re examine its vision and adjust it to incorporate the needs of the learners. Leaders need to analyse carefully the impacts on constituents before implementing change. Learners needs are best identified by empowering learners to feed into the decision making process for issues that directly impact on their learning.


I examine pre-announcement and news effects on the stock market in the context of public disclosure of monetary policy decisions. The results suggest that the stock market tends to be relatively quiet--conditional volatility is abnormally low--on days preceding regularly scheduled policy announcements. Although this calming effect is routinely reported in anecdotal press accounts, it is statistically significant only over the past four to five years, a result that I attribute to changes in the Federal Reserve's disclosure practices in early 1994. The paper also looks at how the actual interest rate decisions of policy makers affect stock market volatility. The element of surprise in such decisions tends to boost stock market volatility significantly in the short run, and positive surprises--higher-than-expected values of the target federal funds rate--tend to have a larger effect on volatility than negative surprises. The implications of the results for broader issues in the finance literature are also discussed.


Improved industrial energy efficiency (IEE) is a cornerstone in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The implementation of Energy-Efficiency Measures (EEMs) is the primary means of improving IEE. However, EEMs are not always stand-alone measures. Rather, they are intertwined in the production and other sub-systems calling for a systems approach to be applied. In industry, nearly 70 percent of the power use emanates from motor systems. Electric motor systems can be categorized into three system levels: motor, core motor system, and total motor system, where the large energy-efficiency potential is to be found in the upper system levels. However, previous research has been scarce in showing on which system levels the highest potential for improved IEE is found. Based on a dataset of electric motor system measures from the Swedish energy policy program for improving energy efficiency in energy-intensive companies (PFE) consisting of about 1250 EEMs saving 900 GWh/year, the aim of this study is to analyze, using an extended version of the system level categorization, on which system levels the implemented measures are to be found.


For the first half-century of settlement by Europeans, the colonies of Carolina and Louisiana were imperial borderlands. Looking west, Carolinians were among the first settlers to highlight and experience the threat that the French posed once they had traversed and mapped the length of the Mississippi. Although during this period the efforts to claim, survey and document landownership were flourishing, the reality of struggling to clear and use tracts of many hundreds of acres meant that much of the region remained 'wilderness' despite being nominally owned by Europeans.This paper compares British and French printed accounts that symbolically brought this land under control. I argue that European efforts to bring the landscape, flora and fauna of the southeast under control were problematic even in areas not previously understood as 'borderlands', such as parts of Charles Town and New Orleans themselves. While the accounts do reflect a feeling of increasing imperial confidence on the part of the British and the French, during this period neither was able to fully control the landscape they professed to have mastered. This paper shows that it was the vulnerability, not the strength, of these powers that struck the authors whose work is surveyed here.


Pyro is a Python-based software environment for robot control that is designed to minimize the necessity of programmers "having to worry about the low-level details of the underlying hardware." Pyro supports multiple robot platforms, but until recently, most of them were prohibitively expensive for departments with large interest in robotics but with low budgets. This paper describes our experiences at adding support for lower-cost robots in the Pyro environment.


We present the results of the first four (quasi-)simultaneous radio (ATCA), X-ray (Swift, RXTE), and γ-ray (INTEGRAL) observations of the black hole candidate IGR J17091−3624, performed in February and March 2011. The X-ray analysis shows that the source was in the hard state, and then it transited to a soft intermediate state. We study the correlated radio/X-ray behaviour of this source for the first time. The radio counterpart to IGR J17091−3624 was detected during all four observations with the ATCA. In the hard state, the radio spectrum is typical of optically thick synchrotron emission from a self-absorbed compact jet. In the soft intermediate state, the detection of optically thin synchrotron emission is probably due to a discrete ejection event associated with the state transition. The position of IGR J17091−3624 in the radio versus X-ray luminosity diagram (aka fundamental plane) is compatible with that of the other black hole sources for distances greater than 11 kpc. IGR J17091−3624 also appears as a new member of the few sources that show a strong quenching of radio emission after the state transition. Using the estimated luminosity at the spectral transition from the hard state, and for a typical mass of 10 M� , we estimate a distance to the source between ∼11 and ∼17 kpc, compatible with the radio behaviour of the source.


In this paper, a bipedal locomotion planning based on virtual linear inverted pendulum mode (VLIPM) is proposed. In conventional methods, the desired center of gravity (COG) position and velocity are achieved by modifying the foot placement. In this research, the desired COG position and velocity are achieved while the desired foot placement is also realized. In the proposed method, the virtual modified foot placement and trajectory planning are calculated separately. VLIPM is applied to the calculation of the virtual modified foot placement. By using virtual supporting point (VSP), the difference between the virtual modified and desired foot placements is compensated. In the result, the desired foot placement is achieved as if the foot placement is in the virtual modified foot placement. Trajectory planning is applied to LIPM with VSP and 5-D polynomial. The boundary conditions of the polynomial are set to the desired COG position and velocity. In the result, the desired COG position and velocity are also obtained. Differences of the motion by different models are compensated by matching the boundary conditions of different models. By applying different models in the calculations of the foot placement and trajectory planning, the desired robot motion is realized. The walking stability of the proposed method is equivalent to that of the conventional method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by a simulation and an experiment.


Although some studies have analysed the accuracy of self-reported weight and height data in survey studies, no attention has been paid to the accuracy of the body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), derived from these data and often considered as a reliable indirect estimate of relative body weight. Based on data from about 3400 participants in a study, questionnaire self-reports of these anthropometric data were compared to measured weight and height. A flat slope syndrome (under-reporting of high values, over-reporting of low ones) was found for weight and BMI for both sexes. A low sensitivity of BMI based on self-reported values were found, especially for the obese sub-population. Reliance upon questionnaire-derived self-reports will lead to considerable underestimation of the prevalence of obesity. Only 55 per cent of obese women and 60 per cent of obese men according to measured values were correctly classified as such. Correction of self-reported data according to regression models describing the relationship between questionnaire self-reports and medical records of body size parameters should be considered for some types of epidemiologic studies such as those using BMI as a categorized variable. The statistical rationale for the models used here is discussed.


The intensity of the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) shows temporal and spatial variability that is not yet fully understood nor accurately modeled. Atmospheric solar tides are among the main drivers of this variability but determining different tidal components and their respective time series is challenging. It requires good temporal and spatial coverage with observations, which, previously could only be achieved by accumulating data over many years. Here, we propose a new technique for modeling the EEJ based on principal component analysis (PCA) of a hybrid ground‐satellite geomagnetic data set. The proposed PCA‐based model (PCEEJ) represents the observed EEJ better than the climatological EEJM‐2 model, especially when there is good local time separation among the satellites involved. The amplitudes of various solar tidal modes are determined from PCEEJ based tidal equation fitting. This allows to evaluate interannual and intraannual changes of solar tidal signatures in the EEJ. On average, the obtained time series of migrating and nonmigrating tides agree with the average climatology available from earlier work. A comparison of tidal signatures in the EEJ with tides derived from neutral atmosphere temperature observations show a remarkable correlation for nonmigrating tides such as DE3, DE2, DE4, and SW4. The results indicate that it is possible to obtain a meaningful EEJ spectrum related to solar tides for a relatively short time interval of 70 days.


ABSTRACT Rhythms can be observed at all levels of the biologic integration in humans. The observation that a biological or physiological variable shows a circadian rhythm can be explained by several multifactorial systems including external (exogenous), internal (endogenous) and psychobiological (lifestyle) mechanisms. Our body clock can be synchronized with the environment by external factors, called "synchronizers", i.e. the light–dark cycle, but it is also negatively influenced by some pathological conditions or factors, called "chronodisruptors," i.e. aging or low physical activity (PA). The desynchronization of a 24-h rhythm in a chronic manner has been recently defined "chronodisruption" or "circadian disruption." A very large number of hormonal variables, such as adrenal and gonadal stress steroids, are governed by circadian rhythmicity. Such hormones, in normal conditions, show a peak in the first part of the day, while their typical diurnal fluctuations are totally out of sync in subjects affected by cancer or metabolic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. In general, a flatter slope with altered peaks in cortisol and testosterone circadian rhythms has been observed in pathological individuals. PA, specifically chronic exercise, seems to play a key role as synchronizer for the whole circadian system in such pathologies even if specific data on steroids circadian pattern are still sparse and contradictory. Recently, it has been proposed that low-intensity chronic PA could be an effective intervention to decrease morning cortisol levels in pathological subjects. The standardization of all confounding factors is needed to reach more clear evidence-based results.


Abstract Bronze Age trade networks across Europe and the Mediterranean are well documented; Baltic amber and bronze metalwork were particularly valued commodities. Here it is argued that demand for copper and tin led to changes in Scandinavian trade routes around 1600 BC, which can be linked to the appearance of figurative rock art images in southern Scandinavia. Images identified as oxhide ingots have been discovered in Sweden and suggest that people from Scandinavia were familiar with this characteristically Mediterranean trading commodity. Using trace element and lead isotope analysis, the authors argue that some bronze tools excavated in Sweden could have been made of Cypriot copper; these two discoveries suggest that Scandinavians were travelling to the Mediterranean, rather than acting through a middle man.


Robust real-time tracking of non-rigid objects is a challenging task and is required by many vision applications such as augmented reality, smart rooms and surveillance. Particle filtering has proven very successful for non-linear and non-Gaussian estimation problems. We use color-based image features instead of the edge-based image features which have typically been used. The integration of color distributions into particle filtering has many advantages for tracking non-rigid objects as color histograms in particular are robust to partial occlusion, are rotation and scale invariant and are calculated efficiently. Based on different known histograms, objects are distinguished from each other and tracked in real-time with the proposed framework. An application is shown where the recognized objects are replaced by artificial objects.


This paper presents a method for the implementation of speckle reduced lensless holographic projection based on phase-only computer-generated hologram (CGH). The CGH is calculated from the image by double-step Fresnel diffraction. A virtual convergence light is imposed to the image to ensure the focusing of its wavefront to the virtual plane, which is established between the image and the hologram plane. The speckle noise is reduced due to the reconstruction of the complex amplitude of the image via a lensless optical filtering system. Both simulation and optical experiments are carried out to confirm the feasibility of the proposed method. Furthermore, the size of the projected image can reach to the maximum diffraction bandwidth of the spatial light modulator (SLM) at a given distance. The method is effective for improving the image quality as well as the image size at the same time in compact lensless holographic projection system.


While there exist consensus among researchers that business angels contribute with non-financial value to their investee companies, previous research on value adding activities has suffered from a lack of overview and consensus. This thesis seeks to create a general understanding of the value adding activities, how they are performed and what affects these activities. In addition we take the first step in assessing the process of realizing potential value adding, which has been indicated as a 'black box'. Paper one is a literature study, while paper two is a multiple-case study including ten business angels where each candidate presented one or more investment cases resulting in a total of 15 business cases. Paper three is a conceptual theory-building study, which combine theoretical models from other disciplines with qualitative data from the multiple-case study Paper one conducts an extensive literature review on value adding activities performed by business angels to their investee company, in addition to explore which factors may influence these activities. We present a conceptual framework for value adding activities, and link this framework to potential factors. The findings suggest that the value adding activities may be divided between Intra-organizational activities, meaning the activities within the venture and Inter-organizational activities, meaning activities aimed at the external environment. Paper two explain how the value adding activities are performed to the investee company. We present an in-depth explanation regarding how the activities are performed, and also present a new framework for value adding activities in accordance with the findings. The findings support that value adding activities may be divided between Intra-organizational activities and Inter-organizational activities. However, in contrast to previous research, we find that Network and Legitimation are not direct activities, as Network may be seen as a channel in which Inter-organizational activities are performed, while Legitimation increases the value of this channel. Paper three assess what may influence the value adding activities. Findings suggest two major factors influencing the value adding activities; the ventures life cycle and the receptivity of the entrepreneur. We assess the Attributes of the investor, entrepreneur and company, and the Relational properties between them in the light of these two factors. In addition and stark contrast two previous research, we find that there is a difference between potential value added and realized value added, as this is a process contingent upon the entrepreneurs' ability to acquire and exploit advice from the investor. Based on the findings we present a conceptual framework, which assesses the entire process from potential activities to realized value added. Combined, the papers presented in this thesis provide future researcher with a framework with which they may assess and analyze the non-financial contributions provided by business angels, in addition to factors influencing them. However, the main finding in paper three, which is the process of realizing potential value added, is of essence when assessing non-financial contributions. It should therefore be included in future studies on the subject, as this process needs to be fully understood in order to comprehend, and increase the efficiency of, the informal capital market.


Self-sufficiency in dairy products is a central policy goal of the Russian government, as the ban on food imports from the West imposed by the Kremlin vividly demonstrated. Western export opportunities into the Eurasian Economic Union depend inversely on the growth of milk production within the Union. Against this background, we explore the evolution of herd sizes and the role of state support among commercial dairy producers in Russia and Kazakhstan between 2012 and 2015. We show that dairy farms did grow as long as they kept less than 70 cows. Less than 10% of our 180 randomly selected dairy farms received livestock-related subsidies. Regression analysis using an innovative simultaneous equation framework shows that subsidised farms were bigger and younger than their peers, although they usually did not belong to vertically integrated agroholdings. Our results suggest that broad-based herd growth will be stimulated if many farms receive small subsidies, not if very few receive individually large amounts. However, the effects of good management practice and access to milk marketing contracts were much bigger than the subsidy impact. Processors provided inputs or services to only 5% of farmers in our sample. 25 years after the end of central planning, structural change among dairy farms in Eurasia in many ways resembles the patterns observed in the West.


Previous observations demonstrated severe thymocyte depletion in mice undergoing acute Chagas' disease. These data led us to investigate the status of the thymic microenvironment in these animals. Young adult C57BL/6 and C3H/HeJ mice were infected i.p. with 10(5) blood-derived trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi (CL strain) and killed 7-14 days after infection. Sera were then analyzed for thymic hormone (thymulin) levels, and frozen thymus sections were studied by immunohistochemistry for the expression of functional antigens (thymulin and Ia), the distribution of distinct thymic epithelial cell subsets and extracellular matrix components. Infected mice exhibited a transient decrease in thymulin production and those with severe thymic atrophy showed a denser Ia-bearing cellular network. In addition, an abnormal localization of the TR5 and CK18 antigens restricted to the medullary and cortical TEC subsets, respectively, was observed. Furthermore, an increase in the basement membrane proteins was detected within thymic lobules. We suggest that the thymic microenvironment is also affected during T. cruzi infection, extending the concept that the thymus should be regarded as a target in Chagas' disease.


In order to realize the DSP Video Image Processing System works well in the highlight environment, the system control software is designed. In this control part, the ultra-low power MSP430 single chip microcomputer (MCU) is the core, which can be programmed to control the DSP Video Image Processing System, the video A/D converter and the highlight protection circuit by the Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus. The Image Processing algorithm models can be selected. Whether the highlight protection circuit is turned on or not depends on the comparison result of the environment light and the MCU light threshold. The control program code has been debugged and tested through the MSP development board and the IAR C-SPY debugger. The result shows the DSP Video Image Processing System Control Software is ideal.


Nanoporous metal films have many applications in a great variety of scientific fields, and especially nanoporous gold films have many applica- tions in green nanotechnology. Hence, structural and optical properties of such materials were investigated. Local density functions and local per- colation functions were calculated by using scaning electron micrographs and the optical properties of the films were calculated using the Hilfer equation. The results are presented in the report as graphs and show how the materials optical properties depend on the structure of the gold films.


We present results from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) survey on the identification, selection biases, and host galaxy properties of 55 X-ray, IR, and optically selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at . We obtain rest-frame optical spectra of galaxies and AGNs and use the BPT diagram to identify optical AGNs. We examine the uniqueness and overlap of the AGNs identified at different wavelengths. There is a strong bias against identifying AGNs at any wavelength in low-mass galaxies, and an additional bias against identifying IR AGNs in the most massive galaxies. AGN hosts span a wide range of star formation rates (SFRs), similar to inactive galaxies once stellar mass selection effects are accounted for. However, we find (at ∼2–3σ significance) that IR AGNs are in less dusty galaxies with relatively higher SFR and optical AGNs in dusty galaxies with relatively lower SFR. X-ray AGN selection does not display a bias with host galaxy SFR. These results are consistent with those from larger studies at lower redshifts. Within star-forming galaxies, once selection biases are accounted for, we find AGNs in galaxies with similar physical properties as inactive galaxies, with no evidence for AGN activity in particular types of galaxies. This is consistent with AGNs being fueled stochastically in any star-forming host galaxy. We do not detect a significant correlation between SFR and AGN luminosity for individual AGN hosts, which may indicate the timescale difference between the growth of galaxies and their supermassive black holes.


Accurate chromosome segregation is essential for cell viability. The mitotic spindle is crucial for chromosome segregation, but much remains unknown about factors that regulate spindle assembly. Recent work implicates RNA in promoting proper spindle assembly independently of mRNA translation; however, the mechanism by which RNA performs this function is currently unknown. Here, we show that RNA regulates both the localization and catalytic activity of the mitotic kinase, Aurora-B (AurB), which is present in a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex with many mRNAs. Interestingly, AurB kinase activity is reduced in Xenopus egg extracts treated with RNase, and its activity is stimulated in vitro by RNA binding. Spindle assembly defects following RNase-treatment are partially rescued by inhibiting MCAK, a microtubule depolymerase that is inactivated by AurB-dependent phosphorylation. These findings implicate AurB as an important RNA-dependent spindle assembly factor, and demonstrate a translation-independent role for RNA in stimulating AurB.


An essential part of the study of any landslide problem is the development of a 3-D conceptual model of the landslide and its surroundings. Traditionally this has been done by pen and paper during a walk-over geomorphological survey (Forster 1989) ideally with pits and boreholes to give subsurface information. More recently aerial photographs and aerial ortho-photographs have aided the surface assessment and geophysical surveys have added to the understanding of the third dimension. A more detailed quantitative model could be achieved by accurate ground surveying by EDM, theodolite and level. However, this is time consuming and a high degree of surveying expertise is necessary for an accurate result where small movements might need to be monitored. More recently 'total station' surveying equipment has increased the speed at which this process can be completed. However, the advent of affordable semi-automated laser scanners and accurate differential GPS technology has opened up a new opportunity in rapid landslide modelling.

The British Geological Survey is currently using and developing laser scanning for the characterization, modelling and monitoring of landslides, essentially a terrestrial LIDAR technique (Hobbs et al. 2002). A small part of that work has been looking at two landslides in the Cotswolds, in association with the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Portsmouth, which has a major research interest in studying the landslides in the Jurassic strata near the village of Broadway in …


Many manufacturers aim to increase their levels of high-quality production in order to improve their market competitiveness. Continuous improvement of maintenance strategies is a key factor to be capable of delivering high quality products and services on-time with minimal operating costs. However, the cost of maintaining quality is often perceived as a non-added-value task. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the measurement procedures necessary to guarantee accuracy of production is a more complex task than many other maintenance functions and so deserves particular analysis.
This paper investigates the feasibility of producing a concise yet effective framework that will provide a preliminary approach for integrating Lean and Six Sigma philosophies to the specific goal of reducing unnecessary downtime on manufacturing machines while maintaining its ability to machine to the required tolerance.
The purpose of this study is to show how a Six Sigma infrastructure is used to investigate the root causes of complication occurring during the machine tool measurement. This work recognises issues of the uncertainty of data, and the measurement procedures in parallel with the main tools of Six Sigma's Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control (DMAIC).
The significance of this work is that machine tool accuracy is critical for high value manufacturing. Over-measuring the machine to ensure accuracy potentially reduces production volume. However, not measuring them or ignoring accuracy aspects possibly lead to production waste. This piece of work aims to present a lean guidance to lessen measurement uncertainties and optimise the machine tool benchmarking procedures, while adopting the DMAIC strategy to reduce unnecessary downtime.


A guide to resources on plate tectonics and associated hazards for your A-level geography topic - compiled by your librarians


Music is changing. Downloads, ipods, MP3s, Shazam. But what about those strange souls who persist in collecting records, clinging onto music as a physical entity. The feel of vinyl? The record covers? Birmingham Record Collectors: The Documentary seeks to answer some of those questions and more. Series of video interviews with record collectors as part of the Digital Is Dangerous (DID)project.


Macrocypridina lives at depths of 800 m, where residual daylight is very weak. It has a pair of mobile apposition compound eyes with large lenses, wide rhabdoms and high acceptance angles, all of which contribute to a calculated sensitivity comparable with the superposition eyes of deep-water decapod crustaceans. The axes of the 27 ommatidia in each eye are not uniformly distributed in space, with a modest acute zone in the anteroventral region. Here the interommatidial angles are about 6°, compared with 20° at the rear of the eye.

The eyes make two kinds of spontaneous movements: large slow rotations of up to 50° around a transverse axis, anda superimposed 2 Hz tremor with an amplitude of 5°.


This study sets out to make a meaningful and useful contribution to the discussion surrounding the treatment of heroin addiction in the Republic of Ireland. The exploration describes the experiences of service users who are receiving methadone treatment in general practice in Dublin and provides recommendations for practice. A Husserlian phenomenological approach drawing on the psychological research methods of Colazzi informed this study. This qualitative descriptive genre was coupled with the genre of reflexive methodology and utilised the techniques of bracketing interviews and polyvocality. The study took place in nine urban general practices in Dublin city. Twenty five service users were interviewed indepth. The data were analyzed using the methodology espoused by Collazzi (1978). Four themes emerged from the data: Service users' experience of attending general practice for methadone maintenance; The significance of methadone for the service user; Service users' understanding of the Methadone Treatment Protocol and The experience of addiction and it's effect on families. Service users' accounts traced the historical steps that influenced the introduction of the MTP. Their depictions of their experience of treatment shed light on the process of care in general practice and how clinical guidelines have been interpreted and developed locally. The study identified what it is that affects the delivery of methadone treatment from the users' perspective. It provides insight into the harm reduction policy of methadone maintenance and highlights how, from the service users' own experience, the implementation is falling short. The data identify that the delivery of methadone treatment requires a sustained policy review, informed by a clinical perspective on all issues related to regulations, practice guidelines, and treatment resourcing. The recommendations suggest that to be truly effective, strategies which recognize the importance of user involvement need to be addressed.


The vertebrate locality of Dorkovo yielded a rich mammalian assemblage of which some large mammals have been studied, but not smaller mammals. The previous investigations correlated this fauna to the early Pliocene (early Ruscinian, MN 14). The present paper describes lagomorph remains which consist of one fragment of mandible and 106 isolated teeth. Four species are identified: Ochotona cf. antiqua, Prolagus sorbinii, Alilepus spassovi n. sp. and Trischizolagus crusafonti. The new species is characterised by the derived pattern of its p3 which has trigonid more stretched, enamel infolding stronger than in any other species of Alilepus, and the p3 lacks anteroflexid. The presence of four species of lagomorphs at Dorkovo is in agreement with the diversity dynamics of lagomorphs toward the end of late Miocene and during the early Pliocene in Eurasia, and in particular in Eastern Europe. The time range of the Dorkovo lagomorphs encompasses the Miocene/Pliocene boundary, and this is in agreement with the previous age assignments, i.e., earliest Pliocene, or early part of MN 14 mammalian zone.


I analyze a sequential bargaining model in which players are optimistic about their bargaining power (measured as the probability of making offers), but learn as they play the game. I show that there exists a uniquely predetermined settlement date, such that in equilibrium the players always reach an agreement at that date, but never reach one before it. Given any discount rate, if the learning is sufŽciently slow, the players agree immediately. I show that, for any speed of learning, the agreement is delayed arbitrarily long, provided that the players are sufŽciently patient. Therefore, although excessive optimism alone cannot cause delay, it can cause long delays if the players are expected to learn.


The training of chemical engineers requires creating dynamics that bring them closer to the reality of professional practice and providing active learning experiences to develop skills that strengthen critical thinking, autonomy, teamwork, and communication, as a contribution to sustainable engineering education. However, these experiences are isolated, and sometimes do not show an integrated vision between different areas of knowledge. This work aims to introduce the lessons learned by creating capstone integrative projects as tools for the design and control of processes in the Faculty of Chemical Engineering of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. The capstone project was developed in randomly selected groups to develop a basic engineering proposal for an industrial process of local or national interest. Validation was carried out, consisting of surveys of 54 students in the last year of the program, an opinion query of 60 recent graduates, and a focus group of five graduates, with a profile of employers, management of innovation, development, and design of chemical processes. Between 2016 and 2020, more than 43 processes were evaluated with students, evidencing a significant improvement in the skills defined by the faculty in the graduation profile. A total of 94% of the graduates in that period recognize the capstone project as an integrator of design and process control, and it is concluded that this contributes positively to the professional development of the chemical engineer.


Succession in a family owned company needs considering so that the company is able to operate properly. Problems occur if no proper transition governace within the family members is carried out. As such, guidebooks are provided in order to ensure smooth successor transition process. The study on the Guidebook uses qualitative method. In fact, a smooth transition needs to consider a personality system, a family system, a ownership system and a management system. This study uses observation and interview as tools to collect data with purposive sampling used as a samping technique. Factors are identified in order to determine the succession of BLT in a family owned company and other companies in transition periods. This study aims ar preparing the succession of BLT by providing guidelines while focusing on such aspects as personality, family, ownership and management systems. These guidelines are expected to offer the lens for companies to process smooth succession without resulting in any complications. Hence, the sustainability of the companies is guaranted.


We present an integrated sensing approach for enabling autonomous landing of a robotic spacecraft on a hazardous terrain surface; this approach is active during the spacecraft descent profile. The methodology incorporates an image transformation algorithm to interpret temporal imagery land data, perform real-time detection and avoidance of terrain hazards that may impede safe landing, and increase the accuracy of landing at a desired site of interest using landmark localization techniques. By integrating a linguistic rule-based engine with linear algebra and computer vision techniques, the approach suitably addresses inherent uncertainty in the hazard assessment process while ensuring computational simplicity for real-time implementation during spacecraft descent. The proposed approach is able to identify new hazards as they emerge and also remember the locations of past hazards that might impede spacecraft landing. We provide details of the methodology in this paper and present simulation results of the approach applied to a representative Mars landing descent profile.


This paper introduces a design tool and its associated procedures for determining the sensitivity of outputs in a digital signal processing design to small errors introduced by rounding or truncation of internal variables. The proposed approach can be applied to both linear and nonlinear designs. By analyzing the resulting sensitivity values, the proposed procedure is able to determine an appropriate distinct word-length for each internal variable. Also in this paper, the power optimizing capabilities of word-length optimization are studied for the first time. Application of the proposed procedure to adaptive filters realized in a Xilinx Virtex FPGA (field programmable gate array) has resulted in area reductions of up to 80% combined with power reductions of up to 98% and speed-up of up to 36% over common alternative design strategies.


Background: People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have identified "wellness" and associated behaviors as a high priority based on "social media listening" undertaken by the National MS Society (i.e. the Society). Objective: The Society recently convened a group that consisted of researchers with experience in MS and wellness-related research, Society staff members, and an individual with MS for developing recommendations regarding a wellness research agenda. Method: The members of the group engaged in focal reviews and discussions involving the state of science within three approaches for promoting wellness in MS, namely diet, exercise, and emotional wellness. Results: That process informed a group-mediated activity for developing and prioritizing research goals for wellness in MS. This served as a background for articulating the mission and objectives of the Society's Wellness Research Working Group. Conclusion: The primary mission of the Wellness Research Working Group is the provision of scientific evidence supporting the application of lifestyle, behavioral, and psychosocial approaches for promoting optimal health of mind, body, and spirit (i.e. wellness) in people with MS as well as managing the disease and its consequences.


Scientific workflows, being heterogeneous, loosely coupled, large-scale and distributed, pose new challenges on application monitoring. In this paper, we identify the main challenges for a monitoring infrastructure for grid scientific workflows. In order to address those challenges, we describe key design elements of a monitoring infrastructure facilitating interoperability between diverse monitoring and instrumentation tools. We propose a standardized taxonomy for grid workflow monitoring events. Automatic resource discovery is identified as the key problem to enable on-line monitoring of grid workflows. The solution to this problem is proposed based on a DHT infrastructure federated with monitoring services. This solution is next evaluated using a model-based performance evaluation. We also propose an ontology-based monitoring information model to describe records of workflow runs.


OBJECTIVE
Arthritis or rheumatism (A/R) often leads patients to experiment with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); we investigated the factors associated with use of CAM.

METHODS
The source of the data is the cross sectional household component of the 1996-97 National Population Health Survey of the health status and behaviors of Canadians. The survey sample is based on 66,000 persons aged 20 years and older, representing 21 million adults. Cross tabulations were used to estimate the percentage of adults with A/R who used CAM. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify those characteristics associated with the use of CAM in the year preceding the survey.

RESULTS
In 1996-97, among the 3.3 million Canadian adults aged 20 years or older who self-reported arthritis, 22% utilized CAM in the past year. CAM users tended to be younger and with higher education and household income. They reported more pain, consumed more analgesics, and tended to be more depressed. The coexistence of back or bowel disorders, cancer, sinusitis, or food allergies with arthritis was also related to CAM use. Moreover, CAM users also used more traditional health resources.

CONCLUSION
Our results indicate that patients with A/R consulting CAM providers self-report more intense symptoms than nonusers and often have other chronic conditions. They do not seem to reject the traditional health care system, but supplement it with CAM, possibly to fulfill needs insufficiently satisfied by traditional health care providers.


Background During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic little information has been available about patients with mild or moderate symptoms attended and followed in the primary care setting, most of whom had an unknown status for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Objectives We aim to measure the seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community sample of asymptomatic individuals and among symptomatic patients (without confirmed diagnosis) followed in a primary care setting. As a secondary objective, we estimated the proportions of symptomatic patients seeing at an emergency department (ED), hospitalized or dying, and identified the most important clinical symptoms associated with a positive infection. Methods From April 21 to April 24 2020, we selected a random sample of 600 individuals stratified by age groups, from a total population of 19,899 individuals from a community area in Barcelona (study population 1). From April 29 to May 5 2020, we also invited all the patients that had been followed by general practitioners (GPs) (study population 2). We used for both populations COVID-19 Rapid lateral flow immunoassay which qualitatively assesses the presence of patient-generated IgG and IgM in approximately 10-15 minutes. The prevalence (95% confidence intervals [CI]) of infection (past and current) was defined as the proportion of individuals with antibody seropositivity. Odds ratios (ORs) for a positive test result were estimated using logistic regression analysis. Results Three hundred and eleven asymptomatic individuals from the randomly selected sample accepted to participate in the study. The overall mean age was 43.7 years (SD 21.79, range 1-94) and 55% were women. Seventeen individuals were seropositive for IgM and/or IgG, resulting an overall prevalence of 5,47% (95% CI, 3.44-8.58). Six-hundred and thirty-four symptomatic patients were followed by GPs. The overall mean age was 46.97 years (SD 20.05, range 0-92) and 57.73% were women. Of these, 244 patients (38.49%) were seropositive for IgM and/or IgG. During the follow-up period, 27.13% of symptomatic patients attended the ED, 11.83% were hospitalized and about 2% died. Results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the OR for a positive test was significantly increased in patients who had fever (>38{degrees}C), ageusia and contact with a patient diagnosed with COVID-19. Conclusions The seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic individuals in the general population was lower than expected. Approximately 40% of the symptomatic patients followed by GPs during the peak months of the pandemic in Barcelona, were positive. Fever (>38{degrees}C), anosmia, ageusia and contact with a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 were associated with a positive test result.


Apoptosis was evaluated in B cells from 41 patients with B-CLL and 20 healthy aged-matched controls. B cells were cultured with and without gamma-IFN and other cytokines; apoptosis was quantified at regular intervals throughout a 5-day culture period. According to Rai's criteria, 17 patients were classified as good risk, 16 as intermediate and eight as high risk. In vitro, purified B cells from B-CLL patients were evaluated for apoptosis. Maximal apoptosis (44.12%) was observed at day 5 in cells from patients with poor prognosis. The addition of gamma-IFN to the culture media prevented apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Maximal inhibition of apoptosis was achieved with 100 IU/ml of gamma-IFN. The degree of inhibition of apoptosis by gamma-IFN was greater in cells from the high-risk group patients than in those from the intermediate and good prognosis group (P < 0.0001). The expression of gamma-IFN receptors in B-CLL cells was evaluated using a MnAb against the extracellular domain of gamma-IFN receptor. After 4 days in culture with gamma-IFN, only cells from the intermediate- and high-risk groups showed an increase in the density of gamma-IFN receptors (P < 0.001). gamma-IFN was not detected in the sera of our study patients. However gamma-IFN was detectable in the media from both normal B cells and B-CLL cells in culture; there was no difference in the amount of gamma-IFN released by cells from the three groups of patients studied. Our results show that in vivo gamma-IFN inhibits apoptosis of B cells from B-CLL patients. The inhibitory effect of gamma-IFN on apoptosis correlates directly with the severity of the disease and this is likely explained by a marked upregulation of gamma-IFN receptors in cells from patients in the high-risk group.


Virus Throttling is a technique to slow the spread of worms and viruses by targeting their propagation. It works by preventing an infected machine infecting many others. This then results in fewer machines becoming infected and less traffic generated by the virus. The technique has been shown to work well for worms that spread over many TCP/IP protocols as well as email. This paper applies the technique to Instant Messaging. Worms and viruses that spread over Instant Messaging are a growing but significant threat. They have the potential to spread very rapidly causing widespread damage. While there have been few Instant Messaging viruses in the wild, they are likely to become more of a problem in the future, particularly as many enterprises are adopting Instant Messaging for internal use.


This article investigates how employees respond to hybrid organizing, that is, organizational settings that are characterized by multiple institutional logics. We examine individuals' propensity to either hybridize or compartmentalize multiple logics in such settings. Our empirical setting is that of a French energy corporation that engages in research partnerships with multiple public and private actors to further energy transition. Their hybrid organizing is informed by a logic of science and a logic of market, which tend to conflict with one another. Our findings suggest that three types of capital—scientific, social and cultural—shape individual responses to multiple logics. In addition, we found that individuals gain capital from three elements of their structural position: a) their professional training, b) the type of organizational position they occupy, and c) the length and the variety of their work experience in a hybrid organizational setting. These insights shed new light on how individuals respond to multiple logics, insight that can be useful for addressing the tensions that arise in hybrid organizing and that impact on organizational performance.


This article explores the stakes of digital transformation through a consideration of digital expertise. Expertise is investigated as it operates in everyday situations – drawing on empirical research undertaken in Brighton, UK, as part of the Communities and Cultures Network+ project. It is also deployed as a heuristic for inquiry into questions of use and the policy of use and investigated in relation to questions of automation that provoke reconsideration of the role of humans and machines in circuits of expertise. This latter necessitates reconsideration of how expertise can be theorized, and this is developed through an account that insists on the importance of both the material and the circulating imaginary for understanding the operations of digital expertise. Drawing these together to develop a new understanding of the economy of digital expertise, inspiration is finally drawn from earlier attempts to develop new models of technological expertise in the context of public science, undertaken with the specific intent of contributing to furthering the democratization of knowledge. In this article too, expertise is invoked albeit in a rather different way as constituting the grounds for the development of a political demand. The article closes with a question concerning the stakes of a demand for digital expertise.


Oil Skimming Although designs vary, all oil skimmers rely on specific gravity, surface tension and a moving medium to remove floating oil from a fluid's surface. Floating oil and grease cling to skimming media more readily than water, and water has little affinity for the media. This allows skimming media in the shape of a belt, disk, drum, etc. to pass through a fluid surface to pick up floating oil and grease with very little water. This oily material is subsequently removed from the media with wiper blades or pinch rollers. Oil skimmers are simple, dependable and effective tools for removing oil, grease and other hydrocarbons from water and coolants. Often, an oil skimmer by itself can achieve the desired level of water purity. In more demanding situations, oil skimming is a cost-effective means of removing most of the oil before using more complicated and costly treatments such as coalescers, membrane filters and chemical processes. Grease skimming involves higher viscosity hydrocarbons. Oil skimmers must be equipped with heaters powerful enough to keep grease fluid for discharge. If the floating grease has formed into solid clumps or mats, a spray bar, aerator or mechanical apparatus can be used to break up grease mats and facilitate removal. This topic describes the development of the OS with typical working model.


The question of judicial protection of trans people has come to the fore in recent years, culminating in Bill C-16 which added gender identity and gender expression to the federal anti-discrimination and hate crime laws. In this article, the author contests the notion that anti-discrimination and hate crime laws are effective in mitigating anti-trans harassment, discrimination, and violence. Suggesting that the model of anti-trans acts which underlies anti-discrimination and hate crime laws is erroneous, the author argues that the law's impact on trans wellbeing will be modest and that a careful analysis of anti-trans attitudes enables us to identify a number of more effective governmental avenues towards trans emancipation.


Sasol Synfuels is a petrochemical industry producing fuels and chemicals from coal and situated in the Gert Sibande district municipality of Mpumdanga.
These activities result in pollutants being released into the atmosphere. It was required to determine if reducing the radius of a 5.2 km pollution circle, measured from the centre of the plant, by 400m, to allow further residential development, will expose residents to an unacceptable ambient benzene concentration. A detailed study was implemented whereby the ambient air was sampled and analysised during a two seasonal period to determine how the benzene emissions released from the factory will impact on future residents within this 400m area. Meteorological measurements were also used to monitor atmospheric conditions.
The results showed that the yearly average of ambient benzene concentrations for Secunda was 0.41 ppb and 0.64 ppb for eMbalenhle which was below the South African standard, but there were frequent sampling periods when the short-term concentrations exceeded the annual standard, occurring mostly during the night, when the majority of residents were at home.
From the results obtained, the 5.2 km pollution circle should therefore be maintained to ensure this risk of exposure to people is kept to a minimum.


SUMMARY Pathogenic bacteria commonly deploy enzymes to promote virulence. These enzymes can modulate the functions of host cell targets. While the actions of some enzymes can be very obvious (e.g., digesting plant cell walls), others have more subtle activities. Depending on the lifestyle of the bacteria, these subtle modifications can be crucially important for pathogenesis. In particular, if bacteria rely on a living host, subtle mechanisms to alter host cellular function are likely to dominate. Several bacterial virulence factors have evolved to use enzymatic deamidation as a subtle posttranslational mechanism to modify the functions of host protein targets. Deamidation is the irreversible conversion of the amino acids glutamine and asparagine to glutamic acid and aspartic acid, respectively. Interestingly, all currently characterized bacterial deamidases affect the function of the target protein by modifying a single glutamine residue in the sequence. Deamidation of target host proteins can disrupt host signaling and downstream processes by either activating or inactivating the target. Despite the subtlety of this modification, it has been shown to cause dramatic, context-dependent effects on host cells. Several crystal structures of bacterial deamidases have been solved. All are members of the papain-like superfamily and display a cysteine-based catalytic triad. However, these proteins form distinct structural subfamilies and feature combinations of modular domains of various functions. Based on the diverse pathogens that use deamidation as a mechanism to promote virulence and the recent identification of multiple deamidases, it is clear that this enzymatic activity is emerging as an important and widespread feature in bacterial pathogenesis.


While there is a growing amount of research pertaining to the experiences of gay and lesbian participants in sport, there is currently a scarcity of knowledge surrounding the experiences of bisexual individuals within the context of sport. The little literature which does exist fails to address the experiences of bisexual individuals specifically. This study seeks to add to the literature pertaining to bisexual individuals within sport by exploring the experiences of bisexual-identifying women within a team sport context. Through the use of a constructivist epistemology, and employing a symbolic interactionist framework, six semi-structured interviews were analyzed using a methodology rooted in grounded theory. The data showed the current experiences of the Canadian women interviewed within their team sport environments were viewed positively. However, the positive nature of their experiences appeared to be due, in part, to their own successful navigation of their social spheres within sport. The data illustrated that the women's interactions with team members were interpreted differently when they were closeted compared to when they were out to their teams; when closeted, their interactions were often dictated by fear. Regardless of their age, the women described situations where they were uncomfortable in their sport environment because of their bisexual identity. This discomfort led them to manage their stigmatized sexual identities in one of three ways: (1) through remaining closeted and/or avoiding disclosing or discussing their sexual identity; (2) through navigating their interpersonal experiences for the comfort of others; and (3) through finding "supportive environments" where team members were perceived to be accepting their sexual identities.


In an effort to address the opioid epidemic, a majority of states have recently passed some version of a Naloxone Access Law (NAL) and/or a Good Samaritan Law (GSL). NALs allow lay persons to administer naloxone, which temporarily counteracts the effects of an opioid overdose; GSLs provide immunity from prosecution for drug possession to anyone who seeks medical assistance in the event of a drug overdose. This study is the first to examine the effect of these laws on opioid-related deaths. Using data from the National Vital Statistics System multiple cause-of-death mortality files for the period 1999-2014, we find that the adoption of a NAL is associated with a 9 to 11 percent reduction in opioid-related deaths. The estimated effect of GLSs on opioid-related deaths is of comparable magnitude, but not statistically significant at conventional levels. Finally, we find that neither NALs nor GSLs increase the recreational use of prescription painkillers.


The term Prion (Proteinaceous infectious) was first described by Stanley Prusiner in 1982. Prions are infectious proteins and are responsible for many neurodegenerative diseases, collectively termed as transmissible spongioform encephalopathies, including; BSE, vBSE, scrapie and CJD. Prions are also present in fungi. There have been a number of prion proteins discovered in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Probably the most studied of these is the [PSI+], which is the prion form of the protein Sup35, which is required for the release of nascent polypeptide chains from the ribosome during translation termination. Studies indicate that the de novo formation and propagation of yeast prions require the function of protein chaperones and co-chaperones. The heat shock proteins (HSP) such as Hsp40, Hsp70 and Hsp104, are essential for prion propagation in yeast. Hsp70 is a highly conserved protein composed of an N-terminal ATPase domain, a peptide-binding domain (PBD) and a C-terminal domain. In this study we describe a genetic screen that identifies an array of mutants within different domains of the major cytosolic Hsp70 chaperones of yeast, Ssa1-4 which impair the propagation of [PSI+]. A majority of isolated mutants are located within the ATPase domain and have no significant affect on Hsp70 function. The PBD mutant Ssa1F475S, which impairs [PSI+] propagation also appears to make Ssa1 non-functional and may implicate Ssa1 in an array of cellular functions. We also highlight differences between the Hsp70 cytosolic Ssa family members with respect to prion propagation and Hsp70 function.


Improving the energy efficiency of road lighting is currently one of the most important issues. One of the methods of improving energy efficiency is the use of dimmable luminaires. In order to be able to compare the energy efficiency of different technical solutions, EN 13201-5 introduces energy performance indicators for road lighting installations. The chapter describes energy performance indicators for road installation and the impact of active power losses on these indicators and electricity costs. In order to accurately calculate the above indicators, the active power losses in the elements of the lighting installation should be taken into account. The chapter presents the dependencies which can be used to calculate the active power losses in single- and three-phase systems. In addition, an example of calculation of energy performance indicators, active power and energy losses and electricity costs is provided. The calculation was made for an exemplary installation of road lighting with dimmable luminaires. The analysis was done for single-phase and three-phase installations.


Several towing concepts have arisen in recent years that break the convention of towing two source arrays between the innermost two streamers in a multi-streamer 3D configuration ('dualsource shooting'). Three 'arrays' of one or more sub-arrays were towed more than 20 years ago to improve cross-line spatial sampling, but inline spatial sampling and fold were compromised by inefficient recycling times on air gun compressors and limited recording lengths. Modern acquisition systems enable
continuous recording, very short physical shot intervals, and up to six source arrays being deployed between the innermost two streamers; always with the ambition of improving cross-line spatial sampling.
I discuss two newer variations to these scenarios using either dual-source or triple-source shooting, although the principles may be expanded to more sources distributed in the cross-line direction: 1. Towing source arrays outside the innermost two streamers such that survey efficiency is improved courtesy of the nominal sail-line separation being increased. It is demonstrated that cross-line fold becomes irregular as source separation increases in the cross-line direction, so complementary processing methods may be required to reduce imaging artifacts. 2. Alternatively, if the sail-line separation is based on a conventional source towing scenario, some flexibility may be created in terms of near offset sampling.


In the area of information technology large amount of data are generated and stored day
by day. Time series are used in many application areas of science e.g.: weather forecasting,
financial market analysis, sensor networks, motion capture, medical data analysis,
churn analysis or credit scoring. Missing values occur frequently in time series due to
several reasons. Because of the distortion they can cause in any data analysis, treatment
of missing data is necessary. The goal of this work is to investigate the application of the
Centroid Decomposition algorithm for the recovery of missing values in time series. We
developeded a method for the recovery of missing data, based on iterative refinement of
missing values by applying Centroid Decomposition and dimensionality reduction technique.
We provide an extensive set of experiments to evaluate the scalability of our
implementation. We apply our implementation to recover missing blocks in real world
hydrological time series and identify the classes of time series that can be recovered using
this technique.


Interleukin 1alpha (IL-1alpha) and IL-1beta, and the endogenous IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) are known members of the IL-1 family. Using in situ hybridization histochemistry we demonstrated that following endotoxin injection (lipopolysaccharides, LPS, 2.0 mg/kg, i.p.) a time dependent expression and partly different expression patterns of the cytokines occurred within the rat brain and pituitary gland. All cytokines were observed in the choroid plexus. In addition, IL-1ra mRNA expressing cells were observed scattered in the brain parenchyma, whereas scattered IL-1beta mRNA expressing cells were restricted to central thalamic nuclei, the dorsal hypothalamus, and cortical regions, such as the parietal and frontal cortex. A strong IL-1beta mRNA expression was found in the circumventricular organs. In the pituitary gland, a low IL-1alpha and a high IL-1beta mRNA expression was observed, with the highest density of cytokine-expressing cells seen in the posterior pituitary. The cell types expressing the mRNA's of IL-1alpha, IL-1beta and IL-1ra were identified as monocytes in the circumventricular organs and the pituitary gland, and as microglia in the brain parenchyma. In conclusion, the present findings revealed that cytokine production in response to a peripheral endotoxin challenge mainly occurs in peripherally derived monocytes in the circumventricular organs and the pituitary gland. IL-1beta is the predominant form expressed, whereas the expression of IL-1alpha mRNA and IL-1ra mRNA is lower. Our observations support the view that peripherally derived IL-1 may play a role in the induction of centrally mediated illness symptoms.


Regular control problems in the sense of the Legendre condition are defined, and second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions in this class are reviewed. Adding a scalar homotopy parameter, differential pathfollowing is introduced. The previous sufficient conditions ensure the definiteness and regularity of the path. The role of AD for the implementation of this approach is discussed, and two examples excerpted from quantum and space mechanics are detailed.


This article focuses on the development of the crime of incitement to genocide and the prohibition of hate propaganda. It first examines the conflict which exists between these and the right to freedom of speech and concludes that a limitation of this right through prohibition of hate propaganda and criminalization of incitement to genocide is justifiable. The article then analyses how the crime of incitement to genocide and the prohibition of hate propaganda first developed historically, focusing on judgments by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and the Genocide Convention, on the one hand, and on international conventions and case law by the Human Rights Committee and the European Court of Human Rights, on the other. Next, recent ICTR decisions are examined, in which the ICTR has considerably clarified and extended the concept of incitement to genocide. The tribunal has brought it closer to encompassing vicious hate propaganda by acknowledging that in order to incite individuals to commit genocide, incitement in the sense of instigation is insufficient; it requires the prior creation of a certain climate in which the commission of such crimes is possible. Hate propaganda leads to the creation of such a climate. It is argued that, for several reasons, virulent hate propaganda must be accorded the status of an international crime. Genocide could be prevented more effectively if such speech were criminalized. Several efforts to outlaw hate propaganda internationally in the past are examined. The article concludes that it can be regarded as a crime punishable under the Genocide Convention if a purposive interpretative approach is used, and that hate propagandists should be prosecuted for direct and public incitement to genocide if their hate speech is engaged in with the specific intent to commit genocide, and creates a substantial danger of genocide.


When two robot arms holding an object together they form a closed kinematic chain which enables generation and control of arbitrary internal forces on the object. The internal forces balance within the closed kinematic chain and therefore do not contribute to the resultant force that generates motion. However, they change the effective compliance realized on the object. Therefore when the object held by the robots makes a contact with a rigid environment the compliance at the contact location does not only depend on the inherent compliances and the posture of each robot arm but also depends on the internal forces exerted on the object. In cases when the contact location moves relative to each robot's tip, the compliance at the contact depends also on the variation of the contact location. In this study we propose a method that utilizes the internal forces to keep the contact compliance in primarily important directions close to the desired values regardless of the variation of the contact location and robots' posture.


There is limited empirical research on the extent to which politicized recruitment of ministerial advisers affects the quality of the policy process. In this article we take a novel step by looking at two possible consequences of increased political recruitment for the policy process: administrative politicization and contestability. We deploy a Most Similar Systems comparison of Denmark and Sweden and include survey answers from 657 civil servants in managerial positions. We find that political recruitment of top civil servants, such as Swedish state secretaries, restricts the access of the civil service to the minister, but it does not substantially politicize the policy process. Danish civil servants perceive themselves as more contested by the relatively few Danish political advisers than their Swedish colleagues. Our results imply that the organization of political advice is a crucial factor for politicization and contestability


Using large-scale individual-level Norwegian administrative register data on the total population of men, we study the offending rates five years prior to and after five different family-related transitions. Leading criminological theories predict that marriage and fatherhood has a preventive effect on crime, with marriage receiving most support by empirical research. The last decades' major changes in family patterns warrant a re-examination of the marriage effect. We argue that marriage, cohabitation, and fatherhood all are important aspects of the family formation process. We find some support for the hypothesis that family formation inhibit criminal behaviors, but our results are less clear-cut than those reported by previous research. Most importantly, the declines in offending in the years prior to experiencing family transitions do not seem to be of a permanent nature.