In the last 7 significant accidents on the railways in GB there have been 60 passenger fatalities. 14 of these have been caused by ejection (passengers being thrown from the train during the course of the collision). One additional fatality was attributed to an object entering the carriage through the train window. In total there have been 26 ejections with over 50% resulting in fatality. The trend has been towards higher speed incidents involving vehicles overturning. The authority responsible for setting Safety Standards and, conducting research on behalf of the Train Operators and Stakeholders in GB's railways is the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). They initiated a multi faceted stream of research to investigate the performance of glazed systems in train incidents. The aim of the research was to identify and establish measures which replicate the conditions to which glazed systems may be subject to in collision conditions and to formulate corresponding performance requirements designed to prevent passenger ejection. The research was phased and entailed the following: • Accident investigation and analysis, detailed vehicle examination. • Review of 600 passenger witness statements, obtained by British Transport Police. • Generation of computer models using the MADYMO code and Side Impact Dummy (SID) to model the overturning event in a variety of conditions. • Postulation of events and measures based on analysis. • Proposed test programme. • Construction of new test apparatus. • Construction of existing glazed units — benchmarking process. • Construction of glazed units of improved design utilising different glass specifications and laminations but capable of being fitted into existing frames. • Testing, reporting, stakeholder reviews and the production of a new equipment standard for glass in railway vehicles. The research team was keen to include a glazing company capable of providing the highest level of technical support. Independent Glass, a Scottish company had been making significant strides in improving the penetration performance of glazed units (especially at the extremes of ambient temperature conditions) was chosen to produce glass samples for the project. A significant amount of testing was undertaken at their premises in Glasgow. Additionally the new tests were undertaken which demonstrate improved penetration resistance by heavy objects and improved passenger containment. This research has been embedded in the proposed new RSSB standard "GM/RT 2100" [1] which has developed a new scenario based sequential testing regime for glazed laminated systems in railway vehicles. This paper will inform the audience of these new requirements and the research which led to its introduction. It will show the testing that has been undertaken from the perspective of the glazing manufacturer and will detail the equipment that is required to be able to perform these new tests. It will comment on the cost and mass implications of fitting these new glazing units to vehicles in GB and the safety benefit of doing so. Toughened windows are still being used by some train operators for emergency egress; however most operators are now converting their vehicles to having entirely laminated units in vehicles. This is not the subject of this paper.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Gating clocks has been a widely adopted technique for reducing dynamic power. The clock gating strategy employed has a huge bearing on the clock tree synthesis quality along with the impact to leakage and dynamic power. This paper proposes a technique for clock gate optimization to aid clock tree synthesis. The technique enables cloning and redistribution of the fanout among the existing equivalent clock gates. The technique is placement aware and hence reduces overall clock wire length and The method involves employing the "k-means clustering algorithm" to geographically partition the design's registers. This enables better clock tree quality entitlement during clock tree synthesis in terms of clock tree area, power and better local skew distribution. The paper highlights the utility of this technique by showcasing the clock tree synthesis quality of results improvement on a complex design.


Industrial flutter prediction for large transport aircraft requires numerical capabilities to predict unsteady aerodynamic forces induced by harmonic oscillations for the
complete flight envelope including transonic and separated flow conditions, with shock boundary layer interaction and inverse shock motion.
Adequate numerical methods have to model both flow physical and geometrical complexities in more detail than the standard DLM approach. The application of CFD methods results in a more or less time consuming task. On the other hand the aircraft development process, which leads to structural modifications with impact on the flutter behaviour, requires robust and accurate analyses for various stiffness and/or mass conditions in short iteration times.
Thus the CFD calculation process should be decoupled from the structural analysis process. This can be achieved by application of aerodynamic reduced order models (ROM). A new method following this strategy is presented. It relies on a limited number of unsteady CFD computations forming the ROM data base, combined with an arbitrary number of Doublet Lattice computations. Thus compatibility with standard DLM based linear flutter prediction process is conserved. The quality of the new approach depends significantly on the choice and number of single CFD computations, as well as on mapping of these results to the DLM aerodynamic data structure.
The validation of this approach is performed in a first step by comparing unsteady pressure distributions and generalised airloads for cases of the parameter space, which have not been included in the data base. In a second step the complete process validation requires a common aeroelastic reference test case of adequate complexity. A brief review of available windtunnel data for both unsteady aerodynamics and flutter outlines the shortcomings of these data, like
missing measurements of a clear transonic dip significantly below Mach number one, and of inverse shock motions.

A new common test configuration with a transonic dip flutter boundary in the Mach number range between 0.80 and 0.95 is proposed. The aircraft geometry from the Drag-Prediction
Workshop 4 fulfils the above mentioned unsteady aerodynamic requirements. It is extended to a flutter model of a generic aircraft. The capability of this model is demonstrated by applying the above flutter process. An unsteady aerodynamic ROM is generated in the 3 dimensional parameter space of Mach number, reduced frequency and elastic mode shape. For selected points of this parameter space a sufficient number of unsteady RANS simulations is performed to display unsteady pressure distributions at Mach numbers between 0.6 and 0.90, and reduced frequencies up to 4. A constant lift coefficient of 0.50 has been chosen for all Mach numbers. DLR's TAU code is applied for attached flow conditions in linear modus. The
ROM is completed by performing this procedure for several so called synthetic modes, which are chosen properly to display all realistic structural modes (of the fixed aircraft geometry), without their detailed knowledge.


In order to efficiently support the communication requirements for emerging multimedia conferencing applications, we need more sophisticated connection control funtionalities. This paper proposes an end-to-end multimedia multipoint connection management protocol, smartMCP, based on out-of-band control. The management services are modelled into three abstraction-levels; association, connection, and synchronization control services, which are directly accessible by applications. The structure of conventional OSI SAP(Service Access Point) was enhanced to provide adequate access mechanism for those services. The protocol was designed to be run over networks with multicasting capabilities, however it can be mapped to point-to-point network services with minor adjustments. The connection management protocol behavior is introduced.<<ETX>>


This paper describes the spatial distribution of tax base, local expenditures, and local tax rates over the period from 1974/1975 to 1980/1981. The paper then analyses the extent to which resource and expenditure patterns are related to inner-city stress (as measured by partnership and other statutory status following the 1978 Inner Urban Areas legislation) and local political party colour. From the use of analysis of covariance methods, the conclusion is drawn that urban stress has little relation to resource and expenditure differences, but that local party colour is strongly correlated with expenditure and tax base differences. Deriving from the role of the rate support grant, tax rates show no significant relation to urban status or local party colour.


Predation risk influences foraging decisions and time allocation of prey species, and may result in habitat shifts from potentially dangerous to safer areas. We examined a wild population of western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) to test the efficacy of predator faecal odour in influencing time allocated to different behaviours and inducing changes in habitat use. Kangaroos were exposed to fresh faeces of a historical predator, the dingo (Canis lupus dingo), a recently introduced predator, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), a herbivore (horse, Equus caballus) and an unscented control simultaneously. Kangaroos did not increase vigilance in predator-scented areas. However, they investigated odour sources by approaching and sniffing; more time was spent investigating fox odour than control odours. Kangaroos then exhibited a clear anti-predator response to predator odours, modifying their space use by rapidly escaping, then avoiding fox and dingo odour sources. Our results demonstrate that wild western grey kangaroos show behavioural responses to predator faeces, investigating then avoiding these olfactory cues of potential predation risk, rather than increasing general vigilance. This study contributes to our understanding of the impact of introduced mammalian predators on marsupial prey and demonstrates that a native Australian marsupial can recognize and respond to the odour of potential predators, including one that has been recently introduced.


Extensive studies of the epidemiology of nocturnal enuresis (NE) in Western countries indicate that the prevalence of this condition is relatively high (7-10% of children aged 7 years are enuretic). In the current study, questionnaires to assess the epidemiology of NE in Hong Kong were completed by 3521 school children, aged 4-12 years, the majority of whom (99.8%) were ethnic Chinese. Analysis of these questionnaires revealed a lower prevalence of monosymptomatic NE in this population of children (3.5%) compared with the results of studies conducted in Western countries. Furthermore, NE was found to be associated with arousal difficulties, nightmares, a positive family history of enuresis, poor school performance and poor relationships with classmates. A second study conducted to evaluate the response to desmopressin treatment of 25 children with severe monosymptomatic NE showed that 84% had a good response (> 50% reduction in the number of wet nights). Taken together, the results of these studies suggest that children with NE in Hong Kong may represent a more homogeneous population than in other countries, and that there is a strong genetic component in the aetiology of NE in this country. These children appear to be particularly responsive to treatment with desmopressin.


Reading is perhaps the most important skill for second language learners in academic contexts (Grabe, 2014; Lynch & Hudson, 1991).  The need to be able to read in English is especially felt at the tertiary level where most of the academic sources are in English.  Yet, Reading is one of the skills that learners often find extremely difficult (Littlewood & Liu, 1996). One major reason for these difficulties is the use of reading strategies and importance of lower-level processes in reading. This study investigated to the choice and frequency of reading strategies by Tunisian tertiary level students (N=147).  It aimed to point out whether variables such as Specialty, Proficiency and Gender correlated with the broad categories of Reading strategies identified by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002).  Results unveiled little difference between Hard Science and Soft Science majors in their use of Reading strategies.  Statistical analyses demonstrated no relationship between proficiency level, gender, and strategy use.


Borrelia burgdorferi outer surface protein C (ospC) is required for the establishment of infection in mammals. However, its precise function remains controversial. The biologically active form of OspC appears to be a homodimer. Alpha helix 1 and 1′ of the apposing monomers form a solvent‐accessible pocket at the dimeric interface that presents a putative ligand‐binding domain (LBD1). Here we employ site‐directed and allelic‐exchange mutagenesis to test the hypothesis that LBD1 is a determinant of OspC function in the mammalian environment. Substitution of residues K60, E61 and E63 which line LBD1 resulted in the loss of infectivity or influenced dissemination. Analyses of the corresponding recombinant proteins demonstrated that the loss of function was not due to structural perturbation, impaired dimer formation or the loss of plasminogen binding. This study is the first to assess the involvement of individual residues and domains of OspC in its in vivo function. The data support the hypothesis that OspC interacts with a mammalian derived ligand that is critical for survival during early infection. These results shed new light on the structure–functions relationships of OspC and challenge existing hypotheses regarding OspC function in mammals.


Rate of chemical diffusion is directly related to molecular mass, chemical concentration, and temperature; these factors all must be accounted for when developing artificial cellular membrane for biological use (Hoefnagels, 2014). Desiring to determine the extent to which heat affects the rate of diffusion when involving an artificial membrane, thermal energy was applied to one solution submerged in no thermal energy was applied to the other. Finding both the difference in diffusion rate between NaCl and Glucose and the result of these diffusion rates when heat is added, the experiment provided answers for designing man-made cellular membranes that may allow a regulated amount of diffusion that suites the needs of an organism. Filling 4 separate dialysis tubing segments, 2 with solutions of glucose and 2 with solutions of NaCl solutions, the experiment efficiently detected the variation of diffusion caused by both differing molecule size and thermal energy. The results of this experimentation will aid in stepping forward in the race to create more life-like artificial cells, for their membranes may be designed to better resemble the rates of diffusion of organic cells (French, 2014).


This paper tests the empirical validity of theoretical predictions on corporate spin-offs motivations and ex-post performance. Using a unique data set of completed spinoffs in twelve European countries we show that spin-off decisions are frequently triggered by firm's governance changes, such as the appointment of a new CEO or a takeover threat. Post-transaction long-run stock returns and operating performance are observed for spin-off firms only, and mostly for internally-grown business units and parent-related (non-focusing) subsidiaries. We find no evidence that post-spin-off mergers of either parents or subsidiaries enhance long-term performance, or that focus-increasing spin-offs lead to efficiency improvements.


Impacts on Australian agriculture of projected climate change are likely to be spatially and temporally diverse, with many regions likely to experience increased downside risk in agricultural production. Some regions, such as south-west Australia, are projected to be particularly at risk of adverse outcomes associated with climate change. The rate and extent of warming, along with impacts on rainfall distributions, are key determinants of agricultural impacts and will affect the success of adaptation strategies. The likely gradual unfolding of climate change should provide farmers in many regions and industries with sufficient time to utilise or develop adaptation strategies. Many of these strategies are likely to be based on farmers' current responses to climate variability. Investments in R&D and innovation could be important ingredients in facilitating farmers' adaptation to climate change. Farmers are likely to face additional costs of capital adjustment due to climate change. Investment in long-lived climate-dependent agricultural assets such as irrigation infrastructure, vineyards and agroforestry will become more problematic. Investing in ecological assets in rural regions, especially where these assets may become stranded by climate change, also will be increasingly problematic.


For many tasks, the reward function is too complex to be specified procedurally, and must instead be learned from user data. Prior work has evaluated learned reward functions by examining rollouts from a policy optimized for the learned reward. However, this method cannot distinguish between the learned reward function failing to reflect user preferences, and the reinforcement learning algorithm failing to optimize the learned reward. Moreover, the rollout method is highly sensitive to details of the environment the learned reward is evaluated in, which often differ in the deployment environment. To address these problems, we introduce the Equivalent-Policy Invariant Comparison (EPIC) distance to quantify the difference between two reward functions directly, without training a policy. We prove EPIC is invariant on an equivalence class of reward functions that always induce the same optimal policy. Furthermore, we find EPIC can be precisely approximated and is more robust than baselines to the choice of visitation distribution. Finally, we find that the EPIC distance of learned reward functions to the ground-truth reward is predictive of the success of training a policy, even in different transition dynamics.


Abstract Amy Beach's "Gaelic" Symphony is the most prominent nineteenth-century American expression of Irishness in music. Despite the reference to another country in its title, the work has largely been interpreted via the lens of American nationalism. Its historiography reflects the immense interest in national style in nineteenth-century American music scholarship. This article initiates a discussion about nineteenth-century American composers' engagement with the world beyond their own national borders. It explores the "Gaelic" Symphony's transnational dimensions, which engage largely with two groups: concert music composers and the Irish diaspora. Regarding the former, the article illuminates nuances of intertextuality in Beach's style. It revises the historical narrative surrounding the "Gaelic" Symphony as a response to Antonín Dvořák's "New World" Symphony, finding multiple additional models for Beach's work. The "Gaelic" Symphony is positioned instead as a representation of concert music styles that valued cosmopolitan approaches and judged composers on the skill with which they consciously blended multiple streams of influence. Regarding the latter category of the Irish, the article contextualizes the symphony within a revival of Irish cultural practices taking place in the 1890s, revealing how constructions of Irishness in the symphony reflect Gaelic revival values and respond to social tensions between Boston's Irish-American community and the city's upper class.


Voltage fluctuations in distribution networks are a power quality disturbance that can produce a number of undesirable effects, particularly if the level of fluctuation becomes excessive. Utilities and customers have a responsibility of ensuring that levels remain below values that are regarded as acceptable. In order to determine what an acceptable level might be, measurement techniques have been devised that are able to establish a quantitative measure for voltage fluctuations. The basis of these methods is the effect that voltage fluctuations have on the luminous output of the incandescent lamp. This phenomena is referred to as lamp flicker, or simply flicker. The IEC Technical Reports IEC/TR 61000-2-2 and 61000-2-12 define flicker levels that arise in response to voltage fluctuations by using short term and long term flicker severity indices, Pst and Plt, on the basis of human visual sensation which is generated by the traditional incandescent lamp types. The output from new lamp types such as compact fluorescent lights are less sensitive to voltage fluctuations as their flicker characteristics are considerably different compared to those of the traditional incandescent lamp. These differences could support the moderation of the present voltage fluctuation and flicker standards and hence the associated limits. However, the severity indices used to quantify flicker do not account for effects that may be observed in the terminal characteristics of electrical equipment connected to the public supply network. Therefore, the potential detrimental effects on electrical equipment which may be caused by relaxation of these flicker limits should be investigated before any changes to the present standards take place. The related investigation presented in this thesis is motivated by this issue in addition to developing a greater insight into the impact of voltage fluctuations on common items of electrical equipment. The impact of voltage fluctuations on a single-phase, full-bridge rectifier with a capacitor filter is investigated. Such a circuit is found in many different types of equipment. By comparing the DC-link capacitor ripple current characteristic beiii tween non-fluctuating and regular fluctuating AC power supplies using mathematical analyses, simulation, and experimental verification, the investigation reveals that the DC-link capacitor will accumulate and dissipate increased amounts of charge when the rectifier is subjected to AC source voltage fluctuations. The consequence of this phenomena is that the RMS value of the capacitor current will increase and the magnitude of this increase is related to the modulation frequency and magnitude of the fluctuating voltage. Therefore, an AC supply with a voltage fluctuation component will cause the capacitor filter of the rectifier circuit to sustain increased stress. This stress may accelerate the capacitor ageing process, possibly resulting in premature equipment failure. Using a simple thermal model of an aluminium electrolytic capacitor coupled with the newly determined relationship between supply voltage fluctuations and capacitor RMS current, a lifetime model is developed. This model is used to estimate the reduction in the useful lifetime of the capacitor as a function of the severity of the voltage fluctuations applied to the rectifier and capacitor-filter combination. As a consequence of the method used for establishing the short term flicker index, Pst, the lifetime model demonstrates that Pst is an ineffective metric. The performance of widely used mains-connected three-phase induction motors heavily depends on power supply quality. Thus, the impact of voltage fluctuations on mains connected induction motors is another effect worthy of investigation. A perphase equivalent circuit and a dynamic model has been used to analyse the impact of regular voltage fluctuations on the stator and rotor current characteristics of a squirrel cage induction motor. The outcomes of the simulation work and experimental verification indicate that the stator and rotor RMS current magnitudes of are affected significantly by voltage fluctuations. This effect worsens as the modulation frequency and the modulation depth of the supply voltage increase. Such an increase in the RMS current will increase copper losses in the motor, resulting in winding temperature rise and subsequently accelerating the ageing process. Although the squirrel cage induction motor is a complex device, simple thermal iv models have been developed by a range of researchers. By applying such a thermal model, coupled with the known relationship between supply voltage fluctuations and stator RMS current, a lifetime model for the induction motor is developed. This model is used to estimate the reduction in the lifetime of the induction motor as a function of the severity of the source voltage fluctuations. The short term flicker index, Pst, is shown to be an ineffective metric with regard to this phenomenon. The impact of regular voltage fluctuations on an adjustable speed drive (ASD) is also investigated in this thesis. The outcomes of simulation work and experimental verification of an open-loop ASD structure connected to an induction motor coupled to various loading levels indicate that a fluctuating supply voltage will lead to an increase in the three-phase rectifier DC-link capacitor RMS current of the ASD. The magnitude of this increase is related to the modulation frequency and magnitude of the fluctuating voltage. The RMS current is observed to continue to increase as the voltage change and modulation frequency increases. The supply voltage fluctuations are also observed to pass through the rectifier circuit to the inverter and cause induction motor stator-current distortion. This thesis presents a series of impact investigations on common electrical loads and circuits found in electrical equipment. The results reveal that the standard methods of flicker measurement, Pst and Plt, cannot represent the risk to equipment degradation caused by voltage fluctuations. The evidence collected in this thesis will provide useful information to equipment manufacturers, electricity utilities, enduser customers and those involved in the development of relevant electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards.


This paper deals with the discourses on music in Herbert Spencer's and
 Charles Darwin's theories of evolution. Even though both Spencer and Darwin
 construed music as a carrier of the expression of affects and a part of a
 ubiquitous evolutional process towards ever increasing progress of culture,
 these authors' discourses differed from each other in the understanding of
 the origin and function of music. Darwin considered music as being one of the
 (natural) means of making a selection during the process of evolution of the
 humans as a biological species. Notwithstanding certain similarities to
 Darwin, Spencer (as well as his followers) discussed music as a part of a
 socio-cultural evolution, which entailed an approach to music as a historical
 and cultural phenomenon. I will here elaborate the position of the discourses
 on music in Spencer's and Darwin's general theories of evolution, point out
 to the relevant aspects of the concept of music evolution and mention the
 influence that these theories had on the 19th-century official discourses on
 music.


Rahman, Mohammed Mahbubur. M.S., Department of Applied and Social Economics, Wright State University, 1995. Telecommunications and Economic development. The thesis examines the relationship between telecommunications development and economic activity of nations. The findings confirm the previously established hypothesis that the causality of the relationship between these two factors exists in both directions. That is the development of economic activity at any point in time influences the development in telecommunications at a later point in timeand the development in telecommunications at any point in time also influences the economic activity at a later point in time. The major economic principle behind such significant correlation of telecommunications and economic development is that telecommunications helps reduce the transaction cost in different sectors of the economy thereby inducing better efficiency. Also, it influences the economy through the positive effects of network externalities, reduction in information costs, and facilitating the effective and timely coordination among agents. Higher economic growth, on the other hand, places more demand on the existing and newer telecommunications services inducing the development of the sector while the economic growth itself make the necessary investment resources available. In the present study, a crosssectional regression analysis reveals that the relationship between telecommunications and economic growth is highly significant for both the developed and the developing countries alike. Telecommunications development measured in number of telephone mainlines per hundred inhabitants are found to significantly effect GDP, overall exports, exports of services, and labor productivity measured in real GDP per worker. Many nations are recognizing the increasing importance of telecommunications to economic development. Efforts to reform their telecommunications include deregulation and liberalization strategies to create a suitable environment for the expansion and modernization of the telecommunications system. While substantial progress had been made in this regard, especially in the OECD countries, most of the lesser developed countries (LDCs) are left behind in their effort of modernization and expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure. One possible reason for the under investment in the telecommunications sector in LDCs is that investment in this sector has to compete with other infrastructure e.g., education, energy, roads and bridges, and other physical infrastructures which are also vital for economic development. In the present study, a cross sectional study of the nations suggests that telecommunications and energy are the most influential infrastructures for economic development. However, the number of telephones per 100 inhabitants is more influential over per capita energy consumption in spurring economic growth when these two variables are compared for policy implications. Most state owned telecommunications systems in developing countries will require restructuring in the form of ownership structure to make them suitable for foreign and private capital investments. This study reveals that a scarcity of capital resources in the state owned monopoly is the major impediment in the expansion and modernization of telecommunications infrastructure of the lesser developed nations. Privatization and liberalization may be the strategic choice in this regard.


This paper is included in the First Monday Special Issue #6: Commercial applications of the Internet, published in July 2006. Special Issue editor Mark A. Fox asked authors to submit additional comments regarding their articles.


The excessive amount of pig slurry spread on soil has contributed to nitrate water pollution both in surface and in ground waters, especially in areas classified as vulnerable zones to nitrate in accordance with European Regulation (91/676/CEE). Several techniques have been developed to manage livestock slurries as cheaply and conveniently as possible and to reduce potential risks of environmental pollution. Among these techniques, solid-liquid separation of slurry is a common practice in Italy. The liquid fraction can be used for irrigation and the solid fraction, after aerobic stabilization, produces an organic compost rich in humic substances. However, compost derived from swine solid fraction is a low density material (bulk density less than 500 kg􀀀m–3). This makes it costly to transport composted swine solid fraction from production sites to areas where it could be effectively utilized for value-added applications such as in soil fertilization. Densification is one possible way to enhance the storage and transportation of the compost. This study therefore investigates the effect of pressure (20- 110 MPa) and pressure application time (5-120 s) on the compaction characteristics of compost derived from swine solid fraction. Two different types of material have been used: composted swine solid fraction derived from mechanical separation and compost obtained by mixing the first material with wood chips. Results obtained showed that both the pressure applied and the pressure application time significantly affect the density of the compacted samples; while the specific compression energy is significantly affected only by the pressure. Best predictor equations were developed to predict compact density and the specific compression energy required by the densification process. The specific compression energy values based on the results from this study (6-32 kJ􀀀kg–1) were significantly lower than the specific energy required to manufacture pellets from biomass feedstock (typically 19-90 kJ􀀀kg–1).


Optimisation and control of comminution, pelletization, and agglomeration processes is a complex task with large potential for gains in productivity, energy efficiency, and particle size distribution quality. One factor in realising these gains is the requirement for fully-automated online particle size distribution measurement. Moreover, online particle size distribution measurement that is based on the particles on the visible surface and can avoid or mitigate substantial errors that result from under-sizing overlapped particles and over-sizing areas of fines particles. Literature review indicates a body of substantially 2D photographic based particle size measurement systems that suffer from a large number of significant errors except in the simplest case of a monolayer of particles under good illumination with limited color variation in the material. In order to measure the visible particles on a pile there are a number of requirements including; avoiding particle delineation errors due to variation in material color and shadows, detect overlapping versus nonoverlapping particles, and identify areas of fine particles as fines and not large rocks. Results are presented using a fully-automated online measurement system of crushed rock on conveyor belt using a 3D surface laser profile. The system provides continuous online measurement and results are shown on over four hours of production after the primary crusher. Size distribution results are calculated using volumetric estimation of the particles on the surface of the pile. The results show a strong capability to discriminate size variation especially in the 10% and 20% passing values. Furthermore results show that if areas of fines are misclassified as large rocks, and overlapped particles misclassified as small rocks, then a near complete loss of discrimination occurs for the P10 and P20 values which become largely constant values.


The notational analysis is used to investigate teams' performance in water polo, especially focused on the determinants of success. Recently, a new topic has emerged "the situational variables", this term includes the game conditions that may influence the performance at a behavioural level. Then, the aim of this study was to identify the interactive effects of Starting Quarter Score (i.e., score difference at the beginning of each quarter and at the final score) and Game Location (i.e., home and away teams) in relation to Quality of Opposition (i.e., positions of difference between opposing teams at the end-of-season rankings) in elite men's water polo games. Data comprised 528 games (n = 2,112 quarters) from the first Spanish water polo division. A linear regression analysis was applied to show the impact of Starting Quarter Score and Game Location in relation to Quality of Opposition (unbalanced and balanced) for quarter (all quarters, and second, third, and forth quarter). Results showed that SQS has an important effect for all quarters (0.16), and for the second (0.14) and third (0.14) quarters in balanced games (while the fourth quarter has an unpredictable outcome), and for each quarter (all quarters: 0.33; second quarter: 0.55; third quarter: 0.44; fourth quarter: 0.26) in unbalanced games. In addition, GL effects emerged for balanced (0.31) and unbalanced (0.45) games for all quarters, and specifically for the second quarter of the unbalanced games. Therefore, this study showed the elite water polo game dynamics, indirectly providing a reference for coaches (i.e., effective tactical approach) and physical trainers (i.e., high performance intensities) plans to improve their players' performance.


A collection of novel mono- and three-tailed derivatives based on a sugar (glucose) or an iminosugar (trihydroxy piperidine) featuring a terminal benzenesulfonamide were synthesized to investigate the so-called "sugar" and "azasugar" approach with the aim of exploring the activity and selectivity towards the inhibition of human carbonic anhydrases (hCAs). The synthetic approach relies on a general copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction followed by an amine-isothiocyanate coupling. Biological assays were used to collect subtle information on the role of these single or multiple hydrophilic chains. Among the sugar-based inhibitors, the single-tailed compound 10 was identified as a better inhibitor than the reference compound (AAZ) towards three different hCAs, while, among the three sugar tailed derivatives, potent and selective inhibition was found for compounds 25 and 26. A promising and selective inhibitory activity was discovered for the iminosugar single-tailed compound 31 towards hCA VII (Ki = 9.7 nM).


BACKGROUND
Interstitial pregnancy is a rare type of ectopic pregnancy, with a substantially increased morbidity and mortality. A pregnancy implanted in the interstitial part of the fallopian tube is often more difficult to diagnose and has multiple treatment modalities. The incidence seems to be increasing, but few gynaecological departments have guidelines regarding diagnosis and treatment. Our experience in managing this condition is presented.

MATERIAL
Six cases diagnosed from August 2005 to September 2006 are presented.

RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
There are numerous treatment regimens reported for this condition, both surgical and medical. Four different treatments were chosen for the six patients presented. Two patients received methotrexate and four received surgical treatment initially. Methotrexate is an option in haemodynamically stable patients where there is no sign of rupture at the implantation site, but the optimal dosing and mode of administration is unknown. Medical treatment of these patients requires a closer follow-up than that for other ectopic pregnancies. Surgery is indicated in patients who are haemodynamically unstable and in those with a possible rupture. Surgery should also be considered as initial treatment in advanced gestations and in women who are not interested in future childbearing.


The purpose of this paper is to provide an evolutionary perspective of cloud computing (CC) by integrating two previously disparate literatures: CC and information technology outsourcing (ITO). We review the literature and develop a framework that highlights the demand for the CC service, benefits, risks, as well as risk mitigation strategies that are likely to influence the success of the service. CC success in organisations and as a technology overall is a function of (i) the outsourcing decision and supplier selection, (ii) contractual and relational governance, and (iii) industry standards and legal framework. Whereas CC clients have little control over standards and/or the legal framework, they are able to influence other factors to maximize the benefits while limiting the risks. This paper provides guidelines for (potential) cloud computing users with respect to the outsourcing decision, vendor selection, service-level-agreements, and other issues that need to be addressed when opting for CC services. We contribute to the literature by providing an evolutionary and holistic view of CC that draws on the extensive literature and theory of ITO. We conclude the paper with a number of research paths that future researchers can follow to advance the knowledge in this field.


This study assessed whether attendance rates in a workplace predicted subsequent outcome of employment-based reinforcement of cocaine abstinence. Unemployed adults in Baltimore methadone programs who used cocaine (N=111) could work in a workplace for 4 hr every weekday and earn $10.00 per hour in vouchers for 26 weeks. During an induction period, participants provided urine samples but could work independent of their urinalysis results. After the induction period, participants had to provide urinalysis evidence of cocaine abstinence to work and maintain maximum pay. A multiple regression analysis showed that induction period attendance was independently associated with urinalysis evidence of cocaine abstinence under the employment-based abstinence reinforcement contingency. Induction period attendance may measure the reinforcing value of employment and could be used to guide the improvement of employment-based abstinence reinforcement.


he National Institute of Standards and Technology was established in 1988 by Congress to " assist industry in the development of technology ... needed to improve product quality, to modernize manufacturing processes, to ensure product reliability ... and to facilitate rapid commercialization ... of products based on new scientific discoveries. " NIST, originally founded as the National Bureau of Standards in 1901, works to strengthen U.S. industry's competitiveness; advance science and engineering; and improve public health, safety, and the environment. One of the agency's basic functions is to develop, maintain, and retain custody of the national standards of measurement, and provide the means and methods for comparing standards used in science, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, industry, and education with the standards adopted or recognized by the Federal Government. As an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST conducts basic and applied research in the physical sciences and engineering, and develops measurement techniques, test methods, standards, and related services. The Institute does generic and precompetitive work on new and advanced technologies. NIST's research facilities are located at Gaithersburg, MD 20899, and at Boulder, CO 80303. Major technical operating units and their principal activities are listed below. For more information visit the NIST Website at http://www.nist.gov, or contact the Publications and Program Inquiries Desk, 301-975-3058.


Wireless relays extend coverage, improve spectral efficiency, and enhance reliability and rates of wireless cellular communication systems. In this work, we introduce the fundamental notion of asymmetric cooperation among cooperating relays in cellular downlinks - different relays are party to different but overlapping knowledge about the messages transmitted from the base station. We argue that asymmetric cooperation arises naturally in most two-phase protocols in which the base station first transmits information to multiple relays that then cooperatively forward the information to the recipient mobile stations in the cell. For a system in which two relays are of the decode-and-forward type and cooperate using linear precoding to communicate with two mobile stations, we formulate the general, but complicated, throughput optimization problem and derive several results that considerably simplify the optimization. We show that under different channel configurations and fairness criteria, asymmetric cooperation is often the throughput-maximizing option. Under typical configurations, a 20-30% throughput enhancement is achieved compared to conventional full-cooperation systems.


Variceal bleeding is a life-threatening complication of portal hypertension. The recommended treatment includes the early administration of a vasoactive drug. Vapreotide is a somatostatin analogue with a different receptor affinity to octreotide. It decreases portal pressure and blood flow of collateral circulation in rats with cirrhosis. The pivotal study of early administration of vapreotide in patients with cirrhosis and variceal bleeding has shown a significant improvement in bleeding control and, in the subset of patients with significant bleeding, a significant reduction in mortality. In addition, a meta-analysis of four randomized studies has shown a significant improvement in bleeding control. Vapreotide administrated via the intravenous route is simple to use, with practically no contraindications and few, usually minor, side effects.


This study aimed to examine interindividual differences in electrodermal responses to a sudden stimulus by using different methods of electrodermal reaction assessment. Modelling the electrodermal response as a simple difference of mean electrodermal level before and after stimulus occurrence was compared with approaches that model the electrodermal response curve over time. The association of differently modelled electrodermal reaction with questionnaire measures of personality traits was examined. Ninety-seven students, mostly females (60 %), with age ranging from 18 to 28 participated in this study. Each subject completed a brief measure of neuroticism and extraversion from the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John et al., 1991, 2008) and participated in one laboratory measurement of electrodermal activity during a period of 8 minutes in which a sudden stimulus was presented. Electrodermal activity was modelled in three ways: 1) as a difference in pre- and post-stimulus responses; 2) including linear effects of time; 3) including quadratic effects of time. The outcomes of differently modelled electrodermal responses were correlated with questionnaire measures of neuroticism and extraversion. The results showed that by taking into account the effects of time (both linear and quadratic) the actual electrodermal data can be fitted significantly better. Likewise, estimates of the electrodermal response that take into account the effects of time result in both higher average response levels and interindividual variability. The electrodermal reaction modelled in this way (linear and quadratic) shows a slightly higher and significant positive correlation with neuroticism when compared to simpler methods, although the differences between the different modelling methods are relatively small. The results obtained support the idea of greater excitability related to the neuroticism trait. Given the intensity of the reaction, it is possible that the excitability associated with neuroticism is not specifically related to the valence of the stimulus that elicits that reaction. The correlations are extremely small, but they do not deviate from those obtained in other studies, especially since it is a single electrodermal measurement (Stemmler & Wacker, 2010). The results also show that correlations with personality traits can be detected even on a small sample and only one measurement by adequately modelling the electrodermal reaction.


We present the first simulations of tidal stirring of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group carried out in a fully cosmological context. We use the ErisDARK cosmological simulation of a Milky Way (MW)-sized galaxy to identify some of the most massive subhalos (Mvir > 108 M⊙) that fall into the main host before z = 2. Subhalos are replaced before infall with extremely high-resolution models of dwarf galaxies comprising a faint stellar disk embedded in a dark matter halo. The set of models contains cuspy halos as well as halos with "cored" profiles (with the cusp coefficient γ = 0.6) consistent with recent results of hydrodynamical simulations of dwarf galaxy formation. The simulations are then run to z = 0 with as many as 54 million particles and resolutions as small as ∼4 pc using the new parallel N-body code ChaNGa. The stellar components of all satellites are significantly affected by tidal stirring, losing stellar mass, and undergoing a morphological transformation toward a pressure supported spheroidal system. However, while some remnants with cuspy halos maintain significant rotational flattening and disk-like features, all the shallow halo models achieve vrot/σ⋆ < 0.5 and round shapes typical of dSph satellites of the MW and M31. Mass loss is also enhanced in the latter, and remnants can reach luminosities and velocity dispersions as low as those of ultra-faint dwarfs.


ABSTRACT Epidemiological cutoff values (ECV) are commonly used to separate wild-type isolates from isolates with reduced susceptibility to antifungal drugs, thus setting the foundation for establishing clinical breakpoints for Aspergillus fumigatus. However, ECVs are usually determined by eye, a method which lacks objectivity, sensitivity, and statistical robustness and may be difficult, in particular, for extended and complex MIC distributions. We therefore describe and evaluate a statistical method of MIC distribution analysis for posaconazole, itraconazole, and voriconazole for 296 A. fumigatus isolates utilizing nonlinear regression analysis, the normal plot technique, and recursive partitioning analysis incorporating cyp51A sequence data. MICs were determined by using the CLSI M38–A2 protocol (CLSI, CLSI document M38–A2, 2008) after incubation of the isolates for 48 h and were transformed into log2 MICs. We found a wide distribution of MICs of all azoles, some ranging from 0.02 to 128 mg/liter, with median MICs of 32 mg/liter for itraconazole, 4 mg/liter for voriconazole, and 0.5 mg/liter for posaconazole. Of the isolates, 65% (192 of 296) had mutations in the cyp51A gene, and the majority of the mutants (90%) harbored tandem repeats in the promoter region combined with mutations in the cyp51A coding region. MIC distributions deviated significantly from normal distribution (D'Agostino-Pearson omnibus normality test P value, <0.001), and they were better described with a model of the sum of two Gaussian distributions (R2, 0.91 to 0.96). The normal plot technique revealed a mixture of two populations of MICs separated by MICs of 1 mg/liter for itraconazole, 1 mg/liter for voriconazole, and 0.125 mg/liter for posaconazole. Recursive partitioning analysis confirmed these ECVs, since the proportions of isolates harboring cyp51A mutations associated with azole resistance were less than 20%, 20 to 30%, and >70% when the MICs were lower than, equal to, and higher than the above-mentioned ECVs, respectively.


It is a challenge to eradicate cancer cells while sparing normal cells. Only to improve the biodistribution of cancer drugs, nanoparticles are designed for optimal size and surface characteristics to broaden their circulation time within the blood circulation. They are also able to carry their loaded active drugs to cancer cells by using the unique functional changes of tumors, as like their enhanced permeability and retention effect and the tumor microenvironment. In this review report, we have discussed the current status of nanoparticles developed as targeting delivery systems for anticancer drugs.


The purpose of this study was to design and develop an instructional multimedia for digital logics gate topic in Electrical and Electronic subject. This topic was chosen as the content-wise of this instructional media due to the teachers' recommendation. Teachers stated that students are facing difficulty to identify types, symbols, functions and completing the truth tables for logic gate. The failure of students to master this basic concept led them facing difficulty to solve problems involving combinational logic gate, which required students' skills to build equations, draw logic circuits and complete the truth table in order to get the circuit output.  This instructional media was developed using constructivist theory approach, namely Needham Model. This model consists of five phases: orientation, generation of idea, restructuring of idea, application of idea, and reflection. Meanwhile, Three Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC) Phases (Design, Develop, and Review) was used as the research methodology for this study. This instructional media was developed using Microsoft Office Power Point 2007, Adobe Photoshop CS3, Photoscape and Edius 4. This study was divided into three main phases, namely (I) Need Analysis Phase, (II) Development of Instructional Media Phase, and (III) Instructional Media Evaluation Phase. At the Phase I, the user requirements for the instructional multimedia was identified for the purpose to design.  Based on the findings at Phase I, the instructional media was developed at Phase II. At Phase III, the developed instructional multimedia was evaluated through the experts' validation and review from the aspect of pedagogy, engineering content-wise, and the multimedia elements. The findings showed that experts' feedback and comments for the instructional multimedia was positive. As a conclusion, teachers were encourages to use instructional multimedia based on Needham Model to enhance student performance in logic gate topic.


In this article Jane Turner explores the trilogy of works titled Re-placing Texts, together with Epilogue, devised and performed by the innovative group Plane Performance, now in its tenth year. The trilogy – Three Degrees of Frost, SET and Round-about – are rewritings of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, David Lean's film Brief Encounter, and Rogers and Hammerstein's film musical, Carousel. The article examines the strategies adopted by the company as acts of 'creative vandalism', both in terms of current understandings of theatre practice and in terms of their treatment of the original texts. Jane Turner argues that the dramatic texts have become ossified by cultural usage and that the radical stance taken by the company allows for a counter-cultural position to re-emerge. The author is a Principal Lecturer in Contemporary Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has recently published work on Eugenio Barba and applied theatre practice.


Deposits are an important part of the New Zealand financial system. Deposits play a large role in funding bank lending – banks try to attract deposits in order to build up funds to lend out to borrowers. Over the past couple of years, lending has been growing faster than deposits, requiring banks to source funding from offshore wholesale funding markets. External funding can increase risks in the financial sector, as deposits are typically a more stable ("core") source of funding than offshore wholesale funding. This paper explores deposit growth in New Zealand in order to answer two questions: 1.What factors drive deposit growth in New Zealand, particularly in the past few years? 2.Can banks increase deposits by increasing interest rates? We use two models to explore the dynamics of household deposits in New Zealand's banking system in order to answer these questions. The first model uses bank-specific data from New Zealand's four largest banks, while the second uses aggregate data for the entire banking system. The paper highlights that the rate of domestic deposit growth has varied significantly since the Global Financial Crisis, and sharply slowed over 2016. We provide evidence that a range of supply and demand factors influence deposit growth, and that the recent slowing was largely driven by a reduction in supply (that is, households wanting to allocate less money to deposit products). We also find that banks increased their demand for deposits in late 2016 in an effort to close the gap between deposit growth and lending We also consider the degree to which banks are able to increase deposit growth materially by raising interest rates. We find that a 1 percentage point increase in the six-month deposit rate can increase the level of household deposits by about 1 percent after four quarters, and by 1.3 percent in the long-run. As we find that deposits are not strongly responsive to interest rates, if banks wish to maintain robust funding profiles by not becoming too reliant on offshore wholesale funding, they may need moderate credit growth or use a combination of approaches to bring deposit growth in line with credit growth.


Electric burn and tissue sticking are two major concerns in electrosurgery. The improvement of the surgical instrumentation to avoid these two problems could be achieved by surface treatment. A material selection criteria was used to assist with the selection of suitable candidates to be use as coating material in order to improve the performance of the stainless steel as the current state-of-the-art material in electrosurgery instruments. Two target surfaces were chosen to be coated: inner and outer surface. The inner surface requires a conductive material with a non-stick capability. The outer surface requires an electrical insulation coating easy to clean. TiN, AlN, CrN, and Al2O3 were selected as candidates for the inner surface, while Parylene and ZrO2 were selected for the outer surface. Four research questions guided the investigation to determine the coating materials with the best performance, to assess the characterization techniques, and to evaluate eventual impact of the coating on the thermal spread. An active coated rectangular electrode was connected to a HF-unit in the bipolar cut mode and introduced to an organic testing gel to simulate electrosurgery conditions. A fully coated squared sample was tested to determine the voltage peak of the electric breakdown. The results of the present study reveal that TiN and Al2O3 improved the performance of the sample, when compared to the stainless steel and should assure the non-stick behavior. Both Parylene and ZrO2 failed to provide a continuous electrical insulation. Two new methods of testing that performs closer to real conditions were suggested as an improvement of the existing measurement technics. Moreover, a relationship between the coating and the thermal spread was identified and proposed as a mechanism that enhances tissue adhesion.


In the U.K., a current government health strategy indicates that school nurses should be key contributors to sexual health education because they have access to the school-age population. However, there appears to be little research that investigates whether school nurses are the most appropriate health care professionals or indeed have sufficient knowledge to contribute to this topic in the schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the sexual health knowledge of school nurses, using a survey to assess school nurses employed in a large central region of the U.K. The results suggest that although their general knowledge of the topic was adequate, school nurses have insufficient knowledge to effectively teach about sexually transmitted infections or emergency contraception. This has implications for school nursing because it appears that school nurses may have inadequate knowledge about sexual health to contribute to sex education in schools.


We discuss and compute entanglement entropy (EE) in (1+1)-dimensional free Lifshitz scalar field theories with arbitrary dynamical exponents. We consider both the subinterval and periodic sublattices in the discretized theory as subsystems. In both cases, we are able to analytically demonstrate that the EE grows linearly as a function of the dynamical exponent. Furthermore, for the subinterval case, we determine that as the dynamical exponent increases, there is a crossover from an area law to a volume law. Lastly, we deform Lifshitz field theories with certain relevant operators and show that the EE decreases from the ultraviolet to the infrared fixed point, giving evidence for a possible c-theorem for deformed Lifshitz theories.


Despite antibiotics, infection remains a significant problem in surgical patients. The reasons are multiple, and include acquired immunologic deficiencies that are seen in malnutrition, sepsis, trauma, and burns. Two immunomodulators, thymopentin (TP-5) and CP-46,665, have been shown to improve survival in infectious animal models of such deficiencies. We investigated the mechanism of action in guinea pigs subjected to a burn of 30% of the total body surface area. These animals received 0.3 mg/kg of thymopentin, 0.3 mg/kg of CP-46,665, or saline solution. Neutrophils, macrophages, and serum samples were obtained from the animals and tested for their ability to phagocytose and kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The serum was tested for its ability to opsonize Escherichia coli. Thymopentin was found to improve neutrophil function on postburn days 2 and 4 and to improve macrophage function on postburn day 4. CP-46,665 was found to improve both macrophage function and opsonization on postburn day 2.


ABSTRACT The term 'Protestant' itself is a historical accident, but the category of western Christians who have separated from Rome since 1517 remains a useful one. The confessionalisation thesis, which has dominated recent Reformation historiography, instead posits the two major Protestant confessions and Tridentine Catholicism as its categories, but this can produce a false parallelism in which the nature of the relationship between the confessions is oversimplified. Instead, this paper proposes we think of a Protestant ecosystem consisting of self-consciously confessional Lutheranism, a broad Calvinism which imagined itself as normative, and a collection of radical currents much more intimately connected to the 'magisterial' confessions than any of the participants wished to acknowledge. The magisterial / radical division was maintained only with constant vigilance and exemplary violence, with Calvinism in particular constantly threatening to bleed into radicalism. What gives this quarrelsome family of 'Protestants' analytical coherence is neither simple genealogy nor, as has been suggested, mere adherence to the Bible: since in practice both 'radical' and 'magisterial' Protestants have been more flexible and 'spiritual' in their use of Scripture than is generally allowed. It is, rather, the devotional experience underpinning that 'spiritual' use of the Bible, of an unmediated encounter with grace.


Dissolved inorganic and organic nitrogen levels are elevated in aquatic systems due to anthropogenic activities. Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) arises from various sources, and its impact could be more clearly constrained if specific sources were identified and if the molecular-level composition of DON were better understood. In this work, the pharmaceutical carbamazepine was used to identify septic-impacted groundwater in a coastal watershed. Using ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry data, the nitrogen-containing features of the dissolved organic matter in septic-impacted and non-impacted samples were compared. The septic-impacted groundwater samples have a larger abundance of nitrogen-containing formulas. Impacted samples have additional DON features in the regions ascribed as 'protein-like' and 'lipid-like' in van Krevelen space and have more intense nitrogen-containing features in a specific region of a carbon versus mass plot. These features are potential indicators of dissolved organic nitrogen arising from septic effluents, and this work suggests that ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry is a valuable tool to identify and characterize sources of DON.


Typical home lighting practice is mainly centred on visual aspects to enable safe movement between spaces, flexibility in multiuse spaces, a sense of aesthetics and energy efficiency. Whilst lighting impacts on the health of residents have not received similar consideration, this area is gaining increasing interest. This is even more important and actual in the context of the recent pandemic where people have been working or studying from home. A combination of bright daytime light and night-time darkness is essential for circadian entrainment and maintenance of a regular daily sleep–wake cycle, whereas exposure to light at night can negatively impact circadian rhythms and sleep patterns and ultimately lead to potential health problems. Additionally, lighting also has the potential to affect health through associated effects such as flicker, glare, optical hazards or electromagnetic fields. This article discusses the main areas of concern related to home lighting and outlines general recommendations to limit detrimental effects and contribute to good health.


There is a gradually increasing awareness of the deleterious effects of grain-refining precipitates on the Charpy V-notch impact toughness of high-strength steels, and recognition of these effects resulted in the development of a general process that provides substantial improvements in the ductile fracture resistance of tempered martensite. The results of this investigation indicate that the processing-induced refinement of grain-refining precipitates also provides significant improvements in the lower-shelf and transition toughness of 3,310, 8,219 and 4,340 steels tempered at 180 C and 4,340 steel tempered at 593 C. In contrast to the upper-shelf regime, where the application of the process produces a change in either the mode or character of unstable fracture at constant strength and austenite grain size, the refinement of grain-refining precipitates is associated with an increased amount of ductile fracture and an increased resistance to the initiation of unstable crack propagation at any given temperature in the lower-shelf regime.


This study presents a methodology for the analysis of a drought climatology within a particular region that enables a user to define drought areas at a high spatial resolution. It is suitable for quantifying the relative differences in the intensity of drought spells, and the frequency and duration between individual stations within an area of interest. The methodology is based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), and the Palmer Z-index (Z-index). However, the climatological parameters needed to process and calculate the indices were not derived separately for each site as is usually done but were based on a set of all available weather stations in the studied region. This approach was utilized in the case study including all of the Czech Republic using 233 climatological stations with monthly records of mean temperature and precipitation for the period 1961–2000. The study is also focused on the development of more efficient ways of communicating results to the stakeholders. Therefore, a method allowing for an integration of several drought indices into a single indicator called the Integrated Climatological Drought Indicator (ICDI) was developed. The newly developed method allowed for an objective identification of the T R N K A E T A L . , I N T E R N A T I O N A L J O U R N A L O F C L I M A T O L O G Y 2 9 (2 0 0 9 ) 2 drought-prone regions of the country that were defined as areas with a chance (higher than 50 and 60% respectively) of moderate or extreme drought. We have found that 12.3 and 3% of the country area, respectively, belong within these categories and that these regions also happen to be prime agricultural areas. The conclusions were supported by the results of a cluster analysis. Finally, the analysis of time trends was conducted, which showed that the majority of 233 stations had grown significantly drier during the studied period. The main driving force behind this development was found to be an increase of temperature, especially in the 1990s.


We report here the discovery of metal-doped colloidal TiO2 nanocrystals (NCs) with broadly tunable plasmon resonance absorption; and their synthesis by a facile and scalable one-pot method. A strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption peak occurs in the as-synthesized Mo, W, and Nb-doped TiO2 NCs in the visible, near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared regions respectively. Density functional theory calculations indicate a dopant perturbation of the TiO2 electronic structure and the resultant increase in the electron density at the Fermi level as the likely cause for the strong LSPR absorption. The W-doped TiO2 NCs are the most versatile since their LSPR absorption in the NIR region can be varied from 980 to 1700 nm by tailoring the dopant concentration and the NC morphology. The method of synthesis can also be scaled up to gram-level production in batch reactors. Tunable LSPR properties and the ease and scalability of synthesis are the strong features of these metal-doped TiO2 NCs for plasmonic applications.


A web browser works with data and scripts from different sources, and these sources are not all trusted equally by the user of the browser. This fact requires web browser designers to take special care in order to keep information secure within the browser: data from one source should not be stolen or corrupted by a script from another source. This aspect of web browser design is what we will call web script security.
The effectiveness of security checks designed to enforce web script security must ultimately be judged in terms of their effect on the outwardly visible behavior of the browser. In light of this fact, this dissertation defines a policy for web script security to refer to a logical constraint on a browser's behavior, stated exclusively in terms of the aspects that are outwardly visible, either to the network or to the user. Such end-to-end policies are naturally appealing. However, there is a reason they are rarely used for real-world systems: it is usually very unclear how to write down precise, flexible security policies of this sort. Supposing that one could write down such policies for web script security, a second obstacle would then arise: the problem of drawing a precise connection between such end-to-end policies and the security mechanisms that one would actually implement in a browser.
This dissertation demonstrates that such information security policies for web browsers can in fact be written down—precisely and without reference to security enforcement mechanisms implemented inside the browser. Moreover, the mechanisms for enforcing those policies can be designed and formally proved correct within mathematical models of web browsers that are detailed enough to capture the inherent complexities of the domain. This dissertation supports these claims by (1) introducing mathematical tools for stating and proving end-to-end information security properties for software systems that are driven by buffered, asynchronous I/O; (2) introducing a particular mathematical model of a web browser that is accompanied by a security policy for confidentiality and is equipped with security mechanisms intended to enforce the policy; and (3) offering a proof that the security mechanisms in the model do enforce the policy, a proof which has been mechanized and verified in the Coq proof assistant.


Tri-axial linear accelerometers are key components in a great variety of applications and, in particular, in navigation systems. Nonidealities such as scale factors, cross coupling, bias, and other higher-order nonlinearities affect the output of this sensor, leading, in general, to prohibitive errors. On the other hand, these coefficients are often slowly time-varying, which renders offline calibration less effective. One such coefficient that usually varies greatly over time and between power-ons is the bias. This paper details the calibration of an accelerometer unit and presents also a dynamic filtering solution for the bias, which also includes the estimation of the gravity in body-fixed coordinates. Simulation and experimental results obtained with a motion rate table are presented and discussed to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithms.


Wood from white spruce, Picea glauca, that has been preserved by rapid burial in lake sediments 10000 years ago was investigated and compared to fresh white spruce wood. The old sample has an intact outer cell wall and middle lamella but most of the secondary cell wall has been selectively removed by bacteria. Klason lignin content was found to be 60% in the old sample, more than twice as high as that found in normal wood. This was rather expected since the middle lamella and primary wall has a higher content of lignin than the secondary wall. After thioacidolysis of the samples the lignin monomer content in the old spruce was 9% lower than that of the reference wood, possibly due to more condensed lignin. This finding was supported by SEC analysis of the thioacidolysed samples. A small amount of coumaryl monomers, 3%, was found in the old spruce and none in the reference wood. The carbohydrate monomer distribution showed that galactose and arabinose and xylose content is higher in old spruce than in white spruce reference, and glucose content is 20% lower in old spruce as compared to reference white spruce. This confirms microscopical evidence that secondary wall was at least partially removed. No new oligomeric lignin structures could be identified with GC-MS analysis of the thioacidolysis products. Millwood lignin from samples were subjected to quantitative NMR analysis by combining {13} C and HSQC techniques, which showed that the lignin structures in mill wood lignin from the old spruce sample was almost identical to those of the reference wood.


In this article, I examine the appearance of Muslim women before the judge during the Abbasid period (132-334/750-945), both in theory and practice. The cases involving women found in law books suggest that they came freely to the court, especially for familial or marital purposes, and that the judges employed some women as court auxiliaries. However, a comparison of judicial manuals and the biographical literature shows that a woman's appearance before the judge could create a social disturbance and that not all women were allowed to appear in court. I argue that the social distinction between those who could leave their houses—and thus come before the judge—and those who could not correlated with the social hierarchy.


Acne is an inflammatory and multifactorial skin disease. Different external and internal factors, including air pollution, aggressive skincare products, medication, mechanical, hormonal and familial factors and, more recently, lifestyle and stress, have been suggested as having an impact on acne. Moreover, for many years nutrition was believed to cause or worsen acne. Over the last decades, however, it has become a dermatological doctrine that there is no direct association between diet and acne. Even if recent research has allowed to identify certain nutritional elements and behaviour that may impact on acne, including the excessive intake of dairy products and hyperglycaemic food, modern lifestyle nutrition, obesity and eating disorders, knowledge about the role of nutrition in the physiopathology of acne still remains sparse and hypotheses and myths continue to dominate the debate. Thus, further clinical and translational research is necessary to investigate and confirm the association between nutrition and acne.


We demonstrate that surface-anchored metal-organic frameworks (SURMOFs) are extraordinary well-suited as resists for high-resolution focused electron beam induced processing (FEBIP) techniques. The combination of such powerful lithographic protocols with the huge versatility of MOF materials are investigated in respect to their potential in nanostructures fabrication. The applied FEBIP methods rely on the local decomposition of Fe(CO)5 and Co(CO)3NO as precursors, either by the direct impact of the focused electron beam (electron beam induced deposition, EBID) or through the interaction of the precursor molecules with preirradiated/activated SURMOF areas (electron beam induced surface activation, EBISA). We demonstrate the huge potential of the approach for two different types of MOFs (HKUST-1 and Zn-DPDCPP). Our "surface science" approach to FEBIP, yields well-defined deposits with each investigated precursor/SURMOF combination. Local Auger electron spectroscopy reveals clean iron deposits from Fe(CO)5; deposits from Co(CO)3NO contain cobalt, nitrogen, and oxygen. EBISA experiments were successful with Fe(CO)5. Remarkably EBISA with Co(CO)3NO does not result in deposit formation on both resists, making the process chemically selective. Most importantly we demonstrate the fabrication of "nested-L" test structures with Fe(CO)5 on HKUST-1 with extremely narrow line widths of partially less than 8 nm, due to reduced electron proximity effects within the MOF-based resists. Considering that the actual diameter of the electron beam was larger than 6 nm, we see a huge potential for significant reduction of the structure sizes. In addition, the role and high potential of loading and transport of the precursor molecules within the porous SURMOF materials is discussed.


The paper describes a procedure for the generation of the Blum skeleton (medial axis) of large, complex, digitized 3D objects. The proposed algorithm is a 3D generalization of the Voronoi skeleton concept, which is already in routine use for 2D shapes. A specific algorithm for the generation of 3D Voronoi diagrams of very large point sets (containing several 100,000 generating points) is described. The pitfalls and drawbacks of pruning procedures are discussed, and a topologically correct regularization algorithm is given for the necessary regularization of the resulting Voronoi diagram. The performance of the developed procedures is illustrated on synthetic objects as well as on large, complex anatomical data, e.g., the segmented white matter of a human brain extracted from MR data.


Abstract:  Ex situ conservation is of increasing importance to prevent the extinction of endangered animals in the wild. Despite low success rates of reintroduction programs few researchers have investigated empirically the efficacy of captive breeding regimes for the release of captive‐bred vertebrates. We used guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from two populations in Trinidad to compare different conservation breeding regimes. The upper Aripo population was chosen for its small effective population size (Ne≈ 100) and genetic isolation, which makes it representative of many endangered natural populations. By contrast, the lower Aripo population is a genetically diverse, much larger population (Ne≈ 2400). We examined three captive‐breeding regimes: (1) inbreeding fish crossed with their full siblings, (2) minimized inbreeding, no consanguineous matings, and (3) control fish crossed at random. We kept pedigree records for all regimes so that we could calculate inbreeding coefficients over four generations. The body size and fertility of guppies was significantly reduced due to inbreeding depression. The genetic load of sterile equivalents was particularly high for the lower Aripo population. Body size also declined due to breeding conditions in the captive environment. After four generations in captivity, the fish were released into a mesocosm in Trinidad. Captive‐bred guppies were extremely susceptible to gyrodactylid parasites (58% survival rate) compared with their wild counterparts (96% survival). A reduced level of immunogenetic variation due to inbreeding and lack of exposure to natural parasites may have rendered captive‐bred individuals more prone to infectious disease. The threat of disease outbreak is particularly high when naive captive‐bred hosts are released in wild populations. Susceptible, captive‐bred hosts could facilitate the transmission of parasites throughout the wild population, thus initiating an epidemic. This risk could potentially be reduced by prior exposure to parasites before release and gradual release of captive‐bred individuals.


Black box optimization requires specifying a search space to explore for solutions, e.g. a d-dimensional compact space, and this choice is critical for getting the best results at a reasonable budget. Unfortunately, determining a high quality search space can be challenging in many applications. For example, when tuning hyperparameters for machine learning pipelines on a new problem given a limited budget, one must strike a balance between excluding potentially promising regions and keeping the search space small enough to be tractable. The goal of this work is to motivate -- through example applications in tuning deep neural networks -- the problem of predicting the quality of search spaces conditioned on budgets, as well as to provide a simple scoring method based on a utility function applied to a probabilistic response surface model, similar to Bayesian optimization. We show that the method we present can compute meaningful budget-conditional scores in a variety of situations. We also provide experimental evidence that accurate scores can be useful in constructing and pruning search spaces. Ultimately, we believe scoring search spaces should become standard practice in the experimental workflow for deep learning.


In the United States, 35% of the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions come from the electrical power industry, of which 30% represent natural gas electricity generation. Microalgae can biofix CO2 10 to 15 times faster than plants and convert algal biomass to products of interest, such as biofuels. Thus, this study presents a protocol that demonstrates the potential synergies of microalgae cultivation with a natural gas power plant situated in the southwestern United States in a hot semi-arid climate. State-of-the-art technologies are used to enhance carbon capture and utilization via the green algal species Chlorella sorokiniana, which can be further processed into biofuel. We describe a protocol involving a semi-automated open raceway pond and discuss the results of its performance when it was tested at the Tucson Electric Power plant, in Tucson, Arizona. Flue gas was used as the main carbon source to control pH, and Chlorella sorokiniana was cultivated. An optimized medium was used to grow the algae. The amount of CO2 added to the system as a function of time was closely monitored. Additionally, other physicochemical factors affecting algal growth rate, biomass productivity, and carbon fixation were monitored, including optical density, dissolved oxygen (DO), electroconductivity (EC), and air and pond temperatures. The results indicate that a microalgae yield of up to 0.385 g/L ash-free dry weight is attainable, with a lipid content of 24%. Leveraging synergistic opportunities between CO2 emitters and algal farmers can provide the resources required to increase carbon capture while supporting the sustainable production of algal biofuels and bioproducts.


With the rise of overt racism, xenophobia, nationalism, homophobia, transphobia, and religious discrimination accompanied by attacks against women's rights in the United States and other parts of the globe, Brookfield's "Why White Instructors Should Explore their White Racial Identity" is a needed contribution to ABE. He shows how white normativity and the ensuing universalizing of the white experience promotes and sustains white supremacy, and thereby, structural racism. Brookfield uses Yancy's (2018) argument to show how whites are complicit with structural racism by stating that " it's a fact that whiteness as an identity is connected to power, particularly to the way that a learned blindness to racial inequality helps maintain a system that exhibits structural exclusion and normalizes brutality." Brookfield's analysis using race and structural racism clearly shows how whites as a group benefit from white supremacy by being "embedded in a pre-existing social matrix of white power" and how that confers privileges on the group as a whole. This, in turn, Brookfield contends has led to the idea of whiteness, the white experience being the norm, and the belief that white is not a racial identity. He argues that whites are raced and that race is a white problem, not just a problem for people of color, thus calling on white instructors to reflect on their racial identity to be better teachers and help students learn. With this in mind, I found Brookfield's analysis and call for action a persuasive intervention; however, I would like to problematize and broaden his decontextualized, essentializing, and binary theorization and stated practices of whiteness by suggesting that we go beyond a binary conception of race by adding an intersectional analysis (Berger & Guidroz, 2009; Crenshaw, 1990) that includes race, social class, gender, nationality, and citizenship. Otherwise, we as ABE researchers and practitioners, will once again default to centering whiteness and the white experience while pushing all other racial identities and experiences to the margins and reducing racial relations and racism to the "white-and" binary paradigm of race. As Brookfield acknowledges in his paper, he speaks from a place of white male privilege, and based on this privilege and his experiences, there is both an essentializing of race and whiteness and binary perception of race, both of which stem from a particular cultural-historical perspective.


OBJECTIVE: To assess whether the risk of incident diabetes was increased with the use of second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) in a large diverse cohort of children. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted by using the administrative databases of 3 health plans participating in the Health Maintenance Organization Research Network. Children 5 to 18 years of age who initiated SGA therapy between January 2001 and December 2008 and 2 comparison groups, namely, nonusers of psychotropic drugs and users of antidepressant medications, were identified. Diagnoses from inpatient and outpatient records, pharmacy dispensings, and outpatient laboratory results were used to identify incident cases of diabetes. RESULTS: The crude incidence rate of diabetes for the SGA-exposed cohort was 3.23 cases per 1000 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.67–5.65), compared with 0.76 cases per 1000 person-years (95% CI: 0.49–1.12) among nonusers of psychotropic medications and 1.86 cases per 1000 person-years (95% CI: 1.12–2.90) among antidepressant users. The risk of incident diabetes was significantly increased among SGA users (unadjusted incidence rate ratio: 4.24 [95% CI: 1.95–8.72]) in comparison with nonusers of psychotropic medications but was not significantly increased in comparison with antidepressant medication users (unadjusted incidence rate ratio: 1.74 [95% CI: 0.77–3.78]). CONCLUSIONS: Although we found a potentially fourfold increased rate of diabetes among children exposed to SGAs, the findings were inconsistent and depended on the comparison group and the outcome definition.


Technological properties of Bacillus spp. involved in fermenting Ceiba pentandra seeds into 'kantong' a condiment prepared and consumed in the northern part of Ghana were invested so as to develop starter cultures with the predominant species for commercial production of 'kantong'. The Bacillus species which predominated 205 Bacillus strains isolated from 11 stages of 'kantong' production includes: Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, B. safensis, B. altitudinis, B. thuringiensis, B. pumilus, B. megaterium, B. cereus, B. circulans, B. coagulans, B. firmus, B. subtilis and B. licheniformis. These predominant species were assessed for some technological properties such as proliferation at different temperatures and pH; substrate utilization preferences including 'kantong' formulated media (i.e. 48 h sample, dried pellet and the final product) and inhibitory activity against 12 selected pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. The strains proliferated at different temperatures between 10 °C and 55 °C and pH of 2 to 9. Substrate utilization preferences were Nutrient Agar with 5–9 % Sodium Chloride (NA/NaCl C, and ordinary Nutrient Broth [NB], Nutrient Agar (NA), Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), Tryptone Soya Agar (TSA), MacConkey Agar (MCA) and 'kantong' formulated media. All strains exhibited inhibitory activity against one or more pathogenic and spoilage organisms. Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, E. faecium and Proteus vulgaris were the most susceptible indicator microorganisms. Many strains qualified as potential candidates for selection and development as starter cultures to be used in the large scale commercial production of 'kantong' of consistent and acceptable organoleptic quality.


Effects of hydrocortisone and insulin on activities of hexokinase and its isoenzymes and on glucokinase activity were studied in hepatocarcinogenesis, induced in rats by diethyl nitrosamine. After administration during 7 days of hydrocortisone into normal rats the hexokinase was inactivated by 25% due to decrease in activity of the II isoenzyme. In this case activity of glucokinase was decreased by 38% in young animals and--by 23% in older animals. Insulin, administered within 2 days, caused no effect on the hexokinase activity but the glucokinase was activated by 177%. In hepatocarcinogenesis the effect of hydrocortisone on the hexokinase activity (II isoenzyme) was distinctly decreased and with development of tumors the hormone showed a negligible efficiency. Influence of insulin on the glucokinase activity in hepatocarcinogenesis was similar to the effect found in normal liver tissue.


We bring the theory of the for-profit firm to bear on the economics of nonprofit organization by re-examining the literature on the delineation of organizational boundaries and the determination of cost-effective governance mechanisms. This is enabled by explicit consideration of nonprofit firms' mission orientation as nonprofits engage in activities that may be related or unrelated to their core missions. Decisions on both organizational boundaries and governance are made differently for these two activity types. Based on the re-examination of governance in nonprofits, in the second part of the chapter, we propose a new framework of analysis in which market, hierarchy and collective action represent the three fundamental coordination mechanisms that define the space of entrepreneurial action. While nonprofits do not exclude market and hierarchy to achieve coordination, they represent the organizational form nearest to collective action as dominant coordination mechanism.


Climate change may cause socio-economic tipping points (SETPs), where the state of a socio-economic system abruptly changes to a fundamentally different state. While the potential existence of SETPs is recognized, a systematic method to identify and prepare for SETPs is lacking. This study introduces a stepwise approach for identification of SETPs in order to support decision making under uncertain climate and socio-economic conditions. We show how the conditions that trigger SETPs can be discovered using narratives and exploratory modelling, and how this can inform decision making. The approach is quantitively demonstrated with a stylized case study on the collapse of house prices in a coastal city, due to increasing flood risk in the face of accelerating sea level rise. We model the effect of various dynamic adaptive management strategies in many possible futures. We find that under high-end sea level rise scenarios, tipping points in the real estate prices are likely to occur if the market responds to sudden changes in perceived flood risk rather than gradually adjusting prices to changes in flood risk in a rational manner. Such SETPs can only be avoided with a proactive strategy and when flood protection measures are implemented rapidly. Our approach can guide future studies on SETPs while seeking to move the study of SETPs as a mere system-dynamic phenomenon towards a concept that provides perspective of action for policy makers.


Progression of cells to a metastatic phenotype begins in the primary organ and represents an important chemoprevention target. In preclinical studies, genistein induces reversion of human prostate cancer (PCa) cells to a less metastatic phenotype. In a phase II study, men with localized PCa were randomized between genistein treatment versus not prior to radical prostatectomy. Analysis of prostate epithelial cells within harvested organs revealed that genistein had the following effects: 1) it decreased matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) expression; 2) it induced nuclear spreading; a surrogate marker of inhibition of cell detachment; and 3) gene expression profiling demonstrated selective modulation of genes associated with regulation of cell motility in other cell types. By engineering the expression of these genes in cell lines, we demonstrated that they were important regulators of human PCa cell invasion. Genistein increased the expression of genes that suppress invasion and decreased the expression of genes that enhance invasion. Together, this study demonstrates that genistein induces reversion of human prostate cells in man to a less metastatic phenotype. Importantly, this study demonstrates the proof-of-principal concept that the conduct of molecular screens in human chemoprevention trials has the ability to identify the mechanism of action of investigational agents. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(12 Suppl):CN02-04.


PURPOSE
To develop an automated technique for estimating patient-specific regional imparted energy and dose from tube current modulated (TCM) computed tomography (CT) exams across a diverse set of head and body protocols.

METHODS
A library of 58 adult computational anthropomorphic extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) phantoms were used to model a patient population. A validated Monte Carlo program was used to simulate TCM CT exams on the entire library of phantoms for three head and 10 body protocols. The net imparted energy to the phantoms, normalized by dose length product (DLP), and the net tissue mass in each of the scan regions were computed. A knowledgebase containing relationships between normalized imparted energy and scanned mass was established. An automated computer algorithm was written to estimate the scanned mass from actual clinical CT exams. The scanned mass estimate, DLP of the exam, and knowledgebase were used to estimate the imparted energy to the patient. The algorithm was tested on 20 chest and 20 abdominopelvic TCM CT exams.

RESULTS
The normalized imparted energy increased with increasing kV for all protocols. However, the normalized imparted energy was relatively unaffected by the strength of the TCM. The average imparted energy was 681 ± 376 mJ for abdominopelvic exams and 274 ± 141 mJ for chest exams. Overall, the method was successful in providing patientspecific estimates of imparted energy for 98% of the cases tested.

CONCLUSION
Imparted energy normalized by DLP increased with increasing tube potential. However, the strength of the TCM did not have a significant effect on the net amount of energy deposited to tissue. The automated program can be implemented into the clinical workflow to provide estimates of regional imparted energy and dose across a diverse set of clinical protocols.


In a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), the goal of consumers is to discover and use services which lead to them experiencing the highest quality, such that their expectations and needs are satisfied. In supporting this discovery, quality assessment tools are required to establish the degree to which these expectations will be met by specific services. Traditional approaches to quality assessment in SOA assume that providers and consumers of services will adopt a performance-centric view of quality, which assumes that consumers will be most satisfied when they receive the highest absolute performance. However, adopting this approach does not consider the subjective nature of quality and will not necessarily lead to consumers receiving services that meet their individual needs.
By using existing approaches to quality assessment that assume a consumer's primary goal as being optimisation of performance, consumers in SOA are currently unable to effectively identify and engage with providers who deliver services that will best meet their needs. Developing approaches to assessment that adopt a more conformance-centric view of quality (where it is assumed that consumers are most satisfied when a service meets, but not necessarily exceeds, their individual expectations) is a challenge that must be addressed if consumers are to effectively adopt SOA as a means of accessing services.
In addressing the above challenge, this thesis develops a conformance-centric model of an SOA in which conformance is taken to be the primary goal of consumers. This model is holistic, in that it considers consumers, providers and assessment services and their relationship; and novel in that it proposes a set of rational provider behaviours that would be adopted in using a conformance-centric view of quality. Adopting such conformance-centric behaviour leads to observable and predictable patterns in the performance of the services offered by providers, due to the relationship that exists between the level of service delivered by the service and the expectation of the consumer.
In order to support consumers in the discovery of high quality services, quality assessment tools must be able to effectively assess past performance information about services, and use this as a prediction of future performance. In supporting consumers within a conformance-centric SOA, this thesis proposes and evaluates a new set of approaches to quality assessment which make use of the patterns in provider behaviour described above. The approaches developed are non-trivial – using a selection of adapted pattern classification and other statistical techniques to infer the behaviour of individual services at run-time and calculating a numerical measure of confidence for each result that can be used by consumers to combine assessment information with other evidence. The quality assessment approaches are evaluated within a software implementation of a conformance-centric SOA, whereby they are shown to lead to consumers experiencing higher quality than with existing performance-centric approaches.
By introducing conformance-centric principles into existing real-world SOA, consumers will be able to evaluate and engage with providers that offer services that have been differentiated based on consumer expectation. The benefits of such capability over the current state-of-the-art in SOA are twofold. Firstly, individual consumers will receive higher quality services, and therefore will increase the likelihood of their needs being effectively satisfied. Secondly, the availability of assessment tools which acknowledge the conformance-centric nature of consumers will encourage providers to offer a range of services for consumers with varying expectation, rather than simply offering a single service that aims to delivery maximum performance. This recognition will allow providers to use their resources more efficiently, leading to reduced costs and increased profitability. Such benefits can only be realised by adopting a conformance-centric view of quality across the SOA and by providing assessment services that operate effectively in such environments. This thesis proposes, develops and evaluates models and approaches that enable the achievement of this goal.