— We describe a general coding strategy leading to a family of universal image compression systems designed to give good performance in applications where the statistics of the source to be compressed are not available at design time or vary over time or space. The basic approach considered uses a two-stage structure in which the single source code of traditional image compression systems is replaced with a family of codes designed to cover a large class of possible sources. To illustrate this approach, we consider the optimal design and use of two-stage codes containing collections of vector quan-tizers (weighted universal vector quantization), bit allocations for JPEG-style coding (weighted universal bit allocation), and transform codes (weighted universal transform coding). Further, we demonstrate the benefits to be gained from the inclusion of perceptual distortion measures and optimal parsing. The strategy yields two-stage codes that significantly outperform their single-stage predecessors. On a sequence of medical images, weighted universal vector quantization outperforms entropy coded vector quantization by over 9 dB. On the same data sequence, weighted universal bit allocation outperforms a JPEG-style code by over 2.5 dB. On a collection of mixed text and image data, weighted universal transform coding outperforms a single, data-optimized transform code (which gives performance almost identical to that of JPEG) by over 6 dB.


Background The Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality-of-Life (AFEQT) questionnaire has recently been validated to measure the impact of atrial fibrillation on quality of life, but a clinically important difference in AFEQT score has not been well defined. Methods and Results To determine the clinically important difference in overall AFEQT (score range= 0 [worst] to 100 [best]) and selected subscales, we analyzed data in the Outcomes Registry for Better Informed Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (ORBIT-AF) registry, a United States-based outpatient atrial fibrillation registry. AFEQT was assessed at baseline and 1 year in a subset of 1347 ORBIT-AF patients from 80 US sites participating in ORBIT-AF from June 2010 to August 2011. The mean change method was used to relate changes in 1-year AFEQT scores to clinically important changes in the physician assessment of European Heart Rhythm Association functional status (1 class improvement and separately 1 class deterioration). Clinically important differences and 95% CI corresponding to either a 1 European Heart Rhythm Association class improvement or deterioration were 5.4 (3.6-7.2) and -4.2 (-6.9 to -1.5) AFEQT points, respectively. Similarly, clinically important difference values were seen for a 1 European Heart Rhythm Association class improvement for the AFEQT subscales Activities of Daily Living and Symptoms: 5.1 (2.5-7.6) and 7.1 (5.3-9.0) AFEQT points, respectively. Conclusions Based on the anchor of 1 European Heart Rhythm Association class change, changes in AFEQT score of + or -5 points are clinically important changes in patients' health. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT01165710.


Lack of economic growth has overwhelmingly been the focus of studies of the economic history of post-colonial Africa. Ironically, this has diverted attention from explaining the process of economic growth. Explaining African economic growth as it happened, with attention to episodes of growth and changes in incentive structures, is much more demanding of the African growth evidence. There are serious validity and reliability issues with the Africa data. This stands in contrast with the widespread use of the data as functional evidence for economic analysis. The thesis sheds new light on both methodological and substantive issues through a comparative study of the national accounting methodologies in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. It is found that baseline estimates and growth estimation methodologies are different across countries, and that these to an extent determine differences in measured growth, and therefore might influence conclusions in the literature. The main sources of growth evidence are compared with the national accounts data. It is shown that these different sources do not cohere. These data quality issues are serious enough to compromise research on post-colonial African economic history unless proper care is taken. The final part of the thesis analyses the growth experiences of these four countries on the basis of the national accounts data. At face value the stylised facts about averaged growth rates match the idealised typologies of African economies based on their policy and institutional frameworks. It is shown, however, that when we examine the changes in economic growth rates during the period, and the sources of those changes, the explanations from the case studies do not cohere with the orthodox narrative. While there are clear differences in the growth performance of the countries, these differences in growth rates were determined by events over which the policy makers and the institutional framework could have only limited influence. The case studies underline the importance of looking beyond the averaged aggregate growth rates, because of, rather than despite, the issues of data quality.


Rooted in the complexity of purposeful design, this paper embraces a phenomenological perspective of design as both a process and artifact. We use this perspective to interpret why the conceptualization and realization of design intentions can be difficult to achieve and why design is often perceived as a so called 'wicked problem'. This paper revisits the concepts of game design patterns and game mechanics, arguing that refactoring these concepts is needed to clarify their relationships and motivations. We outline the separation of concerns between them and suggest that an additional contextualizing layer should be added to the discourse. Using this, we define and reflect upon what we refer to as the conceptual relationship model.


Debates about the legitimacy of political orders have long turned on the question of how political power should be limited. In the debate about the legitimacy of the European Union (EU), a 'neo-Madisonian' vision has emerged that identifies in the multi-level nature of the EU a contemporary version of Madison's argument about the separation of powers and checks and balances. The article situates this account of the EU's legitimacy within the wider trajectory of European integration and argues that these neo-Madisonian scholars make the mistakes of presuming that all limits upon the exercise of power are legitimate and of treating sovereignty and legitimacy as oppositional concepts. By returning to Madison's argument in the Federalist Papers, the article highlights the connection between legitimacy, limited power and the principle of popular sovereignty and the implications of this for how we should think about the EU's legitimacy in the future.


DNA re-identification is used for a broad range of applications, ranging from cell line authentication to crime scene sample identification. However, current re-identification schemes suffer from high latency. Here, we describe a rapid, inexpensive, and portable strategy to re-identify human DNA called MinION sketching. Using data from Oxford Nanopore Technologies' sequencer, MinION sketching requires only 3min of sequencing and ∼91 random SNPs to identify a sample, enabling near real-time applications of DNA re-identification. This method capitalizes on the vastly growing availability of genomic reference data for individuals and cancer cell lines. Hands-on preparation of the samples can be reduced to <1 hour. This empowers the application of MinION sketching in research settings for routine cell line authentication or in forensics. Software is available at https://github.com/TeamErlich/personal-identification-pipeline


The purpose of this clinical study was to determine the concentration of soluble tumor necrosis factor in urine of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE), verses voluntary control individuals. Sixteen patients (ages 24 to 74 years) with diagnosis of PE, docu mented by ventilation perfusion scan or pulmonary angiogram, were the subjects of this study. Ten cc of urine was obtained from each patient and subjected to a solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay thus determining the soluble tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor I (R I) and TNFα levels in these samples. In this pilot study of PE cases, a statistically significant elevation in urinary levels of TNFα and soluble TNF R I was demonstrated in PE patients. The average urinary soluble TNF R I in normal subjects was 1,029 pg/mL and in PE patients the average TNF R I was 3,734.4 pg/mL. The clinical diagnosis of PE is a challenging problem for the physician. Late diagnosis and delayed management of this condition could be associated with massive PE. Although pulmonary angiography is the gold standard for diagnosis of PE, it re quires expensive equipment, trained radiologists, and the patient could be at risk of sensitivity to contrast agents.


This article documents the use of Grasshopper and Galapagos (Rhino plugins) as analytical tools to graphically represent and optimize the adjacency requirements in programmatic spaces. The resulting three-dimensional spatial diagrams are evaluated based on evolutionary fitness, which within this research context is defined as minimizing the numerical value of the total distance of all interconnected programmatic elements. This approach offers a unique system of analysis that can create an extensive range of otherwise unexplored solutions to space planning when faced with complex adjacency requirements and a large number of programmatic elements. The Grasshopper script is a significant leap forward over existing research in this area, with the ability for users to define an irregular shaped site boundary, input multiple stories, relate program elements to external adjacencies (views, parking, etc.) and handle an unlimited number of program elements. Consequently, the resulting script can be used as an aid in the schematic design of buildings that have inherently complex programmatic relationships. This article uses a three-story hospital on a sloping site with fifty program elements to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach.


Choosing appropriate time steps to model the transient and discontinuous characteristics of solidification processes is difficult. The current study develops a modified local time truncation error (LTE)-based strategy designed to adaptively adjust the size of the time step during the simulated solidification procedure in such a way that the time steps can be adapted in accordance with the local variations in latent heat released during phase change or the effects of pure conduction in a single solid or liquid phase. The computational accuracy, efficiency and convergence of the proposed method are demonstrated via the simulation of the one-dimensional and two-dimensional solidification problems and compared with those of other uniform time step and adaptive time step methods. Consequently, the effects of latent heat release are more accurately modeled, the precision and efficiency of the computational solutions is correspondingly improved, and the computational errors are minimized. Furthermore, in solving the 2-D problem, it is shown that the line Gauss-Seidel iteration method and the proposed nonlinear iteration method can be combined to construct a highly efficient and accurate solver.


The Low-Pressure Turbine is a critical component of an Aero-Engine as it drives the Fan which produces most of the thrust in the current turbofan configuration. In order to increase the eficiency in terms of fuel consumption, there is a continuous research for blade count reduction (i.e. mass reduction) which entails a higher loading per rotor blade. It is well-known that this environment is characterised by a low Reynolds number low condition associated with high diffusion along the aft region of the suction side. Consequently, the flow along this surface is prone to laminar separation which, depending on the status of the separation bubble, would lead to detrimental decrease in the aerodynamic performance (larger and deeper wake). The present PhD thesis focuses on the investigation of the separation-induced transition phenomenon occurring in a Low-Pressure Turbine environment. The emphasis is put on the numerical predictions based on a CFD RANS approach using the innovative γ-Reθt transition model based on transport equations for the numerical intermittency (γ) and the transition onset momentum thickness Reynolds number (γ-Reθt). Nine Low-Pressure Turbine rotor blades form a comprehensive experimental reference database and cover a significant range of different isentropic outlet Reynolds numbers, isentropic outlet Mach numbers, inlet turbulence intensity levels, with or without incoming wakes and with two local roughness configurations. A first analysis of this database stresses the effect of the separation on the transition onset and on the performance. A correlation definition is attempted and allows to link the diffusion rate of a blade to the isentropic outlet Reynolds number at bursting. A reliable and robust numerical methodology is established to predict the transition in the case of uniform upstream flow. The results are in good agreement with the experiments even though it was necessary to adapt the boundary conditions to predict the laminar separation numerically for highly-loaded and strong diffusion rate blades only. The resolution of the boundary layer velocity profiles allows to have an in-depth examination of the flow topology parameters. This gives proper information on the momentum thickness which is the main driving parameter of transition correlations. The Chimera technique for overlapping meshes is used to ease the modelling of passive control devices to trigger transition. It is a decent technique to implement standard geometries or more elaborate designs.


INTRODUCTION:
Athletic groin pain (AGP) is a common injury, typically associated with sports involving repetitive agility tasks. Given the association between repetitive loading and chronic overuse injuries such as AGP, there has been a growing interest in the functional role movement variability may have with respect to injury (1). The aim of this study was to investigate if the magnitude of variability differed between those with and without AGP across the total waveform of the analysed variables.
METHODS:
Twenty AGP patients and twenty recreationally active male field sports athletes were recruited to this study. Each participant attended the lab on one occasion and completed 7 trials of a 110° cutting action. Motion and force data were captured using 10 Vicon Bonita cameras and 2 AMTI force plates at a sampling frequency of 200 Hz and 1000 Hz, respectively. Data were filtered at 15 Hz and normalised to 101 data points. A modified vector coding approach was utilised to calculate the co-ordination between joints (2). Variability was calculated for both joint angles and the co-ordination between every joint of the lower limbs, trunk and pelvis using the between-trial standard deviation or the circular equivalent for the coordination data. A statistical curve analysis was performed using one-dimensional statistical non-parametric mapping (3) and rank rank-biserial correlation (RBC) was presented as a standardised measure of effect. Only phases of 3% or longer were considered as true differences (4).
RESULTS:
Ankle dorsi/plantar flexion (79-93%, RBC = 0.51), Thorax abd/adduction – Hip flex/extension (88-93%, RBC = 0.65) and Pelvis abd/adduction – Hip flex/extension (88-93%, RBC = 0.57) variability were all significantly less in the AGP group in comparison to the uninjured group (p <0.01). In contrast Pelvis flex/extension variability (36-63%,70-84%, RBC =0.49) was significantly greater in the uninjured group in comparison to the AGP group (p <0.01).
CONCLUSION:
The results from this study indicate that AGP patients are characterised by reduced movement variability in comparison to uninjured controls for three out of the four significantly different variables identified. While causality cannot be determined from the current study, it is possible that reduced variability represents a risk factor for AGP due to repetitive loading on the pubic symphysis region. AGP rehabilitation may, therefore, benefit from 'over-loading' variability by emphasising the use of a large number of degrees of freedom to encourage the exploration of new movement strategies by the neuromuscular system. While this rehabilitation should be conducted utilising whole-body movements, future research should investigate which rehabilitation exercises best target the variability at the joints affected by AGP.


In this paper attention is directed at the effects of the ageing of the Scottish population. Expenditure patterns vary with the average age of household members Data from Family Spending is used to disaggregate the household column of the Scottish input-output table into three sub-sectors (a) Younger households (Age of head of household less than 65), (b) Mature households (Age of head of household between 65 and 74) and (c) Older households (Age of head of household 75 or more). A comparison of the published Type II multipliers with those using the disaggregated household sector is made. The second part of the paper uses household projections produced by the Registrar General for Scotland to forecast the relative changes that might be expected (ceteris paribus) in the three household expenditure columns. Alterations in the relative frequency of each type of household will have implications for individual industries. Holding total income constant, an increase in older households and a decrease in younger households would increase final demand for some commodities and lower it for others. Given the implicit multiplier effects, the industries that are relatively advantaged by the demographic change are identified.


OBJECTIVES
To improve clinical lymph node staging (cN-stage) in esophageal adenocarcinoma by developing and externally validating three prediction models; one with clinical variables only, one with positron emission tomography (PET) radiomics only, and a combined clinical and radiomics model.

METHODS
Consecutive patients with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) avid tumours treated with neo-adjuvant therapy between 2010 and 2016 in two international centres (n = 130 and n = 60, respectively) were included. Four clinical variables (age, gender, clinical T-stage and tumour regression grade) and PET radiomics from the primary tumour were used for model development. Diagnostic accuracy, area under curve (AUC), discrimination and calibration were calculated for each model. The prognostic significance was also assessed.

RESULTS
The incidence of lymph node metastases was 58% in both cohorts. The AUCs of the clinical, radiomics and combined models were 0.79, 0.69 and 0.82 in the developmental cohort, and 0.65, 0.63 and 0.69 in the external validation cohort, with good calibration demonstrated. The AUC of current cN-stage in development and validation cohorts was 0.60 and 0.66, respectively. For overall survival, the combined clinical and radiomics model achieved the best discrimination performance in the external validation cohort (X2 = 6.08, df = 1, p = 0.01).

CONCLUSION
Accurate diagnosis of lymph node metastases is crucial for prognosis and guiding treatment decisions. Despite finding improved predictive performance in the development cohort, the models using PET radiomics derived from the primary tumour were not fully replicated in an external validation cohort.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE
This international study attempted to externally validate a new prediction model for lymph node metastases using PET radiomics. A model combining clinical variables and PET radiomics improved discrimination of lymph node metastases, but these results were not externally replicated.


In this paper, we document economically and statistically large differences in the cost of equity by comparing an international CAPM to a domestic CAPM. We consider fifteen countries over a nearly twenty-year period (1996 -2015). While the application of the international version of the CAPM in cases where an international market index is used as a pricing factor would seem justified by increased capital market integration, the empirical evidence on this has been inconclusive to date. We found that the average difference in the cost of equity between the models was equal to 0.77%, which represents about 20% of the historical risk premium. Moreover, for almost 20% of the companies, this difference in cost of equity is also statistically significant. For these companies the difference in cost of equity is equal to 1.49%. We therefore conclude that the ICAPM is increasingly becoming the relevant model for cost of equity calculations.


The goal of this paper is to prove the potential of fractal analysis techniques in evaluation of network characteristics, especially in detection of anomalies, as a method to reveal self-similarities in generated traffic. After a short review of some anomaly detection methods, one describe in detail a statistical signal processing technique based on abrupt change detection. A case study based on real network data from the database of management variables of a SNMP server demonstrates the power of the signal processing approach to network anomaly detection.


Background/Objectives: Few researchers have reported the influence level of impacting factors about oral health of the community among the older people. We examined impacting factors on oral health status. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Using available data through a cross-sectional survey, we assessed impacting factors of oral health status with the individual and the living area and economic activity as the community factors in a sample of 1106 adults of 65 or older. We used individual-level oral health examination, predisposing factors (age, gender, education, marital status), enabling factors (insurance, income), and needs factors (mental, physical problems) with community-level data (living area, economic activity). Findings: We analyzed the impacting factors on oral health status of the community after adjustment for confounding factors by using multi-level logistic regression models. Our results showed that individual- level factors like being younger, male, non-married, non-poor, higher educational level, public and private insurances were impacting factors being related with higher odds of taking oral health examination. In conclusion, the elderly being younger, male as individual-level factors were more likely to have oral health care services even after adjusting the community-level factors (odds ratio = 2.13(1.03-4.40); p=.04; odds ratio = 1.72(1.11-2.65); p=.01). Improvements: Therefore, personalized and tailored policy plans are needed to intervene in the individual level with community levels to keep and improve oral health status in the Korean elderly.


Introduction & Background:
Basketball is one of the most popular ball games throughout the world. It is the game in which more things occur per second like any other game. More than 70million people play basketball and over 210 countries are members of FIBA. The performance of Indian athletes, players, sportsmen at various national and international competitions has been poor and this is of great concern especially to the coaches, physical educationists, sports scientists, doctors and researchers. Efforts have been made to improve the standards of our sportsmen since long, however a very little success has been achieved in this respect. The performance of any player will depend upon his physical fitness.
Aims & objectives:
The present study was undertaken to assess, analyze and compare height, weight, arm span, body segments, muscular strength and endurance in basketball players and age matched controls. Also compare these results with national and international standards available.
Material & methods:
Parameters like height, weight, arm span, upper segment, lower segment, body-composition, strength using bench squat (1 RM method), leg and back dynamometry & endurance using push-up & sit-ups scores were assessed.
In the view of paucity of scientific assessment of Indian basketball players regarding their fitness and game specific skills, this study was under taken. We observed that as compared to the age matched controls the basketball players had significantly more height, height of upper segments of body. Strength of shoulder as well as leg muscles endurance was significantly more in basketball players than controls. We also found that there was a significant decrease in weight, fat percent, and fat mass of basketball players than controls. There was no significant change in height of lower body segment, static strength of leg and back muscles.
Summary & conclusion:
Basketball players in our study group still lag far behind in different study variables like weight, lean body mass, strength (static as well as dynamic), flexibility and agility when compared with national and Olympic basketball players. Hence there is a need to improve the physical fitness parameters so as enhance the player's performance.
Suggestions:
Exercise and games should be mandatory at all levels of education. Talent identification programs should be implemented at various levels such as schools, colleges, universities and state.


In this research, fretting tests were conducted in air to investigate the wear characteristics of fuel cladding materials with the fretting parameters such as normal load, slip amplitude, frequency and the number of cycles. A high frequency fretting wear tester was designed for this experiment by KAERI. After the experiments, the wear volume and the shape of wear contour were measured by the surface roughness tester. Tribologically transformed structures(TTS) were analysed by means of optical and scanning electron microscopes to identify the main wear mechanisms. The results of this study showed that the wear volume were increased with increasing slip amplitude, and the shape of wear contour was transformed V-type to W-type. Also, it was found that the critical slip amplitude was 168㎛. This phenomena mean that wear mechanism transformed partial slip to gross slip to accelerate wear volume. The wear depth increased with an increase of friction coefficient due to increase of normal load and frequency. The fretting wear mechanisms were believed that, after adhesion and surface plastic deformation occurred by relative sliding motion on the contact between two specimens, TTS creation was induced by surface strain hardening and wear debris were detached from the contact surface which were produced by the micro crack propagation and creation.


The first filed of the three Foreign Emoluments Clause cases was CREW v. Trump. Five academics (the "Legal Historians") filed an amicus brief (the "Legal Historians Brief") in support of the plaintiffs. The Legal Historians Brief stated: "As holders of an office 'of trust' under the United States, [presidential] electors [like the President] would also be subject to the [Foreign Emoluments] [C]lause."
The Legal Historians claim regarding presidential electors is perplexing. They cite no authority for this position. More troubling is that there is a substantial body of authority taking the position that presidential electors are state positions, not federal positions, and so entirely beyond the scope of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and its Office...under the United States-language. The Legal Historians did not discuss this line of authority.
There is a more recent line of academic authority, initially put forward by Vasan Kesavan, that notes that the Constitution's Religious Test Clause distinguishes offices under the United States from public trusts under the United States. Kesavan argues that the position of presidential elector, although a federal position, is a public trust under the United States, as opposed to an office under the United States. Again, this alternative view was not discussed by the Legal Historians.
Failing to discuss academic authority and nonbinding federal case law is not best practice. But it is certainly within the norms of the legal profession, particularly in a brief where space is scarce. Failing to discuss contrary Supreme Court authority is another matter entirely. In 1867, in United States v. Hartwell, the Supreme Court held: "The term ['office'] embraces the ideas of tenure, duration, emolument, and duties." Presidential electors fail — each and every element — of this four-factor test.


Abstract Sphagnum tundrae (sect. Squarrosa) is reported new to arctic North America and eastern Russia. This species was recently described from Svalbard, arctic Norway, and has until now not been reported from other areas. It is argued, that it reached Svalbard in early/middle Holocene by long distance chance dispersal through icerafting diaspores following main Arctic Ocean currents from arctic Eurasian sources. Supposedly closely related to S. teres, the distinctness of the gene pools of those two species is evaluated through isozyme analysis of a mixed population, as well as small samples from three other S. tundrae sites and two sites with S. teres populations from Svalbard. Fifteen putative enzyme loci were screened. Very little intraspecific genetic diversity was detected. Sphagnum tundrae was monomorphic throughout the four populations studied, whereas S. teres had three haplotypes. The mean genetic identity (Nei 1978) among populations of S. tundrae and S. teres in this sample from Svalbard was calculated as 0.525, which is in concordance with values obtained among other Sphagnum species. Sphagnum mirum is described as a new species from subarctic Alaska, differing in essential morphological characteristics from the related S. teres and S. tundrae. Morphological variation in mixed stands of S. mirum and S. teres from the type locality clearly demonstrates its specific distinctness in qualitative as well as quantitative characteristics.


Recent works on lattice-based extractable polynomial commitments can be grouped into two classes: (i) non-interactive constructions that stem from the functional commitment by Albrecht, Cini, Lai, Malavolta and Thyagarajan (CRYPTO 2022), and (ii) lattice adaptations of the Bulletproofs protocol (S&P 2018). The former class enjoys security in the standard model, albeit a knowledge assumption is desired. In contrast, Bulletproof-like protocols can be made secure under falsifiable assumptions, but due to technical limitations regarding subtractive sets, they only offer inverse-polynomial soundness error. This issue becomes particularly problematic when transforming these protocols to the non-interactive setting using the Fiat-Shamir paradigm. In this work, we propose the first lattice-based non-interactive extractable polynomial commitment scheme which achieves polylogarithmic proof size and verifier runtime (in the length of the committed message) under standard assumptions. At the core of our work lies a new tree-based commitment scheme, along with an efficient proof of polynomial evaluation inspired by FRI (ICALP 2018). Natively, the construction is secure under a "multi-instance version" of the Power-Ring BASIS assumption (Eprint 2023/846). We then fully reduce security to the Module-SIS assumption by introducing several re-randomisation techniques which can be of independent interest.


In the past decade, seismologists have found that the topography in Colorado correlates with seismic velocities in the upper mantle, not with crustal thickness, and postulated that isostatic compensation of the southern Rocky Mountains takes place largely in the mantle. To test the validity of this hypothesis, we use Rayleigh wave phase and amplitude data recorded in the Rocky Mountain Front PASSCAL Experiment to obtain crustal thickness and shear-wave structure in the crust and upper mantle. The thickest crust in the model is beneath one of the two most elevated regions, the San Juan volcanic field. The other most elevated region in central Colorado, the Sawatch Range, is underlain by crust of anomalously low velocity. The seismically defined mantle lithosphere is thicker beneath the Great Plains than beneath the Colorado Plateau and is largely absent beneath the southern Rocky Mountains, but the correlation of topography with mantle velocities is weaker than the correlation with crustal anomalies. We construct a model that matches the observed Bouguer gravity anomaly primarily with variations in crustal thickness and density by assuming that density anomalies are proportional to the observed velocity anomalies. The anomalous mantle may also contribute to maintaining regional isostasy in Colorado, but its contribution may be much less important than the crust.


More than two dozen short-period Jupiter-mass gas giant planets have been discovered around nearby solar-type stars in recent years, several of which undergo transits, making them ideal for the detection and characterization of their atmospheres. Here we adopt a three-dimensional radiative hydrodynamical numerical scheme to simulate atmospheric circulation on close-in gas giant planets. In contrast to the conventional GCM and shallow water algorithms, this method does not assume quasi-hydrostatic equilibrium, and it approximates radiation transfer from optically thin to thick regions with flux-limited diffusion. In the first paper of this series, we consider synchronously spinning gas giants. We show that a full three-dimensional treatment, coupled with rotationally modified flows and an accurate treatment of radiation, yields a clear temperature transition at the terminator. Based on a series of numerical simulations with varying opacities, we show that the nightside temperature is a strong indicator of the opacity of the planetary atmosphere. Planetary atmospheres that maintain large interstellar opacities will exhibit large day-night temperature differences, while planets with reduced atmospheric opacities due to extensive grain growth and sedimentation will exhibit much more uniform temperatures throughout their photospheres. In addition to numerical results, we present a four-zone analytic approximation to explain this dependence.


Although many pricing schemes in IaaS platform are already proposed with pay-as-you-go and subscription/spot market policy to guarantee service level agreement, it is still inevitable to suffer from wasteful payment because of coarse-grained pricing scheme. In this paper, we investigate an optimized fine-grained and fair pricing scheme. Two tough issues are addressed: (1) the profits of resource providers and customers often contradict mutually; (2) VM-maintenance overhead like startup cost is often too huge to be neglected. Not only can we derive an optimal price in the acceptable price range that satisfies both customers and providers simultaneously, but we also find a best-fit billing cycle to maximize social welfare (i.e., the sum of the cost reductions for all customers and the revenue gained by the provider). We carefully evaluate the proposed optimized fine-grained pricing scheme with two large-scale real-world production traces (one from Grid Workload Archive and the other from Google data center). We compare the new scheme to classic coarse-grained hourly pricing scheme in experiments and find that customers and providers can both benefit from our new approach. The maximum social welfare can be increased up to 72.98 and 48.15 percent with respect to DAS-2 trace and Google trace respectively.


Fiber reinforced plastics show a wide range of different damage mechanisms such as matrix cracking, fiber breakage and interface failure. These can be observed in damaged specimens by means of volumetric images acquired by computed tomography (CT). As each failure mechanism causes a characteristic acoustic emission (AE) signal, AE analysis is a promising tool to identify damage mechanisms and offers the advantage that a real-time observation of the damage evolution during the testing period is possible. For a correlation of damage mechanisms and AE events, AE analysis was combined with in- situ CT measurements. This combined approach was validated by means of a 3-point-bending test on a discontinuous glass fiber reinforced sheet molding compound (GF-SMC) in which AE signals were acquired during loading using two high frequency piezoelectric sensors. At times of increasing AE activity, the test was interrupted in order to carry out a CT-scan of the specimen under load. AE events could subsequently be linked with the damage mechanisms observed in the CT-scans at different stages of damage to identify signal features that are characteristic for a certain mechanism. The sources of the signals could be localized and were in line with the actual location of damage.


Nowadays, virtual humans such as non-player characters in computer games need to have a strong autonomy in order to live their own life in persistent virtual worlds. When designing autonomous virtual humans, the action selection problem needs to be considered, as it is responsible for decision making at each moment in time. Indeed action selection architectures for autonomous virtual humans need to be reactive, proactive, motivational, and emotional to obtain a high degree of autonomy and individuality. The thesis can be divided into three parts. In the first part, we define each word of our title to precise their sense and raise the problematic of this work. We describe also inspirations from several domains that we used to design our model because this thesis is highly multi-disciplinary. Indeed, decision-making is essential for every autonomous entity and is studied in ethology, robotics, computer graphics, computer sciences, and cognitive sciences. However, we have chosen specific techniques to implement our model: hierarchical classifier systems and a free flow hierarchy. The second part of this thesis describes in detail our model of action selection for autonomous virtual humans. We use overlapping hierarchical classifier systems, working in parallel, to generate coherent behavioral plans. They are associated with the functionalities of a free flow hierarchy for the spreading of activation to give reactivity and flexibility to the hierarchical system. Moreover several functionalities are added to enhance and facilitate the choice of the most appropriate action at every time according to the internal and external influences. Finally, in the third part of this thesis, a complex simulated environment is created for testing the model and its functionalities with many conflicting motivations. Results demonstrate that the model is sufficiently efficient, robust and flexible for designing motivational autonomous virtual humans in persistent worlds. Moreover, we have just started to investigate on the emotional level which has to be improved in the future to have more subjective and adaptive behaviors and also manage social interactions with other virtual humans or users. Applied to video games, non player characters are more interesting and believable because they live their own life when people don't interact with them.


Recent innovations in transport technology are now providing mobility that is cheaper, autonomous, electric, and with improved ride quality. While much of the world's attention has been on how this can be applied to cars, there have been rapid adoption of these and other technologies in High Speed Rail and Metro Rail systems that run between and across cities. This paper shows how such innovations have now been applied to create the next generation of urban transit system called a Trackless Tram. Trackless Trams are effectively the same as traditional light rail except they run on rubber tyres avoiding disruption from construction for Light Rail, but they retain the electric propulsion (with batteries) and have high ride quality due to rail-type bogies, stabilization technologies and precision tracking from the autonomous optical guidance systems—with infrastructure costs reduced to as low as one tenth of a Light Rail system. As with Light Rail, a Trackless Tram System provides a rapid transit option that can harness the fixed route assurance necessary to unlock new land value appreciation that can be leveraged to contribute to construction and running costs whilst creating urban regeneration. The paper considers the niche for Trackless Trams in cities along with its potential for city shaping through the creation of urban re-development along corridors. The paper suggests that the adoption of Trackless Tram Systems is likely to grow rapidly as a genuine alternative to car and bus systems, supplementing and extending the niche occupied by Light Rail Transit (LRT). This appears to be feasible in any medium-sized or larger city, especially in emerging and developing economies, and case studies are outlined for Perth and Thimpu to illustrate its potential.


In software development, models are often used to represent multiple views of the same system. Such models need to be properly related to each other in order to provide a consistent description of the developed system. Models may contain contradictory system specifications, for instance, when they evolve independently. Therefore, it is very crucial to ensure that models conform to each other. In this context, we focus on consistency checking of behavior models. Several techniques and approaches have been proposed in the existing literature to support behavioral model consistency checking. This article presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that was carried out to obtain an overview of the various consistency concepts, problems, and solutions proposed regarding behavior models. In our study, the identification and selection of the primary studies was based on a well-planned search strategy. The search process identified a total of 1770 studies, out of which 96 have been thoroughly analyzed according to our predefined SLR protocol. The SLR aims to highlight the state-of-the-art of software behavior model consistency checking and identify potential gaps for future research. Based on research topics in selected studies, we have identified seven main categories: targeted software models, types of consistency checking, consistency checking techniques, inconsistency handling, type of study and evaluation, automation support, and practical impact. The findings of the systematic review also reveal suggestions for future research, such as improving the quality of study design and conducting evaluations, and application of research outcomes in industrial settings. For this purpose, appropriate strategy for inconsistency handling, better tool support for consistency checking and/or development tool integration should be considered in future studies.


We describe the numerical code N-MODY, a parallel particle-mesh code for collisionless N-body simulations in modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). N-MODY is based on a numerical potential solver in spherical coordinates that solves the non-linear MOND field equation, and is ideally suited to simulate isolated stellar systems. N-MODY can be used also to compute the MOND potential of arbitrary static density distributions. A few applications of N-MODY indicate that some astrophysically relevant dynamical processes are profoundly different in MOND and in Newtonian gravity with dark matter.


Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether intraoperative cytological evaluation of squash preparations is of benefit for differentiating high-grade from low-grade astrocytomas. Methods: Squash preparations of 42 astrocytomas were classified histologically according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2007 classification system as grade II (n = 12), grade III (n = 11), and grade IV (n = 19) and were divided into 2 groups, namely a low-grade group (grade II) and a high-grade group (grades III and IV). The focus was on morphological cell and vessel characteristics, namely nuclear atypia, chromatin pattern, nuclear enlargement, variation in nuclear size, the presence of nucleoli, mitosis, tumor necrosis, cell density, multibranched vessels, and vascular dilatation, and these characteristics were compared between the low- and high-grade groups. Results: Nuclear atypia, the presence of coarse chromatin, variations in nuclear size, and cell density ≥200 per high-power field were significantly more prevalent in high- than in low-grade astrocytomas (p = 0.0407, p < 0.01, p < 0.01, and p < 0.01, respectively). Vessels with > 3 branches and a mean vessel diameter ≥20 μm were more prevalent in high- than in low-grade astrocytomas (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Squash preparation cytology provides added benefit for the intraoperative identification of high-grade astrocytoma.


Introduction Dental technicians are exposed to various chemicals, including silica particles and metals. The aim of this study is to explore the pneumoconiosis risk among dental technicians. Methods This is a cross-sectional study. We reviewed medical records of patients diagnosed with pneumoconiosis who were admitted to outpatient occupational disease centre between 2013 and 2015. Pneumoconiosis was diagnosed by X-ray radiograms in accordance to ILO procedures and with High Resolution Computarized Tomography (HRCT). Result Pneumoconiosis was diagnosed in 46 (65.7%) of the 70 dental technicians who were referred to our hospital. There were 45 (97.8%) male and 1 (2.2%) female cases. Radiologically, 16 cases were defined as 2/3 or more of profusion and 11 cases had large opacity. In 3 (6,5%) cases who had profusion 0/1, The most frequent findings are micronodules and lymphadenopathy in HRCT. Consolidation, conglomerate masses and ground glass opacities are also described alongside the reticular opacities. There was a poor correlation between pulmonary function tests and profusion, (correlation coefficient were between: −0,18 and −0,058). There was no correlation observed between profusion and age started to work and exposure duration. Discussion The study showed that pneumoconiosis among dental technicians is a great risk. Especially sandblasting procedures is raise the risk of pneumoconiosis. This shows that there are serious limitations in control measures and employee' health monitoring.


: The electron structural analogs nicomorpholine and azethylnicotinate possessing a high anticonvulsant activity in experiment were synthesized on the basis of nicotinamide. The new substances antagonized the convulsant effect of corasole in the doses less by a factor of 10 than nicotinamide, with the therapeutic protective index of the test agents being 3-4 times higher than that of nicotinamide and being equal to the index of phenobarbital and diazepam. Analysis of the anticonvulsive activity with the aid of pro- and anticonvulsants disclosed that nicotinamide and its analogs are more effective in relation to bikukullin, thiosemicarbazide and picrotoxin than to corasole. Nicomorpholine like nicotinamide is capable of suppressing the epileptic foci in various zones of the cerebral cortex. The data obtained evidence that the spectrum of the activity of nicotinamide and its analogs differ from that of the classic anticonvulsants and antiepileptic drugs of the diphenin and phenobarbital series, resembling, to a greater degree, benzodiazepine tranquilizers with the predominant influence on the GABA-ergic system.


In the nearly five years since Iringa Retco was privatized, the overall impact of the process of privatization on Iringa Retco is now clear. This paper analyzes the impact of privatization through a detailed analysis of first,
the difference between pre- and past- privatization performance of Iringa Retco and the change in performance of this privatized firm relative to the change in performance indicators of profitability, operating efficiency and employment as it is assessed by the balanced score card performance lenses shown in this study. The results, which showed that Iringa Retco performed efficiently after privatization were consistent with previous literature. While the impact of privatization on
employment is negative in the short run during the year of privatization, there are more positive impacts after two years in the long term, especially since the parastatal
companies were hiring employees on political grounds, rather than on economical and technical reasons. This paper has demonstrated that as the result of privatization, there is a significant increase in indirect employment through services which are now being produced and given to the public plus the significant growth of total employment opportunities both direct and indirect.


INTRODUCTION
Grief can be seen as a form of suffering. In this study grief was not only defined as loss, but as the process of inner suffering caused of some kinds of loss. We must recognise the importance of increased understanding for patient reconciliation with grief to expand earlier formulated knowledge about health and suffering. The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of reconciliation among women suffering from grief.

METHODS
A qualitative explorative design with a hermeneutic narrative approach was used to analyse and interpret the interviews. Caring theory about health, suffering and hermeneutical philosophy about understanding provided the point of departure for the analysis. The study was approved by an ethical research committee.

RESULTS
Findings reveal different plots that give light to the meaning of reconciliation in the different phases of analysis. In the women's narratives the meaning of reconciliation is a process to a new way of seeing, but also to opening and transition from the experience of grief and suffering to the experience of health and wholeness.

CONCLUSIONS
Reconciliation has a progressive form and the meaning of reconciliation cannot be seen as synonymous or homogenous but an understanding of reconciliation as a heterogenic synthesis of health and suffering. Understanding the reconciliation process will enable nurses to plan and provide professional care, based on caring science.


Standard tax competition models predict a 'race-to-the-bottom' of corporate tax rates when rms are mobile. Recent theoretical literature has qualied this view by oering a theoretical explanation why this extreme prediction need not occur: central regions with large clusters of economic activity are able to set positive tax rates without fearing to lose rms to peripheral regions as the rms would forego 'rents' from agglomeration economies. In this paper, we study whether local policy makers eectively tax such agglomeration rents. We test this with panel data from Swiss municipalities between 1985 and 2005. We nd that large urban areas set indeed higher tax rates than small urban areas. This is consistent with the theoretical prediction. Within urban areas, however, municipal tax rates are unrelated to the size of economic activity in (and around) municipalities while they are positively related to the size of the political jurisdiction. This result is robust to controlling for reverse causality by using instrumental variables. We see this result as evidence that the standard tax competition model for asymmetric jurisdictions is at work in the competition of municipalities within a metropolitan area. Controlling for xed


Power plant generators have quality protection over long-range transmission, but localized generation interacts with multiple power sources, and needs maintenance to ensure grid safety. Localized and distributed generation must solve these issues to remain viable economically and efficiently in power industries. Cal Poly's Building 20 provides on-campus location to interconnect renewable generation with interconnection disconnect capabilities. Cal Poly's grid includes three localized generators flowing through the Cal Poly substation. Unlike other universities which use power from utilities across distant transmission lines, Cal Poly generates energy using onsite generators. Research including additional possible sites of power generation helps determine the effects on campus power distribution. Better analysis of facilities capable of lab voltage distribution systems (LVDS) combined with studies of nanogrid interconnections ensures better comprehension of microgrid technologies.


This study discusses the implications of developments in current account and financial accounts for both developed and developing countries with a specific reference to the global imbalances debate. There are two main arguments of the study. First, it may be misleading to focus on net capital flows or/and current accounts in order to detect the external sources of the last global crisis. In relation to this, a gross flow approach incorporated into the Minsky-Kindleberger model may be a more useful way of explaining the external sources of the last global crisis. Second, current accounts and net capital flows are much more relevant indicators for developing countries compared to their meaning in advanced countries. Although gross flows gains importance in countries with relatively developed financial markets, net financial flows would be better proxies for external sources of fragilities for developing countries due to the key roles played by exchange rates and reserve accumulation in these countries under the current global financial order.


The clinical effectiveness of a new protocol, the NCMP (N:neocarzinostatin C:cytosine arabinoside M:6- mercaptopurine P:prednisolone) two-step regimen was studied in 19 patients with acute non-lymphocytic leukemia (ANLL). All patients were previously untreated and ages ranged from 15 to 75 y.o. (median:54 y.o.). The ratio of male to female was 11 to 8. The doses and administration-routes of antileukemic agents were: N, 1,400u/m(2)/day, was administrated by i.v. drip on day 1, 2, 3 and 4 (Regimen 1) and N, 4,000u/m(2)/day, i.v. drip on day 1 and 2 (Regimen 2). C, 60-100mg/m(2)/day, was administered by i.v. drip and M, 60-100mg/m(2)/day, was given p.o. daily. P, 20-40mg/m(2)/day, was also given p.o. daily. As the first step, antileukemic agents were administrated until peripheral blood cell counts and bone marrow nucleated cell counts decreased to less than 1,200/cmm and 15,000/cmm, respectively. Treatment with or without N as the second step was started about 3-7 days after the first step treatment. Eighteen patients were adequately treated by the NCMP two-step regimen and 12 of 18 patients, 66.7%, obtained complete remission (CR). On the basis of the types of leukemia, CR was achieved in 11 of 16 patients with AML, 68.8%, and 1 of 2 patients with AMoL, 50%. The ratio of CR was higher in younger patients (less than 49 y.o.) than in elderly patients (more than 50 y.o.). These ratios were 85.7% and 54.5%, respectively. On the basis of therapeutic regimens, 8 of 11 patients, 72.7%, achieved CR by Regimen 1 and 4 of 7 patients, 57.1%, by Regimen 2. The duration of CR ranged from 1.0 to 39.5+M (median:11.5 M). The survivals from the diagnosis of leukemia were from 13 to 41+M (median:12.1 M) in all patients and from 4.2 to 41+M (median:16.4 M) in responders. As toxic manifestations, digestive side effects such as anorexia, 68.4%, and nausea and vomiting, 21.1%, were marked, but were tolerable. These results indicate that the NCMP two-step regimen is an effective induction chemotherapy for ANLL.


The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that Chrysoporthe cubensis on native trees in South America could be the source of the pathogen that causes severe stem cankers and often mortality in commercially propagated Eucalyptus trees. This was done by investigating populations originating from two adjacent Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) plantations in Colombia, and wild Miconia rubiginosa trees (Melastomataceae) growing alongside these stands. Polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to quantify allele sizes in 20 and 39 isolates from the two Eucalyptus stands and 32 isolates from adjacent M. rubiginosa trees. Gene and genotypic diversities were calculated from these data, and population differentiation and assignment tests were performed to ascertain whether the populations were genetically different. Results showed that there were no differences between any of the populations using these techniques, and that they can be treated as a single population. Therefore, the results support the hypothesis that host switching has occurred in C. cubensis in Colombia.


Abstract This bachelor thesis investigates whether Maersk Drilling can use social media to reach and engage with customers, generate leads for CRM all with the purpose of generating more sales. This purpose fits well with the overall strategy of Maersk Drilling, which is to grow in order to become a greater contributor to the profit of the A.P Moller Maersk Group. Analyses of the lessons learned from Maersk Drilling current social media strategy on employment, the customers and available IT systems have been important in order to compose a strategy for reaching customers on social media. The methods used to support the analysis are in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders, online surveys on social media and statistics from various sources. The bachelor thesis encompasses an evaluation of Maersk Drilling's current social media strategy, a market analysis with emphasis on social media and an analysis of the social media channels that Maersk Drilling ought to use. All of it concludes in a social media strategy with a cost-benefit analysis. The market analysis confirmed that it was possible to have a more proactive sales approach to customers. It became clear that the customers' behaviour had changed and customers valued knowledge sharing and interaction with their suppliers, which could take place on social media. It was crucial to find a system that could measure customers' behaviour on both social media and the website. After researching, analysing and comparing different systems, it has been concluded that Click Dimensions and Oracle Social Cloud are the best fit for the proposed social media strategy. The social media strategy supports Maersk Drilling's overall sales strategy, as the strategy enables the sales department to be more proactive in their relationship with customers. The costs of managing and license social media are 740,981.60 DKK the first year and 640,981.60DKK the supsequent years. It is a profitable investment if Maersk Drilling can generate sales of minimum 2469,938.67DKK the first year. It is believed that it can do that, as social media can create brand awareness, customer insights and some costs are also avoided by using social media strategy.


Susceptibility to a clinically significant drug hypersensitivity syndrome associated with abacavir use seems to have a strong genetic component. We have previously shown that the presence of HLA-B*5701 strongly predicts abacavir hypersensitivity and have identified a potential susceptibility locus within a 300-kb region between the MEGT1 and C4A6 loci in the central MHC. We now report the results of fine recombinant genetic mapping in an expanded patient population of 248 consecutive, fully ascertained, abacavir-exposed individuals in the Western Australian HIV Cohort Study, in which 18 cases of definite abacavir hypersensitivity (7.3%) and 230 tolerant controls were identified. Haplotype mapping within patients with allelic markers of the 57.1 ancestral haplotype suggests a susceptibility locus within the 14-kb Hsp70 gene cluster. HLA-B*5701 was present in 94.4% of hypersensitive cases compared with 1.7% of controls (odds ratio, 960; P < 0.00001). A haplotypic nonsynonymous polymorphism of Hsp70-Hom (HspA1L, resulting from the substitution of residue M493T in the peptide-binding subunit) was found in combination with HLA-B*5701 in 94.4% of hypersensitive cases and 0.4% of controls (odds ratio, 3,893; P < 0.00001). Individuals with abacavir hypersensitivity demonstrated increased monocyte tumor necrosis factor expression in response to ex vivo abacavir stimulation, which was abrogated with CD8+ T cell depletion. These data indicate that the concurrence of HLA-B*5701 and Hsp70-Hom M493T alleles is necessary for the development of abacavir hypersensitivity, which is likely to be mediated by an HLA-B*5701-restricted immune response to abacavir.


This supporting document has been prepared to make the construction specifications for Project W-320 readily available. Project W-320, Waste Retrieval Sluicing System (WRSS), specification is for procurement, fabrication and installation of equipment at the C Tank Farm, including Operator Station and some equipment just outside the C Tank Farm fence, necessary to support the sluicing operation. Work consists of furnishing labor, equipment, and materials to provide the means to procure materials and equipment, fabricate items, excavate and place concrete, and install equipment, piping, wiring, and structures in accordance with the Contract Documents. Major work elements include: Excavation for process and fire protection piping, electrical conduit trenches, and foundations for small structures; Placement of concrete cover blocks, foundations, and equipment pads; Procurement and installation of double walled piping, electrical conduit, fire and raw water piping, chilled water piping, and electrical cable; Procurement and installation of above-ground ventilation system piping between the (HVAC) Process building and Tank C-106; Core drill existing concrete; Furnish and installation of electrical distribution equipment; Installation of the concrete foundation, and assembly installation of the two Seismic Shutdown Systems with Environmental Enclosures; Fabrication and installation of in-pit pipe jumpers, including related valves, instruments and wiring; and Installation ofmore » a vertical submersible pump, horizontal booster pump, and winch assembly into tank access riser pits.« less


The article explores representations of African American men and masculinities in Gloria Naylor 's 1998 novel The Men of Brewster Place, and compares them to those in The Women of Brewster Place (1982). The analysis places the more recent novel in the context of literary and cultural debates about black women's agency and racial solidarity, and in the socio-historical contexts of the civil rights movement and the Million Man March. Because the novel incorporates competing and conflicting discourses on African American masculinity, Naylor's representations of men in The Men of Brewster Place are wrought with ambivalence, caught between a critical problematization of masculine and masculinist ideals, and a re-inscription of those ideals.


ABSTRACT German hard coal production ended in 2018, following the termination of subsidies. This paper looks at 60 years of continuous decline of an industry that employed more than 600,000 people, through a case study comparing Germany's two largest hard coal mining areas (Ruhr area and Saarland). Although predominantly economic drivers underlay the transitions, both provide valuable lessons for upcoming coal phase-outs induced by stricter climate policies, including beyond Germany. The analysis identifies the main qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the two regions. It then discusses policy instruments implemented to guide the transition, including measures for the conservation of coal production, regional economic reorientation, and the easing of the transition's social impacts. The success of these policies is evaluated using economic, social, and geographical indicators that were developed within three interdisciplinary research projects running from 2016 to 2019. A key lesson from the examined case studies is the importance of combining not only policies addressing unemployment and the attraction of new energy corporations and investments, but also measures improving infrastructure, education, research facilities and soft location factors. Protecting a declining industry for decades caused increased transition costs compared to an earlier phase-out. Economic reorientation and changing regional identities have proven most difficult in the past. However, the German example illustrates that the complexity of the challenges of a transition can be mastered if city, regional, and national governments and institutions cooperate in a polycentric approach. Key policy insights A faster and more pro-active hard coal mining phase-out in Germany would have been much less expensive and paved the way for new industries A just and in-time transition needs to: be jointly managed in a polycentric approach by city, regional, national, and international governments and institutions. combine climate, energy, social, and structural policies, whilst recognizing both local specifics and global connections. consider long-term effects, external independent advice apart from the incumbent regime and beyond-border thinking, while aiming to diversify the economy and enabling broad stakeholder participation. address unemployment, the economy, and the energy system, as well as measures to improve infrastructure, universities, research facilities, and soft location factors.


A multi-fruit juice extractor was designed, constructed and evaluated for performance using pineapple, orange and melon fruits. The machine was designed to operate on the principle of compressive and shear squeezing force exerted through an auger conveying system. It consists of a tool frame, juice extraction encasement, screw conveying tapered shaft, perforated screen base, collection chute, gear box, and electric motor. The design analysis of the components provided the data that were used in the sizing, fabrication and assembling of the machine. Performance tests were carried out using pineapple, orange and water melon that were introduced into the machine as peeled or unpeeled fruits. The performance indicators considered were percentage juice yield, extraction efficiency and extraction loss. Results of performance analysis showed that type of fruit and peel condition significantly influenced the performance indices at 1 % level of significance. Percentage juice yield for peeled and unpeeled pineapple, orange and water melon was 79.1 and 68.7 %, 77 and 69.2 %, and 89.5 and 89.7 % respectively. Extraction efficiency was respectively 96.9 %, 94.3%, and 96.6 % for peeled pineapple, oranges and water melon, and their respective unpeeled value was 83.6 %, 84.2 %, and 97.1 %. The extraction loss of peeled and unpeeled fruits was respectively 2.1 and 2.7 % (pineapple), 2.1 and 2.5 % (orange), and 2.9 and 2.6 % (water melon). The machine is simple to operate and maintain, therefore it is recommended for small holder and local fruit juice processors.


Should we expect most habitable planets to share the Earth's marbled appearance? Terrestrial planets within the habitable zone are thought to display a broad range of water compositions, due to the stochastic nature of water delivery. The amplitude of their hypsometries will also differ. Such diversity, taken at face value, implies that the surfaces of most habitable planets will be heavily dominated by either water or land. Convergence towards the Earth's equitably partitioned surface may occur if a strong feedback mechanism acts to regulate the exposure of land. However, it appears unlikely that known mechanisms could correct for disparities in water composition in excess of one order of magnitude. It is therefore feasible that the Earth's relatively balanced division of land and sea is highly atypical amongst habitable planets. We construct a simple model for the anthropic selection bias that may arise from an ensemble of surface conditions. Across a broad class of models we consistently find that (a) the Earth's ocean coverage of 71% can be readily accounted for by observational selection effects, and (b) due to our proximity to the waterworld limit, the maximum likelihood model is one where the majority of habitable planets are waterworlds. This 'Dry Earth' scenario is consistent with results from numerical simulations, and could help explain the apparently low-mass transition in the mass-radius relation.


consumer segment of the tourism industry and the fast pace of development and emergence of newer trends has led to a drastic change in consumer behaviour. Temple Stays are emerging as a significant source of tourism for sites that are transforming traditional religious practices into a complete hybrid of leisure and recreation. Considering this, the current research is framed to analyse the factors that motivate Millennials to undertake spiritual tourism activities, with special focus on Temple Stay programs at various Buddhist sites / monasteries in India and the revisit intentions of Millennials. The research is qualitative in nature - semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with suitable respondents. Only those respondents who have stayed for 7 days or more in temples-stays were targeted by using purposive sampling techniques. The data were analysed using NVivo (12) and in order to achieve the objectives of the study thematic and content analysis were applied. The study identifies four motivational factors for Temple Stays, including comprehensive learning, self-growth, harmonising with nature, and spirituality. Analysis also revealed that travel motivations have a significant impact on life satisfaction among Millennials tourists that further reflects their revisit intentions to Temple Stays. The results of the present study will be helpful in realising the emerging market segment of tourism which is Millennials. Also, the study helps to provide a theoretical contribution by reflecting on the overall relationship between the various dimensions of spiritual tourism, life satisfaction and intention to adopt spiritual tourism practices again.


In order to develop monoclonal antibodies to tumor associated antigens which are preserved in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, BALB/c mice were immunized with a formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded melanoma lesion. One of the resulting monoclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibody (mAb) GD9, stained formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded melanoma lesions. When tested with a large panel of normal tissues from adults and from two fetuses of 4 and 16 week gestation and of benign and malignant tumors of different embryological origin, the mAb GD9 stained normal small bowel mucosa, areas of gastric intestinal metaplasia, the 6 pancreatic carcinoid tumors tested and a high percentage of gastrointestinal tumors. In the latter group, the reactivity with well differentiated tumors was higher than with poorly differentiated ones. Furthermore, the percentage of malignant cells stained by mAb GD9 in differentiated tumors was higher than in poorly differentiated ones. In the latter, the staining was diffuse and granular, while in the former, the staining was located in the cytoplasm close to the glandular lumen. The reactivity of mAb GD9 with colon carcinomas did not correlate with the Duke's staging and with the clinical course of the disease. The results of the immunohistochemical staining of normal tissues and benign and malignant lesions suggest that the specificity of mAb GD9 is different from that of previously described monoclonal antibodies which recognize tumor associated antigens expressed by tumors of the gastrointestinal tract.


A successful twelve-month program was conducted to evaluate and modify a commercial-ready, wireless, remotely operated surveillance system for use in nuclear power plants. The IRISR- SurveyorTMMobile Surveillance System (Surveyor) was evaluated and improved at EPRI's NDE Center and tested in Duke Power Company's Catawba Nuclear Station. The remotely operated vehicle measures radiation, temperature and relative humidity and provides optical inspection capability. The vehicle is readily maneuvered in 36-inch wide passageways and labyrinth entries and can climb stairs, negotiating 180-degree turns on stair landings. The system consists of a Supervisory Control Station and a rugged, remotely-operated, battery-powered vehicle. The system is entering its next stage of evolution where computer-based obstacle avoidance and autonomous navigation algorithums will be implemented to provide a high degree of operator task relief.


In the Gulf of Mexico coastal region, prescribed fire has been increasingly used as a management tool to restore declining native ecosystems, but it also increases the threat posed by biological invasion, since the treated sites are more susceptible to invasive species such as Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera). We chose Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (MSCNWR), a fire-managed landscape, to examine the potential effect of prescribed fire and landscape/community features on tallow invasion and spread. We took a complete survey of roadways and fire lines for tallow and measured a systematic sample of 144 10 × 3 m2 rectangular plots along two selected roadways and a simple random sample of 56 0.04-ha circular plots across burn units. We used pair correlation function for marked point pattern data, zero-inflated negative binomial models for count data, as well as multivariate Hotelling's T2 test, to analyze the effect of prescribed fire and landscape/community characteristics on tallow invasion and spread along habitat edges and into interiors. Our results show that tallow spread along habitat edges and into interiors in a spatially clustered pattern. Tallow invasion risk decreases with the distance to seed trees and shrub coverage, and with the time since last fire if seed trees are outside the effective seed dispersal range (~300 m), but increases with the time since last fire if seed trees are within the effective seed dispersal range. Tallow seedling (≤2 years old) densities increase with the time since last fire and with increasing overstory tree basal area, but decrease with the distance to seed trees. Tallow-invaded interior plots have significantly shorter mean fire return intervals (2.7 years), lower shrub coverage (8.6%), and are closer to edges (20.3 m) than non-invaded plots (4.3 years, 18.4%, 167.6 m, respectively).


This research attempts to contribute to the discipline of management practice by studying the behaviour of a specific group of low paid workers. Evidence has been gathered, via an ethnographic study of three groups of cleaners in three different types of organisation – clinic, school and hotel, about the employment relationships enjoyed by these cleaners and their employers; and the extent to which their psychological contracts contribute to their performance. Findings suggest that, not only do employees in each case study demonstrate diverse behaviour, but also certain facets of performance are unlikely to be obtainable from the employees studied. The research concludes that some issues facing the organisations in this study can be generalised beyond cleaning the workplace to other low-paid types of work and that using a management strategy, which ignores the present reality of such types of work and ignores the idiosyncrasy of the psychological contracts of the people to whom it is applied, could be unwise.


This paper describes a story-telling agent which is itself a multi-agent system composed of a blackboard structure and a number of smaller agents which both cooperate and compete against each other to preemt information according to each one's point of view. The agent architecture is b~ed on a cognitive model, Minsky's Society of Mind. The story-telling agent is an example application of this architecture.


Research interest in endophytic fungi has increased substantially, yet is the current research paradigm capable of addressing fundamental taxonomic questions? More than half of the ca. 30,000 endophyte sequences accessioned into GenBank are unidentified to the family rank and this disparity grows every year. The problems with identifying endophytes are a lack of taxonomically informative morphological characters in vitro and a paucity of relevant DNA reference sequences. A study involving ca. 2,600 Picea endophyte cultures from the Acadian Forest Region in Eastern Canada sought to address these taxonomic issues with a combined approach involving molecular methods, classical taxonomy, and field work. It was hypothesized that foliar endophytes have complex life histories involving saprotrophic reproductive stages associated with the host foliage, alternative host substrates, or alternate hosts. Based on inferences from phylogenetic data, new field collections or herbarium specimens were sought to connect unidentifiable endophytes with identifiable material. Approximately 40 endophytes were connected with identifiable material, which resulted in the description of four novel genera and 21 novel species and substantial progress in endophyte taxonomy. Endophytes were connected with saprotrophs and exhibited reproductive stages on non-foliar tissues or different hosts. These results provide support for the foraging ascomycete hypothesis, postulating that for some fungi endophytism is a secondary life history strategy that facilitates persistence and dispersal in the absence of a primary host. This thesis provides an alternate approach to identifying endophytes by considering the whole fungus interacting within its natural habitat.


Effects of simultaneous addition of SiO2 and gadrinium oxide on densification of SiC ceramics were examined, and relation between microstructure and their mechanical properties were discussed. Total 11wt% of Gd2O3 and SiO2 were mixed with fine -SiC powder. The weight of Gd2O3 in (Gd2O3 + SiO2) were set as 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%. The mixture was hot-pressed at 1950oC under 40 MPa applied pressure for 1 h. In the case of 40Gd2O3 and 80Gd2O3 compositions, the effect of sintering temperature from 1900 to 2000oC was also examined. The bulk density increased with increasing Gd2O3 content at the sintering temperature of 1950oC. Bending strength of the sintered bodies also improved with increasing Gd2O3 content generally, but at 40Gd2O3 composition, the maximum over ~800 MPa was observed. Young's modulous, Vickers hardness and fracture toughness also increased with increasing Gd2O3 content. The distribution of grain boundary phase was not homogeneous. Evaporation of additives, mainly SiO2, caused non-homogeneous distribution of grain boundary phase between outside and inside of sintered bodies. High temperature bending strength of 80Gd2O3 specimen was superior than that of 40Gd2O3 specimen.


Himanthalia elongata is a brown oceanic seaweed rich in bioactive compounds. It could play an important role in food production because of its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Three strains belonging to the Lactobacillus casei group (Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus paracasei, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus) and a Bacillus subtilis strain were used for the solid-state fermentation of commercial seaweeds, and bacterial growth was monitored using the plate count method. High-pressure processing (HPP) was also employed (6000 bar, 5 min, 5 °C) before extraction. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts was tested in terms of the main food pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus), and the phenolic content was estimated using the Folin–Ciocalteau method. In addition, targeted UHPLC-MS2 methods were used to unravel the profile of phlorotannins. H. elongata allowed the growth of the L. casei group strains and B. subtilis, showing the fermentability of this substrate. Significant antimicrobial activity toward L. monocytogenes was observed in the extracts obtained from unfermented samples, but neither fermentation nor HPP enhanced the natural antimicrobial activity of this seaweed species. The content in the phenolic compounds decreased because of the fermentation process, and the amount of phenolics in both the unfermented and fermented H. elongata extracts was very low. Despite phlorotannins being related to the natural antimicrobial activity of this brown seaweed, these results did not support this association. Even if fermentation and HPP were not proven to be effective tools for enhancing the useful compounds of H. elongata, the seaweed was shown to be a suitable substrate for L. casei group strains as well as for B. subtilis growth, and its extracts exhibited antimicrobial activity toward foodborne pathogens.


Linear algebra is a basic course followed in mathematics science and engineering university departments Generally this course is taken in either the first or second year but there have been difficulties in teaching and learning This type of active algebra has resulted in an increase in research by mathematics education researchers But there is insufficient information on this subject in Turkish and therefore it has not been given any educational status This paper aims to give a general overview of this subject in teaching and learning These education studies can be considered quadruple: a the history of linear algebra b formalism obstacles of linear algebra and cognitive flexibility to improve teaching and learning c the relation between linear algebra and geometry d using technology in the teaching and learning linear algebra Mathematics education researchers cannot provide an absolute solution to overcome the teaching and learning difficulties of linear algebra Epistemological analyses and experimental teaching have shown the learning difficulties Given these results further advice and assistance can be offered locally


Defects in SiC degrade the electrical properties and yield of devices made from this material. This article examines morphological defects in 4H–SiC and defects visible in electron beam-induced current (EBIC) images and their effects on the electrical characteristics of Schottky diodes. Optical Nomarski microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to observe the morphological defects, which are classified into 26 types based on appearance alone. Forward and reverse current–voltage characteristics were used to extract barrier heights, ideality factors, and breakdown voltages. Barrier heights decrease about linearly with increasing ideality factor, which is explained by discrete patches of low barrier height within the main contact. Barrier height, ideality, and breakdown voltage all degrade with increasing device diameter, suggesting that discrete defects are responsible. Electroluminescence was observed under reverse bias from microplasmas associated with defects containing micropipes. EBIC measurements reveal several types of features corresponding to recombination centers. The density of dark spots observed by EBIC correlates strongly with ideality factor and barrier height. Most morphological defects do not affect the reverse characteristics when no micropipes are present, but lower the barrier height and worsen the ideality factor. However, certain multiple-tailed defects, irregularly shaped defects and triangular defects with 3C inclusions substantially degrade both breakdown voltage and barrier height, and account for most of the bad devices that do not contain micropipes. Micropipes in these wafers are also frequently found to be of Type II, which do not run parallel to the c axis.


We present here a route to produce microporous organic polymers based on the step growth polycondensation of dichloroxylene and other bischloromethyl monomers. We show that materials with very high surface areas (∼1900 m2/g BET; ∼3000 m2/g Langmuir) can be obtained by varying the structure of the monomer. The resulting materials can physisorb up to around 3.7 wt. % H2 at 77 K and 15 bar - the highest value yet reported for an organic polymer. We have used a combination of solid-state NMR, gas sorption measurements, and atomistic simulations in order to rationalize the surface area, pore size, and H2 sorption properties of these polymers. We believe that this flexible methodology represents an important advance for the future design of purely organic sorbents with enhanced gas storage capacities.


In the last years, networked multimedia multipoint applications have been developed in conjunction with emerging broadband networks. Experiences have shown that existing transport systems support these applications only insufficiently, since they offer no assistance for real-time multimedia and multipoint applications. In this paper, we propose a Multicast Communication Framework (MCF) which satisfies the needs of multimedia multipoint applications. MCF covers both transportation and presentation of multimedia data. It guarantees quality of service (QoS) for the complete path between multimedia sources and multimedia sinks. Furthermore, it offers a high-level abstraction of multicast communication services that hides the details of the underlying endsystems and networks.


Keynote and plenary speakers at professional conferences serve as highly visible role models for early-career scientists and provide recognition of scientific excellence. This recognition may be particularly important for women, who are underrepresented in senior positions in the biological sciences. To evaluate whether conferences fulfill this potential, we examined distinguished speakers at North American ecology conferences between 2000 and 2015 and compared these data with the percentage of women ecologists at diverse career stages. We found that 15%–35% (x– = 28%, n = 809) of the distinguished speakers were women, which is significantly lower than the percentage of female ecology graduate students (x– = 55%, n = 26,802) but consistent with the percentage of women in assistant- and associate-faculty positions. We recommend that conference organizers institute policies to enhance speaker gender balance, to provide support for speakers with family responsibilities, and to actively monitor gender-related trends in their societies to achieve the equitable representation of women in distinguished speaking roles.


Introduction:
 While vertebral artery stenting (VAS) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has been previously studied, the safety and efficacy of VAS for resolution of chronic vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) symptoms outside of the AIS setting has not been extensively evaluated. Symptoms associated with chronic VBI include dizziness, vertigo, diplopia, blurred vision, ataxia and syncope.

 Hypothesis:
 VAS for patients with chronic VBI symptoms is safe, will have few peri-procedural complications and improve clinical symptoms.

 Methods:
 Between January 2005 and June 2015, our group performed VAS on 94 patients after careful evaluation of the contribution of contralateral vertebral artery and posterior communicating artery flow into the basilar artery. Of the 94, 38.2% (n=36) had a clinical history of chronic VBI symptoms; AIS was excluded by imaging and consultation with a stroke neurologist. A detailed retrospective chart review was completed for these patients. Multiple variables including age, sex and cardiovascular co-morbidities were studied. Improvement of clinical symptoms was evaluated by chart review of follow-up visits.

 Results:
 There were no major complications including strokes or deaths from VAS in 36 patients (25 Males, 11 Females; Age 71.1, SD 9.6). Two patients had minor complications: an allergic reaction to contrast and GI bleed that were effectively medically managed. Prior to VAS stenting, 31 of 36 patients reported dizziness, vertigo, syncope or falls, 1 reported diplopia or blurry vision, and 4 reported multiple VBI symptoms. Overall, 77.8% reported clinical improvement on follow-up (3 patients were lost to follow-up).

 Conclusions:
 Given a zero percent stroke and death rate at 30 days and a 78% overall improvement of clinical symptoms, we conclude that VAS is a safe and efficacious procedure for chronic VBI when performed by experienced neuro-interventional radiologists in carefully selected patients.


It is currently unclear whether the negative effect of body fat on vascular health is due to low aerobic fitness. It is also unclear whether a decrease in body fat mediates improvements in vascular health that occur with aerobic exercise. The purposes of the following studies were to 1) evaluate the relationships of adiposity (percent body fat determined by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) and aerobic fitness (VO2peak normalized to fat-free mass) with vascular health (i.e., systemic and vascular inflammation, leptin, central arterial stiffness; and femoral artery diameter (DFA), blood flow (BFFA), and shear rate), 2) evaluate the relationship of leg fat and fat-free mass (FFM) with DFA and BFFA, and 3) determine whether the effect of aerobic exercise training on vascular health is dependent on a reduction in adiposity. Forty-six pre-menopausal women (25-40 years old) were recruited for the cross-sectional study. C-reactive protein (CRP) was a significantly correlated with adiposity, but not VO2peak (R=0.46, P=0.002). VO2peak reduced the increase in CRP associated with an increase in % body fat (interaction effect, P=0.01). Leptin was correlated with adiposity (R=0.77, P<0.001), as well as CRP (r=0.36, P=0.01) and ICAM-1 (r=0.56, P<0.001). Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) was significantly correlated with VO2peak, but not adiposity, (R=-0.42, P=0.02). DFA was significantly correlated with VO2peak (R=0.42, P=0.004). DFA and BFFA were correlated with leg FFM (r=0.28, P=0.03; r=0.26, P=0.06). For the exercise training study, thirteen sedentary women (33±4 yrs) were tested before and after 14 weeks of cycle exercise. aPWV and sICAM-1 did not change with training, whereas CRP was reduced by 35% (P=0.05). Leptin also decreased 20% (P=0.04). Resting DFA increased 11.7% (P<0.001) and shear rate decreased 28% (P=0.007). Taken together, these studies provide evidence that increased aerobic fitness is positively associated with, or positively affects, each of these measures. The results of these studies support the concept that aerobic fitness modifies the negative effect that body fat may have on vascular health.


Selective pressures playing on the interaction between an infectious agent and its host lead to a condition of maximal survival for both. Based on simple epidemiological relationships, we propose a model which permits the evaluation of the degree of adaptation of a host to the infectious agent.


This paper addressed the harmonic emission from a large off-shore wind farm. An overview is given of the issues, where a distinction is made between frequencies below and above 2 kHz. Three different approaches are presented: a simplified mathematical model; a more detailed mathematical model; and measurements at the point of connection for an off-shore wind farm. It is concluded from both models and measurements that the emission is small for frequencies above a few kHz. However, specific resonances at higher frequencies involving the power transformers, when coinciding with switching frequencies or harmonics of switching frequencies, could result in high emission even at these high frequencies. Studies, including the propagation through the collection grid, are needed with the connection of any wind park to the grid. (4 pages)


Abstract Air travel is predicted to grow over the coming decades contributing to carbon emissions. Airlines have offered voluntary carbon offsetting for over a decade, yet less than 10% of air travellers purchase them. Previous studies ignore the broader policy or social context of sustainable transport and aviation offsetting. In a natural experiment, a panel of the same Australian residents was tracked over a three-year period before and after the historic COP21. A novel hierarchical model was also tested using Partial Least Squares SEM. Although behaviour specific attitudes and social norms were more influential at encouraging aviation carbon offsetting, global policy knowledge and effectiveness of climate change policies play an important role. Although no changes in ratings were detected over a three-year period, the effect of social norms on encouraging aviation offsetting became stronger in later years. Implications and future research directions to better understand the political and social context of carbon offsetting and sustainable transport are provided.


From the potent properties of X rays evoked in Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain" to the miniaturized surgical team of the classic science fiction film "Fantastic Voyage", the possibility of peering into the inner reaches of the body has engaged the twentieth-century popular and scientific imagination. Drawing on examples that are international in scope, "The Transparent Body" examines the dissemination of medical images to a popular audience, advancing the argument that medical imaging technologies are the material embodiment of collective desires and fantasies - the most pervasive of which is the ideal of transparency itself. "The Transparent Body" traces the cultural context and wider social impact of such medical imaging practices as X ray and endoscopy, ultrasound imaging of fetuses, the filming and broadcasting of surgical operations, the creation of plastinated corpses for display as art objects, and the use of digitized cadavers in anatomical study.In the early twenty-first century, the interior of the body has become a pervasive cultural presence - as accessible to the public eye as to the physician's gaze. Jose van Dijck explores the multifaceted interactions between medical images and cultural ideologies that have brought about this situation. "The Transparent Body" unfolds the complexities involved in medical images and their making, illuminating their uses and meanings both within and outside of medicine.Van Dijck demonstrates the ways in which the ability to render the inner regions of the human body visible - and the proliferation of images of the body's interior in popular media - affect our view of corporeality and our understanding of health and disease. Written in an engaging style that brings thought-provoking cultural intersections vividly to life, "The Transparent Body" will be of special interest to those in media studies, cultural studies, science and technology studies, medical humanities, and the history of medicine.


This three-part case series traces the fortunes of a California winery. In June 2001, Brooke Correll, a former executive at MTV, Ziff-Davis Media, and WineShopper.com, joined the privately owned Clos Du Val Wine Company, in Napa, California, as director of Marketing. Cofounded by an expert winemaker with ties to the famous Château Lafite Rothschild, Clos Du Val had seen its glory days, with high ratings accompanied by robust sales. During the 1990s, however, sales had begun to lag. As the winery's first marketing professional, Correll must chart a new course for the winery to revive the once-hot brand and reverse flagging sales. See also the A (UVA-M-0733) and B (UVA-M-0742) cases.


When moisture uptake in a polymer is associated with swelling, it induces stresses which interact with the entire diffusion process. This coupling is addressed in this paper, which extends immediately to the diffusion of other fluids, like solvents. First, the generalized chemical potential is used to analyze the effect of stresses on the moisture capacity of polymers, and a relation is derived as a function of material parameters. Then, the interactions between stress and diffusion before saturation is reached, are explored. Various effects are predicted on the classical sorption test, such as an evolution of the boundary condition with time, and a sorptiondesorption hysteresis.


Agricultural production risk is of special nature due to a great number of hazards, relative weakness of production entities on the market and high ambiguity which is greater than in industrial production. Natural disasters occurring very frequently, at simultaneous low percentage of insured farmers, cause damage of such sizes that force the state to organise current financial aid (for instance in the form of preferential natural disaster loans). This aid is usually not sufficient. On the other hand, regional diversity of the risk level does not positively affect the development of insurance. From the perspective of insurance companies and policymakers it becomes highly important to investigate the spatial structure of losses in agriculture caused by natural disasters. The purpose of the research is to classify the 16 Polish voivodeships into clusters in order to show differences between them according to the criterion of level of damage in agricultural farms caused by natural disasters. On the basis of the cluster analysis it was demonstrated that 11 voivodeships form quite a homogeneous group in terms of size of damage in agriculture (the value of damage in cultivations and the acreage of destroyed cultivations are two most important factors determining affiliation to the cluster), however, the profile of loss occurring in other five voivodeships has a very individual course and requires separate handling in the actuarial sense. It was also proved that high value of losses in agriculture in the absolute sense in given voivodeships do not have to mean high vulnerability of agricultural farms from these voivodeships to natural risks.