Power consumption in CMOS VLSI circuits has in recent years become a major design constraint. This is in particular important for wireless networks, due to the limited life time of the batteries that wireless nodes are operating on. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is one example of a technique which in recent years has become widely applied in wireless communication systems. However, the performance of OFDM and other spectrally efficient schemes depends, to a large extend, on advanced digital signal processing (DSP) and on the use of efficient and possibly adaptive resource allocation and transmission techniques. These in turn require that accurate estimates of the channel are available in the receiver and transmitter. However, accurate channel estimation of a time and frequency dispersive wireless fading channel calls for complex estimators, which might lead to significant power dissipation in such devices. Therefore, characterizing and analyzing power consumed by such devices under different channel conditions, and optimizing for power is important to reduce the overall power consumption of the system. In this thesis a certain chosen class of estimators, i.e., a linear FIR estimator, is considered, which is based on finite impulse response (FIR) filters. The work in this thesis considers the power related challenges in such estimators. The power consumed by such estimators depends, in part, on the complexity of the estimator, i.e., the length of the FIR filter. The filter length is one of the factors affecting the estimation accuracy. An analysis of the relation between the performance of such estimators and the required complexity for these devices under different channel conditions, i.e., in the presence of noise, is performed in this thesis. In this study we show that a small increase in this noise can lead to a considerable increase in the required estimator complexity if a given Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE) performance for the channel estimation must be upheld, in particular at medium-to-high Channel Signal to Noise Ratios (CSNR). Furthermore, reducing the power consumption through word-length optimization, when realizing such estimators, is an attractive approach. Due to the characteristics of the input signal to such estimators, a special treatment of channel estimation error due to quantization of estimator filter coefficients is needed. In this thesis we investigate the impact of finite coefficient word length on channel estimator performance. A theoretical analysis of the increase in channel estimation error due to quantization of estimator coefficients is performed, and the behavior of this error in different fading environments and for different filter orders is studied. The power consumed in a channel estimator is also influenced by the switching activity in the input signal of the estimator. Characterizing the switching activity in the input signal, including how this activity changes in different environments, e.g., in the presence of noise, is a subject of the work performed in this thesis. In this study we give an expression for direct calculation of the correlation coefficient for the most significant bit in a signal, using the word-level correlation coefficient. We also derive expressions for accurately calculating the variance (σ2) and word-level correlation coefficient (ρ) for a correlated signal, when an additional noise of a given variance is added to the signal. This can be used to estimate the bit-level switching activity in a signal in the presence of noise, based on the Dual Bit Type (DBT) method. The impact the additional noise has on the switching activity of a correlated signal has also been studied. These results make it possible for a designer to model the actual input switching activity in different real life noisy environments, enabling realistic power consumption estimation. A study on switching activity reduction in estimator filters using a coefficient reordering method is another part of this thesis. Closed form analytical models for the coefficient and input data switching activity before and after reordering in an estimator filter is developed and the impact that coefficient reordering has on the input data, and consequently on the total switching activity, is studied. Using our derived models we show that the impact of coefficient reordering on data input increases first as the input signal correlation, ρz, increases, but this impact decreases again when ρz → 1. This impact is 0 for ρz ≈ 0 and ρz ≈ 1. Our results show that this impact is highest for ρz = 0.7 to ρz = 0.999, and becomes larger for large values of the estimator order N. Considering a realistic case, we further study the possibility of reducing the switching activity in a MAC-based channel estimator when realized with different orders and word lengths, and operating in different environments. This study shows that if a designer makes the right choices when reordering, it can result in higher gain in reducing the switching activity. The decision will also depend on the channel condition in which the system is operating most of the time. The results of this study show that when the word length is reduced, the use of reordering can in some cases, e.g., when estimator order is increased to N = 50 and beyond, actually lead to an increase in total switching activity if extra care is not taken. It also shows that for large N and input data with medium to high correlation, it is not possible to reduce the switching activity using reordering if the word length is reduced to W = 8 or lower. When the word length is reduced the optimization in general becomes even more sensitive to the characteristics of the input data. The designer consequently need to have this information available to experience reduction or even avoid increase in switching activity for small values for W. It should be mentioned that although we look at these power related challenges in the context of estimators, the results for several parts of this work is not limited to the channel estimators. The results concerning the switching activity reduction in MAC-based channel estimators can be generally applied to FIR filters, and the study on the input signal switching activity is valid for signals input to any digital signal processing (DSP) module.


Numerical finite element simulations of the behavior of a car body in frontal, side or rear impact collision scenarios have become increasingly complex as well as reliable and precise. They are well established as a standard evaluation tool in the automotive development process. Both, the increased complexity plus the advances in computer graphics technology have resulted in the need for new visualization techniques to facilitate the analysis of the immense amount of data originating from such scientific engineering computations. Expanding the effectiveness of traditional post-processing techniques is one key to achieve shorter design cycles and faster time to market. In this paper we describe how the extensive use of texture mapping and new visualization mappings like force tubing can considerably enhance the post-processing of structural and physical properties of car components in crash simulations. We show, that using these techniques both the calculation costs and the rendering costs will be reduced and the quality of the visualization will be improved.


This working paper takes up three related themes. In section 1, I briefly describe the issues relevant to surveying American Jews and highlight the importance of authoritative national surveys; in section 2, I note that these surveys have not included much exploration of American Jewish divisions over Israeli and American Middle East policy. In section 3, I propose the rudiments of a sample design that would meet the traditional needs of the national survey as well as the political opinion poll. This design is based on a rotating national panel of respondents, somewhat like the U.S. government's Current Population Survey. At the same time, data from earlier panels can be combined to increase sample size for the study of sociocultural issues that are less immediate in nature. Readers who are primarily interested in the issue of polling political opinion about Israeli and American Middle East policy may wish to read only sections 2 and 3. Those primarily interested in the proposal for a national survey based on a rotating panel may wish to read only section 3.


Philosophy beginning with the ancient Greeks is literally "a love of wisdom" and deals with the most general issues of reality. The Wikipedia dictionary determines philosophy as a science, which studies everything. Logic and critical analysis are the pillars of philosophic thinking. 'So, why don't we use these attributes of philosophy to analyze the situation around relay protection,' – Dr. Vladimir Gurevich raises this question, and it appears that such analysis may result in counterintuitive findings.


The effect of a drop of extracellular pH on the fast and slow sodium currents (INaf and INas) was studied in the rat isolated perfused ventricular myocytes. The shift of the extracellular pH value from 7.4 to 5.0 caused a disappearance of INaf. If the fast sodium current was blocked by external tetrodotoxin (10(-6) mol/l) or inactivated by the shift of the maintaining potential from -120 to -70 mV. the external pH drop from 7.4 to 5.0 only caused a slight diminishing of the slow sodium current amplitude. INas kinetics and potential-dependent properties were unaffected. INas was blocked at the external pH values lower than 4.0. The data obtained suggests that INaf and INas of isolated single cardiomyocytes have a different sensitivity to external pH: INaf is more sensitive to the acidification of the external medium than INas.


Recent experiments in neural, skeletal, endothelial, and hematopoietic tissues have provided new insights into the way members of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily regulate cellular differentiation. TGF-betas regulate the fate of multipotential stem cells instructively (in the neural crest) by regulating the expression or function of tissue-specific transcription factors, as well as selectively (in the mesenchyme) by regulating the expression of required growth factors and their receptors. During skeletal development, TGF-betas have unique functions and act sequentially to modulate chondrocyte and osteoblast differentiation. Responsiveness to TGF-betas changes as cells differentiate and evidence now suggests that changes in TGF-beta receptor profile may account for some of these differences. Drosophila and transgenic mouse models are now providing useful insights into mechanisms of TGF-beta action in vivo.


This paper presents an analysis of diamond-like carbon thin film deposited using homebuilt microwave chemical vapor deposition. Two different deposition conditions were investigated, namely, with and without microwave power. Post deposition analysis included Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersed X-ray (EDX), four-pointprobe resistivity measurements and refractive spectroscopy. Substrate with pretreatment was observed to have thin film formation. Samples with diamond paste pretreatment show better quality compared to SiC treated samples as suggested by Raman spectral. The presences of sp3 and sp2 peaks were identified in the Raman spectral. The overall resistivity is low due to the graphite content.


Introduction Late HIV diagnosis is an important determinant of morbidity and mortality. An audit of new HIV diagnoses in our service based an area of high prevalence, showed high rates of late diagnosis in 2012, so an HIV education programme was implemented within the Trust. We re-audited new diagnoses in 2015 to look at the impact of the programme and compared the results. Methods A retrospective case-note review of all newly diagnosed patients seen in our HIV clinic from 1st January 2015 – 31st December 2015. Results 53 patients were identified in comparison to 56 in 2012, of which 64% were male compared with 55% in 2012. Median age was 41.5 years (range 21 – 68) compared with 39.5 years (range 20 – 64) in 2012. 53% were diagnosed with a CD4 count <350 cells/mm3 compared with 63% in 2012 and 34% had a CD4 count <200 cells/mm3 compared with 45% <200cells/mm3 in 2012. 51% had been seen in the preceding year by doctor, compared with 52% in 2012. 49% were diagnosed in a sexual health service compared with 39% in 2012. Discussion Our re-audit showed continued high rates of late diagnosis despite a dedicated educational programme. This suggests that education alone is not sufficient to cause a sustained impact on late diagnosis rates. HIV testing needs to be embedded in routine clinical care, such as opt out testing as advised in UK national testing guidelines, or by using pathology system alerts to suggest testing if blood results are indicative.


In the following paper we investigate the question: when is a transitive topological groupoid continuously isomorphic to a Lie groupoid? We present many results on the matter which may be considered generalizations of the Hilbert's fifth problem to this context. Most notably we present a "solution" to the problem for proper transitive groupoids and transitive groupoids with compact source fibers.


We propose a new scheduling algorithm for achieving fault tolerance in multiprocessor systems. The new algorithm partitions a parallel program into subsets of tasks based on some characteristics of a task graph. Then for each subset, the algorithm duplicates and schedules its tasks successively. Applying the proposed algorithm to three kinds of practical task graphs (Gaussian elimination, Laplace equation solver and LU decomposition), we conduct simulations. Experimental results show that fault tolerance can be achieved at the cost of a small degree of time redundancy, and that performance in the case of a processor failure is improved compared to a previous algorithm.


Persistent plastics are hardly degraded and accumulate in the marine environment. Together with primary microplastics the fragmentation of larger plastic litter leads to an increasing amount of small plastic particles, so-called microplastics in the oceans. Due to their size (< 5 mm), these have the potential of entering marine food webs. For a reliable evaluation and an assessment of food web effects, a detailed quantitative and qualitative monitoring of microplastics in the marine environment is highly required.
Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy offers the possibility of the urgendly needed proper identification of microplastic particles in environmental samples. However, standard FT-IR spectroscopy still requires time- and labour-consuming pre-sorting of particles by hand. Hence, small or less abundant microplastics are potentially overlooked. A highly promising FT-IR extension - FT-IR Imaging - allows for detailed and unbiased high throughput analysis of especially the small fraction of microplastics in a given sample without prior pre-sorting by hand.
We show first result of the project MICROPLAST which has the aims of (1) the development/optimisation of appropriate methods for the extraction of microplastic particles from complex matrices (e.g. sediment, plankton, tissue), (2) the evaluation of FT-IR imaging for the analysis of microplastics and the development of procedures for its routine application, (3) the generation of data on the pollution of the pelagic and benthic zone with microplastic particles of verified polymer origin in German coastal waters.


Three dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation of a segmented non transferred arc plasma torch is done for the purpose of computing heat load to various torch components and obtaining the temperature and velocity profile at the exit of the torch. The region inside the torch was simulated along with simulation of water flow channels. To obtain the current flow and resulting joule heating, electric potential equation is solved inside the torch region.  Simulation runs for several values of arc current and plasma gas flow rate are done and results are compared.


Increases in the frequency and magnitude of disturbances associated with the thawing of ice-rich permafrost highlight the need to understand long-term vegetation succession in permafrost environments. This study uses field sampling and remote sensing to explore vegetation development and soil conditions following catastrophic lake drainage in Old Crow Flats (OCF). The data presented show that vegetation on drained lake basins in OCF is characterized by two distinct assemblages: tall willow stands and sedge swards. Field sampling indicates that these alternative successional trajectories result from variation in soil moisture following drainage. Increased willow mortality on older drained basins suggests that intraspecific competition drives self-thinning in shrub thickets. This finding, combined with data from paleoecological studies and contemporary vegetation in OCF, suggests that willow stands on drained lake basins are seral communities. These results also indicate that the increase in number of catastrophic drainages that occurred between 1972 and 2010 will alter regional vegetation in ways that affect wildlife habitat, permafrost conditions, and local hydrology.


In order to get the total Degree of Engineering Changes for product family (EDCKBOM), which can help enterprise to select a scheme of Engineering Changes (EC) with a minor EDCKBOM and analyze the type of change propagation for the CE in the product family, the Knowledge-body based on Bill of Material (KBOM) model was built for representing domain-specific knowledge, which was described as trial(GUS, CUS, GUR) and manifested as an AND/OR tree structure. Then, a complete solution system based on recursive algorithm was designed to compute the EDCKBOM. Finally, an example was given, and the approach was proved to be efficient and practical.


Outlines the copyright clearance difficulties faced by librarians in the development of the Electronic Library and states the need for an electronic copyright management system (ECMS) to log the clearance process and to protect electronic documents. Reports the absence of a suitably priced commercially available ECMS for the academic sector and describes the design process for the eLib project ACORN's Rights Management system entitled CLEAR (Copyright Licensed Electronic Access to Readings) based on Microsoft Access. Describes the functionality of the CLEAR database and concludes that it might provide a template for other institutions in the design of subsequent ECMSs.


Introduction Transgastric placement of specially designed fully covered self-expandable metal stent (FCSMS) has improved the management and the outcome of walled-off necrosis (WON) after severe pancreatitis. Reduction of radiation exposure is of increasing importance. Therefore, we investigated whether transgastric insertion of FCMS for drainage of WON is possible only by EUS-guidance. Methods Patients with symptomatic pancreatic walled-off necrosis referred for endoscopic drainage were included. EUS-guided stent insertion was performed under concious sedation or endotracheal intubation. The pancreatic collection was accessed from the stomach using a linear echoendoscope with a 19 G access needle, a cystotome or directly using the hot Axios® device. After insertion of a guidewire and enlargement of the transgastric access by diathermy a fully covered self-expandable metal stent was inserted under EUS guidance without fluoroscopy. As clinically indicated, endoscopic necrosectomy was performed through the large diameter metal stent. When the collection had shrunk to less than 4 cm, symptoms and inflammatory parametrs had improved, the stent was endoscopically removed. Results 18 patients (median age: 55 years; range 48–63 years) with symptomatic WON (median diameter: 14 cm; range 8–18 cm) were referred for EUS-guided drainage. In 2 patients large traversing arteries within the cavity were detected by colour Doppler imaging during EUS, therefore the insertion of FCSMS was not attempted to avoid possible erosion of the vessels by the stent edges with reducing collection size. In all other patients (88.9%) the completely EUS-guided transgastric stent insertion without fluoroscopy was technically successful (6 AXIOS® and 10 Nagi® stents were inserted). The stent insertion into the cavity and the opening of the distal flange could be clearly visualised by EUS in all cases. After correct positioning of the FCSMS by EUS the proximal stent flange was deployed under endoscopic guidance. Two patients were readmitted with fever when the stent was blocked with debris. Seven patients required endoscopic necrosectomy through the FCSMS. One patient developed self-limiting bleeding. WON resolved in all patients within 8 weeks. Conclusion The good sonographic visibility of the FCSMS throughout the procedure allows safe and easy insertion of transgastric drainage under EUS-guidance without fluoroscopy. Reference 1 Seifert H, Wehrmann T, Schmitt T, Zeuzem S, Caspary WF. Retroperito-neal endoscopic debridement for infected peripancreatic necrosis. Lancet 2000; 356:653–5. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The proliferation of unreliable and biased information is a significant problem on the Internet. To assess the credibility of the information retrieved from news websites and other sources, users often resort to social platforms looking for confirmation with trustworthy parties. However, users may be faced with considerable obstacles posed by the platform provider, who can prevent access to certain content. This paper presents DClaims, a system that provides a censorship-resistant distributed service for the exchange of information over the Internet using web annotations. DClaims' fully decentralized architecture relies on Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) and Ethereum blockchain, both of which offer desirable censorship resistant properties. DClaims is implemented as a web annotations browser extension which allows for the classification of news articles, on news websites. From our evaluation of the system, we conclude that a large scale implementation of the system is practical and economically viable.


Evidence from the Royal College of General Practitioners cohort study points to the progestogen dosage in combined preparations as being more important in this regard.' Moreover, a lack of association with oestrogen dosage was found. In addition, a positive correlation between the risk of arterial disease and progestogen dosage has been demonstrated3 and this, in part at least, may be due to the effect on blood pressure.


The psychosocial aspects of heart transplantation are described on the basis of the experience gained with these patients in the University Hospital Rotterdam (Dijkzigt) from 1984 to 1988. Quality of life before and after heart transplantation was determined using a comprehensive patient questionnaire. This questionnaire was presented by means of a personal computer. Forty-eight patients completed the pretransplant questionnaire. Data on the quality of life 4 and 13 months after transplantation were available for 33 and 20 patients, respectively, mainly due to the limited observation time. Severe anxiety and depressive mood were the predominant features of patients before transplantation. After transplantation the level of anxiety returns to normal within four months. However, sleep disturbances and depressive feelings may persist. Despite physical recovery, only few return to full or partial employment. Our findings confirm international experience and suggest appropriate psychosocial support in the period following the transplantation procedure.


Background/Aims: Common bile duct ligation (CBDL) in the guinea pig is a well-defined model of acalculous cholecystitis. Nitric oxide (NO) mediates smooth muscle relaxation by stimulating the activity of soluble guanylate cyclase. The aim of this study was to determine whether the NO/cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway plays a role in gallbladder relaxant response after CBDL. Methods: Relaxant response of gallbladder muscle strips from CBDL and sham-operated guinea pigs was studied in vitro. Animals were treated with saline, aminoguanidine or an aminoguanidine + L-arginine combination in vivo. Concentration-response curves of papaverine, diethylamine/NO, YC-1, sildenafil and amrinone were obtained and relaxations in each group were calculated as the percent of the contractions induced by carbachol (10–6 M). Results: There was a significant decrease in the gallbladder muscle relaxant responses to these substances in CBDL and aminoguanidine groups compared with sham surgical controls. The decreased relaxant response was reversed by aminoguanidine + L-arginine but not by aminoguanidine alone. Conclusion: Decreased relaxant responses might be due to the reduced guanylate cyclase enzyme activity, but further studies are required.


Great Britain is not a country renowned for its large
landslides. It lacks the extreme climatic events and
the mountainous regions that are associated with
catastrophic landslides events elsewhere in the world.
Nevertheless, landslides in Britain do have significant
societal and economic impacts. Meteorological Office
statistics have shown that 2012 was the second wettest
year since collation of national records began in 1910.
Tragically, this also saw the highest number for many
years of fatalities due to landslides, including those at
Burton Bradstock in Dorset and at Looe in Cornwall.
Even so, these landslides contrast with recent events
in China, in Afghanistan and in Washington, USA,
where large and calamitous events claimed many lives.
However, landslides are common enough in Great
Britain, and there is currently a heightened awareness
of these geological hazards, and this was largely due to
extensive media reports in 2012 and 2013.


Sri Lanka was confronted with three interrelated crises in 2019: the unresolved gridlock of last year's constitutional crisis; the Easter bombings and their turbulent aftermath; and the coming to a head of fiscal shortfalls and debt burdens. Growth is stalling, living costs are rising, deficits are widening, and the price of Sri Lanka's debt is weighing heavily on the government budget. In the presidential elections, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, heir of the Rajapaksa dynasty, prevailed with a landslide.


We discuss the appearance of systematic spatial and spectral patterns of noise in remotely sensed images as well as the possibility of mitigating the effects of these patterns on the data. We describe the structure of two simple theoretical models that predict the appearance of patterns of noise (mainly stripe noise). Moreover, two new algorithms that have been specifically developed to mitigate the noise patterns are described. The performance of the two algorithms is assessed by use of some hyperspectral images acquired by different kinds of airborne sensor. The algorithms show an unexpected ability to reject these noise patterns.


ABSTRACT In the Trobriand Islands of today's Papua New Guinea, the coconut has long been mainly an accompaniment to yams – the primary staple food, central cultural icon and source of much of the chiefs' economic and political power. From the early 19th century, surplus yams were traded to Europeans operating in a regional economy, but the Assistant Resident Magistrates (ARMs) of the Australian government of colonial Papua in charge of the islands overlooked this industry in favour of copra, a global commodity. Beginning with a wholesale planting campaign in the 1910s and continuing with a 'native plantation scheme' in the 1920s, the ARMS exhorted Trobrianders to take time away from their beloved gardens to plant and tend coconut trees. Traces of resistance to this overzealous project come mainly through the voice and actions of Paramount Chief To'uluwa of Omarakana, as recorded by the ARMs in patrol reports and station journals. The colonial vision of a copra-based link to the global economy was dimmed by a fall in commodity prices in the mid 1920s, whilst the regional yam trade persisted for decades more. Hence the indigenous yam prevailed over the colonial coconut in a symbolic struggle for primacy in the islands, and the yam remains a symbol of a vibrant traditional Trobriand culture to this day.


Purpose: The incidence of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is increasing. Therapeutic approaches remain controversial. An animal model that mimics the clinical situation would be useful for evaluating PCNSL biology and treatment. Experimental Design: Nude rats received intracerebral (caudate nucleus, n = 49) or intraventricular (n = 4) inoculation of human B-lymphoma cell line MC116. Two to five weeks after tumor inoculation, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was done (n = 24), and rat brains were assessed for pathology. Five rats each received whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT, 20 Gy) or high-dose i.v. methotrexate (3 g/m2). Results: Intracerebral tumors developed in 84% of evaluable animals with no pretreatment, 79% of rats pretreated with 4 Gy total body irradiation, and 92% of rats pretreated with cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m2). MRI showed abnormal T2 signal and gadolinium enhancement on T1-weighted images, consistent with tumor growth 19 to 24 days after inoculation. Tumor cells staining positively for B-lymphoma markers infiltrated within the inoculated hemisphere, along fiber tracks to the contralateral hemisphere, and along the subarachnoid space and ventricles. Tumors showed reactive gliosis. Intraventricular tumor cell injection resulted in periventricular parenchymal infiltration in both hemispheres. Radiation and methotrexate were effective in vitro, but only WBRT was clearly effective after 1 week in the intracerebral model. Conclusion: This model closely mimics human PCNSL in terms of imaging, histology, and treatment sensitivity and will be useful for the development of future therapeutic strategies for PCNSL.


In the ancient folktale of "The Emperor's Clothes," a magician is said to have offered to weave a beautiful suit of clothing for the Emperor that would, however, the magician claimed, be visible only to the wisest in the land. Once the magician completed his task, the Emperor decided to hold a parade to show off his resplendent new attire. His followers lined the parade route to see the magician's highly praised handiwork. As the Emperor proceeded through the cheering throng of people, a small boy stepped from the crowd, and exclaimed, "Look, the Emperor has no clothes!" Suddenly, the Emperor halted in his path and a hushed silence fell over the crowd as the reality of the child's remark became apparent to all who heard. Similarly, this book, an edited series of contributions by eminent social and behavioral scientists, provides new insights into the realities that confront the clinical


Recent semi-synthetic studies of erythromycin A culminated in the discovery of two ketolide drug candidates, HMR-3647 and ABT-773, for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial infections caused by both macrolide- and beta-lactam-susceptible and -resistant S. pneumoniae, gram negative bacteria, and intracellular atypical pathogens. The discovery of ketolides has rekindled interest in macrolides, and recent efforts have also led to a novel class of 4''-carbamates with activity against macrolide-resistant organisms. This review is an account of recent developments on ketolides and macrolides in terms of both chemistry and antibacterial activity.


The Cryogenic Carbon Capture™ (CCC) process separates CO2 from light gases in essentially any continuous process. CCC cools the gases to the frost or desublimation point of CO2 (−100 to −135 °C), separates and pressurizes the solids, and warms all streams to produce a CO2-depleted stream at ambient pressure and a pure (99+%) pressurized liquid CO2 stream typically to about 150 bar, both at ambient temperature. The process also recovers all gas moisture and most gas impurities less volatile than CO2 (NOx, SOx, Hg, PM, UHC, CCC, etc.) in separable streams. CCC nearly eliminates refrigeration energy for sensible temperature changes through heat integration. CCC does require energy to change the CO2 phase from a mixed vapor to a pressurized fluid, which represents the minimum energy required of any process for this separation. CCC uses additional energy for turbomachinery inefficiencies, heat losses, moisture removal and overall process pressure drop. Aside from these real-world energy demands, CCC operates near the minimum energy required to perform this gas separation by minimizing stream recycling. CCC compresses CO2 as a liquid, which is one of several reasons it costs about about half as much and consumes about half as much energy as an amine process when using flue gases with about 15% CO2. The process also has several major additional advantages, including (a) it is a bolt-on retrofit technology that does not need steam or any modification of existing equipment, (b) it recovers water and nearly all pollutants in addition to CO2 from the flue gas, (c) it enables highly efficient and cost effective energy storage at grid scale and on time scales of minutes, (d) it enables NG storage if the energy storage option is used, and (d) it has a small footprint and is minimally disruptive to existing plants, requiring only electrical power and a gas source to operate.
Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES) has scaled this technology through several levels, the largest of which captures nominally 1 tonne of CO2/day and is called the skid system. Skid system field tests include utility-scale power plants, cement plants, heating plants, and other utility or industrial sites that burn natural gas, biomass, coal, shredded tires, municipal waste, and combinations of these fuels. These field tests produced 95-99% CO2 capture with CO2 purities of 99+% and initial CO2 contents that range from 4 to 28%. SES currently seeks to scale the system to merchant scale (10-80 tonnes of CO2 per day). In the process of doing so, SES has demonstrated the potential for CCC to contribute to energy storage and direct air capture in innovative and cost-effective ways.
This presentation discusses the overall process and highlights results from field and in-house tests. These include (a) measured CO2 capture rates and operating conditions from in-house and field tests, and (b) predicted utility-scale costs and energy demands. This discussion also includes the application of the CCC technology to energy storage and direct air capture.


Fusing LiDAR and camera information is essential for accurate and reliable 3D object detection in autonomous driving systems. This is challenging due to the difficulty of combining multi-granularity geometric and semantic features from two drastically different modalities. Recent approaches aim at exploring the semantic densities of camera features through lifting points in 2D camera images (referred to as "seeds") into 3D space, and then incorporate 2D semantics via cross-modal interaction or fusion techniques. However, depth information is under-investigated in these approaches when lifting points into 3D space, thus 2D semantics can not be reliably fused with 3D points. Moreover, their multi-modal fusion strategy, which is implemented as concatenation or attention, either can not effectively fuse 2D and 3D information or is unable to perform fine-grained interactions in the voxel space. To this end, we propose a novel framework with better utilization of the depth information and fine-grained cross-modal interaction between LiDAR and camera, which consists of two important components. First, a Multi-Depth Unprojection (MDU) method is used to enhance the depth quality of the lifted points at each interaction level. Second, a Gated Modality-Aware Convolution (GMA-Conv) block is applied to modulate voxels involved with the camera modality in a fine-grained manner and then aggregate multi-modal features into a unified space. Together they provide the detection head with more comprehensive features from LiDAR and camera. On the nuScenes test benchmark, our proposed method, abbreviated as MSMD-Fusion, achieves state-of-the-art results on both 3D object detection and tracking tasks without using test-time-augmentation and ensemble techniques. The code is available at https://github.com/SxJyJay/MSMDFusion.


Global climate change is an important threat to biodiversity and is predicted to be a major driver of wildlife population extinctions throughout the current century. Across a wide range of taxa, a well-documented response to climate change has been changes in species distributions, often towards higher latitudes and altitudes. Species distribution models (SDMs) have been widely used to predict further range changes in future but their use has often focused on discrete geographical areas. Moreover, SDMs have typically been correlative, ignoring biological traits. Here, I use SDMs to project future ranges for the world's terrestrial birds under climate change. To improve the realism of projected range changes, I incorporate biological traits, including species' age at first breeding and natal dispersal range. I use these projections to predict large-scale patterns in the responses of terrestrial birds to climate change, and to explore the implications of these models for avian conservation.
There is little consensus on the most useful predictors for SDMs, so I begin by exploring how this varies geographically. With this knowledge, I develop SDMs for the world's terrestrial birds and project future species ranges using three different global climate models (CCSM4, GFDL-CM3, HadGEM2-ES) under a low (rcp26), a medium (rcp45) and a high (rcp85) representative concentration pathway. The projected ranges are used to identify species most at risk from climate change and to highlight global hotspots where species are projected to experience the highest range losses. I explore how the projected range changes affect global species communities and I identify areas where species communities are projected to change or novel communities will emerge. I assess how projected changes will affect the ability of the global Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) network to confer protection on the world's terrestrial bird species. Additionally, I highlight - based on projected range loss and suitable habitat and climate space beyond the dispersal range - species that will be unable to track climate change and that could be candidates for Assisted Colonization (AC). Finally, I explore the divergence between global species richness (SR) patterns and phylogenetic diversity (PD) for the world's terrestrial birds, to assess if measuring biodiversity and setting conservation targets based on SR can be expected to cover their PD as well.
Identifying the global consequences of projected range changes can inform future conservation efforts and research priorities. Changes in range extent and overlap were projected for the vast majority of the world's terrestrial birds, with one-fifth projected to experience major range losses (>75% decline in range extent projected). This has far reaching consequences for the IBA network, with an overall trend of species moving out of the IBA coverage. Furthermore 13% of the world's terrestrial birds are projected to have severe range losses that, combined with an inability to follow suitable habitat and climate space, mean they could benefit from AC as a conservation tool. Overall, PD was found to be highly correlated to SR on a global scale; however, there are localized differences where PD is higher or lower than could be expected from SR alone. These differences suggest that considering PD could enhance conservation planning. The results demonstrate the major threat that climate change poses for the world's terrestrial bird species across all areas of the globe, and highlight the importance of considering climate change impacts to enhance their protection.


Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) represents a worldwide major challenge, with a reported incidence reaching up to 90%. In such setting, current guidelines advise for neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) as primary approach to provide effective systemic treatment while surgically down-staging the cancer at presentation. Despite advantages of NACT, ranging a reported locoregional response rate from 30% to 70%, several national surveys still describe higher mastectomy rates than expected. This phenomenon can be ascribed to radiology related factors, as the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), despite having the highest correlation coefficient to final pathology, may still underestimate and overestimate tumor size, leading to surgical over and under treatment; surgeon related factors, as many breast surgeons routinely perform surgery based on pre-treatment characteristics rather than more appropriate posttreatment imaging and clinical results; patient related factors, as there is a well-documented tendency to prefer mastectomy instead of breast conservation therapy (BCT), in an attempt to reach better oncologic outcomes and hospital related factors, as there is too much variability between breast cancer centers, offering modern and minimally-invasive treatments and general hospitals, reporting a difficult access to advanced breast conserving strategies. In this context, the major part of this disinformation sequence in played by an important lacking of strong evidences, mostly regarding the oncologic outcomes of breast conserving surgery (BCS) and oncoplastic surgery (OS). Some recent high impact papers are reporting benefits of OS in LABC treatment, extending beyond improving cosmetic results, to the possibility of obtaining wider excisions with similar oncologic results as observed in patients submitted to classic BCS and mastectomy. Furthermore, what emerges from LABC literature is an imperative need of multidisciplinary breast centers worldwide diffusion, where breast-dedicated oncologists, radiologists and oncoplastic surgeons can offer patient-centered updated diagnostics, treatment protocols and surgical solutions, especially in a very delicate scenario, such as LABC treatment.


Automatic transistor sizing is a challenging problem in circuit design due to the large design space, complex performance tradeoffs, and fast technology advancements. Although there have been plenty of work on transistor sizing targeting on one circuit, limited research has been done on transferring the knowledge from one circuit to another to reduce the re-design overhead. In this paper, we present GCN-RL Circuit Designer, leveraging reinforcement learning (RL) to transfer the knowledge between different technology nodes and topologies. Moreover, inspired by the simple fact that circuit is a graph, we learn on the circuit topology representation with graph convolutional neural networks (GCN). The GCN-RL agent extracts features of the topology graph whose vertices are transistors, edges are wires. Our learning-based optimization consistently achieves the highest Figures of Merit (FoM) on four different circuits compared with conventional black box optimization methods (Bayesian Optimization, Evolutionary Algorithms), random search and human expert designs. Experiments on transfer learning between five technology nodes and two circuit topologies demonstrate that RL with transfer learning can achieve much higher FoMs than methods without knowledge transfer. Our transferable optimization method makes transistor sizing and design porting more effective and efficient.


In technological development in the area of e-democracy in-group equality is taken for granted. However, inequality in online communication is just as common as in other social contexts. To research the effects of starting from the presupposition of inequality we have developed a groupware for discussions. Based on democratic meeting techniques and social media it takes the form of a strategic game. The score within the game reflect user activity and the reactions to the activity in a dynamic way. The calculation and weighing mechanisms are open to inspection and change by the users. Hierarchical roles reflecting game levels may be attached to rights of what a specific user may change. The prototype presented in this paper will be further evaluated in the next phase of the design research process.


Metasurfaces, 2D artificial electromagnetic media, open up a new frontier of functional device design ranging from radio waves to the visible region. Particularly, metasurface‐based lenses are indispensable in various practical terahertz applications. The authors aim at achieving flexible and robust metalenses for efficient terahertz wave control. In general, resolution and efficiency are two inevitable parameters in determining the focusing and imaging abilities of lenses, which however are rarely experimentally demonstrated in the terahertz band. In this Communication, three broadband and robust metalenses with nonlinear phase profiles are proposed, all of which are experimentally investigated by using near‐field scanning terahertz microscopy (NSTM) with a spatial resolution of 50 µm. The measurement shows that the metalens can focus a 0.95 THz wave to a spot size of 580 µm and achieve a transmittance efficiency of 45%. In addition, the NSTM system facilitates an experimental investigation of the incidence angle dependence of the terahertz metalens, which proves the robust focusing feature of the proposed device. This demonstration delivers a promising metasurface design for potential applications in imaging and information processing that may be of interest for the entire electromagnetic spectrum.


Robust methods for representing, generalizing, and sharing knowledge across various robotics systems and configurations are important in many domains of robotics research and application. In this paper we present a method for modeling tasks and robot skills to simplify the programming and reuse of knowledge between robots in manufacturing environments. Specifically, we propose an assembly taxonomy designed to represent the decomposition of high-level, complex assembly tasks into simple skills and skill primitives that the robot must use in a specified sequence. By using programming by demonstration to populate the taxonomy, we propose a method to easily interact with and reuse knowledge in various manufacturing robotics systems, making it possible to reduce programming time and overhead. We present both a detailed discussion of this taxonomy, as well as an example of how the taxonomy can be applied to an assembly task.


This work presents crystalline SiC-on-glass as a transparent, robust, and optically stable electrode for simultaneous electrochemical characterization and optical microscope imaging. Experimental results show a large potential window, as well as excellent stability and repeatability over multiple cyclic voltammetric scans in common redox biomarkers such as ruthenium hexaammine and methylene blue. The high optical transmittance and biocompatibility of SiC-on-glass were also observed, enabling cell culture, electrical stimulation, and high resolution fluorescence imaging. This new platform opens exciting opportunities in multi-functional biosensing-probes and observation.


Abstract Skin is considered as an attractive route for variety of drug molecule administration. However, it is proved to be the main physical barrier for drug flux owing to their poor permeability and low bioavailability across stratum corneum layer. In the current study, novel approach has been used to enhance transdermal delivery via microporation through combination of poloxamers gels and microneedles (MNs) arrays. The phase transition of poloxamers at various concentrations from sol–gel was evaluated using AR2000 rheometer to confirm MNs-assisted in situ forming depots. Temperature test confirmed gelation between 32 and 37 °C. Curcumin was loaded in poloxamer formulations at variable concentrations and its effect showed reduction in critical gelation temperature (CGT) owing to its hydrophobic nature. Microneedle arrays (600 µm) prepared from Gantrez S-97, PEG10000 and gelatin B using (19 × 19) laser-engineered silicone micromoulds showed high mechanical stability investigated via Texture analyzer. From in situ dissolution profile, gelatin 15% w/w based MNs displayed quicker dissolution rate in comparison to PG10000. VivoSight® OCT scanner and dye tracking confirmed that PG10000 MNs arrays pierced SC layer, infiltrate the epidermis and goes to dermis layer. From in vitro permeation, it was concluded that 20% w/w PF127® gel formulations containing (0.1% and 0.3%) curcumin displayed high curcumin permeation for comparatively longer time through microporated skin samples in comparison to non-microporated skin. The curcumin distribution in skin tissues with higher florescence intensity was noted in MNs treated skin samples by confocal microscopy. FTIR confirmed the structure formation of fabricated MNs, while TGA showed dry, brittle and rigid nature of gelatin MNs.


Clustering solutions are frequently used in large enterprise and mission critical applications with high performance and availability requirements. This is achieved by deploying multiple servers for the purpose of load balancing or by having redundant servers for the purpose of high availability. Most cluster management tools focus on the availability of servers and IP connectivity, and rely on shared network storage like Network Attached Storage (NAS), Storage Area Network (SAN), etc. for storage resiliency. Modern enterprise storage systems are complex, with millions of possible configurations. For end-to-end performance and availability, the configuration of storage resources and interconnection fabric need to be carefully planned. Adhoc configuration may lead to poor availability, deteriorated performance or higher cost. In this paper, we discuss the challenges associated with provisioning storage resources in cluster environment and present a list of best practices and novel optimization strategies to make storage more resilient for clusters. We have build a tool called Casper that automates the process of planning, optimization and deployment of shared network storage for clusters. Casper distributes storage load across different storage nodes and across different network paths to ensure load balancing and prevent single point of failure.


Mothers who deliver a low birth weight infant may themselves be at excess risk for cardiovascular disease. We validated maternal recall of infant birth weight after an average follow up of 57 years, and investigated whether older women who reported having delivered low birth weight (LBW) infants (<2500 g) had later elevations in cardiovascular risk factors and were at increased risk for clinical cardiovascular disease. Participants were 446 women (mean age 80 years; 47% black) enrolled in The Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Women reported birth weight and selected complications for each pregnancy, and pregnancies complicated by hypertension or preeclampsia were excluded. We found strong correlation between recalled and documented birth weights for first births (ICC=0.96) in a randomly selected group of participants, and reliability of recall for first births remained high when considered separately by race, education, income and age. Women who had reported a LBW first birth had a lower current BMI (adjusted for race and age) compared to women with normal weight infants (26.6 vs. 28.0 kg/m²; p=0.057), but they had a higher abdominal circumference (98.1 vs. 95.0 cm; p=0.007). After adjustment for BMI, race and age, women with a history of a LBW vs. normal weight infant had elevated systolic blood pressures (p=0.048) despite higher use of anti-hypertensive medication (p=0.061). Women with LBW infants also had higher levels of IL-6 (p=0.021), fasting insulin (p=0.064), and triglycerides (p=0.071), and they were more insulin resistant (p=0.045) compared to women with a normal weight infant. Women who delivered preterm infants had an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease at age 80 (adjusted odds ratio=2.77, 95% CI 1.06-7.24) compared to women who delivered term infants. Women who had delivered infants both LBW and preterm had markedly elevated cardiovascular risk factors when compared to women with normal weight term infants, and appeared to have the highest risk for clinical cardiovascular disease (adjusted odds ratio=4.21, 95% CI 1.23-14.45). The public health importance of these findings is that a history of LBW or preterm delivery may identify women who would benefit from screening and intervention aimed at risk factors for cardiovascular disease.


Ever since the idea of flying machines that could land and take off from water (seaplanes) was invented in 1910, a huge amount of research was poured into it until it stagnated in 1950. Their performance did not grow according to current aircraft requirements. The idea of designing advance seaplane concepts stopped, and most seaplanes existing these days are approaching their final operating life. The purpose of this research project was to introduce a new seaplane concept design methodology that will suffice the necessities of actual aircraft designers. This concept design replaces old sizing methods proposed with a more efficient methodology based on modern aircraft design methods. The sizing method developed gives the designer a "freedom" in creating an "out of the box" seaplane concept. The optimization method was elaborated in such a manner that the designer can use certain types of aircraft configuration (Conventional, Blended Wing Body, and Flying Wing). The sizing method simplified the design by calculating the most advanced floating device for this seaplane concept. Old seaplane information was blended with modern aircraft and modern ship design information, creating a new preliminary seaplane concept design. Another advantage of this design method is the idea to convert existing landplane into a seaplane by adding the floating device that meets the necessary requirements of the seaplane conversion.
The second part of the research was to address technical solutions to the actual seaplane design. For example, adding a trimaran configuration that increased the hydrodynamic performance and the use of a retractable float system that reduced aerodynamic drag during flight. Final results were elaborated to compare the use of trimaran with other types of floating devices. The final results showed the trimaran concept gave an excellent hydrostatic stability, a greater water speed, and retracting the floats decreased the aerodynamic drag, hence better flight performance.
Aircraft design has been affected by actual economical difficulties showing no radical progress in this field of study. The next purpose of the research was to explore more radical, environmentally efficient, and innovative technologies. With the aid of the proposed sizing methodology for a modern and futuristic seaplane, a new vision was created called: 2050 Visionary Aeronautical Design Concept. Based on this vision the creation of an advance "out of the box" amphibian aircraft was elaborated. The project analyzed technical solutions, and a conceptual design concept for the creation of this 2050 amphibian aircraft. The preliminary design development leads to the creation of an Advance Amphibian Blended Body Wing Aircraft (AABWBA). AABWBA excels in air performance due to the high results generated by the Blended Wing Body (BWB) Aircraft. Adopting modern turbofan engines instead of turboprop engines gave the AABWBA better water takeoff capability, as well as air performance. Modern ideas for 2050 vision are the creation of futuristic seaports in order to increase seaplane traffic, public and commercial awareness, and expand market schemes.
A design analysis was performed to show a model representation of this advance seaplane design. A Computer Aided Design (CAD) model was elaborated to calculate the dimensions, observe the mechanism of the retractable floats, and show the location of the boat hull. With the aid of this CAD model, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed to show the structural strength and impact of the hull and floats when landing on water. Finally, with the aid of this model, a hydrostatic analysis of the seaplane was conducted to show the water stability, and heel turns to observe the performance of the trimaran and the retractable floats when the seaplane is being operated in water.


The widespread calls for the development of strategies to combat alcohol problems have so far failed to produce a concerted response. Rather they have led to a series of discussions, ofwhich none is more heated than that relating to prevention. In Alcohol: the Prevention Debate the authors, both active and experienced debaters themselves, use a novel format inviting contributors from many parts of the world to state the arguments and counter-arguments. By way of preparation for what is to come , there is a concise but informative introduction. Evidence on the relationship between alcohol production and consumption, the nature of alcohol related harm and the experiences of different policies on the sale of alcohol are dealt with and the results of various strategies for prevention and treatment are discussed in the context of alcohol problems as "¿ public inebriety― on the one hand and "¿ alcoholismthe disease― on the other. The remaining ten chapters are devoted to the debate itself. Some twenty-five proponents from many countries are invited by the authors to contribute their own views on a number of aspects of the debate. Each chapter deals with a separate aspect and begins with an introduction by the authors. This is followed by a short piece from one of the contributors to which one or more responses are invited. This approach reproduces many of the salient features of true debate and makes for lively and informative reading. A large number of aspects are covered including health education in the community and in schools (but not, unfortunately in the general practitioner's surgery), the influence of advertising and the media, the importance of trade, fiscal and legislative measures and the ethical considerations of alcohol control policies. At the end of each chapter the authors summarise the main points. Not surprisingly the debates are often inconclusive and such conclusions as are reached are frequently predictable. But no matter. The book provides an excellent exposition of the issues and is both informative and eminently readable. Most of all, it illustrates what it advocates—debate.


NASA is moving toward a networkcentric communications architecture and, in particular, is building toward use of Internet Protocol (IP) in space. The use of IP is motivated by its ubiquitous application in many communications networks and in available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology. The Constellation Program intends to fit two or more voice (over IP) channels on both the forward link to, and the return link from, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) during all mission phases. Efficient bandwidth utilization of the links is key for voice applications. In Voice over IP (VoIP), the IP packets are limited to small sizes to keep voice latency at a minimum. The common voice codec used in VoIP is G.729. This new algorithm produces voice audio at 8 kbps and in packets of 10-milliseconds duration. Constellation has designed the VoIP communications stack to use the combination of IP/UDP/RTP protocols where IP carries a 20-byte header, UDP (User Datagram Protocol) carries an 8-byte header, and RTP (Real Time Transport Protocol) carries a 12-byte header. The protocol headers total 40 bytes and are equal in length to a 40-byte G.729 payload, doubling the VoIP latency. Since much of the IP/UDP/RTP header information does not change from IP packet to IP packet, IP/UDP/RTP header compression can avoid transmission of much redundant data as well as reduce VoIP latency. The benefits of IP header compression are more pronounced at low data rate links such as the forward and return links during CEV launch. IP/UDP/RTP header compression codecs are well supported by many COTS routers. A common interface to the COTS routers is through frame relay. However, enabling IP header compression over frame relay, according to industry standard (Frame Relay IP Header Compression Agreement FRF.20), requires a duplex link and negotiations between the compressor router and the decompressor router. In Constellation, each forward to and return link from the CEV in space is treated independently as a simplex link. Without negotiation, the COTS routers are prevented from entering into the IP header compression mode, and no IP header compression would be performed. An algorithm is proposed to enable IP header compression in COTS routers on a simplex link with no negotiation or with a one-way messaging. In doing so, COTS routers can enter IP header compression mode without the need to handshake through a bidirectional link as required by FRF.20. This technique would spoof the routers locally and thereby allow the routers to enter into IP header compression mode without having the negotiations between routers actually occur. The spoofing function is conducted by a frame relay adapter (also COTS) with the capability to generate control messages according to the FRF.20 descriptions. Therefore, negotiation is actually performed between the FRF.20 adapter and the connecting COTS router locally and never occurs over the space link. Through understanding of the handshaking protocol described by FRF.20, the necessary FRF.20 negotiations messages can be generated to control the connecting router, not only to turn on IP header compression but also to adjust the compression parameters. The FRF.20 negotiation (or control) message is composed in the FRF.20 adapter by interpreting the incoming router request message. Many of the fields are simply transcribed from request to response while the control field indicating response and type are modified.


The control of the nucleation step is a critical issue for a future development of 3C-SiC bulk growth. The possibility to get very high quality 3C-SiC single crystal through self-nucleation on graphite was already demonstrated but the large number of nuclei limits the growth of only one crystal. In this study, we have investigated different configurations that help improving the nucleation step. For that, the "necking" stage, well established in Bridgman or Czochralski growth processes, has been successfully applied to the growth of 3C-SiC with the CF-PVT technique. This has allowed getting only one 3C-SiC crystal. The enlarged parts, after having passed the neck, are of high structural quality.


Ion mobility and mass spectrometry measurements have been used to examine the populations of different solution structures of the nonapeptide bradykinin. Over the range of solution compositions studied, from 0:100 to 100:0 methanol:water and 0:100 to 90:10 dioxane:water, evidence for 10 independent populations of bradykinin structures in solution is found. In some solutions as many as eight structures may coexist. The solution populations are substantially different than the gas-phase equilibrium distribution of ions, which exhibits only three distinct states. Such a large number of coexisting structures explains the inability of traditional methods of characterization such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and crystallography to determine detailed structural features for some regions of this peptide.


Robotics and autonomous systems can aid disabled individuals in daily living or make a workplace more productive, but these tools are only as effective as the technology behind them. Robotic systems must be able to accurately identify and act upon elements in their environment to be effective in performing their duties.Innovative Research in Attention Modeling and Computer Vision Applications explores the latest research in image processing and pattern recognition for use in robotic real-time cryptography and surveillance applications. This book provides researchers, students, academicians, software designers, and application developers with next-generation insight into the use of computer vision technologies in a variety of industries and endeavors.This premier reference work includes chapters on topics ranging from biometric and facial recognition technologies, to digital image and video watermarking, among many others.


In this Section: 1. Brief Table of Contents 2. Full Table of Contents BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter 1: The Maltreatment of Children from a Historical Perspective Chapter 2: The Family: Roles, Responsibilities, and Rights Chapter 3: Maltreatment and the Developing Child Chapter 4: The Neglect of Children Chapter 5: The Physical Abuse of Children Chapter 6: The Sexual Abuse of Children Chapter 7: Intrafamilial Abuse Chapter 8: Extrafamilial Sexual Abuse, Misuse, and Exploitation Chapter 9: Psychological Maltreatment of Children Chapter 10: Intervention: Reporting, Investigation and Case Management Chapter 11: The Legal Response to Child Abuse and Neglect Chapter 12: Treatment: Physical Abuse and Neglect Chapter 13: Treatment: Sexual Abuse Chapter 14: Foster Care as a Therapeutic Tool Chapter 15: Adults Abused as Children Chapter 16: Working in Child Protection FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter 1: The Maltreatment of Children from a Historical Perspective Children as Property Child Labor Sexual Values, Attitudes, and Exploitation The Incest Taboo Recent History of Helping the Abused and Neglected Child Child Protection Today Chapter 2: The Family: Roles, Responsibilities, and Rights The Definition and Function of the Family The Family as a System Minority Family Systems Family Problems and Dysfunction The Family and Child Maltreatment Chapter 3: Maltreatment and the Developing Child Developmental Stages Development, Maltreatment, and Resiliency Chapter 4: The Neglect of Children The Neglect of the Concept of Neglect Definition and Measurement of Neglect Causes of Neglect Problems in Intervention Neglected Children Neglectful Parents Chapter 5: The Physical Abuse of Children Causes of Physical Abuse Risk Assessment and Physical Abuse 1 Symptoms of Physical Abuse Abusive Parents Domestic Violence and Other Abuse within the Family Chapter 6: The Sexual Abuse of Children Two Groups' Approaches to Child Sexual Abuse Definition of Child Sexual Abuse Types of Sexual Abuse Progression of Sexual Abuse Incidence of Sexual Abuse Profile of the Abused Child Degree of Trauma Profile of the Perpetrator Which People Become Perpetrators? Chapter 7: Intrafamilial Abuse Intrafamilial abuse as a Problem Today Societal Contributions to Incest Father-Daughter Incest Father-Son Incest Mother-Daughter Incest Mother-Son Incest Brother-Sister Incest Homosexual Sibling Incest Incest with Uncles, Grandfathers, and Cousins Chapter 8: Extrafamilial Sexual Abuse, Misuse, and Exploitation Dynamics and Characteristics of Sexual Abuse outside the Family Sexual Abuse by Clergy Sexual Abuse in Day Care Settings Sex Rings Child Pornography, Sexual Deviance, and the Internet Child Prostitution Missing Children Chapter 9: Psychological Maltreatment of Children Psychological Maltreatment Defined The Roots of Psychological Maltreatment Characteristics of the Psychologically Maltreated Child Family Dynamics Ritualistic Abuse Chapter 10: Intervention: Reporting, Investigation and Case Management Culturally Sensitive Intervention Understanding the Intervention Process Reporting Investigation and Assessment Exploring Causes and Services Handling Emergencies Assessment Interviewing Other Professionals Involved in the Intervention Process Chapter 11: The Legal Response to Child Abuse and Neglect The Legal Rights of Parents and Children Types of Court Intervention Sex Offender Registration The Media and the Court Chapter 12: Treatment: Physical Abuse and Neglect Preparing to Provide Treatment Providing Treatment Family-Centered Services Treatment of Physically Abusive Families Treatment of Neglectful Families Chapter 13: Treatment: Sexual Abuse Issues Surrounding Treatment Treatment Models Treatment Methods Treatment of Specific Family Members Chapter 14: Foster Care as a Therapeutic Tool Problems with Foster Care Alternatives to Foster Care Therapeutic Potential in Foster Care The Role and Importance of the Natural Parents The Role of Foster Parents Other Placement for Abused or Neglected Children Chapter 15: Adults Abused as Children Society's Misconceptions Reasons for Adults' Disclosure Effects from the Neglecting Family Effects from the Physically Abusing Family Long-Term Effects of Domestic Violence Effects from a Sexually Abusing Family Effects from Extrafamilial Abuse A Word about Resiliency Treatment of Adults Who Were Abused as Children Therapists' Responses to Working with Survivors Chapter 16: Working in Child Protection A Day in the Life of a Protective Worker Skills and Qualifications Needed for Child Protetion The Challenges of Working in Child Protection An Eye Toward Prevention Working Toward a Better Tomorrow


An interactive Question Answering (QA) system frequently encounters non-sentential (incomplete) questions. These non-sentential questions may not make sense to the system when a user asks them without the context of conversation. The system thus needs to take into account the conversation context to process the question. In this work, we present a recurrent neural network (RNN) based encoder decoder network that can generate a complete (intended) question, given an incomplete question and conversation context. RNN encoder decoder networks have been show to work well when trained on a parallel corpus with millions of sentences, however it is extremely hard to obtain conversation data of this magnitude. We therefore propose to decompose the original problem into two separate simplified problems where each problem focuses on an abstraction. Specifically, we train a semantic sequence model to learn semantic patterns, and a syntactic sequence model to learn linguistic patterns. We further combine syntactic and semantic sequence models to generate an ensemble model. Our model achieves a BLEU score of 30.15 as compared to 18.54 using a standard RNN encoder decoder model.


There is a growing population of children with complex health needs and disabilities who are being cared for at home by their parents 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Community Children's Nursing Teams are a major source of support to these children. In 2006, the charity WellChild introduced the first WellChild Nurse (WCN) post specifically focused upon this group of children. In order to gain insight into how the WCN model was supporting this group of children throughout the 24-hour day, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 12 WCNs and 10 parents of children with a range of long-term clinical care needs. Analysis of the interviews from both groups of study participants revealed complex patterns of decision-making by parents when seeking support and advice particularly 'out of hours'. This related to four key questions: 'Why call?', 'When to call?', 'Who to call?' and 'How to call?'. Parents identified how, as a result of the support provided by the WCNs, they are able to draw upon a range of decision-making skills and algorithms that enhance their ability to troubleshoot both clinical and non-clinical problems throughout the 24-hour day.


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Ultrasonic motors possess many advantages, such as high torque, low speed, compact size, and no magnetic field generation; however, there are several technical problems to be solved. Improvement of efficiency is important from a low power drive view point. The purpose of this work is to achieve maximum efficient drive of ultrasonic motor. Firstly, this paper shows characteristics based on efficiency of ultrasonic motor and proposes a search method of maximum efficiency point. Furthermore, this paper presents a speed control method of the motor by PWM control of DC source combined with drive frequency control in order to realize maximum efficient drive.


The HIV pol sequentially encodes protease (PR), reverse transcriptase (RT), and integrase (IN) from the 5′–3′ direction. We explored the significance of this gene arrangement. All six possible gene dispositions were examined. In two situations where PR was removed from the leading place and no two genes were in their original location, viral polyprotein processing was abolished. Processing of the polyprotein did not occur when IN was translocated to the front of PR-RT. However, in the following two arrangements, the polyprotein was processed but only at specific sites. First, PR remained in the leading position while the locations of RT and IN were exchanged; viral polyprotein was processed at a site between the upstream transframe peptide (TF) and PR. Second, PR was placed after RT-IN and located at the distal end of Pol. Processing occurred only at the created junction between TF and RT. These results indicated that cleavage after TF occurred autocatalytically but did not proceed to a second site, which needed an extraneous PR for trans-action. Therefore, arranging Pol in the order of PR-RT-IN warrants the streamline processing of the polyprotein once the autocleavage is initiated.


As byte-addressable, high-density, and non-volatile memory (NVM) is around the corner to be equipped alongside the DRAM memory, issues on enabling the important key-value cache services, such as memcached, on the new storage medium must be addressed. While NVM allows data in a KV cache to survive power outage and system crash, in practice their integrity and accessibility depend on data consistency enforced during writes to NVM. Though techniques for enforcing the consistency, such as journaling, COW, or checkpointing, are available, they are often too expensive by frequently using CPU cache flushes to ensure crash consistency, leading to (much) reduced performance and excessively compromised NVM's lifetime. In this paper we design and evaluate NVMcached, a KV cache for non-volatile byte-addressable memory that can significantly reduce use of flushes and minimize data loss by leveraging consistency-friendly data structures and batched space allocation and reclamation. Experiments show that NVMcached can improve its system throughput by up to 2.8x for write-intensive real-world workloads, compared to a non-volatile memcached.


Commercial aviation is at the threshold of the era of the e-enabled airplane, brought about by the convergence of rapidly expanding worldwide data communication infrastructures, network-centric information processing, and commoditized lightweight computational hardware. With advanced avionics, processing, and wireless communication capabilities, the e-enabled airplane can revolutionize the current air transportation system. However, the use of unregulated information technology and wireless technologies introduces vulnerabilities that can be exploited to provide unauthorized access to the onboard aviation information systems and impede their operation. The emerging security threats are not covered by current aviation guidance, and regulations, hence, remain to be addressed. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of security of the e-enabled airplane with applications such as electronic distribution of loadable software and data, as well as future directions such as wireless health monitoring, networked control, and airborne ad hoc networks.


This thesis discusses the features of, and design issues involved in the evolution of Pan European Financial Information Systems (PEFIS). The factors influencing the development and use of PEFIS are discussed in the light of current EU attempts to harmonize European accounting systems and implement single currency legislation. An investigation of current market trends in this areas is presented and a criteria for assessing the development of such systems is proposed together with strategies for setting up the required development environment. An extensive survey was conducted in order to discover the extent of PEFIS development amongst the major European software houses and these results are reported in this study. Also an existing 'Pan European financial application' is analysed for compliance with the discussed characteristics of a PEFIS.


The objective of this study is to investigate and develop a methodology to predict fatigue crack initiation and propagation in metallic laminate structures. The fatigue crack initiation is based on strain-life approach. After a crack has initiated, Stress Intensity Factors (SIF) are obtained and the subsequent propagation is described following Paris law type equations (NASGRO). Detailed Stress-Strain distribution in each layer is obtained from FE models, including the effect of the transition from flat to slant cracks on the fatigue crack growth.


There is increasing interest in the technological construction of the cultural artefact. However the uptake of technology may be coming at a cost to the historical values sincere to cultural groups. This paper reports on evaluation techniques applied towards a recent research effort delivering a virtual reality experience that embraced the traditions of indigenous Maori within a learning, language and cultural context. A 3D computer generated artefact was constructed portraying an indigenous Maori mythological story able to interact with cultural objects using Design Science Research (DSR) as a research method, then evaluated as a cultural deployment using an array of evaluation techniques. This article expands the research material available to cultural research in DSR, as well as demonstrating how DSR evaluation can be viewed during the construction of an indigenous cultural artefact.


WINNER: Best Multi-Media or Film 2016
WINNER: Outstanding Design
Nominated for BEST OF FRINGE 2016
Afterburner presents a light and performance installation pushing the boundaries of seeing. Using low level light, projection and sound, Afterburner awaken the possibilities of the unseen, imagining realms beyond sight, just on the verge of seeing. Dark Matter is a visual experience changing how we might see space and light as well as challenging the senses to enter into the experience.
Afterburner comprises of longterm founder and award winning lighting designer Martyn Roberts, joined by Jeremy Mayall (sound) and dancers Katherine Kennedy and Megan Wilson. Afterburner have created installations and theatre since 2001 in Wellington, Dunedin and globally. Each project is unique with different artists coming together for each event. Dark Matter will be Afterburner's 10th project.


Experiments in rats with an osteoporosis model induced by the chronic administration of prednisolone (50 mg/kg, p.o., over 14 days) showed that the drug differently affects the lipid peroxidation (LPO) rate and the antioxidant system activity. Xydiphone (45 mg/kg, p.o.) administered over 14 days exhibited a prooxidant action. Dimephosphon (208 mg/kg, p.o.) administered over the same period of time produced an antioxidant effect as manifested by a growth in the catalase activity, an increase in the content of ceruloplasmin and glutathione, and a decrease in the content of LPO products in the blood serum and liver tissues. The results of combined administration of prednisolone and phosphonates indicate good prospects of the dimephosphon treatment as a means of normalization of the LPO and antioxidant system functioning disturbed by prolonged use of glucocorticoids.


The xiphoid process is the smallest and variable part of the sternum. On basis of different studies performed it can present different shaped. The aim of this study was to determine the morphologic characteristics of the xiphoid process on 50 sternum of adult mapuche individuals obtained from necropsies. The xiphoid process was bifid in 42% of cases, with a spatula shape in 38%, in ovals and ellipsoid shapes in 10% and other forms in 10%. Their maximal diameters average were: vertical 38mm, lateral-lateral 21.9mm and anterior-posterior 2.3mm. Respect to their orientation the xiphoid process presented: without bent in 32% of cases, bent to the left in 24%, bent to the ventral part in 16%, bent to the right in 10% and bent to the dorsal part in 4%. Other combinations (14%). In 12% of cases the presented a foramen. In 58% of cases the xiphoid process was jointed only with the most posterior region of the inferior part of the sternum body. Our study proves the morphological variability of the xiphoid process verifying observations in other ethnic groups


An experiment was conducted to evaluate the utilization of silkworm caterpillar meat (SCM) blended with soybean meal (SBM) as a dietary protein source in the practical diet of Heterobranchus bidorsalis fingerlings (M±SE=17.04±_0.02g). The fish were fed five isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets containing blends of SCM and SBM in ratios of 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, and reference diets containing 100:00 and 00:100 of SCM and SBM respectively for 8 weeks at 4% body weight per day. A trend of difference in nutrient utilization was observed as Diet 4 (100SCM:00SBM) recorded mean weight gain (MWG) of 35.39g and better specific growth rate, food conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio than any other diet. This was followed by Diet 3 (75SCM:25SBM) which gave MWG value of 28.71g. There was marked significant difference (P<0.05) in the MWG values among fishes fed the five diets. Also there was observed significant difference (P<0.05) in the ash, lipid and crude protein of the carcass of the experimental diets. Key words: Silkworm, Soybean meal, Heterobranchus bidorsalis.


Inhibitors of the proprotein convertase furin might serve as broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics. High cellular potency and antiviral activity against acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been reported for (3,5-dichlorophenyl)pyridine-derived furin inhibitors. Here we characterized the binding mechanism of this inhibitor class using structural, biophysical, and biochemical methods. We established a MALDI-TOF-MS-based furin activity assay, determined IC50 values, and solved X-ray structures of (3,5-dichlorophenyl)pyridine-derived compounds in complex with furin. The inhibitors induced a substantial conformational rearrangement of the active-site cleft by exposing a central buried tryptophan residue. These changes formed an extended hydrophobic surface patch where the 3,5-dichlorophenyl moiety of the inhibitors was inserted into a newly formed binding pocket. Consistent with these structural rearrangements, we observed slow off-rate binding kinetics and strong structural stabilization in surface plasmon resonance and differential scanning fluorimetry experiments, respectively. The discovered furin conformation offers new opportunities for structure-based drug discovery.


Image enhancement is one of the most important and visually appealing areas of digital image processing and computer vision. It is considered as a very important part of pre-processing for the development of industrial, security, forensic, medical, and many other applications. Although significant efforts were devoted in the past, a completely automatic image enhancement for all types of input and applications is still a big challenge in the domain of image processing. In this paper, we have proposed a multi-disciplinary approach to enhance the image automatically by intensity transformation in the spatial domain through cubic Bezier curve on images filtered with low and high pass Butterworth in the frequency domain. Results are promising when compared with the existing state-of-the-arts techniques for both visually and quantitatively, which proved that the proposed method can ensure better contrast enhancement.


Wild pollinators provide important services to both wild and human-dominated ecosystems, yet this group may be threatened by widespread anthropogenic landscape change. Suburban sprawl is one of the fastest growing types of land use change in North America, and it has certain characteristics, such as abundant floral resources, that may be beneficial for many pollinators. We examined the effects of sprawl on the wild bee assemblage of the shortgrass steppe on the Front Range of Colorado, USA. Diversity, abundance, and community composition of bees in remnant grassland fragments surrounded by suburban residential land use were compared with those in extensive, continuous grassland. No overall effect of suburbanization on bee abundance was observed, and abundance was extremely variable even within study sites. Bee species richness was positively but nonlinearly related to grassland habitat area. Bee species density was higher and more variable in suburban sites. Suburban sites and smaller habitat area were both related to relative increases in the proportions of small bee species, social bees, and solitary cavity-nesting bees in the assemblage; small suburban habitat areas also favored species of the family Halictidae over Apidae, and individuals of the genus Halictus over those of the genus Lasioglossum. In this landscape, large native habitat areas surrounded by suburban sprawl may actually increase species richness and species density over that of continuous grassland, probably by means of habitat complementation or supplementation between grassland remnants and the surrounding suburban matrix. However, at habitat areas < 20 ha, species richness became quite variable; sites < 8 ha contained less than half the species of controls.


In order to understand the collapse behaviour of thin shell structures, analysis procedures must simultaneously take account of both geometric and material nonlinearities.

In the work presented the semiloof shell element has been developed within the LUSAS finite element system to account for geometric nonlinearities using a total Lagrangian formulation based on a large displacement, small rotation strain-displacement relationship, and material nonlinearities using a multilayer procedure based on the von-Mises yield criteria. A detailed description of the LUSAS finite element system and the newly developed facilities for, applying linear constraint equations, adopting transformed freedoms, increasing the flexibility. of the nonlinear procedures, and producing graphical output, is presented.

The suitability of semiloof elements for large deformation analysis is assessed by examining the displacements and displacement derivatives obtained from tests on flat rectangular and quadrilateral elements under a series of 2nd, 3rd and 4th order out-af-plane displacement variations. A new technique has been incorporated in the nonlinear material procedure to optimise the number of sub-strain increments taken during plastic straining. Validation of the geometric nonlinearity has been ascertained by comparing results with a number of alternative analytical solutions, while results from the material nonlinearity have been compared to hand calculations based on fundamental plasticity theory.

To obtain an insight into the behaviour. of the combin~d geometric and material nonlinear procedures adopted, a series of parametric studies have been carried out on plates and cylindrical panels subjected to inplane compression. A selection of these results, which quantify the effect of several important design tolerances, have been compared to a number of alternative analytical solutions.

A study of currently recommended ultimate load design formulae for tubular joints has been carried out to determine each formula's predicted strength against experimental results. The review presented indicates the consistency of each formula for T,K and X joints over a wide parametric range.

Both linear and nonlinear finite element analyses have been carried out on a series of tubular T-joint configurations tested experimentally under axial loading. The linear anaylses determine the magnitude and position of the stress concentrations, while results from the large deformation elasto-plastic nonlinear analyses show each joints full load deflection behaviour and ultimate strength compared to the experimental test. results.

Finally the potential of the procedures adopted is shown by comparing the large deformation elasto-plastic load deformation behaviour of a large scale stiffened and unstiffened tubular T-joint to published experimental results.


This paper reviews findings from a longitudinal study of students making the transition from FE to an ancient university. This paper compares the younger and older students' reasons for higher education study. Our analysis of the quantitative data suggests that the older students had different reasons for entering university. We use the qualitative data to investigate the meanings participants attributed to higher education study in order to make sense of the patterns in the quantitative data, drawing on Wenger's perspectives on identity development as encompassing participants' trajectories in relation to communities of practice. The findings show a positive picture of the motivations of the whole cohort but the mature students seemed to have a particularly rich understanding of the meaning and relevance of their studies. The study therefore has implications for policy-makers and teachers as they seek to make use of the positive aspects of greater diversity.


While much work has examined approaches to increase uptake of a variety of household environmental, health and energy technologies, researchers and policymakers alike have struggled to ensure long-term use. Drawing on a pilot-scale experiment conducted in rural Cambodia, this study evaluates whether economic incentives enhance continued use of—and fuel savings from—improved cookstoves (ICS). Capital-cost subsidies that have been traditionally employed to enhance ICS adoption were augmented with rebates linked to stated and objectively measured use in order to investigate impacts on both initial and sustained adoption in the treatment group. Results show that households do respond to these rebates by adopting the intervention ICS at significantly higher rates, and by using it more frequently and for longer periods. Consistent with these stove-use patterns, solid-fuel use and time spent collecting or preparing fuels also decline. However, this effect appears to diminish over time. Thus, while economic inducements may significantly increase adoption and use of new environmental health technologies, corresponding reductions in environmental or livelihood burdens are not guaranteed. Additional research on the design and implementation of incentive-based interventions targeting households directly—such as carbon financing or other forms of results-based financing (RBF) for improved cookstoves—therefore seems warranted prior to wider implementation of such solutions.


Millie's cousin Geraldine is a show-off and a pain. So Millie plots revenge. She tells Geraldine about the ghost with red eyes who lives in the garden shed and comes out at night - but manages to scare herself silly in the process! Everyone is furious, but Millie and Geraldine end up the best of friends! A brilliant story about making friends with a funny, slightly spooky twist.


A clearinghouse of all videos produced by Boley Law Library during trainings, seminars, and video recordings. Legal research subjects, like secondary sources, dockets, and legislative history are covered. Book talks


Finite state machines (FSMs) represent a very simple yet widely used formalism. They are used to model simple protocols or even complex systems in an abstract way. Java classes often behave like FSMs. For these reasons, FSMs are often used in conformance testing, which consists in checking that a real implementation conforms with its speci cation given in terms of a FSM. In this paper, we show how Eclipserelated technologies, like GMF and PDE, can be used to build an editor and test generator for FSMs. We present a complete environment which contains: (1) a graphical editor based on a metamodel for FSMs, (2) an extensible framework for test generation from FSMs according to several coverage criteria, and (3) an API that can be used to test Java classes against their speci cations given as FSMs.


Surgical outcome following pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair needs improvement. We suggest a new approach based on a tissue-engineering strategy. In vivo, the regenerative potential of an electrospun biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) mesh was studied. Six different biodegradable PCL meshes were evaluated in a full-thickness abdominal wall defect model in 84 rats. The rats were assigned into three groups: (1) hollow fiber PCL meshes delivering two dosages of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), (2) solid fiber PCL meshes with and without bFGF, and (3) solid fiber PCL meshes delivering connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and rat mesenchymal stem cells (rMSC). After 8 and 24 weeks, we performed a histological evaluation, quantitative analysis of protein content, and the gene expression of collagen-I and collagen-III, and an assessment of the biomechanical properties of the explanted meshes. Multiple complications were observed except from the solid PCL-CTGF mesh delivering rMSC. Hollow PCL meshes were completely degraded after 24 weeks resulting in herniation of the mesh area, whereas the solid fiber meshes were intact and provided biomechanical reinforcement to the weakened abdominal wall. The solid PCL-CTGF mesh delivering rMSC demonstrated improved biomechanical properties after 8 and 24 weeks compared to muscle fascia. These meshes enhanced biomechanical and biochemical properties, demonstrating a great potential of combining tissue engineering with stem cells as a new therapeutic strategy for POP repair. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: 00B: 000-000, 2019.


We present a model of infection by Wolbachia of an Aedes aegypti population. This model is designed to take into account both the biology of this infection and any available experimental data obtained in the field. The objective is to use this model for predicting the sustainable introduction of this bacteria. We provide a complete mathematical analysis of the model proposed and give the basic reproduction ratio R0 for Wolbachia. We observe a bistability phenomenon. Two equilibria are asymptotically stable : an equilibrium where all the population is uninfected and an equilibrium where all the population is infected. A third unstable equilibrium exists. We provide an lower bound for the basin of attraction of the desired infected equilibrium. We are in a backward bifurcation situation. The bistable situations occurs with natural biological values for the parameters.


The exponential increase of mobile data traffic pushes mobile operators to seek more efficient heterogeneous communication techniques. In this study, multi-user extension methods for multiple attribute decision making algorithms for network-assisted data offloading in heterogeneous wireless networks are developed and performance evaluations are performed in the presence of Device-to-Device (D2D) connections. Evaluations are carried out using simulations to point out the metrics and factors influencing data offloading in heterogeneous networks. The simulation results indicate the superiority of incorporating network-based information besides user-based information in offloading decisions. Additionally, up to 67% increase in user satisfaction can be achieved when D2D density is kept 68% under a heavy load scenario. The simulation results also indicate the existence of optimal D2D densities in heterogeneous networks depending on the total number of users and available network capacity.


Collectively qualitative research is a group of methodologies, with each approach offering a different lens though which to explore, understand, interpret or explain phenomena in real word contexts and settings. This article will provide an overview of one of the many qualitative approaches, ethnography , and its relevance to healthcare. We will use an exemplar based on a study that used participant-as-observer observation and follow-up interviews to explore how occupational therapists embed spirituality into everyday practice, and offer insights into the future directions of ethnography in response to increased globalisation and technological advances.

Qualitative research methodologies are inductive and focus on meaning; approaches are diverse with different purposes, reflecting differing ontological and epistemological underpinnings.1 With roots in sociology and anthropology, ethnography is one of the early qualitative approaches and is concerned with learning about people , in contrast to studying people, through immersion in native populations.2 3 Traditionally ethnography is characterised by in-depth observation of groups of individuals, being cognisant of the influences of historical and cultural contexts on social interactions.4 This process of immersion in the real world context and detailed analysis enables the researcher to discover and describe the complexities and shared cultural nuances of the social world, and to interpret the meaning of the phenomenon under investigation. Exploring health and care organisations at a macro level can …