Radio frequency interference (RFI) has and continues to be a challenge faced by the aviation industry today. Short transient events, or longer duration interference, often caused by unintentional radiators in the vicinity of airports, all have the possibility to pose a risk to the industry, especially for systems such as GPS. In an effort to minimize the impact RFI sources, an unmanned aerial system (UAS) built on a multirotor platform, known as JAGER (Jammer Acquisition with GPS Exploration and Reconnaissance), is continuing to be developed as a means of autonomously and rapidly localizing GPS RFI. Three main elements make up the system: sensing and measurement, path planning, and navigation. This paper discusses the continued improvements in the sensing and navigation elements of JAGER. For sensing, a three-element beam steering antenna has been developed to enable electronic rotation replacing the need for physically rotating the vehicle. For navigation, an infrared (IR) vision system has been developed to enable real time velocity measurements of the vehicle. JAGER's approach to the problem through using bearing information for localization of a single fixed jammer has been successfully demonstrated using a single directional antenna and the vehicle's ability to rotate as the sensing system. In order to greatly increase the rate of bearing measurements and remove the need for a physical rotation, a three-element beam steering antenna has been developed, enabling the electronic rotation of the antenna allowing for a near 100x improvement in the observation rate (from about 30 seconds for a rotation to about 0.35 seconds for a rotation). With a near continuous observation of bearing, new techniques for source localization and navigation are enabled. Of great interest is the sensor's ability to enable simultaneously localizing the source of the RFI and the position of the vehicle in a GPS denied environment. This paper describes the development of the beam steering antenna and the IR vision system that will enable the use of simultaneous localization and mapping techniques to solve the RFI localization and navigation problem. Both systems are tested in several real world environments with commercial GPS jamming equipment and results are discussed. As the system is intended to localize the source of GPS interference, JAGER needs to be capable of navigating in a GPS denied environment. To augment the information from the RFI source, an infrared (IR) camera system is used to measure the velocity of the vehicle during flight. This paper discusses the use and performance of using optical flow techniques of IR imagery to obtain velocity measurements. Live day and night exercise results are presented and discussed.


Modern packet processing hardware (e.g. IPv6-supported routers) demands high processing power, while it also should be power-efficient. In this paper we present an architecture for high-speed packet processing with a hierarchical chip-level power management that minimizes the energy consumption of the system. In particular, we present a modeling framework that provides an easy way to create new networking applications on an FPGA based board. The development environment consists of a modeling environment, where the new application is modeled in SystemC. Furthermore, our power management is modeled and tested against different traffic loads through extensive simulation analysis. Our results show that our proposed solution can help to reduce the energy consumption significantly in a wide range of traffic scenarios.


As the Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) of self-driving vehicles increase, it is necessary to investigate the Electrical/Electronic(E/E) system architectures for autonomous driving, beyond proof-of-concept prototypes. Relevant patterns and anti-patterns need to be raised into debate and documented. This paper presents the principal components needed in a functional architecture for autonomous driving, along with reasoning for how they should be distributed across the architecture. A functional architecture integrating all the concepts and reasoning is also presented.


Excessive richness of nutrients in water bodies such as rivers, lakes and ponds lead into deterioration of aquatic life as a results of dense growth of algae. Phosphate is one of the main nutrients that should be controlled to prevent this serious issue. Utilizing low cost material as a phosphate sorbent is offering a treatment method characterized as a sustainable solution. In this study the efficiency of biomass bottom ash BBA as phosphate sorbent material from aqueous solution is investigated. Batch experiments were undertaken, in which a particular mass of BBA was brought into contact with the phosphate solution. The experiments studied the influence of pH (different phosphate solutions were prepared with pH range 4 to 8), temperature (adsorption capacity measured at the temperature range of 10 to 30 °C), and contact time. In addition, the adsorption isotherm models were also applied to better understand the mechanism of phosphate sorption by BBA. The results revealed that the bonding between the cations (BBA surface) and anions (phosphate solution) is significantly affected by the pH of the solution. BBA presents an excellent phosphate sorption, especially, at low pH value and temperature around 20 oC. The method of this research can be adopted as a followed strategy for examination the capability of selected material for phosphorus removal from wastewater.


Abstract: This research examined whether accounting research responds to changing world policies toward sustainability ideology to remain relevant as a dynamic discipline. The paper became pertinent to highlight the extent to which accounting profession is imbued with the resilience to respond to sustainability through research. The paper applied a mixed method of review and quantitative empirical analysis. Sustainability-accounting research output data were collected from the Google Scholar. Sustainability policy initiatives were collected from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) climate policy archive from 1989 - 2015. The co-integration and OLS regression statistics were applied to evaluate if the growth in sustainability accounting research correlates with the global growth in sustainability policy initiatives. The co-integration test showed a long-term correlation between the variables. Also, tested at an alpha of 0.05, results from the OLS regression analysis showed that an increase in sustainability and/or environmental accounting research has a significant correlation with the growing trend in global sustainability policy initiatives at a P =0.005 which is less than 0.05. The paper concludes that accounting research is being resilient to growing sustainability policy initiatives. The paper recommends further research to examine the extent to which sustainability accounting research has influenced a pragmatic change in corporate sustainability behaviour. Key words: sustainability accounting; accounting research; sustainability policy; sustainable development JEL Classification: M40; M41; M42;


OBJECTIVES
To characterize dual-method protection users and report the prevalence of dual-method use among young adult African American women residing in the Southeastern United States.

DESIGN
Analysis of baseline data from a randomized controlled trial.

SETTING
A clinic-based sample of young women enrolled in a randomized trial of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-prevention program in Atlanta, Georgia, from June 2005 to June 2007.

PARTICIPANTS
African American women aged 14 to 20 years who reported unprotected sexual activity in the past 6 months. Of the eligible adolescents, 94% (N = 701) were enrolled in the study and completed baseline assessments.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Dual-method protection use as well as sociodemographic, individual-level, interpersonal-level, and community-level factors and interpersonal communication skills. Only data from the baseline assessment, before randomization, were used for the analysis.

RESULTS
A total of 102 participants (14.6%) were classified as dual-method protection users. After controlling for age and clinic, significant differences between dual-method users and non-dual-method users were found for impulsivity, self-esteem, social support, relationship style, partner communication self-efficacy, and fear of condom negotiation.

CONCLUSIONS
Dual-method protection use is low. Identification of factors that differentiate dual-method users from non-dual-method users at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels in this young African American sample suggests that HIV, sexually transmitted disease, and unintended pregnancy risk-reduction programs should address factors at each level, not simply the individual level, and that this may involve structural and/or clinical counseling practice changes in clinics that serve young women, to optimally facilitate dual-method protection use among young African American women in the Southeastern United States.


This paper describes the production and delivery of two courses at Massey University using web-based, multi-media material. One course is a first year computer science paper, which is delivered entirely in distance mode. The second example is a post-graduate computer science course delivered internally only, although making use of the same delivery techniques. The tools and methods used in the production of this extensive multimedia database will be described and it will be shown that the effort in producing multi-media courses on CD is not prohibitive if the correct tools are used. These results have significant implication to lifelong learning.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of light therapy on sleep disturbance and depression in climacteric women with menopausal symptoms. Methods: The research design was a nonequivalent control group pre test-post test design. Data were collected from September 29, 2013 to November 11, 2013. Participants included 17 climacteric women in an artificial light therapy group, 17 climacteric women in a sun light therapy group and 16 climacteric women in a control group. Measures consisted of the sleep disturbance, depression, melatonin, and serotonin. Results: There was a statistically significant difference of Korean Sleep Scale A (F=53.87, p<.001), and melatonin (F=31.19, p<.001) among three groups. There was a statistically significant difference of Self-Rating Depression Scale (F=121.86, p<.001), and serotonin (F=102.37, p<.001) among three groups. Conclusion: Artificial and sun light therapy can be applied as a supportive nursing intervention to subjects with sleep disturbance and depression in climacteric women with menopausal symptoms. Artificial and sun light therapy is expected to be a complementary alternative intervention for health management of the subjects with sleep disturbance and depression in climacteric women with menopausal symptoms.


Cancer is an understudied but important process in wildlife. Cancerous cells are proposed to have had significant effect on the evolution of metazoan species due to their negative effect on host fitness. However, gaining knowledge on the impact of cancer on species and ecosystems is currently relatively slow as it requires expertise in both ecology and oncology. The field can greatly benefit from automation to reduce the need of excessive manpower and analyse complex ecological datasets. In this commentary, we examine how machine learning has been used to gain knowledge on oncogenic processes in wildlife. Using a landscape ecology approach, we explore spatial scales ranging from the size of a molecule up to whole ecosystems and detail, for each level, how machine learning has been used, or could contribute to obtain insights on cancer in wildlife populations and ecosystems. We illustrate how machine learning is a powerful toolbox to conduct studies at the interface of ecology and oncology. We provide guidance for the readers of both fields on how to implement machine learning tools in their research and identify directions to move the field forward using this promising technology. We demonstrate how applying machine learning to complex ecological datasets will (a) contribute to quantitating the effect of cancer at different life stages in wildlife; (b) allow the mining of long‐term datasets to understand the spatiotemporal variability of cancer risk factors and (c) contribute to mitigating cancer risk factors and the conservation of endangered species. With this study, we aim to facilitate the use of machine learning to wildlife species and to encourage discussion between the scientists of the fields of oncology and ecology. We highlight the importance of international and pluridisciplinary collaborations to collect high‐quality datasets on which efficient machine learning algorithms can be trained.


Delegations of Black revolutionary leaders to the Middle East were a prominent feature of Black-Palestinian transnational solidarity at the height of the worldwide revolt against imperial domination in the decades following World War II. Though they never ceased, delegations have become a critical feature of solidarity practices once more. Unlike their historical predecessors, today9s delegations are no longer organized in collaboration with the official organizations of the Palestinian national movement but between individuals and/or social justice organizations. In addition, the delegations are no longer unidirectional, as they now encompass visits by activists from Palestine and other "Palestinian geographies" in the Middle East to the United States. Finally, recent delegations have included one by indigenous youth to Palestine as well as several from the African continent to the Middle East. This roundtable, featuring leading organizers of recent delegations, aims to reveal the ruptures and continuities of a historical legacy. We intend for this roundtable to serve as an archive and a site of knowledge production.


This paper demonstrates that it is possible to construct accurate pictures of firm revenue, growth, geographic dispersion, and customer base characteristics using an increasingly accessible class of consumer financial transaction data. We develop two new measures which characterize firms' customer bases: the rate of churn in a firm's customer base and a metric of the pairwise similarity between firms' customer bases. We show that these measures provide important insights into the behavior of both real firm decisions and firm asset prices. Rates of customer churn affect the level and volatility of firm-level investment, markups, and profits. Churn also affects how quickly firms respond to shocks in the value of their growth options (i.e. Tobin's~Q). Moreover, high churn firms tended to face steeper declines in consumer spending during the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Similarity between firms' customer bases highlights one under-explored type of predictability among stock returns -- we demonstrate that significant alpha can be generated using a trading strategy that exploits our index of customer base similarity across firms.


A modeling method termed as the discrete time hybrid Diagnosis (DTHD) is presented to constructure models for a hydraulic punching machine. The DTHD method is an extension of the works on FDD (the fault detection and diagnosis) which are based on FSM-based modeling. FDD of DTHD models are suited for real time systems because of their capability of detecting faults leading to failures in terms of erroneous delays and deadlines. The occurrences of faults or failures are represented for individual system components by categorizing the set of states of each individual system component model into normal or failed conditions of various types. The condition corresponding to the states (of a component model) are represented by an unmeasurable variable. The components are then composed to produce the overall representation of failures on the whole system model with a single unmeasurable variable.


The inability to design a clear and organic model of industrial development, a centuries-old economic backwardness, the responsibility of a local political class - unprepared from a technical and administrative point of view and disinterested in the fate of the city - led Naples to a decadence without return in the decades following the Unity. While the city lost its role as a privileged centre, entering a wider market and without the protectionist barriers of the Bourbon age, the limitation of its commercial potential and its commercial traffic came to light. Although in the first two decades there was no immediate backlash on Neapolitan trade - at a time when large-scale international trade was reducing the barriers between countries, accompanied by the development and modernization of infrastructure - the increased ship traffic failed to bring about a proportional wealth increase for the city, while the port was increasingly taking on the appearance of an airport for migrants, remaining limited to regional borders for goods traffic. Above all the urban structure suffered this crisis, being now inadequate to the needs of traffic, infrastructure and services of a modern city. The post-unitary transformation strategy therefore lacked an organic project of interventions, limited to partial interventions, which were not able to trigger a process of transformation of the metropolitan area. This research sheds light on how the two main issues - the development of port infrastructures and the transformation of the area in the industrial sense, strictly interrelated and complementary - were sore points in a historical moment in which the first real globalization and the development of international trade in the modern sense was taking place, probably generating one of the greatest missed opportunities that would have condemned the fate of Naples and the surrounding areas.


This working draft first considers issues relating to the philosophy of dispute settlement - what approach works best: one emphasizing settlement of disputes through negotiations or one emphasizing more judicial-like means. Next, it reviews the basis for dispute settlement under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and evaluates the successes and shortcomings of the GATT dispute settlement system. The core of the article describes in detail the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on dispute settlement. In concluding sections, it reviews the operation of the WTO dispute settlement system to date and discusses several proposed reforms, such as the establishment of a permanent panel body and various ways to improve the effectiveness of remedies in cases of noncompliance with WTO decisions.


This thesis aims to contribute to improved functional procurement of photovoltaic systems, PV systems. Functional procurement means that criteria concerning a function are set rather than specifying technical details or products. Possible advantages and difficulties in using functional procurement have been analyzed by interviews, simulations and a case study. Electricity production and surplus production for different scenarios have been simulated via MATLAB. The MATLAB script was also used to generate rules of thumb on feasible solar fraction for six different load profiles; a church, a farm, a car mechanic, an office, an industry and an apartment building. The results show that functional procurement promotes innovative solutions and is likely to increase customer satisfaction. The entrepreneurs get increased responsibility for the PV installation and the monitoring of it. Difficulties in using functional procurement of PV systems include uncertainties in irradiance and division of responsibilities. It is therefore important to define in what circumstances the functions should be met. The evaluation of the case study shows that the demands that were set were hard to accomplish, but if the maximum simulated surplus production would have been 6 % instead of 5 % of the summer weekdays, it would have been easier. The rules of thumb show that depending on load profile and accepted proportion of surplus production, the yearly solar fraction is between circa 10 % and 30 %. This number is lower for businesses that close during the summer and higher for businesses that have a load profile that corresponds well with the irradiance.


Solid-state H-NMR of [H31]-N-palmitoylsphingomyelin ([ H31]16:0SM, PSM*), supplemented by differential scanning calorimetry, was used for the first time, to our knowledge, to investigate the molecular organization of the sphingolipid in 1:1:1 mol mixtures with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (16:0–18:1PE, POPE) or 1-palmitoyl-2docosahexaenoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (16:0–22:6PE, PDPE) and cholesterol. When compared with H-NMR data for analogous mixtures of [H31]16:0–18:1PE (POPE*) or [ H31]16:0-22:6PE (PDPE*) with egg SM and cholesterol, molecular interactions of oleic acid (OA) versus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are distinguished, and details of membrane architecture emerge. SM-rich, characterized by higher-order, and PE-rich, characterized by lower-order, domains ,20 nm in size are formed in the absence and presence of cholesterol in both OAand DHA-containing membranes. Although acyl chain order within both domains increases on the addition of sterol to the two systems, the resultant differential in order between SMand PE-rich domains is almost a factor of 3 greater with DHA than with OA. Our interpretation is that the aversion that cholesterol has for DHA—but not for OA—excludes the sterol from DHA-containing, PE-rich (nonraft) domains and excludes DHA from SM-rich/cholesterol-rich (raft) domains. We attribute, in part, the diverse health benefits associated with dietary consumption of DHA to an alteration in membrane domains.


Cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) are frequently utilized for management of cardiac dysrhythmias in patients with chronic kidney disease or end‐stage renal disease receiving hemodialysis. The survival benefit from use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in patients with CKD or ESRD is not as clear as in the general population, particularly when used for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death. Transvenous CIED leads are associated with central vein stenosis resulting in significant adverse consequences for existing or future arteriovenous access. Venous hypertension from CIED lead‐related central vein stenosis is a challenging clinical problem and may require repeated percutaneous interventions, replacement of the CIED, or creation of alternative arteriovenous access. Infections associated with transvenous CIED leads are more frequent and associated with worse outcomes in patients with renal disease. Epicardial CIED leads or other nontransvenous devices may reduce complications of both central venous stenosis and endovascular infection in these vulnerable patients. Consensus recommendations are offered for avoidance and management of complications arising from the use of CIEDs and arteriovenous hemodialysis access.


As part of an environmental investigation at Fort Wingate Depot Activity, New Mexico, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, interpreted aqueous geochemical concentrations to better understand the groundwater flow paths and the fate and transport of constituents of concern in the alluvial aquifer underlying the study area. The fine-grained nature of the alluvial matrix creates a highly heterogeneous environment, which adds to the difficulty of characterizing the flow of groundwater and the fate of aqueous constituents of concern. The analysis of the groundwater geochemical data collected in October 2009 provides evidence that is used to identify four groundwater flow paths and their extent in the aquifer and indicates the dominant attenuation processes for the constituents of concern. The extent and interaction of groundwater flow paths were delineated by the major ion concentrations and their relations to each other. Four areas of groundwater recharge to the study area were identified based on groundwater elevations, hydrogeologic characteristics, and geochemical and isotopic evidence. One source of recharge enters the study area from the saturated alluvial deposits underlying the South Fork of the Puerco River to the north of the study area. A second source of recharge is shown to originate from a leaky cistern containing production water from the San AndresGlorieta aquifer. The other two sources of recharge are shown to enter the study area from the south: one from an arroyo valley draining an area to the south and one from hill-front recharge that passes under the reported release of perchlorate and explosive constituents. The spatial extent and interaction of groundwater originating from these various sources along identified flow paths affect the persistence and attenuation of constituents of concern. It was determined that groundwater originating in the area of a former explosives' wash-out operation and an accidental spill of perchlorate was spatially limited, and that dilution is the primary attenuation process for these constituents. The explosive concentrations of the nitramine 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and the oxidizer perchlorate both support that determination. Unlike RDX and perchlorate, there were no detectable concentrations of trinitrotoluene (TNT) in the aquifer. Based on the chemical nature of TNT and the redox conditions found in the aquifer, it is interpreted that TNT is lost to irreversible sorption and aerobic degradation. Nitrate was ubiquitous in the alluvial groundwater in October 2009. The nitrate concentrations in wells associated with the explosives' groundwater flow path indicate attenuation primarily through dilution, similar to that of RDX. The origin of nitrate concentrations in the wells located in the Administration Area is uncertain but may have resulted from the leakage of aging clay sewage pipes that service most of the structures within that area or as a relic of a former hydrologic regime in which water from the washout operation migrated across a broader area. Sufficient data do not exist to definitively identify the location(s) of water discharge in this area, but transpiration from near the Administration Area is supported by the geochemical concentrations.


The exchanges between Manichaeism and Buddhism are one of the most-discussed topics in the religious study of Central Asia. Old Uyghur materials are often used in these discussions because the Uyghurs experienced the religious shift from Manichaeism to Buddhism. The sources attest that Manichaean and Buddhist communities co-existed under Uyghur rule, although the period of co-existence was limited. Thus, the texts produced in that period could show traces of exchange between these two religious communities. Previous studies, however, concentrate on the religious exchanges and do not consider the Uyghurs' literary tradition, their historical background, and the language development in Old Uyghur. This paper re-examines the materials cited in previous studies, reconsiders exchanges between the two religious communities under Uyghur rule, and addresses the results of this survey.


We found that paratropomyosin bound to beta-connectin, in examining binding of paratropomyosin at the junction of A- and I-bands of sarcomeres. The turbidity of a mixture of beta-connectin and paratropomyosin was greater with more paratropomyosin added, but high concentrations of Ca2+ suppress this increase. These results suggest that paratropomyosin is released from connectin filaments at the A-I junction region by increased concentrations of calcium ions in postmortem skeletal muscles.


Avidin that had been coupled to Sepharose 4B activated with CNBr retained over 90% of its biotin-binding capacity. When low concentrations of CNBr were used about 75% of the protein could be removed from the Sepharose by washing with guanidinium chloride (6 m). The remaining 25%, the covalently bound subunits, had an almost undiminished capacity for biotin but a decreased affinity. Addition of avidin subunits in guanidinium chloride to the coupled subunits followed by dilution or dialysis restored the original biotin-binding capacity and affinity. Three classes of binding sites were present in preparations of the subunits. About 25% were weak (K=5x10(-8)m), about one third exchanged their biotin in a few minutes (K approximately 10(-10)m) and the remainder were indistinguishable from the native tetramer. The last-named exchanged their bound biotin at a similar rate at pH5 and at pH2, they did not lose their biotin in 6 m-guanidinium chloride and they were resistant to tryptic digestion in the absence of biotin. The proportion of these stable sites could be increased to 65% when the subunits coupled to Sepharose were incubated at 37 degrees C. This increase was reversed by guanidinium chloride, which suggested that it was caused by a temperature-dependent association of covalently linked subunits. This in turn implies a temperature-dependent mobility of the agarose matrix of the Sepharose. Analysis of the spatial distribution of subunits within the Sepharose beads led to the conclusion that the association of subunits implied that they could move through distances greater than 20nm (several hundred A). This mobility and consequent formation of tetramer was greatly decreased when avidin subunits were coupled to Sepharose that had been cross-linked with divinyl sulphone.


Cartilage and bone are specialized connective tissues composed of roughly the same material: cell embedded in an extracellular matrix, permeated by the network of fibers. Then the properties of cartilage are anisotropic and inhomogeneous structure. At the same time, the structure of cartilage is rather porous allowing fluid to move in and out of the tissue. Thus the properties of cartilage were changed with the fluid content. The objective of this study is to demonstrate that the biomechanical properties of the pericellular matrix vary with depth from the coated cartilage surface, and observed regions of cartilage failure. This objective is achieved by solving problems with the finite element method. The conceptual model was subjected to the boundary conditions of confined compression on porous of cartilage anisotropy. The experimental results were demonstrated that neither the Young's modulus nor the Poisson's ratios exhibit the same values when measured along the loading directions. The results were supported an essential functional property of the tissue which the glenoid surface may be susceptible to cartilage degeneration.


Neil Hurley demonstrates Hitchcock's covert preoccupation with spiritual themes-conscience, guilt, false accusation, crises as catalysts of character development, personal romance, the salvation of nations, and the "unjustly accused." This last theme is linked in profound ways to Hitchcock's secular Christ types, who find purpose and undiscovered courage and companionship in having to disprove falsely imputed guilt in I Confess, The Wrong Man, Veritgo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, and Frenzy. (The last three also feature feminine Christ parallels who undergo Passion/Resurrection experiences marked with visual religious clues.)


There is a strong association between seronegative arthritis and HLA B27, but it is still unresolved whether the contribution of B27 to disease pathogenesis is solely as a restriction element for an arthritogenic peptide, or whether B27 itself serves as an autoantigen. This study uses transgenic rats to address the question as to whether exposure to an arthritogenic pathogen can alter tolerance to B27. Unlike their nontransgenic counterparts, B27-transgenic rats are tolerant of B27 immunization using either B27 (cid:1) splenocytes or plasmid DNA and do not develop anti-B27 CTL. However, if splenocytes from such immunized animals are exposed to Chlamydia in vitro, CTL are generated that lyse B27 (cid:1) targets. No killing was seen with targets transfected with control B7, B14, B40, or B44. This phenomenon was not observed with immunization by nontransgenic splenocytes, or HLA-A2 DNA alone. Using targets expressing mutated B27, we show that the epitope for autoreactive CTL recognition of B27 involves the Lys 70 amino acid residue in the (cid:2) 1 domain of the MHC class I molecule. The generation of CTL with specificity for B27 under these conditions demonstrates that tolerance to B27 can be subverted by Chlamydia . This indicates a dynamic interrelationship between the pathogen and B27, which may have important implications for B27-related spondyloarthropathies triggered by intracellular bacteria. The Journal of Immunology, 2002, 169: 4033–4038.


The domain of contemporary physics consists of two different classes of objects: a) physical objects — point events (shortly — events), elementary particles (and their aggregates), and fields; b) spatio-temporal objects — space-time points (shortly — points), moments, space points, and their corresponding sets: space-time, time and physical space. If objects of some kind (physical or spatio-temporal) are treated as individuals, i.e. nonsets, then it is possible to define the remaining kinds of objects from both above-mentioned classes. In this way one can construct two alternative monistic ontologies of physics: eventism founded on events, and pointism founded on points. It is also possible to establish a dualistic ontology of physics, based both on events and points treated as individuals.  In this paper these three ontologies are presented with particular emphasis on some extreme versions of monistic ontologies. I shall compare them considering both their respective advantages and difficulties and trying to justify my own choice of eventistic ontology.


In alternate bearing olive trees, high yield on-crop years alternate with low yield off-crop years. Research was undertaken in support of the California olive industry to determine how fruit number one year impacts floral intensity and yield the following year. Removing the on-crop of fruit before endocarp hardening (mid-July) restored summer vegetative shoot growth and inflorescence number the following spring. Delaying fruit removal to 75 days after endocarp hardening (September) significantly reduced spring bud break and floral intensity. Quantification of the fate of buds on nonbearing and bearing shoots of off- and on-crop control trees provided striking results. The majority of buds on nonbearing shoots of off-crop trees produced inflorescences, whereas most buds on nonbearing shoots of on-crop trees remained inactive through spring bloom. In sharp contrast, 74% of buds on bearing shoots of on-crop trees had abscised prior to spring bloom. A putative O. europaea FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene, known to upregulate flowering in woody perennials, was expressed in buds on nonbearing shoots of off-crop trees from June through March, but was repressed in buds of bearing and nonbearing shoots of on-crop trees starting in September and October, respectively. Whereas the lack of OeFT expression in buds on bearing shoots of on-crop trees may be due to the abscission of 51% of the floral buds by September, this result taken together with the repression of OeFT in buds on nonbearing shoots of on-crop trees in October, for which floral bud abscission was not a factor, suggests the possibility that the on crop may inhibit determination of the floral meristem between September and October. Buds on nonbearing shoots of off-crop trees subsequently expressed two floral organ identify genes in March; these genes were not expressed in buds of nonbearing and bearing shoots of on-crop trees. This study is the first to provide evidence that several mechanisms in addition to inhibition of summer vegetative shoot growth, including inhibition of spring bud break, inhibition of floral development at the level of gene expression, and abscission of potential floral buds, contribute to the perpetuation of alternate bearing in olive.


Abstract: Heterosis (hybrid vigor) for brain myelin content has been examined in detail in (C57BL/6J × DBA/ 2J)F1 hybrid mice at 17 days of age. The amount of myelin isolated from the F1 hybrid brain is greater than that isolated from either parental strain. In addition, the total protein content in the myelin of the three genotypes showed the following trend: F1 > DBA > C57. However, no discernible differences in myelin protein compositions could be detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate‐poly‐acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Analysis of the whole brain for several myelin‐associated constituents such as GM1 ganglioside, 2′, 3′‐cyclic nucleotide 3′‐phosphohy‐drolase (CNPase), 5′‐nucleotidase and carbonic anhy‐drase indicated that heterosis exists for these components. No heterosis was found for such nonmyelin constituents as gangliosides GDIa, GT, GQ, RNA, DNA and choline acetyltransferase. A developmental study of the whole brain CNPase indicated that the heterotic effect was greatest during the most active period of myelination (17–30 days). We conclude that the heterotic effect is specific for myelin content and is probably the result of an accelerated myelin synthesis. The heterotic effect should have great potential as a new model for studying aspects of myelinogenesis.


ABSTRACT The strategic communication of terrorist organisations and its influence on public discourse, particularly in the forced migrant context, is an under-researched area. This article argues that terrorist organisations have exploited their marketability in the radicalisation of public discourse. Their (non)discursive strategic communication has influenced public discourse, with impacts on policy and practice. Thirty-two interviews were conducted with civil society organisations and host communities, and complemented by eleven online refugee representations. In addition, the study drew from secondary case reviews of Al Shabaab and a former Islamist. The paper examines and presents key field research findings on the impact of strategic terrorist communication on refugees and host communities. Further, the paper highlights public representations of Islam(ism) and the disruptive character of Islamism brand management. The article additionally explores broader ramifications of terrorist communication on the concept of radicalisation. By examining the synergy between terrorist communication and the speech-acts of other actors, this article contends that besides being a useful concept, radicalisation is a social construct modelled by the perceptions, attitudes, opinions and actions of a coterie of actors. Overall, terrorist communication in rhetoric and action regulates public discourse that in turn inflames a reinforcing feedback loop of reciprocal radicalisation.


The article discusses the entry of standardised measurement into the educational systems of Sweden and Germany and the processes of shape‐shifting associated with this process. In the first part of the article, we investigate how standardised measurement challenged existing ways of conceiving education in Sweden and Germany during the first half of the twentieth century, leading to the introduction of a system of national tests in Sweden, but not in Germany. In the second part of the article, we explore standards‐based reform in Sweden and Germany contemporaneously, including the role played by standardised measurement in this process. We analyse how psychometrics functioned as a 'quick language', i.e. a shorthand means of communication in educational matters, and the role it played in processes of shape‐shifting of standardised measurement, i.e. transformations in directions very different from that which early proponents of standardised measurement had envisaged.


We have designed and fabricated a very low noise preamplifier and shaper to replace the existing ATLAS Liquid Argon readout for use at the Large Hadron Collider upgrade (SLHC). IBM's 8WL 130nm SiGe process was chosen for its radiation tolerance, low noise bipolar NPN devices, wide voltage range and potential use in other SLHC detector subsystems. Although the requirements for the final design have not been yet finalized, the prototype was designed to accommodate a 16 bit dynamic range. This was accomplished by using a single stage, low noise, wide dynamic range preamplifier followed by a dual range shaper. The low noise of the preamp is made possible by the low base spreading resistance of the silicon germanium NPN bipolar transistors. The relatively high voltage rating of the NPN transistors is exploited to allow a gain of 650V/A in the preamplifier which eases the input voltage noise requirement on the shaper. Each shaper stage is designed as a cascaded differential operational amplifier pair with a common mode operating point regulated by an internal feedback loop. Measurement of the fabricated circuits indicates their performance is consistent with the design specifications including the radiation tolerance targets.


ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine public and private preschool teachers' beliefs and practices regarding children aged three to six who are gifted in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as the differences between teachers' beliefs and practice. Presently, no agreement exists among researchers on the definition of gifted children, and the Saudi Ministry of Education does not provide any programmes to guide teachers on how to identify and teach gifted children. This qualitative study suggests that Saudi Arabian public and private preschool teachers believe children who are gifted have stronger cognitive abilities, among others, than their classmates. Moreover, the study suggests that strong similarities exist between public and private preschool teachers' methods of support for gifted children.


How can relevance for both industry and academia be achieved in collaborative researchproject? Despite the vast amount of literature on collaborative research, there is still alack of empirically grounded studies on their practical use. We have investigated how theco-creation of knowledge was carried out in six collaborative projects, what wasconsidered to be relevant results and what aspects that were found critical during thedifferent phases of a collaborative research project. We found that joint activities duringthe initial phases, together with joint implementation of development initiates, was foundmost critical for relevance.


More than three million kilograms of mercury are estimated to have been lost into northwestern Sierra Nevada rivers during the course of gold mining in the Gold Rush period of the last century (1840s 1880s). Mercury was used extensively in the gold recovery process to amalgamate fine gold particles. Gold mining has continued at a less intensive scale through the present, with a relative resurgence of dredging operations during the past decade. In this study, we investigated mercury levels in aquatic invertebrates and trout in the rivers of this region of the Sierra Nevada to determine the localized impacts of mining-derived mercury. These organisms were used as indicators of the bioavailable fraction of mercury, specifically that portion which can enter, transfer through, and be concentrated by the food web. The biota samples were used to determine relative "hot spots" of mercury contamination and to rank the various streams and rivers as to relative bioavailable mercury levels. Trout mercury was also investigated from a health perspective, to determine whether historic or current mining represented a human health concern. Thirty-five sites were sampled throughout the region during a two year period. A clear signature of mining-derived mercury was found, with notably elevated levels in the aquatic food webs of the upper forks of the Yuba River, the Middle Fork of the Feather River, the Bear River, and the North Fork of the Cosumnes River. Mercury was low throughout most of the American River watershed and in many tributaries away from the most intensively mined stretches of the various rivers. Areas appropriate for potential mitigation work are being further defined in ongoing work. Mercury concentrations in trout, while variable, were found to be uniformly below existing health standards, indicating the lack of direct health concerns within the region itself. Foothill reservoirs were found to operate as interceptors of mercury, with significantly lower levels found in biota below many reservoirs, as compared to upstream. Mercury concentrations in aquatic organisms increased in a predictable pattern with increasing trophic feeding level. Mercury in aquatic invertebrates can be used to determine relative mercury presence and bioavailability, to predict mercury levels in trout, and to integrate localized mercury conditions over the lifetime of the respective organisms. Because of the strong relationship with trophic feeding level, relative mercury concentrations may also be used to indicate the ecological feeding niche of individual organisms. KEYWORDS,' mercury, gold, mining, trout, invertebrates, uptake, food chain, contamination, streams, California


The thesis focuses on airborne contaminants in office buildings located in urban environments. The work is a contribution to a research field, the aim of which is to improve the basic knowledge needed for successful design and construction of buildings and HVAC systems, with regard to the indoor air quality. The aim of this particular study is to give information about some of the factors that can influence the indoor air quality. The report is principally based on the results presented in seven papers. The results were mainly obtained by field measurements of a variety of contaminants. The majority of the measured data were collected as time series with a time resolution of a few minutes. The impact on the indoor concentrations of contaminants originating outdoors were studied in particular. The contaminants studied are mainly: volatile organic compounds, particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. All of these contaminants may originate both from indoor and outdoor sources. The measurements have shown that the indoor concentrations of these contaminants may vary considerably with time. Rapid concentration changes are likely to occur in buildings located close to streets with heavy traffic, especially during the rush hours in the weekday mornings. The concentration of contaminants originating from indoor sources may also vary with time. For example, the total concentration of volatile organic compounds may be considerably higher when a building is occupied (daytime) than during periods of non- occupancy (night-time). The results indicate that neither of the three different source types: outdoor sources, intermittent indoor sources and constant indoor sources should be assumed to be negligible. Measurements aimed at characterizing the indoor air quality should be planned, taking possible concentration transients into consideration. Suggestions on the design and planning of contaminant concentration measurements are presented in this thesis. Numerical calculations valid under transient conditions are used in order to support the evaluation of the measurement results. It is demonstrated how a mass balance equation can be used to calculate the relationship between indoor and outdoor contaminant concentrations. Furthermore, by the use of the mass balance model, it is indicated that the indoor concentration of contaminants originating outdoors can be reduced considerably if the outdoor air flow rate is reduced temporarily during periods with high outdoor concentrations.


Experimental characterization of arch wires has been performed in many previous studies; however with the advent of new arch wire materials being introduced, some new experimental methods and characterization are required. Since literature is available for comparison, this paper examines mechanical and physical characteristics of steel arch wires to quantify their variability in engineering terms. Furthermore, the effect of wire size on properties was evaluated using two of the most common wire sizes. Finally, manufacturing consistency was verified by testing samples from different lots.


Past research has traditionally argued that management control systems (MCS) may present a hindrance to corporate flexibility and creativity. The study's overall research aim is to explore the contingency factors that influence the intensity of use of MCS in innovation companies. This thesis builds upon existing management control theory, mostly focused on R&D, product development and innovation settings, extended by field observations to identify factors that may influence the intensity of use of MCS categories in innovation companies. The objects of control paradigm, distinguishing between direct and indirect categories of control, is mobilized to test the consequent theoretical model of the impact of external, organisational and innovation related contingency factors on MCS.
The model predicts mixed influences on two direct control categories, results control and action control, but stresses the importance of two indirect categories, personnel control and cultural control. Empirical evidence was then collected from a cross-sectional survey of 578 German enterprises in innovation clusters.
Statistical analyses, applying partial least squares structural equation modeling using SmartPLS, identify several variables as influential factors for the use of MCS in innovation companies. The most important factors are environmental uncertainty and business strategy which were shown to have an impact on all of the control types. Additionally, decentralisation, ownership dispersion and firm size are responsible for a change in three of four MCS types. Other interesting findings are that an increase in innovation capability is not associated with a reduction in results and action control intensity, and is positively related to the application of personnel and cultural control. Furthermore, important sources of finance, venture capital and public funding, are both shown to be positively associated with the application of action control; whereas, contrary to expectation, venture capital is found to be negatively correlated with personnel control. Overall, the results indicate that direct control is as important as indirect control given specific contingency factors.
This study synthesises the fragmented literature of MCS contingency research in innovative settings by developing an original contingency model. The thesis adds value by inferring particular forms of management control which may be appropriate in innovative company settings. Thereby, the study contributes to both contingency research and to the knowledge and understanding of management control in innovative settings. It can assist managers by identifying MCS categories that are typically associated with particular influential factors. Further, the study is valuable from a methodological perspective by developing and testing novel constructs for three MCS categories. Beyond the relevance of the results to management control researchers, innovation company managers and policy makers, they also imply avenues for further related investigation.


INTRODUCTION
Peyronie's disease (PD) is a poorly understood clinical entity. Aim. We endeavored to determine how contemporary urologists in the United States manage PD.

METHODS
A randomly generated mailing list of 996 practicing urologists was generated from the American Urologic Association member directory. A specifically designed survey was mailed with a cover letter and a postage-paid return envelope.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Our survey assessed several practice-related factors and asked questions of how the subject would manage various presentations of PD in their practice. Four cases were presented: case 1, a healthy 55-year-old man with painless 30 degrees dorsal curvature of 16 months duration; case 2, a 60-year-old man with 35 degrees dorsal curvature, 4/10 pain on visual analog scale, of 6 months duration; case 3, a 62-year-old man with painless 60 degrees dorsal curvature and erectile dysfunction responsive to alprostadil suppository of 2 years duration; and case 4, a 50-year-old man with mid-shaft waist deformity, foreshortening, no pain/curvature/erectile dysfunction.

RESULTS
Responses were received from 236 (24%) practicing urologists. Vitamin E was the preferred initial management for 70% of respondents, with observation, Potaba (Glenwood, Englewood, New Jersey, USA), colchicine, verapamil injections, and verapamil gel favored by 32, 20, 12, 7, and 10% of respondents, respectively. Fifty-seven percent of respondents performed surgery for PD, with penile prostheses, Nesbit procedure, grafting, and plication used by 76, 66, 55, and 51% of respondents, respectively. Medical therapy and/or observation was the preferred management for all of the cases except case 3, for which penile prosthesis placement and referral were the favored options by 39 and 30% of urologists, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Medical therapy is the initial treatment for PD among American urologists. Penile prosthesis is the treatment of choice in impotent patients. Most American urologists conform to recommended practice patterns in the management of PD.


Summary The advancing digitalization of manufacturing ("smart factories") will create a high demand of sensor solutions. Besides environmental monitoring, position sensing will play a key role in future production processes. The magneto resistive (MR) sensor technology provides cost effective and precise solutions for a variety of applications. Especially in pneumatics, short stroke measurements or end point determination are well covered by MR sensor technology due to its very compact size at highly precise detection. Expanding the target applications to hydraulics, level measurement or potentiometer replacement, magneto resistive sensor arrays have the ability to be used in a wide range of applications. Looking to the automotive world, break-pedal sensors or the determination of the clutch position are good examples for the applicability of scalable MR sensor systems, where they are focused to be a potential replacement for the today widely used inductive based PLCD (permanent magnetic linear contactless displacement) technology. In summary, a basic demand from all of the mentioned applications is modularity and scalability to different sensing lengths, environmental specifics like ferromagnetic pistons and spreading accuracy demands. Here we present a magnetic sensor system solution that is easy scalable for the application.


To recognize whether there exist crack damages in the inner structure of aircraft engine based on the borescope images, a method is presented by estimating the coarse feature of edges extracted from borescope images. The method first decomposes an edge into the approximation and details using wavelet transform at all of the possible scales. For the coefficients of the wavelet transform, the logarithm entropy is presented to represent the respective strength of the approximation and details, and the ratio of the two logarithm entropies is defined as coarseness factor. The coarseness factor can be used to estimate the coarseness of an edge. The greater the coarseness factor is, the coarser the edge is. Experiment results show that using coarseness factor as recognition feature of borescope images, the crack damages of the inner structure of aircraft engine can be recognized successfully.


This chapter first examines the subject matter in which copyright subsists and the criteria for copyright protection as set out in the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988). This centres on the concept of the 'protected work' and makes use of a distinction between what are sometimes known as 'author works' (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and film works) and 'media works' (typographical arrangements, sound recordings, broadcasts, and adaptations). It then considers the identification of the first owner of copyright when it comes into existence. It discusses the concept of joint authorship and ownership of copyright works when created in the course of employment. The final section discusses the duration of copyright.


Until recently, water treatment plants were frequently designed solely on the basis of the biological, chemical and physical constraints of processes. Nowadays, the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software enables the dimensioning of water treatment processes by taking into account the real hydraulic behaviour of processes. That has be done for the Coliban Water Aqua 2000 project, which consists of the construction of three water treatment plants. The disinfection performance of three ozone contactors were compared using the CFD software, Fluent. Moreover, the CFD application has been extended to a large range of water treatment processes in recent years. The paper presents several of these: flocculation tanks, UV reactors and secondary settling tanks.


The paper aimed to evaluate the range of DNA harm and chromosomes in lymphocytes of blood of welding workers in Al-Anbar (Iraq) throughout distinguish the attendance of DNA harm and Chromosomes aberration in lymphocytes of blood of the welding workers and the groups of control . Welding workers (n=50) was sampled by indiscriminate sampling from 2 main sites in Al-Anbar: Falluja area. The group control (n=22) was randomly a selection of the residents with no relation and history of revelation to the C fumes. The steps of this research are divided into four parts, part one is choosing a test subject, the group control, and related information of biographical. Part two is Questionnaire will supply information on age, health history, and work conditions. Part three is Lab analysis that shows DNA damage and Chromosomes aberration detection by Alkaline Comet Assay (ACA). Finally, Statistical software: SPSS v11 for data analysis. Based data of the study, it concluded that Falluja welding workers in urban areas has a certain amount of DNA harm and chromosomes aberration level. Age and exposure years have adopted the welding workers exposed to the extent of the damage.


In this paper we address the problem of localization and recognition of human activities in unsegmented image sequences. The main contribution of the proposed method is the use of an implicit representation of the spatiotemporal shape of the activity which relies on the spatiotemporal localization of characteristic ensembles of feature descriptors. Evidence for the spatiotemporal localization of the activity is accumulated in a probabilistic spatiotemporal voting scheme. The local nature of the proposed voting framework allows us to deal with multiple activities taking place in the same scene, as well as with activities in the presence of clutter and occlusion. We use boosting in order to select characteristic ensembles per class. This leads to a set of class specific codebooks where each codeword is an ensemble of features. During training, we store the spatial positions of the codeword ensembles with respect to a set of reference points, as well as their temporal positions with respect to the start and end of the action instance. During testing, each activated codeword ensemble casts votes concerning the spatiotemporal position and extend of the action, using the information that was stored during training. Mean Shift mode estimation in the voting space provides the most probable hypotheses concerning the localization of the subjects at each frame, as well as the extend of the activities depicted in the image sequences. We present classification and localization results for a number of publicly available datasets, and for a number of sequences where there is a significant amount of clutter and occlusion.


The energy efficiency of buildings is today mostly improved by upgrading the energy performance of the building envelope and facilities. However, huge energy reductions can also be achieved by a focus on the novel systems enabling to cover natural energy fall-outs resulting from generation much excess heat during the peak time (summer, day) which is currently almost not possible to use during periods of excessive energy consumption (winter, night). This main drawback of the solar energy can be very efficiently solved by storing and later evolving of accumulated heat from solar gains according to the day-night as well as the seasonal, i.e. summer-winter cycle. A novel solution described in this contribution is an opportunity to reduce significantly the energy demands for heating/cooling and heating of Domestic Hot Water (DHW). The costs for construction and operation of future buildings are considerable reduced if the heat comfort is maintained by aluminium foam heating/cooling ceiling heat exchangers that allow storage of the heat in the form of latent heat of phase transition of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) impregnated in the porous structure of aluminium foam for later use or, for removal of undesirable heat to the building surroundings during comparatively colder summer nights. Copyright © 2019 VBRI Press.


The location Veseloe of carbonatite-bearing area of Northern Transbaikalia is located in a frame of Early Precambrian crystal base in limits of Vendian-Archean rift zone. It is represented by beforsite dykes. Carbonitites are massive fine-grained rocks, consisting by 70-80 % of ferruterous dolomite and 10-20% of apatite. Magnesioriebeckite, richterite, calcite, magnetite, rutile, zircon, fluorophlogopite are typical minor minerals. The contents of strontium, titanium, zirconium, nickel, chromium, fluorine and especially phosphorus are higher in carbonatite in comparison with average dolomite carbonatite. Two groups of magnetites and rutiles in carbonatites are present. The first group (essentially carbonatite) composes dispersed dissemination and line segregation of magnetite and rutile, focused according to layering of rocks. Magnetite in this paragenesis is presented by several diversity generation. Earliest magnetites are represented by two types (М1 and М2). Both types are founded the inclusions in the grains of late nontitaniferous magnetite. М1 contains lenticular and myrmekitic inclusions of rutile. М1 is characterized by the contents TiO2 up to 1,5 wt. % and V2O3 up to 0.5 wt. %. Rutile, presenting in magnetite M1, contains 1.2 wt. % V2O3. In second type М2 rutile segregation have lamellar form. The structure М2 differs by the highest concentration TiO2 (8-9 wt. %) and V2O3 (1.6 wt. %). Rutile contains 1 wt. % V2O3 in magnetite M2. The second group of magnetite and rutile was detected in the form of resorbed xenogeneic inclusions at carbonatites. They are represent aggregates of intergrowth Cr-bearing magnetite, chromite, rutile, ilmenite and titanite. Two types of magnetite are established here. The first type composes crystalline grains, surrounded by Cr-bearing rutile (0.95-2.30 wt.% Nb2O5). Magnetite characterized by high contents of Cr (13-18 wt. % Cr2O3). Relics of high-chromous (up to 50 wt.% Cr2O3) chromite at a inner core of grains are present. Cr content decreases till 5-13 wt. % in marginal parts of grains magnetite. The second type is myrmekitic aggregates intergrowth magnetite and rutile.


Comparative research into animal communication has been and continues to be highly informative regarding the general principles underlying the evolution of communication (including human communication). However, our tendency to focus on specific modes of production of these signals (i.e. facial expressions, gestures or vocalisations) in isolation of each other, and in a limited number of species, may be obstructing our progress. Therefore, in this thesis, I adopted a novel and more comprehensive approach to a highly understudied primate, the crested macaques (Macaca nigra).

First, I consider the effects of the strength of social bonds and dominance relationships between individuals (and, when possible, their kin relationships) when investigating the function of communicative signals. The findings show that communication can be flexible depending on social factors, possibly reflecting functional relevance to the context. Social bonds in particular, influenced communication between individuals facing immediate socio-ecological challenges (finding food and deterring predators).

Second, I address the significance of multimodal communication in this species. I test the influence of the composition of communicative signals on the outcome of social interactions. The results show that subtle changes in the composition of communicative signals (multicomponent and multimodal) can have a profound effect on the outcome of social interactions.

The findings resulting from this work constitute one of the first quantitative accounts of the communication system of crested macaques, thereby adding to the pool of data available to study communication from a comparative perspective. The comprehensive approach adopted in this thesis provides much needed insight into the importance of considering communication as multimodal and highly intertwined with species' social style. Such an approach seems highly productive and provides insight into aspects of social and communicative complexity that have been overlooked so far.


Objective: To compare the strength of the relation of two measurements of IQ and 11 established risk factors with total and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Methods: Cohort study of 4166 US male former army personnel with data on IQ test scores (in early adulthood and middle age), a range of established risk factors and 15-year mortality surveillance. Results: When CVD mortality (n = 61) was the outcome of interest, the relative index of inequality (RII: hazard ratio; 95% CI) for the most disadvantaged relative to the advantaged (in descending order of magnitude of the first six based on age-adjusted analyses) was: 6.58 (2.54 to 17.1) for family income; 5.55 (2.16 to 14.2) for total cholesterol; 5.12 (2.01 to 13.0) for body mass index; 4.70 (1.89 to 11.7) for IQ in middle age; 4.29 (1.70 to 10.8) for blood glucose and 4.08 (1.63 to 10.2) for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the RII for IQ in early adulthood was ranked tenth: 2.88; 1.19 to 6.97). In analyses featuring all deaths (n = 233), the RII for risk factors most strongly related to this outcome was 7.46 (4.54 to 12.3) for family income; 4.41 (2.77 to 7.03) for IQ in middle age; 4.02 (2.37 to 6.83) for smoking; 3.81 (2.35 to 6.17) for educational attainment; 3.40 (2.14 to 5.41) for pulse rate and 3.26 (2.06 to 5.15) for IQ in early adulthood. Multivariable adjustment led to marked attenuation of these relations, particularly those for IQ. Conclusions: Lower scores on measures of IQ at two time points were associated with CVD and, particularly, total mortality, at a level of magnitude greater than several other established risk factors.


We demonstrate in our experiment that an exogenous shock does not lead to increasing risk aversion, and has ultimately no significant impact on investors' risk preference in general. To do so, we keep subjects' risk and return expectations fixed and focus solely on loss in wealth. As a theoretical framework, we use the expected utility approach and take the class of HARA-utility functions to analyse subjects' preferences. Particularly, our methodical approach affords insights into the impact of economic fluctuations on investors' risk-taking and the measurement of risk preferences per se. We conclude that cautious investment behavior after an economic crisis might rather be due to changes in the perception of risk and return. Moreover, we give evidence that, in general, it is not sufficient to explain investors' risk-taking solely by preferences.


We consider a particular form of the classical approximate joint diagonalization (AJD) problem, which we call a "sequentially drilled" joint congruence (SeDJoCo) transformation. The problem consists of a set of symmetric real-valued (or Hermitian-symmetric complex-valued) target-matrices. The number of matrices in the set equals their dimension, and the joint diagonality criterion requires that in each transformed ("diagonalized") target-matrix, all off-diagonal elements on one specific row and column (corresponding to the matrix-index in the set) be exactly zeros, yet does not care about the other (diagonal or off-diagonal) elements. The motivation for this form arises in (at least) two different contexts: maximum likelihood blind (or semiblind) source separation and coordinated beamforming for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast channels. We prove that SeDJoCo always has a solution when the target-matrices are positive-definite . We also propose two possible iterative solution algorithms, based on defining and optimizing two different criteria functions, using Newton's method for the first function and successive Jacobi-like transformations for the second. The algorithms' convergence behavior and the attainable performance in the two contexts above are demonstrated in simulation experiments.


India has set an ambitious target of achieving a US$5 trillion economy by 2025. However, a steady increase, perhaps even more rapid in recent years, in women's participation in unpaid domestic work poses a grave threat to India's economic development. Significantly, the extent of women's participation in unpaid domestic work ballooned in India, recording a quantum leap from 200 million in 2004–05 to 287 million in 2017–18. The main aim of this paper is to examine the role of socio-economic factors in explaining the willingness of unpaid women to undertake work in the labour market, using data from unit-level records of employment and unemployment and labour force surveys. This study shows that, despite engaging in routine household chores, about one-third of unpaid women are willing to take up work in the labour market. Moreover, the majority of women engaged in unpaid domestic work in India have no choice but to do this work due to the socio-economic constraints. From a policy perspective, governments should encourage unpaid women who are willing to participate in the labour market to do so, by reinforcing gender-focused measures such as provision of basic facilities, public childcare, easy access to credit facilities for entrepreneurial activities, and invigorating technical education and vocational training.


Collaborative bibliographic network among libraries has long gained its popularity not only due to the sheer cost of integrated library systems (ILS) but also the many benefits gained from being a member of library network or consortium. The emerging trend of the use of open source ILS in consortia has already marked successful results including among school libraries. Among the prominent ones is the development of virtual union catalog which not only promotes resource sharing, but also has great potentials in making school resource centres (SRC) online catalogues as a tool for information resource discovery. The paper will specifically explore the feasibility of building such network within school resource centers in Malaysia. The awareness, benefits and issues like interoperability will also be discussed. This paper will discover the potential of setting up a collaborative bibliographic network among SRC in Malaysia by deploying open source ILS. A general framework in setting up SRC bibliographic network in Malaysia will be proposed with focus on the creation of compatible library catalog that could support the distributed environment and Z39.50 protocol. Popular ILS such as Koha, OPALS, and Evergreen will be presented and their applications in library network will be appraised in light of Malaysian SRC environment. Finally, the paper will propose potential research areas that would position and enhance the role of school resource centres in producing life-long learners and bridging the digital divide through the deployment of open source ILS in Malaysian SRC.


Abstract: This article provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the notion of overuse in natural areas. Based on the case of the French Calanques massif (located along the Mediterranean coast between Marseilles and Cassis), sociology and biology combine their analyses to examine the social processes behind the increasingly widespread use of natural areas and the ecological consequences thereof. The data are comprised of interdisciplinary research based on eighty semi-structured interviews conducted on-site and 330 telephone survey questionnaires. We critically analyse of the notion of overuse and underscore the socio-economic, cultural and ideological weight it carries in the context of socio-natural change; this calls into question the relevance of the ancient nature/culture dichotomy. Drawing on theoretical tools from environmental sociology, this article also provides some perspectives for natural area managers.


Identification of novel insecticidal targets for the development of more effective insecticides is critical, discovery of new resistance mechanisms, computational analysis of biochemical pathways with various genomic data is essential for novel discoveries in proffering solution to the challenge of malaria vector eradication efforts world research community.   Dissection and comprehensive study of biochemical metabolic networks has great potential to effectively and specifically identify essential enzymes as potential insecticidal targets. Using the PathoLogic program, we have constructed AnoCyc, version 1.1, a pathway/genome database (PGDB) for A. gambiae AgamP3, using its annotated genomic sequence and other annotated information from Vector base, UNIPROT and KEGG databases. AnoCyc for AgamP3, the first PGDB for A gambiae has been deployed to BioCyc Database collection, which has a total size of about 273,093,681pb with 1237 compounds, 3684 Go terms, 255 pathways, 2380 enzymes without any protein complex, 1758 enzymatic reactions, 42 super pathways and several other components and their corresponding information.


Although Walter Benjamin anticipated a confrontation with Martin Heidegger regarding the theory of historical knowledge, this confrontation was never fully elaborated. This essay contributes to filling out this lacuna by arguing that Benjamin's concept of the dialectical image was conceived as a phenomenological corrective to Heidegger's historicity. To clarify the phenomenological sources of Benjamin's conception of the image, it reads the traces of Benjamin's engagement with the early phenomenologist Jean Héring in the first sentences of entry "N3,1" in Das Passagen-Werk, where Benjamin presents his notion of the image in explicit opposition to Heidegger. The essay argues that Benjamin relied on Héring's notion of phenomenological essences as indexically individuated to conceptualize the historical index of the image and to provide a better (i.e., more concrete) way of "saving history for phenomenology" than Heidegger's historicity. By tracking Benjamin's debts and departures from Héring, this essay prepares the ground for a reconstruction of Benjamin's confrontation with Heidegger and argues for the relevance of Benjamin's conception of history for contemporary critiques of historicism.


AIM
To determine if topical instillation of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) inhibits corneal neovascularization (NV) in rats and to investigate the role of the extracellular regulated kinases (ERK) 1/2 and p38 pathways in this process.

METHODS
Suture-induced corneal NV was produced in rats and the eyes were topically treated with different concentrations of DHA (20mg/L, 10mg/L or 5mg/L) or normal saline 4 times a day for 7 days. The corneal NV was quantified as the proportion of NV area to the whole cornea. Western blot was used to determine the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the phosphorylation status of VEGF receptor-2, ERK1/2 and p38 in the corneas. Immunofluorescent staining was used to determine the expressions of phospho-ERK1/2 and phospho-p38 in the corneal tissues from the eyes treated with 20 mg/L DHA (DHA group) or normal saline (control group).

RESULTS
The proportion of corneal NV area in the eyes treated with normal saline or DHA at dosages of 20mg/L, 10mg/L or 5mg/L was (23.74±3.00)%, (15.73±2.88)%, (19.53±2.42)%, and (23.38±2.79)%, respectively. In the eyes treated with 20mg/L or 10mg/L DHA, the corneal NV area was significantly reduced when compared to that in eyes with normal saline (P<0.05). Western blot analyses revealed that 20mg/L DHA significantly inhibited the expressions of VEGF and phospho-VEGFR-2. Both 20mg/L and 10mg/L DHA inhibited the expressions of phospho-ERK1/2 and phospho-p38. Immunofluorescent staining further demonstrated that 20mg/L DHA lowered the expression levels of phospho-ERK1/2 and phospho-p38 in the corneas with suture-induced NV.

CONCLUSION
Suture-induced NV in rat corneas was significantly inhibited by topical treatment with 20mg/L and 10mg/L DHA. The results suggest that the effects could be partially dependent on the DHA-mediated inhibitions of the ERK1/2 and p38 pathways.


Abstract Multirobot coordination, if made efficient and robust, promises high impact on automation. Thechallenge is to enable robots to work together in an intelligent manner to execute a global task. The marketapproach has had considerable success in the multirobot coordination domain. However the implementationof this approach to date restricts the negotiations to two-party, single-task deals which often forces the taskallocation solution into a local minimum. This report investigates the effects of introducing multi-party andmulti-task negotiations to enhance the market-based approach to multirobot coordination. Multi-partynegotiations are enabled by implementing a combinatorial exchange mechanism, while multi-tasknegotiations are accomplished via clustering of tasks in cost space. Presented results show that global costscan be considerably reduced (on average to within 10% of the optimal solution for the tested scenarios),and hence task allocation can be considerably improved, by enhancing the negotiation capabilities of therobots.This report also investigates the effects of introducing opportunistic optimization with leaders to enhancemarket-based multirobot coordination. Leaders are able to optimize within subgroups of robots bycollecting information about their tasks and status, and re-allocating the tasks within the subgroup in a moreprofitable manner. The presented work also considers the effects of introducing pockets of centralizedoptimization into an otherwise distributed system. The implementations were tested on a variation of thetraveling salesman problem. Presented results show that global costs can be reduced, and hence, taskallocation can be improved, utilizing leaders. Note the presented work only addresses scenarios whereleaders run exchanges to optimize task allocation within a group of robots. Some leaders are also capableof clustering tasks and hence can conduct combinatorial exchanges. But these are not the only opportunitiesfor leaders to optimize within the market. It is also possible to have combinatorial exchanges and leadersas distinct entities within the economy. Leaders could also use other approaches to generate plans for asubgroup of robots. Finally, a leader could simply act as a means of enabling trade between subgroups ofrobots who are otherwise unable to communicate, thus enriching the set of possible trades. Thus, leaderscan enhance the market-based approach by several means including optimizing task-allocation, generatingplans, optimizing plans, and enabling better trade opportunities between groups of traders.


Leading an enterprise requires, obviously, decision making.
However, these decisions require explanations in order to make it possible for stakeholders to get an understanding about the enterprise's strategic direction. This is even more important when these stakeholders are in charge to transpose such strategic decision into their tactical or operational work. Enterprise modelling may be capable of depicting strategies per se, but it is rather a vessel of communication than of explanation. Whilst, a strategy may be accordingly modelled, those who receive such a model needs to purposeful interpret and successfully implement it.
However, without any insights, justifications or references that go beyond the claim of a model, it is difficult to embrace the theory of the actual modeller. Therefore, in this paper argumentative modelling will be specifically applied to the domain of strategic management. Moreover
it will be elucidated how modelled strategic arguments can be used as a basis for enterprise architecture alignment and management. As it will be shown in the paper, the application of argumentative modelling overcomes
classical restrictions and makes it possible to support a discourse, which can be later on used as an explanation for the intentions of the modeller.


Racially biased outcomes have increasingly been recognized as a problem that can infect software algorithms and datasets of all types. Digital platforms, in particular, are organizing ever greater portions of social, political, and economic life. This essay examines and organizes current academic and popular press discussions on how digital tools, despite appearing to be objective and unbiased, may, in fact, only reproduce or, perhaps, even reinforce current racial inequities. However, digital tools may also be powerful instruments of objectivity and standardization. Based on a review of the literature, we have modified and extended a "value chain–like" model introduced by Danks and London (2017), depicting the potential location of ethnic bias in algorithmic decision-making. The model has five phases: input, algorithmic operations, output, users, and feedback. With this model, we identified nine unique types of bias that might occur within these five phases in an algorithmic model: (1) training data bias, (2) algorithmic focus bias, (3) algorithmic processing bias, (4) transfer context bias, (5) misinterpretation bias, (6) automation bias, (7) non-transparency bias, (8) consumer bias, and (9) feedback loop bias. In our discussion, we note some potential benefits from the movement of decisions online, as they are then traceable and amenable to analysis. New social challenges arise as algorithms, and digital platforms that depend on them organize increasingly large portions of social, political, and economic life. Formal regulations, public awareness, and additional academic research are crucial, as algorithms will make or frame decisions, often without awareness by either the creators of the algorithms or those affected by them of biases that might affect those decisions.


This paper estimates the on farm economic impact of integrated pest management (I PM), as practised on Victorian processing tomato crops. It was found that for the 1993/94 season, growers using IPM were on average, $97/ha better off than growers using conventional crop protection methods. This benefit was gained through a reduction in the costs associated with pesticide use.


Employment, Education and Training Minister John Dawkins is driven by economic objectives which are exter nal to the education sector, primarily the production of "a more highly educated, competent and flexible workforce". The assumption is that, as the OECD puts it, "human capital has become even more important in recent years", meaning that improving the quality of labour rather than, say, capital investment, long term planning, or product development is seen as the key to export growth and international competitiveness. Hence the importance of education. It's assumed that a more educated labour force would be a more productive labour force. The government is trying to create a more productive labour force in two, sometimes contradictory, ways. First, it wants a general lift in skills, assuming that a more educated labour force will be more 'flexible' and more 'responsive' particularly in relation to technological change. Hence the idea of multiskilling, to create workers who can take different roles in production, and more easily adapt to changes in the process of production. The government's thinking here is conditioned by neoclassical economic theory which draws on studies of the behaviour of farmers to indicate that educated people adapt faster to new technologies. But the government also wants to create new high-skill export industries, to better integrate science and the work process in order to facilitate a shift from primary industry to sophisticated manufacturing and services. This is where the 'sunrise industry7 rhetoric comes in. So where does award restructuring fit in? It is essential to the strategy. It aims to construct a grid linking education and training, work classification, rates of pay and produc tivity, and incorporate individual incentives for improve ments in education and training. The changes to industrial awards are designed to rear range work functions (classifications) in a hierarchy of skills. The higher the education, the higher the classifica tion and the higher the level of pay. Workers covered by awards are thus being offered identifiable career paths (many for the first time), provided that opportunities exist for training and retraining in order to increase the level of skills and move up the hierarchy and provided that the


Although the voir dire of jurors is one of the most significant mechanisms by which an impartial jury is secured, as a practical matter the right to examine prospective jurors is not unlimited. Vested with great discretion, a trial judge may at some point constitutionally preclude inquiry into possible prejudice, but determining that point has not proved to be easy. In 1976, the Supreme Court in Ristaino v. Ross directly considered the constitutional limits to voir dire and provided a test which could serve as a guide to trial court administration of the process. The Court suggested that questioning about prejudice must be allowed only in situations where there is some "nexus" between the prejudice feared and the issues likely to arise at trial. In reaching this conclusion the Supreme Court made significant departures from prior analyses of voir dire. Not only did the Court establish an extremely narrow constitutional right to inquire into prejudice, but by focusing on the issues at trial, rather than the prejudice of the venire-people, it demonstrated an extraordinary tolerance with prejudice among the jurors who decide a case.Determination of the constitutional limits to voir dire and the right to an impartial jury involves a complex amalgam of competing interests, but at bedrock rest certain assumptions about the nature and operation of human prejudice. In Ross, those interests and assumptions led to several basic conclusions. First, the racial identity of the parties will not be sufficient, in and of itself, to require that questioning into the racial prejudice of venire-people be allowed. Second, the focus for the trial court in determining whether inquiry must be allowed will be on the nature of the trial and the issues presented and not on the individuals who may act as jurors. Finally, the Court expressed concern with factors that will intensify any prejudice held by jurors and increase the likelihood that their function as fact finders will not be adequately performed.


A series of tests measuring HF signal attenuation were performed on a de-energized 15 kV three-phase power distribution feeder. The feeder consisted of a U-shaped line measuring approximately 208 m in length with varying line geometry around the circuit. RF signals in the range of 2 to 30 MHz were injected in one phase of the feeder and the propagated responses were measured at two locations along the feeder. Tests were conducted with and without shunt power equipment (distribution transformers, arresters and capacitors) connected to the feeder. The characteristic line impedance of different line geometries was calculated by analytical means and found to be consistent with experimental results. Attenuation and characteristic impedance were found to be relatively constant at frequencies between 15 and 30 MHz with minimal influence from line geometry and power equipment placement.


We contend that consumption of a given status conveying good frequently follows a Kuznets-like curve. Concretely, the consumption of a given status marker first increases with the level of income per capita, reaches a maximum and then decreases at higher levels of income. Moreover, globalization has led to a greater homogenization of status markers across societies. Given severe budget constraints in developing countries and lax enforcement of intellectual property rights, we contend that people are more likely to use deceptive status signaling strategies with a strong desire to keep up with the "Joneses" located in developed countries. We investigate empirically what strategies are used in Tunisia and France to satisfy some status needs. Using survey data in Tunisia and France, we show that Tunisian students are more likely to adopt deceptive status signals by consuming fakes compared to French students. We also identify in each context the determinants of purchase intention of genuine status conferring goods. We emphasize some policy implications.


The Prp19-associated complex is required for spliceosome activation by stabilizing the binding of U5 and U6 on the spliceosome after the release of U4. The complex comprises at least eight proteins, among which Ntc90 and Ntc77 contain multiple tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) elements. We have previously shown that Ntc90 is not involved in spliceosome activation, but is required for the recruitment of essential first-step factor Yju2 to the spliceosome. We demonstrate here that Ntc77 has dual functions in both spliceosome activation and the first catalytic step in recruiting Yju2. We have identified an amino-terminal region of Ntc77, which encompasses the N-terminal domain and the first three TPR motifs, dispensable for spliceosome activation but required for stable interaction of Yju2 with the spliceosome. Deletion of this region had no severe effect on the integrity of the NTC, binding of NTC to the spliceosome or spliceosome activation, but impaired splicing and exhibited a dominant-negative growth phenotype. Our data reveal functional roles of Ntc77 in both spliceosome activation and the first catalytic step, and distinct structural domains of Ntc77 required for these two steps.


A sustainable solution should holistically optimize all objectives related to the environment and a product's cost and performance. As such, it should explicitly address material selection, which significantly affects environmental impacts and other objectives of a product design. While Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides credible methods to account for environmental impacts, current methods are not efficient enough for use at the early design stages to prune the entire design space without requiring execution of costly LCA analysis for each design scenario. Alternatively, surrogate modeling approaches can facilitate efficient concept selection during early design stages. However, material properties consist of discrete data sets, thus posing a significant challenge in the construction of surrogate models for numerical optimization.In this work, we address the unique challenges of material selection in sustainable product design in some important ways. Salient features of the robust surrogate modeling approach include achieving manageable dimensionality of LCA with a minimal loss of the important information by the consolidation of significant factors into categorized groups, as well as subsequent efficiency enhancement by a streamlined process that avoids the construction of full LCA. This novel approach combines efficiency of use with a mathematically rigorous representation of any pertinent objectives across an entire design space. To this end, we introduce an adapted two stage sampling approach in surrogate model construction based on a feasible approximation of a Latin Hypercube design at the first stage. The development and implementation of the method are illustrated with the aid of an automotive disc brake design, and the results are discussed in the context of robust optimal material selection in early sustainable product design.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Introduction: Treatment adherence and illness may not be related only by the severity of the illness but by so many other factors which impact on seeking and continuing treatment; yet severity of the illness will be one of the major factors influencing treatment adherence. Methods: Female patients attending the psychiatric OPD, diagnosed with depression as per ICD-10 guidelines and provided informed consent participated in this questionnaire-based study. A total of 135 patients who attended the OPD in 9 months were assessed for the severity of depression and medication adherence by administering scales to assess the severity of depression and medication adherence was assessed by questioning about the drug taking and hospital attending behaviour. Out of this, thirty-one were attending for the first episode and hence were excluded from the analysis. Results: Out of the 104 female patients diagnosed with depression of more than one episode, 44 (42.3%) had mild depression, 52 (50%) had moderate depression and 8 (7.7%) had severe depression. Twenty-nine women (27.9%) were on medications and 75 (72.1%) women were not taking their medications. While greater proportion of women with mild depression were adherent to medication (51.7%), more women with moderate depression didn't adhere to medication (54.7%), even though such difference was statistically not significant. Older age, having a paid work and married status were significantly associated with medication (antidepressants) adherence. Conclusions: Our results indicate that medication adherence is associated with factors other than severity of depression. Work and marital status played a significant role in determining the adherence to antidepressant medications among women.


An argument is given to associate integrable nonintegrable transition of discrete maps with the transition of Lawvere's fixed point theorem to its own contrapositive. We show that the classical description of nonlinear maps is neither complete nor totally predictable.


Each of the three basic approaches to the extraterritorial reach of statutes is based on a different conflicts theory. The territorial approach of American Banana is based on the "vested rights" theory of Joseph Beale and the first Restatement of Conflicts; Alcoa's effects approach is based on Learned Hand's "local law" theory and the conflicts decisions of Justice Harlan Fiske Stone; and Timberlane's balancing approach is based on the "most significant relationship" test of the Restatement (Second) of Conflicts. This Article argues that courts should adopt a unilateral rather than a multilateral conflict-of-laws approach to regulatory statutes like the Sherman Act. "Unilateral" and "multilateral" are terms of art in conflicts theory. Unilateral conflicts theories focus simply on whether the forum's law applies to the activity in question, without worrying that another forum might also apply its law. Multilateral conflicts theories, on the other hand, try to resolve conflicts of jurisdiction so that each activity is assigned exclusively to the legislative jurisdiction of one state. Thus, I argue that a court should apply a statute extraterritorially whenever doing so appears to advance the purposes of the statute and should not worry about resolving conflicts of jurisdiction with other nations. In support, I advance two process-based arguments that the international system would work best if every nation's courts were to adopt a unilateral approach to extraterritoriality. First, in the short run, judicial unilateralism corrects for failures in the legislative process that lead to underregulation in areas like antitrust. Second, judicial unilateralism helps promote international negotiations in the long run. The antitrust experience shows that concurrent jurisdiction leading to a moderate amount of "conflict" actually promotes long-run international cooperation by providing stronger incentives to negotiate. In short, judicial unilateralism is the best way to political multilateralism.


Plate girders structures is a major industry, much used in the systems covered by these beams, reduce deflection and decrease the maximum bending moment can be considered as a development methodology that way, by the cross beams or braced beams element perpendicular to the girders is provided. In this paper, the effect of stiffness and distance elements development (braced beams) are studied. Differential equation of degree four governing the behavior of the partial structures a quadratic relationship is determined by solving the following mathematical transformations and the fundamental equations are derived. The resulting equations are solved by a practical problem and the answer to the problem. The modeling results are compared with the SAP2000 program shows that highly accurate implementation and compliance. It is thus stiffness changing elements within the cross can be different amounts of stress, bending moment and improved cover and roof system and regulation forces to be calculated. In the proposed method by changing several parameters affecting. Calculate the amount of stress and reduced bending moments and an optional stress adjustment achieved. Other factors, including the backing, boundary conditions, a subsidiary of loading and shooting the junction depth of the main beam are effective in regulating stress.