Abstract. A wide variety of interactions take place between the magnetized solar wind plasma outflow from the Sun and celestial bodies within the solar system. Magnetized planets form magnetospheres in the solar wind, with the planetary field creating an obstacle in the flow. The reconnection efficiency of the solar-wind-magnetized planet interaction depends on the conditions in the magnetized plasma flow passing the planet. When the reconnection efficiency is very low, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) does not penetrate the magnetosphere, a condition that has been widely discussed in the recent literature for the case of Saturn. In the present paper, we study this issue for Saturn using Cassini magnetometer data, images of Saturn's ultraviolet aurora obtained by the HST, and the paraboloid model of Saturn's magnetospheric magnetic field. Two models are considered: first, an open model in which the IMF penetrates the magnetosphere, and second, a partially closed model in which field lines from the ionosphere go to the distant tail and interact with the solar wind at its end. We conclude that the open model is preferable, which is more obvious for southward IMF. For northward IMF, the model calculations do not allow us to reach definite conclusions. However, analysis of the observations available in the literature provides evidence in favor of the open model in this case too. The difference in magnetospheric structure for these two IMF orientations is due to the fact that the reconnection topology and location depend on the relative orientation of the IMF vector and the planetary dipole magnetic moment. When these vectors are parallel, two-dimensional reconnection occurs at the low-latitude neutral line. When they are antiparallel, three-dimensional reconnection takes place in the cusp regions. Different magnetospheric topologies determine different mapping of the open-closed boundary in the ionosphere, which can be considered as a proxy for the poleward edge of the auroral oval.


A new coagulase-positive species of the genus Staphylococcus, Staphylococcus delphini, is described on the basis of a study of two strains isolated from purulent skin lesions of dolphins. The new species is established and differentiated from the other coagulase-positive Staphylococcus species primarily on the basis of its deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization relationships, its cell wall composition, its bacteriolytic activity pattern, its penicillin-binding protein profile, its biochemical reactions, and the relatively high guanine-plus-cytosine content of its deoxyribonucleic acid. The type strain is strain Heidy (= DSM 20771).


The maturity reached in the development of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) systems is making them more and more attractive for a vast number of civil missions. Clearly, the introduction of UAVs in the civil airspace requiring practical and effective regulation is one of the most critical issues being currently discussed. As several civil air authorities report in their regulations "Sense and Avoid" or "Detect and Avoid" capabilities are critical to the successful integration of UAV into the civil airspace. One possible approach to achieve this capability, specifically for operations beyond the Line-of-Sight, would be to equip air vehicles with a vision-based system using cameras to monitor the surrounding air space and to classify other air vehicles flying in close proximity. This paper presents an imagebased application for the supervised classification of air vehicles. First, several vehicle images, taken from different points of view, are transformed using a descriptor of salient features as to build the five-class database used to train the classification algorithm. Then, the latter compares the descriptor of a vehicle image taken from a random point of view to records in the database. With a positive match, the vehicle will be assigned to one of the following classes: a) civil transport aircrafts, b) military aircrafts, c) general aviation aircrafts, d) helicopters, and e) airships/hot air balloons. The paper provides a possible layout for the algorithm implementation and presents the outcome of several tests performed to evaluate its efficiency and possible exploitation. Indications useful to further studies are presented to help future researches.


ABSTRACT Objectives: Examine racial differences in disordered eating and parental feeding in youth with obesity. Methods: A diverse sample of 131 treatment-seeking youth (Mage = 12.84 years; Rangeage = 8-18 years; 65.6% African American, 34.4% Caucasian) with obesity (MBMIz = 2.60) completed a disordered eating questionnaire; parents completed a questionnaire about feeding practices. Results: No significant differences in disordered eating between African American and Caucasian youth emerged. Significant differences were found on parent feeding where parents of African American children endorsed more frequent use of pressure to eat, including ensuring and monitoring enough is eaten. Conclusions: Generally, comparisons of disordered eating and parent feeding practices between African American and Caucasian youth with obesity were not significant. Racial differences on some aspects of parental feeding practices were found. Future research should identify cultural factors impacting these differences. Clinical implications include providing culturally sensitive psychoeducation and interventions to address unhealthy feeding practices in diverse families.


The great diversity of presentations in software applications deals with fulfillment of various type of graphic interface constructions related to different programming languages. Moreover, in the Internet era html pages play a main role because of the increasing complexity of Web applications. In Software Engineering, the use of design patterns is proven remarkable for the design and reuse of software components. Visual design patterns (ViDP) are useful to define interaction schemas between user and computer. By the some token, visual design patterns are useful to incorporate common interfaces of interaction schemas between user and computer. This paper describes the extensible presentation language (XPL), a presentation language based on visual pattern. XPL framework implementation will be discussed in details and a case study showing the benefits of employing XPL will be presented.


The relaxation of a single DNA molecule is studied. The experimental system consists of optical tweezers and a micron-sized bead that is tethered to the bottom of the sample by a single double-stranded DNA molecule. The bead slows down the DNA relaxation from a strongly stretched configuration such that it is passing through stretched equilibrium states. This allows for a theoretical description of the relaxation trajectory, which is in good agreement with experiment.


Estimating the shape and appearance of a three dimensional object from flat images is a challenging research topic that is still actively pursued. Among the various techniques available, Photometric Stereo is known to provide very accurate local shape recovery, in terms of surface normals. In this work, we propose to minimise non-convex variational models for Photometric Stereo that recover the depth information directly. We suggest an approach based on a novel optimisation scheme for non-convex cost functions. Experiments show that our strategy achieves more accurate results than competing approaches.


This study aims to analyse the effect of previous foreign language (FL) contact on the acquisition of receptive and productive vocabulary by senior learners in the early stages of English acquisition. Additionally, we also explore the relationship between receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary as well as the link between lexical competence and reading comprehension. Results confirm that false beginners consistently outperform true beginners, supporting previous research findings (Fukai, 2000; Watt, 1997). Receptive and productive vocabulary were found to be positively correlated, which indicates a direct relationship between the passive and the active knowledge of FL vocabulary. In agreement with previous research (Agustin Llach and Terrazas Gallego, 2009; Laufer, 1992; Quian, 2002), we found a positive correlation between senior learners� lexical competence and their reading comprehension.


The effect of daily rather than weekly iron supplementation was compared in women who were 8-24 wk pregnant. One group (n = 68) received 60 mg Fe/d, the second group (n = 71) received 120 mg Fe/wk, given at once. Supplementation lasted 11.3 wk on average, depending on gestational date at entry, and was not supervised. Hemoglobin increased in both groups (P < 0.001); serum ferritin did not change significantly. There was no significant difference between groups for changes in hemoglobin and serum ferritin. In a subgroup of women with a hemoglobin concentration < 110 g/L at baseline (n = 45 daily; n = 54 weekly) no significant within-group changes occurred in serum ferritin, but the change in the daily group was 4.1 micrograms/L higher than in the weekly group (P = 0.049). Compliance, as indicated by two positive stool tests, was approximately equal to 54.3% in the daily group and 62.2% in the weekly group. We conclude that for the complete sample of subjects, the treatment effect of daily compared with weekly supplementation was similar under conditions resembling a normal antenatal care program.


To reduce aerodynamic losses and optimize turbine blade cooling designs, a comprehensive understanding of rotor-stator interaction effects on the blade aerodynamics and film cooling performance is essential. This paper focuses on the numerical analysis of the interactions between shock waves and unsteady wakes and their effects on cooling effectiveness of a highly twisted rotor within a transonic turbine stage. The parameters of the turbine stage are from the Pratt & Whitney Energy Efficient Engine (E3) program. The Realizable k-e turbulence model was selected as the suitable turbulence model by our previous study. The investigation is conducted first by analyzing mean static pressure and the Root Mean Square (RMS) of the static pressure, followed by a detailed study of the flow field in the rotor passage at blowing ratios (Br) of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. Effects of the complicated interactions among shock waves, trailing edge wake shedding, and blockage of moving rotors are separated and identified individually through shock strength, vortices, and entropy production.The results show that: 1) For the stator, the shock waves emanating from the trailing edge of the neighboring stator impinging on the later part of the stator's suction side, creating static pressure fluctuations as large as 20%. 2) For the rotor, the variation of static pressure is synchronized with the rotor passing frequency, but out of phase between the suction and pressure sides. 3) A high entropy region generated by the wake flow from the upstream trailing edge in the rotor passage intensifies and moves towards the rotor hub during the rotor passing periods. 4) Most of the cooling air injected from the rotor leading edge bends towards the suction side, and the cooling air injected from the pressure side turns towards the rotor hub. 5) An increase in the blowing ratio from Br = 0.5 to Br = 1.5 does not affect the pressure fluctuations, but does significantly increase film cooling effectiveness on the rotor pressure side. 6) The mean static pressure on the suction side of the twist blade is lower than a straight blade, indicating the benefit of producing larger torque by using twist rotors.© 2013 ASME


In this paper, Yushenfu mining area is taken as an example. On the basis of analysis and research of formation mechanism of mining subsidence, using principal component analysis and grey correlation analysis method, factors which affect the damage degree of mining subsidence have been selected. It is determined that disturbance coefficient, the ratio of width to depth, comprehensive hardness of overlying strata, subsidence coefficient and the ratio of mining depth and height are key influencial factors of damage degree of mining subsidence, and they are taken as evaluation indexes of damage evaluation later. Then, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is used to make quantitative evaluation of mining subsidence. The results show that: first, there are 9 mines whose damage degree of mining subsidence reached III (serious) among the 12 typical mines of YuShenFu mining area, and the other 3 belong to II (secondary), showing seriousness on the whole. The evaluation results correspond to the conclusion of qualitative judgment and actual situation; second, those mines which show serious mining subsidence all display that disturbance coefficient virtually is close to 1, the ratio of depth to thickness is close to or lower than 50, the ratio of width to depth is almost higher than 1, subsidence coefficient lies around 0.7 and the comprehensive hardness of overlying strata is medium hard. These not only fully reveals the main damage form of mining subsidence of YuShenFu mining area, that is, discontinuous cutting off type damage, but also truly reflects the coal-mining method (longwall mining), the roof management method (all collapse) as well as the traits of the overburden strata layer of coal measures. As a result, the consistency of evaluation results and evaluation indexes fully reflect the availability and scientificity of evaluation index system and the accuracy of evaluation method.


an unprovoked bite or attack from an animal in a known rabies-endemic country such as Indonesia. The problem is that of obtaining accurate information concerning the occurrence and distribution of diseases in developing areas, and especially in a country comprising many scattered islands. Rabies has not occurred in Papua New Guinea, but it could easily cross the border from West Irian should it become established there. The strict animal quarantine mentioned by Dr Geering, which is practised in the Indonesian islands east of Java is reassuring. However, we are concerned about the possible landing of animals from small fishing vessels at other than official ports. Bali is located immediately east of Wallace's line, the boundary between two major zoogeographic areas. Mammals known to have crossed Wallace's line unaided are rats and bats. The role of vampire bats in the spreading of rabies in South-American countries, particularly to cattle, is well recognised; however, insectivorous and fruit-eating bats may also become infected with rabies virus. There is some apprehension that such mammals carrying the virus could cross Wallace's line from Java to Bali, bypassing quarantine measures.


This paper presents an application mapping problem, which aims to maximize the performance of NoC-based multi-processor system-on-chip (MPSoC) designs without violating the total power and power density budgets of the chip, while maintaining the routability of all communicating cores. The mapping problem also accounts for the fact that, due to process variations, speed and leakage power characteristics of cores and routers may be quite different from one another. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer, non-linear mathematical program, and solved heuristically by a polynomial-time combinatorial algorithm. The proposed algorithm achieves 34% (31%) on average and 52% (49%) maximum performance improvement under 16nm planar CMOS (7nm FinFET) technology when mapping different applications with different number of tasks to a 64-core processor compared with the baseline algorithms.


Fukuda, K. (1971).Brit. J. industr. Med.,28, 308-311. Metallic mercury induced tremor in rabbits and mercury content of the central nervous system. Tremor induced by metallic mercury was experimentally produced in rabbits by intermittent exposure to mercury vapour (average concentration of 4·0 mg/m3 for 6 hr/day on 4 days/week for 13 successive weeks). Two of six male rabbits exposed developed fine tremor and clonus in the fore- and hind-legs after 13 weeks' exposure. Electromyographic records showed typical grouped voltages accompanying the clonus (amplitude 0·3 to 1·0 mV, duration 20 to 30 ms, frequency 14 to 15 per second). Activation analysis of the central nervous system showed mercury levels ranging from 0·8 to 3·9 μg/g wet tissue. The concentration in the cerebellum, the tegmentum, and the thalamus was significantly higher than in the remaining structures. The relationship between the tremor and the mercury content of the central nervous system is discussed and a positive causal relationship is suggested.


The results of operational research of lateral direction of switches of type P65 mark 1/11-1/9 on reinforced concrete bars on the track gauge and the direction in plan are presented in the article. The characteristic parts of the lateral direction in terms of the influence of geometrical position on the interaction with rolling stock are determined.


This diachronic study investigates the discursive representation of four key wildlife species in Britain—red squirrels, grey squirrels, badgers, and hedgehogs. The research takes a modern-diachronic corpus-assisted discourse studies approach (Partington, 2010) to examine the patterns of change and continuity in discourse about these focus animals published in The Times between 1785 and 2005. Corpus linguistic methods and tools, including the waves, peaks and troughs analysis (Gabrielatos, McEnery, Diggle, & Baker, 2012), diachronic collocates (McEnery & Baker, 2015), cluster analysis, keywords analysis, and concordances, identifed three major themes in the discourse, which were explored in depth: origin and national identity, life-cycle and health, and killing animals. The extent to which the findings are consistent with changing human practices and attitudes was considered in line with the discourse historical approach (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009). The major themes remain relevant over the period of interest but are associated with different focus animals at different times in response to text-external social, political, and cultural influences (such as changes in land management and human-human socio-political relations). Findings reflect a growing distance between humans and the focus animals over time, while (harmful) anthropocentric values underlying their representations are maintained in the discourse through strategies such as blame shifting and—often more subtly—anthropomorphism. Repetition of anthropocentric values in news discourse has real consequences for the animals. They are the focus of human actions that are a response to socio-political factors reflected in—and perpetuated by—discourse about them. Disruption to established narratives in the discourse polarises views and causes (actual and discursive) conflict and controversy, highlighting potential difficulties with accomplishing change. The findings can be used to inform understanding of future linguistic representations of wildlife and a number of recommendations for reducing harmful anthropocentric representations are included accordingly.


INTRODUCTION
Rosmarinic acid is a bioactive compound with various pharmaceutical effects and applications.

OBJECTIVE
This work developed a new approach for aqueous enzymatic extraction of rosmarinic acid from the leaves of Salvia officinalis.

METHODS
Different enzymes (proteases and cellulase) were evaluated for their extraction activity. Response surface methodology (RSM) was subsequently employed to optimise the extraction conditions. Thin layer chromatography was also used to identify rosmarinic acid in the extract of S. officinalis.

RESULTS
Among the tested enzymes, a Cellulase A and Protamex mixture (1:1, w/w) exhibited maximum effectiveness in the extraction. Through the use of RSM, the maximum rosmarinic acid content of 28.23 ± 0.41 mg/g was obtained with enzyme loading of 4.49%, water-to-sample ratio of 25.76 mL/g, temperature of 54.3°C, and extraction time of 2 h.

CONCLUSION
This study suggests that S. officinalis is a promising source of rosmarinic acid and aqueous enzymatic extraction is an efficient and ecofriendly method for extracting rosmarinic acid, with a short extraction time and without the contamination of a toxic solvent.


This Article argues that criminal convictions in state courts should be subject to the same unanimity requirements that the Sixth Amendment imposes on federal criminal convictions. Part I of this Article provides an overview of the U.S. Supreme Court's jurisprudence on jury size and nonunanimity. Part I includes a discussion of Apodaca v. Oregon and Johnson v. Louisiana, the Court's 1972 decisions holding that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments did not require jury unanimity in state court criminal jury trials even though federal law requires that federal juries must reach criminal verdicts unanimously. This is followed by a summary of many of the recently denied certiorari petitions that have pressed the Court to reconsider the jury unanimity issue in light of changing Sixth Amendment jurisprudence and social science evidence. Part II explains how the Court's recent jurisprudence contradicts its 1972 Apodaca and Johnson rulings under the doctrine of incorporation. Specifically, applying the Court's 2010 McDonald v. City of Chicago incorporation approach to Oregon's and Louisiana's nonunanimous jury law signifies that overturning Apodaca should be easy, and in fact indicates that the Court should incorporate the few unincorporated provisions of the Bill of Rights. In addition to the incorporation doctrine, Part III argues that nonunanimous verdicts undermine the reasonable doubt requirement of the right to a jury trial and that the Court's own case law prior to and since Apodaca and Johnson confirms this right to unanimity, which ensures that the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt as a component has been met. Part IV sets forth the current research that shows that unanimity is essential to the purposes of the fair cross section and complete deliberation requirements of the Sixth Amendment. Part V addresses how nonunanimous verdicts contribute to convicting innocent defendants, and Part VI discusses how nonunanimous verdicts disproportionally affect both minority jurors and minority defendants in Oregon. Finally, this Article concludes by recommending that the Supreme Court overturn Apodaca v. Oregon, as the law and current research supports that unanimous juries should be required in all criminal cases. Moreover, even if the Supreme Court does not act, Oregon's citizenry and Legislature should support amending the state constitution to abolish majority verdicts in all criminal cases. Such an amendment would serve to protect innocent defendants and end a rule that was founded to silence minority viewpoints.


The simultaneous electrochemical measurement of heavy-metal and organic propellants relevant to gunshot residues (GSRs) is demonstrated. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and cyclic square-wave stripping voltammetry (C-SWV) are shown to detect, in a single run, common propellants, such as nitroglycerin (NG) and dinitrotoluene (DNT), along with the heavy metal constituents of GSR, antimony (Sb), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and barium (Ba). The voltammetric detection of the stabilizer diphenylamine (DPA) along with inorganic constituents has also been examined. The resulting electrochemical signatures combine -in a single voltammogram- the response for the various metals and organic species, based on the reduction and oxidation peaks of the constituents. Cyclic square-wave voltammetry at the glassy carbon electrode (GCE), involving an intermittent accumulation at the reversal potentials of -0.95 V (for Sb, Pb, DNT and NG) and -1.3 V (for Sb, Pb, Zn and DPA) is particularly useful to offer distinct electrochemical signatures for these constituents of GSR mixtures, compared to analogous cyclic voltammetric measurements. Simultaneous voltammetric measurements of barium (at thin-film Hg GCE) and DNT (at bare GCE) are also demonstrated in connection to intermittent accumulation at the reversal potential of -2.4 V. Such generation of unique, single-run, information-rich inorganic/organic electrochemical fingerprints holds considerable promise for 'on-the-spot' field identification of individuals firing a weapon, as desired for diverse forensic investigations.


We used SpalphaI-1-156 peptide, a well-characterized model peptide of the alphaN-terminal region of erythrocyte spectrin, and SpalphaII-1-149, an alphaII brain spectrin model peptide similar in sequence to SpalphaI-1-156, to study their association affinities with a betaI-spectrin peptide, SpbetaI-1898-2083, by isothermal titration calorimetry. We also determined their conformational flexibilities in solution by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) methods. These two peptides exhibit sequence homology and could be expected to exhibit similar association affinities with beta-spectrin. However, our studies show that the affinity of SpalphaII-1-149 with SpbetaI-1898-2083 is much higher than that of SpalphaI-1-156. Our SAXS findings also indicate a significantly more extended conformation for SpalphaII-1-149 than for SpalphaI-1-156. The radius of gyration values obtained by two different analyses of SAXS data and by molecular modeling all show a value of about 25 A for SpalphaI-1-156 and of about 30 A for SpalphaII-1-149, despite the fact that SpalphaI-1-156 has seven amino acid residues more than SpalphaII-1-149. For SpalphaI-1-156, the SAXS results are consistent with a flexible junction between helix C' and the triple helical bundle that allows multiple orientations between these two structural elements, in good agreement with our published NMR analysis. The SAXS findings for SpalphaII-1-149 support the hypothesis that this junction region is rigid (and probably helical) for alphaII brain spectrin. The nature of the junction region, from one extreme as a random coil (conformationally mobile) segment in alphaI to another extreme as a rigid segment in alphaII, determines the orientation of helix C' relative to the first structural domain. We suggest that this particular junction region in alpha-spectrin plays a major role in modulating its association affinity with beta-spectrins, and thus regulates spectrin tetramer levels. We also note that these are the first conformational studies of brain spectrin.


Peripheral vascular disease is the result of chronic vascular insufficiency. As the vascular insufficiency of the lower limbs progressively deteriorates, the condition progresses from intermittent claudication (pain upon exercise) to pain at rest and gangrene. In very severe cases amputation of the leg may be necessary. Whilst dieting, cessation of smoking and physical exercise all beneficially affect the progression of the disorder, the available drug therapy is of limited benefit. Very effective pharmacological agents capable of alleviating the symptoms of chronic peripheral vascular disease have not been developed. In order to mimic the vascular insufficiency of intermittent claudication, an animal model was developed in rats. This involves short-term and long-term 6-10 weeks ligation of the femoral artery of the rat. As demonstrated using measurements of hindlimb skeletal muscle, blood flow, pO2, metabolism and function, a model of intermittent claudication was produced. Using this model, the beneficial effects of physical training was demonstrated. Physical training induced an increase in blood flow and a greater capacity for aerobic metabolism in the partially ischaemic skeletal muscle. The effect of vasodilators has also been examined in this model; in contrast to agents such as Ca2+ antagonists, K+ channel openers appear to improve nutritional blood flow and metabolism in the afflicted skeletal muscle. This model can also be utilized to demonstrate the effects of haemorrheological interventions and of agents modulating muscle metabolism. However, additional effort is required to develop models for the evaluation of efficacy of antiatherothrombotic drugs.


This Article analyzes the legal and human rights implications of efforts by copyright owners such to "opt out" of the Internet in general, and out of Web 2.0 sites in particular. I argue that courts and legislatures should reject the argument by copyright owners that absent a license agreement respecting a copyrighted work, technology and Internet companies should be forced to monitor for and technologically filter out any quotations or clips on their sites unless a copyright owner affirmatively "opts in" to being included on a given site. Instead of this type of an "opt-in" framework, judges and policymakers should permit Internet companies to respond to allegations of infringement by removing offending files from their sites, and should require copyright owners to identify the location of specific infringing files on the Internet with adequate detail to enable Internet companies to investigate allegations of infringement. This "opt out" framework will better preserve technological innovation and freedom of expression than would a n "opt in" system, which would establish copyright holders and Internet companies as more intrusive filters of Internet users' speech. I briefly describe the development of "Web 2.0" services such as YouTube and Wikipedia, and the complex intellectual property issues that they engender. I then summarize the case law in the U.S. on opting out of the Internet, from the early cases in which courts struggled with the possibility that copyright law would chill the development of online services, to the more recent judicial consensus shielding online intermediaries from liability as long as they do not purposefully disregard opt-outs that identify specific infringing content, in cases such as Perfect 10 v. Google (9th Cir. 2007), Perfect 10 v. Visa (9th Cir. 2007), and Parker v. Google (3d Cir. 2007). My distinctive contribution to the field consists in showing that European courts have erected a similar knowledge-based opt-out framework for online intermediaries such as Internet service providers, creators of peer-to-peer file sharing software, and user-generated content platforms. Some cases have bucked this trend, of course, notably the Google News case in Belgium. The court's ruling in that case would restrain freedom of expression and the process of Web-enabled innovation, as would the similar rulings of the French courts in the Dailymotion and MySpace cases. If such cases become the norm, Internet companies will scramble to reduce user freedom so as to block infringing uploads. Many European courts base their rulings on the European Community's Electronic Commerce Directive of 2000, which provides that storing or hosting information provided by users does not give rise to monetary liability if an Internet company does not control the user and either does not have actual knowledge of infringement or expeditiously removes the infringing material upon becoming aware of its presence on the site. The developing consensus of the European courts resembles the celebrated ruling in Perfect 10 v. Google (9th Cir. 2007) that reproducing copyrighted work in order to improve access to information over the Internet constitutes a fair use, particularly when an Internet service provider respects clear opt-outs. Moreover, I address, and rebut, the common objection that international copyright treaties, and specifically the minimum level of copyright protection required by the Berne Convention and GATT-TRIPs agreement, preclude the establishment of an opt-out regime for copyright disputes. Finally, I discuss the implications of these findings for currently pending cases that will define the future of Web and Web 2.0 services such as digital libraries and online video sites. Search engines and hosting sites for books, news, and videos are the focus of this section.


The effect of pull temperature on oxide charge and interface trap density is explored using surface charge analysis (SCA). With this technique, lower pull temperatures were found to result in lower oxide charge and interface trap density levels. The impact of pull temperature on these parameters was found to exist even after a number of additional processing steps. SCA was used to evaluate the individual charge contribution of each step within a process sequence.<<ETX>>


Broad network bandwidth and deep inspection impose great challenge for the capability of 10Gpbs network security monitoring. Proper scheduling policies can improve system capability without requiring additional resources. LAS, a size-based scheduling policy which can achieve optimal mean response time by giving preferential analysis to short flows, is widely used in various aspects of network field. Due to the high variability property of Internet traffic, LAS favors short flows without penalizing large flows very much. Unfortunately, the inspection of large flows can not be guaranteed in those network intrusion detection systems on 10Gbps links, which are usually heavily loaded, or even overloaded. Although tiny in percentage, large flows comprise more than 50% of the total load, and therefore can not be ignored, especially when specified by users as critical. How to avoid starving large flows while still giving higher priority to short flows is a dilemma we have to face in practice. In this paper, we propose a QoS-supported three-level scheduling policy (QTL), which can remedy LAS' defect. The experimental results show that our QTL scheduling policy has approximately the same performance as LAS for short flows, and meanwhile exhibits greatly enhanced processing capability for large flows.


This communication is devoted to the presentation of our recent results regarding the asymptotic analysis of a viscous flow in a tube with elastic walls. This study can be applied, for example, to the blood flow in an artery. With this aim, we consider the dynamic problem of the incompressible flow of a viscous fluid through a curved pipe with a smooth central curve. Our analysis leads to the obtention of an one dimensional model via singular perturbation of the Navier-Stokes system as ε, a non dimensional parameter related to the radius of cross-section of the tube, tends to zero. We allow the radius depend on tangential direction and time, so a coupling with an elastic or viscoelastic law on the wall of the pipe is possible. To perform the asymptotic analysis, we do a change of variable to a reference domain where we assume the existence of asymptotic expansions on ε for both velocity and pressure which, upon substitution on Navier-Stokes equations, leads to the characterization of various terms of the expansion. This allows us to obtain an approximation of the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations.


Ambient Intelligence imposes many challenges in protecting people's privacy. Storing privacy-sensitive data during for permanently will inevitably result in privacy violations. Limited retention techniques might prove useful in order to limit the risks of unwanted and irreversible disclosure of privacy-sensitive data. To overcome the rigidness of simple limited retention policies, Life-Cycle policies more precisely describe when and how data could be first degraded and finally be destroyed. This allows users themselves to determine an adequate compromise between privacy and data retention. However, implementing and enforcing these policies is a difficult problem. Traditional databases are not designed or optimized for deleting data. In this report, we recall the formerly introduced life cycle policy model and the already developed techniques for handling a single collective policy for all data in a relational database management system. We identify the problems raised by loosening this single policy constraint and propose preliminary techniques for concurrently handling multiple policies in one data store. The main technical consequence for the storage structure is, that when allowing multiple policies, the degradation order of tuples will not always be equal to the insert order anymore. Apart from the technical aspects, we show that personalizing the policies introduces some inference breaches which have to be further investigated. To make such an investigation possible, we introduce a metric for privacy, which enables the possibility to compare the provided amount of privacy with the amount of privacy required by the policy.


Why do states join military coalitions? After joining wartime coalitions, why do states contribute differently to support the coalitions? What influences the decision process and the burden-sharing outcome of coalition countries? This dissertation investigates these questions by reviewing the contributions of Britain, Germany, and Pakistan to the U.S.-led War in Afghanistan from October 2001 to December 2010. Conventional wisdom focuses on neo-realist and strategic culture theories to analyze a country's coalition behavior. The neo-realist theory of international relations suggests a systemic level explanation, and argues that the distribution of power in the international system determines the coalition behavior of states. Strategic culture theorists reject systemic level explanations, and argue that neo-realism cannot explain why states, under the same international system, behave differently. They embrace a domestic level analysis, which emphasizes national strategic decision makers, their belief systems, and the organizational culture of the military—in short a 'national style' of coalition behavior. This study demonstrates that both neo-realism and strategic culture fail to offer sufficient explanations for analyzing and predicting the coalition behavior of states. Taking a middle ground, it proposes a neo-classical realist model of coalition burden-sharing. It argues that international systemic incentives and constraints are channeled through domestic political and culture-induced processes to produce unique burden-sharing behaviors for states. My theoretical model examines the effect of three systemic variables - alliance dependence, balance of threat, and collective action; and three domestic level variables - domestic political regime, public opinion, and military capability - in explaining the politics of coalition burden-sharing. I test the model in the cases of Britain, Germany, and Pakistan. My research provides empirical support for the integrated burden-sharing model. It shows that among the coalition countries in Afghanistan, Britain pursued a policy of 'punching above the weight.' The British forces in Afghanistan's Helmand province were overstretched, with few troops and few resources. By contrast, the German forces in Kunduz had mostly pursued a risk-averse strategy. This was due to the imposition of national caveats or restricted rules of engagement, which constrained the ability of the German forces to participate in offensive military operations against the Taliban insurgents. Pakistan joined and supported the war in Afghanistan by severing diplomatic relations with the Taliban; and deploying up to 150,000 troops along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Despite providing critical logistical support, and conducting numerous military offensives against Al Qaeda and Taliban militias in its tribal areas, Pakistan was widely labeled as an uncertain partner with conflicted goals. This was due to Pakistan's overt contribution to the war on terrorism, and its covert support for various Afghan-focused insurgent groups. This dissertation concludes with a brief discussion on the theoretical and policy implications of coalition burden-sharing.


Comparing two clustering results of a data set is a challenging task in cluster analysis. Many external validity measures have been proposed in the literature. A good measure should be invariant to the changes of data size, cluster size, and number of clusters. We give an overview of existing set matching indexes and analyze their properties. Set matching measures are based on matching clusters from two clusterings. We analyze the measures in three parts: 1) cluster similarity, 2) matching, and 3) overall measurement. Correction for chance is also investigated and we prove that normalized mutual information and variation of information are intrinsically corrected. We propose a new scheme of experiments based on synthetic data for evaluation of an external validity index. Accordingly, popular external indexes are evaluated and compared when applied to clusterings of different data size, cluster size, and number of clusters. The experiments show that set matching measures are clearly better than the other tested. Based on the analytical comparisons, we introduce a new index called Pair Sets Index (PSI).


We study the probability distribution of the location of a particle performing a cyclic random motion in R d . The particle can take n possible directions with different velocities and the changes of direction occur at random times. The speed-vectors as well as the support of the distribution form a polyhedron (the first one having constant sides and the other expanding with time t). The distribution of the location of the particle is made up of two components: a singular component (corresponding to the beginning of the travel of the particle) and an absolutely continuous component. We completely describe the singular component and exhibit an integral representation for the absolutely continuous one. The distribution is obtained by using a suitable expression of the location of the particle as well as some probability calculus together with some linear algebra. The particular case of the minimal cyclic motion (n = d + 1) with Erlangian switching times is also investigated and the related distribution can be expressed in terms of hyper-Bessel functions with several arguments.


The process of diagenesis, by which sediments become rock, has many physical and chemical aspects. Even a cursory examination of the scientific literature shows that mineral reactions, original depositional environment, diagenetic environment, the flow of fluid, the evolution of organic matter, the compaction of sediment and the precipitation, replacement and destruction of cements all play a role in sandstone diagenesis. The importance of sandstone diagenesis is evidenced by the rapid increase of pure and applied research in this area. The oil and gas industry has greatly accelerated research into sandstone diagenesis, primarily because the nature and distribution of porosity and permeability ultimately governs the extent of oil and gas recovery, and diagenesis is a controlling factor in the formation and destruction of porosity. In addition, as our demand for oil and gas grows, and the relatively easily extracted oil is exploited, there is an increasing emphasis on secondary and tertiary recovery of conventional oil and recovery of heavy oil and tar sands. Enhanced recovery agents, whether physical (injected water or steam) or chemical (surfactants, acids, polymers, caustic and clay stabilising agents), are in direct contact with the pore space of the rock. It is important to understand the present state of diagenesis of any rock, and how that state will be affected by an agent used to stimulate recovery.

While it is tempting to divide the subject of diagenesis into those processes which are physical and those which are chemical, the interdependence of physical and chemical processes makes this impossible. The reader also should be warned that even sandstone diagenesis itself cannot be separated from the interplay of differing sedimentary environments, lithologic variation within basins, and setting and evolution of sedimentary basins. All of these factors are ultimately governed by the tectonic setting.


With the proliferation of information and communication technology in every walks of the society, including healthcare services, digitization, and increased sophistication have been gaining pace, digital healthcare alternatives such as electronic healthcare record (EHR) have gained prominence with increased patients' data volume. However, traditional EHR-based systems are plagued by data loss risks, security and immutability consensus over health records, gapped communication among constituted hospitals, and inefficient clinical data retrieval systems, among others. Blockchain has been developed as a decentralized technology that holds the promise to address the aforesaid facilities in EHR-based systems. This article presents a patient-centric design of a decentralized healthcare management system with blockchain-based EHR using javascript-based smart contracts. A working prototype based on hyperledger fabric and composer technology has also been implemented which guarantees the security of the proposed model. Experiments with the hyperledger caliper benchmarking tool provide performance such as latency, throughput, resource utilization, and so on under varied scenarios and control parameters. The results affirm the efficacy of the proposed approach.


Context: Peripheral vein cannulation is commonly performed for rapid and accurate administration of medications. Phlebitis is one of the commonest complications that develop after intravenous catheter application. Aims: This study aims to investigate the incidence of phlebitis and to evaluate factors contributing to the development of phlebitis. Settings and Design: This was a prospective observational study conducted on patients admitted at 4 Air Force Hospital Kalaikunda. Methods: Study conducted on 150 patients who were admitted to the medical and surgical division of the hospital during the period from July 2018 to April 2019. The factors studied were age, gender, site of insertion, place of insertion, cannula size, IV medications, and blood products used. Phlebitis was graded using Visual Infusion Phlebitis Score. Statistical Analysis Used: The incidence of phlebitis was expressed in percentage and odds ratio was calculated to estimate the effects of suspected risk factors. Results: Incidence of phlebitis was found to be 31.4% from our study. The increased incidence rate of phlebitis was seen in the female gender, age less than 60 years, insertion in the lower limb, large catheter size, catheters inserted in emergency situations, and IV drugs administration. Conclusion: Phlebitis is an important on-going problem in present-day clinical practice. Avoiding of preventable risk factors, proper nursing care, and daily inspection of catheters needed for prevention of phlebitis.


Functionalized scanning probe tips hold great promise for the controlled delivery of signals from and to selected nanoscale volumes. Here, a new nanotechnological approach for the functionalization of scanning probe tips is presented, targeting the transfer of the optical, electrical, thermal, or chemical properties of precisely characterized epitaxial semiconductor layers to the nanoscale probe tip. Homogeneously doped, strain-relaxed heteroepitaxial germanium layers, several micrometers thick, are first grown on silicon wafers by low-energy plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and then employed to functionalize the probe apex. This choice of materials and growth technique enables the future scalability of the tip functionalization process toward high production volumes. The fabricated probe tips are investigated in a transmission electron microscope, revealing that the crystal structure and the homogeneous doping level of the epitaxial layers are unchanged after the probe-tip functionalization process. These doped-germanium tips are also tested as nanoemitters of light at telecom wavelengths (1.55 µm) and applied as scattering probes for near-field mid-infrared microscopy. The reported combination of heteroepitaxial growth and a nanofabrication approach can be extended to a variety of epitaxial materials, thus enabling a new generation of scanning probes for the investigation of nanostructured materials and devices.


ABSTRACT PET/CT has emerged as the most accurate tool for staging, treatment monitoring and response evaluation in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Accurate staging and restaging are very important for the optimal management of HL, and PET/CT is the cornerstone of the staging procedures recommended in the recently revised staging and response criteria. More precise determination of disease extent may result in more precise pre-treatment risk stratification, and is also essential to the minimal and highly individualised radiotherapy volumes of the present era. Early PET-response is the strongest predictor final treatment outcome and long-term progression-free and overall survival. The strong prognostic value is demonstrated as early as after one chemotherapy cycle, thus replacing traditional mid-treatment monitoring by in-vivo treatment sensitivity testing. A number of ongoing or recently completed trials investigate the use of PET/CT for early response-adapted therapy, with therapeutic stratification based on interim PET/CT results. The first results from these trials have been mostly encouraging. Post-treatment PET/CT the major determinant of post-treatment response assessment and enables selection of advanced stage patient without need for consolidation radiotherapy. While PET/CT seems to have little or no role in the routine surveillance of HL patients, recent data point toward an important role in the selection of therapy in relapsed and refractory disease, and for PET-response adapted therapy in this setting, as well as in first-line therapy. PET/CT has a large impact on both trial design and on the management of individual patients, so it is necessary also for the clinician to be aware of the strengths and possibilities, but also the important pitfalls and shortcomings of this highly sensitive diagnostic method. Disclosure: M. Hutchings: Advisory board and consultancy: Takeda/Millennium Advisory board: Genentech.


In this paper, a symmetric dual-gate single-Si thin film transistor (TFT), which includes three split floating n+ zones, is simulated. This structure drastically reduces the kink-effect and improves the on-current. This is due to the separated floating n+ zones, the transistor channel region is split into four zones with different lengths defined by a floating n+ region. This structure allows effective reduction in the kink-effect, depending on the length of the two sub-channels. The on-current of the proposed dual-gate structure is 0.9 mA, while that of the conventional dual-gate structure is 0.5 mA, at both 12 V drain and 7 V gate voltages. This result shows an 80% enhancement in on-current. In addition, the reduction of electric field in the channel region compared to a conventional single-gate TFT and the reduction of the output conductance in the saturation region, is observed. In addition, the reduction in hole concentration, in the channel region, in order for effectively reducing the kink-effect, is also confirmed.


1. The thermolability of the specific polysaccharides of Types I, II, and III pneumococcus has been shown by three independent methods: (a) diminution of the viscosity of solutions on heating; (b) decrease in the amount of antibody precipitated from homologous rabbit antisera; and (c) increased tendency (S III) to pass through a collodion membrane. 2. These effects may be explained most simply as a partial depolymerization under the influence of heat. In air, particularly in the presence of broth, oxidation also appears to be involved. 3. Improved and simpler methods of preparation based on these findings, are given for S I, S II, and S III. The resulting products precipitate more anti-S from homologous rabbit antisera than do the earlier preparations. 4. The methyl glycoside of methyl galacturonate has been isolated from the hydrolytic products of S I, and evidence of the ultimate structural unit obtained.


We evaluated the cellular immunity of 408 clinically stratified subjects at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), to define the role of interferon-alpha production deficits in the pathogenesis of opportunistic infections (OI). We followed 115 prospectively for up to 45 mo. Onset of OI was associated with, and predicted by, deficiency both of interferon-alpha generation in vitro, and of circulating Leu-3a+ cells. Interferon-alpha production is an index of the function of certain non-T, non-B, large granular lymphocytes (LGL) that are independent of T cell help. Leu-3a+ cell counts are a marker of T cell function. OI did not usually develop until both of these mutually independent immune functions were simultaneously critically depressed, leading to a synergistic interaction. These data suggest that the AIDS virus affects a subset of LGL, and that cytokine production by these cells is an important component of the host defense against intracellular pathogens that becomes crucial in the presence of severe T cell immunodeficiency.


: The author describes a case of virus hepatitis which was complicated at the 43d day of staying at hospital by the development of grave hemolytic anemia accompanied by hemoglobin fall down to 3.6 g% and red cell count decrease to l 250 000 per mm3. The author believes that the hemolytic crisis was of the autoimmune genesis. Multiple modality treatment including prednisolone (180 mg/day), transfusion of blood and erythrocyte mass provided good results. The patient was discharged in a satisfactory state at the 84th day of staying at hospital.


The optimal choice of sites to make spatial prediction is critical for a better understanding of really spatio-temporal data. It is important to obtain the essential spatio-temporal variability of the process in determining optimal design, because these data tend to exhibit both spatial and temporal variability. Two new methods of prediction for spatially correlated functional data are considered. The first method models spatial dependency by fitting variogram to empirical variogram, similar to ordinary kriging (univariate approach). The second method models spatial dependency by linear model co-regionalization (multivariate approach). The variance of prediction method was chosen as the optimization design criterion. An application to CO concentration forecasting was conducted to examine possible differences between the design and the optimal design without considering temporal structure.


With the increasing effectiveness of breast cancer treatment, the scientific interest in investigating the quality of life of survivors has increased. However, research addressing the post-treatment period is still scarce. The aim of this study was to identify the stressors present in the lives of women in the one to five years post-diagnosis period. The sample was composed of 16 women assisted at a specialized mastectomy rehabilitation service. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using content analysis. The results indicate conflicts with self-image and alteration in the feeling of autonomy, fear in relation to the evolution of the condition, feelings of guilt about the disorder generated in the family, experience of disturbing social situations and a desire to return to their professional occupation. These results reveal the existence of stressors in this phase and the importance of support offered by psychosocial rehabilitation services for this population.


The popularity of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) has increased rapidly and tremendously due to the vast potential of the sensor networks to connect the physical world with the virtual world. Since sensor devices rely on battery power and node energy and may be placed in hostile environments, so replacing them becomes a difficult task. Thus, improving the energy of these networks i.e. network lifetime becomes important. The thesis provides methods for clustering and cluster head selection to WSN to improve energy efficiency using a fuzzy logic controller. It presents a comparison between the different methods on the basis of the network lifetime. It compares existing ABC optimization method with the Gray wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm for different size of networks and different scenario. It provides cluster head selection method with good performance and reduced computational complexity. In addition, it also proposes GWO as an algorithm for clustering of WSN which would result in improved performance with faster convergence. KeywordsMANET, WSN, GWO, Fuzzy logic etc.


Pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br., is the principal food cereal on 25 million ha of the drought-prone semiarid regions of Africa and the Indian subcontinent. It is also used as a forage in Australia, southern Africa, South America, and the USA, and has shown regions. Recent increased levels of breeding and genetic research, now including gene mapping, have indicated a need for a current comprehensive review of accumulated genetic information on qualitative traits in this species. The present descriptive review attempts to meet this need and reports 167 studies. since 1934, on 145 characters in 12 categories: chlorophyll deficiencies, foliage striping, leaf characters, pubescence, plant form, pigmentation, earhead characters, reproductive structures and gamete formation, sterility, seed characters, earliness and maturity, and disease resistance. Gene symbols, where assigned by authors, are listed, and the nature of genetic effects are given. Known linkages and biochemical genetic markers are also reviewed. A consistent nomenclature system should be developed and followed in the future, and a location designated for the deposition of genetic stocks.


The UK Government's flagship energy efficiency program, the Green Deal, provides retrofit advice for household occupants based on a technical house survey and an engineering modelling tool. Smart meter data provides an opportunity to give bespoke advice to occupants based on the actual performance of their home and their own heating practices as well as visualisations of hourly and daily energy use. This work presents initial results from one component of a complex multidisciplinary research project which aims to use smart meter and smart home data to design and develop retrofit decision support concepts. Home visits involving creative design based research activities were carried out in five homes. Household occupants were presented with two types of energy use report; 1) a Green Deal advice report which includes suggested retrofit measures and annual energy consumption figures based on a steady state modelling approach and; 2) a personalised energy use report, based on smart meter data collected in their homes over a 12 month period. The home visits were carried out with the occupants to discuss a range of possible retrofit measures and gather feedback regarding the communication method for advice about energy efficiency improvements. Initial findings from the home visits indicate that the provision of energy feedback using smart meter data did not directly influence the occupants to make energy efficient retrofits any more than the Green Deal advice reports. However, the visualisation of actual hourly and daily energy use enabled householders to make links with their lived experience and stimulated discussions about their energy use which may impact on their preconceived ideas about energy use and energy efficiency measures,


Two Asteraceae species, Clibadium surinamense L. and Montanoa grandiflora D.C., were analyzed to determine the composition of the essential oil and to search for phototoxic compounds. Three parts of the plants were studied, inflorescence, stems and leaves. Intra and interspecific differences were found in the essential oil composition, which was determined by gas chromatography. In the chromatographic profiles, run for phototoxic compounds, spots for these products were present in the Clibadium surinamense extracts, but were absent in Montanoa grandiflora. From the hexane extract of Clibadium surinamense inflorescence 2 new polyacetylene esters were isolated, ichtyothereol capric ester and its derivate tetrahydroichthyothereol-7'en-miristic ester.


The material obtained in open operative interventions from 117 patients with focal (temporal) epilepsy was studied. In 58% of the observations rounded and oval-shaped cavities with distinct borders without any lining, i.e. pseudocystic structures were found. By morphological traits they could be related to cribllurs as there is a vessel in each cavity. All-level disturbance of intracerebral vessels and damage of blood-brain barrier together with hypoxia associated with it are probably the reason for criblir development. Pseudocystic structures that are not connected with the vessel lesion could be of another, sometimes inflammatory genesis. Thus, pseudocystic structures that unite in a network of channels connected with subarachnoidal space occur in temporal lobe in focal epilepsy in over half of cases.


Nanomaterials have a tremendously increasing importance in our daily lives but their world is extremely wide. The main aim of this work is to implement the knowledge about these materials, focusing in particular on some of the nano allotropic forms of Carbon. This precise choice is consequence of their extreme versatility and promising properties for electronic, energetic and biological applications, which can be further improved with doping or functionalization.
In the first part of my work I introduced nanotechnology and nanomaterials, highlighting their importance, recent developments and applications, trying to focus on the importance of electrochemistry in the study of such a field. Electrochemistry, in fact, through the investigation of fundamental electronic processes can exploit electrical and catalytic processes of nanomaterials and become an interface between nano and macroscopic world.
The second chapter of this thesis is dedicated to the investigation of a new synthetic pathway for bottom up nano-Graphene production, using polyaromatic hydrocarbons precursors. The chemical and morphological analysis of the obtained deposits gives encouraging results about the proficient production of Carbon-base nano-assemblies.
The third chapter is dedicated to the study and application of nanocarbons for energy production with particular attention to the incoming environmental problem. The objects of my study were Nitrogen-doped Graphene, as an alternative to metal catalysts for Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and a Bodipy chromophore coupled with a Fullerene, as an efficient system for photoelectrochemical conversion.
The results obtained until now in the study of Carbon-based nanomaterials represent a good reason to further investigate their behaviour, properties and possible applications and I hope this thesis is a contribution to such a complex topic.


The combination of the lignocellulosic residue sugarcane bagasse and poultry litter as carbon and nutrients sources, respectively, in organic permeable reactive barriers for remediation of metal laden acid mine drainage has not yet been extensively tested and may be promising based on chemical composition. This system is being tested in the laboratory by means of microcosm batch experiments using sugarcane bagasse with and without poultry-litter as nitrogen and phosphorous source. As expected based on the compositions of sugarcane bagasse and poultry litter, the experiments (duplicate) combining both residues achieved the highest rates of sulfate reduction, between ~ 30 to 45 mg sulfate/L-day, and better sustained these rates throughout the duration of the experiment (78 days). Also, pH values increased from ~ 6 to 8, and the oxidation-reduction potential achieved < -100 mV, indicating anaerobic sulfate-reducing conditions. Mathematical modeling performed on these experiments, with a previously-tested model, resulted in simulated results that approached the experimental data when the sugarcane bagasse was modeled as comprising a cellulose fraction with a Contois specific degradation rate similar to that for wood chips and leaf mulch, plus an additional easily-degradable fraction to account for the occurrence of soluble sugars in sugarcane bagasse.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to report a method for making a cheap and effective anesthesia facemask for laboratory rodents and chicks that allows access to the eyes for ophthalmic procedures such as electroretinography (ERG) and optical coherence tomography (OCT).

METHODS
The facemask is fabricated from a bulb syringe and a medicine dropper (Luvs(®) , Jamaica, NY) both intended for use in infants. The tip of the bulb syringe is removed to make a plastic cone (1.5 cm in length) to fit over the animal's nose. The bulb is removed from the medicine dropper and a small hole on the side of bulb near the closed end made into which the narrow end of the plastic cone is fitted and the joint glued with a hot glue gun. The facemask is then attached over the anesthetic tubing.

RESULTS
Following induction of anesthesia, the facemask and a nonrebreathing circuit (Baines system) are suitable to maintain anesthesia in laboratory rodents and chicks while allowing ready access to the eyes for ERG and OCT. The mask fits snuggly, reducing leakage of anesthetic gasses and it has a minimum of deadspace.

CONCLUSIONS
The materials required for making the facemask are cheap and readily available and it is easy to fabricate. We found it excellent for use with mice and chicks, and it allows easy access to the eyes for techniques such as ERG and OCT.


ALTHOUGH successful surgical reconstruction of injured arteries was not infrequently reported for many decades before World War II,* such results could in those years by no means be uniformly predicted. That operations on arterial and arteriovenous aneurysms could be expected to be followed by continuity of the artery in a majority of cases was not demonstrated until the publication of the work on the casualties resulting from that war. 5 The experience of the later part of the Korean campaign with its fixed battle line allowing specialized surgical personnel access to the injured shortly after wounding marked one more important step forward by demonstrating that the majority of acute injuries to major vessels could also be successfully repaired. 6 The concept of reconstruction of arteries whose functional continuity has been impaired as a result of arteriosclerosis is of more recent origin. The original impetus to perform such operations was imparted


The term sustainable development is often criticized for having lost credibility due to a lack of clear-cut delineation. The same holds true for education designed to foster sustainable development often referred to as education for sustainable development (ESD). This contribution agrees that the term suffers from a want of meaning, but argues that the persistent hunt for a definition— i.e. , a fixed generic description—produces rather than resolves this deficit. What sustainable development means is context and time dependent and is therefore necessarily ambiguous, open-ended and dynamic. Hence, the success of ESD depends on the paradoxical imperative of reducing vagueness while at the same time maintaining ambiguity. This paper explores how this can be established and proposes a process informed by the arts. Drawing from dialogic practices, site-specific theatre and a project conducted in a British village, this writing discusses elements that constitute a process of "context-based meaning finding". It concludes that ESD essentially starts with and revolves around re-embedding SD in life and the act of living, engaging people in place through processes in which communities yield their own, context and time specific interpretations of sustainable development.


The Department of Health published two reports in 1962 and 1969 confirming the effectiveness of water fluoridation in demonstration studies in Watford, Anglesey and Kilmarnock. By 1988, approximately 6 million consumers (12 per cent of the population of England and Wales) were receiving artificially fluoridated water, although much of that progress was the result of decisions taken by local authorities prior to the reorganisation of local government and the health service in 1973-74. The Water Fluoridation Act (1985) established a clear process for decision making which incorporated requirements for local consultation. National opinion surveys indicate that public support for fluoridation has increased from 66 per cent in 1980 to 79 per cent in 1992. Regional Fluoridation Publicity Action Groups will need to convince local decision makers of the extent of this public support.


This paper described the Abaqus/Explicit 6.7 simulation work performed to study the frontal crash impact condition for an in-house designed and produced lightweight solar vehicle main structural body. The structural body was fabricated from aluminum hollow pipes welded together. The analysis is needed to safeguard the safety of the vehicle driver. The dynamic response of the vehicle structure when subjected to frontal impact condition was simulated, according to NASA best practice for crash test methodology. The simulated speed used was based on the NHTSA standard. Comparison of the analysis with the standard Head Injury Criteria (HIC) and Chest Injury Criteria (CIC) revealed that the driver of the designed vehicle would not be risk because the acceleration resultant was found to be lower than 20 G.  The analysis also proved that structural component was able to protect the driver during any frontal collision incident. However, to ensure the safety of the driver, safety precautions such as the use of seatbelt and helmet as well as driving below the speed limit are recommended. DOI: 10.18495/comengapp.12.085096


The North American Prairie Pothole Region covers about 770,000 square kilometers of the United States and Canada (including parts of 5 States and 3 provinces: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta). The Laurentide Ice Sheet shaped the landscape of the region about 12,000 to 14,000 years ago. The retreat of the ice sheet left behind low-permeability glacial till and a landscape dotted with millions of depressions known today as prairie potholes. The wetlands that subsequently formed in these depressions, prairie-pothole wetlands, provide critical migratory-bird habitat and support dynamic aquatic communities. Extensive grasslands and productive agricultural systems surround these wetland ecosystems. In prairie-pothole wetlands, the compositions of plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate communities are highly dependent on hydrogeochemical conditions. Regional climate shifts between wet and dry periods affect the length of time that wetlands contain ponded surface water and the chemistry of that ponded water. Land-use change can exacerbate or reduce the effects of climate on wetland hydrology and water chemistry. A mechanistic understanding of the relation among climate, land use, hydrology, chemistry, and biota in prairie-pothole wetlands is needed to better understand the complex, and often interacting, effects of climate and land use on prairie-pothole wetland systems and to facilitate climate and land-use change adaptation efforts. The Pothole Hydrology-Linked Systems Simulator (PHyLiSS) model was developed to address this need. The model simulates water-surface elevation dynamics in prairie-pothole wetlands and quantifies changes in salinity. The PHyLiSS model is unique among other wetland models because it accommodates differing sizes and morphometries of wetland basins, is not dependent on a priori designations of wetland class, and allows for functional changes associated with dynamic shifts in ecohydrological states. The PHyLiSS model also has the capability to simulate wetland salinity, and potential future iterations will also simulate the effects of changing hydrology and geochemical conditions on biota. This report documents the development of the hydrological and geochemical components of the PHyLiSS model and provides example applications.


The NAHMS Cattle on Feed Evaluation (COFE) was designed to provide both participants and the industry with information on the nation's feedlot animal population for education and research. The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) collaborated with NAHMS to select a statistically valid producer sample (3,214 producers) to provide inferences to the nation's feedlot animal population. Included in the study were 13 states that accounted for 85.8 percent of the U.S. cattle-on-feed inventory as of January 1, 1994. State and Federal Veterinary Medical Officers (VMO's) collected data from feedlots of 1,000 head or more capacity through personal interviews from October 3 through December 21, 1994, for Part II. Contact for this paper: David Dargatz


Taking an original approach to Robert Browning's poetics, Britta Martens focuses on a corpus of relatively neglected poems in Browning's own voice in which he reflects on his poetry, his self-conceptualisation and his place in the poetic tradition. She analyses his work in relation to Romanticism, Victorian reactions to the Romantic legacy, and wider nineteenth-century changes in poetic taste, to argue that in these poems, as in his more frequently studied dramatic monologues, Browning deploys varied dramatic methods of self-representation, often critically and ironically exposing the biases and limitations of the seemingly authoritative speaker 'Browning'. The poems thus become devices for Browning's detached evaluation of his own and of others' poetics, an evaluation never fully explicit but presented with elusive economy for the astute reader to interpret. The confrontation between the personal authorial voice and the dramatic voice in these poems provides revealing insights into the poet's highly self-conscious, conflicted and sustained engagement with the Romantic tradition and the diversely challenging reader expectations that he faces in a post-Romantic age. As the Victorian most rigorous in his rejection of Romantic self-expression, Browning is a key transitional figure between the sharply antagonistic periods of Romanticism and Modernism. He is also, as Martens persuasively demonstrates, a poet of complex contradictions and an illuminating case study for addressing the perennial issues of voice, authorial authority and self-reference.


Background Obesity is a growing health issue in the United States (US) known to contribute to chronic diseases and injuries. We wondered whether recent obesity trends might be large enough to be visible amongst drivers involved in fatal crashes in the US. Objective: To assess obesity trends in drivers involved in fatal crashes in the United States. Methods The Fatality Accident Reporting System database of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was analysed to assess drivers' obesity trends. All drivers involved in a fatal crash from Jan 1999 to Dec 2012 with reported height and weight were included in the analysis. Vehicle occupants and pedestrians were excluded from the analysis because of lack of information. Drivers' obesity was defined by body mass index according to the World Health Organisation definitions of under or normal weight, over-weight, and obesity class I-III. Results Of 753,024 drivers involved in fatal crashes from 1999–2012, BMI was available for 534,719 drivers. Overall, 36% were over-weight, 14% had obesity class I, 4% had obesity class II, and 2% had obesity class III. The prevalence of overweight in drivers rose from 34% in 1999 to 36% from 1999 to 2012. Over the same period, the prevalence of class I obesity rose from 12% to 16%, class II obesity from 3% to 6%, and class III obesity from 1% to 3%. Trends remained significant (P < 0.001) after adjusting for vehicle and drivers characteristics. Surprisingly, fewer obese drivers tested positive for alcohol compared to non-obese drivers (16% vs. 23%, P < 0.001). Conclusions: We suggest that the increasing population prevalence of obesity in the US is sufficiently large to contribute to increasing numbers of fatal motor vehicle crashes.


Mesoproterozoic magmatism that is exposed on the eastern and western margins of Laurentia (North America) are interpreted to be parts of large igneous provinces (LIP). The western margin between Kimberley (British Columbia) and Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming), and the eastern margin between Labrador City and coastal Labrador are herein referred to as western Laurentia (WL) and eastern Laurentia (EL), respectively. WL intraplate magmatism was previously divided into two LIPs the: 1) ca. 1460 Ma Moyie-Purcell LIP (MPL) which consists of the i) Purcell lavas in the USA, ii) Moyie sills of the Belt-Purcell basin iii) dykes of the Tobacco Root Mountains and 2) the ca. 780 Ma Gunbarrel LIP. The MPL is composed of tholeiitic basalts, and associated with the world class Sullivan Pb-Zn deposit. EL consists of basalts of the non-mineralized Michael-Shabogamo Gabbros (MSG).
This research demonstrated that at least 17 geochemical groups are present in WL of which some belong to additional previously unrecognized events. Seven geochemical groups belong to the ca. 1460 Ma MPL; 1 with the ca. 780 Ma Gunbarrel LIP, 2 with a 1590-1550 Ma Mammoth-Western Channel LIP (MWCL); 2 with ages of 2480, and 1420 Ma; and 5 undated mafic pulses. The MWCL is similar to contemporaneous volcanic rocks within the South Australia craton, which was adjacent to NW Laurentia ca. 1590 Ma. This study proposes a shared 1590 Ma plume and LIP magmatism between Laurentia, and South Australia cratons.
The MSG of EL are subalkaline basalts enriched in P2O5 and K2O and are shown to represent a single event with 2 pulses based on new U-Pb ages. Each pulse is defined by a distinct [P2O5*1000]/Zr (P/Zr) ratio: 1) a high P/Zr group at ca. 1425-1435 Ma; and 2) a low P/Zr group at ca. 1435-1450 Ma. Enrichment of P2O5 and K2O is due to melting of a metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle with melting facilitated by a slab window.


Mazandaran province is one of the most important agricultural areas in Iran. Researches findings show that the role of bank credits is really important due to the lack of available funds in agricultural sector. In this study, the relationship between allocation of Agricultural Bank credits of Iran as professional bank section and agricultural employment was studied in the Mazandaran province based on a threshold error correction model during 1981-2011. The results show that the impact of credits on agricultural employment has been significantly different in upper and lower level of estimated threshold. The estimated threshold is about 44 percent for bank credits. The impact of bank credits on agricultural employment will be significantly negative when they exceeds from the threshold point. The results confirm transfer of capital from agriculture to other sections, resulting in a lack of integrated management for credit allocation system.


We have developed a new algorithm for the inversion of magnetotelluric (MT) data. The developed algorithm is built to be fast, versatile, and accurate. A fast inversion algorithm has to include a fast forward-modeling routine. To achieve that, a hybrid approach consisting of finite-difference (FD) and finite-element (FE) methods is used to benefit from the speed of the FD method and the flexibility to add topographic features of the FE method. To reduce the number of cells, and thus reducing the size of the system to be solved in the forward and pseudoforward solutions, different meshes for various groups of frequencies are used. Then, these are mapped onto the inversion mesh by a mesh-decoupling technique to further accelerate the inversion. To build a versatile inversion algorithm, the capability of using different data types is implemented. In addition to the impedance tensor and the magnetic transfer function, the algorithm also computes the phase tensor and phase vector, which are distortion-free forms of MT data. It is also possible to invert intersite data and their respective phase tensors using the developed code. Furthermore, the distortion matrix can also be estimated as a parameter. The new code is tested with different noisy and distorted synthetic data measured on a surface with topography to evaluate the inversion accuracy and computational efficiency. The results indicate that the code is accurate and that the runtimes are reasonable for the large 3D models considered. Using four graphics processing units, the hybrid forward-modeling approach and the mesh-decoupling technique together result in a 12 times speedup for the examples presented in this study.


The purpose of this research is to analyze visuals and texts from the three 2015 and 2016 Mini U (sport, recreation, and academic programs for young people) brochures at a post-secondary institution, Canada. Semiotics of the brochures is analyzed first and content analysis follows. The findings of this study are: (1) an overall impression of visuals from the brochures appears a dominant imagery of whiteness; (2) the techniques for taking pictures (e.g., size, clarity, colour, lay out, and representation of certain images) in the brochures make White figures more visible than non-White figures; (3) 87%, 88%, and 89% of figures of children and youth are White, and 87%, 94%, and 100% of the Mini U program leaders are White; (4) the offered Mini U programs tend to be designed for White-centred programs (e.g., hockey, ice programs); and (5) the images of whiteness in the brochures seemly reflect institutional social exclusion and racism on Canadian campus. A socially just and sustainable campus can be possible by changing the publication practice of Mini U brochures as a small step.   Key words: racism, whiteness, exclusion, higher education, visuals, multiculturalism, sustainable diversity


Unique strain characteristics of long period fiber gratings (LPFG) fabricated by a focused CO2 laser beam carving periodic grooves on the fiber are investigated for the first time to our knowledge. Resonant wavelength, transmission attenuation, and polarization dependent loss (PDL) of the CO2-laser-carved LPFG are found to depend strongly on the tensile strain applied, and their strain sensitivities are dependent on the depth of grooves and/or the initial refractive index modulation. The average strain sensitivity of resonant wavelength for LPFG is increased by 229 times and is up to -102.89 nm/mepsiv by means of carving periodic grooves on the fiber. When a stretching force is applied to the LPFG, the resonant wavelength can "blue" shift by -11.84 nm, the absolute value of peak transmission attenuation and the maximum PDL can be increased by 25.913 and 26.535 dB, respectively. The CO2-laser-carved LPFG combines the features of the three types of LPFGs reported previously, i.e, the CO 2-laser-induced LPFGs without physical deformation, the corrugated LPFGs fabricated by hydrofluoric acid etching, and the microbend-induced LPFGs. The mechanisms of refractive index modulation in the CO2-laser-carved LPFGs under tensile strain are rather complicated and may be regarded as a combination of the stress-relaxation-, the groove-, the strain-, and the microbend-induced refractive index perturbations


Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands) is characterised by a maritime polar climate with temperatures above 0°C for 4 months and a mean annual precipitation of 450 mm. Nine vertical profiles were investigated regarding to their geochemical and geophysical properties and their microbial community structures. Two of the sites were covered by mosses and showed initial soil formation and humus accumulation. Total carbon and total nitrogen contents were low except for the upper layers of the moss covered sites. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprints from amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments showed large varieties in the vertical profiles and between the different sites. Most of the sequences obtained from re-amplified DGGE bands belong to the Bacteriodetes and Acidobacteria phyla. We also found sequences affiliated to methanotrophic bacteria (Methylobacter, Methylocapsa, Methylocystis) as well as to microorganisms involved in the nitrogen cycle (Nitrospira, Nitrospina). Furthermore, it was possible to isolate pure cultures, which belong mainly to Arthrobacter and Pseudomonas but also members of Frigoribacterium, Devosia, Leifsonia, Subtercola and Mucilaginibacter could be isolated. Although nutrient content is low a distinct diversity of microorganisms can be found in these extreme habitats dominated by so far unknown species.


Whether on theory or in applications, optical imaging and analysis have gained great progresses with the developments of biological studies and labeling techniques and which exhibits a good prospect. Recently, the biophotonics advances and several new ways of breaking diffraction limit on the optical imaging are described in this paper. In particular, the progresses on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer microscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, as well as their applications for resolving molecular biologic prob-lem are discussed in detail.


In many applications of the Cox model, the proportional-hazards assumption is implausible. In these cases, the solution to nonproportional hazards usually consists of modeling the effect of the variable of interest and its interaction effect with some function of time. Although Stata provides a command to implement this interaction in stcox, it does not allow the typical visualizations using stcurve if stcox was estimated with the tvc() option. In this article, I provide a short workaround that estimates the survival function after stcox with time-dependent coefficients. I introduce and describe the scurve_tvc command, which automates this procedure and allows users to easily visualize survival functions for models with time-varying effects.


Early-intervention and early childhood professionals have long considered family-centered service delivery best practice. Exactly what family-centered practice means, however, remains unclear. The lack of consensus in defining family centeredness results in incongruence in the manner and degree to which professionals implement family centeredness. This review of the literature examines current conceptualizations of family-centered practice in an effort to determine whether there is a common definition; and, if so, how that definition has changed over the past decade. The authors found that, though the key elements of family centeredness (i.e., family as the unit of attention, family choice, family strengths, family–professional relationship, and individualized family services) have remained consistent, the emphasis has shifted from the family as the unit of attention to family–professional relationship and family choice. Implications for early intervention practice and research are discussed.


The authors present long-term results of using costal and alar allo-cartilages for repairing defects of the cartilage part of nasal ridge. Transplantation of the costal allo-cartilage to 362 patients entailed cartilage deformations in 50, inflammation in 34 and resolution of the cartilage in 26 patients. Transplantation of alar cartilage brought resolution and deformation in 10 and 7 cases of 276 transplantations, respectively, in the absence of inflammation. Moreover, the latter material provides better cosmetic results.


Abstract Many books and other published recommendations provide a large, sometimes excessive amount of information to be included, and of mistakes to be avoided in research papers for academic journals. However, there is a lack of simple and clear recommendations on how to write such scientific articles. To make life easier for new authors, we propose a simple hypothesis-based approach, which consistently follows the study hypothesis, section by section throughout the manuscript: The introduction section should develop the study hypothesis, by introducing and explaining the relevant concepts, connecting these concepts and by stating the study hypotheses to be tested at the end. The material and methods section must describe the sample or material, the tools, instruments, procedures and analyses used to test the study hypothesis. The results section must describe the study sample, the data collected and the data analyses that lead to the confirmation or rejection of the hypothesis. The discussion must state if the study hypothesis has been confirmed or rejected, if the study result is comparable to, and compatible with other research. It should evaluate the reliability and validity of the study outcome, clarify the limitations of the study and explore the relevance of the supported or rejected hypothesis for clinical practice and future research. If needed, an abstract at the beginning of the manuscript, usually structured in objectives, material and methods, results and conclusions, should provide summaries in two to three sentences for each section. Acknowledgements, declarations of ethical approval, of informed consent by study subjects, of interests by authors and a reference list will be needed in most scientific journals.


The following reflective essay expounds on the need for a commitment to excellence in medicine and health care. The ancient Greeks' central ideal was arete, defined as excellence or virtue. Healthcare professionals driven to promote prevent and reverse disease, while respecting and enhancing the health of the whole person, are champions of arete in health care. The Byzantine hospital known as the Pantokrator Xenon, founded in 1136, is presented as an example of arete in health care. Lastly, the patient-provider relationship and compassionate, selfless love (agape) are described as the foundation of excellent health care.


Design activities coupled with conductor R&D and model coil construction are under way for developing a curved fast cycled superconducting dipole suitable for operations of the SIS300 synchrotron at FAIR. The main target is the construction within 2009 of a model magnet (cold mass fully integrated in a horizontal cryostat). This magnet is designed for generating 4.5 T magnetic field in a bore of 100 mm, able to be operated at a field rate of 1 T/s. The magnetic length is 3.8 m with a curvature radius of 66.67 m (the sagitta is 27 mm). The mechanical structure is based on 3 mm thick laminated stainless steel collars, assembled through keys, and 1 mm thick iron yoke laminations, assembled through large Al alloy C-shaped clamps. A 2D finite element analysis has been performed to evaluate stresses and deformations coming out during assembly, cool-down and energization. Particular emphasis has been given to the possible fatigue problems ensuing from the large operating field rate over a large lifetime cycle number, 107. Numerical results are presented and discussed.


Congenital esophageal web is a very rare type of esophageal atresia (EA) and is considered as Type IV atresia in Kluth's classification. Type IV EA is further classified into subgroups according to the location of web and the presence of tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF). Herein, we present a newborn having Type IV1a EA who was initially suspected as isolated EA and has co‐existing malrotation together with the review of the literature. A newborn having congenital esophageal web was admitted with antenatal ultrasonography revealing polyhydramnios, dilated stomach, and duodenum. Abdominal X‐ray revealed a gasless abdomen suggesting isolated EA. The upper gastrointestinal series confirmed complete obstruction at the lower esophagus. Bronchoscopy performed excluding TEF. Laparotomy revealed intestinal malrotation and the absence of another GI webs. Gastrotomy was performed and mucosal web at GEJ was seen by pushing nasogastric catheter. Web excision and Ladd procedure were performed. Congenital esophageal web is an extremely rare type of esophageal anomaly that can be only classified in Kluth classification. A high index of suspicion is required for diagnosis especially in newborns with the gasless abdomen and esophageal obstruction at the level of GEJ. Preoperative bronchoscopy is mandatory to exclude an associating TEF. Surgical exploration via laparotomy is beneficial for exploring additional GIS anomalies.


A guide to research materials for the serious jazz scholar as well as books, sound recordings, and videos for the jazz enthusiast.


Biodiesel is an alternative fuel that can be produced from a variety of lipid feedstocks. It has a number of perceived advantages over conventional petroleum diesel and as a result world production of biodiesel has increased dramatically since the turn of the century. Amongst its reported disadvantages is a widely observed increase in emissions of oxides of nitrogen, or NOx. Several explanations have been proposed for this phenomenon; in reality it is likely to be due to a combination of factors. The interplay of multiple factors affecting NOx emissions means that the increase in NOx when fuelling on biodiesel is not consistent or ubiquitous, but is instead dependent upon operating conditions and the specifics of the fuels being compared. The work documented in this thesis explores the nature and causes of the change in NOx emissions associated with biodiesel. The intention was that, by adjusting operating conditions, and using a wide range of fuels, doped with additives to achieve an even broader range of combustion characteristics, the impact of important variables would be made clearer, making it possible to reduce the problem to its lowest common denominators. In early experiments it was found that NOx emissions from biodiesel tended to be lower than those of petrodiesel under conditions where combustion was relatively highly premixed, but higher under more conventional diesel conditions where diffusion combustion constituted a larger proportion of heat release. The main experimental set revealed a definite increase in NOx emissions when fuelling on biodiesel, for a fixed start of combustion and equivalent degree of premixing. The addition of an oxygenate to petrodiesel elicited comparable NOx emissions to biodiesel, as a function of fuel-bound oxygen content; the data implies that the like-for-like biodiesel NOx increase may be a direct result of fuelbound oxygen. However, the like-for-like biodiesel NOx increase varies dependent upon operating conditions. In part, this may be related to higher apparent heat release rate (AHRR) through the diffusion burn phase when fuelling on biodiesel. This may result from the extended biodiesel injection duration. Across operating conditions, the extent to which smoke emissions when fuelling on petrodiesel exceeded those when fuelling on biodiesel was generally correlated with the magnitude of the biodiesel NOx increase; where the difference in smoke emissions was small, the biodiesel NOx increase was small, and where the difference in smoke emissions was more substantial, so was the difference in NOx emissions. This suggests a possible connection to changes in mixture stoichiometry. When differentiating between fuels, increased cetane number reduces NOx, and increased oxygen content increases NOx. Biodiesel does not necessarily have higher NOx emissions than petrodiesel: the biodiesel NOx increase exists where the difference in cetane number is insufficient to counteract the effects of fuel-bound oxygen content.


[1] In the Indian Ocean, in situ data are sparse both in time and space. Therefore, numerical models are one of the major tools for further understanding of the ocean circulation. We have implemented, validated, and done a 40 year simulation experiment forced by synoptic atmospheric data by using the Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM) not previously used for the Indian Ocean. The simulation results compare well to available observations including an extensive altimeter data set from ERS and TOPEX/Poseidon. The model simulation discovered an anticyclonic gyre in the southern Bay of Bengal, confirmed by altimeter data and previously unknown. This gyre is clearly influenced by the strength of the Indian Monsoon Current. From the 40 year interannual investigation, abnormal cooling as high as 4°C was simulated off Indonesia, in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, and warming in the west, off Somalia, during years which coincide with negative Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). These years also coincide with Pacific Ocean El Nino years, except for 1961. The cooling off Indonesia is normally followed by a warming the following year. We also observed a reduction in upwelling off the southwest coast of India, which is one of the major fishing areas along the continental shelf, which also coincide with El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years. We conclude that El Nino events occur very clearly in the Indian Ocean.


In recent studies, between 50% to 75% of residential water was used for outdoor irrigation (Milesi et al., 2012). Turfgrass lawns are widely used in outdoor landscapes and are the largest irrigated crop by total area in the United States (Milesi et al., 2005). Consequently, as more American homes utilize turfgrass lawns, outdoor irrigation is expected to increase (Devitt, Carstensen, & Morris, 2008). Increases in outdoor water usage coupled with urbanization pressures water resources and intensifies the need for conservation. This study utilized hierarchical multiple regression to determine factors affecting urban residents' intent to engage in water conservation. It also evaluated the effect of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables on intent to conserve water, then included perceived cost of water and personal norms as additional factors affecting intent to conserve. A total of 1,809 urban residents in the U.S. were surveyed via a researcher-developed questionnaire using non-probability purposive sampling. Findings revealed both social and personal norms had strong effects on intent to conserve water. Recommendations follow that social and personal norms be made known to target audiences and used collectively in extension water conservation programs to promote behavior change.


The "double descent" risk curve was recently proposed to qualitatively describe the out-of-sample prediction accuracy of variably-parameterized machine learning models. This article provides a precise mathematical analysis for the shape of this curve in two simple data models with the least squares/least norm predictor. Specifically, it is shown that the risk peaks when the number of features $p$ is close to the sample size $n$, but also that the risk decreases towards its minimum as $p$ increases beyond $n$. This behavior is contrasted with that of "prescient" models that select features in an a priori optimal order.