At Ghent University, we have built a course curriculum on integrated photonics, and in particular silicon photonics, based on interactive Jupyter Notebooks. This has been used in short workshops, specialization courses at PhD level, as well as the M.Sc. Photonics Engineering program at Ghent University and the Free University of Brussels. The course material teaches the concepts of on-chip waveguides, basic building blocks, circuits, the design process, fabrication and measurements. The Jupyter notebook environment provides an interface where static didactic content (text, figures, movies, formulas) is mixed with Python code that the user can modify and execute, and interactive plots and widgets to explore the effect of changes in circuits or components. The Python environment supplies a host of scientific and engineering libraries, while the photonic capabilities are based on IPKISS, a commercial design framework for photonic integrated circuits by Luceda Photonics. The IPKISS framework allows scripting of layout and simulation directly from the Jupyter notebooks, so the teaching modules contain live circuit simulation, as well as integration with electromagnetic solvers. Because this is a complete design framework, students can also use it to tape out a small chip design which is fabricated through a rapid prototyping service and then measured, allowing the students to validate the actual performance of their design against the original simulation. The scripting in Jupyter notebooks also provides a self-documenting design flow, and the use of an established design tool guarantees that the acquired skills can be transferred to larger, real-world design projects.


Kinesin-12 is a motor protein that has a role in the processes of mitotic spindle formation and maintenance. The human Kinesin-12, Kif15, has been shown to have some functional redundancy with Eg5, a Kinesin-5 that plays key roles in the formation of the bipolar spindle and is a potential target for anti-cancer drugs. Eg5 is thought to contribute to spindle formation by cross-linking and sliding microtubules, however little is known about the mechanism of Kif15.

We have used laser tweezers to investigate the mechanical properties of Kif15 compared to those of kinesin-1. We have found that Kif15 is plus end directed and takes multiple steps along the microtubule without detaching. Full-length Kif15 walks faster and supports more load than full-length Eg5. Kif15 is less processive under load than kinesin-1, although it has a similar stall force. A second, diffusive, microtubule binding site in Kif15 supports processivity at zero load, and slows flyback following a detachment in the optical trap.

The microtubule-associated protein, Tpx2, is necessary for the localisation of Kif15 to spindle microtubules. We find that Tpx2 binding arrests the motion of Kif15 and creates a stable binding state that resists both assisting and hindering loads. We also find evidence of a tail-mediated auto-inhibitory mechanism that creates a stable MT binding state and causes pausing during processive runs. C-terminal truncation of the Kif15 tail relieves this inhibition leading to faster overall stepping and abrogates the effects of Tpx2.

We examined the detachment behaviour of Kif15 from microtubules, under assisting and hindering loads. We find that assisting loads cause single Kif15 and Kinesin-1 motors to detach from the microtubule more easily than hindering loads. Kif15 shows a much more asymmetric response to load in low levels of ATP than Kinesin-1, and both show more asymmetry than Eg5: previous work has shown that the behaviour of Eg5 does not change dramatically with differing loading directions. This has interesting implications for the roles of Kif15 and Eg5 motors in both parallel and anti-parallel microtubule bundles. Overall our data supports an in vivo mechanism for Kif15 that it distinct from that of Eg5.

We investigated the load-dependent detachment of Kinesin-1 and Kif15 in millimolar concentrations of ADP, AMPPNP and micromolar concentrations of ATP. Kinesin-1 in ADP detached at low loads, and in AMPPNP at two different loads, both higher than in ADP. These two AMPPNP states of Kinesin1 likely corresponding to single and double headed microtubule binding, as proposed by Ishiwata and colleagues. Kif15 behaved broadly similarly. At micromolar ATP concentrations and hindering loads, both Kinesin-1 and Kif15 again showed two different high load detachment states. This is inconsistent with the model proposed by Ishiwata and possible modifications are discussed.


Isolated injuries were observed in 22 (16 men and 6 women) of 71 patients with a trauma of the pancreas. The correct diagnosis prior to operation was made in 3 patients. Laparotomy has revealed a complete transverse rupture of the pancreas in 4 patients. Three patients were subjected to distal resection of the pancreas, one patient--to economical resection with pancreatojejunostomy. The isolated injury of the pancreas was complicated by trauma pancreatitis in 18 patients by the moment of operation. The authors recommend to use rational drainage of the bursa omentalis with a two-lumen drain, abdominization of the organ, hypothermal perfusion, X-ray therapy. One of the 22 patients died.


Objective:To compare types and frequency of medical complications and comorbidities associated with violence-related penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) as compared to violence-related blunt TBI. Method:Data were collected prospectively at four medical centers participating in the TBI Model Systems (TBIMS) of Care project. A total of 317 individuals met the inclusion criteria for the TBIMS (i.e., showed evidence of a TBI, were age 16 or older, presented to the TBIMS emergency department within 24 hours of injury, and received acute and rehabilitation services within the model system). Main Outcome Measures:Frequency of medical complications and comorbid diseases. Results:Patients with penetrating injuries suffered significantly higher rates of respiratory failure (P = .004), pneumonitis/pneumonia, (P = .002), skull fracture (P = .001), cerebrospinal fluid leak (P = .0005), and hypotonia (P = .001) than did patients with blunt injuries. Prediction of complications and comorbidities via multiple regression revealed that a penetrating violent injury and the severity of injury were independent predictors of a higher rate of medical complications, whereas age and gender did not account for unique variance in the equation. Conclusions:Penetrating injuries are associated with higher rates of certain medical complications, especially to the pulmonary and central nervous systems. Acute care physicians and physiatrists must be prepared to treat these complications more often in patients with penetrating injuries.


Residuals between ground‐motion data and ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs) can be decomposed into terms representing earthquake source, path, and site effects. These terms can be cast in terms of repeatable (epistemic) residuals and the random (aleatory) components. Identifying the repeatable residuals leads to a GMPE with reduced uncertainty for a specific source, site, or path location, which in turn can yield a lower hazard level at small probabilities of exceedance. We illustrate a schematic framework for this residual partitioning with a dataset from the ANZA network, which straddles the central San Jacinto fault in southern California. The dataset consists of more than 3200 1.15≤ M ≤3 earthquakes and their peak ground accelerations (PGAs), recorded at close distances ( R ≤20  km). We construct a small‐magnitude GMPE for these PGA data, incorporating V S 30 site conditions and geometrical spreading. Identification and removal of the repeatable source, path, and site terms yield an overall reduction in the standard deviation from 0.97 (in ln units) to 0.44, for a nonergodic assumption, that is, for a single‐source location, single site, and single path. We give examples of relationships between independent seismological observables and the repeatable terms. We find a correlation between location‐based source terms and stress drops in the San Jacinto fault zone region; an explanation of the site term as a function of kappa, the near‐site attenuation parameter; and a suggestion that the path component can be related directly to elastic structure. These correlations allow the repeatable source location, site, and path terms to be determined a priori using independent geophysical relationships. Those terms could be incorporated into location‐specific GMPEs for more accurate and precise ground‐motion prediction.

[Electronic Supplement:][1] Earthquake catalogs.

 [1]: http://www.bssaonline.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1785/0120160164/-/DC1


The possibility of multiple use of Cuprophan capillary dialyzers reutilized with our own method with a help of an automatic apparatus produced according to our own constructive assumptions was evaluated. The experiments were carried out using capillary dialyzers of the Organon Technika firm, Andante H.F. type with 8 mu thickness of a Cuprophan capillary++ membrane and a dysfusion surface of 0.8 m2. Complete sterility of the regeneration process and full wash of the disinfectant (formaldehyde extract) were observed before reusing of the dialyzer. The clearance of creatinine did not lower when the regenerated dialyzers were used. During the first use of the dialyzer it was 105.8 +/- 8.9 ml/min, and during the sixth one--105.5 +/- 9.8 ml/min. In a group of 24 patients first dialyzed using dialyzers only once and then after 4 months' dialyzing with dialyzers used at least 6 times and again after 4 months' of further dialyzing using a dialyzer only once, remarkable changes of the concentration of urea, creatinine, hydrogen carbonates, fibrinogen, the hematocrit indicator, the amount of hemoglobulin, the number of hematocytes, blood platelets and the weights of the patients in blood serum were not observed. Differences in the before-mentioned indicators between the group of patients dialyzed with a multiple used dialyzer and group of 7 persons dialyzed at the same time with a dialyzer used only once were not observed. During 1075 dialyses made using reutilized dialyzers negative phenomena which might be connected with multiple use of dialyzers were not observed in patients. The authors come to the conclusion that the automatic reutilization of their own method does not lower the efficiency of hemodialysis, lowers the risk of the first use syndrome and is well tolerated by patients which with simultaneous lowering the costs of dialysis as is much for multiple use of dialyzers.


The mixed-size character of sediment is a necessary property to ex- plain physical phenomena such as downstream fining or the presence of armor layers. The active layer model was developed to model mixed-size sediment in river morphodynamics. This model assumes that the topmost part of the bed, the active layer, has no vertical stratification and interacts with the flow. The substrate, below the active layer, only interacts with the active layer in case of aggradation or degradation. The active layer model has been used in morphody- namic modelling for more than four decades but under certain conditions it may become mathematically ill-posed. When a model becomes ill-posed, the solu- tion presents unphysical oscillations and its predictive capabilities are lost. We present two alternatives to the active layer model. The first one retains the basic concepts and guarantees well-posedness by means of an additional parameter controlling the celerity of mixed-size sediment processes. The second solution yields a well-posed model by means of considering the sediment transport rate as a stochastic process rather than to adapt instantaneously to the flow. Both models provide reasonable results when compared to measured data from a lab- oratory experiment conducted under conditions in which the active layer model is ill-posed.


BACKGROUND
Data on the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in combination with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are lacking.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In this multicenter retrospective study, 222 consecutive HCC patients receiving combination therapy were enrolled between June 2008 and July 2011.

RESULTS
Chronic hepatitis B was the predominant cause of HCC (86%). Eighty percent patients were at Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C, and 86% patients were in Child-Pugh (CP) A class. The overall median survival was 12 months (95% CI 10.1-13.9). The overall incidence of adverse events (AEs) was 87%. In 177 BCLC-C patients, performance status, the number of HCC nodules, Child-Pugh score and macrovascular invasion were significantly associated with overall survival (OS) and were included in the final risk scores (R), where R = 5 × (vascular invasion: 0 if no, 1 yes) + 6 × (CP: 0 if A, 1 if B) + 7 × (no. of lesions: 0 if 1-2, 1 ≥3) + 8 × ( Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, ECOG: 0 if 0, 1 ≥1).

CONCLUSIONS
Sorafenib in combination with TACE should be considered a safe and effective therapy for advanced HCC. Further validation of the new subgroup of BCLC-C stage is warranted in an independent patient cohort.


In this thesis, an experimental investigation is carried out to study the mechanism governing the successful transmission or failure on the critical tube diameter phenomenon when a fully developed, self-sustained detonation propagating in the confined tube transmits into an open space. The result of this study contributes to a better understanding of fundamental physical processes on the initiation, propagation and failure of the detonation.
To demonstrate the dependence of critical tube diameter dc on combustion chemistry, two kinds of explosive mixtures are studied. The first is typical for common hydrocarbon mixtures characterized by irregular cellular structures and turbulent reactions zones. The other is referred to as stable mixtures particularly with combustibles highly-diluted with argon. A parametric study is carried out to measure critical tube diameters using stoichiometric acetylene-oxygen diluted with varying amount of argon to obtain these two types of mixtures. The present study validates that the well-accepted universal relation dc = 13λ holds for 0% - 30% argon diluted mixtures and breaks down when argon dilution increases up to 40%. Cell size measurement also indicates that the cellular detonation front starts to become more regular (or stable) when the argon dilution reaches above 40 - 50%. These results hence support that the physical process of critical tube diameter phenomenon is related to the stability nature of the detonation front and failure mechanism.
Failure mechanisms for the critical tube diameter phenomenon were previously postulated in the literature for the two kinds of mixtures. For unstable mixtures, the failure is based on the inability to form explosion centers in the failure wave when it has penetrated to the charge axis.
For stable mixtures, the failure is caused by excessive curvature of the entire detonation front when the corner expansion waves have distributed the curvature over the diverging wave surface.
To discriminate between the two aforementioned modes of failure and clarify the importance of instability, two series of experiments are conducted: one by generating artificially small flow instability using small obstacles with different blockage ratios and the other by damping
transverse instability using porous media to see how the critical tube diameter phenomenon responds to these perturbations. Results show that both generation and suppression of flow instability leads to a significant change in the critical condition for successful transmission. The critical pressure obtained in unstable mixtures is found lower with flow perturbation by the
obstacles but adversely increases with the damping of instability using porous walled tube; while no noticeable effect could be observed in stable, argon-diluted mixtures.
The general implications of the present study are that in common unstable mixtures, instability is essential for the critical tube diameter problem and more generally, for the initiation and propagation of detonation, providing an efficient mechanism of gas ignition. For only a very special class of stable mixtures, the propagation of the detonation wave relies solely on the global coupling between the reaction front and the shock and instabilities only play a minor role on the dynamics of the detonation.


Abstract. We have developed a new, high time-resolution, microwave heterodyne spectrometer for observations of water vapour in the middle atmosphere. It measures the rotational transition of water vapour at 22.235 GHz in the vertical and horizontal polarisation. The two polarisations are averaged in order to optimise the signal-to-noise ratio. The different polarisations have separate, but identical, signal chains consisting of a 22 GHz cooled HEMT amplifier, a second, warm, 22 GHz HEMT booster amplifier, an IF stage and a Chirp Transform Spectrometer (CTS) backend. Continuous calibration with two internal loads kept at temperatures close to the observed atmosphere, a wobbling optical table to reduce standing waves in the optical path and the low receiver temperature ensures a time resolution of an order of magnitude better than what has been achieved by earlier instruments. The error sources in the retrieved spectrum are discussed and the data is compared and validated against EOS-MLS on the NASA Aura satellite. The profiles are found to be in good agreement with each other.


Author(s): Altwaijry, Hotham | Advisor(s): Mehrotra, Sharad | Abstract: In the era of big data, in addition to large local repositories and data warehouses, today's enterprises have access to a very large amount of diverse data sources, including web data repositories, continuously generated sensory data, social media posts, clickstream data from web portals, audio/video data capture, and so on. As a result, there is an increasing demand for executing up-to-the-minute analysis tasks on top of these dynamic and/or heterogeneous data sources by modern applications. Such new requirements have created challenging new problems for traditional entity resolution, and data cleaning in general, techniques. In this thesis, we respond to some of these challenges by developing an analysis-aware approach to entity resolution.First, we explore the problem of analysis-aware data cleaning in the context of selection queries. Specifically, we propose an "on-the-fly" data cleaning framework in the context of SQL-like selection queries. The objective of this framework is to perform the minimal number of cleaning steps that are required to answer a user query correctly. Our approach leverages the concept of vestigiality to reduce cleaning overhead. We conducted a comprehensive empirical evaluation of the proposed solution to demonstrate its significant advantage in terms of efficiency over the traditional techniques for the given problem settings.Subsequently, we study analysis-aware data cleaning for the more general case where queries can be complex SQL-style selections and joins. In particular, we develop a framework for integrating entity resolution techniques with query processing. The aim of this framework is to utilize the query semantics to reap the benefits of early predicate evaluation while still minimizing redundant computation in the form of data cleaning. This framework relies on the notion of polymorphic operators, which are analogous to the common relational algebra operators with one exception: they know how to test the query predicates on the dirty data prior to cleaning it. We conducted extensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach on real and synthetic datasets.Overall, our experiments demonstrate outstanding results – that is our analysis-aware approaches are significantly better compared to traditional ER techniques, especially when the query is very selective.


A digital controlled oscillator (DCO) based clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit with mixed mode loop filter is designed and fabricated. It is composed of a digital loop filter, a DCO and an analog feed-forward charge-pump to take both advantages of digital and analog design which are 1) small area and low power 2) low latency 3) insensitive to gate oxide leakage in deep submicron process 4) good PSRR (0.447%/V). The circuit is fabricated in a 90 nm CMOS process. The core area is 0.0234 mm2, and the power consumption is less than 1mW when operating at 1.5 Gbps.


The multiple independent origins of eusociality in the insect order Hymenoptera are clustered in only four of more than 80 families, and those four families are two pairs of closely related taxa in a single part of the order. Therefore, although ordinal‐level characteristics can contribute to hymenopteran eusocial evolution, more important roles have been played by traits of infraordinal taxa that contain the eusocial forms. Many factors have been proposed and discussed, but assessments of traits' salience to eusocial evolution have heretofore not been joined to phylogenetics. In the present analysis, cladograms of superfamilies and families of Hymenoptera and of the family Vespidae are used to ordinate the appearance of traits that play roles in vespid eusociality. Proximity of traits' first appearance to the origin of eusocial Vespidae is taken as one measure of traits' salience to vespid eusocial evolution. Traits that subtend only eusocial taxa and that are uniquely associated with eusociality have foundations in more general traits that subtend more inclusive taxa. No single trait is uniquely causative of vespid eusocial evolution. High‐salience traits that closely subtend vespid eusociality include nesting, oviposition into an empty nest cell, progressive provisioning of larvae, adult nourishment during larval provision malaxation, and inequitable food distribution among nestmates. The threshold characteristic of Polistes‐grade eusociality is life‐long alloparental brood care by first female offspring who remain, uninseminated, at their natal nest. Traits directly associated with occurrence of such workers are larva‐adult trophallaxis, which can foster relatively low larval nourishment early in a colony cycle, and protogyny and direct larval development, which combine to yield restricted mating opportunities for female offspring that are the first to emerge in the colony cycle. Trait mapping suggests no role for asymmetry of relatedness due to haplodiploidy, but it suggests high salience for haplodiploidy as a mechanism enabling the production of all‐female clutches of first offspring.


Spin-orbit torques (SOTs), which rely on spin current generation from charge current in a nonmagnetic material, promise an energy-efficient scheme for manipulating magnetization in magnetic devices. A critical topic for spintronic devices using SOTs is to enhance the charge to spin conversion efficiency. Besides, the current-induced spin polarization is usually limited to in-plane, whereas out-of-plane spin polarization could be favored for efficient perpendicular magnetization switching. Recent advances in utilizing two important classes of two-dimensional materials - topological insulators and transition-metal dichalcogenides - as spin sources to generate SOT shed light on addressing these challenges. Topological insulators such as bismuth selenide have shown a giant SOT efficiency, which is larger than those from three-dimensional heavy metals by at least one order of magnitude. Transition-metal dichalcogenides such as tungsten telluride have shown a current-induced out-of-plane spin polarization, which is allowed by the reduced symmetry. In this review, we use symmetry arguments to predict and analyze SOTs in two-dimensional material-based heterostructures. We summarize the recent progress of SOT studies based on topological insulators and transition-metal dichalcogenides and show how these results are in line with the symmetry arguments. At last, we identify unsolved issues in the current studies and suggest three potential research directions in this field.


In this paper, we describe the networking of multiple Integral Music Controllers (IMCs) to enable an entirely new method for creating music by tapping into the composite gestures and emotions of not just one, but many performers. The concept and operation of an IMC is reviewed as well as its use in a network of IMC controllers. We then introduce a new technique of Integral Music Control by assessing the composite gesture(s) and emotion(s) of a group of performers through the use of a wireless mesh network. The Telemuse, an IMC designed precisely for this kind of performance, is described and its use in a new musical performance project under development by the authors is discussed.


Data-based modelling in the presence of uncertainties is a key challenge for Structure Health Monitoring (SHM) practitioners. In the scenario of applying damage detection methods using time series analysis, many of the approaches are based on Statistical Process Control (SPC). The inherent limitation within a SPC-based method is the restriction to stationary data. However, given the inevitable presence of uncertainties from the environment, stationary data acquisition is not guaranteed. To explore the potential relations behind the data while accommodating the issue of non-stationary behaviour, a Treed Gaussian Process (TGP) can be brought into action. TGP models have been shown to be successful in tackling non-stationary regression problems effectively, and have been adopted and applied across numerous research fields including SHM. However, a key limitation that has been found is the computational complexity of these models. This paper introduces a simplified TGP model that is distinct from previous formulations in being based on a different and less complex statistical model. The simplified version presented here reduces the complexity by removing and replacing parameters from previous formulations, as well as sampling and evaluating using a different criterion. The objective for the algorithm is to maintain accuracy and effectiveness while reducing the computational cost of implementation. The simplified algorithm is demonstrated here for two case studies. First, a benchmark comparison is made using a well-known motorcycle accident dataset. Secondly, the algorithms will be compared using experimental data from the well-known Z24 bridge SHM dataset.


13th of September is Roald Dahl Day. Children all over the world is celebrating this day to honour this author who brought every reader fun and great enjoyment. Let's find out more of Fantastic Mr Dahl and his work!


Effects of copper toxicity on zoea I of Lithodes santolla (Decapoda: Anomura) were analysed. The 96-h LC 50 was estimated, resulting in 298.5 µg L -1 . Groups of larvae were exposed to sublethal concentrations (40, 80 and 160 µg L -1 ) for 96 h. Oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion, O:N atomic ratio, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and body water content were measured. Oxygen consumption of treated groups (mean 46.92 ± 8.03 µg-atom O 2 h -1 mg -1 ) did not differ significantly with control. Ammonia excretion decreased by 60% at higher Cu concentration (1.61 ± 0.65 µg-atom N-NH 3 h -1 mg -1 ), leading to a 117% increase in the O:N ratio. LPO values during the exposure time were higher in all treatments than in the controls. The water content was significantly higher in treatments than in controls. The highest concentration assayed, which represents about 50% of 96-h LC 50 , had evident effects on the parameters analysed. The values of copper in water reported for the coastal zone of Ushuaia bay exceed the value established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for ambient water quality criteria. Therefore, the results obtained in the present study are a contribution to the study of potential effects of copper as a common stressor in the first larval stage of this commercial species of the Beagle Channel.


During the past six years as a "General Subjects Teacher" in a Provincial Technical High School with a roll of 700 plus I have observed with misgiving the apparent marked lack of reading ability displayed by the pupils. I have felt continually frustrated in my attempts to teach various subjects by the fact that a preponderance of the pupils are poor readers. Furthermore a considerable proportion of pupils openly resented opportunities to avail themselves of a free choice of reading matter during any silent periods offered to them. Many were content to turn over pages of books or magazines and frequently gave pictures only the most cursory scrutiny.


Atom centred ab initio Hartree-Fock is introduced for periodic systems with helical symmetry. Such a structure is decomposed as a product of two crystal sub-groups, one of which being cyclic. This enables the Fock matrix of a finite cluster of cells to be Fourier transformed into a block diagonal form. The diagonalisation is performed on the sub-matrices and the mean field experienced by the central unit cell is expressed in the direct space. This environment is then imposed on all cells of the cluster by Born–von Kármán periodic boundary conditions. This is iterated until self consistency and then the density of the cluster is populated across the tube. The band structure arises in terms of multiple band diagrams, one for each irreducible representation of the cyclic group. Such diagrams are calculated and analysed for a system of carbon nanotubes, differing in both helicity and geometry. Scaling of the lattice vector is observed to result in a semiconducting-metallic phase transition. Geometry optimisation yields elastic coefficients that are used to describe the radial breathing mode. A comparison with theoretical models suggests that the obtained bandgaps are overestimated. Further improvements are outlined to account for electron correlation by means of MP2 and approximated Coupled Cluster. keywords: Hartree Fock, atomistic, helical, nanotubes, ab initio, band structure, mean field, crystal groups, block diagonal, SCF


Two new Planomonospora species were isolated from soil by novel baiting techniques. Traditional taxonomic methods and fatty acid analysis techniques were used to establish the identities of these organisms. The names proposed for these new species are Planomonospora sphaerica, whose type strain is strain A51460 (= NRRL 18923), and Planomonospora alba, whose type strain is strain A82600 (= NRRL 18924). The descriptions of these taxa are based on single isolates.


SDN has been envisioned as the next generation network paradigm by decoupling control plane and data plane, such that network management and optimization can be conducted in a centralized manner using global network information. In this article, we study how to apply SDN concept to a wireless mesh network that has been widely adopted by various applications. We first propose a novel architecture of SD-WMNs, and identify several critical challenges. Since wireless spectrum is a scarce resource that is shared by both data and control traffic in SD-WMNs, we propose three spectrum allocation and scheduling algorithms, namely FB-NS, NFB-NS, and NFB-S that orchestrate both control and data traffic. Finally, performance is evaluated via extensive simulations.


We are continuing the development of ex-situ and in-situ temperature sensors for use under extreme conditions such as in explosions and under shock conditions. The sensors consist of trivalent lanthanide-doped luminescent materials. For the ex-situ measurements we have developed temperature and thermal impulse (temperature and time) sensors based on inorganic materials. We are using the fluorescence from the lanthanides to monitor temperature-induced irreversible phase transitions in these materials. Comparisons with thermocouple data and simulations show good agreement for explosion tests. For the in-situ temperature sensors we use two-color fluorescence thermometry of lanthanide doped inorganics as well as lanthanide-based organic complexes. Using these materials we are able to image sub-second laser-induced heating events.


: The effect of novobiocin on replication and transcription in the cells of Drosophila was investigated by incorporation of 3H-thymidine and 3H-uridine into the diploid cell nuclei of the ganglia and imaginal discs, as well as into the polythene nuclei of the salivary gland cells of the Drosophila larvae. An inhibitory effect of the antibiotic on these processes was shown. Possible mechanisms of the novobiocin effect on DNA and RNA synthesis are discussed.


The open unemployement rate is an indicator for measuring unemployment. Banten Province recorded as the highest on open unemployment rate number in Indonesia on 2018. A high open unemployment rates indicate serious problems in society. This problem must be resolved synergistically from the national level to the level of small areas such as sub-districts. However, data for the small area level has not been fulfilled due to the insufficient number of samples. We apply spatial EBLUP to estimate the open unemployment rates in the districs of Banten. Such a method of small area estimation is essential because some districts have small labor forces and direct estimation for them is not reliable. SEBLUP takes advantage of the correlation of the neighboring districts. Data that used for direct estimation is from National Labor Survey (Sakernas) and Village Potential (Podes) 2018. This research showed that SEBLUP model can increased the precision from direct estimation method or EBLUP. There are two districts that have highest category of open unemployment rate which are Curugbitung, and Koroncong


Aims: The present study aims at demonstrating changes in alpha wave frequency on electroencephalograph (EEG) at two and four months of preksha meditation training in young novice students.
Materials and Methods: Participants included 52 girls between the 17 to 21 years of age from a local college selected using a convenience sampling technique. They were randomly divided into experimental (n = 29) and control (n = 26) groups. Study duration was 4 months during which experimental group was administered a supervised PM training for 4 months. During this period control group continued their normal activities without mediation practice. EEG was analyzed for alpha waves and compared at base line, at 2 months and at 4 months.
Results: The mean value of alpha wave frequency (%) in control group at beginning was 49.65 ±21.598 which increased to 52.58±18.005 at 2 months. In experimental group, in beginning it was 49.52 ±18.169 which increased to 54.31±22.490 at 2 months. However, this increment was not statistically significant in both groups. A statistically significant increment in alpha waves percentage to 66.59±9.493 was observed in experimental group after four months of PM which was significant at the level of p
Conclusions: A significant increase in alpha waves was observed at 4 months of PM practice in young novice students. This increase was observed at 4 months and not at 2 months suggesting that longer practice of meditation is needed to bring out significant improvement.

Keywords: Preksha meditation, EEG, Alpha waves.


: Cardiac arrhythmia and electrolyte disturbances can occur as a complication of toxic serum levels of lithium salts. In this report, the development of sinus bradycardia and idioventricular rhythm with severe hypokalemia following an overdose ingestion of lithium carbonate was presented. Possible mechanisms and precautionary measures were discussed.


Obesity is a chronic disease affecting millions of people worldwide. The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is an interesting research model to study metabolic and transcriptomic responses to obesogenic diets. However, the sex-specific differences in these responses are still understudied and perhaps underestimated. In this study, we exposed adult male and female Dahomey fruit flies to a standard diet supplemented with sugar, fat, or a combination of both. The exposure to a diet supplemented with 10% sugar and 10% fat efficiently induced an increase in the lipid content in flies, a hallmark for obesity. This increase in lipid content was more prominent in males, while females displayed significant changes in glycogen content. A strong effect of the diets on the ovarian size and number of ma-ture oocytes was also present in females exposed to diets supplemented with fat and a combina-tion of fat and sugar. In both males and females, fat body morphology changed and was associ-ated with an increase in lipid content of fat cells in response to the diets. The expression of me-tabolism-related genes also displayed a strong sexually dimorphic response under normal condi-tions and in response to sugar and/or fat-supplemented diets. Here, we show that the exposure of adult fruit flies to an obesogenic diet containing both sugar and fat allowed studying sexual dimorphism in metabolism and the expression of genes regulating metabolism.


Inactivity is associated with endothelial dysfunction and the development of cardiovascular disease. Exercise training has a favourable effect in the management of hypertension, heart failure and ischaemic heart disease. These beneficial effects are probably mediated through improvements of vascular function and, in this issue of Clinical Science, Hägg and co-authors propose a coronary artery effect. The use of a Doppler technique for non-invasive assessment of coronary flow reserve in a small animal model is an exciting aspect of this study. If feasible in the hands of other investigators, the availability of sequential coronary flow measurements in animal models may help improve our understanding of the mechanisms of disorders of the coronary circulation.


The molybdenum cofactor (Moco) is a redox cofactor found in all kingdoms of life, and its biosynthesis is essential for survival of many organisms, including humans. The first step of Moco biosynthesis is a unique transformation of guanosine 5'-triphosphate (GTP) into cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate (cPMP). In bacteria, MoaA and MoaC catalyze this transformation, although the specific functions of these enzymes were not fully understood. Here, we report the first isolation and structural characterization of a product of MoaA. This molecule was isolated under anaerobic conditions from a solution of MoaA incubated with GTP, S-adenosyl-L-methionine, and sodium dithionite in the absence of MoaC. Structural characterization by chemical derivatization, MS, and NMR spectroscopy suggested the structure of this molecule to be (8S)-3',8-cyclo-7,8-dihydroguanosine 5'-triphosphate (3',8-cH2GTP). The isolated 3',8-cH2GTP was converted to cPMP by MoaC or its human homologue, MOCS1B, with high specificities (Km < 0.060 μM and 0.79 ± 0.24 μM for MoaC and MOCS1B, respectively), suggesting the physiological relevance of 3',8-cH2GTP. These observations, in combination with some mechanistic studies of MoaA, unambiguously demonstrate that MoaA catalyzes a unique radical C-C bond formation reaction and that, in contrast to previous proposals, MoaC plays a major role in the complex rearrangement to generate the pyranopterin ring.


In the early 1960s, a number of anarchist writers showed an interest in cybernetics, in which they saw the tools for better articulating radical forms of self-organisation. Discussions on the connections between anarchism and cybernetics did not advance very far, however, and by the 1970s the topic seems to have fallen off the anarchist radar. With an increase in interest in cybernetics over the last few years, this paper picks up where these debates left off and highlights some key points of contact between cybernetics and anarchism that have the potential to advance radical accounts of self-organisation. Based on a theoretical appraisal of the core texts and arguments in the debate around anarchism and cybernetics, the paper shows that the way in which hierarchy is formulated in cybernetic thought has a crucial impact on anarchist theory and practice and aids both academic approaches to social movements and, importantly, anarchist and radical left praxis. In addition, it provides a response to the critique of cybernetics in critical management studies that stands as a barrier to taking cybernetics seriously as a contribution to radical understandings of organisation.


Coenosopsia Malloch has eight known species distributed from southern North America to south-eastern South America. The species of the genus are morphologically very homogeneous, and major differences remain in male terminalia. Remarkably, two of the main diagnostic characteristics of Anthomyiidae are absent in this genus: the setulae on the ventral surface of the scutellum and vein A1 reaching the wing margin. Some studies have attempted to propose biogeographical narratives, primarily for the Neotropical distribution of the genus. Herein, we describe three new species of Coenosopsia from north-eastern Brazil (Coenosopsia limeirai sp. nov.), southern Brazil (Coenosopsia ribeiroi sp. nov.), and central Mexico (Coenosopsia azteca sp. nov.) and present an identification key. In addition, we present an updated phylogenetic analysis based on morphological evidence, which recovered Coenosopsia as monophyletic based on five synapomorphies and four homoplasies. We also presented the first biogeographical hypothesis of Coenosopsia based on biogeographic methods (ancestral reconstruction character and S-DIVA analyses), which indicated a Mesoamerican origin of the genus.


The complexity of health care and the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine to increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80% by 2020 requires educators and other stakeholders to consider a range of structures for providing RN-to-BSN programs. Although relatively few RN-to-BSN programs are offered in a community college setting, the concept is generating interest. This article provides a broad analysis of one region's experience with respect to this trend that is influencing nursing education. Facing significant challenges that are associated with planning and implementing the first bachelor's degree to be offered at a community college in Washington State, faculty from both Olympic College's and University of Washington Tacoma's nursing programs joined in a unique and constructive partnership. The faculty team used plans and successful strategies to overcome potential obstacles. The authors outline recommendations for others considering this approach to BSN education.


Reconstitution of cell-mediated immunity was achieved in a 5-month-old female infant with severe combined immunodeficiency by fetal thymus transplant given simultaneously with two units of transfer factor. The thymus was obtained from a 15-week gestational age male fetus, and the two units of transfer factor from the lymphocytes of 500 ml of peripheral blood. Three weeks after transplantation, two new HL-A antigens were detected on the infant9s lymphocytes, one of which was present in the mother of the thymus donor; at the same time, some of the infant9s own HL-A antigens disappeared. Thereafter, the percent of rosetteforming cells (T-cells) increased and the in vitro response to phytohemagglutinin and allogeneic lymphocytes became normal, and delayed skin tests became positive. Karyotyping of peripheral blood lymphocytes posttransplantation reveals an XY (male) pattern. These results suggest lymphocyte repopulation as a result of the thymus-transfer factor therapy. Five months after transplantation, the patient has normal cellular immunity but persistent hypogammaglobulinemia. She is free of infection and growing normally on gammaglobulin injections.


: The purpose of this research is to address the issue of the interaction between the author of a literary text and the reader in the system of linguocognitive intention. The article covers the problems of contextual interpretation of the author's linguistic and artistic strategies, their personality traits, verbal means of creating the image of the author in the addressee's consciousness. In order to get the image of the recipient of the text, one has to make subconscious inferences from the author's comments, statements addressed to the reader, lyrical and epic digressions, etc. The analysis of the texts by modern Ukrainian authors – their linguopoetic paradigm and the intimization of speech technique deployed in order to produce a greater illocutionary effect on the addressee – has made it possible to establish the means and strategies which stimulate communicative process and enhance understanding between the author and the reader. Another problem highlighted in the research is critical perception of the text creator's ego conception and the probability of providing feedback within the 'author/reader' dimension.


Gay-Berne liquid crystals confined in two cylindrical nanopores with different pore sizes were studied by molecular dynamics simulation. Their structure and dynamics properties were obtained and compared with those of the bulk. Our data show that confinement changes the bulk isotropic-to-nematic transition to a continuous ordering from a paranematic to a nematic phase. Moreover, confinement strongly hinders the smectic translational order. The molecular dynamics is characterized by the translational diffusion coefficients and the first-rank reorientational correlation times. Very different characteristic times and temperature variations in the dynamics are observed in confinement. Spatially resolved quantities illustrate that confinement induces predominant structural and dynamical heterogeneities.


BACKGROUND
Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype affects the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with inconclusive evidence on the opportunity to mitigate related adverse effects by lifestyle changes.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the individual and interactive associations of APOE and objectively-measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary activity with cognitive decline.

METHODS
We used data from middle-aged and older UK Biobank participants with repeat tests on visuospatial memory (n = 52,767) and fluid intelligence (n = 19,713), and who also took part in the accelerometer sub-study. PA and sedentary activity were assessed by a wrist-worn accelerometer over a seven-day period. Cognitive decline was defined as >1 standard deviation (SD) reduction in memory or fluid intelligence score, and the mean follow up from baseline was 5.8 years.

RESULTS
There was an age dependent association between APOEɛ4 genotype and memory decline (page-interaction = 0.01), with the association only seen in participants who were >65 years (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.24; for <65 years OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.14). The OR for the APOEɛ4 association with fluid intelligence decline was 1.11 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.24), and there was no evidence for age interaction (page-interaction = 0.99). High PA and low sedentary activity were associated with reduced mean memory decline (p < 0.02 for both). There was no interaction between PA or sedentary activity with APOEɛ4 regarding either of the cognitive decline measures (p > 0.63 for all).

CONCLUSION
This large-scale study using objectively measured PA did not find differential effects of PA on cognitive decline based on APOE genotype.


This paper focuses on the perception of the business relationship values in a dyadic approach. An overview of the related literature provides a good basis for conceptualization. The Integrated Business Relationship Value Model was chosen as a concept of the research; therefore, this paper presents the validation of the constructs of this model using the PLS-SEM software for the sample of 174 respondents. Based on the model, a survey regarding the economic and social values of the relationship was conducted with the supplier and buyer side of the dyads. The results of the analysis provide a description of the perceptions of both sides of the relationship based on the economic and social value constructs. The results also provide a segmentation of the sample based on value perceptions. We found three segments of behavior using the dual perception approach: (1) In "matching segment" relationships, the perception of the relationship is similar on the both sides; (2) In "happy supplier segment" relationships, the perceptions are different, and the relationship is more valuable for the supplier; (3) In "happy buyer segment" relationships, the relationship is more valuable for the buyer. This article contributes both the conceptualization and the typology of dyadic relationships. The results show that approximately 48 percent of the investigated relationships are mismatched, which indicates a need for greater focus on the evaluation of relationships in practical business management processes.


Rattlesnakes are widespread mesopredators that are themselves killed and eaten by a host of other predators, including birds of prey and carnivorous mammals. Although anecdotal accounts of rattlesnake depredation are common, there are few quantitative data on encounter rates between rattlesnakes and their predators. Here we review a large database of encounters between rattlesnakes and their predators recorded from field videography of snakes in the sit-and-wait phase of their ambush hunting strategy. We found that, across 8300 hours of observation, adult rattlesnakes of six species and multiple populations exhibit low encounter rates with predators; furthermore, when predators were encountered, we never observed them to attack or kill coiled snakes. Thus, we propose that rattlesnakes are preyed upon while performing other, riskier behaviors associated with moving through the landscape. We also discuss why rattlesnakes are at low risk of predation while hunting on the surface.


In this paper a novel algorithm is presented for the efficient Two-Dimensional (2-D) Least Squares FIR filtering and system identification. Filter masks of general boundaries are allowed. Efficient order updating recursions are developed by exploiting the spatial shift invariance property of the 2-D data set. In contrast to the existing column(row)-wise 2-D recursive schemes based on the Levinson-Wiggins-Robinson's multichannel algorithm, the proposed technique offers the greatest maneuverability in the 2-D index space in a computational efficient way. This flexibility can be taken into advantage if the shape of the 2-D mask is not a priori known and has to be dynamically configured. The recursive character of the algorithm allows for a continuous reshaping of the filter mask. Search for the optimal filter mask, essentially reconfigures the filter mask to achieve an optimal match. The optimum determination of the mask shape offers important advantages in 2-D system modeling, filtering and image restoration.


In the 1950s, the island of Singapore was a British Crown Colony. As colonial administrators began their plans to unify and decolonize their territories in Southeast Asia, they recognised a potential problem with Singapore's economy. Although it was the richest city in the region, Singapore's wealth was almost entirely built on trade; should this trade have receded or shifted elsewhere it would spell disaster. Therefore, beginning in the 1950s and continuing throughout the 1960s, a policy was implemented to diversify the Singaporean economy by establishing local manufacturing industries. These eventually led to new industrial settlements on the island and introduction of new types of urbanised work.

This paper charts the Singaporean government's efforts to remake their economic future during the same period in which they traversed the processes of decolonisation. Drawing from political speeches, newspapers, government reports and promotional grey literature, the paper looks at the ways in which the state expressed its ambitions regarding industry, technical training, design and product development. This focuses attention on the period after the Industrial Promotion Board's founding in 1957, and follows the subsequent development of polytechnic education in architecture and engineering, the Industrial Research Unit, the Jurong Town Corporation and the Product and Design Centre. The material demonstrates the country's first efforts to organise and promote ideas about design as a means of strengthening the economy, as well as its internal strategies to create a manufacturing workforce that could engage with globalised industrial product design. Through this, the paper addresses a significant example of mid-twentieth century industrialisation in the postcolonial world.


In this study of the role of taverns in the development of Massachusetts society, David Conroy brings into focus a vital and controversial but little-understood facet of public life during the colonial era. Concentrating on the Boston area, he reveals a popular culture at odds with Puritan social ideals, one that contributed to the transformation of Massachusetts into a republican society. Public houses were an integral part of colonial community life and hosted a variety of official functions, including meetings of the courts. They also filled a special economic niche for women and the poor, many of whom turned to tavern-keeping to earn a living. But taverns were also the subject of much critical commentary by the clergy and increasingly restrictive regulations. Conroy argues that these regulations were not only aimed at curbing the spiritual corruption associated with public houses but also at restricting the popular culture that had begun to undermine the colony's social and political hierarchy. Specifically, Conroy illuminates the role played by public houses as a forum for the development of a vocal republican citizenry, and he highlights the connections between the vibrant oral culture of taverns and the expanding print culture of newspapers and political pamphlets in the eighteenth century.


Discussion about values education has begun to dominate the educational policy agenda in a number of countries over the last ten years. Of particular relevance are questions on what to teach, how and why. This discussion seems to be more prominent among those countries undergoing vigorous political, economic and social change. In the last few years, under the ever-increasing influence of the US and the so-called global economy, Mexico has intensified its active search for democracy and invigorated its march toward modernization. Both of these intentions have proven to have important influences on the values the Mexican state and educational policy makers see as necessary to be transmitted via education. Simultaneously, internal as well as external forces are continuously challenging Mexican identity, which has evolved relatively consonant with the aims of a centralized and hierarchical state and in line with the principles of the 1910 Revolution. The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, which promised to remove most barriers to trade and investment among the United States, Canada, and Mexico, has had the effect of intensifying, this time more openly, US influence in all areas of Mexico's economic and social life, including education. At the same time, the number of individuals of Mexican origin living in the US continues to constitute an important portion of the school-going population, and these numbers are only likely to increase in the coming years. It is essential for future policy, at this moment in Mexican and US history, to take a closer look at the system of values education that characterize both countries, analyze how these similarities and differences may be reflected on emerging trends in values education, and how these may affect the fabric of these societies.


Iatrogenically induced local splenosis seems to be a method for the partial preservation of splenic functions with appealing surgical simplicity. Pathophysiological aspects, such as flow direction of splenic venous blood, the ectopic occurrence of potential splenic affections, and the formation of pseudoabscesses as well as the preconditions for nidation of the autografts have not been sufficiently investigated so far. Sixty Wistar-rats, divided into four groups according to the surgical procedure performed (sites of implantation: omentum majus, liver, retroperitoneal space, pedicular omental flap), were subjected to macroscopical and histological studies with regard to the nidation of splenic autografts. Based on the results obtained and considering the above mentioned criteria, a pedicular omental wrap technique with or without retroperitoneal shifting and autograft fixation with fibrin glueing are suggested as the most preferable procedure.


We have used an AGCM (atmospheric general circulation model)-based Chemistry Transport Model (ACTM) for the simulation of methane (CH4) in the height range of earth's surface to about 90 km. The model simulations are compared with measurements at hourly, daily, monthly and interannual time scales by filtering or averaging all the timeseries appropriately. From this model-observation comparison, we conclude that the recent (1990-2006) trends in growth rate and seasonal cycle at most measurement sites can be fairly successfully modeled by using existing knowledge of CH4 flux trends and seasonality. A large part of the interannual variability (IAV) in CH4 growth rate is apparently controlled by IAV in atmospheric dynamics at the tropical sites and forest fires in the high latitude sites. The flux amplitudes are optimized with respect to the available hydroxyl radical (OH) distribution and model transport for successful reproduction of latitudinal and longitudinal distribution of observed CH4 mixing ratio at the earth's surface. Estimated atmospheric CH4 lifetime in this setup is 8.6 years. We found a small impact (less than 0.5 ppb integrated over 1 year) of OH diurnal variation, due to temperature dependence of reaction rate coefficient, on CH4 simulation compared to the transport related variability (order of ±15 ppb at interannual timescales). Model-observation comparisons of seasonal cycles, synoptic variations and diurnal cycles are shown to be useful for validating regional flux distribution patterns and strengths. Our results, based on two emission scenarios, suggest reduced emissions from temperate and tropical Asia region (by 13, 5, 3 Tg-CH4 for India, China and Indonesia, respectively), and compensating increase (by 9, 9, 3 Tg-CH4 for Russia, United States and Canada, respectively) in the boreal Northern Hemisphere (NH) are required for improved model-observation agreement.


Energy system models serve as a basis for long term system planning. Joint optimization of electricity generating technologies, storage systems and the electricity grid leads to lower total system cost compared to an approach in which the grid expansion follows a given technology portfolio and their distribution. Modelers often face the problem of finding a good tradeoff between computational time and the level of detail that can be modeled. This paper analyses the differences between a transport model and a DC load flow model to evaluate the validity of using a simple but faster transport model within the system optimization model in terms of system reliability. The main findings in this paper are that a higher regional resolution of a system leads to better results compared to an approach in which regions are clustered as more overloads can be detected. An aggregation of lines between two model regions compared to a line sharp representation has little influence on grid expansion within a system optimizer. In a DC load flow model overloads can be detected in a line sharp case, which is therefore preferred. Overall the regions that need to reinforce the grid are identified within the system optimizer. Finally the paper recommends the usage of a load-flow model to test the validity of the model results.


Bermudagrass (Cynodon sp.) greens are overseeded annually with rough bluegrass (Poa trivialis L.) in the coastal southeastern United States, where irrigation water is often saline. Salinity may slow seed germination and delay turf establishment. Cultivar and seed lot differences in sensitivity to salinity may be substantial. Our objective was to determine the effects of salinity on germination of commercially available rough bluegrass cultivars and seed lots. To accomplish this, we examined the effects of salinity (0, 1.8, 3.4, and 5.0 dS.m -1 established with NaCI in deionized water) on germination of 33 cultivars/seed lots of rough bluegrass in vitro. Fifty seeds of each cultivar/seed lot were placed on pre-moistened germination paper in petri dishes, sealed with parafilm, and placed in growth chambers with 12-hours light/12-hours dark at 20/10 °C, respectively. Germination was scored from 4 to 25 days after seed placement. Rough bluegrass germination rate varied among cultivars/seed lots, ranging from less than three seeds/day to nearly seven seeds/day. Salinity slowed rough bluegrass germination rate from about six seeds/day at 0 dS.m -1 to five seeds/day at 5 dS.m -1 . Increasing salinity reduced early germination of some cultivar/seed lots more than that of others. Impact was substantial in three cultivar/seed lots, where early germination at 5.0 dS.m -1 was less than 15% of that at 0 dS.m -1 . For most cultivar/seed lots, the reduction in early germination with salinity at 5.0 dS.m -1 was about 50% of that at 0 dS.m -1 . Final germination was reduced only 3% by increasing salinity. In view of differences in germination rate and response to salinity among seed lots of rough bluegrass cultivars, we suggest the planting of multiple cultivars and seed lots of rough bluegrass to insure rapid establishment.


We present a model for the spread, transmission and competition of skills with an emphasis on the role of spatial mobility of individuals. From a methodological point of view, we seek mathematical and computational simplicity in the sense of a minimal model. This minimalism lets us use a infinite dimensional simplex space and not a Euclidean space as underlying structure. Such a simplex captures the essentials of spatial heterogeneity without the mathematical difficulties of neighborhood structures. In the presented model, individuals may have no skill or either skill A or B. Individuals are born unskilled and may acquire skills by learning from a skilled individual. Skill A results in a small reproductive advantage and is easy to transmit (teaching happens at high rate), whereas skill B is harder to teach but results in a high benefit. The model exhibits a rich behavior; after an initial transient, the system settles to a fix point (constant distribution of skills), whereby the distribution of skills depends on a mobility parameter m. We observe different regimes, and as the main result, we conclude that for some settings of the system parameters, the spread of the (harder to learn but more beneficial) skill B is only possible within a specific range of the mobility parameter. From a technical point of view, this paper presents the application of the PRESS–method (probability reduced evolution of spatially resolved species) that enables the study of spatial effects in a very efficient manner. We analyze the consequences of spatial organization and argue that we can study aspects of social dynamics in an infinite dimensional simplex space. In spite of this maybe daunting name, the dynamics on such a structure is comparably easy to implement. The model we present is far from reflecting all the details of human interaction. On the contrary, we deliberately tailored the model to be as simple as possible from a mathematical point of view (but still reflecting central properties of spatial organization). This approach is guided by physics, where seemingly simple models which obviously don't reflect the true physical behavior of a system (such as the Ising model) are nevertheless suited to reveal fundamental aspects and limiting cases of the real world.


AN appeal launched by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) to support an emergency veterinary response to the drought in the Horn of Africa has raised over £12,000, helping vital veterinary services to be provided in the Tana River Basin in Kenya. The RVC launched the appeal last year on behalf of VetAid Kenya (VR, September 3, 2011, vol 169, pp 241-242). VetAid Kenya has been working primarily in the Tana River Basin to which pastoralists have migrated with their animals in search of grazing. The RVC reports that this area was fortunate in that it received some late rains, meaning that there was sufficient grazing available to prevent animals dying of starvation. However, the situation was complex as they were still at risk of disease as a result of the large concentration of stressed animals in a restricted area and the threat of diseases that they did not have endemic immunity to. The funding raised by the appeal has been used to provide logistical support, including hiring vehicles and purchasing vaccination equipment to assist a government veterinary team. Using vaccines provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization, 125,000 cattle and 25,000 camels have been vaccinated against blackquarter and anthrax, and 15,000 sheep and goats have been vaccinated against peste des petits ruminants, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia and goat pox. All the animals were also treated with broadspectrum anthelmintics to help reduce parasitic stress. The RVC says that the emergency intervention is only an initial response to a longer term problem, but that it will have gone some way to helping sustain traditional livelihoods and avoiding the need for more pastoralists to move into refugee camps. It adds that the crisis has also demonstrated how small organisations such as VetAid can be particularly effective in this field through their flexibility and willingness to work in remote areas of the country where help is most urgently needed. It says that the campaign will need to continue in order to help the pastoralists rebuild their herds and return to their traditional grazing areas. VetAid Kenya's director, Gabriel Turasha, has a long-term commitment to enhancing the resilience of pastoralists to future droughts by developing fodder banks along the Tana River with improved irrigation and storage systems. In addition, he wants to see improved training of pastoralists in sustainable water conservation methods, better access to animal markets and timely control of endemic diseases.


In this paper we describe the large-scale German broadcast corpus (GER-TV1000h) containing more than 1,000 hours of transcribed speech data. This corpus is unique in the German language corpora domain and enables significant progress in tuning the acoustic modelling of German large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) systems. The exploitation of this huge broadcast corpus is demonstrated by optimizing and improving the Fraunhofer IAIS speech recognition system. Due to the availability of huge amount of acoustic training data new training strategies are investigated. The performance of the automatic speech recognition (ASR) system is evaluated on several datasets and compared to previously published results. It can be shown that the word error rate (WER) using a larger corpus can be reduced by up to 9.1 \% relative. By using both larger corpus and recent training paradigms the WER was reduced by up to 35.8 \% relative and below 40 \% absolute even for spontaneous dialectal speech in noisy conditions, making the ASR output a useful resource for subsequent tasks like named entity recognition also in difficult acoustic situations.


This study examines the growth, need for and demands on university-industry collaborative (UIC) partnerships as a vehicle for the nation"s development through technological innovation. In Malaysia, gaps and weaknesses exist when compared to best practices, these limit the establishment and overall effectiveness of UICs. In the Malaysian context, UICs are by no means a new phenomenon, however the approaches adopted, the success stories and related issues have not received significant academic attention. Thus, this study aims to provide an insight into collaborative endeavours in Malaysia. This study adopted an exploratory interpretative case study approach via semi-structured interviews and self-administered questionnaire survey to collect data from university researchers, industry players and research agencies. This data, along with the findings from an extensive literature review were used to benchmark best practices and define the requirements that are placed on a PMM designed specifically for use in the Malaysian UIC project environment. Based on this analysis, a novel and appropriate PMM was developed and subsequently evaluated by an expert panel and iteratively refined. The primary outcome of this study is a PMM guidebook for use in the initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closing of UIC research projects. The PMM developed aims to make project management best practices accessible and appropriate for the needs of UIC researchers and also encourages academic researchers to embrace project management knowledge which in turn helps them to understand industrial needs and wants. The PMM developed is customisable for project size and nature. It consists of a set of processes, templates, tools and techniques to assist in the planning and management of the project throughout the entire life cycle. The components of the PMM are (1) project management processes such as initiating, planning, executing and monitoring project progress with (2) a selection of tools and techniques to communicate delivery to the satisfaction of all stakeholders; (3) consolidated and integrated set of appropriate best practices and values of project management and (4) a list of references of terminology as a common denominator and language for us in the project environment.

NB Please note that the online version does not include volume 2 of the printed thesis:Project management methodology [PMM] guidebook.


Housing rights are becoming significant as a tool for highlighting needs and raising housing standards across the world. These rights are now an integral part of economic, social, and cultural rights within international human rights instruments, while the right to adequate housing is recognized legally at national and international levels. Among the methods of implementing these rights the human rights based approach (HRBA) is used by NGOs, community organizations and rights advocates. Many housing rights issues arise in relation to standards in social housing, urban regeneration and social housing policy development. This article examines a case study where the HRBA has been applied by local authority tenants in partnership with community development organizations and supported by human rights expertise to campaign for improvements to substandard housing conditions and deprivation within a Dublin inner city social housing estate. It appraises the adoption of the HRBA as a response to inadequate housing conditions and delayed regeneration programmes. The impact of poor housing on the health of tenants was an integral element of the arguments used. The outcomes of using the HRBA for the rights holders (the tenants) are assessed. Overall, this campaign led to significant improvements in conditions. The factors underlying the success centred on the way in which the HRBA framework, with its focus on measurable indicators of human rights violations, enabled community development organizations to create a human rights based public campaign that exerted considerable political pressure through the empowerment of tenants, leveraging of human rights experts, and considerable media publicity. The development of solutions in parallel with the local authority was also important. This approach transcended many established NGO and state approaches to addressing poverty.


In this paper we propose a new distance measure for an identification problem and describe experiments on fingerprint preselection using eigenfeatures of ridge direction patterns. The distance is defined by likelihood ratio of error distribution of feature vectors to the whole distribution of feature vector differences. In addition, we introduce "quality indexes" of feature vectors and make the distance adaptive to the quality indexes. Experiments on fingerprint preselection for ten-print cards revealed that our proposed distance is much more effective than the Mahalanobis distance. By combining the eigenfeatures and traditional classification features, 0.06% false acceptance rate at 2.0% false rejection rate and one million cards/sec preselection speed on a standard workstation have been achieved. This makes it possible to construct high performance fingerprint identification systems.


We study experimentally the line of a single quantized vortex in a rotating prolate Bose-Einstein condensate confined by a harmonic potential. In agreement with predictions, we find that the vortex line is in most cases curved at the ends. We monitor the vortex line leaving the condensate. Its length is measured as a function of time and temperature. For a low temperature, the survival time can be as large as 10 sec. The length of the line and its deviation from the center of the trap are related to the angular momentum per particle along the condensate axis.


The paper reports on the first measurements of long-range correlations along field lines in the center of ohmic plasmas at TEXTOR. The measurements are performed with correlation reflectometry. For the first time the poloidal, toroidal and radial extension of quasi-coherent modes are simultaneously investigated using correlation reflectometry at two poloidally and toroidally separated positions. The experiments also allow the local determination of the toroidal velocity from a combination of delay time estimation and safety factor measurements from the same instrument. The paper investigates whether turbulence and which kind of turbulence, with respect to the frequency range, is aligned along field lines and embedded on iso-density surfaces in ohmic plasmas. It especially addresses the question of the properties of coherent structures in the vicinity of the q = 1 surface by analyzing propagation times and coherence levels from short- and long-range correlations. The results are discussed within the context of quasi-coherent modes as observed at T-10, TEXTOR, Tore Supra and recently JET and which are linked to trapped electron modes. Furthermore, the experiment tries to investigate whether a treatment of turbulence in two dimensions is sufficient or if 3D geometry has to be used for the description of turbulence stimulated transport. This is of importance for the development of turbulence codes and simulations.


Order parameters (i.e., collective variables) are often used to describe the behavior of systems as they capture different features of the free energy surface. Yet, most coarse-grained (CG) models only employ two- or three-body non-bonded interactions between the CG particles. In situations where these interactions are insufficient for the CG model to reproduce the structural distributions of the underlying fine-grained (FG) model, additional interactions must be included. In this paper, we introduce an approach to expand the basis sets available in the multiscale coarse-graining (MS-CG) methodology by including order parameters. Then, we investigate the ability of an additive local order parameter (e.g., density) and an additive global order parameter (i.e., distance from a hard wall) to improve the description of CG models in interfacial systems. Specifically, we study methanol liquid-vapor coexistence, acetonitrile liquid-vapor coexistence, and acetonitrile liquid confined by hard-wall plates, all using single site CG models. We find that the use of order parameters dramatically improves the reproduction of structural properties of interfacial CG systems relative to the FG reference as compared with pairwise CG interactions alone.


The two decades prior to the credit crisis witnessed a strategic shift from a traditional, relationships-oriented model (ROM) to a transactions-oriented model (TOM) of financial intermediation in developed countries. A concurrent trend has been a persistent decline in average bank interest margins. In the literature, these phenomena are often explained using a causality that runs from increased competition in traditional segments to lower margins to new activities. Using a comprehensive dataset with bank-level data on over 16,000 FDIC-insured U.S. commercial banks for a period ranging from 1992 to 2010, this paper qualifies this chain of causality. We find that a bank's business model, measured using a multi-dimensional proxy of relationship banking activity, exerts a robust, positive effect on interest margins. Relationship banks still enjoy considerable interest margins. Our results provide evidence that banks' quest for growth, not the level of competition in traditional retail segments, has transformed banks' balance sheets and has reduced interest rate margins as a by-product.


: The level of transformation of beta-lactam antibiotics hydrolysed by penicillinase from B. licheniformis on determination with the method of pH-metric titration with sodium hydrate solutions depended on the electrochemical nature of the products formed. The data on the study of the pH dependence of the penicillinase-catalysed hydrolysis of beta-lactam antibiotics were used for estimation of the ionization constants of the products of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the beta-lactam ring in the molecules of azlocillin, carfecillin, benzylpenicillin, cephalothin and 7-PADCA. Methods for quantitative determination of the compounds were developed. The methods are based on penicillinase-catalysed enzymatic hydrolysis and pH-metric titration of the products with sodium hydrate solutions at pH 7.0 with regard to their dissociation levels.


Within the scope of this thesis, a theoretical study of liquid flow in graphitic nanopores was performed. More precisely, a combination of numerical simulations and analytic approach was used to establish the special properties of carbon nanotubes for fluid transport: Molecular dynamics flow simulations of different liquids in carbon nanotubes exhibited flow velocities that are 1-3 orders of magnitude higher than predicted from the continuum hydrodynamics framework and the no-slip boundary condition. These results support previous experiments performed by several groups reporting exceptionally high flow rates for water in carbon nanotube membranes. The reason for this important flow enhancement with respect to the expectation was so far unclear. In this work, a careful investigation of the water/graphite friction coefficient which we identified as the crucial parameter for fast liquid transport in the considered systems was carried out. In simulations, the friction coefficient was found to be very sensitive to wall curvature: friction is independent of confinement for water between at graphene walls with zero curvature, while it increases with increasing negative curvature (water at the outside of the tube), and it decreases with increasing positive curvature (water inside the tube), eventually leading to quasi frictionless flow for water in a single file configuration in the smallest tubes. A similar behaviour was moreover found with several other liquids, such as alcohol, alcane and OMCTS. urthermore, a theoretical approximate expression for the friction coefficient is presented which predicts qualitatively and semi-quantitatively its curvature dependent behavior. Moreover, a deeper analysis of the simulations according to the proposed theoretical description shed light on the physical mechanisms at the origin of the ultra low liquid/solid friction in carbon nanotubes. In fine, it is due to their perfectly ordered molecular structure and their atomically smooth surface that carbon nanotubes are quasi-perfect liquid conductors compared to other membrane pores like, for example, nanochannels in amorphous silica. The newly gained understanding constitutes an important validation that carbon nanotubes operate as fast transporters of various liquids which makes them a promising option for different applications like energy conversion or filtration on the molecular level.


Undoubtedly, the well-being of each faculty member influences student learning and contributes to student development in college. This ethnographic study examines first-hand experiences of faculty from underrepresented groups teaching at predominantly white institutions. Representing a variety of diversity realms, faculty members shared their lived experiences through drawing their path of success. Offering recommendations for retention of faculty of diversity, findings showed campus life and climate; fairness; challenges and support mechanisms; and teaching as pivotal to faculty success.


Considering the low number of studies carried out in this field, our goal was to assess the patients' attitudes towards dental somatoform disorders damaging the aesthetics of the face, as well as any attitude change brought about by corrective therapies. When evaluating the results of our study, we considered a set of decisive factors: the patients' age, sex, work environment, and education background. Thus, our study included a group of 230 patients, 92 women and 138 men, who came to the Dental Somatic Facial Aesthetics Implantology and Gnathology Clinic in Ia[i, between 2008-2009, aged between 20 and 63, men and women, with various education backgrounds. The data was gathered by means of a 10 questions questionnaire. We found that people with a poorer education background were less preoccupied with their physical and anatomic appearance, which proves once again that aesthetical taste can be developed by education. The study revealed improved results after the dental therapy, which consisted of a positive attitude towards themselves and their environment.


Football is indeed the quintessential model for modern-day talent-dependant business. Football managers have always needed to solve the foremost people management dilemma of how to most effectively manage talent. However, talent alone is not enough. In an early example from English football in the 1930s, in the words of Arsenal9s Herbert Chapman, the manager9s task is to use that talent to "organize victory." Countless examples can be cited from the history of the game of football where clubs and national teams fielding line-ups of what was considered to be the best and, therefore, the most expensively paid talent in the game at that time failed to live up to expectations. In contrast, other examples from football can be cited where a team of medium-quality, average-costing talent has consistently outperformed more-illustrious rivals. In most cases, the difference can be attributed to the lack or presence of an effective manager.


ABSTRACT It was previously demonstrated by a cluster analysis that 26 unrelated U.S. isolates of Candida albicans separated into three distinct groups (groups I, II, and III) while South African isolates separated into four distinct groups (groups I, II, III, and SA). To verify the absence or underrepresentation of SA isolates in North America, and to identify which groups are represented in Europe and South America, collections of bloodstream isolates from each geographical locale were analyzed by cluster analyses based on genetic fingerprinting with the Ca3 probe. The results verify that North America is almost devoid of SA isolates (2%). However, the results reveal a new clade, designated group E, relatively specific to Europe. While 26% of a European collection of 46 isolates was composed of group E isolates, only 2% of the 164 North American isolates, 5% of 22 South American isolates, and 1% of 361 South African isolates were composed of group E isolates. The North American collection proved to be the least-diverse collection in regard to group representation. In a comparison of collections from the Northeast, Midwest, and Southwest regions of the United States, Canada, and South America, it was demonstrated that both the U.S. Southwest and the South American collections were devoid of group II isolates. Together these results identify for the first time a European-specific clade and demonstrate clear distinctions in the representations of the five demonstrated clades (groups I, II, III, SA, and E) in different geographical locales.


Instead of non-cash benefits, disabled people are to receive personal payments to help them to better manage their own support. This "tailor made support" has become a legal basis for a claim in 2008. It is aimed to pave the way for a new design of assistance: more ambulant services and a stronger position for the recipient of support. Initial results within the scope of pilot projects, evaluations from various perspectives and the discernible effects of personal budgets are reported in national and international perspectives.


Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) remains a devastating disease with a poor prognosis; median survival ranges from just 8 to 14 months from diagnosis.1 The incidence is the highest in the UK and Australia and while this is expected to peak by 2020, the global incidence is predicted to increase for several decades particularly in emerging economies. Treatment options remain limited. Chemotherapy using third-generation antifolate agents is the only treatment modality that has been shown to improve survival in MPM.2 Standard first-line treatment is combination pemetrexed and cisplatin (or carboplatin), however response rates to these regimens are low. An evaluation of over 1700 patients who received pemetrexed with either cisplatin or carboplatin demonstrated response rates of 26.3% and 21.7%, respectively.3 Surgical management is controversial with a lack of robust randomised trial data. Novel treatments are however on the horizon. The genomic era has led to the early development of precision therapies, and as with several other cancers, immunotherapy may hold promise.4

Alongside a paucity of current effective treatments, patients with MPM are also subject to a high symptom burden. In a study of 495 patients,5 92% reported three or more symptoms at diagnosis with fatigue (94%), dyspnoea (89%), chest pain (85%), appetite loss (87%) and cough (75%) being the most common. The psychological burden of a diagnosis of MPM can be equally distressing with patients reporting feelings of uncertainty and lack of control.6 Carers of patients with MPM similarly report an emotional and physical toll.7 Arguably, MPM is therefore the archetypal disease necessitating effective palliative care, defined by the WHO as 'an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain …


More women, and especially more premenopausal women, are surviving their cancer diagnosis. However, due to their therapy, these women may become symptomatic from iatrogenic ovarian failure. For some, the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is contraindicated because it may affect the course of their disease. Other women and their physicians may feel uncomfortable with the use of hormones because research is inconclusive regarding long-term survival or disease recurrence. Women who experience a cessation of menses due to adjuvant therapy for breast cancer are more likely than women undergoing a natural menopause to experience severe hot flashes, night sweats, and fatigue.[1] However, nonhormonal interventions appear to benefit many of these women[2] and should be used to decrease their symptoms. Barton, Loprinzi, and Gostout address these concerns in their excellent review and offer recommendations for pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions.


When known volumes of wet Desulphovibrio desulphuricans were suspended in standard NaC1 solutions, the chloride was not diluted by intracellular water below 3 % (w/v) NaCl; a t 4 and 6 % NaCl exchange occurred but not to the extent observed when the organisms were made permeable with cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC). With intact organisms Na,SO, up to 15% (wlv) was not diluted by intracellular water. Dilution of 4 and 6 yo NaCl was due to plasmolytic dehydration of organisms rather than to osmotic breakdown, since phosphate, cytochrome ca and 265 mp.-absorbing material did not escape from the organisms, though they did with CTAC ; plasmolysis was not Visible microscopically. Hence these sulphate-reducing bacteria are freely permeable neither to chloride nor sulphate. Data on bacterial dimensions and fluid contents derived from this work are recorded ; they compare satisfactorily with those obtained by optical measurements.


We present a supersymmetric realization of the twin Higgs mechanism, which cancels off all contributions to the Higgs mass generated above a scale f. Radiative corrections induced by the top-quark sector lead to a breaking of the twin sector electroweak symmetry at a scale f{approx}TeV. In our sector, below the scale f, these radiative corrections from the top quark are present but greatly weakened, naturally allowing a Z boson mass an order of magnitude below f, even with a top squark mass of order 1 TeV and a messenger scale near the Planck mass. A sufficient quartic interaction for our Higgs boson arises from the usual gauge contribution together with a radiative contribution from a heavy top squark. The mechanism requires the presence of an SU(2)-adjoint superfield, and can be simply unified. Naturalness in these theories is usually associated with light winos and sleptons, and is largely independent of the scale of the colored particles. The assumption of unification naturally predicts the existence of many exotic fields. The theory often has particles which may be stable on collider time scales, including an additional color octet superfield. In the limit that m{sub SUSY}>>f, the mechanism yields a UV completion of themore » nonsupersymmetric twin Higgs, with the notable improvement of a tree-level quartic for the standard model Higgs. In this framework, a successful UV completion requires the existence of new charged fields well below the scale f.« less


This investigation proposes a physics-based model to predict the solid-state phase transformation of maraging steel subjected to microgrinding. In microgrinding, the effect of crystallography is significant on the grinding phase transformation in light of the fact that the depth of cut is on the same order of magnitude as the grain size. This paper proposes a predictive model of phase transformation considering crystallographic orientation (CO) with respect to the grinding direction based on the Taylor factor model. In addition, the flow stress model is modified by adding a CO sensitive term and incorporating the mechanical-thermal loadings. Furthermore, the temperature, temperature rate, strain rate, and Taylor factor are also combined in the model of phase transition. The kinetics parameters of the models are obtained by a regression analysis against experimental data. Finally, the modified models are validated with experiments data and compared with the previous prediction.


Over the past 30 years, serviced apartment complexes have become one of the defining architectural typologies of Asian urbanization. Relatively unknown before the 1980s, these complexes are designed to accommodate foreign business people, knowledge workers and students for a fixed period, typically three to six months. The rapid expansion of serviced apartments testifies to the substantial increase in the number of people who are working, training and studying outside their home countries, and provides physical evidence of the impact of these short-term populations on the urban fabric of South East Asian cities. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork conducted in Bangkok and Singapore, the paper posits shifts in the design and use of serviced apartments as a useful lens for investigating both the emergence of a geographically mobile middle class and the increase in temporary housing types to meet its residential needs.


This essay argues for two conclusions about functional beauty as the notion has been understood by Glenn Parsons and Allen Carlson in a recent book by the same name. First of all, it is argued that functional beauty either is not a distinct kind of beauty or that the members of this kind are not all and only instances of the property of looking fit. Second, it is argued that functional beauty is relative only to categories corresponding to essential functions. The second conclusion contradicts what Parsons and Carlson write about functional beauty, but the first conclusion does not, since they agree that looking fit is not necessary for functional beauty. However, their agreement on this point is based on reasons that can be shown to be mistaken. Moreover, contrary to what Parsons and Carlson claim, looking fit can also be shown to be insufficient for functional beauty.


Vintage has been a key reference point in fashion for many years. Contemporary outlets, such as Beyond Retro and Rokit, amongst others, have helped push vintage into the mainstream, and it is now more widely associated with contemporary style icons than musty charity shops. Very Vintage: The Guide to Vintage Patterns and Clothing tells you all you need to know about vintage clothing, providing a stunning visual overview of seven decades of fashion. The Perfect guide for fashionistas and anyone who loves clothes! Spanning seventy years of fashion, each era has a comprehensive section that is beautifully illustrated with original fashion photographs and clothing patterns. Arranged thematically by period, the book tells you how to make your own 'vintage' style clothes, as well as offering hints on pieces that suit your body shape and tips on how to customise and alter vintage clothes - paying homage to their history whilst giving them a contemporary relevance. Very Vintage profiles iconic designers such as Laura Ashley, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant, Biba, John Galliano, Christian Dior, Chanel and includes a glossary of websites and outlets for sourcing vintage clothes and materials.


Polymer Enriched Bridging liquid is a novel approach for enhancing the flow characteristics, properties, solubility and dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs. is an orally effective II receptor antagonist used extensively for the effective management of hypertension. is a poorly water-soluble drug and an ideal candidate for this approach. PVPK30 is used as the hydrophilic polymer. Various formulations were prepared with the addition of PVPK30 in the bridging liquid by Polymer Enriched Bridging Liquid Technique (PEBL). The preparations were subjected to particle size analysis, characteristics, FTIR, differential scanning (DSC) and Scanning Electron microscopic analysis. The crystal agglomerates were found to be spherical in nature with excellent flow characteristics. The of the pure drug was found to be decreased without any drug-polymer interaction. The saturation solubility studies showed that the optimized formulation STP04 showed 30.695 folds increase in solubility in water and 29.462 folds enhancement in pH 7.5 phosphate buffer. The in drug release studies also confirmed the enhancement in dissolution rate. The stability of the prepared aggregates was determined by accelerated stability studies. The addition of polymer in the bridging liquid during crystallization stage improved the effective incorporation of the hydrophilic polymer in the aggregates. Polymer Enriched Bridging Liquid technique can be considered as an ideal technique for solubility and dissolution enhancement.


This toolkit is designed to help Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) governments optimize their approach to e-government by framing the issues and identifying good practices, challenges, and lessons learned. The research for this project included a review of academic and business literature, as well as interviews with IDB officials, Canadian experts, and officials from three countries -Ecuador, Costa Rica and Chile- at different stages in the development of their e-government. It has been developed for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in support of the IDB Regional Policy Dialogue.


Consumer products contribute to more than 75% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, primarily through indirect contributions from the supply chain. Measurement of GHG emissions associated with products is a crucial step toward quantifying the impact of GHG emission abatement actions. Life cycle assessment (LCA), the scientific discipline for measuring GHG emissions, estimates the environmental impact associated with each stage of a product from raw material extraction to its disposal. Scaling LCA to millions of products is challenging as it requires extensive manual analysis by domain experts. To avoid repetitive analysis, environmental impact factors (EIF) of common materials and products are published for use by LCA experts. However, finding appropriate EIFs for even a single product under study can require hundreds of hours of manual work, especially for complex products. We present Flamingo, an algorithm that leverages natural language machine learning (ML) models to automatically identify an appropriate EIF given a text description. A key challenge in automation is that EIF databases are incomplete. Flamingo uses industry sector classification as an intermediate layer to identify when there are no good matches in the database. On a dataset of 664 products, our method achieves an EIF matching precision of 75%.


There is a great demand for new telescopes that use larger primary mirrors to collect more light. Because of the difficulty in the fabrication of mirrors larger than 8 m as a single piece, they must be made with numerous smaller segments. The segments must fit together to create the effect of a single mirror, which presents unique challenges for fabrication and testing that are absent for monolithic optics. This is especially true for the case of a highly aspheric mirror required to make a short two-mirror telescope. We develop the relationship between optical performance of the telescope and errors in the manufacture and operation of the individual segments.