One of the most valid tasks in credit risk evaluation is the proper classification of potential good and bad customers. Reduction of the number of loans granted to companies of questionable credibility can significantly influence banks' performance. An important element in credit risk assessment is a prior identification of factors which affect companies' standing. Since that standing has an impact on credibility and solvency of entities. The research presented in the paper has two main goals. The first is to identify the most important factors (chosen financial ratios) which determine company's performance and consequently influence its credit risk level when granted financial resources. The question also arises whether the line of business has any impact on factors that should be included in the analysis as the input. The other aim was to compare the results of chosen neural networks with credit scoring system used in a bank during credit risk decision-making process.


It has recently been shown that if feedback effects of decisions are ignored, then imposing fairness constraints such as demographic parity or equality of opportunity can actually exacerbate unfairness. We propose to address this challenge by modeling feedback effects as Markov decision processes (MDPs). First, we propose analogs of fairness properties for the MDP setting. Second, we propose algorithms for learning fair decision-making policies for MDPs. Finally, we demonstrate the need to account for dynamical effects using simulations on a loan applicant MDP.


OBJECTIVES
Nitrous oxide (N(2)O) is an attractive agent for pediatric procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) with rapid onset and offset of sedation. However, it has limited analgesic efficacy. Intranasal fentanyl (INF) provides nonparenteral analgesia. There are currently no data on the combined use of N(2)O and INF for PSA in children. The authors set out to prospectively assess the depth of sedation and incidence of adverse events when N(2)O and INF are used in combination in pediatric patients.

METHODS
This was a prospective observational pilot study of combined N(2)O and INF for PSA at a tertiary children's hospital emergency department (ED). INF was administered at a precalculated dose of 1.5 μg/kg for preascertained weight ranges. N(2)O concentration, dose, timing of INF, adverse events, and sedation depth were recorded. Sedation depth was recorded using the University of Michigan Sedation Scale (UMSS).

RESULTS
A total of 41 patients, aged 1 to 14 years, received INF within 2 hours prior to N(2)O. N(2)O was administered at a maximal concentration of 70% in 40 patients, and at 50% in one patient. Most patients (80%) were minimally to moderately sedated (sedation score 1 or 2). Deep sedation (sedation score 3) was recorded in 14.6% of patients (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.4% to 24.6%). No patients had serious adverse events; vomiting was recorded in 19.5% (95% CI = 7.4% to 31.6%). There were two patients (4.9%) who were deeply sedated and vomited during the procedure.

CONCLUSIONS
There were no serious adverse events identified in this pilot study of combined N(2)O and INF. However, there was an increased incidence of vomiting and deeper levels of sedation when compared to published data of single-agent use of N(2)O, which could lead to more serious adverse events. Further investigation is needed to establish the analgesic efficacy of combining N(2)O and INF and to clarify the safety profile before this combination can be recommended for PSA in children.


Dynamically adaptive systems (DAS), such as smart grids, cloud computing applications, sensor networks and P2P networks tend to change their structure at runtime. Therefore, design-time modeling for such systems are sometimes not enough for self-management. To this end, we have developed a dynamic mathematical modeling framework for runtime modeling for DAS. In this paper, we describe how our system engineers a linear programming model for self-optimization by using a smart-grid application for power distribution as a case-study. At runtime whenever, an optimization is desired this modeling framework captures the state of the system, converts it into an appropriate linear programming model, plan the changes using mathematical manipulations and apply the changes to the actual system. Our initial simulation results show that this framework is able to capture accurate runtime models of large power systems and is able to adapt itself with the change in the size or structure of the system by constructing a succinct model which is faster and more efficient than a design time model.


Incomplete knowledge of either plant or disturbance dynamics complicates the design of a feedback control system. Uncertainty in plant dynamics can cause feedback instabilities and should at least be considered in the context of stability robustness. Inaccurate controller design due to uncertainty in disturbance dynamics will not destabilize the system but may deteriorate feedback performance. In this dissertation, we develop and analyze methods that can be used tune feedback controllers to overcome these two difficulties. Incomplete knowledge of disturbance dynamics, with exact knowledge of the plant, can be addressed by designing a family of controllers, identifying the disturbance model, and tuning the controller by switching from the current controller to the optimal controller in realtime. Care must be taken during tuning, especially if the disturbance model is changing in time. Rapidly switching between controllers during tuning can destabilize the feedback system even if each individual controller is by itself stabilizing. To address this issue, we present two different methods that guarantee stability during tuning. In addition to stability considerations, the question of complete regulation of time-varying disturbances remains. When dealing with time-invariant deterministic disturbance models, the internal model principle dictates that a suitably replicated model of the disturbance dynamics be placed in the feedback path. Does this principle still hold if the disturbance model is time-varying? In this dissertation, it is proven that this principle holds for time-varying disturbance added to the input of the plant, but will not hold in general for disturbances added to the output of the plant. This is strikingly different from the classical time-invariant case, where the cancellation of input and output disturbances can be accomplished with the same time-invariant controller. Finally, the situation where the disturbance and the plant models are both uncertain is considered, and a new algorithm is develop to cancel the uncertain disturbance while maintaining robust stability. The algorithm is developed by considering simultaneous perturbations to the plant and controller. The plant perturbation is used to represent the uncertainty in the plant model and the controller perturbation is identified with the algorithm to achieve the performance goals in the presence of the robustness constraints. A method of representing the plant uncertainty is presented that uses a nominal model, associated unstructured uncertainty, and weighting filters for the uncertainty. The nominal model is found to enhance the performance of the tuning algorithm, and a fixed-order weighting filter is found via convex optimization by posing and solving a spectral bounding problem. It is shown how the framework of simultaneous plant and controller perturbations can be used to recast the realtime tuning of a feedback controller as a robust estimation problem. The formulation as an estimation problem allows tuning of the controller in realtime on the basis of closed loop system data. Furthermore, robust estimation is obtained by constraining the parameter estimates so that feedback stability will be maintained during controller tuning in the presence of plant uncertainty. The combination of realtime tuning and guaranteed stability robustness opens the possibility to perform Robust Estimation for Automatic Controller Tuning (REACT) to slowly varying disturbance spectra. The procedure is illustrated via the active noise cancellation of cooling fans, where narrow-band disturbances are suppressed.


Higher education is a global market and universities are increasingly becoming MNEs. This article extends international business studies (IB) accounts of the Janus face of globalisation through a user-perception analysis of higher education services in the world's most significant per-capita education exporter nation. The analysis is entirely qualitative and does not offer statistically significant conclusions, drawing on experiential data from a programme of 200 in-depth semi-structured interviews with cross-border students enrolled in that country. The central finding is that the global education market delivers positive and negative experiences for students, pointing to the need for more attention on sector governance. Governance change may ensure that the positives are leveraged for continued sector growth for the sake of students and universities. For IB research, the study implies a need for greater inter-disciplinarity, in particular incorporating global governance, globalisation analysis and international education studies.


The objective of this study was to undertake a critical reflection regarding assessment as a managerial tool that promotes the inclusion of nurses in the health system management process. Nurses, because of their education and training, which encompasses knowledge in both the clinical and managerial fields and is centered on care, have the potential to assume a differentiated attitude in management, making decisions and proposing health policies. Nevertheless, it is necessary to first create and consolidate an expressive inclusion in decisive levels of management. Assessment is a component of management, the results of which may contribute to making decisions that are more objective and allow for improving healthcare interventions and reorganizing health practice within a political, economic, social and professional context; it is also an area for the application of knowledge that has the potential to change the current panorama of including nurses in management.


While anger can derail argumentation, it can also help arguers and audiences to reason together in argumentation. Anger can provide information about premises, biases, goals, discussants, and depth of disagreement that people might otherwise fail to recognize or prematurely dismiss. Anger can also enhance the salience of certain premises and underscore the importance of related inferences. For these reasons, we claim that anger can serve as an epistemic resource in argumentation.


Schizophrenia exerts its devastating effects mostly by causing a profound and poorly understood inability to function, affecting different aspects of everyday life from daily activities to a lack of social contacts, unemployment, and the consequences of stigmatisation. In empirical studies, social dysfunction is defined as a social performance measure, commonly based on the principles of cognitivism, and usually evaluated in laboratory and everyday settings. In schizophrenia, it is thought to be caused by cognitive dysfunction, related to brain dysfunction. From a medical perspective, schizophrenia is understood as a neurodevelopmental disorder resulting in a pattern of disconnection between important brain areas. Nevertheless, measures of neurocognition do not explain the expected amount of variance in social functioning. Other explanatory models of social dysfunction include structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and clinical phenomenology. Phenomenological accounts relate to the classical tradition in psychopathology, which describes schizophrenia as being marked by a certain "Gestalt", which is in turn recognised as a distinctive and pervasive change in an individual's self-experience and attunement to the surrounding world, thus emphasising the subjective experience of others. In the present paper, we intend to empirically explore the dilemma concerning the causes of social dysfunction in schizophrenia and to show how the comprehension, gained via a neuroscientific approach to a complex brain phenomenon can be meaningfully expanded by adding insights from different explanatory models. These models need to be operationalised so that all the data can be incorporated into a comprehensive statistical analysis.


Management of the nitrogen cycle has been identified as one of fourteen grand challenges for engineering and is an especially important issue for agricultural watersheds of the Upper Midwest. In large river systems, it has become increasingly important to understand the interactions between abiotic and biotic processes that influence nitrogen cycling. Native freshwater mussels are one of the most influential organisms in aquatic ecosystems due to their ability to transfer nutrients from the overlying water to the sediments and stimulate production across multiple trophic levels. The goal of this study was to utilize flow-through laboratory mesocosms, highly time resolved water chemistry data, and a mass balance model to assess the effects of native freshwater mussels on aquatic nitrogen dynamics. The effects of mussels on concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, organic nitrogen, nitrite, total nitrogen, and phytoplankton in the overlying water of the mesocosms were analyzed using untreated Iowa River water. Concentration changes for nitrate, ammonium, and phytoplankton were determined to be significantly different (ANCOVA, p < 0.05) between mesocosms containing mussels and mesocosms without mussels (control). Results from this study indicated that mussels increased ammonium via mussel excretion, indirectly increased nitrate via nitrification of the excreted ammonium, and decreased phytoplankton via mussel filtration. Results also indicated that mussels increased nitrite and total nitrogen concentrations and demonstrated minimal impacts on organic nitrogen. The majority of nitrogen mass delivered to the overlying water by mussels was in the form of ammonium and nitrate (nitrate mass was added via nitrification of the excreted ammonium). The deterministic mass balance model developed to better understand the effects of mussels on nitrogen dynamics was calibrated with literature values and highly time resolved data and grab samples obtained from laboratory mesocosm experiments.


This brief discusses the policy implications of a research study commissioned by Health Workforce Australia (HWA) within its health workforce innovation and reform work program. The project explored conceptually complex and operationally problematic concepts related to developing a whole-of-workforce competency-based education and training and competency-based career framework for the Australian health workforce and culminated with the production of three reports published by HWA. The project raised important queries as to whether such a concept is desirable, feasible or implementable - in short what is the potential value add and is it achievable? In setting the scene for discussion, the foundation of the project's genesis and focus of the study are highlighted. A summary of key definitions related to competency-based education and training frameworks and competency-based career frameworks are provided to further readers' commonality of understanding. The nature of the problem to be solved is explored and the potential value-add for the Australian health workforce and its key constituents proposed. The paper concludes by discussing relevance and feasibility issues within Australia's current and changing healthcare context along with the essential steps and implementation realities that would need to be considered and actioned if whole-of-workforce frameworks were to be developed and implemented.


Abstract:This paper presents a goal programming (gp) model-based multiple criteria decision support system (dss) for global financial planning of a multinational corporation (mnc). The GP model-based DSS provides a major technological breakthrough for presenting solutions for the critical issues in global financial planning and provides substantial improvement over existing approaches. The strategic dss allows the financial managers of an MNC to choose an appropriate global financing strategy to satisfice the multiple, and often conflicting, management goals and to effectively analyze the trade-offs among costs, foreign exchange risks, political risks, and managerial motivation goals.


The Chinese shadow puppet tradition is one of negotiation: where the local (folktales and traditions) meets the national ("culture"?), and the national (??) meets the international (???). It is a cultural practice in which the "masses" create "entertainment," which is then intellectualized and "refined" by social (and cultural) "elites." In a nation that has rejected "feudalism" in the past, the shadow puppet tradition is one of many at risk of being commercialized and exported as national commodity. It offers potential cultural "heritage," soft power to go hand-in-hand with China's economic and industrial might. When a nation has produced everything and exported everywhere, where must it look to mark or brand itself in a world of monotonic goods and services, of homogenizing capitalistic globalization? More importantly, where can its people look? Who are its "people"? Through the foil of the Chinese shadow puppet tradition, I ask questions of identity and culture in a world that is migrating beyond the physical (towards virtual sociocultural landscapes). I dissect the various façades of my puppet theatre through an exploration of Peter Schumann's 1999 article, "What, At the End of This Century, Is the Situation of Puppets & Performing Objects?" In the process, I discover myself as puppeteer and subject-at-hand. Thus, the study of my artist practice as a whole is an ongoing enquiry into self-identity and issues of "inheriting" a culture in our current technological landscape, as complicated by globalization and internationalism (both economic and socio-cultural).


Abstract Background and study aims We describe a case of perforation after colonic endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) that was treated conservatively. We would like to highlight the importance of decision-making mainly based on the endoscopist's point of view in combination with the surgical consultation. Although the radiological imaging is always needed, it cannot solely lead to a decision for operation. Intraperitoneal gas in computed tomography is not always associated with a hole in the endoscopic field and could be possibly explained from a "balloon" phenomenon. The amount of extraluminal air after an EMR does not correlate reciprocally with patient's pain after the procedure. Even though perforation is a radiological diagnosis and endoscopists should be aware of the common post-EMR radiological findings, the surgical examination is mandatory and should be coupled with the endoscopic opinion in order to guide appropriately the treatment in patients with acute pain.


The fused deposition modeling rapid prototyping system is based on the manufacturing principle of layer by layer. The sprayer is the key component which achieves the fused deposition process. Based on the polymer rheological property, the structure design and theoretical analysis of the mini-plunger sprayer of SW2502 fused deposition modeling system are studied. The plasticizing capacity of the mini-plunger sprayer is analyzed in theoretically. It's very important for the fused deposition modeling process to maintain a stable plasticizing capacity. The driving force of ABS feed is related to several process parameters such as structure form of sprayer and material property, etc. The barrel and nozzle design should be fit for mobility, purity and mechanical property of ABS feed. The modified ABS feed adopts self-pressure-adding driving method to conquer the pressure losses of barrel and nozzle. The plasticizing capacity of the sprayer is more than 20g/h.


Background Hospitalization and surgery are crucial adverse life events that lead to considerable anxiety in patients. Objectives The present study aimed to investigate stressors after coronary artery bypass graft surgery and identify stressors that predict anxiety. Patients and Methods This is a descriptive-analytical study that uses a non-random convenience sampling method on patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery at the cardiac surgery intensive care unit of Fatemeh Zahra Cardiac center in Sari, Iran. A total of 186 patients completed the post-surgical stressors questionnaire and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory on postoperative days 2 or 3 in the cardiac surgery intensive care unit. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequencies, means, and standard deviations. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to determine the relationship between the observed variables, and the logistic regression model was used to identify the relationship between stressors and anxiety after-surgery. Results Post-surgical anxiety predictors included insufficient sleep during hospitalization (Odds ratio [OR]: 5.42; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.46 - 20.00; P = 0.010), treatment not explained to the patient by the nurse (OR: 4.83; 95% CI: 1.82 - 12.84; P = 0.002), being away from family members (OR: 3.88; 95% CI: 1.46 - 10.26; P = 0.006), presence of a chest tube (OR: 3.27; 95% CI: 1.83 - 5.84; P = 0.000), and pain in any part of the body (OR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.06 - 3.58; P = 0.031). Conclusions Physical or physiological and psychological stressors impose greater stress and are predictors of anxiety. When preparing their nursing care plan, nurses should consider these stressors that affect anxiety levels in patients undergoing CABG surgery and those hospitalized in intensive care units.


Background: Black people in London are at significantly lower risk of COPD than white people (OR 0.44; 0.39 to 0.51) when age, smoking, sex and deprivation are accounted for, but disease seems no less severe. Genetic factors in the metabolism and addictive potential of nicotine have been considered in these differences. The role of number of cigarettes smoked per day (CPD), not previously investigated, is assessed here. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study used routinely-collected primary care data. CPD (most recent value) was compared between ethnic groups using linear regression, adjusting for age, sex and deprivation, to produce adjusted mean CPD. Results: 358,614 patients were included. 67.3% of current smokers (44,146) and 20.3% of ex-smokers (13,700) had CPD recorded. Overall, mean CPD was 9.6 (SD 7.7), and median CPD 10 (IQR 4-15). In the white group (n=33,385), adjusted mean CPD was 10.5 (95% CI 10.4-10.6) and median CPD 10 (IQR 5-15). In the black group (n=9533), adjusted mean CPD was 7.3 (95% CI 7.2-7.5) and median CPD 5 (IQR 3-10). In the Asian group (n=2254), adjusted mean CPD was 7.9 (95% CI 7.6-8.2) and median CPD 6 (IQR 3-10). Adjusted mean CPD was significantly lower in the black (B=-3.2, -3.3 to -3.0) and Asian (B=-2.6, -2.9 to -2.3) groups compared to the white group. Discussion: Black smokers in London smoke significantly fewer cigarettes than white smokers. This finding may explain some of the difference between ethnic groups in the observed prevalences of COPD. Differences in CPD may be due to cultural, social and reporting factors, but these findings may also reflect important differences in the genetic factors that determine the delivery and sensitivity to nicotine and its addictive potential.


Verifying if an integrated component is compliant with certain interface protocol is a vital issue in component-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. For simulation-based verification, generating massive constrained simulation stimuli is becoming crucial to achieve a high verification quality. To further improve the quality, stimulus biasing techniques are often used to guide the simulation to hit design corners. In this paper, we model the interface protocol with the non-deterministic extended finite-state machine (NEFSM), and then propose an automatic stimulus generation approach based on it. This approach is capable of providing numerous biasing strategies. Experiment results demonstrate the high controllability and efficiency of our stimulus generation scheme.


The thyroid hormone receptor (TR) and retinoic acid receptor (RAR) isoforms have the capacity to silence gene expression in the absence of their ligands on target response elements. This active repression is mediated by the ability of the corepressors, nuclear receptor corepressor (NCoR) and silencing mediator of retinoid and thyroid hormone receptors (SMRT), to recruit a complex containing histone deacetylase activity. Interestingly, NCoR and SMRT share significant differences in the their two nuclear receptor-interacting domains (IDs), suggesting that they may recruit receptors with different affinities. In addition, the role of the receptor complex bound to a response element has not been fully evaluated in its ability to recruit separate corepressors. We demonstrate in this report that the proximal ID in NCoR and SMRT, which share only 23% homology, allows preferential recognition of nuclear receptors, such that TR prefers to recruit NCoR, and RAR prefers to recruit SMRT, to DNA response elements. However, mutations in the TR found in the syndromes of resistance to thyroid hormone can change the corepressor recruited by changing the complex (homodimer or heterodimer) formed on the TRE. These results demonstrate that the corepressor complex recruited can be both nuclear receptor- and receptor complex-specific.


Health facilities play a crucial role in maintaining healthcare services to the community during an extreme weather event. Health facilities managers operate within a wider network of organisations which include emergency services, health resource suppliers, local authorities, external health agencies and governmental organisations. Their response to an extreme weather event depends significantly on their ability to manage the network risks which may arise between actors in this complex system. Yet existing research has tended to look at facilities managers in isolation. Through an in-depth case study of how health services in the State of New South Wales, Australia would respond to an extreme weather event, the interface risks between these various agencies are explored from a facilities management perspective. An analysis of 139 documentary sources which would dictate the inter-agency response shows that health facilities managers face numerous hidden risks arising from overlapping, complex and unresolved governance conflicts between the agencies on which they depend. It is concluded that these interface risks can be reduced if facilities managers employ a number of strategies. These include: mapping hospital dependency on other agencies; resolve overlapping operational boundaries with other agencies; undertaking proactive risk reduction for critical external support infrastructure; and better understanding potential conflicts with external agencies in responding to an extreme weather event.


STEP (STandard for the Exchange of Product model data, ISO 10303) data for numerical control, or STEP-NC, is intended to provide full product and process data interoperability between computer-aided manufacturing systems and machine tool controllers. Numerous prototype and several commercial implementations of STEP-NC are currently being developed. Testing is an essential step toward ensuring conformance to a specification and achieving interoperability between different implementations. Test methods and valid test cases that address specific operational scenarios are vital to speed the development process. This paper describes proposed test methods and metrics, validation methods for test data, and test case development.


1 DeHovitz J A, Pape J W, Boncy M, Johnson W D. Clinical manifestations and therapy of Isospora Belli infection in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. New EnglJ Med 1986; 315: 87-90. 2 Bocanegra T S, Espinoza L R, Bridgeford P H, Vasey F B, Germain B F. Reactive arthritis induced by parasitic infestation. Ann Intern Med 1981; 94: 207-9. 3 Bocanegra T S, Vasey F B. Musculoskeletal syndromes in parasitic diseases. Rheum Dis Clin North Am 1993; 19: 505-13. 4 Shaw R A, Stevens M B. The reactive arthritis of Giardiasis. A case report. _tAMA 1987; 258: 2734-5. 5 Lakhanpal S, Cohen S B, Fleischmann R M. Reactive arthritis from Blastocystis hominis. Arthritis Rheum 1991; 34: 251-3. 6 Shepherd R C, Smail P J, Sinha G P. Reactive arthritis complicating crystosporidial infection. Arch Dis Child 1989; 64: 743-4. 7 Hay E M, Winfield, McKendrick M W. Reactive arthritis associated with cryptosporidium enteritis. BMJ 1987; 295: 248. 8 Espinoza L R, Aguilar J L, Berman A, Gutierrez F, Vasey F B, Germain B F. Rheumatic manifestations associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Arthritis Rheum 1989; 32: 1615-22. 9 Woo P, Panayi G S. Reactive arthritis due to infestation with Giardia Lamblia. _J Rheumatol 1984; 11:719. 10 Cush J J, Lipsky P E. Reiter's syndrome and reactive arthritis. In: McCarty D J, Koopman W J, eds. Arthritis and allied conditions. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, 1993: 1061-78.


The repurposing of oil and gas wells for geothermal energy production and resource assessment can provide sustainable solutions to meet the objectives of renewable energy balance targeted within 2030 by the French Parliament in the "energy transition law for a green growth" promulgated in August 2015. Approximately 12 500 wells have been drilled in France since the 19th century for hydrocarbon reservoir exploration and exploitation. Most of them are closed and abandoned or nearing the end of production due to the planned end of exploitation of hydrocarbons in France by 2040. Several sustainable cases of conversion for geothermal energy production have been reported in France and abroad, demonstrating the possibility of using former wells for heat extraction from aquifers or coaxial heat exchangers. This paper presents an overview of the wells drilled in France and the methodology proposed to identify and rank them according to the a priori feasibility of open and closed loop conversion. To this purpose, wells data, geological and hydrothermal information acquired by the BRGM (geometry and dynamic aquifer properties from models) and land occupation have been cross-referenced. The quantitative overview should be followed by a detailed analysis of selected wells to assess their conversion potential for geothermal energy production (possible use at surface, well drilling and abandonment reports, hydrodynamic properties of the reservoir, technology to be implemented, etc.).


Decision making for store locations is crucial for retail companies as the profit depends on the location. The key point for correct store location is profit approximation, which is highly dependent on population of the corresponding region, and hence, the volume of the residential area. Thus, estimating building volumes provides insight about the revenue if a new store is about to be opened there. Remote sensing through stereo/tri-stereo satellite images provides wide area coverage as well as adequate resolution for three dimensional reconstruction for volume estimation. We reconstruct 3D map of corresponding region with the help of semiglobal matching and mask R-CNN algorithms for this purpose. Using the existing store data, we construct models for estimating the revenue based on surrounding building volumes. In order to choose the right location, the suitable utility model, which calculates store revenues, should be rigorously determined. Moreover, model parameters should be assessed as correctly as possible. Instead of using randomly generated parameters, we employ remote sensing, computer vision, and machine learning techniques, which provide a novel way for evaluating new store locations.


Conventional receiver function methods assume horizontal geometry and isotropy for velocity discontinuity analysis. However, in subduction zones, the isotropy assumption unlikely holds. In case of anisotropic velocity or dipping velocity discontinuity P-to-S receiver function show variation by back azimuth (Shiomi & Park, 2008). We employed the harmonic decomposition method (Bianchi et al. 2010, Agostinetti & Miller, 2014) to extract non-isotropic component from receiver functions to image the Pacific plate subduction under Japan. The harmonic decomposition gives five components (isotropic, cos(kθ), sin(kθ) terms for k=1, 2) from linear matrix inversion using radial and transverse receiver functions. The preliminary analysis using data from three Hi-net stations (ANIH, IHEH, KZMH) located along the 40N latitude with varying distance from trench shows following features: (1) Within first harmonics, the EW (sin(θ)) component is larger than the NS (cos(θ)) component at timing of the oceanic Moho phase. This well reproduces westward dipping of the Pacific slab. (2) In upper most crust (0-1 s), amplitude of k=2 harmonics is larger than k=1 harmonics, which implies large horizontal symmetric axis anisotropy. (3) Between continental Moho and top of subducting oceanic crust, large k=1 and k=2 harmonics are observed in mantle wedge . (4) Below subducting oceanic crust, both k=1 and k=2 harmonic components decrease consistently for all three stations, but locally large k=1 harmonics appear. Signature of previously reported hydrated mantle above subducting oceanic crust (Kawakatsu & Watada, 2007) is observed in station ANIH. At later positive peak, large amplitude of k=1 and k=2 harmonics is observed, which might indicate existence of dipping structure having horizontal symmetric anisotropy beneath. Our results show a possibility of applying the harmonic decomposition method to image non-isotropic component of subduction zones using receiver functions.


Macrofaunal bioturbation is an important mechanism for the enhancement of remineralization and biogeochemical cycling in marine sediments. Reduction of bioturbation activity may accordingly have far-reaching negative implications for general ecosystem performance. This is especially the case for shallow shelf seas, such as the German Bight, which account for 50% of global benthic remineralization, although they cover only 7% of the total sea surface. Increasing anthropogenic activities (e.g. wind farm construction) in these shallow shelf seas have intensified the need for reliable quantifications and predictions of macrofaunal bioturbation activities and resulting biogeochemical processes. The aim of this thesis was,thus, to develop easily applicable concepts that allow for the quantification of sediment reworking and the prediction of bioirrigation. In order to simplify the quantification of sediment reworking, which can so far only be assessed experimentally, I compared two of the most commonly applied methods (sediment profile imaging (SPI) and standard slicing technique (ST)). In addition, the time-saving and easily applicable SPI method was tested for its suitability to assess sediment reworking from cylindrical multi-corer samples (Manuscript I). The results suggested that SPI is suitable and even more accurate than ST for the investigation of sediment reworking activity. This omits the previously necessary need for timeconsuming slicing or the complex transfer into rectangular aquaria. These findings will facilitate studies on spatiotemporal patterns of sediment reworking activity in the German Bight. Such studies are of special interest as the bioturbation potential (BPc), which was previously often applied to estimate the potential of communities to rework the sediment, does not correlate with actual sediment reworking rates (Manuscript II). Surprisingly BPc, which includes sediment reworking traits (i.e. mobility and reworking mode) but no specific bioirrigation traits, rather correlated with bioirrigation activity and nutrient fluxes of silicate, ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite (Manuscript II). To overcome ambiguity of BPc, I developed the irrigation potential (IPc), as an adaptation from BPc (Manuscript III). By incorporation of bioirrigation effect traits (i.e. burrow type, feeding type, injection pocket depth), IPc was specifically designed to predict bioirrigation and its influence on biogeochemical processes (Manuskript III). I could demonstrate that, in contrast to BPc, the modified index provides an accurate quantitative measure of macrofaunal bioirrigation for both single species and entire communities of various infaunal species, if the index is calculated with ash free dry body mass. IPc provided better estimations of phosphate, silicate, ammonium, nitrate and nitrite fluxes than BPc (Manuscript IV). The estimation of silicate, ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite fluxes may be further increased if IPcis calculated in wet body mass instead of ash free dry body mass. Wet body mass thereby serves as a proxy of the irrigated sediment volume. In general, IPc could become a valuable tool to support ecosystem management and future investigations on the effects of anthropogenic activities on biogeochemical turnover in shallow shelf seas. Findings of Manuscript IV however also demonstrated that IPc is a crucial but insufficient parameter for the modelling of sediment biogeochemical processes because these also dependent on environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, sediment organic matter content, permeability). A newly proposed temperature term (IcT) (Manuscript III) may provide a tool to identify spatiotemporal variations in macrofaunal bioirrigation activity. There is however a need to determine further how IPcor IcT relate to biogeochemical cycling under different environmental conditions as well as how the respective macrofaunal traits are affected by environmental parameters.


The master thesis has been performed for Volvo 3P on the site of Lyon in France, and
in the premises of the design office front and rear axle installation of the product
development department. This unit is in charge of the conception, the design and the
production of the chassis and of the power steering system of all the trucks of the
Volvo AB group.
The sizing of the circuits is currently grounded on the experience of the member of
the design office. Each new steering circuit has to follow a serial of test in different
condition of utilization in order to be validated by Volvo and its suppliers. To secure
the design process, the introduction of a simulation method in the design process of
steering circuits has been wished. The simulation tool is intended to need input data
simple enough so that it can be used in the early development stage of a design
process. It has been decided to simulate static tests, when the engine runs at constant
speed without air circulation. The tool has to be able to predict the oil temperature
with an error of 10%. To validate the tool, the results need to be correlated on
different circuit architectures. Finally the tool needs to be confronted to reality by
comparing the prediction with measurement lead on a prototype vehicle.
The software Amesim has been chosen to develop the simulation tool. In fact a pre
study of the problem has shown that different scientific domains have to be taken in
account to model the steering oil temperature evolution. In particular the heat transfers
and the fluid mechanic have to be considered. Based on the bond graph theory,
Amesim is a convenient software to model complex physical phenomena. To model
correctly a steering circuit, the key components have to be identified and
characterized in static functioning. The pump, the oil tank, the pipes and the steering
gear are the principle components of interest. Their pressure losses and heat transfers
have been thoroughly defined in static condition so as to obtain pertinent results.
The Simulations have been realized on two completely different steering circuits, and
the results obtain are encouraging. Four test cases have been studied on a Premium
Lancer LC 8x4 MD 11 with results differences inferior to 5% with tests. Two test
cases have also been studied on a Premium 4x2 MD11 and have given results with
errors inferior to 7% compared to reality. Nevertheless it has been impossible to
confront the models with the reality due to delaying of testing because of the
international financial crisis. Then the steering gear hydraulic path has been identified
as an influencing parameter on the oil temperature and has been approximated. A
close work with the suppliers must lead in the future to a better knowledge of that
component. Finally the influence of the surrounding temperature has also been
highlighted. The next step is to consider the fan strategy in the modelling of steering
circuit so as to enhance the accuracy of the model. Finally it is necessary to confront
the simulation to the reality in order to validate the modelling method.


Two distinct expression cassettes were synthesized by overlapping PCR for expressing the endoglucanase I gene (egl1) from Aspergillus aculeatus and the endoglucanase II gene (egl2) from Trichoderma reesei in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae host. One contained the anchored sequence from the S. cerevisiae cwp2 gene, while the other did not. The low and high copy number plasmids YCplac33 and YEplac195 were used. The enzymatic activities and viscosity changes in the YP-CMC medium varied between the eight recombinant yeast strains produced, and the greatest values were obtained with the YE-TrEII' strain, which had an activity of 347.7 U/g dry cell weight (DCW) and viscosity at 12 h of 4.7% of the initial control value, respectively; YE-TrEII' was YEplac195-based and contained T. reesei egl2 and no Cwp2 sequence. Strains YC-AaEI and YC-TrEII showed the lowest enzyme activitiy (80.5 and 30.4 U/g DCW, respectively) and viscosity changes at 12 h (20.5 and 26.2% of the initial control viscosity, respectively), which were YCplac33-based and contained the Cwp2 sequence. The results showed that gene copy number was the most significant factor to influence the expression of endoglucanases in S. cerevisiae, and the existence of Cwp2 sequence led to decreased enzymatic level and viscosity-reducing performance, while it was shown not to realize efficient surface display of these two endoglucanases.


Aim: Type 2 diabetes is a risk factor for coronary artery disease; however, a number of studies have shown that patients are asymptomatic for coronary artery disease. The presence of coronary artery disease in asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes was evaluated to determine its impact on management decision and prognosis. Methods: A total of 75 patients underwent single-photon emission computed tomography myocardial perfusion imaging for detection of suspected coronary artery disease. We used 17-segment model for perfusion and function analysis. Multislice computed tomography was performed in 45 patients to assess coronary artery calcium. Complete laboratory analyses with lipid values and standard risk factors were analysed. Forward logistic regression analysis was used to assess predictive parameters for myocardial ischaemia during the follow-up period of 20 ± 4 months. Results and Conclusion: Silent myocardial ischaemia and subclinical coronary artery disease can be detected in a significant proportion of asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes. Diabetic patients with normal myocardial perfusion imaging had an excellent 2-year prognosis with optimal medical therapy and intensive risk factor control. In comparison, an abnormal myocardial perfusion imaging led to an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Myocardial perfusion imaging and coronary artery calcium are valuable tools for risk stratification and optimal treatment decision in this asymptomatic diabetic cohort of Macedonian patients.


Energy usage and thermal comfort are the pillars of smart buildings. Many research works have been proposed to save energy while maintaining a comfortable thermal condition. However, most of them either make the oversimplified assumption on thermal comfort with unsatisfied comfort performance or deal with the single-zone thermal control only with limited practical impact. A few preliminary pieces of research on multizone control are available, but they fail to keep pace with the latest advancements in the deep-learning-based control techniques. In this article, we investigate the multizone thermal control with optimized energy usage and canonical thermal comfort modeling. We adopt the emerging multiagent deep reinforcement learning techniques and propose to model each zone as an agent. A multiagent framework is established to support the information exchange among the agents and enable intelligent thermal control in the heterogeneous zones. Accordingly, we mathematically formulate a problem to optimize both energy and comfort. A multizone thermal control algorithm (MOCA) is proposed to solve the problem by deriving optimal control policies. We validate the performance of MOCA through simulation in professional TRNSYS, configured based on our real-world laboratory. The results are promising with up to 15.4% energy saving as well as satisfied thermal comfort in different zones.


BACKGROUND: Significant gaps exist between scientific knowledge about the efficacy of treatments for mental disorders and the availability of efficacious treatments in routine practice. Mental health service research can help bridge this gap between basic clinical research and the usual care afforded adults with mental disorders. AIMS: To illustrate this potential, data on the efficacy of treatment for schizophrenia are reviewed. METHODS: The treatments reviewed include pharmacotherapies, psychological interventions, family interventions, vocational rehabilitation and assertive community treatment and case management. Using treatment recommendations based upon outcome data about these treatments and the results of a large survey of usual care for schizophrenia from the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) project, examples of current deficiencies in the usual treatment of adult mental disorders and relevant questions that need to be addressed by mental health services research are identified. RESULTS: Major deficiencies in treatment that were identified include inappropriate dosing with antipsychotic agents, underutilization of adjunctive antidepressant therapy, very low rates of prescription of psychosocial interventions and lack of continuity between inpatient and outpatient settings. DISCUSSION: These findings raise serious concerns about access to care and the appropriateness and quality of care that is offered. IMPLICATIONS: This knowledge about what treatments work for schizophrenia and the patterns of current care suggest the following major questions be addressed by mental health services research: What is the nature of care currently being offered adults with mental disorders? To what degree does this care measure up to scientifically derived quality of care and treatment standards? What is the effectiveness of new technologies under usual practice conditions? For which patients are they cost-effective and under what conditions? How should financial incentives be structured within systems of care to promote the most cost-effective use of new technologies? How should service systems themselves be organized to promote appropriate access and utilization? What educational, organizational and financing interventions promote adoption of effective interventions? Do we have valid methods for assessing quality of care? What strategies (interventions) are effective at improving the quality of care? In addition, we need to develop strategies that transfer mental health services research technologies into practice. These include: (i) development of outcome measures that meet scientific standards and that are practical for general application in service systems to facilitate "outcome management"; (ii) development of quality of care assessment methodologies that are practical and scientifically sound and (iii) cost-effectiveness methodologies. Mental health services research can facilitate the translation of knowledge developed from basic clinical research into more effective systems of care. The tools used by health services research to this end include examination of patterns of usual care in relation to scientifically established standards of efficacious care, interventions to improve the effectiveness of care and examination of the impacts of the organization and financing of services on outcomes and costs. In short, mental health service research holds high on its agenda the translation of basic and clinical research into practice. All of us must face the challenges posed by our rapidly changing mental health care system, changes driven not only by managed care and cost containment, but by exciting new developments in the treatment of mental disorders. We take on these challenges as researchers, clinicians, administrators, patients, families and taxpayers. Here I seek to provide a perspective on what we know about the treatment of adults with mental disorders and to discuss the implications of this knowledge for the work of mental health service research. Each of us has a particular window on this scene; mine is primarily that of a clinical mental health services researcher who studies schizophrenia. I will briefly summarize current knowledge about the efficacy of treatments for schizophrenia and the services research questions that this knowledge raises in its translation to clinical practice. The lessons from this examination readily generalize to the treatment of other adult mental disorders.


Background Rothia spp. are gram positive bacteria which are known to cause infections in the immune compromised host. Literature is limited on the epidemiology and clinical significance of Rothia bacteremia. Methods We reviewed medical records of all patients with blood cultures positive from 2006–2014. Descriptive analysis was performed as well as comparative analysis of neutropenic patients (absolute neutrophil count ≤1000 /μL) at the time of bacteremia with non-neutropenic patients at the time of bacteremia. Fische's exact tests were used for comparisons of proportions and medians, respectively, with p-values <0.05 considered statistically significant. Results 29 patients with Rothia bacteremia were identified. Median age was 58 years (range 27–73), with no significant gender difference (p=0.94). Charlson co-morbidity score of 4 or greater was found in 20 (69%) of patients; 20 (69%) patients had a hematologic malignancy or bone marrow transplant. While there were 14 deaths, only 1 was possibly attributed to Rothia infection. Neutropenia was observed in 21(72%) patients at the time of bacteremia. Neutropenic patients were less likely than non-neutropenic patients to have polymicrobial infection (24% vs. 63%, p=0.083); and were also more likely to have multiple positive blood cultures (76% vs. 0%; p value=0.0003). There was no difference between the two groups in need for ICU care, mortality or attributable mortality. Statistically significant difference was seen for steroid use (81% vs. 13%, p=0.0014), and fluroquinolone use (86% vs.13% p=<0.0001) preceding bacteremia in neutropenic patients. Presence of intra-vascular catheter was also more pre-dominant in the neutropenic group (86% vs. 50%, p=0.068) at the time of bacteremia. Conclusions Rothia bacteremia is seen in patients with medical co-morbidities, predominantly in patients with leukemia. A significant association was seen with prior use of steroid and fluroquinolone prophylaxis in neutropenic patients who developed Rothia bacteremia. Rothia bacteremia in neutropenic hosts was mostly monomicrobial and less likely thought to be a contaminant.


Intruduction and purpose: Elderly Population in the world and Iran rapidly grow, many of whom cannot care of themselves. Moreover, life satisfaction level decreases with increasing age, yet the elderlies who reside in nursing homes have lower rate in life satisfaction than who live in home. Whereas higher rate of life satisfaction results increased longevity and more wellness in elderlies, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of narrative therapy in conjunction with life satisfaction in older men who live in the elderly center. Materials and procedures: This study have semi-experimental design with implementation of the pretest and post-test on two groups (control and test). The study population consisted of all elderly men who live in nursing homes of Sanandaj city. For gather the data "life satisfaction questionnaire" was used. 30 elderly people were randomly selected and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. After implementing pre-test for both, the test and the control groups, intervention Group Counseling "Narrative Therapy" was administered to the experimental group. Finally, life satisfaction scale were measured for both groups and subsequently, after a month follow-up test was done. Findings:Based on covariance analysis, there is a significant difference between control and experimental groups in post test (p<0.05), so, Group Counseling "Narrative Therapy" intervention had increased life satisfaction level among experimental group whereas there were not such an increase on the control group. Conclusion: Using covariance tests and T-test the data was analyzed. Research findings indicate that the narrative therapy intervention, results to increased life satisfaction in elderlies, so result of this treatment can be sought to improve life satisfaction in Seniors.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To describe caregiver sleep and depression using caregiver narratives. To compare qualitative descriptions with quantitative scores.

DESIGN
Descriptive, one-time, open-ended interview followed by structured sleep and depression questions.

SETTING
Interview conducted in person or via telephone at caregiver's preference.

SAMPLE
47 caregivers of patients with advanced stage cancer. Caregivers had a mean age of 54 years, and most were female (81%), Caucasian (82%), and spouses (61%). They provided care for a mean of 24 months. Patients' diagnoses were lung cancer (36%), colorectal cancer (13%), or recurrences (51%).

METHODS
Two cancer care sites in southern California provided participants. After consent, the researcher conducted interviews. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) instruments were administered following interviews.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Sleep pattern changes and depression levels over time as defined by caregivers.

FINDINGS
Caregivers described severe fluctuations in sleep patterns over time and how these changes affected caregiver depressive symptoms. PSQI and CES-D scores matched narrative comments.

CONCLUSIONS
Caregivers' narratives suggest they suffer progressive sleep deprivation that affects their emotions and ability to continue as caregivers.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Nurses must recognize the severe sleep problems experienced by caregivers and respond with interventions to increase sleep quality and decrease depression.


This softcover book contains an extremely detailed study of the relative importance of criteria used in reseller assortment decisions. As the authors state in the Preface, "The literature on reseller assortment decision criteria . . . consists mainly of descriptions of what criteria have been used in single reseller companies on certain occasions. What is lacking are explanations of how the resellers' criteria are related to the various situational factors." Their study seeks to remedy these shortcomings by focusing on situational factors that can affect the use of certain classes of decision criteria. The chapters are logically laid out with a preceding outline or introduction to each and an alphanumeric paragraph numbering system. A Summary chapter is provided at the beginning for readers not willing to work their way through the following five chapters. The study is written in a journal article style that probably will not appeal to practitioners. Chapter 1, Problem, is a detailed, dissertation-quality, theoretical introduction to assortment decisions. The perspective is primarily that of the reseller, but all channel levels are discussed. Chapter 2, Literature Survey, continues the theoretical discussion with an extremely thorough review of the reseller assortment decision literature. Chapter 2 is continued in Appendix B, where 34 studies containing assortment decision criteria lists are reviewed in detail. Chapters 1 and 2 (plus the continuation of Chapter 2 in Appendix B) and the Bibliography fill 87 of the book's 176 pages. The theoretical discussion and literature review alone are worth the purchase price to any academician or graduate student researching reseller assortment decision criteria. Chapter 3, Empirical Bases, is a description of the data used in the study. The data were collected from a very large, vertically integrated organization of Swedish consumer cooperatives in 1975. The cooperative organization included more than 2300 retail outlets of several different types with a total assortment of more than 5000 items. The latter part of Chapter 3 includes the data collection instruments and procedures, as well as the variable specifications. Chapter 4 is the Statistical Analysis chapter. Multiple logit regression analysis was used to analyze the data because of the binary nature of dependent variables. This chapter includes a brief discussion of the logit model, selection of the explanatory variables, and goodness-of-fit measures. A more detailed matrix algebra description of binary choice models is contained in Appendix A. Chapter 5, Findings, describes the results of the data analysis in terms of both the seven decision categories and the 14 decision criteria studied. Conclusions are presented at the end of this chapter. This study is very well done, but it does not seem to be aimed at any particular market other than research 129


We investigated the problem of how groups should be organized for a business game by implementing a hybrid method that combines self- and computer-assignment. This method rests on a scoring system that derives group performance scores from individual performance scores. In our scheme, individual performance is the outcome of individual consumption of the products produced by the companies of the game. We describe our scheme, show how scores are derived, and examine three hybrid-method variants. Data obtained from a 202-undergraduate, one-semester administration of a business game that incorporates the three variants show that initial differences in group sizes arising from different variants narrow as the game proceeds, but persist to the end of the exercise; and that differences among the variants are not substantial enough to give rise to statistically significant differences in the pattern of increases in mean scores over the duration of the exercise. The data also suggests that players may perform best when, at the start of the exercise, the size of their group exactly matches the size they prefer.


It is well known that the positive partial transpose (PPT) criterion for determining separability is an operational separability criterion. However, in a high-dimensional (>6) situation, this criterion is not sufficient. How can we judge whether an entangled state in any high-dimensional quantum system is PPT or not? Here we propose a linear algebra method for checking the positivity of the partial transpose of a state and present a set of entangled mixed states with non-positive partial transpose.


This groundbreaking study examines complex notions of paternity and fatherhood in modern France through the lens of contested paternity. Drawing from archival judicial records on paternity suits, paternity denials, deprivation of paternity, and adoption, from the end of the eighteenth century through the twentieth, Rachel G. Fuchs reveals how paternity was defined and how it functioned in the culture and experiences of individual men and women. She addresses the competing definitions of paternity and of families, how public policy toward paternity and the family shifted, and what individuals did to facilitate their personal and familial ideals and goals. Issues of paternity and the family have broad implications for an understanding of how private acts were governed by laws of the state. Focusing on paternity as a category of family history, Contested Paternity emphasizes the importance of fatherhood, the family, and the law within the greater context of changing attitudes toward parental responsibility.


REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY
Validated noninvasive detection methods for early osteoarthritis (OA) are required for OA prevention and early intervention treatment strategies.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate radiography and low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the detection of early stage OA osteochondral lesions in equine centrodistal joints using microscopy as the reference standard.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective imaging of live horses and imaging and microscopy of cadaver tarsal joints.

METHODS
Centrodistal (distal intertarsal) joints of 38 Icelandic research horses aged 27-29 months were radiographed. Horses were subjected to euthanasia approximately 2 months later and cadaver joints examined with low-field MRI. Osteochondral joint specimens were classified as negative or positive for OA using light microscopy histology or scanning electron microscopy. Radiographs and MRIs were evaluated for osteochondral lesions and results compared with microscopy.

RESULTS
Forty-two joints were classified OA positive with microscopy. Associations were detected between microscopic OA and the radiography lesion categories; mineralisation front defect (P<0.0001), joint margin lesion (P<0.0001), central osteophyte (P = 0.03) and the low-field MRI lesion categories; mineralisation front defect (P = 0.01), joint margin lesion (P = 0.02) and articular cartilage lesion (P = 0.0003). The most frequent lesion category detected in microscopic OA positive joints was the mineralisation front defect in radiographs (28/42 OA positive joints, specificity 97%, sensitivity 67%). No significant differences were detected between the sensitivity and specificity of radiography and low-field MRI pooled lesion categories, but radiography was often superior when individual lesion categories were compared.

CONCLUSIONS
Early stage centrodistal joint OA changes may be detected with radiography and low-field MRI. Detection of mineralisation front defects in radiographs may be a useful screening method for detection of early OA in centrodistal joints of young Icelandic horses.


In today's world safety and security plays an important role, hence we tend to provide a good safety and security system while travelling. Vehicles are important in today's fast-paced society. Hence, acquiring a vehicle nowadays is considered a necessity, compared to the past where it was considered a luxury. In this thriving society, more and more vehicles are produced to meet the increasing demands of people and businesses from all corners of the world. Here comes the necessity to provide more and more safety and security features to them. Hence this project aims to design an embedded system for vehicle cabin safety and security by modifying and integrating the existing modules. This monitors the level of the toxic gases such as CO, LPG and alcohol inside the vehicle and provides alert information in the form of alarm during the critical situations. And also send SMS to the authorised person through the GSM. An IR Sensor is used to detect the static obstacle in front of the vehicle and the vehicle gets stopped if any obstacle is detected. This may avoid accidents due to collision of vehicles with any static obstacles.


We characterized the HVPE grown freestanding GaN crystals with various shallow impurity concentrations by Raman scattering spectroscopy. Electrical properties such as free carrier density were examined for the GaN crystals through Raman measurements of the A1 LO-phonon plasmon coupled (LOPC) mode and its line shape analysis. The asymmetric broadening and the up-shift of the LOPC band were clearly observed as the carrier density increased from 1017 to 1019 cm-3. The line shape analysis revealed that the carrier density in the GaN crystals can be simply estimated from measured frequency shift of LOPC mode. The variations of the width for TO phonon bands were also observed in this carrier density range. The band widths were slightly increased by 0.2 cm-1 as the impurity concentration increased from 1018 to 1019 cm-3 in samples with low dislocation density.


Measurement of poverty involves two distinct problems. First is the specification of the poverty line, which may reflect the socially accepted minimal living standard. Once the poverty line is determined, the second problem is constructing an index which measures the intensity of poverty suffered by those below the poverty line. This paper provides a critical evaluation of alternative indexes of poverty and proposes a new class of poverty indexes. A numerical method to compute poverty indexes is given with an international comparison of poverty using data from 31 developing countries.


It was unknown if a mitochondria-targeted nitroxide (JP4-039) could augment potentially lethal damage repair (PLDR) of cells in quiescence. We evaluated 32D cl 3 murine hematopoietic progenitor cells which were irradiated and then either centrifuged to pellets (to simulate PLDR conditions) or left in exponential growth for 0, 24, 48 or 72 h. Pelleted cells demonstrated cell cycle arrest with a greater percentage in the G(1)-phase than did exponentially growing cells. Irradiation survival curves demonstrated a significant radiation damage mitigation effect of JP4-039 over untreated cells in cells pelleted for 24 h. No significant radiation mitigation was detected if drugs were added 48 or 72 h after irradiation. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated a greater concentration of JP4-039 in mitochondria of 24 h-pelleted cells than in exponentially growing cells. These results establish a potential role of mitochondria-targeted nitroxide drugs as mitigators of radiation damage to quiescent cells including stem cells.


Much of the recent policy debate surrounding poverty in Britain focuses on income as a measure of living standards. In this report we consider one alternative to income for measuring poverty that has been largely overlooked in the mainstream poverty debate in the UK: namely household expenditure. Economic theory suggests that household expenditure is an important measure of financial well-being. Using 30 years of data from household surveys, this report shows the trends in poverty in Britain since the 1970s when household expenditure is used as a measure of financial well-being, rather than household income and investigates how using spending, rather than income, as a measure of well-being alters our view of who is poor. It examines the spending levels of the lowest-income households and analyses whether low-income pensioners' spending on basic and non-basic items increased as a result of the large increases in entitlements to means-tested benefits since 1999.The research will be of interest to civil servant policy-makers, academics and researchers working on poverty issues, and other groups with an interest in anti-poverty policies.


We performed a combined theoretical and experimental photoelectron spectroscopy study of the structural evolution of gold anion clusters Aun- in the size range n = 21-25, a special size range for gold anion clusters where extensive structural changes from the pyramidal structure at Au20- toward the core-shell structure at Au26- were expected to occur. Density functional theory calculations with inclusion of spin-orbit effects were employed to produce the simulated spectra for the selected low-energy isomers obtained from basin-hopping global minimum search. The comparison of these simulated spectra with reasonably well-resolved experimental photoelectron spectra resulted in the identification of the low-lying structures of the gold clusters. The fused-planar and hollow-tubular structures are found dominant in this special size range. The highly stable tetrahedral Au20 unit (viewed as the fragment of face-centered cubic (FCC) bulk gold) was found intact only in the minor isomer at n = 21, whereas hollow-tubular structures were found prevalent in the n = 22-25 range. At n = 25, the dominant structure is a hollow-tubular one with two of gold pyramids fused together, but not a core-shell one as previously believed.


The microstructure evolution of copper multicrystalline sheets, undergoing plastic deformation in the sequences of strain paths rolling – tension and tension – rolling, was studied in the present work. For both sequences, two different types of change of strain path were studied: the tensile and rolling directions were parallel and normal to each other. Samples submitted to these four complex strain paths were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM observations have shown the typical dislocations microstructures for the prestrain paths in tension and rolling. The dislocation microstructures observed during the second path were analysed and discussed as a function of the sequence and of the type of strain path change (parallel and normal sequential paths). Special microbands features were observed during the second path, for both sequences, rolling – tension and tension – rolling. The appearance of such microstructural features is discussed in terms of the sequence and type of strain path change and it is linked with the slip activity during the second deformation mode.


Dutasteride, a synthetic 4-azasteroid, is a selective and competitive inhibitor of both type 1 and type 2 5-alpha-reductase isoenzymes approved for the treatment of men with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) who have an enlarged prostate. It has been demonstrated to be effective as monotherapy, or in combination with the alpha-adrenergic antagonist (a-blocker), tamsulosin, in several randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials and their open-label extensions. Treatment with dutasteride is generally safe and well tolerated. Dutasteride has become established in the management of men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and reduces the risk of acute urinary retention and surgery related to BPH. Dutasteride may also have a role as a chemopreventive agent in the future as emerging evidence demonstrates a reduced risk of prostate cancer with this agent.


Extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma (EPSCC) is a relatively rare malignancy accounting for only 2.5~4% of all small cell carcinomas. The head and neck, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary and gynecologic organs are most common tumor sites. EPSCC behaves aggressively like the small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and its prognosis is dismal. Its tumorigenesis and molecular alternations remain poorly understood. The clinical diagnosis, staging and treatment of EPSCC are challenging. The extent of disease is important for prognosis whereas the tumor location affects the choice of treatment modality. Currently there is no standard guideline as yet. Combined modality (surgery, radiation or chemotherapy) treatment has often been applied to limited-stage EPSCCs in which long-term survivors have ever been reported. However, the sequence of these combinations is not well-defined. Palliative chemotherapy is used for extensive and recurrent/metastatic EPSCCs with high response rate but short progression-free interval. More research is warranted for improving the survival.


Temperatures in the forest litter of Noway spruce Picea abies were recorded throughout the day to obtain environmental parameters that could be used to design realistic flight-activity experiments in the laboratory. Flight activity and survival were monitored electronically in plastic chambers where the conditions were controlled by an environmental chamber. Flight attempts of the bark beetle Ips typographus were initially lower in chambers with forest duff but were prolonged compared with those of beetles in chambers with a metal screen substrate. Small bark slabs and spruce twigs in the duff were utilized as food and extended the period of flight and survival. A thermal gradient in duff from 25" at the surface down to 13.8"C at a depth of 4 cm also slightly increased the survival of beetles compared with a constant 25". A daily ambient temperature cycle as well as the duff thermal gradient increased the survival from about 3 d to more than 8 d. The latter length in the laboratory agreed with survival rates of caged beetles in a clearcut forest area, while beetles caged in the forest survival for more than 14 d. Temperatures were monitored at the duff surface of the caged beetles and compared with the catches of beetles that were attracted to a pheromone trap and collected with an electronic fraction collector. Information on flight and survival during the dispersa1 period is necessary to the design of ecologically sound management programs for control of bark beetles.


Offshore R & D by multinational corporations (MNCs) has increasingly involved the developing world in East Asia, initially Taiwan and Korea but more recently China and India. However, the R & D mandates of foreign R & D facilities in this region tend not to follow the paths of evolutionary models. To explain this phenomenon, this article presents a conceptual framework, essentially based on Dunning's eclectic paradigm, with a strong flavor of the evolutionary approach to technology, but which, in some cases, also allows for leapfrogging competition. In terms of empirical work, the article also explores the relationship between MNCs' overseas R & D mandates and the locational advantage of the host country by conducting case studies on flagship MNCs' R & D facilities in the information technology sector on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The results show some interesting contrasts across the Taiwan Strait that run counter to the evolutionary perspective. There are grounds to suggest that such contrasts have much to do with the locational advantages Taiwan and China each possess. Further implications are drawn to enrich the current understanding of R & D internationalization.


Abstract Rapid static GPS positioning is an alternative to real time kinematic (RTK) GPS positioning or to static GPS positioning. With careful attention, one can obtain cm positioning using the method. Rapid static GPS has become popular through online rapid static GPS positioning services that emerged only recently. Then researchers have studied the accuracy of rapid static GPS from various software packages. However, thorough statistical evaluation of rapid static GPS results has been missing in the field. In this study, we analysed GPS data from SOPAC archives, targeting to provide a richer statistical description of BERNESE rapid static GPS solutions. We applied SEARCH ambiguity resolution in a single baseline mode over baseline lengths of shorter than 10 km. We investigated the distribution of the results, determined an appropriate outlier detection strategy using traditional and robust techniques as well as studying systematic behaviours in the data sets. The research results indicate that the number of successful solutions from the processing is decreased due to failures in ambiguity fixing if typical 1–15 min observing session durations is adopted. The failed ambiguity resolution results exist as outliers in the solution series. This degrades the efficiency of the method. At this stage, the robust outlier detection appears to be a fast, effective and objective method to clean these outliers. A fall at the outlier percentage is observed by extending the session duration for rapid static surveying from typical 1–15 to 30 min.


In this work, an inductively-coupled rf plasma reactor was utilized in the nitriding process for surface hardness improvement of aluminium-copper alloy 2011. Substrate bias at 400V was used in the pre-sputtering step to eliminate the aluminium oxide on the samples. Plasma nitriding was carried out in a N2-H2 admixture at total pressure of 1 torr. The process length was varied from 9 to 36 hours while the input rf power and substrate temperature were varied from 100 to 300 W and kept at 400 oC, respectively. A negative bias voltage up to 400 V was used in the nitriding process. Glancing incident-angle x-ray diffraction (GIXRD) results showed the hexagonal crystal structure of AlN on samples. The roughness increased slightly when the voltage increase up to 400V and was investigated by Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM). Electron Probe Microscopy Analysis (EPMA) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX) were used to detect the N atoms in specimens. Significant increases of surface hardness are observed after plasma nitriding.


Nanoparticles, microparticles, and other biomaterials are advantageous in vaccination because these materials provide opportunities to modulate specific characteristics of immune responses. This idea of "tuning" immune responses has recently been used to combat infectious diseases and cancer, and to induce tolerance during organ transplants or autoimmune disease. Lymph nodes and other secondary lymphoid organs such as the spleen play crucial roles in determining if and how these responses develop following vaccination or immunotherapy. Thus, by manipulating the local microenvironments within these immunological command centers, the nature of systemic immune response can be controlled. This review provides recent examples that harness the interactions between biomaterials and lymph nodes or other secondary lymphoid organs to generate immunity or promote tolerance. These strategies draw on mechanical properties, surface chemistry, stability, and targeting to alter the interactions of cells, signals, and vaccine components in lymph nodes. While there are still many unanswered questions surrounding how best to design biomaterial-based vaccines to promote specific structures or functions in lymph nodes, features such as controlled release and targeting will help pave the way for the next generation of vaccines and immunotherapies that generate immune responses tuned for specific applications.


The nick site at the origin of transfer, oriT, of Incll plasmid R64 was determined. A site-specific and strand-specific cleavage of the phosphodiester bond was introduced during relaxation of the oniT plasmid DNA. Cleavage occurred between 2'-deoxyguanosine and thymidine residues, within the 44-bp oriT core sequence. The nick site was located 8 bp from the 17-bp repeat. A protein appeared to be associated with the cleaved DNA strand at the oriT site following relaxation. This protein was observed to bind to the S' end of the cleaved strand, since the 5'-phosphate of the cleaved strand was resistant to the phosphate exchange reaction by polynucleotide kinase. In contrast, the 3' end of the cleaved strand appeared free, since it was susceptible to primer extension by DNA polymerase I. The global similarity of the oriT structures of Incll and IncP plasmids is discussed.


Importance: Reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection likely underestimate the prevalence of infection in affected communities. Large-scale seroprevalence studies provide better estimates of the proportion of the population previously infected. Objective: To estimate prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in convenience samples from several geographic sites in the United States. Design: Serologic testing of convenience samples using residual sera obtained for routine clinical testing by two commercial laboratory companies. Setting: Connecticut (CT), south Florida (FL), Missouri (MO), New York City metro region (NYC), Utah (UT), and Washington State's (WA) Puget Sound region. Participants: Persons of all ages with serum collected during intervals from March 23 through May 3, 2020. Exposure: SARS-CoV-2 virus infection. Main outcomes and measures: We estimated the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using an ELISA assay. We standardized estimates to the site populations by age and sex. Estimates were adjusted for test performance characteristics (96.0% sensitivity and 99.3% specificity). We estimated the number of infections in each site by extrapolating seroprevalence to site populations. We compared estimated infections to number of reported COVID-19 cases as of last specimen collection date. Results: We tested sera from 11,933 persons. Adjusted estimates of the proportion of persons seroreactive to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein ranged from 1.13% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70-1.94) in WA to 6.93% (95% CI 5.02-8.92) in NYC (collected March 23-April 1). For sites with later collection dates, estimates ranged from 1.85% (95% CI 1.00-3.23, collected April 6-10) for FL to 4.94% (95% CI 3.61-6.52) for CT (April 26-May 3). The estimated number of infections ranged from 6 to 24 times the number of reported cases in each site. Conclusions and relevance: Our seroprevalence estimates suggest that for five of six U.S. sites, from late March to early May 2020, >10 times more SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred than the number of reported cases. Seroprevalence and under-ascertainment varied by site and specimen collection period. Most specimens from each site had no evidence of antibody to SARS-CoV-2. Tracking population seroprevalence serially, in a variety of specific geographic sites, will inform models of transmission dynamics and guide future community-wide public health measures.


In this paper, the author examines the script forms and ornaments of five works by the Hungarian calligrapher, George Bocskay (†1575), which have so far eluded researchers' attention. All are manuscript charters on parchment, issued in Vienna in the second half of the sixteenth century by Habsburg rulers (some in their capacity as kings of Hungary), and all are of extremely high quality, decorated with elaborate calligraphy. Justification for presenting them together derives from their similar format: they are not conventional, single folio charters, but were all produced in booklet form. Since these manuscripts were closely connected with George Bocskay's time as an official at the Viennese Court, the paper provides an overview of the different stages of his career there, based primarily on recently unearthed archive sources. For thirty years Bocskay worked at – and was promoted through the ranks of – the Hungarian Court Chancellery, which was the official government body within the composite state of the Habsburg Monarchy with responsibility for issuing charters pertaining to the Kingdom of Hungary. Among the official documents issued here by the Habsburg rulers, in their capacity as kings of Hungary, the most important from an art historical aspect are the letters patent issued to members of the Hungarian nobility, which featured a miniature of the granted coat of arms and usually also calligraphic decoration. Based on the author's latest research, several examples of such decoration can now be attributed to the calligrapher, whose activity even led to the creation of a calligraphic school within the Chancellery. This paper presents three previously unknown manuscripts, namely the letters patent issued to Mark Horvath-Stanchich (1558), Janos Pethő de Gerse (III) (1572), and Janos Liszthy (1573); the identity of the master who made the miniatures on the two latter documents is also suggested (Donat Hubschmann). Furthermore, the paper provides clarification of the reading of a Bocskay signature found on a letters patent (grant of barony) issued to Miklos Olah (1558–60), already described in the literature as a work by the calligrapher. Also on the basis of relevant archive sources, the author goes on to opine that, in addition to his official positions at the Chancellery, Bocskay also served in another role within the Viennese Court, which can best be defined as "calligrapher to the ruler." It was for such services that Ferdinand I of Habsburg, in his capacity as Hungarian king, also bestowed upon him the nominal title of royal courtier (in Latin: aulae regiae familiaris / aulicus). In the author's opinion, the artist, as "calligrapher to the ruler," was also given the commission to decorate two further important charters, also discussed in this paper, both ratifying royal marriages between Habsburg archduchesses and Italian noble houses. Issued in Vienna in 1565 by Emperor Maximilian II of Habsburg and Archdukes Ferdinand and Charles, one charter ratified the marriage between Archduchess Barbara and Alfonso II d'Este, while the other ratified the marriage between Archduchess Joanna and Francesco Medici.


The ATSR instrument is an advanced imaging radiometer designed to measure global sea surface temperature to an accuracy of the order of 0.3C from the ESA's ERS-1 satellite, due to be launched in late 1990. The instrument is designed to achieve a very precise correction for atmospheric effects through the use of carefully selected spectral bands, and a new "along-track" scanning technique. This involves viewing the same geophysical scene at two different angles, hence using two different atmospheric paths, so that the difference in radiative signal from the two scenes is due only to atmospheric effects, which can then be quantitatively estimated. ATSR is also a high performance radiometer, and embodies two important technological features; the first of these is the use of closed-cycle coolers, especially developed for space applications, and which were used to cool the sensitive infrared detectors. The radiometer also incorporates two purpose-designed on-board blackbody calibration targets which will also be described in detail. These two features enable the instrument to meet the stringent requirements of sensitivity and absolute radiometric accuracy demanded by this application. ATSR also incorporates a passive nadir-viewing two-channel microwave sounder. Measurements from this instrument will enable total atmospheric water vapour to be inferred, which will not only lead to improved SST retrievals, but will also considerably improve the atmospheric range correction required by the ERS-1 radar altimeter. ATSR is provided by a consortium of research institutes including the University of Oxford, Department of Atmospheric Oceanic and Planetary Physics, who are primarily responsible for scientific calibration of the instrument; University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, who are responsible for the development of the blackbodies; the UK Meteorological Office, whose contributions include the focal plane assembly; the French laboratory CRPE, who are responsible for providing the microwave part of ATSR. Some of the industrial development work has been funded by the Department of Trade and Industry. There is also a significant contribution from Australia in the area of digital electronics. The ATSR consortium is co-ordinated and led by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.


Herbicide contamination of natural resources, specifically groundwater, has drawn considerable public attention in recent years. Although deleterious effects of herbicides at large dosages have been well documented, information is lacking about the possible effects of herbicide levels that are found in public water supplies. Chromosomal damage is examined by flow cytometry on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells that are exposed to three herbicides (atrazine, simazine, and bentazon) at concentrations deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for drinking water. A known clastogen (ara-C) is also included as a reference for comparing the magnitude of chromosomal damage caused by herbicides. Chromosomal damage was assessed by measuring the coefficient of variation (CV) and percent chromosomes present in the larger chromosome distribution peaks. Exposure to atrazine (6-chloro-N-ethyl-N'-(1-metbylethyl)-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine) increased the CV of the largest chromosome distribution peak at concentrations considered safe by the USEPA. Chromosomes exposed to both simazine (6-chloro-N,N'-dietbyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine) and bentazon (3-(1-methylethyl)-(1H)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazin-4(3H)-one 2,2-dioxide) did not exhibit chromosomal damage. Further analyses carried out on atrazine concentrations about equal to levels found in public water supplies revealed the potential of atrazine to induce chromosome breakages in CHO cells. Atrazine concentrations that were manyfold greater than the contamination limits exhibited a true clastogenic nature like ara-C. The results provide evidence for further investigations as to the potential health risk of consuming water contaminated with atrazine.


The modeling of high velocity impact into brittle or quasibrittle solids is hampered by the unavailability of a constitutive model capturing the effects of material comminution into very fine particles. The present objective is to develop such a model, usable in finite element programs. The comminution at very high strain rates can dissipate a large portion of the kinetic energy of an impacting missile. The spatial derivative of the energy dissipated by comminution gives a force resisting the penetration, which is superposed on the nodal forces obtained from the static constitutive model in a finite element program. The present theory is inspired partly by Grady's model for comminution due to explosion inside a hollow sphere, and partly by analogy with turbulence. In high velocity turbulent flow, the energy dissipation rate is enhanced by the formation of micro-vortices (eddies) which dissipate energy by viscous shear stress. Similarly, here it is assumed that the energy dissipation at fast deformation of a confined solid gets enhanced by the release of kinetic energy of the motion associated with a high-rate shear strain of forming particles. For simplicity, the shape of these particles in the plane of maximum shear rate is considered to be regular hexagons. The rate of release of free energy density consisting of the sum of this energy and the fracture energy of the interface between the forming particle is minimized. The particle sizes are assumed to be distributed according to Schuhmann's power law. It is concluded that the minimum particle size is inversely proportional to the (2/3)-power of the shear strain rate, that the kinetic energy release is to proportional to the (2/3)-power, and that the dynamic comminution creates an apparent material viscosity inversely proportional to the (1/3)-power of the shear strain rate.


What does Hume mean by liberty? Though clearly important to him, Hume never clarifies the matter explicitly. In his texts, liberty often seems to be a matter of government rules being certain, general, regular, etc., and often a matter of political form or constitution—the place of parliament or republicanism, checks to power, and so on. Many scholars have highlighted such ideas as Hume's idea of liberty. We argue that liberty in Hume bears a central meaning: liberty is a flipside of (commutative) justice. The basic injunction of (commutative) justice is to not mess with other people's stuff. The flipside is: Others not messing with one's stuff. And it is especially in relation to government (as opposed to, say, a robber) that that flipside concept is what Hume often signifies with the word liberty. Because liberty is polysemous in Hume's writings, we call that meaning "mere-liberty." Hume sees the achievement of high degree of mere-liberty as dependent on authority, which itself depends on contraventions of mere-liberty. We advance mere-liberty not against the other meanings, but with them, with mere-liberty central to Hume's political outlook.


This research proposes an intelligent classification framework for quality of service (QoS) performance improvement in information-centric networking (ICN). The proposal works towards keyword classification techniques to obtain the most valuable information via suitable content prefixes in ICN. In this study, we have achieved the intelligent function using Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementation. Particularly, to find the most suitable and promising intelligent approach for maintaining QoS matrices, we have evaluated various AI algorithms, including evolutionary algorithms (EA), swarm intelligence (SI), and machine learning (ML) by using the cost function to assess their classification performances. With the goal of enabling a complete ICN prefix classification solution, we also propose a hybrid implementation to optimize classification performances by integration of relevant AI algorithms. This hybrid mechanism searches for a final minimum structure to prevent the local optima from happening. By simulation, the evaluation results show that the proposal outperforms EA and ML in terms of network resource utilization and response delay for QoS performance optimization.


Abstract: This paper is about to prove that hypertension has been becoming as a major health problem among the working-aged population in Aceh's urban area, defined as those 18-64 years old. The employed procedures are pursuant to ethical standards of National Institute of Health Research and Development, Indonesia Ministry of Health. This research is conducted from April 2012 to November 2012 as a cross-sectional study with purposive sampling scheme in urban areas of Gampong Ceurih, Ulee Kareeng sub-district of Banda Aceh, Indonesian's province of Aceh. The inclusion criterions for the participants in this study are: 1) Married 2) categorized as poor people based on standard of Central Bureau of Statistic (BPS). Logistic regression with bivariate and multivariate analysis is employed to scrutinize linkage between several individual characteristics and hypertension. Bi-variate logistic regression confirms that age group, educational backgrounds, employment and housing status as well as obesity are statistically significant to hypertension stage-1; moreover, the probability of hypertension stage-1 increases progressively with increasing age and BMI. Multivariate logistic regression confirms that the individual characteristics of the poor those are significantly determining hypertension only age group and BMI class. For normal weight (BMI <25), the probability to get hypertension stage-1 at aged 18-30, 31-42, and 43-54 years are 7.05%, 25.36%, and 70.53%, respectively. For the obese (BMI ≥30), the probability to get hypertension stage-1 at aged 18-30, 31-42, and 43-54 years are respectively 36.18%, 71.76%, and 94.71%. This evidence implies that hypertension is a common health problem of the poor at elderly population. In short, government intervention should not only deal with curative aspect such as enforcing universal health coverage program to entire population in Aceh because this program may be ineffective to maintain health of the poor if the healthy foods are still hard to be obtained by poor families. Key Words: Health Problem, Aceh, Poverty Issues


The issue of e-politeness has been attracting increasing attention in the field of foreign language teaching and learning. This article examines how students of Japanese as a foreign language in Australia negotiated power and solidarity in their email correspondence with 'facilitators' in Japan who provided support in essay writing tasks. Their relationships, which were neither completely status-unequal nor status-equal, offer a unique social context for an examination of politeness. The study examines whether and how power and solidarity shifted over the 12 weeks of email exchanges. The results show varying levels of rapport and orientations to politeness developing over time, as well as evidence of students applying implicit input from the facilitators' email messages. The article also considers the impacts, on the politeness phenomena in the data, of students' cultural backgrounds and prior exposure to casual Japanese. The findings are discussed in relation to the question of 'appropriateness' in fostering foreign language learner ability to negotiate power and solidarity in intercultural communication.


Multi-year data sets for benthic populations of any taxa are particularly valuable in present conditions of rapid environmental change. This study examines distribution patterns and population densities of larger benthic foraminifers (LBF) from the Florida reef tract, specifically abundance data collected from reef rubble at offshore (1995–2000, 2006–07) and patch reefs (1996, 2000–02, 2006–07).

Six years (1995–2000) of data collected quarterly from two offshore reefs, Conch (at 10, 18, and 30 m) and Tennessee (at 8 and 20 m), reveal that assemblages of LBF primarily vary with habitat depth, reflecting available light, and water motion. Assemblages are dominated by Amphistegina gibbosa and Laevipeneroplis proteus , which tend to occur together, typically making up at least 40–50% of the assemblages. Both overall abundance and evenness of the assemblages exhibit the greatest variability at shallower depths, where environmental conditions tend to be more variable. Interannual variability reveals the resilience of populations of LBF following mortality events caused by bleaching and hurricanes.

Across the Keys, location along the reef tract, reef type (offshore-shallow [<10 m], offshore-deep ([10–30 m], or patch reefs [<10 m]), and symbiont type strongly influence assemblages of LBF. At upper Keys sites, assemblages share the highest degree of inter-reef similarity (73%), while Biscayne National Park (BNP) and lower Keys sites have the lowest inter-reef similarity (~60%). This difference likely reflects greater variability of habitats found in the latter areas, especially BNP patch reefs. Foraminiferal taxa hosting chlorophytes are typically more abundant in shallow waters than at offshore-deep sites. Taxa hosting diatoms, primarily A. gibbosa , are always dominant at depths of 10–30 m.