Identity as a concept is as elusive as everyone's sense of his own personal identity. It is connected with appraisals made by oneself and by others. Each person sees himself mirrored in the judgments of others. The masks he presents to the world are fashioned upon his anticipations of judgments. In "Mirrors and Masks, "Anselm Strauss uses the notion of identity to organize materials and thoughts about certain aspects of problems traditionally intriguing to social psychologists. The problems Strauss considers to be intriguing traditionally are those encountered when studying group membership, motivation, personality development, and social interaction. The topics covered include: the basic importance of language for human action and identity; the perpetual indeterminacy of identities in constantly changing social contexts; the symbolic and developmental character of human interaction; the theme of identity as it affects adult behaviqr; relations between generations and their role in personality development; and the symbolic character of membership in groups. By focusing on symbolic behavior with an emphasis on social organization, Strauss presents a fruitful, systematic perspective from which to view traditional problems of social psychology. He opens up new areas of thought and associates matters that are not ordinarily considered to be related. Strauss believes that psychiatrists* and psychologists underestimate immensely the influence of social organization upon individual behavior and individual structure, and that sociologists, whose major concern is with social organization, should employ some kind of social psychology in their research. "Mirrors and Masks "shows that the fusion of theoretical approaches benefits the analyses of many scholars. This fascinating work should be read by sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists.


The purpose of this study was to illuminate the perspectives of women who experienced sexual violence perpetrated in the warscapes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Civilians are targeted for rape, loot and pillage yielding deleterious effects on the social fabric and the sustenance the community provides. The article is based on 11 qualitative semistructured interviews and 4 written narratives from women of reproductive age, recruited from organizations providing support post-sexual violation. The study departs from a larger ethnographic project investigating the phenomenon of war-rape. Thematic analysis guided the analysis through the theoretical lenses of structural violence and intersectionality. The women expressed total insecurity and a multitude of losses from bodily integrity, health, loss of family, life course possibilities, livelihoods and a sense of place; a profound dispossession of identity and marginalization. Pregnancies resulting from rape reinforced stigma and burdened the survivor with raising a stigmatized child on the margins of society. Perpetrators of rape were mostly identified as Interhamwe (Rwandan Hutus rebels) who entered Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Their goal, according to the women, was to spread HIV and impregnate Congolese women, thereby destroying families, communities and society. The women survivors of war-rape described experiences of profound loss in this conflict which has global, ethnic and gendered dimensions. Congo's conflict thus requires critical reflection on how local wars and subsequent human suffering are situated in a matrix of globalization processes, enabled by transnational actors and embedded in structural violence.


Using accruals as a proxy for financial reporting quality, Peni and Vahamaa (2010) and Barua, Davidson, Rama, and Thiruvadi (2010) provide evidence that female Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are more moral than male CFOs. Using 2,048 U.S. firm-year propensity score matching samples from 1997-2014, this stereotyped relationship is re-examined by empirically testing the likelihood of Real Earnings Management (REM) by female CFOs. Overall, the results show that female CFOs are, on average, 6% more likely to manipulate REM than male CFOs. One possible explanation for these results is that female CFOs face significant pressure (e.g., age, wage or diversity) and/or are motivated by earnings management incentives (e.g., avoiding reporting losses, meeting earnings benchmarks or beating analysts' forecasts). The likelihood of REM by female CFOs is weakened after including pressure on female CFOs into the regression models. Surprisingly, the results suggest that female CFOs who beat analysts' forecasts by more than one cent are less likely to manipulate REM. This latter result suggests that the documented association between female CFOs and REM might be triggered by poor firm performance. Further analysis suggests that while female CFOs are significantly associated with high firm performance, female CFOs who manipulate REM are significantly associated with low firm performance, especially cash flow from operations. This study contributes to prior literature on diversity, organizational behavior, and earnings management in several ways. It suggests that individual behaviors in organizations are more complex than they appear. Early childhood and heredity may not be valid structural determinants of organizational behavior.


During the past few years huge amount of network attacks have been increased the requirement of efficient network intrusion detection techniques for detecting attacks. In the existing approach, different classification techniques are used for identifying various real time network attacks using data mining.However most of the algorithms fail to classify the different types of attacks due to absence of collaborative filtering technique and robust classifiers. In Proposed Sysytem Robust collaborating filter Algorithm is an optimization method used for fine-tuning of the features whereas Random forest(RF), a highly accurate classifier, is designed here for Probe kinds of attacks classification.


"'This book makes you feel better about everything, and that's the first reason to read it...You'll want to read every sentence, and how often can you say that of a book?" "the Daily Mail In the new economy you're on your own - you have more opportunities than ever, but you also have to be more creative, more flexible and above all more likeable than ever before. Yes, you. Learn the vital new skill - personal innovation - and get the right stuff for a bright future. For centuries, technology has been mass-producing products, jobs and human beings. But that was then, this is now. Now is the age of the individual - millions of different people with millions of different options and opportunities. Except now you're in a game without rules, in a world without frontiers, in organisations so flat you can see all the way to the horizon. And everything is on fast forward. You're head-to-head with a new business reality. How quickly can you listen, learn, adapt, attack? The new economy needs a new kind of person. Personal innovation is the new skill for anyone who wants a future in business. It's about how to imagine, to create, to build teams, networks, relationships, fulfilling lives.Most of all it's about challenging and rebuilding the one thing you DO have total control over - you. It's time to de-layer yourself, right-size your ego and vertically integrate your entire life. Here's your new economy, new lifestyle survival guide. You won't want to leave home without it.


Groundnut is an important crop in the farmers' cropping systems of Benin and one of the selected crops to be promoted by Benin Government. The aim of the present study is to analyze the traditional groundnut cropping systems in Benin. Farmers' socio-economic characteristics, cropping practices, farmers' perceptions of climate change manifestations on groundnut were information collected using an open ended questionnaire. In total, 382 farmers in three agro-ecological zones (AEZ) of Benin Republic were selected according to 121 farmers in the cotton zone of the northern Benin (AEZ 2), 159 farmers in the cotton zone of central Benin (AEZ 5) and 102 farmers in the "terre de barre" zone (AEZ 6) in the south. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze data collected. Groundnut cultivation is mainly carried out by women in the AEZ 2, while in the two other AEZ, men are strengthly involved in the production. In the AEZ 5 and 6, groundnut is becoming nowadays a cash crop. Groundnut cultivation occupied less than 10% of the area owned by farmers in the AEZ 2 while it occupied more than half of the total area in the AEZ 5 and 6. Pod blank, pod attack by the termites were the main farmers' perceptions of the climate change effect on groundnut cultivation which is related to soil drought. In general, the sex of the farmers, supply of mineral fertilizer, crop rotation, crop residues management and supply of household waste have a significant and positive effects on the groundnut yield level. The study suggested that, balanced plant nutrition could be a challenge for enhancing groundnut production in Benin.

 Key words: Source of income, farmer perception, soil fertility, climate change, crop nutritional balance, crop residues management.


Abstract Achievement tests are used to characterize the proficiency of higher-education students. Item response theory (IRT) models are applied to these tests to estimate the ability of students (as latent variable in the model). In order for quality IRT parameters to be estimated, especially ability parameters, it is important that the appropriate number of dimensions is identified. Through a case study, based on a statistics exam for students in higher education, we show how dimensions and other model parameters can be chosen in a real situation. Our model choice is based both on empirical and on background knowledge of the test. We show that dimensionality influences the estimates of the item-parameters, especially the discrimination parameter which provides information about the quality of the item. We perform a simulation study to generalize our conclusions. Both the simulation study and the case study show that multidimensional models have the advantage to better discriminate between examinees. We conclude from the simulation study that it is safer to use a multidimensional model compared to a unidimensional if it is unknown which model is the correct one.


In Nigeria's labour intensive construction industry, ways of motivating workers to ensure high productivity and enhanced job performance are regarded as important factors for long-term survival of firms. Financial motivation is adjudged a lower level motivator and should not be treated as a prime motivator by many authors. This study investigates the effectiveness of non-financial motivational schemes employed by construction firms within the Lagos metropolis. A survey research design was adopted. The survey instrument comprises two sets of close ended questionnaires administered to skilled and semi-skilled workers and the management staff. The findings of the study reveal that the most effective non-financial motivation to skilled and semi-skilled workers include provision of personal protective equipment, love and belongingness, leadership by example, free transportation and free medical facilities. The most effective non-financial motivation to management staff include provision of residential accommodation, company car with free fuel allocation, pension scheme and opportunity to do something that gives a sense of self-esteem. The value of this study for national development is in view of the slow response of the construction industry of developing countries to mechanization of construction operation, which leaves them  with large workforce, necessitating the need to adopt an effective means of motivation to enhance productivity. Keywords: Construction Industry, Labour, Motivation, Productivity, Nigeria.


miR-26a is known to play an important oncosuppressive role in HCC. However, its regulatory role and relationship with other non-coding RNAs is less clear. In the present study, we report that the expression levels of miR-26a and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) were frequently downregulated in HCC tissues compared to matched non-malignant tissues. In addition, the expression levels of miR-26a and MEG3 were negatively correlated with the tumor sizes and TNM clinical stage in HCC patients. Overexpression of miR-26a significantly reduced the capacity of proliferation, invasion and migration of HCC cells. Moreover, we demonstrated that DNA methyltransferase 3b (DNMT3B) was a direct target gene of miR-26a. Overexpression of miR-26a suppressed the expression level of DNMT3B. Inhibited expression of DNMT3B showed similar tumor suppressive effects induced by miR-26a upregulation, and resulted in the upregulation of MEG3. Furthermore, we found that the expression levels of DNMT3B were upregulated in the HCC tissues compared with non-malignant tissues, and it was inversely correlated with miR-26a and MEG3 in HCC tissues. Thus, these results provided a plausible link between the observed reduction of miR-26a and MEG3 in HCCs. Together, the present study added miR-26a/DNMT3B/MEG3 axis to the complex mechanisms of HCC development.


In the last decade the Cultural Heritage field has deeply benefited from the opportunities of collecting accurate and detailed 3D information of sites and artifacts using both image- and range-based techniques. Since few years ago these technologies were not so extensively used, mainly because they were very expensive, required expertise and the pipeline and procedures related to their use were not straightforward, nor consolidated. But in the last years significant improvements in the digital survey technologies have been reached, with the principal scope of simplifying reality-based survey procedure and providing a series of different solutions that combine the automation of processes with accuracy and resolution performances. In addition to these aspects, the lowering of costs and the consequent widespread use of some survey solutions, such as, for example, range-based, as well as terrestrial and UAV image-based ones, have recently given strong impulse to the widening of use of these technologies in the Cultural Heritage field. As a consequence, this range of possibilities shows that in this field, where case studies have peculiar geometric and radiometric characteristics and survey conditions are often unique, preliminary investigations and evaluations are mandatory in order to define the most suitable solution to adopt. In this context, this paper presents preliminary results from the Santa Maria di Pomposa survey project, with the purpose of starting a deep investigation on the integration of 3D digital technologies and how they can provide complete and multi-scalar information about complex architectures. This purpose is particularly important in case studies where analysis have to be conducted at different scales of complexity. Structural analysis are just an example of the need to easily handle complete and global information that have to be deeply and detailed analyzed, eventually showing the behavior of structures over time. Within the adopted methodology, the comparison of results obtained using different approaches represents an indispensable step in order to evaluate and select the most reliable and suitable solutions to adopt within the final integrations process.


multi-component intervention that aimed to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Tanzania, a preliminary study was carried out to test and refine the intervention. The main cluster randomized trial was planned to involve about 10 000 adolescents in over 120 schools, with an initial follow-up period of 3 years. A preliminary study was conducted to develop and refine the intervention methods that would be used to train and support teachers and class peer educators who would deliver the in-school sexual and reproductive health education intervention to be used in the trial (Obasi et al., 2006).


In this paper, we present a cohort-based classification approach to the churn prediction for social on-line games. The original metric is proposed and tested on real data showing a good increase in revenue by churn preventing. The core of the approach contains such components as tree-based ensemble classifiers and threshold optimization by decision boundary.


The quest for more alpha has led many investors to consider implementing short-extension strategies. Meanwhile, other investors may have avoided these strategies because they fear that shorting and leverage unnecessarily increase risk. The authors do not believe this is the case. Instead, they believe that as leverage increases in a short-extension mandate, investors can increase their exposure to the manager9s alpha model. Importantly, however, while the amount of risk can be controlled in a short-extension strategy, the types and sources of risk are somewhat different from long-only strategies. This article helps define and put into proper context the four primary sources of risk that typically accompany short-extension strategies. This will provide a framework to help investors better evaluate the risk-reward tradeoffs presented by various long/short strategies (that is to say, 110/10, 120/20, 130/30, and so on). Finally, it explains why we think managers who follow a quantitative approach to
picking stocks are better suited to implementing short-extension strategies than fundamental managers.


Aim: Ideologically propelled by the Normalization Principle the Swedish policy and service system for people with intellectual disability has since the 1960 undergone drastic changes like deinstitutionalization and decentralisation of services to the local municipalities. The aim of this paper focusing the post-normalization disability policy and practice is to present a research-based examination of the current situation for people with intellectual disability in Sweden.Method: Meta-analysis of current Swedish research in the field of intellectual disability.Findings: This paper highlights the right-based law as well as the current trends and challenges faced by people with intellectual disability. The paradox of increased self-advocacy movement at the same time as the categorization of children and youth as intellectual disabled is increasing is discussed as well as the discrepancies in service provision and the increasing number of private service providers.Conclusions: People with intellectual disability in Sweden face a number of challenges in a considerably transformed welfare system. Comparisons of similarities and differences in for example the self-advocacy movement or the marketization between the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Swedish rights-based legislation should be useful for knowledge and development in both countries.


Abstract The effects of the fungal protein Nep1 and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tagetis (Pst) applied separately or in combination on Canada thistle, common ragweed, and common dandelion were examined in growth chamber experiments. Experiments examined five treatments: (1) untreated control, (2) Silwet L-77 (0.3%, v/v) control, (3) Nep1 (5 μg ml−1) plus Silwet L-77 (0.3%, v/v), (4) Pst (109 colony-forming units [cfu] ml−1) plus Silwet L-77 (0.3%, v/v), and (5) Pst (109 cfu ml−1) and Nep1 (5 μg ml−1) plus Silwet L-77 (0.3%, v/v). Foliar treatments were applied at 28, 26, and 21 d after planting for Canada thistle, common dandelion, and common ragweed, respectively. For all three species, foliar application of Nep1 alone or in combination with Pst caused rapid desiccation and necrosis of leaves, with the greatest effect on recent, fully expanded (RFE) leaves. Within 4 to 8 h after treatment (HAT), 60 to 80% of RFE leaves of all three species were necrotic. Measured 72 HAT, Pst populations in Canada thistle leaves treated with Nep1 plus Pst were approximately 105 cfu cm−2 compared with 107 cfu cm−2 for leaves treated with Pst alone. Measured 2 wk after treatment, foliar application of Nep1 reduced shoot dry weight of the three weeds by 30 to 41%. Treatment with Pst reduced shoot growth of common ragweed, Canada thistle, and common dandelion by 82, 31, and 41%, respectively. The large suppression of common ragweed shoot growth caused by Pst treatment was associated with a high percentage (60%) of leaf area exhibiting chlorosis. Treatment with Pst plus Nep1 did not result in significant decreases in shoot dry weight for Canada thistle and common dandelion compared with either treatment alone. For common ragweed, shoot growth reduction caused by applying Pst and Nep1 together was not greater than that caused by Pst alone. Nomenclature: Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense L. (Scop.) CIRAR; common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. AMBEL; common dandelion, Taraxacum officinale Weber in Wiggers TAROF.


Abstract The dilemma of divine forgiveness suggests it is unreasonable to be comforted by the thought that God forgives acts that injure human victims. A plausible response to the dilemma claims that the comfort derives from the belief that God's forgiveness releases the wrongdoer from punishment for her misdeed. This response is shown to be flawed. A more adequate response is then developed out of the connection between forgiveness and reconciliation.


OF THESIS ROLE OF WEAK ZONE GEOMETRY AND RHEOLOGY IN THE GENERATION OF INTRAPLATE SEISMICITY In intraplate seismic zones (e.g. the New Madrid Seismic Zone, NMSZ, in the southcentral United States), the source of stress that drives earthquake is very complex. Data from the NMSZ indicate 3 earthquake of magnitude M~7, occurring at an approximate interval of 500 years during the last 2000 years. One hypothesis that satisfies these conditions proposes that short-lived bursts of earthquakes may result from perturbations in the local or regional stress field. This causes relaxation of a lower crustal weak zone which drive repeated earthquakes. The number of earthquakes is dependent on the geometry and rheology of the weak zone. Using finite element techniques which employ contact surfaces to model discrete faulting events and a maximum shear stress criteria evaluated at each node. We investigate the relevant parameter space, as it affects the concentration of stress at the base of the seismogenic fault and the number of earthquakes generated over a given time interval. Parameters that can be varied include earthquake stress drop, background tectonic stress, and maximum shear stress at failure. Results show that solutions are non-unique. With the addition of existing observational evidence, however, we can place bounds on the range of parameters which satisfy above observations.


Abstract Introduction The Virtual Environment for Radiotherapy Training (VERT) is a high-fidelity simulation hardware and software resource that replicates the expensive and high-pressure clinical environment of a radiotherapy treatment machine. The simulation allows students to gain confidence with clinical techniques in a safe and unpressured academic environment before clinical placement. The aim of this study was to establish the current and future role of VERT and explore the potential for collaborative resource development and research. Methods An anonymous online survey was made available to all users of the software internationally (n=52). A mixture of fixed and open response questions gathered usage data and user feedback. Results The study had a 90% response rate (n=47). Most participants (78·5%) used the resource 1 day/week or less; around 8,000 hours worldwide. It was clear that most participants used the simulation resource to help student to either gain understanding of concepts and techniques or to gain practice with techniques and practical skills. There was good support for collaborative resource development, deployment and evaluation to help VERT users to fully exploit its range of pedagogical uses. Conclusions This audit demonstrated high levels of engagement and enthusiasm for collaborative resource development and ongoing research among the radiotherapy simulation community. Adoption of an international Academic Community of Practice for collaborative simulation resource deployment and support may be of significant value and is worthy of further discussion and consideration.


The effects of plant nutrients on citrus fruit quality cannot be considered independently of their effects on yield. In some cases quality can be improved by sacrificing some yield;however, from the overall economic point of view, it is usually advantageous to sustain maximum fruit yield even though there may be some sacrifice in fruit quality. This report emphasizes the nutrient effects on quality in the ranges in which we expect maximum yield to be sustained. If the deficient ranges for yield are included, the degree of effects on quality is greater. The nutrient ranges and effects discussed are primarily those encountered by the authors under California conditions.


Nosocomial diseases are pathologies that appear during medical care that were not present at patient admission. Being able to simulate the propagation of such diseases inside an hospital and to track them is therefore important to fight and avoid them. The Pyocyanic Bacillus is a frequent example of such a disease. It is important to understand how such bacteria propagate since more and more of their strains become antibiotic resistant. Therefore we must not only be able to treat them, but also to block their diffusion to avoid them. The work presented here consist in a simulation of the propagation of pyos inside an hospital taking spatial problems into account, and allowing to better understand the infection diffusion mechanisms and to propose some means to circumvent it. The simulation considers both the spacial representation of the hospital, and the different actors, healthcare workers, patients and visitors.


Fresh-keeping and preservation flavor of fresh food corn was studied by using the household flavoring agent (sucrose, salt, white vinegar) by using the household flavoring agent (sucrose, salt, white vinegar). [Methods] Using L9(33) orthogonal test to configure a certain concentration of sucrose, salt, vinegar composite impregnating solution, and packaging with polyethylene film,the effect of pretreatment liquid with different concentration ratio on water content, weight loss rate, sensory quality, soluble sugar content and total colony number of fresh food corn in storage period were tested.[Results] Sugar, salt, vinegar has good effect on fresh-keeping and preservation flavor, the single factor test showed that when the fresh corn was soaked in sugar, salt and vinegar(the mass concentrations were 1,10,10g / L, respectively) for 10 min,sensory score was the highest , the mitigation of water content and the inhibition of microbial growth rate are most obvious.The results of orthogonal test showed that the best effect of fresh-keeping and preservation flavor was obtained ,after soaking in mixed liquid of 2,9 and 13 g/L with sugar, salt and white vinegar respectively for 10 min. [Conclusion] After a specific concentration of sucrose, salt, white vinegar solution can effectively inhibit the deterioration of the quality of fresh food corn,play the role of preservation and prolong the storage period.


Recently, we described the function of an uncharacterized two‐gene regulatory system consisting of a LytTR family transcription regulator and a putative membrane protein, which we referred to as the hdrRM operon. In this study, we determined that the HdrRM system controls the expression of an analogous uncharacterized regulatory system annotated as SMU.2080 and SMU.2081. Like hdrRM, the SMU.2080–2081 operon encodes a LytTR family transcription regulator and putative membrane protein, which we now refer to as BrsR and BrsM respectively. Examination of the regulatory mechanism of the BrsRM system suggests that BrsM serves to antagonize the function of the transcription regulator BrsR. Further analyses of the regulatory role of BrsR determined that it functions as a transcription activator for a variety of bacteriocins and bacteriocin‐related genes. In vitro electromobility shift assays confirmed that BrsR binds to the promoter regions of several bacteriocin genes and requires the presence of a LytTR family consensus direct repeat in order to stably bind DNA. In addition, we identified a novel regulatory scheme in which both the HdrRM and BrsRM systems coregulate each other and ultimately determine whether bacteriocin production will inhibit competitor organisms or result in lethality to the producer.


Science on the Air. Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television. By Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2008. 324 pp. $$27.50, £14.50. ISBN 9780226467597. LaFollette explores how scientists, journalists, and the conflicting goals of education and entertainment interacted to shape the content and format of science broadcasts from the rise of radio to the early days of television.


In this paper, we propose a novel object proposal generation scheme by formulating a graph-based salient edge classification framework that utilizes the edge context. In the proposed method, we construct a Bayesian probabilistic edge map to assign a saliency value to the edgelets by exploiting low level edge features. A Conditional Random Field is then learned to effectively combine these features for edge classification with object/non-object label. We propose an objectness score for the generated windows by analyzing the salient edge density inside the bounding box. Extensive experiments on PASCAL VOC 2007 dataset demonstrate that the proposed method gives competitive performance against 10 popular generic object detection techniques while using fewer number of proposals.


Blending is both the strength and the weakness of functionally based implicit surfaces (such as F‐reps or soft‐objects). While it gives them the unique ability to smoothly merge into a single, arbitrary shape, it makes implicit modelling hard to control since implicit surfaces blend at a distance, in a way that heavily depends on the slope of the field functions that define them. This paper presents a novel, generic solution to blending of functionally‐based implicit surfaces: the insight is that to be intuitive and easy to control, blends should be located where two objects overlap, while enabling other parts of the objects to come as close to each other as desired without being deformed. Our solution relies on automatically defined blending regions around the intersection curves between two objects. Outside of these volumes, a clean union of the objects is computed thanks to a new operator that guarantees the smoothness of the resulting field function; meanwhile, a smooth blend is generated inside the blending regions. Parameters can automatically be tuned in order to prevent small objects from blurring out when blended into larger ones, and to generate a progressive blend when two animated objects come in contact.


The aging society comes with an increased number of people with serious health problems, including cancer and cardio vascular diseases. To combat these problems, early diagnosis is important and requires the development of new and improvement of existing medical imaging techniques. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is the technique of choice when it comes to the precise location of tumors and it can also be used to monitor metabolic activity. An important challenge is to improve the spatial resolution. In order to do so, materials used in the heart of the PET scanners, the so-called scintillators, need to be improved. Especially their timing properties are a concern. The materials used as scintillators are inorganic crystals which are capable of absorbing high energy radiation and lanthanide ions are incorporated in the crystals to emit flashes of light after a high energy X-ray or γ-ray is absorbed by the crystal. The shorter the flash of light is, the higher the resolution of the PET-scanner can be. The typical decay time of the emission of nowadays used scintillators is around 40 ns. In order to improve their performance, the emission lifetime must be shortened, preferably below 20 ns. The presently used luminescent ion is the lanthanide ion Ce3+ and shortening the emission lifetime below 20 ns is not possible with this ion. Instead, a different lanthanide ion, Pr3+, may be used to lower the emission lifetime by a factor of 2-3. This is a direct consequence of the higher energy of the emitting state of Pr3+. Based on a famous law in physics (Fermi's Golden Rule) it is well known that the higher the energy of the emission is (shorter emission wavelength), the faster the emission will be. A new class of the scintillator materials developed in the past decade are Ce3+ activated chloride host lattices. Their great advantage is a very high light output (with the brightest scintillator ever developed emitting 100 000 photons per MeV of excitation energy), very good energy resolution and a fast emission decay (~30 ns). As mentioned above, substituting Ce3+ ions by Pr3+ in such chloride host lattices could lead to further improved timing properties. In this project the luminescence properties of Ce3+ and Pr3+ activated inorganic host materials with an extremely fast response time for the use as scintillators in the Positron Emission Tomography were investigated. The results show that the very fast emission can be obtained in the chloride hosts with lifetimes down to 10 ns. However, the energy transfer from the host lattice to the Pr3+ ions after the absorption of highly energetic radiation is not efficient in these chloride crystals and this hampers application as a scintillator in PET-scanners. In addition systematic research has been done on the lifetime of the Pr3+ emission and it was found that the shortest lifetime that is possible for a luminescent ion is about 6 ns. This makes it possible to get a better estimate of the ultimate resolution that can be obtained with PET-scanners.


A coordinated computational intelligence (CCI) approach is presented for folding-legged robot locomotion and gymnastics. The new approach is based on the hypotheses that (1) the human cerebellum consists of a school of semiautonomous neural-fuzzy cerebellar agents coordinated by common sense cerebellar motion laws; and (2) agents can learn individually and learned agents can discover new agents and cerebellar laws. Based on the CCI theory, a multiagent cerebellar architecture, MAC-J, is extended from 3-link uniped locomotion control to 4-link uniped locomotion control and from locomotion control to gymnastic training. Basic ideas are illustrated with a 4-link uniped simulation The principle of "increasing intelligence with decreasing precision" in hierarchical control is extended to four principles for the nesting, safety, layering and autonomy of cerebellar agents.


When the numbers just don't add up... Following in the footsteps of the successful The Humongous Books of Calculus Problems, bestselling author Michael Kelley has taken a typical algebra workbook, and made notes in the margins, adding missing steps and simplifying concepts and solutions. Students will learn how to interpret and solve 1000 problems as they are typically presented in algebra courses-and become prepared to solve those problems that were never discussed in class but always seem to find their way onto exams. Annotations throughout the text clarify each problem and fill in missing steps needed to reach the solution, making this book like no other algebra workbook on the market.


In this paper, we seek to model natural human-robot interactions in human-robot teams that support adjustable autonomy and interactions. We present a theoretical characterization of interaction efficiency. We then perform case studies to validate this theoretical framework. Specifically, in one case study we compare interaction efficiency between a shared control teleoperation algorithm and traditional manual-control teleoperation. We then perform another case study in which we analyze the neglect tolerance of a point-topoint interaction scheme. The principles learned from these case studies should help to build more effective human-robot systems.


PurposeIn the current office market office providers are obligated to meet as many wishes of the (future) tenants and end-users of their buildings as possible in order to keep their buildings from becoming vacant. In order to do so it is necessary to gain more insight in these wishes. The aim of this study was therefore to examine a holistic model for effects of many aspects of the current work environment and of the employees that use it (demographics, personality, and work characteristics) on user satisfaction, mediated by end-user needs. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected via a survey amongst 272 end-users of 81 tenants in 18 office buildings in the Netherlands. A path model was constructed based on current literature and tested with the data using LISREL. Findings Results showed the significance of testing a holistic model, as not all bivariate relations found in literature remained significant. Mainly the type of workspace, storage/clean desk policy and climate comfort of the currently offered work environment determined environmental satisfaction, together with personality characteristics of the respondent. The needs for privacy and for control & expression also played a mediating role. Surprisingly, demographic and work characteristics showed very little effect. Originality/valueBesides the holistic approach, the context of multi-tenant offices to gather data was also innovative. Future studies should incorporate a holistic approach and preferably use large and diverse samples.


Based on the existing research results, this paper proposes a temporal-spatial relational expression of displacements of tunnel perimeter during tunnel excavation. Taking Guanjiao tunnel as example, using the expression, temporal-spatial effect for Guanjiao tunnel in the fault-rupture zone are analyzed and studied. Comparison of theoretical solutions with measurements has proved that temporal-spatial effect for soft rock tunnel can be reflected by the expression and these results provide reasonable proposal for the optimum time to construct the secondary lining.( the constructing time of secondary lining) and reserved deformation.


This study employs two modeling approaches to investigate short-term interval-force relations. The first approach is to develop a low-order, discrete-time model of excitation-contraction coupling to determine which parameter combinations produce the degree of postextrasystolic potentiation seen experimentally. Potentiation is found to increase 1) for low recirculation fraction, 2) for high releasable fraction, i.e., the maximum fraction of Ca(2+) released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) given full restitution, and 3) for strong negative feedback of the SR release on sarcolemmal Ca(2+) influx. The second modeling approach is to develop a more detailed single ventricular cell model that simulates action potentials, Ca(2+)-handling mechanisms, and isometric force generation by the myofilaments. A slow transition from the adapted state of the ryanodine receptor produces a gradual recovery of the SR release and restitution behavior. For potentiation, a small extrasystolic release leaves more Ca(2+) in the SR but also increases the SR loading by two mechanisms: 1) less Ca(2+)-induced inactivation of L-type channels and 2) reduction of action potential height by residual activation of the time-dependent delayed rectifier K(+) current, which increases Ca(2+) influx. The cooperativity of the myofilaments amplifies the relatively small changes in the Ca(2+) transient amplitude to produce larger changes in isometric force. These findings suggest that short-term interval-force relations result mainly from the interplay of the ryanodine receptor adaptation and the SR Ca(2+) loading, with additional contributions from membrane currents and myofilament activation.


Children with myelodysplasia have an increased incidence of latex allergy, which can lead to severe intraoperative allergic reactions. Despite widespread recommendations to avoid intraoperative latex exposure, little evidence exists to support the efficacy of this practice. We examined the incidence of intraoperative allergic reactions in children with myelodysplasia who underwent 1,025 operations in a 36-month period before and after institution of a standardized latex-avoidance protocol. Risk factors for an intraoperative reaction were found to be a history of latex allergy (p = 0.001) and surgery performed before institution of the latex-avoidance protocol (p = 0.01). The estimate of increased risk for allergic reaction was 3.09 times higher in cases performed without latex avoidance. Recognized violation of the protocol after its institution led to severe allergic reactions in three patients. Our experience suggests that a latex-avoidance protocol reduces intraoperative allergic reactions in children with myelodysplasia. Development of severe allergic reactions with violation of the protocol reinforces the importance of vigilance on the part of all operating room personnel in its implementation.


In this paper, we propose and study a low-complexity digital clock recovery scheme suitable for implementation on programmable platforms, such as digital signal processing (DSP) or field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) platforms. Performance is established in terms of mean-square timing error and the required computational complexity, a key factor in the successful implementation of efficient software-defined radios (SDR). It is shown that the proposed algorithm achieves a superior performance when compared with the existing algorithms for a wide range of operating parameters. To assess complexity in terms of resource utilization, the FPGA platform is used to study the proposed algorithm along with other well-known algorithms.


To analyze the interrelated dynamics of microalgae and algicidal bacteria (i.e. bacteria that kill and utilize microalgal cells) in a seawater environment, we investigated particle-associated and free-living algicidal bacteria during a diatom bloom in the Seto Inland Sea (Japan) in the sum- mer of 2005. A conventional most probable number (MPN) protocol revealed that bacteria that are algicidal against the harmful microalga Chattonella antiqua (Raphidophyceae) increased in number towards the end of the diatom bloom, during which only a few cells of Chattonella species were observed. Relatively abundant heterotrophic bacteria were present during the bloom period, indicat- ing that the bloom promoted the growth and activity of the ambient bacterial population, including algicidal bacteria. The algicidal abilities of 487 strains isolated from the particle-associated bacteria (PAB) fraction and 249 strains isolated from the free-living bacteria (FLB) fraction were tested against axenic cultures of 3 dinoflagellates and 3 raphidophycean flagellates. About half of the PAB isolates (231/487 strains) showed algicidal activity against 1 or more tested microalgae, while only 22% of the FLB isolates (55/249 strains) were algicidal. Eighty percent of algicidal bacteria from the PAB fraction could kill multiple species of tested microalgae, whereas most of the algicidal bacteria from the FLB fraction killed only a single species. These observations suggest that diatom blooms provide a habi- tat for algicidal bacteria with a wide prey range that potentially limit harmful algal blooms caused by dinoflagellates and raphidophycean flagellates.


The integument protects the organism against penetration of xenobiotics and water that would potentially interfere with homeostasis. In insects that play key roles in a variety of agricultural and ecological habitats, this inward barrier has barely been investigated. In order to advance knowledge in this field, we studied integumental barrier (cuticle) permeability in the two global pests Trialeurodes vaporariorum (greenhouse whitefly) and Cimex lectularius (bedbug), applying a simple dye-penetration assay. In agreement with our recent findings in Drosophila melanogaster, we show that the surface of these insects is regionalised. We also show that, in contrast to the single barrier in D. melanogaster, two barriers with distinct temperature-sensitive and lipid-based physico-chemical material properties act in parallel to protect these insects against penetration of hydrophilic molecules. These findings imply the existence of unexplored mechanisms by which the cuticle acts as a protective coat against the penetration of water and xenobiotics, including pollutants and insecticides.


Neural Network Language Models (NNLMs) have achieved very good performance in large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) systems. Because decoding with NNLMs is very computationally expensive, there is interest in developing methods to approximate NNLMs with simpler language models that are suitable for fast decoding. In this work, we propose an approximate method for converting a feedforward NNLM into a back-off n-gram language model that can be used directly in existing LVCSR decoders. We convert NNLMs of increasing order to pruned back-off language models, using lower-order models to constrain the n-grams allowed in higher-order models. In experiments on Broadcast News data, we find that the resulting back-off models retain the bulk of the gain achieved by NNLMs over conventional n-gram language models, and give significant accuracy improvements as compared to existing methods for converting NNLMs to back-off models. In addition, the proposed approach can be applied to any type of non-back-off language model to enable efficient decoding.


It is well known that interannual extremes in the rate of change of atmospheric CO2 are strongly influenced by the occurrence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. Qian et al. presented ENSO composites of atmospheric CO2 changes. We show that their composites do not reflect the atmospheric changes that are most relevant to understanding the role of ENSO on atmospheric CO2 variability. We present here composites of atmospheric CO2 change that differ markedly from those of Qian et al., and reveal previously unreported asymmetries between the effects on the global carbon system of El Niño and La Niña events. The calendar-year timing differs; La Niña changes in atmospheric CO2 typically occur primarily over September–May, while El Niño changes occur primarily over December–August. And the net concentration change is quite different; La Niña changes are about half the size of El Niño changes. These results illustrate new aspects of the ENSO/global carbon budget interaction and provide useful global-scale benchmarks for the evaluation of Earth System Model studies of the carbon system.


Abstract The chemical composition and heat evolution of 45 μm (coarse) portions of interground, natural pozzolan-blended cements were investigated. Cements with four different pozzolan contents were ground to 300 m 2 /kg, 500 m 2 /kg, and 600 m 2 /kg fineness and sieved through a 45 μm sieve. Clinker, pozzolan, and gypsum contents in the fine and coarse portions after sieving were determined and compared with the unsieved cements. Heat of hydration evolution of the samples were determined up to 48 h using isothermal calorimetry. The fine portions of the cements always contained more gypsum, had higher pozzolan-to-clinker ratios, and slightly higher tricalcium silicate contents, which influenced the rate of heat development at early ages. The fine portions contribute more to the total early heat evolved than the coarse portions. A small amount of pozzolan enhances early hydration. The heat evolved up to 24 h was related linearly to the heat evolved up to 48 h. Such observations could be useful in the modeling of early hydra-tion of blended cements.


High discharges in the Dutch Rhine branches have initiated large studies to suggest alternative ways of river management. These studies need detailed information on the morphological
behaviour of rivers: especially information on the sediment transport dynamics at river bifurcations
is wanted, for possible changes in the sediment distribution at river bifurcations have implications
for the downstream area. The present study focuses on the heavily engineered Merwedekop bifurcation, the location where the Bovenmerwede splits into the rivers Benedenmerwede and Nieuwe Merwede. The Merwedekop is situated in the SW part of the Netherlands, and is
characterised by sandy bed sediments (median grain size about 0.5 mm) and tidal water level variations. The aims of this study were to determine the influence of discharge variations, tides and
riverbed composition on the amount and size composition of sediment transport, as well as the
distribution of sediment transport over the river width and over the downstream branches of the
bifurcation. A sub-aim was to determine the characteristics of the dunes that caused the bed load
transport.
To reach these aims, sediment transport measurements were carried out during the discharge
wave of January 2004. The bed load transport was measured directly using a Delft Nile Sampler
(DNS), but also indirectly using multibeam echo soundings and a dune tracking technique. The
suspended load transport (excluding wash load) was measured using Acoustic Sand Transport Meters (ASTMs). During the DNS and ASTM measurements samples of the transport load were taken, from which the size composition of the sediment transport was determined. Together with the sediment transport measurements also detailed data on the flow velocity, water levels and
water discharge were collected.
The suspended load transport, which accounted for most of total transport, strongly varied
during the discharge wave. It was largest during the rising part of the discharge wave, and lowest
thereafter. Also the composition of the suspended load changed during the discharge wave: at the
peak discharge the suspended load sediment had a median grain size of 0.34 mm, while at the end of the discharge wave the median grain size was only 0.15 mm. There are indications that the suspended load transport in the Bovenmerwede was slightly larger in the left part of the river (inner bend) than in the right part of the river (outer bend), probably because the relatively coarse bed material in the outer bend (D50 about 0.6 mm) could not easily be transported in suspension.
The suspended sediment in the outer bend was also slightly coarser than the suspended sediment
in de inner bend. The distribution of suspended load sediment over the downstream branches of the bifurcation could not be determined, because no measurements were performed in the
downstream branches.
The bed load transport at the Merwedekop closely followed the discharge variations, with
slightly larger transports during declining flow. The median grain size of the bed load transport in the Bovenmerwede ranged from 0.4 (inner bend) to 0.6 mm (outer bend). Though detailed
information on the local riverbed composition was lacking, it seemed that all grain size fractions in the riverbed were mobile during the 2004 discharge wave. The highest transport values therefore
occurred on the location with the highest flow velocities (outer bend), not on the location with the finest bed sediment (inner bend). There were no indications for the occurrence of supply-limited transport or sediment waves, like at the IJsselkop and Pannerdensche Kop bifurcations. The total
bed load transport in the Bovenmerwede was markedly larger than the summed transports of the
Nieuwe Merwede and the Benedenmerwede. This can result from methodological errors, but also from sedimentation around the bifurcation. The distribution of bed load sediment over the Nieuwe Merwede and the Benedenmerwede was about 1:2 at low discharges and 2:1 at high discharges. This is because the Haringvliet sluices (downstream of the Nieuwe Merwede) limit the water and
sediment discharge through the Nieuwe Merwede at low discharge conditions.
Tidal water level variations caused changes in the suspended load transport and the bed load
transport at the Merwedekop of about 50%. In the Benedenmerwede and the Bovenmerwede, the
highest transports occurred during low tide and during outgoing tide, when the flow velocity was highest. The lowest transport occurred during incoming tide, when the flow velocity was lowest. In the Nieuwe Merwede the situation was exactly reverse, because of the Haringvliet sluices. While the water discharge through the Benedenmerwede and the Bovenmerwede is hampered during
incoming tide, resulting in low flow velocities and low transports, the water discharge of the Nieuwe
Merwede is promoted, causing high flow velocities and high transports. The dunes that were present on the riverbed were relatively small, with a width-averaged
height of about 0.2 m and a length of about 6 m. The dimensions of the dunes hardly varied
spatially, but the dunes became slightly larger during high discharges. Because of the tidal influence, the average migration rate of the dunes was relatively low


Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3-D printing of concrete allows for construction of arbitrary shape structures without a mold. Since reproducibility of 3-D printed concrete is lower than that of conventional fabrication, each 3-D printed structure should be monitored for proper curing. Conventional qualification of concrete is based on several tests, including destructive compressive strength measurements. Because a structure is 3-D printed layer-by-layer, the surfaces of AM concrete structures have significant surface roughness. This limits the applicability of conventional nondestructive testing methods. We investigated qualification of 3-D printed mortar by monitoring curing with nondestructive electrical conductivity measurements. Bulk resistance of concrete was extracted from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements made using custom flexible self-adhesive electrodes, which contour to rough surfaces. We show that bulk resistivity of concrete increases linearly with time. This allows for developing a calibration curve for compressive strength lookup from nondestructive electrical conductivity measurements. Conductivity measurements also allow for estimation of formation factor, which is an indicator of mortar permeability.


US policy toward the People's Republic of China (PRC) has come under increasing attack in Washington, as a growing chorus of analysts paints the PRC has a revisionist power seeking to undercut existing multilateral institutions. We observe, however, that China's approach to multilateralism varies across different issue areas, and we argue and show that China's approach differs depending on the strategic landscape of any given context. We conclude that it is thus a mistake to view China through a single lens as either a 'revisionist' or a 'status‐quo' power.


Summary.-Although many children with Attention-DeficidHyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are described as "clumsy," there is relatively little research on problems in motor development in this population. We used a survey method to assess retrospectively developmental histories of 25 children with ADHD and 27 control children (ages 8-15 years). Children with ADHD reportedly had more difficulty than control children with both learning and performing a variety of motor skills, e.g., tying shoes, printing letters, playing sports. In contrast, parents reported few problems in their children's language development. Severity of motor problems was related to performance on specific IQ indices and reading and spelling tests. Given previous research on adverse consequences of clumsiness in children with attention deficits, results of this preliminary study indicate that further research on motor development can shed


Objective. To describe the prevalence of anemia in Mexican children and adolescents from ENSANUT 2012. Materials and methods. Data had the power to make distinctions at the national, regional and rural/urban dwelling. Hemoglobin was measured by Hemocue. Descriptions were made by adjusted frequencies and 95%CI. Confounders were tested in a logistic regression models. Results. The prevalence of anemia in 2012 was: in children 1-4 y, 23.3%; 5-11y, 10.1%, and 12-19 y, 5.6%. The prevalence in female adolescents was 7.7% and 3.6% in males. Reductions in the prevalence of anemia from 1999 was 8.3pp in <5y, 5.1pp in children 5-11y and 3.6pp from 2006 in adolescents. Conclusions. Despite the decrease in the prevalence of anemia in children 1-4 y in the last 13 years, it still is of great concern. There is a need of awareness among social and medical communities about this, to extend the distribution of micronutrient supplements in children <3y, and to promote nutritional education to incentive mothers to provide foods rich in iron.


This study aims to investigate the factors associated with the effectiveness of the technological and digital entrepreneurship ecosystem (ECOTECH) in Cameroon. The methodology adopted consists of a range of semi-structured interviews in the ecosystem stakeholders. This was followed by a Pearson correlation analysis of a questionnaire submitted to 117 start-ups. The main results indicate that, the Cameroonian ECOTECH is a young and weakly effective environment. As far as start-ups are concerned, administrative difficulties, the distraction effect (increased involvement in activities not directly related to that of the start-up), and the lack of professionalism are closely linked to their ineffectiveness. Regarding the role of the state, start-ups value at 42.52% effective the efforts made by the government in improving the regulatory framework. The prevalence of the informal sector and the lack of infrastructure are among the reasons of this result. Regarding the role of incubators, although they have limited financial means to carry out their actions, start-ups rate their effectiveness at 63.5%. This result can be explained, among other things, by the interest for start-ups in the technical support and lobbying offered by incubators


Recent studies addressing vancomycin-resistance phenomena are surveyed. Besides leading semi-synthetic glycopeptides: BI-397 and LY 333328, other new synthetic derivatives are also presented. Rational design based on the known mode of action is seen in recent research from both industrial and academic groups. Thus, Biosearch Italia SpA worked on new synthetic glycopeptides with a modified binding pocket in order to find drugs active against both vancomycin-sensitive and -resistant strains. Eli Lilly & Co. and research groups at Stanford, Cambridge and Harvard synthesised covalently linked dimers in order to copy the dimerisation and membrane anchoring effects. Both directions proved to be rewarding and some interesting compounds with potent in vitro activity against vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were found from these investigations. A new mechanistic proposal that can account for the bioactivity of LY 333328 against VRE was summarised. Research on new agents with modes of action different to that...


Background: Lung cancer treatment has become increasingly dependent upon invasive biopsies to profile tumors for personalized therapy. Recently, tumor expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) has gained interest as a potential predictor of response to immunotherapy. Circulating biomarkers present an opportunity for tumor profiling without the risks of invasive procedures. We characterized PD-L1 expression within populations of nucleated cells in the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients in hopes of expanding the role of liquid biopsy in this setting. Methods: Peripheral blood samples from a multi-institutional prospective study of patients with clinical diagnosis of lung cancer were subjected to cytomorphometric and immunohistochemical evaluation using single-cell, automated slide-based, digital pathology. PD-L1 expression was determined by immunofluorescence. Results: PD-L1 expression was detected within peripheral circulating cells associated with malignancy (CCAM) in 26 of 112 (23%) non–small cell lung cancer patients. Two distinct populations of nucleated, nonhematolymphoid, PD-L1–expressing cells were identified; cytokeratin positive (CK+, PD-L1+, CD45−) and cytokeratin negative (CK−, PD-L1+, CD45−) cells, both with cytomorphometric features (size, nuclear-to-cytoplasm ratio) consistent with tumor cells. Patients with >1.1 PD-L1(+) cell/mL (n = 14/112) experienced worse overall survival than patients with ≤1.1 PD-L1(+) cell/mL (2-year OS: 31.2% vs. 78.8%, P = 0.00159). In a Cox model adjusting for stage, high PD-L1(+) cell burden remained a significant predictor of mortality (HR = 3.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.64–9.09; P = 0.002). Conclusions: PD-L1 expression is detectable in two distinct cell populations in the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients and is associated with worse survival. Impact: These findings could represent a step forward in the development of minimally invasive liquid biopsies for the profiling of tumors. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(7); 1139–45. ©2017 AACR.


The nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) has a well-characterized role in the developmental process of adipogenesis and transcriptional regulation of lipid metabolism. However, its expression patterns and functions in various cancer subtypes are less understood. My studies investigate the role of PPARγ in two distinct cancers of the urinary tract: clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and bladder urothelial carcinoma (UC). In ccRCC, I hypothesized that PPARγ activity contributes to the aberrant lipid accumulation phenotype characteristic of this disease, thereby promoting tumor progression. Through ChIPseq, I demonstrated that PPARγ and its heterodimeric DNA binding partner retinoid X receptor (RXR) occupy both adipose-shared and ccRCC-specific sites throughout the genome. However, based on a number of in vitro and in vivo assays evaluating ccRCC viability, proliferation, migration, and effects on lipid metabolism, I concluded that PPARγ was dispensable for these processes and ccRCC progression. I also studied the role of PPARγ in UC, a cancer which displays copy number amplification and mRNA overexpression of PPARG or RXRA in ~30% of tumors. In contrast to the results obtained in ccRCC, I demonstrated that genetic and pharmacological inhibition of PPARγ reduces tumor growth via cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, I identified a candidate list of PPARγ-regulated genes in UC based on ChIPand RNA-seq analyses of cell culture models, as well as gene expression data from primary patient samples. Together, my studies illuminate the remarkable cell typespecific functions of PPARγ in urinary tract cancers, and provide rationale for the pharmacological targeting of its transcriptional effectors in a subset of tumors. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor M. Celeste Simon


Information & Communication Technology (ICT) usage in Pakistan is growing trend. However, while there is expanded concern of knowledge about how ICT is in usage in low income countries, there is information lacking on how ICT is used by the university teachers in low income countries. This research studied perception of university teachers about use of ICT, in Pakistani universities. The research through purposive sampling was drawn on 57 teachers, belonging to the public sector universities of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. This survey consisted of 29 males and 28 females. Their ages vary from 26 to 50 years. Open-ended questionnaire was used for this survey. It also showed that respondents have availability of internet at office. The association between different variables was calculated from chi-square test, and the strength of association was measured by gamma. The result showed the moderate negative association between level of age and quantity of daily time spent on computer. It also showed that no association exists between category of teacher's gender and quantity of daily time spent on computer. For enhancement of ICT integration into education, it was recommended that teachers must have access to infrastructure relating ICT and there should be provision of sufficient training to teachers.


We discuss a case study for the hospital scenario where workflow model components are distributed across various computers or devices (e.g. mobile phones, PDAs, sensors, RFID tags). By using the concept of loosely-coupled processes we want to enable computerization of manually performed ad hoc medical tasks. That could decrease time, cost and resource consumption in a hospital. The challenges of loosely coupled process composition include: the requirement to manage flexibly the process logic, the need to overcome a heterogeneous software and hardware environment, and the management of the application domain (e.g. structure of organization, resources). The main question we address is what are the functional limitations and possibilities of current process composition approaches? In response to this question we describe and discuss the capabilities of Web service technologies. In addition, we sketch a plan to overcome these limitations. Finally, we propose a process composition approach based on BPEL4WS engine that satisfies medical scenario requirements.


Abstract
 We detail under light and scanning electron microscopy the type materials of three poorly known diatom species first described by Hustedt from aerial habitats in Germany. Navicula parsura Hustedt (synonym: N. obscura Hustedt), N. obsoleta Hustedt, and N. evanida Hustedt type materials were observed and compared with populations from Luxembourg. Ultrastructural analysis revealed the presence of striae composed by areolae occluded externally by hymenes and a silica line at the valve face-mantle junction along the apical plane. These taxa also present a naviculoid raphe, which besides overall valve outline, conforms to the genus Chamaepinnularia Lange-Bertalot et Krammer. Therefore, we propose two new combinations: Chamaepinnularia obsoleta (Hustedt) C.E. Wetzel et Ector comb. nov. and C. parsura (Hustedt) C.E. Wetzel et Ector comb. nov. Excepting C. evanida (Hustedt) Lange-Bertalot, which is often observed in European rivers and already placed in the genus Chamaepinnularia, the remaining two taxa are poorly known and autecological data are scarce. Our results suggest that these species, present in stream drift during flood events, might partially derive from near-stream riparian or upslope terrestrial habitats. In addition, based on literature data, three new combinations are also proposed.


This study is an attempt to investigate the policy consistency of Nigeria"s foreign policy and to understand the basis for this consistency; and also to see whether peacekeeping/peace-enforcement is key instrument in the achievement of Nigeria"s foreign policy goals. The objective of the study was to examine whether the use of peacekeeping/ peace-enforcement like the case of Somalia has helped Nigeria to achieve its central foreign policy objective. In the aspect of theoretical framework, one theory was used in explaining and analysing the circumstance surrounding peacekeeping initiative and policy decision/implementation. This theory shades more light on the two areas touched in this work. The data translated was consistent with the theory and did not alter them. In similar studies such theoretical framework can be adopted. The research design used was survey design, the area of study which summarized the geographical, social, economic, and cultural, historical and revealed aspect of lives that are predominant and provides the environment in which people live. Purposive sampling method (judgmental) was employed in determining the population size and fifty officials who were adjudged to have sufficient knowledge and information about the subject matter of inquiry. The instrument used was structured interview of respondent.Keywords: Peacekeeping, Policy consistency, Foreign Policy, Somalia, Goals


Despite the rising interest in mountain permafrost due to climatic changes and a noticed increase of registered rockfall events in the European Alps and other mountain ranges, little is known about transient thermal conditions in the detachment areas of rockfalls. Temperature conditions prior to the rockfall events of 144 past events in the European Alps were modelled with a physically based ground temperature model. To minimise the impact that uncertainty has on interpretations, only relative values were used, that is, percentiles obtained from cumulative distribution functions of the modelled ground surface temperatures from the beginning of the meteorological measurement series up to the event dates. Our results suggest that small and mid‐sized rockfalls (volumes up to 100 000 m3) from high elevation occurred mainly during short‐term periods of unusually high temperatures. This was neither found to be a result of the seasonal distribution (most analysed events in higher elevations occurred from July to September) nor of the longer‐term temporal distribution (most analysed events occurred after 2000) only. Plausible explanations are either a destabilisation related to advective thaw or failure due to stress redistribution caused by large temperature variations. Large deep‐seated rock slope failures (≥100 000 m3) in high elevation occurred all year round.


Developing countries are characterized by frictions that impede the mobility of workers across occupations and space. We disentangle the role of insecure property rights from other labor mobility frictions for the reallocation of labor from agriculture to non-agriculture and from rural to urban areas. We combine rich household and individual-level panel data from China and an equilibrium quantitative framework that features the sorting of workers across locations and occupations. We explicitly model the farming household and the endogenous decisions of who operates the family farm and who potentially migrates, capturing an additional channel of selection within the household. We find that land insecurity has substantial negative effects on agricultural productivity and structural change, raising the share of households operating farms by almost 30 percentage points and depressing agricultural productivity by more than 10 percent. Quantitatively, land insecurity is as important as all other labor mobility frictions. We measure a sharp reduction in overall labor mobility barriers over 2004-2018 in the Chinese economy, all of which can be accounted for by improved land security, consistent with reforms covering rural land in China during the period. JEL classification: O11, O14, O4, E02, Q1.


Single crystal 3C-SiC films were grown on (100) and (111) Si substrate orientations in order to study the resulting mechanical properties of this material. In addition, poly-crystalline 3C-SiC was also grown on (100)Si so that a comparison with monocrystaline 3C-SiC, also grown on (100)Si, could be made. The mechanical properties of single crystal and polycrystalline 3C-SiC films grown on Si substrates were measured by means of nanoindentation using a Berkovich diamond tip. These results indicate that polycrystalline SiC thin films are attractive for MEMS applications when compared with the single crystal 3C-SiC, which is promising since growing single crystal 3C-SiC films is more challenging. MEMS cantilevers and membranes fabricated from a 2 µm thick single crystal 3C-SiC grown on (100)Si under similar conditions resulted in a small degree of bow with only 9 µm of deflection for a cantilever of 700 µm length with an estimated tensile film stress of 300 MPa. Single crystal 3C-SiC films on (111)Si substrates have the highest elastic and plastic properties, although due to high residual stress they tend to crack and delaminate.


Activated oxygen species have been demonstrated to be the important agents in oxygen toxicity by disrupting the structural and functional integrity of cells through lipid peroxidation events, DNA damage and protein inactivation. The biological consequences of free radical damage have long been hypothesized to be a causal agent in many aging-related diseases. Catalase (H2O2:H2O2 oxidoreductase; EC 126.96.36.199) is one of several enzymes involved in the scavenging of oxygen free radicals and free radical derivatives. The structural gene for catalase in Drosophila melanogaster has been localized to region 75D1-76A on chromosome 3L by dosage responses to segmental aneuploidy. This study reports the isolation of a stable deficiency, Df(3L)CatDH104(75C1-2;75F1), that uncovers the catalase locus and the subsequent isolation of six acatalasemic mutants. All catalase mutants are viable under standard culture conditions and recessive lethal mutations within the 75Cl-F1 interval have been shown not to affect catalase activity. Two catalase mutations are amorphic while four are hypomorphic alleles of the Cat+ locus. The lack of intergenic complementation between the six catalase mutations strongly suggests that there is only one functional gene in Drosophila. One acatalesemic mutation was mapped to position 3-47.0 which resides within the catalase dosage sensitive region. While complete loss of catalase activity confers a severe viability effect, residual levels are sufficient to restore viability to wild type levels. These results suggest a threshold effect for viability and offer an explanation for the general lack of phenotypic effects associated with the known mammalian acatalasemics.


Massively multicore processors, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), provide, at a comparable price, a one order of magnitude higher peak performance than traditional CPUs. This drop in the cost of computation, as any order-of-magnitude drop in the cost per unit of performance for a class of system components, triggers the opportunity to redesign systems and to explore new ways to engineer them to recalibrate the cost-to-performance relation. This project explores the feasibility of harnessing GPUs' computational power to improve the performance, reliability, or security of distributed storage systems. In this context, we present the design of a storage system prototype that uses GPU offloading to accelerate a number of computationally intensive primitives based on hashing, and introduce techniques to efficiently leverage the processing power of GPUs. We evaluate the performance of this prototype under two configurations: as a content addressable storage system that facilitates online similarity detection between successive versions of the same file and as a traditional system that uses hashing to preserve data integrity. Further, we evaluate the impact of offloading to the GPU on competing applications' performance. Our results show that this technique can bring tangible performance gains without negatively impacting the performance of concurrently running applications.


A growing trend in counselor education is to accommodate technological change with more online academic opportunities. Slow to emerge in the counselor education literature is information about how instructors have negotiated the change. This study highlights the experiences of six counselor educators from across the United States who transitioned from teaching counseling courses in the classroom to teaching them online. Four themes of common experience emerged from the data: (a) high expectations and low support from university leaders, (b) limits to transitional enthusiasm among counseling faculty, (c) solutions for transitional success, and (d) support essential for the transition. Results of this study confirm a need for greater attention to the transitional process and increased opportunities for experience and university support.


Survey data support hypotheses regarding differential access to workplace power among women and minorities relative to white men. Specific findings indicate that, relative to white men, all groups encounter increasing inequality at higher levels of power, but only black women seem to experience this form of inequality as a result of direct discrimination. Further analysis indicates that network assistance is more a response to this form of discrimination than an indirect cause. Finally, analysis shows that most groups attain power through homosocial reproduction, but what differs is the opportunity to engage in such reproduction, wherein white men excel. These findings imply that while women and minorities face lower odds than white men of achieving higher levels of workplace power, the reasons for this disadvantage vary among respective groups and thus will likely require different remedies.


In this work, a stable EDTA–Bi complex formed by the chelation of bismuth ions and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) under alkaline conditions was adopted to controllably prepare novel two-dimensional (2D) Bi4V2O11 nanosheets via a facile hydrothermal method. It is proved that the phases of the product will change with the variation of the amount of EDTA and the pH value of the precursor solution. The fabricated Bi4V2O11 has a uniform sheet-like structure with a thickness of 1.26 nm. Based on the experimental results, we provide a reasonable nucleation and growth mechanism for Bi4V2O11 nanosheets, which could give some suggestions on the synthesis of other 2D Bi-based materials. On the basis of Mott–Schottky plots and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, we demonstrate that the as-obtained Bi4V2O11 is an n-type semiconductor and possesses a better light-harvesting ability in comparison with monoclinic BiVO4. In addition, the corresponding conduction band potential and valence band potential of the Bi4V2O11 nanosheets are ascertained as well.


We evaluated the hypothesis that a pattern of behavioral exposures indicating positive energy balance [i.e., less exercise/sport activity, high body mass index (BMI), or high energy intake] would be associated with an increased breast cancer risk in the Shanghai Breast Cancer Study, a population-based study of 1,459 incident breast cancer cases and 1,556 age frequency-matched controls. Participants completed in-person interviews that collected information on breast cancer risk factors, usual dietary intake and physical activity in adulthood. Anthropometric indices were measured. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated by logistic regression to describe the individual and joint effects of the exposures on breast cancer risk. Lack of exercise/sport activity, low occupational activity, and high BMI were all individually associated with increased risk of breast cancer [odds ratios (OR) ranged from 1.49 to 1.86]. In general, women with lower exercise/sport activity level and higher BMI, or those with higher energy intake, were at an increased risk compared with women who reported more exercise/sport activities, had lower BMIs, or reported less energy intake. There was a significant multiplicative interaction (P = 0.02) between adult exercise/sport activity and BMI, with inactive women in the upper BMI quartile being at increased risk (OR, 2.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.25-3.74) compared with their active and lean counterparts. This association was stronger in postmenopausal than in premenopausal women, and nonexercising postmenopausal women with higher BMIs were at substantially increased risk (OR, 4.74; 95% confidence interval, 2.05-12.20). Our study suggests that promotion of behavior patterns that optimize energy balance (weight control and increasing physical activity) may be a viable option for breast cancer prevention.


This article studies the impact of shopping at the warehouse club format on households' purchases of packaged food for the home. In addition to low prices, this format has several unique characteristics that can influence packaged food purchases. The empirical analysis uses a combination of households' longitudinal grocery purchase information, rich survey data, and detailed item-level nutrition information. After accounting for selection on observables and unobservables, the authors find a substantial increase in the total quantity (servings per capita) of packaged food purchases attributable to shopping at this format. Because there is no effect on the nutritional quality of purchases, this translates into a substantial increase in calories, sugar, and saturated fat per capita. The increase comes primarily from storable and impulse foods, and it is drawn equally from foods that have positive and negative health halos. The results have important implications for how marketers can create win–win opportunities for themselves and for consumers.


Loss of scalp hair, whether gradual or abrupt, can have devastating effects on a patient's self-image. Restoration of a positive self-image through improved appearance is a primary goal of all cosmetic surgery. Patient selection based on the type of alopecia and the real motivation for surgery is the first step in this metamorphosis.


Quantitative methods to forecasting tourist arrivals can be sub-divided into causal methods and non-causal methods. Non-causal time series methods remain popular tourism forecasting tools due to the accuracy of their forecasting ability and general ease of use. Since tourist arrivals exhibit seasonality, SARIMA models are often found to be the most accurate. However, these models assume that the time-series is linear. This paper compares the baseline seasonal NaA¯ve and SARIMA forecasts of a seasonal tourist destination faced with a structural break in the data, with alternative non-linear methods, with the aim to determine the accuracy of the various methods. These methods include the unobserved components model, smooth transition autoregressive model (STAR) and singular spectrum analysis (SSA). The results show that the non-linear forecasts outperform the other methods. The linear methods show some superiority in short-term forecasts when there are no structural changes in the time series.


The effects on wastewater treatment due to addition to the mixed liquor of a fine lignocellulosic powder made of dried kenaf were assessed using lab-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) operated for over 200 days. The treatment reactor augmented with kenaf showed similar COD and phosphorus removals as well as total suspended solids concentrations in the effluent as the control reactor. Larger and less numerous floc particles were formed with the addition of kenaf, resulting in around 30% improvement in sludge settling in the kenaf SBR (SVI = 130 ml g−1) than in the control SBR (SVI = 190 ml g−1). During periods of low aeration, significantly higher (p < 0.01) removal of total nitrogen was observed in the kenaf SBR (87.3% removal) than in the control SBR (83.9% removal). This was attributed to higher levels of nitrite oxidizing bacteria in the kenaf SBR, leading to higher specific nitrate production rate. However, the overall microbial communities, as assessed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, were similar in control and treatment reactors. Significantly higher concentrations of copper (45.6% increase), lead (25.5% increase) and zinc (65.7% increase) (p < 0.05) were detected in dried sludge solids from the kenaf treated SBR than in the control SBR. Cadmium, chromium and nickel did not accumulate differently in the solids, while selenium and cobalt were significantly (p < 0.05) less concentrated in the kenaf enriched sludge solids. Overall, the addition of kenaf in activated sludge systems may enhance nitrification under low aeration conditions, and improve sludge settling, but has no effects on other performance parameters.


Background: Prior investigations regarding glucose variability in nondiabetic subjects measured by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) have been limited to only few weeks. Little is known about what defines healthy or pathologic glycemic variability. This study investigated "normal glycemia" under daily conditions using a long-term implantable CGM system in nondiabetic adults for 90 days. Methods: 25 adult nondiabetic participants (10 Male, 15 Female, 17 participants >45 years old) were inserted with the Eversense® CGM System (Senseonics Inc, MD). Participants were instructed to continuously wear the CGM system during the 90 day period and calibrate the system when prompted. Analysis was performed to estimate standardized measures of euglycemia (70-180 mg/dL), hypoglycemia ( 180, >200 mg/dL) and glucose variability (Mean, SD, CV). Results: Out of 25 participants, 5 had inadequate data for inclusion. Analysis showed the average glucose value of the nondiabetic participants was 102 mg/dL (SD=18 and CV=0.17). Average percent time spent in hypoglycemia 180 and >200 mg/dL was 0.17% and 0.05%, respectively. 17 participants had at least one value 180mg/dL with 11 subjects with glucose values > 200mg/dL. Conclusions: Glycemic variability recorded over extended period of time in participants without a diagnosis of diabetes showed similar results as observed by previous researchers over short duration with tight glycemic control. However, hypo- and hyperglycemic excursions are in some normoglycemic regarded individuals more frequent than suggested without CGM. Further analysis including meal challenge and fasting levels may provide guidance regarding expected values for persons without a diagnosis of diabetes and to set realistic target ranges for those with diabetes. Disclosure D. Deiss: Consultant; Self; Senseonics. Advisory Panel; Self; Abbott. Consultant; Self; Roche Diabetes Care Health and Digital Solutions. Advisory Panel; Self; Becton, Dickinson and Company. T. Abtahi: Other Relationship; Self; Senseonics. R. Rastogi: Employee; Self; Senseonics. E.L. Kelley: Employee; Self; Senseonics.


The objective of this study is to analyze the mechanism of absorptive capacity in the course of innovation for the purpose of improving the innovation performance of the firms. This paper set the knowledge transfer efficiency as the intermediate variable based on the theory of capability level, analyzing the path and effect on innovation performance in all dimensions of the absorptive capacity. The research results show that absorptive capacity as a kind of high-level capability, the absorptive capacity can influence the innovation performance through the knowledge transfer efficiency. Each dimension of the absorption capacity produces different effects. Firms should pay attention to and treated differently in the process of technological innovation.


This report investigates passenger attitudes towards on-board catering in North East Asia. The study is based upon a stratified sample of 374 respondents interviewed at Incheon International Airport (ICN) in Seoul, Korea and assesses the level of importance of in-flight food products in the context of short haul international flights.
 The data collected through these questionnaires showed that factors such as ticket price, destination and various passenger demographics had an effect on the perception of the level and necessity of in-flight catering on short-haul international flights within North East Asia.
 Based upon previous research (see Jones, 2004; Gilbert and Wong, 2003; Papadiotis, 2003), respondents were asked to rank by level of importance 11 product features. Ticket pricing and food and beverages were analysed separately as these factors directly relate to the research questions posed by this report.
 Respondents were then asked to rate their satisfaction levels and evaluate the necessity of the in-flight food service provided by current FSNC's on short haul flights of less than three hours. The respondents were generally satisfied with the level of current in-flight food services with those who were highly satisfied also seeing the greatest necessity for in-flight food service. Those respondents who had travelled more often over the course of the previous year were less likely to see the necessity of in-flight food services and both the travel destination and flight duration were important factors in deciding the necessity of in-flight food service.
 The survey then asked respondents to rate ticket prices and the analysis showed that negative and unsatisfactory perceptions existed as most respondents felt that current prices were too high. As this area is still dominated by FSNCs, this report believes that the next few years will see prices dropping as LCCs enter the market and so increasing competitiveness.
 Overall, the report finds that current food and beverage provision are not well appreciated or recognised by passengers on short-haul flights in North East Asia and that, ticket prices are perceived as being too high. As this market changes, either due to deregulation or liberalisation, so the major FSNCs will have to re-evaluate their market segments in order to remain competitive in this short-haul international market place.


Interbreeding between protected species and their domestic forms presents a conundrum for wildlife managers and legislators with respect to both defining the taxa concerned and enacting or enforcing conservation measures. Recent research on two species geographically distant but with highly analogous histories, the wildcat (Felis silvestris) in Scotland and the dingo (Canis lupus dingo) in Australia, illustrates the challenges faced. Introgression has left the contemporary wild form of both species difficult to distinguish from many of their domesticated forms. Furthermore, historical definitions, and the protective legislation based on them, have been rendered obsolete by subsequent anthropogenic environmental change. We argue that a new approach is necessary for defining mammalian species in the face of introgression with their domestic forms and environmental change, including persecution. Protecting animals for where and how they live, and for their cultural or ecosystem function value rather than focusing on their appearance, offers the best solution for maintaining their conservation status.


QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY
To improve the response of deteriorating patients during their hospital stay, the University Hospital Bern has introduced a Medical Emergency Team (MET). Aim of this retrospective cohort study is to review the preceding factors, patient characteristics, process parameters and their correlation to patient outcomes of MET calls since the introduction of the team.

METHODS
Data on patient characteristics, parameters related to MET activation and intervention and patient outcomes were evaluated. A Vital Sign Score (VSS), which is defined as the sum of the occurrence of each vital sign abnormalities, was calculated for all physiological parameters pre MET event, during event and correlation with hospital outcomes.

RESULTS
A total of 1,628 MET calls in 1,317 patients occurred; 262 (19.9%) of patients with MET calls during their hospital stay died. The VSS pre MET event (odds ratio [OR] 1.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.50-2.13; AUROC 0.63; all p <0.0001) and during the MET call (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.41-1.83; AUROC 0.62; all p <0.0001) were significantly correlated to patient outcomes. A significant increase in MET calls from 5.2 to 16.5 per 1000 hospital admissions (p <0.0001) and a decrease in cardiac arrest calls in the MET perimeter from 1.6 in 2008 to 0.8 per 1000 admissions was observed during the study period (p = 0.014).

CONCLUSIONS
The VSS is a significant predictor of mortality in patients assessed by the MET. Increasing MET utilisation coincided with a decrease in cardiac arrest calls in the MET perimeter.


The Brazilian endemic irroratus species group of the genus Inca (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) is defined and described. This species group is composed of Inca irroratus Chevrolat, 1833 and two new species: I. axeli sp. nov. and I. neglectus sp. nov. One new synonym is proposed: I. irroratus Chevrolat, 1833 = I. burmeisteri Burmeister, 1844 syn. nov. To guarantee nomenclatural stability, a neotype is designated for I. irroratus and a lectotype for I. burmeisteri. A key to all species of Inca and a map with the distribution of the irroratus species group are provided.


A slotless tubular linear generator (STLG) can be connected directly to renewable energy sources for generating electricity in a reciprocating force pattern with no extra mechanical cogging losses. This paper presents an analytical model for predicting the electromagnetic and electromechanical characteristics of a STLG, such that the preliminary operational performance of the STLG in potential applications can be conveniently evaluated. From the devised Bessel-based system model, both the unregulated and regulated generator outputs with and without power converter circuits included can then be thoroughly investigated. Experimental measurements obtained from a laboratory test-bed have also been provided to confirm the validity and adequacy of the proposed model for related performance assessments .


—The current trends in embedded systems are driving the integration of more functions in one processing element. At the same time, multicore architectures are increasingly used to improve performance, reduce costs, power consumption and size. Safety-critical applications are developed according to certification standards, which, depending on the criticality level, dictate the development processes and certification procedures that have to be followed. Functions of different criticalities have to be sepa-rated, both temporally and spatially, otherwise a low-criticality function can corrupt a high-criticality function. Separation is difficult to achieve in multicores, which leads to very high certification costs: all the functions on a multicore have to be developed as if they are of highest criticality. The RECOMP (Reduced certification cost for trusted multicore platforms) project aims at reducing the certification costs of mixed-criticality applications on multi-core platforms, and addresses several industries, including industrial automation, automotive and avionics. The reduction in certification costs is achieved through (1) the use of separation solutions among mixed-criticality functions, through a combination of communication infrastructure, hardware, operating systems and middleware, methods and tools and component models, such that the required independence is achieved; (2) reducing the need for tool qualification, which is very expensive, by performing a tool-chain analysis of the tools used to develop a particular system; (3) methods and tools which reduce development costs and assist the designers in the certification lifecycle. This paper presents the RECOMP approach to safety-critical multicore systems, with a focus on methods and tools.


The distinguishing characters between the closely related Limonium chrysocomum and L. semenovii are given. The new combinations L. semenovii var. chrysocephalum and L. semenovii var. sedoides are proposed, and a key separating these varieties is presented. Limonium chrysocomum (Karelin & Kirilov) Kuntze and L. semenovii (Herder) Kuntze are very closely related yellow-flowered species that have long been confused. The former grows in rocky areas in deserts and on dry stony slopes, hills, and low mountains in northern Xinjiang and Dzungarian Gobi (western Mongolia, Kazakhstan). In contrast, L. semenovii grows in desert and steppe stony slopes, hills, and low mountains, on salt sands, Haloxylon desert woodlands, and scree, especially on tertiary gypsum deposits, and is distributed in Xinjiang (north and south foothills of Tian-Shan), Dzungarian Alatau, and Gobi (eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia). The two species can be separated by the following key: la. Stems and branches finely warty at least just below inflorescence; external bractlets of spikes glabrate, very rarely pilose in the eastern plants (var. pubescens Linczevski) .... L. chrysocomum lb. Stems and branches glabrate; external and internal bractlets of spikes almost always densely and long pilose, very rarely glabrous in the western part of the species range (var. glabra Linczevski) L. semenovii Limonium chrysocephalum (Regel) Linczevski and L. sedoides (Regel) Kuntze are best treated as varieties of L. semenovii and not L. chrysocomum, as was done by Peng (1987). They are not sharply differentiated, and a whole range of intermediates occurs sporadically within the general range of L. semenovii. The two varieties are separated as follows: la. Sterile branches 2 or 3, not more than twice as long as membranaceous scales; plants 1015 cm high var. chrysocephalum lb. Sterile branches often solitary, completely covered by white membranaceous scales; plants 26 cm high var. sedoides Limonium semenovii (Herder) Kuntze var. chrysocephalum (Regel) Grubov, comb. nov. Basionym: Statice chrysocephala Regel, Trudy Imp. S. Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 6: 383. 1880. TYPE: China. Xinjiang: Tian-Shan, Borborogussun, 3,000-4,000 ft., 28 Apr. 1879, A. Regel s.n. (holotype, LE). Limonium semenovii (Herder) Kuntze var. sedoides (Regel) Grubov, comb. nov. Basionym: Statice sedoides Regel, Trudy Imp. S. Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 6: 384. 1880. TYPE: China. Xinjiang: Sudabhang des dschungarischen Alatau, 6,000 ft., 7 Aug. 1878, A. Regel s.n. (holotype, LE). Although the original publication of Statice chrysocephala and S. sedoides cited more than one collection for each, the author clearly selected the types above, as evidenced by his own handwriting on the sheets at LE. Acknowledgments. I thank Alice Grabovskaya and Ihsan Al-Shehbaz for help in the preparation of