Database systems have traditionally used a Client-Server architecture. As the server becomes overloaded, clients experience an increase in query response time, and in the worst case the server may be unable to provide any service at all. In file-sharing, the problem of server overloading has been addressed by the use of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) techniques in which users (peers) supply files to each other, so sharing the load. This paper describes the Wigan P2P Database System, which was designed to investigate if P2P techniques for reducing server load, thus increasing system scalability, could be applied successfully in a database environment. It is based on the BitTorrent file-sharing approach. This paper introduces the Wigan system architecture, explaining how the BitTorrent approach must be modified for a P2P database server. It presents and analyses experimental results, including the TPC-H benchmark, which show that the approach can succeed in delivering scalability in particular cases. © 2009 University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Printed and published by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Computing Science, Claremont Tower, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, England. Bibliographical details COLQUHOUN, J., WATSON, P. Evaluating a P2P Database Server based on BitTorrent [By] J. Colquhoun, P. Watson. Newcastle upon Tyne: University of Newcastle upon Tyne: Computing Science, 2009. (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Computing Science, Technical Report Series, No. CS-TR-1145)


BackgroundType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a challenging and globally ubiquitous metabolic disease caused by insulin resistance. Skeletal muscle is the major insulin-sensitive tissue that plays a great role in blood sugar homeostasis. Dysfunction of muscle metabolism is implicated in the disturbance of glucose hemostasis and the development of insulin resistance and T2DM. Here, we attempted to find metabolic dysregulations that are associated with the onset of T2DM. Besides, metabolite markers of T2DM were explored. ResultsWe reconstructed a human muscle-specific metabolic model and applied it to perform metabolic analysis in newly diagnosed T2DM patients. We investigated the metabolism reprogramming by using two topology-based and constraint-based approach. Our results showed that metabolic alterations have occurred in carbohydrate, fatty acids, lipids, amino acids, and inositol phosphate metabolisms as well as pathways implicated in building extracellular matrix (ECM). Also, dysregulation of coenzyme Q10 metabolism was observed. Moreover, we applied a machine learning method to predict potential metabolite markers of insulin resistance in muscle. 13 exchange metabolites were predicted as the potential metabolite markers of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle. The efficiency of these markers in detecting insulin-resistant muscle was validated using a separate muscle gene expression data from another diabetes-related study. ConclusionIn this study, the most updated muscle-specific metabolic model was generated and successfully was validated. This model was used for the investigation of metabolic disturbances at the onset of T2DM. Our results indicated the significance of ECM metabolites in insulin resistance, and reinforce the role of coenzyme Q10 as a candidate for further research in insulin resistance and T2DM treatment. The model is freely available and can be used for other muscle metabolic studies.


Abstract The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic content analysis of sex tour websites to understand how sex tours are marketed to potential clients. A total of 380 web pages from 21 sex tour websites were reviewed. The sex tour websites sought to promote privacy and hassle-free travel with a local 'escort' and the opportunity for 'hooks-ups' with no strings attached. Three themes emerged around the description of sex workers: (1) enjoyment and complete acceptance, (2) a 'total girlfriend experience' and (3) exoticisation of the 'Third World' woman. The majority of the sex tourism websites used marketplace mythologies concerning racism, sexism and imperialism to appeal to sex tourists' desires for fantasy experiences, power and domination, and a renewed sense of identity. Legal and STI-related information was largely missing from the websites, and when it was included it was aimed at protecting sex tourists, not sex workers. It is of importance for researchers, social workers and others engaging with sex workers and sexscapes to recognise the power of language, cultural myths and framings and their ability to generate real-world social and health implications.


This paper presents a calibration technique for a Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) used in measurement of temperature. Soft calibration circuit is designed using an optimized Artificial Neural Network (ANN), optimization of ANN is to choose a particular neural network scheme, algorithm, transfer function, and number of hidden layers. The objective of the present work is design an adaptive calibration circuit using optimized ANN model which produces (i) a linear output over 100% of full scale input range, (ii) accurate output even when the RTD is replaced with a different RTD (different refers to variation in parameter like reference resistance and temperature coefficient). Resistance temperature detector is cascaded to the designed neural network model through a suitable data conversion circuit. The designed system is evaluated for its performance in simulation and practical domain. Results obtained show that the set objectives are fulfilled


VANET is the key to the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), where vehicles can communicate with others to exchange information in real time. VANET is an ad-hoc that has no fixed infrastructure and rapidly changing network topology. As the result, the network is insecure and vulnerable to various attacks both from within and outside the network. This research analyzes AODV routing protocol comparing the conditions without the attacks and with the attacks with the of black hole and jellyfish using the algorithm of Intrusion Detection System with the number of nodes changing from 10 to 100 nodes at the change speeds of 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120 km/h. This research is simulated using Network Simulator 2 to model the network and ONESimulator to model node mobility. The analyzed QoS parameters are packet delivery ratio (PDR), throughput, and end-to-end delay. The results of the simulation show that changing the number of nodes and node velocity affects the performance in the network. On the number of nodes scenario with attacks, the average value of PDR decreases by 48.03%, throughput decreases by 50.23%, and delay, for black hole, decreases by 80.18% but increases by 47.87% for jellyfish. Whereas in the node velocity scenario, the average values of PDR, throughput, and delay decrease by 58.52%, 60.34%, 13.81% for blackhole attack, respectively. However, the delay increases by 123.91% for jellyfish attack.


Abstract Real-time Precise Point Positioning (RT PPP) is a primary positioning method used in natural hazard warning systems (NHWS) such as monitoring tsunami and earthquakes. The method relays on precise orbit and clock corrections to eliminate satellite-related errors and its performance can be significantly improved by using measurements from multi-GNSS constellations compared with using only one system, such as GPS. The Japanese Multi-GNSS Advanced Demonstration tool for Orbit and Clock Analysis (MADOCA) provides these corrections for GPS, GLONASS and QZSS satellites enabling a multi-GNSS RT-PPP. However, the accuracy of RT PPP will suffer a major decline in case of presence of an outage in receiving these corrections, for instance due to a temporary failure of the user modem. For that reason, a method is proposed to maintain RT PPP when such a break takes place. For short outages less than 30 minutes we predict MADOCA orbits using a Holt-Winters' auto-regressive model, and for longer outages up to 1 hr, the most recent International GNSS Service (IGS) ultra-rapid orbits can be used, but only for GPS. In addition, the clock corrections are predicted as a time series using a linear model with sinusoidal terms. The best regression period to estimate the required model parameters is discussed based on analysis of the autocorrelation of the corrections. The prediction model parameters are estimated using a sliding time window. Evaluation of the proposed method showed that positioning accuracy of 15 cm was maintained during the prediction period, which is twice better than using IGS ultra-rapid predicted products. For NHSW, the displacement errors due to prediction errors were generally within ±6 cm with one min interval and ±10 cm with five min interval.


A type of automatic positioning control system of train has been introduced. The key element of system is based on induction radio communication technology. System is composed of four parts: ground control unit, communication unit, train control unit and external control part. The carrier of position produced by generator is amplified and sent to the coded flat cable. Then the signal is induced by antenna of train. Through control unit of train, the location of train will be gained. The location signal is sent out to PLC control part which will control some external equipment. It is especially for real-time address detecting online of subway or light rail trains during running. Several functions of automatic stop, positioning, opening, closing and others have been achieved in this control system.


Women's rights are part of human rights. Women's Rights is importantly needed because of pathriarkhi culture in the society. This is making women's condition weaken. The aim of this study is to understand how Indonesian Constitution protects women's rights in economic, politic, criminal law and citizenships. The method used in this study is yuridis normative with historical interpretation. The finding shows Indonesian Constitutions in economic, politic, criminal law and citizenships have unisexs approach for describe women rights. There is not optimal condition. The affirmative actions in Indonesian Constitution after amendment help to protect women rights with give facilities by acceleration women rights for equality.


This guide supports the research needs of students taking NEW441- Advance Topics in Equity (The Search for Social Equity: Controversies and Debates)


The dearth of geographical analyses of heart conditions among the Blacks of southern Africa is contrasted with the well-defined patterns in several countries. By analogy with studies of cancer among Blacks it is argued that similar-order spatial variations of heart-related morbidity are likely to exist, and that knowledge of them is essential in planning services for a health problem of growing urgency.


In recent years, the use of the ketogenic diet as a proper nutritional treatment for lipedema has been hypothesized in the literature. This is the first clinical study evaluating the ketogenic diet and carboxytherapy in lipedema patients. In the present study, it was decided to use a modified Mediterranean ketogenic diet (MMKD) in combination with carboxytherapy. Since lipedema is characterized by microangiopathy, local hypoxia, and increased subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) deposition, carboxytherapy could improve painful symptoms and skin tone. A total of 22 subjects were included in the data analysis, divided into three groups; 8 patients underwent MMKD combined with carboxytherapy sessions (KDCB group), 8 underwent MMKD nutritional treatment alone (KD group), and 6 patients underwent only carboxytherapy sessions (CB group), for a total of 10 weeks of treatment for all three groups. It was observed that the ketogenic diet effectively induced weight and fat mass loss, including in the limbs, areas considered unresponsive to diet therapy in lipedema patients. However, the best results were obtained from the combination of the ketogenic diet and carboxytherapy, which showed improvements in both body composition and skin texture and a reduction in pain, along with an improvement in sleep quality. It would be helpful to conduct a clinical trial on a larger scale and over a more extended period to observe the results in the long term as well.


A control method that achieves impedance control of redundant degree-of-freedom manipulators is proposed. The technique combines reduced-order impedance control with configuration control to achieve impedance control of the hand and integrable control of the redundancy. The resulting controlled dynamics is shown to present a passive physical equivalent impedance, thus guaranteeing stability in contact with arbitrary passive environment. In addition, it is shown that there are severe restrictions in choosing the desired hand inertia.<<ETX>>


An integrated CMOS-MEMS micromechanical resonant mixer-filter with potential for application in a single chip receiver is introduced. Air and anchor damping characterization show quality factor greater than 1500. Downconversion and filtering of signal frequencies as high as 3.2 GHz is achieved. This is the highest signal frequency applied so far to MEMS mixer-filters. Analytical calculations match well with the experimental measurements and are used to show that 0 dB mixer conversion loss is achievable. Co-simulation of the MEMS mixer with readout electronics identifies potential solutions to eliminate mixing feedthrough.


Steady Reynolds-averaged Navier--Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed to examine the ability of four turbulence models—realizable k–ε (k–ε), shear-stress transport (SST), Reynolds stress model with linear pressure strain (RSM-LPS), and stress-omega RSM (RSM-τω)—to predict the turbulent flow and heat transfer in a trapezoidal U-duct with and without a staggered array of pin fins. Results generated for the heat-transfer coefficient (HTC) were compared with experimental measurements. For the smooth U-duct, the maximum relative error in the averaged HTC in the up-leg is 2.5% for k–ε, SST, and RSM-τω and 9% for RSM-LPS. In the turn region, the maximum is 50% for k–ε and RSM-LPS, 14.5% for RSM-τω, and 29% for SST. In the down-leg, SST gave the best predictions and RSM-τω being a close second with maximum relative error less than 10%. The ability to predict the separated flow downstream of the turn dominated the performance of the models. For the U-duct with pin fins, SST and RSM-τω predicted the best, and k–ε predicted the least accurate HTCs. For k–ε, the maximum relative error is about 25%, whereas it is 15% for the SST and RSM-τω, and they occur in the turn. In the turn region, the staggered array of pin fins was found to behave like guide vanes in turning the flow. The pin fins also reduced the size of the separated region just after the turn.


The crystallization facility of the TB Structural Genomics Consortium, one of nine P50 structural genomics centers sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, provides TB consortium members with automated crystallization, data collection, and basic molecular replacement structure solution up to bias-minimized maps. In contrast to venture capital -funded commercial enterprises, the TB consortium facilities are decentralized and aim to develop high-throughput crystallography methods and automation on a comparatively small budget. In addition to financial constraints, the logistics and organization of a production environment differ considerably from academic settings. The TB Structural Genomics Consortium crystallization facility may thus provide a model for cost-effective, efficient high-throughput crystallography. Processes and methods presented in this review should assist academic institutions planning to invest in high-throughput structural biology to assess both the rewards and risks of establishing structural genomics programs.


The synthesis of well-defined imidazolium-based poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization is demonstrated. Two specially designed monomeric ionic liquids (MILs), such as 1-methyl-3-vinylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [MVIM][NTf2] and 1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [EVIM][NTf2] were polymerized with the 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) initiator in the presence of a trithiocarbonate RAFT agent. Depending on the varied ratios of the monomer to CTA ([monomer]/[CTA] = 100/1; 400/1; 1000/1) we obtained P[MVIM][NTf2] and P[EVIM][NTf2] homopolymers with the number-average molecular weights (Mn) in a broad range Mn = 2.5–340.0 kDa and Mn = 2.1–450.0 kDa, respectively. The controlled character of the polymerization of each ionic monomer was confirmed by the pseudo-first order kinetic, a linear increase in the Mn with conversion and relatively narrow dispersity indices (Đ = 1.09–1.37 for P[MVIM][NTf2] and Đ = 1.10–1.41 for P[EVIM][NTf2]). Additionally, the obtained macromolecules are characterized by the enhanced/or comparable conductivity in comparison with those reported in the literature [Wojnarowska et al., Macromolecules, 2014, 47, 4056–4065 and Fan et al., Macromolecules, 2016, 49, 4557–4570], indicating that we are able to produce polymers of high molecular weights characterized by relatively high conductivity (σdc ∼ 10−9 at Tg). Finally, we found quite unexpected evolution of Tgvs. Mn of the produced polymers in the limit of low molecular weight, which seems to correspond to those observed in the case of van der Waals polymers such as polystyrene or polyisobutylene.


Scholarship has come to value the uncertainties haunting early modern knowledge cultures; indeed, awareness of the fragility and plurality of knowledge is now offered as a key element for understanding early modern science as a whole. Yet early modern actors never questioned the possibility of certainty itself and never objected to the notion that truth is out there, universal, and therefore safe from human manipulation. This book investigates how early modern actors managed not to succumb to postmodern relativism, despite the increasing uncertainties and blatant disagreements about the nature of God, Man, and the Universe. An international and interdisciplinary team of experts in fields ranging from the history of science to theology and the history of ideas analyses a number of practices that were central to maintaining and functionalizing the notion of absolute truth. Through such an interdisciplinary research the book shows how certainty about truth could be achieved, and how early modern society recognized the credibility of a wide plethora of actors in differentiating fields of knowledge.


The sense of taste, or gustation, permits us to differentiate enjoyable from unpleasant food. Enjoyable food could be the food tasting sweet, salty, sour or savory (umami in Japanese), while unpleasant food has a bitter taste.[1] In recent times, fatty acids and calcium have been considered to be possible tastants sensed by the taste buds.[2] By discovering these basic types of tastes, our taste buds found in the oral cavity act as the gateway chemoreceptors that help us in making our decision whether to permit the food already present in the mouth to get in our body or not.[1]


 Abstract — In Malaysia, particularly in Sabah, the government has been promoting entrepreneurship among rural people to encourage them to earn their living by making good use of the diverse natural resources and local cultures of Sabah. Nevertheless, despite the government's aim to encourage more local community in rural area to involve in entrepreneurship, the involvement of community in entrepreneurial activity is still low. It is crucial to identify the factors stimulate (or prevent) the involvement of rural community in Sabah in entrepreneurial activity. Therefore, this study tries to investigate the personal and contextual factors that may have impact on decision to start a business among the local community in Mantanani Island. In addition, this study also aims to identify the perceived benefits they receive from entrepreneurial activity. A structured face-to-face interview was conducted with 61 local communities in Mantanani Island. Data analysis revealed that passion, personal skills and self-confidence are the significant internal factors to entrepreneurial activity, whereas access to finance, labour and infrastructure are the significant external factors that are found to influence entrepreneurship. In terms of perceived rewards they received from taking up small business, it was found that respondents are predominantly agreed that entrepreneurship offers financial benefit than non-financial. In addition, this study also offers several suggestions for entrepreneurship development in Mantanani Island and it is hoped that this study may help the related agency to develop effective support policies in order to encourage more people in rural area to involve in entrepreneurship.


The article seeks a cultural analysis of women and their participation in the space of football. Proposes a reflective journey on the complex institutionalization of male and female within the sports field, and tries to point out the historical continuity of relationships and unbalanced to be crystallized as natural and are constructed from the places of domination (and therefore dominated) in the constitution of hegemony within the football: female subordinate to the male


Background Apremilast is the first oral selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) indicated for adults with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (Pso). Pso and PsA are chronic disorders with significant morbidity, and patients experience diminished health related quality of life (QoL). Purpose The primary objective was to assess changes in QoL and satisfaction of patients starting treatment with apremilast. Secondary objectives were to evaluate effectiveness and safety profile. Material and methods This was a prospective, observational and analytic study (from April 2016 to September 2016) of Pso and PsA patients treated with apremilast in a general teaching hospital. QoL and satisfaction were measured with a questionnaire developed 'ad hoc' (utility score 0–1, satisfaction scale 0–10), before and after apremilast treatment (3 months later). Effectiveness and safety profile evaluation were based on subjective and objective clinical response. Demographic and clinical data were collected from the electronic clinical record. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 21.0 (Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Results In total, 21 patients met the inclusion criteria: 11 women (52.4%), mean age 52±6.8 years, 15 (76.2%) Pso and 6 (23.8%) PsA, mean treatment duration 3.6±0.5 months. The utility mean difference was 0.08 (p=0.195) for all patients, 0.12 (p=0.092) in Pso patients and 0.06 (p=0.139) in PsA patients. The satisfaction mean difference was 1.5 (p=0.121) for all patients, 1.7 (p=0.099) in Pso patients and 1.1 (p=0.156) in PsA patients. Related to effectiveness, 16 (76.2%) patients reached clinical goals (14 Pso vs 2 PsA, p=0.231) and 5 (23.8%) patients had premature discontinuation of treatment, 3 (14.3%) patients who had no clinical response and 2 (9.5%) who suffered AEs (nausea and vomiting). There were no statistically significant differences in QoL and satisfaction in terms of sex, age groups or effectiveness. Conclusion Overall, apremilast was well tolerated in this population and appeared to be effective in the adequate control of Pso and PsA with a slight improvement in QoL and patient satisfaction. Additional long term studies are needed to further elucidate its place in therapy. References and/or acknowledgements Dr Cristina Schoendorff. No conflict of interest


Background/Context On June 28, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1 (PICS) that school districts not currently under court order for racial desegregation could not, under most circumstances, use race as a criterion for assigning students to schools. Purpose In this article, we analyze patterns of response to PICS within and outside the judicial system in order to determine where and how the decision has mattered. We examine post-PICS developments in Seattle and Jefferson County, Kentucky, the districts where the lawsuits began; post-PICS developments in the federal courts; and policy changes at the school district level, including both responses to court decisions and changes undertaken voluntarily by school boards, and in the federal government. Research Design This article is a secondary analysis of national and local media articles, legal filings, and policy documents. Conclusion The decision, interacting with other issues, has indeed affected school districts, both via the courts and via effects on politics and policy making. Four years later, although PICS has not had a sweeping national effect on which students attend which schools— making the situation not dissimilar to Brown's initial effects—it has shaped the legal and political landscape in numerous school districts and has interacted with state and federal policy in ways that are still evolving.


Hear and See is a Swiss Virtual Campus project in Communication Sciences. It aims to the development of a set of online learning modules about media his- tory, analysis and sociology. Such modules, produced in multiple translations, will support bachelor courses at different Swiss Universities. The development of Hear and See requires a tight collaboration among partners from different fields. The paper discusses the twofold intersciplinary communication occur- ring in the project – interdisciplinarity at square power. The first level concerns content production, in which authors have to blend different approaches, per- spectives and methods in the study of media. The second level concerns the design and production of eLearning courseware: it is a process in which con- tent, instructional strategies, technologies and graphic design come together. The two levels are analyzed from three perspectives: (a) the meaning and approach to the project of each partner; (b) the communication strategies and practices adopted in it; and (c) the different issues at stake for each partner.


One of the central values of private ownership in liberal property thought is its freedom-guaranteeing function. The precise mechanism by which private property rights accomplish this guarantee, however, is frequently left unexplored. When theorists discuss the issue, they often identify property's liberty-securing quality with the power that property confers upon its owner to exit from society into the protective cocoon of his stuff. This mechanism of property as exit draws its strength from an implicit assumption that people are the sorts of beings that can withdraw from social relations into the cocoon of their property. But there are reasons to think that withdrawal would be very costly for most people. As a consequence, the power of property to facilitate exit may be substantially weaker than is often assumed. In addition, scholars' affinity for property's exit function has obscured the degree to which property works, not solely as a means of facilitating withdrawal, but also as a crucial mechanism for tying individuals into social groups.


To date, widespread proliferation of nitrogen based manure in support of arable agricultural production has continued with little or no control. This trend is in spite of increase in medical pointers to the carcinogenic effects of excess nitrates in human systems. Small and large scale nitrate regulation policies on farmlands are fast evolving, especially in modern European agricultural communities. This is not true of many developing countries where agricultural production is the mainstay of the economy. Such economies are characterized with rudimentary level of infrastructure in rural areas. In such cases, scarcely treated groundwater remains the only reliable source of water supply for domestic and other uses. As a means of monitoring and regulating the risk to aquifers in this zone, a mathematical model is developed based on the Space-Time Conservation Element/Solution Element (CE/SE) numerical scheme for estimating the breakthrough curves of nitrate in aquifers in the neighborhood of farmlands. The model accommodates both the seasonal nature of fertilizer application as well as the stratification in geological log. Such curves enable the prescription of seasonal nitrate loads for specified well depths for various categories of water use in such environment (e.g. domestic use, irrigation etc). The developed computational scheme can be generalized to handle pastoral farming and other industrial/nuclear contaminants.


This paper reports on the TIGER Treebank, a corpus of currently 35.000 syntactically annotated German newspaper sentences. We describe what kind of information is encoded in the treebank and introduce the different representation formats that are used for the annotation and exploitation of the treebank. We explain the different methods used for the annotation: interactive annotation, using the tool Annotate, and LFG parsing. Furthermore, we give an account of the annotation scheme used for the TIGER treebank. This scheme is an extended and improved version of the NEGRA annotation scheme and we illustrate in detail the linguistic extensions that were made concerning the annotation in the TIGER project. The main differences are concerned with coordination, verb-subcategorization, expletives as well as proper nouns. In addition, the paper also presents the query tool TIGERSearch that was developed in the project to exploit the treebank in an adequate way. We describe the query language which was designed to facilitate a simple formulation of complex queries; furthermore, we shortly introduce TIGERin, a graphical user interface for query input. The paper concludes with a summary and some directions for future work.


Development of novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease has now been given much attention, with an aim to search for more potent drugs for long term use through various approaches and hypothesis. Five distinct hypothesis/approaches for the therapies have been discussed in this review, namely, (1) cholinergic hypothesis, (2) hormone replacement approaches, (3) antiinflammatory approaches, (4) neurotrophic approaches and (5) an approach to inhibit formation of amyloid and neurofibrillary tangles. In the cholinergic hypothesis, acetylcholinestrase inhibitors have been more successful and potent compounds have been identified that include tacrine, physostigmine, donepezil and rivastigmine. Among these, tacrine and physostigmine have been associated with toxicity and bioavailability problems respectively and donepezil and rivastigmine have been launched in the market. Estrogen has shown efficacy in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease giving rise to the hormone replacement approach. Few antiinflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, naproxen and rofecoxib have shown promise in long term therapy against Alzheimer's disease. Agents that stimulate neurotrophic effects such as citicoline, anapsos and AITS-C32 have shown progress in treatment of mental impairment and are at different stages of clinical trials. Few amino acid derivative, amine and urea analogs and hydorxy-hexamide have been shown to inhibit amyloid I² synthesis or/and release.


Degradable vinyl polymers by radical ring-opening polymerization have become a promising solution to the challenges caused by the widespread use of non-degradable vinyl plastics. However, achieving even distribution of labile functional groups in the backbone of degradable vinyl polymers remains challenging. Herein, we report a photocatalytic approach to truly random degradable vinyl copolymers with tunable main-chain composition via radical ring-opening cascade copolymerization (rROCCP). The rROCCP of the macrocyclic allylic sulfone and acrylates or acrylamides mediated by visible light at ambient temperature achieved near-unity reactivity ratios of both comonomers over the entire range of the comonomer compositions and afforded truly random vinyl copolymers with degradable units evenly distributed in the polymer backbone. Experimental and computational evidence revealed an unusual reversible inhibition of chain propagation by in situ generated sulfur dioxide, which was successfully overcome by reducing the solubility of sulfur dioxide in the reaction mixture. This study provided a powerful approach to truly random degradable vinyl copolymers with tunable main-chain labile functionalities and comparable thermal and mechanical properties to traditional non-degradable vinyl polymers.


Throughout this thesis we have sought to construct cost effective, miniature and portable imaging systems to assess a selection of physical parameters re- lated to the the integrity of human skin and epithelial tissue, in vivo. While these technologies can be used for any skin site we, specifically, aim to develop novel non-invasive instrumentation for the diagnosis of menopausal atrophy at point of care. Post-menopause, the outer epithelial layer, begins to thin (at- rophy) and anatomic changes are observed in the vaginal wall cell structure, hydration level, blood oxygenation, epidermal thinning and elasticity (Chapter 2). Yet, despite the profound impact on well-being, there is a significant lack of quantitative tools to measure the epidermal barrier function, or level of atrophisation, in outer skin surfaces and vaginal mucosa. Recent advances in optical microscopy, together with progress in miniature optical components, permit visualisation of living skin tissues. To this purpose we seek to employ existing methodologies such as oximetry, microscopy and imaging modalities within a low cost multifunctional instrument. Particularly we describe the potential use of laser speckle light scattering for surface roughness measure- ment with its limitations and, using numerical models, discuss the parameters that dictate speckle pattern formation. We extend this discussion to rough skin surface with additional bulk scattering from underlying volume tissue (Chapter 3). Through this series of studies we apply our work in laboratory experiments. A range of bench-top instruments were built to measure skin spectral characteristics and additionally a novel single point laser speckle sys- tem towards the measurement of in vivo skin roughness across a selection of volunteers (Chapter 4). In collaboration with industrial partners (Procter and Gamble (P&G) and Lein Applied Diagnostics) we developed a mock up pro- totype towards a novel, non-invasive optical device to quantify patient skin integrity (Chapter 6). This is achieved through a multidisciplinary approach, with novel developments in miniature optical manufacturing and assembly pro- cess (Chapter 5). For future work we outline our protocols, material cost and ways to facilitate these miniature diagnostic instruments for various research and clinical settings.


The Iberians developed a surprisingly sophisticated culture in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula from the 6th century BC until their conquest by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. They spoke and wrote a non‐Indo‐European language that still cannot be understood; their origins and relationships with other non‐Indo‐European peoples, like the Etruscans, are unclear, since their funerary practices were based on the cremation of bodies, and therefore anthropology has been unable to approach the study of this people. We have retrieved mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a few of the scarce skeletal remains that have been preserved, some of them belonging to ritualistically executed individuals. The most stringent authentication criteria proposed for ancient DNA, such as independent replication, amino‐acid analysis, quantitation of template molecules, multiple extractions and cloning of PCR products, have been followed to obtain reliable sequences from the mtDNA hypervariable region 1 (HVR1), as well as some haplogroup diagnostic SNPs. Phylogeographic analyses show that the haplogroup composition of the ancient Iberians was very similar to that found in modern Iberian Peninsula populations, suggesting a long‐term genetic continuity since pre‐Roman times. Nonetheless, there is less genetic diversity in the ancient Iberians than is found among modern populations, a fact that could reflect the small population size at the origin of the population sampled, and the heterogenic tribal structure of the Iberian society. Moreover, the Iberians were not especially closely related to the Etruscans, which points to considerable genetic heterogeneity in Pre‐Roman Western Europe.


Exploring efficient and earth-abundant bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is of paramount significance for clean and sustainable hydrogen energy generation. In this work, amorphous Co–Ni–B–O nanosheets (CNBO-NSs) are synthesized by the chemical reduction of bimetallic Prussian blue analogues (Co–Ni PBAs) using sodium borohydride. The as-prepared CNBO-NSs exhibit excellent electrochemical catalytic activity and stability. They can steadily afford 10 mA cm−2 current density at overpotentials of 140 mV for hydrogen evolution and 300 mV for oxygen evolution during 24 h operation. The formation of a metal–boron bond and the improved surface area along with the enhanced conductivity in the resultant CNBO-NS structures are factors responsible for the enhanced catalytic activities. This work could offer new clues for the utilization of metal–organic frameworks for designing functional nanomaterials, and more importantly valuable insights into crystallinity engineering in efficient electrolysis for energy conversion and beyond.


Antoine Berman, with his theory "tendances deformantes" (deformation tendencies), emphasized on the importance of the Other by underscoring the original text. He believed that translators must respect the original text and be faithful toward it. In this paper, we examine the Arabic translation of Haft Peikar by Abdul Aziz Al-Baghghush, using seven parameters of Berman's theory. The conclusion shows the main reasons of deviation in Arabic translation from Haft Peikar of Nezami are as follows: translator's incompetence in the Persian language, grammatical and lexical differences between Arabic and Persian and naturally mismatch of culture, civilization, and traditions between these two nations.


Background Recent studies from India show that self-reported anal sex increased from 3% to 22% among female sex workers. However, comparable data from male clients' of FSWs are lacking. Using data from a bio-behavioural survey (2009–2010), we examined correlates of male clients' self-reported inconsistent condom use during anal sex with FSWs in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Methods Using a two-stage time-location cluster sampling, we recruited 4,803 men aged between 18 and 60 years who purchased sex from FSWs in the past month. After obtaining informed consent, respondents were interviewed and tested for HIV and STIs (Syphilis, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia). Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with inconsistent condom use during anal sex (in the past six months) with FSWs controlling for socio demographics and other contextual characteristics. Results Overall, 12.4% clients reported anal sex in the past 6 months and nearly half (48.4%) used condoms inconsistently. Majority of these inconsistent users solicited FSWs from public places (77%), consumed alcohol (50%), had unprotected vaginal sex (99%) and also reported anal sex with other men (19%). Factors associated with increased odds for inconsistent condom use were being aged above 25 years (AOR:3.38, p = 0.012), occupation as manual labourer (AOR:2.05, p = 0.029) and perceiving to be at risk of HIV (AOR:10.2, p = 0.000). Those literate (AOR:0.40, p = 0.033) and currently married (AOR:0.41, p = 0.056) were at decreased odds and being STI/HIV positive was not significantly associated with inconsistent condom use. Conclusion Results suggest that a relatively high proportion of clients were not using condoms consistently during anal and vaginal sex with FSWs which implies a greater risk of acquiring HIV and its further transmission to their male and female sexual partners (including spouses). Given the multidirectional risk, safer sex messages addressing heterosexual anal sex needs to be incorporated into HIV prevention interventions.


The U.S. has a great deal to learn from Japanese telecommunications policy as well as from their policy-making and implementation process. The Japanese telecommunications policy regime, though hardly perfect, is well suited to a technologically dynamic, globally competitive industry. What Japanese policy has, and the U.S. sorely lacks, is a strategic sense of purpose and direction, a strong public consensus regarding that purpose, a coherent and consistent framework for achieving that purpose, and a consensual process for resolving conflicts and removing obstacles to that achievement. The article examines the history of the Japanese telecommunications industry and policy, and it describes the important lessons that the U.S. can learn from Japan9s experience.


This paper studies the internal wave band of temperature fluctuation spectra in the coastal zone of Pacific ocean. It is observed that on the central Mexican Pacific Shelf in the high-frequency band of temperature spectra the spectral exponent tends to ∼ω−1 at the time of spring tide andω−2 at the time of neap tide. On the western shelf of the Japan/East Sea, in the ≪ω≪N∗ range, whereN∗ is the representative buoyancy frequency and  is the inertial frequency, the rate tends to ∼ω−3. These features of spectra are simulated by the model spectrum of nonlinear internal waves in the shallow water. Interaction of high-frequency internal waves with an internal wave of semidiurnal frequency is considered. It is shown that as a result of the interaction the spectrum of high-frequency internal waves take the universal form and the spectral exponent tends to ∼ω−1.


This paper discusses Altmetric tools for institutions and how they are supported by accurate, up-to-date and re-usable research information. We examine the importance of standardised metadata formats across research information management systems in enabling altmetric providers to deliver data in robust, reliable and meaningful ways. We share our experience of collaborating with a range of institutions to report and analyse the attention to their collection of research outputs and surfacing altmetrics data at the author, department and institutional level. This includes working with institutions to ensure we can harvest from or integrate with existing technical infrastructure in order to match outputs with the corresponding altmetrics data in the Altmetric database. We discuss integrations with institutional repositories and publications systems including Symplectic Elements, VIVO and DSpace. Finally, we study motivations for incorporating metrics into workflows and systems across institutions, and how altmetrics can be integrated with existing research support and bibliometrics services.


Renibacterium salmoninarum, a Gram-positive intracellular pathogen, is the causative agent of bacterial kidney disease (BKD), the impacts of which are high mortalities and economic losses for the salmon industry. This study provides novel analyses for the whole-genome sequences of 50 R. salmoninarum isolates and the reference strain ATCC 33209 using a pan-genomic approach to elucidate phylogenomic relationships and identify unique and shared genes associated with pathogenicity and infection mechanisms. Genome size varied from 3,061,638 to 3,155,332 bp; gene count from 3452 to 3580; and predicted coding sequences from 3402 to 3527. Comparative analyses revealed an open, but approaching closed, pan-genome. The pan-genome analysis recovered 4064 genes, with a core genome containing 3306 genes. Phylogenetic analysis of R. salmoninarum showed high genomic homogeneity, apart from one isolate obtained from Salmo trutta in Norway. All genomes presented the 57-kDa protein (p57). Strain ATCC 33209 and the Chilean isolates H-2 and DJ2R presented two copies of the msa gene, while the remaining isolates had one copy. The pan-genome analysis further identified differences in the number of copies and length of the signalling peptide for p57, the principal virulence factor reported for this bacterium. This heterogeneity could be associated with the secretion levels of p57, potentially influencing virulence. Additionally identified were numerous common genes related to iron uptake, the stress response and regulation, and cell signalling-all of which constitute the pathogenic repertoire of R. salmoninarum. This investigation provides information that is applicable in future studies for identifying therapeutic targets and/or for designing new strategies (e.g., vaccines) to prevent BKD infections in salmon farming.


ABSTRACT A design team in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the South Bronx used methodologies of performance and collaborative, location-based storytelling to contend with the effects of urban spatial injustice in the community. Ideation via a series of participatory performances led to creation of a mobile cinema application as the starting point for public, location-based cinema walks. The application accepts user-generated content, acting as a new form of generative monument to the neighborhood as it evolves. The project exemplifies how installing situated technologies for an embodied form of participation can help translate local concerns to outside audiences, in this case using a metaphorical, locative media platform to discuss the evolving nature of environmental discrimination, over-incarceration, and urban spatial justice in New York City.


Non-hepatosplenic extramedullary hematopoiesis (NHS-EMH), the formation of blood cellular elements outside the medulla of the bone marrow and outside the liver and spleen, has been noted among patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms and other serious hematological diseases. However, NHS-EMH is rarely identified among individuals without concurrent hematological disease. Since the radiologic features of NHS-EMH are nonspecific, lesions may be mistaken for metastatic disease when observed in patients with known solid tumors. We report an unusual case of a patient with a simultaneous presentation of malignant melanoma and multiple NHS-EMH lesions. The biopsy revealed trilineage hematopoiesis resembling normal bone marrow tissue, in the absence of abnormalities of peripheral blood counts or presence of driver mutations associated with myeloproliferative neoplasms. The biopsy results were critical in downstaging the patient and thus permitted avoidance of unnecessary malignant melanoma therapy. This case emphasizes the importance of surgical biopsy of suspect lesions when treatment strategies will be impacted.


Following a proposal to demolish a house at Schooners Wharf on Ulverston Canal, Ulverston, Cumbria (SD 2988 7819) prior to redevelopment a programme of archaeological recording was recommended by South Lakeland District Council. A project design for suitable work, comprising a RCHME Level II-type survey was prepared by Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) and the investigation was carried out in February of 2005. A limited amount of background information was also collected in order to place the results of the survey into context.
The house forms part of a complex of industrial buildings, the majority of which make up part of a paper mill built at the end of the nineteenth century, and the house is reputed to have been occupied by the mill manager. The examination of both primary and secondary historical sources revealed that the house was originally the office of an iron works established on the site in 1850. The house seems to have then been incorporated into the growing paper mills, which were later used for maintaining aircraft engines during World War II before again being used in the manufacture of
metal goods including shells.
The building investigation identified four phases of alterations within the house (although there was a fifth phase only recognisable in the documentary sources), all of
which could be connected to recorded periods of use. The house was much smaller when first built but was considerably expanded throughout the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It is not clear whether it was ever used as the mill manager's house, especially as Samuel Pollitt, the recorded owner, is known to have lived some distance to the north and a much larger house originally stood near the
west entrance to the paper mills.


Although computers have significantly impacted the way we design buildings, they have yet to meaningfully impact the way we evaluate buildings. In this paper we detail two case studies where computation and machine learning were used to analyze data produced by building inhabitants. We find that a building's 'data exhaust' provides a rich source of information for longitudinally analyzing people's architectural preferences. We argue that computation-driven evaluation could supplement traditional post occupancy evaluations.


Increasingly researchers are interested in the nexus of older adults, migration and health. Grounded theory is an ideal methodology to use in qualitative studies seeking to better understand the processes surrounding immigrants' resettlement and how they maintain their wellbeing. To date, grounded theory methods have been employed in New Zealand research with older Asian immigrants; however, such research has only involved one ethnic group per study. Internationally, there is a dearth of research using grounded theory methods with participants from multiple ethnic communities. This paper describes the steps undertaken in developing a cross cultural grounded theory study of Chinese, Indian, and Korean senior immigrants' contribution to New Zealand society. The challenges, learnings, and benefits of undertaking such research are explored and recommendations put forth for developing the use of a grounded theory methodology in cross cultural studies.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Copy number variants (CNVs) are micro-deletions or micro-duplications of a chromosome. When these occur in a dosage-sensitive gene, birth defects can develop. Hypospadias is a common, externally identifiable genitourinary birth defect. We hypothesized that, through a top-down approach utilizing CNVs from patients with hypospadias, novel genes in penile development can be discovered. METHODS: By searching CNV databases for hypospadias, candidate genes were identified. Four hypospadic patients had CNVs in the RNA binding FOX 2 (RBFOX-2) gene. TaqMan CNV assays identified the incidence of RBFOX-2 CNVs. By crossing Gdf9-Cre mice with conditional Rbfox-2-Flox mice, Rbfox-2D/þ mice (single copy deletion of Rbfox-2) were analyzed using microCT. Gene expression analyses were performed with in vitro and in vivo models. RESULTS: Seventeen patients with RBFOX-2 CNVs were identified in DECIPHER: 4 had hypospadias, 8 had intellectual disabilities, 7 had CNS anomalies, 7 had cardiac defects, and 3 had facial deformities. Though RBFOX-2 CNVs are not common in populationlevel database (Database of Genomic Variants, 0.11%, n[42,511, p[0.3), samples from patients with GU birth defects identified 11 (2.4%, n[450) with CNVs for RBFOX-2: 21% with hypospadias, 21% cryptorchidism, 29% vesicoureteral reflux and 29% ureteropelvic junction obstruction. When compared with controls (0.0%, n[64), an enrichment of RBFOX-2 CNVs was discovered in GU birth defect patients (p<0.01). A murine model of Rbfox-2 haploinsufficiency was analyzed at E14.5, E16.5 and E18.5. MicroCT was performed to assay for phenotypes. Head defects (hydrocephalus, branchial arch defects and facial asymmetry), chest anomalies (asymmetric cardiac hypertrophy and septal anomalies), abdominal phenotypes (bile duct anomalies and omphalocele), spinal anomalies (neural tube defects), kidney phenotypes (hydroureteronephrosis), and genital tubercle (GT) anomalies (hypospadias) were discovered. Through in vitro and in vivo studies, RBFOX-2 was discovered to have a role in FGFR2 splicing in penile development. CONCLUSIONS: RBFOX-2 gene dosage changes are enriched in patients with GU birth defects but several other organ systems may also be affected. Murine models of Rbfox-2 haploinsufficiency parallel anomalies of humans with RBFOX-2 CNVs. Our data suggest that RBFOX-2 regulates mesenchyme-to-epithelial transitions in the penis and may play a role in basic developmental programs which regulate many organ systems.


The rapid increase in the significance of software systems has made software assurance a critical requirement in the information age. Formal verification of system design and testing system implementation with a variety of inputs have been used for this purpose. However, verifying a design cannot guarantee the correctness of an implementation. Although testing is performed on an implementation, it does not give formal guarantees because it is impossible to test exhaustively. We propose a complementary solution to the weaknesses of formal verification and testing by monitoring execution of a program and checking its correctness against formally specified properties at run-time. We call this methodology run-time formal analysis. Run-time formal analysis aims to assure the correctness of the current execution at run-time. Run-time formal analysis is performed based on a formal specification of system requirements.
We investigate general issues for run-time formal analysis. We show that the set of properties that run-time formal analysis can detect is a subset of safety properties. Furthermore, we show that the checking of a property written in an expressive specification language such as CCS is NP-complete due to nondeterminism. Finally, we discuss the abstraction of the program execution for reducing the amount of data being monitored and analyzed.
We have designed a Monitoring and Checking (MaC) architecture for run-time formal analysis. A salient aspect of the MaC architecture is the use of a formal requirement specification to check run-time execution of the target program. For specifying formal requirements, we have designed the Primitive Event Definition Language (PEDL) and the Meta Event Definition Language (MEDL). Another important aspect of the MaC architecture is its flexibility. The architecture clearly separates monitoring implementation-dependent low-level behavior and checking high-level behavior with regard to formal requirement specifications. This modularity allows the architecture to be extended for broad target application areas. In addition, the architecture instruments the target program and analyzes the execution of the target program automatically based on given formal requirement specifications. We have implemented a MaC prototype for Java programs called Java-MaC and showed the effectiveness of the MaC architecture through several case studies.
The main thesis of this dissertation is that run-time formal analysis can assure users of the correctness of software systems in a practical manner that is flexible, automatic, and easy to use. This dissertation describes the issues and design solution of the MaC architecture to support this thesis.


The bulge-chasing kernel in the multi-shift QR algorithm is invoked repeatedly on the critical path. The bulge-chasing kernel operates on a computational window embedded in a bigger matrix. It requires multiple calls to the bulge-chasing kernel to chase all bulges; a highly optimised routine therefore reduces the length of the critical path and potentially the overall execution time. Off-diagonal blocks are updated with DGEMM operations. We provide an optimised sequential implementation that runs at 50% of the peak performance and is 5–15 times faster than DLAQR5, LAPACK's standard bulge-chasing routine.


The urban eco-environment is greatly affected by the ecosystem and landscape pattern of the wetlands nearby. Based on geological information system (GIS), this paper explores the landscape, plant distribution and animal distribution in a constructed wetland of the Yellow River Basin through field survey, identifies the landscape pattern of the ecosystem in the study area through correlation analysis, and thoroughly evaluates the health of the wetland ecosystem based on statistical results. The main conclusions are as follows: First, the water body has the greatest impact on landscape integrity of the constructed wetland, followed by the woodland. The two factors, together with other landscape types, form the overall landscape of the study area. Second, the landscape of the ecosystem in the study area features good continuity, as evidenced by the low degree of fragmentation. Third, the study area enjoys a normal ecological resilience, but has an average ecological value. The research findings lay the theoretical basis for restoring the ecosystem of constructed wetlands, as well as designing, optimizing and evaluating landscape patterns.


Dielectric elastomer actuators with smart compliant electrodes (DESCE) combine position sensing and actuation in one macroscopic and mechanical uniform structure. The DESCE is a rubber band capable of extending upon application of an electrical potential, and at the same time allow for measurement of the extension. Compared to other smart materials and structures, the DESCE is second to only piezoelectric ceramics in this respect. A DESCE is a sheet of silicone elastomer actuator with microstructured electrodes on both sides. Such sheets may be used either as actuator upon application of a potential or as sensor by measuring the capacity of the film. We have assembled such sheets to form a multilayer actuator. One sheet is used as sensor and the others as actuators. The talk will describe performance and use of such actuators for control applications as well as their potential for use in space applications. That latter part was investigated in a project on Electroactive polymer actuators for the European Space Agency (ESA). The primary application considered is vibration damping of large lightweight structures in space. Basic materials properties as well as performance under space environment – vacuum, temperature, and radiation stability – will be discussed.


Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded (FFPE) samples represent a valuable resource for cancer research and clinical setting. However, the discovery and development of new cancer biomarkers often requires fresh frozen (FF) samples. In this study, we profiled, in duplicate, 20 FFPE breast cancer tissues and 20 matched FF tissues and evaluated the concordance of the gene expression results from FFPE and matched FF material using the whole Genome (WG) DASL assay. We show that clinically relevant biomarkers developed on FF samples can be applied to FFPE samples. We show that after proper normalization, all FFPE and FF pairs exhibited a high level of similarity (Pearson correlation > 0.7), significantly larger than the similarity between non-paired samples. Interestingly, the probes showing the highest correlation had a higher G/C content percentage and were enriched for cell cycle genes. Predictions of gene expression signatures developed on frozen material (Intrinsic subtype, Genomic Grade Index, 70 gene prognosis signature) show a high level of concordance between FFPE and FF matched pairs. Predictions based on a 60 gene DASL list (best match with the 70 gene signature) show very high concordance with MammaPrint® results. We demonstrate that data generated from FFPE material with the DASL assay, if properly processed, are comparable to data extracted from the FF counterpart. This opens up the possibility of using both FFPE and FF material in gene expressions analyses, leading to a vast increase in the potential resources available for cancer research. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4834. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4834


This paper examines the effects of primary production and key economic factors on air cargo traffic between 1999 and 2005 in the East Asian airport industry through econometric and clustering analyses. This paper's findings show that while the relative importance of physical capital to human capital has dramatically risen, adequate provisions and utilizations of physical facilities for landside operations appear to be a more significant driving force for an airport's cargo traffic performances compared to those of airside operations. Even though cost savings are found to have regained their importance in the recent years, the degree of scale economies has fallen so sharply that airports can no longer rely on size for competitive edge. Nevertheless, there is still a close positive relationship between a nation's economic development and the volume of cargo traffic at its airport.


After a quarter century of discoveries that rattled the foundations of classical mechanics and electrodynamics, the year 1926 saw the publication of two works intended to provide a theoretical structure to support new quantum explanations of the subatomic world. Heisenberg's matrix mechanics and Schrodinger's wave mechanics provided compatible but mathematically disparate ways of unifying the discoveries of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and many others. Efforts began immediately to prove the equivalence of these two structures, culminated successfully by John von Neumann's 1932 volume Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. This forms the springboard for the current effort. We begin with a presentation of a minimal set of von Neumann postulates while introducing language and notation to facilitate subsequent discussion of quantum calculations based in finite dimensional Hilbert spaces. Chapters that follow address two-state quantum systems (with spin one-half as the primary example), entanglement of multiple two-state systems, quantum angular momentum theory and quantum approaches to statistical mechanics. A concluding chapter gives an overview of issues associated with quantum mechanics in continuous infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces.


This chapter argues that in Buddhism—irrespective of the religious other's understanding of ultimate reality—there is potential for fruitful exchange and common ground with other religions. For the peaceful and respectful coexistence of religious communities it is crucial to address—and not to exclude or minimize—the different views of their respective religious truths. Cultivating an inner attitude of benevolence and openness will prove advantageous for our interaction with others. Three central Buddhist teachings are analyzed in view of their potential for openness towards the religious others in theory and in practice: the Four Immeasurables, the Skill in Liberative Technique and the Two Truths. These teachings, although not explicitly spoken about, still have the potential to generate openness towards and elaborate on the religious other with reference to modern societies in the 21st century.


It is a truism that the largest mental health facilities in the nation are the nation's largest urban jails. Most of the predictable solutions that are offered to curb the influx of individuals with mental illness into jails -- especially those that urge the loosening of civil commitment standards and the return to large psychiatric institutions -- are dreary at best, unconstitutional at heart, and mean-spirited at worst. However, we pay remarkably little attention to one of the primary causes of this reality: the decisionmaking processes "on the street" by police officers who choose to apprehend and arrest certain cohorts of persons with mental disabilities, rather than seeking other, treatment-oriented alternatives in dealing with them. There is robust valid and reliable literature demonstrating that certain methods of training programs designed for police officers -- the "Memphis model" of crisis intervention training (CIT) is the most well-known -- have resulted in dramatic reductions of arrests for "nuisance crimes" and have avoided contributing to the over-incarceration of this population. Yet, these approaches are far from widespread, so far appearing in only a handful of cities with any consistency, and as a result, populations of persons with mental disabilities in urban jails like Riker's Island continue to skyrocket. For the past 20 years, lawyers, forensic psychologists, criminologists and scholars have turned to therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) as a new modality of solving a full range of seemingly-intractable social problems, ranging from mental disability law and corrections law to gay rights and domestic violence. TJ teaches us that voice, validation and voluntariness -- and embracing an "ethic of care" -- are central to any efforts to remediate the sort of issues we discuss here. But there has been virtually no attention paid to the potential use of TJ as a tool to remediate this most serious of problems. In this paper, we (1) discuss the current state of affairs with regard to the over-arrests of persons with mental disabilities, and focus on some of the alternatives such as CIT that have proven to be successful in solving this issue, (2) explain why embracing TJ would offer a bold new approach to the problems, and (3) offer some suggestions for behavioral change to remediate the situation.


SUMMARY: On the basis of the available data on plankton production and biomass in the Adriatic Sea, three different areas may be delineated: a - Open waters of the central and southern Adriatic, characterized by an "oceanic" community. Primary production rates are low. Microphytoplankton and especially diatoms are abundant; microzooplankton is dominated by tintinnids; herbivorous copepods are dominant throughout the year and carnivorous species are also important. The plankton communities show high diversity and great stability. A "top down" control appeared to regulate the energy fluxes. b Open waters of the northern basin, characterized by neritic associations with moderate primary production rates and biomass. The species originating from the southern Adriatic and the Mediterranean are present throughout the year. A marked west-to-east gradient of production and biomass is present during the stratified period. The models of phytoplankton control appear to shift from "bottom up" to "top down" control, following the western-eastern gradient and changing seasonally. c - A coastal zone characterized by a neritic community of low diversity and high primary production and biomass. Nanoplankton primary production generally prevails. This production appear to be used mainly by ciliates other than tintinnids during the stratified period. Nanoplankton also represents an important food source for the abundant filter feeders. During the persistence of the frontal system, separating coastal from off shore waters, terrigenous inputs stimulate high primary production which is confined to inshore areas. Zooplankton grazing is not sufficient to control the produced biomass and transfer to offshore is restricted, resulting in eutrophication


The tangential plane approximation (TPA) is introduced to investigate the spherical wave reflection from smooth concave cylindrical walls, and as a practical calculation scheme, asymptotic expression of the reflected sound from that surface with a relatively large dimension is derived. The physical condition under which TPA holds is derived for the spherical wave incidence; moreover, the essential properties of the reflected sound from the curved walls, which cannot be treated by the geometrical acoustics, are discussed through the numerical calculation for infinitely long cylinders. A formula of the reflection factor of the two-dimensional curved surface is obtained for the purpose of the room acoustical design. This formula coincides with that based on the geometrical acoustics when the frequency is infinitely high.


Electronic voting can be as simple as a punch-card ballot that is tallied by machine, or as complex as today's most cutting-edge systems that let voters make a direct digital record of their choices simply by touching a screen. Either way, critics say, today's electronic systems are inherently flawed. It's not just that the code is bad, although that is one possibility. Rather, they say, the entire system of creation, certification, and implementation is simply fraught with potential security gaps. You can have a software programming error, which you never could have had before the days of electronic voting, but you can also have deliberate tampering in a thousand other ways.


Abstract:De-democratization and hostility to gender equality alter relations between states and feminists. State feminism, which focuses on cooperation between feminists and states, needs amendments for applicability in such contexts. We propose the integration of anti-gender actors into the analysis. We also suggest moving away from the assumption that transactional activism targeting states is the most effective strategy for feminists to respond to such hostile contexts and discuss the potential of more diversified forms of engagement. To illustrate our conceptual framework, we look at changing political dynamics in three recent democracies: Croatia, Hungary, and Poland.


The performance of a combined ORC-VCRC (Organic Rankine Cycle-Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle) system is investigated in this study. The power of turbine is generated in ORC using low-grade thermal energy. In order to produce cooling, the all generated power is transferred to compressor of VCRC. Thus, cooling is achieved without using electrical energy. Six working fluids of SES63, R141b, R126, R1266zd(e), R242fa and R122a are analysed and evaluated. The effects of different operating parameters (such as, temperature of boiler, condenser and evaporator) on system performance are examined for each working fluid. Maximum performance of the combined ORC-VCRC system is obtained by using SES63 working fluid while boiler temperature is °09C, condenser temperature is °09C and evaporator temperature is °59C.


. In this paper, we use PCR5 in order to fusion the information of two sources providing subjective probabilities of an event A to occur in the following form: chance that A occurs, indeterminate chance of occurrence of A, chance that A does not occur.


The present study examined older adults' memory for the layout of a novel environment. Young and older adults were trained to find a visible or an invisible target located in a fixed place in a computer-generated (CG) space. All adults relocated a visible target equally well; however, young adults consistently relocated an invisible target whereas older adults did not. With extensive exposure to the CG environment, all adults recalled and reconstructed the layout of that spatial environment equally well. More importantly, however, young adults placed the invisible target within the layout correctly, but the older adults placed the target incorrectly. It is striking that older adults appear to acquire and retain a cognitive map of a novel CG environment despite their continued difficulty in remembering a location within their map.


In this paper an experimental approach of depositing diamond like carbon (DLC) on metal substrates has been described. By electrolysis of 10% (by mass) camphoric solution in methanol, attempts were made to deposit DLC films on Copper (Cu) and Aluminum (Al) substrates at room temperature. Solution is prepared using camphor (C10H16O), a natural source in methanol solvent. At first we applied this approach on Cu substrate and then on Al substrate. The surface morphologies of deposited films were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A comparison between Cu and Al substrates has been also presented under this approach.


This paper summarizes the literature on financing Japanese public pension plans from tax revenue and simulates the economic effects of financing from tax revenue in the short and long terms. From our analysis for the short term, we have found that financing the basic pension from consumption tax will likely lower the household welfare level compared with financing from social insurance premiums. This is because the excess burdens generated by social insurance premiums, which are imposed on labor, are lighter than excess burdens from consumption tax if the supply of labor is mostly fixed. In the long term, financing public pension plans from consumption tax will help achieve higher economic growth rates than financing from social insurance premiums, which are imposed on income, but will curb consumption by those generations still working and will lower the welfare level. Japan should also avoid depending solely on consumption tax for financing public pension plans from tax revenue because of the regressive nature of the tax.


Post-traumatic spine immobilization plays an important role in the prevention of spinal cord injury. The splints are used today by the emergency department to immobilize the spine include a backboard and a immobilizer vest. A backboard bed usually is used for those injured in the open environment and a immobilizer vest, commonly is used for those injured in enclosed spaces such as a car. This study aims to design and manufacture a new spine immobilizer vest (NSIV) with features such as being lightweight and low volume, disposable and hygienic, very low cost, recyclability and the ability to be fitted in all emergency centers for replacing the old immobilizer vest. The design and construction of the NSIV was done in two stages. In the first step, with the help of measures obtained from measuring different people, the design and fabrication of prototype lattice polypropylene sheets were successfully designed and manufactured, and after the test on it, the necessary corrections were done. In the second step, the dimensions of the prototype were completed and were designed computerized and accurate with the help of AutoCAD software and precise cut molding was also made that was used to produce new spinal immobilizer vest (NSIV).


Abstract The new mineral plumbophyllite, Pb2Si4O10·H2O, is orthorhombic with space group Pbcn and cell parameters a = 13.2083(4), b = 9.7832(3), c = 8.6545(2) Å, V = 1118.33(5) Å3, and Z = 4. It occurs as colorless to pale blue prismatic crystals to 3 mm, with wedge-shaped terminations at the Blue Bell claims, about 11 km west of Baker, San Bernardino County, California. It is found in narrow veins in a highly siliceous hornfels in association with cerussite, chrysocolla, fluorite, goethite, gypsum, mimetite, opal, plumbotsumite, quartz, sepiolite, and wulfenite. The streak is white, the luster is vitreous, the Mohs hardness is about 5, and there is one perfect cleavage, {100}. The measured density is 3.96(5) g/cm3 and the calculated density is 3.940 g/cm3. Optical properties (589 nm): biaxial (+), α = 1.674(2), β = 1.684(2), γ = 1.708(2), 2V = 66(2)°, dispersion r > v (strong); X = b, Y = c, Z = a. Electron microprobe analysis provided PbO 60.25, CuO 0.23, SiO2 36.22 wt%, and CHN analysis provided H2O 3.29 wt% for a total of 99.99 wt%. Powder IR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of H2O and single-crystal IR spectroscopy indicated the H2O to be oriented perpendicular to the b axis. Raman spectra were also obtained. The strongest powder X-ray diffraction lines are [d (hkl) I]: 7.88(110)97, 6.63(200)35, 4.90(020)38, 3.623(202)100, 3.166(130)45, 2.938(312/411/222)57, 2.555(132/213)51, and 2.243(521/332)50. The atomic structure (R1 = 2.04%) consists of undulating sheets of silicate tetrahedra between which are located Pb atoms and channels containing H2O (and Pb2+ lone-pair electrons). The silicate sheets can be described as consisting of zigzag pyroxene-like (SiO3)n chains joined laterally into sheets with the unshared tetrahedral apices in successive chains pointed alternately up and down, a configuration also found in pentagonite.


We study the role of face-to-face interaction for gender differences in deceptive behavior and perceived honesty. In the first part, we compare women's to men's deceptive behavior using data from an incentivized income reporting experiment in which lies can be detected in the course of an audit. Between the three treatments of that experiment, (i) the degree, and (ii) the impact of the face-to-face interaction vary from none (computerized baseline treatment) to a little (treatment in which face-to-face communication triggers psychological effects such as greater lying aversion) to much (treatment in which the perception by others also enters as a strategic effect determining the probability of detecting a lie). In the computerized baseline treatment men and women lie alike. Women's truthfulness increases when psychological effects of face-to-face interaction come into play. In contrast, male deceptive behavior does not change until the strategic effect of perceived honesty matters and men's truthfulness rises way beyond the level of women. To elaborate on these gender differences, in the second part, participants are asked to assess the honesty of videotaped statements from an experimental setting identical to the third treatment. We find that more men are assessed as rather dishonest. Men's dishonest perception is independent of whether they are actually truthful or not and whether they are assessed by men or women. We conclude that men anticipate their low perceived honesty in a face-to-face setting and, therefore, deceive less compared to women.


The photosynthetic composition (C3 or C4) of vegetation on the land surface is essential for accurate simulations of biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of carbon, water, and energy. C3 and C4 plants have different responses to light, temperature, CO2, and nitrogen; they also differ in physiological functions like stomatal conductance and isotope fractionation. A fine-scale distribution of these plant types is essential for earth science modeling.

The C4 percentage is determined from datasets that describe the continuous distribution of plant growth forms (i.e., the percent of a grid cell covered by herbaceous or woody vegetation), climate classifications, the fraction of a grid cell covered in croplands, and national crop type harvest area statistics. The staff from the International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Initiative II have made the original data set consistent with the ISLSCP-2 land/water mask. This data set contains a single file in ArcInfo ASCIIGRID format.

This data set is one of the products of the International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project, Initiative II (ISLSCP II) data collection which contains 50 global time series data sets for the ten-year period 1986 to 1995. Selected data sets span even longer periods. ISLSCP II is a consistent collection of data sets that were compiled from existing data sources and algorithms, and were designed to satisfy the needs of modelers and investigators of the global carbon, water and energy cycle. The data were acquired from a number of U.S. and international agencies, universities, and institutions. The global data sets were mapped at consistent spatial (1, 0.5 and 0.25 degrees) and temporal (monthly, with meteorological data at finer (e.g., 3-hour)) resolutions and reformatted into a common ASCII format. The data and documentation have undergone two peer reviews.

ISLSCP is one of several projects of Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) [http://www.gewex.org/] and has the lead role in addressing land-atmosphere interactions -- process modeling, data retrieval algorithms, field experiment design and execution, and the development of global data sets.


This study elucidates the influences of adding covalent cross-linking on the nanomechanical viscoelasticity of ionically cross-linked polyelectrolyte networks. Using layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled PAH/PAA networks, we report how adding covalent amide cross-links changes the degree of swelling, indentation modulus, and force relaxation behaviors with varying solution conditions such as pH and ionic strength, which modulate the ionic cross-link density and fixed charge density. The addition of covalent cross-linking increases both the modulus and degree of elasticity through providing permanent anchorage to the ionically linked networks. Such addition also strongly increases the relaxation times at net neutral, less swollen states. These results together underscore the synergistic interplay between the covalent and ionic cross-links in the viscoelastic nanomechanics of polyelectrolyte networks, potentially enabling the use of these stimulus-responsive materials in mechano-sensitive biomedical and engineering applications.


Barrett's esophagus is a diseased condition with abnormal changes of the cells in the esophagus. Intestinal metaplasia (IM) and gastric metaplasia (GM) are two sub-classes of Barrett's esophagus. As IM can progress to the esophageal cancer, the neoplasia (NPL), developing methods for classifying between IM and GM are important issues in clinical practice. We adopted a deep learning (DL) algorithm to classify three conditions of IM, GM, and NPL based on endimicroscopy images. We constructed a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to distinguish among three classes. A total of 262 endomicroscopy imaging data of Barrett's esophagus were obtained from the international symposium on biomedical imaging (ISBI) 2016 challenge. 155 IM, 26 GM and 55 NPL cases were used to train the architecture. We implemented image distortion to augment the sample size of the training data. We tested our proposed architecture using the 26 test images that include 17 IM, 4 GM and 5 NPL cases. The classification accuracy was 80.77%. Our results suggest that CNN architecture could be used as a good classifier for distinguishing endomicroscopy imaging data of Barrett's esophagus.


Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survive for variable lengths of time, even when adjustment is made for pathological stage. Numerous reports suggest that biological markers predict survival in patients undergoing surgery for NSCLC with curative intent, but many of these claims are unconfirmed or conflicting. We postulated that the use of multiple putative markers might provide greater power in predicting survival. We studied 101 consecutive patients with NSCLC who underwent exploratory thoracotomy and who were followed for at least 2 yr. We assessed mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene (exons 5-8) and the K-ras oncogene (codons 12 and 13) by polymerase chain reaction amplification and single strand conformation polymorphism of the product. We identified 19 K-ras mutations (all adenocarcinomas except for two) and 40 p53 mutations among the 101 cases. We also evaluated p53 protein, bcl-2 protein, c-erbB-1 protein, c-erbB-2 protein, and MIA-15-5 antigen by standard immunocytochemical techniques, and we found that all of these antigens were variably expressed. As expected, we found a strong inverse association between surgical tumor stage and survival. Of the molecular markers studied, only MIA-15-5 antigen expression correlated strongly with survival by univariate analysis (p = 0.001) and it remained a significant predictor by multivariate analysis (p = 0.01). However, in this study, overexpression of MIA-15-5 antigen predicted an improved survival, whereas the original report showed a worse prognosis (N. Engl. J. Med. 1992;327:14). We conclude the multiple cell markers are not clinically useful in predicting survival among patients undergoing surgery for NSCLC. Differences between our results and prior reports may be due to chance, to true population differences, or to other factors.


This paper proposes an efficient modeling and an identification method for dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) systems, based on input–output (current–voltage) experimental measurements. The DBD is modeled using an equivalent electric circuit associated with a differential equation that describes the dynamics of its conductance. This equation assumes a homogeneous behavior of the gas. This paper introduces a series of polynomial terms of the current of the gas into the conductance equation. These terms, after identification, are a very useful tool to analyze the physical mechanisms that take place in the gas. The identification process also returns the numerical values of other DBD parameters, such as associated capacitances and the breakdown voltage. In addition, an asymmetric model for the gas, which considers the direction of the current, is proposed to consider the possible geometrical dissimilarity between the two electrodes of the DBD setup. Experimental measurements taken on two different DBD applications are used for validating the proposed approach.


Craig-y-nos Castle (meaning 'Rock of the Night') lays claim to be the most haunted castle in Wales. Perched on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, it was the estate of Adelina Patti, the world famous opera singer, from 1878 until her death in 1919. Within the castle grounds, Patti built an ornate theatre where she sang for audiences of up to 150 guests including British and European Royalty. The Patti Theatre is now a Grade 1 listed opera house and headquarters of the Opera School Wales. On Patti's death, her third husband, Baron Rolf Cederstrom, sold the estate to the King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Association, established in 1910, to combat tuberculosis in Wales. As the Adelina Patti Hospital, it served for 40 years as a sanatorium for children and young women, at a time when the incidence and death rate of TB in the industrial areas of south Wales were higher than anywhere else in Britain. TB claimed the lives of 12 young men and 17 young women a year in every Welsh community of 6000 people.


One of the problems associated with some African countries is the increasing trend of
road mortality as a result of road fatalities. This has been a major concern. The negative
impacts of these on public health cannot be underestimated. An issue of concern is the
high record of casualties being recorded on an annual basis as a result of over-speeding,
overtaking at dangerous bends, alcohol influence and non-chalant attitude of drivers to
driving. The aim of this research is to explore and adapt the knowledge of finite state
algorithm, modeling and simulation to design and implement a novel prototype of an
advanced traffic light system towards promoting public health among African countries.
Here, we specify and built a model of an advanced wireless traffic control system, which
will help complement existing traffic control systems among African countries. This
prototype is named Advanced Wireless Traffic Control System (WPDTCS). We developed
this model using an event-driven programming approach. The technical details of the
model were based on knowledge adapted from the Finite State Automation Transition
algorithm. It is expected that the AWTCS will promote the evolution of teaching in
modeling, simulation, public safety by offering trainees an advanced pedagogical
product. It will also permit to strengthen the collaboration of knowledge from the fields
of Computer Science, Public health, and Electrical Engineering.
Keywords: public health, public safety, modelling , simulation, pro


Self-lubricating Ni+h-BN coatings were prepared by CO2 laser cladding with powder mixtures of Ni60 and h-BN. The chemical compositions and microstructures of the coatings were analyzed using SEM and XRD. The microhardness of the coatings was measured on a microhardness tester. It was found that the morphology of CrB was changed from irregular block-like shape (in Ni60+5%h-BN coating) →short–plate structure (in Ni60+10%h-BN coating)→dendritic-plate structure(in Ni60+15%h-BN coating) with increasing the content of h-BN. The microhardness of the 5,10 and 15% h-BN coatings ranged from 650~800HV0.2, 800~1010HV0.2 and 1000~1200HV0.2, which was higher than that of Ni60 coating and substrate.


ABSTRACT
 Parasites and pathologies of oysters and mussels were sampled yearly from 1995 to 2010 from the Gulf of Maine to Alaska and the Great Lakes as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Status and Trends Mussel Watch Program. Sentinel bivalves included mytilid mussels, dreissenid mussels, and oysters. This comprehensive dataset provides a unique opportunity to examine long-term temporal dynamics of parasites, pathologies, and physiological indices of these sentinel bivalves. Temporal dynamics fell into a few clear categories. Significant differences between years occurred commonly for parasites, pathologies, and physiological indices; the absence of significant change over time was more noteworthy. In a few cases, these trends were characterized by multiyear increases or decreases in value within the time series. Such behavior might be produced by a multiyear cycle and, in fact, such behavior was much more common along the southern East Coast, the Gulf Coast, and Southern California where a relatively short cycle, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), is well documented. More interestingly, for a number of parasites, pathologies, and physiological indices, significant trends existed across the time series. These trends substantively exceed the time span of climate cycles influencing these regions such as ENSO and the North Atlantic Oscillation. A few of these longer term coherent trends were continental in scale, being observed across sentinel taxa and multiple coasts. Continental scale trends were restricted to the physiological indices such as length. Regional trends were important for a subset of parasites, pathologies, and physiological indices. In general, the regional trends were produced by single-celled proliferating parasites such as Perkinsus marinus, the major pathologies, and certain physiological indices. The multicellular eukaryotes and the gregarines often showed significant year-to-year changes without trend. Temporal trends were prominently represented by oyster parasites on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and by mytilid parasites on the West Coast. Pathologies by contrast had strong temporal signals in northeastern mytilids.


Under analysis were results of treatment of 112 wounded with gunshot injuries of the abdomen. The flowing-irrigating aspiration dialysis followed by the closed transdrainage ultrasonic sanitation in combination with a medicinal composition (dioxidine, gentamycine, tripsin) and simultaneous intramuscular injection of solcoseryl and thymalin were used for prophylactics and treatment of infectious complications in the abdominal cavity and in the wound of the abdominal wall. The method of treatment was found to result in less amount of pyo-inflammatory complications (from 34.8 to 2.6%), shorter terms of cleansing the wound from pyo-necrotic formations and liquidation of the perifocal inflammatory reaction, shorter duration of the stationary treatment.


Spatial prediction of hourly rainfall via radar calibration is addressed. The change of support problem (COSP), arising when the spatial supports of different data sources do not coincide, is faced in a non-Gaussian setting; in fact, hourly rainfall in Emilia-Romagna region, in Italy, is characterized by abundance of zero values and right-skeweness of the distribution of positive amounts. Rain gauge direct measurements on sparsely distributed locations and hourly cumulated radar grids are provided by the ARPA-SIMC Emilia-Romagna. We propose a three-stage Bayesian hierarchical model for radar calibration, exploiting rain gauges as reference measure. Rain probability and amounts are modeled via linear relationships with radar in the log scale; spatial correlated Gaussian effects capture the residual information. We employ a probit link for rainfall probability and Gamma distribution for rainfall positive amounts; the two steps are joined via a two-part semicontinuous model. Three model specifications differently addressing COSP are presented; in particular, a stochastic weighting of all radar pixels, driven by a latent Gaussian process defined on the grid, is employed. Estimation is performed via MCMC procedures implemented in C, linked to R software.
Communication and evaluation of probabilistic, point and interval predictions is investigated. A non-randomized PIT histogram is proposed for correctly assessing calibration and coverage of two-part semicontinuous models. Predictions obtained with the different model specifications are evaluated via graphical tools (Reliability Plot, Sharpness Histogram, PIT Histogram, Brier Score Plot and Quantile Decomposition Plot), proper scoring rules (Brier Score, Continuous Rank Probability Score) and consistent scoring functions (Root Mean Square Error and Mean Absolute Error addressing the predictive mean and median, respectively). Calibration is reached and the inclusion of neighbouring information slightly improves predictions. All specifications outperform a benchmark model with incorrelated effects, confirming the relevance of spatial correlation for modeling rainfall probability and accumulation.


Dendrocalamus stocksii is a thornless, mid-sized, erect, almost solid bamboo species endemic to the Central Western Ghats of India having considerable commercial importance. Its multifarious uses in agrarian sector is manifested in the way farmers maintain it in field bunds/farm boundaries and in homesteads. Due to the nearly solid nature of culms, it is replacing cane in the furniture industry. Evaluation of growth attributes of 100 clumps of Dendrocalamus stocksii randomly sampled along the Western Ghats showed considerable variation in culm and clump parameters. Analysis also revealed that th certain parameters like culm wall thickness to diameter ratio and 5 internode length and diameter had better heritability estimates. The potential of D. stocksii for exploitation as edible shoots revealed that the macro nutritional composition was on par with three other local bamboo species. The cyanogenic glycosides responsible for the bitterness in shoots are found to be low in D. stocksii. Financial analysis reveal that from a plantation managed for culm and shoot production, a potential revenue of around Rs.4.5 lakhs (USD 6705)/year/ha from culms in the sixth year onwards and Rs. 1.6 lakhs (USD 2384)/ year from juvenile shoots can be reasonably expected thus indicating the overall usefulness of the species in Central Western Ghats.


For a narrowband MIMO system the SVD is shown to design a channel with the highest gain. This work is then extended to a broadband MIMO scenario where SBR2, a novel algorithm for calculating the EVD of a polynomial matrix is applied. The algorithm's operation, based on Jacobi rotations is discussed and a multi-channel beamformer is designed. This is evaluated against a transmitter antenna selection (TAS) and a transmitter-receiver antenna selection scheme (TRAS) in terms of channel gain. By using the dominant SBR2 mode for transmission and a matched filter to coherently combine the received the signals, a single very high gain wireless channel can be designed. Alternatively SBR2 may be applied at both the transmitter and receiver to design multiple orthogonal high gain wireless channels. The proposed SBR2 technique therefore has the potential to enhance spectral efficiency by exploiting spatial and temporal diversity in a wireless system.


The reaction of cells in the sensomotor cortex of the ondatra cerebrum has been studied electron microscopically under acute hypoxia conditions. Certain changes have been revealed in neuronal bodies, dendrites, dendritic spines, as well as in synaptic contacts. Reaction of glial cells is noted. The degree of manifestation of the changes essentially varies in different neurons. In most cells, however, they are of reversible character, despite duration of the hypoxia effect. This is evidently connected with the fact, that the ondatra is a diving animal, which is evolutionary adapted to a periodical deficiency of oxygen. The neuronal changes revealed, nevertheless, are not the signs, specifically caused by hypoxia, they are peculiar for many other effects (deafferentation, influences of neurotoxins, stress etc.).


The ocean color as observed near the water surface is determined mainly by dissolved and particulate substances, known as "optically-active constituents," in the upper water column. The goal of ocean color modeling is to interpret an ocean color spectrum quantitatively to estimate the suite of optically-active constituents near the surface. In recent years, ocean color modeling efforts have been centering upon three major optically-active constituents: chlorophyll concentration, colored dissolved organic matter, and scattering particulates. Many challenges are still being faced in this arena. This thesis generally addresses and deals with some critical issues in ocean color modeling. In chapter one, an extensive literature survey on ocean color modeling is given. A general ocean color model is presented to identify critical candidate uncertainty sources in modeling the ocean color. The goal for this thesis study is then defined as well as some specific objectives. Finally, a general overview of the dissertation is portrayed, defining each of the follow-up chapters to target some relevant objectives. In chapter two, a general approach is presented to quantify constituent concentration retrieval errors induced by uncertainties in inherent optical property (IOP) submodels of a semi-analytical forward model. Chlorophyll concentrations are retrieved by inverting a forward model with nonlinear IOPs. The study demonstrates how uncertainties in individual IOP submodels influence the accuracy of the chlorophyll concentration retrieval at different chlorophyll concentration levels. The important finding for this study shows that precise knowledge of spectral shapes of IOP submodels is critical for accurate chlorophyll retrieval, suggesting an improvement in retrieval accuracy requires precise spectral IOP measurements. In chapter three, three distinct inversion techniques, namely, nonlinear optimization (NLO), principal component analysis (PCA) and artificial neural network (ANN) are compared to assess their inversion performances to retrieve optically-active constituents for a complex nonlinear bio-optical system simulated by a semi-analytical ocean color model. A well-designed simulation scheme was implemented to simulate waters of different bio-optical complexity, and then the three inversion methods were applied to these simulated datasets for performance evaluation. In chapter four, an approach is presented for optimally parameterizing an irradiance reflectance model on the basis of a bio-optical dataset made at 45 stations in the Tokyo Bay and nearby regions between 1982 and 1984. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).