The thesis deals with the analysis of a microwave Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) on a conical dielectric radome illuminated by a feed hom located at the base. Two approaches have been adopted to solve this problem. The first approach is to calculate the element currents under the assumption that the surface is locally flat. Consequently, the element current at that locality can be determined by employing Floquet modal
analysis. The local incidence has been modelled from the radiation pattern of the
source or the aperture fields of the feed. Three types of feed model were used to account for the field illumination on the radome. The transmitted fields from the curved surface are obtained from the sum of the radiated fields due to the equivalent
magnetic and electric current sources distributed in each local unit cell of the conical
surface. This method treats the interaction of neighbouring FSS elements only. In the
second approach the curvature is taken into account by dividing the each element into
segments which conform to the curved surface. An integral formulation is used to
take into account the interaction of all the elements. The current source in each FSS
element from the formulation is solved using the method of moments (MOM) technique. A linear system of simultaneous equations is obtained from the MOM and has been solved using elimination method and an iterative method which employs
conjugate gradients. The performance of both methods has been compared with regard to the speed of computations and the memory storage capability. New formulations using quasi static approximations have been derived to account for thin dielectric backing in the curved aperture FSS analysis. Computer models have been developed
to predict the radiation performance of the curved(conical) FSS. Experiments were performed in an anechoic chamber where the FSS cone was mounted on a jig resting on a turntable. The measuring setup contained a sweep oscillator that supplied power to a transmitting feed placed at the base of the cone. Amplitude and phase values of the
far field radiation pattern of the cone were measured with the aid of a vector network
analyser. Cones with different dimensions and FSS element geometries were
constructed and the measured transmission losses and radiation patterns compared
with predictions.


To improve system reliability for radial distribution systems with distributed generation (DG) under fault conditions, switch placement schemes are proposed to form self-supported areas after fault isolation. Customer priority is also considered in this problem. The switch placement problem is formulated as a nondifferentiable, multiobjective optimization problem. Graph-based algorithms, which incorporate direct load control, are developed to locate switches. Their results enable DG to support customers continuously in the event of fault. The proposed algorithms can be applied to unbalanced distribution networks with single or multiple distributed generators. Simulation results on a 394-bus distribution system, including priority customers, and single or multiple distributed generators, were also provided.


abstract: This article reads the Legend of Good Women alongside two late-fourteenth-century conduct texts for women, the Livre du Chevalier de La Tour Landry and the Ménagier de Paris. It argues that the dysphoric emotional states felt by the Legend's women not only make erotic love illegible as an ennobling emotional experience, but also embody disturbing states of obstructed agency that threaten to undo established affective relations between the aesthetics of love and the social. In contrast, contemporary conduct texts for women construct emotion in ideologically satisfying ways by writing women good in their roles as wives and household managers, thereby providing a clearly legible alternative to fin' amor and its definitions of noble subjectivity.


A new benchmark is being undertaken to assess the impact of wheel–rail contact modelling assumptions on the simulation of railway vehicle dynamics. The benchmark is split into two distinct simulation cases: the first, Case A, using a single wheelset to pinpoint the differences between the contact models and the second, Case B, using a simplified railway vehicle to assess the effect of the different contact models on the simulation of vehicle behaviour. After an open discussion of the Case A specification, the initial call for contributions was made in November 2006. The discussion of simulation Case B specifications was opened in April 2007 and to date is ongoing. This paper briefly introduces the new Manchester Contact Benchmark and presents some of the initial findings from simulation Case A.


BACKGROUND
The Chilean population has inadequate lifestyles and high prevalence of chronic diseases.

AIM
To analyze eating behaviors, nutritional status and history of previous diseases, in students of higher education.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Cross-sectional study in students of 54 higher education centers across the country. They answered a survey about dietary habits, physical activity, smoking, previous diseases and opinion of their nutritional condition. Weight and height were measured under standardized conditions and nutritional status classified according to body mass index.

RESULTS
We studied 6,823 students aged 17 to 29 years. Forty seven percent did not have breakfast and 35% did not have lunch every day. A low proportion had a daily consumption of vegetables (51.2%), fruits (39.4%) and dairy products (57.5%). There was a high frequency of soft drinks, chips, cakes and sweets consumption. Seventy six percent were sedentary, 40.3% smokers and 27.4% overweight or obese. The latter had a significantly higher frequency of diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. There was a poor agreement between actual nutritional status and self-perception, especially in males (Kappa index 0.38). Recipients of a food scholarship provided by the Ministry of Education ate lunch usually with a higher frequency (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
A high prevalence of inadequate eating and physical activity patterns in these young subjects with good educational level was observed. The food scholarship has some positive effects, although differences in socioeconomic levels limited comparisons.


In this paper, ABAQUS was used to simulate the stamping process for electrodeposited nickel coating. In the simulation, a built-in cohesive zone model of ABAQUS was used to present electrodeposited nickel coating steel's interface performance. The computational results shows that, at the interface, the normal stress was between -113.765~3MPa,and the maximum tangential stress is 50 MPa. The maximum interface stress is at the die fillet during the process of stamping,and we analyze the case of delaminating and is used to assess the influence of the blank holder force,the clearance between the punch and the die and the tool radii. This method can be used as guidance for battery shell's forming manufacture.


Limited research has been applied to testing intervention effects on travel behaviour of attendees at major sport events. As travel to sport events accounts for a large percentage of carbon emissions there is a need to alter travel behaviour. The underlying premise is that it may be possible to influence intentions and promote change using marketing interventions mapped to the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM). A quasi experimental design was adopted using a case study approach in the execution of the experiment. 4 studies were employed in this research. Study 1 articulated how the TTM was incorporated into the design of the social marketing interventions. Participants (N = 14) helped to identify the most influential marketing interventions. Using an adapted questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), it was concluded that sports fans were not intending to change and their use of the car was supported by peers. In determining the relationship between TPB scores and level of influence of each marketing intervention, the indication was that Subjective Norm (SN) had a mediating impact. In study 2, participants (n =192) were categorised into Stages of Change (SoC) using an adapted TTM questionnaire. The remaining TTM constructs were also assessed. In study 3, a post-intervention questionnaire was distributed to a Control (N=22) and Experimental group (N = 20). The collective results revealed that the interventions did not work. Participants did not recognise travel by car as a problem behaviour despite an awareness of the environmental and health implications. Contextual determinants dominated decisions. It was challenging to determine the theorised relationship between SoC and other TTM constructs as the majority of participants were categorised as Precontemplators or Contemplators. Findings indicated difficulty in aligning Process of Change (PoC) items with the SoC characteristics in this context. Yet the relationships between SoC and decisional balance and self-efficacy suggested alignment to the prescribed theory. In study 4 interviewees evaluated the interventions and gave their reaction. In spite of a sense of engagement, there was no change in travel behaviour. The car was seen as the solution to a problem – getting to the match on time. The findings formed the basis of recommendations which furthered the application of the TTM and its applicability within a specific leisure context.


In this short note, we give some new results on continuous bounded cohomology groups of topological semigroups with values in complex field. We show that the second continuous bounded cohomology group of a compact metrizable semigroup, is a Banach space. Also, we study cohomology groups of amenable topological semigroups, and we show that cohomology groups of rank greater than one of a compact left or right amenable semigroup, are trivial. Also, we give some examples and applications about topological lattices. MSC 2010. 20J06, 22A99, 20J05, 22A26.


Modern brain imaging techniques usually allow a very good differential diagnosis of intracerebral lesions, but in some cases the differential diagnosis is difficult. We report the case of a 52 year old male with acute brachiofacial paresis and a hyperintense lesion with mass effect and ring-enhancement in basal ganglia suspiciously to a tumor. The neurosurgeons recommend stereotactical brain biopsy for diagnosis, but the patient recovered in following time gradually and in repeated computer tomographic images contrast enhancement disappeared and a hypodense zone in the basal ganglia remains. Our case demonstrates that brain infarctions can mimick glioblastoma in taking cystic appearance and contrast enhancement. Stereotactic biopsy would have been a precipitated invasive procedure in this case.


adults. Although vaccination of babies would be expected to increase the proportion of cases of mumps occurring in adults the absolute numbers would certainly fall if a high acceptance rate of vaccination were achieved. The need for a booster in late childhood, particularly in boys, could be met at high school at the same time as girls are given rubella immunisation. The disparity between the UK and the USA in attitudes to immunisation is curious and disturbing.


After decades of research and development, haptic feedback is increasingly appearing in consumer products. While the prevalence of haptic feedback is increasing, the integration rarely offers increased fidelity to previous generations. We argue this is because of the tremendous complexity of successful haptic design engineering, but critically, also because of information saturation. With novel cutaneous feedback technologies and companies emerging almost daily, the multi-disciplinary nature of haptics and the marketing-driven terminology used to stand out in a crowded market makes it challenging to select and integrate actuators correctly. To manage this complexity and facilitate the interdisciplinary exchange of user requirements and material affordances, we introduce a novel classification criterion for haptic actuators focused on the bandwidth and fidelity of potential effects. We introduce vocabulary for describing the precise experience the actuators and corresponding systems should deliver. Lastly, we summarize currently commercially available cutaneous-based haptic technology. In the nearby future, the same criterion and language can also prove valuable for steering technology development of new and improved actuators and enabling novice and experienced practitioners to understand and integrate cutaneous feedback in their products.


In this paper we demonstrate the feasibility and utility of an augmented version of the Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo method for computing the phase behavior of systems with strong, extremely short-ranged attractions. For generic potential shapes, this approach allows for the investigation of narrower attractive widths than those previously reported. Direct comparison to previous self-consistent Ornstein-Zernike approximation calculations is made. A preliminary investigation of out-of-equilibrium behavior is also performed. Our results suggest that the recent observations of stable cluster phases in systems without long-ranged repulsions are intimately related to gas-crystal and metastable gas-liquid phase separation.


A thermal mixing analysis of the downcomer, main recirculation pumps (MRPs) and lower plenum of Forsmark's Unit 3 has been carried out with three separate computational fluid dynamics models. Several difficulties with the boundary conditions have been encountered, particularly with the MRP model. The results obtained predict stable temperature differences of around 8 K at the core inlet. Such large temperature differences have never been observed at Forsmark nuclear power plant (NPP). Temperature measurements at four positions above the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) bottom give the mean value used as the core inlet temperature for core analyses. Even if the temperature transmitters used are rather slow and inaccurate, they should be able to detect such large temperature differences that may lead to fuel damage. The only damage reported at Forsmark NPP since the implementation of liner cladding in fuel design is that caused by mechanically induced debris fretting (threadlike particles). Also, the difficulties with the connection of the models throw some doubt on the accuracy of these predictions. A completely connected model of the same RPV volume covered by the separate models predicts temperature differences at core inlet that are almost one fourth of those mentioned above, i.e., approximately 2.5 K. Most of the mixing occurs downstream of the MRP diffusers, at the lower plenum "inlet. " This prediction divergence seems to arise from an impossibility of a correct transfer of complete three-dimensional flow field properties by means of boundary conditions defined at a two-dimensional inlet section.


We propose a new model to explain the geometric and petrologic characteristics of a large gabbro-syenite complex in the southern Appalachian Piedmont, based on reinterpretation of available gravity, magnetic, and petrologic data. In our interpretation the complex is composed of vertically stacked, tabular plutons, and the exposed intrusive rocks are underlain by a much larger body, vertically separated by 1-1.5 km. Our model provides a possible explanation for the perplexing absence from the Concord complex of rock types intermediate to syenite and gabbro in the fractionation sequence. Fractionation occurred in the deeper magma chamber, which was episodically tapped to produce syenite and gabbro at higher levels.


Abstract The graphoepitaxy of symmetric PS-b-PMMA BCP film on the PS 60 mol% brush layer is carried out using the chemically homogeneous topological pattern of SiO2 layer and the home-made solvent annealing tool. It is confirmed by atomic force microscopy that PS-b-PMMA film on the periphery of the trench flows into the trench during the solvent annealing, so that the film thickness in the trench is thicker than that on the un-patterned area. The solvent annealing time dependence indicates the lamellar orientation in the trench changes from a mixture of the lamellar domain parallel and perpendicular to the side walls to the lamellar domain parallel to the side walls, and then changes back to the mixture, although the lamellar orientation perpendicular to the substrate remains the same. This result is also discussed with a free energy model for confined di-block copolymer. The lamellar domain parallel to the side walls indicates that the surface tensions of PS and PMMA blocks absorbing solvent vapor with the PS 60 mol% brush layer are not the same during the solvent annealing at 55 °C. Furthermore, the free energy difference between the parallel and perpendicular orientations is supposed to fluctuate due to the dynamics of PS-b-PMMA molecules by the solvent annealing, so that the lamellar orientation results in either of the lamellar domain parallel, perpendicular, or the mixture. The graphoepitaxy of symmetric PS- b -PMMA BCP film on the PS 60 mol% brush layer is carried out using the chemically homogeneous topological pattern of SiO 2 layer and the home-made solvent annealing tool. It is confirmed by atomic force microscopy that PS- b -PMMA film on the periphery of the trench flows into the trench during the solvent annealing, so that the film thickness in the trench is thicker than that on the un-patterned area. The solvent annealing time dependence indicates the lamellar orientation in the trench changes from a mixture of the lamellar domain parallel and perpendicular to the side walls to the lamellar domain parallel to the side walls, and then changes back to the mixture, although the lamellar orientation perpendicular to the substrate remains the same. This result is also discussed with a free energy model for confined di-block copolymer. The lamellar domain perpendicular to the substrate is rationalized by confinement between the "neutral" film/air interface and the neutral PS 60 mol% brush layer. The lamellar domain parallel to the side walls indicates that the surface tensions of PS and PMMA blocks absorbing solvent vapor with the PS 60 mol% brush layer are not the same during the solvent annealing at 55 ° C. Furthermore, the free energy difference between the parallel and perpendicular orientations is supposed to fluctuate due to the dynamics of PS- b -PMMA molecules by the solvent annealing, so that the lamellar orientation results in either of the lamellar domain parallel, perpendicular, or the mixture.


443 A 57-year-old woman had undergone right hemicolectomy, partial pancreatic head resection, and partial duodenectomy for advanced ascending colon cancer. Owing to a local recurrence, she was referred to our hospital. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage was performed for a malignant biliary obstruction, and the local recurrence was treated with radiotherapy. Systemic chemotherapy was then started, but the patient had a complication of malignant duodenal obstruction 1 year after the recurrence. Only non-contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography could be obtained because of the patient's allergy to the contrast medium (Fig. 1). The size of the recurrence site was estimated to be approximately 5 cm. However, detailed information on the occlusion site was difficult to obtain before the endoscopic treatment. A forward-viewing endoscope was inserted in the duodenum, and the guidewire was advanced through the stenosis (Fig. 2A). Subsequent contrast imaging revealed a dilated intestinal tract (Fig. 2B). However, contrast imaging at the stenosis revealed another lumen, and the first lumen was clarified to be the colon, and the guidewire was passed through the duodenocolonic fistula (Fig. 2C). The guidewire was turned to enter another lumen, a true duodenal lumen (Fig. 2D). As the enteral stent was placed at the papilla of Vater, an uncovered enteral stent (NEXENT Duodenal Pyloric Stent 22 mm × 12 cm; Next Biomedical, Incheon, Korea) was placed at the duodenal obstruction. After the procedure, the patient could take a normal diet (Fig. 3A, B). Duodenocolonic fistula is a rare complication. It is sometimes caused by benign diseases such as chronic inflammation, a foreign body, and iatrogenic diseases (e.g., those induced by radiotherapy). Duodenocolonic fistula due to malignancy is rare. Furthermore, malignant duodenal obstruction due to colon cancer is unusual. When inserting an enteral stent, the stenosis is passed through using the guidewire under fluoroscopy. The guidewire is confirmed to be inside the intestinal tract based on the contrast image and course of the guidewire. In the case of a duodenocolonic fistula, the obstruction usually occurs at the infraduodenal angle. As the guidewire needs to be advanced to the third portion of duodenum, its course is quite similar to that of the transverse colon. Misplacement of an enteral stent is one of the most critical complications. To avoid this complication, clinicians should be aware that the distal bowel tract below the stenosis is usually collapsed and that no residue-like material is visible. Understanding that the guidewire may go through a lumen different from the assumed duodenum when the fistula is formed is also necessary. The present case of a duodenocolonic fistula was a blind spot in the placement of a duodenal stent. Information on such a case is useful for clinicians who perform enteral stenting. BRIEF REPORT


: Globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) is a cross-polli-nated, highly heterozygous species, which is conventionally propagated vegetatively. A scheme is described here which combines phenotypic with genotypic selection to fast track the development of a seed-propagated variety. The scheme was tested by making three selections, on a phenotypic basis, from a Brazilian seed-propagated variety showing an high phenotypic variation. The genetic relatedness as well as the heterozygosity of the material in study, in respect to standard variety representatives, was initially assessed with a wide set of microsatellite markers. Afterwards, an AFLP-based selection demonstrated to provide a practical and cheap means of conducting marker assisted breeding, which can be easily adopted also in laboratories of small seed companies. The selection approach described here could be readily adopted also to convert current vegetatively propagated landraces into seed-propagated varieties.


In this presentation, music fans are characterised as cultural intermediaries who have important roles to play within popular music culture. They are active not only in curating, collecting and archiving the material culture produced and circulated by the music industries, but also in creating, organising, discussing and circulating their own materials/information. The development of online networks of communication, storage and distribution has allowed more fans to engage in these practices, but has also led to conflicts regarding copyright and ownership, and to the apparent co-opting of fan networks, products and free labour for the commercial gain of the music industries. This talk will discuss two forms of fan-led cultural production. Firstly, there is the not-for-profit trading of live concert recordings, including remaster projects and pseudo- record labels created by fans and fan networks. These curate, collect and distribute recordings of live performances that would not otherwise be available through 'traditional' commercial record company sources, and so build alternative canons and histories for artists. Secondly, there are blogging sites that curate rare, private press and OOP (out of print) recordings that are otherwise impossible to find from legitimate streaming and download sites, or from primary retail sources (though some may appear as 'second-hand' copies in online marketplaces such as Musicstack, Eil, eBay, Gemm and so on). The blogging sites to be discussed not only discuss the music, but offer cyberlocker download links in order to facilitate free distribution of the recordings they present. In both types of cultural production, fans are providing forms of free labour (material, immaterial and affective), whilst also highlighting, negotiating or sidestepping a variety of issues related to ownership and copyright that will detailed and discussed in the talk.


Author(s): Botti, Steve; Nichols, Tom | Abstract: In the 1960s the US National Park Service developed a policy designed to restore the natural ecological role of wildland fire. The policy was driven by growing understanding of ecosystem management benefits, as reflected in the 1963 Leopold Report on wildlife management in national parks. The new policy was designed to reverse decades of aggressive wildfire suppression that had caused disruptions in habitats and vegetative communities, and unnaturally high wildland fuel accumulation. More than 50 years later, the policy has largely failed to achieve its goals. This failure is due not just to climate change and the rise of new fire regimes dominated by mega-fires. It also was due to a lack of clear and unified organizational commitment by many parks, along with continued administrative comfort with fire suppression-oriented thinking, particularly during the window of opportunity between 1970 and 2000. During this time program emphasis shifted from ecosystem restoration to hazard fuels reduction, and program direction from Natural Resources staff to Emergency Services personnel. Efforts to establish a balance between emergency response thinking and resource management thinking largely failed due to institutional barriers and funding/staffing decisions driven by the threat of large wildfires. Park managers became wary of natural fire regime restoration efforts after the 1988 Yellowstone fires and the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire. This accelerated the demise of the Leopold Report vision of restoring and maintaining the ecological role of natural fire. In its place, wildfire suppression philosophy again became predominant, as reflected in the National Fire Plan with its focus away from ecological fire use and toward hazard fuel reduction in support of protecting the wildland urban interface. Restoring the Leopold Report vision requires an interdivisional commitment by Park emergency response and resources management organizations, guided by leadership at all organizational levels. It now may be timely to establish an NPS advisory board on wildland fire management similar to the one that produced the Leopold Report. This Board should review wildland fire policy implementation over the past 58 years, determine whether the ecosystem restoration paradigm is still valid, and if so, then the types of leadership and organizational changes required to achieve it.


Orthogonal cutting force is a fundamental parameter to design cutting tools and to determine to the required power necessary to operate a sawmill. This force varies within different species, and as a function of the wood condition (density, moisture content, fiber orientation), tool shape (sharpness angle, clearance angle, blade thickness and width) as well as of the cutting equipment (rake angle, forward velocity, cutting speed, chip thickness and width). The 90-90 cutting is extremely important because it occurs during end-grain cutting. The reforestation species, in particular the eucalyptus, are acquiring increasing importance in the Brazilian domestic and export timber market. This paper reports the results of 90-90 orthogonal cutting tests, conducted using specimens from three species of Eucalyptus: citriodora, saligna and grandis. The results show the influence of the machining parameters in the cutting forces and indicate its relevance in order to optimize the wood machining process.


Abstract This short paper sets forth a decision making model for organizations to use in their pursuit of "business ethics," and "social responsibility." It then provides some suggestions for how to more easily adapt such a model. We hear a lot these days about "corporate ethics," "business ethics," and "social responsibility." Most of us have some idea what these terms mean, but it often seems a bit fuzzy. This can make it a daunting task for managers to adopt strategies to address these concepts. Ethics deals with concepts of right and wrong, and entails actions somewhat beyond the legal minimums. Social responsibility tends to mean utilizing the stakeholder model and taking into account to a greater degree the interests of those impacted by corporate decisions and actions. One way to consider the manner in which ethics and social responsibility apply in the corporate or business setting is to approach it as part of decision making process. That's what managers do; they make decisions. The following approach might be helpful as a way to enhance "business ethics" and "social responsibility" through a broader decision making process. Introducing FPILEPAR This approach to decision making can be set forth by the acronym FPILEPAR: Facts, Parties, Interests, Laws, Ethics, Practicalities, Alternatives, Rationalizations. There is nothing profound in this approach; it is merely a slight expansion on basic decision-making process. Facts What are the facts? All the facts. This seems to be a basic concept, but it is often shortchanged in the rush of everyday decision-making. Aldous Huxley once said that bad facts don't disappear because they're ignored. Sherlock Holmes said he could discover facts, but could not invent them. Examples of organizations ignoring bad facts or trying to invent better facts abound; Enron, Merck and others. Most large judgments against organizations arise due to the fact that managers ignore those "bad" facts. They get hit hard not for the first "bad fact," rather for the last in a series. The product injured someone? Somebody has complained of harassment? Maybe it'll go away. No it won't. Knowledge of the facts is expected; organizations can't use the "I didn't know" excuse. In this day, society expects more from organizations; they are expected to know. Facts and knowledge expectations involve not only appropriately responding to a factual occurrence, but anticipating facts which may occur and acting in a proactive manner to avoid such "bad facts." The corporate culture, or the personality of the corporation, can be an effective tool. In an atmosphere where open and honest communication exists, an organization is less likely to be caught by unspoken "bad facts." This can be particularly important as a manner of avoiding the "we've never had a complaint so everything is just fine" syndrome. The absence of a complaint does not necessarily mean the absence of a problem. Parties Who is impacted by the decision and subsequent action? This utilizes the "stakeholder" model of decisionmaking. Generally, stakeholders are those parties who might be affected by a business decision and subsequent action. These can include employees, customers, owners and investors, suppliers, lenders, competitors, the surrounding community and society at large. It basically entails making a broader consideration of the potential impacts of business activity before a decision is finalized and implemented. Interests What are the potential interests, which might be affected? Are there monetary interests? Possible physical interests? Health and safety interests, etc.? We, as a society, tend to rank physical safety on a higher plane. If our activity will possibly impact safety, we need to be increasingly careful. As it applies to stakeholders, it can be helpful if we can keep in mind the traditional basic consumer rights of safety, being informed, being heard and having a right to choose. …


This study aims to assess the association of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), G34A and C376T, in the ABCG2 gene with the risk of developing CRC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that determined the role of genetic variations in the ABCG2 gene with the risk of CRC in Saudi Arabia. The gDNA was extracted from the blood of 58 CRC patients and 48 healthy subjects. The DNA sequencing was used to determine the distribution of genotypes. The results showed that CRC patients carried a heterozygous (GA) genotype for SNP G34A had a low risk of developing CRC (odds ratio=0.015, 95% CI [0.00–0.12]; risk ratio=0.35, 95% CI [0.25–0.12], P <0.0001). On the other hand, patients that carried a heterozygous (CT) genotype for SNP C376T had a high risk of developing CRC (odds ratio=13.83, 95% CI [4.31–44.38]; risk ratio=4.88, 95% CI [1.95–12.24], P <0.0001). In conclusion, the results indicated that a heterozygous (GA) genotype in SNP G34A may decrease the risk of CRC development, whereas, the heterozygous (CT) genotype in SNP C376T may increase the risk of CRC. The results may suggest a protective role of ABCG2 SNP G34A against CRC and a deleterious effect of ABCG2 SNP C376T for increasing the risk of CRC.


The first observation of the decay of a $B^0$ meson to a purely baryonic final state, $B^0 \to p\overline{p}$, is reported. The proton-proton collision data sample used was collected with the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.0  fb$^{−1}$. The branching fraction is determined to be $\mathcal{B}(B^0 \to p\overline{p}) = (1.25 \pm 0.27 \pm 0.18) \times 10^{−8}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The decay mode $B^0 \to p\overline{p}$ is the rarest decay of the $B^0$ meson observed to date. The decay $B^0_s \to p\overline{p}$ is also investigated. No signal is seen and the upper limit $\mathcal{B}(B^0 \to p\overline{p}) < 1.5 \times 10^{−8}$ at 90% confidence level is set on the branching fraction.


The progress in information retrieval, computer vision, and image analysis makes it possible to establish very complete bases of algorithms and operators. A specialist in remote sensing or image processing now has the tools that allow him, at least in theory, to configure applications solving complex problems of image understanding. However, in reality, earth observation (EO) data analysis is still performed in a very laborious way at the end of repeated cycles of trial and error. To overcome this, we proposed a novel advanced remote sensing information processing system knowledge-driven information mining (KIM). KIM is based on human-centered concepts (HCCs), which implements new features and functions allowing improved feature extraction, search on a semantic level, the availability of collected knowledge, interactive knowledge discovery, and new visual user interfaces. We assess the HCC methodology for solving several difficult tasks in EO image interpretation, using a broad variety of sensor data, from meter-resolution synthetic aperture radar and optical images to hyperspectral data.


Modern classification problems frequently present mild to severe label imbalance as well as specific requirements on classification characteristics, and require optimizing performance measures that are non-decomposable over the dataset, such as F-measure. Such measures have spurred much interest and pose specific challenges to learning algorithms since their non-additive nature precludes a direct application of well-studied large scale optimization methods such as stochastic gradient descent.

In this paper we reveal that for two large families of performance measures that can be expressed as functions of true positive/negative rates, it is indeed possible to implement point stochastic updates. The families we consider are concave and pseudo-linear functions of TPR, TNR which cover several popularly used performance measures such as F-measure, G-mean and H-mean.

Our core contribution is an adaptive linearization scheme for these families, using which we develop optimization techniques that enable truly point-based stochastic updates. For concave performance measures we propose SPADE, a stochastic primal dual solver; for pseudo-linear measures we propose STAMP, a stochastic alternate maximization procedure. Both methods have crisp convergence guarantees, demonstrate significant speedups over existing methods-often by an order of magnitude or more, and give similar or more accurate predictions on test data.


Temozolomide (TMZ), a DNA methylating agent, is the primary chemotherapeutic drug used in glioblastoma treatment. TMZ induces mostly N-alkylation adducts (N7-methylguanine and N3-methyladenine) and some O6-methylguanine (O6mG) adducts. Current models propose that during DNA replication, thymine is incorporated across from O6mG, promoting a futile cycle of mismatch repair (MMR) that leads to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). To revisit the mechanism of O6mG processing, we reacted plasmid DNA with N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU), a temozolomide mimic, and incubated it in Xenopus egg-derived extracts. We have shown that in this system, MMR proteins are enriched on MNU-treated DNA and we observed robust, MMR-dependent, repair synthesis. Our evidence also suggests that MMR, initiated at O6mG:C sites, is strongly stimulated in cis by repair processing of other lesions, such as N-alkylation adducts. Importantly, MNU-treated plasmids display DSBs in extracts, the frequency of which increases linearly with the square of alkylation dose. We suggest that DSBs result from two independent repair processes, one involving MMR at O6mG:C sites and the other involving base excision repair acting at a nearby N-alkylation adduct. We propose a new, replication-independent mechanism of action of TMZ, which operates in addition to the well-studied cell cycle-dependent mode of action.


The main objectives of this study are to investigate the spectral responses of a fire-damaged concrete slab using Impact-echo (IE) testing, and to develop a simplified model for interpreting the frequency shift due to heat-induced concrete damage after the fire. For these purposes, a reinforced concrete slab specimen (1000 mm (width) by 5000 mm (length) by 210 mm (thickness)) was fabricated in the laboratory. Heat damage in the concrete slab specimen was induced by exposing the bottom of the specimen to the temperatures corresponding to the standard fire curve described in the ASTM E 119 for 3 h. Impact-echo testing was performed on the bottom surface of the concrete slab specimen before and after inducing the fire damage. It was observed that the spectral responses of the fire-damaged concrete were dominated by several non-propagating waves, which resulted in main peak frequencies around 4500 Hz and 5100 Hz. A discrete layered concrete damage model developed in this study was used to reconstruct the variation of the P-wave velocity with the depth of the fire-damaged concrete. It was demonstrated that the predicted P-wave velocity profile using the simplified model showed a good agreement with the measured values from the five core samples, which measured 100 mm (diameter) by 200 mm (height) cylinders, using ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) measurements at eight different depths. In addition, the peak frequencies predicted by the simplified model were consistent with the measured peak frequencies. The experimental results in this study demonstrated that IE testing is effective for evaluating the post-fire damage of reinforced concrete slabs. Particularly, the simplified model in this study can be effective for better interpreting the spectral responses of fire-damaged concrete slabs by IE testing.


Abstract Background and aims : Annually, occupational accidents have a major impact on workers health and Impose large costs on employers. The current study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the theory of planned behavior-based intervention to improve workers safety climate in industrial city of Qazvin in the first half of 2010. Methods : A number of 75 workers in each of the control and intervention groups participated in a quasi experimental study. With respect to the fact that the changes of safety climate usually take place in the long term, and for the longer follow-up of participants, data were collected through self-report questionnaires in three different time intervals including initial followed by, 3 and 6 months after the intervention. The intervention consisted of four training courses with 8-15 trainees in each group and its duration was 45-69 minutes. The data were entered into SPSS 16.0 software and were analyzed using statistical tests. Results : The score of Management commitment was significantly increased in the three and six month evaluation in intervention group (p< 0.001). Also, results showed a significant increase in other dimensions such as safety communication, secure environment, responsibility, risk perception, safety climate (p<0.05). Results also indicate a significant change in mean scores of attitude, subjective norm (p<0.05), perceived behavioral control (p<0.001) and attempted (p<0.05) in the intervention group and no significant change in these variables in the control group. Conclusion : Results showed an improvement of workers' safety and common perceptions of workplace safety policies and procedures due to educational intervention based on theory of planned behavior. Thus, the theory of planned behavior can be used as a theoretical framework for the design and implementation of workplace safety interventions.


This study proposes to examine the role of information technology customization in a logistics and supply chain context. As technology continues to be an enabler of collaborative logistics and supply chain relationships, supply chain partners become more dependent upon information technology and the information shared, creating inter-dependence and a shared destiny (Power, 2005). Understanding that many firms today likely develop and deploy disparate information systems, supporting many different business activities and processes (March , Hevner and Ram, 2000), information sharing among supply chain partners calls for some level of information technology customization due to the varying specializations or differences in capabilities across firm boundaries (Charlie and Rebentisch, 2003). But what exactly defines customization and how do firms determine the appropriate level of customization of their information technology resources is necessary to share appropriate information and integrate with their supply chain partners? A grounded-theory approach will be used.


This paper studies the hyperstability and the asymptotic hyperstability of a single-input single-output controlled dynamic system whose feed-forward input-output dynamics is nonlinear and eventually time-varying consisting of a linear nominal part, a linear incremental perturbed part and a nonlinear and eventually time-varying one. The nominal linear part is described by a positive real transfer function while the linear perturbation is defined by a stable transfer function. The nonlinear and time-varying disturbance is, in general, unstructured but it is upper-bounded by the combination of three additive absolute terms depending on the input, output and input-output product, respectively. The non-linear time-varying feedback controller is any member belonging to a general class which satisfies an integral Popov's-type inequality. This problem statement allows the study of the conditions guaranteeing the robust stability properties under a variety of the controllers designed for the controlled system and controller disturbances. In this way, set of robust hyperstability and asymptotic hyperstability of the closed-loop system are given based on the fact that the input-output energy of the feed-forward controlled system is positive and bounded for all time and any given initial conditions and controls satisfying Popov's inequality. The importance of those hyperstability and asymptotic hyperstability properties rely on the fact that they are related to global closed-loop stability, or respectively, global closed-loop asymptotic stability of the same uncontrolled feed-forward dynamics subject to a great number of controllers under the only condition that that they satisfy such a Popov's-type inequality. It is well-known the relevance of vaccination and treatment controls for Public Health Management at the levels of prevention and healing. Therefore, two application examples concerning the linearization of known epidemic models and their appropriate vaccination and/or treatment controls on the susceptible and infectious, respectively, are discussed in detail with the main objective in mind of being able of achieving a fast convergence of the state- trajectory solutions to the disease- free equilibrium points under a wide class of control laws under deviations of the equilibrium amounts of such populations.


Abstract Background Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer and the biological mechanisms remains unclear. The prevalence of abnormal fucosylation has been reported to be closely related to cancer progression and prognosis. It was reported that only FUT3 and/or FUT6 in the α 1-3/4 fucosyltransferase subfamily were required for TGF-β-mediated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in colorectal cancer. However, it was also reported that the α 1-6 fucosyltransferase FUT8 facilitated TGF-β binding to receptor and stimulated the EMT in breast cancer. As an α 1-3 fucosyltransferase distinct from the α 1-3/4 and 1-6 fucosyltransferase subfamily, the role of FUT11 in ovarian cancer development is less understood. Methods FUT11 was identified as a novel oncogene related with the EMT process in ovarian cancer by bioinformatic analysis and real-time PCR. The transwell chamber assays were used to examine the changes of the invasion and migration ability after FUT11 knocked-down by siRNA treatment in ovarian cancer cells SK-OV-3 and HEY. Western-blot was usd to determine the changes of EMT genes by FUT11 depletion in response to TGF-β 1. Furthermore, expression and location of R-Smads and Co-Smad were analyzed by western blot and immunofluorescence assay, to evaluate the impact of FUT11 depletion on the TGF-β/Smad pathway. Results FUT11 was highly expressed in ovarian cancer, and increased FUT11 expression was significantly correlated with poor survival of the ovarian patients. FUT11 depletion impaired the invasion and migration of the ovarian cancer cell lines, through regulation of the TGF-β 1-induced EMT process. These inhibitory effect was due to downregulation of the expression of SMAD2 and SMAD3, as well as prevention of their translocation from cytoplasm to nucleus. Although expression of SMAD4 were slightly affected, their translocation from cytoplasm to nucleus were inhibited by FUT11 depletion. Conclusions FUT11 promotes invasion and migration of ovarian cancer through regulation of the TGF-β 1-induced EMT process. FUT11 affects the response to TGF-β 1 by regulation of the expression level of R-Smads and Co-Smad, as well as their translocation from cytoplasm to nucleus. Legal entity responsible for the study Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University. Funding The National Natural Science Foundation of China (81502353 & 81672838), Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (No. Z181100001718193), and Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University (FCYY201713). Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


The neural networks have significance on recognition of crops disease diagnosis, but it has disadvantage of slow convergent speed and shortcoming of local optimum. In order to identify the maize leaf diseases by using machine vision more accurately, we propose an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm for neural networks. With the algorithm, the neural network property is improved. It reasonably confirms threshold and connection weight of neural network, and improves capability of solving problems in the image recognition.At last, an example of the emluatation shows that neural network model based on pso recognizes significantly better than without optimization. Model accuracy has been improved to a certain extent to meet the actual needs of maize leaf diseases recognition.


The present study is focused on article 11 and article 13 of the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright in the Digital Single Market.

The study underlines the inefficiency, from both a legal and economic perspective, of the measures held by the EU Commission, considering the purposes of these interventions:

• in the press sector, introducing a new right to facilitate online licensing for publications, investment recovery and respect for rights;

• as for online platforms, encouraging greater transparency on the revenues generated from the use of content protected by copyright in the digital environment, with measures aimed at establishing more balanced contractual relationships between, on the one side, authors and, on the other side, users and subjects who exploit the copyrighted works.

Article 11
The main purpose of article 11 is to require Member States to grant to press publishers the same rights as those set out in article 2 and Article 3, par. 2, of the InfoSoc directive, in case of digital use of their journalistic publications (so-called ancillary copyright). The duration of these rights is twenty years, allowing publishers to check the availability of their works to the public.

In other words, whenever a subject uses parts of a journalistic article (including the so- called snippets) he is expected to pay the above ancillary rights to publishers.

a) Poor effectiveness of the measure

There is no evidence that shows that the investments supported by publishers could be remunerated by the introduction of a new related right. Similar measures were already introduced in Germany, in 2013, and in Spain, in 2014, leading to the closure of news aggregation services (Google News, in Spain) or to the deindexation of copyrighted contents (determining the decrease of the web traffic on the related web pages). The Staff Working Document Impact Assessment also confirms that "None of these two recent 'ancillary rights' solutions at national level have proven effective to address publishers' problems so far, in particular as they have not resulted in increased revenues for publishers from the major online service providers".

b) Access and pluralism of information

The Commission's proposal could have the effect of restricting access to certain contents, which would be de-indexed. Likewise, the introduction of a new related right might shrink the number of information aggregators, used not only by users, but also by researchers and journalists.

It should be also took into account that search engines could legitimately choose to take up exclusively the news from newspapers with which they have contractual relationships, with the detriment of other newspapers, negatively affecting information pluralism. An indirect, but also unfavourable, effect would also be seen in the activities of extraction and combination of large amounts of data and information (so-called big data journalism).

c) Excessive scope and circumvention of new rights

The duration of the rights (20 years) is excessive if compared to the commercial exploitation of journalistic publications, negatively affecting the use of these sources for historical purposes and scientific research.

Furthermore, these rights are due irrespective of a request by the rights holders. During the consultation, many journalistic companies have expressed their opposition to the introduction of an ancillary copyright. Likewise, the new rights would also apply to content issued with open licenses (such as, for instance, creative commons).

Finally, online news services could limit themselves to aggregating content created by operators established in third countries (for example, South Americans for news already

Lastly, online news services could aggregate exclusively content created by operators established in third countries (for example, South American operators for journalistic news relating to Spain), who are out of the material scope of the directive, with a clear competitive harm to European companies.

Article 13

According to the purposes of the EU Commission, the introduction of article 13 meets the need to fairly the value generated by sharing works by online platforms. According to the sources mentioned by the EU Commission, in fact, these platforms would generate revenues amounting to US$634 million (one dollar per user), compared to US$2 billion ($ 18 for each user) earned by the managers of the platforms themselves, through advertising investments or subscription fees.
In addition to the above mentioned license agreements, article 13 holds the adoption of effective content recognition technologies.

Even this measure seems disproportionate and ineffective and does not provide an adequate solution to the issues raised by the Commission.

a) Application of article 13

Article. 13 should apply to "Information society service providers that store and provide to the public access to large amounts of works or other subject-matter uploaded by their users".

The reference to "large amounts of works or other subject-matter" is absolutely generic and does not specify the subjects to whom article 13 concretely would be applied. This causes a situation of great uncertainty, especially for new operators and innovative service providers.

b) Calculation of the value gap

The data reported by the Commission are contradicted by other independent researches. These researches show that, even if right holders complain about a "value gap", there is a noticeable increase in revenues generated by the entertainment industry (music, film industry, etc.) and by copyright collecting societies.

c) Filtering and general surveillance

The measure that the Commission would introduce is clearly in contrast with both article15 of the e-commerce directive, which prohibits a general monitoring obligation on ISPs, and the recent decisions of the Court of Justice, which stated that the use of systems "for filtering and blocking electronic communications is inconsistent with EU law", and namely with data protection law and freedom of enterprise.

On the contrary, the mechanism envisaged by the proposal directive calls for a preventive action of the platform operators, who are driven to monitor and remove potentially (but not necessarily) illegal contents uploaded by users, with a limitation of the freedom of expression.

d) Anti-competitive effects

Article 13 would apply exclusively to platform operators who make available to the public wide repertoires (or "large amounts of works"), with the exclusion of the other operators. The latest version of the proposal dismissed by the Commission provides for an exemption of liability for big players, provided that the conditions set by the article 13 are met. However, this exemption does not apply to the other operators, although they still an act of communication or making available to the public, even if distributing more limited repertoires.

This choice triggers a competitive distortion between big and small operators, since the big players could benefit from the exemption from liability, while the latters would not be covered by the protection held by article 13.

Ultimately, the above mentioned measures seem to be ineffective and do not comply with the needs expressed by the Commission and by the copyright holders. Therefore, a radical rethinking of article 11 and article 13 is necessary, taking into account the EU legislative framework and the impact that these measures might have on the reference markets.


Objectives: Using a dedicated novel software (SonoVCAD labor), we analyzed 3D-volumes of fetal head just prior attempted instrumental delivery in theatre to see if we can define a 'cut-off value' based on various sonographic parameters that would predict a successful vaginal birth. Methods: We performed an offline analysis of 11 fetal head volumes stored immediately prior attempted instrumental delivery using GEs novel 3D software 'SonoVCAD labor'. We related head direction angle, midline angle, progression distance and angle of progression with the success or failure to achieve vaginal birth. Results: Four out 11 women had Caesarean section (two without trial and two following failed trial). Seven women had successful instrumental delivery. Head direction angle of > 95 degrees was associated with successful vaginal birth. All cases that ended with Caesarean section had head direction angle of less than 95 degrees. For angle of progression, a cut off of 160 degrees or more predicted successful outcome for all cases. All cases with CS had angle of progression < 160 degrees. As regards progression distance, all cases with vaginal birth had distance > 60 mm prior to delivery. However, one woman who ended with CS had distance of 44 mm. Midline angle ranged from 28–148 degrees and did not predict the outcome in women with CS. Conclusions: Head direction angle > 95 degrees and angle of progression > 160 were predictors of successful instrumental delivery. The midline angle and progression distance did not correlate well with the outcome of the trial. We will continue analyzing these parameters in future cases to assess their diagnostic accuracy. Given this is a relatively new technique, more data are needed to elucidate the clinical contribution of this new tool and the best way to use it.


Corrosion of steel structures, such as lighting and road marker poles, located in close proximity to or buried within the ground have become a social problem. Steel corrosion has been observed to occur rather easily near the ground level. However, corrosion detection in parts of steel structures buried within the ground is very difficult. To address this concern, a magnetic resistance testing system for detecting corrosion in buried steel structures has been developed using a tilted magnetic sensor probe, and it is based on our independently developed extremely low-frequency eddy-current testing methodology. The magnetic sensor probe comprises an anisotropic magnetic resistance sensor, induction coil, and small cancellation coil. The applied magnetic field was operated at extremely low frequencies between 1 and 100 Hz, and the magnetic spectrum, which was traced using the real and imaginary parts of the detected magnetic signal at each frequency, was analyzed for estimating changes in steel thickness. Test samples comprising 4 mm thick stainless steel plates with a partial thinning zone varying in depth between 0.5 and 3.0 mm were used during measurements. Changes in thickness were detected at locations other than the thinning zone by using the differential-magnetic-intensity-subtracted magnetic vector of frequency 1 Hz from that of frequency 20 Hz detected by the tilted magnetic sensor probe. Moreover, the depth of corrosion and its corresponding location beneath the ground level were estimated via measuring techniques involving the use of magnetic sensor probes in the separated position or at different tilt angles in the same position.


The patient, a lance-corporal aged 21, had been treated for sinusitis two months before the present illness, and had had 'several examinations on account of chronic cough; these were Tb.-negative. Two weeks before admission to hospital he had had a boil on the neck, which healed on being opened and drained. Five days before admission he reported sick with acute pain over the right sacro-iliac region. There were no other symptoms, and no pyrexia. He was treated at home with local heat. An unusual feature was the extreme tenderness. Just before admission to hospital his temperature was 102° and the pulse 107. There was oedema of the right buttock ahd slight diarrhoea. On Nov. 22, 1943, at 6 p.m., the patient was admitted to the Royal Hospital, Richmond. His temperature was then 103° and the pulse 120, and he complained of severe pain in the right buttock and the right shoulder. Aspiration of the buttock yielded a few cubic centimetres of thick pus, which proved to contain Staph. aureus. Sulphathiazole 2 g. was given three-hourly for 3 doses, followed by 1 g. four-hourly. Culture of blood collected at 5 p.m. on the next day gave a heavy growth of Staph. aureus. On Nov. 23 deep abscesses of the buttock and the supra-acromial region were opened and drained. The patient's temperature was still raised and his general condition poor. Sulphathiazole administration was continued until 2 a.m. on the 24th. The concentration of drug in the blood was very low (between 1 and 3.5 mg. per 100 ml.). The white cells numbered 25,000 per c.mm. At 10 p.m. on Nov. 24 treatment with penicillin started with intravenous injections of 15,000 units (2.5 c.cm.) three-hourly. The white cells were reduced to 17,600 per c.mm. On Nov. 25 the temperature was still swinging between 100 and 103°. His general condition, however, had slightly improved, with 14,000 white cells per c.mm. and 70%/, haemoglobin. A transfusion of one pint ofl stored blood was given on Nov. 26. The abscesses continued to drain, and the patient's condition was slightly better. On Nov. 27, at 10 p.m., penicillin was discontinued after a total dose of 360,000 units had been given. On the 29th blood culture was sterile, and next day the temperature was normal. Further progress was uneventful. At the patient's discharge on Dec. 20 his general condition was good and the abscesses had healed. All laboratory investigations were carried out by Miss Sheila Newstead, M.R.C.P.


Motivated by recent experiments in gas—surface chemistry, we report our results from computational investigations of heterogeneous systems relevant to atmospheric chemistry and protection against chemical weapons. To elucidate findings of ultra-high vacuum experiments that probe the oxidation of carboncarbon double bonds on model surfaces, we used electronic structure and QM/MM methods to study the reaction of ozone with C60-fullerene and the products of nitrate addition to a vinyl-terminated self-assembled monolayer. In the first system, we followed a reaction pathway beginning with primary ozonide formation through the formation of stable products. Theoretical vibrational spectra were used to identify a ketene product in prior experimental work. Next, through the construction of a multilayer model for the initial addition product of a nitrate radical to a chain embedded within a self-assembled monolayer, we report theoretical spectra that are consistent with experimental results. We then examined the fundamentals of the hydrolysis mechanism for nerve agents by a catalyst of interest in the development of filtration materials for chemical-warfare-agent defense. By following the gas—surface reaction pathway of the nerve agent Sarin on the Lindqvist polyoxoniobate Cs8Nb6O19, we determined that the rate-limiting step is the transfer of a proton from an adsorbed water molecule to the niobate surface, concomitant with the nucleophilic addition of the nascent hydroxide to the phosphorus atom in Sarin. Our results support a general base hydrolysis mechanism, though high product-adsorption energies suggest that thermal treatment of the system is required to fully regenerate the catalyst. We report similar mechanisms for the simulants dimethyl methylphosphonate and dimethyl chlorophosphate, though the latter may serve as a better simulant in studies of this type. Finally, an investigation of Sarin hydrolysis with solvated Cs8Nb6O19 shows an increase in the rate-limiting barrier relative to the gas—surface system, revealing the role of Cs counterions in the reaction. Then, we further increased explicit solvation to model the homogeneous solution-phase reaction, finding a different mechanism in which a water molecule adds to phosphorus in the ratelimiting step and protonation of the niobate surface occurs in a subsequent barrierless step. By examining the rate-limiting barrier for protonation, we suggest that specific base hydrolysis is also likely in the homogeneous system.


A brief outline is given of the advantages of having an independent scrutinizing committee for environmental impact assessments with example the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands. The exploitation of the Groningen gas field causes and caused differential compaction of the reservoir leading to earthquakes along faults. The many small earthquakes cause serious damage in older houses and structures in Groningen of which many are regarded as valuable historical landmarks. The combination of minor but relatively shallow earthquakes, soft soil, creep effects in the soil, poor foundations, and very vulnerable houses and structures cause many houses and structures to disintegrate due to "loss of structure". In particular, brick houses with old and weathered cement are susceptible. That earthquakes due to gas exploitation are the cause took many years by the government to acknowledge even when the population of Groningen was already convinced of the cause for years and years after scientific proof that earthquakes can be caused by the gas exploitation. The long discussions and denial by the authorities has eroded the trust of the population in the government and in experts. Political pressure now has become such that gas production likely has to cease sooner than expected and long before the gas in the field is depleted. Apart from the lost revenues also the repairs of the houses and structures will cost billions. A scrutinizing committee that had evaluated the environmental impact on forehand before gas exploitation commenced could probably have avoided this scenario by enforcing different production plans avoiding large differential compaction.


Human impact on nature has been severe in the past centuries. Land use change is seen as the main driver of the loss of biodiversity worldwide. Conversion of natural ecosystems into agricultural land or urban areas has led to habitat loss and degradation for many plant species. Additionally, land use change typically results in a fragmented distribution of the remaining habitat. Habitat fragmentation may result in increased extinction risk of local populations of plant species, by a decreased local population size, increased edge:area ratio and increased isolation between local populations. To ensure connectivity between fragmented local populations, effective seed dispersal is of vital importance. Knowledge on dispersal capacity of plant species in fragmented habitats differing in spatial configuration is thus important for understanding (meta)population dynamics and for spatial optimisation of restoration measures. Although many studies have shown the importance of seed dispersal via surface water (hydrochory) for plant population and community patterns, and thus for biodiversity, the precise mechanisms determining hydrochorous dispersal capacity of plant seeds in different fragmented landscapes are underexposed in the literature. The aim of this thesis was to shed light on the contribution of hydrochory to seed dispersal in fragmented freshwater wetlands impacted by human activity, with special attention for the effect of landscape configuration and characteristics of the water body on realised dispersal distances. For this purpose an innovative combination of different research approaches including fieldwork, analyses of large datasets, experimental research and model development and simulations was used. The results showed that habitat fragmentation per se indeed has negative effects on species occurrence in freshwater wetlands. Therefore, it is important not only to improve habitat quality but also to consider spatial characteristics of the habitat of target species when deciding on plant conservation strategies in intensively used landscapes, such as fen areas in Western Europe and North America. Results of the seed dispersal experiments showed that unlike in rivers, seed transport in ditches was determined by wind speed and direction in stead of by water flow, enabling multidirectional seed dispersal. Model results showed that density or direction of the ditch network did not seem to influence simulated water dispersal distances substantially, whereas roughness of the ditch and obstructions in the ditch strongly limited seed dispersal distances. Hydrochorous dispersal contributed considerably to the total simulated dispersal of wetland plant seeds across agricultural landscapes, for both wind and water dispersal specialists. In contrast, simulated wind dispersal distances were nil for water dispersal specialists. Also for wind dispersal specialists, wind dispersal distances were limited. These results suggest that in a modern agricultural landscape with a network of ditches, water is an important dispersal vector for both typical wind and typical water dispersers. The importance of hydrochorous dispersal for connectivity within metapopulations of riparian species in a fragmented landscape may be greater than the importance of wind dispersal. Hence, improving the infrastructure of linear aquatic systems for hydrochrorous seeds could increase metapopulation viability of riparian species, wetland biodiversity, and the success of wetland restoration projects.


Abstract From a computing standpoint, flash X-ray radiography is much more time-consuming than traditional X-ray applications, and despite the constant increase of computing resources, methods to reduce the calculation time while preserving accuracy are highly needed. At the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, DIANE is the code devoted to flash X-ray calculations. After a brief description of the general features of DIANE, two selected methods implemented in DIANE to provide fast calculations are described. One concerns bremsstrahlung X-ray creation without electron transport electrons: the SSB model. The quality of this model is assessed within the framework of flash X-ray applications on two test problems with a fully photon-electron transport performed with MCNP5. The other focuses on particle tracking and Woodcock tracking. The performance of tracking within large meshes is evaluated.


Tumors of central nervous system (CNS) account for a small portion of tumors of human body, which include tumors occurring in the parenchyma of brain and spinal cord as well as their coverings. The following chapter covers some new development in some major brain tumors in both pediatric and adult populations, as well as some uncommon but diagnostic and management challenging tumors.


This session will provide an update on the perceptual, physiological and performance effects of menthol mouth swilling during exercise performance, and the associated mechanisms underpinning these changes. Cooling stimuli applied to the oral cavity impart feelings of freshness that are familiar to users of oral hygiene and other menthol containing products, such as confectionary or oral analgesics, this sensation can be imparted by either physiological or perceptual cooling. Cold fluids provide a cooling sensation by stimulating oral cold receptors, and can attenuate thirst through post-absorptive mechanisms; menthol mimics the provision of oral cooling stimuli, by acting as a cold-receptor agonist to TRPM8 channels, and trigeminal and cold-sensitive neurons in the face and oral cavity. This invokes perceived thermal changes in congruence with an environmental temperature range of 8-28°c, the magnitude of which is inversely proportional to the thickness of the stratum corneum in the region that menthol is applied. Hence, the oral application of menthol and cold fluids may lower individuals' thermal sensation, improve thermal comfort and attenuate thirst, independent of physiological changes in temperature. This attenuation of thermal symptoms may be perceived as hedonic, and concomitantly improve exercise performance. To date literature has focused on endurance exercise performance in hot environmental conditions, with menthol mouth swilling improving time to exhaustion performance in cyclists, and time trial performance in runners and triathletes. Menthol may also provide an additive perceptual cooling stimulus when applied alongside physiological cooling strategies, in a temperature dependent manner. There are limited data pertaining to menthol mouth swilling and power related activities at present. The timing of menthol throughout the exercise bout may affect its ergogenic properties, but this research is also in its preliminary stages. Future research should aim to individualise menthol mouth swilling based upon personal preference and sensitivity; further personalisation of swilling strategies may be achieved by investigating the timing of swilling during the exercise bout and utilising menthol in conjunction with other ergogenic nutritional strategies. The possibility of habituation to menthol mouth swilling also warrants investigation.


Sieve deposits were once considered to be one of the building blocks in alluvial fan stratigraphy. Later reinterpretation of sieve lobes as debris-flow deposits, favored because no visual records of active sieve deposition had been reported, undermined their significance, divided opinions, and left this issue unresolved. Here I document active deposition of sieve lobes in natural settings, in support of the original model. Sieve deposition can easily occur in natural settings such as proglacial outwash fans, small arid alluvial fans, or perennial streams when there is a scarcity of fine material, significant bedload, high slope, permeable ground, and discharges moderate enough to allow infiltration. The only hydrodynamic requirement for sieve deposition is a high rate of water loss promoted by permeable bed sediments. Under some circumstances alluvial fans can be built almost entirely of sieve deposits, as shown here. One effect of the rapid extraction of water is the creation of sigmoidal fan profiles. A gradation from sieve deposition to sheetflood occurs if sediment becomes progressively less permeable or if water flow increases, overcoming bed permeability. Sieve deposition is a universal depositional process based simply on infiltration, and it explains matrix-poor clast-supported gravels, while alternative hypotheses, such as matrix winnowing of debris flows used to dispute the sieve model, still need to be proven by observations in nature.


The path towards realizing peta-scale computing is increasingly dependent on scaling up to unprecedented numbers of processors. To prevent the interconnect architecture between processors from dominating the overall cost of such systems, there is a critical need for interconnect solutions that both provide performance to ulta-scale applications and have costs that scale linearly with system size. In this work we propose the Hybrid Flexibly Assignable Switch Topology (HFAST) infrastructure. The HFAST approach uses both passive (circuit switch) and active (packet switch) commodity switch components to deliver all of the flexibility and fault-tolerance of a fully-interconnected network (such as a fat-tree), while preserving the nearly linear cost scaling associated with traditional low-degree interconnect networks. To understand the applicability of this technology, we perform an in-depth study of communication requirements across a broad spectrum of important scientific applications, whose computational methods include: finite-difference, latticebolzmann, particle in cell, sparse linear algebra, particle mesh ewald, and FFT-based solvers. We use the IPM (Integrated Performance Monitoring) profiling layer to gather detailed messaging statistics with minimal impact to code performance. This profiling provides us sufficiently detailed communication topology and message volume data to evaluate these applications in the context of the proposed hybrid interconnect. Overall results show that HFAST is a promising approach for practically addressing the interconnect requirements of future peta-scale systems.


A novel optimized energy-delay sub-network routing (OEDSR) protocol for wireless sensor networks (WSN) is presented. Routing is based on a link cost factor, which is defined using the quality of service (QoS) metric selected as a ratio of the remaining energy of the nodes and end-to-end delay times the distance from the base station (BS). Initially in OEDSR, the nodes are either in idle or sleep mode, but once an event is detected, the nodes near the event become active and start forming sub-networks. Formation of the inactive network into a sub-network saves energy because only a portion of the network is active in response to an event. Subsequently, the sub-networks organize themselves into clusters with cluster heads (CHs). The data from the CHs are sent to the BS via relay nodes that are located outside the sub-networks in a multi-hop manner by using the proposed routing protocol. This routing protocol improves the lifetime of the network and the scalability. GloMoSim results indicate that the OEDSR protocol results in lower average end-to-end delay, fewer collisions and less energy consumed when compared with DSR, AODV, and Bellman Ford routing protocols


Regular expressions, or regexes, have been used traditionally as a pattern matching tool to search for structures in a set of objects, like files, text documents or folders. Pattern matching can be used to look for files whose name contains a given string, to search files that contain a specific pattern within them, or simply to extract text in a set of documents. It is very popular to apply regexes to detect and extract patterns that represent phone numbers, URLs, email addresses, etc. These kind of information can be characterized because it has a well defined structure. Nevertheless, regexes are not very frequently used because its high complexity in both, syntax and grammatical rules, makes regexes difficult to understand. For this reason, the development of programs able to automatically generate, and evaluate, regexes has become a valuable task. This work analyzes the performance of different grammatical evolutionary approaches in the generation of regexes able to extract URL patterns. Four different types of grammars have been evaluated: a context-free grammar, a context-free grammar with a penalized fitness function, an extensible context-free grammar, and a Christiansen grammar. For the considered problem, the experimental results show that the best performance of the system, measured as cumulative success rate, is achieved using Christiansen grammars.


Purpose: Type I cystic biliary atresia (CBA) is an uncommon variant of biliary atresia (BA) which is liable to misdiagnosis as infantile choledochal cyst (ICC). We assessed our experience with type I CBA and compared with that of ICC. Methods: Seven patients (4 males and 3 females) with type I CBA, receiving liver function detection, radiological imaging studies, liver/cyst histological examinations and radical surgery, were compared with 23 ICC patients (14 males and 9 females) admitted in our division during a 6-year period. Findings: The mean levels of total bilirubin (T-Bil), direct bilirubin (D-Bil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) in the type I CBA group were significantly higher than those in the ICC group (p<0.01). The mean diameter of the cyst in the type I CBA group was significantly smaller than that in the ICC group (p<0.01). All 7 patients in the type I CBA group were accurately diagnosed by magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) preoperatively, being in accordance with the results of intraoperative cholangiography and liver/cyst histology. Six cysts (85.7%) in the type I CBA group had a fibroinflammatory wall with no biliary epithelial lining while all 23 (100%) cysts in the ICC group had normal biliary epithelial lining. Six infants (85.7%) with type I CBA cleared their jaundice (total bilirubin ≤20 µmol/L) within 6 months after a Kasai portoenterostomy or hepaticojejunostomy procedure. All patients with ICC were in good condition with no jaundice and cholangitis after the operation. Conclusions: While elevated T-BIL/D-BIL and AST/ALT/AKP as well as smaller gallbladder/extrahepatic cyst imply type I CBA, MRCP can provide further effective assistance in making a relatively accurate diagnosis before operation. Either hepaticojejunostomy or Kasai portoenterostomy could be chosen as an optimal procedure in the treatment of type I CBA.


The indexes to determine the swelling potential of swelling rocks are still not unified. A series of testing results of swelling rocks of Zhangjiakou showed that: the dry saturated water absorption and the specific area of swelling rock are all correlated linearly with the content of smectite and the correlation coefficient can be reached to 87% and 96% respectively; however, content of the montmorillonite and free expansive ratio is in nonlinear correlation, which indicated that the free expansive ratio, the dry saturated water absorption and specific area can all reflect the characters of mineral components in swelling rocks. However, the liquid limit and the plasticity index were all in linear correlation with the montmorillonite content, but value of them were lower than practical ones, so they can not be suitable indexes to determine the expansibility of swelling rocks. The larger the free swelling ratio was, the larger the expensive ratio under no load was, but they have no good correlations which indicated that the properties of swelling rocks was complex, as a result it is defective tightness to determine the swelling potential only by mineral components. The swelling force and the expansive ratio under no load were also in linear correlation, which meant they can all characterize the swelling characters of swelling rocks. The lager the dry saturated water absorption was, the poorer the durability was, but the dry saturated water absorption can not reflect the disintegrative totally. Through comprehensive analysis, we took the dry saturated water absorption, coefficient of disintegrative and swelling force as the indexes to determine the swelling potential of swelling rocks.


Degradation of dissolved organic carbon by microbial and photolytic processes was examined along the main stem of the Lamprey River Watershed located in southeastern New Hampshire. Eight sites were chosen and sampled biweekly throughout the seasonal hydrograph. Lab incubations were employed to assess microbial degradation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) where one set of samples was exposed to natural sunlight for a day to assess photolytic degradation. Mean biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) throughout the study period was 5.8% with no significant variation observed between sites. Temporal variation was found to be a much stronger driver of DOC composition with summer showing the highest degradation of 8.6% and winter the lowest. Initial DOC concentration was found to be the only significant positive predictor of BDOC on both an annual and seasonal scale. Photolysis had no significant effect on DOC degradation or availability of DOC to the microbial pool. Findings suggest that temporal variation is a significant driver of DOC composition via DOC sources that change throughout the season.


In modern societies the labor market integration of each individual demands the central task of integration. Nevertheless "job integration" or a successful occupational life course depends not only upon his or her motivation or attention to the job directly, but is also a function of his or her qualification or biography and of his or her embedding into a preferred social environment. Using a system dynamics model introduced in this paper we demonstrate that an individual re-balancing between his or her job, biography, and social embedding is necessary to guarantee an optimal and sustainable labor market reintegration.


Academic libraries have adopted and adapted the e-learning technologies for delivery of their Information Literacy programmes. This chapter describes some of the ways in which academic librarians have been very inventive in using emerging technologies to enhance their instructional content. By using a case study of DkIT the chapter details how information literacy and the elearning technologies emerged together. E-learning platforms like the virtual learning environments (VLE) are the natural place for libraries to use as portals for their IL instruction.
This chapter argues that using the VLE (with the inherent instructional interaction made possible by this technology), and adopting some amalgam of the newer teaching styles like problem-based learning and blended learning techniques completes the IL circle for librarians. Librarians now have the tools at their disposal to finally fulfil the promises we undertook when we embarked on our information literacy programmes.


Estimating mean fish density per unit area has been done by counting single fish echo traces with a split beam echo sounder system in the open sea. A data program has been written that scans the acoustic signals for echo peaks and classify these into echo traces. The program counts the number of echo traces from fish that cross the beam within given distances from the acoustic axis over a known sailing distance, and gives an absolute estimate of fish density. This is ob- tained by using the off acoustic axis angles of fish that generate resolved echoes to compute the athwartship distance from the vertical acoustic axis to the fish. The program is described and demonstrated on selected files of raw data recorded by the SIMRAD EK 60 split beam system. Estimated fish densities for these files are also obtained by the echo integration method, and the echo trace method gives estimates that agree well with these estimates under sufficiently "good condi- tions".


We have developed a novel, integrated and comprehensive purity, ploidy, structural variant and copy number somatic analysis toolkit for whole genome sequencing data of paired tumor/normal samples. We show that the combination of using GRIDSS for somatic structural variant calling and PURPLE for somatic copy number alteration calling allows highly sensitive, precise and consistent copy number and structural variant determination, as well as providing novel insights for short structural variants and regions of complex local topology. LINX, an interpretation tool, leverages the integrated structural variant and copy number calling to cluster individual structural variants into higher order events and chains them together to predict local derivative chromosome structure. LINX classifies and extensively annotates genomic rearrangements including simple and reciprocal breaks, LINE, viral and pseudogene insertions, and complex events such as chromothripsis. LINX also comprehensively calls genic fusions including chained fusions. Finally, our toolkit provides novel visualisation methods providing insight into complex genomic rearrangements.


This study presents finding from a survey research conducted on the academic staff of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang. The main objective of this
research is to identify the level of awareness, evaluation and acceptance of e-learning among the university's academic staff in assisting the teaching and learning process. The quantitative data for this research were collected from 119 respondents. Rogers' Innovation Diffusion Theory was used as the basis of this study to identify and assess the level of acceptance towards e-learning in education. The study found high level of awareness towards e-learning concepts. It also revealed efforts undertaken by the university's management to motivate its academic staff to use the e-learning system in their teaching and learning activities. The respondents' assessment of the relationship between e-learning
and the readiness of self-education was satisfactory. Respondents' acceptance towards the use of e-learning was high because of their understanding of the overall concept and responsibility related to the application of e-learning.
Overall, the respondents positively accepted the use of e-learning in assisting their teaching and learning process.


Linear disturbance development in the von Kármán boundary layer on an infinite rotating-disc is investigated for an extensive range of azimuthal mode numbers $n$ . The study expands upon earlier investigations that were limited to those values of $n$ located near the onset of absolute instability (Lingwood, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 299, 1995, pp. 17–33), where disturbances to the genuine inhomogeneous flow were shown to be globally stable (Davies & Carpenter, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 486, 2003, pp. 287–329). Numerical simulations corresponding to azimuthal mode numbers greater than the conditions for critical absolute instability display a form of global linear instability that is characterised by a faster than exponential temporal growth, similar in appearance to that found on the rotating-disc with mass suction (Thomas & Davies, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 724, 2010, pp. 510–526) and other globally unstable flows (Huerre & Monkewitz, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech., vol. 22, 1990, pp. 473–537). Solutions indicate that a change in the global behaviour arises for $n\in [80:100]$ that is marginally greater than those disturbances studied previously. Furthermore, the Reynolds number associated with the larger azimuthal mode numbers coincides with the upper bound of experimental predictions for transition. Thus, the local–global linear stability of the infinite rotating-disc is similar to the scenario outlined by Huerre & Monkewitz (1990) that states a region of local absolute instability is necessary but not sufficient for global instability to ensue. Conditions are derived to predict the azimuthal mode number needed to bring about a change in global behaviour, based on solutions of the linearised complex Ginzburg–Landau equation coupled with numerical simulations of disturbances to the radially homogeneous flow. The long term response is governed by a detuning effect, based on radial variations of the temporal frequency and matching shifts in temporal growth that increases for larger $n$ , eventually attaining values sufficient to engineer global linear instability. The analysis is extended to include mass transfer through the disc surface, with similar conclusions drawn for disturbances to large enough azimuthal mode numbers. Finally, we conclude that the high $n$ modes are unlikely to have a strong influence on disturbance development and transition in the von Kármán flow, as they will be unable to establish themselves across an extended radial range before nonlinear effects are triggered by the huge growth associated with the wavepacket maxima of the lower $n$ -valued convective instabilities.


A previous preclinical study revealed that the maximum additive effect between chemotherapy (CT) and irradiation (RT) occurred at a low level of CT. Therapy was therefore designed with an oral drug daily given in combination with RT in order to determine the efficacy and toxicity. Locoregionally advanced head and neck tumor patients were treated with simultaneous RT and CT. RT was administered 5 times per week at 2 Gy per fraction to a total dose of 70 Gy. Throughout the treatment 30 mg/kg Tegafur was given daily orally. In the period between 2000 and 2002, 50 patients were enrolled. In 60%, complete remission was attained with an overall response rate of 94%. Acute mucositis of grade 2 or 3 was observed in 56% (28 patients), while gastrointestinal and hematological toxicity of grade 2 or 3 occured in 8% (4 patients). Because of side-effects, the duration of treatment was at most 2 weeks long. Toxicity was eliminated quickly by careful supportive therapy. In conclusion, it is considered that oral low-dose CT in combination with RT is an efficient and simple mode of treatment for locally advanced head and neck tumor patients with a poor prognosis.


SUMMARY Worm egg counts of yearling Angora or Merino wethers grazing in mixed flocks at either 4/ha or 8/ha were observed over a 5 month period. Based on faecal egg counts infection levels in the sheep increased for the first 3 months and then decreased as the animals developed resistance. Egg counts in the goats did not decrease during the experiment. Post mortem worm counts indicated that there was a significant host species – stocking rate interaction on worm burdens of Haemonchus contortus adults and Ostertagia circumcincta adults and larvae. Goats had more H. contortus and O. circumcinta adults than sheep at the 8/ha stocking rate. At 4/ha goats had fewer O. circumcinta fourth stage larvae than sheep. There was no stocking rate effect on the numbers of Trichostrongylus axei or T. colubriformis. Sheep had more T. axei and fewer T. colubriformis than goats.


Chromobacterium violaceum was subjected to sonic (100-2000 Hz) stimulation, and the effect on its cell yield and quorum sensing regulated pigment (violacein) production was investigated. Sound corresponding to the 300 Hz was found to promote (by 1.52 fold) violacein production the most, with only marginal impact on cell yield. Whole transcriptome analysis revealed that a total of 342 genes (i.e. 4.63% of whole genome) were significantly up-regulated in the sonic stimulated culture. Enhanced violacein production in the sound stimulated culture seems to have stemmed from enhanced expression of the genes involved in glucose metabolism through pentose phosphate pathway, resulting in increased availability of erythrose-4-phosphate, to be used for synthesis of tryptophan, the precursor for violacein synthesis. Multiple ribosomal subunit genes, enzyme coding genes, and those associated with secretion/transport were up-regulated owing to sonic stimulation. This study is a good demonstration of the ability of sound waves to alter bacterial metabolism.


Sensor network deployments have become a primary source of big data about the real world that surrounds us, measuring a wide range of physical properties in real time. With such large amounts of heterogeneous data, a key challenge is to describe and annotate sensor data with high-level metadata, using and extending models, for instance with ontologies. However, to automate this task there is a need for enriching the sensor metadata using the actual observed measurements and extracting useful meta-information from them.

This paper proposes a novel approach of characterization and extraction of semantic metadata through the analysis of sensor data raw observations. This approach consists in using approximations to represent the raw sensor measurements, based on distributions of the observation slopes, building a classification scheme to automatically infer sensor metadata like the type of observed property, integrating the semantic analysis results with existing sensor networks metadata.


The Kuroshio Current has its origin in the northwestern Pacific, flowing northward to the east of Taiwan and the northern part of Luzon Island. As the Kuroshio Current flows northward, it quasi-periodically intrudes (hereafter referred to as Kuroshio intrusion (KI)) into the northern South China Sea (SCS) basin through the Luzon Strait. Despite the complex generation mechanisms of KI, the purpose of this study is to improve our understanding of the effects of KI through the Luzon Strait on the regional atmospheric and weather variations. Long-term multiple satellite observations, including absolute dynamic topography, absolute geostrophic currents, sea surface winds by ASCAT, multi-scale ultra-high resolution sea surface temperature (MURSST) level-four analysis, and research-quality three-hourly TRMM multi-satellite precipitation analysis (TMPA), was used to systematically examine the aforementioned scientific problem. Analysis indicates that the KI is interlinked with the consequential anomalous precipitation off southwestern Taiwan. This anomalous precipitation would lead to ~560 million tons of freshwater influx during each KI event. Subsequently, independent moisture budget analysis suggests that moisture, mainly from vertical advection, is the possible source of the precipitation anomaly. Additionally, a bulk formula analysis was applied to understand how KI can trigger the precipitation anomaly through vertical advection of moisture without causing an evident change in the low-level flows. These new research findings might reconcile the divisiveness on why winds are not showing a synchronous response during the KI and consequential anomalous precipitation events.


This paper studies soil depletion incentives in a dynamic economic model under two different sources of revenue uncertainty (production- and output price risk). The focus is on the long-term effects of risk averse preferences. The land manager is assumed to posses three classes of instruments to control natural topsoil fertility over time. Each instrument is also assumed to have implications for expected short-run production. The analysis shows that the forces at play are different across the three agricultural activities considered and varies for the two sources of risk analysed. In order to predict how risk aversion may influence soil conservation incentives detailed information is needed about input use and cultivation practices and the farmers' perception of their risk implications. If higher output is associated with higher levels of soil degradation, risk averse preferences will strengthen the incentives for soil conservation under output price uncertainty, and the same outcome is likely under production uncertainty. If higher levels of outputs is associated with lower levels of soil degradation, risk averse preferences will induce a farmer to conserve less soil under output price uncertainty, while the likely outcome of production uncertainty is the opposite


A key word describing next-generation wireless communications, so called 4G, is "seamless". As part of the e-Japan plan promoted by the Japanese government, the MIRAI (multimedia integrated network by radio access innovation) project is aiming at the development of new technologies that will enable seamless integration of various wireless access systems for practical use by 2005. First, this paper describes heterogeneous wireless networks and introduces the concept of MIRAI. The most significant feature of MIRAI is the provision of a set of signaling functions: radio-access-network discovery and selection, heterogeneous paging, and vertical handoff. These functions make it possible to offer seamless services between different wireless systems. A medium access control (MAC) protocol for basic access networks, which are dedicated wireless systems providing the signaling, is then introduced. A proof-of-concept demonstration system is also briefly introduced. The delay performances of the signaling procedures are presented.