This study investigated the delivery of small-volume intermittent intravenous (IV) infusions. Laboratory protocol evaluated potential medication loss among 6 administration methods using 50and 100-mL solutions. Significant variations existed in calculated medication loss depending on administration method and volume. Up to 35% of medication may not be administered due to residual volume, with the greatest percentage associated with 50-mL solutions. Results suggest that intermittent IV infusions should only be delivered as a secondary infusion through a primary infusion administration set with a continuous infusion or an infusion that can flush the administration set at the completion of the secondary infusion.


The persistence of a large number of low wage, low skilled jobs, particularly in the UK and the US, has focused attention on strategies to improve the position of the working poor. Most policy interventions are aimed at providing a minimum wage, in-work subsidies, or training to help progress individuals out of these jobs. However, a key strand of the UK government's approach is that organisations will increasingly seek to move their business strategies upmarket in order to compete in a more globalised environment with more demanding customers (DTI 2003). The assumption is that firms who produce in 'high value added' areas will be competing on the basis of quality products and services produced by a skilled and well-rewarded workforce (see also Leitch 2006). As firms move up the value chain, the number of low skilled, low paid jobs will correspondingly decline.

The view that high value added business strategies require a more highly skilled workforce, and that these workers will then be better paid, is a pervasive assumption within government policy documents. It is also grounded in the human resource management literature which claims that a high quality product market strategy is likely to be associated with more sophisticated forms of HRM (Schuler and Jackson 1987, Korczynski's discussion of the new service management school 2002). Studies of workplace employment practices in services, however, indicate that this relationship might be somewhat more complex (see Lloyd 2005). This paper seeks to further develop existing analysis of the link between business strategy and employment outcomes by presenting research findings from a study of room attendants in the UK hotel industry. The hotel industry employs over 300,000 and has some of the highest incidence of low wage employment. An OECD (2001:89) study of job quality across a range of industries found that 'jobs in hotels and restaurants generally rank poorly across a range of job quality measures.' Key problems include: a high proportion of workers work unsocial hours, lack of security and a risk of being low paid. Hotels are particularly suited to research exploring the relationship between business strategies and employment outcomes because five star hotels often operate in the same location and labour market as two star hotels. As a result, we can better assess whether differences in 'quality' service provision feed through into improved employment outcomes. For example, despite the widespread recognition of poor job quality in the hotel sector across a range of countries, research in the US has shown that, under certain conditions, service quality can be associated with job improvements for hotel employees (Bernhardt et al 2003).

In this paper, we contrast the position of workers in mid-quality hotels with those working in high quality hotels to identify what impact competitive positioning has on worker outcomes. If there is such a notion of a 'high road' in both business and employment strategy within the hotel industry, then it should have a positive effect even on those at the bottom end of the jobs ladder – the room attendant. Drawing upon qualitative research conducted in eight hotels in the UK, the paper identifies both the similarities and differences in key aspects of job quality for room attendants, and seeks to explain the patterns that are found. Seventy-six interviews were conducted at four 4-5* hotels and four budget/2-3* hotels, including 35 interviews with room attendants. The paper will discuss the implications for government policy and for those seeking to improve the position of low wage workers.

References

Bernhardt, A., Dresser, L. and Hatton, E. (2003) 'The coffee pot wars: unions and firm restructuring in the hotel industry' in E. Appelbaum et al. (eds) Low Wage America, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

DTI (2003) Prosperity for All: DTI Strategy, London: DTI.

Korczynski, M. (2002) Human Resource Management in Service Work, Basingstoke: Palgrave: MacMillan.

Leitch, S. (2006) Prosperity for all in the global economy – world class skills, London: HM Treasury.

Lloyd, C. (2005) 'Competitive strategy and skills: working out the fit in the fitness industry', Human Resource Management Journal, 15:2, 15-34.

OECD (2001) 'The characteristics and quality of service sector jobs', Employment Outlook.

Schuler, R. and Jackson, S. (1987) 'Linking competitive strategies and human resource management practices', Academy of Management Executive, 1:3, 207-219.


This thesis puts a theoretical explanation of governance mode choice
developed by Bach and Galvin (2008) to a first empirical test. The
theoretical model suggests four alternative governance modes, namely buy,
concurrent sourcing, make, and dual distribution. All these modes were
found in the empirical setting of the German white wine industry. This
specific empirical setting with a focus on the activities harvesting,
wine-making, and bottling was chosen in order to avoid biased results
because of unknown volume or frequency effects. Furthermore, this industry
is not dominated by a few powerful economic actors; governance mode choice
is not affected by market power. Finally, as a prerequisit for the validity
of the theoretical model, for each of the three value chain activities
studied an intermediate market does exist. The empirical results support
the theoretical model in most parts. However, some empirical facts gave
rise to new questions that are not yet covered in the theoretical
rationale. The dissertation ends with suggestions for future research, and
theoretical and practical implications.


The F100-PW-229 fighter aircraft engine is a higher thrust derivative of the F100-PW-220 and in the same frame size. The engine was developed from the F100 Engine Model Derivative (EMD) Program and parallel IR&D efforts. The increased thrust was achieved by increasing the flow and pressure ratio of the two-spool compression system accompanied by an increase in turbine temperature. The increased length compression system was offset by an innovative design intermediate case and a reduced length combustor to maintain overall engine axial length. The –229 engine has a thrust-to-weight ratio of 8.0 with a 20–30 percent performance increase over the –220 model across the flight map. Significant improvements in maintainability have been incorporated while retaining the proven durability and operability features of the –220 engine. The Government-industry partnership is working well, continually providing increased performance engines for our first-line fighters.


Abstract The article seeks to contribute to the development of a conceptual framework for the ongoing regulatory discussions on autonomous ships at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). It elaborates on the distinction between the level of autonomy and the level of manning and highlights the sliding scale that features in both. Certain building blocks that are needed for regulating autonomous ships are identified, followed by an assessment of how key existing IMO rules deal with the challenges and an analysis of available precedents. The conclusion is that the on-going exercise is unique, almost without precedent, and that the work that has just started at IMO, so far at least, fails to address the most important—and complex—regulatory challenges.


We carried out in vivo microperfusion experiments in acid-loaded rats to characterize the adaptive response of the unidirectional components secretory flux (Jsec) and reabsorptive flux (Jreab)] of distal tubule bicarbonate reabsorption and to test the hypothesis that Jreab is dependent on bafilomycin A1-sensitive H(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase activity. During 18 h of severe acidosis there was a significant decrease in Jsec (-15 +/- 3 vs. -38 +/- 5 pmol.min-1.mm-1, P < 0.05) and a significant increase in Jreab (37 +/- 6 vs. 0 +/- 5 pmol.min-1.mm-1, P < 0.05), which was insensitive to 10(-5) M bafilomycin A1, 10(-5) M Sch-28080, and 3 mM amiloride. After 3 days of acid loading, these same inhibitors reduced Jreab by approximately 60%. However, when water flux was completely inhibited by isosmotic perfusion, a significant Jreab (15 +/- 2 pmol.min-1.mm-1) resistant to 10(-5) M bafilomycin A1 persisted, as in severe acidosis. In reabsorbing distal tubules of overnight-fasted rats, Sch-28080 elicited no inhibition, whereas bafilomycin A1 and amiloride had significant effects (28 +/- 5, 24 +/- 4, respectively, vs. 50 +/- 4 pmol.min-1.mm-1 for fasted rats, P < 0.05). Thus, although Jsec is reduced in the transition from mild to severe metabolic acidosis of 18-h duration, the predominant effect is a stimulation of bafilomycin A1-resistant Jreab.


Developing scalable solutions for training Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) for link prediction tasks is challenging due to the inherent data dependencies which entail high computational costs and a huge memory footprint. We propose a new method for scaling training of knowledge graph embedding models for link prediction to address these challenges. Towards this end, we propose the following algorithmic strategies: self-sufficient partitions, constraint-based negative sampling, and edge mini-batch training. The experimental evaluation shows that our scaling solution for GNN-based knowledge graph embedding models achieves a 16x speed up on benchmark datasets while maintaining a comparable model performance to non-distributed methods on standard metrics.


Do the attempts of modern states to foster tax compliance reflect wider attributes of modernity? This article analyzes the history of the creation of a tax compliance culture in Israel of the 1950s and the various practices, techniques, and discourses that were deployed by the state to create model taxpaying citizens. It shows how the specific history of tax compliance can be understood as part of a wider phenomenon: the desire of modern states to create self-policing, normalized subjects. By interpreting the history of tax compliance critically, as part of the attempt of the state to control its citizens, the article suggests a new way of understanding the history of twentieth-century tax compliance generally and more specifically the history of judicial attempts to tackle tax evasion and tax avoidance.


PURPOSE
Prevalence estimates of healthy behaviors and preventive care among older adults have not received sufficient attention, despite important health benefits such as longevity and better quality of life. Moreover, little is known about general population prevalences of older adults' efforts to change behavior, motivations to improve health behaviors, and perceived barriers to change.

DESIGN AND METHODS
This study estimates the prevalence of a wide range of health behaviors and preventive-care activities, self-reported behavior change, and perceived barriers to change in a 1996-1997 population-based survey of 17,354 Canadian adults aged 60 and older.

RESULTS
The findings indicate that a substantial proportion of older adults lead relatively inactive lives and often fall short of recommended standards for preventive health-care visits and screening tests. Moreover, nearly two thirds (63.2%) of older adults reported no efforts in the prior year to make changes to improve their health, and similar numbers (66.7%) indicated they thought no changes were needed. Differences in prevalences were found by gender, age, and education.

IMPLICATIONS
Results from this study are useful for policy makers who need to prioritize public health efforts, researchers studying interventions, and health professionals developing preventive-care guidelines.


Carbon fibres graphitized at high temperature have been investigated by the techniques of x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. The particular sample discussed here contains misoriented turbostratic crystals stacked end to end with widths in the range 20-110 A; the maximum frequency occurs at 65 A and this is also a reasonable measure for the length of a crystal. Sharp-edged voids with a mean width of less than 10 A separate the crystals. A perfectly stacked three-dimensional graphite phase has been discovered and is the predominant phase in recrystallized nickel-graphite fibres. Regions with relatively short turbostratic crystals are also found in the nickel-graphite fibres. The mechanism of recrystallization is discussed in terms of these structures. Extinction bands orthogonal to the crystallite direction are held to define twist boundaries between misoriented crystals. The presence of tilt boundaries is also inferred and the boundaries are assumed to comprise non-basal screw and edge dislocations.


The pastures and haylands of the United States have substantial potential to contribute to national goals for sustainably increasing food production (Nelson 2012). Realizing this potential will require technologies and management strategies that are tailored to the agroecosystems of the region, are economically viable, enhance the environment, and are sufficiently flexible to adapt to climate change. Forage production is the foundation for pasture-based dairy and livestock production, including low input and organic systems, and contributes to confined animal feeding operations through hay production. Pastures often include a diverse mixture of numerous forage species, the identities of which depend on complex interactions between soil, climate, landscape, and management (Goslee and Sanderson 2010). Plant species composition affects not only plant productivity and length of grazing season, but also animal intake, production, and greenhouse gas emissions. An applied understanding of these complex relationships is lacking in current pasture classifications, even though an ecologically based framework is needed to support management practices that sustain biological integrity and enhance plant and animal productivity while minimizing adverse environmental impacts (Sanderson et al. 2011). Effective ecosystem management requires that we simplify the complex natural world enough that we can understand how to manage it while at the…


Purpose: We aimed to investigate RF-EMR-induced cell malignant transformation. Methods: We divided Balb/c-3T3 cells into sham and expo groups. The expo groups were exposed to a 1800 MHz RF continuous wave for 40 and 60 days, for 4 h per day. The sham group was sham-exposed. Cells were harvested for a cell transformation assay, transplantation in severe combined immune deficient (SCID) mice, soft agar clone formation detection, and a transwell assay. The mRNA microarray assay was used to declare key genes and pathways. Results: The exposed Balb/c-3T3 cells showed a strong increase in cell proliferation and migration. Malignant transformation was observed in expo Balb/c-3T3 cells exposed for 40 days and 60 days, which was symbolized with visible foci and clone formation. Expo Balb/c-3T3 cells that were exposed for 40 days and 60 days produced visible tumors in the SCID mice. Lipid metabolism was the key biological process and pathway involved. The mevalonate (MVA) pathway was the key metabolic pathway. The interacted miRNAs could be further research targets to examine the molecular mechanism of the carcinogenic effects of long-term exposure. Conclusion: Exposure for 40 and 60 days to 1800 MHz RF-EMR induced malignant transformation in Balb/c-3T3 cells at the SAR of 8.0 W/kg. We declared that lipid metabolism was the pivotal biological process and pathway. The MVA pathway was the key metabolic pathway.


With the introduction of edge analytics, IoT devices are becoming smarter and ready for AI applications. However, any increase in the training data results in a linear increase in the space complexity of the trained Machine Learning (ML) models, which means they cannot be deployed on IoT devices that have limited memory. To alleviate such memory issues, we recently proposed an SRAM-optimized classifier porting, stitching, and efficient deployment method in [3]. This is currently the most resource-friendly approach that enables large classifiers to be comfortably executed on microcontroller unit (MCU) based IoT devices, and perform ultra-fast classifications (1--4x times faster than state-of-the-art libraries) while consuming 0 bytes of SRAM. In this demo, realizing our recent SRAM-optimized approach, we port and execute 7 dataset-trained classifiers on 7 popular MCUs, and report their inference performance. It is apparent from the demo results that realizing our approach makes even the slowest Atmega328P MCU perform faster unit inference than a NVIDIA Jetson Nano GPU and Raspberry Pi 4 CPU.


Over the last forty years, since Bandura (1977) introduced the concept of selfefcacy, there have been a constantly growing number of research publicatons using this concept. Its early development resulted in the creaton of a new construct of entrepreneurial self-efcacy (ESE) proposed for the frst tme by (Chen et al. 1998). Since then, many different groups of research concerning ESE have emerged - one of them is the study of ESE of students. With regard to this partcular group, a recent tendency to study ESE in a pre-post setng can be notced i.a. Karlsson, Moberg (2013), Shinnar, Hsu, Powell (2014), Ismail, Zain, Zulihar (2015).

Due to the increasing interest in entrepreneurial self-efcacy research and the need to fll the gap in the literature with regard to European post-communist countries (and partcularly – Poland) (Drnovsek, Wincent, Cardon, 2010), in this paper we present a brief overview of ESE research and pose the queston whether ESE of Polish students can serve as an early predictor of their subsequent entrepreneurial actvites, potentally leading them to nascent entrepreneurship.

The research material was collected from the SEAS (Survey on Entrepreneurial Attudes of Students) Project carried out at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology. The research sample was composed of 72 students - ESE was measured in a pre-post setng using a single item based on a fve-point Likert scale. One of the research conclusions is that ESE manifested by student-beginners seems to influence their later entrepreneurial behavior in a statstcally signifcant way - potentally making ESE a valuable early predictor of future entrepreneurial actvites. In the concluding part of the study, limitatons are discussed and future study developments are indicated.


Suburban tract housing is one point of reference in Dan Graham's work. Other architectural sources are corporate office buildings, rococo and baroque pavilions, Laugier's "primitive hut", Victorian park gazebos, de Stijl exposition pavilions, contemporary bus shelters, and amusement parks. Through texts and a survey of projects, this book presents a body of work situated on the edge between popular and high art, and between art and architecture.


This thesis focuses on power structures in the Malaren basin during the Iron Age, and how these structures change over time. In the viewpoint of the author, constructing large mounds was an important way for the elite in the Malaren basin to distinguish themselves from other groups in the region during the relevant period. By studying how the mounds differ in size and contents in relation to the norm, at least two different social strata can be discerned. The lower stratum was more similar to warriors than heads of power, and vice versa. The burial mounds from the Late Iron Age are almost always located in burial-grounds which belong to villages and farms, and which often extend back to the transition between the Roman Iron Age and the Migration period. It was not until the early Vendel period that cremation and mound building became the standard burial practice for the elite in the Malaren basin. The analysis also reveals that large mounds were built mainly in the early Vendel period (AD 550–700) and the late Viking Age (tenth century).To find out how the elite used the large mounds in their social strategies, the author conducts a landscape-archaeological analysis in which the locations and visual effects of the mounds in the landscape are described and interpreted. The landscape analysis clearly shows that the mound-building elite in the Malaren basin preferred to have their farms situated close to major communication routes, especially at important junctions in the landscape. The analysis further shows that some of the great mounds served as meeting places for the Thing. On the other hand, the mounds seldom coincide with cult places. The latter are often situated on the periphery of settlement complexes with mounds rather than at the sites of the mounds themselves.Finally, the author sets the results of the landscape analysis in a culture-historical context. The discussion centres on when and why large mounds were built in the Malaren basin during the Iron Age. In addition, the author discusses the role of the mound-building elite and their relationship to other elite groups in the political development, which ranged from small local dominions in the Migration period to the early medieval Christian kingdom.


Road safety is high on the agenda of transport policymakers. When looking for policies to improve road safety, more focus should be placed on urban roads, since the accident risk is greater for urban roads than for other types of roads. One of the major contributing factors to urban road accidents is speed. Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) uses an in-vehicle device to monitor local speed restrictions and support the driver in adjusting his driving speed to the posted maximum speed. The technological feasibility and potential safety impacts of ISA have been documented. Policymakers and others are now exploring possibilities for implementing ISA on a large scale. Policymaking, however, is restrained by uncertainties about the real-world impacts of ISA implementation. Concerns about acceptance among drivers, technological failures, unexpected costs, etc., are causing delays in ISA implementation. In this paper, we describe an innovative policy analysis approach that can take account of these uncertainties. In particular, using this approach, the various possible uncertainties surrounding ISA implementation are modelled and explored in-depth. Using minimization of maximum regret as a criterion, the effectiveness of six alternative ISA policies is shown across a wide spectrum of plausible futures. Our initial findings offer some counter-intuitive results concerning uncertainties related to the effectiveness of ISA policies. For example, policies to have the ISA system installed in more vehicles do not necessarily lead to a higher reduction in accident risk. We also show how to deal with uncertainty about the relationship between speed and accident risk. For the covering abstract see ITRD E129315.


A general view of standard essential patents (SEPs) is that they provide profiting opportunities by licensing-out, in general, under the FRAND (Fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms. However, a large part of SEPs holders declares "generous" free-license terms, thus abandon direct profiting opportunities. A patent can be used not only for appropriating rent from itself, but also for using it as a leverage to sustain the patent holder's competitive position in the market. This paper empirically addresses the determinants of such motivation for patenting (leverage strategy), by using the license terms of SEPs (free vs. royalty-bearing, and the inclusion of reciprocal terms). Using intellectual property rights disclosure data of IETF, a standard development organization, this paper investigates both firm-level and patent-level factors in shaping the license terms based on three-stage estimation of structural equations. Two types of strategy, "generic" leveraging against all potential competitors in a technology market and "specific" leveraging for keeping firm's competitive position to specific competitor as a licensee, are identified, and it is found that the former motivation works stronger for


This paper reports on the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) business characteristics in rural places of Southern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province. It was intended to identify and discuss the various characteristics and the implications they have on the survival and growth of rural enterprises. The study was conducted in five areas (uMuziwabantu, Ubuhlebezwe, Sisonke, Zingolweni and uMzimkhulu) Southern Region of KZN province. The sample consisted of 127 SMEs owners/managers operating in the selected areas using a quota sampling method, with respondents completing a five-point Likert scale questionnaire with the assistance of an interviewer. The findings indicated that most employees within the business are unskilled; the business operations are run by using modern facilities; most of business investment strategies are hindered by a lack of finance; and the local market is very small in selling rural SMEs' products. SPSS (23.0) version was used for data analysis. The findings presented in the figures and tables. Statistical analysis revealed that business characteristics of SMEs in rural were tested and found to be significant (P = .000*). The paper will be useful tool for the policy-makers, business financial support institutions, and business stakeholders, government policy agencies in underlining a new way to consider future growth of SMEs in rural places, to understand challenges properly and to adjust growth strategies for the remote and under-developed areas. Most work has been focusing on SMEs in the urban and metropolitans areas with less emphasis on the rural SMEs with specific reference to KZN. The findings are limited by the quantitative nature, small sample and exploratory study. Therefore, generalization of these results should be done with care and more research with larger samples extended to other provinces is highly recommended.


This paper considers an aspect of mixture modelling. Previous studies have shown minimum message length (MML) estimation to perform well in a wide variety of mixture modelling problems, including determining the number of components which best describes some data. In this paper, we focus on the difficult problem of overlapping components. An advantage of the probabilistic mixture modelling approach is its ability to identify models where the components overlap and data items can belong probabilistically to more than one component. Significantly overlapping distributions require more data for their parameters to be accurately estimated than well separated distributions. For example, two Gaussian distributions are considered to significantly overlap when their means are within three standard deviations of each other. If insufficient data is available, only a single component distribution will be estimated, although the data originates from two component distributions. In this paper, we quantify this difficulty in terms of the number of data items needed for the MML criterion to 'discover' two overlapping components. First, we perform experiments which compare the MML criterion's performance relative to other Bayesian criteria based on MCMC sampling. Second, we make two alterations to the existing MML estimates in order to improve its performance on overlapping distributions. Experiments are performed with the new estimates to confirm that they are effective.


"[A] true threat is not pretected by the first Amendment."1 IMAGE FORMULA5 "To the extent that the [lower] court's judgment rests on the ground that ... citizens were 'intimidated' by 'threats' of `social ostracism, vilification, and traduction,' it is flatly inconsistent with the First Amendment."2 If political discourse is to rally public opinion and challenge conventional thinking, it cannot be subdued. Nor may we saddle political speakers with implications their words do not literally convey but are later "discovered" by judges and juries with the benefit of hindsight and by reference to facts over which the speaker has no control.3 Violence is not a protected value. Nor is a true threat of violence with intent to intimidate. [Defendant] may have been staking out a position for debate when it merely advocated violence ... or applauded it.... Likewise, when it created ... [an Internet Website] in the abstract, because the First Amendment does not preclude calling people demeaning or inflammatory names, or threatening social ostracism or vilification to advocate a political position. [But the defendant's conduct in publishing "wanted posters" like those that proceeded the murders of doctors in the recent past and a "score card" of the murders of doctors on its Website] was not staking out a position of debate but of a threatened demise.4 "The concept of individual responsibility for wrongdoing is sacrosanct in American society, and [it] applies equally to all ...."5 IMAGE FORMULA8 I. INTRODUCTION The sun has not set yet, but it is surely twilight for meaningful First Amendment freedoms in the nine western states covered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. For nearly fourteen months, freedom of speech appeared to be secure in the Ninth Circuit. In a ringing reaffirmation of the First Amendment, a panel of the circuit in Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette, Inc. v. American Coalition of Life Activists6 struck down a ruinous $107 million jury verdict and a wide-ranging and highly restrictive injunction imposed on a group of social and political protesters and all of those who could be connected with them for creating and disseminating various "wanted" posters and using an Internet Web site to feature vividly its opposition to abortion.7 Fully consistent with controlling Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court precedent, the panel found that the First Amendment completely protected the defendants' speech and conduct, and it reversed the damage award and the issuance of the injunction.8 IMAGE FORMULA16 Concluding that the posters and Internet Web site were protected speech, not a "true threat," which is unprotected under the law, the panel made three crucial points. First, the posters and the Internet Web site were pure speech significantly in a public discourse, not direct personal communications or other unprotected conduct.9 Second, the language employed in the posters and the Internet Web site did not contain any explicit threat of present or future harmful conduct.10 Finally, while context may disambiguate language and render it unprotected under the law, that context must substantially relate to the speaker, not be attributed to a speaker based on the speech or conduct of unrelated other persons. In short, context for which a speaker is not legally responsible-that is, he does not authorize, direct, or ratify-cannot limit the speaker's own, personal, constitutional rights.11 But the en banc court rendered the panel's work a nullity, leaving its promise of protection to protesters unfulfilled.12 In a massive opinion (but one hardly characterized by precision of analysis) and over three powerful dissents, the en banc Ninth Circuit reversed the panel opinion by a vote of six to five.13 Strangely, the en IMAGE FORMULA18 banc opinion, authored by Judge Pamela Ann Rymer, although excessively lengthy, does not articulate a rationale for its result; it is, in fact, a "holding" without minor premises between its major premises and its conclusions. …


Spatio-temporal desynchronization remains a major challenge for watermarking system as it could impair the detection of the hidden payload. Over the years, several (non-blind) registration techniques have been proposed to realign the analyzed content prior to watermark detection and thereby achieve robustness against severe attacks such as display-and-camcord. Such techniques rely on assumptions that may be invalidated by new attacks that had not been accounted for. In the case of video, for instance, best-in-class resynchronization techniques may have difficulties to cope with screencasting. In this paper, we report findings after an experimental study that involved five popular screencasting tools. The impact of screencasting can indeed be characterized in terms of frame drops and repeats. Moreover, the on-the-fly encoding process occurring during screen recapture inherently introduces dependencies between the likelihood of drop/repeat and the frame encoding type.


This book summarizes research carried out in workshops of the SAGA project, an Initial Training Network exploring the interplay of Shapes, Algebra, Geometry and Algorithms. Written by a combination of young and experienced researchers, the book introduces new ideas in an established context. Among the central topics are approximate and sparse implicitization and surface parametrization; algebraic tools for geometric computing; algebraic geometry for computer aided design applications and problems with industrial applications. Readers will encounter new methods for the (approximate) transition between the implicit and parametric representation; new algebraic tools for geometric computing; new applications of isogeometric analysis and will gain insight into the emerging research field situated between algebraic geometry and computer aided geometric design.


Objective The aim of this study was to identify the reasons that were important to frail older women's decisions to participate or not participate in a clinical trial of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Design We conducted a cross-sectional study of a community-based sample of physically frail women ≥ 75 years old, who were recruited to participate in an intervention trial of HRT. Participants were randomized 2:1 to either HRT or placebo, respectively. Questionnaires measured participants' reasons for participation and nonparticipants' reasons for declining. Five-point scaled responses to questionnaire items ranged from least to most important or least to most concerned. Results Sixty-nine women participated (84% white, 16% African American) in the trial. Nonparticipants (n = 41) were older, on average, than participants (83.8 ± 4.2 vs. 82.2 ± 3.6 years;p = 0.04). Important reasons for participation were reducing risk for Alzheimer's disease and osteoporosis, having more energy, improving self-care ability, and benefiting other women. Fear of cancer from postmenopausal estrogen was the predominant concern of 46% of nonparticipants and 78% of participants (p = 0.08). Recommendation against participation or use of estrogen by a woman's personal physician was the most prevalent additional reason given for nonparticipation. Conclusions Disease prevention and improving self-care abilities were most important to participants. Fear of cancer was not a greater concern for nonparticipants than for participants. The role of the physician in older women's decision-making about use of postmenopausal estrogen seems to be important.


In this work, we prepared and comprehensively characterized four novel iodocuprate-containing ionic liquids, CuILs 1–4. In addition to their interesting molecular structures and physical properties CuILs exhibited capability to efficiently promote hypergolic reactions between boron-containing [EMIM+][H3BCN−] and [MIM]·[BH3] fuels and a highly concentrated H2O2 (95%) oxidizer. The most promising promoter CuIL 3 has the decomposition temperature well above the decomposition temperature of the fuels, was stable in promoter-in-fuel mixtures for weeks and showed ignition delay times down to 14 ms. We believe that further development of our new iodocuprate ionic liquids can lead to promising "green" H2O2-based bipropellant systems for space applications.


Today, better numerical approximations are required for multi-dimensional SDEs to improve on the poor performance of the standard Monte Carlo integration. With this aim in mind, the material in the thesis is divided into two main categories, stochastic calculus and mathematical finance. In the former, we introduce a new scheme or discrete time approximation based on an idea of Paul Malliavin where, for some conditions, a better strong convergence order is obtained than the standard Milstein scheme without the expensive simulation of the Levy Area. We demonstrate when the conditions of the 2−Dimensional problem permit this and give an exact solution for the orthogonal transformation (θ Scheme or Orthogonal Milstein Scheme). Our applications are focused on continuous time diffusion models for the volatility and variance with their discrete time approximations (ARV). Two theorems that measure with confidence the order of strong and weak convergence of schemes without an exact solution or expectation of the system are formally proved and tested with numerical examples. In addition, some methods for simulating the double integrals or Levy
Area in the Milstein approximation are introduced.
For mathematical finance, we review evidence of non-constant volatility and consider the implications for option pricing using stochastic volatility models. A general stochastic volatility model that represents most of the stochastic volatility models that are outlined in the literature is proposed. This was necessary in order to both study and understand the option price properties. The analytic closed-form solution for a European/Digital option for both the Square Root Model and the 3/2 Model are given. We present the Multilevel Monte Carlo path simulation method which is a powerful tool for pricing exotic options. An improved/updated version of the ML-MC algorithm using multi-schemes and a non-zero starting level is introduced. To link the contents of the thesis, we present a wide variety of pricing exotic option examples where considerable computational savings are demonstrated using the new θ Scheme and the improved Multischeme Multilevel Monte Carlo method (MSL-MC). The computational cost to achieve an accuracy of O(e) is reduced from O(e−3) to O(e−2) for some applications.


We present a powerful approach towards full understanding of laser light propagation through multimode optical fibres and control of the light at the fibre output. Transmission of light within a multimode fibre introduces randomization of laser beam amplitude, phase and polarization. We discuss the importance of each of these factors and introduce an experimental geometry allowing full analysis of the light transmission through the multimode fibre and subsequent beam-shaping using a single spatial light modulator. We show that using this approach one can generate an arbitrary output optical field within the accessible field of view and range of spatial frequencies given by fibre core diameter and numerical aperture, respectively, that contains over 80% of the total available power. We also show that this technology has applications in biophotonics. As an example, we demonstrate the manipulation of colloidal microparticles.


The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the modified light spectrum of glass containing red luminophore on the performance of the photosynthetic apparatus of two types of lettuce cultivated in soil in a greenhouse. Butterhead and iceberg lettuce were cultivated in two types of greenhouses: (1) covered with transparent glass (control) and (2) covered with glass containing red luminophore (red). After 4 weeks of culture, structural and functional changes in the photosynthetic apparatus were examined. The presented study indicated that the red luminophore used changed the sunlight spectrum, providing an adequate blue:red light ratio, while decreasing the red:far-red radiation ratio. In such light conditions, changes in the efficiency parameters of the photosynthetic apparatus, modifications in the chloroplast ultrastructure, and altered proportions of structural proteins forming the photosynthetic apparatus were observed. These changes led to a decrease of CO2 carboxylation efficiency in both examined lettuce types.


We present a way of classifying the logically possible ways out of Gärdenfors' inconsistency or triviality result on belief revision with conditionals. For one of these ways—conditionals which are not descriptive but which only have an inferential role as being given by the Ramsey test—we determine which of the assumptions in three different versions of Gärdenfors' theorem turn out to be false. This is done by constructing ranked models in which such Ramsey-test conditionals are evaluated and which are subject to natural postulates on belief revision and acceptability sets for conditionals. Along the way we show that in contrast with what Gärdenfors himself proposed, there is no dichotomy of the form: either the Ramsey test has to be given up or the Preservation condition. Instead, both of them follow from our postulates.


It is the purpose of this article to review transosteal implants, specifically the Mandibular Staple Bone Plate and the Transmandibular Implant, in regard to their clinical prosthodontic applications. In addition, those aspects of prosthodontic treatment shared will be highlighted and the differences in the techniques will be reviewed.


Since the advent of the laser, optical metrology is providing mechanical engineers with data which they previously have considered to be unobtainable. Vibration measurement in situations where the target surface is hot, light or rotating precludes the use of contacting transducers such as accelerometers and, as a result, laser vibrometers have been developed to solve this problem. Their principle of operation relies on the detection of the Doppler shift in the scattered light from the target surface by heterodyne with frequency-shifted reference light from the same laser source. The frequency shift in the reference light provides a carrier frequency in the photodetector output which the Doppler shift from the target surface then frequency modulates. In this way the ambiguity in the direction of the target motion is removed. The idea of incorporating an open air path-laser vibrometer into an all-fiber device is attractive since this would allow for remote, passive sensing of vibration in situations where direct optical access is precluded. Unfortunately, the need to frequency shift the reference light means that with commercially available frequency shifters, such as Bragg cells, the light must leave the fiber and therefore traverse a different optical path to the target light. Environmental disturbance of either target or reference optical path, in this case, is seen as spurious vibrations included in the detector output. Environmental effects such as temperature changes, acoustic pressure fluctuations or vibration of the fiber itself may change the refractive index of either light path to cause this noise. In order to provide a practical engineering instrument for on-site use these problems must be avoided. An all-fiber device will be described which was first reported in Electronics Letter.


Abstract Russia's predominantly suspicious and even negative attitudes toward R2P are closely related to its traditional attachment to the notion of sovereignty, but its reluctance to 'bless' the use of force with R2P also serves as a pretext to cover various instrumental goals. Russia's more assertive foreign policy has exacerbated this trend. Disagreements stem from differences between Russia and the West both in their conceptual approaches to security and in their assessments of specific cases. In particular, Russia has an existential concern over possible application of R2P by extra-regional actors in its immediate post-Soviet vicinity. However, in the conflicts around South Ossetia (2008) and Crimea / Southeastern Ukraine (2014-), there was a noticeable trend to refocus R2P-related arguments in support of Russia's own actions. By and large, R2P continues to be perceived as a Western attempt to establish certain rules of behaviour which require caution and prudence. Nevertheless, more positive attitudes do not seem impossible. To play a prominent role in the evolving international system, Russia will have to make the R2P segment of its foreign policy more salient and overcome the lag in promoting this concept as a working tool indispensable for cooperative and responsible leadership.


Eukaryotic cells can have a plethora of different shapes. To develop these, cells have to grow polarly and therefore concentrate their resources at a defined domain at the plasma membrane. We have a great understanding how such polar growth is achieved and regulated. However, the early processes that initiate the formation of a new polar domain at the plasma membrane, especially the timing of protein recruitment, remain largely elusive.
The aim of this thesis was to understand how a polar domain is established and how the machinery for polar growth is assembled. As a model system I used Arabidopsis thaliana root hairs, which grow tube-like protrusions out of epidermal cells and I established a timeline of protein recruitment to the root hair
initiation domain (RHID).
To enable sensitive measurements of protein localization, I quantified properties of 10 fluorescent proteins in planta. Using the brightest fluorophore, I was able to detect low amounts of protein and quantitatively measure accumulation at the RHID at endogenous levels. The combined analysis of timing and localization of 30 different markers showed that different proteins accumulate specifically at different phases of root hair development and led to the identification of four novel candidates that act during root hair initiation, along with the established RHID markers RhoGTPases OF PLANTS (ROPs). For ROP2 I could show that its activity, as well as the interaction domain and the C-terminus are important for membrane association and recruitment to the RHID, while posttranslational S-acylation had no effect in this process. Two of the candidates found during RHID initiation, the actin-regulating SCAR/WAVE complex and the undescribed POLLEN RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE 7 (PRK7,) both led to the establishment of independent projects. Additionally, I identified two ROP activating GEFs, GEF3 and GEF14, that
precede ROP accumulation at the RHID. I found that GEF3 is necessary for root hair initiation and sufficient to form polar domains at the plasma membrane,
which recruit ROP2.
After RHID assembly, tip growth is initiated. This process is regulated by an oscillating apical [Ca2+]cyto gradient. In a collaboration we could show that at least three CNGC Ca2+ channels are regulating these Ca2+ oscillations in root hairs.


With the incorporation of businesses as major players in a country's economy and society, Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming a very important aspect of corporate activity. This field is greatly understudied and only limited research has been done on the consequences of conducting CSR activities through different channels of communication. This thesis therefore contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between customer perception and purchase intention in the setting of CSR activities towards online and offline channels through both theoretical and practical aspects. The purpose of our study is to investigate which channel may incur better performance for different dimensions of customer perception, and how to utilize and combine online and offline channels to achieve an optimal outcome. In our study, surveys were employed and 175 valid responses were collected for quantitative analysis in order to test hypotheses related to customer perception and purchase intention. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews were conducted to better explain the reasons behind the results. According to our findings, communication through an offline channel plays an important role when conducting CSR activities on satisfaction and consequent purchase intention. Correspondingly, the online channel performs better on customer trust. However, limitations still exist in this paper rendering the explanatory power of our model partially sufficient. Further research can focus more on explaining the reason why online and offline channels have a different effect on purchase intention by altering parameters of our experiment (sample composition etc.). For instance, why awareness has no relationship with purchase intention via both channels and how to better enhance the contribution of customer trust and satisfaction in purchase intention respectively through online and offline channel.


Magnetic nanocomposite hydrogels containing different amounts of graphene oxide were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM, VSM and UV-vis spectroscopy. The prepared hydrogels were used as adsorbents for removal of a cationic dye, crystal violet, from water. The kinetics and isotherm of adsorption and the effect of different experimental conditions such as graphene oxide content, pH of the solution, contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial dye concentration on adsorption capacity were then investigated. Parameters related to kinetics and isotherm models were calculated and discussed. It was found that adsorption is well-described by pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models, respectively. The synthesized adsorbents showed high efficiency in removal of crystal violet and a very high adsorption capacity was obtained (769.23 mg g−1). No significant loss of removal efficiency was observed even after five cycles of adsorption.


Glycoproteins have extraordinary significance for the diagnosis of tumors and cancers. However, in untreated complex biological samples, highly selective and sensitive determination of glycoproteins is still a huge challenge. In this study, a boronate affinity surface molecularly imprinted resonance light scattering (RLS) sensor was constructed to detect glycoproteins. In the RLS sensor, 4-vinylbenzeneboronic acid, which was used as a functional monomer for molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), is pH sensitive and can reversibly bind to glycoproteins. In addition, 2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate was also applied as a pH-responsive component to prepare MIPs. The swelling/shrinking properties of the resultant MIPs are beneficial to rapidly remove template glycoproteins from MIPs. Combining the boronate affinity and MIPs, the RLS sensor can specifically recognize target glycoproteins from sample solutions and sensitively detect them. Under optimum conditions, the RLS sensor has a linear response to ovalbumin (OVA) in the range of 0.5–15 nM with a low detection limit of 0.13 nM. The RLS sensor has been successfully utilized for the detection of OVA in real human blood serum, with a good recovery of 94.0–104%. This approach will provide a promising way to detect glycoproteins in clinical diagnostics.


Impaired emotional processing and cognitive functioning are common in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorders, causing significant socioemotional disability. While a large body of research demonstrates abnormal cognition/emotion interactions in these disorders, previous studies investigating abnormalities in the emotional scene response using event-related potentials (ERPs) have yielded mixed findings, and few studies compare findings across psychiatric diagnoses. The current study investigates the effects of emotion and repetition on ERPs in a large, well-characterized sample of participants with schizophrenia-bipolar syndromes. Two ERP components that are modulated by emotional content and scene repetition, the early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP), were recorded in healthy controls and participants with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder with psychosis, and bipolar disorder without psychosis. Effects of emotion and repetition were compared across groups. Results displayed significant but small effects in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, with diminished EPN amplitudes to neutral and novel scenes, reduced LPP amplitudes to emotional scenes, and attenuated effects of scene repetition. Despite significant findings, small effect sizes indicate that emotional scene processing is predominantly intact in these disorders. Multivariate analyses indicate that these mild ERP abnormalities are related to cognition, psychosocial functioning, and psychosis severity. This relationship suggests that impaired cognition, rather than diagnosis or mood disturbance, may underlie disrupted neural scene processing in schizophrenia-bipolar syndromes.


In Reconciling Indo-European Syllabification, Adam Cooper brings together two seemingly disparate phenomena associated with Indo-European syllable structure: the heterosyllabic treatment of medial consonant clusters, which tolerates CVC syllables, and the right-hand vocalization of sonorants, which ostensibly avoids them. Operating from a perspective that is simultaneously empirical, theoretical, and historical in nature, he establishes their compatibility by crafting a formal analysis that integrates them into a single picture of the reconstructed system. More generally, drawing on evidence from Vedic, Greek, and Proto-Indo-European itself, Cooper demonstrates the continued relevance of the ancient Indo-European languages to contemporary linguistic theory, and, moreover, reaffirms the value of the syllable as a unit of phonology, necessary for these languages' formal representation.


Aim of the study. The aim of this study is to explore the main contributors and obstacles to employee learning in the context of an alliance using the framework of a complex embedded multiple-case study. The two participant alliance partner organisations (APOs) are natural competitors that are joined to respond to urgent community needs of the city of Christchurch following the major earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011. At the moment of the in-depth interviews, it had been about four years since those events occurred. There are continuous, unexpected circumstances that still require attention. However, the alliance has an expiry date, thus reinforcing the uncertain work environment. Method. Employee learning is examined using a qualitative, inductive approach to data analysis. Ten participants were invited, five from each alliance partner organisation with the aim to increase validity of findings as a cross-case analysis was also performed, and current data were triangulated with archival data. Employees were not given a pre-defined definition of learning to allow for a more free flow of conversation while their own views were shared. Emerging themes were then compared to extant literature –mainly from the cognitive constructivist psychology literature, but also organisational learning research. Conclusion. The main enablers found were participative, collaborative learning encouraged by leaders who embraced the alliance's "learning organisational culture". Employees generate innovations mostly in social interaction with others, while taking on responsibility for their learning by learning from mistakes. The main obstacle found is competition, as inhibitor of collaboratively sharing their knowledge out of fear of losing their competitiveness. Limitations. Given time constraints, it was not possible to continue recruiting participants for this study. Therefore, an uneven number of participants –five from APO1 and 3 from APO2 did not allow for a proper cross-unit analysis, therefore undermining cross-validation efforts.


In order to reduce the bit rate of video signals, current coding standards apply hybrid coding with motion-compensated prediction and transform coding of the prediction error. In former publications, it was shown that aliasing components contained in an image signal, as well as inaccuracies in description of motion, are limiting the prediction efficiency obtained by motion compensation. For H.264/AVC, we showed that the analytical calculation of an optimal interpolation filter at given constraints (6-tap, frame-based) is possible, resulting in total coding improvements of up to 0.9 dB for HDTV sequences and up to 0.5 dB for CIF sequences and main profile. However, applying an adaptive interpolation filter to the entire image enables only an average prediction improvement. Further improvements are possible if the filter is also adapted to local image characteristics. Thus, an optimal adaptive interpolation filter is calculated only for the macroblocks, which prediction is distorted by aliasing or by inaccurately estimated motion. This enables further improvements of up to 0.2 dB, compared to globally adaptive filter or up to 0.6 dB, compared to the standard H.264/AVC, for CIF sequences.


Minimally invasive surgery reduces perioperative pain and morbidity, facilitating rapid recovery. However, the field of kidney transplantation has lagged in this regard, its customary open surgical techniques going nearly unchanged until recently. Robotic kidney transplantation (RKT) is a novel and welcomed innovation yielding good surgical outcomes. In Korea, the first RKT performed (November 2019) involved a 30-year-old man (body mass index, 22 kg/m2) with end-stage hypertensive nephrosclerosis. A left donor kidney from his 28-year-old sister was successfully transplanted using the daVinci Robotic Surgical System. Transperitoneal regional hypothermia (Vattikuti Urology Institute-Medanta technique) was also implemented across the main periumbilical incision (up to 6 cm). Total operative time was 260 minutes (cold ischemia, 34 minutes; rewarming, 54 minutes), with 50 mL of blood loss. There was immediate graft function, unencumbered by surgical complications (e.g., postoperative bleeding, leakage, or lymphocele). The patient was discharged on postoperative day 8, with serum creatinine at 1.27 mg/dL. RKT with regional hypothermia may be a viable, minimally invasive intervention that is safe and effective in select patients, showing good surgical results.


The objective of this paper is to report on the correlates of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH), the associated impairments of ADDH children, and to describe briefly their utilization of services. Our results suggest that household, family, parental, and developmental variables are associated with this disorder. However, child-centered, rather than psychosocial, variables emerge as important if one controls for the presence of other disorders. Compared to children without any disorder, ADDH children are also impaired in their relationships with others, their school performance, and competence in extra-curricular activities. ADDH children utilized mental health, social, and special education services more than non-ADDH children. Nevertheless, it was found that only a minority of ADDH children had received specialized mental health or social services in the past 6 months.


William R. Stevenson argues that this study of Calvin's vision of Christian freedom brings together many of the reformer's central theological and political ideas, establishes Calvin as a significant political thinker, and exposes weaknesses in modern writers' understanding about the nature of freedom. In Sovereign Grace: The Place and Significance of Christian Freedom in John Calvin's Political Thought (OUP, USA, 1999,£37.50, pp. xii + 200, ISBN 0I9-512506-1) Stevenson discusses Calvin's ideas about this Christian freedom in three parts; firstly, the liberation of the individual believer through grace, secondly, how the believer is then freed to engage in social action, and thirdly, how the believer is freed from custom and tradition. According to Calvin, God's sovereign choice gives freedom to those individuals predestined to the elect. Calvin suggested that as believers became aware of their liberation it brought them confidence, but, at the same time, reminded them of their complete dependence upon God. As Stevenson points out, Calvin had no wish to propose that free individuals should try to live as if they were self-sufficient or independent. Calvinists are certainly freed under God's grace to live with ambition and daring, but yet also with patience and perseverance. Stevenson argues that Calvin intended to steer a middle course for his followers between 'paralytic introspection' and 'self-righteous domination'. Calvinists were also freed from thinking that salvation hinged on embracing or rejecting any particular ceremony, ritual or institutional form. Since Calvin's views could imply either cool scepticism or warm acceptance of current circumstances, Stevenson suggests that the political implications of Calvin's ideas on Christian freedom were neither liberal democratic nor authoritarian, neither progressive nor traditional. This study is based upon extensive quotation from Calvin's writings and reflects frequently on the views of other commentators on Calvin, and is certainly a valuable contribution to attempts to connect Calvin's writings with their social and political consequences. GRAEME MURDOCK, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM


Abstract This research began with the author's firsthand experience with regard to the value of music education. Very few deny the benefits of music education and its connection to academic achievement. In a recent poll administered by the Gallup Organization, 95 percent of Americans believe music to be a cornerstone of a quality education, and over 75 percent of those polled suggested that music education should be mandated by the schools. However, far too many music education programs are being cut, or are in grave danger of being cut, from the curriculum nationwide. Research clearly shows the importance of music education: The College Entrance Exam Board found that students involved with music scored higher on verbal and math exams than those without music education; the U.S. Department of Education found that students who were consistently involved in music programs scored considerably better in mathematics proficiency by their senior year; many more studies indicate similar findings. This research will identify the problem, and the corollary reasons why, music education is lacking in the public school system. The research supporting music education and its contributions to scholastic achievement will be examined as it relates to this study. Moreover, the evidence will be presented to support the author's contention that music education is a valuable component to academic achievement, and a necessary element of a quality education. The conclusion will suggest that administrators, educators, and policy-makers review the existing research, call for additional research into the benefits of music education and academic achievement, and ultimately provide adequate funding for music education programs. ABSTRACT This research began with the author's firsthand experience with regard to the value of music education. Very few deny the benefits of music education and its connection to academic achievement. In a recent poll administered by the Gallup Organization, 95 percent of Americans believe music to be a cornerstone of a quality education, and over 75 percent of those polled suggested that music education should be mandated by the schools. However, far too many music education programs are being cut, or are in grave danger of being cut, from the curriculum nationwide. Research clearly shows the importance of music education: The College Entrance Exam Board found that students involved with music scored higher on verbal and math exams than those without music education; the U.S. Department of Education found that students who were consistently involved in music programs scored considerably better in mathematics proficiency by their senior year; many more studies indicate similar findings. This research will identify the problem, and the corollary reasons why, music education is lacking in the public school system. The research supporting music education and its contributions to scholastic achievement will be examined as it relates to this study. Moreover, the evidence will be presented to support the author's contention that music education is a valuable component to academic achievement, and a necessary element of a quality education. The conclusion will suggest that administrators, educators, and policy-makers review the existing research, call for additional research into the benefits of music education and academic achievement, and ultimately provide adequate funding for music education programs.


Myocardial infarction (MI), also known as a heart attack, is the leading cause of death in the U.S. It often occurs due to the occlusion of coronary arteries, thereby leading to insufficient blood and oxygen supply that damage cardiac muscle cells. Because blood vessels are branching throughout the heart, MI occurs at different spatial locations (e.g., anterior and inferior portions) of the heart. The spatial location of the diseased is rupts normal excitation and propagation of cardiac electrical activity in space and time. Most previous studies focused on the relationships between disease and time-domain biomarkers from 12-lead ECG signals (e.g., Q wave, QT interval, ST elevation/depression, T wave). Few, if any, previous approaches investigated how the spatial location of diseases will alter cardiac vectorcardiogram (VCG) signals in both space and time. This paper presents a novel spatiotemporal warping approach to quantify the dissimilarity of disease-altered patterns in 3-lead spatiotemporal VCG signals. The hypothesis testing shows that there are significant spatiotemporal differences between healthy control, MI-anterior, MI-anterior-septal, MI-anterior-lateral, MI-inferior, and MI-inferior-lateral. Furthermore, we optimize the embedding of each functional recording as a feature vector in the high-dimensional space that preserves the dissimilarity distance matrix. This novel spatial embedding approach facilitates the construction of classification models and yields an averaged accuracy of 95.1% for separating MIs and Healthy Controls (HCs) and an averaged accuracy of 95.8% in identifying anterior-related MIs and inferior-related MIs.


Abstract. Predicting heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton specific growth rates (μ ) is of great scientific interest. Many methods have been developed in order to assess bacterial or phytoplankton μ. One widely used method is to estimate μ from data obtained on biomass or cell abundance and rates of biomass or cell production. According to Kirchman (2002), the most appropriate approach for estimating μ is simply to divide the production rate by the biomass or cell abundance estimate. Most methods using this approach to estimate μ are based on carbon (C) incorporation rates and C biomass measurements. Nevertheless it is also possible to estimate μ using phosphate (P) data. We showed that particulate phosphate (PartP) can be used to estimate biomass and that the P uptake rate to PartP ratio can be employed to assess μ. Contrary to other methods using C, this estimator does not need conversion factors and provides an evaluation of μ for both autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms. We report values of P-based μ in three size fractions (0.2–0.6; 0.6–2 and >2 μm) along a Southeast Pacific transect, over a wide range of P-replete trophic status. P-based μ values were higher in the 0.6–2 μm fraction than in the >2 μm fraction, suggesting that picoplankton-sized cells grew faster than the larger cells, whatever the trophic regime encountered. Picoplankton-sized cells grew significantly faster in the deep chlorophyll maximum layer than in the upper part of the photic zone in the oligotrophic gyre area, suggesting that picoplankton might outcompete >2 μm cells in this particular high-nutrient, low-light environment. P-based μ attributed to free-living bacteria (0.2-0.6 μm) and picoplankton (0.6–2 μm) size-fractions were relatively low (0.11±0.07 d−1 and 0.14±0.04 d−1, respectively) in the Southeast Pacific gyre, suggesting that the microbial community turns over very slowly.


A new set of symbols, M_3OT, based on orthogonal changes given by the 3OT chain code is presented. A sample of contour shapes to test the new code is used, and the most important chain codes and their compression levels are compared with our proposed new code. The compression used to compare the different chain codes is the Huffman algorithm applied to the resulted chain codes. The efficiency and compression level of this new chain code is compared against the most popular codes: F8, F4, VCC, C_VCC and DF8. We discuss the capabilities of the different codes. The results of several samples show that the new chain code, that we call M_3OT is the most efficient than the predecessors.


Falcipain-2 (FP-2) and falcipain-3 (FP-3), haemoglobin-degrading enzymes in Plasmodium falciparum, are validated drug targets for the development of effective inhibitors against malaria. However, no commercial drug-targeting falcipains has been developed despite their central role in the life cycle of the parasites. In this work, in silico approaches are used to identify key structural elements that control the binding and selectivity of a diverse set of non-peptidic compounds onto FP-2, FP-3 and homologues from other Plasmodium species as well as human cathepsins. Hotspot residues and the underlying non-covalent interactions, important for the binding of ligands, are identified by interaction fingerprint analysis between the proteases and 2-cyanopyridine derivatives (best hits). It is observed that the size and chemical type of substituent groups within 2-cyanopyridine derivatives determine the strength of protein–ligand interactions. This research presents novel results that can further be exploited in the structure-based molecular-guided design of more potent antimalarial drugs.


The Hawaiian gold coral is a parasitic zoantharian that colonizes other deep corals and secretes a protein skeleton that over millennia can grow and more than double the original mean size of the host colony. Surveys at 6 known coral beds in the Hawaiian Archipelago found mature gold coral to be a common taxon and dominant at the geologically older sites. Fewer than 5% of the gold coral colonies seen were in the process of subsuming their host, described here as the 'midas' phase. Bamboo coral (Acanella, Keratoisis) comprised 85% of the midas colonies, with two-thirds found at the youngest site, where the mean height of bamboo coral was significantly greater than at other sites. Marked midas colonies revisited after 5 yr showed the gold coral tissue spreading across the host at an estimated rate of 2.2 ± 0.69 cm yr−1 (mean ± SD). Cross sections of mature gold coral colonies show the host averages just 9.8 cm of the stem's core, indicating that much of the host skeleton is lost when subsumed by gold coral tissue. The absence of midas colonies in a bamboo coral assemblage found growing on a 76 yr old wreck close (~1 km) to a mature gold coral patch suggests that gold coral recruitment is infrequent. This time lag between the growth of the host and the arrival of the gold coral successor is essential because otherwise the speed of the midas phase would subsume the host population faster than it could replenish.


The decision of Lai v Soineva [2011] QSC 247 in relation to the operation of standard conditions in the Queensland REIQ contract highlights a very practical issue often overlooked in the heat of a transaction .The point is relatively simple. In this instance ,the case concerned the interpretation of the printed "Building and Pest Inspection Clause" but is of relevance to the printed "Finance Clause" in the same contract as the wording and principles are identical. It highlights the issue of knowing well what is in the standard contract and not making assumptions. The case also highlights the cost to a party of dithering in making an election in a time of the essence environment


Study Design. Clinical radiographic and outcomes investigation. Objective. To investigate clinical and radiographic outcomes for lumbosacral fusion (in patients with spinal deformity) using a combination of bilateral sacral and iliac screws with a minimum 5-year follow-up. Summary of Background Data. To our knowledge, long-term results (>5 years of follow-up) of bilateral S1 screw/bilateral iliac screw fixation have never been published or presented. Materials and Methods. A total of 67 patients (from an initial consecutive cohort of 81) undergoing lumbosacral fusion with bilateral sacral and iliac screws with a minimum follow-up of 5 years (range 5–10 + 5, average 6 + 3) were analyzed for radiographic outcome and clinical course by an outcome questionnaire (administered at ultimate follow-up) analysis. Patients were divided into 2 groups: group 1, 34 patients with mostly high-grade spondylolisthesis; and group 2, 33 with adult scoliosis fused mostly from the thoracic spine to the sacrum. A true anteroposterior pelvis film was obtained in all patients to assess for sacroiliac joint arthritis, as were standard spine radiographs. Patients were administered Oswestry and directed buttock pain questionnaires at latest follow-up. Results. There were no cases of sacral screw failure (i.e., screw loosening, partial screw pullout, or fracture of the sacral screw). There were 5 cases of nonunion at L5–S1. Of the 5 cases, 3 did not have anterior column support at L5–S1. Four of the 5 cases were revised, and, subsequently, 3 achieved union. Iliac screws were removed electively on 1 or both sides in 23 of the patients after 2 years postoperatively because of prominence. There were 7 cases of iliac screw breakage. Iliac screw halos were observed in 29 patients. No sacroiliac osteoarthritis was observed on the true anteroposterior pelvis films. At ultimate follow-up, average visual analog painscale (0–10) score to assess buttock pain was 2.4, and average Oswestry score was 20.1. Conclusions. For high-grade spondylolisthesis and long adult deformity fusions to the sacrum, a montage of bilateral S1 screws and iliac screws were effective in protecting the sacral screws from failure. Pseudarthrosis at L5–S1 was manifested by rod breakage at that level. We saw no evidence of a long-term effect of the iliac screws predisposing the sacroiliac joints to degeneration at follow-up ranging from 5 to 10 years.


OBJECTIVE
Previous studies have demonstrated an association between increased serum uric acid (SUA) levels and incident diabetes. Most clinical and epidemiological investigations, however, focused solely on male populations or did not analyze men and women separately. We assessed the association between SUA levels and diabetes incidence in a large cohort of apparently healthy men and women.

METHODS
Data were retrospectively gathered from 9140 adults who participated in annual medical screening visits during 2000-2009. Mean follow-up time was 4.8 years, and the median age was 50 years. Laboratory test results, data from physical examinations, medical history, and lifestyle information were extracted. The main outcome measure was incident diabetes, defined as two consecutive fasting glucose tests higher than 125 mg/dL. Cox proportional-hazards multivariate models were applied for measuring hazard ratios (HRs) for diabetes according to continuous and categorical levels of uric acid.

RESULTS
We identified 499 new cases of diabetes (total, 5.5%: men, 6.2%; women, 3.6%) during the follow-up period. The gender-specific HRs for diabetes, adjusted for age and a set of prespecified multiple risk and protective factors, were 1.57 for each 1 mg/dL increase in SUA (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.32-1.86) in women and 1.08 (95% CI, 0.99-1.17) in men; p for interaction of SUA by gender <0.001.

CONCLUSION
SUA is independently associated with diabetes outcome, considerably more in women than in men.


Many preclinical studies seek cures for spinal cord injury (SCI), but when the results are translated to clinical trials they give scant efficacy. One possible reason is that most strategies use treatments directed toward a single pathological mechanism, while a multitherapeutic approach needs to be tested to significantly improve outcomes after SCI. Most of the preclinical reports gave better outcomes when a combination of different compounds was used instead of a single drug. This promising approach, however, must still be improved because it raises some criticism: (i) the blood-spinal cord barrier limits drug distribution, (ii) it is hard to understand the interactions among the pharmacological components after systemic administration, and (iii) the timing of treatments is crucial: the spread of the lesion is a process finely regulated over time, so therapies must be scheduled at precise times during the postinjury course. Nanomedicine could be useful to overcome these limitations. Nanotools allow finely regulated drug administration in terms of cell selectivity and release kinetics. We believe that excellent therapeutic results could be obtained by exploiting this tool in multitherapy. Combining nanoparticles loaded with different compounds that act on the main pathological pathways could overcome the restrictions of traditional drug delivery routes, a major limit for the clinical application of multitherapy. This review digs into these topics, discussing the critical aspects of multitherapies now proposed and suggesting new points of view.


PURPOSE
Motivational interviewing (MI) is a patient-centered approach focusing on building intrinsic motivation for change. This paper presents a meta-analysis of parent-involved MI to improve pediatric health behavior and health outcomes.

METHODS
Study inclusion criteria: (1) examined modifiable pediatric health behaviors (< 18 years old); (2) used MI or motivational enhancement; (3) conducted a randomized controlled trial with a comparison group (non-MI control or active treatment group); (4) conducted the intervention with only a parent or both a parent and child; and (5) were written in English. Twenty-five studies (with 5,130 participants) were included and independently rated. Weighted mean effect sizes, using random-effects assumptions, were calculated.

RESULTS
Relative to comparison groups, MI was associated with significant improvements in health behaviors (e.g., oral health, diet, physical activity, reduced screen time, smoking cessation, reduced second hand smoke) and reduction in body mass index. Results suggest that MI may also outperform comparison groups in terms of dental caries, but more studies are needed. MI interventions were more successful at improving diets for Caucasians and when the intervention included more MI components.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings provide support for providing motivational interviewing to parents and children to improve pediatric health behaviors.


This article examines how disasters influence conflict dynamics in interstate rivalries. Building on insights from the disaster, rivalry, and diversionary conflict literatures, the authors argue that disasters act as political shocks that disrupt a rivalry relationship. Hostility levels in rivalries are stable over time and shift only through major shocks. While the rivalry literature suggests that some shocks may lead to peace, the authors argue that disaster shocks are more likely to be associated with increased conflict. Disasters often strain the state's capacity to provide security for its people, while leaders who fail to prepare or respond can face domestic costs. To avoid potential removal from office, leaders have incentives to divert the public's attention away from poor disaster response by adopting a more aggressive foreign policy. The authors hypothesize that the time between militarized disputes is shortened when pairs of states experience rapid onset disasters. However, the conditions for diversionary conflict depend on the degree of intrastate turmoil and the number of interstate rivalries, with disaster diversionary conflict happening most frequently in rivalry dyads with significant internal strife and multiple rivalries. Duration model analyses from 1900 to 2010 provide strong support for the theory and highlight the limits of disaster diplomacy in rivalry contexts. Given the increased frequency and severity of disasters globally, the findings suggest that environmental shocks are likely to increase interstate hostilities in conflict-prone regions.


Background: The clinical situation of patients with acute fulminant myocarditis can rapidly worsen dramatically, and a delayed diagnosis can lead to poor outcomes.
Objectives: To report a case of acute fulminant myocarditis with an extremely rare clinical course that was successfully treated. Case presentation: A 6-yearold girl was diagnosed with acute fulminant myocarditis during endoscopic cholecystectomy, requiring emergent percutaneous cardiopulmonary support.
Method: Initially, torsion of the gallbladder was suspected on abdominal computed tomography, and she underwent endoscopic abdominal cavity exploration. However, there was no inflammatory change in the abdominal cavity. Complete atrial ventricular block and a wide QRS wave were noted during closure of the trocar hole, and ventricular fibrillation occurred subsequently. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was immediately initiated but was not effective. Emergent cardiopulmonary support was therefore introduced.
Results: Weaning from percutaneous cardiopulmonary support was performed at 8 days after the critical event. There was no cardiac dysfunction before hospital discharge. The patient has not experienced any critical symptoms at 3 years after recovery.
Conclusion: Abdominal symptoms in children might be related with acute fulminant myocarditis. If a child presents with any abdominal symptoms, special attention should be provided and the possibility of acute fulminant myocarditis should be considered.


This paper examines two approaches to Child Protection Policy and Practise in UK. Governmental policy is examined first, followed by an overview of alternative approach suggested by its critics. Efficacy of policy reforms is examined from the perspective of the front liners, i.e., the child protection social workers who are the main agents responsible for translating policy into practise. The "reality" of the social workers is mapped through empirical analysis and used as a measure to indicate which ideology, one currently adopted by the State or the one being advocated by its critics, is better suited to improving wellbeing of workers as well as recipients of welfare. The importance of taking their contextual reality into account when formulating policy is highlighted as crucial to determining the fate of the policy. The findings are strongly in favour of the critics and highlight severe shortcomings in current State ideology of child and family welfare.


We develop a numerically stable algorithm for the solution of a general fluid-flow model in steady-state. The fluid dynamics is modulated by a semi-Markov process, with phase-type distributions for the sojourn times. We use an algorithmic solution to examine the impact of variance in the case of homogeneous on-off sources, and differences between the infinite and finite buffer case. The need for the complete distribution of the buffer is demonstrated through analysis of two existing approximations, which perform unsatisfactorily. Our numerical results demonstrate the robustness of the numerical algorithm; we compute both the cumulative distribution functions (CDF) and the moments of the process, over a wide range of time-scales and system parameters.


The subreddit r/RoastMe presents an intriguing case of how alternative norms can emerge in subversive online communities, allowing behaviours conventionally condemned as inappropriate to be reframed as acceptable. In this community, users post photos of themselves with the explicit expectation of being mocked or ridiculed by others. This mixed-methods, within-subjects experiment explores the influence of three factors that allow negative comments to be framed as acceptable and appropriate within RoastMe: humour, a mean (but funny) normative tone, and explicit articulation of these norms. 117 participants read, rated and reported their intended responses to humorous and non-humorous comments presented as being from RoastMe (explicitly mean but funny), ToastMe (explicitly positive), and two fictionalised communities where the normative tone was not explicitly defined (the mean but funny RateMe, and the positive DescribeMe). Results indicated clear interaction effects between community tone and norm explicitness, whereby comments from RoastMe were consistently rated and responded to most positively, and separate effects of humour on comment ratings and responses. Individual-level moral disengagement appeared central in allowing participants to excuse negative comments in humorous or permissive contexts. Consistent with benign violation theory, the explicitly negative tone of RoastMe was seen to create a shared understanding that users posting photos would expect and not be harmed by comments, allowing participants to reframe interactions as safe, acceptable and funny.


MEASLES (rubeola) is a contagious, acute, febrile illness that predominately affects children, although it may occur in any age group. Data in the United States indicate a recent shift to a greater proportion of rubeola cases in older age groups, undoubtedly a result of past and current immunization efforts. 1 Typically, the symptoms and signs include cough, coryza, conjunctivitis, abdominal pain, fever, lymphadenopathy, Koplik's spots, and a diffuse, erythematous maculopapular rash. Serious complications most often occur in compromised hosts, especially malnourished children. Reported complications associated with measles include upper and lower respiratory tract infection, otitis media, encephalitis (including subacute sclerosing panencephalitis), ileocolitis, myocarditis, thrombocytopenic purpura, and complications due to bacterial superinfections. The atypical measles syndrome was first recognized in the 1960s and is seen primarily in young adults exposed to the wild measles virus many years after immunization with the killed measles vaccine. The atypical measle syndrome is distinguished by


The family domain has been inadequately included in general discussions of wellbeing and quality of life. The omission of family influences from these discussions is particularly unfortunate given that families are the primary institution in which individuals come to know themselves in relation to others and their environment. Adequate attention to family is all the more important when studying political conflict given the span of forces associated with political conflict that might tax families. This dissertation used data from a recent project designed to understand the nature of wellbeing/ quality of life among Palestinians, focusing particularly on the role of family. Interview data from 14 group interviews of 21-53 year old Palestinians conducted in 2010 were used (n=68; 5 individuals per group, minus two absentees; 33 males, 35 females). Analyses of the interview data were conducted using principles from a grounded theory approach. Findings revealed that although family was not described as the most important aspect of wellbeing, it featured prominently in conceptualizations of quality of life, both as affecting and being affected by wellbeing in other domains. From the women's interviews, five themes of family life emerged. These values included connection among family members, the importance of autonomy and educational attainment for women and children, desires for the physical safety of one's family, and the need for fathers to attain economic security. Similarly, the men also spoke of the importance of economic security to a man's sense of self and issues of women's autonomy. Some of the men also discussed the roles of respect and religious devotion. Though there were differences in the themes that emerged from the men's and women's interviews, both groups described how the political context creates barriers that prevent families from achieving wellbeing. The findings of this study point to the importance of including family relationships in discussions of wellbeing /quality or life, particularly for individuals who have experienced chronic political constraint such as Palestinians. One apparent value of such an endeavor is the discovery of how tightly family life is tied to other prevailing contexts in jointly determining quality of life.


This research examines the trend of voluntary intellectual capital (IC) disclosure in China between 2006 and 2009, using content analysis of corporate annual reports of 100 top listed A-share Chinese companies. The results indicate that there was a generally upward trend for the disclosure of IC items, categories and the overall IC over the investigated period. Internal capital was the most highly reported IC category whereas external capital was the least reported for the year 2008 and 2009. For disclosure items, "management processes" was the best performer during the time while "licensing agreements" for 2006 and "research collaborations" for 2008 and 2009 were the poorest. It is believed that our research should have some contributions tot he existing literature on IC disclosure.;


CONTEXT
Barrett esophagus (BE) occurs in 1% to 10% of the general population and is believed to be the precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). The incidence of EAC has increased 350% in the last 3 decades without clear etiology. Finding predisposition genes may improve premorbid risk assessment, genetic counseling, and management. Genome-wide multiplatform approaches may lead to the identification of genes important in BE/EAC development.

OBJECTIVE
To identify risk alleles or mutated genes associated with BE/EAC.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS
Model-free linkage analyses of 21 concordant-affected sibling pairs with BE/EAC and 11 discordant sibling pairs (2005-2006). Significant germline genomic regions in independent prospectively accrued series of 176 white patients with BE/EAC and 200 ancestry-matched controls (2007-2010) were validated and fine mapped. Integrating data from these significant genomic regions with somatic gene expression data from 19 BE/EAC tissues yielded 12 "priority" candidate genes for mutation analysis (2010). Genes that showed mutations in cases but not in controls were further screened in an independent prospectively accrued validation series of 58 cases (2010).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Identification of germline mutations in genes associated with BE/EAC cases. Functional interrogation of the most commonly mutated gene.

RESULTS
Three major genes, MSR1, ASCC1, and CTHRC1 were associated with BE/EAC (all P < .001). In addition, 13 patients (11.2%) with BE/EAC carried germline mutations in MSR1, ASCC1, or CTHRC1. MSR1 was the most frequently mutated, with 8 of 116 (proportion, 0.069; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.030-0.130; P < .001) cases with c.877C>T (p.R293X). An independent validation series confirmed germline MSR1 mutations in 2 of 58 cases (proportion, 0.035; 95% CI, 0.004-0.120; P = .09). MSR1 mutation resulted in CCND1 up-regulation in peripheral-protein lysate. Immunohistochemistry of BE tissues in MSR1-mutation carriers showed increased nuclear expression of CCND1.

CONCLUSION
MSR1 was significantly associated with the presence of BE/EAC in derivation and validation samples, although it was only present in a small percentage of the cases.


ABSTRACT Recent scholarship has increasingly recognised the crucial role of political narratives in and for European integration. Since its earliest days, supporters have justified integration by telling stories about its beneficial contribution to peace, prosperity, and democracy. In this article and the special issue, we contribute to the burgeoning literature on (counter)narratives to European 'union' (any integration beyond intergovernmental cooperation), and to work on Euroscepticism. The special issue is also at the cutting edge of narratives research in its conceptual innovation and its focus on the narrating actors and concrete instances of narration. We demonstrate that in a narrative ju-jitsu, opponents of European union take up the themes of key pro-integration narratives and return their force against the EU. As well as examining nationalist Euroscepticism in specific countries, we study how cooperation among nationalists across Europe and beyond encourages convergence of their counter-narratives. These counter-narratives do not merely reject European union but increasingly argue for an alternative kind of 'Europe'. They therefore interact with the increasing competition among proliferating pro-integration narratives, which have formed as old stories such as that of Europe as peace-bringer seem to have become less convincing.


We report the first treatment of metastatic breast cancer by systemic radioimmunotherapy. The serial therapy doses were chosen based on quantitative imaging data in a treatment planning approach. A terminally ill patient with aggressive, locally advanced breast cancer who had failed radiation treatment and chemotherapy was injected intravenously with radiolabeled I-131 chimeric L6, a human-mouse chimeric IgG1 monoclonal antibody to adenocarcinoma. Initially, an imaging 10 mCi dose of 1-131 chimeric L6 (dose 1) deposited 8.8% of the injected dose in her chest wall tumor at 48 hours. Ten days later the patient was given a 150 mCi I-131 chimeric L6 dose (dose 2) followed three weeks later by a 100 mCi dose (dose 3). Tumor uptake and retention were comparable for doses 1 and 2, and decreased for dose 3. Following dose 3 the patient developed a manageable thrombocytopenia and transient Grade IV granulocytopenia. The tumor was observed to decrease in size with peak tumor regression occurring two weeks after dose 3. This partial response (PR) was achieved by radioimmunotherapy at a time when conventional therapy had been unable to impact the growth of the patient's massive and aggressive tumor.


Common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) were first identified as progenitors that were restricted to myeloid and erythroid lineages. However, it was recently demonstrated that expression of both lymphoid- and myeloid-related genes could be detected in myeloid progenitors. Furthermore, these progenitors were able to give rise to T and B lymphocytes, in addition to myeloid cells. Yet, it was not known whether these progenitors were multipotent at the clonogenic level or there existed heterogeneity within these progenitors with different lineage potential. Here we report that previously defined CMPs possess T-lineage potential, and that this is exclusively found in the Flt3(+)CD150(-) subset of CMPs at the clonal level. In contrast, we did not detect B-lineage potential in CMP subsets. Therefore, these Flt3(+)CD150(-) myeloid progenitors were T/myeloid potent. Yet, Flt3(+)CD150(-) myeloid progenitors are not likely to efficiently traffic to the thymus and contribute to thymopoiesis under normal conditions because of the lack of CCR7 and CCR9 expression. Interestingly, both Flt3(+)CD150(-) and Flt3(-)CD150(-) myeloid progenitors are susceptible to Notch1-mediated T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Hence, gain-of-function Notch1 mutations occurring in developing myeloid progenitors, in addition to known T-lineage progenitors, could lead to T-ALL oncogenesis.


An increasing amount of companies and cities plan to become CO2-neutral, which requires them to invest in renewable energies and carbon emission offsetting solutions. One of the cheapest carbon offsetting solutions is preventing deforestation in developing nations, a major contributor in global greenhouse gas emissions. However, forest preservation projects historically display an issue of trust and transparency, which drives companies to invest in transparent, but expensive air carbon capture facilities. Preservation projects could conduct accurate forest inventories (tree diameter, species, height etc.) to transparently estimate the biomass and amount of stored carbon. However, current rainforest inventories are too inaccurate, because they are often based on a few expensive ground-based samples and/or low-resolution satellite imagery. LiDAR-based solutions, used in US forests, are accurate, but cost-prohibitive, and hardly-accessible in the Amazon rainforest. We propose accurate and cheap forest inventory analyses through Deep Learning-based processing of drone imagery. The more transparent estimation of stored carbon will create higher transparency towards clients and thereby increase trust and investment into forest preservation projects.


Vertical velocity of the atmosphere around a floating offshore wind turbine situated in marine areas near Kaba Island, Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture was predicted using the mesoscale meteorological model that can replicate not only ridge lift but also thermal lift. In addition, the possibility of impacts on soaring birds was investigated using vertical flow. As a result of the simulation, thermal lift and ridge lift of the area were accurately replicated. Around the coast of Kaba Island, ridge lift mainly prevailed, but almost no vertical flow was predicted above the marine waters near the wind turbine. Observations from a pre-construction survey of raptores such as ospreys and falcons revealed these birds frequently soar around the coastal areas of Kaba Island rather than in the waters where the turbine is installed, so the possibility of birds colliding with the turbine or using vertical flow from the turbine is very low.