Silurian fossil plants range from small vascular plants (rhyniophytes) to moderately large fungi (nematophytes), but give little idea of the stature, rooting depth and plant density of vegetation on land. Silurian to earliest Devonian palaeosols from the Bloomsburg Formation show unusually deep bioturbation of several distinct kinds. Surface ground-parallel rhizomes of vascular land plants (to 20 cm deep) are penetrated by burrows like those of millipedes (to 80 cm), but the deepest stratum (down to 2 m below the surface) has features interpreted as bioturbation by fungal hyphae and rhizines. Plant-like axes associated with palaeosols are evidence of vegetation with three distinct tiers above ground as inferred from diameters using allometric scaling equations. Nematophytes (Germanophyton psygmophylloides), up to 1.3 m tall, formed a tier above herbaceous vascular land plants (30 cm) and ground cover (<2 cm tall) of thallose organisms and litter. Drab haloed plant bases in the surface of palaeosols demonstrate that nematophytes grew densely (up to 51 m−2) with spacing (20 cm) that closed canopy in seasonally dry wetland palaeosols, comparable with modern marsh vegetation. Vascular land plants of well-drained soils in contrast were scattered, with bare earth between. Wetland ground cover was thus more extensive than cover of well-drained soils, and precursor lichens facilitated early evolution of vascular land plants. Supplementary Material: Tables of mineral and grain-size proportions, major-element chemical analyses, and plant spacing and size are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18848.


The exotic, rangeland weed Lepidium draba L., a brassicaceous perennial, is widely distributed in the United States. For example, Oregon contains 100,000 ha of land infested with L. draba (2). Because it is capable of aggressive spread and has the potential to reduce the value of wheat-growing land (4), it is the target of biological control research. The application of multiple pathogens has been advocated for control of other brassicaceous weeds, including the simultaneous application of biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens (3). In pursuit of this approach, in 2007, we discovered the occurrence of leaf spots on approximately 90% of L. draba plants near Shepherd, MT, which were distinct from leaf lesions caused by Cercospora bizzozeriana (1). The lesions were initially tiny, black spots enlarging over time to become circular to irregular and cream-colored around the initial black spots and sometimes with dark brown borders or chlorotic halos. Conidia from the lesions were light brown, elongate and obclavate, produced singly from short conidia, with 8 to 12 transverse septa, and 2 to 6 longitudinal septa. The spore body measured 25 to 35 × 200 to 250 μm with a beak cell 42 to 100 μm long. On the basis of conidial and cultural characteristics, the fungus was identified as Alternaria brassicae (Berk.) Sacc. Leaf tissues bordering lesions were plated on acidified potato dextrose agar. Colonies on V8 and alfalfa seed agar were black with concentric rings, eventually appearing uniformly black after 10 to 14 days. The internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA was amplified using primers ITS1 and ITS4 and sequenced. BLAST analysis of the 575-bp fragment showed a 100% homology with a sequence of A. brassicae Strain B from mustard (GenBank Accession No. DQ156344). The nucleotide sequence has been assigned GenBank Accession No. FJ869872. For pathogenicity tests, aqueous spore suspensions approximately 105/ml were prepared from cultures grown at 20 to 25°C for 10 to 14 days on V8 agar and sprayed on leaves of three L. draba plants. Inoculated plants were enclosed in plastic bags and incubated at 20 to 22°C for 72 to 80 h. In addition, three plants of the following reported hosts of A. brassicae were inoculated: broccoli, canola, Chinese cabbage, collards, broccoli raab, kale, mustard greens, radish, rape kale, and turnip. Within 10 days, leaf spots similar to those described above developed on plants of radish, canola, Chinese cabbage, and turnip and A. brassicae was reisolated and identified. Control plants sprayed with distilled water remained symptomless. These inoculations were repeated and results were the same. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a leaf spot disease caused by A. brassicae on L. draba in North America. A voucher specimen has been deposited with the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI No. 878750A). References: (1) A. J. Caesar et al. Plant Dis. 93:108, 2009. (2) G. L. Kiemnec and M. L. McInnis. Weed Technol. 16:231, 2002. (3) A. Maxwell and J. K. Scott. Adv. Bot. Res. 43:143, 2005. (4) G. A. Mulligan and J. N. Findlay. Can. J. Plant Sci. 54:149, 1974.


The collapse of the communist regime in Romania, in December 1989, determined, at a very short period of time, the disappearance of the co-operative sector of Bolshevik type, once Law 18 (Land Law) was enforced in February 1991, which initiated the land ownership reform. The causes of the liquidation offormer agricultural production co-operatives were many, as these entities had proved to be efficient tools in the communists' exercise of totalitarian power. In this context, the reactivation or more concretely, the reconfiguration of a new co-operative sector in full process of recognition and reconstitution of the private land ownership seemed impossible to achieve. From an economic perspective, the relaunch of the co-operative sector in agriculture, after 1991, took place under the background of certain "restrictions in the agricultural sector" generated by a complex set of factors, where the competition between the small-sized and the large-sized holdings has constantly prevailed ever since. Starting from these general considerations, we think that the Romanian agriculture first needs a new reconfiguration of the ownership and operation structures; in the second place, it needs a new approach to the agricultural market operation and development policy.


Fragility curves provide the conditional probability of structural response when subjected to earthquake loads as a function of ground motion intensity or other design parameters. Seismic fragility curves are used mainly by decision makers for the assessment of seismic losses both for pre-earthquake disaster planning as well as post-earthquake recovery programs. Generation of fragility curves in conventional methods involves development of large number of computational models that represent the inherent variation in the material properties of particular building type and its earthquake time history analyses to obtain an accurate and reliable estimate of the probability of exceedance of the chosen damage parameter. There are many Response surface methods available in the literature that is capable of representing the limit state surface depending on the problem type. High Dimensional Model Representation (HDMR) method is a type of response surface method that can express input-output relations of complex computational models. This input-output relation can reduce the number of iterations of expensive computations especially in problems like fragility curve development. Unnikrishnan et al. (2012) applied this technique in fragility evaluation for the first time and demonstrated its computational efficiency compared to computationally intensive Monte Carlo method. In this study, fragility curve of an RC frame is developed using HDMR response surface method. There are also other simplified approaches which are computationally easy for fragility curve development. Cornell et.al. (2002) proposed such a simplified method which assumes a power law model between the damage parameter and intensity measure of earthquake. This study presents Fragility curves evaluated using HDMR and its computational efficiency with reference to the one using the method suggested by Cornell et al (2002).


It is well known that females show a greater susceptibility to alcohol-induced liver injury than males. Additionally, females who consume alcohol regularly and have been obese for 10 years or more are at greater risk for both hepatitis and cirrhosis. Female rats on an enteral alcohol protocol exhibit injury more quickly than males, with widespread fatty changes over a larger portion of the liver lobule. Levels of plasma endotoxin, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, free radical adducts, infiltrating neutrophils, and nuclear factor-kappaB are increased about twofold more in livers from female than male rats after enteral alcohol treatment. Estrogen treatment in vivo increases the sensitivity of Kupffer cells to endotoxin. Evidence has been presented that Kupffer cells are pivotal in the development of alcohol-induced liver injury. Destruction of Kupffer cells with gadolinium chloride (GdCl3) or reduction of bacterial endotoxin by sterilization of the gut with antibiotics blocks early inflammation due to alcohol. Similar results have been obtained with anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha antibody. These findings led to the hypothesis that alcohol-induced liver injury involves increases in circulating endotoxin, leading to activation of Kupffer cells, which causes a hypoxia-reoxygenation injury. This idea has been tested using pimonidazole, a nitroimidazole marker, to quantitate hypoxia in downstream pericentral regions of the liver lobule. After chronic enteral alcohol, pimonidazole binding increases twofold. Enteral alcohol also increases free radicals detected with electron spin resonance. Importantly, hepatic hypoxia and radical production detected in bile are decreased by destruction of Kupffer cells with GdCl3. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that Kupffer cells participate in important gender differences in liver injury caused by alcohol.


The intergenerational continuity of fishing communities is a growing concern for the sustainability of small-scale fisheries around Europe. This is exemplified through the case of an English crab fishery where young people are being encouraged into fishing through funded training programmes with limited success. Opportunities for work have declined, most notably through a reduction in crew size to save costs. Interviews with fishermen of different ages are explored using access theory to elucidate how the social reproduction of fishing has changed. This shows how the agency of young aspiring fishermen is increasingly constrained by regulatory and financial factors. Improved social and spatial mobility among fishing families mean that recruitment into the fishery through a father-to-son pathway is increasingly uncommon. Youngsters from non-fishing families face additional financial and relational barriers. Funded courses alone cannot provide a solution. A holistic approach to rural coastal development is required to build social resilience in fishing communities across Europe faced with similar problems.


The support of the Michigan State Medical Society is appreciated as we implement the Michigan Children's Immunization Registry. I look forward to collaborating on the registry and other initiatives to quickly raise Michigan's immunization rate for two-year-olds from 64%, the lowest in the nation, to 100%. This is a responsibility that we all bear, in both the public and private sectors. To say that our national status is a professional embarrassment is to understate the seriousness of this circumstance. We must fulfill our obligation to fully immunize all children by age two.


It appears inevitable, absent legislative intervention, that regulation under the Clean Air Act (CAA) will move beyond mobile sources to the industrial and power facilities that emit most U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We analyze the mechanisms available to the EPA for regulating such sources, and identify one, New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) as the most predictable, likely, and practical, i.e. knowable, pathway. Based on the legal structure of the NSPS and the EPA's traditional approach, we analyze a hypothetical GHG NSPS for one sector, coal electricity generation. This analysis indicates that efficiency improvements and perhaps biomass cofiring could be implemented through the NSPS, yielding modest but meaningful emissions reductions. Trading could also rein in costs. Though analysis is limited to one sector and does not include modeling of costs, it suggests that CAA regulation, though inferior to comprehensive climate legislation, could be a useful tool for regulating stationary-source GHGs.


Background: The study of gestational malaria has focused on biomedical aspects and ignored social aspects.

Objectives: To describe the socio-economic characteristics of families with and without gestational malaria in Turbo (Antioquia, Colombia).

Methodology: Descriptive study using socio-economic surveys in a random sample of 84 mothers/families.

Results: There was no statistically significant differences between pregnant women with and without gestational malaria in terms of the characteristics examined. The mothers were between ages 23 ±5 years, 64% of peasant origin, 14% illiterate, 61% educated to primary school level, 17% with knowledge of a particular trade. Among the 23 % of mothers doing paid work it was marginal work in all cases; 63% were direct operators and 37% were administrators/managers; average monthly income 166,000 pesos (USD $83). Spouses/partners worked as follows: 52% miscellaneous occupations, 17% in farming; average monthly income 320,000 pesos (USD $160). Complete nuclear families were found in 77% of cases and averaged 5.4 members each. Housing: 63% family owned; 2.5 sleepers/room; 2.5 sleepers/mosquito net. There was no anti-mosquito activity in 62% of families. Drinking/cooking water: 76% use rainfall as sole or combined source. Connection to sewage system: 59%. Home environment: 71% with vegetation and flowing/stagnant water. Waste: 26% dumped on the ground/in the water.

Conclusions: The living conditions of these families are less than satisfactory. Mothers are financially dependent (80%) and those with paid employment (20%) work in marginal activities. The home environment and families' antimalarial practices strongly favor the presence of malaria.


The effect of chloroquine in the treatment of psoriasis remains controversial. Treatment of psoriasis in HIV infection is not well described. Chloroquine has been shown to have direct effects on both the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and on the psoriasis disease process. The effect of chloroquine in HIV infected patients with psoriasis has not been well studied. We report on the effect of chloroquine on psoriasis-like lesions in three HIV infected patients who were not on antiretroviral therapy. Three consecutive HIV positive patients with CD4 cell count below 200cells/mm 3 had unequivocal improvement of their psoriasis-like lesions after 2 weeks of a daily dose of 150mg of chloroquine. In conclusion, chloroquine may be useful in the treatment of psoriasis-like lesions in patients with HIV infection particularly in resource poor settings. Ideally, a controlled clinical trial will be needed to confirm this.


In recent years, numerical heat and fluid flow models have provided significant insight into welding processes and welded materials that could not have been achieved otherwise. However, these calculations are complex and time consuming, and are unsuitable in situations where rapid calculations are desired. A practical solution to this problem is to develop a neural network that is trained with the data generated by a numerical heat and fluid flow model. Apart from providing high computational speed, the results of this neural network conform to the basic laws of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. In the present study, six feed-forward neural networks have been developed for the gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding of low-carbon steel. Each network provides one of the six output parameters of GTA welds, i.e., depth, width, and length of the weld pool, peak temperature, cooling time from 800° to 500°C, and maximum liquid velocity. The networks require values of 17 input parameters including the welding variables like current, voltage, welding speed, arc efficiency, arc radius, and power distribution factor, and material properties like thermal conductivity and specific heat. The weights of the neural networks were calculated using two optimization schemes, first using the gradient descent (GD) method with various sets of randomized initial weights, and then applying a hybrid optimization scheme where a genetic algorithm (GA) is used in combination with the GD method. The neural networks produced by the hybrid optimization approach gave better results than all the networks based on only the GD method. Unlike the GD method alone, the hybrid optimization scheme could find the significantly better weights, which is illustrated by the good agreement between all the outputs from the neural networks and the corresponding results from the heat and fluid flow model.


Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) techniques are now key tools in the detection of population genomic and gene expression differences in a large array of organisms. However, so far few studies have utilized such data for phylogenetic estimations. Here, we use NGS data obtained from genome‐wide restriction site‐associated DNA (RAD) (∼66000 SNPs) to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among all 26 species of swordtail and platyfish (genus Xiphophorus) from Central America. Past studies, both sequence and morphology‐based, have differed in their inferences of the evolutionary relationships within this genus, particularly at the species‐level and among monophyletic groupings. We show that using a large number of markers throughout the genome, we are able to infer the phylogenetic relationships with unparalleled resolution for this genus. The relationships among all three major clades and species within each of them are highly resolved and consistent under maximum likelihood, Bayesian inference and maximum parsimony. However, we also highlight the current cautions with this data type and analyses. This genus exhibits a particularly interesting evolutionary history where at least two species may have arisen through hybridization events. Here, we are able to infer the paternal lineages of these putative hybrid species. Using the RAD‐marker‐based tree we reconstruct the evolutionary history of the sexually selected sword trait and show that it may have been present in the common ancestor of the genus. Together our results highlight the outstanding capacity that RAD sequencing data has for resolving previously problematic phylogenetic relationships, particularly among relatively closely related species.


A crustal-detachment model, based on the interpretation of linear aeromagnetic anomalies, surface geological observations, and deep seismic profiles, is proposed for the continent-continent collision between the North and South China blocks east of the Tanlu fault. The model suggests that during the mid-Mesozoic collision between the two continental blocks, the upper crust of the South China block in the Subei-Yellow Sea region was detached from the lower crust and thrust over the North China block for >400 km, whereas the lower part of the lithosphere was subducted under the North China block along a subsurface suture running east from Nanjing. The sinistral offset of the Qinling suture by the Tanlu fault is only 110-120 km in the deep crust—much less than previously suggested.


Retinal exudates are typically manifested as spatially random yellow/white patches of varying sizes and shapes. They are a characteristic feature of retinal diseases such as diabetic maculopathy. An automatic method for the detection of exudate regions is introduced comprising image colour normalisation, enhancing the contrast between the objects and background, segmenting the colour retinal image into homogenous regions using Fuzzy C-Means clustering, and classifying the regions into exudates and non exudates patches using a neural network. Experimental results indicate that we are able to achieve 92% sensitivity and 82% specificity.


Abstract We studied Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla) and Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) habitat use in allopatric and sympatric populations in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming in order to better understand the different habitat needs and interactions of these two species. Foraging Wilson's Warblers and Yellow Warblers used very similar habitat, both selecting larger, more open shrubs. In spite of similar foraging habitat, comparisons of habitat use by the two species at the sympatric sites yielded no evidence of foraging habitat partitioning or exclusion. There was evidence of nesting habitat partitioning. Wilson's Warblers nested on the ground, with some evidence that they used smaller, more densely stemmed shrubs under which to nest. Yellow Warblers are shrub nesters and selected larger, more open shrubs in which to nest. Results provide no evidence that Yellow Warblers can be blamed for population declines in Wilson's Warblers.


This paper provides an updated analysis of observed changes in extreme precipitation using high-quality station data up to 2018. We examine changes in extreme precipitation represented by annual maxima of 1-day (Rx1day) and 5-day (Rx5day) precipitation accumulations at different spatial scales and attempt to address whether the signal in extreme precipitation has strengthened with several years of additional observations. Extreme precipitation has increased at about two-thirds of stations and the percentage of stations with significantly increasing trends is significantly larger than that can be expected by chance for the globe, continents including Asia, Europe, and North America, and regions including central North America, eastern North America, northern Central America, northern Europe, the Russian Far East, eastern central Asia, and East Asia. The percentage of stations with significantly decreasing trends is not different from that expected by chance. Fitting extreme precipitation to generalized extreme value distributions with global mean surface temperature (GMST) as a covariate reaffirms the statistically significant connections between extreme precipitation and temperature. The global median sensitivity, percentage change in extreme precipitation per 1 K increase in GMST is 6.6% (5.1% to 8.2%; 5%–95% confidence interval) for Rx1day and is slightly smaller at 5.7% (5.0% to 8.0%) for Rx5day. The comparison of results based on observations ending in 2018 with those from data ending in 2000–09 shows a consistent median rate of increase, but a larger percentage of stations with statistically significant increasing trends, indicating an increase in the detectability of extreme precipitation intensification, likely due to the use of longer records.


Objective Overpopulation is a major problem encountered in paediatric emergency departments. Triage of emergencies has been proposed as a possible solution. We compared the degree of emergency assignments between parents, specialist registrars (SR) and paediatric emergency physicians (PEP) in order to understand parental perception of their child's illness. Methods The questionnaire survey was conducted in all consecutive patients of the PED of a tertiary hospital during two periods. The accompanying parent and the SR rated the child using the following scale: 1, real emergency; 2, not urgent but treatment is needed rapidly; 3, visit without any emergency character. The medical records were reviewed independently by two PEP. Kappa statistics were calculated. Results Summer 2002: the response rate was 77.3% (n  =  978/1265). Mean child age was 65.3 ± 55.5 months. Parents rated emergency department visits as follows: 1, 35.6%; 2, 47.6% and 3, 16.8%. The kappa level of agreement was 0.129 between parents and SR, 0.07 between parents and PEP and 0.91 between specialist SR and PEP. Winter 2003: the response rate was 82.1% (n  =  663/808). Mean child age was 55.4 ± 53.9 months. Parents rated the emergency department visit as follows: 1, 43.8%; 2, 38.8% and 3, 17.5%. The kappa level of agreement was 0.09 between parents and SR, 0.04 between parents and PEP and 0.55 between SR and PEP. Conclusions The level of agreement was poor between parents and physicians and substantial between SR and PEP. Parents perceived their child's condition as more emergent than the actual emergency level assigned by physicians. Parents' misperception of an emergency is one of the factors associated with inappropriate paediatric emergency department use.


The purpose of this research is to find out the types of directive speech acts employed by the characters in the film Captain America and to reveal the reasons and the purposes of those directives are employed by the main characters.
 This research used descriptive qualitative method which took purposive sampling technique. The data of the research were taken from the dialogue containing Directives Speech Acts in the film entitled Captain America. They were classified by using Amy B M Tsui's theory.
 The findings of the research show that there are four types of Directives which is divided into two sub-classes, Advisives and Mandatives, employed by the characters in the film Captain America, namely Warning of Advisives, Advice of Advisives, Instruction of Mandatives, and Threat of Mandatives.
Another finding shows that the reasons why the characters employed certain directive cannot be separated from the context of situations and the theme of the movie itself. Besides, the power relation among the characters also becomes another factor to explain why the characters perform certain directive.
The reasons of the directives performed by the characters in this movie are classified into four. First, in Warning of Advisives, the speaker wants to show his/her care about the addressee. Second, in Advice of Avisives speech, the speaker wants to show his/her apprehensive to the addressee. Third, in Instruction of Mandatives, the speaker wants to show his/her authority. Fourth, Threat in Mandatives, the speaker wants to warn the addressees.


Complex contagions describe diffusion of behaviors in a social network in settings where spreading requires influence by two or more neighbors. In a k-complex contagion, a cluster of nodes are initially infected, and additional nodes become infected in the next round if they have at least k already infected neighbors. It has been argued that complex contagions better model behavioral changes such as adoption of new beliefs, fashion trends or expensive technology innovations. This has motivated rigorous understanding of spreading of complex contagions in social networks. Despite simple contagions (k=1) that spread fast in all small world graphs, how complex contagions spread is much less understood. Previous work [11] analyzes complex contagions in Kleinberg's small world model [14] where edges are randomly added according to a spatial distribution (with exponent γ) on top of a two dimensional grid structure. It has been shown in [11] that the speed of complex contagions differs exponentially when γ=0 compared to when γ=2. In this paper, we fully characterize the entire parameter space of γ except at one point, and provide upper and lower bounds for the speed of k-complex contagions. We study two subtly different variants of Kleinberg's small world model and show that, with respect to complex contagions, they behave differently. For each model and each k ≥ 2, we show that there is an intermediate range of values, such that when γ takes any of these values, a k-complex contagion spreads quickly on the corresponding graph, in a polylogarithmic number of rounds. However, if γ is outside this range, then a k-complex contagion requires a polynomial number of rounds to spread to the entire network.


The purpose of this article is to extend and integrate the new strategic reference points theory (SRP), developed in the strategic management area, into the discipline of strategic marketing management. The major new tenets of the theory are the inclusion of cognitive, organizational processes and benchmarking simultaneously. First, the authors describe the impact of the marketing SRP on marketing strategic choice behavior captured in the tradeoff between risk and return (risk avert vs. risk lover) as was proposed by prospect theory. Then, they explore the performance consequences of integrating the newly formed stages while considering organizational process and implementation issues of reference points such as content, configuration, consensus, and change.


Douglas Neckers, Advisor Marine biofouling is a worldwide problem for all seagoing vessels. It causes a roughness of a ship's hull, a decrease in its speed and maneuverability and thereby increasing fuel consumption and emission of waste products into the atmosphere. As long as 2000 years ago, people attempted to prevent biofouling by covering ship's hulls with copper and lead sheets. Since then a large variety of methods have been tried but none proved ideal. The current research project tests incorporation a glyphosate-based biocide into a model marine coating to prevent the formation of biofilmsone of the first steps in marine fouling and thereby block biofouling process. This work describes a synthetic route for a novel compound acrylated glyphosate and characterization by chemical, analytical and physical methods. Polymerization, photopolymerization and copolymerization experiments proved the novel compound efficiently polymerizes and copolymerizes during reasonably short time intervals (120sec-10 min). Biological assays based on the Kirby-Bauer test and monitoring of growth inhibition showed that the acrylated glyphosate derivative, as well as its polymer, possess strong herbicidal activity against model and common biofouling organisms. Incorporation of acrylated glyphosate into model acrylic resin yielded a highly crosslinked coating which proved to be toxic toward the microorganisms. Release experiments showed no leaching of copolymerized acrylated glyphosate from the coating over 21 days. This indicates that the compound, incorporated into the backbone structure of the


This research was carried out in two experiments. In first experiment, three different levels of vitamin C (0, 50 and 100 mg/kg feed) were added the diets based on corn, and the effects of the diets on egg yields, blood vitamin levels, T-lymphocyte per- centage, plasma cell count in spleen and antibody titers against the vaccine of Newcastle disease were investigated for one year. Total of 648 laying hens were used in this experiment. The group fed the diet added 50 mg/kg vitamin C, produced less egg and fed more feed for one kg egg than other groups. There were no obvious differences among groups at the antibody titers, the ratio of T-lymphocyte and blood vitamin C levels. In the second experiment twentyfour chiks for each group were supplied by hatching eggs from the hens used in experiment I in order to investigate maternal immunity. Antibody titers were determined at day 2, 7 and 10. At same day, for histologic investiga- tion, blood and some lenfoid tissue samples from spleen, bursa Fabricii, tymus and ileum were taken at same days. The effects of different vitamin C levels were not significant on the antibody titers and histologic results.


Abstract
In 1975, private and social housing production in Chile started to become increasingly privatized, in parallel with capital switching into the secondary circuit due to severe deindustrialization of the country. Since then, housing demand has largely drawn on state housing subsidies aimed at middle- to low-income demand, but more recently, a growing financialized mortgage market has increased demand even further, enlarging the mortgage debt burden on Chilean households. Private housing producers achieve higher profits by increasing sales prices, whilst production costs are kept relatively stable by purchasing and developing the cheapest land available, both on the fringes and within the inner sectors of the main metropolitan areas, as a form of accumulation by dispossession in hitherto underexploited, non-commodified land. However, low purchase prices of land create housing unaffordability for numbers of original owner-residents who sell land to redevelopers but cannot then afford replacement accommodation given the soaring housing prices in the main metropolises. It is for this reason that some central areas become gentrified. Focusing on the case of high-rise redevelopment of inner-city areas in Santiago, Chile, this paper addresses the extent to which demand and private developers' profits increase alongside the risks of a generalized growing level of household debt and the displacement of low-income communities from inner areas. The continuous expansion of the extremely privatized housing market of Santiago responds to the needs of capital expansion rather than to the people's needs.


David L. Petersen's 1997 paper, "Rethinking the Nature of
 Prophetic Literature" posits a five-fold typology of prophetic literature and
 prophetic roles: (1) divinatory chronicles about seers; (2) vision reports
 concerning seer/visionaries; (3) prophetic speech from prophets; (4) legends
 about men of God; (5) prophetic histories, attributed to intermediaries with no
 formal title. Petersen critiques other scholars for stereotyping prophets as
 formal speakers or poets, viewing prophetic literature too often as the actual
 words of prophets, and reducing its diversity to a single message. Petersen
 makes a number of valid points, especially his call for an interdisciplinary
 dialogue. Yet, he himself is dismissive of many approaches in the
 "methodological stew" that he considers "uninformed". His typology is supported
 by ambiguous evidence, and he works with an uncritically studied premise that
 the Hebrew Bible reflects accurate data about prophets. Similar objections can
 be raised concerning his complaints about the prejudgments. My critique is based
 on a fundamentally different historical paradigm than that of Petersen.
 Cross-cultural comparisons cannot reliably describe the social institution of
 prophecy, although other types of social scientific research may provide
 heuristic tools for study in different directions. The biblical portrait of
 'classical' prophecy needs analysis as the construction of a later era. The
 literary qualities of the texts also deserve attention. Perceptual role theory,
 as opposed to the role theory employed by Petersen, may provide a link between
 literary and historical research into the manufacturers of the biblical
 portrait. The required dialogue is much more eclectic than Petersen's paper
 would allow.


Objective: The outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the WHO in March 2020. Studies from China, where the virus first spread, have reported increased psychological strain in healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychosocial burden of physicians and nurses depending on their degree of contact with COVID-19 patients. In addition, we explored which supportive resources they used and which supportive needs they experienced during the crisis. Methods: Data were collected between March and April 2020 at the University Hospital Augsburg. A total of 75 nurses and 35 physicians, working either in a special COVID-19 ward or in a regular ward, took part in the survey. The participants filled in two standardized questionnaires (the Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ; and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI), and reported their fear of a COVID-19 infection and stress at work on a 10-point Likert scale. Finally, they answered three open-ended questions about causes of burden, supportive resources and needs during the crisis. Results: Nurses working in the COVID-19 wards reported higher levels of stress, exhaustion, and depressive mood, as well as lower levels of work-related fulfilment compared to their colleagues in the regular wards. Physicians reported similar scores independent of their contact with COVID-19 patients. The most common causes for burden were job strain and uncertainty about the future. Psychosocial support as well as leisure time were listed as important resources, and a better infrastructure adjustment to COVID-19 at the hospital (e.g. sufficient staff, keeping teams and working schedules stable) as suggestion for improvement. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that especially nurses working in COVID-19 wards are affected psychologically by the consequences of the pandemic. This might be due to a higher workload and longer time in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, compared to physicians.


The Vasa DEAD-box helicases are widespread markers of germ cells across species, and in some organisms have been shown to be essential for germ-cell formation and development. In contrast to the single Vasa gene in most systems analyzed, Caenorhabditis elegans has four Vasa family members, the germline helicases GLH-1, GLH-2, GLH-3, and GLH-4. Our analysis of deletion alleles of each glh gene demonstrates that GLH-1 is the key member of the family: loss of GLH-1 function causes sterility that is mainly maternal effect, is manifested predominantly at elevated temperature, and is due to reduced germ-cell proliferation and impaired formation of both sperm and oocytes. The other GLHs are not essential. However, GLH-4 serves redundant roles with GLH-1: loss of both genes' function causes glh-1-like sterility at all temperatures. Molecular epistasis analysis demonstrates that GLH-1 and GLH-4 are required for proper association of the PGL family of proteins with P granules, suggesting a pathway of P-granule assembly in which the GLHs are upstream of the PGL proteins and the mRNA cap-binding protein IFE-1. While loss of some P-granule components causes worms to be defective in RNA interference, loss of GLH-1 and GLH-4 does not compromise RNAi. Thus, RNAi likely does not require intact P granules but instead relies on particular P-granule factors. We discuss the evolution of the Vasa/GLH genes and current views of their functions and the assembly and roles of germ granules among species.


ABSTRACT Recent research has revealed some inconsistencies in the traditionally negative attitudes towards consensual nonmonogamy (CNM; sexually and/or emotionally nonexclusive romantic relationships), with some adults reporting fairly neutral attitudes. These inconsistencies may be related to the effects of socially desirable responding when adopting self-report (e.g. explicit) measures. Thus, the current study assessed young men and women's implicit attitudes towards CNM (using the Implicit Association Test) in order to bypass issues associated with social desirability bias. The results from 204 college students (81 men, 123 women) revealed that, despite reporting neutral explicit attitudes towards CNM, young men and women demonstrated a strong automatic preference for monogamy (mean D score = 0.71; SD = 0.32). Furthermore, the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes was clarified by assessing the extent to which participants were likely to engage in socially desirable responding. Implicit and explicit attitudes towards CNM were more closely related among those less likely to evidence social desirability bias as compared to those who were more likely to fall prey to this bias. These findings highlight the importance of assessing implicit attitudes and provide evidence of the strong social stigma surrounding CNM.


This paper aims to expose the many possibilities of using digestate in biogas plants and the advantages of its using. In agricultural animal farms is produced a big quantity of animal manure, which must be adequate managed, mainly as fertiliser. The most advantageous solution of using animal manure and slurry is using it in biogas plants, where, due to degradation of organic matter, digestate is easier to pump and easier to apply as fertiliser, with reduced need of stirring, compared to untreated slurry. The researches made showes that digestate has lower C/N ratio, compared to raw manure. This property means that digestate has a better effect in fertilisation with Nitrogen on short term. The paper also shows the effects of digestate application on soil, compared to compost application of digestate as fertiliser, must be done on the basis of a fertiliser plan. The fertiliser plan with digestate is elaborated for each agricultural farm, according to the type of crop.


A Weblog is a Web site where entries are made in diary style, maintained by its sole author - a blogger, and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Due to the freedom and convenience of publishing in Weblogs, this form of media provides an ideal environment as a propaganda platform for terrorist groups to promote their ideologies and as an operation platform for organizing crimes. In this work, we present a framework to analyze and visualize Weblog social network embedded beneath relevant Weblogs gathered through topic-specific exploration. Link analysis uses the relationships between bloggers to construct the Weblog social network. Content analysis associates similar blog messages to unveil implicit relationships found in the semantics to further improve the Weblog social network analysis. Users can use different interactive information visualization techniques to explore various aspects of the underlying social network at different levels of abstraction. With the capability of analyzing and visualizing Weblog social networks in terrorist and crime related matters, intelligence agencies and law enforcement will be able to have an additional tools and means to ensure the national security.


This paper examines the flexible labor of Chinese female sex workers (FSWs) by looking at their job mobility. We show the women's flexible job mobility as an active strategy in addition to a direct response to the marketplace. Drawing upon in-depth interview data (n=175) during twenty-six months of ethnographic fieldwork in post-socialist China, we demonstrate the workers' spatial mobility (i.e., holding jobs in multiple locations) and temporal mobility (i.e., changing jobs frequently), which are critical features of the women's lived experiences. Our analysis shows that the women in the sex trade have high job mobility and that their multiple occupations include a wide range of work – from sex work to formal sectors. Their high job mobility stems from inventive negotiation that generates greater profits, increased stability, and reputational advantages. The findings pose three distinct challenges to the way sex work in China has been portrayed: (1) female sex workers can be excluded from the "general population"; (2) female sex workers can be labeled as a member of a particular sex worker category; and (3) the exclusive categorization between "commercial sex work" (e.g., xiaojie or prostitutes) and "transactional sex" (e.g., ernai or "second wife.") The research demonstrates the strong agency of female sex workers even within adverse structural restraints, which contributes to existing discussions of whether sex work is voluntary or coerced.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of direct current (DC) and pulse current (PC) parameters on the properties of cobalt (Co) coatings electrodeposited from a chloride acidic bath. The effects of peak current density, frequency and duty cycle on the surface morphology, crystal size, thickness, current efficiency, and preferred orientation of the deposits were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The experimental thickness of the deposit was lower for pulse plating compared to that of DC plating. The current efficiency was comparatively higher for pulse plating. Less porosity and fine grains were formed by pulse plating. From XRD analysis, the calculated grain sizes of nano and micro Co coatings were around 65nm and 430nm, respectively. The results showed that, with an increase in duty cycle, grain sizes would increase, too. As pulse frequency was increased to 50Hz, grain sizes would also decrease. However, at higher frequencies, grain sizes would increase again.


To cite: Duff P, Shoveller J, Feng C, et al. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2015;41:102–108. ABSTRACT Objective To better understand the prevalence and correlates of pregnancy intentions among female sex workers (FSWs). Design Cross-sectional analysis using data from an open prospective cohort of street and offstreet FSWs in Vancouver, Canada, in partnership with local sex work and community agencies. Methods FSWs were recruited through outreach to street and off-street locations (e.g. massage parlours, micro-brothels) and completed interviewer-administered questionnaires and HIV/ sexually transmitted infection testing. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate correlates of pregnancy intention, based on a 'yes' or 'no' response to the question "Are you planning on have any (any more) children in the future?". Results Of the 510 women, 394 (77.3%) reported prior pregnancy, with 140 (27.5%) of the entire sample reporting positive pregnancy intentions. Regarding ethnicity, 35.3% were Caucasian and 26.3% were Asian/visible minority, with no differences in pregnancy intention by ethnicity or HIV status; 38.4% reported Canadian Aboriginal ancestry. In our final multivariable model, servicing clients in formal indoor settings, inconsistent condom use by clients, younger age, and intimate partner violence (IPV) were associated with pregnancy intention. Conclusions FSWs may have pregnancy intention levels similar to that of women in other occupations. Policy changes are needed to improve FSWs' access to integrated HIV and reproductive health services and harm reduction services, particularly for FSWs experiencing IPV.


Peroxisomes are ubiquitous membrane-enclosed organelles involved in lipid processing and reactive oxygen detoxification. Mutations in human peroxisome biogenesis genes (Peroxin, PEX) cause progressive developmental disabilities and, in severe cases, early death. PEX5 and PEX7 are receptors that recognize different peroxisomal targeting signals called PTS1 and PTS2, respectively, and traffic proteins to the peroxisomal matrix. We characterized mutants of Drosophila melanogaster Pex5 and Pex7 and found that adult animals are affected in lipid processing. Moreover, Pex5 mutants exhibited severe developmental defects in the embryonic nervous system and muscle, similar to what is observed in humans with Pex5 mutations, while Pex7 fly mutants were weakly affected in brain development, suggesting different roles for Pex7 in fly and human. Of note, although no PTS2-containing protein has been identified in Drosophila, Pex7 from Drosophila can function as a bona fide PTS2 receptor because it can rescue targeting of the PTS2-containing protein Thiolase to peroxisomes in PEX7 mutant human fibroblasts.


This thesis focuses on the development of a real-time and cost effective marker-less computer vision method for significant body point or part detection (i.e., the head, arm, shoulder, knee, and feet), labelling and tracking, and its application to activity recognition. This work comprises of three parts: significantbody point detection and labelling, significant body point tracking, and activity recognition. Implicit body models are proposed based on human anthropometry, kinesiology, and human vision inspired criteria to detect and label significant body points. The key idea of the proposed method is to fit the knowledge from the implicit body models rather than fitting the predefined models in order to detect and label significant body points. The advantages of this method are that it does not require manual annotation, an explicit fitting procedure, and a training (learning) phase, and it is applicable to humans with different anthropometric proportions. The experimental results show that the proposed method robustly detects and labels significant body points in various activities of two different (low and high) resolution data sets. Furthermore, a Particle Filter with memory and feedback is proposed that combines temporal information of the previous observation and estimation with feedback to track significant body points in occlusion. In addition, in order to overcome the problem presented by the most occluded body part, i.e., the arm, a Motion Flow method is proposed. This method considers the human arm as a pendulum attached to the shoulder joint and defines conjectures to track the arm since it is the most occluded body part. The former method is invoked as default and the latter is used as per a user's choice. The experimental results show that the two proposed methods, i.e., Particle Filter and Motion Flow methods, robustly track significant body points in various activities of the above-mentioned two data sets and also enhance the performance of significant body point detection. A hierarchical relaxed partitioning system is then proposed that employs features extracted from the significant body points for activity recognition when multiple overlaps exist in the feature space. The working principle of the proposed method is based on the relaxed hierarchy (postpone uncertain decisions) and hierarchical strategy (group similar or confusing classes) while partitioning each class at different levels of the hierarchy. The advantages of the proposed method lie in its real-time speed, ease of implementation and extension, and non-intensive training. The experimental results show that it acquires valuable features and outperforms relevant state-of-the-art methods while comparable to other methods, i.e., the holistic and local feature approaches. In this context, the contribution of this thesis is three-fold:

Pioneering a method for automated human body part detection and labelling.

Developing methods for tracking human body parts in occlusion.

Designing a method for robust and efficient human action recognition.


Seeds of various accessions of Annona muricata, Greenwayodendron suaveolens and Cleistopholis patens were collected from the wet forest, dry forest and derived savanna areas of Nigeria to determine their karyotype. Each of the species has a chromosome number of n = 7 (2n = 14). A pair of satellited chromosomes was observed in the genome of Greenwayodendron suaveolens and Cleistopholis patens. The centromeric positions in the species of Annonaceae investigated are nearly median with predominance of large chromosome types. The karyotypes were similar within the species studied, with small intra-and inter-generic variations in terms of size. The karyotypic patterns suggest that there is no evidence of chromosome rearrangement in their evolution. IFE Journal of Science Vol. 9 (2) 2007 pp. 161-166


The rapid rise in health care costs during the 1980s has led to a growing demand for utilization management companies, supported by teams of physician advisors. The increasing involvement of physician advisors in day-to-day case review has also led to a growing necessity for their being hired on an in-house basis. This article attempts to show a basic process for developing a functional and efficient in-house physician advisor program.


In this paper, we propose the first method for post-silicon customization of resource binding for low power application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) design. We devise and implement a new synthesis framework that generates a diverse set of resource binding candidates where any one of the candidates could be selected post-silicon. Orthogonal arrays are used to construct multiple candidates with diversified resource usage patterns. We tune the resource usage to match the unique power characteristic of each IC by selecting the best binding candidate that minimizes the pertinent chip's power consumption. We show efficient methods for embedding multiple binding candidates inside one design. Experimental evaluations on benchmark circuits demonstrate the effectiveness and low overhead of the proposed methods. For example, our post-silicon tuning achieves an average of 10% power savings on the benchmark circuits for variations present in 45nm technology. The power savings of post-silicon binding customization are expected to increase with scaling and miniaturization of CMOS feature sizes that inherently incur higher variations.


This paper provides an empirical analysis of the mechanism through which R&D and export influence investment decision. The analysis is based on a large representative and cross-country comparative sample of manufacturing firms across seven European countries. To control for reverse causality between export decision and R&D spending and investment, we use an instrumental variable analysis to overcome the problem of endogeneity. Employing a three step procedure, it is assumed that R&D decision is endogenously determined by receiving public subsidies, and, in turn, affect investments through its impact on engagement by the firm in international trade. The results suggest that R&D positively affects export propensity. We find that there is an average increase in propensity to invest for those firms which decide to engage in R&D activities. The results also reveal that the effect of decision to export on investment behaviour is positive and highly significant, when accounting for endogeneity of export activity.


In Malaysia, there are presently 4.3 million hectares of oil palm plantation, which produce over 100 million tonnes of biomass, such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), kernel shells (oil palm shell or OPS) and pressed fruit fibres (PPF) from mills, as well as oil palm fronds (OPF) and oil palm trunks (OPT) from fields. In this work, proximate, ultimate, hydrolysis and heating value analyses were carried out on EFB, OPS and OPF. The results demonstrated that dried unwashed EFB, OPS and OPF have a moisture content of 7.01 mf wt%, 3.44 mf wt% and 8.01 mf wt%, respectively, with high volatile matter of approximately 75–82 mf wt% and ash content of approximately 4 mf wt%. The higher heating values (HHV) of the samples were determined using a bomb calorimeter technique. A simple water washing pre-treatment was also employed to study ash reduction in EFB, OPS and OPF. A high char yield was obtained by slow pyrolysis while minimising liquid and gas yields. It was determined that the carbon content was high for samples with low ash content. Furthermore, the washed and unwashed samples were analysed by thermogravimetric analysis to determine their thermal degradation behaviour.


Embryonic development involves a fundamental biomechanical process that constructs complicated three-dimensional tissue structures through massive cellular movements. During early gastrulation stages, polarized cell intercalation movements drive the dramatic extension of the Xenopus laevis frog embryo in the anterior-posterior direction. How those individual cellular protrusive forces integrate to produce the bulk force at the tissue level remains unknown. Furthermore, the embryo is shaped not only by active forces, but also by the mechanical properties such as the viscoelastic properties of the constituent tissues. Although rapid progresses have been made to identify the genes or proteins involved in this process, there is much less known about mechanical roles of the genes and proteins in the process. By investigating the contribution of subcellular-, cellular-, and tissue-level structures to the tissue mechanical properties, we found that, on the tissue-level, there were large temporal and spatial variation in tissue stiffness of dorsal isolates and the stiffness was largely dependent on paraxial mesoderm tissues, while notochord tissue, which has been proposed to support the early embryos, was not a major contributor to the tissue mechanics. On the cellular-level, the mechanical properties of dorsal isolates were mainly dependent on cells, but not their ECM. On the subcellular-level, the mechanical properties of the embryonic cells were determined by actin and myosin II contractility, while microtubules indirectly controlled the tissue stiffness by regulating actomyosin network through a Rho-GEF mediated signaling pathway. In order to measure the tissue extension forces, we developed a high throughput technique combining imaging techniques and finite element models. Using this technique, we identified two cases of mechanical adaptation. In the first case we found that dorsal axial tissues generated less force to compensate for their own lower mechanical resistance. In the second we found that dorsal axial tissues encountering a stiffer environment were capable of generating nearly 2-fold greater force. These cases of adaptation demonstrate that force production is quantitatively balanced during CE and that the mechanisms responsible for this adaptation are able to ensure robust morphogenesis against environmental and genetic variation in physical force production and tissue stiffness.


This chapter deals with the design of multiple input multiple-output (MIMO) radar space- time transmit code (STTC) and space-time receive filter (STRF) to enhance moving targets detection in the presence of signal-dependent interferences, where we assume that some knowledge of target and clutter statistics are available for MIMO radar system according to a cognitive paradigm by using a site-specific (possible dynamic) environment database. Thus, an iterative sequential optimization algorithm with ensuring the convergence is proposed to maximize the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) under the similar- ity and constant modulus constraints on the probing waveform. In particular, each iteration of the proposed algorithm requires to solve the hidden convex problems. The computational complexity is linear with the number of iterations and polynomial with the sizes of the STTW and the STRF. Finally, the gain and the computation time of the proposed algorithm also compared with the available methods are evaluated.


Abstract Philosophy and sociology of science have devoted significant attention to processes which define what counts as valid scientific knowledge thus making the producers of such knowledge legitimate academics at the expense of those who do not conform to the cliché. In accounting, too, a vibrant debate has augmented our understanding of the conditions which make certain kinds of accounting knowledge more acceptable than others. The debate included, but was not limited to, issues such as, the institutional arrangements of accounting academic associations and doctoral training regimes and how these shape journals' editorial boards and the selection of published articles. This introduction aims to reopen that debate on the two realms of institutions and practices. In terms of institutional arrangements, we note relevant changes in the forces which contribute to define the quality and relevance of accounting knowledge. We discuss the institutional space towards which accounting departments and scholars are increasingly migrating, that is, business schools. These are often separated from universities and operate under pressures which are sometimes only marginally academic in nature. In terms of practices, we observe changes in academic training regimes which favour the proliferation of opportunistic behaviours. These changes call for a debate on the governance of accounting academia, if academia is to be a knowledge and ethical, and not simply rather a business enterprise.


The security and efficiency of communication are two of the main concerns for networks of today and the future. Our understanding of how to efficiently send information over various channels and networks has significantly increased in the past decade (see e.g., [1–3]), whereas our understanding of how to securely send information has not yet reached the same level. In this thesis, we advance the theory of secure communication by deriving capacity results and by developing coding schemes that provide information-theoretic security for erasure networks. We characterize the highest achievable secret-message rate in the presence of an eavesdropping adversary in various settings, where communication takes place over erasure channels with state-feedback. Our results provide such a characterization for a point-to-point erasure channel, for a broadcast erasure channel with multiple receivers, for a network with multiple parallel channels, a V-network and for a triangle network. We introduce several two-phase secure coding schemes that consist of a key generation phase and an encrypted message sending phase. Our schemes leverage several resources for security: channel erasures, feedback, common randomness and the topology of the network. We present coding schemes for all the above mentioned settings as well as for erasure networks with arbitrary topology. In all the cases where we provide exact characterization, a two-phase scheme achieves the secret-message capacity. All our proposed coding schemes use only linear operations and thus can serve as a basis for practical code designs. For networks, we develop a linear programming framework for describing secure coding schemes and for deriving new outer bounds. We use linear programs to describe our schemes and to prove their optimality. We derive new information theoretic outer bounds. In our intuitive interpretation, our proofs find the connection between the rate of the message and the rate of a secret key that is required to secure the message. Our results reveal nontrivial characteristics of secure communication in erasure networks. We find that – in contrast to non-secure communication – the secret message capacity of a cut does not simplify to the sum of the capacities of the channels that form the cut, moreover, the secret message capacity of a network does not simplify to the minimum secret message capacity of its cuts.


The image retrieval and semantic extraction play an important role in the multimedia systems such as geographic information system, hospital information system, digital library system, etc. Therefore, the research and development of semantic-based image retrieval (SBIR) systems have become extremely important and urgent. Major recent publications are included covering different aspects of the research in this area, including building data models, low-level image feature extraction, and deriving high-level semantic features. However, there is still no general approach for semantic-based image retrieval (SBIR), due to the diversity and complexity of high-level semantics. In order to improve the retrieval accuracy of SBIR systems, our focus research is to build a data structure for finding similar images, from that retrieving its semantic. In this paper, we proposed a data structure which is a self-balanced clustering tree named C-Tree. Firstly, a method of visual semantic analysis relied on visual features and image content is proposed on C-Tree. The building of this structure is created based on a combination of methods including hierarchical clustering and partitional clustering. Secondly, we design ontology for the image dataset and create the SPARQL (SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language) query by extracting semantics of image. Finally, the semantic-based image retrieval on C-Tree (SBIR CT) model is created hinging on our proposal. The experimental evaluation 20,000 images of ImageCLEF dataset indicates the effectiveness of the proposed method. These results are compared with some of recently published methods on the same dataset and demonstrate that the proposed method improves the retrieval accuracy and efficiency.


The relationship of cognition to affect in normal subjects is similar to that observed in psychopathological states. Among normals the sequence perception-cognition-emotion is dictated largely by the demand character of the stimulus situation. In psychopathological conditions, the reaction to the stimulus situation is determined to a much greater extent by internal processes. The affective response is likely to be excessive or inappropriate because of the idiosyncratic conceptualization of the event. The input from the external situation is molded to conform to the typical schemas activated in these conditions. As a result, interpretations of experience embody arbitrary judgments, overgeneralizations, and distortions. Perserverative conceptualizations relevant to danger, loss, unjustified attack, and self-enhancement are typical of anxiety neuroses, depression, paranoid states, and hypomanic states, respectively.


Identity has been proposed as a mechanism to increase persistence within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education programs. To assess the impact of identity on STEM persistence, measures that produce valid and reliable data within a given STEM discipline need to be employed. Therefore, this study developed and evaluated the functioning of science and chemistry identity measures in the context of university-level chemistry courses. The developed measures were administered to students enrolled in general and organic chemistry courses at four universities across the United States. Validity and reliability evidence for the data provided by the novel measures was supported using confirmatory factor analysis and McDonald's omega. Additionally, two competing structural equation models (SEMs), designed to explore the relations between mastery experiences, verbal persuasion, situational interest, and science or chemistry identity, were tested and compared to previously reported results. Both SEMs produced acceptable data-model fit, therefore a superior model was chosen based on theoretical support. Within both SEMs, the direct pathway (relation) between mastery experiences and identity was nonsignificant. The more supported model proposed that the relation was indirect and facilitated through verbal persuasion and situational interest. While the indirect relation was supported in both courses, the predominate pathway varied by course. Limitations of the science identity measure, recommendations for future use of the Measure of Chemistry Identity (MoChI), and suggestions for the facilitation of positive identity formation within chemistry classrooms are discussed.


Crystalline silicon (c-Si) has been the main material for solar cells as a renewable energy source. The main advantage has been the abundance of this material. However, due to the high costs, thin film alternatives to c-Si in the form of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a- Si:H) has shown promising progress. The popularity of a-Si:H increased due to the lower pay back times although initial efficiencies were lower for a-Si:H. Higher efficiency of c-Si is primarily due to the absorption of broader spectrum of radiation from the sun compared to a-Si:H. Although cheaper to produce, a-Si:H suffers from light induced degradation resulting in lower efficiencies. Thinner absorber layers of a-Si:H have shown better stability in this regard. In this thesis, attempts were made to fabricate a-Si:H/c-Si hybrid solar cell structures by the use of a laser crystallisation process using excimer laser. An excimer laser, KrF 248nm, was used to crystallise a-Si:H as excimer laser readily absorb into a-Si:H within a few tens of nanometres enabling melting and solidification creating c-Si. An a-Si;H p/i structure deposited on textured ITO is crystallised in partial melting regime and is used to make solar cells. Initially, a suitable metal for back contact was investigated. Al was selected as the preferred back contact compared to Au due to the better efficiencies observed. Further, different methods were attempted to obtain an n-layer to complete a-Si:H p-i-n solar cell. Devices were fabricated for different intrinsic layer thicknesses using ion implanted phosphorus and diffused phosphorus as dopants in the n+-layer. Ion implanted phosphorus devices showed poor efficiencies due to implantation damage even after laser annealing. Phosphorus diffused and thermal annealed devices showed lower efficiencies than the reference devices, where dopant profile showed possible activation of dopants. Excimer laser was utilised to obtain a crystallised structure in two different ways as single shot and multiple shot. Both methods resulted in poor device performances with increasing laser energy density. However, reversible increment of current density was observed for these devices due to the creation of high band gap silicon nanocrystals. Finally, broadband absorbing hybrid devices were fabricated by incorporating PbS nanocrytals/BCP with a-Si:H and laser crystallised silicon. Although these devices show small contributions in the IR region compared to a-Si:H only cells, the overall device efficiencies were observed to be very low.


Abstract. We explore the potential of spaceborne radar (SR) observations
from the Ku-band precipitation radars onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring
Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)
satellites as a reference to quantify the ground radar (GR) reflectivity
bias. To this end, the 3-D volume-matching algorithm proposed by
Schwaller and Morris (2011) is implemented and applied to 5 years
(2012–2016) of observations. We further extend the procedure by a framework
to take into account the data quality of each ground radar bin. Through these
methods, we are able to assign a quality index to each matching SR–GR
volume, and thus compute the GR calibration bias as a quality-weighted
average of reflectivity differences in any sample of matching GR–SR volumes.
We exemplify the idea of quality-weighted averaging by using the beam
blockage fraction as the basis of a quality index. As a result, we can
increase the consistency of SR and GR observations, and thus the precision of
calibration bias estimates. The remaining scatter between GR and SR
reflectivity as well as the variability of bias estimates between overpass
events indicate, however, that other error sources are not yet fully
addressed. Still, our study provides a framework to introduce any other
quality variables that are considered relevant in a specific context. The
code that implements our analysis is based on the wradlib open-source
software library, and is, together with the data, publicly available to
monitor radar calibration or to scrutinize long series of archived radar data
back to December 1997, when TRMM became operational.


The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) contracts with an extensive network of non-profit and for-profit providers for the delivery of employment programmes. Over the past ten years there has been significant change and the Government now has committed to a strategy of 'welfare market' reform. This will involve 'black box' contracts that are less prescriptive about processes and will reward providers on the basis of getting participants into sustained employment. The principles of this strategy will be applied first to the 'Flexible New Deal' (FND) and 80 per cent of funding for external contractors will be paid for placing participants into jobs. Employment programmes are designed to provide enhanced assistance to service users with particular barriers to entering or staying in employment. Despite the positive impacts of many programmes, evidence suggests that most of them, whether delivered by public agencies or external providers, are less effective in meeting the needs of the 'hardest to help'. This outcome can be a function of poor programme design but it also reflects the reality that the front line delivery and intensity of employment assistance is impaired by the constraints of the available funding, the character and scale of job opportunities and the tractability of the barriers faced by some of the hardest to help. The particular risk of outcome-based payment systems is, however, that they may provide greater incentives for 'creaming' and 'parking', where providers work most with those who are more easily placed and provide a minimal service to the harder to help. In this context the DWP Commissioning Strategy stresses the importance attached to overall 'excellent customer experience'. It commits also to 'trial different models of outcome payments' and work with providers to 'develop more sophisticated, differentiated models' that identify service users who may be helped quickly and those who need more intensive support. Such a differential payment model may have the potential to increase the number of overall outcomes secured and target extra incentives at the harder to help.


Landing on unprepared sites is a typical mission task in day-to-day helicopter operations. Right after the event
of an emergency which requires an immediate landing, the choice of a proper landing site is one of various
time-critical and vital tasks which a helicopter pilot has to handle under intensive stress. This paper proposes a
preventive procedure of landing site ranking to guide the pilot's attention to places with an increased chance of
survivability. For that purpose, LIDAR data acquired during the flight by DLR's research rotorcraft ACT/FHS (Active
Control Technology/Flying Helicopter Simulator, a highly modified EC135) is used for algorithm development and
demonstration. Three types of results are shown. Starting with a landing site test-geometry, the algorithm's
capabilities are demonstrated based on LIDAR data generated in DLR's AVES flight simulator. Secondly, a test-case using recorded LIDAR data acquired during previous flight tests is shown as an example close to real life with
additional emergency ranking. Since wind is a major influence factor when choosing an appropriate landing site,
varying ranking results of the real-life testcase with head-, cross- and rearwind conditions complete this paper.


Summary Multicast communication is becoming the basis for a growing number of Internet-based applications. The secure distribution of services or messages by the server to all multicasting group members requires an efficient and scalable way for distributing a group key to eligible members. Most of the existing research are focusing on group key and group members management, and can be divided into four types: centralized, decentralized, distributed, and hybrid schemes. In this paper, we propose an efficient and flexible decentralized multicast key distribution scheme with less computational cost and more functionality. The merits include: (1) the scheme needs no shared keys table between the registration center and all members; (2) a group key is distributed by servers to eligible members; (3) the computation cost is very low; (4) members and servers can authenticate each other; (5) our scheme is nonce-based and dose not have a serious time-synchronization problem; (6) also, the shared secret key distribution between dynamic participants is addressed in our proposed scheme.


Many scientific problems, including those in physics, astrophysics, chemistry, and information processing, involve the solutions of eigen-systems and the determination of sensitivity of those eigen-systems. The latter requires tangent-linear and adjoint formulations of eigen-systems. There are several numerical packages, such as Numerical Recipes and LAPACK, available for calculating eigenvalues and eigenvectors in the forward model. This paper presents analytical expressions for the tangent-linear and adjoint eigenvalue, and eigenvector in the radiative transfer models. The algorithm is called "advanced matrix operator method (AMOM)" and has been implemented to replace the double-adding method for calculating layer source functions, transmittance, as well as reflection matrices in the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) developed at the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation, United States. The CRTM has been operationally used for satellite radiance assimilation at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in supporting daily weather forecasting and satellite products. This CRTM is also widely used in radiative transfer community around the world. Using the analytic approach in the CRTM tangent-linear and adjoint calculations returns the same result as the advanced doubling-adding method from the previous CRTM version, but this new approach reduces computation time by 23%-134% in cloudy radiance calculations. With the AMOM, the CRTM is now applicable for visible sensors.


Sweden ScienceNet is a national platform continuously collecting, structuring and providing access to key information on research projects in Sweden. It is based on the desire of the ten member universities in Sweden ScienceNet to increase the visibility of their research activities and to facilitate future collaborations and enable strategic questions about the research funding to be answered. Sweden ScienceNet has from 2012 been commissioned by the Government to the Swedish Research Council to administer and further develop in collaboration with the universities. This paper outlines the reasons why Sweden ScienceNet has succeeded where previous national initiatives in Sweden have failed, but also brings up for discussion the challenges Sweden ScienceNet is facing to ensure that it stays sustainable in the future.


Much recent research focuses on how to make disease detection more accurate as well as "slimmer", i.e., allowing analysis with smaller datasets. Explanatory models are a hot research topic because they explain how the data are generated. We propose a spatial explanatory modelling approach that combines Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) retinal imaging data with clinical information. Our model consists of a spatial linear mixed effects inference framework, which innovatively models the spatial topography of key information via mixed effects and spatial error structures, thus effectively modelling the shape of the thickness map. We show that our spatial linear mixed effects (SLME) model outperforms traditional analysis-of-variance approaches in the analysis of Heidelberg OCT retinal thickness data from a prospective observational study, involving 300 participants with diabetes and 50 age-matched controls. Our SLME model has a higher power for detecting the difference between disease groups, and it shows where the shape of retinal thickness profiles differs between the eyes of participants with diabetes and the eyes of healthy controls. In simulated data, the SLME model demonstrates how incorporating spatial correlations can increase the accuracy of the statistical inferences. This model is crucial in the understanding of the progression of retinal thickness changes in diabetic maculopathy to aid clinicians for early planning of effective treatment. It can be extended to disease monitoring and prognosis in other diseases and with other imaging technologies.


The noise level associated with a train travelling on a bridge is normally greater than that for a train travelling on plain track. It is sometimes the bridge noise that causes the highest levels of disturbance to people in the vicinity or triggers action under regulations such as the Environmental Noise Directive. Consequently, there is a need to study means of predicting noise levels from proposed bridges, noise control measures for existing structures and principles of low-noise bridge design. This thesis describes a programme of work in which an existing calculation model for bridge noise and vibration has been tested and alternative calculation methods have been developed where required. The existing model is based on analytical models for wheel-rail interaction and the calculation of the power input to the bridge. The response of the various component parts of the bridge for this power input is found using a simplified SEA scheme. In this work, the existing model has been tested against measurements made on railway bridges and the results of an advanced method of structural analysis, the Waveguide Finite Element (WFE) method. This method is well-suited to modelling some important types of railway bridge. Specifically, it allows a numerical modelling approach to be used up to higher frequency than conventional Finite Element methods. It has been found to offer some significant advantages over the existing bridge noise model, particularly for concrete-steel composite bridges and concrete box-section viaducts. The track support structure has an important influence on bridge noise and vibration, through its role in the transmission of vibration from the rail to the bridge. Laboratory measurements have been made in this work to characterise the vibration transmission properties of two important types of track support structure on bridges; ballasted track and two-stage resilient baseplate track. Improved methods of modelling the dynamic behaviour of these track forms have been developed from the measurements, which can be used in calculation models for both bridge noise and also for rolling noise.


Inhibition of the interaction between the scaffolding protein PSD-95 and the NMDA receptor has been shown to obstruct ischemic stroke-triggered excitotoxic reactions, leading to neuronal death. The peptides NR2B9c and N-dimer are inhibitors of this interaction. Delivery of the peptides to the brain is challenging due to the general low blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability. NR2B9c and N-dimer have therefore been conjugated to the cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) Tat, to facilitate blood–brain barrier permeation. However, the BBB permeation of Tat-NR2B9c and Tat-N-dimer has not been fully elucidated. We recently demonstrated that the BBB permeation in vitro and in vivo was lowered upon conjugation of NR2B9c or N-dimer to Tat. In the present study, we aimed to further understand the impact of cargo conjugation to Tat with respect to interaction with and permeation across the BBB in vitro and in vivo. The peptides were labeled with the fluorophore TAMRA (T) and demonstrated efficient Tat-mediated uptake into BBB endothelial cells but differed in their degree of plasma membrane interaction and embedding (T-Tat-NR2B9c = T-Tat > T-Tat-N-dimer) as well as in their chemical stability (T-Tat-N-dimer = T-Tat > T-Tat-NR2B9c). The Tat conjugates all displayed a similar degree of self-association and/or plasma protein adsorption. T-Tat-NR2B9c and T-Tat affected the BBB integrity but not the permeation of the paracellular marker C14-mannitol. T-Tat-NR2B9c and T-Tat-N-dimer displayed less efficient permeation across an in vitro model representing the healthy BBB, when compared to T-Tat, and low BBB permeation in healthy rats.


Land degradation is a gradual, negative environmental process that is accelerated by human activities. Its gradual nature allows degradation to proceed unnoticed, thus reducing the likelihood of appropriate and timely control action. Presently, there are few practical frameworks to help countries design national strategies and policies for its control. The study presented here developed a framework for the national assessment of land degradation. This framework is envisaged to support governments in formulating policies on land degradation. It uses time‐series remote sensing data to identify the rate and extent of land degradation, local experts to identify prevalent degradation types and drivers of the degradation and field observations to validate the overall assessment. Its simplicity, use of freely downloadable input data and self‐triangulation of the assessment methods make it suitable for rapid assessment of land degradation on a national scale. It was tested in Somalia, where it exhibited accuracy greater than 60 per cent when assessing land degradation. This framework is relevant for designing national strategies and policies that address land degradation and provides an opportunity for accurate identification of areas to target with comprehensive local assessment. Testing of the framework in Somalia showed that about one‐third of the country was degraded because of loss of vegetation cover, topsoil loss and to the decline of soil moisture. Overgrazing, excessive tree cutting and poor agronomic practices in agricultural areas were identified as the primary drivers of the country's land degradation. These drivers are encouraged by the prevailing communal land tenure practices, poor governance and civil war. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Wasatch Energy Systems owns and operates two (2) mass burn incinerators each rated at 210 tons/day in Layton, Utah. Each incinerator was equipped with a three field Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) to control the particulate emissions. Dry sorbent (trona) was injected just upstream of the economizer to control acid gas emissions. The performance of the dry sorbent injection system was marginal. In anticipation of the upcoming EPA emission guidelines, 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart BBBB, Emission Guidelines for existing small municipal waste combustion units, Wasatch Energy Systems decided to update the existing APC systems several years ahead of the schedule. A request for proposal was released in October 1999 and eight proposals were received by the facility. AirPol Inc. of Parsippany, NJ was awarded a turnkey contract in June 2000 to add a dedicated Gas Suspension Absorber (FLS miljo Inc GSA) upstream of each existing ESP. A common lime slurry storage and preparation system, carbon storage and delivery system, ash conveying system, MCC, and control system were also provided under the contract. The new APC system was commissioned and put into service in September, 2001. Initial stack testing was conducted in October 2001 to evaluate system performance. Compliance stack testing was conducted for the Utah Division of Air Quality in November 2001. Results of testing demonstrate that particulate, metals, acid gas and dioxin/furan emissions from the retrofit facility are substantially lower than required under, now final, 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart BBBB – Class 1 Emission Limits for Existing Small Municipal Waste Combustion Units. This paper discusses the retrofit system design and performance.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


The vascular flora of forest vegetation in Altindere Valley (Macka-Trabzon) was investigated. The study was conducted between 2001 and 2002, during which time 1200 plant samples were collected. In all, 383 vascular taxa belonging to 246 genera and 84 families were identified. The richest family was Asteraceae (35, 9.1%), followed by Lamiaceae (27, 7.0%) and Fabaceae (23, 6.0%). Additionally, the richest genus was Campanula L. (7, 1.82%), followed by Trifolium L. (6, 1.56%) and Acer L. (6, 1.56%). The phytogeographical regions of 209 (54.56%) taxa were determined. The distribution of taxa within the phytogeographical regions was as follows: Euro-Siberian elements (184, 48.04%), Irano-Turanian elements (14, 3.66%), and Mediterranean elements (11, 2.87%). The number of endemic plants found was 16 (4.2%), while 7 (1.8%) rare plants, whose threat categories according to IUCN were added to floristic list, were found.


Iqbal's use of the word "plausible" as the new standard for Rule 12(b)(6) motions is confusing at several levels. First, plausible, used as a procedural standard 22 times in the Iqbal majority opinion, comes with a substantive past. The Matsushita decision utilized plausible or variations on plausible in a substantive sense to mean that a claim "makes no economic sense." This use of plausible embraces economic theory and bears little resemblance to a procedural tool as set forth in Iqbal. Second, the Matsushita decision used plausible in the context of a defendants' motion for summary judgment. Indeed, Matsushita's majority used variations on plausible 13 times, perhaps causing some lower courts to adopt plausibility as a surrogate new standard for assessing summary judgment. Of course, the 1986 summary judgment Trilogy clearly articulated a new directed verdict standard for assessing Rule 56 requests. But all those plausibility usages in Matsushita create a feeling that the word has a significant procedural role to play and create further confusion. Was the Court in Twombly and Iqbal trying to collapse two standards, 12(b)(6) and 56 into one? This brief essay argues that the choice of plausible in Iqbal and Twombly was a mistake and that this mistaken word selection should not affect summary judgment, a very different process than the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.


Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a disorder characterized by hyperandrogenism, chronic oligoanovulation and insulin resistance. A number of women with PCOS are obese and exhibit abnormal phenotypes, including high levels of androgens, an irregular menstrual cycle and increased hair growth. Studies on obese PCOS patients have proven the crucial role that obesity plays in insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. The uncoupling protein (UCP) gene is one of the genes known to have a strong association with obesity and insulin resistance. Thus, we analyzed the association between the -866G/A polymorphism in the promoter of UCP2 and PCOS. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction along with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, followed by an analysis of the genotype of the UCP2 polymorphism in PCOS and control subjects using HapAnalyzer. The study included samples from 277 PCOS patients and 152 healthy controls. P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. In conclusion, no association was found between the -866G/A single nucleotide polymorphism and PCOS (P=0.7168, OR=1.07, 95% CI). The present study showed that -866G/A, a UCP2 gene polymorphism, is not associated with the pathogenesis of PCOS.


An autonomous robot using symbolic reasoning, sensing and acting in a real environment needs the ability to create and maintain the connection between symbols representing objects in the world and the corresponding perceptual representations given by its sensors. This connection has been named perceptual anchoring. In complex environments, anchoring is not always easy to establish: the situation may often be ambiguous as to which percept actually corresponds to a given symbol. In this paper. we extend perceptual anchoring to deal robustly with ambiguous situations by providing general methods for detecting them and recovering from them. We consider different kinds of ambiguous situations and present planning-based methods to recover from them. We illustrate our approach by showing experiments involving a mobile robot equipped with a color camera and an electronic nose.


Author(s): Xiang Liu; Sherry Hu | Abstract: Retro-commissioning or existing building commissioning (RCx) is a process of to identify and correct the almost inevitable "drift" from how a building should operate and to ensure the building's optimal performance. RCx has gained much popularities in the U.S., whose experience has demonstrated that RCx can result in impressive energy use efficiency as well as provide multiple benefits to building owners, including lowering utility costs, protecting and enhancing property value, avoiding future liability, and reducing repair and replacement costs. In China, the concept of RCx is still new and its energy saving potential has not been fully studied and recognized. Therefore, this report intends to provide a comprehensive description of U.S. RCx experience to the Chinese policy makers and professionals working in the building energy efficiency business, with an eye towards increasing their attention to this important and largely ignored energy efficiency opportunity and to promoting subsequent adoption of supportive policies for wider RCx practice.


Introduction: Large-scale traveling and stationary planetary waves are diagnosed from an analysis of profiles retrieved from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) [1] aboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft during its scientific mapping phase. The analysis was conducted by assimilating the TES temperature profile and total dust opacity retrievals [2] into a pseudo-spectral Mars general circulation model to produce a full, physically self consistent record of all atmospheric variables stored at an interval of two hours over the entire MGS mapping phase. The data cover a period of about three Mars years, corresponding to the interval 1999–2004 on Earth. These include the year which contained the 2001 global dust storm [3] and two years of more moderate dust activity, although large regional storms occurred during southern hemisphere summer in both years and there was considerable atmospheric variability between all three years [4].
We focus on the planetary wave activity, both traveling and stationary large-scale waves, in the assimilated record. Data assimilation is a particularly useful technique for the analysis of transient wave behaviour since it is capable of producing global, time-dependent atmospheric fields, which the assimilation scheme endeavours to make as consistent as possible with whatever observations are available. These atmospheric variables may be sampled from the model as often as desired, on a regular grid of points. If particular variables, or regions of the atmosphere, are not observed directly, the model will at least ensure that they are consistent with the laws of physics incorporated within its framework.
A complex climatology of transient waves is revealed, modulated by the large-scale topography and surface thermal properties, the time of year and, crucially, the amount of dust suspended in the atmosphere. Some individual case studies show the temporal and spatial structures of the waves in the assimilation record, although the large data set has by no means been fully explored. Companion papers discuss the thermal atmospheric tides [5] and the processes associated with the initiation of dust storms [6] from the same assimilated analysis. Output from the same assimilation has also been used to identify potential deficiencies in the model, such as the lack of water ice clouds [7].


Plasma in a typically elongated cross-section tokamak (for example, EAST) is inherently unstable against vertical displacement. When plasma loses the vertical position control, it moves downward or upward, leading to disruption, and a large halo current is generated helically in EAST typically in the scrape-off layer. When flowing into the vacuum vessel through in-vessel components, the halo current will give rise to a large J × B force acting on the vessel and the in-vessel components. In EAST VDE experiment, part of the eddy current is measured in halo sensors, due to the large loop voltage. Primary experimental data demonstrate that the halo current first lands on the outer plate and then flows clockwise, and the analysis of the information indicates that the maximum halo current estimated in EAST is about 0.4 times the plasma current and the maximum value of TPF × Ih/IP0 is 0.65, furthermore Ih/Ip0 and TPF × Ih/Ip0 tend to increase with the increase of Ip0. The test of the strong gas injection system shows good success in increasing the radiated power, which may be effective in reducing the halo current.


Abstract Today, people are increasingly exposed to news on various channels without actively seeking it. However, less is known about the link between the so-called incidental news exposure (INE) and actual news consumption. Using a two-wave panel data set from 18 countries around the world, we study the so-far under researched relation between INE and news consumption across various platforms over time. In doing so, we control for key micro-level variables such as news use, political interest and trust in media as well as macro-level variables, including internet connectivity, GDP, press freedom and literacy rate. The analyses yield an optimistic picture, showing that INE plays a bridging function across countries, leading to actual news consumption on traditional, online and social media platforms. However, trust in news and political interest do not seem to play key moderating roles. Instead, individual analyses per country imply that the link between INE and actual news use is more apparent for online and social media news platforms, and particularly in countries where general social media usage has been reported to be considerably high (e.g. Brazil, Philippines, Taiwan, UK and USA).


Trace elements contained in coal escape with flue gas from energy sources into the air or move towards other components of the environment with by-products captured in electrofilters (EF) and flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) plants. The existing knowledge about the distribution of frequently dangerous trace elements contained in these products is insufficient. Studies were therefore undertaken in selected power plants to investigate the distribution of trace elements in coal, slag, as well as dust containment and flue gas desulphuri- sation products, such as fly ash captured in dust collectors, desulphurisation gypsum and semi-dry scrubbing FGD products. Using the technique of flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F-AAS) and mercury analyser, the following were determined in the research material samples: Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. The studies have a reconnaissance character. The authors have presented the results of determinations for selected trace elements in samples taken at Jaworzno III and Siersza Power Plants, which burn hard coal, and in Belchatow Power Plant, burning brown coal. A balance of the examined trace elements in a stream of coal fed into the boiler and in streams of waste and products carried away from the plant was prepared. The balance based on the results of analyses from Belchatow Power Plant was considered encouraging enough to undertake further investigations. The research confirmed that due to the distribution in the process of coal combustion and flue gas treatment, a dominant part of particular trace elements' stream moves with solid waste and products, while air emission is marginal. Attention was paid to the importance of research preparation, the manner of sample taking and selection of analytical methods.