Abstract. We performed a feasibility study of constraining the vertical profile of the tropospheric ozone by using a synergetic retrieval method on multiple spectra, i.e., ultraviolet (UV), thermal infrared (TIR), and microwave (MW) ranges, measured from space. This work provides, for the first time, a quantitative evaluation of the retrieval sensitivity of the tropospheric ozone by adding the MW measurement to the UV and TIR measurements. Two observation points in East Asia (one in an urban area and one in an ocean area) and two observation times (one during summer and one during winter) were assumed. Geometry of line of sight was nadir down-looking for the UV and TIR measurements, and limb sounding for the MW measurement. The retrieval sensitivities of the ozone profiles in the upper troposphere (UT), middle troposphere (MT), and lowermost troposphere (LMT) were estimated using the degree of freedom for signal (DFS), the pressure of maximum sensitivity, reduction rate of error from the a priori error, and the averaging kernel matrix, derived based on the optimal estimation method. The measurement noise levels were assumed to be the same as those for currently available instruments. The weighting functions for the UV, TIR, and MW ranges were calculated using the SCIATRAN radiative transfer model, the Line-By-Line Radiative Transfer Model (LBLRTM), and the Advanced Model for Atmospheric Terahertz Radiation Analysis and Simulation (AMATERASU), respectively. The DFS value was increased by approximately 96, 23, and 30 % by adding the MW measurements to the combination of UV and TIR measurements in the UT, MT, and LMT regions, respectively. The MW measurement increased the DFS value of the LMT ozone; nevertheless, the MW measurement alone has no sensitivity to the LMT ozone. The pressure of maximum sensitivity value for the LMT ozone was also increased by adding the MW measurement. These findings indicate that better information on LMT ozone can be obtained by adding constraints on the UT and MT ozone from the MW measurement. The results of this study are applicable to the upcoming air-quality monitoring missions, APOLLO, GMAP-Asia, and uvSCOPE.


Background: A constantly escalating market competition, new techniques and technologies development, as well as the aspiration to adapt to the dynamically changing market situation, forces the entrepreneurs to search and implement new methods of managing firms. For this reason, the effort is made to calculate, applying the Time-Driven Activity Based Costing analysis, the logistics costs of the client service process in the sphere of traditional and Internet trade. The aim of the article was to find answers to the following questions: 1. Is the use of T-D ABC method in the service sector (electronic warehouse) may indicate areas where the waste arises? 2. What financial benefits can bring such kind of identification in the context of waste elimination in accordance with the concept of Lean Management? Methods: The research was conducted at a service enterprise, which is an electronic warehouse. The article presents the exact procedure of cost calculation according to the T-D ABC method. The work includes identification of the activities, undertaken by the employees in the process of clients' orders realization, calculation of their costs using the T-D ABC methodology and improvements that were made within the context of Lean Management concept. Results: The paper presents theoretical knowledge concerning the T-D ABC method and the Lean Management concept. The steps for calculating the cost of processes are described, their analysis is carried out and the Lean activities are proposed – aimed at organizing the processes and shortening their duration. Conclusions: The integration of T-D ABC and the Lean Management enables to implementation of the first steps towards the eradication of wasting money, identification of unused capacities, detection of potential of the resources involved, as well as makes it possible to identify the places of saving costs in the processes. The suggested example of costs calculation can be successfully used both at service enterprises and at the production ones.


Abstract How does the public decide who is deserving of welfare benefits? To shed light on this question, we investigate whether the CARIN principles of deservingness—specifically the ideas of control, attitude, reciprocity, identity, and need—impact the public's perception of American welfare target groups. We draw contrast between traditional welfare programs and pandemic‐related programs to gain a more comparative understanding of the principles' effects as well as to determine what role the pandemic may play in shaping welfare perceptions. We report that positive, deserving social constructions exist for recipients of both traditional and pandemic‐related welfare programs, and we find evidence that the distinction between traditional and pandemic‐related programs is important for deservingness perceptions in the US. Overall, these results suggest the importance of the CARIN criteria in an American context.


Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) changes in spinal schistosomiasis have been described. Its characteristic features are mild to moderate pleocytosis, presence of eosinophils, slight to moderate protein increase, elevated gamma globulin concentration and a positive immune assay. Nevertheless, these abnormalities are not always present together and therefore difficulties may arise in the assessment of the diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the importance of each CSF alteration concerning the diagnosis in 22 cases of spinal schistosomiasis. According to the results, only 20% of the cases had all the five feature that are considered to be characteristic of spinal schistosomiasis. Abnormal cell count was present in 86%, protein increase in 77.3%, immunoglobulin G increase in 60,8%, eosinophils were present in 36.8% and indirect fluorescent antibody test was positive in 68.2%. In three cases all CSF parameters studied were within the normal limits. As the most specific test among those described was the indirect fluorescent antibody test, it should be regarded for the diagnosis.


. The biomass of the endolithic algae Ostreobium quekettii Phyllosiphoniaceae living within skeletons of the scleractinans Mycedium elephantotus and Leptoseris fragilis averages 300 μg protein. cm-2. This represents approximately 7% of the protein of the zooxanthekie-containing tissue of M. elephantotus and approximately 38% of that of L. fragilis. Oxygen production Pmaxnet of 0. querkettii in bare skeletons of M. elephantotus averaged 0.7 μg O2.cm-2· h-1 measured in large skeletal fragments. This amount is approximately 6% of the productivity of the zooxanthellae Symbiodinium microadriaticum living in the same scleractinian species at the same depth Pmaxnet 11 μg O2· Cm-2· h-1. Light compensation of O. quekettii - within skeletons - was reached at approximately 10 and saturation at 35 40 μE·m-2· s-1. Algae within the M. elephantotus skeletons receive a maximum of 4–6% of the ambient irradiance, which is approximately 0.9 μE · m-2· s-1 approximately 0.04% surface irradiance at a depth of 88 m. In L. fragilis at a depth of 145 m, the photon flux decreases to 0.3 μE·m-2· s-1, which is less than 0.004% of surface intensity. With increasing depth, the ratio of Chl b to Chl a increased in endolithic algae colonizing L. fragilis, indicating improvement of light harvesting under low light conditions. In free-living O. quekettii cultured at irradiance levels from 0.5–60 μE·m-2· s-1, the concentrations of chlorophylls increased and that of siphonein and β-carotene decreased with decreasing photon flux.


Expectant parents often fear the changes a new baby will bring, especially sleepless nights. What new parent wouldn9t want a how-to book that promises their baby will be sleeping through the night by three to eight weeks? One such book, On Becoming Babywise, has raised concern among pediatricians because it outlines an infant feeding program that has been associated with failure to thrive (FTT), poor milk supply failure, and involuntary early weaning. A Forsyth Medical Hospital Review Committee, in Winston-Salem N.C., has listed 11 areas in which the program is inadequately supported by conventional medical practice. The Child Abuse Prevention Council of Orange County, Calif., stated its concern after physicians called them with reports of dehydration, slow growth and development, and FTT associated with the program. And on Feb. 8, AAP District IV passed a resolution asking the Academy to investigate "Babywise," determine the extent of its effects on infant health and alert its members, other organizations and parents of its findings.


The aim of this paper is to show that energy surplus indices, such as resilience index, besides providing a very good indirect measure of water distribution network reliability, also represent a valuable and effective indicator of network robustness under alternative network scenarios. It can thus be profitably used for network design under conditions of uncertain future demands. The methodology adopted consisted of: (a) multi-objective design optimization performed in order to minimize construction costs while maximizing the resilience index; and (b) retrospective performance assessment of the alternative solutions of the Pareto front obtained, under demand conditions far from those assumed during the design phase. Two case studies of different topological complexity were considered. Results showed that the resilience index, which is one of the most effective indirect indices of reliability, represents a very good measure of robustness as well.


The recently proposed conformer architecture has been successfully used for end-to-end automatic speech recognition (ASR) architectures achieving state-of-the-art performance on different datasets. To our best knowledge, the impact of using conformer acoustic model for hybrid ASR is not investigated. In this paper, we present and evaluate a competitive conformer-based hybrid model training recipe. We study different training aspects and methods to improve worderror-rate as well as to increase training speed. We apply time downsampling methods for efficient training and use transposed convolutions to upsample the output sequence again. We conduct experiments on Switchboard 300h dataset and our conformer-based hybrid model achieves competitive results compared to other architectures. It generalizes very well on Hub5'01 test set and outperforms the BLSTM-based hybrid model significantly.


Attractiveness of the educator's career path, the number, quality and motivation of candidates starting this profession has been in the focus of domestic and international professional discourse for decades now. We suppose that today, the motivation for the career of a pedagogue (including its existential, organizational and infrastructural conditions) is different from the level of commitment to the profession of an educator (which can be experienced informally, or outside of the public education system). In our research, we made efforts to address the widest possible range of student elementary teachers, and to interpret their responses using different filters. In the first phase of our study, we analyzed first-year kindergarten teacher students' career motivation and commitment to the profession, and in the second phase, that of final-year kindergarten teacher candidates. In the third phase, we conducted surveys to explore students' motivation for the profession and the career path of a pedagogue in four countries of the Carpathian Basin (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia). The surveys were conducted in 17 campuses of 11 Hungarian teacher's training colleges and universities. Finally, we extended the survey to practicing graduates preparing for their on-the-job rating examination. Based on our results, in all breakdowns, regardless of age group, training institute or - in part - geographical location and nationality, it is proven that lack of social- and financial esteem of the profession poses serious risks for recruitment and retention of teachers.


Pupal duration, longevity, and behavior of males and females of Carmenta theobromae (Busck), an insect pest of economic importance in cocoa plantations ( Theobroma cacao (L.)) were studied. Perforated pods from cocoa farms in Curiepe, Miranda state, Venezuela were collected and taken to INIA-Miranda. Carmenta theobromae larvae and pupa were extracted from infested pods. All stages (larvae, pupae, and adults) were kept at 28 ± 5°C, 70 ± 15% RH and a photoperiod 12:12 (L:D). Emergence and daily activity of adults kept in observation chambers was recorded. Pupal development time was 12.78 ± 2.50 d and adult longevity was 5.10 ± 1.96 and 4.39 ± 1.57 d for males and females, respectively. Emergence of adults began between 0730 and 0800 h, and continued until 1400 and 1500 h for females and males, respectively. Adult emergence peaked at 0800 h for both sexes, and the adult sex ratio was 1.2:1 (male: female). Female calling behavior occurred between 1430 and 1930 h, with a pronounced peak at 1730 h, and continued until the third day after emergence. This behavior coincided with more intense flight, walking or wing fluttering in males. The results suggest that C. theobromae females release a sex pheromone between 1430 and 1930 h.


Surgeons have an ingrained suspicion of foreign prostheses implanted into the body and it is a sound principle to avoid their use whenever possible. Unfortunately, in the adequate relief of pulmonary outflow tract obstruction in the tetralogy of Fallot a prosthesis is often necessary.8This prosthesis has usually been formed of compressed polyvinyl alcohol (Ivalon) sponge. It seemed worthwhile, therefore, to evaluate the reaction to this material when used to replace a portion of the anterior wall of the right ventricle. Method The commercially available Ivalon * was used. It was rinsed in running water according to the instructions and sterilized by autoclaving while immersed in water. Both compressed and uncompressed Ivalon were used. The compressed sponge was so formed by compressing 1 cm. slices of Ivalon in a metal press down to 2 mm. and then autoclaving it in this form under water. The patches used in animals had


Researchers have consistently linked commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of youth and involvement in prostitution with substance dependency and delinquency. Yet, important questions remain regarding the directionality and mechanisms driving this association. Utilizing a sample of 114 CSE/prostituted youth participating in the Pathways to Desistance study—a longitudinal investigation of the transition from adolescence to adulthood among serious adolescent offenders—the current study examined key criminal career parameters of CSE/prostitution including age of onset and rate of recurrence. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore concurrent associations and causal links between CSE/prostitution and drug involvement. Findings show a general sequential pattern of the ages of onset with substance use and selling drugs occurring prior to CSE/prostitution, evidence that a small group with chronic CSE/prostitution account for the majority of CSE/prostitution occurrences, and high rates of repeated CSE/prostitution. SEM results suggest CSE/prostituted youth persist in drug involvement from year to year but infrequently experience perpetuation of CSE/prostitution from year to year. Concurrent associations between CSE/prostitution and drug involvement were found across the length of the study. Additionally, drug involvement at one year was linked to CSE/prostitution during the subsequent year during early years of the study.


Flies are important arthropod pests in intensive animal facilities such as cattle feedlots, with the potential to cause production loss, transmit disease and cause nuisance to surrounding communities. In the present study, seasonal population dynamics of three important nuisance flies, namely house flies (Musca domestica L.), bush flies (M. vetustissima Walker) and stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans L.) (Diptera: Muscidae), were monitored on cattle feedlots in south-eastern Queensland, Australia, over 7 years. Musca domestica was by far the dominant species, comprising 67% of the total flies trapped. Models were developed to assess the relationship between weather parameters and fly abundance and to determine whether population trends could be predicted to improve the timing of control measures. For all three species, there were two main effects, namely time-of-year (mainly reflected by minimum temperatures and solar radiation) and rainfall. The abundance of all three species increased with increasing temperature and rainfall, reaching a peak in summer, before decreasing again. Rainfall events resulted in significantly elevated numbers of M. domestica for up to 5 weeks, and for 1 week for M. vetustissima. Peak fly numbers were predicted by the model to occur in spring and summer, following 85–90-mm weekly rainfall. The population dynamics of S. calcitrans were least influenced by rainfall and it was concluded that weather variables were of limited use for forecasting stable fly numbers in this environment and production system. The models provide a useful tool for optimising the timing of fly-control measures, such as insecticide or biopesticide applications, adding to the efficiency of integrated control programs.


Diagnosis and management of periodontal-endodontic lesions are often complicated by the close interrelationship between periodontal tissues and dental pulps. Communications between both biological entities may occur through the apical foramen, accessory canals or exposed dentinal tubules, allowing bi-directional spread of infection and/or inflammation. Endodontic and periodontal lesions may occur distinctly or in tandem. Infected pulps may provoke an inflammatory response in adjoining periodontal tissues, and induce tissue destruction, and likewise, periodontal infection may elicit progressive pulpal pathoses. Solely periodontal or solely endodontic lesions are often clinically recognizable as distinct pathologies. However reported pain from pulpal or periodontal tissues may be similar, especially in combined lesions in which both endodontic and periodontal infection co-exist. When combined lesions develop, signs and symptoms such as toothache, tooth mobility, increased probing pocket depths and localized swelling may develop concurrently. As such, appropriate diagnostic tests and detailed clinical examination are required to differentiate periodontal, endodontic and combined pathologies and to arrive at correct diagnoses. Successful treatment outcomes for any periodontal and/or endodontic lesion depend on correct diagnosis and timely implementation of appropriate therapies. In this chapter, available evidence on periodontal-endodontic lesions will be reviewed with classification, clinical presentations, prognoses and treatment modalities discussed collectively.


Human society is dependent on the provision of ecosystem goods and services mediated by soil organisms. It is important, therefore, to determine whether new and emerging materials influence the structure and function of soil biological communities. A recent study concerning the fate of the emerging nanomaterial, graphene oxide, in soil concluded that it promotes bacterial diversity. Here we demonstrate that due to issues with their experimental design and data analysis, their claim is unjustified.


The world population is on an inevitable growth trajectory presenting the challenge of feeding nearly 9 billion people within the next couple of decades. This anticipated population surge is projected to require a 50% increase in agricultural output by 2050 in comparison to the current decade's output levels (FAO, 2017). This increase in output needs to occur in an environment that is witnessing foreseeable declines in farming operations and availability of agricultural land in addition to an increase in consumer's demand for high quality sustainable food products. At Corteva Agriscience, we build upon our strong pillars of seeds and traits platform, crop protection and seed treatment solutions as well as advanced digital technologies to continuously provide innovative and sustainable solutions to our customers, helping farmers maximize the value of their investment by providing them with high-performing genetics and effective science-based solutions that optimize yield and crop quality. We capitalize on the use of state of the art technologies and applications in the fields of genomics, phenomics, chemistry, and the like, to drive our industry leading product pipelines. Following the conceptual introduction of genomic selection (Meuwissen et al., 2001) and the increased affordability of genotyping, incorporation of genomic information, via genomic selection, whole genome prediction or more recently gene editing into our breeding pipeline has helped us improve the efficiency and output of our breeding systems and present our customers with innovative and sustainable seed product solutions. This presentation will focus first on introducing some common plant breeding industry practices related to population and product development before providing an overview of genomic selection and its applications in an industrial plant breeding context and finally discuss how new seed product development tools like CRISPR-Cas gene editing could be used to further improve breeding and selection.


: Experiments on a model of glaucoma filtering operation in 25 rabbits showed that the natural cytokine complex inhibited the operation wound healing in comparison with the control. The complex was prepared by an original method (culturing peripheral blood leukocytes) at Immunology Department of the Russian State Medical University. Histopathological study revealed delayed formation of cicatricial tissue under the effect of cytokines. Decreased proliferation of fibroblasts and their decreased functional activity (decreased synthetic activity of glycosaminoglycanes and collagen) was detected in cicatricial tissue. Immunohistochemical studies showed that in remote periods (after 3-8 months) type IV membrane collagen formed in new cicatricial tissue, while in the control, types III and I collagens predominated in cicatricial tissue. Immunohistochemical structure of the cicatrix in experiment correlated with fine fibrous structure of cicatricial tissue, characterized by high permeability. Possible mechanisms of the inhibitory effect of the natural cytokine complex on the course of operation wound healing after glaucoma-filtering surgery are discussed.


No family is an island. But some families would like to be – at least when it comes to wealth preservation – and they depend on what this Article calls the law of high-wealth exceptionalism to facilitate their success. The law of high-wealth exceptionalism has been forged, over the years, from the twinned scripts of wealth management and family wealth law, both of which constitute high-wealth families as sovereign entities capable of self-regulation and deserving of exemption from the rules that govern ordinary-wealth families. Consequently, high-wealth families take advantage of complicated estate planning techniques and highly favorable wealth rules in order build walls around their family fortunes and construct bespoke governance systems. Hiding in plain sight, the law of high-wealth exceptionalism protects, privileges, and enables high-wealth families in their own particular form of organizational sovereignty.

The fact that high-wealth families operate according to their own rules might seem totally unconnected to the political lives and financial health of ordinary-wealth families. However, high-wealth exceptionalism intensifies old harms and creates new ones within the larger polity. To begin, the law of high-wealth exceptionalism increases systemic risk in financial markets, shifts tax burdens from high-wealth to lower-wealth families, and widens the wealth gap. Compounding these problems, high-wealth family exceptionalism facilitates the growth of a plutarchic and patrimonial system of government in which power is based on family wealth and privilege flows in a circuit between a small number of already exceptionally resourced families. Understanding how the law of high-wealth exceptionalism functions is, consequently, an important step in identifying hidden levers of wealth inequality and addressing the resulting democratic deficit.


Pre-trial publicity regarding a pending criminal case, which publicity may be in the form of media coverage of the case or a prior decision given in parallel judicial proceedings arising from substantially the same facts as the criminal matter, may be adverse to an accused. Such media publicity or findings contained in the parallel judicial decision may implicate the accused in the commission of the crime on which he or she is to stand trial. The publicity may, for example, suggest that the accused is "guilty" of the crime charged, or that the accused is of bad character having had the propensity to commit the crime. Conversely, pre-trial publicity may portray the accused as innocent of any criminal wrongdoing. In other words, pre-trial publicity may prejudge the issues that are to be adjudicated on at trial. A central question that may arise in these instances is whether there is a real and substantial risk that such publicity would materially affect or prejudice the impartial adjudication of the criminal case; that is to say, whether the publicity is likely to have a biasing effect on the trial court in the adjudication process or the outcome of the trial, thereby imperilling the constitutional right to a fair trial. Another key consideration, in respect of which there is scant literature and caselaw, is the question of the impact which adverse pre-trial publicity may have on the prosecutor in instituting and conducting a prosecution. Being unduly influenced by such publicity, a prosecutor may impinge upon the accused's right to a fair trial. There is also a dearth of authority on how the prosecutor is to function in the face of pre-trial publicity which may be prejudicial to the accused. This article seeks to explore these aspects vis-à-vis the prosecutor. It is posited that in an adversarial criminal justice system the same level of impartiality required of the presiding judicial officer is not required of the prosecutor, and that prosecutorial bias towards the guilt of an accused is inevitable where the prosecutor decides to institute a prosecution after studying the police case docket. Thus, exposure of the prosecutor to virulent pre-trial publicity would not be inimical to the fair disposition of the accused's trial provided that the prosecutor conducts the trial fairly and without undue prejudice to the accused and is dedicated to assisting the court in arriving at the truth. Moreover, additional knowledge and understanding of a case which a prosecutor gains from an extraneous source does not amount to bias or prejudice.


Today, only very few techniques out of the host of work on formal performance and timing analysis have been adopted in MpSoC (multiprocessor system-on-chip) design. One of the key reasons is a mismatch between the scheduling models assumed in most formal approaches and the heterogeneous world of MpSoC scheduling techniques and communication patterns. This heterogeneity results from IP reuse and a plug-and-play design style, required to effectively reach the necessary design productivity. A second problem is the model complexity. While complex, specialized models can find their way into industry niches, their broad acceptance is extremely doubtful. In this paper, we review the existing scheduling analysis techniques with respect to these key requirements and derive a good compromise between model simplicity on the one hand, and applicability to MpSoC design on the other hand. The approach represents system-level scheduling analysis as a flow-analysis problem for event streams that can be configured to reuse the existing local scheduling analysis techniques. We define transformations between few key event stream models to meet the interfacing requirements of the compositional design style. An example demonstrates the application of the approach, as well as the worthiness of the results.


The problems of Internet stability, heterogeneity, fairness of bandwidth sharing among streams, efficiency of use and congestion control have been solved in this article. This paper proposes an improved scheme of TCP proxy acknowledgement based on Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), which improves throughput, reduces delay and saves uplink bandwidth of wireless link, and is more suitable for future asymmetric networks. The substantial improvement is observed during the experimentation as processing efficiency of protocol. The observed results revealed that overall processing time for each packet is approximately equals to one fourth of the transfer control protocol and the reduction of 59% is also observed in the utility of resources. The protocol also incorporates various simple techniques for the recovery of loss to improve the throughput in noisy wireless conditions. The results show that the adoption of the average diversity combining technology is helpful to improve the throughput and effective factor performance, and can reduce the requirement of radio link protocol (RLP) maximum retransmission times. As nearly 90% of uplink acknowledgement frames are filtered, the uplink bandwidth utilization rate is significantly improved. Decomposing large data frames into small data frames is also helpful to improve system performance.


Bladed disc systems, are designed to be rotationally periodic i.e. each sector repeats itself in an angular manner. This ensures that the response characteristics preserve this rotational periodicity and is defined as a tuned system. However, due to manufacturing limitations, there are invariably random spatial variations in the sectors which constitute the rotor. This in turn destroys the periodicity (angular symmetry) of the rotor. Such a system is defined as a mistuned system, leads to energy localization and makes the rotor susceptible to damage leading to a loss of its service life. This study focusses on developing a methodology for modeling the random spatial inhomogeneities and integrating with finite element analysis for estimating the behavior of a sector of a rotor blade assembly. Approximations for the non-Gaussian random fields for the spatial inhomogeneities are directly developed from the data set of measurements available from coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Subsequently, Rosenblatt's transformations are applied to each component of the discrete measurement data set for polynomial chaos (PC) representation of the parameter to get the estimated probability density function (pdf). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (SRCC) is calculated to obtain the correlation parameter. Kullback–Liebler entropy (KLE) is used as a metric to compare the estimated pdf obtained through the PC representation of the measured data. The in-house PC based developed codes are subsequently integrated with commercially available finite element software which enable quantifying the propagation of the spatial random uncertainties into the response characteristics. Statistical processing of the response quantities is carried out to estimate probabilistic measures of the corresponding response quantities.


In comparison to wind and solar energy, tidal resources are predictable with a high degree of certainty. Although tides are inherently variable, their periodicity and predictability create the possibility of providing smooth power output to the grid. By spatially diversifying tidal devices to capture the tidal wave as it propagates through a system, aggregate power becomes smoother. Tidal energy assessments have indicated that energy extraction is viable in several regions around the world, leading to the development and testing of many devices. However, less attention has been given to the interface between energy production and grid integration, particularly in the United States. We evaluate tidal phases for several regions across the United States to determine if there is enough diversity within relatively close distances of one another. By calculating the cross correlations of estimated tidal current velocity time series between representative locations in defined regions, we show three regions in the United States have the potential to aggregate power output from geographically diversified turbines to generate a smooth power profile relative to single site development.


The purpose of the study was to determine the characteristics of teachers who were effective in classifying low- and high-performing schools in PISA 2012 for Singapore. The TALIS 2013 teacher survey was used to identify the variables, and the data were obtained from the OECD official website. All schools participating in the PISA 2012 were ranked in terms of average achievement scores and the schools in the top, and the bottom 25% were selected for analysis. Given the structure of the research data, the IDB Analyzer program was used, and the data were resolved using binary logistic regression analysis. According to the results, teachers' scores on the Classroom Disciplinary Climate, Self-Efficacy, and Teacher-Student Relations scale significantly changed in terms of the possibility of schools' success in PISA 2012. The findings of the study were also discussed within the scope of the related literature.


Hiatus occurs when the juxtaposition of syllables results in two separate vowels occurring alongside one another. Such vowel adjacency, both within words and across word boundaries, is phonologically undesirable in many languages but can be resolved using a range of strategies including consonant insertion. This paper examines linguistic and extralinguistic factors that best predict the likelihood of inserted linking 'r' across word boundaries in Australian English. Corpus data containing a set of 32 phrases produced in a sentence-reading task by 103 speakers were auditorily and acoustically analysed. Results reveal that linguistic variables of accentual context and local speaking rate take precedence over speaker-specific variables of age, gender and sociolect in the management of hiatus. We interpret this to be a reflection of the phonetic manifestation of boundary phenomena. The frequency of the phrase containing the linking 'r', the frequency of an individual's use of linking 'r', and the accentual status of the flanking vowels all affect the /ɹ/ strength (determined by F3), suggesting that a hybrid approach is warranted in modelling liaison. Age effects are present for certain prosodic contexts indicating change in progress for Australian English.


As students learn physics, they are often required to reason about the behavior of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena, and to synthesize prior knowledge from several different areas of physics to construct understanding of new ideas. This can be a tremendously difficult cognitive task for novice students, especially when the unfamiliar phenomena described are potentially microscopic or abstract. Therefore, it can be very helpful for physics instructors to develop and employ pedagogical techniques that help students to visualize and to reason productively about these concepts. A particularly effective strategy uses kinesthetic learning activities (KLAs).


Abstract A study was initiated in 2001at four locations in western Canada to investigate an integrated approach to managing wild oat, the region's worst weed. The study examined the effects of combining semidwarf or tall barley cultivars with normal or twice-normal barley seeding rates in either continuous barley or a barley–canola–barley–field pea–barley rotation. Herbicides were applied at 25, 50, and 100% of recommended rates. The first phase of the study was completed in 2005. This paper reports on the second phase, which was continued for four more years at two of the locations, Beaverlodge and Fort Vermilion, AB, Canada. The objective was to determine the long-term impact of the treatments on wild oat seed in the soil seed bank. In 2009 (final year), the diverse rotation combined with the higher barley seeding rate (optimal cultural practice) resulted in higher barley yields and reduced wild oat biomass compared to continuous barley and lower barley seeding rate (suboptimal cultural practice). In contrast to the first phase, barley yield was higher with the semidwarf cultivar, and cultivar had no effect on wild oat management. Wild oat seed in the soil seed bank decreased with increasing herbicide rate, but amounts were often lower with the optimal cultural practice. For example, at the recommended herbicide rate at Beaverlodge, an approximate 40-fold reduction in wild oat seed occurred with the optimal compared to the suboptimal cultural practice. The results indicate that combining optimal cultural practices with herbicides will reduce the amount of wild oat seed in the soil seed bank, and result in higher barley yields. Optimal cultural practices may also compensate for reduced herbicidal effects in terms of reducing wild oat seed accumulation in the soil seed bank and increasing barley yield. The results have implications for mitigating the evolution of herbicide resistance in wild oat. Nomenclature: Wild oat, Avena fatua L.; barley, Hordeum vulgare L.; canola, Brassica napus L.; field pea, Pisum sativum L.


The Roberts thrust is a major thrust in Nevada on which Ordovician to Devonian siliceous facies rocks were carried more than 80 km eastward over contemporaneous carbonate facies. For more than two decades, a mid-Paleozoic age for this structure has been widely accepted. The bases for dating the thrust are (1) the assumption that the Roberts thrust formed at the time of the Antler orogeny—a reliably dated mid-Paleozoic event, and (2) the concept of an overlapping assemblage consisting of sedimentary strata deposited on both the allochthon and autochthon. The first assumption is unproved, and the second relies on another assumption: that the overlap assemblage was not cut and telescoped by the Roberts thrust. In the years since a mid-Paleozoic age for the Roberts thrust became widely accepted, much new information on the stratigraphy and facies relations of Mississippian rocks in northern Nevada has accumulated. One interpretation of these new data suggests that in the Pinon Range, where a mid-Paleozoic age for the thrust was most convincingly displayed, the overlap assemblage actually may have been cut by a major thrust that juxtaposed contrasting facies of Mississippian rocks. If so, the principal evidence used to date the Roberts thrust is compromised, and the time has come for an agonizing reappraisal of all evidence bearing on the question. A mid-Paleozoic age can no longer be taken for granted, and a post-Paleozoic age cannot be ruled out.


This guide is designed to help illustrate the primary principles of human growth and development as well as to provide resources relevant to the subject


Beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) are one of the least known of all mammalian groups. The majority of species have been described from only a handful of specimens. Found in deep ocean waters, these species are widespread and often sexually dimorphic. Little is known of intra-specific variation in morphology, and many species are very similar in external appearance. A reference database of mitochondrial DNA sequences was compiled for all 20 recognised ziphiid species to aid in species identification. All reference sequences were derived from validated specimens, which were often represented only by bone or teeth. DNA was obtained from this 'historic' material using 'ancient' DNA methods. For three species, holotypes were sampled. Phylogenetic analyses using this database led to the discovery of a new, previously unrecognised species of beaked whale (Mesoplodon perrini), new specimens of Longman's beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus), a species known previously from only two partial skulls and the synonymy of a third (M. traversii = M. bahamondi). Phylogenetic reconstructions based on sequence data from three mitochondrial and two nuclear loci (total, 2815 bp) using neighbour-joining, parsimony, and maximum likelihood methods, resolved many of the sister-species relationships in this group. Inferred relationships among Mesoplodon beaked whales indicated that cranial and tooth morphology may be far more variable between closely related species than previously assumed. No support was found for a linear-progression of tooth form as suggested by Moore (1968) in his phenetic evaluation of relationships among the Ziphiidae. The geographic distribution of Mesoplodon species with similar or divergent tooth morphology is likely due to a combination of sexual selection and selection for species recognition. Both hypotheses predict similar patterns, such as dissimilar tooth morphology among species with sympatric or parapatric distributions. However, only sexual selection appears to offer an explanation for why there are so many Mesoplodon beaked whales. Investigation of mtDNA diversity among a number of beaked whale species indicated that nucleotide diversity was generally lower in this group than in other wide-ranging oceanic cetaceans. The cause of this low diversity was not clear but may be indicative of overall low abundance. Particularly low levels of diversity were found in Baird's beaked whale Berardius bairdii, Arnoux's beaked whale B. arnuxii and the northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus. Strong geographic structure in haplotype frequencies was observed among a worldwide sample of Cuvier's beaked whales Ziphius cavirostris. Reference: Dalebout, M. L. 2002 Species identity, genetic diversity and molecular systematic relationships among the Ziphiidae (beaked whales). PhD thesis, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.


Chamber leak test is one of the most important tests that are performed on plasma reactors for etch, CVD, etc. Optical Emission Spectroscopy OES is a powerful non-invasive tool to perform real time plasma diagnostic and in theory could be use as an alternative method to evaluate the air leak into the plasma reactor. The idea is to detect and quantify small differences in the emission spectrum of the plasma when a presence of a quantity of air is higher than the tolerated threshold. This would give the possibility to test the level of the leak chamber any time automatically during production or between wafers and hence to increase the frequency of testing. In this presentation we describe not only the method itself with the instrument set up and the test configuration adopted but also the experience acquired in high volume production regime and the numerous advantages obtained in comparison with the conventional leak rate test.


Treatment of a dural arteriovenous fistula (AVF), which is difficult to access by either the surgical or endovascular approach, is challenging. A hybrid technique, combining a microsurgical approach and endovascular embolization, can provide less invasive management of dural AVFs in a modern neurosurgical hybrid operating suite. We present a case of intracerebral hemorrhage in the left cerebellum secondary to dural AVF, Cognard type IV with numerous tiny feeders from the ascending pharyngeal artery branches. No adequate arterial or venous route for endovascular embolization was found by neuroangiography. The hybrid technique, combining keyhole pterional craniotomy and embolization with n-butyl cyanoacrylate glue injection via direct cannulation of the periclival venous plexus, succeeded in obliterating the dural AVF. Intraoperative angiography showed successful embolization of the dural AVF without any complication. This report illustrates the usefulness of the neurosurgical hybrid operating suite for the treatment of difficult dural AVFs.


The deterioration models for reinforced concrete structures include a period for time to corrosion cracking: time from initiation of corrosion to first cracking. Theoretical equations for determining the time to corrosioncracking have been presented but never validated. This paper reports on a study which was initiated to validate or modify a set of theoretical equations for field linear polarization, unguarded and guarded, corrosion rate devices. The test variables included six corrosion rates, two concrete cover depths, two reinforcing steel bar diameters and spacings, two exposure conditions (indoors and outdoors), and one design concrete strength (water to cement ratio). Influence of temperature and chloride content on the measured corrosion rates are presented. Corrosion rates increase with increasing chloride content and corrosion rates vary significantly with annual changes in temperature, highest in the spring and lowest in the winter. Measured metal loss measurements were compared with the calculated metal loss based on monthly corrosion rate measurements for both devices. The 3LP device significantly over-estimated the amount of metal loss and the Geocor 3 device significantly under-estimated the amount of metal loss based on average monthly measurements. The theoretical time to corrosion cracking equations significantly under-estimated the time to corrosion cracking using a uniform corrosion rate based on the measured metal loss.


Wind energy, the world's fastest growing renewable energy technology, is developing towards a major utility source. Turbines are growing in size and are located in more remote sites, sometimes even offshore, to benefit from better wind conditions. These developments help to maximize the output per turbine but come with challenges for operation and maintenance (O&M). Unexpected failures result in longer downtimes and consequently higher revenue losses. Hence, maintenance management promises consid-erable cost saving potential and the analysis of data form the turbine inbuilt supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system can effectively support maintenance de-cisions.
This thesis aims to investigate possibilities to utilize SCADA data for early failure de-tection in critical wind turbines (WTs). Therefore, a condition monitoring approach is further developed and applied. The method uses artificial neural networks to model tar-get parameters under normal operating conditions and analyzes deviations from the measured values with the help of statistical tools, such as the Mahalanobis distance (MHD) measure. In order to increase the robustness and accuracy of the approach, the development of several data pre-processing methods is presented. Two different anoma-ly detection philosophies are investigated by building two different models. A gearbox model which is monitoring local variables to indicate component malfunctions and a power model which is predicting the turbine's power output to indicate problems form a system's perspective.
Based on the available data both monitoring approaches were applied to investigate gearbox failures for indirect drive WTs and generator bearing failures for direct drive WTs. Furthermore, the power model was found to be an effective method for ice detec-tion on WT blades. The successful detection of gearbox anomalies long before a final component breakdown is presented. However, the model was not able to detect all gear-related problems investigated. It was concluded that the availability of parameters which are potentially affected by component malfunctions play a decisive role in this approach. The power model application showed that a different anomaly detection ap-proach might be better suited for the investigated cases. However, this approach is well suited for the detection of icing and recommendations for further studies are derived.


The article explores the applicability of fully automatic parallelizing techniques for parallel computers. We capitalize on a variety of traditional compiling techniques as well as new techniques developed specifically for distributed memory architectures. Combining these traditional and new techniques, we conducted experiments with several benchmark programs on the Cray T3D.


Purpose: Integrin αvβ3 plays an important role in tumor angiogenesis, growth, and metastasis. We have tested a targeted probe to visualize integrin receptor expression in glioblastomas using near-infrared fluorescent (NIRF) imaging. Experimental design: A transgenic glioblastoma mouse model (RCAS-PDGF-driven/tv-a glioblastoma, which mimics the infiltrative growth pattern of human glioblastomas) and two human orthotopic glioblastoma models (U-87 MG with high integrin β3 expression and TS543 with low integrin β3 expression) were studied. An integrin-targeting NIRF probe, IRDye 800CW-cyclic-RGD peptide (IRDye 800CW-RGD), was tested by in vivo and ex vivo NIRF imaging. Results: We show that the IRDye 800CW-RGD peptide: (i) specifically binds to integrin receptors; (ii) is selectively localized to glioblastoma tissue with overexpressed integrin receptors and is retained over prolonged periods of time; (iii) is associated with minimal autofluorescence and photobleaching because of imaging at 800 nm; (iv) provides delineation of tumor tissue with high precision because of a high tumor-to-normal brain fluorescence ratio (79.7 ± 6.9, 31.2 ± 2.8, and 16.3 ± 1.3) in the U-87 MG, RCAS-PDGF, and TS543 models, respectively; P < 0.01); and (v) enables fluorescence-guided glioblastoma resection. Importantly, small foci of residual fluorescence were observed after resection was completed using white light imaging alone, and these fluorescent foci were shown to represent residual tumor tissue by histology. Conclusions: NIRF imaging with the IRDye 800CW-RGD probe provides a simple, rapid, low-cost, nonradioactive, and highly translatable approach for improved intraoperative glioblastoma visualization and resection. It also has the potential to serve as an imaging platform for noninvasive cancer detection and drug efficacy evaluation studies. Clin Cancer Res; 18(20); 5731–40. ©2012 AACR.


T Tauri stars (TTS) are low-mass pre-main-sequence stars that are accreting mass from the surrounding disc. The hotspots detected in some of them are probably heated by the release of gravitational energy in the accretion of the disc material on to the star. In this work we study the UV spectrum of the hotspot detected in DI Cep to constrain the physical mechanisms heating the spot and to study the possible role of the magnetic field in channelling the accretion flow. DI Cep is a classical TTS, classified as G8 IV, with a hotspot (T similar to 8500 K) covering 1-3 per cent of the visible hemisphere. We have carried out a monitoring campaign with the Short Wavelength spectrograph (1200-2000 Angstrom) and the optical FES Camera of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) from 1992 July 12 to 26. The UV spectrum of DI Cep shows excess emission in the continuum from 1700 Angstrom towards longer wavelengths with respect to a G8 IV star. The far-UV spectrum is dominated by strong emission lines of OI, CIV, Si IV, Si II and Si III], with typical surface fluxes of similar to 10(6) erg cm(-2) s(-1). The UV fluxes (lines and continuum) vary in phase and reach the maximum when the optical flux (FES) does. The light curves are similar in all the lines: the emission from the hotspot is detected above a baseline flwe probably produced by the stellar atmosphere. There is a broad range of temperatures in the hotspot (from 10(4) to 10.5 K) that is similar to that observed in the plages of magnetically active cool stars (e.g. II Peg). However, in DI Cep the light cuwes of the UV lines and continuum are correlated with the optical continuum (T/-bnnd) light curve. DI Cep as a whole deviates only slightly from active stars in the CIV-Si II and CIV-CII flux-flux relations (there is a factor of 2 excess of Si II with respect to CIV when compared with the regression line fitted to active stars). This suggests that the chromosphere and transition region of DI Cep are heated by a mechanism similar to that of the active main-sequence stars. However, the spot is significantly shifted from these relations in the flux-flux diagrams, displaying an excess of Si II (or a defect of CIV) with respect to the surface fluxes emitted by magnetically active stars. The spot alone radiates as much energy as the rest of the atmosphere, and the spot surface fluxes are similar to 10(8) erg cm(-2) s(-1) (typically 2 orders of magnitude larger than those corresponding to the atmosphere). Our observations support the theories in which the accreting material is magnetically channelled on to the stellar surface. Variations in the temperature of the spot between observations taken 1 year apart suggest that the infalling material is more likely channelled by a transient loop structure attached to the star than by a strong stellar dipolar field. The total energy radiated in the far UV lines plus the UV continuum excess is greater than or equal to 0.07 L.. This can be accounted for by the accretion of greater than or equal to 6x10(-9) M. yr(-1) from the corotation radius (8.3 R*).


Due to business needs and the growing importance of technology in society, in recent years, the concept of computational thinking has emerged, especially focused on its inclusion in compulsory education as a relevant complement, transversal to traditional subjects. In parallel, various initiatives have developed interactive digital tools for learners to meet this type of thinking through a series of activities commonly framed as games. In this chapter, we evaluate many of the existing free access platforms to propose pedagogical, design, and content approaches with which they can be compared.


The results of inhibition studies of soybean trypsin-like enzyme (STLE) by substrate analogues (derivative of arginine) suggested that a net negative charge exists at or near the substrate binding region of the enzyme. On hydrolysis of substrates, this negative charge seems to repel the products from the substrate binding region and facilitate the turn-over of substrates. From the data on inhibition by various amidines, guanidines, and amines, some information about the structure of the hydrophobic binding pocket of STLE was obtained. The inactivation of STLE by irreversible inhibitors, diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) and tosyl-lysine chloromethyl ketone (Tos-Lys-CH2Cl), was decreased by competitive inhibitors. This means that these irreversible inhibitors bind with residues at the substrate binding region, probably serine and histidine residues, respectively.


Describes a uraniferous locality in an old cobalt mine at Saegmuehlen, near Sulzburg in the Black Forest, Germany. The mineralization, which seems to be related to the granitic massif south of the Black Forest, is in the form of thin veinlets of pitchblende accompanied by loellingite and sulfides of Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe, and Sb in a quartz-carbonate gangue. Among European uraniferous deposits, there appears to be a progressive gradation from the Central Massif type, intragranitic and dominantly epithermal, to the central European type, located at the periphery of granite batholiths and dominantly mesothermal. Both types are related to Hercynian (Paleozoic) mineralization; the former seems to represent a late-stage product, derived from solutions originating deep in batholiths, whereas the latter was derived from more superficial zones.


Service research has previously documented service providers' role in addressing the barriers of technology mediation, mostly at the service delivery level. However, there is still limited understanding about the role of service providers who hold strategic and operational roles, as well as the impact of coordinated, organization-wide initiatives in dealing with the demands and associated emotional ambivalence of technology mediated services. This qualitative study draws from a series of in-depth interviews with healthcare service providers who hold strategic and operational roles in healthcare organizations along with participant observation in order to develop an understanding of the broader organizational context of telehealth services. We outline the strategic sense-giving process and highlight how healthcare service providers who hold strategic and operational roles enact the sense-giver role. We illustrate that strategic sense-giving involves the (a) recognition of sense-making gaps; (b) identification of sense-giving opportunities; and (c) provision of templates of action. We illustrate that sense-giving can be performed by a number of organizational members in a more formalized way which extends informal sense-giving efforts at the peer-to-peer level. We highlight the importance of strategic sense-giving in providing templates of action for service providers and consumers. We also show how strategic sense-giving safeguards against confusion and errors by communicating appropriate ways of using technology. Finally, we demonstrate the role of strategic sense-giving in helping service providers and consumers cope with the emotional ambivalence of technology mediated service interactions.


Distributed representation learned with neural networks has recently shown to be effective in modeling natural languages at fine granularities such as words, phrases, and even sentences. Whether and how such an approach can be extended to help model larger spans of text, e.g., documents, is intriguing, and further investigation would still be desirable. This paper aims to enhance neural network models for such a purpose. A typical problem of document-level modeling is automatic summarization, which aims to model documents in order to generate summaries. In this paper, we propose neural models to train computers not just to pay attention to specific regions and content of input documents with attention models, but also distract them to traverse between different content of a document so as to better grasp the overall meaning for summarization. Without engineering any features, we train the models on two large datasets. The models achieve the state-of-the-art performance, and they significantly benefit from the distraction modeling, particularly when input documents are long.


The study describes a surgical technique for the use of ramus bone cores routinely used in the surgical rebuilding of deficient maxillary sinuses. The bone core harvest is predictable and without significant morbidity to the patient. There is clinical evidence to suggest this technique may significantly speed up the process of building load-bearing bone with mechanical stability, allowing for earlier implant placement in strong bone.


In order to understand the formation and subsequent evolution of galaxies one must first distinguish between the two main morphological classes of massive systems: spirals and early-type systems. This paper introduces a project, Galaxy Zoo, which provides visual morphological classifications for nearly one million galaxies, extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This achievement was made possible by inviting the general public to visually inspect and classify these galaxies via the internet. The project has obtained more than 4 × 107 individual classifications made by ∼105 participants. We discuss the motivation and strategy for this project, and detail how the classifications were performed and processed. We find that Galaxy Zoo results are consistent with those for subsets of SDSS galaxies classified by professional astronomers, thus demonstrating that our data provide a robust morphological catalogue. Obtaining morphologies by direct visual inspection avoids introducing biases associated with proxies for morphology such as colour, concentration or structural parameters. In addition, this catalogue can be used to directly compare SDSS morphologies with older data sets. The colour–magnitude diagrams for each morphological class are shown, and we illustrate how these distributions differ from those inferred using colour alone as a proxy for morphology.


DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION fraternity became a political principle together with liberty and equality. (1) These principles altered the course of political history asymmetrically. Liberty and equality were incorporated into constitutions and inspired political parties and movements; meanwhile, fraternity, the "strangest in the trinity," remained relatively forgotten. (2) Fraternity is both a normative concept and an empirical phenomenon that requires study and deserves an explanation. Democracies need deep moral roots of a secular or religious nature in order to function. These roots, which cannot generate themselves, assure social cooperation and thereby protect and perpetuate democracy. (3) Fraternity can provide such a moral foundation. Despite its potential, the principle of fraternity has languished in the social sciences and broad public sphere. To philosopher Roberto Mancini, one reason for fraternity's obscurity has to do with its pretension of universality, which appears to contradict the reality of social exclusion. Ultimately, fraternity appears utopian and unattainable and thus not apt for policy. (4) Therefore, in the social sciences--even within the humanities--the notion of fraternity is not widely used. Fraternity would contradict the conflictual nature of power, creating an ontological pessimism in politics. (5) However, the empirical phenomenon to which it refers, that is, an attitude of reciprocal care among citizens, has been recognized and studied largely through the concepts of social cohesion, trust, social capital, pro-sociality, reciprocity, altruism, democratic coexistence, civic friendship, community, and solidarity. We approach fraternity by taking these concepts as a semantic field or semantic domain as they are not synonymous but refer to approximately the same phenomenon. In this article we also show that, as a semantic field, fraternity is an idea widely used in Catholic Social Teaching (hereafter CST), and that the principle of fraternity has only recently gained a more specific and precise meaning. Indeed, the latest encyclicals argue that the principle of fraternity presupposes the existence of a common Creator or Father, and by extension, that men should live in reciprocal love and respect. From that point of view, CST makes an insistent call for fraternity as a moral virtue at the core of society. The objective of this article is to advance our understanding of the affinities and differences between academic conceptualizations of fraternity and those of CST. As a first step in this task, this article examines and surveys three social science concepts that seem to have a "family resemblance" to the notion of fraternity: social cohesion, trust, and social capital. We then continue our survey with the concepts of community and solidarity, which have received mixed attention from law and philosophy. Finally, we enter into the realm of civic friendship and fraternity, which, while mostly absent from the social sciences, are often discussed in political theory. (6) We do not pretend to engage in a linguistic or post-structuralist approach of the idea of fraternity, but rather in a pragmatic attempt to build a bridge between some of social sciences' concepts and a philosophical idea widely relevant to CST. Finally, we present some challenges that the study of the idea of fraternity poses and how CST may assist in overcoming them. Fraternity's Semantic Domain in the Social Sciences The concept of social cohesion has been associated with a great variety of issues such as: values and shared meanings, socioeconomic equality, multiculturality, cooperation, social protection, social bonds, inclusion, and citizenship. (7) Since 2001, the European Union has measured social cohesion by social gaps through the so-called Laeken indicators that encompass four areas: income, employment, education, and health. In 2007 the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) adjusted the Laeken indicators to better measure the more pervasive gaps in Latin America and added indicators regarding the role of democratic institutions and the sense of community belonging. …


Integrated surface‐subsurface hydrological models (ISSHMs) are well established numerical tools to investigate water flow and contaminant transport processes over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. However, their ability to correctly reproduce the response of hydrological systems to natural and anthropogenic forcing depends largely on the accuracy of model parameterization, including the level of detail in the representation of the bedrock. This latter is typically incorporated in some way via the bottom boundary of the model domain. Issues of bedrock topography, variable soil depth, and the resulting hillslope storage distribution representation in ISSHMs are vitally important but to date have received little attention. A standard treatment of the bottom boundary, especially in large catchment and continental scale applications, is to model it as a flat or inclined (e.g., parallel to the surface) impermeable base (sometimes with some simple leakage term). This approach does not allow the model to correctly reproduce bedrock‐controlled threshold responses such as the fill and spill process, as observed across many hillslope and catchment scale field studies. It is still unclear whether Richards equation‐based numerical models are actually able to generate such responses. Here we use a Richards equation‐based model (CATHY) to simulate internal transient subsurface stormflow dynamics observed at the well‐characterized Panola experimental hillslope in Georgia (USA). Soil and bedrock properties were calibrated starting from values reported in previous studies at the site. Our simulation results show that the model was able to reproduce threshold mechanisms, which in turn affected both the integrated and distributed hydrologic responses of the Panola hillslope. We then developed a set of virtual experiments with modified boundary conditions and base topography at the soil‐bedrock interface to explore the bedrock boundary control on transient groundwater flow patterns. Our results show that accurate representation of the lower boundary is crucial for ISSHM simulations of hillslope‐scale storm runoff and for connectivity of transient groundwater. We summarize our findings with the development of a new bedrock topographic wetness index that takes into account the unsaturated infiltration dynamics. The index is able to help represent the spatial variability of water table response over the bedrock surface compared to standard surface topography‐based indices. This new index may be useful in larger‐scale ISSHM applications where an exact bedrock topography representation is not feasible or possible.


Chapter 1, 3 and 4 focus on the analysis of interval-valued data (joint with Professor Gonzalez-Rivera). In Chapter 1, we propose a constrained regression model that preserves the natural order of the interval in all instances. Within the framework of interval time series, we specify a general dynamic bivariate system for the upper and lower bounds of the intervals, and propose a (modified) two-step estimator. Monte Carlo simulations show good finite sample properties of the proposed estimators. We model the daily interval of low/high SP500 returns before and after 2007, and find that truncation is very severe during and after the financial crisis of 2008, so that a modified two-step procedure should be implemented. In Chapters 3 and 4, we adopt an alternative modelling approach for interval-valued data that exploits the extreme property of lower/upper bounds of interval, which is ignored in the existing literature. Specifically, Chapter 3 and 4 propose two different models and estimation strategies (ML and semiparametric estimation) that combines the knowledge of order statistics and extreme value theory with interval-valued data respectively. As a separate strand of research, in Chapter 2 (joint with Professor Ullah), we propose an adaptive spline estimator based on Friedman (1991)'s multivariate adaptive regression splines. The model takes the form of an expansion in the cross product spline bases, where the numbers of spline functions, the degree of tensor product and knot locations are automatically selected adaptively by using generalized cross validation. Our estimator is more tractable not only in computational implementations but in theoretical deductions as well. We establish the asymptotic normality of our adaptive estimator, and obtain the optimal convergence rate that it can possibly achieve. The optimal convergence rate depends on the order ratio of the number of selected spline basis functions to the total potential ones. The Monte Carlo simulation, comparing the adaptive estimator with classical regression splines given various DGP settings, shows that our estimator has more significant improvement upon classical regression splines by producing smaller AMSE given the DGP with multivariate covariates. We also apply our adaptive estimator to the study of the effect of public capital stock on the gross state product using the pooled panel data set in Baltagi and Pinnoi (1995).


Thoracic lymphangiomatosis (proliferation of anastomosing lymphatic vessels, of different sizes, in pulmonary, pleural and mediastinal regions) is an extremely rare disorder occurring mostly in childhood. We present a diffuse pulmonary lymphangiomatosis (DPL) case in a young adult female patient in which repeated surgical biopsies were inconclusive and transthoracic ultrasound-guided (TUS) biopsy led to the diagnosis. Even histologically, DPL is very difficult to differentiate from other lymphatic diseases such as lymphangioma and lymphangiomyomatosis, requiring an experienced pathologist and proper immunohistochemistry staining. This case highlights the importance of TUS-guided biopsies in the armamentarium of imagistic techniques in this very rare case.


BACKGROUND
Patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) are frequently admitted for invasive infections. Medications for OUD (MOUD) may improve outcomes in hospitalized patients.

METHODS
In this retrospective cohort of 220 admissions to a tertiary care center for invasive infections due to OUD, we compared 4 MOUD treatment strategies: methadone, buprenorphine, methadone taper for detoxification, and no medication to determine whether there were differences in parenteral antibiotic completion and readmission rates.

RESULTS
The MOUDs were associated with increased completion of parenteral antimicrobial therapy (64.08% vs 46.15%; odds ratio [OR] = 2.08; 95% CI, 1.23-3.61). On multivariate analysis, use of MOUD maintenance with either buprenorphine (OR = 0.38; 95% CI, .17-.85) or methadone maintenance (OR = 0.43; 95% CI, .20-.94) and continuation of MOUD on discharge (OR = 0.35; 95% CI, .18-.67) was associated with lower 90-day readmissions. In contrast, use of methadone for detoxification followed by tapering of the medication without continuation on discharge was not associated with decreased readmissions (OR = 1.87; 95% CI, .62-5.10).

CONCLUSIONS
Long-term MOUDs, regardless of selection, are an integral component of care in patients hospitalized with OUD-related infections. Patients with OUD should have arrangements made for MOUDs to be continued after discharge, and MOUDs should not be discontinued before discharge.


Observations of Titan's mid-latitude clouds from the W. M. Keck and Gemini Observatories show that they cluster near 350°W longitude, 40°S latitude. These clouds cannot be explained by a seasonal shift in global circulation and thus presumably reflect a mechanism on Titan such as geysering or cryovolcanism in this region. The rate of volatile release necessary to trigger cloud formation could easily supply enough methane to balance the loss to photolysis in the upper atmosphere.


Indonesia has approximately 16.8 Mha of degraded lands. These lands have the potential to grow biofuel species to meet the need for energy security, income generation and land restoration. As a promising species Calophyllum inophyllum is suitable to grow in 5.7 Mha of degraded land in Indonesia and could contribute to green energy production and restoration of these degraded lands. During the growing stage, this species can grow up to 1 m in height per year and tolerates to harsh environmental conditions. Its seed provides high levels of non-edible oil, thus making it ideal for biodiesel production. In addition, during the biodiesel production process, its waste and by-products can be used as a raw material in pharmaceuticals and cosmetic industries, and as a compost for soil enrichment. Growing various cash crops with Calophyllum inophyllum as agroforestry can provide extra income to farmers, thus create added value of Calophyllum inophyllum cultivation.


Matthew Gray, Ben Edwards, Alan Hayes and Jennifer Baxter provide a broad-ranging review of the potential impacts on Australian families of the global recession. The paper begins with information on the rates of unemployment and long-term unemployment since 1980 to the present day. The authors point out that several demographic changes mean that this economic downturn will be different for families than in previous years. Women are now engaged in the labour force at much higher rates than previously and, as a consequence, there are more dual-income families. Single-parent families may be particularly vulnerable in difficult economic times, given their reliance on a single income. Surprisingly, there is little direct evidence of the effect of unemployment in economic downturns on families, but there is fairly good international evidence on the impact of unemployment on families more generally. Gray et al. summarise evidence on the scarring effect of unemployment, and the impact of unemployment on mental and physical health, crime, family functioning and children. Also discussed is the impact of economic downturns on broader contextual factors, such as the geographic concentration of unemployment and disadvantage, housing, and social exclusion. There have been some substantial falls in asset values, particularly in the stock market, and this has flowed through to superannuation balances and the authors suggest that this may have an impact on families, as older workers may delay their retirement.


To open our issue, we have Kissell and Malamut's discussion of traditional VWAP strategy and its inconsistency with investment objectives. They demonstrate its likelihood to compromise the stock selection process. Garvey and Wu examine the effect of prior outcomes on order selection decisions. They conclude that the trader's behavior appears sub-optimal because traders who systematically deviate from their normal order submission strategies experience lower profitability. This is followed by Borkovec and Heidle who present a model to improve transaction cost estimates for post-trade analysis. Cheng extends previous research on how overconfidence affects trading performance by examining whether the degree of impact is different between electronic trading markets and open outcry environments. Berkeley discusses the need for invisibility of order for the success of block traders. Chlistalla, Gomber, and Groth discuss MiFID and its impact on the European landscape of execution venues. Selway provides four proposals for the NYSE to turn around the Hybrid platform. We are pleased to have as a special editor for this issue Professor Guo Ying (Rosemary)Luo, Associate Professor of Finance at the DeGroote School of Business of McMaster University. She brings us two articles that were presented at the Annual Conference on Market Structure and Market Integrity for 2005 and 2006 (website: http://www.degroote.mcmaster.ca/faculty/rsconference07.aspx). This conference is sponsored by the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and Market Regulation Services Inc. As always, we welcome your submissions. Please encourage those you know who have good papers or have made good presentations on trading related subjects to submit them to us. Submission guidelines are included in this issue. We value your comments and suggestions, so please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com. Brian Bruce Editor-in-Chief I gratefully acknowledge The Journal of Trading for supporting the publication of the aforementioned articles. The first article examines the transaction costs for the two derivatives traded on the Montreal Exchange, namely, the BAX (the interest rate futures contracts) and the SXF (the equity futures contracts). The results show that the trading costs on the BAX are much less than its minimum tick value and are similar to the costs of Eurodollar futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME); and the transaction costs on the SXF are much higher than the contract's minimum tick value and exceed those of the CME S&P 500 index futures contracts. Hedging appears to reduce the transaction costs for all participants. There is almost no correlation between transaction costs and trading activity. The second article investigates the frontrunning activities in the Toronto Stock exchange. Frontrunning is referred to as brokers' proprietary trading activities ahead of executing their clients' orders. The results show that only a small number of brokers have engaged in frontrunning trading activities. The paper further identifies positive association between the magnitude and frequency of frontrunning activities with broker activity levels, order size, sell-side orders, and informed client orders. There is no evidence to support investors' common perceptions that anonymous orders are used to conceal frontrunning activities. Guo Ying (Rosemary) Luo Special Editor


We consider defining time as a function of a cyclical field, an abstraction of a clock. The definition of time corresponds to a novel interpretation of the relationship between space-time coordinates of observers at different locations in space. As a first test of the utility of this definition, we show that it leads to a Lorentz covariant description of space-time. This derivation of Lorenz covariance provides a starting point for considering more general constructions that relate to physical laws. The definition of time couples time to space, making time not orthogonal to space, and making dynamics a result of geometry, providing a vehicle for curved space-time theories that generalize general relativity.


The paper presents an innovative process of designing elastic braces to protect injured joints. Based on the included box of 3D scanned data from the injured joint, a smallish tentative elastic brace is designed. The strain energy is derived from the strain energy density function, which is the function of the dimension of the brace, elastic material's parameters and the motion of the joint. The stiffness is then confirmed by the derivative of the strain energy. Compared to the stiffness prescribed by the physician, the modification of these parameters is done until it meets the requirement. For effective calculation, mesh simplification and parameterization techniques are applied, which have been widely investigated in computer graphics field. The proposed approach to strain energy and stiffness calculation makes it available to design a custom-made elastic brace for injured joints. The simulation results prove it work quite well for designing medical assistive devices. The research is useful for developing medical devices and intelligent robots.


This study provides an in-depth investigation of Turkish primary school students' perceptions of geography. Gender differences in students' perceptions of geography were investigated, including definitions of geography and its field of study. The findings showed that landforms, our geographical regions/Turkey, mapwork, and countries dominated among students' definitions. Geography topics cited were mainly within the physical geography category and mostly those of landforms and cartography. A chi-square test revealed a statistically significant difference between girls and boys in the Turkey category and the history-related issues category.


BACKGROUND
Risk factors for complication after single-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion remain poorly defined. The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence and risk factors for complication from a large, prospectively collected database, with a separate emphasis on the safety of outpatient procedures.

METHODS
The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program prospectively collects thirty-day morbidity and mortality data from more than 480 hospitals around the United States. We retrospectively queried this database to identify cases of single-level elective anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for complication, and a propensity score model was used to create matched inpatient and outpatient cohorts.

RESULTS
Of 2914 cases identified, 597 (20.5%) received outpatient treatment and 2317 (79.5%) received inpatient treatment. The overall incidence of any systemic morbidity was 3.2%. There were five mortalities (0.2%), four in the inpatient cohort and one in the outpatient cohort. Patient age over sixty-five years, body mass index of >30 kg/m2, American Society of Anesthesiologists class of 3 or 4, current dialysis, current corticosteroid use, recent sepsis, and operative times longer than 120 minutes were each independent risk factors for complication in the multivariate analysis. After propensity score matching to control for comorbidities, there were no significant differences in complication rates between inpatients and outpatients, and outpatient treatment was not a risk factor for complication in the multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Single-level elective anterior cervical discectomy and fusion had low complication rates, with no additional risk seen with outpatient as compared with inpatient procedures. It seems reasonable to consider inpatient admission for any patient with the risk factors identified here, particularly difficult airways. This information may be useful to surgeons performing informed consents for medical optimization and for selecting patients most appropriate for outpatient treatment.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


While a temporary traffic control plan describes how a specific work zone is to be set up to ensure the safety of the motoring public, construction equipment and vehicles within the work space are not addressed. An internal traffic control plan (ITCP) is a tool that project managers can use to coordinate and control the flow of construction vehicles, equipment, and workers operating in close proximity within the activity area to ensure the safety of workers. Recent federal regulations require safety plans of all construction contractors prepared by competent persons. The concept of ITCP was developed as a promising intervention in research conducted by the Laborers' Health and Safety Fund for the Federal Highway Administration. This study found that only one-third of highway worker injuries are traffic-related, and that approximately half of the fatal injuries of workers on foot in the work space involve a backing construction vehicle. Among interventions that were developed during this research was the provision of an internal traffic control plan to control traffic within the work space. Model ITCPs were developed for paving, dirt spread, and trenching operations. Additional accident data on worker injuries was collected and analyzed by Pratt et al. of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In 2002, NIOSH sponsored research to prove the applicability of the ITCP concept to paving operations on freeway work zones. Two asphalt paving and two portland cement concrete sites were observed in this research, and ITCPs were developed for each site. An ITCP development guide to aid contractors in preparing ITCPs was also developed in this research. This paper will describe the preparation of ITCPs and discuss field observations of asphalt and concrete paving operations. While additional research is needed, this intervention shows promise to reduce worker injuries in highway construction zones.


Quality plans and risk management plans must result in project tasks to be actioned, tracked and managed to completion, otherwise the vendor's quality plans and risk management plans are simply shelfware. One of the biggest causes of troubled projects is vendor over-confidence in their abilities. A vital role of an independent QA organisation is to detect this problem and ensure that plans are realistic and achievable. Quality is delivered through: specifying quality requirements in tangible, real-world terms; defining and using appropriate software development processes; controlling quality through the use of appropriate VV independent QA reviews to ensure that quality attainment plans and quality control plans are being executed; defining and using appropriate processes to preserve quality throughout the life of the software. All of the above are defined in the quality plan, a crucial input to project estimation and planning. The goal of risk management is to reduce project overspend and slippage, and thereby to maximise quality. Risks must be identified and analysed to determine their probability and impact. Risk reduction actions can then be defined to re engineer the risk profile. What is left is the residual risk. Residual risk can be examined using best, likely and worst case scenarios, and appropriate contingency strategies and plans defined. Automated statistical tools can indicate the residual risk contingency which should be set aside to provide the desired confidence level that the contingency will not be exceeded.


Polymer dielectrics having high dielectric constant, high temperature capability, and low loss are attractive for a broad range of applications such as film capacitors, gate dielectrics, artificial muscles, and electrocaloric cooling. Unfortunately, it is generally observed that higher polarization or dielectric constant tends to cause significantly enhanced dielectric loss. It is therefore highly desired that the fundamental physics of all types of polarization and loss mechanisms be thoroughly understood for dielectric polymers. In this Perspective, we intend to explore advantages and disadvantages for different types of polarization. Among a number of approaches, dipolar polarization is promising for high dielectric constant and low loss polymer dielectrics, if the dipolar relaxation peak can be pushed to above the gigahertz range. In particular, dipolar glass, paraelectric, and relaxor ferroelectric polymers are discussed for the dipolar polarization approach.


When we consider e-learning or face to face courses, engaging students is essential for teaching efficacy. The key to e-learning success resides in offering students more than information. In on line courses, even though the content of the course is important, the student's engagement with the set content is more relevant.

Moodle offers a variety of activities that promote or facilitate the student's engagement with the material. There are assignments that require reviewing the content of the course, collaborative activities that promote critical thinking and integrating different perspective on a topic, and also formative assessment activities that facilitate learning. The variety of resources that can be uploaded on a Moodle platform, might also address the variety of learning styles.

When teaching online one should give students "clues" to find answers in the course content that relates to the topic of study. Engageing students in a "knowledge hunt" is like a game of puzzle, they have to find an item, after that they have to understand where should that piece be set.

Encourage students to discuss a topic in a forum, encourage them to reply to other topics and rate other replys is always a good practice to achieve the communication and engagemnet in an online course.

Fullfilling an assignment or submiting definitions to a glossary is an learnig (self learning) and teaching activity, the student has to search for new definitions and has to compose the asignment according to the requirements.

Learning activities must be present in the course and must be clear explained to be understood by all participants.


Barium titanate (BaTiO3) nano-particles with high crystalinity were synthesized by hydrothermal process using Ba(OH)2·8H2O and TiO2 as source materials. The average size of the synthesized BaTiO3 particles decreased as the TiO2 particle size decreased. The amount of hydroxide ions incorporated into the perovskite lattice decreased as the BaTiO3 particle size increased and then became constant above 50 nm. Moreover, the ratio of the c- to a-axis length increased when the BaTiO3 particle size was above 50 nm. Sintered ceramics with a grain size smaller than 100 nm were obtained by using highly crystallized hydrothermal BaTiO3 particles.


Abstract The differential diagnosis for black ascites include pancreatic ascites (PA). In majority of cases described the ascitic fluid as amber or black-colored. We report the case of a 33-year-old man with a history of alcohol abuse who presented with 24 h of epigastric pain and abdominal distension. Laboratory results showed lipase of 1270 U/l, amylase of 442 U/l and albumin of 2 g/dl. A contrast computed tomography scan of the abdomen showed pancreatic necrosis with atrophy and free abdominal fluid. Paracentesis was performed, yielding opaque black ascitic fluid. An ascitic fluid analysis demonstrated amylase of 2769 U/l, albumin of 1.6 g/dl, was negative for malignant cells and tuberculosis. Serum-Ascites Albumin Gradient was resulted in 0.4. The diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis was suspected, and he received supportive care with pain medication and bowel rest. He was discharged with symptom free on Day 14 after admission.


This paper analyzes the relationship between maternal labor supply and children's cognitive development, using a sample of three- and four-year-old children of female respondents from the 1986 National Longitudinal Surveys Youth Cohort (NLSY). Respondents in the NLSY were aged 21 to 29 in 1986; thus our sample consists of children of relatively young mothers. We show that for this group the impact of maternal labor supply depends upon when it occurs. Maternal employment is found to have a negative impact when it occurs during the first year of the child's life and a potentially offsetting positive effect when it occurs during the second and subsequent years. We find some evidence that boys are more sensitive to maternal labor supply than girls though the gender difference is not significant. The negative first-year effect is not mitigated to any great extent by the increased maternal income that accompanies it, though the increase in maternal income does appears to play an important role in producing the positive effect in the second and later years.


Background It is often seen as demanding to be an informal caregiver of a home-dwelling relative or friend with a long-term illness. Adult-child caregivers are important resources for both their ill parents and their community healthcare services. Dementia is one of the most severe chronic long-term illnesses and represents comprehensive challenges for public health in Norway as in the rest of the world. Research within the caregiver field has generally focused on primary caregivers, the burden of taking on the caregiver role, and interventions to improve health outcomes. Less research has been devoted to understanding how secondary caregivers, such as adult children, remain motivated and how they experience community healthcare services, applying recent theoretical approaches such as self-determination theory and relationship-centred care. Therefore, the overall aim of this thesis was to gain a deeper understanding of adult children's motivations to remain in the caregiver role when parents with dementia live at home. Methodology The current PhD project applies a qualitative multi-method design including the following three methods: 1) an integrative literature review of the previous research literature concerning the motivation of caregivers of persons with long-term illnesses, 2) individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 21 adult-child caregivers who had home-dwelling parents with dementia, and 3) focus group interviews with 15 of the adult-child caregivers who had been individually interviewed. Analyses were conducted using narrative analysis and systematic text condensation. Findings There is consistency between caregivers of persons with long-term illnesses and persons with dementia, describing their quality of motivations and how they experienced being caregivers. High-quality motivation depends on the satisfaction of the caregivers' three basic psychological needs for competence (understanding of diagnosis, management of symptoms, problem solving, communication skills, knowledge of appropriate healthcare services), autonomy, (available options, planning, freedom of choice regarding tasks), and relatedness, (interacting with parent with dementia and others, being part of the care team, mutual respect, acknowledgement, dialogue, belonging, meaning something to others). Thwarting those psychological needs could lead to amotivation. The main issues thwarting caregivers' motivations include parents being resistant or refusing to receive community healthcare services, challenges in getting access to timely healthcare services, and not being appropriately involved in their services. Still, caregivers of persons with dementia often prioritised their parents' needs over their own. The literature review found the three needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness to be equally important in predicting the quality of caregivers' motivations and thereby their well- being, as according to the self-determination theory. From the perspective of adult-child caregivers, these basic needs were confirmed as motivational drivers when caring for a home-dwelling parent with dementia. Yet, they reported relatedness as their main motivational driver, including relations with their parents with dementia, with persons in their social network, and with their parents' community healthcare services. Caregivers wanted to be acknowledged as competent partners in the care team who utilise significant efforts to improve the home-dwelling period for their parents. These findings imply that healthcare professionals should value the importance of relatedness when interacting with caregivers of persons with dementia. Conclusion By applying self-determination theory combined with a relationship-centred care approach, this thesis offers a deeper understanding of caregivers' motivations in the long-term illness context and, in particular, in caring for persons with dementia. A caregiver's motivation is described along a continuum representing different qualities of motivation. Addressing caregivers' motivations is necessary, as the quality of their motivations for caregiving has consequences for their health and well-being. Caregivers' motivations to remain in this type of role are closely related to satisfaction or thwarting of their basic needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. To remain motivated throughout a parent's trajectory of dementia, support to fulfil the three needs is required. Dyadic improvement efforts addressing both caregivers' and patients' needs are recommended.


Abstract The binding of tetra(4-N,N,N,N-trimethylanilinium)porphyrin (TAP) to melanins quenches the porphyrin emission. Time-resolved femtosecond absorption spectroscopy reveals that the mechanism behind this quenching is ultrafast nonradiative energy transfer (τET < 100 fs) from electronically excited TAP to melanin. Similar dynamics are observed for both dopa and cysteinyldopa melanins. Steady-state emission studies demonstrate that the emission from melanin increases upon excitation of bound TAP, thereby confirming that rapid energy transfer occurs. These results are consistent with previous photoacoustic studies, which revealed that the TAP–melanin complex behaves like a supermolecular system liberating heat as a whole.


The direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in situ to replace legacy large-scale commercial anthraquinone synthesis is a critical industrial technology required to advance applications in sustainable green chemistry and reduce energy consumption associated with transporting reagents and oxidants. Current state-of-the-art Au-Pd transition metal alloy catalysts show promise to selectively synthesize H2O2 however activity is not optimal and material costs and sustainability concerns hinder widespread use. In this manuscript, using values from previously derived Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) Volcano Plots, we analyze and filter potential AuPdMN {M=metal 1, N=metal 2} quaternary alloys by their associated descriptor values, the adsorption energy of mono atomic oxygen and hydrogen. We report possible surface structures which have adsorption sites that optimize the adsorption energy of both descriptors and explain possibilities for using these results to leverage in future and ongoing work for truly optimal catalyst design for transition-metal alloys for direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide. These results and recommendations should ultimately help increase the performance (activity and selectivity) of direct synthesis catalysts for hydrogen peroxide synthesis while simultaneously lowering the costs of materials in these catalysts and making them more sustainable.