Although it has been acknowledged for a long time that a single period of hydrolysis, normally 21 to 24 h, is not the optimal time for most of the AA, a single period is routinely used due to time and cost constraints. As models to balance dairy rations for proteins are evolving toward balancing for AA, it becomes critical to improve the predictions of AA supply from digested proteins. Our objective was to develop correction factors that could systematically be applied to AA concentrations obtained after a 24-h hydrolysis of proteins to account for incomplete recovery and therefore determine their true AA composition. Thirteen substrates were selected to represent different types of proteins commonly used to estimate the supply of AA in ration formulation models: feed ingredients (grass silage, corn silage, soybean meal, canola meal, high-protein corn dried distillers grains, and wheat dried distillers grains plus solubles), 16-h rumen residues (soybean meal and canola meal), digesta (duodenal digesta and feces), and rumen microorganisms (fluid-associated bacteria, particle-associated bacteria and protozoa). Each protein was hydrolyzed in 6 N HCl for multiple hydrolysis times: 13 (2, 4, 8, 12, 18, 21, 24, 30, 48, 72, 96, 120, and 168 h) for feed ingredients, rumen residues, and digesta, and 9 (2, 4, 8, 18, 24, 30, 48, 96, and 168 h) for rumen microorganisms; all analyses were conducted in triplicate. Using nonlinear regression, the AA composition in the protein before the hydrolysis (A0) was derived for each AA in each protein. Two ratios were calculated as potential correction factors: A0/24-h concentration (A0/24h) and the maximal concentration/24-h concentration (max/24h). Both ratios were tested to determine if the type of proteins was affecting them. The ratios A0/24h were not affected by the type of proteins, whereas the ratios max/24h were also not affected by the type of proteins except for 3 nonessential AA (Ala, Glu, and Gly). In an attempt to propose correction factors, our results were combined with results from the literature reporting ratios A0/24h, ratios max/24h, or the ratio of the AA composition calculated from gene structure/24 h. The correction factors proposed for individual AA varied from 1.02 (Asp) to 1.12 (Thr). For the essential AA, the highest ratios were obtained, as expected, for the branched-chain AA and Thr. Formulation programs balancing dairy rations for essential AA would need to acknowledge the incomplete recovery of AA when obtained from 24-h hydrolysis and include correction factors, specific for each AA, but the same across different types of proteins, to correctly estimate the true AA supply to dairy cows.


We propose Behavior Engineering as a new technological area whose aim is to provide methodologies and tools for developing autonomous robots. Building robots is a very complex engineering enterprise that requires the exact definition and scheduling of the activities which a designer, or a team of designers, should follow. Behavior Engineering is, within the autonomous robotics realm, the equivalent of more established disciplines like Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering. In this article we first give a detailed presentation of a Behavior Engineering methodology, which we call Behavior Analysis and Training (BAT), where we stress the role of learning and training. Then we illustrate the application of the BAT methodology to three cases involving different robots: two mobile robots and a manipulator. Results show the feasibility of the proposed approach.


Background: Unicameral bone cyst is characterized by its tenacity and risk of recurrence. Pathological fracture is common and is often the presenting symptom. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the results of flexible intramedullary nailing for the treatment of a unicameral bone cyst with or without a pathological fracture. Methods: Flexible intramedullary nailing for the treatment of a unicameral bone cyst was performed in thirty-two patients. Thirty of these patients presented with a pathological fracture; twenty-four were managed immediately with intramedullary nailing, and the other six had been managed conservatively at other clinics before they were referred to our department. The remaining two cysts were detected incidentally. The cyst was located in the humerus in twenty-one patients, in the femur in nine, and in the radius in two. The mean age of the patients at the time of surgery was 9.8 years, and the mean duration of follow-up was 53.7 months. Radiographic evaluation was performed according to the criteria of Capanna et al., and the cyst was classified as completely healed, healed with residual radiolucency (osteolysis), recurred, or having no response. Results: The healing period ranged from three to 105 months. Fourteen cysts healed completely, and sixteen healed with residual radiolucent areas visible on radiographs. There was recurrence of two cysts that had healed with residual radiolucency. All of the cysts in the present study responded to treatment. A change of nails was necessary in nine patients, as the nails had become too short after bone growth. No major complications were observed. Conclusions: Flexible intramedullary nailing provides early stability, which allows early mobilization and thus obviates the need for a plaster cast and decreases the prevalence of the most common complication: a pathological fracture. This method of treatment also allows for an early return to normal activity.


The United States was founded on a movement that stressed the importance of representation of people in government. "Taxation without Representation" still adorns the license plates of vehicles in the District of Columbia, which serves as a reminder of one of the principle causes of the American Revolution, and that residents of the nation's capitol have no representation in Congress. Representation comes in several forms. In Congress, Senators represent entire states, and Representatives in the House represent bodies of constituents, which, in most cases, can be characterized as sub-state districts. In the Electoral College, the representation of the state is of a "winner-take-all" nature. This creates a great deal of inequity that betrays American values of majority rule, equality before the law, and representative government. Representation in the Electoral College is based on population, which is assessed every ten years by the census. Each state receives a minimum of three electoral votes. Additional votes are assigned for each seat a state holds in Congress above that minimum. This is a cross between how congressional seats are assigned in the House of Representatives, where they are divided according to population with a minimum of one per state, and the Senate, where each state is represented equally by two Senators. While there is a similarity between how seats are assigned in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, there is an important distinction in how Electoral College delegates are selected. Rather than having each delegate chosen by a group of constituents, where some may go to one party and others are controlled by another as is the case in the House, Electoral College seats in almost every state go entirely to the members of the victorious party in that state. Only Maine and Nebraska award their electoral votes to the winner of each congressional district; the remaining two votes are given to the overall winner of the state vote. This can create a situation which has happened four times in American history, most recently in 2000, where one candidate wins the presidential election by close margins in enough states to win the Electoral College, but loses by large margins in other states and thus gets elected with fewer popular votes than his rival. (1) This creates an aberration that fails to uphold the principle of majority rule. To be sure, some aspects of American democracy do not follow the principle of majority rule. Most, however, are designed to check government power. No majority may pass a law that prohibits free speech or establishes a national religion due to the First Amendment. To cite another example, a super-majority is needed to amend the Constitution. But unlike these examples, where the result of a minority's right would be the maintenance of the status quo, a president must be selected. Allowing the Electoral College to select a candidate who has failed to win the greatest number of votes is an exception to the standard for elected officials. For all other elected offices, the winner is determined by the candidate who receives the most votes. Simple calculations show that some states are grossly overrepresented in the Electoral College. States with small populations control a disproportionate number of electoral votes compared to those with large populations. Wyoming and California offer the most striking comparison. According to the 2000 census, California's population was 33,871,648, giving it fifty-five electoral votes. Wyoming, the least populous state, had only 493,782 residents, earning it three electoral votes. (2) In other words, California gets one electoral vote per 615,848 residents; Wyoming receives one vote per 164,594 residents. That is nearly a 4:1 ratio in favor of Wyoming. Residents of Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Vermont, and North Dakota each receive a disproportionately influential vote in comparison to residents in California, Texas, and Florida. …


Changes in patterns of delivery of mental health care over several decades are putting pressure on primary health and social care services to increase their involvement. Mental health policy in countries like the UK, Australia and New Zealand recognises the need for these services to make a greater contribution and calls for increased intersectoral collaboration. In Australia, most investment to date has focused on the development and integration of specialist mental health services and primary medical care, and evaluation research suggests some progress. Substantial inadequacies remain, however, in the comprehensiveness and continuity of care received by people affected by mental health problems, particularly in relation to social and psychosocial interventions. Very little research has examined the nature of the roles that non-medical primary health and social care services actually or potentially play in mental health care. Lack of information about these roles could have inhibited development of service improvement initiatives targeting these services. The present paper reports the results of an exploratory study that examined the mental health care roles of 41 diverse non-medical primary health and social care services in the state of Victoria, Australia. Data were collected in 2004 using a purposive sampling strategy. A novel method of surveying providers was employed whereby respondents within each agency worked as a group to complete a structured survey that collected quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously. This paper reports results of quantitative analyses including a tentative principal components analysis that examined the structure of roles. Non-medical primary health and social care services are currently performing a wide variety of mental health care roles and they aspire to increase their involvement in this work. However, these providers do not favour approaches involving selective targeting of clients with mental disorders.


Smirnovia iranica, a native valuable woody species from Fabaceae, is an adaptable plant of central sandy areas of Iran. On other hand, this species could be markedly considered from different view points of forage production, soil conservation and medicinal applications. The current research was carried out in Band-e-Rig of Kashan, Iran to evaluate Smirnovia iranica properties including crude protein (c.p), NDF, ADF, P, K, ME and DMD in different phonological stages in order to find its forage quality for livestock nutrition. The result of chemicals analysis indicates that there is a significant difference among different phonological stages of S.iranica in terms of its properties. As the plant age is increased, c.p, ME and DMD are decreased while NDF and ADF are increased. This leads to reduction of S.iranica forage quality, since there is not significant difference between flowering and growth stages in view point of their c.p, ME, DMD, NDF and ADF, also according to increase of P and K in flowering stage, it seems that this stage could be considered as favorable time for S.iranica utilization by livestock.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the risk factors correlating to the likelihood for airflow obstruction among first-degree children of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and whether familial aggregation of pulmonary function abnormality exists.

METHODS
Fifty-nine smokers with COPD and 28 smokers without COPD as control and all their children available were recruited into the study. Their history was recorded and a binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to ascertain the effects of their relationship to a proband with COPD, when other potential risk factors were controlled.

RESULTS
Children with COPD probands showed increased risk of FEV1 below the 70% predicted (OR = 1.987) after accounting for the effects of smoking, sex and clinical symptoms. The lower the pulmonary function of the COPD proband, the higher the risk to their children for FEV1 below the 70% predicted.

CONCLUSIONS
Our finding demonstrates the presence of a household aggregation inclination of COPD and pulmonary function impairment. Genetic factors might act as the basis of the familial aggregation.


Worldviews are an important part of human life because they illustrate the ways people think and act. This article aims to review studies conducted by scholars, definitions of the term "worldview", and scientists' explorations of worldviews, and to examine how such categories may be applied to capture reality.  This study concludes that worldviews have been the focus of intensive studies since the 1980s. Many scientists have defined the concept of "worldview" and attempted to explain its dynamics. Studies of worldviews can be grouped into several paradigms. Because of the extent of the study area, theoretically worldviews can be classified into several categories based on, for example, views of self and others, time, space, relationships, and causation. In reality, the worldview of a society can be seen in how members of the society live in relation to God, nature, people, and the environment. In examining the worldviews held in social reality, the specific categories mapped by scholars must be made congruent with the realities in the field, because sometimes these categories are interrelated and difficult to understand separately.


In this paper we review some teaching approaches and teaching resources suggested in the literature on science teaching to encourage the use of metacognitive strategies by students when learning science.


The alcohol-deprivation effect (ADE) was examined under 4-hr operant and 24-hr free-choice alcohol access in the alcohol-preferring (P) rat after deprivation intervals from 2 to 4 weeks. Results indicated that adult male P rats responding for 6 weeks on a concurrent FR-5/FR-1 schedule of reinforcement for alcohol and water, respectively, and then deprived of alcohol for 2 weeks, demonstrated a 40% increase in alcohol responding during the first 60 min of alcohol reinstatement. The alcohol deprivation effect was temporary, however, as responding did not differ from baseline levels on the second day of reinstatement. In a second experiment, weanling male and female P rats received 7 weeks of continuous access to alcohol, beginning at 21 days of age, and were then deprived of alcohol for 4 weeks. On the first day of alcohol reinstatement, P rats exhibited a 40% to 45% increase from baseline alcohol drinking levels, with alcohol intake returning to baseline levels by the 3rd day of reinstatement. Although alcohol intake was higher in females than in males when adjustment was made for body weight, there were no gender differences in the magnitude of the alcohol deprivation effect. Taken together, these results indicate that the ADE is a long-lasting phenomenon that occurs under both operant and continuous access conditions in the P rat, and thus these rats may be useful models for the study of factors involved in relapse of alcohol drinking.


Age-related neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs) are polygenic/complex disorders in which genomic, epigenomic, cerebrovascular, metabolic and environmental factors converge to define a progressive neurodegenerative phenotype. Age-related pheno-genotypes in the general population are highly influenced by the individual genomic background and substantially differ from those of specific NDDs such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Parkinson's disease (PD), as prevalent prototypes of NDDs. Major determinants of therapeutic outcome in NDDs include age- and sex-related factors, pathogenic phenotype, concomitant disorders, treatment modality and polypharmacy, and pharmaco(epi)genetics. Different categories of genes are potentially involved in the pharmacogenetic network responsible for drug efficacy and safety. Pathogenic, mechanistic, metabolic, transporter, and pleiotropic genes represent the major genetic determinants of response to treatment in NDDs. Epigenetic changes (DNA methylation, histone modifications, miRNA dysregulation) are present in pathogenic genes associated with NDDs, and epigenetic aberrations in genes configuring the pharmacoepigenetic cascade influence the response/resistance to drugs. New pharmacological categories of anti-aging products obtained from different sources are promising candidates with potential neuroprotective effects to halt disease progression in age-related NDDs. Novel strategies in drug development, either preventive or therapeutic, for NDDs should take into consideration pharmaco(epi)genetic determinants for treatment optimization.


Mood state disorders are, together with anxiety, the most common psychiatric disorder in the elderly. They are generally associated to multiple conditions that are frequent in elderly age, such as pain, somatic disease or cognitive deterioration and to psychosocial factors (loneliness, impoverishment, discapacity or mourning). Depression in the elderly has an important impact on the quality of life and general health in this age and noticeably casts a shadow over the functional prognosis or survival related with the concomitant medical diseases. It also contributes, in a large degree, to the stress of the caregiver. In the daily clinical practice, depression in the elderly is underdetected and undertreated in spite of the effectiveness of the treatments available. In the antidepressive drug treatment in the elderly, it is important to achieve its effectiveness without jeopardizing safety. The experience in the use of bupropion as an antidepressant in elderly patients is presented.


Objective To model the long term effectiveness and cost effectiveness of daily dark chocolate consumption in a population with metabolic syndrome at high risk of cardiovascular disease. Design Best case scenario analysis using a Markov model. Setting Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study. Participants 2013 people with hypertension who met the criteria for metabolic syndrome, with no history of cardiovascular disease and not receiving antihypertensive therapy. Main outcome measures Treatment effects associated with dark chocolate consumption derived from published meta-analyses were used to determine the absolute number of cardiovascular events with and without treatment. Costs associated with cardiovascular events and treatments were applied to determine the potential amount of funding required for dark chocolate therapy to be considered cost effective. Results Daily consumption of dark chocolate (polyphenol content equivalent to 100 g of dark chocolate) can reduce cardiovascular events by 85 (95% confidence interval 60 to 105) per 10 000 population treated over 10 years. $A40 (£25; €31; $42) could be cost effectively spent per person per year on prevention strategies using dark chocolate. These results assume 100% compliance and represent a best case scenario. Conclusions The blood pressure and cholesterol lowering effects of dark chocolate consumption are beneficial in the prevention of cardiovascular events in a population with metabolic syndrome. Daily dark chocolate consumption could be an effective cardiovascular preventive strategy in this population.


Research to develop new technologies for increasing the safety of passengers and crew in rail equipment is being directed by the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA's) Office of Research, Development, and Technology. Crash energy management (CEM) components which can be integrated into the end structure of a locomotive have been developed: a push-back coupler and a deformable anti-climber. These components are designed to inhibit override in the event of a collision. The results of vehicle-to-vehicle override, where the strong underframe of one vehicle, typically a locomotive, impacts the weaker superstructure of the other vehicle, can be devastating. These components are designed to improve crashworthiness for equipped locomotives in a wide range of potential collisions, including collisions with conventional locomotives, conventional cab cars, and freight equipment.Concerns have been raised in discussions with industry that push-back couplers may trigger prematurely, and may require replacement due to unintentional activation as a result of service loads. Push-back couplers are designed with trigger loads meant to exceed the expected maximum service loads experienced by conventional couplers. Analytical models are typically used to determine these required trigger loads. Two sets of coupling tests are planned to demonstrate this, one with a conventional locomotive equipped with conventional draft gear and coupler, and another with a conventional locomotive equipped with a push-back coupler. These tests will allow a performance comparison of a conventional locomotive with a CEM-equipped locomotive during coupling. In addition to the two sets of coupling tests, car-to-car compatibility tests of CEM-equipped locomotives, as well as a train-to-train test are also planned. This arrangement of tests allows for evaluation of the CEM-equipped locomotive performance, as well as comparison of measured with simulated locomotive performance in the car-to-car and train-to-train tests.This paper describes the results of the coupling tests of conventional equipment. In this set of tests, a moving locomotive was coupled to a standing cab car. The coupling speed for the first test was 2 mph, the second test 4 mph, and the tests continued with the speed incrementing by 2 mph until the last test was conducted at 12 mph. The damage observed resulting from the coupling tests is described. The lowest coupling speed at which damage occurred was 6 mph. Prior to the tests, a one-dimensional lumped-mass model was developed for predicting the longitudinal forces acting on the equipment and couplers. The model predicted that damage would occur for coupling speeds between 6 and 8 mph. The results of these conventional coupling tests compare favorably with pre-test predictions. Next steps in the research program, including future full-scale dynamic tests, are discussed.


Diffusive-Time-of-Flight (DTOF), representing the travel time of pressure front propagation, has found many applications in unconventional reservoir performance analysis. The computation of DTOF typically involves upwind finite difference of the Eikonal equation and solution using the fast marching method (FMM). However, application of the finite difference based FMM to irregular grid systems remains a challenge. In this paper, we present a novel and robust method for solving the Eikonal equation using finite volume discretization and the FMM.
 The finite volume form of the Eikonal equation is derived by differential manipulation, volume integration and the divergence theorem. Using product rule, the differential term is first converted to the divergence form. Then volume integrals that contain divergence terms are converted to surface integrals using the divergence theorem. Consequently, the spatial coordinates are replaced by cell volumes and transmissibilities which are universal for both structured and unstructured grids in finite volume simulators. When applied with the upstream scheme, the finite volume form evolves into a set of quadratic equations, and fast marching method is implemented to solve these equations.
 The implementation is first validated with analytical solutions using isotropic and anisotropic models with homogeneous reservoir properties. Consistent DTOF distributions are obtained between the proposed approach and the analytical solutions. Next, the implementation is applied to unconventional reservoirs with hydraulic and natural fractures. Our approach relies on cell volumes and connections (transmissibilities) rather than the grid geometry, and thus can be easily applied to complex grid systems. For illustrative purposes, we present applications of the proposed method to embedded discrete fracture models (EDFM), dual-porosity dual-permeability models, and unstructured PEBI grids with heterogeneous reservoir properties. Visualization of the DTOF provides flow diagnostics such as evolution of the drainage volume of the wells and well interactions.
 The novelty of the proposed approach is its broad applicability to arbitrary grid systems and ease of implementation in commercial reservoir simulators. This makes the approach well-suited for field applications with complex grid geometry and complex well architecture.


A corporation's moral obligation is said to be sustained by two viewpoints: the narrow and broad views. The narrow view restrains a corporation's moral obligation to the corporation's owners and shareholders while the broad view, which is often deployed to support Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, extends the corporation's moral obligation towards others beyond the confines of the corporation walls to include all stakeholders, and the environment in which the corporation operates and so on. We argue from an ethical perspective that this dichotomy is a facade. We conclude that the broad view is indeed a narrow view in disguise.

 Key words: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), broad view, narrow view, stakeholders, stockholders, egoism.


Running data-parallel jobs across geo-distributed sites has emerged as a promising direction due to the growing need for geo-distributed cluster deployment. A key difference between geo-distributed and intra-cluster jobs is the heterogeneous (and often constrained) nature of compute and network resources across the sites. We propose Tetrium, a system for multi-resource allocation in geo-distributed clusters, that jointly considers both compute and network resources for task placement and job scheduling. Tetrium significantly reduces job response time, while incorporating several other performance goals with simple control knobs. Our EC2 deployment and trace-driven simulations suggest that Tetrium improves the average job response time by up to 78% compared to existing data-locality-based solutions, and up to 55% compared to Iridium, the recently proposed geo-distributed analytics system.


. This study reports temporal (based on cross-dated dead trees) and spatial patterns of availability of coarse woody debris (CWD) from Picea abies in a Swedish boreal landscape with discrete old-growth forest patches in a wetland matrix. Data were collected from 29 patches ranging in size from 0.3 to 28 ha. A total of 897 dead trees with a minimum diameter of > 15 cm occurred on the 7.2 ha area analysed. The year of death was established for 50% of these trees.

CWD volume ranged from 17 to 65 m3/ha for downed logs and from 0.5 to 13 m3/ha for standing snags. CWD of all decay stages and diameter classes occurred abundantly and the probability of finding logs of all decay stages and sizes was very high at the scale of single hectares. Tree mortality differed among 5 yr periods. However, during the last 50 yr no 5 yr period produced less than 3 logs/ha. Decay rates were highly variable among different logs. Logs with soft wood and some wood pieces lost (decay stage 5) died ca. 34 years ago. This suggests a fairly rapid decay in this northern forest. The data indicate a high and continuous availability of CWD of all types. It is likely, therefore, that selection pressures for efficient dispersal among CWD dependent species may not be very high. Consequently, species with narrow habitat demands and/or low dispersal ability may have evolved and this may contribute to the decrease of certain species in the managed landscape.


Design procedure for multistage CMOS op-amp with features of fast settling and low power consumption is present in this paper. This method is focused on optimum compensation by means of proper placement of poles and zero. Single-stage cascode amplifier is no longer suitable in low-voltage designs. So that Multi-stage amplifiers are required with advance in technologies. To reduce the settling time and find the high gain in multi-stage Op-Amp, main aim is minimum mos used in this technology. nested Miller compensation nulling-resistor technique is used. Simulations on a circuit implemented in a 0.35-μm technology closely to the results expected. Three stage op-amp circuits are simulated by Tanner tool. The results obtained by the circuit simulation are 163 nsec (Settling Time), 90dB (Gain), 9.3 V/μs (Slew Rate) and 11 MHz (Unity Gain Frequency). KeywordsCMOS, Multistage Amplifiers, Nested-Miller Compensation, Operational Transconductance Amplifiers (OTAs)


With the advent of the #MeToo movement, we have seen unprecedented interest in taking, and real initiatives to take, gender violence and harassment seriously. Actors and directors have been forced out of Hollywood. Conductors have been forced out of their concert halls, chefs out of their kitchens, professors out of the hallowed halls of academia. What of the legal profession? Attorneys are rarely professionally sanctioned for committing rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, or domestic violence. Indeed, some jurisdictions have interpreted these gendered acts as falling outside the ambit of the rules of professional conduct.

This Article examines how the legal profession has thus far addressed gender violence and harassment, as well as how it might do so in the future. Part I reviews different states' rules of professional conduct and their interpretations with respect to gender violence and harassment. It homes in on state-to-state discrepancies in interpreting certain shared provisions that could be used for disciplining rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Part II then reviews enforcement patterns for states that either do or might professionally sanction gender violence and harassment. Noting that enforcement rates are staggeringly low, Part II identifies deficiencies in the rules of professional conduct that permit abusers to keep practicing without professional sanction. Part III concludes by proposing a series of reforms that would harmonize states' understandings of gender violence and harassment and address, to some extent, the enforcement problem.


A presentation prepared for the ICARDA-ILRI-BOKU project workshop on Designing community-based breeding strategies for indigenous sheep breeds of smallholders in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, October 29, 2010.


It is generally accepted that an aphidicolin-sensitive DNA polymerase elongates the eucaryotic RNA primer (iRNA) into a mature Okazaki piece reaching ca. 200 nucleotides. Yet, as shown here, nascent DNA chains below 40 nucleotides accumulated in simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA replicating in isolated nuclei in the presence of aphidicolin. These products resembled precursors of longer Okazaki pieces synthesized in the absence of aphidicolin (termed here DNA primers) in size distribution, lagging-replication-fork polarity, and content of iRNA. Within the isolated SV40 replicative intermediate, DNA primers could be extended in a reaction catalyzed by the Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I large fragment. This increased their length by an average of 21 deoxyribonucleotide residues, indicating that single-stranded gaps of corresponding length existed 3' to the DNA primers. Incubation with T4 DNA ligase converted most of the extended DNA primers into products resembling long Okazaki pieces. These data led us to propose that the synthesis of an SV40 Okazaki piece could be itself discontinuous and could comprise the following steps: (i) iRNA synthesis by DNA primase, (ii) iRNA extension into a DNA primer by an aphidicolin-resistant activity associated with DNA primase-DNA polymerase alpha, (iii) removal of iRNA moieties between adjacent DNA primers, (iv) "gap filling" between DNA primers by the aphidicolin-sensitive DNA polymerase alpha, and (v) ligation of DNA primer units onto a growing Okazaki piece. Eventually, a mature Okazaki piece is ligated onto a longer nascent DNA chain.


The Photonic Railway is proposed to overcome the limit of the current propulsion technology based on conventional rocketry for interstellar flight and to potentially open a new space era. The photonic railway, which is a permanent energy-efficient transportation structure based on the Beamed-Laser Propulsion (BLP) by Forward and the Photonic Laser Thruster (PLT) by the author, is proposed to enable such routine interstellar commutes via proposed Space Trains. It is shown here that the developmental pathway towards the interstellar flight demands not only technological breakthroughs, but consistent long-term world-scale economic interest and investment. Such interest and investment will only result from positive financial returns from routine interstellar commutes that can transport highly valuable commodities in a profitable manner. A four-phased evolutionary developmental pathway towards the interstellar Photonic Railway is proposed. Each phase poses evolutionary, yet daunting, technological and financial challenges that need to be overcome within each time frame of 20 – 30 years, and is projected to generate multitudes of applications that would lead to sustainable reinvestment into its development. If successfully developed, the Photonic Railway would bring about a quantum leap in the human economic and social interests in space from explorations to terraforming, mining, colonization, and permanent habitation in exoplanets.


In social sciences, the meta-analytical fixed effects models have gained special relevance due to their predictive capacity of a scenario, context and process, although they have focused on the estimation and prediction of simple variables, avoiding the effects of diffuse variables such as those emerging in processes Training and research. The objective of this work was to establish fixed effects models to explain the influence of diffuse variables in the formation of intellectual capital, considering contextual, educational, academic and professional variables. A retrospective study was conducted with literature from 2019 to 2022, as well as an exploratory study with variables that have been conceptualized, but not empirically tested and correlational with an intentional selection of six studies that used diffuse variables to explain attrition. The results show that the model with the greatest adjustment is the one where the emergence of anti-plagiarism software and new editorial provisions explain the dropout, although the research design limited the results to the study scenario, suggesting its extension and sophistication with other statistical techniques.


Marine finfish aquaculture fish farm facilities can suffer severe predation from seals and other animals. Underwater transmitting commercial aquaculture acoustic devices (CAADs), intended to provide protection by deterring the close approach of seals are used in many countries. Few reliable acoustic data are available with which to assess the impact of such systems on target and non-target species in the surrounding marine environment. This paper reports an April 2003 study in which 160 kHz bandwidth measurements of source level and power spectra were carried out of three CAAD devices that are currently used in British salmonid fish farm facilities. The three devices tested employed very different signalling methods and whilst the fundamental acoustic frequencies (including harmonics) appear similar, the total energy distribution, delivered into the water column differed considerably.


For a given real-world problem, we do not know a priori which representation suits this problem. Schnier and Yao showed the benefit of using the multiple real-coded evolutionary algorithm. This paper discusses the multiple bit encoding-based (standard binary and reflected Gray code) search algorithms. The population-based genetic algorithm and single individual-based random bit climber algorithm are used to show the efficacy of the multiple encoding. Each algorithm has three versions which are based on the standard binary encoding, standard reflected Gray code and multiple encoding scheme respectively. The experiments on two search algorithms show the robust and better performance than the single encoding scheme and also show empirically how multiple representations can benefit search as much as a good search operator could.


This study was designed to explore development of skill acquisition in dental education, utilizing the Dreyfus and Dreyfus continuum. By identifying what skill progression may be recognized in the expert dental educator and what experiences appear to influence this growth, the knowledge gained may inform more efficient, effective faculty support, development and life-long learning. Employing a qualitative approach, individual interviews were conducted with experienced educators and analyzed. Open coding of responses revealed that skill acquisition necessary to good teaching, as expressed by these experienced educators, reflects common themes and a learning curve similar to that noted by Dreyfus and Dreyfus and other investigators. In addition, to supporting knowledge and technique development, dental faculty described working to share with students a wide range of non-cognitive competencies such as professionalism, communication, and an ethic of care and service. Findings increase understanding of teaching skill acquisition in dental education and may help provide support for health care faculty who desire to become excellent educators.


An earthquake (Mj6.6) occurred in central Tottori Prefecture in Japan on October 21, 2016. We conducted aftershock (strong motion) observation at several temporary sites in this area with housing damages. Characteristics of site amplification effect of the temporary sites were understood from analysis of seismic data. Also densely microtremor observations were carried out to estimate the characteristic of ground vibration in the damage area. Microtremor H/V spectra and a distribution of the predominant period were obtained from observation data. In addition, we checked the relationship between site effects and transfer functions of SH-wave, S-wave velocities, H/V of microtremor strong ground motion.


Bushings are essential components of power transformers and are one of the common causes of catastrophic failure for transformers. The majority of bushings are as old as the transformers and therefore maintaining and monitoring of bushing condition is essential. The power factor and capacitance (PF&C) are the best indicators of the bushing's condition. Off-line measurement of the PF&C needs to remove the power transformer from the network and a normal capacitance (NC) must be installed in the substation. In this contribution a novel method for on-line measuring of PF&C for power transformer condenser bushings with the software, hardware and sensors used in this method are introduced. According to laboratory measurement results this method can be used with acceptable accuracy in measurement of PF&C to detect a change in the bushing oil level, an increase in the oil moisture of the bushing and the temperature variation of the bushing oil.


A new concept in polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (POLSAR) speckle filtering that preserves the dominant scattering mechanism of each pixel is proposed in this paper. The basic principle is to select pixels of the same scattering characteristics to be included in the filtering process. To achieve this, the algorithm first applies the Freeman and Durden decomposition to separate pixels into three dominant scattering categories: surface, double bounce, and volume, and then unsupervised classification is applied. Speckle filtering is performed using the classification map as a mask. A single-look or multilook pixel centered in a 9 /spl times/ 9 window is filtered by including only pixels in the same and two neighboring classes from the same scattering category. This filter is effective in speckle reduction, while perfectly preserving strong point target signatures, and retains edges, linear, and curved features in the POLSAR data. The effect of speckle filtering on scattering characteristics, such as entropy, anisotropy, and alpha angle, will be discussed.


Employer branding is becoming an increasingly important topic for research and practice in multinational enterprises (MNEs) because it plays directly into their corporate reputation, talent management and employee engagement agendas. In this paper, we argue that the potential effects of employer branding have yet to be fully understood because current theory and practice have failed to connect this internal application of marketing and branding to the key reputational and innovation agendas of MNEs, both of which are at the heart of another strategic agenda – effective corporate governance. However, these agendas are characterised by 'wicked problems' in MNEs, which have their origins in competing logics in strategic human resource management (SHRM). These problems need to be articulated and understood before they can be addressed. This paper proceeds by (1) setting out a definition and model of employer branding and how it potentially articulates with corporate governance, innovation and organisational reputations, (2) discussing and analysing the 'wicked problems' resulting from the sometimes contradictory logics underpinning innovation and corporate reputations and SHRM in MNEs and (3) evaluating the potential of employer branding as a contribution to the third SHRM approach – HR strategy-in-action – as a way of resolving three particularly wicked problems in MNEs. We conclude with some ideas for research and practice on the future for employer branding.


In people's lives a difference in religion, socializing, customs, and habits in carrying out daily activities will always exist. These differences are called diversity. However, not all diversity can be accepted by the whole community, there are also conflicts that arise as a result of these differences. The role of multiculturalism is needed to deal with the problems of differences that exist at this time. The purpose of this journal is to find out what are the challenges of multiculturalism that occur in society on religious and public issues by using library studies or library research as a research method. Many of the multicultural challenges that occur, especially in Indonesia, are related to religious relations and public space. In the challenges in the field of religion, there are many people who are not able to accept the existing differences so that conflicts regarding their respective religions continue to occur. Many people who are religious fanatics take advantage of this situation to divide the unity of Indonesian society for personal or group interests who do not agree with the existence of religious diversity. In addition, the existence of social media, which should be an ease in spreading news or information, is widely misused to spread information that is not yet clear, so that it becomes a big influence for people who read or hear the information.


In analogy with the established discipline of room acoustics, various aspects of diffuse wideband microwave propagation in a room are treated. It is shown that an equivalent to Sabine's equation for reverberation time in a room is valid for the completely diffused field, depending only on the volume, the surface area, and an effective absorption coefficient. An exponential decay of the power as a function of the delay is a consequence of the assumptions. Furthermore, the concept of a reverberation distance is also valid. This is the distance from a transmitting antenna where the received diffuse, randomly scattered power equals the direct line-of-sight received power, such that the diffuse power dominates for distances larger than the reverberation distance. A number of measurements in a large room support the theory with an effective absorption coefficient of 0.5. The power delay profiles around the room from a transmitter in the ceiling vary only in the first arriving part of the impulse, whereas the tail, being dominated by the diffuse field, has the same power level for a given delay and the same decay rate all over the room. It is also a consequence of the theory that the diffuse fields incident on an antenna are uniformly distributed in angle.


Understanding how the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) responds to abrupt climate change is essential for reconstructing large‐scale atmospheric circulation across climate transitions. However, key differences between dynamical models and observational constraints on ITCZ movement remain unresolved. Here, we examine the Pb and Nd radiogenic isotope signatures of dust deposited in the central equatorial Pacific (CEP) from 160 to 105 kyr. We quantified the relative contributions of Northern Hemisphere‐ and Southern Hemisphere‐sourced dust to the CEP. In contrast with previous model estimates, we demonstrate that South America is an important source of dust to the CEP during glacial periods. Our new observations provide a critical data set for verifying dynamical arguments about tropical hydroclimate. We infer that the southernmost position of the ITCZ precipitation centroid occurs between 136 and 131 kyr, coincident with the timing of North Atlantic Heinrich Stadial Event 11 (136 to 129 kyr).


Passage of the Farm Bill in December 2018 legalized cannabis containing less than 0.3% THC (Hemp). This creates problems for law enforcement since current presumptive test kits either 1) don't work at all or 2) work somewhat in differentiating between legal and illegal hemp crops. This problem exists because most hemp crops and hemp products contain low levels of THCA and THC. Our approach involves the development of an efficient, mobile, liquid-liquid extraction that provides presumptive (qualitative) forensic evidence of the chemical extract of a bud or other plant material. The evidence would later be sent to a crime lab for definitive analysis of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, the psychoactive compound in marijuana. This research has focused on the utilization of liquid-liquid extraction techniques and commercially available stains. The methods presented are rapid (requiring no more than five to six minutes to complete). The differentiation between two lots of commercially available hemp and seven lots of marijuana obtained from the Cookeville City Police will be presented.


At partial fillings of its flat electronic bands, magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) hosts a rich variety of competing correlated phases that show sample-to-sample variations. Divergent phase diagrams in MATBG are often attributed to the sublattice polarization energy scale, tuned by the degree of alignment of the hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrates typically used in van der Waals devices. Unaligned MATBG exhibits unconventional superconductor and correlated insulator phases, while nearly perfectly aligned MATBG/hBN exhibits zero-field Chern insulating phases and lacks superconductivity. Here we use scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS) to observe gapped phases at partial fillings of the flat bands of MATBG in a new intermediate regime of sublattice polarization, observed when MATBG is only partially aligned (θGr-hBN ≈ 1.65°) to the underlying hBN substrate. Under this condition, MATBG hosts not only phenomena that naturally interpolate between the two sublattice potential limits, but also unexpected gapped phases absent in either of these limits. At charge neutrality, we observe an insulating phase with a small energy gap (Δ < 5 meV) likely related to weak sublattice symmetry breaking from the hBN substrate. In addition, we observe new gapped phases near fractional fillings ν = ±1/3 and ν = ±1/6, which have not been previously observed in MATBG. Importantly, energy-resolved STS unambiguously identifies these fractional filling states to be of single-particle origin, possibly a result of the super-superlattice formed by two moiré superlattices. Our observations emphasize the power of STS in distinguishing single-particle gapped phases from many-body gapped phases in situations that could be easily confused in electrical transport measurements, and demonstrate the use of substrate engineering for modifying the electronic structure of a moiré flat-band material.


RFID cards are widely used today in sensitive applications such as access control, payment systems, and asset tracking. Past work shows that an eavesdropper snooping on the communication between a card and its legitimate reader can break their cryptographic protocol and obtain their secret keys. One solution for this problem is to install stronger cryptographic protocols on the cards. However, RFIDs' size, power, and cost limitations do not allow for conventional cryptographic protocols. Further, installing new protocols requires revoking billions of cards in consumers' hands and facilities worldwide, which is costly and impractical. In this paper, we ask whether one can secure RFIDs from such attacks without revoking or changing the insecure cards. We propose LocRF, a solution that changes the signal used to read the RFID cards but does not require any changes to the cards themselves. LocRF introduces a new approach that randomizes the modulation of the RFID signal as well as the wireless channel. This design protects RFIDs from eavesdroppers even if they use multi-antenna MIMO receivers. We built a prototype of LocRF on software-defined radios and used it to secure the communication of offthe-shelf cards. Both our analysis and empirical evaluation demonstrate the effectiveness of LocRF.


"Sustainability" is a broad concept that is used to guide a diverse range of government policies, corporate governance practices, and environmental movements; promote ethical and 'green' consumer products; and to transform existing production and consumption practices, to name but a few. While these various manifestations of sustainability differ from one another, they appear to be linked by a shared narrative. In this thesis, I utilise Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis to investigate if and why sustainability discourses share a common narrative. I focus on the relationship between the management of the population and the supposed boundaries between the state, market, and civil society by exploring the emergence of the terms "environmental sustainability" and "sustainable consumption" within the practices and narratives of governance and self-regulation. By combining Slavoj Zizek's notion of ideology with Timothy W. Luke's concept of environmentality, and Michel Foucault's conceptions of governmentality and power, I argue that the governmentalisation of sustainability is the common thread that runs through the three narratives that I analyse. More specifically, I argue that quotidian sustainability narratives have the effect of regulating human conduct through largely apolitical and technical understandings of environmental problems, disciplinary practices, and practices of the self that appear to remove risk from the act of consumption and everyday life.


Serious research into the problematic and contested relationship between notions of gender, poverty, and development continues to blossom. Indeed, the work of scholars in this cross-disciplinary field supports numerous international journals, regional organizations, and global conferences. Moreover, as the formal end of the Millennium Development Goals era approaches—after which a new set of 'Sustainable Development Goals' for the so-called 'Post-2015 Agenda' are sure to feature gender—such research is destined to grow still further. To make some sense of the wide range of approaches and complex theories that have informed thinking in this area, Routledge announces a new title in its acclaimed Critical Concepts in Development Studies series. Edited by a leading and emerging scholar with an international reputation, Gender, Poverty, and Development is a definitive, four-volume collection of cutting-edge and foundational research which provides users with a 'mini library' on the gendered dimensions of the causes, contexts, and consequences of international poverty. The collection is fully indexed and supplemented with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the gathered materials in their historical and intellectual context. Gender, Poverty, and Development will be particularly useful as a database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For scholars, students, policy-makers, and development professionals, this is an essential one-stop research and pedagogic resource.


In response to the Klondike gold rush, the U.S. Army established isolated forts throughout Alaska. Between 1900 and 1905, the Signal Corps connected those posts with each other and with the contiguous United States by means of the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS). A significant logistical and technological achievement, the system of thousands of miles of suspended landlines and underwater cable included the first successful long-distance radio operation in the world. The first physical link between the United States and Alaska, the telegraph was also the first major contribution to Alaskan infrastructure provided by the federal government, marking the beginning of the government's central role in the development of Alaska.


In this article the results are presented with autologous saphenous and human umbilical vein grafts in the femorocrural crossing. Autologous saphenous vein grafts were employed in 22 limbs and the human umbilical vein grafts in 25 limbs. The results were retrospectively analysed by the Life-Table method. Follow-up was between six months and 21/2 years. The patency rates of the autologous saphenous vein graft was significantly better than that of human umbilical vein grafts.


We consider the problem of illumination control in a networked lighting system wherein luminaires have local sensing and actuation capabilities. Each luminaire: 1) consists of a light-emitting diode (LED) based light source dimmable by a local controller; 2) is actuated based on sensing information from a presence sensor, that determines occupant presence, and a light sensor, that measures illuminance, within their respective fields of view; and 3) a communication module to exchange control information within a local neighborhood. We consider distributed illumination control in such an intelligent lighting system to achieve presence-adaptive and daylight-integrated spatial illumination rendering. The rendering is specified as target values at the light sensors, and under these constraints, a local controller has to determine the optimum dimming levels of its associated LED luminaire so that the power consumed in rendering is minimized. The formulated optimization problem is a distributed linear programming problem with constraints on exchanging control information within a neighborhood. A distributed optimization algorithm is presented to solve this problem and its stability and convergence are studied. Sufficient conditions, in terms of parameter selection, under which the algorithm can achieve a feasible solution are provided. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated in an indoor office setting in terms of achieved illuminance rendering and power savings.


Public health is the science of defending and improving the health of people and their communities. Health does not without a doubt suggest "absence of disease" or "physical fitness". It ought to be described as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. Unfortunately, today's world has been tailored to a device of consumption of ingredients which has several adverse effects on human health. Basic nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the basis of all existence activities. They represent the carbon skeleton of various functional molecules, and grant strength through oxidative decomposition. When nutrition is enough or excessive, the physique faces the problems of quantitative control of the absorption and storage of the nutrients. Over nutrition, specifically absorption and storage of energy, can no longer affect fitness and additionally motive many diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and hyperlipidemia. Over nutrition may reduce reproductive ability and promotes the enhancement of a number of cancers.


Abstract. This study aims to explore the interplay between biofilms and erodability of cohesive sediments. Erosion experiments were run in four laboratory annular flumes with natural sediments. After each erosion the sediment was allowed to settle, mimicking intermittent physical processes like tidal currents and waves. The time between consecutive erosion events ranged from 1 to 12 days. Turbidity of the water column caused by sediment resuspension was used to determine the erodability of the sediments with respect to small and moderate shear stresses. Erodability was also compared on the basis of the presence of benthic biofilms, which were quantified using a Pulse-Amplitude Modulation (PAM) Underwater Fluorometer. We found that frequent erosion lead to the establishment of a weak biofilm, which reduced sediment erosion at small shear stresses (around 0.1 Pa). If prolonged periods without erosion were present, the biofilm fully established, resulting in lower erosion at moderate shear stresses (around 0.4 Pa). We conclude that an unstructured extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) matrix always affect sediment erodability at low shear stresses, while only a fully developed biofilm mat can reduce sediment erodability at moderate shear stresses.


Purpose: Real‐time tracking of tumor motion is a highly promising approach for intrafraction motion management in thoracic and abdominal cancerradiotherapy. We investigate the geometric and dosimetric impact of a generalized methodology for conformal and IMRT‐based radiation delivery to translating, rotating and deforming targets. Materials and Methods: The methodology is based on the concept of "relocation vectors", which correlate instantaneous target position to each point on the treatment aperture(s), throughout the entire respiratory cycle. These vectors are determined during 4D treatment planning by combining instantaneous target position information, obtained from a real‐time position‐monitoring (RPM) system, with concurrently acquired 4DCT. The resulting plan comprises multiple "control points". For each point, a set of MLC leaf positions is defined so as to conform to the instantaneous shape of the target and deliver the desired fluence. The methodology is, therefore, independent of the nature of target motion. During dose delivery, real‐time RPM data are used to update the relocation vectors so as to dynamically account for changes target shape/position relative to the shape/position observed in the planning stage. Initial studies were performed to demonstrate tracking of linear and elliptical motion. A laboratory system was designed and optical measurements of tracking accuracy and system latency were obtained. The methodology was subsequently tested on a moving lung phantom placed under a clinical linac, and dosimetric measurements were performed using a 2D ion‐chamber array. Results: Tracking accuracy (without using any predictive algorithm) was observed to be ∼1.25 mm for motion parallel to MLC leaf travel. For motion perpendicular to leaf travel, accuracy was significantly lower. Dosimetric measurements indicate that tracking achieves efficient dose delivery to the target and, simultaneously, significant dose reduction in surrounding regions. Conclusions: We have developed a robust, universal tracking methodology to manage 3D intrafraction motion. This work was partially supported by Varian.


Euler's wave theory of light developed from a mere description of this notion based on an analogy between sound and light to a more and more mathematical elaboration on that notion. He was very successful in predicting the shape of achromatic lenses based on a new dispersion law that we now know is wrong. Most of his mathematical arguments were, however, guesswork without any solid physical reasoning. Guesswork is not always a bad thing in physics if it leads to new experiments or makes the theory coherent with other theories. And Euler tried to find such experiments. He saw the construction of achromatic lenses, the explanation of colors of thin plates and of the opaque bodies as proof of his theory. When it came to the fundamental issues, the correctness of his dispersion law and the prediction of frequencies of light he was not at all successful. His wave theory degenerated, and it was not until Augustin Fresnel introduced transverse waves and an elaborate notion of interference that the wave theory again progressed.


* Summary: In the context of wider debates about the future of social work, it may be timely to reappraise the role of residential child care in the profession. This article raises the question of whether residential child care can achieve a professional identity or status within social work. It outlines the development of services for children and young people in Scotland and highlights some of the tensions apparent in efforts to conceptualize residential child care within the social work knowledge base and identity paradigms. * Findings: The likely setting of registerable qualifications for workers in residential child care at Vocational Qualification (VQ) level calls into question an erstwhile consensus favouring parity with other areas of social work. This may merely expose more fundamental structural and pedagogical differences between residential child care and the social work profession as it has developed. * Applications: Possible routes through which residential child care might achieve a professional identity and knowledge base, and some of the requirements for this to come about, are considered.


The integration of software fault tree analysis and timed Petri nets to facilitate software safety analysis in heterogeneous multiprocessor control systems is discussed. Any system analysis done using software fault trees may also be done by using Petri nets, but the mechanics of doing the Petri net analysis may be cumbersome. The authors present an example of analysis, proving that the design of a change in the flight control system of the A-6 fighter/bomber prevents an important hazard, inadvertent missile launch during practice. Drawing on this example analysis, a general technique for integrating these two analysis techniques using a semantic model for information sharing between the techniques during the analysis is described.<<ETX>>


This thesis explores the role of environmental rights in British planning. It reviews the evolution of the concept of human rights and proposes a suitable definition of 'rights' to be used in planning research. It discusses typologies and statutory entrenchment environmental rights, showing that while rights have gained a privileged position in political discourse, the actual work of rights to a specific realm of public policy has been left unexplored. Within planing, the concept of rights appears to be deployed in four different discourses covering: property; participation; ethics; and rights as a device. The concept of a 'rights-frame' for planing is developed to provide a coherent framework for assessing the role of rights. This is used to develop an empirical investigation focusing on one environmental right, third party right of appeal (TPRA) and explores this by reviewing debate over its introduction in the UK and examining TPRA in Ireland. A key finding is while the value of rights is assumed to rest on their strength as legal instruments, this tends to result in conservative outcomes and that much potential lies in their use as a tool for argumentation and political mobilisation through political discourse. This points to the importance of understanding the social-construction of rights and an appreciation of the context of rights-claims. The thesis proposes that environmental rights should rightly be seen as having four discrete roles in planning, functioning as: i) A statement of the ethical principles of the planning system, standing as non-derogable objectives of land use regulation; ii) A tool for promoting public participation by motivating engagement around issues of justice and citizenship; iii) A heuristic tool for analyzing the outcomes of the planning process, by highlighting discrepancies between rhetorical values and actual outcomes planning practice; and iv) In a more conventional sense, a tool for legal protection


Global sourcing operates under the challenges and pressures of intensive worldwide competition. Global sourcing can benefit from the functionality of Electronic Business (EB) by exhibiting more flexible structures and added opportunities in communications and transactions with partners among worldwide supply chains/networks. This study aims to answer two research questions, "What are the relationships between global sourcing and EB?" and "How do EB applications and strategies help global sourcing lead to better performance?" Our literature review addresses the relationships between global sourcing and EB from three perspectives: the applied theories, the covered business scope, and the changing roles of flows. In analysing the potential benefits of EB to global sourcing, the enhancement on SC components and alignment effects are discussed. Finally, a framework is proposed to highlight how EB and global sourcing interact with each other, resulting in five major issues: the enhancement of SC components, the changing micro-environment, the effect of accelerating evolution of global sourcing, the integration of activities, and the significant improvement on outcomes.


In a competitive constant-returns small open economy world prices are the appropriate shadow prices for traded goods in public sector cost-benefit analysis. If there are at least as many factors of production as there are goods produced and traded, it is straightforward to derive 'foreign-exchange-equivalent' factor shadow prices. Bertrand (American Economic Review, 1979) has argued that the case of more goods being produced and traded than there are factors (referred to as 'diversification' below) is of greater empirical relevance, and that in this case it is impossible to define factor shadow prices. In this paper, I argue that this view is incorrect, in the sense that if the economic forces which bring about the diversification of production are consistently and explicitly modelled, just enough information is available to define the factor shadow prices. The cases considered are: (i) a small open economy in which the government's objective is to influence the distribution of income, in which case diversification could only result from an irrational use of the policy tools available to the government; (ii) a small open economy in which there are political constraints on production levels in some activities, in which case world prices are not the correct shadow prices for the constrained activities; and (iii) a closed economy (which can be thought of as a model in which world prices are endogenous) in which the shadow prices of goods are not world prices.


Decision making is an essential activity for humans and often becomes complex in the presence of uncertainty or insufficient knowledge. This research aims at estimating preferences using pairwise comparisons. A decision maker uses pairwise comparison when he/she is unable to directly assign criteria weights or scores to the available options. The judgments provided in pairwise comparisons may not always be consistent for several reasons. Experimentation has been used to obtain statistical evidence related to the widely-used consistency measures. The results highlight the need to propose new consistency measures. Two new consistency measures - termed congruence and dissonance - are proposed to aid the decision maker in the process of elicitation. Inconsistencies in pairwise comparisons are of two types i.e. cardinal and ordinal. It is shown that both cardinal and ordinal consistency can be improved with the help of these two measures. A heuristic method is then devised to detect and remove intransitive judgments. The results suggest that the devised method is feasible for improving ordinal consistency and is computationally more efficient than the optimization-based methods. There exist situations when revision of judgments is not allowed and prioritization is required without attempting to remove inconsistency. A new prioritization method has been proposed using the graph-theoretic approach. Although the performance of the proposed prioritization method was found to be comparable to other approaches, it has practical limitation in terms of computation time. As a consequence, the problem of prioritization is explored as an optimization problem. A new method based on multi-objective optimization is formulated that offers multiple non-dominated solutions and outperforms all other relevant methods for inconsistent set of judgments. A priority estimation tool (PriEsT) has been developed that implements the proposed consistency measures and prioritization methods. In order to show the benefits of PriEsT, a case study involving Telecom infrastructure selection is presented.


Transcription factor binding to a gene regulatory region induces or represses its expression. Binding and expression target analysis (BETA) integrates the binding and gene expression data to predict this function. First, the regulatory potential of the factor is modeled based on the distance of its binding sites from the transcription start sites in a decay function. Then the differential expression statistics from an experiment where this factor was perturbed represent the binding effect. The rank product of the two values is employed to order in importance. This algorithm was originally implemented in Python. We reimplemented the algorithm in R to take advantage of existing data structures and other tools for downstream analyses. Here, we attempted to replicate the findings in the original BETA paper. We applied the new implementation to the same datasets using default and varying inputs and cutoffs. We successfully replicated the original results. Moreover, we showed that the method was appropriately influenced by varying the input and was robust to choices of cutoffs in statistical testing.


: In recent literature supporting a hybrid view between metaethical cognitivism and noncognitivist expressivism, much has been made of an analogy between moral terms and pejoratives. The analogy is based on the plausible idea that pejorative slurs are used to express both a descriptive belief and a negative attitude. The analogy looks promising insofar as it encourages the kinds of features we should want from a hybrid expressivist view for moral language. But the analogy between moral terms and pejorative slurs is also problematic. In this paper, I argue for two main ways in which we should distinguish between two different types of pejorative terms: slurs, on the one hand, and what I call general pejorative terms, on the other. I examine the problems with the analogy between slurs and moral terms and conclude that general pejorative terms like 'jerk' are a better candidate on which to model the potential dual-use behavior of moral terms. So if hybrid theorists are looking for a dual-use model for moral language, they should be careful to base their analogies on general pejoratives, rather than slurs.


Resources and guidelines gathered for the purposes of raising the impact and value of journals published by the Claremont Colleges Library.


In this paper, we demonstrate a novel nanoprobing approach to establish cause-and-effect relationships between voltage stress and end-of-life performance loss and failure in SRAM cells. A Hyperion II Atomic Force nanoProber was used to examine degradation for five 6T cells on an Intel 14 nm processor. Ten minutes of asymmetrically applied stress at VDD=2 V was used to simulate a '0' bit state held for a long period, subjecting each pullup and pulldown to either VDS or VGS stress. Resultant degradation caused read and hold margins to be reduced by 20% and 5% respectively for the '1' state and 5% and 2% respectively for the '0' state. ION was also reduced, for pulldown and pullup respectively, by 4.5% and 5.4% following VGS stress and 2.6% and 33.8% following VDS stress. Negative read margin failures, soft errors, and read time failures all become more prevalent with these aging symptoms whereas write stability is improved. This new approach enables highly specific root cause analysis and failure prediction for end-of-life in functional on-product SRAM.


Monthly mean Northern Hemisphere geopotential heights and temperatures on the 10, 30, 50, 100, and 300mb surfaces for a 16 year period (1962-1977) are composited with respect to the phase of the equatorial quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) at 50mb for the winter months (November-March). T ecomposited fields how zonally symmetric seesaw oscillations in both heights and temperatures with negative (positive) anomalies in polar regions and positive (negative) anomalies in midlatitudes during the westerly (easterly) phase of the equatorial QBO. Latitude-height cross sections of the zonal mean geostrophic wind for the 10-300mb layer indicate that during the westerly (easterly) phase of the equatiorial QBO at 500mb the polar night jet is stronger (weaker) than normal and the ttopospheric midlatitude j t is slightly weaker (stronger) than normal. Similar composites for zonalwavenumbers 1 and 2 and composites of the Eliassen-Palm flux show some indication of a QBO in stratospheric planetary waves, but the signal is surprisingly small considering the large amplitude QBO in the polar night jet.


This thesis is concerned with exact solutions to various massive field theories in 1+1 dimensions.Two approaches are described. The first, abstract and non-lagrangian, relies on the considerable understanding that there now is of massless two-dimensional field theories. A perturbative scheme can be developed within which various exact statements may be made. Chapter 1 contains a review of this technique, together with some work applying it in various simple situations. The particular structures studied turn out to have a deep connection with certain Lie algebras, a fact which is discussed in the concluding three sections of the chapter. A complementary approach is to study specific, classically integrable, lagrangians in the hope that their quantum versions will also permit an exact treatment. Motivated to some extent by the findings of chapter 1, the remainder of the thesis is devoted to a particular class of models known as affine Toda field theories. Mixtures of perturbative and non-perturbative ideas are employed. The non-perturbative elements are to be found in analytic S-matrix theory, reviewed in chapter 2, while various features of the classical theory necessary for a perturbative quantum treatment are derived in chapter 3. Making use of this information, chapter 4 proposes exact expressions for the S-matrices for a large subset of the Toda theories, which are then checked in perturbation theory. Finally, the relevance or otherwise of the Toda S-matrices to the perturbations of massless theories studied in chapter 1 is discussed, and some possible directions for future work are mentioned.


The Conference on Disarmament (CD) has played a significant role in the negotiation of several major multilateral agreements that continue to contribute to global peace and security. More recently, however, negotiation in the CD has reached an impasse, leaving it unable to make progress on its agenda at a point of growing geopolitical tension. To address this issue, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), with the support of France and Germany, organized a high-level retreat in Montreux, Switzerland, on 22–23 June 2023 to discuss ideas to revitalize the work of the CD and its relationship with the wider disarmament machinery. Seventy-nine participants from 60 States (including 51 CD Member States and 9 States that have applied for Observer status to the CD) participated in the retreat in their personal capacity. This report provides a factual summary of the discussion in Montreux.


STUDY QUESTION
Do age, ovulatory status, severity of obesity and body fat distribution affect the effectiveness of lifestyle intervention in obese infertile women?

SUMMARY ANSWER
We did not identify a subgroup in which lifestyle intervention increased the healthy live birth rate however it did increase the natural conception rate in anovulatory obese infertile women.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Obese women are at increased risk of infertility and are less likely to conceive after infertility treatment. We previously demonstrated that a 6-month lifestyle intervention preceding infertility treatment did not increase the rate of healthy live births (vaginal live birth of a healthy singleton at term) within 24 months of follow-up as compared to prompt infertility treatment in obese infertile women. Natural conceptions occurred more frequently in women who received a 6-month lifestyle intervention preceding infertility treatment.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
This is a secondary analysis of a multicentre RCT (randomized controlled trial), the LIFEstyle study. Between 2009 and 2012, 577 obese infertile women were randomly assigned to a 6-month lifestyle intervention followed by infertility treatment (intervention group) or to prompt infertility treatment (control group). Subgroups were predefined in the study protocol, based on frequently used cut-off values in the literature: age (≥36 or <36 years), ovulatory status (anovulatory or ovulatory), BMI (≥35 or <35 kg/m2) and waist-hip (WH) ratio (≥0.8 or <0.8).

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
Data of 564 (98%) randomized women who completed follow-up were analyzed. We studied the effect of the intervention program in various subgroups on healthy live birth rate within 24 months, as well as the rate of overall live births (live births independent of gestational age, mode of delivery and health) and natural conceptions within 24 months. Live birth rates included pregnancies resulting from both treatment dependent and natural conceptions. Logistic regression models with randomization group, subgroup and the interaction between randomization group and subgroup were used. Significant interaction was defined as a P-value <0.1.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Neither maternal age, ovulatory status nor BMI had an impact on the healthy live birth rate within 24 months, nor did they influence the overall live birth rate within 24 months after randomization. WH ratio showed a significant interaction with the effect of lifestyle intervention on healthy live birth rate (P = 0.05), resulting in a lower healthy live birth rate in women with a WH ratio <0.8. WH ratio had no interaction regarding overall live birth rate (P = 0.27) or natural conception rate (P = 0.38). In anovulatory women, the effect of lifestyle intervention resulted in more natural conceptions compared to ovulatory women (P-value for interaction = 0.02). There was no interaction between other subgroups and the effect of the intervention on the rate of natural conception.

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
Since this was a subgroup analysis of a RCT and sample size determination of the trial was based on the primary outcome of the study, the study was not powered for analyses of all subgroups.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
Our finding that lifestyle intervention leads to increased natural conception in anovulatory obese women could be used in the counselling of these women, but requires further research using an appropriately powered study in order to confirm this result.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS
The study was supported by a grant from ZonMw, the Dutch Organisation for Health Research and Development (50-50110-96-518). The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the UMCG received an unrestricted educational grant from Ferring pharmaceuticals BV, The Netherlands. Ben Mol is a consultant for ObsEva, Geneva. Annemieke Hoek received a speaker's fee for a postgraduate education from MSD pharmaceutical company, outside the submitted work.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
The LIFEstyle study was registered at the Dutch trial registry (NTR 1530).


ABSTRACT Single-strand breaks are the commonest lesions arising in cells, and defects in their repair are implicated in neurodegenerative disease. One of the earliest events during single-strand break repair (SSBR) is the rapid synthesis of poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), followed by its rapid degradation by poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG). While the synthesis of poly(ADP-ribose) is important for rapid rates of chromosomal SSBR, the relative importance of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) and PARP-2 and of the subsequent degradation of PAR by PARG is unclear. Here we have quantified SSBR rates in human A549 cells depleted of PARP-1, PARP-2, and PARG, both separately and in combination. We report that whereas PARP-1 is critical for rapid global rates of SSBR in human A549 cells, depletion of PARP-2 has only a minor impact, even in the presence of depleted levels of PARP-1. Moreover, we identify PARG as a novel and critical component of SSBR that accelerates this process in concert with PARP-1.


A new sensor of the electromagnetic flowmeter in partially filled pipes (EMF-PF) is presented. With an array of parallel electrodes constituted by multi-electrodes in parallel connection as the measurement electrodes, the measurement electrodes alternate duties, sensing both the flow velocity and fill height signals. On the sensor pipe bottom, one pair of the electrodes is set as the signal injection electrodes that inject the AC signal used to determine liquid fill height. The theoretical analysis and experiment results indicate it feasible for the EMF-PF to employ this fill height measuring technique .


With the improvements in the technology and exposure of different perspectives it has enabled us to come across many different types of saving instruments and we can come with different options and analyze them so that we make great profits in the future. It has become more of a concern because the market has become highly unpredictable and therefore it's important to analyze that which instrument will be beneficial in the future. Therefore we have undertaken this research to find out that how the Fixed Deposits have become effective in the low interest rate environment.


Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and its derivatives cause disease in tomato, Arabidopsis and Nicotiana benthamiana. The primary virulence factors include a repertoire of 29 effector proteins injected into plant cells by the type III secretion system and the phytotoxin coronatine. The complete repertoire of effector genes and key coronatine biosynthesis genes have been progressively deleted and minimally reassembled to reconstitute basic pathogenic ability in N. benthamiana, and in Arabidopsis plants that have mutations in target genes that mimic effector actions. This approach and molecular studies of effector activities and plant immune system targets have highlighted a small subset of effectors that contribute to essential processes in pathogenesis. Most notably, HopM1 and AvrE1 redundantly promote an aqueous apoplastic environment, and AvrPtoB and AvrPto redundantly block early immune responses, two conditions that are sufficient for substantial bacterial growth in planta. In addition, disarmed DC3000 polymutants have been used to identify the individual effectors responsible for specific activities of the complete repertoire and to more effectively study effector domains, effector interplay and effector actions on host targets. Such work has revealed that AvrPtoB suppresses cell death elicitation in N. benthamiana that is triggered by another effector in the DC3000 repertoire, highlighting an important aspect of effector interplay in native repertoires. Disarmed DC3000 polymutants support the natural delivery of test effectors and infection readouts that more accurately reveal effector functions in key pathogenesis processes, and enable the identification of effectors with similar activities from a broad range of other pathogens that also defeat plants with cytoplasmic effectors.


Nowadays, when the problem of environmental protection is quite stringent, the producers are concerned to bring on the market products, which have reduced environmental impact. In their turn, the consumers have become more aware and selective in purchasing products or services. Due to the financial crisis, consumers buy less but they are asking for quality and environmental friendly products. Under these circumstances the producers must find solutions in order to satisfy the consumers' requirements. According to market survey the significant progress has been made in the production of green products so that they reduce the environmental impact, taking into account a part or the whole lifecycle of the product. In free consecutive years gradually the companies are oriented to obtain various certifications for the products and services they offer. One of the most important and successful certification schemes identified by survey is the European eco-label. However, there are a number of other widely accepted and successful labels that are also analyzed in the present study. The survey objective was to identify green products on the Romanian market and to monitor their evolution. The present paper presents the results of three years market research focusing on product categories that include eco-labeled products.


The reading habits (or lack thereof) of adolescents in South Africa, like those in the rest of the world, are reason for concern. The fact that adolescents read distressingly little can be attributed to different reasons. It may be because of a lack of skill and interest,
or because there is a dearth of texts with which they can identify. If more texts were created in which adolescents can identify with the spaces and identities portrayed, the reading statistics in South Africa may shift positively. However, at present not all communities and voices in the country are represented by a diversity of writers, especially writers of youth literature. In the Afrikaans speaking coloured community of Promosa, Potchefstroom, the same tendency is found. Although it is ideal that these communities should be represented by their own writers, who know them best, this is not always the case. Is it therefore possible for an outsider to create a youth novel for a specific target group with which they (the adolescents of Promosa) will identify? Keywords : identity, space, community, youth novella. Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Vol. 45 (2) 2008: pp. 32-47


The rate at which phosphocreatine (PCr) is resynthesized after exercise is related to muscle oxidative capacity (Vmax). With the use of a one-dimensional image-guided, localized nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy technique, PCr kinetics were monitored in the medial gastrocnemius of eight healthy subjects after voluntary, short duration, maximal rate exercise. Localized spectra were obtained every 6 s with <5% contamination from nonselected regions. Maximal rate exercise elicited near-maximal to maximal muscle activation, as indicated by the high-PCr hydrolysis rate (2.26 +/- 0.07 mM/s) and extensive PCr depletion. At the end of 9 s of maximal rate exercise, PCr was depleted by 61.4 +/- 2.4% and intracellular pH was 7.04 +/- 0.03. After 9 s of maximal rate exercise, PCr recovered with a rate constant (kPCr) of 1.87 +/- 0.15 min(-1) and a Vmax of 67.2 +/- 6.0 mM/min. Independent of prior activity, aerobic ATP synthesis rates reached 48.6 +/- 4.9 mM/min within 9 s. Extending maximal rate exercise to 30 s resulted in 92.0 +/- 1.2% PCr depletion and an intracellular pH of 6.45 +/- 0.07. The intracellular acidosis separated the direct relationship between kPCr and muscle Vmax but did not affect the initial PCr resynthesis rate.


The present book demonstrates how major advances in the understanding of historic battles can be achieved through the application of the techniques of archaeology alongside those of military history, to exploit these neglected sets of evidence. It also provides examples of how results can be improved through the application of scientific expertise, in fields such as ballistics. It begins with a chronological review of battlefield studies in England, considering the effectiveness of the approaches that have been taken. Building upon this assessment, a detailed methodology is defined which seeks to exploit the full range of evidence that exists for these major historical events. Firstly the techniques for the reconstruction of the historic terrain are described, together with the ways in which the evidence from the primary sources for the battles can be used to place the military events more accurately within this context. As military history and landscape archaeology are well developed areas of research, their methodologies can be applied with little further development. It then shows how the hypotheses developed in such work can be validated and enhanced through analysis of the physical evidence left by the battles themselves. Because battle archaeology has received such limited attention in England there is a detailed discussion of the methodology for systematic survey of battle archaeology using metal detectors. However, given that lead bullets are the main form of archaeological evidence recovered from early modern battles, it is their analysis that forms the centre piece of this study. Finally the effectiveness of the whole methodology is demonstrated through a major new field investigation and documentary study of the terrain, battle archaeology and military history of the battle of Edgehill.


This article examines the emerging role China and its Belt and Road Initiative will play in the intellectual property area. It begins by exploring the country's growing assertiveness in the international arena. The article then explores six areas in which this initiative can play constructive roles in facilitating international and regional cooperation. It concludes by addressing three oft-raised questions concerning the initiative.


We have developed a novel cell-sorting system involving microscopic imaging using a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-based microfluidic chip with a pair of gel electrodes and real-time image-processing procedures for the quantification of cell shapes. The features of this system are as follows. 1) It can recognize cells both by microscopic cell imaging with a 10,000 event/s high-speed camera and by the photodetection of fluorescence. 2) Multistage sorting is used to reduce errors to an infinitesimally low level by using a pair of wide agarose-gel electrodes. 3) Carry-over-free analysis can be performed using a disposable microfluidic chip. 4) An field programmable gate array (FPGA) 10,000 event/s real-time image analysis unit for quantifying the cell images in cell sorting. To separate the target cells from other cells on the basis of the cell shape, we adopted an index of roughness for the cell surface R, which compares the actual perimeter of cell surface and the estimated perimeter of cross-sectional view of cell shape by approximating the cell as a sphere. Sample cells flowing through microchannels on the chip were distinguished by the dual recognition system involving optical analysis and a fluorescence detector, and then separated. Target cells could be sorted automatically by applying an electrophoretic force, and the sorting ability depended on the precision with which cells were shifted within the laminar flow. These results indicate that the cell-sorting system with on-chip imaging is practically applicable for biological research and clinical diagnostics.


The effects of roll materials, mould parameter, pouring parameter and cooling parameter on the crack of high speed steel (HSS) roll fabricated by a centrifugal casting have been analyzed. The modification of HSS roll was researched. The structures and properties of HSS roll modified by potassium and rare earth were improved. The hot tearing force of modified HSS roll increased by 32.77% and reached 158N. Modification was able to decrease the line constriction. The adoption of variable speed centrifugal casting technique, variable flux pouring technique and variable speed solidification cooling technique was able to adjust the temperature field and stress field of the roll, which benefited the filling and solidification of molten steel and eliminated the crack of HSS roll.


Background Physical and psychological stress such as child anxi- ety, can increase blood pressure. Objective To evaluate the role of vein puncture as a stressor caus- ing alteration of blood pressure in school children. Methods This study was a descriptive, pre and post test study as a part of a screening study on primary school children at Cibubur subdistrict in East Jakarta. Blood pressure was measured before and after a vein puncture procedure in 449 children. Nine children were excluded because of incomplete data. Results The increase of systolic blood pressure was found in 121 (27.5%) subjects, decrease in 42 (9.5%), and no change in 227 (63%). Diastolic blood pressure increased in 123 (28.0%) subjects, decreased in 38 (8.6%), and did not change in 279 (63.4%). The increase of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was found in 61 (13.8%), increased systolic with no change of diastolic in 58 (13.2%), and increased systolic with decreased diastolic in 2 (0.5%) children. Decreased systolic with increased diastolic was found in 2 (0.5%) subjects, decreased systolic with no change of diastolic in 26 (5.9%), and decrease of both systolic and diastolic in 14 (3.2%) children. No changes in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were found in 195 (44.3%); no change in systolic with decreased diastolic blood pressure was found in 22 (5.0%) children. Conclusion In most of the school children, vein puncture proce- dure did not cause alteration on blood pressure


The stabilization of wines often requires the use of negatively charged clarifying agents to remove proteins. The polysaccharides agar, carrageenan, and alginic acid extracted from seaweeds are negatively charged at low pH and can electrostatically bind and precipitate positively charged proteins from aqueous solutions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of agar, carrageenan, and alginic acid extracted from seaweeds to flocculate and precipitate proteins in wine. The flocculation and precipitation capacity of proteins by purified carrageenan, dried carrageenophytes, purified alginic acid, and dried alginophytes was 2-fold greater than that of agar and agarophytes. The greater flocculation capacity of carrageenan and alginic acid is likely the result of their greater number of free negative charges relative to those of agar. Although proteins were flocculated by seaweed polysaccharides, tannins were not adsorbed by agar, carrageenan, or alginic acid. The adsorption capacity of alginic acid was maximum at protein levels lower than 50 mg L −1 ; however, carrageenan adsorbed and precipitated most proteins at concentrations surpassing 400 mg L −1 . The protein fraction adsorbed by agar, carrageenan, alginic acid, and seaweeds in Chenin blanc wine was also similar to the protein fraction adsorbed by bentonite. Collectively, results indicate that carrageenan and alginic acid might have a greater wine stabilization capacity than agar without modifying the tannin composition of wines.


Protecting an aircraft from the extremes of environments during service begins at the interface between topcoat and environment. The topcoat considered here is an aliphatic polyurethane (PU) based matte coating. This paper examines the degradation of the PU topcoat through the use of a novel HyperTest which combines ultra-violet (UV) and ozone as the degradation method. To benchmark the technique against accepted accelerated testing methods, QUV was used and samples were tested between two and 56 days. For The HyperTest, samples were degraded at increments between one to 120 min. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) determined that 56 days of UV exposure was equivalent, in terms of the extent of the chemical degradation of the topcoat, to one to two minutes of UV/ozone (UV/O3) exposure. There was a significant increase in carbonyl component with increasing oxygen concentration for samples treated with The HyperTest, whereas no clear degradation trend was observed for the samples exposed to UV alone. After 60 min of UV/O3 exposure a steady-state mechanism is established as the oxidative decomposition of the PU coating. The proposed degradation mechanism of the PU topcoat, through UV/O3 exposure, is the reaction of atomic oxygen with the polymer matrix/binder through hydrogen abstraction producing a hydroxyl group. This further decomposes to produce a carbonyl component observed in the XPS analysis. The products of degradation are simple volatile molecules such as CO2 and H2O for both testing methods used here. However, the efficient nature of The HyperTest, requiring only minutes to degrade samples as shown here, proves it to be a viable complementary technique to established methods of laboratory accelerated testing. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license