Migration is a multidimensional phenomena presented in various political debates, discussed from economic perspectives to human rights features. Historically, migrants have been considered both as possibilities contributing to the economy and diversity as well as threats to the economy, society and the cultural identity of the host community. One of the aftermaths of European Migration Crisis has been the securitization of migration policy area. Securization of migration empowers the politicians with the possibility to take extra-ordinary measures and normalization of the "us" and "them" discourse; simply put, politicizing migrants as threats to the european society. Here, the aim has been to carry out a single case study of securization. To validate this claim, Copenhagen school's notions of securization have been applied finding indicators of securization. Later a content analysis on the politicians 'speech act' is conducted, examining the discourse from the early stages of the crisis in 2014 until early 2016. In doing so, European parliamentary debates have been chosen as the primary source, giving the opportunity to gather comprehensive data confirming securitization of migration. (Less)


This paper presents detailed data on the biomass and element pools of six sample trees in the catchments of Plesne and Certovo Lakes. Diameters and heights of the sample trees ranged from 28.0 to 63.7 cm and from 14.1 to 38.7 m. The age of the sample trees ranged from 84 to 177 years. Total biomass of the sample trees was in the range of 239.4 kg to 2,932.3 kg. Variation of total biomass between the sample trees was a consequence of the tree biometric data (height and dbh) and age differences. The proportion of stem wood and bark ranged from 63.5 to 69.5%, and from 4.6 to 7.2%, respectively. The proportion of foliage and fine branches ranged from 4.3 to 8.4%, and from 0.7 to 1.9%, respectively. The proportion of branch wood and bark ranged from 2.2 to 6.5%, and from 0.8 to 2.2%, respectively. Mean concentrations of C in different tree components were quite similar. Except C and compared to the other elements, N had the highest mean concentrations in tree components in all cases. Concentrations of P, Ca, Mg, and K showed similar patterns. Generally the highest concentrations of these elements were found in foliage, fine branches, fine roots and bark of stem and branches. Fe, Na, Al and Mn showed the lowest mean concentrations in tree components for all the analyzed elements. The total element pools per tree were highly variable because of the differences in total biomass between the individual trees. Generally, stem wood and bark, foliage, and roots contained the highest proportion of the elements. But there were differences between individual elements. Concerning the important nutrients, while the highest proportion of Ca and Mg was contained in stem wood and bark, the highest proportion of P was contained in foliage. The foliage contained a relatively high proportion of P and K, but a relatively low proportion of Ca and Mg.


Abstract The paper aims to explore the phenomenon of the spread in democracy of new powers – produced by inexhaustible technological developments – from the perspective of the philosophy of Institutions. It traces the original idea of democracy, in which the «government of the people» arises from the conversion of natural liberty into social and political liberty, dwells on the political and juridical meaning of authority, analyses the traditional instruments used to condition human opinions and behaviours, and reconstructs – in light of this itinerary – the functioning and new grammar of the digital order. What opens before us is a fluid and disorganized scenario, dominated by digital systems, algorithms and artificial intelligence, that draws the attention of philosophers and sociologists, jurists and scholars of language and of anthropology. The old single order, outlined by the political and juridical machine of the modern State – which, through an aloof and solemn language, aimed to impart regularity to human behaviour and to give society direction – is replaced by multifarious models of order, each of which is generated by its own logic, practices, and autonomous control techniques. Under the omnipotence of technology, concepts such as authority, liberty, truth and power undergo a vortex of semantic transformations that penetrate a new symbolic space into human reasoning and actions.


Behavior understanding and semantic interpretation of dynamic visual scenes have attracted a lot of attention in computer vision research community. Although the use of surveillance cameras has proliferated, the understanding of activities still remains complex. While users are mostly interested in high level and subjective semantics, only low level visual features can be extracted in a reliable way. This paper presents a novel in a reliable way. This paper presents a novel around the event modeling concept. It enables users to design their personal models of events combining elementary concept and low level features using expressive formalisms. The framework enables then detection of the events within video streams based on low level features extraction and manual annotations analysis, while taking in consideration uncertainty. Examples depicting content-based events modeling and detection from video surveillance are presented to illustrate the approach.


Different modes of kinetic detection in ion chromatography have been proposed. Equipment schemes have included an ion chromatograph with a conductometric detector and multichannel flow mounting with a spectrophotometric detector. Complex formation of Cr(III) with EDTA accelerated by carbonate has been used as a model indicator reaction. This system has proved to be both selective and universal. A simultaneous determination of carbonate, Cr(III) and various inorganic anions has been possible. A number of objects have been analyzed.


PURPOSE
To investigate the prevalence of microbial keratitis, predisposing risk factors and treatment modalities in patients who developed keratitis following penetrating keratoplasty (PK).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The records of 285 patients who had undergone PK between January 1991 and December 1995 in a tertiary care center were reviewed. Patients who developed postoperative microbial keratitis were evaluated for predisposing risk factors, microbiological etiology, response to broad spectrum antibiotic therapy and subsequent PK. Patients were mainly treated with fortified topical antibiotics with or without repeat PK.

RESULTS
Of the 285 patient records reviewed, microbial keratitis developed in 21 eyes of 21 patients (7.4%). Seventy-one percent of infections occurred within 6 months after grafting. Keratitis initially began from the donor-recipient border in 16 cases (76.2%) and were central or paracentral in 5 patients. Predisposing risk factors included loose or exposed suture (9), suture removal (1), persistent epithelial defect (3), graft failure (3), contact lens wear (1), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (1). Fifteen (71.4%) patients were culture-positive consisting of Streptococcus pneumoniae (7), Staphylococcus aureus (5), Pseudomonas aureginosa (2), and Hemophilus influenzae (1). Forty-three percent of patients were successfully treated with medical therapy only. Seven patients underwent second PK for visual rehabilitation and 4 for tectonic purposes. After medical and surgical therapy, graft clarity was achieved in 17 (81%) of patients.

CONCLUSIONS
The microbial keratitis following PK is a major postoperative problem affecting the long term prognosis. Careful selection of patients, and preoperative and postoperative control of risk factors, may decrease the frequency of this complication. Several factors, including loose or exposed sutures, epithelial defects, ocular surface disorders, and graft failure, may predispose patients to develop microbial keratitis following PK.


This thesis examines the notions of self and no-self, specifically in light of the actor's
experience and manner of engagement in actor training. Arguing that the actor's
assumptions and beliefs regarding self affect embodiment and engagement in training, the
thesis highlights the importance of considering these notions, and proposes some practical
explorations. Training experiences in theatrical biomechanics and the work of Nicolas Nunez
are reflected upon as practical references for the investigation.

The lack of a fixed ongoing self in experience is identified as a key stance in considerations
within philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, and the consequences, for the actor, of
conceiving an independent, on-going self as existing in experience are suggested to lead to
a perceived dualism that is at times considered to interfere in the actor's work. The thesis
suggests an understanding of self as a 'myth' created through 'storytelling,'
conceptualisation and embodied metaphor, and as a process of neurological mapping as
argued by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Antonio Damasio, Louis Hoffman and others.

For considering the notion of no-self and the actor's potential for operating without a sense
of personal identity, the thesis draws on the no-self theory of Buddhism and 'attunement'
and the 'self-cultivation' model proposed by Nagatomo Shigenori and Yuasa Yasuo. Drawing
on no-self theory, the questions regarding dualism in the actor's experience, a
transformation of habitual patterns of movement and action, everyday consciousness and
the actor's manner of engagement in training are examined.

Identifying actor-training as a process of self-exploration and self-definition in the work of
Phillip Zarrilli, Eugenio Barba and others, the thesis argues for the importance of considering
the notions of self and no-self and introduces alternative models for this examination.


The use of plant essential oil in daily care products, cosmetics and fragrances has increasingly gained attention in recent years. However, detailed studies on the oil
especially in the aspects of chemical compositions, biological activity, safety and efficacy as a raw material for daily care products are limited thus limiting its commercial potential. The essential oils of five plant species from the family Annonaceae, namely Goniothalanus macrophyllus, G. tortilipetalus, Xylopia malayana, X. fusca and X. elliptica were studied and their chemical compositions were analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). The leaf
oil from X. malayana (1.39%) which was obtained from a water distillation produced the highest yield of essential oil. The chemical compositions of the essential oils from both species were analyzed by comparing their Retention Indices (RI) with the literature values, by comparing their mass spectral data with the mass spectral database from the
published or by co-chromatography with authentic samples. This is the first report on the chemical compositions, antimicrobial activities and cytotoxicity effects of the essential oils from G. tortilipetalus, X. fusca and X. elliptica. The chemical constituents of the oils differed from species to species but were mainly of monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids. A total of 239 components were identified, representing 42.5% to 91.6% of the total oils. The main monoterpenoids were α-pinene, linalool, terpinen-4-ol,1,8-cineole and α-terpineol while geranyl acetate, geraniol, bicyclogermacrene and spathulenol are the major sesquiterpenoids identified from the oils.
The essential oils together with eight standards: α-pinene, linalool, geraniol, geranyl acetate, terpinen-4-ol, limonene, 1,8-cineole and β-pinene were evaluated for their
antimicrobial properties against nine microorganisms including Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, and yeast by using the broth microdilution method. The essential oils exhibited antimicrobial activities (MIC values between 156-2500 μg/ml) against all of the microorganisms tested, except for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. The standards tested exhibited weak antimicrobial activities (MIC values >5000 μg/ml)
against all of the microorganisms tested except for α-pinene. The cytotoxicity of the oils was evaluated against the human normal Chang liver and human normal skin fibroblast cell lines. The essential oils from the twig of X. elliptica and the leaf of G. tortilipetalus were found to be non-cytotoxic towards the Chang liver cell line even at higher concentrations (IC50 >1000 μg/ml). The other oils, however, exhibited moderate to weakly cytotoxic activity against both cell lines with the IC50 values ranged from 97.7 μg/ml to 877.0 μg/ml. The study revealed the potential use of the essential oils from ariel parts of Xylopia and Goniothalamus species as a new ingredient for various practical applications.


Collecting postage stamps is a worldwide business and hobby, which begun not long after national post offices started to issue stamps. The very first definitive stamp with a hologram was issued in Austria in 1988. Since then, about 40 countries have issued holographic stamps and the total amount of different postal items with holograms is about 100. In 1999, there were more holographic stamps issued than in any previous years. A chronological review of stamps issued with embossed holograms is given. A detailed description of each stamp is provided with photographs of all postage stamps and souvenir sheets. The use of holograms on stamps seems to be more of a new and attractive decoration rather than a security measure. Holographic stamps have already become a new philatelic topical field.


This book constitutes the thoroughly reviewed post-proceedings of the 9th International Workshop, EUMAS 2011, held in Maastricht, The Netherlands, in November 2011. The 16 revised full papers included in the book were carefully revised and selected from 45 submissions. This workshop is primarily intended as a European forum at which researchers and those interested in activities relating to research in the area of autonomous agents and multi-agent systems could meet, present (potentially preliminary) research results, problems, and issues in an open and informal but academic environment. The aim of this workshop was to encourage and support activity in the research and development of multi-agent systems, in academic and industrial efforts.


Electromyography (EMG) sensors produce a stream of data at rates that can easily saturate a low-energy wireless link such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), especially if more than a few EMG channels are being transmitted simultaneously. Compressing data can thus be seen as a nice feature that could allow both longer battery life and more simultaneous channels at the same time. A lot of research has been done in lossy compression algorithms for EMG data, but being lossy, artifacts are inevitably introduced in the signal. Some artifacts can usually be tolerable for current applications. Nevertheless, for some research purposes and to enable future research on the collected data, that might need to exploit various and currently unforseen features that had been discarded by lossy algorithms, lossless compression of data may be very important, as it guarantees no extra artifacts are introduced on the digitized signal. The present paper aims at demonstrating the effectiveness of such approaches, investigating the performance of several algorithms and their implementation on a real EMG BLE wireless sensor node. It is demonstrated that the required bandwidth can be more than halved, even reduced to 1/4 on an average case, and if the complexity of the compressor is kept low, it also ensures significant power savings.


Smart biomaterials that can actively respond to and interact with their environment are sought after for regenerative medicine, therapeutic delivery, sensing, and actuation. Polymer-nanoparticle hybrids are a promising class of smart materials, but thus far the choice of polymers has predominantly been chemically synthesized ones. In contrast, natural tissues commonly utilize proteins to interface with nanoparticles and provide smart functionalities. Inspired by nature, this dissertation describes the development of genetically engineered, protein-based polymers (PBPs) for use as components of smart, polymer-nanoparticle hybrids. Specifically, elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), a class of thermoresponsive PBPs, were utilized to functionalize two nanoparticles.First, an improved method for synthesizing PBP genes was developed. Crafting new PBPs is limited by the ease with which their genes can be engineered. The new method utilizes a specific architecture of restriction enzymes to address some of the drawbacks of previous methods and was used to efficiently and accurately produce ELP genes.Next, ELPs were engineered to display biomimetic, bone mineral-binding peptides and their effect on therapeutic bone cements was investigated. Bones are mechanically robust, composites composed predominantly of proteins and nanocrystalline mineral. In contrast, bone cements are brittle and do not contain organic materials. Composites of mineral-binding ELPs and cement had significantly improved strength. Furthermore, the injectability and washout resistance of cements were improved as a result of the ELP's thermoresponsive behavior.Finally, photoresponsive composites were created by engineering ELPs to display graphene-binding peptides. Graphene-derived nanoparticles (GNs) exhibit unique mechanical, electrical, and optical properties but are difficult to integrate into biological systems due to their hydrophobic nature. The engineered ELPs non-covalently bound to GNs and the resulting ELP-GN hybrids exhibited increased colloidal stability and a reversible temperature-controlled aggregation behavior. The ability of GNs to convert near-infrared light to heat was exploited in order to remotely induce aggregation of ELP-GN hybrids in solution and to induce rapid, site-specific actuation of ELP-GN composite hydrogels. Finally, cell adhesion on ELP-functionalized graphene was enhanced by genetic addition of integrin-binding peptide motifs.These studies demonstrate that PBPs can be tailored to interact with nanoparticles of choice and can provide stimuli-responsive and bioactive properties to biologically relevant nanoparticles. Hybrid materials of PBPs and nanoparticles are, therefore, well suited for biotechnological applications which require smart behavior.


We present a dataset of large-scale indoor spaces that provides a variety of mutually registered modalities from 2D, 2.5D and 3D domains, with instance-level semantic and geometric annotations. The dataset covers over 6,000m2 and contains over 70,000 RGB images, along with the corresponding depths, surface normals, semantic annotations, global XYZ images (all in forms of both regular and 360{\deg} equirectangular images) as well as camera information. It also includes registered raw and semantically annotated 3D meshes and point clouds. The dataset enables development of joint and cross-modal learning models and potentially unsupervised approaches utilizing the regularities present in large-scale indoor spaces. The dataset is available here: this http URL


Mega-regional trade agreements (MRTAs) have appeared in response to the prolonged stagnation of the multilateral trading system ruled by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Although this issue has stimulated research in international integration, the specifics of MRTAs have not yet been sufficiently investigated. This article therefore assesses the multilateralization potential of regional commitments using the example of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It includes commitments in market access liberalization made in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and in intraregional agricultural trade liberalization under the TPP.The central research problem is to identify the regional liberalization commitments that might be promoted to the level of the WTO. The authors use the methodology devised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for assessing the potential multilateralization. RTA and MRTA commitments are grouped in two policy areas: WTO-plus (going beyond the normal provisions of the WTO) and WTO-beyond (dealing with issues going beyond the WTO). The TTP is scrutinized in the context of intraregional agricultural trade liberalization.MRTAs can raise regional commitments to the global level because of their large membership, regulatory transparency and high levels of implementation. The multilateralization of regional agreements is expected in services and investments as well as in various aspects of technical regulation. The key features of implementing RTA's WTO-plus and WTO-beyond commitments in intraregional agricultural trade are discussed. Most RTAs have liberalized tariffs beyond the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (WTO-plus), but only a few have strengthened disciplines in non-tariff barriers and implemented WTO-beyond commitments for export restrictions and export subsidies. The TPP parties are a diverse group in terms of involvement in global agricultural trade and applied tariffs on agriculture and food. The TPP provides the record in eliminating tariffs for agricultural products while keeping a number of exceptions for sensitive products and long implementation periods. Agricultural market liberalization under the TPP is achieved mostly through eliminating tariffs than by renewing non-tariff barriers. The TPP parties share the objective of implementing WTO commitments by supporting the global agricultural trade reform on export subsidies and export bans, and agree to incorporate WTO-plus and WTO-beyond obligations.


This evaluation is presented as part of the Effectiveness Review Series 2013/14, selected for review under the livelihoods thematic area. This report documents the findings of a quasi-experimental evaluation carried out in March 2014 that sought to assess the impact of the activities of the 'Strengthening small farmers' agribusiness capabilities in western Honduras' project. The overall objective of the project was to contribute to the improvement of income generation and food security of families in six municipalities in western Honduras. Project activities included: technical support to improving agricultural production, improvements in access to markets, and strengthening administrative credit and financial structures in the community. The project activities were implemented by Oxfam GB in conjunction with a local partner organisation – Organismo Cristiano de Desarrollo Integral de Honduras (OCDIH). The project started in 2010 and completed in March 2014 as a continuation of previous projects which were implemented from approximately 2007 to 2010 in the same geographical areas as the project under analysis, but covering a greater number of villages. For more information, the data for this effectiveness review is available through the UK Data Service . Read more about the Oxfam  Effectiveness Reviews .


This is a history of the moorlands and the part they have played in English and Welsh history over ten millennia. Ian Simmons combines the perspectives of natural science, archaeology, social history and historical geography, and draws on forty years of exploring and studying the moorlands. Starting with a description of their origins and how they have changed under the impact of human and natural forces, Simmons shows how perceptions of the moors have been influenced by writers, artists and the media (and how they have been inspired by the moors), and how these perceptions have resulted in great changes in attitudes to moorland use and management. The book begins by offering some concise understanding of the physical and natural characteristics of moorlands. It then gives an account of how hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic period altered their surroundings using fire. It describes how millennia of agricultural production wrought distinctive moorland landscapes and how these in turn were affected and sometimes transformed by industrialisation, afforestation and changes in farming methods.The renewed impetus in the twentieth century for environmental management and conservation brings the story near to the present. The North Pennines, Dartmoor and South Wales are the subject of detailed accounts that reveal the common characteristics of the moorlands as well as their marked contrasts. Beyond the recent crises of overgrazing and the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, Ian Simmons lays out some possible futures for the moors.


The treatment of the rupture tendon is still an obstacle in respect of suture method. Therefore, such shortcoming in repairing fracture tendons could be overcome through tissue engineering approaches. The aim of present study is to investigate the influence of processing parameters on PLGA scaffold morphology and fiber diameters and the effect of the tendon fibroblast with the obtained novel tissue engineering electrospun-PLGA. The nanofiber scaffold was produced via electrospinning. The result shows that the nanofiber diameter and morphology could be controlled under different processing parameters. The Achilles tendon fibroblasts exhibit enough cell viability and were attached with spindle shape on the PLGA nanofiber scaffold. Therefore, PLGA nanofiber scaffold have the potential for Achilles tendon repair.


The effect of predation by diving ducks (Aythya fuhgula, Aythya fenna, and Aythya marila) on filter-feeding bivalves was evaluated in eutrophic estuanne lagoons, Lakes Nakaumi and Shinji, in Japan. Bivalves take up nutrients in the form of phytoplankton and detritus. Winter-migrating diving ducks feed on these bivalves during the cold season. In Lake Nakaumi, diving ducks chiefly consumed the biofouling mussel Musculista senhousia. The biomass of M. senhousia decreased markedly at most sampling points during duck wintering, averaging 1126 g m-' (wet weight) at 4 2 sampling points in November 1996 and 24 g m-' in March 1997 The amount of nitrogen in M. senhousia eaten by ducks during winter was estimated at 52 t and phosphorus at 3.8 t . In the absence of ducks, M. senhous~a death in summer would add equivalent nitrogen and phosphorus loads to the lagoon. The decomposition of M. senhousia in summer when water mixing is weak would also accelerate oxygen depletion at the lagoon bottom. Mussel predation by wintering ducks would therefore decrease unfavorable effects of biofouling mussel decomposition in summer when nuisance phytoplankton blooms and anoxia occur easily.


This thesis has four parts, which correspond to the presentation and development of a theoretical
framework for the study of cognitive capacities qua physical phenomena, and a case study of locality conditions over natural languages.
Part I deals with computational considerations, setting the tone of the rest of the thesis, and introducing and defining critical concepts like 'grammar', 'automaton', and the relations between them
. Fundamental questions concerning the place of formal language theory in
linguistic inquiry, as well as the expressibility of linguistic and computational concepts in
common terms, are raised in this part.
Part II further explores the issues addressed in Part I with particular emphasis on how
grammars are implemented by means of automata, and the properties of the formal languages
that these automata generate. We will argue against the equation between effective computation
and function-based computation, and introduce examples of computable procedures which are
nevertheless impossible to capture using traditional function-based theories. The connection
with cognition will be made in the light of dynamical frustrations: the irreconciliable tension
between mutually incompatible tendencies that hold for a given dynamical system. We will
provide arguments in favour of analyzing natural language as emerging from a tension between
different systems (essentially, semantics and morpho-phonology) which impose orthogonal
requirements over admissible outputs. The concept of level of organization or scale comes to
the foreground here; and apparent contradictions and incommensurabilities between concepts
and theories are revisited in a new light: that of dynamical nonlinear systems which are
fundamentally frustrated. We will also characterize the computational system that emerges from
such an architecture: the goal is to get a syntactic component which assigns the simplest
possible structural description to sub-strings, in terms of its computational complexity. A
system which can oscillate back and forth in the hierarchy of formal languages in assigning
structural representations to local domains will be referred to as a computationally mixed
system.
Part III is where the really fun stuff starts. Field theory is introduced, and its applicability to
neurocognitive phenomena is made explicit, with all due scale considerations. Physical and
mathematical concepts are permanently interacting as we analyze phrase structure in terms of
pseudo-fractals (in Mandelbrot's sense) and define syntax as a (possibly unary) set of
topological operations over completely Hausdorff (CH) ultrametric spaces. These operations, which makes field perturbations interfere, transform that initial completely Hausdorff
ultrametric space into a metric, Hausdorff space with a weaker separation axiom. Syntax, in this
proposal, is not 'generative' in any traditional sense –except the 'fully explicit theory' one-:
rather, it partitions (technically, 'parametrizes') a topological space. Syntactic dependencies are
defined as interferences between perturbations over a field, which reduce the total entropy of
the system per cycles, at the cost of introducing further dimensions where attractors
corresponding to interpretations for a phrase marker can be found.
Part IV is a sample of what we can gain by further pursuing the physics of language approach,
both in terms of empirical adequacy and theoretical elegance, not to mention the unlimited
possibilities of interdisciplinary collaboration. In this section we set our focus on island
phenomena as defined by Ross (1967), critically revisiting the most relevant literature on this
topic, and establishing a typology of constructions that are strong islands, which cannot be
violated. These constructions are particularly interesting because they limit the phase space of
what is expressible via natural language, and thus reveal crucial aspects of its underlying
dynamics. We will argue that a dynamically frustrated system which is characterized by
displaying mixed computational dependencies can provide straightforward characterizations of
cyclicity in terms of changes in dependencies in local domains.


Thailand's development strategy has been strongly market-oriented and open to trade and investment flows with the rest of the world. Since the late 1950s, its growth performance has been outstanding. Poverty incidence has declined dramatically, but economic inequality has increased. Economic progress has been reflected in very significant improvement in non-economic indicators of well-being such as life expectancy, infant and maternal morality, and literacy. Nevertheless, the performance of the education system is chronically poor. Environmental problems and institutional failures in resource management are ongoing. Reform is needed in several areas, including political and corporate governance, regulation of industry, and in the education and health systems.


Silanization of hydroxyapatite was employed to improve the bonding between hydroxyapatite and polycaprolactone. FTIR of HA after silanization showed that new peaks attributed to silane do exist. The increase of melting and crystallization temperatures of silaned composites shown from DSC implied that there exists much stronger bonding between PCL and silaned HA particles. Fracture surface of composites after tensile testing observed by using SEM showed that silaned HA particles dispersed much evenly and coalesced compactly in PCL matrix, suggesting that silaned HA particles had good compatibility with PCL. The tensile strength and modulus increased from 16.81 MPa and 239.21 MPa to 20.49 MPa and 539.57 MPa, respectively.


Structural analyses and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe–reverse geometry (SHRIMP-RG) zircon 206Pb/238U dates reveal the tectonic evolution of the deep (40–65 km) root of a Cretaceous continental arc as subduction beneath Gondwana ended and rifting began. By ca. 123 Ma, a dense root, composed partly of garnet pyroxenite and omphacite granulite, had formed. At 118–115 Ma, during regional contraction, a magma flare-up thermally and mechanically rejuvenated the base of the arc, resulting in widespread crustal melting, granulite-facies metamorphism, and the circulation of hot partially molten lower crust. By ca. 114 Ma, the flow formed two different styles of migmatitic gneiss domes. At the deepest (∼65 km) levels, the Breaksea domes record the upward flow of material in diapirs balanced by a sinking garnet pyroxenite root. At shallower (∼40 km) levels, the Malaspina domes record lateral flow in 1–2-km-thick channels beneath a roof of Paleozoic gneiss. At ca. 106 Ma, regional extension began with the formation of the Doubtful Sound shear zone (106–97 Ma), followed by the Resolution Island shear zone (95–89 Ma). These structures overprint migmatitic fabrics in the gneiss domes and record lower-crustal thinning, decompression with cooling (<730 °C), and horizontal flow oblique to the arc. They also show a migration of deformation toward the Gondwana interior that was driven by differences in the thermal structure and viscosity of the lower crust. In our model, gneiss doming and root detachment were precursors to rifting and triggered by magmatism. The evolution of extension occurred in three stages that reflect both the rheological structure of the lower crust and the influence of propagating spreading ridges.


A new class of surface plasmon polaritons supported in identical enantiomeric chiral plasmonic structures is presented. The waves are caused by bianisotropy and are absent in the case of bi-isotropic media as well as in anisotropic structures without a magnetoelectric coupling. The existence of two distinct modes of the surface plasmon polaritons with unusual dispersion and polarization properties is predicted. The role of losses is investigated and the propagation length of the surface waves is determined.


This book has a fascinating title. One opens it in anticipation of seeing the spector of death and destruction produced by physicians, even as they are aiming their best blows with appropriate therapy. The same general theme I have dealt with in an essay entitled, "Recent Setbacks in Medicine." The author of this book, however, makes it quite clear that he is concerned with mishaps which are accidents rather than errors, complications inherent in the employment of various medicines and procedures which must be calculated in weighing the risk of any therapy against the dangers of restraint or neglect. The book is an extension of an article on the same topic which was published under the stimulus of a distinguished consultant to the Armed Forces in the New England Journal of Medicine . Those who are looking for any details will be disappointed in this book, for it contains the barest


Thyroid hormones are necessary for the normal functioning of physiological systems. Therefore, knowledge of any factor (whether genetic, environmental or intrinsic) that alters the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid hormones is crucial. Genetic factors contribute up to 65% of interindividual variations in TSH and thyroid hormone levels, but many environmental factors can also affect thyroid function. This review discusses studies that have analyzed the impact of environmental factors on TSH and thyroid hormone levels in healthy adults. We included lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and exercise) and pollutants (chemicals and heavy metals). Many inconsistencies in the results have been observed between studies, making it difficult to draw a general conclusion about how a particular environmental factor influences TSH and thyroid hormone levels. However, lifestyle factors that showed the clearest association with TSH and thyroid hormones were smoking, body mass index (BMI) and iodine (micronutrient taken from the diet). Smoking mainly led to a decrease in TSH levels and an increase in triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) levels, while BMI levels were positively correlated with TSH and free T3 levels. Excess iodine led to an increase in TSH levels and a decrease in thyroid hormone levels. Among the pollutants analyzed, most studies observed a decrease in thyroid hormone levels after exposure to perchlorate. Future studies should continue to analyze the impact of environmental factors on thyroid function as they could contribute to understanding the complex background of gene–environment interactions underlying the pathology of thyroid diseases.


Multi-view autostereoscopic (AS) displays are a recently developed technology that allows several viewers to see stereo 3D images without the use of glasses or goggles. Our system enables users to interact with real or virtual 3D displayed objects by means of a hand-held cursor or (in the future) through hand gestures. In this paper we mathematically derive two multicamera image acquisition models for multi-view AS displays. These models describe the relationship of object coordinates to camera, screen and image coordinates. We present some examples of virtual objects rendered using the models.


It is well known that bone has excellent mechanical properties through its hierarchical structure and that design of new materials should take inspiration from its structure, especially those that will be used as synthetic bone grafts. However it has not yet been possible to mimic the complex structure. Here we present new organic–inorganic hybrid scaffolds produced by a sol–gel foaming process with the aim of producing materials that mimic the trabecular structure of bone and take inspiration from the nanocomposite structure. Poly(γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA) was chosen as the organic component because it is a polypeptide that can be functionalised and can degrade by enzyme action. The γ-PGA chains and bioactive silica were covalently bonded to each other (class II hybrid) through an organosilane coupling agent, glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane (GPTMS). This was key to obtaining a hybrid with good mechanical properties and homogeneous integration of inorganic and organic chains at the nanoscale. The effect of the degree of covalent coupling on mechanical properties and dissolution rate of the hybrids was investigated. Hybrids with a covalent coupling between 2 and 10 glutamic acid units per GPTMS molecule showed optimal mechanical properties and polymer release into TRIS-buffer solution. Polymer release was much slower from these hybrids than from those with lower amounts of covalent coupling. Monoliths of these compositions were not toxic to the SaOs-2 osteosarcoma cell line and supported cell attachment and growth. Foaming of the optimised hybrid composition was performed to produce porous 3D scaffolds. The modal pore and interconnect diameters were quantified to be 297 and 111 μm respectively, using micro-computed tomography (μCT) and image analysis, showing the pore network to mimic that of cancellous bone.


The use of improper fertilizer type and amount, the cultivation of unimproved, low-yielding varieties and poor soil fertility are among the main obstacles limiting the productivity of wheat in Ethiopia in general and in the study area in particular. A field trial was therefore initiated to evaluate the effects of blended NPS fertilizer rates on the yield components and the yield of bread wheat varieties and to identify economically justifiable amounts of blended NPS fertilizer in the study area. The experiment was set up in RCBD with three replicates in which three bread wheat varieties (Ogolcho, Jalane and Sanate) and five levels of mixed NPS fertilizers (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) were assessed in a factorial combination. The results showed that all properties of the bread wheat varieties were significantly (p <0.01) influenced by the main effects of the variety and the NPS fertilizer. The highest (0.43) and the lowest (0.36) harvest index were obtained from 150 kg ha-1 NPS. The interactions of the two main factors only affect the total number of tillers, the number of productive tillers, the aboveground biomass, the grain and straw yield. Similarly, the highest and lowest (11.04 and 1.13) agronomic efficiencies were obtained from the combination of 150 kg NPS ha-1 with the Sanate variety and 50 kg ha-1 with the Jalane variety. The highest profitability (82710 ETB ha-1) and a higher MRR (2305.8%) are obtained from the Sanate variety with an application rate of 150 kg ha-1 NPS. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the application of 150 kg ha-1 NPS and the cultivation of the Sanate variety could be the better choice of the farmers of the study area in order to achieve high yields with higher returns.


Recent education reform efforts have included an increasing push for school science to better mirror authentic scientific endeavor, including a focus on science practices. However, despite expectations that all students engage in these language-rich practices, little prior research has focused on how such opportunities will be created for English-learning students. This case study uses the conceptual framework of communities of practice to investigate the relationship between English-learning students' argumentation and their middle school sheltered English immersion (SEI) science classroom community. Considering various aspects of this conceptual framework—including the role of legitimate peripheral participation, as well as the degree to which community members' goals and expectations around the practice of interest align—allowed us to identify classroom characteristics that both hindered and facilitated students' opportunities to engage in argumentation. First, the classroom community, and consequently the presence and quality of argumentative discourse, was influenced by student movement in and out of this classroom, as their English proficiencies improved. The constantly changing class roster made it difficult for newer members to watch, learn, and engage in argumentation with more knowledgeable peers. Furthermore, certain elements of the SEI approach, namely its deductive nature, conflicted with the type of instruction necessary to encourage language use for sensemaking. However, this instructional context also offered English-learning students with affordances they may not find in other educational settings. Specifically, we found that when students worked in smaller group structures, such as pairs, and they utilized both their native and second language as a linguistic resource for engaging in science discourse, their engagement in argumentation was promoted. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 9999:1–27, 2016


The Bologna Process has made a strong impact on the development of European higher education, although the greatest impact has not been from the process itself, but from the national reforms introduced along with it. With a relatively young higher education system, Norway was ahead of most European countries in implementing the Bologna Process and reforms indirectly linked to it. Due to path dependencies and the Higher Education Institutions being, to a certain extent, autonomous and carriers of their own culture, we cannot draw conclusions at the local level without empirical studies. Therefore, the case of Nord University shows us how this process directly and indirectly affected Higher Education Institutions in Norway. The Higher Education Institutions (HEI) integrated horizontally in an education system that was increasingly hierarchical and competitive. The need for standardisation in order to secure equality and efficiency, and the demand for greater autonomy in the HEIs was answered by strengthening some and weakening other forms of institutional autonomy along with the establishment of a new accreditation system. Three dimensions of autonomy are touched on in this study. Firstly, the question of who has decision-making power in the HEIs defines whether they are ruled by professional or administrative autonomy. Secondly, the question of the HEIs' mission is decided either by the HEI itself, representing substantive autonomy, or by external demands on production and external funding, representing what I call beneficial autonomy. Finally, the question of how the HEIs fulfil their mission decides whether they have individual autonomy or procedural autonomy. In the last case, the HEIs are given external frameworks, which, to a great extent, define how they are to carry out their mission in order to succeed. The development of higher education in Norway shows how the introduction of the accreditation system hampered different types of institutional autonomy and strengthened others, a development that also brought dilemmas and tensions related to academic freedom. The Bologna Process played the role of both supplier of terms and a catalyst for these dilemmas. One of the consequences in Norway was a development where former colleges gained university status, among them Nord University (University of Nordland) in 2011.


Purpose: How can public–private partnerships (PPPs) financed by social impact bonds (SIBs) achieve measurable indicators of social success within a short time? We undertake this research to find simple, reliable indicators of social success resulting from PPPs. Design/Methodology/Approach: We statistically analyze data from all SIB-financed projects worldwide in the areas of education and training, using a logistic mixed effect model. In addition, we use an alternative approach to analyze the predictors of outcome success within homelessness projects, as they offered the most complete set of information. Findings: We prove that the vast majority of problems associated with issuing SIBs globally relate to the measurable quantification of positive social impacts. Practical Implications: We propose a public policy for financing higher education with SIBs where appropriate, wherein countable results are achieved as soon as the cooperation starts and each stakeholder gains. Originality/Value: Our proposed solution ensures a trade-off between profitability and immediate social effect among all partners.


This qualitative study has been investigating effects on Iranian students who are studying, or recently studied, abroad out from the fact that their home country Iran in current time is being targeted with extensive international sanctions. With these Iranian students as a target group in which their perception of these circumstances has been analyzed and later on concluded in order to see to what the possible effects for citizens outside of a sanctioned state as Iran. As mentioned the research has looked into the personal perceptions of the students and by that taken into consideration private matters and circumstances that in some cases has lead to larger effects than in others. Out of the analyze this research can show a great deal of economic issues and problems for when trying to receive funding in order to cover essential expenses for when being abroad such as; tuition fee, rent, food and clothes and in one case this lead to the termination of studies for one of the students in this group. The conclusion made by the students is that the sanctions are affecting them in an unfair manner, rather than what are the official aims of the sanctions.


Climate Change has impacted production risk in agriculture in many ways especially by increasing the volatility in production. Agriculture, which still in India is weather dependent, faces more frequent losses than before and variability in losses is also rising. As about 80% of the farmers are small and marginal in India, they need certain protection from such uncertainties for their sustenance. Undoubtedly crop insurance can provide the required safety net and enable farmers to take other measures that help to reduce impact of climate change. In this backdrop, this paper examines the state of crop insurance in India using both secondary data from NSSO and conducting a field survey in the state of Karnataka. The analysis of data shows that only a meager 4% of households are covered under crop insurance. While the lack of information is the major reason for not opting for insurance, another large percentage of the households are not interested due to the unattractive design of the schemes. Our regression analysis further highlights that both economically and socially advanced classes have better adoption record. These findings send strong signals to the policy makers to re-think about the mitigation strategies planned by them for the poor farmer households to handle the challenges of uncertainty in the face of climate change in India.


Measurement of the complex permittivity of a substance in a wide frequency range, for example, from 10 mHz to 100 kHz, provides useful information on the dielectric properties of the substance. In this regard, some of such dielectric properties can be analyzed more clearly if we pay attention to the frequency spectra of electric modulus, which is a reciprocal of complex relative permittivity. Especially, the imaginary part of the electric modulus can be a powerful tool for dielectric materials research. In this paper, this fact is demonstrated clearly by showing abundant examples acquired by the author's laboratory. First, the equations of electric modulus that hold for various dielectric relaxation processes, including their derivation, are shown in an easy‐to‐understand manner. After that, for several insulating polymers, actual measurement examples of broadband complex permittivity spectra are shown, up to frequencies of about 100 kHz and a much broader range up to several THz. In the first example of showing permittivity spectra, polyamide exhibits an incredibly high relative permittivity value of 106 at high temperatures such as 200 °C at a frequency as low as 10 mHz. This is a result of the phenomenon often called electrode polarization. In other words, if electric charge carriers accumulate in an insulator facing a nearby electrode and have the polarity opposite to that of the electrode, the permittivity of the insulator goes up. In such a case, the dielectric loss factor usually shows a very high value in the low‐frequency range and decreases in inverse proportion to the frequency. This reflects the fact that the charge carriers are transported, and the conductivity can be derived from this frequency dependence much more easily with apparently higher reliability than measuring the dc leakage current. Furthermore, it is shown that the coefficient of thermal expansion can be estimated from the permittivity spectra relatively accurately for several polymers that satisfy the necessary condition. Next, taking examples in electric modulus spectra measured in important insulating polymers such as engineering ones, it is demonstrated that the processes of dielectric polarization and relaxation, which are difficult to see in permittivity spectra, can be recognized obviously. Moreover, the effects of the addition of nanosized or microsized fillers to epoxy resin on its thermal property and filler‐induced inhomogeneity are analyzed using the electric modulus spectra measured in these samples. The effects of thermal aging treatment and simultaneous aging treatment with heat and radiation on the degradation of cross‐linked polyethylene are also analyzed by paying attention to the frequency spectra of its imaginary electric modulus. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.


OBJECTIVE: to determine the knowledges, perceptions and practices of clinicians from Playa, Lisa and Marianao municipalities related to Giardia lamblia infection. METHODS: subject to informed consent from clinicians provided services in polyclinic and hospital network of above mentioned municipalities during the research period (89 of 103), we applied a survey on knowledges, perceptions and practices related to this parasitosis. Survey preparation had 4 phases: Interviews to diagnosis-related physicians, giardiasis treatment and control; Preparation of preliminary questionnaire based on results from those interviews; Instrument submission to expert criteria and its validation according to its application to a small group of physicians. RESULTS: we evidenced that in relation with giardiasis and particularly, with skin manifestations associated with it, clinicians of mentioned municipalities had insuff icient knowledges (from 19 question marks assessing cognitive features, mean of correct answers among the participants was of 7.46), inappropriate perceptions and wrong practices. CONCLUSIONS: it is necessary an academic intervention emphasizing in formative features related to parasitic diseases in general and the giardiasis in particular.


Silibinin, derived from milk thistle extract, has been shown to inhibit growth factor receptor-mediated mitogenic and cell survival signaling, and to alter cell cycle regulators. Alteration in pathways regulating cell growth likely account for silibinin's inhibition of tumor growth. Since the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a key regulator in cell signaling pathways, in the present study we directly tested the hypothesis that the EGFR plays a key role in mediating silibinin cytotoxicity to cancer cells. We generated a cell line, 9L-EGFR, which stably expressed human EGFR; the parental rat glioma cell line, 9L, does not contain endogenous EGFR message or protein. Our results show that expression of EGFR was both necessary and sufficient for conferring toxicity in response to silibinin in 9L-EGFR cells. Addition of silibinin was shown to inhibit EGFR activation by EGF in 9L-EGFR cells. These studies support the hypothesis that silibinin toxicity to cancer cells involves the EGFR signaling pathway. The findings presented here provide a rationale for understanding the growth inhibition effect of silibinin in cancer cells, and warrant further investigation into the effect of silibinin on specific pathways of cell signaling mediated by the EGF receptor.


Illuminating Limulus ventral photoreceptors with dim light results in a response composed of discrete waves. In the dark, adding 10 mM sodium fluoride to the artificial seawater that bathes the photoreceptor includes discrete waves. The fluoride-induced waves are similar to those evoked by light. These findings suggest that fluoride induces a process similar or identical to visual excitation of the photoreceptor.


MOTIVATION
Realistic simulation of the kinetic properties of metabolic pathways requires rate equations to be expressed in reversible form, because substrate and product elasticities are drastically different in reversible and irreversible reactions. This presents no special problem for reactions that follow reversible Michaelis-Menten kinetics, but for enzymes showing cooperative kinetics the full reversible rate equations are extremely complicated, and anyway in virtually all cases the full equations are unknown because sufficiently complete kinetic studies have not been carried out. There is a need, therefore, for approximate reversible equations that allow convenient simulation without violating thermodynamic constraints.

RESULTS
We show how the irreversible Hill equation can be generalized to a reversible form, including effects of modifiers. The proposed equation leads to behaviour virtually indistinguishable from that predicted by a kinetic form of the Adair equation, despite the fact that the latter is a far more complicated equation. By contrast, a reversible form of the Monod-Wyman-Changeux equation that has sometimes been used leads to predictions for the effects of modifiers at high substrate concentration that differ qualitatively from those given by the Adair equation.


Traditional Fourier analysis, which has been remarkably effective in many contexts, uses linear phase functions to study functions. Some questions, such as problems involving arithmetic progressions, naturally lead to the use of quadratic or higher order phases. Higher order Fourier analysis is a subject that has become very active only recently. Gowers, in groundbreaking work, developed many of the basic concepts of this theory in order to give a new, quantitative proof of Szemeredi's theorem on arithmetic progressions. However, there are also precursors to this theory in Weyl's classical theory of equidistribution, as well as in Furstenberg's structural theory of dynamical systems. This book, which is the first monograph in this area, aims to cover all of these topics in a unified manner, as well as to survey some of the most recent developments, such as the application of the theory to count linear patterns in primes. The book serves as an introduction to the field, giving the beginning graduate student in the subject a high-level overview of the field. The text focuses on the simplest illustrative examples of key results, serving as a companion to the existing literature on the subject. There are numerous exercises with which to test one's knowledge.


Septic shock is a complex pathophysiologic state characterized by circulatory insufficiency, multiple system organ dysfunction, and frequent mortality. Although profound cardiac dysfunction occurs during sepsis, the pathogenesis of this dysfunction remains poorly understood. To determine whether abnormalities in intramyocyte calcium accumulation might contribute to the development of cardiac dysfunction, we measured myocyte intracellular calcium during peak cardiac dysfunction after an endotoxin challenge. Intraperitoneal administration of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide 4 mg/kg to adult guinea pigs resulted in significantly impaired cardiac performance (Langendorff preparation) 18 h after challenge compared with control. This included diminished left ventricular pressure development (56 ± 7 versus 95 ± 4 mm Hg, p < 0.05), maximal rate of left ventricular pressure rise (998 ± 171 versus 1784 ± 94 mm Hg/s, p < 0.05) and left ventricular pressure fall (1014 ± 189 versus 1621 ± 138 mm Hg/s, p < 0.05). Assay of intracellular calcium in fura-2AM-loaded cardiac myocytes demonstrated increased intracellular calcium concentration in myocytes obtained from lipopolysaccharide-challenged animals compared with controls (234 ± 18 versus 151 ± 6 nM, p < 0.05). Inhibition of calcium-release channel (ryanodine receptor) opening by administration of dantrolene prevented the increase in intracytoplasmic calcium (159 ± 8 versus 234 ± 18 nM, p < 0.05) and partially ameliorated systolic and diastolic ventricular dysfunction. These data indicate that abnormalities of intracellular calcium contribute to the development of endotoxin-induced myocardial dysfunction.


Background: Anecdotal reports suggest that the second trimester is the safest time to conduct a laparoscopic procedure on a pregnant patient, but this supposition has not been tested empirically. Methods: Previously instrumented preterm sheep (total n (cid:1) 8) at gestational day 90 (term, 145 days) were anesthetized and then insufflated with carbon dioxide for 60 min at a pressure of 15 mmHg. Cardiovascular parameters were continuously re- corded while blood gas status was determined before and at 15-min intervals during and up to 2 h after insufflation. Results: Insufflation produced minimal maternal blood gas or cardiovascular changes except for a significant reduction in uterine blood flow. The decrease in perfusion increased fetal arterial blood partial pressure of carbon dioxide and decreased fetal pH, oxygen saturation, and oxygen content; there was also progressive fetal hypotension and bradycardia. After manually deflating the ewe, uterine blood flow returned to normal, and the fetal partial pressure of carbon dioxide and pH changes resolved within 1 h. However, fetal oxygen saturation and content remained depressed, and fetal cardiovascular status continued to decline during the 2-h postinsufflation monitoring period. Conclusion: Previous studies with near-term sheep determined that carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum produces respiratory acidosis but does not decrease fetal oxygenation. In con-trast, the current findings indicate that in the preterm fetus, insufflation-induced hypercapnia and acidosis are accompa-nied by prolonged fetal hypoxia and cardiovascular depression. This result suggests that additional work should be conducted to confirm the presumed safety of conducting minimally invasive procedures during the second trimester.


The improvement of expansive soil with chemical medicine has been concerned by geotechnical engineers. The cation modifier is used to improve the expansive soil in embankment engineering of an express highway in Yunnan province. The modified test results indicate that the hydrophilic nature and swelling-shrinkage properties of samples are changed drastically. The free swelling ratio decrease and the particle size gradation, strength characteristics and hydrological properties of the treated expansive soil are improved by a wide range. The clay content decreases, but the silt content increases. The void ratio decreases sharply, but the fabric becomes more compact. The change of dry density with water content changing is less, but the water stability of modified soil is improved. The indexes are satisfied with the project requests and the engineering cost reduces.


Scientific misconduct easily occurs in environmental science and toxicology; we encountered four such cases. Only one case was discovered by editors; three were reported by other authors. All guilty authors were eventually banned from future publication in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. Cases in the Bulletin indicate that scientific misconduct may occur undetected across phyla, genera, and species; that distance from the publishing source makes detection more difficult; that editors and reviewers are not organized to take action against scientific misconduct; that plagiarized authors are likely to report plagiarism; and that there is only a small risk of censure from any source for authors engaging in scientific misconduct.


In Peninsular Malaysia, forecasting of electricity supply or load supply is essential at Tenaga
Nasional Berhad (TNB) for effective and reliable operation and planning of power system.
The load forecasting can be done by three types of forecasting which are Short Term Load
Forecasting, Medium Term Load Forecasting and Long Term Load Forecasting depends on
the interval of time. However, effective forecasting is difficult in view of the complicated
effects on load by a weather factor and customer classes. The load pattern are influenced by
the condition of weather, namely heavily rain, cloudy, thunderstorm, etc as each of these
weather condition has different load behavior. This project proposes a Feed Forward Neural
Network method to forecast future's load in Peninsular Malaysia with the inclusion of weather
data. The idea is to select the half hourly load data of the 7 weeks as input data and use the
load data of week eighth as the target data to find the best output of the forecasting process.
This project also includes the load forecasting without inclusion of weather data so that the
result can be compared with the result of load forecasting with inclusion of weather data.


This text is concerned with the origin of documentary photography, and its relation to urban space and archival institutions. In order to examine the interrelations between the three, two conjunctures have been identified – that of Paris post-Haussmannisation in early 20th century and Glasgow mid-slum clearance in mid-19th century.
First, this project argues for the significance of the relationship between the structural logic of space and visibility in relation to photography. In order to demonstrate this, a notion of the photographic city is put forward as the idea that modern Western cities are constructed on principles of transparency, order, and legibility, which not only facilitated modern photography, but also, in turn, allowed it to reproduce the city as exemplary of those same principles. Second, a discussion of documentary photography, through the analysis of archived photographs by Eugene Atget of Paris (examined in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) and by Thomas Annan of Glasgow (examined in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow), will be provided. The photographs comprising the two case studies will be examined in a threefold manner: first, as images; second, as material products of a practice; and third, as institutional documents. Third, the production of photographs as documentary will be related to a theoretical discussion of photography as a spatial practice by drawing on the work of Henri Lefebvre. It will be argued that documentary photography is a practice of producing knowledge of and meaning about the space being documented, and thus it will be demonstrated that both photographers engaged in practices of appropriating the space they are representing. Finally, a theoretical argument will be defended for the photographic production of space.
Ultimately, this project puts forward an argument for considering the spatial practices that constitute documentary photography, while engaging with photographs and their production, storage, and interpretation.


Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are used for a wide variety of signal processing and sensing applications at high frequencies. SAW devices are attractive for these applications because of their small size and low cost relative to many competing technologies. However, SAWs are physically quite different from the acoustic waves encountered in sonar and medical ultrasonics. In addition, the family of surface acoustic waves is quite diverse, with each type of wave having unique electrical and mechanical characteristics. This presentation will describe the physical properties of surface acoustic waves and delineate what distinguishes SAWs from other types of elastic waves. The simple example of an isotropic elastic material will be examined in some detail to illustrate many of the fundamental concepts of SAWs. Methods of generating and detecting SAWs used in device applications will be shown. A simple interdigital SAW device will be described in terms of its composition, design, and electrical and mechanical pro...


The Steller sea lion is the largest member of the Otariidae family and is found in the coastal waters of the northern Pacific Rim. Here, we present the Steller sea lion genome, determined through DNA sequencing approaches that utilized microfluidic partitioning library construction, as well as nanopore technologies. These methods constructed a highly contiguous assembly with a scaffold N50 length of over 14 megabases, a contig N50 length of over 242 kilobases and a total length of 2.404 gigabases. As a measure of completeness, 95.1% of 4104 highly conserved mammalian genes were found to be complete within the assembly. Further annotation identified 19,668 protein coding genes. The assembled genome sequence and underlying sequence data can be found at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) under the BioProject accession number PRJNA475770.


The Norwegian government recently put in place a priority commission tasked with suggesting a set of explicit criteria for priority setting in the health care sector. The commission suggested three criteria, the first two of which equate to cost-effectiveness, where, essentially, the gain is measured in terms of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). The third criteria specifies that the number of QALYs be multiplied by a factor depending on the total health loss – also measured in QALYs – without the treatment in question. In this paper, we will show that the suggested weighting scheme creates contradictory situations in which the priority of treatment programmes will change based on arbitrary bundling (where two or more treatments are combined into one) or sub-divisions (where a treatment is split up into two or more components.) We show that these types of problems can be avoided or ameliorated if the QALY weighting scheme satisfies a property which we call sub-treatment balanced – informally, that the total weighted QALY gain is preserved when treatments are bundled or sub-divided. To our best knowledge, this property has not previously been discussed in the priority setting literature. We demonstrate that sub-treatment balance can easily be achieved in general, and in particular we show how to adapt the weighting scheme suggested by the Norwegian priority commission in order to satisfy this sub-treatment balance. Finally, we argue that any weighting scheme used in health care priority setting should be sub-treatment balanced with respect to any other attribute of a treatment which policy makers would want to take into account when making their decisions. At the time of writing, the Norwegian government has yet to conclude on a final set of criteria for prioritization, and a task-group, lead by professor Jon Magnussen, is re-evaluating the severity criterion suggested by the priority commission. However, sub-treatment balance is still relevant, as it should be required of any weighing scheme, and is crucial given that (i) the criterion results in weighting QALYs, and (ii) if the selected measure of severity is affected by the administered treatment. Published: Online November 2015. In print August 2016.


AbstractWith the ever-increasing complexity of financial markets and financial products, many investors now choose to benefit from a manager's expertise by investing in a fund. This fueled a rapid growth of the fund industry over the past decades, and the recent emergence of complex derivatives products written on underlying funds. The diversity (hedge funds, mutual funds, funds of funds, managed accounts…) and the particularities (liquidity, specific risks) of funds call for adapted models and suited risk management. This thesis aims at understanding the issues and difficulties met when dealing with such products. In particular, we will deal in a great extent with CPPI (Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance) structures written on funds, which combine the specificities of funds with particularities of such structures. Correctly assessing the corresponding market risks is a challenging issue, and is the subject of many investigations.


The purpose of this paper is to provide basic dimensions for rapid training development in e-learning courses in education and business. Principally, it starts with defining task analysis and how to select tasks for analysis and task analysis methods for instructional design. To do this, first, learning and instructional technologies as visions of the future were discussed. Second, the importance of task analysis methods in rapid e-learning was considered, with learning technologies as asynchronous and synchronous e-learning development. Finally, rapid instructional design concepts and e-learning design strategies were defined and clarified with examples, that is, all steps for effective task analysis and rapid training development techniques based on learning and instructional design approaches were discussed, such as m-learning and other delivery systems. As a result, the concept of task analysis, rapid e-learning development strategies and the essentials of online course design were discussed, alongside learner interface design features for learners and designers.


WINDA is an integrated system of models for calculating the stand-wise probability of wind damage of trees within a landscape (Blennow & Sallnas, submitted). It integrates a modified version of the dose/response model HWIND (Peltola et al., 1999), the airflow model WASP (Mortensen et al., 1998), and a component for calculating the zero-plane displacement and surface roughness. WINDA uses a GIS for geographical computations. The calculations are made point-wise at exposed stand edges and the results are combined for each stand. The likelihood of damage is calculated using extreme value theory. The mechanistic modelling approach makes WINDA useful for evaluating effects on the probability of wind damage of silvicultural treatments and forestry activities as well as of a changed climate. This paper briefly outlines WINDA and evaluates output by comparing predicted damage with observed damage for two landscapes in southern Sweden.


Recognizing that design is at the core of information systems development has led to a design-science research paradigm where differing kinds of knowledge goals give form to differing kinds of knowledge processes within a single study. This paper analyzes knowledge production in design-science research to explain how an endogenous form of pluralism characterizes such studies, making it problematic to associate any design-science study with a single view of knowledge production. Instead, a design-science research study exhibits up to four different modes of reasoning, called genres of inquiry. These genres are derived from two dualities that contrast differing knowledge goals and differing knowledge scope in the knowledge production process. The first duality arises from the sometimes seemingly contradictory knowledge goals of science versus design. The second duality reflects the contradiction between the scope of the knowledge produced, which may be idiographic or nomothetic. The evolutionary and iterative nature of a design-science study compels different knowledge goals and scope at different moments throughout a project. Because of this momentary nature, a single design-science study can be associated with multiple genres of inquiry. This understanding of the variety in the genres of inquiry advances the discourse on the nature of design-science research and the justification and evaluation of its outcomes. Consequently, a corresponding set of criteria for knowledge justification and evaluation is provided for each genre of inquiry.


Several strategies have been developed in the past two decades to increase the mechanical performance of the hydrogels, and to generate self-healing function within the polymer network. Here, we combine two of these strategies to create hydrophobically modified nanocomposite (NC) hydrogels with high mechanical strength and self-healing efficiency. The hydrogels were prepared by in situ copolymerization of N,N-dimethylacrylamide and n-octadecyl acrylate (C18A) in the presence of 2 w/v % Laponite clay nanoparticles in an aqueous solution of worm-like sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles. Incorporation of hydrophobic C18A segments into the gel network significantly increases both the storage and loss moduli of NC hydrogels indicating increasing elasticity and energy dissipation. An improvement in the mechanical performance and self-recoverability of NC hydrogels was also observed after hydrophobic modification. The compressive fracture stress and Young's modulus increase with increasing amount of C18A, and they become 9 1 MPa and 30 2 kPa, respectively, at 4 mol % C18A. Incorporation of hydrophobic segments also provides a larger energy dissipation under large strain as compared to the traditional NC hydrogels providing a self-healing efficiency of 90 10% in mechanically strong NC hydrogels. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 137, 48853.


A perturbation theory is developed for vector solitons, based on the derivation of the adiabatic evolution of the vector–soliton parameters under a generic perturbation. This perturbation theory was used to describe interactions between vector solitons and the related intersoliton forces. Some specific cases were analyzed that showed the dynamics under the mixture of coherent and incoherent forces characterizing the vector–soliton interactions.


This study explores the trends in the application of various Internet tools in the public relations practice of New Zealand and the impact these have on certain key aspects of the practice such as skills, encroachment, gender balance and ethics. A mixed methods approach including an online survey and semi-structured indepth interviews has been followed. An attempt has been made to answer the research questions with the aid of the data collected from 133 survey respondents and ten interview participants. The findings revealed that there are considerable variations in the use and application of the different online tools in the New Zealand public relations practice. This discrepancy was found to have been influenced by the area of work and experience of the practitioners along with their knowledge of the Internet and the organisational environment they operated in. Further, it appears that practitioners do not have a full grasp of the nature of online tools and their scope of utilization in the practice. Areas of further investigation have been highlighted and recommendations have been made for the future researchers to help aid a better understanding of online public relations.


Abstract AA6XXX aluminum alloys are widely used in the automotive and aeronautic industries and for food packaging thanks to their lightness, specific strength, and corrosion resistance. The mechanical properties of AA6XXX alloy increase through an age hardening process thanks to the formation of Mg2Si particulates. These particulates enhance mechanical strength and likewise change corrosion resistance. In this study, the corrosion behavior of AA6063-T4 alloy in acidic and alkaline media was investigated and the results were compared with AA6063-T651 alloy. Acidic media was prepared in a 0.1M HCl solution; alkaline media was prepared in a 0.1M NaOH solution. Corrosion tests were performed for 360 hours in both solutions. Corrosion properties were determined by measuring weight loss and surface roughness values of the samples and pH values of the solutions. In both environments, artificially aged samples were found to have higher corrosion rates. There was a direct relationship between corrosion loss and surface roughness values.


As organizations start to use data-intensive cluster computing systems like Hadoop and Dryad for more applications, there is a growing need to share clusters between users. However, there is a conflict between fairness in scheduling and data locality (placing tasks on nodes that contain their input data). We illustrate this problem through our experience designing a fair scheduler for a 600-node Hadoop cluster at Facebook. To address the conflict between locality and fairness, we propose a simple algorithm called delay scheduling: when the job that should be scheduled next according to fairness cannot launch a local task, it waits for a small amount of time, letting other jobs launch tasks instead. We find that delay scheduling achieves nearly optimal data locality in a variety of workloads and can increase throughput by up to 2x while preserving fairness. In addition, the simplicity of delay scheduling makes it applicable under a wide variety of scheduling policies beyond fair sharing.


Boneless beef rib eye roasts were surface inoculated on the fat side with ca. 5.7 log CFU/g of a five-strain cocktail of Salmonella for subsequent searing, cooking, and warm holding using preparation methods practiced by restaurants surveyed in a medium-size Midwestern city. A portion of the inoculated roasts was then passed once through a mechanical blade tenderizer. For both intact and nonintact roasts, searing for 15 min at 260°C resulted in reductions in Salmonella populations of ca. 0.3 to 1.3 log CFU/g. For intact (nontenderized) rib eye roasts, cooking to internal temperatures of 37.8 or 48.9°C resulted in additional reductions of ca. 3.4 log CFU/g. For tenderized (nonintact) rib eye roasts, cooking to internal temperatures of 37.8 or 48.9°C resulted in additional reductions of ca. 3.1 or 3.4 log CFU/g, respectively. Pathogen populations remained relatively unchanged for intact roasts cooked to 37.8 or 48.9°C and for nonintact roasts cooked to 48.9°C when held at 60.0°C for up to 8 h. In contrast, pathogen populations increased ca. 2.0 log CFU/g in nonintact rib eye cooked to 37.8°C when held at 60.0°C for 8 h. Thus, cooking at low temperatures and extended holding at relatively low temperatures as evaluated herein may pose a food safety risk to consumers in terms of inadequate lethality and/or subsequent outgrowth of Salmonella, especially if nonintact rib eye is used in the preparation of prime rib, if on occasion appreciable populations of Salmonella are present in or on the meat, and/or if the meat is not cooked adequately throughout.


This thesis deals with univariate and multivariate rank methods in making statistical inference. It is assumed that the underlying distributions belong to the class of elliptical distributions. The class of elliptical distributions is an extension of the normal distribution and includes distributions with both lighter and heavier tails than the normal distribution.In the first part of the thesis the rank covariance matrices defined via the Oja median are considered. The Oja rank covariance matrix has two important properties: it is affine equivariant and it is proportional to the inverse of the regular covariance matrix. We employ these two properties to study the problem of estimating the rank covariance matrices when they have a certain structure.The second part, which is the main part of the thesis, is devoted to rank estimation in linear regression models with symmetric heteroscedastic errors. We are interested in asymptotic properties of rank estimates. Asymptotic uniform linearity of a linear rank statistic in the case of heteroscedastic variables is proved. The asymptotic uniform linearity property enables to study asymptotic behaviour of rank regression estimates and rank tests. Existing results are generalized and it is shown that the Jaeckel estimate is consistent and asymptotically normally distributed also for heteroscedastic symmetric errors.


Relative grain boundary energy as a function of misorientation angle was measured in a cube-oriented, 120 µm-thick Al foil and in a <111> fiber-textured, 1.7 µm-thick Al film using a multiscale analysis of the grain boundary dihedral angles. For the Al foil, the energies of low-angle boundaries increased with misorientation angle, in good agreement with the Read-Shockley model. For the Al film, two energy minima were observed for high-angle boundaries. Grain growth was studied in 25 and 100 nm-thick films that were annealed at 400 °C for a series of times in the range of 0.5 to 10 h. For the 100 nm-thick film, grains approximately doubled their size (equivalent circular diameter) before grain growth stagnated. The steady-state distributions of reduced grain area for two-dimensional, Monte Carlo Potts and partial differential equation based simulations showed excellent agreement with each other, even when anisotropic boundary energies were used. However, the simulated distributions had fewer small grains than the experimental distributions.


Nanoparticles covered with short ligands tend to self-assemble into face-centered cubic (fcc) superlattices, while nanoparticles with longer ligands preferentially form body-centered cubic (bcc) superlattices. The thermodynamic driving forces for these structures are not fully understood and conflicting theories have been proposed. In this paper, we systematically study the thermodynamic stability of fcc and bcc superlattices as a function of ligand length, core size, and ligand coverage with a coarse-grained molecular model. Our simulations reveal that bcc superlattices are stabilized via two fundamentally different mechanisms, depending on ligand length. For shorter ligands, the bcc superlattice has a lower potential energy than fcc, due to additional interactions between ligands on next-nearest neighbors in the superlattice. For longer ligands, the bcc superlattice is stabilized due to a larger configurational entropy of ligands.


Background: Patients of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) often suffer from psychiatric co morbidities, such as anxiety and depression. Indian literature regarding prevalence of these disorders in PCOS patients is scanty.

Objective: To assess prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients of PCOS.

Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional observational study, which was conducted in obstetrics and gynecology department of tertiary care centre. Patients of PCOS were assessed on hospital anxiety depression scale and sociodemographic and clinical information was gathered using semi-structured questionnaire. Data are expressed as proportions.

Result: The prevalence of anxiety of 28% and depression 11% were observed.

Conclusion: PCOS patients have high prevalence of anxiety and depression.


An era of open, transparent, and accessible data from pharmaceutical research holds huge promise and some dangers, a conference organised by the BMJ Group and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry at BMA House in London was told.

Enthusiasts for open data, led by Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, argued at the conference on 23 May that the "enormous cultural shift" that would occur when millions of people could freely access all the research in the world would enhance productivity by what he called "interesting cross pollination." He was unworried about quality, arguing that market pressure would ensure that the best standards reached by conventional journal based publishing would be retained. "I don't expect any major tragedies in quality, though it's something we should keep an eye on," he said.

Although open access to research findings was a "no brainer," access to raw data was trickier. "The more people …


This evaluation assesses the performance of the Community Officer (CO) project, a trial community policing mechanism initiated by the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) in late 2009, with assistance from the Participating Police Force (PPF) of the Regional Assistance to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Current interest in community policing in Solomon Islands is occurring in the larger context of the rebuilding and reform of the RSIPF that has been taking place with the assistance of RAMSI. The Solomon Islands Government (SIG) and RSIPF are committed to introducing a viable form of community policing across the country.


This research highlights a method of acoustic emission analysis to distinguish the internal surface roughness of pipe. Internal roughness of pipe indicates the level of corrosion occurring, where normally it is difficult to be monitored online. Acoustic Emission (AE) technique can be used as an alternative solution for corrosion monitoring in pipes, especially for complex pipelines that are difficult to achieve by other monitoring devices. This study used a hydraulic bench to provide fluid flow at two different pressures in pipes with different internal surface roughness (rough and smooth). The main source of acoustic emission was from activity in the control valve, coupled with high pressure water flow friction on the surface of the pipe. The signal from these sources was detected by using the AED-2000V instrument and assisted by the Acoustic Emission Detector (AED) software. The time domain parameter; root mean square, RMS amplitude were processed and compared at different pressures for each type of internal pipe roughness at ten different locations. It was observed that a unitless Bangi number, AB, derived from RMS values, can be used for discriminating different level of internal surface roughness. Internal surface pipe can still be considered as smooth if AB value is above 1.0.


The general aim of this thesis was to increase knowledge about people with MCI or dementia and their significant others, particularly as users of everyday technology and assistive technology (AT). The overall aim included increasing knowledge about the interactions between people with MCI or dementia and their significant others, and technology. In Study I the psychometric properties of the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire (ETUQ), when used with older adults with and without cognitive deficits, were investigated using the Rasch rating scale model. Study II compared the perceived relevance of and difficulty in using everyday technology, measured with the ETUQ, in people with mild-stage dementia, people with MCI, and older adults without known cognitive impairment, using one-way ANOVA analyses. In Study III, actions and driving forces of the agents involved in the process of introducing AT to people with dementia were explored, using a case study methodology combined with grounded theory. Study IV explored and described how significant others of people with dementia related to technology, and their readiness to use AT together with the person with dementia, using a grounded theory approach with focus groups and individual interviews. The findings of Study I suggested that the ETUQ demonstrates acceptable validity in terms of internal scale validity and person response validity, when used in this population. The ETUQ showed sensitivity in detecting differences between three subgroups in perceived difficulties in everyday technology use. Study II showed significant differences in perceived difficulty in everyday technology use between all three groups. Here everyday technology was perceived most difficult by people with dementia, followed by people with MCI, and older adults without known cognitive impairment. It also suggested that older adults with MCI or dementia experienced fewer technology artifacts and services as relevant to their daily lives, as compared to older adults without known cognitive impairment. In Study III, Doing the right thing was the main driving force among actors in this AT intervention process. However, as conflicting views appeared of what the right thing to do was, findings suggest that it is important to be attentive to who has decision power, as this person is likely to influence the process profoundly. Study IV's findings showed that the significant others took a utilitarian perspective on technology, as they refused technology for technology's sake but showed an overall readiness toward using technology if they considered it to benefit them and their relatives with dementia. Technology was found to be important for keeping an active lifestyle and for creating and maintaining self-images among people with dementia and their significant others. The thesis contributed new knowledge about the perceived relevance of and difficulty in everyday technology use in older adults, particularly in those with MCI or dementia. Findings also indicate that the ETUQ is a tool that generates valid, sensitive measures of perceived difficulty in everyday technology use, and valuable information about its perceived relevance that may support researchers and clinicians. The thesis contributed new knowledge about the complex situation of a person with dementia and his/her significant others when AT is introduced in the home, suggesting the need of a more flexible and process-oriented procedure with ends-in-view instead of clearly set goals. Significant others of people with dementia were found to be generally ready to adopt technology, although they took a utilitarian perspective. Technology was perceived by them as important for keeping an active lifestyle and for creating and maintaining self-images, which suggests that such conceptions should be considered. Finally, the thesis contributes knowledge of design-related principles and conditions that may be decisive in transactions between people with dementia and technology. It is suggested that what is communicated through the interface of the technology is particularly crucial, as this is likely to guide the person through suitable use, whereas instructions are likely to be forgotten.


Due to increasingly demanding requirements for business flexibility and agility, automation of end-to-end industrial processes has become an important topic. Business process execution needs to support automated tasks execution as well as human tasks. The topic of this doctoral work is to enable a higher degree of automation of business processes in service-oriented systems. The doctoral work shows that for certain types of human tasks it is relevant to consider their further automation. A service-oriented architectural framework for human task execution is proposed. It improves execution of human tasks by automating and semi-automating decision making based on ontologies and agent technology.


With increased demands on energy efficiency and stability, the use of direct current (DC) will have a natural place in the future smart grid. Today DC is mostly used in high voltage, high power transmission over large distances and in low voltage systems where the demands on reliability are high, e.g. data centres. New applications as wind farm collection grids and a desire to replace over-head lines with cables opens possibilities for DC distribution grids in medium voltage. The use of DC grids will require the development of DC breakers to handle fault in the grid. This paper presents the design aspects of a hybrid DC breaker for a medium voltage application. Since the hybrid topology consists of a mechanical switch as well as semiconductor components and metal oxide varistors, the design must handle trade-offs in performance and cost both for each part and also between the different components.


Abstract This study examined whether parents' social information processing was related to their subsequent reports of their harsh discipline. Interviews were conducted with mothers (n = 1,277) and fathers (n = 1,030) of children in 1,297 families in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States), initially when children were 7 to 9 years old and again 1 year later. Structural equation models showed that parents' positive evaluations of aggressive responses to hypothetical childrearing vignettes at Time 1 predicted parents' self-reported harsh physical and nonphysical discipline at Time 2. This link was consistent across mothers and fathers, and across the nine countries, providing support for the universality of the link between positive evaluations of harsh discipline and parents' aggressive behavior toward children. The results suggest that international efforts to eliminate violence toward children could target parents' beliefs about the acceptability and advisability of using harsh physical and nonphysical forms of discipline.


The stability of cooperation contract is the result of abandon opportunistic behavior in the process of repeated games among the enterprise and the other subjects in the supply chain from long-term interests, and is also the foundation of healthy development for the whole supply chain. But in real life cooperation contract instability everywhere for a variety of reasons, such as ethical considerations, institutional factors, cultural factors and special reasons during the transition period and so on. From the perspective of information economics and game theory, the main game process of cooperation between enterprise and the other subjects in supply chain is not only the game of information, but also the game of interests. Information structure and the interesting structure are the important factors for the subjects of the game of the implementation of decisions and the basic contractual constraints for cooperative game equilibrium. Cooperation behaviors among the enterprise and the other subjects in the supply chain were studied on the basis of game theory, and the stability of cooperation contract is also being discussed in this paper.


The UKDW Information Technology Faculty provided assistance to the Semarang Archdiocese (KAS) and Javanese Christian Churches Synod (GKJ) in the preparation of an integrated management information system strategic plan. This assistance is an activity of community service. In preparing the strategic plan, the team did data gathering from different groups of KAS and GKJ Synod using Focus Group Discussion (FGD). FGD played an important role as a tool in helping the team eliciting information about business process, vision, activities, human resources, information technology, problems, and expectations of the groups to the organization and the role of information technology. As discussions took place in each group area, the team obtained information in various forms: explanation, answers, and documents in various kind of format. The team also faced challenges in getting information because of culture, absence of capacity, and incomplete resources. Nevertheless, FGD is considered as the most appropriate technique to collect data and information in this project. The team were able to elicit information in deeper level and broader range through the discussion. The team from KAS and GKJ were the key persons who were able to make the discussion went well and to make information complete to analyze. Keywords— FGD, Semarang Archdiocese, Javanese Christian Churches Synod, Strategic Plan, Integrated Management