The growing energy footprint and environmental costs of information and communication technologies has created an awareness of the need for greener communications. However, the task of reducing the energy footprint of wireless infrastructure and terminals is daunting due to the requirements of flexibility and reconfigurability in emerging paradigms like 4G. This paper addresses the flexibility and power consumption challenges of channel filtering, which is one of the most computationally intensive kernels in the radio baseband. Power reduction strategies for programmable time-shared filters have been generally focused on the dynamic power, which has been replaced by leakage power as the dominant mode of power consumption in nanoscale CMOS devices. We investigate the role of parallelism in reducing the nanoscale CMOS power consumption. We also propose a class of programmable time-shared filters that are more area efficient than traditional folded direct form filters, when the level of parallelism is increased.


Search-based software engineering is an emerging paradigm that uses automated search algorithms to help designers iteratively find solutions to complicated design problems. For example, when designing a climate monitoring satellite, designers may want to use the minimal amount of computing hardware to reduce weight and cost while supporting the image processing algorithms running onboard. A key problem in these situations is that the hardware and software designs are locked in a tightly coupled cost-constrained producer/consumer relationship that makes it hard to find a good hardware/software design configuration. Search-based software engineering can be used to apply algorithmic techniques to automate the search for hardware/software designs that maximize the image processing accuracy while respecting cost constraints. This paper provides the following contributions to research on search-based software engineering: 1) We show how a cost-constrained producer/consumer problem can be modeled as a set of two multidimensional multiple-choice knapsack problems (MMKPs), 2) we present a polynomial-time search-based software engineering technique, called the Allocation-baSed Configuration Exploration Technique (ASCENT), for finding near optimal hardware/software codesign solutions, and 3) we present empirical results showing that ASCENT's solutions average over 95 percent of the optimal solution's value.


Objective There is a great need for identification of biomarkers that could improve the prediction of early osteoarthritis (OA). We undertook this study to determine whether circulating levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), and C-reactive protein (CRP) can serve as useful markers of radiographic knee OA (RKOA) in a normal human population. Methods RKOA data were obtained from the cohort of the Chingford Study, a prospective population-based study of healthy, middle-aged British women. The RKOA-affected status of the subjects was assessed using the Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) grade as determined on radiographs obtained at baseline (n = 908) and at 10 years and 15 years thereafter. Serum levels of CRP, IL-6, and TNFα were assayed at 5, 8, and 15 years, using high-sensitivity commercial assays. A K/L grade of ≥2 in either knee was used as the outcome measure. Statistical analyses included analysis of variance for repeated measurements and logistic regression models, together with longitudinal modeling of dichotomous responses. Results During 15 years of followup, the prevalence of RKOA (K/L grade ≥2) increased from 14.7% to 48.7% (P < 0.00001 versus baseline). The body mass index (BMI) and circulating levels of CRP and IL-6 were consistently and significantly higher in subjects diagnosed as having RKOA. When multiple logistic regression was applied to the data, the variables of older age (P = 3.93 × 10−5), higher BMI at baseline (P = 0.0003), and increased levels of IL-6 at year 5 (P = 0.0129) were determined to be independent predictors of the appearance of RKOA at year 10. The results were fully confirmed using longitudinal modeling of repeated measurements of the data obtained at 3 visits. The odds ratio for RKOA in subjects whose IL-6 levels were in the fourth quartile of increasing levels (versus the first quartile) was 2.74 (95% confidence interval 1.94–3.87). Conclusion This followup study showed that individuals were more likely to be diagnosed as having RKOA if they had a higher BMI and increased circulating levels of IL-6. These results should stimulate more work on IL-6 as a potential therapeutic target.


We investigated the stock price behavior of public pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies upon approval of a drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Using event study methodology, we examine the reaction caused by the approval, seperating it from the asset price movements caused by other factors such as market and industry effects. The results are then used to validate the model developed in this article as an alternative to the explanations given by Sharma and Lacey (2004). The results of this study support the Efficient Market Hypothesis, i.e. that the market reacts to the new information quickly and clearly.


In this paper, we describe the use of concepts from the areas of structural and statistical pattern recognition for the purposes of recovering a mapping which can be viewed as an operator on the graph attribute-set. This mapping can be used to embed graphs into spaces where tasks such as classification and retrieval can be effected. To do this, we depart from concepts in graph theory so as to introduce mappings as operators over graph spaces. This treatment leads to the recovery of a mapping based upon the graph attributes which is related to the edge-space of the graphs under study. As a result, the recovered mapping is a linear operator over the attribute set which is associated with the graph topology. To recover this mapping, we employ an optimisation approach whose cost function is based upon the Chi-squared distance and is related to the target function used in discrete Markov Random Field approaches. Thus, the method presented here provides a link between concepts in graph theory, statistical inference and linear operators. We illustrate the utility of the recovered embedding for purposes of shape categorisation and retrieval. We also compare our results to those yielded by alternatives.


Measurement-Driven Algorithm and System Design for Wireless and Datacenter Networks Varun Gupta The growing number of mobile devices and data-intensive applications pose unique challenges for wireless access networks as well as datacenter networks that enable modern cloudbased services. With the enormous increase in volume and complexity of traffic from applications such as video streaming and cloud computing, the interconnection networks have become a major performance bottleneck. In this thesis, we study algorithms and architectures spanning several layers of the networking protocol stack that enable and accelerate novel applications and that are easily deployable and scalable. The design of these algorithms and architectures is motivated by measurements and observations in real world or experimental testbeds. In the first part of this thesis, we address the challenge of wireless content delivery in crowded areas. We present the AMuSe system, whose objective is to enable scalable and adaptive WiFi multicast. AMuSe is based on accurate receiver feedback and incurs a small control overhead. This feedback information can be used by the multicast sender to optimize multicast service quality, e.g., by dynamically adjusting transmission bitrate. Specifically, we develop an algorithm for dynamic selection of a subset of the multicast receivers as feedback nodes which periodically send information about the channel quality to the multicast sender. Further, we describe the Multicast Dynamic Rate Adaptation (MuDRA) algorithm that utilizes AMuSe's feedback to optimally tune the physical layer multicast rate. MuDRA balances fast adaptation to channel conditions and stability, which is essential for multimedia applications. We implemented the AMuSe system on the ORBIT testbed and evaluated its performance in large groups with approximately 200 WiFi nodes. Our extensive experiments demonstrate that AMuSe can provide accurate feedback in a dense multicast environment. It outperforms several alternatives even in the case of external interference and changing network conditions. Further, our experimental evaluation of MuDRA on the ORBIT testbed shows that MuDRA outperforms other schemes and supports high throughput multicast flows to hundreds of nodes while meeting quality requirements. As an example application, MuDRA can support multiple high quality video streams, where 90% of the nodes report excellent or very good video quality. Next, we specifically focus on ensuring high Quality of Experience (QoE) for video streaming over WiFi multicast. We formulate the problem of joint adaptation of multicast transmission rate and video rate for ensuring high video QoE as a utility maximization problem and propose an online control algorithm called DYVR which is based on Lyapunov optimization techniques. We evaluated the performance of DYVR through analysis, simulations, and experiments using a testbed composed of Android devices and off the shelf APs. Our evaluation shows that DYVR can ensure high video rates while guaranteeing a low but acceptable number of segment losses, buffer underflows, and video rate switches. We leverage the lessons learnt from AMuSe for WiFi to address the performance issues with LTE evolved Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (eMBMS). We present the Dynamic Monitoring (DyMo) system which provides low-overhead and real-time feedback about eMBMS performance. DyMo employs eMBMS for broadcasting instructions which indicate the reporting rates as a function of the observed Quality of Service (QoS) for each UE. This simple feedback mechanism collects very limited QoS reports which can be used for network optimization. We evaluated the performance of DyMo analytically and via simulations. DyMo infers the optimal eMBMS settings with extremely low overhead, while meeting strict QoS requirements under different UE mobility patterns and presence of network component failures. In the second part of the thesis, we study datacenter networks which are key enablers of the end-user applications such as video streaming and storage. Datacenter applications such as distributed file systems, one-to-many virtual machine migrations, and large-scale data processing involve bulk multicast flows. We propose a hardware and software system for enabling physical layer optical multicast in datacenter networks using passive optical splitters. We built a prototype and developed a simulation environment to evaluate the performance of the system for bulk multicasting. Our evaluation shows that the optical multicast architecture can achieve higher throughput and lower latency than IP multicast and peer-to-peer multicast schemes with lower switching energy consumption. Finally, we study the problem of congestion control in datacenter networks. Quantized Congestion Control (QCN), a switch-supported standard, utilizes direct multi-bit feedback from the network for hardware rate limiting. Although QCN has been shown to be fastreacting and effective, being a Layer-2 technology limits its adoption in IP-routed Layer 3 datacenters. We address several design challenges to overcome QCN feedback's Layer2 limitation and use it to design window-based congestion control (QCN-CC) and load balancing (QCN-LB) schemes. Our extensive simulations, based on real world workloads, demonstrate the advantages of explicit, multi-bit congestion feedback, especially in a typical environment where intra-datacenter traffic with short Round Trip Times (RTT: tens of μs) run in conjunction with web-facing traffic with long RTTs (tens of milliseconds).


Hypertension control among pregnant mothers with pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) appears difficult to achieve. Part of the reason for poor control of hypertension in these women might be limited PIH self care knowledge. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between PIH self care knowledge and hypertension control among pregnant women with PIH in Bindura District. Orem's self care model guided this study. A descriptive correlational study design was used. A simple random sample of 78 participants was recruited and data collected using a mercury sphygmomanometer and stethoscope for the blood pressure levels and face to face interviews for sample demographics and PIH self care knowledge. The Demographic Data Questionnaire (DDQ) and PIH Self Care Knowledge Questionnaire (PIHSCKQ) developed by the investigator guided the face to face interviews. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlation Co-efficient). The SPSS.pc Statistical Package was used for data analysis. The results showed that PIH self care knowledge was generally good since 58 (74.3%) scored PIH self care knowledge scores above the mean score of 24 out of 48. Generally, hypertension control was adequate. Forty-three (55.1%) had blood pressure levels below the cut off level of 140/90mmHg. The correlation coefficient showed a very weak, non significant relationship (r=0.-175). Although the relationship was not statistically significant, the findings demonstrated that PIH self care knowledge has some influence on hypertension control. Continuous reinforcement of PIH self care knowledge skills is essential during antenatal teaching of clients.


In this article, we address the efficient numerical solution of linear and quadratic programming problems, often of large scale. With this aim, we devise an infeasible interior point method, blended with the proximal method of multipliers, which in turn results in a primal‐dual regularized interior point method. Application of this method gives rise to a sequence of increasingly ill‐conditioned linear systems which cannot always be solved by factorization methods, due to memory and CPU time restrictions. We propose a novel preconditioning strategy which is based on a suitable sparsification of the normal equations matrix in the linear case, and also constitutes the foundation of a block‐diagonal preconditioner to accelerate MINRES for linear systems arising from the solution of general quadratic programming problems. Numerical results for a range of test problems demonstrate the robustness of the proposed preconditioning strategy, together with its ability to solve linear systems of very large dimension.


Backtracks aimed to investigate critical relationships between audio-visual technologies and live performance, emphasising technologies producing sound, contrasted with non-amplified bodily sound. Drawing on methodologies for studying avant garde theatre, live performance and the performing body, it was informed by work in critical and cultural theory by, for example, Steven Connor and Jonathan Ree, on the body's experience and interpretation of sound.
The performance explored how shifting national boundaries, mobile workforces, complex family relationships, cultural pluralities and possibilities for bodily transformation have compelled a re-evaluation of what it means to feel 'at home' in modernity. Using montages of live and mediated images, disrupted narratives and sound, it evoked destablised identities which characterise contemporary lived experience, and enacted the displacement of certainties provided by family and nation, community and locality, body and selfhood. Homer's Odyssey framed the performance: elements could be traced in the mise-en-scene; in the physical presence of Athene, the narrator and Penelope weaving mementoes from the past into her loom; and in voice-overs from Homer's work. The performance drew on personal experiences and improvisations, structured around notions of journey. It presented incomplete narratives, memories, repressed anxieties and dreams through different combinations of sounds, music, mediated images, movement, voice and bodily sound. The theme of travel was intensified by performers carrying suitcases and umbrellas, by soundtracks incorporating travel effects, and by the distorted video images of forms of transport playing across 'screens' which proliferated across the space (sails, umbrellas, the loom, actors' bodies). The performance experimented with giving sound and silence performative dimensions, including presenting sound in visual and imagistic ways, for example by using signs from deaf sign language. Through-composed soundtracks of live and recorded song, music, voice-over, and noise exploited the viscerality of sound and disrupted cognitive interpretation by phenomenological, somatic experience, thereby displacing the impulse for closure/destination/home.


Abstract
                  Objectives:
               To determine the frequency with which physician, on-line medical direction (OLMD) [direct medical control] of prehospital care results in orders, to describe the nature of these orders, and to measure OLMD time intervals.
                  Methods:
               Blinded, prospective study.
                  Setting:
               A university hospital base-station resource center.
                  Participants:
               Ten emergency physicians, 50 advanced life support providers.
                  Interventions:
               Prehospital treatment was directed by both standing orders and OLMD physician orders. Independent observers recorded event times and the characteristics of OLMD.
                  Results:
               Physician orders were given in 47 (19%) of the 245 study cases, and covered a variety of interventions, including many already authorized by standing orders. Mean OLMD radio time was four minutes (245 ± 216 seconds [sec]), and time from beginning of OLMD to hospital arrival averaged 12 minutes (718 ± 439 sec). Mean transport time in this system was 13 minutes.
                  Conclusion:
               Despite detailed standing orders, OLMD results in orders for clinical interventions in 19% of cases. On-line medical direction requires about four minutes of physician time per call. This constituted about one-third of the potential field treatment time interval in this system. Thus, OLMD appears to play an important role in providing quality prehospital care.


For compatibility with present CMOS devices, the single-electron transistor (SET) is preferably made in silicon. In this paper, a Si-based SET with in-plane side gates is proposed, which is fabricated in a SIMOX (Separation by IMplanted OXygen) wafer using electron beam lithography (EBL) with high-resolution SAL601 negative e-beam resist and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching. Carefully controlled the process, the SET with a 70-nm-radius Coulomb island is successfully fabricated. The Rds-T characteristics of the SET indicate that the device has typical semiconductor characteristics and the co-tunneling phenomena is impossible to occur. The Ids-Vds characteristics of the SET at different values of Vg (-10 V, 0 V, 10 V) measured at the temperature of 2 K all show Coulomb staircases. And the good reproducibility of the Ids-Vds characteristics can also be realized. The corresponding dIds/dVds-Vds characteristics show the clear differential conductance oscillations at 2 K. The Ids-Vg curve at Vds = 0.1 V and Vg = 10 V approximately exhibits Coulomb oscillations. The fabrication process is quite easy and this kind of Si-based SET has the advantages of simplicity, IC-orientation and compatibility with traditional CMOS process.


The LCL grid-connected inverter has the ability to attenuate the high-frequency current harmonics. However, the inherent resonance of the LCL filter affects the system stability significantly. To damp the resonance effect, the dual-loop current control can be used to stabilize the system. The grid current plus capacitor current feedback system is widely used for its better transient response and high robustness against the grid impedance variations. While the weighted average current (WAC) feedback scheme is capable to provide a wider bandwidth at higher frequencies but show poor stability characteristics under weak grid scenarios. To overcome this shortcoming, the improved WAC damping method is proposed with an additional capacitor current feedback loop. In this paper, a systematic parameter design guideline for the optimal selection of the current loop PR controller and the additional capacitor current feedback coefficient are presented for the improved WAC feedback control strategy. The satisfactory range of the system control parameters can be obtained under different delay conditions to meet the system performance specifications. The improved WAC method enhances system robustness under weak grid scenarios, and the stability and robustness have been enhanced under control delay. Finally, the experimental results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed improved WAC control strategy and the parameter design method.


The study presents a novel computational intelligence algorithm designed to optimise energy consumption in an environmental monitoring process: specifically, water level measurements in flooded areas. This algorithm aims to obtain a trade-off between accuracy and power consumption. The implementation constitutes a data aggregation and fusion in itself. A harsh environment can make the direct measurement of flood levels a difficult task. This study proposes a flood level estimation, inferred through the measurement of other common environmental variables. The benefit of this algorithm is tested both with simulations and real experiments conducted in Donana, a national park in southern Spain where flood level measurements have traditionally been done manually.


In this paper we formalize learning as a determinant of individual choice. We model economic agent as an individual who makes her choice according to a specific set of experiences, which evolves over time as the agent learns from both her personal history and her social environment. We link preferences to choices through the notion of hierarchy of wants. We present an axiomatic characterization, inspired by Georgescu-Roegen (1950, 1954), of the individual choice mechanism in a social environment. Following these axioms, we show that an agent may change her choice from one period to another and remain nonetheless rational. The learning mechanism allows for the modification of individual preference ordering over time as well as it implies irreversibility, in the sense that economic changes leave a mark in the decision making process.


While in modernity childhood was increasingly invested with emotional and intellectual energy, it also became a site of scrutiny and intervention, so that philosophers, scientists, and humanitarians pursued the improvement of humanity and the human condition through management of 'the child'. In the first half of the twentieth century, such attention settled on children deemed to present both problems and opportunities for the improvement of the race, as eugenics came to dominate discussions of human progress. This paper examines the significance of childhood as a resource for human futures and technologies of 'eugenics' insofar as they target children: specifically, the development of intelligence testing, institutions of separation, and involuntary sterilisation in the United States and Canada. In these discourses and technologies of eugenics, childhood appears as a reserve of human potential which, appropriately regulated, may be harnessed to 'build a better future'. The paper also considers the perspective of survivors of these practices who experienced their childhood and future possibilities as having been expropriated from them by the state. By considering these governmental and personal registers side by side, the paper sheds light on the perceived social utility of childhood, as well as the particular character of loss experienced by those whose childhoods were subject to state intervention.


Our Curriculum Evaluation and Research-STEM Teaching Fellowship embeds leadership for active engagement in scholarship within teaching teams. It is a response to Higher Education Standards Framework (HESF) minimum requirements for continuous evaluation informing ongoing curriculum transformation, specifically the TEQSA Guidance Note: Scholarship (2018). The Fellowship contextualised the existing 'Curriculum Evaluation Research (CER) framework' (Kelder & Carr, 2017) for the specific characteristics of STEM degrees and teaching teams. The framework supports team-based planning and doing activities that are aligned with institutional structures, processes and governance instruments, so that scholarship can be made visible, monitored, measured, met and reported at the level of degree curriculum. Here we describe fellowship outcomes in the context of responses to COVID-19 using a case study at the University of Tasmania.


We intend to demonstrate our strategy Friendly Clustering which was designed and implemented for the MANIAC Challenge. The MANIAC Challenge is a competition to develop cooperation strategies for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). MANETs usually comprise battery-powered nodes which may act selfishly by dropping packets destined to other network nodes in order to save energy. The detection of such behavior is important to exclude these nodes from the forwarding decision to minimize packet loss. For the demo, the strategy will compete against different variants of selfish and uncooperative behavior in a MANIAC competition round carried out on the DES-Testbed at the Freie Universitaet Berlin. Friendly Clustering won the Performance Award in the MANIAC Challenge 2009.


Preface. About the Author. PART ONE: Overview of Alternative Assets. Chapter 1: What Is an Alternative Asset Class? Chapter 2: Why Alternative Assets Are Important: Beta Drivers and Alpha Drivers. PART TWO: Hedge Funds. Chapter 3: Introduction to Hedge Funds. Chapter 4: Establishing a Hedge Fund Investment Program. Chapter 5: Due Diligence for Hedge Fund Managers. Chapter 6: Risk Management Part I: Hedge Fund Return Distributions. Chapter 7: Risk Management Part II: Additional Hedge Fund Risks. Chapter 8: Regulation of Hedge Funds. Chapter 9: Hedge Fund Benchmarks and Asset Allocation. Chapter 10: Hedge Fund Incentive Fees and the "Free Option." Chapter 11: Top Ten Hedge Fund Quotes. PART THREE: Commodities and Managed Futures. Chapter 12: Introduction to Commodities. Chapter 13: Investing in Commodity Futures. Chapter 14: Commodity Futures in a Portfolio Context. Chapter 15: Managed Futures. PART FOUR: Private Equity. Chapter 16: Introduction to Venture Capital. Chapter 17: Introduction to Leveraged Buyouts. Chapter 18: Debt as Private Equity Part I: Mezzanine Debt. Chapter 19: Debt as Private Equity Part II: Distressed Debt. Chapter 20: The Economics of Private Equity. Chapter 21: Performance Measurement for Private Equity. Chapter 22: Trends in Private Equity. PART FIVE: Credit Derivatives. Chapter 23: Introduction to Credit Derivatives. Chapter 24: Collateralized Debt Obligations. Chapter 25: Collateralized Fund Obligations: Intersection of Credit Derivative Market and Hedge Fund World. PART SIX: Corporate Governance. Chapter 26: Corporate Governance as an Alternative Investment Strategy. INDEX.


It is suggested that the dominant theme of labour law policy has become the enhancement of the competitiveness of business, which, at its core, requires the facilitation and stabilisation of flexible employment relations. Neither deregulation nor mandatory labour standards adequately achieve this goal. It requires instead different techniques of regulation of the employment relation, including a revision of the implied terms of contracts of employment, the creation of new legal institutions of workplace governance, and the enhancement of the ability of employers to make credible commitments in return for functional flexibility on the part of employees.


Janus is a language designed for distributed constraint programming. This paper describes QD‐Janus, a sequential implementation of Janus in Prolog. The compiler uses a number of novel analyses and optimizations to improve the performance of the system. The choice of Prolog as the target language for a compiler, although unusual, is motivated by the following: (i) the semantic gap between Janus and Prolog is much smaller than that between Janus and, say, C or machine language—this simplifies the compilation process significantly, and makes it possible to develop a system with reasonable performance fairly quickly; (ii) recent progress in Prolog implementation techniques, and the development of Prolog systems whose speeds are comparable to those of imperative languages, indicates that the translation to Prolog need not entail a significant performance loss compared to native code compilers; and (iii) compilation to Prolog can benefit immediately from a significant body of work on, and implementations of, parallel Prolog systems. Our experience indicates that translation of logic programming languages to Prolog, accompanied by the development of good program analysis and optimization tools, is an effective way to quickly develop flexible and portable implementations with good performance and low cost.


Abstract Over the past several decades, private sector workers in the USA with employed-sponsored pensions have experienced a dramatic shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution plans, while this trend has been less pronounced for public sector workers. In this paper, we use data from the Health and Retirement Study to explore changes in the retirement incentives and retirement behavior of public and private sector workers over the past quarter-century. We find that both groups have become less likely to report having a DB pension or any pension. Compared to their private sector counterparts, public sector workers have a higher level of retirement wealth and a larger financial gain from continued work at older ages, and these differences by sector are growing across cohorts. Both groups respond to financial incentives in making retirement decisions. However, growing differences by sector in the gain to continued work do not appear to have translated into diverging retirement behavior, as we observe similar trends in the two groups.


We study the first passage dynamics of an ageing stochastic process in the continuous time random walk (CTRW) framework. In such CTRW processes the test particle performs a random walk, in which successive steps are separated by random waiting times distributed in terms of the waiting time probability density function &psgr; ( t ) ≃ t − 1 − &agr; ?> ( 0 ≤ &agr; ≤ 2 ?> ). An ageing stochastic process is defined by the explicit dependence of its dynamic quantities on the ageing time ta, the time elapsed between its preparation and the start of the observation. Subdiffusive ageing CTRWs with 0 < &agr; < 1 ?> describe systems such as charge carriers in amorphous semiconducters, tracer dispersion in geological and biological systems, or the dynamics of blinking quantum dots. We derive the exact forms of the first passage time density for an ageing subdiffusive CTRW in the semi-infinite, confined, and biased case, finding different scaling regimes for weakly, intermediately, and strongly aged systems: these regimes, with different scaling laws, are also found when the scaling exponent is in the range 1 < &agr; < 2 ?> , for sufficiently long ta. We compare our results with the ageing motion of a test particle in a quenched energy landscape. We test our theoretical results in the quenched landscape against simulations: only when the bias is strong enough, the correlations from returning to previously visited sites become insignificant and the results approach the ageing CTRW results. With small bias or without bias, the ageing effects disappear and a change in the exponent compared to the case of a completely annealed landscape can be found, reflecting the build-up of correlations in the quenched landscape.


Healthcare in the United States and other nations is changing dramatically at an unprecedented pace. In the United States, these sweeping changes are partially a result of the Affordable Care Act. Across the world including the United States, the other driving forces include an aging population, increasing prevalence of chronic, lifestyle related diseases, advances in technology, and pressures to lower costs. Nursing has always led and adapted to changes in healthcare delivery. Based upon a review of the literature and an analysis of forecasted changes, this paper outlines seven driving forces of change confronting nurses today. These changes are presented as both challenges and opportunities. These changes redefine the role of nurses today. Five specific changes in role are discussed as well as seven specific actions for nurses to take to embrace the vast changes characterizing healthcare today and shaping healthcare tomorrow. The key for nurses is to take deliberative action to seize opportunities arising from these changes, to reshape challenges embedded in these changes, and to stimulate a change agenda aligned with the unique role and competencies of nursing as a profession.


The aim of our work is to numerically study crown scorch and crown fire ignition as the effects of a fire line spreading through surface fuel under a tree canopy. The objective was to assess the usual assumptions made when one uses the Van Wagner criteria, based on plume theory, to estimate crown scorch or crown fire ignition. The Van Wagner criteria are indeed simple predictive models for crown scorch height or crown fire initiation occurrence. For this purpose the FIRESTAR 2D and FIRETEC wildfire simulators are used. We simulated the fire line by a heat source at ground level and mainly investigated the temperature field. As a first step, we tested the sensitivity of the simulations to different simulation parameters of the wildfire models. As a second step, we ran computations of thermal plumes with no-wind and with no-canopy, for the first comparison to the plume theory. The influence of crown existence on the temperature field above the heat source, as well as on crown scorch and fire ignition conditions, was then investigated. As a third step, the effect of a wind to the plume was shown for the no-canopy and canopy cases.


ELearning suffers from the lack of face-to-face interaction and can deprive learners from the benefits of social interaction and comparison. In this paper we present the results of a study conducted for the impact of social comparison. The study was conducted by collecting students' engagement with an eLearning tool, the attendance, and grades scored by students at specific milestones and presented these metrics to students as feedback using Kiviat charts. The charts were complemented with appropriate recommendations to allow them to adapt their study strategy and behaviour. The study spanned over 4 semesters (2 with and 2 without the Kiviats) and the results were analysed using paired T tests to test the pre and post results on topics covered by the eLearning tool. Survey questionnaires were also administered at the end for qualitative analysis. The results indicated that the Kiviat feedback with recommendation had positive impact on learning outcomes and attitudes.


This paper presents an assessment conducted at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) of two Monte Carlo-based codes, namely Monteburns and Serpent, for LWR depletion calculations. First, a validation of predicted spent fuel compositions is presented on the basis of a selected Swiss spent fuel sample from the LWR-PROTEUS Phase II program. Second, an additional assessment is performed for an OECD/NEA burnup credit benchmark which is also related to isotopic predictions. In both cases, equivalent pin-cell models are applied and the results are presented in terms of relative isotopic concentrations between measured/benchmark and predicted values. Additional comparisons are also made to previously published PSI results using the MCNPX/CINDER and CASMO-4E codes. The results show that all codes provide an overall good agreement with experimental data although a few specific trends are observed for some nuclides which are pointed out and briefly discussed.


Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is an advanced MRI methodology that can be used to probe the microstructure of biological tissue. dMRI can provide orientation information by modeling the process of water diffusion in white matter. This thesis presents contributions in three areas of diffusion imaging technology: diffusion reconstruction, quantification, and validation of derived metrics. It presents a novel reconstruction method by combining generalized q-sampling imaging, spherical harmonic basis functions and constrained spherical deconvolution methods to estimate the fiber orientation distribution function (ODF). This method provides improved spatial localization of brain nuclei and fiber tract separation. A novel diffusion anisotropy metric is presented that provides anatomically interpretable measurements of tracts that are robust in crossing areas of the brain. The metric, directional Axonal Volume (dAV) provides an estimate of directional water content of the tract based on the (ODF) and proton density map. dAV is a directionally sensitive metric and can separate anisotropic water content for each fiber population, providing a quantification in milliliters of water. A method is provided to map voxel-based dAV onto tracts that is not confounded by crossing areas and follows the tract morphology. This work introduces a novel textile based hollow fiber anisotropic phantom (TABIP) for validation of reconstruction and quantification methods. This provides a ground truth reference for axonal scale water tubular structures arranged in various anatomical configurations, crossing and mixing patterns. Analysis shows that: 1) the textile tracts are identifiable with scans used in human imaging and produced tracts and voxel metrics in the range of human tissue; 2) the current methods could resolve crossing at 90o and 45o but not 30o; 3) dAV/NODDI model closely matches (r=0.95) the number of fibers whereas conventional metrics poorly match (i.e., FA r=0.32). This work represents a new accurate quantification of axonal water content through diffusion imaging. dAV shows promise as a new anatomically interpretable metric of axonal connectivity that is not confounded by factors such as axon dispersion, crossing and local isotropic water content. This will provide better anatomical mapping of white matter and potentially improve the detection of axonal tract pathology.


The northeast rift zone of Tenerife presents a superb opportunity to study the entire cycle of activity of an oceanic rift zone. Field geology, isotopic dating, and magnetic stratigraphy provide a reliable temporal and spatial framework for the evolution of the NE rift zone, which includes a period of very fast growth toward instability (between ca. 1.1 and 0.83 Ma) followed by three successive large landslides: the Micheque and Guimar collapses, which occurred approximately contemporaneously at ca. 830 ka and on either side of the rift, and the La Orotava landslide (between 690 +/- 10 and 566 +/- 13 ka). Our observations suggest that Canarian rift zones show similar patterns of development, which often includes overgrowth, instability, and lateral collapses. Collapses of the rift flanks disrupt established fissural feeding systems, favoring magma ascent and shallow emplacement, which in turn leads to magma differentiation and intermediate to felsic nested eruptions. Rifts and their collapses may therefore act as an important factor in providing architectural and petrological variability to oceanic volcanoes. Conversely, the presence of substantial felsic volcanism in rift settings may indicate the presence of earlier landslide scars, even if concealed by postcollapse volcanism. Comparative analysis of the main rifts in the Canary Islands outlines this general evolutionary pattern: (1) growth of an increasingly high and steep ridge by concentrated basaltic fissure eruptions; (2) flank collapse and catastrophic disruption of the established feeder system of the rift; (3) postcollapse centralized nested volcanism, commonly evolving from initially ultramafic-mafic to terminal felsic compositions (trachytes, phonolites); and (4) progressive decline of nested eruptive activity.


Recruitment and retention are important issues on every campus but especially
so on small campuses like that of Casper College. My predecessor, Bob Mittan,
believed as I do that the Writing Center should serve as a community as well as
a campus resource. His reasons focused on how the community could be
involved with the writing center while my reasons focus on how the writing
center can be involved with the community. In becoming a community
resource, our center serves to demystify academe both for those in the
community who feel they are too old or incapable to succeed in college and for
young writers in high school who may not have decided to attend college yet.
As a result, we are acquiring something of a reputation for helping students and
community members with rA©sumA© cover letters and creative writing
projects as well as scholarship letters and essays.


The extracellular space (ECS) is the microenvironment of the nerve cells and an important communication channel, allowing for long‐distance extrasynaptic communication between cells. Changes in ECS size, geometry, and composition have been reported in diverse (patho)physiological states, including aging. In the present study, real‐time tetramethylammonium (TMA+) iontophoresis was used to quantify ECS diffusion parameters in different brain regions of adult and behaviorally characterized aged rats. Prior to ECS diffusion measurement, superior and inferior learners were selected from a large group of aged rats, according to their performance in the open‐field water maze. The main finding was that the degree of impaired maze performance of old rats correlates, firstly, with decrease in ECS volume, loss of diffusion anisotropy in hippocampus, and degree of astrogliosis, and secondly, with disorganization of the astrocytic processes and reduction of hippocampal ECS matrix molecules. Importantly, no significant differences were found in the density of neurons in any region of the hippocampus or dentate gyrus. The alterations in hippocampal diffusion parameters evident in aged animals with severe learning deficits could account for the learning impairment, due to their effects on extrasynaptic volume transmission and/or on the "cross‐talk" between synapses, which has been suggested to be involved in neural processes associated with learning and memory formation. Hippocampus 2002;12:269–279. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


We address the issue of intellectual property (IP) rights in onshore and offshore software development outsourcing. IP assets are generally intangible in nature and are easily misappropriated by the contracting parties. The paper examines two IP protection mechanisms employed by firms: rights-sharing arrangements and restrictive covenants and using data from 153 software contracts across 14 countries we show how IP protection mechanisms are related to software customization, software modularity, pricing scheme, and to the strength of the overall IP legal protection environment in the vendor countries.


Reacting flows interacting with liquid droplets are of practical and scientific importance due
to their appearance in a multiplicity of industrial and domestic applications such as fire
suppression systems and humidified gas turbines. Experimental measurements are usually
limited to global quantities or local quantities at limited spatial locations, which provide
little detailed information for fundamental understanding of complex interactions.
Numerical simulations can overcome these limitations, but are restricted by the available
computer capacity. Therefore, most previous simulations in the field employ simplifications
such as a two-dimensional configuration, the Eulerian description of the dispersed phase, or
the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methodology, etc. Such simplified methods
are not appropriate for scrutinizing the local, unsteady interactions embedded in the
realistic multiphase reacting flows from the first principle. To this end, systematic
understanding of the multilateral, multiscale and multiphysics interactions among
turbulent flow, chemical reaction and dispersing droplets is still far from being achieved. Recently, the rapid development of the supercomputer hardware and software
technologies enables the application of high fidelity numerical techniques, i.e., direct
numerical simulation (DNS) and large eddy simulation (LES), to such complex flows. In
the present study, a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian methodology is developed and
implemented to investigate the multiphysics interactions. The well-designed parallel
algorithms enable us to look at both canonical and practical configurations, including a
temporal reacting shear layer, a turbulent reactive jet diluted with droplets and a simplified
small-scale domestic fire suppression system. All these configurations are characterised by
nonuniform droplet loading in the computational domain, fully three-dimensional
simulation and the Lagrangian description for droplets. The number of traced droplets
reaches the magnitude of 106 in some cases. DNS results with various physical parameters
have been obtained, showing self-consistency and correct trends. In LES, to avoid arbitrary
tuning of subgrid model coefficients, fully dynamic procedures have been designed
following the Germano procedure and implemented for the main six subgrid models. LES
of a heated plane jet, a reacting jet diluted with evaporating droplets and a simplified fire
suppression system has been performed and analysed. Droplet effects on turbulence and
combustion are quantified through examining the transport equations for the kinetic
energy and internal energy of the reacting flow.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the effect of hospital competition and health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration on mortality after hospitalization for six medical conditions in California.

DATA SOURCE
Linked hospital discharge and vital statistics data for short-term general hospitals in California in the period 1994-1999. The study sample included adult patients hospitalized for one of the following conditions: acute myocardial infarction (N=227,446), hip fracture (N=129,944), stroke (N=237,248), gastrointestinal hemorrhage (GIH, N=216,443), congestive heart failure (CHF, N=355,613), and diabetes (N=154,837).

STUDY DESIGN
The outcome variable was 30-day mortality. We estimated multivariate logistic regression models for each study condition with hospital competition, HMO penetration, hospital characteristics, and patient severity measures as explanatory variables.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Higher hospital competition was associated with lower 30-day mortality for three to five of the six study conditions, depending on the choice of competition measure, and this finding was robust to a variety of sensitivity analyses. Higher HMO penetration was associated with lower mortality for GIH and CHF.

CONCLUSIONS
Hospitals that faced more competition and hospitals in market areas with higher HMO penetration provided higher quality of care for adult patients with medical conditions in California. Studies using linked hospital discharge and vital statistics data from other states should be conducted to determine whether these findings are generalizable.


Wear level of tool inserts in automated processes is tried using techniques of artificial vision. An application has been developed in Matlab that allows the acquisition of images with different resolutions and later on to process them. It is explained how the vision system used has been designed and implemented. The method for acquiring tool insert images and their treatment in the pre-processing, segmentation and post-processing is commented. First results are also presented using diverse texture descriptors. These first results must be corroborated carrying out new experiments with a bigger number of images.


This dissertation compares the phonetic and phonological features of adult non-speakers' productions of words in an endangered Native American language, Oregon Northern Paiute (also known, and hereafter referred to, as Numu), to productions by fluent speakers. The purpose of this comparison is two-fold. The first purpose is to examine the differences in pronunciation that non-speakers bring to the language, which point to possible directions of future language change in a language that is no longer being learned as a first language by children. Changes brought to the language by second language learners are likely to occur due to transfer effects from English and processes of regularization, but may also occur due to the intensification of socially salient language features, or hypercorrection (see Wolfram, 2002). For this reason, two groups of non-speakers were included in the study: English speaking members of the community where Numu is spoken (Warm Springs, Oregon) and English speakers from outside the community. It was hypothesized that the latter group would only exhibit transfer effects or regularization, while the Warm Springs group would also exhibit hypercorrection of what they perceive to be salient features of Numu. By comparing the productions of the two non-speaker groups, specific aspects of potential change are identified and classified as transfer, regularization, or hypercorrection.The second purpose of the comparison between speaker and non-speaker productions is to ascertain specific differences in pronunciation that result in perceivably accented speech. This research goal is achieved by examining fluent speakers' reactions to non-speakers' productions. It was hypothesized that not all features unique to non-speaker produced speech would result in a perceivable accent. Learners who wish to improve their pronunciation from the perspective of the Numu community could then focus particularly on the features that do contribute to a noticeable accent. This research makes contributions to our understanding of phonetic and phonological change in endangered language contexts, both from a second language acquisition perspective and a socio-phonetic perspective.


Successfully managing fisheries and controlling the spread of invasive species depends on the ability to describe and predict angler behavior. However, finite resources restrict conventional survey approaches and tend to produce retrospective data that are limited in time or space and rely on intentions or attitudes rather than actual behavior. In this study, we used three years of angler data from a popular mobile fishing application in Alberta, Canada, to determine province-wide, seasonal patterns of (1) lake popularity that were consistent with conventional data and (2) anthropogenic lake connectivity that has not been widely described in North America. Our proof-of-concept analyses showed that mobile apps can be an inexpensive source of high-resolution, real-time data for managing fisheries and invasive species. We also identified key challenges that underscore the need for further research and development in this new frontier that combines big data with increased stakeholder interaction and cooperation.


In his canonical articles Against Settlement and The Forms of Justice, Owen Fiss argues that the erosion of civil litigation harms the deliberative process and the elucidation of public values in society. By revealing the hidden public dimension underlying not only public law litigation, but also the adjudication of private law disputes, Fiss's argument can be conceptualized as posing a challenge to the public/ private distinction. At the same time, Fiss's critique reinforces the public/private divide by placing settlement and civil litigation on either side of the borderline. In this Article, we set out to dispel the prevalent depiction of settlement as inherently private, and to challenge the binary logic of the private/public distinction as it is understood to apply to settlement. We show how settlements have the capacity to fulfill each and every one of the public functions attributed to the civil trial, including the elaboration of norms, the discovery of facts, the facilitation of democratic participation, and the creation of public narratives. The functional, process-oriented approach we offer depicts settlement as a device that does not stand in opposition to the promotion of rule of law values — but rather as an institution that enhances the articulation of public norms. Our discussion progresses against the background of three settlement arenas: settlement in the classic civil suit context, structural reform suits, and transnational Holocaust litigation.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether systolic blood pressure (SBP) control is maintained following participation in a multimodal hypertension intervention.

STUDY DESIGN
This was a retrospective cohort of patients completing the Improving Blood Pressure in Colorado study, a randomized trial comparing a multimodal intervention with usual care for patients who had uncontrolled hypertension. Chart review assessed the first SBP measurement recorded as part of routine care after the study ended. Among patients who had controlled SBP at the final study visit, the proportions who had uncontrolled SBP during follow-up were compared for the intervention and usual care (UC) groups. Kaplan-Meier estimates assessed time to uncontrolled SBP by treatment arm.

RESULTS
Of 283 patients completing the Improving Blood Pressure in Colorado study, 51.5% in the intervention and 46.9% in the UC group had controlled SBP at the final study visit. Of patients with controlled SBP, 37.0% and 46.4% of patients in the intervention and UC groups, respectively, had uncontrolled SBP at their initial measurement during follow-up (P = .32). There was no difference in median time to uncontrolled SBP (126 vs 114 days for the intervention and UC groups, respectively; P = .47).

CONCLUSIONS
SBP control was not maintained in a significant proportion of patients in both groups following hypertension study participation. These findings suggest the need for interventions to focus on longer-term BP control in contrast to the short duration of most hypertension intervention trials.


Abstract This study analyzes news media's role in governmental decision-making processes related to a gradually intensifying series of earthquakes resulting from gas drilling in the Netherlands, and catastrophic natural earthquakes in Italy. According to the risk governance actors interviewed in both cases, media play three roles, as: democratic fora, agenda setters, and strategic instruments. Media attention for risk can create ripple effects in governmental decision-making processes. However, media attention tends to be risk-event driven and focuses on direct newsworthy consequences of events. For 'non-event risks', or when newsworthiness after a risk-event fades, the media's agenda setting and democratic fora roles are limited. This contributes to risk attenuation in society, potentially resulting in limited risk prevention and preparedness. Governmental actors report difficulties in using news media for strategic communication to facilitate risk governance because of media's tendency towards sensationalism. Our research suggests that, in the governance of earthquake-risk news, media logic overrules other institutional logics only for a short while and not in the long run when the three roles of media do not reinforce each other.


It is commonly understood that nature has the biggest value for humanity. The article examines and analyzes the legal framework for nature conservation and issues related to state institutions including the judiciary's role in protecting and preserving the environment and its individual objects. Also article analysis how courts contribute to the highest human values - the protection and enhancement of nature while administering justice. On nature and its resources depends what kind of economy we will have and develop in the future on state and global scale. While speaking about the economic issues O. Blanchard states that it is also important for everyone to know not only what to expect today, but what to expect in the future too. Since the nature and its objects are especially important human value for their protection the state institutions, inspections and judicial authority are mobilized as The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania states that judicial authority works to protect the human rights. It means that the judicial power as well as other two powers is also responsible for nature protection as it is a right of all humans. The work also analyzes the statistics of nature protection and the executive's contribution to the protection of nature. The topic is relevant because it examines the issue concerning not only a particular area of our social life, but also each one of us. In international and national acts of nature protection and in final decisions of courts reinforces the legal imperative of providing a regulatory framework for the protection of nature and also establishes the right for all subjects to use natural goods. This inevitably affects not only each one of us but also the whole society and the state. Although the topic of environmental protection is not basically new, there is no detailed examination about current legal framework and judicial significance for the protection of nature in Lithuanian researches. That is why this issue is not fully investigated and it can manifest only by the individual phrases without a specific study conclusions.


The habeas corpus provision in the United States Constitution, known as the Suspension Clause, has long confounded courts and scholars as to its intended purpose. The wording of the Clause seems to promise the availability of "[t]he Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus" or, at least preclude the United States Congress from undermining that privilege where it is otherwise available unless Congress takes the dramatic step of enacting suspension legislation. The very same Clause, recognizing the extraordinary nature of suspension, precludes the legislature from adopting such a state of affairs except in the face of rare and dire circumstances namely, "Cases of Rebellion or Invasion." But beyond these apparent truths, numerous questions going to the nature and purpose of the habeas clause remain. To tackle the range of questions going to the role and meaning of the Suspension Clause in the United States constitutional framework requires careful study of the backdrop against which the Clause was adopted in order to make sense of what those who drafted and ratified the Constitution hoped to achieve by its inclusion. Although many argue over whether history should be the determinative factor in resolving constitutional questions as they arise today, no one seriously questions that history is deeply relevant to debates over the Suspension Clause. Indeed, Chief Justice John Marshall declared long ago that understanding the role of habeas corpus in the American Constitution requires looking to the privilege's origins in English law. As he phrased things in discussing "this great writ ... , [t]he term is used in the Constitution, as one which was well understood." Further, modern Supreme Court jurisprudence still trains our attention on the Founding period, positing that '"at the absolute minimum,' the [Suspension] Clause protects the writ as it existed when the Constitution was drafted and ratified." Accordingly, this article explores the relevant historical backdrop to the Founding period before carrying the story forward to chronicle how the Suspension Clause has been interpreted during important periods in American history, sometimes correctly and as will be seen sometimes incorrectly.


Background An impaired HBsAg-secretion can increase HBV oncogenic-properties. Here, we investigate genetic-determinants in HBsAg correlated with HBV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and their impact on HBsAg-secretion and cell-proliferation. Methods This study included 128 chronically HBV-infected patients: 23 with HCC (73.9% D; 26.1% A HBV-genotype), and 105 without cirrhosis/HCC (72.4% D, 27.6% A) as reference-group. The impact of mutations on HBsAg-secretion was assessed by measuring the ratio [secreted/intracellular HBsAg] until day 5 post-transfection. The impact of mutations on cell-cycle advancement was assessed by flow-cytometry. Results Two HBsAg mutations significantly correlated with HCC: P203Q (17.4% [4/23] in HCC vs 1.0% [1/105] in non-HCC, P=0.004); S210R (34.8% [8/23] in HCC vs 3.8% [4/105] in non-HCC, P <0.001); P203Q+S210R (17.4% [4/23] in HCC vs 0% [0/110] in non-HCC, P=0.001). Both mutations reside in trans-membrane C-terminal domain critical for HBsAg-secretion. In in-vitro experiments, P203Q, S210R and P203Q+S210R significantly reduced the ratio [secreted/intracellular HBsAg] compared to wt at each time-point analysed (P <0.05), supporting an impaired HBsAg-secretion. Furthermore, P203Q and P203Q+S210R increased the percentage of cells in S-phase compared to wt, indicating cell-cycle progression (P203Q:26±13%; P203Q+S210R:29±14%; wt:18%±9, P <0.01. Additionally, S210R increased the percentage of cells in G2/M-phase (26±8% for wt versus 33±6% for S210R, P <0.001). Conclusions Specific mutations in HBsAg C-terminus significantly correlate with HBV-induced HCC. They hamper HBsAg-secretion and are associated with increased cellular proliferation, supporting their involvement in HCC-development. The identification of viral genetic markers associated with HCC is critical to identify patients at higher HCC-risk that may deserve intensive liver monitoring, and/or early anti-HBV therapy.


Abstract In the paper, YSZ coatings were prepared on nickel-based alloy substrates by anodic electrophoretic deposition. The YSZ suspension solution was obtained under stirring and ultrasonic treatment, in which the anhydrous ethanol and acetylacetone were used as the dispersion medium and ammonium polyacrylate was used as the dispersant of the suspension. The effects of different deposition voltage and deposition time on YSZ coating were investigated. Meantime, the microstructure of the coating surface was observed by metallographic microscope. It was found that the high-quality YSZ coating could be obtained by deposition at 60 V for 2–3 min. Finally, the effect of sintering temperature on coating quality was investigated by X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the YSZ coating bonded closely with the substrate after sintering at 1200 oC, and the porosity of the YSZ coating increased after sintering


Part VI of a series of reports of studies on the effects of packinghouse equipment, plant layout, and work methods on efficiency and costs. These studies have been made co-operatively by the University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, and the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, United States Department of Agriculture, under the authority of the Research and Marketing Act.


Child health and life expectancy improved together in many societies in the 20th century. As the incidence of diseases with major extrinsic causes declined, the heritability of disease as a whole increased. Accordingly, the genetic (intrinsic) causes of disease have become important. The genome project is an international venture out of which will come new knowledge about the biological basis of health and disease, and technologies to apply that knowledge in medicine and other disciplines. Phenylketonuria (PKU) at one time was seen only as a rare inborn error of metabolism causing severe mental retardation. Yet, the gene frequency is about 1% in Caucasian and Oriental populations, higher still in some populations with particular histories that have enhanced gene frequency. These genetic facts make PKU a paradigm in human genetics. This genetic disease, for which it was thought there was nothing to be done, has yielded to inquiries at clinical, metabolic, protein (enzyme) and DNA (PAH gene) levels. Results have shown that, early diagnosis (by population screening) and treatment (by low phenylalanine diet) largely prevents mental retardation. DNA analysis reveals particular associations between PKU mutations, RFLP haplotypes and populations; these associations are relevant for counseling. PKU illustrates well how medical science, molecular biology and gene mapping can improve knowledge and contribute to child health.


The objective of the study is to compare fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular endpoints in hypertensive patients randomised to the calcium-channel blocker, nifedipine GITS or a thiazide diuretic, co-amilozide. A total of 6592 patients from nine countries (UK, France, Israel, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway) will be recruited, aged 55-80 and with a blood pressure (BP) > or = 150/95 or > or = 160 mm Hg (systolic). All patients will have at least one other major cardiovascular risk factor. Patients will be minimised by country and risk factors and randomised to double-blind treatment with either nifedipine GITS or diuretic. After a single dose titration, additional treatment will be atenolol or enalapril (where beta-blockade is contra-indicated). After achieving a target BP of 140/90 mm Hg patients will be followed for a total of 3 years. Primary endpoints are myocardial infarction, stroke, subarachnoid haemorrhage, heart failure and sudden cardiac death. The study has a power of 80% at 5% significance to detect a difference between 8% event rate over 3 years in diuretic-treated patients and 6% in those receiving nifedipine.


The development of modern electronic systems and increasing number of application areas (computers, office equipment, rectifiers, converters, speed control devices, uninterruptible power supplies, switched power supplies) has led to harmonic generation and reduced energy efficiency. The majority of loads are inductive in nature and the draw of reactive power has increased in networks and transmission lines resulting in problems with power quality. In addition to efficient power flow in transmission systems, there is also a need to compensate for the reactive power flow in order the meet the requirements of the load and system. As an alternative to traditional solutions, FACTS (Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems) has been developed in order to operate electrical systems efficiently and improve stability and power quality. Technological applications such as SVC, STATCOM, SSSC and active harmonic filter are becoming widespread in order to improve power quality. In this study, applications within the scope of FACTS systems are explained and analysis of a fixed capacitor-thyristor controlled reactor (FC-TCR) to improve power factor is discussed. A circuit model of the FC-TCR is developed as a simulation and used to investigate how power factor may be kept within desired limits by adjusting the firing angle of the thyristors under different load conditions. A comparative evaluation has been carried out to determine the effect of FC-TCR by presenting results before and after the load compensation process is applied. From the simulation it is observed that reactive power compensation can be achieved even for varying linear loads.


A 69-year-old man presented to the dermatology clinic with chronic swelling of the lower legs accompanied by pruritus and scaling. He had noticed a gradual increase in pigmentation of the lower part of his left leg. His medical history included congestive heart failure, hypertension, and protein C deficiency with deep venous thrombosis of the lower part of the left leg. Physical examination revealed bilateral ( 2) pitting edema of the legs extending proximally to his knees, associated with violaceous erythematous scaling patches and superficial erosions of the right lower extremity. On the left anterior tibial surface were brown hyperpigmented patches with fine scale admixed with speckled black pigment (Figure1). There were no other skin findings. A punch biopsy specimen was obtained from both lower parts of the legs and stained with hematoxylineosin, melanin, and iron stains (Figure 2 and Figure 3). What is your diagnosis?


C © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Published online May 27, 2022.


It is shown that a modified UNIFAC model can be applied to predict solubility of hydrocarbon gases and vapors in hydrocarbon solvents. Very good agreement with experim ental data has been achieved. In this work we try to find best wa y for predicting dimethyl ether solubility in liquid paraffin by using group contribution theory. Keywords— UNIFAC, Henry's law, Group contribution theory, Solubility.


This thesis investigates the role of socio-cultural-historical environmental constraints influencing the development of association football expertise and skill in Brazilian players. Only a small number of studies in the field of motor learning have attempted to address this issue due to the qualitative, interpretive research approach required to analyse socio-cultural themes. However, considering that expertise in sports emerges from the complex interaction of multiple constraints, socio-cultural factors have to be further explored in a contextualised manner so that knowledge in the field of motor learning can be advanced. This thesis presents an interpretive, multi-methods approach to holistically investigate the interacting constraints on the development pathway of Brazilian football players. In contrast to traditional positivist approaches, this thesis is based on the philosophical assumptions of the interpretive research paradigm and the epistemological and methodological tenets of Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Model of Human Development. In addition, to guide and generate data, this programme of work adopts ethnographic strategies of inquiry and related methods, including: contextual analysis, participant-observation, and open-ended interviews. Drawing upon the multi-methodological approach, this thesis proposes contextualised skill acquisition research (CSAR) as a suitable methodological framework to investigate skill acquisition in sport. Using this new approach, key findings show that the development of expertise in Brazilian footballers is a function of informal, even aversive variables ranging from the microsystemic level under the context of pelada, mesosystemic level under the context of home and federated clubs, exosystemic level under the context of poverty and macrosystemic level under the context of samba, capoeira, and malandragem. The objective of this thesis is to promote methodological possibilities to investigate effects of socio-cultural constraints on expertise acquisition in sport. As such the thesis offers


Business ecosystems aim to develop the capabilities of its participants through collaboration supporting new offerings, better fulfil customer requirements and eventually create new innovations. Acting in an ecosystem provides synergistic benefits to actors by increasing the total value of the output – the actors can achieve more than they would have achieved working independently. The main objective of both studied winter maintenance ecosystems, Finnish and Japanese, is to enhance safety and ensure good road conditions. These ecosystems are compared to analyse and discuss the potential ways to develop current value networks. As roads and streets are publicly owned in most cases and mobility services regarded as a public good, the role of the public sector mostly dictates the topology and ecosystem actors. In Finland, the role of the road authorities is reduced because of the restructuring of the public sector, whereas in Japan it has so far remained stronger although road authorities have enhanced cooperation with local residents. For authorities in both countries, the prevailing lack of resources for maintenance operations is a strong motivating factor for finding new, more efficient procurement and operating models. Understanding the roles of all actors involved in the winter maintenance ecosystem is essential in this search for efficiency.


Purpose – The paper seeks to investigate the association between ethical beliefs, aspects of national culture and national institutions, and preferences for specific human resource management practices in the Sultanate of Oman. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 712 individuals working in six organisations (both private and public sectors) responded to a self-administered questionnaire in the Sultanate of Oman. To test the raised research questions of the proposed framework, the methodology of structural equation models was used. Findings – The results highlight significant differences in the belief systems on the basis of different demographic characteristics. The findings also confirm impact of ethical beliefs, and aspects of national culture and national institutions on preferences for human resource management (HRM) practices. Research limitations/implications – Although the goodness-of-fit indexes confirmed the validity of the proposed operational model, some indices were attained at rather flexible levels. Practical implications – Studies on managerial beliefs and values can offer important insights into the extent that work is viewed as an integral life activity. Such information can help differentiate among managerial styles in various cultures, and in predicting managerial behaviour such as ethical decision-making. Based on such understanding, the findings can be used to educate government officials and outside consultants interested in Oman. Originality/value – The study contributes to the accumulation of knowledge about under-researched developing countries such as Oman, as limited data are available on HRM, value orientations and ethical beliefs' issues in this region.


Weekly malaria attack incidence rate has been studied from June to September 1993 in a cluster of children and adults living in a quarter of the city of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). The city is located in the savanna area with an average of 1000 mm rainfall in five months. In this recently built quarter at the outskirts, yearly average malaria transmission was of four infected bites mainly due to Anopheles gambiae. The medical team visited each week each included family (28 families, 290 persons). Malaria attack has been defined as a fever attack or the certitude of fever during the hours before, with clinical malaria-related signs, a patent parasitaemia and the lack of obvious other etiology. Parasitic density threshold of 2000 PRBC/mm3 for the children and adolescents, till 16 years old and of 1,000 PRBC/mm3 for the adults, have been utilized for the definition of unquestionable malaria attack. 4128 medical observations have been done. 17 unquestionable malaria attacks have been observed in infants, children and adults with parasitic densities from 40,000 to 720,000 PRBC/mm3. 18 likely attacks were also observed with clinical signs but low density of Plasmodium. All were induced by P. falciparum. From June to the end of July the weekly incidence rate was five for one thousand and from August twelve for one thousand. In a place with a low transmission, the success of an infection is higher than in places with an intense transmission. This observation is of some importance for the control of the disease by reduction of the transmission.


Background Genetic causes of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) account for approximately 20~25% of patients. So far, only a few genes have been identified. Results Here, we first identified the c.1840C>A on G-protein signaling modulator 1 (GPSM1) as a susceptibility locus for POI in 10 sporadic POI patients by whole-exome sequencing. The frequency of GPSM1 c.1840C>A was then verified as 3/20 in a POI sample of 20 patients (including the above 10 patients) by Sanger sequencing. RT-PCR and western blot analysis showed the expression of GPSM1 in rat ovaries was increased in the large antral follicle stage compared to the primordial follicle stage (P<0.01). The cell proliferation assay (CCK8) and flow cytometry suggested that the small-interfering RNA-induced silencing of Gpsm1 significantly increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation of rat ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) (P<0.01). Furthermore, suppression of Gpsm1 in GCs reduced levels of cAMP, PKAc, p-CREB as well as the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax, and increased the expression of Caspase-3 and Cleaved Caspase-3 (P<0.01). Conclusions In summary, this study identified a susceptibility variant GPSM1 c.1840C>A of POI for the first time. Gpsm1 was related to rat follicle development, and silencing increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation in rat GCs, possibly through inhibition of the cAMP-PKA-CREB pathway. These findings facilitate the development of the early molecular diagnosis of POI.


Sensor nodes are very weak computers that get distributed at random on a surface. Once deployed, they must wake up and form a radio network. Sensor network bootstrapping research thus has three parts: One must model the restrictions on sensor nodes; one must prove that the connectivity graph of the sensors has a subgraph that would make a good network; and one must give a distributed protocol for finding such a network subgraph that can be implemented on sensor nodes.
 Although many particular restrictions on sensor nodes are implicit or explicit in many papers, there remain many inconsistencies and ambiguities from paper to paper. The lack of a clear model means that solutions to the network bootstrapping problem in both the theory and systems literature all violate constraints on sensor nodes. For example, random geometric graph results on sensor networks predict the existence of subgraphs on the connectivity graph with good route-stretch, but these results do not address the degree of such a graph, and sensor networks must have constant degree. Furthermore, proposed protocols for actually finding such graphs require that nodes have too much memory, whereas others assume the existence of a contention-resolution mechanism.
 We present a formal Weak Sensor model that summarizes the literature on sensor node restrictions, taking the most restrictive choices when possible. We show that sensor connectivity graphs have low-degree subgraphs with good hop-stretch, as required by the Weak Sensor model. Finally, we give a Weak Sensor model-compatible protocol for finding such graphs. Ours is the first network initialization algorithm that is implementable on sensor nodes.


Martin E. Marty argues that religion in twentieth-century America was essentially shaped by its encounter with modernity. In this first volume, he records and explores the diverse ways in which American religion embraced, rejected, or cautiously accepted the modern world. "Marty writes with the highest standards of scholarship and with his customary stylistic grace. No series of books is likely to tell us as much about the religious condition of our own time as "Modern American Religion." --Robert L. Spaeth, "Minneapolis Star Tribune" "The wealth of material and depth of insight are beyond reproach. This book will clearly stand as an important meteorological guide to the storm front of modernity as it swept Americans into the twentieth century." --Belden C. Lane, "Review of Religions" "Whatever one thinks about Marty's theological or philosophical position as a historian, the charm of his friendly circumspective approach to American religious history is irresistible." -- John E. Wilson, "Theological Studies" "Marty attempts to impose historical order on the divergent ways a century of Americans have themselves tried to find order in their worlds...


Studies have indicated that North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability can significantly modulate El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), but there has been little effort to put extratropical–tropical interactions into the context of historical events. To quantify the role of the North Pacific in pacing the timing and magnitude of observed ENSO, we use a fully coupled climate model to produce an ensemble of North Pacific Ocean–Global Atmosphere (nPOGA) SST pacemaker simulations. In nPOGA, SST anomalies are restored back to observations in the North Pacific (>15°N) but are free to evolve throughout the rest of the globe. We find that the North Pacific SST has significantly influenced observed ENSO variability, accounting for approximately 15% of the total variance in boreal fall and winter. The connection between the North and tropical Pacific arises from two physical pathways: 1) a wind–evaporation–SST (WES) propagating mechanism, and 2) a Gill-like atmospheric response associated with anomalous deep convection in boreal summer and fall, which we refer to as the summer deep convection (SDC) response. The SDC response accounts for 25% of the observed zonal wind variability around the equatorial date line. On an event-by-event basis, nPOGA most closely reproduces the 2014/15 and the 2015/16 El Niños. In particular, we show that the 2015 Pacific meridional mode event increased wind forcing along the equator by 20%, potentially contributing to the extreme nature of the 2015/16 El Niño. Our results illustrate the significant role of extratropical noise in pacing the initiation and magnitude of ENSO events and may improve the predictability of ENSO on seasonal time scales.


The evolution of Internet from static Web "publishing" to the highly participative, and data-driven, innovations of Web 2.0 has been influencing how people search for health-related information. This review included studies indexed in the PubMed electronic database that focused on social media analysis, examining relationships between participants (patients and healthcare consumers) through social media usage. The obtained results showed that previous research regarding social media's impact on patients and healthcare consumers aimed at a combination of platforms, but there is a penury of information about niche topics or its usage for retrieving medical information. Nevertheless, social media proved to be to be a promising tool in research mainly for recruitment purposes. The review has outlined that eHealth literacy is an attribute for populations that are female and relatively young and educated. Blogs share personal experiences, YouTube contains unregulated, high- and low-quality information that can mislead individuals, Facebook contains more marketing than health-related information, while Wikipedia is recommended for providing high-quality information. Despite healthcare practitioners' and healthcare public institutions' reluctance about the use of social media, this review demonstrates the usefulness of social media for patients and healthcare consumers in retrieving health-related information based on content availability and usage implications, and highlights gaps in knowledge that further research needs to fill.


The expeditious development of technology in the past decades resulted in the introduction of concurrent systems that incorporate both ubiquitous and pervasive computing, the ambient systems. These systems are named after their ability to be completely embedded in the environment in which they operate and interact with the users, in a silent and non distracting way, facilitating the completion of their tasks. Hence, there is a growing need to introduce and develop formal techniques for computational models capable of faithfully modelling the behaviour of these systems. One way of capturing the intricate behaviours of the ambient systems is to use Petri nets, which are a modelling language that is used for the representation and analysis of concurrent systems. Within the domain of rigorous system design, verification of systems effectively checks and guarantees the correctness of the examined models with respect to the specification. This work investigates the modelling and the analysis of ambient systems using Petri nets. To examine the modelling of these systems, their taxonomy into Ambient Guidance Systems and Ambient Information Systems is carried out and a case study is used for the modelling of each category. To model ambient systems, the step-modelling approach and a variant class of Coloured Petri Nets, the Ambient Petri Nets (APNs), are introduced. Step modelling approach focuses on the interaction between the system and the user and Ambient Petri Nets is a class of nets with colour-sensitive inhibitor arcs that is used especially for the structural and behavioural representation of ambient systems. For the modelling of general ambient systems, the compositionality of the Ambient Petri Nets is used. To verify the correctness of the produced Ambient Petri Nets models, the introduction of the Transformed Ambient Petri Nets class that has no colour-sensitive inhibitor arcs is required since Charlie and generally most of the existing verification tools do not support the analysis of inhibitor nets. To address this problem, a construction is defined to translate the Ambient Petri Nets into Transformed Ambient Petri Nets. Afterwards, the Step Transition Systems are used to prove the behavioural equivalence of the nets that are associated through the construction. Subsequently, the Transformed Ambient Petri Nets models of the chosen case studies are verified against model checking and qualitative properties. For the first category, Computation Tree Logic (CTL) is used to check the models against important properties of the ambient systems that are related to their features and their general functioning. Finally, qualitative properties consider fundamental structural and behavioural properties of Petri nets that provide useful outcome about the systems under consideration.


Gestational and developmental cues have important consequences for long-term health, behavior and adaptation to the environment. In addition, social stressors cause plastic molecular changes in the brain that underlie unique behavioral phenotypes that also modulate fitness. In the adult African cichlid, Astatotilapia burtoni, growth and social status of males are both directly regulated by social interactions in a dynamic social environment, which causes a suite of plastic changes in circuits, cells and gene transcription in the brain. We hypothesized that a possible mechanism underlying some molecular changes might be DNA methylation, a reversible modification made to cytosine nucleotides that is known to regulate gene function. Here we asked whether changes in DNA methylation of the GnRH1 gene, the central regulator of the reproductive axis, were altered during development of A. burtoni. We measured changes in methylation state of the GnRH1 gene during normal development and following the gestational and developmental stress of social crowding. We found differential DNA methylation within developing juveniles between 14-, 28- and 42-day-old. Following gestational crowding of mouth brooding mothers, we saw differential methylation and transcription of GnRH1 in their offspring. Taken together, our data provides evidence for social control of GnRH1 developmental responses to gestational cues through DNA methylation.


We describe new methods for initializing the computation of homoclinic orbits for maps in a state space with arbitrary dimension and for detecting their bifurcations. The initialization methods build on known and improved methods for computing onedimensional stable and unstable manifolds. The methods are implemented in MatcontM, a freely available toolbox in Matlab for numerical analysis of bifurcations of fixed points, periodic orbits and connecting orbits of smooth nonlinear maps. The bifurcation analysis of homoclinic connections under variation of one parameter is based on continuation methods and allows to detect all known codimension 1 and 2 bifurcations in 3D maps, including tangencies and generalized tangencies. MatcontM provides a graphical user interface, enabling interactive control for all computations. As the prime new feature we discuss an algorithm for initializing connecting orbits in the important special case where either the stable or unstable manifold is one-dimensional, allowing to compute all homoclinic orbits to saddle points in three-dimensional maps. We illustrate this algorithm in the study of the adaptive control map, a 3D map introduced in 1991 by Frouzakis, Adomaitis and Kevrekidis, to obtain a rather complete bifurcation diagram of the resonance horn in a 1:5 Neimark-Sacker bifurcation point, revealing new features.


Introduction: BCR-ABL mutations are the major background players in manifestation of resistance to all FDA approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) including imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib, Bosutinib and ponatinib 1. Detection of mutations is a vital part of European or North American clinical guidelines at the time of resistance and/or drug switching, because resistance-causing mutations appearing as a result of one drug are sensitive to other in many instances and mutational data can therefore help in prescription of better alternative TKI in case of resistance or unsatisfactory response 1,2. Although BCR-ABL sequencing protocols are reported, they either lack the experimental details or are not cost-effective to be used in third world countries 1'3. Therefore, objective of this study was to develop a cost-effective protocol for BCR-ABL mutation detection in TKI resistant CML.

Material and Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 10 imatinib resistant, 10 imatinib sensitive, 5 CML patients receiving nilotinib, positive for Philadelphia chromosome by conventional cytogenetics, and 10 healthy volunteers. Isolation of RNA was performed using TriZol® LS reagent and complementary DNA (cDNA) was prepared using random hexamer primers. The integrity of cDNA was checked by amplification of housekeeping gene GAPDH. A nested RT-PCR assay was optimized for ABL kinase domain amplification using standard PCR optimization techniques. PCR bands of 1306 or 1380 base pairs, corresponding to b2a2 and b3a2 BCR-ABL splice variants, were detected in 25 CML patients but no healthy controls. Consumables for CDNA and PCR were used from Fermentas (USA). PCR products were purified using Quick gel extraction kit (Invitrogen). DNA sequencing was performed using BigDye® Terminator v3.1Cycle Sequencing Kit (Applied Biosystems).

Results: Compound mutations were detected in CML patient showing primary resistance to nilotinib, including a novel K245N mutation and G250W mutations ([Figure 1][1]) while 4 of nilotinib responders did not show any mutations. Similarly, mutations detected in four (4/10, 40%) imatinib resistant were (G250W), (T394A), (Y253H), (E355G, Y393H}. Of 10 imatinib sensitive patients, mutations were detected in 3, 2 in accelerated phase and 1 in blast crisis, while none in 7 c chronic phase CML ([Figure 2][2]).

Discussion: We show association of BCR-ABL mutations with imatinib/nilotinib resistance and disease progression in CML patients, which is in accordance with previous studies 1'2'4,5. This also proves the usefulness and applicability of our BCR-ABL sequencing protocol for detection of clinically relevant mutations in CML patients receiving TKI treatment. A cost effective protocol it will facilitate the incorporation of mutation detection in clinical setting in low-resourced laboratories from third world countries and thus help better manage clinical interventions in drug-resistant CML 6'7.

References:

1. Baccarani M, Soverini S, De Benedittis C. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2014:167-75.

2. Kang Y, Hodges A, Ong E, Roberts W, Piermarocchi C, Paternostro G.PLoS One. 2014 Jul 16;9(7):e102221.

3. Branford S, Hughes T. Methods Mol Med. 2006; 125:93-106.

4. Vigano I, Di Giacomo N, Bozzani S, Antolini L, Piazza R, Gambacorti Passerini C. Am J Hematol. 2014 Jul 15.

5. Balabanov S, Braig M, Brummendorf TH. Drug Discov Today Technol. 2014 Mar;11:89-99.

6. Jabbour E, Kantarjian H. Am J Hematol. 2014 May;89(5):547-56.

7. Kagita S, Jiwtani S, Uppalapati S, Linga VG, Gundeti S, Digumarti R. Tumour Biol. 2014 May;35(5):4443-6.

![Figure 1:][3]

Figure 1:
Electropherogram showing compound mutations, including a novel BCR-ABL mutation associated with primary nilotinib resistance in CML patient

![Figure 2:][3]

Figure 2:
Response to imatinib and BCR-ABL mutation status in CML patients

Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

 [1]: #F1
 [2]: #F2
 [3]: pending:yes


Based on the decision of the State Office for Nuclear Safety, the Dukovany NPP has been obliged to secure the efficient capacities for the disposal of spent ion exchange resins. Therefore, in September 2010, based on the contract with supplier company AMEC Nuclear Slovakia s.r.o. has begun with pumping and treatment of ion exchange resins from the storage tank 0TW30B02, situated in the auxiliary building.The SIAL® technology, developed in AMEC Nuclear Slovakia, has been used for the solidification purposes. This technology allows an on-site treatment of various special radioactive waste streams (resins, sludge, sludge/resins and borates) at the room temperature.The SIAL® matrix and technology were licensed by the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety in 2007.On-site treatment and solidification of spent ion exchange resins at Dukovany NPP involves process of resin removal from tank using remotely operated manipulator, resin transportation, resin separation from free water, resin filling into 200 dm3 drums and solidification into SIAL® matrix in 200 dm3 drums using the FIZA S 200 facility.The final product is observed for compressive strength, leachability, radionuclide composition, dose rate, solids and total weight. After meeting the requirements for final disposal and consolidation, the drums are being transported for the final disposal to the Repository at Dukovany site.During the 3 month's trial operation in 2010, and the normal operation in 2011 and 2012, 189 tons of dewatered resins have been treated into 1960 drums, with total activity higher than 920 GBq. At the end of trial run (2010), 22 tons of dewatered resins were treated into 235 drums.During standard operation approximately 91 tons in 960 drums (2011) and 76 tons in 765 drums (2012) were treated. The weights of resins in the drum ware in the range from 89–106 kg and compressive strength limit (10 MPa) has already been achieved 24 hours after fixation. The final measured strength values ranged from 19.0–34.7 MPa and real leachability values ranged from 0.03–0.65%, far below the 4% limit value. Collective effective dose of all workers in 2012 was 7.7 mSv (12.6 mSv in 2011, 6.2 mSv in 2010). Average individual effective dose in 2012 was 0.55 mSv (14 workers), and maximal individual effective dose was 2.25 mSv. This approach allows fast, safe and cost effective immobilization and transformation of dangerous radioactive waste such as sludge and resins into the solid form, which is suitable for long term storage or disposal.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Background: In Agile Software Development (ASD) planning is valued more than the resulting plans. Planning and estimation are carried out at multiple levels in ASD. Agile plans and estimates are frequently updated to reflect the current situation. It supports shorter release cycles and flexibility to incorporate changing market and customer needs. Many empirical studies have been conducted to investigate effort estimation in ASD. However, the evidence on effort estimation in ASD has not been aggregated and organized.Objective: This thesis has two main objectives: First, to identify and aggregate evidence, from both literature and industry, on effort estimation in ASD. Second, to support research and practice on effort estimation in ASD by organizing the identified knowledge.Method: In this thesis we conducted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), a systematic mapping study, a questionnaire based industrial survey and an interview based survey.Results: The SLR and survey results showed that agile teams estimate effort, mostly during release and iteration planning, using techniques that are based on experts' subjective assessments. During effort estimation team related cost drivers, such as team members' expertise, are considered important. The results also highlighted that implementation and testing are the only activities that are accounted for in effort estimates by most agile teams. Our mapping study identified that taxonomies in SE are mostly designed and presented in an ad-hoc manner. To fill this gap we updated an existing method to design taxonomies in a systematic way. The method is then used to design taxonomy on effort estimation in ASD using the evidence identified in our SLR and survey as input.Conclusions: The proposed taxonomy is evaluated by characterizing effort estimation cases of selected agile projects reported in literature. The evaluation found that the reporting of the selected studies lacks information related to the context and predictors used during effort estimation in ASD. The taxonomy can be used in consistently reporting effort estimation studies in ASD to facilitate identification, aggregation and analysis of the evidence. The proposed taxonomy was also used to characterize the effort estimation activity of agile teams in three different software companies. The proposed taxonomy was found to be useful by interviewed agile practitioners in documenting important effort estimation related knowledge, which otherwise remain tacit in most cases.