MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules (20 - 24 nucleotides) that inhibit mRNA translation. Demonstrated to have key roles in normal CNS development & function, they have also emerged to have effecter roles in the pathogenesis & endogenous repair mechanisms following stroke. To select 2 miRNAs to modulate therapeutically we profiled miRNA expression of the evolving (24h) & final (72h) peri-infarct tissue of adult spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats (SHRSP) following 45 min transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used for accurate dissection of the peri-infarct tissue, with equivalent brain regions taken from time-matched shams (n=6/group). Of the 754 miRNAs evaluated (TaqMan® human miRNA microarray card v3.0 Applied Biosystems) 89 were determined as differently regulated following tMCAO. 22 of these miRNAs were relevant in stroke & were thus validated by Taqman® qRT-PCR using specific probes (n=9 /group). 5 miRNAs were successfully validated; miR-34b & miR-520b were selected as miRNAs of interest due to their novelty, time of endogenous regulation & targets. An in vitro study to determine whether upregulation/knock-down of these miRNAs would demonstrate functional effects in classical hypoxic pathways was performed. A rat neuronal cell line (B50) & glial cell line (B92) were subjected to 9hr hypoxia (1% O2 -serum) & 24h reoxygenation (+serum) +/- miR-34b or miR-520b regulation. Upregulation of either miRNA in B50 cells demonstrated a reduction in apoptosis, assessed qualitatively by Caspase-3 immunocytochemistry & quantitatively by cell death detection ELISA (p<0.01 vs hypoxic non-treated cells (NTC)). Upregulation of either miRNA in B92 cells significantly reduced superoxide production, assessed by electron paramagnetic resonance (p<0.001 vs hypoxic NTC). MiR-520b significantly lowered levels of lipid peroxidation in B92 cells, assessed by malondialdehyde assay, & both were significantly effective in B50 cells (p<0.01 vs hypoxic NTC). These data suggest miR-34b & -520b upregulation ameliorates damage following hypoxia/reperfusion in cerebral cell lines. Future studies will assess the effect of modulating these miRNAs in vivo.


This research is a feasibility study on the utilization of Global Positioning System (GPS) in Lembaga Pelesenan
Kenderaan Perdagangan (LPKP). GPS is a widely use technology in various sectors such as military, civilian and others, however in this research the focus would be on the transportation vehicles that are being registered with
LPKP. The GPS will not only be used for tracking and controlling but it will be used to locate the location of the vehicle and capable in recording the handling errors of the drivers. The objective of this research is to find out any issues that will arise from the future utilization of the technology, focusing on the transportation's operators, or else later being address as entrepreneur. Thus, it could be used as feedback for the LPKP to take into consideration of the issues, soon.


Abstract:
Lean manufacturing systems have been developed to eliminate or reduce manufacturing waste and thus improve operational efficiency in manufacturing processes. The concept of lean thinking originated from the Toyota production system that determined the value-added activities or steps from non-value added activities or steps; and eliminating waste so that every step adds value to the process. This study examines the quality management processes which are utilized by Libyan manufacturing companies, and offers a methodology to develop lean manufacturing framework. The literature review identified very few studies relevant to the use of lean system and quality improvement techniques in Libya; and no previous studies related specifically to waste reduction and lean systems, and the barriers that prevent lean manufacturing from being implemented in Libyan manufacturing companies. There are several difficulties that are facing lean manufacturing implementation in Libya such as lack of top management support, poor awareness of the importance of the system from workers, absence of lean training programs, and inadequate infrastructure and economic support.

This paper presents a research methodology to developing understanding in order to determine the barriers behind the lack of lean manufacturing implementations in the Libyan manufacturing sector. An understanding of the difficulties that face the implementation of lean manufacturing systems, as a new and modern system, develop suitable framework will help to improve and develop the manufacturing sector in Libya.


Introduction This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of syphilis and HIV infection during pregnancy, the mother to child transmission (MTCT) of syphilis and the incidence of congenital syphilis in incarcerated women in Brazil; to compare these rates to those observed in pregnant women outside of jail; and to verify the maternal factors associated with syphilis infection during pregnancy in free and incarcerated women. Methods We used data from two nationwide studies conducted during the period 2011–2014. The "Birth in Brazil" study included 23 894 free women cared for in 266 hospitals. The "Maternal and Infant Health in Prisons" study included 495 incarcerated pregnant women or mothers living with their children, according to a census conducted in 33 female prisons. The same case definitions and data collection methods were used in both studies. We used the Chi square test to compare the characteristics of incarcerated and free women with a significance of 0.05. Results For incarcerated women, the estimated prevalence of syphilis during pregnancy was 8.7% (IC 95% 5.7–13.1) and for HIV infection 3.3% (IC 95% 1.7–6.6), rates almost 7 times greater than that found in free women. The estimated MTCT of syphilis was 66.7% (IC 95% 44.7–83.2) and the incidence of congenital syphilis at birth was 58.1 per 1000 living newborns (IC 95% 40.4–82.8), rates two and 12.6 times higher than in free women, respectively. Incarcerated women showed greater social vulnerability and worse results in all the evaluated antenatal indicators. Syphilis infection was associated with social vulnerability in free women, but not in incarcerated women. Conclusion Incarcerated women had a higher prevalence of syphilis and HIV infection during pregnancy, lower quality of antenatal care and higher levels of social vulnerability. Health initiatives in the prison system are necessary to reduce healthcare inequalities and should include adequate antenatal and birth care with opportune diagnosis and treatment of infected pregnant women as recommended in national and international guidelines.


In view of the inconsistency of channel gains and a large amount of interference noise in Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer (SBRS) observation data, they will seriously affect the analysis of SBRS data. In this paper, a method of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) detection and mitigation for SBRS observation data is reported. Firstly, the SBRS observation data are preprocessed, a part of the observation data was selected to calculate the mean and variance to achieve the normalization of the entire observation data, which can avoid the influence of strong noise on the normalization result. Furthermore, we proposed an adaptive threshold RFI detection method based on fusion wavelet transform reconstruction and an RFI elimination method based on neighborhood weighted filling. It is worth mentioning that to detect RFI interference signals of different magnitudes, we adopted an iterative approach to the RFI detection and mitigation process. Through qualitative analysis of real observation data and quantitative analysis of simulated data, it is shown that the method proposed in this paper can effectively eliminate RFI in SBRS observation data, and improve the quality of observation data for further scientific analysis.


The paper addresses issues concerning modeling and analysis of tool flow within a three-machine manufacturing cell used for small batch manufacturing of a definite spectrum of prismatic parts. The approach utilizes a method for job and tool allocation to work centers with limited number of machines and capacity of tool resources, based on the analysis of formalized relations: job - tool sets required. Selected tool flow control rules are considered with respect to assumed performance measures of such machining cell. These rules are amply studied using methods and means of interactive simulation. A case study derived from industrial practice, using the database of a medium-sized manufacturing company is also included.


ABSTRACT Wolf management actions are seldom universally accepted and understanding diverse opinions is of value for conservation practitioners. Previous research has either investigated cognitions or emotions to understand public acceptability of wolf management actions. We investigated both concepts simultaneously to identify whether their predictive potentials are mutually exclusive. A survey measuring wildlife value orientations, valence (positive-negative emotions) toward wolves, and responses to wolf management actions (doing nothing, public education, lethal control) was completed by 597 Dutch and German university students. Valence predicted the acceptability of all wolf management actions. Wildlife value orientations predicted the acceptability of lethal control and partially public education but not of doing nothing. Emotions thus added predictive potential next to cognitions to understand responses to wolf management actions. For both research and practice, it is important to acknowledge that the acceptability of wolf management actions is not only guided by what people think, but also by what they feel.


Event trigger detection, entity mention recognition, event argument extraction, and relation extraction are the four important tasks in information extraction that have been performed jointly (Joint Information Extraction - JointIE) to avoid error propagation and leverage dependencies between the task instances (i.e., event triggers, entity mentions, relations, and event arguments). However, previous JointIE models often assume heuristic manually-designed dependency between the task instances and mean-field factorization for the joint distribution of instance labels, thus unable to capture optimal dependencies among instances and labels to improve representation learning and IE performance. To overcome these limitations, we propose to induce a dependency graph among task instances from data to boost representation learning. To better capture dependencies between instance labels, we propose to directly estimate their joint distribution via Conditional Random Fields. Noise Contrastive Estimation is introduced to address the maximization of the intractable joint likelihood for model training. Finally, to improve the decoding with greedy or beam search in prior work, we present Simulated Annealing to better find the globally optimal assignment for instance labels at decoding time. Experimental results show that our proposed model outperforms previous models on multiple IE tasks across 5 datasets and 2 languages.


Though decentralization for past one and half decade or so has become the most favoured policy priority among the policy makers yet the countries around the world differ dramatically in the degree of decentralization that is accommodated. While diversity in degree of decentralization across the world is a fact yet there is no consensus in the empirical literature over the questions like 'which country is more decentralized?' This is because decentralization is defined and measured differently in different studies. In fact, a true assessment of the degree of decentralization in a country can be made only if a comprehensive approach is adopted and rather than trying to simplify the syndrome of characteristics into the single dimension of autonomy, interrelationships of various dimensions of decentralization are taken into account. Thus it is to be realized that there is no simple one dimensional, quantifiable index of degree of decentralization in a given country. As there is wide diversity in the studies on degree of decentralization so is the case with the literature on outcomes of it. Outcome varies not only because decentralization can appear in various forms and combinations across countries but also because different instruments may have very different effects in different ccircumstances. Thus arriving at the precise definition of decentralization and associating it with particular outcomes is neither possible nor desirable for the simple reason that generalization of any kind can create pitfalls that can obscure rather than clarify the facts. What is more important is the need for a strictly contextual yet comprehensive approach while going beyond the blunt measures like expenditure decentralization and taking politics and institutional arrangements of the specific case under investigation also into account.


Background and Hypothesis:
Intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) turnover occurs every four-to-five days. In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), IECs undergo increased cell death due to inflammation of intestinal villi and colonic crypts. This cell death leads to increased permeability of the intestinal barrier. This study examined the pathogenesis of IBD, focusing on innate immunity using mice with spontaneous innate immune colitis. The objective was to observe if there is a significant difference in expression of apoptosis in colitic mice vs. control mice.
Experimental Design:
Mice expressing the NF-kB inhibitor TNFAIP3 in the villi of IECs were interbred with RAG1-/- mice. TNFAIP3 x RAG1-/- (TRAG) mice developed 100% penetrant colitis by 6 weeks of age that was not observed in TNFAIP3 or RAG1-/- littermates. The presence of activated caspase-3 in distal colons was detected using immunofluorescence and quantified using ImageJ to compare differences between 4- and 8-week-old RAG vs.TRAG mice.
Results:
Increased numbers of caspase-3+ cells were found in TRAG mice compared to RAG mice. After treatment with antibiotics, similar levels of capase-3 were detected in both groups.
Conclusion and Potential Impact:
This investigation suggests that cell death in TRAG mice were increased due to deficient innate immunity in IECs. Thus, bacteria play a direct role by killing IECs or an indirect role by causing inflammation. Understanding how innate immune activation drives cell death in IECs, may lead to a better understanding of the complex regulation of IBD, and improved therapeutic agents targeting novel cell types in the remission of chronic IBD.


Abstract This paper analyses quality of the living flowers and plants transportation. A part of this paper compares the demands for a particular transport mode and a practical demonstration of these transport modes within a specific transport mode. The paper presents a survey of quality of services provided by individual transport modes.


People, problems, and proofs are the lifeblood of theoretical computer science. Behind the computing devices and applications that have transformed our lives are clever algorithms, and for every worthwhile algorithm there is a problem that it solves and a proof that it works. Before this proof there was an open problem: can one create an efficient algorithm to solve the computational problem? And, finally, behind these questions are the people who are excited about these fundamental issues in our computational world. In this book the authors draw on their outstanding research and teaching experience to showcase some key people and ideas in the domain of theoretical computer science, particularly in computational complexity and algorithms, and related mathematical topics. They show evidence of the considerable scholarship that supports this young field, and they balance an impressive breadth of topics with the depth necessary to reveal the power and the relevance of the work described. Beyond this, the authors discuss the sustained effort of their community, revealing much about the culture of their field. A career in theoretical computer science at the top level is a vocation: the work is hard, and in addition to the obvious requirements such as intellect and training, the vignettes in this book demonstrate the importance of human factors such as personality, instinct, creativity, ambition, tenacity, and luck. The authors' style is characterized by personal observations, enthusiasm, and humor, and this book will be a source of inspiration and guidance for graduate students and researchers engaged with or planning careers in theoretical computer science.


Rent control is a property restriction that prevents homeowners from putting their property to its most productive use. Strict rent control policies protect current tenants at the cost of reduced surplus from home buyers, sellers, renters and landlords. Because homebuyers must relinquish certain rental and constructive property rights, the listing price reflects increased ownership/transaction costs. By comparing vacant and occupied San Francisco units' impact on listing price, a relationship between list price and the costs associated with a tenant-occupied unit. The Kaldor-Hicks Optimality Criteria requires efficient policies to generate a net societal benefit, even if one group benefits as many others lose. By analyzing estimated impacts from each rented or vacant unit, benefit-cost analysts can determine whether society as a whole truly benefits from strict rent control policies.


A major ongoing effort by utilities is to improve their emergency preparedness process for weather events, in order to: 1) reduce outage time 2) reduce repair and restoration costs and 3) improve customer satisfaction. This paper proposes a method for forecasting the number of damages of different types that will result from a weather event, up to 3 days before the event actually occurs. The proposed method overcomes practical issues with sparsity of historical damage and weather records by 1) using a spatial clustering-based scheme to work even in cases where there are very few historical incidents of damage, 2) combining data from multiple weather observation networks, 3) using weather hindcast data and 4) accounting for variability in damage susceptibility across different substation regions. The performance of the method is evaluated on real utility data.


It is anticipated that traditional methods of cooling that employ the sensible heat transfer provided by fuels will not be sufficient to meet the cooling requirements of future high-performance aircraft. One potential solution is the use of endothermic fuels, which absorb heat through chemical reactions. However, few studies have analyzed the effects of pressure on a chemically reacting, flowing fuel. An experiment is described that studies the effects of pressure on flowing, mildly cracked, supercritical n-decane. The experimental results are studied with the aid of a unique two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model that simulates the formation of cracked products from experimentally derived proportional distributions. This model is used to study the effect of pressure on the flow properties of the fuel. The experiments indicate that increasing pressure enhances bimolecular pyrolysis reactions, relative to unimolecular reactions. Increasing pressure also increases the overall conversion rate of supercritical n-decane flowing through a reactor. This is primarily because pressure increases the density, which increases the residence time of n-decane flowing through the reactor.


Multiple reception antenna assisted Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) techniques designed for wireless Orthogonal Frequency division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems have recently drawn wide interests. These techniques facilitate the implementation of effective multi-user detection algorithms at the receiver. A prerequisite of their operation is the availability of an estimate of the channels' frequency domain transfer functions. This contribution analyses a recursive Decision-Directed Channel Estimator (DDCE). Our simulation results demonstrate that this channel transfer function estimator is capable of outperforming state-of-the-art transversal filter based DDCEs in terms of the mean-square estimation error in scenarios, where the product of the number of transmit antennas and the number of CIR taps to be estimated per transmit antenna approaches the number of subcarriers hosted by an OFDM symbol.


Aims: The aim of the symposium is to: (a) bring together researchers that work on Compensatory Health Beliefs (CHBs) to discuss new research and developments within the area; (b) bridge the topic of CHBs with cognate areas of research into self-regulation; (c) discuss the impact of CHBs on health behaviours; and (d) discuss the application of CHB theory within different behavioural contexts (i.e. bicycle helmet use, exercise, and overeating). Rationale: It is now 10 years since the first publication (2004) on CHBs, which presents a good opportunity to discuss the progress of research into CHBs (in terms of theory and application) and to discuss the concept alongside other theories of self-regulation. By doing so, we stand to generate new research directions for research in this field. Summary: The symposium will present research looking at the application of CHB theory to a number of key health behaviours (i.e., bicycle helmet use, exercise and overeating). The presentations will delve into more detail as to how CHBs are influenced by self-efficacy, and the role that CHBs play within health behaviour theory. The role of dispositional and situational CHBs will be discussed, as will the impact of negative affect on over-eating behaviour. Finally, the symposium will also examine the predictive validity of exercise-specific CHBs and their role within health behaviour. Running order: 1. Compensatory Health Behaviour in Bicycle Helmet Use 2. Effects of dispositional and situational compensatory health beliefs on high calorie snack consumption 3. Negative affect as a justification for overeating 4. Southern Fried Jogging: Exercise specific compensatory health beliefs and health behaviour 5. "When I exercise regularly it is easier for me to eat healthily": The role of transfer and compensatory health cognitions in health behaviour theory


Photoaging is primarily composed of wrinkling, mottled hyperpigmentation and a tactile roughness of the skin, all three of these parameters improve following use of topical retinoids. It appears that smoothening of the skin results from a combination of epidermal changes including thickening, stratum corneum compaction and glycosaminoglycan deposition. Lightening of actinic lentigines and mottled hyperpigmentation correlates with a reduction in epidermal melanin content maybe resulting from inhibition of tyrosinase activity. Effacement of wrinkling in mice correlates with new collagen synthesis, and there is evidence that this is also the case in humans. An irritant dermatitis is a feature of retinoid-treated skin but this diminishes in severity during treatment despite continued improvement in photoaging. Thus it is unlikely that irritation per se is responsible for clinical improvement.


Summary

We propose an approach for estimating the permeability tensor using seismic emission induced by borehole hydraulic tests or by a fluid injection of an arbitrary nature. This approach provides a single estimation of the permeability tensor for the complete heterogeneous rock volume where the seismic emission was recorded. The approach is an extension of the method proposed by Shapiro et al. (1997) for the isotropic case. It is based on the hypothesis that the triggering front of the hydraulic-induced microseismicity propagates like a low-frequency second-type compressional Biot wave (corresponding to the process of pore-pressure relaxation) in an effective homogeneous anisotropic poroelastic fluid-saturated medium. The permeability tensor of this effective medium is the permeability tensor of the heterogeneous rock volume upscaled to the characteristic size of the seismically active region. We demonstrate the method using the microseismic data collected during the Hot Dry Rock Soultz-sous-Forets experiment (Dyer et al. 1994). These data show that the corresponding rock volume is characterized by a significant permeability anisotropy caused by oriented crack systems. The maximal principal component of the permeability tensor has a subvertical orientation. It is about seven times larger than the minimal subhorizontal principal component.


Professor Ross's article on symbol and structure in the Secunda Pastorum which appeared in the pages of the Spring 1967 issue of this periodicall drew careful attention to the gifts which the Shepherds present to the Christ Child at the end of the play a "bob of cherys," a "byrd," and a "ball" and particularly stressed that the Wakefield gifts were not selected with an "idealized pastoral symbolism in mind" and that they represented "a break with English dramatic . . . tradition" and even with English artistic tradition in that the gifts are not homely and rustic and not visualized in "contemporary realism" (p. 126). Ross's conclusion that "the inspiration for the specific gifts, at once simple and significant, must, it would seem, have come from medieval art" amply supported by his extraordinarily careful study of medieval iconographical traditional presentation of cherry, bird, and ball in association with the Christ figure receives support from an iconographical quarter which by the merest of chances he seems not to have investigated, and which, but for an extraordinary coincidence in the present writer's study, would have continued lying in limbo. Moreover, of all the exempla of the religious art of the period to which Ross has referred not one specifically contained all three symbols in one coherent unit. As Ross points out, the ball is the symbolic orb of Christ's kingship, the bird the symbol of his divinity, the cherry the symbol of his sacrificial manhood, but these interpretations have had to be arrived at from random exempla in which frequently two of the symbols will be found together, such as the Child with a cherry in his hand, or the birds with cherries in their beaks (See Ross's figure 7), or the Child with an orb in his hand (See figure 1), or the child with both the orb and the bird (see figure 3) . I wish to draw attention now to a famous exemplum of medieval art which in one unit combined all three symbols about to be offered to the Christ Child by one of the Magi. It was not until I saw the illustrated article on "Black Lamps: White Mirrors" in Time for October 3, 1969,2 showing author-critic Alexander Eliot's assembly of examples of Negroes in art in Rembrandt, Rubens, and others, and especially in Bosch's "Adoration of the Magi," that a detail of Bosch's


: To improve amino acid composition and to rise the sum of sulfur-containing amino acids, 5 samples of milk protein with varying ratios of casein and serum proteins (24:76; 45:55; 61:39; 73:27; 94:6) were prepared with the use of the membrane technology under conditions of experimental production. Biological experiments conducted with the use of "growth" and "balance" methods have shown a rise of biological value with the increasing of serum protein share reaching its maximum value at a ratio of 61:39. Further elevation of the serum protein share (73:27; 94:6) led to a decrease of biological value. Advantages are stressed of the membrane technology in the production of high-quality milk products.


Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) from cigarettes causes an estimated 41,000 deaths among nonsmoking U.S. adults each year and an estimated $5.6 billion annually in lost productivity caused by premature death. In a 2006 report, the Surgeon General concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to SHS. Although an increasing proportion of the population is covered by state or local comprehensive smokefree laws that prohibit tobacco smoking in all indoor public places and worksites, including restaurants and bars, millions of nonsmokers continue to be exposed to SHS in areas not covered by smokefree laws or policies, including homes. The home is the primary source of SHS exposure for children and a major source of exposure for nonsmoking adults. To assess progress toward increasing the proportion of households with smokefree home rules, CDC analyzed the most recent data from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey. Households were considered to have a smokefree home rule if all adult respondents aged ≥18 years in the household reported that no one was allowed to smoke anywhere inside the home at any time. The analysis found that the national prevalence of smokefree home rules increased from 43.0% during 1992-1993 to 83.0% during 2010-2011. Over the same period, the national prevalence of smokefree home rules increased from 56.7% to 91.4% among households with no adult cigarette smokers and from 9.6% to 46.1% among households with at least one adult smoker. Enhanced implementation of evidence-based interventions (e.g., comprehensive smokefree laws, voluntary smokefree home rules, smokefree multiunit housing policies, and initiatives to educate the public about the health effects of SHS) is warranted to further reduce SHS exposure in the United States.


One of the principal problems in the democratic countries today is to determine the rights of the individual owner, and of the nation, in the utilization of land. The emplexities of modern life have affected previously held concepts regarding land use; and the idea that ownership permits the use or misuse of land, without regard to the effects of that usage upon the economics of the nation and the well-being of the community has been modified by public opinion and curbed by legislation...
As far as can be ascertained there are no previous writings which deal with the importance of valuation to the national economy, and it would have been possible to have limited this work to an examination of valuation since 1939 by drawing on first-hand knowledge: to have done so would have meant a loss of perspective. This thesis falls into four sections, the first of which is a brief history of valuation, and an appreciation of its place, from the earliest times, in the national econony. A wide range of authorities was consulted and research was not easy, because most of their references to valuation are only incidental, and often obscure. It will be shown that valuation was one of the main functions of administration in Ancient Greece and Rome and that that the course of English history was profoundly influenced by valuation policy. The Domesday Survey was the first inquiry in England into the national wealth; the Saladin Tithe and later the exactions by John led to Magna Carta, whilst the system of valuation from 1290 to 1334 was one of the roots of the representative system...


EXCEPT for case studies, most of the literature in which specific signs and symptoms are empirically associated with a diagnosis of "schizophrenia" or "schizophrenic reaction" consists of reports of cross-sectional data associated with a single hospitalization. Relatively little systematic attention has been paid to the consistency of schizophrenic symptoms over time and over multiple hospitalizations. The purpose of this study is to examine the presenting complaints, signs and symptoms, which required two hospitalizations of the same group of patients over a two-year period. Each individual's symptoms and diagnosis on an index hospitalization are compared with those on readmission. Subjects and Methods Subjects were drawn from the total group of 403 enlisted men discharged from the Psychiatry Service of Walter Reed General Hospital with a final diagnosis of schizophrenic reaction during the period of February 1962 to May 1963.


Restoration of coastal wetlands has the potential to deliver both climate change mitigation, called blue carbon, and adaptation benefits to coastal communities, as well as supporting biodiversity and providing additional ecosystem services. Valuing carbon sequestration may incentivize restoration projects; however, it requires development of rigorous methods for quantifying blue carbon sequestered during coastal wetland restoration. We describe the development of a blue carbon accounting model (BlueCAM) used within the Tidal Restoration of Blue Carbon Ecosystems Methodology Determination 2022 of the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), which is Australia's voluntary carbon market scheme. The new BlueCAM uses Australian data to estimate abatement from carbon and greenhouse gas sources and sinks arising from coastal wetland restoration (via tidal restoration) and aligns with the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. BlueCAM includes carbon sequestered in soils and biomass and avoided emissions from alternative land uses. A conservative modeled approach was used to provide estimates of abatement (as opposed to on‐ground measurements); and in doing so, this will reduce the costs associated with monitoring and verification for ERF projects and may increase participation in blue carbon projects by Australian landholders. BlueCAM encompasses multiple climate regions and plant communities and therefore may be useful to others outside Australia seeking to value blue carbon benefits from coastal wetland restoration.


We examine a test for weak stationarity against alternatives that covers both local-stationarity and break point models. A key feature of the test is that its asymptotic distribution is a functional of the standard Brownian bridge sheet in [0,1]2, so that it does not depend on any unknown quantity. The test has nontrivial power against local alternatives converging to the null hypothesis at a T−1/2 rate, where T is the sample size. We also examine an easy-to-implement bootstrap analogue and present the finite sample performance in a Monte Carlo experiment. Finally, we implement the methodology to assess the stability of inflation dynamics in the United States and on a set of neuroscience tremor data.


As marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly being utilised as a tool for fishery management, their impact on the food web needs to be fully understood. However, little is known about the effect of MPAs on fish assemblages, especially in the presence of different life history and ecological traits. Modelling the observed changes in fish population structures may provide a mechanistic understanding of fish assemblage dynamics. In addition, modelling allows a quantitative estimate of MPA spill-over. To achieve this purpose, we adapted an existing ecosystem model, OSMOSE (Object-oriented simulator of marine biodiversity exploitation), to the specific case of the presence of fish with multiple life histories. The adapted model can manage 4 main categories of life history identified in an estuary MPA: fish that (1) spend their entire life cycle locally, (2) are present only as juveniles, (3) enter the area as juveniles and stay permanently except during reproduction periods, which occur outside the estuary, and (4) are present occasionally and for a short time for foraging purposes. To take into account these specific life-history traits, the OSMOSE code was modified. This modelling approach was developed in the context of the Bamboung Bolong MPA, located in a mangrove area in the Sine-Saloum Delta, Senegal. This was the ideal case to develop our approach as there has been scientific monitoring of the fish population structure inside the MPA before fishery closure, providing a reference state, and continuous monitoring since the closure. Ecologically similar species were pooled by trophic traits into 15 groups that represented 97% of the total biomass. Lower trophic levels (LTL) were represented by 6 compartments. The biomass of the model species was calibrated to reproduce the reference situation before fishery closure. Model predictions of fish assemblage changes after fishery closure corresponding to the Bamboung MPA creation scenario were compared to field observations; in most cases the model reproduces observed changes in biomass (at least in direction). We suggest the existence of a "sanctuary effect", that was not taken into account in the model, this could explain the observed increase in biomass of top predators not reproduced by the model. Finally, the annual MPA fish spill-over was estimated at 11 tons (~33% of the fish biomass) from the model output, mainly due to diffusive effects.


Abstract: A new method for estimating the duration of a mud volcano eruption is applied to the LUSI mud volcano in East Java. The estimate is based upon carbonates at depths in the range 2500–3500 m being the water source, with an estimated area of 100–600 km2, thickness of 0.2–1.0 km, porosity of 0.15–0.25, an initial pressure between 13.9 and 17.6 MPa, and a separate, shallower source of mud (c. 1200–1800 m depth). The resulting 50 percentile for the time it takes for flow to decline to <0.1 Ml day−1 is 26 years. By analogy with natural mud volcanoes it can be expected to continue to flow at lower rates for thousands of years. Assuming subsidence rates of between 1 and 5 cm day−1, land surface subsidence of between c. 95 and c. 475 m can be expected to develop within the 26 year time period.


OBJECTIVE
The significance of estimated glomerular filtration rate (e-GFR) in diabetic nephropathy has yet to be clearly determined. We therefore compared albuminuria and e-GFR for usefulness in predicting progressive decline in renal function.

METHODS
A total of 1,303 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus whose e-GFR was more than 30 mL/min/1.73 m(2) were followed for three years. Associations of clinical staging based on AER and that based on e-GFR with progression of renal insufficiency (e-GFR <30 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) were evaluated.

RESULTS
On univariate analysis, both clinical stages based on e-GFR and AER were significant variables (p<0.05). On multiple logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio for macroalbuminuria was 132.3, and that for microalbuminuria was 10.3 while that for e-GFR less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) was 9.0 for further deterioration of renal function. On the other hand, subjects without albuminuria exhibited a rate of disease progression of less than 1% irrespective of e-GFR level.

CONCLUSIONS
Both albuminuria and reduced e-GFR are significant and independent risk factors for further deterioration of diabetic nephropathy, though albuminuria had a greater odds ratio than reduced e-GFR for deterioration of renal function over a three-year period. e-GFR exhibited additive risk for deterioration of diabetic nephropathy within three years only when albuminuria was present.


Aspects and methods for examining the connection between personal names and ethnicity
It is a difficult task to determine the value of proper names in ethnic reconstruction. This can be considered a dubious area of onomastic/linguistic and historical research. Even the explanation of the basic concepts seems to be problematic; still, defining ethnicity and identifying the nature of the connection between ethnicity and language cannot be avoided. It is also important to define the value of the different types of personal names as sources: what can and cannot the research into the etymology of surnames be used for, what are the factors that have an impact on linguistic recon-struction, how can individual names help ethnic reconstruction, etc. After summarizing the back-ground research of name analysis in Hungary, the author presents a multi-level method of ethnic reconstruction based on personal names. The procedure tries to separate the determination of the name's etymology from that of the ethnic affiliation, placing the examination objectives at separate levels. On the first level, the etymology of the surnames is determined and the linguistic background of the name is explored by considering linguistic aspects only, paying attention to the rules of ety-mological and onomastic research. The author separates two levels of the examination of ethnic reconstruction that are built upon each other. On the one hand, the linguistic features of the indi-vidual names are observed, and then other information on name sociology (e.g. social status, majority population), referring directly or indirectly to ethnic background, is taken into consideration.


Nanostructure technology has been studied by electron beam induced surface reaction using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Atomic layer etching for GaAs has been achieved by STM-assisted etching using a Cl2 adlayer. Moreover the side-wall roughness of GaAs patterns etched by reactive ion beam etching has been successfully measured using a new STM tip made by electron beam deposition.


The Schumpeterian theory of long waves has given rise to an intense debate on the existence of clusters of basic innovations. Silverberg and Lehnert have criticised the empirical part of this literature on several methodological accounts. In this paper, we propose the methodology of Poisson regression as a logical way of incorporating this criticism. We construct a new time series for basic innovations (based on previously used time series), and use this to test the hypothesis that basic innovations cluster in time. We define the concept of clustering in various precise ways before undertaking the statistical tests. The evidence we find supports only the 'weakest' of our clustering hypotheses, i.e., that the data display overdispersion. We thus conclude that the authors who have argued that a long wave in economic life is driven by clusters of basic innovations have stretched the statistical evidence too far. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.


Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and Fe3O4 magnetite particles were coated on spherical Kissirises; glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme was immobilized on Kissiris/Fe3O4/TiO2 by physical adsorption. This catalyst was analyzed by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) measurements. The performance of the prepared biocatalyst in the decolorization of Malachite Green dye was investigated. The optimal operation parameters were 20 mg/L, 20 mM, 5.5 and 40 C for initial dye concentration, initial glucose concentration, pH and temperature, respectively. Under these conditions, a 95% Malachite Green decolorization efficiency was obtained after 150 min of reaction by using 1 g of prepared heterogeneous bio-Fenton catalyst. In this process, in contrast to a conventional Fenton's reaction, external hydrogen peroxide and ferrous ion sources were not used. The effect of various reaction parameters such as initial concentration of dye, amount of catalyst, concentration of glucose, pH value and temperature on MG decolorization efficiency was studied.


We present a systematic study of the effect of the sputtering parameters on the structure and composition of InSb film. The effect of the sputtering parameters on the crystallographic structure of InSb films is discussed in terms of the kinetic energy of the particle bombarding the growing film. Measurements of the chemical composition show that In to Sb concentration ratio increases with the increase of working pressure because Sb atoms are more rapidly thermalized by collisions with argon atoms during the transport process of the sputtered atoms. And the composition of the films is governed by the Sb re-evaporation process at the surface of the growing films. In to Sb concentration ratio is enhanced by increasing the substrate temperature (essentially) or RF power.


Heart failure is a multi-faceted syndrome with diverse etiologies. Knowledge of the cause can be crucial to therapy and management including long term strategy planning. The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence and etiology of heart failure present in Qatari residents, which is a mix of multiple ethnicities. Qatar is today one of the leading growing economies of the world and witnessing a population boom. It is currently undergoing major lifestyle changes, which comes with aplenty due to recently discovered vast natural resources. Enhanced knowledge of disease incidence/prevalence in the Qatari environment can have a prospect of developing and evaluating novel and more effective approaches for disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment in the future. Methods: Our study was conducted in a total of 50 patients over a period of 21 months in a tertiary care institute. Detailed clinical history, followed by examination and laboratory tests were performed to identify the etiology and data analyzed to study the prevalence. Results: Our study revealed that in all cases of HF admitted in our hospital, 52% were males and 48% were females. The occurrence of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) was highest between 50 and 80 years in both males and females. The relation of CHF to various etiologies has been discussed. The data has also been compared with select international studies and the variations discussed. Conclusion: Major etiology of CHF was a combination of lifestyle disease, Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus and Ischemic heart disease. Minor causes included Valvular heart disease, chronic arrhythmias, and myocarditis and conduction system disease.


Uniformity of magnetic field distribution over a wireless charging surface can be improved by having high-permeability ferrite material. In this paper, 0.5mm-thick ferrite material is appropriately shaped and disposed above a power transmitting unit (PTU) resonator. As an example, a three-turn coil incorporating the ferrite is analyzed and measured. Simulation and measurement show that peak of magnetic field is significantly reduced by 55% while maintaining almost same average magnetic field strength on the wireless charging surface, compared to the same coil without ferrite. The benefit of having uniform magnetic field is also demonstrated by measuring the induced voltage on a receiver where the ratio between minimum and maximum voltage is within 1:2. This indicates that a power receiving unit (PRU) receives more uniform power delivery regardless of position on a charging area. The distance from the charging coil to the charging surface is as low as 2mm from the PTU resonator.


Evapotranspiration generally has been estimated on a small scale because of cost and time required for measurements. Thermal scanners provide a possible way of estimating water loss from surfaces by using remotely sensed surface temperatures. In this study, designed to evaluate the feasibility of using canopy temperatures in estimating evapotranspiration (ET), we employed five equations. Sorghum bicolor L (Moench) was used in the field investigation. Three of the equations were the well-known methods of van Bavel, Penman, and energy budget-Bowen ratio. The other two use the temperature of the evaporating surface in estimating ET and are referred to as the Bartholic-Namken-Wiegand (B-N-W) and Brown-Rosenberg (B-R) methods. Using simple linear regression and correlation analyses, we found the B-N-W estimates to be approximately 17% smaller and the B-R estimates to be approximately 22% larger than typical estimates obtained by the Penman and energy budget-Bowen ratio methods. Both methods appear usable in determining ET rates of vegetated surfaces, with the B-N-W method requiring less input data than the B-R method


With MUSE, Chandra, VLA, ALMA, and UVIT data from the GASP program, we study the multiphase baryonic components in a jellyfish galaxy (JW100) with a stellar mass 3.2 × 1011 M⊙ hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN). We present its spectacular extraplanar tails of ionized and molecular gas, UV stellar light, and X-ray and radio continuum emission. This galaxy represents an excellent laboratory to study the interplay between different gas phases and star formation and the influence of gas stripping, gas heating, and AGNs. We analyze the physical origin of the emission at different wavelengths in the tail, in particular in situ star formation (related to Hα, CO, and UV emission), synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons (producing the radio continuum), and heating of the stripped interstellar medium (ISM; responsible for the X-ray emission). We show the similarities and differences of the spatial distributions of ionized gas, molecular gas, and UV light and argue that the mismatch on small scales (1 kpc) is due to different stages of the star formation process. We present the relation Hα–X-ray surface brightness, which is steeper for star-forming regions than for diffuse ionized gas regions with a high [O i]/Hα ratio. We propose that ISM heating due to interaction with the intracluster medium (either for mixing, thermal conduction, or shocks) is responsible for the X-ray tail, observed [O i] excess, and lack of star formation in the northern part of the tail. We also report the tentative discovery in the tail of the most distant (and among the brightest) currently known ULX, a pointlike ultraluminous X-ray source commonly originating in a binary stellar system powered by either an intermediate-mass black hole or a magnetized neutron star.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between trust and contract in the context of externalized local public services provision. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-theoretical framework is used to analyse different combinations of control mechanisms (i.e. trust and contract) with reference to three cases of externalized water service provision in Estonia consisting of inter-organizational relationships between local governments and water companies with different ownership structures (public, private and mixed public-private). Findings – The relationship between trust and contract, which can either be substitutes or complements, or eventually erode each other, is contingent upon the capacity of interacting individuals (and related organizations) to keep interests aligned in water services provision. Originality/value – The relationship between trust and contract is analysed by considering the interactions between key actors within the underlying governance setting.


Speleothems, chemical cave deposits such as soda-straw stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones,
have great potential as archives of high-resolution terrestrial palaeoenvironmental change at both
short and long term temporal scales. In this study temporal control is achieved using various high
precision radiometric techniques such as TIMS 230Th/234 U dating, AMS radiocarbon dating, and
210Pb excess dating, the latter two methods used to investigate contemporary speleothem material.
An additional method adopted only with certain samples, but showing considerable promise, is
autocorrelation of annual variations in speleothem minor element concentrations. 43 new TIMS
230Th/234 U speleothem age estimates from several karst areas in Tasmania are presented as a
cumulative frequency distribution and are compared with some previously published and
unpublished speleothem data from southeast Australian continent. The distribution of ages allows
some comments to be made on past environmental conditions and their effect on speleothem
growth in southeastern Australia.
Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has been used to
investigate minor element variations along the whole growth axis of several speleothems. Some
soda-straw stalactites are found to contain quasi-periodical variations in their minor element
composition, in some cases it is in phase with surface ridges, ie annual banding, sometimes visible
on the surface. Measurements of the surface ridging using dendrochronological equipment allow a
temporal framework to be developed and comparisons to be made between this chronology and
one established using the annual cyclicity of certain minor elements. The chronologies agree very
closely, indicating that soda-straw stalactites can potentially provide annually resolved records.
Measurements of the minor element and stable isotope composition of flowstone material have
been taken in order to provide records of palaeoenvironmental change in areas not previously
studied in southeastern Australia using speleothems as an information source.


While unemployment has been the common experience of OECD countries over the last three decades, there have also been significant differences in its severity and extent. These differences were characterised in the 1990s as a "trade‐off" between unemployment and wage inequality. According to this argument, the USA has achieved relatively low unemployment at the cost of widening inequality, while Europe has only been able to maintain equality at the cost of high unemployment. This introduction to selected papers from Australia's 6th National Conference on Unemployment questions whether such a trade‐off is well grounded in the evidence, and suggests that it may instead be thought of as an ideological construct which has been deployed to make a case for US‐style labour market deregulation and "workfare" against the supposedly inflexible European social democratic model.


Background Pacific people are dying younger compared to other New Zealanders because of complications resulting from uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus. Good diabetes control is achievable with early use of insulin because of its effectiveness, and proven long term benefits to quality of life. An understanding of how Samoan people with type 2 diabetes make their transition to insulin therapy will assist in understanding how insulin is perceived, which will inform health care professionals in their work with those diagnosed with diabetes. Aim of Research The aim of the research is to explore and describe how Samoan people with type 2 diabetes in New Zealand made the transition to insulin therapy for better glycaemic control. Design The Fonofale Model was used as the theoretical framework, from which to understand Samoan peoples' experiences. This research used a qualitative descriptive methodology. In-depth interviews were used to gather the stories of four Samoan participants over the age of 18 years diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Three major themes emerged from the analysis of the participants' stories. These were: living with diabetes, making the transition to insulin therapy and realisation. The findings led to the creation of the Ia Malu model, which describes the experiences of the participants in this study. Conclusion This study confirmed that there are immense challenges and struggles encountered by people with diabetes. Their adjustment to the illness as well as making the transition to using insulin takes time. As a result of this, it is fundamental for nurses/health care professionals to understand that this is the reality for these people, and they must therefore provide time for people to adjust.


With the increasing level of milk consumption in Indonesia, such as Indonesia's population of 252 million, the level of consumption of dairy products will increase the nutritional needs. Ultramilk Milk is the dominant dairy market (40% in Indonesia and milk cimory is a newcomer) Ultramilk survivors using Ultra High Technology (UHT) technology that is more durable milk does not have the required content value whereas milk from cimory uses pasturative milk is milk rich in nutrients can not last long. Any benefits of milk will be mixed to create the best design when you want to make a dairy factory. Characteristics (similarities and differences) Freshness, Nutrition, Brand Image, process and packaging in UltraMilk Milk and Milk Ultramilk cimory is just superior in taste After indicator (0.042 < 0.05) in the Freshness variable. Milk Cimory Milk excels in 23 other indiactors such as ketaduasa, aroma of milk, milk taste, milk color, no impurities, net value information, composition information, calorie information, carbohydrate information, fat information, protein information, vitamin information, mineral information, water content, image, Koorporat image, product image, user image, process temperature, protein content, exposure time, flavor variant, variant size and packaging form with the highest value possessed by kimory milk is protein content in milk beverage in the process. (Pasturation) is also caused by the community has begun to understand and understand that milk pasturization is better in consumption compared to UHT Milk Consumer's assessment of Freshness, Nutrition, Brand Image, Process and packaging on UltraMilk and Cimory Milk is only superior to variable Freshness (Freshness) through the Sense of Milk indicator (4.1504 > 4.0708). Ultra milk is superior to nutrition (nutrition) just about the information Protein is given (4.0354 > 4.0177). For Ultramilk Brand Image has no advantages compared to CimoryMilk In UltraMilk Ultra Milk Processing (Process) also does not have any advantages compared to CimoryMilk. For the Ultramilk Package indicator only superior for the Variable size indicator (3.8053 > 3.7876).


New Economic History of interwar Yugoslavia is uncharted territory. Combining historical data with modern econometrics the present thesis explores how economic development of Yugoslavia - a newly established and diverse country - was shaped by industrial location, market integration and financial crises. The results are relevant for the present as the least economically developed part of Europe today is comprised mostly of Yugoslav successor states.

What determined the location of industry in interwar Yugoslavia? Using panel data econometrics and a new dataset which covers eight Yugoslav regions and ten industries over a period of eight years industrial location is explained by a model in which Heckscher-Ohlin (HO), New Economic Geography (NEG) and Path Dependence theories are captured by interaction variables. Econometric results show that all three of the tested theories had a role to play. History matters in addition to HO and NEG type forces in determining the location of industry.

Were Yugoslav markets integrating during the interwar? If so, what were the drivers? Analysis of a novel panel data set of commodity prices observed over ten cities during the period from 1922 to 1939 shows that market integration increased during the interwar. City-pair commodity market integration is modeled using a set of trade cost. The progress of market integration during the interwar is explained by institutional and infrastructural advancements that reduced transaction and transport costs. Cultural differences did not impede market integration. Yugoslavia set out on a process of economic integration that was not hampered by its diversity.

Did Yugoslavia and six other East European countries experience financial crises during 1931? If so, what were the main contributing factors? Newly gathered high frequency data series on indicators of currency, banking and sovereign risk crises are explored using an analytical narrative. Worsening of economic fundamentals, drop in international credit and global demand, as well as international transmission led to financial crises in Eastern Europe in 1931. Completely avoiding financial crises was elusive but the most economically developed country was the least affected.

This pioneering New Economic History study of interwar Yugoslavia leads to a broad conclusion that present day economic backwardness and regional differences in economic development between Yugoslav successor states are not new and do not stem from a historical lack of market integration but can partly be explained by regionally uneven industrial development and a long history with financial crises.


INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced coagulopathy (CIC) has been widely reported in the literature. However, the spectrum of abnormalities associated with CIC has been highly variable.

METHODS
We conducted a systematic review of the literature (until 1 June 2020) to assess CIC and disease severity during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Primary outcomes were pooled mean differences in platelet count, D-dimer level, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and fibrinogen level between non-severe and severe patients, stratified by degree of hypoxaemia or those who died. The risk factors for CIC were analysed. Random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regression were performed using R version 3.6.1, and certainty of evidence was rated using the Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach.

RESULTS
Of the included 5,243 adult COVID-19 patients, patients with severe COVID-19 had a significantly lower platelet count, and higher D-dimer level, prothrombin time and fibrinogen level than non-severe patients. Pooled mean differences in platelet count (-19.7×109/L, 95% confidence interval [CI] -31.7 to -7.6), D-dimer level (0.8μg/mL, 95% CI 0.5-1.1), prothrombin time (0.4 second, 95% CI 0.2-0.6) and fibrinogen level (0.6g/L, 95% CI 0.3-0.8) were significant between the groups. Platelet count and D-dimer level were significant predictors of disease severity on meta-regression analysis. Older men had higher risks of severe coagulopathic disease.

CONCLUSION
Significant variability in CIC exists between non-severe and severe patients, with platelet count and D-dimer level correlating with disease severity. Routine monitoring of all coagulation parameters may help to assess CIC and decide on the appropriate management.


Hizbullah's initial entry into Lebanon's confessional political system seems contradictory considering the organisation's perpetual view that this electoral system is corrupt and the very cause of Lebanon's problems. Hizbullah views this system to have disenfranchised the Shi'a of Lebanon.   Since its emergence in the 1980s Hizbullah has shifted from the religiously motivated goal of an Islamic revolution in Lebanon to the more nationalistic and secular project of providing ongoing resistance to Israel. This movement can be explained if we consider two separate facets of Hizbullah's identity: It's primordial Shi'a identity, and its identity as a resistance movement. A movement from the former to the latter has taken place.   This work argues that Hizbullah has moved away from placing importance on that which defined it primarily as an organisation seeking the advancement of Shi'a to an identity that places more emphasise on its resistance activities against Israel. This latter identity is more instrumentalist in nature. While placing importance on its Shi'a identity was not counter-productive to participating within politics, it did oblige Hizbullah to adopt more idealistic political projects. Therefore, this shift initially allowed Hizbullah to deal more effectively with the pragmatic realities of political life in Lebanon, for which it requires more broad-based cross-communal support. However, recent events in the Middle East have indicated that Hizbullah's resistance identity may not necessarily guarantee it political success.


Autonomous systems increasingly rely on on-board computation to avoid the latency overheads of offloading to more powerful remote computing. This requires the integration of hardware accelerators to handle the complex computations demanded by data-intensive sensors. FPGAs offer hardware acceleration with ample flexibility and interfacing capabilities when paired with general purpose processors, with the ability to reconfigure at runtime using partial reconfiguration (PR). Managing dynamic hardware is complex and has been left to designers to address in an ad-hoc manner, without first-class integration in autonomous software frameworks. This paper presents an abstracted runtime for managing adaptation of FPGA accelerators, including PR and parametric changes, that presents as a typical interface used in autonomous software systems. We present a demonstration using the Robot Operating System (ROS), showing negligible latency overhead as a result of the abstraction.


Dissolved organic matter (DOM) provides carbon substrates and energy sources for sediment microbes driving benthic biogeochemical processes. The interactions between microbes and DOM are dynamic and complex and require the understanding based on fine-scale microbial community and physicochemical profiling. In this study, we characterized the porewater DOM composition in a 300-cm sediment core from the Pearl River estuary, China, and examined the interactions between DOM and archaeal and bacterial communities. DOM composition were highly stratified and associated with changing microbial communities. Compared to bacteria, the amplicon sequence variants of archaea showed significant Pearson correlations (r ≥ 0.65, P < 0.01) with DOM molecules of low H/C ratios, high C number and double bond equivalents, indicating that the distribution of archaea was closely correlated to recalcitrant DOM while bacteria were associated with relatively labile compounds. This was supported by the presence of auxiliary enzyme families essential for lignin degradation and bcrABCD, UbiX genes for anaerobic aromatic reduction in metagenome-assembled genomes of Bathyarchaeia. Our study demonstrates that niche differentiation between benthic bacteria and archaea may have important consequences in carbon metabolism, particularly for the transformation of recalcitrant organic carbon that may be predominant in aged marine sediments.


Purpose The aim of this study was to the outcome evaluation of the arthroscopic treatment the ankle injuries in the group of soccer players as well as an assessment of returning time to football pitch. Materials and methods This is a retrospective study including all soccer players aged <44 years who underwent arthroscopic treatment of ankle injury between 2007 and 2014 (m, 34; f, 10; mean age 24,2 ± 6.1 years; follow-up 49.6 ± 6.6 months). Every patients playing in the 1st Division, European league, and 2nd Division. Indications to arthroscopy was chronic ankle pain, arthrofibrosis, anterior ankle impingement, intraarticular contractures and loose bodies, post- traumatic osteochondral lesions, osteochondritis dissecans, ankle instability. Surgical procedure- anteromedial and lateral portals were made by stab incisions. Numerous procedure are performed during arthroscopy of the ankle joint: loose bodies, osteophyte resection, cheilotomy, drilling, release of the joint contracture, debridement of ATFL lesion borders, capsular shrinkage, microfractures of the post-traumatic osteochondral lesions. Postoperatively, compression bandage was applied for 2 to 4 days. After the arthroscopy special rehabilitation protocol was immediately initiated. Level and delay of return to sport, clinical outcome according to the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) Ankle-Hindfoot Scale score, ROM, apprehension level and avoidance behaviour were noted. Results The whole group of 34 males and 10 females returned to sport with average of 3.8 ± 1.4 months. 88,7 % (39 patients) returned to the same level. Mean AOFAS score improved from 65/100 (52 -80) to 87/100 (54–100) (p < 0.05) Mean dorsiflexion improved from 7 degrees to 16 degrees (p < 0.009) and mean plantar flexion from 20 degrees to 34 degrees (p < 0.004). The fair and poor results were associated with severe ankle sprain leading to ligaments ruptures or fractures where several chondral lesions were to be found with arthroscopy At 49 months 44 patients rated the results of the operations as good 26 (59%) and excellent 11 (25%), 6 (13%) as fair and 1 as poor. 33 patients were subjectively satisfied of the surgery. Median preoperative duration of symptoms was 3 years. Most importantly, no significant complications were encountered. Complications included three patients with temporary numbness in the scar region and one patient with temporary ankle stiffness. Conclusions Most football players resumed their main sport often at the same level. Medium return to the football pitch time of high level soccer players is related or the severity of injury and varies from to 3 to 4 months (3.8 ± 1.4 months). Arthroscopy treatment of the ankle sprain is safe and noteworthy method of treatment, which helps the ability of quick return to the sport.


Attosecond electron wave packet in a molecule is captured by the pump-probe method with a-few-pulse attosecond pulse train. Capturing electron motion in a molecule is the basis of understanding or steering chemical reactions. Nonlinear Fourier transform spectroscopy using an attosecond-pump/attosecond-probe technique is used to observe an attosecond electron wave packet in a nitrogen molecule in real time. The 500-as electronic motion between two bound electronic states in a nitrogen molecule is captured by measuring the fragment ions with the same kinetic energy generated in sequential two-photon dissociative ionization processes. The temporal evolution of electronic coherence originating from various electronic states is visualized via the fragment ions appearing after irradiation of the probe pulse. This observation of an attosecond molecular electron wave packet is a critical step in understanding coupled nuclear and electron motion in polyatomic and biological molecules to explore attochemistry.


An important component in compiling for distributed memory machines is data partitioning. While a number of automatic analysis techniques have been proposed for this phase, none of them is applicable for irregular problems. In this paper, we present compile-time analysis for determining data partitioning for such applications. We have developed a set of cost functions for determining communication and redistribution costs in irregular codes. We first determine the appropriate distributions for a single data parallel statement, and then use the cost functions with a greedy algorithm for computing distributions for the full program. Initial performance results on a 16-processor IBM SP-2 are also presented.


Ni and NiFe alloys with different compositions have been successfully synthesized using a simple, surfactant-free polyol method. The morphological analysis demonstrated a uniform spherical nature of the alloys, with size range ∼10–30 nm. A very thin oxide layer was found to form over the alloy nanoparticles (NPs) which is weakly visible in TEM and later confirmed by XPS analysis. The magnetic properties of the Ni and NiFe NPs were measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. The saturation magnetization value was found to be lowest in Ni and keeps on increasing with increasing Fe content in the composition. The resistivity, as revealed from I–V characteristics, was shown to be lowest for the permalloy (Ni80Fe20) phase, while the values increase with further increment in the Fe content. The microwave shielding properties of the Ni and its Fe alloy NPs were investigated in the Ku band range. The lower EM wave transmittance with good reflection and absorption coefficients is responsible for the high shielding values. All of the alloys tested in this investigation showed excellent microwave shielding properties ranging from −21 to −41 dB in the entire Ku band, for ∼1 mm thick samples. The lowest EMI shielding range (−21 to −29 dB) was noted for Ni NPs while the highest was observed in the case of permalloy (−30 to −41 dB). The rest of the NiFe combinations show intermediate shielding effectiveness as compared to Ni and permalloy. Certainly, all of the NiFe alloy combinations we tested showed excellent EMI shielding above −30 dB, with significant enhancements in the absorption shielding efficiency. These alloys are good candidates for EMI shielding having the ability to attenuate 99.9% of electromagnetic radiation.


A method for recursive optimization of an extended Fisher (ExF) discriminant criterion is proposed. The method consists of obtaining a discriminant direction which optimizes the ExF criterion, transforming the data along it into data with greater class overlap, and iterating to obtain the next discriminant direction. An application to a medical dataset indicates the potential of the proposed method for finding a sequence of oblique directions with significant class separation.


The role of higher education (HE) in the process of local and regional economic development has attracted considerable interest among scholars and policy makers. There is ample evidence confirming that the presence of skilled labour force contributes local economic development by fostering productivity effects via local knowledge spill overs and human capital externalities. In this context, educational programmes are designed aiming at the preparation of the high qualified young population for fulfilling responsible roles in professional life in specific and in society in general. Here, we focus on the significance of a number of HE programme characteristics in allocating young HE graduates across the labour market and how these graduates perform in their jobs. Graduate performance is analysed in terms of both monetary and non-monetary pay-offs. Findings show that education programmes in which learning is linked to acquisition of work experience result in better paid employment, although an appropriate balance between theoretical and practical-oriented curricula is important.


This paper is a contrastive study of two semantic fields of English and Ogu language namely greeting terms and food terms with the aim of identifying how lexical variations in the two semantic fields affect the learning of English by Ogu second language (L2) learner. The paper observed that the internal differentiation of human societies is reflected in the two languages, and responsible for some learning difficulties of Ogu English learner, especially in the lexis, which is considered as more culturally generated. The theoretical framework for the study is anchored on structural semantics, Sapir-whorf hypothesis and contrastive analysis principles. Twenty (20) subjects, who are Ogu/English bilinguals were purposively selected and interviewed with specific questions from the two semantic fields under study. The findings revealed that the socio-cultural and geographical realities of each speech community accounts for their vocabulary and naming of words. The paper thus recommended proper understanding of the learner's culture for proper translation of texts, design appropriate module for teaching and learning English, and a practical classroom approach to learning of second language vocabulary as some of the ways of resolving the learning problems confronted by Ogu learners of English.


This paper analyzes some legislative options of same-sex union in Taiwan after the publication of Interpretation No. 748, the Same-Sex Marriage Case in May 2017. The author will focus on three possible legislative options and try to figure out the best way to implement the demand of Interpretation No. 748. As to discover the most likely solution, this paper takes the German Civil Partnership law as a model of reference for two reasons. First, the Taiwan Civil Code has been compiled based on German laws. Second, the German Civil Partnership law is a successful case passed in 2001 and legalized same-sex marriage in June 2017. This paper argues that a step-bystep legislation is the most plausible approach to provide same-sex partners with legal protection. It could ensure same-sex couples to gain social acceptance progressively while traditional social values will still be preserved.


When there is little to choose between different drugs available for the same purpose, as in the case of the anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs discussed in the preceding article, it is reasonable to make the choice on grounds of cost. It can however be difficult to construct a meaningful cost comparison for the drugs in a particular therapeutic group. One obvious problem is that of dosage, for it is not clear which dose in a wide range should be chosen for the comparison. Perhaps the most appropriate dosage is that most commonly used (the modal dosage) in long-term maintenance therapy. The modal dose could be derived from an analysis of prescriptions, or estimated approximately from clinical trial reports, or from a consensus view of clinicians with experience of the drug. But provided the dose used in a comparison is clearly stated the result should not mislead anyone, even if the dose is chosen arbitrarily. A second problem is the difference in drug costs in hospitals and in retail pharmacy. Hospital prices are generally not published, and vary between different hospitals, whereas retail pharmacy prices are published and uniform. Some manufacturers have deliberately charged hospitals low prices for a drug and retail pharmacists high prices, presumably to increase use of the drug in hospitals which are more cost-conscious, and which also influence prescribing by family doctors in their catchment area. As long as such multiple pricing continues it seems more practical to base comparisons on retail costs. Thirdly, should non-drug costs be included, such as the pharmacist's fee, on-cost allowance, and container allowance; and should the sum collected as prescription charge be deducted? Since on the whole these items are constant, they do not affect the essentials of comparisons and they may just as well be omitted.


Age-related bone loss is a major public health problem. This cross-sectional study examined the association between the dietary intake of carotenoids and bone mineral density (BMD). Data from 8022 subjects (3763 males and 4259 females) aged 30–75 years included in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008–2011) were analyzed. BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Intake of carotenoids was estimated using 24-h dietary recall. In multiple linear analysis, after adjusting for covariates, lutein + zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin intake was positively associated with total hip BMD in males and premenopausal women respectively, while β-carotene intake was positively correlated with femoral neck, total hip, and whole-body BMD in postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women in the highest quintile of daily β-carotene intake, showed a lower risk of osteopenia at the lumbar spine (odds ratio (OR): 0.35, 95% CI: 0.16–0.79, P for trend = 0.009) than those in the lowest quintile, after adjusting for covariates. Daily β-cryptoxanthin intake was significantly associated with a lower risk of osteopenia at the total hip (OR per 1 mg/day increase: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.59–0.97), and lumbar spine (OR per 1 mg/day increase: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.70–0.89) in postmenopausal women. These results suggest that the dietary intake of β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin may have a positive effect on bone health.


Copper and gold bonding wires were characterized and compared using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). During drawing, <111> and <100> fiber textures are the main components in the wires and shear components are mainly located under the surface. Grain average misorientation (GAM) and scalar orientation spread (SOS) of the <100> component in copper and gold bonding wires are lower than those of the <111> or other orientations. The bonding wires experience three stages of microstructural changes during annealing. The first stage is subgrain growth to keep elongated grain shapes overall and to be varied in aspect ratio with annealing time. The grain sizes of the <111> and <100> components increase during annealing. The volume fraction of the <100> component increases whereas that of the <111> decreases. The second stage is recrystallization, during which equiaxed grains appear and coexist with elongated ones. The third stage is grain growth which eliminates the elongated grains and enlarges equiaxed grains. The <111> and <100> grains compete with each other and the <111> grains grow faster than the <100> grains during the third stage.


Research has suggested that intergroup contact can ironically lead to a reduction in commitment to social change and that threat can play an important role in this process. In post-agreement societies, however, characterized more so by symbolic rather than material conflict, the role that intergroup contact and threat play in social action may be particularly complex. This article examines intergroup contact, intergroup threat, support for political violence, and political participation among a student sample (n = 152) of Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Results show that contact is associated with lower symbolic and realistic threat for both groups and to lower levels of support for political violence but not to political participation. Symbolic threat mediated the association between contact and support for political violence and between contact and political participation for the Protestant majority group only. This suggests that contact may have a positive effect upon group relations but that this is dependent upon status and the social–political context.


Aim: To examine a rural population to identify the DMFT index Objective: DMFT index is a quantitative expression of a person's lifetime caries experience in the permanent teeth. Background: Rural areas have poorer health in general and lower life expectancy compared with urban residents. The dental health awareness is very low amongst the rural area population.Improvement of oral health improves the knowledge and the way the individuals use health services efficiently. Methodology: All the people conducted in the study were between the ages of 10 and were selected at random which gave a sample size of 100 participants. regarding dental caries experience was recorded using DMFT index for permanent dentition on a structured format. Results: The mean DMFT of the entire population was 2.58 Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concluded of brushing teeth twice daily was reported to be very low which reveals awareness of oral hygiene measures and its importance on oral health.


With the increase in popularity of mobile commerce, the placement order of images on mobile displays is an important factor to attract and retain customers' attention. In this paper, we propose a novel method to optimize the placement of item images based upon the relative attractiveness of each image to the customer. To judge this, the proposed method estimates the leave rate of the customer at each image for each ordering using a model based on unsupervised hierarchical clustering. This allows estimating the expected leave rate for different image placements, solving an optimization problem to obtain the best ordering. The model is evaluated using a dataset collected from Rakuten Ichiba, the largest e-commerce site in Japan.


This rapid literature review summarises evidence and key lessons that exist regarding previous refugee and mixed migration displacement from Afghanistan to surrounding countries. The review identified a diverse literature that explored past refugee and mixed migration, with a range of quantitative and qualitative studies identified. A complex and fluid picture is presented with waves of mixed migration (both outflow and inflow) associated with key events including the: Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989); Afghan Civil War (1992–96); Taliban Rule (1996–2001); War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). A contextual picture emerges of Afghans having a long history of using mobility as a survival strategy or as social, economic and political insurance for improving livelihoods or to escape conflict and natural disasters. Whilst violence has been a principal driver of population movements among Afghans, it is not the only cause. Migration has also been associated with natural disasters (primarily drought) which is considered a particular issue across much of the country – this is associated primarily with internal displacement. Further to this, COVID-19 is impacting upon and prompting migration to and from Afghanistan. Data on refugee and mixed migration movement is diverse and at times contradictory given the fluidity and the blurring of boundaries between types of movements. Various estimates exist for numbers of Afghanistan refugees globally. It is also important to note that migratory flows are often fluid involving settlement in neighbouring countries, return to Afghanistan. In many countries, Afghani migrants and refugees face uncertain political situations and have, in recent years, been 'coerced' into returning to Afghanistan with much discussion of a 'return bias' being evident in official policies. The literature identified in this report (a mix of academic, humanitarian agency and NGO) is predominantly focused on Pakistan and Iran with a less established evidence base on the scale of Afghan refugee and migrant communities in other countries in the region. . Whilst conflict has been a primary driver of displacement, it has intersected with drought conditions and poor adherence to COVID-19 mitigation protocols. Past efforts to address displacement internationally have affirmed return as the primary objective in relation to durable solutions; practically, efforts promoted improved programming interventions towards creating conditions for sustainable return and achieving improved reintegration prospects for those already returned to Afghanistan.


Irradiation by near-UV light at 77 K of aqueous solutions of inorganic phosphate in weakly acidic conditions in the presence of the photosensitizers adenine and adenosine diphosphate results in the formation of free radicals of these compounds, photosensitized free radicals of phosphate itself, and H* and OH* radicals. The relative concentrations of free radical products were estimated by the analysis of total ESR signals registered in the region of g = 2.00 in the photosystems Ade + Pi and Adphi + Pi using the original computer program of ESR spectra simulation.


The world of African America extends throughout the northern, central, southern and insular parts of the American continent. The essays included in this volume take the creation of that world as a single object of study, tracing significant routes and contacts, building comparisons and contrasts. They thus participate in the reworking of traditional approaches to the study of history, the critique of literature and culture, and the production of knowledge. All are engaged in an effort to locate the African American experience within a wider pan-African vision that links the colonial with the postcolonial, the past with the present, the African with the Western. Mapping African America sketches lines that, far from limiting our geography, extend our knowledge of the Africanist influence on and their participation in what is generally called "Western" culture. This creative challenge to traditional disciplines will not only enhance the reader's understanding of African American Studies but will also help forge links with other academic fields of inquiry.


Drug-induced renal failure (DIRF) poses a serious medical complication with high mortality risk. However, early diagnosis or prognosis of DIRF remain challenging, as current methods rely on detecting late-stage biomarkers. Herein we present a library of zwitterionic unimolecular hemicyanines (ZCs) available for constructing activatable reporters to detect DIRF since its initial stage. Zwitterionic properties of these probes are achieved through interspersedly integrating alkyl sulfonates and quaternary ammo-nium cations onto hemicyanine skeleton, which result in record low plasma protein binding (<5%) and remarkable renal clearance efficiencies (~96%). An activatable reporter ZCRR is further developed by masking the optimal candidate ZC6 with a tetrapeptide specifically cleavable by caspase-8, an initiating indicator of apoptosis. In living mice with cisplatin-induced DIRF, systematically administered ZCRR efficiently accumulates in kidneys and responds to elevated caspase-8 for near-infrared fluorescence signals 'turn-on', enabling sensitive detection of intrarenal apoptosis 60 h earlier than clinical methods, and precise evaluation of apoptosis remediation effects by different medications on DIRF mice. As it's urinary excretable, ZCRR also allows for remote detection of DIRF and predicting renoprotective efficacy through in vitro optical urinalysis. This study thus presents unimolecular renal clearable scaffolds that are applicable to developing versatile activatable reporters for renal diseases management.


Starting from the contexts on which the researches about migrant minors and adolescents have been concentrated so far, school, free time, friends, family, society integration, this work puts attention on gender dimension, supporting the ideas that socialization is a life-long process, that gender and gender roles are a cultural construction and the subject has multiple identities.
The research aim to understand if being male or female, related with ethnic and cultural origin, influences the identity construction, the gender belonging and roles, the behaviours, in a different way, in interaction with the different everyday contexts.
The research points out how being male or female affects: - daily choices, expectations and behaviours inside peer group, family and school; - future expectations as adult inside family, work and society; - idea about the adolescence and the self-decription as adolescent, female,
male and immigrant.
The analysis highlights that the gender belonging, as the ethnic and cultural belonging, doesn't drive behaviours, attitudes, expectations totally to tradition or totally to "western way", in the different everyday contexts. There is rather a combination of these ways, choosing the one or the other way in the different contexts according to be in a position in which there are more or less contacts with the society they live in. Differently, the self perception as adolescent and as individual is relatively independent from gender and ethniccultural belonging, over which prevail the idea of " peer normality". Above all, it is important to put in evidence that they are experiencing a very high level of complexity and change as adolescent and migrant or migrant' son. Personal, cultural and social transitions can explain a large part of variability and our difficulty to construct high defined classifications.


: The quality of work life (QWL) has a close relationship with the labor activities performed by the worker; it impacts their physical and mental health, their social life, their behavior and performance. Correlate the QWL scores with socio-demographic variables of professionals in nursing that work at Material and Sterilization Center area (MSC)of a Medical school in the State of Minas Gerais. Cross-sectional, quantitative, descriptive and analytical study. Through interviews were applied: The Socio-demographic Questionnaire (LINO, 1999) and the scale Quality of Life at Work (TIMOSSI, 2009). For exploratory analysis all the data had been analyzed throughthe program "Statistical Package for the Social Science" (SPSS) version 21.0. It was used the Cronbach's alpha α as coefficient in order to test the reliability of the QWL instrument. For correlation between the QWL scores and the quantitative socio-demographic variables it was applied the Spearman correlation test. 40 employees had participated in the study. The QWL instrument indicated that more than 50% of the employees were satisfied. The domain of "Social integration" obtained a result of 70.15%. The domain "Use of skills" was the one that obtained the highest median in satisfaction, 72.76%. The domain "Opportunities" obtained the lowest median presented 61.10%. The values of α >0.70 indicate good reliability of the instrument for the sample. The income was correlated in a significant way (p < 0.05), moderate and positive way (r = 0.356) with the domain "Fair and Adequate Compensation"; and the income was correlated in moderate and negative way (r =-0.402) with the "Work and Life". The results show that variables as remuneration and fair and adequate compensation have relationships with psychometric variables of workers, such as quality of life, satisfactions and professional motivation. Aside, these results can help health institutions realize management strategies for workers.


Background: Conventional dissection suturing technique and Plastibell circumcision are the two most widely used methods of circumcision in Iran. We conducted a clinical trial to assess the complication, cosmetic results, and duration of the procedure using the two techniques. Materials and Methods: 2185 infants under the age of one were circumcised at two hospital centers, from April 2000 to March 2003. The infants were randomized to one of two groups; group A, using the plastibell device (n=1085), and group B, using the conventional technique (n= 1100). All infants received dorsal nerve block with Lidocaine 2%. The two groups were evaluated for complications and cosmetic results immediately follwing the operation and 4-10 days later. The parents were told to notify the surgeon if meatal stenosis occurs. Comparisons were made regarding the complications, cosmetic results, and duration of the procedure. Results:The incidence of bleeding in the plastibell group (A) was 3 infants (0.3%), significantly less than the convention group (B) which was 11 infants (1.0%)(p=0.030). In group A, local infection resulting in further surgery did not occur, but 3 infants (0.3%) in group B needed further surgery due to local infection (p=0.127). The Plastibell circumcision resulted in poor cosmetic results for 3 infants (0.3%) compared to 9 infants (0.8%) in the conventional group (p=0.076). The mean operation time (± SD) was shorter for Plastibell circumcision (4.08± 0.81 vs 18.13± 1.87 minutes). Conclusion: We recommend circumcision for infants using the Plastibell technique, because of the results of this study which indicated less complications and shorter duratrion. Keywords: Circumcision, Plastibell circumcision, Complications, Infants. * Corresponding author tel: (021) 8033539 Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, 2002, 2(2): 68-73.


Using an experimental approach, we investigate the risk preferences of artisanal fishermen in Tanzania waters of Lake Victoria. The experiment concerns pairwise comparisons of hypothetical fishing trips that vary in expected mean and spread of the net revenue. The results show that about 34% of the fishermen can be considered as risk neutral, 32% as risk averse, and 34% as risk seekers. Econometric analysis indicates that the likelihood of belonging to the risk-seeking group increases if motorboats are used, if fishing is the main source of household income, and if the fisherman is targeting Nile perch. Asset ownership and perhaps socioeconomic variables influence risk preferences.


The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), monitored a sediment flush event from Spencer Dam located on the Niobrara River near Spencer, Nebraska, during the fall of 2014. Data collected during the flush were used to validate a one-dimensional sediment transport model developed by the USACE. The USACE surveyed 26 cross sections within the reservoir and as far as 1 kilometer (km) upstream from the reservoir pool to about 10 km downstream from the dam before and after the flushing event to measure erosion and deposition. They also collected surficial sediment samples from sandbars within the reservoir. The USGS assisted USACE in its model validation efforts by collecting sediment data before, during, and after the flush using both traditional sampling techniques and a continuous laser-diffraction particle-size analyzer. From the context of longitudinal volumetric change, the model replicated erosion in the upper half of the reservoir within 4 percent of that observed by survey data and it replicated deposition downstream from the dam within 5 percent. However, the model underpredicted the erosion of the accumulated delta sediments in the reservoir by 43 percent. The timing and magnitude of suspended sediment concentrations produced by the model compared reasonably well to the discrete suspended-sediment sample results. These results indicate cross-sectional survey data and discrete sediment data may be adequate for developing sediment flush models for reservoirs in similar well-sorted sand-bed streams. The USGS installed a continuous particle-size analyzer immediately downstream from the dam. Although the particle-size analyzer was successful in providing a large dataset during the flushing event, based on discrete point samples, it overestimated the amount of fine particles and underrepresented the amount of coarse material. It also required a significant amount of maintenance during the flushing event because of the large sediment load and the rapid bed aggradation. The maintenance issues with the particle-size analyzer along with uncertainty in the correlation to discrete suspended-sediment samples reduced its value for model validation. However, these issues may have been specific to the flushing event at Spencer Dam, which involved a sand-bed dominated stream and a wide channel. It is foreseeable that other sediment flush models developed for different streams with dissimilar sediment gradations may benefit from similar continuous sediment data, but adequate planning and evaluation should be performed.


Foreign Direct Investment forms one of the most important links between developing and industrial countries and increasingly among developing countries. Like trade, it provides an important channel for global integration and technology transfer. Kenya faces a big challenge in attracting and sustaining foreign direct investment at levels that allow domestic investment to take advantage of benefits associated with capital inflows. The study therefore sought to conduct an empirical investigation on the determinants of foreign direct investment in Kenya. The theoretical framework is based on the concept of institutional FDI fitness theory, developed by Saskia Wilhelms. The study used data over 1967-1999 period, partly because after independence (1963), marked the beginning of the development process. The results were interpreted based on the generalized least square model (GLS). The estimated linear regression model revealed that, economic openness is the most significant determinant of foreign direct investment inflows in Kenya. Other variables that were significant determinant of FDI inflows included growth rate of2DP, credit availability from the monetary authority, domestic investment, the exchange rate and internal rate of return. The rest of the remaining variables in the estimated model were statistically insignificant. These include: external debt; inflation rate; trade balance; university enrolment rate and gross domestic savings. The implication of all these findings is that ensuring the promotion and sustainability of Foreign Direct Investment, as a tool that enhances Kenya's economic growth is a formidable challenge to policy makers now and the years to come.