OBJECTIVE
To collect information about the incidence ofgonorrhoea and gonococcal resistance in the Netherlands.

METHOD
A questionnaire was sent to 39 medical microbiology laboratories to obtain information on current diagnostics and the susceptibility testing method, and on the number of positive results and the susceptibility pattern of gonococcal isolates in 2002 and 2003 (up to and including November).

RESULTS
32 laboratories participated in this survey. 13 laboratories used culture alone and 19 laboratories used culture and/or a molecular test. Gonorrhoea was diagnosed 2,666 times in 2002 and 2,190 times in 2003, with an incidence of 33.5 and 27.0 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. The rate of resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics (penicillin and amoxicillin) was 12.2% and 10.7% in 2002 and 2003, respectively, and the rates of resistance to tetracycline were 18.5% and 20.6%. An increase in the resistance to quinolones was observed from 6.6% in 2002 to 9.5% in 2003. Resistance to cephalosporins was low (0.5% in 2002 and 1.2% in 2003). Furthermore, regional differences in susceptibility were found within the Netherlands.

CONCLUSION
The observed gonococcal incidence and resistance form the basis for a gonorrhoea prevention and treatment programme in the Netherlands.


A new type in situ reinforcing phase TiC+Cr7C3 ceramal composite coating was fabricated on substrate of Q235 steel by plasma transferred arc (PTA) weld-surfacing process using the mixture of ferrotitanium, ferrochromium, ferroboron and ferrosilicium powders. Microstructure and wear performance of the coating were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micrograph (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), microhardness tester and wear tester. Results show that the composite coating consists of TiC, primary phase Cr7C3 , (Cr,Fe)7C3 and austenite. The composite coating is metallurgically bonded to the Q235 steel substrate. TiC particles present cubic and "dendrite flower-like" shape in the composite coating. The coating has high microhardness and excellent wear resistance under dry-sliding wear test conditions.


Bee-keeping and honey production has a long history in Hungary. Honey is an important and healthy food of people and it can be consumed without any human processing. The honey production has important role, too. Some researchers say that if honey bee will extinct the humanity in the world would also extinct. It is true since plant pollination by honey bees is very important. It is confirmed by researchers' studies that plant pollination by honey bees has significant positive external impacts on potential yields in orchards. Although the contribution of honey production to the GDP in Hungary is only a few per cent, other benefits play more important role. One of them is the positive external effect – mentioned above – and the other is the contribution to the biodiversity of the nature. This paper focuses on secondary research methods, gathering and evaluating data regarding the positive external impacts of plant pollination by honey bees as well as finding possible solution for the problem that bee-keepers have a lot of costs in connection with carrying honey bees to orchards, while farmers "only†benefit from the positive externality of plant pollination of their fields. To evaluate its economic effects a numerical HEEM-model was developed and applied for the Hungarian situation.


This paper investigates modeling approaches of circular concrete-filled steel tube (CFT) column under cyclic load based on flexibility and fiber model. The effects of model parameters on modeling results is discussed, including constitutive relationship of materials, division of the fiber section, and the number of integration points. The results show that the material constitutive relationships of concrete and steel are prime important to the accuracy of the computational results. Three to five integration points for one CFT column in the flexibility-based analysis can achieve the desired accuracy and computational efficiency. The computational result is not sensitive to the number of sectional fibers. However, the desired accuracy can not be obtained if the number of the sectional fiber is not enough.


Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) is activated by the cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2). We have used a constitutively active PI 3-kinase to identify IL-2-mediated signal transduction pathways directly regulated by PI 3-kinase in lymphoid cells. The serine/threonine protein kinase B (PKB)/Akt can act as a powerful oncogene in T cells, but its positioning in normal T cell responses has not been explored. Herein, we demonstrate that PKB is activated by IL-2 in a PI 3-kinase-dependent fashion. Importantly, PI 3-kinase signals are sufficient for PKB activation in IL-2-dependent T cells, and PKB is a target for PI 3-kinase signals in IL-2 activation pathways. The present study establishes also that PI 3-kinase signals or PKB signals are sufficient for activation of p70 S6 kinase in T cells. PI 3-kinase can contribute to, but is not sufficient for, activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (Erks) and Erk effector pathways. Therefore, PI 3-kinase is a selective regulator of serine/threonine kinase signal transduction pathways in T lymphocytes, and this enzyme provides a crucial link between the interleukin-2 receptor, the protooncogene PKB, and p70 S6 kinase.


Within NASA's High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) program, the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is developing a large scale, detailed simulation environment for the analysis and design of aircraft engines called the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS). The three major aspects of modeling capabilities focused in NPSS, including integration of different engine components, coupling of multiple disciplines, and engine component zooming at appropriate level of fidelity, require relatively tight coupling of different analysis codes. Most of these codes in aerodynamics and solid mechanics are written in Fortran. Refitting these legacy Fortran codes with distributed objects can increase the code reusability. We describe our experiences in building a CORBA-based development environment for programmers to easily wrap and couple legacy Fortran codes. This environment consists of a C++ wrapper library to hide the details of CORBA and an efficient remote variable scheme to facilitate data exchange between the client and the server. We also report empirical performance evaluation results and describe current applications.


Ken Cameron's HowiRan is a shuffleable audio-performance, presented in a library, about imprisoned Iranian-Canadian blogger HosseinDerakhshan. Audience members choose one of three coloured iPods offered at the show, each offering a different journey through the space and through the experiences of Iranian-Canadian immigrants. The performance is divided into three parts: green, white, and red. The reader is invited to select the colour of the script to read first.


34 Management of changes in physiologic and mental status due to alcohol is a core skill utilized in the psychiatric emergency service. Blood alcohol concentrations are commonly approximated by measuring breath alcohol at triage. However, the blood-breath ratio is highly variable, and breath tests have produced lower readings than blood tests. The authors assessed the accuracy of breath alcohol readings at triage in a medical emergency department compared with subsequent serum alcohol levels taken in the psychiatric emergency service. The mean breath ethanol concentration was significantly lower than the mean corrected serum ethanol concentration (.15±.05 grams per 210 liters and .23±.05 grams per 100 milliliters, respectively). The relative accuracy of breath alcohol tests decreased with increasing serum alcohol. Although its low false-positive rate makes the breath test acceptable for legal purposes, the blood alcohol level is more appropriate for clinical use in emergency settings, because breath tests can underestimate the degree of toxicity. (Psychiatric Services 57:34–36, 2006)


This paper tests for nominal salary rigidity using panel data from two large service-sector firms. Distributions of the firms' salary changes exhibit nominal rigidity: few nominal pay cuts, a pile-up of observations at zero, and positive skewness and asymmetry. In addition, these characteristics become more pronounced in periods of low inflation. These results are much stronger than those found in the previous literature. Further analysis shows that the sizable measurement error in the PSID and the fact that establishment surveys typically follow average wages within jobs may bias the results in the previous literature toward rejecting downward nominal wage rigidity.


Recently a number of empirical"universal"scaling law papers have been published, most notably by OpenAI. `Scaling laws' refers to power-law decreases of training or test error w.r.t. more data, larger neural networks, and/or more compute. In this work we focus on scaling w.r.t. data size $n$. Theoretical understanding of this phenomenon is largely lacking, except in finite-dimensional models for which error typically decreases with $n^{-1/2}$ or $n^{-1}$, where $n$ is the sample size. We develop and theoretically analyse the simplest possible (toy) model that can exhibit $n^{-\beta}$ learning curves for arbitrary power $\beta>0$, and determine whether power laws are universal or depend on the data distribution.


As a result of the availability and clinical efficacy of trastuzumab (Herceptin), clinicians are now faced with a dilemma regarding the accurate identification of patients with HER2 overexpression. In the October 2002 issue of ONCOLOGY, Monica Fornier and colleagues critically reviewed the methodologies currently available for HER2 testing in their article, "HER2 Testing and Correlation With Efficacy of Trastuzumab Therapy."[1] The most widely used technique for detection of HER2 overexpression at the protein level is immunohistochemistry (IHC). However, the problems with this technique are, as correctly stated by the authors, that multiple primary antibodies—each of which binds to different epitopes and has differing sensitivities and specificities—are currently in clinical use. Moreover, different cutoff values are used to distinguish overexpressing form non-overexpressing tumors.[2] Detection of HER2/neu alteration is therefore not well standardized, and although IHC detection methods are widely commercially available, some of these assays may be suboptimal for this purpose. Other IHC Limitations Another concern is that the degree of IHC staining intensity for HER2 is subjective and qualitative. As a consequence, it may be difficult to know whether a sample scored as HER2-positive in one laboratory will be confirmed as HER2-positive by another laboratory. Furthermore, formalin fixation of tumor samples and storage in paraffin can result in epitope degradation so that sensitivity is lost over time in archival clinical material.[3-5] To overcome this problem, some assays use a technique called antigen retrieval, which consists of boiling the tumor sample using heat or microwave radiation, in order to rehabilitate epitopes that have been lost during tissue processing and storage. Many believe that the loss of antigenicity in paraffin-embedded specimens can be corrected by application of heat-induced antigen retrieval to the paraffin-embedded tissue sections. However, this approach has not been validated, before introduction of these reagents and methods, by systematic evaluation of clinical breast cancer specimens with known amplification/overexpression levels. Detection Rate Variability As summarized in the review by Fornier et al, reported detection rates for IHC differ among clinical laboratories. This discrepancy has generated considerable confusion among clinicians, pathologists, and patients regarding the appropriate methods for HER2 testing. To address this issue, we recently used each of the four US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved assays for detecting HER2 alterations, to determine which is the most accurate. We tested these assays on breast cancer specimens in which we had previously determined amplification and overexpression levels using solid matrix blotting techniques as a "gold standard." In this comparative study, the sensitivity of the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assays for HER2 gene amplification was high—95.4% for the Vysis PathVision assay (Vysis, Downers Grove, Ill) and 95.4% for the Ventana INFORM assay (Ventana, Tucson). These sensitivity levels were followed by those for IHC assays performed with the Ventana CB11 monoclonal antibody (72.1%) and the DAKO HercepTest (69.8%, DAKO, Carpinteria, Calif).[5] The HercepTest was performed according to the approved protocol, as described by the manufacturer, using heat treatment for antigen retrieval. The protocol provided by Ventana Medical Systems and a Ventana automated slide stainer were used for the CB11 IHC assay. Both FISH assays were performed according to their respective FDA-approved protocols. The specificity of HER2 testing methods can also vary considerably among laboratory studies, as


Background: The study explored the relationship between moral reasoning, distorted cognitions and problem solving in male offenders and non-offenders with intellectual
disabilities (IDs). The psychometric properties for an adapted measure of distorted cognitions for people with IDs were explored. The difference in cognitive distortions, moral reasoning and problem solving between offenders and non-offenders were explored. Very few published studies explored these constructs in this way.
Methods: A between-groups design and additional correlations were used to explore the hypotheses. Two groups were recruited: ID offenders (n=34) and ID non-offenders (n=38). Both groups completed the Socio-Moral
Reflection Measure-Short Form (SRM-SF), How I Think Questionnaire (HIT) and the Social Problem Solving Inventory Short-Form (SPSI-R-SF). Results: The results indicated that offenders with IDs demonstrated Stage 2(3) reasoning when compared to non-offenders with IDs who demonstrated Stage 2 reasoning. The difference in some of the moral reasoning constructs was significant. A modified version of the HIT demonstrated good internal
consistency and test-retest reliability. Significant positive relationships were identified between moral reasoning and problem solving, and moral reasoning and cognitive distortions for men with IDs.
Conclusions: There was a relationship between moral development, cognitive distortions and problem solving and that these constructs were interdependent. The results supported Gibbs Sociomoral Stages and tentative support for Garrigan and Langdon's Developmental Social Information Processing Model of Moral Judgement and Behaviour. An adequately powered sample size was used. Social desirability, recruitment and treatment implications were limitations. Further studies should replicate the findings, using a longitudinal design along with the adapted measures.
Keywords: Intellectual disabilities; moral reasoning; moral development; cognitive
distortions; problem solving


The conformational changes that accompany association of the tryptophan synthase alpha and beta 2 subunits are probed by investigating the effects of solvents on the catalytic and spectroscopic properties of tryptophan synthase. Low concentrations of ethanol, propanol, and butanol inhibit conversion of L-serine and indole to L-tryptophan by the alpha 2 beta 2 complex. Inhibition depends on the concentration, chain length, and hydrophobicity of the alcohol. In contrast, these alcohols increase the rates of conversion of beta-chloro-L-alanine and indole to L-tryptophan and of L-serine to pyruvate. Thus, alcohols alter the substrate specificity and reaction specificity of the alpha 2 beta 2 complex. These altered specificities are similar to those of the free beta 2 subunit in aqueous solution. The spectroscopic properties of enzyme-substrate intermediates formed by the alpha 2 beta 2 complex in 3 M ethanol and 0.5 M 1-butanol also resemble the intermediates formed by the free beta 2 subunit in aqueous solution. Experiments using gel-filtration, membrane ultrafiltration, and limited proteolysis show that the alpha 2 beta 2 complex does not dissociate at low concentrations of alcohols. Our results provide evidence that alcohols can stabilize an alternative conformation of the alpha 2 beta 2 complex which is similar to the open conformation of the free beta 2 subunit in aqueous solution.


In recent years, high penetration of variable generating sources, such as wind power, has challenged independent system operators (ISO) in keeping a cheap and reliable power system operation. Any deviation between expected and real wind production must be absorbed by the power system resources (reserves), which must be available and ready to be deployed in real time. To guarantee this resource availability, the system resources must be committed in advance, usually the day-ahead, by solving the so-called unit commitment (UC) problem. If the quantity of committed resources is extremely low, there will be devastating and costly consequences in the system, such as significant load shedding. On the other hand, if this quantity is extremely high, the system operation will be excessively expensive, mainly because facilities will not be fully exploited.This thesis proposes computationally efficient models for optimal day-ahead planning in (thermal) power systems to adequately face the stochastic nature of wind production in the real-time system operation. The models can support ISOs to face the new challenges in short-term planning as uncertainty increases dramatically due to the integration of variable generating resources. This thesis then tackles the UC problem in the following aspects: Power system representation: This thesis identifies drawbacks of the traditional energy-block scheduling approach, which make it unable to adequately prepare the power system to face deterministic and perfectly known events. To overcome those drawbacks, we propose the ramp-based scheduling approach that more accurately describes the system operation, thus better exploiting the system flexibility.UC computational performance: Developing more accurate models would be pointless if these models considerably increase the computational burden of the UC problem, which is already a complex integer and non-convex problem. We then devise simultaneously tight and compact formulations under the mixed-integer programming (MIP) approach. This simultaneous characteristic reinforces the convergence speed by reducing the search space (tightness) and simultaneously increasing the searching speed (compactness) with which solvers explore that reduced space.Uncertainty management in UC: By putting together the improvements in the previous two aspects, this thesis contributes to a better management of wind uncertainty in UC, even though these two aspects are in conflict and improving one often means harming the other. If compared with a traditional energy-block UC model under the stochastic (deterministic) paradigm, a stochastic (deterministic) ramp-based UC model: 1) leads to more economic operation, due to a better and more detailed system representation, while 2) being solved significantly faster, because the core of the model is built upon simultaneously tight and compact MIP formulations.To further improve the uncertainty management in the proposed ramp-based UC, we extend the formulation to a network-constrained UC with robust reserve modelling. Based on robust optimization insights, the UC solution guarantees feasibility for any realization of the uncertain wind production, within the considered uncertainty ranges. This final model remains as a pure linear MIP problem whose size does not depend on the uncertainty representation, thus avoiding the inherent computational complications of the stochastic and robust UCs commonly found in the literature.


The automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is highly effective in reducing sudden death rates in patients with life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias. However, the magnitude of the ability of the ICD to improve overall survival is less certain. Data supporting the contention that the ICD prolongs survival are reviewed. It is evident that the mortality benefit consequent to the marked reduction in sudden death varies widely across subpopulations in a predictable manner. This observation reflects the powerful influence of other clinical factors that constrain survival in typical ICD patients. The implications for future studies on the ICD are discussed.


This volume is built around three famous muckraking magazine articles - by Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, and Ray Stannard Baker. All drawn from the same issue of McClure's Magazine (January 1903), the most prominent muckraking journal of the day, the articles examine issues that were of crucial concern to political reformers in the Progressive era: urban political corruption, the emergence and behavior of giant corporations, and labor racketeering in industrial America. An extensive introduction provides the historical context from which muckraking emerged, and an essay following the three articles discusses the legacy of muckraking. Questions to consider when reading the articles, a chronology of events during the Progressive era, illustrations, a bibliography, and an index are also included.


Objective – To compare recall and precision of results retrieved by searches in PubMed and Google Scholar for clinical nephrology literature.

Design – Survey questionnaire, comparative.

Setting – Canada.

Subjects – Practicing nephrologists with average age of 48 years and who have practiced nephrology for an average of 15 years.

Methods – The researchers identified 100 systematic reviews in renal therapy published between 2001 and 2009. The primary studies cited in the systematic reviews served as the reference standard for relevant articles; 1,574 unique citations were identified and used to measure recall and precision. The researchers created a unique clinical question from each of the objective statements of systematic reviews and sent one question to a random sample of practicing nephrologists to determine the search strings they would use to search for clinical literature; the researchers collected 100 usable responses. Using the search string in both Google Scholar and PubMed, the researchers analyzed the first 40 retrieved results in each for recall of relevant literature and precision. The researchers also analyzed the availability of full-text articles in each database. A pilot study to test the methodology preceded the main study.

Results – Google Scholar's recall for the first 40 records was 21.9% and PubMed was 10.9%. Each database contained 78% of the relevant literature/reference standard set from the systematic reviews. However, 15% of the articles were in neither database. Precision results were similar (7.6% for Google Scholar and 5.6% for PubMed). Google Scholar had more full-text available at 15% of articles versus 5% for PubMed. Google Scholar and PubMed had similar numbers of relevant articles when all retrieved records were analyzed, but Google Scholar still provided more access to free full-text articles.

Conclusion – Google Scholar provides better recall and provides more access to full-text than PubMed; however, search strings provided by nephrologists used in both databases failed to retrieve 80% of relevant articles. Therefore improving nephrologists' ability to effectively search could enhance their ability to implement research in practice helping patients. The researchers suggest future studies should be conducted to determine the generalizability of the findings on recall and precision in other medical disciplines.


From the Publisher:
Feature interactions are related to the creation, maintenance, and evolution of new services (telephony, electronic commerce, multimedia, banking, etc.), and to the implementation of these services across distributed platforms. Some of the other aspects are software maintainability, software verification and validation, software documentation, and software development process. This book covers several types of telecommunication software (processing, communication, and management), multimedia applications and other types of distributed applications. Some of the contributions in the book represent work in progress, personal experience, and potential solutions. By their very nature, feature interactions can be found in different types of systems. The spectrum of contributions demonstrates the relevance of feature interactions problems. The book provides contributions by leading experts in these areas, covering many aspects of the specification, detection, and avoidance of feature interactions. The book presents research advances and report personal positions.


In yeast, assembly of the septins at the cell cortex is required for a series of key cell cycle events: bud-site selection, the morphogenesis and mitotic exit checkpoints, and cytokinesis. Here we establish that the Ccr4-Pop2-NOT mRNA deadenylase contributes to septin organization. mRNAs encoding regulators of septin assembly (Ccd42, Cdc24, Rga1, Rga2, Bem3, Gin4, Cla4, and Elm1) presented with short poly(A) tails at steady state in wild-type (wt) cells, suggesting their translation could be restricted by deadenylation. Deadenylation of septin regulators was dependent on the major cellular mRNA deadenylase Ccr4-Pop2-NOT, whereas the alternative deadenylase Pan2 played a minor role. Consistent with deadenylation of septin regulators being important for function, deletion of deadenylase subunits CCR4 or POP2, but not PAN2, resulted in septin morphology defects (e.g., ectopic bud-localized septin rings), particularly upon activation of the Cdc28-inhibitory kinase Swe1. Aberrant septin staining was also observed in the deadenylase-dead ccr4-1 mutant, demonstrating the deadenylase activity of Ccr4-Pop2 is required. Moreover, ccr4Δ, pop2Δ, and ccr4-1 mutants showed aberrant cell morphology previously observed in septin assembly mutants and exhibited genetic interactions with mutations that compromise septin assembly (shs1Δ, cla4Δ, elm1Δ, and gin4Δ). Mutations in the Not subunits of Ccr4-Pop2-NOT, which are thought to predominantly function in transcriptional control, also resulted in septin organization defects. Therefore, both mRNA deadenylase and transcriptional functions of Ccr4-Pop2-NOT contribute to septin organization in yeast.


The term 'apophaticism' (ἀποφατισμός) is one of the fundamental concepts for theological thinking in Christian East nowadays. In fact, it defines a fundamental gnoseological premise that directly affects the way in which thinking progresses in this tradition. In this article, we present the term's interpretation by the contemporary Greek philosopher and theologian Christos Yannaras and the association suggested by this author regarding the contemporary Western philosophical enquiries, in particular regarding 'nihilism'. Yannaras, in his work, drafts an epistemology of the sensorial experience, based on what he calls 'relational ontology' (ὀντολογία τῆς σχέσης), in the context of which the language of art takes on a genuine ontological statute.


Sexual selection can be affected by the competition for limited breeding resources and/or the competition for limited mates. Although there is ample evidence for each type of competition by itself, little is known about their relative importance and interaction. To address these questions, we established 48 experimental breeding populations of the two‐spotted goby (Gobiusculus flavescens), a substrate‐breeding fish with paternal care. In three experimental treatments, males were limited in the access to either nest sites or mates or were provided with both nests and mates in excess. We quantified male competition behaviour (agonistic and courtship), the opportunity for selection and selection on male body size. Limited access to nests and mates produced similar opportunities for selection, but only limited access to mates increased male competitive behaviours and caused positive selection on male body size. Selection on body size in the mate‐limited treatment was due both to larger males being more likely to take up nests and to larger males being more likely to mate once they had a nest. These findings demonstrate that resource and mate limitation can differ in their effects on sexual selection. The results also reveal that resource and mating competition can be highly inter‐related and not always separated in time, implying that methods to disentangle the two processes must be chosen with care. Future research should consider experimental and analytical approaches similar to those of the present study in attempts to elucidate the interaction of resource and mating competition in animals.


In December 2019, a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 first reported in Wuhan, China, emerged and rapidly spread to numerous other countries globally, causing the current pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 causes acute infection of the respiratory tract (COVID-19) that can result in severe disease and lethality. Currently, there is no approved antiviral drug for treating COVID-19 patients and there is an urgent need for specific antiviral therapies and vaccines. In order for SARS-CoV-2 to enter cells, its surface glycoprotein spike (S) must be cleaved at two different sites by host cell proteases, which therefore represent potential drug targets. In the present study we investigated which host cell proteases activate the SARS-CoV-2 S protein in Calu-3 human airway epithelial cells. We show that S can be cleaved by both the proprotein convertase furin at the S1/S2 site and the transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) at the S2' site. We demonstrate that TMPRSS2 is essential for activation of SARS-CoV-2 S in Calu-3 cells through antisense-mediated knockdown of TMPRSS2 expression. Further, we show that SARS-CoV-2 replication can be efficiently inhibited by two synthetic inhibitors of TMPRSS2 and also by the broad range serine protease inhibitor aprotinin. Additionally, SARS-CoV-2 replication was also strongly inhibited by the synthetic furin inhibitor MI-1851. Combining various TMPRSS2 inhibitors with MI-1851 produced more potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 than an equimolar amount of any single serine protease inhibitor. In contrast, inhibition of endosomal cathepsins by E64d did not affect virus replication. Our data demonstrate that both TMPRSS2 and furin are essential for SARS-CoV-2 activation in human airway cells and are promising drug targets for the treatment of COVID-19 either by targeting one of these proteases alone or by a combination of furin and TMPRSS2 inhibitors. Therefore, this approach has a high therapeutic potential for treatment of COVID-19.


The aim of this work was to study the influence of methacrylic acid (MAA) as a comonomer and the application of a molecular imprinting technique on the loading and release properties of weakly crosslinked 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) hydrogels, with a view toward their use as reloadable soft contact lenses for the administration of prednisolone acetate (PA). The hydrogels were prepared with HEMA (95.90–98.30 mol %) as a backbone monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (140 mM) as a crosslinker, and MAA (0, 50, 100, or 200 mM) as a functional monomer. Different PA/MAA molar ratios (0, 1 : 8, 1 : 6, and 1 : 4) in the feed composition of the hydrogels were also applied to study the influence of the molecular imprinting technique on their binding properties. The hydrogels (0.4 mm thick) were synthesized by thermal polymerization at 60°C for 24 h in a polypropylene mold. The hydrogels were then characterized by the determination of their swelling and binding properties in water. Their loading and release properties were also studied in 0.9% NaCl and artificial lachrymal fluid. Increasing the MAA content of the hydrogel and applying the molecular imprinting technique led to an increase in the loading capacity of the hydrogel. The optimized imprinted hydrogel showed the highest affinity for PA and the greatest ability to control the release process, sustaining it for 48 h. The results obtained clearly indicate that the incorporation of MAA as a comonomer increased the PA loading capacity of hydrogel. Our data showed that the molecular imprinting technique also had a significant effect on the loading and release properties of the hydrogels. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012


Can changes in industry structure be characterized by movements towards a long-run concentration ratio (CR)? This paper estimates an error correction model for thirty-three industries in India for the period 1974-85, using nonlinear estimation methods. The results indicate that structural change in India is composed both of significant changes towards the long-run CR and of significant changes of the long-run CR. The adjustment towards the long-run CR seems to be faster in India than in most Western studies. In spite of this, it is below 0.5 in most industries, indicating that even after eleven years, all the difference between actual and long-run CRs is not eroded and "excess" market shares persist in most industries. Across industries, speeds of adjustment are higher in industries with high profit margins and lower in industries which are reserved for the public sector. Copyright 1998 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Board of Trustees of the Bulletin of Economic Research


As the component count rises in photonic systems, photonic integration becomes increasingly attractive from a cost, power consumption, and footprint perspective due to the ability to reduce the on-chip to off-chip interfaces and simplify packaging. Although photonic integration has been investigated in many forms over the last decade, the incompatibility of passive and active devices in standard integration platforms has limited their use in both military and commercial systems. In this talk, we review the advances in a heterogeneous silicon integration platform that provides state of the art active and passive devices integrated on silicon substrates for microwave systems-on-chip.


A series of seven novel azetedinones 4a-g have been synthesized by cyclocondensation of various Schiff bases of phenothiazine with chloroacetyl chloride in presence of triethylamine. Various Schiff bases of phenothiazine were synthesized by condensation of 2-hydrazinyl-1-(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)ethanone 2 with various aryl aldehydes. Compound 2 was synthesized by reacting 2-chloro-1-(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl) ethanone 1 with hydrazine hydrate. The synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, 1H-NMR and mass spectra. The titled compounds were evaluated for anti-tubercular, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory activity by Lowenstein-Jensen medium method, cup plate method, disc diffusion method and carrageenan induced paw edema method, respectively. All the seven compounds 4a-g at a concentration of 100, 10 and 1 mg/L showed inhibition against the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Compounds showed good anti-bacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. Compound 4e showed equipotent antibacterial activity with streptomycin standard and showed better anti-bacterial activity against gram positive bacteria profile than gram negative bacteria. Zone of inhibition was not found for the compounds against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Compounds 4a-g exhibited good antifungal activity against Aspergillus species and no activity against Candida albicans. None of the reported compounds showed promising anti-inflammatory activity.

 Key words: Azetidinones, anti-tubercular, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, inflammation


Low-Frequency (L.F.) noise experiments are performed on n-p-n GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors. The results show that this device exhibit very attractive performance since we have obtained a value of current noise generator in the range of 10-23 A2/Hz at 10 kHz with a noise corner frequency in the 20 kHz range. Investigations on geometry and bias influence have revealed the presence of surface recombination effects. Finally noise measurements performed on transmission line models show that the input noise voltage generator is due to g-r noise in the base access resistance with a 0.48 eV activation energy and to 1/f noise in the emitter access resistance of the device.


PURPOSE
Herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) is a T-cell-mediated inflammatory disease initiated by a herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection of the cornea. Recently, studies in the HSK mouse model have shown that the immunopathogenic T cells are directed against the HSV protein UL6 cross-reacting with an unknown corneal autoantigen. Whether this type of autoimmunity plays a role in human HSK was analyzed.

METHODS
T-cell lines (TCLs) were generated from corneal buttons of 12 patients with different clinical stages of HSV-induced necrotizing stromal keratitis (n = 9) or immune stromal keratitis (n = 3). The initiating virus was identified by polymerase chain reaction and immunohistology performed on the corneal buttons. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated, and B cell lines (BLCLs) were generated by transformation with Epstein-Barr virus. Proliferative responses of these intracorneal TCLs were determined by culturing T cells with autologous BLCLs infected with HSV-1, HSV-2, wild-type vaccinia virus (VV-WT), or VV expressing HSV-1 UL6 (rVV-UL6). Alternatively, T cells were incubated with PBMCs pulsed with human cornea protein extract.

RESULTS
Irrespective of clinical diagnosis or treatment, T cells were recovered from the corneal buttons of all the 12 HSK patients. The intracorneal TCLs of 9 of the 12 HSK patients showed HSV-specific T-cell reactivity. In none of the TCLs, T-cell reactivity against HSV-1 UL6 or human corneal antigens was detected.

CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that the potentially immunopathogenic intracorneal T-cell response in HSK patients is directed to the initiating virus and not to a human corneal autoantigen or HSV-1 UL6.


Novel reconfigurable System-on-Chip (SoC) devices offer combining software with application-specific hardware accelerators to speed up applications. However, by mixing user software and user hardware, principal programming abstractions and system-software commodities are usually lost, since hardware accelerators (1) do not have execution context —it is typically the programmer who is supposed to provide it, for each accelerator, (2) do not have virtual memory abstraction —it is again programmer who shall communicate data from user software space to user hardware, even if it is usually burdensome (or sometimes impossible!), (3) cannot invoke system services (e.g., to allocate memory, open files, communicate), and (4) are not easily portable —they depend mostly on system-level interfacing, although they logically belong to the application level. We introduce a unified Operating System (OS) process for codesigned reconfigurable applications that provides (1) unified memory abstraction for software and hardware application parts, (2) execution transfers from software to hardware and vice versa, thus enabling hardware accelerators to use systems services and callback other software and hardware functions, and (3) multithreaded execution of multiple software and hardware threads. The unified OS process ensures portability of codesigned applications, by providing standardised means of interfacing. Having just-another abstraction layer usually affects performance: we show that the runtime optimisations in the system layer supporting the unified OS process can minimise the performance loss and even outperform typical approaches. The unified OS process also fosters unrestricted automated synthesis of software to hardware, thus allowing unlimited migration of application components. We demonstrate the advantages of the unified OS process in practice, for Linux systems running on Xilinx Virtex-II Pro and Altera Excalibur reconfigurable devices.


We study coalition formation and the strategic timing of membership of an IEA for environmental issues in the Coalitional Bargaining Game (CBG) of Gomes (2005, Econometrica). For the general CBG, we derive the necessary and sufficient condition for immediate formation of the grand coalition. We apply the CBG to a river sharing problem with two symmetric upstream agents and one downstream agent. Taking the discount factor and a productivity variable of water as parameters, we identify five regions in the parameter space. First, there is a region in which the grand coalition always forms immediately. Second, there are two regions in which there is for sure gradual coalition formation, in one of these regions there is a positive probability that the upstream agents form a monopoly. Third, there are two regions in which the grand coalition forms immediately with positive probability, but also gradual coalition formation might occur with positive probability.


One of the most powerful and prominent technologies for knowledge discovery in Decision Support systems is On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP). Most of the traditional OLAP research, and most of the commercial systems, follow the static data cube approach proposed by Gray etal. and materialize all or a subset of the cuboids of the data cube in order to ensure adequate query performance. Practitioners have called for some time for a real-time OLAP approach where the OLAP system gets updated instantaneously as new data arrives and always provides an up-to-date data warehouse for the decision support process. However, a major problem for real-time OLAP are significant performance issues with large scale data warehouses. The aim of our research is to address these problems through the use of efficient parallel computing methods. In this paper, we present a parallel real-time OLAP system for multi-core processors. To our knowledge, this is the first real-time OLAP system that has been parallelized and optimized for contemporary multi-core processors, providing the opportunity for real-time OLAP on large scale data warehouses. Our system allows for multiple insert and multiple query operations (transactions) to be executed in parallel and in real-time. We evaluated our method for a multitude of scenarios (different ratios of insert and query transactions, query transactions with different sizes of results, different system loads, etc.), using the TPC-DS "Decision Support'" benchmark data set. The tests demonstrate that our parallel system achieves a significant speedup in transaction response time and a significant increase in transaction throughput. Since hardware performance improvements are currently achieved not by faster processors but by increasing the number of processor cores, our new parallel real-time OLAP method has the potential to enable OLAP systems that are real-time and efficient/feasible for large databases.


Bovine lymphosarcoma is a lymphoproliferative disorder in cattle divided into two distinct entities based on the underlying aetiology. Whereas enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) has been found to be caused by the bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) and thus is considered an infectious disease, the aetiology of the sporadic bovine lymphoma (SBL) is not known (Mammerickx and others 1985). Because SBL cannot be linked to BLV as causative agent, SBL is considered non-contagious. SBL has been subdivided into the juvenile, the thymic and the skin form. The juvenile form occurs in calves up to six months of age but has occasionally been reported in animals up to two years (Grimshaw and others 1979, Bundza and others 1980). Typical signs are rapidly progressing and multicentric lymphadenopathy, leading to rapid demise and death (Grimshaw and others 1979). The thymic form predominantly affects cattle between 6 and 24 months of age and is characterised by massive lymphoproliferation of thymic tissue often with involvement of other organs (Dungworth and others 1964, Grimshaw and others 1979). Cutaneous SBL has been seen in cattle between 1 and 3 years of age and is characterised by multifocal cutaneous lymphoproliferation with or without involvement of other organs (Bendixen and Friis 1965, Grimshaw and others 1979, Stober 1980).

In contrast to the USA, where BLV is endemic and EBL is the most common form of bovine leukosis, in large parts of Europe, including the Netherlands, this virus is considered to be eradicated, making EBL rare and SBL …


We present the current status of our lattice calculation of the electromagnetic form factor of the pion with two flavours of non-perturbatively O(a)-improved Wilson fermions. Using twisted boundary conditions and stochastic sources we obtain accurate results with a fine momentum resolution near $q^2=0$. This enables the computation of the charge radius without model dependence. The ensembles cover various lattice spacings and pion masses, ranging down to 250 MeV. This allows to compare the data to continuum chiral perturbation theory to NNLO including corrections of finite lattice spacing to perform a simultaneous chiral and continuum extrapolation. An estimate for the systematic error resulting from the extrapolation can be obtained by looking at the spread of results obtained from other functional forms such as polynomials.


Lake pollution is a major and growing environmental threat in developing countries, exacerbated by the lack of ongoing scientific data about health of lakes. One way to address this problem is to crowdsource monitoring of lakes to interested citizens. We investigated changes in a lake in Bangalore, India over three months and found that there was double digit percentage change in several chemical and physical parameters, confirming that frequent monitoring of lakes would be valuable. We went on to develop an integrated mobile phone app and lake monitoring kit consisting of an electronic sensing device and chemical test strips. The electronic device measures total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, and temperature of a water sample, and transmits this data to a mobile app. The app also measures contaminant concentration levels of pH, Hardness, Alkalinity, Copper, and Nitrites by detecting color changes in chemical test strips. All data collected by the app is uploaded to a cloud platform that enables spatiotemporal visualizations of health parameters of multiple lakes. We validated that our first of a kind end-to-end lake monitoring system gives reliable data and initial crowdsourcing experiments showed that this approach could indeed provide valuable insights on the changing conditions of lakes.


Sensory, chemical, and rheological properties of commercial and traditional laban samples were investigated to characterize this fermented milk. One commercial sample and 14 traditional samples, collected from various geographical locations in Lebanon, were evaluated by a descriptive panel in terms of appearance, color, texture, odor, taste, and after-taste. Principal component analysis of the sensory data revealed high differences between laban samples. They were separated into 5 distinct groups that were identified by the following sensory characteristics: firm and sour, slimy and sweet, high butter odor, high yogurt odor, and moderate levels for all the descriptors. Six samples, showing different features, were selected from these 15 samples. Physicochemical analyses of acidity, lactose and fat contents, firmness, and apparent viscosity were assessed on these 6 samples. Laban, independently of its origin, displayed higher acidity than yogurt. Commercial laban showed higher acidity and viscosity than traditional samples. Statistical relationships between sensory and instrumental data showed significant correlation between apparent viscosity and smoothness, fat content and butter odor, titratable acidity and sourness, and penetrometry readings and sliminess. Finally, principal component analysis of the instrumental and sensory parameters revealed that both analyses characterized the samples in the same way.


In this study, untreated Tectona grandis (UTG) and citric acid- modified T. grandis (CAMTG) bark powder were used for the adsorption of Cu (II) ions from aqueous solution. The UTG and CAMTG were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The adsorption characteristics were carried out by determining the solution pH, initial concentration of Cu (II) ions, effect of time and temperature. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms were used to describe the equilibrium model with Freundlich isotherm giving the best fit. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity for CAMTG was higher than that of UTG. Also, there was about a four-fold increase in the adsorption of Cu(II) ions by CAMTG (Ao = 87.0 mg/g) over UTG (Ao = 22.9 mg/g). The kinetic data were explained by employing the pseudo-first and pseudo-second order models. The pseudo-second order kinetic model has an outstanding suitability to the experimental data. The positive enthalpy and negative free energy are indications of the endothermic and spontaneous nature of the copper (II) ion adsorption process. CAMTG is therefore, a more viable adsorbent for the removal of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solution than UTG.

 Key words: Adsorption, copper, equilibrium, kinetics, Tectona grandis.


The development of multimedia applications and distributed data retrieval systems that facilitate the exchange of real-time data in the Internet has increased in the past few years. As a result it has become evident that different types of traffic may have certain requirements that need to be addressed when the traffic is injected into the network. Mechanisms that consider such requirements and give preferential treatment to identified flows of traffic are called Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms. QoS metrics that are often used and are specific to packet level traffic characteristics are bandwidth, latency (delay), jitter and loss probability. Streaming multimedia may require guaranteed bandwidth to maintain certain quality levels while Voice over IP (VoIP) requires low delay as round-trip delays may be noticeable and degrade quality. QoS has historically been achieved mainly through differentiated forwarding, i.e. by maintaining different queues on a router level for traffic of different needs. There has also been research on differentiated routing, i.e. routing traffic with different needs through different paths. This is achieved mostly by using Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS). In this thesis we present a QoS mechanism, Intra-Domain Differentiated Routing (IDDR), that provides qualitative delay differentiation in plain IP networks . We first show that we can get substantial delay differentiation, around 30% on average, between two traffic classes within a network whilst retaining in many cases the throughput of successfully delivered flows. We can further double the delay differentiation with a minimal drop on throughput by optimising link weights using a genetic algorithm. The work is validated by simulation on multiple topologies and against many different traffic matrices to increase robustness. We then show that the IDDR can be modified and adapted for inter-domain delay differentiation. To test the inter-domain variant of IDDR we need a valid AS-level topology. Therefore, another contribution of the thesis is the AS-level topology generation that retains the properties of the internet.


Adverse environmental conditions have combined cumulative effects leading to performance degradation and failures of avionics. Classical reliability addresses statistically-generic devices and is less suitable for the situations when failures are not traced to manufacturing but rather to unique operational conditions of particular hardware units. An approach aimed at the accurate assessment of the probability of failure of any avionics unit utilizing the known history-of-abuse from environmental and operational factors is presented herein. The suggested prognostic model utilizes information downloaded from dedicated monitoring systems of flight-critical hardware and stored in a database. Such a database can be established from the laboratory testing of hardware and supplemented with real operational data. This approach results in a novel knowledge discovery from data technology that can be efficiently used in a wide area of applications and provide a quantitative basis for the modern maintenance concept known as service-when-needed. An illustrative numerical example is provided.


Organically modified layered silicate was introduced into miscible poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) / poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends for the synthesis and characterization of polymer/clay nanocomposite through solvent casting method. As a part of our continuous efforts on the study of nanoscopic internal structures and changes of material properties caused by the presence of organically modified layered silicate, we systematically investigated the characteristic morphological changes and internal structures with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Various factors such as clay concentration, thermal history, and shear history were employed to give rise to the changes of morphological and internal structures.


Background Workforce governance plays a pivotal role in determining the performance and level of functioning of the health service and posting and transfer (PT) a crucial aspect of this. PT policies are important elements of health workforce planning strategy towards achieving appropriate deployment and optimal utilization of existing human health resources, as well as in planning for the future. Yet the health services in many LMICs face the challenge of ensuring appropriate workforce deployment. Objectives How do different groups cadres of health systems experience PT? Methods A case study was conducted at a primary health care level in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. 13 in-depth interviews with administrators and health workers were conducted along with the analysis of existing counselling policy documents. Result The results of the study suggest that informal negotiations, deputations and diversions are used as coping mechanisms to address shortage of staff and make centers functional. Though counselling is an acceptable mediating mechanism between the authorities and health worker, some of the respondents expressed presence of inconsistency in the process. The PT policy does not allow for mutual transfers but subversions do happen through the use of informal networking that leads to manipulation of policies and guidelines towards the attainment of personal benefits. Also very little is known and talked about the impact of PT practices on health system functioning. However, responses highlight that service quality, access, continuity breaks and morale linked to PT are adversely affectedly. Conclusion PT emerges as a complex phenomenon, shaped partially by the laws of the state and partially as a parallel system of norms and incentives requiring consideration and coordination of the interests of different groups. PT is not merely a system dysfunction, but also a potential instrument of governance innovations, procedural justice and the accountability of health services to communities.


Vagrans egista sinha (Kollar, [1844]), the Himalayan Vagrant is a subspecies of Nymphalid (Brush-footed) butterflies spread across Asia, whose western limit is in the north-west India. Observations of this subspecies have considerably increased over the past half-a-decade, with a spike in new sightings to the west of their previously known range. This has been considered as a range extension. The current study reports new records of this species from Bilaspur District, Himachal Pradesh, India (which are the first records for the district), through systematic and opportunistic sampling. This raises the question of whether the purported range extension towards the west could instead be a range shift or vagrancy, and whether there is any shift in elevational ranges in the populations across their known range. Questions pertaining to spatial differences in elevational ranges and seasonal variation, across their range, also piqued our curiosity. Using data from academic sources (such as published literature and museum collections), supplemented by data from public participation in scientific research and personal observations, these research questions are addressed. The accuracy of results when using citizen science data is also explored using the same dataset, focused on the impact of method of extraction of coordinates, and elevation derived from it under different scenarios. It was discovered that there has not been a range shift (either longitudinal or latitudinal) and observations don't suggest vagrancy but a case of range extension. Other results indicated that there was no climb of population to higher elevations, no spatial differences in elevational ranges in the populations, or seasonal variation in activities across their range. It was also discovered that the method of data collection by, and extraction from, citizen science databases, can influence the accuracy of the results. Some problems involved in collecting data are discussed, and remedial solutions are suggested.


The electrical power grid forms the functional foundation of our modern societies, but in the near future our aging electrical infrastructure will not be able to keep pace with our demands. As a result, nations worldwide have started to convert their power grids into smart grids that will have improved communication and control systems. A smart grid will be better able to incorporate new forms of energy generation as well as be self-healing and more reliable. This paper investigates a threat to wireless communication networks from a fully realized quantum computer, and provides a means to avoid this problem in smart grid domains. We discuss and compare the security aspects, the complexities and the performance of authentication using public-key cryptography and using Merkel Trees. As a result, we argue for the use of Merkle Trees as opposed to public key encryption for authentication of devices in wireless mesh networks (WMN) used in smart grid applications.


With the rapid development of Internet-of-Things (IoT), face scrambling has been proposed for privacy protection during IoT-targeted image/video distribution. Consequently, in these IoT applications, biometric verification needs to be carried out in the scrambled domain, presenting significant challenges in face recognition. Since face models become chaotic signals after scrambling/encryption, a typical solution is to utilize the traditional data-driven face recognition algorithms. While chaotic pattern recognition is still a challenging task, in this paper, we propose a new ensemble approach-many-kernel random discriminant analysis (MK-RDA)-to discover discriminative patterns from the chaotic signals. We also incorporate a salience-aware strategy into the proposed ensemble method to handle the chaotic facial patterns in the scrambled domain, where the random selections of features are made on semantic components via salience modeling. In our experiments, the proposed MK-RDA was tested rigorously on three human face data sets: the ORL face data set, the PIE face data set, and the PUBFIG wild face data set. The experimental results successfully demonstrate that the proposed scheme can effectively handle the chaotic signals and significantly improve the recognition accuracy, making our method a promising candidate for secure biometric verification in the emerging IoT applications.


We examine how the composition of public debt, broken down by currency, maturity, holder profile and marketability, has responded to major debt accumulation and consolidation episodes during 1900-2011. Covering thirteen advanced economies, we focus on debt structure shifts that occurred around the two World Wars and global economic downturns, and the subsequent debt consolidations. Notwithstanding data gaps, we are able to recover some broad common patterns. Episodes of large debt accumulation - essentially, large increases in debt supply - were typically absorbed by increases in short-term, foreign currency-denominated, and banking-system-held debt. However, this pattern did not hold during the debt build-ups starting in the 1980s and 1990s, which were compositionally skewed toward long-term local-currency debt. We attribute this change to higher structural demand for sovereign paper, linked to capital account liberalization in advanced economies, the emergence of a large contractual saving sector, and innovative sovereign debt products. With regard to debt consolidations, we find support for the financial repression-cum-inflation channel for post World War II debt reductions. However, the scope for a repeat of this strategy appears limited unless financial liberalization and globalization were materially rolled back or the current globally agreed monetary policy regime built around price stability abandoned. Neither are significant favorable structural demand shifts, as witnessed in the 1980s and 1990s, likely.


Two collaborations at the Tevatron have combined data from their searches for the Higgs boson and report evidence of a new particle decaying into heavy quark pairs. This could be the first experimental evidence that the same mechanism that gives mass to the carriers of the weak force also underlies the mass of quarks.


The current study attempted to show the relationship of paternal sensitivity and maternal sensitivity and their possible influences on child cognitive and behavioral development. This study used data collected as part of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, which is a longitudinal, multi-site study. Correlation and regression analyses were computed to examine relationships between the variables at child age 6 and 36 months. Results indicated paternal sensitivity was a significant positive predictor of child cognitive abilities and a negative predictor of both fathers' reports of children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Maternal sensitivity was a significant negative predictor of mothers' reports of children's externalizing behaviors. Interpretations of these results and directions for future research are discussed.


Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are increasingly used for undersea exploration. The endurance of AUVs is limited by the onboard energy storage among which the battery systems dominate. Various underwater recharging methods are employed to increase the AUV range and autonomy. Currently, contact-based underwater recharging utilizes the wet-mate connector technology that requires a high-precision AUV docking, and is prone to electrical safety issues. To overcome these limitations, underwater wireless recharging techniques for AUVs have been explored in recent years. Wireless charging offers a safe and reliable method for autonomous power transfer between a charging station and a vehicle. This article reviews the state-of-the-art inductive wireless power transfer (IWPT) solutions for underwater applications and discusses the engineering challenges of the IWPT system design. Underwater environmental factors, such as seawater conductivity, temperature, pressure, water currents, and biofouling phenomenon, impose constraints on IWPT systems. A comprehensive review of AUV energy storage systems, docking methods, IWPT system control methods, and compensation networks is presented in this article. Based on the main operational and constructional principles, the AUV IWPT systems are categorized as loosely coupled transformers and resonant IWPT systems. Each of the categories is illustrated through their main design principles and implementations reported in the literature so far. Technical challenges, such as integration of IWPT system into an AUV hull, interoperability, alignment and retention issues, docking station sinking and stability, the design of pressure-tolerant charging electronics, data transfer, and the battery operation in the underwater environment are discussed in this article too. The article is concluded with the best practice overview of designing an IWPT system for AUVs.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this article is to discuss 2 questions concerning how hearing aids interact with hearing and cognition: Can signal processing in hearing aids improve memory? Can attention be used for top-down control of hearing aids?

METHOD
Memory recall of sentences, presented at 95% correct speech recognition, was assessed with and without binary mask noise reduction. A short literature review was performed on recent findings on new brain-imaging techniques showing potential for hearing aid control.

CONCLUSIONS
Two experiments indicate that it is possible to show improved memory with an experimental noise reduction algorithm at ecological signal-to-noise ratios and that it is possible to replicate these findings in a new language. The literature indicates that attention-controlled hearing aids may be developed in the future.


The anonymously-written one-act play The Author on the Wheel, or, a Piece Cut in the Green Room premiered at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on April 18, 1785 (The Daily Universal Register April 18, 1785). It follows a theatre manager with an awful, yet necessary task on his hands: to substantially revise and cut down a play in between the play's first and second performances. The opening night performance of the play was such a failure that it provoked the audience to throw fruit at the actors to show their disdain; therefore the cast refuses to perform until the script is substantially changed. The revision session in the green room does not go according to plan, and after much insult and humiliation from the manager, cast, and crew, the arrogant author storms out with his manuscript, ready to inflict his awful dialogue on another unsuspecting theatre company.Spaces in the theatre, due to their dynamic and potent properties, offer a way to examine meanings created by spectators and performers in terms of physical space, fictional space, and even textual space. Through my study of The Author on the Wheel, I consider a part of performance that complicates the idea of physical stage space to an extreme (and sometimes even dangerous) degree while somehow managing to avoid much historical and theoretical scrutiny: the thrown object. I investigate the movement between and amongst spaces made by the thrown object. The thrown objects to which I am referring are the apples, pears and oranges hurled toward the stage by the fictional audience in The Author on the Wheel. The incident of the thrown object occurs only as a memory in the play, recounted in the after-performance discussion in the green room. Through this dialogue, the characters tell tales of acting on the stage whilst enduring a barrage of fruit.


Stochastic computing (SC) is a re-emerging approach adopted in vision and learning machines. SC, as a hardware-efficient unconventional computation paradigm, utilizes digital logic systems for arithmetic operations. Conventional logic gates are fed binary streams that hold corresponding pulse probabilities. The similarity between binary input pulses is crucial to the correlation. In this brief, the utilization of a contingency table (CT) in an SC simulation is proposed as a main contribution. The CT manipulates input scalars to perform SC-based logic operations, which avoids lengthy bit-by-bit bitstream processing. After positive and negative correlation tuning via CT, three different approaches to emulate uncorrelated bitstreams are studied. Taking advantage of the ease of a memory- and runtime-efficient CT, correlation occurrence and error analyses are thoroughly discussed. The ability to use a CT for all input combinations instead of bitwise processing in any simulation environment is ascertained.


Flow cytometry is an essential tool in biology and medicine with applications in immunodeficiency diagnostic, immunosurveillence, organ transplantation in addition to its basic research usage. Before the widespread use of the Fluorescent-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS), the first flow cytometer was invented by Wallace Coulter and was embodied in a remarquably simple device. The Coulter counter principle consists in passing particles in an aperture concurrently with an electric current to measure the related impedance variations. In the fifties, the Coulter counter has established as a gold standard for cell counting and sizing. More recently, thanks to advances in miniaturization, micromachined impedance spectroscopy flow cytometers extended their analysis capabilities to the dielectric properties of cells. This opened the way to label-free and non-invasive methods for cell population differentiations such as leukocytes clustering. However, these flow cytometers were not designed for cell retrieval neither provided the ability to work with a limited number of scarce cells. First, this thesis extends the capability of impedance based flow cytometers to perform single cell isolation on disposable devices. Today, many biological methods are based on single cell isolation. In cell lines development, the gold standard procedure involves serial dilution. However, this approach is time-consuming as it needs to be repeated over several weeks to ensure clonality. In this thesis, a tool enabling single cell isolation in one step and based on impedance spectroscopy is developed. The modeling, designing and testing of a disposable pipette tip integrating a cell sensor based on the Coulter principle is reported. Coupled with an instrumented pipette, this disposable sensing tip enables single cell dispensing. Furthermore, this system allows recording the impedance trace to be used as proof of single cell isolation. Second, this thesis translates the concept of disposable, sterile and low-cost single-cell dispensing device on a standard planar microfabrication technology. Using a planar microfabrication technology enables a better control of the fluidic behavior and permits the integration of more complex features on the dispensing device. However, a disposable device requires a large-scale and cost-effective production method. A planar fabrication method based on the industrially standardized printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing process is assessed to produce different topologies of flow cytometers with emphasis on the disposable aspect of the devices required for cell culture. Third, this thesis is dedicated to further exploring the cell parameters that can be analyzed by impedance spectroscopy. Ligand-gated ion channels are cellular membrane proteins reacting very specifically and rapidly to the binding of a ligand molecule and modulate the membrane permeability. This cellular mechanism was proposed as the transducing elements for highly sensitive and specific chemical biosensors. However, this implies the engineering challenges of a long-term, automated and integrated cellular electrophysiology monitoring. Finally, in this thesis, the monitoring of ligand-gated ion channel permeability is investigated using impedance spectroscopy as a real-time, non-invasive and label free analytical technique.


Massively parallel sequencing of the polyadenylated RNAs has played a key role in delineating transcriptome complexity, including alternative use of an exon, promoter, 5′ or 3′ splice site or polyadenylation site, and RNA modification. However, reads derived from the current RNA-seq technologies are usually short and deprived of information on modification, compromising their potential in defining transcriptome complexity. Here, we applied a direct RNA sequencing method with ultralong reads using Oxford Nanopore Technologies to study the transcriptome complexity in Caenorhabditis elegans. We generated approximately six million reads using native poly(A)-tailed mRNAs from three developmental stages, with average read lengths ranging from 900 to 1100 nt. Around half of the reads represent full-length transcripts. To utilize the full-length transcripts in defining transcriptome complexity, we devised a method to classify the long reads as the same as existing transcripts or as a novel transcript using sequence mapping tracks rather than existing intron/exon structures, which allowed us to identify roughly 57,000 novel isoforms and recover at least 26,000 out of the 33,500 existing isoforms. The sets of genes with differential expression versus differential isoform usage over development are largely different, implying a fine-tuned regulation at isoform level. We also observed an unexpected increase in putative RNA modification in all bases in the coding region relative to the UTR, suggesting their possible roles in translation. The RNA reads and the method for read classification are expected to deliver new insights into RNA processing and modification and their underlying biology in the future.


This research aims to gain deeper insight and understanding into the behaviour of scaled pre-damaged UHPFRC slabs under the combined loading effect of static pressure followed by low velocity impact loading. The intension is to simulate impact from failed columns onto a damaged UHPFRC slab, as a result of an explosion. The context of these studies is the prevention of progressive collapse of a building through the contribution from using UHPFRC slabs.
A static pressure device was used to create the initial damage with low velocity drop tests carried out subsequently. The interest is focused on ability of the pre-damaged UHPFRC slabs to withstand cumulative impact energy, manifested via the measurement of the impact resistance, deformations and stiffness degradation compared to the undamaged slabs. The sensitivity of the impact locations were also investigated by setting the impact locations to be at the centre, edge and corner of the slab. Impact at an oblique angle of 10° was also included.
The results showed that the impact resistance of the pre-damaged slabs were substantially high, approximately 50 - 85% of the undamaged slab. Similarly, the high residual strength of the pre-damaged slabs was also reflected in the pattern of the deformations and stiffness degradation where in most cases, the patterns were found to be relatively similar to the undamaged slabs. Their high strength reserves after initial damage make them appealing as a construction material to withstand abnormal loading and mitigate progressive collapse of a structure. On the other hand, the slabs subjected to the asymmetrical impact showed lower impact resistance and therefore possessed higher risk towards initiating a progressive collapse failure. On the contrary, tilting the slabs to 10° only exhibited higher impact resistance.
To predict the response of slabs, FE models were developed using ANSYS Explicit Dynamics Release 13.0 software. RHT concrete formulation was used to represent the dynamic properties of UHPFRC materials. A new technique was also introduced to model the pre-damaged slabs. Although showing scattered results, the FE models were able to predict the response with reasonable accuracy ranging from 3%-52% in the majority of the cases.
Finally, the results from the analytical simulations using an SDOF model were also able to produce a reasonably close agreement with the experimental data and particularly true when the resistance functions were derived from the static tests. Therefore, SDOF modelling can be considered as a credible method to predict the deformation of UHPFRC slabs.


Abstract Journalists face plenty of challenges when covering innovation topics. Because innovation stories combine elements from several traditional beats, they are often left "homeless" in the media. The general lack of resources in the media affects specialty areas in particular. On top of that, innovation topics are often difficult to write because the issues are complicated and unpredictable. The risk of engaging in PR is particularly high when writing about innovation. Journalists can try to cope with these challenges, for instance by networking with experts, doing collaborative stories between desks, appreciating the fact that innovation stories take their time and finding a personal involvement in the topic to make it more appealing to the reader. The data in the present article consist of 69 thematic interviews with press journalists from the US, Japan and Finland.


The results of injecting intravenous contrast on density measurements of the major parenchymatous organs and large vessels in the trunk are analysed. The increased density gradient between a lesion and its surroundings produced by contrast may be a significant factor in improving spatial resolution and the value of suitable contrast enhancement has been studied. The concept of "over enhancement" has been introduced. The term "angio-CT" is defined and contrasted with "sequential-CT". This may enable one to carry out a functional study of important parenchymatous organs. Examples are given of the indications for "angio-CT". The events which occur during sequential-CT, after contrast enhancement, of the aorta, kidneys, liver and spleen are demonstrated pictorially.


Thus, the Inappropriate use of standard deviation to describe variance of a population sample already described by quite limited age range, the failure to distinguish between or the deliberate clouding of the difference between clinical and statistical significance, t.he failure to record the test statistic used and to indicate whether a certain level of P was obtained by a one or two tailed test are just a few examples of the extent and prevalence or' this problem. The most recent instance to arouse my concern is a paper published in the Journal of July 25, 1970, "Fiorinal-Pa for Symptomatic Relief in Tension Headache", by P. Thorpe! Not only is there an arithmetical mistake in percentages of placebo responders, but there would also appear to be an underestimation of t.he number of placebo responders (Case 7). Furthermore, no Indication is given of the test statistic used for analysis of variance, and in quo.ting a level of probability "tails" are not mentioned. It IS also unfort.unate that no indication is given of the total sample from which the 52 patients were selected, and that there is no record of any critical review of "current therapy, if any, with the exception of analgesics" which the paUents were allowed. These are two factors which could conceivably affect some inter-group variation and should thus be accounted for in the method.


Classification is widely used technique in the data mining domain, where scalability and efficiency are the immediate problems in classification algorithms for large databases. We suggest improvements to the existing C4.5 decision tree algorithm. In this paper attribute oriented induction (AOI) and relevance analysis are incorporated with concept hierarchy's knowledge and HeightBalancePriority algorithm for construction of decision tree along with Multi level mining. The assignment of priorities to attributes is done by evaluating information entropy, at different levels of abstraction for building decision tree using HeightBalancePriority algorithm. Modified DMQL queries are used to understand and explore the shortcomings of the decision trees generated by C4.5 classifier for education dataset and the results are compared with the proposed approach.


Background. Highly sensitized (HS) anti-HLA patients awaiting kidney transplantation benefit from specific allocation programs. Serological monitoring at 3-mo intervals is recommended to prevent unexpected positive crossmatch (XM), but this strategy is not evidence-based. Therefore, we assessed its relevance when using single-antigen flow bead (SAFB) and screening flow bead (SFB) assays. Methods. We included 166 HS patients awaiting a transplant and assessed their SAFB profile during the year preceding their inclusion. Anti-HLA antibodies were evaluated by SAFB assay and compared within patients as serum pairs at 3, 6, and 9 mo. We assessed the performance of SFB for detecting changes in SAFB profiles with 35 serum pairs. Results. On comparing 354, 218, and 107 serum pairs at 3, 6, and 9 mo, respectively, only 0.6%, 0.7%, and 1% of all antigens tested exceeded for the first time the unacceptable antigen threshold (mean fluorescence intensity ≥2000) in the most recent sample. Irrespective of the follow-up period, the calculated panel-reactive antibodies increased by a mean of 1%, and there was no significant increase in the proportion of donors at risk for positivity of flow- or complement-dependent cytotoxicity XM. The SFB did not accurately detect the variations of SAFB profiles. Conclusions. Changes in HS patient profiles are anecdotal and show little association with transplant access or risk for positive XM. Less-frequent monitoring in HS patients should be considered to improve cost-effectiveness without affecting transplant safety.


Under-frequency load shedding, rising electricity tariffs, environmental concerns and delays in constructing new power stations had plunged South Africa into darkness with the need for load shedding. Renewable energy technologies with its short lead times have become an attractive alternative for the country and hence led to the South African Government calling upon the country to explore renewable energy generation options. Subsequently, the Integrated Resource Plan 2010 set a target of 17800 MW (equivalent to 42%) of new electricity generation capacity to be derived from renewable energy sources. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program was then introduced with the aim of procuring Independent Power Producers clean renewable energy generation. The South African Renewable Energy Grid Code was then developed in 2010 to assist with these new Renewable Power Plants connecting onto the grid. The purpose of this paper is to provide details into the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program, the South African Renewable Energy Grid Code requirements and provide practical testing methods to carry out grid code compliance in accordance with the code.


Acidic recirculation water and effluents generated by the mining industry and bearing heavy metals can have a significant environmental impact on this region. Due to high concentrations of non-ferrous metals (5.2–300 mg/dm3 Cu; 50–450 g/dm3 Zn), such waters can be used as a raw material for producing concentrates for further recovery of metals from them. This study looked at the recirculation water of the Soryinsk tailings pod, the underspoil waters of the Novo-Shemursk deposit and the Urupsky GOK mine waters. The aim of the study is to develop a process for selective extraction of copper into a product that can be further processed into a final product. The most common techniques used to remove ions of heavy non-ferrous metals from industrial wastewater include neutralization techniques. In this case, however, a considerable share of non-ferrous metals get wasted. At the same time, reagent techniques (e.g. sulphidation in the acidic pH region) enable to selectively extract such metals into concentrates that can then be used in the conventional non-ferrous metal production technology. A sulphur solution in sodium hydroxide was used as a sulphidizer for selective extraction of copper from polycomponent wastewater. The sulphur solution was produced at the temperature of 115–120 oC, the mass ratio NaOH:S of 1:1 and the sulphur concentration of 350 g/dm3. Use of sulphur dissolved in sodium hydroxide helped extract copper in the form of sulphides from complex solutions. It resulted in a high recovery of copper (94–99.9%) and a high-concentration copper concentrate (8.9–27.5%). It was found that iron (III) interacts with sulphide ions forming elemental sulphur, which can be reused for conditioning of copper concentrate in sodium hydroxide. Thus, the sulphur can be reused and the concentration of copper can be increased to 24%. The physical properties of particles in copper sulphide concentrates determine the high rate of solid phase precipitation from the slurry. Sulphide particles are characterized with a high negative charge (–80…–100 mV) and the size of the 90% of the particles reaching 68.9 μm. The authors developed a process flow diagram for extracting copper from low-grade complex solutions. The process involves regular addition of sulphidizer to the existing water flow, detention of a solid copper phase and, when necessary, conditioning of copper concentrate.


In this paper we present a simple and efficient implementation of the rendezvous developed for a small multiprocessor system (6–10 processors). At first, we present the communication primitives with their traditional implementation. Secondly, we discuss in details our implementation and the communication architecture needed. We conclude with an evaluation showing that our implementation needs a maximum of four context switches to realize a rendezvous, which can be considered as an ideal result.


I. Which fictional doctor (a) stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb? (b) created a monster? (c) turned into a monster? (d) went looking for the pink sea snail? (e) thought everything was for the best in this best of all possible worlds? (f) was the friend of an opium-smoking detective? 2. Which nursery rhyme doctor (a) was disliked for no reason? (b) chose a wet day for a visit to town? 3. Which real-life doctor (a) invented a steam plough and a machine gun? (b) was executed for murdering his wife? (c) was the first modem European to reach the River Niger? (d) played 13 innings of over 200 in English cricket? (e) led an expedition to the Zambesi? (f) was stabbed to death while sitting in his bath? (g) laid down the fundamentals of modern astronomy? (h) proved Tasmania to be an island? (i) financed a jungle hospital by giving organ recitals? (j) perished with Scott in the Antarctic? (k } invented the finger print method of identification? 4. Which literary doctor (a) became a poet laureate? ( b) created the prototype of giants? 5. Can you name five other medical men who have achieved fame through their writing? 6. Name three doctors whose names are immortalized in modern physics units.


Use of the Continuous Wavelet Transform to Enhance Early Diagnosis of Incipient Faults in Rotating Element Bearings. (August 2008) Scott Weatherwax, B.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Alan Palazzolo This thesis focused on developing a new wavelet for use with the continuous wavelet transform, a new detection method and two de-noising algorithms for rolling element bearing fault signals. The work is based on the continuous wavelet transform and implements a unique Fourier Series estimation algorithm that allows for least squares estimation of arbitrary frequency components of a signal. The final results of the research also included use of the developed detection algorithm for a novel method of estimating the center frequency and bandwidth for use with the industry standard detection algorithm, envelope demodulation, based on actual fault data. Finally, the algorithms and wavelets developed in this paper were tested against seven other wavelet based de-noising algorithms and shown to be superior for the de-noising and detection of inner and outer rolling element race faults.


The interconnection of mobile ad hoc networks to fixed IP networks is one of the topics receiving more attention within the MANET working group of the IETF as well as in many research projects funded by the European Union. Several solutions have recently been proposed, but at this time it is unclear which ones offer the best performance compared to the others. In addition to introducing the main challenges and design options that need to be considered, we perform a simulation-based evaluation aiming at providing some insight on the performance of these approaches. These simulation results have proven themselves valuable by showing that some of the most eye-catching features of the proposed approaches have practical performance issues which need to be enhanced.


We present a sequence-based method, SecretomeP, for the prediction of mammalian secretory proteins targeted to the non-classical secretory pathway, i.e. proteins without an N-terminal signal peptide. So far only a limited number of proteins have been shown experimentally to enter the non-classical secretory pathway. These are mainly fibroblast growth factors, interleukins and galectins found in the extracellular matrix. We have discovered that certain pathway-independent features are shared among secreted proteins. The method presented here is also capable of predicting (signal peptide-containing) secretory proteins where only the mature part of the protein has been annotated or cases where the signal peptide remains uncleaved. By scanning the entire human proteome we identified new proteins potentially undergoing non-classical secretion. Predictions can be made at http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/SecretomeP.


Phase-field simulations of the nucleation and growth of primary α-Mg phase as well as secondary, β-phase of a Mg-Al alloy are presented. The nucleation model for α- and β-Mg phases is based on the "free growth model" by Greer et al.. After the α-Mg phase solidification we study a divorced eutectic growth of α- and β-Mg phases in a zoomed in melt channel between α-phase dendrites. The simulated cooling curves and final microstructures of α-grains are compared with experiments. In order to further enhance the resolution of the interdendritic region a high-performance computing approach has been used allowing significant simulation speed gain when using supercomputing facilities.


The overall objective of this research is to detect new urban areas over Stockholm Region between 1986 and 2004 using multitemporal remote sensing. Two SPOT images acquired on 13 of June 1986 and 29 of July 2004 were used for changed detection. Three change detection methods were tested for this purpose: image differencing, principal component analysis and change vector analysis using normalised difference vegetation index and brightness index. The results showed that image differencing using the red bands and second principle components performed better in detecting new urban features than change vector analysis (the overall accuracies: 89%, 87% and 83% respectively & kappa: 0.77, 0.74 and 0.67). Even though overall accuracies are all above 80%, the kappa coefficients were much lower indicating substantial amount of omission and commission errors presented in the change maps.


ABSTRACT Background: The spatial structure of tree species diversity may identify the relative importance of positive, negative and neutral interactions among species and the processes that maintain high species richness in tropical forests. Aims: We tested the hypothesis that common species accumulate higher species richness at small spatial scales than expected from a null model of complete spatial randomness (CSR) and that the strength of this signal decays when tested against a null model reflects plot-wide environmental heterogeneity. Methods: We computed individual species–area relationships (ISARs) to examine the accumulation of tree species richness with distance around 18 abundant species on a fully mapped 2-ha plot in a tropical evergreen forest in Vietnam. Results: Thirteen species displayed ISARs suggesting that they accumulated a higher than expected species richness of trees when tested against a null model assuming CSR, but this fell to eight species after accounting for non-random species distributions using a heterogeneous Poisson null model. Only the pioneer species Macaranga denticulata showed lower than expected species richness in local neighbourhoods when tested against the heterogeneous Poisson null model. Conclusions: Environmental heterogeneity contributes to the distribution of species diversity at small spatial scales and must be accounted for using an appropriate null model when analysing point pattern data. The accumulation of species richness in the local neighbourhoods of eight species may reflect facilitation, species herd protection, habitat heterogeneity or overlap in frugivore diets. Low species richness in local neighbourhoods surrounding M. denticulata stems reflect its early colonisation of canopy gaps.


Stepped spillways are currently a standard design in hydraulic engineering. Whereas these spillways were hardly employed until the advent to the Roller-Compacted Concrete (RCC) Technology in the 1980s, they were of particular interest from the 1990s for spillways of small or medium unit discharge, provided the RCC machinery was available. This paper reviews the technical background of the hydraulic developments of the stepped spillway concept, from roughly 1900 until 1990, when large research projects set in due to the success of the stepped spillway technology. The main steps in the integration of stepped spillways in dam schemes are described, along with isolated research conducted with these and similar structures, so that this paper may be considered an aid in the understanding of the fundamental hydraulic background of stepped spillways. The biographies of the main actors in this research field are also highlighted, including a portrait of the persons concerned.


Summary Four live virus vaccines against Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) were studied with regard to their safety, immune response and applicability. None of the vaccines caused clinical symptoms or had an adverse impact on bodyweight. Differences between these vaccins were observed in their effect on the Bursa/ Bodyweight Ratio and the severity of the microscopical lesions of the bursa Fabricii. The immunosuppressive effect of IBD vaccination at one day of age on the response to Newcastle disease vaccine applied was rather low. Three of the four vaccines induced antibodies associated with protection against challenge. Vaccination of SPF rearing chickens by drinking water at an age of 15 weeks produced an antibody response (Agar Gel Precipitin Test) whereas at an age of 23, 32 and 60 weeks it did not. Chickens of all age groups responded serologically to an intramusculair vaccination. A correlation was found between the immunological response and the effect of the vaccines on the bursa Fabricii.


Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) is a quite new sheet forming process which offers the possibility to deform complex parts without dedicated dies using only a single point tool and a standard 3-axis CNC machine. The process mechanics enables strains much higher than traditional sheet forming processes, but particular attention must be given to the final part geometrical accuracy. In this paper the capabilities of a dedicated explicit numerical model are quantitatively analyzed on pyramid-shaped parts. In particular a comparison between experimental and numerical results is reported. Three different shapes at the varying of the stamping angle were considered and the final shape was acquired, through a white light triangulation based optical scanner, after the removing of the punch and of the clamping fixture. LS-DYNA commercial code was used to simulate the three different case studies, and an explicit loading-implicit unloading approach was implemented in order to simulate also the shape distortions due to springback phenomenon. The effect of several numerical parameters on the final shape and the thickness distribution were investigated. In particular numerical results were analyzed at the varying of the material constituve law, of the shell element type and of the number of integration points along the thickness.


The structural design of spars for horizontal axis wind turbine blades to achieve satisfactory levels of performance starts with the knowledge of aerodynamic forces acting on the blades. The present paper proposes a comparative study of the geometries of three spars designed for a 48 m long composite blade. The spars are evaluated under compression, bending loads as well as on free vibration. Different Subroutines have been developed and coupled with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software to analyze the mechanical performances and the qualities of each one of the three designed spars. In other words, it seeks not only to define the behavior and response of each one of the spars and the effect of composite materials on the improvement of the structure stiffness and weight, but also to determine the suitable spars type for the wind turbine blade and the results shows that the Box spars offers a compromise of the main parameters.


The analyses presented in this thesis can broadly be split into two categories; 1) methodology for assessing goodness of fit, estimation of uncertainty and model selection, and 2) an application in the form of investigation into the link between minke whales and cod on the continental shelf around Iceland. These analyses are primarily reported in the five papers. The first paper presents the results from the first comprehensive analysis of the feeding ecology of minke whales on the Icelandic continental shelf area. The findings suggest that sandeels appear to be a major component in the diet of minke whales and gadoids are a greater part of the diet than previously considered. The results are presented with uncertainty estimated using a bootstrap approach treating an individual whale as a sampling unit. Paper V then details a potential use of the data obtained from the scientific survey by modelling the interaction between minke whales and cod. Paper II details the development of a novel bootstrap approach applied to highly disparate datasets is developed and demonstrated on cod in Icelandic waters. The method is contrasted with a more commonly used normal approximation where the covariance matrix is derived from the inverse Hessian matrix of the negative log likelihood function at the optimum. This method appears to perform favorably to the Hessian–based method for this class of models. Paper III presents the development of R-gadget, an R-package containing a set of useful utitilities when developing models in Gadget. Paper IV presents a power analysis of a proposed genetic tagging experiment contrasting two stock structure hypotheses based on information on genetically determined close relatives. The results indicate that in the case of small populations, such as fin whales in the North Atlantic fin whales a tagging experiment can be improved considerably by augmenting it with information on genetically determined close relatives.%%%%Hafrannsoknarstofnun