Flight line checkout of aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is a necessary part of Test Range operations. Checkout systems have been designed to support the Flight Test Engineer (FTE) and aircraft technicians to validate the operations of the aircraft instrumentation systems and to help in troubleshooting problems. Current systems in use by the FTE include using range assets, such as range Telemetry Receiving system, and even home built systems. One system used at Edwards Flight Test Center is called the Instrumentation Ground Support Units (IGSU) or "Taco Carts", a system that contains the basic elements of a telemetry ground system that also has the additional capability to connect directly to the aircraft. This presentation shows advancement prototypes that enable the FTE access to modern technologies that will provide efficiencies using wireless networks, tablets and the Test and Training Enabling Architecture (TENA) TENA through activities developed as part of the TENA in Resource Constrained Environments (TRCE) project.


The disclosure of sexual abuse in the world of sports is a process that has not been widely documented. This article presents the results of a document analysis of sport organization policies and interviews conducted with 27 sport stakeholders. The interviews focus on these stakeholders' perceptions of how the disclosure process would unfold if a case of sexual abuse were to arise in their organization and their perceptions of the actual cases experienced in the sport organizations participating in this study. The results reveal several problems affecting the disclosure of sexual abuse in sport organizations.


Movements associated with lifestyle and consumption politics have gained increasing visibility in society and in sociological research, but scholars' methodological insights for studying these issues have lagged behind. How might the lifestyles and consumption practices of researchers themselves shape data collection, and how might these movements affect researchers? The authors offer a collaborative, reflexive analysis of their experiences conducting fieldwork on three different consumption movements centered on food production. Building on feminist and symbolic interactionist methodological literature, they show how their own "consumption identities" affected their data collection, analyses, and written work. The authors also discuss how conducting research on consumption and lifestyle movements may also affect researchers' own identities and practices. They conclude by discussing how their process of "collaborative reflexivity" brings new insight into feminist methodological concerns for reflexivity. at PRINCETON UNIV LIBRARY on July 16, 2011 jce.sagepub.com Downloaded from 232 Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 40(2)


Summary form only given. In February 2002, a law-and-order of the federal communications commission (FCC) gave the "green light" (spectral mask in the range 3.1-10.6 GHz) for commercial applications of ultra wideband (UWB) systems. Since this recent FCC release, UWB has emerged as an exciting technology whose "time has come" for wireless communications, and local area networking. Conveying information over ultra-short waveforms, UWB technology allows for very accurate delay estimates providing position and localization capabilities within a few centimeters. The scarcity of bandwidth resources coupled with the capability of IR to overlay existing systems, welcomes UWB connectivity in the workplace, and at home for indoor and especially short range wireless links. However, to realize these attractive features, UWB research and development has to cope with formidable challenges. This plenary will provide the fundamentals of UWB communication systems, driving applications, recent developments, and open problems.


This study documents and discusses the nature of steep fracture orientations, their densities and their relationships to lithological types, which has been observed within the Triassic De Geerdalen Formation on Svalbard. The study is based entirely on field data collected over a period of two field seasons in Central Spitsbergen, Western Edgeoya and Central and Northern Hopen, with the intent of understanding the regional variations in these fractures. Fracture orientations have been analysed on a regional scale and their mode of formation is related to significant regional tectonic trends and also local structural styles. Density data and fracture characteristics within differing lithologies are based on scan-line data recorded in the field at numerous locations. The average fracture spacing and average fractures per metre has been the primary components of this discussion; and these are related to regional stratigraphic trends seen within the De Geerdalen Formation and the nature of sedimentological variations within the unit. It has been observed that throughout Svalbard there is a prominent affinity of steep fracturing to a NNW-SSE and ENE-WSW trend, with a further fracture set of NNE-SSW being observed on the island of Hopen. NNW-SSE trending fractures have been related to periods of extension along major N-S trending structural lineaments during the late-Mesozoic, with subsequent augmentation by Cenozoic compressional tectonics, uplift and unloading. ENE-WSW trending fractures seen throughout Svalbard are related to Late-Cretaceous and Palaeogene compressional tectonics along the West-Spitsbergen margin. Where they are deduced to have formed normal to the maximum stress of this compression, again these are suggested to have been augmented by later periods of uplift and unloading. Extensional fracturing seen on the Island of Hopen which is in contrast to the regional styles of Central Spitsbergen and Western Edgeoya, has been seen to be in close orientation to offshore faulting to the east of Svalbard in the Northern Barents Sea. Fracture densities are observed to show clear increases in spacing and decreases in average fractures per metre as bed thickness observed with sandstone beds. Results from sandstone and shale beds suggest a similar trend but with discrepancies at Hopen, whilst shale dominated beds show a good trend of density decreasing with bed thickness, but this lithological type is under-represented within the dataset.


When writing code, developers make design decisions by choosing between alternatives. Subsequent work with code requires reasoning about these design decisions, ensuring their code is consistent and answering rationale questions about why they were made. While documentation might help, it is rarely updated and often incomplete and untrustworthy. We propose a new form of documentation which is active , making design decisions checkable and offering immediate feedback on violations as they occur. Active documentation helps developers reason about design decisions by offering explanations and linked code snippets illustrating how to follow a design decision. To ensure active documentation is easy to create and maintain, new ways to create and edit checkable design decisions are needed. We offer a vision for active documentation, offer evidence for its potential, describe several techniques to achieve it, and suggest future directions for programming tools to better support it.


In this paper we study algorithms to find a Gaussian approximation to a target measure defined on a Hilbert space of functions; the target measure itself is defined via its density with respect to a reference Gaussian measure. We employ the Kullback--Leibler divergence as a distance and find the best Gaussian approximation by minimizing this distance. It then follows that the approximate Gaussian must be equivalent to the Gaussian reference measure, defining a natural function space setting for the underlying calculus of variations problem. We introduce a computational algorithm which is well-adapted to the required minimization, seeking to find the mean as a function, and parameterizing the covariance in two different ways: through low rank perturbations of the reference covariance and through Schrodinger potential perturbations of the inverse reference covariance. Two applications are shown: to a nonlinear inverse problem in elliptic PDEs and to a conditioned diffusion process. These Gaussian approximations also serve to provide a preconditioned proposal distribution for improved preconditioned Crank--Nicolson Monte Carlo--Markov chain sampling of the target distribution. This approach is not only well-adapted to the high dimensional setting, but also behaves well with respect to small observational noise (resp., small temperatures) in the inverse problem (resp., conditioned diffusion).


Wind erosion is considered as one of the most important factors for lack of development in arid and semi-arid regions. For this reason identification of effective factors on wind erosion as well as determining the potential of wind erosion in an area is one of the main management initiatives that can be done to control and reduce the negative effects caused by this phenomenon. The case study in the present research is a part of Mokhtaran watershed located km away from the west part of Sarbisheh Township, South Khorasan Province between ' to ' E and ' to ' N geographically. To determine and estimate the potential of wind erosion in agricultural and non- agricultural lands, experimental methods of IRIFER, IRIFER and Arc GIS software were applied. To achieve this objective topographic and geological maps of the study area, as well as Digital Elevation Model (with the resolution of m), satellite and Google earth imageries and available information related to the objectives of this research were obtained from the data achieve of Jihad-e- Agriculture and Governate of South Khorasan. Following field visits to the study area the scope of application for each model (non-agricultural lands using IRIFER and agricultural lands using IRIFER) was determined and for attaining more accuracy homogeneous units and geomorphology faces of the area were identified using the guidelines presented by Dr. Ahmadi. Following this step, the scores for the nine factors of each of the applied models was determined. Due to the importance of wind erosion, the potential of wind erosion and its intensity were specified and the wind erosion intensity maps were mapped finally. The results indicated that among agricultural lands, gardens and among non-agricultural lands, deposits faces from stream bed had the least intensity of wind erosion. Also dry lands and sandy lands had the most wind erosion intensity. Furthermore wind erosion intensity in agricultural lands is less than non- agricultural lands based on the results of this study.


Land cover information plays an important role in mapping ecological and environmental changes in Earth's diverse landscapes for ecosystem monitoring. Remote sensing data have been widely used for the study of land cover, enabling efficient mapping of changes of the Earth surface from Space. Although the availability of high-resolution remote sensing imagery increases significantly every year, traditional land cover analysis approaches based on pixel and object levels are not optimal. Recent advancement in deep learning has achieved remarkable success on image recognition field and has shown potential in high spatial resolution remote sensing applications, including classification and object detection. In this paper, a comprehensive review on land cover classification and object detection approaches using high resolution imagery is provided. Through two case studies, we demonstrated the applications of the state-of-the-art deep learning models to high spatial resolution remote sensing data for land cover classification and object detection and evaluated their performances against traditional approaches. For a land cover classification task, the deep-learning-based methods provide an end-to-end solution by using both spatial and spectral information. They have shown better performance than the traditional pixel-based method, especially for the categories of different vegetation. For an objective detection task, the deep-learning-based object detection method achieved more than 98% accuracy in a large area; its high accuracy and efficiency could relieve the burden of the traditional, labour-intensive method. However, considering the diversity of remote sensing data, more training datasets are required in order to improve the generalisation and the robustness of deep learning-based models.


The proposed Chinese Space Solar Telescope (SST) is the first large aperture space telescope in China designed to observe the sun. With an effective aperture of Φ1m, the primary mirror faces the sun directly, which receives more than 1000W heat that will lead to unacceptable thermal distortion in such severe thermal condition. Therefore, the temperature field of SST, which is changing with its orbital position, is critical in its design. In this paper, an analysis of the thermal flux in the SST is presented firstly. Further more, the heat flux of orbit is calculated with the thermal softerware NEVADA (Net Energy Verification And Determination Analyzer) according to the orbit parameters of SST. The thermal design software SINDA/G (System Improved Numerical Differencing Analyzer/Gaski), the radiation analysis software NEVADA and the finite element analysis software MSC.Patran are used to simulate the temperature field of the SST. In the end, the temperature distribution of the primary mirror is calculated. The temperature level of the primary mirror indicates that the system can achieve high spatial resolution with 0.1″~0.15″. It also means that the thermal control design is effective. The optical requirements to the SST thermal control are met. The thoughts and methods of the thermal analysis are also useful for similar optical telescopes designed for solar observation.


Artificial Intelligence extended the limits considerably of what is technically feasible. In avionics, stakeholders are also pushing AI. However, research results are usually confronted with restrictions in avionics: Safety and certification are often assumed as showstoppers. This is not quite precise, since stakeholders are approaching each other. We collect the demand for AI applications in avionics and develop a classification scheme for these. For each identified AI class the status quo is compiled. We conclude with an assessment of AI readiness and the identification of necessary research effort for AI in avionics.


Applicability of mandrel elbows to high pressure gas pipelines is discussed in this paper taking into account the seismic integrity to withstand liquefaction-induced permanent ground deformation. Bending test and FE analysis of X65, 45 deg. mandrel elbow with diameter of 24-in were conducted in order to evaluate the seismic integrity for lateral spreading due to liquefaction.Local buckling behaviors of the closing-mode test was simulated by FEA and calculation of existing seismic design code for high pressure pipelines can estimate maximum bending angle as limit state of the mandrel elbow conservatively. The results clarify that mandrel elbows can be applied to high pressure pipelines using conventional design method including the design code and FEA. In addition, buckling behaviors of the mandrel elbow were similar to those of high-frequency induction bends which have been used for high pressure pipelines in Japan.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


This article concerns resistance to unpaid work in the television and film industries. It outlines one notable and successful campaign against unpaid labour which was conducted in the UK television industry and discusses how a similar campaign in the film industry met much greater opposition. It then reports on a survey that was conducted in order to investigate the seeming differences in attitudes in the two industries observed during these campaigns. While confirming that workers in the film industry are more prepared to accept unpaid labour than television workers, the survey also revealed a more striking characteristic: those who have worked longer in either sector view unpaid labour considerably less favourably than relative newcomers. The article discusses possible reasons for this, such as self-interest and altruistic attitudes towards younger workers; it also explores some implications for future working conditions, and for the role of activism and solidarity in resisting the worst aspects of existing labour relations in the cultural industries.


ABSTRACT Guo, S.; Li, H.; Wu, B.; Zhou, J.; Su, C., and Guan, C., 2020. Combined optimization of neural network fault diagnosis methods for analog circuits on ships. In: Zheng, C.W.; Wang, Q.; Zhan, C., and Yang, S.B. (eds.), Air-Sea Interaction and Coastal Environments of the Maritime and Polar Silk Roads. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 99, pp. 158–164. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. With increasing automation, electronic systems are becoming more widely used on ships. When electronic systems fail, it will greatly affect the safety of ship operation or even cause catastrophic accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to diagnose a circuit fault in order to repair the equipment in time. In electronic systems, more than 80% of the faults come from analog circuits. To obtain better fault diagnosis accuracy for analog circuits, neural network classification algorithms are often combined with optimization steps, such as circuit feature collection, feature engineering, regularization and so on, significantly affecting the accuracy of the classification algorithm, such as circuit feature collection, feature engineering, and regularization. However, the accuracy of analog circuit fault diagnosis is often not high in practical applications because of the tolerance of analog circuit components and other factors. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes a neural network combination optimization method based on hypothesis testing and applies it this method to the fault diagnosis of analog circuits on ships. This method uses hypothesis testing to combine and sort the optimization methods of each step in a neural network classification algorithm to obtain a model ranking based on the accuracy rate with mathematical statistics rules, thereby obtaining the optimal combination method. Finally, the validity of the method is verified by experiments.


Introduction Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell neoplasm with substantial morbidity and mortality. A comprehensive description of the global burden of MM is needed to help direct health policy, resource allocation, research, and patient care. Objective To describe the burden of MM and the availability of effective therapies for 21 world regions and 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016. Design and Setting We report incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2016 study. Data sources include vital registration system, cancer registry, drug availability, and survey data for stem cell transplant rates. We analyzed the contribution of aging, population growth, and changes in incidence rates to the overall change in incident cases from 1990 to 2016 globally, by sociodemographic index (SDI) and by region. We collected data on approval of lenalidomide and bortezomib worldwide. Main Outcomes and Measures Multiple myeloma mortality; incidence; years lived with disabilities; years of life lost; and DALYs by age, sex, country, and year. Results Worldwide in 2016 there were 138 509 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 121 000-155 480) incident cases of MM with an age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) of 2.1 per 100 000 persons (95% UI, 1.8-2.3). Incident cases from 1990 to 2016 increased by 126% globally and by 106% to 192% for all SDI quintiles. The 3 world regions with the highest ASIR of MM were Australasia, North America, and Western Europe. Multiple myeloma caused 2.1 million (95% UI, 1.9-2.3 million) DALYs globally in 2016. Stem cell transplantation is routinely available in higher-income countries but is lacking in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the Middle East. In 2016, lenalidomide and bortezomib had been approved in 73 and 103 countries, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance Incidence of MM is highly variable among countries but has increased uniformly since 1990, with the largest increase in middle and low-middle SDI countries. Access to effective care is very limited in many countries of low socioeconomic development, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Global health policy priorities for MM are to improve diagnostic and treatment capacity in low and middle income countries and to ensure affordability of effective medications for every patient. Research priorities are to elucidate underlying etiological factors explaining the heterogeneity in myeloma incidence.


RATIONALE:
 Current invasive treatment for brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) is varied and includes endovascular procedures, neurosurgery, and radiotherapy. However, no controlled treatment data for any comparison of treatments, immediate or deferred, on the benefit of preventive therapy for unruptured brain AVMs have yet been performed.

 DESIGN:
 ARUBA is an international, multicenter, randomized, controlled, open, prospective clinical trial.

 SAMPLE SIZE:
 400 patients (1:1 random assignment).

 POPULATION STUDIED:
 Patients aged ≥18 years, diagnosed with an unruptured brain AVM considered by the local investigators to be suitable for attempted eradication.

 Outcome measures:
 The primary outcome is the composite event of death from any cause or stroke (hemorrhage or infarction confirmed by imaging). Clinical outcome status will be measured by the Rankin Scale, NIHSS, SF-36, and EuroQol.

 INTERVENTIONS:
 Patients are randomly assigned to best possible invasive therapy (medical management plus endovascular, surgical, and/or radiation therapy ) versus medical management alone. Patients will be followed for 5-10 years from randomisation.

 PRIMARY AIM:
 To determine whether a strategy of medical management alone is superior to invasive therapy for preventing the composite outcome of death from any cause or stroke (symptomatic haemorrhage or infarction) in the treatment of unruptured BAVMs.

 SECONDARY AIM:
 To determine whether treatment of unruptured BAVMs by medical management alone decreases the risk of death or clinical impairment (Rankin Score >/= 2) at 5 years post-randomization compared to invasive therapy.

 TRIAL STATUS:
 More than 200 patients have been enrolled worldwide.

 SPONSOR:
 NIH/NINDS (
 NCT00389181
 )

 CONTACT:
 firstname.lastname@example.com (www.arubastudy.org)


The fractal image compression technique has a unique feature due to which physical position of blocks/regions in the input image can be extracted directly from the compressed data. Applying this technique, /spl phi/-q-n partial discharge (PD) patterns (treated as an image) are compressed and stored as affine transformations. These transformations then are used directly to extract the embedded pattern features, which are classified by a neural network. The novel route to PD pattern classification described in this paper thus addresses both the tasks of compression and feature extraction in a single step. The task of compression is essential to store and handle large quantities of pattern data acquired, especially during on-line monitoring of PD in power apparatus. Results presented illustrate that this approach can address satisfactorily the tasks of compression and classification of PD patterns.


While it is known that consumption of licorice may lead to cardiac arrhythmias, there have been no reports of atrial fibrillation resulting from the consumption of licorice root syrup. A 57-year-old male with no prior history of cardiovascular disease was admitted to the emergency department with palpitation. His electrocardiogram showed atrial fibrillation with a moderate to rapid ventricular rate. In laboratory assessment, potassium was 2.0 mmol/L and plasma renin activity and aldosterone level were suppressed (<300 ng/L/hour, 42 ng/L respectively). Volumes of the heart chambers were within normal range and functions and structures of the heart valves were normal in echocardiographic assessment. The arrhythmia was resolved with propafenone infusion.


Interest in the area of control of systems defined by partial differential Equations has increased strongly in recent years. A major reason has been the requirement of these systems for sensible continuum mechanical modelling and optimization or control techniques which account for typical physical phenomena. Particular examples of problems on which substantial progress has been made are the control and stabilization of mechatronic structures, the control of growth of thin films and crystals, the control of Laser and semi-conductor devices, and shape optimization problems for turbomachine blades, shells, smart materials and microdiffractive optics. This volume contains original articles by world reknowned experts in the fields of optimal control of partial differential equations, shape optimization, numerical methods for partial differential equations and fluid dynamics, all of whom have contributed to the analysis and solution of many of the problems discussed. The collection provides a state-of-the-art overview of the most challenging and exciting recent developments in the field. It is geared towards postgraduate students and researchers dealing with the theoretical and practical aspects of a wide variety of high technology problems in applied mathematics, fluid control, optimal design, and computer modelling.


The parameter analysis methodology of conceptual design is interpreted through the reconstructed proto-theory of design, which draws on the similarity of design and geometrical analysis, as suggested by Aristotle. The notions of the proto-theory are found to create added clarity when applied to this contemporary design approach. Especially, they allow interpreting each of the parameter analysis steps separately in terms of the types of reasoning involved. Also it is clarified that reasoning backwards towards a solution and reasoning forwards towards the proof are integrated into one process.


Ceramic-matrix composites (CMC) made of carbon and silicon carbide dual matrix reinforced with carbon fibres (C/C-SiC) have exceptional heat, thermal shock, creep, and wear resistance, while also having little density and high strength. In comparison to monolithic ceramics, CMC possess ductility and damage tolerance, which opens this material for severe applications. Starting in space applications, this material is today well established in friction applications, where lightweight high-performance brakes securely decelerate e.g. luxury cars or elevators. The high production costs still limit the broad application like as brake discs in standard passenger cars, although less weight, better performance and longer lifetime. The industrial used production process is the liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) with it three steps: green body shaping, pyrolysis and silicon infiltration. In this work, the shaping process of the carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) green body, is done by thermoset injection moulding. The application of plastic production processes like compounding and injection moulding in the liquid silicon infiltration process route, enables large-scale manufacturing. However, the screws and high shear forces inside the plastic processing machines significantly shorten the fibres. This paper describes the pros and cons of thermoset injection moulding in the LSI route, as well as the development and effect of different reinforcement types in dependence of their fibre length, since several energy dissipation mechanisms bases on a minimum length of reinforcement fibres in CMC. Various raw materials like short and chopped fibres with different length, rovings, and different approaches to receive longer fibres and their outcomes are presented. The mechanical properties show promising values and the micrographs display the infiltration status and crack development inside the specimen.


BIOMEDICINE
The identification of a disease-causing gene mutation in humans is typically followed by a flurry of research aimed at elucidating the normal function of the gene and how disruption of that function produces the specific pathological features of the disease. These projects often rely on the phenotypic characterization of mice in which the murine ortholog of the gene has been inactivated (knock-out mice) or in which the specific disease-causing mutation has been introduced into the murine germline (knock-in mice).

Although such models are informative, a recent analysis serves as a reminder that mice are not men, especially when it comes to protein quality-control systems. By examining the Mouse Genome Informatics database and the literature, Liao and Zhang identified 120 genes known to be essential for human survival and found that 22% of these are nonessential in mice. Interestingly, nearly half of these 27 genes encode proteins localized to vacuoles, which are membrane-bound compartments that help remove cellular waste such as misfolded proteins. In independent studies, Kobuke et al. and Bartoli et al. found that a missense mutation responsible for a specific type of muscular dystrophy in humans (an R77C substitution in alpha-sarcoglycan) caused no disease phenotype when introduced into mice. In this case also, the cross-species difference was tentatively traced to the quality-control systems that recognize and process defective proteins. — PAK

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A . 105 , 6987 (2008); Hum. Mol. Genet . 17 , 1201; 1214 (2008).


The objectives of the current study were to determine whether interspecific sheep<==>goat chimaeras exhibited reproductive cycles of their component species and were capable of maintaining ovine and caprine pregnancies to term. All chimaeras had oestrous cycles and several exhibited characteristics of both ewes and does, including short, 6-7-day cycles. Sixteen caprine pregnancies were confirmed in eight sheep<==>goat and one hybrid<==>sheep chimaera from 21 embryo transfers; of these, six appeared normal by ultrasonographic examination during Weeks 5 or 6, but none progressed beyond Week 8. Three apparent pseudopregnancies developed in two animals. In contrast, eight of 11 pregnancies in chimaeras resulted in term ovine offspring after transfer of ovine embryos or natural matings with rams. By comparison, interspecific (caprine or hybrid) pregnancies in ewes were lost in Week 4 (n = 8) or Weeks 5-6 (n = 2). First interspecific (ovine or hybrid) pregnancies in does were maintained longer (Weeks 6-12, n = 7) than second interspecific pregnancies (Weeks 4-5, n = 5) (P < 0.05) or interspecific pregnancies in ewes (P < 0.05). The results suggest that abnormal fetomaternal interactions during the early stages of implantation are responsible for termination of caprine pregnancies in the ovine or chimaeric uterus, whereas ovine conceptuses are able to implant successfully in the chimaeric uterus. All chimaeras were fertile, since each carried at least one ovine pregnancy to term following natural matings with rams.


I present skill bootstrapping, a proposed new research direction for agent learning and planning that allows an agent to start with low-level primitive actions, and develop skills that can be used for higher-level planning. Skills are developed over the course of solving many different problems in a domain, using reinforcement learning techniques to complement the benefits and disadvantages of heuristic-search planning. I describe the overall architecture of the proposed approach and discuss how it relates to other work.


Small scale centrifuge models were used to study the behaviour of arches repaired using different techniques. The models under test were 1/12th scale replicas of a 6 metre single span three ring arch. Two types of arch geometry, with span/rise of 4 and 2, were studied as a shallow and deep arch geometry. The models were tested in a centrifuge under a steady equivalent gravity of 12g. Two types of 2-D and 3-D arch models were studied which had the same geometry but different in the addition of spandrel walls. The 3-D models were built with spandrel walls but without any wing walls or parapet. Both 2-D and 3-D arch models were tested under rolling and failure loads. The models were usually tested with fourteen passes of a rolling load and then up to the observation of first signs of failure to enable them to be suitable for applying a repair method. The repaired models were tested using the same procedure but up to the full failure load. To understand the behaviour of the arch models under unsymmetrical loads different roller weights were applied at different positions. The arch deflection and the soil/masonry interaction in arch extrados were measured in all the tests and compared with each other. Plastic mesh reinforcement, stitching, and concrete slab on top of the soil backfill were applied as repair methods to the 2-D arch models. A review of the results has shown an increase in arch stiffness, decrease in deflections and a significant improvement in the ultimate load carrying capacity. A significant effect on the pressure distribution on the arch barrel was observed due to the application of the concrete slab on top of the backfill. Stitching of arch barrel and the barrel to the spandrels, applying partial saddle concrete and strengthening of spandrel wall using reinforced concrete were tested in the 3-D arch models. The results showed improvements in the stiffness and ultimate arch load carrying capacity due to these repair techniques. The results provide a valuable data base for validation of numerical models and an initial attempt to use them with a commercial finite element program is included.


Today's digital world consists of vast multimedia contents: images, audios and videos. Thus, the availability of huge video datasets have encouraged researchers to design video classification techniques to group videos into categories of interest. One of the topics of interest to political scientists is automated classification of a video advertisement into a political campaign ad category or others. Recent years have seen a plethora of deep learning-based methods for image and video classification. These methods learn feature representation from the training data along with the classification model. We investigate the effectiveness of three recent deep-learning based video classification techniques for the political video advertisement classification. The best technique among the three yields an accuracy of 80%. In this thesis, we further improve the classification accuracy by combining the results of classification of text features with that of the best deep learning methods we studied. Our method achieves the classification accuracy of 91%.


The nonminimum phase characteristics of a single flexible link manipulators (SFLM) is a barrier in the application of existing causal end-effector trajectory inversion methods. The available end-effector trajectory inversion results in a pre-actuation base torque and does not tolerate the existence of the non-zero initial states. In this article a new method for the end-effector trajectory inversion of SFLM with non-zero initial states is introduced which does not lead to pre-actuation. This method can be applied when the desired end-effector trajectory needs to be changed or corrected during the maneuver or when a SFLM is initially bent due to its interaction with the surroundings. The result of a simulation study for an initially bent SFLM is also included. While the method is introduced for the end-effector trajectory inversion of SFLM with non-zero initial states, it can be used for the inversion of any linear nonminimum phase single-input single-output system with non-zero initial states.


The efficiency of a Thermoelectric Module (TEM) is not only influenced by the material properties, but also by the heat losses due to the internal and contact thermal resistances. In the literature, the material properties are mostly discussed, mainly to increase the well-known thermoelectric figure of merit ZT. Nevertheless, when a TEM is considered, the separate characterization of the materials of the p and n elements is not enough to have a suitable TEM electrical model and evaluate more precisely its efficiency. Only a few recent papers deal with thermal resistances and their influence on the TEM efficiency; mostly, the minimization of these resistances is recommended, without giving a way to determine their values. The aim of the present paper is to identify the internal and contact thermal resistances of a TEM by electrical characterization. Depending on the applications, the TEM can be used either under constant temperature gradient or constant heat flow conditions. The proposed identification approach is based on the theoretical electrical modeling of the TEM, in both conditions. It is simple to implement, because it is based only on open circuit test conditions. A single electrical measurement under both conditions (constant-temperature and constant-heat) is needed. Based on the theoretical electrical models, one can identify the internal and thermal resistances.


1. Introduction Insofar as quarrying has any public image it tends to be associated with the Dartmoor concept of a criminal swinging a 14 pound sledge-hammer; there is in southeast England the other image of rapacious gravel scratchers digging up people's gardens when they're not looking. Because of this general lack of understanding it is perhaps useful in a paper of this kind to define quarrying in more scientific and precise terms. In the Institute of Quarrying it is defined briefly as the extraction of surface minerals and their processing for the market. Thus although the popular concept of breaking ground is correct, it is only half the story. For by far the most complex and technical side of the industry is the preparation of end products for distribution. Moreover, a wide variety of materials is involved, including the range of igneous rocks, limestone, chalk, sandstone and sand and gravel, the latter including sea-dredged material. From these are produced the end products, ranging from fill as the most unsophisticated, through lean-mix and cement stabilized bases, to tar- and bitumen-bound base courses and asphalt wearing courses; also concrete for rigid pavements and for structures ancillary to the road itself. It is important to realise that, in this country, the quarrying industry itself produces and distributes these end products. Indeed so complete is the vertical integration in some cases that a company may also lay the end products and complete the operation. Thus the industry is a very close partner in road


Power flow analysis on a Photovoltaic System (PV)-dominated distribution network is rather different than a conventional distribution system. This paper proposes a new three-phase power flow solution for such networks that considers the multiphase unbalanced nature of distribution systems together with different system topologies. Power flow contributions of PVs and different types of loads are also considered. The performance of the proposed method has been assessed by simulations on a sample distribution network.


Network sampling is a widely used procedure in social network analysis where a random network is sampled from a generative network model (GNM). Recently proposed GNMs, allow generation of networks with more realistic structural characteristics than earlier ones. This facilitates tasks such as hypothesis testing and sensitivity analysis. However, sampling of networks with correlated vertex attributes remains a challenging problem. While the recent work of \cite{Pfeiffer:14} has provided a promising approach for attributed-network sampling, the approach was developed for use with relatively simple GNMs and does not work well with more complex hierarchical GNMs (which can model the range of characteristics and variation observed in real world networks more accurately). In contrast to simple GNMs where the probability mass is spread throughout the space of edges more evenly, hierarchical GNMs concentrate the mass to smaller regions of the space to reflect dependencies among edges in the network---this produces more realistic network characteristics, but also makes it more difficult to identify candidate networks from the sampling space. In this paper, we propose a novel sampling method, CSAG, to sample from hierarchical GNMs and generate networks with correlated attributes. CSAG constrains every step of the sampling process to consider the structure of the GNM---in order to bias the search to regions of the space with higher likelihood. We implemented CSAG using mixed Kronecker Product Graph Models and evaluated our approach on three real-world datasets. The results show that CSAG jointly models the correlation and structure of the networks better than the state of the art. Specifically, CSAG maintains the variability of the underlying GNM while providing a ≥ 5X reduction in attribute correlation error.


Early empirical studies find a negative association between firm performance and shareholder activism, whereas more recent studies document a positive association. We argue and theoretically show that this change in behavior results from mandating executive compensation disclosure. We develop a two-period model in which a potentially dependent board contracts with a CEO and a shareholder decides on the costly replacement of the board. Our key feature is information asymmetry between insiders and the shareholder about whether the firm faces a board dependence issue, i.e., information asymmetry about governance quality. We show that when only earnings are disclosed, shareholders intervene in firms with intermediate performance and dependent boards distort CEO contracts to manage earnings in order to avert replacement. However, if CEO pay levels are jointly disclosed with earnings, shareholders target intermediately and well-performing firms with a high pay-performance ratio and dependent boards' incentives to manage earnings are mitigated. Further results are consistent with the argument that executive compensation disclosure not only facilitates shareholder monitoring ex post but also alleviates the detrimental ex ante incentive effects of shareholder monitoring. The paper provides a number of novel empirical predictions.


Similar to other types of cancer, acidification of tumor microenvironment is an important feature of osteosarcoma, and a major source of cellular stress that triggers cancer aggressiveness, drug resistance, and progression. Among the different effects of low extracellular pH on tumor cells, we have recently found that short-term exposure to acidosis strongly affects gene expression. This alteration might also occur for the most commonly used housekeeping genes (HKG), thereby causing erroneous interpretation of RT-qPCR data. On this basis, by using osteosarcoma cells cultured at different pH values, we aimed to identify the ideal HKG to be considered in studies on tumor-associated acidosis. We verified the stability of 15 commonly used HKG through five algorithms (NormFinder, geNorm, BestKeeper, ΔCT, coefficient of variation) and found that no universal HKG is suitable, since at least four HKG are necessary for proper normalization. Furthermore, according to the acceptable range of values, YWHAZ, GAPDH, GUSB, and 18S rRNA were the most stable reference genes at different pH. Our results will be helpful for future investigations focusing on the effect of altered microenvironment on cancer behavior, particularly on the effectiveness of anticancer therapies in acid conditions.


The article develops a vision based auto-recharging system for mobile robots, and programs a new docking processing to enhance successful rate. The system contains a docking station and a mobile robot. The docking station contains a docking structure, a control device, a charger and a detection device and a wireless RF interface. The mobile robot contains a power detection module (voltage and current), an auto-switch, a wireless RF interface, a control system and a camera. The docking structure is designed with one active degree of freedom and two passive degrees of freedom. The active degree of freedom can move forward to contact the recharging connect points that are arranged in the mobile robot. The two passive degrees of freedom can rotation in the Z-axis and use compression spring moving on various docking condition. In image processing, the mobile robot uses a webcam to capture the real-time image; and transmits the image signal to the computer via USB interface, and uses Otsu algorithm to recognize the position of the docking station. In the experiment results, the system had been successfully guided the mobile robot moving to the docking station using the proposed method.


France benefits from an important tidal energy resource, with the second largest potential in Europe, and one of the biggest in the world. In addition, France has an important industrial and academic fabric, with several tidal developers, shipyards, and research centers, creating, theoretically, an attractive environment. However, though some tidal turbines already installed, such as Sabella demonstrator at Ouessant Island, or Guinard energy turbine in the Etel river, the sector still has a large development potential. One limitation of such a development is the lack of available data to assess the total potential. Previous studies mainly focused on the most energetic sites, such as the Alderney Race or the Fromveur Passage, while other sites are neglected. Yet, those sites, such has rivers or estuaries, offer softer conditions, lowering the risks. Moreover, although identifying a suitable area for tidal array implementation requires technical criteria (maximum current velocity, water depth, installable potential, etc.), it should also consider other aspects such as ecological indicators (migratory fishes, specific habitats, etc.), regulation specificities (Natura 2000, ZNIEFF, etc.) or human activities conflicts (fishery, UXO, etc.). On top of that, socioeconomic indicators, such as potential local content or partnerships with relevant academic stakeholders, are encouraged by authorities, and must be accounted for.
Hence, this study proposes an extensive multi-criteria analysis methodology, to assess tidal energy potential of ten sites in France, including five nearshore locations (Alderney race, Fromveur passage, Raz-de-Sein, Raz-Barfleur, Paimpol-Bréhat), and five estuaries, river or similar (Gironde estuary, Gulf of Morbihan, Adour river, Etel river, Arcachon Bay). The analysis is limited to ten sites, selected based on a pre-screening analysis, which will be detailed in the study.
The different criteria used will be presented, including their weight to the final score which reflect their importance during project development, and the 3-level grading system used to discriminate sites. The methodology developed to assess full-time equivalent employments created by a tidal array, using world input-output tables and other economic parameters will also be detailed. A specific focus will be proposed on methodology used to assess the installable capacity, relying on data from MARS 2D model for nearshore sites and public data for the others.
First analysis shows that Raz-de-Sein and Paimpol-Bréhat are the two most suitable sites for tidal arrays implementation, while the Alderney Race is the most energetic one. Those results are driven by high scores obtained by these sites in categories such as ecological or human activities. Direct, indirect, and induced employments created during construction and operational phase by each project are also calculated, as well as potential growth value added. Hypothesis and sensitivity to them will be discussed.
This research was funded by the H2020 projet ELEMENT, grant number 815180.


© 2019, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. All rights reserved. It is important that national education policy respond to demographic changes. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), recent immigration policy changes have produced the new challenge of 'superdiversity', which overlays the 'bicultural' context of Māori and settler populations and the longstanding impacts of the colonisation of the Indigenous Māori. The lack of equity in this 'bicultural' arrangement remains to be fully resolved due to the dominance of the settler culture and the historical (and in many instances ongoing) reluctance of this majority group to recognise and address injustices. The early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector requires of its teachers deep cultural understandings of and engagement with all those children and families present in the education settings. This article provides a discussion of the tensions arising when the new reality of superdiversity interacts with a 'bicultural' ECCE policy environment. It then describes the results of a study that utilised a process of documentary analysis to critically examine the macro-and micro-level policy statements and reports with regard to bicultural, cultural diversity, equity, social justice, and place-connectedness matters in ECCE settings in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The implications of the findings point to challenges faced by teachers when translating policy commitments into pedagogical enactment, and highlight the importance for teachers to not only engage deeply with the Indigenous Māori language, culture, and local histories of connectedness with place, but that this engagement should also be made available to all children and families present, including immigrant children and their families.


Numerical simulation or forward modelling of wave propagation is an efficient method to produce test data and examine the mechanism of wave propagation. In this paper, implementation of the numerical modelling in anisotropic media by the pseudospectral method is examined, examples of forward modelling in azimuthally anisotropic media are presented. It proves that the pseudo-spectral method is feasible and successful in modelling wave propagation in anisotropic media.


We determined the concentration of macro- and microelements, such as: sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, chlorides. We have also measured the concentration of hydrogen ions (pH) and nitrogen of urea in samples of water and peloids which were taken from different places of Kuialnik estuary including territories around of such villages: Kotovka, Iliinka, Kovalevka, Novo Kovalevka, Belyayevsky district of Odessa region and such villages as: Korsuntsev, Krasnosilka, Kominternivskiy district of Odessa region. It was found that concentration of sodium and chlorides was high and increased from southern area to the northern part of Kuialnik estuary where volume of water is lesser. Hydrochemical investigation showed that concentration of macro- and microelements in the deep soils (peloids) was lesser than in water samples and soils taken from the bottom of estuary. Investigation of tissue homogenates of brine shrimp (Artemia salina) showed high enzyme activity of lactate dehydrogenase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase. The same biochemical parameters tested in biomass of blue-green algae (cyanoprokaryota), unicellular algae Microcystis sp. where high activity of alkaline phosphatase and high concentration of calcium, potassium and iron were registered. We studied the following microbiota: ferro-oxidizing bacteria (destructors of iron), manganese-oxidizing bacteria (destructors of manganese), sulfate-reducing bacteria, mycobacterium, thiobacteria and representatives from some other microbial groups in the water and peloid samples. Such integrated environmental investigation allowed to assess the environmental situation in different plots of the Kuialnik estuary more properly and complete.


This paper presents a new approach for network upgrading to improve the penetration level of Small Scale Generators in residential feeders. In this paper, it is proposed that a common DC link can be added to LV network to alleviate the negative impact of increased export power on AC lines, allowing customers to inject their surplus power with no restrictions to the common DC link. In addition, it is shown that the proposed approach can be a pathway from current AC network to future DC network.


Despite advances in medical and preventive care in the U.S., the low birth weight percentage continues to rise in the U.S. and the state of Georgia. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of socioeconomic status, county type (rural vs. urban), and adequacy of prenatal care on low birth weight in the state of Georgia for the years 2000 to 2006. The study also applied practical methods such as spatial analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) in order to pinpoint the at-risk populations for adverse birth outcomes. This study involved the use of secondary data analysis, specifically vital records, to examine the relationships between socioeconomic status, adequate prenatal care, gestational age, and birth weight, controlling for certain maternal characteristics such as age, race, marital status, and education, for infants born in the state of Georgia. Ecological analyses were also conducted using the Georgia OASIS Mapping Tool from the Georgia Division of Public Health. Statistically significant associations were found for the maternal characteristics of age, race, and marital status. Mean birth weight was lower for those mothers who were African American, unmarried, and were either under the age of 19 or over the age of 40. The number of education years completed by the mother was also significant; as the level of education increased birth weight of the infant also increased. Logistic regression results found that there were associations between the three variables of interest and birth weight; socioeconomic status, county type, and adequacy of prenatal care. Based on the analyses, the women in the study population with the worst low birth weight outcomes were; women of advanced maternal age, unmarried women, African American women, women with adequate plus level of prenatal care, lower middle and lower socioeconomic strata, and women living in rural counties. Based on the results of the ecological analysis, the women who are most at-risk can be found primarily in southwestern counties of Georgia. Future research is needed to evaluate existing programs throughout Georgia that may provide additional important pieces of data to confirm the results of this study. INDEX WORDS: Low birth weight, Maternal health, Infant health, Infant mortality, Geographic information systems, Georgia, Socioeconomic status, Risk factors, Prenatal care, Ecological analysis BIRTH OUTCOMES IN GEORGIA: SOCIOECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL ANALYSES OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT, 2000 2006


An increasing demand for care homes in the UK, has necessitated the evaluation of innovative methods for delivering more effective health care. Videoconferencing may be one way to meet this demand. However, there is a lack of literature on the provision of videoconferencing in England. This mixed-methods study aimed to map current attitudes, knowledge and provision of videoconferencing in the Yorkshire and Humber region of England. Qualitative interviews with care home managers, a scoping review and field notes from a Special Interest Group (SIG) informed the development of a descriptive convenience survey which was sent out to care home managers in the Yorkshire and Humber region of England. The survey had a 14% (n = 124) response rate. Of those who responded, 10% (n = 12) reported using videoconferencing for health care; with over 78% (n = 97) of respondents' care homes being based in urban areas. Approximately 62% (n = 77) of the 124 respondents had heard of videoconferencing for health care provision. Of those who reported not using videoconferencing (n = 112), 39% (n = 48) said they would consider it but would need to know more. The top ranked reason for not introducing videoconferencing was the belief that residents would not be comfortable using videoconferencing to consult with a healthcare professional. The main reason for implementation was the need for speedier access to services. Those already using videoconferencing rated videoconferencing overall as being very good (50%) (n = 6) or good (42%) (n = 5). Those who were not using it in practice appeared sceptical before implementing videoconferencing. The main driver of uptake was the home's current access to and satisfaction with traditionally delivered health care services.


Behaviour of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) was studied on the Somerset levels, U.K., between 1977 and 1987. The hare is exclusively nocturnal when nights are longest and part-diurnal when they are shortest but the transition is not smooth. There is a linear dominance hierarchy between bucks. The nearer a doe is to oestrus, the higher the rank of her escort. Some pre-partum does monitor the prospective birthsite. They are only occasionally escorted by bucks. In contrast, a non-monitoring pregnant doe was regularly escorted. Does lie up within 250m of their litters but take a more circuitous route when visiting them and 'detour when foxes are encountered. Four Autumn litters were suckled for between six and nine weeks. Sucking leverets usually sniff-noses when meeting up, followed by a short period of locomotor play after which they go quietly to the nursing point. Some weaned leverets continued to meet up. The principal component of locomotor play is 'streaking' - running top speed back and forth down a familiar route. Leverets disperse after nursing to a daily increasing extent. Leveret distress screams were audible from a distance of 550m. As a visible signal, the buck's white tail flag seems to serve no purpose. The doe uses her tail flag to lead her litter. Only does shake their tails which they do exclusively in the near presence of bucks; the bucks then sniff the ground underneath. Hares were not observed to signal to each other by body postures or to use their ears for purposes other than acoustic. Does convey a threat to bucks by flattening their ears and lifting their muzzles. Adults, particularly bucks; sniff a partner's nose for olfactory information as an alternative when the ano-genital region is inaccessible, but are frequently threatened when so doing. All chin-marking was by bucks of which 80% were solitary. Hares approached in the open by foxes stand bipedal when, on average, the fox is about 30m distant. The relevance of the behaviour patterns are discussed.


The intestinal nematode parasite, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis , triggers potent type 2 immunity. Using OVA peptide as a model Ag, we have examined the adjuvant effects of this parasite on the in vivo development of Ag-specific Th2 cells from naive DO11.10 T cells. Our findings show that Th2 cells can develop from transferred naive OVA-specific DO11.10 T cells in recipient IL-4 (cid:1) / (cid:1) mice inoculated with N. brasiliensis plus OVA. However, autocrine IL-4 is required for in situ Th2 cell differentiation since transferred IL-4R (cid:2) -deficient DO11.10 T cells showed greatly reduced Th2 cell development in inoculated IL-4 (cid:1) / (cid:1) recipient mice. Surprisingly, we also found that IL-2 blockade promoted B7-dependent T cell cycling, but inhibited the development of OVA-specific Th2 cells. Furthermore, the effects of IL-2 occurred independently of CD25 (cid:3) T regulatory cells. These studies establish a previously un-recognized requirement for autocrine IL-4 and IL-2 in Th2 responses elicited by nematode parasites. The Journal of Immunology, 2005, 174: 2242–2249.


The Barcelona city region case study report is one of the four city studies in the CAEE
project. This project forms part of the ESPON 2013 programme and is a "targeted analysis based on user demand". The user demand, in this instance, came from four key policy-making and delivery bodies (the "policy stakeholders") based in Manchester, Barcelona, Dublin and Lyon which, under the leadership of the Commission for the New Economy in Greater Manchester, were interested in exploring the impact of agglomeration economies within and beyond the territories they cover and the extent to which the beneficial impacts of recent
patterns of agglomeration have been shaped, and might be managed more effectively, by
public policies and programmes [...] The first part of the report examines the administrative structure of the Barcelona city-region and the evolution of metropolitan governance; while the second part focuses upon the economic structure of the city-region in general, prior to a more detailed analysis of a number of key economic sectors in order to reach an understanding of the effects of agglomeration
economies over the territory.


Curcuminoid is an important natural product, but it is water insoluble, and sensitive to light, pH, solvent system, and oxygen.The inclusion process of curcuminoid-β-CD complex was investigated by the orthogonal experiment, and the stability of curcuminoid-β-CD complex was studied under different conditions. The results show that the encapsulation rate is 87.34% under optimized conditions of temperature 50 , time 1.5 h and material ratio 1:30(wcurcuminoid : wβ-CD). The stability of curcuminoid-β-cyclodextrin complex increases compared to curcuminoid. Therefore, the complex formation of curcuminoid with β-CD is an effective method to improve the stability of curcuminoid.


In this paper, we introduce a novel method for extracting feature waveforms from signal, which is based on nonparametric waveform atoms. Using a template signal that contains a prior information, a set of basis functions is obtained firstly by means of a uniform filter bank and then a nonparametric atom that is described by a series of discrete data are constructed. The filter bank makes the waveform atom shape-adapted and a delay expansion of the subbands of the filter bank makes the atom position- adapted. Using the constructed atoms, an algorithm for extracting waveforms from signal can be developed based on singular value decomposition (SVD) and matching pursuit (MP). Examples from the simulation analysis and the damping experiment on a rotor-bearing system have confirmed the proposed method. It is shown that the constructed waveform atom can adapt itself to the variations of the feature waveform in the observed signal.


The recent financial and sovereign debt crises showed that providing public guarantees to banks may pose serious threats to sovereign solvency, despite their short-term beneficial effects on financial stability. This article analyses the role that public guarantees to banks play in the bank-sovereign nexus and offers a more nuanced assessment of their implications for sovereign debt crises. Depending on the nature of the banking crisis and the specific characteristics of the economy, guarantees may improve financial stability without undermining sovereign solvency, thus generating a positive feedback loop between bank and sovereign stability. JEL Classification: G01, G18, H63


We report four previously healthy female children, aged between 3 and 8 years, who presented with encephalopathy and an extrapyramidal movement disorder (chorea n=4, rigidity n=2, oculogyric crisis n=2). In addition, an acute behavioural disturbance occurred in two patients and mutism in two others. Seizures heralded the onset of the illness in three patients. Acute MRI was either normal or initially normal with later generalized cerebral atrophy. All infective (including streptococcus), biochemical, and metabolic investigations were normal, although all four patients had oligoclonal bands in the (CSF) but not the serum, indicating intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis. All four children made an apparently full recovery within four months of the onset. We suggest that these patients represent an immune‐mediated movement disorder and encephalopathy syndrome.


The correlative method of unsymmetrized self-consistent field (CUSF) is used to study dynamical characteristics of a strongly anharmonic crystal with body-centered cubic lattice, namely, the inter-atomic and mean square relative displacements. We present the general formulae for crystals with anharmonicity, including the strong one, up to fourth anharmonic terms. Taking into account the second order of the method we calculate correlations in this lattice between the nearest, second, third, fourth and fifth neighbors. The influence of more distant interactions is discussed. The results are compared with those obtained previously for an weakly anharmonic BCC crystal. We use the Schiff potencial for Na and also Lennard-Jones potentials for comparison.


Policy statements and guidelines for anyone affiliated with the University who wishes to copy, alter, or perform works that are protected by copyright.


A consultant described as "the father of urological oncology" in the UK has been found guilty of misconduct over his role as principal investigator in a clinical trial at University College London Hospital, in which a 27 year old patient died.

But Stephen Harland, the hospital, and research bodies had all learnt lessons that would make trials for cancer patients safer, and the consultant's fitness to practise was not impaired, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel held.

Gary Foster, a graphic designer who had been told he had a 60% chance of survival, was taking part in a multicentre trial called TE23 funded by the Medical Research …


This paper studies strategic information transmission in a dynamic environment where, each period, a privately informed expert sends a message and a decision maker takes an action. Our main result is that, in contrast to a static environment, full information revelation is possible. The gradual revelation of information and the eventual full revelation is supported by the dynamic rewards and punishments. The construction of a fully revealing equilibrium relies on two key features. The first feature is that the expert is incentivized, via appropriate actions, to join separable groups in which she initially pools with far-away types, then later reveals her type. The second feature is the use of trigger strategies. The decision maker is incentivized by the reward of further information revelation if he chooses the separation-inducing actions, and the threat of a stop in information release if he does not. Our equilibrium is non-monotonic. With monotonic partition equilibria, full revelation is impossible.


Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation not only increases the growth but also improves the quality of many commercial plants.  Tea (Camellia sinensis) plants were grown on different growth medium (with and without AMF inoculation) and the chemical properties of the leaves were assayed and compared. The growth media were sterilized soil with AMF, sterilized soil, natural soil inoculated with AMF, natural soil, and natural soil in natural condition with AMF. The highest root colonization (23 %) was found in tea plants grown on natural soil with AMF, whereas no colonization was found in the sterilized soil treatment. The highest level of leaf chlorophyll-a (2.74±0.06 μg.mL-1), chlorophyll-b (1.77±0.03 μg.mL-1) and carotenoid (0.35±0.01 μg.mL-1) contents were found in tea plants grown on natural soil under natural condition with AMF. The highest polyphenol concentration (64.46 mg.L-1) was found in natural soil inoculated with AMF whereas the lowest (38.09 mg.L-1) was recorded in sterilized soil. The highest contents of tannin (30.34 mg.mL-1) and reducing sugar (46.61 mg.L-1) were recorded in plants grown on natural soil under natural condition with AMF and the lowest values (21.22 mg.mL-1, 33.16 mg.L-1, respectively) in sterilized soil treatment. Though antioxidant properties (% scavenging effect) did not differed due to treatments, the highest IAA (Indole-3-acetic acid) concentration (3.16 μg.mL-1) was recorded in tea plants grown on natural soil under natural condition with AMF. The study concludes that AMF inoculation improves the quality of tea leaves.


For generations of North and South Koreans, the 1905 Taft-Katsura Memorandum or "secret treaty" has been emblematic of the US decision to support the Japanese annexation of Korea around the turn of the twentieth century. While scholars have periodically raised objections to the popular tropes of a backroom treaty that dictated the fate of Korea, these have had little impact on how the Taft-Katsura Memorandum has been imagined by many Koreans. In the case of North Korea, the Memorandum is yet another evidence of American perfidy which justifies the need for constant vigilance and avoidance of undue dependence on any outside power. In South Korea, the dominant narrative of the Taft-Katsura Memorandum is not one of America living up to its evil reputation, but of America falling short of its good ideals. In the case of both North and South Korea, depictions of the Taft-Katsura Memorandum in textbooks, popular comic book histories, and political editorials probably exert far more influence on how this document is remembered and understood than do a dozen scholarly articles on the subject. The persistence of the idea of a Taft-Katsura "secret treaty" in narratives of modern Korean history illustrates the tension between actuality, scholarly history, and popular memory.


This evaluation of the Brandywine Village Historic District National
Register Nomination was carried out under a cooperative agreement between
the City of Wilmington and the Center for Historic Architecture and
Engineering at the University of Delaware. It was undertaken by students enrolled in a graduate class in historic preservation: Susan Mulchahey,
doctoral student in urban affairs; Phil Pendleton, doctoral student in
American civilization; Leslie Bashman, master's student in urban affairs
and historic preservation; and Deborah Harper, master's student in museum
studies. The course was taught by David L. Ames, professor of urban
affairs and geography and director of the Center for Historic Architecture
and Engineering. FIrst undertaken in 1971, the nomination supporting the designation of
Brandywine Village as a historic district required updating for several
reasons. First, the standards of eligibility for National Register
designation have been strengthened since 1971. Second, Delaware has
adopted a comprehensive historic preservation plan requiring local National
Register nominations to be related to the themes and contexts established
in the plan. Third, there have been substantial losses of structures as
well as erosion of the historic fabric of the district since it was first
nominated. Fourth, the original nomination did not include a building
inventory and no determinations were made regarding the status of the
structures as contributing or non-contributing elements. (This information
is required for use in Section 106 Review and as a planning tool.)


Bioimaging has become a significant tool for the visualization of biological events and the detection of numerous biomarkers. However, detection sensitivity is compromised by background signal from the biofluid which interferes with signals from the probes that usually emit in the visible region Alternative probes such as those that emit in the near-infrared (NIR) region are necessary to overcome these shortcomings. Lanthanide ions have demonstrated efficiency with sharp characteristic emission in the visible and (NIR) region. Emission however is mostly achieved by indirect sensitization process in which energy from the triplet state of a sensitizer is transferred to the excited states of lanthanide ion and thereby initiating emission in the NIR region when the lanthanide ion relaxes back to the ground state. Designing ligands that contain strongly absorbing chromophores that can conveniently be used to sensitize lanthanide ion in generating near-infrared emission at low energy has been a key requirement in synthesis of efficient of lanthanide complexes. All antenna ligands synthesized in this study were BODIPY dye derivatized ligands. BODIPY dye has been a choice of ligand due its excellent photophysical properties such as high extinction coefficient, narrow absorption and emission bands, high quantum yield and low photobleaching effect. Three major antenna ligands were synthesized for sensitization of the lanthanide ion. The first antenna ligand [iodinated BODIPY dye benzoic acid (AH9)] was employed in synthesis of ytterbium complex in the presence and absence of auxiliary ligand [1,10-phenanthroline]. The reaction mixture obtained from AH9 with auxiliary ligand was difficult to be post-treated by column chromatography purification due to insolubi lity of the reaction mixture in many non polar solvents. Reaction of 3 moles of AH9 with ytterbium triflate in absence of auxiliary ligand gave a reaction mixture that could be treated only in polar solvents. Fractions obtained from column chromatography had very weak NIR emission between 900-llOOm. The insolubility of the reaction mixtures of the lanthanide complexes of AH9 in many non-polar solvents required further extensive study which will be considered a future work of this research. The second antenna ligand 2,9-Phenanthroline BODIPY dye was originally synthesized with the aim of employing the N-atoms of the phenanthroline ring in binding to the lanthanide ion center. ix The substitution of the 2,4-dimethylpyrrole moieties on C2 and C 9 of the phenanthroline ring was to design organic chromophore with not only high absorption coefficient but also an organic chromophore capable of eliminating influence of solvent molecule interaction with the metal ion center. However, 2,9-phenanthroline BODIPY dyes was observed to have a significant low fluorescence emission a phenomenon which contrasts with the class of 4,4-Difluoro-4-bora3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene family (BODIPY dyes). To fully understand the underlying reasons causing the low fluorescence emission of 2,9-phenanthroline BODIPY dye, 2-quinoline BODIPY dye, 3quinoline BODIPY dye and 4-quinoline BODIPY dye was synthesized and their photophysical properties alongside that of 2,9-phenanthroline BODIPY dye was reported. Quantum yield determination of the four quinoline BODI PY dyes showed that 2,9-phenanthroline BODI PY and 2quinoline BODI PY dye had the lowest quantum yield. The distance of the boron on the BODI PY core to the nitrogen atom on the quinoline ring for all the four dyes established a relationship (B N distance) that was found to be directly proportional to the fluorescence quantum yield result. It was further established based on the photo-induced electron transfer mechanism that the fluorescence quenching was because of electron transfer from the HOMO energy level of the quinoline ring to the HOMO energy level of the BODI PY core. The third antenna ligand synthesized was 4-amino benzene styryl di-iodinated BODIPY dye (AHll). The ligand had a broad absorption with maximum absorption at 645 nm, high molar extinction coefficient of 1.36 x 105 M-1 cm-1 and wavelength of maximum emission to be 681 nm. Future work on this research will focus on reaction of AHll with 4-thiocyano-1,10phenanthroline to make ligand AH12 which will be deployed for reactions with different lanthanide salts to make lanthanide complexes with excellent NIR emission yield.


Author(s): Barati, Fatemeh | Advisor(s): Gabor, Nathaniel | Abstract: A remarkable prediction of relativistic quantum mechanics is the ability of particle-antiparticle pairs to be created and annihilated when interacting with other high- energy particles. Efficient electron-hole (e-h) pair generation could lead to highly sensitive photodetectors, electroluminescent emitters, and improved-efficiency photovoltaic devices. In this thesis, using advanced optoelectronic measurements, I discuss the discovery of highly efficient multiplication of interlayer electron-hole pairs at the interface of a tungsten diselenide / molybdenum diselenide integrated into a field-effect heterojunction device. Electronic transport measurements of the interlayer current-voltage characteristics indicate that layer indirect electron-hole pairs are generated by hot electron impact excitation at temperatures near T=300 K. By exploiting this highly efficient interlayer e-h pair multiplication process, we demonstrated near-infrared optoelectronic devices that exhibit 350% enhancement of the optoelectronic responsivity at microwatt power levels. Spatial imaging as a function of wavelength and spectral imaging with a narrow resolution of 1nm establishes a high level of understanding on the fundamentals of this system through e-h pair multiplication process and enables us to isolate the interlayer exciton species through a phenomenon called phonon assisted antistokes process which identifies an entirely new light-matter interaction within these states. Under optimized experimental conditions phonon assisted anti-stokes absorption near the interlayer exciton edge of a van der Waals semiconductor heterostructure composed of tungsten diselenide and molybdenum diselenide becomes dominant, such that at low photon energies near 1eV, a strong photocurrent peak with several low energy echoes spaced by 30meV below this fundamental absorption feature is observed. This highly efficient process due to the alignment of the exciton dipole moment to the atomic displacement of the out-of-plane optical phonon modes, marks the first and most critical step toward laser cooling of atomic layer semiconductors. Moreover, it could enhance the efficiency of next generation photovoltaics, since it converts vibrational energy into electronic excitations using photons with energies that are lower than the band gap, manuscript is in preparation.


New Jersey toward the Year 2000 converts a series of assumptions about births, deaths, migration, jobs, unemployment, and other socioeconomic indicators into population and employment projections for New Jersey's counties and municipalities. Employment projections for some counties in the state are produced by regional agencies, however, not all of the state's counties are covered by these agencies; and for those that are covered, the projections are not necessarily consistent. The authors argue that the differences among techniques available for employment projection can be understood by partitioning them into three broad categories: trend extrapolations that are statistical projections of employment as a function of time; market share models that project change in one geographic area as a function of projected changes in another market area of which the former is a part; and models of sectoral interdependence that commonly see changes in the exporting sectors of the economy as having a multiplier effect on the non-exporting sector of the economy. Connie O. Michaelson and Michael R. Greenberg have gathered over 12,000 employment projections for the state of New Jersey and its twenty-one counties. Specifically, 168 projections are offered for 23 industrial sectors for the state and each county. Since most volumes of this sort offer fewer projections, a summary of the employment series is offered here. This overview makes clear the kinds of uses that the reader may make of the series projections. The final chapter breaks down the authors' research by county and includes graphical representations.


Penile necrosis due to monopolar cauterization during circumcision is a rare complication and may cause organ loss. When monopolar cauterization applied on an end-organ, current flows through the organ and, causes disruption of blood flow and oxidative stress. Penile injury may include skin, glans and cavernous bodies. Injury can be limited with the help of medical treatment and hyperbaric oxygen treatment, but eventually the need for reconstruction arises. Some case reports of application of feminizing genitoplasty after total organ loss are present on the literature. However, lengthening of penis via dissection of cavernous bodies and application of skin graft seems more appropriate as a method of reconstruction.

At this case report, three-year old male who had penile necrosis after having circumcised at another center will be discussed under the light of current literature. As soon as the patient was hospitalized, medical treatment and hyperbaric oxygen treatment started. However circulation of the necrotic tissue didn't improve and necrotic part of the penile skin, glans and cavernous bodies were debrided. After the debridement, two centimeters of cavernous body remained. Once tissues recovered, as a second operation, cavernous bodies were dissected through pubic arms and skin graft was applied. As a result, five centimeters of penile body was achieved. Post-operatively no problem was encountered and patient was discharged 23 days after circumcision.


In recent years there has been a shift in biodiversity conservation efforts from the confines of enclosed protected areas to a more expansive view of interlinked habitat patches across multiple land tenure types and land uses. However, much work remains on how conservation managers can intervene in such a system to achieve the sustainabil-ity of basic conservation goals. An agent-based model of a two-patch metapopulation with local predator-prey dynamics and variable, density-dependent species migration is used to examine the capacity of a manager to interact with and modify the ecosystem to achieve biodiversity conservation goals. We explore managers strategies aimed at main-taining one of two goals local coexistence of both predators and prey (sustained coex-istence on one patch) or global coexistence of predators and prey (sustained coexistence on both patches). To achieve managements goal, the manager varies the level of con-nectivity between two habitat patches (i.e. a manager is thus able to facilitate or restrict movement of species between habitat patches) based on one of three monitoring strate-gies the monitoring of predator population levels, the monitoring of prey population levels, or the monitoring of the vegetation carrying capacity of the habitat patches. Our goal is to help facilitate management decisions and monitoring choices in conservation projects that move beyond the confines of a protected area and into mosaics of multiple land tenure types typical of many of todays large-scale conservation projects.


The bank is a financial institution that collects funds from the surplus, distributing them to those in deficit as credit, as well as providing other banking services. The bank cannot be separated from external and internal factors which can cause banking distress such as liquidity problems and bank runs. This study aimed to examine the impact of economic growth, inflation, interest rate, exchange rate, capital, asset quality, management quality, earnings, liquidity, and sensitivity toward market risk for predicting banking distress using the banking stability index. The sample of the study is 27 conventional Banks in Indonesia, assessed from 2010 to 2014, and the method of analysis is an ordinal logistic. Results showed that economic growth was negatively significant for predicting banking distress. For internal banking factors, capital positively affected banking distress, while asset quality, management, and earnings have negative effects for predicting banking distress. However, inflation as well as interest rate, exchange rate, liquidity, and sensitivity to market risk did not significantly affect banking distress. These results indicate that the Indonesian banking system is mostly affected by macroeconomics and internal bank conditions in terms of probability of banking distress. These factors have consequences for policy makers, who have to be more careful in respect of the conditions of declining economic growth, the bank's capital, asset quality deterioration and decline in bank profits - as these can lead to the banking crisis.


Focus groups can be used to gather data for primary analysis or to identify areas of need as a preliminary step in research design. Rosaline Barbour's Doing Focus Groups should be of interest to those considering the use of focus groups for their action research. This book is one of the eight-volume SAGE Qualitative Research Kit series edited by Uwe Flick, professor of qualitative research in social science and education at the Free University of Berlin. It has eleven chapters and includes a glossary, reference list, author index, and subject index. The book begins with broader conceptual topics (Chapter One is called "Introducing Focus Groups") and grows more practical in later chapters, which are arranged in the order by which a research project would tend to unfold. The chapters are organized similarly. Each begins with an internal table of contents and a list of learning objectives. At the end of each chapter is a list of key ideas and supplementary readings relevant to that chapter.  The book contains a generous number of illustrative examples from published research--often the Barbour's own work in health research--to help elucidate chapter contents.


Based on the detailed analysis on the properties of each component in the system of dichlorophenol mixture in this paper, a new technique was proposed, which is used to extract 2,4- dichlorophenol through the method of cross-current dissociation extraction. The experimental results show that the quality content of 2,4- dichlorophenol can be refined to more than 98% with the yield reaching to 95% at a blow from raw material mixture after three grades of dissociation extraction. Compared with the traditional technique, the new method can bring about a comparatively simple processing step, meanwhile, the quality of products can be stable and the energy consumption can also be reduced.


This article briefly introduces the structure of the tooth shape silence chain. The touch point of the roll pins separate when the chain goes around the sprocket gear. It deduces the dimensions of the offset angle α and the roll pin angle θ with mathematics method. This preface shows when the outer circular arc R≈0.5P, the fluctuation of the chain transmission speed is the least. When R=0.5P, We deduce the size of the roll pin by the value of α、θ、R and the ultimate tensile strength, then we can get the structure parameter of the chain plate hole by the method of geometrical construction.


The availability of genomic data in the last decade relating to different aphid species has allowed the analysis of the genomic variability occurring among such species, whereas intra-specific variability has hitherto very largely been neglected. In order to analyse the intra-genomic variability in the peach potato aphid, Myzus persicae, comparative analyses were performed revealing several clone-specific gene duplications, together with numerous deletions/rearrangements. Our comparative approach also allowed us to evaluate the synteny existing between the two M. persicae clones tested and between the peach potato aphid and the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. Even if part of the observed rearrangements are related to a low quality of some assembled contigs and/or to the high number of contigs present in these aphid genomes, our evidence reveals that aphid clones are genetically more different than expected. These results suggest that the choice of performing genomes sequencing combining different biotypes/populations, as revealed in the case of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, is unlikely to be very informative in aphids. Interestingly, it is possible that the holocentric nature of aphid chromosomes favours genome rearrangements that can be successively inherited transgenerationally via the aphid's apomictic (parthenogenetic) mode of reproduction. Lastly, we evaluated the structure of the cluster of genes coding for the five histones (H1, H2A, H2B, H3 and H4) in order to better understand the quality of the two M. persicae genomes and thereby to improve our knowledge of this functionally important gene family.


Several antigens and receptors are mobile in the plane of the membrane of the intact neonatal human erythrocyte but not in the membrane of the normal adult cell. In this report, measurements of the fluorescence polarization of perylene dissolved in isolated erythrocyte membranes are reported, which are indistinguishable for the two kinds of cells. This result indicates that the viscosities of the membrane interiors of the two cells are the same. The observed mobility differences, therefore, cannot be attributed to different lipid viscosities in the two membranes.


It is concluded that the philosophy of Albert Camus provides insight helpful to the ethical-political development and application of (Charles Tandy's) Omniverse Theory. Such insights help expand Omniverse Theory with respect to pragmatic proposals meant to improve terrestrial society, ban extraterrestrial weapons, and proactively structure an extraterrestrial world at stable peace fit for free persons living in self-sufficient green-habitat intentional communities. Conceptually, it was found that individual rights are ethically required and that these individual rights in turn ethically require mutual obligations. Such a perpetually-evolving peaceful-and-free world society ("Meridiankind") cuts across generations, generating an ethical imperative to develop antideath science-technology with the ability to resurrect all of the dead.


The relationship between geographical latitude and longitude and cloud-to-ground lightning activity in the Iberian Peninsula is analyzed using data from 1992 until 1994. Three flash characteristics are considered: flash density, polarity and intensity. There is a strong dependence between flash density and both latitude and longitude, which may be explained as effect of altitude distribution and the Mediterranean sea respectively. The polarity also shows a strong dependence with latitude, which may be explained as effect of mesoscale convective systems (MCS) and temperature. The dependence between geographical longitude and polarity is weak and may be due to the higher intensity of the positive flashes together with the effect of MCSs. Peak-current amplitudes for both polarities show a clear relationship with latitude, which may be explained by orographic effects and the longer lightning channels at lower latitudes. A definite dependence between peak-current amplitudes and geographical longitude is not observed.


There have been numerous attempts to integrate elec trodes into liners to operate externally powered devices. Various methods and techniques have been tried from RTV laminated sockets to off-the-shelf liners as well as a number of thermoplastic techniques. All of these techniques, while providing improved suspension and comfort have limitations and drawbacks. However these limitations have not deterred prosthetists from pursuing these options in an effort to provide better control, better suspension and ultimately a better outcome. Through the experience of Otto Bock's Custom Silicone Services, we will present a number of solutions. These include challenging fittings such as the transmetacarpal as well as more standard levels. Suction Sockets have been utilized in upper extremity fittings for many years now, but it has always been challenging to maintain suction in myoelectric fittings due to the difficulty of sealing around electrodes. A new solution developed by Otto Bock will also be presented.


Hunt for Nazis is the first comprehensive account of the post-1945 efforts to bring Nazi war criminals who had escaped to South America to justice. The author shows that the Nazi hunt -- which resulted in spectacular cases like the kidnapping of Adolf Eichmann -- should not only be understood as part of the afterlife of the Third Reich, but that it also became an integral aspect of dealing with repression at the hands of authoritarian regimes in South America. Dissidents and human rights activists assumed that the escaped Nazi perpetrators and collaborators continued to be involved in violent crimes in the service of these new dictatorships.


We search for the rare radiative decay D-0 -> gamma gamma using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 832 fb(-1) recorded by the Belle detector at the KEKB e(+)e(-) asymmetric-energy collider. We find no statistically significant signal and set an upper limit on the branching fraction of B(D-0 -> gamma gamma) < 8.5 x 10(-7) at 90% confidence level. This is the most restrictive limit on the decay channel to date.


With the rapid development of society and the economy, the shortage of water resources and the deterioration of the water environment has resulted in restriction of the development of society and the protection of ecology and the environment. Consequently improving water efficiency is the key to realizing the sustainable utilization of water resources, and water efficiency evaluation is an important part of water resources management. Emergy theory aims to convert different dimensions of material and energy into solar energy, which can be analyzed and compared uniformly. Therefore, a new approach to assessing the economic efficiency of water resources, based on the water contribution to economic production, is evaluated using an emergy theory model. Water efficiency and system sustainability are explained by variables and emergy indicators in a regional water ecological–economic system (WEES) for Zhengzhou, China. The general status and economic efficiency of water resources in Zhengzhou are identified from the WEES. The average water contribution quantity and water contribution rate were 50.99 × 10 20 sej and 6.13% during 2000–2011, respectively. Results also show that industrial water efficiency is higher than that of agriculture. This quantification method will help decision-makers to adjust water prices and provide better water services.


This paper proposes an automatic method for accurate detection and visualization of B-lines in ultrasound lung scans, which provides a quantitative measure for the number of Blines present. All the scans used in this study were acquired using a BK3000 ultrasound scanner (BK Ultrasound, Denmark) driving a 5.5 MHz linear transducer (BK Ultrasound). Four healthy subjects and four patients after major surgery with pulmonary edema, were scanned at four locations on each lung for B-line examination. Eight sequences of 50 frames were acquired for each subject yielding 64 sequences in total. The proposed algorithm was applied to all 3200 in-vivo lung ultrasound images. The results showed that the average number of B-lines was 0.28±0.06 (Mean±Std) in scans belonging to the patients compared to 0.03±0.06 (Mean±Std) in the healthy subjects. Also, the MannWhitney test showed a significant difference between the two groups with p-value of 0.015, and indicating that the proposed algorithm was able to differentiate between the healthy volunteers and the patients. In conclusion, the method can be used to automatically and to quantitatively characterize the distribution of B-lines for diagnosing pulmonary edema.


In their out-of-school lives, young people are immersed in rich and complex digital worlds, characterised by image and multimodality. Computer games in particular present young people with specific narrative genres and textual forms: contexts in which meaning is constructed interactively and drawing explicitly on a wide range of design elements including sound, image, gesture, symbol, colour and so on. As English curriculum seeks to address the changing nature of literacy, challenges are raised, particularly with respect to the ways in which multimodal texts might be incorporated alongside print based forms of literacy. Questions focus both on the ways in which such texts might be created, studied and assessed, and on the implications of the introduction of such texts for print based literacies. This paper explores intersections between writing and computer games within the English classroom, from a number of junior secondary examples. In particular it considers tensions that arise when young people use writing to recreate or respond to multimodal forms. It explores ways in which writing is stretched and challenged by enterprises such as these, ways in which students utilise and adapt print based modes to represent multimodal forms of narrative, and how teachers and curriculum might respond. Consideration is given to the challenges posed to teaching and assessment by bringing writing to bear as the medium of analysis of, and response to, multimodal texts.


It is experimentally observed that PNN-PT ceramics processed with glycerol possess superior unipolar fatigue resistance; but the same ceramics processed without glycerol are vulnerable to unipolar fatigue. For PNN-PT-glycerol fatigued by 5 × 10 7 unipolar cycles, there are no losses in the maximum polarization (P max ) and remnant polarization (P r ). But for PNN-PT, these losses are ∼ 14% and 22%, respectively. In addition, strain asymmetryy s and internal bias field E bias of PNN-PT-glycerol are much less than those of PNN-PT. However, the ferroelectric properties can be recovered by bipolar cycles and thermal annealing; and such recovery is much easier and larger in PNN-PT-glycerol than in PNN-PT ceramics. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs show that the significant loss in properties of the fatigued PNN-PT ceramics is accompanied by a measurable number of severely damaged grains in the samples, especially in the region near the electrode surface, whereas the much less damaged grains in the PNN-PT-glycerol ceramics contribute to their good fatigue performance.