We compare the spectral indices of photoplethysmogram variability (PPGV) estimated using photoplethysmograms recorded from the earlobe and the middle fingers of the right and left hand and analyze their correlation with similar indices of heart rate variability (HRV) in 30 healthy subjects (26 men) aged 27 (25, 29) years (median with inter-quartile ranges) at rest and under the head-up tilt test. The following spectral indices of PPGV and HRV were compared: mean heart rate (HR), total spectral power (TP), high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) ranges of TP in percents (HF% and LF%), LF/HF ratio, and spectral coherence. We assess also the index S of synchronization between the LF oscillations in HRV and PPGV. The constancy of blood pressure (BP) and moderate increase of HR under the tilt test indicate the presence of fast processes of cardiovascular adaptation with the increase of the sympathetic activity in studied healthy subjects. The impact of respiration on the PPGV spectrum (accessed by HF%) is less than on the HRV spectrum. It is shown that the proportion of sympathetic vascular activity (accessed by LF%) is constant in the PPGV of three analyzed PPGs during the tilt test. The PPGV for the ear PPG was less vulnerable to breathing influence accessed by HF% (independently from body position) than for PPGs from fingers. We reveal the increase of index S under the tilt test indicating the activation of interaction between the heart and distal vessels. The PPGV spectra for finger PPGs from different hands are highly coherent, but differ substantially from the PPGV spectrum for the ear PPG. We conclude that joint analysis of frequency components of PPGV (for the earlobe and finger PPGs of both hands) and HRV and assessment of their synchronization provide additional information about cardiovascular autonomic control.


This study presents concurrent measurements of the vertical profiles of aphid density and airstream temperature within the planetary boundary layer over east-central Illinois for 16 collection periods during a variety of synoptic weather conditions in the 1984 and 1985 growing seasons. Aphid density was determined at a fine altitudinal resolution between the ground surface and an altitude of ≈1,000 m using two helicopter-mounted collectors. These collectors allowed sampling of insects at >20 altitudes in a single flight, captured insects in a condition that permitted easy identification, and permitted accurate calculations of air volume and insect density. Vertical distribution of aphids on individual collection days was interpreted with respect to lapse rate of air temperature. The results of this study indicate that inversion layers produce stratification of aphids in the atmosphere and that aphids migrating into the Midwest are concentrated in zones within the planetary boundary layer.


The cutting process is an important process of industrialization. It is requisite to using advantage quality cutting tools in order to preserve the type of product. Coating on the cutting tool has a substantial effect in terms of mechanical properties and the end results of the product. The cutting tool can be manufactured in various material types, but today's cemented tungsten carbide is the most commonly used material in the tool industry because its properties comply with manufacturers' requirements. This study investigates the impact of an Al2O3 coated cutting tool relative to an uncoated cutting tool on the dry cutting process. Different parameters are used in the cutting process when cutting the metal. The cutting parameters used are feed rate and cutting speed, An analysis of the effects of these parameters on the surface roughness. In this analysis, the surface roughness are measured for components turned from steel1040, The L9 Taguchi orthogonal arrays and analyses of variance (ANOVA) was employed to analyze the influence of these parameters. In the case of (uncoated, Al2O3 coated tool), the better surface roughness (SR) with used feed rate (0.05 mm / rev) and cutting speed (140 m/min) where the roughness value was (0.81μm) and (0.78μm) Respectively. The results of this study indicate that the ideal parameters combination for the better surface finish was high cutting speed and low feed rate.


Image restoration and reconstruction from blurry and noisy observation is known to be ill-posed. To stabilize the recovery, total variation (TV) regularization was introduced by Rudin, Osher and Fatemi in [24], which has demonstrated superiority in preserving image edges. However, the nondifferentiability of TV makes the underlying optimization problems difficult to solve. In this paper, we propose to solve TV deconvolution problems by alternating direction method (ADM) — a variant of the classic augmented Lagrangian method for structured optimization. The main idea of our approach is to reformulate a TV problem as a linear equality constrained problem where the objective function is separable, and then minimize its augmented Lagrangian function using a Gauss-Seidel updates of both primal and dual variables. This ADM approach can be applied to both singleand multi-channel images with either Gaussian or impulsive noise, and permit cross-channel blurs when the underlying image has more than one channel. The per-iteration computational complexity of the algorithm is dominated by several fast Fourier transforms. We present extensive experimental results concerning different blurs and noise to compare with FTVd [34, 37, 38] — a state-of-the-art algorithm for TV image reconstruction, and the results indicate that the ADM approach is more stable and efficient.


Morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl are commonly used to control cancer pain. Because these drugs have differences in receptor affinity or pharmacokinetic parameters, changing the opioid formulation may result in an unexpected outcome, depending on the patient's condition. This study investigated whether low serum protein levels influence the effectiveness of opioid rotation by determining the impact of serum albumin levels on the analgesic effect before and after opioid rotation from morphine or oxycodone to fentanyl in cancer patients. The patients were classified into 3 groups according to their serum albumin levels before opioid rotation: group 1, <2.5 g/dL; group 2, from 2.5 g/dL to <3.0 g/dL; and group 3, ≥3.0 g/dL. There was no significant change in the percentage of patients with good pain control after rotation in group 1 or group 2; however, the percentage of patients with good pain control increased significantly in group 3. When the percentage of patients whose numerical rating scale scores increased, were unchanged, or decreased after rotation were compared, a significant difference in the percentage of those showing improvement was noted among the 3 groups and between groups 1 and 3. These findings suggest that monitoring serum albumin levels during fentanyl therapy is useful for pain management, and that the effectiveness of opioid rotation to fentanyl in patients with serum albumin levels of <2.5 g/dL should be carefully evaluated after rotation.


Abstract The article deals with issues of vehicle braking from different points of view. We made repeated braking tests of modern vehicles during intensive braking on various asphalt surfaces with the goal to evaluate character of this random variable. We dedicated our attention also to the accuracy attainable using various measuring methods and equipment. Within measurement of braking deceleration we used low-end measuring device (mobile smartphone) and measuring devices most used in Slovakia (XL Meter™ Pro Gamma). The collected data were processed in the software XL Vision and evaluated by SW PC-Crash 10.9. Usable result from article is mainly measurement set of braking deceleration of current modern vehicles during intensive braking on various asphalt surfaces as well as evaluation of accuracy levels with respect to various used devices.


We propose a classification system for the wetlands of Mexico based on the comparative analysis of mainstream classification systems. The analysis included 18 worldwide classifications, but the discussion was focused on the United States and the Ramsar Convention systems, plus a geomorfologic approach (terrestrial forms) and hydrologic (water regime) criteria, adding the artificial wetlands from the Ramsar Convention. The system has a hierarchical structure with three domains (marine-coastal, continental and artificial), five systems (marine, estuarine, fluvial, lacustrine and palustrine), eight subsystems and 26 classes (17 natural and 9 artificial). From a landscape view, the classes correspond to aquatic facets integrated by a set of ecotopes, which can be defined with the descriptors and criteria found in the US and the geomorphologic systems.


Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins, as resolved by twodimensional electrophoresis and made visible by silver staining, have been examined in patients with various neurological diseases and normal volunteers. The patterns for 15 of 20 patientswith Parkinson'sdiseaseshoweda protein(Mr 25 000) with charge similar to albumin, which was not seen in the patterns for any of 91 normal volunteers. Patterns for 21 of 22 multiple sclerosis patients showed novel immunoglobulin light chain proteins, also not present in the CSF of any normal volunteers. Quantitative analysis by computer-assisted densitometry in Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis showed that 20 of 68 and 33 of 85 proteins, respectively, were significantly altered as compared with proteins in the normal population. This ability to characterize both Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis molecularly provides a broad baseline for improved clinical diagnosis and may serve as an aid in explonng the underlying pathophysiology. These studies illustrate the potential of applying this methodology in the study of neurological diseases.


In this paper, we present mechanically reliable single crystalline silicon (SCS) single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) MEMS switch and successfully demonstrate a dual-band WLAN filter having different two center frequencies of 2.4 and 5.2 GHz using the proposed SPDT switches. Two direct- contact type SPDT MEMS switches are placed on the input and output position of two filter banks. They control the signal path to select one frequency-band between two ones of the WLAN. In this filter, precise filter responses without loss of RF matching can be obtained since pre-designed two filter banks are separately selected by ON/OFF actuation of the SPDT switches. The switches and two filter banks are fabricated on a wafer by batch process, and the SiOG-based silicon process enables to make robust switches and filter structures. The SPDT switch shows symmetric configuration for each output port, and the insertion loss and input to output isolation for one path were measured to be 0.12 and 38.1 dB with the actuation voltage of 30 V, respectively. The measured center frequencies of the fabricated filter were 2.85 and 5.45 GHz, and the insertion losses were 2.4 dB at 2.85 GHz and 5.4 dB at 5.45 GHz, respectively.


Robot-Robot-Human Interaction is an emerging field, holding the potential to reveal social effects involved in human interaction with more than one robot. We tested if an interaction between one participant and two non-humanoid robots can lead to negative feelings related to ostracism, and if it can impact fundamental psychological needs including control, belonging, meaningful existence, and self-esteem. We implemented a physical ball-tossing activity based on the Cyberball paradigm. The robots' ball-tossing ratio towards the participant was manipulated in three conditions: Exclusion (10%), Inclusion (33%), and Over-inclusion (75%). Objective and subjective measures indicated that the Exclusion condition led to an ostracism experience which involved feeling "rejected", "ignored", and "meaningless", with an impact on various needs including control, belonging, and meaningful existence. We conclude that interaction with more than one robot can form a powerful social context with the potential to impact psychological needs, even when the robots have no humanoid features.CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing $\rightarrow$Empirical studies in HCI.


Polycystins are key mechanosensor proteins able to respond to mechanical forces of external or internal origin. They are widely expressed in primary cilium and plasma membrane of several cell types including kidney, vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells, osteoblasts and cardiac myocytes modulating their physiology. Interaction of polycystins with diverse ion channels, cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix junctional proteins implicates them in the regulation of cell structure, mechanical force transmission and mechanotransduction. Their intracellular localization in endoplasmic reticulum further regulates subcellular trafficking and calcium homeostasis, finely-tuning overall cellular mechanosensitivity. Aberrant expression or genetic alterations of polycystins lead to severe structural and mechanosensing abnormalities including cyst formation, deregulated flow sensing, aneurysms, defective bone development and cancer progression, highlighting their vital role in human physiology.


Microtremors was developed to inverse S-wave velocity structure of sites because it costs little and easy to monitor, can be performed at any place even in a densely populated city with non-destructive measurements, the genetic algorithm is widely used in inversion and there are many disadvantages in using genetic algorithms to solve practical problems, so the authors did a lot of efforts to overcome these disadvantages. In order to solve these disadvantages, a coarse-grained parallel genetic algorithm(PGA) based on personal computer cluster was proposed to inverse S-wave velocity structure of shallow soil layer of actual engineering sites, the simulated annealing algorithm and parallel technique message passing interface(MPI) were adopted to implement the coarse-grained parallel compute. The subpopulations were collaboratively optimized through individual migration strategy and the dynamic populations were adopted to balance the computing load. The shallow S-wave velocity structures of two examples and the actual engineering sites were inversed through a 4-node PC cluster test system, the results showed that the algorithm has a good parallel efficiency and can be used in engineering site.


PREMISE
The relative per-flower production of ovules and pollen varies broadly with angiosperm mating systems, with outcrossing types commonly producing more pollen grains per ovule than selfing types. The evolutionary causes of this variation are contentious, especially the relevance of pollination risk. Resolution of this debate may have been hampered by its focus on pollen:ovule (P:O) ratios rather than on the evolution of pollen and ovule numbers per se.

METHODS
Using published mean ovule and pollen counts, we analyzed associations with the proportion of removed pollen that reaches stigmas (pollen-transfer efficiency) and differences between pollinator-dependent and autogamous forms within and among species. Analyses involved Bayesian methods that simultaneously considered variation in pollen and ovule numbers and accounted for phylogenetic relatedness. We also assessed the utility of P:O ratios as mating-system proxies and their association with female outcrossing rates.

RESULTS
Median pollen number declined consistently with pollen-transfer efficiency among species, whereas median ovule number did not. Similarly, in both intraspecific and interspecific analyses, pollinator-dependent plants produced more pollen than autogamous plants, whereas ovule production did not differ statistically. Distributions of P:O ratios overlapped extensively for self-incompatible and self-compatible species and for different mating-system classes, and P:O ratios correlated weakly with outcrossing rate.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings demonstrate that pollinator dependence and pollination efficiency commonly influence the evolution of pollen number per flower but have more limited effects on ovule number. P:O ratios provide ambiguous, possibly misleading, information about mating systems, especially when compared among clades. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


His name and image are everywhere - from Bank of Scotland fivers to the bizarre monument in Edinburgh's city centre. Scott-land presumes that the reader will have only a hazy awareness of Sir Walter Scott, and, although Stuart Kelly will offer insights into Scott's works and biography, this is emphatically not a conventional literary biography, nor is it a critical study. Partly a surreptitious autobiography - Stuart Kelly was born near Abbotsford - his examination of Scott's legacy and character come to change his own thoughts on writing, reviewing, being Scottish, and being human.


Make your writing process easier by letting LaTeX take care of the formatting. Resources highlighted in this guide are focused on the health sciences but are generally useful for anyone looking for LaTeX help.


A case of bile duct injury during laparoscopic cholecystectomy finally necessitating right hepatic lobectomy is reported to re-emphasize the importance of preoperative and intraoperative assessment of the biliary tree. A 47-year-old Japanese woman underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for cholecystolithiasis. On postoperative day 5, fever and right hypochondralgia developed, and CT revealed fluid collection at the right hypochondrium. Percutaneous drainage was performed, and subsequent fistulography revealed a communication of the cystic cavity with the right posterior bile duct, which suggested injury of the aberrant hepatic duct. Conservative therapy, including the adaptation of fibrin glue, was performed, but closure of the fistula and cavity was not obtainable. Finally, a right hepatic lobectomy was performed four months after cholecystectomy. In this case, endoscopie retrograde cholangiopancreatography was unsuccessful preoperatively, and intraoperative cholangiography was not done. This case report re-emphasizes that the preoperative and intraoperative examination of the biliary tree is mandatory to avoid bile duct injury.


The beta-adrenoceptor subtypes involved in the control of lipolysis in white fat cells of rat, dog, marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), baboon (Papio papio), macaque (Macaca fascicularis), and human were compared. In all species [3H]CGP-12177 binding (up to 3 nM) indicated the existence of a homogeneous population of binding sites in fat cell membranes, and competition studies showed that beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors were present. Selective beta 1 or beta 2-adrenoceptor agonists induced lipolysis. The efficiencies of isoproterenol and norepinephrine were similar. The use of selective beta 3-adrenoceptor agonists revealed that BRL-37344 and CL-316243 were full agonists, whereas CGP-12177 and SR-58611A were partial agonists in rat and dog white fat cells. beta 3-Agonists partially stimulated lipolysis in the marmoset, while CGP-12177 was weakly active in the baboon. In macaque and human fat cells, beta 3-agonists were ineffective. The lipolytic effect of norepinephrine involves beta 1-and/or beta 2-adrenoceptors in baboon, macaque, and human. The baboon and macaque constitute valuable models for studying the beta-adrenergic control of lipolysis.


Extreme rainfall values were examined to detect long-term changes in the Philippines and to investigate whether such changes are associated with the rising near-surface global mean temperature and the El Niñ o–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) for the 100-year period (1911-2010). The generalized extreme value distribution was formulated to its stationary and non-stationary forms, and then was fitted by the maximum likelihood method to the series of daily rainfall annual maxima (RX1day) at 23 meteorological stations in the Philippines. Subsequently, statistically significant changes in extreme rainfall in the country were detected. Such changes were further linked to the near-surface global mean temperature and ENSO. Specifically, the study has revealed a country-averaged increase in the median intensity of extreme rainfall associated with the rise in the near-surface global mean temperature. Furthermore, a seasonal influence of ENSO on extreme rainfall in the Philippines has been shown. In particular, the stations located in the northwest section of the country, where 75–100% of the RX1day occurred in the summer monsoon season (July–September) during the entire period of 1911–2010, showed an average increase in the median intensity of extreme rainfall associated with the ENSO index. These findings imply a potential intensification and increase in the occurrence of extreme rainfall into the future as the global mean temperature continues to rise, and such trends should be considered in adaptation strategies to minimize the disasters caused by extreme rainfall events in the Philippines. In order to minimize these disasters appropriate early detection system of heavy rainfall events are urgently needed in this country.


Background — While age is a common confounder, its impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after total hip replacement is uncertain. This could be due to improper statistical modeling of age in previous studies, such as treating age as a linear variable or by using age categories. We hypothesized that there is a non-linear association between age and HRQoL. Methods — We selected a nationwide cohort from the Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Register of patients operated with total hip replacements due to primary osteoarthritis between 2008 and 2010. For estimating HRQoL, we used the generic health outcome questionnaire EQ-5D of the EuroQol group that consits or 2 parts: the EQ-5D index and the EQ VAS estimates. Using linear regression, we modeled the EQ-5D index and the EQ VAS against age 1 year after surgery. Instead of using a straight line for age, we applied a method called restricted cubic splines that allows the line to bend in a controlled manner. Confounding was controlled by adjusting for preoperative HRQoL, sex, previous contralateral hip surgery, pain, and Charnley classification. Results — Complete data on 27,245 patients were available for analysis. Both the EQ-5D index and EQ VAS showed a non-linear relationship with age. They were fairly unaffected by age until the patients were in their late sixties, after which age had a negative effect. Interpretation — There is a non-linear relationship between age and HRQoL, with improvement decreasing in the elderly.


A previously undescribed denitrifying bacterium was isolated from soil. The cells are small, gram negative, slightly curved rods, asporogenous, and nonmotile. Motile clones, however, have been isolated from the nonmotile parent: these cells possess a single polar flagellum. The organism shows no fermenting activity and grows only in the presence of one of the following electron acceptors: NO3-, NO2-, N2O, S4O62-, and O2. It gives a positive oxidase test and has a cytochrome c and catalase. It requires no growth factors, is a chemoorganotroph, and uses only some alcohols and organic acids as carbon and energy supply. Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate is synthesized. The deoxyribonucleic acid base composition is 62.2 mol% guanine plus cytosine. The bacterium bears greatest resemblance to Pseudomonas lemoignei.


I consider banks' role in providing funding liquidity (the ability to raise cash on demand) and market liquidity (the ability to trade assets at low cost), and how these roles have evolved. Traditional banks made illiquid loans funded with liquid deposits, thus producing funding liquidity on the liability side of the balance sheet. Deposits are less important in 21st century banks, but funding liquidity from lines of credit and loan commitments has become more important. Banks also provide market liquidity as broker-dealers and traders in securities and derivatives markets, in loan syndication and sales, and in loan securitization. Many institutions besides banks provide market liquidity in similar ways, but banks dominate in producing funding liquidity because of their comparative advantage in managing funding liquidity risk. This advantage stems from the structure of bank balance sheets as well as their access to government-guaranteed deposits and central-bank liquidity.


Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most commonly found valvular lesion in echocardiography laboratories. Moderate and severe mitral regurgitation have proven to be associated with increased morbidity and mortality, and surgical reconstruction is recommended in severe cases whenever feasible. Three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) is superior to conventional echocardiography in the detailed assessment of the specific anatomical features and the pathomechanism of MR, and in the accurate grading of its severity. 3DE is adept in detecting and quantifying geometric distortion of the mitral annulus and analysing valve mechanics. Segmental analysis of leaflet pathology is considerably facilitated and quantification software packages offer new parameters for tailored surgical repair techniques. Direct visualization of the anatomic regurgitant orifice and calculations of the effective regurgitant orifice area by 3D color Doppler techniques promise to circumvent the limitations of conventional echocardiography in the quantification of mitral regurgitation.


Prostaglandins are anticancer agents known to inhibit tumor cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo by affecting the mRNA stability. Here we report that a MAR-binding protein SMAR1 is a target of Prostaglandin A2 (PGA2) induced growth arrest. We identify a regulatory mechanism leading to stabilization of SMAR1 transcript. Our results show that a minor stem and loop structure present in the 5′ UTR of SMAR1 (ϕ1-UTR) is critical for nucleoprotein complex formation that leads to SMAR1 stabilization in response to PGA2. This results in an increased SMAR1 transcript and altered protein levels, that in turn causes downregulation of Cyclin D1 gene, essential for G1/S phase transition. We also provide evidence for the presence of a variant 5′ UTR SMAR1 (ϕ17-UTR) in breast cancer-derived cell lines. This form lacks the minor stem and loop structure required for mRNA stabilization in response to PGA2. As a consequence of this, there is a low level of endogenous tumor suppressor protein SMAR1 in breast cancer-derived cell lines. Our studies provide a mechanistic insight into the regulation of tumor suppressor protein SMAR1 by a cancer therapeutic PGA2, that leads to repression of Cyclin D1 gene.


Pro-drugs of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as loxoprofen are widely used for clinical purposes because they are not so harmful to the gastrointestinal mucosa. We recently showed that NSAIDs such as indomethacin and celecoxib have direct cytotoxicity (ability to induce necrosis and apoptosis in gastric mucosal cells) due to their membrane permeabilizing activities, which is involved in NSAID-induced gastric lesions. We show here that under conditions where indomethacin and celecoxib clearly induce necrosis and apoptosis, loxoprofen and its active metabolite loxoprofen-OH, do not have such effects in primary culture of guinea pig gastric mucosal cells. Loxoprofen and loxoprofen-OH induced apoptosis more effectively in cultured human gastric cancer cells than in the primary culture. Loxoprofen and loxoprofen-OH exhibited much lower membrane permeabilizing activities than did indomethacin and celecoxib. We thus consider that the low direct cytotoxicity of loxoprofen observed in vitro is involved in its relative safety on production of gastric lesions in clinical situation.


We present a set of numerical experiments designed to systematically investigate how turbulence and magnetic fields influence the morphology, energetics, and dynamics of filaments produced in wind-cloud interactions. We cover 3D magnetohydrodynamic systems of supersonic winds impacting clouds with turbulent density, velocity, and magnetic fields. We find that log-normal density distributions aid shock propagation through clouds, increasing their velocity dispersion and producing filaments with expanded cross sections and highly-magnetised knots and sub-filaments. In self-consistently turbulent scenarios the ratio of filament to initial cloud magnetic energy densities is ~1. The effect of Gaussian velocity fields is bound to the turbulence Mach number: Supersonic velocities trigger a rapid cloud expansion; subsonic velocities only have a minor impact. The role of turbulent magnetic fields depends on their tension and is similar to the effect of radiative losses: the stronger the magnetic field or the softer the gas equation of state, the greater the magnetic shielding at wind-filament interfaces and the suppression of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. Overall, we show that including turbulence and magnetic fields is crucial to understanding cold gas entrainment in multi-phase winds. While cloud porosity and supersonic turbulence enhance the acceleration of clouds, magnetic shielding protects them from ablation and causes Rayleigh-Taylor-driven sub-filamentation. Wind-swept clouds in turbulent models reach distances ~15-20 times their core radius and acquire bulk speeds ~0.3-0.4 of the wind speed in one cloud-crushing time, which are three times larger than in non-turbulent models. In all simulations the ratio of turbulent magnetic to kinetic energy densities asymptotes at ~0.1-0.4, and convergence of all relevant dynamical properties requires at least 64 cells per cloud radius.


This paper presents the architecture and the operational concepts of the Formation Flying In Orbit Ranging Demonstation experiment (FFIORD) which is part of the PRISMA mission. This technological experiment, lead by CNES, is based on a specific Radio Frequency subsystem manufactured by Thales Alenia Space. The objectives are to assess the performances of the Flying Formation RF sensor (FFRF) and to validate the algorithms developed for various Formation Flying scenarios.


In this paper we describe a technique to evaluate the evolutionary dynamics of the timing of spawning for iteroparous species. The life cycle of the species consists of three life-stages, embryonic, juvenile and adult whereby the transitions of life-stages (gametogenesis, birth and maturation) occur at species specific sizes. The dynamics of the population is studied in a semi-chemostat environment where the inflowing food concentration is periodic (annual). A Dynamic Energy Budget (deb) based continuous-time model is used to describe the uptake of the food, storage in reserves and allocation of the energy to growth, maintenance, development (embryo's, juveniles) and reproduction (adults). A discrete event process is used for modelling reproduction. At a fixed spawning date of the year the reproduction buffer is emptied and a new cohort is formed by eggs with a fixed size and energy content. The population consists of cohorts: for each year one consisting of individuals with the same age which die after their last reproduction event. The resulting mathematical model is a finite dimensional set of ordinary differential equations (ode)s with fixed one-year periodic boundary conditions yielding a stroboscopic map. We will study the evolutionary development of the population using the Adaptive Dynamics (ad) approach. The trait is the timing of spawning. Pairwise and Mutual Invasibility Plots are calculated using bifurcation analysis of the stroboscopic map. The evolutionary singular strategy (ess) value belonging to the evolutionary endpoint for the trait allows for an interpretation of the reproduction strategy of the population. In a case study, parameter values from the literature for the bivalve Macoma balthica are used.


The keen visual systems of birds have been relatively well-studied. The foundations of avian vision rest on their cone and rod photoreceptors. Most birds use four cone photoreceptor types for color vision, a fifth cone for achromatic tasks, and a rod for low-light levels. The cones, along with their oil droplets, and rods are conserved across birds – with the exception of a few shifts in spectral sensitivity – despite taxonomic, behavioral and ecological differences. Here, however, we describe a novel photoreceptor in a group of New World flycatchers (Empidonax spp.) in which the traditional oil droplet is replaced with a complex of electron-dense megamitochondria surrounded by hundreds of small, orange oil droplets. These photoreceptors were unevenly distributed across the retina, being present in the central region (including in the fovea), but absent from the retinal periphery and the area temporalis. Many bird species have had their oil droplets and photoreceptors characterized, but only the two flycatchers described here (E. virescens and E. minimus) possess this unusual structure. We discuss the potential functional significance of the unique sub-cellular structure in these photoreceptors providing an additional visual channel for these small predatory songbirds.


Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of software and hardware components. The most important challenge in CPS design and verification is to design CPS to be reliable in a variety of uncertainties, i.e., unanticipated and rapidly evolving environments and disturbances. The costs, delays and reliability of the designed CPS are highly dependent on software-hardware partitioning in the design. The key challenges in partitioning CPSs is that it is difficult to formalize reliability characterization in the same way as the uncertain cost and time delay. In this paper, we propose a new CPS design paradigm for reliability assurance while coping with uncertainty. To be specific, we develop an uncertain programming model for partitioning based on the uncertainty theory, to support the assured reliability. The uncertainty effect of the cost and delay time of components to be implemented can be modeled by the uncertainty variables with uncertainty distributions, and the reliability characterization is recursively derived. We convert the uncertain programming model and customize an improved heuristic to solve the converted model. Experiment results on some benchmarks and random graphs show that the uncertain method produces the design with higher reliability. Besides, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of our model for in coping with uncertainty in design stage, we apply this uncertain framework and existing deterministic models in the design process of a sub-system that is used in real world subway control. The system implemented based on the uncertain model works better than the result of deterministic models. The proposed design paradigm has the potential to be generalized to the design of CPSs for greater assurances of safety and security under a variety of uncertainties


Understanding drivers of vegetation structure has direct implications for wildlife conservation and livestock management, but the relative importance of multiple disturbances interacting within the same system to shape vegetation structure remains unclear. We investigated the separate and interactive effects of multiple disturbance drivers on vegetation structure through a three-tiered, large-scale manipulative experiment in northeast Wyoming, USA. We used nested grazing exclosures to isolate the effects of herbivory from livestock, wild ungulates, or small mammals within areas affected by either historical wildfire, black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies, or neither disturbance. We analyzed the interactive effects of disturbance history and contemporary herbivory by either small mammals alone, small mammals + native ungulates, or small mammals + native ungulates + livestock on vegetation structure by quantifying vegetation height, visual obstruction, shrub density, shrub canopy, and shrub leader growth. The exclusion of wild ungulates and lightly to moderately stocked livestock for two years did not significantly affect herbaceous vegetation structure, shrub density, or shrub canopy cover. Maximum vegetation height, visual obstruction, and heights of grasses and forbs were ~50% lower on black-tailed prairie dog colonies than in undisturbed areas. Prairie dog colonies contained 71% lower shrub densities than undisturbed sites. Sites with wildfire or black-tailed prairie dogs had 89% lower canopy cover of shrubs and Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis), when compared to undisturbed sites. Shrub leaders experienced over 4.5 times more browsing on prairie dog colonies, when compared to undisturbed areas. For most metrics, disturbance history did not modify the effects of contemporary herbivory on vegetation structure. However, shrubs on prairie dog colonies experienced significantly more leader browsing in the combined presence of livestock, native ungulates, and small mammals than in treatments where livestock were excluded. Our research has direct implications for wildlife conservation and rangeland management by demonstrating that short-term (1–2 yr) rest from large ungulate grazing may not substantially alter vegetation structure in this system. Instead, structural variation is strongly driven by black-tailed prairie dog colonization and historical wildfire. Understanding and managing multiple, potentially interacting disturbances is critical for maximizing wildlife conservation and livestock production in heterogeneous landscapes.


Jazz Lecture Series presentation by John Scofield on March 29, 1988 at 9:30AM at the UNT College of Music. Includes lecture and performance by John Scofield, guitar, interspersed with questions from the audience.


Historically within the jazz idiom, the guitar has predominantly functioned within ensembles of various sizes. A focus of this study is an investigation into the guitarist's potential to improvise completely unaccompanied, without the rhythmic security of drums or the harmonic and structural security of bass or piano. This requires not only a solid grounding in harmony, rhythm, and melody but also should incorporate integration of the melodic and accompaniment roles. This integration of roles is the key focus of this study. In jazz, the piano is the instrument most well-known for solo performance due to the obvious advantages of being able to play left and right hands independently. The guitar by comparison initially appears to have limited possibilities when played solo. This work seeks to find solutions for this problem as developed in my own practice through performance and reflective and investigative analysis; solutions that take advantage of the guitar's unique characteristics.
The outcomes of this research will be documented in a folio of three recorded solo performance recitals and an accompanying exegesis outlining the key findings based on analysis of these performances. The findings will outline solutions to the problems associated with solo guitar performance and address the integration of chordal and melodic playing as well as vital rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and textural concepts.


Red Scuvu, the published doctoral dissertation research of Kegin Schmidt, of the University of Copenhagen, probes a wealth of archival sources, particularly the investigative case files of tht: Bureau of Investigations for 1908-1922, to understand the Federal Bureau of Investigation's role in anticommunist politics. In the first chapter, Schmidt delineates his main themes. First, the FBI's political role predated the cold war, originating during the post-World War I Red Scare. Second, that political rolc resulted not from public hysteria or the manipulations of an autonomous bureau but from the Progressive-era movement toward centralization of power in the federal govcrnment. Here Schmidt presents an alternative interpretation to Robert Murray's The Red Scare (1955), the standard work on the first Ked Scare, which stresses the public hysteria. Schmidt's interpretation also challenges several recent works stressing the machinations of the FBI's powerful head, J . Edgar Hoover. According to Schmidt, the FBI's political role was a product of the modern presidency's need for political intelligence dealing with domestic unrest and foreign subversive threats. Focusing primarily on the period from 1919 to 1921, Schmidt argues that as early as 1919, political leaders, including President Woodrow Wilson himself, had an ideological and national interest in an antiradical crusade. The Radical Division of the Bureau of Investigations, thc precursor to the FBI, was not a maverick bureaucracy but was under the close supervision of the Justice Department. During the first Red Scare, the bureau cooperated with red-hunting activities on the local level, even helping to draft some state antiradical legislation. Schmidt further shows how the Palmer raids were rationally planned at the initiative of ambitious and aggressive Justice Department officials. After the Red Scare waned, Congress allowed the bureau's political and surveillance activities to continue since they w r e directed against radicals and those outsidc the mainstream. Even in 1924. following disclosures that the bureau was used against executive branch critics in Congress, no laws were passed to restrict the bureau's activities; Congress left it to the discretion of the executive, reflecting a shift of power during the Progressive era from Congress to the presidency. Schmidt makes a strong case that the FBI's political activities had become institutionalized long before the post-World War I1 era. Red Scare is a well-researched study that offers a new perspective on the role of the FBI in twentieth-century anticommunist politics. It should be of interest more to professional historians than to undergraduate students or the general reading public.


Specific tolerance to phosphorylcholine (PC) can be induced in BALB/c mice by neonatal injection with either pneumococcal C-polysaccharide (PnC) or anti-TEPC 15 idiotype (T15Id) antibody specific for the major idiotype (Id) of anti-PC antibody. Spleen cells from these tolerant mice exhibited T cell-mediated active suppression of anti-PC response when they were co-cultured with normal spleen cells. Suppressor cells from the PnC-injected mice appeared to bear either Lyt-1 or Lyt-2 antigens, whereas suppressor cells from anti-Id-treated mice expressed Lyt-2 antigens. Analyses of the specific receptors of these suppressor T cells, based on either adherence to PC and T15-coated petri dishes or cytolysis by rabbit anti-T15Id and monoclonal IgM anti-PC antibody with complement, revealed that receptors of PnC-induced suppressor T cells recognize PC, whereas receptors of anti-Id-induced suppressor T cells react with the T15Id. The possible interaction of the two different types of suppressor T cells was examined by co-culturing normal spleen cells with mixtures of the different suppressor cell types in various cell ratios in the presence of the T-independent PC-antigen, R36a. A brief incubation of anti-Id-induced, T15Id-specific suppressor T cells with PnC-induced, hapten-specific, and T15Id-bearing suppressor T cells resulted in complete cancellation of their suppressor function. These results suggest that idiotype network regulation may also occur among suppressor T cell population.


When comparing quantum states to each other, it is possible to obtain an unambiguous answer, indicating that the states are definitely different, already after a single measurement. In this paper we investigate comparison of coherent states, which is the simplest example of quantum state comparison for continuous variables. The method we present has a high success probability, and is experimentally feasible to realize as the only required components are beam splitters and photon detectors. An easily realizable method for quantum state comparison could be important for real applications. As examples of such applications we present a "lock and key" scheme and a simple scheme for quantum public key distribution.


A series of novel liquid crystal were synthesized with alkyloxyben- zimidoylbenzoic acid (CnABOH) and poly(4-binylpridind) (PVP) through hydrogen bond self-assemble between carboxyl groups of alkyloxybenzimidoylbenzoic and nitrogen of PVP. PVP was used as a hydrogen bond acceptor polymer. The CnABOH (n is the number of carbon atom) had been used as H-bond donor. The existence of H-bond was confirmed used FTIR spectroscopy. Optical microscopy was used to investigate liquid crystalline behaviors. The mesophases of the complexes (PVP-CnABOH) were obviously different from LC behaviors of the CnABOH. With increasing length of terminal group, the melting temperature reduced and the temperature range of the LC mesophase increased. For instance, while the number of carbon atom increased from 3 to 8, the melting temperature reduced from 180°C to 156°C and the range of LC mesophase increased from 36°C to 84°C.


Multidrug resistance is a condition in which cells exhibit resistance to drugs to which they have never been exposed to previously. The main factor contributing to this is the overexpression of an energy-dependant multidrug transporter, P-glycoprotein. P-glycoprotein is also involved in the normal physiological functions. P-glycoprotein is widely distributed in the body and found in organs like lower gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver, pancreas, testes and most importantly, the blood-brain barrier. Although, many mechanisms have been promulgated which involve P-glycoprotein in multidrug resistance, there is no satisfactory mechanism that reconciles the entire phenomenon related to multidrug resistance. Efforts have also been taken to isolate, characterize and spectroscopically analyze P-glycoprotein. Based on the available data, there are many agents, which are proven to be the substrates of P-glycoprotein. Moreover, there also are inhibitors to Pglycoprotein that enhance the intracellular levels of many drugs that are effluxed by P-glycoprotein.


Recent field and experimental evidence collected in the southern upwelling region off Concepcion (36°5'S, 73°3'W) showed an abrupt reduction (<72 h) in the egg production rates (EPR) of copepods when they were fed steadily and solely with the local bloom-forming diatom Thalassiosira rotula. Because diatoms were biochemically similar to dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum, a diet which supported higher reproductive outcomes, the fecundity reduction observed in copepod females fed with the diatom may have obeyed to post-ingestive processes, giving rise to resources reallocation. This hypothesis was tested by comparing feeding (clearance and ingestion rates), reproduction (EPR and hatching success) and the structure of protein profiles (i.e., number and intensity of electrophoretic bands) of copepods (adults and eggs) incubated during 96 h with the two food conditions. The structure of protein profiles included molecular sizes that were calculated from the relative mobility of protein standards against the logarithm of their molecular sizes. After assessing the experimental conditions, feeding decreased over time for those females fed with T. rotula, while reproduction was higher in females fed with P. minimum. Electrophoretic profiles resulted similar mostly at a banding region of 100 to 89-kDa, while they showed partial differences around the region of 56-kDa band, especially in those females fed and eggs produced with T. rotula. Due to reproductive volume was impacted while larvae viability, a physiological processes with specific and high nutritional requirements, was independent on food type; post-ingestive processes, such as expression of stress-related proteins deviating resources to metabolic processes others than reproduction, are discussed under framework of nutritional-toxic mechanisms mediating copepod-diatoms relationships in productive upwelling areas.


Coastal ecosystems are valuable to people and economies across the Caribbean, but are threatened by human pressures. Ecosystem valuation can make the economic case for protection of coastal ecosystems, but in many cases valuation studies have had a limited impact on decision making regarding coastal resource use in the Caribbean. Drawing on the lessons learned from coastal valuations that have successfully informed decision making in the Caribbean, this guidebook leads valuation practitioners through the three phases of a valuation effort to inform decision making: 1. Scoping; 2. Analysis; 3. Outreach and Use of Results


French historian and archaeologist Paul Veyne argued for what he saw as the fundamental lack of object in sociology in 1971. This academic field would definitely not be a science, but, at most, an auxiliary to historiography, itself devoid of any scientific condition since it refers to sublunary causalities, not allowing predictions, only "retrodictions". Conversely, a set of "praxeologies" could be identified, the core of a future science of man, radically different from both sociology and history, including instead pure economics, operational research, and game theory. While history (and sociology) would inevitably be "Aristotelian", that is, sublunary and imprecise, scientific disciplines could and should be predominantly "Platonic", aiming at formal logical elegance. Veyne was only partly right, since economics itself cannot be considered a science stricto sensu. Admittedly, sociology is going through a state of multilevel crisis, allowing us to confront this situation with important recent trends for the emergence of socio-historical grand narratives, sometimes officially called history, less often historical sociology, but all eminently trans-disciplinary. The aim of this research is to overcome the limitations associated with the biographical, elitist, and Eurocentric biases characteristic of traditional historiography. On the whole, the tendency of these studies is nomothetic, but the "laws" identified are at best, approximate. Therefore, they, like economics, are condemned to operate on a mere "Aristotelian" level, and thus, the great "novel of humanity" is bound to remain essentially indeterminate.


This work surveys methods to coalesce water-in-fluorocarbon emulsions stabilized by amphiphilic nanoparticles (NPs) for applications in droplet microfluidics. Most droplet assays to date have relied on one type of surfactant consisting of perfluorinated polyether and polyethylene glycol (PFPE–PEG) to stabilize the drops against coalescence. Nonetheless, this surfactant is known to have several limitations, the most severe of which being its mediation of inter-drop molecular transport leading to the cross-talk of droplet contents. Previously we addressed this challenge by replacing surfactants with amphiphilic NPs. The merging of NP-stabilized drops, however, is known to be more difficult than that of surfactant-stabilized drops due to the high energy barrier to desorb NPs from the interface. Here we compare the efficiency of droplet merging by different methods including centrifugation, freeze–thaw cycling, addition of chemical additives, and the application of an electric field. The results of this work are useful as a selection guide for the appropriate method to merge NP-stabilized drops.


Research into how humans interact with computers has a long and rich history. Only a small fraction of this research has considered how humans interact with computers when engineering software. A similarly small amount of research has considered how humans interact with humans when engineering software. For the last forty years, we have largely taken an artifact-centric approach to software engineering research. To meet the challenges of building future software systems, I argue that we need to balance the artifactcentric approach with a human-centric approach, in which the focus is on amplifying the human intelligence required to build great software systems. A human-centric approach involves performing empirical studies to understand how software engineers work with software and with each other, developing new methods for both ecomposing and composing models of software to to ease the cognitive load placed on engineers and on creating computationally intelligent tools aimed at focusing the humans on the tasks only the humans can solve. Context: Several text books and papers published between 2000 and 2002 have attempted to introduce experimental design and statistical methods to software engineers undertaking empirical studies. Objective: This paper investigates whether there has been an increase in the quality of human-centric experimental and quasi-experimental journal papers over the time period 1993 to 2010. Method: Seventy experimental and quasi experimental papers published in four general software engineering journals in the years19922002 and 2006-2010 were each assessed for quality by three empirical software engineering researchers using two quality assessment methods (a questionnaire-based method and a subjective overall assessment). Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between paper quality and the year of publication, publication date group (before 2003 and after 2005), source journal, and average coauthor experience, citation of statistical text books and papers, and paper length. The results were validated both by removing papers for which the quality score appeared unreliable and using an alternative quality measure. Results: Paper quality was significantly associated with year, citing general atistical texts, and paper length (p < 0.05). Paper length did not reach significance when quality was measured using an overall subjective assessment.


Objective. Induced sputum is used to assess markers of inflammation in asthmatic individuals, and sputum cell differential counts provide an outcome to evaluate the presence, type, and degree of inflammation in the airways. Contamination of sputum slides with squamous epithelial cells (SECs) has been reported to adversely affect the reproducibility of sputum cell differential counts; however, this has not been studied in a controlled manner. Excluding sputum slides because of excessive squamous cell contamination can be problematic resulting in under-powering of studies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of SEC contamination and cell dispersion on the reproducibility of differential counts of sputum cells prepared on glass slides. Study Design. A total of 33 sputum samples were induced from 11 subjects with mild asthma under baseline conditions and following an allergen inhalation challenge. Mucoid and salivary portions of each sample were divided and processed in parallel. To evaluate the effect of increasing the proportion of SEC and to evaluate the effect of increasing the number of leukocytes per high power field (HPF), four slides with varying leukocyte numbers and SEC percentages were prepared from each sample by combining and adjusting the volume of cell suspensions derived from mucous and saliva. The four slides were prepared to fall in the following categories: (A) 50 cells/HPF and <20% SEC; (B) 50 cells/HPF and >20% SEC; (C) 100 cells/HPF and <20% SEC; and (D) 100 cells/HPF and >20% SEC. All slides were blinded and counted twice by an experienced observer, and twice by an inexperienced observer. Results. The differential cell counts for eosinophils, macrophages, and neutrophils were highly reproducible under all conditions when enumerated by an experienced observer (ICC > 0.9), and furthermore, SEC contamination did not affect ICC when differential counts were enumerated by an inexperienced observer (ICC > 0.8). Conclusion. Our results demonstrate that slides containing SECs, up to 40% in this study, have reproducible differential cell counts.


This article reports on a usability study of remote noninvasive cardiac testing in homes. We studied the Vitaphone 3100BT (Bluetooth®) event loop recorder (Vitaphone GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) and paired BlackBerry® Curve™ 8520 smartphone (Research In Motion, Ltd., Waterloo, ON, Canada). This application requires independent device set-up by patients in their own homes following receipt by mail out of the kit (instructions plus the event loop recorder and smartphone). The case studies of five participants, each with varying experience with technology, were documented as they interacted with the devices. Participants were videotaped following written instructions as they performed a "think aloud" procedure while completing 20 device set-up tasks. Interviews provided insight into how the independent device set-up and processes could be improved. This study concluded that gender, age, and familiarity with technology seemed to influence the participants' abilities to successfully set up these devices and that sending the kit by mail appeared to be an acceptable strategy to provide remote noninvasive cardiac diagnostic services. This study provides a foundation for future research assessing usability of mobile healthcare technology.


This systematic review addressed cohort studies on obesity in childhood and adolescence and adult mortality, published from January 1990 to March 2007. We searched the PubMed database with the following uniterms: obesity, mortality, child, adolescent; obesity and mortality; overweight and mortality. References were also analyzed. The age limit was 2 to 18 years. Quality of the articles was assessed, and eight were identified and reviewed. All used weight and stature for determination of obesity, and seven used body mass index (BMI). The quality score varied from 9 to 17. Evidence of association between obesity in childhood and adolescence and adult mortality should be viewed with caution. Use of BMI and potential confounders were discussed. Further research is needed to analyze the relationship between childhood and adolescent obesity and adult mortality.


Sweden has seen a reversal in marriage trends, from mainly declining marriage rates since the 1960s to increasing rates from 1998 and onwards. By applying event-history techniques to Swedish register data, this study examines whether the trend reversal is related to compositional changes in various socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the population, with special focus on childbearing. Only first marriages of women are studied as these largely represent the general marriage trends. The results show that the trend reversal only partly can be ascribed to compositional changes, more specifically to changes in labor-market attachment and childbearing. Thus, there is evidence of a new marriage trend in Sweden that does not conform very well to that of generally declining marriage rates as is often depicted in demographic literature. Furthermore, there is evidence of pro-cyclical marriage and childbearing trends. These patterns are especially interesting because Sweden is a country that in many aspects has been a forerunner in the development of new trends in family-demographic behavior and a country where childbearing and marriage are not necessarily seen as very closely interrelated.


The conventional formulas for genotype frequencies in a hybrid population H produced by inter- breeding from ancestral populations Pi and P2 involve only one hybrid parameter M, equal to the fraction of alleles derived from P2. For the one-parameter model to be accurate, all individuals of H must have probabilities for alleles determined by one and the same M. When H con- tains subpopulations that have different values of M, the correct genotype frequencies can be predicted by use of two parameters: (i) MH, the average of M for all individuals of H and (ii) etaH, defined like the eta devised by C. A. B. Smith for testing the Hardy-Weinberg Law and com- puted with a formula like G. R. Price's eta, which involves assortative mating covariance-in this case for the M values of the parents of H. If parents of H have equal aver- age M values for males and females, and mate at random, etaH vanishes. For perfect assortative mating, etaH is the variance of M for H. As for Smith's eta, etaH provides a test of fit of prediction to observed that is sensitive to signs of deviations. Using etaH with T. E. Reed's data for Gm in Oakland, California Negroes, his one-parameter fit ("good" by his chi-square test) is significantly rejected (P = 0.04). A simultaneous good fit of Reed's Gm data and his Duffy data results (chi-square, 1 df = 0.88, P > 0.30) from the use of previously published values of 0.23 and 0.047 for MH and etaH. It is concluded that Reed's conclusion that these values were in error is itself in error, as is also his view that differences between M values from different genes and deviations from frequencies expected within genes are not likely to give significant information about variance of M.


The link between organisational change and corruption has been largely neglected in the literature, despite myriad studies conducted by researchers in many different fields on both phenomena. To fill the gap, this study provides empirical evidence about the interplay between organisational change and corruption. Case study is employed as a research strategy. The organisational change initiative being studied is the reformation or modernisation of a tax authority. The empirical data include 21 interviews, 21 drawings (from two focus groups), and 10 photographs. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the interviews and visual data.

The main finding of this study is that there is interplay between organisational change and corruption, in which change does not only affect corruption, but also that corruption affects organisational change. On one side of the interplay, this study shows that instead of inducing corruption (as suggested in the literature), organisational change can reduce corruption. In addition to literal accounts, metaphors have been used to show that organisational change has reduced the space for corruption, changed employees' involvement in corruption, and shifted the nature of corruption from systemic to individual. However, this finding cannot be separated from the context, i.e., the pre-existed corruption prior to change. This overlooked context explains why the findings of this study are different to the previous studies'.
On the other side of the interplay, which has been unexplored, this study contributes by showing that corruption, both pre- and post-change, can affect organisational change (and employees' emotions) positively and negatively. Pre-change corruption can trigger employees' willingness to change. The factors that influence these positive reactions are dissonant feelings, spiritual awareness, and employees' involuntary involvement in past corruption. The finding also shows that post-change corruption triggers employees' negative emotions in the form of collective shame, hurt, and injured pride.
The use of visual methods in this study has provided an alternative way to study organisational change and, in particular, corruption, which has hitherto been dominated by quantitative methods. It is found that different forms of information are provided by the interviews and visual data. Drawings provide more negative accounts. Perhaps this demonstrates the potential ability of the drawing technique in unveiling such accounts. Other findings show that drawings produced different types of metaphors than those from the interviews. However, as suggested in this study, the use of metaphors is strongly related to context. This finding reinforces the finding mentioned earlier about the important role of context in the study of organisational change management.


Human dextran-antidextran-specific precipitates from individuals immunized with dextrans containing either one or two antigenic determinants, were analyzed for their content of various amino acids. Large differences in certain amino acids were found among α-(1 → 6)-specific antidextrans. Wide variations were also observed in antidextran fractions from a given individual specific for α-(1 → 6)- and α-(1 → 2)-linked glucose residues.


This is a guide to the rare books, periodicals, and manuscripts for the study of botany, horticulture, flowers, gardens, and gardening in the Special Collections Research Center.


The organic solvent lignin in this paper was extracted from the scrap liquid of the reed ethanol pulping. The attained lignin was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM).On this basis,the lignin is blended with PVC and other auxiliaries, PVC/lignin composite material is prepared by pressure molding. The mechanical performance index of PVC/lignin composite material is detected and the impact fracture morphology of the PVC/lignin composite material is observed by SEM photograph. According to the research, it is indicted that the lignin and PVC has a certain degree of compatibility. The less dosage of lignin, the better compatibility lignin and PVC performances. With the increasing of dosage of lignin, the impact strength, tensile strength and bend strength of PVC/lignin composite material decrease. Compared with 5 phr PVC/lignin composite material, the dispersed phase diameter of the impact fracture morphology of 20 phr PVC/lignin composite material becomes bigger, and the uniformity of distribution becomes worse.


Prominent crater chains on Ganymede and Callisto are most likely the impact scars of comets tidally disrupted by Jupiter and are not secondary crater chains. We have examined the morphology of these chains in detail in order to place constraints on the properties of the comets that formed them and the disruption process. In these chains, intercrater spacing varies by no more than a factor of 2 and the craters within a given chain show almost no deviation from linearity (although the chains themselves are on gently curved small circles). All of these crater chains occur on or very near the Jupiter-facing hemisphere. For a given chain, the estimated masses of the fragments that formed each crater vary by no more than an order of magnitude. The mean fragment masses for all the chains vary by over four orders of magnitude (W. B. McKinnon and P. M. Schenk 1995,Geophys. Res. Lett.13, 1829–1832), however. The mass of the parent comet for each crater chain is not correlated with the number of fragments produced during disruption but is correlated with the mean mass of the fragments produced in a given disruption event. Also, the larger fragments are located near the center of each chain. All of these characteristics are consistent with those predicted by disruption simulations based on the rubble pile cometary nucleus model (in which nuclei are composed on numerous small fragments weakly bound by self-gravity), and with those observed in Comet D/Shoemaker–Levy 9. Similar crater chains have not been found on the other icy satellites, but the impact record of disrupted comets on Callisto and Ganymede indicates that disruption events occur within the Jupiter system roughly once every 200 to 400 years.


The aim of this paper is to make the case that peer production offers a unique chance to transcend capitalism, and that peer-to-peer movements represent the succession of industrial-society based socialisms. The paper describes the salient characteristics of peer production before going on to explore whether it is 'transcendent' or 'immanent' to the market system, concluding that it is both in that it creates a new form of capitalism and also points out how that new form might be overcome. Following a review of the hybrid economic forms emerging today, I formulate the hypothesis that peer production is actually a hyperproductive mode, forcing for-profit entities to adapt to its characteristics, thereby further integrating it into the existing political economy, but not without the transformative effects of its market transcending aspects. After examining the possible expansion of peer-production modalities to physical manufacturing, I also examine the class aspects of commons and sharing-based platforms and hypothesise the emergence of a new section of capital, netarchical capitalists, who enable and empower participation, but also monetise it and attempt to control it.


The impact of cooperation on interference management is investigated by studying an elemental wireless network, the so-called symmetric interference relay channel (IRC), from a generalized degrees of freedom (GDoF) perspective. This is motivated by the fact that the deployment of relays is considered as a remedy to overcome the bottleneck of current systems in terms of achievable rates. The focus of this paper is on the regime in which the interference link is weaker than the source-relay link in the IRC. Our approach toward studying the GDoF goes through the capacity analysis of the linear deterministic IRC (LD-IRC). New upper bounds on the sum capacity of the LD-IRC based on genie-aided approaches are established. These upper bounds together with some existing upper bounds are achieved by using four novel transmission schemes. Extending the upper bounds and the transmission schemes to the Gaussian case, the GDoF of the Gaussian IRC is characterized for the aforementioned regime. This completes the GDoF results available in the literature for the symmetric GDoF. It turns out that even if the incoming and outgoing links of the relay are both weaker than the desired channel, involving a relay can increase the GDoF. Interestingly, utilizing the relay in this case can increase the slope of the GDoF from -2 [in the interference channel (IC)] to -1 or 0. This shrinks the regime where ignoring the interference by treating it as noise is optimal. Furthermore, the analysis shows that if the relay ingoing and outgoing links are sufficiently strong, the relay is able to neutralize the interference completely. In this case, the bottleneck of the transmission will be the interference links, and hence, the GDoF increases if the interference link gets stronger. It is shown that in the strong interference regime, in contrast to the IC, the GDoF can be a monotonically decreasing function of the interference level.


Abstract: A number of new or revised services in dimensional metrology are presented. Included are: a lower cost, high accuracy calibration for sphere diameter; reduced uncertainty in roundness calibration; a new instrument for measurement of the thermal expansion coefficient of gauges and other material, extended capabilities of ring gauge calibration on the M48 CMM, and a system for in-situ calibration of deformation of gauge blocks in mechanical comparison.


ABSTRACT Objective: This pilot study examined whether substance use or mental illness was more stigmatizing among individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems. Methods: This study included 48 individuals with co-occurring substance use and mental health problems enrolled in a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services funded treatment program. Subjects received a baseline assessment that included addiction, mental health, and stigma measures. Results: The sample consisted primarily of White males with an average age of 38 years. Substance abuse was found to be more stigmatizing than mental illness, F(1, 47) = 14.213, p < .001, and stigma varied across four different levels of stigma (Aware, Agree, Apply, and Harm), F(2.099, 98.675) = 117.883, p < .001. The interaction between type and level of stigma was also significant, F(2.41, 113.284) = 20.250, p < .001, indicating that differences in reported stigma between types varied across levels of stigma. Post hoc tests found a significant difference between all levels of stigma except for the comparison between Apply and Harm. Reported stigma was significantly higher for substance abuse than mental illness at the Aware and Agree levels. In addition, pairwise comparisons found significant differences between all levels of stigma with the exception of the comparison between Apply and Harm, indicating a pattern whereby reported stigma generally decreased from the first level (Aware stage) to subsequent levels. Conclusions: These results have important implications for treatment, suggesting the need to incorporate anti-stigma interventions for individuals with co-occurring disorders with a greater focus on substance abuse.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are composed of small, low cost, resource-constrained computing nodes equipped with low power wireless transceivers. Their unattended nature and possible deployment in hostile environmental conditions poses several challenges in ensuring that a WSN is formed effectively and survives long enough to fulfill its function. WSN nodes are vulnerable to many Denial of Services(DoS) attacks. To secure WSN still against attacks many innovative solutions/protocols have been proposed. However, a number of ambiguities exist in the definition of these DoS attacks. To remove these ambiguities and to clarify our specifications we represented the DoS attacks in a formal modeling notation Z. The specifications are written in a bottom-up approach starting from the basic definitions (like node, message etc), specifying simple operations of WSN (like receive, transmit etc), complex operations (like eavesdrop key, node capture etc) and going all the way up to formally define the DoS attacks. Different WSN routing protocols are then specified to confirm their vulnerability against DoS attacks. Use of Formal methods, thus, confirms how vulnerable a particular routing protocol is against a particular attack. This is a novel work and to the best of our knowledge DoS attacks have not yet been formally defined.


We investigated whether responses of single cells in the striate cortex of anaesthetized macaque monkeys exhibit signatures of both parvocellular (P) and magnocellular (M) inputs from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN). We used a palette of 128 isoluminant hues at four different saturation levels to test responses to chromatic stimuli against a white background. Spectral selectivity with these isoluminant stimuli was taken as an indication of P inputs. The presence of magnocellular inputs to a given cortical cell was deduced from its responses to a battery of tests, including assessment of achromatic contrast sensitivity, relative strengths of chromatic and luminance borders in driving the cell at different velocities and conduction velocity of their retino‐geniculo‐cortical afferents. At least a quarter of the cells in our cortical sample appear to receive convergent P and M inputs. We cannot however, exclude the possibility that some of these cells could be receiving a convergent input from the third parallel channel from the dLGN, namely the koniocellular (K) rather than the P channel. The neurons with convergent P and M inputs were recorded not only from supragranular and infragranular layers but also from the principal geniculate input recipient layer 4. Thus, our results challenge classical ideas of strict parallelism between different information streams at the level of the primate striate cortex.


The carrying out of PES reform, activated by d.lgs. 469 in 1997, has proceeded along differentiated paths among Italian areas. Moreover, within each region implementation paths seem diversified between single provinces, sketching out a very differentiated picture, with both "developed" areas and districts characterized by substantial implementation lags. Such a territorial differentiation is the key issue used in our evaluation analysis. Using it further allows us to test whether in the districts where the implementation of reform is more advanced the PES are more effective in their impact upon the labour market performance. The PES efficacy itself has been measured in terms of the occupational chances of those people who are registered to the PES. In the evaluation exercise other territorial determinants of employment chances are considered and the different composition of people registered to the PES and those searching for a job through other channels is taken in account using propensity score and instrumental variables techniques. The main outcome of the evaluation exercise is the practical irrelevance of the Italian PES in determining the labour market performance as above measured. In some cases the PES seems to have even a negative impact upon occupational chances; well functioning PES provincial branches however have a positive impact upon the occupational chances for those people more loosely attached to the labour market (individuals not searching actively for a job but available to work at given conditions).


In the period 1880-1930, the interest in gardening products rose substantially on the Swedish market. Import of horticultural produce as well as domestic production increased 20 times. The competition on the horticultural market significantly increased from the 1930s. The costs of fuel and labor rose, and imports took a larger share of the Swedish market as the century progressed, except during the wars. Competition was stiff from countries with lower production costs. After World War II, a series of measures were introduced to stabilize the world economy and kick-start trade. These included the first General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), intended to boost international trade by reducing customs duties and trade quotas. At the negotiating table Sweden was particularly anxious about the export opportunities for major industries. This meant easing imports for some products for the sake of the balance of trade, and one category sacrificed was horticultural products. This became a backlash for the market gardens, and the number of companies decreased or the production rationalized and specialized. But there are examples of small-scale family businesses that survived competition from largescale, modern companies in southern Sweden, and increasing imports and rising costs of fuel and labor. These businesses adapted their production to the demands on local markets. Two of these have provided case studies: Nilsson's market garden on Runmaro in the Stockholm archipelago, founded in 1929, and Nora market garden in Danderyd, founded in 1938 and run by the Welander family. Nilsson had a focused strategy, providing a custom range of products to wealthy summer visitors in the Stockholm archipelago. Welander had a differentiated approach, selling products of superior quality, with customers including a delicatessen in Stockholm.


The dissertation focuses on three aspects of children's temporal cognition: (1) Children's capacity to reason about temporal and causal relations between past, present and future events was investigated. In two experiments, 4- and 6-year-olds received structurally analogous search and planning tasks that required retrospective or prospective temporal-causal reasoning, respectively. The search task was compared to a closely matched control task that did not require temporal-causal reasoning. Findings suggest that flexible temporal-causal reasoning is qualitatively different from simpler forms of temporal cognition and develops in parallel for past- and future-directed reasoning in the late preschool years. (2) Young children's grasp of the normative dimension of future-directed thought and speech was investigated. Two studies showed that children from age 4 understand the normative outreach of such future-directed speech acts: subjects at time 1 witnessed a speaker make future-directed speech acts about/toward a hearer, either in imperative mode ("speaker, do X!") or as a prediction ("the speaker will do X"). When at time 2 the hearer performed an action that did not match the content of the speech act at time 1, children identified the speaker as the source of a mistake in the prediction case, and the hearer as the source of the mistake in the imperative case and leveled criticism accordingly. These findings reveal an early sensitivity to the normative aspects of future-orientation. (3) Children's skill in temporal perspective taking was investigated. To this end two tasks were newly designed in order to assess temporal perspective taking in 3 to 5 year old children. Performances in the new tasks were not correlated with children's performance in standard perspective taking tasks from other domains (false belief reasoning, visual perspective taking). Findings from these three research projects add to our knowledge about the development of temporal cognition in children.


In line with economic prosperity and its spread to the society, it is essential that the economy complement each other with law and democracy. In this study, the development levels of countries and the relationship between law and/or democracy will be examined. After the Eview analysis, it was observed that the democracy and geography indexes were not enough alone, and a more comprehensive model was formed by adding some geographic, religious, cultural and dummy variables reflecting the history of countries. At the end of modelling, it is seen that geographic features and natural resources are extremely important for prosperity. Moreover, the fact that countries have historical/corporate identity does not yield any meaningful results in terms of human development Research paper Keywords: Economic Prosperity; Law; Democracy; Human Development Index; World Justice Index Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Kahramanoglu, A., & Buyuksarikulak, A. M. (2019). Analyzing the Relationship between Economic Prosperity, Law and Democracy, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics , 7 (1), 106–132.


Heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which are formed during the cooking of protein-rich foods, are potent mutagens and a risk factor for human cancers. Levels of HCAs have been extensively investigated in meat products but not in fish products. Here, we report levels of HCAs in fried salmon, tuna, hake, sardine, angler fish, cod, sole, swordfish, squid, and cuttlefish. The HCA levels of some of these foods have not been previously analyzed. We employed multivariate factoranalysis tools, including principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares (PLS) regression, to study the effects of cooking weight loss and levels of creatine, glucose, and free amino acids on HCA levels. The highest concentrations of mutagenic HCAs, 159.3 ng·g−1 total, where 2-amino-1-methyl-6phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) accounted for 121 ng·g−1, were found in fried swordfish (cooking loss of 51.8%). These levels are higher than those generally found in fried chicken, which is typically cited as the most contaminated food item. Thus, swordfish is among the richest known sources of HCAs. The other cooked seafood items contained from 0.4 to 35.4 ng·g−1 HCAs, comparable to concentrations typically reported for meat. Chemometric analysis showed that the fish species is the most influential parameter on the formation of HCAs such as DMIP, PhIP, and norharman. Concentrations of histidine, lysine, creatine, and glucose, as well as weight loss, also influence the yield of HCAs. These results suggest that seafood is an important dietary source of HCAs. The formation of HCAs in fish is influenced by multiple factors, some of which remain unknown.


This paper reviews current research on supply chain management (SCM) within the context of tourism. SCM in the manufacturing industry has attracted widespread research interest over the past two decades, whereas studies of SCM in the tourism industry are very limited. Stakeholders in the tourism industry interact with each other to resolve their divergent business objectives across different operating systems. The potential benefit of considering not only individual enterprises but also the tourism value chain becomes evident. The paper examines the characteristics of tourism products, and identifies and explores core issues and concepts in tourism supply chains (TSCs) and tourism supply chain management (TSCM). Although there is an emerging literature on TSCM or its equivalents, progress is uneven, as most research focuses on distribution and marketing activities without fully considering the whole range of different suppliers involved in the provision and consumption of tourism products. This paper provides a systematic review of current tourism studies from the TSCM perspective and develops a framework for TSCM research that should be of great value not only to those who wish to extend their research into this new and exciting area, but also to tourism and hospitality decision makers. The paper also identifies key research questions in TSCM worthy of future theoretical and empirical exploration. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


The characterization of MgO nano powders that were synthesized using a conventional firing liquid phase precursor, rapid firing liquid phase precursor and rapid cooling firing liquid phase precursor were investigated as a function of the heating and cooling rates and the concentration of the impregnated Mg(NO3)2 x 6H2O solution from 1 to 20%. The relative intensity of diffraction peak in the MgO nano powder increased with increasing firing temperature from 800 to 1200 degrees C, indicating a higher crystalline MgO nano powder. In addition, the relative intensities of the MgO nano powder synthesized at the designated temperature showed similar behavior regardless of the impregnated Mg(NO3)2 x 6H2O solution concentration from the XRD analysis. The field emission scanning electron microscope and high resolution transmission electron microscope analysis showed that the size and shape of the MgO nano powder can be controlled by the temperature, the firing and cooling processes, and the impregnated Mg(NO3)2 x 6H2O solution concentration. Moreover, the CL spectra of the synthesized MgO nano powders showed a higher luminance efficiency than commercial MgO nano powder.


Numbysts is an Intelligent Tutoring System that focuses on the number based system (binary, octal, decimal, and hexadecimal) in edutainment form of learning. It is focused not only in teaching the concepts of number based system but also in entertaining the user while he/she is actually learning from the NumBysts. It engages the user to interact with the system through quizzes and exercises. The system can also evaluate what the user has learned from NumBysts. Likewise, the system provides trivia and additional information to the topic in addition to what the user has already learned. The study was designed to fully understand number system. It introduced, reviewed, and practiced the respondents in the covered topics. Survey results showed that 20% of the respondents Strongly Agreed to have tutorial on number based system while 45% Agreed, 24% is Uncertain, 7% Disagreed, and 2% Strongly Disagreed. These proved that there is a need for an Intelligent Tutoring System for number based system.


The technical aspects of the essence of simulation are elaborated based on the following definition: simulation is performing a goal-directed experimentation or gaining experience under controlled conditions by using dynamic models either to develop/enhance skills or for entertainment; where a dynamic model denotes a model for which behaviour and/or structure is variable over time. Hence, experimentation and experience aspects are explained. Several taxonomies, ontologies, and some ontology-based dictionaries are cited for a comprehensive and integrative perception of simulation. Finally, the evolution and increasing importance of simulation is explained.


Children with lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and/or queer (LGBTQ) parents have received heightened attention during the processes of policy making regarding adoption and donor insemination legislation in Sweden during the 1990s and early 2000s. Yet, very little academic knowledge exists about children and young people in LGBTQ families and their experiences in schools. We engage the idea of "culturally queer" as a potentially useful framework for understanding the experiences of children and young people with LGBTQ parents. School, with its major impact on young people's lives, is one of the sites where family as discourse and practise is negotiated. This is why a group of researchers from Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Lund University (Sweden) are undertaking a study on the school experiences of children and young people with LGBTQ parents. Our first aim is to discuss how these kids are recognized within queer communities. Our second aim is to analyze what we see as a problematic silence in school around children and young people with LGBTQ parents. This is about the powerful and everyday workings of normative understandings of who family should be. Schools and teachers might not see the need to actively include non-normative family-structures in their work. This seemingly innocent-looking process in fact re-constructs ideals of family, childhood, sexuality and gender. It is necessary to actively work against the silencing of kids with LGBTQ parents in the context of school. This is important for these kids; it is equally important for children and young people with heterosexual parents to see that family can be more than mum-dad-child. We see this as a part of the long-established debate in queer theorizing and activism about the meaning and practises of 'family'. We see a need to further theorize the currently ongoing normalization of queer families. At the same time, there is an equally ongoing need for struggle against indirect homophobia and transphobia. (Less)


In a centralised cooperative relay scenario, a dynamic time slot allocation scheme is proposed to maximise the system throughput of cognitive radio networks by considering variant channel capacities and users' demands. Key parameters and propositions are verified theoretically with extended application cases and constraints, as a significant improvement on the traditional fixed scheme. Performance improvement has been verified by quantitative results.


Although the oral route of drug administration is the most acceptable way of self-medication with a high degree of patient compliance, the intestinal absorption of many drugs is severely hampered by different biological barriers. These barriers comprise of biochemical and physical components. The biochemical barrier includes enzymatic degradation in the gastrointestinal lumen, brush border and in the cytoplasm of the epithelial cells as well as efflux transporters that pump drug molecules from inside the epithelial cell back to the gastrointestinal lumen. The physical barrier consists of the epithelial cell membranes, tight junctions and mucus layer. Different strategies have been applied to improve the absorption of drugs after oral administration, which range from chemical modification of drug molecules and formulation technologies to the targeting of receptors, transporters and specialized cells such as the gut-associated lymphoid tissues. This review focuses specifically on the targeting of receptor-mediated endocytosis, transporters and the absorption-site as methods of optimizing intestinal drug absorption. Intestinal epithelial cells express several nutrient transporters that can be targeted by modifying the drug molecule in such a way that it is recognized as a substrate. Receptor-mediated endocytosis is a transport mechanism that can be targeted for instance by linking a receptor substrate to the drug molecule of interest. Many formulation strategies exist for enhancing drug absorption of which one is to deliver drugs at a specific site in the gastrointestinal tract where optimum drug absorption takes place.


At the same time that comparative and international political scientists have been confronting the problems of analysing state behaviour under conditions of uncertainty, state-centred political scientists are attempting, somewhat belatedly, to deal with the increasing complexity and uncertainty which underpins modern governance. Yet despite similar research agendas these disciplines have continued to speak past each other. This article contends that policy transfer analysis can provide a context for integrating some key concerns of these disciplines. Further, we argue that the process of policy transfer should be examined through a structure and agency approach with three dimensions: global, international and transnational levels, the macro-level and the interorganizational level. This three-dimensional model employs the notion of a policy transfer network as a middle-range level of analysis which links a particular form of policy development (policy transfer), microdecision making in organizations, macrosystems and global, transnational and international systems. It is hoped that this approach will stimulate an empirical research agenda which will illuminate important policy developments in domestic and world politics.


additional piquancy would have been added if he had progressed slightly further; in particular, some explicit examples of the work of Swinnerton-Dyer and Serre on congruences might have been included. Postscript: The reviewer was flattered to find himself included in the preface as a member of a quartet who kept the flag of modular function theory flying during the lean years before the recent explosion of interest in the subject. The author is incorrect, however, in assuming that H. Petersson was the only one of the four who did not contribute to the 1956 Bombay Colloquium on zeta-functions; all four were present there and contributed papers.


This course, "Global Disaster Politics," is a graduate seminar, taught online every Fall semester since 2012. The course typically has 9-15 students, the majority of whom are part of the Department of Political Science's Masters in Public Administration (MPA) program. This program is delivered entirely online, and students have the option to choose a 4-course concentration in a particular subfield. One of their subfield choices is a concentration in "Disasters and Emergency Management." This course is one of the 4 courses in this concentration.  The course is divided into weeklong units. At the start of each unit I post a very short video that (depending on the topic for the week) might include some lecturing but almost always includes some opening thoughts on the readings and case studies for the week. The bulk of course interaction occurs through ongoing discussion on a Google+ community page. Once per week, we conduct a live videoconference via Google Hangouts, and students are required to participate in at least 3 of these during the semester. Finally, the students write a series of shorter (5-6 pages) analytical essays on specific prompts and must complete a major project on a topic of their own choosing.


Representations of trafficking and forced labour are pervasive within media, policymaking, and humanitarian debates, discourses and interventions. The terms exploitation and trafficking are increasingly used to characterise the work that migrants do in the sex industry and other irregular employment sectors. Of late, the notion of 'modern slavery' is on show in campaigns aiming to raise awareness about trafficking and funds for anti-trafficking initiatives among corporations and local enterprises as well as the general public. Celebrity interventions, militant documentaries, artistic works and fiction films have all become powerful vectors of the global distribution of the trafficking and 'modern slavery' rhetoric. These offer simplistic solutions to complex issues without challenging the structural and causal factors of inequality. Through fictional and narrow representations of ideal victims they tend to entrench racialised narratives and conflate all sex work with trafficking, which legitimates criminalising policies and interventions exacerbating the social vulnerability of sex workers. It is because of the under-researched role of representation in the development of anti-trafficking policies and initiatives that the Anti-Trafficking Review decided to devote a thematic issue on trafficking representations.


This paper presents the results of an experimental and theoretical investigation into the phenomenon of 'striation free cutting', which is a feature of fibre laser cutting of thin section mild steel. The paper concludes that the creation of very low roughness edges is related to an optimisation of the cut front geometry when the cut front is inclined at angles close to the Brewster angle for the laser – material combination. For purely geometric reasons this particular type of cut front optimisation is not possible for CO2 laser cutting of mild steel.


Observation on the relationship between the depth of soil moisture assessment and turgidity of coffee plant has been carried out at 3 different agroclimates by survey method, i.e. Andungsari experimental station (Andosol soil type, >1.000 m asl. high, and rainfall type of C), Sumberasin experimental station (yellowish-red Mediterranean soil type, 450-500 m asl. high, and rainfall type of C, and Kaliwining experimental station (low humic glei soil type, 45 m asl. high, and rainfall type of D) in order to assess the depth of soil moisture through soil profile influencing turgidity of coffee plants at three different agroclimates.    The method of assessment is by fitting the relationship between the depth of soil moisture assessment and turgidity of coffee plant and their determination coefficients through the period of dry season up to early rainy season.   Plant turgidity is evaluated from its relative water contents of the leaves sampled periodically at the same time as observation of soil moisture content.  Plant turgidity is affected by soil moisture condition up to a certain depth which looks to be typical of the agroclimates.  At Andungsari experimental station (high land) it is necessary to assess soil moisture through the soil profile up to 100 cm deep in order to evaluate water stress of the plants; inversely, at Kaliwining experimental station in order to evaluate water stress of the plants it is just justified from the soil moisture condition of the soil surface layers (0-25 cm).  Whereas at Sumberasin experimental station water stress of the plants could be predicted from soil moisture assessment of the surface layer depth or through the deeper layers of the soil profile either.  Andungsari-1 and Lini S-795 clones are more resistant to drought than Kartika-2 clone at Andisol soil type with C rainfall type and elevation > 1000 m asl.   BP-308 clone showed its response as relatively resistant to drought at yellowish red Mediterranean soil type with C rainfall type at elevation around 500 m asl.   Robusta coffee clone with no name at Kaliwining experimental station showed wilting sign, reduction of its turgidity, and falling leaves during the dry season, and positively responding to soil moisture increase.   An effort to maintain plant turgidity with increasing soil water stress could be done by managing atmospheric demand to be lower.  Practical implications of the findings might be discussed a bit more deeply in this paper.