Cellulose is the major polysaccharide component of the plant cell wall and the most abundant naturally produced macromolecule on Earth. The enzymic degradation of cellulose, by cellulases, is therefore of great environmental and commercial significance. Cellulases are found in 12 of the glycoside hydrolase families classified according to their amino acid sequence similarities. Endoglucanase I (Cel7B), from the soft-rot fungus Humicola insolens, is a family 7 enzyme. The structure of the native form of Cel7B from H. insolens at 2.2 A resolution has been solved by molecular replacement using the known Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase I [Divne, Ståhlberg, Reinikainen, Ruohonen, Pettersson, Knowles, Teeri and Jones (1994) Science 265, 524-528] structure as the search model. Cel7B catalyses hydrolysis of the beta-1,4 glycosidic linkages in cellulose with net retention of anomeric configuration. The catalytic nucleophile at the active site of Cel7B has been identified as Glu-197 by trapping of a 2-deoxy-2-fluorocellotriosyl enzyme intermediate and identification of the labelled peptide in peptic digests by tandem MS. Site-directed mutagenesis of both Glu-197 and the prospective catalytic acid, Glu-202, results in inactive enzyme, confirming the critical role of these groups for catalysis.


Drowsy driving is a significant contributor to death and injury crashes on our nation's highways accounting for more than 80000 crashes and 850 fatalities per year. Recent research using data from the 100-car study found that drowsy driving contributed to 22% to 24% of crashes and near-crashes observed. This paper describes an approach that detects impairment from drowsiness in real time using inexpensive vehicle-based sensors to detect drowsiness-related changes in drivers' behavior. Data were collected on the National Advanced Driving Simulator from 72 volunteer drivers. Three age groups (21-34, 38-51, and 55-68 years of age) drove through representative situations on three types of roadways (urban, freeway, and rural) at three times of day (9 am-1 pm, 10 pm-2 am, and 2 am – 4 am) representing different levels of drowsiness. Driving data indicated that a complex relationship exists wherein driving performance improves with low levels of drowsiness in the early night session before degrading in the late night session. This study demonstrates the feasibility of detecting drowsiness with vehicle-based sensors. Results show that alcohol and drowsiness impairment do not allow for a single algorithm to detect both types of impairment; however a single algorithm approach with different training data for the different types of impairment may be successful. To detect impairment due to either alcohol or drowsiness, a more complex approach is necessary where separate algorithms are combined to work with each other. These results suggest promise in a vehicle-based approach to detecting and differentiating multiple types of impairment.


The horrific and tragic deaths that have resulted from infamous school shootings have deprived Americans of the sense of security in what has traditionally been a nurturing and safe environment. This paper will discuss different preventive methods for school shootings. The most current preventive methods are examined for fitness based on a variety of school shootings that have occurred in the past. Then a framework for a new school shooting protection device is proposed and evaluated. Concepts from computer vision, anomaly detection, and electromagnetic propulsion are discussed with respect to the proposed framework. Ideally, the goal of the framework presented in this paper is to prevent deaths and injuries from occurring during a school shooting. With the framework, an efficient and comparatively affordable preventive method could be released in the near future.


Identity management (IdM) is a method used to determine user identities. The centralized aspect of IdM introduces a serious concern with the growing value of personal information, as well as with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The problem with currently-deployed systems and their dominating approach, with identity providers (IdP) and single-point services, is that a third party is in charge of maintaining and controlling the personal data. The main challenge to manage data securely lies in trusting humans and institutes who are responsible for controlling the entire activity. Identities are not owned by the rightful owners or the user him/herself, but by the mentioned providers. With the rise of blockchain technology, self-sovereign identities are in place utilizing decentralization; unfortunately, the flaws still exist. In this research, we propose DNS-IdM, a smart contract-based identity management system that enables users to maintain their identities associated with certain attributes, accomplishing the self-sovereign concept. DNS-IdM has promising outcomes in terms of security and privacy. Due to the decentralized nature, DNS-IdM is able to avoid not only the conventional security threats, but also the limitations of the current decentralized identity management systems.


Histidine‐rich, unstructured peptides adsorb to charged interfaces such as mineral surfaces and microbial cell membranes. At a molecular level, we investigate the adsorption mechanism as a function of pH, salt, and multivalent ions showing that (1) proton charge fluctuations are—in contrast to the majority of proteins—optimal at neutral pH, promoting electrostatic interactions with anionic surfaces through charge regulation and (2) specific zinc(II)‐histidine binding competes with protons and ensures an unusually constant charge distribution over a broad pH interval. In turn, this further enhances surface adsorption. Our analysis is based on atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, coarse grained Metropolis Monte Carlo, and classical polymer density functional theory. This multiscale modeling provides a consistent picture in good agreement with experimental data on Histatin 5, an antimicrobial salivary peptide. Biological function is discussed and we suggest that charge regulation is a significant driving force for the remarkably robust activity of histidine‐rich antimicrobial peptides. Proteins 2014; 82:657–667. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


To seek possible differences in short-period temporal RR interval, P-wave and PR interval dispersion and spectral coherence in patients with a head-up tilt test positive for vasovagal syncope with or without prolonged asystole, severe symptoms and at high risk of trauma. We retrospectively reviewed 5 min ECG and blood pressure recordings obtained at baseline, at rest and during head-up tilt in 40 patients diagnosed as having recurrent vasovagal syncope confirmed at a head-up tilt test. We analysed autoregressive spectral power for all the ECG-derived variables, focusing on temporal P-wave and PR interval dispersion indexes as well as their spectral coherence calculated on the same 5 min recordings at rest and during tilt. ECG recordings obtained during tilt before syncope showed significantly lower P → PR spectral coherence and higher RR standard deviations in patients with tilt-induced asystole than in those without (0.567 ± 0.097 versus 0.670 ± 0.127, p : 0.010 and 84 ± 36 versus 46 ± 22 ms 2 , p < 0.0001). Differences in the RR standard deviations persisted also on the last hundred beats ( − 100 ) (113 ± 54 versus 34 ± 17 ms 2 , p < 0.0001). Multiple regression analysis identified a significantly negative association between the maximum RR intervals and P → PR coherence at rest ( β : − 0.3, p < 0.05) and positive association with RR − 100 standard deviation during tilt-induced syncope ( β : 0.621, p < 0.001). P → PR spectral coherence could be used to assess the risk of prolonged asystole in patients with tilt-induced vasovagal syncope as well as as a possible surrogate for tilt-testing during these patients ' follow-up.


Abstract The flat oyster Ostrea edulis has declined significantly in European waters since the 1850s as a result of anthropogenic activity. Ostrea edulis was designated a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Species and Habitat in 1995, and as a Feature of Conservation Importance (FOCI) within the UK Marine & Coastal Access Act 2009. To promote the recovery of oyster beds, a greater understanding of its abundance and distribution is required. Distribution of O. edulis across the proposed Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne MCZ in Essex was determined between 2008 and 2012. Ostrea edulis were present in four estuary zones; with highest sample abundance in the Blackwater and Ray Sand zones. Size structure of populations varied, with the Ray Sand and Colne zones showing a significant lack of individuals with shell height <39 mm. Ostrea edulis occurred in highest number on shell substratum, followed by silty sediments. There were no significant associations between O. edulis abundance or size structure with water column Chl a, suspended solids, oxygen, nitrate or ammonium concentrations, temperature or pH. Highest abundance and most equitable population shell-size distribution for O. edulis were located within, or adjacent to, actively managed aquaculture zones. This suggests that traditional seabed management contributed to the maintenance or recovery of the species of conservation concern. Demonstration that the Essex estuaries were a stronghold for Ostrea edulis in the southern North sea area led to the designation of the Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne estuaries Marine Conservation Zone in 2013.


We investigate the electron transport in silicene with both staggered electric potential and magnetization; the latter comes from the magnetic proximity effect by depositing silicene on a magnetic insulator. It is shown that the silicene could be a spin and valley half metal under appropriate parameters when the spin—orbit interaction is considered; further, the filtered spin and valley could be controlled by modulating the staggered potential or magnetization. It is also found that in the spin-valve structure of silicene, not only can the antiparallel magnetization configuration significantly reduce the valve-structure conductance, but the reversing staggered electric potential can cause a high-performance magnetoresistance due to the spin and valley blocking effects. Our findings show that the silicene might be an ideal basis for the spin and valley filter analyzer devices.


The definition of efficacy of a cardiovascular treatment is frequently based on its impact on surrogate endpoints. These can be laboratory results, physical signs or images that are used in clinical trials as a substitute for clinically relevant endpoints, representing how patients feel, function or survive and that supposedly predict treatment efficacy. Similar efficacy claims can be made for different drugs, based on their similar effects on the same endpoints. This approach involves generalization from one therapeutic class to another or, within the same class, from one molecule to another, thus implying that the benefits of a non-evaluated drug will be the same as those of another that has been carefully evaluated. Such generalization is more common when dealing with two drugs from the same class that are similar in chemical composition, but is less reliable when the two drugs belong to different classes. In this article we discuss the legitimacy of efficacy and safety claims for new cardiovascular drugs without outcome data from large clinical trials, based on the similarity of effects found with similar drugs that have clinical trial outcome data.


Lemmatization is a natural language processing (NLP) task which consists of producing, from a given inflected word, its canonical form or lemma. Lemmatization is one of the basic tasks that facilitate downstream NLP applications, and is of particular importance for high-inflected languages. Given that the process to obtain a lemma from an inflected word can be explained by looking at its morphosyntactic category, including fine-grained morphosyntactic information to train contextual lemmatizers has become common practice, without considering whether that is the optimum in terms of downstream performance. In order to address this issue, in this paper we empirically investigate the role of morphological information to develop contextual lemmatizers in six languages within a varied spectrum of morphological complexity: Basque, Turkish, Russian, Czech, Spanish and English. Furthermore, and unlike the vast majority of previous work, we also evaluate lemmatizers in out-of-domain settings, which constitutes, after all, their most common application use. The results of our study are rather surprising. It turns out that providing lemmatizers with fine-grained morphological features during training is not that beneficial, not even for agglutinative languages. In fact, modern contextual word representations seem to implicitly encode enough morphological information to obtain competitive contextual lemmatizers without seeing any explicit morphological signal. Moreover, our experiments suggest that the best lemmatizers out-of-domain are those using simple UPOS tags or those trained without morphology and, finally, that current evaluation practices for lemmatization are not adequate to clearly discriminate between models.


The aim of this paper is to assess the role of people's perception in disaster management. It is based on a study carried out along the slopes of Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda. People living in the study area have experienced a number of landslides, but the landslide in 2010 had the most far-reaching effects on community livelihoods and resulted in a major setback to development efforts in the area. Experiences of landslides have enabled the local people to develop a number of interpretations of the causes and effects of the phenomena. The study revealed that community members did not share uniform perceptions. Whereas some members advanced technical or physical explanations for the 2010 disaster, others believed that some form of divine power was behind it. Strengthening social networks and integrating communities' perceptions in intervention mechanisms were identified as possible ways of managing future landslide disasters.


We attempted to characterize by Raman piezo-spectroscopy residual stresses as they develop in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) Al2O3 coatings on Si3N4 ceramic substrates. According to a piezo-spectroscopic procedure coupled with a confocal configuration of the optical probe used, two-dimensional stress maps could be collected at various depths along the thickness of the coating. By comparing Al2O3 coatings produced on Si3N4 substrates at different CVD temperatures, a tensile residual stress field has been detected in the coating, whose magnitude increased with increasing the CVD temperature. As for the three-dimensional distribution of tensile residual stress within the Al2O3 coating, it was found that the stress value was minimum at the coating external surface, while it gradually increased to reach a maximum near the coating/substrate interface. Similarly, the compressive stress within the Si3N4 substrate was maximized near the coating/substrate interface and decreased with proceeding towards the substrate material bulk. It could be concluded that confocal Raman piezo-spectroscopy is a very suitable tool for three-dimensional stress characterization of ceramic coating materials.


Reasonably dividing restoration subsystems is an essential step for speeding up the restoration procedure with the widely employed bottom-up restoration strategy. A new method based on the community structure of the complex network theory is presented for dividing restoration subsystems in this work. The locations of black-start units and the characteristics of power systems are taken into account in the developed method. The restoration subsystems are determined by removing the lines with the maximal 'betweenness' repeatedly, and the rationality of the division results is evaluated by using a modularity index. An interconnection strategy for the restoration subsystems thus obtained is proposed by following the sequence that each restoration subsystem is separated from the power network concerned in the divisive process. The essential features of the proposed method are illustrated by case studies of the well-known New England test system and the Guangzhou actual power system in China.


A new kind of C-type grid is proposed for turbomachinery flow calculations. This grid is nonperiodic on the wake and results in minimum skewness for cascades with high turning and large camber. Euler and Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are discretized on this type of grid using a finite volume approach. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy-viscosity model is used for turbulence closure. Jameson's explicit Runge-Kutta scheme is adopted for the integration in time, and computational efficiency is achieved through accelerating strategies such as multigriding and residual smoothing. A detailed numerical study was performed for a turbine rotor and for a vane. A grid dependence analysis is presented and the effect of artificial dissipation is also investigated. Comparison of calculations with experiments clearly demonstrates the advantage of the proposed grid.


ABSTRACT Military operations increasingly require cooperation between agencies within the same nation, but also collaboration with security and military organizations internationally. Throughout history multinational military cooperation has often been an appropriate way to conduct major operations; national manpower and material resources are generally insufficient to address the demands of missions worldwide. The desire to optimize the use of scarce research and development and investment capabilities, the need for international legitimacy and political support, and the fact that today's risks transcend national borders, have rendered multinational cooperation in the security domain unavoidable. With joint operations comes the requirement for multi-partner- and multinational information sharing. However, information sharing has both advantages and costs, and is subject to both enabling factors as well as barriers. This paper reflects on theories, both classical and current, as well as empirical case studies, to examine the pros and cons of multinational information sharing, and the factors that conduce or interfere with the transmission and the receipt of intelligence. The importance of a holistic approach and of learning lessons learned are two key lessons gleaned from the analysis, along with an emphasis on developing both the organizational and the interpersonal enablers of information sharing.


The comedy of manners is a theatrical genre that satirizes the manners and mores of pretentious characters from the upper class. Characters in Day at the Amusement Park disguise their true passion and desire with society's unwritten rules of decorum and allow cultural practices to dictate their behavior more than having the political ideology control them. Being conscientious of how the public might view oneself and how one ought to behave in public dominate the rationality and attitude of the characters. The comedy is found not only in the misunderstandings and mistaken identities in the plot, but also in the characters' strict observance of decorum and in the explosive revealing of their pent up desires. Comedy is one of the performative ways of revealing to the audience the blunders, internal paradoxes, and disillusionment of social and political life. The subject of social decorum and cultural practices in this film may help South Korean viewers look past the political barrier and appreciate the importance of humor and farce in the North Korean culture.


This powerful work tells the story of Anne Skorecki Levy, the Holocaust survivor who transformed the horrors of her childhood into a passionate mission to defeat the political menace of reputed neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. The first book to connect the prewar and wartime experiences of Jewish survivors to the lives they subsequently made for themselves in the United States, Troubled Memory is also a dramatic testament to how the experiences of survivors as new Americans spurred their willingness to bear witness. Perhaps the only family to survive the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto as a group, the Skoreckis evaded deportation to Treblinka, by posing as Aryans and ultimately made their way to New Orleans, where they became part of a vibrant Jewish community. Lawrence Powell traces the family's dramatic odyssey and explores the events that eventually triggered Anne Skorecki Levy's brave decision to honor the suffering of the past by confronting the recurring specter of racist hatred. Breaking decades of silence, she played a direct role in the unmasking and defeat of Duke during his 1991 campaign for the governorship of Louisiana. |How a childhood survivor of the Holocaust found the courage to publicly confront the specter of Neo-Nazism in America. A 2000 Booklist Holocaust Literature Best of the Year Selection. Winner of the 2000 Lillian Smith Book Award, Southern Regional Council


Preserving heritage is an important part of maintaining collective identity for future generations. Yet, in the context of the climate crisis, it is imperative to understand to what extent there is a tangible trade-off between conserving "character" vis-a-vis averting the worst of climate change – a much more existential threat to those future generations. Studying data for more than half of the English housing stock, I show that conservation area status – a special areabased designation to preserve the unique character of a neighborhood – not to be confused with preservation of historic buildings – in England may be responsible for up to 3.2 million tons of avoidable CO2 emissions annually. Using a suite of micro-econometric methods and alternative identification strategies ranging from saturated specifications, border discontinuity, matching estimation and an instrumental variables approach leveraging World War II wartime destruction in London – I show that properties in conservation areas have a notable worse energy efficiency; experience lower investment in retrofitting and consume notably higher levels of energy owing to poor energy efficiency. Effect sizes are very consistent comparing engineering based energy consumption estimates with actual consumption data. Effects can be directly attributed to planning requirements for otherwise permitted development that only apply to properties by virtue of them being located inside a conservation area.


Under certain regimens of repeated pre-exposure, psychostimulant drugs show an increase in locomotor activity across days of testing and, after abstinence from the drug, a greater responsiveness to a subsequent challenge dose of the drug. This phenomenon, termed behavioural sensitisation, is thought to underlie certain aspects of drug addiction such as drug seeking and relapse. Repeated administration of +/-3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) produced sensitised hyperactivity in rats suggesting a lasting neurological change. The present studies sought to evaluate some of the parameters around both the induction and expression of behavioural sensitisation to MDMA and to evaluate if the sensitivity of the dopamine (DA) D1 and D2 receptors had altered under the current pre-exposure regimen of MDMA. Further, following MDMA pre-exposure that results n behavioural sensitisation, changes in potency to the reinforcing effects of MDMA were investigated through the self administration paradigm. Finally, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to evaluate changes in brain amine levels following sensitisation to MDMA locomotor activating effects. Rats received a pre-treatment regimen consisting of 5 daily injections of MDMA (0.0, 5.0 or 10mg/kg i.p). MDMA-produced locomotor activity was measured after 2, 9 or 28 days of withdrawal. In other groups, hyperactivity following administration the DA D1 agonist SKF81297 (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 or 8.0 mg/kg), or the D2-like DA agonist apomorphine (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 or 4.0 mg/kg) was measured in groups that received pre-exposure to MDMA (10.0 4mg/kg) or vehicle. The effects of the D1 antagonist SCH23390 (0.0, 0.01, 0.02, or 0.04 mg/kg), the D2 antagonist eticlopride (0.03, 0.01, 0.003, 0.05, 0.1, or 0.2 mg/kg) or the 5-HT2C antagonist RS102221 (0.0, 0.25, 0.5, or 1.0 mg/kg) on MDMA-produced hyperactivity in MDMA or vehicle pre-treated rats was also measured. In Experiment 3, effects of MDMA or vehicle pre-treatment on latency to acquisition of MDMA (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg/infusion) selfadministration was measured. In Experiment 4 effects of pre-treatment on brain tissue levels of DA, its metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA), serotonin (5-HT) and its metabolite, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were determined. The regimen of 5 daily treatments of 10.0mg/kg produced persistent behavioural sensitisation and cross-sensitisation to hyperactivity produced by DA receptor agonists. These effects were not, however, reflected in sensitised responses to the ability of the antagonists to attenuate MDMA-produced hyperactivity. Pre-treatment with MDMA did not decrease latency to acquisition of self-administration. Rather, there was an increased latency to acquisition of self-administration in the MDMA pre-treated rats. MDMA pretreatment decreased levels of the serotonin metabolite 5-HIAA in the frontal cortex and hippocampus. Following the current pre-treatment regimen, MDMA produced behavioural sensitisation is mediated by neuroadaptations in central dopaminergic substrates. The persistent locomotor sensitisation is similar to that produced by other amphetamine-like stimulants and might underlie use and abuse of this compound.


The immune system is one important target of xenobiotic toxicity. In fact, immunotoxicity evaluation is becoming a growing concern for international regulatory authorities. At present, immunotoxicity of chemicals is evaluated through standard toxicity studies (STS) on laboratory animals. European Union legislation aims at reducing the number of animals used for experiments, encouraging the development of alternative methods. Since validated alternative methods to evaluate immunotoxicity are not available, except for the CFU-GM (granulocyte macrophage-colony forming unit) test, this study has been developed on the basis of these objectives: 1. Determination of the predictivity of a set of in vitro assays, to evaluate suppressive potential on lymphocyte activation of compounds known for their effects on the immune system; 2. Developing a long-term culture method (LTC) using human mononuclear bone marrow cells to assess effects of chemicals on lymphopoiesis in vitro; 3. Performing a preliminary evaluation of the LTC developed, using the organotin compound tri-butyltin chloride (TBTC), which is known for its immunosuppressive activity in rats. We evaluated the capability of some in vitro tests to classify a panel of compounds known for their immunosuppressive effects. The tests were performed on human, rat and murine cells. Different endpoints were assessed: cytotoxicity, cytokine release, myelotoxicity and mitogen responsiveness. IC50s values were calculated and results compared by species. In vitro tests performed well in classifying the selected compounds, confirming that it is necessary to investigate different end-points to study immunosuppression. Most methods available use mature immune system cells. Since there are no methods to study toxicity on lymphoid progenitors, we developed a long term culture (LTC) from human bone marrow mononuclear cells to maintain lymphopoiesis. The LTC consisted of a two stages: a myeloid stage to allow the formation of a stromal layer and a lymphoid stage to allow expansion of lymphocytes. Results show that the use of IL-7 in LTC inhibits precursor and mature B cells, while it supports the proliferation of CD3+CD8+ and CD3+CD4+ T-cells. TBTC was tested on LTC method to verify if this culture system could be useful in the chemical toxicity characterization. TBTC induced adipocyte differentiation causing an alteration of the stromal cellular components, and it reduced the expression of some cytokines and of leptin, which is important for lymphopoiesis. To verify if TBTC can really reduce lymphocyte population, some B and T cell subsets were analyzed. Some cytokines important for lymphopoiesis, whose production was inhibited by TBTC, were tested to verify if they can prevent TBTC toxicity on lymphocytes. FACS analysis showed a reduction of CD19/CD22-positive B cells by TBTC, both in the presence or absence of cytokines. The treatment did not cause a toxic effect on mature CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ T cells, suggesting selective TBTC toxicity on B lymphocytes. TBTC caused an alteration of the stromal microenvironment inducing adipocyte differentiation and reducing the production of different cytokines, withdrawing the culture of essential components for B lymphopoiesis. A direct TBTC toxic activity on lymphocytes is also possible, but the mechanism of action should be still explained.


This panel explores digital pleasures that arise through the entanglement of bodies and digital technologies. Focusing on the digital structures and affordances that facilitate seeking, receiving and giving pleasure we analyse the ways in which intimacy is not only interactive, but also profoundly embodied. Haraway's work in particular highlights the importance of taking seriously the nexus of human bodies and technologies and attending to the ways in which technologies not only deliver and mediate pleasure, but potentially expand upon our capacity to experience it. This panel explores how mediated practices engage the body as a site of pleasure and embodied affective intensity. Within this frame, we suggest that digitally mediated pleasures, while widely consumed, still have a hint of the 'fringe' or 'subversive'. As well as proposing a theoretical framework for understanding embodied digital pleasures, this panel also examines specific examples of digital pleasure from sex to drugs and sound. To date the research corpus has largely focused upon the micro-social interactions of digital intimacies. This emphasis on relational intimacy puts the body into the background of the digitally mediated encounter and limits the ways in which we can talk about embodiment, sex and pleasure online. Embodied pleasure is intrinsic to the human condition, and digital media is deeply embedded in contemporary life. How these intersect is a key piece of the puzzle of what it means to be human in contemporary society.


Summary The ophiolites of the northern Caribbean represent latest Jurassic and Cretaceous oceanic crust which was obducted from the mid-Cretaceous to the Paleogene. The majority of these ophiolites are early Cretaceous in age and were emplaced during the late Cretaceous. The late Cretaceous geological history can be successfully interpreted in terms of a northward-migrating island arc which subducted Atlantic crust to the south beneath Pacific crust. This arc collided with southern Yucatan in Campanian times to form the Guatemalan ophiolites, and in Paleogene times with the Bahamas platform to form the central and western Cuban ophiolites. Both these collisions involved underthrusting by carbonate-mantled continental forelands. However, the eastern extension of this subduction zone, the North Coast belt of Hispaniola, has not been thrust over the Bahamas platform. The provenance of these arc-related ophiolites should be Atlantic ocean crust. Back-arc spreading to the south of this arc during the late Cretaceous — Paleocene may have produced the source material for the Jamaican and Oriente ophiolites and also for the Dumisseau Fm. of the Southern Peninsula of Haiti. The oldest ophiolites in central Hispaniola and Puerto Rico are possible candidates for crust of Pacific provenance, perhaps isolated during an early Cretaceous change of subduction polarity. However, our preferred model for the Cordillera Central of Hispaniola is as the base of an accretionary prism with southward-dipping subduction. All but the Cuban ophiolites have suffered varying degrees of strike-slip dismemberment during the Cenozoic.


This paper seeks to utilize the improved model of reverse charging scheme.  Reverse charging basically is defined as a capability of stored network that replaces the network used when the network is suddenly shut down. In this paper,  charging back on 3G and 4G network that is user automated platform, will change the access of 4G to 3G and on the contrary when platform conduct the hosting. This research was solved as a problem Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) by LINGO 13.0. An optimal pricing scheme is applied to a local data server, including digilib traffic and mail traffic. The improved model of Reverse Charging is modified into 4 cases and formed by setting the base price (α) and service level (β). Based on the analysis that has been done, the results of this study indicate that the reverse charging model can be utilized Internet Service Provider (ISP) to maximize profits and provide quality services for the user if compared to previous model without reverse charging scheme . Keywords: improved model of revere charging scheme, MINLP, ISP, QoS, pricing scheme


Introduction: Positive pressure ventilation (PPV) with T-Piece and self-inflating bag (SIB) during neonatal resuscitation after birth is associated with variability in ventilation. The use of a ventilator with respiratory function monitoring (RFM) for PPV, however, has not been evaluated. Objective: To determine if ventilator + RFM can reduce ventilation variability compared to T-Piece and SIB in a preterm manikin at different combinations of target tidal volume (VT) and lung compliance (CL). Methods: Twenty clinicians provided PPV via mask and endotracheal tube (ETT) using SIB, T-Piece, T-Piece + RFM and Ventilator + RFM to a manikin with adjustable lung CL. Three combinations of CL and target VT: Low CL-Low VT, Low CL-High VT and High CL-Low VT were used in a random order. Results: The use of ventilator + RFM for PPV via ETT during High CL-Low VT period reduced the proportion of breaths with expiratory VT above target when compared to the other 3 devices (56 ± 35%, 85 ± 20%, 90 ± 25%, 92 ± 12% for ventilator + RFM, T-Piece + RFM, T-Piece, SIB, respectively; p < 0.05). During PPV via both mask and ETT, ventilator + RFM maintained the set Ti and rate, whereas SIB and T-Piece use resulted in higher rates, and T-Piece in higher proportion of breaths with prolonged Ti. During PPV via mask, ventilator + RFM reduced gas leakage compared to other devices. Conclusion: In this simulation study, use of a mechanical ventilator with RFM led to an overall improvement in volume targeting at different settings of CL and reduced the gas leak during mask ventilation. The efficacy and safety of using this strategy to neonatal resuscitation in the delivery room needs to be evaluated.


When a nonprofit organization with nursing-home and assisted-living experience purchased a 30-year-old highrise apartment building in downtown Portland, Oregon, the new owners were faced with how to manage a building that provided housing to more than 200 older residents whom they knew very little about. As long-term care providers, they knew that older people were at risk for developing chronic illnesses, disabilities, and other factors that could result in moves to nursing homes, hospitalizations, and early death. They also knew that older adults in subsidized housing, such as this Section 8 building, have higher levels of disability than their age cohorts in unsubsidized housing and apartment rentals (Redfoot and Kochera, 2004). What they did not know was whether and in what ways these residents' independence and quality of life might be jeopardized by unmet health and social service needs. In collaboration with the Portland State University School of Social Work, a multidimensional needs assessment was developed and conducted to identify the most important unmet needs of the residents as a group so that targeted services could be planned. Findings based on interviews with 130 residents revealed a heterogeneous population of older adults whose health status varied considerably, especially among the four different ethnic and language groups living in the building. This article describes how the results of such an assessment can be used to plan for enriching services to those most in need.


Radar measurements of the sea surface, with satellite scatterometers that operate at Ku-band, are affected by the presence of rain through modification of the sea surface roughness by rain impacts. This is in addition to wind driven roughness, atmospheric scattering, and attenuation that affect the measured normalized radar cross section (NRCS). This paper presents a case study of the increase of the total radar cross section, averaged across surface illuminated areas (individual footprints) of the SeaWinds scatterometer (on QuikSCAT) caused by rain striking the sea surface. This effort combines satellite-based Ku-band data with high-resolution 3-D volumetric rain measurements, from simultaneous collocated Next Generation Weather Radar data. The results to be presented were acquired during a significant rain event in the Gulf of Mexico, to the east of Corpus Christi, and just south of Houston, TX, in May 2005. The results of this paper show dependence on wind speed, rainrate, and polarization. They agree with numerous surface-based studies (single point measurements), using ocean platforms and wind-wave tanks, whose data were collected under similar conditions. For example, at rainrates less than 10 mm/hr, the relative change in surface roughness is seen to decrease as the wind magnitude increases from 5 to 7 m/s. Another consistent observation is that the vertical polarization NRCS shows less sensitivity to rainrate than does horizontal.


Background High alert medications (HAM) are drugs that bear a heightened risk of causing significant patient harm when used in error. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) created and periodically updates a list of potential HAM for acute care settings. The Joint Commission requires that hospitals have their own list of HAM and a process in place for managing those medications. Purpose To evaluate the degree of knowledge of HAM among health professionals at a university hospital. Material and methods This was a descriptive cross sectional study in a university hospital with 1200 beds. The survey remained open for a period of 2 months between February and March 2016. The survey was developed by consensus with a panel of 5 hospital pharmacists and the quality coordinator. The survey was disseminated to prescribers, pharmacy and nursing staff throughout the hospital via email communication in order to assess differences across professionals. The survey was anonymous and voluntary. Responders were unpaid. The survey consisted of 4 questions with 4 response options and 1 correct answer. The first question assessed the knowledge of the definition of HAM. The second and third questions were about differences between HAM and others medications. The fourth question was knowledge of the list of HAM in poster format, developed by the pharmacy department of the hospital, placed in all hospital units. There was also a section for suggestions. The estimated response time was 5 min. Descriptive statistics were used to report the results of the survey. Results The survey was sent to a total of 771 health professionals. 131 responses (17%) were received. Among the professionals who responded, 60% were physicians, 25% nurses and 15% pharmacists. 81.5% of survey participants were able to correctly define a HAM, 50% did not identify the HAM (70.3% were physicians, 23.5% nurses and 6.2% pharmacist). 74% of survey participants were unaware of the existence of a HAM poster in their hospital unit. For the suggestions section, 70% called for training sessions regarding HAM. Conclusion Based on the results obtained from the survey, we found that there was a good degree of knowledge deficiency about HAM. Further education is needed regarding HAM to guarantee patient safety. References and/or acknowledgements ISMP. No conflict of interest


Rowing is an endurance sport with an important skill component. This study evaluated the effects of carbohydrate (CHO) solution ingestion on rowing technique before and after 60 min of ergometer rowing. On two occasions, eight male rowers (age 22±2 years, height 182±4 cm, weight 72.9±2.1 kg, VO2max 4.9±0.2 litre/min) rowed as a group in an indoor rowing tank for 6 min at 18 strokes per minute before and after 60 min of ergometer rowing at 60% of VO2max. Participants ingested either a 6% CHO solution or a flavoured placebo (PLA) in a randomised, counterbalanced fashion. Physiological and technical measures were analysed using a repeated measures analysis of variance. Oar handle curves were analysed using Geometric Morphometrics (principal component analysis). There were no differences in heart rate or rating of perceived exertion between the treatments, indicating similar physiological strain. There were no changes in stroke length over the 60-min period with either treatment. Oar handle velocity decreased from 49.7±3.6 to 47.4±2.8°/s (p<0.05) over the 60-min period in PLA but did not change in CHO (48.9±2.2-48.2±1.9°/s). Oar handle curves did not differ between CHO and PLA (procrustes distance=0.645). Maximum blade depth declined similarly by 20±16% in both CHO and PLA (p<0.01). This change is likely to decrease the resistance of the water upon the oar blade during the drive phase of the rowing stroke. In conclusion, selected measures of rowing tank technique deteriorated in response to 60 min of ergometer rowing in both PLA and CHO. Ingestion of CHO may help to maintain velocity of movement as rowers fatigue. Future research should investigate technique during on-water rowing to evaluate the effects of fatigue and CHO ingestion on rowing technique in the natural competitive environment.


ABSTRACT Federal rental assistance is an important source of affordable housing for low-income households, given a growing and severe affordable housing crisis. However, few studies have examined the extent to which rental assistance may improve housing access. This article examines associations between rental assistance receipt and four dimensions of housing: quality, stability, autonomy, and affordability. We draw on data from a longitudinal cohort study of low-income adults in New Haven, Connecticut, and use generalized estimating equations to examine associations between rental assistance receipt and housing measures. We find that participants receiving rental assistance had lower odds of reporting housing instability, low-quality housing, lack of autonomy related to housing, and some measures of housing unaffordability compared with those not receiving assistance. The large and highly significant effects remain after adjusting for demographic variables and factors that can impact access to rental assistance.


Exercise recommendations for those who have Marfan syndrome or other genetic predisposition for thoracic aortic disease remain controversial and at times ambiguous. There are no outcomes studies to help guide recommendations. In this review, we examine the guidelines regarding exercise and inherited aortic conditions, the theoretical reasoning and circumstantial evidence that support the guidelines, as well as the knowledge gaps that continue to exist.


One hundred thirty-three honey samples of different floral origin from two different production years (2017 and 2018) from Serbia were examined in order to determine water content. The water content in honey affects physical, microbiological, sensory properties, and commercial value of honey. The water content in all examined honey samples produced in 2017 (56) was below maximum permissible level set by local regulations for honey. Out of the total of 77 tested honey samples that were produced in 2018, 3 samples (3.9%) did not comply with the provisions of the Regulation. By analysing honey samples originating from 2017, there was a significant difference between the water contents betwen linden honey and honeydew (p = 0.0027). The same result was obtained based on the water content in different honey types from the year 2018 (p = 0.00022). Using the F test, it has been shown that there is no significant difference in the water content between certain types of honey produced in these two years ( 2017 and 2018).


This study is aimed to show how big the impact of sukuk and conventional bond toward Indonesia's economic growth in the period of 2011-2019 by using ARDL method to observe the impact on the short term and long term. The result of this study shows that on the short term, sukuk does not affect the economic growth and bonds affect the economic growth. As on the long term, sukuk affects the economic growth and bonds do not affect the economic growth. This shows that Indonesian people see sukuk better than conventional bonds in the future.


MOTIVATION
Targeted 'deep' sequencing of specific genes or regions is of great interest in clinical cancer diagnostics where some sequence variants, particularly translocations and indels, have known prognostic or diagnostic significance. In this setting, it is unnecessary to sequence an entire genome, and target capture methods can be applied to limit sequencing to important regions, thereby reducing costs and the time required to complete testing. Existing 'next-gen' sequencing analysis packages are optimized for efficiency in whole-genome studies and are unable to benefit from the particular structure of targeted sequence data.

RESULTS
We developed SLOPE to detect structural variants from targeted short-DNA reads. We use both real and simulated data to demonstrate SLOPE's ability to rapidly detect insertion/deletion events of various sizes as well as translocations and viral integration sites with high sensitivity and low false discovery rate.

AVAILABILITY
Binary code available at http://www-genepi.med.utah.edu/suppl/SLOPE/index.html


Photography, not only by imperial men but also by imperial women, has played a significant role in portraying the Muslim woman as the apolitical exotic of orientalist fantasies. The legacy of colonial photography by European women travelers continues to haunt the media of the global North even today. Such imperial feminist discourse on women in Egypt was blatant in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's December 2011 announcement of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security at Georgetown University, as well as in the rhetoric of Laura Bush, Cherie Booth, and Condoleezza Rice on the War on Terror and Afghan and Iraqi women.  In contrast, this article draws on the photographic counter-narratives, like "the girl in the blue bra," that transnational feminists circulated through social media during the people's uprising in Egypt beginning in 2011 to evoke powerful images of women from the global south. It also examines the figure of the pan-Arab feminist Huda Shaarawi, who in 1919 organized the largest women's anti-British demonstration, and became in 1935 the vice president of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship, and in 1945 the founding president of the Arab Feminist Union. Bringing these figures into conversation with Angela Davis's encounter with women in Egypt in her book Women, Culture, and Politics opens up new spaces for cross-border feminisms that cut across imperial legacies that continue to define relationships between women of the global North and the global South.


This paper describes a method to obtain the kinematic parameter for the hexapod machine tools by using telescoping ball bar device. This method deals with length error of struts, positional errors of base and platform joints as kinematic parameters. For finding a better set of ball bar measurement conditions, Fourier transformation is applied to explain error trace patterns of the circular test. Although it is difficult to identify all kinematic parameter errors with about fifteen circles of ball bar measurement, the machine's motion error can be decreased to one sixth when this method is applied. However, in this report, the deformations of struts are not taken into consideration.


Closed lakes and oceans are stratigraphically distinct systems. However, closed-lake stratigraphy is often interpreted using conventional sequence stratigraphic concepts which were generated for marine settings. As a consequence, lacustrine stratigraphy has long been vexing and applied on an ad-hoc basis. To remedy this, we present a novel, unified sequence stratigraphic model for hydrologically closed (endorheic) basins: the Supply-Generated Sequence (SGS) Model. This model was generated to interpret our outcrop-based correlation—the largest to date at ∼ 30 km—across the Sunnyside Interval member of the middle Green River Formation in Nine Mile Canyon near Price, Utah, USA. The SGS model is based on the fundamental sedimentological and hydrodynamic differences between closed lakes and marine settings wherein the relationship between water discharge and sediment discharge is highly correlated. The SGS model divides packages of genetic lacustrine strata by bounding correlative surfaces, conformable or unconformable, separating facies and surfaces associated with low clastic supply (e.g., carbonates, mudstones, or exposure surfaces) from facies characteristic of relatively higher amounts of clastic supply (subaerial channelized sandstones, subaqueous siltstones, and pedogenic mudstones). We use the SGS model to correlate regional sequences at a higher resolution than previous interpretations and find the greatest amount of clastic deposition occurs during periods of lake-level rise, indicating that the SGSs are characteristically transgressive. Additionally, this model removes the implicit and explicit base-level assumptions of previous sequence stratigraphic models while being agnostic to the source of increased sediment discharge and therefore generalizable to other closed lacustrine settings. We use the high-resolution supply-generated sequences (meters thick) to argue for a climatic origin of the cyclic Sunnyside interval deposits based on sequence durations (40–50 kyr), and aligning sequences with recognized early Eocene transitory hyperthermal event timing and their associated climatic shifts across the region, increasing riverine discharge of sediment and water.


The purpose of this paper is to solve the positioning problem of a double body working ship. Dynamic characteristics of mooring system are analyzed with the effect of wind, wave and current. According to the dynamic equations of the system in the horizontal plane, longitudinal force coefficient, lateral force coefficient and yawing moment coefficient are obtained by towing test. The wind lord, wave load, current load and chain force can be calculated by empirical formulas. The motions of a mooring system are simulated in MATLAB. The results show that yawing motion would be occurred for the mooring system with single anchor at one point. The motions of the system have similar forms under the same amplitude of external loads. The results are agreed well with the observation data from documents about this relation. It is also can be point out that single point mooring system has poor stability and can not control the motion accurately. Thus dynamic positioning/mooring system should be developed for anchored working ships. This research in this paper provides the theoretical support and the analysis foundation for the further studies.


The role, which money demand function plays in monetary policy formulation has attracted a lot of research studies to analyze this macroeconomic phenomenon. In the wake of current global and local economic and political upheavals, it is imperative to revisit the stability of money demand function. The study used the time series data and applied latest econometric techniques to find out the long run and short run money demand relationship. Moreover, all the three official monetary aggregates were used for finding out the most stable monetary demand relationship, which could provide correct signals for monetary policy formulation. The study found that broader monetary aggregate (M 2 ) was the proper aggregate, which provided stable money demand function for Pakistan. The real GDP was positively related to the demand for real balances, while opportunity cost of money was negatively related. The study found that the role of financial innovation, in explaining the demand for money warrants attention in formulating monetary policy.


Approximately one third of the world's population has serological evidence of past or present infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). The natural history of chronic HBV infection, ranges from an inactive carrier state to progressive chronic hepatitis B (CHB), which may evolve to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (1,2).


This research focuses on the differences between synthetic and traditional exchange-traded funds in benchmark replication process. It extends previous literature by empirical examining the tracking ability of traditional and synthetic ETFs traded at the Swiss Stock Exchange offered by the leading providers in Europe. 35 equity ETFs are used in the sample. For both types of funds the average tracking error is estimated in four ways. The research demonstrates that both traditional and synthetic ETFs have significant tracking errors. The findings also show that, contrary to popular opinion, synthetic ETFs have higher tracking errors than physical. These facts are of a significant importance to private investors and portfolio managers, especially if the performance of portfolio manager is based on a comparison to the performance of a benchmark. Additionally, factors that influence tracking errors are estimated. The results suggest that tracking errors are influenced by expense ratio, number of securities in the benchmark and type of replication for all estimation methods. Average daily trading volume doesn't influence dependent variables except for one tracking error estimation method.


The purpose of this project is to develop a computer code for joint inversion of seismic and electrical data, to improve underground imaging for site characterization and remediation monitoring. The computer code developed in this project will invert geophysical data to obtain direct estimates of porosity and saturation underground, rather than inverting for seismic velocity and electrical resistivity or other geophysical properties. This is intended to be a significant improvement in the state-of-the-art of underground imaging, since interpretation of data collected at a contaminated site would become much less subjective. Potential users include DOE scientists and engineers responsible for characterizing contaminated sites and monitoring remediation of contaminated sites. In this three-year project, we use a multi-phase approach consisting of theoretical and numerical code development, laboratory investigations, testing on available laboratory and borehole geophysics data sets, and a controlled field experiment, to develop practical tools for joint electrical and seismic data interpretation.


Two key issues in the manufacturing of microfluidic devices are to obtain low surface roughness, i.e. in the range of nanometers (to facilitate optical detection and controlled flow through microfluidic networks), and to achieve robust bonding. Here we report that a chemical polishing step, used for smoothening the surface of cyclo-olefin polymer (COP) components manufactured by micromilling, reduces the surface roughness (to Ra ∼ 150 nm) and facilitates a leak-tight COP-COP bond. We report new results on COP structuring and surface characterization by white light interferometry (WLI), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), contact angle measurements and transmittance measurements, as well as demonstrations of a functional thermally bonded centrifugal microfluidic devices.


The sensitivities of leukocyte-committed stem cells of human, dog, and mouse bone marrow to an 18-hr exposure to Adriamycin (ADR) and N-trifluoroacetyladriamycin-14-valerate (AD32) were compared using the agar diffusion chamber assay. The survival of in situ mouse marrow stem cells following the drugs was also measured. The in vivo doses required to produce 37% survival of hematopoietic precursor cells for human, dog, mouse, and in situ mouse marrow stem cells for ADR were 9.5, 3.5, 8, and 8 mg/kg, respectively, while those for AD32 were 22, 17, 37, and 40 mg/kg. Mouse bone marrow cellularity was reduced to 50% by drug doses producing 3 and 7% stem cell survival. AD32 given i.p. to mice was less effective than i.v. drug in producing marrow stem cell death, reduction of marrow cellularity, or acute lethality. Although more AD32 than ADR was required to kill marrow stem cells from each species and canine marrow stem cells were the most sensitive to either drug, human stem cells were relatively more sensitive to AD32 than were mouse stem cells. The reverse was true for ADR. Granulocytopenia may be an important limiting toxicity in the clinical use of AD32.


Although enrichment in Sr relative to Nd and Ce (Sr/Sr*) is common in both oceanic and continental arc basalts, strong enrichments (Sr/Sr* > 3) appear to be present only in oceanic are basalts. Also, there is a broad positive correlation between Sr/Sr* and Eu/Eu*, particularly in oceanic are basalts. The lack of a correlation in arc basalts between Sr/Sr* and displacement from the mantle array (ΔSr) implies that a source rich in 87 Sr relative to 143 Nd (e.g., seawater-altered basalts) is not the main cause for enriching are magmas in Sr, an implication that is in agreement with previous studies. Instead, a mechanism is required that would (1) increase Sr (and Eu) contents relative to Nd without severely affecting the Sr isotopic composition of the magma and/or its source and (2) take place more readily in oceanic relative to continental arc magmas and/or sources. Plagioclase resorption by ponded, but dynamic, magma chambers may fulfill both of these requirements.


Abstract This paper outlines the asbestos hazard in Scotland and draws upon a systematic oral history project to analyze from the workers' perspective the nature of exposure, the limitations of government regulatory initiatives, and the ramifications of contracting asbestos-related diseases for sufferers and their families. Current issues are investigated, stressing the agency of workers, trade unions, sympathetic local councils, and specially, the victims' pressure groups. The occupational and environmental health threats of asbestos in Scotland remain significant, although recent E.U.- and U.K.- based decisions to ban further use of asbestos together with active campaigning by local activist groups have helped to reduce them. Mesothelioma mortality rates remain high, due to historic exposures, and much work remains to be done to reduce the number and plight of asbestos-exposed workers.


Between 2013–2018, the Urban Dream Brokerage ran as an urban revitalisation platform, commissioned by four distinct New Zealand municipalities. The model: during a period of economic recession and commercial vacancy, proposals from artists and non-profit communities were placed into urban retail sites, dependent on a broker's negotiation. Following the closure of the Brokerage, a research colloquium was held with creative practitioners, or 'project creators' to understand the affective shifts that took place for their practice within the urban context. As a founder and former broker researching the practices of spatial urban occupation, I discerned four common narratives which spoke to the entwinement of people and space. These were: the presence of hostile conditions for the creation of community; the opportunity for experimentation within vacancy; the cloaking of political action through art, and the observation that the revival of 'dead' spaces created some longer-term value for the city —value that was not transferred to the project creators. This article offers an empirically based portrait of the Brokerage platform through assembled voices of the project creators.


Taphonomy, the study of the processes leading to the fossilization of organic remains, is one of the most important avenues of inquiry in human origins research. Breathing Life into Fossils is a major contribution to taphonomic studies in paleoanthropology and natural history. This book emanates from a Stone Age Institute conference celebrating the life and career of naturalist Bob Brain, a pioneer in bringing taphonomic perspectives to human evolutionary studies. Contributions by leading researchers provide a state-of-the art look at the maturing field of taphonomy and the unique perspectives it provides to research into human origins. This important volume reveals approaches taken to the study of bone accumulations at prehistoric sites in Africa, Eurasia, and America, and provides fascinating insights into patterns produced by carnivores, by hunter-gatherers, and by our human ancestors.


Abstract A new statistical coherent structure (CS), the velocity–vorticity correlation structure (VVCS), using the two-point cross-correlation coefficient $R_{ij}$ of velocity and vorticity components, $u_i$ and $\omega _j~ (i, j = 1, 2, 3)$ , is proposed as a useful descriptor of CS. For turbulent channel flow with the wall-normal direction $y$ , a VVCS study consists of using $u_i$ at a fixed reference location $y_r$ , and using $|R_{ij} (y_r; x, y, z)|\geqslant R_0$ to define a topologically invariant high-correlation region, called $\mathit{VVCS}_{ij}$ . The method is applied to direct numerical simulation (DNS) data, and it is shown that the $\mathit{VVCS}_{ij}$ qualitatively and quantitatively captures all known geometrical features of near-wall CS, including spanwise spacing, streamwise length and inclination angle of the quasi-streamwise vortices and streaks. A distinct feature of the VVCS is that its geometry continuously varies with $y_r$ . A topological change of $\mathit{VVCS}_{11}$ from quadrupole (for smaller $y_r$ ) to dipole (for larger $y_r$ ) occurs at $y^{+}_r=110$ , giving a geometrical interpretation of the multilayer nature of wall-bounded turbulent shear flows. In conclusion, the VVCS provides a new robust method to quantify CS in wall-bounded flows, and is particularly suitable for extracting statistical geometrical measures using two-point simultaneous data from hotwire, particle image velocimetry/laser Doppler anemometry measurements or DNS/large eddy simulation data.


High-density grazing is a form of rangeland management aiming to strategically mimic the ways grasslands are utilized by grazers in natural situations. It aims to regenerate grasslands by improving soil and vegetation productivity and diversity. More recently, high-density grazing systems have been promoted as a key approach to mitigating climate change by increasing the amount of carbon sequestered in grassland soils. In this article, we describe the historical background of grazing and rangeland degradation in southern Africa, the principles of high-density grazing, and the problems it aims to address. We briefly discuss evidence of the potential benefits of high-density grazing, though we do not aim to provide an exhaustive review on this. We explore to what extent high-density grazing can be regarded as representative of grazing in natural ecosystems and whether the assumed link between nature and high-density grazing has been helpful in capitalizing on the potential merits of high-density grazing. While high-density grazing may represent a form of sustainable rangeland management, the main attractiveness to farmers likely relates to potential increases in livestock densities and associated productivity per unit area, as well as to potential management and social benefits. Learning from nature and inspiration by nature can play an important role in the development and communication of sustainable grazing management systems. However, it is questionable to what extent high-density grazing systems can be seen as more representative of natural ecosystems than other grazing management systems. The claimed ecological superiority of high-density grazing because of its association with nature has polarised and blurred the discussion on the potential merits of high-density grazing. Moreover, the supposed relationship between nature and high-density grazing may have led to an overselling of high-density grazing principles and an embracement of them by policy makers and development agencies without sufficient empirical basis.


Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based applications for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) help elderly or individual people living home alone. AAL system reliability is mostly based on the recent emerging class of network that is known as wireless mesh network (WiMesh). In WiMesh the information security is the most difficult problem to tackle because the medium is open to cyber-attacks. Moreover, when we talk about AAL where the complete personal information is digitized and stored, the need for implementation and maintenance of strict security measures is essential. In this article, we present a critical literature survey on communication security issues in e-health care environments. We highlight and explore the representative state of the art security prototypes for eHealthcare environments and also provide the details of their security characteristics. In addition, we discuss in detail the challenges and opportunities of these systems.


This report presents findings from the baseline assessment of International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Girl Empower (GE) program in Nimba County, Liberia. GE seeks to help 13 to 14 year-old girls make healthy life choices and decrease their risk of sexual abuse. The program centers on weekly meetings between girls and trained local mentors, during which the girls learn about life skills and financial literacy. GE also holds monthly discussion groups for participants' caregivers, and trains local health and psychosocial care providers on how to improve and expand services for survivors of gender-based violence. This baseline report is part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial, which aims to assess the program's impact 24 months after baseline. 21 percent of the baseline sample of 13-14 year-old females reported having previously had sex. Within this group, 29 percent indicated that their first sexual act was non-consensual. Among all GE girls, 37 percent reported having experienced sexual violence of some type, such as being physically forced to have sex, non-physically pressured (coerced/persuaded) to have sex, someone unsuccessfully attempting to have sex with them, and being touched in a sexual way. The levels of nonconsensual first sex and any experience of nonconsensual sex are at the high end of the range reported by the UNICEF Violence against Children Surveys (VACS) in Swaziland, Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe. As the VACS reporting is for (a variety of) age ranges, each of which is higher than that in this study, the levels of sexual violence reported here are very high in comparison.


Will the religious confrontations with secular authorities around the world lead to a new Cold War? Mark Juergensmeyer paints a provocative picture of the new religious revolutionaries altering the political landscape in the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. Impassioned Muslim leaders in Egypt, Palestine and Algeria, political rabbis in Israel, militant Sikhs in India, and triumphant Catholic clergy in Eastern Europe are all players in Juergensmeyer's study of the explosive growth of religious movements that decisively reject Western ideas of secular nationalism. Juergensmeyer revises notions of religious revolutions. Instead of viewing religious nationalists as wild-eyed, anti-American fanatics, he reveals them as modern activists pursuing a legitimate form of politics. He explores the positive role religion can play in the political life of modern nations, even while acknowledging some religious nationalists' proclivity to violence and disregard of Western notions of human rights. Finally, he situates the growth of religious nationalism in the context of the political malaise of the modern West. Noting that the synthesis of traditional religion and secular nationalism yields a religious version of the modern nation-state, Juergensmeyer claims that such a political entity could conceivably embrace democratic values and human rights.


Iran, along with China, South Korea, and Italy was among the countries that were hit hard in the first wave of the COVID-19 spread. Twitter is one of the widely-used online platforms by Iranians inside and abroad for sharing their opinion, thoughts, and feelings about a wide range of issues. In this study, using more than 530,000 original tweets in Persian/Farsi on COVID-19, we analyzed the topics discussed among users, who are mainly Iranians, to gauge and track the response to the pandemic and how it evolved over time. We applied a combination of manual annotation of a random sample of tweets and topic modeling tools to classify the contents and frequency of each category of topics. We identified the top 25 topics among which living experience under home quarantine emerged as a major talking point. We additionally categorized broader content of tweets that shows satire, followed by news, is the dominant tweet type among the Iranian users. While this framework and methodology can be used to track public response to ongoing developments related to COVID-19, a generalization of this framework can become a useful framework to gauge Iranian public reaction to ongoing policy measures or events locally and internationally.


A wideband hybrid Envelope tracking (ET) modulator utilizing a hysteretic-controlled three-level switching converter (3L-SWC) and a slew-rate enhanced linear amplifier (LA) are presented. In addition to smaller ripple and lower losses of 3L-SWCs, employing the proposed hysteresis control loop results in a higher speed loop and wider bandwidth converter, enabling over 80 MHz of switching frequency. A concurrent sensor circuit monitors and regulates the flying capacitor voltage $V_{\mathrm{ CF}}$ and eliminates the conventionally required calibration loop to control it. The hysteretic-controlled 3L-SWC provides a high percentage of power amplifier (PA) supply load current with lower ripple, reducing the LA high-frequency current and ripple cancellation current, improving the overall system efficiency. A slew-rate enhancement (SRE) circuit is employed in the LA, resulting in slew rate of over 307 V/ $\mu \text{s}$ and bandwidth of over 275 MHz for the LA. The SRE circuit provides a parallel auxiliary current path directly to the gate of the class-AB output stage transistors, speeding-up the charging or discharging of output without modifying the operating point of the remaining LA, while maintaining the quiescent current of the class-AB stage. The supply modulator is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process. The measurement results show the tracking of long-term evolution (LTE)-40-MHz envelope with 93% peak efficiency at 1-W output power, while the SRE is disabled. Enabling the SRE, it can track LTE-80-MHz envelope with peak efficiency of 91%.


Accumulating evidence suggests that Bcl-xL, an anti-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, also functions in cell cycle progression and cell cycle checkpoints. Analysis of a series of phosphorylation site mutants reveals that cells expressing Bcl-xL(Ser62Ala) mutant are less stable at the G2 checkpoint and enter mitosis more rapidly than cells expressing wild-type Bcl-xL or Bcl-xL phosphorylation site mutants, including Thr41Ala, Ser43Ala, Thr47Ala, Ser56Ala and Thr115Ala. Analysis of the dynamic phosphorylation and location of phospho-Bcl-xL(Ser62) in unperturbed, synchronized cells and during DNA damage-induced G2 arrest discloses that a pool of phospho-Bcl-xL(Ser62) accumulates into nucleolar structures in etoposide-exposed cells during G2 arrest. In a series of in vitro kinase assays, pharmacological inhibitors and specific siRNAs experiments, we found that Polo kinase 1 and MAPK9/JNK2 are major protein kinases involved in Bcl-xL(Ser62) phosphorylation and accumulation into nucleolar structures during the G2 checkpoint. In nucleoli, phospho-Bcl-xL(Ser62) binds to and co-localizes with Cdk1(cdc2), the key cyclin-dependent kinase required for entry into mitosis. These data indicate that during G2 checkpoint, phospho-Bcl-xL(Ser62) stabilizes G2 arrest by timely trapping of Cdk1(cdc2) in nucleolar structures to slow mitotic entry. It also highlights that DNA damage affects the dynamic composition of the nucleolus, which now emerges as a piece of the DNA damage response.


Background: Serum uric acid has shown to be a predictor of renal disease progression in most but not all studies. This study aims to test whether renal function-normalized serum uric acid is superior to serum uric acid as the predictor of incident chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Methods: In this study, 1339 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate ⩾60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and normouricemia were included. Renal function-normalized serum uric acid was calculated using serum uric acid/creatinine. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate the association between serum uric acid, renal function-normalized serum uric acid and incident chronic kidney disease. Results: In total, 74 (5.53%) patients developed to chronic kidney disease 3 or greater during a median follow-up of 4 years, with older ages, longer diabetes duration and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate at baseline. The decline rate of estimated glomerular filtration rate was positively correlated with serum uric acid/creatinine (r = 0.219, p < 0.001), but not serum uric acid (r = 0.005, p = 0.858). Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that serum uric acid was not an independent risk factor for incident chronic kidney disease (p = 0.055), whereas serum uric acid to creatinine ratio was significantly associated with incident chronic kidney disease independently of potential confounders including baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate. Conclusion: serum uric acid to creatinine ratio might be a better predictor of incident chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.


Despite recent changes in legislation and advances towards an integrated project-wide approach, health and safety management in the construction industry is still a major problem, involving a substantial cost to business, society and individuals. A prerequisite to improving the situation and developing an effective management strategy is monitoring, providing a detailed understanding of the effectiveness of different approaches to intervention. This paper describes a feasibility study using in-depth interviews with senior managers to explore the quality of accident and health data of nine large, high profile companies from the engineering construction sector. The interview dialogue comprised a series of questions and issues to be explored on the organization's accident reporting systems (e.g. what is reported, analysis performed, computerization), unsafe act and near miss auditing (e.g. definition, validity), failure type indicators (e.g. auditing, quantification) and safety culture indicators (e.g. commitment, health). Although safety was a priority for companies, health (i.e. medicals and monitoring systems) had not been given the same consideration, especially with regard to subcontracted labour. This study shows that the validity of accident statistics as a measure of safety remains a limitation, and that there is a requirement for a consistent and integrated approach to the measurement of health and safety performance.


OBJECTIVE
Protecting Healthcare Workers is an essential component of a successful response to the CoVid-19 pandemic. The resource intensive nature of infectious disease protection, budgetary constraints and global shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) make this a daunting task. Practical, easily implemented strategies for healthcare workers (HCW) protection are needed.

METHODS
We cross-reference the "Systems, Space, Staff, and Stuff" paradigm from disaster management and the "Hierarchy of Controls" approach to infection prevention from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to generate a narrative overview of worker protection strategies relevant to CoViD-19.

RESULTS
Alternative types of PPE, management of hazards, and reorganizing how people work can optimize HCWs protection.

CONCLUSIONS
A comprehensive PPE strategy can utilize the "systems, space, staff, stuff" paradigm of disaster management to identify new or underutilized solutions to HCWs protection.


Start-ups of new firms are important for economic growth. However, start-up rates differ significantly between countries and within regions of the same country. A large empirical literature studies the reasons for this and endeavours to identify the regional determinants of start-ups. By contrast, there is a much smaller theoretical literature attempting the formal modelling of the start-up process within a region. In this article, we seek to contribute to this small literature by introducing a general theoretical model of the entrepreneurial start-up process. The model links start-ups to economic growth and can be applied to understand growth in a regional context. We derive a number of propositions which fit the stylised facts from the empirical literature: (i) growth in the regional economy is driven by an expansion in the number of start-up firms supplying intermediate goods and services; (ii) improvements in human capital will improve the rate of start-ups; (iii) improvements in the relative rates of return to entrepreneurs and business conditions will raise start-up rates; (iv) an increase in regional financial concentration will reduce the start-up rate in a region; and (v) increased agglomeration/urbanisation in a region has an a priori ambiguous effect on start-up rates.


Since the turn of the millennium, there have been various attempts by Indian regulators as well as the government to converge the current accounting system in India (tentatively called Indian GAAP) to a system similar to IFRS, considered today to be the prevalent worldwide set of accounting standards. Indian GAAP has had its fair share of criticism, the most telling being that it avoids the principle of substance over form in various topics in its literature. The first announcement of a plan to converge came in July 2007. While suffering various setbacks through delays in recent years, the current roadmap indicates that certain companies will have to mandatorily adopt Ind AS (Indian Accounting Standards) next year. When assessing the major differences between Ind AS and IFRS to evaluate whether complete convergence can ever be possible, most differences are either avoidable or textual in nature. Three major potentially irreconcilable differences occur in the topics IND AS 19: Employee Benefits, IND AS 32: Financial Instruments – Presentation and IND AS 103: Business Combinations. While it can be concluded that complete convergence can indeed be possible one day, it would benefit Indian entities to have a slow route to convergence in order to maintain a sense of comparability in their financial statements from Indian GAAP to Ind AS.


We demonstrate a common-path interferometer to measure the independent displacement of multiple targets through nonlinear frequency mixing in a quantum-cascade laser (QCL). The sensing system exploits the unique stability of QCLs under strong optical feedback to access the intrinsic nonlinearity of the active medium. The experimental results using an external dual cavity are in excellent agreement with the numerical simulations based on the Lang-Kobayashi equations.


The documents preserve the social experience of the humanity and, thus, provide concentrated knowledge to the society and individuals, help to transfer experience to the future generations. The goal of the article is to analyze the documentation (research) as an interdisciplinary branch of science and study area, its place and role within the system of communication and informatikon sciences. The main attention should be focused on the influence of the archival research and its interaction with other branches. The documentation research is a basic discipline that helps to transfer a complex of general theoretical knowledge in educating the bachelors of information and communication science. Without regard to a chosen direction of studies, each student has to acquire knowledge about a document and documentary communication. They have to be able to understand different concepts of a document that are used abroad and our country. The definition and place of documentation research is an important issue discussed by the scientists. During the last 10–15 years it turned into a general university discipline taught in many departments of humanities and social sciences abroad. The quick spread and development of documentation research has instigated discussions about its place within the system of sciences. As an autonomous branch of science documentation research has a place among other branches within the system of communication and information sciences. It investigates the stucture, atributes, and functions of a document. The document becomes a general concept in communication and informatikon sciences. That allows us to treat documentation research as an interdisciplinary branch of science.


Shah Wali ullah Dahlvi was born at the time of famous Muslim scholar and King Aurangzaib Alamgir in Indian Sub-continent, and passed away at the time of Shah Alam Sani. His work and struggle belonged to modern Islamic thoughts. After he came back from Macca and Madina, the situation of state had been very blemish, defective laws of succession demoralized army, and economic insolvency. In these circums-tances he focusing on problems of his time in sub-continent face by Muslims, he ruminated upon the economics of Muslims and troubles. He launched a movement to bring social and Political, stability of economics reform in the society. He raised his voice for economic Equilibrium equitable distribution of resources and removal of Inequalities, and said any production on revenue which is not based on the Principle of mutual assistance as illegal. He formulated a theory the stages of socio economics development known as (Irtafaqat), and also divided society into four stages in the light of Irtafaqat, starting from home and village life ending with external likeness profession.


Electron spectroscopy involves measuring the energies of electrons ejected when matter is irradiated with photons. One of the more powerful applications of electron spectroscopy is the determination of the binding energies of the inner shells of atoms with soft X-rays. The binding energies of the inner shells are characteristic of the element; thus, a means of uaIitative analysis is provided. Quantitative analysis can be done also. In addition, use of high-resolution spectroscopy enables one to determine the oxidation state of each atom, because the binding energies will shift with chemical environment. For example, the K shell binding energy in nitrogen is about 10 V lower for an amine group than for a nitro group. This analysis can be used for all elements with atomic numbers higher than lithium. The advantages of electron spectroscopy for biological research, both for fundamental and in chemical applications, are discussed in general. Recent studies on t-RNA and its bases are given as specific examples of the applicability of the method. AdditionalKeyphrases t-RNA #{149}nucleic acid analysis #{149}film thickness zwitterions #{149}electron binding-energy shifts #{149}photoelectron spectrometer


Poly(N,N dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) hydrogels (PDMAEMA) were optimized by pore-forming and copolymerization with polyethyleneimine (PEI) and the macroporous PDMAEMA together with the composite materials PEI/PDMAEMA were synthesized to remove anionic dyes from aqueous solution for the first time. The physicochemical properties of these materials were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis (E.A), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The adsorption behaviors of PDMAEMA, macroporous PDMAEMA and PEI/PDMAEMA for sunset yellow FCF and amaranth were compared. The results showed that the adsorption rate of macroporous PDMAEMA was faster than that of PDMAEMA, and the adsorption capacity was nearly unchanged; but for PEI/PDMAEMA, both adsorption rate and adsorption capacity were improved. The maximum adsorption capacity of PEI/PDMAEMA could reach 744.14 mg/g for SY FCF and 757.10 mg/g for amaranth, and the saturation adsorption time were both 1 h. The adsorption isotherms and kinetics were well fitted by Langmuir model and pseudo second-order model, respectively, and the adsorption mechanism was explained by electrical double layer theory. In addition, the desorption ratio of above 92% indicated that these adsorbing materials could be regenerated successfully for recycle and reuse. In a word, ED hydrogels have the excellent adsorption capability and could be employed as a new potential useful adsorbent for the decontamination and analysis of wastewater containing anionic dyes in large scale.


Since 1980, a series of legislative acts and judicial decisions have affected the ownership, scope, and duration of patents. These include: the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980; the extension of the maximum patent term in 1994; and the shift from a first to invent standard to a first to file system in 2011. These changes impacted academic institutions, both directly and indirectly, and have coincided with historic increases in patent activity among academic institutions.

This article presents an empirical study of how those three changes to the patent system precipitated responses by academic institutions, using spline regression functions to model their patent activity. We find that academic institutions typically reduced patent activity immediately before changes to the patent system, and increased patent activity immediately afterward, with an especially notable effect among research universities. In other words, academic institutions responded to patent incentives in a manner consistent with firm behavior, by reacting to the preferences of internal coalitions to capture unrealized economic value in intellectual property.

The response of academic institutions to patent law changes has profound implications for economic efficiency. Academic institutions are typically charitable organizations, with the charitable purpose of promoting innovation, among other things. Yet, academic institutions have responded to patent incentives by limiting access to innovation, in order to internalize economic value. Specifically, academic institutions typically transfer their patents to patent assertion entities or "patent trolls," rather than practicing entities, producing externalities and inefficiency in the patent system.

This concern is highlighted by the Supreme Court's recent grant of certiorari in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods, in order to determine the scope of patent venue. The Court's decision was motivated by flagrant "forum selling" in the Eastern District of Texas, which currently hears about 50% of the patent infringement actions filed in the United States, few of which have any connection to the district and most of which are filed by patent assertion entities that choose the forum based on its pro-plaintiff bias. Many observers are concerned that the concentration of patent assertion activity in the Eastern District of Texas has increased the cost of innovation. This study suggests that educational institutions may have exacerbated that problem by engaging more boldly in patent activity and ultimately transferring their patents to patent assertion entities.


This review covers some important new aspects of the alcohol-induced communications between liver parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells leading to liver injury development. The information exchange between various cell types may promote end-stage liver disease progression and involves multiple mechanisms, such as direct cell-to-cell interactions, extracellular vesicles (EVs) or chemokines, cytokines, and growth factors contained in extracellular fluids/cell culture supernatants. Here, we highlighted the role of EVs derived from alcohol-exposed hepatocytes (HCs) in activation of non-parenchymal cells, liver macrophages (LM), and hepatic stellate cells (HSC). The review also concentrates on EV-mediated crosstalk between liver parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells in the settings of HIV- and alcohol co-exposure. In addition, we overviewed the literature on the crosstalk between cell death pathways and inflammasome activation in alcohol-activated HCs and macrophages. Furthermore, we covered highly clinically relevant studies on the role of non-inflammatory factors, sinusoidal pressure (SP), and hepatic arterialization in alcohol-induced hepatic fibrogenesis. We strongly believe that the review will disclose major mechanisms of cell-to-cell communications pertained to alcohol-induced liver injury progression and will identify therapeutically important targets, which can be used for alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) prevention.


AIM
We went through a critical review of the current status of neuroimaging studies of cognition. Thus, we argue why the use of a neuronal network perspective could led us to a better understanding of cognition than a localizationism perspective.

METHOD
The question about how cognitive functions are organized in the brain, comes from the very early lesions studies. Electrocortical stimulation and the intracorotid amytal procedure collaborate together with lesions studies to increase the knowledge about the organization of cognitive functions in the brain. Functional neuroimaging could help to this issue answering the following questions: where, when and how the activity is produced in the brain. Many of the functional neuroimaging studies have addressed the question of where the activity is located, but very few has been concentrated into describe the spatio temporal profiles of brain activity, and then how the neural networks which support cognition are organized. Taking into account just one of this perspectives (where or when) we could achieve a reductionism view of the problem.

CONCLUSIONS
Executive function, memory or language are more distributed than located in just one area, even the different subprocesses that are included in each of this functions are supported by a network rather than a particular area. We analyze the current available functional neuroimaging techniques under this view and its possibilities to describe the neural networks which support cognition.


This thesis is concerned with the mechanism underlying the above bandgap illumination Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) of phosphorus donors in isotopically purified silicon-28. Two proposed DNP models are introduced and compared. A series of NMR saturation experiments are performed in which modified buildup dynamics are observed when the saturation tone is applied at the bare phosphorus resonance. This effect is attributed to the phosphorus donor being ionized via the Auger process resulting in dynamics which are modelled as a set of coupled Bloch equations. The donor bound exciton capture and neutralization rates are extracted, and a paramagnetic shift of the bare phosphorus resonance is observed. These observed dynamics strongly imply the DNP mechanism is due to phononic modulation of the donor electron spatial wavefunction inducing cross-relaxation between the hyperfine coupled electron and nuclear spins. The framework of Bayesian parameter estimation and its Sequential Monte Carlo(SMC) numerical implementation for continuous outcome probability distributions are introduced. Next, an introduction to Bayesian experiment design and its incorporation within the SMC framework is provided. A discussion of the computational challenges for continuous outcome distributions is given. To resolve these difficulties Monte Carlo Maximum Importance Sampling(MIS) numerical methods are developed which allow the evaluation of Bayesian experimental design heuristics such as the Bayes risk. These design strategies are applied to the problem of T1 relaxation rate estimation with inversion recovery experiments. Experiments are optimized both respect to per-experiment performance and total experiment time. These techniques are shown to have substantial improvements over baseline methods. Furthermore, they compare favourably with previous frequentist experimental designs for IR experiments and demonstrate significant improvements.


In this paper, we used Landsat thematic mapper (TM) and enhanced thematic mapper (ETM) data from 1990, 2002, and 2011 to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of desertification using seven factors; the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the topsoil grain size index (TGSI), land surface albedo, the topographic wetness index (TWI), land surface temperature (LST), the perpendicular drought index (PDI), and the elevation of Hogno Khaan, which lies in a semiarid region of central Mongolia. We normalized the indicators, determined their weights, and defined five levels of desertification; none, low, medium, high, and severe. Sets of rules were constructed, and a multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) approach was used to assess desertification and test the correlations between the seven variables in comparison to the different levels of desertification, with field and reference data used for accuracy. We provide a review of the literature on MCE applied to desertification assessment issues based on satellite data. At the first step, major desertification factors were computed for satellite data. The next step was the construction of pairwise comparison matrix. Then, the weight of each factor was determined by the contribution of an analytical hierarchy process. Finally, the susceptible areas to desertification in the study area were identified using a multi-criteria evaluation method. We found that more than 15% of the total land area in Hogno Khaan suffered from severe desertification in 2011, increasing from 7% in 1990. Our analysis showed that the highest correlations were between TGSI and albedo, PDI and TGSI, and PDI and albedo at all levels of desertification. LST was less strongly correlated with TGSI, albedo, and PDI. The correlation of TWI with PDI and NDVI in the non- and low desertification areas produced R values of 0.15 and 0.58, respectively. The correlation analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between TWI and both NDVI and PDI for all years in non- and low desertification areas. Comparing elevation and NDVI, the highest correlation was found for severe desertification in 2002, although correlations for severe desertification were lower in 1990 and 2011.


With the introduction of the communicative method of language learning, overall standards of grammatical competence and performance among Irish second level students would appear to have been significantly reduced. As a consequence, learners who continue to study a given language at third level apparently no longer possess the knowledge which, under the grammar-translation methodology, further education institutions were able to build upon.

This thesis examines the basis for the above perceptions, investigates the role of formal grammar instruction in the second language acquisition process and reports on a programme which was developed at Dublin City University (DCU) in order to ease, for Irish university students of German, the transition from a primarily memory-based approach to language acquisition to the analytical approach which is still being considered crucial to a university student's linguistic education. While the research was undertaken in response to locally existing difficulties, it may also be considered as a case study of more general interest, and as such serve as an exemplar to German departments in other universities as well as to other foreign language departments both within DCU or outside. The aim of the programme under investigation was to ease the transition on a socio-affective, cognitive and metacognitive level without lowering overall proficiency expectations and standards. Primary research was conducted among secondary school teachers, post-Leaving Certificate students on entry into DCU and among third level lecturers. The purpose of this research was to identify and define the programme's content and progression. To this effect, the German junior and senior cycle syllabi at second level were also taken into consideration.

The subsequent German grammar programme was implemented at DCU in the academic year 1996/7. While the programme would appear to have been judged favourably regarding some affective and cognitive-motivational aspects, results show mixed success rates for the other two factors under investigation, cognitive-analytical and metacognitive skills. Thus, some degree courses and some language combinations clearly benefited more from the programme than others. One of the conclusions drawn from this research suggests that unless certain changes are introduced prior to students' entry into third level, university graduates are likely to remain well below the standards of accuracy and overall proficiency which were previously achieved.