Modern production operating systems are large and complex systems developed over many years by large teams of programmers, containing many hundreds of thousands of lines of code. Consequently, it is extremely difficult to add significant new functionality to these systems. In response to this problem, a number of recent research projects have addressed the issue of extensible operating systems; these include SPIN, VINO, Exokernel, Lipto, and Fluke. This paper addresses the problem of providing extensibility for existing production operating systems such as Solaris, through the technique of interposition on existing kernel interfaces. Interposition is useful for extensions because it is transparent, it permits the incremental addition of functionality to an interface, and it enables the easy composition of multiple extensions. We have designed and implemented a prototype extension mechanism, SLIC, which utilizes interposition to efficiently insert trusted extension code into a production operating system kernel. We have used SLIC to implement a number of useful operating system extensions, such as a patch to fix a security hole described in a CERT advisory, an encryption file system, and a restricted execution environment for arbitrary untrusted binaries. Performance measurements of the SLIC prototype show that interposition on existing kernel interfaces can be accomplished efficiently.


The effectiveness of night ventilation strategy for residential buildings in the old town of Ghadames has been investigated in this study. Methods of field surveys including observations, temperature measurements and interviews were conducted to determine the characteristic building parameters and strategies including window patterns and space organisation that mostly contributed to achieve an efficient indoor comfort conditions especially at night summer time. Results showed that skylight openings can be a good window pattern for enhancing night ventilation in hot arid climate. Further findings indicated that majority of occupants tend to feel thermally satisfied with indoor air conditions particularly during daytime Due to high thermal mass structure in traditional dwellings indoor air gets warmer at night and small roof aperture would be not sufficient to readily extract warm air, so that a fixed roof fan is used to enhance air buoyancy. It is also observed that double ceiling height in the central hall plays an important role in balancing air change during day and night keeping interior at acceptable thermal conditions. The lower surface temperature due to standing wall to wall with surrounding buildings apparently has an impact on indoor thermal comfort conditions. However, the study suggested that new courtyard design in residential buildings should be considered taking into account all these passive design strategies in such a way to promote indoor climate conditions. Finally, and based on field surveys and measurements a preliminary design priorities and recommendations for passively ventilated dwellings in hot arid context are suggested.


Public trust is key for compliance to government protocols in times of health mitigating COVID-19 measures and its vaccination initiative, and thus understanding factors related to community health volunteers (CHVs) trusting the government and conspiracy theories is vital during the COVID-19 pandemic. The success of universal health coverage in Kenya will benefit from the trust between the CHVs and the government through increased access and demand for health services. This cross-sectional study collected data between 25 May to 27 June 2021 and it involved CHVs sampled from four counties in Kenya. The sampling unit involved the database of all registered CHVs in the four counties, who had participated in the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy study in Kenya. Mombasa and Nairobi (represented cosmopolitan urban counties). Kajiado represented a pastoralist rural county, while Trans-Nzoia represented an agrarian rural county. Probit regression model was the main analytical method which was performed using R script language version 4.1.2. COVID-19 conspiracy theories weakened generalised trust in government (adjOR = 0.487, 99% CI: 0.336–0.703). Banking on COVID-19 related trust in vaccination initiatives (adjOR = 3.569, 99% CI: 1.657–8.160), use of police enforcement (adjOR = 1.723, 99% CI: 1.264–2.354) and perceived risk of COVID-19 (adjOR = 2.890,95% CI: 1.188–7.052) strengthened generalised trust in government. Targeted vaccination education and communication health promotion campaigns should fully involve CHVs. Strategies to counter COVID-19 conspiracy theories will promote adherence to COVID-19 mitigation measures and increase vaccine uptake.


This paper reviews the scholarship on internal displacement in Africa. This focuses mainly on internal displacement in African countries affected by conflict and other crises, and the responses to that phenomenon at the national and regional levels. The paper starts by describing the main internal displacement trends across Africa as a region. It then reviews how scholarship on internal displacement in Africa has developed, respectively, in the fields of law and policy, other social sciences and humanities, and health and medicine. It ends by offering conclusions on the scope of existing research and directions for future study.

This review of the scholarly literature seeks to identify principal trends, gaps and opportunities relating to research on internal displacement. Towards this end, the review concentrates on academic publications, including monographs, chapters in edited volumes and peer-reviewed articles, from the early 1990s until the start of 2020, a period of approximately 30 years. It thus offers not only a critical review of the state of the art in this field of study but also a key point of reference for researchers looking to develop our understanding of internal displacement from the standpoint of a variety of different disciplines and themes.

The paper forms part of a series of papers published in this Working Paper Series that review the state of the scholarship on internal displacement at the global level and in particular regions as we enter the decade of the 2020s. This research forms part of the Interdisciplinary Network on Displacement, Conflict and Protection (AH/T005351/1) and Global Engagement on Internal Displacement in sub-Saharan Africa (EP/T003227/1) projects, pilots of which were supported by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). It should be read in conjunction with the other review papers in this series.


Abstract This article scrutinizes a schematic analysis of integrated Literature Review (LR) sections drawn from Research Articles (RAs) across two disciplines. The analysis mainly focuses on the schematic structure, namely the constituent moves and steps. The structure of LR in these articles is explored via coding and genre analysis. Manual move analysis is used to identify similarities and differences between these two groups of articles. To this end, 30 published integrated LRs from two disciplines of Neuroscience and Neurology (all published in high indexed journals) are selected randomly. Manual coding procedures are accomplished through two different move models proposed by Fryer (2012) and Nwogu (1997). Both models are composed of 3 Moves with several sub-moves. The results compare and contrast the prototypical move patterns of each discipline. A new model is proposed in this study and the significance of integrated LRs is discussed. This study discusses pedagogical implications for the practitioners in ESP and EAP fields. The move structures proposed in this study may help students and novice writers be better able to deal with the structuring difficulties they face in writing LRs. Furthermore, the findings of this article may assist novice researchers and article writers to cope with the hardships of high indexed journal submission.


According to many Swedish football experts, journalists and others, women's football players at an elite level are not even close to male football players as regards ball technique and game perception. To all appearances, there are similar views in many other countries where women's football has been established. This article aims to examine the accuracy of this opinion, that is, is it correct that Swedish women's football players at an elite level often fail to perform when ball technique and game perception are put to the test. The article analyses how often the Swedish national team's players failed in their 'actions' in the Women's World Cups of 2003 and 2007. 'Actions' refer to passes, ball receptions, dribbles, final shots and fixed situations. The men's national team's performance has correspondingly been analysed in the men's World Cups of 2002 and 2006. The matches were analysed by means of video. Analysis of almost 10,000 actions shows that there are differences, but that these are relatively small and do not explain the very heavy and categorical criticism that is usually levelled against women's football. The criticism is essentially due to the masculine coding of football and to female intrusion being perceived as a feminist provocation that hence has to be counteracted.


The 2014 Halal Product Assurance Act (Halal Act) is the first law in Indonesia requiring mandatory Halal certification and labelling. Local and foreign business entities, while in agreement that Halal assurance through certification and labelling is important for Muslim consumers, have expressed their anxiety over whether such requirements will mean extra costs, particularly for small and medium enterprises. At the same time, the mandatory labelling regime involves several WTO issues under the TBT Agreement, which raise questions regarding Indonesia's compliance with its obligations. As a defence, Indonesia could argue that its mandatory halal labelling measure falls under the exception for protecting 'public morals'. The WTO panel in the US–Gambling dispute noted that the meaning of 'public morals' and 'public order' varied depending on a range of factors, including prevailing social, cultural, ethical, and religious values. Should the WTO allow all types of moral and religious belief, even if they restrict trade? How can public moral policy objectives be applied in ways that do not violate WTO law? This paper seeks to examine the WTO consistency of the new Indonesian Halal Act, and whether the public moral objective underlying mandatory halal certification/labelling can be defended as an exception in the context of the TBT Agreement.


In the molecule of title pyrazoline derivative, C17H18N4OS, the pyrazole ring adopts an envelope conformation with the flap atom, which bears the methoxyphenyl substituent, displaced by 0.0750 (12) Å from the plane through the other ring atoms. The two substituted benzene rings make a dihedral angle of 70.59 (6)°. The methoxy group is twisted slightly with respect to the attached benzene ring [Cmethyl—O—C—C torsion angle = −8.84 (15)°]. An intramolecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bond occurs. In the crystal, the pyrazoline molecules are linked by N—H⋯O and N—H⋯S hydrogen bonds into zigzag layers parallel to the bc plane and stacked along the a axis by π–π interactions with centroid–centroid distances of 3.4690 (7) and 3.5792 (7) Å. C—H⋯π interactions are also present.


We report on a novel technique involving spatially and spectrally resolved measurements of the spontaneous and stimulated emission from a VCSEL, which allows the mode structure, carrier density, and nett cavity loss to be mapped. The measurements allow ready assessment of optical guiding in the structure. It is found that in large area devices with low ohmic heating, the guiding is dominated by free carrier effects.


Remains a complex problem, but time is running out

Some 150 years after John Snow discovered that a contaminated water pump was responsible for a localised cholera outbreak, two million people world wide still die every year from water related diarrhoeal illnesses.1 2 In 1854 John Snow did not know that an organism was responsible, but meticulous epidemiological studies and common sense led him to close the Broad Street pump, saving hundreds of lives. At the beginning of the 21st century, despite our extensive knowledge of the causes and prevention of water associated illnesses, 1.1 billion people around the world have no access to clean water and 2.4 billion have inadequate sanitation.1

Ideally, everyone would have the same high quality, abundant quantity water supply that people in the developed world take for granted: we flush drinking water down our toilets and wash ourselves, our clothes, and our cars in it. But usually it is a trade off between quality and quantity.

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Credit: TRYGVE BOLSTAD/PANOS

The quantity of surface water (rivers, lakes, ponds, etc) is variable, depending on rainfall, and is poor quality, whereas groundwater (found in permeable rocks more than 100 metres underground) is usually high …

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Six different Scaligeria DC. taxa (Apiaceae) essential oils (EOs) obtained by hydrodistillation from herba with the flowers collected from different sites from Turkey. The oils were analyzed and characterized by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) simultaneously. A total of 133 different compounds were identified and relative qualitative and quantitative differences were observed among the evaluated samples. Analytical profiles of the Scaligeria EOs showed characteristic differences in terms of different main chemical constituents, between the two taxa S. lazica Boiss. and S. tripartita (Kalen.) Tamamsch; and S. napiformis (Sprengel) Grande, S. meifolia (Fenzl) Boiss., S. capillifolia Post, S. hermonis Post, S. glaucescens (DC.) Boiss. taxa, respectively. The main component germacrene D can be utilized as marker for the chemical discrimination of the Scaligeria genus. In addition, Scaligeria EOs were evaluated in vitro for their antimicrobial activity against pathogenic Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus), Gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and yeast (Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis, and C. krusei) standard strains by using a micro-dilution assay. As a general result, the oils showed moderate inhibitory range when compared with standard antimicrobial agents.


Evaluation of T cell responses to tumor- and pathogen-derived peptides in preclinical models is necessary to define the characteristics of efficacious peptide vaccines. We show in this study that vaccination with insect cells infected with baculoviruses expressing MHC class I linked to tumor peptide mimotopes results in expansion of functional peptide-specific CD8+ T cells that protect mice from tumor challenge. Specific peptide mimotopes selected from peptide-MHC libraries encoded by baculoviruses can be tested using this vaccine approach. Unlike other vaccine strategies, this vaccine has the following advantages: peptides that are difficult to solublize can be easily characterized, bona fide peptides without synthesis artifacts are presented, and additional adjuvants are not required to generate peptide-specific responses. Priming of antitumor responses occurs within 3 days of vaccination and is optimal 1 wk after a second injection. After vaccination, the Ag-specific T cell response is similar in animals primed with either soluble or membrane-bound Ag, and CD11c+ dendritic cells increase expression of maturation markers and stimulate proliferation of specific T cells ex vivo. Thus, the mechanism of Ag presentation induced by this vaccine is consistent with cross-priming by dendritic cells. This straightforward approach will facilitate future analyses of T cells elicited by peptide mimotopes.


Civil procedure of trademark enforcement runs in Pakistan under Trade Marks Ordinance 2001, Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and Specific Relief Act 1877. Trademark is one of the components of Intellectual Property Law, it is a mark, name, sign, smell or a sound which distinguishes goods and services of one undertaking from goods and services of other undertakings. It is required to be distinctiveness and non-descriptive, it losses its distinctiveness when owner of registered trademark does not take prompt action against its infringement. The registered trademark owner may file civil suit against infringement of his registered trademark before the concerned District Court of Law for claiming damages and obtaining injunctions. The Trademark Registry works under Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) for registration and protection of trademarks in Pakistan. Similarly, Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) is empowered agency of trademark registration and its protection in Malaysia. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is responsible for registration and protection of trademarks in United States of America (USA). Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) is the only International Treaty which contains exhaustive provisions on trademark enforcement includes civil procedure, administrative procedure, criminal procedure, provisional and border measures. Important civil procedure of trademark enforcement issues need to be clarified in trademark law of Pakistan includes trademark infringement, trademark dilution and rectification of trademark register. This article is comparative analysis of civil procedure of trademark enforcement in Pakistan, Malaysia and USA.


In the present work we examine the statics and dynamics of multiple parallel dark soliton stripes in a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate. Our principal goal is to study the effect of the interaction between the stripes on the transverse instability of the individual stripes. We use a recently developed adiabatic invariant formulation to derive a quasi-analytical prediction for the stripe equilibrium position and for the Bogoliubov-de Gennes spectrum of excitations of stationary stripes. We subsequently test these predictions against numerical simulations of the full two-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We find that the number of unstable eigenmodes increases as the number of stripes increases due to (unstable) relative motions between the stripes. Their corresponding growth rates do not significantly change, although for large chemical potentials, the larger the stripe number, the larger the maximal instability growth rate. In addition to examining the cases of three and four stripes, we explore for all of these cases the dynamical implications of the instability towards the formation of multi-vortex patterns.


In order to reduce or eliminate the surface defects caused by abrasive grains and improve the efficiency of ultra-precision processing, the technique of semi-fixed machining has been proposed for machining advanced ceramics. A semi-fixed abrasive tool (SFAT) has been manufactured; it has performances of semi-fixed machining technique. This document demonstrates wear characteristics of SFAT through experiments of machining silicon wafer. It showed that wet status or dry status of SFAT has greatly influenced wear characteristics of SFAT. Wear characteristic of SFAT presented mostly blockage and little grain-off occurred in dry status; mostly grain-off and little blockage presented in wet status.


Background and study aims: Previous reports of simultaneous presence of esophageal varices (EV) and achalasia suggest placement of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) and surgical myotomy or endoscopic therapy. We report the case of a 64-year-old man who received anticoagulant therapy for a myeloproliferative disorder with extensive portal thrombosis which was a contraindication to placement of a TIPS.


ABSTRACT Community building was a feature of the recovery policies implemented to respond to the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand. This strategy aimed for survivors to manage the disruption of the events by activating and enhancing their community networks. Drawing on Foucault's and Esposito's theorizing of biopolitics, community, and immunity, this article provides a close reading of the policies and tools implemented to manage the post-earthquake context. I outline the unacknowledged effects of two intertwined forms of governance. First, populational governance through which communities were guided to take care of themselves within a recovery framework, which prized resilience. Second, therapeutic governance in which vulnerable individuals and groups were offered specialized, therapeutic assistance. I argue, whilst operating at different levels, both forms of governance functioned to re-value the desires, motivations, and actions of survivors in terms of their capacity to contribute to post-earthquake life in Canterbury.


Promotion can stimulate consumer's unplanned buying which is regarded as the main source of sales growth, however, it may increase consumer's planned buying shortfall as well. On one hand, online scarce promotion more significantly influences consumer's unplanned buying and planned buying shortfall; On the other hand, frequent and continuing online promotion weakens its marginal performance. Under such circumstance, it becomes imperative for us to ascertain whether online scarce promotion can contribute to the growth of consumer's purchases by comparing the effect of online scarce promotion on planned buying and unplanned buying. Our empirical analysis shows that online scarce promotion can decrease consumer's planned buying shortfall, and also increase consumer's unplanned buying, thus adding to consumer's actual buying relative to their intended purchases.


In general, the hypotheses presented at the onset of the study were supported by the results reported here. Over 75 percent of the medical record managers surveyed were from facilities of less than 300 beds. Findings are consistent with characteristics of supervisors in small-to medium-sized departments. The most unique finding relates to the overrepresentation of NP managers in the larger facilities. The NP manager has a global, innovative perspective but also may have trouble coming to closure on projects and decisions. This managerial type will quite easily find other intuitive managers. Other perceiving managers will be found much less frequently and the perceiver must be prepared to have this perspective viewed as unique by other managers who are predominantly Js. Further research is needed to provide detailed explanations for this portion of the results. The majority of this group were classified in the SJ temperament grouping. More sensors were found among ARTs, in smaller facilities, and in the hospital medical record department manager population as a whole when compared to other managers. These findings provide insights that must be recognized and evaluated by the profession as it looks to the future and focuses on long-term goals. This research focuses on hospital medical record managers, only one of many groups that make up the medical record profession. Additional studies are needed to verify results and to evaluate individuals in other hospital medical record positions and in other settings, as well as other allied health managers. This research does, however, provide the basis for future comparisons.


In their study, Folkins and colleagues (1) stated that the tumor-initiating capacity of C6 glioma rat cells explored by limiting dilution transplantation assays (LDTAs) was similar for C6 cells maintained in serum-containing (Ser+) conditions (Ser+ LDTA) and C6 cells maintained in serum-free supplemented (SFS) conditions (SFS LDTA), except at one cell dilution (5000 injected cells), at which a difference in tumor-initiating capacity was noticeable (Table 1). As pointed out by the authors, this result was in sharp contrast with their findings that C6 SFS cultures were significantly enriched in cancer stem cells (CSCs) compared with C6 Ser+ cultures, as evidenced by the increased formation of tumor spheres and the expression of the marker nestin in SFS conditions. The authors could not provide a valuable explanation regarding this discrepancy. We propose here a statistical approach demonstrating that the Ser+ LDTA is not adequately fitted by the Single-Hit Poisson Model (SHPM; ref. 2), a major finding precluding any comparison between Ser+ and SFS LDTAs. Briefly, the SHPM is written as (3): ln [ − ln ( π ) = ln ( f ) + β ( 1 ) X , where β (1) = 1; π is the proportion of injection sites free of tumors; f is the frequency of clonogenic cells; and X = ln( x ), where x is the number of cells (100–50,000) injected at each site. A random component, termed Z , can be added to the SHPM, defining the R -SHPM and written as: ln [ − ln ( π ) ] = α + β ( 1 ) X + σ z , where z is considered to be a normally distributed random variable (4). Checking the SHPM hypothesis is performed by testing whether the coefficient σ is equal to 0 (5). As can be seen in Table 1, the null hypothesis, σ = 0, is rejected at the 5% significance level for the Ser+ LDTA with P (χ 2 ) = 0.047. This statistical approach should be used routinely to evaluate the SHPM hypothesis in LDTAs. Technical parameters, such as cell clumps, may explain deviation from the SHPM. Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.


The Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE) publishes groundbreaking and outstanding scholarly and practitioner work on education in emergencies (EiE), defined broadly as quality learning opportunities for all ages in situations of crisis, including early childhood development, primary, secondary, non-formal, technical, vocation, higher and adult education. Copyright © 2017, Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies.


Controversy persists concerning the impact of community water fluoridation on bone health in adults, and few studies have assessed relationships with bone at younger ages. Ecological studies of fluoride's effects showed some increase in bone mineral density of adolescents and young adults in areas with fluoridated water compared with non-fluoridated areas. However, none had individual fluoride exposure measures. To avoid ecological fallacy and reduce bias, we assessed associations of average daily fluoride intake from birth to age 15 yr for Iowa Bone Development Study cohort members with age 15 yr dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone outcomes (whole body, lumbar spine, and hip), controlling for known determinants (including daily calcium intake, average daily time spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity, and physical maturity). Mean (SD) daily fluoride intake was 0.66 mg (0.24) for females and 0.78 mg (0.30) for males. We found no significant relationships between daily fluoride intake and adolescents' bone measures in adjusted models (for 183 females, all p values ≥ .10 and all partial R2 ≤ 0.02; for 175 males, all p values ≥ .34 and all partial R2 ≤ 0.01). The findings suggest that fluoride exposures at the typical levels for most US adolescents in fluoridated areas do not have significant effects on bone mineral measures.


The singular-field-based mode-mix decomposition procedure is assessed for its ability to accurately predict delamination growth in various test geometries. Initially, toughness versus mode mix is obtained from laminates with delaminations at their midplanes. These results are then used to predict delamination growth in other geometries, and the associated tests of these geometries are performed. A typical graphite/epoxy material system is considered. For this material, it is shown that predictions of delamination growth using a singular-field-based mode-mix decomposition will result in significant errors. That is, when a classical, singular-field-based definition of mode mix is used, tests of different specimen geometries predicted to be at the same mode mix do not display the same toughness. All the test data is then reinterpreted with the aid of a previously developed crack-tip-element analysis. This approach allows for various definitions of mode mix to be evaluated, of which the singular-field-based result is one special case. It is shown that defining mode mix in terms of non-classical parameters results in accurate predictions of delamination growth, and test geometries predicted to be at the same mode mix now display the same toughness. This new definition of mode mix is based on parameters that uniquely characterize the conditionsmore » at the crack tip, but which are insensitive to the scale of the near-tip damage. A systematic method for determining the appropriate definition of mode mix for arbitrary material systems is described.« less


In this paper an optimal maintenance policy for a Reactor Protection System (RPS) for a nuclear plant was developed. RPS consists of continuously operating sub-systems that were subject to random failures. A block system diagram for RPS had been proposed that facilitates analyzing of individual sub-systems separately. The proposed maintenance policy is the Age Replacement model, which incorporated both corrective and preventive maintenances. A Markov model was used to optimize the preventive maintenance interval of those sub-systems whose failure and repair rates were exponentially distributed. Finally, a sensitivity analysis had been performed and recommendations for maintaining the required RPS availability have been suggested.


Biomass burning is a major source of trace gases and aerosols, influencing atmospheric chemistry and climate. To quantitatively assess its impact, an accurate representation of fire emissions is crucial for the atmospheric modeling community. So far, most studies rely on static emission factors (EF) which convert estimates of dry matter burned to trace gas and aerosol emissions. These EFs are often based on the arithmetic mean of field measurements stratified by biome, neglecting the variability in time and space. Here we present global carbon monoxide (CO) emission estimates from fires based on six EF scenarios with different spatial and temporal variability, using dry matter emission estimates from the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). We used the TM5 model to transport these different bottom‐up estimates in the atmosphere and found that including spatial and temporal variability in EFs impacted CO mixing ratios substantially. Most scenarios estimated higher CO mixing ratios (up to 40% more CO from fires during the burning season) over boreal regions compared to the GFED standard run, while a decrease (~15%) was estimated over the continent of Africa. A comparison to atmospheric CO observations showed differences of 10–20 ppb between the scenarios and systematic deviations from local observations. Although temporal correlations of specific EF scenarios improved for certain regions, an overall "best" set of EFs could not be selected. Our results provide a new set of emission estimates that can be used for sensitivity analyses and highlight the importance of better understanding spatial and temporal variability in EFs for atmospheric studies in general and specifically when using CO or aerosols concentration measurements to top‐down constrain fire carbon emissions.


The extraction and quantitative analysis of low molar mass compounds in polymers is an analytical challenge. It is also important from a practical point of view because the low molar mass compounds in time will migrate from the polymers into the surrounding environment. It is especially important to gain knowledge about the migrating compounds in applications such as medical implants, packaging materials and car interiors. The main aim of this thesis was to develop headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) methods to meet this challenge. In addition, the work aimed to show the applicability of the methods developed in quality control of polymers, degradation studies and assessment of polymer durability. Factors influencing the extraction of low molar mass compounds from polyamide 6.6 were studied. Particular attention was paid to the matrix effects and to the establishment of headspace equilibrium of 2-cyclopentyl-cyclopentanone in solid polyamide. Hydrogen bonding and adsorption of analyte to the polar matrix was observed and found to cause exceedingly slow establishment of equilibrium. The adsorption could be eliminated by the addition of water, which replaced 2-cyclopentyl-cyclopentanone at the adsorption sites of the polyamide and made it possible to measure the 2-cyclopentyl-cyclopentanone content in polyamide 6.6 using multiple headspace solid-phase microextraction (MHS-SPME). A correlation between the emitted amount of 2-cyclopentyl-cyclopentanone and the amount 2-cyclopentyl-cyclopentanone in the material was found. The correlation was valid also under non-equilibrium conditions, which allows rapid assessment of the 2cyclopentyl-cyclopentanone content in polyamide 6.6 using headspace sampling. 20 different low molar mass compounds were identified in virgin and recycled polyamide 6.6. The compounds could be classified into four groups: cyclic imides, pyridines, chain fragments and cyclopentanones. The structures of the degradation products imply that the thermo-oxidative degradation starts at the N-vicinal methyl group. Larger amounts of degradation products at lower degree of degradation were formed in recycled than in virgin polyamide 6.6. Thus, processing increases the susceptibility of polyamide 6.6 to thermal oxidation. The total amount of cyclopentanones was reduced upon processing and oxidation. Cyclopentanones are thus not thermo-oxidation products of polyamide 6.6. N-pentyl-succinimide showed the most significant increase due to oxidation and processing. The formation of N-pentyl-succinimide was in correlation with the simultaneous changes in tensile strength. The largest increase in N-pentyl-succinimide coincided with the largest drop in tensile strength.


Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase (XET) is thought to be involved in fruit softening through disassembly of xyloglucan, which is the predominant hemicellulose of cell wall. To study the relationship between fruit softening and XET during banana (Musa acuminata Colla cv. Grand Nain) fruit ripening, a full length cDNA (1 095 bp) encoding an XET, MA-XET1, was isolated from ripening banana fruit using RT-PCR and RACE-PCR (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) methods. Sequence analysis showed that the cDNA contains 5' untranslated region of 66 bp, 3' untranslated region of 189 bp and ORF of 840 bp, encoding a predicted polypeptide of 280 amino acids, including DEIDFEFL motif, which is a presumptive catalytic domain conserved in XETs. DNA gel blot analysis demonstrated that MA-XET1 is encoded by a multi-copy family in the banana genome. RNA gel blot analysis revealed that the level of MA-XET1 transcript in the pulp was undetectable, increased and decreased slightly at the preclimacteric, climacteric and postclimacteric stages, respectively. In the peel, accumulation of MA-XET1 transcript was low, increased dramatically and then decreased rapidly, at preclimacteric, climacteric and postclimacteric stages, respectively. Treatment of fruit with propylene, an analog of ethylene, decreased the firmness and enhanced the accumulation of MA-XET1 transcript in the peel and pulp. These results suggest that MA-XET1 is involved in softening of the peel and pulp during banana fruit ripening and its expression is regulated by ethylene at transcriptional level.


This article suggest a simple adaptive approach for tracking the nonmaneuvering and maneuvering target, this tracking approach uses two states per coordinate model to describe the target motion, the residue that provides from this filter is forms the sufficient statistic to detect the existence of maneuver by fading memory detector (FMD) with two-threshold value. When the residue exceeds one on the threshold value, it is used to vary the maneuver noise spectral density ( q) in the two states Kalman filter model. This approach is consider as an extended and enhanced for the Castella tracking filter [3] which proposed to track the maneuvering targets for a low data rate track-while-scan (TWS) operation. However, the performance of the suggested approach is tested under different flight environments to compare the effectiveness of it with the performance of the Castella tracking filter.


This study was conducted to investigate the adoption of ICT by libraries of teacher training colleges of education located in northern Ghana. The study an area covers five administrative regions located in northern Ghana. These are the Northern Region, North East Region, Upper East Region, Savanna Region and Upper West Region. The survey method was used and questionnaire was used as data gathering tool. Copies of the questionnaire were issued to eight librarians of the eight teacher college libraries in the study area. Findings of the study revealed that the adoption of ICT by libraries of teacher training colleges of education located in northern Ghana was still a new phenomenon and therefore in a conception stage. The study also revealed that although the libraries use ICT in the provision of some services these services were inadequate because of some challenges such as inadequate funding, lack of skilled staff, and the lack of support from management. The study recommended that ICT literacy training should be given to college librarians since ICT is a dynamic environment which needs constant practice and training. It was also recommended that management of teacher colleges of education provide adequate support to the libraries by equipping them with modern ICT tools such as computers, printers and scanners to support their house keeping activities. The study also recommended that college librarians go on attachment programmes to understudy librarians in mainstream university libraries in order to learn the best practices in modern librarianship.


Extending an explicit result from Bridson–Conder–Reid, this work provides an algorithm for distinguishing finite quotients between cocompact triangle groups Δ and lattices Γ of constant curvature symmetric 2-spaces. Much of our attention will be on when these lattices are Fuchsian groups. We prove that it will suffice to take a finite quotient that is Abelian, dihedral, a subgroup of PSL(n,Fq) (for an odd prime power q), or an Abelian extension of one of these 3 groups. For the latter case, we will require and develop an approach for creating group extensions upon a shared finite quotient of Δ and Γ which between them have differing degrees of smoothness. Furthermore, on the order of a finite quotient that distinguishes between Δ and Γ, we are able to establish an effective upperbound that is superexponential depending on the cone orders appearing in each group.


Regulation of stem cells is essential for development and adult tissue homoeostasis. The proper control of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation maintains organ physiology, and disruption of such a balance results in disease. There are many mechanisms that have been established as stem cell regulators, such as Wnt or Notch signals. However, the intracellular mechanisms that mediate and integrate these signals are not well understood. A new intracellular pathway that has been reported to be involved in the regulation of many stem cell types is that of p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase). In particular, p38α is essential for the proper differentiation of many haematopoietic, mesenchymal and epithelial stem/progenitor cells. Many reports have shown that disruption of this kinase pathway has pathological consequences in many organs. Understanding the extracellular cues and downstream targets of p38α in stem cell regulation may help to tackle some of the pathologies associated with improper differentiation and regulation of stem cell function. In the present review we present a vision of the current knowledge on the roles of the p38α signal as a regulator of stem/progenitor cells in different tissues in physiology and disease.


Introduction: Estimating the age of the ossification of the iliac crest may help determine the legal age. For this purpose, both anthropological and radiological methods (conventional radiography, ultrasound, Tomography, and MRI) have been used to study different systems. Objectives: The present study aimed to to evaluate the iliac crest apophysis for age estimation through multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in 10- to 29-year-old individuals. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out on 10- to 29-year-old individuals who underwent pelvic CT examinations for different reasons in Imam Khomeini and Golestan hospitals of Ahwaz during 2016–2018. The CT examinations of the iliac crest apophysis of 531 patients (267 females and 264 males) were evaluated based on the Kreitner's four-stage system. Results: According to the Kreitner's four-stage system, the minimum age for both sides of the pelvis at stage 2 for girls and boys was 12 years and 13 years, respectively. However, at stage 3, the minimum age for girls and boys was 15 and 17 years, respectively. Accordingly, stage 4 was first observed in boys at age 17 on both sides of the pelvis. In contrast, it appeared in girls at the age of 20 on the right side. Conclusion: Along with the findings of other studies, the results showed that multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) is recommended for iliac crest in retrospective cases (where pelvic CT scans already exist), and it may be considered as a supportive method for age-estimation purposes. Moreover, when CT images are used along with other age estimation methods, they provide physicians with valuable supplementary information.


'Statism' as a political-ideological priority of the Russian establishment acquires a distinctly conservative character. This conservatism has its own considerable specificity. Firstly, it is not identical with Russian nationalism. Rather, it has a general imperial character, including an emphasis on the unity of peoples and nations within this geopolitical and socio-cultural space. Distinctly Russian values are prioritized solely due to the fact that these are the primary 'bond' of the state-territory-people-power. Secondly, this conservatism can be described as 'right-wing' only with significant qualifications. In Russia, the conservatives base their rhetoric on paternalistic priorities. As a result (and this is an important paradox) they put forward slogans about social justice, the priority of collectivism, and the like in relation to economic policy. They use not only anti-Western rhetoric, but anti-liberal rhetoric as well, speaking against the so-called 'democratic' opposition as well as politicians with more left views. Thirdly, 'statism' in Russia is closely connected with the historical tradition of struggle against fascism and the glorification of the heroism of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. Even its name – not the Second World War, but the Great Patriotic War – speaks for itself. As a result, the rhetoric of statism in Russia has a pronounced anti-fascist character.


In this article a reliability-based approach to determine the extreme response distribution of offshore wind turbines is presented. Based on hindcast data, the statistical description of the offshore environment is formulated. The contour lines of different return periods can be determined. Simulations are carried out for a prototype design of a 3 MW offshore wind turbine. Statistical methods are applied to determine the distribution of the extreme responses. Three approaches are used here. In the MAX approach, only the maximum of each simulation is taken into account. The POT (peak over threshold) approach takes also local maxima into consideration. The process model uses the statistical properties of the process to predict the extremes. All three methods show similar results, but POT and the process model require fewer simulations. Comparison is made for the 100 year response between these reliability-based models and a deterministic model. For this specific turbine the deterministic model underestimates the maximum flap moment but overestimates the maximum overturning moment of the support structure compared with the estimates of the reliability-based methods. The application of the reliability-based model can be extended to include other extreme load situations and achieve a more efficient structural design. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Chlamydial organisms are small bacteria that need to be inside cells to multiply. There are three species, Chlamydia trachomatis, C psittaci, and C pneumoniae. Serotypes A, B, and C of C trachomatis are the cause of the blinding disease trachoma. Serotypes D to K are sexually transmitted and, world wide, are an important cause of morbidity in both men and women. In men chlamydial infection causes up to half of all acute non-gonococcal urethritis and at least one third of acute epididymitis.1 In women such infection causes up to half of all mucopurulent or follicular cervicitis, and in developed countries up to 60% of pelvic inflammatory disease,1 a condition associated with a substantial risk of subsequent infertility and ectopic pregnancy. C trachomatis infection may also trigger reactive arthritis in men and women.2 Transmission of the organisms to newborn infants from mothers, usually during birth, may lead to neonatal conjunctivitis and pneumonia.epididymitis.

Progress in understanding the pathogenesis of genital chlamydial infections has come with the recognition that some persistent or recurrent disease (including chronic non-gonococcal …


Vision and Language ($VL$) models have demonstrated remarkable zero-shot performance in a variety of tasks. However, some aspects of complex language understanding still remain a challenge. We introduce the collective notion of Structured Vision & Language Concepts (SVLC) which includes object attributes, relations, and states which are present in the text and visible in the image. Recent studies have shown that even the best $VL$ models struggle with SVLC. A possible way of fixing this issue is by collecting dedicated datasets for teaching each SVLC type, yet this might be expensive and time-consuming. Instead, we propose a more elegant data-driven approach for enhancing $VL$ models' understanding of SVLCs that makes more effective use of existing $VL$ pre-training datasets and does not require any additional data. While automatic understanding of image structure still remains largely unsolved, language structure is much better modeled and understood, allowing for its effective utilization in teaching $VL$ models. In this paper, we propose various techniques based on language structure understanding that can be used to manipulate the textual part of off-the-shelf paired $VL$ datasets. $VL$ models trained with the updated data exhibit a significant improvement of up to 15% in their SVLC understanding with only a mild degradation in their zero-shot capabilities both when training from scratch or fine-tuning a pre-trained model. Our code and pretrained models are available at: https://github.com/SivanDoveh/TSVLC


A novel actinobacterium, designated strain NEAU-YG30T, was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of lettuce collected in Heilongjiang province, north-east China. The taxonomic position of the strain was investigated using a polyphasic approach. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain NEAU-YG30T belongs to the genus Nonomuraea, and shared highest sequence similarity to Nonomuraea muscovyensis KCTC 29233T (97.9 %) and Nonomuraea indica CCTCC AA 209050T (97.6 %). The major menaquinone was identified as MK-9(H4). The major fatty acids were 10-methyl C17 : 0, C17 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 2-OH, iso-C16 : 0 and C16 : 0. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, hydroxyl-phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, an unidentified phospholipid and three unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain NEAU-YG30T was 70.5 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization values between them were less than 70 %. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic data, strain NEAU-YG30T can be characterized to represent a novel species of the genus Nonomuraea, for which the name Nonomuraealactucae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-YG30T (=JCM 32549T=CGMCC 4.7506T).


Background Web-based interventions with a self-tracking component have been found to be effective in promoting adults' fruit and vegetable consumption. However, these interventions primarily focus on individual- rather than group-based self-tracking. The rise of social media technologies enables sharing and comparing self-tracking records in a group context. Therefore, we developed an online group-based self-tracking program to promote fruit and vegetable consumption. Objective This study aims to examine (1) the effectiveness of online group-based self-tracking on fruit and vegetable consumption and (2) characteristics of online self-tracking groups that make the group more effective in promoting fruit and vegetable consumption in early young adults. Methods During a 4-week Web-based experiment, 111 college students self-tracked their fruit and vegetable consumption either individually (ie, the control group) or in an online group characterized by a 2 (demographic similarity: demographically similar vs demographically diverse) × 2 (social modeling: incremental change vs ideal change) experimental design. Each online group consisted of one focal participant and three confederates as group members or peers, who had their demographics and fruit and vegetable consumption manipulated to create the four intervention groups. Self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption were assessed using the Food Frequency Questionnaire at baseline and after the 4-week experiment. Results Participants who self-tracked their fruit and vegetable consumption collectively with other group members consumed more fruits and vegetables than participants who self-tracked individually (P=.01). The results did not show significant main effects of demographic similarity (P=.32) or types of social modeling (P=.48) in making self-tracking groups more effective in promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. However, additional analyses revealed the main effect of performance discrepancy (ie, difference in fruit and vegetable consumption between a focal participant and his/her group members during the experiment), such that participants who had a low performance discrepancy from other group members had greater fruit and vegetable consumption than participants who had a high performance discrepancy from other group members (P=.002). A mediation test showed that low performance discrepancy led to greater downward contrast (b=–0.78, 95% CI –2.44 to –0.15), which in turn led to greater fruit and vegetable consumption. Conclusions Online self-tracking groups were more effective than self-tracking alone in promoting fruit and vegetable consumption for early young adults. Low performance discrepancy from other group members lead to downward contrast, which in turn increased participants' fruit and vegetable consumption over time. The study highlighted social comparison processes in online groups that allow for sharing personal health information. Lastly, given the small scale of this study, nonsignificant results with small effect sizes might be subject to bias.


A summary of the results of wind-tunnel tests to determine the high-speed aerodynamic characteristics of six model wings having NACA 65sub1-series sections is presented in this report. The 8-percent-thick wings were superior to the 10-percent and 12-percent-thick wings from the standpoint of power economy during level flight for Mach numbers above 0.76. However, airplanes that are to fly at Mach numbers below 0.76 will gain aerodynamically if the percentage thickness of the wing and the aspect ratio are both increased. The lift-curve slopes for the 8-percent-thick wings at 0.85 Mach number were roughly twice their low-speed values.


Mef2c is a MADS (MCM1-agamous-deficient serum response factor) transcription factor best known for its role in muscle and cardiovascular development. A causal role of up-regulated MEF2C expression in myelomonocytic acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has recently been demonstrated. Due to the pronounced monocytic component observed in Mef2c-induced AML, this study was designed to assess the importance of Mef2c in normal myeloid differentiation. Analysis of bone marrow (BM) cells manipulated to constitutively express Mef2c demonstrated increased monopoiesis at the expense of granulopoiesis, whereas BM isolated from Mef2c(Delta/-) mice showed reduced levels of monocytic differentiation in response to cytokines. Mechanistic studies showed that loss of Mef2c expression correlated with reduced levels of transcripts encoding c-Jun, but not PU.1, C/EBPalpha, or JunB transcription factors. Inhibiting Jun expression by short-interfering RNA impaired Mef2c-mediated inhibition of granulocyte development. Moreover, retroviral expression of c-Jun in BM cells promoted monocytic differentiation. The ability of Mef2c to modulate cell-fate decisions between monocyte and granulocyte differentiation, coupled with its functional sensitivity to extracellular stimuli, demonstrate an important role in immunity--and, consistent with findings of other myeloid transcription factors, a target of oncogenic lesions in AML.


Models of cardiac electrophysiology are useful for studying heart functions and cardiac disease mechanisms. However, cardiac models often have a great level of complexity, and it is often computationally prohibitive to simulate tissue and organ activities in a real-time fashion. To address the challenge, simplified models such as Aliev-Panfilov model are developed to reduce model complexity, while providing necessary details of cardiac functions. Simplified models may induce uncertainty, which can deteriorate the accuracy and reliability of cardiac models. In addition, model parameters are calibrated with noisy data and cannot be known with certainty. It is important to assess the effect of parametric uncertainty on model predictions. For the probabilistic, time-invariant parametric uncertainty, a generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) expansion-based method is presented in this work to quantify and propagate uncertainty onto model predictions. Using gPC, a measure of confidence in model predictions can be quickly estimated. As compared with sampling-based uncertainty propagation techniques, e.g., Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, the gPC-based method in this work shows its advantages in terms of computational efficiency and accuracy, which has the potentials for dealing with complicated cardiac models, e.g., 2D tissue and 3D organ models.


It is a topic of fundamental and practical importance how a quantum correlated state can be reliably distributed through a noisy channel for quantum information processing. The concept of quantum steering recently defined in a rigorous manner is relevant to study it under certain circumstances and here we address quantum steerability of Gaussian states to this aim. In particular, we attempt to reformulate the criterion for Gaussian steering in terms of local and global purities and show that it is sufficient and necessary for the case of steering a 1-mode system by an N-mode system. It subsequently enables us to reinforce a strong monogamy relation under which only one party can steer a local system of 1-mode. Moreover, we show that only a negative partial-transpose state can manifest quantum steerability by Gaussian measurements in relation to the Peres conjecture. We also discuss our formulation for the case of distributing a two-mode squeezed state via one-way quantum channels making dissipation and amplification effects, respectively. Finally, we extend our approach to include non-Gaussian measurements, more precisely, all orders of higher-order squeezing measurements, and find that this broad set of non-Gaussian measurements is not useful to demonstrate steering for Gaussian states beyond Gaussian measurements.


Sibling survival histories are a major source of adult mortality estimates in countries with incomplete death registration. We evaluate age and date reporting errors in sibling histories collected during a validation study in the Niakhar Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Senegal). Participants were randomly assigned to either the Demographic and Health Survey questionnaire or a questionnaire incorporating an event history calendar, recall cues, and increased probing strategies. We linked 60–62 per cent of survey reports of siblings to the reference database using manual and probabilistic approaches. Both questionnaires showed high sensitivity (>96 per cent) and specificity (>97 per cent) in recording siblings' vital status. Respondents underestimated the age of living siblings, and age at and time since death of deceased siblings. These reporting errors introduced downward biases in mortality estimates. The revised questionnaire improved reporting of age of living siblings but not of age at or timing of deaths.


HIPAA is finally in effect! I must say this has been a momentous day in my office, as we have been busily preparing for the ultimate in patient privacy protection for the past year. Even though my office had to file an extension, as did all other dermatologists and governmental agencies, I assure you we have a plan that will "knock your socks off," as we commonly say in North Carolina. Prior to this time, I used to lay awake at night wondering who was going to break into my office and steal patient charts. Why, one of my recurring nightmares was opening the office door, only to find a completely bare chart rack. Can you imagine the horror of having to report this catastrophe to the police? But worry no more, I sleep at night knowing that my office is under 24-hour surveillance by a security guard and my HIPAA


Hypotonic dilution of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) induces large conductive permeabilities for K+ and Cl-, associated with the capacity of the cells to regulate their volumes. When rapid cation leakage is assured by the addition of the ionophore gramicidin, the behavior of the anion conductance pathway can be independently examined. Using this technique it is demonstrated that the volume- induced activation of Cl- transport is triggered at a threshold of approximately 1.15 X isotonic cell volume. If the volume of a cell is increased to this level or above, the Cl- transport system is activated, whereas if the volume of a swollen cell is decreased below the threshold value, the Cl- transport is inactivated. Activation and inactivation are independent of the relative volume changes and of the actual cellular Na+, K+, or Cl- concentrations, as well as of the changes in membrane potential in PBL. When net salt movement and thus volume change are inhibited by specific blockers of K+ transport (e.g., quinine, or Ca2+ depletion), volume-induced Cl- conductance shows a time-dependent inactivation, with a half-time of 5-8 min. The Cl- conductance, when activated, appears to involve an all-or-none response. In contrast, volume-induced K+ conductance is a graded response, with the increase in K+ flux being roughly proportional to the hypotonicity-induced increase in cell volume. The data indicate that during lymphocyte volume response in hypotonic media, anion conductance increases by orders of magnitude, exceeding the K+ conductance, so that the rate of the volume decrease (KCl efflux) is determined by a graded alteration in K+ conductance. When the cell volume approaches the isotonic value, it is stabilized by the inactivation of the anion conductance pathway.


The itinerary planning problem in an urban public transport system constitutes a common routing and scheduling decision faced by travelers. The objective of this paper is to present a new formulation and an algorithm for solving the itinerary planning problem, i.e., determination of the itinerary that lexicographically optimizes a set of criteria (i.e., total travel time, number of transfers, and total walking and waiting time) while departing from the origin and arriving at the destination within specified time windows. Based on the proposed formulation, the itinerary planning problem is expressed as a shortest path problem in a multimodal time-schedule network with time windows and time-dependent travel times. A dynamic programming-based algorithm has been developed for the solution of the emerging problem. The special case of the problem involving a mandatory visit at an intermediate stop within a given time window is formulated as two nested itinerary planning problems which are solved by the aforementioned algorithm. The proposed algorithm has been integrated in a Web-based journey planning system, whereas its performance has been assessed by solving real-life itinerary planning problems defined on the Athens urban public transport network, providing fast and accurate solutions.


The subsumption theorem is an important theorem concerning resolution. Essentially , it says that if a set of clauses logically implies a clause C, then either C is a tautology, or a clause D which subsumes C can be derived from with resolution. It was originally proved in 1967 by Lee in Lee67]. In Inductive Logic Programming, interest in this theorem is increasing since its rediscovery by Bain and Muggleton BM92]. It provides a quite natural \bridge" between subsumption and logical implication. Unfortunately, a correct formulation and proof of the subsumption theorem are not available. It is not clear which forms of resolution are allowed. In fact, at least one of the current forms of this theorem is false. This causes a lot of confusion. In this paper we give a careful proof of the subsumption theorem for un-constrained resolution, and show that the well-known refutation-completeness of resolution is just a special case of this theorem. We also show that the subsumption theorem does not hold when only input resolution is used, not even in case contains only one clause. Since Mug92, I-A93] assume the contrary, some results (for instance results on nth roots and nth powers) in these articles should perhaps be reconsidered.


Changes in the shell architecture of marine snails enhance defenses and greatly improve survival against predators. In the northwest Atlantic Ocean, shorter and thicker shells have been reported for several species following the introduction of predatory Carcinus maenas crabs early in the 20th century. But we report that the shell lengths of Nucella lapillus actually increased by an average of 22.6% over the past century, with no evidence of shell thickening after correcting for shell length. The increases in shell length were greatest on sheltered shores, highlighting the interaction between wave exposure and the sampling period. Comparisons were based on archived shells collected in 1915–1922 from sites that were resampled in 2007. N. lapillus is an important member of North Atlantic marine ecosystems, and our results suggest that the impacts of historical changes in species' key morphological traits on marine ecosystems remain underappreciated.


The Dividing Rectangles (DIRECT) algorithm is a deterministic optimization method to explore optimal solutions by repeatedly dividing a given hyperrectangle search space into subhyperrectangles. Herein, we propose a structure search method for atomic clusters based on the DIRECT algorithm in combination with a gradient-based local optimizer to enable an efficient structure search in high-dimensional search spaces. We use the Z-matrix representation for defining the hyperrectangle search space, in which the bond lengths, bond angles, and dihedral angles specify a cluster structure. To evaluate its performance, we applied the proposed method to the Lennard-Jones clusters and two kinds of real atomic clusters with many metastable structures, i.e., phosphorus and sulfur clusters, and compared the results with those of conventional methods. The proposed method exhibits a higher efficiency than random search and a comparable efficiency to basin hopping.


Antipeptide antibodies generated against the N terminus of the protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) binding protein sds22 detected at least four forms of the protein in a rat liver nuclear extract. Four of these immunoreactive bands likely correspond to four predicted forms of sds22 that are generated by alternative splicing. These four proteins are expressed at different levels and appear to be localized exclusively in the nucleus, and two of these proteins copurify with PPI on the protein phosphatase affinity matrix microcystin-Sepharose. Two higher molecular mass nuclear proteins that are immunoreactive with the sds22 antibodies also copurify on microcystin-Sepharose and may be novel forms of sds22 expressed in mammalian cells.


The question of the surgeon's responsibility for the negligence of hospital employees during surgery continues to be a troublesome one. This article focuses on a recent case in which a hospital was held responsible for injury caused when a sponge count was negligently performed by surgical nurses acting under the hospital's written directions, where the court applied the "borrowed servant" rule to reach the proper result.


The inclusion of a course in gender issues in a technical communication curriculum affords students the opportunity to confront objectivist and rationalist paradigms still found in the discourse of technical communication. The theoretical and practical foundations of a course that examines feminist inquiry into the production and dissemination of knowledge, as well as the language practices associated with professional writing and communication, are discussed. Issues of gender roles within organizational collaborative work groups, as well as issues related to gendered assumptions in science and technology, are also integral parts of the course design. A description of objectives, assignments, and tests for the course, as well as a full syllabus, are included. >


Grain sorghum demand for industrial and domestic uses has triggered increased production of sorghum. Field experiment was conducted at Egerton University Njoro, Kenya to determine the most effective herbicide(s) for weed management in sorghum. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with nine treatments replicated three times. The treatments consisted of four pre-emergence herbicides namely Lumax ® (Mesotrine, Metolachlor, Terbuthylazine), Primagram ® (Atrazine, S-metolachlor), Dual gold ® (S-Metolachlor) and Sencor ® (Metribuzin). In addition, three post-emergence herbicides namely 2,4-D (2,4-D amine salt), Maguguma ® (Atrazine, S-metolachlor) and Auxio ® (Bromoxnil, Tembotrine) were included. Positive and negative controls comprised of hand weeding and no weeding, respectively. Pre-emergence treatments were applied immediately after sowing while post-emergence treatments were applied 30 days after sowing. Weed density and biomass were determined at 30 and 60 days after sowing. Means were separated according to least significant difference (LSD) whenever the herbicide effects were significant (P≤ 0.05). Analysis of variance revealed significant (P≤ 0.05) differences in the effect of the treatments evaluated. When used as pre-emergence herbicide, Sencor (Metribuzin) was more effective in reducing weed density by 96 and 79% relative to un-weeded and hand weeding treatments, respectively. The post-emergence 2,4-D herbicide reduced weeds by 90, 43 and 26%. Sencor and 2, 4-D were more effective in managing weeds in sorghum and currently, could be the best option for farmers in Kenya and elsewhere.


Abstract. Property importance of various aspects, especially the impact on various sectors of the economy and the country's macroeconomic is clear. Because of the real, multi-dimensional and heterogeneous nature of housing as a commodity, the lack of an integrated system includes comprehensive information of property, the lack of awareness of some actors in this field about comprehensive information about property and the lack of clear and comprehensive rules and regulations for the trading and pricing, several problems arise for the people involved in this field. In this research implementation of a crowd-sourced Web-based real estate support system is desired. Creating a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in this system for collecting, updating and integrating all official data about property is also desired in this study. In this system a Web2.0 broker and technologies such as Web services and service composition has been used. This work aims to provide comprehensive and diverse information about property from different sources. For this purpose five-level real estate support system architecture is used. PostgreSql DBMS is used to implement the desired system. Geoserver software is also used as map server and reference implementation of OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards. And Apache server is used to run web pages and user interfaces. Integration introduced methods and technologies provide a proper environment for various users to use the system and share their information. This goal is only achieved by cooperation between all involved organizations in real estate with implementation their required infrastructures in interoperability Web services format.


Countries that have traditionally led the way in promoting economic globalization and its institutions have seen a recent surge of populism and nationalism, calling into question the liberal international economic order. The rhetoric of these critics is often vague, however, and it is unclear what a populist or nationalist approach to international economic policy would look like. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation initiated by the Trump administration could give us the first clues. Will their proposals destroy the trading system as we know it, or merely tweak it? This article examines these issues by discussing the concepts of nationalism and sovereignty, and then viewing the Trump administration's specific NAFTA proposals through those lenses.


Understanding the time‐dependent scaling of chemical weathering has been a significant research goal for over a decade. A percolation theoretical treatment of nonreactive solute transport that was previously shown compatible with the scaling of chemical weathering rates is here shown to be compatible with soil formation rates, and with C and N sequestration rates in the soil as well. In this theoretical framework, the percolation backbone fractal dimensionality, which generates the long‐time tail of the solute arrival time distribution, also predicts the scaling of the reaction rates, while laboratory proportionality to the fluid flow velocity translates to an analogous relevance of the vertical infiltration rate in the field. The predicted proportionality of solute transport to net infiltration generates simultaneously the variability in soil formation rates across 4 orders of magnitude of precipitation and 12 orders of magnitude of time scales.


Parasitic plants of genera Orobanche and Phelipanche germinate after exposition to chemical signals exuded by roots of the host plants. The most studied germination stimulants belong to strigolactones (SLs), the newly discovered plant hormones which are stimulating hyphal branching of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and are involved in regulation of shoot and root architecture of plants. However, little is known about the effect of strigolactones on germination of non-weedy broomrapes. The objective of our study was to investigate the sensitivity of seeds of non-weedy broomrapes to synthetic analogue of SLs, GR24. The seeds of non-weedy broomrapes Orobanche alba, O. alsatica, O. caryophyllacea, O. elatior, O. flava, O. lutea, O. pallidiflora, O. reticulata, Phelipanche arenaria, P. purpurea and weedy species P. ramosa were collected in natural and cropland plant communities in Slovakia. Seeds of P. ramosa and P. purpurea were highly sensitive to GR24. On the other hand, effectivity of GR24 in inducing germination of several wild species, O. alba, O. caryophyllacea and P. arenaria was low, while the stimulant shown to be completely not effective on other non-weedy species O. alsatica, O. elatior, O. flava, O. lutea, O. pallidiflora, and O. reticulata. The results point out there are differences in the requirement for germination signals that possibly depend on the host.


Most of the nano-positioning systems(stage) are accomplished by a flexure hinge mechanism, which is two or three multilayer PZT actuators to realize the high accuracy and long range[1]. In this paper, it can be made by a new nano stage with the bending characteristics of the mechanical cantilever that is composed of the step motor, one multilayer PZT actuator and the displacement sensor unit. The sensor unit consists of semiconductor LD, PD and sensor holder. The displacement of stage is acquired by the bending control of the cantilever between the step motor and the PZT actuator. The basic properties of the positioning stage are presented. From these results, we can know that the new nano stage can be made by only one multilayer PZT actuator .


The first part of the paper describes the method and tools EDF has developed to create a unique integration infrastructure designed to automate EDF business processes and facilitate future evolutions. The approach to deploy CIMin EDF environment, is a Top-Down approach which creates messages (used to connect two applications) from an Information Model based on CIM. This method is based on the United Nation standard UN-CEFACT Core Component Technical Specification. The key idea is that the CIM could play the role of the Core Component model of the Electrical Industry. The second part of the paper highlights the implementation of CIM interfaces within ERDF (Electricite Reseau Distribution France) Information System. After having implemented CIM interfaces between ERDF Distribution Network GIS and MV and LV planning tools, the main project under development is the integration of GIS to DMS. A pilot for all ERDF Distribution Network Control Centers (30 covering France) is in Paris Control Center. Furthermore, a roadmap for CIM deployment within EDF Distribution Information System is being established. The third part gives an overview of the remaining challenges and how new R&D project DIGI2TAL will address them. Smart grids will exist if a semantic-based integration infrastructure is achieved. (4 pages)


Epigenetic approaches using the histone deacetylase 2 and 3 inhibitor-MI192 have been reported to accelerate stem cells to form mineralised tissues. Gelatine methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels provide a favourable microenvironment to facilitate cell delivery and support tissue formation. However, their application for bone repair is limited due to their low mechanical strength. This study aimed to investigate a GelMA hydrogel reinforced with a 3D printed scaffold to support MI192-induced human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) for bone formation. Cell culture: The GelMA (5 wt%) hydrogel supported the proliferation of MI192-pre-treated hBMSCs. MI192-pre-treated hBMSCs within the GelMA in osteogenic culture significantly increased alkaline phosphatase activity (p ≤ 0.001) compared to control. Histology: The MI192-pre-treated group enhanced osteoblast-related extracellular matrix deposition and mineralisation (p ≤ 0.001) compared to control. Mechanical testing: GelMA hydrogels reinforced with 3D printed poly(ethylene glycol)-terephthalate/poly(butylene terephthalate) (PEGT/PBT) scaffolds exhibited a 1000-fold increase in the compressive modulus compared to the GelMA alone. MI192-pre-treated hBMSCs within the GelMA–PEGT/PBT constructs significantly enhanced extracellular matrix collagen production and mineralisation compared to control (p ≤ 0.001). These findings demonstrate that the GelMA–PEGT/PBT construct provides enhanced mechanical strength and facilitates the delivery of epigenetically-activated MSCs for bone augmentation strategies.


Abstract. Sea level rise will increase the frequency and severity of coastal flooding events. Compound coastal flooding is characterized by multiple flooding pathways (i.e., high offshore water levels, streamflow, energetic waves, precipitation) acting concurrently. This study explores the joint flood risks caused by the co-occurrence of high marine water levels and precipitation in a highly urbanized semi-arid, tidally dominated region. A novel structural function developed from the multivariate analysis is proposed to consider the implications of flood control infrastructure in compound coastal flood risk assessments. Univariate statistics are analyzed for individual sites and events. Conditional, and joint probabilities are developed using a range of copulas and sampling methods. The Independent, and Cubic copulas produced poor results while the Fischer-Kock, and Roch-Alegre generally produced robust results across a range of sampling methods. The impacts of sampling are considered using annual maximum, annual coinciding, wet season monthly coinciding, and wet season monthly maximum sampling. Although, annual maximum sampling is commonly recommended for characterizing compound events, this work suggests annual maximum sampling does not produce "worst-case" event pairs and substantially underestimates marine water levels for extreme events. Wet season coinciding water level and precipitation pairs benefit from a dramatic increase in available data, improved goodness of fit statistics, and provide a range of physically realistic pairs. Wet season coinciding sampling may provide a more accurate compound flooding risk characterization for long return periods in semi-arid regions.


The main aspects related to the charge transfer reactions occurring at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) are described. The particular topics to be discussed involve simple ion transfer. Focus is given on theoretical approaches, numerical simulations, and experimental methodologies. Concerning the theoretical procedures, different computational simulations related to simple ion transfer are reviewed. The main conclusions drawn from the most accepted models are described and analyzed in regard to their relevance for explaining different aspects of ion transfer. We describe numerical simulations implementing different approaches for solving the differential equations associated with the mass transport and charge transfer. These numerical simulations are correlated with selected experimental results; their usefulness in designing new experiments is summarized. Finally, many practical applications can be envisaged regarding the determination of physicochemical properties, electroanalysis, drug lipophilicity, and phase-transfer catalysis.


Abstract In this article we describe the research we have carried out aimed at contributing conceptual and methodological tools to help in understanding better how online teaching and learning works. We develop a qualitative analysis of asynchronous forum of several e-learning courses identifying sequences or moves of teaching discourse. Introduction The new forms of online communication involving telematic (the integrated use of telecommunications and informatics, also known as the science of sending, receiving and storing information via telecommunication devices) are a great challenge when conceptualizing what has traditionally been understood as communication in education. One of the most prolific topics in the recent literature on communication in the educational context concerns the instructional use of the new technologies. It is therefore not surprising that a review of the specialized bibliography reveals many references to the concept of computer-mediated communication. Blanton, Moorman, and Traten (1998) proposed organizing the forms of communication in virtual environments, differentiating between convergent and divergent situations, depending on the interpretations of the users. Starting from that work, Shotsberger (2001) analyzed synchronous dialogues in chat rooms by applying various categories: statement, beliefs, concerns, practice, wishes, intention, query, and result. There have been recent attempts to go beyond the mere description of the messages in forums of asynchronous communication, conceiving them as an opportunity to promote knowledge and learning. The landmark work of Henry (1992) propounds that asynchronous communication can be analyzed from five dimensions: participative, social, interactive, cognitive, and metacognitive. Later, we will look at her contribution in detail. Davis and Brewer (1997) have focused their interest on the analysis of electronic discourse. For them, "electronic discourse is one form of interactive electronic communication. In the study we reserve the term for the two-directional texts in which one person using a keyboard, writes language that appears on the sender monitor and is transmitted to the monitor of a recipient, who responds by keyboard. The recipient may actually be an individual, or a group, large or small, of receivers" (p.1). Electronic discourse is complex and has multiple facets. The authors choose to work from the field of discourse analysis for two reasons: because the different levels of discourse analysis allow textual analysis, and because discourse analysis is intrinsically multidisciplinary in nature. The term electronic discourse centers on the way people use language to exchange ideas, rather than on the medium they use. The analysis performed is not that of conversation, because discourse analysis is asynchronous, with an immediacy in retroaction and response that sometimes, as we have already indicated, may be restrictive. There is a time-lag in interaction between the sending of a text and its response. Electronic discourse also differs from face-to-face communication in the to- and -fro, since interruptions and overlaps are not possible. In electronic discourse, interactivity has two poles: that of the message sender and that of the respondent. One of the findings of the work of Schrire (2002) was to illustrate that the typical pattern of Initiation-Response-Reaction, so frequent in face-to-face interaction, is not the norm in asynchronous contexts, and that when it does occur, the third exchange is more probably between students than between students and teacher. Gunawardena and others (1997) used a theoretical approach to develop a model for analyzing transcriptions of online discussion forums. Through an analysis of content, they developed a system to analyze knowledge building in social interaction, identifying five phases in the evolution of online discourse. …


The present study is based on an ecological analysis of transport and wellbeing as devised by Stokols and Novaco (1981). This study seeks to examine the link between transport mode and well-being. One hundred and eight Participants (N= 1 08) filled out a questionnaire that contained the psychological well-being scales of self-efficacy, general health and perceived stress; and the organizational scales of job satisfaction and absenteeism. The participants were divided into groups of 18 according to which transport mode they used. The transport mode groups were drive alone, train, bus, car pool, walk or cycle. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference in well-being between transport modes, that alternative modes of transport would score better than the drive alone c.ategory and that transport mode had an effect on psychological and organizational well-being. Findings supported that there was a difference in well-being between transport modes with the cycle and drive alone categories being significantly different to the bus, car pool and walk categories. Only the alternative mode of cycle performed better on the well-being scales than the drive alone category which did not support our second hypothesis. Transport mode did have an effect across both the psychological and organizational categories. Research and practical implications are discussed and directions for future research are highlighted.


We present an explicit solution to the formulated in [17] optimal stopping problem for a geometric compound Poisson process with exponential jumps. The method of proof is based on reducing the initial problem to an integro-differential free-boundary problem where the smooth fit may break down and then be replaced by the continuous fit. The result can be interpreted as pricing perpetual integral options in a model with jumps.


This article examines how one of the most striking differences between the central doctrines of the Catholic Church and the secular context of Swedish society, attitudes to abortion, is managed by the Swedish church hierarchy and commentators in the official newsletter of the Catholic Church of Sweden. Using Foucauldian concepts of power, the article concludes that in its marginal position, the Catholic Church in Sweden mixes the traditional pastoral and sovereign power of the church with the way pastoral power is exerted in modern society, in its efforts to continue asserting its influence over the possible courses of action for pregnant women. While traditionally abortion has been a woman's crime, in the Swedish Catholic context it becomes rather the crime of the secular society. This means also that the image of woman as being responsible for her decisions and in need of forgiveness gives way to an image of woman as a victim in need of understanding. Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications.


We compute the level of non-gaussianities produced by a cosmological bouncing phase in the minimal non-singular setup that lies within the context of General Relativity when the matter content consists of a simple scalar field with a standard kinetic term. Such a bouncing phase is obtained by requiring that the spatial sections of the background spacetime be positively curved. We restrict attention to the close vicinity of the bounce by Taylor expanding the scale factor, the scalar field and its potential in powers of the conformal time around the bounce. We find that possibly large non-gaussianities are generically produced at the bounce itself and also discuss which shapes of non-gaussianities are mostly likely to be produced.


Ditched forest roads leading to stream crossings and used for log transportation have recently been a topic of water quality concern and legal controversy. Best management practices (BMPs) can reduce potential water quality issues, yet few research studies have quantified BMP costs and reductions in sediment from implementing specific ditch BMPs. Researchers reconstructed fifty 15.2 m sections of ditches at stream crossings or cross drains and applied one of five treatments. Treatments were replicated 10 times and split by two slope classes in a completely randomized design. Silt fence traps were placed at the end of each ditch section prior to stream crossings or culvert inlets. Sediment pins were installed adjacent to the silt fence and sediment deposit depths were measured 42 days following ditch re-construction. Field based results show that median erosion rates were greatest for the Bare (48.0 Mg ha-1 yr-1), followed by Seeded (25.0 Mg ha-1 yr-1), Check Dams (22.2 Mg ha-1 yr-1), Completely Rocked (2.6 Mg ha-1 yr-1), and Seeded with Erosion Mat (2.1 Mg ha-1 yr-1). Results from the Kruskal-Wallis statistical test showed that the Bare treatments had significantly greater erosion rates from Completely Rocked and Seeded with Erosion Mat treatments. Cost of BMP treatment was cheapest for Seeded ($9), followed by Seeded with Erosion Mat ($24), Check Dams ($45.40), and Completely Rocked ($119.50). Study results suggest that re-constructed ditches should drain short sections of road and should contain some erosion control BMP in order to reduce erosion and sediment delivery


This paper describes the in-flight calibration of the polarization response of the SCIAMACHY polarization measurement devices (PMDs) and a selected region of its science channels. With the lack of polarized calibration sources it is not possible to obtain such a calibration from dedicated calibration measurements. Instead, the earthshine itself, together with a simplified radiative transfer model (RTM), is used to derive time-dependent and measurement-configuration-dependent polarization sensitivities. The results are compared to an instrument model that describes the degradation of the instrument as a result of a slow buildup of contaminant layers on its elevation and azimuth scan mirrors. This comparison reveals significant differences between the model prediction and the data, suggesting an unforeseen change between on-ground and in-flight calibration in at least one of the polarization-sensitive components of the optical bench. The possibility of mechanisms other than scan mirror contamination contributing to the degradation of the instrument will be discussed. The data are consistent with a polarization phase shift occurring in the beam split prism used to divert the light coming from the telescope to the different channels and polarization measurement devices. The extension of the instrument degradation model with a linear retarder enables the determination of the relevant parameters to describe this phase shift and ultimately results in a significant improvement of the polarization measurements as well as the polarization response correction of measured radiances.


This study investigates the effects of sport's celebrity endorsement on purchase intention. More specifically, this study seeks to (1) identify the extent to which the sports celebrity's credibility influences consumer purchase intention; (2) the extent to which gender moderates the effect of sports celebrity endorsement on purchase intention; and (3) to what extent consumer sports-involvement moderates the effect of a sports celebrity endorsement on purchase intention. One famous Brazilian soccer player and four product categories were used as stimuli. The research method used was a survey, which has included 1,025 respondents. Data analysis was performed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural equation modeling (SEM), using the ADF technique, was applied to test the substantive hypotheses. To test the hypotheses of the moderating effect of gender and consumer sports-involvement, the research used the multigroup analysis technique. The empirical results support the relationship between a sport celebrity's endorsement and purchase intention. The moderating effects of gender and sports-involvement were also empirically supported, but only partially.


It has been reported that total Immunoglobulin E levels (IgE) are elevated in patients with liver damage (fatty liver), associated with alcohol consumption, but the mechanism responsible for this increase is not completely understood. The objective of this investigation was to determine serum concentrations of IgE in patients with fatty liver, associated or not with alcohol consumption. During the period of February-August 2000, a total of 756 patients attended the outpatient Gastroenterology Service of the University Central Hospital "Antonio María Pineda" in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Of these, 150 were diagnosed as suffering from fatty liver, but only 63 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The IgE was determined by Photoemission Immunometric Enzyme Immunoassay (High Resolution Amplified Chemoluminescence). IgE serum levels were higher in patients that consumed alcohol (low risk consumer, mean 586.42 +/- 779.74 UI/mL; consumer at risk, mean 329.31 +/- 358.13 UI/mL) in comparison with abstainers (mean 77.51 +/- 56.95 UI/mL) (p < 0.05). There was no relationship between IgE levels and the severity of hepatic steatosis. IgE may be considered a biochemical marker for fatty liver associated with alcohol consumption.


This paper considers an Hinfin control scheme for active suspensions. A quarter car model, which captures many features of real structures, is used in this study and a pragmatic approach to select the uncertainty and performance weights is proposed. The controller improves ride comfort without sacrificing ride safety and is robust to parametric uncertainties of the model. To decrease the costs of implementation, various controller reduction tools, are applied to reach the same performance by a lower order controller. System performance using reduced controllers are assessed and compared with each other. Numerical data, time and frequency domain simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the reduced order controller


The issue of disclosure of information during negotiations has been a concern to both unions and employers. Unions have the right to have access to information that is in possession of the employer, while the employer has the right to refuse to disclose such information if the disclosure will affect their privacy or if the information requested is confidential and the disclosure will negatively impact on the competitive edge of the business. Despite the fact that access to information is protected in the law, the union can only request information that is relevant to the discussion before the parties. A refusal by the employer to provide a union with relevant information can negatively impede the prospects for a successful collective agreement or an amicable settlement of a labour dispute. The point of contention is that employers may be concerned that very important information like trade secrets may land in the hands of competitors if precautionary measures (like refusing to disclose such to the trade union and other parties) are not taken to guard against their disclosure. Then the question arises as to how to strike a balance between the refusal of the employer to disclose the information required by the union on the basis that the information is private and/or confidential, and the union's right to have access to such information. It is argued that the employer's right to privacy or confidentiality may be tempered with in terms of the limitation clause of the Constitution. This article further addresses the question of what can constitute acceptable reasons for the employer's refusal to provide the union with the requested information, and the effects of such refusal on the capacity of a union to negotiate effectively.

 Key words: disclosure, confidentiality, privacy, access to information, negotiations.


Circle hooks have become a standard requirement in many commercial longline fisheries in the united states, and are used increasingly worldwide. Circle hooks, when compared to J-hooks, are thought to reduce bycatch without significantly decreasing (and possibly increasing) catch of most target species. Circle hook offset and baiting technique are also thought to influence bycatch and mortality of species of concern, such as sea turtles and billfishes. We compared non-offset circle hooks to those with a 10° offset and single or threaded baiting techniques in the united states atlantic and gulf of mexico pelagic longline fishery. Offset and/or baiting techniques were compared within sets targeting one of three species independently: swordfish, Xiphias gladius linnaeus, 1758, yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares (bonnaterre, 1788), and bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus (lowe, 1839). Most comparisons of catch and bycatch did not differ between gears or techniques. In swordfish-directed sets, we found a 46% decline in catch of atlantic sailfish when using 18/0 non-offset circle hooks single baited with mackerel compared to 18/0 10° offset circle hooks with threaded mackerel. In yellowfin tuna sets, single baiting significantly decreased target catch by 22% and escolar catch by 28%, compared to threaded baiting. We detected no significant effect of any of the offset or baiting treatments on the bycatch of sea turtles and most other species of concern due to the rarity of capture events. We conclude, in part, that bycatch mitigation research in other fisheries with larger detrimental population level impacts to species of concern may potentially yield greater conservation benefits.


Many advertisers (bidders) use Internet systems to buy display advertisements on publishers' webpages or on traditional media such as radio, TV and newsprint. They seek a simple, online mechanism to reserve ad slots in advance. On the other hand, media publishers (sellers) represent a vast and varying inventory, and they too seek automatic, online mechanisms for pricing and allocating such reservations.

We propose and study a simple model for auctioning such ad slot reservations in advance. A seller will display a set of slots at some point T in the future. Until T, bidders arrive sequentially and place a bid on the slots they are interested in. The seller must decide immediately whether or not to grant a reservation. Our model allows the seller to cancel at any time any reservation made earlier, in which case the holder of the reservation incurs a utility loss amounting to a fraction of her value for the reservation and may also receive a cancellation fee from the seller.

Our main result is an online mechanism for allocation and pricing in this model with many desirable game-theoretic properties. It is individually rational. Winners have an incentive to be honest and bidding one's true value dominates any lower bid. Further, it bounds the earnings of speculators who are in the game to obtain the cancellation fees. The mechanism in addition has optimization guarantees. Its revenue is within a constant fraction of the a posteriori revenue of the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism which is known to be truthful (in the offline case). Our mechanism's efficiency is within a constant fraction of the a posteriori optimally efficient solution. If efficiency also takes into account the utility losses of bidders whose reservation was canceled, we show that our mechanism matches (for appropriate values of the parameters) an upper bound on the competitive ratio of any deterministic online algorithm.

Our mechanism's technical core is a variant of the online weighted bipartite matching problem where unlike prior variants in which one randomizes edge arrivals or bounds edge weights, we may revoke previously committed edges.

Our results make no assumptions about bidders' arrival order or value distribution. They still hold if we replace items with elements of a matroid and matchings with independent sets, or if all bidders have additive value for a set of items.