Abstract. Paleobiological and paleoecological interpretations rely on constraining the temporal resolution of the fossil record. The taphonomic clock, that is, a correlation between the alteration of skeletal material and its age, is an approach for quantifying time-averaging scales. We test the taphonomic clock hypothesis for marine demersal and pelagic fish otoliths from a 10–40 m depth transect on the Mediterranean siliciclastic Israeli shelf by radiocarbon dating and taphonomic scoring. Otolith ages span the last ∼8000 yr, with considerable variation in median and range along the transect. Severely altered otoliths, contrary to pristine otoliths, are likely to be older than 1000 yr. For pelagic fish otoliths, at 30 m depth, taphonomic degradation correlates positively with postmortem age. In contrast, no correlation occurs for demersal fishes at 10 and 30 m depth, mostly because of the paucity of very young pristine (<150 yr) otoliths, possibly due to a drop in production over the last few centuries. Contrary to molluscan and brachiopod shells, young otoliths at these depths are little affected and do not show a broad spectrum of taphonomic damage, because those that derive from predation are excreted in calcium- and phosphate-rich feces forming an insoluble crystallic matrix that increases their preservation potential. At 40 m depth, all dated otoliths are very young but rather damaged because of locally chemically aggressive sediments, thus showing no correlation between taphonomic grade and postmortem age. Our results show that local conditions and the target species population dynamics must be considered when testing the taphonomic clock hypothesis.


The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is the performance measurement tool for stabilizing process in industrial manufacturing. It becomes a comprehensive analysis method from a strategic to operational point of view to optimize measurement result.This study aims to examine gap case studies of performance measurement results of Hot Strip Mill production using OEE method in one of the largest steel industry in Cilegon Banten. The research methodology includes determination of measurement variables, secondary data collection (i.e. production time data, total production and total product defect), interviews and field observations, and analysis of factors causing the gap between target and actual performance. Based on data processing, the result of performance measurement is: 61% (availability), 63% (performance), 95% (quality) and 42% (OEE). Based on pareto analysis and fishbone diagram, it is known that dominant cause factor is delay time and high demand variation.


The drastic rise of prices for commercial fertilizers is one of the main obstacles to increase the productivity in crop production, mainly in poor countries. The search for alternatives therefore becomes very important. The reutilization of residues from bionergy processes for plant nutrition is an important concern to save fertilizers and to implement nutrient cycling in agriculture. For this study ashes derived from bioenergy production were investigated. The effect of sugar cane ash (SCA) on lettuce and cucumber was investigated in Cuba and the effects of ashes from wood (WA), poultry litter (PLA), and rape meal (RMA) on ryegrass and oil radish were investigated in Germany. Special attention was given to phosphorus (P) availability. Positive yield effects and an increased plant P uptake were found when ashes were applied (mainly SCA and RMA). Investigation regarding the effect of PLA on soil P pools showed that the ash application may also result in an increase of readily available P contents in soil. Furthermore, an increased plant uptake of potassium was found. The results indicate that ashes derived from the energetic use of biomass may provide a suitable source for plant nutrition.


A novel Gromov-Wasserstein learning framework is proposed to jointly match (align) graphs and learn embedding vectors for the associated graph nodes. Using Gromov-Wasserstein discrepancy, we measure the dissimilarity between two graphs and find their correspondence, according to the learned optimal transport. The node embeddings associated with the two graphs are learned under the guidance of the optimal transport, the distance of which not only reflects the topological structure of each graph but also yields the correspondence across the graphs. These two learning steps are mutually-beneficial, and are unified here by minimizing the Gromov-Wasserstein discrepancy with structural regularizers. This framework leads to an optimization problem that is solved by a proximal point method. We apply the proposed method to matching problems in real-world networks, and demonstrate its superior performance compared to alternative approaches.


This paper presents methods to develop metrics that compare Big Deal journal packages and the journals within those packages. Deal-level metrics guide selection of a Big Deal for termination. Journal-level metrics guide selection of individual subscriptions from journals previously provided by a terminated deal. The paper argues that, while the proposed metrics provide helpful quantitative data for comparative analysis, selection of individual subscriptions must also involve informed judgment about a library's subject coverage needs and alternative sources of access. The paper also discusses how replacing a Big Deal with a reduced number of individual subscriptions may affect the collections budget, use of other resources, and interlibrary loan.


Let G = ( V, E ) be a simple graph. A set D ⊆ V is a strong dominating set of G , if for every vertex x ∈ V \ D there is a vertex y ∈ D with xy ∈ E ( G ) and deg( x ) ≤ deg( y ). The strong domination number γ st ( G ) is defined as the minimum cardinality of a strong dominating set. In this paper, we study the effects on γ st ( G ) when G is modified by operations on vertex and edge of G .


Inasmuch as the status of environmental pollution caused by SO2 is more and more serious and the policy of environmental protection is executed more and more strictly, desulfurization from flue gas (FGD) is introduced to a wide-spread field of national economy. By a comparison with lime-limestone method, the application of adsorption method in FGD is more effective in desulfurization and more adapted to the situation of our country in respect of its more valuable byproduct. However, the technique of adsorption method is limited by the large amount of adsorbent used. In this paper, activated carbon fiber (ACF) is proposed as a new type of adsorbent to apply in FGD. A series of experiments have been made in order to compare the performances between ACF and granular activated carbon (GAC) which has been mostly used.Experiments show that under the same working conditions ACF's adsorption capacity is 16.6 times as high as that of GAC, mass loss rate is 1/12 of GAC's, desorption efficiency of ACF can reach99.9%. The theory of micropore adsorption dynamics is adopted to analyze the characteristics of both adsorbents. It is indicated that adsorbability and perfectibility of desorption are tightly related to the distribution of pores and the surface micromechanism of adsorbent surface. The accessibility of pores for specified adsorptive and the effects of capillary condensation are crucial factors to influence the process of FGD. According to the research of different adsorbents, conclusion can be drawn that ACF is a kind of good material with a strong selectivity for SO2. Compared with the traditional methods of FGD, the use of ACF can greatly economize the consumption of adsorbent and obviously reduce the introduction of new adsorbent, and at the same time keep down the equipment investment and operating cost.


A program to identify small molecules that mimic or disrupt protein-protein interactions led us to design the peptidomimetics 1-3. Solid-phase syntheses of 1-3 were developed. The purities of the crude materials isolated from the resin tend to be highest for the S- and N-compounds 2 and 3 and better than in the corresponding syntheses of peptidomimetics A. The particular dipeptide units incorporated were chosen to correspond with the turn regions of the neurotrophins (e.g., nerve growth factor [NGF] and the neurotrophin factor-3 [NT-3]). Preliminary studies were performed to access the binding of these analogues to Trk receptors and their ability to induce cell survival (just as NGF and NT-3 do). Several active compounds were identified. However, poor water solubilities of some of the other compounds preclude reliable testing. Consequently, solid-phase modifications to the synthetic procedures were investigated to provide access to the derivatives 12-14 in which the aromatic nitro group is replaced by amine, guanidine, or sulfonamide functionalities. The latter are more acceptable pharmacophores than nitro groups and also tend to increase the water solubilities of the peptidomimetics.


In this paper the performance of a new feature set, Locally Normalized Cepstral Coefficients (LNCC) is evaluated for a speaker verification task with short testing utterances in additive noise. The results presented here show that LNCC outperforms baseline MFCC features when SNR is lower than 15 dB. The average relative reduction in EER achieved by LNCC is 33%. The use of LNCC in combination with spectral subtraction provides a reduction in EER averaging 18% when compared to MFCC features also with spectral subtraction. In addition, sub-band LNCC is proposed to improve the estimation of noise energy and hence the effectiveness of spectral subtraction. When compared with MFCC features, the use of sub-band LNCC led to greater reductions in EER than LNCC with non-stationary noise.


BACKGROUND
Activation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is involved in the regulation of cell growth, differentiation, mobility, proliferation and survival. However, its clinicopathologic significance remains unclear in prostate cancer (PCa).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A tissue microarray was produced from 640 samples. Sections were immunostained with an antibody against the non-phosphorylated form of GSK-3(GSK-3beta) and were digitized. Spearman correlation test was processed for correlations between GSK-3beta and biological and clinicopathological variables. The prognostic value of GSK-3beta was analyzed by Cox Regression model.

RESULTS
Cytoplasmic GSK-3beta was higher in PCa than in normal prostate (mean expression index 4.55 vs. 3.50, p<0.0001). Conversely, nuclear expression was higher in normal prostate than that in PCa (3.38 vs. 2.04, p<0.0001). Cytoplasmic levels of GSK-3beta were correlated with clinical stage (rho=0.095, p=0.0337), lymph node metastasis (rho=0.116, p=0.0096), extracapsular extension (rho=0.092, p=0.0392), and Gleason score (rho=0.167, p=0.0002). Increased cytoplasmic GSK-3beta expression was correlated with high Ki-67 labeling index (rho=0.319, p<0.0001), low apoptotic index by TUNEL (rho=-0.118, p=0.0134), high levels of androgen receptor (rho=0.292, p<0.0001) and p-Akt (rho=0.396, p<0.0001). Patients with higher cytoplasmic levels of GSK-3beta had a two-fold risk of biochemical recurrence-free survival compared to those with lower levels of GSK-3beta [HR 1.934 (1.020-3.667), p=0.043].

CONCLUSION
Cytoplasmic accumulation of GSK-3beta is potentially associated with a pro-survival mechanism that promotes PCa development and progression.


Natural regenerations represent a concrete and safety modality to obtain valuable stands, characterised by a high level of ecosystem stability and superior productivity. Management of natural regenerations is, most often, a complex activity which involves professionalism and experience as well as adequate logistical framework. The oak-grove—beech mix stands are complex ecosystems, taking into account the complementary requirements raised by both species forming the ecosystem. As a consequence, natural regeneration of this stand requires a series of framework condition for achievement. The stand accessibility represents a basic condition, if applied treatments (interventions)' particularities are taken into account. Beech seedling tolerates to certain extent both the shading and protection provided by mother stand shading; in the case of oak grove, the requirements of in place regeneration are rather different, as longer shading could thus compromise the new stand. In order to create favourable conditions for regeneration installation and to achieve the massive state of the future stands, respectively, within an optimum period, a sequence of special works are necessary, the so-called the forestry culture maintenance. These works will be performed differently, being directly correlated with the ecological characteristics of seedling to be subsequently promoted. As a consequence, the creation of a framework of favourable conditions is targeted in order to incorporate the large size seeds into soil- the oaks case and ensuring vegetation optimal conditions for the sprung samples, through moving away herbal and arborescent species. These interventions can be performed manually or mechanically, the proper option being selected function of ground conditions and available logistics. At the same time, it is required that the maintenance works of forestry cultures to be consistently applied in order to ensure the forestry cultures outcomes, as expected by Forestry administrative bodies. The performance at due time (timing) of these works stimulates an exceptional spring and development of the future stand, thus decreasing the time span required to reach the massive state, obtaining a stand's adequate structure and composition. Thus, the stands obtained through natural regeneration preserves the local origins in-situ. For the future, the production of these types of stands will be targeted, as the advantages offered by these stands are multiple and thus creating the prerequisites for an integrated intervention.


American democracy is more fragile today than in recent memory. As evidence of stubborn imbalances in political influence grow, so too does public skepticism concerning the relative benefits of our democratic institutions. Scholars have taken note, and two dominant camps have emerged to offer proposals for restoring democratic accountability and responsiveness. The first, like the public, identifies the flood of money into electoral politics as the primary source of our troubles, whereas the second points to political parties as the root of the crisis. More recently, however, a nascent third approach has emerged. Looking beyond the usual suspects—money in politics or the state of our political parties—its focus is on legal reforms that would permit everyday Americans to exercise political power through organizations capable of providing a counterweight to the political influence of wealth.

This Article seeks to further develop the efforts of this third approach. It argues that a more nuanced understanding of the recursive relationship between governance and civil society—one that appreciates the ways that public policy, as instantiated in legislation, inevitably influences the trajectory of civil society— permits us to envision a broader conception of law's role in democratic reform. This broader conception is particularly critical given that several traditional routes have been effectively foreclosed by the Supreme Court. Toward that end, this Article identifies opportunities for law and politics—nudged perhaps by good governance philanthropists and technological advances—to make considerable strides toward rebuilding a participatory civil society capable of demanding the recognition of elected officials.


to collate and prepare a statistical analysis of the evidence concerning the dangers of these drugs and issue some advice on the subject. Dr. HORACE EvANs said that he had had an opportunity of observing 12 cases at the London Hospital; in all of them the results were demonstrably satisfactory, and no serious ill effect had been produced; in one there was slight leucopenia. Dr. G. MELTON spoke of the effect on auricular fibrillation, and related the case of a woman, aged 65, with severe thyrotoxicosis, whose rhythm was restored to normal after abouta fortnight on thiouracil-a result confirmed by the electrocardiograph. Dr. S. LEVY SIMPSON said that although Prof. Himsworth's opening statement had a tinge of optimism, and Mr. Joll's an accent of scepticism, the results described by both were very much alike. There was no doubt that in a large proportion of cases thiouracil did lower the pulse rate and the basal metabolic rate to normal or below* normal, and the patients increased in weight. The fact that it did not cure the exophthalmos was not unexpected. Surgeons stated that exophthalmos was not influenced by thyroidectomy. Nor need it be wondered at that the size of the thyroid gland sometimes increased under treatment. Apparently the drug prevented the synthesis of thyroxine, and therefore an increase, or at least an absence of decrease, in the size of the gland might be anticipated. He was convinced that thiouracil was a valuable and potent drug which, either in its present form or in some modified form, would find its place in therapeutics; but it was a potentially dangerous drug and at present should be used only by those who had specialized knowledge and were capable of observing their cases closely. Prof. HIMSWORTH said that among the cases he had brought forward were a considerable number with secondary thyrotoxicosis, and he had no reason to suppose that they differed in their response to thiouracil from the primary cases. The decrease in the basal metabolic rate and the improvement in the clinical condition seemed to him exactly comparable in both sets of cases. If he might be allowed to criticize Mr. Joll's three "failures," it was not without significance that in every one of them iodine treatment had previously been given, and that two of them had been on thiouracil for three weeks and the third for four weeks, and then the administration had stopped; this in a patient who had been on iodine might be quite insufficient to show any effect on the pulse rate.


The main concern of this paper is to create a methodology that, if incorporated to the BCU method of transient stability analysis, one can assure, for the one-machine-infinite-bus system (OMIB), the stability of the system and not the existence of the first swing only. The methodology constitutes in determining, in an iterative way, a critical damping coefficient that should be associated to the system, so that it is assured that the saddle points used as the controlling equilibrium point are on the boundary of the corresponding attraction area. That is, with that damping coefficient in the system, it can be assured that the one-parameter transversality condition will be satisfied. The methodology, as developed, is an iterative monotonically convergent process very easy to implement and does not require knowledge of fault trajectory at all. An example showing how the methodology works is also incorporated in the paper. The proposed methodology was also applied to a simple multimachine system. In that case however, the proposed methodology needs further studies and adaptation in order to be applied.


Animal populations must be able to acquire an adequate amount of nutrients to persist regardless of what environment they are in. In highly variable environments, such as drylands where food sources are limited, this potential mismatch between physiological demands and what is available in the environment is accentuated. For herbivores, the balance of macronutrients (protein and carbohydrate) is particularly important and both nutrients are highly variable in plants both spatially and temporally. Whereas it is known that many herbivores will forage multiple plants to achieve an optimal nutritional ratio (termed the intake target), it is less k nown how herbivores with different life history strategies address this in variable environments. In this study, we measured the intake targets of three grasshopper species with differing life history strategies, two migratory and one non-migratory, at three locations in New South Wales, Australia. We measured nutrient variation in plants spatially and temporally by sampling three different locations and repeated the measurement twice for one of these locations. At all three locations and both times, host plant protein differed substantially but carbohydrate content remained constant. The non-migratory grasshopper species shifted their intake target, presumably to redress nutrient imbalances. On the other hand, the two migratory grasshopper species largely maintained the same intake target, even when in a nutritionally suboptimal environment. These results suggest that non-migratory species are likely more limited in their capacity to forage for optimal diets and may rely more on digestion to survive in nutritionally suboptimal locations. In contrast, migratory grasshoppers may migrate to obtain the nutrients they need instead of redressing imbalances locally. Therefore, a strong metapopulation structure may aid in the persistence of migratory species at larger spatial scales. Since herbivores, especially insects, are important from nutrient cycling to food chains, understanding how populations persist in nutritionally variable environments is important to the overall ecosystem functioning. Further research should consider how nutritional demands drive population dynamics and how it changes with life history


Rationale: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently implemented financial penalties to reduce hospital readmissions for select conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Despite growing pressure to reduce COPD readmissions, it is unclear how COPD readmission rates are related to other measures of quality, which could inform efforts on common organizational factors that affect high‐quality care. Objectives: To examine the association between COPD readmissions and other quality measures. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2015 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services annual files, downloaded from the Hospital Compare website. We included 3,705 hospitals nationwide that had publically reported data on COPD readmissions. We compared COPD readmission rates to other risk‐adjusted measures of quality, including readmission and mortality rates for other conditions, and patient reports about care experiences. Measurements and Main Results: There were modest correlations between COPD readmission rates and readmission rates for other medical conditions, including heart failure (r = 0.39; P < 0.01), acute myocardial infarction (r = 0.30; P < 0.01), pneumonia (r = 0.38; P < 0.01), and stroke (r = 0.29; P < 0.01). In contrast, we found low correlations between COPD readmission rates and readmission rates for surgical conditions, as well as mortality rates for all measured conditions. There were significant correlations between COPD readmission rates and all patient experience measures. Conclusions: These findings suggest there may be common organizational factors that influence multiple disease‐specific outcomes. As pay‐for‐performance programs focus attention on individual disease outcomes, hospitals may benefit from in‐depth assessments of organizational factors that affect multiple aspects of hospital quality.


For ultrasonic imaging closed cracks, unable by traditional ultrasonic techniques, the subharmonic phased array for crack evaluation (SPACE) has been developed. However, a simulation model for optimizing inspection conditions and for scientific understanding of subharmonic waves is required. In this paper, by extending the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) model with damped double nodes (DDNs) to realistic testing conditions and comparing the simulation with the experiment, the availability of this model is demonstrated. To model a compact tension specimen with a fatigue crack extended from a notch, the DDN model was extended to the vertical closed crack mode. When the tensile stress of incident ultrasonic wave at the closed crack is larger than the compression residual stress Tth at the crack, the crack changes to the open state with particle velocity nodes separated to dual nodes. Moreover, to suppress the numerical noise due to the contact vibration, the damping term is introduced. In the experiment with small amplitude incident waves, only the notch response was observed, whereas in the experiment with large amplitude incident waves, the crack response was observed. The latter behavior was reproduced by the simulation when the tensile stress of the incident wave was larger than Tth. The experimental image of the crack tip obtained by the SPACE was also reproduced by the simulation, indicating the usefulness of the DDN model. Moreover, in both experiment and simulation, a scattered wave was observed at the crack face between the crack tip and the notch in the subharmonic images. Since only "reflection" takes place on a crack face with no singularity, whereas "scattering" takes place at a crack tip with singularity, the scattering at a crack face with no singularity is surprising. Therefore, we examined the cause of this phenomenon and found that the crack was continuously opened until the crack closure point (CCP) where the tensile stress of incident wave became less than Tth. The scattered wave was generated at the CCP as a new singularity formed at the crack face. This is a novel finding and will be useful in evaluation of local compression residual stress at cracks, which plays important role in prediction of lifetime of structures. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.I-M2014812]


The objective of this paper is to explore broad policy options in both the 2007 Farm Bill and the current Doha Round of trade negotiations (WTO) that could be favorable to Pennsylvania. It will be argued that the most favorable outcomes will have two features: 1) improve and stabilize market demand for fluid milk, and 2) expand national demand for manufacturing milk. This policy recommendation recognizes that the U.S. will continue to expand milk production over time. It also assumes a continuation of federal milk marketing orders.


Butadiene is a kind of important material in the chemical engineering, and it is inflammable and explosive. Once it leaks to the air, fire and explosion accident may happen. In the current experiment, the Butadiene tank in a chemical plant was taken as the example to analyze the potential hazards that the tank may cause. Some mathematical models, such as the UVCE(the Unconfined Vapor Cloud Explosion) and the BLEVE(the Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion), were used to describe the results that the hazards may lead to,so that it could provide some scientific criteria to the similar companies, and help the companies to take measures to keep away from these dangers, and reduce the casualty and loss in the end.


Here we describe the design, single-molecule transport measurements, and theoretical modeling of a ferrocene-based organometallic molecular wire, whose bias-dependent conductance shows a clear Lorentzian form with magnitude exceeding 70% of the conductance quantum ${G}_{0}$. We attribute this unprecedented level of single-molecule conductance to a manifestation of the low-lying molecular resonance and extended orbital network long predicted for a conjugated organic system. A similar-in-length, all-organic conjugated phenylethynyl oligomer molecular framework shows much lower conductance.


The idea of livable communities suggests that people should have the option to utilize non-motorized travel (NMT), specifically walking and bicycling, to conduct their daily tasks. Forecasting personal travel by walk and bike is necessary as part of regional transportation planning, and requires fine detail not only about individual travel, but also on transportation and neighborhood infrastructure. In an attempt to characterize the "market" potential for NMT, the Office of Planning, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded the Center for Transportation Analysis (CTA) of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to conduct a study. The objectives of this effort were to identify factors that influence communities to walk and bike and to examine why, or why not, travelers walk and bike in their communities.


Despite the breakthroughs that have been achieved, significant unmet needs relating to the inadequate efficacy and toxicity of currently-available cancer therapies remain. Kinase inhibitors are a class of agents that target signaling factors responsible for the survival of malignant cells, and may address at least some of these issues. The concept of synthetic lethality provides a potential solution to counteract pathway redundancies, and refers to situations in which a mutation in one of two particular genes alone permits cell survival, while simultaneous mutation in both results in cell death. When exploited in the context of cancer therapy, pathways that are uniquely upregulated in cancer cells become selective targets, with reduced off-target toxicity toward their healthy counterparts. Natural compounds represent a large and readily-accessible library of bioactive structures that can be screened for synthetically lethal interactions by testing for the inhibition of kinases relevant to cancer cell survival. In this review, we discuss the concept of synthetic lethality and focus on scenarios in which natural compounds that target kinases may be applied to tip the balance in favor of cancer cell death during therapeutic challenge.


Background: Paragangliomas are rare asymptomatic painless tumours, originating from paraganglionic bodies of autonomous nerve system. The carotid body tumours are the relatively rare tumour but constitute a majority of head and neck paragangliomas about 70%. These tumours are benign but possess aggressive local growth potential. The Aim of the Study: The purpose of this case report article is to introduce the challenging we exposed to it during management such cases in our country despite lack many conditions, facilities and circumstances found in other parts of the world for treatment of CBT, which is the first time study in Iraq. Case Presentation: We reported a case of the 27-year-old female patient with a left neck swelling that had persisted for 5 years. She was first diagnosed and treated surgically by local excision in 2012. Histopathology revealed the histology of carotid body tumour. She has complained of hypertension, headache, and palpitation. She was observed the gradual onset of growing and pulsating lump on previous surgical scar site. Five years later, the lesion became larger, and she feeling pulsation on lying on left side resulting in discomfort on sleep and deglutition. On physical examination, a pulsating firm painless mass measuring about 6 x 5 x 4 cm in size was found on the left side of her neck. Pulsations were felt on deep palpation and a faint bruit was heard on auscultation. Work up done for her included laboratory tests, neck US, neck CT scan, carotid angiography and slide review of histopathology. All suggested recurrent carotid body tumour. Conclusion: Over forty years of working in this field, we have only seen 3 cases of CBTs, so it is a very rare tumour. Management of this tumour is a challenging whether it is treated by surgery or radiotherapy. The main step in management is by excluding others tumours can be found in this region. Surgery is a treatment of choice while radiotherapy is standard treatment for recurrent cases.


This paper considers decolonisation as a turning point, or moment of change, in the history of the legal regulation of belonging and membership, with a particular focus on Africa. The paper compares the evolution of concepts of citizenship when African states gained independence with other decolonisations—of the Americas, South Asia, and former Soviet Union. It explores the many similarities between Africa and other post-colonial geographies, especially the frequent resilience of colonial institutions and the resentment of those whose presence in a territory is the result of population movements within the former empires. Yet it also shows how the particular experience of European imperial oppression in Africa created continental dynamics in the imagination and regulation of citizenship that are different from other regions. Finally, however, the paper warns against over-emphasising the differences from the debates over citizenship in Europe. Europe, after all, is also a post-colonial space: European borders established at the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires were equally viewed as artificial; while the legacy of European imperialism lives on in contemporary European immigration and citizenship policies. Although the challenges of imagining the community in Africa's post-independence states are obvious, the boundaries of community are as mutable as they are in other continents, and concepts of citizenship thus not so dissimilar to those in Europe or elsewhere.


BACKGROUND
For chronic kidney disease patients who progress to end-stage renal disease, survival is dependent on renal replacement therapy in the form of kidney transplantation or chronic dialysis. Peritoneal dialysis (PD), which can be performed at home, is both more convenient and less costly than hemodialysis that requires three 4-h visits per week to the dialysis facility and complicated equipment. Remote therapy management (RTM), technologies that collect medical information and transmit it to healthcare providers for patient management, has the potential to improve the outcomes of patients receiving automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) at home.

OBJECTIVE
Estimate through a simulation study the potential impact of RTM on APD patients use of healthcare resources and costs in the United States, Germany, and Italy.

METHODS
Twelve APD patient profiles were developed to reflect potential clinical scenarios of APD therapy. Two versions of each profile were created to simulate healthcare resource use, one assuming use of RTM and one with no RTM. Eleven APD teams (one nephrologist, one nurse) estimated resources that would be used.

RESULTS
Results from U.S., German, and Italian clinicians found that RTM could avoid use of 59, 49, and 16 resources over the 12 profiles, respectively. Estimated reduced utilization across the three countries ranged from one to two hospitalizations, one to four home visits, two to five emergency room visits, and four to eight unplanned clinic visits. Total savings across all scenarios were $23,364 in the United States, $11,477 in Germany, and $7,088 in Italy.

CONCLUSION
In a simulated environment, early intervention enabled by RTM reduced healthcare resource utilization and associated costs.


This paper presents a second‐order work analysis in application to geotechnical problems by using a novel effective multiscale approach. To abandon complicated equations involved in conventional phenomenological models, this multiscale approach employs a micromechanically‐based formulation, in which only four parameters are involved. The multiscale approach makes it possible a coupling of the finite element method (FEM) and the micromechanically‐based model. The FEM is used to solve the boundary value problem (BVP) while the micromechanically‐based model is utilized at the Gauss point of the FEM. Then, the multiscale approach is used to simulate a three‐dimensional triaxial test and a plain‐strain footing. On the basis of the simulations, material instabilities are analyzed at both mesoscale and global scale. The second‐order work criterion is then used to analyze the numerical results. It opens a road to interpret and understand the micromechanisms hiding behind the occurrence of failure in geotechnical issues.


We examine speculative attacks in a controlled laboratory environment featuring continuous time, size asymmetries, and varying amounts of public information. Attacks succeeded in 233 of 344 possible cases. When speculators have symmetric size and access to information: (a) weaker fundamentals increase the likelihood of successful speculative attacks and hasten their onset, and (b) contrary to some theory, success is enhanced by public access to information about either the net speculative position or the fundamentals. The presence of a larger speculator further enhances success, and experience with large speculators increases small speculators' response to the public information. However, giving the large speculator increased size or better information does not significantly strengthen his impact.


Chemical probes are small‐molecule reagents used by researchers for labelling and detection of biomolecules. We present the design, synthesis, and characterisation of a panel of 11 structurally diverse photoaffinity labelling (PAL) probes as research tools for labelling the model enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA) in challenging environments, including in protein mixtures and cell lysates. We targeted the ubiquitous CA II as well as the two cancer‐associated CAs (CA IX and CA XII) that are of high priority as potential biomarkers of aggressive and/or multidrug‐resistant cancer. We utilise an atypical biophysical approach, native state mass spectrometry, to monitor the initial protein–probe binding and subsequent UV crosslinking efficiency of the protein:probe complex. This mass spectrometry methodology represents a new approach for chemical probe optimisation and development that might have broader applications to chemical probe characterisation beyond this study. This also represents one of the first studies, to the best of our knowledge, in which a comprehensive set of PAL probes has been used to establish the relationship between probe structure, noncovalent protein–probe binding, and covalent protein–probe crosslinking efficiency. Our results demonstrate the benefits of a comprehensive analysis of chemical probe structure–activity relationships to support the development of optimum chemical probes.


A comprehensive analysis of structural-reactivity relations on TiO2 nanocrystals is presented. Using an interplay between TEM, X-ray diffraction and vibrational spectroscopy of well-defined anatase and rutile TiO2 nanocrystals correlations between the adsorbate structure of formic acid and the corresponding photo-induced decomposition rate are described. It is demonstrated that the detailed bonding configuration determines the decomposition rate. Generalizations and implications of the findings are discussed.


ABSTRACT Electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers of very small diameters have potential for integration into filters capable of increasing the particle filtration efficiency. To fulfill the requirements for high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters with a reasonable pressure drop, we generated aligned electrospun PAN fibers through pre-alignment at various rotation rates and subsequent solvent vapor annealing (SVA) under a loading. We evaluated the properties of microscaffold filters assembled from aligned electrospun PAN fibers in the form of linear, square, and triangular multiple meshes. The microscaffolds featuring multiple square meshes exhibited dramatically increased filtration efficiency without a significant pressure drop. A nine-layer cross-ply structure provided a filtration efficiency of 99.98% for 0.25-μm particles at a face velocity of 10 cm s−1; its filtration quality factor was the highest among all of the tested microscaffolds. Thus, HEPA filters featuring a low packing density can be achieved using PAN fibers. © 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research


Background: Previous clinical studies indicated that serum uric acid (UA) level was correlated with better neurologic outcome, and UA might work as an antioxidant against reactive oxygen species, especially in ischemic-reperfusion injury. Hypothesis: If UA has a neuroprotective function against ischemic-reperfusion injury, serum UA will be recruited and the level will be lowered during the period of acute ischemic stroke after intra-arterial (IA) thrombectomy. Methods: Among a total of 251 patients who received IA thrombectomy in our hospital from 2005 March to 2015 Aug, we selected the study population according to the following inclusion criteria (N=140): (1) UA level measured within one week after IA thrombectomy; (2) Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction perfusion grade (TICI)>0; (3) no recurrence or no severe morbidity or mortality during the acute period. Neurologic severity was assessed via National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), modified Rankin Scale (mRS). The improvement of outcome during admission is assessed via the difference between discharge and admission NIHSS (dNIHSS) scores, and mRS (dmRS) scores. UA consumption ratio was calculated as [(log value of initial serum UA level)- (follow up UA level within 1 week)] / (log value of initial serum UA level). Results: UA consumption ratio was significantly correlated with discharge mRS in linear regression analysis (R 2 =0.122, p 2 =0.033, p =0.03), and dNIHSS (R 2 =0.08, p =0.0005). When we classified the UA consumption ratio as quintiles, mRS scores at discharge were lower in the highest quintile (OR=0.26, p =0.002), and in the second highest quintile (OR=0.33, p =0.01), than in the lowest quintile. In addition, calculated vessel occlusion time (from admission to hospital and completion of recanalization) was positively correlated with UA consumption ratio(R 2 =0.05, p =0.04) in patients with outcome improvement (dmRS>0). Conclusions: In summary, this study showed that UA consumption was associated with better neurologic outcome and also with the vessel occlusion time. These results suggest that serum UA might be used as an endogenous neuroprotective source against ischemia-reperfusion injury.


Over the recent past, various numerical analysis techniques have been formulated and used to obtain approximate solutions for numerous engineering problems to aid predict the behaviour of systems accurately and efficiently. One such approach is the Wavelet Finite Element Method (WFEM) which involves combining the classical Finite Element Method (FEM) with wavelet analysis. The key desirable properties exhibited by some wavelet families, such as compact support, multiresolution analysis (MRA), smoothness, vanishing moments and the ' two-scale ' relations, make the use of wavelets in WFEM advantageous, particularly in the analysis of problems with strong nonlinear-ities, singularities and material property variations present. The wavelet based finite elements (WFEs) of a rod and beam are formulated using the Daubechies and B-spline wavelet on the interval (BSWI) wavelet scaling functions as interpolating functions due to their desirable properties, thus making it possible to alter the local scale of the WFE without changing the initial model mesh. Specific benchmark cases are presented to exhibit and compare the performance of the WFEM with FEM in static, dynamic, eigenvalue and moving load transient response analysis for homogenous systems and functionally graded materials, where the material properties continuously vary spatially with respect to the constituent materials.


Multi‐site parallel job schedulers can improve average job turn‐around time by making use of fragmented node resources available throughout the grid. By mapping jobs across potentially many clusters, jobs that would otherwise wait in the queue for local resources can begin execution much earlier; thereby improving system utilization and reducing average queue waiting time. Recent research in this area of scheduling leverages user‐provided estimates of job communication characteristics to more effectively partition the job across system resources. In this paper, we address the impact of inaccuracies in these estimates on system performance and show that multi‐site scheduling techniques benefit from these estimates, even in the presence of considerable inaccuracy. While these results are encouraging, there are instances where these errors result in poor job scheduling decisions that cause network over‐subscription. This situation can lead to significantly degraded application performance and turnaround time. Consequently, we explore the use of job checkpointing, termination, migration, and restart (CTMR) to selectively stop offending jobs to alleviate network congestion and subsequently restart them when (and where) sufficient network resources are available. We then characterize the conditions and the extent to which the process of CTMR improves overall performance. We demonstrate that this technique is beneficial even when the overhead of doing so is costly. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Socio-institutional factors are poorly addressed in the risk assessment of groundwater contamination. This paper contributes to the development of a socio-institutional assessment framework based on a case study of contamination by on-site sanitation (OSS) in an informal settlement of Bwaise (Kampala, Uganda). We conducted a snapshot survey of the recent extent of groundwater contamination by OSS using microbial and hydro-chemical indicators. Through transition arenas and key informant interviews, we investigated the socio-institutional drivers of the contamination. Overall, 14 out of the 17 sampled groundwater sources tested positive for Escherichia coli during the wet season. Nitrate concentrations at four sources exceeded the World Health Organization guideline value (50 mg/L), attributed to OSS. Despite the high contamination, the community highly valued groundwater as an alternative to the intermittent municipal water supply. We deduced six drivers of groundwater contamination, including land-use management, user attributes, governance, infrastructure management, groundwater valuation, and the operating environment ("LUGIVE"). Qualitative indicators for each of the drivers were also construed, and their interlinkages presented in a causal loop diagram, representing a socio-institutional assessment framework. The framework can help policymakers and the community to analyze various socio-institutional control levers to reduce the risk of groundwater contamination by OSS in informal settlements.


The simplex, the sample space of compositional data, can be structured as a real Euclidean space. This fact allows to work with the coefficients with respect to an orthonormal basis. Over these coefficients we apply standard real analysis, inparticular, we define two different laws of probability trought the density function and we study their main properties


Background: Back pain is an injury to health that accompanies humans since the beginning of time. The pain in the column are recurrent complaints of the physical therapy students of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Objective: The objective was to verify the effectiveness of the Maitland Method, to reduce pain and to improve the functionality of physical therapy students. Methods: 12 volunteers were analyzed in this study, four were allocated in the Intervention Group (IG) and eight in the Control Group (CG). They were evaluated for anthropometry, flexibility (finger-ground index), functionality (Roland Morris Questionnaire-QRM), pain level (Visual Analogue Scale-EVA), and perception of patient improvement. Results: In the QRM scores, it was observed that the CG showed a significant improvement over the initial evaluation in both the T1 (p= 0.026) and the T2 (p= 0.018) reevaluation. The same was observed in VAS in relation to T1 (p= 0.018) and T2 (p= 0.017). IG remained constant throughout the treatment. Conclusion: We can infer that both the Maitland Method and the exercises are effective for the reduction of pain and improvement of function in individuals with chronic low back pain.


BACKGROUND
Metabolic byproducts serve as indicators of the chemical processes and can provide valuable information on pathogenesis by measuring the amplified output. Standardized techniques for metabolome extraction of skin samples serve as a critical foundation to this field but have not been developed.

OBJECTIVES
We sought to determine the optimal cell lysage techniques for skin sample preparation and to compare GC-TOF-MS and UHPLC-QTOF-MS for metabolomic analysis.

METHODS
Using porcine skin samples, we pulverized the skin via various combinations of mechanical techniques for cell lysage. After extraction, the samples were subjected to GC-TOF-MS and/or UHPLC-QTOF-MS.

RESULTS
Signal intensities from GC-TOF-MS analysis showed that ultrasonication (2.7x107) was most effective for cell lysage when compared to mortar-and-pestle (2.6x107), ball mill followed by ultrasonication (1.6x107), mortar-and-pestle followed by ultrasonication (1.4x107), and homogenization (trial 1: 8.4x106; trial 2: 1.6x107). Due to the similar signal intensities, ultrasonication and mortar-and-pestle were applied to additional samples and subjected to GC-TOF-MS and UHPLC-QTOF-MS. Ultrasonication yielded greater signal intensities than mortar-and-pestle for 92% of detected metabolites following GC-TOF-MS and for 68% of detected metabolites following UHPLC-QTOF-MS.

CONCLUSION
Overall, ultrasonication is the preferred method for efficient cell lysage of skin tissue for both metabolomic platforms. With standardized sample preparation, metabolomic analysis of skin can serve as a powerful tool in elucidating underlying biological processes in dermatological conditions.


Reading Franco Moretti's Graphs, Maps, Trees as a late-stage graduate student in 2008 was invigorating. Here was an approach to literary history free from the pieties of close reading, committed to empiricism, seeking to fulfill, with its "materialist conception of form," the promise of the sociology of literature (92). And, at the time, it seemed natural that the way to follow the path laid out by Moretti in Graphs and in the essays he had published over the previous decade was to go to my computer, polish my rusty programming skills, and start making graphs. Yet reconsidering Moretti's Distant Reading now, one is struck by how nondigital the book is. In fact, the meaning of distant reading has undergone a rapid semantic transformation. In "Conjectures on World Literature," originally published in 2000, Moretti introduces the phrase to describe "a patchwork of other people's research, without a single direct textual reading" (Distant Reading 48). Today, however, distant reading typically refers to computational studies of text. Introducing a 2016 cluster of essays called "Text Analysis at Scale," Matthew K. Gold and Lauren Klein employ the term to speak of "using digital tools to 'read' large swaths of text" (Introduction); in his contribution to the cluster, Ted Underwood embraces "distant reading" as a name for applying machine-learning techniques to unstructured text. Discussions of distant reading have become discussions of computation with text, even if no section of Distant Reading features the elaborate computations found in the Stanford Literary Lab pamphlets to which Moretti has contributed.


Cutting tools are subject to extreme environment during processing, with hightemperatures and pressures. CVD coatings are used to increase lifetime andperformance of the WC/Co composite. Residual stresses in the coatings areinteresting as they may be destructive or constructive for the material duringoperation. Blasting is used to change the as-deposited tensile stress to compressive.The usefulness of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and nanobeam diffraction (NBD) forcharacterization of strains in the different coating layers has been investigated. XRDwith different anode materials has been used to determine the macrostress in thelayers and an attempt was done to calculate the average microstrain and crystallitesize. NBD was used to study the microstrain within single grains of the differentmaterials. A specimen preparation method has been developed for the studiedsamples using the FIB.The XRD analysis shows that the measurement condition is of great importanceduring stress measurements. The macrostress of the different samples show that theZrCN type coating is less stressed than the TiCN type coating after deposition. It isalso shown that the ZrCN type coating is less affected by the blasting. Determinationof microstrain and crystallite size from XRD needs further development.The NBD is a good method to evaluate microstrain within single grains, or betweengrains oriented in the same zone axis. The analyses show more strain within thegrains after blasting. The measurements indicate more strain variation in the Al2O3layer in the TiCN system compared to the ZrCN system.


This study examines whether a dairy development intervention designed as an asset transfer and training project catalyzes social capital, and sustainably improves the livelihoods of the participants. Social network analysis is used to quantify the social capital in the intervention and comparison group. The intervention group demonstrates statistically different levels of social capital confirming that the intervention resulted in an increase in social capital. We also examine whether the infusion of three sources of capital, physical (asset transfer), human (training) and social capital, generated sufficient increases in net income to bring participants above the benchmark of a living income. The levels of net income three years after the project were sixty-five percent higher than at the close of the project, providing strong evidence of improved livelihoods and sustainability.


From within the camp of broadly left-wing or progressive critiques of human rights, one of the key objections that has emerged is what will be referred to here as 'the displacement thesis'. In sum, this critique maintains that reliance on the language of human rights by movements for radical social change is problematic, because it tends to crowd out (or displace) other, potentially emancipatory, languages, and as a consequence distract attention from broader, structural causes of injustice and oppression. It is argued here that, while this argument is intuitively appealing, it falls short for a variety of reasons. There are, to be sure, many problems with human rights, but the mobilisation of rights language can nonetheless make an important contribution to movements for radical social change, without displacing or precluding the mobilisation of other emancipatory languages, and the challenging of deeper, structural causes of injustice.


The past decade has seen great progress in understanding the syndrome of neuropathic pain, its causes and in finding new drugs that promise great benefit. For example, an early outcome of the research has been the observation that the new drugs do not blunt normal pain sensation--a pattern beginning to find explanation through the realisation that neural pain circuits rewire themselves, both anatomically and biochemically, after nerve injury. In this article, we discuss a case of a known diabetic patient with intractable pain and the course of management provided by the use of novel tools and devices coming to the fore in this rapidly expanding specialty.


Purpose: To determine the most accurate criterion for predicting malignancy of small cervical lymph nodes with gray-scale ultrasound (GSUS) and power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS). Material and Methods: Findings of 69 pathologically verified cervical nodes (38 benign, 31 malignant) in 57 patients without wide echogenic hilum on GSUS that measured less than 10 mm in minimal axial diameter were prospectively studied. Minimal and maximal axial diameters, ratios of minimal to maximal axial diameters, and presence or absence of calcification or necrosis of the nodes were assessed. On PDUS, vascularity in the node was classified into 4 pattern groups. A logistic model was used to evaluate the significant factors for predicting malignancy. Results: The logistic model revealed that the minimal axial diameter and vascularity patterns were the only significant factors for malignancy. Using the minimal axial diameter, a node larger than 8 mm showed the highest accuracy (73%) with 45% sensitivity and 93% specificity. Of the vascularity patterns, spotted or peripheral pattern had the highest accuracy (80%) with 61% sensitivity and 93% specificity. A combined criterion of the minimal axial diameter larger than 8 mm and spotted or peripheral pattern increased the accuracy to 82% and sensitivity to 77% but specificity decreased to 86%. Conclusion: A combined criterion of minimal axial diameter and vascular patterns was most accurate for diagnosing occult metastatic lymph nodes in the neck.


Within the Alpine orogen of the Cyclades ultramafic rocks occur in diverse tectonic positions, are associated with a variety of rock sequences and are regionally metamorphosed at variable conditions. Here this diversity is interpreted in terms of variable mechanisms for incorporation of mantle rocks into orogenic belts and used to better constrain spatial heterogeneity of P-T burial and exhumation paths in the Cyclades. The Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) was metamorphosed first at high pressure conditions in the Eocene (M1) and variably overprinted during exhumation in the Early Miocene (M2). On the islands of Syros and Evia the CBU includes relatively thin HP-LT ophiolitic mélange intervals hosted by meta-sedimentary sequences. Meta-serpentinites are associated with eclogitized metagabbro and metabasites on Syros, but with epidote blueschists on Evia. Given the wide and comparable geochemical heterogeneity in the Syros and Evian mélanges, the Syros metabasites record higher M1 temperatures (450–500°C) relative to their Evian counterparts (400–430°C). The M2 overprint is manifested in Syros by greenschist facies assemblages (~450°C), whereas pumpellyite-actinolite assemblage (~350°C) overgrew blueschists in Evia. Within the M2 migmatized leucogneiss core of the Naxos dome (~700°C) meta-peridotite lenses are the sole preservers of pre-M2 history. The Naxos meta-peridotites possess relict mantle assemblage, fertile spinel lherzolite chemical composition and mantle-like oxygen isotope ratios. Thus unlike ophiolite-associated ultramafics in the Cyclades that were serpentinized prior to metamorphism, the Naxos metaperidotites were directly emplaced from the subcontinental mantle into an underthrust continent during collision and HP metamorphism. Ultramafic assemblages constrain M1 temperatures on Naxos to 550–650°C. It follows that going southeastwards from Evia through Syros to Naxos progressively deeper levels of the subducted plate are exposed. Correspondingly temperatures of the M2 overprint also increase. The diverse P-T paths of the CBU form an array wherein the deeper a rock sequence is buried, the 'hotter' is its exhumation path. Such a pattern is predicted by thermal modeling of tectonically thickened crust unroofed by either erosion or uniform extension.


Essay I: What differences in public policy can be made by an establishment of a legislature through an election in authoritarian regime? In particular, how high tax rates can be formed in authoritarian regimes with a legislature? Paying attention to a legislature's role of a signal which conveys information about dictator's economic policy preferences to capital owners, this essay revisits Escriba Folch's simple signaling game. By relaxing some restrictive assumptions about dictator types, and considering the dictator's capability of achieving his tax rate through the legislative process, the model gives answers to some empirical puzzles: 1) why some dictators are willing to maintain the legislature formed through elections; and 2) why capital owners would move their mobile assets abroad in some conditions even when a dictator allows a legislature to be established through a competitive election. The model claims that a dictator who is not tax-benevolent has an incentive to misrepresent his actual tax rate, and the probability is inversely associated with his capability in the legislature. After observing thelegislature not dissolved, capital owners who believe the dictator is not tax-benevolent are not willing to move their mobile assets away. On the other hand, after observing the legislature maintained by a dictator who is less capable of achieving his tax rate, capital owners consider moving their mobile assets away only when they believe that the dictator is tax-benevolent. Thus, it is more likely to see relatively low tax rates under capable dictatorships with legislatures. It is ironical that dictators who inherently have low tax rates to invigorate the economy by inducing a higher level of investment cannot enjoy the benefits of maintaining (or creating) a legislature. Case studies of two military regimes in Korea (1961-1987) demonstrate that the predictions made by the theoretical model are empirically supported in the Korean cases. Essay II: Assuming that electoral incentives of three political actors (individual legislators, a ruling party, and a president) may not be aligned with each other in common institutional settings, this essay attempts to construct an integrated theory about the relationship between the allocation of intergovernmental grants and the political actors. It empirically tests three hypotheses derived from the theory by examining the case of theSpecial Local Allocation Grants in Korea (2005-2006). To properly capture regional variation in the allocation, this essay employs the multilevel linear regression model in the Bayesian framework. First, the individual legislator's membership of the specific committee to monitor the execution of the intergovernmental grants is positively associated with the amount of the grants, which supports the Legislators' capability hypothesis, as in the classical regression models. Second, vote margin at the district level is positively associated with the amount of the grants, which provides strong evidence against the Unstable Electoral Districts Hypothesis, however. The result from Bayesian multilevel linear model supports the Unstable provinces hypothesis which states a significant positive association between the amount of intergovernmental grants delivered at the province level and being an electorally unstable province within a broader region in which voters are motivated by their regional identities even after controlling for the need-based criteria. It implies that it is more efficient to target an electorally unstable province even within a supporter region because voters affiliated with a regional (or ethnic) identity in the electorally stable province may not resent the allocation of grants even if they are not the main beneficiaries. Consequently, the distribution of the grants at the higher level can be decided by the efficient targeting strategy, whereas the grants tend to be delivered to strong supporters at the district level. These statistical results are consistent with the ideas that this essay adopts. During the period under investigation the liberal president who could not be reelected by the constitution intended to secure his key policies after his retirement. To help his successor from his faction to earn more votes in the future presidential election, he was willing to allocate considerable amount of government resources to some opposition districts, which may not be completely aligned with the target strategy of the ruling party who sought to maximize the number of seats in the National Assembly under Single-Member District Plurality rule. Regardless of their respective party lines the specific committee members who wanted to be reelected attempted to deliver more grants to their own districts. Essay III: Why do some rising powers unilaterally declare an ideal ordering principle against regional powers deeply attached to existing principles although it is not likely to be realized in the near future? Under what circumstances can such an ideal principle be successfully implemented in the region or escalate into an armed conflict? This paper aims to form a game-theoretic model of bargaining between two rival states with potentially incompatible ordering principles, and provide solid evidence from U.S.-Japanese conflicts in Northeast Asia in the early twentieth century. Constructed on two-sided uncertainty, the model coherently explains why the United States, a new external force in Northeast Asia, was deeply attached to the Open-Door principle as a practically efficient option in bargaining with Japan, a regional power, which adhered to the partition principle, but the potential conflict escalated into a war in the end. Fifteen historical cases from 1899 to 1941 strongly support the predictions made by the model.


The central theme of this study is to identify strength-stiffness correlations for chemically treated subgrade soils in Indiana. This was done by conducting Unconfined Compression (UC) Tests and Resilient Modulus Tests for soils collected at three different sites—US-31, SR-37, and I-65. At each site, soil samples were obtained from 11 locations at 30 ft spacing. The soils were treated in the laboratory with cement, using the same proportions used for construction, and cured for 7 and 28 days before testing. Results from the UC tests were compared with the resilient modulus results that were available. No direct correlation was found between resilient modulus and UCS parameters for the soils investigated in this study. A brief statistical analysis of the results was conducted, and a simple linear regression model involving the soil characteristics (plasticity index, optimum moisture content and maximum dry density) along with UCS and resilient modulus parameters was proposed.


[1] Three years of continuous Spray glider observations in the southern California Current System (CCS) are combined with a numerical simulation to describe the mean and variability of poleward flows in the southern CCS. Gliders provide upper ocean observations with good across-shore and temporal resolution along two across-shore survey lines while the numerical simulation provides a dynamically consistent estimate of the ocean state. Persistent poleward flows are observed in three areas: within 100 km of the coast at Point Conception, within the Southern California Bight (SCB), and offshore of the SCB and the Santa Rosa Ridge (SRR). Poleward transport by the flows within the SCB and offshore of the SRR exceeds the poleward transport off Point Conception, suggesting that the poleward flows are not continuous over the 225 km between observation lines. The numerical simulation shows offshore transport between the survey lines that is consistent with some of the poleward flow turning offshore before reaching Point Conception. The poleward current offshore of the SRR is unique in that it is strongest at depths greater than 350 m and it is observed to migrate westward away from the coast. This westward propagation is tied to westward propagating density anomalies originating in the SCB during the spring-summer upwelling season when wind stress curl is most strongly positive. The across-shore wave number, frequency, and phase speed of the westward propagation and the lack of across-shore transport of salinity along isopycnals are consistent with first-mode baroclinic Rossby dynamics.


Strain sensing ability under various service conditions is a fundamental requirement of a strain sensor, while a structural design is a key for obtaining various sensing behaviors to realize high performance of the strain sensor. In this study, we report a new simplified fabrication strategy to produce excellent strain sensors made from copper@multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane hybrid films by tailoring the surface Cu geometrical structures with different sensing functions. The Cu film was electrodeposited on the multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane film substrates subjected to three different pre-strains of 10%, 20% and 30%. Thus, three types of sensors with different functionalities were fabricated accordingly. The 10% pre-strain sensor with a surface wrinkled Cu structure exhibited a broad strain range (up to 82%), an ultra-high sensitivity with a gauge factor of 263 at a strain of 10% and 2387 at a strain of 80%, and excellent cyclic stability up to 2 × 103 cycles, which are promising to be applied in wearable flexible electronics and intelligent robots. However, the 30% pre-strain sensor with a curled Cu structure exhibited a strong linearity with a correlation coefficient of 99.3% in the whole strain range, which is expected to be used for structural health monitoring and weighing systems.


U-Th and 14 C dating, and X-ray diffraction of the parts of 16 submerged speleothems taken from the depths of 1.5−41.5 m from 7 submarine caves and pits along the Eastern Adriatic coast, provided insight to the sea-level fluctuations during the last 220 ka and to the palaeogeographic changes caused by sea-level changes. Due to the climate changes, palaeoenvironmental settings also varied, but not so abrupt and intensive as in the rest of Europe . Namely, owing to the Alps and Dinarides acting as orographic barriers, Eastern Adriatic coast was the border region between periglacial Europe and temperate Mediterranean region. It was, also, refuge area for plant species from the north. This study showed that appropriate temperature, humidity and vegetation cover ensured favourable conditions for karstification and speleothems formation processes even during Last Glacial Maximum.


In this screening study, biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions from intact branches of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) trees were measured from trees at two forested sites that have been impacted differently by the mountain pine beetle (MPB), with one having higher mortality and the other with lower mortality. Differences in the amounts and chemical diversity of BVOC between the two sites and from apparently healthy trees versus trees in different stages of MPB attack are presented, as well as (for one site) observed seasonal variability in emissions. A brief comparison is made of geological and climatic characteristics as well as prior disturbances (both natural and man-made) at each site. Trees sampled at the site experiencing high MPB-related tree mortality had lower chemodiversity in terms of monoterpene (MT) emission profiles, while profiles were more diverse at the lower-mortality site. Also at the higher-mortality site, MPB-infested trees in various stages of decline had lower emissions of sesquiterpenes (SQTs) compared to healthy trees, while at the site with lower mortality, MPB-survivors had significantly higher SQT emissions during part of the growing season when compared to both uninfested and newly infested trees. SQT profiles differed between the two sites and, like monoterpene and oxygenated VOC profiles, varied through the season. For the low-mortality site in which repeated measurements were made over the course of the early summer–late fall, higher chemical diversity was observed in early- compared to late-season measurements for all compound classes investigated (MT, oxygenated VOC, and SQT), with the amount of change appearing to correlate to the MPB status of the trees studied. Emissions of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO) had a distinct seasonal signal but were not much different between healthy or infested trees, except in trees with dead needles, from which emissions of this compound were negligible, and in late-season MPB survivors, in which they were higher than in newly infested or uninfested trees. Emissions of SQT were significantly higher in the MPB survivors during both mid- and late-season sampling at the low-mortality site. The changes in emissions could have implications for regional air quality and climate through changes in ozone and aerosol distributions, although this study was designed as a preliminary screening effort and not enough individuals were sampled for all of the observed differences to be statistically demonstrated. Despite this, the compelling differences in emissions observed between the sites and individual trees with differing MPB-infestation statuses and the potential impacts these have on regional atmospheric chemistry argue for further research in this topic.


A model of the process of determined system self-organization based on system-forming modular water structures is proposed. The arrangement and symmetry of these structures, described by the symmetry groups entanglement, matches the basic principles of system self-organization: "system of systems", "recognition", "all-or-none". Crystallography modular generalization engulfs all stable forms of condensed state, including the bound water structures--matrices for the self-organization of biological systems. The bound water structures, besides being matrices, accomplish the metric selection of other structural components of biological systems capable of self-organization into a whole system by creating numerous directed weak bonds among them.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was (a) to describe the occupational therapy recommendations provided to patients discharged to inner city homes, and (b) to examine the relationship between patient health insurance and the number and type of occupational therapist recommendations for equipment and home modifications.

METHOD
An archival review was conducted of all referrals to the home evaluation program (n = 755) at a large urban rehabilitation hospital between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1998. Additional patient demographic data and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) data were obtained in electronic form from the hospital information database.

RESULTS
Analysis of results showed that while the pattern of equipment and modification recommendations varied little, publicly insured patients received fewer home modification recommendations compared to privately insured patients (t = 3.7; p < .0005), and were discharged from rehabilitation with significantly lower functional independence (MANOVA F = 3.9; p = .05).

CONCLUSION
Results alert occupational therapists to the relationship between health insurance and treatment recommendations and point to patient advocacy and health policy as potential pathways to desired a achieve social change.


As income is rising and urbanization progressing, the consumption of meat and dairy products is increasing, especially in developing countries. However, increasing livestock production leads to challenges that need to be addressed, such as yielding environmental pollution and causing climate change. Due to these circumstances, the importance of sustainable livestock farming has been highlighted in order to effectively utilize natural resources and to protect the environment. We analyzed consumers' preference and willingness to pay for milk, one of the representative dairy products, which was produced in a sustainable way. Among the various attributes of milk, marginal willingness to pay for "performing sustainability" through mountainous farming was estimated to be the biggest. The willingness to pay was revealed to be higher for the consumer group with a high awareness of sustainable farming than the consumer group with low awareness. The empirical results in this study suggest that it is important to consider the economic feasibility of dairy farming by forming a consensus with consumers through publicity and changing the production pattern to promote sustainability.


Treatment of infected bone defects still remains a formidable clinical challenge, and the design of bone implants with both anti-bacterial activity and -osteogenesis effects is nowadays regarded as a powerful strategy for infection control and bone healing. In the present study, bioresorbable porous-structured microspheres were fabricated from an amphiphilic block copolymer composed of poly(l-lactide) and poly(ethyl glycol) blocks. After being surface coated with mussel-inspired polydopamine, the microspheres were loaded with nanosilver via the reduction of silver nitrate and apatite via biomineralization in sequence. At optimized loading amounts, the nanosilver-loaded microspheres showed no unfavorable effects on the proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells despite preserving strong antibacterial activity in in vitro evaluations. For the critical-sized defects (φ = 8 mm) in the rat cranium that was pre-infected with Staphylococcus aureus, the filling of the dual-purpose microspheres demonstrated an effective way to kill bacteria in vivo, and in the meantime, it promoted new bone formation efficiently alongside the degradation of microspheres. Thus, the results suggested that bioresorbable microspheres with both osteoconductive and antibacterial activities were a good choice for treating infected bone defects.


Purpose The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games involved 2925 elite athletes, and providing proper health care services for these elite athletes was a critical priority. We established an emergency department (ED) in the Pyeongchang Mountain Polyclinic during the Olympics, which served staff and athletes from many countries. This experience, as well as a description of illnesses and injuries encountered during the games, may provide useful information for planning medical care at similar events in the future. Materials and Methods The polyclinic ED operated from January 25 to February 27, 2018. All cases were enrolled in this study, and their data were analyzed by date and category. In addition, the number of injuries by body part, number of illnesses by organ system, and illness symptoms and causes were analyzed. Results In total, 288 patients were encountered in the ED. These included 113 injuries and 175 illnesses. We consulted with 153 staff members and 75 athletes, and reported that the fingers were the most commonly injured body part, followed by the knee. The respiratory system was the most commonly involved organ system, and the most common cause of illness was infection. Thirty-eight influenza tests were performed, among which the results of seven were positive. We performed 17 norovirus tests, among which the results of four were positive. Conclusion Our analysis of our ED experience will aid arrangements for medical services in future Winter Games. Additionally, given our new experience, we will now be able to provide better medical services for future winter sports events.


Increasing complexity in development of real-time systems requires the integration of new software engineering techniques, such as aspect-oriented and component-based software development,with real-time system development. Since software technology for building real-time systems has to support timeliness,methods and tools for analyzing temporal behavior of the softwarecomposed out of components and aspects are needed. We contribute by providing a tool that enables automated worst-case execution time analysis of different configurations of aspects and components.


Abstract The current report summarises the work performed in the context of the European Food Risk Assessment Fellowship Programme (EU‐FORA), which included the evaluation of health risks associated with the consumption of botanical preparations of Mitragyna speciosa (kratom). Mitragyna speciosa is a tree native to Southeast Asia, where its leaves and preparations of the leaves have been used for centuries, among others, as a stimulant or as a traditional herbal medicine. Preparations of the plant have recently gained increasing popularity in other parts of the world, and are presently also accessible via online platforms, e.g. as food supplements. Kratom has been considered a botanical of possible health concern by the FDA and EFSA, which together with its increasing popularity, makes kratom a subject of international concern. Major alkaloids of the plant, mitragynine and 7‐hydroxymitragynine, are agonists of the μ‐opioid human receptor and are assumed to be mainly responsible for its psychoactive effects. The aim of the present project was to conduct an assessment of potential health risks associated with oral use of kratom‐based preparations. The animal and human data that were evaluated in the course of the current assessment indicate that kratom consumption has the potential to not only lead to adverse neurological effects, including addiction and withdrawal syndrome, but also to elicit distinct organ toxicity with respect to e. g. liver and kidney as target organs. Nevertheless, actual risk characterisation is impeded by considerable uncertainties. Such uncertainties, based on the variability in composition of kratom preparations, insufficient information on dose–response relationships and on limited data on long‐term use effects, currently do not allow the derivation of distinct health based guidance values for kratom/kratom preparations. Further information from well‐designed studies, conducted with kratom preparations that have been clearly defined with respect to their composition, would be required to enable a more refined risk assessment of this botanical.


The HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa has brought renewed attention to the role of grandmothers as caregivers of children. Using 2004 Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey data, the authors examine the relationship between coresidence with a grandmother and child schooling in Lesotho, a country with one of the highest rates of HIV infection. Results confirm the critical role grandmothers play in the event of maternal death. Maternal orphans who live with a grandmother are just as likely to be in school as children living with a mother. The protective effect of living with a grandmother is also important for children whose mothers are alive but not affiliated with their households. The results of the analysis underscore the importance of attending to the simultaneous presence of mothers and grandmothers, as well as the circumstances associated with mother absence, when assessing the relationship between grandmother coresidence and child outcomes.


The contact-based nanoimprinting lithography (NIL), such as thermal and/or UV nano-imprint, has been well known as one of the next generation lithography alternatives. Especially, the UV nanoimprinting lithography technology has the advantages in terms of process simplicity, low cost, high replication fidelity, and relatively high throughput. The UV nanoimprinting lithography tool is built with the characteristic functions like a self-alignment wafer stage, a nanoimprinting head unit, an alignment system for multi-layer process, stamp/wafer chucking units, releasing unit, and anti-vibration unit, etc. This UV-NIL tool is comprised of UV light source using mercury lamp, ultra-fine XY stage with nano-level positioning accuracy, and self-adjusting flexure stage. The self-adjusting stage has the capability to control 6- axes positions of wafer-holder. The UV-NIL tool can be used for fabrication of some functional nanostructure-patterns i.e. nanosensor electrodes, optical grating patterns and 70nm rectangle patterns.


Contaminants introduced into the subsurface of the Nevada Test Site by underground nuclear testing are of concern to the U.S. Department of Energy and regulators responsible for protecting human health and safety. The potential for contaminant movement away from the underground test areas and into the accessible environment is greatest by groundwater transport. The primary hydrologic control on this transport is evaluated and examined through a series of contour maps developed to represent the hydraulic-head distribution within each of the major aquifers underlying the area. Aquifers were identified and their extents delineated by merging and analyzing multiple hydrostratigraphic framework models developed by other investigators from existing geologic information. A map of the hydraulic-head distribution in each major aquifer was developed from a detailed evaluation and assessment of available water-level measurements. Multiple spreadsheets that accompany this report provide pertinent water-level and geologic data by well or drill hole. Aquifers are mapped and discussed in general terms as being one of two types: alluvial-volcanic, or carbonate. Both aquifer types are subdivided and mapped as independent regional and local aquifers, based on the continuity of their component rock. Groundwater-flow directions, approximated from potentiometric contours that were developed from the hydraulic-head distribution, are indicatedmore » on the maps and discussed for each of the regional aquifers and for selected local aquifers. Hydraulic heads vary across the study area and are interpreted to range in altitude from greater than 5,000 feet in a regional alluvial-volcanic aquifer beneath a recharge area in the northern part of the study area to less than 2,300 feet in regional alluvial-volcanic and carbonate aquifers in the southwestern part of the study area. Flow directions throughout the study area are dominantly south-southwest with some local deviations. Vertical hydraulic gradients between aquifer types are downward throughout most of the study area; however, flow from the alluvial-volcanic aquifer into the underlying carbonate aquifer, where both aquifers are present, is believed to be minor because of an intervening confining unit. Limited exchange of water between aquifer types occurs by diffuse flow through the confining unit, by focused flow along fault planes, or by direct flow where the confining unit is locally absent. Interflow between regional aquifers is evaluated and mapped to define major flow paths. These flow paths delineate tributary flow systems, which converge to form intermediate and regional flow systems. The implications of these flow systems in controlling transport of radionuclides away from the underground test areas at the Nevada Test Site are briefly discussed. Additionally, uncertainties in the delineation of aquifers, the development of potentiometric contours, and the identification of flow systems are identified and evaluated. Eleven tributary flow systems and three larger flow systems are mapped in the Nevada Test Site area. Flow systems within the alluvial-volcanic aquifer dominate the western half of the study area, whereas flow systems within the carbonate aquifer are most prevalent in the southeastern half of the study area. Most of the flow in the regional alluvial-volcanic aquifer that moves through the underground testing area on Pahute Mesa is discharged to the land surface at springs and seeps in Oasis Valley. Flow in the regional carbonate aquifer is internally compartmentalized by major geologic structures, primarily thrust faults, which constrain flow into separate corridors. Contaminants that reach the regional carbonate aquifer from testing areas in Yucca and Frenchman Flats flow toward downgradient discharge areas through the Alkali Flat-Furnace Creek Ranch or Ash Meadows flow systems and their tributaries.« less


Entrepreneurial intention has captured the attention of both academicians and policy makers during the last century. Unemployment poses a major challenge to developing nations Kenya inclusive where governments' lacked sufficient resources to passing out of young graduates with immediate employment. However, many studies on entrepreneurial intention among graduates have focused mainly on developed countries and less on developing nations like Kenya perspective. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to bridge the gap by investigating the determinants of entrepreneurial intention among business undergraduate students. The specific objectives were to establish the effect of education, social network, innovativeness and self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intention. The study was guided by Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior that views behavioral intent as an immediate determinant of planned behavior. Explanatory research design was adopted and the study targeted 1,649 undergraduate business students drawn from Moi, Mount Kenya and Catholic universities in Uasin Gishu County. Stratified sampling was used to select a sample size of 321. The results indicated that innovativeness among students was highly and positively correlated to entrepreneurial intention at (r=0.650). Self efficacy was the second characteristic among students to positively associated with entrepreneurial intention (r = 0.618), education had significant and positively correlated with entrepreneurial intention (r=0.564). Finally, social network showed a positive and significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention (r = 0.507). From the findings it showed that all the four variables were positively correlated to entrepreneurial intention at 0.05 level of significance level. The study findings were of have valuable assistance to develop students' entrepreneurial skills and knowledge which equip graduates with creativity, innovation, risk-taking and ability to interpret successful entrepreneurial effect models and identification of business opportunities for the future. International Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research Vol.4, No.6, pp.41-52, December 2016 Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org) 42 ISSN 2053-5821(Print), ISSN 2053-583X(Online)


In spite that the great importance of logistics in industry, business and other branches is generally acknowledged, this problem is not systematically investigated in agriculture. As a presumption of detailed analysis, the knowledge of the volume and structure of the material flow is necessary. The authors have proposed their own methodical procedure which issues from technological indicators, published by the Czech Ministry of Agriculture for individual plants and categories of animals and which makes possible further classification of these data for enterprises with different level of farming. These published standards of the Ministry serve as basic stones and by means of their combination, the volume of material flow and its structure is possible to calculate during one year's periods. The advantage of proposed method is a fast finding out of necessary data and possibility of taking into account some specific conditions in investigated enterprises.


INTRODUCTION
Osteoprotegerin (OPG)-Receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) pathway is one of the contributing factors in the regulation of osteogenesis and bone resorption routes.

AIM
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of various dietary supplements on this pathway.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The samples for this study (24 newborn rats) were divided in three groups according to the experiment applied for each group. Rats were given special diet according to their group plan for six weeks. Blood samples were collected to measure their serum levels of OPG and RANKL and all organs of rats were used to measure their bone density too. The results were analysed using appropriate statistical analysing tests.

RESULTS
Levels of whole-body bone mineral density in calcium plus vitamin D plus Estrogen (Ca + D + E) group and calcium plus vitamin D (Ca + D) group were significantly increased compared to control group. Mineral density was highest in calcium plus vitamin D plus Estrogen group and was about 0.1357 g/cm2. RANKL had a significant decrease in calcium plus vitamin D plus Estrogen group compared to control and calcium plus vitamin D groups. There was a significant increase in the mean calcium and OPG in both experimental groups rather than control. Also, significant increase in estrogen was observed in Ca + D group than the control group.

CONCLUSION
The results showed that intake of calcium and vitamin D and estrogen at determined dose led to an increase in OPG and RANKL cytokines reduction which ultimately led to an increase in bone mineral density. But Ca, D and E synergies were more effective in increasing bone mineral density compared to only the use of Ca and D.


Two kinds of plain fabrics, made of silver plating yarn, were tested on conductivity under weft extension to investigate the relationships between tensile property and resistance. The results are following: the resistances of two kinds of fabrics have a linear relationship with strain within a definite range; the strain sensitivity of the inelastic plain fabric is smaller than that of the elastic plain fabric; the changes of contact resistance of the overlapped yarns cause the inelastic plain fabric sensitive to strain; when two kinds of fabrics were stretched repeatedly to simulate heartbeat signals, their resistance remained stable at a value. So they satisfy stability requirement.


Control of cable-stayed bridge flutter for earthquake and aerodynamic hazard mitigation represents a relatively new area of research. This paper proposes a new optimized smart control system to mitigate the cable-stayed bridge flutter due to seismic and aerodynamic vibration. A Magnetorheological (MR) fluid damper, which belongs to the class of controllable fluid dampers, is proposed for use in a control strategy for mitigating its effect on the cable-stayed bridge. Genetic algorithm is adopted to determine the flutter acceleration levels, and corresponding forces of MR dampers. The optimized forces values from MR dampers are studied under the effect of five strong earthquakes recorded, known as El-Centro, Mexico City, San Fernando, Ker Country, and Northridge earthquakes. The time delay between the monitoring system and the actuator response is also studied. The simulation and optimization results shows that the proposed control strategy using MR dampers is the promising one of the applicable control methods to reduce the seismic and aerodynamic flutter vibration of the stayed bridge.


Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health issue. One key factor contributing to AMR is the ability of bacteria to export drugs through efflux pumps, which relies on the ATP-dependent expression and interaction of several controlling genes. Recent studies have shown significant cell-to-cell ATP variability exists within clonal bacterial populations, but the contribution of intrinsic cell-to-cell ATP heterogeneity is generally overlooked in understanding efflux pumps. Here, we consider how ATP variability influences gene regulatory networks controlling expression of efflux pump genes in two bacterial species. We develop and apply a generalisable Boolean modelling framework, developed to incorporate the dependence of gene expression dynamics on available cellular energy supply. Theoretical results show differences in energy availability can cause pronounced downstream heterogeneity in efflux gene expression. Cells with higher energy availability have a superior response to stressors. Further, in the absence of stress, model bacteria develop heterogeneous pulses of efflux pump gene expression which contribute to a sustained sub-population of cells with increased efflux expression activity, potentially conferring a continuous pool of intrinsically resistant bacteria. This modelling approach thus reveals an important source of heterogeneity in cell responses to antimicrobials and sheds light on potentially targetable aspects of efflux pump-related antimicrobial resistance.


Conventional diamond-structured silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) possess indirect fundamental band gaps, limiting their potential for applications in light-emitting devices. However, $\mathrm{Si}_{x}\mathrm{Ge}_{1-x}$ alloys grown in the lonsdaleite ("hexagonal diamond") phase have recently emerged as a promising direct-gap, Si-compatible material system, with experimental measurements demonstrating strong room temperature photoluminescence. When grown in the lonsdaleite phase, Ge possesses a narrow ($\sim 0.3 \mathrm{eV}$) "pseudo-direct" fundamental band gap. Lonsdaleite Si is indirect-gap ($\sim 0.8 \mathrm{eV}$), creating the possibility to achieve direct-gap lonsdaleite $\mathrm{Si}_{x}\mathrm{Ge}_{1-x}$ alloys across a Ge-rich composition range. We present a first principles analysis of the electronic and optical properties of lonsdaleite $\mathrm{Si}_{x}\mathrm{Ge}_{1-x}$ alloys, elucidate the electronic structure evolution and direct- to indirect-gap transition, and describe the impact of alloy band mixing effects on inter-band optical transition strengths.


This thesis describes the fuzzy logic based control system for an automated guided vehicle ( AGV ) designed to navigate from one position and orientation to another while avoiding obstacles. A vehicle with an onboard computer system and a beacon based location system has been used to provide experimental confirmation of the methods proposed during this research. A simulation package has been written and used to test control techniques designed for the vehicle. A series of navigation rules based upon the vehicle's current position relative to its goal produce a fuzzy fit vector, the entries in which represent the relative importance of sets defined over all the possible output steering angles. This fuzzy fit vector is operated on by a new technique called rule spreading which ensures that all possible outputs have some activation. An obstacle avoidance controller operates from information about obstacles near to the vehicle. A method has been devised for generating obstacle avoidance sets depending on the size, shape and steering mechanism of a vehicle to enable their definition to accurately reflect the geometry and dynamic performance of the vehicle. Using a set of inhibitive rules the obstacle avoidance system compiles a mask vector which indicates the potential for a collision if each one of the possible output sets is chosen. The fuzzy fit vector is multiplied with the mask vector to produce a combined fit vector representing the relative importance of the output sets considering the demands of both navigation and obstacle avoidance. This is operated on by a newly developed windowing technique which prevents any conflicts produced by this combination leading to an undesirable output. The final fit vector is then defuzzified to give a demand steering angle for the vehicle. A separate fuzzy controller produces a demand velocity. In tests carried out in simulation and on the research vehicle it has been shown that the control system provides a successful guidance and obstacle avoidance scheme for an automated vehicle.