Multinational corporations dominate the global economy. Their aggressive business expansion has led to occasional conflicts with some sovereign governments' core interests. The most irreconcilable one is probably between foreign direct investments by multinationals and the need of sovereign states to safeguard their national security. This article empirically explores the tension in its most manifested case, i.e., the reactions of China-based multinationals to the highly confidential national security review system of the United States, also known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS") review. I find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, most Chinese investors know little about CFIUS. The majority of those who have some knowledge about it consider the process politicized and non-transparent. A minority reported to have abandoned contemplated investments in the United States due to concerns with CFIUS. Variations in the perception and the reactions of the China-based multinationals generally turn on their government ownership, sectoral sensitivity, and investment size. In addition, the recent landmark decision in Ralls v. CFIUS has a significant impact on the investors' perception of the system, but has not altered their filing behavior. The findings make several important theoretical and policy contributions.


Maintaining track geometry is key to the safe and efficient operations of a railroad. Failure to properly maintain geometry can lead to costly track structure failures or even more costly derailments. Currently, there exists a number of different methods for measuring track geometry and then if required, maintaining the track to return track geometry to specified levels of acceptance. Because of this need to have proper track geometry, tampers are one of the most common pieces of maintenance equipment in a railroad operation's fleet. It is therefore paramount from both a cost and track time perspective to gain maximum efficiency from any one particular tamper.Track geometry is typically measured through a variety of contact and non-contact measurement systems which can mount on a variety of different platforms. With respect to a tamper, a push buggy projector system is typically used to measure track geometry, utilizing the tamper body as the basis for the reference system, Track geometry can be measured utilizing this technology during a prerecording run. Then, the software onboard the tamper analyzes the recorded data to determine the best fit and calculate throws that achieve a better track alignment, particularly in curves. During the tamping operation, the tamper buggy system and frame adjust the track. Due to its design, track geometry measurements can only be made at low speed (roughly 4mph) which can severely affect the efficiency of the tamper. To help decrease pre maintenance inspection times, an inertial based track geometry measurement system has been developed and integrated into the tamper's operating software. This system can mount directly to the frame of a tamper and operate at hy-rail to very low speeds. Measurements made can be fed directly into the tamper control system to guide where and how track geometry adjustments need to be made.In addition, the capability to collect data during travel mode without the buggies extended allows for the collection of data at any time. Thus, data can be recorded when traveling back and forth to a stabling location, before and/or after grinding. This allows for synchronization of data at a later time to utilize for adjusting the track. Also, data can be collected post-work to allow for the comparison of pre and post geometry to allow for the determination of the effectiveness of a given tamping operation.Tampers equipped with this track geometry system facilitate the foundation for an enterprise solution. Data that is measured and collected can be sent to a cloud service, in real time that will provide exception reports, health status, and rail health trend analyses. Utilizing the available technology further optimizes response time in track maintenance.This paper will introduce this new method of mounting and completely integrating an inertial based track geometry system onto a tamper. In addition, studies will be presented which confirm the ability of this system to replicate the tamper's projection based track geometry system. Finally, a comprehensive study on efficiency gains will be presented directly comparing a standard method of maintaining a segment via a tamper to this new method of using onboard inertial track geometry measurement.© 2017 ASME


A review of the theory behind the step-drawdown test shows that the analytical method developed by Rorabaugh should be routinely used to discriminate among various types of flow and to determine more accurately flow parameters. The usual analysis for one selected time after the beginning of each step should be supplemented by a consideration of test results as a whole to assure the derived flow equations satisfactorily describe all observed drawdowns. Drawdown trends should be extrapolated by projecting the trends evident toward the end of each step and not by assuming slopes to be proportional to pumping rates. In extrapolating, the time origin for each step should be taken as the beginning of that step. In deriving well efficiency, the time for which it applies should be stated and it is recommended that some standard time should be adopted for this purpose. A number of illustrative examples from Alberta, Canada, and other areas are presented.


Abstract We study the joint optimization problem of pricing trips in a transportation network and serving the induced demands by routing a fleet of available service vehicles to maximize revenue. Our framework encompasses applications that include traditional transportation networks (e.g., airplanes, buses) and their more modern counterparts (e.g., ride-sharing systems). We describe a simple combinatorial model, in which each edge in the network is endowed with a curve that gives the demand for traveling between its endpoints at any given price. We are supplied with a number of vehicles and a time budget to serve the demands induced by the prices that we set, seeking to maximize revenue. We first focus on a (preliminary) special case of our model with unit distances and unit time horizon. We show that this version of the problem can be solved optimally in polynomial time. Switching to the general case of our model, we first present a two-stage approach that separately optimizes for prices and routes, achieving a logarithmic approximation to revenue in the process. Next, using the insights gathered in the first two results, we present a constant factor approximation algorithm that jointly optimizes for prices and routes for the supply vehicles. Finally, we discuss how our algorithms can handle capacitated vehicles, impatient demands, and selfish (wage-maximizing) drivers.


The paper presents a simulation-based function verification framework featured by two efficient acceleration techniques, namely "self-verifying" and "co-simulation of mixed models". The former automates the verification process over the whole vector space by eliminating manual interference, the effect of which is directly proportional to the size of the vector space and the average vector size. The latter reduces the time required to simulate a full-chip netlist from exponential to linear relationships with the number of modules by co-simulating the mixed models of RTL and netlist. The benefit of this framework was well exhibited in the verification practice of a 32-bit high-end processor. A prototype processor fabricated on a 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS process technology functioned properly under a system environment test, which indicated that the verification framework presented is feasible.


Drawing on a recent doctoral research project that examined the everyday life perspectives during kindergarten mealtime, this paper discusses the methodological issues related to the concepts of child and adult perspectives during mealtime, and to the children's participation in research. Through the paper, we take part in a critical discussion of the dichotomization of child and adult perspectives (Lee, 2001; Spyrou, 2011; Wyness, 2013). Instead, we suggest to approach perspectives as something that is created through situated interactions between human and nonhuman elements. We argue that perspectives could be studied as constructed from a net of human, material, and discursive elements. In doing so, we also question children's participation in research as a source for production of knowledge that is more authentic than that produced by adults (Gallacher & Gallagher, 2008; Lomax, 2012). Hence, the kindergarten mealtime will provide the arena for discussing methodological issues that are relevant beyond studies on food and meals.


This chapter presents a qualitative exploration of the relationship between
social capital, health and womanhood for a group of younger working class
women in a socially deprived community in Bolton, UK. The project, funded
by the Health Development Agency involved interviews with 25 younger
women aged between 19 and 38 years. Most were single parents of young
children who were currently unemployed. Our research identified the complex
ways in which younger women took ownership of their health within the social
context of family, friendships and community living. Their narratives about
health focused on experiences of motherhood and community living and were
embedded in networks of social capital (Putnam, 1995, 2000). Women's health
identities reflected social constructions of motherhood and caring, in which
tiredness and depression were seen as normal parts of everyday life. These
women took responsibility for their own and others' health becoming health
experts in their own right and sometimes critical of medical expertise. Shared
norms located in the common space of this socially deprived community were
a basis for younger women's choices about lifestyle which were not always
beneficial for individual or family health. The links between health and
community living were made evident in this research emphasizing the
importance of a narratives approach.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to prepare microencapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) and apply them to cotton and wool fabrics for developing thermo-regulating fabrics.

Design/methodology/approach
Microencapsulated n-hexadecane and n-octadecane with poly(methylmethacrylate-co-2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate) shell was prepared. Microcapsules were fabricated using oil-in-water emulsion polymerization method. Their chemical structure, microstructure, thermal energy storage properties and thermal stability were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, polarized light microscope, differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetric analyzer, respectively. The mean particle size was tested by a particle sized instrument. The microcapsules were applied to the wool and cotton fabrics using pad-dry-cure method. The thermo-regulating property of the fabrics was evaluated using the T-History test. The distribution and durability of the microcapsules on the fabrics was investigated with scanning electron microscopy.

Findings
Spherical microcapsules with p(MMA-co-HEMA) shell and n-alkane core have been produced successfully. n-hexadecane in microcapsule solidifies at 14.8−15.6°C with the latent heat of 65.6−129.8 J/g and melts at 16.7−16.9°C with the latent heat of 67.6−136.9 J/g. Microencapsulated n-octadecane solidifies at 25.8−26.3°C with the latent heat of 74.1−106.2 J/g and melts at 26.8−27.4°C with the latent heat of 80.3−113.4 J/g. The microcapsules have enough thermal stability to the temperature of 150°C that was applied during the fixation of microcapsules on the fabric. The thermo-regulating effect of the microcapsule-incorporated fabrics has been proved by the T-history test.

Originality/value
PCM microcapsules with p(MMA-co-HEMA) shell and n-hexadecane and n-octadecane core have been produced and their usage to produce thermo-regulating textiles have been proved. To determine the thermo-regulating property of the fabrics treated with these new PCM microcapsules, a T-History system has been designed.


Since its introduction, the Hopfield-Tank model for the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) has been surrounded by controversial evidence regarding its viability as a model and its capabilities to produce good results to this hard optimization problem. In this paper we investigate the reasons behind the difficulty of obtaining verifiable results and the viability of the model, by investigating the behavior the Hopfield-Tank neural network for the TSP has in circumstances when it is expected to produce identical tours. Our investigations strongly suggest that, when it is expected from the network to converge in a predetermined tour, the neural network converges to almost all possible tours when an insignificant perturbation to the initial conditions is applied. The overall consequence of our findings regarding the viability of the Hopfield-Tank model and the cause of the controversy surrounding the Hopffield-Tank model for the TSP can be summarized by the following: The cause of the Hopfield-Tank neural network for the TSP controversy and the difficulties in reproducing results is the chaotic behavior of the model. The finding of useful results for the TSP using the Hopfield-Tank network are purely casual and not to be attributed to the viability of the model. In essence the Hopfield-Tank neural network for the TSP is as viable as chaotic systems can be.


The rising medical costs associated with cancer have led to considerable financial hardship for patients and their families in the United States. Using data from the LIVESTRONG 2012 survey of 4,719 cancer survivors ages 18-64, we examined the proportions of survivors who reported going into debt or filing for bankruptcy as a result of cancer, as well as the amount of debt incurred. Approximately one-third of the survivors had gone into debt, and 3 percent had filed for bankruptcy. Of those who had gone into debt, 55 percent incurred obligations of $10,000 or more. Cancer survivors who were younger, had lower incomes, and had public health insurance were more likely to go into debt or file for bankruptcy, compared to those who were older, had higher incomes, and had private insurance, respectively. Future longitudinal population-based studies are needed to improve understanding of financial hardship among US working-age cancer survivors throughout the cancer care trajectory and, ultimately, to help stakeholders develop evidence-based interventions and policies to reduce the financial hardship of cancer.


NiFe2O4 nanoparticles with average sizes of 3.5(plusmn0.4) nm, 5.0(plusmn0.5) nm, and 19(plusmn1.1) nm embedded in the SiO2 matrix were prepared by the sol-gel method. Size and temperature dependence of magnetic relaxation of the ferrite nanoparticles were studied. A classical logarithmic distribution function was considered to analyze the thermally activated relaxation phenomenon in the nanocomposites, but it cannot describe the behavior within the whole range of temperatures and times. An alternative more general approach called T ln(t /tau0) scaling was used to generate master curves which allows one to extrapolate the relaxation behavior at times that are experimentally inaccessible. The mean energy barrier as well as the width, sigma of the energy distribution curves can also be estimated from this study. These results are in good agreement with those obtained from ac and dc susceptibility measurements.


There are several previous studies in which machine learning algorithms are used to predict how fault-prone a piece of code is. This thesis takes on a slightly different approach by attempting to predict how long a piece of code will remain unmodified after being written (its "lifetime"). This is based on the hypothesis that frequently modified code is more likely to contain weaknesses, which may make lifetime predictions useful for code evaluation purposes. In this thesis, the predictions are made with machine learning algorithms which are trained on open source code examples from GitHub. Two different machine learning algorithms are used: the multilayer perceptron and the support vector machine. A piece of code is described by three groups of features: code contents, code properties obtained from static code analysis, and metadata from the version control system Git. In a series of experiments it is shown that the support vector machine is the best performing algorithm and that all three feature groups are useful for predicting lifetime. Both the multilayer perceptron and the support vector machine outperform a baseline prediction which always outputs the mean lifetime of the training set. This indicates that lifetime to some extent can be predicted based on information extracted from the code. However, lifetime prediction performance is shown to be highly dataset dependent with large error magnitudes.


A clustering approach is presented to calculate the limits of parametric stability for a stable equilibrium of the power systems modeled by differential algebraic equations (DAEs) , the so-called "feasibility boundary." The underlying algorithm for calculation is based on the sensitivities of the eigenvalues of the DA system. The procedure is illustrated with several examples based on the standard nine-bus system and test beds formed by connecting sets of two and four nine-bus systems together.


In this approach to get more accuracy of the iris recognition, is composed of many steps: capturing the iris image, determining the location of the iris boundaries, normalization, preprocessed using median filter to remove noise, using wavelet transform for two types of filter, Haar and Daubechies (db4), in order to extract the features and finally using the matching by artificial feed forward neural network with back propagation algorithm (FFBNN) for training and testing iris image. In this proposed system, two database systems are used. The first is CASIA database system (version 1.0) (Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation). And, the second is REAL database system by using real persons and each person takes many images for recognition through camera Mobile Type of Galaxy Note3. In CASIA System, the iris recognition rate for Haar filter was 84.2% and for Daubechies filter was 92.8%, while in Real system, the iris recognition rate for Haar filter was 90% and for Daubechies filter was 98.7%, this means the Daubechies filter was the best in time and error from the Haar filter. Finally, this system is efficient, because the performance measurement of FAR was 0%. The results and the experiments were implemented by P4 computer and the software package MATLAB (R2011a).


A dynamic model of capital structure for the noncoiporate farm is developed and analyzed. In this model. the probability of bankruptcy increases as the farmer's debt/asset ratio increases. Funds invested outside agriculture earn a risldess rate of return. The farmer/proprietor is also able to obtain a riskless wage from off-fann employment; this wage may differ from the implicit wage received as a farmer. The expected return to equity on the farm depends on the leverage. The model examines the effects on optimal capital snucture of (I) bankruptcy risk. (2) the difference between the riskless rate and the expected renun in agriculture, and (3) the difference between the off.farm wage and the implicit on-farm wage. The third element introduces an incentive for the prq>rietor to change leverage over the proprietor's lifetime; this ocrurs if the difference between the wages is nonzero but C<Xlstant. If the difference between the wages is z.ero, a constant leverage is optimal under reasonable circumstances. The model predicts that older farmers require more leverage to induce them to remain in fanning and that they tend to reduce their leverage as retirement approaches. The model is tested with cross-sectional data.


The outbreak of the novel SARS-COV-2 and its following complications has caused an almost unprecedented chaos throughout the world in recent years. Although a series of vaccines have been proposed recently in order to reduce the risk of mortality and morbidity of this disease, an ultimate and reliable cure has yet to be discovered. One of the major complications of Covid-19 is the outburst of a series of inflammatory responses in the respiratory system of the patients, which eventually causes a hypoxemic pneumonitis and accounts for most of the Covid-19 patients' mortality. It is suggested that a group of inflammatory cytokines such as different interleukins are responsible for this complication, therefore drugs which can influence this system may be useful in reducing this exaggerated inflammatory response which is dubbed the 'cytokine storm'. In this article we review potential treatment options for reducing the inflammatory response and discuss some clinical trials and case reports related to the drugs interfering with responsible interleukins in order to quench the cytokine storm.


: As part of a multidisciplinary approach to the management of osteoarthritis, 77 patients with a mean age of 69 years were assessed by physical therapists. Goniometrics and strength evaluations of the shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee were performed at the initial and final assessment of this 12-week study. Biweekly gait evaluations consisted of timed free-speed walking over a 12-foot distance. Although the patients with osteoarthritis had joint pain with movement and limitations in joint range of motion and muscle strength, statistically significant improvements were obtained in a number of variables over the course of the study. The gait speed had a direct correlation with joint range of motion and muscle strength and an inverse correlation with pain.


Creativity is a stated learning outcome of design disciplines and it often forms part of the more general attributes guiding pedagogical activities and curricula. Nonetheless, the question of assessing creativity remains highly contentious and it poses both pedagogical and legal or administrative challenges to architectural educators. Whereas traditional assessment methods and processes have often relied on the assessors' subjective judgement and tacit understandings of what is creative, the contemporary educational climate calls for enhanced transparency and objectivity through often rigid quality assurance mechanisms. These changes in educational culture place increasing pressure on teaching and assessment processes, with particular challenges facing the assessment of creativity. This paper presents a four-part model for assessment in design education. The model targets the question of assessing creativity in design and outlines the different stages and the various facets of the assessment process. It also identifies the dominant types of architectural assessment to be tested for pedagogical and quality assurance compliance. Finally, the paper locates, identifies and interrogates the four distinct levels of assessment, relating it to existing research from fields of architectural education, pedagogy and assessment. Conference theme: Design education


In different cultures people may have different perceptions of and attitudes to some natural phenomena such as wind, water, fire, trees, sun, moon and examples of these sorts. Respect and reverence for water and trees have been institutionalized in many ancient civilizations due to their various socio-cultural traditions, values and beliefs. In Iranian societies respect for water has been a well known cultural value before and after Islam. The important role of water in the various aspects of human life has been emphasized in the holy books particularly in Avesta and Holy Quran. In these books, water has been introduced as the essence of life; without which life is not possible. According to the description of Paradise or Heaven in the Holy Quran, Muslim architects; with special attention on this description, have built gardens in this mortal world with the intention of the goal that the Persian Gardens in the appearance of eternal and futurity will be a metaphor of the Heaven or Paradise Gardens. This article is trying to study about the attitude of Iranian towards myth of water and trees. There will be also a glance on a number of other civilizations such as China, India and Egypt in this regard. Then the important role and status of water and trees in the environmental enhancement and designing of Persian Gardens will be discussed. And so, considerations about water and trees policies and management addressing the broader array of human perceptions, meanings and values related to cultural aspects of water and trees are needed in Asian countries, especially in Iran.


Copyright © 2016 ISCA. The performance of automatic speech recognition can often be significantly improved by combining multiple systems together. Though beneficial, ensemble methods can be computationally expensive, often requiring multiple decoding runs. An alternative approach, appropriate for deep learning schemes, is to adopt student-teacher training. Here, a student model is trained to reproduce the outputs of a teacher model, or ensemble of teachers. The standard approach is to train the student model on the frame posterior outputs of the teacher. This paper examines the interaction between student-teacher training schemes and sequence training criteria, which have been shown to yield significant performance gains over frame-level criteria. There are several possible options for integrating sequence training, including training of the ensemble and further training of the student. This paper also proposes an extension to the studentteacher framework, where the student is trained to emulate the hypothesis posterior distribution of the teacher, or ensemble of teachers. This sequence student-teacher training approach allows the benefit of student-teacher training to be directly combined with sequence training schemes. These approaches are evaluated on two speech recognition tasks: a Wall Street Journal based task and a low-resource Tok Pisin conversational telephone speech task from the IARPA Babel programme.


A case of a hemangiopericytoma tumor metastatic to the lung from a central nervous system primary tumor in the posterior fossa is reported. The tumor was not responsive to treatment with cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin (doxorubicin), vincristine, DTIC (CYVADIC), high‐dose methotrexate with citro‐vorum factor rescue, aziridinobenzoquinone (AZQ), or dibromodulcitol. However, the patient has had a prolonged survival, lasting for more than 26 years from original diagnosis, despite extensive recurrent primary disease and massive pulmonary metastases. Clinical and pathologic characteristics of these tumors are reviewed, with emphasis on the potential for long‐term survival.


Abstract Early studies revealed relationships between barium (Ba), particulate organic carbon and silicate, suggesting applications for Ba as a paleoproductivity tracer and as a tracer of modern ocean circulation. But, what controls the distribution of barium (Ba) in the oceans? Here, we investigated the Arctic Ocean Ba cycle through a one‐of‐a‐kind data set containing dissolved (dBa), particulate (pBa), and stable isotope Ba ratio (δ138Ba) data from four Arctic GEOTRACES expeditions conducted in 2015. We hypothesized that margins would be a substantial source of Ba to the Arctic Ocean water column. The dBa, pBa, and δ138Ba distributions all suggest significant modification of inflowing Pacific seawater over the shelves, and the dBa mass balance implies that ∼50% of the dBa inventory (upper 500 m of the Arctic water column) was supplied by nonconservative inputs. Calculated areal dBa fluxes are up to 10 μmol m−2 day−1 on the margin, which is comparable to fluxes described in other regions. Applying this approach to dBa data from the 1994 Arctic Ocean Survey yields similar results. The Canadian Arctic Archipelago did not appear to have a similar margin source; rather, the dBa distribution in this section is consistent with mixing of Arctic Ocean‐derived waters and Baffin Bay‐derived waters. Although we lack enough information to identify the specifics of the shelf sediment Ba source, we suspect that a sedimentary remineralization and terrigenous sources (e.g., submarine groundwater discharge or fluvial particles) are contributors.


Rule 10b-5 private damages actions cannot proceed on a class basis unless the plaintiffs are entitled to the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance. In Halliburton II, the Supreme Court provides defendants in such actions with an opportunity, before class certification, to rebut the fraud-on-the-market presumption through evidence that the misstatement had no effect on the issuer's share price. It left unspecified, however, the standard by which the sufficiency of this evidence should be judged. This Article explores the two most plausible approaches that the courts might take to setting this standard. One approach would be for the courts to impose the same statistical burden on defendants seeking to show there was no price effect as is currently imposed on plaintiffs to show that there was a price effect when the plaintiffs later need to demonstrate loss causation. The other approach would be to decide that defendants can rebut the presumption of reliance simply by persuading the court that the plaintiffs will not be able meet their statistical burden. If the courts choose the first approach, Halliburton II is unlikely to have much effect on the cases that are brought or on their resolution by settlement or adjudication. If they choose the second approach, the decision's effect will be more substantial. The Article concludes with a brief discussion of some of the considerations that should be relevant to courts in their choice between the two approaches.


Two-dimensional (2D) composites with characteristics of high conductivity, good redox activity and large microporosity are constructed via sandwiching reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets with conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) containing built-in redox-active ferrocene moieties. The integration of redox-active CMPs and conductive rGO within a 2D porous framework gives rise to remarkable faradaic energy storage as well as fast charge/energy transfer between the electrode and the electrolyte. As a result, the supercapacitors fabricated with these 2D hybrids possess remarkable capacitance at varied current density and excellent cycling stability. Thanks to the structural flexibility of CMPs, this strategy opens an avenue towards the design of new-generation supercapacitors and other electrochemical devices with molecular accuracy.


Recent studies have explored hiring discrimination as an obstacle to former burnout patients. Many workers, however, return to the same employer, where they face an even more severe aftermath of burnout syndrome: promotion discrimination. To our knowledge, we are the first to directly address this issue in research. More specifically, we conducted a vignette experiment with 406 genuine managers, testing the potential of the main burnout stigma theoretically described in the literature as potential mediators of promotion discrimination. Estimates reveal that compared to employees without an employment interruption, former burnout patients have no less than a 34.4% lower probability of receiving a promotion. Moreover, these employees are perceived as having low (1) leadership, (2) learning capacity, (3) motivation, (4) autonomy and (5) stress tolerance, as well as being (6) less capable of taking on an exemplary role, (7) having worse current and (8) future health, (9) collaborating with them is regarded more negatively, and (10) managers perceive them as having fewer options to leave the organisation if denied a promotion. Four of these perceptions, namely lower leadership capacities, stress tolerance, abilities to take on an exemplary role and chances of finding another job explain almost half the burnout effect on promotion probabilities.


This paper reviews the NTIRE2021 challenge on burst super-resolution. Given a RAW noisy burst as input, the task in the challenge was to generate a clean RGB image with 4 times higher resolution. The challenge contained two tracks; Track 1 evaluating on synthetically generated data, and Track 2 using real-world bursts from mobile camera. In the final testing phase, 6 teams submitted results using a diverse set of solutions. The top-performing methods set a new state-of-the-art for the burst super-resolution task.


In order to improve corrosion resistance of widely used carbon steels, self-fusion Ni60 alloys coating was prepared by free-spraying and induction heating, taking 45 steel as substrate. The microstructure and corrosion resistance of the coating and the elements diffusion cross the interface between the coatings and the substrate were analyzed. The results indicate that Ni60 coating free from cracks is obtained by free spraying and induction heating. The microstructure of the Ni60 coated substrate consists of top surface, intermediate layer, dendritic crystal zone and lamellar zone from outside to inside. The corrosion resistance of Ni60 coatings is markedly superior to that of the substrate in acid and alkali solution, and surpasses stainless steel in reductive and alkali solutions


This paper sketches the interaction between social networks, activity spaces/markets and traffic growth. It argues that these linkages influence the adoption of intelligent transport systems, in particular with respect to management and control technologies. Qualitative models of personal activity spaces and commercial markets are developed. These suggest that any decoupling between economic and traffic growth will be difficult. They also suggest, that any change in trend will be difficult, as the current travel patterns reflect the social capital structures of society, which will be reluctant to change without good reason or external pressure.


According to ITC guidelines (2000), audio description should be as objective as possible, provide only relevant information, avoid any personal judgement and patronising attitude. However, since audio description is relatively young and develops at different paces worldwide, theoretical approaches and practical applications are not homogenous. In Italy, for instance, audio description is not an academic discipline yet and initiatives aiming at increasing its use are very loosely connected. However, the amount of TV audio description is not irrelevant, nor is the yearly production by no-profit associations. The language used seems to be influenced by the relatively isolated, slow and new development of audio description in Italy, but also by its literary tradition and the 'cultural' attitude of professionals towards spoken and written language. Through corpus-driven analysis of an Italian and an English audio description script of the film Chocolat (L. Hallström, 2000, USA-UK), this contribution aims at drawing attention to some features of the Italian language used, i.e. on the use of a written register and of formal and typically written syntactical structures. In addition, the article challenges relevance and objectivity in the Italian AD script which, although very far from ITC principles, generally seems to meet the expectations of the Italian blind audience. "Why can't you wear black shoes like the other mothers?" Preliminary investigation on the Italian language of audio description


For a postscript copy of this paper, click here. Agent-base computational economics (ACE) is roughly defined as the computational study of economies modelled as evolving decentralized systems of autonomous interacting agents. A key focus of ACE research is understanding how global regularities arise from the bottom up, through the repeated local interactions of autonomous agents channeled through socio-economic institutions, rather than from top down coordination mechanisms such as imposed market clearing constraints or an assumption of single representative agents. This paper discusses how ACE materials have been introduced into graduate-level course in macroeconomic theory over the past several years, using an ACE labor market framework for concrete illustration.


The spatial distribution of the dominant matrix minerals present in the middle-Proterozoic Athabasca Group sandstone (kaolin, illite, sudoite, dravite, hematite) was studied at a regional scale in the Shea Creek region (Saskatchewan, Canada), in which two epigenetic unconformity-type uranium deposits have been discovered. 3D models of matrix mineral distribution were derived from normative mineral calculations and 3D interpolation using whole-rock geochemical analyses of sandstone samples collected from both mineralized and barren areas. The calculations were constrained by information obtained from petrographic and crystal-chemical clay mineralogical studies on representative samples. The 3D mineral distribution models were compared to the lithostratigraphy and structural features of the Athabasca Group sandstone to ascertain the source and mobility of the main elements involved in the sandstone host-rock alteration processes related to the U mineralization. The distribution of Al is conformable with the lithostratigraphy throughout the studied area, regardless of proximity to basement-rooted structures and U ore bodies. The distribution of illite displays similar features, but the intensity of the illitization of kaolin decreases with increasing distance from the structures and U ore bodies. Hematite bleaching and neoformation of sudoite and dravite were restricted to the vicinity of the fault zones above the U ore bodies. The spatial configurations of the mineral anomalies show that syn-ore fluids flowed from the basement towards the sandstone cover via the fault zones, as described in current metallogenic models. Although Al remained immobile (mass transfer), the anomalous K, B and Mg present in the host-rock alteration haloes were probably imported from the basement rocks (mass transport). Unlike B and Mg, K migrated laterally at least several kilometers from the basement-rooted faults. The mineral distribution models were used to quantify the volume of altered sandstone (10−2−10−1 km3) and the amounts of K, Mg and B which were imported to the alteration haloes above the Shea Creek U ore bodies: 186,000 t of K, 66,000 t of Mg, and 11,000 t of B above the Anne ore body, and 24,000 t of K, 185,000 t of Mg, and a similar 11,000 t of B above the Colette ore body.


Successful crisis management depends on collaboration between different stakeholders and involved organizations, it also relies on making a good decision in a short time. Therefore, it requires that actors communicate and share information on the field to achieve awareness about the event. Due to an ineffective communication in emergency response, awareness and collaboration are impacted, for that we aim to study the activity and the communication in inter-organizational crisis management and extract the various problems that actors encounter in information sharing which prevent them from achieving their goals. We present in this paper our initial result in which we model the dependencies between different actions, information and actors.


Abstract This multisited ethnography followed nine successful Latino high-school students enrolled in a college-preparation program to examine their development of college aspirations and identify factors that contributed to their successful preparation for a 4-year university. It also explored these students' "multiple worlds" of home, school, community, and a university-sponsored college-preparation program. Major findings include the development of three typologies to explain how Latino immigrant families employ different strategies to motivate and support their children's progress and rely on various resource networks across their multiple worlds to meet students' academic, economic, sociocultural, and psychological needs. Results suggest that Latino immigrant students can successfully prepare for college when their needs are met through a network of resources in the home, school, and community. Implications are offered for how families, communities, schools, and programs can create a holistic approac...


Inferring Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) structure from gene expression data has been a challenging problem in systems biology. It is critical to identify complicated regulatory relationships among genes for understanding regulatory mechanisms in cells. Various methods based on information theory have been developed to infer GRNs. However, these methods introduce many redundant regulatory relationships in the network inference process due to external noise in the original data, topology sparseness in the network structure, and non-linear dependency among genes. Especially as the network size increases, the performance of these methods decreases dramatically. In this paper, a novel network structure inference method named Loc-PCA-CMI is proposed that first identifies local overlapped gene clusters, and then infers the local network structure for each cluster by a Path Consistency Algorithm based on Conditional Mutual Information (PCA-CMI). The final structure of the GRN is denoted as dependence among genes by an ensemble of the obtained local network structures. Loc-PCA-CMI was evaluated on DREAM3 knock-out datasets, and its performance was compared to other information theory-based network inference methods including ARACNE, MRNET, PCA-CMI, and PCA-PMI. Experimental results demonstrate our novel method Loc-PCA-CMI outperforms the other four methods in DREAM3 datasets especially in size 50 and 100 networks.


Objective: This study evaluates efficacy of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) for preinduction cervical ripening in preterm pregnancies, and to identify possible predictors of ripening failure.
    Methods: Two groups of women admitted for induction of labor were included: Group 1 (n=23) with preterm pregnancies and group 2 (n=25), the control group, at term. The primary outcome measure was the result of cervical ripening. Cervical ripening was induced with successive administration of PGE2 vaginal tablets. After successful cervical ripening, augmentation of labor with oxytocin and/or artificial rupture of membranes are used if necessary.
    Results: Ripening failure rate was higher in preterm group but not statistically significant (p=0.237). The overall caesarean section rate and the rate of caesarean section due to induction failure were significantly higher in preterm group than in term group. Ripening failure was inversely related to gestational age (p=0.008) even in the preterm group alone (p=0.007). The rate of 5-min Apgar score <7 was comparable in both groups.
    Conclusion: PGE2 is less effective for cervical ripening at preterm compared to term pregnancies. Lower gestational age was the only independent significant predictor of ripening failure.


In this thesis we evaluate four different machine learning algorithms, namely Naive Bayes Classifier, Support Vector Machines, Extreme Learning Machine and Random Forest in the context of stock market investments. The aim is to provide additional information that can be beneficial when creating stock market models to be used in a machine learning setting. All four algorithms are trained on different configurations of data, based on concepts from technical analysis. The configurations contain closing prices, volatility and trading volume in different combinations. These variables are taken from past trading days, where the number of days from which data is to be collected ranges from 2 to 30. The resulting predictors attained from the various algorithms and configurations above reach accuracy rates between $50-54\%$. This thesis concludes that the effect of the different evaluated features vary depending on which algorithm is used as well as how many past trading days are included. Concluding, it is ascertained that the usage of volatility features should at least be considered when building a machine learning model in a stock market context.


Effective non-genetic disease modifying treatments for Huntington's disease (HD) will necessarily target multiple diverse neurodegenerative processes triggered by mutant huntingtin. Neurotrophin receptors are well-positioned for this task as they regulate signaling pathways that largely overlap with signaling networks contributing to HD-related synaptic dysfunction, glial activation, excitotoxicity, and other degenerative processes. This review will discuss the contributions of disrupted neurotrophin receptor-related signaling to primary HD neuropathologies, and prospects for harnessing this signaling to develop therapeutics to counteract HD degenerative mechanisms. Application of the native protein ligands has been challenging pharmacologically, but progress has been made with the advent of small molecule compounds that can selectively bind to and activate specific Trk receptors or p75NTR to promote trophic and/or inhibit degenerative signaling in cell populations preferentially affected in HD.


African penguins Spheniscus demersus live in the Benguela and western Agulhas ecosystems off southern Africa. Their numbers decreased throughout the 20th century from at least 1.5 million to about 0.18 million adults, although different regional trends were apparent. They feed to a large extent on shoaling epipelagic fish, notably anchovy Engraulis capensis and sardine Sardinops sagax, and regional trends in the abundance of penguins are associated with trends in the abundance and distribution of these prey fish. Many first-time breeders emigrate from colonies where feeding or other conditions at the time are unfavourable to more favourable breeding localities. This has led to both the extinction and formation of colonies. Food now may limit colonies at relatively small sizes, a fact attributable to industrial fisheries reducing the densities of forage fish. African penguins share their habitat with several other predators, with which they compete for food and breeding space. One of these, the Cape fur seal Arctocephalus p. pusillus, increased through the 20th century to 1.5 – 2 million animals at its close. Reported observations of predation by fur seals on seabirds have increased in recent decades and threaten the continued existence of small colonies of penguins. Stochastic modelling suggests that colonies of 10 000 pairs have a 9% probability of extinction in 100 years, so smaller populations should be regarded as "Vulnerable". However, in a period of prolonged food scarcity off southern Namibia, the regional population decreased from more than 40 000 pairs in 1956 to about 1 000 pairs in 2000, and many colonies numbering less than 1 000 pairs became extinct. The minimum viable population for African penguins is currently considered to be >40 000 pairs, likely of the order of 50 000 pairs, a figure equivalent to its level in 2000. The chance of survival of the species through the 21st century is tenuous.


The electronic properties and spectroscopic features of a magnetic trimer with a Kondo-like coupling to a non-magnetic metallic substrate are analyzed at zero temperature. The substrate density of states is depressed in the trimer neighbourhood, being exactly zero at the substrate chemical potential. The size of the resonance strongly depends on the magnetic state of the trimer, and exhibits a two-state behavior. The geometrical dependence of these results agree qualitatively with recent experiments and could be reproduced in a triangular quantum dot arrangement.


Ultrasonic testing is widely used to evaluate concrete structures. Namely, the ultrasonic pulse velocity method, which is based on the time-of-flight between transducers, is used in practice to determine the uniformity of concrete in structural members. While this approach is capable of detecting relatively significant deterioration, it is insensitive to small internal changes, such as a geometric change due to an applied stress. The objective of this paper was to study the effect of applied stress in concrete on ultrasound using digital signal processing on the recorded fullwaveforms. For this purpose, the magnitude-squared coherence (MSC) was used to determine the similarity between two recorded waveforms: a reference recorded waveform under no stress and one taken at a certain level of applied stress. The experimental work for this study consisted in applying a monotonically increasing compression load on four O 152 x 305 mm concrete cylinder specimens up to failure. A pitch-catch setup was used during the loading process consisting of two identical ultrasonic normal-wave transducers to continuously transmit an ultrasonic pulse and receive its response. The results show that looking at the recorded data in a traditional fashion does not show any differences before an ultimate load of approximately 80% is reached. By using MSC to compare entire recorded waveforms, however, a linear relationship to approximately 70% of ultimate stress can be observed immediately, starting at very low levels of applied stress.


The definition and management of a production strategy for petroleum fields is one of the most important tasks in reservoir engineering. It is a complex process due to the high number of parameters, operational restrictions and objectives involved, and due to uncertainties in geological and economic scenarios. This work shows an important tool to improve the performance of such a process, called quality map. Quality map is a tool that indicates the production potential of each place of the reservoir, combining several parameters that influence oil recovery efficiency. It serves as a visualisation tool and as a quality index distribution allowing the automation of production strategy definition. The case studies presented in this work involve numerical simulation of horizontal wells in offshore reservoir models. It is observed that quality maps constitute a powerful tool that can be used (1) to locate wells and (2) to speed up the optimisation process by efficiently allowing the analysis and quantification of several parameters and their influence on the reservoir exploitation. Keywords : Quality maps, production strategies, optimisation, horizontal wells, reservoir simulation


This book demonstrates how the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has enlisted global banks in the effort to keep "bad money" out of the financial system, in the process drastically altering the domestic policy landscape and transforming banking worldwide. Trillions of dollars flow across borders through the banking system every day. While bank-to-bank transfers facilitate trade and investment, they also provide opportunities for criminals and terrorists to move money around the globe. To address this vulnerability, large economies work together through an international standard-setting body, the FATF, to shift laws and regulations on combating illicit financial flows. The book examines how this international organization has achieved such impact, arguing that it relies on the power of unofficial market enforcement—a process whereby market actors punish countries that fail to meet international standards. The FATF produces a public noncomplier list, which banks around the world use to shift resources and services away from listed countries. As banks restrict cross-border lending, the domestic banking sector in listed countries advocates strongly for new laws and regulations, ultimately leading to deep and significant compliance improvements. The book offers lessons about the peril and power of globalized finance, revealing new insights into how some of today's most pressing international cooperation challenges might be addressed.


The paper aims at indirectly estimating a time series of food prices from household expenditure data, focusing on foods considered as 'junk' relative to healthy foods. The "big 6" among the HFSS (high in fats, sugar and salt) foods identified by the Food Standard Agency have been selected to compose a target 'unhealthy' basket, compared to a 'healthy' benchmark aggregate including fruit and vegetables. UK data from the National Food Surveys, the Household Expenditure Surveys and the Living Costs and Food Survey were harmonized and merged to compose a set of household level unit values from 1997 to 2009 for the healthy and unhealthy aggregates. Well-established techniques are then employed to estimate regional prices by disentangling the quality component from unit values. The analysis provides information on the geographical and time heterogeneity of estimated price of the unhealthy basket relative to fruit and vegetable prices.


Objective: To determine whether patients with different types of anxiety disorder (panic disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder) have higher heart rate and lower heart rate variability compared with healthy controls in a sample that was sufficiently powered to examine the confounding effects of lifestyle and antidepressants. Methods: The standard deviation of the normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN), heart rate (HR), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured in 2059 subjects (mean age = 41.7 years, 66.8% female) participating in The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). Based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) and Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), NESDA participants were classified as healthy controls (n = 616), subjects with an anxiety diagnosis earlier in life (n = 420), and subjects with current anxiety diagnosis (n = 1059). Results: Current anxious subjects had a significantly lower SDNN and RSA compared with controls. RSA was also significantly lower in remitted anxious subjects compared with controls. These associations were similar across the three different types of anxiety disorders. Adjustment for lifestyle had little impact. However, additional adjustment for antidepressant use reduced all significant associations between anxiety and HRV to nonsignificant. Anxious subjects who used a tricyclic antidepressant, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or another antidepressant showed significantly lower mean SDNN and RSA compared with controls (effect sizes = 0.20–0.80 for SDNN and 0.42–0.79 for RSA). Nonmedicated anxious subjects did not differ from controls in mean SDNN and RSA. Conclusion: This study shows that anxiety disorders are associated with significantly lower HR variability, but the association seems to be driven by the effects of antidepressants. ANOVA = analysis of variance; ANS = autonomic nervous system; ATC = anatomical therapeutic chemical; BAI = Beck Anxiety Inventory; BMI = body mass index; CIDI = Composite International Diagnostic Interview; CVD = cardiovascular disease; dZ = changes in thorax impedance; ECG = electrocardiogram; GAD = generalized anxiety disorder; HR = heart rate; HRV = heart rate variability; IBI = inter-beat-interval; MDD = major depressive disorder; MET = multiple of one's resting metabolic rate times minutes of physical activity; NESDA = The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety; PD = panic disorder; pv = peak-valley; PNS = parasympathetic nervous system; RR = respiratory rate; RSA = respiratory sinus arrhythmia; SDNN = standard deviation of the normal-to-normal interval; SNS = sympathetic nervous system; SP = social phobia; VU-AMS = Vrije Universiteit Ambulatory Monitoring System; SSRI = selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; TCA = tricyclic antidepressant.


The strong Coulomb interaction in monolayer semiconductors represents a unique opportunity for the realization of Wigner crystals without external magnetic fields. In this work, we predict that the formation of monolayer Wigner crystals can be detected by their terahertz response spectrum, which exhibits a characteristic sequence of internal optical transitions. We apply the density matrix formalism to derive the internal quantum structure and the optical conductivity of the Wigner crystal and to microscopically analyse the multi-peak shape of the obtained terahertz spectrum. Moreover, we predict a characteristic shift of the peak position as function of charge density for different atomically thin materials and show how our results can be generalized to an arbitrary two-dimensional system.


Background: Major joint replacement surgical procedures are common, elective procedures with a care episode that includes both inpatient readmissions and postoperative emergency department (ED) visits. Inpatient readmissions are well studied; however, to our knowledge, little is known about ED visits following these procedures. We sought to characterize 30-day ED visits following a major joint replacement surgical procedure. Methods: We used administrative records from California, Florida, and New York, from 2010 through 2012, to identify adults undergoing total knee and hip arthroplasty. Factors associated with increased risk of an ED visit were estimated using hierarchical regression models controlling for patient variables with a fixed hospital effect. The main outcome was an ED visit within 30 days of discharge. Results: Among the 152,783 patients who underwent major joint replacement, 5,229 (3.42%) returned to the inpatient setting and 8,883 (5.81%) presented to the ED for care within 30 days. Among ED visits, 17.94% had a primary diagnosis of pain and 25.75% had both a primary and/or a secondary diagnosis of pain. Patients presenting to the ED for subsequent care had more comorbidities and were more frequently non-white with public insurance relative to those not returning to the ED (p < 0.001). There was a significantly increased risk (p < 0.05) of isolated ED visits with regard to type of insurance when patients with Medicaid (odds ratio [OR], 2.28 [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.04 to 2.55]) and those with Medicare (OR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.29 to 1.47]) were compared with patients with private insurance and with regard to race when black patients (OR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.25 to 1.53]) and Hispanic patients (OR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.03 to 1.22]) were compared with white patients. These increases in risk were stronger for isolated ED visits for patients with a pain diagnosis. Conclusions: ED visits following an elective major joint replacement surgical procedure were numerous and most commonly for pain-related diagnoses. Medicaid patients had almost double the risk of an ED or pain-related ED visit following a surgical procedure. The future of U.S. health-care insurance coverage expansions are uncertain; however, there are ongoing attempts to improve quality across the continuum of care. It is therefore essential to ensure that all patients, particularly vulnerable populations, receive appropriate postoperative care, including pain management. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


The efficacy of intentionally deep breathing in the treatment of chronic pulmonary disease has been questioned. The method here described employs a portable generator of electrical stimuli. A band-like electrode applied along the costal margin stimulates the peripheral portions of the diaphragm for inspiration; a pair of flat electrodes applied over the two parts of the m. rectus abdominis induces expiration. Intensity and timing can be adjusted. Treatments lasting 10 to 15 minutes were given two or three times a week to 34 patients with pulmonary conditions that were not responding to other therapeutic measures. A group of 13 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary emphysema proved to be the most difficult to evaluate and had the least satisfactory clinical responses. In the remaining patients (five with empyema, seven with traumatic conditions, and nine recovering from lobectomy) evidence from ventilation measurements, chest roentgenograms, and other criteria showed significant improvement during the weeks of treatment. It is pointed out that a series of comparable untreated patients is difficult, if not impossible, to acquire. The treatment seemed to hasten the resolution of exudates and the mobilization of the diaphragm. The patients accepted it readily and showed no adverse effects.


Abstract In this note, the relationship between the observed daytime rise in surface radiative temperature, derived from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) sounder clear-sky data, and modeled soil moisture is explored over the continental United States. The motivation is to provide an infrared (IR) satellite–based index for soil moisture, which has a higher resolution than possible with the microwave satellite data. The daytime temperature rise is negatively correlated with soil moisture in most areas. Anomalies in soil moisture and daytime temperature rise are also negatively correlated on monthly time scales. However, a number of exceptions to this correlation exist, particularly in the western states. In addition to soil moisture, the capacity of vegetation to generate evapotranspiration influences the amount of daytime temperature rise as sensed by the satellite. In general, regions of fair to poor vegetation health correspond to the relatively high temperature rise from the...


The EU Taxonomy is the first standardised and comprehensive classification system for sustainable economic activities. It covers activities responsible for up to 80 percent of EU greenhouse gas emissions and may play an important role in channelling investments into low-carbon technologies by helping investors to make informed decisions. However, especially in transition sectors much depends on the stringency of the technical performance thresholds that the Taxonomy applies to economic activities that are not yet "green". This paper shows that for several sectors, the thresholds are not yet on track to support the transition towards climate neutrality. To this end, we analyse a large-scale public consultation with detailed responses to the specific thresholds from a variety of stakeholders. Two distinct use cases of the Taxonomy complicate the use of a single threshold for emission-intensive sectors: For new investments, criteria need to be stricter than for current activities of companies. We also argue that for the sectors not covered by the Taxonomy, there is a need to differentiate between low-emissions activities and high-emission activities that are incompatible with a low-carbon future.


In general, high-voltage DC power supplies employing a variety of high-frequency inverters are implemented for constant value control schemes. In particular, their good transient and steady state performances cannot be achieved under wide load variations for a medical-use high-voltage X-ray generator, ranging from 20 kV to 150 kV in the output voltage and from 0.5 mA to 1250 mA, respectively. A high-voltage DC power supply designed for X-ray power generator applications is considered, which uses a series resonant inverter-linked multistage DC voltage multiplier instead of a conventional high-voltage diode module rectifier connected to the secondary side of a high-voltage transformer. A constant on-time/variable frequency control scheme of this converter operating at zero-current soft switching mode is described. Introducing the capacitor-diode cascaded multistage voltage multiplier, the secondary turn numbers and secondary-side stray capacitance of the high-voltage, high-frequency transformer, as well as the rectifier diode voltage ratings, can be greatly reduced. It is shown that the proposed converter control scheme of the two-step selective changed frequency selection switching is more effective for improving the output voltage responses. The series resonant high frequency transformer-linked voltage-multiplying rectifier is evaluated for an X-ray high-voltage generator on the basis of simulation analysis and observed data in experiment.


This study investigates how far the nuclear family—in terms of entering cohabitation and marriage and having a first and second child—affects religious salience, religious attendance, and activity in religious organizations. Previous research has shown that religious individuals are more likely to marry, and have higher fertility, than non-religious individuals. Less is known about how far the nuclear family also affects religiosity. This study presents longitudinal evidence on how religious factors change within the life-course of individuals after entering cohabitation or marriage and after having a first or second child in up to 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey collected between 1991 and 2009. The comparison between longitudinal and cross-sectional results indicates how far religious factors affect family formation processes. All religious factors investigated (salience, attendance, activity) increased when people became parents, as well as when they married, but not when they started to cohabit. Most of these effects are long-lasting and they hold across age, gender and cohort groups.


After discussing ownership issues related to tropical forests, the author develops a simple general equilibrium model to represent - at least in a stylized way - the salient aspects of the deforestation process. He uses the model to generate first- and second-best policy options for controlling deforestation and, later, to assess the environmental consequences of government policies often cited in the literature on deforestation. Property rights, though important for understanding the process of tropical deforestation, do not necessarily point to a simple or straightfoward fix for environmental problems, particularly in developing countries. The sheer size, communal nature of service flows, and pervasiveness of individual access to tropical forests make monitoring and enforcement costly in some situations and unimaginable in others. Redefining nominal rights in ways that appear to correct inefficiencies may yield gains in some cases, but an approach to environmental protection that leans heavily on this prescription seems aimed more at symptoms than at causes, says the author. Moreover, policy approaches based on the use of Pigovian taxes or marketable permit schemes may yield efficiency gains in some cases, but such approaches generally involve the same monitoring and enforcement problems that prevent the market from solving allocation problems. Simple, direct solutions to deforestation and other environmental problems are unavailable, but an ability to understand the environmental and welfare consequences of policies adopted for other reasons is useful - if only to help policymakers avoid mistakes that would otherwise go unrecognized. The model the author develops for this purpose is highly stylized and intended primarily to provide a systematic way of thinking about the environmental and welfare effects of government policy - for example, by considering patterns of substitution among inputs and outputs, in cases where an environmental resource to which people have free access is exploited. If the use of first-best policies is infeasible - whether because of monitoring costs, transboundary effects, or other reasons - then it becomes important to have detailed knowledge of patterns of substitution and complementarity among ordinary inputs and environmental resources, and information on the use of various environmental resources in the production of specific goods and services. Knowledge of such factors can permit policymakers to pursue policy goals in situations where first-best instruments are unavailable.


In "Reading Chekhov" Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic, biographer and journalist. Her close readings of the stories and plays are interwoven with episodes from Chekhov's life and framed by an account of a recent journey she made to St Petersburg. Writing of Chekhov's life, Malcolm demonstrates how the shadow of death that hovered over most of his literary career - he became consumptive in his 20s and died in his 40s - is almost everywhere reflected in the work. She writes of his childhood, his relationship with his family, his marriage, his travels, his early success, his exile to Yalta - always with an eye to connecting them to the themes and characters of the stories and plays.


When Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker hear "The Sheik of Araby," F. Scott Fitzgerald constructs a substantial identification between Rudolph Valentino's feminized male eroticism and Jay Gatsby's exoticness as a modern dandy in The Great Gatsby. The song was composed about a movie The Sheik (1921) where Valentino performed a young head of an Arabian clan. In constructing Gatsby's ethnicity and sexuality in the novel, Fitzgerald alludes to the Italian-born actor Valentino who gained success through the erotic commodification of his unmarked transvestism and hyper-manhood, which laid him open to xenophobic attack in the early-twentieth-century U.S. culture. The implicit presence of Valentino, whose commodified ethnicity agitated the sense of class security of mainstream white aristocracy, shapes Tom's xenophobia against Gatsby's ethnicity in The Great Gatsby. The prototypal construction of Valentino places the novel in the historical era when a profitable but unassimilable commodity in an industry built on ethnic success infiltrated into the market-driven culture. In this cultural milieu, Gatsby's willingness to commodify himself opens up new ways to penetrate the class barrier not through traditional class struggle but through self-reinvention.


Conifer woodlands have expanded into sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and degrade habitat for sagebrush obligate species such as the Greater Sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Conifer management is increasing despite a lack of empirical evidence assessing outcomes to grouse and their habitat. Although assessments of vegetation recovery after conifer removal are common, comparisons of successional trends with habitat guidelines or actual data on habitat used by sage‐grouse is lacking. We assessed impacts of conifer encroachment on vegetation characteristics known to be important for sage‐grouse nesting. Using a controlled repeated measures design, we then evaluated vegetation changes for 3 years after conifer removal. We compared these results to data from 356 local sage‐grouse nests, rangewide nesting habitat estimates, and published habitat guidelines. We measured negative effects of conifer cover on many characteristics important for sage‐grouse nesting habitat including percent cover of forbs, grasses, and shrubs, and species richness of forbs and shrubs. In untreated habitat, herbaceous vegetation cover was slightly below the cover at local nest sites, while shrub cover and sagebrush cover were well below cover at the nest sites. Following conifer removal, we measured increases in herbaceous vegetation, primarily grasses, and sagebrush height. Our results indicate that conifer abundance can decrease habitat suitability for nesting sage‐grouse. Additionally, conifer removal can improve habitat suitability for nesting sage‐grouse within 3 years, and trajectories indicate that the habitat may continue to improve in the near future.


The City of San Angelo has been imposed on urban flooding and no-point source pollution and develop storm water monitoring and modeling project for managing these storm water issues. This study focuses on the stormwater peak flow reduction and water pollutant improvement by using small serial retention structures. The storm water data collected are utilized to verify storm water and event mean concentration in SWMM model. The verified SWMM that has range from 0.6 to 0.8 of coefficient of determination is modeled to evaluate small serial dams for reducing peak flow and water quality loading. Small serial dams explain the 26%~55.3% peak flow reduction and 53.2%~93.7% water pollutant removal percent. Sensitivity analysis results for three kinds of orifice sizes provide that smaller size increases the hydraulic retention and reduces the peak flow than other bigger size while the bigger size shows effective water pollutant reduction than small size.


As the economies of Asian have moved towards closer economic ties in recent years, the establishment of regional exchange rate arrangement has become an important regional policy concern. A study by the Asian Development Bank forecast that Asian will be the world's largest economy by 2050. Hence, it is not reasonable for Asian to continuously depend on US dollar. Asian must have its own currency and must responsible for its own financial stability. Regional cooperation (including integration) is critical for Asia's march toward prosperity and facing vulnerabilities to global shocks. Financial integration in ASEAN+3 is assessed in this paper by examining the time-series stochastic behaviour and cointegration in a set of eight ASEAN+3 currencies. The findings imply that not all of the ASEAN+3 countries are financial integrated during the recent float. This finding provided weak support upon formation of regional monetary and exchange rate arrangement in Asia.


It seems that one can't go through a work day without seeing some mention of Big Data, its application and its potential to have unprecedented impact. The potential for Big Data application in the agricultural sector is examined. The role of analytics and the variety and velocity characteristics of Big Data as they can apply to the sector are stressed. Integration of data and analysis across business and government entities will be needed for successful implementation. The eventual impact of Big Data within the agricultural sector likely will require both organizational and technological innovation.


Significant savings can be achieved on the costs of operations for the deepening and maintenance of navigation channels and harbor basins in muddy areas provided that computations are based on 'nautical seabed' levels rather than on seabed levels measured through echosounding. The nautical bed consists of the silt layer with specific mass of 1200 kg/per cubic meter. Echosounder measurements indicate a higher level, i. e. , the top of the silt. Extensive model and in situ tests have shown that area where the silt's specific mass is less than 1200 kg/per cubic meter can be qualified as navigable. The results of in-depth research and the development of new measuring techniques allow acoustic measurement of silt layer specific mass.


Background: Thespesia populnea L. commonly known as tulip tree or 'portia' tree has been traditionally used for different illnesses. Thespesia populnea L. is considered to have high tannin content and have high therapeutic value. Purpose: The antifungal and antibacterial potential of T. populnea L. should be checked on multiple drug resistant opportunistic pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans in HIV/AIDS patients. Methods: In order to check the effect of antibiotics antibiogram was studied with antibiotic sensitivity discs. To study the major factor affecting resistance test on formation of biofilm was done by tube and plate methods. The dried flower powder was subjected to sauxlaut hot extraction and the crude extract was analysed by Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrophotoscopy. Antimicrobial potential of the ethyl acetate extract of the flower was checked by well agar diffusion, UV Spectrometry for growth rate and docking of selected compounds on the microbes of our study by the application of a software. Results: The tested extracts and the selected compounds have showed significant results in the antimicrobial activities against the opportunistic pathogens in human. Higher the concentration of the extracts better is the inhibition of microbes. Conclusion: The study provides a scientific rationale for the traditional use in the management of opportunistic pathogens which are multidrug resistant.


Background: Cystic fibrosis is a monogenic recessive disorder found predominantly in Caucasian population. This disease arises from mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. In this study we consider poly T polymorphism c.1210-12T[5], c.1210-12T[7], c.1210-12T[9] (T5, T7, T9) in the intron 8 of CFTR gene in normal individuals and cystic fibrosis patients in the north of Iran. Material and methods: 40 CF patients and 40 normal individuals were screened for poly T polymorphism in intron 8 of CFTR gene using Reverse Dot Blot method which was also used to detect p.Phe508del among CF patients. Results: T7 allele is the most prevalent in both normal and CF patients. Its abundance is approximately 75%. T9 and T5 represent approximately 20% and 5% of alleles respectively. T7/ T7 genotype is the most present in both normal and CF patients with 72.5% and 60% prevalence respectively. p.Phe508del was present in 13 CFTR alleles belonging to 7 patients with either homozygote T9/ T9, T7/ T7 or compound heterozygote T7/ T9 genotypes. Conclusion: Contrary to the Caucasians, T7 allele is more frequent in Northern Iranian CF patients. The presence of p.Phe508del and T7 allele in the same framework is reported for the first time in this part of the world. Further investigations of other populations will help to understand whether p.Phe508del arose by selection pressure in this part of the world or was imported from European countries. The abundance of T5, T7, T9 alleles indicates that this polymorphism can be used as one of the informative markers for detection of normal and mutant alleles in prenatal diagnosis or carrier assessment in families with previous history of the disease in regions with high degree of CFTR mutation heterogeneity.


BACKGROUND
The actual incidence of anaphylaxis is unknown. Periodical study of the anaphylaxis in different countries will raise the awareness to improve further the prevention and care.

METHODS
To investigate anaphylaxis among inpatients in the previous decade, we conducted a retrospective study of adult patients between 1992 and 2001 at a tertiary care center in Bangkok.

RESULTS
Of 448,211 admissions, 80 events of anaphylaxis in 79 patients (0.017%) were found. The incidence had increased from 2.6 to 46 per 100,000 inpatients. Mean age +/- SD was 36 +/- 16 years-old, with an equal male:female ratio. Drugs, mainly antibiotics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, (48%) and food (31%) were the most common causes. Over-the-counter medication and multiple drug use were responsible for up to a half of the unspecified drug causes. There was no fatality. 84% received epinephrine, but in only 7% it was given intramuscularly. Fifteen cases (20%) had a history of prior anaphylaxis, nonetheless only one had received prefilled epinephrine.

CONCLUSIONS
The rise in the incidence of anaphylaxis over the two decades of the study period is alarming. Raising the awareness of anaphylaxis management among healthcare providers and the public is warranted.


This paper contributes to the debate on the Sustainable Development Goals progress by evaluating the MDGs achievements in South Asia and the policy and institutional challenges deriving from such experience. Using cross-country regressions and aggregate indicators of poverty, health, education and gender parity outcomes, we offer three sets of findings. First, comparative evidence shows that, while South Asia has converged with richer regions, there is still significant variation in gender equality, universal primary education, and income poverty achievements across countries. Second, projections based on past trends on where SDGs are expected to be by 2030 reveal that there is a long way to go, where emblematic targets as income poverty eradication may not be met in the populous South Asian countries. Finally, considering the expanded set of development targets in the SDGs and the growth slowdown in South Asia, we argue that further progress would simultaneously require increased public spending on health and education and reforms improving state capacity. A simulation exercise confirms that such a combination of interventions would deliver significant benefits in the region, particularly in areas that are critical to progress on the goals of 'No Poverty', 'Quality Education', 'Gender Equality', and 'Inclusive Growth'.


In 1978 the Board of Trustees at St. Edward Mercy Medical Center, Fort Smith, AR, adopted a policy that the center would increase its bed size only to meet community needs or to offer needed services. The policy choice was the first step in the development of a regional network that now serves five rural communities. Although there was some resistance to the move at first, when management formalized some of its basic assumptions and values, it became clear that establishing a regional network was right for St. Edward. It would provide economic benefits to the communities in which facilities were acquired or constructed; it would give rural residents better access to primary healthcare; and it would provide the Religious Sisters of Mercy an opportunity to extend their ministry. Networking has also allowed the facilities involved to develop economies of scale and to avoid costly duplication of certain basic services. In addition, primary care physicians in rural communities served by the network have been an important source of referrals to specialists who utilize St. Edward.


The authors describe prototype low-noise SAW (surface acoustic wave) resonator oscillators which have demonstrated state-of-the-art phase-noise performance not only at their fundamental operating frequencies in the 400- to 600-MHz range but also after 16* frequency multiplication to X-band as well. SAW resonator designs with overmoded cavities, very wide apertures, and dual apertures, as well as modified fabrication techniques, have been used to realize an overall reduction in an oscillator's phase-noise spectrum, i.e. white phi M, flicker FM, and random-walk FM. The S resonators can typically handle incident RF power in excess of +20 dBm, a key requirement to achieving an extremely low oscillator-phase-noise floor. A novel burn-in procedure at relatively high incident-RF-power levels (>27 dBm) was used to reduce both the flicker FM and random-walk FM phase-noise levels. Using these various techniques, a 5- to 15-dB improvement in the overall phase-noise spectrum for several prototype oscillators was demonstrated.<<ETX>>


Object-based image analysis is quickly gaining acceptance among remote sensing community, and object-based image classification methods are increasingly being used for classification of land use/cover units from high-resolution satellite images with results closer to human interpretation compared to per-pixel classifiers. The problem of nonlinear separability of classes in a feature space consisting of spectral/spatial/textural features is addressed by kernel-based nonlinear mapping of the feature vectors. This facilitates use of linear discriminant functions for classification as used in artificial neural networks (ANNs). In this paper, performance of a recently introduced kernel called cloud basis function (CBF) is investigated with some modification for classification. The CBF has demonstrated superior performance to the tune of about 4% higher classification accuracy compared to conventional radial basis function used in ANN. The results are further improved by using probabilistic relaxation labeling as a postprocessing step. This paper has potential applications in urban planning and urban studies.


"Sleep scheduling" is a widely adopted technique in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for reducing unnecessary idle energy consumption; however, when MAC-layer sleep scheduling is carried out oblivious to network-layer routing, it may increase delay and even adversely affect the overall energy consumption in the network. To capture the interplay between scheduling and routing in a principled fashion, one can resort to the well-established paradigm of cross-layer formulation. Accordingly, in this paper, we draw on linear programming (LP) to propose a bi-objective model of delay and energy cost minimization in a TDMA-based WSN by formulating the problems of sleep scheduling and routing conjointly. Compared to prior art, our formulation not only is bi-objective, but also is more realistic given that it explicitly accounts for link capacities and different types of signal interference that may affect a wireless transmission; we further present extensions of the formulation for the situations when sensor nodes have the capability of data aggregation. The optimal solution provided by this paper can serve as a theoretical benchmark to evaluate any heuristic targeting the same problem.


Abstract. A superimposed epoch analysis has been undertaken, in order to find the correlation of the ionospheric perturbations with seismic activity. We take the wave path from the Japanese LF transmitter (frequency=40 kHz) and an observing station of Kochi (wave path length of 770 km), and a much longer period (of five years) than before, is considered. This subionospheric LF propagation can be called "an integrated measurement" in the sense that any earthquakes in the LF sensitive area just around the great-circle path can influence the observed LF signals, so that we define the "effective magnitude" (Meff) by integrating the total energy from different earthquakes in the sensitive area on a current day and by converting it back into magnitude. A superimposed epoch analysis for the effective magnitude greater than 6.0 has yielded that the ionosphere is definitely disturbed in terms of both amplitude and dispersion, and that these perturbations tend to take place prior to an earthquake. The statistical z-test has also been performed, which has indicated that the amplitude is definitely depleted 2–6 days before the earthquake day and also that the dispersion is very much enhanced during the same period. This statistical study has given strong support to the existence of seismo-ionospheric perturbations for high seismic activity.


The aim of this work was to study the influence of atmospheric, vacuum and microwave vacuum drying methods on the quality of dried beetroots. Three different red beetroot species ('Alto F1', 'Cylindra', 'Detroit') were chosen in this study. The microwave vacuum method reduced the total time of drying and decreased the shrinkage compared to the other drying methods. The quality of the dehydrated material was described by its color change, antioxidant capacity, total polyphenol, betacyanin, betaxanthin and each phenolic acids content. The attempts were made to suggest the microwave vacuum method for red beetroot samples as a gentle drying technology to reach a special texture that is favoured by costumers. During the experiments relevant differences could be observed between the investigated beetroot species on the effect of different drying methods. According to the examined parameters the 'Cylindra' species proved the most appropriate beetroot variety for microwave vacuum drying. Based on the results, the combined methods with hot-air at 60 °C followed by microwave vacuum finish drying was the most suitable assay to preserve the investigated parameters in the highest amount.


The present investigation explores the language definitions (i. e. the language ontologies) that have emerged in the field of sociolinguistics. In general, it examines three types of sociolin-guistic studies: Labovian sociolinguistics (Labov 1972), the Ethnography of Communication (Gumperz/Hymes 1964) and Conversation Analysis (Sacks 1992). Firstly, it offers an account on the ontology of language developed by Chomskyian linguistics (1986) which is used as a starting point to contrast the three sociolinguistics' language ontologies. Then, the paper pre-sents Labov's ontology of language (Labov 1977), the criticism that it has faced and examines proposals that aim to integrate social facts and linguistic structure. With regard to the Ethnog-raphy of Communication, accounts about its ontology of language (Hymes 1974, 1986) and its ontology of culture (Sapir 1921; Hymes 1972) are presented and a possible explanation about the relationship between language and culture is offered. With respect to Conversation Analysis, its ontology of language is presented (Ochs et al. 1996) as well as its analytic in-sight and an account about grammar as an interactional resource is given. The final section proposes that, for these three types of sociolinguistics, "language" is a social, functional and behavioural entity which is socially and behaviourally structured. "Language" transmits social meanings, reflects the social order and expresses the identity of its speakers.


Inhibin was first identified as a gonad-derived regulator of pituitary FSH; however, it has subsequently been shown to be a tumour suppressor in the gonad and adrenal glands. Whereas non-malignant regions of human primary prostate carcinomas express inhibin -subunit (INHA), malignant tissues lack INHA transcript and protein, which is consistent with epigenetic regulation of the inhibin -subunit gene (INHA) promoter. This study investigated whether methylation of the INHA promoter was responsible for inactivation of INHA transcription and translation in the prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP, DU145 and PC3. Methylation of the promoter was revealed by bisulphite genomic sequencing and use of inhibitors of methylation and histone deacetylation resulted in reactivation of the INHA transcription and translation. Significant (P<0·05) downregulation of a luciferase reporter gene downstream from a methylated INHA promoter compared with unmethylated INHA promoter occurred in vitro. The data demonstrate that promoter methylation is associated with downregulation of the INHA gene in prostate cancer cell lines, which is consistent with its tumour suppressive role. Therefore INHA has a significant role in prostate


Over the last decade there has been a move by many consumers to purchase locally grown products. Many studies have focused on food with limited studies examining plants. Utilizing a choice experiment in conjunction with latent class modeling with examine the impact of locally labeling and retail outlet on preference and willingness to pay for azaleas. Results indicate that only one of the latent classes, about 43% of the sample, valued locally labeling. Furthermore, the same class that valued local also preferred a nursery/greenhouse outlet over a home improvement center. Recommendations for the different retail outlets are given based on the results.


eNOSHA is an open source Learning Object Repository (LOR) developed at the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) in a collaboration between UCSC in Sri Lanka, and two universities from Sweden during 2009 and 2010. eNOSHA is a system where content developers and instructional designers can store and reuse learning objects on 4 different aggregation levels. The system was built based on a need analysis at UCSC in late 2008 and was taken into use at the eLearning Centre at UCSC in early 2010. The system has so far been successful and supported the organisation and reuse of e-learning content at the UCSC eLearning Centre (eLC). However, there still exist several reasons for further improvements when it comes to usability and user-friendliness. Moodle is one of the most popular open-source Course Management Systems (CMS) and has been used in the daily work at UCSC during the last 5 years. Moodle is an effective system for building courses and structure course material but features for storing, retrieving and version handling of learning objects is still under construction in the Moodle community. Persons working with course development need a LOR as well as a CMS in their daily work but to be forced to multiple logins and switching between systems is not good usability or user-friendly. This paper is about the integration between the eNOSHA system and the Moodle system and how it best should be done. Should the eNOSHA system be connected and integrated as a Moodle module in collaboration with the Moodle developing community or is it a better idea to build a module in eNOSHA that handles the communication with Moodle? From a developer's perspective, the building of a Moodle module to handle the connection to the eNOSHA system would be a fast and convenient alternative since the Moodle module template provided by moodle.org could be used as a skeleton for an integration of the additional functionality. However, the Moodle community did not like the idea of integrating the eNOSHA LOR as an additional Moodle module and the main reason is that they have other plans for storage of learning objects in the version 2.0 of Moodle that is expected to be released in September 2010. After some more communication with the Moodle community we decided to choose the other alternative and construct the integration as a part of the eNOSHA system. The first testing of the system integration at the UCSC has so far given us positive feedback and this extension will be included in the coming version 1.6 of the eNOSHA Learning Object Repository.


The construction sector represents one of the most significant contributors to global waste production and is responsible for over 30% of the waste that ends up in landfill. Sending construction waste to landfill results in a broad range of environmental consequences including: degradation of land, habitat destruction, contamination of soil and groundwater, and release of methane. There is a growing awareness of the need to divert construction and demolition (C&D) waste from landfill for reuse or recycling. This helps maximise the value of the resources embodied in these materials and reduce the demand for virgin raw materials and the associated environment effects resulting from their extraction, processing and manufacture. However, diversion of C&D waste to reuse or recycling in remote communities can be difficult and costly. This poses a significant challenge for improving the environmental performance of construction waste management in these communities. A housing refurbishment project in Alice Springs, a remote town in central Australia, was used to identify the barriers associated with improving the environmental performance of construction waste management in remote communities. This study considers the materials removed as part of the demolition phase of the project. Material types and quantities were documented and on-site and off-site waste management practices observed. Reasons for waste management decisions were recorded. The study identified a range of barriers to improving the environmental performance of construction waste management in remote communities. These include cost and time associated with on-site waste management, industry culture, lack of education, competing project priorities, and lack of financial incentive. Greater incentives to encourage the diversion of C&D waste from landfill are needed, in particular. This and other strategies for improving construction waste management practices in remote communities must be targeted at the context of individual communities though, due to their unique characteristics. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2017.


HIV/AIDS has been documented as a stigmatizing condition due to its association with sickness, contagion, and bodily death. Still, further attention needs to be given to the role that the body plays in this process of stigmatization. Taking into consideration the visual dimension of the body, we examine the manner in which visual images of the body living with HIV/AIDS contribute to stigmatize those embodied in them. Through an analysis of bodily images presented in HIV/AIDS related articles published by Puerto Rico's major newspaper, we explain the manner in which they portray a stigmatized body. We examine how these images contrast with the current state of the epidemic in Puerto Rico and consequences that the messages presented by these bodily images may have on the stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS. The present study is a preliminary effort stemming from a larger research project that aims to qualitatively examine the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS through multiple media outlets including television, radio, printed press, and the Internet.


Because of the disadvantages in evaluating straightness error of the traditional method, such as high algorithm complexity, low evaluating precision, it can't be appropriate for various instruments. A fast and accurate method called intercept of convex polygon algorithm is put forward to implement least envelope zone for evaluating plane straightness errors. The algorithm is based on the convex-hull theory in computational geometry, the measuring data of various instruments are firstly converted into coordinate value, then constructed the convex polygon by slope factor. The unique point meeting the least condition can be found, and the straightness error can be calculated through shear shift conversion. Experimental results show that the method is simple and easy for automatic data processing by computer, and has features of high precision and high speed.