Retrieval of videos from large databases using the inherent content as a key, is an important and challenging problem with many applications. The large volume of data associated with visual information presents challenges from the perspectives of storage, browsing, indexing and retrieval. The Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) has addressed the issue of compression by proposing a family of video compression standards, namely MPEG 1, MPEG 2 and MPEG 4. In this paper, we propose a unified scheme for indexing the visual content in the MPEG 1, 2, and 4 domains. A video is first segmented into elemental units called shots. In the case of MPEG 1 and 2 videos containing simple camera operations (without significant object motion), we propose to generate a mosaic which is representative of the visual content of the entire shot in contrast to existing approaches where videos with both little and large motion employ one of the frames (say the first frame) of the shot as a representative key frame. In the case of MPEG 4 videos, sprites (proposed by the MPEG 4 standard) are used as the mosaic reflecting the background content of the shot. We propose a scheme for indexing the visual content by extracting features from the mosaic/key frame, which is tagged along with the temporal parameters obtained from the shot. The quantification and qualification of the color and texture information in the keyframes are obtained by using a supervised classifier. The shape information is extracted at the local and global levels using the concept of edge histograms. In addition, the shape information available from the binary alpha planes of the foreground video object in MPEG 4 is approximated by a B-Spline representation and used as a feature vector. A representation scheme has been developed which generates an XML file that contains the extracted content descriptors in accordance with the Data Description Language (DDL) of MPEG 7.


Purpose The oxygen and glucose deprivation-reoxygenation (OGDR) model is widely used to evaluate ischemic stroke and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in vitro. Excessively activated microglia produce pro-inflammatory mediators such as matrix metalloproteinases [MMPs] and their specific inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases [TIMPs], causing neuronal damage. Ursolic acid (UA) acts as a neuroprotective agent in the rat middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) model keeping the MMP/TIMP balance with underlying mechanisms unclear. Our study used OGDR model to determine whether and how UA reduces neuronal damage by reversing MMP/TIMP imbalance caused by microglia in I/R injury in vitro. Methods SH-SY5Y cells were first cultured with 95% N2 and 5% CO2 and then cultivated regularly for OGDR model. Cell viability was tested for a proper UA dose. We established a co-culture system with SH-SY5Y cells and microglia-conditioned medium (MCM) stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-gamma (IFNγ). MMP9 and TIMP1 levels were measured with ELISA assay to confirm the UA effect. We added recombinant MMP9 (rMMP9) and TIMP1 neutralizing antibody (anti-TIMP1) for reconfirmation. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe cell morphology, and flow cytometry and Annexin V-FITC and PI labeling for apoptotic conditions. We further measured the calcium fluorescence intensity in SH-SY5Y cells. Results The MCM significantly reduced cell viability of SH-SY5Y cells after OGDR (p<0.01), which was restored by UA (0.25 µM) (p<0.05), whereas lactate dehydrogenase activity, intraneuronal Ca2+ concentration, and apoptosis-related indexes were showed significant improvement after UA treatment (p<0.01). UA corrected the MMP/TIMP imbalance by decreasing MMP9 expression and increasing TIMP1 expression in the co-culture system (p<0.01) and the effects of UA on SH-SY5Y cells were mitigated by the administration of rMMP9 and anti-TIMP1 (p<0.01). Conclusion We demonstrated that UA inhibited microglia-induced neuronal cell death in an OGDR model of ischemic reperfusion injury by stabilizing the MMP9/TIMP1 imbalance.


Atrial tachycardias (ATs) are commonly developed after atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. This study sought to develop method to facilitate localization of successful ablation regions based on electrograms from simultaneous mapping of right atrium (RA) and coronary sinus (CS). Method: A steerable 20-pole catheter was positioned with the distal (D) 10 electrodes placed within CS and the proximal (P) 10 electrodes located along the tricuspid annulus in the RA. A decapolar catheter was positioned at the high RA (HRA) to septum. Results: Total 30ATs per 28 patients were analyzed and categorized into 6 groups with different anatomical locations of ATs; 7 at mitral annulus (MA), 6 at left atrium (LA) roof, 6 at LA septum, 4 at LA anterior line, 4 at RA septum, 3 at RA free wall (FW). Activation pattern of CS was from D to P in 6 (85.7%) ATs from MA, LA roof ATs had similar activation to those of LA septum but CS P was later than HRA septum. ATs of RA septum showed similar to LA septum and roof of LA, but HRA septum was earlier than CS P. The RA FW ATs had similar to CTI dependent RA flutter but terminated during ablation at crista teminalis. Conclusion: Simultaneous assessment of RA septum and CS activation pattern from two multi-electrode catheters facilitated to map ATs developed after AF ablation.


Sweden has implemented measures for reducing nitrogen loads to the Baltic Sea since the beginning of 1980s with an aim of doing this in a cost effective way. Cost effective nitrogen reduction is defined as minimum cost for achieving prespecified nitrogen reductions. The costs of measures are then determined by the cost at the location of the nitrogen source and also by their impact on the load reduction target. Although methods for estimating costs at the sources are well developed within economics, calculations of impacts on the nitrogen load target imposes much more of a challenge for such complex ecosystems as the Baltic Sea. The purpose of this paper is to present how simple input-output analysis can be useful for impact analyses on one of the basins of the Baltic Sea, the Baltic Proper. The results indicate a significant interdependence between the marine basins. This implies that a cost effective solution of a nitrogen load reduction to Baltic Proper requires calculations and comparisons of costs and impacts over the entire Baltic Sea drainage basin.


Deep-sea copepods of the genus Cephalophanes are characterised by their large eyes with semi-parabolic reflectors, but their ultrastructure and ecological significance have rarely been investigated. We examined the structure of the eyes, feeding appendages and digestive tract, and the gut contents of Cephalophanes spp., collected from deep-waters (500 to 1000 m) of the subtropical western Pacific, through light and electron microscopic observations. The optic system of Cephalo- phanes spp. involves a pair of large, bilateral reflectors, each having anteriorly 2 dorso-ventrally arranged retinal cells and 1 more pair of retinal cells positioned posterior to each reflector. The reflec- tor has a multilayer structure of thin (60 to 180 nm at the posterior end) plates decreasing in thickness from the inner to the outer sides of the reflector; the number of plates is ca. 10 to 20 near the anterior margin of the reflector, increasing posteriorly, and reaching ca. 80 near the apex of the reflector. The reflector provides a high (80 to 90%) reflectance over a wide range of wavelengths (350 to 700 nm) of incident light parallel to the reflector axis. The mandible gnathobase has thin blades arranged in par- allel, and the setae on the gnathobase of the first maxilla and on the second maxilla and the maxil- liped are slender with sparse setules, suggesting feeding on relatively large, inactive particles. In 27 out of the 101 specimens examined, a pear-shaped mass of unknown origin occupied the whole lumen of the well-defined anterior caecum of the midgut. In 25 of these 27 specimens, the lumen of the middle part of the midgut contained fragments of crustaceans, but essentially no other con- stituents of 'marine-snow' such as phytoplankton, protista, or other nanoplankton. Of the other 74 specimens examined, 97% had empty midguts. These observations suggest a specialization of the anterior midgut caecum for chitin digestion and a possible detection by Cephalophanes spp. of opti- cal signals from crustacean carcasses, a nutritionally poor but ubiquitous food source in the deep sea.


From the Publisher:
This book provides a critical assessment of progress towards the Information Society. Drawing upon unique empirical data, this book lays the foundation for more useful theories of the process of change, and more effective strategies and policies for increasing the benefits from the Information Society. The authors provide insights into the social, economic, and political forces that are structuring the pathway to the Information Society-and its consequences for business and individuals in their everyday lives.


Although late-stage venture capital (VC) activity did not change dramatically in the first two months after the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S., early-stage VC activity declined by 38%. The particular sensitivity of early-stage VC investment to market conditions—which we show to be common across recessions spanning four decades from 1976 to 2017—raises questions about the pro-cyclicality of VC and its implications for innovation, especially in light of the common narrative that VC is relatively insulated from public markets. We find that the implications for innovation are not benign: innovation conducted by VC-backed firms in recessions is less highly cited, less original, less general, and less closely related to fundamental science. These effects are more pronounced for startups financed by early-stage venture funds. Given the important role that VC plays in financing breakthrough innovations in the economy, our findings have implications for the broader discussion on the nature of innovation across business cycles


Electromechanical phenomena in semiconductors are still poorly studied from a fundamental and an applied science perspective, even though significant strides have been made in the last decade or so. Indeed, most current electromechanical devices are based on ferroelectric oxides. Yet, the importance of the effect in certain semiconductors is being increasingly recognized. For instance, the magnitude of the electric field in an AlN/GaN nanostructure can reach 1–10 MV/cm. In fact, the basic functioning of an (0001) AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor is due to the two-dimensional electron gas formed at the material interface by the polarization fields. The goal of this review is to inform the reader of some of the recent developments in the field for nanostructures and to point out still open questions. Examples of recent work that involves the piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects in semiconductors include: the study of the optoelectronic properties of III-nitrides quantum wells and dots, the current controversy regarding the importance of the nonlinear piezoelectric effect, energy harvesting using ZnO nanowires as a piezoelectric nanogenerator, the use of piezoelectric materials in surface acoustic wave devices, and the appropriateness of various models for analyzing electromechanical effects. Piezoelectric materials such as GaN and ZnO are gaining more and more importance for energy-related applications; examples include high-brightness light-emitting diodes for white lighting, high-electron mobility transistors, and nanogenerators. Indeed, it remains to be demonstrated whether these materials could be the ideal multifunctional materials. The solutions to these and other related problems will not only lead to a better understanding of the basic physics of these materials, but will validate new characterization tools, and advance the development of new and better devices. We will restrict ourselves to nanostructures in the current article even though the measurements and calculations of the bulk electromechanical coefficients remain challenging. Much of the literature has focused on InGaN/GaN, AlGaN/GaN, ZnMgO/ZnO, and ZnCdO/ZnO quantum wells, and InAs/GaAs and AlGaN/AlN quantum dots for their optoelectronic properties; and work on the bending of nanowires have been mostly for GaN and ZnO nanowires. We hope the present review article will stimulate further research into the field of electromechanical phenomena and help in the development of applications.


OBJECTIVES
To estimate the effectiveness of combining facial expression recognition and machine learning for better detection of distress.

SAMPLE & SETTING
232 patients with cancer in Sichuan University West China Hospital in Chengdu, China.

METHODS & VARIABLES
The Distress Thermometer (DT) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used as instruments. The HADS included scores for anxiety (HADS-A), depression (HADS-D), and total score (HADS-T). Distressed patients were defined by the DT cutoff score of 4, the HADS-A cutoff score of 8 or 9, the HADS-D cutoff score of 8 or 9, or the HADS-T cutoff score of 14 or 15. The authors applied histogram of oriented gradients to extract facial expression features from face images, and used a support vector machine as the classifier.

RESULTS
The facial expression features showed feasible differentiation ability on cases classified by DT and HADS.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Facial expression recognition could serve as a supplementary screening tool for improving the accuracy of distress assessment and guide strategies for treatment and nursing.


How far have people who are not African American gone to keep African Americans out of their neighborhoods? And how far might they go? These are the questions that link the three recent books on housing reviewed in this article: Jeannine Bell, Hate Thy Neighbor: Move-In Violence and the Persistence of Racial Segregation in American Housing; Richard R.W. Brooks and Carol M. Rose, Saving the Neighborhood: Racially Restrictive Covenants, Law and Social Norms; and Douglas S. Massey et al., Climbing Mount Laurel: The Struggle for Affordable Housing and Social Mobility in an American Suburb.


Open research data practices are a relatively new, thus still evolving part of scientific work, and their usage varies strongly within different scientific domains. In the literature, the investigation of open research data practices covers the whole range of big empirical studies covering multiple scientific domains to smaller, in depth studies analysing a single field of research. Despite the richness of literature on this topic, there is still a lack of knowledge on the (open) research data awareness and practices in materials science and engineering. While most current studies focus only on some aspects of open research data practices, we aim for a comprehensive understanding of all practices with respect to the considered scientific domain. Hence this study aims at 1) drawing the whole picture of search, reuse and sharing of research data 2) while focusing on materials science and engineering. The chosen approach allows to explore the connections between different aspects of open research data practices, e.g. between data sharing and data search. In depth interviews with 13 researchers in this field were conducted, transcribed verbatim, coded and analysed using content analysis. The main findings characterised research data in materials science and engineering as extremely diverse, often generated for a very specific research focus and needing a precise description of the data and the complete generation process for possible reuse. Results on research data search and reuse showed that the interviewees intended to reuse data but were mostly unfamiliar with (yet interested in) modern methods as dataset search engines, data journals or searching public repositories. Current research data sharing is not open, but bilaterally and usually encouraged by supervisors or employers. Project funding does affect data sharing in two ways: some researchers argue to share their data openly due to their funding agency's policy, while others face legal restrictions for sharing as their projects are partly funded by industry. The time needed for a precise description of the data and their generation process is named as biggest obstacle for data sharing. From these findings, a precise set of actions is derived suitable to support Open Data, involving training for researchers and introducing rewards for data sharing on the level of universities and funding bodies.


In this paper, we consider quantitative optimization problems on decomposable discrete systems. We restrict ourselves to labeled trees as the description of the systems and we use weighted automata on them as our computational model. We introduce a new kind of labeled decomposable trees, sum-like weighted labeled trees, and propose a method, which allows us to reduce the solution of an optimization problem, defined in a fragment of Weighted Monadic Second Order Logic, on such a tree to the solution of effectively derived problems, defined in the same logic, on its components with some additional post-processing. The approach originates from a method, proposed first by Feferman and Vaught in 1959, which we adapt and generalize. We adapt the method to the case of (fragments of) Weighted Monadic Second Order Logic and generalize it to the case of sum-like labeled trees rather than disjoint union and product. The main result of the paper may be applied in the wide range of optimization problems, such as critical path analysis or project planning, network optimization, generalized assignment problem, routing and scheduling as well as in the modern document languages like XML, image processing and compression, probabilistic systems or speech-to-text processing.


Democratisation in post-Suharto Indonesia has significantly improved political participation, lifting expectation of bringing better political representation. However, various studies prove that such representation is unable to be immediately achieved since the existing democratic institutions remain dominated by oligarchic groups. The societal struggle to gain representation, therefore, is increasingly becoming a critical issue in contemporary Indonesian politics. This article discusses the dynamics of such struggle through the strategy that we have developed and called 'mixed politics'. This refers to the blurring of borders between civil and political society, as well as formal and informal institutions.


Background: Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) particularly predisposes to mycobacterial infection due to a number of different reasons. Moreover, HCL clinical presentation may result atypical because of uncommon anatomic involvement and unusual systemic disorders. Case presentation: 59-year-old male, a heavy smoker, with a history of high fever associated with dyspnea and fatigue. Examinations showed mild anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. Imaging revealed pleural effusion associated with reticulonodular infiltrate with tree-in-bud sign. Different test on pleural effusion and on pleural biopsy resulted positive for both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Non-tubercular mycobacteria (Mycobacterium chelonae). Soon after the start of the anti-mycobacterial treatment, the therapy was suspended due to the appearance of a diffuse cutaneous maculopapular exanthema associated with mild dyspnea. Skin biopsy showed a lymph-granulocytic vasculitis. Bone marrow biopsy followed by flow cytometry resulted positive for hairy cell leukemia. The administration of the appropriate chemotherapy for HCL and the reintroduction of antimycobacterial therapy brought to a prompt remission of fever, dyspnea and skin rash with improvement of laboratory parameters. Discussion: This case is unusual and challenging because of the rare coexistence of HCL, MTB and NTM, the mycobacterial infections preceding instead of following the hematological disease and the uncommon presentation of HCL as a cutaneous inflammatory vasculitis


We estimated effects of writing interventions on the level and trend of writing fluency—rate of total words written over time—by students with and without disabilities. Using mixed-effects regression and an information-theoretic ranking of competing models, we synthesized results of 42 single-case experimental design studies with a total of 205 students. A variety of acquisition and fluency interventions were used across studies, such as self-regulated strategy development and timed practice with performance feedback. We found acquisition and fluency interventions produced an increase in level and a gradual increase in trend of total words written per minute. Students receiving fluency intervention tended to have higher levels of performance across experimental phases (i.e., baseline, intervention, and postintervention), but students receiving acquisition had steeper upward trends. In addition, we found higher levels of total words written per minute on writing tasks with brief time limits (i.e., ≤10 min) and in the writing of older students.


SIR,-Your leading article on this subject (4 December, p. 613) was no doubt justified by the recent reports you quoted. There was, however, one outstanding flaw in your review which was to my mind almost criminally negligent. You did not draw attention to the fact that it was in the cases treated in an ambulant manner that paraplegia developed during treatment. I feel that you should draw attention to this and that any one treating tuberculosis of the spine in the ambulant manner for the first time should confine his experiment to patients with the disease located below the termination of the dura and particularly not in the dangerous vertebrae, dorsal 4-8.-I am, etc.,


We study capacitated network flow problems with supplies and demands defined on a countably infinite collection of nodes having finite degree. This class of network flow models includes, for example, all infinite horizon deterministic dynamic programs with finite action sets since these are equivalent to the problem of finding a shortest infinite path in an infinite directed network. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for flows to be extreme points of the set of feasible flows. Under a regularity condition met by all such problems with integer data, we show that a feasible solution is an extreme point if and only if it contains no finite or infinite cycles of free arcs (an arc is free if its flow is strictly between its upper and lower bounds). We employ this characterization to establish the integrality of extreme point flows whenever demands and supplies and arc capacities are integer valued. We illustrate our results with an application to an infinite horizon economic lot-sizing problem.


The inverse electron demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) reaction of 1-tert-butyl-2-aminopyrrole with 2,4,6-tris(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,5-triazine in THF-d(8) to give a pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine was studied by (1)H, (13)C, (15)N, and (19)F NMR spectroscopy, and five intermediates were identified. A zwitterion was the first intermediate detected, and it cyclized to a tricyclic adduct and its conjugate acid. It also gave a neutral imine via a proton switch. The tricyclic adduct underwent a retro-Diels-Alder reaction, but the expected CF(3)CN was not detected. NMR indicated that the amino group of the 2-aminopyrrole was bonded to the CF(3)CN to form a trifluoroacetoamidinium ion. The products of the retro-Diels-Alder reaction reacted rapidly with each other to give the final intermediate observed. Acid-catalyzed loss of an amidine gave the final aromatic product. This is the first study in which direct experimental evidence for the order of the steps in the IEDDA cascade reaction of 1,3,5-triazines with amino-containing dienophiles has been obtained. This study and analogous 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions, in which zwitterions have been detected or proposed, have two factors in common: electronic effects that stabilize the zwitterions and steric effects that inhibit their cyclization.


Errors often occur in the assembling process because traditional two-dimensional process cards are lack of three-dimensional realistic in assembling site. Aimed at this problem, a visual assembly process planning system is proposed, which turns assembly process into assembly animation on the basis of three-dimensional model on the platform of 3DVIA Composer. This System combines assembly process planning with assembly simulation, and then realizes the assembly process related to three-dimensional process model and assembly animation and assembly process visualization in assembling site by the application programming interface provided by 3DVIA Composer. The system has been applied to some aircraft parts manufacturing enterprise, and then obviously shortens assembling time and guarantees assembling quality.


The Library Impact Data Project (LIDP) was a Jisc funded project, led by Computing and Library Services at the University of Huddersfield, which ran from 2011-2012.

Phase I of LIDP showed a statistically significant relationship across a number of universities between library activity data and student attainment.

Phase II sought to deepen our understanding of this relationship by investigating additional data from the University of Huddersfield in order to understand better how library activity relates to student attainment, including causal relationships.

This paper will highlight some of the results from our analysis, such demographic factors, discipline and retention issues. It will then discuss some of the practical implications for collection management and development.

Finally the paper will introduce the new Jisc Library Analytics and Metrics Project (LAMP), which aims to develop a prototype shared library analytics service for UK academic libraries.


This evaluation study investigated the effects of a teacher-centered versus student-centered computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on 10th graders' earth science stu- dent learning outcomes. This study also explored whether the effects of different forms of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on student learning outcomes were influenced by student preferences of learning environment (PLE). A total of 347 10th-grade senior high school students participated in this nonequivalent control group quasiexperiment. During a one-week period, one group of students (n = 216) were taught by a teacher-centered CAI (TCCAI) model whereas the other group of students (n = 131) were subject to a student-centered CAI (SCCAI) method. Results showed that (a) no statistically significant difference on students' earth science achievement was found for either group; (b) TCCAI group had significantly better attitudes toward earth science than did the SCCAI group; fur- thermore (c) a significant PLE-treatment interaction was found on student attitudes toward the subject matter, where the teacher-centered instructional approach seemed to enhance more positive attitudes of less constructivist-oriented learning preferences students, whereas the student-centered method was more beneficial to more constructivist-oriented learning preferences students on their attitudes toward earth science in a computer-assisted learning environment. C


Currently, billions of nucleotide and amino acid sequences accumulate in free-access databases as a result of the omics revolution, the improvement in sequencing technologies, and the systematic storage of shotgun sequencing data from a large and diverse number of organisms. In this chapter, multi-omics data mining approaches will be discussed as a novel tool for the identification and characterization of novel DNA sequences encoding elementary parts of complex biological systems (BioBricks) using omics libraries. Multi-omics data mining opens up the possibility to identify novel unknown sequences from free-access databases. It also provides an excellent platform for the identification and design of novel BioBricks by using previously well-characterized biological bricks as scaffolds for homology searching and BioBrick design. In this chapter, the most recent mining approaches will be discussed, and several examples will be presented to highlight its relevance as a novel tool for synthetic biology.


The term "new economy" has, more than anything, come to mean a technological transformation, and in particular its embodiment in the computer and the internet. These technologies are more human capital intensive than earlier ones and have probably hastened the pace of the shift in the U.S. economy towards the service industries. The new economy is also commonly associated with economic "globalization" as reflected in the expansion of trade and the integration of capital markets, but this can be viewed as much as a symptom of technological change as an independent phenomenon. Upon reflection, however, it is clear that the new economy is not entirely "new." There have always been new technologies, and each has, on the whole, demanded new skills. Technologies that have driven "new" economies of the past include steam, electricity, the internal combustion engine, antibiotics, and chemicals, and these were in turn refined in a host of smaller innovations. Here we will draw upon this rich past to see what today's new economy may hold in store. The evidence shows quite clearly that we are in the midst of a major episode of Schumpeterian-style creative destruction, something like the electrification episode 100 years ago that Paul David describes. Moreover, far more than electricity, we believe that information technology or "IT" represents an "invention in the method of inventing," as Zvi Griliches put it when describing the advent of hybridization. This means that we will probably see a wave of new products, new firms, and faster productivity growth worldwide than we saw during the 20th century.


There are two main motivation theories. a hierarchy of basic needs theory,  and an expectancy theory. In a Hyrarchy of basic needs theory, Maslow has stated that the basic needs as a main behaviour direction are structured into a hierarchy. There are five basic human needs.  The first: Physiological needs such as: salary, bonus or working condition. The second: the safety needs, such as: safe job environment, job security or health cover. The third, social needs, such as  union and team work. The next is self esteem, such as getting an award, medal, certificate or any other recognisition. Then the last is self actualization, for example is by providing an opportunity to share knowledge, skills and eprerience. The evaluation of this theory are: there is no spiritual needs as human basic needs is a main weakness of this theory. Then it is possible that different level of  needs  have to be satisfied in the same time, or not in hierarchy level or, not always have to be fulfilled in order. The next motivation theory is an Expectancy Theory. This theory is based on three main factors. The first factor is: English teachers will be motivated to work harder if they have a good perception to their own competences in accordance with their job. The second, individual motivation depends on the rewards given when they finish a  particular job. Finally, it also depends on their regards to the rewards given from the job that they do. Expectancy theory is a good theory, however, it is not easy to be implemented because the principals should provide various types of reward to satisfy the expectation of their English teachers. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of these two theories, it is better to combine both of them in the practice to get more effective results.


The study aimed at determining the concentration of free fatty acids (FFA) and some chemical and physical traits of goat milk as related to the stage of lactation, age and somatic cell count (SCC). Used were 60 Polish White Improved goats. Diets were formulated according to the INRA standards and met all the individual nutritive requirements of goats. Milk samples were taken every month throughout the whole lactation. The highest level of FFA and fat content of milk was recorded in the last stage of lactation, in primiparous does and in milk with lowest SCC. However, in general, because the goats were free from suband clinical mastitis their milk was characterized by low level of FFA (<1.0 mEq/L), Thus, milk obtained from goats with healthy mammary glands was characterized by low susceptibility to lipolysis.


A Research Dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies for the award of the Degree of Masters of Science in Procurement and Supply Chain Management of Makerere University


The article begins with a review of electronic driver assisting systems such as ABS, traction control, electronic stability control, and brake assistant. We then review drive-by-wire systems with and without mechanical backup. Drive-by-wire systems consist of an operating unit with an electrical output, haptic feedback to the driver, bus systems, microcomputers, power electronics, and electrical actuators. For their design safety, integrity methods such as reliability, fault tree and hazard analysis, and risk classification are required. Different fault-tolerance principles with various forms of redundancy are considered, resulting in fail-operational, fail-silent, and fail-safe systems. Fault-detection methods are discussed for use in low-cost components, followed by a review of principles for fault-tolerant design of sensors, actuators, and communication. We evaluate these methods and principles and show how they can be applied to low-cost automotive components and drive-by-wire systems. A brake-by-wire system with electronic pedal and electric brakes is then considered in more detail, showing the design of the components and the overall architecture. Finally, we present conclusions and an outlook for further development of drive-by-wire systems.


A new water-soluble silicon(IV)-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (SiTCPP) with silicon(iv), the second most abundant element on Earth, in the center of porphyrin was synthesized. Fundamental properties including protolytic behaviour of axially coordinating hydroxy groups, and electrochemical behaviour were characterized. The properties were compared with those of silicon(IV)-tetra(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)porphyrin (SiTMP) and silicon(IV)-tetra(4-trifluoromethylphenyl)porphyrin (SiTFMPP) and discussed in respect to the electron donating/withdrawing effect of the substituents. Two axially coordinating hydroxy groups of SiTCPP exhibit a four-step protolytic behaviour under the acidic conditions along with a single step protolysis of peripheral carboxyl groups. Though SiTCPP and SiTFMPP did not show any reactivity in the photochemical oxygenation of a substrate with K2PtCl6 as a sacrificial electron acceptor, the first oxidation wave in the electrochemical process of SiTCPP and SiTFMPP showed catalytic behaviour in aqueous acetonitrile solution at any pH condition, in contrast to SiTMP which has only a reversible oxidation wave under neutral and weakly acidic conditions. The criteria for the electrochemical oxidative activation of water and the photooxygenation of the substrate were obtained. The higher oxidation wave of Si-porphyrins than ∼0.86 volt vs. SHE is required for the electrochemical oxidation of water, while suitable protecting groups such as a methyl substituent is a requisite for the photochemical oxygenation with K2PtCl6 as a sacrificial electron acceptor.


This paper presents a new graphical algorithm to carry out the rule of structured residuals, in order to enhance the internal component faults isolation of linear and linearized dynamical systems. For this aim, it is shown that the diagnostic bond graph; which allows generating residuals by using the ARRs scheme also allows handling their structuration. The residuals structuration is achieved through the fault structural decoupling leading to selective sensitivity to subsets of faults. To deal with the fault structural decoupling, a new bond graph bicausal element is introduced; it is termed Effort and Flow Propagator (or join) element. This approach is within the frequency domain, so, the process of residuals generation is homogenized by using solely the rule of the transfer function in s-form.


Four micro-holes were fabricated on the tool-chip contact area of the cemented carbide (WC+14%TiC+6%Co) tool face. MoS2 solid lubricants were embedded into the micro-holes to form self-lubricated tool (SLT-1). Dry machining tests on hardened steel were carried out with the SLT-1 self-lubricated tool, the SLT-2 tool with four micro-holes on the rake face embedded without solid lubricants and the SLT-3 conventional tool. The variation of cutting forces with cutting speed were tested by the Kistler force tester. The result shows that the three cutting force components of SLT-1 self-lubricated tool decreased obviously. They went down by 25-35% in comparison with those of the SLT-3 tool. And the three force components of SLT-2 tool decreased about 10-14% compared with those of the SLT-3 tool. Through the analysis of cutting force distribution theory and test results, the mechanism of cutting forces decrease was considered to be forming a self-lubricating film on the rake face which decreases the shear stress and the reduction of contact length between the chip and the tool.


Over the past decade, Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) spacecraft have gradually required ever-increasing power levels. As a rule, this has been accomplished through the use of high voltage systems. Recent failures and anomalies on such spacecraft have been traced to various design practices and materials choices related to the high voltage solar arrays. NASA Glenn has studied these anomalies including plasma chamber testing on arrays similar to those that experienced difficulties on orbit. Many others in the community have been involved in a comprehensive effort to understand the problems and to develop practices to avoid them. The NASA Space Environments and Effects program, recognizing the timeliness of this effort, has commissioned and funded a design guidelines document intended to capture the current state of understanding. We present here an overview of this document, which is now nearing


The authors present a novel adaptive control method for space-based robots which achieves globally stable trajectory tracking in the presence of uncertainties in the inertial parameters of the system. They begin with a partitioning of the fifteen-degree-of-freedom system dynamics into two component: a nine-degree-of-freedom invertible portion and a six-degree-of-freedom noninvertible portion. The controller is then designed to achieve trajectory tracking of the invertible portion of the system. This portion of the system consists of the manipulator joint positions and the orientation of the base. The motion of the noninvertible portion is bounded but unpredictable. This portion of the system consists of the position of the robot's base and the position of the reaction wheels. Simulation results are presented on a space-based robot with five revolute joints and one prismatic joint.<<ETX>>


This draft describes a mechanism that provides fast reroute in an IP
network through encapsulation to "not-via" addresses. A single level
of encapsulation is used. The mechanism protects unicast, multicast
and LDP traffic against link, router and shared risk group failure,
regardless of network topology and metrics.


In this paper, we build upon the results of the previous sliding manipulation analysis (Kao-Cutkosky 1992,1993) developed for instantaneously dexterous motion analysis, and extend the results to finite motion analysis and trajectory planning for soft robotic fingertips. Using the method of sliding analysis with decomposed rigid-body (RB) and non-rigid-body (NRB) components, we find the trajectory and motions of the finger tips over a finite range of motions during which the RB and NRB components are updated continuously. The results show that: (i) the RB/NRB sliding analysis can be applied to finite motion planning, (ii) the relative magnitudes of RB/NRB motions can be used as an index for manipulation task, and (iii) the advantageous orientations of force/motion can be used to plan for the motions of the grasped object.<<ETX>>


Cantonese culture is an important part of Chinese culture. From the perspective of the consumer side, with the way of in-depth interview and questionnaire, the paper conducts a research on the consumers' cognition of Cantonese cultural product, and proposes a corresponding design strategy. The research shows that although consumers are interested in Cantonese culture, not many consumers pay attention to Cantonese cultural product. The main reasons include the lack of category, practicality and innovation of Cantonese cultural product and so on. To strengthen consumers' attention and consumption of Cantonese cultural product, it is suggested that the appearance, visual symbol of Cantonese, product function diversity and the addition of technology and nostalgic should be considered for designers.


Moral values are the standards of moral development which are vital importance to be embedded to everyone, especially the students. However, according to previous studies, to be sure the level of moral values in students is still very low, primarily in terms of knowledge and attitudes of moral values especially when students carry out lab assessment. Therefore, this study was undertaken to explore the extent of students' knowledge in terms of moral values and attitudes to identify the tendency of good values primarily in lab assessment. A total of 196 students consisted of students at certificate and diploma level of Institut Kemahiran Mara Sungai Petani (IKMSP) and Pusat Latihan Teknologi Tinggi Batu Pahat (ADTEC) used to be respondents of this study. The questionnaire is the main collective instrument in this study as well as interviews and observations as supporting instruments. The collected data then were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 for the mean, standard deviation and t-test, while the content analysis were used for the interview data and observations. The findings showed that all the values involved in this study were practiced by students during teaching and learning process in laboratory. It is however, different result goes for lecturers whereas only part of the lecturers tends to practice this value to the students. Therefore, some researchers proposed several techniques to ensure both students and lecturers apply the moral values during lab assessment. As for example, it is necessary for Institut Latihan Awam should be monitored from time to time to ensure that the lecturers to apply moral values in the process of teaching and learning at the workshop.


Ubiquitous or pervasive computing is a new kind of computing, where specialized elements of hardware and software will have such a high level of deployment that their use will be fully integrated with the environment. Augmented reality extends reality with virtual elements but tries to place the computer in a relatively unobtrusive, assistive role. Specialized network middleware solutions for large scale mobile and pervasive augmented reality games are, to our knowledge, inexistent. The work presented in this paper focuses on the creation of such type of network middleware for mobile and pervasive entertainment, applied to the area of large scale augmented reality games. In this paper we propose and describe APIs and architecture for quality of service specification, negotiation and provision on the client side (using J2ME) and on the server side (using J2SE). The paper discusses architectural and implementation aspects.


In view of the defect that the gray method can only predict the tendency approximately and artificial neural network can not predict the future tendency really, a new organic gray neural network model was proposed by the advantages of GM(1,1), unbiased GM(1,1) and BP neural network. The two groups data got from the gray model are used as the input of the neural network and the origin data are used as the output of neural network. The neural network was trained to get the optimal structure of neural network. According to the dynamic law of one river water quality in some region, the water quality was predicted in organic gray neural network model. The results show that the model had highly fitting and predicting precision advantages than other model had.


Abstract The goals of this study were to evaluate changes in gastrointestinal parameters, physiologic variables, and electronic von Frey (EVF) mechanical thresholds following routine orchiectomy to determine if these parameters can serve as appropriate, repeatable criteria to monitor postoperative changes in guinea pigs. A randomized, double-blinded study was performed with 14 intact male guinea pigs. All guinea pigs underwent routine orchiectomy and were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 postoperative treatment groups. Each guinea pig received meloxicam 0.5mg/kg subcutaneously and buprenorphine 0.03mg/kg subcutaneously immediately following surgery. They were then administered either: meloxicam 0.5mg/kg subcutaneously at 24 and 48 hours postoperatively (meloxicam group) or saline subcutaneously at 24 and 48 hours postoperatively (control group). Basic physiologic parameters (heart rate, respiratory rate, rectal temperature, and body weight), urine and fecal output, food and water consumption, and EVF mechanical thresholds around incision sites were recorded for 48 hours preoperatively and postoperatively. Significant increases in heart rate and rectal temperature and significant decreases in respiratory rate, body weight, and EVF mechanical thresholds were identified postoperatively in both treatment groups. Significant decreases in consumption were noted postoperatively in both treatment groups, but no change in fecal or urine output was identified. Most of these values were easily obtained and showed significant changes from preoperative values in both study groups.


The vehicle routing problem with split deliveries and pickups is a hot research topic in recent years, where a customer can be served multiple times with split deliveries and pickups. The objective is to minimize the travel distance, use the fewest number of vehicles and increase the load rate, which will further reduce the carbon emissions that damage the environment. In this paper, we use a two-stage construction heuristic approach to solve this problem. First, partitioning algorithms based on the multi-restart-iterative sweep algorithm are adopted to partition the customer domain into sub-domains according to the vehicle capacity, and to determine the split points and the corresponding values. Second, a modified Clarke-Wright savings algorithm is used to check the possibility of each point in each route based on the load of each point and the vehicle load limitation. The three case studies with 12 instances per each from the reconstructed Solomon benchmark datasets were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approaches-Unsplit, Both-Split and Enhanced-Both-Split. The comparison among these approaches reveals that the splits reduce the total travel cost and vehicles used, and increase the average loading rate considerably, especially when customers have larger demand values. Our computation results proves that the vehicle routing problem with split deliveries and pickups is highly beneficial for transportation and logistics enterprises. Clustering first and routing later; Partitioning algorithms; Clarke-Wright


Cholinergic synaptic vesicles purified from the electric organ of the marine ray, Discopyge ommata, contain 2 different size classes of GTP- binding proteins: one or more with an apparent molecular weight (MW) between 37 and 41 kDa, and 3 major and at least 2 minor proteins with MW between 20 and 29 kDa. These GTP-binding proteins were detectable using the alpha 32P-GTP overlay technique and covalent modification with bacterial toxins. The higher MW GTP-binding proteins are ADP- ribosylated by pertussis toxin and 2 of the lower MW GTP-binding proteins are sensitive to botulinum toxin.


A course guide for East Asia 537 Methods and Materials Used in Conducting Research in Japanese Studies and other Japanese Studies graduate students.


Abstract This article provides a brief discussion of the theoretical and historical underpinnings of the study of narrativity in lyric poetry. As part of the justification of studying narrative aspects of lyric poetry, reference is made to contemporary paradigms in postclassical narratology of which transgeneric narratology is one. The project titled, "Verse and narrative: narrative structures and techniques in lyric poetry", from which the articles in this issue emanated, is described briefly by presenting the objectives of the research and by discussing the theoretical and historical implications of such a project. The theoretical part of the article concludes with a list of the preliminary findings. The article also serves as an introduction to this issue of "Literator", which contains the contributions on English and Dutch texts to the project. Opsomming Hierdie artikel bevat 'n saaklike bespreking van die teoretiese en historiese aspekte van die bestudering van narratiwiteit in liriese poesie. In die motivering van die geldigheid van so 'n ondersoek, word verwys na die dominante paradigmas in postklassieke narratologie, waarvan transgeneriese narratologie een is. Die navorsingsprojek, "Vers en verhaal: narratiewe strukture en tegnieke in liriese poesie", waarvan die artikels in hierdie uitgawe van "Literator" deel vorm, word beskryf deur die doelstellings van die navorsing te gee en die teoretiese en historiese implikasies van die navorsing te verduidelik. Die teoretiese gedeelte van die artikel sluit af met 'n lys voorlopige bevindings. Die artikel dien ook as inleiding tot hierdie nommer van "Literator" waarin die bydraes tot die projek wat handel oor Nederlandse en Engelse literatuur, opgeneem is. 1. Introduction Narratology, originally defined as the theory of narrative texts (Bal, 1985:12) and as the study of the form and functioning of narrative (Prince, 1982:4; Du Plooy, 1986:274, 278), has, since the early days of its structuralist origins, proved itself a versatile discipline, adapting to and incorporating a variety of other theoretical approaches and contextual impulses and demands over the past three decades (Huhn et al., 2009). The scope of the basic narratological models has been extended to include and accommodate a variety of theories, concepts and analytic procedures. Contemporary narratology or postclassical narratology therefore includes a variety of "new narratologies" which can, according to Meister (2009:340), be grouped into three dominant paradigms: * Contextual narratology is directed at cultural, historical and ideoIogical issues and concerns itself, apart from structural aspects, with the thematic and ideological content of narrative texts. * Cognitive narratology extends its focus from literary narratives to "natural" narratives and oral narrative, assuming that these narratives represent a basic anthropological competence and that studying these forms of narrative provides insight into "the human and intellectual processing of narratives" (Meister, 2009: 340). Knowledge of the structure of the thought processes which underlie the making and understanding of stories is also used in the modelling and simulation of human narrative intelligence in the development of various forms of artificial intelligence. * Transgeneric and transmedial approaches in narratology are concerned with the application of narratological concepts to genres and media which are not primarily regarded as narrative, but do possess narrative aspects. The application, adaptation and reformulation of narratological concepts for optimal functionality in the analyses and interpetation of poetry, drama, film, the visual arts, dance and games form part of the transgenerical and transmedial narratological project. 2. The project: Verse and narrative: narrative structures and techniques in lyric poetry The articles in this issue of Literator form part of a research project titled, Vers en verhaal: narratiewe strukture en tegnieke in liriese poesie (Verse and narrative: narrative structures and techniques in lyric poetry). …


Geotechnical engineering is an experience-driven discipline. Field observations are particularly important because it is difficult to replicate in the laboratory the characteristics and response of soil deposits built by nature over thousands of years. Furthermore, much of the data generated by a major disaster is perishable, so it is critical that it is collected soon after the event occurs. Detailed mapping and surveying of damaged and undamaged areas provides the data for the well-documented case histories that drive the development of many of the design procedures used by geotechnical engineers. Thus, documenting the key lessons learned from major extreme events around the world contributes significantly to advancing research and practice in geotechnical engineering. This is one of the primary objectives of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association. Post-event reconnaissance and GEER are described in this paper, along with some of GEER's findings from recent reconnaissance efforts. The use of advanced reconnaissance techniques is highlighted, as well as specific technical findings from the 1999 Kocaeli, Turkey earthquake, 2010 Haiti earthquake, 2010 Maule, Chile earthquake, 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence and 2014 floods that followed it, and the 2014 Oso, Washington landslide. .


We propose and analyze an organization for a Field-Programmable Gate Array structure that operates using a balanced ternary logic system where the logic set {±1, 0} maps directly to equivalent voltage levels {±1.0V, 0.0V}. Circuits for basic components such as a ternary buffer, flip-flop and LUT are described based on the characteristics of a commercial silicon-on-sapphire process that offers multiple simultaneous transistor thresholds. A simple example of a balanced ternary FIR filter is mapped to the FPGA and some preliminary estimates made of its performance and area.


The continuous miniaturisation of products needed e.g. in the automotive or the micro electronic sector requires process chains which allow the manufacturing of microscopically small components in high quantities. The development of the required processes and technologies is the aim of the Collaborative Research Centre 747 "Micro Cold Forming" of the German Research Foundation. A necessary step in the manufacturing process chain is the heat treatment, which enables the adjustment of the semi-finished micro components to cold forming. Finally the usage properties have to be adjusted e.g. by precipitation hardening of aluminium alloys in order to increase the strength above the strain hardened level. To achieve a high strength aluminium alloy with elevated temperature stability in form of thin foils a new Al-Sc alloy with 2 mass-% scandium had to be developed within the Collaborative Research Centre. In comparison to conventional casting techniques it was possible to suppress Al3Sc precipitation and to ensure the supersaturated solid solution by using a Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) Magnetron Sputtering process and low sputtering temperatures. Samples of the material are then artificially aged and characterised by ultra micro hardness measurements to evaluate the optimal ageing parameters. Besides this the microstructure was determined by light microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopical (TEM) analysis.


Ninety‐three different commercial essential oils were screened for activity against 20 Listeria monocytogenes strains in vitro and the results correlated against the actual chemical composition of each oil. There was a substantial difference in the activity between different essential oils as expected, but there was also a difference in activity between different samples of the same essential oil. Strong anti‐Listeria activity was often correlated with essential oils containing a high percentage of monoterpenes, eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, thymol, and sometimes with citronellol, limonene and geraniol. However, as there was often no correlation between the anti‐Listeria activity and the main chemical components, it is possible that either there is a more complex relationship with the chemical composition (which includes the minor components) or that substantial adulteration had occurred in some essential oil samples. The possible use of a number of essential oils in a dual role as flavours and antimicrobials is discussed.


Light, fat, and commensals The gut microbiota facilitates energy harvest from food and transfers it into fat storage. Working in mice, Wang et al. found that an epithelial cell circadian transcription factor, NFIL3, is involved in regulating body composition through lipid uptake. Flagellin and lipopolysaccharide produced by certain microbes tuned the amplitude of oscillation of NFIL3 through innate lymphoid cell (ILC3) signaling, STAT3, and the epithelial cell clock. Such interactions may help to explain why circadian clock disruptions in humans, arising from shift work or international travel, frequently track with metabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Science, this issue p. 912 Two signals, light and gut bacteria, interact via immune signaling to regulate host metabolism and health. The intestinal microbiota has been identified as an environmental factor that markedly affects energy storage and body-fat accumulation in mammals, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we show that the microbiota regulates body composition through the circadian transcription factor NFIL3. Nfil3 transcription oscillates diurnally in intestinal epithelial cells, and the amplitude of the circadian oscillation is controlled by the microbiota through group 3 innate lymphoid cells, STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3), and the epithelial cell circadian clock. NFIL3 controls expression of a circadian lipid metabolic program and regulates lipid absorption and export in intestinal epithelial cells. These findings provide mechanistic insight into how the intestinal microbiota regulates body composition and establish NFIL3 as an essential molecular link among the microbiota, the circadian clock, and host metabolism.


In the original invasion percolation model, a random number quantifies the role of necks, or generally the quality of pores, ignoring the structure of pores and impermeable regions (to which the invader cannot enter). In this paper, we investigate invasion percolation (IP), taking into account the impermeable regions, the configuration of which is modeled by ordinary and Ising-correlated site percolation (with short-range interactions, SRI), on top of which the IP dynamics is defined. We model the long-ranged correlations of pores by a random Coulomb potential (RCP). By examining various dynamical observables, we suggest that the critical exponents of Ising-correlated cases change considerably only in the vicinity of the critical point (critical temperature), while for the ordinary percolation case the exponents are robust against the occupancy parameter p. The properties of the model for the long-range interactions [LRI (RCP)] are completely different from the normal IP. In particular, the fractal dimension of the external frontier of the largest hole is nearly 4/3 for SRI far from the critical points, which is compatible with normal IP, while it converges to 1.099±0.04 for RCP. For the latter case, the time dependence of our observables is divided into three parts: the power law (short time), the logarithmic (moderate time), and the linear (long time) regimes. The second crossover time is shown to go to infinity in the thermodynamic limit, whereas the first crossover time is nearly unchanged, signaling the dominance of the logarithmic regime. The average gyration radius of the growing clusters, the length of their external perimeter, and the corresponding roughness are shown to be nearly constant for the long-time regime in the thermodynamic limit.


Analysis of an experimentally measured daily load profile reveals that the residential power demand has a high percentage of low power duration over a day. In a stand-alone residential fuel cell power system, the power inverter designed for the peak power requirement will be operating at light loads, where its efficiency is lower, most of the time. Thus, improving the light-load efficiency will provide considerable hydrogen (energy) savings for the stand-alone residential power system. A solution to improve the power inverter efficiency at light loads is proposed. Both simulation and experimental results are given. Results show that the light-load efficiency can be improved by employing and uniquely controlling a parallel IGBT-MOSFET switch combination in a half-bridge inverter topology. It is also shown that substantial savings on hydrogen usage can be realized through the use of new inverter design in stand-alone operations.


What conditions have made it possible for television celebrities to enter politics? Why are there many Filipino celebrities who are elected as national government officials? Most political analysts and media critics devoted time in analyzing public approval ratings and ad spending during the campaign period to understand voting behavior and political choice. While those studies may also be helpful, they do not cover the overall set-up that contributes to the rising trend of celebrity politicians. This article offers to fill a gap in current scholarship on celebrity politician phenomenon by identifying factors that affect the communication process between the celebrity candidate and voters even BEFORE the official campaign starts. For this reason, I chose to loosely base my framework on David Berlo's Source-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) communication model. I found out that (cid:2) ) the socio-cultural and political backgrounds of Source and Receiver ; (cid:3) ) the social role and spectatorship in relation to Message ; and, (cid:4) ) the television's nature as a Channel and its socio-economic background were critical communication factors in paving the way for Philippines to have (cid:2)(cid:2) celebrity politicians as president, vice president and, senators during the (cid:2)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:6) and (cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:8) elections combined.


This thesis addresses the social dimensions of human knowledge by reference to
recent developments in the theory of knowledge in the Anglophone analytical
tradition. What might be called social epistemology is often open to the charge of
relativism. However, a detailed analysis of the most basic conditions of
knowledge that enable human beings to live as not merely evolved, biological
creatures but as intellectual, sentient beings reveals the sense in which human
knowledge is essentially social and has no necessary connection either with
relativism or with the opposing but equally tenuous ideas such as strong realism
and scientific naturalism.
The social and pragmatic dimensions of human knowledge shed light on its
essentially educational nature. This broad sense of educational aspect of
knowledge encourages us to see the prevailing outlook towards the relation
between philosophy and education quite differently. This is not to suggest that the
philosophy of education finds a new niche in academia but rather to suggest that it
form the centrepiece of the philosophical enquiry into human knowledge.
Having set the scene for the subsequent chapters in Chapter 1, this thesis goes on
to analyse several issues to do with human knowledge and education. Sufficient
appreciation of the significance of the fully social dimensions of human
knowledge makes it possible to grasp the central thrusts of these issues without
collapsing into the familiar dichotomies: theory and practice (Chapters 2 and 3);
truth and rational justification (Chapter 4); conceptual norm and empirical
description (Chapter 5); and cognitive pursuits and their social organisation
(Chapters 6 and 7). On the basis of the foregoing analysis, Chapter 8 presents a
broadened conception of the philosophy of education as a key academic discipline
concerned with human knowledge specifically and human development more
generally, which is to be in dialogue with scientific and empirical investigations.


In this paper, a phenomenological, nonlinear constitutive relation of ferroelectric ceramics is established by considering the fact that domain switching happens gradually with the external loading. A simplified gradual switching model is suggested and implemented into the constitutive law of ferroelectric materials. The volume fraction of domain switching is used as the internal variable in the model, and its evolution equation with mechanical/electrical loading is given. Comparison with experimental results shows that this simple constitutive model can predict the nonlinear hysteresis responses of ferroelectric materials.


Sheet Incremental Forming (SIF) is a modern technique that deforms the sheet on a positive or negative die using a simple punch mounted on a general purpose CNC machine. Several working parameters (tool path, spiral width and tool depth) have been studied in previous papers [1, 2] analyzing their influence on a simple part when working AISI 304 or Cu DHP sheets. The main problem was to study the process feasibility, that is, the possibility of correctly deforming the pieces without breaking them. The research reported here has been focused mainly on other two important variables, studying their influence on the final part quality: the punch diameter and its velocity when deforming the sheet. Surface roughness and minimum thickness of the deformed sheet have been chosen as parameters for analyzing and evaluating the process efficiency. In FEM analysis, a simulation model was developed and implemented considering Cu DHP sheet. The comparison with experimental results was used to validate the simulation model and to identify the most suitable simulation parameter values (friction coefficient between various elements and blank holder force). The developed and validated model can be used for studying the process optimization. The results obtained in this paper can also be used as guidelines for the correct design of Sheet Incremental Forming process.


This paper presents a computational approach designed to construct and query a literature-based knowledge graph for predicting novel drug therapeutics. The main objective is to offer a platform that discovers drug combinations from FDA-approved drugs and accelerates their investigations by domain scientists. Specifically, the paper introduced the following algorithms: (1) an algorithm for constructing the knowledge graph from drug, gene, and disease mentions in the biomedical literature; (2) an algorithm for vetting the knowledge graph from drug combinations that may pose a risk of drug interaction; (3) and two querying algorithms for searching the knowledge graph by a single drug or a combination of drugs. The resulting knowledge graph had 844 drugs, 306 gene/protein features, and 19 disease mentions. The original number of drug combinations generated was 2,001. We queried the knowledge graph to eliminate noise generated from chemicals that are not drugs. This step resulted in 614 drug combinations. When vetting the knowledge graph to eliminate the potentially risky drug combinations, it resulted in predicting 200 combinations. Our domain expert manually eliminated extra 54 combinations which left only 146 combination candidates. Our three-layered knowledge graph, empowered by our algorithms, offered a tool that predicted drug combination therapeutics for scientists who can further investigate from the viewpoint of drug targets and side effects.


Acoustic metamaterials (phononic crystals) have received much recent attention. Over time, several efforts were proposed to improve the structure in order to enlarge the band gap, lower the band gap frequency, and/or generate greater attenuation of vibration. In this document, a novel two dimensional acoustic metamaterial with Coated Double Hybrid Lattice (CDHL) is proposed. The structure makes use of both the Bragg Scattering Theorem and the Local Resonance Theorem. In the simulation, both a lower frequency band gap and a higher frequency band gap are obtained. According to the modal analysis and phase spectrum analysis, it is proved that the lower frequency band gap is due to local resonance between the double lead cores and the rubber coating. At the same time, the higher frequency band gap is generated as a result of the interaction of Bragg scattering and local resonance effect. The variation in maximum vibration attenuation with respect to the position of the double central lead core is also investigated. Excellent vibration attenuation is demonstrated using the proposed method. Later on, experiments are carried out both to validate the simulation and to prove the effectiveness of the proposed structure. The output signal is picked up approximately in the middle of the structure and the results have coincides with the simulation quite well. At the end of this document, several outlooks are stated.


Based on differences in coloration, morphometrics, and scalation, I recognize seven species of anoles related to Anolis pentaprion in Central America: Anolis beckeri (southeastern Mexico to northern Nicaragua), A. cristifer (Pacific lowlands of Chiapas to central Guatemala), A. fungosus (Caribbean premontane zone from central Costa Rica to western Panama), A. pentaprion (Caribbean lowlands of southern Nicaragua to northwestern Colombia, also on Pacific versant in central and eastern Panama), A. salvini (Pacific premontane and lower montane zones from central Costa Rica to western Panama), A. utilensis (restricted to Isla de Utila, Honduras), and a new species (from the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica and western Panama) described herein. The new species differs from A. pentaprion by having a red male dewlap with few large, widely spaced gorgetal scales scattered across the dewlap (pink with purple pigment between rows of gorgetals, and with regular rows of numerous small, narrowly spaced gorgetal scales in A. pentaprion). Furthermore, I resurrect the name A. beckeri Boulenger for the pentaprion-like populations of anoles distributed from southeastern Mexico to northern Nicaragua. Anolis beckeri differs from A. pentaprion most obviously in the dorsal tail scalation (a serrated caudal crest present in A. pentaprion versus no such crest in A. beckeri) and dewlap scalation (gorgetal rows with 17–25 narrowly spaced scales in A. pentaprion versus gorgetal rows with 4–10 widely spaced scales in A. beckeri). Finally, SMF 83608 is proposed as the neotype for Anolis pentaprion. I provide standardized descriptions of A. beckeri, A. pentaprion, and the new species described herein.


With different heat treatment, the microstructure and mechanical properties of ZK60 magnesium alloy were investigated. It can be concluded that heat treatment has great effect on mechanical properties of ZK60. With artificial aging after extruding, the precipitation of the second phase from the supersaturated solid solution significantly improved mechanical properties. It can greatly increase yield strength of ZK60 alloy, while the tensile strength has little change. For the combination of solid solution strengthening and age hardening, two opposite factors must be considered. On one hand, the solid solution strengthening and the later precipitation strengthening is good for alloy's strength; on the other hand, the properties decrease as the grains grew under high temperature for a long time during solution heating.


Verbascoside or acteoside is the most abundant phenylethanoid glycoside that possesses health beneficial pharmacological activities, including anti-nociceptive, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer. Due to the wide range of pharmacological activities of verbascoside and insufficient data on the safety profile, the acute, subacute and cellular toxicity of verbascoside was determined. The acute and subacute toxicity of verbascoside was evaluated in mice after single intraperitoneal injection at the dose range of 0, 1, 2 and 5 g kgG1 b.wt. (acute model) and 21 days administration at the dose range of 0, 10, 30 and 60 mg kgG1 b.wt. (subacute model). In MTT assay, HepG2 and NIH cells were exposed to different concentrations of verbascoside. According to result, the LD50 value of verbascoside was found to be greater than 5 g kgG1. In subacute toxicity study, no statistically significant differences were observed in the values of hematological, biochemical and pathological parameters in comparison with control group. The cytotoxicity assay revealed that the viability in all groups were greater than the IC50 value. In conclusion, the results from the present study elucidate that verbascoside is well tolerated for both single and chronic administration and does not produce any toxic effects or deaths in animals.


Daniel A. Barber A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, 352 pp., 136 illus. $39.95 (cloth), ISBN 9780199394012

The pages of Daniel A. Barber's A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War literally glisten. The volume's thick, glossy paper, of a type usually reserved for monographs on canonical figures like Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, gives the subject of the postwar solar house a material presence befitting the historical attention it has long deserved but only recently begun to attract. The glare each page casts under overhead light makes the reader feel a bit like a family depicted in one of the book's many revealing archival photographs. A husband, wife, and little boy wear dark sunglasses as they pose for a publicity shot while picnicking on a neat lawn. All around them is the intense shininess produced by a parabolic solar stove kitted out to roast hot dogs and by an expansive solar collector forming the roof of their single-family house—in this case, the fourth experimental demonstration dwelling constructed in the 1950s by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of its Solar Energy Fund. In the photograph, the family gazes out at a bright, hot "possible future," to use Barber's term, where the confluence of modern design, renewable energy systems, and the single-family house were seen to hold the twin promise of national energy security and new forms of domestic life. In A House in the Sun we look back at that past's future, but with the hindsight that the highly staged photograph stands as much for a vision unattained as it does for a critical, albeit largely forgotten, episode in the history of modern architecture.

The historiography of solar power, such as it is, echoes the discontinuous trajectories of the personalities and technologies that constitute its primary subjects. Since the 1950s, when the engineer Maria Telkes led …


The modeling of the motion of a contact line, the triple point at which solid, liquid and air meet, is a major outstanding problem in the fluid mechanics of thin films [2, 9]. In this paper, we compare two well-known models in the specific context of Marangoni driven films. The precursor model replaces the contact line by a sharp transition between the bulk fluid and a thin layer of fluid, effectively pre-wetting the solid; the Navier slip model replaces the usual no-slip boundary condition by a singular slip condition that is effective only very near the contact line. We restrict attention to traveling wave solutions of the thin film PDE for a film driven up an inclined planar solid surface by a thermally induced surface tension gradient. This involves analyzing third order ODE that depend on several parameters. The two models considered here have subtle differences in their description, requiring a careful treatment when comparing traveling waves and effective contact angles. Numerical results exhibit broad agreement between the two models, but the closest comparison can be done only for a rather restricted range of parameters. The driven film context gives contact angle results quite different from the case of a film moving under the action of gravity alone. The numerical technique for exploring phase portraits for the third order ODE is also used to tabulate the kinetic relation and nucleation condition, information that can be used with the underlying hyperbolic conservation law to explain the rich combination of wave structures observed in simulations of the PDE and in experiments [3, 15].


Acoustic signals transmitted from the ATOC source on Pioneer Seamount off the coast of California have been received at various sites around the Pacific Basin since January 1996. We describe data obtained using bottom-mounted receivers, including US Navy Sound Surveillance System arrays, at ranges up to 5 Mm from the Pioneer Seamount source. Stable identifiable ray arrivals are observed in several cases, but some receiving arrays are not well suited to detecting the direct ray arrivals. At 5-Mm range, travel-time variations at tidal frequencies (about 50 ms peak to peak) agree well with predicted values, providing verification of the acoustic measurements as well as the tidal model. On the longest and northernmost acoustic paths, the time series of resolved ray travel times show an annual cycle peak-to-peak variation of about 1 s and other fluctuations caused by natural oceanic variability. An annual cycle is not evident in travel times from shorter acoustic paths in the eastern Pacific, though only one realization of the annual cycle is available. The low-pass-filtered travel times are estimated to an accuracy of about 10 ms. This travel-time uncertainty corresponds to errors in range- and depth-averaged temperature of only a few millidegrees, while the annual peak-to-peak variation in temperature averaged horizontally over the acoustic path and vertically over the upper 1 km of ocean is up to 0.5/spl deg/C.


The motivation for this study is the lack of knowledge of millers' preferences for noodle wheat in Asia, where noodle wheat is an expanding market segment. Data for the study are from interviews and questionnaires completed by millers in South Korea and Japan. Two different methodologies were applied--stated preference methods and semantic differential scales. Consistent results are seen from each method. Millers' choices of wheat with varying characteristics were analysed with multinomial logit models. These estimates are used to identify millers' preferred product profiles for various types of wheat and flour. Estimates are reported in the paper for millers' preferences for intrinsic quality features and trade contract terms for major types of wheat. Marginal analysis also yielded comparisons of millers' preferences in the two nations. In contrast to Australia and the United States, Canada does not produce or market a wheat variety that corresponds well to millers' preferred noodle wheat product profiles in terms of the wheat characteristics of falling number, protein level or dockage. Nor is Canada identified by millers in either of these nations as a preferred supplier of noodle wheat. Canada has a minor share of wheat exports to Korea but holds an appreciable share of Japanese wheat imports. However, Canada's market share of Japanese wheat imports may be more reflective of Japan's current regulated import process, rather than millers' preferences. Investment in product development and marketing will be necessary if Canada's share of the noodle wheat market in both Japan and Korea is to be increased.


Human health and animal welfare are inseparably connected and interdependent. The technologization process of livestock breeding altered the natural balance "man-animal species-environment" putting at risk the planet's health. Modern animal husbandry introduced industrial methods of production involving progressive disassociation between animal rearing and ecosystem. The outcome is a drastic reduction of native reeds and the impairment of food quality. Should be proposed environmental integration models. The organic farm is a solution consisting in a system based on local and renewable resources. The care-taking practices are essential to the quality of food production. Man is keeper, not master of nature. It's necessary to take the principle of responsability as a guideline for the protection of environment and future generations. In this perspective the animals acquire the condition of members of biological family, human social partners. Key words : Animal welfare - Human health


Purpose: In the torn rotator cuff muscles, decreased expression of wnt10b prior to elevation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α (C/EBPα) has previously been reported. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the expression profiles of these adipogenesis-related genes after rotator cuff detachment and reattachment in a rabbit model. Methods: We investigated gene expression profiles of PPARγ, C/EBPα, and wnt10b in different parts of rabbit supraspinatus (SSP) muscle after tendon detachment (n = 6 for each time point). In addition, we assessed expression of the same genes after SSP reattachment with different intervals from initial detachment (n = 6). Fatty degeneration of the SSP muscle was examined by Oil red-O staining. Gene expression profiles were examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: After SSP detachment, Oil red-O-positive oil deposits increased after 3 weeks. In the SSP reattachment model, numerous Oil red-O-positive cells were present at 5-week reattachment, following 2- and 3-week detachment. PPARγ and C/EBPα messenger ribonucleic acid expression exhibited a significant increase at 2 and 3 weeks after SSP detachment and remained increased at 5-week reattachment after 2- and 3-week detachment. A decreased expression of wnt10b was observed from 1 week after SSP detachment. Expression of wnt10b was recovered not in the central area of the SSP muscle but in the periphery after reattachment. Adipogenic change was not observed when SSP tendon was reattached after 1-week detachment. Conclusions: These results may suggest that once the adipogenic transcription factors, PPARγ and C/EBPα, were elevated, repair surgery after rotator cuff tear could not prevent the emergence of fat in the SSP muscle.


In this paper we describe a general framework for deriving modified equations for stochastic differential equations (SDEs) with respect to weak convergence. Modified equations are derived for a variety of numerical methods, such as the Euler or the Milstein method. Existence of higher order modified equations is also discussed. In the case of linear SDEs, using the Gaussianity of the underlying solutions, we derive an SDE which the numerical method solves exactly in the weak sense. Applications of modified equations in the numerical study of Langevin equations is also discussed.


Ensuring color fidelity in image-based 3D modeling of heritage scenarios is nowadays still an open research matter. Image colors are important during the data processing as they affect algorithm outcomes, therefore their correct treatment, reduction and enhancement is fundamental. In this contribution, we present an automated solution developed to improve the radiometric quality of an image datasets and the performances of two main steps of the photogrammetric pipeline (camera orientation and dense image matching). The suggested solution aims to achieve a robust automatic color balance and exposure equalization, stability of the RGB-to-gray image conversion and faithful color appearance of a digitized artifact. The innovative aspects of the article are: complete automation, better color target detection, a MATLAB implementation of the ACR scripts created by Fraser and the use of a specific weighted polynomial regression. A series of tests are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the developed methodology and to evaluate color accuracy ('color characterization').


Abstract Local adaptation is often obvious when gene flow is impeded, such as observed at large spatial scales and across strong ecological contrasts. However, it becomes less certain at small scales such as between adjacent populations or across weak ecological contrasts, when gene flow is strong. While studies on genomic adaptation tend to focus on the former, less is known about the genomic targets of natural selection in the latter situation. In this study, we investigate genomic adaptation in populations of the three‐spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. across a small‐scale ecological transition with salinities ranging from brackish to fresh. Adaptation to salinity has been repeatedly demonstrated in this species. A genome scan based on 87 microsatellite markers revealed only few signatures of selection, likely owing to the constraints that homogenizing gene flow puts on adaptive divergence. However, the detected loci appear repeatedly as targets of selection in similar studies of genomic adaptation in the three‐spined stickleback. We conclude that the signature of genomic selection in the face of strong gene flow is weak, yet detectable. We argue that the range of studies of genomic divergence should be extended to include more systems characterized by limited geographical and ecological isolation, which is often a realistic setting in nature.


Spline procedures have proven effective in estimating smooth functions. However, spline procedures based on stepwise addition and/or deletion have some drawbacks. They suffer from the knot compounding problem, making their performance suboptimal. Furthermore, due to computational complexity, spline procedures may not achieve their full potential. In this article, we propose a novel knot selection algorithm for regression spline estimation in nonparametric regression. The algorithm includes three new components: knot relocation, guided search, and local fitting. The local properties of the spline functions are used to efficiently implement the algorithm. Extensive simulation studies are performed to demonstrate the improvement of the new knot selection algorithm over the stepwise addition and deletion scheme, and the advantages of the spline procedure with the new knot selection scheme over alternative adaptive methods. In the simulations, our procedure achieves very competitive performance with alternative methods and has substantial advantage in nonsmooth functions. Finally, the usefulness of the proposed method is illustrated by an application to signal recovery in speech signal processing.


The development of the Ecuadorian rural localities is today an emerging issue that stimulates the investigation of potentialities for the improvement of the quality of life. For this reason, the generation of jobs by local development projects is of paramount importance. In the communities "La Estancilla", "Salango" and "Jipijapa" of the province of Manabí, a descriptive study was carried out with the objective of determining the potential of implementation of a local development project, which allows the tourist management of the cultural and natural heritage for the generation of employment. Techniques such as semi-structured interview and key informants, document analysis, observation and statistical methods were used. The results showed that the current situation in the communities is characterized by being agricultural and / or fishing the main source of employment, with a tendency to reduction due to migration of its population to places of greater urbanization, there is a greater number of inhabitants working outside the localities, all the covered places, as well as the young people and the women are the main unemployed groups. It is assumed that the project can generate approximately 60 new jobs in each community. It is concluded that the current situation of employment would be improved with endogenous development from tourism management projects as an alternative for the promotion of new occupations. The project is established as an important alternative that has the potential to change the employment situation in the area due to the favorable opinion about it by the local population.


In this paper the micromechanical approach to ductile fracture was applied in a study of constraint effect on crack growth initiation in mismatched welded joints. The single-edged notched bend specimens (precrack length a0/W=0.32) were experimentally and numerically analyzed. The coupled micromechanical model proposed by Gurson, Tvergaard and Needleman was used. Constraint effect was tested by varying widths of the welded joints (6, 12 and 18mm). Highstrength low-alloyed (HSLA) steel was used as the base metal in a quenched and tempered condition. The flux-cored arc-welding process in shielding gas was used. Two different fillers were selected to obtain over- and undermatched weld metal. The micromechanical parameters used in prediction of the crack growth initiation on precracked specimen were calibrated on a round smooth specimen. The difference in fracture behavior between over- and undermatched welded joints obtained in experimental results was followed by numerical computations of void volume fraction in front of the crack tip.


Background : Alien organisms are not only introduced from one biogeographical region to another but also spread within regions. As South Africa shares land borders with six countries, multiple opportunities exist for the transfer of alien species between South Africa and other African countries; however, the direction and importance of intra-regional spread is unclear. Objectives : The aim of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the introduction of alien species into Africa and the spread of species between South Africa and other African countries. Method : We developed scenarios that describe the routes by which alien species are introduced to and spread within Africa and present case studies for each. Using data from literature sources and databases, the relative importance of each scenario for alien birds and insect pests of eucalypts was determined, and the direction and importance of intra-regional spread was assessed. Results : Alien species from many taxonomic groups have, through various routes, been introduced to and spread within Africa. For birds and eucalypt insect pests, the number of species spreading in the region has recently increased, with South Africa being a major recipient of birds (14 species received and 5 donated) and a major donor of eucalypt insect pests (1 species received and 10 donated). For both groups, many introduced species have not yet spread in the region. Conclusion : The intra-regional spread of alien species in Africa represents an important and possibly increasing threat to biosecurity. To address this threat, we propose a framework that details how African countries could cooperate and develop a coordinated response to alien species introductions.


Three properties of any recorder are of primary importance in electron microscopy: (1) its spread function, (2) its signal-to-noise characteristics (or, detective quantum efficiency, DQE), and (3) its sensitometric curve shape. Photographic materials are found to have spread functions that are not limiting under normal conditions. The remaining two factors are investigated by analysis of mathematical models and comparison with experimental results. Most photographic materials are found to be near-perfect detectors, in that they record the input signal without appreciable loss and do not seriously add to the input noise. They have similarly shaped curves of density vs electron exposure. It is shown that to optimize the recording step in electron microscopy, it is advantageous to be able to select speed–granularity combinations at will, if DQE can be kept high. Variations in the processing of a commercial photographic plate are found to accomplish this effect.


In recent years, scholars associated with the RISE Programme have analysed learning trajectories using a variety of global datasets to shed light on the global learning crisis and diagnose what might help address it (Crouch, Kaffenberger, and Savage, 2021). For those who may want to build and analyse learning trajectories, this note acts as a methodological guide for doing so using an important new dataset on foundational learning, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys Round 6 (MICS6). We have applied the methods described in this note and, in partnership with the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEMR), developed a tool to showcase the results. The resulting "Learning Trajectories" webpage serves as an interactive introduction to learning trajectories and related policy simulations, and features a flexible data explorer for those who want to conveniently build, analyse, and apply learning trajectories and policy simulations to their own work and context.


Introduction . In order to achieve a learning success by a nurse during the pre- and post-graduate education, it is useful to apply the method of case studies using the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) or the traditional model of the nursing process. Case Report . The patient in good general condition, with overweight. Nourished orally, the patient shows a standard swallowing reflex. There are appetite disorders. Periodically, there occur constipation and urine retention. The patient shows increased risk of urinary tract infections due to self catheterization. Physical fitness limited because of the paresis of the right lower limb. Body balance impaired. The patient moves with the assistance from one person. She uses auxiliary means to move. On the Barthel Scale the patient scored 50 points, which indicates that she needs assistance in the performance of daily activities. Discussion . In the patient with multiple sclerosis there occurred nursing problems, in particular: reduction of capacity in terms of self-care and self-nursing, difficulty in performing daily activities, difficulty with communicating, urine residual in the bladder, constipation, the possibility of contractures, the possibility of eating disorders, discomfort caused by increased sweating, depressed mood, pain in bones and joints. Conclusions . Referring to diagnoses and ICNP interventions in the process of nursing it has been confirmed that the nursing care of the patient with MS is based on a holistic approach to the patient. All spheres of patient's life regarding biological, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual aspects were included in it. (JNNN 2015;4(2):76–84)


The greater cities can get more political resource, the better reputation they had from mass media. The secondary cities usually hold less population, economic market scale and job opportunities providing than the largest one. They generally aggressively find the driving force of economic growth and attract foreign investment in order to catch up the top largest cities achievement. This study adopts economics, social, and environmental factors, which follow the primary criteria of global urban competitiveness comparison, to analyze economic driving force within the secondary cities in Taiwan. The capacity of secondary cities appears decaying trend, as Kaohsiung City, lack of strong economic driving force. FDI effectiveness has been reduced since 2003 year in those secondary cities of Taiwan. In recent years, Taiwanese government also offered much incentive to attract foreign enterprises' direct investment. But when incentive disappeared, then foreign firms or enterprises mostly chose leaving to other south-eastern countries for cost down. Globalization trend makes secondary cities should re-consider self-competitiveness. Continuous relying on central or local governmental resource is hard to survive for secondary cities. According to the Taiwanese secondary cities cases, the study found five municipal divisions, mentioned as New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, being unnecessary to be divided into five parts. Integrating nearby cities could make good effect on economic growth.


The misidentification of species and populations is a hindrance to effective cetacean management. We devised a method of species identification using 10 fin and body measurements obtainable from at-sea photographs, and demonstrated its ability to distinguish four species of Hawaiian "blackfish": pygmy killer, melon-headed, short-finned pilot, and false killer whales. Measurements from photos of 382 known individuals were converted into 14 ratios and reduced using nonmetric multidimensional scaling and principal component analysis. The first three components of the PCA explained 81% of variance among species. Ratios indicated by PCA and NMDS were tested using analysis of variance, and results identified three fin ratios that had distinct means across all four species: height/base, depth (from anterior insertion) at trailing edge apex/depth at topmost point, and width (from leading edge) at posterior point/base. Dual analysis of adults and all age classes showed near-identical sources of variance, 90% similarity in interspecies ratio relationships, and overlapping ratio means and ranges. Results suggest similar ontogenetic growth across these four species, and confirm the efficacy of this discrimination technique for all age classes. This study established a reliable means of distinguishing these cetacean species, which will improve the efficacy of management in areas with sympatric distributions.


Farm-based recreation provides an important niche market for farmers, but limited empirical information is available on the topic. Access to two USDA databases, the 2004 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and the 2000 National Survey on Recreation and the Environment, provided researchers with a deeper understanding of who operates farm-based recreation enterprises, such as hunting and fishing operations, horseback riding businesses, on-farm rodeos, and petting zoos. Regression analysis identified the importance of various farmer and farm characteristics, as well as local and regional factors associated with farmer operation of, and income derived from, farm-based recreation.