Abstract The Grayburg Formation (Late Permian, Guadalupian) is a shallow-marine succession flanking the Delaware and Midland basins of Texas and New Mexico, U.S.A. The Grayburg exemplifies the facies heterogeneity imparted by cyclic interbedding of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks from lithologically diverse, inner-ramp to outer-ramp facies assemblages. High-resolution correlation and mapping of laterally continuous Grayburg strata exposed in the Brokeoff Mountains, New Mexico, allow the stratigraphic architecture, facies distribution, and lateral variability to be characterized in detail. This study provides an outcrop analog for stratigraphically equivalent subsurface reservoirs and comparable carbonate-ramp reservoirs that accumulated during periods of low-amplitude sea-level fluctuations. Vertical and lateral facies successions in the Grayburg record four hierarchical scales of cyclicity. The entire Grayburg is a composite sequence that initiated with transgression of the San Andres platform and culminated with subaerial exposure, followed by a major basinward shift in deposition. This third-order cycle contains four high-frequency sequences defined by transgressive outer-ramp facies overlain by aggradational ramp-crest to inner-ramp facies capped by an unconformity. Each high-frequency sequence contains several composite cycles, intermediate-scale cyclic successions. The high-frequency (fifth-order) cycles constitute the smallest-scale upward-shoaling facies successions that can be recognized and mapped, comprising the basic correlation entity to delineate lithofacies bodies. Lateral heterogeneity in the Grayburg reflects both systematic facies transitions and interwell-scale (meters to hundreds of meters) variability due to geologic complexity. Larger-scale systematic facies changes that reflect primary environmental and/or depositional controls (e.g., water depth, platform position, accommodation trends) can be characterized using well and/or seismic data abetted by appropriate depositional models. Interwell heterogeneity due to geologic complexity, however, is difficult to recognize from subsurface datasets. Appropriate outcrop analogs provide information on lateral facies dimensions and heterogeneity architecture that is essential for constructing more realistic three-dimensional reservoir models, rather than oversimplified models based on lithofacies correlations forced between wells by linear interpolation. An understanding of geologic heterogeneity exhibited in outcrop analogs is crucial for geoscientists involved with characterizing and modeling subsurface heterogeneity.


Raising students' intercultural competence has been one of the major issues in language education (Byram 2000, Kramsch, Leby & Zarate 2008, etc). Byram (2000) defines intercultural competence as: "the ability to see relationships between different cultures – both internal and external to a society – and to mediate, that is, to interpret each in terms of the other, either for themselves or for other people." It also covers the ability "to critically and analytically understand that one's own and the other culture's perspectives are culturally determined rather than natural." (Byram 2000) Kramsch (2010) claims that educators therefore should provide students with opportunities to help them define and design for themselves their "third place" or "third culture", a sphere of interculturality that enables language students to take an insider's view as well as an outsider's view on both their first and second cultures. It is this ability to find/establish/adopt this third place that is at the very core of intercultural competence. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the joint research project which was carried out during the years of 2012 and 2013 in collaboration with four universities: Pusan National University (South Korea), Busan University of Foreign Studies (South Korea), Donghua University (China) and Dalarna University (Sweden). This joint research project was established to investigate ways to raise the intercultural competence of students who learn Japanese at each university. The main goal of this research is to design a learning environment where students can actively interact with each other in their target language (Japanese) and develop their intercultural competence through these interactions. Other than developing their communicative competence, we aim at developing the following of the students' competences: • The ability to deepen their self-reflection. • The awareness of the presuppositions they hold and the cultural basis of many of these (Byram2011).This research is based on three studies (carried out in the spring term 2012, the autumn term 2012, and the spring term 2013). Five Japanese language teachers, one or two from each university, participated in the project. 17 students participated in the first term, 21 in the second term and 41 in the third term. The students from each university interacted online outside of the ordinary classes.In our presentation we will describe the challenges we have met and what we have learnt thus far by organising this kind of international study (how the environment was prepared, how topics were chosen, what kind of tools we chose, how we made the students deepen their thoughts, etc). We will also present the learning results obtained by the students.


As a distinct musical form, blues music from the Mississippi Delta has been extensively studied by musicologists, ethnomusicologists, historians and folklorists. As has been the case with the larger public attracted to this intriguing musical genre, much of this academic attention has treated blues as just that something one listens to. We argue that blues represents far more than just sound or entertainment, rather it represents a broad cultural milieu from which a distinctive musical culture evolved. Moreover, the musical evolution associated with blues did not occur in a vacuum, it was generated and facilitated by various forms of cultural exchange occurring over time and space. Further, the forms of cultural exchange responsible for the evolution of Delta blues culture were and continue to be truly global in scope. In this paper, by highlighting Hawaiian, Spanish and African influences, we discuss the geographical processes associated with the evolution of blues music and focus on the multi-layered forms of global diffusion responsible for what has been referred to as "Delta blues." Through a discussion of this form of blues music, we focus attention on the complex inter-relationships evident between and among different people and different places, and highlight how global interactions generated a truly unique music form.


ABSTRACT In recent years, geopolitical risk (GPR) has been a crucial factor in investment decisions and stock markets. Therefore, we explore the research on the GPR by employing bibliometric and scientometric analytical techniques. We find 366 scientific contributions in December 2021 from the Scopus database by searching 'Geopolitical risk' in abstracts, keywords, and titles. Our findings show that GPR research has gained momentum in the last three years. Specifically, the journal Defence and Peace Economics has one of the highest numbers of research and citation on GPR. Authors in Asia also dominate the GPR literature. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by presenting the existing research that may give new insights for prospective studies in GPR.


Background Clinical guidelines recommend prioritizing efforts to treat hypertension in people with other cardiovascular risk factors, including smoking, but few contemporary data are available on awareness of hypertension among smokers. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension awareness in hypertensive smokers and its association with receiving and acting on advice to stop smoking. Design Cross-sectional surveys in 2003 and 2006. Methods Data, including socio-demographic, lifestyle and smoking characteristics and provision of advice to stop smoking were collected from 20 202 adults participating in the Health Survey for England. Self-report was used to determine awareness of hypertension; blood pressure readings were taken by a trained nurse to identify hypertension objectively. Results Current smokers with objectively defined hypertension were less aware of their hypertension than hypertensive past or never smokers: only half of hypertensive smokers reported having received a diagnosis with hypertension [51.3%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 48.8-53.8]. After adjustment for confounding, this difference in awareness between current and past smokers remained significant [odds ratio (OR): 1.32, 95% CI: 1.12-1.55] but became nonsignificant when comparing current and never smokers (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.88-1.25). However, hypertension awareness increased between 2003 and 2006 irrespective of smoking status. After adjusting for confounders, smokers aware of their hypertension were more likely to have received advice to stop smoking (OR: 3.29, 95% CI: 2.59-4.18) and to have stopped smoking (OR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.32-1.89) than smokers unaware of their hypertension. Conclusion The diagnosis of hypertension is picked up less frequently among smokers than nonsmokers. This is particularly important because receiving a diagnosis seems to motivate cessation.


Metallic foams have been recently introduced also as industrial materials due to their well known advantages. In fact, their low mass in conjunction with the good thermal and mechanical properties push toward an extensive diffusion in manufacturing industry. In the study here addressed, a very accurate investigation concerning the latter two aspects has been carried out. In fact, a secondary manufacturing process, i.e. the foam bending, has been taken into account. Anyway, all the knowledge derived for sheet metal bending is not directly applicable to the foams. A finite element code has been utilized for modeling the foam behavior during the bending processes and an accurate material rheology description was utilized based on a porous material model which includes the measured local density. The effectiveness of the utilized model has been verified through the comparison with a set of experimental data.


Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of resources and capabilities on the probability of becoming an intrapreneur, using resource‐based theory as a conceptual framework.Design/methodology/approach – The research uses a logistic regression analysis and data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for 39 countries and 36,325 individuals.Findings – Results show that companies' resources and capabilities are a key factor in the development of intrapreneurship. Entrepreneurial resources and capabilities, such as previous entrepreneurial experience, entrepreneurial competences and the ability to detect business opportunities, influence intrapreneurial behaviour.Research limitations/implications – The contributions of this research are both conceptual (advancing corporate entrepreneurship theory) and practical (relating to the design of policies to foster intrapreneurial activities).Originality/value – The importance of entrepreneurship for social and economic growth is gen...


Carrying out geophysical techniques as a part of geotechnical studies for the characterization of rock massifs in public works is a more and more frequent and systematic task in Spain. Up to very recent dates, the application of geophysical techniques to the civil engineering field were relatively unknown for many Geotechnics professionals and were limited to the solution of a few specific problems through resistivity or refraction seismic methods. Progressively, this situation has changed toward an increasingly more frequent and professional use of geophysical methods. One example would be the geotechnical studies for the Madrid- Barcelona AVE railway Project, which has included the generalized application of geophysical techniques as a complement to other classic methods for the geomechanical characterization of rock massifs. In this Project, a great variety of geological patterns and problems has been found in a layout of hundredths of Km. This has made it necessary to use a considerable number of geophysical techniques, which have been applied with the aim of solving a series of specific problems established from the detailed geological mapping. We have exclusively recurred to the experience of INTERNATIONALGEOPHYSICAL TECHNOLOGY, S.A., which has taken part in the study as a geophysical consultant in ten of the twelve subsections of the Project, thus using the following methods: Georadar, D.C. resistivity (VES and profiles), TEM soundings (TEMS), seismic refraction and down-hole seismic. The aim of this communication is to carry out a summarized assessment of the role played by the geophysical techniques based in the results obtained byeach of the techniques used.


In radar imaging, the assumption is made that scatterers are white in the emitted frequency band and isotropic for all direction of observation. Nevertheless, new capacities in radar imaging, using a wideband and a large angular excursion, make these hypotheses not valid. Time-frequency analysis highlight this point of view and show some scatterers are anisotropic and/or dispersive. This information source can be completed by radar polarimetry. This paper suggests a supervised classification of scatterers using neural networks based on polarimetric time-frequency signatures. This method is applied here on anechoic chamber data, however can be generalized to SAR or circular SAR imaging.


IN 1935, Seiffert 1 reported in a German surgical journal a procedure of bilateral ureteral transplantation into a segment of intestine as a method of supravesical urinary diversion. It remained, however, for Eugene Bricker, MD, 15 years later to modify and popularize the procedure which we now know as the ileal loop. 2 The ileal loop was presented originally as a relatively simple method of urinary diversion which hopefully would overcome the many pitfalls of nephrostomies, cutaneous ureterostomies, and ureterosigmoidostomies. Since 1950, this method has been widely used to treat a large variety of urologic and surgical conditions requiring urinary diversion. Reports have appeared in the literature at intervals outlining the experience of groups or individuals with this operation and containing various modifications to the original procedure. The present study, comprising 120 cases, reports the 10 year experience with ileal loop diversion in the University Hospitals of Cleveland and its


The aging process in closed-cell thermal insulation foams refers to that phenomenon which results in a degradation of insulation value of the foam over a period of time and is generally attributed to diffusion of atmospheric components into the foam and diffusion of expansion agent out of the foam. In this paper an apparatus is described for measuring the effective or apparent diffusion coefficient of atmospheric and other rapidly permeating gases in closed-cell polymeric foams. The technique is based on a solution of the transient diffusion equation, which is outlined along with the method of data reduction. The diffusion cell is designed to accommodate cylindrical foam specimens of varying sizes up to 7.6 cm (3 in.) in diameter and up to 5.1 cm (2 in.) thick. Other features of the apparatus include quick and convenient interchange of foam samples as well as automatic data acquisition. Major sources of experimental error are discussed; those aspects of the experimental technique designed to reduce the magnitude of the experimental uncertainty are also mentioned. Results obtained with the apparatus for a number of different foams are presented and discussed in terms of various foam diffusion models described in the literature. Interpretation of the data in this manner gives some insight into the cellular structure of the foam and also provides a correlation for estimating the diffusion coefficient of other gases in the foam sample.


The translocation of species into habitable locations outside of their current ranges, termed assisted migration, has been proposed as a means of saving vulnerable species from extinction as a result of climate change. We explore the use of this controversial technique using a threatened keystone species in western North America, whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), as a case study. Species distribution models predict that whitebark pine will be extirpated from most of its current range as temperatures rise over the next 70 years. However, the same models indicate that a large area within northwestern British Columbia, Canada, is climatically suitable for the species under current conditions and will remain so throughout the 21st century. To test the capacity of whitebark pine to establish relative to climatic and habitat features within its predicted climatic range, we planted seeds from seven populations in eight locations spanning from 600 km southeast to 800 km northwest of the northern boundary of the current species range. During the first three growing seasons, germination occurred in all locations. Nearly three times as many treated (induced maturation and broken dormancy) than untreated seeds germinated, and most treated seeds germinated a year earlier than the untreated seeds. Germination, survival, and growth were primarily influenced by seed mass, site climate conditions related to the duration of snow cover, and provenance temperature. Our experiment provides a preliminary test of models predicting the existence of climatically suitable whitebark pine habitat north of the current species ranges. More broadly, our techniques and results inform the development of scientific guidelines for assisting the migration of other species that are highly threatened by climate change. Applied case studies of this kind are critical for assessing the utility of species distribution models as conservation planning tools.


The Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is considered to be a key technology for B-ISDN. This paper discusses VLSI trends and how VLSI's can be applied to realize ATM switching node systems for B-ISDN. Implementing a practical ATM node system will require the development of technologies such as high-throughput ATM switch LSI's with up to 10 Gb/s capacity and SDH termination technology based on optical fiber transmission. An ATM traffic-handling mechanism with Quality of Service (QoS) controls such as ATM layer performance monitoring, virtual channel handling, usage parameter control, and VP shaping requires several hundred thousand logic gates and several megabytes of high-speed static RAM; VLSI's must be introduced if such mechanisms are to be implemented. ATM node system architecture is based on design principles of a building-block-type structure and hierarchical multiplexing. The basic ATM call handling module, the AHM, is composed mainly of a line termination block and a self-routing switch block; we analyzed this module from the viewpoint of the amount of hardware it requires. Finally, future ATM node systems are discussed on the basis of 0.2-/spl mu/m VLSI development trends and hardware requirements such as the need for ultrahigh integration of logic gate with memory, multichip modules, and low power dissipation technology. >


Standardised tests are a common, yet contentious, feature of many countries' schooling systems. In May 2010, over one-quarter of English primary schools boycotted that year's mandatory age eleven standardised tests (colloquially known as SATs tests). This paper investigates the plausibly causal effect of participation in standardised testing on later end-of-schooling qualification (GCSE) attainment. After controlling for non-random boycott participation, and relying on a selection-on-observables argument, evidence is found of a statistically significant negative effect of boycott participation on various measures of GCSE attainment. Amongst other findings, pupils are estimated to be 0.7 per-cent less likely to achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C due to not sitting their age eleven SATs tests. Thus, evidence is found that individual pupils' subsequent attainment benefits from their own prior participation in standardised tests.


The Λ-Cold Dark Matter model has gained the place of cosmological paradigm, yet its success at explaining the large-scale universe is not reproduced at galactic scales. This thesis focus on aspects of testing the cosmological paradigm at galactic scales, by gaining insights both theoretically and observationally into the dark and baryonic matter distributions of galaxies. Nonextensive statistical mechanics, a generalization of classical statistical mechanics designed to describe long-range interaction systems, has been proposed recently to predict the structure of dark matter halos, using stellar polytropes. A careful comparison of structural radial profiles of stellar polytropes with those of simulated dark matter halos is presented in this thesis. It establishes that nonextensive statistical mechanics is unable to predict the structure of dark matter halos. Gravitational lensing provides a promising way of constraining the mass distribution of disk galaxies and measure their mass-to-light ratio. Unfortunately, only seven disk-galaxy lenses are known to date. Here is presented the first automated spectroscopic search for disk-galaxy lenses, using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database. Eight disk-galaxy lens candidates are studied, using imaging and long-slit spectroscopy observations. Two new gravitational lenses are presented, which are probable disk and S0 galaxies, as well as four very interesting disk-galaxy lens candidates, and two probable lenses where the lens galaxy is either an S0 or elliptical galaxy. Higher resolution observations are needed to further study these systems. These results open promising perspectives for enlarging the sample of known disk-galaxy lenses, and gaining further understanding of the baryonic and dark matter distributions in disk galaxies.


Objectives Tobacco companies frame smoking as an informed choice, a strategy that holds individuals responsible for harms they incur. Few studies have tested this argument, and even fewer have examined how informed indigenous smokers or those from minority ethnicities are when they start smoking. We explored how young adult Māori and Pacific smokers interpreted 'informed choice' in relation to smoking. Participants Using recruitment via advertising, existing networks and word of mouth, we recruited and undertook qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 Māori and Pacific young adults aged 18–26 years who smoked. Analyses Data were analysed using an informed-choice framework developed by Chapman and Liberman. We used a thematic analysis approach to identify themes that extended this framework. Results Few participants considered themselves well informed and none met more than the framework's initial two criteria. Most reflected on their unthinking uptake and subsequent addiction, and identified environmental factors that had facilitated uptake. Nonetheless, despite this context, most agreed that they had made an informed choice to smoke. Conclusions The discrepancy between participants' reported knowledge and understanding of smoking's risks, and their assessment of smoking as an informed choice, reflects their view of smoking as a symbol of adulthood. Policies that make tobacco more difficult to use in social settings could help change social norms around smoking and the ease with which initiation and addiction currently occur.


This article investigates the properties, good and bad, of social evaluations based on four money measures of well-being or changes in well-being: compensating variations, money metrics, extended money metrics, and welfare ratios. Consistency of social rankings (transitivity, asymmetry of preference), the possibility of incorporating inequality aversions, independence of the choice of reference prices, and the ethics implicit in the evaluations are considered. In addition, these procedures are contrasted with utility aggregation using equivalence scales.


We have deposited weakly textured substoichiometric NbB2-x thin films by magnetron sputtering from a NbB2 target. The films exhibit superhardness (42 ± 4 GPa), previously only observed in overstoichiometric TiB2 thin films, and explained by a self-organized nanostructuring, where thin TiB2 columnar grains hinder nucleation and slip of dislocations and a B-rich tissue phase between the grains prevent grain-boundary sliding. The wide homogeneity range for the NbB2 phase allows a similar ultra-thin B-rich tissue phase to form between thin (5 – 10 nm) columnar NbB2-x grains also for films with a B/Nb atomic ratio of 1.8, as revealed here by analytical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, a coefficient of friction of 0.16 is measured for a NbB2-x film sliding against stainless steel with a wear rate of 5*10 -7 mm 3 /Nm. Xray photoelectron spectroscopy results suggest that the low friction is due to the formation of a lubricating boric acid film.


Summary Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, also known as Depo-Provera, is a progesterone-only contraceptive that is administered by injection to patients every three months. We describe the case of a 19-year-old female who was diagnosed with central diabetes insipidus following the administration of the contraceptive injection Depo-Provera. The patient was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome at age 16 and was originally prescribed oral contraceptives to restore menstrual regularity. Three years later, Depo-Provera was substituted for convenience, and symptoms of polyuria and polydipsia appeared one month after initiating the progesterone-only regimen. We are proposing that central diabetes insipidus may be a possible adverse effect of Depo-Provera in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome who receive the progesterone-only contraception, due to the interference of their arginine vasopressin mechanism through the alteration of estrogen levels. We review potential mechanisms through the presentation of previously completed research in polycystic ovarian syndrome. Learning points We propose that although rare, the decrease in estrogen that is experienced during the administration of Depo-Provera can interfere with arginine vasopressin release in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Increased awareness of possible lasting adverse effects on fluid balance with unopposed progesterone administration in PCOS is important, as this case of the development of diabetes insipidus suggests. Discussion of such potential side effects is important when considering contraceptive options for the regulation of menses in patients with PCOS.


The pretargeting strategy has recently emerged in order to overcome the limitations of direct targeting, mainly in the field of radioimmunotherapy (RIT). This strategy is directly dependent on chemical reactions, namely bioorthogonal reactions, which have been developed for their ability to occur under physiological conditions. The Staudinger ligation, the copper catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) and the strain-promoted [3 + 2] azide–alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) were the first bioorthogonal reactions introduced in the literature. However, due to their incomplete biocompatibility and slow kinetics, the inverse-electron demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) reaction was advanced in 2008 by Blackman et al. as an optimal bioorthogonal reaction. The IEDDA is the fastest bioorthogonal reaction known so far. Its biocompatibility and ideal kinetics are very appealing for pretargeting applications. The use of a trans-cyclooctene (TCO) and a tetrazine (Tz) in the reaction encouraged researchers to study them deeply. It was found that both reagents are sensitive to acidic or basic conditions. Furthermore, TCO is photosensitive and can be isomerized to its cis-conformation via a radical catalyzed reaction. Unfortunately, the cis-conformer is significantly less reactive toward tetrazine than the trans-conformation. Therefore, extensive research has been carried out to optimize both click reagents and to employ the IEDDA bioorthogonal reaction in biomedical applications.


Seismic inversion transforms reflectivity data into layer property which adds valuable interpretive benefits for reservoir characterization. Although seismic inversion is routinely conducted in reservoir interpretation projects, there are still pitfalls in using this technology. If not careful, risks exist which may lead to incorrect estimation of reservoir properties and in the worst case to wrong drilling. In this paper, a model-driven inversion is used as an example to devise a practical workflow for typical post-stack inversion projects. The devised workflow consists of (1) log calibration, (2) selection of a seismic trace near a well, (3) well tie analysis, (4) wavelet estimation, (5) seismic amplitude calibration, (6) low frequency model building, (7) inversion job parameterization, (8) volume inversion and (9) interpretation. The technical background of all steps is reviewed and methods of problem solving presented. Emphasis is placed on how to quality control each stage of a multi-step process so that uncertainty is reduced to a minimum.
With careful data preparation and job parameterization, model-driven inversion produces both absolute and relative impedances, useful for more accurate stratigraphic interpretation and reservoir property determination.


Essentially, this article is a personal reflection whose fundamental objective consists in shaping the happenings, realities and experiences arising from transcendental part in the history of Spanish nursing which many, like myself, undergo. Nonetheless, this article is not a nostalgic tale, an incursion into one's personal memories nor an organized set of anecdotes. This is a true, reasoned and docuented attempt to connect the past and the future to our present professional situation from a personal perspective, not without subjectivity yet loaded with common sense, necessary in the logical evidence of proofs which grant objectivity and foundations, since, as Rosa Maria Alberdi says it is not possible--although we ingenuously believe it so--to limit our expressions exclusively to the scientific or to the fictitious.


The surface roughness is difficult to estimate in machining, especially for weak stiffness workpiece. So, prediction model of surface roughness using artificial neural network (ANN) is developed. This model investigates the effects of cutting parameters during milling Aluminum alloy 6061. The experiments are planned with four factors and four levels for developing the knowledge base for ANN training. Three-dimensional surface plots are generated using ANN model to study the effects of cutting parameters on surface roughness. The analysis reveals that cutting speed and feed rate have significant effects in reducing the surface roughness, while the axial and radial depth of cut has less effect. And the variations of surface roughness are highly non-linear with the cutting parameters.


Mismatches between the precisions of representing the disparity, depth value and rendering position in 3D video systems cause redundancies in depth map representations. In this paper, we propose a highly efficient multiview depth coding scheme based on Depth Histogram Projection (DHP) and Allowable Depth Distortion (ADD) in view synthesis. Firstly, DHP exploits the sparse representation of depth maps generated from stereo matching to reduce the residual error from INTER and INTRA predictions in depth coding. We provide a mathematical foundation for DHP-based lossless depth coding by theoretically analyzing its rate-distortion cost. Then, due to the mismatch between depth value and rendering position, there is a many-to-one mapping relationship between them in view synthesis, which induces the ADD model. Based on this ADD model and DHP, depth coding with lossless view synthesis quality is proposed to further improve the compression performance of depth coding while maintaining the same synthesized video quality. Experimental results reveal that the proposed DHP based depth coding can achieve an average bit rate saving of 20.66% to 19.52% for lossless coding on Multiview High Efficiency Video Coding (MV-HEVC) with different groups of pictures. In addition, our depth coding based on DHP and ADD achieves an average depth bit rate reduction of 46.69%, 34.12% and 28.68% for lossless view synthesis quality when the rendering precision varies from integer, half to quarter pixels, respectively. We obtain similar gains for lossless depth coding on the 3D-HEVC, HEVC Intra coding and JPEG2000 platforms.


This pager describes a model to predict fire spread in grasslands from wind speed at 10 m, dead fuel moisture, and degree of grass curing in three defined pasture types, The model was developed from spread measurements of experimental fins that were adjusted to their potential rate of spread at wide fronts. Extrapolations of the model were compared with spread data from 20 major wildfires in Australia. This model uses different functions to describe the relationship between rate of spread and wind speed above and below a critical wind speed of 5 km h-1. A linear relationship is used below 5 km h-1; above 5 km h-1 rate of spread is described by a power function of wind speed with an exponent of less than 1.


Objectives: Governments worldwide have recommended unprecedented measures to mitigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As pressure mounts to scale back these measures, understanding public compliance with and priorities for COVID-19 mitigation is critical. The main aim of this study was to assess public compliance with and support for government-imposed stay-at-home orders in nations and cities with different COVID-19 infection and death rates. Design: In this cross-sectional study, questionnaires were administered to nationally representative respondents from April 2-8, 2020. Setting: Regions with different disease prevalence included two nations [the United States (US, high) and Australia (AU, low)] and two cities [New York (NY, high) and Los Angeles (LA, low)]. Participants: For adults 18 years or older residing in specified regions, eligible respondents were empaneled until representative quotas were reached for age, gender, and either race and ethnicity (US, NY, LA) or ancestry (AU), matching the 2010 US or 2016 AU census. Of 8718 eligible potential respondents, 5573 (response rate, 63.9%) completed surveys (US: 3010; NY: 507; LA: 525; AU: 1531). The median age was 47 years (range, 18-89); 3039 (54.5%) were female. Exposure: The prevalence of COVID-19 in each region (cumulative infections, deaths) as of April 8, 2020: US (458610, 15659), AU (5956, 45), NY (81803, 4571), LA (7530, 198). Main Outcomes Measures: Public compliance with and attitudes regarding government-imposed stay-at-home orders were evaluated and compared between regions. Results: Of 5573 total respondents, 4560 (81.8%) reported compliance with recommended quarantine or stay-at-home policies (range of samples, 75.5%-88.2%). Despite significant disruptions of social and work life, health, and behavior, 5022 respondents (90.1%) supported government-imposed stay-at-home orders (range of samples, 88.9%-93.1%). Of these, 90.8% believe orders should last at least three more weeks or until public health or government officials recommend, with such support spanning the political spectrum. Conclusions: Public compliance with stringent quarantine and stay-at-home policies was very high, in both highly-affected (US, NY) and minimally-affected regions (AU, LA). Despite extensive disruption of respondents′ lives, the vast majority supported continuation of long-term government-imposed stay-at-home orders. These findings have important implications for policymakers grappling with the decision as to when to lift restrictions.


Different asymmetries between expansion and contraction (radial motions) have been reported in the literature. Often these patterns have been regarded as implying different channels for each type of radial direction (outward versus inwards) operating at a higher level of visual motion processing. In two experiments (detection and discrimination tasks) we report reaction time asymmetries between expansion and contraction. Power functions were fitted to the data. While an exponent of 0.5 accounted for the expansion data better, a value of unity yielded the best fit for the contraction data. Instead of interpreting these differences as corresponding to different higher order motion detectors, we regard these findings as reflecting the fact that expansion and contraction tap two distinct psychophysical input channels underlying the processing of fast and slow velocities respectively.


We performed a series of laboratory experiments to investigate the interactions of a turbulent wave boundary layer with a predominantly silt-size sediment bed. Quasi-steady, turbulent, high-density suspensions (HDS) formed over a wide range of wave conditions and had near-bed (~1 mm above bed) concentrations ranging from 17 to 81 g/l scaling roughly with the wave orbital velocity. HDS were defined by the presence of a lutocline, an abrupt change in vertical concentration gradient. Despite the initial bed being 70% silt and 20% sand, HDS had significant near-bed sand fractions ranging from 27 to 78%. Winnowing of the bed caused more concentrated HDS to be coarser grained, which in turn caused the suspensions to be thinner because of the greater settling velocity of the sediment. Our experiments are consistent with a dynamic feedback model where suspended sediment is limited through sediment-induced stratification expressed with a bulk Richardson number. However, our computed values of the bulk Richardson number converge to a value that is an order of magnitude less than the critical value of 0.25 that is typically assumed. The experimental wave orbital velocities (15–60 cm/s) and periods (3–8 s), as well as the characteristics of the HDS and the bed in our experiments, were comparable to observations made on the Eel shelf, California, during storm conditions when fluid mud has been observed.


ABSTRACT:The question of Jerusalem is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its resolution is crucial for the overall success of efforts to resolve the conflict. The article explores the negotiating processes that took place between Israel and the Palestinians regarding the question of Jerusalem since the Oslo Accords (1993), with attention to the Camp David Process (2000–1) and the Annapolis Process (2007–8). Assessment of these processes reveals on the one hand that the question of Jerusalem posed one of the major—if not the main—obstacles to agreement in past negotiations, but on the other hand, it shows a gradual process in which the parties have drawn closer and understandings have begun to emerge on most issues. It also discusses and analyzes challenges that the negotiators needed to address regarding the manner in which the negotiations over Jerusalem were conducted.


The Enlightenment philosophers argued that science and the arts provided the development and improvement of the customs. The contrary position taken by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) produced a great impact so that he received the Dijon Academy Award and was made - after the publication of other works - a defender of nature and of the natural man. Considering the depravity of manners, the author promotes the culture itself as a remedy, as no one can return to the state of nature. All his writings together can, thus, be seen as a bold attempt to use up the arts ("Emile" is a fine example of literary art of the eighteenth century) as a remedy against the evil of civilization, mainly the withdrawal of man from nature


Tetraploidy has long been of interest to both cell and cancer biologists, partly because of its documented role in tumorigenesis. A common model proposes that the extra centrosomes that are typically acquired during tetraploidization are responsible for driving tumorigenesis. However, this model is inconsistent with the observation that tetraploid cells evolved in culture lack extra centrosomes. This observation raises questions about how tetraploid cells evolve and more specifically about the mechanisms(s) underlying centrosome loss. Here, using a combination of fixed cell analysis, live cell imaging, and mathematical modeling, we show that populations of newly formed tetraploid cells rapidly evolve in vitro to retain a near-tetraploid chromosome number while losing the extra centrosomes gained at the time of tetraploidization. This happens through a process of natural selection in which tetraploid cells that inherit a single centrosome during a bipolar division with asymmetric centrosome clustering are favored for long-term survival.


To harness the computational power of massively parallel distributed-memory multicomputers, users must write efficient software. This process is laborious because of the absence of global address space. The programmer must manually distribute computations and data across processors and explicitly manage communication. The Paradigm (PARAllelizing compiler for DIstributed-memory, General-purpose Multicomputers) project at the University of Illinois addresses this problem by developing automatic methods for the efficient parallelization of sequential programs. A unified approach efficiently supports regular and irregular computations using data and functional parallelism. >


In this paper, we exploit the inherent hierarchy of heat exchangers in District Heating and Cooling (DHC) networks and propose DReAM, a novel Demand Response (DR) architecture for Multi-level DHC networks. DReAM serves to economize system operation while still respecting comfort requirements of individual consumers. Contrary to many present day DR schemes that work on a consumer level granularity DReAM works at a level of hierarchy above buildings, i.e. substations that supply heat to a group of buildings. This improves the overall DR scalability and reduce the computational complexity. In the first step of the proposed approach, mathematical models of individual substations and their downstream networks are abstracted into appropriately constructed low-complexity structural forms. In the second step, this abstracted information is employed by the utility to perform DR optimization that determines the optimal heat inflow to individual substations rather than buildings, in order to achieve the targeted objectives across the network. We validate the proposed DReAM framework through experimental results under different scenarios on a test network.


In Africa, many urban farmers apply cropping systems from rural backgrounds into their urban setting. This paper explores the possibility that "upgrading" cropping systems in African cities could boost economic empowerment for impoverished urban farmers. To these ends, the author conducted a case study of cropping systems in Cape Town, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the predominant cropping system. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions with a selection of 59 urban farmers as well as interviews with key informants from non-governmental organizations, and local government. The findings are interpreted using an asset-based community development lens, which suggests that local networks and locally sourced inputs, utensils, and infrastructure are fundamental to resilient urban agriculture in this context. A limitation of the case study method is in the generalisability of the findings to other contexts. This study may, however, be used as a guideline for conducting similar case studies in other contexts.


phate and reserpine, and one a preparation of sulphamethizole and sulphamethoxypyridazine. Two of these drugs have in earlier reports been described as inducing CAH.2 3 The remaining thrce patients had been treated with nitrofurantoin as the only drug before jaundice appeared (two for two years and one for two months). The liver damage of these last three patients was demonstrated by raised serum bilirubin, transaminase (aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase) and alkaline phosphatase levels. The serum albumin concentration was low, the gammaglobulin fraction serum electrophoresis was greatly increased, and the half life of intravenous galactose was considerably prolonged. All three patients had antinuclear factor in titres of 1 100-1 '500 and smooth muscle antibodies in titres of 1 10-1 25. Liver biopsv specimens showed infiltrations of lymphocytes and plasma cells as well as scattered areas of necrosis-a picture consistent with CAH in an early phase. After withdrawal of nitrofurantoin clinical and laboratory recovery occurred in two patients without the use of immunosuppressive treatment. During follow-up (1-6 years) the abovementioned laboratory values returned to normal in all patients with the single exception of a slightly prolonged half life of intravenously administered galactose in one patient six years after the acute illness. Liver biopsy specimens were obtained from two patients and were considered normal. On the basis of the present findings we conclude that nitrofurantoin should be added to the number of drugs known as possible inducers of CAH. A STROMBERG B WENGLE


Conservatism is notoriously difficult to define. In the present study, conceptual metaphor theory is used to elucidate the nature of this ideology in its early phase when it emerged in England as a force struggling with the ideas of the French Revolution. It can be shown that conservative authors frequently do not conform to the pattern of orientational metaphors described by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980), according to which "up" is usually regarded as positive and "down" as negative. Conservatives often associate their own ideas with depth or a downward movement, whereas the loathed ideas of the political opponents are related to height or an upward movement. This dichotomy is closely connected to the polarity between solidity, stability and weight on the one hand and gaseity, volatility and lightness on the other. The study bases its analysis on numerous political tracts, pamphlets, and novels from the 1790s and early 1800s.Keywords: Conservatism; French Revolution Debate; national identity; political writing; anti-Jacobin novels; conceptual metaphor theory; orientational metaphors


Background: Diabetes means the blood glucose, which is too high or too low. With Type 2 DM, the more common type, the body does not make or use insulin well. In patients with DM, Helicobacter pylori is one of the most common infections worldwide. Available data on the possible association between H. pylori infection and DM are contradictory. There are a few studies in the Middle East, and this study is the pioneer study, in the Medical Services Clinics in Gaza strip. Aims: This study was conducted to reveal the prevalence of H. pylori infection, malnutrition, insulin resistance among T2DM patients, to describe the dietary requirements of T2DM patients, finally to evaluate the current information about diet, and lifestyle in the prevention of H. pylori, and malnutrition. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Medical Services Clinics in Gaza Strip, and there were 129 patients included in this study. Data were collected through hematological information and structured interview questionnaire. Results: Highly significant percentage of H. pylori (70%) among the DM patients includes in the study, but not indicates any significant association between gender and H. pylori status. Conclusion: H. pylori patients should update their sugar level values in the record, and should get exercise and diet plan for every meal.


Planar motion systems based on commercial Sawyer motors (1969, 1973, 1974) provide uniform performance over their entire workspace, offering fairly high speeds, accelerations, and precision. They also offer mechanical and kinematic simplicity, modularity, large motion ranges, and a short path to mechanical ground. On the other hand, primarily because they are operated as open-loop step motors, they can miss steps, have long settling times, and fall short of their potential capabilities. These motor performances are improved by using a novel, very high resolution (0.4 /spl mu/m), Sawyer planar sensor presented in this paper.<<ETX>>


This essay aims at contributing to our understanding of the nature of exhibitions, namely how and why we make them, and what they – and the things in them – might symbolize. My focus will be on exhibitions of objects in classical museums of cultural history, archaeology and ethnology/ethnography. I will discuss how scientific epistemologies and discourses, as well as the history of ideas and ideologies, are reflected in the way museums and exhibitions are organized. Theoretically, I will lean on ideas of Michel Foucault presented in his work The Order of Things (Foucault, 1991) and Power/Knowledge (Gordon 1980), but also on Mieke Bal's Double Exposures (1996), and a few others.


The CB Wizard was deployed on a sub-urban Interstate north of Wichita, in advance of a lane closure. Lane distribution data were collected at several distances from the taper to determine if vehicles changed lanes earlier due to hearing the warning message broadcast by the CB Wizard. System deployment and use was quick and easy. No changes were observed in lane distributions, so the effectiveness of the device could not be statistically verified.


This paper introduces a distributed fault-tolerant topology control algorithm, called the Disjoint Path Vector (DPV), for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks composed of a large number of sensor nodes with limited energy and computing capability and several supernodes with unlimited energy resources. The DPV algorithm addresses the k-degree Anycast Topology Control problem where the main objective is to assign each sensor's transmission range such that each has at least k-vertex-disjoint paths to supernodes and the total power consumption is minimum. The resulting topologies are tolerant to k-1 node failures in the worst case. We prove the correctness of our approach by showing that topologies generated by DPV are guaranteed to satisfy k-vertex supernode connectivity. Our simulations show that the DPV algorithm achieves up to 4-fold reduction in total transmission power required in the network and 2-fold reduction in maximum transmission power required in a node compared to existing solutions.


Ray tracing of sparse voxel octrees is a method of rendering images of 3D models, which could soon become practical for use in real time applications. This is desirable as ray tracing can produce very realistic visualizations, while voxel models can represent models with very fine geometric detail. For these reason the method has attracted significant attention in recent years, but no hardware solution has been published yet. This thesis presents a design of ray tracing of sparse voxel octrees in hardware. The objective is to show if it is sensible to implement the method in hardware, and if it could be integrated on modern GPUs alongside rasterization. To this end, the techniques used in existing software implementations of this method is reviewed, and an algorithm suitable for hardware implementation is presented. The problems of integrating the method with rasterization is explored, and the algorithm is analyzed and optimized to improve efficiency in hardware. A software implementation is presented, which supports the development of a hardware design. This design is implemented using the Verilog hardware description language, and it has been simulated and synthesized for an FPGA prototype. Multiple versions of the design has been synthesized and tested, and to evaluate the impact of design parameters the test results from these designs is presented. The thesis provides a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed design, and the results indicate that the algorithm is well suited for hardware implementation. Although real-time performance was not achieved, there are indications that further optimizations should allow real-time performance on the same platform, and that a full scale implementation on a modern GPU could probably allow ray tracing with a quality which is competitive with rasterization.


Nonclassicality according to the singularity or negativity of the Glauber P-function is a powerful resource in quantum information, with relevant implications in quantum optics. In a Gaussian setting, and for a system of two modes, we explore how P-nonclassicality may be conditionally generated or influenced on one mode by Gaussian measurements on the other mode. Starting from the class of two-mode squeezed thermal states (TMST), we introduce the notion of nonclassical steering (NS) and the graphical tool of Gaussian triangoloids. In particular, we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for a TMST to be nonclassically steerable, and show that entanglement is only necessary. We also apply our criterion to noisy propagation of a twin-beam state, and evaluate the time after which NS is no longer achievable. We then generalize the notion of NS to the full set of Gaussian states of two modes, and recognize that it may occur in a weak form, which does not imply entanglement, and in a strong form that implies EPR-steerability and, a fortiori, also entanglement. These two types of NS coincide exactly for TMSTs, and they merge with the previously known notion of EPR steering. By the same token, we recognize a new operational interpretation of P-nonclassicality: it is the distinctive property that allows one-party entanglement verification on TMSTs.


The aim of presented paper is to provide interpretation possibilities of transparent, integral lobbying phenomenon in Lithuanian law system and to divulge possible points of interaction between lobbying and sustainable development. Authors reveals definitions of lobbying, according to legal regulation of lobbying in EU and Lithuania legal acts. With reference to expert interview results and analysis, were identified problematic aspects, which helped to formulate the interim and final conclusions. Also authors seeks to find answer the question if science sector1 is active in latent2 lobbying; what patterns and possible trends of this phenomenon with sustainable development. Science, as social technology, is the driving force of the sustainable development and industrial revoliution. Its mentioned in EU and Lithuanian long term strategic documents. This affects to research manifestations of lobbying in this sector. Obtained results, it is believed, will help to improve lobbying law regulation; will create preconditions to remove the legal contradictions and loopholes; will shape favorable environment for sustainable development and competitiveness process.


Multi-player learning games are complex software applications resulting from a costly and complex engineering process, and involving multiple stakeholders (domain experts, teachers, game designers, programmers, testers, etc.). Moreover, they are dynamic systems that evolve over time and implement complex interactions between objects and players. Usually, once a learning game is developed, testing activities are conducted by humans who explore the possible executions of the game's scenario to detect bugs. The complexity and the dynamic nature of multiplayer learning games enforces the complexity of testing activities. Indeed, it is impracticable to explore manually all possible executions due to their huge number. Moreover, the test cannot verify some properties on multi-player and collaborative scenarios, such as paths leading to deadlock between learners or prevent learners to meet all objectives and win the game. This type of properties should be verified at the design stage. We propose a framework enabling a formal modeling of game scenarios and an associated automatic verification of learning game's scenario at the design stage of the development process.We use Symmetric Petri nets as a modeling language and choose to verify properties by means of model checkers. This paper discusses the possibilities offered by this framework to verify learning game's properties before the programming stage.


Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most frequent subtype of renal cell cancer, is characterized by mutation of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene, which results in stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) α proteins. In this issue of Cancer Discovery, Mathew and colleagues report that miR-30c-2-3p and miR-30a-3p downregulation in ccRCC promotes increased expression of HIF2α.


Today allergens are known as molecules that induce an IgE-mediated reaction (allergy) in human beings. Protein is one of the most important molecules that could be the allergen. Allergens sources are varied from plants, animals, and fungi to microbial and even viral sources. Melittin, phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase and venom allergen-5 are most important venom allergens in hymenoptera family. The various components are identified as the venom allergens in scorpions and snakes venoms. VAH (Vespid allergen antigen homolog) and ASP (Aspergillus allergen) are two venom allergens group detected in nematode parasites. Recognition of venom allergens and their immune responses is the first step to avoid the animal-related allergic diseases and prevent anaphylactic shock.


Ontogenic development of some digestive enzymes (proteases, amylase and lipase) in common pandora Pagellus erythrinus larva was assayed during larval development. The green-water technique was employed for larval rearing, and whole-body homogenates were used for enzymatic assays in triplicate. Important alterations in specific activities of all digestive enzymes measured during the period of this study were mostly related to metamorphosis and weaning. Mouth opening was observed on day 3 at 2.23±0.01 mm total length synchronously with the first determination of trypsin and chymotrypsin activities. After this date, the specific activities of these slightly increased until 25 days after hatching (DAH), respectively, and then slightly decreased and changed. The pattern determined for pepsin was strongly related to stomach formation on day 25 at 9.72±2.3 mm total length and a sharp increase was found until 30 DAH and then a slight decrease was measured from this date until the end of the experiment. Both amylase and lipase were measured for the first time on days 2 and 4, respectively, and also the specific activities of these showed similar patterns during the first week of the study. Then, slight variations were observed until 30 DAH and while lipase-specific activity had declined, an increase in the specific activity of amylase was found until the end of the experiment. Finally, it is thought that the variations observed in the specific activity in the profile of digestive enzymes were related to either metamorphosis such as formation of stomach (25 DAH) or to changes in characteristics of food (30 DAH). The pattern of development of the main digestive enzymes found in P. erythrinus is similar to that described in other Sparid species.


Chemical looping water splitting or chemical looping hydrogen is a very promising technology for the production of hydrogen. In recent years extensive research has enabled remarkable leaps towards a successful integration of the chemical looping technology into a future hydrogen infrastructure. Progress has been reported with iron based oxygen carriers for stable hydrogen production capacity over consecutive cycles without significant signs of degradation. The high stability improvements were achieved by adding alien metal oxides or by integrating the active component into a mineral structure which offers excellent resistance towards thermal stress. Prototype systems from small μ-systems up to 50 kW have been operated with promising results. The chemical looping water splitting process was broadened in terms of its application area and utilization of feedstocks using a variety of renewable and fossil resources. The three-reactor system was clearly advantageous due to its flexibility, heat integration capabilities and possibility to produce separate pure streams of hydrogen, CO2 and N2. However two-reactor and single fixed-bed reactor systems were successfully operated as well. This review aims to survey the recently presented literature in detail and systematically summarize the gathered data.


Longer term grazing rest has occurred or been proposed in large portions of the sagebrush steppe based on the assumption that it will improve ecosystem properties. However, information regarding the influence of longer term rest from grazing is limited and has not been summarized. We synthesized the scientific literature on long-term rest in the sagebrush steppe to evaluate the potential ecosystem effects and identify factors that influence those effects. Longer term rest is clearly advantageous compared to detrimental grazing practices (i.e., repeated defoliation during the growing season without periodic deferment or short-term rest). Changing grazing management from detrimental use to modern recommended grazing practices or dormant season use will likely convey the same benefits as long-term grazing rest in most situations. In general, long-term rest and modern properly managed grazing produce few significant differences. However, some topic areas have not been adequately studied to accurately predict the influence of long-term rest compared to managed grazing. In some situations, long-term rest may cause negative ecological effects. Not grazing can cause an accumulation of fine fuels that increase fire risk and severity and, subsequently, the probability of sagebrush steppe rangelands converting to exotic annual grasslands. One common theme we found was that shifts in plant communities (i.e., exotic annual grass invasion and western juniper encroachment), caused in part from historical improper grazing, cannot be reversed by long-term rest. This synthesis suggests that land managers should carefully consider if long-term rest will actually achieve their management goals and if a change in grazing management would achieve similar results.


Fertility preservation is becoming extremely necessary to help improve the quality of living within female cancer survivors. Despite recommendations that suggest that there should be consideration of preservation fertility before cancer treatments start, there is a lack of regulation in this field. A variety of fertility preservation methods are available, and can be employed separately or together in the same patient to enhance medical performance and therefore to augment efficiency. Oocytes and fetal cryopreservation are indeed well known methods but have restrictions. Although currently perceived as experimental, ovarian tissue cryopreservation has a broader clinical application and the advantage to maintain longer the fertility option. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy have a huge effect on the reproductive potential and the process of fertility preservation should be implemented before these two treatments. The importance of fertility preservation has to be weighed against morbidity and mortality in relation with cancer. A multidisciplinary cooperation between oncologists and reproductive specialists is therefore necessary to increase knowledge and accessibility.


Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a wireless technology used to automatically identify objects attached to its tags. Its applications span in different areas such as inventory control, logistics, security and item tracking. Vast majority of commercially available RFID tags use Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) to encode and transmit data. This micro-chip in the RFID tag makes the tag manufacturing process complicated and expensive compared to optical barcode printing. Researchers have brought the idea of removing the micro-chip and using chipless techniques to encode data into tags, allowing them to be passive, printable and low cost. However, chipless RFID technologies have still not been able to replace relatively expensive chipped RFID tags mainly due to less tag bit capacity. Over the last decade, researchers have mainly focused on improving the chipless RFID tag design and the RFID reader architecture. However, they were mostly using primitive signal processing techniques such as moving average or threshold based detection. The few advanced signal processing techniques reported so far have high computation complexity, hence not feasible for commercial implementation. This thesis presents smart tag detection techniques that are computationally feasible and allowing high tag data encoding capacity. Firstly, four different maximum likelihood (ML) based tag detection techniques have been developed based on the reader architecture and channel knowledge. In addition, all of them are able to operate based on both the time and frequency domain data samples of any frequency domain tag. One of the detection techniques jointly detects the channel as well as the tag type without having any prior channel knowledge or a calibration tag. A fifth tag detection technique was developed for an existing frequency domain tag reader using the magnitude of the tag response. However, these single input single output (SISO) based tag detection techniques suffer from high computation complexity. Two new detection methods have been developed using the likelihood expressions derived in above techniques to reduce the computation complexity from exponential to linear order. The first method was a suboptimal bit by bit detection technique (serial reading) and the second method is a fully optimal Trellis tree based Viterbi decoding technique. Then a novel, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) based chipless RFID system was introduced and a tag detection technique for the proposed system was developed. Finally a MIMO chipless tag was designed which includes a broadband equal power divider, monopole antennas and spiral resonators. It was found that, the proposed tag detection techniques for SISO systems provides significantly higher tag reading accuracy over the existing threshold based detector. In addition, they are capable of operating without a guard-band which makes the tag data bit capacity to be doubled without compromising the reading accuracy. Moreover, the effective SNR gain provided by the proposed techniques can be represented as increasing the tag reading range. All these benefits were achieved without compromising the low computation complexity. The MIMO tag with 2 branches is capable of encoding up to 4 times the total bits stored in existing SISO tags. These smart tag detection techniques are expected to increase the data bit capacity in chipless RFID tags hence produce commercialized chipless RFID systems in future.


Inter-hospital
transport of sick neonates for specialist care is often necessary, but older
studies suggest it may expose them to high levels of noise that may cause
distress, autonomic instability and even noise induced hearing loss (NIHL).
There have been advances in transport equipment standards, but little effort to
address this issue. There is paucity of data on the effects of noise levels
experienced by neonates undergoing inter-hospital nor on the effects it may
have on infant stability or behaviour. MRI scans, which are known to generate
potentially hazardous noise levels, are not performed without conventional
noise protection headphones, and newer active noise cancelling equipment that
is available may provide additional protection. Standard neonatal transport
clinical care does not include noise protection as such for patients during
road transfers, and minimal protection is provided for air transport.

This
research quantified the noise levels experienced by neonates undergoing
interhospital transport by both air and ground ambulance, with the national
neonatal transport service. Baseline noise levels were obtained to ascertain
feasibility of research equipment prior to demonstrating the physiological
effects of noise among neonates during transport in an observational patient
cohort. The research subsequently evaluated the effect of the application of
noise protective equipment during neonatal interhospital ground and air
transport by demonstrating differences in noise exposure and the effect on the
neonatal heart rate, oxygen saturations and behavioural responses. A
convenience sample of neonates who underwent clinically indicated
inter-hospital transfer was recruited following parental consent. A
multichannel noise meter recorded noise levels at the infant external auditory
meatus (EAM), within the incubator and in the ambulance cabin concurrently. Simultaneous recording
of infant heart and oxygen saturations was obtained and video footage was taken
for behavioural analysis by 4 separate examiners. Demographic and routine
transport monitoring data was documented. The patient observational study to
determine the extent of noise exposure and its physiological effects during
standard neonatal ground transport care i.e. without noise protection was
followed by a sequence if intervention studies which included a crossover
design that compared the application of noise protective devices with standard
care. The noise protective devices that was used in the interventional patient
studies were MRI grade noise protective earmuffs and an electronic active noise
cancelling headphones. Two patient studies are still on-going due to paucity of
suitable cases during the research period. One is randomized controlled trial
of stable infants undergoing elective repatriation transfers was carried out to
compare standard care with active noise cancelling headphones. The other is an
observational study to compare the effectiveness of noise protective earmuffs
versus active noise cancellation headphones in single journey neonatal air
transfers.

Noise
levels was measured underneath the noise protective equipment near the patients
ear along with concurrent heart rate, oxygen saturation and infant behaviour
recording. All the data was downloaded to a password protected computer and
analysed using specialist software for analysis. Statistical analysis was
performed using SPSS version 26.

This
research demonstrated the quantity of neonatal noise level exposure in the
NICU, but more pertinently during neonatal transport. Results of noise levels
in baseline studies in NICU, ground ambulance transport and air transport can
reach above 80 decibel-A and occasionally stretch near to and above 100
decibel-A. This surpasses international recommended limits of which should not
exceed 60 decibel-A during transport. The degree of noise reduction offered by
the selected noise protective modalities evaluated, indicate the need for
foreseeable improvement in delivery of care to the vulnerable neonate
undergoing transport. While various analysis throughout the research
demonstrated changes in physiology and behaviour moreover, with the application
of noise protection; there is still huge variability within small population
groups that was studied.


Extremes in salinity and temperature and high levels of incident ultraviolet radiation
(UVR) characterise the brine pockets and channels of upper Antarctic fast ice. Data
on the composition and distribution of the microbial community inhabiting this
environment is limited. Furthermore, how this community tolerates the immoderate
physical and chemical parameters of the upper ice brine is poorly understood.
The microbial community in the Davis upper fast ice consists of cryo- and
halotolerant autotrophic flagellates, a few diatoms, one ciliate species and several
heterotrophic species. Small autotrophic dinoflagellates and chrysophytes dominate a
community containing greater flagellate diversity than previously reported. A
cryptomonad and two species of Pyramimonas are reported for the first time.
The abundant dinoflagellate of Davis fast ice, identified using molecular taxonomy, is
Polarella glacialis Montresor et al. Observations of P. glacialis in this study from
fast and pack ice brine samples along the East Antarctic coastline, with others from
the literature, indicate that this species has a circumpolar distribution. The perfect
match between the large subunit ribosomal RNA sequences of the Davis and
McMurdo Sound P. glacialis strains suggests a single Antarctica population of this
species.
The Davis fast ice brine community shows a remarkable resemblance to that of
McMurdo Sound. The dominant taxa of the Davis ice, P. glacialis and the
chrysophytes, are abundant in McMurdo Sound. These similarities point to at least a
disparate distribution of this community throughout Antarctic fast ice. _However, the
probable circumpolar occurrence of P. glacialis and similar taxa from other coastal
regions indicate a more continuous fast ice distribution.
For the first time, P. glacialis is described in terms of its pigments and lipids. The
extremely high polyunsaturated fatty acid composition of this species (up to 76%)
most likely enhances its tolerance of the cold brine environment. The sterol profile of
P. glacialis is atypical of dinoflagellates and is dominated by the 4-desmethylsterol, 27-nor-24-methylcholest-5,22E-3B-ol. This sterol is rare in other dinoflagellates and
unknown in other algal classes, suggesting its potential as a biomarker for P. glacialis
in the environment. Sediment records of this biomarker may prove useful in
determining past Antarctic climate change and fast ice extent.
The upper fast ice of Davis Station is characterised by extreme and transitory
salinities and temperatures over the spring-summer transition. Salinities decrease
from 96 to 2.5 psu whilst temperatures increase from -4.5 to -0.3 °C. These
parameters and the relatively high UVR environment of the upper ice are identified as
major ecophysiological stresses in the brine channels.
The osmoregulatory and cryoprotectant role of dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP)
in P. glacialis and the Davis fast ice community are investigated in the field and the
laboratory. DMSP concentrations in the brine (450 to 230 nM) decrease in linear
proportion to salinity and temperature, implicating DMSP as a possible osmolyte and
cryoprotectant. In laboratory studies,. P. glacialis cultures produce up to 47 fM
DMSP cell-1. However, under salinity upshock, no clear relationship between DMSP
production and salinity is evident. Under the nitrogen replete culture conditions used
here, DMSP is not considered a primary osmolyte in P. glacialis.
The effects of UV radiation (280 - 400 nm) on the brine community are assessed in
situ using spectral perturbation methods. Under the conditions of this experiment,
UV-B radiation (280 - 320 nm) inhibited chl a production within the upper ice whilst
UV-A (320 - 400nm) appeared to have little effect. All UV radiation retarded the
growth of P. glacialis asexual cells, however it is not possible to differentiate
between the effects of UV-A and UV-B. DMSP concentrations within the brine are
reduced under the influence of UV-A alone. UV absorbing compounds, with
absorption. spectra between 310 and 335 nm, are evident in the brine. As light
perturbation did not show trends in the accumulation of these compounds, it is
concluded that the UV absorbing compounds present are not photoinducible.


Carrier-transport is important in the field of metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors because it directly determines the sensor response and operating temperature. In this paper, gas sensors for monitoring of benzene are developed based on a boron-doped graphene quantum dot (BGQD)/Ag–LaFeO3 p–p heterojunction (B/APPH). The band gap of the BGQDs and Ag–LaFeO3 matched well, promoting separation of electron–hole pairs and enhancing the carrier transport ability. The introduced Ag catalytically oxidized benzene into CO2 and H2O in gas-sensing reactions. We optimized the selectivity of the B/APPH by benzene molecular imprinting. Our results show that B/APPH possesses a high response (17.5) and good selectivity, repeatability, and accuracy at a low operating temperature (65 °C) for detection of as little as 1 ppm of benzene. The heterojunction between the BGQDs and Ag–LaFeO3 improved the carrier-transport ability and reduced the operating temperature while maintaining the high sensing response and selectivity. The ability to modulate carrier-transport developed in this work will guide work on high performance gas sensors based on metal oxide semiconductors.


We computationally explore how the orientation of dipolar emitters placed near plasmonic nanostructures affects their radiative enhancement and spontaneous emission rate. We demonstrate that the expressions for these quantities show a subtle dependence on the molecular orientation, and this information is lost when typical calculations assume a random orientation and perform an average over all directions. This orientation dependence is strongly affected by the location of the emitter, the emission wavelength, and the symmetry of the system. While the plasmonic nanostructure can significantly modify the far-field from a molecule in its vicinity, this modification is heavily dependent on both the wavelength and the orientation of the emitter. We show that if a fluorescent molecule can be constrained to emit in a specific direction, we are able to obtain far superior control over its spontaneous emission and decay rate than otherwise and discuss implications for single molecule experiments.


SYNOPSIS: This archival study addresses whether the presence or absence of "bright lines" in a lease accounting standard influences the classification of leases as capital or operating. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first archival research to address the association between lease classification decisions and the use of U.S. GAAP and IFRS lease accounting standards. We examine firms' lease classification decisions using 2007–2009 data from a matched sample of members of the Fortune Global 500 that report under U.S. GAAP and IFRS. Consistent with experimental work by Agoglia et al. (2011), we find strong evidence that U.S. GAAP firms using a lease standard containing bright-line guidance (i.e., ASC 840) are more likely to classify leases as operating than IFRS firms adhering to a lease accounting standard that lacks the bright lines of the U.S. standard (i.e., IAS 17). Also consistent with Agoglia et al. (2011), we find little evidence of increased dispersion accompanying financial reportin...


Long-tailed class distributions are prevalent among the practical applications of object detection and instance segmentation. Prior work in long-tail instance segmentation addresses the imbalance of losses between rare and frequent categories by reducing the penalty for a model incorrectly predicting a rare class label. We demonstrate that the rare categories are heavily suppressed by correct background predictions, which reduces the probability for all foreground categories with equal weight. Due to the relative infrequency of rare categories, this leads to an imbalance that biases towards predicting more frequent categories. Based on this insight, we develop DropLoss -- a novel adaptive loss to compensate for this imbalance without a trade-off between rare and frequent categories. With this loss, we show state-of-the-art mAP across rare, common, and frequent categories on the LVIS dataset. Codes are available at https://github.com/timy90022/DropLoss.


The main aim of this work is the computer aided design of the new orbital forging process. The finite element model was developed and used in research on possibility of modification of the classical orbital forging technology based on the Marciniak press to obtain more effective process. Obtained numerical results from simulations of the new orbital process are compared with the experimental analysis, performed on the orbital press with the developed device. However, due to the novelty of the developed approach the investigation on direction of material flow during deformation is of particular interest in this work. Direction of material flow and strain path change effect due to incremental character of deformation is analyzed. Obtained results confirm good predictive capability of the FE model and are the basis for the comparison of the two processes and discussion on the effectiveness of the modified incremental forming process.


The Capstone design requirements have become an integral part of the most engineering curricula in the United States. They all share the goal of developing multidisciplinary designs for real-world problems/applications, often with industry sponsorship. In this paper, the three-capstone design options required by the aerospace engineering department at the University of Kansas are discussed. The aerospace engineering seniors have three design options based on their career interests. These are aircraft design, propulsion system design, and spacecraft system design options. In the aircraft design, our students may select individual or team design for their competitions. In the latter two, the propulsion and spacecraft system designs, the students are grouped in a number of teams, based on the class and team size requirements. The individuals and teams participate and compete in the respective American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Design Competitions at the end of their senior year. Participation in the AIAA Design Competition is one of the course requirements. Written and oral communication is assessed throughout the semester. In this paper, the methodology used in the aerospace engineering propulsion system capstone design is presented.


Abstract Weather-induced episodic mixing events in lake ecosystems are often unpredictable, and their impacts are therefore poorly known. The impacts can be short-lived, including changes in water temperature and stratification, but long-lasting effects on the lake's biology may also occur. In this study we used automated water quality monitoring (AWQM) data from 8 boreal lakes to examine how the episodic weather-induced mixing events influenced thermal structure, hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen (DO), fluorometric chlorophyll estimates (Chl-a), and lake metabolism and how these events varied in frequency and magnitude in lakes with different characteristics. Rise in wind speed alone had an effect on the lakes with the weakest thermal stability, but a decrease in air temperature together with strong wind induced mixing events in all lakes. The return period of these mixing events varied widely (from 20 to 92 d) and was dependent on the magnitude of change in weather. In lakes with strong stability, thermal structure and hypolimnetic DO concentration were only slightly affected. Weather-induced mixing in the upper water column diluted the surface water Chl-a repeatedly, whereas seasonal maximum occurred in late summer on each lake. Although Finnish lakes have been characterized with stable stratification during summer, we observed many substantial mixing events of relatively short return periods relevant to both chemical and biological properties of the lakes.


Whether couples pool their resources and behave like a unit or spend their income individually is crucial for social and tax policy. In this paper, I provide a test of the income pooling hypothesis using administrative cross-sectional survey data on expenditures and individual incomes of couple households in Germany. The test is performed within the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) framework, which allows for an endogenous expenditure budget and endogenous individual income contribution shares in an instrumental variables approach. Although the hypothesis is broadly rejected, there are significant differences regarding the marital status, the presence of at least one child in the household and whether the household is located in a former West or East German federal state. Married couples and couples with children are closer to the acceptance of the hypothesis than unmarried couples without children.


Insight is a term in psychological and psychiatric practice, most frequently used
when referring to individuals who have been given diagnoses of schizophrenia
or other psychotic disorders. It is often used to define a range of different
situations in which a service user resists or disagrees with the professional
account of their difficulties and/or treatment. Dominant psychological and
psychiatric models construct a lack of insight as a symptom of illness that can
be linked to specific deficits of psychological process (e.g. denial or Theory of
Mind) or brain functioning (e.g. lesions to specific parts of the brain or blood
flow). A lack of insight is considered to be a relatively stable deficit, which takes
a period of time to resolve, particularly in service users defined as 'chronically'
unwell.
The present research aimed to examine the concept of insight from a social
constructionist perspective. This approach was used to examine the naively
realist assumptions underpinning the concept and its utility in re-labelling
disagreement between professionals and service users. The first aim was to
explore how service users who had been given a diagnosis of schizophrenia or
other psychotic disorder, constructed the term. A second aim was to explore
how service users rhetorically managed issues of stake and accountability
during discussion of disagreements with mental health professionals. The final
aim was to explore fluctuation or contradictions in service users' accounts of
insight and disagreement with mental health professionals.
Eight participants who had been given a diagnosis of schizophrenia or a related
psychotic disorder were recruited. Participants took part in semi-structured
interviews about their experiences of mental health services and their
understanding of 'insight'. The transcripts were analysed using a discursive
psychology methodology.
The results showed that the term 'insight' was relatively unknown to the
participants, although all participants discussed disagreements with mental
health professionals. Those who had heard of the term drew on a variety of
constructions of insight during the interviews. These constructions seemed to
relate to the factuality and credibility of the participants' account in different
ways (e.g. aligning the account with the dominant psychiatric view). The
participants also drew on several rhetorical strategies to manage stake and
accountability (e.g. constructing the doctor's diagnostic decision as personally
motivated). Fluctuation between positions that could be defined as 'insightful'
and 'insightless' was found throughout the accounts. These findings clearly
demonstrated the limited validity of the term insight. Furthermore, they
suggested that it clinically functions as a discursive form of control, limiting the
challenges that can be made by service users, rather than a meaningful clinical
construct. The findings also suggested that even with this threat of
undermining, service users found complex and subtle methods to discursively
challenge the psychiatric position. The applications of these findings for service
users, professionals and researchers are discussed.


The toll of warfare is often assessed in the short run and in terms of mortality. Other aspects of health have received limited attention, especially after warfare ends. This paper estimates the impact of exposure to US Air Force bombing during 1965-1975 on the disability status of individuals in Vietnam in 2009. Using national census data and an instrumental variable approach, the paper finds a positive and statistically significant impact of war time bombing exposure on district level disability rates about forty years after the end of the war. A ten percent increase in bombing intensity approximately leads to a one percent increase in the prevalence of severe disability at the district level. Impacts are highest for severe disability and among persons born before 1976. Smaller yet significant positive impacts are observed among persons born after the war. Results suggest that the toll of warfare on health persists decades later.


No. When particle detectors are included particles do not follow the Bohm trajectories as we would expect from a classical type model.


This paper investigates Chinese-Bumiputera partnerships in small and medium enterprises, particularly in the manufacturing sector, in the economic liberalisation of post-NEP Malaysia. The research also considers how and why Chinese-Bumiputera partnerships in the construction sector have succeeded. It focuses especially on the development of Chinese-Bumiputera SME joint ventures from a sociological perspective, considering five major questions: (1) Is there a mutual nurturing when Chinese and Bumiputera work together in business partnership? (2) What is the nature of this mutual nurturing process? (3) To what extent does this process help them to advance in their business development? (4) To what extent does this process help to bridge the divide between these two ethnic groups? (5) To what extent is this kind of partnership sustainable?


During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States benefited from relatively stable monetary policy. This stability largely reflected the weaknesses of monetary policy as a domestic policy tool under the prevailing international monetary system of fixed exchange rates. Consequently, the relationship between the agricultural sector and monetary policy was not obvious, well-understood, or perhaps even significant;The general concern of this study is the effect of U.S. monetary policy on the U.S. and world agricultural markets. The specific objectives are to investigate the nature of U.S. monetary policy between 1960 and 1980, to investigate the channels through which U.S. monetary policy influences world agricultural markets, and, finally, to conceptualize a model of the world coarse grain market with which to evaluate the impacts of U.S. monetary policy. The coarse grain market is used primarily because coarse grains are the foremost agricultural commodities traded in world markets. Also, since coarse grain is utilized mainly by the developed countries as a livestock feed, significant world market participants are few, limiting the size of the model required for the analysis;The study demonstrates that following the move from fixed to flexible exchange rates in the early 1970s, U.S. monetary policy became variable. The increased volatility of the money supply is, then, hypothesized to have increased the volatility of the value of the dollar, and, perhaps, U.S. prices and exports;To analyze the problem, this study follows the monetary approach to exchange rate determination in constructing a nonlinear, nonspatial price equilibrium world model of the coarse grain market which includes six major exporting countries--the U.S., Argentina, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Thailand--and two major importing countries--Japan, and the USSR. Prices are linked among countries in the model through price transmission equations which account for policy-induced world market price divergences;Simulation of a five billion-dollar sustained increase in the U.S. money supply indicates that because of the inelastic world import demand, elastic U.S. export supply, and inelastic export supplies of other regions, the effects are minor. Furthermore, the U.S. competitive position improves in the world market, while its prices change by less than all the other regions.


Orthorexia nervosa (ON) refers to an intense desire to consume healthy or biologically pure food that is free of artificial products. ON is not regarded as a separate eating disorder, but its clinical presentation shares common features with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and eating disorders. The current study examined 136 patients who were diagnosed with OCD (n = 49), panic disorder (n = 44), and generalized anxiety disorder (n = 37). Padua Inventory Washington State University Revision (PI-WSUR), The Eating Attitudes Test-40 (EAT-40), and the ORTO-11 test were given to the participants. There were no significant differences between patient groups in the mean scores of eating attitudes and orthorexia symptom severity. No significant association between ORTO-11 scores and body mass index was noted. Moderate correlations (r > 0.30) were obtained between orthorexia symptom severity and obsessive-compulsive symptom severity, EAT-40 total score, and checking and dressing/grooming compulsions. These findings suggest that ON, a pathological inclination towards an obsession with healthy eating, is not specifically associated with any of the investigated illness groups. However, it has moderate correlations with the ritualistic signs of OCD. Underlying worry may predispose people to develop a compulsion to create the pure diet.


We predict the possibility of sharp, high-contrast resonances in the optical response of a broad class of systems, wherein interference effects are generated by coherent perturbation or interaction of dark states. The properties of these resonances can be manipulated to design a desired atomic response.


The transformation of the bourgeois home in Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of the new Republic of Colombia in the nineteenth century, started with the inherited and traditional Hispanic type of dwelling, that of rooms surrounding an inner courtyard. It then witnessed the gradual introduction of changes to its facade and interiors, inspired by European trends and the adoption of new materials and building techniques; a process that culminated in a building boom in the last decades of the century, including the construction of large suburban villas surrounded by gated gardens. The new home came to be seen as the defining marker of the elite Republican citizen and the preeminent place for private life.

This chapter examines how the Republican home gradually evolved to become more private, formal, sophisticated and exclusive, changing forever the way its interiors and address to the street related to the urban and natural landscape. This transformation went hand in hand with the modernization of the city and the emergence of new public spaces of sociability such as parks, boulevards, clubs and theatres.


With more than two billion phone subscribers worldwide and even more sold mobile phones, we can say that mobile phones are the most pervasive portable device today. Over the years their functionalities developed rapidly and today they can be used for performing tasks beyond just calling and messaging: they can provide an increasingly available intelligence at the edge of the network. This intelligence provides a fertile ground for the devices to act as sensor sinks in localized sensor networks and, furthermore, bridge between widely dispersed sensor networks through wide area connectivity. Currently, there are many sensor networks that have been deployed all over the world for various purposes. It is only natural that mobile phones would start, more and more, connecting to this available sensor infrastructure in order to use the data for customizing applications and services or collect, aggregate and provide the data to application servers. This paper presents a platform solution that allows for exploiting this very intelligence residing in everyone's mobile device to implement, among others, participatory sensing scenarios of various kinds. The platform is available under an open source license to facilitate innovation while preserving openness of key components of the platform.


Why do laws become similar across countries? Is the adoption of similar laws and policies due to factors operating independently within each country? Do countries develop similar rules in response to similar challenges? Or is the similarity of laws and policies due to the interdependent responses that scholars have referred to as processes of policy convergence, transfer, and diffusion? We draw on an analysis of immigration and nationality laws of 22 countries throughout the Western Hemisphere from 1790 to 2010, and of seven case studies of national and international policymaking, to show that policies are often interdependent, even in the domain of immigration law, which scholars have presumed to be relatively immune to external influence. We argue that specific mechanisms of diffusion explain the rise of racist immigration policies in the Americas, their subsequent decline, and the rise of an anti-discriminatory norm for policies. Most striking among our findings is that at key junctures after 1940, weaker countries effectively advanced an anti-discriminatory policy agenda against the desires of world powers. We identify the conditions under which weaker countries were able to reach their goals despite opposition from world powers.


Introduction: Public health is continuously challenged by a shortage of workforce. There are various reasons for this: 1) public health is less visible than traditional health professions and people may be unfamiliar with the nature and opportunities involved in entering this career field; 2) lack of official recognition of public health as a professional category; and 3) no umbrella organization that supports its members and governs professional standards as is the case of other more established professions. To adequately address the challenges of public health for the 21st century, a key policy element will need to focus on adequately cultivating, training and growing the future workforce of professionals in the field. The aim of this study was to examine why professionalization of public health in Europe is not as robust as it deserves to be and what steps can be taken to assure an adequate supply of professionals with the proper education and training background, and career guidance to tackle the public health needs of the future.
Method: A case study approach was used collecting data via a scoping literature review, a focus group with public health students and interviews with public health experts for convergence. Data was analysed using directed content analysis and pattern matching logic.
Results: Public health fulfilled five out of seven attributes of a profession, such as skills, training and education, certification and an altruistic service. Recognition of Public Health as multidisciplinary and multi-professional field, derived from the interviews as an additional characteristic. A code of ethics and professional conduct and a formal organization were missing.
Conclusion: Public health professionals and organisations that govern best practices in this field should consider introducing a shared code of ethics and professional conduct as well as establishing a coordinated body to help advance the public status as a the profession to increase interest in studying and specializing in this area.