Abstract:In the context of animal experimentation, laboratory workers fluctuate between seeing animals used in research as tools or objects and seeing them as sentient living beings. Most laboratory workers do not wholly lose their empathy and their ability to connect with other living beings. To deal with the fact that their job involves harming and killing animals on a regular basis, they employ various coping strategies, such as rationalizing the use of animals in research and minimizing their emotional attachment to the animals. The evidence compiled in this article suggests that researchers, technicians, and caregivers who are involved in animal experimentation experience stress, anxiety, guilt, and trauma. I conclude that inflicting pain and death on nonhuman animals causes laboratory workers to suffer as well. Thus, in animal research, the suffering of nonhuman animals and humans is directly linked. The consideration of human suffering adds another dimension to ethical discussions of animal research, namely the relation between the suffering of human and nonhuman animals. A comprehensive ethical discussion of animal experiments should therefore include the suffering of nonhuman animals, the suffering of humans, and the relation between the two.


This article considers how SoTL practitioners have addressed three types of audiences: personal, administrative, and discipline-based. The analysis draws on narrative data from a collaborative SoTL project at a community college. The findings are discussed in relation to broader trends across institutions and disciplines. It is argued that investigators should take into account the audience's epistemology of teaching. This approach helps investigators to enter into the professional discourse of that audience. Five strategies are offered to help SoTL practitioners communicate effectively with audiences outside of their professional area.


ABSTRACT A new genus, Pseudodysderina, is established for a group of species that resemble those of Dysderina Simon in having grooves connecting both the anterior and posterior spiracles. These spiders have transverse ridges on the sternum but lack the sternal excavations that characterize Dysderina and are instead united by the highly modified mouthparts of males: the labium is greatly enlarged, with a dorsoventrally flat, posterior portion that extends far posterior of the anterolateral corners of the sternum, and the endites are each deeply excavated, medially around the sides of the labium and laterally around the base of the palpal trochanter. Dysderina desultrix (Keyserling), from Peru, is transferred to Pseudodysderina and chosen as the type species; its male is described for the first time. This species has been taken by canopy fogging and beating foliage as well as in leaf litter, and appears to be widespread in the Amazonian portions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. Seven more narrowly distributed new species are described from Peru (P. manu), Bolivia (P. yungas, P. beni), Ecuador (P. hermani), Colombia (P. suiza, P. dracula), and Brazil (P. utinga). The six new species assigned to the new genus Tinadysderina resemble those of Dysderina and Pseudodysderina, but have a much smaller, simpler, weakly sclerotized embolus; they are known only from the western slopes of the Andes in Ecuador (T. tinalandia, T. otonga) and Colombia (T. planada, T. gorgona, T. bremen, T. pereira).


By David Brand Queens Daily Eagle Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered his seventh "State of the City" address Thursday, pledging to preserve the city's affordable housing, expand education and help small businesses. De Blasio, speaking at the American Museum of Natural History, laid out his vision for the entire city, but many of his proposals will have a specific impact on Queens. From reopening communities centers in neighborhoods beset by municipal disinvestment to helping small business owners negotiate leases with their landlords, Queens played a key role in the mayor's annual address. Assisting small businesses The celebration at Neir's Tavern lasted deep into the night on Jan. 10, as patrons, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, toasted a lease agreement that would enable the 190-year-old Woodhaven watering hole to stay in business. Local elected officials, the Queens Chamber of Commerce and even the de Blasio administration stepped in to help broker a new deal that would keep the historic bar in


Bellar, D, Kamimori, GH, and Glickman, EL. The effects of low-dose caffeine on perceived pain during a grip to exhaustion task. J Strength Cond Res 25(5): 1225-1228, 2011-This double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject experiment examined the effects of low-dose caffeine on pain reported during an exhaustive grip task. The grip task consisted of holding a metal block attached to standard Olympic weight plates with the arm at the side until the participants could no longer maintain their grip. Apparently healthy recreationally trained college-aged adults (men, n = 5; women, n = 5) were given either a piece of Stay Alert™ gum that delivered 85% of the effective dose of 100 mg of caffeine in 5 minutes or an identical placebo gum that contained no caffeine. Subsequently, pain perception and ratings of perceived exertion were recorded during an exhaustive grip task every 15 seconds and the overall time to exhaustion. No significant difference was found in time to exhaustion between treatments. A significant main effect of treatment for reported pain (p < 0.001, Φ = 0.377) was observed. Thus, in a population of recreationally trained college-aged adults, low-dose caffeine may attenuate the individual's perception of pain during a grip to exhaustion task.


This qualitative study explores teachers' perspectives on learner motivation for English in Chilean secondary schools. Drawing both on motivation theories and on concepts related to teacher cognition, autonomy and agency, the analysis of 19 semi-structured interviews with Chilean English teachers sheds light on the difficulties that many teachers have in motivating their students so that they engage in classroom activities and learning. Findings show that teachers with a developed sense of agency report higher levels of learner motivation. Salient features of their accounts are classroom practices that grant students immediate positive experiences while learning English, rather than referring to future benefits. Other features are autonomous learning tasks, and a context-appropriate, empowering selection of cultural contents. The discussion suggests that teachers need to develop a sound sense of agency to identify 'spaces to manoeuvre' between external constraints, such as curricular policies or lack of parental support, and possible internal constraints, such as paralysing beliefs about their own competence or a limited cultural repertoire to draw on in order to make English lessons motivating and meaningful for their students. For improved learner motivation and meaningful learning, research needs to support teachers' autonomy in times of increasing curricular regulation and standardisation of knowledge.


Oncolytic adenoviruses represent an innovative approach to cancer therapy. These vectors are typically evaluated in immunodeficient mice with human xenograft tumors. However, in addition to being immunodeficient, this model is limited because normal and cancerous mouse tissues are poorly permissive for human adenovirus replication. This prompted us to search for a model that more accurately reflects the use of oncolytic adenoviruses in cancer patients. To this end, we developed a novel Syrian hamster model that is both immunocompetent and replication-permissive. We found that human adenovirus replicates well in Syrian hamster cell lines and confirmed replication in the lungs. Oncolytic adenovirus injection showed efficacy in three different hamster tumor models. Furthermore, i.t. oncolytic adenovirus injection resulted in suppression of primary and metastatic lesions, i.t. replication and necrosis, vector entrance into the bloodstream, replication in the liver and lungs, and anti-adenovirus antibody induction. Our findings show that the Syrian hamster is a promising immunocompetent model that is permissive to human adenovirus replication in tumors as well as normal tissues. Therefore, the Syrian hamster model may become a valuable tool for the field of oncolytic adenovirus vectors in which vector safety and efficacy can be evaluated.


Detritivores affect plant performance and therefore have the potential indirectly to affect above-ground herbivore populations. 2. In a microcosm study we asked whether changes in the performance of two plant species, Cardamine hirsuta L. and Veronica persica Poiret., arising from the activity of various earthworm communities influenced the consumption rate and development of a leaf-chewer, Mamestra brassicae L. 3. Earthworms increased soil nitrate and foliar nitrogen concentrations. There was no associated increase in plant biomass. 4. There was no significant effect of earthworm treatment on the biomass of M. brassicae larvae. However, highest larval mortality occurred in microcosms without earthworms, while the proportion of larvae that had reached the final instar was lowest. In a 24 h feeding trial, the consumption rate of V. persica foliage by M. brassicae was higher when plants were grown in soil containing earthworms. The complexity of earthworm communities did not affect M. brassicae consumption rates and consequen 5. This is the first study to show the potential of detritivore communities indirectly to affect leaf-chewing herbivores. It highlights the need to explore the interactions that occur between above- and below-ground components of plant-insect communities. [KEYWORDS: below-ground/ above-ground linkage ; earthworm ; indirect nutrient effect ; Mamestra brassicae ; microcosm]


Using Zech. 1:1-6 as a case-study, diachronic and synchronic methodologies are discussed in terms of their ability to explain participant-reference shifts in the Hebrew Bible. it is suggested that the analysis should begin with a linguistic investigation of the form and function of the participant-references in their literary context. Accordingly, building upon the participant tracking that Eep Talstra has done in Zech. 1:1-6, a linguistic framework is outlined in order to assess various interpretations and translations. Patterns of participant-reference shifts observed in other parts of the Hebrew Bible are included to suggest rhetorical functions of the participant shifts. It is concluded that it is necessary to combine the linguistic analysis with a discourse theory that treats the text as an act of communication. In particular, Role and Reference Grammar is suggested as a beneficial starting point for further research.


Essex Pathways Department has historically offered undergraduate pathways courses (Year 0) to EU and Overseas students. In April 2016, the University decided to also offer these pathways courses to Home students. To meet the different needs of Home students, the Department needed to revise the curricula and the way in which the courses are delivered. This paper discusses three areas: First, it details the process of change and modification to our pathways provision by focusing on the Business and Economics Pathways. On this particular pathway course, Home students unexpectedly became the largest group. Secondly, the paper covers the how subject specific modules are supported by closely linking them to an Academic Skills module, which now utilises Sloan and Porter's (2014) Contextualized, Embedded, Mapped (CEM) model to 'scaffolding' student learning. Thirdly, the paper describes the challenges faced by academic staff and the initial and long-term measures taken to resolve them. The paper concludes by outlining the Department's vision for the course provided in 2018-19.


Java has been designed with a sophisticated security model that prevents applets downloaded from an untrusted network to attack the local system. However, malicious applets could exploit bugs in the virtual machine in order to gain access to system resources to perform unauthorized operations. The paper discusses the problem of intercepting such applets through a set of filtering rules that can be applied before a fixed version of the virtual machine is released. Moreover, we present an implementation of a filtering tool that can be used either as a firewall extension or as a virtual machine extension.


To investigate the mechanism of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cisplatin) nephrotoxicity, male Sprague-Dawley rats were given one injection of cisplatin (6 mg/kg i.v.). Urinary levels of amino acids and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were monitored for 8 days; kidney homogenate content of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase was followed for 50 hr, and that of selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase and total glutathione was followed for 4 hr. Peak urinary levels of amino acids and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase occurred 4.5 hr after the i.v. dose. Glutamine, glycine, and ethanolamine were all elevated greater than 20 times that of the control at 4.5 hr and were still significantly elevated at 50 hr. Total renal glutathione content increased 51 +/- 17% (S.D.) of control values 20 min after cisplatin was given, before returning to base-line levels. No depletion of either renal glutathione or glutathione peroxidase was detected over the time interval studied. These results demonstrate an earlier physiological impairment than has hitherto been shown. Furthermore, depletion of glutathione and glutathione peroxidase does not occur in the rat kidney following therapeutic doses of cisplatin, in contrast to the changes observed in cardiac tissue following doxorubicin treatment.


Viral gain-of-function mutations are commonly observed in the laboratory; however, it is unknown whether those mutations also evolve in nature. We identify two key residues in the host recognition protein of bacteriophage λ that are necessary to exploit a new receptor; both residues repeatedly evolved among homologs from environmental samples. Our results provide evidence for widespread host-shift evolution in nature and a proof of concept for integrating experiments with genomic epidemiology.


An exogenous impact function is defined as the derivative of a structural function with respect to an endogenous variable, other variables, including unobservable variables held fixed. Unobservable variables are fixed at specific quantiles of their marginal distributions. Exogenous impact functions reveal the impact of an exogenous shift in a variable perhaps determined endogenously in the data generating process. They provide information about the variation in exogenous impacts across quantiles of the distributions of the unobservable variables that appear in the structural model. This paper considers nonparametric identification of exogenous impact functions under quantile independence conditions. It is shown that, when valid instrumental variables are present, exogenous impact functions can be identified as functionals of conditional quantile functions that involve only observable random variables. This suggests parametric, semiparametric and nonparametric strategies for estimating exogenous impact functions.


A Message Passing Interface (MPI) parallel implementation of a hybrid solver that combines the Method of Moments (MoM) with higher order basis functions and Physical Optics (PO) has been successfully used to solve a challenging problem including a 2160-slot waveguide array on an airplane with a maximum dimension larger than 1000 wavelengths. The block-partitioned scheme for the large dense MoM matrix combined with the process-cyclic scheme for the PO discretized triangles is designed to achieve excellent load balance and high parallel efficiency. To break the limitation of physical memory, the parallel out-of-core technique is introduced to tackle large dense systems generated using the MoM formulation. This research provides a solution with reasonable accuracy for solving large on-board antenna problems but has very low memory usage.


The authors aim to extend previous literature on variations in returns across local office markets by examining the linkage of office market dynamics (viz. dynamics in stock, vacancy and direct and indirect returns) at the European Metropolitan level to the institutional structure of local markets. Previous literature suggests that return rates differ widely across local office markets, substantiating the view that returns are intertwined with conditions at the local level. Whether and to what degree differences in local markets relate to differences in institutions has not been addressed. This is the central issue of this research proposed. The research design consists of three coherent steps to address the central issue. Step 1 addresses the issue of how institutions may determine differences in office market dynamics. The literature on institutions and regulations is vast, however typically addressing housing market institutions. Yet, this literature forms a relevant source to draw on when considering how institutions and office market behaviour are intertwined. We use current contributions in the literature, culminating in a concise review of the literature on institutions and office market behaviour. Step 2 aims to measure the degree of differences in office market returns. We use a cross-country approach to first determine the degree of differences in local markets both within and between countries. This enables us to determine whether within or between country conditions dominate. For this we use data across European Metropolitan areas. We model local behaviour as relating to fundamental economic and social conditions identified in step 1. Step 3 considers the interrelations between office market dynamics and institutions to explain the observed differences in step 2. For this we model a dynamic panel error correction model, now including the various institutional measures identified in step 1. These results will indicate which and to what degree the various institutional measures explain observed differences in local office dynamics.


Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) refers to a group of common metabolic disorders that share the phenotype of hyperglycemia. Low magnesium status has repeatedly been demonstrated in patients with type 2 diabetes. Magnesium deficiency appears to have a negative impact on glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes. The present study was undertaken with an aim to correlate serum magnesium levels with diabetic nephropathy. Materials and methods: Total 100 patients with type 2 diabetes of 5 years of duration and above, admitted in Dr. Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Foundation from November 2015 to April 2017 were included in the study. Results: The mean serum magnesium value in the normal group was 1.78, the microalbuminuria group was 1.61, and in macroalbuminuria, the group was 1.52. Discussion: One of the possible mechanisms explaining the relation between diabetic nephropathy and magnesium deficiency is insulin resistance. Deficiency of magnesium can reduce tyrosine-kinase activity, post-receptor activity and eventually it may contribute to the development of insulin resistance. Hypomagnesemia independently predicts the progression to ESRD in patients with advanced type 2 diabetic nephropathy.


The purpose of the study was to explore the influence of entrepreneurial training on government regulations and entrepreneurial orientation of small and medium enterprises in Kenya Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya, play a key role in economic development, being the source of income generation through the provision of new job opportunities, industrial change and innovation, stimulating competition and wealth creation. In the present economy, SMEs are facing tremendous challenges and threats to survive in an environment that is very competitive hence the need to improve their technological advancement and innovation as well as the understanding of regulations set by the government in order to survive. Government of Kenya has formulated many regulations that have affected the entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs both in the services and manufacturing sectors. This study was guided by variables like marketing activities, product standardization, entrepreneurial competencies and technology adoption as independent variables and entrepreneurial orientation as the dependent variable while entrepreneurial training moderated their relationship. The study adopted cross-sectional survey research design. To collect relevant data, a semi-structured questionnaire was developed and semi-structured interview guide was used. Validity and reliability of research instruments was ascertained through a pre-test and pilot survey. The study targeted 115 owners/managers of alcohol retailing SMEs who have been in business for the last five years and are members of Pub, Entertainment and Restaurant Association of Kenya (PERAK). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings of this study from the structural equation modeling indicated that, there was a positive significant relationship between marketing activities, product standardization, entrepreneurial competencies, technology adoption and entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs in Kenya. The results of this research also revealed that, entrepreneurial training had no significant moderating effect on the relationship between technology adoption and entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs dealing in alcohol retailing in Kenya. However, the findings showed that entrepreneurial training moderated the relationship between marketing activities, product standardization, entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial orientation of the SMEs in Kenya. Based on the results of this study, it could therefore be concluded that, entrepreneurial training influenced entrepreneurial orientation of the SMEs in Kenya and that majority of the SMEs in this sector laid more emphasis on marketing activities, product standardization and entrepreneurial competencies but not to technology adoption. The study recommends that, SMEs should engage in entrepreneurial training and marketing activities as they are widely considered likely to survive, develop and succeed in new ventures. Entrepreneurs should set standards for the products and services in line with government regulations and they should lay more emphasis on technology adoption and its advancement because of the major influences on globalization, rapid revolutions in information and knowledge. The study concluded with recommendations that further study should be extended to small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) who are not members of PERAK. Future studies could also be carried out particularly on the issue of entrepreneurial training on whether alternative systems or methods could be devised to encourage double-loop learning and facilitate access to further support for SMEs businesses in Kenya. The study also recommends for testing of the developed entrepreneurial orientation model as per the government regulations in relation to alcohol retailing in other lines of SMEs and a comparative study to be carried out on the same


: The analysis of similarities and differences between ports at the global level can help the Maritime ecosystem for different purposes, including business planning, operation, and regulation. Our methodology is demonstrated in a particular case of interest as the "short sea shipping" traffic through a harbour. However, no structural limit to the scope of adaptation is introduced. The new methodology proposed for Ports builds on a recent framework of Matrices of Sets, where the computational efficiency of matrices is combined with the versatility and flexibility of sets to capture quantitative and qualitative information. Origin Destination (OD) Matrices of Sets (odMS) are cross tables where the value M ij placed at the intersection of a row (i) and a column (j) is a set of OD. The odMS framework aims to exploit the computational efficiency of OD matrices by combining it with the flexibility of sets. It suits qualitative and quantitative analysis of entities described. The case study is a European port network defined by several characteristics forming an odMS. Then, on an operational point of view, odMS method addresses the need for port authorities to benchmark and compare themselves with each other, with an aim to increase their competitiveness and to identify and characterise their competitors or possible partners in port alliances (estimate complementarities and compatibility within such alliances).


Hypermedia design is usually ad hoc. Whereas the original Relationship Management Methodology (RMM) provides a structured approach to design and implementation of hypermedia applications, it has limitations that constrain the usability of the kinds of applications it can construct. This paper provides extensions to RMM that enable it to model a much richer class of applications, thereby making the methodology more attractive for software developers to use. The paper also presents a graphical and programming language notation for RMM's new m-slice construct, which is at the core of the extensions presented.


The aim of every water supply scheme (WSS) is to meet the demand qualitatively and quantitatively. Although quality can be maintained with appropriate operation and maintenance strategies, supplying increasing demand in terms of quantity is a problem, because large-scale investments are sought for water supply utilities. However, satisfaction of consumer cannot be neglected under these circumstances. Hence the objective of the current study is to examine the influence of the level of service supplied, water quality variations and the geographical location of consumers on their perceptions on service delivery, satisfaction and risk perception. The study was limited to Matara WSS, Southern Sri Lanka. Results of the logistic regression analysis show that the area of residence is the most influential parameter on the taste satisfaction and risk perception. Satisfaction on safety, odour and clarity is more than 95% of the respondents. However, satisfaction on the service delivery is poor and perceived pressure has a major impact on the satisfaction on service delivery and consumption, hence indicating that perceived pressure has a close relationship with the discharge. Further, the study confirms that socio-economic parameters are influential on the risk perception and satisfaction of the consumers. It can be concluded that proper management of available water quantity will increase the level of satisfaction in terms of service delivery.


Abstract : In the early 199Os, the authors began a series of research on decision making in hierarchical teams with distributed expertise. A simulation was developed and a model of decision making in these kinds of teams was proposed. The current research effort continued that work in two ways. First, work was done on the decision making model itself to replicate and revise it as needed in light of empirical findings. Second, research was conducted to investigate the effects of both static and dynamic factors on the ability of hierarchical teams to make accurate decisions. Static factors manipulated were the medium through which the teams interacted (computer mediated or face-to-face) and the architectures of the structures of information used to make decisions. Dynamically, one study investigated the decisions of teams operating in situations requiring sustained attention over a number of decision episodes. Another provided team decision making process feedback specifically designed to aid learning of key constructs in the model. The research on sustained attention and communications mode has been reported elsewhere. This final report will focus on support for the model itself, and the studies of architecture and team learning as influenced by process feedback. An appendix lists products produced during the funding period with citations to articles and presentations for the interested reader.


Until June 2010, public confidence in police was at the heart of the UK's police performance framework. In the preceding years, the public confidence agenda (PCA) was addressed through a diverse array of government-initiated programmes and concepts such as 'neighbourhood policing' and 'reassurance policing' that sought to enhance feelings of safety and inspire public confidence in police. Scholars, aware of the significance of fairness in police–citizen encounters and the central importance of visibility in building confidence and trust, began to examine the PCA through surveys and other quantifiable assessments of community safety to explore how cooperation and support for police could be encouraged, evaluating 'satisfactory' levels amongst citizens and communities and generally interrogating the 'public confidence' agenda. While there have been a variety of conceptual framings and methodological approaches to measure and quantify 'public confidence', scholars generally have located the concept of 'public confidence' as an objective condition; like the notion of 'publics', a 'phenomenon to be achieved, rather than a concept that perhaps needs unwrapping itself'. This paper traces the origins and evolution of the PCA. In this paper we advocate the use of a policy analysis approach to explore how 'public confidence' surfaced as a significant policy issue during New Labour's three administrations. The paper seeks to reinsert political analysis into what has become a de-politicised and primarily methodological discussion about the measurement of such a concept. We argue that the PCA is not a collective subject that has sought to express itself universally but was been 'called' into existence and moulded by New Labour in order to construct a useful policy domain.


Isothermal vapor−liquid equilibrium data for the perfluorobutane (R610) + ethane system, which were measured at seven isotherms ranging from (263.14 to 353.14) K, with pressure ranging from (0.2 to 4.6) MPa, are presented. The vapor pressure of R610 was also measured. The measurements were performed using a "static-analytic" apparatus, equipped with two pneumatic ROLSI capillary samplers, with phase analysis via gas chromatography. The measured data are correlated, and parameters are presented for two models, viz., the Peng−Robinson equation of state with the Mathias−Copeman alpha function and the Wong−Sandler mixing rules incorporating the NRTL model and the predictive Soave−Redlich−Kwong model.


We report the combination of tabletop vacuum ultraviolet photoionization with photoion-photoelectron coincidence spectroscopy for sensitive, isomer-specific detection of nascent products from a pyrolysis microreactor. Results on several molecules demonstrate two essential capabilities that are very straightforward to implement: the ability to differentiate isomers and the ability to distinguish thermal products from dissociative ionization. Here, vacuum ultraviolet light is derived from a commercial tabletop femtosecond laser system, allowing data to be collected at 10 kHz; this high repetition rate is critical for coincidence techniques. The photoion-photoelectron coincidence spectrometer uses the momentum of the ion to identify dissociative ionization events and coincidence techniques to provide a photoelectron spectrum specific to each mass, which is used to distinguish different isomers. We have used this spectrometer to detect the pyrolysis products that result from the thermal cracking of acetaldehyde, cyclohexene, and 2-butanol. The photoion-photoelectron spectrometer can detect and identify organic radicals and reactive intermediates that result from pyrolysis. Direct comparison of laboratory and synchrotron data illustrates the advantages and potential of this approach.


As both the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community are moving toward service-oriented architecture (SOA), it is important to ensure that SOA-based systems can operate and exchange classified information across domain boundaries in support of support net-centric missions. The interplay between SOA and cross domain solutions (CDS) raise a number of challenges that are grounded in the inherent mismatch between core SOA principles, such as loose coupling, composabil-ity, and discoverability, and current CDS technologies and certification and accreditation processes in use today. The Cross Domain Discovery Service (XDDS) described in this paper describes an architecture and design for extending service discovery, a core SOA functionality, across domain boundaries. The resulting services and protocols provide access to service information across security domains in a secure, guard-agnostic, scalable, and flexible way that is amenable to certification and accreditation.


There are different kinds of national environmental protections in Sweden. One of the most common types of protection is nature reserve and the most used because Swedish association of local authorities and regions decide if an area can get that protection. Because in a healthy forest there are several of important small-scale habitats, wide spreading crowns pine, elderly trees especially pine and oak trees, different kind of species of insects, mammals, and birds that should be protected for its value of the biodiversity. But a reserve could also preserve the geological, biological and zoological values. My thesis is about if an area called Klovberget meets the requirements too become a reserve for its important values. Klovberget is a bedrock mountain and contains a cave. The forest on the mountains is a typically pine wood forest on mountains with different types of small scaled biotopes. There are several of dead wood, uprooted trees, and eternity trees which gives settlements for birds and endangered and listed species. Below the mountain there's a broad-leaved deciduous forest and a shoreline with rare and valuable species that only exists in southern parts of Sweden. The cause is that the soil contains lime, which benefits these species.To write this thesis I did an inventory that includes plants, trees, mosses, lichens, mammals, birds and insects. My results show that in the area there are rare and valuable species that should be protected. The other part of this thesis is to make a draft for a management plan for the area.


This article presents the analysis of the power efficiency of the inductive links used for remote powering of the biomedical implants by considering the effect of the load resistance on the efficiency. The optimum load condition for the inductive links is calculated from the analysis and the coils are optimized accordingly. A remote powering link topology with a matching network between the inductive link and the rectifier has been proposed to operate the inductive link near its optimum load condition to improve overall efficiency. Simulation and measurement results are presented and compared for different configurations. It is shown that, the overall efficiency of the remote powering link can be increased from 9.84% to 20.85% for 6 mW and from 13.16% to 18.85% for 10 mW power delivered to the regulator, respectively.


This article documents a comparative exercise for numerical simulation of ground motion, addressing the seismic response of the Grenoble site, a typical Alpine valley with complex 3D geometry and large velocity contrasts. Predictions up to 2 Hz were asked for four different structure wave-field configurations (point source and extended source, with and without surface topography). This effort is part of a larger exercise organized for the third international symposium on the effects of surface geology (ESG 2006), the complete results of which are reported elsewhere (Tsuno et al., 2009). While initial, blind computations significantly differed from one another, a remarkable fit was obtained after correcting for some nonmethodological errors for four 3D methods: the arbitrary high-order derivative discontinuous Galerkin method (ADER-DGM), the velocity-stress finite-difference scheme on an arbitrary discontinuous staggered grid (FDM), and two implementations of the spectral-element method (SEM1 and SEM2). Their basic formulation is briefly recalled, and their implementation for the Grenoble Valley and the corresponding requirements in terms of computer resources are detailed. Besides a visual inspection of PGV maps, more refined, quantitative comparisons based on time-frequency analysis greatly help in understanding the origin of differences, with a special emphasis on phase misfit. The match is found excellent below 1 Hz, and gradually deteriorates for increasing frequency, reflecting differences in meshing strategy, numerical dispersion, and implementation of damping properties. While the numerical prediction of ground motion cannot yet be considered a mature, push-button approach, the good agreement reached by four participants indicates that, when used properly, numerical simulation is actually able to handle correctly wave radiation from extended sources in complex 3D media. The main recommendation to obtain reliable numerical predictions of earthquake ground motion is to use at least two different but comparably accurate methods, for instance the present formulations and implementations of the FDM, SEM, and ADER-DGM.


An experimental system based on a transmission electron microscope JEM-100CX has been developed for electron beam-induced chemical vapor deposition. Direct electron beam-induced growth of nanometer-wide self-supporting rods has been performed inside the microscope operating in scanning mode by decomposition of carbonyls of chromium Cr(CO)6, tungsten W(CO)6, and rhenium Re2(CO)10. In situ phase and structure transformations under annealing inside the microscope column were studied. Nanoscale rods and strips grown from rhenium carbonyl are of special interest because, after annealing, they consist of a single pure rhenium phase. The described method of metallic nanoelements fabrication enables us to produce highly conductive nanowires and tips for application in nanoelectronics, emission electronics, and scanning tunneling microscopy.


We have seen much recent progress in rigid object manipulation, but interaction with deformable objects has notably lagged behind. Due to the large configuration space of deformable objects, solutions using traditional modelling approaches require significant engineering work. Perhaps then, bypassing the need for explicit modelling and instead learning the control in an end-to-end manner serves as a better approach? Despite the growing interest in the use of end-to-end robot learning approaches, only a small amount of work has focused on their applicability to deformable object manipulation. Moreover, due to the large amount of data needed to learn these end-to-end solutions, an emerging trend is to learn control policies in simulation and then transfer them over to the real world. To-date, no work has explored whether it is possible to learn and transfer deformable object policies. We believe that if sim-to-real methods are to be employed further, then it should be possible to learn to interact with a wide variety of objects, and not only rigid objects. In this work, we use a combination of state-of-the-art deep reinforcement learning algorithms to solve the problem of manipulating deformable objects (specifically cloth). We evaluate our approach on three tasks --- folding a towel up to a mark, folding a face towel diagonally, and draping a piece of cloth over a hanger. Our agents are fully trained in simulation with domain randomisation, and then successfully deployed in the real world without having seen any real deformable objects.


Distributed antenna system (DAS) is a highly diversified concept that can help lower radiated power, maximize coverage, and improve spectral efficiency. Yet, the most exciting feature of DAS is the distribution of remote radio heads (RRH) Distributed antenna system (DAS) is a highly diversified concept that can help lower radiated power, maximize coverage, and improve spectral efficiency. Yet, the most exciting feature of DAS is the distribution of remote radio heads (RRH) or antennas over a wide geographical area, which allows the use of less complex signal processing techniques resulting in the reduction of systems' size and cost. These features of DAS were utilized in network MIMO, distributed MIMO, multi-cell MIMO, and distributed-input distributed-output (DIDO) systems to move away from the centralized approach as in conventional multi-user and massive MIMO systems. In this tutorial paper, we first talk about MIMO systems with their relevant technologies by categorizing them into two main approaches according to their working principles and systematic architecture; the first approach is based on a centralized (or collocated) architecture, whereas the second is based on a decentralized (or distributed) architecture. We then deep dive into all the different technologies related to these architectures one by one and explain each in detail with much more focus on the similarities and differences between them. After that, we exposition the main target of this study, which is to answer the following question "Is cell-free massive MIMO (CF-MMIMO) equivalent to the already existing and commercialized pCell technology?". To confidently answer this question, we comprehensively and deeply study the two technologies considering the differences in their system models and look into their conceptual formulations as well as their respective channel models. More particularly, we detail CF-MMIMO and pCell architectures while giving special attention to pCell's SDR wireless platform and stating why it is crucial for the current wireless systems. Then, we present the understandings that are acquired after careful observations and provide recommendations based upon them. In short, this study aims to focus the reader attention on the fact that all the distributed and cell-free MIMO-related technologies work on the same principle, and the way these systems are built makes them fundamentally equivalent, yet, they are displayed quite differently using different terminologies and perspectives, which can cause confusion to readers and end up misleading future researchers. INDEX TERMS MIMO, multi-user MIMO, massive MIMO, network MIMO, distributed MIMO, multicell MIMO, DIDO, cell-free massive MIMO, pCell, 4G, 5G, 6G.


The civil war was a turning point in the life of the faith community in Sierra Leone, which previously had been politically complacent. With the establishment of the Inter-Religious Council (IRC), Christian and Muslim religious leaders joined together with a unified voice based on shared values to first, mediate the conflict and second, promote reconciliation through the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
 The efficacy of faith-based initiatives is attributed to many factors: the vast numbers of religious adherents, a far-reaching infrastructure of churches and mosques, close partnerships with international organizations, untainted reputation of clerics, and sacred texts that promote peace. Reconciliation is a dominant theme in both Christianity and Islam, giving religious leaders a powerful tool in bringing warring sides who share these faith commitments to the peace table, and, also, postconflict in encouraging restorative mechanisms, such as truth commissions that aim at reconciliation among enemies, over more retributive ones, such as courts.
 Like the earlier South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SATRC), which was headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Sierra Leone TRC was headed by a religious leader, Bishop Joseph Humper, then president of the Inter-Religious Council. Like the SATRC, it turned to religious notions of confession and redemption that resonated in a very religious society, where 60% of the population are Muslims and 30% are Christians. It was only partially successful, however, because of the existence of the Special Court for Sierra Leone operating contemporaneously, which was based on a punitive model of justice. Because of confusion about the two institutions' different mandates, and fear of being prosecuted by the Court, even low-level perpetrators hesitated to testify at the TRC, limiting its ability to reconcile enemies. Unfortunately, the international community prioritizes justice over reconciliation, and is less supportive of restorative approaches that may resonate more deeply with religious people in postconflict societies.


In this paper, an atomic scale study is carried out to characterize the thermal transport in Si/Ge nanocomposites by using the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The influence of size, heat flux, interface, as well as voids, on thermal properties and the inner temperature profiles of nanowire composites are studied. The results show that the thermal conductivity of nanowire composites is much lower than that of alloy, which accounts mainly for ZT enhancement and owes a great deal to the effect of interface thermal resistance. The results also indicate that a nonfourier phenomena what we call "reflecting effect" is remarkable at the Si/Ge interface, and the thermal conductivity is also dependent slightly on the bulk temperature and the specified heat flux in the range of selected system sizes and temperatures. It is also investigated that how the thermal conductivity of Si1−x Gex composites changes with the atomic percentage x of germanium for wire dimension of LSi = 10 nm. Simulation results reveal that for a constant silicon wire dimension, the thermal conductivity of the Si/Ge nanocomposites increases with x. An attempt study on the influence of the voids on thermal conductivity shows that the thermal conductivity decreases with the void density. Most of the presented results from the simulations in this work come to favorable agreement with previous work, suggesting a good reliability of the present simulation method for further analysis of thermal transportation phenomena in nanocomposites and even more complex composites with pores, dislocations and impurities.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


Glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive brain tumor in human patients, is decidedly heterogeneous and highly vascularized. Glioma stem/initiating cells (GSC) are found to play a crucial role by increasing cancer aggressiveness and promoting resistance to therapy. Recently, cross-talk between GSC and vascular endothelial cells has been shown to significantly promote GSC self-renewal and tumor progression. Furthermore, GSC also transdifferentiate into bona fide vascular endothelial cells (GEC), which inherit mutations present in GSC and are resistant to traditional antiangiogenic therapies. Here we use three-dimensional mathematical modeling to investigate GBM progression and response to therapy. The model predicted that GSCs drive invasive fingering and that GEC spontaneously form a network within the hypoxic core, consistent with published experimental findings. Standard-of-care treatments using DNA-targeted therapy (radiation/chemo) together with antiangiogenic therapies reduced GBM tumor size but increased invasiveness. Anti-GEC treatments blocked the GEC support of GSCs and reduced tumor size but led to increased invasiveness. Anti-GSC therapies that promote differentiation or disturb the stem cell niche effectively reduced tumor invasiveness and size, but were ultimately limited in reducing tumor size because GECs maintain GSCs. Our study suggests that a combinatorial regimen targeting the vasculature, GSCs, and GECs, using drugs already approved by the FDA, can reduce both tumor size and invasiveness and could lead to tumor eradication. Cancer Res; 77(15); 4171-84. ©2017 AACR.


Search is as old as language. We've always needed to find something in the jumble of human creation. The first web was nothing more than passing verbal histories down the generations so others could find and remember how not to get eaten; the first search used the power of written language to build simple indexes in printed books, leading to the Dewey Decimal system and reverse indices in more modern times. Then digital happened. Besides having profound societal impacts, it also made the act of searching almost impossibly complex for both engines and searchers. Information isn't just words; it is pictures, videos, thoughts tagged with geocode data, routes, physical world data, and, increasingly, the machines themselves reporting their condition and listening to others'. Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter holds up a mirror to our time to see if search can keep up. Author Stefan Weitz explores the idea of access to help readers understand how we are inventing new ways to search and access data through devices in more places and with more capabilities. We are at the cusp of imbuing our generation with superpowers, but only if we fundamentally rethink what search is, how people can use it, and what we should demand of it. "Search: How The Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter" is the first title from GreenHouse Collection. Created by the founders of Insight Labs, the world's first philanthropic think tank, GreenHouse Collection features books that encourage deeper exploration and inquiry to inform new models for social good.


Field experiments were conducted in 1994 and 1995 in Van in order to study the relationships between grain yield and yield componets, and the interrelationships among these yield components and other characteristics in Tir wheat. In this research, heading duration, the number of spikes per m 2 , grain filling period, the number of grain per spike, grain weight, and grain yield were studied. Direct and indirect effects of the yield components (the number of spikes per m 2 , the number of grain per spike, and grain weight) on grain yield were found by Path coefficient analysis. Direct and indirect effects of other characteristics on these components were also determined. The direct effects, obtained in the Path coefficient analysis, indicated that grain yield depended mainly upon spike number per m 2 and secondly upon the grain number per spike. Grain weight showed less influence. On the other hand, duration had a highly negative influence on the grain filling period. At the end of the research, it has been found possible to increase grain yield when spike number per m 2 used as a selection criterion in Tir wheat.


The Linguistic Turn provides a rich and representative introduction to the entire historical and doctrinal range of the linguistic philosophy movement. In two retrospective essays titled "Ten Years After" and "Twenty-Five Years After," Rorty shows how his book was shaped by the time in which it was written and traces the directions philosophical study has taken since. "All too rarely an anthology is put together that reflects imagination, command, and comprehensiveness. Rorty's collection is just such a book."--Review of Metaphysics Richard Rorty is University Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia.


The large axial fan's outlet hub shape changes with its working environment. Usually for saving cost, the hub geometry of fan's outlet section is roughly processed. There is no geometry specification for the outlet hub section, which makes its structure seriously mismatched with other parts. When a blade which has good performance is fitted into an actual production, it probably couldn't get a desired result. This shows that the effect of outlet-hub geometry on the performance of large axial fan couldn't be neglected. To study the effect, four cases of different outlet hub geometries of a large axial fan have been designed and investigated in current paper. Each case has been carefully calculated by using numerical simulation methods. By comparing their aerodynamic characteristics and analyzing flow structures in the tip and hub region of the fan blade, the results show that with the same blade tip clearance, the shape of hub geometry has little effect on the tip flow field. However, the fan efficiency is obviously affected by the hub shape. Straight hub could approve the total pressure of the fan, while shrink hub could reduce shaft power more efficiently. A kind of proper outlet hub geometry could greatly improve the flow performance in the hub region and increase the fan efficiency. So we could choose a proper shape of outlet hub for different working requirements.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Neurogenic detrusor overactivity (NDO) is a disorder that can cause high intravesical pressure, decreased capacity, decreased bladder compliance, and upper urinary system damage. The current treatment options for NDO are established on the basis of agents that block parasympathetic innervation of the detrusor and inhibit involuntary bladder contractions. Several side effects, such as dryness of mouth, constipation, dyspepsia, changes in visual accommodation, somnolence, and being unable to obtain consistently favorable results, caused by anticholinergic agents, which are frequently used for this purpose, decrease the patient's compliance to treatment. Procedures such as neuromodulation, auto-augmentation, and enterocystoplasty are surgical options, and they could be used as the last alternative. Thus, botulinum toxin (BTX) injections to the detrusor have been commonly performed in recent years and lead to satisfactory results. The mechanism of action of BTX in NDO is based on the principal of smooth muscle relaxation in the bladder by the transient inhibition of neuromuscular nerve signals. The aim is to decrease acetylcholine secretion by blocking presynaptic vesicles in the neuromuscular junction. When studies were evaluated, it was observed that BTX injections to the detrusor muscle are a necessary and effective option in patients with incontinence caused by NDO. This treatment option could be indicated in situations where anticholinergic agents are not effective or could not be tolerated, and it could be a valuable alternative to major surgical treatments. In this review, we evaluated the effectiveness and reliability of BTX in patients with NDO.


A practical guide to mastering reinforcement learning algorithms using Keras
Key Features
Build projects across robotics, gaming, and finance fields, putting reinforcement learning (RL) into action

Get to grips with Keras and practice on real-world unstructured datasets

Uncover advanced deep learning algorithms such as Monte Carlo, Markov Decision, and Q-learning

Book Description
Reinforcement learning has evolved a lot in the last couple of years and proven to be a successful technique in building smart and intelligent AI networks. Keras Reinforcement Learning Projects installs human-level performance into your applications using algorithms and techniques of reinforcement learning, coupled with Keras, a faster experimental library.

The book begins with getting you up and running with the concepts of reinforcement learning using Keras. You'll learn how to simulate a random walk using Markov chains and select the best portfolio using dynamic programming (DP) and Python. You'll also explore projects such as forecasting stock prices using Monte Carlo methods, delivering vehicle routing application using Temporal Distance (TD) learning algorithms, and balancing a Rotating Mechanical System using Markov decision processes.

Once you've understood the basics, you'll move on to Modeling of a Segway, running a robot control system using deep reinforcement learning, and building a handwritten digit recognition model in Python using an image dataset. Finally, you'll excel in playing the board game Go with the help of Q-Learning and reinforcement learning algorithms.

By the end of this book, you'll not only have developed hands-on training on concepts, algorithms, and techniques of reinforcement learning but also be all set to explore the world of AI.

What you will learn
Practice the Markov decision process in prediction and betting evaluations

Implement Monte Carlo methods to forecast environment behaviors

Explore TD learning algorithms to manage warehouse operations

Construct a Deep Q-Network using Python and Keras to control robot movements

Apply reinforcement concepts to build a handwritten digit recognition model using an image dataset

Address a game theory problem using Q-Learning and OpenAI Gym
Who this book is for
Keras Reinforcement Learning Projects is for you if you are data scientist, machine learning developer, or AI engineer who wants to understand the fundamentals of reinforcement learning by developing practical projects. Sound knowledge of machine learning and basic familiarity with Keras is useful to get the most out of this book


Lasiosphaera nipponica finds therapeutic applications as a hemostatic in the traditional Japanese and Chinese medicines. This study aimed to analyse the phytochemical compositions of two fractions from the n-hexane extract of L. nipponica by GC-MS analysis and evaluate the cytotoxic activity of these two fractions and a pure compound viz. ergosterol peroxide by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT assay). A hexane extract from L. nipponica was obtained by the maceration technique and silica gel column chromatography of this hexane extract yielded two fractions and three pure compounds. The two fractions were analysed for phytochemical compositions by GC-MS and the presence of fatty acids, esters of fatty acids and ethyl 9-oxononanoate were identified. Additionally, these two fractions were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against P388, HL60, MCF7, HepG2 and J82 cancer cell lines in culture by MTT assay. Fraction 1 showed good activity against P388 and HL60 cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 9.8 and 18.2 μg/mL, respectively. Fraction 2 also showed good activity against P388 and HL60 cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 19.4 and 16.2 μg/mL, respectively. However, these two fractions did not show any appreciable activity against MCF7, HepG2 and J82 cancer cell lines. The three pure compounds were characterised as n-hexadecanoic acid (3), n-octadecanoic acid (4) and ergosterol peroxide (5) by spectroscopic and spectrometric means. Of these three pure compounds, only compound 5 was evaluated for cytotoxic activity against HL60, HepG2 and J82 cancer cell lines. Ergosterol peroxide showed an IC50 value of 82.2 μM (35.1 μg/mL) against HL60 cancer cell lines but it did not show any appreciable activity against HepG2 and J82 cancer cell lines. n-Hexadecanoic acid and n-octadecanoic acid were not evaluated for cytotoxic activity since they were obtained in small quantity. From this study, we concluded that the fractions from the n-hexane extract of L. nipponica have therapeutically important phytochemicals and exhibit promising cytotoxic activity against P388 and HL60 cancer cell lines. Further studies on L. nipponica are required to explore its therapeutic applications.


Introduction: Patients with numerous crowns and bridges are at risk of developing secondary caries on cervical margins of the crowns. This recurrent decay accounts for 60% of the reasons for the replacement of restorations. Detection and treatment of subclinical lesions is important to prevent cavitation. An alginate impression material has been used to locate cariogenic bacteria in established carious lesions. Aims: An alginate impression technique was used to assess the level of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli on the crown margins of the teeth of the restored group and control subjects. Conventional caries activity tests were also used to compare these two groups. Methods: Twenty control group subjects with no crowns and a mean DMFS of 16 and 20 the restored group patients with at least 10 crowns and a mean DMFS of 129 were included in the study. Impressions were taken with a hydrocolloid material mixed with culture broth, incubated and examined for the presence of S. mutans and Lactobacilli on the cervical margins. The results were compared using the twosample t-test, chi-squared test and a generalized logistic regression analysis. Results: More S. mutans and Lactobacilli were cultured on impressions of the restored group than the control patients (p=0.01 and 0.002). A higher proportion of patients in the restored group had high concentrations of S. mutans and Lactobacilli on their teeth than subjects in the control group (p < 0.001). In the restored group, sixty six per cent of teeth in the posterior and 48% in the anterior segment were crowns. S. mutans and Lactobacilli were found in higher concentrations on the posterior than the anterior teeth of the restored group patients than the control patients (p = 0.016 and 0.047). Furthermore, more Lactobacilli were cultured from the saliva of the restored group than control subjects while the buffering capacity of plaque and the ability of saliva to neutralize acids were lower in the restored group than control group subjects. Conclusion: The impression technique showed that S. mutans and Lactobacilli accumulated in the posterior of the mouth and were associated with crowns indicating these particular sites are at risk.


The article deals with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on life imprisonment. In the landmark case Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom (2013), the Court's case-law underwent a radical turn. The article deals with both prie-Vinter and post-Vinter developments and exposes the revolutionary nature of the change, as well as what may be seen as some inconsistencies in the Court's post-Vinter case-law. Still, despite some zigzags, in the post-Vinter era violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights is usually found in cases, where the persons sentenced for life are not effectively entitled, both de jure and de facto, to the prospect of review of their sentences with the eventual possibility of their commutation or other forms of early release. This prospect is subject to conditions; the corresponding legislative instruments must be in place, but they do not guarantee per se the said commutation. However, the denial of that commutation and the continued isolation of such persons from society must be based on legitimate penological grounds, as expounded in the case-law of the ECHR. In that case-law, the life prisoners' right to have their sentences reviewed is called the "right to hope". It is grounded in the society's hope (not necessarily realistic) that even those who commit the most abhorrent and egregious acts nevertheless retain their "essential humanity" and carry within themselves the capacity to change; therefore to deny them the experience of hope would be to deny a "fundamental aspect of their humanity"; and to do that would be degrading. On the other hand, the probability that the penological grounds for continued isolation of such convicts would be deemed, by the reviewing courts, as no more present, is not high. The Court's post-Vinter case-law focuses not on the factual or legal situation of actual applicants in concrete cases, but, first and foremost, on the quality of the law. Consequently, violations of Article 3 are being found also in such cases, where the applicable domestic law is still based on the much more lenient (to the States) pre-Vinter case-law. As things stand today, there are no indications that the Court would be prepared going to abandon this quasi-constitutionalist methodology (even if its use legitimately poses complicated analytical questions as to when and how, and by whom the respective violations had been committed). This new principled stance of the ECHR makes the outcome of the pending similar cases rather predictable – and unfavourable to those States, which have not (yet) introduced legislative instruments allowing for the judicial review of life prison sentences with the prospect of their commutation. Therefore, it is not surprising that in response to the said transformation of the Court's case-law, a number of States have introduced, in their legislation, the possibility of judicial review of life sentences upon expiration of no less than twenty-five years (the term which the Court sees as an acceptable standard). Lithuania has not done so yet (for reasons which are hardly explainable); in this country, life prisoners' early release is possible only by way of presidential pardon or on compassionate grounds – both options, whatever their merits, fall short of the post-Vinter requirements. In 2017, this resulted in ECHR finding, in respect of six applicants, of a violation of Article 3 in Matiosaitis and Others v. Lithuania. The Article argues the necessity and desirability of the relevant legislative changes, as well as their inevitability, in particular in view of numerous new complaints pending before the Court against Lithuania.


This note summarizes Colombia's new 2015 Presidential Directive which seeks to increase governmental control over the use of arbitration agreements in state contracts, and the arbitral selection process in disputes arising out of these contracts. It also addresses certain potentially undesirable consequences that might arise from the presidential directive and proposes a number of practical steps that the Colombian government could take to ensure public officials continue to enter into arbitration agreements and thus reduce the potential anti-arbitration impact of the 2015 Presidential Directive.


Migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is produced during allogeneic pregnancies but not during syngeneic pregnancies. Removal of the paraaortic or paraaortic and renal lymph nodes significantly decreased MIF production whereas splenectomy did not. Removal of these regional lymph nodes decreased the mean litter size and increased the variance in the weights of the offspring, with the greatest changes occurring when both the paraaortic and renal lymph nodes were removed; splenectomy did not alter either parameter. None of the surgical procedures affected the gestation period significantly, but removal of the paraaortic and renal lymph nodes greatly reduced the rate of conception and increased the incidence of stillbirths. These findings support the proposition that a vigorous immune response occurs during allogeneic pregnancies and that this response provides reproductive advantages to the offspring.


We study the query complexity of graph isomorphism in the property testing model for dense graphs. We give an algorithm that makes n1+o(1) queries, improving on the previous best bound of Õ(n5/4). Since the problem is known to require Ω(n) queries, our algorithm is optimal up to a subpolynomial factor. While trying to extend a known connection to distribution testing, discovered by Fischer and Matsliah (SICOMP 2008), one encounters a natural obstacle presented by sampling lower bounds such as the Ω(n2/3)-sample lower bound for distribution closeness testing (Valiant, SICOMP 2011). In the context of graph isomorphism testing, these bounds lead to an n1+Ω(1) barrier for Fischer and Matsliah's approach. We circumvent this and other limitations by exploiting a geometric representation of the connectivity of vertices. An approximate representation of similarities between vertices can be learned with a near-linear number of queries and allows relaxed versions of sampling and distribution testing problems to be solved more efficiently.


Acoustic methods (sonars) offer a potential tool for detecting and tracking of underwater swimmers. The main unknown in assessing the feasibility of using sonar to detect swimmers is their target strength. The target strength of diver with tanks, buoyancy control, wet or dry suit, etc. is a complicated function of aspect angle and frequency. The detection range for a diver will depend strongly on the target strength and very little data are available in the literature on this topic. This dearth of information limits the ability of sonar engineers to design a detection system. Our study addresses this issue both experimentally and theoretically. As part of this study target strength measurements made in the field were compared with theoretical models. Measurements are being conducted using Farsounder FS-3 phased array sonar with a center frequency of 60 kHz. Tests will be carried out in shallow water using a diver at different orientations, depths and ranges. Target strength modeling was performed using simple cylindrical models and more sophisticated techniques. Existing target strength models for finite cylindrical shapes derived by Gaunaurd (1985) were used as initial approximations. A relatively new technique for modeling acoustic scattering by axisymmetric finite-length bodies using a three-dimensional Fourier mapping method developed by Reeder and Stanton (2004) was compared to the data.


In its American context the case of baby Messenger, a preterm infant disconnected from life-support by his father and allowed to die has generated debate about neonatal treatment protocols. Limited by the legal and ethical norms of the United States, this case did not consider treatment protocols that might be available in other countries such as Denmark and Israel: threshold protocols whereby certain classes of newborns are not treated, and preemptive abortion allowing one to choose late-term abortion rather than risk delivery. Each offers a viable and ethically sound avenue for dealing with the economic and social expense of anomalous newborns by aborting or not treating those most likely to burden the health care system. Objections that these protocols are antithetical to American bioethical principles are considered but rejected as each policy answers to economic justice, utility and respect for autonomy.


Crown fires that burned thousands of ha of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) forests in recent years attest to the hazardous conditions extant on the western landscape. Managers have responded with broad-scale implementation of fuel reduction treatments; however. because threats to pine forests extend beyond fire, so too must the approaches to address them. This western Montana study evaluated four treatments in a randomized complete block experiment for their effects on stand structural characteristics, growth increment, and crown fire potential. Evaluation of control, burn-only, thin-only, and thin-burn treatments showed that the combined thin-burn treatment had the greatest number of desired effects, the burn-only had the fewest, and the thin-only was intermediate. The thin-burn significantly reduced stand density, canopy cover, torching hazard, and crowning hazard and increased average diameter, height-to live-crown, and basal area increment; the thin-only reduced stand density, canopy cover, and crowning hazard and increased average diameter and basal area increment; and the burn-only reduced torching hazard and increased height-to-live crown. These structural and growth effects are related to or influence numerous stand/ecosystem properties at our site, including diameter distributions, species composition, large-tree development potential, overall tree vigor, potential for shade-in- tolerant tree regeneration, and resiliency to fire. Results demonstrate that well-designed restoration treatments can promote key short-term stand and ecosystem responses while significantly reducing crown fire potential. FOR .S CI. 56(1):18-31.


BACKGROUND
People with substance use disorder are at high risk of harms from COVID-19 infection. Vaccine hesitancy is common in this population and compounds pre-existing barriers to accessing health care. A drug and alcohol service in Sydney, Australia introduced strategies to enhance COVID-19 vaccination in people receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT). We report vaccination outcomes and staff experiences of this.

METHODS
This mixed methods study (i) retrospectively evaluated vaccine uptake in people accessing OAT and (ii) explored perceptions of staff who delivered vaccination interventions through surveys and semi-structured interviews.

RESULTS
Of the 984 patients receiving OAT on 9 December 2021, 90.9% had received the first COVID-19 vaccination and 86.7% the second. Australia wide vaccination rates on that date were 93.1% and 88.7% for first and second doses, respectively. Staff commented that having a deep knowledge, understanding and connection with the patient group drove implementation and success of vaccination interventions. This was further supported by staff engagement with the vaccination interventions, and communication and sharing information, both between staff and with patients.

CONCLUSION
High rates of COVID-19 vaccination can be achieved in a vulnerable population. Engaged staff providing information and facilitating access to healthcare underpin this success.


In this paper, the polarization independent wide angle ISM-band metamaterial absorber structure has been investigated for various geometrical parameters along with the practical demonstration. The presented structure has been numerically simulated using full wave electromagnetic simulator exhibiting absorption peak of 99.42% at 2.48 GHz. The effects of variations in geometrical parameters have been manifested by designing and experimentally verifying two absorber structures with modified parameters, yielding near unity single absorption of 99.89% at 2.4 GHz while dual absorption of 97.2% and 98.1% at 1.76 GHz and 2.48 GHz, respectively. The unit cell of proposed absorber structure comprises of a closed ring resonators engraves on a grounded FR4 dielectric substrate. The simplicity of design imparts effortless fabrication and design symmetry provides polarization insensitivity. Additionally, it has been observed that the proposed structure could achieve high absorption of 90% up to 45° of incident transverse electric wave and up to 60° of transverse magnetic wave attains high absorption of 99%. The optimized absorber structures have been practically demonstrated using waveguide measurement technique and the outcomes are in good agreement with the numerically simulated results.


The Podcast Track is new at the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) in 2020. The podcast track was designed to encourage research into podcasts in the information retrieval and NLP research communities. The track consisted of two shared tasks: segment retrieval and summarization, both based on a dataset of over 100,000 podcast episodes (metadata, audio, and automatic transcripts) which was released concurrently with the track. The track generated considerable interest, attracted hundreds of new registrations to TREC and fifteen teams, mostly disjoint between search and summarization, made final submissions for assessment. Deep learning was the dominant experimental approach for both search experiments and summarization. This paper gives an overview of the tasks and the results of the participants' experiments. The track will return to TREC 2021 with the same two tasks, incorporating slight modifications in response to participant feedback.


Treatment is provided for 224 species and subspecies in the genera Acherusia, Acmaeodera, Actenodes, Agaeocera, Agrilus, Anthaxia, Brachys, Buprestis, Chalcangium, Chrysobothris, Colobogaster, Cyphothorax, Dicerca, Dismorpha, Euchroma, Hiperantha, Hylaeogena, Leiopleura, Lius, Mixochlorus, Omochyseus, Pachyschelus, Polycesta, Psiloptera, Spectralia, Taphrocerus, Tetragonoschema, Thrincopyge, Trypantius and Tyndaris. Of these, 44 are recorded for the first time from Mexico and 175 represent new state records Adult host and/or habitat information is provided, usually from the label data, for 93 of the taxa. Larval host records are indicated for Chrysobothris analis LeConte, C. capitata Gory and Laporte, C. multistigmosa (Mannerheim) and C. sallei Waterhouse. Acmaeodera sinaloensis Duges has been discovered to breed in bamboo. A major taxonomic character of C. multistigmosa is discussed.


Managing a diverse workforce has become a growing challenge for leaders, due to increased globalization and demographic changes. As a result, leaders that can handle those challenges become important for successful business across borders. With respect to this, the complexities of leadership in Russia is an under-researched and increasingly important research area, due to the rapid changes that have occurred in the country the last 25 years.This study explores the challenges that Swedish expatriate leaders face whilst operating in Russia and, furthermore, how they tackle them. The study is of explorative character, with a qualitative research methodology, and is based on 17 interviews with different Swedish leaders across various industries.The findings show that Swedish leaders experience challenges with the following: involving employees in decision making processes; handling steep hierarchies; finding the right people in the dynamic Russian labour market; comprehending the idiosyncrasies of Russian culture.In conclusion, the study shows that Swedish leaders are keen to implement a Swedish company culture based on empowerment, although the specificities of being an expatriate leader in Russia makes it necessary to adapt to some of the conflicting expectations of the Russian employees.


Abstract: Myzus persicae belonging to Aphididae, Hemiptera, is an important migratory pest in tobacco field. As nymph and adult, it sucks the juice, breeds the mildew stains disease, spreads tobacco virus diseases and causes huge losses to the yield and quality. The distribution pattern and dynamics of winged and wingless aphids in the field were investigated from the transplanting of tobacco to the harvesting stage of mid-place tobacco leaves in Enshi, Hubei. The semivariable function characteristics were analyzed by geostatistical method, and the field migration pattern were simulated. The results showed that the population dynamics of winged aphids in Enshi were of bimodal curve, with two peaks at 3 weeks after transplanting and 2 weeks after multi-topping of tobacco leaves, and there were five-step process such as random, aggregation, random, aggregation and random. The population dynamics of wingless peach aphids were of single-peak curve, getting its peak before multi-topping, and had random, aggregation, random three-step process. Human factors and the hosts had considerable effects on the population density. Spatial distribution simulation-interpolation-figure could clearly reflect the dynamics of tobacco aphids. Combined with the Pearson correlation analysis, we found that the population density was low and highly concentrated as winged type in the immigration period, which was the key period for the management of peach aphids.


This is a labor of the Learning Community cohort that was convened by MAIEI in Winter 2021 to work through and discuss important research issues in the field of AI ethics from a multidisciplinary lens. The community came together supported by facilitators from the MAIEI staff to vigorously debate and explore the nuances of issues like bias, privacy, disinformation, accountability, and more especially examining them from the perspective of industry, civil society, academia, and government. The outcome of these discussions is reflected in the report that you are reading now - an exploration of a variety of issues with deep-dive, critical commentary on what has been done, what worked and what didn't, and what remains to be done so that we can meaningfully move forward in addressing the societal challenges posed by the deployment of AI systems. The chapters titled"Design and Techno-isolationism","Facebook and the Digital Divide: Perspectives from Myanmar, Mexico, and India","Future of Work", and"Media&Communications&Ethical Foresight"will hopefully provide with you novel lenses to explore this domain beyond the usual tropes that are covered in the domain of AI ethics.


For SME exporters, developing an effective value co-creation strategy appears to be a good way to overcome resource constraints and other market structural barriers in internationalisation. As an emerging topic in the marketing literature, value co-creation is mainly studied in B2C markets, and the understandings of value co-creation are still quite fragmented and abstract with limited empirical investigations. Inspired by the recent development of the business network theory and S-D logic, my thesis presents a new theoretical framework for value co-creation in cross-border business relationships. Through an in-depth case study, this research confirms ten propositions in relation to the theoretical framework and identifies the most important motives, attributes and outcomes of value co-creation. Some insights in the case are unique to value co-creation, such as hierarchical resource integration. The findings in this research indicate that the co-creation of symbolic value and the emerging value co-creation network will benefit participating firms and also attract more firms to join. Compared with other types of business relationships, the uniqueness of value co-creation is the significant interplay of trust and resource integration. More importantly, this study shows the creation of a novel network, including both B2C and B2B markets, which is wider than the integration of the prior individual networks. Overall, this new value co-creation network is competitive and viable for SME exporters to overcome internationalisation barriers. It also shifts the network position from being 'one of them' to becoming 'one of us' in the eyes of local network incumbents in the export markets. This is the fundamental goal that a SME exporter may achieve in the export market, for the benefit of long-term survival and growth.


The index, taken for granted, perhaps considered boring - or not considered at all - is an essential part of a book. Indexers and Indexing takes a wry look at the history, uses and implications of this little-considered element of the book, and offers an anthology of amusing index extracts. Compiled by a professional indexer, it examines the history and development of the index, and highlights the debate and comment that the index has invited over the years. The author examines indexes from earlier centuries: some endearingly quaint; some deliberately humorous; some plain awful; and some which are astonishing in the vehemence of the views they present. Bell also examines the depiction of indexers in fiction - and the picture she finds is not encouraging to the professional indexer - variously portrayed as diffident, domestic drudges or incompetent and fallen pedants. A wonderful book for editors, indexers and bibliophiles.


HighlightsThree crop scenarios for eight dairy farm types were simulated using the Integrated Farm System Model.Cover cropping and interseeding each significantly reduced runoff losses, compared to the baseline, for most farm types.Interseeding averaged greater reductions in N, P, and sediment losses than cover cropping.Increases in average annual production costs were <2% of the baseline for most farm types.Abstract. Intensive agricultural activities are known to increase nutrient and sediment losses, leading to degraded water quality in receiving water bodies. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, animal operations must reduce farm-level nutrient and sediment losses to meet federally mandated load reduction goals. This work investigated the potential water quality benefits and economic impacts of adopting post-harvest cover cropping or interseeded cover cropping on eight dairy farms representative of common operations in central Pennsylvania. The farms, simulated with the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM), represented confined, organic, grazing, and Amish farming practices for dairy herds ranging in size from 35 to 150 lactating Holstein cows. Simulations were run for 25 years using observed weather data for Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, and for the dominant agricultural soil series in the county: Hagerstown silt loam. Model output included water balance results, nutrient and sediment loads, and farm-scale economics at an annual scale. Overall, simulation results showed that post-harvest cover cropping reduced N, P, and sediment by 18%, 17%, and 42%, respectively, while interseeding reduced loads by 49%, 41%, and 46%, respectively. Economic impacts of cover cropping and interseeding varied among farm types, but nearly all scenarios resulted in a net loss in profit compared to the baseline. However, annual economic losses were relatively minor: less than $28 ha-1 for cover cropping and $63 ha-1 for interseeding. Results suggest that the benefits of interseeding cover crops are greater for farms with larger portions of land in row crops with less perennial grassland. Interseeding necessitates purchasing additional equipment or custom hiring the seeding operation. These results have implications for cost-share incentive structures aimed at promoting adoption of cover crops and interseeding, especially for confined farms, which may otherwise experience financial losses if these practices are adopted. Keywords: Best management practice, Conservation, Economic evaluation, Erosion, IFSM, Integrated Farm System Model, Nutrient transport, Water quality.


Asthma problems are often linked to treatment management factors which include the nonmaximal behavior of the patients and doctors. The adherence concept emphasizes a strong commitment between physicians and patients to achieve maximum behavior towards the treatment. This study aimed to construct a model of adherence to treatment of patients with asthma and also aimed to set a valid and reliable adherence measurement tool that might be applied to patients with asthma, particularly those who live in Medan-Indonesia.The study was quantitative research employed a cross sectional approach. The samples were 200 adult patients with asthma who receive standard asthma medications, patients with the stable condition and do not suffer from severe asthma or other comorbidities. The study performed a consecutive sampling of the technique which was obtained from physician's data (general/lung specialist). Data were analyzed by performing confirmatory analysis through Structural Equation Modelling analysis. The study produced a measurement model of asthma patients' adherence to the treatment among those who live in Medan. The study found that the asthma patients who live in Medan have good psychometric value (valid, reliable and fit to model): adherence I (beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes), adherence II (doctorpatient communication, actions, family support).


Over a long period of years, surgery of the liver was associated with a high complication rate, and therefore remained the domain of a small number of specialists. Thanks to our better understanding of the surgical anatomy of the liver, and the development of bloodsaving operative techniques, most complications can now be avoided. In this present volume on liver surgery particular consideration has therefore been given to the aspects of avoiding and managing complications. Considerable emphasis has been placed on providing a differentiated synopsis of the problems of this surgical speciality that are of particular relevance to the practical situation. The book covers not only descriptions of the various surgical procedures applicable to the liver and specific methods of transplantation, but also the possibilities offered by the various imaging procedures and the various methods of transecting parenchyma. The main thrust concerns the additive and adjuvant techniques and methods now used in liver surgery. The very latest innovative developments are comprehensively discussed, and the indications, results and future prospects of surgical strategies also receive attention.


For communication and storage efficiency, image data should be substantially compressed. The compression ratio is limited by noise, which degrades the correlation between pixels. Noise can occur during image capture, transmission or processing, and may be dependent on or independent of image content. In this study, we use standard filters that permits to remove some details of the image and to reduce all possible noise. After filtering, the image is compressed with JPEG. By discarding the noise, the compression ratio can be improved. This method was verified using 2 images. This technique can increase the ratio without significantly affecting the image quality. This process has a great impact on storage and transmission.


A field survey was conducted after harvesting of rice crop 2016 to identify the reasons for less adaption of aromatic rice variety Basmati 515. The rice growers adopting rice-wheat cropping pattern in kallar tract were included in population of research study. Thirty male farmers from each selected district making a total of 180 respondent farmers were interviewed by convenience sampling method. The survey findings showed that the aromatic rice variety Basmati 515 was cultivated on only 2.7% rice area while maximum area (47.3%) was under Super basmati variety. The comparison of Basmati 515 was made with Super basmati and PS 2 due to comparatively more cultivated area and declared yield potential of these varieties. Overall the farmers were applying under dosed phosphorus fertilizer (DAP) as 0.25, 0.20 and 0.22 bag ha -1 respectively for basmati 515, super basmati and PS-2 varieties. The descriptive analysis showed that the less adaptability of basmati 515 was due to less yield and more attacks of borer (11%), BLB (10%) and leaf roller (3.25%) in comparison to other aromatic and fine rice varieties. Similarly maximum lodging (16%) was recorded on basmati 515. Maximum yield was estimated for PS 2 variety (4.7 t ha -1 ) followed by super basmati (4.0 t ha -1 ) and basmati 515 (3.78 t ha -1 ). The market price of super basmati was still higher due to its natural aroma, long & thin grain and export demand. The research institutes should focus for development of new aromatic high yielding and more qualitative rice varieties to increase the rice production and export.


Demands for large-capacity high-density transmission in parallel optical interconnection networks, such as computer networks, data-link networks, and switching systems, are growing rapidly. Optical transmission technologies for parallel optical-data-link applications have therefore attracted a great deal of attention. The factors that affect optical technologies differ considerably from those affecting optical-fiber transmission systems. The key requirements are small-skew operation, low power consumption, integration technology, high reliability, and low cost. Optical device technologies may have to be developed specifically for this area of application to satisfy such requirements. Semiconductor laser arrays, used as light sources in parallel optical interconnection, are a key component in this field. In this paper, the key issues concerning our 1.3-μm InGaAsP/InP n-type modulation-doped strained-MQW monolithic laser arrays on a p-InP substrate used in high-density parallel optical interconnection are reviewed to aim at meeting these needs. The most recently reported results and future prospects for laser performance and technologies are examined with an emphasis on careful optimization of a strained-MQW active layer, the design of the laser cavity, the modulation-doped effect, narrow beam divergence, and uniform characteristics.


Boivin, G., Hance, T. and Brodeur, J. 2012. Aphid parasitoids in biological control. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 1–12. Aphids are important pests of most cultivated crops worldwide. Among the natural enemies that regulate their populations, aphid parasitoids are commonly used in biological control programs in greenhouses and field situations. They belong to the Hymenoptera (Braconidae and Aphelinidae), and a few species are Diptera (Cecidomyiidae). Aphid parasitoids are themselves exposed to a variety of natural enemies including predators, fungi and hyperparasitoids. The most important impediment to the use of aphid parasitoids as biological control agents remains the production cost to mass-rear parasitoids. Rearing either aphids or directly aphid parasitoids in artificial media could be a solution to produce large quantities of aphid parasitoids at low cost, but such an approach still faces numerous challenges related to the nutritional and physiological requirements of developing aphid parasitoids.


This Ph.D. thesis proposes an approach to classify faults that commonly occur in a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) power system. These faults are distributed throughout the entire HVDC system. The most recently published techniques for power system fault classification are the wavelet analysis, two-dimensional time-frequency representation for feature extraction and conventional artificial neural networks for fault type identification. The main limitation of these systems is that they are commonly designed to focus on a group of faults involved in a specific area of a power system. This thesis introduces a framework for fault classification that covers a wider range of faults.
The proposed fault classification framework has been initiated and developed in the context of the HVDC power system at Manitoba Hydro, which uses what is known as the Transcan™ system to record and archive fault events in files. Each fault file includes the most active signals (there are 23 of them) in the power system. Testing the proposed framework for fault classification is based on fault files collected and classified manually over a period of two years.
The fault classification framework presented in this thesis introduces the use of the rough membership function in the design of a neural fault classification system. A rough membership function makes it possible to distinguish similar feature values and measures the degree of overlap between a set of experimental values and a set of values representing a standard (e.g., set of values typically associated with a known fault). In addition to fault classification using rough neural networks, the proposed framework includes what is known as a linear mean and standard deviation classifier. The proposed framework also includes a classifier fusion technique as a means of increasing the fault classification accuracy.


The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is transforming the next generation of the supply chain by making it more agile and efficient compared with the traditional supply chain. However, data communication across the partners in the Industry 4.0 supply chain can be the target of a wide spectrum of attackers exploiting security breaches in the internal/external environment of the partners due to its heterogeneous and dynamic nature as well as the fact that the non-professional users in security issues usually operate their information systems. Attackers can compromise the data communication between legitimate parties in the Industry 4.0 Supply Chain, and thus, jeopardizing the delivery of services across the partners as well as the continuity of the service provision. Consequently, secure data communications across the partners in the Industry 4.0 Supply Chain are of utmost importance. Toward this direction, TLS protocol, which is the de facto standard for secure Internet communications, is employed to ensure secure communication between a user's web browser and a remote web server located in the premises of the same or another partner. However, over the last few years, there have been several serious attacks on TLS, including man-in-the-middle attacks in web applications using TLS to secure HTTP communication. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient TLS-based authentication mechanism, which is resistant against MITM in web applications.


Concern about possible adverse reproductive effects of employment reflects the increasing participation of pregnant women in the labor force. Although the literature on the effect of employment-related physical activity on pregnancy outcome is substantial, no general consensus has been reached. A growing number of studies, however, suggests that prolonged standing and long working hours may pose a risk to pregnancy. The provision of maternity benefits varies greatly between the United States and European countries. Current modifications of working conditions for both pregnant and non-pregnant women differ even among European countries.


Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is common because it is present in 1 of 100 newborns. Failure to diagnose DDH and treat in infancy can result in significant long-term disability. Early diagnosis can be accomplished through a quick but careful physical examination of all newborns. Further selective screening by ultrasound is indicated for those children with risk factors for DDH, which include family history, breech presentation, and unstable hip examination at the initial newborn examination. Continued examination of the hip at all routine well-child checkups is mandatory through the first year of life because late presenting DDH may occur. Treatment with a Pavlik harness is not typically instituted in the neonate because many unstable hips stabilize without intervention, but it is indicated in children older than 2 weeks with hip instability. Ultrasound screening for infants with risk factors for DDH is recommended at age 6 weeks. Pavlik harness treatment for children with unstable hips or significant dysplasia on ultrasound is continued until the hips stabilize and show concentric reduction on imaging. With time, diagnosis and treatment evolve to accommodate the growing child. Infants who fail to respond to nonoperative management may require more extensive interventions. At any time when treatment is initiated, a DDH specialist should be involved in the patient's care. If DDH is recognized early, treatment is less invasive, and long-term effects are minimized.


In the boreal plains ecozone, black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.) peatlands can represent large parts of the expanding wildland–urban interface (WUI) and wildland–industry interface (WII). The boreal plains wildfire regime is predicted to increase in areal extent and intensity, amplifying the need for wildfire management to protect the WUI and WII. Forested peatland ecosystems can burn at high intensity and present challenges for wildfire managers such as severe smouldering combustion and large carbon loss. Fuel management techniques such as mulching treatments (converting surface and canopy fuel to a masticated fuelbed) can be applied to black spruce peatlands, yet the impact on fuel load, condition, and peat burn severity is unclear. Using observations from an experimental fire, we found that a mulch-thinning fuel treatment could reduce peat depth of burn. However, where peat bulk density was increased by compaction, this led to an increased peat combustion carbon loss relati...