A database management capability for Ada

The data requirements of mission critical defense systems have been increasing dramatically. Command and control, intelligence, logistics, and even weapons systems are being required to integrate, process, and share ever increasing volumes of information. To meet this need, systems are now being specified that incorporate data base management subsystems for handling storage and retrieval of information. It is expected that a large number of the next generation of mission critical systems will contain embedded data base management systems. Since the use of Ada has been mandated for most of these systems, it is important to address the issues of providing data base management capabilities that can be closely coupled with Ada. A comprehensive distributed data base management project has been investigated. The key deliverables of this project are three closely related prototype systems implemented in Ada. These three systems are discussed

Sattumaa vai suunnitelmaa? Metsäpolitiikan vaikutus pienmaanomistajien tiikin kasvatukseen Laosissa

This study analyses the impact of policy, legal and market conditions and specific incentives on smallholders’ interest and success in tree growing between 1990-2015 in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos, Lao PDR). A review of previous studies and policy papers established the framework for this study, with primary data then collected from smallholders through semi-structured interviews in four villages. The interview questions covered household socioeconomic features, land use, information on woodlots, extension, and perceptions on drivers and challenges of tree growing. The findings indicate that policy objectives of promoting smallholder tree growing are weak at the district and village levels, and the only significant incentive, namely land allocation, has become ineffectual due to land scarcity and preference for other income sources. Tree growers intend to mainly preserve their present plantation areas, although their interest to expand tree growing areas is weak, and one third of non-growers see tree growing as a potential livelihood diversification option. If the promotion of smallholder tree growing is to be improved, the land and forest policy and associated legislation requires thorough revision and simplification, extension services must be made available, and specific incentives developed to allow smallholders to access land and meet their specific needs.This study analyses the impact of policy, legal and market conditions and specific incentives on smallholders’ interest and success in tree growing between 1990-2015 in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos, Lao PDR). A review of previous studies and policy papers established the framework for this study, with primary data then collected from smallholders through semi-structured interviews in four villages. The interview questions covered household socioeconomic features, land use, information on woodlots, extension, and perceptions on drivers and challenges of tree growing. The findings indicate that policy objectives of promoting smallholder tree growing are weak at the district and village levels, and the only significant incentive, namely land allocation, has become ineffectual due to land scarcity and preference for other income sources. Tree growers intend to mainly preserve their present plantation areas, although their interest to expand tree growing areas is weak, and one third of non-growers see tree growing as a potential livelihood diversification option. If the promotion of smallholder tree growing is to be improved, the land and forest policy and associated legislation requires thorough revision and simplification, extension services must be made available, and specific incentives developed to allow smallholders to access land and meet their specific needs.Peer reviewe

An empirical study of the “prototype walkthrough”: a studio-based activity for HCI education

For over a century, studio-based instruction has served as an effective pedagogical model in architecture and fine arts education. Because of its design orientation, human-computer interaction (HCI) education is an excellent venue for studio-based instruction. In an HCI course, we have been exploring a studio-based learning activity called the prototype walkthrough, in which a student project team simulates its evolving user interface prototype while a student audience member acts as a test user. The audience is encouraged to ask questions and provide feedback. We have observed that prototype walkthroughs create excellent conditions for learning about user interface design. In order to better understand the educational value of the activity, we performed a content analysis of a video corpus of 16 prototype walkthroughs held in two HCI courses. We found that the prototype walkthrough discussions were dominated by relevant design issues. Moreover, mirroring the justification behavior of the expert instructor, students justified over 80 percent of their design statements and critiques, with nearly one-quarter of those justifications having a theoretical or empirical basis. Our findings suggest that PWs provide valuable opportunities for students to actively learn HCI design by participating in authentic practice, and provide insight into how such opportunities can be best promoted

On the fundamental group of the complement of a complex hyperplane arrangement

We construct two combinatorially equivalent line arrangements in the complex projective plane such that the fundamental groups of their complements are not isomorphic. The proof uses a new invariant of the fundamental group of the complement to a line arrangement of a given combinatorial type with respect to isomorphisms inducing the canonical isomorphism of the first homology groups.Comment: 12 pages, Latex2e with AMSLaTeX 1.2, no figures; this last version is almost the same as published in Functional Analysis and its Applications 45:2 (2011), 137-14

Financial attractiveness of wood production in smallholder plantations of Central Vietnam in the context of developing carbon markets

In Vietnam, fast-growing Acacia hybrid dominates commercial smallholdings and is largely managed in short rotations for pulpwood. However, increasing demand for logwood implies growing Acacia hybrid in longer rotations. One way of encouraging smallholders to prolong the rotation would be payments for aboveground carbon storage. Thus, this study evaluated the financial attractiveness of shifting from pulpwood to logwood production, with and without hypothetical carbon payments of $5,$10 and $20 tCO(2)e ha(-1). The data were drawn from smallholder interviews, a plantation inventory and a market study. The growth models for a 5-year pulpwood regime and various logwood regimes used for financial modelling were developed in CO2FIX simulation software. With a financially optimal rotation length of 9-10 years, the study finds that growing Acacia hybrid for logwood is much more profitable than growing it for pulpwood. However, due to thinning in logwood regime, a financially optimal logwood regime stores only 15-16% more carbon than a 5-year pulpwood regime. Consequently, carbon payments at any of the three price levels would not shift the financially optimal rotation length. The study concluded that carbon payments alone are unlikely to be an effective means to encourage smallholders in central Vietnam to prolong the rotation.Peer reviewe

Expression of miR-200c corresponds with increased reactive oxygen species and hypoxia markers after transient focal ischemia in mice

Embolic stroke results in a necrotic core of cells destined to die, but also a peri-ischemic, watershed penumbral region of potentially salvageable brain tissue. Approaches to effectively differentiate between the ischemic and peri-ischemic zones is critical for novel therapeutic discovery to improve outcomes in survivors of stroke. MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs regulating gene translation that have region- and cell-specific expression and responses to ischemia. We have previously reported that global inhibition of cerebral microRNA200c after experimental stroke in mice is protective, however delineating the post-stroke sub-regional and celltype specific patterns of post-stroke miR-200c expression are necessary to minimize off-target effects and advance translational application. Here, we detail a novel protocol to visualize regional miR-200c expression after experimental stroke, complexed with visualization of regional ischemia and markers of oxidative stress in an experimental stroke model in mice. In the present study we demonstrate that the fluorescent hypoxia indicator pimonidazole hydrochloride, the reactive-oxygen-species marker 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine, neuronal marker MAP2 and NeuN, and the reactive astrocyte marker GFAP can be effectively complexed to determine regional differences in ischemic injury as early as 30 min post-reperfusion after experimental stroke, and can be effectively used to distinguish ischemic core from surrounding penumbral and unaffected regions for targeted therapy. This multi-dimensional post-stroke immunofluorescent imaging protocol enables a greater degree of subregional mechanistic investigation, with the ultimate goal of developing more effective post-stroke pharmaceutical therapy.Peer reviewe

Physical and chemical consequences of artificially deepened thermocline in a small humic lake - a paired whole-lake climate change experiment

Peer reviewe

Data Descriptor : Long-term chloride concentrations in North American and European freshwater lakes

Anthropogenic sources of chloride in a lake catchment, including road salt, fertilizer, and wastewater, can elevate the chloride concentration in freshwater lakes above background levels. Rising chloride concentrations can impact lake ecology and ecosystem services such as fisheries and the use of lakes as drinking water sources. To analyze the spatial extent and magnitude of increasing chloride concentrations in freshwater lakes, we amassed a database of 529 lakes in Europe and North America that had greater than or equal to ten years of chloride data. For each lake, we calculated climate statistics of mean annual total precipitation and mean monthly air temperatures from gridded global datasets. We also quantified land cover metrics, including road density and impervious surface, in buffer zones of 100 to 1,500m surrounding the perimeter of each lake. This database represents the largest global collection of lake chloride data. We hope that long-term water quality measurements in areas outside Europe and North America can be added to the database as they become available in the future.Peer reviewe