Relationship between piezometric level and ground deformations measured by means of DInSAR in the Vega Media of the Segura River (Spain)

Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) is a remote sensing method with the well demonstrated ability to monitor geological hazards like earthquakes, landslides and subsidence. Among all these hazards, subsidence involves the settlement of the ground surface affecting wide areas. Frequently, subsidence is induced by overexploitation of aquifers and constitutes a common problem that affects developed societies. The excessive pumping of underground water decreases the piezometric level in the subsoil and, as a consequence, increases the effective stresses with depth causing a consolidation of the soil column. This consolidation originates a settlement of ground surface that must be withstood by civil structures built on these areas. In this paper we make use of an advanced DInSAR approach - the Coherent Pixels Technique (CPT) [1] - to monitor subsidence induced by aquifer overexploitation in the Vega Media of the Segura River (SE Spain) from 1993 to the present. 28 ERS-1/2 scenes covering a time interval of about 10 years were used to study this phenomenon. The deformation map retrieved with CPT technique shows settlements of up to 80 mm at some points of the studied zone. These values agree with data obtained by means of borehole extensometers, but not with the distribution of damaged buildings, well points and basements, because the occurrence of damages also depends on the structural quality of the buildings and their foundations. The most interesting relationship observed is the one existing between piezometric changes, settlement evolution and local geology. Three main patterns of ground surface and piezometric level behaviour have been distinguished for the study zone during this period: 1) areas where deformation occurs while ground conditions remain altered (recent deformable sediments), 2) areas with no deformation (old and non-deformable materials), and 3) areas where ground deformation mimics piezometric level changes (expansive soils). The temporal relationship between deformation patterns and soil characteristics has been analysed in this work, showing a delay between them. Moreover, this technique has allowed the measurement of ground subsidence for a period (1993-1995) where no instrument information was available.

Spatiotemporal characteristics of the Huangtupo landslide in the Three Gorges region (China) constrained by radar interferometry

The Huangtupo landslide is one of the largest in the Three Gorges region, China. The county-seat town of Badong, located on the south shore between the Xiling and Wu gorges of the Yangtze River, was moved to this unstable slope prior to the construction of the Three Gorges Project, since the new Three Gorges reservoir completely submerged the location of the old city. The instability of the slope is affecting the new town by causing residential safety problems. The Huangtupo landslide provides scientists an opportunity to understand landslide response to fluctuating river water level and heavy rainfall episodes, which is essential to decide upon appropriate remediation measures. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques provide a very useful tool for the study of superficial and spatially variable displacement phenomena. In this paper, three sets of radar data have been processed to investigate the Huangtupo landslide. Results show that maximum displacements are affecting the northwest zone of the slope corresponding to Riverside slumping mass I#. The other main landslide bodies (i.e. Riverside slumping mass II#, Substation landslide and Garden Spot landslide) exhibit a stable behaviour in agreement with in situ data, although some active areas have been recognized in the foot of the Substation landslide and Garden Spot landslide. InSAR has allowed us to study the kinematic behaviour of the landslide and to identify its active boundaries. Furthermore, the analysis of the InSAR displacement time-series has helped recognize the different displacement patterns on the slope and their relationships with various triggering factors. For those persistent scatterers, which exhibit long-term displacements, they can be decomposed into a creep model (controlled by geological conditions) and a superimposed recoverable term (dependent on external factors), which appears closely correlated with reservoir water level changes close to the river's edge. These results, combined with in situ data, provide a comprehensive analysis of the Huangtupo landslide, which is essential for its management.

A three-stage DEA model to evaluate learning-teaching technical efficiency: Key performance indicators and contextual variables

This study evaluates the technical efficiency of the learning-teaching process in higher education using a three-stage procedure that offers advances in comparison to previous studies and improves the quality of the results. First, it utilizes a multiple stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with contextual variables. Second, the levels of super efficiency are calculated in order to prioritize the efficiency units. And finally, through sensitivity analysis, the contribution of each key performance indicator (KPI) is established with respect to the efficiency levels without omission of variables. The analytical data was collected from a survey completed by 633 tourism students during the 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 academic course years. The results suggest that level of satisfaction with the course, diversity of materials and satisfaction with the teacher were the most important factors affecting teaching performance. Furthermore, the effect of the contextual variables was found to be significant.

The Revision of the Insurance Mediation Rules at EU Level and its Impact on Consumer Protection

The European Commission has put forward a new proposal for a directive on insurance mediation which should provide for significant changes in practices of selling insurance products and guarantee enhanced level of consumer protection. This proposal accompanies other regulatory initiatives in the insurance sector, all of them pursuing three main objectives: firstly, a strengthened insurance supervision with convergent supervisory standards at EU level; secondly, a better risk management of insurance companies; and thirdly a greater protection of policyholders. All these initiatives contribute to the EU programme on consumer protection and herald a new approach to EU insurance regulation and supervision. However, while the new supervisory rules are a direct response to the financial crisis and shortcomings of crossborder cooperation between national supervisors, the plans for the revision of insurance mediation rules were conceived much earlier due to scandals with mis-selling of insurance products in the United States and some EU Member States. This article will focus entirely on the Commission’s initiative in the consumer mediation area and the aspects of insurance supervision and risk management will be dealt with in separate articles.

Aggressive incidents inside a Montreal barroom involving patrons, barmaids and bouncers : a micro level examination of routine activity theory

Objectives: This article further examines the phenomenon of aggression inside barrooms by relying on the “bouncer-ethnographer” methodology. The objective is to investigate variations in aggression through time and space according to the role and routine of the target in a Montreal barroom. Thus, it provides an examination of routine activity theory at the micro level: the barroom. Methods: For a period of 258 nights of observation in a Canadian barroom, bouncers completed reports on each intervention and provided specific information regarding what happened, when and where within the venue. In addition, the bouncer-ethnographer compiled field observations and interviews with bar personnel in order to identify aggression hotspots and “rush hours” for three types of actors within barrooms: (a) bouncers, (b) barmaids and (c) patrons. Findings: Three different patterns emerged for shifting hotspots of aggression depending on the target. As the night progresses, aggressive incidents between patrons, towards barmaids and towards bouncers have specific hotspots and rush hours influenced by the specific routine of the target inside the barroom. Implications: The current findings enrich those of previous work by pointing to the relevance of not only examining the environmental characteristics of the barroom, but also the role of the target of aggression. Crime opportunities follow routine activities, even within a specific location on a micro level. Routine activity theory is thus relevant in this context, because as actors in differing roles follow differing routines, as do their patterns of victimization.

A parallel currency for Greece. CEPS High-level Brief, 20 May 2015

Greece and its creditors seem to be engaged in a game of chicken: both sides expect the other to yield at the last moment. The game will almost certainly end with each side deviating somewhat from its preferred course. This High-Level Brief discusses how a parallel currency could contribute to a resolution of the conflict. In the author's view, it would be the least-bad option for both sides among three possible options on the table.

Individual and group level trajectories of behavioural development in Border collies.

In order to assess dogs’ personality changes during ontogeny, a cohort of 69 Border collies was followed up from six to 18–24 months. When the dogs were 6, 12, and 18–24 months old, their owners repeatedly filled in a dog personality questionnaire (DPQ), which yielded five personality factors divided into fifteen facets. All five DPQ factors were highly correlated between the three age classes, indicating that the dogs’ personality remained consistent relative to other individuals. Nonetheless, at the group level significant changes with age were found for four of the five DPQ factors. Fearfulness, Aggression towards People, Responsiveness to Training and Aggression towards Animals increased with age; only Activity/Excitability did not change significantly over time. These changes in DPQ factor scores occurred mainly between the ages of 6 and 12 months, although some facets changed beyond this age. No sex differences were found for any of the tested factors or facets, suggesting that individual variation in personality was greater than male/female differences. There were significant litter effects for the factors Fearfulness, Aggression towards People and Activity/Excitability, indicating either a strong genetic basis for these traits or a high influence of the shared early environment. To conclude, from the age of six months, consistency in personality relative to other individuals can be observed in Border collies. However, at the group level, increases in fearful and aggressive behaviours occur up to 12 months and for some traits up to two years, highlighting the need for early interventions. Follow-up studies are needed to assess trajectories of personality development prior to six months and after two years, and to include a wider variety of breeds.

Total V9 rDNA information organized at the metabarcode level (Database W4)

The present data set provides a tab separated text file compressed in a zip archive. The file includes metadata for each TaraOceans V9 rDNA metabarcode including the following fields: md5sum = unique identifier; lineage = taxonomic path associated to the metabarcode; pid = % identity to the closest reference barcode from V9_PR2; sequence = nucleotide sequence of the metabarcode; refs = identity of the best hit reference sequence(s); TARA_xxx = number of occurrences of this barcode in each of the 334 samples; totab = total abundance of the barcode ; cid = identifier of the OTU to which the barcode belongs; and taxogroup = high-taxonomic level assignation of this barcode. The file also includes three categories of functional annotations: (1) Chloroplast: yes, presence of permanent chloroplast; no, absence of permanent chloroplast ; NA, undetermined. (2) Symbiont (small partner): parasite, the species is a parasite; commensal, the species is a commensal; mutualist, the species is a mutualist symbiont, most often a microalgal taxon involved in photosymbiosis; no the species is not involved in a symbiosis as small partner; NA, undetermined. (3) Symbiont (host): photo, the host species relies on a mutualistic microalgal photosymbiont to survive (obligatory photosymbiosis); photo_falc, same as photo, but facultative relationship; photo_klep, the host species maintains chloroplasts from microalgal prey(s) to survive; photo_klep_falc, same as photo_klep, but facultative; Nfix, the host species must interact with a mutualistic symbiont providing N2 fixation to survive; Nfix_falc, same as Nfix, but facultative; no, the species is not involved in any mutualistic symbioses; NA, undetermined. For example, the collodarian/Brandtodinium symbiosis is annotated: Chloroplast, "no"; Symbiont (small), "no"; Symbiont (host), "photo", for the collodarian host; and: Chloroplast, "yes"; Symbiont (small), "mutualist"; Symbiont (host), "no", for the dinoflagellate microalgal endosymbiont.chloroplast = "yes", "no" or "NA"; symbiont.small = "parasite", "commensal", "mutualist", "no" or "NA"; symbiont.host = "photo", "photo_falc", "photo_klep", "Nfix", no or NA; benef = "Nfix", "no" or "NA"; trophism = Metazoa , heterotroph , NA , photosymbiosis , phototroph according to the previous fields.

Three Essays on the Economics of International Migration [electronic resource].

requirements for Filipino performing artists, effectively closing this migration channel. I employ a difference-in-differences estimation strategy using the share of performing artists at baseline in each Philippine province as a continuous policy variable. International migration falls in response to the policy change by 1.2%. The effect on international migration is larger than the policy change itself would suggest, indicating the importance of spillovers across migrant occupations. Domestically, more children are employed, and adults are more likely to be unemployed or engaged in short-term work.

Moderating effect of allocentrism on the pay referent comparison-pay level satisfaction relationship

Pay referent comparisons (comparisons of one's salary to that of others) such as other-inside (salary of other people in the organisation), other-outside (the market rate), and cost-of- living, have been shown to influence pay level satisfaction. Bordia and Blau (1998) identified family as another referent that had a significant effect on pay level satisfaction in a sample of public and private sector employees in India. The finding was interpreted in view of the importance of family in collectivistic cultures. In the study reported here, the moderating influence of an individual differences variable, allocentrism-idiocentrism (the individual level conceptualisation of collectivism-individualism) on pay referent comparison-pay level satisfaction relationship was investigated. A sample of 146 employees from three public sector organisations in India participated in the study. In line with the predictions, results showed that after controlling for age, tenure, and pay level, pay referent comparisons explained more variance in pay level satisfaction for allocentrics than for idiocentrics. Family and pay level were stronger explanatory variables of pay level satisfaction for allocentrics and idiocentrics, respectively, while cost of living was a significant explanatory variable for both sub-groups.

Three lenses into the cardiac dyad: calcium signaling, microtubule trafficking, and junctional sarcoplasmic reticular mobility

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Multilevel coherence effects in a two-level atom driven by a trichromatic field

We study the absorption and dispersion properties of a weak probe field monitoring a two-level atom driven by a trichromatic field. We calculate the steady-state linear susceptibility and find that the system can produce a number of multilevel coherence effects predicted for atoms composed of three and more energy levels. Although the atom has only one transition channel, the multilevel effects are possible because there are multichannel transitions between dressed states induced by the driving field. In particular, we show that the system can exhibit multiple electromagnetically induced transparency and can also produce a strong amplification at the central frequency which is not attributed to population inversion in both the atomic bare states and in the dressed atomic states. Moreover, we show that the absorption and dispersion of the probe field is sensitive to the initial relative phase of the components of the driving field. In addition, we show that the group velocity of the probe field can be controlled by changing the initial relative phases or frequencies of the driving fields and can also be varied from subluminal to superluminal. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Gray's model of personality and aggregate level factor analysis

Previous research shows that correlations tend to increase in magnitude when individuals are aggregated across groups. This suggests that uncorrelated constellations of personality variables (such as the primary scales of Extraversion and Neuroticism) may display much higher correlations in aggregate factor analysis. We hypothesize and report that individual level factor analysis can be explained in terms of Giant Three (or Big Five) descriptions of personality, whereas aggregate level factor analysis can be explained in terms of Gray's physiological based model. Although alternative interpretations exist, aggregate level factor analysis may correctly identify the basis of an individual's personality as a result of better reliability of measures due to aggregation. We discuss the implications of this form of analysis in terms of construct validity, personality theory, and its applicability in general. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Effects of chronic exposure to low-level cadmium on renal tubular function and CYP2A6-mediated coumarin metabolism in healthy human subjects

Relationships between cadmium (Cd) body burden, kidney function and coumarin metabolism were investigated using two groups of 197 and 200 healthy Thais with men and women in nearly equal numbers. A mean age of one group was 30.5 years and it was 39.3 years for the other group. Of 397, 20 subjects (5%) excreted urine Cd between 1.4 mug/g and 3.8 mug/g creatinine and these subjects faced 10-15% increase in the probability of having abnormal urinary excretion of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG-uria). The prevalence of NAG-uria varied with Cd body burden in a dose-dependent manner (chi(2) = 22, P < 0.008). Also NAG-nuria was one of the three kidney effect markers tested that showed the greatest strength of correlation with urine Cd in both men and women (r = 0.48 P < 0.001). In addition, urine Cd excretion of men and women showed a positive correlation (r = 0.46 to 0.54. P < 0.001) with urine 7-hydroxycoumarin (7-OHC) excretion which was used as a marker of liver cytochrome P450 2A6 (CYP2A6) enzyme activity. Urinary CA excretion accounted for 25% of the total variation in urine 7-OHC excretion (P < 0.001). These data suggest that Cd may increase the expression of CYP2A6 in liver, resulting in enhanced coumarin metabolism in subjects with high Cd body burden. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Explaining variations in the knowledge economy in three small wealthy countries

At a broad level, it has been shown that different institutional contexts, policy regimes and business systems affect the kinds of activities in which a nation specialises. This paper is concerned with the way in which different national business systems affect the nature of participation of a nation in the knowledge economy. The paper seeks to explain cross-national variations in the knowledge economy in the Australia, Denmark and Sweden with reference to dominant characteristics of the business system. Although Australia, Denmark and Sweden are all small wealthy countries, they each have quite distinctive business systems. Australia has been regarded as a variant of the competitive business system and has generally been described as an entrepreneurial economy with a large small firm population. In contrast Sweden has a coordinated business system that has favoured large industrial firms. The Danish variant of the coordinated model, with its well-developed vocational training system, is distinguishable by its large population of networked small and medium size enterprises. The three countries also differ significantly on two dimensions of participation in the knowledge economy. First, there is cross-national variation in patterns of specialisation in knowledge intensive industries and services. Second, the institutional infrastructure of the knowledge economy (or the existing stock of knowledge and competence in the economy, the potential for generation and diffusion a new knowledge and the capacity for commercialisation of new ideas) differs across the three countries. This paper seeks to explain variations in these two dimensions of the knowledge economy with reference to characteristics of the business system in the three countries.