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This paper draws on data from over 60 students in order to find out how disruptive students viewed disrupted classes. The purpose of this research was to prepare training for tutors who were finding disruptive classes difficult to teach. Classes were identified as ‘disruptive’ by their tutors and then the researcher was asked by managers to give some training to the relevant tutors. The scope of this small-scale research was to report on the findings of what students said about disruptive classes. The rationale behind the research was that if we could find out what disruptive students said they wanted, teachers might be in a better position to teach them. The problem then was how to frame questions so that they would be understandable by the students and yet produce meaningful, authentic data. The findings showed that several students from these classes said that they had been involved in physical and verbal violence in class and that learning was compromised. From this research it emerged that the sample of students from classes identified as disruptive by their teachers said that their preferred sessions would be supportive, respectful, one-to-one; they would learn more, be involved in discussions and enjoyed practical work. In other words all the features that would be associated with normative good practice in teaching and learning. The consequent challenge implicit in this research is how to help teachers communicate these strategies, attitudes and values in a disruptive and challenging environment.

A glass melter for use in processing radioactive waste is a challenging environment for the materials of construction (MOC) resulting from a combination of high temperatures, chemical attack, and erosion/corrosion; therefore, highly engineered materials must be selected for this application. The focus of this report is to review the testing and evaluations used in the selection of the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), glass contact MOC specifically the Monofrax® K-3 refractory and Inconel® 690 alloy. The degradation or corrosion mechanisms of these materials during pilot scale testing and in-service operation were analyzed over a range of oxidizing and reducing flowsheets; however, DWPF has primarily processed a reducing flowsheet (i.e., Fe2+/ΣFe of 0.09 to 0.33) since the start of radioactive operations. This report also discusses the materials selection for the DWPF off-gas system and the corrosion evaluation of these materials during pilot scale testing and non-radioactive operations of DWPF Melter #1. Inspection of the off-gas components has not been performed during radioactive operations with the exception of maintenance because of plugging.

The number of biomaterial scaffolds for tissue engineering applications continues to rise and holds promise for regenerative medicine. However, the complexity of the immune response poses a challenging environment for implanted biomaterial scaffolds for tissue repair. Specifically, the innate immune responses characterized by tissue infiltrating neutrophils and macrophages have been shown to govern either pro-inflammatory or tissue reparative microenvironments at the local site of tissue injury depending on their activation and phenotypic status. Thus, a selective strategy for developing immune-modulatory biomaterial scaffolds to improve the modulation of innate immune reactions may offer attractive features for tissue regeneration. The focus of this chapter is to discuss recent progress in the development of biomaterial scaffolds for modulating immune responses and their potential application for tissue repair. Specifically, important design variables for fabricating immuno-modulatory biomaterial scaffolds are highlighted.

As we proceed through our professional lives, it is essential that we challengeourselves in order to continue to develop our genetic counseling skills. Conferences, workshops,post-graduate courses, journal clubs, and involvement in professional organizations havebecome the traditional methods of continuing education for post-graduate geneticcounselors. While these forums address the need to stay updated on scientific orinformation-based topics, there is little available to counselors to promote growth incounseling skills. A group of Boston-based genetic counselors describe how their leader-ledsupervision group has established a setting to meet the needs of its members both forsupport and continued counseling training. We outline here the evolution of this group andhow it has become a valued part of our professional lives. We feel that the model of leader-ledpeer supervision holds great value in helping genetic counselors continue to enhancetheir interpersonal skills in a supportive, safe, and challenging environment. It is our hopethat others will elect to form similar groups in their own communities, thereby creating newopportunities for growth within the genetic counseling profession.

Background Surgical knowledge production has changed dramatically in the last 30 y, moving away from investigations by individual surgeon researchers and toward remote and interdisciplinary research. We investigated how surgeons make decisions about engaging in research and identify motivators, facilitators, and barriers to conducting research in an increasingly challenging environment. Materials and methods We performed a qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with surgeons from academic medical centers across the United States. We asked participants to describe their experiences and opinions regarding remote and interdisciplinary collaborations. Results Of 64 surgeon researchers invited, 21 (33%) agreed and participated in semistructured interviews. Each interview lasted an average (standard deviation) of 29 min (12). Surgeons were motivated by both internal and external factors, including some that might be identified as barriers. The internal desire to improve care and the need for collaboration to address increasingly complex questions requiring larger samples sizes emerged as most significant to interview participants. Social networks were identified as the dominant facilitator of multisite research, with technology playing a supporting role. Barriers to remote and interdisciplinary research ranged from individual, “micro” level barriers, through structural barriers that include institutional level challenges and competing priorities, to macrolevel system and policy-level barriers. Conclusions Surgeons clearly recognize the importance of high-quality research aligned with current paradigms of clinical care and are using remote and interdisciplinary collaboration to improve the quality of the science they produce and align their work with the demand for increasingly high levels of evidence.

Atlanta is a post-salt oil field located in the original Block BS-4 ring fence, 185 km off the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the Santos Basin, Brazil, under water depth of approximately 1550 m. However, Atlanta Field is not just another ultra-deepwater project; for its development, several other challenges shall be overcome, such as the low burial depth, its highly unconsolidated sandstone reservoir, the heavy and viscous crude flow assurance, the need for high power artificial lift pumping system, and the complex crude treatment at topsides, among others. The field was discovered in 2001, followed by an appraisal program with a vertical well drilled yet in the same year to test the high porosity Eocenic unconsolidated sandstones and sample its heavy and viscous oil (14°API and 228 cP in reservoir conditions). In 2006, a horizontal well proposed to test the field development concept cast a shadow in the reliability of the project after facing several drilling, completion and production problems imposed by the high challenging environment. These included poor directional control leading to phase abandonment and well sidetracking, massive fluid loss, gravel packing failure, ESP operational issues, partially conclusive drill stem test (DST), and a severe damaged wellbore (skin = 40). After considering technology improvements and revisiting development concepts, an extensive preparation and a complete assessment of past operations were performed. During 2013 and 2014 the consortium led the drilling, completion and testing of the first two horizontal producers planned for the field development. Wells were drilled with good directional control and barely any fluid loss, reproducing with great fidelity the proposed trajectory. They were both completed with sand control screens and gravel packed throughout the 800 m near horizontal (88°) section in the reservoir. A slant section of 80 m was constructed just before reaching the reservoir for electrical submersible pump (ESP) installation. The DSTs were conducted with ESP both near the reservoir and near the seabed to test the performance of different artificial lift concepts. Results confirmed the high reservoir permeability and the great performance of the drilling and completion phases, delivering the first two producers of the field with no formation damage. Productivity indexes for both wells were in the high end of the expected performance. This paper presents a full review of the Atlanta Field, emphasizing its main challenges and how they were overcome by the successful construction and testing of the first two production wells, recovering the reliability of the project and encouraging the consortium to move on to the next phase. Also, the updated field development plan is described, highlighting the challenges to be faced during the next phase of the project.

Forisomes protein belongs to SEO gene family and is unique to Fabaceae family. These proteins are located in sieve tubes of phloem and function to prevent loss of nutrient-rich photoassimilates, upon mechanical injury/wounding. Forisome protein is also known as ATP independent, mechanically active proteins. Despite the wealth of information role of forisome in plants are not yet fully understood. Recent reports suggest that forisomes protein can act as ideal model to study self assembly mechanism for development of nanotechnological devices like microfluidic system application in space exploration mission. Improvement in micro instrument is highly demanding and has been a key technology by NASA in future space exploration missions. Based on its physical parameters, forisome are found to be ideal biomimetic materials for micro fluidic system because the conformational shifts can be replicated in vitro and are fully reversible over large number of cycles. By the use of protein engineering forisome recombinant protein can be tailored. Due to its unique ability to convert chemical energy into mechanical energy forisome has received much attention. For nanotechnological application and handling biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, protein and cell as a whole microfluidic system will be the most powerful technology. The discovery of new biomimetic smart materials has been a key factor in development of space science and its requirements in such a challenging environment. The field of microfludic, particularly in terms of development of its components along with identification of new biomimetic smart materials, deserves more attention. More biophysical investigation is required to characterize it to make it more suitable under parameters of performance.

The High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will provide unprecedented instantaneous and integrated luminosities. The CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) will face a challenging environment at the HL-LHC: higher event pileup, higher radiation levels for the crystals and photo-detectors, and a higher rate of anomalous signals from the Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) used for the light readout in the ECAL Barrel. A redesign of the ECAL electronics (including an increase in trigger rate and latency) is planned in order to mitigate these challenges and to maintain the excellent physics performance of the detector.

Social networks have grown massively in the last few years and have become a lot more than mere message exchange platforms. Apart from serving purposes such as linking friends and family, job linking or news feeding, their nearly pervasive nature and presence in day-to-day activities make them the biggest potential market and access platform to hundreds of millions of customers ever built. Faced with such a complex and challenging environment, we claim that introducing innovation in an efficient way in such networks is of extreme importance. In this paper, we put forward a mechanism to select suitable entry points in the network to introduce the innovation, so fostering its acceptance and enhancing its diffusion. To do this, we use the underlying structure of the network as well as the influencing power some users exercise over others. We present results of testing our approach with both a Facebook dataset and different examples of random networks.

Capacities for and constraints of heat dissipation are considered to be important factors governing maximum intensity and duration of physical activity. Subterranean mammals are endurance diggers, but because of lack of air currents in their burrows, high relative humidity and other physical constraints, the capacity of common mammalian cooling mechanisms underground is very limited. We analyzed surface and body core temperature changes after digging in soft and hard substrates in two species of African mole-rats (Bathyergidae, Rodentia); the social giant mole-rat Fukomys mechowii and the solitary silvery mole-rat Heliophobius argenteocinereus. As expected, we observed an increase of body core temperature in both species after digging in both substrates. Surprisingly, and contrary to our expectations, we observed remarkable decrease of mole-rats' surface temperature immediately after the end of the digging trials. This decrease was greater in soft and moister soil than that in hard and drier soil. Our results suggest that mole-rats may effectively avoid overheating in burrows by effective cooling while digging, especially in wet soil. This indicates that burrowing in soils moistened by rains could be easier than previously thought contributing thus to mole-rats success in challenging environment of subterranean burrows.

In this chapter the key elements and characteristics of what constitutes the structure of a protein, along with the associated nomenclature that underlines the vocabulary of this subject are reviewed. Once delineated the discussion proceeds to explain how these unique structural properties of proteins play out in creating the challenging environment that needs to be studied, understood and overcome in order to develop a successful protein biopharmaceutical. Effectively, this chapter lays out the biophysical battlefield the biopharmaceutical scientist must transverse through to capture the rewards of achieving the successful approval of a protein drug product.

This article summarizes the experience of the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in the organization of the Student Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge-Europe (SAUC-E) and euRathlon 2014 competitions. SAUC-E (http://sauc- europe.org/) started in 2006 in the UK and has been hosted by CMRE in La Spezia, Italy, since 2010. Each year SAUC-E challenges multidisciplinary University teams to design and build Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) capable of performing realistic missions. The AUVs must perform a series of tasks autonomously in the CMRE sea basin which represents a realistic and challenging environment characterized by limited visibility and salt water. The aim of SAUC-E is to act as a driver to bridge the gap between theory and practice often affecting universities' studies. The success of SAUC-E also contributed to the European Robotics Athlon project - euRathlon (http://www.eurathlon.eu/). In October 2014 a marine robotics competition in the framework of euRathlon was organized by CMRE at its basin and in nearby waters, featuring challenges different than SAUC-E's and inspired by the 2011 Fukushima disaster. This experience will lead to the organization in Piombino, Italy, in September 2015, of the first world competition in which autonomous flying, land, and sea robots will work together to achieve a disaster response goal.

The interior of a nuclear reactor presents a particularly harsh and challenging environment for both sensors and telemetry due to high temperatures and high fluxes of energetic and ionizing particles among the radioactive decay products. Very High Temperature Reactors are pushing the in core temperatures even higher. A unique sensing approach will be discussed to address the necessary high temperature measurements. Thermoacoustic thermometry exploits high temperatures and uses materials that are immune to the effects of ionizing radiation to create a temperature sensor that is self-powered and wireless. In addition, the form-factor for the Thermoacoustic Thermometer (TACT) can be designed to be integrated within common in-pile structures. There are no physical moving parts required for TACT and the sensor is self-powered, as it uses the nuclear fuel for its heat source. TACT data will be presented from a laboratory prototype mimicking the design necessary for a VHTR graphite structure.

We investigated the link between thermal quality and the effectiveness of thermoregulation in milk snakes in a thermally challenging environment. We defined thermoregulatory effectiveness as the extent to which an individual maintains its body temperature (Tb) closer to the preferred range (Tset) than allowed by the thermal quality of its environment. We defined thermal quality as the magnitude of the difference between operative environmental temperatures (Te) and Tset. Because ectotherms regulate body temperatures through choice of habitat and behavioural adjustments, we also examined the link between thermoregulation, habitat use and behaviour. During 2003-2004, we located 25 individuals 890 times, and recorded their Tb. Thermal quality was lower in the spring and fall than in the summer, and was lower in forests than in open habitats. Milk snakes thermoregulated more effectively in the spring than in the summer and fall, and more effectively in the forest than in open habitats. Milk snakes had a strong preference for open habitats in all seasons, which was likely to facilitate behavioural thermoregulation. The preference for open habitats was equally strong in all seasons and, therefore, the higher effectiveness of thermoregulation was not a result of altered habitat use. Instead, milk snakes modified their behaviour and were seen basking more and moved less in the spring than in the summer.

ABSTRACT The huge number of horizontal wells drilled in complex reservoirs and the development of more accurate logging while drilling (LWD) technologies offer to the oil&gas companies the opportunity to reduce operational risks and save time and costs, by replacing wireline acquisition with LWD tools. This paper describe a new acquisition strategy based on advanced LWD tools recently made available also in 6" hole size. Thanks to this technology it was possible to provide a reliable reservoir characterization and to identify the best fluid path in horizontal infilling wells drilled into tight and fractured carbonatic reservoir. Economic and HSE aspects have been strongly considered in the illustrated strategy. The integrated analysis of advanced sonic and resistive image while drilling logs provided the essential information to quantify the matrix and the secondary fractured porosity as well as the "mixed" porosity, and, in addition, fundamental data to clarify the reservoir quality where Tough Logging Conditions (TLC) cannot be through. The acoustic compressional arrivals contribute to porosity evaluation while the Stoneley waves interpretation allowed the detection of "open" natural fractures. In addition, recognized "open" fractures have been matched with mud losses events, Gas While Drilling and temperature profile. The producible intervals identified by the illustrated methodology agree with the response of the main production results. The approach has been validated by means of an accurate comparison between wireline and while drilling logs response, both available along an interval of a reference well section. The LWD technology has shown its capability to capture the different scale of phenomena occurring into fractured reservoirs. Thanks to the combination of technology, knowledge and people, well data acquisition can be conducted safely and with significant saving in term of operating time reduction. The additional information about fluid path detection can improve the efficiency of the well completion. INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF WORK The strong and continuous need to drill and produce high deviated or horizontal wells in the oil business was a heavy impulse to change vision on tool conveyance method moving from Wire Line (WL) to Logging While Drilling (LWD) acquisitions. The service companies in the last years spent a lot of effort in the LWD tool development and now days the quality and the completeness of the last generation LWD is comparable with the wire line technology in most case, and more useful in others. The operators choose the logging data acquisition strategy, while drilling or after drilling, based on project requirements. The LWD tool application not only can provide good performance but can also be an important opportunity to increase efficiency and safety. Few technologies have had a larger impact on these results than Logging While Drilling (LWD).

This article examines the aerospace defense sector and the national export control regime within which U.S. corporations operate. While the U.S. federal government plays many roles in this industry, the focus here is on its role as regulator of defense exports from the United States. From this vantage point, ten case studies illustrate the difficulties faced by companies in this challenging environment, and highlight factors that lead to noncompliance with U.S. government regulations. Firm performance effects are investigated, including impacts on profits, share price, and reputation. The paper concludes with implications for international management practice and international business research that reflect realities in the aerospace defense sector.

Puget Sound is known for its highly variable weather and ocean currents. Trip planning for this challenging environment is critical for boating safety. We conducted a survey of the Puget Sound boating community to determine their information needs. We used a web-based questionnaire supplemented with face-to-face surveys. We received 610 responses. The respondents represented a wide range of the boating community. The boaters' most important environmental need was for daily weather forecasts and their most desired forecast parameters were wind speed, currents, and wave height. Respondents also commented on their frustration with accessing the needed information. Analysis of this survey and guidance from an advisory panel are being used to develop a usercentered designed (UCD) web portal, the Boater Information System (BIS) that will attempt to improve the situation awareness (SA) for a diverse user group.

We developed a novel interface that gives upper-limb amputees a virtual hand that can manipulate objects in a challenging environment. The interface registers specific myokinetic activity of the residual limbs, and encodes the intended voluntary movements that are then actualized as virtual hand motions. The composite myokinetic interface-virtual reality (MKI-VR) system consists of an array of pressure sensors mounted in an arm sleeve, sensors of elbow- and shoulder-joint angles, a trained filter derived from the pseudoinverse of a response matrix, and a virtual hand model, programmed in Java 3D. Users can manipulate virtual objects such as balls and pegs in a 3D training environment, while their performance at various difficulty levels is scored. In preliminary tests, upper-limb amputees readily gained the ability to grasp and release virtual objects. We propose the utility of the MKI-VR system both as an assessment tool for rehabilitation engineers, and as a motivator for amputees to exercise and thereby maintain their residual motor ability.

The contemporary situation of the "war on terrorism" provides a particularly challenging environment in which to seek to interpret and apply Jesus' commandment to love our enemies. This commandment received major emphasis during the first few centuries of the church, but subsequent interpretation of it has become increasingly complex. Nevertheless, I argue for the broad applicability of the commandment and show that it provides a check against the polarizing and dehumanizing tendencies which accompany modern warfare, because an understanding of the love of enemies reveals that the real enemy is enmity itself. Finally, the article examines a group of sermons preached in the immediate aftermath of September 11 and concludes that while the majority neglect to speak of love for enemies, those preachers that do are able to bring it to bear in relevant and powerful ways.

THERE CAN BE no question that the hospital and healthcare environment has become increasingly complex and promises to become more complicated in the future. For hospitals and health systems and their boards of directors, this challenging environment will lead to much greater transparency and accountability to their community and to government. Having served as a chief executive officer (CEO) of a hospital and health system for 30 years, I have had the great pleasure of knowing and working with many community leaders who serve on health system boards. The quality of the individuals that I have been associated with in this capacity has been consistently exceptional. OVERALL OBSERVATIONS Challenges in Governance The feature articles associated with this commentary, "Building Better Boards in the New Era of Accountability," by Orlikoff, and "Priority Issues for Hospital Boards," by Middleton, present a realistic appraisal of a challenging and complex environment in which hospital and health system boards and their CEOs operate today-and, increasingly, tomorrow. Although these excellent articles present effective boards from different perspectives, they both do a wonderful job of framing tomorrow's issues and challenges. They also offer suggestions and insights that are necessary to consider. Both articles underscore the growing complexity of the healthcare environment. Whether the challenges are compliance with recent regulations-adhering to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, defending the tax-exempt status, measuring and reporting benefits to the community and to government, and satisfying the needs of bondholders-or compliance with regulatory issues in the future, we cannot serve our communities well unless we have effective boards. The focal point of this effectiveness is represented by the relationship between the CEO and the board, especially the board chair. As Middleton points out in his "Final Note" section, "the board cannot be at war with the CEO," and "the chair should be in regular communication with the CEO." That is good advice for a productive relationship. The CEO's Role The articles also point out that the CEO plays a key role in developing a more effective board. Creating effective orientation programs, requiring continuing education for members of the board, working with the board to select needed diverse expertise and experience in new board members, helping the board stay on mission and focus, and avoiding conflicts of interest are key areas where the CEO can directly enhance board effectiveness. Also, helping the board focus its meetings on the right issues, providing sufficient time to deliberate, and streamlining the process by which the board meets its accountability and compliance activities are effective strategies to assist the board in focusing its time on more appropriate issues. Given the complexity and regulatory challenges facing our boards, it is easy to understand how they might focus more attention on risk and compliance issues than on providing leadership and strategy to the organization. The competition for boards' time, energy, and resources must be preserved for the important; we cannot allow the urgent to crowd out that which is important, especially when the board is given the responsibility to meet the healthcare needs of our patients and our communities. REACTION TO MIDDLETON'S ARTICLE Middleton's feature article is full of practical insights, many of which I support and endorse. For example, the board must have a clear understanding of its role as the governing authority. If a hospital or health system board spends its time fulfilling management's role, then who fulfills the role of governance? Middleton talks about having too many committees-and I would add, perhaps too many boards-especially in multihospital systems representing diverse geographic areas. Too many boards and too many committees result in overly complicated decision-making processes and place too heavy a burden on management. …

An important element of the social horticulture program at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension has been the creation of school gardens to enhance educational efforts for children in Las Vegas. Since 2002, a variety of methods has been employed to train teachers and administrators in using gardens, and this has resulted in establishment of successful gardening programs. Southern Nevada has experienced a 400% population increase in 25 years. Results of surveys of area stakeholders between 2000 and 2002, Clark County elementary school staff in 2001, and Clark County school principals in 2004, indicate a desire to incorporate gardens in schools, but concerns about establishing and maintaining them persist. Furthermore, apprehension about trying to garden under challenging climatic conditions characteristic of the Mojave Desert is expressed frequently, as is hesitation about using gardens to enhance the school curriculum in at-risk schools. When offered training in use of gardens, however, a majority of principals surveyed responded positively. They also expressed interest in tracking the educational and social impacts of gardens on students and faculty. This article reports on results of community stakeholder meetings and surveys of Clark County schools, as well as the methods that are being used to create a school gardens program in the most rapidly growing metropolis in the United States.

The value of geophysical methods in investigating iron furnaces in North America (of which several hundred exist) has so far been poorly evaluated. We report on the magnetic gradiometer and electrical resistivity surveys conducted at the Shade iron furnace, Pennsylvania, USA, together with results from ground-truthing excavations. We find that (i) numerous useful data sets could be recorded despite challenging field conditions; (ii) reconnaissance gradiometer and resistivity data yield complementary information allowing large-scale site reconstruction; (iii) high-resolution resistivity data reflect archaeologically valuable site lithologies with decimetre-scale accuracy; and (iv) extreme absolute background values (several hundred nT) of, and spatial contrasts (several hundred to > 1000 nT) in, the gradiometer data are common owing to the presence of much burnt material and iron artefacts. We conclude that geophysical investigations of iron furnaces in North America may yield spatially extensive subsurface information of substantial archaeological value, which is impossible to obtain using traditional archaeological survey methods alone. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

C T g k b a he purpose of this final chapter is to present interesting cases requiring creative or demanding solutions for acropelvic unit (SPU) fixation from several busy spinal reonstruction practices. The pathology represented ranges rom infection, trauma, and degenerative disease to complex pinal deformity and tumor reconstruction. Considering the ide spectrum of pathology, the vast array of instrumentaion available, and the number of possible fixation points in he SPU, it is not surprising that many surgical options are vailable. Although the author’s (M.O.B.) predilection is for liac fixation in any situation requiring adjunctive sacropelvic nit fixation beyond S1, it is not always required. Depending n the biomechanics of the reconstruction, the available soft issue coverage, previous surgery, and available bone stock, ones 1, 2, or 3 fixation may be sufficient for a particular case. Inadequate fixation of the SPU can result in nonunion, instruentation failure, and deformity. Therefore, in this biomechanially challenging environment, more instrumentation rather han less may be better as a rule of thumb when considering xation to the SPU. Concerns regarding prominent distal hardare or sacroiliac joint irritation ought not to deter the spinal econstruction surgeon from utilizing this valuable anatomic eal estate to achieve immediate postreconstruction stabilization f the lumbosacral spine. Iliac fixation can always be removed if t is too prominent or if postoperative complaints develop, sugesting sacroiliac joint irritation. In the author’s experience

Alvinella pompejana is a polychaetous annelid that inhabits narrow tubes along the walls of high-temperature hydrothermal vent chimneys. The worm hosts a rich community of epibiotic bacteria that coats its dorsal surface. Although the worm tube microhabitat is a challenging environment to sample, characterizing the thermal and geochemical regime is important for understanding the ecology of the worm and its bacteria, as the worm spends most of its time inside the tube. We characterized the physicochemical conditions of diffuse hydrothermal flow inside inhabited worm tubes using in situ analysis and wet chemical analysis of discrete water samples. Thermistor probes deployed inside worm tubes measured temperatures ranging from 28.6°C to 84.0°C, while temperatures at tube orifices ranged from 7.5°C to 40.0°C. In situ electrochemical analysis of tube fluids revealed undetectable oxygen (

A Web-based survey was conducted to determine usage of information and communication technologies by faculty for research and teaching. Respondents expressed their preferences regarding library electronic materials and services. Survey results highlighted solutions to help faculty in this era of information overload and rapid development of technologies. Constraints preventing the library from efficient services are discussed, and recommendations for improving existing library services and developing new ones are presented.

Kuphus polythalamia, a giant among the bivalve shipworms, or Teredinidae, departs from other family members in terms of how it relies on its microbiome to survive in a challenging environment, according to Daniel Distel of Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. Exotic in other ways, woodrats living in Southwestern U.S. deserts rely on their microbiomes to thrive on plants that harbor otherwise harmful toxins, according to Denise Dearing of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. They and other scientists presented their recent findings at a symposium, “Expanding Host Capabilities through the Microbiome,” during the 2016 ASM Microbe Meeting, held last June in Boston.

Monitoring the status of preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides a unique and challenging environment for the design, function and use of sensor-based monitoring equipment. This article presents an overview of sensor-based instrumentation used in the NICU for physiological and chemical status monitoring, and discusses some of the key sensing principles currently in use. The clinical demand for reliable patient data at acceptable cost is driving the development of new types of monitoring technologies, in particular for continuous blood-chemistry analysis. We describe some of the new sensor- based products finding their way into the NICU, together with a review of the more promising emerging sensor technologies that might eventually be incorporated into routine neonatal monitoring practice.

Novel applications of digital technologies promise to revolutionize the battlefield of the Infantry Warfighter by expanding the information available to all echelons through enhanced acquisition, faster access and wider distribution. The integration of this information into a coherent picture is the essence of the Warfighter's Situation Awareness (SA), which provides the basis for sound decision-making and enhanced performance. This study investigates areas of SA that are considered problematic by the soldiers who train new Infantry Platoon Leaders, identifying strategic target areas for future training efforts. The number and variety of items identified as significant problem areas for SA support the concept of the multidimensional nature of SA within the Infantry arena. This research provides a framework for development of targeted training programs to better equip our fighting forces to establish and maintain superior levels of SA in the challenging environment of Infantry operations.

As the United States sent its military forces to engage in operations in Afghanistan, commentators struggled to understand, explain, and criticize the political, security, and legal arguments marshaled to justify the violence. For many scholars, the normal response involves the review of literature addressing history, politics, and the laws of war. Unfortunately, the literature in those fields seems to move independently, with each discipline offering little reference to the learning offered by the others. More important, these disciplines offer very little guidance in the new and unexpected situation occasioned by a "war against terrorism." History offers no precedent analogous to the assault by two small bands of individuals that caused the collapse of two huge buildings, killing nearly 3,000 innocent victims. Political science offers no wisdom that can facilitate the peaceful resolution of a conflict in which one side can only be satisfied with the total destruction of the other. The laws of war offer no doctrines capable of reliably constraining conflicts between states and amorphous groups bent on suicidal annihilation of noncombatants. From a number of perspectives, the path of historical change in warfare has diverged dramatically from the applicable body of law; new forms of conflict now pose dramatic challenges to the legal tradition. In this article, I explore four works that indirectly reflect the difficulties confronting any effort to make sense of current conflicts using traditional concepts. The works discussed reveal the challenging environment that circumscribes the evolution of the traditional laws of war into norms for the modern era.

Graduates in the library and information profession face a challenging environment. There are few employment opportunities and work is often at a lower level than that appropriate to the qualifications gained. New graduates to the profession encounter both positive and negative attitudes towards them within workplaces. This paper discusses how these issues have impacted on us as new graduates and led to the formation of SALIN (South Australian Library and Information Network).

In this paper, we discuss how Go, a strategy game widely played in Asia and other parts of the world, provides a rich, challenging environment for capstone and undergraduate research projects. We first describe the game itself and the characteristics that make it appropriate for more advanced undergraduate projects. We then discuss several projects that our students have pursued over the last three years, and we share observations that may be helpful to other computer science educators.

There are increasing calls for evidence-based medicine, suggesting the need for both further rigorous evaluation of medical practice and implementation of results as they become available. In the important area of emergency medical services for children (EMSC), many practices remain unevaluated. Some of these, such as prehospital spine immobilization, are associated with significant distress, if not frank morbidity. As EMSC research evolves, the development of appropriate methodologies to address the unique challenges and concerns of EMSC has gained particular attention. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs), with their carefully specified design and implementation features, provide a rigorous method for developing knowledge1–3 and frequently serve as the standard by which to measure the adequacy of other clinical research. The aspects of their conduct, from the ethics of recruitment4,5 to biostatistical analysis,6,7 constitute a large and evolving literature. Do RCTs therefore provide the optimal method for conducting rigorous EMSC research? We consider RCTs from this perspective, briefly reviewing their key characteristics and then considering the question posed by the title. To do so, we identify both key limitations of RCTs and relevant strengths that might be more generally applicable in EMSC research. Throughout the paper, we focus on a specific and well-recognized RCT conducted in EMSC to illustrate the general points raised. In 2000, Gausche and colleagues8 published the results of a remarkable RCT designed to test the value of 2 alternative treatments in the uniquely challenging environment of pediatric prehospital care: endotracheal intubation (ETI) and bag-mask ventilation (BMV). Requiring what one commentator described as a ‘‘Herculean’’ effort,9 the

The central arm spectrometers for the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have been designed for the optimization of particle identification in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The spectrometers present a challenging environment for event reconstruction due to a very high track multiplicity in a complicated, focusing, magnetic field. In order to meet this challenge, nine distinct detector types are integrated for charged particle tracking, momentum reconstruction, and particle identification. The techniques which have been developed for the task of event reconstruction are described., Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instrum. A. 34 pages, 23 figures

Museums are excellent locations for testing ubiquitous systems; the Exploratorium in San Francisco offers a unique and challenging environment for just such a system. An important design consideration is how users switch between virtual and physical interactions.

Research requiring radioactive ion beams (RIBs) are rapidly expanding worldwide. On-line-isotope-separation RIB facilities, in particular, present a unique and challenging environment for ion source operation. Ion sources are required to ionize short-lived isotopes, in a very high radiation environment, efficiently, rapidly, reliably, and selectively so that beams with small emittances can be formed, mass separated, and transported to experiments and accelerators. Various types of ion sources have been constructed and modified to satisfy the scientific and technical requirements. This paper reviews some of the ion source challenges and solutions.

Prison librarians work in a unique and challenging environment. The demands of the job are taxing since these positions require an exercise of a librarian's entire range of skills and knowledge as well as successful adaptation in the hierarchical structure of a correctional institution. This article provides an inside look at the institutional environment, prison security concerns, inmate patrons and library usage, library collections and services, and the day-to-day operation of a prison library and offersrecommendations for the professional development of such libraries.

A etnografia nos ajuda a pensar a escola pública brasileira ao analisar uma série de questões que revelam um ambiente desafiador, muitas vezes, conflituoso. O olhar diferenciado para as relações sociais entre os sujeitos escolares, como professores, alunos, núcleo diretivo e outros profissionais é significativo. Essas relações sociais têm a possibilidade de serem reconstruídas e fundamentadas em um ambiente que visualiza os conflitos nas reais dimensões, buscando as causas e pensando uma contralógica, a prevenção. Para isso, faz-se necessária a desnaturalização de uma cultura punitiva, que fundamenta e amplia os conflitos e a violência escolares. Este artigo traz reflexões sobre a pesquisa “Mediação de conflitos e restauração da paz na Escola Pública: Narrativas e experiências”, realizada na cidade de Fortaleza (Ceará-Brasil), por meio de iniciativas pioneiras para a implementação de um projeto de mediação de conflitos e práticas restaurativas nas escolas públicas do Ceará., Ethnography helps us to think about the Brazilian public schools by analyzing a series of questions that reveal a often conflicting challenging environment. The differentiated look at the social relations among the school subjects, such as teachers, students, core board and other professionals is significant. These social relations have the possibility of being reconstructed and based on an environment that visualizes the conflicts in real dimensions, searching the causes and thinking the againstlogic, the prevention. In order to do so, it is necessary to denaturalize a punitive culture, which underlies and amplifies school conflicts and violence. This article reflects on the research "Conflict mediation and restoration of peace in the Public School: narratives and experiences", held in the city of Fortaleza (Ceará-Brazil), through pioneering initiatives for the implementation of a conflict mediation project and restorative practices in public schools in Ceará.

Janet Scammell, Associate Professor (Nursing), Bournemouth University, discusses the challenging environment nurses are working in and the role of resilience in creating a sustainable NHS workforce

These days, teaching languages – English in particular – has become an ever more complex and challenging task due to the fact that groups of students are eclectic in terms of knowledge of English and level of competence. Teachers try to adapt to this challenging environment by providing a wide variety of activities and materials so as to satisfy the students' demands. This may sometimes prove counterproductive, is usually time consuming, and requires material and financial resources that are not always available. Under the circumstances, we considered that a needs analysis would benefit all parties involved: teachers on the one hand, in that it would somewhat simplify their effort and make it easier to work with the aforementioned groups of students, and the students on the other hand, in that the activities would be better tailored to suit their needs and requirements in terms of knowledge, abilities and skills. To this end, we conducted a survey in which we requested students to state their level of satisfaction with regard to the English course, as well as provide suggestions in terms of topics and language issues they would like to approach during these courses. In this paper we analysed and interpreted the responses in an attempt to adapt the content of the course so as to better meet the expectations of the end beneficiaries, i.e. the students.

Higher education systems as well as universities in Asian countries have experienced high organizational competitiveness. The quality of university governance is highlighted as a strategic issue for many governments in the region. Research results of this sector indicate that the performance of most universities in Asia move slowly. Compared to other higher educations in the developed countries, many Asian universities are still in the lower positions. Leadership of the university governance is, thus, argued to be central to ensure university organizations survive in the global market. This article overviews the performance of universities in Asia, and discuss some strategies on how universities are to be lead to get a higher level performance within the challenging environment. Further research needs to explore broader insights about the effective leadership models in enhancing university governance. Keywords: higher education, governance, university, management, leadership

In this high-speed world in which everything is technologically driven, higher education also needs to incorporate technology into the scope of teaching pedagogy. Aligning educational games with the nursing curriculum is one way to address the need for technologically knowledgeable learners. Learning occurs in gaming environment is experimental, and constructive. Albeit, threading them in the nursing curriculum required in-depth knowledge about understanding brain involvement in this process. Nurse educators can thread gaming into the nursing content to ensure that learning occurs in a friendly environment. Learning games stimulates the release of dopamine in the midbrain, and the learning becomes part of long-term memory. The games must challenge and augment students’ interest so they get involved in the learning journey. The challenging environment, with clearly listed goals and ongoing feedback enhances learners’ interest and learning become part of their long-term memory. Gaming is an incomparable way of helping nursing students to learn actively and master learning skills. This literature review will discuss the phenomenon of gaming in education, the parts of brain that involved in educational games, scaffolding teaching and learning theories in designing educational games to improve and at last highlight the significance of gaming in nursing pedagogy. Use of games will open new horizon of possibilities to address various learning of different kinds of learners. This paper will act as a foundation to better comprehend the effective use of virtual world in academia.

In today's competitive and challenging environment, product demand and product mix change very rapidly. To match with the rapid variations in product demand and product mix, layout should be effective and efficient to incorporate all these uncertainties over different time periods. One way to design effective and efficient layout is to make it robust which should be capable to absorb uncertainty in demand and product mix. The paper proposes a novel robust stochastic bi-quadratic assignment programming (RSbi-QAP) model. The proposed robust layout is stochastic bi-objective cellular facility layout in manufacturing systems. The proposed model also incorporates the stochastic demand for multi-products in multi-time periods, and simultaneously minimises material handling cost (MHC) and maximises similarity score (SS). To demonstrate the working methodology of the proposed model numerical illustration is also provided.

Orenburg region is a part of the Volga-Urals basin and it is represents the most difficulty for development and simulation. The Rostashinskoe is one of the fields of the Pervomaysky group and it is developing since 80th of the XX century. Main producing horizons of the field are Devonian age formations: Afoninsky (DV), Vorobievsky (DIV) and Ardatovsky (DIII) formations. Uniqueness of the Pervomaysky reservoir is very light oil with portion of light weight hydrocarbons (65-70%). Oil traps of the Pervomaysky region Devonian formations are normally formed by one side faulting mechanism. Whole area of these oilfields is now covered by 3D seismic indicating traps relations to a series of regional faults scattered from east to the west. Apart from main regional faults Pervomaisky fields have quite a big number of smaller low-amplitude faults, both conductive and sealed. Presence of this faults significantly inputs into field development strategy. DIII formation of Rostashinskoe field is represented by two sandstone sub layers DIII-1 and DIII-2. Big number of faults and pinch out zones are establishing high degree of formation heterogeneity both vertically and laterally across the field. As a consequence of heterogeneity Rostashinskoe has a lot of difficulties with proper water flood and fracturing modelling in field development cycle. As a result, reserves are being recovered unequally across the field. First trials of hydraulic fracturing on the oilfield starting from 2004 were unsuccessful with a huge number of difficulties such as: high fracturing treating pressure, large number of screen outs and finally difficulties with frac fluid flow back and well kick off up to full absence of inflow from the well. In order to investigate difficulties with flow back and fast production decline core analysis have been performed including mineralogical composition and core flow testing with fracturing fluid and it’s influence on core permeability. It was demonstrated that Rostashinskoe cores have problems with clay migration and wettability change. Based on performed core testing new clay stabilizer and surfactant has been suggested for fracturing fluid. Optimizations of fracturing fluid has led to significant improvement of final productivity results after fracturing and basically have proven efficiency of hydraulic fracturing for the Rostashinskoe field conditions. In 2010-2013 over 60 fracturing jobs performed on the Rostashinskoe oilfield. Corrections to candidate selection and frac design best practice has been made both taking into account well potential and current reserves recovery of DIII formation. Success of the modified fracturing design has allowed to return the Rostashinskoe oilfield into active drilling program due to increased production, decreased production decline rate and finally better reserves recovery allowing to talk about "second live" of the Rostashinskoe oilfield.

A high level of manual visual surveillance of complex scenes is dependent solely on the awareness of human operators whereas an autonomous person detection solution could assist by drawing their attention to potential issues, in order to reduce cognitive burden and achieve more with less manpower. Our research addressed the challenge of the reliable identification of persons in a scene who may be partially obscured by structures or by handling weapons or tools. We tested the efficacy of a recently published computer vision approach based on the construction of cascaded, non-linear classifiers from part-based deformable models by assessing performance using imagery containing infantrymen in the open or when obscured, undertaking low level tactics or acting as civilians using tools. Results were compared with those obtained from published upright pedestrian imagery. The person detector yielded a precision of approximately 65% for a recall rate of 85% for military context imagery as opposed to a precision of 85% for the upright pedestrian image cases. These results compared favorably with those reported by the authors when applied to a range of other on-line imagery databases. Our conclusion is that the deformable part-based model method may be a potentially useful people detection tool in the challenging environment of military and security context imagery.

The investigation of alternative solutions for the Thesaloniki Ring Road has been one of the major project design challenges in the recent years in Greece. Pefka tunnel was included in one of the alternatives that have been proposed and thoroughly examined. The total length of the tunnel was ~1450 m and it had two branches, with three lanes per branch. According to the geological design, the tunnel was to be excavated through a great variety of formations, such as travertine, shales and graphitic shales, alternations of meta-siltstones and graphitic shales, schistosed and intensively folded meta-siltstones, limestones, gabbros and peridotites. The large number of in situ and laboratory tests allowed (a) the reliable estimation of the intact rock properties and (b) the development of new relationships between the uniaxial compressive strength (σci) and the point load test index (Is50). These values were used for the estimation of the rock mass properties employing different methodologies. Finally, based on all available data, the anticipated rock mass behaviour in tunnel excavation is described. The key issues of this procedure are illustrated in the present paper.

Because of its ability of providing very high data transmission rates over distances up to several tens of meters, underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) has attracted considerable interest during the past few years. The underwater channel is a challenging environment, especially because of its high attenuation. The difficulty of precise localization underwater also leads to unavoidable link misalignments that can have an important impact on the link availability and otherwise on the quality of signal transmission. In this paper, after a review of the recent research works on UWOC and the available commercialized systems, we present the performance study of a typical UWOC system under some simplifying assumptions for system modeling. We also address the open issues and the challenges that we are faced with in practice.

Deformable part models (DPM) already proved great performance for objects detection and many extensions have already published in literature. DPMs generally have high performance, though they dramatically fail to detect objects in challenging environments such as night time. This paper proposes a method based on the idea of latent parts to optimize the structure of objects in deformable part models. Even in challenging environment some parts of the objects are still visible and latent parts can optimize the structure of DPM's object model to catch significant features. We have evaluated proposed method to detect cars at night time in urban area using IR camera. It is a challenging problem due to low visibility, light distortion and illumination/glare in urban area. Experimental results prove the effectiveness of the model to detect close and medium range cars in urban scenes at night time.

This paper presents the concept of an unmanned robotic team, consisting of an aerial and a ground vehicle, and a power-tethering physical link between them, and proposes a strategy that addresses their collaborative navigation problem. The purpose of such a team is to exploit the technical advantages of differentiated unmanned vehicle classes in an approach that benefits the global navigation objective, but with each agent also directly benefiting from the capabilities of the other at an operational level. This conceptual team aims to address the challenge of prolonged autonomous navigation within environments, for which a limited amount of information is available prior to deployment. To this end, the team works its way through the map, while incrementally exploring and rebuilding the actual environment structure, relying on sampling-based trajectory planning techniques and a 2×2-Dimensional decomposed manifold model of its workspace. A challenging environment model is formulated for simulation purposes of the proposed approach, and the respective results are provided.

Human attitudes toward the fauna convey a faithful manifestation of time and space, combining religious and philosophical tenets with ecological and environmental demands. The prevailing attitudes toward animals refl ect in this regard just a fragment of the constant process of refl ection and contemplation and the resulting attempts to cope with a challenging environment, the rules of which remain unknown or incomprehensible for most human beings. Selected from the rich spectrum of human attitudes toward the nonhuman world, this chapter focuses on dogs, the fi rst domesticated animal and, as such, a continuous associate, if not a real component, of human society. From a chronological perspective, this study devotes much attention to the ancient world, when the basic principles of religion and philosophy were discussed and eventually established. 1 These thematic and chronological demarcations allow some responses to the intriguing attitudes of human beings toward their most faithful friends among the nonhuman habitants on earth.