Assessment Of New Methods Research Articles

Accelerated fission rate irradiation design, pre-irradiation characterization, and adaptation of conventional PIE methods for U-10Mo and U-17Mo

Metallic U alloys have high U density and thermal conductivity and thus have been explored since the beginning of nuclear power research. Alloys of U with modest amounts of Mo, such as U-10 wt % Mo (U-10Mo), are of particular interest because the γ-U crystal structure in this alloying addition shows prolonged stability in reactor service. Historically, radiation data on U-10Mo fuels were collected in Na fast reactors or lower temperature research reactor conditions, but little is known about irradiation behavior, particularly swelling and creep, at irradiation temperatures between 250 and 500°C. This work discusses the methodology and pre-irradiation characterization results from a U-Mo irradiation campaign performed in the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. U-10Mo and U-17Mo samples irradiations are being completed at temperatures ranging from 250 to 500°C to three targeted fission densities between 2 × 1020 and 1.5 × 1021 fissions per cubic centimeter. Swelling measurement of the specimen sizes studied here required development and assessment of new methods for volume determination before and after irradiation. Laser profilometry and X-ray computation tomography (XCT) were used to provide preirradiation characterization of samples to determine the error and applicability of each to determine swelling following irradiation. These outcomes are contextualized through use of BISON simulations performed to assess the predicted expansion of U-Mo fuels subjected to the irradiation conditions of this work. Use of existing BISON fuel performance models predicted a maximum of 7% swelling under the irradiation conditions of this study. Pre-irradiation characterization revealed the as-cast U-Mo fuel samples were uniformly large-grained fully cubic U crystals with small U-C/N bearing precipitates and pores distributed throughout. Samples were found to contain a bulk porosity between .4 and 3% because of the casting process. Local porosity in areas far from large, interconnected pores was found by Slice-and-View to be under .2%. Nanometer-sized precipitates rich in C and N were identified in all samples, likely because of impurities during the fabrication process. Dendritic bands were also observed throughout the samples. These bands were characterized by variable Mo content that deviated from the overall Mo content by 2–3 wt %. No other microstructural features were correlated to these bands. Mechanical properties were found to be slightly strengthened compared to literature reports of bulk U-Mo fuels due to the nano-scale precipitates throughout the sample.

STUDY OF PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS IN FERROELECTRICS BASED ON CALCIUM TITANATE.

The aim of this work is to study phase transformations kinetics in ferroelectrics based on calcium titanate. The relevance of this study is in the assessment of new methods for obtaining complex phase composition ferroelectrics, which have the potential for application in microelectronics, photocatalysis, and power engineering. The methods of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used as the main methods of analysis. Analysis of morphological features made it possible to establish the kinetics of changes not only in grain sizes, but also in their geometry. During the studies of phase transformations, the following dependence of the TiO2 – anatase/CaTi2O4 → TiO2– anatase /CaTi2O4/CaTiO3 → CaTiO3/TiO2 – rutile type was established depending on the annealing temperature. At the same time, at a temperature of 1000°C, a stable structure of ceramic with a perovskite-like structure of the CaTiO3 type and a high structural ordering degree (more than 92%) is formed.

Low-Defect, High Molecular Weight Indacenodithiophene (IDT) Polymers Via a C–H Activation: Evaluation of a Simpler and Greener Approach to Organic Electronic Materials

The development, optimization, and assessment of new methods for the preparation of conjugated materials is key to the continued progress of organic electronics. Direct C–H activation methods have emerged and developed over the last 10 years to become an invaluable synthetic tool for the preparation of conjugated polymers for both redox-active and solid-state applications. Here, we evaluate direct (hetero)arylation polymerization (DHAP) methods for the synthesis of indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]dithiophene-based polymers. We demonstrate, using a range of techniques, including direct visualization of individual polymer chains via high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy, that DHAP can produce polymers with a high degree of regularity and purity that subsequently perform in organic thin-film transistors comparably to those made by other cross-coupling polymerizations that require increased synthetic complexity. Ultimately, this work results in an improved atom economy by reducing the number of synthetic steps to access high-performance molecular and polymeric materials.

WAYS OF STORING CORN GRAIN IN STORAGE OF VARIOUS TYPES

The relevance of the study to establish methods of storing corn grain is related to the problem that exists in the technology of storage of crops of different crops. Methods and material and technical base with preservation do not fully take into account the characteristics of individual crops as objects of storage, which leads to loss of products and deterioration of its quality. There is also no technical and technological assessment of new methods of storage and granaries, including metal type. The article presents the results of research, which revealed the peculiarities of storage of corn grain in metal granaries. The temperature regime, which is formed in different places of the embankment and grain quality indicators - humidity, purity, acidity, viability (germination) depending on the thermal protection of the storage are established. Layers of grain embankment were found in the warehouse, where unfavorable conditions for preservation and stable condition of products are created. The technical and technological assessment was carried out and the efficiency of different granaries was determined depending on the storage and the direction of its use. As a result of the conducted researches the technical and technologicalcharacteristic of various ways applied to storage of grain is made, their advantages and lacks are established. For the purpose of safe storage in metal granaries it is recommended to carry out their thermal protection by drawing heat-insulating material on external walls of storage. For long-term storage of corn grain stocks, its humidity should not exceed 12% with the removal of the total mass of the unstable fraction. In the long run, it is necessary to reduce the storage of grain in a controlled gaseous environment, as one that increases a high degree of preservation of products and their quality.

An Assessment of New Methods and Techniques in Teaching and Learning in Nigeria Towards Sustainable Development Goals.

The 1950’s and 1960’s were eras of absolute faith in education as a major instrument of social or economic development. This saw the unprecedented curriculum development efforts geared towards a new interpretation of the role of education in development, this was so, as many developing countries at that time were getting independence from colonial administration. Thus, the changing economic, social and political situation in both developed and developing countries combined to create needs for constant innovations and reforms in education. Due to this new social configuration it is necessary that new ideas and needs have emerged in which the former system is no longer adequate. This is more so as by early 1970’s to date there is general agreement among politicians, educational and social plainness, and schools that education is a key change agent for moving societies towards development. Within this context expanded and improved educational provision became a focus of development efforts, especially in developing countries as a means of acquiring new teaching methods. The rationale behind this paper is the evident failing of the educational system in response to new methods and techniques in teaching and learning. The primary obstacle to the introduction of new teaching methods and techniques into the system was partly the inertia of the educational system itself and partly the inability of government to muster the sum of money required to provide teaching instructional aides.

Development and Efficiency Assessment of New Methods on Rapid Assessment of Toxicity in Environmental Monitoring

The transformation of hazardous pollutants in the environment usually results in formation of hard-to-identify compounds that may have a significant impact on ecosystems. They are difficult to identify by conventional methods of quantitative chemical analysis, but their detrimental effects can be detected by biological methods. The goal of this study was to develop novel methodological approaches to the express assessment of the state of the environment as well as toxicity of its components in the process of biological monitoring at hazardous industrial facilities. The article presents the results of comprehensive toxicity assessment of environmental objects using originally developed system of express methods. The objects of research were water fleas (Daphnia magna Straus and Ceriodaphnia affinis Lilljeborg), infusoria (Paramecium caudatum), preparation of lyophilized fluorescent bacteria based on recombinant Escherichia coli strain M-17 (Ecolum), algae (Chlorella vulgaris Beijer, Scenedesmus quadricauda (Turp.) Breb.), and mammalian gonads. The original methods for determining toxicity by changing the motor activity of water fleas at elevated temperatures of the studied environment are described. The description of the following original utility models is presented: “Method of bioassay for water samples and device for its implementation”, “Device for express assessment of natural environment quality” and “Device for comprehensive assessment of natural environment quality”, confirmed by the patents of the Russian Federation. Their use may significantly reduce the cost of ecotoxicological studies in terms of time and money expenditures. The effectiveness of the system of express methods was established during a biological monitoring of a sanitary protection zone of the Balakovo NPP. Toxicity of the samples of bottom sediments, soil, as well as water samples from the cooler pond and the adjacent water area of the Saratov reservoir were identified. The bioassay results were matched by both conventional methods’ results and originally developed system of express methods.

ProteinNet: a standardized data set for machine learning of protein structure

BackgroundRapid progress in deep learning has spurred its application to bioinformatics problems including protein structure prediction and design. In classic machine learning problems like computer vision, progress has been driven by standardized data sets that facilitate fair assessment of new methods and lower the barrier to entry for non-domain experts. While data sets of protein sequence and structure exist, they lack certain components critical for machine learning, including high-quality multiple sequence alignments and insulated training/validation splits that account for deep but only weakly detectable homology across protein space.ResultsWe created the ProteinNet series of data sets to provide a standardized mechanism for training and assessing data-driven models of protein sequence-structure relationships. ProteinNet integrates sequence, structure, and evolutionary information in programmatically accessible file formats tailored for machine learning frameworks. Multiple sequence alignments of all structurally characterized proteins were created using substantial high-performance computing resources. Standardized data splits were also generated to emulate the difficulty of past CASP (Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction) experiments by resetting protein sequence and structure space to the historical states that preceded six prior CASPs. Utilizing sensitive evolution-based distance metrics to segregate distantly related proteins, we have additionally created validation sets distinct from the official CASP sets that faithfully mimic their difficulty.ConclusionProteinNet represents a comprehensive and accessible resource for training and assessing machine-learned models of protein structure.

Quantal Risk Assessment Database: A Database for Exploring Patterns in Quantal Dose-Response Data in Risk Assessment and its Application to Develop Priors for Bayesian Dose-Response Analysis.

Quantitative risk assessments for physical, chemical, biological, occupational, or environmental agents rely on scientific studies to support their conclusions. These studies often include relatively few observations, and, as a result, models used to characterize the risk may include large amounts of uncertainty. The motivation, development, and assessment of new methods for risk assessment is facilitated by the availability of a set of experimental studies that span a range of dose-response patterns that are observed in practice. We describe construction of such a historical database focusing on quantal data in chemical risk assessment, and we employ this database to develop priors in Bayesian analyses. The database is assembled from a variety of existing toxicological data sources and contains 733 separate quantal dose-response data sets. As an illustration of the database's use, prior distributions for individual model parameters in Bayesian dose-response analysis are constructed. Results indicate that including prior information based on curated historical data in quantitative risk assessments may help stabilize eventual point estimates, producing dose-response functions that are more stable and precisely estimated. These in turn produce potency estimates that share the same benefit. We are confident that quantitative risk analysts will find many other applications and issues to explore using this database.

Assessment of new methods for incorporating contextual variables into efficiency measures: a Monte Carlo simulation

The treatment of the contextual variables (Z) has been one of the most controversial topics in the literature on efficiency measurement. Over the last three decades of research, different methods have been developed to incorporate the effect of such variables in the estimation of efficiency measures. However, it is unclear which alternative provides more accurate estimations. The aim of this work is to assess the performance of two recently developed estimators, namely the nonparametric conditional DEA method (Daraio and Simar in J Prod Anal 24(1):93–121, 2005; J Prod Anal 28:13–32, 2007a) and the StoNEZD (Stochastic Non-Smooth Envelopment of Z-variables Data) approach (Johnson and Kuosmanen in J Prod Anal 36(2):219–230, 2011). To do this, we conduct a Monte Carlo experiment using three different data generation processes to test how each model performs under different circumstances. Our results show that the StoNEZD approach outperforms conditional DEA in all the evaluated scenarios.

Design methodology of a reduced-scale test bench for fault detection and diagnosis

Condition monitoring is a crucial task for electromechanical system reliability and quality enhancement, which leads to early electrical and mechanical faults detection. In this paper, the design of a scaled test bench including its main subsystem components at initial stage is presented for the assessment of new methods dedicated to electrical and mechanical faults detection and diagnosis in electromechanical systems. In this paper a design methodology is proposed for developing a reduced-scale test bench dedicated to condition monitoring. Dimensional analysis is applied for ensuring the similarity between the scaled test bench and the full-size systems to be emulated. In addition, the scaled test bench includes the required instrumentation as well as an acquisition platform for development of condition monitoring strategy to batch condition monitoring of full-size systems. Finally, the similarity is evaluated by comparing both the simulation and the experimental results.

Abstracts of Presentations Scheduled for the 10th ISNS-Asia Pacific Regional Meeting, Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, 24–26 August 2017

The International Society for Neonatal Screening (ISNS) recognises six different geographical regions [...]

Evaluation of shotgun metagenomics sequence classification methods using in silico and in vitro simulated communities.

BackgroundThe field of metagenomics (study of genetic material recovered directly from an environment) has grown rapidly, with many bioinformatics analysis methods being developed. To ensure appropriate use of such methods, robust comparative evaluation of their accuracy and features is needed. For taxonomic classification of sequence reads, such evaluation should include use of clade exclusion, which better evaluates a method’s accuracy when identical sequences are not present in any reference database, as is common in metagenomic analysis. To date, relatively small evaluations have been performed, with evaluation approaches like clade exclusion limited to assessment of new methods by the authors of the given method. What is needed is a rigorous, independent comparison between multiple major methods, using the same in silico and in vitro test datasets, with and without approaches like clade exclusion, to better characterize accuracy under different conditions.ResultsAn overview of the features of 38 bioinformatics methods is provided, evaluating accuracy with a focus on 11 programs that have reference databases that can be modified and therefore most robustly evaluated with clade exclusion. Taxonomic classification of sequence reads was evaluated using both in silico and in vitro mock bacterial communities. Clade exclusion was used at taxonomic levels from species to class—identifying how well methods perform in progressively more difficult scenarios. A wide range of variability was found in the sensitivity, precision, overall accuracy, and computational demand for the programs evaluated. In experiments where distilled water was spiked with only 11 bacterial species, frequently dozens to hundreds of species were falsely predicted by the most popular programs. The different features of each method (forces predictions or not, etc.) are summarized, and additional analysis considerations discussed.ConclusionsThe accuracy of shotgun metagenomics classification methods varies widely. No one program clearly outperformed others in all evaluation scenarios; rather, the results illustrate the strengths of different methods for different purposes. Researchers must appreciate method differences, choosing the program best suited for their particular analysis to avoid very misleading results. Use of standardized datasets for method comparisons is encouraged, as is use of mock microbial community controls suitable for a particular metagenomic analysis.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-015-0788-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Comparison Data Sets for Benchmarking QSAR Methodologies in Lead Optimization

2D and 3D QSAR techniques are widely used in lead optimization-like processes. A compilation of 40 diverse data sets is described. It is proposed that these can be used as a common benchmark sample for comparisons of QSAR methodologies, primarily in terms of predictive ability. Use of this benchmark set will be useful for both assessment of new methods and for optimization of existing methods.

Measuring the validity of early health technology assessment: Bibliometrics as a tool to indicate its scientific basis

The aim of this study was to assess whether publications of importance for improving the health system and its technologies are highly cited intrascientifically. Bibliometric assessment of the 596 publications used as sources in the fifty SBU Alerts from 2001 to 2004 from the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care was carried out using the Thomson Scientific citation indexes. Normalized citation scores were calculated for all included studies. Additional factors such as the time and place of the research, subject categories, and journal source were analyzed. On average, the sources in SBU Alert have been cited eight times more than the world average consistently during the time period and across research areas. Articles used as its scientific basis are often published in a few, high impact, general medical journals. However, many of the articles are published in field-specific journals with low impact factors. Most articles used in SBU Alert are published by authors based in the United States or the United Kingdom. However, Swedish, Danish, and Dutch publications are overrepresented in its science base, whereas Japanese, Taiwanese, Indian, and Russian publications are underrepresented. Publications used as sources in a Swedish system for identification and early assessment of new methods in health care are also highly cited within the scientific community. This finding increases the appropriateness of using bibliometric indicators in evaluations of clinical research and suggests that decision makers through SBU Alert are getting scientifically sound advice.

A brain dead donor model of porcine orthotopic cardiac transplantation for assessment of cardiac allograft preservation

Background: We aimed to develop a large animal model of orthotopic cardiac transplantation, incorporating donor brain death, to assess new methods of preservation of the donor heart. Methods: Brain death was achieved in the donor pig by inflation of a 20 cc subdural balloon 1 h prior to harvest. The donor heart was stored for 6 h with conventional hypothermic ischaemic preservation. It was then transplanted orthotopically into the recipient pig using the Lower and Shumway technique. One hour after reperfusion, the transplanted heart was weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass with dobutamine support. Dobutamine support was continued for up to 4 h, if required. After 6 h of physiological and biochemical evaluation, the recipient was euthanased and the heart excised for histological assessment. Results: All pigs experienced the classical haemodynamic changes associated with brain death. This resulted in the release of Troponin I, consistent with myocardial injury. The donor operation was successfully completed in 11 out of 13 pigs. Six out of 11 transplanted hearts were successfully weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass, but required ongoing dobutamine support. Conclusions: This porcine model of orthotopic cardiac transplantation is a relevant and practical large animal model for the assessment of new methods of preservation of the donor heart.

Overview of clinical trials on periodontal regeneration.

Periodontal regeneration means healing after periodontal surgery that results in the restoration of the tooth-supporting tissues; namely, cementum, alveolar bone, and periodontal ligament. The response of the periodontium to conventional periodontal flap surgery is primarily repair. Regenerative flap procedures involve modifications intended to alter variables in the normal wound healing response to shift the outcome from repair to regeneration. Technical manipulations, devices, pharmacological agents, and biologicals have been used to obtain regeneration. Evaluation of periodontal therapy is done by clinical and histological assessments. Human clinical trials depend on probing, re-entry, and radiographic measurements which cannot distinguish between periodontal repair and regeneration. Histological studies are difficult in humans because they require the retrieval of tissue blocks containing the teeth and their surrounding tissues, and for this reason these studies have largely been done in animal models; however, the use of animal models creates problems of interpretation when applying the information to the human. There are other fundamental problems related to assessment of new methods of periodontal regeneration. Ideally, periodontal regeneration is attempted after resolving the periodontitis that produced the loss of periodontal support. Does the type of periodontal disease affect the outcome? If it does, then separate clinical trials would be indicated to manage defects produced by different diseases. Furthermore, certain types of periodontal defects apparently respond better than others (for example, intrabony defects versus suprabony defects). Does each type of defect require a separate trial? Do subjects respond differently and, if so, how should this be factored into selection of the study population and sample size? There appear to be more questions than answers concerning the design of clinical trials for periodontal regeneration. This is not surprising since regeneration has been possible for only a few years, is apparently unpredictable, and the origin and nature of the new tissue are poorly understood. These factors make it important that the design of clinical trials be openly and thoroughly discussed so that practical solutions are forthcoming.

Landowners, Capitalists, and Entrepreneurs: Essays for Sir John Habakkuk.

Part 1 Time-series analysis and population reconstruction: inverse projection and demographic fluctuations - a critical assessment of new methods, Ronald D. Lee generalized inverse projection, Jim Oeppen benchmarks for a new inverse population projection programme, England, Sweden, and a standard demographic transition, Robert McCaa the trend method applied to English data, Noel Bonneuil other paths to the past - from vital series to population patterns, Massimo Livi Bacci and David S. Reher short-run population dynamics among the rich and poor in European countries, rural Jutland, and urban Rouen, Patrick R. Galloway. Part 2 New challenges for record linking and family reconstitution: the construction of individual life histories - application to the study of geographical mobility in the Valserine Valley in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, A. Bideau and G. Brunet incomplete histories in family reconstitution - a sensitivity test of alternative strategies with historical Croatian data, E.A. Hammel family reconstitution and population reconstruction - two approaches to the fertility transition in France, 1740-1911, David R. Weir family reconstitution as event-history analysis, Myron P. Gutmann and George Alter. Part 3 Event-history analysis with historical data: techniques of event-history analysis, James Trussell and Timothy guinnane an attempt to analyze individual migration histories from data on place of usual residence at the time of certain vital events - France during the nineteenth century, Daniel Courgeau some applications of recent developments in event-history analysis for historical demography, Ian Diamond, et al combined time-series and life-event analysis - the impact of economic fluctuations and air temperature on adult mortality by sex and occupation in a Swedish mining parish, 1757-1850, Tommy Bengtsson. Part 4 Simulating historical processes: simulation of change to validate demographic analysis, Herve Le Bras estimating numbers of kin in historical England using demographic microsimulation, James E. Smith my brother's keeper - modelling kinship links in early urbanization, E.A. Hammel and Carl Mason. Part 5 New sources, new techniques: coarse and refined methods for studying the fertility transition in historical populations, Douglas Ewbank the last emperors - an introduction to the demography of Qing (1644-1911) Imperial lineage, James Lee, et al historical demography from the census - applications of the American census microdata files, Steven Ruggles excess mortality in youth, James C. Riley.

Application of One-Dimensional Analytical Models for the Interpretation of Observations of Superconducting Fluxons

In order to extract quantitative information from the two-dimensional images of superconducting fluxons observed in thin tilted specimens by means of holographic or out-of-focus methods, one-dimensional line scans are taken and compared with the theoretical predictions. In particular, the trend of the reconstructed phase across the fluxon core, or the intensity distribution of its out-of-focus image have a strong similarity with those calculated by means of previous one-dimensional models, where the fluxon was considered lying perpendicular to the electron beam. This work exploits this analogy showing that, in spite of the different geometry, suitably modified one-dimensional models can be usefully applied for the interpretation of the experimental results and the analysis of the experimental conditions as well as for the assessment of new methods, like f.i. the one proposed for discriminating between London and Clem models.

Pulmonary deposition of a nebulised aerosol during mechanical ventilation.

There is increasing use of therapeutic aerosols in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. Few studies have measured aerosol delivery to the lungs under these conditions with adequate experimental methods. Hence this study was performed to measure pulmonary aerosol deposition and to determine the reproducibility of the method of measurement during mechanical ventilation. Nine male patients were studied during mechanical ventilation after open heart surgery and two experiments were performed in each to determine the reproducibility of the method. A solution of technetium-99m labelled human serum albumin (99mTc HSA (50 micrograms); activity in experiment 1, 74 MBq; in experiment 2, 185 MBq) in 3 ml saline was administered with a Siemens Servo 945 nebuliser system (high setting) and a System 22 Acorn nebuliser unit. Pulmonary deposition was quantified by means of a gamma camera and corrections derived from lung phantom studies. Pulmonary aerosol deposition was completed in 22 (SD 4) minutes. Total pulmonary deposition (% nebuliser dose (SD)) was 2.2 (0.8)% with 1.5% and 0.7% depositing in the right and left lungs respectively; 0.9% of the nebuliser activity was detected in the endotracheal tube or trachea and 51% was retained within the nebuliser unit. Considerable variability between subjects was found for total deposition (coefficient of variation (CV) 46%), but within subject reproducibility was good (CV 15%). Administration of aerosol in this way is inefficient and further research is needed to find more effective alternatives in patients who require mechanical respiratory support. This method of measurement seems suitable for the assessment of new methods of aerosol delivery in these patients.

Reluctant revolutionaries: Englishmen and the revolution of 1688

Part 1 Time-series analysis and population reconstruction: inverse projection and demographic fluctuations - a critical assessment of new methods, Ronald D. Lee generalized inverse projection, Jim Oeppen benchmarks for a new inverse population projection programme, England, Sweden, and a standard demographic transition, Robert McCaa the trend method applied to English data, Noel Bonneuil other paths to the past - from vital series to population patterns, Massimo Livi Bacci and David S. Reher short-run population dynamics among the rich and poor in European countries, rural Jutland, and urban Rouen, Patrick R. Galloway. Part 2 New challenges for record linking and family reconstitution: the construction of individual life histories - application to the study of geographical mobility in the Valserine Valley in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, A. Bideau and G. Brunet incomplete histories in family reconstitution - a sensitivity test of alternative strategies with historical Croatian data, E.A. Hammel family reconstitution and population reconstruction - two approaches to the fertility transition in France, 1740-1911, David R. Weir family reconstitution as event-history analysis, Myron P. Gutmann and George Alter. Part 3 Event-history analysis with historical data: techniques of event-history analysis, James Trussell and Timothy guinnane an attempt to analyze individual migration histories from data on place of usual residence at the time of certain vital events - France during the nineteenth century, Daniel Courgeau some applications of recent developments in event-history analysis for historical demography, Ian Diamond, et al combined time-series and life-event analysis - the impact of economic fluctuations and air temperature on adult mortality by sex and occupation in a Swedish mining parish, 1757-1850, Tommy Bengtsson. Part 4 Simulating historical processes: simulation of change to validate demographic analysis, Herve Le Bras estimating numbers of kin in historical England using demographic microsimulation, James E. Smith my brother's keeper - modelling kinship links in early urbanization, E.A. Hammel and Carl Mason. Part 5 New sources, new techniques: coarse and refined methods for studying the fertility transition in historical populations, Douglas Ewbank the last emperors - an introduction to the demography of Qing (1644-1911) Imperial lineage, James Lee, et al historical demography from the census - applications of the American census microdata files, Steven Ruggles excess mortality in youth, James C. Riley.