We propose and experimentally demonstrate dynamic control of phase-matching in fiber-based four-wave mixing (FWM) for wavelength conversion of communication signals. By introducing self-compensation of optical gain/loss with stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) pump and Stokes waves, the FWM phase-matching condition and hence the conversion efficiency (CE) can be flexibly controlled. The phase difference between the interplaying fields is manipulated by modifying the refractive index through SBS without disturbing the initial parameters of the FWM process. The scheme is first applied to wavelength conversion of 10 Gbit/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off-keying (OOK) signal. Its performance on phase-transparent wavelength conversion is subsequently examined using 10 Gbit/s NRZ differential-phase-shift-keying (DPSK) signal. Eye diagrams, FWM spectra and bit-error rate (BER) performances for the converted signals without SBS, with gain-transparent SBS for maximum CE and for minimum CE are analyzed. In the OOK/DPSK wavelength conversion with gain-transparent SBS, the CE has been reduced by 10.7/11.4 dB at a signal-pump spectral spacing of 1.9/1.94 nm; while it has been enhanced by 8.8/7.4 dB at a signal-pump spectral spacing of 4.1/4.07 nm. The pronounced enhancement of the CE at large signal-pump spectral spacing results in enlargement of the 3-dB FWM conversion bandwidth. Limitations in the extent of bandwidth enlargement and noise performance are discussed. Potential use of the scheme in other applications is also described.


The operation stability of polymer solar cells (PSCs) is one of the most important prerequisites for their practical use. In this work, we report a new acceptor–donor–acceptor (A–D–A) triad-type small molecule, 5TRh-PCBM, as a compatibilizer for enhancing the thermal stabilities and mechanical properties of efficient PSCs while increasing their power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). This multifunctional 5TRh-PCBM molecule, consisting of an oligothiophene segment as the central core and fullerene derivatives as the end groups, is designed to enable strong interactions between the 5TRh-core with various types of efficient polymer donors containing thiophene or fused-thiophene units, while the end fullerene groups preferentially interact with PCBM acceptors. To examine the effectiveness of this molecular compatibilizer, PSCs with different donors (PTB7-Th, PBDB-T, and P3HT) have been fabricated and tested, with addition of various amounts of 5TRh-PCBM. The addition of 5 and 10 wt% of 5TRh-PCBM significantly enhances the thermal and mechanical stabilities of all tested PSCs. Importantly, unlike typical compatibilizers, the addition of 5TRh-PCBM can increase the PCEs of the PSCs due to its light harvesting capability. In particular, the PCE of PTB7-Th:PCBM-based PSCs is increased from 9.37% to 10.09% with the 5 wt% addition of 5TRh-PCBM. Our comprehensive investigations have revealed the effects of 5TRh-PCBM on the optical, morphological, photovoltaic, and mechanical properties of molecularly engineered PSCs.


It is necessary to continuously review the definition of the book moving from one bound by its material form to one determined by its function as a means of communication. The book's social function as the high status vehicle for communicating new ideas and cultural expressions is being challenged by sophisticated systems of conveying meaning in other media. In this article, we report on two projects: electronic book (e-book) publication and reader forum for Nature Mage and the transmedia augmented reality (AR) fiction Sherwood Rise, which investigate these issues. Claudio Pires Franco's work is based on the adaptation of a source work: Duncan Pile's Nature Mage. The project aims to develop the book from e-book to a fan-produced enhanced digital book. Through this practice-based research, Franco investigates the definitions and classification of the e and i forms of the book and adaptation in new media; the role of the author in creative collaboration with readers through online forums; the extension of the story world through creative collaboration and reader participation while respecting and safeguarding creative properties. One remove from the traditional book, David Miller's Sherwood Rise, research the user experience with AR to examine narrative problems and explore new storytelling aesthetics. These new media forms define the outer borders of the book system within which content is formed and moulded, and around which society is shaped.


Plan recognition is the problem of inferring the goals and plans of an agent from partial observations of her behavior. Recently, it has been shown that the problem can be formulated and solved using planners, reducing plan recognition to plan generation. In this work, we extend this model-based approach to plan recognition to the POMDP setting, where actions are stochastic and states are partially observable. The task is to infer a probability distribution over the possible goals of an agent whose behavior results from a POMDP model. The POMDP model is shared between agent and observer except for the true goal of the agent that is hidden to the observer. The observations are action sequences O that may contain gaps as some or even most of the actions done by the agent may not be observed. We show that the posterior goal distribution P(G|O) can be computed from the value function VG(b) over beliefs b generated by the POMDP planner for each possible goal G. Some extensions of the basic framework are discussed, and a number of experiments are reported.


This study grounded in the user centered media theory of uses and gratification; it investigated on the usage and gratification of social media among international students pursuing higher education in Turkey, through a survey conducted on a sample of international students in Istanbul City, Turkey. The study was quantitative in nature in which structured questionnaires were used to get data on a randomly selected sample. Findings indicate that 68.2% of the respondents used social media for more than twice a week to interact with peers for studying outside classroom. Likewise, social media platform commonly used included YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google group and Twitter. As a gratification, the respondents used You Tube to watch educational video clips on lectures delivered from other universities, watched Turkish videos to improve on their Turkish language skills. Facebook and Whatsapp were used for instant messaging, sharing academic information with classmates and professors. Findings indicate that using Social Media positively influenced their lifestyles and helped them to excel academically as reflected in the responses. The study therefore concludes that Social Media is an essential communication tool among international students in Turkey in supporting their higher education.


In this study, we present the optical properties of nonpolar GaN/(Al,Ga)N single quantum wells (QWs) grown on either a- or m-plane GaN templates for Al contents set below 15%. In order to reduce the density of extended defects, the templates have been processed using the epitaxial lateral overgrowth technique. As expected for polarization-free heterostructures, the larger the QW width for a given Al content, the narrower the QW emission line. In structures with an Al content set to 5 or 10%, we also observe emission from excitons bound to the intersection of I1-type basal plane stacking faults (BSFs) with the QW. Similarly to what is seen in bulk material, the temperature dependence of BSF-bound QW exciton luminescence reveals intra-BSF localization. A qualitative model evidences the large spatial extension of the wavefunction of these BSF-bound QW excitons, making them extremely sensitive to potential fluctuations located in and away from BSF. Finally, polarization-dependent measurements show a strong emission anisotropy for BSF-bound QW excitons, which is related to their one-dimensional character and that confirms that the intersection between a BSF and a GaN/(Al,Ga)N QW can be described as a quantum wire.

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/162044/files/2011 SST_One-dimensional exciton luminescence induced by extended defects in nonpolar GaN AlGaN quantum wells_Dussaigne.pdf


The leadership tendencies of people are likely to be influenced by their education and other personal traits. For example, it is expected that managers are likely to be more focused on building and maintaining strong relationships as they deal with people most of the time on the job. To explore the behavioral tendencies of working adult business students in the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and Orlando, this study focused on comparing the leadership and stress perceptions of 813business students based on their education, religion, age, and gender. These respondents have a significantly higher score on relationship orientation. Females are significantly more relationship-oriented and less task-oriented than their male colleagues.The more educated respondents have a significantly higher score on the stress overload perception. Practical suggestions for stress managementalong with implications for the creation of a wellness program are presented.Investing in human capital can position the company above others in the marketplace as it helps with high morale and employee retention. Key words : Relationship; Task; Stress perceptions; Healthcare; Wellness; Leadership


This paper examines the role of women in elections. The women constitute nearly 50% of the total population in India while their representation in politics is below 10%. Political parties in India are rallying around women issues in order to woo women voters who have already proved their decisiveness in 2014 general elections. So far Indian political scenario has been India is entering another milestone in elections in 2019 and the role of women is further significant. Despite their gross under representation as politicians women need to be considered as voters. Female voter turnout is increasing while compared to men voters. Indian which is considered as a patriarchal society is moving towards a change which is very significant from the national point of view. Gender dynamics is being viewed as a priority factor by all political campaigners. Women suffer from several issues and they are also the most vulnerable group .The increasing instances of gender based violence, caste based aggression and atrocities have been making women feel apprehensive and defenceless. They need support socially as well politically. The policy makers often neglect women and concentrate on general issues instead of gender issues. Hence the general elections of 2019 can be a path finder in addressing women issues through increased women participation.


Jacob Christian Farbman Producing Award-winning Publications, 1999. Advisor: Dr. Donald Bagin Seminar in Public Relations, The Graduate School Rowan University. This thesis provides research findings on what design elements public relations professionals use to produce award-winning publications. Professionals in the workforce who use desktop publishing software to produce publications can use these findings as a reference guide. A survey was conducted of 15 public relations professionals who have won national awards for either their newsletters or brochures. These professionals belonged to one of the following public relations associations: the International Association of Business Communicators, the National School Public Relations Association or the Public Relations Society of America. Respondents were found to use serif typefaces for body copy, sans serif typefaces for headlines, and prefer using paragraph indents instead of flush left style. Respondents also preferred using photographs as copy-breaking devices. The majority of respondents prefer using two typefaces in a publication. Almost half of the respondents use three columns of type in a newsletter page to make it effective. No consensus appeared when respondents were asked how they use the last page of their newsletters. No consensus appeared when respondents were asked how they evaluate their publications.


Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a late-onset chronic autoimmune disease (AID) affecting the exocrine glands, mainly the salivary and lachrymal. Genetic studies on twins with primary SS have not been performed, and only a few case reports describing twins have been published. The prevalence of primary SS in siblings has been estimated to be 0.09% while the reported general prevalence of the disease is approximately 0.1%. The observed aggregation of AIDs in families of patients with primary SS is nevertheless supportive for a genetic component in its etiology. In the absence of chromosomal regions identified by linkage studies, research has focused on candidate gene approaches (by biological plausibility) rather than on positional approaches. Ancestral haplotype 8.1 as well as TNF, IL10 and SSA1 loci have been consistently associated with the disease although they are not specific for SS. In this review, the genetic component of SS is discussed on the basis of three known observations: (a) age at onset and sex-dependent presentation, (b) familial clustering of the disease, and (c) dissection of the genetic component. Since there is no strong evidence for a specific genetic component in SS, a large international and collaborative study would be suitable to assess the genetics of this disorder.


1. Abstract In refineries and petrochemical plants the equipment needs to be checked during planned shutdown. This can require several weeks of downtime, if columns, vessels, heatexchangers and tanks have to be drained to remove deposits and harmful gases such as hydrogen sulfide, benzene and other volatile hydrocarbons. Formation of iron sulfide is very common in oil refineries and ethylene plants. It easily accumulates in pipes, trays, structured packings, heat exchangers or vessels. Iron sulfide deposits must be removed or kept wet before inspection of the equipment. Otherwise there is a high potential for spontaneous ignition in the presence of oxygen due to the pyrophoric iron nature. Persons in charge try to minimize exposure of workers to any situation where pyrophorically induced fires or health risks could be initiated. This paper describes chemical cleaning technologies which provide significant reduction in the downtime of the distillation equipment with elimination of a potential risk of pyrophorically induced fires and harmful gases. It also gives an overview of advanced analytical and monitoring techniques.


Volume 6 is the most comprehensive reference book ever produced on the major joining technologies and their applications to engineered materials. With over 500 illustrations and 400 tables, this book includes practical advice on consumable selection and procedure development, as well as joining fundamentals. Find the Answers in Four Major Sections: Fundamentals of Joining--addresses fundamental principles including basic chemistry, physics, and metallurgical concepts. Joining Processes--provides details on all major joining processes, including process parameters, advantages and limitations, applications, equipment, and health and safety. Materials Selection for Joined Assemblies--describes how to optimize materials selection for particular applications. Consumable Selection, Procedure Development, and Practice Considerations--serves as a guide to practices for joining specific materials, based on comprehensive, up-to-date information and data on all principal materials types and joining processes. Additional topics include: joint evaluation and quality control, modelling of joining processes, underwater welding, space welding, cryogenic welding, joining of composites and plastics, intelligent automation for joining technology, corrosion of weldments, thermal spray coating, cutting processes, health and safety, and welding terms and definitions. Portions of this Volume have been updated in and are replaced by ASM Handbook, Volume 6A: Welding Fundamentals and Processes .


Vegetation monoliths (450 × 450 mm) from two contrasting upland grassland communities were grown in Solardomes in either ambient air or ambient air enriched with 250 ppm CO2 During the first two growing seasons measurements of canopy gas exchange showed that rates of photosynthesis of limestone swards were enhanced by growth in elevated CO2, by approx. 50% during spring and early summer. Although canopy respiration was also greater in elevated CO2 the overall effect was an average increase of 33% in net CO2 assimilation. Enhanced respiration rates persisted into the autumn, whereas the effect on photosynthesis diminished through the growing season, so that in September swards growing in high CO2 had net photosynthesis rates similar to, or even lower than those in ambient air. This response varied between swards of differing species composition. In acidic grassland no significant effects of CO2 on respiration or net CO2 uptake rates were detected at any time. The above ground productivity of limestone grassland was measured in several harvests throughout both seasons, and was not affected by CO2 concentration at any time. Similarly, the acidic grassland, harvested at the end of the second season, showed no significant effect of CO2 on above-ground biomass. The results suggest that increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is unlikely to cause large changes in net primary productivity in these grasslands.


Lyons, one of Australia's most significant architectural practices, has produced a striking body of work over the fifteen years since its inception and now proudly presents this substantial oeuvre as a handsome and collectable monograph. More: The Architecture of Lyons 1996-2011, presents images, plans, sketches and notes from Lyons' key projects across the country. Known for their major commercial, institutional, educational and healthcare buildings, including the BHP Billiton Global Headquarters, Melbourne; the John Curtin School of Medical Science at the Australian National University; Central Institute of TAFE, Perth; the new Queensland Children's Hospital, Brisbane; School of Medicine and Menzies Research Institute, Hobart; School of Medicine and Research, Western Sydney; the Melbourne Brain Centre and the Lyon House museum, the book presents 53 projects shown through an assemblage of material that conveys the richness and complexity of the projects. The material is also complemented by four essays from some of Australia's finest critics; Leon van Schaik (RMIT), Juliana Engberg (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art), John Macarthur (UQ) and Paul Carter (Material Thinking), and a visual essay by international artist Matthew Sleeth. More demonstrates Lyons' commitment to the history of ideas and their engagement with local and global cultures to create meaningful contemporary architecture - ideas, new media, technologies and rapidly-changing urbanism are all at play. This publication offers a unique insight into how a practice works day-to-day and will be a vital resource for practicing architects, students and anyone interested in our built environment.


Theoretical calculations were carried out to search for lightweight alloys that can be used to reversibly store hydrogen in mobile applications, such as automobiles. Our primary focus was on magnesium based alloys. While MgH{sub 2} is in many respects a promising hydrogen storage material, there are two serious problems which need to be solved in order to make it useful: (i) the binding energy of the hydrogen atoms in the hydride is too large, causing the release temperature to be too high, and (ii) the diffusion of hydrogen through the hydride is so slow that loading of hydrogen into the metal takes much too long. In the first year of the project, we found that the addition of ca. 15% of aluminum decreases the binding energy to the hydrogen to the target value of 0.25 eV which corresponds to release of 1 bar hydrogen gas at 100 degrees C. Also, the addition of ca. 15% of transition metal atoms, such as Ti or V, reduces the formation energy of interstitial H-atoms making the diffusion of H-atoms through the hydride more than ten orders of magnitude faster at room temperature. In the second year of the project, several calculations of alloysmore » of magnesium with various other transition metals were carried out and systematic trends in stability, hydrogen binding energy and diffusivity established. Some calculations of ternary alloys and their hydrides were also carried out, for example of Mg{sub 6}AlTiH{sub 16}. It was found that the binding energy reduction due to the addition of aluminum and increased diffusivity due to the addition of a transition metal are both effective at the same time. This material would in principle work well for hydrogen storage but it is, unfortunately, unstable with respect to phase separation. A search was made for a ternary alloy of this type where both the alloy and the corresponding hydride are stable. Promising results were obtained by including Zn in the alloy.« less


South Africa has a large public health sector as well as an extensive, well-established private sector. This chapter explores the stewardship
role of government in relation to the private sector, emphasising the
cooperative working relationship needed to optimise the contribution
from the public sector in transforming the health system. The chapter
discusses the latest developments, challenges and the way forward
in four main areas: legislation, finance and social insurance, public-private
initiatives and human resources. The implications of the new
Health Act of 2003, especially the Certificate of Need are discussed
and the draft Health Charter is reviewed. The chapter concludes with
a set of recommendations, highlighting the importance of a joint vision
for transformation between the public and private sector, the need
for a social health insurance system, the need for more guidance
and evaluation of private-public initiatives and the need for a human
resources plan that can apply to both the public and private sectors.


The 'National Philologies' and the History of Discipline Formation in the Humanities The start of discipline formation in the 'national philologies' (such as 'English Language and Literature', 'Germanistik', etc.) is often considered to have taken place around the middle of the nineteenth century. At that time, the German philological school of scholars such as Jacob Grimm gained influence at universities all over Europe. Meticulous analysis of the oldest (medieval) texts, as well as rigorous application of the methods of historical-comparative linguistics in editing these texts, became the norm and the nec plus ultra of philology. Other forms of academic and scholarly attention to national literature – e.g. the study of the history of literature in post-medieval and modern times – were from then on looked down upon as mere hobbies, made obsolete by the 'modern', 'truly scientific' methods of the German school. The case of the 'national philologies' thus seems to corroborate the common idea that discipline formation in science consists mainly of a process of specialization and differentiation. However, an overview of the history of 'Neerlandistiek' (the academic study of Dutch Language and Literature) over the course of the nineteenth century suggests that the success of German School's methods was in fact but a temporary episode. In the history of 'national philologies' such as the 'Neerlandistiek', episodes of specialization seem to alternate with episodes in which the main emphasis is not on special ization but on extension of the scope, on integration of elements from other disciplines, and on reinforcement of the ties with social institutions such as the education system. Interdisciplinarity is not a new phenomenon but can already be found in the days of the discipline's origin in Holland. Back then, the first professors of 'Dutch Rhetorics' around 1800 rapidly expanded their specialist studies into the study of 'Dutch language and literature' in the broadest possible sense. Phenomena such as these seem to apply more generally to the process of discipline formation in the humanities. The fact that disciplines such as the 'national philologies' still exist, suggests that specialization, differentiation and 'boundary wars' are not the only road to scientific legitimacy. Extension of the scope, (re)unification with other disciplines and intense communication with social systems inside and outside university are at least as important.


It is widely accepted that technology offers many opportunities to transform learning. Despite there being significant investment made by most UK universities to support technology enhanced learning, it is still reported to be a significant challenge for the sector (JISC, 2011; Sharpe, 2010). Salmon (2005) identified a number of institutional blockages regarding technology enhanced learning, which included the lack of capacity to adapt for staff and the institution they work for. The focus of this paper is to explore institutional blockages in relation to the use and development of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) at one UK institution. This is part of an 18 month project which aims to explore knowledge gaps in digital literacy within creative arts and humanities and establishes suitable strategies to close them.

A mixed-methodology approach was adopted which incorporated literature reviews, focus groups, surveys and VLE content analysis. The project consisted of five phases; the results of the first phase are presented. Initially a literature review was conducted to explore blockages in relation to the technology enhanced learning. This informed the development of a questionnaire which was distributed to representatives from each of the seven schools at the selected HE institution. Questions were devised under two headings (current practice in monitoring the development, and aspirations for the VLE).

The survey found that it was difficult to monitor progression of technology enhanced learning across the institution due to a variety of factors including, lack of audit standardisation, variations in progress reporting, and different approaches to embedding the VLE within teaching and learning (T&L) strategy. Whilst there was some appetite for VLE audit standardisation, there was a strong view that audits needed to be linked directly into strategic planning and used to inform staff development priorities to make them meaningful. The results of the survey supports literature, clearly identifying that a change of culture is required to fully embrace technology enhanced learning. Data collection is required to inform strategy, policy and monitoring in relation to the development of technology enhanced learning to ensure a clear picture is achieved regarding current and emerging practices. Some responses identified that in certain high practical based subjects minimum use of the VLE may be best practice. This research highlights the need to further the understanding of the technological choices academics make to support student learning particularity in practical based subjects. Literature acknowledges it is not enough for the technology to be provided it is how it is embedded into T&L which transforms student learning.


Person-environment relationships in five urban-fringe science parks in central Scotland were investigated through the application of a mixed method case study design. The study sought to explore the impact of greenspace at these knowledge-sector workplaces on employee wellbeing, with particular focus on restorative effects of viewing and spending time in green environments. The thesis also aims to develop understanding of how workers at these sites engage with, and relate to, the outdoor environment at their workplace. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected; the former through an online questionnaire (n=366), and the latter through in-depth semi-structured walking interviews (n=16) conducted on and around the sites. This research is the first to provide evidence of wellbeing benefits of greenspace in the context of UK workplaces. Its focus on the landscape of science parks is of particular relevance given the prominence of this development model in planning policy to promote regional economic growth, as well as the central role of employee functioning in the productivity of innovative knowledge-sector businesses. The insights gained through the research point to a number of conclusions for the planning and design of future business sites at the urban fringe. The research also makes an original contribution to the international research on restorative environments in its exploration of how different types and designs of open space impact on the wellbeing of workers and, in particular, how individual factors influence responses to elements of open space design and management in the workplace context.


The mantra of industry today is to design products and processes using collaborative design teams. While the potential benefits of such a design philosophy are numerous and significant, many organizations find themselves falling short in the implementation. Sometimes these shortcomings are due to cultural and technical difficulties in the organization, but too frequently they are due to a lack of knowledge as to how to collaborate effectively. Described herein is an educational initiative by Syracuse and Cornell Universities to together teach collaborative design methodologies through a common two-semester, senior-level engineering design course. In the course, not only are the lectures taught to the two cohorts of students using at-a-distance technologies, but the students are teamed in cross-university teams to execute a series of 6-week design challenges, from preliminary through detailed thermal-structural design of the external skins of seconds-generation reusable launch vehicles. An Advanced Interactive Discovery Environment (AIDE), which is a computer-based infrastructure specifically designed for this course, is used to support both synchronous and asynchronous communications amongst the team members and with the faculty. Extensive surveys of the students, together with faculty observations, indicate that proper use of collaboration tools can facilitate effective geographically-dispersed design teams, making them as successful as local design teams.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


The paper highlights gender inequality within the context of the European parliament using a wicked problems approach. Gender parity in parliament engages with issues of ethics, human rights and democracy, such issues benefit from raising awareness and instigating discussion techniques. Our study proposes the application of games and the use of game mechanics, dynamics and rhetorics as a medium to initiate engagement and understanding towards gender parity in parliament. Specific focus is given to the justification of the game's type, design and development as an appropriate tool for addressing gender inequality issues. This is presented through the empirical analysis of prototypes and engaging with current research (gamification, gameful design, procedural rhetoric). Utilising games as a medium to induce an emotional response within an artificial environment enables the user to engage with feelings of unfairness and frustration. We suggest an indirect method that enables a user-centered physical experience within an artificial environment to address the volatile issue of inequality, informed by multiple perspectives. Our aim is to develop a digital game that enables players to experience the unequal state of women's representation in parliament today and that encourages collaboration to overcome inequality as a win condition.


To obtain high performance control of a dc-dc converter, a good model of the converter is needed. The load usually affects the dynamics and one way to take this into consideration is to regard the load as a part of the converter. The load is often the most variable part of this system. If the load current and the output voltage are measured there are good possibilities to obtain a good model of the load on-line. Adaptive control can then be applied to improve the control. In peak current-mode control, the output voltage and the inductor current are measured and utilized for control. In the author's licentiate thesis, analytic models were derived for the case where the load current is also measured and utilized for control. The control-to-output transfer function, the output impedance, and the audio susceptibility were derived for the buck, boost, and buck-boost converters operated in continuous conduction mode in the case of resistive load. The use of load current can be seen as gain scheduling in the case where the load is a resistor. Gain scheduling can be considered a special case of adaptive control. The majority of the results in the licentiate thesis were validated by comparing the frequency responses predicted by the analytic models and switched large-signal simulation models. In this thesis, additional results are presented for the buck converter. Experimental results obtained by means of a network analyzer verify the derived control-to-output transfer function and the audio susceptibility but not the output impedance at low frequencies. In the experimental buck converter there are stray resistances in the inductor, transistor, and diode but these stray resistances were not considered in the licentiate thesis. A new transfer function for the output impedance is derived where these stray resistances are considered and it is in good agreement with the experimental result also at low frequencies. If the current to the output capacitor is measured in addition to the output voltage and the inductor current, the load current can be calculated as the difference between the inductor and capacitor currents in the case of the buck converter. Hence, the measurement of the load current can be replaced by measurement of the capacitor current. If this possibility is utilized and the capacitor current is measured by means of a current transformer, a low-frequency resonance is introduced in the frequency responses according to experimental results. The reason for this resonance is due to the high-pass-filter characteristics of the current transformer. A new analytic model is derived which predicts the resonance. (Less)


The treatment of chronically ill patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) receiving dialysis therapies has advanced greatly over the years and accomplished many successes in prolonging the life of patients with ESRD, yet has had considerable failures due to the inability to compensate for all functions of the kidneys. In addition, the focus to achieve quality goals for laboratories and vascular access measures may indicate a good quality of care from providers, but meeting these clinical and physiological goals may not fully maximize individual benefit to a patient, may not be aligned with the patient's care goals, and could conceivably impact negatively the patient's experience of care and quality of life. The age of individualized patient centered care is forthcoming with advancements in technology and our understanding of the treatment of renal diseases. The future holds promise for enhancing the quality provided to each patient but will require nephrologists to overcome numerous hurdles. This article provides an opinion on principles that may fundamentally improve the quality of renal disease care in the future and represents themes that can enhance quality, safety, and efficiency in the health care delivery system. It is believed that quality measured from a patient centric perspective will shift the treatment for these chronic disorders to better meet each patient's needs and goals, while evolving an enhanced delivery system for the care of all ESRD patients.


This article is the result of a three-week course where we choose to specialize in the role of interaction in emotional design. We will elaborate on the meaning of emotions in general and how emotions are expressed and interpreted. Specifically, we describe methods of working and understanding users' emotions that are important to the design task.  We concentrate on two groups of users people needing a medical injection at least three times a month and elderly people having problems organizing their memories. The emotions we deal with in these cases are related to the actions of the users when they deal with their problems.  Finally, we explore ways of bringing in our user findings into concept development.


Cloud computing has been given a great deal of attention during recent years. Almost all the technology market leaders and leading hosting service providers (like IBM, Microsoft and Verizon) have entered into the Cloud market as Cloud Providers. Cloud computing promises to provide highly available, secure, low cost, agile and highly scalable solution to the consumers.Scania is a global company and one of the world's leading heavy vehicle manufacturers with 35,000+ employees. All the large organizations such as Scania, aim to constantly update themselves with the latest technology in order to meet their business requirements but, these organizations must always be convinced that there is a strong reason(s) to implement new technology.This research provides the method and criteria in relation to initiating Cloud computing. A number of Scania's specific business requirements that it is possible to map to the Cloud are addressed in this thesis. The methodology of research is split in two parts. Firstly, the identification of business cases at Scania and their requirements with the Cloud and Secondly, the evaluation and comparison of the functionalities and capabilities of different vendors. The accumulated data is then compared and suitable vendors, according to those business requirements are suggested.This thesis also shares the experience of moving on premise applications to the Cloud. These are Scania specific applications which are currently being hosted in-house. The research also addresses the possibilities of portability between the Cloud providers. Although there is no standardization in relation to Cloud computing, some initiatives such as OpenStack are available and its current position and some application and data migration tools are also discussed.The thesis concludes with a general discussion, recommendations in relation to adapting Cloud computing and selecting the Cloud provider. This recommendation applies to every organization including Scania.


Inside the H2O snowline of protoplanetary disks, water evaporates from the dust-grain surface into the gas phase, whereas it is frozen out onto the dust in the cold region beyond the snowline. H2O ice enhances the solid material in the cold outer part of a disk, which promotes the formation of gas-giant planet cores. We can regard the H2O snowline as the surface that divides the regions between rocky and gaseous giant planet formation. Thus observationally measuring the location of the H2O snowline is crucial for understanding the planetesimal and planet formation processes, and the origin of water on Earth. In this paper, we find candidate water lines to locate the H2O snowline through future high-dispersion spectroscopic observations. First, we calculate the chemical composition of the disk and investigate the abundance distributions of H2O gas and ice, and the position of the H2O snowline. We confirm that the abundance of H2O gas is high not only in the hot midplane region inside the H2O snowline but also in the hot surface layer of the outer disk. Second, we calculate the H2O line profiles and identify those H2O lines that are promising for locating the H2O snowline: the identified lines are those that have small Einstein A coefficients and high upper state energies. The wavelengths of the candidate H2O lines range from mid-infrared to sub-millimeter, and they overlap with the regions accessible to the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array and future mid-infrared high-dispersion spectrographs (e.g., TMT/MICHI, SPICA).


The BBC is one of the most important institutions in Britain; it is also one of the most misunderstood. Despite its claim to be independent and impartial, and the constant accusations of a liberal bias, the BBC has always sided with the elite. As Tom Mills demonstrates, we are only getting the news that the Establishment wants aired in public. Throughout its existence, the BBC has been in thrall to those in power. This was true in 1926 when it stood against the workers during the General Strike, and since then the Corporation has continued to mute the voices of those who oppose the status quo: miners in 1984; anti-war protesters in 2003; those who offer alternatives to austerity economics since 2008. From the outset much of its activity has been scrutinised by the secret services at the invitation of those in charge. Since the 1990s the BBC has been integrated into the market, while its independence from government and big business has been steadily eroded. The BBC is an important and timely examination of a crucial public institution that is constantly under threat.


In October 2011, new rules governing debit card interchange fees became effective in the United States. These rules limit the maximum permissible interchange fee that an issuer can charge merchants for a debit card transaction. This paper provides simple calculations that identify the transaction values for which merchants pay higher and lower interchange fees under the new rules. The paper then uses new data from the Boston Fed's 2010 and 2011 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice to identify the types of merchants who are likely to pay higher and lower interchange fees under the new rules.


This thesis was performed at the research centre CINECA in Bologna, Italy. An interface with six degrees of freedom, 6DOF, to be used in a virtual environ- ment for the positioning of medical components was developed in co-operation with IOR, one of the most important orthopaedic hospitals in Italy. The main reason for doing this was to find out whether or not a virtual en-viron-ment and 6DOF interaction could make the pre-operative planning of an ope-ration more efficient compared to other techniques. Is it easy to posi-tion an object using stereovision and a 6DOF tracker tool? Further-more, the interface might also be used in other applications and areas in the future. Described is the development of an interaction class especially constructed for the use of a tracking tool called a stylus pen. This tool takes advantage of all 6DOF, i.e. it recognises movements in the x, y and z directions and likewise the orientation of the tool around the three axis. Moreover, an application which uses the interaction class was created in order to evaluate its usefulness. The application enables the user to load, save and position objects within a virtual environment. The result of this evaluation is then described and discussed. In the evaluations it was shown that the stylus pen with 6DOF is an intuitive in-ter-action tool which works well for positioning. The stereovision also seems to further improve the users ability to position objects. However, the created interaction class needs to be further developed before itcan be implemented in a pre-operative planning tool.


A growing body of hedonic literature applied to the residential housing market has been developed during the last 30 years, mainly in North-America and UK. Office market has undergone several investigations in a more recent period. These studies typically have approached value indirectly through measures of rents. A smaller number of office market studies have focused on direct measures of actual or imputed property value. As a contribution to this literature, the aim of this paper is to provide what we consider, to the best of our knowledge, the first application of the hedonic approach to the office French market. We carried out a hedonic analysis of office properties and develop a transaction-based index for the business district of Paris-La DEfense.


Culture, Embodiment, and the Senses will provide an historical and cross-cultural analysis of the politics of sensory experience. The subject will address western philosophical debates about mind, brain, emotion, and the body and the historical value placed upon sight, reason, and rationality, versus smell, taste, and touch as acceptable modes of knowing and knowledge production. We will assess cultural traditions that challenge scientific interpretations of experience arising from western philosophical and physiological models. The class will examine how sensory experience lies beyond the realm of individual physiological or psychological responses and occurs within a culturally elaborated field of social relations. Finally, we will debate how discourse about the senses is a product of particular modes of knowledge production that are themselves contested fields of power relations.


An analysis of two rock samples, hyaloclastites and basalts, at in-situ reservoir conditions has been done to identify the role of temperature on the seismic velocity and attenuation. The goal is to present the result of using Gassmann equation within the framework of Biot's poroelasticity for a fluid substitution analysis of geothermal rocks. The analysis of temperature-dependent wave attenuation is shown for hyaloclastites. The results show that P wave velocities decrease with the temperature rise in a systematic way. The general decreasing trend of seismic velocity towards temperature may be related to the fluid characteristics with the temperature. Using Gassmann equation it has been shown that the presence of steam bubbles can reduce the effective elastic property of rocks. The Q factor behaves surprisingly almost in the same way as the seismic velocity with temperature, except in the lower temperature range. The Q factor increase with the temperature is supposed to be a quick viscosity decrease. The later decrease of Q factor may indicate the presence of steam bubbles due to the further temperature increase. This finding demonstrates that the application of Gassmann fluid substitution modelling may be used for the characterization of geothermal reservoir systems.


Environmental sustainability has attracted considerable interest in recent years in improving competitive advantage for both profit and non-profit organizations worldwide. Advertising appeal and pricing strategy for green products offer the potential for substantially improving consumers' perception of quality, price, risk, and their intention, but previous studies focusing on this issue was relatively scarce and reported divergent and inconsistent results. This study adopted prospect theory to examine the role of appeal type and price level on consumers' perceptions and purchase intentions toward green products in the context of advertising. By literature review and pre-test, a conceptual model with six postulated hypotheses is proposed. Participants were randomly assigned into six groups in accordance with the two A— three (appeal type A— price level) research design. A structured questionnaire is designed to collect field data. The results show that green advertising enhances perceived quality, price fairness, and purchase intentions more than non-green advertising appeal does. Simultaneously, low pricing enhances perceived price fairness, reduces financial risk, and strengthens purchase intentions more than high pricing strategies do. Consumers consider both green advertising appeal and low prices as risk-averse conditions. Before introducing a green marketing strategy, the marketer must seriously consider the consumer reactions toward green products have transformed from negative evaluations into positive ones from the consumer's perspective. This study could provide green marketing implications in terms of how to effectively use advertising appeal and pricing strategy to increase consumers' perceptions and buying intentions towards green products.


ABSTRACT The disadvantaged have incentives to commit crime, and to develop criminogenic dispositions, that limit the extent to which their co-citizens can blame them for breaking the law. This is true regardless of whether the causes of criminality are mainly "structural" or "cultural." We need not assume that society as a whole is unjust in order to accept this conclusion. And doing so would neither stigmatize nor otherwise disrespect the disadvantaged.


Previous research has demonstrated that computational models of Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) can adapt so as to increase their evolvability, where evolvability is defined as a populations responsiveness to environmental change. In such previous work, phenotypes have been represented as bit strings formed by concatenating the activations of the GRN after simulation. This research is an extension where previous results supporting the evolvability of GRNs are replicated, however, the phenotype space is enriched with time and space dynamics with an evolutionary robotics task environment. It was found that a GRN encoding used in the evolution of a way-point navigation behavior in a fluctuating environment results in (robot controller) populations becoming significantly more responsive (evolvable) over time. This is as compared to a direct encoding of controllers which was unable to improve its evolvability in the same task environment.


A comprehensive study on gain-boosted regulated cascode operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA) is discussed. These amplifiers are usually good for power optimized high-speed designs. However location of an additional pole-zero pair in the transfer function makes the transient response much slower than expected. A new design is proposed along with the systematic approach which get rid of this pole-zero pair and deliberately puts a pair of complex poles to make the design faster.


Mandatory rules provide people protections they might otherwise fail to secure in their contracts. Because people vary in the degree of protection they need and the cost of protection they can afford, one-size-fits-all rules are too weak for some and too strong for others. This Essay examines the case for personalized mandatory protections. With the increasing availability of information about consumers, the law may soon be able to tailor mandatory protections that vary with each individual's characteristics. We show that personalized protections increase the overall contractual surplus and prompt more people to enter into contracts. It eliminates cross-subsidies within a class of contractors, but mostly in a way that benefits the class. Separately, we examine the case for price personalization reflecting the varying protections people receive. Lastly, the analysis identifies potential distortions, pitfalls, and practical problems arising from personalized mandatory rules and prices, and discusses the fairness of this regime.


In this research, effect of electronegative F, Cl, NO2 and CF3 substituents on aromaticity of highly substituted benzene molecules is studied. NICS, ASE, HOMA and HOMO-LUMO energy gaps were the indices which are applied to show effect of substituents. In addition, sigma and pi-electron donor acceptors are calculated for all the substituted molecules. Additionally, total electron donor acceptor tEDA was proposed as a new descriptor which was the sum of two previously mentioned descriptors and show total electrons. The trend of results is different for all methods. For instance the behavior of NICS is contrariwise to ASE and HOMO-LUMO energy gaps results and HOMA index calculation provided no valuable information. As other results, it was shown that the calculated NICS in center of rings was changed not only by ring current but also altered with the presence of other atoms fields. The isomerization effect of the aromaticity also was studied and it was shown that the energy, ASE, and HOMA indices adapted to tEDA descriptors. Deficiency of NICS and HOMA methods in predicting the substituent effects illuminated in this research which the NICS deficiency is explained by the fact that the chemical shift of nucleus was resulted from two sources: ring current and other atoms presence.


Traditional "source-level" debuggers for compiled languages actually operate at machine level, which makes them complex, difficult to port, and intolerant of compiler optimization. For type-safe languages, however, debugging support can be provided without reference to the underlying machine, by adding instrumentation to program source code before compilation. Because the instrumented code is (almost) ordinary source, it can be processed by the ordinary compiler. The debugger is thus independent from the underlying hardware and runtime system, and from the optimization strategies used by the compiler.
This dissertation describes the design and implementation of instrumentation-based debuggers for the Standard ML of New Jersey compiler. Three systems are described: a simple debugger with ordinary variable display and breakpoint facilities, a debugger supporting--and taking internal advantage of--reverse execution, and a debugger for ML Threads, a concurrent extension of ML running on multiprocessors. A formal operational semantics for a subset of ML is used to define debugging operations precisely, and to provide a basis for determining the concrete types of polymorphic variables at runtime. Debugger performance measurements are presented for a range of real programs.


I. Introduction The returns to a college education have never been greater. In 2000, college graduates made 80 percent more on average than those with only a high school degree. Over a lifetime, this amounts to more than a million-dollar difference in income (College Board 2002). Moreover, the relative benefits of a college degree are likely to continue to grow as the labor market increasingly favors skilled over unskilled workers. Unfortunately, access to higher education is difficult for many due to issues of affordability and preparation (Ellwood and Kane 2000, ACSFA 2001 and 2002). Furthermore, general access to higher education has become less important as research has shown that the greatest benefits are primarily available at particular types of institutions. There has been growing dispersion in the incomes of college-educated Americans since 1970, and nearly half of this can be explained by the increased segregation of top students at schools with considerable resources (Hoxby and Long 1999). Therefore, gaining access to a high-quality college has become the goal of many families. Unfortunately, the availability of spaces at the top American colleges is limited. Particularly, with the entrance of the Baby Boom Echo, the large cohort of children of the Baby Boomers, the demand for a four-year college education has risen above capacity. It is under these conditions that racial preferences in higher education have been attacked most severely as the country debates how to distribute access to competitive, four-year colleges. This issue is particularly important given the changing demographics of the United States. In a matter of years, a majority of high school graduates will be students of color, and the opportunity for them to attend competitive institutions will dictate the quality of the future labor force. As the debate ensues about affirmative action in higher education, one major question is whether there are alternative policies that would maintain levels of diversity in higher education. This paper explores this issue by examining several alternatives that have been considered in recent years. To evaluate them, one must ask whether they produce levels of racial and ethnic diversity that mirror the proportion found in the population or at least the level that occurred when affirmative action was in place. Furthermore, one should consider how these alternative strategies are likely to affect other long term factors such as college persistence. This paper is organized as follows: Section II discusses the role of racial preferences in higher education admissions. Sections III and IV consider alternatives to affirmative action such as percentage plans and different admissions tests and standards. Section V concludes. II. The Role of Racial Preferences Although there is a perception that affirmative action is extensive in higher education, the true role of race in college admissions is largely unclear. To discern the role of racial preferences, researchers have compared the academic characteristics of students of different races at a particular college. However, researchers often do not have complete information of all the factors that affect admissions to determine with any confidence the extent of racial preferences. For example, Kane (1998) compares the college application decisions of high school graduates at elite institutions, Although he finds that students of color attended slightly better elite institutions than white students with similar characteristics, he notes that this observation is based only on test score and high school GPA information. Admissions committees, particularly at these types of institutions, take into account a wide variety of criteria, and some of these factors are likely to be subjective measures not easily captured in analysis. For example, many schools require student essays and recommendations from teachers. Moreover, extracurricular activities and leadership experiences are also important influences in application decisions. …


A self-exploratory exercise to understand the vulnerabilities of adolescent girls in southern India.

This report illustrates the findings of a qualitative study carried out among young people in Karnataka State, in India. The report, published by KHPT with support from STRIVE, explores girls' attitudes and aspirations with respect to education and attending school.

The study was based on workshops with adolescent girls of different age groups, using methods including focus group discussions and creative expression (through drawing, for example). It documents girls' experiences and explores a range of issues related to structural factors such as: gender and social norms; traditional cultural practices; nutrition, healthcare and education; poverty.

The report also sheds light on the importance of school as a social space, providing a peer-based support system, representing an alternative to household work and early marriage, and for the significance of teachers as role models.


Description: The ongoing discussion about reaching the "peak–oil point" (maximal delivery rate with conventional methods) emphasizes a fundamental change of the frame conditions of oil–based basic products. The alternative with the largest potential is the use of coal. Coal gasification is the production of coal gas (a mixture of mainly hydrogen and carbon monoxide) from coal adding agents like steam/water and oxygen, which can be used in a number of industrial processes (e.g. hydroformulation and Fischer–Tropsch process). Many different kinds of coal do naturally occur, and due to shrinking natural resources, there has been a substantial gain of interest in poor, ash–rich coal. Beside the quality of coal, there is a number of other parameters influencing the efficiency of coal gasification, such as temperature, pressure, and reactor type. Although several books dealing with the subject of gasification have recently been published, few are strictly focussed on coal as feedstock. This monograph provides the reader with the necessary chemical background on coal gasification. Several types of coal (baseline coal and ash–rich coal) are compared systematically, pointing out the technological efforts achieved so far to overcome this challenge. Using a new, innovative order scheme to evaluate the gasification process at a glance (the ternary diagram), the complex network of chemistry, engineering, and economic needs can be overviewed in a highly efficient way. This book is a must–have for Chemical and Process Engineers, Engineering Students, as well as Scientists in the Chemical Industry.


To our knowledge, the coexistence of Warthin tumor and ipsilateral aural atresia has not been reported before. This situation may affect facial nerve structure and present a surgically challenging situation during superficial parotidectomy. A 68-year-old woman with right aural atresia was operated on due to a parotid mass below the atretic ear. Computed tomography and intraoperative findings demonstrated unusual properties of the facial nerve: (i) Extratemporal beginning was more superiorly located, (ii) Facial trunk was relatively longer and more vertical, (iii) Buccal, marginal mandibular, and cervical branching from the unique ring structure of the facial nerve. All facial nerve branches were preserved after careful dissection and the lesion was completely excised. Final histopathologic diagnosis was Warthin tumor. In order to preserve the facial nerve during parotid surgery and to avoid morbidity, it is necessary for surgeons to be familiar with different types of extratemporal facial nerve anatomy especially in cases of additional anomalies such


Abstract. This paper presents a novel method of unmanned aerial vehicle image processing using photogrammetric technique. The study area consist different slope class which involves undulating area around the Skudai area, Malaysia. All photogrammetric methods were applied in this study including selection of test area, flight planning, camera calibration and image processing orientation. A new ground control point configurations is introduced in this study as a generic approach in unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetric block. These configurations are used to determine the best photogrammetric results based on number of ground control points in the photogrammetric block during image processing. The objective of this study is to determine the best configuration for photogrammetric block in order to produce the best photogrammetric products. Photogrammetric image processing involves two main orientations which are known as interior orientation and exterior orientation. Interior orientation involves the parameters of camera in order to calibrate the image in the same position as during the image acquisition. Exterior orientation involves the measurement of tie points to tie up all images in the strips until photogrammetric block. In this study, six ground control point configurations were tested to determine the best photogrammetric results. In this study, two main photogrammetric results were produced namely digital orthophoto and digital elevation model. The verification results show that all configurations recorded coefficient percentage of more than 97% accuracy for the six configurations. The validation results conclude that ground control point plays an important role in photogrammetric block to acquire the accurate photogrammetric results. In this study eight and nine ground control point configurations are the best configurations among the others. Qualitatively, vector plot error for easting and northing coordinates can be viewed graphically to distinguish the error and direction for all configurations which has been proposed in this study.


Mixed-signal systems combine analog and digital signal processing in one overall design that should be integrated as a single system on chip. At system level, the separation into isolated subsystem representations for analog and digital parts needs to be overcome by a unified formalism that can handle any mix of continuous-time, discrete-time, and hybrid systems. A second driving force in our contribution is that, with decreasing circuit size, nonlinear effects become increasingly prominent. Therefore, several aspects of a consistent theory of nonlinear dynamical systems with mixed-signal domains have been developed. It is based on an extension of the Volterra series approach to the representation of fading-memory systems. We will present novel mixed-domain representations, both in the time and frequency domains, and we develop simple results for system composition. For illustration purposes, we discuss analog-to-digital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, and the digital cancellation of a (nonlinear) analog echo path.


This is the report of an open label clinical trial to evaluate the effects of nabilone, an endocannabinoid receptor agonist, on treatment‐resistant nightmares in patients diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Methods: Charts of 47 patients diagnosed with PTSD and having continuing nightmares in spite of conventional antidepressants and hypnotics were reviewed after adjunctive treatment with nabilone was initiated. These patients had been referred to a psychiatric specialist outpatient clinic between 2004 and 2006. The majority of patients (72%) receiving nabilone experienced either cessation of nightmares or a significant reduction in nightmare intensity. Subjective improvement in sleep time, the quality of sleep, and the reduction of daytime flashbacks and nightsweats were also noted by some patients. The results of this study indicate the potential benefits of nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid, in patients with PTSD experiencing poor control of nightmares with standard pharmacotherapy. This is the first report of the use of nabilone (Cesamet; Valeant Canada, Ltd., Montreal, Canada) for the management of treatment‐resistant nightmares in PTSD.


In fish, the calcium channel required for excitation-contraction coupling does not conduct calcium. Excitation-contraction (EC) coupling is the process by which an electrical signal triggers muscle contraction. Depolarization activates a voltage-gated Ca2+ channel (Cav), which activates an intracellular calcium channel (RyR), releasing sufficient calcium to trigger muscle contraction. In the mammalian heart, Cav1.2 channels conduct Ca2+, and this increase in Ca2+ concentration contributes to the activation of the RyR. In mammalian skeletal muscle, the Cav1.1 channel only conducts a very small and slowly activating current, and the RyR is activated by a direct interchannel coupling mechanism. Schredelseker et al. investigated excitation-contraction coupling in teleost fish. Whole-cell patch clamp analysis revealed that myotubes from zebrafish larvae did not have a voltage-dependent inward Ca2+ current but did exhibit gating currents specific to Cav1.1 channels. (Gating currents represent the movement of the voltage-sensing residues and indicate a conformational change in the channel.) Depolarization stimulated an increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration consistent with RyR release of Ca2+ and EC coupling. By searching the zebrafish genome, the authors found two genes encoding the α subunit of the Cav1.1 channel (Cav1.1α1S), but each of these exhibited mutations predicted to block Ca2+ conduction. Expression of zf-α1S-a or zf-α1S-b in α subunit–deficient mouse myotubes (derived from a cell line) showed that these channels failed to conduct Ca2+ but were competent for EC coupling. Introduction of these mutations into rabbit Cav1.1α1S rendered that channel incapable of Ca2+ conduction. Each of the two genes was selectively expressed in a particular type of muscle fiber in the adult zebrafish. Transcripts for zf-α1S-a, along with RyR1a, were abundant in slow fibers involved in persistent swimming. Transcripts for zf-α1S-b, along with RyR1b, were abundant in fast fibers involved in burst swimming. Analysis of the sequences of Cav1.1 channels from 32 species of teleost fish (17 different orders) showed that all of them had channels with conductance-blocking mutations. The authors suggest that the earliest forms of EC coupling involved Ca2+-conducting Ca2+ channels; then conformational coupling arose, leading to a combination of mechanisms of RyR activation, with some species (teleost fish) bearing mutations that resulted in complete loss of calcium conduction. J. Schredelseker, M. Shrivastav, A. Dayal, M. Grabner, Non-Ca2+-conducting Ca2+ channels in fish skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 5658–5663 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Background and Aims. This study used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) in mother–child dyads to examine the day-level associations of stress and eating. Method. Mothers and their 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 167 dyads) completed between three (weekday) and eight (weekend) EMA survey prompts per day at random nonschool times across 8 days. EMA measured perceived stress, and past 2-hour healthy (i.e., fruit and vegetables) and unhealthy (e.g., pastries/sweets, soda/energy drinks) eating. Results. Children reported more healthy and unhealthy eating on days when their mothers also engaged in more healthy and unhealthy eating, respectively. On days when mothers' perceived stress was greater than usual, they reported more healthy eating. Discussion and Conclusions. Eating behaviors were coupled between mothers and children at the day level. Mothers' stress was related to their own eating but not to children's eating.


I declare that the work described in this dissertation is, except where otherwise stated, entirely my own work and has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university.


The Kogan Creek Solar Boost is a world-first commercial project that sees AREVA Solar designing, supplying and constructing CLFR-based solar steam generators for CS Energy, a major power generation company in Queensland, Australia. Part of the requirements of the Project is that AREVA Solar must performance test the technology and prove that it will produce the energy required with known solar radiation input.

In this dissertation, the current research in performance modelling, simulation, validation and testing of CLFR technology will be explored as a means to provide a guideline for developing a test protocol for the Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project. There were significant publications in the area of performance modelling, simulation and (sometimes) validation of mathematical models for CLFR receivers and reflectors. In the area of validating mathematical models of actual CLFR technology, the area is not well published; performance testing of CLFR projects is further scarce. Only one technical standard exists for developing test protocol, however, this imposes limitations and does not allow for working-fluid phase-change processes. Guidelines for developing test protocol are scant, with only the NREL having published their interim work for performance testing of parabolic trough solar fields.

Through combining the results of the CLFR mathematical modelling and the NREL parabolic trough performance acceptance testing guidelines, a guideline for CLFR can be developed and this is presented in this Dissertation. There is still considerable work in this area, and this is evidenced by the formation of an ASME Committee that is to develop a Performance Test Code as a definitive technical standard for all solar thermal technologies over the coming years. In the interim, in lieu of the availability of technical standards, the results from this Dissertation can inform and guide the development of a test protocol for the solar steam generators to be installed on the Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project.


Mechanical resonators with high quality factors are widely used in precision experiments, ranging from gravitational wave detection and force sensing to quantum optomechanics. Beams and membranes are well known to exhibit flexural modes with enhanced quality factors when subjected to tensile stress. The mechanism for this enhancement has been a subject of debate, but is typically attributed to elastic energy being ``diluted'' by a lossless potential. Here we clarify the origin of the lossless potential to be the combination of tension and geometric nonlinearity of strain. We present a general theory of dissipation dilution that is applicable to arbitrary resonator geometries and discuss why this effect is particularly strong for flexural modes of nanomechanical structures with high aspect ratios. Applying the theory to a nonuniform doubly clamped beam, we show analytically how dissipation dilution can be enhanced by modifying the beam shape to implement ``soft clamping,'' thin clamping, and geometric strain engineering, and derive the ultimate limit for dissipation dilution.


The study highlights the commonalities and differences of the new Public Administration and the Discourse Theory. New Public Administration was born out of the tumultuous environment of the 60s, while the Discourse theory was prompted by the hyperreality of the fragmented society in the 90s. Both theories share the belief in an respect for individual's own experience, and dominance of public interest above all values to predicate public action and the rejection of the command-and-control bureaucratic structure in policymaking and implementation. The two theories diverge in their respective formulations of location of public engagements. New Public Administration suggests use of models of task force, matrix, project, terms, devolution etc. to facilitate client participation in shaping public policy, while the Discourse theory explicates the importance of transforming the bureaucracy into one permeable, situational public energy field.


During the Last Glaciation, the glaciers that developed in the Lake St Clair area were largely controlled by the topography and played only a minor role in shaping the landscape, the most striking glacial features of which were produced during earlier glaciations. The glaciers were subject to continental influences, which resulted in some distinctive depositional and erosional landforms, bur were still of essentially temperate type. In apparent contrast to those in the West Coast Range, the glaciers in the Lake St Clair area retreated systematically in clear stages.


Audre Lorde—The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of Audre Lorde's passing—the acclaimed black lesbian, feminist, poet, and activist. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, Lorde's incisive writings and speeches defined and inspired the women of color, feminist, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social justice movements in the United States. Audre Lorde—The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 explores a little-known chapter of the writer's prolific life, a period in which she helped ignite the AfroGerman Movement, and made lasting contributions to the German political and cultural scene, before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the German reunification. Lorde mentored and encouraged black German women to write and publish as a way of asserting their identities, rights, and culture in a society that isolated and silenced them, while challenging white German women to acknowledge their white privilege. As Lorde wrote in her book, Our Dead Behind Us: Poems, "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." Audre Lorde—The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 contains previously unreleased audiovisual material from director Dagmar Schultz's personal archive, showing Lorde on and off stage. With testimony from Lorde's colleagues, students, and friends, this film documents Lorde's lasting legacy in Germany. (2012, 84 mins.)


of the thesis entitled "Development of the quantified relationship between Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activity of Radix et Rhizoma Salviae Miltiorrhizae, Radix Puerariae Lobatae and the herbal formula of Danshen-Gegen Tang (DGT) using Liquid Chromatography and Chemometric Techniques" submitted by Chan Hoi-yan for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in April, 2010. Herbal medicine (HM) is widely used for preventing and healing diseases in these years. It is necessary to ascertain its consistency, safety and efficacy through getting related information and evidences from scientific investigation. Correlation of the chemical composition with traditionally intended medication is one of the important targets. It is difficult to achieve this owing to the complexity of HM and the holistic concept of the working principle involved in disease treatment. Currently, the authentication of HM is based on "compound-oriented approach" and "pattern-oriented approach". The former approach mainly monitors the contents of several selected chemical markers for the measurement and it is widely accepted by authorized agencies in the world. As for the latter approach, it considered all the detectable components appeared in the chromatographic fingerprint for assessment. Still, the efficacy of HM cannot be reflected from these two approaches. The major reason is that the bioactive constituents are not the key concern. Thus, it is interested to explore the bioactive components in HM as they are responsible for the pharmacologic activity. This could aid in improving the quality control measures, getting better understanding on the therapeutic effect of HM and finding drug lead candidates from the natural sources. Usually, only a few so called active ingredients are considered even if the bioactivity aspect is under investigation. How to Publication and Presentation iii include more active ingredients and significant ones is still a great challenge to scientists. In this study, the quantified relationship between the chromatographic fingerprint and bioactivity of HM through the Quantitative Pattern-Activity Relationship (QPAR) approach was proposed and chemometric techniques were developed and applied to these two types of experimental data. The QPAR model thus established by us provides two pieces of crucial information about HM. They are (1) a model for predicting total bioactivity from the chromatographic fingerprint and (2) the features in the chromatographic profile responsible for the bioactivity. In this work, the Chinese herbal medicine Radix et Rhizoma Salviae Miltiorrhizae (DS), Radix Puerariae Lobatae (YG) as well as the herbal formula of Danshen–Gegen Tang (DGT) and a synthetic mixture system (MIX) were studied by both "compound-oriented approach" and "pattern-oriented approach". Their chemical fingerprints through HPLC-DAD-MS and RRLC-DAD instruments and antioxidant activities from FRAP assay were measured for data processing. In addition, the QPAR approach was applied to YG and MIX also to evaluate the performance of our QPAR methods developed and information mined. The bioactivity of HM is affected by the inherent variations of HM, the manufacturing process and other factors. Definitely, one of them is sample extraction. The extraction parameters affect the class of components and their quantities to be extracted. This leads to variation in the bioactivity level of the extract obtained when different sample preparation procedures are used. In this work, the optimal extraction condition of Radix et Rhizoma Salviae Miltiorrhizae (DS) in response to the antioxidant activity was explored and determined by response surface methodology (RSM). Through which, we investigated the relationship of bio-response and extraction parameters. In this way, the optimal antioxidant activity of DS was achieved by using 80% methanol with the volume of 90ml for 45minutes under ultrasound assisted extraction. Twenty DS samples collected from different provinces of P. R. China were investigated under the optimal extraction conditions. It was found that the antioxidant activity of DS is related to the amounts of phenolic acids instead of diterpenoids. The antioxidant activity of another HM, Radix Puerariae Lobatae (YG), was also studied. Publication and Presentation iv Both the bioactivity and chemical analysis were carried out on seventy eight YG samples. Through these two types of experimental data acquired, the quantified relationship between the chromatographic fingerprint and antioxidant activity of YG was established using the chemometric methods, PLS and UVE-PLS. Through which, on top of the chemical composition information, the antioxidant activity level of any YG sample including the unknown one can be reflected from its chromatographic fingerprint. The performance of determining the antioxidant activity level from the established relationship is good with the root mean square error for training set of 76.88 (6.37%) and the root mean square error of prediction for validation set of 79.59 (6.60%). The correlation coefficients of the predicted and experimental antioxidant capacities of the samples in the training and validation sets are 0.9318 and 0.8926 respectively. Exploration of bioactive components in YG was further attempted through establishing the QPAR relationship by another chemometrics algorithm, Target Projection coupled with Selectivity Ratio (TP/SR). The potential bioactive candidates were revealed at three regions. Their respective retention times are (G1) 12.5min, (G2) 13.3min and (G3) 15.6min. This prediction was proven by our experimental fractionation of YG samples. Furthermore, the discovery of bioactive components was done on another system which we called it as synthetic mixture system (MIX). They were made up of twelve different classes of reference compounds commonly found in HM. The most active components in this system were picked up by this algorithm. They were gallic acid (GA) and quercetin (QT). These findings show that our quantified relationship of chemical fingerprint and bioactivity could aid in studying the pharmacological activity of HM in more detail, drug discovery from the natural source, and upgrading the quality assessment HM with both chemical composition and bioactivity considered at the same time. In another study, the optimal ratio of two component herbs, DS and YG, in the DGT preparation was determined with the application of the chromatographic technique and in-vitro antioxidant assay. Rapid resolution liquid chromatography (RRLC) was utilized in this investigation because of its rapid analysis, improved resolution and sensitivity. It helped markedly in analyzing complex systems like DGT with many components Publication and Presentation v involved. Concerning both chemical composition and antioxidant activity, the best combination ratio of DS and YG was determined to be 6:4. The outcomes and methods proposed could provide a useful tool in finding out the optimal combination of the component herbs in other herbal formulae. Publication and Presentation vi PUBLICATION AND PRESENTATION


Background: Phase I of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) was designed to allow worldwide comparisons of the prevalence of asthma symptoms. In phase III the phase I survey was repeated in order to assess changes over time. Methods: The phase I survey was repeated after an interval of 5–10 years in 106 centres in 56 countries in children aged 13–14 years (n = 304 679) and in 66 centres in 37 countries in children aged 6–7 years (n = 193 404). Results: The mean symptom prevalence of current wheeze in the last 12 months changed slightly from 13.2% to 13.7% in the 13–14 year age group (mean increase of 0.06% per year) and from 11.1% to 11.6% in the 6–7 year age group (mean increase of 0.13% per year). There was also little change in the mean symptom prevalence of severe asthma or the symptom prevalence measured with the asthma video questionnaire. However, the time trends in asthma symptom prevalence showed different regional patterns. In Western Europe, current wheeze decreased by 0.07% per year in children aged 13–14 years but increased by 0.20% per year in children aged 6–7 years. The corresponding findings per year for the other regions in children aged 13–14 years and 6–7 years, respectively, were: Oceania (−0.39% and −0.21%); Latin America (+0.32% and +0.07%); Northern and Eastern Europe (+0.26% and +0.05%); Africa (+0.16% and +0.10%); North America (+0.12% and +0.32%); Eastern Mediterranean (−0.10% and +0.79%); Asia-Pacific (+0.07% and −0.06%); and the Indian subcontinent (+0.02% and +0.06%). There was a particularly marked reduction in current asthma symptom prevalence in English language countries (−0.51% and −0.09%). Similar patterns were observed for symptoms of severe asthma. However, the percentage of children reported to have had asthma at some time in their lives increased by 0.28% per year in the 13–14 year age group and by 0.18% per year in the 6–7 year age group. Conclusions: These findings indicate that international differences in asthma symptom prevalence have reduced, particularly in the 13–14 year age group, with decreases in prevalence in English speaking countries and Western Europe and increases in prevalence in regions where prevalence was previously low. Although there was little change in the overall prevalence of current wheeze, the percentage of children reported to have had asthma increased significantly, possibly reflecting greater awareness of this condition and/or changes in diagnostic practice. The increases in asthma symptom prevalence in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia indicate that the global burden of asthma is continuing to rise, but the global prevalence differences are lessening.


This paper describes the developing area of cultural psychopathology, an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on the ways in which cultural factors contribute to the experience and expression of psychological distress. We begin by outlining two approaches, often competing, in order to provide a background to some of the issues that complicate the field. The main section of the paper is devoted to a discussion of depression in Chinese culture as an example of the types of questions that can be studied. Here, we start with a review of the epidemiological literature, suggesting low rates of depression in China, and move to the most commonly cited explanation, namely that Chinese individuals with depression present this distress in a physical way. Different explanations of this phenomenon, known as somatization, are explored and reconceptualized according to an increasingly important model for cross-cultural psychologists: the cultural constitution of the self. We close by discussing some of the contributions, both theoretical and methodological, that can be made by cross-cultural psychologists to researchers in cultural psychopathology. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol10/iss2/3


As the technology behind renewable energy sources becomes more advanced and cost-effective, these sources have become an ever-increasing portion of the generation portfolios of power systems across the country. While the shift away from non-renewable resources is generally considered beneficial, the fact remains that intermittent renewable sources present special challenges associated with their unique operating characteristics. Because of the high variability of intermittent renewables, the frequency performance of the system to which they are connected can degrade. Generators assigned to regulate frequency, keeping it close to the desired 60 Hz, are forced to ramp up and down quickly in order to offset the rise and fall of the variable resources (in addition to the rise and fall of load), causing transient frequency deviations, power swings, major interface transfer variations and other significant issues. This research measures the impact of intermittent renewable resource penetration level on power system frequency performance, and offers methods for managing that performance. Currently, the generally accepted amount of regulation (rapidly-dispatchable reserve, used as a supplement to base generation on a short time scale to avoid performance issues) is 1% of peak load. Because of the high variability associated with intermittent renewables, including wind generation (the focus of this thesis), it is expected that this amount of regulation must increase in order to maintain adequate system frequency performance. Thus, the primary objective of this thesis is to quantify the amount of regulation necessary to maintain adequate frequency performance as a function of the penetration level of wind generation. Presently, balancing resource requirements are computed, in both industry and in the research literature, using static models, which rely entirely on statistical manipulation of net load, failing to capture the intricacies of dynamic system and generator interactions. Using a dynamic model with high temporal resolution data, instead of these statistical models, this thesis confirms the need for additional regulation as wind generation penetration increases. But beyond that, our research demonstrates an exponentially increasing relationship between necessary regulation and wind generation percentage, indicating that, without further technological breakthroughs, there is a practical limit to the amount of wind generation that a typical system can accommodate. Furthermore, we compare our dynamic model results with those of the statistical models, and show that the majority of current statistical models substantially under-predict the necessary amount of regulation to accommodate significant amounts of wind generation. Finally, we verify that the ramping capability of the regulating generators impacts the amount of necessary regulation, although it is generally ignored in current analysis and related literature.


Biological aging is marked by progressively degenerative physiological change that causes damage to tissues and organs. Errors in biopolymers accumulate over time; mitochondrial dysfunction, telomere attrition, and wider genomic instability lead to an altered state of intercellular communication. In this investigation, my focus will be aimed at examining and identifying specifically critical biomarkers in genetic variants of KLOTHO (a transmembrane protein involved in the genetic regulation of age-related disease) among organisms with varied life spans that range across wide taxonomical rankings. Here, I investigate the correlation between lower and higher frequency a-amino acid compositions in Klotho protein factors within a grouped methodology; as to also include several demonstrative techniques in comparative sequence analysis for inferring relatedness in evolutionary context.


Background: There are eight Taxus species and two hybrids in the world and Taxus baccata L. (European yew) is the single representative in Iran. Until now, a large number of taxoids possessing different skeleton systems, as well as lignans, flavonoids, steroids and sugar derivatives have been isolated from various Taxus species. Taxoids are highly oxygenated diterpenes isolated from different species of yew trees (family Taxaceae). They have received considerable attention after the discovery of the clinical efficacy of paclitaxel against different cancers due to its remarkable inhibition of microtubules polymerization leading to apoptosis of cancer cells. Objective: This study was conducted for extraction, purification and identification of taxoids occurring in the aerial parts of Taxus baccata L. growing in Iran. Methods: The plant materials were extracted with organic solvent and after defatting, partitioning, column chromatography and thin layer chromatography steps, the obtained compounds were characterized on the basis of spectral data. Results: Two taxane diterpenoids were isolated. The structures of these taxoids were established as 5-Cinnamoyl-10-acetyltaxicin-I and 2-Deacetyltaxinine E on the basis of spectral analysis. Conclusion: These two taxoids were not previously encountered in Taxus baccata L. species.


Exports of agricultural commodities to developed countries play a significant role in the economies of many developing countries. The elimination of import tariffs has the potential to benefit producers in the developing countries, but estimates of the effect of trade liberalization typically assume perfect competition. Significant concentration in the food processing and retailing sectors of the U.S. and the EU undermine the plausibility of this assumption in the case of agricultural trade, however. Sexton, Sheldon, McCorriston, and Wang (SSMW, 2007) developed a model of the effects of trade liberalization that accounts for the vertically-linked and concentrated characteristics of the developed countries' food markets. Their principal qualitative finding is that an analysis based on the assumption of competitive conduct will overstate the effects of trade liberalization if food processing and retailing firms exercise market power. This result is sensitive to their choice of functional forms, however, as this paper demonstrates with an analysis in which SSMW's linearity assumption is replaced by constant elasticity specifications for supply and demand. We also extend the SSMW analysis by considering ad valorem tariffs, a case for which the results exhibit both qualitative and quantitative differences from those for the unit tariff case.


General-purpose computing on graphics processing units, also known as GPGPU, is a burgeoning technique to enhance the computation of parallel programs. Applying this technique to real-time applications, however, requires additional support for timeliness of execution. In particular, the non-preemptive nature of GPGPU, associated with copying data to/from the device memory and launching code onto the device, needs to be managed in a timely manner. In this paper, we present a responsive GPGPU execution model (RGEM), which is a user-space runtime solution to protect the response times of high-priority GPGPU tasks from competing workload. RGEM splits a memory-copy transaction into multiple chunks so that preemption points appear at chunk boundaries. It also ensures that only the highest-priority GPGPU task launches code onto the device at any given time, to avoid performance interference caused by concurrent launches. A prototype implementation of an RGEM-based CUDA runtime engine is provided to evaluate the real-world impact of RGEM. Our experiments demonstrate that the response times of high-priority GPGPU tasks can be protected under RGEM, whereas their response times increase in an unbounded fashion without RGEM support, as the data sizes of competing workload increase.


Cu(I)-phenanthrolines are an important class of metal-organic molecules that exhibits much promise for solar energy harvesting and solar-driven catalysis applications. Although many experimental studies have been performed calling for high-level simulations to elucidate their photophysics, a complete picture is still missing. This is the goal of the present thesis. On the ultrafast (femtosecond) timescale we studied the non-adiabatic relaxation of a prototypical Cu(I)-phenanthroline, [Cu(dmp)2]+, by performing excited state simulations using two approaches: quantum dynamics and trajectory surface hopping. These simulations help to identify several mechanisms, internal conversion, pseudo Jahn-Teller distortion, intersystem crossing, occurring in the subpicosecond time scale. Surprisingly, we have found that intersystem crossing does not take place between the lowest singlet and triplet excited states, as previously proposed, but between the lowest singlet and higher triplet states. Moreover, we observed the initial stages (< 100 fs) of the solvent reorganization due to the electronic density changes in the excited state. This leads to an energy stabilization of the excited states that is associated with an increase of the non-radiative decay rate. The quantum dynamics simulations allowed us to provide indications for performing additional spectroscopy measurements by using the recently developed X-ray Free Electron Lasers (X-FELs). This technology can monitor both electronic and structural changes with an unprecedented time resolution of tens of femtoseconds and, therefore, is capable of revealing the aforementioned processes. In addition, we questioned the feasibility of such experiments and calculated the signal strengths for XAS and XES transient spectra. Finally, we analyzed the luminescence quenching, which has been observed for all Cu(I)-phenanthroline complexes when they are dissolved in strongly donating solvents. By performing Molecular Dynamics calculations we showed that, in contrast with the previously accepted model based on the formation of an exciplex (a species formed by two molecules, one in the excited state and one in the ground state), no stable exciplex is formed and that quenching is due to electrostatic solute-solvent interactions. In addition, we investigated how the geometry configuration can affect the luminescence lifetime in these molecules. We found a correlation between rigidity of the copper complex - inhibition of the pseudo Jahn-Teller distortion - and lifetime of the emission. The more the metal complex retains the ground state structure (large substituents), the longer its lifetime. This effect is attributed to a higher energy gap (excited state minus ground state energy) due to the reduction of relaxation. Our research reveals important insights into the relaxation mechanism and the complex interplay between geometry and electronic structure in Cu(I)-phenanthroline. These results can be exploited for guiding the synthesis of complexes with the desired physical properties.


This article examines the classification of the current armed conflict in Syria under international humanitarian law. The article first sets out the factual background identifying the principal parties and their alignments and motivations. It then proceeds to examine the question of classification of conflict under international humanitarian law and discusses the contentious issue of the effect of lack of consent by the government of a State in relation to foreign intervention in an ongoing non-international armed conflict when such intervention is directed against one or more armed groups operating from within that State's territory. It then proceeds to apply these factual and legal considerations to the complicated situation in Syria and identifies the parallel armed conflicts underway in Syria and their classification and sets out arguments as to why classification matters.