Wine and Interaction Design presents an interesting opportunity to the HCI community, as technology plays an increasing role in the many facets of wine production and consumption. People interact with technology in all phases of the wine lifecycle, including the grape growing process, harvesting the grapes, supporting the winemaking process, labelling the wine, wine selling, and wine serving. Inspired by the CHI 2012 workshop on Food and Interaction Design (Comber et al., 2012), this workshop will bring together HCI researchers and practitioners with an interest in the the role that interaction design and technology can play in wine production and consumption. The session will include discussions on issues and topics of interest raised in position papers contributed by participants. During a practical field visit the workshop will engage with local Tasmanian wine producers to understand and explore current wine-based practices using technology. The outcome of the workshop will be the identification of new opportunities for HCI researchers and practitioners to forge a synergy between technology and wine.


In this review, we examine the applicability of the vascularized bone marrow transplant (VBMT) as an alternative to conventional bone marrow transplantation (BMT). As a new surgical approach, the VBMT is unique by transplantation of the stromal environment that eliminates the need for an engraftment period, provides critical signaling and modulatory functions, and may potentiate tolerance induction. Thus far, VBMT studies have demonstrated an absence of graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) and robust engraftment into nonmanipulated as well as irradiated recipients with evidence of immunological tolerance. Further investigation is needed to determine the applicability of VBMT as an alternative to BMT. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 2007.


In the Preface to this second edition of her first book, Sandra M. Gilbert addresses the inevitable question: "How can you be a feminist and a Lawrentian?" The answer is intellectually satisfying and historically revealing as she traces an array of early twentieth-century women of letters, some of them proto-feminists, who revered Lawrence despite his countless statements that would today be condemned as "sexist."H.D. regarded him as one of her "initiators" whose words "flamed alive, blue serpents on the page." AnaisNin insisted that he "had a complete realization of the feelings of women."By focusing on Lawrence s own definition of a poem as an "act of attention," Gilbert demonstrates how he developed the mature style of "Birds, Beasts and Flowers, "his finest collection of poetry. She discusses this volume at length, examines many of his later poems in detail, including the hymns from "The Plumed Serpent, Pansies, Nettles, "and "More Pansies, "and ends with a close look at "Last Poems. "Her detailed examination provides a clearer image of Lawrence as an artist an artist whose poetry complements his novels and whose fiction enriches but does not outshine his poetry."


Analog techniques are desirable for hardware implementation of neural networks due to their numerous advantages such as small size, low power, and high speed. However, these advantages are often offset by the difficulty in the training of analog neural network circuitry. In particular, training of the circuitry by software based on hardware models is impaired by statistical variations in the integrated circuit production process, resulting in performance degradation. In this paper, a new paradigm of noise injection during training for the reduction of this degradation is presented. The variations at the outputs of analog neural network circuitry are modeled based on the transistor-level mismatches occurring between identically designed transistors. Those variations are used as additive noise during training to increase the fault tolerance of the trained neural network. The results of this paradigm are confirmed via numerical experiments and physical measurements and are shown to be superior to the case of adding random noise during training.


We investigate the behavior of the thermoelectric power S in disordered systems close to the Anderson‐type metal‐insulator transition (MIT) at low temperatures. In the literature, we find contradictory results for S. It is either argued to diverge or to remain a constant as the MIT is approached. To resolve this dilemma, we calculate the number density of electrons at the MIT in disordered systems using an averaged density of states obtained by diagonalizing the three‐dimensional Anderson model of localization. From the number density we obtain the temperature dependence of the chemical potential necessary to solve for S. Without any additional approximation, we use the Chester‐Thellung‐Kubo‐Greenwood formulation and numerically obtain the behavior of S at low T as the Anderson transition is approached from the metallic side. We show that indeed S does not diverge.


This paper focuses on Warren Nutter's The Extent of Enterprise Monopoly in the United States, 1899-1939. This started out as a (1949) doctoral dissertation at The University of Chicago, part of Aaron Director's Free Market Study. Besides Director, O.H. Brownlee and Milton Friedman were closely involved with supervising it. It was published by The University of Chicago Press in 1951. In the 1950s the book was explicitly understood as belonging to the "Chicago School" (Dow and Abernathy 1963). By articulating the content, context, and reception of Nutter's monograph, this paper discusses four larger themes. First, I introduce the importance of Kuhnian conceptions of science to the methodological and institutional understanding of economics in the development of a 'Chicago' school of economics. I do this in context of previously unpublished Stigler-Kuhn exchange. While Thomas Kuhn was widely read and adopted in the social sciences and humanities in the 1960s and 70s (and thereafter), I argue that at 'Chicago,' proto-Kuhnian language can be found going back to the 1940s; in those early days it is partly used to disparage the achievements of economic theorizing as promoted by others. A more self-congratulatory Kuhnian self-understanding of economics as a mature paradigm starts to get adopted around 1955 by George Stigler. One important new claim is that the later Kuhnian language gets adopted in part to divest 'Chicago' from its shared roots with Institutionalist economics. So, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the formation of a shared narrative at 'Chicago.' Second, I introduce contextual themes from Milton Friedman's writings in the late 40s and 50s to help us understand the nature of realism at Chicago. Nutter's dissertation helps in reading and illuminating Milton Friedman's famous 1953 methodology paper in historical and intellectual context. Third, while this chapter notes some of the political ramifications of Chicago economics, my main aim is to help explain the manner in which Chicago attempted to chart a distinctive methodological course. This methodology has often been described as Marshallian with debts to the large-scale NBER studies. Rather than going over familiar territory, I call attention to the importance of proxies in Nutter's empirical methodology. It is an unappreciated feature of the inductive, quantitative method that focused on the component structures of the economy that characterizes Chicago's methodological outlook in this period. I show this by comparing Nutter's dissertation to work done by Stigler, then at Columbia. We know from Stigler's correspondence with Friedman that in this period they discussed methodological matters. What is less well known is that Friedman is explicitly credited for Stigler's methodological insights in Stigler's Five Lectures at LSE. The fifth lecture, "Competition in the United States," covers similar territory as Nutter's project. Comparing the work by Stigler and Nutter sheds light on the nature of Chicago methodology as it was being developed away from foundations laid by Frank Knight and Henry Simons in the late 1940s and 1950s and opening up the door to (right wing) social engineering as exemplified by Harberger. I present my analysis through the published critical reception of both works among economists. A fourth reason to focus on Nutter's dissertation is that it was featured in a Fortune magazine article in January 1952. So, it provides a useful entry into how politically important 'Chicago' research was marketed to a wider audience. This connects to issues explored by Phil Mirowski and his students, Rob van Horn and Eddie Nik-kah. So, Nutter's dissertation can help us see how 'sponsored' research looks at 'Chicago at the time. This is especially important because it has been claimed that Director's Free Market Study group promoted a change from classically liberal views on monopoly, which condemned labor and employer monopolies, to a more pro-business stance.


The field of sports vision is continuing to grow, with athletes seeing the benefit of incorporating vision drills as part of their training regimen. Dynamic visual acuity (DVA) is a very important aspect of the visual system and is necessary for sport, providing the ability to track a moving object while our head is moving. A recently released product called the Nike Vapor Strobe® Eyewear introduces a stroboscopic effect to vision training. The effect of stroboscopic training on DVA is unexplored territory. Purpose: The main aims of this study were to test the immediate effect of stroboscopic training after one training session, after a two week training program, and two weeks post training. Additionally, we tested the effect of stroboscopic vision training on catching performance. Methods: Sixteen participants were divided evenly into two groups according to baseline DVA scores, recorded using the NeuroCom inVision system. Participants then completed 9 days of vision training with three DVA assessments: immediately after day one of ball training, the day after final ball training, and two weeks after the completion of ball training. Results: The experimental group had statistically significant improvement in test session two from test session one for left DVA, total vertical DVA, downward DVA, and upward DVA, with no change on test sessions three and four. The control group worsened in performance for total DVA, downward DVA, and upward DVA in test two, three, and four. Both groups had statistically significant improvement in ball catching performance. Conclusion: Stroboscopic training increased dynamic visual acuity (after one training session) and ball catching performance (over the course of the training) compared to training without a stroboscopic effect. The Nike Vapor Strobe eyewear is a practical tool for improving catching performance and dynamic visual acuity immediately following training.


The orderly and unidirectional progress through the four phases of the eukaryotic cell cycle that allows one cell to become two is governed by multiple feedback loops (see Santos and Ferrell). Two positive feedback loops--one in the G1 phase (Skotheim et al.) and one in anaphase (Holt et al.)--have been revealed by single-cell analysis. Both groups studied the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in which cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and their associated regulatory proteins, the cyclins (Cln), are at the heart of the cell cycle. Skotheim et al. monitored an unstable green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the CLN2 promoter to determine the rate at which the CLN2 promoter was turned on in wild-type cells and in cells lacking CLN2 and CLN1 (cln1Δcln2Δ). In the previous models based on studies of synchronized populations of cells, regulation of Cdk1 by only the G1 cyclin Cln3 appeared to be required for progression through the G1 Start checkpoint, which initiates transcription of the G1/S regulon that includes the CLN1 and CLN2 genes. However, Skotheim et al. found that the time from the "birth" of a daughter cell to the activation of the CLN2 promoter was much shorter and less variable in wild-type cells than in the cln1Δcln2Δ cells and that a higher proportion of cln1Δcln2Δ cells failed to bud. Translocation from the nucleus of the transcriptional inhibitor Whi5, which contributes to activation of the G1/S regulon and is a substrate of Cdk1, was delayed in cln1Δcln2Δ cells; this delay may contribute to the delays and variability observed for the expression of other genes of the G1/S regulon. Thus, although not essential for cell cycle entry, Cln1 and Cln2 appear to serve as part of a positive feedback loop that dictates the timing of progression through G1. Holt et al. investigated events near the end of the cell cycle, specifically the separation of sister chromatids during anaphase. Chromatids are held together by a protein called securin, which is targeted for degradation by the ubiquitin ligase APC (anaphase-promoting complex), which, once degraded, allows the protease separase to cleave cohesin, thereby separating the chromatids. Separase also activates the phosphatase Cdc14, which removes phosphates from Cdk1 substrates. Holt et al. identified a new Cdk1 phosphorylation site in the N-terminal domain of securin near the destruction box that is important for APC recognition (other Cdk1 phosphorylation sites were already known in the C-terminal domain). When securin was phosphorylated by Cdk1 in vitro, it was a poor substrate for APC, and dephosphorylation by Cdc14 restored the ubiquitination of securin by APC. By tagging two chromosomes with GFP-repressor fusion proteins at specific loci, the authors quantified chromosome segregation in single cells. In wild-type cells, there was a consistent 90-second delay between separation of chromosomes IV and V. In cells in which Cdc14 activity was reduced, Cdk1 activity was increased, or a securin that could not be phosphorylated by Cdk1 was present, the separation of the two chromosomes was delayed. Thus, securin, separase, and APC appear to function in a positive feedback loop that stimulates securin's degradation by activating the phosphatase Cdc14, which promotes securin's destruction. This cycle appears to contribute to the synchronicity of chromosome segregation during anaphase. J. M. Skotheim, S. Di Talia, E. D. Siggia, F. R. Cross, Positive feedback of G1 cyclins ensures coherent cell cycle entry. Nature 454, 291-296 (2008). [PubMed] L. J. Holt, A. N. Krutchinsky, D. O. Morgan, Positive feedback sharpens the anaphase switch. Nature 454, 353-357 (2008). [PubMed] S. D. M. Santos, J. E. Ferrell, On the cell cycle and its switches. Nature 454, 288-289 (2008). [PubMed]


There are numerous sustainability challenges facing the world today, including: climate change, pollution, consumerism and poverty. To make the world a more sustainable and better place to live in, humanity needs to be able to generate solutions to increasingly complex, and ever growing global sustainability challenges. Education is an important vehicle in this respect, in that it can be used to re-orient perspectives and attitudes of learners towards sustainability, motivating learners to seek to transform themselves and society, and thus promote actions for sustainability. In Ireland, despite various initiatives from the turn of the 21st century, the integration of sustainability in academic programmes within higher education has remained largely unchanged. Educators within higher education in Ireland and elsewhere need specific guidance on how best to integrate and/ or infuse sustainability in their programmes and courses of study. This research set out to do this – thus, it explored how sustainability might be integrated/ infused in higher education, with a particular focus on identifying the key sustainability themes, principles, pedagogic practices and specific competencies that should underpin a model for infusing sustainability in higher education, while also investigating how the effectiveness or otherwise of particular competencies (developed within a sustainability-infusion curriculum process) might be evaluated at a meta-level. This mixed methods research study focused on the Irish context, primarily researching and analysing developments within Dublin City University, which was engaged in the reorientation of its curricula towards sustainability in the EU Tempus RUCAS project from 2010-2013. The outcomes of this study have resulted in the design and development of the Green Curriculum Model, a conceptual-design framework for educators to re-orient curricula towards sustainability. The research also resulted in the design, development and evaluation of a sustainability competencies assessment tool called the Dispositions, Abilities and Behaviours (DAB) Framework for profiling learners' sustainability competencies across higher education faculties, programmes and courses.


Living closely with others can provide a myriad of fitness benefits, from shared territory defense to co-operative resource acquisition. Costs of social aggregation are not absent, however, and likely influence optimal and observed groups' sizes in a social species. Here, we explored optimal group size in a joint-nesting cuckoo species (the Smooth-billed Ani, Crotophaga ani) using endocrine markers of stress physiology (corticosterone, or CORT). Smooth-billed Anis exhibit intense reproductive competition that is exacerbated in atypically large groups. We therefore hypothesized that intra-group competition (measured by social group size) mediates the desirability and physiological cost of social group membership in this species. To test this hypothesis, we captured 47 adult Smooth-billed Anis (31 males, 16 females) during the breeding seasons of 2012-2014 in south-western Puerto Rico, and documented social group sizes. Tail feathers were sampled and used to quantify CORT (pg/mg) in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) (n = 50). Our analyses show significant differences in feather-CORT of adults between categorical group sizes, with individuals from atypically large social groups (≥ x + 1SD) having highest mean concentrations (33.319 pg/mg), and individuals from atypically small social groups (≤ x − 1SD) having lowest mean concentrations (8.969 pg/mg). Whether reproductive competition or effort is responsible for elevated CORT in atypically large social groups, however, remains unclear. Our results suggest that living in atypically large groups is physiologically expensive and may represent an evolutionarily unstable strategy. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore a correlation between stress physiology and group size in a joint-nesting species.


A substantial number of cartels in the European Union are detected and enforced by the national competition authorities (NCAs). The effectiveness of the domestic enforcement has been subject to extensive review and debates, which have recently culminated and resulted in the proposal for the ECN Directive. The current discussions are mostly limited to the number of enforcement activities, the quantity of imposed fines and their height and deterrence. An empirical assessment of the court procedures in which those fines were challenged and the consequences thereof received minimal attention, despite its importance. The Dutch example, more in particular the difference between the fines as issued by the NCA and those remaining after court review, shows that the mere reference to the number of cases sanctioned paints a distorted picture and an analysis of the rates of litigation and successful litigation is indispensable for veraciously assessing the NCA's effectiveness. In light thereof, this article analyses the frequency of (successful) litigation and the reasons for annulments in cases of cartel fines in ten Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Public policy makers, such as the European Commission, could benefit from this data gathered in order to analyse the effectiveness of the NCAs. Moreover, the analysis is valuable for future research, since the depiction of the trends and differences can form the basis for further research to explain the percentages, trends and developments – as the author is doing for the Netherlands.


Background: The application of Photobiomodulation (PBM), Piezoelectric Surgery (PES) and Concentrated Growth Factors (CGF) in dental implant sinus lift procedure has gained popularity. Aim: To detail a two cases report on the use of PMB, PES, and CGF as a means of enhanced angiogenesis in tissue regeneration in dental implant lateral wall sinus lift procedure. Materials and Methods: This paper presents two cases report on the multi-disciplined approach using PBM, PES, and CGF as a method of enriched angiogenesis in tissue regeneration in dental implant sinus lift technique. In both patients, the sinus lateral windows were created using PES and the sinus membrane was raised to make a new partition. Surface modified dental implants (average 8 mm long) were inserted concurrently, packed with autologous fibrin-rich CGF, and then lastly induced PBM using Multiwave Locked System (MLS) laser. Radiographic and clinical evaluation was implemented to validate the efficacy of this multi-disciplined approach. Results and discussion: Postoperative revival was ordinary with no noteworthy postoperative complications. Wound closure/angiogenesis occurred shortly after day one. New bone formation in all augmented maxillary sinuses was detected alongside the implants on plain radiographs and on cone-beam computed tomograms. The patients were very happy with the overall treatment (>80%) and the success rate of implant was 100% after a usual 10 months loading period. PBM, PES, and CGF enhance angiogenesis/wound healing by speeding up wound approximation/healing, lessening the followings: postoperative pain, swelling, bleeding, speech impairment, analgesic use, and trismus. Conclusion: Using PBM, PES, and CGF as a method to enrich angiogenesis/wound healing in sinus lift rendered initial phase of satisfaction, simplicity, effectiveness, minimal complication, enhanced angiogenesis/wound healing with no cross infection and allergic reaction.

Keywords
photobiomodulation - piezoelectric surgery - concentrated growth factors - sinus augmentation - angiogenesis/wound healing


This analysis compares the population most likely to enroll in the ACA's nongroup exchanges to those who now have employer coverage, focusing on characteristics related to health risks. If the populations are comparable, unsubsidized premiums in the reformed nongroup market should be set at reasonable levels once reform is fully phased-in. While individuals with higher-than-average health care needs may be somewhat more likely to enroll in the nongroup market in the first year, once past the transition period, the health characteristics of nongroup enrollees can be expected to be quite similar to those with employer-based insurance.


One fundamental issue in existing reputation mechanisms, particularly those in open and decentralized multi-agent systems, is whitewashing attacks by rational providers. If identities are cheap, it is beneficial for a provider to simply defect when selling services to its clients, leaves the system and then rejoins with a new identity to avoid punishment. Current work usually assumes the existence of an effective identity management system to avoid the problem, without proposing concrete solutions to directly prevent this whitewashing behavior. This paper presents and analyzes an incentive mechanism to effectively motivate cooperation of rationally opportunistic providers in the above scenarios, by eliminating incentives of providers to change their identities. The main idea is to give each provider an identity premium, with which the provider may sell services at higher prices depending on the duration of its presence in the system. Via the use of a reputation-based provider selection protocol and a pricing model, the proposed mechanism also reduces the impact of malicious and strategic ratings largely. It is proven that if the temporary cheating gain by a provider is bounded and small, and given a computational trust model with reasonable low error bound in identifying malicious ratings, our approach effectively eliminates irrationally malicious providers and enforces cooperation between rationally opportunistic participants, even when identities are available at a given cheap cost. We propose the identity premium functions that helps cooperation sustained in relation with the identity cost, analyze the incentives of participants in accepting the proposed premiums, and discuss related implementation issues in different scenarios.


This piece of writing is a joint initiative by the participants in the Gender, Work and Organization writing workshop organized in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2019. This is a particular form of writing differently. We engage in collective writing and embody what it means to write resistance to established academic practices and conventions together. This is a form of emancipatory initiative where we care for each other as writers and as human beings. There are many author voices and we aim to keep the text open and dialogical. As such, this piece of writing is about suppressed thoughts and feelings that our collective picket line allows us to express. In order to maintain the open‐ended nature of the text, and perhaps also to retain some 'dirtiness' that is essential to writing, the article has not been language checked throughout by a native speaker of English.


Summary
The southeastern coast of Florida, USA supports a substantial recreational fishery, yet little is known of the coral reef ecosystem or fisheries resources past 50 m depth. Fish assemblages associated with low-relief substrate and three vessel reefs between 50 and 120 m depth off southeast Florida were surveyed by remotely operated vehicles providing the first characterization of the mesophotic fish assemblages in the region. Two distinct assemblages were observed on low-relief substrate and high-relief vessel reefs. A total of 560 fishes of 42 species was recorded on 27 dives on low-relief substrate, and 50 152 fishes of 65 species were recorded on 24 dives on three vessel reefs. Small planktivorous Anthiinae fishes and several economically valuable species were common on vessel reefs but rare on low-relief substrate. Fish assemblages on vessel reefs more closely resembled those found at similar depths in high-relief natural areas off east-central Florida and the Gulf of Mexico than those associated with adjacent low-relief habitat or nearby coral reef tracts. From a fisheries perspective, these results provide limited support to the hypothesis that in deep-water regions with limited relief, vessel reefs may provide an opportunity to increase fish diversity and abundance by creating high-relief habitat without compromising adjacent fish assemblages.


We describe a latent-factor-model-based approach to the Track 2 task of KDD Cup 2011, which required learning to discriminate between highly rated and unrated items from a large dataset of music ratings. We take the pairwise ranking route, training our models to rank the highly rated items above the unrated items that are sampled from the same distribution. Using the item relationship information from the provided taxonomy to constrain item representations results in improved predictive performance. Providing the model with features summarizing the user's rating history as it relates to the item being ranked leads to further gains, producing the best single model result on Track 2.


The assembly of polyoxometalate architectures based on Mn-Anderson clusters capped with different aromatic platforms via the 'Tris' linker (Tris = tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane), allows the formation and isolation of four new hybrid polyoxometalate clusters of 2–5 with the general composition of [n-N(C4H9)4]3[MnMo6O18{(OCH2)3CN = CH-R}2]·solv., (R = –(C6H5) 2, –(C6H5O) 3, –(C11H8N) 4 and –(C13H9) 5; solv. = MeOH or H2O). These compounds were obtained simply by the reaction of compound 1, ([n–N(C4H9)4]3[MnMo6O18{(OCH2)3CNH2}2]), with the corresponding aldehyde and the aromatic platforms were chosen to explore the design principles for covalently constructed POM aromatic–organic–inorganic hybrids.


Abstract In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, the applicant Cheminova A/S submitted a request to the competent national authority in Spain to set an import tolerance for the active substance flutriafol in hops. The data submitted in support of the request were found to be sufficient to derive an import tolerance proposal of 20 mg/kg for crops under consideration. Adequate analytical methods for enforcement are available to control the residues of flutriafol in plant matrices under consideration. Based on the risk assessment results, EFSA concluded that the short‐term and long‐term intake of residues resulting from the use of flutriafol according to the reported agricultural practice is unlikely to present a risk to consumer health. However, as flutriafol belongs to the triazole chemical group, EFSA recommends that a separate risk assessment should be performed for triazole derivative metabolites (TDMs) as soon as the confirmatory data requested for triazole compounds in the framework of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 have been evaluated and a general methodology on the risk assessment of triazole compounds and their TDMs is available.


Building on previous research that has theorized and operationalized the concept of global journalism, this study analyzed 287 photographs published on CNN International and Der Spiegel online news sites to examine the evidence of global journalism practices in visual news content. The results of the quantitative content analysis revealed that the transnational news outlet CNN International more frequently used close-ups and tracking shots to feature refugees in its visual reportage than the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The large presence of the 'human interest' and the 'lose/gain' frames in CNN International's visual coverage emphasized the humanitarian aspect of global suffering. In contrast, apart from the 'human interest' frame, the 'law and control' and 'xenophobia' frames were adopted in Der Spiegel's visual coverage. Using such a comparison, this study discussed if news sources' capacity of managing the visibility of suffering could reflect a cosmopolitan viewpoint on a global issue.


Free-space optical (FSO) communication is a potential technology for last-mile applications. Key advantages are the unlicensed spectrum, high transmission rates, and inherent security. Moreover, Radio-over-FSO (RoFSO) allows seamless integration between the incompatible radio frequency (RF) and optical networks. Such advantages qualify FSO systems to take a front seat in next-generation broadband communication networks. However, the main challenge for FSO systems is the performance degradation imposed by the atmospheric attenuation and turbulence. To exploit the advantages of FSO systems, accurate and computationally-efficient channel models are required. This thesis represents in-field experimental work related to FSO channel measurement as well as the transmission of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) over the FSO channel. A 1.87-km FSO link installed at McMaster University is employed. A high-speed field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based digitizer board is used as the underlying hardware platform for interface with the link. A system-on-three-FPGAs is implemented to act as a universal transceiver for signals composed using MATLAB. A new technique is developed for conducting the FSO channel measurement. An optical signal intensity-modulated by a high frequency sinusoid is transmitted. The iv received signal undergoes a fast-Fourier transform (FFT) to filter out a large portion of the interfering noise providing more accurate measurements. Fitting with the lognormal distribution is investigated. A finite-state Markov model is also derived and its accuracy is verified by the simulation results. The first realization of an in-field OFDM over FSO transmission system is implemented and tested over the link. The received signal is investigated on the symbol level and constellation diagrams are visualized. Transmission rates up to 300 Mbps are achieved with average symbol-error rate (SER) on the order of 10−6.


Mati Diop's 2019 feature film Atlantics won the Grand Prix at Cannes that year. It is a polyphonic tale of migration, love, loss, and fantasy that takes place in Dakar, Senegal. Using fantasy and mystery to create opacity, as defined by the writer and theorist of postcolonialism Édouard Glissant, Diop seeks to give dignity to the victims of migration and to invite viewers to establish a relationship with the film. The combination of diverse poetic lines gives the film striking richness and resonance, as well as the ability to comment on ociopolitical issues without being limited to one interpretation. Despite the immobility of the problems she brings to the screen, Diop transmits hope for other mobilities, which she herself brings to life and embodies.


The tuned liquid column damper (TLCD), patented by Frahm already in 1910, consists of a Ushaped tube system filled with a Newtonian liquid. The tuned parameters of the liquid damper enable the liquid mass to oscillate with a 90° phase shift with respect to the motion of the structure, leading to interaction forces on the primary structure such as viscous damping loads. The oscillation energy of the liquid dissipates in the tube system because of turbulence effects and local pressure loss caused by friction. The mathematical expression of the liquid motion is carried out using the instationary Bernoulli equation. The natural frequency of the liquid damper depends on the geometry of the tube system. The dissipation forces of the absorber result from the impulse, which is caused by the liquid column motion. In order to determine the parameters of the liquid damper the tuning criteria of Den Hartog, Warburton and Lyapunov, which are valid for mechanical dampers, can be applied through the already known analogy approaches. The results of these criteria are the optimal natural frequency and the optimal damping ratio of the liquid damper. The geometry factors of the liquid damper affect the effective liquid mass ratio, which is critical for the reduction of the oscillation. The geometry factors are defined by the angle of inclination of the vertical stream line of fluid flow, the sectional area and the length of the liquid column. In order to solve the optimization problem in the research works so far developed, the geometry factors have always been assumed as known values. As the absorber efficiency depends not only on the tuning of the natural frequency and the damping ratio but also on the effective liquid mass ratio, the geometry factors must be included in the optimization procedure of the liquid damper. To achieve this purpose in this research work the tuning criteria of Den Hartog, Warburton and as well as Lyapunov are set up with a new expanded optimization approach. The practical application of the new optimization approach is demonstrated with the aid of two examples. The first example deals with a wind turbine, which is periodically excited by a non-uniform wind flow. The second example shows the application on a seismically excited benchmark building. The efficiency of the liquid damper and the influence of the absorber parameter are calculated through sensitivity analysis and compared with the conventional mechanical tuned mass dampers. This research work includes the conceptual design of a new semi-active liquid damper. The nonlinear equations of motion as well as the interaction forces are mathematically derived and the damper efficiency is numerically validated.


Insecticide resistance in malaria vector mosquitoes reduces the efficacy of insecticide in killing and can therefore cause a major problem for malaria vector control by insecticides. In Mozambique, pyrethroid resistance in Anopheles funestus was first detected in December 1999 in the southern corner of Maputo Province. Since then, various collections have been made at selected sites through out the country and WHO standard susceptibility tests and biochemical assays were conducted to determine the susceptibility status and the major resistance mechanisms, in the Fl generation of field collected mosquitoes. Three malaria vector species: Anopheles funestus s.s., Anopheles gambiae s.s. and Anopheles arabiensis were identified in this study by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and their distributions plotted. The susceptibility data indicate that the Anopheles funestus s.s population in southern Mozambique is widely resistant to pyrethroid and with low levels of carbamate resistance evident at six localities. No resistance to organophosphate and DDT was observed at any study sites. Biochemical tests indicate the presence of an altered acetlylcholinesterase in all collection localities with the exception of Massinga district. Elevated esterase activity with substrate a-naphthyl acetate were detect in Boane with a probable role in organophosphate resistance. Elevated GST were detected in Boane, Moamba and Catembe. Very low levels monooxygenase titres were registered in all the localities in Mozambique, which suggest that this resistance mechanism is not operating in these areas. Pyrethroid resistance in the Anopheles gambiae complex was detected only in Anopheles arabiensis from one locality. No resistant to other groups of insecticide were observed. Altered acetlylcholinesterases were registered in all collection localities and in both species: Anopheles gambiae s.s. and Anopheles arabiensis. Elevated esterase with substrate a-naphthyl acetate were detected in Anopheles arabiensis at only one locality. Elevated GSTs were detected at all localities and in both species. The implications of the findings for malaria vector control in Mozambique are discussed.


This working paper explores patterns of technology upgrading as a three-dimensional process which consists of (i) intensity of technology upgrading, (ii) structural change, and (iii) interaction with the global economy. The specificity of our report is that we depict patterns of technology upgrading by relying entirely on patent data. We derive patent indicators to capture the three dimensions. Patent indicators for intensity of technology upgrading trace technological capabilities at the technology frontier (transnational patents) and behind the technology frontier (domestic/resident direct applications to national offices). Structural change in technological knowledge is depicted by the share of transnational patent applications in high technology fields and knowledge-intensive activities and by calculating a technological diversification index. To capture interaction with global economy in the upgrading process indicators measure technological knowledge sourcing across countries and interactions between foreign and indigenous actors. Based on 7 patent indicators covering the three upgrading dimensions the comparative analysis focuses on EU27 and its subregions and on the BRICS countries. According to the results, in 2011 CEECs were quite homogenous in their upgrading paths. A typical CEE economy in 2011 is well behind EU12 in terms of frontier technology intensity, domestic technology intensity, share of high tech patents and technology sourcing abroad. Moreover, its organizational capabilities are often less advanced. The CEE profile is much less coherent in terms of technology diversification/specialization and share of joint inventions. However, differences among CEECs are not significant. Still there are some notable national features. Poland, Romania and Slovenia have above average domestic technological intensity which reflects partly their sizes (Romania and Poland) and specific model of innovation system reliant on domestic R&D intensive firms (Slovenia). Latvia and Lithuania are specific in terms of high share of HTKI patents. CEE technology upgrading as depicted by patents is within the BRIC pattern (with exception of China which in terms of technology upgrading has de facto delinked from BRICS). In the BRIC context, the CEE characterize very open innovation system with a high share of coinventions and foreign actors exploiting local inventions. This reveals weak organizational capabilities to commercialize its own inventions. According to the results CEE grew during 1990s/2008 based on production, not technological capability. Their future growth will increasingly depend on building technological capabilities at world frontier level. Our analysis shows that the basis for such growth exists only to a limited extent and that speed of upgrading towards world frontier activities is well beyond required for catching up. Equally, our analysis shows that solutions for improved technology upgrading will need to be found with their existing innovation model of small open economies integrated into the EU.


A membrane bioreactor (MBR), comprising an anaerobic reactor followed by crossflow MF, was operated at a fixed flux substantially lower than the nominal "critical flux" of the feed. A slow rise in transmembrane pressure (TMP) was observed which increased with imposed flux and organic loading to the bioreactor. After extended operation there was a sudden transition to a rapid TMP rise. This TMP profile was reproducible and depended on the imposed flux. The initial and gradual TMP rise is believed to be caused by the deposition of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). The sudden rise in TMP is believed to be caused by local flux in regions of the membrane increasing (to maintain the fixed permeate flow) and exceeding the critical flux of the dominant foulant (biomass). Membrane autopsy revealed a significant and uneven distribution of fouling by EPS.


Dynamic Surfactants Surfactants are used to form a stable interface between two nonmiscible liquids, like oil and water, so that droplets of one fluid can be entrained in the other. Cui et al. (p. 460) designed a surfactant based on the association of a hydrophilic nanoparticle with a functionalized oleophilic molecule that self-assembles at a water-oil interface to produce a composite surfactant. Once adsorbed, the nanoparticles tend to remain in place causing them to accumulate and "jam" at the interface. When a drop was deformed, more surfactant could assemble at the surface, allowing droplets of various shapes to be produced. A self-assembling composite surfactant can be used to make stable droplets with complex shapes. Nanoparticles assemble at the interface between two fluids into disordered, liquid-like arrays where the nanoparticles can diffuse laterally at the interface. Using nanoparticles dispersed in water and amine end-capped polymers in oil, nanoparticle surfactants are generated in situ at the interface overcoming the inherent weak forces governing the interfacial adsorption of nanoparticles. When the shape of the liquid domain is deformed by an external field, the surface area increases and more nanoparticles adsorb to the interface. Upon releasing the field, the interfacial area decreases, jamming the nanoparticle surfactants and arresting further shape change. The jammed nanoparticles remain disordered and liquid-like, enabling multiple, consecutive deformation and jamming events. Further stabilization is realized by replacing monofunctional ligands with difunctional versions that cross-link the assemblies. The ability to generate and stabilize liquids with a prescribed shape poses opportunities for reactive liquid systems, packaging, delivery, and storage.


This thesis consists of three essays analysing corporate governance (CG) reforms in emerging economies, with a particular focus on Oman. The three essays focus on three closely related CG topics that quantitatively examine the extent to which Omani CG reforms have been effective in enhancing three main corporate policy decisions.
In the first essay, the thesis investigates the level and determinants of voluntary CG compliance and disclosure. The central objective of this essay is to empirically examine two main research questions: First, what is the level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, CG rules contained in the 2002 Omani CG Code for listed firms?; Secondly, what factors determine the level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, CG recommendations contained in the 2002 Omani CG Code for listed firms? Exploring these questions has the capacity of improving current understanding of firms' willingness to voluntarily engage in and disclose more transparent information about their CG practices. The findings indicate that Omani firms have responded positively to the 2002 CG Code's best practice recommendations. Relying on insights from agency, legitimacy, resource dependence and signalling/stakeholder theories, the findings also suggest that ownership structure and board characteristics have significant impact on firm-level voluntary CG disclosure. Specifically, the findings suggest that government ownership, institutional ownership and foreign ownership, board size, the presence of a CG committee, and board diversity on the basis of nationality are positively related to the level of CG compliance and disclosure, whereas block ownership and board diversity on the basis of gender are negatively associated with the level of CG compliance and disclosure.

The second essay investigates how effective the CG measures contained in the 2002 Omani voluntary CG Code and other CG mechanisms proposed by other laws, such as the Companies Law, mitigate agency problems associated with capital structure (CS) decisions. The main purpose of this essay is to empirically examine the extent to which firm-level CG quality, ownership structure and board/audit characteristics influence capital structure, as well as the corporate decision (choice) to issue equity or debt in seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). This examination has the ability to expand current understanding of Omani firms' capital structure decisions and the role that CG mechanisms can play with respect to this corporate decision. Informed by insights from tax-driven (e.g., Modigliani-Miller capital structure irrelevance and trade-off) and non-tax-driven (e.g., agency, market timing, pecking order, and signalling) capital structure theories, the empirical evidence reveals that CG is a significant determinant of capital structure decisions and SEOs. First,the findings suggest that CG index, government ownership, institutional ownership, foreign ownership, board size, audit firm size and CG committee are negatively related to capital structure, whereas block ownership is positively associated with capital structure. Second, the results indicate that firms with better governance structures, more institutional ownership and audited by big four are more likely to raise additional financing through SEOs. By contrast, firms with poor CG mechanisms, more government ownership more, foreign ownership, block ownership, large boards, and CG committee are less likely to raise additional financing through SEOs.

The final essay investigates the extent to which a broad composite CG index, corporate ownership structure, and board/audit characteristics can explain observable changes in firm-level earnings management (EM). The key objective of this essay is to investigate how effective the CG recommendations contained in the 2002 Omani CG Code and other CG mechanisms proposed by other laws, such as the Companies Law, constrain earnings management practices. The result has the potential of deepening current understanding of the ability of different CG measures to mitigate agency problems and reduce agency costs associated with earnings management. Utilising insights from agency, stakeholder, stewardship and signalling theories, the study finds that firms with better governance structures, government ownership, institutional ownership, foreign ownership, audited by big four and CG committee are negatively related to earnings management. In contrast, firms with poor CG mechanisms, more block ownership, larger boards, and CG committee are positively associated with earnings management. The reported empirical findings of the three essays are fairly robust across a number of econometric models and estimations that take into account alternative variables and potential endogeneity problems.

In brief, given the dearth of empirical evidence on the nature of CG's influence on these three corporate policy decisions in emerging economies in particular, this thesis seeks to contribute to the literature by providing new insights with specific focus on CG reforms that have been pursued in Oman. Specifically, this thesis contributes to the limited, but steadily growing body of literature on the effectiveness of CG mechanisms in influencing a number of crucial managerial decisions, including voluntary disclosure, financing and earnings management, in emerging economies.


Since 50 years the Antarctic Peninsula experiences an average temperature increase stronger than the global warming trend. As a result, the glaciers are retreating and ice shelves shrink. Our study is a subproject within IMCOAST, a large interdisciplinary research project, dealing with the impact of climate induced glacial melting on marine coastal systems in the Western Antarctic Peninsula region. The South Shetland Islands form the northernmost part of Antarctica. They are separated from the Antarctic Peninsula through the Bransfield Strait. King George Island is the largest of the South Shetland Islands. The study area is Maxwell Bay and its tributary fjords located south of King George Island. We measured grain-size distributions of five radiocarbon-dated marine sediment cores that cover approximately the last 2000 years. The cores were recovered from high-accumulation areas along a seismic transect in Maxwell Bay.
The results strongly suggest climate-controlled sedimentation in the area. We identified fluctuations in sediment deposition and grain-size distributions related to minor glacial retreats and advances such as the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. The cores show two distinct grain-size compositions that are related to different climate phases. The warmer climate phases appear to be characterized by finer sediments that likely have a meltwater origin. Colder climate phases are depleted in finer sediments, which is most likely the result of reduce supply of turbid meltwaters. High-resolution sub-bottom profiles from the area provide information on the deposited facies and allow the interconnection between the different sediment cores. The seismic data further reveal that well-layered sediments only occur below 200 m, while the acoustic penetration is rather low in Potter Cove, a tributary fjord to Maxwell Bay.


The importance of interpersonal skills is of growing emphasis in the field of project management as supported by the view of authors and scholars in this paper. The focus has been on technical skills but a balance is now needed as the project manager has to facilitate his team members in a complex, dynamic project environment. The project manager needs knowledge regarding interpersonal skills, and to train his skills according to the growing emphasis in the project management area. In this context different views are discussed, for example the vitality of the proper knowledge of oneself and the lacking of training opportunities. This study concerns the usefulness of 32 hours interpersonalcompetence-training, at the Project teams and group dynamics course at the MPMprogram at Reykjavík University. The results show behavioural changes four months after the course. There seems to be a trend in others (360° evaluation) noticing behavioural changes rather than the student himself. This needs to be studied further.


Three-beam time-integrated transient four-wave mixing (TFWM) is used to probe both light-hole (LH) and heavy-hole (HH) exciton coherences in weakly disordered GaAs quantum wells. The period of the quantum beats between the LH and the HH exciton coherences changes as a function of first-second pulse delay. A theoretical model for the TFWM signal, including exciton dephasing rates that vary with frequency across the inhomogeneous linewidth, reproduces the observations. The inclusion of inhomogeneous dephasing also improves the correspondence between theory and experiment when data as a function of both first-second and second-third pulse delays are simultaneously examined.


[1] An eddy-permitting ¼° global ocean reanalysis based on the Operational Met Office FOAM data assimilation system has been run for 1989–2010 forced by ERA-Interim meteorology. Freshwater and heat transports are compared with published estimates globally and in each basin, with special focus on the Atlantic. The meridional transports agree with observations within errors at most locations, but where eddies are active the transports by the mean flow are nearly always in better agreement than the total transports. Eddy transports are down gradient and are enhanced relative to a free run. They may oppose or reinforce mean transports and provide 40–50% of the total transport near midlatitude fronts, where eddies with time scales <1 month provide up to 15%. Basin-scale freshwater convergences are calculated with the Arctic/Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans north of 32°S, all implying net evaporation of 0.33 ± 0.04 Sv, 0.65 ± 0.07 Sv, and 0.09 ± 0.04 Sv, respectively, within the uncertainty of observations in the Atlantic and Pacific. The Indian is more evaporative and the Southern Ocean has more precipitation (1.07 Sv). Air-sea fluxes are modified by assimilation influencing turbulent heat fluxes and evaporation. Generally, surface and assimilation fluxes together match the meridional transports, indicating that the reanalysis is close to a steady state. Atlantic overturning and gyre transports are assessed with overturning freshwater transports southward at all latitudes. At 26°N eddy transports are negligible, overturning transport is 0.67 ± 0.19 Sv southward and gyre transport is 0.44 ± 0.17 Sv northward, with divergence between 26°N and the Bering Strait of 0.13 ± 0.23 Sv over 2004–2010.


Here we report the production of highly thermal stable and functional cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and nanofibrils (CNF) by hydrolysis using concentrated organic acids. Due to their low water solubility, these solid organic acids can be easily recovered after hydrolysis reactions through crystallization at a lower or ambient temperature. When dicarboxylic acids were used, the resultant CNC surface contained carboxylic acid groups which facilitate functionalization and dispersion in aqueous processing. The carboxylic acid group content was 0.1–0.4 mmol g−1 for CNC produced from a bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp (BEP) using oxalic acid at concentrations of 50–70 wt%. The onset thermal degradation temperature for the CNC was increased to 322 °C from 274 °C for the feed BEP fibers, compared with 218 °C for CNC produced from the same feed fibers using conventional concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis. The low strength (high pKa) of organic acids also resulted in CNC with longer lengths of approximately 275–380 nm and higher crystallinity than those produced using mineral acids. Fibrous cellulosic solid residue (FCSR) collected from acid hydrolysis was an excellent feedstock for producing CNF through subsequent mechanical fibrillation with low energy input. The ability to recover organic acids using a conventional and commercially proven crystallization method makes these organic acids uniquely suitable for sustainable and green production of cellulose nanomaterials. The resultant CNC and CNF with high thermal stability and a large aspect ratio are excellent for bio-composite applications.


Public relations is a relatively new discipline in the Australian academy, with its earliest certificate and diploma courses beginning in the 1960s (Gleeson forthcoming). Even newer is the Australian literature that services the field – the journals and textbooks that encourage localised discourses amongst students, academics and professionals. With the exceptions of some early dabblings in the 1950s and 1960s, a single text in the 1970s and a 1990s case study book, textbook and journal development began real momentum in Australia in 1999 to 2000. This article traces the development of this literature in Australia, outlining how it broke free from the strangle-hold of North American literature and developed practice and theoretical discourses framed around localised contexts and, increasingly, international perspectives. The article incorporates a case study of the first 21st century textbook in public relations in Australia, co-edited by Clara Zawawi and the author, soon to be published in its fourth edition, and traces its journey through an examination of this changing research, publishing and writing environment.


Plants are meta-organisms that are associated with complex microbiomes. Many of the microorganisms that reside on plant surfaces (epiphytes) or within plant tissues (endophytes) do not cause any plant diseases but often contribute significantly to the nutrient supply of their host plant and can help the plant to overcome a variety of biotic or abiotic stresses. The yield potential of any plant depends not only on successful plant traits that improve, for example, the adaptation to low input conditions or other stressful environments but also on the plant microbiome and its potential to promote plant growth under these conditions. There is a growing interest to unravel the mechanisms underlying these beneficial plant microbe interactions because the activities of these microbial communities are of critical importance for plant growth under abiotic and biotic stresses and could lead to the development of novel strategies to improve yields and stress resistances of agronomically important crops. In this chapter, we summarize our current understanding of the beneficial interactions of soybean plants with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, and fungal and bacterial endophytes and identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled to use beneficial microbes to their full potential.


Modern speech recognition has many ways of quantifying the misrecognitions a speech recognizer makes. The errors in modern speech recognition makes extensive use of the Levenshtein algorithm to find the distance between the labeled target and the recognized hypothesis. This algorithm has problems when properly aligning substitution confusions due to the lack of knowledge about the system. This work addresses a shortcoming of the alignment provided by speech recognition analysis systems (HTK specifically) and provides a more applicable algorithm for aligning the hypothesis with the target. This new procedure takes into account the systematic errors the recognizer will make and uses that knowledge to produce correct alignments.


We propose fast and robust mode conversion in multimode waveguides based on Lewis-Riesenfeld invariant theory. The design of mode converters using the multimode driving for dynamical invariant is discussed. Computer-generated planar holograms are used to mimic the shaped pulses driving the states in three-level quantum systems. We show that the invariant-based inverse engineering scheme reduces mode converter length as compared to the common adiabatic scheme.


Strangers come into a child's room in the middle of the night, drag her kicking and screaming into a van, apply handcuffs, and drive her to a behavior-modification facility at a distant location. What sounds like a clear-cut case of kidnapping is complicated by the fact that the child's parents not only authorized this intervention, but also paid for it. This scarcely publicized practice — known as the youth-transportation industry — operates on the fringes of existing law. The law generally presumes that parents have almost unlimited authority over their children, but the youth-transportation industry has never been closely examined regarding exactly what the transportation process entails or whether it is in fact legal.The companies provide a service to parents who want to send their children to behavior-modification facilities, including boot camps and other residential reform schools, but who are unable or unwilling to deliver the children themselves. A transportation company contracts with the parents to arrange for pickup and conveyance; the parents delegate rights over their children to the company, usually by signing a power of attorney. Due to the circumstances in which these transports typically take place, however, this delegation of rights has far greater implications than simply authorizing the transportation of a child from point A to point B. After suffering the emotional trauma of being taken from their parents, children may suffer physical abuse as well, as the companies often use force in the form of handcuffs and other restraints. This Article examines the details of the transport process and raises legal questions about the disciplinary authority that parents possess, including the extent to which they can grant this authority to a third party.Similar questions arose in the past with analogous private-transportation entities, but those questions were addressed when Congress issued strict regulations to monitor and limit their ability to transport vulnerable individuals. This Article provides the first in-depth examination of the legal issues relevant to the youth-transportation industry and recommends regulations that should be promulgated to keep the delegation of parental authority in check and thus protect the best interests of the child.


The goal of this session is to introduce the audience to the physics, dosimetry,
treatment planning techniques, and quality assurances (QA) procedures used in proton therapy. The course material covers the physics of proton interaction with matter and physical characteristics of clinical proton beams. It will provide information on proton delivery systems and beam delivery techniques for double scattering (DS), uniform scanning (US), and pencil beam scanning (PBS). The session covers the treatment planning strategies used in DS, US, and PBS for various anatomical sites, methods to address uncertainties in proton therapy and uncertainty mitigation to generate robust treatment plans. Challenges involved in the motion management in proton therapy will also be discussed. It will also include the methodology for proton beam dosimetry for clinical commissioning, beam calibration, and quality assurance checks.
Learning Objectives:
1.
Gain knowledge on physics, dosimetry, and treatment planning for proton therapy including intensity modulated proton therapy.
2.
Be acquainted with the procedures involved in machine and patient treatment field specific QA.
3.
Understand the uncertainties associated with proton therapy and currently used strategies for their mitigation in treatment planning.


We elaborated two carbide-free bainitic steels with different microstructures through specific alloy design and austempering process. Microstructural characterizations were performed by means of EBSD analysis and in-situ high energy synchrotron diffraction in order to evaluate the phase fractions and the carbon content in the retained austenite, as well as the microtextures. These microstructural features were correlated to the tensile properties. Both steels exhibited an excellent compromise between high strength (above 1250 MPa), good ductility (uniform elongation up to 14%) and high fracture strain (reduction of area up to 46%). The volume fraction of MA blocks (blocks of retained austenite partially transformed into fresh martensite during the final cooling at room temperature) was a key relevant parameter that strongly influenced the work-hardening at the expense of the damaging processes at high strain.


A protocol is offered as a guideline for managers of rootstock mother grapevines, and as a potential research framework for to reduce infections by Grapevine Trunk Disease (GTD) pathogens in rootstock mother vines and cuttings. Latent infections by GTD pathogens in rootstock cuttings are a major source of the pathogens in grafted nursery vines and subsequently in new vineyards. The many pruning cuts made at the crowns of mother vines predispose them to infection which is transmitted to the new shoots via the xylem. Direct penetration by epiphytic inoculum on the bark of the shoots/canes can also occur. Mother vines with unprotected pruning wounds are typically heavily infected, particularly if they are not trellised. Availability of pruning wound treatments is limited in many countries. The spread of GTD pathogen inoculum can be reduced by avoiding sprinkler and flood irrigation, by trellising mother vines so that canopies are off the soil, and by spraying fungicides or painting wounds immediately after canes are harvested. Frequent trunk renewal aids in reducing inoculum. Cuts should be made to retain long internodes on the mother vines, cuttings should not contact the soil and pruning debris should be promptly destroyed. Cutting implements should be disinfested regularly and cuttings should be dipped in a registered fungicide or sterilant. Soaking cuttings increases fungal populations in the basal wounds and softens the bark, favouring penetration by pathogen inoculum. Dormant bench grafting in nurseries produces more GTD-symptomatic vines than field chip budding, so improved management for rootstock mother vines is more important where dormant cuttings are bench grafted. GTD epidemiology in source blocks is summarised, and best practice protocols for mother vine management and pre-grafting stages of propagation are suggested. Similar principles could be applied to scion mother vine management.


A quantitative methodology, utilizing Kalman filtering techniques, is developed for designing water quality monitoring systems. The basis is established for: (1) improvement of current practices of specification and enforcement of water quality standards; and (2) evaluating the economic trade-off between temporal and spatial frequency of sampling. Monitoring systems are characterized by spatial and temporal frequency of sampling and the variables to be measured. Utilizing a dynamic model of the aquatic environment and estimates of the uncertainty in model error and measurement error, a best sampling program is selected from a set of feasible sampling programs by sequentially minimizing a specified measurement system cost function. An optimal solution is not guaranteed. The power of the technique is based on the unique combination of model and data obtained from filtering techniques. The major shortcomings are: (1) the need for a model of the systems and (2) high computer costs.


In the present world, the increasing demand of structurally efficient and significantly higher strength to weight ratio structures is mostly served by Stiffened plates. These structural elements can be defined as plates reinforced by a single or a set of beams or ribs on one or both sides of the plate. So, stiffened plates are made up of plate elements, to which generally loading is applied, and beam elements located at discrete spacings in one or both directions. The present work deals with the structural behavior of a stiffened plate under static uniform loads. Firstly, we will consider a geometrically nonlinear beam problem by analyzing the large deflections of a beam of linear elastic material, under the action of transverse load along its length. Under the action of these external loads, the beam deflects into a curve called the elastic curve. Firstly, the relationship between the beam deflection and the loads would be established using Ansys and then the results would be extended to perform analysis on Stiffened plates. Stiffened plates can also be circular in shape with either radial or circumferential stiffeners. The present work aims to analyze a circular plate with radial stiffeners. The linear and nonlinear behavior of the beams would be studied under static and dynamic loading .The simulation analysis is completed with a numerical analysis of the system using the ANSYS program, a comprehensive finite element package, which enables students to solve the nonlinear differential equation. ANSYS provides a rich graphics capability that can be used to display results of analysis on a high-resolution graphics workstation.


It is very human that one sometimes feels dissatis fied with the relationship that he or she has in life, the same thing also happens in Heartbreak House. In Heartbreak House, there are two couples who experience inharmonious relationships. Those couples are Hector and Hesione Hushabye, Alfred Mangan and Ellie Dunn. Both couple are not satisfied with their relationship. That is why the thesis writer is curious know why those two couples are unhappy with their relationships. In order to find the reasons of these inharmonious relationship, the thesis writer will use the theory of conflict, because through the conflict, the thesis writer is able to find out the reasons of the inharmonious relationship. Through the analysis, the thesis writer finds out that the unfulfilled expectation from each of the main character towards their partners brings them to their inharmonious relationship. The thesis writer also finds that the lack of communication and the lack of love between each other make them cannot accept their partner's weaknesses.


One of the most influential notions of Deleuzian philosophy which shapes my aesthetic and artistic research is the idea of rendering visible invisible forces: in art, and in painting as in music, it is not a matter of reproducing or inventing forms, but of capturing forces. To paint for Deleuze means "the attempt to render visible forces that are not themselves visible" (Francis Bacon, The Logic of Sensation ). I extend this approach to digital technologies: with the digitalization of visual and sonic languages, and with the rise of the digital meta-language, data, sounds, vectors, shapes and pixels, are the minimal signifiers in the development of new hybridizations between micro and macro, tangible, intangible, natural, artificial. In a time where global warming, pan-toxicity, pesticide pollution, resource scarcity, and a host of environmental problems regularly appear in news headlines, the perennial question about what the relationship between humans and nature is and should be, is more pressing than ever. Our way of knowing and being in the world is the problem. As such, to address kinship imaginaries, is to approach the problem from the understanding that we must first change the way we think about nature and culture if we are to solve this problem. In this paper, I explore Hegel's own analysis of the rhizome in the Philosophy of Nature. I show how Hegel's analysis of the rhizome bears many similarities to that presented by Deleuze, but how ultimately, it is the difference between these accounts which is critical to understanding their relationship. I show how on the surface, Hegel's analysis tracks Deleuze's, showing that the rhizome presents a non oppositional structure that is governed by the logic of conjunction. Hegel argues, however, that such a decentred structure is unstable and ultimately collapses, leading dialectically to a centred arborescent structure. I show how Deleuze is well aware of this reading, and how his distinction between the decentred and the poly centred, and his characterisation of the multiplicity as an alternative to the many, allow him to avoid this implication.


In this work, 357 ionic liquids (ILs) formed from 17 cations and 21 anions were selected for evaluation of their ability to dissolve cellulose by COSMO-RS. In order to evaluate the predictive model and method, experimental measurements of the solubility of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in 7 of these ILs were also conducted. Predicted results from logarithmic activity coefficients were generally in good agreement with the experimental results. Three different models were used for describing cellulose, and the mid-monomer part of the cellotriose model was found to be closer to the experimental results than a neat glucose model and the model of the mid-dimer part of cellotetraose. Excess enthalpy calculations indicated that hydrogen-bond (H-bond) interactions between cellulose (i.e. the three cellulose models) and the 7 studied ILs are key factors for the solubility of cellulose, and the anions play a crucial role in the cellulose dissolution process. Importantly, the cations of methylimidazolium+, pyridinium+, ethylmorpholinium+ and methylpyrrolidinium+ structured with functional groups including ethyl, allyl, 2-hydroxylethyl, 2-methoxyethyl and acryloyloxypropyl, combined with anions Ac−, Dec−, HCOO−, Cl−, BEN−, DMPO4−, DEP−, DBP− and Br− were predicted to be the best for dissolving cellulose.


An impedance-based control scheme is introduced for cooperative manipulators grasping a rigid load. The position and orientation of the load are to be maintained close to a desired trajectory, trading off tracking accuracy by low energy consumption and maintaining stability. To this end, the augmented dynamics of the robots, their actuators and the load is formed, and an impedance control is adopted. A virtual control strategy is used to decouple torque control from actuator control. An optimization problem is then formulated using energy balance equations. The optimization finds the damping and stiffness gains of the impedance relation such that the energy consumption is minimized. Furthermore, L2 stability techniques are used to allow for time-varying damping and stiffness in the desired impedance. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the results.


In the Cascadia subduction zone, the extent of the seismogenic portion of the plate interface is poorly resolved by seismicity due to the lack of a large megathrust event during the instrumental record. Therefore, fault zone temperatures (∼150 to 350 °C) are used to estimate the limits of the seismogenic zone. Previous thermal models for the Cascadia margin estimated that 350 °C on the plate boundary occurs ∼40–70 km offshore. In contrast, models of interseismic deformation have been interpreted to indicate a seismogenic zone extending landward of the coastline to the updip edge of a region of episodic tremor and slip (ETS). We examined Cascadia subduction zone temperatures with thermal models that include the effects of fluid circulation in an ocean crust aquifer. Fluid circulation cools the subduction zone and widens the thermally defined seismogenic zone by shifting the 350 °C isotherm at the plate boundary ∼30–55 km landward relative to results from simulations without fluid flow. Our thermal models indicate a 60–80-km-wide transition zone between 350 °C on the fault and the updip edge of ETS. Under British Columbia (Canada), Washington, and Oregon (United States), ETS occurs at ∼410–550 °C. The location of the basalt-to-eclogite transition in the subducting crust provides an important constraint on the thermal models because hydrothermal circulation in the ocean crust aquifer produces only small surface heat flux anomalies on this margin with thick sediment in the trench and on the incoming plate.


The stability and control derivatives of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) map the platform's control inputs to its dynamic response. The modeling is labor intensive and requires coarse approximations. Similarly, models constructed through flight tests are only applicable to a narrow flight envelope, and classical system identification approaches require prior knowledge of the model structure, which, in some instances, may only be partially known. The goal of this study is to tackle these problems by introducing a new system identification method based on the dependent Gaussian processes. This allows high-fidelity nonlinear flight dynamic models to be constructed through experimental data. The proposed algorithm captures the cross coupling between input parameters and learns the system stability and control derivatives. In addition, it captures any dependences embodied in the outputs. This paper provides both the theoretical underpinnings and practical application of this approach. The theory was tested in simulation on a highly coupled oblique wing aircraft and was demonstrated on a delta-wing UAV platform using real flight data. The results are compared against an alternative parameteric model and show improvements in identifying the coupling between flight modes, the ability to provide uncertainty estimates and robustness, and applicability to a broader flight envelope.


Conditional credence is an important concept in many areas of philosophy. However, little consensus has been achieved regarding to its semantics and ontology. In this thesis I shall sketch a contextualist suppositional account of conditional credence by drawing insights from two seemingly disjoint debates: the foundational debate on the relationship between conditional and unconditional probabilities, and the semantic debate on the relationship between conditional probability and probabilities of conditionals. I argue that, for a given pair of propositions A and B, the conditional credence one ought to have for B given that A P(B|A) may depend on contextual parameters like the way in which we mentally represent the extensions of as well as the stochastic relationships between A and B.


Kagero Nikki, translated here as The Gossamer Years, belongs to the same period as the celebrated Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikuibu. This remarkably frank autobiographical diary and personal confession attempts to describe a difficult relationship as it reveals two tempestuous decades of the author's unhappy marriage and her growing indignation at rival wives and mistresses. Too impetuous to be satisfied as a subsidiary wife, this beautiful (and unnamed) noblewoman of the Heian dynasty protests the marriage system of her time in one of Japanese literature's earliest attempts to portray difficult elements of the predominant social hierarchy. A classic work of early Japanese prose, The Gossamer Years is an important example of the development of Heian literature, which, at its best, represents an extraordinary flowering of realistic expression, an attempt, unique for its age, to treat the human condition with frankness and honesty. A timeless and intimate glimpse into the culture of ancient Japan, this translation by Edward Seidensticker paints a revealing picture of married life in the Heian period.


Domestic resource mobilisation is critical to fund government services and to support development. Taxes are a critical domestic revenue source that can also impact other social or economic outcomes. Understanding differences in the level and structure of tax revenues is therefore foundational to discussions of domestic resource mobilisation and of tax reform.
This paper presents evidence on the level and structure of tax revenues in 80 countries, drawing on the new Global Revenue Statistics Database. It compares tax-to-GDP ratios and tax structures across countries, regions and over time. Links between tax-to-GDP ratios, GDP per capita and tax structures are assessed in a correlation analysis. The new database provides invaluable insights for researchers and fiscal policy analysts and offers a high level of comparability and reliability.


We examined the preference of undergraduate students for a live or a virtual rat when learning about concepts of operant conditioning. Students were provided with the opportunity to directly compare a virtual and a live rat in a supplemental exercise for Learning courses. We argue that the design of teaching exercises should involve a systematic examination of student preferences between different available techniques. In general, students preferred a live rat over a virtual rat when learning concepts in operant conditioning, specifically a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement. Students also listed advantages and disadvantages of using a virtual rat versus a live rat. These aspects evaluated by students are compared and contrasted with those provided by experts who have reviewed these learning exercises.


The response of human, adult articular cartilage to compressive loading has been investigated in this study. Full thickness specimens of patellar cartilage were subjected to compressive loading either in a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEN) or in one of the two conventional testing machines. Testing in the SEM meant that video recordings could be made of the deformation which occurred during loading, and subsequent analysis of these video recordings enabled the determination of the variation in the mechanical properties through the thickness of the cartilage. Testing of individual slices of cartilage and repeated testing of specimens reduced in thickness by the removal of successive slices of cartilage were performed in the conventional testing machines. The results of these tests also give an indication as to the variation in mechanical properties with depth. Results indicate that the compliance of normal patellar cartilage is highest in the superficial zone, decreases to a minimum in the mid-zone and increases again slightly in the deep zone. The full thickness tests were used to determine the effect (if any) of age, site of specimen, storage procedure and variations in water and uronic acid content on the response of the tissue. These results show that the compliance of articular cartilage is highly dependent on the age of the tissue, increasing with age, and that specimens stored at - 20oC show, on average, a higher value of compliance than specimens stored at + 4oC. No systematic variation in compliance of specimen with site was observed and there was no correlation between either water or uronic acid content and compliance.


To the Editor: Drexler et al. recently compared the sensitivity of the BinaxNOW Influenza A & B Rapid Test (BinaxNOW; Inverness Medical, Cologne, Germany) with that of a real-time reverse transcription–PCR (RT-PCR) assay specific for influenza A pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus (1). Of 1,838 clinical specimens tested, 221 were confirmed as positive for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 by RT-PCR. When 144 of these 221 specimens were evaluated by using the BinaxNOW, results were positive for only 16 (11%).

At onset of the pandemic, we evaluated the first 135 nasopharyngeal aspirates submitted to the Regional Laboratory of Public Health Haarlem, the Netherlands. We compared the performance of the BinaxNOW for diagnosing influenza A (H1N1) virus by using molecular detection of influenza virus as the reference standard. Samples were analyzed with a general influenza A assay targeting the matrix gene (the RespiFinder assay) (PathoFinder B.V., Maastricht, the Netherlands [2]) and a pandemic (H1N1) 2009–specific RT-PCR assay targeting the neuraminidase gene (3). We tested 135 patient samples (76 from male patients); mean age of patients was 32 years (range 0–81 years). Samples from 38 (28%) patients had positive results in both RT-PCRs, and samples from 97 (72%) patients had negative results in the matrix gene RT-PCR and neuraminidase RT-PCR assays. Sensitivity and specificity were estimated to be 47% (18/38, 95% confidence interval [CI] 32%–62%) and 95% (92/97, 95% CI 88%–98%), respectively, for the BinaxNOW antigen test. Patients' ages did not significantly differ between rapid test–positive and –negative results.

Our results largely agree with those of Vasoo et al. (4) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (5). Those studies determined that the sensitivity of the BinaxNOW compared with nucleic acid amplification tests is ≈40%. The lower sensitivity observed by Drexler et al. (1) might be because of differences in study type (retrospective evaluation compared with a prospective cohort in our study), sample size, technical factors (with regard to specimen collection, specimen transport, and specimen storage), differences in the test kit, and differences between individual patients (multiple categories of age and stages of illness, differences in virus shedding).

Many clinicians are not aware of the performance of specific test devices and rely on test results to make clinical decisions. Because negative results cannot rule out influenza, this test is of little use in a clinical setting without appreciation of the limitations of the test. However, because the BinaxNOW has reasonable specificity, it might prove useful in clinical or epidemiologic situations in which test sensitivity is not critical, e.g., in facility outbreaks in which multiple specimens are collected to rapidly identify the causative organism.


We study two clustering problems, Starforest Editing, the problem of adding and deleting edges to obtain a disjoint union of stars, and the generalization Bicluster Editing. We show that, in addition to being NP-hard, none of the problems can be solved in subexponential time unless the exponential time hypothesis fails.
Misra, Panolan, and Saurabh (MFCS 2013) argue that introducing a bound on the number of connected components in the solution should not make the problem easier: In particular, they argue that the subexponential time algorithm for editing to a fixed number of clusters (p-Cluster Editing) by Fomin et al. (J. Comput. Syst. Sci., 80(7) 2014) is an exception rather than the rule. Here, p is a secondary parameter, bounding the number of components in the solution.
However, upon bounding the number of stars or bicliques in the solution, we obtain algorithms which run in time $2^{5 \sqrt{pk}} + O(n+m)$ for p-Starforest Editing and $2^{O(p \sqrt{k} \log(pk))} + O(n+m)$ for p-Bicluster Editing. We obtain a similar result for the more general case of t-Partite p-Cluster Editing. This is subexponential in k for fixed number of clusters, since p is then considered a constant.
Our results even out the number of multivariate subexponential time algorithms and give reasons to believe that this area warrants further study.


Molecular biomarkers of cancer are needed to assist histologic staging in the selection of treatment, outcome risk stratification, and patient prognosis. This is particularly important for patients with early-stage disease. We show that shedding of the extracellular domain of activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) is prognostic for outcome in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Previous reports on the prognostic value of ALCAM expression in CRC have been contradictory and inconclusive. This study clarifies the prognostic value of ALCAM by visualizing ectodomain shedding using a dual stain that detects both the extracellular and the intracellular domains in formalin-fixed tissue. Using this novel assay, 105 patients with primary CRCs and 12 normal mucosa samples were evaluated. ALCAM shedding, defined as detection of the intracellular domain in the absence of the corresponding extracellular domain, was significantly elevated in patients with CRC and correlated with reduced survival. Conversely, retention of intact ALCAM was associated with improved survival, thereby confirming that ALCAM shedding is associated with poor patient outcome. Importantly, analysis of patients with stage II CRC showed that disease-specific survival is significantly reduced for patients with elevated ALCAM shedding (P = 0.01; HR, 3.0), suggesting that ALCAM shedding can identify patients with early-stage disease at risk of rapid progression.


Despite ongoing concern about access to justice in Canada, the problem persists. Meanwhile, the basic model for legal practice in Canada is the same as when the profession first emerged centuries ago in England. Only lawyers can own and control legal practices. This is not the case in other common law jurisdictions where rules have evolved to allow nonlawyers to own the companies that provide legal services. Based on a comparative analysis of the development of these alternative business structures (ABSs) in Australia and the United Kingdom, and the nondevelopment of ABSs in the United States, the authors argue that ABSs may be at least a partial solution to the access to justice problem in Canada. Recent developments indicate ABSs will eventually come to Canada, at which point, the authors argue the legal professional societies will have a crucial role to play in developing appropriate regulation to ensure ABSs improve access to justice.


Wastewater from molasses processing contains a large amount of coloured substances that give a recalcitrant dark brown colour and high organic load to the effluent. Photocatalytic decolourization of molasses wastewater was performed using titanium dioxide catalyst coated on the surface of South African natural zeolite using the solid-solid dispersion method. Addition of hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant was investigated and 30W UV-Clamp was used as source of irradiation. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the wastewater treated was varied from 20 g/L to 1 g/L. Batch experiments were conducted in a thermostatic shaker fitted with the UV lamp. The effects of pH, catalyst loading, oxidant dosage and irradiation time on the COD reduction and decolourization of the Molasses Waste Water (MWW) were investigated in this study. The highest colour removal of more than 90% was achieved at pH = 4 and oxidant dosage of 1.47 mM, while low COD removal (< 20%) was observed during photodegradation. A H2O2/UV/TiO2 system achieved higher colour removal of 97% compared to a UV/TiO2 system which achieved 44% while H2O2 /UV system achieved 34% colour removal. The rate of decolourization was found to fitpseudo first order reaction kinetics with the highest rate constant value of 1.36 x 10 min.


This paper develops an analysis of syllable-structure changes from Latin to Proto-Romance and Spanish within the framework of recent developments in the formal treatment of OT. Some aspects of the transition in syllable structure from Classical Latin (CL) to Vulgar Latin (VL) and Spanish will be discussed and shown to lead to the following general question: Which principles guide margin-structure transformations in a particular language? After characterizing the syllable structure (the set of possible margins: onsets and codas) of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin/Proto-Romance/Spanish, it is claimed that structural transitions from Latin to Vulgar Latin show a general tendency to create more harmonic or sonorous structures (margins). This sonority-based treatment maximizes the impact of sonority scales on syllabification, going beyond standard generative treatments combining derivational rules and sonority constraints such as the Sonority Sequencing generalization.


Nipah virus (NiV) is a recently emerged paramyxovirus that causes meningoencephalitis, severe respiratory distress and systemic vasculitis in humans with outbreak mortality rates ranging from 38 to 92% [1] and survivors frequently suffering from long-term neurological sequelae [2]. NiV was discovered in 1998 and has been responsible for nearly annual outbreaks throughout Southeast Asia. Fruit bats from the genus Pteropus (flying foxes) serve as the host for NiV in nature, and they can transmit the virus to humans through intermediate livestock hosts [3] or through contaminated date palm sap [4,5] followed by human-to-human transmission [6]. Advances in understanding the pathogenesis of NiV have occurred in the two decades since NiV was discovered [1,7–13], but little progress has been made in terms of preventing and treating human infections. This should be the focus of NiV research in the coming decade with three areas of synergizing emphasis: prevention through vaccination; prevention through modifying risk factors; and the development of therapeutics and techniques capable of treating patients currently infected to reduce morbidity and mortality.


Telomeres have been shown to gradually shorten during replicative aging in human somatic cells by Southern analysis. This study examines telomere shortening at the single cell level by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). FISH and confocal microscopy of interphase human diploid fibroblasts (HDFs) demonstrate that telomeres are distributed throughout the nucleus with an interchromosomal heterogeneity in size. Analysis of HDFs at increasing population doubling levels shows a gradual increase in spot size, intensity, and detectability of telomeric signal. FISH of metaphase chromosomes prepared from young and old HDFs shows a heterogeneity in detection frequency for telomeres on chromosomes 1, 9, 15, and Y. The interchromosomal distribution of detection frequencies was similar for cells at early and late passage. The telomeric detection frequency for metaphase chromosomes also decreased with age. These observations suggest that telomeres shorten at similar rates in normal human somatic cels. T-antigen transformed HDFs near crisis contained telomere signals that were low compared to nontransformed HDFs. A large intracellular heterogeneity in telomere lengths was detected in two telomerase-negative cell lines compared to normal somatic cells and the telomerase-positive 293 cell line. Many telomerase-negative immortal cells had telomeric signals stronger than those in young HDFs, suggesting a different mechanism for telomere length regulation in telomerase-negative immortal cells. These studies provide an in situ demonstration of interchromosomal heterogeneity in telomere lengths. Furthermore, FISH is a reliable and sensitive method for detecting changes in telomere size at the single cell level.


Journalism educators have long agreed on the problem: poor language and writing skills of students. Complaints have targeted the decline in students' critical thinking, their weak news judgment and story structure, their lack of clarity and conciseness, and their excessive grammatical and style errors. Although consensus may exist on the problem, faculty who teach writing courses often differ on suggesting appropriate solutions (i.e., approaches necessary to improve student performance). Given the personal and creative nature of writing, there appears to be little agreement among journalism educators on the best methodologies for teaching writing (Wolf and Thomason, 1986). Elbow (1983) speaks of the two conflicting mentalities needed for good teaching, which stem from the two conflicting obligations inherent in the job - an obligation to nurture creativity in students and an obligation to add to knowledge and society (e.g., upholding professional standards). In the field of English composition during the last 30 years, writing instruction has been examined as a sort of pitched battle between proponents of the "intangible" process versus the "tangible" product. Writing studies have focused on such comparisons using a variety of pedagogical terms: innovative versus traditional; recursive versus linear; descriptive versus prescriptive; experiential versus expository; expressionistic versus formalistic; inner-directed versus outer-directed; creative versus critical; coaching versus editing. In our Q methodology study, the widely used terms process and product have been employed. Composition scholars have long debated the merits of such competing approaches. D'Eloia (1977) discussed the "uses and limits of grammar" in teaching writing. Pianko (1979) recommended that teachers focus on process, not product. Friedman (1983) criticized teaching methods that were error-based, that attempted to remedy grammatical or mechanical problems by showing how not to write. Graves (1980) described the shift in writing research as a focus on process (versus product). Yet Greenberg (1982) urged composition teachers to become involved in creating tests to measure minimum writing ability. Where Moran (1984) called for teachers to serve as in-process editors, Murray (1981) claimed that teachers should not interpret students' drafts but allow students to work toward their own meaning. Similarly, Spear (1983) wrote that writing instruction was more beneficial if it rested upon theories of sequential cognitive development to better address needs of students. In exploring the role of writing centers on campus, North (1984) stated that misunderstandings about these centers reveal an emphasis on product (e.g., fix-it shops) rather than on process (e.g., nurturing student-centered writing). In the mid-1980s, a growing number of theorists began a search for a new integrated paradigm in the teaching of writing. The emphasis was on exploring how opposite mentalities or processes could complement rather than interfere with each other- such as writing assignments that began with exploratory invention and ended with critical revising (Elbow, 1983). While Hairston (1983) implored educators to do the "hard thing" by examining the intangible process of student writing, she noted that it was important to preserve the best parts of earlier methods for teaching writing: the concern for style and the preservation of high standards for the written product. Journalism education has long been dominated by the traditionalists who stress the mechanics and fundamentals of writing, concentrating on the quality of the finished written product that students generate. These educators define themselves largely as editors. They favor a teacher-centered (based) classroom, where lectures are regularly given, and where papers receive detailed critiques and severe penalties for grammatical errors. However, in the last decade journalism faculty have emerged who view writing more as a student-centered cognitive process. …


The paper describes a technique for stability analysis of proportional-integral (PI) controller in linear continuous-time interval control systems. The stability conditions of Kharitonov's theorem together with related criterions, such as Routh-Hurwitz criterion for continuous-time systems, bring out sets of polynomial inequalities. The sets are very difficult to solve directly, especially in case of high-order systems. Direct technique was used for stability analysis without solving polynomial inequalities. Solving polynomial equation directly makes its computing speed low. In the paper, a set theory-based technique is proposed for finding robust stability range of PI controller without solving any Kharitonov polynomials directly Computation results confirm expected computing speed of the proposed technique.  This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.