Objective:Extended work schedules—those that vary from the standard eight hours per day, 35 to 40 hours per week—are common in nursing and contribute to problems with nursing recruitment and retention, in addition to compromising patient safety and the health and well-being of nurses. This study describes the nature and prevalence of such schedules across nursing settings. Methods:Quantitative survey data collected as part of the Nurses Worklife and Health Study were analyzed. The sample consisted of 2,273 RNs. Demographic data, information about respondents' primary jobs (position, workplace, and specialty), and specific work schedule variables were analyzed, including data on off-shifts, breaks, overtime and on-call requirements, time off between shifts, and how often respondents worked more than 13 hours per day and on scheduled days off and vacation days. Respondents were also asked about activities outside of work, commuting time, and other nonnursing activities and chores. Results: More than a quarter of the sample reported that they typically worked 12 or more hours per day, as did more than half of hospital staff nurses and more than a third of those with more than one job. A third of the total sample worked more than 40 hours per week, and more than a third worked six or more days in a row at least once in the preceding six months. Nearly a quarter rotated shifts.Almost one-quarter of nurses with more than one job worked 50 or more hours per week, and they were more likely to work many days consecutively, without sufficient rest between shifts, and during scheduled time off. Single parents were as likely as those with more than one job to work 13 to 15 hours per day, 50 to 60 hours or more per week, and many days consecutively. Seventeen percent of all nurses worked mandatory overtime, as did almost a quarter of the single parents. Nearly 40% of the total sample and more than 40% of hospital staff nurses had jobs with on-call requirements. Conclusions: The proportion of nurses who reported working schedules that exceed the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine should raise industry-wide concerns about fatigue and health risks to nurses as well as the safety of patients in their care.


The acyclic polyol sorbitol is a primary photosynthetic product and the principal photosynthetic transport substance in many economically important members of the family Rosaceace (e.g. almond [ Prunus dulcis (P. Mill.) D.A. Webber], apple [ Malus pumila P. Mill.], cherry [ Prunus spp.], peach [ Prunus persica L. Batsch], and pear [ Pyrus communis ]). To understand key steps in long-distance transport and particularly partitioning and accumulation of sorbitol in sink tissues, we have cloned two sorbitol transporter genes ( PcSOT1 and PcSOT2 ) from sour cherry ( Prunus cerasus ) fruit tissues that accumulate large quantities of sorbitol. Sorbitol uptake activities and other characteristics were measured by heterologous expression of PcSOT1 and PcSOT2 in yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ). Both genes encode proton-dependent, sorbitol-specific transporters with similar affinities ( K m sorbitol of 0.81 m m for PcSOT1 and 0.64 m m for PcSOT2). Analyses of gene expression of these transporters, however, suggest different roles during leaf and fruit development. PcSOT1 is expressed throughout fruit development, but especially when growth and sorbitol accumulation rates are highest. In leaves, PcSOT1 expression is highest in young, expanding tissues, but substantially less in mature leaves. In contrast, PcSOT2 is mainly expressed only early in fruit development and not in leaves. Compositional analyses suggest that transport mediated by PcSOT1 and PcSOT2 plays a major role in sorbitol and dry matter accumulation in sour cherry fruits. Presence of these transporters and the high fruit sorbitol concentrations suggest that there is an apoplastic step during phloem unloading and accumulation in these sink tissues. Expression of PcSOT1 in young leaves before completion of the transition from sink to source is further evidence for a role in determining sink activity.


Glycogenin is a 37-kDa protein upon which new glycogen molecules are considered to be constructed. Therefore, we were interested in determining its role in liver glycogen synthesis following glucose administration. Twenty-four-hour fasted rats were given 4 g/kg glucose orally. Glycogenin and synthase R activities and glycogen were determined over the subsequent 24 h. In fasted rats given just water, glycogenin activity was present and did not change over the subsequent 24 h. Following glucose, glycogenin activity also was not different for 1 h, i.e. the glycogenin was not incorporated into glycogen even though the glycogen concentration had increased. Subsequently, the glycogenin activity became unmeasurable. Presumably, the glycogenin was incorporated into a proteoglycan product since after amylase treatment, glycogenin activity was again present and was quantitatively unchanged. Free glycogenin activity remained unmeasurable until after 12 h. At this time, glycogen began to decrease, and, by 15 h, free glycogenin activity again appeared. The results indicate that in fasted rats, essentially all of the glycogenin was free. Following administration of oral glucose, glycogenin was incorporated into a proteoglycan product but only 60 min after glycogen synthesis had begun. Free glycogenin did not reappear until the 15th h after glucose was given and after the glycogen concentration had decreased by approximately 60%.


Although far from the optimal, flooding is an indispensable message dissemination technique for network-wide broadcast within mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). As such, the plain flooding algorithm provokes a high number of unnecessary packet rebroadcasts, causing contention, packet collisions and ultimately wasting precious limited bandwidth. We explore the phase transition phenomenon observed in percolation theory and random graphs as a basis for defining probabilistic flooding algorithm. By considering ideal and realistic models, we acquire a better understanding of the factors that determine phase transition, the consequences of the passage to realistic MANET conditions and to what extent we may benefit from probabilistic flooding in real MANET networks.


A new, sophisticated analysis of hundreds of genetic sequences of HIV from different time points and locations adds fascinating insights to the origin of the AIDS epidemic. The study, which appears in this issue of Science (see p. 56), confirms earlier analyses that an HIV-infected person came to what today is Kinshasa around 1920, but it then shows for the first time how the virus went from there to two cities in the southeastern portion of the country, likely aided by the extensive rail system that then existed. The researchers also note that 13 documented cases exist of different simian viruses jumping from chimpanzees, gorillas, and monkeys into humans, but only one—known has HIV-1 group M—sparked a global epidemic. They show that group M and another strain, group O, expanded at the same rate until about 1960, but then group M nearly tripled its rate of spread. Possible reasons include public health campaigns that had contaminated needles and an increase in the number of clients of sex workers.


Mobile robot's navigation and obstacle avoidance in an unknown environment is analyzed in this paper. From the guidance of position sensors, artificial neural network (ANN) based controllers settle the desired trajectory between current and a target point. Evolutionary algorithms were used to choose the best controller. This approach, known as evolutionary robotics (ER), commonly resorts to very simple ANN architectures. Although they include temporal processing, most of them do not consider the learned experience in the controller's evolution. Thus, the ER research presented in this article, focuses on the specification and testing of the ANN based controllers implemented when genetic mutations are performed from one generation to another. Discrete-time recurrent neural networks based controllers were tested, with two variants: plastic neural networks (PNN) and standard feedforward (FFNN) networks. Also the way in which evolution was performed was analyzed. As a result, controlled mutation do not exhibit major advantages against the noncontrolled one, showing that diversity is more powerful than controlled adaptation.


The effects of vincristine (VCR) on cell survival, cell cycle progression, DNA synthesis, and metaphase accumulation were studied in relation to drug concentration and drug exposure duration in Sarcoma 180 cells in vitro. VCR was found to affect cells in interphase, producing a transient G2 block at all drug concentrations and drug exposure durations studied. VCR did not affect DNA synthesis directly. Increases in the metaphase index were delayed and always peaked at approximately 8 hr after drug removal, regardless of the duration of drug exposure. Increases in the metaphase index of sufficient magnitude to be commensurate with VCR lethality were observed only with prolonged drug exposure. VCR produced both nuclear fragmentation and polyploidy. The proportion of cells undergoing polyploidy increased progressively with increasing drug exposure duration. Interference with cytokinesis during prolonged VCR exposure may represent a lethal effect of VCR that is separate from its short-term effects. This could serve as the basis for the clinical study of the antitumor effects of prolonged VCR infusions.


Although direct volume rendering is a powerful tool for visualizing complex structures within volume data, the size and complexity of the parameter space controlling the rendering process makes generating an informative rendering challenging. In particular, the specification of the transfer function-the mapping from data values to renderable optical properties-is frequently a time consuming and unintuitive task. Ideally, the data being visualized should itself suggest an appropriate transfer function that brings out the features of interest without obscuring them with elements of little importance. We demonstrate that this is possible for a large class of scalar volume data, namely that where the regions of interest are the boundaries between different materials. A transfer function which makes boundaries readily visible can be generated from the relationship between three quantities: the data value and its first and second directional derivatives along the gradient direction. A data structure we term the histogram volume captures the relationship between these quantities throughout the volume in a position independent, computationally efficient fashion. We describe the theoretical importance of the quantities measured by the histogram volume, the implementation issues in its calculation, and a method for semiautomatic transfer function generation through its analysis. We conclude with results of the method on both idealized synthetic data as well as real world datasets.


Objectives To investigate the possible role of a functional polymorphism in the soluble interleukin 6 receptor (sIL-6R) gene in the genetic background of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods An association between disease status and the sIL-6R rs8192284 (A358D) variant was tested in 965 patients with RA and 988 unrelated healthy controls. Odds ratios (ORs) for disease were calculated with asymptotic 95% CI; p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant after adjustment for multiple testing. To determine the relationship between protein levels and IL-6R A358D genotype, the protein levels of sIL-6R in 100 plasma samples from healthy controls were measured using an ELISA and compared across the genotype groups. Results The allele frequency of the C allele (alanine) was lower in cases than in controls (38.4% vs 41.7%, p=0.04, OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.8 to 1.0), as were the CC/AC genotypes compared with AA genotype frequencies (61.0% in RA cases vs 67.5% in controls, p=0.004, OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.6 to 0.9). Plasma levels of sIL-6R differed significantly according to genotype in the controls: 17.00±2.03 ng/ml for A/A, 20.08±1.83 ng/ml for A/C and 21.57±2.10 ng/ml for C/C (p=0.0001). Conclusion These data suggest a role for genetically determined lower sIL-6R levels as a risk factor for RA. The proinflammatory role of the IL6 system in established RA has been highlighted by the use of anti-sIL-6R antibodies. However, the findings of this study suggest a protective effect of IL6 on the risk of developing RA.


Previous research finds modest levels of engagement in policy advocacy by charitable nonprofits, despite legal regulations permitting nonprofit advocacy and the significance of public policy to nonprofit constituencies. This paper examines nonprofit involvement in policy advocacy using survey data from Boston, Massachusetts. Nonprofit participation in policy advocacy is associated with professionalization, resource dependence, features of the institutional environment, and organizational characteristics such as size and mission. Drawing from population ecology theory, we examine an additional aspect of organizational mission: whether a nonprofit serves a specialized or general population. We find that nonprofits serving specialized populations are more likely to participate in policy advocacy than nonprofits serving the general population.


abstract Structural transformations between the different hydration states of three vermiculite samples from Sta. Olalla (Huelva, Spain), Paulistana (Piaui, Brasil) and West China, have been observed by X-ray diffraction at atmospheric pressure, P = 1.4 × 10-2 mbar and P = 2.4 × 10-4 mbar. The samples were studied in flake and powder forms. The effect of vacuum has been proven to be the same as that of temperature, i.e. it causes dehydration of vermiculite, but with a different evolution through the different hydration states. In fact, under vacuum, the process seems to be inhibited at a one-water layer hydration state (1-WLHS), without a further dehydration of samples to a zero-water layer hydration state (0-WLHS). Furthermore, the dehydration process has been shown to occur through different interstratified states in each vermiculite. This result has been related to the interlayer Mg-cation content, due to its affinity to water molecules. The interstratified states have been analysed by the direct Fourier-transform method. The vermiculite from Sta. Olalla exhibits the most complex process, with formation of three different interstratified phases: two phases characterized by an interstratification of interplanar distances, d = 11.5 - 13.8 Å and d = 9.6 - 11.5 Å , respectively, and a practically segregated phase characterized by d = 13.8 Å. For the vermiculite from China, an interstratified phase not previously reported has been found, with an interplanar distance of 12.10 Å. The inhibition of dehydration at 1-WLHS, as observed, could be used in applications such as adsorption and separation technology of gases and liquids, or in heterogeneous catalysis processes.


In this paper, a compartmental model for the transmission dynamics of the new infectious disease referred to as COVID-19 is employed The model comprises five mutually exclusive compartments (classes) of human population sizes viz: susceptible, exposed, infected, recovered, and death, representing the human dynamics;hence, the name SEIRD model In the model, the temporal dynamics of the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria and Spain are analyzed The period is between February 15-April 3, 2020 for Spain, and February 27-April 3, 2020, for Nigeria The analysis of the population data is based on the concerned SEIRD model Graphical representations of the obtained results are presented A connection between the contact rate of the infection and the compartmental human population sizes subject to the COVID-19 analysis is revealed It shows that a decrease in the contact rate of the 'susceptible and the infected' classes is a considerable condition leading to a decline in 'the exposed, infected, and death' cases This decrease is attributed to the control of the possible infecting contacts The spread patterns for the two considered cases are the same A lot of measures are needed to be put in place to ensure a corresponding increase in the 'recovered class ' The COVID-19 outbreak would remain global and endemic if the infecting contact rate is not well controlled Thus, adherence to strict public and government policies such as social distancing and isolation is a plausible requirement For other aspects of epidemiology with related features, this strategy is highly recommended for implementation © 2020 the author(s)


Energy consumption in a network is becoming the physical limit against the everlasting increase of network traffic in the near future. Current network equipment consumes energy inefficiently due to poor energy-load proportionality of network equipment which causes a vast amount of energy consumption even in an idle state. We investigate and model the energy consumption of packet optical transport networks. Employing integer linear programming, we model and optimize the energy consumption of IP/WDM (IP/WDM) networks with traffic-grooming cross layer designs. Our study shows that energy savings in IP/WDM networks with traffic grooming is not effective unless IP layer equipment is energy proportional. In addition, different network planning schemes are required with respect to energy proportionality of network equipment.


Emile Lahood served in various posts in the military, including commander-in-chief of the army from 1989 to 1998. In 1998 he had the constitution amended to allow the army commander-in-chief to run for office within three years of holding that post, and was subsequently elected as President of Lebanon. Lahood's popularity, political neutrality and strong ties with Syria and the United States made him well suited for the Lebanese presidency, an office traditionally occupied by a Christian. Lahood actively stifled opposition to the Syrian military presence in Lebanon. He also oversaw Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. At the conclusion of Lahood's extended term in 2007, the National Assembly could not agree on a successor, and he was replaced by an acting president, Fouad Siniora Years of Resistance is a testimony of Lahood's mandate during his nine years in office. The material for the book is mostly taken from the weekly meetings that the author, Karim Pakradouni, and Lahood had during his time in office. The reader is placed at the heart of Lebanese politics, as Pakradouni reveals the conflicts, reform attempts, liberation and political assassinations that shaped Lahood's reign. This book brings to light new details of important documents and events, and describes several key Lebanese and Arab figures in a way that leads to better comprehension of the interminable crisis and wars which took place in Lebanon and in the Middle East. This book is a summary of the Lebanese political situation where hopes are interspersed with fear.


Worldwide, suicide is the third cause of death among adolescents. Aim: To determine the socio-demographic context and clinical characteristics of children and adolescents hospitalized for suicidal behavior in a general hospital. Material and Methods: Between 2007 and 2009, we evaluated 47 patients with a mean age of 15.3 years (87% women) admitted for suicidal behavior at the Clinical Hospital of the Catholic University of Chile. Demographic data of the participants were registered. Clinical interviews were done by a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Results: Fifty seven percent of patients lived with both parents. Fifty one percent had previous suicide attempts and 68% had a previous psychiatric treatment. The main trigger was a conflict with parents in 66%. The psychiatric diagnoses were major depressive episode in 74.5% and pathological development of personality in 43%. All suicide attempts were with drugs and 6.4% were associated with cuts. Seventeen percent of attempts were classified as medically serious and they were more common in older age groups. Non severe attempts were observed mainly in women (92.3%). Acetaminophen intake was recorded in 8.5% of cases. Admission to hospital increased in the final quarter of the year. High costs of hospitalization were observed associated to stays in high complexity units. Conclusions: The population studied shows a high incidence of prior suicidal behavior. Most of the studied patients had attempts that were not classified as serious. These occurred predominantly in women in all age ranges. Medically serious suicidal behavior is mainly observed in older adolescents


The Alexander Technique (AT) is a remarkably simple but powerful method for learning to skillfully control how your brain and body interact, allowing you to better coordinate your movements while increasing the accuracy of your mind's thoughts and perceptions. Now, in How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live, leading Alexander Technique master teacher Missy Vineyard sheds a completely fresh light on this revolutionary method and, in the process, offers path-breaking insight into the mind-body connection. Vineyard thoroughly explains and teaches the central skills of the AT through simple self-experiments, and she offers engaging stories of students in their lessons to show its effective application across a range of disciplines, including the performing arts, athletics, health, psychology, and education. How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live introduces us to a world within ourselves that we know surprisingly little about--and thereby helps us to understand why we often cannot do what we should be able to do, why we harm ourselves with chronic tension and anxiety, and why our thoughts often seem beyond our control. Vineyard is also the first AT teacher to draw on cutting-edge research in neuroscience and to synthesize those findings with AT theories and techniques. She fully illuminates the benefits to be reaped by mastery of the Alexander Technique, which include: Release from acute or chronic physical pain Enhanced mental attention and focus Reduced anxiety Improved balance and coordination Relief from tension and stress Increased ease and efficiency performing precise movement skills


In investigating the boundaries of the Balkanist discourse in pre-EU accession Bulgaria, this chapter engages with political cartoons – a genre that to this day has remained somewhat neglected by academics. Scholars from a variety of disciplines have pointed out the scant critical attention this genre has received within their respective fields of specialty (e.g. Bostdorff 1987; Dougherty 2002; Koetzle and Brunell 1996: 96; Schmitt 1992: 154; Streicher 1965: 1). Political cartooning "lies in a peculiar no man's land where several disciplines meet" (Coupe 1969: 79) – including journalism, sociology, art history, education, cultural studies, political science and IR – but none has truly embraced its study (Diamond 2002: 252).


This study presents an analysis of the nonlinearity resulting from polarization crosstalk at a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) and a wave plate (WP) in a homodyne interferometer. From a theoretical approach, a new compensation method involving a realignment of the axes of WPs to some specific angles according to the characteristics of the PBS is introduced. This method suppresses the nonlinearity in a homodyne interferometer to 0.36 nm, which would be 3.75 nm with conventional alignment methods of WPs.


This article seeks to trace the origins of contemporary 'post-workerism' in the formulation of concepts of political subjectivity, antagonism and insurrection in Tronti and Negri. In particular, it tries to excavate the seemingly paradoxical position which postulates the increasing immanence of struggles, as based on the Marxian thesis of real subsumption, together with the intensification of the political autonomy or separation of the working class. In order to grasp the political and theoretical proposals of Italian workerism and autonomism, Toscano concentrates on the thesis of a historical transformation of capitalism into an increasingly parasitical and politically violent social relation, a thesis which is grounded in an interpretation of Marx's notion of 'tendency' and which serves as the background to the exploration, especially in Negri, of increasingly uncompromising forms of antagonism. The article focuses especially on Tronti's so-called 'Copernican revolution'—giving workers' struggles primacy in the understanding of capitalism—and critically inquires into the effect of this workerist axiom on Negri's writings on proletarian sabotage and insurrection in the 1970s. By way of a conclusion, it notes the difficulties in prolonging the workerist gambit in light of capital's continued effort, as Tronti would put it, to emancipate itself from the working class.


The adsorption phenomenon of neutral particles from the limiting surfaces of the sample in the Langmuir approximation is investigated. The diffusion equation regulating the redistribution of particles in the bulk is assumed to be of hyperbolic type, in order to take into account the finite velocity of propagation of the density variations. We show that in this framework the condition on the conservation of the number of particles gives rise to a non-local boundary condition. We solve the partial differential equation relevant to the diffusion of particles by means of the separation of variables, and present how it is possible to obtain approximated eigenvalues contributing to the solution. The same problem is faced numerically by a finite difference algorithm. The time dependence of the surface density of adsorbed particles is deduced by means of the kinetic equation at the interface. The predicted non-monotonic behavior of the surface density versus the time is in agreement with experimental observations reported in the literature, and is related to the finite velocity of propagation of the density variations.


Abstract The Usambara effect, i.e. a change of tourmaline colour from deep-green to dark-red with increasing path length of light, has been studied by optical absorption spectroscopy and colourimetric calculations on a sample of Tanzanian tourmaline of predominant dravite composition with 0.12 apfu Cr. For comparison a dark-green vanadium-bearing tourmaline from Tanzania (0.05 apfu V), which does not show such an effect, was also investigated. As established, the Usambara effect, by its nature, is closely related to the alexandrite effect, although in this case the colour change is not caused by change of spectral composition of the light of illumination, but by spectral positions of the spin-allowed absorption bands of Cr3+, a specific ratio of light transmission in two windows of transparency, green and red, and by non-linear, exponential dependence of the light transmittance on the thickness of sample. A threshold chromium content must be exceeded for the Usambara effect to show, that is, sufficient chromium for there to be two deep and well-demarcated windows of transparency in the visible range. The overall colouration results from mixing of two additive colours coming through the windows of transparency. A dark-green chromium-bearing tourmaline from the Ural Mountains (0.40 and 0.20 apfu Cr and Fe, respectively) shows how admixtures of other chromophore ions, namely, Fe2+ and Fe3+, can suppress the Usambara effect in tourmaline.


Abstract Integration of detrital zircon studies with data on biostratigraphy, isopachs, facies, and paleocurrents can improve reconstructions of paleogeography for ancient fluvial systems. U-Pb ages for 1808 individual detrital zircon grains in 20 samples of Triassic fluvial sandstone on the Colorado Plateau and High Plains, U.S.A., help constrain paleodrainage paths and patterns of sediment dispersal across southwest Laurentia. The dominant paleoflow was from southeast to northwest from sources as distant as the Ouachita orogen, and segments of Mesoamerica beyond it, to the Cordilleran margin in the Great Basin. Detrital zircons in Middle Triassic Moenkopi strata deposited along the distal eastern flank of the Sonoma foreland basin were derived from varied sources to the south and southeast, as were similar populations of detrital zircons in Upper Triassic Chinle strata exposed along the southern margin of the Colorado Plateau. Basal Chinle (-Dockum) strata of the High Plains to the east contain detrital zircon populations dominated by Cambrian grains derived from the nearby Amarillo–Wichita uplift, as do Gartra strata of northeast Utah to which the Cambrian grains were transported across eroded roots of Ancestral Rocky Mountains uplifts along upstream reaches of the Eagle paleoriver of northwest Colorado. The central locus of the Chinle–Dockum fluvial system lay along the tectonic furrow of an elongate backarc basin formed by dynamic subsidence inland from the Cordilleran magmatic arc. A lower Chinle–Dockum trunk paleoriver and the upper Chinle–Dockum Cottonwood paleovalley document longitudinal paleoflow parallel to the axis of the basin. Detrital zircon populations show that headwaters of both paleodrainages tapped the Ouachita orogen, the Permian–Triassic East Mexico arc, and associated rock assemblages of southwest Laurentia and adjacent Mesoamerica. Sediment sources in the Mesozoic Cordilleran arc became increasingly more prominent during Late Triassic time.


Key Points The U.S. military "surge" initiated in mid-2007 in Baghdad and neighboring Iraqi provinces has been largely successful in military terms. It has helped to lower the level of violence suffered by Iraqis and Americans alike and, in tandem with other steps, has restored measure of security to western Iraq and portions of Baghdad. Yet military operations alone are insufficient to restore stability and keep the country intact. As the surge approaches its midpoint, the Iraqi government still shows little progress toward political reconciliation. As if the political stalemate in Baghdad were not enough, Iraq in the months ahead will face three other potentially explosive political events: provincial elections, a controversial census, and a referendum to determine who will govern oil-rich Kirkuk. To build on the achievements of the military surge, the United States must have four priorities. First, Washington must continue to support the elected government in Baghdad, helping it to establish its authority through the consensual exercise of power. Second, the United States must encourage provincial elections as a vehicle for political reform and for loosening the hold of sectarian loyalty upon the political process. Third, efforts to build a truly national Iraqi military force recruited from all sectors of the population must be reinforced. Fourth, tangible cooperation between Iraq and its neighbors on border security must be achieved in order to reduce the flow of money and foreign fighters that stokes the insurgencies. In taking these steps, the United States must weigh its tactical choices carefully, not only avoiding stances on specific issues that tilt too far to any one side but also pressing for an end to factional control of government ministries. Emphasizing the uncertain outcome of the 2008 U.S. elections and the prospect of a precipitous drawdown of American forces is a way to underscore the need for political progress. ********** Iraq's Internal Divisions With the collapse of Iraq's Ba'thist government in 2003, the United States appeared to be in a position to shape the country's political direction and reestablish civil society. Despite Iraq's history of serious political violence, especially Saddam Hussein's repression of Kurdish and Shi'a populations at the end of the war with Iran and after the abortive rebellions of 1991, the turmoil had never taken the form of outright intersectarian warfare. There was at least some reason to hope that such warfare could be avoided in the post-Saddam transition as well, and indeed that was the case--for a while. Initially, the need for Kurd and Arab, Sunni and Shi'a, to establish bases of power and lines of authority in the nascent political process masked communal unease. Early attempts by Sunni extremists and renegade Ba'thists to provoke violence and civil war were unsuccessful. At that moment, America's ability to influence nationbuilding and create a more equitable and secure country was at its greatest. The moment was brief. As American leverage over Iraq's political future waned, Iraqi factions that had been long isolated and excluded from power assumed dominant roles in the succeeding provisional governments and proceeded to deconstruct Iraqi politics, society, and security. Iraq today is a country divided by competing identities and loyalties. Some Iraqis find their primary identity in their ethnic origins--Kurds seeking to right historic wrongs through maximalist demands for territory and wealth, Arabs and Turkmen trying, in response, to defend their own rights to land and resources. Others identify themselves primarily according to religious sect--Sunnis trying to reestablish their historical political dominance, Shi'a determined to enjoy their newfound status as the majority group in a newly democratic country. Iraq is not in the midst of a single insurgency focused simply on ending American occupation, nor is it enmeshed in a sectarian civil war in which one clearly defined religious faction makes war on another over doctrinal differences. …


We report experimental evidence of soliton reflection at the boundary of quadratic nonlinear media. The evolution of beams incident upon the interface of periodically poled LiNbO3 and uniform LiNbO3 is considered; in the whole device the linear refractive index is homogeneous. Linear beam transmission and soliton reflection at the nonlinear phase-mismatched boundary were observed. Numerical simulations that correspond to the experiments are also presented.


UDPglucuronosyltransferase [UDPglucuronate beta-D-glucuronosyltransferase (acceptor-unspecific), EC 220.127.116.11] is a group of enzymes with distinct but partially overlapping substrate specificity. A rabbit antiserum raised against one purified rat liver UDPglycuronosyltransferase isoform was specific for UDPglucuronosyltransferase and recognized all transferase isoforms by immunodiffusion or immunotransblot analysis. The transferase activity toward all substrates was immunoabsorbed from solubilized rat liver microsomes by IgG purified from the antiserum. The purified IgG was used for immunocytochemical localization of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase in rat liver, jejunum, kidney, and adrenal gland. In the liver, UDPglucuronosyltransferase was present exclusively in hepatocytes and was uniformly distributed within all zones of the hepatic lobule. In the jejunum, the transferase was present exclusively in the epithelial cells and showed a progressive increase in concentration from the crypt to the villar tip. In the kidney, the greatest concentration of the transferase was observed in the epithelial cells of the proximal convoluted tubule. Adrenal medullary cells showed intense immunocytochemical staining; the zona glomerulosa and the zona reticularis of the adrenal cortex were more intensely stained than the zona fasciculata. By light microscopy, UDPglucuronosyltransferase was found in the endoplasmic reticulum and nuclear envelope of all the four organs; this was confirmed in the hepatocyte by electron microscopy. The transferase was not observed in mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, peroxisomes, and plasma membrane, even after 3- to 4-fold induction of various substrate-specific UDPglucuronosyltransferase activities.


Turbidity is one of the important parameter for the determination of water quality.
The current existing method of measuring turbidity of water could come in bulky
size or small portable turbidity meter. The ability to handle many samples and
implementation of on-line monitoring is limited for such devices while some do not
support this feature. Taking measurements would be laborious and time consuming
especially when the sources of samples are located in remote places which are
difficult to be accessed by human.
In this research, an alternative turbidity measurement system called the "Optical
Transmission-Based Water Turbidity Measurement System" is designed and its
performance is analysed and compared to the measurement from a standard turbidity
meter. The concept of the proposed measurement system is to make the turbidity
measurement remote, easy to handle and more flexible. The use of fibre optic as the
element of carrying light enables measurement taken at the source of sample but
could be remotely controlled from other place by the user. The design for the fibre
optic set-up, transmitter circuit, receiver circuit and signal conditioning circuit were covered. The assembly program for Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) was also
created.


The kinetic compensation effect (KCE) is a well-known behavior pattern wherein a set of related reactions show a linear relationship between the calculated Arrhenius parameters, log10 A and Ea. Although various theoretical explanations have been advanced, none has yet found general acceptance. The present paper reports multiple rate measurements for the heterogeneously catalyzed oxidation of CO on several identically prepared samples of supported noble metal (Pd, Pt, or Rh) catalysts. Distinctive KCEs were observed for all three metals; these are discussed with reference to a new parameter, the degree of compensation (), which quantitatively measures deviation from the ideal isokinetic relationship ( = 1.00 KCE). For carbon monoxide oxidation on each of the three metals, was greater than 0.85 KCE, regarded as significant compensation. These KCEs are discussed in the context of published kinetic and mechanistic studies of CO oxidation, from which a theoretical explanation of the observed pattern of rate characteristics is proposed. Overall kinetic control is ascribed to a common dominant, rate-determining process on each metal, resulting in approximately isokinetic behavior. Temperature-dependent secondary controls are identified as modifying the kinetics of surface reactions involving adsorbed intermediates, and thus the apparent magnitudes of Arrhenius parameters. Different contributions from secondary controls, between the individual reactions of each set, are attributed to temperature-determined variations of concentrations, equilibria, and mobilities of adsorbed participants in the (dominant) rate-controlling process. A modified Arrhenius equation, applicable to KCE reaction sets, is suggested in which the preexponential term varies with temperature. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 38: 689-702, 2006


1. This deliverable reports on the demonstration and evaluation of ISP3, which was designed to demonstrate the potential of the SHAMAN framework for digital preservation in the context of e-science institutions and for the research and development community. 2. The demonstration process was carried out by means of presentations of the training material to the scientists from LNEC and LIP in Lisbon, Portugal. The audiences for the demonstrations consisted of scientists working with different data and IT support staff. 3. The evaluation is based on the reports of focus groups held with two groups of scientists, together with structured data from self-completed questionnaires, administered on the same occasions. 4. The SHAMAN 'consciousness raising' event appears to have had useful consequences. In both institutions it appeared to fulfil the aim of drawing attention to the problems of digital preservation and to the role of the SHAMAN framework in finding answers to the problems. To a degree, the participants were already sympathetic to the ideas, since they were working in situations that daily brought their attention to the need for preservation policies. However, the discussions were also useful in extending the concept of digital preservation beyond the existing perceptions within the SHAMAN teams. In particular, the notion of the 'digital object' needs to be expanded to include not only digitized physical objects such as documents and images, but also 'born digital' phenomena such as data streams, software programs and analytical results of experiments.


Genetically engineered T memory stem cells preserve differentiation activity for decades after patient infusion. Sealing T cell fate Clinical trials are a relatively untapped source of experimental data that can be leveraged to explore both basic and pathological biology in humans. Now, Biasco et al. take advantage of two different gene therapy trials for inherited immunodeficiency to track in the long term T cell fate in humans. They find that the recently described T memory stem cells (TSCM) are able to persist and preserve their precursor potential in human recipients for up to 12 years after genetic correction and infusion into patients. The safety and long-term survival of these cells not only strengthen our knowledge of human immunology but also support the use of TSCM cells for adoptive immunotherapy. A definitive understanding of survival and differentiation potential in humans of T cell subpopulations is of paramount importance for the development of effective T cell therapies. In particular, uncovering the dynamics in vivo in humans of the recently described T memory stem cells (TSCM) would be crucial for therapeutic approaches that aim at taking advantage of a stable cellular vehicle with precursor potential. We exploited data derived from two gene therapy clinical trials for an inherited immunodeficiency, using either retrovirally engineered hematopoietic stem cells or mature lymphocytes to trace individual T cell clones directly in vivo in humans. We compared healthy donors and bone marrow–transplanted patients, studied long-term in vivo T cell composition under different clinical conditions, and specifically examined TSCM contribution according to age, conditioning regimen, disease background, cell source, long-term reconstitution, and ex vivo gene correction processing. High-throughput sequencing of retroviral vector integration sites (ISs) allowed tracing the fate of more than 1700 individual T cell clones in gene therapy patients after infusion of gene-corrected hematopoietic stem cells or mature lymphocytes. We shed light on long-term in vivo clonal relationships among different T cell subtypes, and we unveiled that TSCM are able to persist and to preserve their precursor potential in humans for up to 12 years after infusion of gene-corrected lymphocytes. Overall, this work provides high-resolution tracking of T cell fate and activity and validates, in humans, the safe and functional decade-long survival of engineered TSCM, paving the way for their future application in clinical settings.


Local food has emerged as a popular social movement across much of the developed world. While many are quick to see it as a challenge to the dominant agri-food system, some critical social scientists caution against assuming its transformative potential. Using a case study of the development of a food and urban agriculture strategy in Edmonton, Canada, we explore both the transformative potential of local urban food initiatives and the hurdles faced in trying to move beyond maintaining the status quo. Utilising survey data and semi-structured interviews, we examine how citizens and stakeholders conceptualise sustainability and a more sustainable food system emerging in Edmonton, and identify the leverage points within these imaginings for long-term local food system transformation.


This guide is designed to teach ENGL 1120, 1123 and 1127 students how to do research, from formulating a topic to evaluating sources and everything in between!


The growing popularity of online dating websites is altering one of the most fundamental human activities: finding a date or a marriage partner. Online dating platforms offer new capabilities, such as extensive search, big data–based mate recommendations, and varying levels of anonymity, whose parallels do not exist in the physical world. Yet little is known about the causal effects of these new features. In this study we examine the impact of a particular anonymity feature, which is unique to online environments, on matching outcomes. This feature allows users to browse profiles of other users anonymously, by being able to check out a potential mate's profile while not leaving any visible online record of the visit. Although this feature may decrease search costs and allow users to search without inhibition, it also eliminates "weak signals" of interest for their potential mates that may play an important role in establishing successful communication. We run a randomized field experiment on a major North American online dating website, where 50,000 of 100,000 randomly selected new users are gifted the ability to anonymously view profiles of other users. Compared with the control group, the users treated with anonymity become disinhibited, in that they view more profiles and are more likely to view same-sex and interracial mates. However, based on our analysis, we demonstrate causally that weak signaling is a key mechanism in achieving higher levels of matching outcomes. Anonymous users, who lose the ability to leave a weak signal, end up having fewer matches compared with their nonanonymous counterparts. This effect of anonymity is particularly strong for women, who tend not to make the first move and instead rely on the counterparty to initiate the communication. Further, the reduction in quantity of matches by anonymous users is not compensated by a corresponding increase in quality of matches. This paper was accepted by Lorin Hitt, information systems .


Our purpose was to determine the effects on mammary gland development in prepubertal heifers given the anti-estrogen tamoxifen. Sixteen Holstein calves were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: tamoxifen-injected (TAM) or control (CON). Calves were subcutaneously injected daily from 28 to 120 days of age with 0.3 mg/kg tamoxifen or carrier. At 120 days calves were euthanized and udders removed. Weight of trimmed parenchymal tissue (left rear quarter) was dramatically lower in TAM calves than in CON calves (p < 0.0003; 16.1 vs. 34.8 g). Parenchymal samples from three regions of the left rear quarter (lower, middle and outer regions) were processed for immunohistochemical staining for Estrogen Receptor α and Progesterone Receptor, myoepithelial cells, and label retaining cells. Overall, the proportion of neither ER nor PR labeled cells was impacted by TAM treatment. However, imaging analysis indicated a markedly higher intensity of ER expression in CON calves. TAM caused an increase in myoepithelial cell differentiation similar to what is seen in ovariectomy. We were able to effectively use a new technique of multispectral imaging to identify label retaining cells, which led to the discovery of an increase in the percentage of label retaining cells in TAM compared to CON. While treatment with the anti-estrogen tamoxifen reduced mammary parenchymal mass similarly to OVX, the mechanism(s) involved appear to differ. This suggests that the impacts of ovariectomy are only partially explained by the absence of estrogen.


This book consists of the notes from the seminar Bonn/ Wuppertal 1983/ 84 on Arithmetic Geometry. It contains a proof for the Mordell conjecture and may be useful as an introduction to Arakelov's point of view in diophantine geometry. The third edition includes an appendix in which a detailed survey on the spectacular recent developments in arithmetic algebraic geometry is given. These beautiful new results have their roots in the material covered by this book.


We give a brief survey of three papers of K. Ramachandra in algebraic number theory. The first paper is based on his thesis and appeared in the Annals of Mathematics and titled, ``Some Applications of Kronecker's Limit Formula.'' The second paper determines a system of fundamental units for the cyclotomic field and is titled, ``On the units of cyclotomic fields.'' This appeared in Acta Arithmetica. The third deals with relative class numbers and is titled, ``The class number of relative abelian fields.'' This appeared in Crelle's Journal.


In this paper we focus our attention on an often overlooked aspect of digital heritage content, namely by whom how, and with what purpose such content is created. We evaluate digital materials that are anthropological and archaeological in nature, both digitized archives and newly created materials. In our work and efforts to understand and represent different cultural perspectives, we have encountered differences in cultural knowledge systems that have shown the need for cross-cultural consultation and communication as an essential first step in the creation of digital content for new systems of representation and knowledge transfer. Our efforts focus on developing a new educational framework that allows for knowledge exchange at different levels and between different entities, challenging the perpetuating hierarchical relationships between community and experts.


This thesis explores latent-variable probabilistic models for the analysis and classification of electroenchephalographic (EEG) signals used in Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems. The first part of the thesis focuses on the use of probabilistic methods for classification. We begin with comparing performance between 'black-box' generative and discriminative approaches. In order to take potential advantage of the temporal nature of the EEG, we use two temporal models: the standard generative hidden Markov model, and the discriminative input-output hidden Markov model. For this latter model, we introduce a novel 'apposite' training algorithm which is of particular benefit for the type of training sequences that we use. We also asses the advantage of using these temporal probabilistic models compared with their static alternatives. We then investigate the incorporation of more specific prior information about the physical nature of EEG signals into the model structure. In particular, a common successful assumption in EEG research is that signals are generated by a linear mixing of independent sources in the brain and other external components. Such domain knowledge is conveniently introduced by using a generative model, and leads to a generative form of Independent Components Analysis (gICA). We analyze whether or not this approach is advantageous in terms of performance compared to a more standard discriminative approach, which uses domain knowledge by extracting relevant features which are subsequently fed into classifiers. The user of a BCI system may have more than one way to perform a particular mental task. Furthermore, the physiological and psychological conditions may change from one recording session and/or day to another. As a consequence, the corresponding EEG signals may change significantly. As a first attempt to deal with this effect, we use a mixture of gICA in which the EEG signal is split into different regimes, each regime corresponding to a potentially different realization of the same mental task. An arguable limitation of the gICA model is the fact that the temporal nature of the EEG signal is not taken into account. Therefore, we analyze an extension in which each hidden component is modeled with an autoregressive process. The second part of the thesis focuses on analyzing the EEG signal and, in particular, on extracting independent dynamical processes from multiple channels. In BCI research, such a decomposition technique can be applied, for example, to denoise EEG signals from artifacts and to analyze the source generators in the brain, thereby aiding the visualization and interpretation of the mental state. In order to do this, we introduce a specially constrained form of the linear Gaussian state-space model which satisfies several properties, such as flexibility in the specification of the number of recovered independent processes and the possibility to obtain processes in particular frequency ranges. We then discuss an extension of this model to the case in which we don't know a priori the correct number of hidden processes which have generated the observed time-series and the prior knowledge about their frequency content is not precise. This is achieved using an approximate variational Bayesian analysis. The resulting model can automatically determine the number and appropriate complexity of the underlying dynamics, with a preference for the simplest solution, and estimates processes with preferential spectral properties. An important contribution from our work is a novel 'sequential' algorithm for performing smoothed inference, which is numerically stable and simpler than others previously published.


This paper describes how machine learning methods, along with a limited amount of manual classification, were used in a fairly successful attempt to automatically classify, by topic, newspaper articles from The Norwegian Newspaper Corpus.The Norwegian Newspaper Corpus is a challenge to automatically classify, since not all of it has been boilerplate cleaned. Our automatic topic classifier achieved 54% accuracy, while our human annotators achieved only slightly more; 59% accuracy.We used several machine learning methods built into the programming language CRM114. We used used six annotators, who manually classied 1,400 articles from the corpus. The machine learner trained only on errors it made when attempting to classify these articles.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of participation in a research mentorship team (RMT) on early childhood teachers' professional identities. The participants were seven early childhood teachers engaged in preservice teacher supervision at a university-affiliated child care center who volunteered to be members of the RMT facilitated by two teacher educators. This process involved informal monthly meetings and activities over the course of 2 years intended to engage teachers more directly and intentionally in inquiry. The teachers' perspectives regarding the benefits and the challenges they faced in the RMT were explored. The findings of this study, derived from interviews, meeting transcripts, and supporting documents, offer insight into: (1) early childhood teachers' changing paradigms regarding the research process, (2) the role of participation in research on teachers' engagement in the intellectual/theoretical elements of teaching, and (3) the impact of changing teacher identities on the culture of an early childhood center.


Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma actuators alter the velocity of the air across control surfaces. The induced flow, directed tangential to the surface, inputs momentum to the boundary layer. This analysis examines the feasibility of a simplified boundary condition within computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of a DBD plasma actuator mounted on a rocket fin. The simulations examine the location of the plasma actuator where the pressure differential is largest. Resulting in a plasma actuator location between 40\% and 45\% of the fin chord producing the most force. Secondly with the actuator at 50\% chord a velocity range between 10 and 90 m/s is tested. The highest normal force experienced by the fin due to plasma actuation is approximately 5.5 mN/m at a freestream 70 m/s decreasing as the rocket decelerates. This force and the resulting torque produces an angular velocity of 2.86 RPM of roll on a sounding rocket.


Structural health monitoring of existing infrastructure is currently an important field of research, where elaborate experimental programs and advanced analytical methods are used in identifying the current state of health of critical and important structures. The paper outlines two methods of system identification of beam-like reinforced concrete structures representing bridges, through static measure- ments, in a distributed damage scenario. The first one is similar to the stiffness method, re-cast and the second one to flexibility method. A least square error (LSE) based solution method is used for the estimation of flexural rigidities and damages of simply supported, cantilever and propped cantilever beam from the measured deformation values. The performance of both methods in the presence of measurement errors is demonstrated. An experiment on an un-symmetrically damaged simply supported reinforced concrete beam is used to validate the developed method. A method for damage prognosis is demonstrated using a generalized, indeterminate, propped cantilever beam.


"Shadow Mountain" is the winner of the Four Way Books Intro Series in Poetry, selected by acclaimed poet Kimiko Hahn. The first years of the 21st century have been marked by a global uneasiness over untold stories: forgotten prisoners, unjustified wars, secret decisions. In "Shadow Mountain", Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan gives voice to older, too-easily forgotten tragedies, urging us to learn a present lesson. She draws on the stories of Japanese-Americans interned at Manzanar Relocation Center, California, and on her own childhood and memories of her grandparents, examining the fault-line between family life and communal experience."Shadow Mountain" is captivating in its imagery, enchanting in its sounds, and a must read for anyone interested in the history of Japanese-American citizens and their children. Ranging in her forms from sonnet to terzanelle to fragmented, obstructed free verse, Kageyama-Ramakrishnan is a heartfelt interlocutor.


Wastewaters (WW) are important sources for the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) into the environment. Hospital WW (HWW) contain higher loads of micro-pollutants and AMR markers than urban WW (UWW). Little is known about the long-term dynamics of H and U WW and the impact of their joined treatment on the general burden of AMR. Here, we characterized the resistome, microbiota and eco-exposome signature of 126 H and U WW samples treated separately for three years, and then mixed, over one year. Multi-variate analysis and machine learning, revealed a robust signature for each WW with no significant variation over time before mixing, and once mixed, both WW closely resembled U signatures. We demonstrated a significant impact of pharmaceuticals and surfactants on the resistome and microbiota of H and U WW. Our results present considerable targets for AMR related risk assessment of WW.


As autonomous vehicle technology is becoming the most promising and expanding field in control system engineering so it should be a preliminary consideration to develop an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) that can perform reconnaissance and surveillance operations where risking human life is unwise. The goal of this project is to build up a vehicle that could reach to a required destination by a wireless control. Multi-Terrain and surveillance robot (MTASR) is a powerful, robust, well-designed and relatively inexpensive UGV. It is equipped with MODTRONIX board along with a Wi-Fi module. The control of the vehicle was achieved using MODTRONIX board, which control all the activities of the robot including communication and manoeuvring. Using the wireless device allowed us to work with IP, which made our task simple, we would be able to connect to the robot using any computer that had Wi-Fi capability and the security clearance. IP camera is used for surveillance and a Wi-Fi router for communication. The robot is operated in manual mode where the operator can use the graphical user interface (GUI) specifically designed for the robot to manoeuvre and control it. GUI was developed using C# (c sharp) language.


This paper explores the innovative multi-stakeholder cooperative structure of Sandhills Farm to Table Food Hub and how this business utilizes an innovative organizational structure to connect producers, consumers, and workers to each other and the community. Evaluating SF2T's structure demonstrates how a multi-stakeholder cooperative benefits, incentivizes, and equalizes the three stakeholder classes. We also analyze current business activities and comment on barriers to the cooperative's future growth and expansion. Finally, the paper highlights the multiple benefits the cooperative provides to the community and how their structure and activities enable the cooperative to address current objectives and plan for future goals.


Reasoning about numerical magnitudes is a key aspect of mathematics learning. Most research examining the relation of magnitude understanding to general mathematics achievement has focused on whole number and fraction magnitudes. The present longitudinal study (N = 435) used a 3-step latent class analysis to examine reasoning about magnitudes on a decimal comparison task in 4th grade, before systematic decimals instruction. Three classes of response patterns were identified, indicating empirically distinct levels of decimal magnitude understanding. Class 1 students consistently gave correct responses, suggesting that they understood decimal properties even before systematic decimal instruction. Class 2 students were accurate when a 0 immediately followed the decimal, but were inaccurate when a zero was added to the end of the decimal string, suggesting a partial understanding of place value; their performance was also negatively influenced by a whole number bias. Class 3 students showed misunderstanding of both place value and a whole number bias. Class membership accurately predicted 6th grade mathematics achievement, after controlling for whole number and fraction magnitude understanding as well as demographic and cognitive factors. Taken together, the findings suggest students may benefit from instruction that emphasizes decimal properties earlier in school.


Risk-taking among young male drivers was investigated from the perspective offered by theories of learning. Group interviews with young drivers living in the ACT were held to determine whether their risky driving behaviours became more frequent during the first year after acquiring a provisional licence, and to investigate the influences that contribute to early occurrences of risk-taking behaviours and the factors that contribute to increases in risk-taking. As predicted, there was evidence to suggest that pragmatic pressures, sensation seeking and modelling of other drivers' behaviours all contribute to the initiation of some risky behaviours. There was also evidence to suggest that increases in risky driving behaviours were associated with increasing confidence and the extinction of safe behaviours in favour of risky alternatives that are reinforced in a variety of ways.


In this thesis two related arguments are investigated:
- The first stages of the process of massive star formation, investigating the physical conditions and -properties of massive clumps in different evolutionary stages, and their CO depletion;
- The influence that high-mass stars have on the nearby material and on the activity of star formation.

I characterise the gas and dust temperature, mass and density of a sample of massive clumps, and analyse the variation of these properties from quiescent clumps, without any sign of active star formation, to clumps likely hosting a zero-age main sequence star. I briefly discuss CO depletion and recent observations of several molecular species, tracers of Hot Cores and/or shocked gas, of a subsample of these clumps.
The issue of CO depletion is addressed in more detail in a larger sample consisting of the brightest sources in the ATLASGAL survey: using a radiative tranfer code I investigate how the depletion changes from dark clouds to more evolved objects, and compare its evolution to what happens in the low-mass regime.
Finally, I derive the physical properties of the molecular gas in the photon-dominated region adjacent to the HII region G353.2+0.9 in the vicinity of Pismis 24, a young, massive cluster, containing some of the most massive and hottest stars known in our Galaxy. I derive the IMF of the cluster and study the star formation activity in its surroundings.

Much of the data analysis is done with a Bayesian approach. Therefore, a separate chapter is dedicated to the concepts of Bayesian statistics.


The use of foams can be found abundantly in many applications in a wide range of industries, including oil and gas industry. Although understanding foam flow behavior is crucial for the optimization of such applications, the complex flow behavior of foams has been a major challenge. Recent experimental studies with surfactant foams presented a new way to characterize foam flow characteristics by using two flow regimes: the low-quality regime showing either plug-flow or segregated-flow pattern, and the high-quality regime showing slug-flow pattern.
This study consists of three main components: (1) experimental investigation of foam rheology in pipes; (2) building up of a new foam model consistent with lab-measured experimental data; and (3) use of the model in petroleum drilling hydraulics modeling and simulation.
The major outcome of this study can be summarized as follows.
First (Part 1), by conducting foam flow experiments in pipes, this study shows the concept of two foam-flow regimes is still valid and effective not only with surfactant foams but also with foams in the presence of additives such as polymers and oils. This finding is important because many field applications of foam flow involve some levels of additives.
Second (Part 2), this study for the first time presents how to build a foam model which is consistent with two foam-flow regimes evidenced by experimental data. The model requires four model parameters two parameters to capture rheological properties (e.g. consistency index and flow behavior index, if power-law rheology is applied) and two parameters to define the dependence of foam rheology to gas and liquid flow rates in both foam flow regimes.
Third and last (Part 3), the significance of this model is verified by implementing it into existing foam drilling hydraulics calculations in a 10,000 ft vertical well in which foams are injected down into the drill pipe, through the drill bit and circulated up to the surface along the annulus. The results show that this new foam model equipped with two flow regimes is advantageous over the conventional foam model especially when foams become dry and unstable in the well, improving the accuracy.


Exciting new print and electronic products. A new vision. And through-the-roof sales potential. That's what McGraw-Hill's acquisition of Appleton & Lange is all about. Since 1852, Appleton & Lange has been a major force in medical publishing. From the Lange Series of basic medical texts to the solutions-based Current Series, its popular medical references are more in demand than ever. And now, this long and vital tradition will become part of McGraw-Hill's own publishing legacy. For you, it all adds up to a winning -- and profitable -- combination.-- The leading annually updated general medical text -- the most comprehensive, reliable, and timely reference available-- Answers common questions in everyday clinical practice-- Covers all aspects of outpatient and inpatient care, including gynecology, obstetrics, urology, dermatology, psychiatry, neurology, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, and nutrition


Adversarial growth and learning from error is an essential capability for individuals in organizations, and carries particular challenges for anyone in a leadership position. This paper focuses on a strengths based perspective to Decision Adversity (DA) in the workplace. Decision adversity encompasses the stress and consequences of making and pursuing wrong business decisions; wrong decisions that are, in hindsight, incompatible with corporate goals and deplete resources. It reviews topics and studies on the challenges of decisions, including: dealing with uncertainty, difficulties in recognizing when a decision that is no longer advantageous, the anxiety of questioning a potentially wrong path, and coping with an outcome of a decision that was, in hindsight, the wrong choice. It will propose how a focus on character strengths can influence positive responsive behaviors, emotions, and actions. Interviews with experienced professionals will explore questions of DA from the perspective of those making and implementing decisions, highlighting opportunities and use of character strengths when coping with and responding to these situations. The paper will conclude with strengths focused recommendations, and suggest opportunities for further exploration of the use of strengths in addressing decision adversity.


Feminist and some other abortion rights advocates typically ground the right to abortion in bodily integrity, thus conceptualizing abortion as vindicating a right to disassociate oneself from an intruder. Although valid as a matter of logic, the bodily integrity argument is libertarian and seemingly selfish. But a fundamentally associative interest also grounds the abortion right. A woman who cannot raise a child but is legally required to bear one must undergo the psychic pain of forced separation from an infant whom she is biologically programmed to love. Human mothers, like other mammalian mothers, grieve the loss of their young, as illustrated by the sad plight of dairy cows. Accordingly, the abortion right may be best understood as protecting not only an interest in bodily separation, but an interest in avoiding loss, that is, an interest in "never having loved at all."


ABSTRACT The authors present a new concept of digital gastronomy—Cornucopia, a futuristic cooking methodology based on digital technologies. They discuss how they have merged kitchen tools with science fiction and actual technologies to create this new design space for gastronomy. The Virtuoso Mixer, the Digital Fabricator and the Robotic Chef were conceptualized to enable more flexibility and control over each of the most important elements of cooking: mixing ingredients, modeling food shapes and transforming edible matter from one state to another. The authors discuss related work and ideas, present their designs and propose their vision for the emerging design space of digital gastronomy.


This research examines optimization of blasting parameters for economic production of granite aggregates in Ratcon and NSCE quarries located atIbadan,OyoState. Samples were collected from the study areas for the determination of rock density and porosity. Schmidt hammer was used for in situ determination of rock hardness. Uniaxial compressive strength of in situ rock was estimated from the values obtained from Schmidt hammer rebound hardness test and density determined from laboratory test. Blasting data were collected from the study areas for optimization. Multiple regression analysis using computer aided solution SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used to analyse data obtained from the laboratory test, field test and the study areas. The estimated mean uniaxial compressive strength value of NSCE is 240 MPa and that of Ratcon is 200 MPa and their average densities and average porosities are2.63g/cm3,2.55g/cm3, 1.88% and 2.25% respectively. Eleven parameters were input into the multiple regression analysis to generate the models. Two parameters out of eleven input parameters such as geometric volume of blast (Y1) and number of boulders generated after blasting (Y2) were dependent variables and the remaining nine such as X1 (Drill hole diameter), X2 (Drill hole depth), X3 (Spacing), X4 (Burden), X5 (Average charge per hole), X6 (Rock density), X7 (Porosity), X8 (Uniaxial compressive strength) and X9 (Specific charge) were input as independent variables. The results of the models show that out of the nine independent variables seven of them that is X1 (Borehole diameter), X2 (Borehole depth), X3 (Spacing), X4 (Burden), X5 (Average charge per hole), X8 (Uniaxial compressive strength) and X9 (Specific charge) have significant contribution to the models while X6 (Rock Density) and X7 (Porosity) have insignificant contribution they are therefore automatically deleted by the SPSS. The result of the models developed for the optimization reveals that blasting number 5 gives the required product at lowest possible cost. From the result, the cost of secondary blasting has been reduced and volume of the blasted rock has been increased with low cost of explosives, the parameters that give this result have been chosen as optimum parameters.


The performance of hybrid solid desiccant–vapor compression air conditioning system is studied for the typical hot and humid climatic zone of North India (Roorkee). The system consists of a rotary desiccant dehumidifier coupled with heat recovery wheel and a conventional vapor compression air conditioning system. A FORTRAN program was developed to calculate different psychrometric properties like humidity ratio, dry-bulb temperature, wet-bulb temperature, relative humidity, specific heat, etc. at each state point of the system on the basis of ambient and desired inside room conditions, room cooling load, sensible heat factor, and required air flow rate. The overall system performance has been evaluated in terms of the coefficient of performance and the dehumidifier effectiveness. The influence of variation in ambient conditions on regeneration temperature of desiccants has also been discussed. The simulated results are validated using experimental measurements. The present system has ensured a reduction of 79.15% in processing air humidity ratio at an outlet of the desiccant dehumidifier as compared to the outdoor humidity ratio. The results show that the performance of the system is significantly affected by the variations in ambient temperature and humidity ratio. Practical application : The proposed model of solid desiccant–VCR hybrid air conditioning system minimizes the energy usage in comfort cooling applications such as auditoriums, supermarket, hospitals, central library, offices, and lecture halls in hot and humid climate while maintaining an acceptable thermal comfort level and improving the performance. The proposed approach will give valuable insights to the researchers and building engineers to analyze the impacts of ambient conditions on the energy requirements and performance of solid desiccant cooling to ameliorate comfort, energy, and cost savings. Moreover, its potential contribution in environmental protection makes it more attractive at a time where depletion of energy resources and environmental degradation are of major concerns.


The United States government-backed by the overwhelming support of the American public-takes a hard line against international terrorism. The tenets of official U.S. counterterrorist policy are: make no concessions or deals with terrorists; bring them to justice for their crimes; isolate and apply pressure on states that sponsor terrorism; and bolster the counterterrorist capabilities of countries willing to work with the United States. While these tenets are sound principles, their application, specifically overseas, raises difficult questions. Does the ""no deal"" policy actually deter terrorists acts? Are there cases where agreements might reduce terrorism, while advancing other U.S. interests? Do isolation and pressure really force offending states to alter their support for terrorists? What factors affect the willingness, not just the capability, of foreign governments to help the United States in counterterrorism? In this critical study, a career CIA officer provides a guide to constructing and executing counterterrorist policy, urging that it be formulated as an integral part of broader U.S. foreign policy. In the first four chapters, Paul R. Pillar identifies the necessary elements of counterterrorist policy, he examines why the United States is a prime terrorist target, and he reveals why the counterterrorist policies that seem strongest are not always the most effective. Chapter 5 examines the widely varying nature of terrorist groups and the policy tools most appropriately applied to them. Chapter 6 focuses on states that sponsor terrorism (including Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Cuba), along with those that enable it to occur (particularly Greece and Pakistan). Pillar examines ways in which the American public's perspective toward terrorism can actually constrain counterterrorist policy, and he concludes that terrorism cannot be ""defeated"" only reduced, attenuated, and to some degree, controlled. The final chapter summarizes his recommendations for amending U.S. policy.


This article considers how the role of social and digital media in combat reflects the multiple forms of stakeholder agency that conditions of mediatisation have created in modern warfare. The 'chaos' apparently threatened by the intrusion of digital media into military operations can be explained in reference to social desires that have been ever present in media history. This article explains how we can understand the current state of military/public media relations in reference to the history of audience research, paying special attention to feminist research.


This study conducted a conceptual replication on Chae et al. (2014) by utilizing multiple comparison groups of IT leading firms. Empirical testing for the positive association between information technology (IT) capability and firm performance has been a celebrated debate in IS research due to mixed findings; Bharadwaj (2000) and Santhanam and Hartono (2003) confirmed the positive impact of IT capability on firm performance, but Chae et al. (2014) suggested no relationship between the IT capability and performance. Understanding what produces contradictory results is a timely and critical issue because a large body of the business value of IS research has employed IT capability as a key construct. Whereas Chae et al. (2014) investigated the link between IT capability and firm performance by comparing the performance of an IT leader and that of a single matched group from 2001-2004, this study examined the relationship by building multiple comparison groups, which include all firms in the same industry. As a result, contrary to findings by Chae et al. (2014), this research indicated that IT capability has a significant impact on a firm's financial performance.


Physical activity assessment is useful for determining both physical and mental health. The measurement of activity has been performed by several techniques such as direct observations, subjective reports, metabolic measurements and portable physical activity monitors. Each type of technique has certain strengths and weaknesses. Recently, studies on portable physical activity monitors have been increasing and presented good assessment results. Upon consideration of the characteristics of the portable monitors such as being unconstrained and long-term monitoring, an indoor portable monitor was designed and developed. It measures three dimensional acceleration and transfers data by Zigbee protocol wirelessly. This system could help to assess daily activity without subject's consciousness.


The equation of state and the crystal structure of the gillespite-structured phase Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 CuSi 4 O 10 have been determined at seventeen pressures, ambient to 6.5 GPa, using powder neutron diffraction. At ~4.45 GPa, a structural phase transition is observed from the low-pressure structure, in space group P 4/ ncc , to a high-pressure structure in space group P 42 1 2. No experimental evidence was found for the presence of weak superlattice reflections with wave vector (2π/3 a , 2π/3 a , 0) that have recently been observed in the high-pressure, single-crystal X-ray diffraction patterns of the isostructural compounds BaCuSi 4 O 10 and BaCrSi 4 O 10 , and it should be noted that the possibility remains that the crystal structure reported here may represent the average of a similar commensurately ordered phase. The isothermal bulk modulus of the low-pressure phase, determined using a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state, is 81.6(8) GPa with an initial pressure derivative of −3.3(3). The bulk modulus of the high-pressure phase was found to be smaller, estimated as 59.4 GPa. The phase transition appears to be driven by the need to relax the strong over-bonding of the alkaline-earth site, but apparently not that associated with the square-planar copper sites, which remain significantly over-bonded in the high-pressure phase. The phase transition equates to the loss of the centres of symmetry in the low-pressure phase, and results in marked differences in the tilting of the symmetry-independent Si 2 O 7 polyhedral groups, and in the aplanarity of the associated bonded CuO 4 square-planar groups. From the limited data that exists on isostructural compounds of gillespite, the low-pressure structure appears to be unstable at volume reductions of 4–6 %, however the structure of the high-pressure phase seems to depend on whether or not the cation in the square-planar site is a Jahn-Teller ion.


I THE RECENT PUBLICATION of a collection of essays by Elizabeth Anscombe on the themes of Human Life, Action and Ethics (1) has reawakened some interest in the question of whether morality can be made sense of independently of belief in a transcendent source of obligation or value. Answering that question is certain to be a complex matter; for the terms in which it is posed are open to a variety of interpretations. There are different definitions of morality, different ways of making sense, different kinds of independence and of transcendence, and different accounts, and different forms, of obligation and of value. In a critical review of the volume, Simon Blackburn cites Anscombe's thesis from her famous essay "Modern Moral Philosophy": the concepts of obligation, and duty--moral obligation and moral duty, that is to say--and of what is morally right and wrong, and of the moral sense of 'ought,' ought to be jettisoned if this is psychologically possible; because they are survivals or derivatives of survivals, from an earlier [divine law] conception of ethics which no longer generally survives, and are generally harmful without it. (2) Blackburn writes of this that "Anscombe's thought was a version of the Dostoevskian claim that if God is dead everything is permitted," (3) and he goes on to reject it as absurd, pointing out that someone may regard an action as immoral who has no commitment to, or even any knowledge of Judaeo-Christian law-based ethics. It is relevant to add, by way of background, that while Anscombe was a committed Roman Catholic, Blackburn is a convinced atheist who regards religion as at best irrelevant to the effort to ground ethics, because of the Euthyphro dilemma, and at worst corrupting of ethics because it substitutes vengeful dogmatism for humane values. As he puts it elsewhere: A just practice would be commanded by a just deity, no doubt, but that throws the question back on to why we suppose our deities are just, and whether that judgement in turn could be more than an expression of our own subjectivity. Indeed, the vengeful and jealous and fearsome monotheistic deity seems very obviously to be exactly that. (4) In arbitrating the philosophical dispute about the character of moral concepts, it is necessary to get clearer about what is involved in the idea of the "moral." Anscombe certainly did not think that one could not judge a course of action to be such as ought not to be followed unless one thought it prohibited by God. Indeed, her positive aim in "Modern Moral Philosophy" was to identify a basis conceptually independent of religious claims, on which wrongness might be established: namely, incompatibility with virtues related to human flourishing. On the other hand, she does hold that the idea of distinctively moral wrongness carries a sense of forbiddenness requiring the presence in the background of a source of prohibition that has to be external to human decisions and human nature, and which is, in that sense, a transcendental source of commands, such as God is taken to be in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic thought. This is not a trivial claim, and Simon Blackburn is not obviously wrong in disputing it, for there is more than one tradition of philosophical theorizing about ethics which tries to ground moral directives, "ought" and "ought not," in facts about reality, or reason, or proper sentiment that are held to be independent of any theological claims. One reply would be to say that these efforts have failed. The most common grounds for maintaining this claim, however, suggest that the failure occurs at the earlier stage of trying to establish objective value--a stage antecedent to any requirement to promote or protect the good, and to counter or avoid the bad. Yet, significantly, Anscombe expended much philosophical energy in defense of ethical objectivity by showing the flaws in efforts to maintain a sharp logical distinction between matters of fact and of value. …


A document describes a method of calibrating phase differences among ground antennas in an array so that the maximum-intensity direction of the far-field interference pattern of the array coincides with the direction for aiming the antennas to enable radio communication with a distant spacecraft. The method pertains to an array typically comprising between two and four 34-m (or similar size) antennas. The antennas are first calibrated pair-wise to maximize the uplink power received at a different spacecraft that is close enough for communication via a single ground antenna. In the calibration procedure, the phase of the signal transmitted by one of the antennas is ramped through a complete cycle, thereby causing the interference pattern to sweep over this closer spacecraft and guaranteeing that, at some point during the sweep, this spacecraft is illuminated at maximum intensity. The varying received uplink power is measured by a receiver in the closer spacecraft and the measurement data are transmitted to a ground station to enable determination of the optimum phase adjustment for the direction to the closer spacecraft. This adjustment is then translated to the look direction of the distant spacecraft, which could not be reached effectively using only one antenna.


Goal: The aim of this paper is to propose the design and implementation of next-generation enterprise analytics platform developed at the Houston Methodist Hospital (HMH) system to meet the market and regulatory needs of the healthcare industry. Methods: For this goal, we developed an integrated clinical informatics environment, i.e., Methodist environment for translational enhancement and outcomes research (METEOR). The framework of METEOR consists of two components: the enterprise data warehouse (EDW) and a software intelligence and analytics (SIA) layer for enabling a wide range of clinical decision support systems that can be used directly by outcomes researchers and clinical investigators to facilitate data access for the purposes of hypothesis testing, cohort identification, data mining, risk prediction, and clinical research training. Results: Data and usability analysis were performed on METEOR components as a preliminary evaluation, which successfully demonstrated that METEOR addresses significant niches in the clinical informatics area, and provides a powerful means for data integration and efficient access in supporting clinical and translational research. Conclusion: METEOR EDW and informatics applications improved outcomes, enabled coordinated care, and support health analytics and clinical research at HMH. Significance: The twin pressures of cost containment in the healthcare market and new federal regulations and policies have led to the prioritization of the meaningful use of electronic health records in the United States. EDW and SIA layers on top of EDW are becoming an essential strategic tool to healthcare institutions and integrated delivery networks in order to support evidence-based medicine at the enterprise level.


The relationship between the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), volcanic aerosol, and the carbon cycle has been characterized through analyses of atmospheric CO2, biogeochemical modeling and recently through inverse estimation. However, the studies to date contain weaknesses that make quantitative assessment of the relationship unreliable. Here we present a systematic quantification of the relationship between ENSO, volcanic aerosols and regional net carbon exchange using results from the TransCom Atmospheric CO2Inversion Intercomparison and a simple 2‐step regression method. A modified ENSO index (ENSOτ) is created by estimating the component of ENSO variability that is linearly uncorrelated to aerosol optical depth, and the relationships are estimated by performing correlation analysis with the TransCom 3 tropical terrestrial carbon flux estimates. Flux anomalies from the tropical land regions (Tropical America, Northern Africa, Tropical Asia) show statistically significant correlations with anomalies of ENSOτ, with carbon exchange lagging the ENSOτ by two to six months. Further analysis by season and warm phase/cold phase shows the ENSOτ warm phase explaining >70% of the variability in tropical net carbon exchange. Tropical Asia shows the largest response with positive carbon flux anomalies following two to three months behind the peak of the ENSOτ warm phase. Total tropical land carbon flux anomalies of +0.59 GtC/year result from a typical (one standard deviation) warm ENSOτ event and are consistent with estimates of carbon loss via tropical fire.


The Effect of an Artificially Flattened Fundamental Frequency Contour on Intelligibility in Speakers with Dysarthria Emily Elizabeth Redd Department of Communication Disorders, BYU Master of Science Prosody plays an important role in speech communication. Many individuals with motor speech disorders have decreased prosodic control and thus lower overall intelligibility. Few studies have examined the effect of a flattened prosodic contour on the intelligibility of dysarthric speech, and little is known about the role that listener gender plays in understanding disordered speech. The purpose of this study was to quantify the impact of artificial prosodic manipulation on the intelligibility of dysarthric speech as a function of the extent of fundamental frequency (F0) contour flattening. A further goal was to examine the influence of listener gender on intelligibility. Speech recordings from two speakers (one with mild dysarthria and one with severe dysarthria) were synthetically altered by reducing F0 variability by 50%, 75%, and 100%. Fifty listeners transcribed the sentences and rated the perceived difficulty of the task. Results of the study indicated that a flattened F0 contour led to decreases in the intelligibility of both speakers with dysarthria, both in terms of transcription accuracy and ratings of listener confidence. All altered conditions resulted in poorer intelligibility than the unaltered utterances. For the mild speaker, scores and ratings decreased predictably in proportion to the extent of F0 flattening, whereas for the severe speaker, there was not a steady decrease in intelligibility as the F0 was progressively flattened. The utterances were more intelligible to female than male listeners.


The presence of small-sized plastic particles in marine and freshwater environments is a global problem but their long-term impact on ecosystems and human health is still far from being understood. Nanoplastics (<1000 nm) could pose a real and uncontrolled ecological challenge due to their smaller size and sharp ability to penetrate living organisms at any trophic level. Few studies evaluate the impact of nanoplastics in vivo on the immune system of aquatic organisms, while most of them assessed the impact on indirect markers of immune response such as regulation of gene expression, ROS production or DNA genotoxicity, among others. Moreover, the study of the effects of nanoplastics on aquatic vertebrate species in vivo is still scarce. In this context, we seek to shed light on the underlying effects of polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs) on the immune response in a model fish species (Danio rerio, zebrafish) after an acute exposure, with a combination of in vitro and in vivo experiments. Our results show that PS-NPs (65 nm) are efficiently taken up by zebrafish liver cells, accumulating mainly in lysosomes. Furthermore, the expression of immune genes presents a synergy when cells were simultaneously exposed to PS-NPs, at a low dose and early time point (12 h) and challenged with a viral stimulus (poly(I:C)). Moreover, zebrafish larvae also internalize PS-NPs, accumulating them in the gut and pancreas. However, at concentrations of up to 50 mg l−1 in an acute exposure (48 h), PS-NPs do not interfere with the survival of the larvae after a lethal bacterial challenge (Aeromonas hydrophila). This study addresses the relevant environmental question of whether a living organism exposed to PS-NPs can cope with a real immune threat. We show that, although PS-NPs can induce an immune response, the survival of zebrafish larvae challenged with a bacterial infection after an acute exposure to PS-NP is not decimated with respect to unexposed larvae.


Current strategies for the treatment of HIV infection are based on cocktails of drugs that target the viral reverse transcriptase or protease enzymes. At present, the clinical benefit of this combination therapy for HIV-infected patients is considerable, although it is not clear how long this effect will last taking into account the emergence of multiple drug-resistant viral strains. Addition of new anti-HIV drugs targeting additional steps of the viral replication cycle may increase the potency of inhibition and prevent resistance development. During HIV replication, integration of the viral genome into the cellular chromosome is an essential step catalysed by the viral integrase. Although HIV integrase is an attractive target for antiviral therapy, so far all research efforts have led to the identification of only one series of compounds that selectively inhibit the integration step during HIV replication, namely the diketo acids. In this review we try to address the question why it has proven so difficult to find potent and selective integrase inhibitors. We point to potential pitfalls in defining an inhibitor as an authentic integrase inhibitor, and propose new strategies and technologies for the discovery of authentic HIV integration inhibitors.


This special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, the result of a collaboration with the South Asian Diaspora International Research Network (SADIRN) at Monash University, Australia, engages with Asian Australian writing, a phenomenon that has been staking out a place in the Australian literary landscape since the 1950s and 1960s. It has now burgeoned into an influential area of cultural production, known for its ethnic diversity and stylistic innovativeness and demanding new forms of critical engagement involving transnational and transcultural frameworks. As Wenche Ommundsen and Huang Zhong point out in their article in this issue, the very term "Asian Australian" signals a heterogeneity that rivals that of the dominant Anglo Australian culture; just as white Australian writing displays the lineaments of its complex European heritage, so hybridised works by multicultural writers from mainland China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia can be read in terms of their specific national, ethnic, linguistic and cultural traditions. Nevertheless, this category's primary location within the space of the host or Australian nation has determined its reception and interpretation. Marked by controversial representations of historical and present-day encounters with white Australian culture, debates on alterity, representational inequality, and consciousness of its minority status, Asian Australian writing has become a force field of critical enquiry in its own right (Ommundsen 2012, 2).


Volcanoes are unquestionably one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring features of the physical world. Our paradoxical fascination with them stems from their majestic beauty and powerful, sometimes deadly, destructiveness. Notwithstanding the tremendous advances in volcanology since ancient times, some of the mystery surrounding volcanic eruptions remains today. The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes summarizes our present knowledge of volcanoes; it provides a comprehensive source of information on the causes of volcanic eruptions and both the destructive and beneficial effects. The early chapters focus on the science of volcanism (melting of source rocks, ascent of magma, eruption processes, extraterrestrial volcanism, etc.). Later chapters discuss human interface with volcanoes, including the history of volcanology, geothermal energy resources, interaction with the oceans and atmosphere, health aspects of volcanism, mitigation of volcanic disasters, post-eruption ecology, and the impact of eruptions on organismal biodiversity. * Provides the only comprehensive reference work to cover all aspects of volcanology * Written by nearly 100 world experts in volcanology * Explores an integrated transition from the physical process of eruptions through hazards and risk, to the social face of volcanism, with an emphasis on how volcanoes have influenced and shaped society * Presents hundreds of color photographs, maps, charts and illustrations making this an aesthetically appealing reference * On-line supplement includes additional multimedia * Glossary of 3,000 key terms with definitions of all key vocabulary items in the field is included