This thesis reports on the nucleic acid-binding properties of a series of dinuclear
polypyridylruthenium(II) complexes of the general form [{Ru(pp)2}2(μ-BL)]4+ {where pp =
2,2′-bipyridine (bpy), 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Me2bpy), 5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine
(5,5′-Me2bpy), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), and 4,7-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Me2phen);
BL = 2,2′-bipyrimidine (bpm), 1,4,5,8,9,12-hexaazatriphenylene (HAT), 1,4,5,12-
tetraazatriphenylene (4,7-phenanthrolino-5,6:5′,6′-pyrazine; ppz), 2,3-bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine
(2,3-dpp), and 2,5-bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine (2,5-dpp)}. These complexes encompass three
general geometries as governed by their bridging ligands – "linear" (bpm), "angular" (HAT,
ppz, 2,3-dpp) and "stepped-parallel" (2,5-dpp) – and incorporate a systematic variation of
terminal ligand hydrophobicity and bulk. The stereoisomers of each complex were isolated by
means of cation-exchange chromatography and characterisation was achieved using 1H NMR
and CD spectroscopy.

Fluorescent Intercalator Displacement (FID) assays were used to survey to relative binding
affinities of this array of complexes to a library of oligonucleotides incorporating a variety of
different duplex, bulge, hairpin loop and quadruplex-forming sequences. Notable trends were
observed with respect to terminal ligand identity (increased hydrophobicity typically correlated
to stronger binding), bridging ligand identity (the "angular" class of complex was usually the
strongest binding), and stereochemistry (the meso diastereoisomer of a given complex typically
demonstrated the greatest affinity). Additionally, the metal complexes generally demonstrated a
heightened affinity for more open oligonucleotide structures such as bulges and loops, as well
as AT-rich duplex sequences.

A small number of discrepancies were noted in the results of the FID assays wherein the
relative order of binding affinity implied by the FID assay contradicted that suggested by other
experiments (NMR, equilibrium dialysis, affinity chromatography). These discrepancies were
rectified by replacing the intercalating dye used in the assay (ethidium bromide) with the minor
groove-binder DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole), the binding mode of which more closely
resembles that of the metal complexes being investigated.

Electronic absorption titration experiments conducted with several of the complexes and
calf thymus DNA confirmed the correlations between ligand identity and stereochemistry seen in the FID (and modified DAPI-displacement) assays. Intrinsic binding constants obtained from
these titrations were within the range of mid-104 to low-105 M-1, consistent with previously
published values for dinuclear complex-calf thymus DNA interactions. Analogous titrations
using yeast tRNA yielded binding constants of a similar magnitude, but in these experiments no
clear relationship was evident between the nature of a given complex and its binding affinity.
One- and two-dimensional NMR experiments were used to probe in greater detail several
of the more notable metal complex-oligonucleotide interactions (as implied by the results of the
FID assays). These experiments confirmed the minor groove-binding nature of this genre of
metal complex and reaffirmed the oligonucleotide selectivities implied by the FID assays.
[{Ru(bpy)2}2(μ-bpm)]4+ and [{Ru(Me2bpy)2}2(μ-bpm)]4+ were found to bind poorly to a duplex
control sequence {d(CCGGAATTCCGG)2} and relatively weakly to the analogous sequence
possessing a single-base bulge {d(CCGAGAATTCCGG)2} and an octadecanucleotide
containing a four-base hairpin loop {d(CACTGGTCTCTACCAGTG)}, all consistent with the
affinities demonstrated by these particular complexes in the FID experiments. Conversely, the
meso diastereoisomers of [{Ru(phen)2}2(μ-HAT)]4+ and [{Ru(Me2phen)2}2(μ-HAT)]4+
confirmed their strong affinities to a six-base hairpin loop sequence {d(CACTGGTCTCTCTACCAGTG)}. Each complex bound strongly to the stem-loop
interface of the icosanucleotide as evidenced by selective broadening of T-methyl and aromatic
resonances corresponding to protons within the loop/stem-loop interface. The extent of
broadening observed in these NMR experiments, coupled with the performance of each
complex in the FID assays, suggests a stronger yet less selective interaction by the Me2phenversion
of the complex. This significant broadening of both the icosanucleotide and metal
complex spectra prohibited a thorough NOESY characterisation of the binding, but the few
NOE signals that were obtained confirmed binding of the complexes at the stem-loop interface
and facilitated the construction of molecular models of each interaction.

NMR experiments were also used to investigate the unexpectedly-favourable association
meso-[{Ru(phen)2}2(μ-ppz)]4+ and the duplex oligonucleotide sequence
d(ATATATATATAT)2. Again, both the metal complex and oligonucleotide spectra exhibited
significant broadening upon interaction, suggesting moderate-to-strong binding. Furthermore,
several resonances corresponding to terminal phenanthroline ligand protons underwent large
upfield shifts. NOESY spectra revealed many strong NOE interactions between the terminal
ligands of the complex and minor groove sugar resonances, assisting the development of a binding model. The high selectivity of meso-[{Ru(phen)2}2(μ-ppz)]4+ for AT-rich regions of
duplex DNA was confirmed using a restriction enzyme inhibition assay wherein the metal
complex was found to interfere with the action of a restriction endonuclease that cuts doublestranded
DNA at the center of a TATA sequence.

The impressive selectivity inherent in many of these oligonucleotide-metal complex
interactions has been exploited in the development of a DNA-based affinity chromatography
technique for the highly efficient separation of different polypyridylruthenium(II) complexes,
as well as the stereoisomers of individual complexes. Separations requiring effective column
lengths in excess of 30 m on a cation-exchange column have been replicated using a column
length of less than 5 cm. This technique has proven useful in qualitatively establishing relative
binding affinities between complexes and a variety of oligonucleotides (duplex and nonduplex),
and was one of the tools used to confirm the validity of the DAPI-modified fluorescent
dye-displacement assay.

These studies demonstrate the utility of this genre of rigid dinuclear metal complexes as
sequence- and structure-selective probes of nucleic acids. Honing and targeting this selectivity
to specific biologically-relevant targets through a rational choice of ligands, functionality and
stereochemistry may potentially yield a new generation of more efficacious diagnostic and
therapeutic agents.


Variational Message Passing (VMP) is an algorithmic implementation of the Variational Bayes (VB) method which applies only in the special case of conjugate exponential family models. We propose an extension to VMP, which we refer to as Non-conjugate Variational Message Passing (NCVMP) which aims to alleviate this restriction while maintaining modularity, allowing choice in how expectations are calculated, and integrating into an existing message-passing framework: Infer.NET. We demonstrate NCVMP on logistic binary and multinomial regression. In the multinomial case we introduce a novel variational bound for the soft-max factor which is tighter than other commonly used bounds whilst maintaining computational tractability.


DHT can locate objects in a peer-to-peer network within an efficient amount of overlay hops. Since an overlay hop is likely to consist of multiple physical hops, the ratio between the number of physical hops induced by the overlay routing process and the number of physical hops on a direct physical path is often significantly lopsided. Recently, some approaches have been suggested to optimize that ratio by building topology-aware peer-to-peer overlays. However, none of them were explicitly designed to handle node mobility. We present an approach that optimizes the overlay versus direct physical path ratio and maintains it even in the presence of node mobility. Thus, it is well suited for highly dynamic networks, such as ad-hoc networks.


A three-dimensional phenomenological model was developed to describe the collective landing of bird flocks. The employed individual based model included the landscape (as an external field) and a continuous internal variable G, to characterize the landing intent of the birds. The birds' interaction with the landscape was coupled adaptively to their landing intent. During the flight, a sharp crossover is observed in the dynamics of the landing intent, i.e. from the initial, non-landing state (small G) to the landing state (large G) that was terminated by the landing of the flock. In the model, the landing process appears to be a highly concerted, collective motion of the birds, in agreement with the field observations.


Low educations achievement is a risk to become socially excluded. What can music education contribute to children's education? There is increasing evidence that children benefit from regular and playful musical stimulations from early in life. Among the beneficial domains are language and communication. A brief review on recent studies is given. Next, some problems related to traditional and static concepts of music and language are discussed. After outlining general theoretical assumptions about music and language, the earliest and simplest way of engaging in music and language is the main focus. Song singing and rhyming are both musical and linguistic. Both are founded on play; singing and rhyming are both playing with the timing of sounds in a generic way that is lacking in ordinary speech. Of central importance is the underlying emotional wellbeing related to these activities. Further studies into the co-evolution of vocal musical and linguistic communication should emphasize related emotional


With the introduction of dental implants to the market, varying restorative options have been successfully added for restoring the function and esthetics of both completely and partially edentulous patients. Accurate prosthodontic rehabilitation is the key factor for providing the long-term success and the survival of osseointegrated implants. Implantsupported restorations can be fabricated with different techniques. The prefabricated abutments provided by the implant companies are accepted as the gold standard because of their biocompatibility and advanced mechanical properties. However, especially for the anterior restorations, they are increasingly being replaced by custom abutments ideally prepared with CAD/CAM techniques; due to disadvantages of prefabricated abutments such as esthetic flaws, mechanical insufficiency resulting from implant placement, unacceptable emergence profile, and unhygienic regions formed under angled abutments. Currently, custom abutments are reported to have functional and esthetic advantages over prefabricated abutments. In this chapter, indications for proper abutment selection, contemporary production techniques, and different abutment materials will be stated, and the current research on the subject will be discussed.


Bayesian formulations of deep learning have been shown to have compelling theoretical properties and offer practical functional benefits, such as improved predictive uncertainty quantification and model selection. The Laplace approximation (LA) is a classic, and arguably the simplest family of approximations for the intractable posteriors of deep neural networks. Yet, despite its simplicity, the LA is not as popular as alternatives like variational Bayes or deep ensembles. This may be due to assumptions that the LA is expensive due to the involved Hessian computation, that it is difficult to implement, or that it yields inferior results. In this work we show that these are misconceptions: we (i) review the range of variants of the LA including versions with minimal cost overhead; (ii) introduce"laplace", an easy-to-use software library for PyTorch offering user-friendly access to all major flavors of the LA; and (iii) demonstrate through extensive experiments that the LA is competitive with more popular alternatives in terms of performance, while excelling in terms of computational cost. We hope that this work will serve as a catalyst to a wider adoption of the LA in practical deep learning, including in domains where Bayesian approaches are not typically considered at the moment.


Psychogenic pain is a kind of pain in which no organic or structural cause is found. The main mechanism proposed for the development of this condition is psychological trauma and suppression of painful emotions. Actually when a person encounters unacceptable and unbearable events, it evokes unpleasant emotions like anger and fear. If the person cannot accept and express these emotions, as a defensive mechanism, the memory of them becomes dissoci- ated from mainstream consciousness and are suppressed in the person's unconscious. They are consolidated in the procedural memory and traumatize the person. Every physical, emotional and somatosensory stimulus that can remind the unconscious memory of the trauma will reacti- vate the pain experience. The most common locations of this pain are head, neck and vertebral column. From a neurophysiologic point of view, subconscious stimuli resulting from traumatisa- tion stimulate the locus cereleus and increase epinephrine release, which evokes the amygdala. The nociceptive area in the central nucleus of amygdala is involved in the production of pain. The most important implication for treatment is that the patient accepts the psychological origin of the pain. Different methods of treatment have been suggested for this condition, like tapping, psychotherapy, hypnosis and goal-directed healthcare. According to the high prevalence of this problem in the healthcare system, there is a need for a more comprehensive model that considers different dimensions in the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.


Efficient product form solution is one of the major attractions of queueing networks for performance modelling purposes. These models rely on a form of interaction between nodes in a network which allows them to be solved in isolation, since they behave as if independent up to normalisation. Markovian process algebras (MPA) extend classical process algebras with information about the duration of actions but retain their compositional structure: a system is modelled as an interaction of components. The advantages of this compositional structure for model construction and model simplification have already been demonstrated. In this paper we exploit results from queueing networks to identify a restricted form of interaction between suitable MPA components which leads to a product form solution. Each component of the model may be solved separately and the compositional structure of an MPA consequently facilitates efficient solution for successively more complex models. This work uses the notion of quasi-reversibility in a Markov process setting to define the type of interaction between MPA components. This leads to a substantial class of MPA definitions that have product-form solutions which is more general than the usual queueing network-based class of Markov processes.


Judicial citation of foreign law worries many people, including justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, politicians, and legal academics. The critics in the United States argue that judges "cherry-pick" foreign citations and use them to import foreign norms that do not accord with the Constitution or the will of the American people. This paper argues, based on insights from organizational theory, that the critics overlook another, much greater, concern: the danger does not come from citing or looking at foreign law, but rather, other types of interaction, such as meetings at judicial organizations, judicial delegations, or judicial conferences. The result of these transnational judicial interactions will be convergence on certain practices of courts, especially in the way courts understand their national roles, the ways they present themselves to their national audiences, and the methods they use to do so. The adoption of these similar practices across national borders is likely to distance the courts from their national audiences and cause courts to lose their national support.


Abstract This article examines the potential for contemporary interactive media art to interrogate and subvert the data mining practices that encode and exploit user data in the big data economy. Specifically the author argues that this can be accomplished through the exacerbation of data mining operations and the provision of tactical disinformation—useless, fake, and alternative information, an amplification of the "noise" (the unsanctioned elements) that highlights the nonneutrality fallibility, and inadequacy of data. The author explores this through a Brechtian methodology and an examination of three of his media installations to show how they estrange us from normalized information systems to highlight their limits.


There is a continuous exacerbation of environmental problems in big cities of today's world, thereby, diminishing the quality of life in them. Of particular concern is the fact that today's megacities are evolving in the developing world without corresponding growth in the economy, infrastructure and other human development indices. As urban population continues to grow in these cities of the Global South, governing institutions are usually unable to keep pace with their social responsibilities, thus, making the issue of urban governance very critical. This is because effective and efficient urban governance is highly essential for the creation, strengthening and sustenance of governing institutions.
Lagos, a mega-city of over 15.45 million people and the most populous metropolitan area on the African continent epitomizes the fundamental grave characteristics of the emerging megacities of the Global South, thereby, constituting an apt choice in understanding the emerging megacities of the next generation. Two out of every three Lagos residents live in slums and de-humanizing physical and social conditions. Many of them sleep, work, eat and cook under highway bridges, at the mercy of weather elements.

This research, therefore, evaluated urban governance through housing administration in Africa's largest megacity. It examines the extent of housing problems in the city, the causal factors and the culpability of government agencies statutorily responsible for the provision, control and management of housing development in Lagos - the tenth largest city in the world. A representative geographic part of the city which manifests classic characteristics of slum life, listed by Mike Davis as the largest slum in Africa and the 6th largest in the world – Ajegunle - was adopted for case study. The research design combined rigorous literature search (desk research) with quantitative and, especially, qualitative approaches to data collection. The qualitative approach was more intensely adopted because government officials often respond to enquiries with 'official answers and data' which may not be reliable and the study had to rely on keen observation of physical traces, social interaction and personal investigation. The cross-sectional research method was adopted. Information was solicited from house-owners, building industry professionals, sociologists and officials of relevant government agencies, through research tools like questionnaires, interviews, focused group discussions and personal observations.

The analysis and discussion of these field data, in conjunction with the information from the desk research gave a better understanding of the status-quo, which informed the recommendations proposed in the dissertation for mitigating the problems. The research discovered that many of the statutory housing agencies have the capacity to effectively discharge their responsibilities. However, it was also shown that corruption and abdication of responsibilities by the staff of these agencies constitute primary causes of the chasm between the anticipated lofty outcome from the laudable building regulations/bye-laws and the appalling reality. It also discovered that lack of political will and apathy on the part of successive Governments of Lagos State to the improvement of housing conditions of the poor masses are major causes of the housing debacle in Lagos.

Several germane and realistic recommendations for redressing the situation were subsequently proffered. These include amongst others, the conduction of an accurate census for Lagos, in conjunction with credible international agencies, as a requisite basis for effective planning of any sort. The process of obtaining legal titles for land should also be made less cumbersome, while the housing administration process should be computerized; in order to reduce inter-personal contacts between applicants and government officials to the barest minimum, as a means of curbing the wide spread corruption in the system.


A simple learning algorithm for Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) is presented together with a number of variations. Unlike other classical algorithms such as the Baum-Welch algorithm, the algorithms described are smooth and can be used on-line (after each example presentation) or in batch mode, with or without the usual Viterbi most likely path approximation. The algorithms have simple expressions that result from using a normalized-exponential representation for the HMM parameters. All the algorithms presented are proved to be exact or approximate gradient optimization algorithms with respect to likelihood, log-likelihood, or cross-entropy functions, and as such are usually convergent. These algorithms can also be casted in the more general EM (Expectation-Maximization) framework where they can be viewed as exact or approximate GEM (Generalized Expectation-Maximization) algorithms. The mathematical properties of the algorithms are derived in the appendix.


Educators are responding to a sense of urgency to meet the changing leadership demands in information technology and data science by developing new academic programs. These programs are focused on continuous, prescriptive learning and an integrated education model between academia and industry. Preparing next-generation technology leaders includes technical competency and business acumen, but does not stop there. Educators must also recognize the ethical implications of the emerging big data era and foster the development of ethical leadership through a framework of competencies that includes emotional and cultural intelligence, adaptive and transformational leadership, and critical thinking.


From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb comes this brilliant account of the post-war superpower arms race, climaxing during the Reagan-Gorbachev decade when the United States and the Soviet Union came within scant hours of nuclear war -- and then nearly agreed to abolish nuclear weapons. In a narrative that reads like a thriller, Rhodes reveals how the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms build-up in the early 1980s led the Soviets to conclude that the U.S. must be preparing for a nuclear war -- only for Reagan, out of deep conviction, to launch the arms-reduction campaign of his second presidential term and set the stage for the famous 1986 summit with Gorbachev in Reykjavik, and the breakthroughs that followed. Drawing on personal interviews with both Soviet and U.S. participants, and on a wealth of new documentation that has become available only in the past ten years, Rhodes recounts what actually happened in the final years of the Cold War. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising -- a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.


There are many examples of transcription factor families whose members control gene expression profiles of diverse cell types. However, the mechanism by which closely related factors occupy distinct regulatory elements and impart lineage specificity is largely undefined. Here we demonstrate on a genome wide scale that the hematopoietic GATA factors GATA-1 and GATA-2 bind overlapping sets of genes, often at distinct sites, as a means to differentially regulate target gene expression and to regulate the balance between proliferation and differentiation. We also reveal that the GATA switch, which entails a chromatin occupancy exchange between GATA2 and GATA1 in the course of differentiation, operates on more than one-third of GATA1 bound genes. The switch is equally likely to lead to transcriptional activation or repression; and in general, GATA1 and GATA2 act oppositely on switch target genes. In addition, we show that genomic regions co-occupied by GATA2 and the ETS factor ETS1 are strongly enriched for regions marked by H3K4me3 and occupied by Pol II. Finally, by comparing GATA1 occupancy in erythroid cells and megakaryocytes, we find that the presence of ETS factor motifs is a major discriminator of megakaryocyte versus red cell specification.


In ATM local area networks, several kinds of traffic, such as data, video and voice, are likely to coexist. Some of this traffic has stringent delay and jitter requirements, which can only be guaranteed to be met through bandwidth reservation. In contrast, other kinds of traffic, like data traffic, are not delay sensitive, but should be loss-free and are highly bursty and unpredictable. If some of the link capacity is reserved for connections having delay constraints, the non-reserved part is available for other connnections. In addition, as the reserved traffic may not be fully utilising the bandwidth it required (especially if peak rate allocation is performed), the unused-reserved bandwidth could also be made available for other connections. We therefore define a service called "best-effort" (or elastic) service, where sources can transmit on a "best effort" basis, consuming as much bandwidth as they can from both the non-reserved and the unused-reserved bandwidth. Such a service, offered in addition to the service with bandwidth reservation, is particularly suited to easily handle bursty data traffic because it does not have to evaluate traffic descriptors. As no bandwidth is allocated, however, a control mechanism is required to prevent losses due to the contention for resources. Every cell lost inside the network would in fact trigger the retransmission of a whole frame, which would result in a very poor throughput. For this reason, we choose to support the best-effort service inside the network with a loss-free congestion control scheme. The scheme should protect the network against misbehaving sources and be simple to implement. In addition, the best-effort service must not affect the reserved traffic, and it should be fair according to a definition of fairness we base on the max-min algorithm. Having reviewed various families of control mechanisms that have been proposed in the literature, and pointed out their limitations, we conclude that a hop-by-hop scheme is more likely to provide the tight control required for highly unpredictable traffic. The various requirements led us to define and study a backpressure mechanism. It uses thresholds to stop traffic coming to an intermediate buffer before losses occur, and to restart it when the congestion is over. Through extensive simulations and analysis, we show that the mechanism successfully prevents losses in the network and may lead to a better utilization of network resources. However, the mechanism proves to be unfair due to its inability to identify and control the sources contributing most to the congestion. We then specify a more sophisticated backpressure scheme able to control the best-effort traffic both selectively, that is on a per-connection basis, and globally, on a per-link basis. The scheme dynamically adapts its thresholds to the number of connections present in the intermediate buffers. In addition, it makes use of a particular queueing policy in the switch buffers, called fair queueing. We validate these choices through simulations and analysis, and show that even under extreme load, our loss-free, best-effort service remains efficient and fair, while generating a very low amount of overhead traffic. In order to implement the scheme in ATM local area networks, a UNI protocol is defined in order to be included in both the terminal and switch adapters. The protocol was submitted by the author to the ITU and included in Recommendations I.150 and I.361. We then show that our mechanism, besides being efficient and conforming to the standard, can also be implemented by making use of a currently available ATM component, the segmentation & reassembly product SARA chipset. Finally, we consider the transport of best-effort traffic over wide area networks as well as public networks and suggest the use of backpressure, associated with dynamic bandwidth allocation schemes.


Results are reported from the first two years of a multi-year study on the distribution of terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Isopoda) in Michigan. During the first year of the study (1997), intensive investigations were carried out using pitfall traps in a small area of Midland, MI. The study was resumed in 2001 with opportunistic collection and hand-sorting of litter samples for terrestrial isopods throughout 30 Michigan counties. As a result of this data collection, the species Haplophthalmus danicus, previously unrecorded in the state, has been located in seven counties, and 83 new county records have been established for eight other terrestrial isopod species in Michigan. In particular, this study adds extensively to distributional knowledge for four species so far: Hyloniscus riparius, Trichoniscus pusillus, Oniscus asellus, and Armadillidium vulgare. Another species, Armadillidium nasatum, previously reported only inside greenhouses in three somewhat southern locations in the state, was found as clearly well-established outdoor populations in two additional counties further north. Habitat/microhabitat information is presented for all species.


The fundamental relationship between accounting variables and firm valuation is a recurring theme in capital market research. This paper investigates this relationship within a balance sheet context and highlights the importance of controlling for relevant economic factors. We do this by conditioning explanatory power on the firm's relative financial leverage position, after controlling for cashflows and firm size, and using an arctan regression model to take account of temporary components in cash and earnings flows. Using data for 743 firm-years for Australian Stock Exchange listed stocks, we find that for firms which are 'above optimal leverage': (i) earnings contain a greater level of transitory items, particularly when firm size is small; and (ii) cashflows provide higher incremental information. Our results are consistent with investors perceiving earnings as progressively less informative as the probability of failure increases, and the likelihood of earnings manipulation for the purpose of reducing proximity to debt covenants increases.


This Article presents the first systematic study of foreign sovereign amicus briefs in the Supreme Court. Based on an analysis of the briefing, oral arguments, and opinions in every Supreme Court merits case involving a foreign sovereign amicus since 1978, this Article argues that foreign sovereigns do and should play an important role in shaping foreign relations law. The Article begins with an empirical investigation of which sovereigns file, the types of cases in which they file, and the nature of the arguments they make. To a surprising extent, the Court cites foreign sovereign briefs, discusses them at argument, and even grants oral argument time to foreign sovereign amici — all despite the widespread perception that the Court is ambivalent or even hostile to foreign and international law. The Article then situates the Supreme Court's treatment of foreign sovereign amici within a larger story about how the Court approaches foreign relations questions. Although scholars have attempted to systematize and explain the deference the Court gives to the U.S. government in foreign relations cases, they have largely ignored the role that foreign sovereign amici play in the very same disputes. Accounting for the role of foreign sovereign amici challenges existing scholarly accounts of how and why the Court defers to the U.S. government on foreign relations issues. The Article argues that the reasons underlying the Court's deference to the U.S. government — the executive's expertise, status as a lawmaker, and exercise of control over relevant policies — often apply to foreign sovereigns as well. This overlap in justifications for deference supports treating foreign sovereign amici similarly to the U.S. government in cases involving "international facts," treaty interpretation, and customary international law. In cases involving foreign law, the justifications for deference suggest that foreign sovereign amici should receive more deference than the U.S. government. In sum, attention to foreign sovereign amici sheds light on executive-to-judicial transnational networks and provides a more nuanced picture of the competing influences on the Court's foreign relations jurisprudence.


Abstract The aim of this exploratory research is to examine the foreign direct investment (FDI) – financial development (FD) nexus and to analyse the strength of relationships among FDI measures. The study employed structural equation modelling (SEM) on selected data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) from 1979 to 2016 to achieve the modest goal of this paper. The study established that FDI inflows are precursors of a vibrant and well-developed financial institution in emerging economies. We also found positive and negative correlations amongst the FDI measures, which suggest they move pari passu in stimulating the FD of an economy. A notable feature of this study is in the employment of SEM empirical strategy to shed light on the FDI-FI nexus. The study concluded that emerging economies must focus on the creation of a congenial investment climate to attract FDI inflows, which pivots robust financial institutions because of their cascading effects on the overall economy.


This multiple case study examined second-career lateral entry middle school science teachers to see what research and educational experiences and understanding of nature of science they bring to their classroom practices. I examined four alternatively certified, second-career middle school science teachers in a large urban southeastern school district. I found in this study that these teachers understanding of nature of science as displayed through their classroom practices was impacted by their scientific research experiences and exposure to direct instruction of nature of science (NOS). This study determined each participants understanding of nature of science through the Views of Nature of Science (VNOS) B Test and found out how they acquired their NOS through a background questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. I observed each classroom to determine if these teachers were implementing NOS classroom practices. This study had mixed results and found that two of the four teachers were more informed about the NOS and demonstrated these practices in their classrooms. This study explains how these teachers acquired their NOS and what practices they demonstrated in their classroom.


In this paper we formulate the problem of inference under incomplete information in very general terms. This includes modelling the process responsible for the incompleteness, which we call the incompleteness process. We allow the process' behaviour to be partly unknown. Then we use Walley's theory of coherent lower previsions, a generalisation of the Bayesian theory to imprecision, to derive the rule to update beliefs under incompleteness that logically follows from our assumptions, and that we call conservative inference rule. This rule has some remarkable properties: it is an abstract rule to update beliefs that can be applied in any situation or domain; it gives us the opportunity to be neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic about the incompleteness process, which is a necessary condition to draw reliable while strong enough conclusions; and it is a coherent rule, in the sense that it cannot lead to inconsistencies. We give examples to show how the new rule can be applied in expert systems, in parametric statistical inference, and in pattern classification, and discuss more generally the view of incompleteness processes defended here as well as some of its consequences.


The enactment of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 represents one of the most significant events in the history of the British Empire. The very name of this historic piece of legislation, with its medieval antecedents, epitomizes a sense of enduring grandeur and dignity. The Statute of Westminster recognized significant advances in the evolution of the self-governing Dominions into fully sovereign states. The term "Dominion" was initially adopted in relation to Canada, but was extended in 1907 to refer to all self-governing colonies of white settlement that had been evolving in the direction of greater autonomy since the middle of the nineteenth century. By the early 1930s, the Dominions included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, and the Irish Free State.


Case-based reasoning (CBR) has a great deal to offer in supporting creative design, particularly processes that rely heavily on previous design experience, such as framing the problem and evaluating design alternatives. However, most existing CBR systems are not living up to their potential. They tend to adapt and reuse old solutions in routine ways, producing robust but uninspired results. Little research effort has been directed towards the kinds of situation assessment, evaluation, and assimilation processes that facilitate the exploration of ideas and the elaboration and redefinition of problems that are crucial to creative design. Also, their typically rigid control structures do not facilitate the kinds of strategic control and opportunism inherent in creative reasoning. In this paper, we describe the types of behavior we would like case-based design systems to support, based on a study of designers working on a mechanical engineering problem. We show how the standard CBR framework should be extended and we describe an architecture we are developing to experiment with these ideas.


Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 2002. 399 pp. $65.00 (c); $29.95 (p).If today conservatives lament the high divorce rate of Americans in 2002, what would they have thought of Jews living in tsarist Russia, who divorced at rates higher than today's American rates? ChaeRan Freeze, assistant professor of Near Eastern Studies at Brandeis University, uncovers these seemingly shocking statistics in her brilliantly researched book, Jewish Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, and shows how Russian Jewish marriage and divorce operated and changed throughout the nineteenth century. Freeze concludes that patterns of Jewish marriage and divorce in Russia counter previous understandings about how marriage, divorce, and the family had changed over time. Most scholars of the family suggest that divorce rates increased during the nineteenth century as modernization, mobility, education, and new expectations about conjugal life changed each partner's, but especially women's, expectations about what to expect from marriage. In theory, people came together for love rather than to please the parents, and the economics of the family changed, making divorce a financial possibility for more people. But Freeze argues that "the Jews showed the contrary tendency with modernization: from astronomically high divorce rates in the early nineteenth century, they demonstrated a striking tendency to reduce, not increase, the divorce rate" (p. 146, emphasis in original). In what might be Freeze's most startling statistic, in 1845, the province of Vilna registered more divorces than marriages, the only time Freeze found such a statistic in her research. Freeze allows that her research sample, which was by definition limited to those locales whose documents were preserved, might not be able to be generalized. But she does her best to provide a cross-section of Russian Jewish society by bringing in material from a variety of places such as Vilna, an urban city in the North, and Korostyshev, a small predominantly hasidic shtetl in the Ukranian south. Unlike their Orthodox Christian neighbors and unlike Jews in other parts of Europe, Russian Jews had no hang-ups about dissolving unions.Much of Freeze's book focuses on the messy details of couples coming together, and more important for Freeze, dissolving their marriages. In the early nineteenth century, Jews married at a young age for a variety of reasons -- procreation in the face of high mortality rates, avoiding the tsarist draft, and the maintenance of parental control over their children. In 1851, the mean age of marriage was 19.5 for women and 23.4 for men, although average marrying age varied depending on geography, class, and degree of urbanization. Freeze also describes what were called "panic marriages," when families married their children off at a very young age to create stability in times of crisis. She shows that those involved in the marriage business often fanned fears of instability to increase the rate of panic marriages and boost businessBut the age of Jewish marriage increased through the second half of the century so that by 1900, the Jewish age of marriage in Vilna was 23.2 for women, 26.3 for men, the highest marrying age of any religious group in the Russian Empire. In her examination of the reasons for the age increase, Freeze brings social, cultural, and political history together. She shows that Jews married at an older age not just because women had a larger voice in negotiating families; not just because the Russian state was taking a greater interest in families; and not just because child mortality rates were dropping, but because of all of these factors. And the complexities of marriage fore-shadowed the even more complicated cultural phenomenon of Jewish divorce, which is central to Freeze's story.For Russia's Jews divorce was a legal, more than a spiritual, issue. The rituals surrounding divorce were as technical and legalistic as the rituals for marriage. …


Whit applied Autonomous Law Area Otonomi, hence every area can develop potency had the area, one of them is pre eminent product. Pre eminent product of vital importance, cause can be made as individuality an area and also able to add earning ( local government income ) and society. On that account, yielded products have to have competitiveness, so that can get big market comapartement. One of the producer of pre eminent product is small industrial secktor which the was him of require to be developed by more serious construction. And expected
relevant institutions partake to share in course of contruction of small industry especially home industry ( industrial home ). In District of Bondowoso, pre eminent product which most typical that is in the form of tape. Effort tape is effort which have gone down of family. Growth of tape industry still need aid of government so that the growth of can continue to go forward, because
also individuality of District of Bondowoso is pre eminent product in the form of tape. Growth of the tape industry push researcher to know more circumstanstial how role of government in this case Disperindag Disctrict of Bondowoso in development of industrial home of tape as pre
eminent product of area
In this research, writer use descriptive research method with analysis qualitative with aim to get picture systematically, factual and accurate regarding facts investigadet. This research is conduted in Disperindag District of Bondowoso as well as industrial home of tape which in Bondowoso. Taken way from subyek research is Disperindag District of Bondowoso consist of 4 people, that is : Head of Disperindag, Head of sexy program development of commerce and industry, Head of construction an planning, and Head of industrial. While for home industrial of
tape taken owner of home industrial of tape from some district which in District of Bondowoso.
To the source of data there is two that is primary data source and data of sekunder which divided at observations, interview, documentation concerning fact which is flange at role on duty industry and commerce of District of Bondowoso in development of industrial home of tape as pre eminent product of area.
From research result which in field, please find that role on duty commerce and industry in development of home industrial of tape divided to become 4 kinds of that is : ad for conducting and tuition of counseling to owner of home industrial of tape pass training of marketing strategy
tuition and management. Second is giving of aid of fasilitasi, that is as fasilitator to borrow capital to bank as well as giving equipments aid. Third do pre eminent product promotion pass pre eminent product exhibition and installation of baliho in roadside, and Fourth is to pass pre eminent product development conducting tape as well as plant of central new of tape industry.
But in isn't the role of Disperindag District of Bondowoso face many constraints, between other :
SDM of Disperindag alone, lack of understanding of entrepreneur of tape concerning role of Disperindag, and limitations of fund.
From entirety of study, finally simply can be concluded that role on duty industry and commerce of District of Bondowoso in development of home industrial of tape as pre eminent product of area have good enough, because owning programs which can assist to develop tape industry which in Bondowoso, so that there be same job form between government as well as owner or entrepreneur oh home industrial of tape.


Author: Christopher Lee Rovik Title: Classification of In-Flight Fatigue Cracks in Aircraft Structures using Acoustic Emission and Neural Networks Institution: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Degree: Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering Year: 1998 The research encompassed within this paper deals with the analysis and classification of fatigue cracks in aircraft structures. The particular structure that was examined was the vertical tail section of a Cessna T-303 Crusader aircraft. The analysis was performed using the nondestructive evaluation technique known as acoustic emission (AE), as well as the artificial intelligence of neural networks. Data were taken in a controlled laboratory environment as well as in a flying testbed aboard the aircraft. The first part of the research involved the analysis of a typical aircraft structure in a controlled laboratory environment. This support structure was fabricated from 7075-T6 aluminum, which is common in aircraft structures. Two different methods were used to fatigue the support, an MTS tensile test machine and a shaker table. Extensive AE data were taken throughout the laboratory tests in order to provide a known reference for the identification of fatigue cracks. The acoustic emission data derived from the laboratory tests were thoroughly examined and sorted into three distinct mechanisms: fatigue cracking, plastic deformation, and mechanical noise. The AE parameters associated with these mechanisms were in turn used to train a neural network. The neural network used was the Kohonen self-organizing map, as it is an excellent choice for the purpose of classification. Once the neural network was trained, it was possible to proceed to the second stage of the research. A support structure, identical to the one used in the laboratory tests, was installed in the vertical tail of the T-303 aircraft. Acoustic emission data were gathered during all aspects of aircraft maneuvers, from the initial taxiing and takeoff to the final approach and landing, including rolls and Dutch rolls. The AE parameters recorded from the in-flight tests were processed using the neural network trained in the first part of the research. Thus, the data were classified as being indicative of fatigue cracking, plastic deformation, or rubbing. These mechanisms were then analyzed with respect to the particular maneuver performed to further understand the stresses associated with different maneuvers. As a result of the ability to classify fatigue cracks, it is possible to develop a monitoring system for aircraft to determine the existence of fatigue cracks before they grow to the point where they become dangerous.


Ridge crest-trench interactions along continental destructive plate margins may result in the development of slab-free windows beneath the continental margin. Slab windows were generated at various locations along the Pacific margin of the Americas and the Antarctic Peninsula during the past 70 m.y. Slab-window formation is temporally and spatially associated with mafic, alkalic volcanism. Lavas erupted above the loci of slab windows are geochemically indistinguishable from some ocean-island, plume-related basalts. However, generation of slab-window basalts from deep-seated mantle plumes requires the fortuitous initiation of plume activity following cessation of subduction. Asthenospheric upwelling and associated decompressional melting following slab-window formation are probably promoted by removal of subducted oceanic lithosphere from beneath the continental margin following the cessation of subduction. Major lithospheric extension is not a prerequisite for alkalic volcanism in this case. The close association of subduction-related volcanism and within-plate alkalic volcanism within the geologic record may also be explained by this mechanism.


Mobile devices are being used in more and more adverse noise environments. This increases the requirements for designing headsets for these devices. Regardless of the limitations for larger battery life some designs use multiple microphones to achieve appropriate noise suppression. Unfortunately the most common approaches for designing the beamformer do not provide good results due to the complex way that the sound generated by the mouth travels around the head to reach the area around the ear, where the headset is usually positioned. In this paper we propose a data driven approach for designing a time invariant beamformer using set of calibration files. The approach is illustrated with the evaluation of a beamformer for binaural headset. As evaluation criteria are used the improvements in output Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and objective evaluation of the perceptual sound quality. The proposed design approach delivers 6.8 dBC improvement in SNR and 0.46 MOS points improvement in sound quality, compared to a single microphone. Index Terms — Sound Capture, Headsets, Microphone Array, Beamforming


The present situation, in which poor nations are becoming richer and rich nations poorer, gives credence to the idea that the former phenomenon is responsible for the latter. The great fear of many in the West is that trade with India, China, or the former Soviet Union will cause a collapse of the welfare state and of society's well-being. "Globalization" has become a loaded term. Should we believe, literally, that trade with poor nations can be blamed for our "impoverishment"? In this book, Daniel Cohen claims that there is practically no foundation for such an alarmist position. We need to reverse the commonly held view that globalization has caused today's insecure labor market. On the contrary, Cohen argues, our own propensity for transforming the nature of work has created a niche for globalization and given it an ominous dimension, causing some to reject it. Pursuing this erroneous line of thought will place the battle for social welfare "on the sidelines" when it should be fought "on the inside." Such errors in analysis must not persist; as Cohen says, the stakes are too high.


The Obama Administration has come under increasing fire for its decisions to settle lawsuits brought by environmental organizations. Industry groups and Republican politicians claim that such settlements, negotiated behind "closed doors," unfairly exclude regulated entities from regulatory decisionmaking that tangibly affects economic interests. Environmental organizations and their political allies made similar complaints during the Administration of George W. Bush, arguing that the federal government at that time settled lawsuits on terms overly favorable to economic interests and without the participation of environmentalists or the public.Objections to environmental settlements are often expressed as process concerns. Opponents of an administration's political direction argue that settlements allow agencies to make policy choices from the shadows while evading, or perhaps even violating, the process established by the Administrative Procedure Act, including the Act's public participation requirement. This Article is the first to objectively assess those concerns, and it reveals that environmental settlements rarely circumvent norms of administrative law, and that when they do so, courts can — and do — intervene.To establish that environmental settlements are consonant with administrative law, this Article develops a novel typology of settlements based on the types of obligations they impose on federal agencies. Settlements can involve agency commitment to resource allocation, procedural obligation, or substantive rule. The Article then considers unique aspects of those categories of commitment and explains why none are generally problematic from the perspective of administrative law. Many decisions made in settlements are of a type excluded from notice-and-comment rulemaking. Others involve preliminary matters that are subject to subsequent judicial challenge once the agency has reached a final decision. And others still involve opportunities for public notice and comment. In the rare circumstance where a settlement violates otherwise-applicable notice-and-comment requirements, courts already possess ample authority to either decline to enter the settlement beforehand or to vacate the settlement afterward. Administrative law demands no more.Environmental settlements have distinct advantages because they provide federal agencies with the opportunity to control litigation risk and overcome bureaucratic inertia. In the absence of a compelling justification for limiting the discretion of agencies to enter into settlements, Congress and the public should allow environmental settlement practices to persist.


In the Netherlands around 4000 – 6700 children with life-limiting diseases could benefit from paediatric palliative care (PPC). However, adequate PPC is often absent due to the lack of continuity and coordination of care and limited expertise among healthcare professionals (HCP). Consequently, many parents feel alone with managing the care for their ill child at home. In response to the shortcomings in PPC, in 2012 the first Dutch paediatric palliative care team was initiated as a three-year pilot project at the Emma Children's Hospital in Amsterdam; the 'Emma Thuis team' (ETt). This transmural multidisciplinary team aims to bridge the gap between home and hospital and is responsible for the quality, continuity and coordination of PPC. We evaluated the value of the ETt with an interpretative qualitative interview study among 42 parents of 24 children with life-limiting diseases and 35 HCPs and an additional cross-sectional study among 71 HCPs. From the lived experience of parents, we identified that parents strived for three aims: controlled symptoms and controlled disease, a life worth living for their child and a family balance. To achieve the three aims, parents performed four groups of tasks: providing basic and complex care, organising good quality care and treatment, making sound decisions while managing risks and organising a good family life. To manage these tasks and their worries, parents used emotion- and problem-oriented coping strategies. Particularly facing up to their child's premature end-of-life and continuously fearing the loss of their child was something parents could not maintain. This led to emotional disruption, interfering with their parenting role. By keeping the end-of-life 'out of mind' and by suppressing their associated emotions, parents were able to live up to their parental role, keep life going and to use the here-and-now to enjoy life with their child(ren). Parents noted that the ETt provided them important support. They felt relieved by their practical support, streamlining of sticky procedures, low-threshold consultation access and family-centered approach. Parents experienced that expertise was always available for questions about major and minor problems and decisions. From the HCPs' perspective, it became clear that once they experienced in practice how the ETt improved PPC and was of meaning to the families, they positively valued the team. The added value, such as more focus on transferring knowledge, on being proactive, on continuity and coordination of care and on increasing expertise in PPC, only became clear to involved HCPs during collaborations with the ETt. Regarding anticipating future care, different thoughts about future care and treatment occurred in parents and HCPs but were not always shared among them. HCPs mainly addressed advance directives and the preferred place of death. Parents addressed a good life for their child and the prevention of suffering. Overall, we conclude that case management, as provided by the ETt, is of added value in PPC. Furthermore, the ETt now has ample room to further enhance the actual content of PPC. This can be done by giving further shape to promising developments in PPC, such as advance care planning.


The Youth Program Quality Assessment (PQA), School-Age Program Quality Assessment and several extensions (STEM, Arts, Academic Climate, Health and Wellness) were designed to assess the quality of learning environments and to identify staff training needs. These are the field-leading quality assessments for out-of-school time organizations, in part because you and many others have found them useful. In the past, these instruments have only been available ? at cost ? from the Weikart Center at the Forum for Youth Investment. We are pleased to share these tools as pdf downloads, subject to the following recommendations and terms.


On 25 May 2009, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) announced that it had conducted a second nuclear test, without providing information of exact time, location, and yield. On that day, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported detecting a magnitude 4.7 seismic tremor in an aseismic region in North Korea (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009hbaf.php; also archived copy at http://geophysics.geo.sunysb.edu/wen/NK/usgs\_north\_korea\_2009\_test.webarchive). The seismic waveform features recorded at the seismic stations around the globe for the event exhibit characteristics of an explosion. However, the exact location of the test remains elusive.

Seismic monitoring of underground nuclear explosions relies on seismic observations recorded by seismometers around the globe. Because seismic observations are influenced by the seismic properties along the paths of the wave propagation from the source to the seismometers, the accuracy of determination of an event location and time depends on the degree of our knowledge of the seismic properties in the interior of the Earth. The challenge in accurately determining the location of North Korea's nuclear tests stems from the fact that, due to the lack of seismic stations and seismicity in the region, the seismic structure is not known in enough detail that its influence can be well calibrated. For example, the horizontal uncertainty of the 2009 event location reported by the USGS is about ±3.8 km (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009hbaf.php).

While our knowledge of the seismic structure in the region is unlikely to improve soon, in this study we demonstrate a strategy that uses the forensic evidence registered by North Korea's 2006 nuclear test to determine the location of the 2009 test in high precision, and we present our determination of the location of the 2009 test.

### Scientific Evidence Registered by the 2006 Test

The possible location of North Korea's 2006 test is identified by satellite images (http://cryptome.org/eyeball/dprk-test/dprktest.htm; also an archived copy at http://geophysics.geo.sunysb.edu/wen/NK/eyeball.webarchive) (Table 1). High-quality …


Purpose: To determine the relationship between color and spectral Doppler features of breast cancers and their biomarkers.
Patients and Methods: From January 2017 to January 2018, 43 patients with breast cancer were enrolled. Age, existence of color flow in the Doppler ultrasound, color flow pattern, tumor size, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) subtypes were recorded.
Results: Among 43 breast cancer patients, IHC profiles showed that 36 patients were estrogen (ER) positive, 30 patients were progesterone (PR) positive, and 12 patients were human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) positive. The prevalence of biomarker groups in this study were as follows: luminal A, 21 patients (48.83%); luminal B, 15 (34.88%); Her 2 amplifier, 2 (4.65%); and triple negative, 5 (11.62%). Thirty-seven patients (86.04%) with malignant masses had detectable flow and six patients (13.95%) had no detectable flow. The ER-positive and PR-positive breast cancers had the highest vascular presence rate in color Doppler ultrasound but it was not statistically significant. Maximum vessel diameter in different biomarker groups and Doppler color patterns with various biomarkers showed no significant differences.
Conclusion: It is not possible to predict breast cancer biomarker groups using available color Doppler features and indexes, so pathology with IHC is still required.


Widespread adoption of Phase Change Memory (PCM) requires solutions to several problems recently addressed in the literature, including limited endurance, increased write latencies, and system-level changes required to exploit non-volatility. One important difference between PCM and DRAM that has received less attention is the increased need for write power management. Writing to a PCM cell requires high current density over hundreds of nanoseconds, and hard limits on the number of simultaneous writes must be enforced to ensure correct operation, limiting write throughput and therefore overall performance. Because several wear reduction schemes only write those bits that need to be written, the amount of power required to write a cache line back to memory under such a system is now variable, which creates opportunity to reduce write power. This paper proposes policies that monitor the bits that have actually been changed over time, as opposed to simply those lines that are dirty. These polices can more effectively allocate power across the system to improve write concurrency. This method for allocating power across the memory subsystem is built on the idea of "power tokens," a transferable, but time-specific, allocation of power. The results show that with a storage overhead of 4.3% in the last-level cache, a power-aware memory system can improve the performance of multiprogrammed workloads by up to 84%.


As the process of ocean acidification alters seawater carbon chemistry, physiological processes such as skeletal accretion are expected to become more difficult for calcifying organisms. The crustose coralline red algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) form an important guild of calcifying primary producers in the temperate Northeast Pacific. The morphology of important ecological traits, namely, skeletal density and thallus thickness near the growing edge, was evaluated in Pseudolithophyllum muricatum (Foslie) Steneck & R.T. Paine, the competitively dominant alga within this guild. P. muricatum shows a morphological response to increased ocean acidification in the temperate Northeast Pacific. Comparing historical (1981–1997) and modern (2012) samples from the field, crust thickness near the growing edge was approximately half as thick in modern samples compared with historical samples, while crust calcite density showed no significant change between the two sample groups. Morphological changes at the growing edge have important consequences for mediating competitive interactions within this guild of algae, and may affect the role of crustose coralline algal beds as hosts to infaunal communities and facilitators of recruitment in many invertebrate and macroalgal species.


Light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) functions as a non-destructive microtome and microscope that uses a plane of light to optically section and view tissues with subcellular resolution. This method is well suited for imaging deep within transparent tissues or within whole organisms, and because tissues are exposed to only a thin plane of light, specimen photobleaching and phototoxicity are minimized compared to wide-field fluorescence, confocal, or multiphoton microscopy. LSFMs produce well-registered serial sections that are suitable for three-dimensional reconstruction of tissue structures. Because of a lack of a commercial LSFM microscope, numerous versions of light sheet microscopes have been constructed by different investigators. This review describes development of the technology, reviews existing devices, provides details of one LSFM device, and shows examples of images and three-dimensional reconstructions of tissues that were produced by LSFM.


The term 'globalisation' is widely used to describe a variety of economic, cultural, social, and political changes that have shaped the world over the past 50-odd years. Because it is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, globalisation has been credited with a wide range of powers and effects. Its proponents claim that it is both 'natural' and an inevitable outcome of technological progress, and creates positive economic and political convergences. Critics argue that globalisation is hegemonic and antagonistic to local and national economies. This article argues that globalisation is a form of capitalist expansion that entails the integration of local and national economies into a global, unregulated market economy. Although economic in its structure, globalisation is equally a political phenomenon, shaped by negotiations and interactions between institutions of transnational capital, nation states, and international institutions. Its main driving forces are institutions of global capitalism – especially transnational corporations – but it also needs the firm hand of states to create enabling environments for it to take root. Globalisation is always accompanied by liberal democracy, which facilitates the establishment of a neo-liberal state and policies that permit globalisation to flourish. The article discusses the relationship between globalisation and development and points out that some of the most common assumptions promoted by its proponents are contradictory to the reality of globalisation; and that globalisation is resisted by more than half of the globe's population because it is not capable of delivering on its promises of economic well being and progress for all.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are being increasingly deployed in various scientific as well as industrial domains to understand the micro-behavior of physical phenomena. WSNs are highly susceptible to post-deployment failures due to their in-situ deployments in harsh environments e.g., volcanoes. The traditional tools and techniques to handle such failures are inadequate because of inherent resource constraints of WSNs. The lack of diagnosis tools for post-deployment failures hinders the more widespread adoption of WSNs.
An execution trace containing events in their order of execution can play a crucial role in postmortem diagnosis of these failures. Obtaining such a trace, however, is challenging due to stringent resource constraints. In this dissertation, we propose an efficient distributed control-flow tracing technique for WSNs based on two key observations. First, WSN executions are highly repetitive, and second, WSNs exhibit restricted communication patterns. Our distributed control-flow tracing combines three novel lightweight techniques: (1) an efficient interprocedural control-flow encoding technique that generates a succinct control-flow trace of all events happening within a node, (2) a generic hybrid trace compression technique that significantly compresses traces, and (3) a space efficient message tracing technique that is amenable to compression. We show our tracing technique's effectiveness through failure case studies and efficiency through measurements and simulations.


Random Matrix Theory: Selected Applications from Statistical Signal Processing and Machine Learning Khalil Elkhalil Random matrix theory is an outstanding mathematical tool that has demonstrated its usefulness in many areas ranging from wireless communication to finance and economics. The main motivation behind its use comes from the fundamental role that random matrices play in modeling unknown and unpredictable physical quantities. In many situations, meaningful metrics expressed as scalar functionals of these random matrices arise naturally. Along this line, the present work consists in leveraging tools from random matrix theory in an attempt to answer fundamental questions related to applications from statistical signal processing and machine learning. In a first part, this thesis addresses the development of analytical tools for the computation of the inverse moments of random Gram matrices with one side correlation. Such a question is mainly driven by applications in signal processing and wireless communications wherein such matrices naturally arise. In particular, we derive closed-form expressions for the inverse moments and show that the obtained results can help approximate several performance metrics of common estimation techniques. Then, we carry out a large dimensional study of discriminant analysis classifiers. Under mild assumptions, we show that the asymptotic classification error approaches a deterministic quantity that depends only on the means and covariances associated with each class as well as the problem dimensions. Such result permits a better understanding of the underlying classifiers, in practical large but finite dimensions, and can be used to optimize the performance. 5 Finally, we revisit kernel ridge regression and study a centered version of it that we call centered kernel ridge regression or CKRR in short. Relying on recent advances on the asymptotic properties of random kernel matrices, we carry out a large dimensional analysis of CKRR under the assumption that both the data dimesion and the training size grow simultaneiusly large at the same rate. We particularly show that both the empirical and prediction risks converge to a limiting risk that relates the performance to the data statistics and the parameters involved. Such a result is important as it permits a better undertanding of kernel ridge regression and allows to efficiently optimize the performance.


Abstract. Joint interpretation of magnetotelluric and geomagnetic depth sounding results in the period range of 10–105 s in the Western European Alps offer new insights into the conductivity structure of the Earth's crust and mantle. This first large scale electromagnetic study in the Alps covers a cross-section from Germany to northern Italy and shows the importance of the alpine mountain chain as an interrupter of continuous conductors. Poor data quality due to the highly crystalline underground is overcome by Remote Reference and Robust Processing techniques and the combination of both electromagnetic methods. 3-D forward modeling reveals on the one hand interrupted dipping crustal conductors with maximum conductances of 4960 S and on the other hand a lithosphere thickening up to 208 km beneath the central Western Alps. Graphite networks arising from Palaeozoic sedimentary deposits are considered to be accountable for the occurrence of high conductivity and the distribution pattern of crustal conductors. The influence of huge sedimentary Molasse basins on the electromagnetic data is suggested to be minor compared with the influence of crustal conductors. Dipping direction (S–SE) and maximum angle (10.1°) of the northern crustal conductor reveal the main thrusting conditions beneath the Helvetic Alps whereas the existence of a crustal conductor in the Brianconnais supports theses about its belonging to the Iberian Peninsula. In conclusion the proposed model arisen from combined 3-D modeling of noise corrected electromagnetic data is able to explain the geophysical influence of various structural features in and around the Western European Alps and serves as a background for further upcoming studies.


The Drosophila gene for cyclin A is expressed in dividing cells throughout development. This expression pattern is similar to those of genes related to DNA replication, suggesting involvement of some common control mechanism(s). In the upstream region (-71 to -64 with respect to the transcription initiation site) of the CycA gene, we found a sequence identical to the DNA replication-related element (DRE; 5'-TATCGATA), which is important for high level expression of replication-related genes such as those encoding DNA polymerase alpha and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Transient expression assays with chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) were carried out to examine the function of the DRE sequence of the CycA gene. Deletion or base substitution mutations resulted in an extensive reduction in CAT expression. Furthermore, monoclonal antibodies against DRE binding factor (DREF) diminished or supershifted the complex of the DREF and DRE-containing fragment. The results indicate that the Drosophila CycA gene is under the control of a DRE/DREF system, as are DNA replication-related genes.


It is 60 years since Karl Wittfogel highlighted a key relationship between political power and the ownership and control of water. Subsequent studies have suggested, commensurately, that exclusion from the ownership of essential resources represents a fundamental form of disenfranchisement – a loss of democratic involvement in societal direction. Several areas of theoretical development have illuminated these issues. Anthropologists have explored the recursive relationship between political arrangements and cosmological belief systems. Narrow legal definitions of property have been challenged through the consideration of more diverse ways of owning and controlling resources. Analyses of material culture have shown how it extends human agency, as well as having agentive capacities itself; and explorations of infrastructures have highlighted their role in composing socio-technical and political relations. Such approaches are readily applied to water and the material culture through which it is controlled and used. Drawing on historical and ethnographic research on water in Australia and the UK, this paper traces changing relationships between cosmological beliefs, infrastructure and political arrangements over time. It suggests that a current trend towards privatised, transnational water ownership potentially opens the door to the emergence of new 'despotic regimes'.


Bold strokes of genius. This is the amazing work of a tormented soul. Vincent van Gogh's story is one of the most ironic in art history. He lived an unhappy and difficult life during which his work received almost no appreciation - finally killing himself by a bullet to the chest, so great was his despair - and is now widely considered one of the most important painters of all time, his works fetching record prices of tens of millions of dollars at auction. This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) represents a rarity in art history: a detailed monograph on his life and art combined with a complete catalogue of his 871 paintings. These volumes also reproduce most of van Gogh's paintings in color.


Abstract. In this study, using the available model simulations from the PMIP3, we study the mean summer (June–September; JJAS) climate and its variability in India during the Last Millennium (CE 850–1849; LM) for which conventional observations are unavailable, with emphasis on the Medieval Warm Period (MWP; CE 1000–1199 as against the CE 950–AD1350 from the proxy-observations) and Little Ice Age (LIA; CE 1550–1749 as against the CE 1500–1850 proxy observations. Out of the eight available models, by validating the corresponding simulated global and Indian mean summer temperatures and mean Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR), and their respective trends, from historical simulations (CMIP5) against the various observed/reanalysed datasets for the 1901–2005 period. From this exercise, we identify seven realistic models. The models simulate higher (lower) mean summer temperatures in India as well as globally during the MWP (LIA) as compared to the corresponding LM statistics, in conformation with several proxy studies. Our Analysis shows a strong negative correlation between the NINO3.4 index and the ISMR and a positive correlation between NINO3.4 and summer temperature over India during the LM, as is observed in the last one-and-half centuries. The magnitude of the simulated ISMR-NINO3.4 index correlations, as seen from the multi-model mean, is found to be higher for the MWP (−0.19; significant at 95 % confidence level) as compared to that for the LIA (−0.09; insignificant). Our analysis also shows that the above (below) LM-mean summer temperatures during the MWP (LIA) are associated with relatively more (less) number of concurrent El Ninos as compared to the La Ninas. Distribution of boreal summer velocity potential at 850 hPa in the central tropical pacific and a zone of anomalous convergence in the central tropical pacific, flanked by two zones of divergence in the equatorial pacific, suggesting a westward shift in Walker circulation as compared to the current day signal. The anomalous divergence centre in the west also extends into the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean, which results in an anomalous convergence zone over India and therefore excess rainfall during the MWP as compared to the LM. The results are qualitative, given the inter-model spread.


We call beliefs reasonable or unreasonable, justified or unjustified. What does this imply about belief? Does this imply that we are responsible for our beliefs and that we should be blamed for our unreasonable convictions? Or does it imply that we are in control of our beliefs and that what we believe is up to us? Reason Without Freedom argues that the major problems of epistemology have their roots in concerns about our control over and responsibility for belief. David Owens focuses on the arguments of Descartes, Locke and Hume - the founders of epistemology - and presents a critical discussion of the current trends in contemporary epistemology. He proposes that the problems we confront today - scepticism, the analysis of knowlege, and debates on epistemic justification - can be tackled only once we have understood the moral psychology of belief. This can be resolved when we realise that our responsibility for beliefs is profoundly different from our rationality and agency, and that memory and testimony can preserve justified belief without preserving the evidence which might be used to justify it. Reason Without Freedom should be of value to those interested in contemporary epistemology, philosophy of mind and action, ethics, and the history of 17th and 18th century.


Abstract The paper examines how cable network HBO has used various depictions of violence and death to market itself as a cultural icon. In light of recent world events, HBO's programming can be seen as a response to a television audience's fears about death becoming more prominent in their daily lives. HBO has taken an initiative, beginning with Six Feet Under--a drama set in and around a California funeral home--to establish itself as a network unafraid of taking chances by airing controversial violent and death-themed programming. The research chronicles how the channel's initial success with controversy led it to further explore death themes in its later dramas: Carnivale--a serial set in a Depression era traveling freak show; Deadwood--a western detailing the birth of a civilization on the outskirts of the 1870s American frontier; and most recently Rome--a historical epic detailing Julius Caesar's rise and fall in the ancient city. The investigation details how every successive series has built upon its predecessors' use of violence, language, sexuality, and death to offer viewers a continuing narrative about life. It can ultimately be argued that HBO's continuing narrative is the equivalent of a public affairs program, facilitating an extended discussion of the nature of death in the modern world. Historical Context of Real and Mediated Death It would seem logical that television would serve as the modern world's foremost source of information with regard to events about which there are few chances to learn firsthand. Schiappa, Gregg, & Hewes (2004) are then correct to theorize that "because we learn about dying only indirectly by experiencing the death of others, it is reasonable to hypothesize that our attitudes about death and dying could be influenced by mass mediated messages" (460). Such was not always the case. Vicki Goldberg (1998) notes that, in eighteenth-century Europe, "death was everyone's intimate acquaintance, constantly on view" (27). A lack of sanitation standards, poor nutrition, famine, and disease, were just some of the causes which combined to make life a temporary condition. Those who could afford to do so died at home. Those whose families could not abandon work long enough to care for them were sent off to hospitals, where poor care and infection finished them off quickly. Afterwards, the deceased would be returned to their families "for washing and laying out, so if you missed the dying, you still saw, and most likely handled, the dead" (Goldberg, 1998, 27). The Christian ideal, then, viewed death as an occasion to be characterized by religious ceremony, and as an occasion that would "bring the spectator closer to God" (Goldberg, 1998, 27). The fear was of dying alone more than it was of death itself. And so, following the requisite funeral procession through the streets of town, mourners paid their last respects in the family (rather than the funeral) parlor. In time, religious and medical changes made dying and death gradually retreat from the public eye. Mediated representations of death, from early photography and on through to modern-day films and television, thus replaced the actual experiences of death earlier society had come to accept. The contrast is striking: whereas President Lincoln's body was transported by railroad to several cities following his 1865 death, by 1963 the nation could attend John F. Kennedy's funeral via television and radio broadcasts (Goldberg, 1998). As modern technologies simultaneously lengthen life expectancy while distancing the living from the dead, modern audiences manifest an increasing fear of death as something to be avoided at any cost (Goldberg, 1998, 32). Such fright becomes strikingly visible in society's need to place a medium between the living and the dead, be it a formal funeral parlor or a television screen. The exact nature of the medium is unimportant as long as it is able to separate death from the survivors. …


Considerable progress in the understanding of thin film flow over surfaces has been achieved thanks to lubrication theory which enables the governing Navier-Stokes equations to be reduced to a more tractable form, namely a coupled set of partial differential equations. These are solved numerically since the flows of interest involve substrates containing heterogeneities in the form of wetting patterns and/or topography.

An efficient and accurate numerical method is described and used to solve two classes of problem: droplet spreading in the presence of wetting and topographic heterogeneities; gravity-driven flow of continuous thin liquid films down an inclined surface containing well defined topographic features. The method developed, employs a Full Approximation Storage (FAS) multigrid algorithm, is fully implicit and has embedded within it an adaptive time-stepping scheme that enables the same to be optimised in a controlled manner subject to a specific error tolerance.

Contact lines are ubiquitous in the context of droplet spreading and the wellknown singularity which occurs there is alleviated by means of a disjoining pressure model. The latter allows prescription of a local equilibrium contact angle and three dimensional numerical simulations reveal how droplets can be forced to either wet or dewet a region containing topography depending on the surface wetting characteristics. The growth of numerical instabilities, in the contact line region, which can lead to the occurrence of non-physical, negative film thicknesses is avoided by using a Positivity Preserving Scheme.

A range of two- and three-dimensional problems is explored featuring the gravity-driven flow of a continuous thin liquid film over a non-porous inclined flat surface containing topography. Important new results include: the quantification of the validity range of the lubrication approximation for step-up and step-down topographies;
description of the "bow wave" triggered by localised topography and an explanation, in terms of the local flow rate, of the accompanying "downstream surge": an assessment of linear superposition as a means of examining free surface
response to topographies. In addition, the potential of local mesh refinement as a means of reducing computational time is highlighted.

Finally, more complex liquids composed of a non-volatile resin dissolved in a solvent and allowed to evaporate are considered. An evaporation model based on the wellmixed
approximation is utilised. Results show that localised topographies produce defects in dried continuous films which persist far downstream of the topography, while with respect to droplet motion, solvent evaporation is found to be responsible for contact line pinning and thus a reduction in spreading.


Performance enhancement of the Surrey 400 keV ion implanter has been successfully implemented by upgrading the ion optics and installing a computerised telemetry system. Ion optics improvements include redesigning the mass analyser system and designing and installing a double electrostatic quadrupole lens. Telemetry enhancements entailed designing and installing an "intelligent" multiplexer system within the high voltage terminal and connecting this system to computers at earth potential using only two (Down- and Up-link) fibre optic lines. This new system solved the problem of frequent failures caused by current discharges. Other telemetry improvements included: upgrading all data acquisition and conversion head units especially those monitoring the critical parameters; standardising the design of voltage-to-frequency (V/F) head units and installing these as boxed modules; and, increasing the number of telemetry channels (from 15 to 22) to monitor the (original 15 plus the seven newly developed) sub-systems within the high voltage terminal. Upgrading of the machine optics and electronics not only remedied several of the shortcomings of the original machine, but also worked to produce an equipment with better operational characteristics. Currently, the implanter is capable of resolving ion species with masses up to 241 amu, which enables selected isotopes from across the periodic table to be ion implanted. Ray tracing simulations show that the machine now has a much-improved beam transport efficiency with a smaller and more symmetric beam spot at the target. Experiments using 100 keV Ar+ showed that the beam spot is 5mm x 3mm as against 35mm x 20mm in the old system. At the same time, the implanter has a reliable telemetry system which efficiently links together all of its sub-systems within the high voltage terminal. Performance measurements showed that there has been a significant improvement in channel accuracies (from 1% to at least 0.3%) as well as an increase in its measurement speed, being at least five times faster. The best indicator of implanter reliability, however, is that since the commissioning of both optics and electronics improvements in 1988, there has been no reported telemetry breakdown. This not only provides substantial savings in machine maintenance and repairs, but, also increased the productivity of the implanter. These improvements in hardware have made the machine more amenable to and worthy of computer control. To ensure tighter control and to enhance the reliability of the implanter, a distributed computer control system for the automatic control of the whole implanter has also been designed. Within this control configuration, three types of applications software have been developed, tested and subsequently implemented to control the Beam Generation and Analysis sub-systems. These Assembly code programmes provide the operator with real-time information which enable him to conduct fault diagnosis, parameter calibration, and, on a day to day basis, perform the setting up and control of the implanter. In the future, the software can be expanded and integrated into the final algorithm needed to implement the closed-loop computer control of the implanter. Full automation will further enhance the implanter's performance and reliability. In summary, major improvements have been made to the 400 kV high current implanter at the University of Surrey. This has greatly enhanced the purity of the beam at the target and the reliability of the machine. As a result, this project serves to enhance the quality of research in the field of ion implantation technology within the Department. It also contributes to ongoing research in the development of implanter telemetry and control systems.


Research data is an essential part of the scholarly record, and management of research data is increasingly seen as an important role for academic libraries. This article presents the results of a survey of directors of the Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER) academic member libraries to discover what types of research data services (RDS) are being offered by European academic research libraries and what services are planned for the future. Overall, the survey found that library directors strongly agree on the importance of RDS. As was found in earlier studies of academic libraries in North America, more European libraries are currently offering or are planning to offer consultative or reference RDS than technical or hands-on RDS. The majority of libraries provide support for training in skills related to RDS for their staff members. Almost all libraries collaborate with other organizations inside their institutions or with outside institutions in order to offer or develop policy related to RDS. We discuss the implications of the current state of RDS in European academic research libraries, and offer directions for future research.


PROBLEM
As national antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes scale-up, it is essential that information is complete, timely and accurate for site monitoring and national planning. The accuracy and completeness of reports independently compiled by ART facilities, however, is often not known.

APPROACH
This study assessed the quality of quarterly aggregate summary data for April to June 2006 compiled and reported by ART facilities ("site report") as compared to the "gold standard" facility summary data compiled independently by the Ministry of Health supervision team ("supervision report"). Completeness and accuracy of key case registration and outcome variables were compared. Data were considered inaccurate if variables from the site reports were missing or differed by more than 5% from the supervision reports. Additionally, we compared the national summaries obtained from the two data sources.

LOCAL SETTING
Monitoring and evaluation of Malawi's national ART programme is based on WHO's recommended tools for ART monitoring. It includes one master card for each ART patient and one patient register at each ART facility. Each quarter, sites complete cumulative cohort analyses and teams from the Ministry of Health conduct supervisory visits to all public sector ART sites to ensure the quality of reported data.

RELEVANT CHANGES
Most sites had complete case registration and outcome data; however many sites did not report accurate data for several critical data fields, including reason for starting, outcome and regimen. The national summary using the site reports resulted in a 12% undercount in the national total number of persons on first-line treatment. Several facility-level characteristics were associated with data quality.

LESSONS LEARNED
While many sites are able to generate complete data summaries, the accuracy of facility reports is not yet adequate for national monitoring. The Ministry of Health and its partners should continue to identify and support interventions such as supportive supervision to build sites' capacity to maintain and compile quality data to ensure that accurate information is available for site monitoring and national planning.


Heterocyclic chemistry comprises at least half of all organic chemistry research worldwide. 1,3,4 Oxadiazole heterocyclic derivatives constitute an important class of heterocyclic compounds. The chemistry of 1,3,4 Oxadiazole heterocyclic derivatives has more than centuries old history. However, the intense search for biologically active substances in 1,3,4 Oxa diazole heterocyclic derivatives began only in the last few cascades. In this present communication, an attempt is made to cover the medicinally active compounds, along with the recent synthesis, which were reported to possess antimicrobial and antifungal activity.


As the largest, oldest, and wealthiest of the original thirteen colonies, Virginia played a central role in the fight for independence and as a state in the new republic. This importance is reflected in the number of Virginians who filled key national leadership positions. Three remarkable Virginians stand out in their service to the new nation: George Washington as commander in chief during the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson as the philosophic voice of the country, and James Madison as the chief architect of the nation's new constitutional system. In The Great Virginia Triumvirate, John Kaminski presents a series of biographical portraits that bring these three men remarkably to life for the modern reader. The passage of time, coupled with the veneration so often surrounding historical figures, has obscured the subtleties and complexities of the founding fathers' characters. To cut through this fog of myth, Kaminski relies on the words of the three Virginians themselves, sharing with us a trio of eloquent, and often candid, voices. (Jefferson once told John Adams that he had not written a history of his times because that history was to be found in his correspondence, where he could be especially direct and honest.) Kaminski also turns to the people who personally knew the three great Virginians--their friends, family, acquaintances, and enemies. Through their public and private writings, as well as the observations of their contemporaries, the subjects' distinctive qualities as individuals can be glimpsed with depth and immediacy. Taken from letters, speeches, diaries, and memoirs, the quotations and vignettes included here shed light on the actual person behind each public image. George Washington offering a bowl of hot tea at night to a guest at Mount Vernon who has a cold; Thomas Jefferson extending condolences to John Adams on the death of his wife, Abigail; and James Madison bequeathing the silver-hilted walking cane, left him by Jefferson, in turn to the third president's grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph--such moments reveal personality and character in a way that no official act ever could. "Much is known to one which is not known to the other," Jefferson wrote, "and no one knows everything." The cumulative effect of many voices, however, can create a portrait of invaluable insight.