Turn and Face the Strange: Science-Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in the Work of David Bowie Victoria Dershem Dr. Greg Engstrom, Elizabeth K. Baker Music Library David Bowie, one of the most recognizable names in the history of modern music, is primarily famous due to his constantly reinvented public image and often flamboyant alter-egos. However, throughout all his distinct stylistic eras, the presence of sciencefiction, fantasy, and horror themes has remained a constant characteristic of his work. It is found on stage and in the studio as a singer and musician, as well as on-screen in his theatrical and television career. This thesis explores how his personal fascination with these genres has influenced his career, through the inclusion of specific references to works of fiction in his writing, as well as more generalized imagery and themes. Interestingly, as Bowie's career has progressed, he has admitted to not only drawing from outside sources, but recycling and revisiting his previous work as well. Overall, due to the unique themes present throughout his career, Bowie can be used as a case study of sorts to illustrate how, rather than creating completely original work, modern writers and performers create from the synthesis of works they are fans of.


AIMS
Progressive vasodegeneration in microvascular beds is the major underlying factor in initiation and progression of diabetic complications. Chemerin shows a strong correlation with various facets of the metabolic syndrome, which is associated with dysregulated angiogenesis. VEGF is shown to have an angiogenic role in certain cardiovascular risk factors, including diabetes. Ankle/brachial index is a known approach for assessing lower-limb peripheral vascular disease. This study aimed to elucidate the correlation of ankle/brachial index as a marker of peripheral blood flow with biomarkers of angiogenesis, plasma chemerin and VEGF, in diabetic peripheral vascular disease.

MATERIALS & METHODS
Ninety age- and sex-matched females were enrolled in the study: 30 were controls, while 60 had Type 2 diabetes, of whom 30 had controlled diabetes (group II) and 30 had diabetes with peripheral vascular disease (group III) diagnosed by an abnormal ankle/brachial index. Plasma levels of chemerin and VEGF were measured.

RESULTS
There was a significant decrease of the ankle/brachial index and significant increase in plasma chemerin and VEGF in diabetic patients with peripheral vascular disease (p < 0.05). A positive correlation was observed between ankle/brachial index, plasma chemerin and VEGF in diabetic patients with peripheral vascular disease. Linear regression analysis revealed that neither chemerin nor VEGF were predictors for ankle/brachial index in diabetic peripheral vascular disease.

CONCLUSION
This study elucidates, for the first time, the rise of plasma levels of chemerin and VEGF, and their positive correlation with ankle/brachial index in diabetic peripheral vascular disease. These findings denote their angiogenic effect of improving the peripheral blood flow in diabetic peripheral vascular disease. Further studies are warranted to examine the exact role of these two biomarkers in diabetic vasculopathy.


ABSTRACT We report on one teachers' efforts to re-design an entire instructional unit as a coherent storyline about forces and motion as a part of a multiyear professional development (PD) project around the NGSS. Designing coherent storylines demands that teachers create opportunities for students to meaningfully engage in science practices in order to develop their knowledge over time. We found that appropriately framing the unit, lesson, and/or activity supported students take on roles as epistemic agents and sensemakers, whereas unclear framing led to more traditional roles for students that resembled didactic science teaching. This suggests that a primary issue for PD is to help teachers look at and plan how they intend to frame lessons/activities as a way for them to promote coherence and epistemic agency.


Biological activity is a dominant force shaping the chemical structure and evolution of the earth surface environment. The presence of an oxygenated atmosphere-hydrosphere surrounding an otherwise highly reducing solid earth is the most striking consequence of the rise of life on earth. Biological evolution and the functioning of ecosystems, in turn, are to a large degree conditioned by geophysical and geological processes. Understanding the interactions between organisms and their abiotic environment, and the resulting coupled evolution of the biosphere and geosphere is a central theme of research in biogeology. Biogeochemists contribute to this understanding by studying the transformations and transport of chemical substrates and products of biological activity in the environment.

Biogeochemical cycles provide a general framework in which geochemists organize their knowledge and interpret their data. The cycle of a given element or substance maps out the rates of transformation in, and transport fluxes between, adjoining environmental reservoirs. The temporal and spatial scales of interest dictate the selection of reservoirs and processes included in the cycle. Typically, the need for a detailed representation of biological process rates and ecosystem structure decreases as the spatial and temporal time scales considered increase.

Much progress has been made in the development of global-scale models of biogeochemical cycles. Although these models are based on fairly simple representations of the biosphere and hydrosphere, they account for the large-scale changes in the composition, redox state and biological productivity of the earth surface environment that have occurred over geological time. Since the Cambrian explosion, mineralized body parts have been secreted in large quantities by biota. Because calcium carbonate, silica and calcium phosphate are the main mineral phases constituting these hard parts, biomineralization plays an important role in the global biogeochemical cycles of carbon, calcium, silicon and phosphorus.

The chapter starts with introducing the basic concepts of …


Translation of most mRNAs is performed in a cap-dependent manner, requiring a protein complex, the cap complex, to regulate the accessibility of the message to the 40S ribosome. The cap complex initiates protein translation by binding to the 5' cap of an mRNA and recruiting ribosomes to begin translation. Compared to animals and yeast, there are significant plant-specific differences in the regulation of cap-dependent mRNA translation, but these are poorly understood. Here, we purified proteins that bind to the 5' cap during the Arabidopsis growth cycle. The protein profile of the cap-binding complexes varies during the various stages of the growth cycle in suspension culture cells. Using Western blotting, the cap complexes of quiescent cells were found to be composed of only three major proteins: eIF4isoE, which is primarily a cytoplasmic protein, and eIF4E and CBP80, which accumulate in the nucleus. However, when cells proliferate, at least 10 major proteins bind directly or indirectly to the 5' cap. Proteomic, Western blotting and immunoprecipitation data establish that the spectrum of RNA helicases in the cap complexes also changes during the growth cycle. Cap complexes from proliferating cultures mainly contain eIF4A, which associates with at least four cap complexes, but eIF4A is replaced by additional helicases in quiescent cells. These findings suggest that the dynamic and selective recruitment of various proteins to mRNA 5' cap complexes could play an important role in the regulation of gene expression.


In the context of precision agriculture, we have developed a machine vision system for a real time precision sprayer. From a monochrome CCD camera located in front of the tractor, the discrimination between crop and weeds is obtained with an image processing based on spatial information using a Gabor filter. This method allows to detect the periodic signals from the non periodic one and it enables to enhance the crop rows whereas weeds have patchy distribution. Thus, weed patches were clearly identified by a blob-coloring method. Finally, we use a pinhole model to transform the weed patch coordinates image in world coordinates in order to activate the right electro-pneumatic valve of the sprayer at the right moment.


Abstract To predict student performance on the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX-USA) Level 1 examination based on academic performance during the first 2 years, stepwise regression analysis of COMLEX-USA Level 1 performance with preadmission grade point averages, Medical College Admission Test scores, and academic performance was performed on the class of 2000 to develop three formulae that were then used to predict performance on COMLEX-USA Level 1 for the class of 2001. Models ranged in accuracy of predicting the pass/fail status from 95.2% (all available data) to 96.8% (first-year grades and admissions data). A predictive model for student performance on COMLEX-USA Level 1 can be developed and has a high degree of accuracy. The model with the most variables available to choose from predicts the most failures.


This article examines the association between accented speech and the formation of friendships and partnerships among immigrants and native-born majority residents in Germany. Drawing on the sixth wave of the German extension of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries, we analyze a neglected aspect of language — pronunciation — and find that speaking with a foreign accent is a more important correlate of the incidence of interethnic partnerships than of interethnic friendships. We argue that beyond its primary function of understandability, accented speech possesses socially communicative power. Accent transmits signals of an individual's foreignness and cultural differences and, thus, becomes an additional marker of social distance. Such signals serve as a greater obstacle to more consequential intimate interethnic relations such as partnerships. Our findings extend the scholarly debate on the role of symbolic boundaries in social interactions between ethnic groups by yet another important boundary maker — accent.


Prediction of pothole characteristics is a challenging task, confronting production geologists at the platinum mines of the Bushveld Complex. The frequency, distribution, size, shape, severity and relationship (FDS3R) of potholes has a huge impact on mine planning and scheduling, and consequently cost. It is with this in mind that this study was initiated. Quantitative analysis of potholes indicates that pothole size (area covered) can be described by two partly overlapping lognormal distributions. These are referred to as Populations A (smaller) and B (larger). The range of observed pothole sizes conforms to a simple double exponential growth model based on Newton's Cooling Curve. A third size range of very large potholes (Population C) that could not be modelled properly within the proposed growth model is interpreted as to represent a very early phase of aggressive regional thermo chemical erosion and potholing. In general, potholes are dominantly quasi circular with only a subordinate tendency of elongation. In the UG2, potholes with elongated forms are more prevalent in the size range between 20 and 500 m diameter. In the Merensky Reef elongated potholes are more common in the size range above 50 m in diameter. Although not distinctly visible, elongation of potholes in both the UG2 and the Merensky Reef show a net north/south orientation. Using shapes of pothole rims and floor areas, documented for the UG2 in the Waterval Shaft area, it is demonstrated that the northern, down-dip edges of potholes have steeper dips than the southern, up-dip edges. Spatial distribution studies using a uniform quadrant method suggest that in both, the UG2 and the Merensky Reef, the potholes are randomly distributed, with a tendency towards clustering. Clustering appears to be more prevalent in the smaller Population A potholes. Bearing all findings in mind, it is found that the model of thermo chemical erosion of the cumulus floor by new influxes of superheated magma best explains the observed data. Partial to complete melting of the cumulate floor occurred in three phases. The first represents the emplacement of hot magma. This magma, due to turbulent flow and high chemical and physical potential, aggressively attacks the existing floor (crystal mush on the magma/floor interface). Regional erosion is manifested by large, often coalescing potholes. During the second phase, when the magma emplacement process ceased and cooling in situ started, two distinct periods of pothole formation ensued. The first is related to rapid cooling along the relatively steep part of the Newton Cooling Curve, when Population B potholes nucleated randomly and grew rapidly with concurrent convective overturn and largely laminar flow condition. The second period of cooling occurred on the shallow-dipping part of the Newton Cooling Curve. Population A pothole growth became more subdued and nucleation appears to have been, at least locally, clustered. The final phase of this proposed 'super magma cycle' was introduced when chromitite crystallization and precipitation terminated pothole formation. This was followed sequentially by pyroxene and plagioclase crystallisation to form the typical cyclic units of the Critical Zone. No suitable proxy could be found for the prediction of pothole density of potholes associated with the UG2 (likely due to limited spatial data coverage), and these are best predicted by extrapolation. The Merensky Reef slope index, in contrast, provides a proxy for pothole density, enabling prediction with reasonable confidence. This predictive model has been verified using underground information. The findings made during the course of this investigation have, when implemented, significant impact. Successful implementation will not only allow enhanced resource and reserve definition, but also better mine planning and scheduling.


Although millennialism has recently been the subject of much scholarly discussion, no research has been done on the millennial expectations of the Grail Movement, which has been influential in Europe. This article describes the beginnings of this millennial group in central Europe before the Second World War and sums up the basics of the Grail Message. After the death of the founder and the restoration of religious freedom in postwar Europe, the Movement overcame disappointment by replacing the emphasis on the imminent millennial kingdom with an emphasis on individual spiritual evolution. The millennial expectations of the Grail Movement, however, are still alive, especially in offshoots. They were reintroduced in a dramatic way in the early 1990s by a Czech, Jan Dvorsky. The rise and the fall of his group, the Imanuelites, are described to show how millennial ideas can be renewed.


This paper takes up the theme of the Ljubljana EST Congress from the perspective of interpreting studies. The basic assumption that the existence of a distinct research community dedicated to the study of interpreting corresponds to an epistemological need is illustrated with regard to related work in psychology and sociology. On the assumption that the research output of interpreting scholars needs a 'market', interpreter education, professional practice, and institutional user contexts are examined as domains for which interpreting studies might matter. With special emphasis on community settings, the potential of interpreting research to shape social practices in relevant institutional contexts is discussed with reference to recent examples. Given the obstacles to interdisciplinary publication and impact, it is suggested that interpreting scholars need to invest also in 'D' (development) rather than 'R' if they wish their findings to matter to those who shape the social practices in which (community-based) interpreting is embedded.


This essay examines the contradictions of Robert Duncan's 1960s political poetry by way of his reading of the legacy of modernism, notably as expounded in The H.D. Book. Drawing on the work of Daniel Tiffany, the essay first argues that here Duncan constructs a kitsch Ezra Pound to restore the true progressive political potential of Pound's poetry. Using a largely Freudian methodology, Duncan finds in "kitsch" Pound a vector that opposes his authoritarian fascism. The essay then examines how Poundian poetics operates in Duncan's poetry written in opposition to the Vietnam War and in support of the Berkeley free speech movement. This work is brought into dialogue with some of the conversations in France following May 1968 and with the slogan "Structures don't take to the streets." In both these sites, the question of the problematic relationship between individual political volition and activism, on the one hand, and a bourgeois conception of subjectivity, consciousness, and will, on the other, emerges as crucial.


On 3 April 2012, the Honourable Member for Kawana, Jarrod Bleijie MP, was sworn in as Attorney-General for Queensland and Minister for Justice. In the period that followed, Queensland's youngest Attorney-General since Sir Samuel Griffith in 1874 has implemented substantial reforms to the criminal law as part of a campaign to 'get tough on crime'. Those reforms have been heavily and almost uniformly criticised by the profession, the judiciary and the academy. This article places the reforms in their historical context to illustrate that together they constitute a great leap backward that unravels centuries of gradual reform calculated to improve the state of human rights in criminal justice.


The latest researches in Automotive field concentrate on increasing the security and safety of the passengers. The automotive companies invest a lot in testing their products before delivery, that is why the cars are very safety from this point of view. Most of the accidents nowadays happen because of the driver, caused by bad visibility, hurry or inattention. In this paper, a system of detecting visibility in foggy environment was developed which gives the driver a feedback on the visibility distance and an advice to adapt the speed at a value at which the car can be stopped in safety conditions if an obstacle appears on the road. The system can be used on the highways and after some measurements a feedback is displayed on the display panels from the highway or sent on driver's smart-phones.


Improving the adaptive capacity of rural producers to climate and weather risks may become an urgent issue in the early stages of political stabilization in Syria. Therefore, this study analyses the agro-ecological, economic and social benefits of – and the institutional challenges to – establishing index-based insurance markets to catalyse rural development in Syria. The paper examines the potential of three index insurance schemes for minimizing risk: (1) a statistical index, (2) an index based on agro-meteorological approach and (3) a remote sensing-based index. It also discusses how index-based insurance markets contribute to rural development in scenarios of increasing climate risks. The study identifies that all three insurance schemes have a very high potential to cope with increasing climate risk. Insurance schemes designed according to these indexes performed very well in terms of covering revenue losses in most of the extreme drought years observed in the country. Farmers purchasing an insurance contract may have better access to credit and find it easier to invest in agricultural production and improve productivity. Because such alternative index-based insurance programmes are low cost, they are more affordable for poor farmers and thus can potentially make an excellent contribution to economic growth in rural areas.


This article investigate the interconnection between marine sea wave generators and power distribution networks. In particular, it assumes that introducing a spatial offset between generators, and considering them as an unique array, it is possible to improve conversion efficiency. The proposed architecture consider an array of Wave Energy Converter (WEC) interfaced with an electronic power converter, able to rectify and manage the output power. In order to demonstrate the behavior former a single WEC mathematical model will be considered, latter it will be extended to the array. In the paper will be analyzed how the output signals from the WECs array are rectified and transmitted to the land station, using a controlled power conversion (Voltage Oriented Control VOC) and will be demonstrated how this configuration allows a greater degree of freedom in order to optimize the yield and efficiency of the generation.


Owen Phillips made outstanding contributions to the understanding of the ocean, notably through the diverse research topics incorporated in his monograph The dynamics of the upper ocean. He also contributed significantly to the understanding of geological processes in books on subsurface flows and reactions in permeable rocks. Owen was born and attended school and university in Sydney, Australia, winning scholarships to Cambridge in 1952 to do his PhD under the supervision of George Batchelor (FRS 1957). In 1957 he moved to the USA to join the faculty of Johns Hopkins University, returning to Cambridge four years later as Assistant Director of Research in the new Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. In 1964 Owen returned to Johns Hopkins, where he stayed until retirement in 1998: first as Professor of Geophysical Mechanics and later as Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, a department that he subsequently chaired.


Chemical and isotopic analyses of various grainsize fractions of lunar soils show the presence of an ' exotic component' in practically all lunar soils. The patterns of enrichments in the grain-size fractions and the Sr-isotopic data show that the regolith evolution displays the combined effects comminution of local rock types and addition of the exotic component. The chemical characteristics of this exotic component as deduced from the chemical and isotopic data in soils from Apollo 11, 12, 15 and 16 uniformly point to compositions similar to the material from Fra Mauro region collected in the Apollo 14 mission. There is a strong correlation between the amount of exotic component in a soil and its distance from the Fra Mauro region. It is suggested that the exotic component represents trace element enriched material from the Imbrium-Procellarum region, which was surficially deposited during Imbrium excavation and re-exposed from under the mare-lavas in subsequent cratering events. Surficial transport processes have distributed these materials widely over the lunar surface. There appears no need to invoke a global radioactive crust on the Moon nor of * hot spots ' distributed over the entire surface of the Moon to explain the ubiquitous presence of this component in lunar regolith, nor is there a compelling reason at present to postulate a global melting process for the generation of highly differentiated materials such as 'kreep' and the exotic component.


Since the original Pitofsky hearings, much has fundamentally changed in the way the firms do businesses. Yet, despite these rapid and fundamental shifts in technology and behavior, we still face many of the same policy challenges as existed twenty years ago (and more). Innovation always yields both costs and benefits, meaning that some firms will face adverse effects as the environment in which they developed their business changes. Unfortunately, some antitrust observers use this reality as an opportunity to advocate for problematic changes in the underlying law.

These comments argue in favor or maintaining and strengthening the existing consumer welfare standard. It is a standard rooted in testable, empirical realities, and is designed to lead to reproducible outcomes that redound to the benefit of consumers. We argue that, to date, no better alternative has been proposed, and that enforcement agencies should tread lightly when considering alterations that would undermine the solid foundations of antitrust law. The unfortunate outcome of many calls to reform would be to return antitrust law to an era of politicized enforcement, lower consumer welfare, and greater uncertainty for firms operating in the economy.


Large-scale two-dimensional (2D) arrays of metallic nanostructures formed by thin-film evaporation over hexagonally close-packed polystyrene spheres are established substrates for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). By using these substrates with an integrated atomic force microscopy (AFM) and inverted Raman spectroscopy system, simultaneous topographical imaging and high-sensitivity chemical mapping can be performed. In this paper, we have used this technique to investigate supported bilayers of long-chain fatty acids and phospholipids deposited by the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) and spin-coating techniques. Nanosphere lithography (NSL) substrates created from 384 and 1002 nm polystyrene spheres and silver (Ag) deposition on glass and sapphire substrates were characterized for SERS in terms of their structure, distribution, and level of enhancement. SERS mappings of rhodamine 6G (R6G) and p-aminothiophenol (p-ATP) monolayers on the 384 nm substrates demonstrate high and uniform enhancement at a micrometer scale. The enhancement was sufficiently high to enable measurement of SERS spectra for arachidic acid (AA) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) layers on sapphire/Ag substrates. The roughness of these substrates (<2 nm) was lower than for glass/Ag (∼5 nm); therefore, simultaneous to SERS it was possible to measure the topography of the samples by AFM and determine the number of layers of AA and DPPC. This study shows the potential of the combined AFM/SERS technique for spectral and topographical characterization of phospholipid bilayers. This may prove to be an interesting approach for further studies with more complex heterogeneous lipid mixtures aiming to measure spatially resolved features such as microdomains.


In this final report of three, I examine Indigenous peoples' dynamic co-constitution with contemporary political economy in its manifestations of neoliberalism, resource extractivism, reordering production and labour relations. Indigenous subjects and spaces are not reducible to the status of capitalism's side-effects, necessitating analytical attention to the co-articulation of colonialism and capitalism in particular, variegated ways. Debates around extractivism, neoliberalism and economic want are hence recent manifestations of 500-year-old disputes over monetary and normative values, resources and livelihoods. Whether as corporations, labourers, welfare recipients, or ambassadors for culturally distinctive forms of livelihoods-exchange, Indigenous peoples occupy complex, relational positions across economic spheres. The paradox of indigeneity's economies is that Indigenous populations have been constituted as Other to homo oeconomicus, yet their embeddedness within the economic flows, labour processes and forms of accumulation that make the modern world belie any separation. The report ends by raising questions about decolonising accounts of indigeneity's economies.


The interviewed 150 ladies from the central provinces of Thailand prefer to wear flat shoes for performing daily activities. A 54% of the interviewed group prefers to apply heel insoles for releasing stress occurred during the day; especially the ladies who are members of an aircrew or a flight attendant. Some insoles or heel inserts are available in the market without clear product instructions or descriptions, only the trained brand ambassadors have introduced and suggested the specific characteristics of their products. Cost of inserts is depended upon the reliability, the brand designers or the materials of the product. Providing product description clearly on the package can help the customers avoid any confusion and eliminate issue about having trouble getting comfortable when they are wearing shoes with inserts. Applying the technical applications proposed in this research can help to select the appropriate insoles with a reasonable price for minimizing foot pain or extending the walking period tolerance of daily activities where the same or favorite shoes still be applied.


The use of plastic and related materials is increasing exponentially due to tremendous growth in population, urbanization and changed life style leads to widespread littering of plastic on the landscape. Disposal of waste plastic is a serious problem globally due to their non-biodegradability and hazardous to human health, since these are not disposed scientifically and thus, create ground and water pollution. If this curse to mankind in the form of waste plastic is used as a boon for mankind by using it as additives in road construction, it will proved to be a best solution over worst road condition. In the present paper techniques has been developed to use plastic waste for construction of bituminous roads and flexible pavements. In general bitumen is used as binder in road construction. Binding properties of this bitumen can be modified by blending it with waste plastic pieces. It can be used for construction purpose. Waste plastic coated road aggregates can improve road strength. This modified bitumen mix and aggregates show better binding property, stability, density and more resistant to water thus increasing durability of roads with increased resistance to wear and tear of road.


Automatic ship detection from optical satellite imagery is a challenging task due to cluttered scenes and variability in ship sizes. This letter proposes a detection algorithm based on saliency segmentation and the local binary pattern (LBP) descriptor combined with ship structure. First, we present a novel saliency segmentation framework with flexible integration of multiple visual cues to extract candidate regions from different sea surfaces. Then, simple shape analysis is adopted to eliminate obviously false targets. Finally, a structure-LBP feature that characterizes the inherent topology structure of ships is applied to discriminate true ship targets. Experimental results on numerous panchromatic satellite images validate that our proposed scheme outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in terms of both detection time and detection accuracy.


In this thesis, the internal DC collection grid for a wind farm is investigated regarding the design, losses and dynamic operation for both normal operating conditions and for different fault conditions. The main advantage for the DC collection grid is the considerably lower weight of the 1 kHz transformers in the DC/DC converters compared to the equivalent 50 Hz transformers. For a wind farm with 48 2.3 MW wind turbines, and a DC/DC converter in each turbine as well as a main DC/DC converter for the whole wind farm, the losses for the DC system are 3 % of the transferred power, which is similar to the losses of a corresponding AC collection grid. For the dynamic control of the wind farm, the DC/DC converters control the power flow in the wind farm and thereby also the voltage levels for the 1.5 kV DC link in the turbine as well as for the 32 kV DC collection bus. For the limited bandwidth resulting from the switching frequency 1 kHz and the maximum voltage deviations of 5 % for the DC voltages, the required capacitances are 152 mF for the DC link in the wind turbine and 16 mF for the DC bus, both giving a stored energy corresponding to 74 ms transferred rated power. In the case of a fault in the connecting main grid, the output power from the wind farm must be decreased. Here, assuming that the excess power is dissipated in each turbine, the detection of the fault as well as the disconnection and the reconnection of the wind farm are investigated. The requirements for the HVDC link to avoid over voltages during a grid fault are stated and it is also shown that the reconnection can be done within 14 ms, which is well within the time specified in existing grid codes. Further, the behavior of the system during internal faults for the DC bus is investigated. Methods for detecting and finding the location of the faults are determined, and it is shown that a faulted part can be disconnected and the non-faulted parts reconnected within 300 ms without using fully rated DC breakers.


It has been argued that a single two-dimensional visualization plot may not be sufficient to capture all of the interesting aspects of complex data sets and, therefore, a hierarchical visualization system is desirable. In this paper, we extend an existing locally linear hierarchical visualization system PhiVis in several directions: 1) We allow for nonlinear projection manifolds. The basic building block is the Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM). 2) We introduce a general formulation of hierarchical probabilistic models consisting of local probabilistic models organized in a hierarchical tree. General training equations are derived, regardless of the position of the model in the tree. 3) Using tools from differential geometry, we derive expressions for local directional curvatures of the projection manifold. Like PhiVis, our system is statistically principled and is built interactively in a top-down fashion using the EM algorithm. It enables the user to interactively highlight those data in the ancestor visualization plots which are captured by a child model. We also incorporate into our system a hierarchical, locally selective representation of magnification factors and directional curvatures of the projection manifolds. Such information is important for further refinement of the hierarchical visualization plot, as well as for controlling the amount of regularization imposed on the local models. We demonstrate the principle of the approach on a toy data set and apply our system to two more complex 12- and 18-dimensional data sets.


This book is about equity in health and health care. It explores why, despite being seen as an important goal, health equity has not made more progress within countries and globally, and what needs to change for there to be greater success in delivering fairness. An international team of eminent experts from primarily the field of health economics describe how equity in health and health care might develop over the next decade. They examine existing and past barriers to promoting equity, citing case examples, and covering issues including access to health services and inequalities between and within countries. The analyses are detailed, but the issues are approached in an accessible fashion, highlighting the factors of common international relevance. This book provides a manifesto for achieving health equity for the future. It will be essential reading for health and social policy makers, and health academics nationally and internationally.


Abstract: Collecting and analyzing semi-quantitative ichnological parameters such as size-diversity index and bioturbation intensity, can increase the resolution of paleoenvironmental analyses. Specialized software, PyCHNO, was designed to ease, improve, and standardize current ichnological data collection techniques. With PyCHNO, ichnological data derived from burrow diameter measurements, trace fossil identification (ichnogenus level), and bioturbation index are collected at a user-defined scale, and size-diversity index is calculated from these measurements. Data collected in PyCHNO, including size-diversity index, maximum burrow diameter, trace fossil diversity, trace fossil taxon abundance, and bioturbation index is easily exported as text files or plotted as PDF logs.


The cells comprising the frontal eye of a 12.5 day amphioxus larva are described based on 3D reconstructions from serial electron micrographs, along with the fibre tracts and more caudal groupings of cells in the nerve cord to which the frontal eye appears to be linked. The frontal eye consists of a pigment cup, two transverse rows of receptor cells, and clusters of neurons whose close association with the medial receptor cells suggests they may function as an integral part of the eye complex. Neurites from both the receptor cells and neurons supply the ventrolateral nerve tracts, which consist mainly of axons arising from sensory cells located at the rostral tip of the larva. A core group of 3—4 rostral fibres on each side innervate two ventral giant cells located just behind the cerebral vesicle in the primary motor centre (PMC). The circuitry suggests these cells may be responsible for triggering the larval startle response. The ventrolateral tracts also include two types of axial dendrite-like fibres: (i) a single unpaired fibre, a forward continuation of the principal dendrite of the left giant cell, which is the main target for synapses from neurons in the frontal eye; and (ii) sets of paired fibres from cells in the tectum, a dorsal cortex-like structure located at the back of the cerebral vesicle through which the dorsal sensory nerves pass in transit to the PMC. Recent behavioural studies show that larvae feed in a hovering posture that maximally shades the frontal eye. They also orient to light in this position. The shape and orientation of the frontal eye suggests it could be responsible for this response. The existence of separate pathways from lateral and medial receptor cells, both directly and indirectly to the PMC, suggests the frontal eye may also be involved in modulating locomotory behaviour during hovering. The visual 'system' described here for amphioxus larvae is more like that of vertebrates than has previously been recognized. Specifically: ( i )the medial nerve cells of the frontal eye appear to form local circuits with relay and integrative functions similar to those of the retina, involving cell types that resemble specific retinal interneurons; and (ii) output is directed to a region at the back of the posterior c.v. that resembles the vertebrate midbrain, and which may be its homologue. This region has a dorsal tectum and, like the midbrain, includes the anterior part of a ventral zone of motoneurons and reticulospinal interneurons. The morphological evidence supports the idea that the 'brain' of amphioxus is sufficiently like that of vertebrates to provide important clues concerning the basic organization and subdivision of the vertebrate brain.


The care of the needy and the sick is delivered by various groups including immediate family, the wider community, religious organisations and the State funded institutions. The Locus of Care provides an historical perspective on welfare detailing who carers were in the past, where care was provided, and how far the boundary between family and state or informal and organised institutions have changed over time. Eleven international contributors provide a wide-ranging examination of themes, such as child care, mental health, and provision for the elderly and question the idea that there has been a recent evolutionary shift from informal provision to institutional care. Chapters on Europe and England use case studies and link evidence from ancient and medieval periods to contemporary problems and the recent past, whilst studies on China and South Africa look to the future of welfare throughout the world. By placing welfare in its historical, social, cultural and demographic contexts, Locus of Care reassesses community and institutional care and the future expectations of welfare provision.


Many maneuvers of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) can be considered within a framework of trajectory following. Though this issue can differ from one application to another, they all share the same problem of finding an optimal path (or signal) to perform the specified task. Finding this optimal trajectory is a challenging issue since it depends on both having an accurate mathematical model of the UAV, and designing the desired trajectory based on this dynamical model. %The former is usually tackled by estimating the nonlinear model with a locally linear model around the desired states, while the latter is mostly relaxed by defining the desired path with a polynomial or spline curves, and then designing a controller to follow it. However, there still remains some ambiguities about the accuracy and performance of the result. In response to these concerns, statistical modeling approaches have proved to be interesting alternatives to classical control and planning approaches for modeling of the intrinsic dynamics of the robot's body when it cannot be well estimated. Furthermore, within the framework of programming by demonstration (PbD), statistical methods have been proposed as means to learn a generic trajectory across sets of demonstration. In this work, we implemented an algorithm based on PbD to estimate both dynamics of the UAV and to infer the underlying maneuver. The main advantage of the proposed algorithm over our previous works lies in the fact that with this modeling approach, the effect of robot's dynamics is taken into account.


In the course of experimental infection of Penaeus monodon wlth yellow-head virus [YHV) for virus isolation and purification, 1 batch of prawns yielded hemolymph fractions dominated by a previously undescribed non-occluded baculovirus rather than YHV. Injection of test shrimp with a semipurified preparation of this virus gave rapid mortality, and examination with the transmission electron microscope revealed a dual infection where cells containing the new virus dominated, but some cells containing YHV could also be seen. The tissues infected by the 2 viruses were similar. However, in contrast to YHV, the new virus was assembled completely in the nucleus and in the absence of occluding protein (polyhedrin). By normal histology, the most characteristic feature of infection was eosinophilic Cowdry A-type inclusions in hypertrophied nuclei with marginated chromatin, especially in epithelial cells of the stomach. These intranuclear inclusions became lightly basophilic in late stages of infection. In the epithelial cells of the gills, ultrastructural pathology included nuclear hypertrophy and cytoplasmic disintegration leading to large voids at lysed cell sites. By negative staining, completely assembled, enveloped virions were ellipsoid to obovate with a distinctive multifibrillar appendage and they measured 276 x 121 nm (excluding the appendage). Enveloped and unenveloped nucleocapsids were significantly different In size, indicating posslble shortening and thickening of the viral core and nucleocapsid during viral assembly. Isolation and punficat~on of the nucleic acid from the new virus yielded double-stranded DNA of approximately 168 lulo base pairs. This DNA did not cross-hybridize with DNA fragments isolated from YHV-infected shrimp or from monodon baculovirus (MBV). The features placed t h ~ s virus in the family Baculoviridae, subfamily Nudibaculovirinae as PmNOBII, but for convenience we have named it informally as Systemic Ectodermal and Mesodermal Baculovirus (SEMBV).


It is clearly established that hypertension is a major factor in the genesis of arterial disease in adult life (Kannel and Dawber, 1974). Severe hypertension in childhood is a relatively uncommon but important disorder, for in at least 80% of cases it is secondary to some underlying, often treatable, condition (Loggie, 1971; Kaufman et al., 1972). Furthermore, it is increasingly being realized that essential hypertension may have its origins in childhood (Londe et al., 1971). The renin angiotensin system plays an important causative or perpetuating role in many forms of hypertension; for this reason a review of its status in children and its relevance to childhood hypertension is appropriate.


There is a great challenge for civil engineering field to contribute in environment prevention by finding out alternatives of cement and natural aggregates. There is a problem of global warming due to cement utilization in concrete, so it is necessary to give sustainable solution to produce concrete containing waste. It is very difficult to produce designated grade of concrete containing different ingredient and water cement ratio including waste to achieve desired fresh and harden properties of concrete as per requirement and specifications. To achieve the desired grade of concrete, a number of trials have to be taken, and then after evaluating the different parameters at long time performance, the concrete can be finalized to use for different purposes. This research work is carried out to solve the problem of time, cost and serviceability in the field of construction. In this research work, artificial neural network introduced to fix proportion of concrete ingredient with 50% waste replacement for M20, M25, M30, M35, M40, M45, M50, M55 and M60 grades of concrete. By using the neural network, mix design of high performance concrete was finalized, and the main basic mechanical properties were predicted at 3 days, 7 days and 28 days. The predicted strength was compared with the actual experimental mix design and concrete cube strength after 3 days, 7 days and 28 days. This experimentally and neural network based mix design can be used practically in field to give cost effective, time saving, feasible and sustainable high performance concrete for different types of structures. Keywords—Artificial neural network, ANN, high performance concrete, rebound hammer, strength prediction.


Health and human rights are closely interrelated and has included in the WHO and UN constitution. India being a member of UN and WHO has incorporated the health and human rights in its constitution. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) being a long-term disease with far-reaching implications like social, financial and human rights related effects on patient, family, society and country. There is no previous data or studies on human rights in patients of CKD in India. Fifty patients of CKD stage 5, undergoing maintenance hemodialysis and 50 who underwent renal transplantation were studied. A questionnaire was given to each of the patient and the answers were recorded as per protocol and data analyzed by SPSS 15 for windows. All patients who underwent renal transplantation were aged 40 years. Fifty-six percent of patients were aware of the term human rights and there was no difference in awareness based on mode of therapy. Majority (87%) were not knowing about human rights violations and whom to approach whenever there is any violation. Only 26% of patients were employed; local committees supported most of those who underwent transplantation whereas majority of those on MHD were spending with family support and savings. Majority of those who underwent transplantation were satisfied with family and society support and were looking for opportunities for work. There is need to increase the awareness regarding human rights and its violations. There is also need to launch a national program to support the patients of CKD for the treatment and rehabilitation to increase the productivity.


A BSTRACT . A seedling population from hybrids between 'Volkamer' lemon ( Citrus volkameriana ) and 'Rubidoux' trifoliate orange ( Poncirus trifoliata ) was grafted with 'Hashimoto' Satsuma mandarin ( Citrus unshiu ) to study the inheritance of rootstock effects on salt tolerance in terms of fruit yield. Trees were maintained in a screenhouse, and a salt treatment (25 m M NaCl) was applied to 32 genotypes from June to September every year for 5 years. Rootstocks were genotyped for five salt tolerance candidate genes. Significant effects of rootstock genotype (G) and treatment (E) were found for most traits. Salinity decreased yield and juice volume but improved soluble solids concentration (TSS) and rind thickness. Year effects were highly significant in most cases. G · E interactions were found for fruit weight, total fruit weight, juice volume (JV), leaf water content (LWC), and leaf [Na D ]. Therefore, rootstocks that induce early fruit maturation under salinity (by increasing TSS and maintaining JV) can be selected to expand the harvesting calendar of mandarin cultivars. Salt tolerance candidate genes SOS1 and NHX1 were associated with fruit yield traits under normal conditions (1.4 dS (cid:2) m L 1 ), and SOS1 and CCC were associated with LWC under salinity conditions (4 dS (cid:2) m L 1 ). Only 5% progeny induced higher accumulated yield than 'Volkamer' lemon under salinity. Given the low heritability of rootstock effects on fruit yield under salinity conditions (0.18 at most), marker-assisted selection might be useful.


A period of intense or prolonged muscle activity can cause a decline in performance, which can range from muscle weakness to muscle damage and soreness. Muscle fatigue can be largely reversible in minutes or hours. It is generally viewed to be the result of insufficient energy and a lack of availability of key metabolites that enable contracting muscles to meet increased energy demand. However, muscle recovery can fail to take effect quickly, and this can be associated with structural changes and damage within the muscle, inducing a cascade of events leading to immediate or delayed soreness. In previous research, SEPIFIT TM Protect, a combination of natural red wine polyphenols, zinc and vitamin E, showed in vitro efficacy with respect to lactate, interleukin-6 and creatine kinase, which are markers of muscle damage and fatigue. We have therefore conducted a pilot clinical study to evaluate the effects of this active complex in healthy men undertaking regular and stable physical activity and who were subjected to a pain induction protocol. The results showed that the consumption of 135 mg of the complex per day for 12 days was effective in reducing creatine kinase release and maintaining muscular power capacity after the pain induction protocol. It also induced a better perception of performance, physical condition and muscle soreness. SEPIFIT TM Protect can thus be considered an interesting complex to contribute to muscle recovery during physical exertion.


The 2001 Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA, 2001) made it an offence for educational institutions in the UK to discriminate against a disabled person by treating him or her less favourably than others for a reason relating to their disability. Learning technologists have therefore been charged with the responsibility of ensuring that electronic teaching materials can be accessed by disabled students, which is requiring them to develop new practices. In an attempt to explore how learning technologists are developing these practices this paper will present a review of the accessibility literature and identify key issues that may influence the "accessibility" practices of learning technologists. These issues are explored and interpreted using Wenger's (1998) Communities of Practice, which focuses on the development of "shared enterprises" and Konur's (2000) Institutional Theory Tool, which focuses on the "games" that educational institutions might play when creating rights for disabled students. This interpretation suggests that educational research will face a challenge of providing a detailed and rich description of the "shared enterprises" that contribute to a developing accessibility practice and an explanation of the political games that may block or hinder this practice.


It is known that type 1 diabetes mellitus (type 1 DM) may be associated with other autoimmune diseases. Recently, a patient with an association of type 1 DM and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) was reported in the medical literature. A 10.5-year-old boy was brought to our clinic with complaints of polydipsia, polyuria and weight loss and was diagnosed as diabetic ketoacidosis due to autoimmune type 1 DM. Insulin therapy was started. Elevated thyroid antibodies associated with diffuse goiter and hypothyroidism led to the diagnosis of autoimmune thyroid disease (ATD), and elevated antiendomysial antibodies and abnormal intestinal biopsy findings led to the diagnosis of celiac disease (CD). L-thyroxine therapy and gluten-free diet were initiated accordingly. At the third-year of follow-up, acute attacks of fever, abdominal pain and chest pain developed. Laboratory investigations, which were normal between the attacks, revealed elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, fibrinogen, white blood cell count and pleural effusion on chest X-ray during the attacks. Molecular analysis for FMF revealed compound heterozygous M694I and V726A. The patient responded well to colchicine therapy started at a dose of 1.5 mg/day. We present the second patient with type 1 DM associated with FMF who also had ATD and CD.


Different drugs of abuse act on different molecular targets and mediate distinct effects on physiology and behavior. All of the classes of addictive substances, however, have a common effect of increasing dopamine release from a group of neurons whose cell bodies are in a region of the midbrain called the ventral tegmental area. This suggests that activation of these neurons may be involved in the mechanisms underlying addiction. Cocaine produces long-term potentiation (LTP)-like increases in excitatory synaptic transmission to midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Saal et al. examined the effects of different classes of addictive drugs with distinct molecular mechanisms, as well as the effects of stress, which can facilitate addiction and elicit relapse, to see if they produced similar changes. The authors measured the ratio of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor-mediated synaptic currents to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor mediated currents as a marker of LTP, using whole-cell recording from dopaminergic neurons in slices of mouse midbrain 24 hours after in vivo drug exposure. Cocaine, amphetamine, morphine, nicotine, and ethanol all increased the AMPA receptor to NMDA receptor excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP) ratio, whereas fluoxetine and carbemazepine, psychoactive drugs that are not addictive, did not. Acute stress, caused by a swim in cold water, elicited an even greater increase in the AMPA receptor to NMDA receptor EPSP ratio than did the drugs of abuse. The effects of stress on potentiation of glutamatergic transmission, but not those of cocaine, were blocked by a glucocorticoid antagonist, indicating that cocaine's effects were not mediated through a stress response. See the Perspective by Kauer. D. Saal, Y. Dong, A. Bonci, R. C. Malenka, Drugs of abuse and stress trigger a common synaptic adaptation in dopamine neurons. Neuron 37, 577-582 (2003). [Online Journal] J. A. Kauer, Addictive drugs and stress trigger a common change at VTA synapses, Neuron 37, 449-450 (2003). [Online Journal]


We provide a polynomial-time, scalable algorithm for equilibrium computation in multi-agent influence games on networks, extending work of Bindel, Kleinberg, and Oren (2015) from the single-agent to the multi-agent setting. In games of influence, agents have limited advertising budget to influence the initial predisposition of nodes in some network towards their products, but the eventual decisions of the nodes are determined by the stationary state of DeGroot opinion dynamics on the network, which takes over after the seeding (Ahmadinejad et al. 2014, 2015). In multi-agent systems, how should agents spend their budgets to seed the network to maximize their utility in anticipation of other advertising agents and the network dynamics? We show that Nash equilibria of this game are pure and (under weak assumptions) unique, and can be computed in polynomial time; we test our model by computing equilibria using mirror descent for the two-agent case on random graphs.


From this slight and solitary woman, what a chorus of voices—bold, sly, anguished, determined—each one spotlighted briefly on the dar kened stage of story or poem. Even during conversation, characters from her memory or art appear and disappear, adding their particular slant to an anecdote, spicing the talk with echoes from the past. It's al most as if Rita Dove, poet and novelist, is at the height of her craft when she is giving voice to the collection of presences that have, subtly or dra matically, shaped her life. The recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, Ms. Dove is cur rently the Commonwealth Professor of English at the University ofVir ginia. In 1987 her collection Thomas and Beulah made her one of the youngest winners ever of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. The book en capsulates the history of the twentieth-century African-American mi gration north by focusing on her grandparents and the family they cre ated in Ohio. In collections like Grace Notes and On the Bus with Rosa


This study highlights the usage of artificial neural networks in assessment of groundwater vulnerability. The network uses the DRIST input parameters (Depth to water level, Recharge, Impact of the vadose zone, Soils and Topography) as inputs and hydrochemistry data (Sulphate and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)) as training data. The results of training and classification using sulphate and TDS were combined using a fuzzy (AND) operator to generate the groundwater vulnerability model. This technique was applied to Witbank Coalfield where acid mine drainage emanating from coal mining operations is a huge concern for surrounding environment and groundwater resources. The generated groundwater vulnerability model of Witbank Coalfield was validated using pH data from 25 groundwater samples. The results show very high negative correlation (0.7182) between the groundwater vulnerability model and pH. This shows that areas with high sulphate and high TDS values correlate with low pH indicative of the presence of possible acid mine drainage pollution. The approach was able to differentiate areas in terms of vulnerability to acid mine drainage which can aid policy and decision makers to make scientifically informed decisions on land use planning. The approach developed in this research need to be applied to other coalfields in order to evaluate its robustness to different hydrogeological and geological conditions.


The chitin is a natural polymer that is extracted commercially from the shells of crustaceans generated as raw material from the fishing industry. Their chemical structure is constituted by residual units of N-acetyl glucosamine linked by b (1 ® 4) and its derivatives can be obtained from alkaline chitosan. The chitin, chitosan and their derivatives present very good perspectives to be used in agriculture. These derivatives are biodegradable and they exhibit fungicides, germicides, nemacides properties and natural defensive mechanisms of the plants. The chlorophosphonic-2-acid (Ethephon®) is a commercial product employed for the early maturation of fruits. The objective of the present work is the synthesis and characterization of chitosan-O-ethyl phosphonate chitosan to obtain a controlled released system with potential plant growth regulation properties. Alkaline chitosan was obtained; and then reacted with the 2-chlorophosphonic acid. The synthesis of new chitosan derivatives and its complete characterization by FT-IR, 13C, 1H and 31P NMR is described and gas chromatographic, the effects on field blueberries are also tested. A chitosan 99 % deacetylated and Mv = 89,000 g/mol is prepared. The O-(ethyl phosphonic) chitosan (QOEP) with a degree of substitution of 58% is obtained


This thesis describes an investigation into the type of car crime often referred to
as 'joyriding'. Stealing a car for the fun of driving can be carried out quite
excessively, and this has led to a number of anecdotal comments that joyriding
may be 'addictive'. This has particularly been the case in Northern Ireland, where
many joyriders have continued in the behaviour despite the threat or experience of
serious paramilitary punishment. However, whilst several studies of car crime
have alluded to the suggestion that some joyriders appear to be addicted to the
behaviour, research conducted to specifically investigate this phenomenon has
been scant. The present study therefore explores this notion further by exploring
joyriding within the context of an addiction model.
Following 10 pilot interviews with a total of 33 young offenders, the main study
consisted of 76 semi-structured interviews conducted with 54 convicted joyriders
(aged between 15-21 years), 12 professionals with care and control of joyriders,
plus 11 non joyriding young offenders; the sample being drawn from both the
Midlands and Northern Ireland. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and a
qualitative thematic analysis was undertaken using QSR NUD *IST software.
The career of the joyrider is presented in terms of how it maps on to the career
pattern of (other) potentially addictive behaviours from initiation through to
cessation of the behaviour. Discussion considers how the activity can be
understood within the context of a deviant subculture, as well as an investigation
of possible dependency to joyriding by some individuals as defined using DSM
IV-type criteria. This analysis is followed by a consideration of how notions of
`addiction', and 'addiction to joyriding', are perceived by the respondents, and
how these notions compare with the 'diagnostic' criteria. Finally, the process of
stopping joyriding is discussed within Prochaska and DiClemente's (1984) stages
of change model, and related intervention strategies are suggested for the
rehabilitation of joyriders at each of the hypothesised stages of change.


2-Dimensional laser forming can currently control bend angle, with reasonably accurate results, in various materials including aerospace alloys. However, this is a different situation for 3-Dimensional laser forming. To advance this process further for realistic forming applications and for straightening and aligning operations in a manufacturing industry it is necessary to consider larger scale controlled 3D laser forming. The work presented in this paper uses a predictive and adaptive approach to control the laser forming of Mild Steel and Aluminium sheet into a desired surface. Key to the control of the process was the development of a predictive model, detailed in the paper, to give scan strategies based on a required geometry and the surface error. The forming rate and distribution of the magnitude of forming across the surface were controlled in the closed loop by the process speed. When the geometry is not formed within one pass, an incremental adaptive approach is used for subsequent passes, utilising the error between the current and desired geometry to give a new scan strategy, thus any unwanted distortion due to material variability can be accounted for and distortion control and removal is possible.


The dense overflows across the Greenland Scotland Ridge are an important contribution to the deep branch of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The dynamics of the overflows has been extensively studied in the last 50 years, and revealed the importance of hydraulic control mechanisms and downstream entrainment for the formation of the later North Atlantic Deep Water. Climate-variability related interannual transport changes, however, have not been observed before long-term measurements by moored instruments set off in the 1990s. Time series of the last decade indicate, that the overflows may react both on dense water reservoir height changes, and NAO-related wind stress changes. Here, the observations of the Denmark Strait and Faroe Bank Channel overflow dynamics and transport are reviewed. Together with the less-well observed smaller overflows between Iceland and Scotland, the total dense water export from the Nordic Seas and its interannual variability is quantified.


Democratic regimes have been linked to terrorism for contending reasons, with some scholars claiming democracy increases terrorism and others claiming it decreases terror. Corroborating evidence has been used for both relationships leading to the following puzzle: why do some democratic regimes seem to foster terrorism while others do not? We offer an explanation based on Tsbelis's veto players theory. Beginning with the assumption that terror groups want to change government policy, we argue that the more veto players present in a political system, the more likely the system is to experience deadlock. Given the inability of societal actors to change policies through nonviolent and institutional participation, these systems will tend to generate more terror events. We also explore different methods for estimating terrorism models. We identify several ways to match the data with the proper statistical estimator and discuss implications for terrorism research. Finally, we use new data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) that was previously unavailable. These data allow us to use different operational definitions of terrorism and to identify homegrown terror events.


Auditory interfaces commonly use synthetic speech for conveying information. In many instances the information being conveyed is hierarchically structured, such as menus. In this paper, we describe the results of one experiment that was designed to investigate the use of multiple synthetic voices for representing hierarchical information. A hierarchy of 27 nodes was created (in which 2 of the nodes were not shown to the participants during the training session). A between subjects design (N-16) was conducted to evaluate the effect of multiple synthetic voices on recall rates. Two different forms of training were provided. Participant's tasks involved identifying the position of nodes in the hierarchy by listening to the synthetic voice. The results suggest that 84.38% of the participants recalled the position of the nodes accurately. The results also indicate that multiple synthetic voices can be used to facilitate navigation hierarchies. Overall, this study suggests that it is possible to use synthetic voices to represent hierarchies.


`Oil Equivalence' is widely used to measure total hydrocarbon activity. Natural gas is converted to oil using a fixed factor, usually based on thermal measurement. In turn, expenditures on oil and gas are divided by such `oil equivalence' volumes to define unit costs, especially of reserve additions. This approach lacks economic content. We show its implicit assumptions and constraints, and develop an alternative aggregation method using index numbers, with an example.


Abstract The atmosphere connects habitats across multiple spatial scales via airborne dispersal of microbial cells, propagules and biomolecules. Atmospheric microorganisms have been implicated in a variety of biochemical and biophysical transformations. Here, we review ecological aspects of airborne microorganisms with respect to their dispersal, activity and contribution to climatic processes. Latest studies utilizing metagenomic approaches demonstrate that airborne microbial communities exhibit pronounced biogeography, driven by a combination of biotic and abiotic factors. We quantify distributions and fluxes of microbial cells between surface habitats and the atmosphere and place special emphasis on long-range pathogen dispersal. Recent advances have established that these processes may be relevant for macroecological outcomes in terrestrial and marine habitats. We evaluate the potential biological transformation of atmospheric volatile organic compounds and other substrates by airborne microorganisms and discuss clouds as hotspots of microbial metabolic activity in the atmosphere. Furthermore, we emphasize the role of microorganisms as ice nucleating particles and their relevance for the water cycle via formation of clouds and precipitation. Finally, potential impacts of anthropogenic forcing on the natural atmospheric microbiota via emission of particulate matter, greenhouse gases and microorganisms are discussed.


After all the high-profile examples of ethical transgressions by top leaders in recent years, why do some leaders continue to make ethical mistakes? New research suggests that there is a pronounced disconnect between what leaders say they would do when faced with an ethical dilemma and what they might actually do. It also suggests that only when leaders begin to use specific strategies aimed directly at addressing certain biases and situational pressures will they be able to avoid ethical problems.


Pseudoachondroplasia is an autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia that results in disproportionately short stature, severe brachydactyly with strikingly lax small joints, malalignments of the lower limbs, and characteristic radiological features. Although named 'false achondroplasia', the entity is a distinct condition, in which affected individuals are born with normal length and have a normal facies, but is often only recognised after the age of 2 years, when the disproportion and waddling gait become evident. We report on an affected South African father and daughter, and highlight their clinical and radiographic features.


Women of the Republic views the American Revolution through women's eyes. Previous histories have rarely recognized that the battle for independence was also a woman's war. The "women of the army" toiled in army hospitals, kitchens, and laundries. Civilian women were spies, fund raisers, innkeepers, suppliers of food and clothing. Recruiters, whether patriot or tory, found men more willing to join the army when their wives and daughters could be counted on to keep the farms in operation and to resist enchroachment from squatters. "I have Don as much to Carrey on the warr as maney that Sett Now at the healm of government," wrote one impoverished woman, and she was right. Women of the Republic is the result of a seven-year search for women's diaries, letters, and legal records. Achieving a remarkable comprehensiveness, it describes women's participation in the war, evaluates changes in their education in the late eighteenth century, describes the novels and histories women read and wrote, and analyzes their status in law and society. The rhetoric of the Revolution, full of insistence on rights and freedom in opposition to dictatorial masters, posed questions about the position of women in marriage as well as in the polity, but few of the implications of this rhetoric were recognized. How much liberty and equality for women? How much pursuit of happiness? How much justice? When American political theory failed to define a program for the participation of women in the public arena, women themselves had to develop an ideology of female patriotism. They promoted the notion that women could guarantee the continuing health of the republic by nurturing public-spirited sons and husbands. This limited ideology of "Republican Motherhood" is a measure of the political and social conservatism of the Revolution. The subsequent history of women in America is the story of women's efforts to accomplish for themselves what the Revolution did not.


This study investigated the effects of an intervention for polydrug-using adolescent mothers. The program included educational, vocational, and parenting classes; social and drug rehab; and day care for their infants while they attended school half-day. The drug-exposed infants were similar to the nonexposed infants on traditional birth measures, although they had inferior Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale scores, including habituation, orientation, abnormal reflexes, general irritability, and regulatory capacity. The drug-exposed infants also spent less time in quiet sleep and more time crying and showing stress behaviors. Both the mothers and the infants in the drug groups demonstrated inferior interactions, and their dopamine and serotonin levels were significantly higher. As early as 3 months (following 3 months of intervention), the drug rehab mothers and their infants looked more like the nondrug group in their interactions; by 6 months, they looked similar on virtually every measure. At 12 months, the infants of drug rehab mothers (versus the drug control group) had superior Early Social Communication Scale scores and Bayley Mental scale scores, as well as significantly greater head circumference and fewer pediatric complications. The drug rehab mothers also improved on several lifestyle variables. They demonstrated a lower incidence of continued drug use and repeat pregnancy, and a greater number continued school, received a high school or general equivalency diploma, or were placed in a job. Thus, a relatively cost-effective high school based intervention had positive effects on both adolescent mothers who had used drugs and their infants.


This thesis gives an introduction to the basic formalism of one-dimensional supersymmetric quantum mechanics. The factorization of a Hamiltonian is used to create a supersymmetric partner Hamiltonian. The connections between the energy spectra and wave functions of these partner Hamiltonians are deduced and examined for the case of broken and unbroken supersymmetry. An extension to hierarchies of Hamiltonians is made and used to describe shape invariant potentials.
The formalism is used to solve some textbook examples like the infinite square well and the harmonic oscillator potential in a new way and to determine the wave functions and energy levels of the hydrogen atom in a nonrelativistic and a relativistic treatment.
A two-dimensional extension of the formalism is introduced and applied to find a way to solve the eigenvalue problem for a matrix Pauli Hamiltonian through its scalar partner Hamiltonians. The two-dimensional formalism is further used to examine a chain of two-dimensional real singular Morse potentials and to determine the wave functions and energy spectra based on the solution of the one-dimensional Morse potential.


One in three university students experiences mental health problems during their study. A similar percentage leaves higher education without obtaining the degree for which they enrolled. Research suggests that both mental health problems and academic underperformance could be caused by students lacking control and purpose while they are adjusting to tertiary education. Currently, universities are not designed to cater to all the personal needs and mental health problems of large numbers of students at the start of their studies. Within the literature aimed at preventing mental health problems among students (e.g., anxiety or depression), digital forms of therapy recently have been suggested as potentially scalable solutions to address these problems. Integrative psychological artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a chatbot, for example, shows great potential as an evidence-based solution. At the same time, within the literature aimed at improving academic performance, the online life-crafting intervention in which students write about values and passions, goals, and goal-attainment plans has shown to improve the academic performance and retention rates of students. Because the life-crafting intervention is delivered through the curriculum and doesn't bear the stigma that is associated with therapy, it can reach larger populations of students. But life-crafting lacks the means for follow-up or the interactiveness that online AI-guided therapy can offer. In this narrative review, we propose to integrate the current literature on chatbot interventions aimed at the mental health of students with research about a life-crafting intervention that uses an inclusive curriculum-wide approach. When a chatbot asks students to prioritize both academic as well as social and health-related goals and provides personalized follow-up coaching, this can prevent -often interrelated- academic and mental health problems. Right on-time delivery, and personalized follow-up questions enhance the effects of both -originally separated- intervention types. Research on this new combination of interventions should use design principles that increase user-friendliness and monitor the technology acceptance of its participants.


The last few years have seen the emergence of many new technologies that can potentially have major impacts on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). One of these technologies is a micro-electromechanical device called smartdust. A smartdust device (or a mote) is typically composed of a processing unit, some memory, and a radio chip, which allows it to communicate wirelessly with other motes within range. These motes can also be augmented with additional sensors – such as those for detecting light, temperature and acceleration – hence enhancing their features and making their application areas virtually limitless. As the smartdust concept is still relatively new, and very little is known about its application in transport domain, conducting research in this area may prove to be very valuable. It is generally perceived that smartdust will become the low-cost, ubiquitous sensor of the future, especially once its size shrinks dramatically to merit its name. Our involvement in several transport-related EU and UK funded projects (ASTRA, 2005; ASK-IT, 2007; EMMA, 2007; Foot-LITE, 2007; MESSAGE, 2007; TRACKSS, 2007) provides us with an opportunity to carry out experiments and to develop demonstrations of smartdust applications in transport systems. We also have a chance to investigate how smartdust can be used in collaboration with other (more traditional) transport sensors for developing better Co-operative Transport Systems (CTS). This paper outlines our experience in these projects and provides an illustration on the important role that the smartdust technology can play in future ITS. We also present encouraging results obtained from our experiments in investigating the feasibility of utilising smartdust in real ITS applications. 1 Research Associate, School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, e-mail: email@example.com 2 Professor, Transport Operations Research Group, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 3 Research Associate, Transport Operations Research Group, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 4 Research Associate, School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, e-mail: email@example.com 5 Lecturer, School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, e-mail: email@example.com


Basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins are a class of transcription factors found throughout eukaryotic organisms. Classification of the complete sets of bHLH proteins in the sequenced genomes of Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa (rice) has defined the diversity of these proteins among flowering plants. However, the evolutionary relationships of different plant bHLH groups and the diversity of bHLH proteins in more ancestral groups of plants are currently unknown. In this study, we use whole-genome sequences from nine species of land plants and algae to define the relationships between these proteins in plants. We show that few (less than 5) bHLH proteins are encoded in the genomes of chlorophytes and red algae. In contrast, many bHLH proteins (100–170) are encoded in the genomes of land plants (embryophytes). Phylogenetic analyses suggest that plant bHLH proteins are monophyletic and constitute 26 subfamilies. Twenty of these subfamilies existed in the common ancestors of extant mosses and vascular plants, whereas six further subfamilies evolved among the vascular plants. In addition to the conserved bHLH domains, most subfamilies are characterized by the presence of highly conserved short amino acid motifs. We conclude that much of the diversity of plant bHLH proteins was established in early land plants, over 440 million years ago.


Continuous-Wave lidars are constantly evolving in order to achieve the best performances with low power and low cost. Frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) lidar is a well-known type of lidar used for solid-target detection and ranging with high spatial resolution. The extension of this lidar technique to the probing of distributed media (aerosols, smoke or exhaust fumes) has recently been proposed by the authors. The main drawback in measuring extended or distributed targets with a conventional FMCW signal is the loss of information that occurs in the retrieved signal, as it suffers a bandpass filtering in the detection process. This implies the practical impossibility of recovering the complete information about the target spatial distribution. A shift of the sub-carrier FM modulating signal to baseband can avoid these effects and the desired information can be satisfactorily retrieved if the emitted signal is adequately chosen to avoid sum-frequency components distortion. A theoretical formulation has been developed and tested by sounding a distributed medium composed of two narrow solid targets, which is analyzed in different configurations by changing the distance among them. The medium is probed with both the classical sub-carrier FM bandpass signal and with the baseband one previously proposed. The experimental results are compared with the corresponding simulations in order to assess them.


This comprehensive, novel and exciting interdisciplinary collection brings together leading international authorities from the history of sport, social history, art history, film history, design history, cultural studies and related fields to explore the ways in which visual culture has shaped, and continues to impact upon, our understanding of sport as an integral element within popular culture. Visual representations of sport have previously been little examined and under-exploited by historians, with little focused and rigorous scrutiny of these vital historical documents. This study seeks to redress this balance by engaging with a wide variety of cultural products, ranging from sports stadia and monuments in the public arena, to paintings, prints, photographs, posters, stamps, design artefacts, films and political cartoons. By examining the contexts of both the production and reception of this historical evidence, and highlighting the multiple meanings and social significance of this body of work, the collection provides original, powerful and stimulating insights into the ways in which visual material assists our knowledge and understanding of sport. This collection will facilitate researchers, publishers and others with an interest in sport to move beyond traditional text-based scholarship and appreciate the powerful imagery of sport in new ways. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.


Book description: This handbook provides a critical review and user's guide to conducting and reporting process tracing studies of decision making. Each chapter covers a specific method that is presented and reviewed by authors who are experts in the method's application to decision research. The book ultimately illustrates and presents a multi-method approach and is essential reading for graduate students and researchers wishing to undertake such studies on decision making.


This short review summarises a range of learning theories that can be applied in medical educational contexts. Teaching and learning activities can be designed and implemented to take principles of learning into account. Also, it is interesting to think about individual differences among learners and to work towards including activities that have variety and interest for all the learners in educational programs.


The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). To examine the operationalization of this framework, we draw upon 121 interviews undertaken with key informants in three FTAs signed with the Caribbean, South Korea and Moldova. We engage with wider debates over external governance and the projection of EU power by showing how operational failings, including a lack of legal and political prioritization of TSD chapters and shortcomings in the implementation of key provisions, have hindered the impact of the FTAs upon labour standards. We also identify significant limitations to the EU's 'common formulation' approach when applied to different trading partner contexts, alongside ambiguities about the underlying purpose of the trade–labour linkage. Reflection about the function and purpose of labour standards provisions in EU trade policy is therefore required.


Rumination is a process of uncontrolled, narrowly focused negative thinking that is often self-referential, and that is a hallmark of depression. Despite its importance, little is known about its cognitive mechanisms. Rumination can be thought of as a specific, constrained form of mind-wandering. Here, we introduce a cognitive model of rumination that we developed on the basis of our existing model of mind-wandering. The rumination model implements the hypothesis that rumination is caused by maladaptive habits of thought. These habits of thought are modeled by adjusting the number of memory chunks and their associative structure, which changes the sequence of memories that are retrieved during mind-wandering, such that during rumination the same set of negative memories is retrieved repeatedly. The implementation of habits of thought was guided by empirical data from an experience sampling study in healthy and depressed participants. On the basis of this empirically derived memory structure, our model naturally predicts the declines in cognitive task performance that are typically observed in depressed patients. This study demonstrates how we can use cognitive models to better understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying rumination and depression.


The most common psychiatric sequelae following trauma include major depressive disorder, somatoform pain disorder, adjustment disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In law, trauma that precipitates PTSD is viewed as a tort, which stems from the root word "torquere" (to twist), as does the word torture. In a sense, plaintiffs do allege torture in personal injury cases. A tort constitutes a civil or private wrong, as opposed to a criminal wrong, and rests on the general principle that every act of a person causing damage to a legally protected interest of another obliges that person, if at fault, to repair the damage (Slovenko, 1973).


The Longer Ending and the Shorter Ending of Mark's Gospel are the ancient Markan readers' responses to Mark's Gospel. This leads us to the question of how the authors of these endings read their Mark's Gospel. These endings reflect the ideologies of their authors. The ideologies are related to the interests of the author or the authorial community (ideological primary group), and are embedded within the text. The Longer and the Shorter Ending were produced within a social context where the matter of apostolic authoritative leadership was a sensitive issue. A potential conflict is found in many contemporary texts from the NT and the extra- canonical texts, especially with regard to the apostolic authority of Mary Magdalene and Peter. Their struggles for apostolic authority are often found in the post-Easter narrative context. The assumed ideological primary community of the Longer Ending is Pro- Magdalene. It acknowledged Mary Magdalene as its authoritative leader who enjoyed apostolic authority especially over Peter. This community was interested in mission, and re-authenticated the mission of the Eleven. The LE provides a certain guideline for the qualification of leadership in the LE's community, which is the visual experience of the resurrected Jesus. The assumed ideological primary community of the Shorter Ending is Pro- Petrine. It was in favour of Peter, and suggested him as holding authoritative apostolic authority. This community wanted to clarify the resurrection of Jesus, and emended the empty tomb narrative of Mark's Gospel. It was also interested in mission, and the authority of disciples, especially that of Peter, in their performing mission tasks is highlighted in the Shorter Ending.


Background The Copper Metabolism MURR1 Domain containing 1 protein COMMD1 has been associated with copper homeostasis, NF-κB signaling, and sodium transport. Recently, we identified COMMD1 as a novel protein in HIF-1 signaling. Mouse embryos deficient for Commd1 have increased expression of hypoxia/HIF-regulated genes i.e. VEGF, PGK and Bnip3. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are master regulators of oxygen homeostasis, which control angiogenesis, erythropoiesis, glycolysis and cell survival/proliferation under normal and pathologic conditions. Although HIF activity is mainly controlled by ubiquitination and protein degradation by the von Hippel Lindau (pVHL) tumor suppressor gene other mechanisms have recently been identified that regulate HIF signaling independently of pVHL. Principal Findings Here we characterized the mechanism by which COMMD1 regulates HIF-1α protein degradation. We show that COMMD1 competes with the chaperone heat shock protein HSP90β for binding to the NH2-terminal DNA-binding and heterodimerization domain of HIF-1α to regulate HIF-1α stability together with HSP70. Inhibition of HSP90 activity with 17-Allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) increased COMMD1-mediated HIF-1α degradation independent of ubiquitin and pVHL. Conclusion/Significance These data reveal a novel role for COMMD1 in conjunction with HSP90β/HSP70 in the ubiquitin and O2-independent regulation of HIF-1α.


A graph $G$ is said to be distance-balanced if for any edge $uv$ of $G$, the number of vertices closer to $u$ than to $v$ is equal to the number of vertices closer to $v$ than to $u$. Let $GP(n,k)$ be a generalized Petersen graph. Jerebic, Klavžar, and Rall [ Distance-balanced graphs, Ann. Comb. 12 (2008) 71–79] conjectured that: For any integer $k\geq 2$, there exists a positive integer $n_0$ such that the $GP(n,k)$ is not distance-balanced for every integer $n\geq n_0$. In this note, we give a proof of this conjecture.


Numerous factors put elderly patients at risk for adverse drug events. On average, they take at least 6 medications a day, which increases the likelihood of drug-drug interactions. In addition, many drugs that are safe and effective in younger patients are inappropriate for older persons because of age-related changes and comorbid conditions that affect absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination. First-pass metabolism decreases with age, which may increase systemic absorption of some oral nitrates, s-blockers, estrogens, and calcium channel blockers. The age-related rise in body fat increases the volume of distribution of lipid-soluble compounds, such as diazepam, and prolongs clearance. About two thirds of elderly persons have impaired kidney function; in these patients, the dosage of renally excreted drugs-such as digoxin-needs to be reduced. Other strategies for avoiding adverse drug events are detailed here.


Angiogenesis, de novo synthesis of blood vessels from the pre-existing vasculature, is required both during embryonic development and in pathophysiological conditions. In particular, tumor growth needs new capillary vessels in order to both deliver oxygen and nutrients and to remove toxin and metabolites. Growth of most solid tumors would be restricted to a microscopic size in the absence of neovascularization. Angiogenesis ensues as a result of a shift in the balance between pro- and anti-angiogenic molecules.Histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRGP) is a heparin-binding plasma protein. We showed that HRGP inhibits endothelial cell migration and adhesion to vitronectin. As a consequence, HRGP attenuates growth and vascularization of mouse model tumors. The anti-angiogenic effect of HRGP is mediated by the central histidine/proline (His/Pro)-rich domain, which must be released from the parent molecule to exert its effect. A 35-amino acid residue peptide denoted HRGP330, derived from the His/Pro-rich domain, was identified as a minimal active anti-angiogenic domain of HRGP. HRGP330 induces disruption of molecular interactions required for cell motility, such as the integrin-linked kinase/paxillin complex. Moreover, HRGP330 inhibits VEGF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of α-actinin, a focal adhesion kinase (FAK) substrate. Consequently, the motility of endothelial cells is arrested. By use of a signal transduction antibody array, we identified FAK, paxillin and growth factor receptor-bound 2 (Grb2) as tyrosine phosphorylated in HRGP330-treated cells. We confirmed that HRGP targets focal adhesions in endothelial cells, thereby disrupting the cytoskeletal organization and the ability of endothelial cells to assemble into vessel structures. A critical role of FAK in HRGP-inhibition of angiogenesis was validated using a FAK inhibitor, geldanamycin, which allowed rescue of endothelial cell actin rearrangement.We identified another potential mechanism in the HRGP/HRGP330 anti-angiogenic effects, exerted through regulation of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). HRGP/HRGP330 treatment led to reduced TAM infiltration, which in turn caused a marked decrease in VEGF and MMP-9 levels in the tumor. Taken together, our present studies show that HRGP/HRGP330 target endothelial cell adhesion, migration, focal adhesions, and furthermore, that HRGP is involved in regulation of macrophage infiltration.


The exploitation of synthetic aperture properties in nadir-looking radars is opening new scenarios in the framework of satellite radar altimetry. Both recent and upcoming missions including Cryosat-2, Sentinel-3, Sentinel-6 and SWOT take benefit from the coherent processing of radar data, aimed at improving range measurements in particular contexts, such as ice, open ocean, coastal zone, and even inland waters. This work investigates the possibilities offered by current and future satellite radar altimetry missions for the study of inland water bodies, probing into the peculiarities of the expected radar returns and their potential usage. In this regard, signals collected by the RA-2 instrument (Radar Altimeter 2) onboard the Envisat mission offer an unprecedented possibility, even with a relatively low pulse repetition frequency, to analyze the peculiarities of actual signals for detecting and ranging small water surfaces. In particular, the RA-2 instrument offers a global archive of Individual Echoes (IEs), collected at the native sampling rate of 1795 Hz, in addition to the 18 Hz data obtained by incoherent averaging, which are typically delivered to the users as standard products. RA-2 shares with future radar platforms such as Sentinel-6 a continuous and interleaved working modality, as was recommended by the scientific community in designing next missions' requirements. This is a further reason to consider the usage of RA-2 IEs as particularly attractive. Whilst only available for a small percentage of the earth's surface, sufficient IE data exist to study the height retrieval capability of these echoes, in particular for what concerns small water bodies, where we show that enough coherence is exhibited for focusing relatively narrow surfaces and range them correctly. A peculiar aspect of this work lies in the assumption that most of the returned echoes (in RA-2 IEs) are specular. A theoretical framework is developed according to this assumption, which is validated by investigating real RA-2 data and observing their related specular features. In particular, we discuss how specular echoes are expected to be very common in inland altimetry, and are most often associated with small to medium size lakes and rivers. This paper illustrates the expected electromagnetic behavior of specular water targets by exploiting the classical radar cross-section (RCS) theory for specular surfaces. Results from the model are compared with real IE data in three selected case studies, regarding two rivers of variable width and one flood plain, in order to check different hydrological regimes. The model very closely matches the data in all cases, making the results of this validation activity very promising. In particular, we demonstrate the feasibility of using satellite radar altimetry in rivers much smaller than what was considered possible until now.


Abstract Biophysical modeling and morphologic data from the fossil record were used to investigate the functional significance of changes in thallus morphology during the early evolutionary history of dasycladalean algae (dasyclads), a clade of benthic marine macroalgae. Modeling results indicate that the addition of cylindrical appendages (laterals) to an upright main axis, a key morphological innovation in the evolution of dasyclad thallus form, can provide for large gains in light interception efficiency, near-maximum gains in this regard being achieved when the ratio of total lateral surface area to main axis surface area is 4 or greater. Among the 13 early Paleozoic study taxa, all but one was found to exceed this value. Modeling of surface area to volume ratios for early Paleozoic dasyclads indicates that laterals for these forms conveyed only modest gains in this regard and, therefore, likely played little role in improving nutrient uptake. For survivorship, it appears that increasing thallus complexity by developing laterals conveyed important benefits by imparting both compartmentalization and redundancy, thereby increasing the likelihood that lateral-bearing forms would survive attacks by early mesograzers. Trends and patterns in the fossil record support such a survival-enhancing role for laterals and are consistent with the initial evolution of these structures as an early manifestation of an evolutionary arms race between macroalgae and herbivores initiated near the Proterozoic/Phanerozoic boundary.