This thesis investigates representations of reproductive health amongst the Mayan communities in the Western highlands of Guatemala. Representations are explored as local systems of knowledge, viewed as expressive of the community's lay knowledge, identity and cultural practices. By looking at the conditions of production and transmission of Mayan's representations and their expression in daily practices, two aspects of local knowledge are explored. First, the relevance of local knowledge in shaping practices towards reproductive health and official reproductive health programmes, and second, how local knowledge relates to other systems of knowledge coming from health institutions, the State and the Church. The theoretical framework that I have developed through this research is grounded in the theory of social representations (Moscovici, 1984), and draws on the ideas of liberation psychology (Martln-Baro, 1996), education for critical consciousness (Freire, 1972), and the analysis of positioning and identities (Hall, 1990; Moore, 1994). This conceptual framework guided the empirical component of the study, which was qualitative in nature and combined ongoing participant observation, 15 open-ended interviews with lay people and health experts, and 6 focus groups with 36 men and women in different reproductive ages. The analysis of textual data was supported by ATLAS.ti. Diverse source of data are woven together to explore how local knowledge and cultural practices mediate in the participation of the community in reproductive health services. The study shows that Mayan's representations of reproductive health are grounded on their productive activities and is shaped by their concrete conditions of living. This social knowledge is objectified through key symbolic practices, which are the expression of their cultural identity and of the Mayan cosmology. Mayan's representations of reproductive health are deeply related to the survival of the community as an ethnic group and express the crucial link between representations and identity. The data illustrate the different ways in which Mayan people construct their conceptions of femininity and virility through the value of motherhood and responsible fatherhood. I examine how these representations undermine or empower community's participation in health interventions by exploring the link between participation and resistance. The study suggests the implications of these findings for the construction of locally sensitive health programmes.


The floating production unit HLNG FPSO-1 has been evaluated with respect to its energy consumption and emissions to air, and improvement potentials within the same context have been suggested. The thesis describes theory of combustion of natural gas, emission calculations, energy consumption of compressors and theory of fuel gas consumption for gas turbines. A literature study of LNG processes suitable for offshore applications has also been included. The CO2 emissions from the HLNG FPSO-1 add up to about 6% of the CO2 emissions from the Norwegian oil and gas industry (2005), which is a noticeable amount. However the energy content in the LNG produced over one year from the FPSO-1 count for ca 35% of the yearly energy consumed related to oil and gas extraction on the Norwegian continental shelf. This illustrates that even though floating LNG production is energy intensive and the resulting amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (as CO2) are substantial, the LNG holds significant amounts of energy, which is a result of the 600-fold reduction in volume when the natural gas is liquefied. Two different availabilities of the topside processes FPSO-1 exist and are calculated by Det Norske Veritas. The lower availability is based on a no-flare philosophy, which is considered not to be relevant for the project in the further development. The reason for this is that a strict no-flaring philosophy is not desirable from an operational point of view, and that duplication of every equipment item which handles hydrocarbon streams is not a realistic design alternative. Therefore the higher availability which allows some flaring during normal production is used for all the suggested improvement potentials. Based on two different future oil prices (a high and low scenario), the value of the LNG produced, as well as the value of the additional LNG produced as a result of higher availability of the FPSO-1 are calculated. Two design changes of the LNG liquefaction process as a result of a lighter feed gas composition are described and discussed in the context of energy consumption and emissions to air. Both design changes have the possibility of saving more than 10 MW power in total. Also, the implications of eventual necessary compliance with the Equator Principles are discussed. The project may find that certain guidelines or philosophies given by institutions financing parts of the project must be followed (such as use of Best Available Technology), and should evaluate these eventual restrictions when financial institutions are selected for the project. The further development of the project with the goal of making the topside processes on the FPSO-1 as energy efficient as possible (thereby saving operational costs and reducing the impact on the environment), should evaluate the feasibility of implementing the design changes suggested in the thesis from a more extensive technical and economical point of view.


The ever-increasing exchange of goods and ideas among nations, as well as cross-border pollution, global warming, and international crime, pose urgent questions for international law. Here, two respected scholars provide an intellectual framework for assessing these pressing legal problems from a rational choice perspective. The approach assumes that states are rational, forward-looking agents which use international law to address the actions of other states that may have consequences for their own citizens, and to obtain the benefits of international cooperation. It further assumes that in the absence of a central enforcement agency--that is, a world government--international law must be self-enforcing. States must believe that if they violate international agreements, other states will retaliate. Consequently, Eric A. Posner and Alan O. Sykes devote considerable attention to the challenges of enforcing international law, which begin with the difficulties of determining what it is. In the absence of an international constitution, the sources for international law are vague. Lawyers must rely on statements contained in all manner of official documents and on simple observation of states' behavior. This looseness leads international institutions such as the United Nations to deliver conflicting interpretations of the law's most basic principles. The authors describe the conditions under which international law succeeds or fails, across a wide range of issues, including war crimes, human rights, international criminal law, principles of state responsibility, law of the sea, international trade regulation, and international investment law.


Objectives A case-referent study was conducted to test the hypothesis that exposure to motor vehicle exhaust increases the risk of childhood cancer. Methods Data from a study of residential magnetic field exposure and childhood cancer were used. From a population of 127 000 children living within 300 m of transmission lines in Sweden, 142 cases of childhood cancer were identified, including 39 cases of leukemia and 33 cases of central nervous system turnor. Approximately 4 referents per case were selected at random from the study base. The nitrogen dioxide content of the outdoor air was estimated as an indicator of motor vehicle exhaust. The applied methods give the 99th percentile of the nitrogen dioxide content of the outdoor air for 1-h averages over 1 year. Results A relative risk estimate of 2.7 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.9-8.51 was found for total cancer at exposure levels of > 50 kg/m3, related to those with 2 39 kg/m3. At > 80 ~glml, the relative risk was estimated at 3.8 (95% CI 1.2-12.1). Elevated, but imprecise risk estimates were found for leukemia and central nervous system tumors. C O ~ ~ ~ U S ~ O ~ S The results indicate an association between childhood cancer and motor vehicle exhaust, although the number of cases was small. These findings and the results of previous studies suggest that further studies of the association between motor vehicle exhaust and childhood cancer are warranted.


A nonlinear reduced gravity ocean model is used to assess the effects of changes in the monsoon winds during glacial and interglacial conditions on the seasonal circulation in the northwestern Indian Ocean. Winds from the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Model simulations for 18 kyr B.P. (the most recent glacial maximum and a period of weaker monsoon winds), 9 kyr B.P. (near the beginning of the present interglacial and a period of stronger monsoon winds), and present-day (0 kyr B.P.) conditions are used to drive the model to a steady seasonal cycle. Strength of upwelling fields are inferred in each case by integrating upward displacements of the model pycnocline over the primary upwelling season of mid-April to mid-August. In both the 0 kyr B.P. and the 9 kyr B.P. cases, a broad band of upwelling and decreased model upper layer thickness extends along the coast of the Arabian Peninsula out 350–500 km offshore during the southwest monsoon. This upwelling is driven by the strongly positive wind stress curl beneath the cyclonic side of the atmospheric Findlater Jet, located to the north and west of the jet axis. Farther offshore, in the anticyclonic region to the south and east of the jet axis, the negative wind stress curl drives downwelling and increased upper layer thickness. In the 9 kyr B.P. case, the atmospheric jet is much stronger and narrower than in the 0 kyr B.P. case, with stronger values of both positive and negative curl to the northwest and southeast, respectively, of the jet axis. This drives much stronger upwelling to the northwest of the jet axis and downwelling to the southeast. In the 18 kyr B.P. case, the Findlater Jet is very weak, and upwelling patterns are uniformly weak across the basin. The spatial distribution and temporal variation of the upwelling fauna in the sediment record is consistent with the model upwelling fields in all three cases. The ocean model thus provides the link between the climate model and the sedimentation data, verifying the hypothesis that variations in upwelling driven by variations in the strength of the monsoon jet are responsible for the observed variations in the sediment record.


Protecting constructed facilities from damages from natural and man-made hazards in a costeffective manner is a challenging task. Several measures of economic performance are available for evaluating building-related investments. These measures include, but are not limited to, life-cycle cost, present value net savings, savings-to-investment ratio, and adjusted internal rate of return. This guide provides a generic framework for assessing the risks associated with natural and man-made hazards, formulating combinations of risk mitigation strategies for constructed facilities exposed to those hazards, and using measures of economic performance to identify the most cost-effective combination of strategies.


Because of the recent surge in U.S. personal defaults, Congress is currently debating bankruptcy reform legislation requiring a means test for Chapter 7 filers. This paper explores the effects of such a reform in a model where, in contrast to previous work, bankruptcy options and production are explicitly taken into account. The authors' findings indicate that means testing would not improve upon current bankruptcy provisions and, at best, leaves aggregate filings, output, and welfare unchanged. Put simply, given already existing provisions, the introduction of an efficient means test would not bind. However, we do find that a tightening of existing bankruptcy laws, in the form of lower Chapter 7 asset exemptions, can be welfare improving. Contrary to previous studies, the analysis also suggests that eliminating bankruptcy entirely would cause significant declines in both output and welfare.


Introduction : Pituitary apoplexy is a rare phenomenon in pituitary adenomas. We present a case of pituitary apoplexy that developed shortly after hypo-fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HF-SRT) for a pituitary adenoma. To our knowledge there is no prior report of pituitary apoplexy following stereotactic radiotherapy. Case Report : A 67 year old female initially presented with visual abnormalities. Workup then revealed a large sellar mass. She underwent a trans-sphenoidal resection then with pathology demonstrating a non-secretory pituitary adenoma. Her vision returned to normal after the resection. Five years later, follow-up MRI showed evidence of recurrence. The size of the lesion and its proximity to the optic apparatus were not considered adequate for a single fraction stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Based on this, HF-SRT was recommended as an alternative to re-operation. The tumor was treated to a dose of 4,000 cGy given at 400 cGy per fraction. Two months later, the patient presented with visual impairment and ocular palsies. She was diagnosed to have pituitary apoplexy. Although spontaneous tumor apoplexy cannot be excluded, a causal role for radiotherapy is hypothesized. Conclusion : Radiotherapy as a cause of pituitary apoplexy is not well understood or documented. Pituitary apoplexy should be suspected in a patient who develops new onset headaches and visual disturbance during or shortly after radiotherapy. Rapid diagnosis of pituitary apoplexy allows for aggressive management and neurosurgical decompression which decreases mortality and morbidity.


Sustainable energy production is the major priority in the world due to global warming, climate change, and fossil fuels depletion. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of sludge is the sustainable process producing the energy and minimizing the fossil fuel usage. However, conventional AD of sludge is not sustainable since it takes longer time for digestion which increases the energy input and greenhouse emissions. Therefore, pretreatment technologies have emerged to enhance methane production and thus the energy output from the AD process. In this chapter, pre-treatment technologies adopted mainly physical, chemical, thermal, and other advanced processes to enhance methane production in the last decade are elaborated. In addition, energy balance of the process and the feasibility of the pre-treatment technologies and their current status are discussed.


Lattice Compactons, discrete breathers with compact support, were found for a discrete nonlinear Schrodinger (DNLS) equation extended with nearest neighbour intersite nonlinearities [1], a model originally studied with waveguide arrays in mind. These compactons were shown to exhibit very good mobility if the parameters are tuned close to the compactons stability boundary. The DNLS can also be used to model the behaviour of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices, and the remarkable control over the experiments in this field of research has made it possible to study the quantum mechanics of strongly correlated atoms.We will define the concept of a Quantum Lattice Compacton [2] and discuss the existence and dynamics, with special emphasis on mobility [3], of these in an extended Bose-Hubbard model corresponding to above-mentioned extended DNLS equation in the quantum mechanical limit. The compactons is given 'a kick' by means of a phase-gradient and it is shown that the size of this phase is crucial for the mobility of the compactons. For small phase-gradients, corresponding to a slow coherent motion in the classical model, the time-scales of the quantum tunnelings become of the same order as the time-scale of the translational motion and the classical mobility is destroyed by quantum fluctuations. For large phase-gradients, corresponding to rapid classical motion, the classical and quantum time-scales separate so that a mobile, localized coherent quantum state can be translated many sites in the lattice already for small particle numbers of the order of 10 [3].Acknowledgements: This project has been financed by the Swedish Research Council.References[1] M. Oster, M. Johansson, and A. Eriksson 2003 Phys. Rev. E 67 056606[2] P. Jason and M. Johansson 2012 Phys. Rev. A 85 011603(R)[3] P. Jason and M. Johansson 2013 Phys. Rev. A 88 033605


This study looks at gender earnings differentials in post-apartheid South Africa. The main aim of this study is to illuminate the broad employment patterns of both men and women in South Africa's labour market. This study then extends the analysis to consider the gender earnings differentials within formal wage work and self-employment as well as in informal wage work and self-employment using the National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS). NIDS is a nationally representative survey with 28 255 individuals and 7 305 households. This study found that a higher percentage of women than men are found within informal types of work. Women were found to be over-represented in low paying occupations such as in elementary work, in clerical jobs and in private households where they are likely to be employed in domestic work. This study then estimated the mean earnings for both men and women within these different sectors of work and it found that women on average earn less than men even after adjusting for hours of work. A greater gender wage differential was found to exist in informal types of work than in wage employment. In trying to explain this differential, there are a number of factors that may be used and one of such factors could be different human capital endowments between men and women. This study also found that the gender wage differentials can also be explained by where women work as well as the number of working hours women spend at work in comparison to men. However this study only managed to explain part of the gender wage differential. Due to self-selection and unobservable differences, part of the gender wage gap remains unexplained as the characteristics that cause women and men to select certain types of employment is beyond the scope of this study.


Single-stage grid connected inverters are considered as an economic, compact and simple topology compared with multi-stage inverters. In photovoltaic (PV) grid connected systems, the major requirement is to achieve maximum output power from the source. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) techniques require measurements on the DC side of the inverter connected to the PV in order to determine the current operating point on the power characteristics. Typically this is achieved by perturbing the reference output power and observe the change in the PV voltage, current or both. Based on the observation, it could be determined whether the current operating point is beyond or below maximum power. This paper presents an MPPT technique for a single-stage PV grid connected inverter where the MPPT algorithm determines the current operating point at different operating conditions based upon observing the inverter controller action. Such approach eliminates the requirement of sensing elements to be added to the converter which aids the advantages of the single-stage converter. Design of the utilized PV system is derived based on filter parameters, PV panel selection and controller parameters. Using simulation and practical implementation, the performance of the proposed MPPT technique is evaluated for the PV grid connected system.


Load sharing is a technique to improve the performance of distributed systems by distributing the system workload from heavily loaded nodes, where service is poor, to lightly loaded nodes in the system. Previous studies have considered two adaptive load sharing policies: sender-initiated and receiver-initiated. In the sender-initiated policy, a heavily loaded node attempts to transfer work to a lightly loaded node and in the receiver-initiated policy a lightly loaded node attempts to get work from a heavily loaded node. Almost all the previous studies assumed the first-come/first-served node scheduling policy; furthermore, analysis and simulations in these studies have been done under the assumption that the job service times are exponentially distributed and the job arrivals form a Poisson process (i.e., job inter-arrival times are exponentially distributed). The goal of this paper is to fill the void in the existing literature. We study the impact of these assumptions on the performance of the sender-initiated and receiver initiated policies. We consider three node scheduling policies-first-come/first-served (FCFS), shortest job first (SJF), and round robin (RR) policies. Furthermore, we also look at the impact of variance in the inter-arrival times and in the job service times. Our results show that: (i) When non-preemptive node scheduling policies (FCFS and SJF) are used, the receiver-initiated policy is (substantially) more sensitive to variance in inter-arrival times than the sender-initiated policies and the sender-initiated policies are relatively more sensitive to the variance in job service times; (ii) When the preemptive node scheduling policy (RR) is used, the sender-initiated policy provides a better performance than the receiver-initiated policy.


The interior of a cylindrical tank used for the road transport of concentrated sulfuric acid revealed severe blistering of the plates, mainly over the crown and more particularly on the first ring. The tank, made in 1958, was of welded construction, the material being mild steel plate. Some of the blisters were pierced by drilling a hole in the center and at the same time applying a small flame. In several cases combustion of the escaping gas caused minor explosions, a result characteristic of hydrogen. Etching showed the material to be a low-carbon steel in the partly spheroidized condition. There was no evidence of cracking of the material in the region of the blisters and bend tests demonstrated it possessed satisfactory ductility. The primary cause of the blistering was ascribed to the presence of discontinuities within the plate. This provided cavities in which the hydrogen was able to accumulate and build up pressure. Had the material been free from discontinuities of appreciable size, the blistering would not have occurred.


Ear density is one of the most important agronomical yield components in wheat. Ear counting is time-consuming and tedious as it is most often conducted manually in field conditions. Moreover, different sampling techniques are often used resulting in a lack of standard protocol, which may eventually affect inter-comparability of results. Thermal sensors capture crop canopy features with more contrast than RGB sensors for image segmentation and classification tasks. An automatic thermal ear counting system is proposed to count the number of ears using zenithal/nadir thermal images acquired from a moderately high resolution handheld thermal camera. Three experimental sites under different growing conditions in Spain were used on a set of 24 varieties of durum wheat for this study. The automatic pipeline system developed uses contrast enhancement and filter techniques to segment image regions detected as ears. The approach is based on the temperature differential between the ears and the rest of the canopy, given that ears usually have higher temperatures due to their lower transpiration rates. Thermal images were acquired, together with RGB images and in situ (i.e., directly in the plot) visual ear counting from the same plot segment for validation purposes. The relationship between the thermal counting values and the in situ visual counting was fairly weak (R2 = 0.40), which highlights the difficulties in estimating ear density from one single image-perspective. However, the results show that the automatic thermal ear counting system performed quite well in counting the ears that do appear in the thermal images, exhibiting high correlations with the manual image-based counts from both thermal and RGB images in the sub-plot validation ring (R2 = 0.75–0.84). Automatic ear counting also exhibited high correlation with the manual counting from thermal images when considering the complete image (R2 = 0.80). The results also show a high correlation between the thermal and the RGB manual counting using the validation ring (R2 = 0.83). Methodological requirements and potential limitations of the technique are discussed.


This study reviews articles using regression analysis published in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics from 1994 to 1998 to determine agricultural economists' effectiveness in reporting and conveying research procedures and results. Based on the authors' experiences of surveying articles for this study, several suggestions for reporting of results and how to better separate statistical from economic significance are offered. First, clearly define the dependent variable—preferably in the results table as well as within the text. Second, report parameter estimates in an interpretable form either in the results table or in a subsequent table. Third, report summary statistics. Fourth, report degrees of freedom conspicuously in the results table. Fifth, report if statistically insignificant variables have been dropped. Lastly, weigh economic importance aside from statistical significance and use simulation to express economic significance where appropriate.


In this paper, we present efficient asynchronous protocols that allow to build proactive cryptosystems secure against a mobile fail-stop adversary. Such systems distribute the power of a public-key cryptosystem among a set of servers, so that the security and functionality of the overall system is preserved against an adversary that crashes and/or eavesdrops every server repeatedly and transiently, but no more than a certain fraction of the servers at a given time. The building blocks of proactive cryptosystems — to which we present novel solutions — are protocols for joint random secret sharing and for proactive secret sharing. The first protocol provides every server with a share of a random value unpredictable by the adversary, and the second allows to change the shared representation of a secret value. Synchronous protocols for these tasks are well-known, but the standard method for adapting them to the asynchronous model requires an asynchronous agreement sub-protocol. Our solutions are more efficient as they go without such an agreement sub-protocol. Moreover, they are the first solutions for such protocols having a bounded worst-case complexity, as opposed to only a bounded average-case complexity.


It is an unresolved question whether the mental representations that enable visual/haptic crossmodal memoory for objects are modality-specific - either visual (Zhang et al., 2004) and/or haptic (Reed et al., 2004); modality-independent - either abstract (Easton et al., 1997) or structural but still in some way abstract (Reales & Ballesteros, 1999); or dual code - visual for unfamiliar objects but visual and verbal for familiar objects (Johnson et al., 1989).
The thesis argues that dual-code representation can be parsimoniously reduced to visual representation, with verbal processes relegated to strategic roled, and that visual representation can be reduced to spatial representation. Spatial representation can be defined as containing information about size, shape and the arrangement of different object parts and features relative to each other, and is a novel hypothesis in visual/haptic crossmodal memory.
Seven experiments tested existing theories and the novel hypothesis primarily through the innovative use of interference techniques. These experiments showed that there was no evidence for strictly abstract representation or for the main predictions of the dual-code account. There was no effect of interference on familiar objects and it is suggested that these are either resistant to interference because they involce deep long-term memory representations or that they are represented through an associative network of different representations.
The novel hypothesis of spatial representation was supported in experiments that contrasted visual and haptic, spatial and non-spatial interference. These showed strongly that the modality of the interference was irrelevant and that spatiality was the key factor. Whether itoccured during encoding or retrieval, spatial interference disrupted performance regardless of its modality and also disrupted the visual-haptic and haptic-visual conditions equally.
The thesis concludes that visual/haptic crossmodal memory is enabled by modality-indeopendent spatial representation. This new finding is an original and theoretically important contribution because it specifies the format of a modality-independent representation and solves two of the three main task constraints: how any kind of object can be re[presented via both vision and touch. It is also a generative source of hypotheses about the third constraint: why error is systematically greater in the haptic-visual condition than the visual-haptic condition.


Reform of the IMF and World Bank has been the focus of discussion since the middle of the last decade when efforts began to adapt the two institutions to deal with new problems of financial globalization associated with a series of financial crises among emerging markets. What began as a mainly "top-down†approach to institutional reform led by the major industrial countries has been broadened to a more comprehensive assessment of the role of the two Bretton Woods institutions in the international economic system, partly in response to "bottom up†pressures from international NGOs and other external stakeholders. Improvements have been made in the role of the two institutions in crisis prevention and crisis management, but a number of other important reforms have been under active debate and require implementation. Most importantly, changes in the governance structure of the Bank and Fund are required to restore the legitimacy and effectiveness of these institutions in the international system.


A small body of research suggests that dissimilatory sulfate reduction can affect the carbon balance of peatlands, yet this has not been tested widely, despite the fact that peatlands contain approximately one-third of the global soil carbon pool. Here we evaluate the role of dissimilatory sulfate reduction in a site that receives low atmospheric sulfur deposition. We hypothesized that, in peatlands receiving low sulfate inputs, methane production should dominate anaerobic carbon mineralization. We further hypothesized that with sulfate amendments, anaerobic carbon mineralization could show an overall increase if terminal carbon mineralization in unamended peat is limited by an inadequate supply of electron acceptors. To test these hypotheses, we delineated six 1-m2 plots in an ombrotrophic, boreal peatland in central Alberta, Canada (Bleak Lake Bog), which receives <2 mmol S·m−2·yr−1. Three of the plots were amended with sulfate (78 mmol S·m−2·yr−1). We measured anaerobic rates of sulfate reduction, CH4 production, and CO2 production. In opposition to our hypotheses, sulfate amendments did not increase rates of sulfate reduction, increase CO2 production, or decrease CH4 production over a 2-yr period, but did increase both sulfate pool sizes and residence times. Despite low rates of sulfate reduction compared to other freshwater wetlands, daily average sulfate reduction (1.7 mmol/m2) exceeded regional annual inputs of atmospheric sulfate deposition (1.6 mmol/m2). Between 77% and 99% of reduced sulfate was incorporated into the carbon-bonded sulfur pool, which turns over slowly. The slow turnover rate and comparatively low sulfate reduction rates may be related to the low iron content of the bog peat. Additionally, sulfate reduction initially was sulfate limited in the control plots, but with sulfur amendments, the sulfate limitation was removed; sulfate reduction appeared to be limited by some other factor, possibly labile carbon. Dissimilatory sulfate reduction was more important to total anaerobic carbon mineralization than methane production, although neither process dominated overall anaerobic carbon mineralization (<2% of total). Fermentation appeared to be the dominant anaerobic carbon mineralization pathway at Bleak Lake Bog, yet the mechanisms of how this process affects the carbon balance of peatlands has never been evaluated. Overall, our results suggest that, in at least the short term, soil carbon turnover in peatlands will not be enhanced by increased atmospheric sulfur deposition. If we want to understand the controlling factors on soil carbon storage in sites like Bleak Lake Bog, we should begin to examine anaerobic carbon mineralization via fermentation pathways.

Corresponding Editor: J. M. Melack


Abstract According to recent findings, interhemispheric interactions and information connectivity represent crucial mechanisms used in processing information across various sensory modalities. To study these interactions, the authors measured bilateral electrodermal activity (EDA) in 33 psychiatric outpatients. The results show that, during congruent Stroop stimuli in hypnosis, the patients with higher hypnotizability manifest a decreased level of interhemispheric information transfer measured by pointwise transinformation (PTI) that was calculated from left and right EDA records. These results show that specific shifts of attentional focus during hypnosis are related to changes of interhemispheric interactions that may be reflected in neural connectivity calculated from the bilateral EDA measurement. This attentional shift may cause dissociated attentional control disturbing integrative functions of consciousness and contextual experiences.


BACKGROUND
There is a strong relationship between circadian rhythms and ethanol (EtOH) responses. EtOH consumption has been shown to disrupt physiological and behavioral circadian rhythms in mammals (Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2005b, 29, 1550). The Drosophila central circadian pacemaker is composed of proteins encoded by the per, tim, cyc, and Clk genes. Using Drosophila mutant analysis, we asked whether these central components of the circadian clock make the equivalent contribution toward EtOH tolerance and whether rhythmicity itself is necessary for tolerance.

METHODS
We tested flies carrying mutations in core clock genes for the capacity to acquire EtOH tolerance. Tolerance was assayed by comparing the sedation curves of populations during their first and second sedation. Animals that had acquired tolerance sedated more slowly. Movement was also monitored as the flies breathe the EtOH vapor to determine if other facets of the EtOH response were affected by the mutations. Gas chromatography was used to measure internal EtOH concentration. Constant light was used to nongenetically destabilize the PER and TIM proteins.

RESULTS
A group of circadian mutations, all of which eliminate circadian rhythms, do not disrupt tolerance identically. Mutations in per, tim, and cyc completely block tolerance. However, a mutation in Clk does not interfere with tolerance. Constant light also disrupts the capacity to acquire tolerance. These lines did not differ in EtOH absorption.

CONCLUSIONS
Mutations affecting different parts of the intracellular circadian clock can block the capacity to acquire rapid EtOH tolerance. However, the role of circadian genes in EtOH tolerance is independent of their role in producing circadian rhythmicity. The interference in the capacity to acquire EtOH tolerance by some circadian mutations is not merely a downstream effect of a nonfunctional circadian clock; instead, these circadian genes play an independent role in EtOH tolerance.


Proper evaluation of high-enthalpy and chemically reacting flows often requires unconventional diagnostics.
Temperatures in reentry flows may exceed 10000 K within a few mean-free-paths of a shock front. This temperature
rapidly drops as gas molecules dissociate into nonequilibrium species and radicals (Vincenti and Kruger, 1965). Even in flows without such harsh conditions, conventional thermometry and mass spectrometry measurements may have insufficient time and space resolution. Furthermore, these probes are intrusive, affecting the local flow field and chemical composition, e.g.,through catalysis.

These problems have led to the application of laser spectroscopy and nonlinear optical techniques for the noninvasive probing of reacting fluid flows. Two of these techniques in particular have reached a fair level of maturity: coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIFS) (Eckbreth, 1988). CARS is a coherent optical technique which allows accurate point measurements of species concentration and temperature.Its use is limited by signal-to-noise to probing majority species. LIFS, on the other hand, is an incoherent technique which is much more sensitive than CARS and allows planar measurements, but is much less amenable to quantitative analysis.

Degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) is a coherent nonlinear optical technique that has only recently been
applied to flows of gasdynamic interest. This technique offers the promise of the quantitative accuracy of CARS
(Dreier, 1990), the sensitivity of LIFS, and the capability for excellent flow-imaging (Rakestraw, 1990; Ewart, 1989).
It can be applied in various ways to provide spatially resolved measurements of species concentration, vibrational
populations, rotational populations (and thereby temperature), molecular diffusion rates, and other transport properties of a flowing inert or chemically reacting fluid (Fourkas, 1991).

DFWM and CARS may be applied for thermometry in narrowband laser scanning experiments by measuring
the ground-state rotational population distribution of a probed species to a Boltzmann distribution (Bervas, 1992). In CARS, rotational spectra are "washed out" at very high temperatures by Doppler broadening, complicating thermometry. Narrowband DFWM spectra are "Doppler-free" (Dreier, 1990), allowing laser-scanning thermometry of high
temperature gases encountered, for example, in reentry-type flows.

DFWM has several advantages over LIFS. The DFWM signal is coherent (laser-like) allowing efficient signal
collection with very high f-number optics. This feature is especially important in flows where optical access is limited or where luminosity is high. In addition, DFWM is not inherently susceptible to quenching (Dreier. 1990), unlike LIFS, allowing the use of DFWM in many cases where LIFS cannot be used or cannot be quantitatively interpreted
because of quenching.

Degenerate four-wave mixing has the advantage of relative experimental simplicity. Unlike CARS, DFWM has
trivial phase-matching requirements. It also requires only one laser and can be applied to atomic species. On the other
hand, the interpretation of CARS signals is simpler and much more developed than that of DFWM. In some cases
the choice of DFWM over CARS is a trade-off between experimental and computational difficulty. Because the cost
of computing power is decreasing while the cost of lasers is relatively constant, this trade-off will continue to shift towards DFWM.

This paper provides an overview of two "single-shot" resonant degenerate four-wave mixing thermometry techniques
suitable for making measurements in unsteady flows or in pulsed facilities such as the T5 free piston shock
tunnel. The first technique involves measuring rotational population distributions and fitting them to Boltzmann
distributions to obtain rotational temperatures, and has been the conventional technique used in CARS, LIFS, and now
DFWM. Single-shot thermometry by this technique requires a broad bandwidth laser to probe a number of rotational
lines simultaneously (Ewart, 1990; Yip, 1992). This requirement complicates both the experimental apparatus and
signal interpretation. The second technique involves time resolution of the DFWM signal. Using this novel technique,
local sound speeds and transport coefficients can be inferred. The physics of this technique are discussed along with a derivation of an analytical expression for the signal generated by this technique and its experimental advantages and challenges. Other thermometry techniques, such as measuring translational temperatures via DFWM lineshapes, etc., are not included in this paper.

The physical processes underlying resonant DFWM in gases are first discussed generically in order to provide
insight into this phenomenon. The two techniques of thermometry are then detailed in light of these processes. Complications and experimental considerations are presented. An expression for the time-resolved DFWM thermometry signal is derived. A brief history of the analytical use of DFWM is outlined, concluding with suggestions for future directions of research.


Each year law students collectively write a large number of papers that could become law review articles but that are never published. Most law schools require students at some point during their time in law school to research and write an academic paper of publishable quality or seminar paper. Some of these are law review notes and comments that are not selected for publication. Others of these are papers written for specific substantive classes or to fulfill research and writing requirements.Most of these student papers - even very worthy ones - will never be published or posted online. The publishing route for law students who want to publish in a venue other than their home law journal is not clearly marked. And many law reviews simply will not accept submissions from students outside their own school. Often, the publishing opportunities for non-law review members in their home school's law review are also not well known.The purposes of this essay are twofold. First, it offers a number of suggestions for law students (and implicitly for students in other graduate programs) who want to publish their research papers. Second, this essay presents a chart of the policies of 194 law reviews with respect to whether they will publish comments submitted by non-law review members who are students at their home school or notes, comments or articles submitted by law students from other schools.


What is disability - a biological or social condition? In the conventional equality frameworks, the division between biology and social identity puts disability at the bottom of the formal equality hierarchy, but at the top of the substantive equality hierarchy. Compared with race and then gender, disability deserves the least protection against formal discrimination, on the theory that disadvantages are based on real and relevant functional differences more than on suspect social judgments. But turning to substantive equality, disability's supposed greater biological basis justifies affirmative accommodation of difference, compared to the social differences of race, with gender in the middle as a mixture. But for both of these equality scales, the social versus biological division undermines the protection seemingly given to the identity at the top of the hierarchy. By adding sexual orientation to the hierarchy, and by showing how Kenji Yoshino's analysis of "covering" destabilizes the biological-social division, I further explore the problematic nature of these hierarchies and disability's position within them. Two contrasting areas of disability law show the limits of this theoretical biological and social divide. Many states' workers' compensation systems recently have embraced a biological model of disability benefits that focuses on the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. On closer examination, the AMA Guides concept of biological "impairment" is thoroughly dependent on social and normative judgments, and serves mainly to reduce protection of disability. In contrast, the Supreme Court interpreted the Americans with Disabilities Act with a social model that rejected "impairment" as the basis for defining disability, but that approach similarly served to rationalize reduced protection for disability. Instead, disability doctrine - and equality law in general - should be re-oriented to reject this central division between biological and social origins.


The clearance that exists between the casing and turbine blade tips is one of the key drivers of efficiency in gas turbine engines. For this reason, engine manufacturers utilize precise manufacturing techniques and may employ clearance control systems to minimize tip clearances to reduce associated losses. Despite these efforts, turbines typically exhibit some nominal casing ovality or rotor-casing eccentricity, and changes to blade tip clearance during operation commonly occur due to thermal and mechanical stresses. The present study investigates non-axisymmetric tip clearance effects by creating a rotor-casing eccentricity in a one-stage axial test turbine operating in a continuous-duration mode at engine relevant conditions with engine representative hardware. A magnetic levitation bearing system was leveraged to move the turbine shaft to vary the rotor-casing eccentricity without test section disassembly. The results of this study indicate that rotor-casing eccentricity does not affect overall turbine efficiency over the range that was tested, but does locally influence efficiency and the rotor exit flow field. Comparisons of flow angle and secondary flow kinetic energy agreed with previous studies and existing analytical methods, respectively. Collectively, these results indicate that tip clearance can be studied locally on an eccentric rotor.


Purpose: Polymeric nanosuspension was prepared from an inert polymer resin (Eudragit® RL100) with the aim of improving the availability of sulfacetamide at the intraocular level to combat bacterial infections. Methods: Nanosuspensions were prepared by the solvent displacement method using acetone and Pluronic® F108 solution. Drug to polymer ratio was selected as formulation variable. Characterization of the nanosupension was performed by measuring particle size, zeta potential, Fourier Transform infrared spectra (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD), drug entrapment efficiency and in vitro release. In addition, freeze drying, redispersibility and short term stability study at room temperature and at 40C were performed. Results: Spherical, uniform particles (size below 500 nm) with positive zeta potential were obtained. No significant chemical interactions between drug and polymer were observed in the solid state characterization of the freeze dried nanosuspension (FDN). Drug entrapment efficiency of the selected batch was increased by changing the pH of the external phase and addition of polymethyl methacrylate in the formulation. The prepared nanosuspension exhibited good stability after storage at room temperature and at 40C. Sucrose and Mannitol were used as cryoprotectants and exhibited good water redispersibility of the FDN. Conclusion: The results indicate that the formulation of sulfacetamide in Eudragit® RL100 nanosuspension could be utilized as potential delivery system for treating ocular bacterial infections.


We propose an optimal scheme for finding end-to-end shortest disjoint paths with a given sequence of domains in path computation element-based multi-domain networks. We compute the shortest path over multiple domains in the forward direction and compute the disjoint path in the backward direction. The scheme has lower time and message complexity compared to contemporary schemes for finding optimal survivable paths across domains. We prove the optimality of the proposed scheme. To further simplify the implementations in practical scenarios, we also provide heuristic algorithms. Simulation results exhibit superior performance of the proposed optimal and heuristic algorithms compared to existing approaches.


This article is concerned with the existence and orbital stability of standing waves for a nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLS) with a nonautonomous nonlinearity. It continues and concludes the series of papers [6, 7, 8]. In [6], the authors make use of a continuation argument to establish the existence in R x H-1(R-N) of a smooth local branch of solutions to the stationary elliptic problem associated with (NLS) and hence the existence of standing wave solutions of (NLS) with small frequencies. Complementary conditions on the nonlinearity are found, under which either stability of the standing waves and bifurcation of the branch of solutions from the point (0, 0) is an element of R x H-1 (R-N) occur, or instability and asymptotic bifurcation occur. The main hypotheses in [6] concern the behaviour of the nonlinearity with respect to the space variable at infinity. The paper [7] extends the results of [6] to (NLS) with more general nonlinearities. In [8], the global continuation of the local branch obtained in [6] is proved under additional hypotheses on the nonlinearity. In particular, spherical symmetry with respect to the space variable is assumed. The aim of the present work is to prove the existence and discuss the orbital stability of standing waves with high frequencies, independently of the results obtained in [6] and [8]. The main hypotheses now concern the behaviour of the nonlinearity with respect to the space variable around the origin. The methods are the same in spirit as that of [6] and permit to discuss the asymptotic behaviour of the global branch of solutions obtained in [8].


Under a revenue-sharing contract, a retailer pays a supplier a wholesale price for each unit purchased, plus a percentage of the revenue the retailer generates. Such contracts have become more prevalent in the videocassette rental industry relative to the more conventional wholesale price contract. This paper studies revenue-sharing contracts in a general supply chain model with revenues determined by each retailer's purchase quantity and price. Demand can be deterministic or stochastic and revenue is generated either from rentals or outright sales. Our model includes the case of a supplier selling to a classical fixed-price newsvendor or a price-setting newsvendor. We demonstrate that revenue sharing coordinates a supply chain with a single retailer (i.e., the retailer chooses optimal price and quantity) and arbitrarily allocates the supply chain's profit. We compare revenue sharing to a number of other supply chain contracts (e.g., buy-back contracts, price-discount contracts, quantity-flexibility contracts, sales-rebate contracts, franchise contracts, and quantity discounts). We find that revenue sharing is equivalent to buybacks in the newsvendor case and equivalent to price discounts in the price-setting newsvendor case. Revenue sharing also coordinates a supply chain with retailers competing in quantities, e.g., Cournot competitors or competing newsvendors with fixed prices. Despite its numerous merits, we identify several limitations of revenue sharing to (at least partially) explain why it is not prevalent in all industries. In particular, we characterize cases in which revenue sharing provides only a small improvement over the administratively cheaper wholesale price contract. Additionally, revenue sharing does not coordinate a supply chain with demand that depends on costly retail effort. We develop a variation on revenue sharing for this setting.


ABSTRACT In this Address, I reflect on the journey of AFAM with regard to its past, present and future. As a new scholarly community, AFAM is called to the sacred society. Its future therefore should be based on the use of the legitimacy associated with that calling to enact its strategic role – facilitating transformation of African societies – by assuming the paramount duty of parrhesia. As a parrhesiatic organization, AFAM has to engage in value-creating practices through its discourses so that it can endow Africans with the right and ability to speak. These value-creating practices are means by which AFAM moves beyond its sacredness to the secular context of Africa. Unlike other scholarly communities, AFAM does not have the luxury of not 'unliving' the African challenge; it has a sacred duty to help provide a different and new living to Africans than the one they are currently experiencing.


In a photographic printing process, the granularity mottle which represents the printed-through granularity pattern of the negative can be analyzed best by means of the Weiner spectrum of its density fluctuations. A theory is given for the linear transfer of granularity through a printing process, and results are given for a series of optical and contact prints. The case of mottle arising in x-ray screen exposures is similar; it is shown that the measuring techniques will evaluate the effects of various screens.


There is an increase of megaproject construction worldwide. At the same time, risks involved in megaprojects have also become a wide concern. Extending from the macrolevel of qualitative analysis focusing on complexity, politics, and morality, the research conducted the microscopic empirical analysis on twenty-two typical cases by adopting the quality comparative analysis (QCA) from the auditing perspective. Different from the traditional analysis method taking each causation as independent variable, the results in the study revealed that there was complex multiple concurrent causation among eight conditions; additionally, the configuration of those would be divided into six types, among which, the coverage of the three types, namely, project management risk, preliminary and construction risk, and tendering and contract management related risk, was almost eighty percent. Finally, megaproject risks in China were caused by complicated and changeable combination conditions, which would provide a new breakthrough for seeking analyzing megaproject risks through this quantitative analysis method, and indicate the researchers and practitioners to control the megaproject risks from a more systematic way.


Language choice in the newly independent Republic of East Timor can be usefully examined in the wider context of language policy in multilingual states. The present article reports on ethnographic research investigating official and popular discourses of language and identity in East Timor and the role of past and present language policies and practices in shaping national and social identity. It focuses on the discursive reconstruction of identity through five official instruments of language policy development. Hostile discourses in the Australian and Indonesian press towards the choice of Portuguese (the former colonial language) and Tetum (the endogenous lingua franca) as official languages provided the context for the investigation. A persistent theme in these discourses is that English and/or Indonesian would be preferable choices. The article puts these discourses into perspective by presenting findings from two data sets: (i) the 2004 National Census and (ii) analysis of the discourses of 78 participants in semi-structured interviews and student focus groups. The census shows clear signs of the revival of Portuguese and the reinvigoration of Tetum. It also shows how diverse linguistic identities have become in East Timor. The research findings show that there is less hostility to official language policy than claimed in the Australian and Indonesian press. However, the findings also emphasise the urgent need to reconstruct an inclusive, plurilingual national identity that can encompass diversity.


This study explores Chinese university students' use of phrasal verbs in comparison with their American and British counterparts by utilizing a corpus of learner English and four native corpora of two English varieties and two genres (argumentative and academic writing). The results show that it is difficult to state whether the Chinese learners of English over- or underuse phrasal verbs in writing because a more striking difference emerges between the British and American students. American students tend to use many more phrasal verbs in both genres than British students and they also use a greater variety of phrasal verbs. Notwithstanding the differences, both American and British students tend to use fewer phrasal verbs in academic writing than in argumentative writing. The learners do not show a fundamental difference from the British students regarding overall frequencies of phrasal verbs; however, the learner-native writer gap does exist between the Chinese and American students.


Micronutrient deficiencies have been reported in food crops worldwide. Several macro- and micronutrients are essential for human health. However, among these elements, the trace elements zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), iodine (I), selenium (Se), and cobalt (Co) are limiting in the diets of much of the world's population. According to United Nations estimates, about 1 billion people, especially woman and children, are suffering from malnutrition of trace elements, especially in Africa, Asia, and South America. Improving bioavailability of these elements in food crops is an important strategy to overcome trace-element deficiencies in food crops and improving human health. Genetic variability in micronutrient contents in the grain of crops such as rice, corn, wheat, barley, soybean, and dry bean is widely reported in the literature. Hence, use of genetic variability among crop species and genotypes within species is an important strategy to achieve biofortification of grain of staple food crops. Other practices that can be adopted to improve bioavailability of essential elements in food crops are adopting appropriate agronomic practices, such as adequate rate, effective sources, and effective methods of fertilizer application. Use of biotechnology is also feasible to biofortification of staple food crops. Planting indigenous and traditional food crop species with high nutritive value is another important strategy to improve trace elements in human food.


Forward guidance about future policy settings, in the form of a published policy-rate path, has for many years been a natural part of normal monetary policy for several central banks, including the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Swedish Riksbank. More recently, the Federal Reserve has started to publish FOMC participants' policy-rate projections. The Swedish, New Zealand, and U.S. experience of a published policy-rate path is examined, especially to what extent the market has anticipated the path (the predictability of the path) and to what extent market expectations line up with the path after publication (the credibility of the path). The recent Swedish experience is quite dramatic. In particular, it shows a case with a large discrepancy between a high and rising Riksbank path and a low and falling market path, with the market path providing a good forecast of the future policy rate. The discrepancy is explained by the Riksbank's leaning against the wind in recent years and related circumstances. The New Zealand experience is less dramatic, but shows cases where the market implements either a substantially tighter or easier policy than intended by the RBNZ. There are also cases of the market being ahead of the RBNZ and the RBNZ later following the market. The U.S. experience includes a recent case of the market expecting and implementing substantially easier policy consistent with the FOMC projections, the possible explanation of which has been much discussed.


PURPOSE
The neurodegenerative progression of glaucoma is considered to be related not only to primary risk factors such as the elevation of intraocular pressure, but also to mediators of secondary neuronal degeneration. In the present study, the neuroprotective activity of the alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonists brimonidine, AGN 191103, and clonidine were examined in an animal model that simulates secondary neuronal degeneration of the optic nerve in a way thought to be independent of elevation of intraocular pressure. The beta-blocker timolol, currently used clinically to decrease intraocular pressure, was also examined for neuroprotective activity at dosages corresponding to the effective antihypertensive dosage.

METHODS
A single dose of each of the tested compounds was administered intraperitoneally immediately after partial crush injury of the rat optic nerve. Secondary degeneration was measured by determining injury-induced deficits with and without the drug. This was achieved electrophysiologically by measurement of compound action potential amplitude, and morphometrically by counting the retrogradely labeled retinal ganglion cells, representing viable optic nerve axons, in wholemounted retinas.

RESULTS
All three alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonists, but not timolol, exhibited neuroprotective effects. Treatment immediately after injury with each of these agonists resulted in a dose-dependent attenuation of the injury-induced decrease in compound action potential amplitude. Moreover, after treatment with 100 microg/kg brimonidine administered intraperitoneally, the loss of retinal ganglion cells 2 weeks after injury was three times lower than in saline-treated animals.

CONCLUSIONS
In addition to their known effect of lowering intraocular pressure, alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonists, unlike timolol, exert a neuroprotective effect. Use of the rat optic nerve model of partial crush injury can serve as a method of screening compounds that are potentially capable of alleviating the progression of secondary neuronal degeneration.


Corrosion of the reinforcing steel is a primary deterioration mechanism for reinforced concrete bridges. Heavy use of de-icing salts is believed to be a major contributor in Ontario to severe girder soffit spalling in certain cases. This thesis develops an assessment methodology to evaluate spalled bridges based on ultimate limit states. Specifically, a deterministic program is developed for assessment. It is subsequently compared to laboratory test results and used as a basis for a probabilistic reliability study.

A modified area concept is proposed in this thesis to consider the effects of exposing reinforcement at various locations along the girder length. A multipoint analysis program, BEST (Bridge Evaluation Strength Tool), is developed that employs this concept, along with graphical spalling surveys and structural drawings, to evaluate reinforced concrete bridge girders. The program is adapted for a full bridge analysis and to consider the other effects of corrosion, such as bar section loss and bond deterioration.

A case study bridge is evaluated to show that the BEST program offers a viable tool for the rapid assessment of spalled bridge girders and to facilitate the prioritization of rehabilitation projects. This evaluation indicates that the spatial distribution of the spalling along a girder, relative to bar splices and laps, has the most significant influence on structural capacity. Single girders show strength deficiencies in flexure and shear due to spalling. In general, the consideration of system effects improves the predicted bridge condition, while considering section loss and bond deterioration has the opposite effect.

Laboratory work is used to validate the proposed model and identify a number of areas for future research. The laboratory test results also suggest that the current repair methods are effective in restoring bond and strength.

In order to further explore potential uses for the BEST program, modifications are made so that it can be used to perform reliability analyses using Monte-Carlo simulation techniques.
A simplified approach for estimating the reliability index as a function of the deterministic resistance ratio is proposed based on the reliability analysis results.


Quantifying nitrogen fertilizer leaching in order to reduce environmental losses in the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production on sandy soils is a major issue of current research. The general objective of the thesis was to address this problem in three parts. The first part aimed to follow the fate of rainfall and snowmelt in the soil during an entire year with water stable isotopes (O and H) since nitrates follow water pathways. Rainfall and snow melt percolation rate was approximately 1.5±0.5 months. Water percolates at slower rate in the upper soil layer than in sublayers. Finally, a perceptual model considered two periods of nitrate leaching: the first period from previous harvest to seeding and the second during the cropping season. In the second part, we followed the nitrogen fertilizer pathway through soil and estimated fertilizer recovered by plants after fortification with nitrogen 15. Soil profiles were sampled on the same days as for the oxygen 18 and deuterium samplings. Results show that the fertilizer remained in the hill until the occurrence of rainfall events exceeding 70±10 mm. Nitrates are leached away mostly during the fall, as was the case for oxygen 18 and deuterium. At harvest, the tuber took up 47% of the nitrogen from fertilizer, leaving the remainder susceptible to leaching. Until maximum foliage coverage, the plant took up nitrogen more from fertilizer than mineralized organic nitrogen, but the reverse occurred thereafter. The third part was to simplify the sampling procedure of soil nitrate within the hill for budgeting nitrate. The hill was sampled across a 0-50 cm soil profile at four places and at five moments during the cropping season. A reliable relationship with a slope of 0.78 related soil nitrate content sampled at the centre of the hill to that of the entire hill for the 0-50 cm soil profile.


Outcomes of the management of retroperitoneal sarcoma in the Northern Alberta (NA), Canada was examined in this study. 75 patients (34 females and 41 males, age range 30-87 years) underwent operations at the CCI for PRS (sarcomas represented 61% of all the cases). A retrospective analysis of these patients was performed to determine the prognostic parameters associated with a favorable prognosis. Complete resection was possible in 33% of cases (n = 25), incomplete resection was performed in 35% (n = 26) and in 32% (n = 24) only biopsy was possible. Frequently resected adjacent organs were: kidney (15%), colon (10%) and pancreas (6%). Univariate analysis demonstrated that complete resection was an independent factor for survival as compared to partial resection or biopsy alone (p=0.001). Patients with complete resection had a 12 month survival of 100% (n = 25) compared to 84% (n = 22) for those undergoing partial resection and 25% (n = 5) for those with simple biopsy. A 24-month survival of the patients undergoing complete resection was 88% (n = 22). Median survival for type of surgical treatment was 91.2 (88.2-104.9) months for complete resection compared to 30.4 (24.2-41.5) months for partial resection and only 5.7 (2.6-8.1) months for biopsy. Complete resection is the cornerstone of the treatment and is important for long-term survival in patients with retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas.


This thesis describes the design and use of two novel digital musical instruments (DMIs) based on moving mechanical systems. The motivation behind using mechanical devices was threefold: to explore the effect of physical effort on DMIs, to make use of the device's inherent haptic and visual feedback, and to serve as a starting point for sound mappings. It was hoped that their mechanical nature would give the instruments a character that could emerge through each of the mappings. The first DMI built was the Gyrotyre, a hand-held DMI based around a small bicycle wheel outfitted with sensors that measure its speed of rotation and as well as its angle of orientation. The second DMI built was the Springwave, which consists of a loose metal spring stretched to one meter and fixed at both ends to a metal frame. The frame is in turn mounted horizontally on a hi-hat stand so that it can be raised and lowered with the pedal, thus inducing oscillation in the spring. Various mappings were designed to reflect and make use of the physical nature of both instruments. It was found that the nature of interaction with each instrument was very different depending on the mapping used. The use of mechanical devices was found to be a useful starting point for the development of mappings, and made playing the instruments engaging for the performer. by the relationship between DMIs and musical contexts, a framework for characterizing DMIs that takes musical context into account is presented.


In arid countries worldwide, social conflicts between irrigation-based human development and the conservation of aquatic ecosystems are widespread and attract many public debates. This research focuses on the analysis of water and agricultural policies aimed to conserve groundwater resources and to maintain rural livelihoods in a basin in Spain's central arid region. Intensive groundwater mining has caused overexploitation of the basin's large aquifer and the degradation of internationally reputed wetlands. This has caused notable social conflicts over the years but the policies implemented have not been able to solve them so far. The methodology consists in the integration of a farm-based economic model and a basin-based hydrology model to analyze the dynamics of different water and agricultural policies under changing climate conditions. Results show that the region's current quota-based water policies may contribute to reduce water consumption in the farms but will not be able to recover the aquifer and will inflict economic losses to the rural communities. This situation would worsen in case of drought. The long-term sustainability of the aquifer and rural livelihoods will be attained only if additional measures are put in place such as the control of illegal abstractions and the establishing of a water bank


This paper analyzes empirically the determinants of new born firms' initial size. As survival prospects of young firms tend to be linked to a firm's start-up size, a better understanding of the factors influencing start-up size is crucial. Most of the rare literature on initial firm size focuses on industry characteristics. We contribute to the understanding of the determinants of initial firm size by analyzing firm specific factors such as founders' human capital composition and entry strategies. We find that in addition to industry effects start-up size is considerably influenced by the human capital of firm founders. We distinguish between generic and specific human capital. Generic human capital refers to the general knowledge acquired through formal education and professional experience and usually coincides with a higher personal wealth. Specific human capital comprises competences that can be directly applied to the entrepreneurial job. For generic human capital we find that having a university degree has a positive influence on start-up size. The same applies for general working experience proxied by the founder's age. For the specific human capital components we find that successful entrepreneurial experience and managerial experience gained in dependent employment support a higher start-up size. Altogether, specific human capital tends to have a larger impact on initial size than generic human capital. Entry strategies are expected to have a crucial influence on start-up size, because objectives of market entry largely determine the resources a firm requires. We distinguish between different types of entry strategies. On the one hand, we look at entry strategies based on innovation. We measure innovation by a variable which indicates if a firm carries out continuous R&D. On the other hand, entry is classified according to the main motive of the founders for firm formation. We conclude that different motives are accompanied by diverse entry strategies. The four main groups of entry strategies are independency entrepreneurship, opportunity entrepreneurship, spin-out entrepreneurship and necessity entrepreneurship. The results indicate that firms conducting R&D continuously start larger than others when measuring initial employment in full-time equivalents. We do not observe a significant effect on start-up size measured in head counts. This suggests that R&D tasks are mostly carried out by fulltime employees and to a lesser extent by persons working part-time for the firm. Further, firms with entry strategies based on the exploitation of new market opportunities as well as spin-out entrepreneurship exhibit a higher initial size while start-ups established from necessity appear to start at a smaller scale.


ABSTRACT
Our environment is an asset to be managed carefully and is not an expendable resource to be taken for granted. The main original contribution of this thesis is in formulating intelligent techniques and simulating case studies to demonstrate the significance of the present approach for achieving a low carbon economy. Energy boosts crop production, drives industry and increases employment. Wise energy use is the first step to ensuring sustainable energy for present and future generations. Energy services are essential for meeting internationally agreed development goals. Energy management system lies at the heart of all infrastructures from communications, economy, and society's transportation to the society. This has made the system more complex and more interdependent. The increasing number of disturbances occurring in the system has raised the priority of energy management system infrastructure which has been improved with the aid of technology and investment; suitable methods have been presented to optimize the system in this thesis.

Since the current system is facing various problems from increasing disturbances, the system is operating on the limit, aging equipments, load change etc, therefore an improvement is essential to minimize these problems. To enhance the current system and resolve the issues that it is facing, smart grid has been proposed as a solution to resolve power problems and to prevent future failures. This thesis argues that smart grid consists of computational intelligence and smart meters to improve the reliability, stability and security of power. In comparison with the current system, it is more intelligent, reliable, stable and secure, and will reduce the number of blackouts and other failures that occur on the power grid system. Also, the thesis has reported that smart metering is technically feasible to improve energy efficiency.

In the thesis, a new technique using wavelet transforms, floating point genetic algorithm and artificial neural network based hybrid model for gaining accurate prediction of short-term load forecast has been developed. Adopting the new model is more accuracy than radial basis function network. Actual data has been used to test the proposed new method and it has been demonstrated that this integrated intelligent technique is very effective for the load forecast.

Choosing the appropriate algorithm is important to implement the optimization during the daily task in the power system. The potential for application of swarm intelligence to Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch (ORPD) has been shown in this thesis. After making the comparison of the results derived from swarm intelligence, improved genetic algorithm and a conventional gradient-based optimization method, it was concluded that swam intelligence is better in terms of performance and precision in solving optimal reactive power dispatch problems.


Discourse involves two perspectives: a person's intention in making an utterance and others' perception of that utterance. The misalignment between these perspectives can lead to undesirable outcomes, such as misunderstandings, low productivity and even overt strife. In this work, we present a computational framework for exploring and comparing both perspectives in online public discussions. We combine logged data about public comments on Facebook with a survey of over 16,000 people about their intentions in writing these comments or about their perceptions of comments that others had written. Unlike previous studies of online discussions that have largely relied on third-party labels to quantify properties such as sentiment and subjectivity, our approach also directly captures what the speakers actually intended when writing their comments. In particular, our analysis focuses on judgments of whether a comment is stating a fact or an opinion, since these concepts were shown to be often confused. We show that intentions and perceptions diverge in consequential ways. People are more likely to perceive opinions than to intend them, and linguistic cues that signal how an utterance is intended can differ from those that signal how it will be perceived. Further, this misalignment between intentions and perceptions can be linked to the future health of a conversation: when a comment whose author intended to share a fact is misperceived as sharing an opinion, the subsequent conversation is more likely to derail into uncivil behavior than when the comment is perceived as intended. Altogether, these findings may inform the design of discussion platforms that better promote positive interactions.


This paper describes national cooperation in Sweden launched by its universities and authorities, aimed at improving geodata education. These initiatives have been focused upon providing common access to geodata, the production of teaching materials in Swedish and organizing annual meetings for teachers. We argue that this type of cooperation is vital to providing high quality education for a poorly recognized subject in a country with a relatively small population.


We study the impact of large-scale ionospheric structure on the accuracy of radio occultation (RO) retrievals. We use a climatological model of the ionosphere as well as an ionospheric data assimilation model to compare quiet and geomagnetically disturbed conditions. The presence of ionospheric electron density gradients during disturbed conditions increases the physical separation of the two GPS frequencies as the GPS signal traverses the ionosphere and atmosphere. We analyze this effect in detail using ray-tracing and a full geophysical retrieval system. During quiet conditions, our results are similar to previously published studies. The impact of a major ionospheric storm is analyzed using data from the 30 October 2003 "Halloween" superstorm period. At 40 km altitude, the refractivity bias under disturbed conditions is approximately three times larger than quiet time. These results suggest the need for ionospheric monitoring as part of an RO-based climate observation strategy. We find that even during quiet conditions, the magnitude of retrieval bias depends critically on assumed ionospheric electron density structure, which may explain variations in previously published bias estimates that use a variety of assumptions regarding large scale ionospheric structure. We quantify the impact of spacecraft orbit altitude on the magnitude of bending angle and retrieval error. Satellites in higher altitude orbits (700+ km) tend to have lower residual biases due to the tendency of the residual bending to cancel between the top and bottomside ionosphere. Another factor affecting accuracy is the commonly-used assumption that refractive index is unity at the receiver. We conclude with remarks on the implications of this study for long-term climate monitoring using RO. Correspondence to: A. J. Mannucci (email@example.com)


As the photovoltaic performance of a device is strongly influenced by the morphology of perovskite, achieving precise control over the crystal formation of organic-inorganic halide perovskites synthesized in the ambience of chloride ions has garnered much attention. Although the resulting morphology dictates the performance of the device considerably, the understanding of the role of chloride ions has been scant. To unravel this mystery, we investigated three different organic-inorganic halide perovskite materials grown from the chloride-containing precursors under different but optimized conditions. Despite the presence of chloride ions in the reaction mixture, scanning transmission electron microscopy- energy dispersive spectroscopy (STEM-EDS) reveals that the CH3NH3PbI3 perovskites formed are chloride-free. Moreover bright field transmission electron microscopy indicates that chloride ions effect the growth of the CH3NH3PbI3.


Although many species of bats select roost sites in large trees that are in
open areas, intraspecific variation in roost-site selection may exist. We collected
data on the roosting behaviour of little brown bats in the Cypress
Hills, Saskatchewan, to determine the extent of intraspecific variation in
roost-site selection. In addition, we examined the thermal microclimate of
the tree-roosts selected by bats, to determine if roost-microsite variation
can explain why certain cavities are selected over others. We found little
brown bats roosting in trees as well as buildings. With the exception of a
male who roosted in a spruce ( Picea glauca ) stump, tree-roosts selected
by male and female little brown bats were all in trembling aspen ( Populus tremuloides ) trees. We found variation in roost-site fidelity and differential use of torpor by male bats. Temperatures within conifer snag cavities differed
from aspen cavities during the day, and mirrored ambient temperature,
which tended to be warmer than aspen cavities. We propose that
bats select cavities in aspens because they are susceptible to heart rot.
Aspen trees with heart rot provide cavities with an intact sapwood shell
that protects bats against harsh ambient conditions as well as predators,
and provides a unique thermal microclimate. Our results suggest that the
origin of a roost site may be unimportant to a bat, provided certain other
requirements are met.


Abstract The in-season estimation of crop stresses which have the potential of adversely affecting crop yield and/or quality could allow producers to make in-season management decisions to correct for the particular stress. A field study was conducted to evaluate the use of multi-spectral imagery for estimating corn (Zea mays L.) grain yield, in-season biomass and nitrogen (N) concentration under varying N and drought stresses. The experiment was a split-plot design with three replications using a factorial arrangement of treatments. Three irrigation (whole-plot) treatments included dry land, irrigation based on 0.5, and full evapotranspiration (ET). Sub-plot treatments included five N rates (0, 45, 90, 134, 269 kg N ha−1). Multi-spectral imagery consisted of four wavebands; blue (485 nm ± 35 nm), green (550 nm ± 35 nm), red (660 nm ± 30 nm), and near-infrared (NIR) (830 nm ± 70 nm). Imagery was collected on various dates throughout the growing season; biomass sampling was performed within two days of image collection. Grain yield, in-season biomass, and N concentration increased with increasing N rate regardless of sampling date or year. Yield was only affected by irrigation during 1997 due to a significant difference in rainfall between 1997 and 1998, 247 vs. 457 mm, respectively. Regression correlation coefficients for the 1998 values were generally higher compared to 1997 values across years for imagery collected at similar growth stages, possibly due to differences in sensor sensitivity or the increased plant response to applied N. Regression correlation coefficients increased as the growing season progressed. The green waveband and normalized difference greenness vegetation index (GNDVI) had the greatest ability to estimate grain yield in the presence of varying N and/or drought stresses. This study demonstrates the ability of multi-spectral imagery analysis to estimate grain production in the presence of N and/or drought stresses.


Literary Bristol tells the story of Bristol through its writers. Bristol has been recognised as a thriving port and commercial and industrial centre, as well as a city of churches, yet insufficient attention has been paid to its literary importance, even though more writers are connected to this 'Venice of the West' than almost any other city in England, apart from London. There are over a hundred significant authors, poets and playwrights linked to Bristol, which allow it to take its place as one of the world's great literary centres. Bristol can lay claim to a significant number of literary firsts in poetry, prose and drama.

This book takes the reader on an armchair tour of Bristol, linking writer and place from the late eighteenth century up to the present day. Leading experts on Bristol's literary tradition act as virtual tour-guides, pointing out the Romantic poets, early women writers, Gothic novelists, Victorian authors, dramatists and modern novelists who have left their mark on Bristol's cultural cityscape. The relationship between writing and place is explored in innovative ways, drawing together neglected and famous writers connected with Bristol.


The second leading cause of death in women in the United States is breast cancer. While it remains the most common type of cancer in women, early detection through mammography screening has been used to combat and treat breast cancer. But after the 2000, the rates of mammography have been declining. The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not the decline has continued and whether all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups experienced the same rate of decline. Data from the National Health Interview Survey (2003 to 2005) and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2002 to 2004) were used to calculate the percent decline for the total population and by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Mammography rates declined between 2003-2005 (NHIS) and 2002-2004 (BRFSS). Data from both the NHIS and BRFSS show a greater rate of decline for African American women, and women with lower income and education. These results differ from previous studies which examined broader time interval (2000 to 2005). Further research is recommended to explore whether the rates of decline have continued, the impact of the decline in mammography rates on breast cancer incidence, mortality, and stage of diagnosis, as well as the underlying reasons for the observed decline in mammography rates and for disparities in the rates of decline.


Problem. Early intervention is crucial for effective treatment of eating disorders. While there have recently been many assessment tools developed specifically for eating disorders, a screening tool is still needed. This study sought to identify, in an eating-disordered sample, the existence of a v-shaped pattern on scales 4-5-6 of the MMPI, a commonly used general measure of psychopathology. Method. The sample consisted of 356 females who were being treated for eating disorders through the HOPE program between 1989 and 1996. Past research on the MMPI has produced equivocal results on identifying significant patterns on the clinical scales. Since prior research did not control for the effects of comorbidity, this study considered additional diagnoses in the analysis of the data. Results. The results of this research supported the existence of an eating-disorder pattern for anorectic and bulimic subjects that departed significantly from that of a normal population. The v-shaped pattern was tested at four different levels of magnitude. Statistical analysis confirmed that the v-shaped pattern, defined in several different ways, occurred significantly more than would be expected by chance. Additionally, the presence of comorbidity appeared to have little effect on the proportion of individuals showing the V-shaped profile. Conclusions. This research supports the existence of a 4-5-6 pattern as a means of identifying individuals appropriate for more focused assessment.


The Hakon Mosby Mud Volcano (HMMV) in 1100 m water depth on the continental slope off Northern Norway was mapped with multibeam microbathymetry systems attached to the scientific ROV Victor 6000 during the ARK XIX 3/b expedition of R/V Polarstern (June-July 2003). Two multibeam systems were used: a Reson SeaBat 8125 (455 kHz, 1°x0.5°, 44 hours diving producing 235 millions of soundings) and a Simrad EM2000 (200kHz, 1.5°x3.5°, 15 hours diving producing 19 millions of soundings). Data were processed with the Ifremer CARAIBES software?, including (1) graphic and interactive ROV navigation adjustment using bathymetry as a reference, (2) roll and pitch calibration and tide correction, (3) ping editing and filtering to de-spike erroneous soundings. A final bathymetric map (grid size of 0.5 meter) has been produced using mainly Reson SeaBat 8125 data, filling the gaps with Simrad EM2000 data.We present the microbathymetric map. The seafloor morphology of the HMMV is characterized by a polygonal central body, up to 1 km across, surrounded by circular moats. The bathymetric map illustrates important seafloor features in considerable detail. The downslope and upslope edges of the central body have a NE/SW direction. This direction is also the dominant direction of a number of fractures and fissures that can be traced across the volcano. Several individual mud flows can be identified Recent mud flows all appear to originate from the central part of the mud volcano. They have formed a large flat area in the southern half of the volcano. Outside this flat area, older flows, characterized by a rough topography and a surface elevation of up to 10 m with respect to the flat area, could have been disrupted and pushed aside by the younger flows emitted at the center.The microbathymetry map provides important clues to the geological functionning of the HMMV. It puts contraints on the relative ages of seafloor compartments. It brings an essential background information for the interpretation of in situ measurements and samples.


The Subatomic Physics Department of iThemba Laboratory for Accelerated Based Sciences (iThemba LABS) conducts experiments that require a variety of particle beams in order to study nuclear properties (reaction, structure, etc.) of various nuclides. These particle beams are accelerated using the K-200 Separated Sector Cyclotron (SSC) and delivered to different physics experimental vaults. Prior to acceleration, the particle beam is first ionised using an Electron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS). The main goal of this study is the production of exotic metallic beams of Ni and Ni using ECRIS4, which are required for the Coulomb excitation experiments approved by the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) at iThemba LABS. In order to provide the metallic beams of nickel, a development study of organometallic materials containing Ni and Ni isotopes in a form of metallocene complexes was undertaken. The nickelocene (NiCp2) complex, a member of the organometallic family, was synthesised at the Physics Target Laboratory of iThemba LABS for the first time. Method development involved the use of natural nickel during the multi-step synthesis before the use of enriched nickel-60 (Ni) and nickel-62 (Ni). Nine samples of NiCp2 were synthesised; two were isotopically enriched nickelocene (NiCp2 and NiCp2). The percentage yields of the synthesised nickelocene samples ranged between 16 to 50 %, and samples were characterised by investigating their crystal structure and bonding arrangements in the complexes by X-ray diffraction (XRD) , Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (H NMR). The synthesised nickelocene were further used with ECRIS4 for the production of Ni beams on the Q-line of the cyclotron. The Metal Ions from Volatile Compounds (MIVOC) technique was used for the conversion of Ni and Ni to ion species. The method used the organometallic compounds which are volatile at specific pressures at ambient temperatures. https://etd.uwc.ac.za iii Metallic ion beams of nickel were successfully produced after a carefully pre-sample conditioning in the MIVOC container before connecting the MIVOC set-up to the new injection system of the ECRIS4. Measured beam intensities during the experiment for both Ni and Ni were approximately 30 μA, optimum for physics measurements. The development of the MIVOC technique opens up new beam-target combinations with the use of new exotic stable beams for new science cases at iThemba LABS. Reactions in inverse kinematics, multi-step Coulomb-excitation and other types of reactions will immensely benefit from these developments. https://etd.uwc.ac.za


Extremal Graph Theory-Bela Bollobas 2013-07-02 The ever-expanding field of extremal graph theory encompasses a diverse array of problem-solving methods, including applications to economics, computer science, and optimization theory. This volume, based on a series of lectures delivered to graduate students at the University of Cambridge, presents a concise yet comprehensive treatment of extremal graph theory. Unlike most graph theory treatises, this text features complete proofs for almost all of its results. Further insights into theory are provided by the numerous exercises of varying degrees of difficulty that accompany each chapter. Although geared toward mathematicians and research students, much of Extremal Graph Theory is accessible even to undergraduate students of mathematics. Pure mathematicians will find this text a valuable resource in terms of its unusually large collection of results and proofs, and professionals in other fields with an interest in the applications of graph theory will also appreciate its precision and scope.


This paper focuses on the pre-establishment period of start-ups in industrial districts. The industrial architecture is what I call a "rationed agglomeration" in which some entrepreneurs gather around an established firm while other entrepreneurs in the same business stand alone. In a rationed agglomeration, I analyze the effects of relations between established firms, network entrepreneurs, and local financiers on the market prices of loans. I show that such relations improve the match of capital to ideas in the network even though the overall distribution of capital to ideas remains unchanged. This suggests that success breeds success in the networks of established firms. The existence of networks overturns the claim that there are no motives to engage in information gathering in a simple market regime with information asymmetries. In particular, I show that there are market incentives for established firms to decrease the information gap between network entrepreneurs and local financiers.


IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY HONOR to have been given this opportunity to address the members of the American Philosophical Society, a body that has directly supported my research in crucial ways since the earliest days of my career. The honor is doubled in this context, in which we are reflecting upon the legacy of Franz Boas. As an anthropologist and folklorist I endeavor to work in a tradition that is a direct extension of Boas's foundational accomplishments and I have always felt a deep sense of appreciation for the four remarkable scholars who connect me, via student-adviser ties, directly back to Boas. I want to thank Professor Greenhouse and the Society's leadership for this chance to reflect on contemporary problems of wide concern in light of the work of Boas and his students and of my own experiences as a field ethnographer who has worked in consultation with the Native American peoples of Eastern Oklahoma since 1993.Around the world, we live in an era dominated by intellectual property concepts of a distinctive, and increasingly powerful, sort. The United States government, in alignment with the interests of multinational corporations, is at the forefront of a global effort to formally establish, expand, and synchronize laws governing such intellectual property rights as patent, copyright, and trademark protection. For international bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, the worldwide extension and harmonization of Western intellectual property systems is understood in strictly positive terms as a means of promoting economic and political "development." But this view is widely contested in a dizzying array of venues.In reference to the increasingly digital culture of the global North, one of your newest members, Lawrence Lessig, has been at the forefront of efforts to both understand and mitigate the consequences of such transformations, particularly the enclosure of the public domain by an ever-expanding realm of copyright and so-called "digital rights management" technologies. The copyleft movement, centered on new legal tools such as Creative Commons licenses, represents a growing alliance of diverse individuals and groups, from open source computer programmers to collage artists, hip hop musicians, and advocates for open access publication of scholarly research.2These issues have a particular appearance as they are viewed from the vantage point of the legal department of a major record label or from the dorm room of the college freshman engaged busily but illegally in downloading pop songs. They look and feel different, again, from the perspective of the French or California vintner battling over whether it is, or is not, Champagne if it is produced outside of France's Champagne region. Such geographical indicators or regional appellations are a form of intangible property that few of us gave much thought to until they, in relatively recent times, became the center of loud, newsworthy regional and international battles.Then there are ways that intellectual property contests have been emergent in the developing, third, and fourth worlds. Artists from Aboriginal Australian communities seek to stop overseas firms from massproducing consumer goods featuring sacred imagery. Indian farmers fight the patenting of Basmati rice by a U.S. -based agribusiness. A diverse array of indigenous and non-indigenous actors weigh in on the worldwide project of pharmaceutical bioprospecting/biopiracy. Global open source yoga advocates go to court to battle the enclosure of, and commodification of, yoga techniques by a superstar California guru. Michael E Brown and others of my colleagues have been vigorously tracking and interpreting such conflicts for much of the past decade.3The shorthand labels with which we try to sort such issues are evocative if a bit dizzying: pharmaceutical bioprospecting, agricultural biopiracy, traditional knowledge prior art databases, open source yoga, the copyleft movement, geographic indicators, open data, digital rights management, and terminator seeds. …