A survey was carried out to monitor during a two-month period the incidence of Aspergillus in samples of stored cassava chips traditionally produced in southern Cameroon. Seventy-two samples associated with two forms of chips (cassava balls and cassava pellets) were collected in two locations (Yaounde and Ebolowa) and 13 Aspergillus species were isolated. In both locations, Aspergillus versicolor was seldom isolated, whereas A. flavus and A. clavatuswere most frequently isolated. The level of recovery of isolates obtained was not affected by location and form of chips, but by the duration of storage (P < 0.01) and the moisture content (P < 0.05). Five core species were identified, which formed more than 70% of the total isolates associated with the samples analyzed. These were A. clavatus, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger and A. ochraceous. Correlation coefficients computed between pairs of these species based on total isolation figures for the two locations showed that some were significantly associated. A. clavatus, A. niger and A. ochraceous were positively related to one another in a significant way. Similarly, significant correlations, positive or negative, were observed between the moisture content and all core Aspergillus species. The larger number of these toxigenic fungi isolated raises concerns on the potential of stored cassava products as a natural substrate liable to mycotoxin formation.

 Key words: Aspergillus species, Cameroon, Cassava chips and Survey.


This thesis addresses asset pricing in Chinese A-share stock markets using a dataset consisting of all shares listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from January 1997 to December 2007. The empirical work is carried out based on two theoretical foundations: the efficient market hypothesis and behavioural finance. It examines and compares the validity of two traditional asset pricing models and two behavioural asset pricing models.
The investigation is initially performed within a traditional asset pricing framework. The three-factor Fama-French model is estimated and then augmented by additional macroeconomic and bond market variables. The results suggest that these traditional asset pricing models fail to explain fully the time-variation of stock returns in Chinese stock markets, leaving non-normally distributed and heteroskedastic residuals, calling for further explanatory variables and suggesting the existence of a structure break. Indeed, the macroeconomic and bond market factors provide little help to the asset pricing model.
Using the Fama-French model as the benchmark, further research is done by investigating investor sentiment as the third dimension beside returns and risks. Investor sentiment helps explain the mis-pricing component of returns in the Fama-French model and the time-variation in the factors themselves. Incorporating investor sentiment into the asset pricing model improves the model performance, lessening the importance of the Fama-French factors, and suggesting that in China, sentiment affects both the way in which investors judge risks as well as portfolio returns directly. The sentiment effect on asset pricing is also examined under a nonlinear Markov-switching framework. The stochastic regime-dependent model reveals that stock returns in China are driven by fundamental factors in bear and low volatility markets but are prone to sentiment and become uncoupled from fundamental risks in bull and high volatility markets.


The early post-settlement diurnal colour patterns of 11 of the 17 Lethrinus species presently known from the Great Barrier Reef are described: Lethrinus atkinsoni Seale; Lethrinus erythracanthus Valenciennes; Lethrinus genivittatus Valenciennes; Lethrinus harak Forsskael; Lethrinus lentjan Lacepede; Lethrinus nebulosus (Forsskael); Lethrinus obsoletus (Forsskael); Lethrinus olivaceus Valenciennes; Lethrinus ornatus Valenciennes; Lethrinus variegatus Valenciennes and Lethrinus xanthochilus Klunzinger. Where possible, descriptions cover the ontogenetic development of colour patterns from settlement through to attainment of the adult colouration. In addition, notes are provided on the pigmentation patterns of the late pre-settlement stage of L. atkinsoni, L. genivittatus and L. variegatus. Descriptions are based on field and aquarium observations and freshly collected specimens, with details of colour patterns retained by preserved material also included. The study is aimed as a guide to the identification of Lethrinus early juveniles, based primarily on colour patterns, with notes given on ecology and field identification. Morphological information is provided to facilitate the identification of early juveniles. Two new characters, cheek scales and maxillary serrations, are used to distinguish among recently-settled Lethrinus species. Juvenile lethrinids possess a complex range of colour patterns during their early juvenile period. Three general patterns are displayed by most species, based on stripes and irregular bands. These patterns and their rapid interchanges are described, and interpreted in relation to behavioural observations. Possible functions of the shared colour patterns are discussed in relation to the ecology of Lethrinus juveniles.


We propose a probabilistic object classifier for outdoor scene analysis as a first step in solving the problem of scene context generation. The method begins with a top-down control, which uses the previously learned models (appearance and absolute location) to obtain an initial pixel-level classification. This information provides us the core of objects, which is used to acquire a more accurate object model. Therefore, their growing by specific active regions allows us to obtain an accurate recognition of known regions. Next, a stage of general segmentation provides the segmentation of unknown regions by a bottom-strategy. Finally, the last stage tries to perform a region fusion of known and unknown segmented objects. The result is both a segmentation of the image and a recognition of each segment as a given object class or as an unknown segmented object. Furthermore, experimental results are shown and evaluated to prove the validity of our proposal.


This essay discusses the e¤ect of technical change on wage inequality. I argue that the behavior of wages and returns to schooling indicates that technical change has been skill-biased during the past sixty years. Furthermore, the recent increase in inequality is most likely due to an acceleration in skill bias. In contrast to twentieth century developments, most technical change during the nineteenth century appears to be skill-replacing. I suggest that this is because the increased supply of unskilled workers in the English cities made the introduction of these technologies pro...table. On the other hand, the twentieth-century has been characterized by skill-biased technical change because the rapid increase in the supply of skilled workers has induced the development of skill-complementary technologies. The recent acceleration in skill bias is in turn likely to have been a response to the acceleration in the supply of skills during the past several decades.


A large road box cut was constructed in hilly terrain of Muscat city, Oman, in an area underlain by the geologically complex Sahtan and Mahil formations comprising of limestone, dolomite, sandstone and siltstone with interbedded soft calcareous mudstone. The rockmass contains a large number of small scale faults, shear zones, minor folds and solution cavities. The maximum height of the cut was 50 m with slope angle of 1V:0.25H, and intermediate benches generally 3 m wide. To control vibrations in the urban neighborhood located nearby and avoid damage to the rockmass, a very cautious and time consuming excavation approach was adopted using rock breakers. The excavation work was completed in 2010. Oman has a hyper-arid environment with scarce rainfall for many months. However, occasionally the area is hit by intense rainstorms. During Cyclone Phet and accompanying rains in June 2010, part of the cut slope failed with a downslope movement of about 800 m3 of massive rock. This necessitated a post-excavation re-evaluation of the cut slope, which culminated in design modifications, and construction of long term slope stabilization measures that included high capacity rock anchors, rock bolts and reinforced shotcrete for stabilizing potential shallow and deep seated failures. This case history describes the initial design of the cut slope, causes of slope failure during the cyclone, field and laboratory testing carried out for determination of rock engineering parameters, analytical techniques used for design modification and construction details of the designed remedial works.


The Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor has been envisioned as a candidate of next generation sensors for intelligent vehicles. One of the problems in automotive environment is that the sensor outputs wrong values if exhaust gas exists in the scene. In this paper, we provide two new contributions to the signal processing aspects of the ToF sensor for automotive use. First, we present the sensor characteristics and models for exhaust gas to cope with them. Second, we develop a depth enhancement algorithm to reject the influence of exhaust gas from multiple images. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the depth enhancement algorithm for both static data (including ground truth) and on-vehicle data acquired by the sensor mounted on a car.


Juglone is a 1,4-naphthoquinone (1,4-NQ) and the allelochemical responsible for the well-known toxic effects of black walnut (Juglans nigra) and other members of the Juglandaceae. Juglone affects a variety of weed species via a mode of action unlike any commercially available herbicides, and thus has the potential to be used as a new natural product-based herbicide. However, lack of knowledge about its metabolism precludes introducing juglone biosynthesis traits into resistant crops through biotechnology. Herein, we established that juglone is derived from the phylloquinone pathway at the level of the intermediate 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (DHNA). Phylloquinone is a primary 1,4-NQ made by all plants for photosynthetic electron transport. Despite the fundamental importance of phylloquinone, there are still unanswered questions about the subcellular architecture of the phylloquinone pathway. In chapter 3, we show that o-succinylbenzoate CoA-ligase is localized to both chloroplasts and peroxisomes and that its activity is vital in both organelles. The required dual localization of CoA ligase activity is a theme common to other plant pathways with CoA metabolic steps occurring in peroxisomes and thus leads us to propose a revised model of the phylloquinone pathway. Lastly, given the potential of introducing juglone biosynthesis as part of novel weed management strategies, we investigated the circumstances, costs, and benefits of producing allelochemicals in crops using an evolutionary game theory model. Together, this work (i) shows that the phylloquinone pathway provides crops with the biosynthetic framework to produce juglone, (ii) sheds new light on the phylloquinone pathway architecture, and (iii) reveals the circumstances in which producing an allelochemical will be an evolutionarily stable strategy. We envision these results will assist biotechnological efforts to utilize juglone as a novel, natural product-based herbicide.


Royal Pleasures is a performance project by WHITE MARKET, a performance label founded in 2009 by artists Claudia Kappenberg (London UK) and Dorothea Seror (Munich, Germany).

Royal Pleasures was commissioned by curator Ute Ritchel for KunstTreffpunkt, an annual urban intervention in the city of Darmstadt, Germany. White Market chose to work in one of the former royal parks in the city centre, the Prinz-Georg Garten. To address the question of the relation between pleasure, value and money the White Market artists set up a temporary base in the park and offered to spend time with the passers-by in a direct exchange for payment by the visitors.The latter could choose from different activities and a set amount of time and request the company of one or both artists. The price for the experience depended on the duration as well as on the level of intimacy offered.

By asking for a - largely symbolic - payment for the time and attention given White Market brought the issue of money into the art experience. This strategy invited the passer-by to agree a value and to invest personally into the encounter. It also handed the visitor a certain amount of control as to the amount of investment and the extend of the engagement.


Purpose: Patients with hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) or chronic eosinophilic leukemia (CEL) that are refractory to standard therapies are difficult to manage and have significantly shortened life expectancy. Experimental Design: CD52 is a surface glycoprotein highly expressed on eosinophils. We treated 11 patients with advanced HES/CEL with alemtuzumab, a humanized anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody. Alemtuzumab was administered, in general, first in escalating doses (5, 10, 30 mg i.v. on days 1-3), then at the tolerated dose thrice per week for a total of 12 doses. Patients with complete hematologic response (CHR; normal percent and absolute eosinophil count) were allowed to continue therapy once weekly as maintenance. Results: Ten patients (91%) achieved CHR after a median of 2 weeks (0.5-5 weeks) of therapy. Bone marrow eosinophilia resolved in four of seven evaluable patients. The median duration of CHR was 3 months (1.5-17+ months). Seven of the 10 CHR patients relapsed, five while off-therapy. Two patients achieved second CHR upon alemtuzumab rechallenge. Three patients experienced mild infusion-related symptoms, two developed cytomegalovirus reactivation requiring therapy, and one developed orbital lymphoma that was successfully treated. Conclusions: Our limited experience suggests alemtuzumab to be a valuable therapy for advanced HES or CEL, refractory to standard therapies, and supports the clinical evaluation of alemtuzumab in a larger trial.


This thesis examines the late medieval English carol, an important indigenous musical form that is abundant in a number of sources from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, both with and without extant musical notation. Carols with musical notation have been favoured by musicologists in previous research. This thesis however, provides a new context for the study of the carol by also including a close investigation of those carols without extant musical notation; thus presenting a fuller picture of the genre than that of previous musicological studies. The carol has been somewhat neglected in terms of recent, detailed, published research, therefore this study addresses the reasons for its neglect, and reveals a broader understanding of the genre. It applies a combination of traditional and modern methodologies: empirical research, gender study and ethnomusicological research, in order to place the carol genre in clearer social, political and religious contexts and better understand its place and use in late medieval society.
Through the application of these methodologies, this thesis provides an important perspective on the place of women, not only in the carols, but also within broader social and musical contexts, revealing a complex picture of their place in medieval music as subjects, performers and composers. Suggestions for the use of carols in sermons and other forms of worship are also made, and the carol's value as a vehicle for political commentary and English nationalism in this period is demonstrated. By approaching the carol in this manner, this study takes us beyond the popular perception of it as a genre merely for the amusement of educated clerics, instead revealing an important, popular musical form that was found in all strata of society.


ABSTRACT This paper maintains that responsible tourism practices can be re-conceived strategically to confer competitive advantage. It looks at the extant literature surrounding the notions of "responsible tourism" and "shared value". A qualitative research involved in-depth, semi-structured interview questions to discover the tourism and hospitality owner–managers' ethos for responsible tourism. Secondly, telephone interviews were carried out with tourism regulatory officials. The findings have revealed that discretionary spending in socially and environmentally sound, responsible policies and initiatives can create shared value among tourism enterprises and their stakeholders. In a nutshell, this paper indicates that responsible tourism led to improved relationships with social and regulatory stakeholders, effective human resources management, better market standing, operational efficiencies and cost savings, along with other benefits.


The purpose of this teacher action research was twofold: to learn more about preservice teachers' preconceived notions related to listening and to investigate how a listening journal assignment impacted preservice teachers' views of listening as an important aspect of discourse. The participants were enrolled in a mathematics methods course for PreK–3 (early childhood) majors during their last semester of coursework prior to student teaching. Data in the form of final reflections from participants' listening journals and researchers' field notes were analyzed. Findings suggest that the preservice teachers entered the course without truly considering listening as an important component of teaching methods related to facilitating classroom discourse. The listening journal assignment helped them begin to think more deeply about listening and the different definitions and modes of listening; however, at the end of the semester, many still wrote about their own personal journeys with listening and not about the role of listening as a key element in promoting classroom discourse and learning.


J. R Mendum & C. W. Thomas write: Krabbendam et al. 1997 present a revised model for the development of the Tay Nappe, in part based on their recent mapping around Glenshee. Although they consider this a new model, it follows those of numerous other authors, notably Harris et al. 1976 and Bradbury et al. 1979, but also Roberts & Treagus (1977), Treagus (1987), Lambert & McKerrow (1976) and, ultimately, Sturt (1961) and Rast (1963). Briefly, the Tay Nappe is considered to have developed by southeasterly directed D2 shearing of upright D1 structures; this shearing produced a grossly inverted stratigraphy in the 'Flat Belt'. As limited space precludes a full discussion and presentation of alternative models, we comment on those aspects with which we have most difficulty. We find the evidence cited in support of their model is wanting in critical areas and we propose alternative interpretations. Our discussion is concentrated on the nature and geometry of D1 and D2 structures in the Dalradian of the Southern Highlands. D2 structures are generally well-developed in much of the Southern Highlands, but to understand the nature of, and relationships between, D1 and D2, it is necessary to examine localities where D1 is virtually unaffected by D2 and where D2 begins to modify D1. Such outcrops are confined mainly to the Highland Border 'Steep Belt', southeast of the Highland Border Downbend, and are not well-exposed in the Glenshee district. Critical sections that demonstrate these relationships occur north of Stonehaven, in Little Glenshee [NN9835],


This book is the first to take a subject that has previously been represented only in dry histories onto a new and spectacular level, in which furniture's star pieces, whether made in the distant past or in the 21st century, are seen in an entirely fresh light. Drawn from all periods, these exquisite objects chairs, desks, sofas are timeless in their arresting beauty. The book's rich and varied illustrations include details of carving, ornamentation and upholstery, views of different styles of furniture used in historic and contemporary interiors, original drawings, and spectacular pieces, both antique and contemporary.


The detection, identification and localization of defects are essential to ensure the service reliability of Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS). Partial discharge (PD) measurement is well-known as one of the most effective technique for defect detection and identification in electrical insulation systems. PD measurement according to IEC standard 60270 is known as the conventional technique, in which PD is quantified in terms of apparent charge. Moreover, non-conventional technique, like UHF detection, can also be used for partial discharge measurement to enhance the signal/noise ratio in GIS. For AC electrical insulating systems both techniques are effectives, widely used and give the same signature of defect. Unfortunately, very little information is available for DC systems, especially regarding the comparison of the defect fingerprint between the two methods. The aim of this paper is to investigate the partial discharge signals recorded with both conventional and UHF methods in DC voltage. The results showed that the defect fingerprints are similar between the conventional measurement and the UHF measurement, regardless the UHF antenna position in the equipment.


Cracking is a common problem in concrete structures in real-life service conditions. In fact, crack-free concrete structures are very rare to find in real world. Concrete can undergo early-age cracking depending on the mix composition, exposure environment, hydration rate, and curing conditions. Understanding the causes and consequences of cracking thoroughly is essential for selecting proper measures to resolve the early-age cracking problem in concrete. This paper will help to identify the major causes and consequences of the early-age cracking in concrete. Also, this paper will be useful to adopt effective remedial measures for reducing or eliminating the early-age cracking problem in concrete. Different types of early-age crack, the factors affecting the initiation and growth of early-age cracks, the causes of early-age cracking, and the modeling of early-age cracking are discussed in this paper. A number of examples for various early-age cracking problems of concrete found in different structural elements are also shown. Above all, some recommendations are given for minimizing the early-age cracking in concrete. It is hoped that the information conveyed in this paper will be beneficial to improve the service life of concrete structures. Concrete researchers and practitioners may benefit from the contents of this paper.


"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."


Julius Caesar9s "Bellum Ciuile" writes Caesar-articulates a particular construction of its subject: Caesar. The essay shows how writing in the civil war wins and loses the war, and how the writing of the Civil War exploits this throughout its course. The initial suppression of Caesar9s letter to the senate in 49 BCE creates a lack which the rest of the text is to supply, and a structure of injustice inflicted on Caesar by villainous manipulation of communiques. The narrative presents Caesar9s withheld claims over and again, in an ever-lengthening set of dramatized formulations and vindications, both in the form of his own behaviour and in its contrast with his enemies9. The many and various roles of writing in the civil war are examined, from orders and despatches to the propagandist war of words, and it is shown how the conflict is moralized through polarity between the letters sent by the two sides. Caesar presents himself as the last proconsular conqueror of the republic, playing the patriotic general from Gaul to Alexandria, where the "Bellum Ciuile" gives out-in time for this the first writer and mythographer of the Roman Empire to hide his hero9s overthrow of the political order. It is argued that Caesar runs Bellum Gallicum and "Bellum Ciuile" together to make a seamless continuum, as a vital strategy for occluding, denying, and displacing civil war from the triumphant procession across a welcoming Roman world he offers in the "Bellum Ciuile".


BACKGROUND
Cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, as essential parts of the adaptive immune system, play pivotal roles in anti-tumor immune responses. It is well documented that cytokine expression profiles and activation status of these cells during anti-tumor immune responses affect the outcome of host-tumor interaction.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the percentages of CD8+ lymphocytes and their subsets in tumor draining lymph nodes of patients with bladder cancer.

METHODS
Forty-five patients with bladder cancer, candidate for radical cystectomy, were recruited. Mononuclear cells were isolated from draining lymph nodes using Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation, and were activated by PMA/Ionomycin in the presence of Golgi inhibitors. The cells were then permeabilized and stained with appropriate flourochrome conjugated antibodies against CD3, CD8, IFN-γ, IL-17 and IL-4 molecules. Data were collected on a four-color flow cytometer and analyzed by CellQuestPro software.

RESULTS
Despite no difference in the frequency of IL-17 producing CD8+ (Tc17) lymphocytes, the mean expression of IL-17 in this subset was significantly elevated in high-grade patients (p=0.011). The percentage of double positive IFN-γ/IL-17 CD8+ lymphocytes was also significantly increased in node positive patients compared to node negative ones (p=0.046). Our results also demonstrated that the percentage of IFN-γ producing CD8+ (Tc1) lymphocytes was significantly increased in the patients with higher histological grade compared to those with lower ones (p=0.038).

CONCLUSION
IFN-γ and IL-17 producing CD8+ T cells may increase in advanced stages of bladder cancer, but their correlation with tumor prognosis remains to be investigated.


In "Enduring Originalism," Jeffrey Pojanowski and Kevin C. Walsh outline how originalism in constitutional interpretation can be grounded in modern natural law theory as developed by John Finnis. Their argument to that effect is powerful and constitutes a welcome addition both to natural law theory and to originalist theory. However, the authors chose to present their account as a superior alternative to, or modification of, "positive" ("original-law") originalism of Stephen Sachs and William Baude. It is that aspect of the paper that I focus on in this short essay. Contrary to their strong claims in that direction, Professors Pojanowski and Walsh are far from establishing that positive originalism is deficient and that that their version of natural-law-based originalism offers a plausible alternative to positivist originalism. There is also a worry that, despite professing sympathy towards the "positive turn" in originalism, "Enduring Originalism" is at its core an account of what Professors Pojanowski and Walsh think the law should be, and not what the law is; precisely the kind of argument the positive turn militates against.


Alcohol consumption has been linked to kidney disorders in selected patient groups, but whether it contributes to the burden of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the general population is unknown. The authors conducted a population-based case-control study to assess the relation between alcohol consumption and risk of ESRD. The study took place in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC, in 1991. Participants were 716 patients who had started treatment for ESRD and 361 control subjects of similar age (20-64 years) selected by random digit dialing. The main risk factor of interest was self-reported consumption of alcoholic beverages (frequency of drinking days and number of drinks consumed per drinking day). In univariate analysis, consumption of alcohol exhibited a J-shaped association with risk of ESRD. The J shape disappeared after exclusion of persons who had ever consumed home-distilled whiskey ("moonshine") and adjustment for age, race, sex, income, history of hypertension, history of diabetes mellitus, use of acetaminophen, use of opiates, and cigarette smoking; however, the odds ratio for ESRD remained significantly increased (odds ratio = 4.0; 95% confidence interval: 1.2, 13.0) among persons who consumed an average of >2 alcoholic drinks per day. The corresponding population attributable risk was 9 percent. Thus, consumption of more than two alcoholic drinks per day, on average, was associated with an increased risk of kidney failure in the general population. A lower intake of alcohol did not appear to be harmful. Because these results are based on self-reports in a case-control study, they should be seen as preliminary.


James Thomson Callender earned an infamous reputation as one of the first muckraking journalists in America, resulting largely from his character assassinations of George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. As the journalist who broke the story of Jefferson's suppossed affair with his slave Sally Hemmings, Callender has become a fixture in Jeffferson studies. Yet Callender always considered himself a champion of liberty. Until now, no historian has fully examined the life of this man whose impact remains a source of controversy.Through uncovered correspondence, public records, and published writings by and about Callender, Durey traces Callender's early years in Scotland, showing the strong influence of his early Calvinist education and his admiration for Swift. He demonstrates how these experiences affected his career as a journalist in the United States. His research places Callender in a new perspective as one of the leaders, with Bache, Duane, Beckley, and Dr. Reynolds, of a team of hired pens who helped stem the Federalist tide in Philadelphia in the 1790s.


The computational intractability of the dynamic programming (DP) equations associated with optimal admission and routing in stochastic loss networks of any non-trivial size (Ma et al, 2006, 2008) leads one to consider suboptimal distributed game theoretic formulations of the problem. The special class of radial networks with a central core of infinite capacity is considered, and it is shown (under adequate assumptions) that an associated distributed admission control problem becomes tractable asymptotically, as the size of radial network grows to infinity. This is achieved by following a methodology first explored by M. Huang et. al. (2003, 2006–2008) in the context of large scale dynamic games for sets of weakly coupled linear stochastic control systems. At the established Nash equilibrium, each agent reacts optimally with respect to the average trajectory of the mass of all other agents; this trajectory is approximated by a deterministic infinite population limit (associated with the mean field or ensemble statistics of the random agents) which is the solution of a particular fixed point problem. This framework has connections with the mean field models studied by Lasry and Lions (2006, 2007) and close connections with the notion of oblivious equilibrium proposed by Weintraub, Benkard, and Van Roy (2005, 2008) via a mean field approximation.


An increase in altitude leads to a proportional fall in the barometric pressure, and a decrease in atmospheric oxygen pressure, producing hypobaric hypoxia that affects, in different degrees, all body organs, systems and functions. The chronically reduced partial pressure of oxygen causes that individuals adapt and adjust to physiological stress. These adaptations are modulated by many factors, including the degree of hypoxia related to altitude, time of exposure, exercise intensity and individual conditions. It has been established that exposure to high altitude is an environmental stressor that elicits a response that contributes to many adjustments and adaptations that influence exercise capacity and endurance performance. These adaptations include in crease in hemoglobin concentration, ventilation, capillary density and tissue myoglobin concentration. However, a negative effect in strength and power is related to a decrease in muscle fiber size and body mass due to the decrease in the training intensity. Many researches aim at establishing how training or living at high altitudes affects performance in athletes. Training methods, such as living in high altitudes training low, and training high-living in low altitudes have been used to research the changes in the physical condition in athletes and how the physiological adaptations to hypoxia can enhanceperformance at sea level. This review analyzes the literature related to altitude training focused on how physiological adaptations to hypoxic environments influence performance, and which protocols are most frequently used to train in high altitudes.


There are several types of interactive narrative systems that have been developed in recent years. Narrative based games and simulations contain stories and interactions that are designed by human authors. AI based intelligent story generation systems have algorithms that construct narratives automatically from domain descriptions and communicative goals provided by human authors. Drama management systems manage user interaction based on strategies provided by human authors. Narrative based simulations have author specified rules for event instantiation and interaction. While a significant amount of research has been carried out in each of these forms of interactive storytelling, the authoring tools and the authoring process has received less attention. This objective of this panel is to motivate discussion on understanding the process of authoring interactive narratives, review state-of-the-art authoring paradigms, and extract practical requirements and common evaluation strategies for authoring tools.


Adoption of open access in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) is a work in progress, with lower engagement in HASS than most of the natural sciences. HASS research impacts how we live, how we learn and how we see ourselves, and research institutions should encourage and enable their HASS research communities to increase the prevalence of open access research outputs. Six experienced HASS researchers at a single academic institution in Perth, Australia, were interviewed to explore their perceptions and experiences of open access, and any barriers that they had encountered. Thematic analysis was used to code the transcribed interviews, and generate themes.
This study found a wide variance in the adoption of open access practices among HASS researchers. Some participants are publishing via APC-based gold open access (in DOAJ listed journals), while other participants encounter multiple barriers to sharing more of their work as open access. Confusion about aspects of open access is evident. Even among participants who support open access, some have had poor experiences of open access publishing. This research also found that some participants hold extremely complex opinions on open access, which directly influence participants' behaviour depending on which perspective they are considering. These perspectives are: research supervisor, editorial role at journal, funding assessor and global citizen. Within HASS a diversity of behaviours exists around open access, and research institutions need to tailor their research support services around open access and scholarly publishing for different communities of researchers.


Heavy-duty vehicles in the European Union so far have not been subject to carbon dioxide emissions or fuel-consumption standards, making Europe the largest market without mandatory limits for such vehicles. However, the European Commission is preparing a regulatory proposal that would set mandatory CO2 limits for the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) categories with the highest share of emissions. This paper summarizes key findings and policy recommendations from recent ICCT research related to HDV CO2 standards in the European Union, including technology baseline and cost-effective CO2 reduction potential for long-haul tractor-trailers, the highest-emitting vehicle category.


Most diachronic studies dealing with finiteness are centered on the functional shift between main and dependent clause status. In contrast, this paper focuses on the acquisition of morphosyntactic finiteness features by a non-finite dependent construction that remains dependent, namely "finitization." Givón (2011) suggests a theoretical distinction between "gradual" and "instantaneous" finitization, depending on whether the intermediate stage of the evolution involves mixed finite/non-finite morphosyntax or a variation between finite and non-finite clauses. The main findings of this paper are that, first, diachronic data from various languages attest to both these theoretical models, and second, that this distinction does not reside in the diachronic mechanisms at play (reanalysis or extension), but rather in the functional motivation for the change.


Nearly two decades of educational research has repeatedly demonstrated that one of the most damaging and pervasive problems in our schools today is bullying. That research has shown that bullying leaves its victims with serious and often life-long emotional problems. It has revealed that bullies are substantially more likely than their peers to commit felonies later in their lives. It has even demonstrated that witnesses to the bullying are often affected in serious, lasting ways. Most importantly, it has proven that school officials can dramatically reduce the prevalence of bullying if they implement proven bullying prevention strategies. Nevertheless, in most schools today, bullying goes on unabated and virtually unchallenged by school officials. The educational community knows that these children are being tormented; it knows that they are being damaged in ways that will haunt them - and in some cases, entire communities - for years to come. It also knows how to reduce dramatically the prevalence of the torment; and it knows that school officials must lead the way in doing so. Current legal theories, however, whether found in federal or state law, whether based in statutory or common law, are simply not aligned with what empirical research has shown to be true. Therefore, the law provides those who could stop the torment no real incentive to inform themselves and to act, and it provides victims of the torment no remedy against the school officials who could have protected them. When victims attempt to hold schools accountable for failing to protect them from peer-on-peer abuse, courts routinely hold that, under theories of negligent supervision, the bullying and associated attacks and injuries were simply unforeseeable to the school officials who could have intervened, even though educational research has repeatedly demonstrated that such abuse is occurring in virtually every school setting. Under Title IX, requirements of actual notice and deliberate indifference sink most claims of peer-on-peer sexual harassment, and they ensure that such gender-based bullying will flourish by its very nature as an underground activity, hidden from school officials who are apathetic about its existence. Constitutional theories are inadequate to produce either remedies or educational change because courts are unwilling to turn bullying into a constitutional tort. Even anti-bullying statutes fail to require the kinds of reforms demanded by the empirical research, so schools continue to function with a blind eye toward the victims' plight, leaving them and future victims at the mercy of other children. The nation needs a sea change in its current legal theories. Courts and legislatures need to abandon the fiction that schools do not know how to identify and stop serious bullying. Courts need to redefine negligent supervision with regard to bullying in order to acknowledge the foreseeability of the harms that result from bullying and the causal connection between school officials' inaction and victims' injuries. Legislatures need to enact laws that will reward those schools that implement proven strategies for preventing bullying and penalize those that refuse to do so. The nation needs, in short, to align legal incentives and penalties with the realities of schooling and the seriousness of the problem of bullying. Until that happens, far too many children will suffer needlessly at the hands of their peers, unprotected by the very adults into whose care they have been entrusted. Part I presents in some detail what current educational research has revealed about bullying, its effects, and its prevention. An understanding of that research is essential to recognizing the flaw common to prevailing legal theories: that those theories define supervision breakdowns in terms of individual instances of bullying but fail to recognize the connection between bullying and school culture. They fail to recognize that school officials can transform a bullying culture, using research-based, whole-school approaches to preventing bullying. Part II critiques current legal avenues available to victims of bullying and current attempts by some state legislatures to curb bullying in their schools. Part III offers conclusions and some recommendations for reforming current definitions of negligent supervision and for creating a package of incentives for schools to change their practices.


Scalability of both unstrained and strained FDSOI CMOSFETs is explored for the first time down to 2.5 nm film thickness and 18 nm gate length with HfO2/TiN gate stack. Off-state currents in the pA/mum range are achieved for 18 nm short and 3.8nm thin MOSFETs thanks to outstanding electrostatic control: 67 mV/dec subthreshold swing and 75 mV/V DIBL. For such thin bodies, the buried oxide fringing field limitation on DIBL is experimentally evidenced and quantified for the first time. Furthermore, we demonstrate strain induced ION gain as high as 40% on the shortest transistors. An in-depth analysis of this gain as a function of the film thickness is carried out through mobility and ballisticity extractions.


The upper Miocene S. Bartolomeo Formation is a significant turbidite succession filling a collisional basin of the southern Apenninic chain and outcropping between Sannio and Daunia Mountains. Based on geological mapping, an updated lithostratigraphic scheme of this formation has been proposed; moreover, on the basis of sedimentological analyses and measurement of several stratigraphic sections, the main and characteristic gravity flow lithofacies have been described and interpreted, and the stratigraphic architecture of the whole turbidite succession has been reconstructed, showing the correlation between the main lithostratigraphic units and stratigraphic-depositional ones. The typical diagenetic concretions of this formation have been described and interpreted: the main lithofacies types are elongate bed-parallel concretions (costole), irregularly distributed and spheroidal concretions (cogoli) and joint/fault parallel concretions. A basin model has been proposed, on the basis of geologic-structural mapping, of the collected stratigraphic and sedimentologic data, and of the petrographical and biostratigraphical data derived from literature; in this model three fundamental phases of late Miocene, basin evolution have been described: (i) late Tortonian onset of the basin and deposition of the lower turbidite units (stages of growth I-II), with aggradational to retrogradational stacking patterns; (ii) early Messinian initiation of out-of-sequence thrusting and coeval deposition of the mainly pelitic deposits of basin closure (turbidite stage III); (iii) from the late Messinian to the early Pliocene, integral dislocation of the basin fill and definitive incorporation in the thrust-belt, with fairly good preservation potential of Miocene stratigraphic features. In general, the stratigraphic record of the basin is related to tectono-eustatic control; the tectonic control is dominant and its effects depend on the variations of the thrusting propagation regime; the eustatic control is subordinate, but it can be enhanced during tectonic quiescence. Finally, the studied basin has been framed within the southern Apenninic chain, which represents a complex accretionary prism related to continental subduction, with Miocene history characterized by onset, rapid tectono-sedimentary evolution, following closure and dislocation of two types of basins: thrust-related basins (for example S. Bartolomeo) and deformed peripheral foredeep basins.


We report spectral and temporal characteristics of λ ~ 1.5 μm, nominally 150-fs signal pulses from a KTP-based high-repetition-rate optical parametric oscillator (OPO) synchronously pumped by a 90-fs, 85-MHz mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. This OPO can be operated with cavity detunings as large as ±2 μm, although stably for only ±1.3 μm. When the OPO is operated without dispersion compensation at average powers <20 mW the spectrum is singly peaked, with a width of ~20 nm; for output powers between 20 and 150 mW self-phase modulation induces a double-peak structure in the spectrum and broadens it to 50 nm. Because of time-dependent gain effects in the OPO, the spectrum is asymmetric, and the asymmetry changes dramatically with detuning, reversing when the detuning changes from +1.3 to −1.3 μm. Cross-correlation measurements between pump and signal pulses reveal asymmetric temporal pulse shapes consistent with the observed spectra. For optimum power, which we use to define the zero-detuning condition, the pulse has a trailing edge steeper than its leading edge. The operation of the OPO for nonzero detuning can be understood in terms of group-velocity dispersion effects, whereby shifts in the signal spectrum compensate for as much as 50% of the time lag induced at each round trip between the pump and the signal pulses.


In this study, we developed and applied highly-scattering large gold nanorods (LGNRs) and custom spectral detection algorithms for high sensitivity contrast-enhanced optical coherence tomography (OCT). We were able to detect LGNRs at a concentration as low as 50 pM in blood. We used this approach for noninvasive 3D imaging of blood vessels deep in solid tumors in living mice. Additionally, we demonstrated multiplexed imaging of spectrally-distinct LGNRs that enabled observations of functional drainage in lymphatic networks. This method, which we call MOZART, provides a platform for molecular imaging and characterization of tissue noninvasively at cellular resolution.


The biodesulphurization of Mengen lignite by a mesophilic bacterium, Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC 53968, was investigated in a batch stirred and aerated reactor. The experiments were carried out at 28 degrees C with an inoculum percentage, initial pH, initial sodium acetate and lignite concentration of the biodesulphurization medium of 8% [v/v], 6.5 mM, 20 mM and 20 g/l, respectively. Variations in the sulphur contents of the lignite relative to the biodesulphurization period were monitored. The effects of the stirring and aeration rates on the removal of different sulphur forms from coal were investigated in the ranges 450-1,200 rpm and 0.1-0.53 vvm and the optimum values were found to be 500 rpm and 0.18 vvm, respectively. An increase in the total sulphur reduction with increasing biodesulphurization time was observed. The maximum total sulphur removal percentage was found to be 15.2% at 1,200 rpm after four days of incubation. The highest total sulphur removal rate was calculated on the second day of microbial desulphurization for each run. The total and organic sulphur contents of the coal after biodesulphurization were correlated with the stirring and aeration rates by using the non-linear least squares regression method. In the experimental runs lasting 8 days, the highest organic sulphur reducing percentage of 10.1% was obtained at a stirring rate of 500 rpm and an aeration rate of 0.40 vvm.


This article is about the effects of good practice achievement on stakeholder acceptance. The study examines the relationships between good practice achievement and stakeholder acceptance, where corporate image is taken as a mediator. The samples were 486 chief executive officer (CEO) who participated in the national agro processing industry of Thailand. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis was employed for data analysis. The findings show that good practice achievement, in which consists of fairness, transparency, accountability, responsibility, consistency, and independent, will have the positive effect on corporate image significantly (p<0.1). Interestingly, corporate image mediates the relationship between good practice achievement and stakeholder acceptance significantly (p<0.05). Therefore, a key decision for managers in all levels and functions is to focus on good practice achievement that improves and develops corporate image and boosting stakeholder acceptance.


In this article, we examine contemporary 'resilience' through UK preparedness – an apparatus of security enacted under the legal and organizational principles of UK Civil Contingencies and civil protection legislation and practices. By examining the design, practices and technologies that constitute the exercises performed within Civil Contingencies, the article first suggests that the manner in which exercises have been mobilized as examples of preparedness and apocalyptical imaginations of the 'unthinkable' should be understood within the highly specific societal and political contexts that shape them. More substantially, the article then provides a nuanced understanding of the life of the security assemblage through an in-depth analysis of the exercise and its design, materials, play and contingent relations. Seeking to deepen and widen concerns for what matters in security studies, animated by concern for objects, bodily affects, contingencies and excess, the article contends for a more serious concern with how security and its practices can surprise, shock, enthral and disrupt in a manner that need not only be associated with failure.


Photochemistry of 4-substituted 5-Methyl-3-phenyl-isoxazoles.

4-Trideuterioacetyl-5-methyl-3-phenyl-isoxazole ([CD3CO]-27), upon irradiation with 254 nm light, was converted into a 1:1 mixture of oxazoles [CD3CO]-35 and [CD3]-35 (Scheme 13). This isomerization is accompagnied by a slower transformation of ([CD3CO]-27) into [CD3]-27.

Irradiation of the isoxazole derivatives 28, 29, 30 and (E)-31 yielded only oxazoles 36, 37, 38 and (E), (Z)-39; no 4-acetyl-5-alkoxy-2-phenyl-oxazole, 2-acetyl-3-methyl-5-phenyl-pyrrole or 2-acetyl-4-methoxycarbonyl-3-methyl-5-phenyl-pyrrole, respectively, were formed (Scheme 9 and 10). Similarly (E)-32 gave a mixture of (E), (Z)-40 only (Scheme 11). Upon shorter irradiation, the intermediate 2H-azirines (E), (Z)-41 could be isolated (Scheme 11). Photochemical (E)/(Z)-isomerization of the 2-(trifluoro-ethoxycarbonyl)-1-methyl-vinyl side chain in all the compounds 32, 40 and 41 is fast.

At 230° the isoxazoles (E)- and (Z)-32 are converted into oxazoles (E), (Z)-40. The same compounds are also obtained by thermal isomerization of the 2H-azirines (E), (Z)-41.

The most probable mechanism for the photochemical transformations of the isoxazoles, as exemplified in the case of the isoxazole 27, is shown in Scheme 13. A benzonitrile-methylide intermediate is postulated for the photochemical conversion of the 2H-azirines into oxazoles. 2H-Azirines are also intermediates in the thermal isoxazole-oxazole rearrangement. It is however not yet clear, if the thermal 2H-azirine-oxazole transformation involves the same transient species as the photochemical reaction.

A mechanism for the photochemical isomerization of the 2H-azirine 11 to the oxazole 15 is proposed (Scheme 3).


This paper presents the discussion on the role of metacognitive strategies in the 21st century ESL teacher education programme.  It examines the kinds of teaching and learning experiences that enable the student teachers to develop their metacognitive strategies. This paper draws relevant examples of a classroom-based practice from student teachers' assignments to reflective journal entries, participant observation, field notes, and feedback and evaluation forms. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively. The findings revealed that reflective journal entries, commenting, providing and giving feedback, dialogic interactions, as well as whole class discussions through questions and answers, are among the activities that could enable students to develop their metacognitive strategies. This study implicates the need for ESL teacher education programmes to provide teaching and learning experiences that are transformative in nature in order to develop prospective ESL teachers who are adaptive, self-reliant and independent, resourceful, innovative and reflective.


Today, fishing is the dominant source of mortality in most commercially exploited fish stocks. Life-history theory predicts that changes in mortality regime cause selection on life-history traits. In particular, increased mortality can strongly favour earlier maturation. Indeed, commercially exploited fish stocks often show trends towards earlier maturation. However, earlier maturation may also simply reflect phenotypic plasticity triggered, for example, by improved individual growth when stock abundance is diminished. Until recently, the difficulties involved in disentangling plastic and evolutionary components of life-history changes have hindered understanding the nature of phenotypic maturity changes. Introduction of probabilistic reaction norms for age and size at maturation have helped to combat this problem: by estimating maturation reaction norms, one can control for growth-related phenotypic plasticity and changes in mortality. A suite of methods for estimating these reaction norms is now available. Addressing different types of data, these methods have been applied to about 20 stocks, representing 10 different species of marine and freshwater fish. All but three of these studies suggest that a significant evolutionary component has contributed to the observed trends in age and size at maturation. Remarkably, this component is often detectable at time scales as short as a couple of decades.


Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) has been adopted in most OECD countries to improve regulatory decision making. RIA involves a systematic appraisal of the costs and benefits associated with a proposed new regulation and evaluation of the performance of existing regulations. Although RIA requires capacity building in terms of regulatory assessment skills, including data collection methods and public consultation practices, it offers the means to improve regulatory practice in low and middle-income countries as well as rich ones. This paper assesses the nature and scope of RIA and the challenges that will be faced in introducing the concept more widely across developing economies. Results from a survey of a small number of middle-income countries suggest that a number of developing countries have some form of regulatory assessment, but that the methods adopted are partial in their application and are certainly not systematically applied across government. The paper concludes by proposing a framework, drawing on the OECD guidelines, which can be applied in low and middle-income countries to improve regulatory decision making and outcomes.


A truthful and sympathetic, yet not merely laudatory, account of the life and art of some of its masterly exponents is another. Both these approaches have been fairly common so far. The third way, which has not yet received the attention it deserves, tries to dwell upon Hindustani music, rhythm, and (Kathak) dance explicitly in relation to philosophy and philosophers of art. It is from this point of view that the present book should be welcome. It does not, however, overlook the first two approaches. Besides quite a few essays that explore the aesthetical aspects of Hindustani music, the book takes a renovative look at Kathak dance, and engages the reader in a discussion of how far our music can be regarded as spiritual. These and some other key features should make this book acceptable to both rasikas and musicologists.


The Entrez Programming Utilities (E-utilities) are a set of nine server-side programs that provide a stable interface into the Entrez query and database system at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The E-utilities use a fixed URL syntax that translates a standard set of input parameters into the values necessary for various NCBI software components to search for and retrieve the requested data. The E-utilities are therefore the structured interface to the Entrez system, which currently includes 38 databases covering a variety of biomedical data, including nucleotide and protein sequences, gene records, three-dimensional molecular structures, and the biomedical literature.


This paper is concerned with the numerical simulation of mechanical structures subjected to pyroshocks. In practice, the methodology is applied on the pyroshock test facility, which is used by Thales to qualify the electronic equipment intended to be embarked onboard of spatial vehicles. This test facility involves one plate or two plates linked by screw bolts. The tested device is mounted on one side while the explosive charge is applied on the other side. The main issue of this work is to be able to tune, by simulation, the parameters of the facility (number of plates, material of plate, number of bolts, amount of explosive, etc.) so as to get the required level of solicitation during the test. The paper begins by an introduction presenting the state of the art in terms of pyroshock modeling, followed by a description of the shock response spectrum (SRS) commonly used to represent the test specifications of an embarked equipment. It turns out that there is a lack of computational techniques able to predict the dynamic behavior of complex structures subjected to high frequency shock waves such as explosive loads. Three sections are then devoted to the simulation of the pyrotechnic test, which involves on one hand a model of the structure and on the other hand an appropriate representation of the impulsive load. The finite element method (FEM) is used to model the dynamic behavior of the structure. The FEM models of several instances of the facility have been updated and validated up to 1000 Hz by comparison with the results of experimental modal analyses. For the excitation source, we have considered an approach by equivalent mechanical shock (EMS), which consists in replacing the actual excitation by a localized force applied on the FEM model at the center of the explosive device. The main originality of the approach is to identify the amplitude and duration of the EMS by minimizing the gap between the experimental and numerical results in terms of the SRS related to several points of the facility. The identification has been performed on a simple plate structure for different amounts of explosive. The methodology is then validated in three ways. Firstly, it is shown that there is a good agreement between experimental and numerical SRS for all the points considered to identify the EMS. Secondly, it appears that the energy injected by the EMS is well correlated with the amount of explosive. Lastly, the EMS identified on one structure for a given amount of explosive leads to coherent responses when applied on other structures. A parametric study is finally performed, which shows the influence of the thickness of the plate, the material properties, the localization of the EMS, and the addition of a local mass. The different obtained results show that our pyroshock model allows to efficiently estimate the acceleration levels undergone by the electronic equipment during a pyroshock and, in this way, to predict some eventual electrical failures, such as the chatter of electromagnetic relays.


Mothers who drink during pregnancy expose their developing babies to ethanol, and excessive drinking often produces devastating birth defects collectively termed fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). These defects include craniofacial defects, cognitive impairment, sensorimotor disabilities and organ deformities, including various congenital heart defects (CHDs), particularly septal and conotruncal defects. Genesis mechanisms for FASD‐associated CHDs are not well understood. Using a zebrafish model, experiments tested whether alcohol interferes with different heart development events or the multiple cardiac precursors that may contribute to CHD genesis. These experiments showed that ethanol affects various cardiac regulatory networks in multiple steps of cardiogenesis (specification, myocardial migration, differentiation, looping, chamber morphogenesis, and endocardial cushion formation). Retinoic acid and folic acid co‐treatment with ethanol had differential rescue effects on FASD‐induced cardiac defects. Early (first heart field) and late‐added (second heart field and cardiac neural crest precursors) cardiac precursors were reduced by ethanol exposure. Experiments showed dysregulation of BMP, Notch and other signaling pathways during atrioventricular valve formation produced persistent valve defects. Together, these results show that embryonic ethanol exposure disrupts critical cardiac morphogenic events and reduce cardiac precursor contributions to the growing heart. Additional mechanistic studies are needed to identify key events that can be targeted therapeutically.


We describe a numerical method to compute Casimir forces in arbitrary geometries, for arbitrary dielectric and metallic materials, with arbitrary accuracy (given sufficient computational resources). Our approach, based on well-established integration of the mean stress tensor evaluated via the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, is designed to directly exploit fast methods developed for classical computational electromagnetism, since it only involves repeated evaluation of the Green's function for imaginary frequencies (equivalently, real frequencies in imaginary time). We develop the approach by systematically examining various formulations of Casimir forces from the previous decades and evaluating them according to their suitability for numerical computation. We illustrate our approach with a simple finite-difference frequency-domain implementation, test it for known geometries such as a cylinder and a plate, and apply it to new geometries. In particular, we show that a pistonlike geometry of two squares sliding between metal walls, in both two and three dimensions with both perfect and realistic metallic materials, exhibits a surprising nonmonotonic "lateral" force from the walls. © 2007 The American Physical Society.


Utilizing gamification in course holistically requires that all areas of the course can be quantified, and the progress made transparent to students as well. However, keeping track of all students' scores, submissions and other tasks can be too big of a workload to be practical, especially in the larger courses. We have successfully adapted a collaborative education tool to university-level programming courses. The tool is used to record student performance in all areas of the course, including for example attendances, demonstration and tutorial scores, weekly surveys and additional exercises. In addition to providing comprehensive statistics to teachers, all progress is also visible to students in real time. In this paper, we describe the redesign of the course, with gamification and transparency to students in focus. Moreover, we analyze students' scores in different components of the course, and find out if there are correlations to be found between different areas. The results seem to indicate, that methods emphasizing active learning are the most beneficial for students' performance in the course.


ABSTRACT This research examines the influence of educator and child expectations on children's self-regulation, early reading, and vocabulary outcomes over two time points. Thirty educators (15 early childhood educators [ECEs] and 15 teachers) and 149 kindergarten children participated in the research. The educators participated in an expectation ranking questionnaire. Data collection with the children included an interview task and standardized and nonstandardized assessments. Results indicate that ECE and teacher expectations were congruent at Time 1 but dissonant at Time 2, with ECEs having significantly higher expectations for children's self-regulation, early reading, and vocabulary outcomes at Time 2. Path analyses were run to simultaneously test for direct and indirect (mediating) effects. Findings revealed that ECE and child expectations had significant positive direct effects on outcomes. The only significant direct effect from teacher expectations to child outcomes was for vocabulary, and this was a negative direct effect. This research has important and direct application to practice through professional development with pre- and in-service educators, specifically in considering the practices of high expectation educators.


The main aim of this article is to rephrase good and bad performance of built environments as good or bad interplay of spaces, building technologies, and users. To support this perspective, two conceptual tools broadly used within the social study of technology are introduced. These concepts, the semiotic pair "script/antiprogram" and the study of "domestication of media and technology in everyday life," were originally developed in the search for a better understanding of the mutual shaping of culture/society and technology. In this contribution, these concepts are applied in an empirical study of two nonresidential buildings. Through an extension of these concepts, consequences for the creation and maintenance of better built environments are proposed.


During the summers of 1992 and 1993, we conducted a survey of bats at Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Using mist nets, we captured bats and recorded species, sex, age class, and reproductive condition for each individual netted. We recorded five species, Myotis ciliolabrnm (n = 198), M. thysanodes (29), M volans (13), Eptesicus foscus (91), and Plecotus tawnsendii (43), previously known from the park. In addition, we added four species, M lucifugus (18), M. septentrionalis (9), Lasionycteris noctivagans (1), and Lasiurns cinereus (3) to the confirmed fauna of the park. Most bats captured were male (76.3%) although maternity colonies of at leastM volans and P. townsendii likely exist in the park. Reproductive activity was observed for all species exceptL. noctivagans and L. cinereus, which probably just migrate through the area. In addition to crevices, bats used caves as summer roosts. The availability of roosts, coupled with the presence of nearby foraging areas and water sources, makes Badlands National Park an important summer habitat and likely migration stopover for bats.


An important collection, Cosmopolitan Archaeologies delves into the politics of contemporary archaeology in an increasingly complex international environment. The contributors explore the implications of applying the cosmopolitan ideals of obligation to others and respect for cultural difference to archaeological practice, showing that those ethics increasingly demand the rethinking of research agendas. While cosmopolitan archaeologies must be practiced in contextually specific ways, what unites and defines them is archaeologists' acceptance of responsibility for the repercussions of their projects, as well as their undertaking of heritage practices attentive to the concerns of the living communities with whom they work. These concerns may require archaeologists to address the impact of war, the political and economic depredations of past regimes, the livelihoods of those living near archaeological sites, or the incursions of transnational companies and institutions. The contributors describe various forms of cosmopolitan engagement involving sites that span the globe. They take up the links between conservation, natural heritage and ecology movements, and the ways that local heritage politics are constructed through international discourses and regulations. They are attentive to how communities near heritage sites are affected by archaeological fieldwork and findings, and to the complex interactions that local communities and national bodies have with international sponsors and universities, conservation agencies, development organizations, and NGOs. Whether discussing the toll of efforts to preserve biodiversity on South Africans living near Kruger National Park, the ways that UNESCO's global heritage project universalizes the ethic of preservation, or the Open Declaration on Cultural Heritage at Risk that the Archaeological Institute of America sent to the U.S. government before the Iraq invasion, the contributors provide nuanced assessments of the ethical implications of the discursive production, consumption, and governing of other people's pasts.


This policy brief answers three main questions with respect to the no-user-fee policy adopted across public health centres in Jamaica: (i) Has the policy improved health status among working age adults? (ii) Has the policy influenced labour market dynamics? (iii) Has the policy had differential effects by age groups? Evidence suggests that the policy improved overall health status, as the likelihood of suffering illnesses associated with inability to carry out normal activities decreased by 28.6 percent. In addition, the number of days where people were unable to perform normal activities due to illnesses suffered within the previous four weeks decreased by 34 percent. Regarding labour market dynamics, no effects are found on the likelihood of being employed or contributing to the National Insurance Scheme. However, consistent with a reduced number of days lost due to illnesses, we find a positive effect of 2.15 additional weekly labour hours. Finally, we find that all of these positive effects are concentrated within adults in the 40-64 year-old age range. Overall, these effects suggest that the policy added a yearly average of US$PPP 26.6 million worth of net real production to the Jamaican economy during the period 2008-12.


Background Although several studies have reported rather consistent associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and allostatic load (AL), so far no study has examined the influence of SES over the life course on AL. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between SES over the life course and AL in mid-adulthood, guided by the conceptual models of cumulative risk, critical period and social chain of risk. Methods The sample comprises a 27-year prospective cohort (n=1071) from northern Sweden. Participants (n=855, 79.8%) completed questionnaires at the ages of 16, 21, 30 and 43 years. A health examination was performed at age 43 years after an overnight fast, including physical examination and blood sampling, and participants completed 1-day salivary cortisol sampling (four samples). SES was based on parental occupation at age 16 years and participants' own occupation at ages 21, 30 and 43 years. Information on daily smoking, snuff use, high alcohol consumption and physical inactivity was reported by the participants. An AL index was constructed from tertiles of 12 biological parameters. Results Cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage was related to AL in both women and men. The association was largely explained by health behaviours in men, but was independent of health behaviours in women. In women, an association was observed between AL and SES in adolescence, whereas in men only current SES was related to AL, independently of current health behaviours. Conclusions SES over the life course influences the level of multi-systemic dysregulation in mid-adulthood, with the strongest support for the cumulative risk model.


It was the day before Independence Day, 1833. As his bride, Lucie, was about to be sold down the river, Thornton Blackburn planned a daring and successful daylight escape from their Louisville masters. Pursued to Michigan, the couple was captured and sentenced to return to Kentucky in chains. But Detroit's black community rallied to their cause in the Blackburn Riots of 1833, the first racial uprising in the city's history. Thornton and Lucie were spirited across the river to Canada, but their safety proved illusory when Michigan's governor demanded their extradition. Canada's defence of the Blackburns set the tone for all future diplomatic relations with the United States over the thorny issue of the fugitive slave, and confirmed the British colony as the main terminus of the Underground Railroad. The Blackburns settled in Toronto, where they founded the city's first taxi business, but they never forgot the millions who still suffered in slavery. Working with prominent abolitionists, Thornton and Lucie made their home a haven for runaways. When they died in the 1890s with no descendants to pass on their fascinating tale, it was lost to history. Lost, that is, until archaeologists brought the story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn again to light.


The ethics laws have traditionally afforded criminal defense attorneys greater latitude than other lawyers in their use of aggressive strategies on behalf of their clients. Federal judges nonetheless attempt to regulate zealous, or what is perceived as overzealous, advocacy by criminal defense lawyers. They do so by using the "acceptance of responsibility" provision of the United States Sentencing Guidelines to impose harsher sentences on criminal defendants whose attorneys engage in aggressive forms of representation such as making factually or legally dubious arguments, seeking tactical delays, or misleading the court. Judges justify these higher sentences by equating a zealous defense with remorselessness. This interpretation of the sentencing laws chills zealous advocacy in a fashion that has escaped review by most courts and scholars. This Article explores this method of regulation and its troublesome implications for the defendants and the attorneys who represent them.


ABSTRACT
 A strain of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) possessing unusually high levels of resistance to a wide range of insecticides was discovered in 2004 in the course of routine resistance monitoring in Arizona. The multiply resistant insects, collected from poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch) plants purchased at a retail store in Tucson, were subjected to biotype analysis in three laboratories. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of naphthyl esterases and sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene (780 bp) confirmed the first detection of the Q biotype of B. tabaci in the New World. This U.S. Q biotype strain, referred to as Poinsettia'04, was highly resistant to two selective insect growth regulators, pyriproxyfen and buprofezin, and to mixtures of fenpropathrin and acephate. It was also unusually low in susceptibility to the neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid, acetamiprid, and thiamethoxam, relative to B biotype whiteflies. In 100 collections of whiteflies made in Arizona cotton (Gossypium spp.), vegetable, and melon (Cucumis melo L.) fields from 2001 to 2005, no Q biotypes were detected. Regions of the United States that were severely impacted by the introduction of the B biotype of B. tabaci in the 1980s would be well advised to promote measures that limit movement of the Q biotype from controlled environments into field systems and to formulate alternatives for managing this multiply-resistant biotype, in the event that it becomes more widely distributed.


Abstract Medicine-related research includes numerous studies on the hazards of mortality and what risk factors are associated with these hazards, such as diseases and treatments. These hazards are estimated in a sample of people and summarised over the observed period. From these observations, inferences can be made about the underlying population and consequently inform medical guidelines for intervention. New health interventions are usually based on these estimated hazards obtained from clinical trials. A lengthy lead time would be needed to observe their effect on population longevity. This paper shows how estimated mortality hazards can be translated to hypothetical changes in life expectancies at the individual and population levels. For an individual, the relative hazards are translated into the number of years gained or lost in "effective age", which is the average chronological age with the same risk profile. This translation from hazard ratio to effective age could be used to explain to individuals the consequences of various diseases and lifestyle choices and as a result persuade clients in life and health insurance to pursue a healthier lifestyle. At the population level, a period life expectancy is a weighted average of component life expectancies associated with the particular risk profiles, with the weights defined by the prevalences of the risk factor of interest and the uptake of the relevant intervention. Splitting the overall life expectancy into these components allows us to estimate hypothetical changes in life expectancy at the population level at different morbidity and uptake scenarios. These calculations are illustrated by two examples of medical interventions and their impact on life expectancy, which are beta blockers in heart attack survivors and blood pressure treatment in hypertensive patients. The second example also illustrates the dangers of applying the results from clinical trials to much wider populations.


A previously undocumented diversity of Cambrian palaeoscolecids is described from localities in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The material described here includes isolated sclerites as well as the first macroscopic specimens reported from the palaeocontinent Baltica. The sclerites are all of early middle Cambrian age (Ptychagnostus gibbus Biozone) and are assigned to at least four new species of Hadimopanella, two of which are formally introduced: H. incubo sp. nov. and H. oelandiana sp. nov. The two macroscopic specimens are of late early Cambrian (Ellipsocephalus lunatus Biozone) and early middle Cambrian age (Acadoparadoxides oelandicus Biozone), respectively. The early Cambrian specimen is described as Maotianshania? sp. and comprises an incomplete annulated trunk fragment which is uniformly covered with circular sclerites, indicative of the palaeoscolecid family Maotianshaniidae. This is the first record of this family outside China. The middle Cambrian specimen is almost complete and introduced as Wronascolex? johanssoni sp. nov. It is characterized by a previously undocumented distribution of its Hadimopanella‐like sclerites which increase in size and change ornamentation from the anterior to the posterior end of the distinctly annulated trunk. The observed distribution pattern can explain the high variability of species of the sclerite‐based genus Hadimopanella as well as the occurrence of rare morphotypes of Hadimopanella in otherwise rich samples. Available data on the ontogeny of palaeoscolecids regarding the relationship between body and sclerite size of a taxon are evaluated. It is concluded that sclerite size might be species specific and should be considered when comparing taxa with morphological similar sclerites.


Summary Freshness and authenticity of Chinese and Italian royal jelly samples were investigated by means of HPLC determination of furosine and (E)-10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid. In addition, High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy was used to determine the metabolic profile of the same royal jelly samples. water-soluble metabolites such as amino acids and sugars as well as fatty acids were identified in the same experiment. A combined approach including NMR analytical profile together with HPLC measured markers was used to discriminate between Italian and Chinese samples by means of Principal Component Analysis.


The thesis begins by providing an introduction to transformer theory. An ideal transformer is examined first, followed by full core transformer theory. The partial core transformer is then introduced and compared to the full core design. An introduction to superconductors is then presented where a simplified theory of superconductivity is given. High temperature superconductors are then examined including their physical structure, superconducting properties and the design of the superconducting wire. The early development of high temperature superconducting partial core transformers at the University of Canterbury is then examined. Early partial core development is discussed followed by some material testing at cryogenic temperatures. This work lead into the development of the first high temperature superconducting partial core transformer. This transformer failed during testing and an examination of the failure mechanisms is presented. The results of the failure investigation prompted an alternative winding insulation design which was implemented in a full core superconducting transformer. The modelling used to design a high temperature superconducting partial core transformer is then presented. Based upon the reverse design method, the modelling is used to determine the components of the Steinmetz equivalent transformer circuit. The modelling includes a combination of circuit theory and finite element analysis. An ac loss model for high temperature superconductors is also presented. A new 15 kVA, 230-230V high temperature superconducting partial core transformer was designed, built and tested. The windings are layer wound with first generation Bi2223 high temperature superconductor. The modelling was used to predict the performance of the transformer as well as the ac losses of the high temperature superconductor. A series of electrical tests were performed on the transformer including open circuit, short circuit, resistive load, overload, ac withstand voltage and fault ride through tests. The test results are compared with the model. The transformer was found to be 98.2% efficient at rated power with 2.86% voltage regulation. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS The following is a list of papers that have been accepted for publication during the research presented in this thesis.


Miscellaneous problems relating to the existence and validity of a will at the death of the testator (part 2)
Executing a will is an important step in estate planning. A will gives the testator the opportunity to bequeath his assets and to indicate how he wants his estate to be distributed after his death. Not only is the proper execution of a will important but it should be updated regularly and carefully to provide for changed circumstances. The will must accordingly be readily available for the testator to amend or revoke. The availability of the will after the testator's death is crucial in order for the administration process to commence. Although an easy accessible will can lead to problems surrounding the authenticity of the will, it can contribute to the prompt administration of the estate as it must be submitted to the master in terms of the Administration of Estates Act.
In this article numerous problems relating to the existence, availability and recovery of a will at the death of the testator are discussed. Interrelated issues such as forgery, lost wills, missing wills, concealment of wills and revocation by destruction of a will are discussed with reference to case law and other examples. Questions as to the proper custody of the will, before and after the death of the testator, resolving disputes amongst next-of-kin, and the onus of proof, are discussed. Cases that in fact dealt with common law lost wills, but where section 2(3) condonation applications were incorrectly brought, are discussed. Possible resolutions for the miscellaneous problems with wills are explored and recommendations made to solve potential problems.


The importance of organizational issues to assess the success of international development project has not been fully considered yet. An analysis of the literature on the project success definition, focused on the success criteria and success factors, was carried out by surveying the contribution of different authors and approaches. Traditionally projects were perceived as successful when they met time, budget and performance goals, assuming a basic similarity among projects (universalistic approach). However, starting from a non‐universalistic approach, the importance of organization's effectiveness, in terms of relations sustainability, emerged as a dimension able to define and assess a project success (Belassi W., Tukel O.I., 1996). Based on previous research contributions on the factors influencing the relations between organizations (Zanasi C., Rota C., 2009), the paper expands the analysis of the influence of human resource management on organizational climate that, in turn, influences the relation sustainability between project manager and project team involved in international cooperation for development. A detailed analysis of these relations is provided and a research hypothesis are built. A questionnaire on previous contributions was adapted to collect data for a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis. Five dimensions of organizational climate (Zeitz G. et al., 1997) (trust, communication, innovation, job challenge, social cohesion), four dimensions of human resource management (Snell S.A., Dean J.W, 1992) (staff recruitment, training, performance appraisal, reward system) and two dimension for sustainable relations (Fisher C., Reynolds N., 2008) (relations quality and strength) are reported and measured by using a 5 point Likert scale. The sample size is still in progress. The first results on internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) are satisfactory.


The growth in power and connectivity of today's PCs promises a continued increase in the growth of streaming media over the Internet. Hand-in-hand with the increase in streaming media comes the impending threat of unresponsive UDP traffic, often cited as the major threat to the stability of the Internet. The responsiveness of commercial streaming media applications, such as RealNetworks' RealPlayer, will play an important role in the network impact of streaming media. Unfortunately, there are few empirical studies that analyze the responsiveness, or lack of it, of commercial streaming media. In this work, we measure the responsiveness of RealVideo over UDP by measuring the performance of numerous streaming video clips selected from a variety of RealServers on the Internet. By varying the bottleneck bandwidth to the player, we are able to analyze the TCP-Friendliness of RealVideo over UDP and correlate the results with network and application layer statistics. We find that most streaming RealVideo clips are not bandwidth constrained for typical broadband connections. In times of congestion, most RealVideo UDP streams respond to Internet congestion by reducing the application layer encoding rate, and streams with a minimum encoding rate less than the fair bandwidth share usually achieve a TCP-Friendly rate. In addition, our analysis suggests that a reason streaming applications choose not to use TCP is that the TCP API hides network information, such as loss rate and round-trip time, making it difficult to estimate the available bandwidth for effective media scaling.


We present a novel method of statistical surface-based morphometry based on the use of non-parametric permutation tests and a spherical wavelet (SWC) shape representation. As an application, we analyze two brain structures, the caudate nucleus and the hippocampus, and compare the results obtained to shape analysis using a sampled point representation. Our results show that the SWC representation indicates new areas of significance preserved under the FDR correction for both the left caudate nucleus and left hippocampus. Additionally, the spherical wavelet representation provides a natural way to interpret the significance results in terms of scale in addition to knowing the spatial location of the regions


Cladocera zooplankton as carriers of bacteria result in biological risk due to their occurrence in drinking water treatment systems. In this paper, bench-scale experiments were performed to investigate the inhibition effect on Daphnia magna (D. magna) by controlling its phototactic behavior. The results showed that UVA had a negative effect on the phototaxis of D. magna, indicating an active movement away from light source, while blue light was positive in inducing phototactic behavior. The water quality could influence the phototactic behavior of D. magna. When the turbidity value was higher than 10 NTU or total organic carbon (TOC) concentration was beyond 4 mg/L, the phototaxis of D. magna to UVA (25 μw/cm2 intensity) or blue light (1,000 Lux intensity) was significantly weakened. It was difficult for D. magna to offset the effect of water flow by its phototactic movement when the flow rate was higher than 10 mm/s. According to the above results, with suitable process parameters in full-scale experiments, the occurrence of D. magna in the effluent of sedimentation tank and activated carbon filter was obviously inhibited by the UVA irradiation and blue light induction, respectively.


This essay challenges assumptions about the root causes of jihadist terrorism that prioritize political, religious, or economic factors. Drawing on the author's anecdotal experience interviewing hundreds of accused jihadist terrorists, along with survey data collected from subject matter experts in countering violent extremism (CVE), the essay offers an interpretation for terrorism's causes and cures that emphasizes social factors. Contrary to narratives popular in the U.S. – both in media and government circles – the lure of terrorism is not a result of political marginalization, economic disadvantage, or even religious indoctrination. It is foremost a sociological phenomenon, created by individuals who seek the insulating security of group identity and affiliation. The real reason why people are drawn to join terrorist groups is the innate need for camaraderie, identity, and a sense of belonging – the pursuit of social satisfaction, not the expression of political or economic frustration, much less the fulfilment of a religious imperative. CVE research that exclusively focuses on the political, economic, or religious causes of terrorism will, at best, over-appraise their significance, and, at worst, distract policymakers from understanding more influential motivators and responding to them accordingly. New directions for research lie in further exploring the sociological underpinnings of jihadist terrorism, as well as validating the effectiveness of social-centred CVE policies already in place.


DNA topoisomerases regulate conformational changes in DNA topology by catalyzing DNA strand breakage and rejoining. Topoisomerase IIβ (Topo IIβ) alters DNA conformation near gene promoters and associates with sequence-specific transcription factors and chromatin modifying and remodeling factors. Ju et al. now show that DNA Topo IIβ generates double-strand breaks at transcriptional promoters when these genes are activated in a signal-dependent manner. Subsequently, DNA repair enzymes are activated and there is a resultant exchange in histone composition and local chromatin structure. B.-G. Ju, V. V. Lunyak, V. Perissi, I. Garcia-Bassets, D. W. Rose, C. K. Glass, M. G. Rosenfeld, A topoisomerase IIβ-mediated dsDNA break required for regulated transcription. Science 312, 1798-1802 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text] J.-F. Haince, M. Rouleau, G. G. Poirier, Gene expression needs a break to unwind before carrying on. Science 312, 1752-1753 (2006). [Summary] [Full Text]


A developmental marker in fruit flies also acts as a marker of renal cell cancer in humans. It is quite a leap from building genetic networks in a model organism to the identification of a clinically relevant marker for a human cancer. Liu et al. combined transcription-factor DNA binding site mapping and expression profiling data with literature mining and protein interaction data to build a network around the classical pair-rule genes in Drosophila that specify the segments during embryogenesis. Consequently, a gene was identified that encodes an E3 ubiquitin ligase adaptor, SPOP, that targets the Jun kinase pathway. The gene is conserved in humans, and expression is associated with the most common type of kidney cancer. J. Liu, M. Ghanim, L. Xue, C. D. Brown, I. Iossifov, C. Angeletti, S. Hua, N. Nègre, M. Ludwig, T. Stricker, H. A. Al-Ahmadie, M. Tretiakova, R. L. Camp, M. Perera-Alberto, D. L. Rimm, T. Xu, A. Rzhetsky, K. P. White, Analysis of Drosophila segmentation network identifies a JNK pathway factor overexpressed in kidney cancer. Science 323, 1218–1222 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.... [I]f the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.... [T]o declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminalwould bring terrible retribution. Against that pernicious doctrine this Court should resolutely set its face.


The subject area of this thesis is the locating of mobile users using the future 3rd generation spread spectrum communication system UMTS. The motivation behind this work is twofold: firstly the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated the provision of user location into services in the United States of America due to the increasing number of emergency calls originating from unknown locations. Secondly the user location can enable a number of other potentially profit–making applications and services. These are generally thought to be the important new applications of the third generation mobile networks. The UMTS standard has now made provision for a time difference of arrival based mobile user location system in which the mobile measures time differences of arrival of received signals from surrounding base stations (BS's). There are two main problems to such a technique: firstly the problem of detecting enough base stations to make a location fix, the so called 'hearability' problem. In spread spectrum systems all base stations transmit on the same bandwidth thus non–serving BS's may not be detectable in normal operation. The second problem is non–line of sight (NLOS) propagation, in which time difference measurements (or any other measurement types) may be corrupted significantly, thus causing significant location error. The thesis of this work is that these two problems can be entirely overcome using spatial filtering of measurements and location estimates. Two constraints that are placed on the filtering algorithms are that the operation should be real time and that the precise distribution of NLOS errors is unknown (though certain key characteristics are exploited). A channel model is first developed, which specifically characterises line of sight and NLOS transitions as well as out of cell radio wave propagation. Several scenarios are then simulated. Slow moving users, low hearability and heavily NLOS conditions pose the biggest challenge. Spatial filtering is achieved by Kalman filters adapted to the problem, as well as simple averaging filters. Results show that improved location accuracy (to within FCC recommendations) is possible in all considered scenarios with spatial filtering as well as improved robustness to low hearability. The detection stage of the receiver is also analysed in detail and methods to improve hearability are presented. The performance of a hybrid location system using angle of arrival measurements of the mobile at the serving BS is also assessed. A fairly pessimistic model for the spread of NLOS errors is used, however significant location improvement is noted in several scenarios. Worst performance occurs in urban scenarios so finally a novel approach to user location is described which is robust to NLOS propagation conditions and also overcomes the hearability problem since only measurements at the serving BS are required. The technique, termed Scatterer Back Tracing (SBT), uses and requires multipaths to calculate the mobile location. Results suggest this SBT can provide extremely high location accuracy but is very sensitive to measurement noise. Declaration of Originality I hereby declare that the research recorded in this thesis and the thesis itself was composed and originated entirely by myself in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at The University of Edinburgh.