Multi-temporal vegetation index (VI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are becoming widely used for large-area crop classification. Most crop-mapping studies have applied enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data from MODIS instead of the more traditional normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data because of atmospheric and background corrections incorporated into EVI's calculation and the index's sensitivity over high biomass areas. However, the actual differences in the classification results using EVI versus NDVI have not been thoroughly explored. This study evaluated time-series MODIS 250-m EVI and NDVI for crop-related land use/land cover (LULC) classification in the US Central Great Plains. EVI- and NDVI-derived maps classifying general crop types, summer crop types and irrigated/non-irrigated crops were produced for southwest Kansas. Qualitative and quantitative assessments were conducted to determine the thematic accuracy of the maps and summarize their classification differences. For the three crop maps, MODIS EVI and NDVI data produced equivalent classification results. High thematic accuracies were achieved with both indices (generally ranging from 85% to 90%) and classified cropping patterns were consistent with those reported for the study area (> 0.95 correlation between the classified and USDA-reported crop areas). Differences in thematic accuracy (< 3% difference), spatially depicted patterns (> 90% pixel-level thematic agreement) and classified crop areas between the series of EVI- and NDVI-derived maps were negligible. Most thematic disagreements were restricted to single pixels or small clumps of pixels in transitional areas between cover types. Analysis of MODIS composite period usage in the classification models also revealed that both VIs performed equally well when periods from a specific growing season phase (green, peak or senescence) were heavily utilized to generate a specific crop map.


Neural network NLP models are vulnerable to small modifications of the input that maintain the original meaning but result in a different prediction. In this paper, we focus on robustness of text classification against word substitutions, aiming to provide guarantees that the model prediction does not change if a word is replaced with a plausible alternative, such as a synonym. As a measure of robustness, we adopt the notion of the maximal safe radius for a given input text, which is the minimum distance in the embedding space to the decision boundary. Since computing the exact maximal safe radius is not feasible in practice, we instead approximate it by computing a lower and upper bound. For the upper bound computation, we employ Monte Carlo Tree Search in conjunction with syntactic filtering to analyse the effect of single and multiple word substitutions. The lower bound computation is achieved through an adaptation of the linear bounding techniques implemented in tools CNN-Cert and POPQORN, respectively for convolutional and recurrent network models. We evaluate the methods on sentiment analysis and news classification models for four datasets (IMDB, SST, AG News and NEWS) and a range of embeddings, and provide an analysis of robustness trends. We also apply our framework to interpretability analysis and compare it with LIME.


Part I. What Makes a Market?: Efficiency, Accountability, and Reliability in Getting the Babies We Want: 1. Baby markets Michele Goodwin 2. The upside of baby markets Martha Ertman 3. Price and pretense in the baby market Kimberly Krawiec 4. Bringing feminist fundamentalism to the US baby markets Mary Anne Case 5. Producing kinship through the marketplaces of transnational adoption Sara Dorow Part II. Space and Place: Reproducing and Reframing Social Norms of Race, Class, Gender and Otherness: 6. Adoption laws and practices: serving whose interests? Ruth Arlene-Howe 7. International adoption: the human rights issues Elizabeth Bartholet 8. Heterosexuality as a prenatal social problem: why parents and courts have a taste for heterosexuality Jose Gabilondo 9. Transracial adoption of black children: an economic analysis Mary Eschelbach Hansen and Daniel Pollack Part III. Spectrums and Discourses: Rights, Regulations, and Choice: 10. Reproducing dreams Naomi Cahn 11. Why do parents have rights? The problem of kinship in liberal thought Maggie Gallagher 12. Free markets, free choice? A market approach to reproductive rights Debora Spar 13. Commerce and regulation in the assisted reproduction industry John Robertson 14. Ethics within markets or a market for ethics: can disclosure of sperm donor identity be effectively mandated? June Carbone Part IV. The Ethics of Baby and Embryo Markets: 15. Egg donation for research and reproduction: the compensation conundrum Nanette Elster 16. Eggs, nests, and stem cells Lisa Ikemota 17. Where stem cell research meets abortion politics: limits on buying and selling human oocytes Michelle Oberman Part V. Tenuous Grounds and Baby Taboos: 18. Risky exchanges Viviana Zelizer 19. Giving in to baby markets Sonia Suter.


MEDICAL RESEARCH, MEDICAL JOURNALS AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST The health of medical research is essential to the health of the American people and of the world. Without a broadly based vigorous program of research in basic science and applied clinical science, there is no progress. Everything we know now, everything that we can do, everything that medicine has to offer in the way of improving health is based on research. Everything that we hope to achieve in the future, dealing with all the terrible health problems all over the world, depends on progress in research. Those who imagine that we can get along without supporting medical research are deluding themselves. Medical research is an enterprise that is carried out in many kinds of institutions by many kinds of people, with various kinds of support. Important research is done in academic institutions, government institutions, and independent research institutions. Regardless of institution, the process is the same. It begins with investigators getting an idea. And, if they have the resources, they investigate that idea; they begin to carry out experiments. The experiments may change the hypothesis on which the research was based. The initial experiments may indicate that the idea was wrong, and they have to go off in another direction. Or they may get some fruitful results, but then, because of what happens later on, the direction of the research may change. But sooner or later, with any luck, they have some data that they think mean something, and they try to draw some conclusions. They talk to their colleagues; they discuss their work at seminars and private meetings that are held among the scientists working in the field. As a result of those discussions, their ideas may change, and in comparing notes with colleagues they may learn something that causes them to change what they are doing--perhaps to drop one line of investigation to try another. They may be asked to present their work at a local or international scientific meeting. At the time the work is presented, it may be finished and ready to be written up and reported in the medical literature or it may still be in progress. Scientific meetings, then, are simply occasions for working scientists to talk to one another. More than half of the papers reported at medical scientific meetings never get published, i.e., the work never comes to fruition. Why? Because it turns out that the original interpretations were wrong, the methods weren't appropriate or, as the result of further work, the conclusions presented at the meeting were not quite correct. This fact should not be a cause for concern, since science is based on corrections of error and testing of hypotheses. Those misinformed bureaucrats who think that they have to police science to eliminate error, or who confuse error with fraud, don't understand that science advances through the postulation of hypotheses which may turn out to be right or wrong; collection of data, which may be adequate or inadequate; correction, discussion, and rigorous criticism of the data and the postulates; postulation of new ideas; collection of additional data; and so on in a continuing process. The point is that the best available information is often simply a way-station to the ultimate answer. One never knows in advance what the answer is because, often, as methods change and ideas change, new information becomes available and new insights are put forward. At some juncture, however, a working scientist decides that there are enough data to fit the story together. The scientist then writes it up in the form of a research report to submit, usually to a peer-reviewed journal. Then the journal editors send that paper out to experts in the field for criticism and review. At The New England Journal of Medicine our custom is to send manuscripts to at least two experts in the field--recognized authorities who are working on that subject themselves. If the manuscript contains numerical or statistical analysis, we always add a third reviewer who is a biostatistician or epidemiologist. …


Motivated by a problem in the synthesis of nanowires, a sequential space filling design, called Sequential Minimum Energy Design (SMED), is proposed for exploring and searching for the optimal conditions in complex black-box functions. The SMED is a novel approach to generate designs that can quickly carve out regions with no observable nanostructure morphology, do not involve parametric estimation, and allow for the exploration of complex response surfaces. It can be viewed as a sequential design procedure for stochastic functions and a global optimization procedure for deterministic functions. Guidelines for choosing the parameters of the design are proposed. Convergence of the algorithm is studied under certain regularity conditions. Performance of the algorithm has been studied using experimental data on nanowire synthesis as well as standard test functions.


Increasing industrialization and urbanization are causing a decreasing amount of non-urban wildlife interaction and nature experiences. Less contact with the natural world is potentially creating a lack of interest in the wildlife, ecology, and natural phenomena. Animal-associated wildlife centers (AAWCs) provide the public with unique opportunities to experience wildlife and nature directly and vicariously through educational programs. AAWCs are nonprofit organizations that provide sanctuary to native or exotic animals, rehabilitate and release native wildlife that is injured or orphaned, and/or house non-releasable wildlife for educational purposes. This applied project examined educational methods used by AAWCs within the United States and created an educational resource for wildlife educators. Information was collected from surveys of AAWCs and follow-up interviews with targeted organizations which informed the development of an educational resource website (http://wildlifeedresources.com). The website provides easy to model lesson/program plans and resources for informal science education strategies. This paper expounds upon the development of the website and provides justification for the development process. Throughout the process of implementing this project, notable findings appeared in the literature as well as valuable insights from interviews and surveys with AAWC organizations. The influence that AAWCs can provide on their community and conservation education is substantial and should be utilized. Through the sharing and adaptation of successful lesson plans and the utilization of experiential learning, place-based education, education, active learning, storytelling, educational / ambassador animals, and the development of empathy, AAWC education programs can enhance their impact on students, participants, and the environment. EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR WILDLIFE EDUCATORS 3


Entering the second decade of commercialization of biotech crops, the global area cultivated with transgenic plants constantly expands and national legislations in many countries, particularly in the European Union, require identification and labeling of genetically modified material in food and feed. We describe here a procedure for characterizing transgenic material of unknown origin present in conventional seed lots using a genome walking strategy for isolation and characterization of the junction between the inserted transgene construct and the host plant genomic DNA. The procedure was applied to transgenic cotton detected as adventitious or technically unavoidable presence in a conventional commercial cultivar. The structure of the isolated region revealed that the transgenic material derived from Monsanto's event 1445 transgenic cotton. Due to the random incorporation of the transgene into the host plant's genome, the sequence of the junction region obtained using the genome walking strategy, provided the means to develop an event-specific identification method without prior knowledge for the nature of the transformation event. Thus, we documented a methodology for developing an event-specific detection protocol even without prior knowledge of the genetic modification event.


More than half of the human population currently lives in urban areas and according to the United Nations, cities will be the living space of an additional 2.5 billion people by the year 2050 (UN, 2015b). The proportion and speed of this urban growth increase the pressure on water resources, and this is often seen negatively. However, this challenge can also be a chance to substantially improve the quality of life in urban areas, if we consider how we want to live tomorrow and actively shape our future. As a group of interdisciplinary young scientists authoring the current science policy report, we agreed that we want to live in cities where sustainable, integrated watershed management guarantees public health and environmental safety. This requires sanitation and rainwater management, solutions for dealing with contaminants, such as micropollutants, as well as information flows and public involvement in water management. Integrated watershed management as part of urban planning takes into account interdisciplinary relationships and connects different sectors, for example city administration, health providers and water managers. It also ensures access to sustainable, adaptable, effective and resilient rain and wastewater management, which includes the specific needs of vulnerable groups. Such a rain and wastewater management considers water reuse as a possibility to increase the available water supply. A growing number and increasing concentration of micropollutants in the aquatic environment are a health risk. It is important to understand their fate and effects and to develop appropriate management strategies. In such decision-making processes, all aspects of water management should be included and local stakeholders involved. Moreover, comprehensive and optimized information flows improve the understanding of water-related problems and must be used to help communities to set priorities, take action and assume responsibilities. Education, capacity building and community engagement are particularly important for creating ownership, identification with water resources and environmental consciousness. Further research is needed in these areas to better understand challenges and chances of water management in growing urban areas and to develop scientifically based solutions. This scientific knowledge will build the basis for policy-making and implementation of actions in urban water management. In this way, we believe a better and more desirable urban environment can be achieved for future generations.


Research suggests that multiracial identity is uniquely malleable, and I will focus here on the significance of that malleability for mixed-Asian individuals. At various times, mixed-Asian individuals may present themselves as "half" Asian; other times, they may present themselves as "full" Asian, "full" White, or, in some instances, fully ambiguous. Mixed-Asian racial identity negotiation, I will argue, often presents considerable challenges for mixed-Asian individuals. And mixed-Asian individuals are often targets of what I have elsewhere called "racial capitalism" by White individuals and predominantly White institutions. Still, I conclude that the malleability of mixed-Asian racial identity provides unique opportunities for destabilizing existing views about racial identity, reinvigorating stale conversations about race, and ultimately facilitating progress toward a racially egalitarian society.


The physicochemical properties of a compound play a crucial role in the cancer development process. In this context, polymorphism can become an important obstacle for the pharmaceutical industry because it frequently leads to the loss of therapeutic effectiveness of some drugs. Stability under manufacturing conditions is also critical to ensure no undesired degradations or transformations occur. In this study, the thermal behaviour of 40 derivatives of a series of sulphur and selenium heteroaryl compounds with potential antitumoural activity were studied. In addition, the most promising cytotoxic derivatives were analysed by a combination of differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric techniques in order to investigate their polymorphism and thermal stability. Moreover, stability under acid, alkaline and oxidative media was tested. Degradation under stress conditions as well as the presence of polymorphism was found for the compounds VA6E and VA7J, which might present a hurdle to carrying on with formulation. On the contrary, these obstacles were not found for derivative VA4J.


Transfer learning allows for knowledge to generalize across tasks, resulting in increased learning speed and/or performance. These tasks must have commonalities that allow for knowledge to be transferred. The main goal of transfer learning in the reinforcement learning domain is to train and learn on one or more source tasks in order to learn a target task that exhibits better performance than if transfer was not used (Taylor and Stone 2009). Furthermore, the use of output-gated neural network models of working memory has been shown to increase generalization for supervised learning tasks (Kriete and Noelle 2011; Kriete et al. 2013). We propose that working memory-based generalization plays a significant role in a model's ability to transfer knowledge successfully across tasks. Thus, we extended the Holographic Working Memory Toolkit (HWMtk) (Dubois and Phillips 2017; Phillips and Noelle 2005) to utilize the generalization benefits of output gating within a working memory system. Finally, the model's utility was tested on a temporally extended, partially observable 5x5 2D grid-world maze task that required the agent to learn 3 tasks over the duration of the training period. The results indicate that the addition of output gating increases the initial learning performance of an agent in target tasks and decreases the learning time required to reach a fixed performance threshold.


DP systems are nowadays widely used on installation and crane vessels. In recent years a few cases have been reported where the DP system becomes instable during the installation. Two main reasons can cause these instabilities. First of all the predictor model that is used in the Kalman filter has to accommodate the difference in the mass that occurs when its weight shifts from the barge to the crane. The second and more important reason is the tension in the main hoist wire which acts as an additional spring in the horizontal plane. Some DP-systems have a special heavy lift mode, which is activated when instabilities occur. The present paper describes a different method that uses the actual tension measurement in the hoist wire to enhance the DP system and correct for the additional forces in the horizontal plane due to the hoisting wire. The proposed method is investigated in a series of model tests and results are presented. It is shown that the hoist feed forward improves the overall behavior significantly.© 2010 ASME


This paper will focus on a creative process that took place in Derry Northern Ireland in June of 2014 and culminated with the production of a CD of sound art works. The project engaged a group of older adults, who were members of the University for the Third Age (U3A) in Derry, to explore sound art through mobile technologies. During a two-week workshop period these participants recorded various soundscapes within Derry, edited and designed sounds on mobile technologies, and created a series of sonic art works for publication. The following paper discusses the processes and practices used to introduce sound art and technology to this group.


We have conducted a near-infrared monitoring campaign at the UK InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT), of the Local Group spiral galaxy M33 (Triangulum). The main aim was to identify stars in the very final stage of their evolution, and for which the luminosity is more directly related to the birth mass than the more numerous less-evolved giant stars that continue to increase in luminosity. In this third paper of the series, we measure the dust production and rates of mass loss by the pulsating Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and red supergiants. To this aim, we combined our time-averaged nearIR photometry with the multi-epoch mid-IR photometry obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The mass-loss rates are seen to increase with increasing strength of pulsation and with increasing bolometric luminosity. Low-mass stars lose most of their mass through stellar winds, but even super-AGB stars and red supergiants lose � 40% of their mass via a dusty stellar wind. More than three-quarters of the dust return is oxygenous. We construct a 2-D map of the mass-return rate, showing a radial decline but also local enhancements due to agglomerations of massive stars. We estimate a total mass-loss rate of 0.004–0.005 M⊙ yr −1 kpc −2 , increasing to � 0.006 M⊙ yr −1 kpc −2 when accounting for eruptive mass loss (e.g., supernovae); comparing this to the current star formation rate of � 0.03 M⊙ yr −1 kpc −2 we conclude that star formation in the central region of M33 can only be sustained if gas is accreted from further out in the disc or from circum-galactic regions.


In this study, electro-thermo-mechanical nonlinear vibration and instability of embedded piezoelectric micro-tube is carried out based on nonlocal theory and nonlinear Donnell's shell model. The smart micro-tube made of Poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is conveying an isentropic, incompressible fluid. The detailed parametric study is conducted, focusing on the remarkable effects of mean flow velocity, fluid viscosity, elastic medium modulus, temperature change, imposed electric potential, small scale and aspect ratio on the vibration behavior of the micro-tube. It has been found that stability of the system is strongly dependent on the imposed electric potential. Results of this investigation could be applied for optimum design of sensors and actuators in the sensitive applications. © 2012 IAU, Arak Branch. All rights reserved.


Framed by a critical analysis of global capitalism, this book examines how the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are powerfully shaping the political economy of the wider Middle East. Through unprecedented and fine-grained empirical research - encompassing sectors such as agribusiness, real estate, finance, retail, telecommunications, and urban utilities - Adam Hanieh lays out the pivotal role of the Gulf in the affairs of other Arab states. This vital but little recognised feature of the Middle East's political economy is essential to understanding contemporary regional dynamics, not least of which is the emergence of significant internal tensions within the Gulf itself. Bringing fresh insights and a novel interdisciplinary approach to debates across political economy, critical geography, and Middle East studies, this book fills an important gap in how we understand the region and its place in the global order.


Background: Glenoid component survival is critical to good long-term outcomes in total shoulder arthroplasty. Optimizing the fixation environment is paramount. The purpose of this study was to compare two glenoid cementing techniques for fixation in total shoulder arthroplasty. Methods: Sixteen cadaveric specimens were randomized to receive peg-only cementation (CPEG) or full back-side cementation (CBACK). Physiological cyclic loading was performed and implant displacement was recorded using an optical tracking system. The cement mantle was examined with micro-computed tomography before and after cyclic loading. Results: Significantly greater implant displacement away from the inferior portion of the glenoid was observed in the peg cementation group when compared to the fully cemented group during the physiological loading. The displacement was greatest at the beginning of the loading protocol and persisted at a diminished rate during the remainder of the loading protocol. Micro-CT scanning demonstrated that the cement mantle remained intact in both groups and that three specimens in the CBACK group demonstrated microfracturing in one area only. Discussion: Displacement of the CPEG implants away from the inferior subchondral bone may represent a suboptimal condition for long-term implant survival. Cement around the back of the implant is suggested to improve initial stability of all polyethylene glenoid implants. Clinical relevance: Full cementation provides greater implant stability when compared to limited cementation techniques for insertion of glenoid implants. Loading characteristics are more favorable when cement is placed along the entire back of the implant contacting the subchondral bone.


Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can be considered as an important economic indicator in developing countries that may influence the other variables changes by bringing in the new technology and improving the workers' skill. Most of the previous studies using the FDI as a dependent variable but in this study it is used as an independent variable. The main objective of this study is to identify the contribution of gross FDI towards domestic demand, economic growth and export in the Malaysian economy. The annual data from 1970 to 2011 have been used to test the Johansen cointegration test, the Exponential Smoothing approach, the Box-Jenkins approaches and the Granger causality test. The co integration test found that there is at least one co-integration that exists among FDI, EXP, GDP, GFC and HFC at the five percent of significant in the long run. Both of the Exponential Smoothing and the Box-Jenkins approaches are being employed since there are strengths and weaknesses for the applied models. Hence, both of these methods have been used to gain the most accurate prediction by determining the lower forecasting error measures and the information criterion value. After conducted the forecasting test, it is been proven that Box-Jenkins approaches are the most powerful forecasting method compared to exponential smoothing. Whereas, the Granger causality test found new evidence for the actual data which supports the previous study that there is bidirectional causality effect among the variables. However, the causality tests for insample and outsample data gained a mixed result for each hypothesis. The outcomes of this study proved that all the developed hypotheses testing for FDI is still valid and considered important as an economic instrument to boost the export, domestic demand and economic growth in Malaysia.


MODERN MEDICAL LABORATORY JOURNAL Background and Objective: Beta-2 Microglobulin (β2M) is a middle molecular weight uremic toxin. Lack of β2M removal leads to β2M accumulation and amyloidosis in hemodialysis patients. The present research aims to determine the relationship between β2M and inflammatory factors, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in hemodialysis patients. Methods: Fifty-four hemodialysis patients were selected and their preand post-dialysis serum levels of β2M, CRP, albumin, and HDL, were measured. Result: There was an obvious inverse relationship between β2M level and serum level of albumin, while no relationship was found between β2M and CRP or HDL. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it was identified that inflammatory-induced increase in β2M level in dialysis patients leads to reduced serum albumin.


The study intended to investigate the contribution of Human Resources Planning in public institution's performance. The specific objectives of the study were: to determine the relationship between Human Resources Planning and institutional performance, to analyse the factors that will lead to effective implementation of HRP at MDC and examine the outcome of Human Resources Planning in public institution towards its performance. Mlele District council was used as a case study. Sample selection involved a simple random sampling was 50 employees were selected as a study sample. Data were collected through Questionnaires, and other document review. The collected data were edited, organized to meaningful way and were analyzed and presented in by using quantitative and qualitative research procedures. The major findings show that poor planning of HR has an impact on organization performance as the response from the respondents shows inadequate priority for HRP; there exist a lot of problems during process of HRP as insufficient top management support, insufficient funds, as well as shortage of expertise. The study concluded that Human Resource Planning has strong relationship with the performance of a particular Institution. Thus effective HRP leads to good performance and in ineffective HRP leads to poor performance of a particular Institution. The study recommendations that improvement in central government and ministries in providing effective support. To introduce and improve measures on matters relating to employees, as well as the District top management to increase commitment in all matters relating to HRP. Thus the respondents said there are many benefits that the organization gets from effective Human Resources Planning.


This work aimed to analyze the competitive effect of Cyperus esculentus on the initial development of irrigated rice. The field experiment was carried out at the Experimental Station of the University of Tocantins, in Formoso do Araguaia-TO. The statistical design used was a 4 x 5 factorial scheme with four replications in randomized blocks. The treatments consisted of four densities of C. esculentus (25, 50, 100, 200 plants m-2 and a clean check) and five periods of coexistence with rice (15, 25, 35, 45, 60 days after emergence). At the end of each period, dry matter, leaf area, number of tillers and rice yield were evaluated. C. esculentus presented higher irrigated rice yield reduction starting from 25 days of coexistence with the crop. Two hundred plants of C. esculentus m-2 coexisting for a period of 35 days reduced yield to 20.11%, representing 17.4 sacs ha-1. Dry matter, leaf area and number of tillers per rice plant were affected by the weeds in all the coexistence periods, with the leaf area being the most affected crop parameter.


Investigations of Synthetic Models of Mononuclear Nonheme Iron Dioxygenases Michael M Bittner, B.S. Marquette University, 2014 Ring cleaving dioxygenases, such as o-aminophenol dioxygenase (APDO) and extradiol catechol dioxygenases (CatD), play an important role in human metabolism and the degradation of aromatic pollutants, yet questions still remain concerning the enzymatic mechanisms. One area of the catalytic cycle that remains controversial is the geometric and electronic structure of the intermediate formed after O2 binding to the Fe(II) centers. Synthetic model systems can be useful for studying enzyme active sites, as they are easier to modify and characterize than the enzymes themselves. However, synthetic models of APDOs have been relatively rare thus far. We prepared several monoiron(II) complexes that faithfully model the enzymesubstrate intermediates of o-aminophenol dioxygenases (APDO) and catechol dioxygenases. The complexes use either the Tp (Tp = hydrotris(3,5-diphenylpyrazol1-yl)borate) or TIP (TIP = tris(4,5-diphenyl-1-methylimidazole)phosphine) supporting ligands and one of three bidentate, redox-active ligands: 4-tertbutylcatecholate, 4,6-di-tert-butyl-2-aminophenolate, or 4-tert-butyl-1,2phenylenediamine. These complexes have been extensively characterized with crystallographic, spectroscopic, and electrochemical techniques, in conjunction with computational methods (e.g, density functional theory). Each complex is reactive towards O2, and the geometric and electronic structures of the resulting species were examined with various methods to determine whether the oxidation is iron-based, ligand-based, or a combination of both. Treatment of the Tp / TIP monoiron(II) aminophenolate complex with a phenoxyl radical results in formation of a complex containing an iron(II) center coordinated to an iminobenzosemiquinonate radical, that to the best of our knowledge has no synthetic precedence. Further oxidation leads to a complex best described as a ferric center bound to the iminiobenzosemiquinate radical. The electronic structures of these complexes were determined with the aid of spectroscopic and computational methods. Several monoiron(II) complexes were also prepared to model the active-site structure of -diketone dioxygenase (Dke1). For this purpose, we employed the Tp supporting ligand and acac substrate ligands, where acac represents the anion of dialkyl malonate. Upon exposure to O2 in toluene it was found that the complexes exhibited reactivity similar to Dke1, although at a much slower rate than the native enzyme.


This Article provides a comparative analysis of two very different restrictions on reproductive freedom that have startling parallels and similarities. Both China and the United States impose limits on reproductive freedom: China restricts the number of children that families can have, often in ways that violate international law, while some U.S. states have attempted to restrict access to abortion in ways that violate the precepts of Roe v. Wade as well as international law. Both China and U.S. states impose restrictions on reproductive freedom in order to achieve compelling state goals: protecting development and sustainability in China, and protecting prenatal life in the United States. Finally, both China and the United States have means other than severe restrictions on reproductive freedom at their disposal to achieve the governments' goals: broad access to birth control and sex education. This Article uses the lens of international human rights law to evaluate the concept of subordinating individual reproductive choice to a perception of the common good. Part II provides an overview of the major international instruments addressing individual rights and how they interact with the rights and responsibilities of the state. Part III discusses anti-abortion laws in the United States and the anti-abortion movement's rationale that protecting prenatal life justifies limiting reproductive choice. Part IV discusses China's vast and population control system and the government's rationale that providing a controlled, sustainable population justifies limiting reproductive choice. Part V examines three levels of coercion – compulsory sex education and unrestricted access to contraception, monetary incentive and disincentive programs, and forced abortion and forced child-bearing – and analyzes whether they are consistent with international human rights principles. Finally, the Article concludes that in light of modern access to education and contraception, and the ability to reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies via those means, more coercive means are unnecessary (in the case of monetary incentives and disincentives) and unjustifiable (in the case of forced abortion and forced child-bearing).


The purpose of this study was to assess strength performance after an acute bout of maximally tolerable passive stretch (PS(max)) in human subjects. Ten young adults (6 men and 4 women) underwent 30 min of cyclical PS(max) (13 stretches of 135 s each over 33 min) and a similar control period (Con) of no stretch of the ankle plantarflexors. Measures of isometric strength (maximal voluntary contraction), with twitch interpolation and electromyography, and twitch characteristics were assessed before (Pre), immediately after (Post), and at 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 min after PS(max) or Con. Compared with Pre, maximal voluntary contraction was decreased at Post (28%) and at 5 (21%), 15 (13%), 30 (12%), 45 (10%), and 60 (9%) min after PS(max) (P < 0.05). Motor unit activation and electromyogram were significantly depressed after PS(max) but had recovered by 15 min. An additional testing trial confirmed that the torque-joint angle relation may have been temporarily altered, but at Post only. These data indicate that prolonged stretching of a single muscle decreases voluntary strength for up to 1 h after the stretch as a result of impaired activation and contractile force in the early phase of deficit and by impaired contractile force throughout the entire period of deficit.


The invariance of the direction of a given order diffracted by a grating used in conical diffraction (i.e., in off-plane mounting) when the grating is rotated about a suitable direction is established. The extension of this property to crossed gratings (2-D gratings) is demonstrated. An explanation of this amazing property is given in terms of Fermat's principle and applies to any reflecting surface.


Ty elements of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are long terminal repeat (LTR) retroelements related to retroviruses. Normal levels of Ty1 transposition require Dbr1p, a cellular enzyme that cleaves 2′–5′ RNA bonds. We show that Ty1 RNAs lacking identifiable 5′ ends accumulate in virus-like particles (VLPs) in dbr1 mutants. Debranching this RNA in vitro with Dbr1p creates an uncapped version of the normal Ty1 RNA 5′ end. We show that the 5′ nucleotide (nt) of Ty1 RNA forms a 2′–5′ bond witha nt near the 3′ end of the same RNA, creating a lariat. The properties of the lariat suggest it forms by a novel mechanism and that branching and debranching may play roles in Ty1 reverse transcription at the minus-strand transfer step.


This thesis is in two parts: a theoretical section (60%), which provides an analysis of gender identity in Surrealist film through consideration of a range of Surrealist films; and a practical section (40%), consisting of a body of original creative work (collage, film and assemblage), which builds on and is in dialogue with the theoretical insights of the research. Transformation is seen as central to a mapping and remapping of the spaces, (supposed) limits and frontiers of Surrealist notions of gender identity. In particular this thesis examines how Surrealist film makers engage with representations of men and women: problematising any single or unitary (fixed) reading but rather blurring boundaries between masculine / feminine (as process / flux) in order to deconstruct them, with the ultimate aim of criticising a society that encourages the positioning of men and women according to (binarised) patriarchal discourses. I examine the implications of these 'gender crossings' for the spectator by developing the concept of 'bisexual switching' – which posits a mobile spectator who actively negotiates the various (gender) positions / identities in a kind of dialogue with the text and film maker. Practice, is understood here as a dynamic, integral part of the production of meaning, providing new ways of reflecting upon texts and the processes (such as spectatorship) by which we engage with them. It is argued that this approach is in keeping with the notion of Surrealism as a form of research conducted by artist-researchers, wherein the artworks created are not to be viewed in aesthetic terms but rather as research tools or documents of the research. Following the discussion of the case study films I engage with my own practice in relation to the former, as a series of interlocking dialogues, confirming and challenging the findings of the written thesis (and practice), offering new perspectives on gender identity in Surrealist film. Authors Thomas, Martin Darren URI http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/9074 Collections Theses [3009] Copyright statements The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author Follow QMUL on Twitter  Border Crossings:(Re) presenting Gender in Surrealist Film


Compression-wood is one of the abnormalities phenomena found in softwood's trunk. This abnormality has not been studied comprehensively yet as most of the research on normal trees. This research objective was to analyze ultra structure of Agathis compression wood cell walls and the relation to its physical properties. Wood samples were taken from compression wood in size of 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm x 3 cm.  Ultra structure of cell walls characteristics were analyzed descriptively by using SEM image, while physical properties studied were green and air dried moisture content, density and specific gravity, and shrinkage. The results showed that the form of tracheid cells were changed cross sectionally; intercellular spaces occurred between round tracheid cells; the third layer of secondary cell wall (S3) of compression wood was not clearly distinct; and the angle orientation of microfibril increased along the longitudinal axis. The ultra structure differences led to different physical properties such as greater moisture content, density as well as shrinkage


Time perspective (TP) refers to individuals' ways of constructing, reconstructing, and relating the psychological concepts of past, present, and future, and provides individuals with a coherence of experiences over time. In the present study, the relationships among five TPs (past negative, past positive, present fatalistic, present hedonistic, and future) were studied in a student sample (N = 280) using a person-oriented approach, as well as their relationships with continuous measures of emotional, psychological, and social well-being and three categories on the mental health continuum (flourishing, moderately mentally healthy, and languishing). A cluster analysis resulted in seven TP profiles, including balanced, present hedonistic, risk-taking, negative, diffuse/future-oriented, present-oriented, and diffuse. Individuals with the balanced profile (high scores for past positive and future and low scores for past negative and present fatalistic, along with below-average scores for present hedonistic) reported the highest levels of well-being, while individuals with the negative TP profile (very low past positive, low present hedonistic and future, high past negative, and above-average present fatalistic) reported the lowest levels of well-being. The results also showed that flourishing individuals tended to have the balanced TP profile while languishing individuals tended to have the negative TP profile more often than could be expected by chance. Moderately mentally healthy individuals had rather diverse TP profiles.


Astronomers have determined that our universe is 13.7 billion years old. How exactly did they come to this precise conclusion? How Old Is the Universe? tells the incredible story of how astronomers solved one of the most compelling mysteries in science and, along the way, introduces readers to fundamental concepts and cutting-edge advances in modern astronomy.

 The age of our universe poses a deceptively simple question, and its answer carries profound implications for science, religion, and philosophy. David Weintraub traces the centuries-old quest by astronomers to fathom the secrets of the nighttime sky. Describing the achievements of the visionaries whose discoveries collectively unveiled a fundamental mystery, he shows how many independent lines of inquiry and much painstakingly gathered evidence, when fitted together like pieces in a cosmic puzzle, led to the long-sought answer. Astronomers don't believe the universe is 13.7 billion years old--they know it. You will too after reading this book. By focusing on one of the most crucial questions about the universe and challenging readers to understand the answer, Weintraub familiarizes readers with the ideas and phenomena at the heart of modern astronomy, including red giants and white dwarfs, cepheid variable stars and supernovae, clusters of galaxies, gravitational lensing, dark matter, dark energy and the accelerating universe--and much more. Offering a unique historical approach to astronomy, How Old Is the Universe? sheds light on the inner workings of scientific inquiry and reveals how astronomers grapple with deep questions about the physical nature of our universe.


This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with American Studies across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website. These maps should be understood as a snapshot of the consortium in time, and not representative of current information beyond 2013-14. This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.


Andrew Adamatzky is Professor in Unconventional Computing in the Department of Computer Science, amir of the Unconventional Computing Centre, and a member of Bristol Robotics Lab. He does research in reaction-diffusion computing, cellular automata, physarum computing, massive parallel computation, applied mathematics, collective intelligence and robotics. He is one of the founders of unconventional computing thinking in natural sciences.


Migration from the 'new' European Union Member States to the United Kingdom has been identified as one of the most significant social phenomena of recent times. Evidence shows that migrant women constitute a large proportion of international migrants. When considering migration within the European context, migrant women outnumber their male counterparts. Even though gendered studies of migration are now attaining recognition, there is limited literature in relation to Polish migrant women. Drawing on preliminary findings from new fieldwork research undertaken in Poland and the United Kingdom in 2012, this case study focuses on research undertaken to explore how Polish migrant women exercise their rights as European Union citizens to better their own and their families' well-being. This is a qualitative research study conducted with the use of in-depth semi-structured interviews. This case study focuses on sampling, recruitment issues and challenges encountered in the data collection process. The benefits of studying depth, of the active involvement of the researcher and the researcher's relationship with the participants and the data are explored. This case study showcases issues relating to reflexivity as the research was conducted from a gendered perspective. The data gathered was analysed using thematic analysis.


MacGregor, Roy. The Highest Number in the World. Illus. G. Despres. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2014. Print. It shouldn't surprise you that Roy MacGregor writes a good children's book about hockey especially if you read the Globe and Mail where he is a sports writer. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of professional sport with little interest in stats, trades, and game results. However, Roy MacGregor always finds an interesting twist to set his stories apart. So it is with this book. On first glance, it seems to be about a hockey-prodigy; a 9-year-old girl idolizing a famous Canadian female hockey player so much she would give up playing because she has to wear #9 on her new team (not the #22 of her idol). How predictable and boring is that? BUT… her grandma sets her straight on why #9 is actually a better number to live "up" to (incidentally, "highest" in the title refers to height). The illustrations are fantastic - filled with witty references to the life of a Canadian, 9-year-old, hockey-loving girl such as drawings hung with hockey tape, embarrassing Velcro skates with toe-picks, sock-monkeys, and many more. A small quibble is the passive voice used in the first few pages; while chronologically correct, it detracts from the opening action just a little. Then again, hockey games themselves usually build up in intensity and excitement. The main reason for loving this book is the use of history to change perceptions. In a world so concerned with the desires of now, this book reminds us that the present is intimately shaped by the past (even if we don't quite yet know how). Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4 Reviewer: David Sulz David is a Public Services Librarian at University of Alberta and liaison librarian to Economics, Religious Studies, and Social Work. He has university studies in Library Studies, History, Elementary Education, Japanese, and Economics;  he formerly taught in schools and museums. His interests include physical activity, music, home improvements, and above all, things Japanese.


To keep global warming possibly below 1.5 °C and mitigate adverse effects of climate change, agriculture, like all other sectors, will have to contribute to efforts in achieving net negative emissions by the end of the century. Cost-efficient distribution of mitigation across regions and economic sectors is typically calculated using a global uniform carbon price in climate stabilization scenarios. However, in reality such a carbon price would substantially affect food availability. Here, we assess the implications of climate change mitigation in the land use sector for agricultural production and food security using an integrated partial equilibrium modelling framework and explore ways of relaxing the competition between mitigation in agriculture and food availability. Using a scenario that limits global warming cost-efficiently across sectors to 1.5 °C, results indicate global food calorie losses ranging from 110–285 kcal per capita per day in 2050 depending on the applied demand elasticities. This could translate into a rise in undernourishment of 80–300 million people in 2050. Less ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation in the land use sector reduces the associated food security impact significantly, however the 1.5 °C target would not be achieved without additional reductions outside the land use sector. Efficiency of GHG mitigation will also depend on the level of participation globally. Our results show that if non-Annex-I countries decide not to contribute to mitigation action while other parties pursue their mitigation efforts to reach the global climate target, food security impacts in these non-Annex-I countries will be higher than if they participate in a global agreement, as inefficient mitigation increases agricultural production costs and therefore food prices. Land-rich countries with a high proportion of emissions from land use change, such as Brazil, could reduce emissions with only a marginal effect on food availability. In contrast, agricultural mitigation in high population (density) countries, such as China and India, would lead to substantial food calorie loss without a major contribution to global GHG mitigation. Increasing soil carbon sequestration on agricultural land would allow reducing the implied calorie loss by 65% when sticking to the initially estimated land use mitigation requirements, thereby limiting the impact on undernourishment to 20–75 million people, and storing significant amounts of carbon in soils.


Election rules are formal processes that aggregate voters' preferences, typically to select a single winning candidate. Most of the election rules studied in the literature require the voters to rank the candidates from the most to the least preferred one. This method of eliciting preferences is impractical when the number of candidates to be ranked is large. We ask how well certain election rules (focusing on positional scoring rules and the Minimax rule) can be approximated from partial preferences collected through one of the following procedures: (i) randomized—we ask each voter to rank a random subset of ℓ candidates, and (ii) deterministic—we ask each voter to provide a ranking of her ℓ most preferred candidates (the ℓ-truncated ballot). We establish theoretical bounds on the approximation ratios and complement our theoretical analysis with computer simulations. We find that it is usually better to use the randomized approach.


A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication This collection of Ford's works focuses on the development of ceramic chronology a key tool in Americanist archaeology. When James Ford began archaeological fieldwork in 1927, scholars divided time simply into prehistory and history. Though certainly influenced by his colleagues, Ford devoted his life to establishing a chronology for prehistory based on ceramic types, and today he deserves credit for bringing chronological order to the vast archaeological record of the Mississippi Valley. This book collects Ford's seminal writings showing the importance of pottery styles in dating sites, population movements, and cultures. These works defined the development of ceramic chronology that culminated in the major volume "Archaeological Survey in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, 1940-1947," which Ford wrote with Philip Phillips and James B. Griffin. In addition to Ford's early writings, the collection includes articles written with Griffin and Gordon Willey, as well as other key papers by Henry Collins and Fred Kniffen. Editors Michael O'Brien and Lee Lyman have written an introduction that sets the stage for each chapter and provides a cohesive framework from which to examine Ford's ideas. A foreword by Willey, himself a participant in this chronology development, looks back on the origin of that method. "Measuring the Flow of Time" traces the development of culture history in American archaeology by providing a single reference for all of Ford's writing on chronology. It chronicles the formation of one of the most important tools for understanding the prehistory of North America and shows its lasting relevance. "


A group of students who should have been familiar with basic design principles and MVC all failed to implement the Observer design pattern correctly while at the same time violating several design principles. This paper discusses what went wrong and why it probably went wrong. Possible suggestions are given for teaching the Observer pattern and for teaching design patterns in general.


Morse v. Frederick marked the Supreme Court's first decision addressing the First Amendment rights of public school students in nearly twenty years. In this paper, we analyze the decision in light of the Court's prior decisions since the landmark Tinker case, and speculate on the future of students speech cases. In addition, we look at the impact the decision could have on the new frontier of student First Amendment rights: public school regulation of on-line speech - student "cyberspeech." Cyberbullying, inappropriate contact between adults and minors, inappropriate (sometimes illegal) activity posted for all to see on social networking sites like MySpace - all have outstripped existing school conduct codes. Since most material is produced off-campus, school officials are unsure how far their authority to regulate it extends. Given the fact that schools are awash in gadgets that permit students to access the Internet, text or e-mail one another, and send pictures and video, moreover, the line between on-campus and off-campus speech is blurring. It is becoming difficult to keep speech out of schools, even if schools (and perhaps the speaker) want to. The reported cases are few and school systems continue to struggle with the issue. Though it did not involve Internet speech, Morse's peculiar facts offered the Court the opportunity to provide some guidance to school officials, and an opportunity for it to clarify the scope both of students' First Amendment rights and school officials' authority to regulate them. Unfortunately, Morse's self-conscious minimalism raised more questions than it answered, especially for student cyberspeech. Part I briefly reviews prior cases and the questions spawned by those decisions with which lower courts have struggled over the years. Part II summarizes the opinions in Morse and discusses the implications both for the unanswered questions left by the Court's cases, as well as for future speech cases generally. Part III discusses both the challenges to school administrators posed by cyberspeech, as well as lower courts' treatment of these issues in reported cases. Not surprisingly, the court decisions often mirror the confusion present in student speech cases generally. In Part IV we offer some hypothetical situations, consider what is clear after Morse and what remains in question, and propose a standard for resolving the questions to which Morse provided no answers. Our framework respects students' free speech rights while acknowledging the need to preserve a safe and orderly educational environment for students and teachers alike. A brief conclusion follows.


Talking about sexual feelings within a therapeutic setting can prove extremely challenging for therapists. Indeed, such a dialogue appears to be absent in literature, with the exception of psychoanalytical theory exploring this phenomenon. Across all theoretical models, previous literature has failed to explore the occurrence and experience of therapists' sexual feelings when working with male sex offenders. Using an interpretative phenomenological method, this research explored six therapists' experiences of sexual feelings when working therapeutically with male sex offenders. Analysis revealed three superordinate themes and a range of subordinate themes within each superordinate theme. The therapists described a need to protect the self in their work with sexual offenders in order to feel safe. Hence this theme is conceptualised as 'protecting the self'. The theme 'polarisation' focuses on the therapists' divided and at times opposing experiences of specific events. The last theme 'disturbance' highlights the therapists' experiences of feeling both seduced and victimised during their work with male sex offenders. These findings are discussed in relation to the existing literature. One of the major implications of this research relates to the need for greater training around this phenomenon in order to aid therapists who avoid the exploration of sexual feelings with male sex offenders. The importance of using supervision and creating a dialogue around sexual feelings is discussed. Subsequently, recommendations are made for future research in this area.


Background Groin/Hip injuries are among the top 6 most commonly cited injuries in Rugby Union (RU). These injuries have increased significantly since 2002 moving from 16th to 4th place in the most common training injuries in 2012 RU annual audit. Objective To identify intrinsic risk factors for groin/hip injuries in an academy level RU population. Design Prospective cohort study design. Players were tested pre,mid and end season by primary investigator (PI) with team physiotherapists collecting injury data. Setting Testing was carried out in University of Limerick and two Irish RU provincial training grounds. Participants 43 players were recruited using dissemination of information leaflets and objective discussion. Inclusion criteria: Academy level RU players from 2011/2012 provincial teams, over 18 years of age, fluent in English with written consent. Exclusion criteria: Injured or non-consenting players. Risk factor assessment Hip adductor squeeze strength, hip abductor/adductor isometric strength, passive and active internal/external hip rotation ROM, hip abduction ROM, adductor flexibility, groin palpation and quality of single leg squat were examined. Anthropometric data was collected using questionnaires. Team physiotherapists recorded injuries using OSCIS grading system. Hypothesis was formulated prior to testing. Results Incidence of groin/hip injuries was 21%. Non-modifiable risk factors identified were previous injury and smaller player height. Modifiable risk factors identified included; lower isometric squeeze strength, reduced dominant leg and bilateral mean adductor flexibility, greater dominant and non-dominant hip internal rotation ROM and positive tenderness of adductor origin musculature. Conclusions This study succeeded its objective. This is of significant importance clinically due to high injury incidence leading to missed training/matches and associated costs. Future research should call on the rugby community to implement these identified risk factors in the development of a screening tool for groin/hip injuries and examine its efficiency at reducing the incidence of injury thus taking the next step in groin/hip injury prevention.


The aim of the present paper is to assess the relationship between oxysterol levels and retinal microvascular function in individuals of various age groups, free of clinically evident diseases. Forty-two apparently healthy individuals were included in the present study (group 1: 19–30 years, group 2: 31–50 years, and group 3: 51–70 years). Retinal microvascular function was assessed using the dynamic retinal vessel analyzer (DVA, IMEDOS GmbH, Jena, Germany). Fasting plasma was obtained from all subjects and quantification of monohydroxy and dihydroxy oxysterols assessment was performed using LC-MS/MS following reverse phase chromatography. A Griess assay was used to evaluate the Nitric Oxide (NO) concentration in all individuals. The glutathione redox ratio was also analyzed by means of whole blood glutathione recycling assay. In all participants, the levels of 7-Ketocholesterol, 25-hydroxycholesterol and 7β-hydroxycholesterol correlated significantly and positively with the time to maximum arteriolar dilation. In addition, 25-hydroxycholesterol and 7β-hydroxycholesterol negatively correlated to the percentage of maximum arteriolar dilation. A negative correlation was observed for 27-hydroxycholesterol and 7β-hydroxycholesterol with microvascular arteriolar constriction. These results suggest that, with age, abnormal oxysterol levels correlate with early changes in microvascular bed function. This relationship could signal early risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in an ageing population.


Three key questions are addressed in this paper: (1) Have Malawi's tobacco policy reforms led to improvements in the absolute prices that smallholders get? (2) How do the prices that smallholders receive compare with what the rich estate owners get? (3) Are there any lessons that Malawi can learn from the Australian experiences? Results from three tests, namely the empirical fluctuation process (efp) test, Poe, et al. (1994) convolutions test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test indicate that overtime tobacco policy reforms have indeed led to some improvements in both absolute and relative prices that smallholder farmers receive. However, when compared with Victoria in 2006, Malawi's tobacco land use is nearly 256 times more than Victoria and engages more farmers but gets far less farm gate value from tobacco. Adoption of modern farming technologies, specialization and value adding at the domestic scene can be appropriate lessons for Malawi. The closure of the Victorian tobacco industry in 2006 suggests that relying on tobacco as the only tool for Malawi's economic growth and poverty reduction may not be sustainable in the long run. There is need to diversify to other crops such as cotton, pulses, cassava, and bananas.


In the last 30 years, linguists have built a considerable and highly sophisticated body of work on generative grammar. Today the field is more active than ever before. "Introduction to the Theory of Grammar" makes available to teachers and students of syntax a comprehensive critical review of the main results of present day grammatical theory and shows how they were achieved. It presents the central questions, shows how and why they were asked, what the answers were, and how these have led to new questions.Part I discusses the way in which the overly rich, descriptive rule systems of the fifties and sixties have gradually been replaced by simpler, more constrained rule systems. Much of the work originally done by stipulations in the rules themselves has been taken over by general, universal principles which govern the form and functioning of these rules and the properties of their inputs and outputs. The establishment of such a theory of principles is the main topic of Part II.Part III addresses the problem of how semantics fits into grammar and elaborates a conception of how the syntactic properties of logical representations can be integrated into the overall theory of grammar. The rules and principles of grammar developed in these parts account for grammatical phenomena in an essentially modular way, and this system of modules, which constitutes the study of grammar today, is established in Part IV.An Epilogue describes such current developments as generalized binding, phrase structure, small clauses, tree geometry and NP-structure.Henk van Riemsdijk is full professor in the Department of Language and Literature, Tilburg University, Holland. Edwin Williams is professor of linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "Introduction to the Theory of Grammar" is twelfth in the series Current Studies in Linguistics.


The aim of the research is develop an internet-based system that would act as an advisor to
determine and predict comfort level in indoor environment based on fundamental indoor
parameters, with the goal that development of a system that determines the desirable comfort
level in buildings that will enable the saving of energy and ultimately result in saving of costs
for cooling of buildings and yet at the same time provide optimum comfort for the occupants.
Air-conditioning temperatures are often set between 23°C to 25°C based on
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
(ASHRAE) requirements, but it is not suitable for Malaysians. With this
system, room temperatures can potentially be increased by at least 0.5°C. In
the long term, the system has a potential to reduce energy consumption
without sacrificing Thermal Comfort for occupants.The technology system used in the development of Thermal Comfort System for Malaysia
(TCSM) is based on Active Server Pages (ASP) server technology written in Visual Basic
Script (VBScript) using Macromedia Dreamweaver MX as the web-authoring program of
choice. Fanger's equations for predicting Thermal Comfort were converted into specific sets
of rules using the backward chaining method. The system is designed to follow three main
sections mainly the Start TC Helper, TC Predictor and Thermal Comfort Information. The
major input variables required by the system from the user are (1) air temperature of the
room, (2) mean radiant temperature of the room, (3) air velocity of the room, (4) relative
humidity of the room, (5) clothing thermal resistance of the user and (6) the metabolic rate of
the user.
As a means of validation of the system, studies were carried out in the Mid-Valley shopping
centre, KBP001 Engineering lab and BKB 107A room from the Faculty of Engineering. As a
means of verification, interviews were also carried with various experts in the field of thermal
comfort in Malaysia and as a result of the interviews Humphreys' adaptive thermal comfort
equation was added to the internet-based system. With the use of the system, there is a
potential savings in energy bills when the system is used to offer the user the comfortable
temperature of the room.


The watershed algorithm from mathematical morphology is powerful for segmentation. However, it does not allow incorporation of a priori information as segmentation methods that are based on energy minimization. In particular, there is no control of the smoothness of the segmentation result. In this paper, we show how to represent watershed segmentation as an energy minimization problem using the distance-based definition of the watershed line. A priori considerations about smoothness can then be imposed by adding the contour length to the energy function. This leads to a new segmentation method called watersnakes, integrating the strengths of watershed segmentation and energy based segmentation. Experimental results show that, when the original watershed segmentation has noisy boundaries or wrong limbs attached to the object of interest, the proposed method overcomes those drawbacks and yields a better segmentation.


We show how to advance quantum information processing, specifically problem-solving with quantum annealers, in the realm of artificial intelligence. We introduce SAT++, as a novel quantum programming paradigm, that can compile classical algorithms (implemented in classical programming languages) and execute them on quantum annealers. Moreover, we introduce a post-quantum error correction method that can find samples with significantly lower energy values, compared to the state-of-the-art techniques in quantum annealing. We also demonstrate that performing post-quantum error correction methods can make results of quantum annealers reproducible—i.e., more robust behavior of quantum annealers, compared to recent software and hardware advancements in quantum annealing. In addition, we offer to conjugate both optimization and sampling aspects of the quantum annealers and introduce two AI hybrid approaches. In reinforcement quantum annealing (RQA) scheme, an intelligent agent interacts with a quantum annealer that plays the stochastic environment role of learning automata and searches in the space of Hamiltonians, rather than exploring the Hilbert space of a given Ising model. In the same manner, greedy quantum annealing (GQA) is a novel model that utilizes quantum annealers to better select candidates in greedy algorithms. We experimentally demonstrate that our proposed AI hybrid approaches outperform the best-known techniques in quantum annealing, specifically when problems require longer chains for forming virtual qubits with higher connectivity. Furthermore, we introduce the theory of ensemble quantum annealing (EQA) that generates multiple (distinct) Ising Hamiltonians whose ground states are all identical to a solution to the problem of interest. Our experimental results reveal that applying EQA can significantly boost the performance of the quantum annealers. After benchmarking the D-Wave 2000Q quantum processors, as a proof-of-concept, we apply our proposed models on two real-world problems. As our first study case, we use SAT++ for factoring pseudo-prime numbers on a D-Wave quantum processor that can jeopardize the security of modern public-key cryptography systems. As our second case of study, we address the NP-hard problem of compressive sensing (i.e., the L0-norm problem of sparse recovery) through reducing the original problem of compressive sensing to Weighted-MAX-SAT instances, casting the L0-norm problem of binary compressive sensing to quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO), and proposing to solve the original problems of binary compressive sensing and binary compressive sensing with matrix uncertainty on quantum annealers.


The artistic collaborative of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla's exhibition at the Venice Biennale, titled Gloria, comprises six new works developed partly in response to the U.S. Pavilion site. Combining performance, sculpture, video, and sound elements, the works use poetic shock and unexpected juxtaposition to reflect upon competitive enterprises such as the Olympic Games, international commerce, the military industrial complex and even the Biennale itself. The result is a series of artistic experiments that explore the nature of physical, visual, and audible experience. This publication documents Allora & Calzadilla's exhibition in the U.S. Pavilion, including a plates section displaying images of the works as they are installed in Venice as well as documentation of performances by professional athletes affiliated with U.S.A. Gymnastics and U.S.A. Track and Field. Essays by exhibition curator, U.S. Commissioner Lisa Freiman, and art historians Carrie Lambert-Beatty and Yates McKee explore the themes addressed in Gloria and place Allora & Calzadilla's works within a larger art historical and social context.


Norway – a small northern country with only 5 million inhabitants – is at present a global leader in REDD+ financing. In this paper, we explain why and how this happened by telling the story about the emergence of Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) in 2007 and its institutionalization in the following years. We emphasize how a set of Norwegian climate policy characteristics prepared the ground for NICFI. These characteristics were the relative absence of less expensive potential emission cuts domestically, a tradition of seeking cheaper emission reduction options abroad, and few fiscal constraints due to high petroleum revenues. When the domestic demand for a more proactive climate policy started to increase from 2006 onward, two Norwegian environmental NGOs, The Rainforest Foundation Norway and Friends of the Earth Norway, exploited the window of opportunity that emerged from the tension between high domestic abatement costs and increasing domestic climate policy demands by proposing a large-scale Norwegian rainforest effort. This proposal resonated well with the new emphasis on reduced deforestation as a promising climate policy measure internationally. Towards the end of 2007, these ENGOs managed to convince a broad majority in Parliament that large-scale financing of measures to reduce deforestation globally should become an important part of Norwegian climate policy. Financing NICFI through the growth in the steadily increasing development aid budget dampened opposition from more fiscally conservative actors and facilitated the rapid set-up of a flexible implementing organization directly linked to some of the most proactive politicians. Several agreements with key rainforest countries were rapidly established, and including ENGOs in policy formulation and implementation helped maintaining the momentum and legitimacy for NICFI as a more permanent solution to Norway's climate policy dilemmas. NICFI's robustness and high level of legitimacy are illustrated by the fact that the initiative has survived the recent 2013 change of government quite intact. However, we also suggest that the long-time survival of the initiative may be dependent on the future of the UNFCCC process as well as the destiny of the national projects.


Based on construal level theory and subadditivity effect, in this study we examined the joint impacts of multiple dimensions of psychological distance (i.e., social and temporal distance) on consumer evaluations of a company in which the behavior was ambivalent in terms of morality or competence. The findings indicated that consumers perceiving the company as both socially and temporally close evaluated it more favorably when ambivalence concerned morality. However, when 1 or more dimensions of psychological distance extended, consumers tended to evaluate the company more favorably when the source of ambivalence concerned competence. These findings suggest that consumer evaluations of a company are influenced by not only which aspect of company behavior is ambivalent, but also by whether or not it is a single dimension or multiple dimensions of psychological distance being considered. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.


Affirmative action policy in the United States has recently come under intense political attack. Opponents have developed strategies to eliminate affirmative action using state referendums, often engaging in misleading public campaigns. In this political atmosphere, the role of education is significant. For many of our students, introductory sociology may be one of the few courses in which they are exposed to serious academic discussions about affirmative action. We examine the extent to which sociology texts accurately present affirmative action policy in the United States using a sample of introductory texts published from 1994 through 1997. We critically examine whether material presented either confronts or contributes to widespread myths about affirmative action policy. We conclude by offering practical suggestions to strengthen affirmative action presentations in sociology texts, including drawing upon significant empirical and theoretical sociological literature about affirmative action too often ignored by textbook authors.


Linguicide is a government act that illegalizes the use of a language. In Colombia, indigenous languages were illegalized in all but the most remote regions until 1991. While all indigenous languages were seriously affected, the Pijao language disappeared completely. In the generations that followed, the Pijao suffered an immediate change to their social identity as indigenous people and their recognition as an indigenous people. This study examines the nature of indigenous identity and language loss in the Pijao community in Natagaima. This investigation, through focus groups, examined the relationship between language loss and current Pijao indigenous identity in addition to current language use and the perceived causes of the linguicide. What was discovered is that indigenous identity is dependent on being othered in relation to colonist identity and that language is the most powerful tool of this othering. In removing language as a tool of othering and fore/backgrounding, the indigenous community suffers an immediate change in its social identity and a progressive weakening in the generations that follow the linguicide. Additionally, it created the largest list to date of Pijao and provides an analysis of current Natagaima Pijao speech. Finally, it examines the Pijao linguicide and examines the conclusion that the creation of the official Pijao reserves may have influenced in the disappearance of the Pijao language.


This article aims to interpret an annual initiation ritual celebrated in Hellenistic Phaistos (Crete), at a festival known as the Ekdusia, in which young men had to put on women9s clothes and swear an oath of citizenship before they could graduate from the civic youth corps (the agela) and enter the society of adult male citizens. It begins by reconstructing the ritual and situating it within its historical and social context. It then reviews the two major theories which have been used to explain transvestism in Greek initiation-structuralist and psychological-and attempts to expose their shortcomings. The author remedies the difficulty with the structuralist approach-its focus on abstract symbols divorced from their social context-by understanding the ritual change of clothes (feminine clothes exchanged for masculine clothes) at the Ekdusia in terms of the radical gender segregation in Cretan society and the gradual transition Cretan boys made from feminine spaces to masculine spaces in both city and home. The author remedies the main problem with the psychological approach-its focus on the psychological dynamic between mother and son rather than the motivations of the rite9s adult male sponsors-by looking at how adult men, particularly in modern non-Greek societies which hold initiation rites, understand male adolescent development and create rituals in accordance therewith. This comparative model shows how men in gender-segregated societies think of boys as feminine themselves and believe that their masculine development is at risk if they are not rescued from the dangerous feminine realm, and forced to undergo a combination of defeminization and masculinization rituals. Although there is no direct evidence to suggest that Greek men thought of boys9 transition rites in this way, the myths told about three different figures named Leukippos, related directly (etiologically) and indirectly to the Ekdusia, reveal this pattern of thought in its full form.


In temporal difference (TD) learning, off-policy sampling is known to be more practical than on-policy sampling, and by decoupling learning from data collection, it enables data reuse. It is known that policy evaluation (including multi-step off-policy importance sampling) has the interpretation of solving a generalized Bellman equation. In this paper, we derive finite-sample bounds for any general off-policy TD-like stochastic approximation algorithm that solves for the fixed-point of this generalized Bellman operator. Our key step is to show that the generalized Bellman operator is simultaneously a contraction mapping with respect to a weighted $\ell_p$-norm for each $p$ in $[1,\infty)$, with a common contraction factor. Off-policy TD-learning is known to suffer from high variance due to the product of importance sampling ratios. A number of algorithms (e.g. $Q^\pi(\lambda)$, Tree-Backup$(\lambda)$, Retrace$(\lambda)$, and $Q$-trace) have been proposed in the literature to address this issue. Our results immediately imply finite-sample bounds of these algorithms. In particular, we provide first-known finite-sample guarantees for $Q^\pi(\lambda)$, Tree-Backup$(\lambda)$, and Retrace$(\lambda)$, and improve the best known bounds of $Q$-trace in [19]. Moreover, we show the bias-variance trade-offs in each of these algorithms.


In this paper we discuss the possibility of locating a neutron source in space using a scanning-based method, relative to the three-dimensional location of the detector. The scanning system comprises an organic liquid scintillator detector, a tungsten collimator and adjustable equatorial mount. The detector output is connected to a bespoke fast digitiser (Hybrid Instruments Ltd., UK) which streams digital samples to a personal computer. A neutron source has been attached to a vertical wall and the data have been collected in two stages. In the first case, the scanning system was placed a couple of metres away from the wall and, in the second case it moved few centimetres from the previous location, parallel to the wall. In each case data were collected from a grid of measurement points (set of azimuth angles for set of elevation angles) which covered the source on the wall. The discrimination of fast neutrons and gamma rays, detected by organic liquid scintillator detector, is carried out on the basis of pulse gradient analysis. Images are then produced in terms of the angular distribution of events for total counts, gamma rays and neutrons for both cases. The three-dimensional location of the neutron source can be obtained by considering the relative separation of the centres of the corresponding images of angular distribution of events. The measurements have been made at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex, UK.


Extracts of gelling agents have been shown to stimulate rooting and this study was initiated to investigate the presence of root stimulating substances in gelling agents. After screening a number of gelling agents, four were selected, namely; Agar Bacteriological, Agar Commercial Gel, Difco Bacto Agar and Gelrite were selected and examined for the presence of root-stimulating substances using mungbean bioassay. Water extracts of Agar Bacteriological, Agar Commercial Gel and Difco Bactol Agar stimulated rooting of mungbean cuttings. Addition of Charcoal neither reduced nor increased rooting produced by the water extract of the first two agars but when added in conjunction with Difco Bacto Agar rooting was reduced. Autoclaving, however reduced rooting in extracts of the gelling agents. The possibility that root-stimulating substances may not be the same in all the gelling agents can not be excluded. Extraction of Gelrite with water was problematical and was therefore excluded. IBA solution and water extracts of the gelling agents separately promoted good rooting in mungbeans cuttings. Rooting in extracts of autoclaved frozen-thawed gelling agents was poor, however, IBA + gelling agents gave high rooting at the 100% concentration and this could possibly be due to an additive effect of the IBA. Addition of charcoal reduced rooting significantly in extracts of IBA + gelling agents. Using 80% acidic methanol, reasonable levels of rooting substances were obtained from the residue extract of this complex (IBA + gelling agent+charcoal) of all the gelling agents except Gelrite indicating that root,.;promoting substances were adsorbed by charcoal. The low rooting in the presence of the Gelrite extrac~ was attributed to the matrix ofthe polymer of the Gelrite. Ethyl acetate fractionated extracts (EA-pH 8.0; EA-pH 3.0; and Aqueous) obtained from the four gelling agents stimulated rooting indicating the presence of numerous root promoting substances. Gelrite gave good rooting with both the 50 and 100% concentrations of all the fractions. iv Purified water and ethanol extracts of the gelling agents exhibited auxin-like activity when separated by paper chromatography and compared with IBA and IAA standards. Using HPLC, IAA was quantified in all the gelling agents with Difco Bacto Agar and Agar Commercial Gel having the highest IAA concentration and Gelrite the lowest IAA concentration. IAA concentration in Agar Bacteriological was a third ofthe level detected in Difco Bacto Agar. The information from this work may enable researchers to consider gelling agents as sources of auxin-like compounds and other plant hormones as well as support media for use in tissue culture procedures and also increase the enthuse for further research into the nutrient types and levels in gelling agents. v PAPERS IN PREPARATION G.D. Arthur, W.A.Stirk and J. van Staden 2003. Screening of gelling agents (Agar and Gelrite) for auxin-like activity. G.D Arthur, W.A.Stirk and J. van Staden 2003. Effect of autoclaving and charcoal on root stimulating substances in gelling agents G.D Arthur, W.A.Stirk and J. van Staden 2003. Separation, purification and quantification of root stimulating substances in gelling agents. CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTION FROM THIS THESIS G.D Arthur, W.A.Stirk and .J. van Staden. 2001. Effect of gelling agents on the rooting of mung bean. Third Annual Meeting of the Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development Pietermaritzburg. G.D Arthur, W.A.Stirk and J. van Staden. 2002. Evidence of root stimulating substances in agar and the adsorptive effect of charcoal on them. Fourth Annual Meeting of the Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development Pietermaritzburg.


We present Haptic Links, electro-mechanically actuated physical connections capable of rendering variable stiffness between two commodity handheld virtual reality (VR) controllers. When attached, Haptic Links can dynamically alter the forces perceived between the user's hands to support the haptic rendering of a variety of two-handed objects and interactions. They can rigidly lock controllers in an arbitrary configuration, constrain specific degrees of freedom or directions of motion, and dynamically set stiffness along a continuous range. We demonstrate and compare three prototype Haptic Links: Chain, Layer-Hinge, and Ratchet-Hinge. We then describe interaction techniques and scenarios leveraging the capabilities of each. Our user evaluation results confirm that users can perceive many two-handed objects or interactions as more realistic with Haptic Links than with typical unlinked VR controllers. For details, see the full paper in the main conference proceedings.


Abstract Private security and military companies have become a ubiquitous part of modern armed conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. Their diverse clients include governments in the developed and developing world alike, non-state belligerents, international corporations, non-governmental organizations, the United Nations, and private individuals. The implications of this proliferation of private security and military companies for international humanitarian law and human rights are only beginning to be appreciated, as potential violations and misconduct by their employees have come to light in Iraq and Afghanistan. The author critically examines the theoretical risks posed by private military and security company activity with respect to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, together with the incentives that these companies have to comply with those norms. Empirical evidence is also presented to expand on this theoretical framework. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the author draws on law, international relations theory, criminology, economics, corporate strategy and political economy, as well as psychology and sociology, to analyse the competing "risk-factors" and "compliance levers" that interact at each level of private military and security company activity to enhance or reduce the likelihood of a violation occurring. These findings are then applied by the author to assess emergent measures to deal with private security and military companies outside the legal sphere, including a programme of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the advent of the International Peace Operations Association.


As community schools spread across the country, community school staff need effective approaches to engaging families and community-based partners. Such principles must be broadly applicable, given community schools' mandate to adapt to different local contexts. Based on recent research on Baltimore City's community schools, the authors highlight the approaches shared by community school coordinators in schools that have demonstrated comparatively high student attendance and positive school climate.


In this paper a stochastic model for the simultaneous growth and division of a cell-population cohort structured by size is formulated. This probabilistic approach gives straightforward proof of the existence of the steady-size distribution and a simple derivation of the functional-differential equation for it. The latter one is the celebrated pantograph equation (of advanced type). This firmly establishes the existence of the steady-size distribution and gives a form for it in terms of a sequence of probability distribution functions. Also it shows that the pantograph equation is a key equation for other situations where there is a distinct stochastic framework.


Rice industry in Malaysia faces serious challenges in managing weedy rice (Oryza sativa L.) since it was first observed in 1988. Unfortunately, there is no simple control method for weedy rice. Recommended practices in Malaysia adopted various integrated weedy rice management strategies mainly on land preparation and pre-harvest period controls. Multiple tillage, chemical applications via pre-emergence and pre-sowing herbicide, and manual weeding are the usual weedy rice control practices by majority of Malaysian farmers. The conspecific nature of weedy rice with cultivated rice increased the difficulty to control the weed with several weedy rice biotypes have already mimic the local varieties. Introduction of Clearfield® Rice Production System (CPS) in 2010 has shifted the current weedy rice management strategies to an herbicide-tolerant crop approach. Some concerns of the technology including potential resistant to weedy rice and environmental issues were discussed. Additional weedy rice management strategies as alternative approaches for Malaysia rice agro-ecosystems were proposed in this review to fill the gaps on current weedy rice controls including reducing cross contamination between farms, managing weedy rice seedbank, empowering alternative culture methods in rice farming, strengthening current Clearfield® system, and exploring 'omics' research for other potential herbicide tolerant rice. Improvement in communication is proposed to ensure any information on weedy rice management is effectively transferred between farmers and authorities.


Objective-To evaluate effect of chitosan conduit for peripheral nerve regeneration using sciatic nerve transection model in rat Design- Experimental in vivo study. Animals- Sixty healthy male Wistar rats. Procedures-The rats were divided into four experimental groups (n=15) randomly. In sham group the left sciatic nerve was exposed through a gluteal muscle incision and after careful homeostasis the wound was sutured. In transected control group the left sciatic nerve was exposed the same way, transected proximal to the tibio-peroneal bifurcation leaving a 10 mm gap and the nerve ends were sutured to the adjacent muscles. In silicone or chitosan groups the left sciatic nerve was transected the same way and proximal and distal stumps were each inserted into a silicone or chitosan tube. Each group was further subdivided into three subgroups of five animals each and were studied 4, 8, 12 weeks post operatively. Results- Functional and electrophysiological analyses showed significant improvement of nerve function in chitosan than in silicone group (P < 0.05). Morphometric indices and immuohistochemistry indicated that there were significant differences (P < 0.05) between chitosan and silicone with transected control groups 12 weeks after surgery. Conclusion and Clinical Relevance- Chitosan conduit could be considered clinically as an effective biodegradable tube for peripheral nerve regeneration in the least harmful way that is available, easily performed and affordable. It also averts the need for foreign materials that are likely to provoke a foreign body reaction.


The privatization carried out under the Thatcher and Major governments in Britain has been widely (although not universally) considered a success, and has greatly influenced the privatization of state industries in the transition economies of Eastern Europe. Massimo Florio's systematic analysis is the first comprehensive treatment of the overall welfare impact of this broad national policy of divestiture. Using the tools of social cost-benefit analysis, Florio assesses the effect of privatization on consumers, taxpayers, firms, shareholders, and workers. His conclusion may be surprising to some; his findings suggest that the changeover to private ownership per se had little effect on long-term trends in prices and productivity in Britain and contributed to regressive redistribution. After historical and theoretical overviews of privatization and a look at macroeconomic trends in the Thatcher-Major era, Florio considers in detail the microeconomic effects of British privatization on several key groups. In successive chapters, he examines firms and productivity changes; shareholders' windfall gains and evidence of underpricing and outperformance in privatized companies; workers, management, and changes in industrial relations; consumers and the quantity and quality of goods after the change to public ownership; and taxpayers and the interplay between privatization and tax reform. He follows these chapters with a case study of British Telecom—significant not only because it was the largest divestiture of the period but also because of its influence on subsequent telecommunications privatization elsewhere. The final chapter considers the overall quantitative impact of the Thatcher-Major privatization on all sectors and its relationship with regulation and liberalization. The Great Divestiture not only offers an exhaustive analysis of the effects of the British process of privatization but also illustrates a method of inquiry and a testable research approach that could prove to be useful in similar studies of other countries.


Patrick White's novel A Fringe of Leaves, written in the 1970s, resonated with a renewed questioning of the European presence on Australian land and its significance for cultural issues. A debate about coloniality in the social sciences is now happening globally, especially questioning the global North's apparent monopoly of theory. Multiple structures of knowledge are found in the colonized world: indigenous knowledges, the analysis of colonialism by the colonized, and analysis of the societies and global structures produced by imperialism. Key authors on these topics are introduced. Australian modernity needs to be considered in the light of the lively debates about these issues now occurring across the global South.


High-output cardiac failure is a well-known phenomenon of high-flow fistula in hemodialysis patients. The definition of "high flow" is varied and almost always connected to proximal arteriovenous fistulas (AVF). High flow access is a condition in which hemodynamics is affected by a greater rate of blood flow required for hemodialysis and this can compromise circulatory dynamics, particularly in the elderly in the context of pre-existing heart disease. High access flow is associated with complications like high output heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, massively dilated fistula, central vein stenosis, dialysis associated steal syndrome or distal hypoperfusion ischemic syndrome. Although there is no single agreement about the values of AVF flow volume, nor about the definition of high-flow AVF, there is no doubt that AVF flow should be considered too high if signs of cardiac failure develop. The exact threshold for defining high flow access has not been validated or universally accepted by the guidelines, although a vascular access flow rate of 1 to 1.5 l/min has been suggested. Moreover, even lower values may be indicative of relatively excessive blood flow, depending on the patient's condition. The pathophysiology contributing to this disease process is the shunting of blood from the high-resistance arterial system into the lower resistance venous system, increasing the venous return up to cardiac failure. Accurate and well-timed diagnosis of high flow arteriovenous hemodynamics by monitoring of blood flow of fistula and cardiac function is required in order to stop this process prior to cardiac failure. We present two cases of patients with high flow arteriovenous fistula with a review of the literature.