The selection of paleointensity data is a challenging, but essential step for establishing data reliability. There is, however, no consensus as to how best to quantify paleointensity data and which data selection processes are most effective. To address these issues, we begin to lay the foundations for a more unified and theoretically justified approach to the selection of paleointensity data. We present a new compilation of standard definitions for paleointensity statistics to help remove ambiguities in their calculation. We also compile the largest‐to‐date data set of raw paleointensity data from historical locations and laboratory control experiments with which to test the effectiveness of commonly used sets of selection criteria. Although most currently used criteria are capable of increasing the proportion of accurate results accepted, criteria that are better at excluding inaccurate results tend to perform poorly at including accurate results and vice versa. In the extreme case, one widely used set of criteria, which is used by default in the ThellierTool software (v4.22), excludes so many accurate results that it is often statistically indistinguishable from randomly selecting data. We demonstrate that, when modified according to recent single domain paleointensity predictions, criteria sets that are no better than a random selector can produce statistically significant increases in the acceptance of accurate results and represent effective selection criteria. The use of such theoretically derived modifications places the selection of paleointensity data on a more justifiable theoretical foundation and we encourage the use of the modified criteria over their original forms.


[1] Seasonal to interannual variability of the Lombok Strait surface layer transport is investigated. The geostrophic transport within the surface layer is estimated from the cross-channel pressure gradient measured by a pair of shallow pressure gauges positioned on opposing sides of Lombok Strait during 1996-1999. The Ekman transport through Lombok Strait, derived from scatterometer winds, is less than 10% or ∼0.15 Sv of the estimated surface layer geostrophic transport. Monsoonal forcing is clearly evident in the regional sea surface height anomalies (SSHA) as derived from the satellite altimeter measurements. During the southeast monsoon, relatively low sea level is observed to the south of Lombok Strait, with relatively high sea level to the north; conditions reverse during the northwest monsoon. Estimated transports from the cross-channel pressure gradient, winds, SSHA and thermocline depth anomalies all reveal interannual variability associated with ENSO. Both the thermocline depth anomaly and the SSHA to the south of the East Java coast correlate significantly (r = 0.7) with the Lombok Strait total surface layer throughflow. The difference of SSHA from the south of the East Java coast minus the SSHA north of Lombok shows a higher correlation (r = 0.84). These high correlation values suggest that SSHA and thermocline depth anomalies can be used as proxies for the Lombok Strait surface layer throughflow. Qualitatively, such proxy transports agree with the surface transport inferred from the pressure gauges and Ekman transport in Lombok Strait from 1996 to 1999, and also with direct velocity measurements from current meter data obtained in 1985 and 2004-2005.


Using hand-collected data on succession planning disclosures in a comprehensive sample of public firms undergoing management transitions over 1993-2010, we provide novel evidence on the role of formal succession planning in CEO turnover decisions. First, succession planning ensures leadership continuity by reducing the likelihood of forced CEO turnover, the incidence of non-CEO executive team resignations, and making the departing CEO an integral part of the transition process. Second, succession planning is associated with significantly lower stock return volatility surrounding CEO turnover as well as a much faster decline in volatility with the successor's tenure, suggesting a fundamentally different nature of learning about CEO ability. Third, succession planning significantly improves the efficiency of executive transitions by raising turnover-performance sensitivity and allowing for proper filtering of industry factors in CEO dismissals. Finally, succession planning impacts CEO pay structure and reduces agency conflicts following CEO turnover.


The Internet's success in the 21st century has encouraged analysts to investigate the origin of this network. Much of this literature adopts a teleological approach. Works often begin by discussing the invention of packet switching, describe the design and development of the ARPANET, and then examine how this network evolved into the Internet. Although the ARPANET was a seminal computer network, these accounts usually only briefly consider the many other diverse networks that existed. In addition, apart from momentary asides to alternative internetworking solutions, such as the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) seven-layer reference model, this literature concentrates exclusively on the ARPANET, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. While focusing on these subjects is important and therefore justified, it can leave the reader with the impression that the world of networking started with the ARPANET and ended with the Internet. This thesis is an attempt to help correct this misconception.
This thesis analyses the evolution of British computer networks and the Internet between the years 1970 and 1995. After an introduction in Chapter 1, the thesis analyses several networks. In Chapters 2 and 3, the focus is on academic networks, especially JANET and SuperJANET. Attention moves to videotex networks in Chapter 4, specifically Prestel, and in Chapter 5, the dissertation examines electronic mail networks such as Telecom Gold and Cable & Wireless Easylink. Chapter 6 considers online services, including CompuServe, American Online, and the Microsoft Network, and the thesis ends with a conclusion in Chapter 7. All of the networks discussed used protocols that were incompatible with each other which limited the utility of the networks for their users. Although it was possible that OSI or another solution could have solved this problem, the Internet's protocols achieved this objective. This thesis shows how the networks converged around TCP/IP.


It is widely assumed that the addition of DNA methylation at CpG rich gene promoters silences gene transcription. However, this conclusion is largely drawn from the observation that promoter DNA methylation inversely correlates with gene expression in natural conditions. The effect of induced DNA methylation on endogenous promoters has yet to be comprehensively assessed. Here, we induced the simultaneous methylation of thousands of promoters in the genome of human cells using an engineered zinc finger-DNMT3A fusion protein, enabling assessment of the effect of forced DNA methylation upon transcription, histone modifications, and DNA methylation persistence after the removal of the fusion protein. We find that DNA methylation is frequently insufficient to transcriptionally repress promoters. Furthermore, DNA methylation deposited at promoter regions associated with H3K4me3 is rapidly erased after removal of the zinc finger-DNMT3A fusion protein. Finally, we demonstrate that induced DNA methylation can exist simultaneously on promoter nucleosomes that possess the active histone modification H3K4me3, or DNA bound by the initiated form of RNA polymerase II. These findings suggest that promoter DNA methylation is not generally sufficient for transcriptional inactivation, with implications for the emerging field of epigenome engineering. One Sentence Summary Genome-wide epigenomic manipulation of thousands of human promoters reveals that induced promoter DNA methylation is unstable and frequently does not function as a primary instructive biochemical signal for gene silencing and chromatin reconfiguration.


A large body of literature has implicated serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)] in descending modulation of nociceptive transmission. Here, we have studied the pain behavior of Lmx1b conditional knock-out mice (Lmx1bf/f/p), which lack 5-HT neurons in the CNS. Lmx1bf/f/p mutant mice showed normal thermal and visceral pain responses but were less sensitive to mechanical stimuli and exhibited enhanced inflammatory pain compared with their littermate control mice. Importantly, the analgesic effect of several antidepressant drugs, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and tricyclic antidepressants, was either abolished or greatly attenuated in Lmx1bf/f/p mice. Moreover, in the acute versus persistent pain settings, the analgesic actions of the SNRI duloxetine and the SSRI fluoxetine were differentially affected. Together, our results provide in vivo genetic evidence demonstrating that although the predominant role of the central 5-HT system in inflammatory pain is inhibitory, its role in acute mechanical pain is facilitatory. The findings that the analgesic effects of various antidepressant drugs are differentially dependent on the central 5-HT system should help us to understand the mechanism of the analgesic action of different classes of antidepressants in the management of persistent pain.


Research attributes the mixed performance of IS projects to a poor understanding of risks and thus limited capabilities to manage such risks. In line with others, we argue that the poor understanding of risks is partly due to the fact, that current research almost exclusively concentrates on which risks are important in IS projects. In contrast to this static view, we focus on the temporal aspect of project risks, i.e., we explore when risks become more or less important during a project. In doing so, we analyze an archive of risk reports of completed enterprise software projects. Project managers regularly issued the risk reports to communicate the status of the particular project. Our findings are as follows: First, risk exposure and thus the perceived importance of risk types does vary over project phases. Second, the volatility of risk exposure varies over risk types and project phases. Third, risks of various origin exhibit synchronous changes in risk exposure over time. From a research perspective, these findings substantiate the need for a temporal perspective on IS project risks. Thus, we suggest augmenting the predominant static view on project risks to help project managers in focusing their scarce resources. From a practical perspective, we highlight the benefits of regularly performing risk management throughout projects and constantly analyzing the project portfolio. In sum, we provide a first time, descriptive and exploratory view on variations in project risk assessments over time. Keywordsmanagement, project failure, software project management.


Abstract This paper examines images of desirable postgrowth communities pursued by activist architects in Bologna and Tokyo. Their visions are differently shaped by the distinct architectural and cultural environments in their respective cities. Nonetheless, they share an anti-growth, "beautifully poor" aesthetic that seems to challenge the dominant political values of liberal nations in the post-World War II era, redefining the democratic public in terms of spontaneity and conviviality. Conceptions of successful communities in rich countries have been shaped around the presumption that they must sustain citizens' material wellbeing by sustaining economic growth. But given the global environmental and social justice problems that have resulted from a single-minded focus on growth, we need new imaginaries of communities that can thrive without economic growth, especially in the global north. Decades of low to zero growth and demographic decline in Italy and Japan are forcing community stakeholders from elected officials to urban planners to confront the question of how to maintain good communities even where material affluence is irrevocably diminished. Keywords: degrowth, public space, urban planning, architecture, political ecology


There is at least one advantage in a classification of galaxies based on their spectra : the absorption and emission features, despite their composite nature, contain significant information bearing on the stellar populations of the systems. Such a classification, however, should be regarded as complementary to the classical Hubble sequence based on form and degree of resolution. The reason is that the spectral characteristics considered here seem to correlate rather well with the appearance of spiral structure and central concentration, which are two properties of galaxies that show progressive changes in Hubble's scheme. Thus the classification proposed here will incorporate additional information that did not, in general, enter into Hubble's assignments of nebular types. The procedure of classification was very simple : accurate estimates of spectral type (and of luminosity class, when possible) were made for a number of the brightest galaxies. Special attention was given to the wavelength region used and to the particular parts of the galaxies to which the spectra referred. The observational material consists of spectrograms obtained principally by Humason at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories and by Mayall at the Lick Observatory. For some objects new plates were taken with the nebular spectrograph of the 36-inch Crossley


History has left many scars in the Asia-Pacific. Injuries inflicted generations ago are still fresh in the collective memories of the peoples of the region, hobbling efforts to repair relationships between old adversaries. But recently the spirit of reconciliation seems to have acquired new life. From Korea to Japan to China, longtime enemies are trading apologies and looking ahead.In this remarkably timely volume, Yoichi Funabashi, one of Japan's most influential journalists, and seven authors from throughout the Asia-Pacific shine the spotlight on the prospects for reconciliation in the region. Looking at instances of inter-ethnic as well as international strife, this book lays out the background to each case, analyzes the impact of unresolved and sometimes unacknowledged grievances, and weighs the prospects for overcoming the burden of history.Not all the cases inspire optimism, at least in the short term, for bitter memories have burrowed deep into society and are intertwined with issues of political power and ethnic identity. But in some parts of the region, palpable progress toward reconciliation is being made. In his conclusion, Funabashi identifies the key steps that governments and publics must take if they are to come to terms with the past.


We have compared calorimetric measurements with the nonlinear optical technique vibrational sum frequency scattering to investigate interface–solvent effects in colloidal gelation transitions. This allows us to explain the difference in gelation behaviour between dispersions of stearyl-coated silica particles in n-hexadecane and benzene or toluene. In n-hexadecane dispersions, an anomalous heat effect is observed, due to the formation of an ordered interface layer (that is not confined to the first monolayer and is composed of ∼1/3 surface crafted chains and ∼2/3 solvent molecules). For solvents that cannot interdigitate with the surface chains this transition does not occur and consequently no heat effect is observed.


IgG4-related disease is an immune-mediated disorder affecting almost all major organs of the body. A 62-year-old male, who was diagnosed with an orbital tumor and a nasal-orbital communicating tumor of the left eye, underwent endoscopic endonasal removal of the orbital tumor and fenestration of the ethmoid sinus. The tumor originated in the orbital tissue and showed pathological changes associated with IgG4-positive chronic inflammation. He was diagnosed with IgG4-related orbital disease. At 4 months of follow-up after surgery, there was no recurrence.


Initiatives to prevent and counter violent extremism in East Africa are being implemented by numerous organisations and are receiving significant funding to address the drivers behind violent extremism in the region. This report examined such projects to establish their objectives, target groups, activities, theories of change, evaluation approaches, donor organisations and funding amounts. The study also focused on the organisations implementing these projects and how they design them to address the violence in the region. Preventing violent extremism in East Africa Lessons from Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda


The proposal by the European Commission (EC) to establish shareholder democracy and mandate the one-share-one-vote (1S1V) rule has drawn much attention and controversy. In the pursuit of enhancing the rule's popular appeal, EC policy-makers have tried to make equiproportional representation nearly an aphorism tied to corporate egalitarian sentiments underscoring justice, fairness and ethics. Against this background, the question of who could be against or oppose shareholder democracy and the 1S1V principle has both positive and normative implications. Based on a review of law, finance and economics literature, this paper evaluates the economic underpinnings and efficiency of the 1S1V rule and concludes that it is generally a suboptimal corporate voting mechanism that compromises economic efficiency and distorts the incentives of corporate constituencies. Moreover, it is submitted that any attempt to mandate the 1S1V rule in the EU may induce companies to either move to pyramidal structures, or worse yet, to use complex derivative instruments to decompose 1S1V. While pyramidal holdings may further facilitate the expropriation of private benefits of control as compared with the status-quo, the decomposition of 1S1V can i) advance the heterogeneity of shareholders' preferences, ii) create incentives for negative voting arbitrage and iii) encourage the approval of value-reducing transactions, or more detrimentally, become a takeover defence. Hence, even if the EC could hypothetically move corporate Europe from controlled ownership structures to minority ownership ones, the 1S1V rule is clearly worse than the status quo, and paradoxically, instead of advancing the rights of 'disadvantaged shareholders', 1S1V can further demote shareholder rights in the EU. As a result, 1S1V cannot promote a value-enhancing corporate governance regime in the EU in general or meet the policy objectives of the intervention in particular in terms of strengthening the rights of shareholders, enhancing third-party protection or fostering the efficiency and competitiveness of businesses in the EU. On the normative side, the issue is how corporate law can efficiently police the ability of controlling shareholders to expropriate rights from minority shareholders in general and extract private benefits in particular. Generally, it is asserted that if a corporate law regime is adequately structured, there is less need to worry about the voting rule and non-proportionate votes would not be a serious concern. In this light, this paper concludes by outlining some policy alternatives. First, it is proposed that EC policy-makers refrain from taking any measure at the level of the Community and instead strengthen disclosure rules and their enforcement. Furthermore, some standards of review governing significant conflict-of-interest transactions can be introduced. Second, it is submitted that EC policy-makers can also provide for opt-in and opt-out provisions for the member states. Such menus should once again be complemented by rigorous disclosure rules and their enforcement.


A method of testing explosive and pyrotechnic devices involves exploding the devices inside swell sleeves. Swell sleeves have been used previously for measuring forces. In the present method, they are used to obtain quantitative indications of the energy released in explosions of the devices under test. A swell sleeve is basically a thick-walled, hollow metal cylinder threaded at one end to accept a threaded surface on a device to be tested (see Figure 1). Once the device has been tightly threaded in place in the swell sleeve, the device-and-swell-sleeve assembly is placed in a test fixture, then the device is detonated. After the explosion, the assembly is removed from the test fixture and placed in a coordinate-measuring machine for measurement of the diameter of the swell sleeve as a function of axial position. For each axial position, the original diameter of the sleeve is subtracted from the diameter of the sleeve as swollen by the explosion to obtain the diametral swelling as a function of axial position (see Figure 2). The amount of swelling is taken as a measure of the energy released in the explosion. The amount of swelling can be compared to a standard amount of swelling to determine whether the pyrotechnic device functioned as specified.


In a ever more connected world, whether justified or not, the possibility that scientific information can be used to produce generalized behaviors by populations results in the need to better understand the processes of science communication. Consequently, it raises serious questions about the ethical message of the communication itself, and the way in which scientists can interface with people with no scientific training. This article analyses the case of the supposed prediction of the well-known geophysicist Raffaele Bendandi and the earthquake of Rome predicted for May 2011 that never happened.


This thesis demonstrates the value of an anthropological perspective on informing appropriate breastfeeding support after caesarean section delivery. In contrast to epidemiological research that identifies distinct aspects of mother-infant interactions altered by this birth mode, my research explored the interrelated obstacles to breastfeeding from the mothers' perspectives as the experiences were unfolding. I apply Trivers's (1974) parent-offspring conflict model to conceptualise breastfeeding and predict realisation of infant feeding based on the interaction of maternal cost and infant benefit. The work adds the previously unstudied population of caesarean section-delivered breastfeeding dyads to the human life-history theory line of investigation.

Postnatal ward and telephone semi-structured interview data were collected in Newcastle, England during 2006-09 with two groups of women. Phase 1 comprised participants who underwent either an unscheduled or scheduled caesarean section delivery (n = 75). Phase 2 involved women who experienced scheduled, non-labour caesarean section delivery and were randomly allocated an intervention or control cot for the entirety of their postnatal ward stay (n = 51). The impact of the infant side-car crib or standalone cot on breastfeeding was tested among the Phase 2 mothers by comparison of 35 overnight postnatal ward video recordings.

The various aspects of women's delivery and infant care were prioritised based on their knowledge of known risks and benefits. Intentions were carried out within the context of the support and opportunities available. Contrary to popular belief, the decision to undergo a caesarean section and deviation from prenatal breastfeeding intentions were undertaken because they seemed like the best or only option in the circumstances. Many women felt frustrated because of their postnatal limitations with caretaking for infants who were described as unexpectedly doing poorly. The absence of labour before the caesarean section was perceived to be beneficial by the mothers due to the intense pain of contractions and the undo "stress" vaginal parturition posed for the infant. However, the participants were surprised by being told by midwives after the delivery that (sub-clinically) poor infant condition was a common consequence of caesarean section. Some breastfeeding difficulty stemmed from "mucous" expulsion that had to occur before the babies could be "interested" in feeding.

The peak mother-infant breastfeeding conflict was night-time after visiting hours. Midwifery and maternal concerns over the mothers' lack of sleep prompted formula supplementation. As predicted, the side-car crib was associated with reduction of the maternal cost of breastfeeding. However, participants in the intervention group were not observed breastfeeding significantly more frequently than the control group as expected. The cost-benefit breastfeeding model suggests that high maternal cost and/or low perceived infant benefit was experienced to such a degree that mothers breastfed minimally despite the "huge difference" in infant access afforded by the side-car crib compared to the standalone cot. Regardless, data support the side-car crib as the better arrangement for mother-infant dyads who underwent a non-labour caesarean section due to the less potential infant risk observed and the benefit to maternal recovery.

The utility of the parent-offspring conflict framework for predicting breastfeeding outcomes was supported by the association of reported reasons for breastfeeding intent and of bedsharing with breastfeeding frequency and duration. The thesis suggests that more detailed physiological information may enable families to better understand public health advice for exclusive breastfeeding and low caesarean section delivery rates. Breastfeeding after a caesarean section is affected by interrelated and compounding difficulties, so my single alteration in the postnatal environment did not resolve the impediments. An evolutionary perspective can assist in identifying populations at risk for suboptimal health outcomes and designing support to ameliorate mismatches between coevolved processes and routinely encountered conditions.


Whereas many modern works on comparative law focus on various aspects of legal doctrine the aim of this book is of a more theoretical kind - to reflect on comparative law as a scholarly discipline, in particular at its epistemology and methodology. Thus, among its contents the reader will find: a lively discussion of the kind of 'knowledge' that is, or could be, derived from comparative law; an analysis of 'legal families' which asks whether we need to distinguish different 'legal families' according to areas of law; essays which ask what is the appropriate level for research to be conducted - the technical 'surface level', a 'deep level' of ideology and legal practice, or an 'intermediate level' of other elements of legal culture, such as the socio-economic and historical background of law. One part of the book is devoted to questioning the identification and demarcation of a 'legal system' (and the clash between 'legal monism' and 'legal pluralism') and the definition of the European legal orders, sub-State legal orders, and what is left of traditional sovereign State legal systems; while a final part explores the desirability and possibility of developing a basic common legal language, with common legal principles and legal concepts and/or a legal meta-language, which would be developed and used within emerging European legal doctrine. All the papers in this collection share the common goal of seeking answers to fundamental, scientific problems of comparative research that are too often neglected in comparative scholarship.


This Article proposes a "substantive equality" solution for managing access to the Internet for broadband applications. It argues that the currentlyproposed solutions, self-regulation and 'formal equality, " either afford too much power to broadband operators or are inefficient. The model proposed in this Article accepts that the market is superior to administrative agencies when it comes to choosing which applications deserve priority on the network. Since there can be market failures, however, the Article lays out an adjudicatory enforcement mechanism to evaluate charges of harmful conduct. The adjudication would involve the application of a two-factor test for deciding which party should bear the burden of proof on the question offairness. This method seeks to bring predictability to application developers concerned about obtaining access, while minimizing regulatory costs to network owners.


Abstract Context. Feral cats (Felis catus) are a threat to biodiversity globally, but their impacts upon continental reptile faunas have been poorly resolved. Aims. To estimate the number of reptiles killed annually in Australia by cats and to list Australian reptile species known to be killed by cats. Methods. We used (1) data from >80 Australian studies of cat diet (collectively >10 000 samples), and (2) estimates of the feral cat population size, to model and map the number of reptiles killed by feral cats. Key results. Feral cats in Australia's natural environments kill 466 million reptiles yr–1 (95% CI; 271–1006 million). The tally varies substantially among years, depending on changes in the cat population driven by rainfall in inland Australia. The number of reptiles killed by cats is highest in arid regions. On average, feral cats kill 61 reptiles km–2 year–1, and an individual feral cat kills 225 reptiles year–1. The take of reptiles per cat is higher than reported for other continents. Reptiles occur at a higher incidence in cat diet than in the diet of Australia's other main introduced predator, the European red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Based on a smaller sample size, we estimate 130 million reptiles year–1 are killed by feral cats in highly modified landscapes, and 53 million reptiles year–1 by pet cats, summing to 649 million reptiles year–1 killed by all cats. Predation by cats is reported for 258 Australian reptile species (about one-quarter of described species), including 11 threatened species. Conclusions. Cat predation exerts a considerable ongoing toll on Australian reptiles. However, it remains challenging to interpret the impact of this predation in terms of population viability or conservation concern for Australian reptiles, because population size is unknown for most Australian reptile species, mortality rates due to cats will vary across reptile species and because there is likely to be marked variation among reptile species in their capability to sustain any particular predation rate. Implications. This study provides a well grounded estimate of the numbers of reptiles killed by cats, but intensive studies of individual reptile species are required to contextualise the conservation consequences of such predation.


Abstract Abstract Most U.S. presidents will pursue third-party conflict mediation sometime during their administration. However, the approach and level of commitment to those endeavors vary greatly across time and results are often minimally successful. This study explains this variation in terms of domestic political considerations, suggesting that the potential risks and payoffs in the domestic sphere primarily drive the supply of mediation, rather than conflict characteristics, "ripeness" for resolution, or the national interest. Presidents are shown to engage in mediation when they are relatively secure domestically, enjoying legislative success in Congress. The results are consistent with the notion that presidents prefer political cover when engaging in foreign policy. Thus, the argument informs the literature on mediator behavior by linking it with theories of foreign policy decision making and suggests that the political context in which mediation is offered will influence its prospects for success, often explaining why mediation efforts fall short. Moreover, given the trend toward divided government in the United States, the results presented here suggest that mediation will become less prevalent in U.S. foreign policy.


This thesis is primarily concerned with the evaluation and comparison of the dielectric behaviour of materials which may find application as substrates in microelectronic high-performance packaging. In the introductory chapter the factors governing the choice of the most suitable dielectric substrate for compatibility with silicon technology are reviewed; it is shown that in addition to good dielectric properties the thermal conductivity is important if high power packages are required together with the ability to obtain good matching of thermal expansion coefficients. This is followed by a survey of the present theories of dielectric behaviour with special emphasis on the Universal law of dielectric response and its applicability to oxide and glass ceramics which exhibit hopping conductivity. The experimental methods for the measurement of dielectric parameters are outlined in Chapter 3 which includes an account of techniques developed for studying materials only available as powders. The three substrate systems studied were aluminium oxide, aluminium nitride and glass-on-molybdenum and in the case of the two former materials a range of both pure and impure specimens were examined both in single crystal and sintered polycrystalline form. The detailed experimental results are presented and discussed in the three succeeding chapters for each of the materials in turn; these results include the values of permittivity and dielectric loss, measured over a frequency range of 5 x 10(^2) Hz to 1 x 10(^7) Hz, the temperature variation of permittivity both in the low temperature (85K to 293k) and high temperature (20oC to about 600oC) regions and the d.c. and a.c. conductivity in the high temperature range. In their pure form each of these materials would be suitable as a substrate, having permittivities at room temperature of ϵ ' (_s) = 10.2 for polycrystalline Al(_2)(^0)(_3), ϵ' (_s) = 9.2 for polycrystalline AlN (which has a thermal conductivity of about one-hundred times that of alumina) and ϵ' (_s) - 6.5 for glass-on-molybdenum and dielectric losses in the region of tan δ - 10(^-3). The effect of impurities is shown to be very significant leading in all cases to some increase in permittivity and a much larger increase in dielectric loss. The measurements made on powders are given and discussed in Chapter 7. In the studies on the powders used as starting materials for the manufacture of substrates it was shown that by making measurements at low temperature (77K) the effects of intergranular space charge polarization could be overcome yielding information valuable for quality control of impurity content; measurements made on powders of some high temperature oxide superconducting materials are also given. The final chapter, Chapter 8, summarises the overall conclusions of the research and makes some suggestions for future work.


This study analyzes the behavior of the companies in the index of Mexico's Precios y Cotizaciones (IPC), with respect to measures of financial performance and its relationship with the two main approaches of innovation, according to the Bogota and Oslo manuals; assessing their impact on the stock price. The data is used on a quarterly basis from January 2000 to December 2011. It also makes reference to the impact of having the distinction "Socially Responsible Company" (Corporate Social Responsibility), in the Mexican stock market price reaction. Our main interest is to be pioneers in the search for relationships between topics that are currently treated as "alien" (CSR and Innovation) in formal academic publications, but we intuitively know that they are related inside organizations.


Background Advance care planning (ACP) is a particularly important issue within dementia care because many people lose the capacity to make their own decisions during their dementia journey. Aim This project, funded by the Dementia Consumer Research Network within Alzheimer's Australia, aims to improve the promotion and uptake of advance care planning for people with dementia in primary and community care. Methods The project involves a nationally-focused website, promoted through a broadly based social marketing campaign. Needs assessment involved extensive consultations with both consumers affected by dementia and professionals across Australia as well as an online survey with 249 respondents. Results Key aspects of the website are: it moves beyond providing information to include a number of consumer-focused templates that help users take action related to planning ahead; it provides information for people living with dementia and their family carers, healthcare professionals and the general community; and it has information and resources relevant for all States and Territories. Discussion While the website caters to people with early dementia and family carers, it also targets people in the general community who do not have dementia, as ACP is most helpful if done before a person starts to lose capacity through dementia. The project will enlist a number of State and National organisations as campaign supporters to promote a set of core messages about ACP and the website. Conclusion Dementia can have a devastating impact on individuals and families, and this new programme to promote ACP will help to reduce that impact.


Dear Editor, Since 1976 Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (an attenuated form of wild type Mycobacterium bovis; BCG) has been extensively used for the treatment of superficial bladder cancer. It is a safe and well tolerated treatment with rare adverse events including allergic reactions, granoulomatous prostitidis or epididymo-orchitis, disseminated infection and BCG sepsis1. Although cystitis is not an uncommon adverse effect, isolation and identification of Mycobacterium bovis BCG as its causative agent is very rare, requiring molecular techniques2,3. A 61-yr-old male patient presented at our hospital with a fever of 39 oC and dysuria lasting for 5 days. All routine baseline examinations including urine culture for common bacteria were negative. By the time of admission the patient had not AIDS or any other immune deficiency. The patient had been treated fourteen months ago with intravesical BCG instillation following bladder cancer resection. He had received 4 rounds of treatment each one consisting of a weekly intravesical BCG injection for six weeks. No prophylactic isoniazid had been given during his BCG instillation treatment. The last round was 8 months prior to his admission to our hospital. Urine sample for acid-fast staining and mycobacterial cultures was obtained. It was treated according to standard procedures4. A Lowenstein–Jensen slant (bioMérieux, Marcy l' Etoile, France) was used for solid culture and the BACTET MGIT 960 Automated System (Becton Dickinson Biosciences, Sparks, Md.) was used for liquid culture and susceptibility testing at 37oC. Acid-fast staining was negative. The liquid culture turned positive 8 days later [and the solid culture 12 days]. The isolate was identified as member of the M. tuberculosis complex with gene probes [AccuProbe (GenProbe, SanDiego, USA)]. Identification to the species level was achieved with GenoType MTBC (Hain Lifescience, Nehren, Germany), which is a DNA-strip assay for differentiating Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains. The procedure involves isolation of DNA from cultured material, multiplex amplification with biotinylated primers and reverse hybridization of the single-stranded, biotin-labeled amplicons to membrane-bound probes5. The assay was performed according to the manufacturer's instructions, using the reagents provided and Taq DNA polymerase (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). The isolate was identified as Mycobacterium bovis BCG. The isolate was sensitive to isoniazid, rifampin, streptomycin and ethambutol and resistant to pyrazinamide. The patient was treated with cessation of BCG and triple anti-mycobacterial therapy consisting of rifampin, isoniazid, and ethambutol, for the first three months followed by isoniazid and rifampin for seven months. The patient had clinical improvement on this regimen, supporting the diagnosis. Urine cultures obtained after the second month of anti-mycobacterial therapy were negative for Mycobacterium bovis. Disseminated BCG infections after intravesical instillations are presenting as granulomatous hepatitis or pneumonitis and are very rare6. Rarer is the identification of M. bovis as the causative agent of these disseminated infections, feasible only with molecular techniques3. Cystitis due to M. bovis can occur after intravesical BCG instillations. Upon clinical suspicion the BCG therapy should be ceased and appropriate anti-mycobacterial regimen should be administered as soon as possible.


The influence of dimensionality on the electronic properties of layered perovskite materials remains an outstanding issue. We address it here for Sr3Ir2O7, the bilayer compound of the iridate Srn+1IrnO3n+1 series. By angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we show that in this material the interlayer coupling is large and that the intercell coupling is, conversely, negligible. From a detailed mapping of the bilayer splitting, and from the intensity modulation of the bonding and antibonding bands with photon energy, we establish differences and similarities with the prominent case of the bilayer superconducting cuprates.


ABSTRACT The article examines how states talk about the International Criminal Court (ICC, or the Court) through the lens of Albert Hirschman's exit, voice and loyalty framework. Based on a content analysis of country statements about the ICC from 2002 to 2016, I show that support for the Court remains high cross-regionally and longitudinally. Exit rhetoric remains low and only recently entered the Court discourse. Exit is moderated by states' high loyalty to the Court and the underlying individual accountability norm. Voice is used widely as states criticise the Court, but more so the United Nations Security Council and other states for their lack of cooperation. I argue that applying Hirschman's framework to the Court necessitates a rethinking of exit and voice calculations. The article contributes to our understanding of the ICC by providing a first comprehensive portrait of what states like and dislike about the Court. The findings also challenge common accounts of the Court as the source of ineffectiveness by highlighting the influence of other actors on the Court's performance. The article adds a discursive dimension to compliance studies, which so far have overwhelmingly focused on state behaviour, including ratification patterns.


The effectiveness and scalability of MapReduce-based implementations of complex data-intensive tasks depend on an even redistribution of data between map and reduce tasks. In the presence of skewed data, sophisticated redistribution approaches thus become necessary to achieve load balancing among all reduce tasks to be executed in parallel. For the complex problem of entity resolution with blocking, we propose BlockSplit, a load balancing approach that supports blocking techniques to reduce the search space of entity resolution. The evaluation on a real cloud infrastructure shows the value and effectiveness of the proposed approach.


"It is all very well for you to say that you came of unhealthy parents, and had a severe accident in your childhood which permanently undermined your constitution; ... You may say that it is not your fault. The answer is ready enough at hand, and it amounts to this-that if you had been born of healthy and well-todo parents, and had been well taken care of when you were a child, you would never have offended against the laws of your country, nor found yourself in your present disgraceful position. If you tell me you had no hand in your percentage and education, and that it is therefore unjust to lay these things to your charge I answer that whether your being in a consumption is your fault or not, it is a fault in you, and it is my duty to see that against such faults as this the commonwealth shall be protected. You may say that is your misfortune to be criminal; I answer that it is your crime to be unfortunate.'' 1 Pre-Hearing Detention of Youthful Offenders: No Place to Go*


Suborbital climate variability during the last glacial period is suggested to have involved a 1500-year pacing cycle, but the expression and spatial distribution of the ~1500-year oscillation during interglacials remains unclear. We generated a multidecade resolution record of alkenone sea surface temperature (SST) in the northwestern Pacific off central Japan during the Holocene. The SST record showed centennial and millennial variability with an amplitude of ~1 °C throughout the entire Holocene. Spectral analysis for SST variation revealed a statistically significant peak with 1470-year periodicity. The SST variation partly correlated with the variations of ice-rafted hematite-stained grain content in North Atlantic sediments. These findings indicate that the mean latitude of the Kuroshio Extension has varied on a 1500-year cycle, and suggest that a climatic link exists between the North Pacific gyre system and the high-latitude North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. The regular pacing at 1500-year intervals seen throughout both the Holocene and the last glacial period suggests that the oscillation was a response to external forcing.


In order to understand the extent of the information barrier to adoption of a household technology, we designed a randomized controlled trial on willingness to pay (WTP) for solar lanterns in India. We gave high quality solar lanterns to randomly selected `seed' households in a non-electrified region of the state of Uttar Pradesh. Three friends of the seed household were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups: control, passive learning and incentivized communication. We elicit WTP from the control group when the seed receives the solar lantern. We elicit WTP from the friends in the passive learning and incentivized communication groups thirty days after the seed receives the solar lantern. We show that passive learning increases WTP by 90% and incentivized communication by 145% relative to the control group. We also show that learning from others is the mechanism that drives the observed WTP by peers.


This research investigates the implementation of integrative tourism policy base on agro-tourism and fungtion in strengthening of tourism stakeholder in City of Batu Malang East Java Indonesia. Integrative policies in the development of tourism is a very important variable in the development of a city. Development program of the tourism sector, based on the Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMD) 2012-2017 Batu, Batu directed as a center for international tourism based organic farming. Location of Batu located in the mountainous region, making it very feasible as agro tourist area.The results of this study, found that the development of agro-tourism visitors increased more than 300% on 2016. However, this increase was not accompanied by the maintenance of conservation land. Implementation of tourism development are still partial and less integrated among sectors. This research question is how the local government response to the integrative policies in the development of agro-tourism sector in the city. How local governments understood and implemented an integrated policy in the development of agro-tourism sector. The research focus in Batu City in East Java Indonesia. The research method used in this study is a qualitative method. The data collecting through observation, depth interview, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), and the use of secondary data. The conclusion of this study is that regulation, peasant, peasant community, content of regulation , and integrity affect the responsiveness of local government in the development of based on agro-tourism. Integrative policy can be effective with the engagement between the government sector, policy content, policy instruments, and community participation.


In this paper, I discuss how Newton's inductive argument of the Principia can be defended against criticisms leveled against it by Duhem, Popper and myself. I argue that Duhem's and Popper's criticisms can be countered, but mine cannot. It requires that we reconsider, not just Newton's inductive argument in the Principia, but also the nature of science more generally. The methods of science, whether conceived along inductivist or hypothetico-deductivist lines, make implicit metaphysical presuppositions which rigorously require us to make them explicit within science so that they can be critically assessed, alternatives being developed and assessed, in the hope that they can be improved. Despite claiming to derive his law of gravitation by induction from phenomena without resource to hypotheses, Newton does nevertheless acknowledge in the Principia that his rules of reasoning make metaphysical presuppositions. To this extent, Newton has a more enlightened view of scientific method than most 20th and 21st century scientists and historians and philosophers of science.


This review article considers research into job quality that was undertaken in Australia and Europe before discussing the very different labour market of the UAE with a particular focus on Dubai. The paper will also explore the role that HRM that can play in improving job quality for employees in both countries, despite their different contexts. Improving job quality is firmly on the public policy agenda in Australia and the EU. Recent labour market reforms have been justified in part on the basis that they would improve job quality. In the UAE the labour market is heavily reliant on expatriate workers, largely from the Indian sub-continent and Arab nations ( Tanmia, 2005). However, expatriate workers generally fall into two categories: white collar professionals and those who are working on construction sites and living in labour camps. As such, the analysis and discussion of job quality in the UAE takes place within a very different context from the OECD economies. It is concluded that there are a number of similarities between Australia and the UAE, such as labour shortages, a growing service sector, feminisation of the workforce and employee concerns about job security. However, as indicated in the article, the reasons why employees lack job security are different in each country.


Consumers' tendency to choose the option in the center of an array and the process underlying this effect is explored. Findings from two eye-tracking studies suggest that brands in the horizontal center receive more visual attention. They are more likely to be chosen. Investigation of the attention process revealed an initial central fixation bias, a tendency to look first at the central option, and a central gaze cascade effect, progressively increasing attention focused on the central option right prior to decision. Only the central gaze cascade effect was related to choice. An offline study with tangible products demonstrated that the centrally located item within a product category is chosen more often, even when it is not placed in the center of the visual field. Despite widespread use, memory-based attention measures were not correlated with eye-tracking measures. They did not capture visual attention and were not related to choice.


The Competition for Authenticated Encryption: Security, Applicability and Robustness (CAESAR) has as its official goal to "identify a portfolio of authenticated ciphers that offer advantages over AES-GCM and are suitable for widespread adoption." Each of the 15 candidate schemes competing in the currently ongoing 3rd round of CAESAR must clearly declare its security claims, i.a. whether or not it can tolerate nonce misuse, and what is the maximal data complexity for which security is guaranteed. These claims appear to be valid for all 15 candidates. Interpreting "Robustness" in CAESAR as the ability to mitigate damage even if security guarantees are void, we describe attacks with birthday complexity or beyond, and/or with nonce reuse for each of the 15 candidates. We then sort the candidates into classes depending on how powerful does an attacker need to be to mount (semi-)universal forgeries, decryption attacks, or key recoveries. Rather than invalidating the security claims of any of the candidates, our results provide an additional criterion for evaluating the security that candidates deliver, which can be useful for e.g. breaking ties in the final CAESAR discussions.


Summary
The estimates of efficiencies for the direct smear and zinc sulfate technic and the prevalence of certain protozoan infections in an institutional population are presented and compared with the results of a similar study in the literature. In regard to E. histolytica the efficiency of the direct smear was estimated to be 27 per cent, the zinc sulfate technic 59 per cent and the combination of the two technics 62 per cent. The superiority of the zinc sulfate technic is evident.
The efficiencies indicated herein may be used as a guide in planning other surveys. However, those determined in the present study apply only to this particular survey and it is recommended that in other surveys the parasitologist determine in a similar manner the efficiencies for his study so that valid estimates of prevalence rates can be made.
It might be emphasized that while the absolute efficiencies of the various technics apply only to the study herein reported, the relative efficiencies of the technics are probably valid for any survey in which the protozoa are primarily in the cystic stage.
On the basis of the estimates of efficiency obtained, the recommendation of repeated zinc sulfate examinations on different stools, in contrast to use of various technics on the same stool, is made.
In a series of repeat zinc sulfate examinations performed on 28 persons known to harbor E. histolytica, 71 per cent of the infected persons were detected on the first examination, 82 per cent through the second, 86 per cent through the third, 96 per cent through the fourth and 100 per cent through the fifth examination.
A simplified method of performing the zinc sulfate technic is described and it is felt that this will be of value to the parasitologist for stool surveys conducted in the future.


An Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric (UPLC-MS/MS) multi-residue method for the simultaneous quantitative determination of tetracycline, chlortetracycline hydrochloride, oxytetracycline hydrochloride and doxycycline hydrochloride in milk has been developed in this work. Liquid-liquid extraction with trichloroacetic acid and McIlvaine buffer was used for the isolation of the selected residues from milk. The sample was centrifuged and solid-phase extraction with an OASIS® HLB extraction column was used to clean up the sample extract. The samples were analysed with the instrument operated in the Multiple Reaction Monitoring acquisition mode. UPLC separation was performed on a reversed-phase C18 column using gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 20 mM formic acid. The tetracycline analytes were detected with a quadrupole mass spectrometer using positive ion electrospray ionisation. The confirmatory method has an acceptable detection limit and was validated according to the European requirements for veterinary drug residues according to Commission Decision 2002/657/ES. The recovery of tetracyclinesfrom milk ranged from 80.2 to 93.8% with relative standard deviation no larger than 7.3% for a concentration of 100 μg·l-1. Furthermore, this analytical method is a useful tool for food safety monitoring and controlling veterinary drug use. Food Safety, SPE, Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Tetracycline, Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography, UPLC-MS/MS


The term xin (心), usually translated as "mind," "heart" or "heartmind," is considered a major problematique in traditional Chinese philosophical discourse, and it is usually analized in conjunction with xing (性, human nature). Contemporary scholars consider xin—more or less uncontroversially—as a sort of container of emotions and feelings, or, as On-Cho Ng defines it, "the very home of volition, sentiments and intellect" (Ng 1999). This paper aims to further explore the impact of the physiology of heart (xin) rhetoric within political discourse during the early decades of the Western Han dynasty (206 BC−AD 9). To that end I will first analyze the importance of physiological vocabulary in political argumentation, focusing mainly on the importance of heart (xin), its central role as the ruler of the body, and on the analogy between the heart and the sovereign of the state. I will then analyze the use of the expressions unanimity and duplicity—literally, pitting one heart (yixin 一心) against two hearts (erxin 二心 or liangxin 兩心).


Low levels of physical activity (PA) and high levels of sedentary behaviour (SB) among older adults, carry considerable burdens to physical (e.g., premature mortality, chronic diseases and all-cause dementia risk) and psychosocial (e.g., self-perceived quality of life, wellbeing and self-efficacy for exercise) health. Numerous large scale interventions designed to engage physically inactive older adults have shown the potential that interventions guided by theoretical frameworks, consider implementation at scale across levels of the socioecological model and are designed, implemented and delivered in close partnership with stakeholders can have among this population. This thesis aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Sport England's Get Healthy Get Active (GHGA) PA intervention. GHGA was delivered by Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) and was designed to engage inactive older adults in PA for at least once a week for 30 minutes.

The purpose of Chapter 3 was to elicit subjective views of older adults about perceived facilitators and barriers to PA participation and to inform the design, delivery and recruitment strategies of Sport England's GHGA PA intervention. Analyses revealed time of day, cost and social support to be key predictors in promoting PA. Sessions that avoid taking place in the early morning or late afternoon, are free of charge, and promote social interaction were also significant predictors of older adults' PA participation. Wrist- and hip-based accelerometers are now common in assessing PA in population-based studies, however no raw acceleration cutpoints for moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and SB exist for older adults. Chapter 4 was the first to test a laboratory-based protocol using activities representative of older adults' PA behaviours, to generate behaviourally valid, population specific wrist- and hip-based raw acceleration cutpoints for SB and MVPA in older adults. These cut-points were subsequently applied within Chapter 5, along with self-reported measures of SB, PA and health indicators, to investigate time spent in MVPA and SB, and measures of quality of life (QoL), self-rated health (SRH), self-assessment of physical fitness (SAPF), and self-efficacy for exercise (SEE). Chapter 6 addressed the main objective of the thesis which was to assess the effectiveness of the GHGA PA intervention on PA levels among inactive older adults ≥ 65 years of age. The GHGA PA intervention was effective in increasing QoL, SRH, SAPF, and SEE scores over time after adjustment for covariates. However, the intervention was ineffective in both reducing time spent in SB and increasing time spent in MVPA. As a measure of intervention fidelity, Chapter 7 evaluated whether the GHGA multi-component PA intervention was implemented as intended. Results from both deliverer interviews and session observations revealed that a high degree of intervention fidelity was maintained throughout the GHGA PA sessions within five core domains including: Study Design, Provider Training, Intervention Delivery, Intervention Receipt and Enactment.

This thesis contributes to the understanding of feasible and acceptable PA strategies in older adults. Future research is needed to establish whole system-oriented multi-component community-based interventions that are effective at increasing PA levels in older adults.


Mollusc assemblages associated with Cystoseira associations were sampled in the southern part of the Gulf of Trieste during the summers of 2008 and 2012. Samples were collected by SCUBA diving in the infralittoral belt (from 1 to 4 m depth). The surface within frames of 20 x 20 cm was scraped off with samples were collected by hand or with an air-lift sampler. Four erected algal species were found: Cystoseira barbata, C. compressa, C. corniculata and Halopithys incurva. A total of 69 species of molluscs were identified in those associations. Gastropoda were dominant, with the highest species richness and abundance, followed by Bivalvia and Polyplacophora. A large number of juveniles were found, proving the importance of Cystoseira associations for mollusc recruitment. Differences in composition, structure and abundance of mollusc assemblages were found for sites dominated by different algal species, and correspond to different morphology and degree of development of canopy-forming species. The present study confirms that the dominant algal species within Cystoseira associations strongly influence, although at different levels, abundance and distribution of mollusc assemblages in the Northern Adriatic Sea.


When standard codification methods are applied to the problem of analyzing actor interactions, both the sense and direction of the conversation are lost. As a way of dealing with this problem this paper proposes the use of the boundary games method (VelezCastiblanco, 2011, 2012a) for the analysis of interactions. This method facilitates a description of actors' actions in terms of the effects of their communicative expressions over the boundary, encompassing the assumptions considered relevant to the discussion. This method draws upon boundary critique theory and language pragmatics. Specifically, boundary games are underpinned in the Midgley and Ulrich boundary critique, Wittgenstein's language games and the Sperber and Wilson relevance theory. It is argued that this method allows the identification of interaction patterns, actor intervention approaches, points of view that fuel the debate and the pivotal proposals that mediate these views. All of these factors allow us to represent sequences of events or trajectories for interactions. The data analyzed comes from observations of a top management team (Sura TMT) responsible for the corporate strategy of a Colombian multi-business firm, Suramericana S.A. The main purpose of this research is to understand the ways in which managerial knowledge is deployed in the management of a multi-business firm. The data were first analyzed through the grounded theory codification process in order to describe the parts of the system under study. The data then feeds the boundary games interactions analysis.


Genomics, a new bough of biotechnology responsible for gene mapping has acquired a rapid significance in the field of patents. Brisk growth of patent filing in genomic subject matter is raising serious concerns about their utility from the perspective of societal benefit.  Though the genomic related patent application qualifies the criterion of invention and non-obviousness in major instances, the inventors are unable to satisfy the utility criterion. Some instances such as patent application for ESTs have no utility at all.  The patent regulators constructed various tests to deal with the situation such as specificity, substantiality (real world) credibility tests etc. Hoverer, it is noteworthy that an attempt to uniform the standard of utility test for genomic inventions especially in the field of ESTs, cloning and creation of chimeras, has been made by America and Europe through specific regulations. Thus, the objective of this paper is firstly, to explain the importance of biotechnology and genomic inventions for mankind and significance of ESTs for future research. Secondly, to analyze the application of Utility code prior to the emergence of Utility code in America and Europe. Thirdly to scrutinize the Utility code in both countries and their implication on aftermath cases, and. fourthly and finally, to critically evaluate the both countries utility pathways in the light of societal benefit. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v1i4.8959 Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 1(4): 189-196


Implementation shortfall refers to the total cost of buying or selling a set of securities or of transitioning from one set of securities to another. It comprises the explicit costs of commissions and bid-ask spreads as well as implicit costs such as market impact and the opportunity cost of transacting at what may be disadvantageous prices. A comprehensive analysis of implementation shortfall uses a unique sample of 800,000 security transactions to provide information on component costs and methods of trading. Market trades cost nearly six times more than internal crosses. An adjustment to implementation shortfall to account for liquidity and risk makes it possible to compare the quality of portfolio transitions.


The problem of data movement is central to distributed computing paradigms like the Grid. While often overlooked, the time to stage data and binaries can be a significant contributor to the wall-clock program execution time in current Grid environments. This paper describes a simple scheduler for network data movement in Grid systems that can adaptively determine data distribution schedules at runtime on the basis of Network Weather Service (NWS) performance predictions. These schedules take the form of spanning trees . The distribution mechanism is an enhancement to the Logistical Session Layer (LSL), a system for optimizing data transfers using logistics .


Microtubules and actin filaments are dynamic fibres constituting the skeleton of living cells. They show seemingly computational behaviours. Indeed, depending on conditions of reaction, they self-organise into temporal and/or spatial morphologies in vitro and act as micro-machine processors and actuators in living cells. Other systems - such as the bacterium-actin system - exist that 'know'how to re-use the cytoskeleton for their own use (e.g. propulsion inside the cell). We discuss here about the possible reuse of the cytoskeleton for constructing fibrillar-based computational systems. I analyze particularly the possible existence of computational events based on 'chemical collisions' between microtubules. A molecular model of microtubule disassembly has been developed to verify that heterogeneities of composition and/or concentration of the chemical medium can form from shrinking microtubules and persist. They could serve as an efficient communication channel between fibrillar agents. Numerical simulations show that only very weak heterogeneities of composition form around the microtubule ends. However, the model predicts that they are notable when produced by arrays of numerous fibres such as microtubule arrays or comets of actin.


Arthur John Birch AC CMG FAA FRS was one of the great masters of organic chemistry of the twentieth century. His extraordinary creativity left its imprint across the breadth of the subject in its broadest sense, from synthesis to biochemistry to organometallic chemistry. He remains best known for the reaction that bears his name, the Birch reduction of aromatic compounds by solutions of sodium and ethanol in liquid ammonia. This process has wide application, most notably in the commercial synthesis of oral contraceptives, giving rise to his being called 'the father of the pill', although he himself preferred the more remote 'grandfather' relationship. His polyketide theory, which accounts for the biosynthetic origins of a wide range of natural products, is less widely acknowledged today simply because it has become absorbed into the accepted knowledge base of the subject. His final researches on the use of diene iron tricarbonyl derivatives in synthesis are equally distinguished and have prompted others to extend their application. During his career he was involved in the design of three new university chemistry buildings, one of which now bears his name, and contributed influential advice to governments on national science policies.


Background While depression is known to involve a disturbance of mood, movement and cognition, its associated cognitive deficits are frequently viewed as simple epiphenomena of the disorder. Aims To review the status of cognitive deficits in depression and their putative neurobiological underpinnings. Method Selective computerised review of the literature examining cognitive deficits in depression and their brain correlates. Results Recent studies report both mnemonic deficits and the presence of executive impairment – possibly selective for set-shifting tasks – in depression. Many studies suggest that these occur independent of age, depression severity and subtype, task 'difficulty', motivation and response bias: some persist upon clinical 'recovery'. Conclusions M nemonic and executive deficits do not appear to be epiphenomena of depressive disorder. A focus on the interactions between motivation, affect and cognitive function may allow greater understanding of the interplay between key aspects of the dorsal and ventral aspects of the prefrontal cortex in depression.


We present a quantum-inspired approach to portfolio optimization that is based on an optimization problem that can be solved using a quantum annealer. The proposed algorithm utilizes a hierarchical clustering tree that is based on the covariance matrix of the asset returns. We use real market data to benchmark our approach against other common portfolio optimization methods and demonstrate its strong performance in terms of a variety of risk measures and lower susceptibility to inaccuracies in the input data.


On 4 March 2010, an inland M(subscript w) 6.3 earthquake occurred near the town of Jiasian in Kaohsiung County, Taiwan causing large ground shaking and extensive damage. In this study, we integrate the records from the Central Weather Bureau Seismic Network (CWBSN) and Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP) to obtain the relocated earthquake sequence and its first-motion focal mechanisms. This dataset offers us precise and reliable results which suggest a focal depth of 23 km and a possible fault plane of strike 313°, dip 41°, and rake 42° for the Jiasian earthquake. This fault plane significantly differs from the N-S striking Chaochou Fault (CCF) as well as the principal trend of Taiwan orogenic belt, and should be an undiscovered fault in southern Taiwan. The relocated Jiasian earthquake sequence initiating from the 23-km-deep mainshock and terminating at around 10 km in depth also indicates it is a blind fault. Peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) recorded by the TSMIP stations reveal a distinct NW-SE-shape pattern from the epicenter area toward the Chiayi region, likely due to the directivity and site effects. Such phenomena should be considered for future regional hazard assessments.


Some criteria for asymptotic stability of linear and time-invariant systems with constant point delays are derived. Such criteria are concerned with the properties of robust stability related to two relevant auxiliary delay-free systems which are built by deleting the delayed dynamics or considering that the delay is zero. Explicit asymptotic stability results, easy to test, are given for both the unforced and closed-loop systems when the stabilizing controller for one of the auxiliary delay-free systems is used for the current time-delay system. The proposed techniques include frequency domain analysis techniques including the use of H∞ norms.


Registration of RGB-D data using visual features is often influenced by errors in the transformation of visual features to 3D space as well as the random error of individual 3D points. In a long sequence, these errors accumulate and lead to inaccurate and deformed point clouds, particularly in situations where loop closing is not feasible. We present an epipolar search method for accurate transformation of the keypoints from 2D to 3D space, and define weights for the 3D points based on the theoretical random error of depth measurements. Our results show that the epipolar search method results in more accurate 3D correspondences. We also demonstrate that weighting the 3D points improves the accuracy of sensor pose estimates along the trajectory.


Abstract. In this study, we present the winter time surface energy balance at a polygonal tundra site in northern Siberia based on independent measurements of the net radiation, the sensible heat flux and the ground heat flux from two winter seasons. The latent heat flux is inferred from measurements of the atmospheric turbulence characteristics and a model approach. The long-wave radiation is found to be the dominant factor in the surface energy balance. The radiative losses are balanced to about 60 % by the ground heat flux and almost 40 % by the sensible heat fluxes, whereas the contribution of the latent heat flux is small. The main controlling factors of the surface energy budget are the snow cover, the cloudiness and the soil temperature gradient. Large spatial differences in the surface energy balance are observed between tundra soils and a small pond. The ground heat flux released at a freezing pond is by a factor of two higher compared to the freezing soil, whereas large differences in net radiation between the pond and soil are only observed at the end of the winter period. Differences in the surface energy balance between the two winter seasons are found to be related to differences in snow depth and cloud cover which strongly affect the temperature evolution and the freeze-up at the investigated pond.


We consider the problem of detecting a known signal with constant magnitude immersed in noise of unknown variance, when the propagation channel is frequency-flat and randomly time-varying within the observation window. A Basis Expansion Model with random coefficients is used for the channel, and a Generalized Likelihood Ratio approach is adopted in order to cope with deterministic nuisance parameters. The resulting scheme can be seen as a generalization of the wellknown Matched Filter detector, to which it reduces for time-invariant channels. Closed-form analytical expressions are provided for the distribution of the test statistic under both hypotheses, which allow to assess the detection performance.


"Virtualization nodes" (VNodes) for programmable network-virtualization platforms enable mutually independent evolution of computational node-component called programmer and networking node-component called redirector; however, no method for this evolution has been available. Accordingly, a method for evolving programmer and redirector and developing new types of virtualized networking and/or computational functions in two steps is proposed. The first step is to develop a new function without updating the original VNode, which continues services to existing slices, using a proposed plug-in architecture. This architecture defines predefined interfaces called open VNode plug-in interfaces (OVPIs), which connect a data and a control plug-ins to a VNode. The second step is to merge the completed plug-ins into the original programmer or redirector. A prototype implementation of the above plug-in architecture was developed, tested, and evaluated. The prototype extends the redirector by adding new types of virtual links and new types of network accommodation. Estimated throughputs of a VLAN-based network accommodation and a VLAN-based virtual link using network processors are close to a wire rate of 10 Gbps.


We analyse a PDE system modelling poromechanical processes (formulated in mixed form using the solid deformation, fluid pressure, and total pressure) interacting with diffusing and reacting solutes in the medium. We investigate the well-posedness of the nonlinear set of equations using fixed-point theory, Fredholm's alternative, a priori estimates, and compactness arguments. We also propose a mixed finite element method and rigorously demonstrate the stability of the scheme.


David Boonin has written the most thorough and detailed case for the moral permissibility of abortion yet published. Critically examining a wide range of arguments that attempt to prove that every human fetus has a right to life, he shows that each of these arguments fails on its own terms. He then explains how even if the fetus does have a right to life, abortion can still be shown to be morally permissible on the critique of abortion's own terms. Finally he considers several pro-life arguments that do not depend on claims that the fetus has a right to life and concludes that these too are ultimately unsuccessful. This major book will be especially helpful to those teaching applied ethics and bioethics in philosophy departments or professional schools of law and medicine. It will interest students of women studies and general readers for whom abortion remains a high-profile issue.


Learning to program is hard, also because it requires students to deal with abstraction. A program is an abstract construct: most pieces of a program are not concrete, literal values, but they are abstract symbols standing for things or actions in the system they model and control. Thus, when learning to program, novices not only need to learn about the system, but they also need to learn about the programming language. They need to think about the concrete effects in the system their abstract program constructs will cause once the program will execute. This thinking on two levels of abstraction (program and system), and in two dimensions of time (coding and execution) can cause a significant burden. In this short paper we propose to collapse those two levels. We wonder whether it would be possible to devise a programming environment where the program is the system. To do this we need languages that are the system, instead of languages that are about the system. We propose to use tangible languages as a way towards this idea. We briefly present three such languages which we used in the context of an informal learning setting and report our initial lessons learned.


Computational communication science (CCS) is embraced by many as a fruitful methodological approach to studying communication in the digital era. However, theoretical advances have not been considered equally important in CCS. Specifically, we observe an emphasis on mid-range and micro theories that misses a larger discussion on how macro-theoretical frameworks can serve CCS scholarship. With this article, we aim to stimulate such a discussion. Although macro frameworks might not point directly to specific questions and hypotheses, they shape our research through influencing which kinds of questions we ask, which kinds of hypotheses we formulate, and which methods we find adequate and useful. We showcase how three selected theoretical frameworks might advance CCS scholarship in this way: (1) complexity theory, (2) theories of the public sphere, and (3) mediatization theory. Using online protest as an example, we discuss how the focus (and the blind spots) of our research designs shifts with each framework.


Objective
Clinical and genetic findings of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) may vary in different populations. Environmental factors may also affect phenotypic features of FMF. In this study, we investigated demographic, clinical and mutational features of FMF patients treated in a single reference hospital in Turkey.

Subjects and Methods
One hundred and ninety-seven patients were included. The 11 mutations most frequently seen in FMF were investigated in these patients. Patients were assessed as homozygous, heterozygous, compound heterozygous or non-mutation bearing. Clinical and laboratory examinations in the attack and attack-free periods were recorded. A disease severity score was calculated for each patient.

Results
One hundred patients were female and 97 male. The most commonly seen mutations in our region was M694V (51.7%). The most frequent clinical findings in our patients was gastric pain (90.1%), followed by fever (82.2%). The highest disease severity score was determined in patients with homozygous M694V. Sedimentation values were significantly high in patients with homozygous M694V mutation, while no statistically significant difference was determined among other acute phase reactants and haemoglobin and leukocyte values.

Conclusion
Changes in acute phase reactants in attack and attack-free periods are used as diagnostic tools in FMF. Severity and frequency of attacks are clearly correlated with mutations. However, the fact that the clinical course can differ even in individuals with mutations reveals the importance of environmental factors.


This is the first analysis of the incidence of a bank tax that is imposed on banks' balance sheets. Within the framework of an oligopolistic version of the Monti-Klein model, the pass-through of a bank tax levied on loans is stronger when elasticity of credit demand is low. To test this hypothesis, we investigate the incidence of the Hungarian bank tax that was introduced in 2010 on banks' assets. This case is well suited for our analysis because the tax rate is much higher for large banks than for small banks, which allows relying on difference-in-difference methodology to disentangle the impact of the tax from any other shock that might have occurred simultaneously. In line with model predictions, our estimations show that the tax is shifted to customers with the smallest demand elasticity, such as households. In terms of economic policy implications, our results suggest that enhanced borrower mobility could reduce the ability of banks to shift taxes to customers.


Dispute in construction industry always occur and can be attested by many court cases reported in court proceedings, various law journals and law reports. Construction disputes can have serious implication in construction project. The project may suffer cost and time overrun, the owner may suffer significant loss and profit and worst still the project may be abandoned or failed. This is because construction is a complex process involving of many activities, myriads of individual, different company or firms, different size, part of country with different skills and capabilities and always subject to changing environment. The issues are which elements is actually the common subject matter of the disputes? What is the nature of the disputes? Who are the parties involved? What type of the project? When do the disputes occur? And what kind of standard form of the project? Therefore, the objectives of this study is to develop profile of construction disputes fature or characteristic of the dispute where consists of the nature of the disputes, the parties involved, type of the project, time of the disputes occurred, and standard form of contract for the project. Limitation of this study will be on the construction disputes reported by Malayan Law Journal between 1997-2007, cases in Malaysia and related to Building Contract only while the methodology of this study will be based on the secondary data analysis. Research finding identified that the common nature of construction disputes is payment and the disputes are related to non payment of certified sums and mislead in payment procedure according to terms of standard form of contract. The most party involved in construction disputes are between the employer and the main contractor. The analysis also identified that the most disputes occurred during construction phase and mostly involved of building construction while PAM Standard Form of Contract is the most form of contract that involved in construction disputes. By developing this profile, hopefully it will help the project manager in anticipate the common disputes at early stage of the project. Besides as a tool in contract management, this profile definitely helps to prevent or minimize the disputes in Malaysian construction industry.


Our global population is ageing and an ever increasing number of elderly are affected with neurodegenerative diseases, including the subjects of the studies in this work, Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD).

On strong evidence that several genes may influence the development of sporadic neurodegenerative diseases, the genetic association approach was used in the work of this thesis to identify the multiple variants of small effect that may modulate susceptibility to common, complex neurodegenerative diseases. It has been shown that the common genetic variation of one of these susceptibility genes, MAPT, that of the microtubule associated protein, tau, is an important genetic risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases. There are two major MAPT haplotypes at 17q21.31 designated as H1 and H2.

In order to dissect the relationship between MAPT variants and the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, the architecture and distribution the major haplotypes of MAPT have been assessed. The distribution of H2 haplotype is almost exclusively in the Caucasian population, with other populations having H2 allele frequencies of essentially zero.

A series of association studies of common variation of MAPT in PSP, CBD, AD and PD in different populations were performed in this work with the hypothesis that common molecular pathways are involved in these disorders. Multiple common variants of the H1 haplotypes were identified and one common haplotype, H1c, showed preferential association with PSP and AD.

A whole-genome association study of PD was also undertaken in this study in order to detect if common genetic variability exerts a large effect in risk for disease in idiopathic PD. Twenty six candidate loci have been found in this whole-genome association study and they provide the basis for our investigation of disease causing genetic variants in idiopathic PD.


Conservation ecologists have long argued over the best way of placing reserves across an environment to maximize population diversity. Many have studied the effect of protecting many small regions of an ecosystem vs. a single large region, with varied results. However, this research tends to ignore evolutionary dynamics under the rationale that the spatiotemporal scale required is prohibitive. We used the Avida digital evolution research platform to overcome this barrier and study the response of phenotypic diversity to eight different reserve placement configurations. The capacity for mutation,and therefore evolution, substantially altered the dynamics of diversity in the population. When mutations were allowed, reserve configurations involving a greater number of consequently smaller reserves were substantially more effective at maintaining existing diversity and generating new diversity. However, when mutations were disallowed, reserve configuration had little effect on diversity generation and maintenance. While further research is necessary before translating these results into policy decisions, this study demonstrates the importance of considering evolution when making such decisions and suggests that a larger number of smaller reserves may have evolutionary benefits.


In the context of sports leagues scheduling (SLS) several groups' interests must be taken into account. This book treats requirements for sport leagues schedules to be realizable from an operational and a security point of view, attractive for spectators and tv channels, and fair for the conampeting teams. Formal problem definitions as well as integer programming models are presented and analyzed. Additionally, several fairness concepts are developed and their operability is investigated by means of graph theory. Moreover, this book presents algorithmic concepts that can be drawn upon to construct suitable schedules. This volume provides a deep understanding of problems arising in the context of SLS as well as approaches for dealing with these problems, being relevant for both theoreticians and practitioners.


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This paper presents a method that automatically decides which system configuration should be used to process a query. This method is developed for the case of repeated queries and implements a new kind of meta-system. It is based on a training process: the meta-system learns the best system configuration to use on a per query basis. After training, the meta-search system knows which configuration should treat a given query. The Learning to Choose method we developed selects the best configurations among many. This selective process rests on data analytics applied to system parameter values and their link with system effectiveness. Moreover, we optimize the parameters on a per-query basis. The training phase uses a limited amount of document relevance judgment. When the query is repeated or when an equal-query is submitted to the system, the meta-system automatically knows which parameters it should use to treat the query. This method its the case of changing collections since what is learnt is the relationship between a query and the best parameters to use to process it, rather than the relationship between a query and documents to retrieve. In this paper, we describe how data analysis can help to select among various configurations the ones that will be useful. The "Learning to choose" method is presented and evaluated using simulated data from TREC campaigns. We show that system performance highly increases in terms of precision, specifically for the queries that are difficult or medium difficult to answer. The other parameters of the method are also studied.


The list of Italian forces1 with which Virgil concluded Aeneid 7 was a piece of the 'machinery' of epic, that is to say an expected part of the content of an epic poem, established by Homer (Il. 2. 484 f., the catalogue of Greek ships followed by the list of Trojan forces) and expected of his successors; cf. Apollonius 1. 20–228, Silius 3. 222 f., Statius, Th. 4. 32 f., Milton, P.L. 1. 376 f. The straightforward enumeration of Homer (divina ilia simplicitas, Macrob. Sat. 5. 15. 16) was naturally appropriate in the Iliad both because oral technique sought this kind of directness and because of the immediate relationship of the subject-matter to a heroic community. But Virgil was well aware (as his predecessor Apollonius had not been) that the Homeric manner would not fit satisfactorily into the sophisticated and elaborate structure of literary and contemplative epic. Two essential requirements had to be met in the transplanting of such 'machinery' into a new milieu. The first was one of function: the piece should blend with the whole intricate pattern of theme and tone which a poem like the Aeneid possesses. The second was one of structure: it must possess within itself artistic symmetries and designs of a carefully organized kind.


Photonics-based technologies rely on ever smaller devices and systems, which require accurate control of 3-D electromagnetic fields. Many microscopy techniques can map field characteristics by collecting radiation that is either coupled through or scattered off a subwavelength probe. What makes optical measurements challenging is that detecting radiation typically involves a photon-to-electron conversion. Moreover, guiding or scattering light at subwavelength scales involves interactions with metallic structures leading to thermal effects. We have proposed a way to overcome these challenges while maintaining the attributes of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). We showed that the mechanical action of light, i.e., the optically induced forces (OIF) exerted on a scanning probe, can be exploited for quantifying properties of electromagnetic fields.


This chapter argues that recognition of emotion has a simple basis and a highly complex edifice above it. Its basis is formed by catching intent from expressive and other emotional behavior, using elementary principles of perceptual integration. In intent recognition, mirror neurons under particular circumstances do play a role, but under other circumstances visual perception and prediction may suffice. To arrive at full understanding of emotions of others, and in particular to arrive at empathy, much more elaborate information, and activities of mentalising, are required. Keywords: emotion recognition; emotional behavior; intent understanding; mentalizing.


Following the publication of his magnum opus L'etre et l'evenement (Being and Event) in 1988, Alain Badiou has been acclaimed as one of France's greatest living philosophers. Since then, he has released a dozen books, including Manifesto for Philosophy, Conditions, Metapolitics and Logiques des mondes (Logics of Worlds), many of which are now available in English translation. Badiou writes on an extraordinary array of topics, and his work has already had an impact upon studies in the history of philosophy, the history and philosophy of science, political philosophy, aesthetics, psychoanalysis, and ontology. This volume takes up the challenge of explicating, extending and, in many places, criticising Badiou's stunningly original theses. Above all, the essays collected here put Badiou's concepts to the test in a confrontation with the four great headings that he himself has identified as essential to our humanity: science, love, art and politics. Many of the contributors have already been recognised as outstanding translators of and commentators on Badiou's work; they appear here with fresh voices also destined to make a mark.


High-performance virtual machines (VMs) are increasingly reused for programming languages for which they were not initially designed. Unfortunately, VMs are usually tailored to specific languages, offer only a very limited interface to running applications, and are closed to extensions. As a consequence, extensions required to support new languages often entail the construction of custom VMs, thus impacting reuse, compatibility and performance. Short of building a custom VM, the language designer has to choose between the expressiveness and the performance of the language. In this dissertation we argue that the best way to open the VM is to eliminate it. We present Pinocchio, a natively compiled Smalltalk, in which we identify and reify three basic building blocks for object-oriented languages. First we define a protocol for message passing similar to calling conventions, independent of the actual message lookup mechanism. The lookup is provided by a self-supporting runtime library written in Smalltalk and compiled to native code. Since it unifies the meta- and base-level we obtain a metaobject protocol (MOP). Then we decouple the language-level manipulation of state from the machine-level implementation by extending the structural reflective model of the language with object layouts, layout scopes and slots. Finally we reify behavior using AST nodes and first-class interpreters separate from the low-level language implementation. We describe the implementations of all three first-class building blocks. For each of the blocks we provide a series of examples illustrating how they enable typical extensions to the runtime, and we provide benchmarks validating the practicality of the approaches.


Brushless DC (BLDC) motors require a rotor position sensor for phase commutation. The rotor position sensors increases the cost and size of the motor as well as it makes the drive less reliable. However by detecting the back-EMF zero crossings position sensorless operation can be achieved. This paper describes a way to detect indirectly the back-EMF zero crossings from the three terminal voltages without using the neutral potential. Zero crossings of the difference of the line voltage waveform gives the zero crossing instants of the back-EMF waveform. Inaccuracies due to device drops have been eliminated. This scheme is simple to implement. Simulation results show the utility of this scheme for sensorless operation of BLDC motor. Hardware results validate the proposed indirect back-EMF zero crossing detection method.


In naturalistic learning problems, a model's input contains a wide range of features, some useful for the task at hand, and others not. Of the useful features, which ones does the model use? Of the task-irrelevant features, which ones does the model represent? Answers to these questions are important for understanding the basis of models' decisions, as well as for building models that learn versatile, adaptable representations useful beyond the original training task. We study these questions using synthetic datasets in which the task-relevance of input features can be controlled directly. We find that when two features redundantly predict the labels, the model preferentially represents one, and its preference reflects what was most linearly decodable from the untrained model. Over training, task-relevant features are enhanced, and task-irrelevant features are partially suppressed. Interestingly, in some cases, an easier, weakly predictive feature can suppress a more strongly predictive, but more difficult one. Additionally, models trained to recognize both easy and hard features learn representations most similar to models that use only the easy feature. Further, easy features lead to more consistent representations across model runs than do hard features. Finally, models have greater representational similarity to an untrained model than to models trained on a different task. Our results highlight the complex processes that determine which features a model represents.