The magnetic critical scattering in Sr2IrO4 has been characterized using x-ray resonant magnetic scattering (XRMS) both below and above the three-dimensional antiferromagnetic ordering temperature T-N. The order parameter critical exponent below TN is found to be beta = 0.195(4), in the range of the two-dimensional (2D) XYh(4) universality class. Over an extended temperature range above TN, the amplitude and correlation length of the intrinsic critical fluctuations are well described by the 2D Heisenberg model with XY anisotropy. This contrasts with an earlier study of the critical scattering over a more limited range of temperature, which found agreement with the theory of the isotropic 2D Heisenberg quantum antiferromagnet, developed to describe the critical fluctuations of the conventional Mott insulator La2CuO4 and related systems. Our study therefore establishes the importance of XY anisotropy in the low-energy effective Hamiltonian of Sr2IrO4, the prototypical spin-orbit Mott insulator.


The need to rank items based on user input arises in many practical applications such as elections, group decision making and recommendation systems. The primary challenge in such scenarios is to decide on a global ranking based on partial preferences provided by users. The standard approach to address this challenge is to ask users to provide explicit numerical ratings (cardinal information) of a subset of the items. The main appeal of such an approach is the ease of aggregation. However, the rating scale as well as the individual ratings are often arbitrary and may not be consistent from one user to another. A more natural alternative to numerical ratings requires users to compare pairs of items (ordinal information). On the one hand, such comparisons provide an "absolute" indicator of the user's preference. On the other hand, it is often hard to combine or aggregate these comparisons to obtain a consistent global ranking.
 In this work, we provide a tractable framework for utilizing comparison data as well as first-order marginal information (see Section 2) for the purpose of ranking. We treat the available information as partial samples from an unknown distribution over permutations. We then reduce ranking problems of interest to performing inference on this distribution. Specifically, we consider the problems of (a) finding an aggregate ranking of n items, (b) learning the mode of the distribution, and (c) identifying the top k items. For many of these problems, we provide efficient algorithms to infer the ranking directly from the data without the need to estimate the underlying distribution. In other cases, we use the Principle of Maximum Entropy to devise a concise parameterization of a distribution consistent with observations using only O(n2) parameters, where n is the number of items in question. We propose a distributed, iterative algorithm for estimating the parameters of the distribution. We establish the correctness of the algorithm and identify its rate of convergence explicitly.


Smart grid is an electrical grid that uses digital information and communication technology to gather information. Like other digital systems, security and privacy are crucial for smart grid. However, security and privacy protection will inevitably introduce computational complexity and overhead. As smart grid systems are usually operated in a large scale, computational efficiency is a challenging issue. In this paper, we propose an efficient and secure billing system for smart grid, featuring privacy-preserving and data aggregation. We show that our system offers better privacy protection and computational efficiency, in comparison with an existing protocol. Our security analysis indicates that our protocol achieves privacy-preserving on electricity reading aggregation and billing, perfect forward secrecy of system session keys, identity authentication, data integrity, and confidentiality. It also shows that even if we allow the collusion of server and gateways, user privacy can still be achieved. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


"Inventing Abstraction 1910-1925" explores the development of abstraction from the moment of its declaration around 1912 to its establishment as the foundation of avant-garde practice in the mid-1920s. The book brings together many of the most influential works in abstractions early history to draw a cross-media portrait of this watershed moment in which traditional art was reinvented in a wholesale way. Works are presented in groups that serve as case studies, each engaging a key topic in abstractions first years: an artist, a movement, an exhibition or thematic concern. Key focal points include Vasily Kandinskys ambitious Compositions V, VI and VII; a selection of Piet Mondrians work that offers a distilled narrative of his trajectory to Neo-plasticism; and all the extant Suprematist pictures that Kazimir Malevich showed in the landmark 0.10 exhibition in 1915.


During the selective extraction of Pd(II) by LIX 63 from 6 M HCl solutions containing platinum group metals, an oxidation-reduction reaction occurs between the LIX 63 and Ir(IV). Since the reduced Ir(III) cannot be extracted by solvating and amine extractants, the oxidation-reduction reaction has a significant effect on the separation of Pt(IV), Ir(IV) and Rh(III). Therefore, the effect of HCl concentration on the reduction of Ir(IV) during the extraction with LIX 63 was investigated at 3 and 6 M HCl solutions. The extraction behavior of Iridium by Aliquat 336 from the Pd(II) free raffinate showed that the percentage of iridium extraction rapidly decreased when HCl concentration was increased from 3 to 6 M, indicating that more Ir(IV) was reduced to Ir(III). Extraction schemes for the separation of Pt(IV), iridium and Rh(III) by Aliquat 336 from 3 and 6 M HCl solutions were investigated. †(Received April 6, 2016; Accepted May 14, 2016)


Objective Impaired insulin secretion and action contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. Dietary fat modification may improve insulin sensitivity, whereas the effect on insulin secretion is unclear. We investigated the effect of dietary fat modification on insulin secretion in subjects with the metabolic syndrome. Design In a 12-week pan-European parallel, randomized controlled dietary intervention trial (LIPGENE), 486 subjects were assigned to four isoenergetic diets: high-fat diets rich in saturated fat (HSFA) or monounsaturated fat (HMUFA) or low-fat, high-complex carbohydrate diets with (LFHCC n-3) or without (LFHCC control) 1.2 g/day of n-3 PUFA supplementation. Insulin secretion was estimated as acute insulin response to glucose (AIRg) and disposition index (DI), modeled from an intravenous glucose tolerance test. Results There were no overall effect of the dietary intervention on AIRg and DI in the total cohort, in neither the high-fat nor LFHCC groups. We observed significant diet*fasting glucose category interactions for AIRg (P = 0.021) and DI (P = 0.001) in the high-fat groups. In subjects with normal fasting glucose and preserved first phase insulin secretion, the HMUFA diet increased, whereas the HSFA diet reduced AIRg (P = 0.015) and DI (P = 0.010). Conclusions The effects of dietary fat modification on insulin secretion were minor, and only evident in normoglycemic subjects. In this case, the HMUFA diet improved AIRg and DI, as compared to the HSFA diet.


Automotive turbochargers are known to have operation into the self-excited unstable region. In the past these instabilities have been accepted as unavoidable, but recent developments in analysis and instrumentation may make it possible to reduce or eliminate them. A test stand being developed at Virginia Tech has been used to measure the vibrations of a 3.9 liter diesel engine stock turbocharger with floating bushing journal bearings. Vibration spectrum content clearly identifies the shaft instabilities and provides the basis for additional evaluation of future bearing design modifications. Future research will be devoted to the elimination of the large sub-synchronous excitation.


Pharmacological PP2A activation is a druggable approach to overcome MEK inhibitor resistance. An oncogene's enemy is our friend Inhibitors of oncogenic kinases such as MEK are becoming increasingly common as an approach to treating cancer, but these drugs' effectiveness is often short-lived, as tumors develop resistance. Phosphatases, a class of proteins whose activity counteracts that of kinases, are not routinely targeted by cancer therapies but may offer an alternative approach to treatment in some cases. In particular, Kauko et al. determined that the loss of a phosphatase called PP2A can play a major role in resistance to MEK inhibition in lung cancer. The authors also selected a compound that activates PP2A and demonstrated that it can effectively combine with a MEK inhibitor and overcome drug resistance in multiple mouse models of human lung cancer. Kinase inhibitor resistance constitutes a major unresolved clinical challenge in cancer. Furthermore, the role of serine/threonine phosphatase deregulation as a potential cause for resistance to kinase inhibitors has not been thoroughly addressed. We characterize protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) activity as a global determinant of KRAS-mutant lung cancer cell resistance across a library of >200 kinase inhibitors. The results show that PP2A activity modulation alters cancer cell sensitivities to a large number of kinase inhibitors. Specifically, PP2A inhibition ablated mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitor response through the collateral activation of AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling. Combination of mTOR and MEK inhibitors induced cytotoxicity in PP2A-inhibited cells, but even this drug combination could not abrogate MYC up-regulation in PP2A-inhibited cells. Treatment with an orally bioavailable small-molecule activator of PP2A DT-061, in combination with the MEK inhibitor AZD6244, resulted in suppression of both p-AKT and MYC, as well as tumor regression in two KRAS-driven lung cancer mouse models. DT-061 therapy also abrogated MYC-driven tumorigenesis. These data demonstrate that PP2A deregulation drives MEK inhibitor resistance in KRAS-mutant cells. These results emphasize the need for better understanding of phosphatases as key modulators of cancer therapy responses.


Mitochondria are essential components of eukaryotic cells. They consist of an outer and inner membrane, which itself is divided into the inner boundary membrane and the cristae. The transition from the inner boundary membrane and the cristae is termed cristae junctions. Essential for the maintenance of these cristae junctions is the multi-protein complex MICOS (mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system). Previous studies have focused on the characterization of MICOS and on the identification of its components and their interaction partners, but to date little is known about alterations of the submitochondrial protein distribution as a reaction to external stimuli. Even though electron microscopy has shown that the interior architecture of mitochondria adapts to the energy demand of the cells, it is not known whether the submitochondrial protein distribution of the MICOS complex is altered. In order to investigate the protein clusters of certain MICOS components, we selected two processes in which mitochondria play a central role: first, the energy supply of the neuromuscular junctions after increased physical strain and the alterations of mitochondria during apoptosis. By investigating the submitochondrial protein distribution using fluorescence microscopy and quantitative image analysis of the protein clusters, I showed the adaptation of the protein distribution of MICOS components.
In the first part of this work I used fluorescence microscopy to depict alterations of the neuromuscular junctions in general and of the submitochondrial protein distribution of Mic60 in particular, in reaction to enhanced physical strain. The cross-sectional area of motor endplates were slightly enlarged in the Soleus but not in the Tibialis anterior following enhanced activity of the innervated muscle. The submitochondrial protein distribution of Mic60 was more heterogeneous in the Soleus but was unchanged in the Tibialis anterior in reaction to the endurance exercises. The observed changes after the training stimuli, both to the area of the endplates as well as to the submitochondrial protein distribution of Mic60, were extremely subtle, but could be detected due to the high sensitivity both of the imaging and of the analysis procedures. The data shows muscle-specific alterations of the submitochondrial protein distribution of Mic60 and of the total area of motor endplate in reaction to external signals.
The second process to be studied was the programmed cell death, or apoptosis. I observed highly significant alterations of the submitochondrial protein distribution of all investigated proteins, among them three components of the MICOS complex, after induction of apoptosis. A loss of distinct protein clusters took place before the release of cytochrome c, a pro-apoptotic factor which residues in the cristae. For the release of cytochrome c to take place, it is essential that the outer mitochondrial membrane is permeabilized (MOMP, mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization) by proteins of the Bcl-2 family, among them Bax. MOMP is the point in time after which the onset of apoptosis is normally irreversible. By investigating Bax using 2D and 3D STED microscopy, I showed that the Bax-proteins form ring-like structures that colocalize with fragmented mitochondria.
In summary the data shows subtle, muscle-specific changes of the submitochondrial protein distribution of Mic60 following endurance exercises in mice, but massive alterations of MICOS components as well as other mitochondrial proteins occurring during apoptosis. In this dissertation I show that the examined stimuli evoke different changes to the submitochondrial protein distribution of the MICOS components.


A general approach to side-chain allyl-functionalization of three different polyelectrolytes (PEs), namely poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH·HCl), branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS), is reported for the first time. This functionalization does not affect the electrolytic properties of the newly functionalized PEs (named PEs-ene), as confirmed by the effective formation of PE-ene multilayer (PEM) films. The stepwise construction of these films is monitored using different techniques, including QCM, SEM, XPS, and WCA measurements. The incorporation of allyl functional groups into the PE side-chains allows for the stabilization of the resulting PEM films via thiol–ene UV photo-crosslinking in the presence of a water-soluble dithiol crosslinker. To overcome the problem of film delamination, the covalent crosslinking occurs not only between different layers of PEM films but also with the substrates preliminarily functionalized with allyl functional groups either via sulfur–gold chemistry or via chemical reduction of aryldiazonium salts using two newly synthesized anilinium derivatives. The stability of the resulting crosslinked PEM films in a strongly alkaline solution (pH = 14) is validated on gold substrates under QCM conditions (from 30 min to 3 h), while XPS and WCA measurements are used for evidencing such a stability under strongly acidic conditions (pH = 1) or at high salt concentration (saturated NaCl solution) on a modified anion-exchange membrane during a longer study time, i.e. 10 days. Finally, this stability study also gives evidence for a greater crosslinking efficiency of PEG-diSH, namely a macromolecular crosslinker, over dithiothreitol (DTT), a small molecule. The versatility and effectiveness of the approach presented here are expected to find widespread interest in different fields of emerging applications.


Monthly surface temperature records from 1979 to 2000 were obtained from 218 indi- vidual stations in 93 countries and a linear trend coefficient determined for each site. This vector of trends was regressed on measures of local climate, as well as indicators of local economic activity (income, gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, coal use) and data quality. The spatial pattern of trends is shown to be significantly correlated with non-climatic factors, including economic activ- ity and sociopolitical characteristics of the region. The analysis is then repeated on the corresponding Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gridded data, and very similar correlations appear, despite previous attempts to remove non-climatic effects. The socioeconomic effects in the data are shown to add up to a net warming bias, although more precise estimation of its magnitude will require further research.


The main objective of this article is to review the concept of norm in Audiovisual Translation (AVT), a concept which has been subject to a dual approach when using it, both a descriptive one and a prescriptive one. The review proposed in this article is intended to be twofold: descriptive and critical. A descriptive approach will be the focus in the first two sections of the paper, where the history and evolution of the concept is analysed. A more critical stance is then adopted in the following two sections of the paper. The dual orientation of the concept of norm is highlighted in Section 3. The hypothetical application of norm theory to professional practices for the main modes within AVT has in most cases taken the form of guidelines, the result of a pure prescriptive approach. This discussion is covered in Section 4. The final fifth section summarizes the review, while pointing out the great significance of this fundamental notion within the field of AVT. All in all, the concept has proven to be successful and long-lasting, and it is mainly accepted that norms obtained from empirical research should give rise to guidelines for professional practice in translation.


Lenticulostriatal vasculopathy (LSV) is an ultrasonographic (US) brain lesion which appears as branched candlestick - shaped echogenicities or hyperechogenic punctuations located within the basal ganglia (BG) and the thalamus. It has been reported in 0.27-2.5% live neonates, 5.1-32% preterm infants and 1.9-5., 8% ill neonates, the most often in those with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Congenital CMV infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates and infants. Brain ultrasonography (US) showed: abnormal echogenicity of the parenchyma, echogenic sulci and gyri, ventricular dilatation, complications and sequellae of the infection (ventriculitis, abscesses, hydrocephalus and calcifications), disturbances of neuronal migration, cerebellar hypoplasia, delays in myelination, SE cysts and LSV. LSV may be caused by a variety of conditions including infection, haemorrhage, hypoxic-ischemic insult, hypoglycaemia, infarction, calcifications, vascular lesions, metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities. Transfontanellar Color Duplex Doppler (TFCD) imaging confirms the vascular origin of these lesions with pulsatile flows as an arterial spectrum. It revealed in the first months of life, but after that time TFCD showed no more flow within the hyperechogenicities, suggesting true calcifications. LSV can be graduated as unilateral or bilateral, isolated or with coexistent abnormalities, grading to minor, moderate and major LSV. The aim of this work is to present TFCD findings in neonates and infants with risk for development of neuromotor disabilities. All infants have US findings of LSV in BG and thalamus. TFCD showed a flow inside during the first few months of life, but with no flow within the echogenicities at the end of the first year. We would like to perform an etiology and graduation of LSV with implications for neurodevelopmental outcome, especially in infants with congenital CMV infection.


The megacities arising around the planet are like the Internet where many events are taking place simultaneously. The urban scape today is becoming more a space of flows—migrants, trade, capital, information, microbes—than a space of places rooted in an historical identity.

The megaurban condition today encompasses many realities, from the glittering generic city-state of Singapore to the slums climbing up the hillsides around Mexico City or Sao Paulo. In these spaces we work, love and live out the intimate moments of our lives. In these spaces we consume and spew out climate warming gases.

In this section, two of the world's "star architects"—Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry—the visionary "arcologist" Paolo Soleri and the Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate, Orhan Pamuk, grasp at chronicling the reality of where we live.


That part of logic, that is, of logica docens, which, setting out with such assumptions as that every assertion is either true or false, and not both, and that some propositions may be recognized to be true, studies the constituent parts of arguments and produces a classification of arguments such as is above described, is often considered to embrace the whole of logic; but a more correct designation is Critic (Greek {kritiké}. According to Diogenes Laertius, Aristotle divided logic into three parts, of which one was {pros krisin}). This word, used by Plato (who divides all knowledge into epitactic and critic), was adopted into Latin by the Ramists, and into English by Hobbes and Locke. From the last it was taken into German by Kant, who always writes it Critik, the initial c being possibly a reminiscence of its English origin. At present it is written Kritik in German. Kant is emphatic in the expression of the wish that the word may not be confounded with critique, a critical essay (German Kritik).


This Article will examine the conflict between the Bankruptcy Code and state sovereignty. The Article shows that while state substantive law is extensively incorporated into federal bankruptcy law, the Bankruptcy Code prevails over state sovereign immunity when applying bankruptcy law. In other words, under the present judicial regime, the Bankruptcy Code presents a glaring exception to the otherwise firm rule of state sovereignty. Part I examines the Bankruptcy Clause and several national bankruptcy statutes, including the current Bankruptcy Code. This discussion includes an explanation of how the Bankruptcy Clause sits within the framework of the Supremacy Clause. Part II discusses the doctrine of state sovereign immunity as embodied in the Eleventh Amendment and as applied in key cases. This part highlights the tension between court majorities that interpret federal powers broadly, and those that favor strict application of Eleventh Amendment immunity. Part III then considers this controversy in the context of national bankruptcy law, where the conflict is particularly sharp and enduring, and the majorities on either side are razor thin. The Article concludes in Part IV with a look at the future of bankruptcy law and state sovereignty under the rule of Katz and suggests that Katz might not be such a radical departure from the Eleventh Amendment after all.


This thesis consists of three self–contained game–theoretic analyses of the contractual relationship between borrowers and lenders. A key element of this relation concerning their strategic variables than their opponents. Optimal contracts
for different environments are derived and studied. They include 'bankruptcy' games, which are designed to structure the parties' bargaining under certain circumstances.
The first chapter questions the idea that being a unique lender to a firm is better than sharing the lender's role. Even borrowers with poor prospects will apply for loans, if their main goal is to be financed, and re–financed if necessary. With one lender, refinancing is always provided once former loans are 'sunk'. With two lenders, the situation may be different: inefficient negotiations have to determine how the overall loss is allocated. Some borrowers may therefore not be refinanced, and this may keep borrowers with poor prospects from applying for loans.
The second chapter extends this model by adding a timing dimension: a borrower finds out about poor prospects earlier than his lender. He can ask for refinancing, or simply 'wait and pray'. Either 'soft' contracts or 'tough' contracts may be optimal contracts: 'soft' contracts treat the borrower well if he asks for refinancing, while 'tough' contracts don't (and the lender will not have the option of refinancing). 'Hybrid' contracts are strictly worse than the two 'pure' types. From this we draw conclusions for the design of bankruptcy laws, and for empirical work on bankruptcy.
The third chapter analyses the interdependence of financial and production decisions. Debt contracts are frequently thought to lead to excessive risk taking — in a Cournot setup this means excessive production. At the same time, debt is a costly type of financing, which should reduce production. This conflict is analysed in a setting which allows to endogenise 'debt' contracts. The main result is that there is no excessive production, and financial constraints reduce output. However, for large levels of 'inherited' debt, it may be that output increases in the level of debt.


Computer-based systems for asynchronous discussion have been used in education for many years. These systems allow students to communicate with each other and with their teachers even if they are unable to meet face-to-face. The benefits for online and distance learning are already clear, and these benefits are becoming important for conventional universities. However, learners can experience difficulties with discussion systems, resulting in low levels of participation and less effective learning. Improvements to the design of educational discussion systems may help to alleviate these problems, and provide better support for collaborative learning.
This paper reports on work-in-progress to investigate design features of asynchronous discussion systems for higher education. The research aims to identify features which maximise the benefits of discussion systems and minimise the problems. The paper focuses on a major theme which emerged from user interviews and observations: information overload. Busy computer conferences present users with many messages to work through; this is off-putting and takes too much time. Users report difficulties in working out which messages they should read and which can be ignored.
The findings from user interviews, together with literature and system reviews, were used to identify four areas of possible system enhancement:
• tree-structured message threading;
• the ability for users to 'vote' for messages which they think are useful;
• the ability for users to 'filter out' messages;
• a personal 'clippings' area for copies of useful messages.
These system features are being evaluated in the context of a 12-week online course presented by the UK Open University. A prototype web-based discussion system has been written for the course. Students start by using a version of the system without the new features, and then the enhancements are added a few weeks into the course.
Students complete two online surveys asking about their experiences of the two versions of the system. One survey is completed at the changeover point and one at the end of the course. The aim of the two surveys is to investigate whether the system enhancements:
• alleviate feelings of overload;
• reduce the time spent reading messages;
• provide context and structure to the discussions;
• help users to find useful messages.
Results from a pilot version of the course indicate that some of the new features are much more helpful than others. Tree-structured message threading was viewed positively by a large majority of the respondents, while the facility to vote for messages was hardly used. The paper will discuss these findings, together with results from a subsequent presentation of the course. It will then consider implications for the design of educational discussion systems.


Three Dimensional Virtual Worlds (3DVWs) are computer-generated, simulated, graphical and multimedia
environments, designed so that users can 'live in' and engage via their own digital and graphical
self-representations known as 'avatars'. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using
3DVWs to enhance engagement and quality of life in people with dementia. A mixed-methods research
design, guided by a feasibility framework, was used, with data collected from semi-structured interviews,
observations, and surveys. Eleven residents expressed interest in the 3DVWs intervention after
reading an advertisement and attended an introductory session. After this, eight people expressed a
desire to participate in the six-session intervention. Participants generally enjoyed the experience of
using 3DVWs. Of those who completed all six sessions, two-thirds showed a positive change in their
quality of life score. Moreover, those who participated in almost all sessions showed higher satisfaction
with the use of the 3DVW than those who dropped out. Both residents and care staff perceived the 3DVW
as engaging, fun and memory stimulating. The findings support the feasibility of using 3DVWs with
people with dementia, and this justifies the need for further research.


The fully illustrated bible of cooking techniques from the world's best-known French cook is now in paperback and in one volume for the first time ever. From a master chef and the current co-star (with Julia Child) of the hit television series "Cooking at Home" comes everything the home cook needs to perfect his or her kitchen skills--assisted by instructive, step-by-step photography. Learn to de-bone a chicken, poach an egg, whisk a perfect bearnaise, knead a tangy sourdough, or bake an exquisite meringue with the perfection and efficiency of a professional chef. Pepin's toothsome and time-tested recipes offer budding chefs the opportunity to put lessons into practice with extraordinary results. This comprehensive, authoritative presentation of cooking technique and practice is sure to become an indispensable part of every home cook's library. "


ABSTRACT This article addresses reconfigurations of urban space in Central Asia through the lens of marshrutka mobility. Marshrutka-based transport is – together with the bazaar trade – a major sector of Central Asian economy. Although precise data are not available, estimates propose that one family in ten gains its income through it. In spite of its economic and social importance, there has barely been any research on marshrutka mobility so far. The marshrutka mobility phenomenon appears at once wide-ranging and elusive. In order to grasp its complexity, we propose a theory framework based on John Law's concept of fluidity and assemblage. Providing empirical insights from Khujand, in northern Tajikistan, the article addresses marshrutka mobility from a local perspective, notably with regard to regulatory processes of marshrutka-based transport. It also covers the trans-local perspective, with particular attention to global flows of ideas, vehicles, and people.


The Malagasy endemic genus Bathiorhamnus Capuron (Rhamnaceae) is revised taxonomically. Seven species are recognised, based on our study of morphological characters. In addition to the two previously-described species: B. cryptophorus Capuron and B. louvelii (H.Perrier) Capuron, the delimitation of the three varieties recognised in the latter is amended and they are raised to the species level: B. dentatus (Capuron) Callm., Phillipson & Buerki, B. macrocarpus (Capuron) Callm., Phillipson & Buerki, B. reticulatus (Capuron) Callm., Phillipson & Buerki. Two new species are described: B. capuronii Callm., Phillipson & Buerki, from the dry forests in the west and north of Madagascar and B. vohemarensis Callm., Phillipson & Buerki from littoral forest near Vohemar in the northeast. A key to the species of Bathiorhamnus is presented as well as preliminary assessments of the conservation status for each species.


Competency modeling is the process by which skills and areas of knowledge to perform a task are identified and associated with that job, task, or mission. This technique is useful to uncover which particular knowledge and skill areas are required for successful completion of a specific job or task. This paper describes a cognitively-based competency model developed to understand the types of tasks performed at the small unit level for counter-IED operations for the purpose of developing assessment items. We conducted data collection using a simulation interview protocol with Warfighters, and multiple raters coded each interview to develop the competency model. The model consists of six competencies, some of which have multiple sub-competencies, and the underlying KSAs. This process is particularly useful in applied settings, and the pairing of this type of data collection method and the competency model process can be used in various domains, particularly cognitively challenging ones.


Causes of admission of little owl (Athene noctua) at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Catalonia (Spain) from 1995 to 2010.— This retrospective study analyzes the causes of morbidity of little owl (Athene noctua) admitted to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre of Torreferrussa from 1995 to 2010. A total of 1,427 little owls were included in the study, with an average of 89 cases per year (range: 73–116). As regards the sex category, 80.7% animals (1,152/1,427) were classified as undetermined gender, 9.1% (130/1,427) were sexed as females and 10.2% (145/1,427) as males. The overall age distribution according to the calendar year showed that 66.6% (951/1,427) of birds were '1st calendar year and 16.6% (237/1,427) were '> 1 calendar year'. Age could not be determined in 16.7% of birds. Primary causes of admission were orphaned young (53.2%), unknown trauma (24.7%), impact with motor vehicles (5.6%), other cause (5.5%), undetermined (3.7%), illegally captive (2.1%), natural diseases (2.1%), and gunshot (1.1%). Within the breeding season the frequency of admissions due to traumas –unknown trauma (x 2 = 147.108; p < 0.001)– and impact with motor vehicles (x 2 = 28.528; p < 0.001) and other cause (x 2 = 11.420; p = 0.003) were the most important causes. In winter, admissions were mainly related to unknown trauma and gunshot. Over the fifteen years we observed a significant increase in the or phaned young category.


The use of cooperative learning in secondary school is reported – an area of considerable concern given attempts to make secondary schools more interactive and gain higher recruitment to university science courses. In this study the intervention group was 259 pupils aged 12–14 years in nine secondary schools, taught by 12 self‐selected teachers. Comparison pupils came from both intervention and comparison schools (n = 385). Intervention teachers attended three continuing professional development days, in which they received information, engaged with resource packs and involved themselves in cooperative learning. Measures included both general and specific tests of science, attitudes to science, sociometry, self‐esteem, attitudes to cooperative learning and transferable skills (all for pupils) and observation of implementation fidelity. There were increases during cooperative learning in pupil formulation of propositions, explanations and disagreements. Intervened pupils gained in attainment, but comparison pupils gained even more. Pupils who had experienced cooperative learning in primary school had higher pre‐test scores in secondary education irrespective of being in the intervention or comparison group. On sociometry, comparison pupils showed greater affiliation to science work groups for work, but intervention pupils greater affiliation to these groups at break and out of school. Other measures were not significant. The results are discussed in relation to practice and policy implications.


Gaussian processes scale prohibitively with the size of the dataset. In response, many approximation methods have been developed, which inevitably introduce approximation error. This additional source of uncertainty, due to limited computation, is entirely ignored when using the approximate posterior. Therefore in practice, GP models are often as much about the approximation method as they are about the data. Here, we develop a new class of methods that provides consistent estimation of the combined uncertainty arising from both the finite number of data observed and the finite amount of computation expended. The most common GP approximations map to an instance in this class, such as methods based on the Cholesky factorization, conjugate gradients, and inducing points. For any method in this class, we prove (i) convergence of its posterior mean in the associated RKHS, (ii) decomposability of its combined posterior covariance into mathematical and computational covariances, and (iii) that the combined variance is a tight worst-case bound for the squared error between the method's posterior mean and the latent function. Finally, we empirically demonstrate the consequences of ignoring computational uncertainty and show how implicitly modeling it improves generalization performance on benchmark datasets.


The interaction of vacancy loops (VLs) and stacking-fault tetrahedra (SFTs) with point defects and the processes of growth and shrinkage of VLs and SFTs have been studied using computer simulation and a long-range pair potential for copper. It was found that there is a qualitative difference in the mechanism of growth of VLs and SFTs. While VLs can grow without limitations, the growth of SFTs containing more than 91 vacancies is rather difficult. The structure of small vacancy loops (N-v less than or equal to 217; N-v is the number of vacancies) may change during its growth and the loop can transform, in turn, to a completely dissociated loop with six small truncated SFTs, a faulted Frank loop with Burgers vector b = 1/3(111) and several intermediate configurations of a partly dissociated loop. The problem of estimation the binding energy of a vacancy in a VL or SFT as a function of their size has been discussed and several approximations have been tested. Furthermore, the thermal stability of small VLs of different shapes has been studied by molecular dynamics and the VL-to-SFT transformation has been observed.


The postantibiotic effects (PAEs) of amikacin, gentamicin, netilmicin and tobramycin on Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis were determined in vitro by a bioluminescence assay of bacterial ATP. Five strains of S. aureus and two strains of S. epidermidis were exposed for 1 h to varying concentrations of these aminoglycosides. Following removal of the antibiotics by dilution, bacterial regrowth was monitored at hourly intervals. The duration of the PAE increased with increasing aminoglycoside concentration. The mean PAEs for the five S. aureus strains ranged from 5-10 h at clinically achievable aminoglycoside concentrations (16-32 mg/L of amikacin and 4-8 mg/L of gentamicin, netilmicin and tobramycin). The results for one of the strains of S. epidermidis were similar to those observed for the S. aureus strains, while the PAEs on the other less susceptible S. epidermidis strain were shorter (0.5-2.5 h). For comparison, two of the S. aureus strains were exposed for 1 and 2 h to a range of concentrations of dicloxacillin (0.25-32 mg/L); this agent induced a much shorter PAE (0-2.3 h). It may be important to take account of the PAE when designing dosing regimens.


Public institutions in Australia are subject to increasing statutory requirements to engage their communities, and consequently the number of practitioners has increased. These participatory and deliberative practitioners design, deliver, and evaluate democratic processes on behalf of public institutions. This article argues that the practitioner body has broadened, where different types of practitioners can now be identified in Australia. This broadening is the result of three main variables: (1) whether practitioners are employed by or contracted to public institutions; (2) whether they are engaged to work on projects with limited or considerable scope; and (3) whether they are focused on limited time frame processes or entire programs. Drawing on the results of a mixed method study, including survey and semi-structured interviews, this article explores the work contexts that shape the contemporary Australian practitioner, drawing lessons that can inform their practice in other contexts.


Purpose:
The Higher Education Statistics Agency requires Higher Education Institutes to reporting their Scope 3 (Travel) carbon emissions effective from January 2015 to show leadership in carbon reporting perspectives. This research contribution is to new knowledge and management processes involves the designing and implementing a hybrid environmental management system(EMS) for Scope 3 (Travel) carbon emissions accountability, developing new quantification tools and reporting by adopting Global Reporting Initiative G4, using Nottingham Trent University (NTU) as a collaborative case study.

Research Design and Methodology:
The research design methodology evaluates NTU's EMS using qualitative to quantitative semi structured SWOT and mRating evaluation questionnaires. Developing a Scope 3 (Travel) carbon quantification tool using data derived from a travel survey of NTU's staff and students and travel data of overseas students and business travel. Determining a UniCarbon travel sustainability index as a key performance indicator for reporting purposes.

Findings:
SWOT and mRating empirical values computations provided the basis for the development and implementation of a new hybrid EMS particular to NTU. The total amount of Scope 3 (Travel) carbon emissions were: staff and student commute (6,656MtCO2e), business travel (2,674MtCO2e) and overseas students (42,312MtCO2e). NTU's Scope 3 (Travel) carbon emissions performance index is 0.49, indicating partial emissions sustainability.

Contribution to new management practices and new knowledge:
This research contribution to new management processes providing frameworks for an efficient adoption of EMS practices for Scope 3 (Travel) carbon emissions accountability. The development of quantification tools, enables benchmarking and implementing emissions abatement policies to meeting the HE Sector's 2020 emissions targets of 43% of the base year 2005. The UniCarbon index offers a summative reporting empirical measurement of travel sustainability reporting, enabling comparisons for use within the HE Sector that also could be replicated to other industry sectors.


Background: Tobacco is widely used as the main raw material of cigarette, however it also can be used as a mosquito repellent. Since tobacco contains nicotine, d-limone, indol, and pyridine, that can be used as an alternative of chemical active of mosquito repellent to substitute N,N-Diethyl-metatoluamide (DEET) and Permethrin. But, as a mosquito repellent, the active ingredients should not able to penetrate the human skin. Methods: This study was conducted to characterize the formula and its stability, as well as the determination nicotine permeation profile through the rat skin. The emulgel was formulated in 4 different compositions: 1 formulation without the presence of tobacco extract and the others three were differentiated by the concentration of the extract loaded in formulations. Result: Organoleptic observation of the emulgel was white and brownish-white that getting darker along with the increasing of tobacco extract concentration. The emulgel of tobacco extract was stable at 4°±2°C, 28°±2°C, 40°±2°C, after cycling test and centrifugation test. Emulgel with the highest concentration of tobacco extract was tested on its permeability profile of nicotine. The total cumulative of nicotine permeated, percentage of nicotine penetrated through the rat skin and flux of nicotine of tobacco extract emulgel were 14180.628 μg/cm, 157.562%, and 22.986 μg/cm 2 min, respectively. Conclusion: It can be concluded that, the four formulas of emulgel were stable and the percentage of penetrated nicotine was still below the toxic level. Key words: Emulgel, Nicotine, Penetration, Physical stability, Tobacco.


Normal pregnancy is characterized by a mildly elevated state of inflammation, as a consequence of the woman's body adapting to the presence of the growing fetus. The placenta is established in early pregnancy, and constitutes a physical and immunological interface between the mother and the semi-foreign fetus. The principal cell type of the placenta is the fetal-derived trophoblast, which interacts with maternal immune cells to promote tolerance and create an optimal environment for the fetus in the maternal uterine compartment. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) are crucial in initiation of immune responses, and the discovery of such receptors in trophoblasts opened up the possibility for a more central trophoblast role in inflammatory responses at the maternal-fetal interface. PRRs recognize and bind conserved microbial components, pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), in addition to host-derived molecules known as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), and the common downstream result of PRR-activation is production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Three main groups of PRRs are the Toll-like receptors (TLRs), the NOD-like receptors (NLRs) and the RIG-1-like receptors (RLRs). The presence of PRRs in trophoblasts is a two-edged sword; on one hand the receptors are critically important sensors, enabling the trophoblasts to orchestrate local immune responses in the placenta. However, aberrant PRR-activation may have detrimental consequences for the pregnancy, like the inflammatory pregnancy complication pre-eclampsia. In this study, primary first trimester trophoblasts expressed all the 15 PRRs investigated, and responded to TLR activation by increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, particularly IL-6, IL-8 and IP-10. Both gene expression and cytokine responses varied between primary trophoblast isolates from different placentas. Cholesterol crystals, known to initiate inflammation through NLRP3-mediated induction of IL-1β, increased secretion of IL-1β in one of the four primary trophoblast isolates studied. The first trimester trophoblast cell lines BeWo and ACH-3P showed a relative broad PRR gene expression but were largely unresponsive to PRR-stimulation, indicating that extrapolating results from cell line experiments to primary trophoblasts and to in vivo situations may be misleading. The endothelial cell line HUVEC, included in this study to represent systemic inflammation, showed a more limited response to PRR-activation than the primary trophoblasts. In conclusion, this study suggests that first trimester trophoblasts can play an important role as immunomodulators in normal pregnancy, as well as contributing to the pathogenesis of inflammatory pregnancy disorders.


This thesis consists of an overview of the subject, where in particular five papers are put into a frame. The research conducted for the thesis concerns the views of preservice teachers on the concept of function. Preservice teachers' conceptions of the function concept are in particular examined in relation to mathematical statements that can be related to different topics on a variety of levels in mathematics; in this research, concept mapping technique is a research tool of interest. Questions concerning preservice teachers' conceptions of the significance of functions in mathematics, and the presence of functions in school mathematics, are also considered relevant aspects of their views of functions. The final part of the research study includes an intervention study regarding the concept of function, located to a calculus course as one of the concluding courses in mathematics on the educational programme. There is a range of findings from the study that is summarized and further discussed in the overview part of the thesis. One result, is that preservice teachers in their reasoning show signs of knowledge compartmentalization which is an issue of concern in their development of conceptual frameworks rich in meaningful connections. This might have consequences for their abilities to operate in a constructivist environment and reason with their students from different points of view. The function concepts' large network of relations to other concepts is frequently omitted in the preservice teachers' reasoning. One reason for this is that to preservice teachers, properties of functions seem to be results of isolated procedures, associated with operational conceptions rather than structural conceptions of functions. The findings imply that preservice teachers should encounter functions in a variety of context, to develop their views of the concept of function – including frameworks rich of meaningful relations – and realize that the concept of function is one of the underlying concepts of mathematics, and an important concept to introduce to their future students. The preservice teachers' reflections concerning functions in school mathematics contribute to emphasize the significance of the process of transformation of subject matter knowledge to pedagogical content knowledge. Further results of the research study, and an outline of the implications, are included in the concluding discussion of the overview part of the thesis. The preservice teachers participating in the study are enrolled in a four and a half year teacher preparation program in mathematics and science, grades 4 to 9. The five papers included in the thesis, describe parts of a larger study essentially conducted until the sixth term during the concluding mathematics courses of the program.


One outcome of the Muhammad cartoons controversy has been an opportunity for comparative critical examination of public discourse on conceptions of citizenship and belonging vis-à-vis Muslim minorities in different national contexts. In this article, we focus upon the press reaction in two north-western European countries that on first appearance offer radically different cases. While Britain is a formerly imperial power where 'legitimate' public articulations of the collective 'we' must take stock of the sensibilities in this diverse inheritance, Denmark's emergence as a modern constitutional state is premised on a cultural, linguistic and ethnic homogeneity. It would only be fair to anticipate, therefore, that any comparison of press discourse on matters of religious minority toleration and respect for difference would herald very different outcomes to these traditions. Yet this article shows that, on closer inspection, Jyllands-Posten's more 'radical' approach marked a departure from other Danish newspapers in a manner that left it relatively isolated, and that the self-restraint shown by the British press in not reprinting the cartoons was far from universally supported, and subject to significant internal criticism. Indeed, the press discourse in both countries cast the reaction to the cartoons controversy by Muslims themselves as a sign of failed integration, and each moreover stressed a need for civility and respect — even where there was disagreement over the kinds of 'dialogue' that should take place. Nevertheless, significant divergences and cleavages remained, and the explanation for these differences rests not only on Britain's more 'multicultural' traditions, but also the experiences of the Rushdie affair and the subsequent debate that had already taken place in Britain. What is striking is the ways in which the Danish discourse appears to be plotting a course that is not that radically different from one taken in the British case, specifically the extent to which a recognition of religious minority sensibilities needs to be offset with a civic incorporation that is cast in interdependent terms in a way that is inclusive of — and not alienating to — Muslims.


And thus, though surrounded by circle upon circle of consternations and affrights, did these inscrutable creatures at the center freely and fearlessly indulge in all peaceful concernments ... so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of my being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm. --Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (424-25) Everything in art is a formal question. --Frank Bidart, "Borges and I" (11) With barely five months passed since the novel's publication, (1) we are clearly still in the prototype phase of Pale King criticism, where the task is perhaps not yet to definitively categorize the novel, but rather to prepare a blueprint for a larger and later critical project. This project involves trying to separate our judgments from the sometimes distorted claims that since 2008 have circled around Wallace's name in the mass media, so that we can tease out the logic of what Wallace was trying to do in his final novel. For all the established orthodoxies of the intentional fallacy and the death of the author, to some extent it is only when we can start to disentangle what Wallace originally planned from the published text (heroically and painstakingly reconstructed, as it is, by his editor) that we can begin the critical project of understanding The Pale King in earnest, and plot its place on the rising curve of Wallace's career. As we might expect, The Pale King itself provides the best model that we have for this task: the end of the list poem that begins the book describes "the shapes of the worms incised in the overturned dung and baked by the sun all day until hardened ... tiny vacant lines in rows and inset curls" and concludes with the instruction to "Read these" (4). This is, of course, an allegory for the reading process, especially the process of reading a posthumous novel--the lines of imprinted marks are not themselves the sign of a present maker, but are a message that only becomes visible once the creature that created them has passed by. At the same time the scene uncomfortably resembles a disinterment: the worms' bodies emerging from the ground, the hungry crows waiting for the carrion. To undertake the critical project of reading the lines that Wallace left behind is not to deny that Michael Pietsch has performed a remarkable service for readers by assembling the text of The Pale King, but rather to recognize the novel's hybrid quality, and to begin to think about the kinds of approach that will yield a greater depth of insight as we move out of the prototype phase. Part of Wallace's importance in the history of the novel, in my view, is his skill as a narrative architect, and his fiction's layered design is often underpinned by a logic of juxtaposition that drives it forward. At the level of the sentence this logic concentrates upon the polyphonic effects sought by Wallace's prose, the contrast between different voices and the elasticity of his rhetorical register. At the level of a work's total architecture, by contrast, the same logic underpins the mosaic effect that Wallace created in each of his novels through carefully juxtaposed episodes and fragments. But because Wallace's manuscripts for The Pale King have not yet been made available to scholars, our reading of the book's total architecture is necessarily speculative at this stage; and it may forever be speculative. We know that Wallace left a 250-page manuscript on his desk, but Michael Pietsch told me that: None of the Sylvanshine chapters [were] in the partial manuscript that David had assembled as a possible portrait of work in progress. The two "Author here" chapters were first, followed by the explanation of the Personnel snafu that led to the David Wallace/David Wallace confusion. Then the "turns a page" piece and the long Chris Fogle monologue and a bunch of the childhood stories. I think David's goal was to send chapters that were very polished and that gave a sense of the book's main strands and themes. …


Despite Congress' having made clear policy statements in the National Labor Relations Act that the law was intended to promote equality of bargaining power between employers and employees; to promote the practice and procedure of collective bargaining as the method of setting workplace terms and conditions of employment; and forbidding construing the law "so as to either interfere with or impede or diminish in any way the right to strike", by early 1940, the courts had given employers the right to permanently replace strikers and implement their final offer at impasse. Judges have often justified these doctrines as promoting balance in bargaining. Critics contend that the doctrines have the capacity to destroy the right to strike, unbalance bargaining power, and divert parties from the process of bargaining collectively. Some have proposed allowing temporary but not permanent striker replacement. We use a bargaining simulation followed by a survey and debriefing comments to test these opposing claims.


Although research nationwide has shown that health care utilization amongst undocumented immigrants is substantially lower than U.S. citizens, the former are often blamed for the inadequacies of our health care system. In order to test whether utilization patterns amongst undocumented immigrants in our own city of Albuquerque coincide with current data, we first needed to determine the best recruitment methods for identifying undocumented immigrants. This pilot project tested three commonly used methods in survey research: 1) in-person household surveys (from here on referred to as canvassing), 2) RDD telephone survey (from here on referred to as calling) and 3) a combination of the two (initial phone call to set up appointment for in-person household survey; from here on referred to as making appointments). Each method was assessed based on time efficiency, effectiveness and overall performance. Time efficiency was defined as the number of attempted contacts (e.g. # of doors knocked on) per hour and successful contact rate (e.g. ratio of doors answered to doors knocked on). The effectiveness of a recruitment method was measured by cooperation rate (ratio of participants to contacts) and percentage of surveys corresponding to undocumented immigrants. Overall, by combining both time efficiency and effectiveness, the number of undocumented surveys per hour was used as a good estimate of overall performance for each method. In addition, this pilot study tested the effectiveness of the survey instrument together with efforts to maintain confidentiality. Effectiveness was defined as the ability of the survey to safely identify a responder as undocumented (i.e. did participants answer survey questions about immigration status and thus disclose their undocumented status?). The South Valley of Albuquerque was chosen as the setting due the proportionally greater number of immigrants that reside there. Overall, our results show that although calling was the most time efficient method, canvassing was more effective and had a better overall performance. Moreover, although not originally factored as a performance measurement, canvassing proved to be much more affordable than calling. Lastly, the survey instrument and informed consent process were effective in identifying undocumented immigrants without incurring discomfort or compromising personal safety.


Field experiments were conducted during rainy (kharif) and winter (rabi) seasons of 2004-05 and 2005-06 at Agricultural Research Station, Mannuthy, Thrissur, to find out the effective methods and optimum stage of incorporation of dhaincha (Sesbania aculeate Pers.), to work out the nutrient saving to the current and residual crop and to study the cost effectiveness of the system of concurrent growing of dhaincha in wet-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.). Concurrently grown dhaincha was incorporated at 2 stages, i e 20 and 30 days after sowing (DAS) by using one of the 3 methods, viz using cono weeder, desiccating dhaincha by spraying 2, 4-D @ 1.0 kg/ha or by spraying met sulfuron methyl @ 5.0 g/ ha and supplied with 2 levels of nitrogen (100 and 75% of the recommended dose). A second crop of transplanted rice was raised in the same plots after dividing the plots equally into 2 sub-plots. Two levels of nitrogen (100 and 75% N) were super imposed over them. Incorporation of concurrently grown dhaincha at the age of 30 days resulted in a yield enhancement to the tune of 0.84 tonnes/ha, increase in profitability (Rs 12 520/ha) with assured addition of 14 tonnes/ ha of organic manures and 70% weed suppression. In terms of weed management and in places where it is difficult to use cono weeder, dhaincha can be effectively incorporated by spraying 2, 4 -D or metsulfuron methyl without affecting the yield. By growing of dhaincha along with rice and its subsequent incorporation helped to reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizer to the current crop by 25% without affecting the yield. To realize the highest yield (3.88tonnes/ha) from succeeding transplanted rice, 100% of the recommended N should be supplied to the succeeding rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the rice-rice system.


WELFARE IN THE CANADIAN EQUINE INDUSTRY: UNDERSTANDING PERCEPTIONS AND PILOT TESTING AN ONFARM ASSESSMENT TOOL Cordelie DuBois Advisor: University of Guelph, 2017 Dr. Katrina Merkies The Canadian equine industry is a diverse collection of both people and equids, spanning all provinces and territories and encompassing a wide variety of animal uses, lifestyles, and management strategies. Despite the creation of a set of standards of care designed specifically for this industry, relatively little research has been conducted on welfare perception and on-farm evaluation in Canada. To rectify this, this project sought to determine key welfare issues within the Canadian industry and examine the potential of an on-farm assessment as an educational and evaluative tool. Invited equine professionals from across Canada participated in a three-round modified Delphi survey, in which they were asked to identify and rank: welfare issues within the industry, methods for addressing welfare issues, and potential motivators behind poor welfare situations. In addition, they were presented with short scenarios in which they were asked to evaluate the welfare of the animal and justify their ranking. Themes of ignorance were represented in all three rounds, with survey respondents indicating that they felt methods of adding to owners' knowledge would improve animal care at the individual level. Respondents most commonly identified the physical aspects of threatened welfare (e.g. potential for injury) in vignette scenarios. Utilizing the information gathered from the survey, a comprehensive literature review, and the National Farm Animal Care Council's Code of Practice for equines, a pilot on-farm welfare assessment tool was created for testing on farms in Southern Ontario (n=26). The tool was used in combination with an owner self-assessment and a post-assessment interview, allowing for valuable feedback regarding the experience. A training curriculum was also developed for assessors in order to track and compare their assessments skill with that of the "gold standard" trainer. This involved both in class and on-farm training. Results from the onfarm pilot assessment provided experimental inter-observer reliabilities for the six animal-based measures used. The pilot test also highlighted the potential usefulness and challenges of implementing a welfare assessment program in the Canadian industry.


Reaction to stress requires feedback adaptation of cellular functions to secure a response without distress, but the molecular order of this process is only partially understood. Here, we report a previously unrecognized regulatory element in the general adaptation syndrome. Kir6.2, the ion-conducting subunit of the metabolically responsive ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel, was mandatory for optimal adaptation capacity under stress. Genetic deletion of Kir6.2 disrupted KATP channel-dependent adjustment of membrane excitability and calcium handling, compromising the enhancement of cardiac performance driven by sympathetic stimulation, a key mediator of the adaptation response. In the absence of Kir6.2, vigorous sympathetic challenge caused arrhythmia and sudden death, preventable by calcium-channel blockade. Thus, this vital function identifies a physiological role for KATP channels in the heart.


Complaints of poor memory by individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have engendered research into attention and memory functioning in this disorder. Due to numerous methodological difficulties encountered in research with this group, results have been inconclusive. In Chapter 1 of this thesis the existing literature is reviewed to ascertain whether there is any evidence of a specific pattern of memory disorder associated with PTSD. Studies are reviewed for evidence of cognitive deficits relating to the structures of the limbic system. dysfunction in which has been implicated in PTSD. It is concluded that there is relatively good evidence of deficits related to probable frontal lobe functions. However, there is very little evidence of hippocampal related disorders and no studies have investigated memory functions relating to hypothesised roles of the amygdala in this group.
In chapters 2 and 3 experiments are described that aim to investigate cognitive abilities related to amygdala functioning in PTSD. Chapter 2 investigates an hypothesised role of the amygdala in the consolidation of memory for emotional material. The results confirm the possibility of amygdala dysfunction in PTSD by showing that on a test of free recall participants with PTSD forgot emotional word stimuli at a faster rate than control participants, whereas non-emotional stimuli were forgotten at a more normal rate. Chapter 3 investigated a second hypothesised role for the amygdala in the recognition of facial expressions of fear and anger. Results showed that PTSD participants were somewhat impaired in their recognition of these expressions, which contrasted with an enhanced ability, associated with symptoms of hyperarousal, in identifying other negative facial expressions.
In Chapter 4, the relevance of neuropsychological research to Clinical Psychology is discussed. It is argued that such research is vital if we are to fully understand the difficulties clients could face on a day-to-day basis.


INTRODUCTION The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most important players in the field of clinical research on human beings. Increasingly in recent years, "Big Pharma" in the United States and elsewhere has turned to foreign populations to test its new products. The purpose of this note is to examine how existing sources of quasi-legal and ethical regulation address the troublesome issues raised by this increase in international human experimentation. First, the note gives a brief history of human experimentation and its regulation, giving special focus to the events of the twentieth century that have most affected the development of the bioethics movement. Next, it describes and compares several instruments of international regulation of human subject experimentation. Finally, it examines some of the difficult ethical issues associated with international research on human subjects. In this discussion, the greatest amount of attention will be given to clinical trials performed by the pharmaceutical industry. Other types of international research on human subjects exist, but research by the pharmaceutical companies poses its own special regulatory and ethical problems. I. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND A. Pre-Nuremberg Though the Holocaust and the concurrent Nazi experimentation on prisoners and Jews (1) brought unprecedented attention to experiments on human subjects, such experimentation and ethical reflection thereon began much earlier. One of the earliest codes of medical ethics was the Hippocratic Oath. (2) The Hippocratic Oath's focus is on care that directly benefits the patient; however, as in many early documents regarding ethics and human experimentation, that benefit is determined by the doctor and not the patient. (3) While the oath does not directly address human research, (4) the issue of delegating decision-making to physicians arises in later international codes and agreements on human experimentation. Perhaps as a result of the lack of attention to human subject research, experimentation continued unabated and largely unregulated until the 19th century. (5) In 1803, Thomas Percival, an English physician, promulgated a code of medical ethics that dealt directly with human experimentation. (6) Like the Hippocratic Oath, Percival's code is decidedly skewed towards the interests of physicians and experts. There is no mention of consent or other protections of human subjects] The first American code of ethics dealing with human experimentation was created by William Beaumont in 1833. (8) The most important aspect of Beaumont's code, in comparison with that of Percival, is that it recognizes the necessity of the subject's voluntary consent and requires that experimentation cease if, at any time, the subject is "distress[ed]" or "dissatisfied." (9) In 1865, the French physiologist Claude Bernard published his own guidelines governing human experimentation, which precluded any human experimentation that would not be of direct benefit to the patient, no matter its value to science. (10) However, the valuation of that benefit remained in the discretion of the physician. Ironically, one of the first official regulations of human experimentation came out of the Prussian government in 1900, (11) which was then part of the German Empire. (12) The Prussian directive expressly prohibited non-therapeutic research either on incompetent individuals (including children) or where the subject had not given "unequivocal[]" consent to the procedure after having it explained to him. (13) Historical records and contemporary press reports show that these guidelines were largely ignored by German medical researchers throughout the decades between their promulgation and 1931--when new guidelines were introduced. (14) These new guidelines were generated by the Reich Health Council and published by the Reich Minister of the Interior in response to reports of lax ethical standards among German medical researchers. …


Throughout the years LENI-EPFL spent a significant part of its research activities on heat pumps be it for industrial heat recovery or for domestic or district heating and cooling. Methodological contributions include the improvement of the formulation of the exergy efficiency indicators, including for a cantonal law on energy and in the energy integration techniques for industrial processes. Novel, socalled environomic, mono- and multi-objective optimisation analyses of large integrated systems with heat pumps, including for tri-generation have been published. LENI also contributed to a novel physically based correlation for tubular boiling of various refrigerants that received an international award. The main technological innovations include major contributions to scroll compressors with intermediate vapor injection, two-stage domestic heat pumps and small high speed radial compressors on self-acting refrigerant vapor bearings with direct thermal or electric drives. New concepts of district heating and cooling systems with centralized and decentralized heat pumps have been proposed. Supercritical heat pumps cycles for novel electricity storage concepts have also been studied.


Increasingly critics of mass incarceration are confident that restorative justice is an alternative that will slowly replace or reform the state's monopoly on "justice." It is particularly of restorative justice as an "alternative" to state retribution that I remain skeptical. To my eyes, restorative justice has within it no revolutionary power remotely sufficient to undo the embedded ideology of retribution, nor does it bear any promise of truly challenging the material power of the state and the prison industrial complex. Restorative justice is a powerful, therapeutic practice that creates healing for individuals and exposes the stark failure of the state's rehabilitative enterprise. However, we must cease to see it as a structural alternative that will take the place of incarceration. Though it is a useful tool for undermining the retributive narrative of the state, it is insufficient to meet the challenges of ever-encroaching state legality and mass incarceration.


The Islamic Revolution of 1979 was a major turning point in the modern history of Iran, with reverberations far beyond its borders. Twenty-eight years on, the new regime is still searching for an appropriate approach to cope with the challenge of governance while it contends with domestic disenchantment, perpetual struggle for power between competing tendencies and grave regional and international challenges. (1) Since the mid-1990s, the pro-reform camp has gained popular support and sustained control of the elected bodies of government. This is evident from Mohammed Khatami's presidency (1997), the reformists' dominance of the local councils (1999) and the Majlis (2000) and Khatami's reelection (2001). However, the conservatives have maintained their control over the non-elected institutions (such as the Council of Guardians, Council of Experts, Expediency Council and numerous extra-governmental bodies, in addition to the support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah All Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini), thus preserving their ability to thwart crucial political, social and economic changes. Since then, the conservatives consolidated their control of the local councils (2003) and the Majlis (2004), culminating in 2005 with the ascendancy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who demonstrated adherence to the original revolutionary dogma more than any of the contesting candidates to the presidency. As a result, the policy of dialogue between civilizations, promoted by Khatami, was replaced by an eventual clash of civilizations; the process of reform gave way to growing conservatism, and the policy of detente--in regional and international relations--gave way to a growing tension. Iran's involvement in Iraq, in Lebanon and within the Palestinian Authority, combined with a determination to pursue its nuclear program, and the current president's incendiary statements (against the United States and Israel and regarding the Holocaust) have led Iran to stir up conflict with both its immediate neighbors and countries far from home. This brief survey seeks to examine Iran's regional policy in the framework of the revolutionary experience and the recent changes in the domestic and international arena. Some key issues, such as Iran's nuclear policy, relations with the United States and the relative power of the different domestic factions--despite their direct bearing on our discussion--will be mentioned only briefly. Other important questions, like Iran's strategic alliance with Syria, the impact of the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan and developments in the Gulf area are similarly not discussed. The first part of this essay focuses on the general trend of pragmatism in past Iranian regional policy, while the second part is limited to an examination of some of the main areas in which Iran has been recently involved--the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah and Iraq. IRAN AND ITS TROUBLED NEIGHBORHOOD The Islamic Revolution led to a dramatic change in Iran's foreign outlook and its international relations. For the new leaders of Iran, the Islamic Revolution was not just a title for a movement, but an ideal they wished to put into practice throughout the Muslim world. The Islamic regime viewed its victory as one stage in and an instrument of an overall change in the world of Islam--a model for imitation by other Muslims. "Our movement is for an Islamic goal, not for Iran alone," Khomeini said upon taking power. Iran was only "the starting point." Muslims "are one family," he added, "even if they live in regions remote from each other." (2) Even being Shia or Sunni "is not the question." (3) For many revolutionaries, the ultimate goal remained to launch an ideological crusade aimed at bringing the genuine messages of Islam to people everywhere. Assessments by Mohammed Javad Larijani (former Iranian deputy foreign minister) highlight the centrality of such a worldwide mission. Following the fall of the USSR, he stated that "the cresting of the Islamic movement will soon transform the face of the world" in the same manner the Renaissance changed Europe. …


The Raman spectra from leukemic cell line (HL60) and normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are obtained by confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy using near-infrared laser (785 nm) excitation. The scanning range is from 500 to 2000 cm^{-1}. The two average Raman spectra of normal PBMCs and carcinoma cells have clear differences because their structure and amount of nucleic acid, protein, and other major molecules are changed. The spectra are also compared and analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) to demonstrate the two distinct clusters of normal and transformed cells. The sensitivity of this technique for identifying transformed cells is 100%.


Dissociative recombination is the process in which a molecular ion recombines with an electron and then fragments into neutral products. This process has been studied in many experiments over the years at the ion storage ring CRYRING at the Manne Siegbahn Laboratory, Stockholm University. In this thesis the experimental methods and data analysis procedures used to investigate dissociative recombination are presented together with the results for several diatomic and triatomic ions. Cross sections and branching fractions of the different breakup channels have been determined. An imaging system was introduced to study the fragmentation channels in detail. The main focus is on the dynamics of the three-body breakup of triatomic dihydride ions. This work includes the results from the dissociative recombination of NO+, SH2+, SD2+, PD2+, NH2+, CH2+, H2O+ and H3+.


Women and the Second Estate in 16th Century Zambezia: Gendered Powers, a 'Puppet' African Queen and Succession in vaKaranga Society, 1500-1700 George Gregor Levin Women in vaKaranga society of the 15th to 17th centuries have been portrayed as oppressed by an "extremely patriarchal" system, but the reality, while still fitting the simple classification of a 'patriarchal' monarchy, indicates quite a bit more negotiation of gendered powers than women, as a class, experienced in the Mediterranean or East Asia. The vaKaranga were the architects of Great Zimbabwe, the capital of a growing state, colonizing their cousins of the Zambezi river, which their Kusi-Mashariki Bantu forefathers had traversed southward a millennium before. Civil war had (apparently) split one nation into two states, Mutapa (Monomotapa) and Khami (Torwa, Toroa, Changamire) immediately before Portuguese ships arrived at Sofala in 1502. Statements like "women are dust, one does not count dust" have been used to illustrate the traditional social outlook of the Shona, descendants of the vaKaranga and a major population in present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and central Mocambique. However, close reading of early Portuguese-language sources on women in vaKaranga society suggests that, prior to influence from these original European colonists, vaKaranga women negotiated everyday and political power in a near-even exchange with men, predicated on the imbalance of power women held in the metaphysical dimension, their control of industries from gold production to staple crop production and a strategy for minimizing economic risk for a king transacting a brideprice or 'rovora' exchange. In this, vaKaranga women are exceptions to the theory that societies must become more gender imbalanced as they begin to form classes and state-level monarchies.


People increasingly use social media to report emergencies, seek help or share information during disasters, which makes social networks an important tool for disaster management. To meet these time-critical needs, we present a weakly supervised approach for rapidly building high-quality classifiers that label each individual Twitter message with fine-grained event categories. Most importantly, we propose a novel method to create high-quality labeled data in a timely manner that automatically clusters tweets containing an event keyword and asks a domain expert to disambiguate event word senses and label clusters quickly. In addition, to process extremely noisy and often rather short user-generated messages, we enrich tweet representations using preceding context tweets and reply tweets in building event recognition classifiers. The evaluation on two hurricanes, Harvey and Florence, shows that using only 1-2 person-hours of human supervision, the rapidly trained weakly supervised classifiers outperform supervised classifiers trained using more than ten thousand annotated tweets created in over 50 person-hours.


As a result of Indonesia's decentralization program, local governments have gained significantly more responsibility for service delivery, considerably larger fiscal resources, and much greater authority over the use of those resources than before. The present paper develops a simple budget model to describe and explain the substantial differences in pre- and post-decentralization local government fiscal behavior related to spending, taxing and saving. During the post-decentralization period special attention is paid to the fiscal behavior of natural resource rich regions. Among other things, the evidence suggests that: post-decentralization local government spending is partly responsive to increasing needs and partly the subject of elite capture; local government taxation has become more aggressive under decentralization and appears to be mostly driven by local bureaucratic expectations related to routine overhead budgets; and the increased savings of local governments during the post-decentralization period is determined to a large degree by delayed central government transfer payments. Copyright 2005 East Asian Economic Association.


The post-trading infrastructure of OTC derivatives markets has not always kept up with the rapid growth in trading volumes. Recent years have seen some initiatives that seek to introduce multilateral elements that facilitate flows of information between market participants while preserving the decentralised nature of the transactions. While central counterparties lead to the highest degree of mutualisation, other services, such as central information depositories or multilateral terminations, could deliver similar benefits in terms of information management.


A scale for Asian Americans/ Pacific Islanders (AAPI) has not been discovered although numerous attempts have been made to create a quantitative measure for traditionality and modernity (T-M). This project includes the conceptualization and subsequent development of items and a scale measuring T-M. The scale, named AAPIVS (Asian American/ Pacific Islander
Values Scale), consisted of 46 items and was given to 394 AAPI participants. The AAPIVS consisted of five factors including, Familialism, Gender Beliefs, Spirituality/ Religiosity, Cultural Maintenance and Emotional Regulation. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was
conducted on the responses, which revealed a 27 item structure. The results revealed five factors, which were Familial Preferences, Gender Beliefs, Traditionality, Spirituality/ Religiosity and
Image Retention. Results indicated that traditionality may be conceptually related to modernity in a different manner than in previous research. Implications and future directions in T-M research are discussed.


Roads often bring significant economic and social benefits, but they can also have substantial negative impacts on communities and natural environment. As we become more aware of these impacts, there is a growing demand for the techniques and skills needed to incorporate environmental considerations into road planning and management. The objective of this thesis is to provide a description of practical methods which are useful in designing and executing effective environmental assessments (EAs) to those who are involved in various aspects of Highway/Motorway projects, from planning to construction to maintenance. The techniques discussed can be applied to in-depth environmental assessment studies, or to action/management plans for dealing with environmental aspects of Highway/Motorway projects. The Faisalabad Pindi Bhattian Motorway Project (M-3) with 52.5 Km length,100 meters R.O.W. and Rs. 532.66 million cost falls under the category of projects for which a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report is required by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency vide Section 12 of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997.No EIA of M-3 was conducted during planning and designing phases. Failing to identify potential impacts of the project and neglecting to account for these impacts caused the road agency (NHA) to adopt some solutions that compromise the environment to some extent. Even now, when the M-3 is in operation phase, Implementation Agencies(NHA and NH & MP) have no official Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan to be followed. In the light of above discussion, an EIA of the project at operation stage to identify the potential impacts of the project on environment should be conducted to develop the Environmental management Plan for operation stage of this project as well as for the construction phase of future projects. It is found that the nature and scope of the construction works and the environmental setting of the project were such that many of the adverse impacts often5associated with road construction projects caused insignificant environmental impacts. No adverse impacts were seen in respect of sensitive habitat, wildlife, cultural heritage and endangered species etc. Even the use of borrow material from the vicinity of the project was not likely to cause such changes which may be irreversible or non- mitigable. Air and noise pollutions are the main issues of operation phase of the project but both are not foreseen to cross the limits of Environmental Quality Standards even in year2030. (Except Sox and SPM which will cross the standard limits in 2015 and 2020respectively).Social consultation was carried out during project study with officials and local communities. The aim was to solicit views on the proposed project and incorporate their concerns, demands and needs into the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and Social Framework Agreement (SFA). Based on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),a Social Framework Agreement (SFA) has been proposed. However for future projects this instrument shall be prepared and made public when the project is approved and is ready for implementation.


We have developed a general model for determining density-dependent effective dielectronic recombination (DR) rate coefficients in order to explore finite-density effects on the ionization balance of plasmas. Our model consists of multiplying by a suppression factor those highly-accurate total zero-density DR rate coefficients which have been produced from state-of-the-art theoretical calculations and which have been benchmarked by experiment. The suppression factor is based upon earlier detailed collision-radiative calculations which were made for a wide range of ions at various densities and temperatures, but used a simplified treatment of DR. A general suppression formula is then developed as a function of isoelectronic sequence, charge, density, and temperature. These density-dependent effective DR rate coefficients are then used in the plasma simulation code Cloudy to compute ionization balance curves for both collisionally ionized and photoionized plasmas at very low (ne = 1 cm−3) and finite (ne = 1010 cm−3) densities. We find that the denser case is significantly more ionized due to suppression of DR, warranting further studies of density effects on DR by detailed collisional-radiative calculations which utilize state-of-the-art partial DR rate coefficients. This is expected to impact the predictions of the ionization balance in denser cosmic gases such as those found in nova and supernova shells, accretion disks, and the broad emission line regions in active galactic nuclei.


DURING THE 19705, NEARLY EVERY STATE IN the nation began instituting tests of basic skills for high-school students as the leading edge of the so-called "first wave" of education reforms, These reforms were a response to the widespread impression that test scores and the quality of public schooling were in decline. According to critics, the high-school diploma, once a true accomplishment, had been debased in an era of social promotion and low standards--to the point where it held no real meaning for postsecondary institutions or potential employers. The pace of reform was greatly accelerated with the release in 1983 of the blue-ribbon report A Nation at Risk. A chief cause of the nation's educational decline, the report ventured, was the "cafeteria-style curriculum" that allowed students to pursue a diffuse and unchallenging course of study. The report recommended that states require students to take a minimum number of courses in core academic subjects in order to graduate from high school. As a result, by 1992 nearly every state had increased its graduation requirements in the core academic areas. However, only three states, Florida, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, had met the standard recommended by the Risk report: four years of English and at least three years each of social studies, science, and math. Such reforms, with their focus on testing and higher academic standards, are the precursors of today's controversial accountability movement. Yet there has been surprisingly little study of their consequences. For instance, did the requirement that all students pass a minimum-competency test in order to graduate from high school encourage more students (in particular, minorities) to drop out of high school, as many critics feared? Did such exams, as supporters hoped, make the high-school diploma more valuable, thereby improving the job prospects of graduates? These questions continue to be relevant as the states ramp up their testing programs and impose ever-harsher sanctions on failing schools and low-performing students. Judging from their continuing prevalence in policy debates, such questions also remain mostly unanswered. Controversies Minimum-competency exams were by far the more controversial of the two major first-wave education reforms. In the end, few critics object to tougher course requirements. The controversy arises when states attempt to test whether students have met a certain standard--and especially when they attach consequences to the results of such exams. In the beginning, most minimum-competency exams were intended simply to identify low-performing students and to direct them toward sources of remediation. However, several states also mandated that students pass the minimum-competency exam in order to graduate with a standard high-school diploma. By 1992, graduating high-school seniors in 15 states were required to pass a basic-skills test. Typically, students would first sit for these exams in the 9th or 10th grade and enjoy multiple opportunities for retests. The conventional wisdom has been that these tests were "legislated as a lion but implemented as a lamb." To wit, the exams were usually set at only the 8th- or 9th-grade level. The standards were sometimes set even lower in the face of politically unacceptable failure rates. As a consequence, the ultimate pass rates among high-school seniors were extremely high. The still-open question is whether these pass rates were artificially high, given that some students may have chosen simply to drop out if they thought they had little chance of passing the test. Placing students at increased risk of dropping out is one of the major objections that critics lodge against any kind of testing regime that imposes harsh penalties on students, The intent of these reforms is both to raise academic standards and to give students the incentives to meet them. But critics say that standards-based reforms may simply exacerbate existing inequalities if sanctions are applied to low-performing students without giving them the resources and help they need to succeed. …


Objective. To determine the anti-tuberculosis drug resistance prevalence in Peru. Material and methods. We performed a conglomerated sampling in 33 health regions from Peru. We used a Canneti proportions method in solid medium L-J for testing Mycobacterium tuberculosis susceptibility with isoniazid (INH) rifampicin (RMP), streptomycin (SM) and ethambutol (EMB). Strains with TB MDR was evaluated to second line drug susceptibility by proportion methods in 7H10 agar in plates. Results. We analyzed 1809 cultures from new patients and 360 pre treated. 51.6 coming from Lima and 59.3% were males. The national prevalence of primary resistance was 23.2% (CI95%: 21.3 - 25.1) and acquired resistance was 41.7% (95% CI: 36.5 - 46.8). We detected 180 TB MDR cases, the prevalence of primary TB MDR was 5.3% (95%CI: 4.2 - 6.3) and acquired was 23.6% (95%CI: 19.2 - 28.0). 20% of never treated patients isolated were resistant to INH or RIf. Global resistance and primary TB MDR were more prevalent in Lima than rest of the country. TB XDR was present in 5.9% of patients with TB MDR and 36% of TB MDR strains were resistant at least one secondline drug. Conclusions. Compared with previous studies, primary and acquired anti-tuberculosis drug resistant have significantly increased in the last 10 years in Peru.


Two factorial experiments were designed to determine the effects of stage of lactation, and season of the year, on cow responses to supplementary feeding. These experiments were conducted over consecutive years with 128 high genetic merit multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows in early, mid and late lactation in spring, summer, autumn and winter. At each stage of lactation, and in each season of the year, cows were offered a restricted pasture allowance (25 to 35 kg dry matter (DM) per cow per day), either unsupplemented (control) or supplemented with 50 MJ metabolizable energy (ME) per cow per day in experiment 1 and 80 MJ ME per cow per day in experiment 2. Two different supplements were offered, namely, rolled maize grain (MG) and a mixture of foods (BR) formulated to nutritionally balance the diet. In experiment 2, a fourth treatment consisting solely of a generous pasture allowance (60 to 75 kg DM per cow per day, AP) was introduced. Offering MG and BR increased DM intake (DMI). At the restricted pasture allowance, increasing total ME allowance (MEA) by offering supplementary foods increased ME intake (MEI) by 0·68 (s.e. 0·047) MJ per extra MJ ME offered. This highly significant ( P , 0·001) linear relationship was consistent across seasons, and did not diminish at higher MEA. In experiment 2, cows in early lactation had lower substitution rates than mid and late lactation cows irrespective of season. Substitution rate was higher when higher pasture allowance or quality of pasture on offer enabled the unsupplemented cows to achieve higher DMI from pasture than at other times of the year. These results suggest that one of the key factors determining the intake response to supplementary foods is pasture allowance. Within spring calving dairying systems, the largest increases in total DMI per kg of supplement offered is likely when offering supplements to early lactation cows grazing restricted allowances of high quality pasture.


Abstract : Emergencies and disasters create hardships for citizens. To speed up recovery, local governments need to engage with citizens in an interactive information sharing system to convey information while the incident is still developing and to help mitigate and recover from damages. Lack of effective communication can decrease public trust and engender stress and anxiety of the survivors. As service delivery becomes more complicated during an emergency, responders can also benefit from additional information from the public to increase situational awareness and better understand the challenges facing citizens. This thesis examines emergency information needs, emerging information sharing trends, and the potential homeland security application of Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs, mashups and text messaging. This thesis examines the use of Web 2.0 technologies during the Southern California wildfires as a case study and interviews top emergency managers throughout the country capturing their insights and opinions about the benefits and pitfalls of incorporating Web 2.0 technologies into existing emergency information sharing systems. Local government agencies, the impacted community, and those outside the immediate area seeking opportunities to assist may be interested in the benefits of context-powered knowledge when collaboration from multiple sources converges to facilitate knowledge used for decision making.


Domain specific ontologies are invaluable despite many challenges associated with their development. In most cases, domain knowledge bases are built with very limited scope without considering the benefits of plunging domain knowledge to a general ontology. Furthermore, most existing resources lack meta-information about association strength (weights) and annotations (frequency information like frequent , rare ... or relevance information like pertinent or irrelevant ). In this paper, we are presenting a semantic resource for radiology built over an existing general semantic lexical network (JeuxDeMots). This network combines weight and annotations on typed relations between terms and concepts. Some inference mechanisms are applied to the network to improve its quality and coverage. We extend this mechanism to relation annotation. We describe how annotations are handled and how they improve the network by imposing new constraints especially those founded on medical knowledge.