Microbial plankton respiration is the key determinant in the balance between the storage of organic carbon in the oceans or its conversion to carbon dioxide with accompanying consumption of dissolved oxygen. Over the past fifty years, dissolved oxygen concentrations have decreased in many parts of the world's oceans, and this trend of ocean deoxygenation is predicted to continue. Yet despite its pivotal role in ocean deoxygenation, microbial respiration remains one of the least constrained microbial metabolic processes. Improved understanding of the magnitude and variability of respiration, including attribution to component plankton groups, and quantification of the respiratory quotient, would enable better predictions and projections of the intensity and extent of ocean deoxygenation and of the integrative impact of ocean deoxygenation, ocean acidification, warming, and changes in nutrient concentration and stoichiometry on marine carbon storage. This study will synthesize current knowledge of respiration in relation to deoxygenation, including the drivers of its variability, identify key unknowns in our ability to project future scenarios and suggest methodological approaches to move the field forward.


The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between the closeness or looseness of the fit of clothing and body image, body build, and selected clothing attitudes. Data were used from 140 females between 19 and 23 years of age enrolled in classes in the clothing and textiles area of the School of Home Economics of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro during the 1973-1974 academic year. Six items of background information were obtained from the subjects. Body image was determined from a body Impression scale, a body cathexis scale, and a body build self rating. Body build was determined from somatographs of the subjects by a panel of judges. The selected clothing attitudes were determined from three subscales on comfort, dependence, and modesty. Somatographs were prepared according to precise specifications. The closeness or looseness of fit was determined at the bust, waist, and hips from the back view clothed and semiclothed somatographs . Five significant correlations were found between fit at the bust, waist, or hips and background information variables. There were no significant correlations between fit at the bust, waist, or hips and body image, body build, and clothing attitude variables. Correlations adequate (p = .20) to be noted as trends were listed.


Risk analysis is essential to reservoir operation. In this study, a new analysis for reservoir operation is proposed to enhance the utilization rate of the flood water from the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) during the flood season. Based on five scenarios of hydrology forecasting with the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), a multi-objective optimum operation was implemented employing the risk control constraints of the genetic algorithm (GA) for the TGR. The results of this analysis indicated that the optimum hydropower generation was 5.7% higher than the usual operating hydropower generation, which suggested that, during flood season, it would be beneficial to increase hydropower generation from reservoirs, while maintaining a safe degree of flood risk.


We present results from experimental price-setting oligopolies in which green firms undertake different levels of energysaving investments motivated by public subsidies and demand-side advantages. We find that consumers reveal higher willingness to pay for greener sellers' products. This observation in conjunction to the fact that greener sellers set higher prices is compatible with the use and interpretation of energy-saving behaviour as a differentiation strategy. However, sellers do not exploit the resulting advantage through sufficiently high price-cost margins, because they seem trapped into "run to stay still" competition. Regarding the use of public subsidies to energy-saving sellers we uncover an undesirable crowding-out effect of consumers' intrinsic tendency to support green manufacturers. Namely, consumers may be less willing to support a green seller whose energy-saving strategy entails a direct financial benefit. Finally, we disentangle two alternative motivations for consumer's attractions to pro-social firms; first, the self-interested recognition of the firm's contribution to the public and private welfare and, second, the need to compensate a firm for the cost entailed in each pro-social action. Our results show the prevalence of the former over the latter. Keywords—Corporate social responsibility, energy savings, public good, experiments, vertical differentiation, altruism.


We present results for long-term and intermediate-term prediction algorithms applied to a simple mechanical model of a fault. The long-term techniques we consider include the slip-predictable and time-predictable methods and prediction based upon the distribution of repeat times between large events. Neither the slip-predictable nor time-predictable method works well on our model. In comparison, the time interval method is much more effective and is used here to establish a benchmark for predictability. We consider intermediate-term prediction techniques which employ pattern recognition to identify seismic precursors. These methods are found to be significantly more effective at predicting coming large events than methods based on recurrence intervals. The performances of four specific precursors are compared using a quality function Q, which is similar to functions used in linear cost-benefit analysis. When the quality function equally weights (1) the benefit of a successful prediction, (2) the cost of maintaining alerts, and (3) the cost of false alarms, we find that Q is optimized in algorithms based on the most conventional precursors when alarms occupy 10–20% of the mean recurrence interval and approximately 90% of the events are successfully predicted. The measure Q is further used to explore optimization questions such as variation in the space, time, and magnitude windows used in the pattern recognition algorithms. Finally, we study the intrinsic uncertainties associated with seismicity catalogs of restricted lengths. In particular, we test the hypothesis that many shorter catalogs are as effective as one long catalog in determining algorithm parameters, and we find that the hypothesis is valid for the model when the catalogs are of the order of the mean recurrence interval.


At the outset of an edited volume on Intellectuals and African Development, the question is posed about what went wrong.1 The call for self-reflection perhaps anticipates a further question—about how to account for the effects of area studies on scholarship in Africa in the era of independence and development. Much of this reflection has of course been occasioned by the work of scholars initially educated in African universities but later located in the American academy. Many have argued saliently about the perils of proceeding without significant and substantial overhauls to prevailing orthodoxies derived from area studies as they were constituted in the American academy. Perhaps one way to think about the anxieties produced by area studies for scholars of African studies relates to the manner in which the consolidation of institutions of higher learning in the West after the Second World War was buoyed by knowledge from elsewhere. Dipesh Chakrabarty, in his musings on American area studies in South Asia, identifies the asymmetry between knowledge and institution as a hangover of an older connection between liberal education and empire.2 He suggests that what made these Eurocentric assumptions invisible was in part the fact that area studies were still a matter of studying cultures that were foreign. The question is ultimately, what critical attitude is to be harnessed from within this scene of estrangement to articulate another perspective on the worldliness of knowledge that the late Edward Said once encouraged. Thinking about the inheritance of area studies after Said's Orientalism or Valentine Mudimbe's Invention of Africa is what now pressures a generation toward recharging the effective history of postcolonial criticism.


This report summarizes antitrust and competition developments that occurred in 2012.*I. FILED RATE DOCTRINE COURT CASESA. Simon v. KeySpan Corp.Charles Simon filed a class action in the Southern District of New York against KeySpan Corp. (KeySpan) and Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. (Morgan Stanley) on behalf of New York City customers who purchased electricity from Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Ed) between 2006 and 2009.1 The complaint alleged a violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act in the form of anticompetitive conduct in the New York City capacity market, where capacity rates are set according to a market-based auction system.2 In 2006, KeySpan and a rival producer separately entered into offsetting swap and hedge agreements with Morgan Stanley, which created payment obligations to and from Morgan Stanley based on the spread between the auction price and a fixed price delineated in the agreements.3 The arrangement entitled KeySpan to payments from Morgan Stanley if the auction price exceeded the stipulated fixed price.4 KeySpan allegedly had an incentive to bid its capacity at a price equal to a bid cap imposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).5 But for the swap and hedge agreements, KeySpan allegedly would have bid its capacity below the cap because new generation capacity was then coming online in New York City.6 The Department of Justice also investigated this conduct and entered into consent decrees with KeySpan agreeing to disgorge $12 million and Morgan Stanley $4.8 million.7In 2011, the district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss Simon's complaint, finding that Simon lacked standing as an indirect purchaser and that the filed rate doctrine barred private antitrust suits for damages in wholesale electricity markets.8 In September 2012, the Second Circuit affirmed,9 ruling that Simon's federal claims were barred by the Supreme Court's decision in Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois,10 which limits indirect purchaser standing in suits under the federal antitrust laws.11 The court noted that indirect purchaser suits could expose defendants to duplicative liability and would require complex damage calculations that involve "too many 'uncertainties and difficulties.'" 12The court ruled that the cost-plus contract exception to the Illinois Brick rule did not apply to Simon's claim. An indirect purchaser may bring an antitrust suit under the cost-plus contract exception if it "has agreed in advance to purchase a fixed quantity, paying the direct purchaser's costs plus a predetermined additional fee."13 Under these circumstances, the defendant can avoid duplicative liability by invoking the pass-on defense, and damages are simpler to compute because the direct purchaser has passed on the entire overcharge to the indirect purchaser.14 While Con Ed, the direct purchaser, passed on 100% of its capacity costs to its customers, the court observed that Simon was not obligated to purchase a fixed amount of electricity15 and the overcharge may have led to reduced power consumption by Simon and other class members.16 Furthermore, absent the overcharge, Con Ed may have obtained a rate increase from the state regulator.17The court also held that the filed rate doctrine barred the plaintiff's suit for damages. The Supreme Court established this doctrine in Keogh v. Chicago & N.W. Ry. Co.18 to prohibit private antitrust suits seeking damages in regulated industries.19 The court stated that the Keogh decision was based on three considerations: the reduced need for antitrust enforcement in regulated industries, the per se legality of regulated rates, and the difficulty of determining whether a lower rate would have received regulatory approval.20 Permitting parties to challenge rates in court could lead to non-uniform rates and a violation of the non-discrimination principle.21 The court stated that the filed rate doctrine is an absolute bar if a private antitrust claim could lead to discriminatory rates and undermine the exclusive authority of federal agencies in approving rates. …


At present the Swedish points system is one of the main determinants of an applicant either being granted or refused entry into many South African higher education institutions (HEIs). Using a grounded theory approach, this article interprets the experiences of participants whose school performance and therefore university 'entry points' were lower than the expected norm. Despite not meeting standard university entry requirements, these students succeeded at university, completing their degrees in the minimum time available and going on to higher degrees. The journey of these participants - from low entry points to academic success - suggests that points based on school performance are not necessarily the best way of identifying students' potential to succeed in the contemporary South African educational context. If their entry points were not a good indication of their ability to thrive at university, the article asks, what is it about these participants that accounts for their success? And what implications does this have for South African practice, not only with regard to admissions policies but also in relation to the responsibilities of HEIs to students once they are admitted?


Adversaries exploit software vulnerabilities in modern software to compromise computer systems. While the amount and sophistication of such attacks is constantly increasing, most of them are based on memory-corruption vulnerabilities---a problem that has been persisting over the last four decades. The research community has taken on the challenge of providing mitigations against memory-corruption-based attack techniques such as code-injection, code-reuse, and data-only attacks. In a constant arms race, researchers from academia and industry developed new attack techniques to reveal weaknesses in existing defense techniques, and based on these findings propose new mitigation techniques with the goal to provide efficient and effective defenses in the presence of memory-corruption vulnerabilities. Along this line of research, this dissertation contributes significantly to this goal by providing attacks on the recently proposed mitigations and more enhanced defenses against memory-corruption-based attacks.

Specifically, we present sophisticated attacks against the CFI implementation of two premier open-source compilers, and demonstrate conceptual limitations of coarse- and fine-grained CFI. Our first attack exploits a compiler-introduced race-condition vulnerability, which temporarily spills read-only CFI-critical variables to writable memory, and hence, enables the attacker to bypass the CFI check. Our second attack is a data-only attack that modifies the intermediate representation of the JIT compiler in browsers to generate attacker-controlled code. We then turn our attention to attacking randomization-based defenses. We demonstrate conceptual limitations of randomization with two advanced memory-disclosure attack techniques. In particular, we demonstrate that the attacker can bypass any code-randomization either by reading the code directly, or indirectly by combining static code analysis with a sufficient number of disclosed code pointers.

Based on the insights we gain through our attack techniques, we design and implement a leakage-resilient code randomization scheme to defeat code-reuse attacks by using execute-only memory to mitigate memory-disclosure attacks. Since x86 does not natively support execute-only memory, we leverage memory virtualization to enable it for server and desktop systems. Moreover, since most embedded systems do not offer memory virtualization, we demonstrate how to overcome this limitation by implementing a compiler extension that enables software-based execute-only memory for ARM-based systems. Lastly, we demonstrate how leakage-resilient randomization can also be deployed to mitigate data-only attacks against the page table.


A total of 458 in situ hyperspectral data were collected from 13 urban tree species in the City of Tampa, FL, USA using a spectrometer. The 13 species include 11 broadleaf and two conifer species. Three different techniques, segmented canonical discriminant analysis (CDA), segmented principal component analysis (PCA) and segmented stepwise discriminate analysis (SDA), were applied and compared for dimension reduction and feature extraction. With each of the three techniques, 10 features were extracted or selected from four spectral regions, visible (VIS: 1412–1797 nm), near-infrared (NIR: 707–1352 nm), mid-infrared 1 (MIR1: 1412–1797 nm) and mid-infrared 2 (MIR2: 1942–2400 nm), and used to discriminate the 13 urban tree species with a linear discriminate analysis (LDA) method. The cross-validation results, based on training samples that were used in the feature reduction step, and the results calculated from the test samples were used for evaluating the ability of the in situ hyperspectral data and performance of the segmented CDA, PCA and SDA to identify the 13 tree species. The experimental results indicate that a satisfactory discrimination of the 13 tree species was achieved using the segmented CDA technique (average accuracy (AA) = 96%, overall accuracy (OAA) = 96% and kappa = 0.958 from the cross-validation results; AA = 90%, OAA = 90% and kappa = 0.896 from the test samples) compared to the segmented PCA and SDA techniques, respectively (AA = 76% and 86%, OAA = 78% and 87%, and kappa = 0.763 and 0.857 from the cross-validation results; AA = 79% and 88%, OAA = 80% and 89%, and kappa = 0.782 and 0.879 from the test samples). In this study, the segmented CDA transformation is effective for dimension reduction and feature extraction for species discrimination with a relatively limited number of training samples. It outperformed the segmented PCA and SDA methods and produced the highest accuracies. The NIR and MIR1 regions have greater power for identifying the 13 species compared to the VIS and MIR2 spectral regions. The results indicate that CDA or segmented CDA could be applied broadly in mapping forest cover types, species identification and/or other land use/land cover classification practices with hyperspectral remote sensing data.


This paper proposes a novel design method for modern automotive electrical and electronic (E/E) architecture component platforms. The addressed challenge is to derive an optimized component platform termed Baukasten where components, i. e., different manifestations of Electronic Control Units (ECUs), are reused across different car configurations, models, or even OEM companies. The proposed approach derives an efficient graph-based exploration model from defined functional variants. From this, a novel symbolic formulation of multi-variant resource allocation, task binding, and message routing serves as input for a state-of-the-art hybrid optimization technique to derive the individual architecture for each functional variant and the resulting Baukasten at once. For the first time, this enables a concurrent analysis and optimization of individual variants and the Baukasten. Given each manifestation of a component in the Baukasten induces production, storage, and maintenance overhead, we particularly investigate the trade-off between the number of different hardware variants and other established design objectives like monetary cost. We apply the proposed technique to a real-world automotive use case, i. e., a subsystem within the safety domain, to illustrate the advantages of the multi-variant-based design space exploration approach.


Industry 4.0 stands for 'fourth industrial revolution' and is a term referring to rapid transformations in the design, production, implementation, operation, and service of manufacturing systems, products, and components. To get the most out of Industry 4.0 technologies, organizations will have to heavily invest in building capabilities in the following dimensions: data and connectivity, analytics and intelligence, conversion to the physical world, and human-machine interaction. In this study, the human dimension of industry 4.0 has priority, by analyzing behavioral leadership theories that focus on the study of the specific behaviors of a leader (the leader behavior is the predictor of his leadership influences and is the best determinant of his leadership success). A two dimensional 4.0 leadership style matrix was developed (x-axis: innovation/technology concern; y-axis: people concern). The results of this study revealed that the developed industry 4.0 leadership style might have the dimensions of first-year students, social, technological or digital, where the 4.0 digital leader forms the highest reachable level in the 4.0 leadership matrix.


Abstract
 Paradrymonia Hanst. (Gesneriaceae) with 40 currently recognized species is a genus of facultative epiphytic herbs that inhabits the forest understory. The genus occurs throughout the Neotropics except for southeastern Brazil and the Caribbean. Monophyly of neotropical Paradrymonia and species relationships within the genus and closely related genera were evaluated based on molecular sequence data from the nuclear ribosomal (nrDNA) internal and external transcribed spacer regions (ITS and ETS), and the plastid (cpDNA) psbA-trnH intergenic spacer. Traditional Paradrymonia is resolved as polyphyletic and includes taxa in three clades. The clade that contains the type species is recognized as Paradrymonia sensu stricto (s. s.) and includes three species. The Paradrymonia s. s. clade is sister to a clade that includes species of Nautilocalyx, Chrysothemis, and most of the species traditionally recognized as Paradrymonia. Morphological characters useful for circumscribing generic boundaries include bearded anthers, rosette habit, presence of leaf anisophylly, and lanceolate calyx lobe shape. Our results support the re-circumscription of Paradrymonia and the resurrection of two previously recognized genera, Centrosolenia and Trichodrymonia, in order to accommodate the remaining ex-Paradrymonia species. Forty-three new combinations (11 in Centrosolenia, four in Chrysothemis, and 28 in Trichodrymonia) are made. The genus Nautilocalyx is moderately supported as lacking monophyly, but broader taxon sampling is necessary before new generic circumscriptions are provided.


In this paper, we discuss and investigate a new method to estimate local emission probabilities in the framework of hidden Markov models (HMM). Each feature vector is considered to be a sequence and is supposed to be modeled by yet another HMM. Therefore, we call this approach `HMM2'. There is a variety of possible topologies of such HMM2 systems, e.g. incorporating trellis or ergodic HMM structures. Preliminary HMM2 speech recognition experiments on cepstral and spectral features yielded worse results than state-of-the-art systems. However, we believe that HMM2 systems have a lot of potential advantages and are therefore worth investigating further.


The post-modern society is so focussed on the internal life of the individual that it makes the significance of the cross a difficult concept to grasp. Even Christians are trying to find alternative ways of explaining it - some have abandoned the concept of atonement entirely.

Jesus, though, is far more than a victim. When God receives and approves the condemned Jesus he transcends the world of oppressor and victim to create a new humanity, capable of new kinds of relationships. Atonement speaks of a transition from brokenness, alienation and the death of love to a place of restoration, healing, and wholeness. A place that holds out hope for deepening friendships and mutual confidence - the exact same things the post-modern mind is lacking, and is looking for.


Mobile robot platforms equipped with olfaction systems have been used in many gas sensing applications. However, in-field validation of mobile robot olfaction systems is time consuming, expensive, cumbersome and lacks repeatability. In order to address these issues, simulation tools are used. However, the available mobile robot olfaction simulations lack models for remote gas sensors, and the possibility to import geometrical representations of actual real-world environments in a convenient way. In this paper, we describe extensions to an open-source CFD-based filament gas dispersal simulator. These improvements arrow to use robot-created occupancy maps and offer remote sensing capabilities in the simulation loop. We demonstrate the novel features in an example application: we created a 3D map a complex indoor environment, and performed a gas emission monitoring task with a Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy based remote gas sensor in a simulated version of the environment.


The impact of financial development (FD) on economic growth in the context of Malaysia and Indonesia has been examined in this study regarding the role of the financial crisis and strategic changes in the institutional setup. Autoregressive distributed lags and threshold regression were applied, and time series data were analyzed for the period between 1984 and 2017 revealing that FD promoted the economic growth in both economies during this period. A nonlinear analysis also revealed that FD and economic growth follow an inverted U‐shape relation in the case of Malaysia whereas, in Indonesia, it followed a U‐shape relation. It was discovered that not all measures of FD promote economic growth. For instance, market capitalization was profound in the Malaysian economy while credit to the private sector and money supply was conducive for the Indonesian economy. The analysis demonstrated that the Asian and global financial crisis adversely affected economic growth in the case of Indonesia due to poor institutional quality (IQ), whereas in Malaysia it was relatively safe from the adversity brought about by the financial crisis due to the presence of IQ and good corporate governance. However, a positive change in IQ was found to have a much greater impact on augmenting economic growth rather than playing a mediating role in connection with FD and economic growth in Malaysia. In the context of Indonesia however, IQ was found to impede economic growth but played a positive and significant mediating role in the nexus of FD and economic growth. The spill‐over analysis revealed that Malaysian FD is positively associated with Indonesian economic growth while Indonesian FD is negatively associated with the Malaysian economy. This study provided all economic and anecdotal explanations in supporting the results of this study.


Title of Dissertation: SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS' MENTAL MODELS OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION CONCEPTS: A FRAMEWORK THEORY PERSPECTIVE Marina Bonello, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Directed By: Professor Catherine Ennis Department of Kinesiology School of Public Health Framework Theory of Conceptual Change (FTCC) is the prevailing theoretical approach guiding current thought and research into the contextualized development of students' mental models. In FTTC Vosniadou (1994) theorized the role academic beliefs and social and contextual variables play in model development. Physical education scholars have not yet applied FTCC to an examination of students' fitness conceptions and little is known about the role academic beliefs play in knowledge development. The purpose of this dissertation was to apply FTCC to an examination of students' mental models of fitness concepts. I conducted a descriptive study using an ethnographic research design to examine the contextualized development of students' mental models. Participants included one class of sixth-grade students and their teachers at two middle schools. Student data (n=18) were collected using written questionnaires and interviews. Additionally, I collected contextual data through document collection, physical education (n=2) and science teacher (n=1) interviews, and field observations of the physical education lessons conducted at the respective schools. In the first analysis, I identified five generic mental models based upon diverse configurations in students' naive theories to explain exercise induced physical changes. Findings suggested students' diverse explanations reflected the inherent complexity of the concept. The emerging coherence of students' perspectives towards scientific views is gradual. Developing sophisticated conceptions entails developmental, applicational, and integrated processes that evolve into complex relational conceptions. In the second analysis, I identified three mental models students used to explain the concept of intensity and it's relation to other elements in the FITT principle. In contrast to previous research, all 18 students within this study were familiar with the concept of intensity and the FITT principle. Students' explanations were diverse and reflected variations in their conceptual transitions from a holistic elementary school level conception of FITT and intensity. The diverse models reflected students' purposeful and creative attempts to seek coherence and make interdisciplinary and multi-sensory connections. A myriad of variables appeared to interact to facilitate and sometimes limit students' mental models, including school support, language and tool support, and teachers' values and beliefs about teaching, fitness, and student learning. SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS' MENTAL MODELS OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION CONCEPTS: A FRAMEWORK THEORY PERSPECTIVE


The book Lalomanu (2010), by Jorge Salavert, is a collection of poetry written in response to the death of the author's six-year-old daughter Clea, one of the victims of the tsunami which swept ashore in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga in September 2009. Lalomanu is a deeply moving account of grief and mourning, a book that its author knows will be too painful for some to read. As Salavert points out in his poems, most people he knows seem afraid of his grief; they are unable to respond to, or acknowledge, its intensity. And yet, in its expressions of grief and mourning, Salavert's poetry also has the potential to move readers in ways that extend far beyond the personal. From one perspective, this selection of poetry can be read as part of a substantial discourse of literary response to calamity and natural disaster, especially following the tsunamis of 2004 that swept the Indian Ocean, and the more recent tsunami that struck Japan following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. From another viewpoint, the poems are significant as migrant literature for what they have to say about language and mourning. The majority of the collection appears in English, but a number of the poems appear in bilingual form, either Spanish and English, or Catalan and English, and this multilingual format is especially important in relation to this poet's mourning. Also, I want to draw attention to the social actions and outcomes related to both the Salavert/Wykes family's loss of their daughter Clea and the book Lalomanu. This essay, then, will be organised in three sections: the first will consider literature and mourning; the second, mourning and language; the third, the social engagement resulting from a literature of mourning.


Dermatologists have the good fortune to work on the most accessible organ of the body. Many inflammatory and neoplastic conditions can be effectively managed using the wide range of locally applied physical or pharmacological modalities that are available. The latter are the subject of this chapter, which reviews the pharmacological treatments used topically, i.e. by application to the surface of the skin. Some of these are time-honoured treatments that have been used for a century or more, whilst others belong to the ever-expanding range of newer and increasingly potent agents constantly being developed and formulated for topical use. Topical treatment offers the potential to achieve high concentrations of a drug in the skin with minimal exposure of other organs. This can greatly increase efficacy and also safety relative to systemic administration. When side effects do occur, they are most likely to take the form of localized reactions.

Keywords:

topical;
therapy


The thesis represents an attempt to bring together theoretical
and empirical work on (grotesque/excremental) humour. The first two
sections are consequently concerned with the history and theorisation
of the grotesque/excremental and with the prevalent ways of
analysing the comedic. It was decided that a 'history' of Monty
Python would constitute too long a digression, and so only a brief
account of Terry Gilliam's links with the grotesque is included.
Two further section then deal with some of the research on the
comedic which has been done and with audience research methodologies.
It is worth noting a shift which took place in the course of
work on this thesis, from a concern with highly individuated
responses (reflecting the centrality of psychoanalytic explications
of the comedic) to an eventual decision to concentrate on a 'readerresponse'
approach. The rationale for this shift is discussed in
Section 5, and briefly in Section 6.
The empirical heart of the research is, then, an analysis of a
transcript of six hours of taped interviews/discussions about
responses to Monty Python's Meaning of Life. These are supplemented
by the results of Humour Appreciation Tests and Mood Adjective Check
Lists administered under standard conditions to the respondents
watching the film.
While there can be no question of 'proof', particularly in a
field in which psychoanalytic mechanisms are arguably crucial,
results of the empirical study indicate that the humour of Meaning
of Life functions to reduce anxiety, and that the mechanism by which
this occurs conforms to a Freudian repression model. Over and above
this, however, - the work of David Morley and Janice Radway is worth
evoking here - the detailed account of audience response also furnishes
data for further enquiry about how and why 'real' respondents
do or do not find grotesque and excremental humour 'funny'.


We experimentally demonstrate that the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of a second harmonic (SH) beam, generated within twisted nonlinear photonic crystals, depends both on the OAM of the input pump beam and on the quasi-angular momentum of the crystal. In addition, when the pump's radial index is zero, the radial index of the SH beam is equal to that of the nonlinear crystal. Furthermore, by mixing two noncollinear pump beams in this crystal, we generate, in addition to the SH beams, a new "virtual beam" having multiple values of OAM that are determined by the nonlinear process.


Background: Despite being used satisfactorily by millions of people worldwide for a range of conditions, and the homeopathy community's efforts to integrate homeopathy into NHS services, homeopathy provision has been declining.
Aim: A pragmatic investigation of the integration of homeopathy in the UK NHS.
Method: A nationwide postal survey among 144 members of the Faculty of Homeopathy mapped demographic data and integration of homeopathy services in the NHS, building on a Canadian integration model proposed by Boon in 2004. To enable a comprehensive understanding, 10 semi-structured interviews explored homeopaths' strategies to integrate homeopathy successfully into NHS services.
Results: A sample of 72 respondents revealed that 27 were actively offering homeopathy treatment in their NHS service. According to the continuum proposed by Boon, UK services integrating homeopathy treatment are characterised as collaborative and multidisciplinary. Seven profiles of homeopathic providers in the NHS could be distinguished. In the interviews, several suggestions were put forward to restore the badly damaged image of homeopathy. The interviewees disagreed about whether integration was the preferred strategy to reach this goal, or even whether integration was desirable at all, but the accreditation of homeopathy within the healthcare system was deemed vital for the survival of homeopathy, even for the success of private practices. A lack of resources and the dwindling numbers of newly trained homeopathy practitioners were mentioned as a matter of concern. A major frustration was the negation of existing evidence for homeopathy, leaving homeopaths questioning what kind of evidence – from fundamental research or from outcome studies – would be the best way forward.
Conclusion: Despite positive results regarding the integration of homeopathic services in the NHS, the information disclosed in the interviews revealed a concern about the survival of homeopathy.


Sports biomechanics describes human movement from a performance enhancement and an injury reduction perspective. In this respect, the purpose of sports scientists is to support coaches and physicians with reliable information about athletes' technique. The lack of methods allowing for in-field athlete evaluation as well as for accurate joint force estimates represents, to date, the main limitation to this purpose. The investigations illustrated in the present thesis aimed at providing a contribution towards the development of the above mentioned methods. Two complementary approaches were adopted: a Low Resolution Approach - related to performance assessment - where the use of wearable inertial measurement units is exploited during different phases of sprint running, and a High Resolution Approach - related to joint kinetics estimate for injury prevention - where subject-specific, non-rigid constraints for knee joint kinematic modelling used in multi-body optimization techniques are defined. Results obtained using the Low Resolution Approach indicated that, due to their portability and inexpensiveness, inertial measurement systems are a valid alternative to laboratory-based instrumentation for in-field performance evaluation of sprint running. Using acceleration and angular velocity data, the following quantities were estimated: trunk inclination and angular velocity, instantaneous horizontal velocity and displacement of a point approximating the centre of mass, and stride and support phase durations. As concerns the High Resolution Approach, results indicated that the length of the anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments decreased, while that of the deep bundle of the medial collateral ligament increased significantly during flexion. Variations of the posterior cruciate and the superficial bundle of the medial collateral ligament lengths were concealed by the experimental indeterminacy. A mathematical model was provided that allowed the estimate of subject-specific ligament lengths as a function of knee flexion and that can be integrated in a multi-body optimization procedure.


Cetacean brains are among the least studied mammalian brains because of the formidable histological preparations of such relatively rare and large specimens. Although the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, has been the most extensively studied cetacean species, there have been relatively few studies of the brain of the infant bottlenose dolphin. In this study, we present the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based study of the brain of an infant bottlenose dolphin. Magnetic resonance images in the coronal plane were originally acquired and used to digitally generate a set of resectioned virtual images in orthogonal planes. A sequential set of images in all three planes was anatomically labeled and reveals major neuroanatomical features. Some of the distinctive features of cetacean brains are already evident in the infant bottlenose dolphin brain, while other features may represent differences that deserve further study.


From an environmental perspective, it is interesting to assess new methods for efficient removal of drugs from wastewater. The purpose of this project was to assess the possibility of using the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor to degrade diclofenac in a lab scale bioreactor. Two methods for quantitative analysis of diclofenac were developed, using GC-MS and UHPLC-Q-TOF (C18-column). Both methods were partly validated, with regard to sensitivity, linearity, accuracy and precision, which highlighted the superiority of UHPLC-Q-TOF over GC-MS. Two HILIC columns were also assessed, but proved unsuitable for quantitative analysis of diclofenac under the used conditions. The fungal mycelia were immobilized on plastic carriers in a nutrient solution. In initial E-flask experiments, 10 mg/L diclofenac was added to an active culture and a heat-killed control of T. versicolor . Samples were analyzed, and the results from the active culture indicated a 98% removal of diclofenac after 48 hours. The lab scale bioreactor was used in a semi-continuous mode with the influent containing 10 mg/L diclofenac. Samples were collected from the effluent to monitor the concentration over 7 days. The results showed a decline in concentration to a stable level of approximately 2 mg/L. The initial experiments showed that most of the removal (85%) was due to sorption of diclofenac, but a clear difference was seen between the active and heat-killed culture. It was impossible to conclude from the bioreactor experiment if the observed removal was due to sorption or to a combination of sorption and enzymatic remediation.


By incorporating the free-swimming nematode Turbatrix aceti into early feeding regimes of the European whitefish Coregonus maraena, the suitability of this nematode species was investigated as an alternative to Artemia nauplii. During a 14-day feeding trial in a total of 25 aquaria each 1.7 L (each treatment n = 5, 255 larvae/tank) T. aceti was used either as the sole live food or in combination with Artemia nauplii or microdiet to determine the effect of T. aceti on growth performance and survival rate of C. maraena. By analysing the fatty acid composition of T. aceti prior to and after enrichment with INVE spresso® it was investigated whether the amount of n3-polyunsaturated fatty acids (n3-PUFA) in T. aceti could be further enhanced. Supplementation of Artemia nauplii with T. aceti increased growth significantly within the first 5 days of rearing in comparison to the non-supplemented food treatments (14.39 ± 0.15 mm compared to 13.44 ± 0.18 mm; mean ± SE). However, growth and survival of juvenile C. maraena on nematode-supplemented Artemia nauplii did not differ significantly from non-supplemented Artemia nauplii at the end of the 14-day rearing period (15.22 ± 0.15 mm compared to 14.86 ± 0.24 mm). All feeding treatments containing Artemia nauplii showed significantly higher growth and lower mortality at the end of the experiment in comparison to diets containing only the microdiet or T. aceti or a combination thereof. The overall low performance of T. aceti alone can most likely be explained by an insufficient capacity of C. maraena to digest this nematode species efficiently. Enrichment with INVE spresso® successfully increased the proportion of DHA in the T. aceti tissue. The results reveal that T. aceti cannot be considered a full alternative to Artemia nauplii, at least not in the rearing of C. maraena, but might be a useful vector of essential fatty acids within the early rearing period of this and potentially other fish species when provided as live food along with Artemia nauplii.


Solid imidazolium-based polyionic liquids (PILs; a class of polyelectrolyte) were synthesized for the absorption of n-butanol and other inhibitory biosynthesis products from dilute aqueous solutions. Conventional hydrogels prepared by cross-linking water-soluble PILs demonstrated biocompatibility with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, successfully eliminating cytotoxicity concerns associated with the IL monomers. However, the cross-linked PILs' solute absorption capacity and selectivity for butanol relative to water were below the levels likely needed for a viable extractive fermentation process. Uncross-linked PILs bearing long-chain aliphatic substituents also proved to be biocompatible by virtue of their insolubility in water, and delivered significantly improved absorptive performance. Among biocompatible absorbents, these PILs demonstrated some of the highest absorptions of n-butanol and other hydrophilic fermentation products reported to date, with n-butanol partition coefficient (PC) values up to 7.6 and butanol/water selectivity (αb/w) values up to 78. The influence of linear N-alkyl side chain length (C8 to C16) and counter anions (Cl−, Br−, I−, BF4−, co-SS−) on solute partition coefficient, selectivity and physical properties are detailed and discussed. In all, this work demonstrates that polymerization of cytotoxic ILs can successfully yield biocompatible absorbents with excellent absorptive performance for the recovery of hydrophilic bioproducts.


IMPORTANCE
We provide novel evidence of specific clinical and neuroimaging features that may help for the in vivo prediction of underlying pathology in patients with nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) or corticobasal degeneration (CBD) proved by autopsy.

OBJECTIVE
To characterize the neurological, cognitive, and neuroimaging features of patients with nfvPPA-in whom either PSP or CBD was eventually confirmed at autopsy-at initial presentation and at 1-year follow-up.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
A prospective longitudinal clinical-pathological study was conducted in a tertiary research clinic that specialized in cognitive disorders. Fourteen patients were evaluated between January 2002 and December 2014. Inclusion criteria for the study were a clinical diagnosis of nfvPPA; the availability of speech, language, and cognitive testing for at least 1 evaluation; magnetic resonance imaging within 6 months of initial evaluation; and a postmortem pathological diagnosis of PSP or CBD. Ten matched healthy control participants were also included.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Clinical, cognitive, and neuroimaging longitudinal data were analyzed to characterize the whole nfvPPA-4-repeat-tau group and identify differences between nfvPPA-PSP and nfvPPA-CBD both at presentation and longitudinally.

RESULTS
Patient groups did not differ significantly in age, sex, or handedness (nfvPPA-PSP group: median [interquartile range (IQR)] age, 74 [67-76] years; 1 of 5 male [20%]; 1 of 5 left-handed [20%]; and nfvPPA-CBD group: mean [IQR] age, 65 [54-81] years; 3 of 9 male [33%]; 0 left-handed). Motor speech impairment and left frontal white matter atrophy were the most prominent common features. At presentation, dysarthria (Motor Speech Examination median [IQR] score: nfvPPA-PSP, 4 [2-7]; nfvPPA-CBD, 0 [0-4]; P = .02), depression (Geriatric Depression Scale median [IQR] score: nfvPPA-PSP, 19 [3-28]; nfvPPA-CBD, 4 [0-16]; P = .04), and relatively selective white matter atrophy were typical of the nfvPPA-PSP group, while greater gray matter atrophy and a trend toward greater sentence comprehension deficits (median [IQR] sentence comprehension correct: nfvPPA-PSP, 98% [80-100]; nfvPPA-CBD, 81% [65-98]; P = .08) were found in the nfvPPA-CBD group. At follow-up after 1 year, we observed no significant differences in any speech or language measures. Furthermore, atrophy in patients with PSP progressed within the subcortical/brainstem motor system generating greater oculomotors deficits and swallowing difficulty; atrophy in patients with CBD spread anteriorly in prefrontal regions consistent with their greater working memory impairment and development of behavioral symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
In patients presenting with nfvPPA, presence of early severe dysarthria, relatively selective white matter atrophy at presentation, and a greater rate of change in the brainstem measured by longitudinal imaging may be useful for differentiating underlying PSP from CBD pathology during life.


Lattice networks are widely used in regular settings like grid computing, distributed control, satellite constellations, and sensor networks. Thus, limits on capacity, optimal routing policies, and performance with finite buffers are key issues and are addressed in this paper. In particular, we study the routing algorithms that achieve the maximum rate per node for infinite and finite buffers in the nodes and different communication models, namely uniform communications, central data gathering and border data gathering. In the case of nodes with infinite buffers, we determine the capacity of the network and we characterize the set of optimal routing algorithms that achieve capacity. In the case of nodes with finite buffers, we approximate the queue network problem and obtain the distribution on the queue size at the nodes. This distribution allows us to study the effect of routing on the queue distribution and derive the algorithms that achieve the maximum rate


Introduction: Good blood pressure (BP) control is one of the aims of hypertension disease management. Consistently achieving the targeted BP could reduce patient′s risk of developing the complication of hypertension. Materials and Methods: This study is a prospective cohort study aimed to investigate the blood pressure reading among in patients in a public tertiary hospital in northern Malaysia and to determine predictor of good BP control among patients. Patients were followed from their admission day until discharge. Data were collected by the researcher from the medical records. Information collected were BP reading on admission, day 1 and discharge. Other information includes demographic data, social factors, medication name and number, co-morbidities, target organ damage, cardiovascular risk factors. Descriptive analysis was done to determine the characteristic of patients and logistic regression was done to identify factors associated with BP control. Results: A total of 400 patients were followed up from admission till discharge. BP was controlled in 24% on admission and in 54% of patients on discharge. Multivariate analysis on admission revealed that the predictors of BP control were the use of diuretics and statin. Factors identified to be associated with poor BP control were diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular disease and retinopathy. Multivariate analysis on discharge showed that the predictors of good BP control were diuretics and beta-blockers and the predictors of poor BP control were diabetes, chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, cerebrovascular disease and number of comorbidity. Conclusion: These results demonstrated that hypertension was poorly controlled among in-patients and that BP control was better on discharge than on admission. Patients with diabetes mellitus, renal disease and cerebrovascular disease were more likely to have poor hypertension control.


Gaining Freedoms reveals a new locus for global political change: everyday urban contestation. Cities are often assumed hotbeds of socio-economic division, but this assessment overlooks the importance of urban space and the everyday activities of urban life for empowerment, emancipation, and democratization. Through proximity, neighborhoods, streets, and squares can create unconventional power contestations over lifestyle and consumption. And through struggle, negotiation, and cooperation, competing claims across groups can become platforms to defend freedom and rights from government encroachments. Drawing on more than seven years of fieldwork in three contested urban sites-a downtown neighborhood and a university campus in Istanbul, and a Turkish neighborhood in Berlin-Berna Turam shows how democratic contestation echoes through urban space. Countering common assumptions that Turkey is strongly polarized between Islamists and secularists, she illustrates how contested urban space encourages creative politics, the kind of politics that advance rights, expression, and representation shared between pious and secular groups. Exceptional moments of protest, like the recent Gezi protests which bookend this study, offer clear external signs of upheaval and disruption, but it is the everyday contestation and interaction that forge alliances and inspire change. Ultimately, Turam argues that the process of democratization is not the reduction of conflict, but rather the capacity to form new alliances out of conflict.


Edwin Franko Goldman was one of the most prolific cornet soloists and bandmasters of the Twentieth Century. He is primarily remembered for his contributions to band literature and the structure of the concert band as recognized today, along with the founding of the American Bandmasters Association; however, Goldman was also highly active as a composer of band music, method books, and cornet solos. During his lifetime Goldman composed thirty-five cornet solos with band accompaniment, one of which was Scherzo. Although his solos have fallen out of popularity, Goldman's method book Practical Studies for the Cornet is still used by advanced college trumpet majors and graduate students under the name of Practical Studies for the Trumpet. These studies address concepts of performance that include articulation, dotted rhythmic patterns, execution of distant intervals, syncopated rhythmic figures, and approaches to playing cadenzas. In fact, a successful performance of the Scherzo demonstrated the accomplishment and the musical interpretation of the techniques espoused in his method book. The primary purpose of this study was to transcribe a brass quintet with solo trumpet edition of the cornet solo Scherzo by Edwin Franko Goldman. A secondary purpose of this study was to present information about Goldman in order to provide historical context for which the solo was composed. A biographical sketch and discussion of the work are included in this document. Additional consideration was devoted to a discussion of how the concepts in Goldman's Practical Studies for the Trumpet can be applied in the interpretation and execution of the Scherzo. The transcribed edition of the solo was created by consulting two earlier editions of Scherzo. The original cornet solo remained intact, with accompaniment figures designated to the brass quintet members. The accompaniment follows the typical brass quintet structure of two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba; therefore, this transcription requires a guest soloist. The outcome of this project is to reintroduce Scherzo to trumpet literature in the Twenty-First Century.


This doctoral thesis investigates sensor control in robotic surgery. At the present state of the art, robotic technology for surgical applications can broadly be divided into four main classes:• Robotic assistance• Remote-/teleoperated manipulators• Autonomous and image-guided robotic surgery• Micro-/nanoroboticsThe thesis describes some of the most important surgical robotic systems commercially available and some of the systems that are developed at leading academic institutions and research centres. Some selected academic work related to force measurements for force feedback and force control in robotic surgery is also described.The use of sensor control in surgical robotic systems is rather limited today compared to applications in industrial robotics and underwater telemanipulators. Therefore intuitive user interfaces with autonomous and semi-autonomous features are lacking in surgical robotic systems.A more intuitive and transparent user-interface is required to succeed with telemanipulation and robotic technology in surgery. The intuitiveness in the control of the manipulator alters the brain capacity left for the surgical procedure. In this connection, the way to interact with the manipulator and the level of interaction both play a role. The level of interaction varies depending on how much of the control is given to the physical user-interaction and how much that is left to the robot itself.This thesis describes the development of two systems that will improve user comfort and by thus make robotic surgery more widely available for more surgeons:1. The development of a guided contour tracking system is presented. This system tracks an unknown contour or surface when physical contact is established. It is based on force measurements normal to the surface that the tool is in physical contact with. This system is proposed as a solution for remote-/telemanipulation of an ultrasound probe or any other tool to help maintaining physical contact with the patient's skin. It could also be used to hold a grinding tool at a prescribed angle relative to a surface or follow an anatomical guide like the border between soft tissue and bone. The system can operate autonomously along the contour or be controlled interactively through a steering console by changing the tracking speed, the tracking direction and orientation of the tracking tool.2. The development of a head tracking system for intuitive control of a stereo camera held by a robot is presented. This system will alter the viewing direction of the camera as a function of the surgeon's head movements. The head motion is measured through piezoelectric gyrosensors. In key-hole surgery systems at present the use of stereoscopic videocamera and head-mounted display (HMD) usually makes the surgeon motion sick or makes him/her move the head in awkward positions in order to keep the visual target in the centre of the video image. The system that has been developed will make the change of camera view more intuitive and less stressing. A user comparison test has been performed to compare the proposed HeadTracking system with a voice control system and a head control system, later referred to as the HeadCommand and VoiceCommand system respectively.The guided contour tracking system was implemented and tested on a MultiCraft 560 robot. The standard control system of MultiCraft 560 was extended with an active force control system which the contour tracking system was based on. The experiments showed that the system performed well and had a sufficient accuracy for the tested applications.The HeadTracking system was developed in four steps where different sensor signal interfaces to the robotic system were explored. The final prototype was implemented and tested on the robotic scopeholder Aesop3000DS. The performance of the system was sufficient and made the user feel like having the camera attached his/her nose when moving the head.


Public support for planning programs and initiatives are an important component of its success but opposition can be a powerful impediment. When siting unwanted land uses such as affordable housing, neighborhood opposition can be a particularly effective barrier. Understanding the factors that influence opposition is a necessary precursor to successful planning initiatives. This review discusses how attitudes toward affordable housing are likely shaped by factors that influence other social policy attitudes— particularly ideology and stereotyping. The author concludes with recommendations and methods that planners can use to manage public opposition and influence attitudes toward affordable housing.


This paper examines the relationship between executive cash compensation and company performance for a sample of large UK companies over the period 1994-2002. This relationship is examined against a background of a series of reports into corporate governance mechanisms in UK companies. We show that base pay compensation of UK executives has increased substantially over this period, and we provide evidence on the movement in the pay-performance sensitivity over time. We identify an asymmetric relationship between pay and performance: in years and for companies in which stock returns are relatively high, pay-performance elasticities are high, but we find that executive pay is less sensitive to performance in those cases when stock returns are low. This suggests that overall there is little relationship between pay and performance. We also explore the heterogeneity of the pay-performance relationship across firms, and find that board structure, firm size, industry and firm risk are all significant determinants of executive compensation.


The purpose of this article is to gain insights into the relationship between individual and society in contemporary Thailand and Java by investigating how this relationship is seen by the most creative Thai and Javanese authors of modern Thai and Indonesian serious fiction. These authors have been selected because competent local informants thought them to be the best writers of socially relevant novels and short stories. It is expected that the comparative dimension of this article may be conducive to gain a finer understanding of the relationship between individual and society in two culturally related societies than would be possible to achieve by the study of each of them in isolation. Moreover, such comparison may help to control the observer's bias by raising questions that are not necessarily related to the latter's cultural or academic background.


David Ross Brillinger was born on the 27th of October 1937, in Toronto, Canada. In 1955, he entered the University of Toronto, graduating with a B. A. with Honours in Pure Mathematics in 1959, while also serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve. He was one of the five winners of the Putnam mathematical competition in 1958. He then went on to obtain his M. A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics at Princeton University, in 1960 and 1961, the latter under the guidance of John W. Tukey. During the period 1962-1964 he held halftime appointments as a Lecturer in Mathematics at Princeton, and a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. In 1964, he was appointed Lecturer and, two years later, Reader in Statistics at the London School of Economics. After spending a sabbatical year at Berkeley in 1967-1968, he returned to become Professor of Statistics in 1970, and has been there ever since. During his 40 years (and counting) as a faculty member at Berkeley, he has supervised 40 doctoral theses. He has a record of academic and professional service and has received a number of honors and awards.


This paper analyses literature and studies of work place health promotion. It draws on human capital theory to develop the thesis that over and above its ambition of furthering employees' bio-medical health, work place health promotion seeks to make up employees that are able to self-manage their lifestyles and selves as human capital. As such, the paper suggests, work place health promotion emerges as an important source of authority and power in contemporary working life, which has largely been overlooked by the majority of studies of organisational health. While the ambition to further employees' health is basically positive, the paper suggests that WHP is still a potentially precarious activity because it tends towards subordinating not only work, but also life in general to principles of management and performance.


Abstract. Observations on 30 October 1978 show the ISEE-1 spacecraft passing though the high-altitude dayside northern magnetospheric cusp region from roughly 16:00 to 18:30 UT, during a slow solar wind period (~380 km/s). More than two orders of magnitude enhancements of the cusp energetic particle (CEP) fluxes were observed along with a depressed and turbulent local magnetic field. The observed variations of the pitch angle distributions (PAD) provide a unique opportunity to determine the structure of the cusp and the origin of the CEP. Through a boundary sounding technique, the location and orientation of the cusp poleward (or backside) boundary was observed for almost 10 min during which time it appeared initially to be stationary in the GSM/GSE X-direction and then moved sunward about 0.12 Earth radii ( R E ). The orientation remained approximately perpendicular to the GSM/GSE X-axis until it was observed to rotate by 60 degrees in ~3 min before ISEE-1 was fully inside the cusp cavity. The cavity itself was filled with CEP fluxes displaying large anisotropies, indicative of their source being located below (Earthward) of the satellite location. The spacecraft entered from the backside of the cusp, then traveled ~4 R E through the cavity, and exited through the "top" of the cavity leaving a region of energetic ions below. The PADs demonstrate that the bow shock cannot be the main source of the observed CEPs. The CEP fluxes were measured at about 8.5 h MLT when the IMF had both an 8–10 nT duskward and southward component.


Company directors should welcome and embrace the statutory business judgment rule, due to commence on 13 March 2000. It finally provides them with the certainty that they need to take their companies into the next millenium. The Corporate Law Economic Reform Program Bill 1998 was passed by Parliament on 20 October 1999. The position is now clear – the merits of bona fide business judgments made by directors, meeting the four requirements, will not be subject to judicial review. Directors will be taken to have met their duty of care and diligence.


The optimization of data in analytical chemistry is a problem encountered in many research laboratories. Several authors have worked out theoretical and experimental methods for enhancement and for measurement of signal/noise ratio (S/N). Recently, Wehrly et al. described an electronic circuit to increase the S/N by digitally averaging data. The purpose of the present paper is to explain how one can achieve the same result in a much simpler and less expensive way by using a low-pass filter. Discussions will be limited to the instruments whose data are obtained in the form of recorded spectra from dc signals.


In this thesis, I explore the benefit of electronic formative assessment on learner achievement. Studies had revealed the connection between throughput and assessment. There is great discrepancy between the throughput rate of Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDI) and Historically Advantaged Institutions (HAI), according to the National Plan for Higher Education. Previously, assessment was used primarily for summative and certification purposes. Now, with the introduction of Outcomes Based Education (OBE), a number of alternative forms of assessment can be used. In this study I establish the importance and necessity of frequent, electronic, formative assessments which would thereby improve learners' achievement in the classroom.

The white paper on e-education (DOE: 2003) states that e-education must be transformed so that information and communication technology (ICT) can be successfully integrated to "ensure that all learners will be equipped for full participation in the knowledge society". Recent research has reported significant increases in learner achievement through educational technology with the use of learning management systems (LMS) software (Stephens, 2001, Buchanan, 2000, DeKock, 1994). This study was built upon this body of research on educational technology and how it can be effectively integrated into classrooms. This research would impact on learner achievement through the use of formative assessment to assist under-prepared learners to improve their summative scores. In particular, the effect of formative electronic assessment on learner achievement in the subject Business Information Systems, for first year accounting learners, in the Business Faculty at Peninsula Technikon was investigated. This quantitative study utilized the use of questionnaires and the control group design. The control group design, which consisted of the control and experimental groups was used on a group of learners who had been exposed to the treatment. The treatment for the experimental group comprised of using a formative on-line learning assessment. Independent variables included the treatment condition, race, gender and home language. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used on assessment. Analysis firstly revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between achievement in the practical component between the experimental and the control group. The Kruskal-Wallis tests showed that there were no significant differences between genders. The control group performed better than the experimental group in the theory test. Secondly, analysis revealed statistically significant mean achievement differences between Coloured female with no prior computer usage (M= 78) and Black female with no computer usage (M=44). Based on these findings, implications of the results of this study, future avenues of research and implementation suggestions are offered


The rapid development of the technology of the web systems and GIS, in conjunction with the world economic crisis, formed the content for the promotion and development of free systems and open-source technologies. At the same time, the tendency toward the standardization of data, metadata and services, with the aim of creating common "Language" for the reading and the dissemination of information available, is a basic research area in the global scientific community in this field. The development of WebGIS systems, taking advantage of the free technology, also contributes to finding more economical solutions, where the use of such systems is more directly accessible. The aim of this research work is, through the analysis of technologies for the Internet, and also the architecture of the WebGIS systems, to investigate the possibilities and to develop the appropriate free technologies, so as to design and implement a spatial content management system for the web. Search with the use of the latter, is the best response to the needs and visualization application maps, with scope in rural areas. In addition, reference is made to the existing content management systems, which provide both processing spatial data, and easily create a WebGIS application.


Amorphous metallic alloys were developed at 1960. Since then, scientists have
not stopped researching in order to improve their properties and find new
applications. The innovation in techniques has let to the creation of functional
structural materials with unknown properties until now, that have certain
properties that could be of great utility for engineering applications.
The aim of this project is to produce three amorphous steel alloys, Fe71.2-x
C7.0Si3.3B5.5P8.7Cr2.3Al2.0Mox (x=0, 4.5 and 6.5 at%) by the melt-spinning
technique. This work presents a detailed description of the basic equipment to
produce these ribbons.
The Fe-based metallic glasses were then characterized by electronic
microscopy and X-ray diffraction that allow us to know the real composition of
the ribbons and if the atomic structure is or is not amorphous. Transmission
Mossbauer spectroscopy (TMS) allows us to study the local environments of the
Fe atoms in the glassy state, showing the changes in the amorphous structure
due to the addition of Mo. A reduction of the mean hyperfine field is observed as
the amount of Mo increases. Moreover the three alloys were studied with
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to find the glass transition temperature
and to decide the suitable temperature of the heat treatments to relax the
glasses. Finally, the relaxed samples were analized again with TMS in order to
see the stability of the alloys and the effect of the local structure changes.
The main conclusions reached during the project can be summarized as follows.
In the alloys with intermediate Mo content, the hyperfine field reduction is
associated to the substitution of Fe by Mo in a disordered magnetic Fe-rich
structure, whereas for the alloys with high Mo content, this structure is destroyed
leading to an increase of paramagnetic environments. The relationship between
the GFA of these alloys and their local structure determined by TMS is
discussed.


Critical scholarship classically lays bare the assumptions and choices that people make when they argue. By displaying the consequences of those assumptions and choices, it seeks to instil a sense of responsibility for them. Drawing them out into the open, critical scholarship presents them for contestation, unsettles them, and opens them up for change. In his latest book, A World of Struggle, David Kennedy directs our attention to the background work of expertise – how it rules through arguments, how it shapes the global political economy and how it sustains unjust distributions of gains. Kennedy offers a warm invitation to join the struggle to imagine and remake the world differently. In the present review, I discuss this invitation's specific appeal. More generally, I ask about the prospects of change in international law as well as the activities that might support such change. I argue, first, that carving out background assumptions and choices is not enough. What is needed is an account of transitions – something that Kennedy acknowledges but does not provide. Second, I approach the vexed question of who could effectively crack existing frames – a question that Kennedy ducks. And, third, I discuss the role of violence, rhetoric and reason in the argumentative practice of expert work – distinctions that Kennedy refutes. I am ultimately happy to accept Kennedy's invitation. It surely comes with immense acuity, subtle side blows and not so subtle punches – always in his signature style. I conclude that, with the aim of inducing change, a core activity of scholars should be to trace changes in concrete contexts and to thereby regain a sense for the possibilities of the past.


Meetings International recognizes the commitment and amazing work in all fields of academics and research. By recognizing their contribution; Meetings International inspires and motivates scholars, researchers and academics by awarding the Best YRF and Researcher Awards in all academic disciplines and categories along with other specific awards. These awards include a prestigious Certificate of Award with other gifts.


DENORMS Action's Training School "Experimental techniques for acoustic porous materials and metamaterials", Le Mans, 4-6th December 2017 Website of DENORMS Action Programme of the Training School Lecturer: Alejandro Cebrecos (Laboratoire d'Acoustique de l'Universite du Mans, UMR CNRS 6613) Abstract: Phononic crystals are artificial materials formed by a periodic arrangement of inclusions embedded into a host medium, where each of them can be defined as solid and fluid. If the inclusions are solid and the host medium is a fluid, i.e., air, water, the term sonic crystal is often employed. They have been the subject of intensive research in the last few decades thanks to the variety of phenomena found on them in the context of wave propagation, such as the existence of band gaps and temporal and spatial dispersion, which allows an efficient control of wave propagation in different manners. In this talk we will describe the fundamental properties of sonic crystals and will focus on their experimental characterisation, showing different examples of some of the most celebrated phenomena found in these structures, considering the transmission and reflection of waves in the audible and ultrasonic regime.


— This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation carried out to evaluate the effects of partial replacement of cement and fine aggregate with industrial waste byproducts on concrete strength properties. The Grey Taguchi approach has been used to optimize the mix proportions for desired properties. In this research work, a ternary combination of industrial waste byproducts has been used. The experiments have been designed using Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array with four factors having three levels each. The cement was partially replaced by ladle furnace slag (LFS), fly ash (FA) and copper slag (CS) at 10%, 25% and 40% level and fine aggregate (sand) was partially replaced with electric arc furnace slag (EAFS), iron slag (IS) and glass powder (GP) at 20%, 30% and 40% level. Three water to binder ratios, fixed at 0.40, 0.44 and 0.48, were used, and the curing age was fixed at 7, 28 and 90 days. Thus, a series of nine experiments was conducted on the specimens for water to binder ratios of 0.40, 0.44 and 0.48 at 7, 28 and 90 days of the water curing regime. It is evident from the investigations that Grey Taguchi approach for optimization helps in identifying the factors affecting the final outcomes, i.e. compressive strength and split tensile strength of concrete. For the materials and a range of parameters used in this research, the present study has established optimum mixes in terms of strength properties. The best possible levels of mix proportions were determined for maximization through compressive and splitting tensile strength. To verify the results, the optimal mix was produced and tested. The mixture results in higher compressive strength and split tensile strength than other mixes. The compressive strength and split tensile strength of optimal mixtures are also compared with the control concrete mixtures. The results show that compressive strength and split tensile strength of concrete made with partial replacement of cement and fine aggregate is more than control concrete at all ages and w/c ratios. Based on the overall observations, it can be recommended that industrial waste byproducts in ternary combinations can effectively be utilized as partial replacements of cement and fine aggregates in all concrete


This research is motivated by the changes of Goa Kreo as a Vacational Destination that located in Kandri Village Gunungpati Semarang. The changes it self including Vacational Branding about the contruction of Jatibarang Dam. The purpose of this study is to determine any possible factors which happened On vacational cluster of Goa Kreo itself, Society and also The People of Small-Mid Enterprises. The Brand movement was about Economic and socio cultural of the Society. The results of this study indicate that the Changes of Branding Campaign on Goa Kreo was also effected the Society especially for Small Middle Enterprises. Suggestions can be delivered is preferably about the vacational management that involved multi effort of the People.


Damage to actively transcribed DNA is preferentially repaired by the transcription-coupled repair (TCR) system. TCR requires RNA polymerase II (Pol II), but the mechanism by which repair enzymes preferentially recognize and repair DNA lesions on Pol II-transcribed genes is incompletely understood. Herein we demonstrate that a fraction of the large subunit of Pol II (Pol II LS) is ubiquitinated after exposing cells to UV-radiation or cisplatin but not several other DNA damaging agents. This novel covalent modification of Pol II LS occurs within 15 min of exposing cells to UV-radiation and persists for about 8-12 hr. Ubiquitinated Pol II LS is also phosphorylated on the C-terminal domain. UV-induced ubiquitination of Pol II LS is deficient in fibroblasts from individuals with two forms of Cockayne syndrome (CS-A and CS-B), a rare disorder in which TCR is disrupted. UV-induced ubiquitination of Pol II LS can be restored by introducing cDNA constructs encoding the CSA or CSB genes, respectively, into CS-A or CS-B fibroblasts. These results suggest that ubiquitination of Pol II LS plays a role in the recognition and/or repair of damage to actively transcribed genes. Alternatively, these findings may reflect a role played by the CSA and CSB gene products in transcription.


In Chapter 2, "Accounting for Cross-Country Differences in Intergenerational Earnings Persistence: The Impact of Taxation and Public Education Expenditure," I study the determinants of cross-country differences in intergenerational earnings persistence between fathers and sons. Western economies exhibit substantial differences in the degree of intergenerational earnings persistence between fathers and sons. Earnings persistence is relatively low in Northern Europe and relatively high in the US, Britain, and Southern Europe. In this chapter I first document that there is a strong negative cross-country correlation between intergenerational earnings persistence and tax progressivity, and intergenerational earnings persistence and public expenditure on tertiary education. I then develop an intergenerational life-cycle model of human capital accumulation and earnings, which features progressive taxation, public education expenditure, and borrowing constraints among the determinants of earnings persistence. I calibrate the model to US data and use it to quantify how earnings persistence in the US changes as I introduce policies from Denmark. Denmark is an interesting example because it is the country in my sample with the highest and most progressive taxes and the greatest expenditure on tertiary education, as well as the lowest earnings persistence. I find that the Danish policies would reduce earnings persistence in the US by reducing parental/individual incentives for investing in human capital, thereby creating a weaker relationship between the parent's financial resources and the child's earnings. Quantitatively, taxation is more important than education expenditure. Introducing a Danish tax policy in the US reduces the intergenerational elasticity of earnings from 0.47 to 0.35, or about 40% of the difference between the US and the Scandinavian countries, which have the lowest earnings persistence among the countries in my sample. I also find that borrowing constraints have a very limited impact on earnings persistence. In Chapter 3, "Marriage Stability, Taxation, and Aggregate Labor Supply in the US vs. Europe," which is joint work with Indraneel Chakraborty (SMU, Finance) and Serhiy Stepanchuk (UPenn, Economics), we study the determinants of cross-country differences in aggregate labor supply. Aggregate labor supply is higher in America than in Europe, and there is also substantial variation within Europe. Using micro data from the US and eight European countries, we document that the difference between the US and Europe is mainly driven by the labor supply of women. European women work less than American women, whether it is single women, married women, or women with and without children. Using a larger number of countries, we also document that there is a strong correlation between divorce rates and female employment rates across countries and across time. A recent literature, including Prescott (2004), and Rogerson (2005), argues that differences in labor supply between the US and Europe can largely be explained by differences in tax rates. We use tax data from the OECD to develop tax schedules for a sample of 17 countries. The empirical correlation between hours worked and different measures of tax levels and progressivity is negative, however, weak. Motivated by these observations, we develop a life-cycle model with heterogeneous agents, marriage, and divorce and use it to study the impact of two mechanisms: 1) differences in marriage stability and 2) differences in tax systems on labor supply. There are three types of households; single males, single females and married households. Divorces and marriages occur stochastically. The main channel through which individual divorce and singlehood rates impact labor supply is by reducing the implicit insurance of marriage, and thereby providing incentives for individuals to invest in experience. We calibrate our model to US data and study how labor supply in the US changes as we introduce European tax systems, and as we replace the US divorce and marriage rates with their European equivalents. We find that the divorce and tax mechanisms combined on average explains 28% of the difference between the US and 11 European countries. This finding is sensitive to the use of tax revenues. This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/402 Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Economics First Advisor Dirk Krueger Second Advisor Petra Todd Third Advisor Iourii Manovskii


Today's social awareness of environmental protection presents the electronic companies with an irreversible trend towards green manufacturing. It raises harsh requirement for the sourcing process and imposes unprecedented pressure to the QA system, majorly due to the risk of hazardous material. As QA procedures are becoming more complicated for coping with increasing material risk and meanwhile the time and resource available are tightly constrained, the development of an effective mechanism for material testing turns up to be a critical issue. In this study, a hierarchical material risk assessment approach is proposed based on FMEA framework. Taking into account the risk occurrence, the difficulty in detection and the severity the risk causes, it enables companies to estimate their material risks dynamically using Bayesian network. With its help, companies can assess and prioritize the material risk in a systematic and efficient manner which will drive QA towards a more high-performance process.


Abu Ma'ali al-Juwayni (d.478/1085) lived in a politically tumultuous period. The rise of powerful dynastic families forced the Abbasid Caliph into a position of titular power, and created instability. He also witnessed intellectual upheavals living amidst great theological and legal diversity. Collectively, these experiences led him to consider questions of religious certainty and social and political continuity. He noted that if political elites are constantly changing, paralleled with shifting intellectual allegiances, what ensures the continuity of religion? He concluded that continuity of society is contingent upon knowledge and practice of the Shari'a. Here, Sohaira Siddiqui explores how scholars grappled with questions of human reason and knowledge, and how their answers to these questions often led them to challenge dominant ideas of what the Shari'a is. By doing this, she highlights the interconnections between al-Juwayni's discussions on theology, law and politics, and the socio-political intellectual landscapes that forged them.


Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) has emerged as perhaps the only practical technique for revealing nanometer-level three-dimensional structural details of subcellular macromolecular complexes in their native context, inside the cell. As currently practiced, the specimen should be 0.1- 0.2 microns in thickness to achieve optimal resolution. Thus, application of cryo-ET to intact frozen (vitreous) tissues, such as skeletal muscle, requires that they be sectioned. Cryo-ultramicrotomy is notoriously difficult and artifact-prone when applied to frozen cells and tissue, but a new technique, focused ion beam milling (cryo-FIB), shows great promise for "thinning" frozen biological specimens. Here we describe our initial results in applying cryo-FIB and cryo-ET to triad junctions of skeletal muscle.


Much of the public discourse on welfare reform is subjective and value laden, a composite of socially constructed stories and myths that support the dominant ideology. This article reports on a study that examines the language used by government officials, poverty experts, advocates and others to discuss welfare reform. Statements made about welfare reform were extracted from the Washington Post and the New York Times and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Dissecting the public language of welfare provides insight into how prevailing ideologies are communicated and reinforced, and how they can be changed. ********** Social problems that involve a lack of something--such as health care, money, food, housing or child care--are inevitably framed by one basic question: is it the individual or the government's responsibility to provide it? Stated in this way, the answer is less empirical than ideological. Ideologies of "self-sufficiency" or "individualism" determine the response, with welfare serving more a symbolic than substantive purpose (Edelman, (1975), 1998; Schramm, 1995). This figurative use of welfare is communicated through language as we construct stories, myths, and "facts" to support this dominant ideology. Even scientific studies designed to measure and explain poverty often conform "to the prevailing biases of welfare policy discourse" (Schramm, 1995, p. 6) using language that supports those biases. In this way, when formulating policy, the "words of welfare" can become more significant than any "facts" about welfare (Schramm, 1995). While welfare rarely falls completely off the public's radar screen, sometimes the public discourse about welfare remains in the background, generating no action. Other times, as in 1996 when the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program was abolished and replaced with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF), the rumblings turn into shouts, and major policy changes are enacted. While policy changes are, of course, the result of a confluence of factors, it is words that signal and embody the changes, with language "not simply an instrument for describing events, but ... a part of events, strongly shaping their meaning and the political roles officials and mass publics see themselves as playing" (Edelman, (1975), 1998, p. 132). Thinking about welfare thus requires thinking about the words used to describe it. This article reports on a study of the "words of welfare" that preceded the enactment of TANF. It is based on a qualitative content analysis of statements made by elected officials, poverty experts, bureaucrats, advocates and others about welfare reform in the New York Times and the Washington Post between 1994 and 1996. Studying this public discussion provides insight into the prevailing ideology of welfare, and how that ideology is communicated and reinforced. It also leads the way to constructing different "words of welfare" that promote a different response to poverty (Schramm, 1995). Methodology There are many sources for finding the public "words of welfare". They include books, academic articles, the popular media, and the historical record made by legislators (i.e. legislative transcripts, speeches etc). This study chose the popular media because it is the most inclusive, providing a forum for disparate communities and individuals to exchange ideas and debate proposals. It functions as our town square, providing a daily chronicle of how social problems are defined within society and by whom. It is where politicians and others go to plead their case (Cook, 1998). Since this study sought to examine what was being said about welfare reform by the various and most influential participants in the debate, the popular media was the most fertile source for extracting this information. Thus, while this study is not an examination of the role of the media in public policy, it uses the media as one kind of a historical record of the public discourse. …


We show that Reinforcement Learning (RL) methods for solving Text-Based Games (TBGs) often fail to generalize on unseen games, especially in small data regimes. To address this issue, we propose Context Relevant Episodic State Truncation (CREST) for irrelevant token removal in observation text for improved generalization. Our method first trains a base model using Q-learning, which typically overfits the training games. The base model's action token distribution is used to perform observation pruning that removes irrelevant tokens. A second bootstrapped model is then retrained on the pruned observation text. Our bootstrapped agent shows improved generalization in solving unseen TextWorld games, using 10x-20x fewer training games compared to previous state-of-the-art methods despite requiring less number of training episodes.


This paper studies an infinite horizon repeated moral hazard problem where a single principal employs several agents. We assume that the principal cannot observe the agents' effort choices; however, agents can observe each other and can be contractually required to make observation reports to the principal. Observation reports, if truthful, can serve as a monitoring instrument to discipline the agents. However, reports are cheap talk so that it is also possible for agents to collude, i.e. where they shirk, earn rents, and report otherwise to the principal. The main result of the paper constructs a class of collusion-proof contracts with two properties. First, equilibrium payoffs to both the principal and the agents approach their first-best benchmarks as the discount factor tends to unity. These payoff bounds apply to all subgame perfect equilibria in the game induced by the contract. Second, while equilibria themselves depend on the discount factor, the contract which induces these equilibria is independent of the discount factor.


Abstract. This study examined fluxes across the ice-water interface utilizing the eddy correlation technique. Temperature eddy correlation systems were used to determine rates of ice melting and freezing, and O2 eddy correlation systems were used to examine O2 exchange rates driven by biological and physical processes. The study was conducted below 0.7 m thick sea-ice in mid-March 2010 in a southwest Greenland fjord and revealed low rates of ice melt at a maximum of 0.80 mm d−1. The O2 flux associated with release of O2 depleted melt water was less than 13 % of the average daily O2 respiration rate. Ice melt and insufficient vertical turbulent mixing due to low current velocities caused periodic stratification immediately below the ice. This prevented the determination of fluxes 61 % of the deployment time. These time intervals were identified by examining the velocity and the linearity and stability of the cumulative flux. The examination of unstratified conditions through vertical velocity and O2 spectra and their cospectra revealed characteristic fingerprints of well-developed turbulence. From the measured O2 fluxes a photosynthesis/irradiance curve was established by least-squares fitting. This relation showed that light limitation of net photosynthesis began at 4.2 μmol photons m−2 s−1, and that algal communities were well-adapted to low-light conditions as they were light saturated for 75 % of the day during this early spring period. However, the sea-ice associated microbial and algal community was net heterotrophic with a daily gross primary production of 0.69 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 and a respiration rate of −2.13 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 leading to a net ecosystem metabolism of −1.45 mmol O2 m−2 d−1. This application of the eddy correlation technique produced high temporal resolution O2 fluxes and ice melt rates that were measured without disturbing the in situ environmental conditions while integrating over an area of approximately 50 m2 which incorporated the highly variable activity and spatial distributions of sea-ice communities.