Feel my way … outline judgements … I made some pictures is a first person chronological account of an ongoing (three years and counting) group of serial drawings. Incorporating illustrations I trace some of the development of seriality as a drawing method that facilitates and identifies research questions; however my tale is also a paradox in that it is concerned with research methods that are not then positioned to answer formal research questions. Theory, drawing practice and drawing fictions are intertwined. I encounter the early pioneering work of Rhoda Kellogg and her notion of Aggregates in children's drawing and I acknowledge The Fictional Museum of Drawing as a repository, rationale and conceptual space for my textual (drawing fictions) and drawn works.


Similarly to those of other commodities, pulp prices are highly volatile. In such a capital intensive industry, with high operational risk, proper assessment of future possible scenarios for pulp prices is fundamental for investors' financial and strategic planning. Building excessive capacity can be dramatically harmful for the entire industry. This paper describes a case study where a system dynamics model and flight simulator were used to generate expected scenarios for pulp prices as a tool to support investment decisions. More specifically, a Monte Carlo simulation running on top of the SD model provides a range of expected values for prices in different time horizons with pre-defined confidence levels. Even though the model and specific results cannot be fully disclosed, the paper describes a methodology and techniques which can be applied in several similar problems involving risk analysis and system dynamics applications.


The purpose of this research is to recognize the difference of students' learning motivation in taking mathematics lesson before and after the application of Emotive Rational Counseling. This research includes quantitative research. Sample of the research was 30 students. It was selected by purposive sampling technique. Data was collected by questionnaire. It was then analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis and t-test. The result of this research obtained an experimental subject before taking Emotive Rational counseling of which average value was equal to 61,03. It indicates that the level of student's motivation to participate in math lesson is in low category. After the treatment of Emotive Rational counseling, it obtained an average result of 82.86. It denotes that the students' motivation level is in high category. From the t-test it obtained the value of tcount of 14.620, while the ttable value at the level of significance is 5 percent with dk = 29 of 2.045. It states that the research hypothesis was accepted.


Traditionally the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) is used to approximate solution of linear homogeneous equations. For nonhomogeneous problems, one needs to couple other numerical schemes, such as domain integration, polynomial or radial basis functions interpolation, to evaluate particular solutions. In this paper we propose to unify the MFS as a numerical method for directly approximating homogeneous solution and particular solution in a similar manner. The major advantage of such approach is that the particular solution can be easily obtained and evaluated. The numerical results show that such approach can be highly accurate.


Like many primary products, coffee has long been characterised as a commodity with falling terms of trade and volatile prices. Yet, in recent years, there has been growing product differentiation in final markets, with premium prices being earned and high and sustainable incomes being provided. So far, these product rents have been almost entirely appropriated by residents of high-income economies. However, to the extent that growers can learn to improve their product through the systematic application of knowledge throughout the value chain, and consumers are taught to recognise that product variety and quality are determined in the growing rather than the roasting stage of the chain, an alternative outcome is possible. This paper outlines the necessary knowledge flows and concludes with an assessment of who needs to do what if this more favourable outcome for growers is to be realised.


Coastal engineering is a specialized discipline of civil engineering that encompasses a wide variety of activities related to harbors, navigation, shore erosion and storm protection. Because of the complex and dynamic nature of the coastal environment, coastal engineers must rely not only on technology, but also on experience and judgment. Also, coastal projects are expensive, and often are designed for higher levels of risk than other civil engineering works. Several examples of recent coastal engineering projects are described to illustrate only a few of the many successful contributions that coastal engineers have made to the general practice of civil engineering.


Hydrothermal alteration in volcanic arcs occurs in many settings and may involve magmatic, marine, lacustrine or groundwaters, driven by magmatic, tectonic or thermal events. King George Island, part of the South Shetland Island Cenozoic volcanic arc, contains an 80 km long zone of propylitized volcanic rocks, with numerous occurrences of quartz veining, silicic, sericitic, argillic and advanced-argillic alteration. On Barton Peninsula, a basaltic lava sequence (49–44 Ma) intruded by a small, high-level granodiorite pluton (∼42 Ma), contains these alteration types, previously interpreted as a single porphyry-copper system. In this study, we report three, possibly four, distinct fossil hydrothermal episodes. (1) Banded chalcedonic quartz, quartz-sericite and propylitic alteration occurs along ESE faults and as reworked clasts in nearby tuffs. Drusy quartz + calcite veins with silicic/sericitic, argillic and propylitic wallrocks may represent feeders to the near-surface silicification. These characteristics, and anomalous Ag + Pb + Sb + Au plus Te + Se + Zn + As, suggest a neutral-pH geothermal system that was active during volcanism. (2) The lavas and banded-quartz rocks were brecciated, veined and replaced by alunite+native sulphur+pyrite, and pyrophyllite + quartz + pyrite + zunyite + diaspore assemblages with anomalous Hg + Se + As + Bi + Au + Tl + Sb + Cu. Such advanced-argillic alteration is diagnostic of degassing of a felsic magma into shallow (<500 m) meteoric groundwaters. Rhyolite tuffs, previously not reported on King George Island, may represent leakage of this magma to the surface. (3) Subsequent burial to ∼3 km was followed by emplacement of a granodiorite pluton and formation of a silicic contact-metasomatic aureole containing muscovite, biotite, actinolite, magnetite, K-feldspar and tourmaline. Disseminated andalusite + corundum also formed in areas previously affected by the advanced-argillic alteration. Iron/copper-sulphide veinlets are locally abundant, but a porphyry-style geochemical signature is not present. Early Cretaceous Ar–Ar ages near the intrusive contact indicate flow of an excess Ar-bearing hydrothermal plume up the contact. Finally, isolated areas of propylitic alteration in the lavas nearby may be related either to quartz veins of episode 1 at depth or to (4) continued circulation of heated groundwaters around the cooling pluton.


BACKGROUND
The incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is on the increase in developing countries.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Formalin fixed paraffin embedded blocks of OSCCs from a Black South African population sample of peri-urban and rural origin were selected as follows: Group 1 - 57 OSCCs with a mean age of 59 years; Group 2 - 43 OSCCs all cases younger than 40 years; Group 3 - 46 OSCCs with blocks containing only tumour tissue without any normal epithelium and Group 4, a control group of 38 non-neoplastic epithelial lesions. Type specific primers were used in a standard PCR to amplify a segment of the E6 region of HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18.

RESULTS
HPV 11 and 16 DNA were found in one sample each from groups 1 and 2 respectively.

CONCLUSION
HPV is not an etiologic factor in the development of OSCC in the population studied.


ABSTRACT Energy security has evolved to become strategically important for countries, such that the domestic availability of energy resources, coupled with the national energy demand, as well as import and export dependencies on energy resources, have important implications for a country's economic growth, human development and strategic autonomy. This is especially important for India, which is heavily dependent on imports to meet its domestic energy demand. In India, the fragmentary nature of the institutional apparatus of the energy sector serves to become one of the major limitations on the process of energy policy-making. It leads to competitive and clashing interests, overlapping areas of responsibility and ambiguous lines of command leading to unintended costs, delays and overall incoherence. This article studies the dynamics of energy policy-making in India by exploring the processes of decision-making in the energy sector. It examines the structural challenges linked to systemic conditions and institutional capacities, as well as the functional challenges linked to legislations, policies, politics and personalities in the area of policy-making in the energy sector by studying the roles of various institutions relevant to policy-making, as well as the processes of decision-making specific to given institutions in the energy sector.


In the 1980s, a series of critical experiments referred to as the Haut Taux de Combustion (HTC) experiments was conducted by the Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN) at the experimental criticality facility in Valduc, France. The plutonium-to- uranium ratio and the isotopic compositions of both the uranium and plutonium used in the simulated fuel rods were designed to be similar to what would be found in a typical pressurized-water reactor fuel assembly that initially had an enrichment of 4.5 wt% {sup 235}U and was burned to 37,500 MWd/MTU. The fuel material also includes {sup 241}Am, which is present due to the decay of {sup 241}Pu. The HTC experiments include configurations designed to simulate fuel handling activities, pool storage, and transport in casks constructed of thick lead or steel. Rights of use for the HTC experiment data were purchased under an agreement that limits release of the information. Consequently, a detailed and complete description of the experiments is not presented in this report. This report discusses evaluation of the four HTC data reports, modeling of the experiments, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, and upper subcritical limit (USL) calculation. The report also presents some conclusions and recommendations concerning use ofmore » the HTC experiment data for burnup credit applications. The similarity of the HTC experiments with PWR spent nuclear fuel has been quantified using sensitivity/uncertainty analysis, confirming that the HTC experiments are significantly more applicable to the validation of burnup credit calculations than other available mixed-oxide (MOX) experiments. The HTC experiments were designed and executed with a high level of rigor, resulting in experimental uncertainties that are lower than many of the earlier MOX experiments. The HTC data reports, together with information provided in this report, provide sufficient data to allow for either detailed or simplified computational models to be developed. The HTC experiments substantially strengthen the technical basis for validation by adding to the previously small number of applicable experiments against which to compare burnup credit applications. Existing MOX experiments found to be applicable are also identified in this report.« less


The key focus in ethics should be on victims. Victims are those that suffer from unnecessary and preventable pain and misery. Non-human animals can also suffer and should therefore be included in the moral circle. Ethical living is striving to avoid harm to others and striving to help alleviate or prevent suffering. Being good isn't easy.


People, especially the vulnerable, have to be kept at centre stage in all development planning. It is thus important to understand, in practical terms, what is meant by a 'person-centred' approach in socio-economic, health care and development planning in South Africa. People-centred development planning (PCDP) is a fundamentally different way of thinking about, seeing and working with people, and especially vulnerable groups. It is a move from 'power over' relationships to a 'power with' relationship.


Many widespread diseases, such as diabetes, various types of cancer, and aggressive versions of influenza, are treated or prevented with biopharmaceuticals. Biopharmaceuticals are drugs that are based on proteins, peptides, antibodies, attenuated viruses (vaccines), and other biomolecules that are synthesized predominately in bacteria, yeast, and mammalian cells. The first biopharmaceutical was introduced to the market in the early 1980s, and in the past several years, approximately 10 new compounds have reached the market annually. If this trend continues, rapid development of production processes for these new biopharmaceuticals will be required.One important method by which biomolecules are purified is preparative chromatography. Although it is a well-established approach, the phenomena on which it is based are still incompletely understood. Knowledge about the effects of the process setup and operating conditions is crucial to design new chromatographic processes efficiently and streamline existing processes.In the work presented in this thesis, the influence of the adsorbent and process conditions on the chromatographic separation of three insulin variants was examined. Two adsorbents each for reversed-phase chromatography (RPC) and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) were tested, and the effects of temperature and the concentrations of the two modulators, KCl and ethanol, were examined.The retention of the insulin variants on the RPC adsorbents decreased as the temperature and concentrations of the modulators rose. On the HIC adsorbents, the retention declined with higher ethanol concentrations and increased with higher KCl concentrations. Consequently, KCl caused salting-in at the high ethanol concentrations that were required for elution from the RPC adsorbents and induced salting-out at the low ethanol concentrations that were needed to achieve retention on the HIC adsorbents. These data are consistent with predictions by other groups. Due to the severe self-association of insulin molecules in the HIC experiments, these two process setups were not examined further.In a comparison between the solubility data for insulin and its chromatographic retention, the influence of ethanol on the latter was significantly stronger and thus was attributed not only to its effect on the mobile phase — the most likely explanation is that ethanol molecules adsorbed onto the ligands and were displaced by adsorbing insulin molecules. A semi-empirical RPC model that was based on thermodynamic theories was derived from the adsorption equilibrium. This model assumed adsorption of ethanol and included the activity coefficients of all involved species.The effect of temperature on the equilibrium constant can be satisfactorily described by a linear variation of the change in Gibbs free energy on adsorption — i.e., assuming that the changes in enthalpy and entropy are temperature-independent. Because the estimated values of the enthalpy and entropy are negative, the adsorption must be enthalpy-driven. Apart from the effect of temperature on the equilibrium constant, the activity coefficients of the ethanol and insulin variants varied significantly with temperature. These effects should be separated if the temperature and modulator concentrations are varied and if several combinations of adsorbates, adsorbents, and modulators are compared.A satisfactory model fit was achieved for variations in the concentrations of KCl and ethanol with regard to calculation of the linear-range retention and the dynamic simulations at high load. The effect of changes in temperature is less well described, albeit sufficiently, by the model. Considering that the values of the model parameters that are related to the influence of the modulators were not adjusted to the data from the temperature study, the fit is impressive.The applicability of the final model was demonstrated in a model-based multi-objective optimization study. Pareto fronts, showing the optimal combinations of yield and productivity, were generated for both RPC adsorbents. Due to the higher selectivity between the insulin variants on the C18 versus C4 adsorbent, the former effected greater productivities at a higher yield. The effect of a constraint on the Pareto fronts, with regard to the solubility of the insulin variants, was examined by comparing Pareto fronts that were based on constrained versus unconstrained optimizations. The Pareto fronts diverged when the constraint became active, and the productivity was nearly constant, with decreasing yield for the constrained optimizations, whereas that for the unconstrained optimizations continued to rise steadily.Due to the halt in increased productivity, an alternative to performing constrained optimizations could be to select the operating point from an unconstrained optimization that lies just below the solubility limit, which yielded approximately the same result in this case study.


The Passivhaus standard (PS) provides the foundations for improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases in the housing sector. In the current Spanish context, several energy certification alternatives are beginning to be used for compliance purposes (PS is not among them). The main objective of this study is to analyze the viability of using the PS in Spain by means of the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) and its application in the study of a semidetached home during the design phase. The project, set in the Province of Barcelona, was designed in a conventional manner (PC); after its initial evaluation, two proposals (P1 and P2) were formulated to improve energy efficiency in accordance with PS specifications to draw a comparison between them. The results indicate that applying PS criteria leads to lower energy demands by 57% using P1 and 66% using P2; regarding the environmental impact of CO2 emissions, there is also a reduction that varies from 55% to 63% (P1 and P2) with respect to the PC. Regarding the cost-effectiveness of implementing P1 or P2 instead of PC, the study indicates that an operating period of 9 to 12 years is required to balance the investments in improvements through the savings in consumption.


Title of Document: DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF SLOTS TO SUBMIT TO A MARKET MECHANISM AT A SINGLE AIRPORT Andrew Michael Churchill, M.S., 2007 Directed By: Professor David J. Lovell Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering In this thesis, several stochastic optimization models are presented to determine the number of airport arrival slots that should be made available for distribution via a market mechanism. Considerable attention is paid to the structure and mathematical properties of each of these models, with regards to obtaining integer-valued solutions. Calibration of the various parameters is undertaken using historical data. In addition, an analysis of the average pecuniary valuations assigned to each slot is presented, as this is an essential input to these models. Several methods are suggested by which each of these values can be estimated. The models are intended to be taken in a general context, but extensive computational examples making use of data for LaGuardia Airport are provided as a case study in the application of the various techniques presented herein. DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF SLOTS TO SUBMIT TO A MARKET MECHANISM AT A SINGLE AIRPORT


This paper revisits the old question about the possibilities and aptitudes H. neanderthalensis had for vocalization. New evidence will be discussed that moves the discussion beyond traditional interest in the presence and inter-pretation of the fossil record and its comparison with the closest species to H. sapiens, like chimpanzees and gorillas. An interdisciplinary perspective on the analysis coupled with information gathered from neuropsychology, genetics, and comparative psychology will prove useful for obtaining a new vision in biolinguistics, so that neurocognitive activity becomes important thanks, above all, to the comparison with other species. Finally, it will be argued that it is still plausible to accept the hypothesis on the formation of a vocal capacity prior to the cognitive faculty of language, and independent of it, so that Neandertals were probably able of vocalizing voluntarily, with communicative intentions and in a sophisticated way.


It has previously been demonstrated that individual general practitioners (GPs) diagnose and treat at different levels of blood pressure and according to different risk factor profiles. This study sought to examine the variation in the achievement of control of hypertension in a sample of 20 treated hypertensive patients in 18 UK general practices. There was a marked between-practice variation in the percentage of patients with controlled hypertension. Practices appear to apply different hypertension guidelines to patients consistently, with significant correlations across practices in seven out of ten possible guideline combinations. There remains marked variation in the management of hypertension between different general practices in the UK. Factors other than recommendations in guidelines appear to be responsible for this variation.


This dissertation examines the institutional environments in which human rights video activism takes shape. Looking at how three leading human rights groups produce and use video—Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and WITNESS—it tackles how institutional environments, as we know them, are changing through their adoption of video, and what this shift suggests about the status of visual knowledge and human rights activism today. The dissertation argues that the visual knowledge provided by video and long claimed by activists has now attained legitimacy across the institutions central for human rights—journalism, the law and advocacy. These institutions are characterized by different professional logics and dynamics, but each of them has built its authority upon the power of words, sidelining the value of images. In the current moment, though, journalism, the law and advocacy are all turning to video as a way of offsetting a varied set of cultural, social, financial and technological challenges. This turn to video is therefore providing an institutional locus that supports the emerging professionalization of video activism by human rights groups. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and WITNESS are developing tactics and strategies for video that play to the modalities of journalism, the law and advocacy as a way of better tapping into the channels through which human rights receive fuller recognition and restitution. Through video production, standards and training, they move video activism away from its long-held status as an occupational craft into a proxy profession that puts human rights videos into institutional service. As video's power as a human rights tool rests upon its ability to serve as a platform for voice, this dissertation also analyzes the effects of the proxy profession on the voice of video activism. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Communication First Advisor Barbie Zelizer


Helicopter handling qualities are investigated using inverse simulation as
the method of providing state and control information for the appropriate
quantitative metrics. The main aim of the work was to develop a more
comprehensive and versatile method of quantifying handling qualities levels
using the available inverse algorithm "Helin v". Subsequently, the assessment of
the helicopter model inherent in Helinv, "Helicopter Generic Simulation",
(HGS) for its suitability to handling qualities studies was paramount. Since the
Helinv inverse algorithm operates by initially defining a mathematical flight test
manoeuvre for the vehicle to "fly", considerable time was given to modelling
suitable handling qualities assessment manoeuvres. So-called "attitude
quickness" values were then calculated thus providing an initial objective
insight into handling qualities level of the vehicle under test. Validation of the
tasks formed an integral part of successfully fulfilling the flight test manoeuvre
development objective.
The influence of the human is captured by the inclusion of a pilot model
and the development of a novel method of parameter estimation, supplements
the overall objective of modifying Helinv results to achieve potentially more
realistic responses and thus correspondingly more realistic handling qualities. A
comparative study of two helicopters, one based on the Westland Lynx
battlefield/utility type and the other, a hypothetically superior configuration
effectively demonstrates the capability of inverse simulation to deliver results
adequate for initial handling qualities studies. Several examples are used to
illustrate the point. Helinv has been shown to be versatile and efficient and can
be used in initial handling qualities studies. The advantages of such a technique
are clear when it is seen that actual flight testing, ground based or airborne is
extremely costly, as the flight test manoeuvres must be representative of real
life, reproducible and of course, as risk free as possible. Many inverse simulation runs and handling qualities calculations have been carried out for
different helicopter configurations and manoeuvres thus illustrating the
advantages of the technique and fulfilling all the aims mentioned above.


Objective To describe trends, correlates of use and consumer perceptions related to the product design innovation of flavour capsules in cigarette filters. Methods Quarterly surveys from 2012 to 2014 were analysed from an online consumer panel of adult smokers aged 18–64, living in the USA (n=6865 observations; 4154 individuals); Mexico (n=5723 observations; 3366 individuals); and Australia (n=5864 observations; 2710 individuals). Preferred brand varieties were classified by price (ie, premium; discount) and flavour (ie, regular; flavoured without capsule; flavoured with capsule). Participants reported their preferred brand variety's appeal (ie, satisfaction; stylishness), taste (ie, smoothness, intensity), and harm relative to other brands and varieties. GEE models were used to determine time trends and correlates of flavour capsule use, as well as associations between preferred brand characteristics (ie, price stratum, flavour) and perceptions of relative appeal, taste and harm. Results Preference for flavour capsules increased significantly in Mexico (6% to 14%) and Australia (1% to 3%), but not in the USA (4% to 5%). 18–24 year olds were most likely to prefer capsules in the USA (10%) and Australia (4%), but not Mexico. When compared to smokers who preferred regular brands, smokers who preferred brands with capsules viewed their variety of cigarettes as having more positive appeal (all countries), better taste (all countries), and lesser risk (Mexico, USA) than other brand varieties. Conclusions Results indicate that use of cigarettes with flavour capsules is growing, is associated with misperceptions of relative harm, and differentiates brands in ways that justify regulatory action.


And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. "And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? "For, 10, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." • -Luke 1:41-44'


A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a configurable platform for implementing a variety of logic circuits. It implements a circuit by the means of logic elements, usually Lookup Tables, connected by a programmable routing network. To utilize an FPGA effectively Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools have been developed. These tools implement circuits by using a traditional CAD flow, where the circuit is analyzed, synthesized, technology mapped, and finally placed and routed on the FPGA fabric. This flow, while generally effective, can produce sub-optimal results because once a stage of the flow is completed it is not revisited.
This problem is addressed by an enhanced flow known Physical Synthesis, which consists of a set of iterations of the traditional flow with one key difference: the result of each iteration directly affects the result of the following iteration. An optimization can therefore be evaluated and then adjusted as needed in the following iterations, resulting in an overall better implementation. This CAD flow is challenging to work with because for a given FPGA researchers require access to each stage of the flow in an iterative fashion. This is particularly challenging when targeting modern commercial FPGAs, which are far more complex than a simple Lookup Table and Flip-Flop model generally used by the academic community.
This dissertation describes a unified framework, called the Physical Synthesis Toolkit (PST), for research and development of optimizations for modern FPGA devices. PST provides access to modern FPGA devices and CAD tool flow to facilitate research. At the same time the amount of effort required to adapt the framework to a new FPGA device is kept to a minimum.
To demonstrate that PST is an effective research platform, this dissertation describes optimization and modeling techniques that were implemented inside of it. The optimizations include: an area reduction technique for XOR-based logic circuits implemented on a 4-LUT based FPGA (25.3% area reduction), and a dynamic power reduction technique that reduces glitches in a circuit implemented on an Altera Stratix II FPGA (7% dynamic power reduction). The modeling technique is a novel toggle rate estimation approach based on the XOR-based decomposition, which reduces the estimate error by 37% as compared to the latest release of the Altera Quartus II CAD tool.


The oil palm boom in Indonesia continues to be a major driver of land acquisitions in remaining tropical forest frontiers, drawing on a wide range of actors into its production, and transforming both rural landscapes and livelihoods in the process. The growing body of research and evidence on the social and economic effects of oil palm expansion does not adequately consider the gender dimensions of the oil palm boom, thereby lacking a balanced view of both women's and men's experiences. This is in spite of the overlapping and distinct ways in which women and men are engaging in the oil palm economy as workers, members of smallholder households and communities risking displacement from the expansion.This report attempts to rectify these knowledge gaps by considering women's voice and agency in decisions related to palm development, and the gendered distribution of associated benefits and costs from oil palm development.


There has been an explosion of interest in the "Glorious" Revolution in recent years. Long regarded as the lesser of Britain's seventeenth-century revolutions, a faint after tremor following the major earthquake of mid-century, it is now coming to be seen as a major transformative episode in its own right, a landmark event which marked a distinctive break in British history. This collection sheds new light on the final crisis of the Stuart monarchy by re-examining the causes and implications of the dynastic shift of 1688-9 from a broad chronological, intellectual and geographical perspective. Comprising eleven essays by specialists in the field, it ranges from the 1660s to the mid-eighteenth century, deals with the history of ideas as well as political and religious history, and covers not just England, Scotland and Ireland but also explores the Atlantic and European contexts. Covering high politics and low politics, Tory and Whig political thought, and the experiences of both Catholics and Protestants, it ranges from protest and resistance to Jacobitism and counter-revolution and even offers an evaluation of British attitudes towards slavery. Written in a lively and engaging style and designed to be accessible to a broader audience, it combines new research with the latest scholarship to provide a fresh and invigorating introduction to the revolutionary period that transformed Britain and its empire. TIM HARRIS is Munro-Goodwin-Wilkinson Professor in European History at Brown University. STEPHEN TAYLOR is Professor in the History of Early Modern England at Durham University. Contributors: Toby Barnard, Tony Claydon, John Gibney, Lionel K.J. Glassey, Gabriel Glickman, Mark Goldie, Tim Harris, John Marshall, Alasdair Raffe, Owen Stanwood, Stephen Taylor


The parietal eye of lizards responds to light and dark but does not form images. Su et al. show that blue light and green light, working through opsins unlike those in visual eyes, send antagonistic signals to a key cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) phosphodiesterase. Subsequent alterations in cGMP concentrations modulate channel openings to depolarize or hyperpolarize the parietal photoreceptor cells. Comparison of the opsins and signaling molecules involved suggests an evolutionary trajectory by which the parietal eye diverged from the visual eyes. C.-Y. Su, D.-G. Luo, A. Terakita, Y. Shichida, H.-W. Liao, M. A. Kazmi, T. P. Sakmar, K.-W. Yau, Parietal-eye phototransduction components and their potential evolutionary implications. Science 311, 1617-1621 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


When phytoplankton growth is limited by low nutrient concentrations, full-depth-integrated phytoplankton biomass increases in response to intermittent mixing events that bring nutrient-rich waters into the sunlit surface layer. Here, it is shown how oscillatory winds can induce intermittent nutrient entrainment events and thereby sustain more phytoplankton at fronts in nutrient-limited oceans. Low frequency (i.e. synoptic to planetary scale) along-front wind drives oscillatory cross-front Ekman transport, which induces intermittent deeper mixing layers on the less dense side of fronts. High-frequency wind with variance near the Coriolis frequency resonantly excites inertial oscillations, which also induce deeper mixing layers on the less dense side of fronts. Moreover, we show that low and high frequency winds have a synergistic effect and larger impact on the deepest mixing layers, nutrient entrainment, and phytoplankton growth on the less dense side of fronts than either high-frequency winds or low frequency winds acting alone. These theoretical results are supported by two-dimensional numerical simulations of fronts in an idealized nutrient-limited open-ocean region forced by low and high frequency along-front winds. In these model experiments, higher-amplitude low-frequency wind strongly modulates and enhances the impact of the lower-amplitude high-frequency wind on phytoplankton at a front. Moreover, sensitivity studies emphasize that the synergistic phytoplankton response to low and high frequency wind relies on the high-frequency wind just below the Coriolis frequency. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The inverse farm size and productivity relationship (IR) is a recurring theme in the literature. However, most previous studies were undertaken within a setting of mixed cropping systems. In this article, we investigate the effect of farm size on productivity within the context of a perennial monocropping system, acute competition for farmland, frequent subdivision of farms and declining yields. We apply household survey data of smallholder tea farms in western Kenya and consider both technical efficiency (TE) and the yield per hectare as indicators of productivity. The findings show that the effect of farm size on productivity is nonlinear, with TE initially declining and then rising with farm size. The findings also demonstrate that the farm size and productivity relationship is important for perennial monocrops and that the use of robust measures of productivity is important for the IR. The findings have important implications for agricultural policy in developing countries.


Water demand forecasting is currently being used in many fields such as the investment planning, the design of the water systems (treatment plants, storage, transmission and distribution lines), the operation of existing systems at optimal capacity, calculation of operation and investment costs, and determination of urban water management policies (pricing policy, water conservation, etc.). Therefore, it can be said that an accurate water demand forecast has a key role in the planning, design, operation, and management of water systems. In this study, it is aimed to forecast Diyarbakir city centre drinking water demand by using Artificial Neural Networks method and Winters's Seasonal Exponential Smoothing and Box-Jenkins methods based on time series analysis, and to compare forecasts obtained. For this purpose, firstly the data related to the variables affecting the water demand of Diyarbakir city centre for the time interval of 2003 – 2013 has been collected and analyzed. Then, a drinking water demand forecast has been made on the basis of this data by using Artificial Neural Network, Winters's Seasonal Exponential Smoothing, and Box-Jenkins methods. The forecasts obtained from these three methods have been compared according to Productivity, The Mean Square Error, The Root Mean Square Error and The Mean Absolute Percentage Error criteria. In comparison results, it was seen that, in all performance criteria, Artificial Neural Networks method has better forecast results than those methods based on time series analysis.


The northern gannet Morus bassanus population has been increasing in size over the last century. Larger gannet colonies in the British Isles are growing more slowly per capita than the smaller ones. For the first time, this study provides empirical evidence consistent with the hypothesis that seabird populations are regulated through density dependent competition for food (a theory proposed four decades ago). On average, gannets from larger colonies have to travel further to forage than birds from smaller colonies, leading to reduced provisioning rates at larger colonies. Differences were found in the foraging behaviour of male and female gannets. Females dived deeper and spent more time resting on the sea surface than males. Females also tended to forage in a specific location whereas males were much more variable. This was the first demonstration of sex-specific foraging behaviour in a monomorphic seabird. Foraging location and depth may be driven by sex-specific dietary needs, differences in foraging efficiency or competitive ability. State dependent foraging decisions were examined. Typically, gannets alternate foraging at sea with periods attending the chick at the nest. However, sometimes the attending parent will leave the chick alone. This decision is influenced by the prolonged absence of the partner and a low arrival mass of the adult, prior to its attendance shift. Unattended foraging trips were shorter in duration and therefore closer to the colony than attended trips. Since leaving the chick unattended is risky, there is a trade-off between offspring predation and short-term food requirements. When aspects of the foraging behaviour of gannets were compared between a large and small colony, both striking contrasts and similarities were evident. At the larger colony there were no sex differences in trip duration or the propensity to leave the chick alone whilst at the smaller colony males made significantly shorter trips than females and left the chick alone much more than females. However at both colonies unattended trips were shorter than attended trips. These results suggest interactions between density dependent competition and sex-specific individual behaviour. Identifying important areas for foraging is a major challenge for marine conservation. This study has demonstrated that colony size, sex and condition all affect the foraging decisions of the northern gannet.


Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) are considered fundamental to the optimization of health care decision-making. Today, the drug development and evaluation process is dominated by so-called explanatory RCTs. Such RCTs are carried out in highly-controlled conditions to deliver the best evidence supporting market authorization of new pharmaceutical interventions. However, patients in explanatory phase III trials are very different from the actual patients who visit health care facilities in the context of "real world" clinical care. In the real world patients tend to be older, sicker and less keen on taking their medication. And what they care about is not necessarily bone density and systolic blood pressure, but rather whether the new drug keeps them out of the hospital. The focus on 'ideal' patients and situations means that for many patients it is uncertain whether a new drug on the market works better in real life than any of the other alternatives available. The misalignment between efficacy data (can the drug work?) and effectiveness data (does the drug work in real life) suggests that explanatory RCTs cannot do all the work. The collection of so-called "real world data" has been proposed to complement the evidence-base for making health care decisions. Pragmatic randomized trials are considered one of the strategies to obtain real world evidence. They contrast explanatory RCTs by question and design, since they aim to answer questions about the effectiveness of health interventions in routine care conditions. Recent calls have even gone out to design such trials already at the time of regulatory market approval of new interventions. Exploring ways to implement pragmatic trials in the process of drug development is a laudable goal in itself. Nevertheless, departing from the classic paradigm of explanatory RCTs, especially as early as prior to market authorization, raises the question of ethical acceptability. In order to sustain public support for clinical research, this thesis therefore examines the ethical issues related to pragmatic trials. Specifically, the question is addressed whether modifications to the regulatory informed consent process would be ethically defensible. This thesis concludes with three ways to promote pragmatism in randomized trials in an ethically responsible manner. Firstly, a few relatively accessible methods are discussed to increase the practical relevance of randomized phase III trials and early post-marketing research. Secondly, adjusting the timing of the trial could provide a solution for obtaining timely real world answers in cases where a conflict arises between a pragmatic design feature and an ethical requirement. In cases for which these methods are insufficient, some pragmatic trials could potentially be conducted in the early post-market phase with less stringent requirements. Such trials would have to address questions of evident social value, under the condition that the risks are minimal, the research is infeasible otherwise and there is a sufficient degree of transparency and freedom of choice for patients.


ABSTRACT Archaeozoologists have long examined the relationships between butchery and consumption sites. When applied to historic sites, this distinction between the location of butchery and places of consumption can be informative regarding market economy, long-distance trade and transport using increasingly modern technologies, and the necessity for urban areas to be fed by more rural regions. This paper will explore the archaeozoological markers of participation in a long-distance market economy through the faunal remains from a bone bed deposited in the late 19th century at the Plum Grove Historic Farm, a site located in the American heartland. The faunal remains here suggest that the site's occupants were involved in a nationwide system providing meat products, likely by refrigerated rail, to an ever growing population in eastern USA.


The paper discusses the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques in the context of semantic annotation of classical art text via rule-based Information Extraction (IE) techniques combined with ontological and domain vocabulary input. The CASIE (Classical Art Semantics Information Extraction) was a pilot collaborative project between the Hypermedia Research Unit (University of South Wales) and the Beazley Archive (Oxford University), which aims to automatically extract information about cultural objects from classical art scholarly texts and represent this information in terms of the ISO metadata standard for cultural heritage, the International Council of Museum's CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM). In total 12 documents (fascicules – high quality catalogues) were processed, originating from the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (CVA) collection containing over 350 high quality catalogues of mostly ancient Greek painted pottery, illustrating more than 100,000 vases. The extracted information was expressed in interoperable RDF graphs consistent with the CLAROS project format. The role of CIDOC-CRM is central for enabling semantic interoperability across the range of datasets that contribute to CLAROS. The CASIE pilot enabled a complementary exploitation of terminological and ontological resources via rule-based information extraction techniques, delivering semantic annotation with respect to the CRM in the broader field of digital humanities


Use of honey and other bee products in human treatments traced back thousands of years and healing properties are included in many religious texts including the Veda, Bible and Quran. Apitherapy is the use of honey bee products for medical purposes, this include bee venom, raw honey, royal jelly, pollen, propolis, and beeswax. Whereas bee venom therapy is the use of live bee stings (or injectable venom) to treat various diseases such as arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, sciatica, low back pain, and tennis elbow to name a few. It refers to any use of venom to assist the body in healing itself. Bee venom contains at least 18 pharmacologically active components including various enzymes, peptides and amines. Sulfur is believed to be the main element in inducing the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands and in protecting the body from infections. Contact with bee venom produces a complex cascade of reactions in the human body. The bee venom is safe for human treatments, the median lethal dose (LD50) for an adult human is 2.8 mg of venom per kg of body weight, i.e. a person weighing 60 kg has a 50% chance of surviving injections totaling 168 mg of bee venom. Assuming each bee injects all its venom and no stings are quickly removed at a maximum of 0.3 mg venom per sting, 560 stings could well be lethal for such a person. For a child weighing 10 kg, as little as 93.33 stings could be fatal. However, most human deaths result from one or few bee stings due to allergic reactions, heart failure or suffocation from swelling around the neck or the mouth. As compare with other human diseases, accidents and other unusual cases, the bee venom is very safe for human treatments.


Ever since 1988, a war of words has been waged about the question who won the so-called Battle of Cuito Cuanavale – the SADF, or the Cuban and Angola forces. A lot depends, of course, on what the South Africans' strategic and operational objectives were, and whether they reached these or not. On a somewhat lower level, the debate has centred on the question whether the SADF wanted to occupy Cuito Cuanavale. If they did, it becomes easier to argue that South Africa was dealt a heavy reverse there; if not, such an argument becomes more difficult to sustain. In this article, South Africa's strategic and operational objectives are analysed, based on archival sources. The basic conclusions are that the South African government was realistic enough to see that it could not replace the MPLA with UNITA by force, although it was hoped this might happen through elections. As far as Cuito Cuanavale is concerned, the sources are unequivocal: Although the occupation of the town was indeed discussed, it was never seriously considered. The objective was simply to drive FAPLA over the Cuito River, to prepare the riverbank as a defensive line, to turn it over to UNITA and then to pull back. By far most of the South Africans' objectives were reached.


Abstract. Accurately characterizing the instrument line shape (ILS) of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) is challenging and highly important due to its high spectral resolution and requirement for retrieval accuracy (0. 25 %) compared to previous spaceborne grating spectrometers. On-orbit ILS functions for all three bands of the OCO-2 instrument have been derived using its frequent solar measurements and high-resolution solar reference spectra. The solar reference spectrum generated from the 2016 version of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) solar line list shows significant improvements in the fitting residual compared to the solar reference spectrum currently used in the version 7 Level 2 algorithm in the O2 A band. The analytical functions used to represent the ILS of previous grating spectrometers are found to be inadequate for the OCO-2 ILS. Particularly, the hybrid Gaussian and super-Gaussian functions may introduce spurious variations, up to 5 % of the ILS width, depending on the spectral sampling position, when there is a spectral undersampling. Fitting a homogeneous stretch of the preflight ILS together with the relative widening of the wings of the ILS is insensitive to the sampling grid position and accurately captures the variation of ILS in the O2 A band between decontamination events. These temporal changes of ILS may explain the spurious signals observed in the solar-induced fluorescence retrieval in barren areas.


Vernalization, photoperiod and the poorly defined earliness per se (Eps) genes regulate flowering in plants. This thesis used elite hexaploid wheat varieties and focused on an Eps QTL on 1DL, and photoperiod QTLs on 1BL and 5AL short day QTL using doubled haploid (DH) populations. Four independent backcross two F5 (BC2F5) populations with 70 lines each of a cross between Spark and Rialto derived from BC2F2 by single seed decent (SSD), and four independent pairs of near isogenic lines (NILs) in the background Rialto were used for 1DL. Genomics and bioinformatics approach was
used to design genome specific primers for genes on 1DL, 1BL and 5AL QTL regions using the Brachypodium distachyon syntenic genes. Resequencing genes on 1DL revealed that Spark and Cadenza have a chromosomal deletion including several genes. The equivalent region in Rialto and Avalon is intact. The DH, SSD and NILs all showed that the 1DL deletion was associated with early flowering. Recombinants from the BC2F5 populations indicate that the 1DL deletion likely contains the candidate gene(s).
The 1DL QTL was defined as a discrete Mendelian factor. The 1BL QTL was short day specific for Spark X Rialto and Avalon X Cadenza but the QTL was observed under both short and long day conditions for Charger X Badger. The gene TaFT3 a homologue of the HvFT3/Ppd-H2 is suggested as the candidate for the 1BL QTL
because two mutant alleles, a deletion and a conserved amino acid change seem to account for most of the variation under short days. Twenty-five varieties from Sweden segregate for the FT3-1B and loss of function mutation results in delayed flowering under short days. This thesis describes evidence that has allowed prioritization of candidate genes for the QTLs. The data from this thesis is useful for understanding wheat adaptation and marker assisted selection.


In this paper we report the first hybrid Phase-Change — Tunnel FET (PC-TFET) device configurations for achieving a deep sub-thermionic steep subthreshold swing at room temperature and subthreshold power savings. The proposed hybrid device feedbacks the steep transition of Metal-Insulator transition in a VO2 structure into Gate or Source configurations of strained silicon nanowire Tunnel FETs, to achieve a switching with lon/Ioff better that 5.5×106 and with a subthreshold swing of 4.0 mV/dec at 25 °C. We demonstrate that the principle of PC-TFET switching relates to an internal amplification resulting in a sub-unity body factor, m, which is reduced to values below 0.1 for a current range larger than 2–3 decades. We report a full experimental digital and analog benchmarking of the new device and compare it with Tunnel FETs and CMOS. Remarkably, the PC-TFET can achieve analog figures of merit like gm/Id breaking the 40 V−1 limit of MOSFETs. We demonstrate and report the first buffered oscillator cell for neuromorphic computing exploiting the gate configuration of PC-TFET.


The purpose of the study was to determine the expectations of hospitality industry employers on employees' competences. The sample (106) was made up of Human Resource Managers (HRMs) Head of Departments (HODs) and employees. Results indicated a big differential on employers and employees' expectations on communication skills, specific technical skills, computer, good work habits, customer service and self-discipline. The employees' expectations were higher than that of the employer's apart from conflict resolution and multi-skilling where the employers' expectations were higher. In addition, there was a significant relationship between employer's expectation of employee competences and the hotel classification. It is only in computer skills (p = 0.04) where there was no significant relationship. The findings suggested the establishment of hospitality industry standards which should be communicated to all employers, employees and training providers. The industry and training provider to be linked and both should embrace the use of updated management to be globally competitive.


Since the portfolio of the insurers consists largely of bonds, out of which a significant weight consists of Government bonds, insurers are mainly exposed to interest rate risk and sovereign risk. We are motivated to contribute to the debate around the effect of the low yield environment and the effect on the insurers' portfolio due to their high exposure to government bonds. In this respect, any rise in macroeconomic risk across Europe could lead to a joint hit to insurers. The paper provides a broader look of the impact of the macroeconomic variables on the underlying factors that describe the yield curve and their overall effects to the insurers' portfolio. We show that the macroeconomic shocks have a different impact on bonds depending on their maturity. The life insurers are more affected by the low interest rate because the duration of long-term liabilities rises more than the one of the short-term assets. Therefore, the sensitivity of the long-term bonds to interest rate change is important for life insurers. We have estimated a structural VECM model to explore the interaction between the macroeconomic variables and the estimated factors of the yield curve. We conclude that 1) any change in the actual inflation can lead to small increases in the level factor, leaving almost unchanged the bond prices 2) the slope factor decreases faster after the monetary policy shocks affecting mostly the short-term bonds 3) a positive shock in monetary policy rate leads to a strong increase of the level factor.


Research Summary:

The current study analyzes the crime reduction effect of a police sub-station operating within a business improvement district in Newark, NJ. Synthetic control methods were used to create a control group that was statistically equivalent to the cumulative street units in the target area. Significant reductions of burglary and motor vehicle theft were observed in the target area as compared to a synthetic control area over the post-intervention period. Robbery and theft from auto, conversely, suffered from spatial displacement. Of the six police actions included in the process evaluation, quality-of-life summonses and directed patrols increased in the post-intervention period, while parking summonses significantly decreased.

Policy Implications:

Results of this study suggest that the effect of sub-stations on crime likely depends on certain contextual factors. Newark's sub-station was not a stand-alone facility, but the headquarters of a police unit given jurisdiction over the target area. Therefore, the opening of the sub-station represented an increase in visible police presence. The effect of the sub-station was heightened when accompanied by increases in proactive policing activities. Agencies wishing to effectively address robbery and theft from auto may have to design sub-station strategies in a manner that better influences offender decision making in order to prevent displacement.


For providing systems to support decision making it is important to understand how farmers collect and manage decision information. Using data from a mail survey a "three-information-area" and "four-system-type" model was tested to describe Canterbury dairy farmer's information management structure. Those using computerised systems in every area were the largest group, but representing only 12% of farmers. Farmers using computerised systems in different information areas show similar characteristics in contrast to non-users, such as having farmed less years, being younger, having larger herds and bigger farms, being more educated, spending more time doing office work, involving more both farm adviser and accountant time, and being more profit oriented. Those who own computers, but do not use computerised information systems, are not statistically different from those not owning computers. The use of computers for managing feed and pasture information seems to be more restricted than for finance and livestock. The relationships among farm management computer use and the farmer's characteristics were checked using single statistical tests, regression and cluster analyses. The research findings are relevant for those aiming to improve farmer information management and also for farm software developers.


The paper argues that the crisis, mistakenly interpreted as a standard fiscal/balance of payments problem, was generated by the incomplete nature of the European institutions and a disregard for the consequences of differences in the stages of development of the member countries. The ideological pre-conception that markets are self-equilibrating through price competition has been used to justify disastrous internal devaluation policies in the belief that an austerity regime associated with institutions close to those assumed to prevail in 'core' countries would create the 'right' environment for resuming growth in the periphery. An analysis of the main phases of the development of European countries since the second post-war period provides evidence of wide differences in the productive structures of the countries of the centre and the southern periphery of Europe at the start of the Europeanization process. These differences entailed an asymmetric capacity of countries at differing levels of development to adjust to external shocks. This longer-term perspective helps us better to assess the limitations of the two alternatives that have been suggested to steer the EZ economy out of its present quagmire: internal devaluation (wage flexibility) in the deficit (Southern European) countries, or expansion of internal demand in 'core' countries (Germany). Both measures, it is argued, do not go to the root of the development and debt sustainability problems of Southern European countries, which continue to lack a sufficiently broad and differentiated productive structure. Given the differences in the levels of development of the various EU countries and their varying capacities to cope with change, fiscal policy should be assigned two complementary targets: the role of actively promoting — through investment —the removal of development bottlenecks and the renewal of the productive base, and a redistributive and compensative function. This new strategy entails the assignment of a strategic importance to investment guidance by the State through industrial policies geared to diversifying, innovating and strengthening the economic structures of peripheral countries. The paper concludes that this change of strategy is even more important today, since the crisis marks another important structural break in world trade, similar to those of the 1970s and the first decade of the new millennium.


Due to signal attenuation in overlying soft tissue, development of x-ray fluorescence systems to measure low atomic number elements, such as strontium, in human bone required a search for a skeletal site with thin overlying tissue. This paper reports ultrasound measurements of overlying tissue on 10 subjects, at four anatomical sites. The average tissue thickness at the finger was (2.9+/-0.7) mm. The average tissue thicknesses were (3.6+/-0.7) mm, (4.8+/-2.0) mm, and (8.4+/-1.7) mm at forehead, tibia and heel, respectively. Additionally, both parametric and nonparametric approaches to the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and tissue thickness suggest that there is a significant linear correlation between the subject's BMI and overlying tissue at the finger and heel bone. These correlations might be used as a criterion to perform XRF measurements, however a larger data set is required to address these correlations more clearly.


Transgressive dune fields often comprise a multiplicity of landforms where vegetation processes largely affect landform dynamics, which in turn, also affect vegetation processes. These associations have seldom been studied in detail. This paper examines four separate landform types in a complex coastal transgressive dunefield located in the central Gulf of Mexico, in order to assess the relationships between dunefield habitat, local environmental factors, vegetation associations and landform evolution. Topographic surveys using tape and clinometer were conducted in conjunction with vegetation survey transects at four locations across the Doña Juana dunefield. Vegetation surveys allowed the estimation of relative plant cover of each plant species found along the transects. A large variety of landforms were found at the Doña Juana Dunefield: deflation plains, gegenwalle (counter) ridges, transverse dune trailing ridges, blowouts and parabolic dunes, aklé (fish‐scale shaped) dunefields and precipitation ridges, with plant species associations developing on these different landforms equally variable. Flood tolerant species were located in the lower parts (deflation plain and gegenwalle ridges) whereas the older and dryer parts were covered by coastal matorral shrubs. Burial‐tolerant species were dominant in the most mobile areas (blowouts and aklé dunefield and margin). The dune trailing ridge, with relatively milder conditions, showed the highest richness, with no dominant species. A dual interaction was found such that colonizing species both create and affect topography, and in turn, topography determines vegetation association and succession patterns. In coastal dunes, the vegetation and abiotic environment (namely the different landforms and the inherent micronevironmental variability) interact tightly and generate a complex and highly dynamic biogeomorphic system where substrate mobility and colonization processes reinforce one another in positive feedback. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Time, as a phenomenon, has been in the focus of scientific thought from ancient times. It continues to be an important subject of research in many disciplines due to its importance as a basic aspect for understanding and formally representing change. The goal of this analytical review is to find out if the formal representations of time developed to date suffice to the needs of the basic and applied research in Computer Science, and in particular within the Artificial Intelligence and Semantic Web communities. To analyze if the existing basic theories, models, and implemented ontologies of time cower these needs well, the set of the features of time has been extracted and appropriately structured using the paper collection of the TIME Symposia series as the document corpus. This feature set further helped to structure the comparative review and analysis of the most prominent temporal theories. As a result, the selection of the subset of the features of time (the requirements for a Synthetic Theory) has been made reflecting the TIME community sentiment. Further, the temporal logics, representation languages, and ontologies available to date, have been reviewed regarding their usability aspects and the coverage of the selected temporal features. The results reveal that the reviewed ontologies of time taken together do not satisfactorily cover some important features: (i) density; (ii) relaxed linearity; (iii) scale factors; (iv) proper and periodic subintervals; (v) temporal measures and clocks. It has been concluded that a cross-disciplinary effort is required to address the features not covered by the existing ontologies of time, and also harmonize the representations addressed differently.


Abstract. Surface fluxes are important boundary conditions for climatological modeling and Asian monsoon system. The recent availability of high-resolution, multi-band imagery from the ASTER (Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer) sensor has enabled us to estimate surface fluxes to bridge the gap between local scale flux measurements using micrometeorological instruments and regional scale land-atmosphere exchanges of water and heat fluxes that are fundamental for the understanding of the water cycle in the Asian monsoon system. A parameterization method based on ASTER data and field observations has been proposed and tested for deriving surface albedo, surface temperature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI), vegetation coverage, Leaf Area Index (LAI), net radiation flux, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux over heterogeneous land surface in this paper. As a case study, the methodology was applied to the experimental area of the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) Asia-Australia Monsoon Project (CAMP) on the Tibetan Plateau (CAMP/Tibet), located at the north Tibetan Plateau. The ASTER data of 24 July 2001, 29 November 2001 and 12 March 2002 was used in this paper for the case of summer, winter and spring. To validate the proposed methodology, the ground-measured surface variables (surface albedo and surface temperature) and land surface heat fluxes (net radiation flux, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) were compared to the ASTER derived values. The results show that the derived surface variables and land surface heat fluxes in three different months over the study area are in good accordance with the land surface status. Also, the estimated land surface variables and land surface heat fluxes are in good accordance with ground measurements, and all their absolute percentage difference (APD) is less than 10% in the validation sites. It is therefore concluded that the proposed methodology is successful for the retrieval of land surface variables and land surface heat fluxes using the ASTER data and filed observation over the study area.


When women are pregnant, some plan to have waterbirths and other plan to have traditional bedbirths. Therefore some neonates will be born under water and other neonates out of the water on a bed. It is unclear what the outcomes for the neonates are after these two types o f deliveries. The research goals of this study were to explore and describe the outcomes for neonates after waterbirths (group A) and traditional bedbirths (group B) and to generate hypotheses based on the outcomes for neonates after waterbirths and traditional bedbirths that need to be tested in subsequent research studies. The design was an explorative descriptive survey. The mothers were purposefully selected to participate in the research study. They had to be healthy, low-risk pregnant women with a single pregnancy and a cephalic presentation. They had to be 37 to 42 weeks pregnant. Group A delivered their neonates at two private hospitals in Gauteng and group B delivered their neonates at a government hospital in Gauteng. Data was collected during labour, just after the delivery, two hours after the delivery and 14 days after the delivery. A data collection instrument was used. The following neonatal outcomes were measured: Apgar score at one and five minutes, axillary temperature, pH-, haemoglobin- and sodium levels of the umbilical cord blood, the neurological condition of the neonate as reflected by the primitive reflexes and neonatal morbidity until 14 days after birth. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the data. It appeared if group A had higher Apgar scores, neonatal temperatures and umbilical cord blood haemoglobin levels and lower sodium umbilical cord blood levels than group B. The umbilical cord blood pH levels, neonatal morbidity and primitive reflexes o f both groups appeared equal. Group B needed more resuscitation of the neonate directly after birth than group A. Hypotheses were generated that need to be tested in subsequent research.


This article critiques the controversial approach taken by the Court of Justice towards the periods of imprisonment in the 2014 judgments of Onuekwere and M.G. The Court approved exclusion of such periods for the purposes of (1) acquiring permanent residence and (2) benefitting from the enhanced protection against deportation. Effectively, the Court has revitalised the archaic doctrine of civil death in the EU. This development is not only in profound contradiction to the essential features of European constitutionalism and contemporary approaches to the rights of inmates in European democracies. It is also markedly ineffective in combating crime, de facto favouring ritual banishments over measures to reduce reoffending. The authors uncover lacunae in the Court's reasoning incompatible with the emancipating paradigm of EU citizenship – non-discrimination – as well as any desirable humane outlook on penitentiary systems and the aims of criminal justice. They unpack these judgments in light of the history of punishment, citizenship theory and the emerging European prisoners' rights standards, including the latest developments before the European Court of Human Rights, paying particular attention to the recent UK developments in this area. They conclude that bar some extraordinary exceptions, imprisonment periods should undoubtedly count as proper residence by EU citizens in the Member States other than their own. The nationalist reasons behind the recent shift in case law hardly qualify as sound considerations to limit the reach of EU law, instead undermining the legislator through a contra legem ultra vires reading of the relevant Directive. They do not make European cities safer, they do not improve the lives of EU citizens and they undermine the achievement of the goals of EU integration.


In vitro studies have suggested that tolerance induction (i.e., anergy) is associated with an inability of T cells to proliferate vigorously upon Ag recognition. In vivo, the relationship between T cell proliferation and tolerance induction is less clear. To clarify this issue, we have been studying a model system in which naive CD4 1 T cells specific for the model Ag hemagluttinin (HA) are adoptively transferred into different transgenic founder lines of mice expressing HA as a peripheral self-Ag. When transferred into two lines whose HA expression differs by at least 1000-fold, HA-specific T cells undergo multiple rounds of cell division before reaching a nonresponsive (i.e., tolerant) state. While the proliferative response is more rapid in mice expressing higher levels of HA, the T cells become tolerant regardless of the level of peripheral HA expression. When the T cells encounter HA expressed as a viral Ag, they proliferate at a similar rate and undergo the same number of divisions as with self-HA, but they do not become tolerant. These results indicate that a tolerizing stimulus can induce similar T cell mitotic rates as a priming stimulus. Therefore, CD4 1 T cell tolerance induction in vivo is not the result of an insufficient proliferative response elicited upon TCR engagement. The Journal of Immunology, 2000, 164: 649–655. tolerize


Background: Myocardial dysfunction is one of the most important features of sepsis. The presence of cardiac dysfunction in sepsis has been associated with high mortality rate in septic patients Material & Methods: This was prospective, observational cohort (patient with severe sepsis and septic shock) study conducted over period of one year in medical intensive care unit. Patients with an initial diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock were enrolled. Aims & Objectives: To study demographic profile, APACHE-II score and echocardiographic parameters in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock and to find out relation of echocardiographic parameters to variables of sepsis and outcome. Study Population: All patients underwent laboratory investigations, APACHE-II score and Transthoracic 2- Dimensional echocardiogram. Statistical analysis: Data was analysed by trial version SPSS-16 for mean, SD, chi-square test with  'p' Results: Of total 51 patients with sepsis and septic shock 32 were males and 19 were females with mean age of 51.48 (±13.11) years and 59.66(±16.93) respectively. The mean LVEF was 35.70% (±7.47608). APACHE-II score had negative correlation with LVEF and positive with DD. Total 17.64% had normal LV diastolic function, 47.05% had grade-I diastolic dysfunction and 35.29% had grade-II diastolic dysfunction ['p'=0.082]. Overall mortality was 29.41% in patient with sepsis. Overall diastolic dysfunction was significantly more in patients with death compared to survived population ['p'= 0.0218 and 0.0329]. Conclusion: Diastolic dysfunction was common and a major predictor of mortality and outcome in severe sepsis and septic shock and was well correlated with APACHE-II score. Present study favors to use echocardiography as an ideal monitoring, tool in the septic patient for goal-oriented therapy for better outcome. Key words: Myocardial dysfunction, Sepsis, APACHE-II score, Echocardiographic parameters, Septic shock.


According to literature, intensive use of roads increases the level of soil pollution with individual metals and its extent depends on the type of soil, depth of sampling, and decreases with distance from the road. Supposition of possible soil contamination with mercury in the immediate vicinity of transportation routes results from reported mercury content in crude oil and the observed phenomenon of co-occurrence of mercury and oil-derived substances in soil. This work presents and analyses the results of research on mercury content in the surface layer of soil taken from the immediate vicinity of the southern Krakow ring road. Observations were conducted from 2003–2012 which allowed to show variability of mercury content in the soil over many years. The studies indicated varied distribution of mercury content in the soil, however, mercury content is generally at the same level on both sides of the road. Points with limited exposure to the impact of traffic, i.e. locations elevated above the road and those outside the acoustic screens were excluded from the analysis. Taking into account only the points in heavy traffic impact, slow accumulation of mercury in the top layers of the soil at a depth of 0.4–0.6 m was observed. This was particularly evident in the section of the road from Balice to Swoszowice, which has been  located in an area of intense traffic for about 20 years. Average mercury content for all points ranged from 0.025 mg/kg in 2003 to 0.041 mg/kg in 2012. Averaged mercury content in soils from all points collected from other parts of the ring road also showed an upward trend and ranged from 0.026 mg/kg in 2003 to 0.036 mg/kg in 2012. Mercury content in soils collected at points with limited exposure to pollution and at a point with short exposure indicate no fluctuation over the years. Its content is low and is generally from 0.01 to 0.02 mg/kg in the areas that are not in the vicinity of the traffic. Studies of samples from a slightly greater depth of 0.8–1.0 m do not show any characteristic trend in mercury content in the soil. At this stage, long-term studies of soil in the vicinity of Krakow southern ring road do not allow to formulate conclusions regarding the estimation of the migration rate of mercury compounds in the aeration zone profile. They rather suggest the possibility of slow accumulation in the top layers of soil or very slow migration into the layers. In view of the entire research, it may be said that there are hints pointing to a very slow increase in the mercury content in the areas of long-term impact of heavy traffic. Interpretation of the research results, however, is definitely ambiguous. The observed values may be due to either the impact of heavy traffic, to other industrial factors or to natural heterogeneity of soil.


Current dense text retrieval models face two typical challenges. First, it adopts a siamese dual-encoder architecture to encode query and document independently for fast indexing and searching, whereas neglecting the finer-grained term-wise interactions. This results in a sub-optimal recall performance. Second, it highly relies on a negative sampling technique to build up the negative documents in its contrastive loss. To address these challenges, we present Adversarial RetrieverRanker (AR2), which consists of a dual-encoder retriever plus a cross-encoder ranker. The two models are jointly optimized according to a minimax adversarial objective: the retriever learns to retrieve negative documents to cheat the ranker, while the ranker learns to rank a collection of candidates including both the ground-truth and the retrieved ones, as well as providing progressive direct feedback to the dual-encoder retriever. Through this adversarial game, the retriever gradually produces harder negative documents to train a better ranker, whereas the cross-encoder ranker provides progressive feedback to improve retriever. We evaluate AR2 on three benchmarks. Experimental results show that AR2 consistently and significantly outperforms existing dense retriever methods and achieves new state-of-the-art results on all of them. This includes the improvements on Natural Questions R@5 to 77.9% (+2.1%), TriviaQA R@5 to 78.2% (+1.4%), and MS-MARCO MRR@10 to 39.5% (+1.3%). We will make our code, models, and data publicly available.


Dynamic abnormal grain growth (DAGG) in commercial-purity molybdenum sheets was investigated through a series of tensile tests at temperatures between 1450°C and 1800°C. DAGG is abnormal grain growth (AGG) which requires the presence of concurrent plastic strain. Most AGG phenomena previously documented in the literature can be categorized as static abnormal grain growth (SAGG) because they occur during static annealing, sometimes following plastic strain, but do not occur during plastic deformation. The DAGG boundary migration rate is much faster than the SAGG boundary migration rate, and DAGG may be utilized to obtain large single crystals in the solid state. Dynamic abnormal grains were found to exhibit a crystallographic orientation preference with respect to the specimen geometry, generally described as derivative from a fiber texture. DAGG was found to prefer growth on the surface of the specimen rather than the interior. The growth of dynamic abnormal grains, which initiated and grew during plastic straining, generally ceased when the application of plastic strain was removed. The DAGG boundary migration rate was found to be a direct function of plastic strain accumulation, regardless of the strain-rate. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the rapid boundary migration rate during DAGG results from an enhanced mobility of certain boundaries. A model is proposed based on the rate of boundary unpinning, as mediated by the emission of dislocations from pinning sites.


SUMMARY Pertussis or whooping cough has persisted and resurged in the face of vaccination and has become one of the most prevalent vaccine-preventable diseases in Western countries. The high circulation rate of Bordetella pertussis poses a threat to infants that have not been (completely) vaccinated and for whom pertussis is a severe, life-threatening, disease. The increase in pertussis is mainly found in age groups in which immunity has waned and this has resulted in the perception that waning immunity is the main or exclusive cause for the resurgence of pertussis. However, significant changes in B. pertussis populations have been observed after the introduction of vaccinations, suggesting a role for pathogen adaptation in the persistence and resurgence of pertussis. These changes include antigenic divergence with vaccine strains and increased production of pertussis toxin. Antigenic divergence will affect both memory recall and the efficacy of antibodies, while higher levels of pertussis toxin may increase suppression of the innate and acquired immune system. We propose these adaptations of B. pertussis have decreased the period in which pertussis vaccines are effective and thus enhanced the waning of immunity. We plead for a more integrated approach to the pertussis problem which includes the characteristics of the vaccines, the B. pertussis populations and the interaction between the two.


A new derivative of chitosan functionalized with chloroacyl chloride and 2-(2-aminoethylamino) ethanol was synthesized for the preparation of the magnetic nanocomposite containing Fe 3 O 4 @TiO 2 nanoparticles. Characterizations were done by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Nanocomposite was examined for the defluoridation of water, and the effect of contact time, pH, initial fluoride ion concentration, contact time and adsorbent dosage were investigated. Langmuir model showed the best agreement with the experimental data. The maximum adsorption capacity for the fluoride removal from aqueous solutions was 15.385 mg/g at 318 K and pH = 5.0. The adsorption mechanism matches the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with a rate constant ( k 2 ) of 0.68 g/mg·min. Thermodynamics study of the nature of adsorption showed that ΔH and ΔS was 13.767 kJ/mol and 0.066 kJ/mol·K respectively. A mechanism for the fluoride sorption was proposed by considering the electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions.


The impact of interferences on the connectivity of large-scale ad-hoc networks is studied using percolation theory. We assume that a bi-directional connection can be set up between two nodes if the signal to noise ratio at the receiver is larger than some threshold. The noise is the sum of the contribution of interferences from all other nodes, weighted by a coefficient /spl gamma/, and of a background noise. We find that there is a critical value of /spl gamma/ above which the network is made of disconnected clusters of nodes. We also prove that if /spl gamma/ is nonzero but small enough, there exist node spatial densities for which the network contains a large (theoretically infinite) cluster of nodes, enabling distant nodes to communicate in multiple hops. Since small values of /spl gamma/ cannot be achieved without efficient CDMA codes, we investigate the use of a very simple TDMA scheme, where nodes can emit only every n-th time slot. We show qualitatively that it even achieves a better connectivity than the previous system with a parameter /spl gamma//n.


We analyze a two-stage game in a vertically differentiated duopoly with two regions which can differ for the willingness to pay of their consumers or for the market size; firms sequentially choose to settle in one region and then simultaneously compete in prices, selling their products both on the local market and on the foreigner one by exporting them at a fixed cost. We study how strategic interaction influences firms' location choices and we show that the decision whether to agglomerate or not crucially depends on the extent of regions' asymmetries, but, counter intuitively, there are parametric regions in which the model predicts that the leader (the first firm choosing location) settles either in the poorer or in the smaller region, leaving the other one to the follower. Welfare analysis completes the paper.


Does Fidel Castro qualify as a Machiavellian Prince? Much of The Prince deals with the problem of how a man can raise himself from private fortune or even obscure and abject origins to a position of undisputed political primacy as conqueror or founder of a new state or regime. Clearly, Fidel Castro accomplished that feat. The questions that concern us here are the following: Can Castro's success be credited to Machiavellian methods in all or most important respects? Did he violate any of Machiavelli's maxims? Since, as we shall see, although abiding by most precepts, he disregarded several, and scorned one particularly important admonition, what does that tell us about Machiavellism, on the one hand, and, on the other, the kind of "prince" Fidel Castro is?


SELF CONCEPTS OF CAREER LEVEL II AND III TEACHERS AND CAREER LADDER ELIGIBLE TEACHERS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF TENNESSEE by Carol Myers The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a significant difference In the self concept of Career Level II and III teachers and teachers who are eligible to apply but have not elected to participate in the Career Ladder Program in the public schools of Tennessee. The technique of causal*comparative research was used in this study. The Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS), developed by William Fitts, was selected as the appropriate instrument for use in this study. The TSCS is a versatile instrument that measures ten dimensions related to self concept: total level of self esteem, self criticism, identity, self satisfaction, behavior, physical self, moral*ethical self, personal self, family self, and social self. Demographic data were also collected to obtain information concerning the personal characteristics of the teachers, A total of 1,115 surveys were sent to teachers In the public schools of the seven districts of Tennessee, stratified by whether they were Career Level II and III or eligible. A total of 808 useable responses were returned. This sample represented 408 Career Level II and III teachers and 400 eligible teachers. Data analyses and interpretation indicated that statistically significant differences existed between Career Level II and III teachers and eligible teachers on all ten measures of self concept. All the null hypotheses were rejected. Eligible teachers were determined to have a significantly lower total self esteem score when compared to Career Level II and III teachers. Career Level II and III teachers Indicated a higher score on all nine subscales, as well as the total self esteem score. However, the self concept scores of eligible teachers were still above the norm group mean. Inspection of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results revealed that no significant differences in mean total self esteem by educational level were found. One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for mean total self esteem by age, followed by a Scheffe's post hoc multiple comparison test, indicated Individuals aged 25-44 and aged 45-54 were significantly different on total self esteem as were individuals aged 25-44 and aged


On July 14, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that criminal defendants have a legitimate privacy interest in their booking photographs, thereby reversing and remanding a grant of summary judgment in favor of the Detroit Free Press's request for the booking photographs of four police officers who had recently been indicted for bribery and drug conspiracy. In holding that the public disclosure of booking photographs may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, the majority overturned twenty years' worth of Sixth Circuit precedent. The court properly acknowledged that booking photographs convey a portrait of guilt to the viewer, and that the Freedom of Information Act's exemptions are meant to protect individuals who have not yet been convicted from having humiliating personal information freely disclosed to the public. This Comment argues in favor of the majority's holding, which acknowledged that defendants have a privacy interest in their booking photographs and adopted a case-by-case approach to balancing that privacy interest against the public interest in releasing the photographs. The Sixth Circuit's decision protects the personal identity of the accused in the age of the Internet, and allows defendants to truly maintain their presumption of innocence until proven guilty.


Male breeding coloration is an obvious and often diagnostic character for species identification among mbuna, the rock-dwelling haplochromine fishes of Lake Malawi. Colour diversification has figured prominently in most models of cichlid speciation, though considerations of colour diversity have been limited. We describe coloration for common species of mbuna by digital colour acquisition techniques and use these data to characterize coloration of the fauna. The range of colour diversity in the mbuna is great; however, patterns of diversity appear somewhat limited. A number of taxa are similar in coloration, and several areas of available colour space are under-represented relative to random expectations. Colour diversification does not appear to be phylogenetically constrained, at least within species complexes. However, weakly significant associations between coloration and ecological characteristics exist. We discuss our results in terms of potential forces acting to influence mbuna coloration, such as phylogenetic or developmental constraints and natural or sexual selection.


The available literature on defence planning in India does not make for very encouraging reading. A few things stand out. Firstly, there is an acute dearth, if not almost complete absence, of authentic official accounts and analysis of what has gone on in the name of defence planning over the last six decades. Secondly, narratives based either on personal recollection or on opinions and views of those who have directly or indirectly been associated with defence planning at different points of time have filled this void. Others have chipped in too. Many of these opinions and views are based on a subjective interpretation of facts. Thirdly, systemic reforms in the area of defence planning do not appear imminent. The basic problem, of course, is the absence of an official account of defence planning, which has hampered objective analysis and research.


Its strains may be haunting, but western swing is alive and on the upswing, enjoying a renaissance among musicians too young to recall or even comprehend its heyday. For them, the term may evoke the nationally known country music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and the Spade Cooley Band. Yet on the local level, western swing bands dominated the airways and dance halls in every town and rural setting throughout the Southwest in the 1930s and by the 1940s had spread their influence and music to California. Jean A. Boyd presents the history and music of those bands that did not garner national fame, but were local sensations to thousands of southwesterners hungry for diversion and good dancing during the depression and World War II. Devoted fans who travel the festival circuit will surely appreciate the histories and recollections Boyd has carefully compiled, while musicologists will welcome her musical analysis and her transcriptions of recorded performances. Performers, as well, may learn new licks and tricks from the ubiquitous swing jazz artists of a time not yet forgotten, preserved here for another generation's enjoyment and edification.


Graphics processing units (GPUs) have attracted a lot of attention due to their cost-effective and enormous power for massive data parallel computing. In this paper, we propose a novel parallel algorithm for exact pattern matching on GPUs. A traditional exact pattern matching algorithm matches multiple patterns simultaneously by traversing a special state machine called an Aho-Corasick machine. Considering the particular parallel architecture of GPUs, in this paper, we first propose an efficient state machine on which we perform very efficient parallel algorithms. Also, several techniques are introduced to do optimization on GPUs, including reducing global memory transactions of input buffer, reducing latency of transition table lookup, eliminating output table accesses, avoiding bank-conflict of shared memory, coalescing writes to global memory, and enhancing data transmission via peripheral component interconnect express. We evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm using attack patterns from Snort V2.8 and input streams from DEFCON. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performed on NVIDIA GPUs achieves up to 143.16-Gbps throughput, 14.74 times faster than the Aho-Corasick algorithm implemented on a 3.06-GHz quad-core CPU with the OpenMP. The library of the proposed algorithm is publically accessible through Google Code.


Aversive leadership has picked up a lot of consideration as a result of its effect on a few activity results. The motivation behind the momentum inquire about work is coordinated to explore the association of aversive leadership (AVL) with job outcomes (Aggressive voice and organizational deviance), directing psychological hardiness (PH). Work Alienation (WA) was utilized as a mediating variable. Banks from Private sector situated at Peshawar District were chosen to get data. The sample size was 3oo employees from these banks. Random sampling technique was utilized through proportional distribution method and information was gathered through structured questionnaires. The aftereffects of this exploration work examined that AVL has a noteworthy impact on AV and OD. Moreover, WA completely interceded between AVL and an AV and halfway intervened between aversive leadership and organizational deviance. Managers and supervisors should maintain a strategic distance from AVL and attempt to propel and enable their subordinates or supporters to accomplish organizational expressed goals successfully.


This thesis investigates Beckett's interests in the seventeenth-century philosopher
Arnold Geulincx, tracing these interests first back to primary sources in Beckett's own
notes and correspondence, and then forward through his oeuvre. This first full-length
study of the occasionalist philosopher in Beckett's works reveals Geulincx as closely
bound, in changeable and subtle ways, to Beckett's altering compositional
methodologies and aesthetic foci. It argues that multifaceted attentiveness to the
different ways in which Geulincx is alluded to or explicitly cited in different works is
required if the extent of Geulincx' importance across Beckett's oeuvre is to be
properly understood.

Chapter 1 presents a lineage of correspondence dating from 1936 to 1967 in which
Beckett cites or alludes to Geulincx. It introduces Geulincx' occasionalism and
Beckett's transcriptions from his works. Chapter 2 builds upon this empirical
groundwork by arguing for a proposed chronology of Murphy's composition. This
focuses Geulincx' importance to Murphy as a frame of reference located
predominantly in the novel's latter stages. Chapter 3 investigates Geulincx' explicit
presence in manuscript drafts of Watt. It argues that this particular presence is refined
out of the novel's final stages at the same time as it is thematised. Chapter 4 focuses in
on a specific paragraph that cites Geulincx in La Fin/The End and Suite. The different
versions of this paragraph stage a number of textual manoeuvres in revisions and
translation that are revealing about Beckett's attitude towards Geulincx as a source.
Chapter 5 traces the consequences of this aesthetic attitude through imagery derived
from Geulincx in Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable, this latter as a novel that
seeks to enact certain of Geulincx' ethical principles as narrative voice. The final
chapter argues that there are highly refined and abstracted reappearances of Geulincx
to be located in How It Is and in the television plays as a reinvigorated fascination
with puppetry that also owes a debt to Beckett's reading Heinrich von Kleist.

While Geulincx has long been thought of as a fleeting presence in Beckett's oeuvre,
this full-length study finds that the philosopher's altering and recurring presences
bear closer scrutiny. Geulincx' presences are more deeply embedded in Beckett's
work than previously noted by critics, and in this they frequently reflect Beckett's
broader changing aesthetic concerns as Beckett developed what he called his 'series'
of works.


We present the second order nonlinear optical properties of the Disperse Red 1 (DR1)-doped poly (cyano phenylene sulfide) (PCPS) - novel ferroelectric amorphous polymers. The PCPS possess self-organized long-range polarizations when they are annealed at temperatures higher than their glass transition point. From the unique nonelectrical poling effect, the second-order nonlinear susceptibility was obtained without the conventional poling procedures. The optimized conditions to create the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility were also investigated in terms of the sample thicknesses and the annealing temperatures.


The Small and Medium Enterprise sector in Romania has been significantly affected by the global recession in the years 2008-2009; currently it is making efforts to revive it, thanks to important role it occupies in the economy of any country. SMEs raise wide debates, especially on fiscal measures. In Romania, SMEs represent 99.7% of all businesses, generating two-thirds of jobs in the business and half of gross value added. This paper focuses on the development of SMEs and hence on business environment in Romania. The purpose of this paper is to present the influence which regulations and evolution of businesses environment have on the SME sector.