Coronilla varia and Coronilla scorpioides were the species of Coronilla grown in Iraq. They contained many pharmacologically active metabolites. Coumarins (scopoletin, daphnoretine, umbelliferon), cardiotonic glycosides (deglucohyrcanoside, hyrcanoside), a toxic constituent, β-nitropropionic acid and potent neurotoxin, were also isolated from Coronilla varia. Coronilla scorpioides produced several compounds included cardenolide glycoside (hyrcanoside, hyrcanogenine, coronillin, corotoxigenin, frugosid, glucocorotoxigenin, scorpioside, and coronillobioside), hydroxycoumarins (umbelliferone, scopoletin and daphnoretin), dihydro-furanocoumarin marmesin, and the furocoumarin psoralen. The previous pharmacological studies revealed that Coronilla varia possessed cardiac, antimicrobial, insecticidal and cytotoxic effects; while Coronilla scorpioides induced cardiac effects. This review will cover the pharmacological and toxicological effects of Coronilla varia and Coronilla scorpioides.


Quantification of streamflow characteristics in ungauged catchments remains a challenge. Hydrological modeling is often used to derive flow time series and to calculate streamflow characteristics for subsequent applications that may differ from those envisioned by the modelers. While the estimation of model parameters for ungauged catchments is a challenging research task in itself, it is important to evaluate whether simulated time series preserve critical aspects of the streamflow hydrograph. To address this question, seven calibration objective functions were evaluated for their ability to preserve ecologically relevant streamflow characteristics of the average annual hydrograph using a runoff model, HBV-light, at 27 catchments in the southeastern United States. Calibration trials were repeated 100 times to reduce parameter uncertainty effects on the results, and 12 ecological flow characteristics were computed for comparison. Our results showed that the most suitable calibration strategy varied according to streamflow characteristic. Combined objective functions generally gave the best results, though a clear underprediction bias was observed. The occurrence of low prediction errors for certain combinations of objective function and flow characteristic suggests that (1) incorporating multiple ecological flow characteristics into a single objective function would increase model accuracy, potentially benefitting decision-making processes; and (2) there may be a need to have different objective functions available to address specific applications of the predicted time series.


The results of 103 total hip arthroplasties performed with insertion of a ceramic femoral head and acetabular component in ninety-six patients were reviewed to determine the radiographic prevalence of osteolysis. After a mean duration of follow-up of ninety-two months (range, sixty to 125 months), femoral osteolysis was observed in twenty-three hips (22 per cent), in one of two distinct patterns: linear osteolysis (twelve hips) or scalloping expansile-type osteolysis (eleven hips). The most common locations of osteolysis in the femur were in zones I and VII as described by Gruen et al. Serial radiographs demonstrated that the extent of the osteolysis progressed over time. Osteolysis of the pelvis, noted in forty-nine hips, was always associated with migration of the acetabular socket. No focal osteolysis was observed in association with the stable sockets. Ten patients (ten hips) had a revision because of loosening and migration of the acetabular component. In three of these patients, the femoral stem also was revised. Gross examination revealed evidence of wear of the ceramic bearing surface in all ten patients. Scanning electron microscopy showed cracking and wear marks on the weight-bearing surface. Histological evaluation of the tissue in the periprosthetic membrane demonstrated abundant ceramic wear particles. The interface membrane was composed of a vascularized fibrous connective tissue with macrophages. Ultrastructurally, the macrophages contained numerous phagosomes of various sizes, with electron-dense material within the cytoplasm of the cell. The mean size of the ceramic particles, as determined with scanning electron microscopy, was 0.71 micrometer (range, 0.13 to 7.20 micrometers). This study supports the concept that ceramic wear particles can stimulate a foreign-body response and periprosthetic osteolysis.


This is a richly detailed account of Muslim life throughout the kingdoms of Spain, from the fall of Seville, which signaled the beginning of the retreat of Islam, to the Christian reconquest. "Harvey not only examines the politics of the Nasrids, but also the Islamic communities in the Christian kingdoms of the peninsula. This innovative approach breaks new ground, enables the reader to appreciate the situation of all Spanish Muslims and is fully vindicated. . . . An absorbing and thoroughly informed narrative." Richard Hitchcock, "Times Higher Education Supplement" "L. P. Harvey has produced a beautifully written account of an enthralling subject." Peter Linehan, "The Observer""


Wired embedded networks must include multicast authentication to prevent masquerade attacks within the network. However, unique constraints for these networks make most existing multicast authentication techniques impractical. Our previous work provides multicast authentication for time-triggered applications on embedded networks by validating truncated message authentication codes across multiple packets. In this work, we improve overall bandwidth efficiency and reduce authentication latency by using unanimous voting on message value and validity amongst a group of nodes. This technique decreases the probability of successful per-packet forgery by using one extra bit per additional voter, regardless of the number of total receivers. This can permit using fewer authentication bits per receiver. We derive an upper bound on the probability of successful forgery and experimentally verify it using simulated attacks. For example, we show that with two authentication bits per receiver, adding four additional bits per message to vote amongst four nodes reduces the probability of per-packet forgery by a factor of more than 100. When integrated with our prior work on time-triggered authentication, this technique reduces the number of authentication message rounds required for this example by a factor of three. Model-checking with AVISPA confirms data integrity and data origin authenticity for this approach.


University counseling centers are faced with the challenge of effectively treating bipolar students while also utilizing brief treatment frameworks and managing high patient volumes. Potential destabilization, particularly within the elevated mood phase, poses significant behavioral management issues for university clinicians and administrators, though for many years the common default position for university counseling centers has been to refer students with bipolar disorder to off-campus resources for longer-term treatment. The author argues against this and instead poses a four-point rationale for treating most bipolar students on campus. The recommended treatment approach includes the integration of brief individual psychotherapy, psychiatric medication, and a bipolar student support group. An important additional component entails lifestyle modifications which include healthy sleep hygiene, the application of stable life patterns, effective stress management, and abstinence from the use of psychoactive substances. Normative strivings toward independence, identification with contemporary group norms, and fears of the long-term implications of bipolar disorder predictably give rise to defensive denial and resistance to the diagnosis. Such should be an essential focus of the early phase of treatment, with particular attention given to students' narcissistic injury reflecting loss of the ideal self they are striving to become. Participation in an ongoing student support group will provide important support in relation to this loss—a place to feel accurately perceived and understood and an alternate source of group identification. The potential benefit from support group involvement will also be instrumental in sustaining healthy treatment compliance.


An estimate of the amount of clusters that a vine can reasonably bring to maturity is essential for optimizing crop level. This work was conducted to determine whether the timing of maturity in a high-yielding, dry-farmed Vitis vinifera L. Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard could be manipulated through rootstocks and crop level. Cabernet Sauvignon, grafted on 5C Teleki ( V. berlandieri Planch. x V. riparia Michx), 1103 Paulsen, 140 Ruggeri, and 110 Richter ( V. berlandieri Planch. x V. rupestris Scheele), was used in a trial carried out in 1997 and 1998 in an 8-year-old vineyard near Oakville, California. Four levels of crop were imposed by winter pruning all vines to four-bud spurs and cluster thinning at veraison: treatment 1 (100%), or double crop, no thinned vines with ~26 shoots and 40 clusters per vine; treatment 2 (75%), in which 25% of clusters were thinned; treatment 3 (50%), the standard crop level in the study area or control, in which 50% of clusters were thinned and one cluster per shoot was retained; and treatment 4 (25%), in which 75% of clusters were thinned and one cluster every two shoots was retained. The time required to reach 23.5, 24.0, and 25.0 Brix was linearly dependent on crop level with a rate of about one day per each ton of grapes. Rootstocks and crop levels had no or little impact on fruitfulness, cluster and berry size, and final Brix. The reduction in sugar accumulation seems to be a sensitive measure for crop level and does not appear to be influenced by rootstock or environmental conditions.


Pendubot is a planar two-link underactuated robotic mechanism and serves as a benchmark example to test developed control algorithms for underactuated mechanical systems. In this thesis we attempt to use the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model for the task of the trajectory tracking of the Pendubot. Two proposed control algorithms employ the fuzzy control that is designed by an aggregation of the fuzzy local controllers. For the first control algorithm, the local controller consists of an optimal output feedback plus a term for perturbation rejection, which is design based on the output optimal control and the linear regulatory theory. For the second control algorithm, the local controller is constructed with the state observer. The advantage for such designs is only simple fuzzy controllers are used in the approaches. The proposed two control laws ensure global stability of the closed-loop system and the first one also guarantees the optimal output trajectory tracking


The issue of the order-dependence of iterative deletion processes is well-known in the game theory community, and meanwhile conditions on the dominance concept underlying these processes have been detected which ensure order-independence (see e.g. the criteria of Gilboa et al., 1990 and Apt, 2011). While this kind of research deals with the technical issue, whether certain iterative deletion processes are order-independent, or not, our focus is on the normative issue, whether there are good reasons for employing order-independent iterative deletion processes on strategic games. We tackle this question from an epistemic perspective and attempt to figure out, whether order-independence contains some specific epistemic meaning. It turns out that, under fairly general preconditions on the choice rules underlying the iterative deletion processes, the order-independence of these deletion processes coincides with the epistemic characterization of their solutions by the common belief of choice-rule following behavior. The presumably most challenging precondition of this coincidence is the property of the independence of irrelevant acts. We also examine the consequences of two weakenings of this property on our epistemic motivation for order-independence. Although the coincidence mentioned above breaks down for both weakenings, still there exist interesting links between the order-independence of iterative deletion processes and the common belief of following the choice rules, on which these processes are based.


Pedestrians are considered as the weakest traffic participants, they are easily involved in traffic accidents with severe consequences, in which more than half occur at urban signalised intersections. Concerning pedestrian safety at urban areas in China, it is much worse than that in the U.S. and European countries, pedestrian fatalities in China are about 20 times higher than those in the U.S. and in Germany under the same motorisation level (the same number of private cars) in 2007. Therefore, it is necessary and urgent to find solutions to improve pedestrian safety in China. Based on previous studies, it can be concluded that pedestrian safety at signalised intersections is influenced by several clusters of factors, among which behaviour of road users has the most direct impacts. Behaviour of pedestrians and drivers is influenced by internal factors (human factors including demographic and social demographic factors, alcohol etc.) and external factors (background factors, traffic factors, intersection geometry and layout, signal control, traffic education and traffic law enforcement etc.). Pedestrian safety problems at signalised intersections in China are highlighted through a comparison of pedestrian crossing traffic in Germany and in China mainly based on empirical studies at seven typical signalised intersections in China and eight intersections in Germany. It focuses on pedestrian and driver behaviour and influencing factors on behaviour, such as intersection layout and signal control, traffic education and law enforcement. Traffic Situation Analysis (TSA) is adopted as the main method for empirical study at intersections out of two reasons: on the one hand, it provides a comprehensive view of traffic situations since complete information of "traffic situations" (e.g. behaviour, traffic conditions, intersection geometry and layout, signal control) are required to obtain; on the other hand, TSA distinguishes interactions (interactions obeying traffic rules and encounters) when pedestrians comply with signals from conflicts due to non-compliance by at least one of the traffic participants. Furthermore, different levels of interactions are distinguished according to the non-compliant behaviour and the executor of a manoeuvre. The findings of pedestrian safety problems in China can be summarised by: (1)Mixed traffic makes the situation at signalised intersections more complicated for pedestrians to handle.(2)High rates of pedestrian non-compliance and low rates of driver yielding behaviour as major problems endanger pedestrian safety.(3)Traffic planning, design, and operation followed a "vehicle-oriented" notion for a long time, which ignored pedestrian requirements and conversely easily induced improper behaviour of pedestrians and drivers.(4)Lack of traffic education is the main reason for low traffic discipline of all road users.(5)Traffic laws have some deficiencies and enforcement measures are inefficient and insufficient. Accordingly, there are two fundamental approaches to improve pedestrian safety at signalised intersections in China, one is to ensure that traffic facilities provide pedestrians with high level of service and the other is to increase road users' compliance with traffic regulations and traffic facilities. Measures of traffic engineering, traffic education and traffic enforcement are sorted and evaluated based on experiences in the U.S., Germany and some other countries. Concerning particular situations in China, the feasibility and application methods of measures in China are drawn out with comprehensive consideration of efficiency to improve pedestrian safety, influence on the capacity of motorised traffic, and cost. Methodology such as "before-and-after comparison", "treatment-and-control comparison" etc. was employed. The major issues of measures to improve pedestrian safety in China are:(1)Traffic education is the basic measure to cultivate a right attitude towards traffic of all road users and provide them with knowledge of safe behaviour. An enhanced school traffic education system should be attached more importance to. (2)Pedestrian-friendly facilities are required, especially at sites with high pedestrian volume or high frequency of activities of the elderly, children and handicapped pedestrians. Generally speaking, the requirement of pedestrian-friendly facilities include: reduced vehicle volume and speed, increased visibility for vehicles and pedestrians, ample space for waiting and walking, short crossing distance, signs and signals with high visibility and clear meanings, short waiting time, required minimum green time,sufficient clearance time, reduced conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles, successive crossing without stops, and special consideration for the disabled pedestrians and children. (3)Efficient traffic law enforcement is necessary to prevent non-compliance and risky behaviour. The achievements of the presented research can be summarised as follows: analysing characteristics of pedestrian and driver behaviour at signalised intersections, finding out influencing factors on pedestrian safety at signalised intersections and their functions, pointing out pedestrian safety problems in China, and providing a draft of "Guidelines for pedestrian safety at signalised intersections" for China from the aspects of traffic education, traffic law enforcement and traffic engineering, which fills a gap in China and may be also interesting for other countries with similar traffic situations(e.g. India, Vietnam etc.).


This paper is centered on the principle author's (John) personal narrative of a coach-athlete relationship in golf, and how the original story altered through a process of shared critical thinking. On first telling, John explained to his co-authors how he considered himself to be the victim of bad coaching practice following his coach's failure to correctly diagnose a key but subtle fault with his golf swing. The initial rendering was a story of blame, betrayal, and of a coach who ultimately failed to provide the expert service required. Having shared and critically reflected upon this comfortable version of events with his co-authors, John explores how he came to understand his role in an ultimately dysfunctional coaching relationship in a different way. Rather than being a blameless victim, John began to explore his own contribution to the process of relationship breakdown. For example, his conscious decision to not share his thoughts and feelings about his golf swing with his coach; an act of stubbornness that led John to 'test' his coach in a way that could only lead to failure. Finally, the author team considers the value, role and issues associated with reflective writing in coaching, especially as they relate to the development of co-constructed narratives.


In this study, we used sequences of two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and 16S rRNA, and one nuclear gene, 28S rRNA, to test the monophyly of the sea star genus Echinaster, and understand the phylogenetic relationships among species and subgenera within this genus. Phylogenetic analyses based on Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods revealed three clades with high values of genetic divergence among them (K2P distances for COI over 23%). One of the clades grouped all Echinaster (Othilia) species, and the other two clades included Echinaster (non-Othilia) species and Henricia species, respectively. Although the relationships among Henricia, Othilia, and Echinaster could not be completely clarified, the Othilia clade was a well-supported group with shared diagnostic morphological characters. Moreover, the approximately unbiased test applied to the phylogenetic reconstruction rejected the hypothesis of the genus Echinaster as a monophyletic group. According to these results, we suggest the revalidation of Othilia as a genus instead of a subgenus within Echinaster. Our study clarifies important points about the phylogenetic relationships among species of Echinaster. Other important systematic questions about the taxonomic classification of Echinaster and Henricia still remain open, but this molecular study provides bases for future research on the topic.


ABT-263 blocks BCL-XL to induce apoptosis in human dermal fibroblasts from patients with scleroderma and in myofibroblasts in mice, reversing dermal fibrosis. Reversing fibrosis through apoptosis Myofibroblasts are integral in a feedback loop that perpetuates fibrosis through stiffening of the extracellular matrix. Lagares et al. determined that proapoptotic proteins are increased in these stiffness-activated myofibroblasts, and these cells become dependent on antiapoptotic protein expression to prevent their death. A drug that mimics a proapoptotic protein to block the antiapoptotic protein BCL-XL induced apoptosis in fibroblasts from patients with scleroderma, a fibrotic connective tissue disorder. The drug, ABT-263, was also effective in reversing established fibrosis in a mouse model of scleroderma. This study suggests that targeting antiapoptotic proteins to induce myofibroblast apoptosis could be an effective strategy to treat fibrosis. Persistent myofibroblast activation distinguishes pathological fibrosis from physiological wound healing, suggesting that therapies selectively inducing myofibroblast apoptosis could prevent progression and potentially reverse established fibrosis in diseases such as scleroderma, a heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by multiorgan fibrosis. We demonstrate that fibroblast-to-myofibroblast differentiation driven by matrix stiffness increases the mitochondrial priming (proximity to the apoptotic threshold) of these activated cells. Mitochondria in activated myofibroblasts, but not quiescent fibroblasts, are primed by death signals such as the proapoptotic BH3-only protein BIM, which creates a requirement for tonic expression of the antiapoptotic protein BCL-XL to sequester BIM and ensure myofibroblast survival. Myofibroblasts become particularly susceptible to apoptosis induced by "BH3 mimetic" drugs inhibiting BCL-XL such as ABT-263. ABT-263 displaces BCL-XL binding to BIM, allowing BIM to activate apoptosis on stiffness-primed myofibroblasts. Therapeutic blockade of BCL-XL with ABT-263 (navitoclax) effectively treats established fibrosis in a mouse model of scleroderma dermal fibrosis by inducing myofibroblast apoptosis. Using a BH3 profiling assay to assess mitochondrial priming in dermal fibroblasts derived from patients with scleroderma, we demonstrate that the extent of apoptosis induced by BH3 mimetic drugs correlates with the extent of their mitochondrial priming, indicating that BH3 profiling could predict apoptotic responses of fibroblasts to BH3 mimetic drugs in patients with scleroderma. Together, our findings elucidate the potential efficacy of targeting myofibroblast antiapoptotic proteins with BH3 mimetic drugs in scleroderma and other fibrotic diseases.


The degree of a relationship between the changes of two or more financial quantities in time can be measured by correlations, which play a key role in investing, trading, risk management and regulation.
This thesis is divided into three parts and contains a wide range of topics related to the impact of financial correlation, its modellings and applications in finance.
The first part is devoted to briefly introduce basic notions of counterparty credit risk (CCR), credit value adjustment (CVA) and to study default dependence between counterparties in a credit default swap (CDS) contract. To compute the highly accurate bilateral CVA (BVA) on CDS, we employ tailored numerical methods to obtain the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the integrated Cox- Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) process, which is demanded to to compute the survival probabilities of the counterparties. Furthermore, we develop
a new formula which allows simultaneous defaults among counterparties, the simultaneous default risk can thus be regarded.
From the first part we get motivated to work on the dynamical
(time-dependent) and stochastic correlation model in the next two parts. In the second part, we provide an appropriate and reasonable time-dependent correlation function and present the concept of dynamically (time-dependent) correlated Brownian motions (BMs) and its construction. As example, we apply this new time-dependent correlation function to price European options and Quanto options. We analyze the improvement by using a time-dependent correlation instead of a constant correlation.
As randomness features more generally, like moving from time-dependent interest rate to stochastic interest rate, from time-dependent volatility to stochastic volatility, in the last part we investigate how to model correlation as a stochastic process and its applications in finance. We provide a general stochastic correlation model and discuss several stochastic correlation processes. We apply stochastic correlation to price Quanto options and quantify the correlation risk caused
by using a wrong (constant) correlation. Furthermore, we incorporate stochastic correlation into the Heston model and find, that the Heston model extended by introducing stochastic correlation provide a better fit to the skew and smile in the volatility surface that is visible in the market.


IIED is a policy and action research organisation. We promote sustainable development to improve livelihoods and protect the environments on which these livelihoods are built. We specialise in linking local priorities to global challenges. IIED is based in London and works in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific, with some of the world's most vulnerable people. We work with them to strengthen their voice in the decision-making arenas that affect them — from village councils to international conventions.


Chronic diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, disproportionately impact women of color as compared to White women. Community-engaged and participatory approaches are proposed as a means to address chronic disease health disparities in minority communities, as they allow for tailoring and customization of strategies that align with community needs, interests, and priorities. While community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a framework that offers a clear set of principles to guide intervention design and development, the complexity and diversity of community contexts make it challenging to anticipate all of the possible pathways to implementation. This article describes the application of CBPR principles in the design and development of SHE Tribe (She's Healthy and Empowered), a social network–based healthy lifestyle intervention intended to promote the adoption of sustainable health behaviors in underserved communities. Practical and specific strategies are described to aid practitioners, researchers, and community partners as they engage in community–academic partnerships. These strategies uncover some of the inner workings of this partnership to promote trust and collaboration and maximize partner strengths, with the aim to aid others with key elements and practical steps in the application of participatory methods.


The highly variable and dynamic word usage in social media presents serious challenges for both research and those commercial applications that are geared towards blogs or other user-generated non-editorial texts. This paper discusses and exemplifies a terminology mining approach for dealing with the productive character of the textual environment in social media. We explore the challenges of practically acquiring new terminology, and of modeling similarity and relatedness of terms from observing realistic amounts of data. We also discuss semantic evolution and density, and investigate novel measures for characterizing the preconditions for terminology mining.


Grafting of antioxidants and other modifiers onto polymers by reactive extrusion, has been performed successfully by the Polymer Processing and Performance Group at Aston University. Traditionally the optimum conditions for the grafting process have been established within a Brabender internal mixer. Transfer of this batch process to a continuous processor, such as an extruder, has, typically, been empirical. To have more confidence in the success of direct transfer of the process requires knowledge of, and comparison between, residence times, mixing intensities, shear rates and flow regimes in the internal mixer and in the continuous processor.The continuous processor chosen for the current work in the closely intermeshing, co-rotating twin-screw extruder (CICo-TSE). CICo-TSEs contain screw elements that convey material with a self-wiping action and are widely used for polymer compounding and blending. Of the different mixing modules contained within the CICo-TSE, the trilobal elements, which impose intensive mixing, and the mixing discs, which impose extensive mixing, are of importance when establishing the intensity of mixing. In this thesis, the flow patterns within the various regions of the single-flighted conveying screw elements and within both the trilobal element and mixing disc zones of a Betol BTS40 CICo-TSE, have been modelled using the computational fluid dynamics package Polyflow. A major obstacle encountered when solving the flow problem within all of these sets of elements, arises from both the complex geometry and the time-dependent flow boundaries as the elements rotate about their fixed axes. Simulation of the time dependent boundaries was overcome by selecting a number of sequential 2D and 3D geometries, used to represent partial mixing cycles. The flow fields were simulated using the ideal rheological properties of polypropylene and characterised in terms of velocity vectors, shear stresses generated and a parameter known as the mixing efficiency. The majority of the large 3D simulations were performed on the Cray J90 supercomputer situated at the Rutherford-Appleton laboratories, with pre- and postprocessing operations achieved via a Silicon Graphics Indy workstation. A mechanical model was constructed consisting of various CICo-TSE elements rotating within a transparent outer barrel. A technique has been developed using coloured viscous clays whereby the flow patterns and mixing characteristics within the CICo-TSE may be visualised. In order to test and verify the simulated predictions, the patterns observed within the mechanical model were compared with the flow patterns predicted by the computational model. The flow patterns within the single-flighted conveying screw elements in particular, showed good agreement between the experimental and simulated results.


President Bush's administration has been accused of creating a unilateral presidency. He has disdained allies and refused to use Congress as a partner in fashioning national policy. Less remarked upon, President Bush's claims of broad powers have marginalized not only international entities and Congress, but other actors within the executive branch. More than any recent President, he has attempted to route all authority delegated by Congress to the executive branch through his Office. This essay assesses President Bush's conception of the unitary executive in the administrative sphere. Based on President Bush's signing statements and executive orders, it concludes - contrary to a leading account - that President Bush's view of the unitary executive in the administrative sphere is extreme even by comparison to that forwarded by his father, and Presidents Clinton and Reagan. In short, President Bush apparently has theorized that the President, as the officer at the apex of Article II, must be the principal decisionmaker for all authority vested by Congress in the executive branch, irrespective of Congress's choice of delegate. According to President Bush, the President under Article II retains the authority to supplant the discretion vested in officers inferior to him and exercise that authority directly. To that end, he has decried congressional efforts to delegate final authority to subordinate executive branch officials, lambasted congressional efforts to seek proposals for new legislation directly from subordinate officers in the executive branch, and deployed regulatory policy officers to oversee the administrative work of agency officials appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. President Bush's views are coherent, yet radical in expanding the unitary executive ideal beyond what had been asserted by his predecessors. To President Bush, Article II demands not merely a unitary but a unilateral presidency in that all authority delegated by Congress must be funneled through the President. The essay then explores the potential ramifications of such a sea change in the unitary executive vision. The Bush perspective would jeopardize so-termed independent agencies, undermining the independence critical to agency adjudication and to a lesser extent rulemaking. Moreover, the Bush theory would obviate the President's need to remove from office officials who failed to follow his policy for he could simply exercise the duties himself. Furthermore, it might permit the President carte blanche in reorganizing the executive branch and thereby blunt Congress's interest in creating offices and delegating particular tasks to officeholders. In sum, President Bush's view demeans the role of presidential appointees approved by the Senate and threatens to seal off much of the executive branch from dialogue with Congress.


Weighted least-squares estimation is commonly applied in metrology to fit models to measurements that are accompanied with quoted uncertainties. The weights are chosen in dependence on the quoted uncertainties. However, when data and model are inconsistent in view of the quoted uncertainties, this procedure does not yield adequate results. When it can be assumed that all uncertainties ought to be rescaled by a common factor, weighted least-squares estimation may still be used, provided that a simple correction of the uncertainty obtained for the estimated model is applied. We show that these uncertainties and credible intervals are robust, as they do not rely on the assumption of a Gaussian distribution of the data. Hence, common software for weighted least-squares estimation may still safely be employed in such a case, followed by a simple modification of the uncertainties obtained by that software. We also provide means of checking the assumptions of such an approach. The Bayesian regression procedure is applied to analyze the CODATA values for the Planck constant published over the past decades in terms of three different models: a constant model, a straight line model and a spline model. Our results indicate that the CODATA values may not have yet stabilized.


This study focuses on two songs dedicated to Marseilles; their large chronological span testifies to the evolution of the popular genre called "chanson". Each song combines an individual and a collective story related to Marseilles. The vibrant city features in the varied and forceful auditory sensations (whether melodious or cacophonic) it provides to its inhabitants, who can either be delighted or infuriated by them but cannot escape them. Both songs also highlight the continuous and intriguing connection between Marseilles and the art of singing, a polysemiotic art. Marseilles, which is both a port and a city, is perceived as a space filled with sounds so that its depiction opens up to metatextuallevel: the subject of the song mirrors the song itself in an ambiguous and symbolic way which challenges a purely mimetic approach. The din of the city and the notorious volubility of its inhabitants (called tchatche by the natives) are intertwined, caught in an enthralling urban and musical trap.


Since the late 1970s, families of microelectronic technologies that could bring the advantages of high levels of electronic integration have been available at reasonable prices and manageable risk to all sectors of UK industry. However, the uptake of these technologies has been painfully slow, particularly by the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that make up most of the companies currently operating in the UK. It is the aim of the research described here to assess how slow the uptake has been, the reasons for it, and possible solutions to the problem. The problem is investigated with reference to SMEs.

In order to reach conclusions it has been necessary to:-

• Define Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) technology and review its history

• Review that nature of the UK SME base and identify why they should use ASICs

• Review the UK, European and World ASIC markets

• Analyse the nature of the UK ASIC design and supply industry

• Ascertain the reasons for non-adoption and assess their validity

• Relate the findings of this research to appropriate business, organisational and system models

• Review past and existing technology-transfer programmes operating in the area of ASIC adoption at a UK, European and world level

• Compare the adoption of ASIC technology with the adoption of similar, wide-ranging, new technologies

The study concludes that the technology is unique in the wide range of industries to which it can be applied, and that although some advances in adoption have been made, there remains a significant number of hurdles to adoption which can best be addressed by government intervention and supporting activity from supply-companies, trade associations, user-groups and professional and educational institutions. Only once adoption has reached a 'critical mass' can it be assumed that a self-sustaining market will result.


Abstract Europe has started since the '80s with the preparatory work done on NET, the Next European Torus, the successor of JET, to prepare for the construction of the next generation experiment on the road to the fusion reactor. In 2000 the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) has been signed by sixteen countries, including Switzerland, not a member of the Union. Now the signatory countries have increased to twenty-five. A vigorous programme of design and R&D in support of ITER construction has been conducted by EFDA through the coordinated effort of the national institutes and laboratories supported financially, in the framework of the VI European Framework Research Programme (2002-2006), by contracts of association with EURATOM. In the last three years, with the expenditure of 160 M€, the accent has been particularly put on the preparation of the industrial manufacturing activities of components and systems for ITER. Prototypes and manufacturing methods have been developed in all the main critical areas of machine construction with the objective of providing sound and effective solutions: vacuum vessel, toroidal field coils, poloidal field coils, remote handling equipment, plasma facing components and divertor components, electrical power supplies, generators and power supplies for the Heating and Current Drive Systems and other minor subsystems. Europe feels to be ready to host the ITER site and to provide adequate support and guidance for the success of construction to our partners in the ITER collaboration, wherever needed.


The aim of this work is the comparative study of the presence of hydrothermal alteration materials in the Turrialba volcano (Costa Rica) in relation with computed spectral anomalies from multitemporal and multisensor data adquired in spectral ranges of the visible (VIS), short wave infrared (SWIR) and thermal infrared (TIR). We used for this purposes hyperspectral and multispectral images from the HyMAP and MASTER airborne sensors, and ASTER and Hyperion scenes in a period between 2002 and 2010. Field radiometry was applied in order to remove the atmospheric contribution in an empirical line method. HyMAP and MASTER images were georeferenced directly thanks to positioning and orientation data that were measured at the same time in the acquisition campaign from an inertial system based on GPS/IMU. These two important steps were allowed the identification of spectral diagnostic bands of hydrothermal alteration minerals and the accuracy spatial correlation. Enviromental impact of the volcano activity has been studied through different vegetation indexes and soil patterns. Have been mapped hydrothermal materials in the crater of the volcano, in fact currently active, and their surrounding carrying out a principal components analysis differentiated for a high and low absorption bands to characterize accumulations of kaolinite, illite, alunite and kaolinite+smectite, delimitating zones with the presence of these minerals. Spectral anomalies have been calculated on a comparative study of methods pixel and subpixel focused in thermal bands fused with high-resolution images. Results are presented as an approach based on expert whose main interest lies in the automated identification of patterns of hydrothermal altered materials without prior knowledge or poor information on the area.


Much analysis and proposals on sustainable transport policies have been developed around the world, both at government and research institutions. It is clear that no action will provide the single solution and it is imperative to act simultaneously on: i) improvement of technology in vehicles, leading to increased energy efficiency; ii) the change in driver behavior, to use less fuel per kilometer; iii) reducing the distances traveled per vehicle; and iv) a change in the type of travels towards more sustainable modes of transport.In general, the recommendations for energy efficiency in transport are mainly focused on the first two priorities on the list, while the portfolios of policies —instrumental to the needs of the countries— should use trans-sectoral and multi-dimensional approaches, such as public transport planning and land use. In ECLAC, we consider that the time has come to provide Latin American and Caribbean countries with a deeper understanding and a more strategic vision (and adapted to the realities of the region) on these issues; in this sense, we hope that this document will help countries to improve and further expand their portfolios of energy efficiency policies in the transport sector, in order to achieve the ambitious goals of energy efficiency, needed to ensure a sustainable energy future.


Core- and Valence Photoelectron Spectroscopy (PES), X-ray- and Ultraviolet-Visible Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS and UV-Vis), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations are used to study the electronic and geometrical structure of a class of macro-cyclic molecules, Phthalocyanines (Pc), on surfaces. These molecules are widely studied due to their application in many different fields. Multilayer and monolayer coverages of Iron Phthalocyanine (FePc) and metal-free Phthalocyanine (H2Pc) deposited on different surfaces are investigated in order to get insight in the electronic and geometrical structure of the obtained overlayers, of crucial importance for the understanding of the film functionality. Sublimation of molecular thick films on Si(100) and on conducting glass results in films with molecules mainly oriented with their molecular plane orthogonal to the surface. Ex-situ deposited H2Pc films on conductive glass show different molecular orientation and morphology with respect to the vacuum sublimated films. We study the monolayer adsorption structure of FePc and H2Pc and compare our results with other Pc's adsorbed on graphite. We find that the molecular unit cell and the superstructure is characteristic for each Pc adsorbed on graphite, even if the geometrical size of the compared molecules is the same. The PE- and XA- spectra of FePc on graphite are essentially identical for the mono- and multilayer preparations, evidencing weak intermolecular and molecular-substrate interactions of van der Waals nature. Furthermore, we characterize Pc's on InSb (001)-c(8x2). The substrate In rows are observed to be the adsorption site for Pc's. We find that the growth of the two-dimensional islands of FePc is prolonged in the [-110] direction, in contrast to ZnPc adsorbed on the same substrate at room temperature. We interpret this result as an indication that the adsorption is controlled by the substrate corrugation observed at 70 K.


Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) the most common genetic cause of osteoporosis is a generalized disorder of connective tissue, characterized by increased bone fragility, low bone mass, recurrent fractures & numerous extraosseous features with unusual presentations. We report a case of 7 year old female child presenting with respiratory distress with bowing of limb. This case is presented for its rarity.


We present three interesting applications of stochastic control in finance. The first is a real option model that considers the optimal entry into and subsequent operation of a biofuel production facility. We derive the associated Hamilton Jacobi Bellman (HJB) equation for the entry and operating decisions along with the econometric analysis of the stochastic price inputs. We follow with a Monte Carlo analysis of the risk profile for the facility. The second application expands on the analysis of the biofuel facility to account for the associated regulatory and taxation uncertainty experienced by players in the renewables and energy industries. A federal biofuel production subsidy per gallon has been available to producers for many years but the subsidy price level has changed repeatedly. We model this uncertain price as a jump process. We present and solve the HJB equations for the associated multidimensional jump diffusion problem which also addresses the model uncertainty pervasive in real option problems such as these. The novel real option framework we present has many applications for industry practitioners and policy makers dealing with country risk or regulatory uncertainty—which is a very real problem in our current global environment. Our final application (which, although apparently different from the first two applications, uses the same tools) addresses the problem of producing reliable bid-ask spreads for derivatives in illiquid markets. We focus on the hedging of over the counter (OTC) equity derivatives where the underlying assets realistically have transaction costs and possible illiquidity which standard finance models such as BlackScholes neglect. We present a model for hedging under market impact (such as bid-ask spreads, order book depth, liquidity) using temporary and permanent equity price impact functions and derive the associated HJB equations for the problem. This model transitions from continuous to impulse trading (control) with the introduction of fixed trading costs. We then price and hedge via the economically sound framework of utility indifference pricing. The problem of hedging under liquidity impact is an on-going concern of market makers following the Global Financial Crisis.


Cattle metapodials are apparently among the bones which have been most investigated by zooarchaeologists. Nevertheless the effect of different variables on size and shape of these bones is still only poorly understood. Here the effect of age, sex, pathology and genetic change on the shape of mediaeval and postmediaeval cattle metapodials at Launceston Castle (England) is considered. It is suggested that a change is due to the presence in the later period of a genetically different type of cattle. This explanation is supported by the contemporary occurrence of a size change and by the different frequency of a non-metrical trait between the two periods. Comparison with other sites and with data from modern animals shows the very large extent to which the shape of metapodials may vary in different regional types, and how this can obscure the difference between sexes.


The economic and social mobility of a generation may be largely determined by the time it enters school given early developing and persistent gaps in child achievement by family income and the importance of adolescent skill levels for educational attainment and lifetime earnings. After providing new evidence of important differences in early child investments by family income, we study four leading mechanisms thought to explain these gaps: an intergenerational correlation in ability, a consumption value of investment, information frictions, and credit constraints. In order to better determine which of these mechanisms influence family investments in children, we evaluate the extent to which these mechanisms also explain other important stylized facts related to the marginal returns on investments and the effects of parental income on child investments and skills.


The choice of pollen donor may sometimes affect fruit characteristics of kiwifruit. In this study, flowers of a red-fleshed kiwifruit selection were hand-pollinated with pollen from males of diploid and tetraploid Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis and hexaploid A. chinensis var. deliciosa. The resulting fruit were evaluated for key commercial traits after storage. All fruit had intense red colour in the centre, but those from pollination by the diploid or tetraploid males had significantly more intense red coloration than those from pollination by the hexaploid male. Malic acid, total acid, sucrose and soluble solids concentrations, titratable acidity and total seed weight were all significantly higher following pollination by the diploid male. There were no significant differences among pollen donors in fruit weight or seed number, or in fructose, glucose, total sugar or quinic acid concentrations. These results contribute to our general understanding of pollen donor effects on fruit development, and will be of practical interest to kiwifruit growers when choosing males suitable for pollination of red-fleshed female cultivars.


The Interstate 5 portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP) in King County has been in service for over 40 years, twice its planned design life. As such, I-5 is in need of a rehabilitation/reconstruction effort. This study provides WSDOT information that will aid decision making about the timing, locations, and type of rehabilitation or reconstruction. Extensive pavement conditions/distress data provided by WSDOT were summarized, analyzed, and used to develop visual tools to communicate the condition of the I-5 PCCP. The performances of the non-rehabilitated, diamond ground, and the dowel bar retrofit and diamond ground PCCP were summarized and compared. Use of such information shows that about 66 percent of I-5 in King County is in need of rehabilitation or reconstruction. To further illustrate these conditions, Arc GIS was used to map the various distresses/conditions, and the results suggest which sections of I-5 should be addressed early in the rehabilitation/reconstruction process. The report concludes with a broad assessment of expected I-5 conditions and necessary WSDOT actions for five-year increments (0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 years, and greater than 10 years).


A major challenge in trading ecosystem services is the need to quantify and commoditise services, for monitoring and verification as well as for trade. This is relatively straightforward for goods such as forest honey or shade-grown coffee, but potentially complex for services such as water purification, reducing risk from floods or other disasters or carbon sequestration. Developing certification systems for forest ecosystem services is one potential way to define, quantify and verify these services in a way that buyers can trust, and this is why certification of ecosystem services is promoted by a number of environmental and forestry NGOs. Certification of ecosystem services is a useful concept, but many practical and theoretical obstacles must be addressed before it can be put into practice. This paper is a review of existing development in certification of ecosystem services, with information useful for designing and implementing projects to evaluate the efficacy of new systems. We discuss the potential use of more holistic concepts for measuring management sustainability, which are to date undeveloped and untested, and recommend developing pilot projects that are specifically designed to address a number of challenges inherent to ecosystem service certification.


Broadly speaking, the lack of a framework for organizing, preserving, and making research data available for the long term has resulted in valuable datasets becoming lost or discarded. The approach of the Distributed Data Curation Center of the Purdue University Libraries has been to integrate librarians and the principles of library and archival sciences with domain sciences, computer and information sciences, and information technology to address the challenges of managing collections of research data and to learn how to better support interdisciplinary research through data curation. One piece of infrastructure that supports these activities is a "distributed institutional repository" that includes electronic documents, digitized archival collections, and research datasets housed in multiple systems that are connected together using Web Services and other middle-ware. Concurrently, roles for librarians and institutional repositories in data curation are being explored.


By simulating a disaster humanitarian staff can practice responding to an emergency and collaborating with diverse colleagues in an intense emergency context. The Emergency Capacity Building Project produced this guide to coordinating both  multi -and single-agency simulations, which includes a methodology that enables staff to test (self-assess) their performance. This is a simple, adaptable simulation package enabling field teams to test their systems and skills in a realistic emergency scenario, which can be tailored to a country context. This Administrator's guide explains how to implement the simulation effectively and maximize learning during the debrief.  The guide is accompanied by a set of materials designed to support preparation and delivery of single agency and multi-agency simulations. Playing With Reality: Emergency Capacity Building Project simulations case study Simulating the Worst to Prepare the Best: A study of humanitarian simulations and their benefits


We have developed a program called MUDoS (Maastricht University Domineering Solver) that solves Domineering positions in a very efficient way. This enables the solution of known positions so far (up to the 10 x 10 board) much quicker (measured in number of investigated nodes).
More importantly, it enables the solution of the 11 x 11 Domineering board, a board up till now far out of reach of previous Domineering solvers. The solution needed the investigation of 259,689,994,008 nodes, using almost half a year of computation time on a single simple desktop computer. The results show that under optimal play the first player wins the 11 x 11 Domineering game, irrespective if Vertical or Horizontal starts the game.
In addition, several other boards hitherto unsolved were solved. Using the convention that Vertical starts, the 8 x 15, 11 x 9, 12 x 8, 12 x 15, 14 x 8, and 17 x 6 boards are all won by Vertical, whereas the 6 x 17, 8 x 12, 9 x 11, and 11 x 10 boards are all won by Horizontal.


Preface. I. POLICE HISTORY AND ROLE. Introduction. 1. Kelling, George L. and Mark H. Moore (1988) The Evolving Strategy of Policing. 2. Williams, Hubert and Patrick V. Murphy (1999) The Evolving Strategy of Policing: A Minority View. 3. Chambliss, William J. (1994) Policing the Ghetto Underclass: The Politics of Law and Law Enforcement. 4. Barlow, David and Melissa Hickman Barlow (1999) A Political Economy of Community Policing. 5. Bittner, Egon (1967) The Functions of Police in Modern Society. Questions for Discussion and Review. II. POLICE DISCRETION. Introduction. 1. Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (1991) Summary Report of the Independent Commission. 2. Worden, Robert E. (1995) The "Causes" of Police Brutality: Theory and Evidence of Police Use of Force. 3. Muir, William Ker Jr. (1977) Police: Streetcorner Politicians. 4. Black, Donald (1971) The Social Organization of Arrest. 5. Van Maanen, John (1978) Policing: A View From the Street. 6. Fyfe, James J. (1979) Administrative Interventions on Police Shooting Discretion. Questions for Discussion and Review. III. STRATEGIES OF POLICING. Introduction. 1. Kelling, George L., Tone Pate, Duane Dickman, and Charles E. Brown (1974) The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment: A Summary Report. 2. Sherman, Lawrence W. And Dennis P. Rogan (1995) Effects of Gun Size on Gun Violence: "Hot Spots" Patrol in Kansas City. 3. Chaiken, Jan, Peter Greenwood, and Joan Petersilia (1977) The Criminal Investigation Process: A Summary Report. 4. Brandl, Steven G. and James Frank (1994) The Relationship Between Evidence, Detective Effort, and the Disposition of Burglary and Robbery Investigations. 5. Sherman, Lawrence W., Catherine H. Milton, and Thomas V. Kelly (1973) Team Policing: Seven Case Studies. 6. Maguire, Edward (1997) Structural Change in Large Municipal Police Organizations During the Community Policing Era. 7. Goldstein, Herman (1979) Improving Policing: A Problem-Oriented Approach. 8. Wilson, J.Q. and G.L. Kelling (1982) Broken Windows: Police and Neighborhood Safety. 9. Kraska, Peter B. and Louis J. Cubellis (1997) Militarizing Mayberry and Beyond: Making Sense of American Paramilitary Policing. Questions for Discussion and Review. Index.


The BILAN model has been used in a number of research projects and hydrological studies dealing with estimation of water balance for European catchments. This paper is focused on the recent development of the model during last years. The model changes include both core development (new variables representing water use, optional calibration for a system of catchments, saving of state variables) and enhanced user interface that was extended by new graphical outputs and controls allowing interactive use of the model.


Abstract A massive tenth-century AD ring fortress was recently identified at Borgring, south of Copenhagen in Denmark. The combination of high-resolution LiDAR mapping, geophysical survey and targeted small-scale excavation has demonstrated that the site belongs to a rare class of monuments—the Trelleborg-type ring fortress. Borgring is the first such monument to be found in Denmark in over six decades, and provides an opportunity to investigate a type-site of Viking Age military organisation and conflict. The authors argue that Borgring complements a varied group of fortification structures in late Viking Age Denmark, part of a military network close to contemporaneous European ideas of military kingship and defence.


doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15447/sfews.2016v14iss2art7 As juvenile salmon enter the Sacramento–SanJoaquin River Delta ("the Delta") they disperse among its complex channel network where they are subject to channel-specific processes that affect their rate of migration, vulnerability to predation, feeding success, growth rates, and ultimately, survival. In the decades before 2006, tools available to quantify growth, dispersal, and survival of juvenile salmon in this complex channel network were limited.Fortunately, thanks to technological advances such as acoustic telemetry and chemical and structural otolith analysis, much has been learned over the past decade about the role of the Delta in the life cycle of juvenile salmon. Here, we review new science between 2006and 2016 that sheds light on how different life stages and runs of juvenile salmon grow, move, and survive in the complex channel network of the Delta. One of the most important advances during the past decade has been the widespread adoption of acoustic telemetry techniques. Use of telemetry has shed light on how survival varies among alternative migration routes and the proportion of fish that use each migration route. Chemical and structural analysis of otoliths has provided insights about when juveniles left their natal river and provided evidence of extended rearing in the brackish or saltwater regions of the Delta. New advancements in genetics now allow individuals captured by trawls to be assigned to specific runs. Detailed information about movement and survival in the Delta has spurred development of agent-based models of juvenile salmon that are coupled to hydrodynamic models. Although much has been learned, knowledge gaps remain about how very small juvenile salmon (fry and parr) use theDelta. Understanding how all life stages of juvenile salmon grow, rear, and survive in the Delta is critical for devising management strategies that support a diversity of life history strategies.


RGB-Infrared (IR) person re-identification is very challenging due to the large cross-modality variations between RGB and IR images. The key solution is to learn aligned features to the bridge RGB and IR modalities. However, due to the lack of correspondence labels between every pair of RGB and IR images, most methods try to alleviate the variations with set-level alignment by reducing the distance between the entire RGB and IR sets. However, this set-level alignment may lead to misalignment of some instances, which limits the performance for RGB-IR Re-ID. Different from existing methods, in this paper, we propose to generate cross-modality paired-images and perform both global set-level and fine-grained instance-level alignments. Our proposed method enjoys several merits. First, our method can perform set-level alignment by disentangling modality-specific and modality-invariant features. Compared with conventional methods, ours can explicitly remove the modality-specific features and the modality variation can be better reduced. Second, given cross-modality unpaired-images of a person, our method can generate cross-modality paired images from exchanged images. With them, we can directly perform instance-level alignment by minimizing distances of every pair of images. Extensive experimental results on two standard benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed model favourably against state-of-the-art methods. Especially, on SYSU-MM01 dataset, our model can achieve a gain of 9.2% and 7.7% in terms of Rank-1 and mAP. Code is available at https://github.com/wangguanan/JSIA-ReID.


This paper also appears in Australian Road Research Board internal report air 205-10, entitled: preliminary papers for the workshop on freeway lighting, 11-12 December 1979.


Magnesite pebbles in Miocene lacustrine conglomerates in northwest Turkey have been partially to totally replaced by sepiolite. Only 5% of the magnesite pebbles have been converted to essentially pure sepiolite; the rest represent mixtures of magnesite and sepiolite. This process of sepiolitization is documented by X-ray diffraction (XRD), chemical, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques. These techniques show that the sepiolitization proceeds from the rim towards the core of the pebbles. The conglomerates, with pebbles of magnesite and ultramafic rocks, were deposited in a near-shore environment on the margin of a large Miocene lake with an ophiolitic substratum. The diagenetic transformation of magnesite to sepiolite is believed to have been caused by the interaction of mixed meteoric and lacustrine waters, which were undersaturated with respect to magnesite. The sepiolitization occurred during the highstands of the lake, when the near-shore conglomerates were flooded by the silica-rich lake waters. The pH of the water during the sepiolitization was probably on the order of 10.5–11.5. The sedimentary magnesite beds in the center of the Miocene basin show no sepiolitization, which is explained by the presence of pore water saturated with respect to magnesite.


Declamationes by Seneca Rhetor in Gesta Romanorum. The medieval version of an ancient textThe article presents an adaptation of a dozen or so rhetorical subjects of Seneca Rhetor, that were located in L. Annaei Senecae Oratorum et rhetorum sententiae divisiones colores. Those texts are included in a collection of exemplas compiled from different sources. The exemplas are known as Gesta Romanorum. An anonymous medieval author or authors of the collection made numerous alterations of Seneca's text. First of all, each presented event was equipped with an ending which is an important novelty towards the original. All cases are enriched with a set of information, which allowed the author to stress the exceptional character of presented events and heroes that take part in them. One can consider it as an attempt to christianize pagan Seneca. On the other hand it builds up a picture of a medieval society, shown with great reverence. When adapting ancient texts, the medieval author made no attempts to distort them, therefore Seneca's work remained fully recognizable.


Online social networks have become a staging ground for many modern movements, with the Arab Spring being the most prominent example. In an effort to understand and predict those movements, social media can be regarded as a valuable social sensor for disclosing underlying behaviors and patterns. To fully understand mass movement information propagation patterns in social networks, several problems need to be considered and addressed. Specifically, modeling mass movements that incorporate multiple spaces, a dynamic network structure, and misinformation propagation, can be exceptionally useful in understanding information propagation in social media. This dissertation explores four research problems underlying efforts to identify and track the adoption of mass movements in social media. First, how do mass movements become mobilized on Twitter, especially in a specific geographic area? Second, can we detect protest activity in social networks by observing group anomalies in graph? Third, how can we distinguish real movements from rumors or misinformation campaigns? and fourth, how can we infer the indicators of a specific type of protest, say climate related protest? A fundamental objective of this research has been to conduct a comprehensive study of how mass movement adoption functions in social networks. For example, it may cross multiple spaces, evolve with dynamic network structures, or consist of swift outbreaks or long term slowly evolving transmissions. In many cases, it may also be mixed with misinformation campaigns, either deliberate or in the form of rumors. Each of those issues requires the development of new mathematical models and algorithmic approaches such as those explored here. This work aims to facilitate advances in information propagation, group anomaly detection and misinformation distinction and, ultimately, help improve our understanding of mass movements and their adoption in social networks. Algorithms for Modeling Mass Movements and their Adoption in Social Networks


Previous research suggests that infants have high sensitivity to prosodic cues when listening to continuous speech. Specifically, rhythmic patterns play a significant role for infants' language development. Kuiack (2015) conducted a head-turn preference study where infants were shown to rely on the fine durational cues to recognize novel words from familiarized words. However, Kuiack failed to control for beat regularity between words. The present study seeks to explore whether the success in detection of the contrasting vowel durations within the words in the Kuiack (2015) study was due to the regularity in timing. The current study inserted irregular pauses between the word stimuli used in the original Kuiack (2015) study. The results of the present study show that infants do not show discrimination in absence of rhythmic regularity. These findings suggest that infants require regularity in the beat pattern to recognize fine durational differences in speech.


Cyclic adenosine 5'-monophosphate (cAMP) is an ancient signaling molecule, and in vertebrates, a primary target for cAMP is cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). (R(p))-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphothioate ((R(p))-cAMPS) and its analogues are the only known competitive inhibitors and antagonists for cAMP activation of PKA, while (S(p))-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphothioate ((S(p))-cAMPS) functions as an agonist. The crystal structures of a Delta(1-91) deletion mutant of the RIalpha regulatory subunit of PKA bound to (R(p))-cAMPS and (S(p))-cAMPS were determined at 2.4 and 2.3 A resolution, respectively. While the structures are similar to each other and to the crystal structure of RIalpha bound to cAMP, differences in the dynamical properties of the protein when (R(p))-cAMPS is bound are apparent. The structures highlight the critical importance of the exocyclic oxygen's interaction with the invariant arginine in the phosphate binding cassette (PBC) and the importance of this interaction for the dynamical properties of the interactions that radiate out from the PBC. The conformations of the phosphate binding cassettes containing two invariant arginine residues (Arg209 on domain A, and Arg333 on domain B) are somewhat different due to the sulfur interacting with this arginine. Furthermore, the B-site ligand together with the entire domain B show significant differences in their overall dynamic properties in the crystal structure of Delta(1-91) RIalpha complexed with (R(p))-cAMPS phosphothioate analogue ((R(p))-RIalpha) compared to the cAMP- and (S(p))-cAMPS-bound type I and II regulatory subunits, based on the temperature factors. In all structures, two structural solvent molecules exist within the A-site ligand binding pocket; both mediate water-bridged interactions between the ligand and the protein. No structured waters are in the B-site pocket. Owing to the higher resolution data, the N-terminal segment (109-117) of the RIalpha subunit can also be traced. This strand forms an intermolecular antiparallel beta-sheet with the same strand in an adjacent molecule and implies that the RIalpha subunit can form a weak homodimer even in the absence of its dimerization domain.


In this chapter, we describe the principal communication systems applied to the transmission-based signaling (TBS) systems for railways. Typical examples are com-munication-based train control (CBTC), European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), and distance to go (DTG). Moreover, to properly address some of the chal lenges that need to face these systems, we will provide a deep insight on propagation issues related to all the environments (urban, suburban, rural, tunnel, etc.). We will highlight all the communication-related issues and the operational as well. Finally, a detailed survey on the directions of research on all these topics is provided, in order to properly cover this interesting subject. In this research, hot topics like virtual coupling are explained as well.


This work is concerned with the influence of biblical and prophetic traditions on the author of the book of Revelation, and in particular his use of the prophecies of Isaiah. First, John's own prophetic consciousness and expression is compared with previous Israelite-Jewish and early Christian prophetic conventions. This is followed by an evaluation of John's use of the OT in general, including a discussion of methodology for isolating allusions, the question of the validity of the terms quotation and allusion in Revelation, and the presence of thematic patterns in the author's choice of Scripture. All this is foundational to the main portion of the work (Ch. III), where a detailed analysis is undertaken to determine the validity of all proposed allusions to Isaiah in the book of Revelation. Of the 72 suggested allusions treated, 40 were judged as certain or virtually certain, 24 were considered as unlikely or doubtful, and 8 were appraised as probable or possible. Those allusions which were accepted received further evaluation to see how and why they were used by John, with special attention given to the tradition-history of the passage used, and the possible interpretative techniques employed. A variety of exegetical and literary devices were uncovered, including the use of catchwords, inclusio, repetition of texts, exploitation of Hebrew parallelism, and the collection of texts around a central theme. Furthermore, John's use of Isaiah is concentrated in basic areas, with clusters of Isaiah texts appearing in specific sections of Revelation. The principal Isaian themes with which he is interested are holy war and the Day of the Lord, oracles against the nations, and salvation prophecies relating to the community of faith and the restored and glorified Jerusalem. It was concluded that on the whole, John's use of Isaiah is not random, and he does not use the OT texts merely as a visionary resource for language, phrases, structural patterns etc. But he consciously carries on the prophecies of his biblical predecessors and invokes their authority. The remnants and results of John's interpretation of Isaiah presuppose exegetical activity and application prior to the vision experience and it is likely that at least some of his intended readers were familiar not only with his theological concerns, but also with his methodological approach.


Lecture in Bergen 2011, Sep. 21. Early Nietzsche followed much of the philosophical tradition in presupposing a sharp dualism between our sentient and intellectual capacities. Later Nietzsche is often read as opposing such a dualism, but usually just by seeking to show that the latter capacities are really nothing more then etiolated and sublimated exercises of the former. Such a reading of Nietzsche takes him to accept the terms of the traditional dualism and then sees him as simply seeking to account for the phenomena traditionally ascribed to one of its poles in terms of the other. This paper argues that such a reading completely misses the depth at which Nietzsche's later critique of the traditional dualism is pitched. The real target of Nietzsche's later critique is a set of assumptions, deeply entrenched in the traditon and still prevalent today, about how to understand the relationship between animal mindedness and human mindedness.


Pavement top-down cracking performance not only depends on pavement layer material characteristics, but also on layer interface conditions. Interface conditions involve both the shear resistance along the interface and the cracking resistance across the interface provided by the interface bonding agents. Regarding hot-mix asphalt (HMA), currently available tests are mainly focused on pavement layer material properties. When thick polymer modified asphalt emulsion (PMAE) was applied at the interface between an open-graded friction course (OGFC) and a dense graded structural layer, a bonded interface was formed by the migration of PMAE up into the OGFC air voids. Shear strength tests, which can well characterize the adhesive film effect of interface bonding agents, cannot fully capture the effect of bonded interface on pavement cracking performance. To simulate the crack initiation and propagation process and evaluate the effect of bonded interface conditions on top-down cracking performance, a composite specimen interface cracking (CSIC) test was developed. The developed system involves repeated tensile loading and monitoring of the rate of damage development (reduction in stiffness) on composite specimens specifically designed for this purpose. Number of loading cycles to failure and damage rate results from the proposed test on three different interface conditions clearly indicate that this test method can be used to optimize bonding agents and application rates for enhanced cracking performance. This method may also provide a suitable specification test for evaluation of interface conditions on reflective cracking performance.


The Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network is capable of processing complex sequential information since it utilizes special gating schemes for learning representations from long input sequences. It has the potential to model any sequential time-series data, where the current hidden state has to be considered in the context of the past hidden states. This property makes LSTM an ideal choice to learn the complex dynamics present in long sequences. Unfortunately, the conventional LSTMs do not consider the impact of spatio-temporal dynamics corresponding to the given salient motion patterns, when they gate the information that ought to be memorized through time. To address this problem, we propose a differential gating scheme for the LSTM neural network, which emphasizes on the change in information gain caused by the salient motions between the successive video frames. This change in information gain is quantified by Derivative of States (DoS), and thus the proposed LSTM model is termed as differential Recurrent Neural Network (dRNN). In addition, the original work used the hidden state at the last time-step to model the entire video sequence. Based on the energy profiling of DoS, we further propose to employ the State Energy Profile (SEP) to search for salient dRNN states and construct more informative representations. The effectiveness of the proposed model was demonstrated by automatically recognizing human actions from the real-world 2D and 3D single-person action datasets. We point out that LSTM is a special form of dRNN. As a result, we have introduced a new family of LSTMs. Our study is one of the first works towards demonstrating the potential of learning complex time-series representations via high-order derivatives of states.


This paper presents a new proof of the hook-length formula, which computes the number of standard Young tableaux of a given shape. After recalling the basic definitions, we present two inverse algorithms giving the desired bijection. The next part of the paper presents the proof of the bijectivity of our construction. The paper concludes with some examples.


The first case of COVID-19 infection in Africa was recorded in Egypt on 14 February 2020. Following this, several projections of the possible devastating effect that the virus can have on the population of African countries were made in the Western media. This paper presents evidence for Africa's successful responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and under-reporting or misrepresentation of these successes in Western media. It proceeds to argue for accounting for these successes in terms of Africa's communitarian way of life and conceptions of self, duty, and rights; and that a particular orientation in theorizing on global justice can highlight the injustices inherent in the misrepresentation of these successes and contribute shared perspectives to formulating a framework of values and concepts that would facilitate the implementation of global policy goals for justice. The paper is thus grounded in a rejection of the insular tenets of theorizing prevalent in the global justice debate and to persistent inclinations in Western scholarship to the thinking that theorizing in the African context that draws inspiration from the cultural past has little to contribute to the quest for justice globally. On the contrary, it argues that reflexive critique of cultural history is a necessary source of normative ideals that can foster tolerant coexistence and a cooperative endeavour toward shared conceptions of justice in the contemporary world.


This is a special issue dedicated to exploring the efforts used in leadership development sectors such as education, public health and public administration to explicitly address abelism as a part of the professional training program.

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Dismantling Ableism: The Moral Imperative for School Leaders by Holly Manaseri & Josh Bornstein is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/772. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://www.rds.hawaii.edu.


Inflammation is a response to injury or pathogen invasion. A large proportion of the bodie's immune system is centred in the gastrointestinal tract (GI). Prolonged inflammatory conditions of the GI have been suggested to increase the risk for developing colon cancer. The cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs), LTC4, LTD4 and LTE4 are inflammatory mediators that can bind to four known receptors, two of which are the CysLT1R and CysLT2R. Inhibitors of the CysLT1R are currently used in the clinic as asthma medication. LTD4 has been shown to induce cell proliferation, survival and migration in intestinal epithelial cells (Int407) via the CysLT1R. These mechanisms are often used by cancer cells to surive and spread. Furthermore, increased expression of the CysLT1R in colon cancer patient material is correlated with a poorer survival prognosis. Conversley, increased expression of the CysLT2R is correlated with a better survival prognosis. The aim of this thesis was therefore to explore the signalling and trafficking of the cysLT1R and CysLT2R. Our results demonstrate that LTD4 via the CysLT1R can activate the enzyme cPLA2-alpha. This enzyme releases arachidonic acid, the precursor of CysLTs, from the cell membranes, upon activation. One major regulatory mechanism of GPCRs is the internalization from cell membrane upon activation. We demonstrate how LTD4 mainly internalizes CysLT1R and accumulates this receptor at the nuclear membrane and that LTC4 internalizes both the CysLT1R and CysLT2R. This information is valuable in developing potential drugtargets aqainst CysLT1 and CysLT2 in cancer and inflammation.


An idiosyncratic and highly controversial French philosopher, Jacques Derrida inspired profound changes in disciplines as diverse as law, anthropology, literature and architecture. In Derrida's view, texts and contexts are woven with inconsistencies and blindspots, which provide us with a chance to think in new ways about, among other things, language, community, identity and forgiveness. Derrida's suggestions for "how to read" lead to a new vision of ethics and a new concept of responsibility. Penelope Deutscher discusses extracts from the full range of Derrida's work, including Of Grammatology, Dissemination, Limited Inc, The Other Heading: Reflections on Europe, Monolinguism of the Other, Given Time, and "Force of Law."


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With the rapid pace of technological development, individuals are frequently challenged to make sense of equivocal innovative technology while being given limited information. Virtual worlds are a prime example of such an equivocal innovative technology, and this affords researchers an opportunity to study sensemaking and the construction of perspectives about the organizational value of virtual worlds. This study reports on an analysis of the written assessments of 59 business professionals who spent an extended period of time in Second Life, a popular virtual world, and discursively made sense of the organizational value of virtual worlds. Through a Toulminian analysis of the claims, grounds, and warrants used in the texts they generated, we identify 12 common patterns of sensemaking and indicate that themes of confirmation, open-ended rhetoric, demographics, and control are evident in the different types of claims that were addressed. Further, we assert that the Toulminian approach we employ is a useful methodology for the study of sensemaking and one that is not bound to any particular theoretical perspective.


We propose that analysing interviews with subjects who have been exposed to anthropomorphic characters from a metaphorical point of view can provide insights into how characters in the interface are perceived. In a study of the Agneta & Frida system (two characters that comment contents of web pages in an ironic, humorous manner) we found that subjects who used Agneta & Frida used more narrative verbs and adverbs than users who only browsed the web pages. In the latter case, more spatial verbs and adverbs were used. This may imply that normal web browsing is perceived as navigation through a space, while Agneta & Frida provides for a more narrative experience.


In this book by the award-winning author of Just Healthcare, Norman Daniels develops a comprehensive theory of justice for health that answers three key questions: what is the special moral importance of health? When are health inequalities unjust? How can we meet health needs fairly when we cannot meet them all? Daniels' theory has implications for national and global health policy: can we meet health needs fairly in ageing societies? Or protect health in the workplace while respecting individual liberty? Or meet professional obligations and obligations of justice without conflict? When is an effort to reduce health disparities, or to set priorities in realising a human right to health, fair? What do richer, healthier societies owe poorer, sicker societies? Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly explores the many ways that social justice is good for the health of populations in developed and developing countries.


Background The influence of Pleistocene climatic fluctuations on intraspecific diversification in the Qinling–Daba Mountains of East Asia remains poorly investigated. We tested hypotheses concerning refugia during the last glacial maximum (LGM) in this region by examining the phylogeography of the swelled vent frog (Feirana quadranus; Dicroglossidae, Anura, Amphibia). Methodology/Principal Findings We obtained complete mitochondrial ND2 gene sequences of 224 individuals from 34 populations of Feirana quadranus for phylogeographic analyses. Additionally, we obtained nuclear tyrosinase gene sequences of 68 F. quadranus, one F. kangxianensis and three F. taihangnica samples to test for mitochondrial introgression among them. Phylogenetic analyses based on all genes revealed no introgression among them. Phylogenetic analyses based on ND2 datasets revealed that F. quadranus was comprised of six lineages which were separated by deep valleys; the sole exception is that the Main Qinling and Micang–Western Qinling lineages overlap in distribution. Analyses of population structure indicated restricted gene flow among lineages. Coalescent simulations and divergence dating indicated that the basal diversification within F. quadranus may be associated with the dramatic uplifts of the Tibetan Plateau during the Pliocene. Coalescent simulations indicated that Wuling, Daba, and Western Qinling–Micang–Longmen Mountains were refugia for F. quadranus during the LGM. Demographic analyses indicated that the Daba lineage experienced population size increase prior to the LGM but the Main Qinling and the Micang–Western Qinling lineages expanded in population size and range after the LGM, and the other lineages almost have stable population size or slight slow population size decline. Conclusions/Significance The Qinling–Daba Mountains hosted three refugia for F. quadranus during the LGM. Populations that originated in the Daba Mountains colonized the Main Qinling Mountains after the LGM. Recent sharp expansion of the Micang–Western Qinling and Main Qinling lineages probably contribute to their present-day secondary contact.


This paper analyses the incentive structure underlying the adoption of leniency programs in antitrust enforcement. The enforcement of competition law is treated as the delegation of the economic activity from the government to private firms. The model contributes to the debate over desirability of granting leniency to more than one cartelists. For this purpose, I introduce a probability of conviction that depends on authority-specific characteristics. This results in the optimal number of leniencies being specific to national authorities and market structures. The model confirms a result widely acknowledged in the antitrust literature - a program that merely reduces sanctions to the first reporter is ineffective.


On January 30, 1889, at the champagne-splashed hight of the Viennese Carnival, the handsome and charming Crown Prince Rudolf fired a revolver at his teenaged mistress and then himself. The two shots that rang out at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods echo still.Frederic Morton, author of the bestselling Rothschilds, deftly tells the haunting story of the Prince and his city, where, in the span of only ten months, "the Western dream started to go wrong." In Rudolf's Vienna moved other young men with striking intellectual and artistic talentsand all as frustrated as the Prince. Among them were: young Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Theodor Herzl, Gustav Klimt, and the playwright Arthur Schnitzler, whose La Ronde was the great erotic drama of the fin de siecle. Morton studies these and other gifted young men, interweaving their fates with that of the doomed Prince and the entire city through to the eve of Easter, just after Rudolf's body is lowered into its permanent sarcophagus and a son named Adolf Hitler is born to Frau Klara Hitler."


Themetallic alloys used to mechanically strengthen ceramic-metallic dental prosthesismay partly emerge in contact with the saliva present in the buccal milieu. They are then subjected to a possible corrosion by the more or less aerated saliva. Specific electrochemical runswere here performed tomeasure the corrosion rates of several selected dental alloys used in frameworks reinforcing some fixed partial dentures when they are maintained at a high anodic potential in an acidified Fusayama saliva, in order to better knowthe behaviour of these alloys in a saliva which may contain a lot of dissolved oxygen. The initial cyclic polarization runs performed over a large anodic range of potentials allowed choosing, in the E-increasing part of the obtained curves, values of high potential at which alloys were permanently exposed during 3 days. After each experiment the electrolyte was analyzed by ICP measurements to detect the eventual presence of the more or less noble metallic elements initially belonging to the alloys.


Abstract This research addresses the problem of dividing a group of people into a collection of teams that need to be "balanced" across a variety of different attributes. This type of problem arises, for example, in an academic setting where it is necessary to partition students into a number of balanced study teams and also in a youth camp in which children need to be formed into sports teams that are competitive with each other. Recent work has resulted in both linear and nonlinear integer programing models for solving this problem. In the research here, improvements to the models are made together with a linear approximation to the nonlinear objective function that significantly reduce the number of integer variables and constraints. Computational experiments are performed on random instances of the problem, as well as on instances for which there are almost perfectly balanced teams, the latter providing a way to determine the quality of the optimal solution obtained by the heuristics. These tests show that the approach developed here almost always obtain better balanced teams than those from prior research.


Recent contributions on intertemporal decision-making and self-control have focused on the impact of cognitive constraints on the way people behave over time. In particular there is evidence on the fact that exerting cognitive effort on the job, adhering to some specific behavioral plan and self-regulating behavior is fatiguing so that, unless sufficient rest is allowed for, the performance on these tasks degrades over time. In this paper I propose an intertemporal decision-making model to determine the optimal path of effort that a worker should exert on a cognitively demanding task. In this environment the worker trades-off current performance with the endogenous accumulation of fatigue; consequently multitasking or exogenous cognitively demanding factors (like stress or noise) play a critical role, and they can induce the decision-maker to optimally take rest-breaks in order to save on the cognitive resources to be used in the future. In the model multiple equilibria and thresholds can emerge, with the consequence that the long-term outcome toward which the agent converges critically hinges on the initial condition of fatigue of the worker. When this is the case, it can be optimal to force the agent to take a rest break, or a holiday, in order to allow her to recover and to converge toward the desirable long-term outcome in which she is more productive and more rested. These results highlight the importance of cognitive constraints in the study of intertemporal behavior and they suggest an alternative explanation for the evidence of preferences for improving consumption profiles and the evidence of (apparent) time-inconsistent behavior. More generally, this paper shows that the assessment of how people evaluate intertemporal utility profiles, on which the economic literature has mainly focused, should be complemented by considering also cognitive constraints, since they may limit the set of feasible paths of behavior that people can implement over time much in a way as a budget constraint limits the set of feasible alternatives in a standard decision making model


A spoiler-type lateral-control system has been developed for use on the Northrop P-61 airplane. The lateral-control system is to be used with large-span flaps and consists of a thin circular arc spoiler, linked with a short-span plain aileron located just outboard of the spoiler. This unconventional lateral-control system has been accepted with enthusiasm by the pilots who have flown the airplane. The particularly appreciate its characteristic at high speed. The combination of light forges, favorable yawing moment, and low wing torsional moments, make it a very effective, easily applied control. The control available at and through the stall is also remarkably good, although this characteristic may be attributed, in part, to an exceptionally good wing stalling pattern rather than entirely to the use of the spoiler-type aileron. In the landing configuration, the lateral-control effectiveness increases automatically with the extension of wing flaps so that powerful control is available during the approach. There is, however, a decrease in effectiveness for the first 5 percent of the wheel travel with a resultant tendency for inexperienced pilots to overcontrol slightly at low speeds. The fact that the aileron can be fully used at the stall, however, more than compensates for this loss of effectiveness with flaps down and greatly enhances the airplane's landing performance.


We propose a new algorithm---Stochastic Proximal Langevin Algorithm (SPLA)---for sampling from a log concave distribution. Our method is a generalization of the Langevin algorithm to potentials expressed as the sum of one stochastic smooth term and multiple stochastic nonsmooth terms. In each iteration, our splitting technique only requires access to a stochastic gradient of the smooth term and a stochastic proximal operator for each of the nonsmooth terms. We establish nonasymptotic sublinear and linear convergence rates under convexity and strong convexity of the smooth term, respectively, expressed in terms of the KL divergence and Wasserstein distance. We illustrate the efficiency of our sampling technique through numerical simulations on a Bayesian learning task.


The wide deployment of virtualization in datacenters catalyzes the emergence of virtual traffic that delivers the network demands between the physical network and the virtual machines hosting clients' services. Virtual traffic presents new opportunities for reducing physical network demands, as well as challenges of increasing management complexity. Given the plethora of prior art on virtualization technologies in datacenters, surprisingly little is still known about such virtual traffic, and its dependence on the physical network and virtual machines. This paper provides a multi-faceted analysis of the patterns and impacts of multiplexing the virtual traffic onto the physical network, particularly from the perspective of the network edge. We use a large collection of field data from production datacenters hosting a large number of diversified services from multiple enterprise tenants. Our first focus is on uncovering the temporal and spatial characteristics of the virtual and physical traffic, i.e., network demand growth and communication patterns, with special attention paid to the traffic of migrating virtual machines. The second focus is on characterizing the effect of network multiplexing in terms of communication locality, traffic load heterogeneity, and the dependency on CPU processing power at the edges of the network. Last but not least, we conduct a mirroring analysis on service QoS, defined by the service unavailability induced by network related issues, e.g., loads. We qualitatively and quantitatively discuss the implications and opportunities that virtual traffic presents for network capacity planning of virtualized networks and datacenters.


E-commerce and e-business have been suggested as a key strategy in the new millennium.Though e-business is not something new, firms in the Malaysian palm oil industry can be labeled as traditional firms due to passive approach in utilising e-business.Why is this happening? What went wrong? This paper attempts to review the use of e-business in the Malaysian palm oil industry in the face of globalisation.A case study is presented to compare the utilisation of e-business between a firm from the Malaysian palm oil industry and a firm from the Australian input industry.The recommendations of this study are to learn from the success of the Australian experience.