The objective of this book is to provide a
source of information and to assist the medical and paramedical team in the
management of rare clinical entity called necrotizing fasciitis.

 It must be emphasized that the necrotizing
fasciitis is a limb and life threatening surgical as well as medical emergency.
This book will be an asset for acute care physicians, surgeons, intensivists
and nursing staff involved in the management of this rare clinical condition.

 In this book chapters are directed towards
early proper diagnosis and management of necrotizing fasciitis, which is the
corner stone for better outcome of these suffering patients. The contributors
were patiently cooperative, did a hard but great job by compiling these
chapters.

 I extend my deep appreciation to my wife,
Dr Firdous for her continuous encouragement and support to write this book.


The role of chloride impurities in molten NaNO3‐KNO3 (solar salt) mixture on corrosion behavior of low‐chromium ferritic‐martensitic X20CrMoV11‐1 steel (X20) and stainless steel 316 (SS316) was studied at 600 °C. Gravimetric and metallographic methods were employed to characterize the kinetics of oxidation and the resulting corrosion products. Steel X20 showed non‐protective character in both low‐ (up to 0.02 wt% Cl−) and high‐ (up to 0.25 wt% Cl−) chloride salts by forming a thick and non‐compact oxide scale. A significant increase in weight gain was observed when X20 steel was immersed in the high‐chloride‐containing salt. Furthermore, the scale underwent severe deformation. SS316 showed superior corrosion resistance in both low‐ and high‐chloride salts. Oxide scales formed on both steels included two zones: an outer Na‐rich oxide and an inner mixed oxide based on Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 structures. The morphology and composition of these zones were significantly different on X20 and SS316 steels. A passive Cr‐rich oxide layer at the metal/oxide interface was characterized as a protective layer. In the case of stainless steel 316 this layer showed even higher continuity when tested in the high‐chloride salt resulting in better protection during the isothermal test.


Indirect selection for cotton yield using yield component variables may provide improved yield, yield stability, and fiber quality. Data from irrigated and non-irrigated tests conducted in 1999 through 2006 at four Arkansas locations were evaluated. Parameters included lint yield (LY), basic yield components of number of seed per area (SPA) and lint index (LI), secondary yield components of seed index (SI), number of fibers per seed (FPS), and fiber density (FDEN), lint percentage (LP), and seed percentage (SP), and fiber quality traits of micronaire (MIC), length (LEN), uniformity index (UI) and strength (STR). Seed index and LP were dropped from further consideration due to collinearity. Locations and genotypes varied in most of the tests for most of the variables. Genotype × location (G×L) was most frequently found for LY and SPA and least frequently found for LEN and UI. Path coefficients from PathSAS were used to identify the direct effects and relationships among variables. Higher instability was found in non-irrigated tests and in tests of more recently developed genotypes. Lint yield was influenced by SPA, but SPA exhibits low heritability. Lint index was influenced by FPS, MIC and LEN with FPS having the strongest influence. Among the fiber quality parameters, MIC and LEN had a negative relationship while UI and STR had strong direct effects on LEN. Fiber density via FPS tended to be related to lower MIC. These data suggest that FDEN could serve as a selection criterion for increased LY without negatively impacting fiber quality traits.


Muslims across the United States are experiencing an unprecedented increase in discrimination and violence due to a growing fear and hatred towards Islam and Muslims. Many educators have labeled this anti-Islamic phenomenon as "Islamophobia". Several studies have addressed the existence of "Islamophobia" and discussed its impact on the Muslim community and society at-large. However, few studies focus on helping Muslims transcend their mindset and believe in their ability to challenge prejudice and promote mutual understanding. This twophase research attempted to fill that gap by first looking at the impact of contact relations and education in reducing Islamophobia and then considering the role of the Imams in that process. The first study surveyed 189 people who visited the Islamic Center of San Diego to evaluate the effectiveness of its educational and outreach program. More than ninety percent of the participants in the first survey indicate that following their visit, their stereotype changed, and that they gained a balanced view about Islam. Ninety-nine percent of the participants find the presentation very interesting and more than ninetythree percent indicate that observing the prayer and touring the Mosque were effective. The first study indicates that contact and education decrease prejudice and shows the effectiveness of the educational program provided at the center. The second study examined the role of the faith leaders, or "Imams," in raising global awareness and providing accurate information about Islam by building relations based on mutual respect and understanding. The results from the 9 Imams who completed the survey indicate that there is a gap between their espoused and enacted values, between what they say they stand for and what they actually do. While all the surveyed Imams believe that the responsibility of the Mosque and Imams is enormous in dispelling the misconceptions about Islam. Only three of them agree on the need for setting consistent interfaith work as well as having concrete goals. Although limited to one location and based on a small sample of Imams, the information from these two studies can be used to improve educational programs and propose ways to increase contact. It further points to the need of a more active role from the Muslim community in helping to dispel Islamophobia.


Whether dealing with contracts, tort actions, or government regulations, lawyers are more likely to be successful if they are conversant in economics. Economics for Lawyers provides the essential tools to understand the economic basis of law. Through rigorous analysis illustrated with simple graphs and a wide range of legal examples, Richard Ippolito focuses on a few key concepts and shows how they play out in numerous applications. There are everyday problems: What is the social cost of legislation enforcing below-market prices, minimum wages, milk regulation, and noncompetitive pricing? Why are matinee movies cheaper than nighttime showings? And then there are broader questions: What is the patent system's role in the market for intellectual property rights? How does one think about externalities like airport noise? Is the free market, a regulated solution, or tort law the best way to deliver the "efficient amount of harm" in the workplace? What is the best approach to the question of economic compensation due to a person falsely imprisoned?

 Along the way, readers learn what economists mean when they talk about sorting, signaling, reputational assets, lemons markets, moral hazard, and adverse selection. They will learn a new vocabulary and a whole new way of thinking about the world they live in, and will be more productive in their professions.


This paper provides a synthesis of the literature on the costs incurred by organizations that develop, adopt and use inter-organizational process innovations in supply networks. A review of the literature in this area suggests that innovation costs influence the pattern of adoption. There is, however, a lack of consensus about what these innovation costs entail. Based on a review of innovation literature in the area of information systems, this paper develops an integrative framework of inter-organizational process innovation costs. The framework identifies six broad categories of costs (both tangible and intangible) that map onto different stages of organizational innovation: development and initiation costs associated with the generation of an innovation; switching costs and the cost of capital associated with the acceptance stage; and implementation and relational costs associated with implementation. The framework serves not only to organize the existing literature but also to provide the impetus for future research into the role that different categories of costs play in shaping inter-organizational process innovation in supply networks.


Spatial attributes of reproduced sound have typically been described using primarily verbal descriptors. To gain an alternative perspective, the development of a communication medium is discussed which enables listeners' auditory spatial experiences to be represented graphically. Graphical descriptions of auditory spatial experiences were sought from listeners when multichannel audio was reproduced within an automotive setting. In order to avoid biasing results by adopting traditional assumptions relating to spatial audio evaluation, the listener was acknowledged as the originator of meaning and valid results sought by the exploration and understanding of the listeners' individual experiences. Because experiences are pre-linguistic and distinct from language, a communication medium was required for the structuring and representation of listeners' auditory spatial experiences in order that these could be understood by the researcher. A descriptive graphical language (GAL) was systematically developed and evaluated for this purpose. A series of investigations was conducted during which GAL evolved from a system of individually elicited descriptors to a universal language of graphical terms, capable of representing the salient spatial experiences of listeners with varying levels of critical listening expertise. At each successive stage in GAL's development, ambiguities which could impede the researcher's understanding of listeners' graphically represented spatial experiences were identified and minimised. A graphical model was presented for visualising instances where ambiguities occurred in the descriptive process. One notable anomaly was found to be related to the provision of unsuitable written instruction in listening investigations. The effect of this ambiguity was minimised by listeners developing their own verbal descriptors to accompany their graphical language. When a mutual language - developed by the listeners themselves - was evaluated, an unambiguous route through the descriptive process from Ustener to researcher was identified. Within the context of the research, it was concluded that this particular language enabled the researcher to acquire a valid understanding of listeners' auditory spatial experiences. It was further concluded that the method employed in the development of the language (an iterative process comprising descriptor elicitation, clarification, development, evaluation and ultimately validation) could be used in alternative contexts within subjective audio evaluation.


Dynamic Frequency Warping (DFW) is widely used to align spectra of different speakers. It has long been argued that frequency warping captures inter-speaker differences but DFW practice always involves a tricky preprocessing part to remove spectral tilt. The DFW residual is successfully used in Voice Morphing to improve the quality and the similarity of synthesized speech but the estimation of the DFW residual remains largely heuristic and sub-optimal. This paper presents a dynamic programming algorithm that simultaneously estimates the Optimal Frequency Warping and Weighting transform (ODFWW) and therefore needs no preprocessing step and fine-tuning while source/target-speaker data are matched using the Matching-Minimization algorithm [1]. The transform is used to morph the output of a state-of-the-art Vocaine-based [2] TTS synthesizer in order to generate different voices in runtime with only +8% computational overhead. Some morphed TTS voices exhibit significantly higher quality than the original one as morphing seems to "correct" the voice characteristics of the TTS voice.


Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) is a rare genetic form of isolated gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) deficiency caused by mutations in > 30 genes. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) is the most frequently mutated gene in CHH and is implicated in GnRH neuron development and maintenance. We note that a CHH FGFR1 mutation (p.L342S) decreases signaling of the metabolic regulator FGF21 by impairing the association of FGFR1 with β‐Klotho (KLB), the obligate co‐receptor for FGF21. We thus hypothesized that the metabolic FGF21/KLB/FGFR1 pathway is involved in CHH. Genetic screening of 334 CHH patients identified seven heterozygous loss‐of‐function KLB mutations in 13 patients (4%). Most patients with KLB mutations (9/13) exhibited metabolic defects. In mice, lack of Klb led to delayed puberty, altered estrous cyclicity, and subfertility due to a hypothalamic defect associated with inability of GnRH neurons to release GnRH in response to FGF21. Peripheral FGF21 administration could indeed reach GnRH neurons through circumventricular organs in the hypothalamus. We conclude that FGF21/KLB/FGFR1 signaling plays an essential role in GnRH biology, potentially linking metabolism with reproduction.


We present a novel characterization method for semiconductor optical amplifier Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) switches which combines a pump-probe measurement with an interferometer bias scan. In addition to a wealth of information on the switching dynamics for all operating points of the switch, we can create an extinction map to pinpoint regions of highest extinction for optimizing all-optical ultrafast switching. We experimentally verify the accuracy of this characterization method by performing a wavelength characterization at the optimal bias point and a nearby, non-optimal point. A 1-dB penalty was observed.


Daunorubicin (DNR) and doxorubicin (DOX) are two of the most effective anthracycline drugs known for the treatment of systemic neoplasms and solid tumors. However, their clinical use is hampered due to profound cardiotoxicity. The mechanism by which DNR injures the heart remains to be fully elucidated. Recent reports have indicated that DOX activates ubiquitin proteasome-mediated degradation of specific transcription factors; however, no reports exist on the effect of DNR on the E3 ubiquitin ligases, MURF-1 (muscle ring finger 1) and MAFbx (muscle atrophy F-box). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of DNR treatment on the protein and organelle degradation systems in the heart and to elucidate some of the signalling mechanisms involved. Adult rats were divided into two groups where one group received six intraperitoneal injections of 2 mg/kg DNR on alternate days and the other group received saline injections as control. Hearts were excised and perfused on a working heart system the day after the last injection and freeze-clamped for biochemical analysis. DNR treatment significantly attenuated cardiac function and increased apoptosis in the heart. DNR-induced cardiac cytotoxicity was associated with upregulation of the E3 ligases, MURF-1 and MAFbx and also caused significant increases in two markers of autophagy, beclin-1 and LC3. These changes observed in the heart were also associated with attenuation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt signalling pathway.


Praise and lament are two major approaches to praying to God. In this book, Claus Westermann investigates these primary categories of the Psalms and shows their meaning for prayer and worship. He contrasts the Old Testament Psalms with those of Babylon and Egypt indicating their distinctive characteristics. Sensitively written and carefully reasoned, Westermann's book will be valued for the clear-cut way it brings light to the character of the ancient Psalms of Israel.


Though interest in the emotion of gratitude has historically focused on its role in social exchange, new evidence suggests a different and more important role for gratitude in social life. The find-remind-and-bind theory of gratitude posits that the positive emotion of gratitude serves the evolutionary function of strengthening a relationship with a responsive interaction partner (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008). The current article identifies prior, economic models of gratitude, elaborates on unique features of the find-remind-and-bind theory, reviews the accumulating evidence for gratitude in social life in light of this novel perspective, and discusses how the find-remind-and-bind theory is relevant to methodology and hypothesis testing. In sum, within the context of reciprocally-altruistic relationships, gratitude signals communal relationship norms and may be an evolved mechanism to fuel upward spirals of mutually responsive behaviors between recipient and benefactor. In this way, gratitude is important for forming and maintaining the most important relationships of our lives, those with the people we interact with every day.


Introduction: Intra-tumoral generation of adenosine (ADO), a potent inhibitor of T-cell activation, requires the coordinated and sequential cleavage of extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the ecto-nucleotidases CD39 (which produces adenosine monophosphate, AMP) and CD73 (which hydrolyzes AMP to ADO). For this reason, various anti-CD73 antibodies are being advanced into clinical trials; however, there are few reports of potent, selective, small-molecule CD73 inhibitors, such as those described here. Methods: Enzymatic assays: Ecto-nucleotidase activity was calculated based on the amount of inorganic phosphate (malachite green assay; absorbance at 620 nm) produced after 50-min incubation with 25μM AMP or ATP, in the presence of varying concentrations of test compound(s). The following systems were used. Endogenous expression: hCD73/SKOV-3 cells; mCD73/E771 cells. Stable over-expression: hCD73/CHO; hCD39/CHO. Transient expression: mCD73/CHO; NTPDase2/CHO; NTPDase3/CHO; NTPDase8/CHO. CD8+ T cell functional assays: Human (enriched from buffy coats or leukopaks) and mouse (isolated from spleen of C57BL/6 mice) CD8+ T cells were pretreated with CD73 inhibitor or buffer control. One hour later, cells were stimulated (anti-CD3/CD28; +/- 50 μM AMP) in the presence of ADO deaminase inhibitor (10 μM). 3 days after stimulation, cell activation (CD25), proliferation (CFSE) and effector function (IFN-γ and granzyme B) were quantified by flow cytometry. Tumor model: CT26 cells were subcutaneously implanted into Balb/c mice. When tumor volumes were ∼100 mm3, mice were enrolled into cohorts (1: vehicle control; 2: A000830; 3: PD-1 Ab; 4: A000830 + PD-1 Ab) of ≥13 mice each. Interim immune phenotyping was performed when Group 1 tumor volumes were 800-1,000 mm3. Single-cell suspensions were generated from tumors and spleens (gentleMACS). 106 cells were blocked using purified CD16/32 antibodies (clone 2.4G2) and stained with the appropriate antibody cocktails. Results: We have designed a series of potent and specific small-molecule inhibitors of human and mouse CD73, represented by A000830 (IC50 against human and mouse CD73 of 1.0 nM and 3 nM, respectively). A000830 blocked ADO generation from AMP by human ovarian cancer cells (SKOV-3) with IC50: 0.2 nM and >10,000-fold selectivity relative to other ecto-nucleotidases (CD39, NTPDase2, NTPDase3, NTPDase8) and a large panel of unrelated enzymes, receptors and ion channels. In in vitro models of ADO-driven inhibition of human and mouse CD8+ T-cell activation, A000830 showed robust rescue of proliferation, CD25 expression, and IFNγ and granzyme B production. A000830 was easily administered (and well tolerated) to mice, resulting in sustained plasma concentrations at least 1,000 times higher than its potency against mouse CD73. In the spleen of CT26 tumor-bearing Balb/c mice, CD39 expression was found mainly on natural killer (NK) cells and myeloid-lineage cells, while in the tumor CD39 was highly expressed on myeloid cells (myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and dendritic cells (DC)) as well as CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. CD73 expression was limited (spleen and tumor) to NK cells and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Therapeutic dosing of A000830 to these mice (tumors ∼100 mm3 in size) in combination with anti-PD1 antibody produced robust tumor growth inhibition, greater than either treatment alone. This effect was associated with increased CD8:Treg ratios in tumors (but not spleens). Conclusions: We describe a novel class of potent and selective small-molecule CD73 inhibitors that effectively block the generation of ADO from extracellular ATP, reverse the ADO-driven inhibition of human and mouse T-cell activation, and display promising anti-tumor activity when dosed in combination with PD-1 blockade. Citation Format: Juan C. Jaen, Jay P. Powers, Ada Chen, Manmohan R. Leleti, Jarek Kalisiak, Ulrike Schindler, Joanne Bl Tan, Steve Young, Shin-Heng Chiou, Laurent Debien. Small-molecule inhibitors of CD73 promote activation of human CD8+ T cells and have profound effects on tumor growth and immune parameters in experimental tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; 2016 Sept 25-28; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PR10.


A portion of the global wealth portfolio is directed towards a safe and liquid reserve asset, which recently has been the US Treasury bond. Our model links the determination of reserve asset status to relative fundamentals and relative debt sizes, by modeling two countries that issue sovereign bonds to satisfy investors' reserve asset demands. A sovereign's debt is more likely to be the reserve asset if its fundamentals are strong relative to other possible reserve assets, but not necessarily strong on an absolute basis. Debt size can enhance or detract from reserve asset status. If global demand for the reserve asset is high, a large-debt sovereign which offers a savings vehicle with better liquidity is more likely to be the reserve asset. If demand for the reserve asset is low, then large debt size is a negative as it carries more rollover risk, leading to a riskier vehicle for saving. When global demand is high, countries may make fiscal/debtstructuring decisions to enhance their reserve asset status. These actions have a tournament feature, and are self-defeating: countries may over-expand debt size to win the reserve asset tournament. Coordination can generate benefits. We use our model to study the benefits of "Eurobonds"--i.e. a coordinated common Europe-wide sovereign bond design. Eurobonds deliver welfare benefits only when they make up a sufficiently large fraction of countries' debts. Small steps towards Eurobonds may hurt countries and not deliver welfare benefits.


Our previous studies demonstrated that dietary supplementation with tea catechins combined with exercise improved endurance capacity in mice. This study aimed to demonstrate the effect of daily tea catechin consumption on aerobic capacity in humans. Sixteen Japanese non-athlete male subjects (aged 25–47 years) took 500 mL of a test beverage with or without tea catechins (570 mg) daily for 8 weeks and attended a training program twice a week. Aerobic capacity was evaluated by indirect calorimetry and near-infrared spectroscopy during graded cycle exercise. Catechin beverage consumption was associated with a significantly higher ventilation threshold during exercise and a higher recovery rate of oxygenated hemoglobin and myoglobin levels after graded cycle exercise when compared to subjects receiving the placebo beverage. These results indicate that daily consumption of tea catechins increases aerobic capacity when combined with semiweekly light exercise, which may be due to increased skeletal muscle aerobic capacity. Graphical abstract Tea catechins improved the recovery rate of oxygenated hemoglobin and myoglobin levels after graded cycle exercise.


Objective: The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) is thought to be associated with cardiovascular risk factors separately from type 2 diabetes. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between FINDRISC and metabolic syndrome, vitamin D and insulin resistance in this study. Methods: 115 women were recruited to study. Patients were divided into 5 groups according to FINDRISC score. Metabolic syndrome was assessed in patients with FINDRISC scores, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FBG), HbA1c, insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), triglyceride (TG), systolic and diastolic hypertension. Results: The mean age of the patients was 30.5 ± 9 years, BMI was 32.4 ± 6.2 kg/m2, waist circumference was 98 ± 13 cm. HDL: 46.6 ± 9, HOMA-IR: 3.6 ± 2. There were (n=34) patients with metabolic syndrome and (n=81) patients without metabolic Syndrome. Patients were divided into 5 groups according to FINDRISC score. There was a significant positive correlation between metabolic syndrome and FINDISC score (Pearson Chi-square r=0.350, P=0.001). There was a significant difference between FINDRISC score and age, waist circumference, BMI, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, HDL, systolic and diastolic tension (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between FINDRISC Score vitamin D and TG. There was a positive correlation between FINDRISC score and FBG, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, triglyceride, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (P<0.05).There was a negative correlation between FINDRISC score and HDL (Person correlation r=-0.257, P=0.008). Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome in women is associated with increased FINDRISC score. No correlation was found between vitamin D levels and FINDRISC. FINDRISC is not only related with Type 2 DM also associated with cardiovascular risk factors, Systolic-diastolic tension, HDL-C and TG disorder.


While WiFi was initially designed as a local-area access network, mesh networking technologies have led to increasingly expansive deployments of WiFi networks. In urban environments, the WiFi mesh frequently supplements a number of existing access technologies, including wired broadband networks, 3G cellular, and commercial WiFi hotspots. It is an open question what role citywide WiFi deployments play in the increasingly diverse access network spectrum. We study the usage of the Google WiFi network deployed in Mountain View, CA, and find that usage naturally falls into three classes based almost entirely on client device type, which we divide into traditional laptop users, fixed-location access devices, and PDA-like smartphone devices. Moreover, each of these classes of use has significant geographic locality, following the distribution of residential, commercial, and transportation areas of the city. When comparing the network usage of each device class, we find a diverse set of mobility patterns that map well to the archetypal use cases for traditional access technologies. To help place our results in context, we also provide key performance measurements of the mesh backbone and, where possible, compare them to those of previously studied urban mesh networks.


Purpose. To describe corneal and crystalline lens dimensions before, during, and after myopia onset compared with age-matched emmetropic values. Methods. Subjects were 732 children aged 6 to 14 years who became myopic and 596 emmetropic children participating between 1989 and 2007 in the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error Study. Refractive error was measured using cycloplegic autorefraction, corneal power using a hand-held autokeratometer, crystalline lens parameters using video-based phakometry, and vitreous chamber depth (VCD) using A-scan ultrasonography. Corneal and crystalline lens parameters in children who became myopic were compared with age-, gender-, and ethnicity-matched model estimates of emmetrope values annually from 5 years before through 5 years after the onset of myopia. The comparison was made without and then with statistical adjustment of emmetrope component values to compensate for the effects of longer VCDs in children who became myopic. Results. Before myopia onset, the crystalline lens thinned, flattened, and lost power at similar rates for emmetropes and children who became myopic. The crystalline lens stopped thinning, flattening, and losing power within ±1 year of onset in children who became myopic compared with emmetropes statistically adjusted to match the longer VCDs of children who became myopic. In contrast, the cornea was only slightly steeper in children who became myopic compared with emmetropes (<0.25 D) and underwent little change across visits. Conclusions. Myopia onset is characterized by an abrupt loss of compensatory changes in the crystalline lens that continue in emmetropes throughout childhood axial elongation. The mechanism responsible for this decoupling remains speculative but might include restricted equatorial growth from internal mechanical factors.


A new method for the direct detection and determination of chlorine in air has been devised. The method is based on the permeation of the gas through a silicone-polycarbonate copolymer film impregnated with a colorimetric reagent. The impregnation of the film with reagent was achieved by dissolving both a polymer film and a reagent in a common volatile solvent( CHCL3 ), followed by casting on a leveled surface to allow the solvent to evaporate, thus forming a polymer film containing suspended reagent. The polymer films impregnated in such manner, were uniform and transparent. A spectrophotometer was used for monitoring the change in color, observed when the permeant gas reacted with the reagent inside the film. Films impregnated with o-tolidine, 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine and dithizone, were examined. The response of the film was studied, as a function of concentration and duration of exposure. The response was not directly proportional to dosage (Cxt), which limits the use of the film as a dosimeter for personal monitoring. The response of the film impregnated with excess reagent was directly proportional to concentration of exposure, for a constant duration of time exceeding twelve minutes. The film, therefore, is useful in a manner similar to test papers or detector tubes. Yet, the determination is quantitative as opposed to semi-quantitative determination achieved by the latter. A polymer film impregnated with 3,3',5,5'-tetraTnethylbenzidine, showed accuracy within ±6% in the range (0.5ppm 6.0ppm) of chlorine in air, for a xi constant duration of exposure equal to fifteen minutes. The maximum relative error was ±18% for 0.5ppm. The detection limit was as low as O.lppm, for an exposure duration of fifteen minutes, as the least perceivable change in color by the naked eye. Less accuracy (±13%) was attained with the film impregnated with o-tolidine or dithizone.


Karen L. Kilcup, "Feeling American in the Poetic Republic" (pp. 299–335) Recent scholarship concerning nineteenth-century American poetry has challenged petrified attitudes that depict it as almost exclusively sentimental, unoriginal, and meritless. Yet, absent a historicized conceptual framework for assessing the considerable achievements of these poets, we still undervalue and oversimplify their work. Poetry reviews published between 1820 and 1840 show how properly calibrated emotion shaped readers' tastes and identities, individual and national, in what I call the poetic republic: a country in which nearly everyone read, wrote, or heard verse. Critics' appraisals intimate their anxious investment in creating authentic American poetry. Given British contentions that Americans were uncivilized, this anxiety coalesced around several related questions: How should writers approach the subject of Indians? What affective stances should poets assume? Was sentimental discourse, especially on Native Americans, inherently "savage"? This essay illuminates the period's genre norms, concurrently questioning two current critical conventions. Demonstrating how poetry—including its producers and its publics—participated energetically in American nation-building, the essay complicates Benedict Anderson's assumption that newspapers and novels singularly shaped national self-concepts. It also establishes how sentimentalism was attacked much earlier than today's scholarship asserts. Simultaneously accommodating and disciplining wilderness (whether formulated as untamed nature and its wild inhabitants, or as uncontrolled, feminized sentimentality), reviewers collectively endorsed dispassionate, elevated nature poetry—often inhabited by Native Americans—as prototypically American, while they disparaged affective excess that they typically gendered as feminine. These verse norms strongly impacted the reception and reputations of the period's two principal poets, William Cullen Bryant and Lydia Sigourney.


Operating Systems (OS's) constitute the operational core for computing devices. In order to facilitate their applicability to a variety of hardware platforms, OS's have evolved into complex componentized software entities whose key function is to provide applications access to the system resources. Fundamentally, the provided system services inherently depend on the stability of the underlying OS. Within the OS, the key components that dominate the cause of OS failures are the device drivers (DDs), precisely the OS parts designed to enhance the OS's support for hardware. Despite intensive efforts to elevate the DDs' robustness level by employing varied test paradigms, the existing testing approaches still exhibit very high failure rates. Hence, the central premise behind this thesis involves the characterization of the DD's operational profile, and using it for focusing subsequent testing to the functionality areas likely to be exercised over the DD deployment. This thesis develops two novel and distinct methodologies to capture and analyze the operational profile of DDs. The first - termed as the operational profile (OP) - is based on the characterization of the I/O traffic between a selected DD and the rest of the OS kernel. The second - termed execution path profile (EPP) - observes the functional calls made by the respective DD in the operational phase, thus revealing the code paths followed at runtime. Both presented approaches are directly applicable to DD binaries as they do not require source-code level access to any of the involved OS components. This thesis develops the concepts and methodology for effectively profiling the operational behavior of DDs. First, a state model is introduced for describing a DD and its complete state space. Experimentally, we show that the DD's operational state space (OSS) - the subset of states visited at runtime - represents only a small fraction of the total state space, thus highlighting the areas to be tested. Subsequently, occurrence- and duration-based quantifiers are defined for each of the DD states belonging to the OSS. This enables test prioritization and workload comparisons which are the key factors for testing. This conceptual process's effectiveness is tested using extensive case studies including over fifty Windows XP and Vista DDs. The developed EPP is complementary to the OP as it discovers execution hotspots as frequently traversed DD code paths. To highlight the execution hotspots, a DD monitoring and code path analysis methodology is presented and tested using actual Windows DD's. Code paths are identified as call sequences to kernel functions implemented externally to the selected DD. String similarity metrics are used to compute the relative similarity among the inferred code paths. Based on likeness, the code paths are grouped into equivalence classes helping identify execution hotspots. These hotspots constitute primary targets for testing. Overall the thesis develops novel proling approaches for testing generalized OS's. The research is also validated on actual Windows XP and Vista OSs.


This article examines the evaluation of architectural quality in socioeconomic analyses of large public building projects in Norway. From a socio-economic perspective, a new building can be designed well or even better than existing buildings, based on a theoretical model that mimics the dynamics of society. However, it seems that this field does not appreciate how demanding it is to create and replace quality architecture. In Norway in recent years, several protected buildings and exceptional architectural works have been left empty or demolished. The resistance to the vacation and loss of these structures seems to come as a surprise to decision makers. This article examines documentation that serves as a basis for investment decisions for large, public building projects, specifically for the choice of concept, under the Norwegian Quality Assurance (QA) scheme. These documents are influenced by a socioeconomic perspective and this article investigates how the affected buildings' significant values are described in the QA documentation. Architectural qualities are seldom mentioned in such documents; however, when they are mentioned, existing qualities are typically dismissed, or the focus is placed on the limitless possible qualities of future buildings. There is a need for a greater understanding of architecture within the scope of socio-economic analyses in order to make more informed decisions.


Colonization of mycorrhizal fungi was studied in a Pinus muricata forest on the coast in California, USA, burned by a stand-replacing wildfire in October 1995. Naturally established field seedlings of P. muricata were harvested 1 yr after the fire. The species composition of the mycorrhizal fungi on these field seedlings was dominated by Rhizopogon species, Wilcoxina mikolae and Tomentella sublilacina. Bioassays, set up with soil collected immediately after the fire, were used to determine which mycorrhizal species had colonized the burned area from resistant propagules. The P. muricata seedlings in these bioassays were dominated by suilloid and ascomycetous fungi, the same fungi which dominated the mycorrhizal flora of seedlings in pre-fire bioassays derived from the same forest site, suggesting that resistant propagules were the primary inoculum source for naturally establishing seedlings. Drying of post-fire soil for 1 month raised the number of bioassay seedlings associated with Rhizopogon olivaceotinctus, while the number of bioassay seedlings associated with Rhizopogon ochraceorubens was reduced. Fire appeared to have either stimulated or provided a competitive advantage to R. olivaceotinctus, which increased in abundance on the post-fire bioassay and field seedlings. Soil collected from the burned area was diluted with sterile soil in three different concentrations, and the number and frequency of mycorrhizal taxa on bioassay seedlings decreased with increased dilution. Although precise quantification was not possible, propagules of the Rhizopogon species were much more abundant than those of Tomentella or Wilcoxina species. Differences between the mycorrhizal associates of bioassay seedlings, naturally regenerated seedlings, and different inoculum sources are discussed.


A fabric "frozen" within the continental lithosphere should lead to "regional anisotropic domains" with close correlation between tectonics, seismic anisotropy, and shear wave travel time delays. Alternatively, seismic anisotropy could be maintained by active deformation in the sub-lithospheric mantle. This scenario would predict broad spatial consistency in shear wave splitting and weak correlation between the splitting, surface tectonics, and travel time delays. A coherent pattern of shear wave splitting is observed in the northeastern United States, covering large parts of New York and New England, spanning the Appalachian Orogen and areas underlain by the Grenvillian basement. The direction of fast shear wave propagation, as measured from core-refracted SKS, SKKS, and PKS phases, varies systematically with event back azimuth at all sites examined, and is fit well by two-layers of anisotropy with subhorizontal symmetry axes. Relative travel time delays of shear waves that sample the region vary over 100 km length scale, and correlate with surface geology. Tomographic images suggest lateral shear velocity variations ∼3%, including a slow anomaly beneath the Grenvillian basement exposed in the Adirondack Mountains. There is little correlation between this horizontally rough seismic velocity and the horizontally smooth anisotropic model consistent with shear wave splitting. We therefore conclude that in the northeastern US the concept of "regional anisotropic domains" (i.e. distinct regions within the lithosphere characterized by coherent anisotropic properties reflective of present or past deformation) does not apply.


A non-toxic, non-flammable, low-freezing heat transfer fluid is being developed for drop-in replacement within current and future heat transfer loops currently using water or alcohol-based coolants. Numerous water-soluble compounds were down-selected and screened for toxicological, physical, chemical, compatibility, thermodynamic, and heat transfer properties. Two fluids were developed, one with a freezing point near 0 C, and one with a suppressed freezing point. Both fluids contain an additive package to improve material compatibility and microbial resistance. The optimized sub-zero solution had a freezing point of 30 C, and a freezing volume expansion of 10-percent of water. The toxicity of the solutions was experimentally determined as LD(50) greater than 5g/kg. The solutions were found to produce minimal corrosion with materials identified by NASA as potentially existing in secondary cooling loops. Thermal/hydrodynamic performance exceeded that of glycol-based fluids with comparable freezing points for temperatures Tf greater than 20 C. The additive package was demonstrated as a buffering agent to compensate for CO2 absorption, and to prevent microbial growth. The optimized solutions were determined to have physically/chemically stable shelf lives for freeze/thaw cycles and longterm test loop tests.


Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) with co-located or remote video communication functionality require a continuous experience of social presence. If, at any stage during the experience the communication interrupts presence then the CVE experience as a whole is affected - spatial presence is then decoupled from social presence. We present a solution to this problem by introducing the concept of a virtualized version of Google Glass™ called Virtual Glass. Virtual Glass is integrated into the CVE as a real-world metaphor for a communication device, one particularly suited for collaborative instructor-performer systems. Together with domain experts we developed a prototype system based on an instructor-performer architecture. In two studies with a total number of 115 participants we showed that the concept of Virtual Glass is effective, that it supports a high level of social presence and that the social presence for the performers is rated significantly higher than a standard picture-in-picture videoconferencing approach used for the performers. We present our experimental system, our studies, and the generalizability of our approach towards future uses.


Electronic commerce has been continuously growing in the last decades and organisations have adapted designing new strategies and launching platforms on the web for online sales. Consumers with the intention to purchase a product online have to go through a decision-making process that involves both the product to buy and the seller to buy from. In this area of interest choice architecture is a discipline that study human behaviour in the act of making a choice and provide insights and techniques that choice architects can use and put in place to assist the consumers in their decision making process. Perceived risks both product and seller related are those barriers that might discourage consumers from successfully completing their evaluation process. Websites features and cues are the visible outputs of choice architects strategic decisions and have the purpose to attract and persuade consumers to proceeding with a purchase. Users' reviews are one of the most known and effective tools used for the purpose and therefore they are selected as the area of interest of this dissertation.

The purpose of the study is to discuss the role of users' reviews as a tool for mitigating consumers' perceived risks both during the product and the seller evaluation stage. Specifically the interest is on the role of each component in a user's review: volume, valence or rating and textual sentiments.

Interviews with a sample of online consumers selected in Ireland showed that both for product and seller evaluation stage, volume and valence do not have a direct role of mitigating the perceived risks but an initial function of screening good products or sellers from bad ones; on the other side textual sentiments are considered adding value information that mitigate the residual perceived risk.


Papers of a Maine author, poet, and high school teacher and alumnus of the University of Maine. Includes papers concerning his publications High clouds soaring, Storms driving low: the letters of Ruth Moore, The police know everything, and Kitchen boy. Also includes writings of Orono High School students and writings of and about other Maine authors


Today, most of the IC industries are using fully automatic machines to perform the
process of placing the casing onto the IC With high technology machines, daily
production can be increased. However, the cost of those machines are extremely high.
Therefore, the small and medium scale industries are unable to purchase these machines.
In order to over come this problem, an inexpensive automatic book casing system is
proposed and developed.
The main objective of this project is to design a low cost machine with safety features,
fully automatic and a user-friendly. This machine should be able to perform the
application such punching and stamping the casing of the Integrated Circuit (IC) as well
as pick and place application.The structure design of this project is separated into two parts. They are the hardware
construction and the software development. The hardware part involves the design and
construction of an input station, an output station, a conveyer station, a pick and place
robotic arm, a punching station, a pressure faulty detection system, a power distribution
module, a pneumatic control system and data logger module.
The software part involves the design and development of the system control software.
The system control software is created by using FPSOFT PLC programming software.
FPSOFT can create the PLC programming more effectively because it uses the graphic
symbol to create the PLC ladder diagram. FPSOFT is also efficient in terms of trouble
shooting and programming modification.
This project implements the Matsushita NAIS FPO Programmable Logic Control (PLC)
to control the overall system of the machine. FPO is a simple and user friendly controller.
FPO can extend its 1/O port to 128 units for large number of input and output devices
control.
The proposed project was successfully designed, constructed and tested. It is also
working and functioning accurately as planned in its design stage. This can be shown
from the experimental results conducted on the system.


In second language teaching a great deal of attention is paid to the learning of communicative skills. The computer program PRESTIGE (Productive and Receptive English, a Smart Tutor and Intelligent Generator of Exercises) subscribes to the views currently held in communicative language teaching. Among these are learning the meaning of a word through deduction of the word's meaning from contexts, and emphasizing the use of productive language. The computer program PRESTIGE, written in PROLOG, consists of several parts:A parser, which checks if syntax, spelling and inflection of pupils' input sentences, words, and verbs are correct. The parser is the heart of the program, and is capable of analysing most English sentence structures which are used in the first years of secondary education.A database of descriptions of words and context sentences in everyday English (taken from Collins COBUBLD English Language Dictionary). Both databases can be consulted by the pupil at any moment and thus constitute an extensive help facility.A database of texts. These texts are taken from a method called "Notting Hill Gate" (Malmberg).A generator of exercises. The program is able to generate exercises for both receptive and productive language use.Receptive: a story fragment is selected from the database. For every word, pupils can ask for a description (in English) or for a context sentence in which the word is used.Productive: several different exercises can be generated. They vary from cloze texts: the parser leaves out words that belong to a certain grammatical class (adjectives, prepostions, etc.), to free language productions: writing a composition. Furthermore, exercises can be generated in which interrogative or negative sentences have to be made. When the pupil is writing a composition, the parser checks whether the sentences are grammatically correct. Here as well, all help options from the databases are available.Pupil registration. For every pupil the program keeps track of the words that (s)he has studied, what kind of help (s)he has asked for, and what the results of the exercises are.The advantage of PRESTIGE over existing courseware for second language teaching is the open structure of the program, which makes free input of language possible. In the article the possibilities of the parser are shown and illustrated by examples. The article concludes with a discussion of the uses of PRESTIGE as an intelligent generator of exercises, and some plans for further research.


Up to now, relatively little effort has been dedicated to the quantitative assessment of the differences in spatial patterns of model outputs. In this paper, we employed a variogram-based methodology to quantify the differences in the spatial patterns of root-zone soil moisture, net radiation, and latent and sensible heat fluxes simulated by three land surface models (SURFEX/ISBA, JULES and CHTESSEL) over three European geographic domains – namely, UK, France and Spain. The model output spatial patterns were quantified through two metrics derived from the variogram: i) the variogram sill, which quantifies the degree of spatial variability of the data; and ii) the variogram integral range, which represents the spatial length scale of the data. The higher seasonal variation of the spatial variability of sensible and latent heat fluxes over France and Spain, compared to the UK, is related to a more frequent occurrence of a soil-moisture-limited evapotranspiration regime during summer dry spells in the south of France and Spain. The small differences in spatial variability of net radiation between models indicate that the spatial patterns of net radiation are mostly driven by the climate forcing data set. However, the models exhibit larger differences in latent and sensible heat flux spatial variabilities, which are related to their differences in i) soil and vegetation ancillary datasets and ii) physical process representation. The highest discrepancies in spatial patterns between models are observed for soil moisture, which is mainly related to the type of soil hydraulic function implemented in the models. This work demonstrates the capability of the variogram to enhance our understanding of the spatiotemporal structure of the uncertainties in land surface model outputs. Therefore, we strongly encourage the implementation of the variogram metrics in model intercomparison exercises.


The Australian Labor Party, following its election to government in 2007, has implemented an ambitious social policy agenda with spending on hospitals, pensions and community workers, as well as programs for parental leave and disability. It has also reformed taxes, in part to finance these reforms, implementing the mining and carbon taxes in 2012. Labor, however, has difficulty avoiding deficits because tax revenues are too low to finance expanded welfare. This article explores the political constraints and opportunities involved in financing welfare by examining voter responses to the ANU Poll of September 2011. Spending on welfare is supported by low-income earners, while taxing big industries finds greater support among university-educated voters. The article advances an explanation for this mismatch and for why tax resistance has hindered Labor's efforts to finance welfare expansion. 澳大利亚工党在2007年选举上台后实施了雄心勃勃的社会政策计划,涉及医院、养老金、社区工作人员、带薪育婴假、残疾人等项开支。它还在2012年改革了税收,推行采矿及碳排放税为上述改革筹集资金。不过,工党苦于避免赤字,因为税收太少,资助不了扩大的福利。本文分析了选民对2011年9月ANU民调的回应,探讨了资助福利之举的限制与机遇。低收入者支持福利开支,受过高等教育者则多支持向大企业征税。本文解释了这种矛盾,以及为什反税收阻碍了工党资助福利扩张的努力。


This research investigates three approaches to new product sales forecasting: statistical, judgmental and the integration of these two approaches. The aim of the research is to find a simple, easy-to-use, low cost and accurate tool which can be used by managers to forecast the sales of new products. A review of the literature suggested that the Bass diffusion model was an appropriate statistical method for new product sales forecasting. For the judgmental approach, after considering different methods and constraints, such as bias, complexity, lack of accuracy, high cost and time involvement, the Delphi method was identified from the literature as a method, which has the potential to mitigate bias and produces accurate predictions at a low cost in a relatively short time. However, the literature also revealed that neither of the methods: statistical or judgmental, can be guaranteed to give the best forecasts independently, and a combination of them is the often best approach to obtaining the most accurate predictions. The study aims to compare these three approaches by applying them to actual sales data. To forecast the sales of new products, the Bass diffusion model was fitted to the sales history of similar (analogous) products that had been launched in the past and the resulting model was used to produce forecasts for the new products at the time of their launch. These forecasts were compared with forecasts produced through the Delphi method and also through a combination of statistical and judgmental methods. All results were also compared to the benchmark levels of accuracy, based on previous research and forecasts based on various combinations of the analogous products' historic sales data. Although no statistically significant difference was found in the accuracy of forecasts, produced by the three approaches, the results were more accurate than those obtained using parameters suggested by previous researchers. The limitations of the research are discussed at the end of the thesis, together with suggestions for future research.


Abstract There is concern that a binary salt of Pu(IV) and Cs forms deposits on the uranyl nitrate hexahydrate (UNH) crystal formed in the dissolver solution for U crystallization containing Cs. Precipitation behavior of dicesium tetravalent plutonium hexanitrate, Cs2Pu(NO3)6, in the U crystallization process is studied. In this work, the solubility of Cs2Pu(NO3)6 was measured in a HNO3 solution, and influence of Pu valence and Cs concentration in the dissolver solution on decontamination factors (DFs) of Pu and Cs in the crystal was examined in the U crystallization process. The solubility of Cs2Pu(NO3)6 increased with a decrease in the concentration of HNO3 in the mother liquor and a rise in temperature of the mother liquor. In the U crystallization process, although the DF of Cs was low where there was Pu(IV) since the two were difficult to separate in the feed solution, Cs was removed thoroughly where there was Pu(VI) in the feed solution. The Cs concentration in the feed solution affected the DFs of Pu and Cs after the UNH crystal was washed. The DFs of Pu and Cs had a tendency to decrease with increase of Cs concentration in the feed solution, because large amounts of Cs+ contributed to the formation of Cs2Pu(NO3)6.


The leading cause of health problems associated with environmental disasters in Bangladesh is water. The relationship between health and disaster is a well-discussed issue. However, health outcomes due to water use during and after environmental disasters are a context specific experience influenced by socio-political and economic factors. Although, the concept of social determinants of health are acknowledged, people's perception of relations between health and natural disaster are not documented yet, also being a function of complex socio-cultural processes. In the absence of such knowledge, this paper aims to examine some of the cultural dimensions of natural disasters and their impacts on health. Three disaster prone rural areas specifically relating to flood, drought, and cyclones in the country were chosen for data collection. It is suggested that health impacts on disasters and disaster impacts on health vary between rich and poor, male and female, dependent on the nature of the disaster event. Participants related disaster information with water supply, infrastructure and with illness. The study also shows the various health impacts of disasters on coping mechanisms. For example, people cope with disaster impacts through migration, changes in occupation, low consumption of food, taking loans, surviving on relief, and these mediate health risks. Borrowing food from relatives, neighbours, or shop-keepers is another strategy for disaster victims. The study includes some significant documentation of existing indigenous knowledge and views on this topic.


Americans have been exposed to products and information through various mediums of advertisements. During the early 1900s, American advertisements (ads) increasingly overwhelmed the western world and could be seen in thousands of publications. The early ads featured imagery that depicted the everyday lives of American women, men, and children with the goal of selling products and services. Since women were identified as the primary consumer of the family, product ads often featured imagery of women as homemakers and in circumstances that portrayed them as feminine, and concerned with their appearance or pleasing their man. As the century progressed, and women began to step out of the homemaker stereotype, ads began to market to the "new woman" exploiting her sexuality and an unrealistic view of beauty and body image. The ads of this era, influenced consumers by appealing to their emotions, needs and desires while reshaping the social values and self-expression of women in American society. This paper seeks to shed light on the psychology behind the development of an ad campaign and their influence upon the American consumer.


Intelligent viewing systems are required if efficient and productive teleoperation is to be applied to dynamic manufacturing environments. These systems must automatically provide remote views to an operator which assist in the completion of the task. This assistance increases the productivity of the teleoperation task if the robot controller is responsive to the unpredictable dynamic evolution of the workcell. Behavioral controllers can be utilized to give reactive 'intelligence.' The inherent complex structure of current systems, however, places considerable time overheads on any redesign of the emergent behavior. In industry, where the remote environment and task frequently change, this continual redesign process becomes inefficient. We introduce a novel behavioral controller, based on an 'ego-behavior' architecture, to command an active camera (a camera mounted on a robot) within a remote workcell. Using this ego-behavioral architecture the responses from individual behaviors are rapidly combined to produce an 'intelligent' responsive viewing system. The architecture is single-layered, each behavior being autonomous with no explicit knowledge of the number, description or activity of other behaviors present (if any). This lack of imposed structure decreases the development time as it allows each behavior to be designed and tested independently before insertion into the architecture. The fusion mechanism for the behaviors provides the ability for each behavior to compete and/or co-operate with other behaviors for full or partial control of the viewing active camera. Each behavior continually reassesses this degree of competition or co-operation by measuring its own success in controlling the active camera against pre-defined constraints. The ego-behavioral architecture is demonstrated through simulation and experimentation.


Governments and global corporations increasingly both confront and rely on international non†governmental organizations (INGOs) to identify, design, and deliver interventions that prompt transformational change in societies, industries, and supply chains. For INGOs, transformational change is defined as a fundamental, long†lasting reframing of a social or industrial system through synergistically altering the knowledge, practices, and relationships of multiple stakeholder groups. With each intervention, the focal INGO assembles its own complex supply chain of nonprofit organizations and for†profit firms to provide the necessary resources and skills. While prior supply chain management literature provides a good starting point, with some generalizability to the nonprofit sector, this study begins with several key differences to explore how interventions are delivered, and then, how INGOs' supply chains must be aligned. In doing so, at least three critical factors must be taken into account to improve alignment: stakeholder†induced uncertainty; supply chain configuration; and supply chain dynamism. By synthesizing these factors with prior literature and emerging anecdotal evidence, tentative frameworks and research questions emerge about how INGOs can better leverage their supply chains, thereby offering a basis for scholars in supply chain management to build a much richer and more nuanced research understanding of INGOs.


abstract:Historical photographs of Australian Aboriginal people were amassed during the colonial period for a range of purposes, yet rarely to further an Indigenous agenda. Today, however, such images have been recontextualized, used to reconstruct family history, document culture, and express connections to place. They have become a significant heritage resource for relatives and descendants. Images stand in for relatives lost through processes of official assimilation—or as this sad history is now known in Australia, the Stolen Generations. This article explores the potential healing power of the photos in addressing loss and dislocation, and emerging tools for supporting this process through reviewing the Returning Photos project outcomes.


One of the criticisms that has been persistently levelled against Human Resource Management (HRM) is that it represents an academic as opposed to applied discipline. The paper recognises the criticism that there is a distinction between the rhetoric and the reality of HRM. It attempts to contribute to a broader understanding of HRM primarily by focussing attention upon the thinking of HR practitioners. The paper reports the results of a survey of HR managers' views about key issues pertaining to HRM literature, for example, reward systems, employee participation, training and development, and the role of trade unions. Generally, the survey revealed that these HR managers (N = 110), who are based in the United States of America, considered both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as important, had favourable attitudes to employee participation, and recognised the strategic nature of training and development. Further, the responses of the HR managers supported the view that trade unions should be concerned with issues beyond pay and working conditions (indicating some support of trade unionism), though the respondents also tended towards the view that trade unions do not act in organisations' economic interests. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the rhetoric/reality debate. Over the last two decades, Human Resource Management (HRM) has attracted tremendous attention from researchers, theorists and practitioners. HRM has developed into a major academic discipline in its own right. Arguably, HRM has become one of the most widely researched topics in the field of management and organisational theory: as Becker & Huselid (1999) point out, the field is 'coming of age'. Theories of what constitute HRM abound (see Storey, 1995; 2001). Further, debate continues regarding issues such as: the definition of HRM (Storey, 2001), the most efficacious model of HRM for organisational performance (Boxhall, 1996), the universal applicability of Anglo-Saxon models of HRM (Budhwar & Debrah, 2001), and the extent to which HRM should be considered strategic at all (Porter, 1996). The attainment of consensus over these issues may be seen by some as fundamental to the recognition of HRM as a recognisable managerial, as opposed to academic, discipline. Yet, for those who are keen to establish the identity of HRM, there is another issue that casts a long shadow over the HRM discourse. One of the most poignant debates that has emerged in HRM literature in recent years surrounds the 'rhetoric/reality distinction' (for example, see Guest & Peccei, 1994; Legge, 1995; Francis, 2002). This debate centres on whether a polarisation has occurred between writers and practitioners in the field: in the words of Foley, Maxwell & McGillivray (1999: 164), HRM literature has "...largely focused on defining the meaning of HRM while eschewing the central concerns of HR practitioners... ". In essence, there is an existent viewpoint that academics and practitioners constitute two discrete groups that exert minimal influence on the other, that is, that academics produce their HRM 'rhetoric' whilst the HRM practitioners get on with the 'reality' of managing people in the workplace. As Kane, Crawford & Grant (1999: 496) state: "A number of studies of HRM have found that in spite of the amount of theoretically and empirically-based advice available in the literature, many organisations fail to take up what are seen to be effective approaches to HRM". Similarly, Armstrong (2000) argues strongly that a rhetoric/reality distinction has become apparent in the field. He cites a range of writers who: "...mention the 'rhetoric' of HR practitioners, but should more accurately have referred to the rhetoric of the HR academics who have been debating what HRM means, how different it is, whether or not it is a good thing, indeed, whether or not it exists, endlessly and unproductively. Practitioners have pressed on regardless, in the justified belief that what the academics were writing about had little relevance to their day to day lives as they wrestle with the realities of organisational life" (p. …


Humans perceive their surrounding environment in a multimodal manner by using multi-sensory inputs combined in a coordinated way. Various studies in psychology and cognitive science indicate the multimodal nature of human speech production and perception. Such findings have motivated the development of a new and fast growing research field of audio-visual speech processing. Exhaustive research done so far shows that systems using both visual and acoustic data do perform better than their conventional "blind" counterparts. The choice of suitable visual cues is of paramount importance in such systems. The aim of this thesis is to analyze visual features and evaluate their relevance from an automatic speech recognition point of view. Speech pertinent information is mainly conveyed in the mouth area and a fundamental requirement is to obtain its representation in a parameterized form. The first objective of this work is to address the problem of visual front end design. This represents a challenging issue that involves complex computer vision tasks of face detection and facial feature tracking. After finding the speaker's face, it is important to accurately detect the mouth area and subsequently track it throughout a video sequence. In this thesis a method for nose and mouth region of interest tracking, has been developed for the application scenario restricted to audio-visual speech recognition. Nose tracking is accomplished by employing a template matching technique. Further on, the mouth region is localized taking into account knowledge of geometric properties of the human face. The next objective of this work is set upon the need for robust and accurate extraction of key lip points of interest. To accomplish such a task two novel algorithms are developed. The first one aims to find four key lip points that enable normalization of mouth images. The second algorithm provides additional mouth shape descriptors and the basis for fitting labial contours. The emphasis of this study is on audio-visual speech recognition which requires visual features suitable for classification. A question that immediately arises is what the most speech salient features are. To date different methods are proposed that mainly rely on some a priori defined rules. Area based features are selected based on criteria inherited from image compression, where geometric based methods use set of cues selected as meaningfull one for humans. There is no guarantee that such representations are optimal for automatic recognition of the uttered speech. The study done in this thesis aims to observe this problem from a different angle by including basic information theoretic concepts in visual feature analysis. The selection criteria employs Mutual Information as a measure of how informative visual cues are. The concept of mutual information eigenlips is introduced to reflect the most informative eigenfeatures. Visual features obtained using an information theoretic framework are further used for audio-visual speech recognition experiments. The obtained results indicate improved system performance when such visual cues are applied. In conclusion, the proposed information theoretic framework for visual feature selection can be applied in other audio-visual speech processing areas. The possible applications include audio-visual speaker detection and speaker localization.


This monograph suggests that theories of warfare and descriptions of the evolving character of war cannot be complete without first giving credit to the nature of war itself. Looking at varied portrayals of war from literary, academic, military, and civilian strategist perspectives, this essay (in the original meaning of the word) offers a re-definition of "war" as an investment in organized violence by parties interested in the extension, maintenance, or appearance of their power over an unspecified time, with an unknowable risk, for an uncertain reward. In drawing an analogy to painting, it suggests that "choice" is the underlying axiomatic theme of war, and it that is replayed and adapted at every scale of warfare like a classical fugue. From there, this essay pierces the interior of Clausewitz's "trinity" description of war, and proposes that there are still more universal ways to describe conflict's breadth, depth, and context. This argument concludes that war is better understood when it is described as a "clash of the trinities." An ecology of war is proposed, in which fundamental components comprising fuel, biology, and interactions constitute a network or system undergoing entropy. It is this sense of entropy — a tendency toward social and political discontinuity and disorder — that chiefly describes war in all its varied guises and explains political, social, and military efforts to avoid them, corral them, plan them, or fight them.


In this study, *-directional derivative and *-subgradient are defined using the multiplicative derivative, making a new contribution to non-Newtonian calculus for use in non-smooth analysis. As for directional derivative and subgradient, which are used in the non-smooth optimization theory, basic definitions and preliminary facts related to optimization theory are stated and proved, and the *-subgradient concept is illustrated by providing some examples, such as absolute value and exponential functions. In addition, necessary and sufficient optimality conditions are obtained for convex problems.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 'Hartone'--a proprietary herbal product primarily containing Terminalia arjuna in stable angina pectoris patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Ten patients with stable angina pectoris were given Hartone 2 caps twice daily for 6 weeks and 1 cap twice daily for the next 6 weeks. Haematological and biochemical investigations to assess safety were carried out on day 0, day 42 and day 84. Serum lipid profile was done before and after therapy. Efficacy was assessed by considering the reduction in the number of anginal episodes and improvement in stress test. The results were compared with 10 patients of stable angina pectoris on isosorbide mononitrate (ISMN) 20 mg twice daily.

RESULTS
Hartone afforded symptomatic relief in 80% of patients and ISMN in 70%. The number of anginal attacks were reduced from 79/wk to 24/wk by Hartone and from 26/wk to 7/wk by ISMN. Although patients of both groups showed improvement in several stress test parameters compared to base line, the difference was not statistically significant. Hartone improved BP response to stress test in two patients and ejection fraction in one. Hartone was better tolerated than ISMN and showed no evidence of hepatic or renal impairment. Its effects on lipid profile was not consistent.

CONCLUSION
Hartone is a safe and effective anti-anginal agent comparable to ISMN and is better tolerated. Large scale, randomised, double blind trials are needed to prove its efficacy.


The relation between the political agenda, the social and economic policies, and urban planning and fabric of cities as a product cannot be missed. And as cities are centres of national economic growth and given that the future of the world will be urban it is thus ironic that the majority of the population of almost all cities in almost all developing countries lives in houses that are below standards, in areas that lack services and basic infrastructure. Furthermore, the people who live in these areas suffer from high present of socio-economic problems such as unemployment and literacy. The poorest of the population have to pay more for their houses, service and infrastructure provision. And they lack access to formal credit and thus to opportunities (Sirry 2004). The cities have become places of frustration instead of places of hope and opportunities. It is not thus surprising that the world is witnessing a wave of upheavals all over its' cities. In the two case studies the article will try to discuss the background of the country and the political, social, and economic conditions and the physical outcome that is manifested in the image of its cities specially the capital city and how can the change towards democracy help the country, its cities and the urban population. The period covered is called by many the contemporary period, it starts in 50's in Egypt and 70's in Argentine.


Neural plasticity and in particular Hebbian learning play an important role in many research areas related to artficial life. By allowing artificial neural networks (ANNs) to adjust their weights in real time, Hebbian ANNs can adapt over their lifetime. However, even as researchers improve and extend Hebbian learning, a fundamental limitation of such systems is that they learn correlations between preexisting static features and network outputs. A Hebbian ANN could in principle achieve significantly more if it could accumulate new features over its lifetime from which to learn correlations. Interestingly, autoencoders, which have recently gained prominence in deep learning, are themselves in effect a kind of feature accumulator that extract meaningful features from their inputs. The insight in this paper is that if an autoencoder is connected to a Hebbian learning layer, then the resulting Realtime Autoencoder-Augmented Hebbian Network (RAAHN) can actually learn new features (with the autoencoder) while simultaneously learning control policies from those new features (with the Hebbian layer) in real time as an agent experiences its environment. In this paper, the RAAHN is shown in a simulated robot maze navigation experiment to enable a controller to learn the perfect navigation strategy significantly more often than several Hebbian-based variant approaches that lack the autoencoder. In the long run, this approach opens up the intriguing possibility of real-time deep learning for control.


We demonstrate multihop optical code labeled packet switching with agile and phase-preserved wavelength conversion. The wavelength converter consists of a highly-nonlinear fiber (HNLF) and a multiwavelength distributed feedback laser-diode (DFB-LD) array module. We obtained a switching time of less than 1 ns, and the tolerance of the optical encoder for wavelength shift of the DFB-LD was 0.08 nm. The relative phases of each chip pulse in eight-chip-long binary phase shift keying (BPSK) optical code after the wavelength conversion by four-wave mixing (FWM) is preserved. We simulate the performance of packet-loss probability with the wavelength conversion in a limited wavelength range of the wavelength converter. The numerical simulations show that the packet-loss probability degrades only 3.1% under the link utilization of 0.4, in comparison to that with the wavelength conversion having an unlimited wavelength range of conversion.


The design and development of a Zigbee smart noninvasive wearable physiological parameters monitoring device has been developed and reported in this paper. The system can be used to monitor physiological parameters, such as temperature and heart rate, of a human subject. The system consists of an electronic device which is worn on the wrist and finger, by an at-risk person. Using several sensors to measure different vital signs, the person is wirelessly monitored within his own home. An impact sensor has been used to detect falls. The device detects if a person is medically distressed and sends an alarm to a receiver unit that is connected to a computer. This sets off an alarm, allowing help to be provided to the user. The device is battery powered for use outdoors. The device can be easily adapted to monitor athletes and infants. The low cost of the device will help to lower the cost of home monitoring of patients recovering from illness. A prototype of the device has been fabricated and extensively tested with very good results.


The private market benefits of education, i.e. the wage premia of graduates, are widely studied at the micro level, although the magnitude of their macroeconomic impact is disputed. However, there are additional benefits of education, which are less well understood but could potentially drive significant macroeconomic impacts. Following the taxonomy of McMahon (2009) we identify four different types of benefits of education. These are: private market benefits (wage premia); private non market benefits (own health, happiness, etc.); external market benefits (productivity spillovers; and external non-market benefits (crime rates, civic society, democratisation, etc.). Drawing on available microeconometric evidence we use a micro-to-macro simulation approach (Hermannsson et al, 2010) to estimate the macroeconomic impacts of external benefits of higher education. We explore four cases: technology spillovers from HEIs; productivity spillovers from more skilled workers in the labour market; reduction in property crime; and the potential overall impact of external and private non-market benefits. Our results suggest that the external economic benefits of higher education could potentially be very large. However, given the dearth of microeconomic evidence this result should be seen as tentative. Our aim is to illustrate the links from education to the wider economy in principle and encourage further research in the field.


The use of ultrasound has revolutionised the area of clinical fetal examinations. The possibility of detecting congenital abnormalities at an early stage of the pregnancy is highly important to maximise the chances of correcting the defect before it becomes life-threatening. The problems related to the routine procedure is its complexity and the fact that it requires a lot of knowledge about fetal anatomy. Because of the lack of training among midwives, especially in less developed countries, the results of the examinations are often limited. In addition, the quality of the ultrasound equipment is often restricted. These limitations imply the need for a standardised procedure for the examination to decrease the amount of time required, as well as an automatic method for proposing the diagnosis of the fetus. This thesis has proposed a solution for automatically making a diagnosis based on the contents of extracted ultrasound images. Based on the concept of standard view planes, a list of predefined images are obtained of the fetus during the routine ultrasonography. These images contain the most important organs to examine, and most common congenital abnormalities are therefore detectable in this set. In order to perform the analysis of the images, medical domain knowledge must be obtained and stored to enable reasoning about the findings in the ultrasound images. The findings are extracted through segmentation and each object is given a unique description. An organ database is developed to store descriptions about existing organs to recognise the extracted objects. Once the organs have been identified, a CBR system is applied to analyse the total contents of one standard view plane. The CBR system uses domain knowledge from the medical domain as well as previously solved problems to identify possible abnormalities in the case describing the standard view plane. When a solution is obtained, it is stored for later retrieval. This causes the reliability of future examinations to increase, because of the constant expansion of the knowledge base. The foundation of standard view planes ensures an effective procedure and the amount of training needed to learn the procedure is minimised due to the automatic extraction and analysis of the contents of the standard view plane. The midwife only has to learn which standard view planes to obtain, not the analysis of their contents.


Computer aided circuit analysis is a complex procedure, which may be roughly divided into three steps. The first stage is device modelling, where quantitative properties of the participating electronic devices are determined. In the second step, the circuit's topology in conjunction with the device equations is being exploited, in order to formulate a linearized nonsingular equation set. Eventually, the equation set is iteratively solved in the third phase, yielding a solution vector of circuit variables. This paper deals with the second and third step, where diverse sparse matrix methods are employed. Its ambition is to provide a general mathematical form, by which most matrix manipulating techniques can be described, thus enabling their classification on a theoretical level. Usually, these methods would be presented descriptively rather than strictly mathematically. The paper introduces a matrix reduction operator, from which a general matrix operator equation is deduced. This operator equation can be used to describe entire analysis approaches. After some necessary definitions, the purpose of this paper is illustrated by studying several classic examples rather than giving lots of mathematical proof. The selected examples involve some well known linear equation set solution methods as well as several typical equation set transformations.


Background English alcohol policy is implemented at local government level, leading to variations in how it is put into practice. We evaluated whether differences in the presence or absence of cumulative impact zones and the 'intensity' of licensing enforcement—both aimed at regulating the availability of alcohol and modifying the drinking environment—were associated with harm as measured by alcohol-related hospital admissions. Methods Premises licensing data were obtained at lower tier local authority (LTLA) level from the Home Office Alcohol and Late Night Refreshment Licensing data for 2007–2012, and LTLAs were coded as 'passive', low, medium or highly active based on whether they made use of cumulative impact areas and/or whether any licences for new premises were declined. These data were linked to 2009–2015 alcohol-related hospital admission and alcohol-related crime rates obtained from the Local Alcohol Profiles for England. Population size and deprivation data were obtained from the Office of National Statistics. Changes in directly age-standardised rates of people admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions were analysed using hierarchical growth modelling. Results Stronger reductions in alcohol-related admission rates were observed in areas with more intense alcohol licensing policies, indicating an 'exposure–response' association, in the 2007–2015 period. Local areas with the most intensive licensing policies had an additional 5% reduction (p=0.006) in 2015 compared with what would have been expected had these local areas had no active licensing policy in place. Conclusions Local licensing policies appear to be associated with a reduction in alcohol-related hospital admissions in areas with more intense licensing policies.


This research aims to provide an Islamic Fiqhi perspective on the Options Contract, one of the most prominent contracts in international capital markets. The research begins with a historical introduction that illustrates the emergence of this contract and its evolution. It then moves on to explain its terminology and linguistic meanings. The research also addresses the most suitable Fiqhi adaptation (Takyeef) to this contract. The research concludes with many significant findings. Firstly, the subject of contracting is an abstract right, namely, just the right to purchase or to sell, and not something else. It is not an obligation, because an obligation is only a consequence of this contract. Finally, all kinds of this contract are haram because it contains gharar and maysir (gambling).


Abstract In this paper the author analyzes the behavior of exchange rates expectations for four currencies, by considering a re-calculation and an extension of Resende and Zeidan (Expectations and chaotic dynamics: empirical evidence on exchange rates, Economics Letters, 2008). Considering Lyapunov exponent-based tests results, they are not supportive of chaos in exchange rates expectations, although the so-called 0–1 test strongly supports the chaos hypothesis.


A series of lanthanide coordination polymers(LnCPs) containing both light and heavy rare-earth elements, namely {[Eu2(pydc)3(H2O)]·2H2O}n (1-Eu, H2pydc = pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid), [Ln(pyc)2(Hpyc)(NO3)]n (Ln = Nd (2-Nd), Sm (3-Sm), Eu (4-Eu), Gd (5-Gd), Tb (6-Tb), Ho (7-Ho), and Er (8-Er), Hpyc = pyridine-3-carboxylic acid), has been synthesized under hydro(solvo)thermal conditions and fully characterized. The crystal structure analysis indicates that in situ decarboxylation of H2pydc occurred in the synthesis process of 2-Nd-8-Er. Coordination polymer 1-Eu displays a 3-D pcu network with central-symmetric quad-core structural units [Eu4(COO)6] linked by 1-D chains. 2-Nd-8-Er are of triple helical chain enantiomeric pair 61/65 axis, and can be further linked through two separate kinds of Hbonding interaction to form a mirror symmetrical 3-D framework; the final topological symbol of the jointly connected network is rare {47·68}. Solid-state luminescence studies show that the emission spectra of these LnCPs cover both the visible and near-infrared luminescence region. 2-Nd exhibits characteristic 4F3/2 → 4IJ/2 (J = 9, 11, 13) transition NIR emission. 1-Eu and 4-Eu provide characteristic 5D0 → 7FJ intense and bright red luminescence, while 4-Eu exhibits better luminescence performance because of the presence of the O-H oscillators within 1-Eu. 6-Tb exhibits characteristic 5D4 → 7FJ intense and bright green luminescence. Furthermore, through doping with PMMA polymer, the luminescence properties of 4-Eu and 6-Tb are all improved. The results show the best doping concentration is 4%. The thermal stabilities of 4-Eu-PMMA and 6-Tb-PMMA increased from 270 to 315 °C when compared with single coordination polymers 4-Eu and 6-Tb. The co-doping of 4-Eu, 5-Gd, and 6-Tb (0.92/0.04/0.04) with PMMA at a total concentration of 4% resulted in a tunable luminescence material W(4-Eu,5-Gd,6-Tb)-PMMA film. When excited at 285 nm, W(4-Eu,5-Gd,6-Tb)-PMMA shows white-light emission with the CIE chromaticity coordinates of (0.33, 0.35). The lifetime of Eu3+ ions in W(4-Eu,5-Gd,6-Tb)-PMMA increased from 1032.24 μs to 1272.26 μs when compared with 4-Eu-PMMA, and the efficiency of energy transfer (ηET) from Tb3+ to Eu3+ within the co-doping PMMA film could be estimated to be 29.9%.


This paper proposes alternative architectures to perform a circular correlation using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) by decomposing the initial circular correlation into several smaller circular correlations. The approach used is similar to the Fast Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Algorithms (FFAs). These architectures improve the performance in terms of reduced processing time or resource usage, and consequently lower the energy consumption. The results can be applied to any system that performs circular convolution or correlation. In this paper, the application is the acquisition of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals with the FFT-based Parallel Code-phase Search (PCS), and more precisely on the GPS L1 C/A signal, when the target considered is a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). In this context, it is for example shown that it is possible with one of the proposed architectures to reduce the logic usage by 11 %, the memory usage by 41 %, and the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) block usage by 32 %, while keeping the same processing time. With another architecture, it is shown that the processing time can be halved by increasing the logic usage by only 35 %, while reducing the memory usage and keeping the same DSP usage. Note that the proposed approach is not based on an approximation of the traditional method, but a modified implementation providing the same result. Thus, there is no loss of sensitivity.


Juglans cinerea L. (butternut) is a hardwood species valued for its wood and edible nuts. Information on the vegetative propagation of this species is currently unavailable. Our objective was to determine the conditions necessary for successful stem-cutting propagation of butternut. In 1999 and 2000, 10 trees (each year) were randomly selected from a 5- and 6-year-old butternut plantation located in Rosemount, Minn. Hardwood stem cuttings were collected in March, April, and May. Softwood cuttings were collected in June and July. K-IBA at 0, 29, or 62 mM in water and IBA at 0, 34, or 74 mM in 70% ethanol were tested for root induction on cuttings. The basal end of cuttings were dipped in a treatment solution for 10 to 15 seconds, potted in a peat : perlite mixture, and placed in a mist bed for 5 to 8 weeks. Rooted cuttings were gradually hardened off from the mist bed, allowed to initiate new growth, overwintered in a controlled cold-storage environment, and then outplanted to the field. For hardwood cuttings, rooting was greatest for those taken in mid-May (branches flushed out), 22% with 62 mM K-IBA and 28% with 74 mM IBA. Softwood cuttings rooted best when taken in June (current season's first flush of new growth or softwood growth 40 cm or greater) and treated with 62 mM K-IBA (77%) or 74 mM IBA (88%). For 1999, 31 out of 51 rooted softwood cuttings (60.8%) survived overwintering in cold storage and acclimatization to the field. For 2000, 173 out of 186 rooted softwood cuttings (93%) survived overwintering and acclimatization to the field. Chemical names used: indole-3-butyric acid-potassium salt (K-IBA); indole-3-butyric acid (IBA).


Following Paul Buhle's claims about the inherent utopianism of horror, this essay examines the popular film Daybreakers (2009) as a cultural response to the economic and biopolitical crises of the Great Recession. Ultimately retreating from the dark mirror of its compelling dystopian critique, the film executes its social crisis through the logic of vampiric speciology, immunizing the present against the threat of radical transformation and restoring a "natural" social order. However, the biopolitical writings of Roberto Esposito offer us a way to discern the ineradicable utopian horizon in even this strategy of containment and neutralization.


The selection of plant growth media remains an empirical endeavor often focusing on available materials rather than on the physical principles that govern water retention and flow. Apparent water- and O 2 -induced stresses affecting plant growth experiments in microgravity (10 -3 -10 -6 g 0 ) have prompted the need for refinement of selection criteria for optimal growth media. The objective of this work was to develop a comprehensive approach for selecting the physical characteristics of plant growth media that optimize the dynamic availability of liquids and gases to plant roots. Physically based models describing the relationship between content and fluxes of liquids and gases were written in terms of media parameters and were used to cast a multiobjective optimization problem. Plant physiological target values, growth container design, and other system considerations provided constraints for the optimization problem. The optimized media parameters designated a pore-size distribution (psd) that is scaled to a corresponding particle-size distribution (PSD) by inversion of the Arya and Paris model. The iterative process resulted in an average scaling of psd to PSD and led to the synthesis of an optimal medium. Sand and glass bead mixtures were well matched to the optimized media characteristics resulting from the optimization procedure. This methodology is amenable to horticultural, greenhouse, and research applications where optimal porous media design is of value.


The use of wind energy is now an established fact, and many educational institutions are introducing this topic into their engineering studies. Problem-based learning (PBL), as a student-centered instructional approach, has contributed to important developments in engineering education over the last few years. This paper presents the experience of a problem-based learning approach within the context of teaching wind energy conversion systems for electricity generation at an Electrical and Electronic Master's degree level. Students were given the problem of finding the response of a wind turbine to a grid fault. Groups of three students worked on a cooperative learning project for 15 weeks, with the instructor providing resource assistance and information at all stages of the work. Two tools were designed to help the students: a virtual wind turbine simulator and a real wind turbine setup. Both experimental tools are described, and the results obtained by the students are discussed. The results show that the students valued both tools and were able to address problems at a high cognitive level.


Every year online sales represent a higher percentage of the sales total in nearly all sectors of the economy, and the art markets are no exception. However, there are few empirical studies showing how online sales and digital technologies are transforming the art markets at a micro-level. This study is based on the detailed examination of the financial performance of one of the two largest Portuguese auction houses, Cabral Moncada Leilões (CML), over a period of twelve years (2007–2018), complemented with interviews with its top-managers. It analyses a set of financial indicators (e.g., EBIT, ROA, EQUITY, sales volume, net results, etc.), along with some markers that are specific to the auction sector (e.g., average lot value, number of auctions per year, etc.). From this analysis it is possible to conclude that the deterioration of this company's financial performance was the driving force that led it to explore the potential of digital economy. In the process, its business model changed dramatically, leading the company to a different market position and to the enlargement of its national and international customer base.


This thesis has reviewed some of the early experiments on subliminal perception, has discussed some of the more current studies, and has considered some of the technological and methodological problems which were encountered in experiments on subliminal stimulation. / Individual differences in subjects which are used in experiments on subliminal stimulations were also discussed and several conclusions were reached. Such factors as need states of the individual and intelligence seem to have an influence upon whether or not the subliminal stimulus will be effective on a particular subject. / Two groups of college students were used in this experiment. Each group was composed of 20 subjects, ten males and ten females. They were selected by using those students who had a Wechsler Bellvue Vocabulary Subtest score of 29 or more, and who correctly followed directions on the three attitude scales administered them. / The control and experimental groups were both administered attitude scales. Two weeks later the subjects in the experimental group were given a subliminal stimulation without their being aware of it. This stimulation was given at an intensity which had previously been found to be below the absolute point of discernment for the group. This group was then given the three previously administered attitude scales. The control group was also given these scales, and the mean difference was computed for both groups. A t-test was used to discover whether the results obtained from the experimental group on the Semantic Differential test were significant. They were not found to be significant. It was concluded that deep-seated, strongly emotional attitudes could not be changed through the use of subliminal stimulation by using the methods, procedure, and apparatus used in this experiment.