The paper discusses the concept, specification and performance of a new, dedicated range extender engine for plug-in series hybrid vehicles conceived and designed by Lotus Engineering. This has been undertaken as part of a consortium project called Limo Green, part-funded by the UK government. The Lotus Range Extender engine has been conceived from the outset specifically as an engine for a plug-in series hybrid vehicle, therefore being free of some of the constraints placed on engines which have to mate to conventional, stepped mechanical transmissions. The paper starts by defining the philosophical difference between an engine for range extension and an engine for a full series hybrid vehicle, a distinction which is important with regard to how much power each type must produce. As part of this, the advantages of the sparkignition engine over the diesel are outlined. The rationale leading to the adoption of an in-line 3-cylinder configuration and specification is then discussed, followed by a description of the principal design characteristics of the engine; it also points out any significant differences from what might be expected were a 'conventional' engine to be designed. The use of 'monoblock' construction which integrates the cylinder block with the cylinder head and also with a watercooled exhaust manifold is described. An indication of the likely parts reduction possible with this approach is made, together with a brief discussion of the pros and cons of the approach and which other engine types this architecture might suit. Engine performance on 95 RON unleaded gasoline is detailed, together with observations on why the engine has been additionally protected to operate on ethanol and methanol. The paper also includes a brief discussion of other engine concepts which might suit the purpose of range extension, but which (compared to the more conventional reciprocating spark-ignition engine embodied by this approach) will necessarily require greater development even if they may offer the potential for further improved efficiency, package volume and/or NVH characteristics.


We present a tool for detecting long similar fragments that occur two or more times in a set of biological sequences. The problem has interesting applications in the analysis of biological sequences and their correlation, and becomes computationally challenging when a certain non negligible number of insertions, deletions and substitutions are allowed. For this reason exact exhaustive methods are hardly of practical use. In this paper we introduce a tool, FilmRed, that performs this task, and that manages instances whose size and parameters combination cannot be handled by any existing tool. This is achieved by using a filter as a preprocessing step, and by using the information that the filter has gathered also in the successive inference phase. To the best of our knowledge, FilmRed is the first ab initio tool that can deal with repeats occurring possibly several times, that have length of hundreds or thousands bases, and whose occurrences may differ in even more than 10% of their positions in terms of substitutions and indels.


Buildings consume about 40 percent of total national energy use, are responsible for the same percentage of greenhouse gas emissions, and account for about 70 percent of electricity use. To address energy security issues and environmental concerns there is an urgent need to develop techniques that greatly reduce energy use and peak electric power in buildings while providing or improving the services provided. One of the greatest opportunities to address this need is to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced building energy information and control systems that improve energy efficiency. Similarly, information and control systems need to be responsive to demands and dynamic prices from the electricity grid by modifying electric loads during operations, while meeting needs of building occupants. This paper reviews progress in each of these areas and suggests how future integrated control systems should be designed and operated to ensure buildings are both efficient and demand responsive for optimal low-cost operations.


In this paper, we will provide an overview of different stages in the coming about of the Muhammad al-Amin mosque, the so-called "Hariri mosque", a construction completed in 2005. By focusing on five determining phases of the project, five situations of bargaining over space, we wish to allow the reader to take a look into the complex history of the mosque by documenting how a selection of actors became, willing or not, associated with what is now Lebanon's largest congregational mosque. We will pay special attention to identify the major actors involved and see how the project has in itself, physically and spatially, evolved over the decades. It is our objective too to illustrate that and how legality has been treated throughout these different periods as a flexible given that could be accommodated according to the necessity of the situation or in function of the preferences of the respective actors. In doing so, this religious building's emergence recalls the history of Beirut and its significant, diversified Sunni community. What follows is a description and an analysis of how a 30 million dollar project bestowed on the Lebanese capital a major landmark, after a dynamic and surprising trajectory that compasses almost a century and a half. This contribution attempts to highlight how, by constant actions and reactions, and with an impressive variety of national and international actors, an exceptional and highly symbolical place of worship emerged into the skyline of a cosmopolitan metropolis in an ongoing, transformative process of acquiring, claiming and appropriating (sacred) land.


Trace metal speciation, as a means to indicate likely sources and transportation mechanisms of elements in the environment, is of vital importance to both the analytical chemist and the toxicologist. Several workers have described methods involving the direct coupling of chromatographic columns to various atomic spectroscopic detectors. These include graphite furnace atomic absorption, inductively coupled plasma emission, flame emission, and flame absorption spectrometry.


Discovery of alterations in a gene called FGFR2 could accelerate the development of new treatments for endometrial cancer, a type of uterine cancer. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen); the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, which is part of Cambridge University; and New York University School of Medicine reported the findings in the May 21, 2007, online version of the journal Oncogene. The mutations in FGFR2 were found in a subset of endometrial cancers, the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States. The genetic changes result in uncontrolled cell division, a hallmark of cancer. Drugs already in clinical trials inhibit FGFR2 function and could potentially lead to new treatments for endometrial cancers, according to the researchers. Nearly 40,000 women are diagnosed with endometrial cancer each year, making it the fourth most common cancer found in women, following breast cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer. Endometrial cancer usually begins in the lining of the uterus and is most commonly found in women between the ages of 60 and 70. If discovered early, this slow-growing cancer can be successfully treated by surgical removal of the uterus. However, about 7,000 women die each year from the more aggressive form of endometrial cancer. Researchers used the latest genome-scanning technology to sequence 187 endometrial tumor samples. The research team identified mutations in FGFR2 in 16 percent of tumors that represented a specific subset of endometrial cancer. The other types of endometrial cancer did not have these mutations. The FGFR2 gene encodes a protein that plays a critical role in cell growth. In patients with FGFR2 mutations, the tumors were caused by the receptor for this protein being permanently stuck in the "on" position. "Mutations in several genes have previously been identified in endometrial cancer, however they have not been druggable targets," says Pamela Pollock, Ph.D., head of TGen's Melanoma Research Unit. "We are excited about this discovery in that the testing of drugs designed to inhibit this gene in early clinical trials means that we are one step closer to personalized medicine for women with endometrial cancer driven by an altered FGFR2 gene." Pollock spent several years studying the FGFR2 gene in melanoma. Pollock and Paul Goodfellow, Ph.D., an endometrial cancer expert, professor of surgery, genetics and obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center member, are planning additional studies to investigate whether two drugs currently in Phase I trials for other cancers inhibit endometrial cell growth in the laboratory. Future studies include testing these drugs in mouse models of endometrial cancer before testing them in humans. "We are planning to investigate FGFR2 in tumors from a much larger group of patients to determine whether mutations in the gene lead to aggressive cancers and poor outcome," says Goodfellow, also co-director of the Hereditary Cancer Core at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. "Given how frequent mutations are in endometrial cancers, we are hopeful we will be able to initiate a Phase II trial treating patients with an FGFR2 inhibitor within the next two to three years." "This study illustrates the power of systematic searches for mutations in cancer genomes in identifying the abnormal genes responsible for driving cancers and providing new therapeutic avenues," says Michael Stratton, M.D., Ph.D., who along with Andrew Futreal, Ph.D., co-leads the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Pollock has studied the FGFR2 gene in melanoma for more than three years. The team headed by Stratton and Futreal at the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found preliminary data hinting that FGFR2 might play an important role in endometrial cancer. Pollock then established a collaboration with Goodfellow, who provided tumor samples representative of the different types of uterine cancers as well as a wealth of expertise on endometrial cancer. "This partnership between researchers at TGen and Washington University School of Medicine combined with previous work in endometrial cancer performed at Cambridge University opened the door for new discoveries to be made," says Jeffrey Trent, Ph.D., scientific director of TGen.


In my doctoral research I studied how different types of second language grammar input are processed by learners and how their working memory capacity influences input processing. There were four different input conditions: two explicit and two implicit and 100 second language learners of English in Sri Lanka participated in this study. The study used a pre/post test design, four working memory tests and eye-tracking to collect data on how learners pay attention to the target construction. The findings highlighted that explicit input techniques are more beneficial than the implicit input techniques when acquiring novel grammatical constructions. Moreover, the results indicated that working memory capacity was very strongly related to how language learners process second language input as learners with high working memory had clear advantages in any instructional condition. These findings are directly relevant in teaching a second language to learners with dyslexia, who tend to have shorter working memory capacity and process novel language input in different ways. In this talk, I will discuss these current research findings related to dyslexia and language learning and inclusive practices that different countries have implemented to facilitate such learners in the language classroom. Further to this, I will present a teacher training project that has been designed to train English language teacher trainers in Sri Lanka on identification and inclusive practices of dyslexic learners in English classroom. The project will fund to train ca. 100 English language teacher trainers all over the country. They will be exposed to free professional development programmes and free resources as well. The project will also attempt to raise awareness among policy planners and language testing body in Sri Lanka of the importance of incorporating inclusive practices in policy/curriculum design and high-stakes exams.


Every year, more than 400 people in the U.S. die from accidental Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas that results from incomplete burning of common fuels such as natural gas and propane. When CO is inhaled, it enters the blood stream and reduces the ability of blood to carry oxygen. The environment for ice fishing is cold and ice fishermen who use ice huts or tents commonly use portable propane heaters to heat their shelters. During the 2012/2013 ice fishing season, random fishermen were selected to be part of a research study. Upon arrival, the fishermen were evaluated for blood carbon monoxide concentrations (carboxyhemoglobin) and their pulse rate was recorded using a CO Oximeter. In addition, the air inside the fishermen shelters was evaluated for CO, oxygen and flammable gases with a MultiRAE plus 4 gas monitor. While COHb was measureable in 40% of the subjects when they arrived at the fishing sites, within one hour of fishing in a structure heated with a propane heater, eight of 10 (80%) of subjects revealed measureable COHb concentrations. The air CO monitoring within the structures supported this hypothesis with mean CO concentrations ranging from 2 -22 ppm. In addition, the majority of subjects had increased pulse rates as their duration in the structures increased. This research implies that the use of portable propane heaters in ice fishing structures may result in elevated air CO concentrations within the enclosures and increased fishermen blood carboxyhemoglobin levels. Additional research to further explore this potential public health problem is recommended.


INTRODUTION: The urinary incontinence (UI) is defined by International Continence Society (ICS) as any involuntary lost of urine. It exerces numerous effects about the diary activities, social interaction and the perception of health. The literary affirms that the practice of physical activities of high impact and effort, can behave like a risk factor for the UI. OBJECTIVES: Identify the prevalence of UI in a group of women practicing of jump. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study, with a sample of 32 volunteers that answered the questionnaire about obstetric records and practice of physical activities and traduction of International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Short Form (ICIQ-SF). RESULTS:There was urinary lost in 37,5% of the interviewee. The medium age of the incontinents was about 31,58 years (DP ± 9,39). The women with sons had 1,2 more chances of shows UI than the nuliparous. Those who practice jump three or more times in a week, slows 2,45 more chances of shows UI. Those who want to urinate during the jump, the chance of UI was 6 times more. 62,5% of the incontinents has none impact in quality of life, and practice of physical activities was pointed as situation most common of UI. CONCLUSION:There is urinary incontinence in practitioners of jump investigated, multiparous and nuliparous, in youngs, during the practice of jump and in other occasions, pointing the necessity of study more comprehensive about the theme.


Family business is the most prevalent form of business organisation and accounts for about 70% of all companies in European countries. Studies of this sector attract an unusually diverse group of researchers and practicioners.

A review of the growing literature reveals that most of the recent family business studies generally discuss succession issues which may be of particular concern to family businesses, and they often lack a firm empirical basis. furthermore, there exists a shortage of studies that establish linkages between family business succession issues and business performance. The importance of this study is acknowledged by the fact that it gives empirical evidence that links the succession issues and the state of performance in small and medium sized family businesses in the UK. Specifically, this thesis tries to develop a multifaceted concept of succession and investigates its relationship with multiple dimensions of financial performance, such as return on capital employed (ROCE), return on shareholder equity (ROSE), profit margin, return on total assets (ROTA), sales growth, progit growth, employment growth and employee productivity.

In the research, propositions were generated based on Morris el's (1997) model of perspectives on the relationships between succession issues, characteristics of the transfer and post-transition performance. Morris et al's model classifies succession issues into three dimensions, namely preparation of heirs, nature of family and business relationships and planning and control activities. In this study, apart from these three dimensions, an additional dimension, focusing on compensation issues, was incorporated based on the literature. One primary hypothesis is to investigate whether business performance is associated with the four latent dimensions of underlying succession issues.

In addition, this study focuses on the influence of business objectives on business performance. The literature suggests that family considerations and business performance can be competing goals in the family businesses (eg Dunn, 1995). Therefore it is very important to investigate whether business objectives have any impact on business performance.

A stratified sample of 924 small and medium sized family controlled businesses was selected from the FAME (Financial Analysis Made Easy) database. 169 Usable responses were received, making the response rate 18.3%. With the sample, a variety of statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. Factor analysis and reliability analysis were employed to build up a succession issue scale. Hierarchical cluster analysis was involved for grouping family businesses, according to their commonalities on succession issue views, plus the subsidiary factors of business age and business size. Finally one way ANOVA and correlation analysis were conducted to determine the relationships between family business succession issues and business performance.

Further development of the research was undertaken in two steps. First the assumed influence of subjective variables, such as business objectives on the business performance was investigated. A second postal survey was sent to the 169 companies which replied in the first survey and seventy usable responses were received (the response rate was 41.4%). Secondly, in depth interviews (six case studies) were conducted with incumbent managers and potential successors, which reveal that succession issues and business objectives both have significant relationships with various dimensions of performance, ie profitability ratios, growth ratios and efficiency ratios. It is therefore suggested that business owner-managers use multidimensional conceptualisation to consider succession issues and business objectives to better balance requirements for both family and business to achieve competitive advantage in running their business. Avenues for future research are also addressed at the end of the thesis.


The Salt River project originally developed the Land Use Forecasting Model to understand the pattern of urbanization of agricultural and desert land in metropolitan Phoenix. The model allocates future land uses to forty-acre parcels based on factors influencing development such as access to freeways, proximity to railroads, and adjacency to intersections. Projecting the distribution of future growth by land use type allows us to study the impact of future water and electrical customers on our system.


The dispersion of a hyperbolic anisotropic metamaterial (HAM) and the chromatic aberration of light focusing in this kind of HAM are studied. The HAM is formed by alternately stacking metal and dielectric layers. The rules of materials and filling factors affecting the optical property of HAM are given. The chromatic aberration of light focusing is demonstrated both theoretically and numerically. By comparing the theory with the simulation results, the factors influencing the focal length, including the heat loss of material and low spatial frequency modes, are discussed. The investigation emphasizes the anomalous properties, such as chromatic aberration and low spatial frequency modes influencing focus position, of HAM compared with that in conventional lens. Based on the analysis, the possibility of using HAM to focus light with two different wavelengths at the same point is studied.


In bistable systems, the stability of front structures often influences the dynamics of extended patterns. We show how the combined effect of an instability to curvature modulations and proximity to a pitchfork front bifurcation leads to spontaneous nucleation of spiral waves along the front. This effect is demonstrated by direct simulations of a FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) model and by simulations of order parameter equations for the front velocity and curvature. Spontaneous spiral-wave nucleation often results in a state of spatio-temporal disorder involving repeated events of spiral wave nucleation, domain spliting and spiral wave annihilation.


Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a predictor of aging and a number of age-related diseases. We performed genome-wide association studies of mean LTL in 2632 individuals,with a two-stage replication in 3917 individuals from Chinese populations. To further validate our findings, we get the results of 696 samples from a cohort of European ancestry. We identified two loci associated with LTL that map in telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT; rs2736100, P = 1.93×10−5) on chromosome 5p15.33 and near keratin 80 (KRT80; rs17653722, P = 6.96×10−6) on 12q13.13. In Chinese population each C allele of rs2736100 and T allele of rs17653722 was associated with a longer mean telomere length of 0.026 and 0.059 T/S, respectively, equivalent to about 3 and 7 years of average age-related telomere attrition. Our findings provide new insights into telomere regulatory mechanism and even pathogenesis of age-related diseases.


The paper describes an enhanced fingerprint recognition system consisting of image preprocessing, feature extraction and matching that runs accurately and effectively on a personal computer platform. The image preprocessing includes histogram equalisation, modification of directional codes, dynamic thresholding and ridgeline thinning which are sufficient to enhance the image to a state ready for feature extraction. Only features extracted are stored in a file for fingerprint matching. The matching algorithm presented is a modification and improvement of the structural approach. Experimental results acquired for matching are accurate, reliable and fast for implementation using a PC and a fingerprint scanner. The proposed fingerprint recognition scheme can provide an efficient way of automated identification and can be extended to numerous other security or administration applications.


(Abstract) Modern mobile communication systems will provide enhanced high-speed data, multimedia, and voice services to mobile users. The integration of such heterogeneous traffic types implies that the network must provide differentiated Quality of Service (QoS). Beam forming techniques have been proposed to increase the spectral efficiency of the wireless channel. Using beamforming in the network will lead to intra-cell handoffs within the cell due to user mobility. In a commercially deployed next generation cellular system, it is likely that beam forming and QoS guarantees to the users will co-exist. In this work we propose a resource allocation and management scheme tailored for a network that employs smart antennas in support of a heterogeneous user mix. Resource management in a wireless system should take care of channel impairments and non-ideal antenna patterns. Mobile users moving from one beam to the other give rise to resource reallocation issues. Depending on the scatterer distribution in the cell, the Angle of Arrival (AoA) of the users will also change, affecting the interference pattern in the cell. In a system with data and multimedia users, some of the users are likely to be elastic in their demands for bandwidth. In this work, we propose a resource allocation and management scheme tailored for systems with smart antennas having heterogeneous users. The algorithm works by comparing the received power in the beams. Elasticity of user requirement for data services is exploited to provide adaptive QoS, thereby reducing the call dropping probability due to user mobility. Simulation results showing the channel and Multiple Access Interference (MAI) effects on system performance are presented. The effect of channel coding to provide Bit Error Rate (BER) guarantees is studied. We also show the throughput advantage obtained using the resource management algorithms. It is also seen that the throughput of the system iii increases for a user population having a higher elasticity. A modified resource allocation algorithm to reduce the blocking probability of the calls is presented and performance verified using simulation. The probability of call dropping in an unmanaged system due to user mobility is shown. Our studies show that using managed system the call drop probability can be minimized. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I am thankful to God, the most gracious most merciful for all he has gifted me with. It is His plan and my belief in him that helped me finish this work. My sincere appreciation goes …


This paper presents the RECTANGULAR FISHEYE VIEW, an interactive focus-and-context presentation technique for large raster images on mobile computers with small displays and limited processing power. Both the viewing of locally available images and the demand-driven display and transmission of remotely- stored images are supported by the technique. The underlying geometry calculations are explained, and the design decisions for supporting rapid interactive feedback are discussed. A scenario is described which demonstrates the performance of the method.


This paper extends the previous application of Alfred Whitehead's educational ideas to the domain of enterprise education. In doing so, a unique approach to enterprise education is illustrated that links students to their reality whilst also connecting the curriculum to contemporary entrepreneurship theory. The paper reports upon past cycles of reflective practice related to the developing hic et nunc teaching and learning framework. Two specific findings of note have emerged. First, that student-learning outcomes are enhanced through the oscillating influence of freedom and discipline. However, in the absence of either factor, sub-optimal outcomes are seen to occur. That is, an imbalance between freedom and discipline has resulted in sub-optimal outcomes from either a lack of student interest or an inability to adequately apply acquired knowledge. Where gains have been made, the most obvious process has been through consultation with students. Second, that the students also play an important role in shaping the nature of the learning environments within which they interact. Both findings are of significant importance to all academics charged with the responsibility of developing enterprise education curriculum. The main implication of the paper is that in the absence of sound pedagogical practises, it is possible that enterprise programs may develop a tendency to reinforce past practises. The processes of constructive alignment and criterion-based assessment are argued to offer avenues through which students can influence the educational process. They also provide the educator with a reflective pathway through which continual improvements are constantly possible. This paper provides other academics with a window through which to view the ongoing development of a process that has been recognised nationally for teaching excellence and influenced many fine young entrepreneurs. The paper also draws attention to a set of core educational philosophies that have transferable value to any academic setting. It is noted that the task of developing a learner-centred curriculum for enterprise education has been an entrepreneurial endeavour in itself. Many mistakes have been made and many memorable achievements have been celebrated.


We describe here the analysis of Nanodisc complexes by using native mass spectrometry (MS) to characterize their molecular weight (MW) and polydispersity. Nanodiscs are nanoscale lipid bilayers that offer a platform for solubilizing membrane proteins. Unlike detergent micelles, Nanodiscs are native-like lipid bilayers that are well defined and potentially monodisperse. Their mass spectra allow peak assignment based on differences in the mass of a single lipid per complex. Resultant masses agree closely with predicted values and demonstrate conclusively the narrow dispersity of lipid molecules in the Nanodisc. Fragmentation with collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) or electron-capture dissociation (ECD) shows loss of a small number of lipids and eventual collapse of the Nanodisc with release of the scaffold protein. These results provide a foundation for future studies utilizing Nanodiscs as a platform for launching membrane proteins into the gas phase.


Contracting a marriage under African customary law in Malawi poses difficulties and challenges in the light of the Bill of Rights and international human rights standards. There are bound to be conflicts which, seen from a human rights perspective, amount to violations of women's human rights. The article explores the nature of the conflict between human rights and a plethora of principles, rules and practices pertaining to marriage under African customary law in Malawi. The article also shows strong support from both men and women for cultural practices that conflict with women's human rights. It is therefore argued that efforts to eradicate these cultural practices, however well-intended, must be undertaken with a very high level of cultural sensitivity. It is suggested that, instead of a formal approach to the realisation of human rights, a substantive approach which is inclusive of the reasons behind the support for cultural beliefs and values, be adopted in order to address those aspects of a particular cultural practice that violate human rights.


What happens when the facts of history are replaced by the mysteries of love? When Raimundo Silva, a lowly proof-reader for a Lisbon publishing house, inserts a negative into a sentence of a historical text, he alters the whole course of the 1147 Siege of Lisbon. Fearing censure he is met instead with admiration: Dr Maria Sara, his voluptuous new editor, encourages him to pen his own alternative history. As his retelling draws on all his imaginative powers, Silva finds - to his nervous delight - that if the facts of the past can be rewritten as a romance then so can the details of his own dusty bachelor present.


The Beamlet is a single-beam prototype of future multibeam megajoule-class Nd:glass laser drivers for inertial confinement fusion. It uses a multipass main amplifier, adaptive optics, and efficient, high-fluence frequency conversion to the third harmonic. The Beamlet amplifier contains Brewster-angle glass slabs with a clear aperture of 39 cm x 39 cm and a full-aperture plasma-electrode Pockels cell switch. It has been successfully tested over a range of pulse lengths from 1-10 ns up to energies at 1.053 mum of 5.8 kJ at 1 ns and 17.3 kJ at 10 ns. A 39-actuator deformable mirror corrects the beam quality to a Strehl ratio of as much as 0.4. The 1.053-mum output has been converted to the third harmonic at efficiencies as high as 80% and fluences as high as 8.7 J/cm(2) for 3-ns pulses.


Around 70% of industrial chemicals are hydrophobic compounds which are assumed to elicit toxicity through narcosis by accumulating in membranes and disrupting membrane integrity and function. Although narcosis has been recognized as an important toxicity mechanism for decades, ecotoxicological research has been mostly limited to the development of quantitative structure activity relations (QSARs) to predict toxicity, resulting in insufficient understanding of the exact mechanisms involved. In this study we investigate specific aspects of the mechanism of narcosis in fish using both alternative in vivo (zebrafish embryo) and in vitro tests. We applied a passive dosing method to expose zebrafish embryos up to 5 days post fertilization to linear dilution series of a set of non-polar narcotics (phenanthrene and three chlorobenzene structure analogues). In addition to increasing mortality, we observed decreasing growth, heart rate and motility with increasing exposure concentration of all narcotics, consistent with the general assumption of reduced cardiorespiratory function. At the cellular level, the cell membrane is expected to be the first target of narcotics. Since the mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum membrane are known to closely interact with the cell membrane, we hypothesize that narcotics can be further partitioned into these organelle membranes where they can disrupt essential membrane-bound processes. The electron transport chain (ETC) is an example of a crucial mitochondrial membrane-bound process and is therefore a potential target. We found that in zebrafish embryos ETC activity was increased at low exposure concentrations, suggesting a compensatory response, while it decreased when exposure concentrations reached levels causing reduced motility, heart rate and eventually mortality. The effect of narcotic compounds on ETC activity was confirmed in vitro: we observed inhibition of the ETC after adding the compounds directly to a homogenate of control embryos. To further investigate effects on the energy production system, and to characterize the observed compensatory response, we are currently measuring the effect of narcotics on ATP synthase activity both in vivo and directly in vitro. we illustrate how we can increase our understanding


The emergence of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV) exacerbated the already enormous number of cases of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide because HIV dramatically increases the susceptibility of humans to TB. The cause of this increased susceptibility to TB in HIV-infected individuals is not fully understood. In this thesis, I developed an SIV/TB cynomolgus macaque model and multiple in vitro and ex vivo assays to examine how HIV induces reactivation of latent TB and how HIV reduces various M. tuberculosis-specific immunological responses. In the animal model, I provide evidence that initial T cell depletion after SIV inoculation in monkeys with latent TB perturbs the control of the infection, and directly corresponds to the reactivation of TB. There was also a quantifiable decrease in the total number of T cells within granulomatous lung tissue in co-infected reactivated animals compared to animals with active TB without SIV. A significant decrease in IFN-γ releasing T cells in lung draining lymph nodes of co-infected monkeys compared to monkeys with active disease also was observed. In in vitro and ex vivo experiments we determined that the addition of exogenous SIVmac251 to cells from monkeys infected with M. tuberculosis (without SIV) leads to a specific decrease in TNF and IFN-γ production in M. tuberculosis-specific T cells between 12 and 24hrs after incubation. This decrease in T cell cytokine production was caused by SIV-induced disruption in antigen presenting cells. Specifically, the decrease in TNF production by M. tuberculosis-specific T cells was caused, at least in part, by SIV-induced IL-5 production by monocytes, which demonstrates a novel role for IL-5. The wide range of experiments implemented in this thesis provides novel evidence for the increased susceptibility of TB in HIV-infected individuals.


Stubborn Twig is a classic American story, a story of immigrants making their way in a new land. It is a living work of social history that rings with the power of truth and the drama of fiction, a moving saga about the challenges of becoming an American. Masuo Yasui traveled from Japan across the other Oregon Trail the one that spanned the Pacific Ocean?in 1903. Like most immigrants, he came with big dreams and empty pockets. Working on the railroads, in a cannery, and as a houseboy before settling in Hood River, Oregon, he opened a store, raised a large family, and became one of the area's most successful orchardists.As Masuo broke the race barrier in the local business community, his American-born children broke it in school, scouts and sports, excelling in most everything they tried. For the Yasuis? first-born son, the constraints and contradictions of being both Japanese and American led to tragedy. But his seven brothers and sisters prevailed, becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers, and farmers. It was a classic tale of the American dream come true?until December 7, 1941, changed their lives forever. The Yasuis were among the more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry along the West Coast who were forced from their homes and interned in vast inland ?relocation camps.? Masuo was arrested as a spy and imprisoned for the rest of the war; his family was shamed and broken. Yet the Yasuis endured, as succeeding generations took up the challenge of finding their identity as Americans. Stubborn Twig is their story, story at once tragic and triumphant, one that bears eloquent witness to both the promise and the peril of America.


Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death and hospitalizations in Canada. Most risk factors for cardiovascular disease are known, and many are modifiable. One such risk factor that often goes unrecognized is non-adherence. Pharmacists are ideally positioned to have an influence on cardiovascular risk reduction, including supporting medication adherence; however it is still unknown whether typical (non-specialist) pharmacists can provide strategies that are effective and sustainable in today's health care system. Thus, the overall objective of this research project was to determine what interventions typical pharmacists can adopt to effectively facilitate cardiovascular risk reduction within the constraints of the current practice environment. This objective was accomplished through 4 related studies: 1) a randomized controlled trial involving a pharmacist-directed cardiovascular risk reduction collaboration within a family physician practice; 2) a systematic review identifying and evaluating published interventions by community pharmacists for cardiovascular disease or diabetes; 3) the design of a pilot study evaluating a novel community pharmacy intervention aimed at cardiovascular risk reduction and; 4) the examination of adherence patterns among antihypertensive medication users to identify associated factors and high-risk periods for non-adherence. Although the randomized controlled trial did not show a statistically significant benefit of the pharmacist intervention on cardiovascular risk, it did demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating a pharmacist into a collaborative role, without the need for an advanced or specialized degree. Results from the systematic review yielded several studies involving community pharmacists and cardiovascular disease or diabetes. However, the majority of these studies were of poor quality, evaluated complex and intensive interventions, and provided questionable clinical benefits. The design of the pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of developing high quality, robust research involving community pharmacists. Finally, the observational study examining adherence patterns to antihypertensive agents revealed two important findings that can guide the development of future strategies to support adherence: the first year of therapy, and particularly the first dispensation, is a critical time for the development of non-adherence and, contrary to previously published studies, adherence is similar between all classes of antihypertensive medications.


We analyse the instrumental seismicity of the Abruzzo region in the period 1981-2003 in order to obtain a catalogue as homogeneous as possible in terms of location procedure and quality of the results. We analyse four temporal datasets: 1981-1991; 1992-1996; 1997-1999 and 2000-2003. The 1981-1991 dataset is taken from the CSTI catalogue, opportunely selected by using quality criteria. The datasets from 1992 to 2003 are relocated by integrating the recordings of the national seismic network with the recordings of the local Abruzzo seismic network (operating from 1992 to 1999). Particular attention is paid to the velocity models, in order to account for the different stratigraphic/tectonic domains which characterize the Abruzzo region. In particular, we used 8 velocity models, applied to stations or groups of stations lying within relatively homogeneous areas. We obtained a database, selected for RMS ≤0.5s and hypocentral errors ≤5 km, of 985 events with 0.5≤M≤4.4 plus two events of moderate magnitude (Mw=5.9, Mw=5.5) corresponding to the largest shocks of the May 1984 Sangro Valley seismic sequence. We also computed 17 new focal mechanisms. The seismotectonic implications mainly concern the thickness of the seismogenic layer. A robust statistical estimate of the base of the seismogenic layer is given by the depth above which the 90% of seismicity occurs (D90). The maximum thickness (15-17 km) is found in the eastern Abruzzo Apennines (surface heat flow ≤40 mW/m2). A thickness of 12-14 km is found in the western Abruzzo Apennines (40< surface heat flow ≤60 mW/m2). The observed depths are consistent with independent rheological data (B-D transition). The connection between the background seismicity and the geometry at depth of the active faults is feasible only rarely (e.g. M. Gorzano normal fault in northern Abruzzo). More often the seismicity is spread within the seismogenic volume. Locally, it concentrates close to structural complexities or defines small seismic sequences activating inherited structures. The active faults south of L'Aquila are almost free from microseismic activity. The new focal mechanisms computed from the 1992-1999 database confirm and reinforce the existence of a dominating extensional regime across the Abruzzo Apennines.


Since 2007 and the economic meltdown caused by the financial crisis, the world faces huge challenges. In Europe, the 2017 Eurobarometer highlights some of the European citizens' concerns. A majority of respondents think that the life of today's children will be more difficult than the life of those from their own generation. At the same time, reducing inequality and social exclusion, protecting the environment, progress and innovation, harmonizing education and social welfare systems and migration policies are some of the issues Europe should address by 2030. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world. For that reason new ideas, strategies and interdisciplinary research are needed for overcoming all these problems. Conducting research based on of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods designs, researchers from a wide range of disciplines have been looking for solutions. Now it is time make a side stop on the way and to gather results. The 2nd International SBRLab Conference, Finding solutions to societal problems, is organized by the Social and Business Research Lab (SBRLab), Universitat Rovira i Virgili. It is as an international and virtual meeting point of interdisciplinary research and researchers. Its main purpose is to bring together researchers from management, economics, political, social and legal disciplines in order to present and discuss new trends in their respective fields.


Model-free reinforcement learning has been successfully applied to a range of challenging problems, and has recently been extended to handle large neural network policies and value functions. However, the sample complexity of modelfree algorithms, particularly when using high-dimensional function approximators, tends to limit their applicability to physical systems. In this paper, we explore algorithms and representations to reduce the sample complexity of deep reinforcement learning for continuous control tasks. We propose two complementary techniques for improving the efficiency of such algorithms. First, we derive a continuous variant of the Q-learning algorithm, which we call normalized advantage functions (NAF), as an alternative to the more commonly used policy gradient and actor-critic methods. NAF representation allows us to apply Q-learning with experience replay to continuous tasks, and substantially improves performance on a set of simulated robotic control tasks. To further improve the efficiency of our approach, we explore the use of learned models for accelerating model-free reinforcement learning. We show that iteratively refitted local linear models are especially effective for this, and demonstrate substantially faster learning on domains where such models are applicable.


Objective: To determine the changing of drug sensitivity patterns for s. aureas as the second commonest bacteria of the conjunctival normal fl ora in Nairobi, Kenya Design: Descriptive retrospective study Setting: University of Nairobi, Department of Ophthalmology and Kikuyu Eye Unit Subjects: 37 (28%) asymptomatic volunteers at KNH and KEU with no signs of ocular infections or ocular surface abnormalities from January 1994 to December 1997 were selected. Results: A total of 37 cases were tested positive for S. aureus. The micro organism showed high resistance to amoxtcillin, aminoglycosides, 1st and 2nd generation Flouroquinolones except Ofl oxacin and tetracycline. It was sensitive to carbenocillin, polymyxin B and chloramphenocol and highly sensitive to Cephalexin and ciprofloxacin. Conclusion: The percentage of positive fi nding of S. aureus of the conjunctival normal flora is comparable to that in other regions of the world. We found a high resistance to most of the commonly locally prescribed antibiotics.


OBJECTIVE
To develop Portuguese evidence-based recommendations for the Diagnosis and Management of Gout.

METHODS
As part of the 3e Initiative (Evidence, Expertise and Exchange), a panel of 78 international rheumatologists developed 10 relevant clinical questions which were investigated with systematic literature reviews. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL and abstracts from 2010-2011 EULAR and ACR meetings were searched. Based on the evidence found in the published literature, rheumatologists from 14 countries developed national recommendations that were merged and voted into multinational recommendations. We present the Portuguese recommendations for the Diagnosis and Management of Gout which were formulated and voted by Delphi method in April 2012, in Lisbon. The level of agreement and potential impact in clinical practice was also assessed.

RESULTS
Twelve national recommendations were elaborated from 10 international and 2 national questions. These recommendations addressed the diagnosis of gout; the treatment of acute flares and urate-lowering therapy; monitoring of gout and comorbidity screening; the influence of comorbidities in drug choice; lifestyle; flare prophylaxis; management of tophi and asymptomatic hyperuricaemia; the role of urine alkalinization; and the burden of gout. The level of agreement with the recommendations ranged from 6.8 to 9.0 (mean 7.7) on a 1-10 point visual analogue scale, in which 10 stands for full agreement.

CONCLUSION
The 12 Portuguese recommendations for the Diagnosis and Management of Gout were formulated according to the best evidence and endorsed by a panel of 42 rheumatologists, enhancing their validity and practical use in daily clinical practice.


In this work, we introduce hierarchy in wireless networks that can be modeled by a decentralized multiple access channel and for which energy-efficiency is the main performance index. In these networks users are free to choose their power control strategy to selfishly maximize their energy-efficiency. Specifically, we introduce hierarchy in two different ways: 1. Assuming single-user decoding at the receiver, we investigate a Stackelberg formulation of the game where one user is the leader whereas the other users are assumed to be able to react to the leader's decisions; 2. Assuming neither leader nor followers among the users, we introduce hierarchy by assuming successive interference cancellation at the receiver. It is shown that introducing a certain degree of hierarchy in non-cooperative power control games not only improves the individual energy efficiency of all the users but can also be a way of insuring the existence of a non-saturated equilibrium and reaching a desired trade-off between the global network performance at the equilibrium and the requested amount of signaling. In this respect, the way of measuring the global performance of an energy-efficient network is shown to be a critical issue.


The Apostrophe to Zion (11QPsa 22:1–15) is a Second Temple song structured as an alphabetic acrostic. A tripartite structure at alphabetic units ע-ת, ט-ס, א-ח with each part enclosed by inclusio has also been observed. In this paper it is proposed that the song also displays a seven part concentric structure, comprising A//A1—an opening and closing invocation to praise at units א-ב// ר-ת; an outer circle B//B1 units ג-ח//ע-ק in which a vision of the glorious future of Zion is recalled; an inner circle C//C1 units ט-כ//מ-ס in which past saving events are recalled and reflected upon in terms of the wisdom doctrine of retribution, and finally, a central section D at unit ל in which the hope of Zion is reaffirmed. Within this concentric structure the poet balances two biblical allusions to Isa 66:10–11 and Dan 9:24 in such a way that they enter into dialogue one with the other. In this the poet shares what appears to be a common Second Temple interpretive strategy of viewing earlier scriptural texts in the light of later ones.


Developed during the first half of the 20th century, in three different fields, theoretical physics, statistics applied to agronomy and telecommunication engineering, the notion of information has become a scientific concept in the context of the Second War World. It is in this highly interdisciplinary environment that "information theory" emerged, combining the mathematical theory of communication and cybernetics. This theory has grown exponentially in many disciplines, including biology. The discovery of the genetic "code" has benefited from the development of a common language based on information theory and has fostered a almost imperialist development of molecular genetics, which culminated in the Human Genome Project. This project however could not fill all the raised expectations and epigenetics have shown the limits of this approach. Still, the theory of information continues to be applied in the current research, whether the application of the self-correcting coding theory to explain the conservation of genomes on a geological scale or aspects the theory of evolution.


46 Article of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms covers the undertaking of a respondent State to abide by final judgements of the European Court of Human Rights. This Article elaborates on legal means that help the States to abide by judgements of the said Court. The European Court of Human Rights has on several occasions pointed out that its judgements entail upon a re- spondent State a legal obligation not just to pay those concerned the sums awarded as fair compensation, but also to choose general and/or, if appropriate, individual measures available under the national legal system to put an end to the violation found by the Court and to redress the effects as much as possible. Therefore, according to the interpretations of the European Court of Human Rights, legal measures are general or individual. The general legal measures may be amendments of national legislation, changes in judicial practice; the individual measures - reopening of proceedings at domestic level, repeal of sentences, etc. The one of the most effective legal remedies which help to implement the principle restitutio in integrum, is the reopening of proceedings. The Article presents the provisions of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights, in which the said procedure was discussed. An analysis is made of Recommendation No. R (2000) 2 of The Committee of Ministers to member states on the re-examination or reopening of certain cases at domestic level following judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. This Recommendation proposes the Member States to regulate in appropriate national legislation the provisions providing for re-examination of cases or reopening of proceedings where there is the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights. Besides the above-mentioned, the Article focuses on the analysis of the grounds on which it is allowed to reopen a criminal proceeding in Lithuania pursuant to the procedure laid down Chapter XXXV of the Criminal Procedure Code. The author provides a critical opinion about the present regulation of such grounds and proposes to improve Articles 456 and 457 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The Article invokes substantial practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which in Lithuania has been hardly analysed from the perspective discussed in the Article.


In 2010, the University of Southern California School of Social Work launched its Virtual Academic Center (VAC) to deliver online MSW programming to students located around the country. USC's platform is a significant innovation in offering online education and has transformed the traditional educational model for both students and faculty. This research explores the experiences of faculty teaching via the VAC. Twenty-five in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with USC faculty of different ranks. Inductive data collection using a grounded theory approach with thematic analysis examined experiences teaching in an online program, revealing the strengths and challenges associated with geographic diversity and community-building. Findings warrant the development of innovative practices to build community and to facilitate collaboration among geographically diverse faculty and students in a virtual education program.


Policy analysts have long debated how best to budget for student loans, mortgage guarantees, and other federal lending programs. Under official budget rules, these programs appear highly profitable; under an alternative, favored by many analysts, they appear to lose money. That discrepancy confuses policy deliberations. This brief proposes a new budgeting approach, known as expected returns, that would eliminate this confusion. Unlike existing approaches, expected returns accurately reports the fiscal effects of lending over time and provides a natural way to distinguish the fiscal gains from bearing financial risk from the subsidies given to borrowers.


The allocation of non‐structural carbohydrates (NSCs) to reserves constitutes an important physiological mechanism associated with tree growth and survival. However, procedures for measuring NSC in plant tissue are expensive and time‐consuming. Near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a high‐throughput technology that has the potential to infer the concentration of organic constituents for a large number of samples in a rapid and inexpensive way based on empirical calibrations with chemical analysis. The main objectives of this study were (i) to develop a general NSC concentration calibration that integrates various forms of variation such as tree species and tissue types and (ii) to identify characteristic spectral regions associated with NSC molecules. In total, 180 samples from different tree organs (root, stem, branch, leaf) belonging to 73 tree species from tropical and temperate biomes were analysed. Statistical relationships between NSC concentration and NIRS spectra were assessed using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and a variable selection procedure (competitive adaptive reweighted sampling, CARS), in order to identify key wavelengths. Parsimonious and accurate calibration models were obtained for total NSC (r2 of 0·91, RMSE of 1·34% in external validation), followed by starch (r2 = 0·85 and RMSE = 1·20%) and sugars (r2 = 0·82 and RMSE = 1·10%). Key wavelengths coincided among these models and were mainly located in the 1740–1800, 2100–2300 and 2410–2490 nm spectral regions. This study demonstrates the ability of general calibration model to infer NSC concentrations across species and tissue types in a rapid and cost‐effective way. The estimation of NSC in plants using NIRS therefore serves as a tool for functional biodiversity research, in particular for the study of the growth–survival trade‐off and its implications in response to changing environmental conditions, including growth limitation and mortality.


Nowadays, computer-mediated simulations and games are widely used in the field of natural resource management (NRM). They have proved to be useful for various purposes such as supporting decision-making processes and training. First, the specificities of the NRM research field are highlighted. Then, based on the analysis of the articles presented in this special issue of Simulation & Gaming, some key features related to the implementation of gaming in such a context are introduced. Finally, after reviewing the benefits of using simulation games in NRM, the authors stress the ethical issue of changing social relationships among stakeholders by playing a game with some of them.


This is a position paper aimed at the interface between meaning-oriented linguistics generally and instructed language learning. The alliance between usage-based linguistics and form-focused instruction in language teaching stands to benefit from advances on both sides: a recognition by theoretical linguists that systematic meanings of grammatical forms are responsible for observed, emerging patterns of usage; and a greater willingness on the part of advocates of the teaching of grammar to engage in focusing upon individual, meaningful grammatical forms, as distinct from unanalyzed, holistic form. Explicit knowledge of forms and their meanings can usefully guide the practice of teachers and, potentially, the performance of learners. Pending the wide availability of practical analyses, teachers' and learners' focused grammatical inquiry on authentic discourse can yield useful insights about both language structure and discourse.


Paul Samuelson was at the heart of a revolution in economics. He was "the foremost academic economist of the 20th century," according to New York Times, and the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. His work transformed the field of economics and helped give it the theoretical and mathematic rigor that increased its influence in business and policy making. In Founder of Modern Economics, Roger E. Backhouse explores the central importance of Samuelson's personality and social networks to understanding his intellectual development. This is the first of two volumes covering Samuelson's extended and productive life and career. This volume surveys Samuelson's early years growing up in the Midwest to his experiences at the University of Chicago and Harvard University, where leading scholars in economics and other disciplines stimulated and rewarded his curiosity. His thinking was influenced by the natural sciences and he understood that a critical, scientific approach increased insights into important social and economic questions. He realized that these questions could not be answered through rhetorical debate but required rigor. His "eureka" moment came, he said, when "a good fairy whispered to me that math was a skeleton key to solve age old problems in economics." Backhouse traces Samuelson's thinking from his early days to the publication of his groundbreaking book Foundations of Economic Analysis and Economics: An Introductory Analysis, which influenced generations of students. His work set the stage for economics to become a more cohesive and coherent discipline, based on mathematical techniques that provided surprising insights into many important topics, from business cycles to wage and unemployment rates, and from how competition influences trade to how tax rates affects tax collection. Founder of Modern Economics is a profound contribution to understanding how modern economics developed and the thinking of a revolutionary thinker.


This article analyses the main challenges involved in modernizing bank supervision in the light of recent banking crises and the changes currently taking place in the financial system at the international level. Within a highly dynamic environment -rapid technological development in the field of informatics, stiff competition within the capital market as a result of liberalization, the increasingly prominent roles being assumed by financial conglomerates in an effort to achieve economies of scope, and the high degree of volatility of the main economic variables, which sharply increases the level of financial risk- the supervision of the banking system needs to be flexible in order to permit financial institutions to take advantage of opportunities for increasing their profitability and efficiency. At the same time, however, it must be geared to the achievement of its strategic objectives, which are to give the system stability, ensure its transparency and safeguard the government guarantees that have been extended. Within this context, the major issues involved in the supervision of banks in Latin America are the following: capital solvency standards and their role in supervision; mechanisms for appraising the book or market value of a bank's economic capital; supervisory methods for improving the coverage of financial risk; means of incorporating the regulation of financial conglomerates, and the importance of taking an integral approach to supervision of the banking system, with emphasis on the quality of management.


Breast milk is a valuable biological specimen for biomonitoring lipid-soluble polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The goal of this project was to determine the levels of PBDEs in breast milk of lactating women from the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and to examine potential relationships between PBDE levels in breast milk and stage of lactation, maternal characteristics, living environment and dietary intake. Forty women, ages 22 to 40, provided up to three breast milk samples at the end of their first, second and third month of breastfeeding for evaluation of day-to-day and month-to-month variation in PBDE levels. Participants were asked to complete four questionnaires, which provided maternal, living environment, and diet information. The sum of PBDE (SigmaPBDE) congeners found in breast milk was defined as: BDE-28/ 33, 47, 85, 99, 100, 153, 154, and 183. The SigmaPBDE concentrations in breast milk over the three-month collection period ranged from 6.5 to 166.7 ng/g lipid. The median for the three-month period was 29.7 ng/g. BDE-47 was the predominant congener; however, BDE-153 predominated in 20% of the participants' samples from each month. Day-to-day variation in SigmaPBDEs was negligible; there was no significant difference in mean PBDE levels from month-to-month. Regression analyses revealed relationships between logtransformed PBDE levels in breast milk and questionnaire data. Positive associations were seen between BDE-153 and age (r = 0.36 p = 0.02), saturated fat consumption (r = 0.31 p = 0.05), and the home model (r = 0.51 p = 0.004). There was a negative association between PBDE levels (Sigma and BDE-47) and fruit consumption (r = 0.36 p = 0.02, SigmaPBDE). Our results indicate that PBDE levels in breast milk from New Hampshire are within the range that has been reported in the U.S., and that levels are stable during the first three-months of lactation. Our findings revealed a higher predominance pattern with BDE-153 compared to other studies, and indicate that PBDE levels are influenced by age, diet, and the home environment.


This 800-page volume is a clear and readable presentation of the current state of research on the history of the Tibeto-Burman (TB) language family, a typologically diverse group of over 250 languages spoken in Southern China, the Himalayas, NE India, and peninsular Southeast Asia. The TB languages are the only proven relatives of Chinese, with which they form the great Sino-Tibetan family. The exposition is systematic, treating the reconstruction of all the elements of the TB proto-syllable in turn, including initial consonants (Ch. III), prefixes (Ch. IV), monophthongal and diphthongal rhymes (Ch. V), final nasals (Ch. VII), final stops (Ch. VIII), final liquids (Ch. IX), root-final *-s (Ch. X), suffixes (Ch. XI). Particular attention is paid to variational phenomena at all historical levels (e.g. Ch. XII Allofamic variation in rhymes ). This Handbook builds on the best previous scholarship, and adds up-to-date material that has accumulated over the past 30 years. It contains reconstructions of over a thousand Tibeto-Burman roots, as well as suggested comparisons with several hundred Chinese etyma. It is liberally indexed and cross-referenced for maximum accessibility and internal consistency. Emphasis is placed on the special theoretical issues involved in historical reconstruction in the East/Southeast Asian linguistic area.


We have developed a charge-coupled-device (CCD)-based microspectrophotometer (MSP) system and provide the first report on the successful employment of this technology to measure the spectral absorbance properties of vertebrate photoreceptors. The principal difference between the CCD-based MSP system and wavelength-scanning MSP systems, commonly used in vision biology, is that a short duration (800-1200 ms), broad-spectrum flash is employed rather than ascending and descending wavelength scanning. Data acquisition is thus significantly faster, with the added possible advantages of less variance due to movement of target photoreceptors during measurement, reduced spectral distortion due to photoproduct interference and an ability to measure fast, transient changes in absorbance as bleaching proceeds. Rainbow trout photoreceptors, previously measured with a wavelength-scanning MSP system, were again measured using the CCD-based MSP system. Our analysis of optical recordings from 102 photoreceptors corroborated data obtained previously with rainbow trout photoreceptors on lambda(max) (wavelength of maximum absorbance), A(max) (maximum absorbance) and half maximum bandwidth (HBW) of ultraviolet-, blue-, green- and red-sensitive cones and rods. There were slight differences in lambda(max) and half-maximum bandwidth of the ultraviolet-, blue- and green-sensitive cone classes, but this was most probably due to variation in the A(1):A(2) visual pigment ratio of the trout used in the two different studies. However, we were capable of resolving the A(1) and A(2) visual pigment spectra in the red-sensitive cones and the rods.


Object-oriented languages such as Java, Smalltalk, and C+ + structure their programs using packages, allowing classes to be organized into named abstractions. Maintainers of large applications need to understand how packages are structured and how they relate to each other, but this task is very complex because packages often have multiple clients and different roles (class container, code ownership...). Cohesion and coupling are still among the most used metrics, because they help identify candidate packages for restructuring; however, they do not help maintainers understand the structure and interrelationships between packages. In this paper, we present the package fingerprint, a 2D visualization of the references made to and from a package. The proposed visualization offers a semantically rich, but compact and zoomable visualization centered on packages. We focus on two views (incoming and outgoing references) that help users understand how the package under analysis is used by the system and how it uses the system. We applied these views on three large case studies: JBoss, Azure us, and ArgoUML.


Mucoid variant of Pseudomonas is most commonly isolated from Cystic Fibrosis isolated a hugely mucoid variant of it from sputum of two non years and another aged 35 years, both having chronic lung disease, admitted at Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, West Bengal, India. fibrosis lung prompted us to report the cases. Both the strain further tested found to produce biofilm by the qualitative detection method, the Tube method. During the years following initial coloniz the wild allow the formation of protected biofilm. Once biofilm formed, it becomes a real challenge for the physician to eradicate the organism.


Rapid advances in communication technology are making access to information faster, more reliable, and cheaper. At the same time, hydrological and meteorological monitoring technologies continue to improve significantly. These technological advances can be exploited to promote regional cooperation for flood risk reduction in the Hindu Kush Himalayas by providing an end-to-end flood information system. The system will function as a decision support tool for decision makers to alert vulnerable communities in a timely and accurate manner. This article provides an example of how regional cooperation has been achieved and is being promoted in the Hindu Kush Himalayas through the development of a regional flood information system.


Although numerous dream content findings support the view that dreams reflect the dreamer's waking experiences, thoughts and concerns, research on the relation between dream content and various personality dimensions has yielded mixed results. The present study investigated the relationship between trait anxiety and everyday dream content in healthy women. Thirty adult women completed a standardized measure of trait anxiety and kept a home dream log for two to three weeks. A total of 502 dream reports were collected and scored on various content scales, including aggressive interactions, failures, misfortune, and dream report length. There was a significant positive correlation between trait anxiety and dream report length but no significant relationships were found between trait anxiety and any of the other dream content variables. These findings suggest that while higher levels of trait anxiety in women are associated with more detailed dream recall they do not significantly impact the actual content of everyday dreams. More refined measures of anxiety may be required, however, to better capture the multidimensional nature of anxiety and its potential relation to dream content.


Dinoflagellates are a major taxonomic group in marine phytoplankton communities in terms of diversity and biomass. Some species are also important because they form blooms and/or produce toxins that may cause diverse problems. The composition of planktonic dinoflagellates of the orders Prorocentrales and Dinophysiales, in the Veracruz Reef System, were obtained during the period of October 2006 to January 2007. For this, samples were taken from the surface at 10 stations with net of 30 microm mesh, and were analyzed by light and scanning electron microscopy. Each species was described and illustrated, measured and their distribution and ecological data is also given. A total of nine species were found and identified, belonging to four genera: Dinophysis was represented by three species; Prorocentrum by three, Phalacroma by two, and only one species of Ornithocercus was detected. From the samples, four potentially toxin-producer species were found: Dinophysis caudata, D. rapa, Phalacroma rotundata and Prorocentrum micans. The number of species found in this study is low, especially considering the higher numbers observed in other areas of the Gulf of Mexico, where some reports have recorded up to 53 species of the order Dinophysiales and 14 for Prorocentrales. Identification keys for orders, genera and species for the study area are provided with this study.


Flexible displays form complex structures joining together multiple layers of very various materials: metal or plastic flexible substrate, barrier and encapsulation layers, thin-films of transistor and optoelectronic devices. Residual stresses are inherent to these structures. In the case of inorganic layers deposited from a vapour phase onto a polymer substrate, these stresses comprise a so-called intrinsic contribution, which arises during the deposition, and thermal and hygroscopic contributions, which arise during temperature or relative humidity variations due to the different physical properties of materials. These residual stresses hinder to control the geometrical dimensions of the produced structures and are also at the origin of cracking and delaminating phenomena. Thus it is crucial to predict their development and to follow their evolution in order to optimize the production and the lifespan of these structures. For that purpose, our objective is to propose a numerical modelling framework of finite element type that makes possible to follow the geometrical evolution of multilayer composite structures with respect to the deposition conditions and the external conditions of temperature and relative humidity. In this study, we used bilayer samples formed with a nanometric silicon nitride layer, developed to protect organic light-emitting devices from ingression of oxygen and moisture, deposited on a polyimide foil. First experimental results obtained for the thermomechanical behaviours of the different materials, and for the diffusion and sorption properties for water of the polyimide substrate, are presented. Then these data are implemented in a non-linear numerical model coupling a quasi-static mechanical balance equation with some transient equations for the water concentration and for the temperature of the structure. Simulation results are finally compared with some experimental results, where the evolution of the curvature of bilayer samples subjected to thermal ramps, and/or to relative humidity jumps, was recorded. This study concludes that an accurate simulation needs to take into account the dependence of the water diffusion coefficient on the concentration, as well as on the transient evolutions of temperature and water concentration, whose time-scales are very different.


This practical book is a great resource for teachers who want to engage their students with young adult literature. The author presents in-depth, instructional units centered on historical conflicts and texts that will help students to better understand other cultures and time periods. An array of active learning strategies place students close to the featured novel or memoir while meeting standards and addressing a broad range of critical thinking skills. Historical themes center on: the Depression; Mexican American migrant farm workers; children during the Holocaust; the internment of the Japanese during WWII; the Japanese occupation of Korea; the U.S. Civil Rights Movement; the experience of U.S. soldiers and children affected by the Vietnam War. This book features: depictions of active learning in the English classroom, including many examples of student work with accompanying photos, web pages, and more; a variety of adaptable assignments designed to promote empathy and deepen students' awareness of the world around them; and, young adult literature that has proven to be of interest to students and relevant to their lives.


Four new complexes of platinum(II) and palladium(II) with planar tridentate ligands, 2,6-bis(N-Hbenzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine (L-H), and 2,6-bis(N-methyl-benzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine (L-Me), as [Pt(L-H)Cl]Cl (1), [Pd(L-H)Cl]Cl (2), [Pt(L-Me)Cl]Cl (3), and [Pd(L-Me)Cl]Cl (4) have been synthesized and fully characterized by means of CHN, FT-IR (ATR), 1 H NMR, and ESI or MALDI TOF MS techniques. The DNA-binding behaviors of all complexes have been investigated by absorption titration, EtBr displacement measurement, and gel electrophoresis and viscosity measurement studies. The results showed that complexes 1-4 can bind to DNA via partial intercalation mode. The metal complexes of LMe, 3 and 4 are more hydrophobic, and thus showed better binding ability to DNA's hydrophobic environment, as revealed by the intrinsic binding constants Kb for 1-4 as being 4.76 (± 0.6) x 10 4 M -1 , 5.01 (± 0.9) x 10 4 M -1 , 2.50 (± 0.6) x 10 5 M -1 and 2.25 (± 0.9) x 10 5 M -1 , respectively. In addition, 3 and 4 are efficient cleavers of plasmid DNA.


Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) are most popular external growth strategies. While the number of M&A has been increasing during the past decades, on average, only the shareholders of target firms gain value during the acquisitions process, while acquirers do not receive abnormal positive returns. This paper analyses the impact of strategically valuable resources on the success of M&A decisions. We test complementary resource-based hypotheses regarding the value of M&A for the shareholders of both transaction partners. Our sample consists of transactions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry. The results of our study show that the shareholders of both transaction partners will gain above average positive returns only when the acquirer and the target own and combine strategically valuable resources and capabilities.


This study uses a combination of phonetic predictors and sociolinguistic factors to examine the variable production of rhotics in an English-based Creole in the Island of Old Providence, Colombia. Speech data were collected from five informants by means of sociolinguistic interviews and other-speech elicitation tasks, while 328 Praat-annotated tokens were extracted from a transcribed corpus of approximately 5,700 words. Rhotic production was examined according to several acoustic correlates (i.e., formant frequencies and segmental duration) and linguistic (i.e., word position and stress) and social (i.e., sex) factors. Formant frequencies in the form of F3 and F2 revealed a post-alveolar production, while F4 and F5 values suggested retroflex and bunched-tip realizations conditioned by sociolinguistic factors (Zhou et al, 2008). Mainly, it was found that postvocalic contexts significantly favor a bunched-tip realization. In addition, female informants favored a bunched variant by means of F3 and durational cues. This study sheds light on the relationship of sociolinguistic variables and acoustic predictors in the variable production of approximant rhotics in an English-based Creole in the Western Caribbean.


The science of toxicology is the science of the system. Toxicologists aim to understand and predict the adverse effects of chemicals on biological systems. As biological systems are extremely complex, the challenge of predicting human toxicity early in the drug discovery process is immense. In the past decades, a huge effort has been undertaken to characterise the impact of chemicals on biological systems using in vitro, pre-clinical and clinical approaches. This has led to a vast amount of knowledge on the biology of systems, especially as a result of the data deluge from -omic level investigations. However, a lack of robust and comprehensive integration has meant that this wealth of data has still not led to accurate prediction of toxicity in a single system, or the ability to extrapolate robustly between systems. The new discipline of systems toxicology aims to take the computational approaches developed in systems biology and apply them to toxicology-related questions. This review will examine approaches ranging from relational databases that are both repositories for curated information and screening tools in their own right, to the potential of digital organisms in systems toxicology. Both the basic methodologies and how best they may be applied to safety assessment of chemicals will be covered. This integrated examination of toxicological data is predicted to herald a step-change in our ability to both understand and predict adverse effects of chemicals.


Universities are key sites of knowledge creation. Governments and research funders are increasingly interested in ensuring that their investments in the production of new knowledge deliver a quantifiable return on investment, including in the form of 'impact'. Ensuring that research outputs are not locked behind paywalls, and that research data can be interrogated and built upon are increasingly central to efforts to improve the effectiveness of global research landscapes. We argue that mandating and promoting open access (OA) for published research outputs, as well as the sharing of research data are important elements of building a vibrant open knowledge system, but they are not enough. Supporting diversity within knowledge-making institutions; enabling collaboration across boundaries between universities and wider communities; and addressing inequalities in access to knowledge resources and in opportunities to contribute to knowledge making processes are also important. New tools are needed to help universities, funders, and communities to understand the extent to which a university is operating as an effective open knowledge institution; as well as the steps that might be taken to improve open knowledge performance. This paper discusses our team's efforts to develop a model of Open Knowledge that is not confined to measures of OA and open data. The Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative is a project of the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University. With funding from the university, we are exploring the extent to which universities are functioning as effective open knowledge institutions; as well as the types of information that universities, funders, and communities might need to understand an institution's open knowledge performance and how it might be improved. The challenges of data collection on open knowledge practices at scale, and across national, cultural and linguistic boundaries are also discussed.


Quotation marks are ambiguous, although the conventional rules that govern their different uses are similar in that they contain quantifications over quotable expressions. Pure uses are governed by a simple rule: by enclosing any expression within quotation marks one gets a singular term, the quotation, that stands for the enclosed expression. Impure uses are far less simple. In a series of uses the quotation marks conventionally indicate that (part of) the enclosed expression is a contextually appropriate version of expressions uttered by some relevant agent. When the quotation marks have this meaning, it is tempting to think of them as contributing that indication to the truth-conditional content of the utterance. I adopt a cautious attitude towards this hypothesis, for the evidence in its favor is inconclusive. In other uses the quotation marks conventionally indicate that the enclosed expression should be used not "plainly" but in some broadly speaking "distanced" way, or that it is being so used by the utterer, and typically context makes clear the exact nature of the "distance" at stake. In these cases the quotation marks do not even appear to contribute that indication to the truth-conditional content of the utterance.


Recent rumors in the trade and inquiries to the various offices of GIA's Gem Trade Laboratory, Inc., concerning the commercial availability of faceted fluxgrown synthetic blue sapphires prompted the writing of this article. Blue as well as orange flux-grown synthetic sapphires are now commercially available from Chatham Created Gems, Inc., i n limited quantities as rough crystal groups and single crystals; they have not yet been marketed as faceted gems. In this article, the author examines the gemological properties of Chatham flux-grown synthetic orange sapphires and blue sapphires.


Quantum information processing in nanostructures JOHN-HENRY REINA ESTUPINAN Lincoln College, Oxford D.Phil, thesis, Hilary 2002 Since information has been regarded as a physical entity, the field of quantum information theory has blossomed. This brings novel applications, such as quantum computation. This field has attracted the attention of numerous reasearchers with backgrounds ranging from computer science, mathematics and engineering, to the physical sciences. Thus, we now have an interdisciplinary field where great efforts are being made in order to build devices that should allow for the processing of information at a quantum level, and also in the understanding of the complex structure of some physical processes at a more basic level. This thesis is devoted to the theoretical study of structures at the nanometer-scale, "nanostructures," through physical processes that mainly involve the solid-state and quantum optics, in order to propose reliable schemes for the processing of quantum information. Initially, the main results of quantum information theory and quantum computation are briefly reviewed. Next, the state-of-the-art of quantum dots technology is described. In so doing, the theoretical background and the practicalities required for this thesis are introduced. A discussion of the current quantum hardware used for quantum information processing is given. In particular, the solid-state proposals to date are emphasised. A detailed prescription is given, using an optically-driven coupled quantum dot system, to reliably prepare and manipulate exciton maximally entangled Bell and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. Manipulation of the strength and duration of selective light-pulses needed for producing these highly entangled states provides us with crucial elements for the processing of solid-state based quantum information. The all-optical generation of states of the so-called Bell basis for a system of two quantum dots (QDs) is exploited for performing the quantum teleportation of the excitonic state of a dot in an array of three coupled QDs. Theoretical predictions suggest that several hundred single quantum bit rotations and controlled-NOT gates could be performed before decoherence of the excitonic states takes place. In addition, the exciton coherent dynamics of a coupled QD system confined within a semiconductor single mode microcavity is reported. It is shown that this system enables the control of exciton entanglement by varying the coupling strength between the optically-driven dot system and the microcavity. The exciton entanglement shows collapses and revivals for suitable amplitudes of the incident radiation field and dot-cavity coupling strengths. The results given here could offer a new approach for the control of decoherence mechanisms arising from entangled "artificial molecules." In addition to these ultrafast coherent optical control proposals, an approach for reliable implementation of quantum logic gates and long decoherence times in a QD system based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is given, where the nuclear resonance is controlled by the ground state "magic number" transitions of few-electron QDs in an external magnetic field. The dynamical evolution of quantum registers of arbitrary length in the presence of environmentallyinduced decoherence effects is studied in detail. The cases of quantum bits (qubits) coupling individually to different environments ("independent decoherence"), and qubits interacting collectively with the same reservoir ("collective decoherence") are analysed in order to find explicit decoherence functions for any number of qubits. The decay of the coherences of the register is shown to strongly depend on the input states: this sensitivity is a characteristic of both types of coupling (collective and independent) and not only of the collective coupling, as has been reported previously. A non-trivial behaviour "recoherence" is found in the decay of the off-diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix in the specific situation of independent decoherence. The results lead to the identification of decoherence-free states in the collective decoherence limit. These states belong to subspaces of the system's Hilbert space that do not become entangled with the environment, making them ideal elements for the engineering of "noiseless" quantum codes. The relations between decoherence of the quantum register and computational complexity based on the new dynamical results obtained for the register density matrix are also discussed. This thesis concludes by summarising and pointing out future directions, and in particular, by discussing some biological resonant energy transfer processes that may be useful for the processing of information at a quantum level.


Background Spontaneous fracture of the humeral shaft in throwers is a rare but well-known phenomenon. Although it has been hypothesized that the biomechanics of the throw cause such fractures, it is not clear how or when the fractures occur in the pitching motion. Methods The torque acting about the long axis of the humerus was calculated in 25 professional baseball pitchers throwing in game situations. Results Peak humeral axial torque reached a mean value of 92 ± 16 Nm near the time of maximum shoulder external rotation at the end of the cocking phase. This torque tended to externally rotate the distal end of the humerus relative to its proximal end. The direction of the torque was consistent with the external rotation spiral fractures of the humerus noted to occur in throwers. The magnitude of the peak humeral torque averaged 48% of the theoretical torsional strength of the humerus, suggesting that repetitive stress plays a role in humeral shaft fractures. Conclusions Fractures are most likely to occur near the time of maximum shoulder external rotation when humeral torque peaks. Pitchers whose elbows were more extended at stride foot contact tended to have lower peak humeral torques.


Despite the growing belief in the efficacy of market forces, the ownership and use of land in Britain are now '. . . subject to a greater array of statutory controls than at any time since the introduction of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act'. 'Market failure' arguments are used in support of land use planning. However, in this radical attack on the present regime, Mark Pennington shows that such arguments are misguided. Planners, even if altruistic, could not gather and interpret the information which would be necessary to run an efficient land use planning system. In practice, planners have their own interests and are subject to pressure from special interest groups which benefit from the present regime. Fundamental change is required, according to Pennington. The system is over-centralised, there is too little experimentation, information is lacking and incentive structures are inappropriate. The costs of enforcing property rights could be reduced by entrepreneurial action in a market. Private covenants, deed restrictions and the establishment of proprietary communities are the way forward.


The main objective of this study was to investigate the vertical distribution of aerosols over Durban in relation to the vertical stability structure and horizontal transport of air masses. The importance of aerosols in the region is well recognised and recently there have been many international experiments which have focused on aerosol distribution over the subcontinent. Durban is situated at the approximate centre of a giant plume that is known to transport aerosols and trace gases off the east coast of southern Africa and is therefore strategically located for an investigation of the vertical distribution of aerosols. The vertical distribution of aerosols over Durban was measured using a LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) system on selected cloud free days in 1997. Backward trajectory modelling was used at selected pressure (standard) levels to determine the origin and transport pathways of aerosols. Six case studies are presented in an attempt to gain insight into the relationship between the vertical distribution of aerosols and absolutely stable layers. The results of the study revealed that the occurrence of absolutely stable layers governs the vertical distribution of aerosols in the troposphere. An absolutely stable layer at ~5km (~500hPa) appears to be the most effective in capping and trapping aerosols in the atmosphere. Below 5km, the atmosphere was charcterised by marked stratification and relatively higher concentration of aerosols. Above 5km, the concentrations were much lower, but generally increased slightly with height. Low aerosol concentrations are observed during post-frontal situations and relatively higher concentrations during anticyclonic conditions. The background to the problem and the objectives of this investigation are elaborated in Chapter 1. A description of the data sets and derived meteorological variables, along with the methodologies applied in this thesis, are given in Chapter 2. A theoretical review of aerosols, including their sources, effects and distribution over the globe and southern Africa, is discussed in Chapter 3. Atmospheric circulation and weather patterns and their relationship to the transport and dispersion of aerosols are described in Chapter 4. The results of the study and an analysis of the major findings are presented in Chapter 5 Finally, Chapter 6 summarises the major findings ofthis dissertation.


The stabilization process in municipal solid waste (MSW) is inherently complex. In the short term, waste has an immediate elastic response due to surcharge loading. Long-term stabilization involves two time-dependent components: an initial secondary mechanical settlement phase (i.e. creep) and, later, a thermally dependent biodegradation phase. Two composite compressibility models were used to simulate settlement and compared to field data from a MSW landfill located in Ste. Sophie, Quebec, Canada. One model was based on the work from Marques et al. (2003) and another on the theory of viscoelasticity. The models were developed using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate the MSW mechanical response and were examined through a parameter optimization study. Both models achieved correspondence with the field data for prediction of short-term and long-term settlement. The parameters achieved for both model types are all within acceptable limits from literature for MSW.


Oscillatory neural networks are found throughout the nervous system. They are responsible for many repetitive motor activities and have recently been shown to play a role in cognition. In spite of the many different mechanisms that underlie neural oscillations, they can be understood using a common mathematical framework. Most neural oscillators arise from slow or delayed negative feedback. The timing of groups of oscillators depends both on the arrangement of their connections and their intrinsic properties and, in particular, on their phase resetting curve. Linear chains of oscillators can produce travelling waves, and these waves control undulatory movement in many animals. There are many mechanisms for generating waves in a chain including asymmetry in coupling, heterogeneities and pacemakers.

Key Concepts:

The mechanisms for the creation of neural oscillators generally involve delayed negative feedback.

Coordination of neural oscillations occurs through coupling that can take many forms including direct electrical coupling and chemical synaptic transmission.

The phase-response curve of an oscillator shows how perturbations shift to timing and how the oscillator responds to stimuli.

The timing patterns produced by networks of oscillators depend on the nature of the coupling, the internal dynamics of the oscillator and the connectivity pattern.

Metachronal waves, for example, found in the swimming of the lamprey or the leech can be viewed as a chain of coupled neural oscillators item. Cortical oscillations may play a role in attention and enhancement of sensory coding. However, unlike the simple CPGs described in most of this article, the role of rhythms in higher brain regions remains controversial and is not yet settled.

Keywords:

rhythms;
inhibition;
synchrony;
central pattern generators;
neural oscillator;
nonlinear dynamics


The love of God is central to God's relationship to the world. This dissertation addresses the conflict of interpretation between the transcendent-voluntarist and immanent-experientialist models regarding divine love in the context of the God-world relationship by applying a canonical methodology. Chapter 1 introduces the background, purpose, problem, scope, and plan of study as well as the final-form canonical theological method employed in the investigation. Chapter 2 briefly surveys the historical theology of love, tracing the central conceptions of divine love and the God-world relationship by selected, highly influential thinkers. Chapter 3 presents and analyzes the irreconcilable interpretations of divine love in relation to the world, and the ontologies that ground them, in the transcendent-voluntarist and immanent-experientialist models. In the former model, divine love is a unilateral, unmotivated, willed benevolence, while in the latter model divine love is essentially relational, emotional, and primarily passive. Subsequently, a sample of recent reactions to both models demonstrates the current dissatisfaction regarding the conflict of interpretations, indicating the potential for paradigm change in the theological model of interpreting God's love to the world. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 shift to the investigation of a canonical and systematic model which addresses the issues raised by the conflict ofinterpretations through the identification and explanation of five primary aspects of God's love in relation to the world derived from inductive examination of the canon: the volitional, evaluative, emotional, foreconditional, and multilaterally relational aspects. Chapters 4 and 5 present the data from a canonical investigation of the data regarding divine love in the OT and NT respectively. The material from the biblical investigation of divine love is utilized to construct a model of divine love that addresses the conflict of interpretations seen in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 6 summarizes and explains the broad outline of a canonical and systematic model of divine love in relation to the world, with implications for divine ontology and the nature of God's relationship to the world. The dissertation concludes by summarizing the findings and conclusions of the study and making some recommendations for further study.