This article estimated the relationship between public expenditure, private investment and agricultural output growth in Nigeria over the period 1970-2008. The bounds test and Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modelling approach was used to analyze both short- and long-run impacts of public expenditure, private investment (both domestic investment and foreign direct investment) on agricultural output growth in Nigeria. Results of the error correction model show that increase in public expenditure has a positive influence on the growth of the agricultural output. However, foreign investment has insignificant impact in the short run. Hence, it is recommended that policymakers should combined both private and public investment in a complementary manner to ensure that both short run and long run productivity of the agricultural sector is not undermined.


By late August 2002, the Supreme Court had identified slightly more than half of the eighty or so cases it is likely to hear in the 2002 term. The nature of those cases was enough to ensure that there will be no letdown from last term's charged atmosphere. Among the issues slated for debate and decision after the new term opens October 7 is the constitutionality of a number of "get-tough-on-crime" efforts, including state three-strikes laws and sex offender registries. Equally high profile is a trio of cases with racial overtones. One case asks whether the Fair Housing Act (FHA) permits owners and officers of corporations to be held liable for violations of the antidiscrimination law even if they were unaware of the particular discriminatory acts that occurred. Another questions whether a Virginia law prohibiting the burning of a cross in public or on someone else's property violates the First Amendment. A third case revisits the standard by which courts should assess the "genuineness" of a prosecutor's race-neutral reason for exercising a peremptory challenge to strike a potential juror. Three Strikes California's three-strikes law provides for a twenty-five years to life prison term for a "third strike" conviction. The question in the case of Lockyer v. Andrade and Ewing v. California, Nos. 01-1127 and 01-6978, is whether that law violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment when applied to a defendant whose third strike conviction was for a relatively minor offense. Under the statute, Cal. Penal Code [section] 667(e) (West 1999), when a defendant with one prior conviction for a "serious" or "violent" felony is convicted of any felony, he or she must be sentenced to a term of imprisonment twice as long as he or she otherwise would have received. When a defendant with two prior serious or violent felonies is convicted of another felony of any sort, he or she ordinarily must receive a prison term of twenty-five years to life. The last, "triggering," offense must be a felony, but it doesn't have to be serious or violent. The triggering offense in the case of Gary Albert Ewing, for example, occurred when he walked out of an El Segundo, California, shop with three golf clubs (worth $399 each) concealed in his trouser leg. In the case of Leandro Andrade, there were two triggering offenses-a third and a fourth strike. Strike three occurred when Andrade was caught shoplifting $84.70 worth of videotapes (Snow White, Casper, The Fox and the Hound, The Pebble and the Penguin, and Batman Forever) from a K-Mart store in Ontario, California. The fourth strike happened when he was subsequently caught shoplifting $68.84 worth of videotapes (Free Willy 2, Cinderella, Santa Claus, and Little Women) from a different K-Mart store. While the golf club thefts in Ewing normally would constitute grand theft, and the two shoplifting offenses in the Andrade case would each constitute petty theft, the United States brief explains that Under California law, certain offenses may be either misdemeanors or felonies. There are two basic types of felony-misdemeanor (or "wobbler") offenses. Some crimes that would otherwise be misdemeanors become "wobblers" because of the defendant's prior criminal record. Petty theft, a misdemeanor, becomes a felony-misdemeanor where the defendant has previously served a term of imprisonment for specified theft-related crimes. Others, such as grand theft, are felony-misdemeanors regardless of the defendant's prior record. Both types of "wobblers" qualify as triggering offenses under the Three-Strikes Law when they are felonies.--United States Brief at 3. Applying those rules in these cases, the court sentenced Ewing to twenty-five years to life for trying to shoplift three golf clubs. Andrade, on the other hand, was sentenced to two consecutive twenty-five year to life terms for his K-Mart misadventures and thus received a total sentence of fifty years to life. …


Preface FACTS or "flexible AC transmission systems" is a term that has been suggested for the use of solid state devices to control bulk power flow in transmission systems. The Electric Power Research Institute supported this idea, and many researchers have invested efforts on the value and potential of FACTS. At this time, it appears that the main value of FACTS lies in improving transmission capability; increasing the flexibility of power flow control (e.g., for wheeling or for economic dispatch); for controlling voltage (and var flow); and possibly additional advantages in lower voltage systems (e.g., distributioli systems). This report is an overview of FACTS. It was produced by the EE 532 class ("Computer Analysis of Power Systems") at Purdue Ur~iversity in the Fall, 1994 semester. The student in this class always prepare a term report which is issued by the School of Electrical Engineering as a technical report. The cost of printing was paid by the Purdue Electric Power Center (PEPC) which forms a base of the povver engineering program at Purdue. The students also presented their work in the form of a videotape. I was the class instructor for the semester.


Ulva is a common component of marine intertidal flora in Australia with many species frequently observed along the Queensland coastline. Three species of Ulva, U. lactuca, U. intestinalis and U. prolifera were found to naturally occur at the Bribie Island Research Centre (BIRC) in Southeast Queensland. Studies were undertaken to establish the most optimal conditions for growing Ulva in the BIRC laboratory. These tests were conducted in order to condition the algal material prior to the sporulation studies, offering more controlled material to assess treatment effects conclusively, and helping eliminate other potentially confounding environmental factors. Results showed that a stocking density of between 5-20 grams of Ulva per litre along with the addition of the soluble fertiliser Aquasol at a rate of 87 mg/L of seawater was ideal for achieving a desired doubling of growth per week.

In the wild the formation of Ulva fragments occurs naturally in the ocean through wave and storm action. This breakage can trigger a survival response mechanism which stimulates the algae to form and release gametes. By chopping the tissue, this process could be artificially simulated in the laboratory and creating a simple and easy way to produce new individuals. Studies performed into inducing sporulation in Ulva through a combination of fragmentation and renewal of medium at BIRC showed that sporulation can be successfully induced in all three species of Ulva through these methods, however it was found to be to a degree that would not meet the demands of commercial production with on average a rate of only 33% achieved. While the current study did not find a method suitable for a commercial application the results presented here contribute to increasing our understanding about Ulva reproduction and set a platform for future work in to cultivating Ulva within Southeast Queensland.


The article analyzes the variety of definitions, types and sorts, used to characterize the decentralization, advantages and disadvantages of decentralization. Conceptions and classifications of types and sorts of decentralization by different authors are compared; similarities and differences of conceptions and classifications are identified. Advantages and disadvantages of decentralization are discussed based on the classic scheme for division of public governance competencies into three groups, i. e., allocation of public goods, redistribution of income and macroeconomic stabilization. A generalized list of advantages and disadvantages of decentralization is presented.


New infrastructure is needed globally to support economic development and improve human well‐being. Investments that do not consider ecosystem services (ES) can eliminate these important societal benefits from nature, undermining the development benefits infrastructure is intended to provide. Such tradeoffs are acknowledged conceptually but in practice have rarely been considered in infrastructure planning. Taking road investments as one important case, here we examine where and what forms of ES information have the potential to meaningfully influence decisions by multilateral development banks (MDBs). Across the stages of a typical road development process, we identify where and how ES information could be integrated, likely barriers to the use of available ES information, and key opportunities to shift incentives and thereby practice. We believe inclusion of ES information is likely to provide the greatest development benefit in early stages of infrastructure decisions. Those strategic planning stages are typically guided by in‐country processes, with MDBs playing a supporting role, making it critical to express the ES consequences of infrastructure development using metrics relevant to government decision makers. This approach requires additional evidence of the in‐country benefits of cross‐sector strategic planning and more tools to lower barriers to quantifying these benefits and facilitating ES inclusion.


Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been creating a worldwide pandemic situation. Repurposing drugs, already shown to be free of harmful side effects, for the treatment of COVID-19 patients is an important option in launching novel therapeutic strategies. Therefore, reliable molecule interaction data are a crucial basis, where drug-/protein-protein interaction networks establish invaluable, year-long carefully curated data resources. However, these resources have not yet been systematically exploited using high-performance artificial intelligence approaches. Here, we combine three networks, two of which are year-long curated, and one of which, on SARS-CoV-2-human host-virus protein interactions, was published only most recently (30th of April 2020), raising a novel network that puts drugs, human and virus proteins into mutual context. We apply Variational Graph AutoEncoders (VGAEs), representing most advanced deep learning based methodology for the analysis of data that are subject to network constraints. Reliable simulations confirm that we operate at utmost accuracy in terms of predicting missing links. We then predict hitherto unknown links between drugs and human proteins against which virus proteins preferably bind. The corresponding therapeutic agents present splendid starting points for exploring novel host-directed therapy (HDT) options


The fifth North American Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers was held June 13 to 21, 2003 at Table Mountain outside of Boulder, Colorado, USA. The main purpose of the Intercomparison was to assess the ability of spectroradiometers to accurately measure solar ultraviolet irradiance, and to compare the results between instruments of different monitoring networks. This Intercomparison was coordinated by NOAA and included participants from six national and international agencies. The UV measuring instruments included scanning spectroradiometers, spectrographs, and multi-filter radiometers. Synchronized spectral scans of the solar irradiance were performed between June 16 and 20, 2003. The spectral responsivities were determined for each instrument using the participants' lamps and calibration procedures and with NOAA/CUCF standard lamps. This paper covers the scanning spectroradiometers and the one spectrograph. The solar irradiance measurements from the different instruments were deconvolved using a high resolution extraterrestrial solar irradiance and reconvolved with a 1-nm triangular band-pass to account for differences in the bandwidths of the instruments. The measured solar irradiance from the spectroradiometers using the rivmSHIC algorithm on a clear-sky day on DOY 172 at 17.0 UTC (SZA = 30 o) had a relative 1-σ standard deviation of +/-2.6 to 3.4% for 300- to 360-nm using the participants' calibration.


Sociology is a field where a large majority of professors lean left. The left-leaning ideology is visible in studies of gender differences in labor markets. In such studies, a left-feminist ideology of equality is taken to be self-evident. Defining equality to equate to slim-outcome difference, however, pre-destines all differences to be seen as outcomes of culturally defined social constructions and discrimination. In this chapter it is hypothesized that this has produced tabooed topics in the field. One such taboo is the acknowledging of differences between men and women. Such differences challenge the left-feminism's notion of equality in terms of slim-outcome-difference. Research on evolution and preferences is downplayed in favor of cultural explanations. Cultural explanations interpret differences between men and women in labor market behavior as constructed, as largely driven by gender stereotypes and discrimination. The notion that differences can stem from biology or from the choices made by individuals pursuing a lifestyle different than those prescribed by gender researchers is seldom entertained. I hypothesize that the situation stems from gender sociology being dominated by left-feminist ideology.


Abstract Despite the creation of several new states and territorially defined autonomous councils, different tribes in Northeast India continue to demand the creation of new states and autonomous councils. This is because most tribes in the region are under the impression that an adequate share of political power is a necessary condition for retaining their socio-cultural identities and development. Such cultural and developmental aspirations, though legitimate, face rough weather once they become connected with exclusive administrative boundaries for self-governance. Thus, community conflicts over land and territoriality continue to turn Northeast India into an area of unending unrest and crisis.


A critical challenge for entrepreneurship scholars is the need to develop a greater understanding of (1) how, when and why entrepreneurial networks emerge, develop and change over time and (2) how network evolution impacts on the entrepreneurial trajectory. This special issue of Entrepreneurship & Regional Development begins to address these challenges by presenting a range of current works that further increase our understanding about social network dynamics during the entrepreneurial process. We begin by connecting this special issue to some of the main challenges of the field of entrepreneurship. From this, we propose an integrative perspective required to move thinking forward. We then summarize how the diverse papers presented in this special issue contribute to opening up the research field further and help us develop a greater understanding about the challenges entrepreneurship scholars face. We conclude this article with lessons and suggestions for future research.


The simplest bimolecular reaction involving neutral reagents is the reaction H + H2 → H2 + H. This system, because of its simplicity and fundamental significance in chemical dynamics, has been the subject of extensive accurate ab initio theoretical quantum mechanical calculations and the results obtained have been used to test approximate theories of reaction dynamics. However, this system has proved difficult to study experimentally due to its high activation barrier (~ .33 eV) and its small reactive cross section (~ 1 x 10-16 cm2. Because of these factors, state-to-state reaction dynamics have only become feasible recently. In order to study this reaction in a crossed molecular beam experiment, a means of generating an intense beam of H atoms is essential. This thesis documents the design and operation of a hydrogen arc discharge for generating such a beam. The method consists of using a high power arc discharge to create a high temperature (~ 12,000 K) plasma in which H2 molecules can be dissociated into atoms. By using an arc source of the type developed by Kunth, a stable, intense, hyperthermal H atom beam has been successfully produced. Section 2 of this thesis discusses the design and operation of the apparatus and Section 3 of the thesis discusses the characterization of the hydrogen atoms within the beam. The laboratory energy distribution function of these atoms was determined approximately, and spans the range from 0.5 eV to about 12 eV. The total intensity of this beam is of the order of ~1022 atoms/sterad/sec. With such an intense and energetic beam, a wealth of chemical dynamical experiments may now become feasible. In the course of developing this intense beam of hydrogen atoms, the source was found to also produce metastable H3 molecules. This is the first direct, unambiguous observation of such a specie in a molecular beam, and is discussed in Section 4. Translational energy analysis of this H3 molecule indicates an energy distribution similar to that of the H atoms, suggesting that the lifetime of H3 is of the order of 40 µsec or longer. We also observed emission spectra from the Rydberg states of H3 identified previously by Herzberg. This is spectroscopic evidence for the presence of this neutral molecule in our beam. The only know state of H3 capable of having the long lifetime observed is 2p 2A"2, the second excited state of this species. In addition, we detected this molecule by a variety of other independent techniques. It has long been known that alkali metal atoms with low ionization potential will ionize upon collision with a metal surface having a high work function. The 2p 2A"2 state of H3 has an IP of ~ 3.7 eV and is expected to behave in a similar way. As a result, surface ionization of metastable 3 has been observed for for a variety of metals and is reported in this thesis. From that low IP one would also expect that the metastable H3 should be photoionizable using an appropriate light source. In this thesis we report the generation of H+3 through irradiation of the beam with the light from a high intensity mercury lamp. Lastly, since the metastable H3 is in a Rydberg state, it would be expected to exhibit a large total scattering cross section due to the diffuse nature of the Rydberg orbital. Such cross sections were measured by the attenuation of the H3 beam as it passed through a gas cell. Section 5 describes the first observation of the electronic spectrum of WH. This emission spectrum was due to WH formed by the presence of the tungsten anode and cathode which are heated too close to its melting point by the arc discharge. Analysis of this spectrum has given rotational constants and bond distances for the electronic states of the mono-hydride involved in the observed transisiton. Due to relativistic terms in the potential, the theoretical calculation of WH has proved difficult to date. Recently a reliable potential for W has been generated such that our experimental bond distances will provide an important empirical check for any further theoretical calculations performed on this system. Likewise, the arc source may be employed in the future as a means of generating new metal hydride emission spectra. Appendix A of the thesis details the design and construction of the inhomogeneous magnet to serve in the future as a velocity selector for the hyperthermal hydrogen beam in our crossed beam experiment. Using such a Stern-Gerlach magnet as a velocity selector, the dynamics of the H + H2 reaction can be probed as a function of translational energy of the reactants. Appendix B grew out of an interesting Ch 227 project and will now become a theoretical paper. Exact quantum mechanical calculations of the collinear reaction Be + FH (ν = 0, 1) have been performed and the effects of reagent translational and vibrational excitation on reaction probabilities and product state distributions are examined. These quantum mechanical results are compared with those of quasi-classical trajectory calculations reported previously.


Patient: Male, 62 Final Diagnosis: Superior mesenteric artery anatomic variant Symptoms: Abdominal pain • diarrhea • transcient ischemic attacks Medication: — Clinical Procedure: CT of abdomen and pelvis Specialty: Surgery Objective: Congenital defects/diseases Background: Both spontaneous SMA dissection and anatomical variants of GIT vasculature are well known entities. We present a case initially diagnosed as an SMA dissection on CT, but upon detailed review of the imaging findings was considered to be incompletely fused ventral segmental arteries – a rare anatomic variant not well described before. This finding is clinically significant, as it can mimic a vascular dissection and such a wrong diagnosis will lead to unnecessary investigation and intervention. Case Report: A 62-year-old male patient presented with abdominal pain of uncertain etiology. The initial CT revealed an abnormal appearance of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) which was diagnosed as SMA dissection. However, the appearance of this 'dissection' was unusual and there was a mismatch between the clinical presentation and radiological findings. The scan was reviewed and a 3D reconstruction of the abdominal aortal and visceral arteries was performed. The abnormal appearance of the SMA was deemed to be from a congenital anatomical variant. A review of the embryological origin of gut vasculature provides a likely explanation for this appearance. Conclusions: Ours is an unusual case of a developmental variant that has not been well described hitherto. Attention to the ancillary radiological signs and understanding the embryological origin of the abdominal vasculature is important to distinguish such variants from pathology.


Universities are constantly seeking new applications of innovative teaching and learning strategies, with special attention given to the learning environment and activities performed. Learning environments and activities that focus on learners being active participants can enrich the students' learning experience and in this regard, outdoor adventure education programmes are utilised effectively to enhance the quality and scope of learning. This study investigated the perceived learning experience regarding academic content-specific outcomes and learning of life skills as identified by sport curriculum students competing in an on-campus Ama-zing Race activity. The study was qualitative in nature and involved the participation of 99 undergraduate sport curriculum students at a university within the Gauteng province of South Africa. Data analysis was done inductively using the qualitative techniques proposed by Cote, Salmela, and Russell (1993). The analysis rendered 217 meaning units, grouped together into 12 categories, which emerged as five primary themes, namely social behaviour, competitive view, cognitive skills, learning outcomes and physical realisation. The students perceived the outdoor programme to enhance their learning experience, not just limited to content-specific outcomes, but also regarding life skills. The findings of this study could assist universities to explore and construct innovative outdoor adventure and activity-based teaching and learning strategies to achieve enhanced student learning.


In this paper, we establish a natural bijection between the almost-increasing cyclic permutations of length $n$ and unimodal permutations of length $n-1$. This map is used to give a new characterization, in terms of pattern avoidance, of almost-increasing cycles. Additionally, we use this bijection to enumerate several statistics on almost-increasing cycles. Such statistics include descents, inversions, peaks and excedances, as well as the newly defined statistic called low non-inversions. Furthermore, we refine the enumeration of unimodal permutations by descents, inversions and inverse valleys. We conclude this paper with a theorem that characterizes the standard cycle notation of almost-increasing permutations.


It is already documented that climate change will lead to an intensification of the global water cycle with a consequent increase in flood hazards. Bangladesh is also facing an increasing trend of flood disasters. Among the various risks and disasters in Bangladesh, flood is the most common and frequent. Floods make people vulnerable, as they take away their livelihoods at the first instance and leave them with little resources to overcome from the situation. Because of floods, rural poor communities face job loss, and two-thirds of their income is reduced, which limits their capabilities of preparedness, response, and recovery to subsequent floods. People cope with the situation by bearing substantial debts and a loss of productive assets. With an empirical field study in one of the most flood-prone upazilas (sub-districts) of Bangladesh, namely Goalanda Upazilla of the Rajbari district, this study intends to draw a "flood impact tree" of the study area. It also examines the impacts of flood on the livelihood of the rural poor and explores their coping strategies. This paper aims to facilitate an understanding of the impact of floods on their livelihood, especially on the income and occupations of the rural poor. At the same time, it aims to learn from their coping mechanisms.


The purpose of this report is to present possible impacts of new technology and changes in legislation on the profitability of different types of organic farms. The aim is also to look at both the current and future trends in the organic area in Denmark. Besides the economic aspects, the report also shows the nutrient surplus for selected organic farms.

Analyses carried out at the Food and Resource Economic Institute (FOI) have previ-ously shown that price premiums of up to 50% on pig meat and 20% on arable farm products is needed to make the organic production profitable. The price premium on cereals and dairy products have in the 1990'ties been higher than required, but in re-cent years the price premium has dropped, leading to low profitability, especially on arable farms.

The organic farms in Denmark consist mainly of two types of farms, full time dairy farms and part time arable farms. The dairy farms constitute 25% of the farms, 50% of the area and they have 80% of the livestock units. The part-time arable farms con-stitute 60% of the farms, 28% of the organic area and they have 5% of the livestock units. Previous predictions made by FOI regarding more part-time farms converting to organic farming have been fulfilled, whereas the conversion to organic pig production has been much lower than expected. Both dairy and arable farms are facing new threats as the organic milk production is still much higher than the consumption, and as the profitability on small arable farms is low.

The aim of the project is, therefore, to look at the impact of new technology on the profitability of organic farming. As organic farming in Denmark has experienced leg-islative changes leading to lower use of imported feedstuffs, it was also an aim to look at the impact of legislative changes, allowing only 100% organic feed, straw and ma-nure.

To analyse this eight case farms were selected as typical organic farms. They con-sisted of 3 dairy farms, 4 arable farms and 1 pig farm. The area and the production on these case farms were based on interviews with local consultants, but they are not ac-tual farms found in Denmark. The intension was to present the typical future organic farm in terms of size, area and crop rotation. The yields and the machinery on these farms were determined in close co-operation with researchers at Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (Bygholm).
The analyses regarding the profit shows on case farms a profit on the dairy and pig farms and a negative result on the arable case farms. This is comparable with net prof-its found nationally on organic farms in 2002. The capital invested in machinery on case farms is lower than found on actual organic farms due to the optimization proce-dure used to find the right level of machinery.

The analyses also show that there does not seem to be significant differences in the machinery costs between conventional and organic farms. The analysis is based on 16 organic and 14 conventional study farms, which makes costs comparable. The ma-chinery costs on the case farms are in line with machinery costs on organic study farms, where most farms have costs between 3,000 and 7,000 DKK per ha (100 DKK = 13.4 €).

The impact of new technology is analysed, focusing on the technologies which are found to be available in the near future and where the first trials look promising. The technologies analysed include robotic weeding, band streaming before sowing, use of GPS when applying animal manure and automatic milking using a robot. Both weed management technologies are found to be profitable and to be recommended for fur-ther development. The purpose is to remove weeds inside the row. GPS might give some economic benefits, but will be more profitable in a scenario with restrictions on nitrogen use. More trials have to be conducted to determine whether GPS is profit-able. Automatic milking is not a technology exclusive to the organic sector. The analyses show that if the capacity is well used it might be profitable. As a whole, the technologies do not seem to have a major impact on the future development in the or-ganic sector as the focus is on relatively specialised crops which cover a small area. For the technologies which can be used more widely, the improvement in income is limited.

The difference between organic production and conventional farming has diminished over recent years as conventional farmers use less pesticide and mineral fertiliser. Furthermore, the European rules for organic farming might change. The possible im-pact of changes in legislation has, therefore, been analysed. The changes include the following restrictions:
• 100% organic feed (requirement from 2005 on dairy farms)
• 100% organic straw (no import of conventional straw)
• 100% organic manure (no import of conventional manure)

100% organic feed has already been introduced for dairy farms in Denmark, whereas for pig farms it will increase feed costs by 10-17%, but the production will still be profitable. Using 100% organic straw will increase income on arable farms a little and lower the income on livestock farms with few cereal crop areas.

The 100% organic manure scenario will reduce the manure (slurry and farm yard ma-nure) used in the organic sector by approximately 20% and increase the price from 5 to approximately 10 DKK per kg N. The effect is a decrease in application of 10 kg effective N per ha. The analyses show that dairy farms will increase their export and apply less than today, whereas arable farms will only reduce their N application a lit-tle.

The loss in income among the arable farms is, in the calculation, almost the same as the gains made by the dairy farms, as the yield reductions are limited. However, in the analyses, it is expected that arable farms already today pay for manure imports, which is often not the case. This implies that the costs for organic arable farms found in this analysis under estimate the actual costs. This will also make it more difficult for con-ventional farms to export their manure.

Another assumption is that transportation costs are minimal. However, this legislation will imply transportation of manure from livestock intensive areas to arable areas. The total cost of this is roughly estimated at 10-13 million DKK or 700-1,000 DKK per ha for the arable farms in Zealand which receive the manure. Alternatively, the arable farms would have to either have their own livestock or farm without the use of animal manure. The conclusion is that such a legislation will reduce the income on arable farms and increase the income on dairy farms and that it would lead to a change in the regional distribution of farms as livestock and arable farms would have to be located close to each other to reduce transportation costs. For dairy and arable farms located close to each other, such legislation would not necessarily lead to much lower profit for the farms seen as a whole as the animal manure might be utilised bet-ter.

Whether the prices for agricultural products could increase in case where they are 100% organic, is questionable and is, therefore, not included in the calculation.
In the last chapter, the nutrient balance is estimated on the case farms in the baseline and with a 100% organic manure scenario. The nutrient balance in the baseline shows a nitrogen surplus of 47-110 kg N per ha. The most difficult input to estimate is the N-fixation, which varies with yield and application of animal manure. The case farms have a phosphorus (P) surplus of around zero. For potassium (K) some farms have a surplus others a deficit of up to 90 kg K per ha.

In the 100% organic manure scenario, the lower manure application affects the sur-plus more than the slightly lower yields, leading to lower N-surplus, P deficit and lar-ger K deficit than in the baseline scenario. It should be noted that attempts in terms of applying other P and K sources have not been included.

The final chapter deals with conclusions and perspectives on the future of organic farming at the farm level. For the dairy farms, there needs to be a better balance be-tween production and demand. This will probably lead to a reduction in the amount of milk which is given the price premium by 30-40%. In the case where these farms stop as organic farms they will reduce the organic area by 30,000 ha. The organic area could therefore be reduced to 130,000 ha. With the lower organic area it is not likely that the organic milk production will exceed 10% of the total Danish milk production.

However, it is also likely that farms which stop organic production will continue with an environmentally friendly production not using pesticides and with a limit on the nitrogen application. Many organic farmers have, over the years, come to appreciate this type of production. So although some might change back to conventional farm-ing, they will still use less pesticides than conventional farmers and use the crop rota-tion more actively in order to reduce N-leaching. A smaller organic dairy sector will make the 100% organic manure scenario more costly as the amount of organic ma-nure is lower.

The small part time arable farms will probably carry on as the main income comes from outside farming. The challenge is to make efficient large arable farms profitable and in order to do so, they will have to be very large and be efficient.

The trend will probably continue away from a subsidy for organic production and to-wards a subsidy for the environmental benefits. The current subsidy level in Denmark is not likely to be increased and the price premium seems to be declining. This indi-cates that the organic as well as the conventional farms will have to be more efficient to be profitable.


This article explores the notion of troublesome' masculinities that characterise much of the policy discourse and programme thinking on problems of young men and gender. It critiques the dimorphism that shapes this view of young men's gender trouble, and the 'culturalism' that constrains the perception of the troubled times in which many young men live. The article argues that young men can be enlisted in the feminist struggle to transform ideologies and institutions of male power, but only by troubling both the notions of masculinity that underpin them as well as the structural inequalities within which they are enmeshed.


This paper analyzes the responses enacted by families of the Central Plateau in Burkina Faso during the year that followed a severe drought in 1997. We illustrate the agro-ecological and socio-economic contexts that shape livelihood options and constraints in an area characterized by high levels of climatic risk and low natural resource endowment. A description of farmers' perceptions and official accounts identifies key criteria whereby farmers formulate evaluations and predictions of a season. We document how food procurement and management practices are shaped by household resource access profiles and livelihood portfolios. Livelihood diversification, encompassing migration, non-farm work and social support networks, in addition to livestock production, is shown to be a critical dimension of adaptation. Livelihood and production adjustments entail costs and risks for most, but also gains for those who have the resources needed to take advantage of distress sales and high prices of agricultural commodities. Household livelihood and risk management increasingly hinge on efforts by household members who traditionally have had marginal access to resources, especially women. The research points to the need for closer integration of drought preparedness efforts, farmers' understanding of climate-crop interactions and interventions that bolster the capacity of resource-limited households to respond. Affordable grain, locally adapted seed varieties, labor saving technology and flexible credit are among the most needed inputs.


Abstract The magnetic configurations of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator are sensitive to perturbations of the magnetic field resonant with ι/2π = 1. Such perturbations can be caused by deviations of the current filament positions of the real coil system from the design due to the accuracy achievable during the manufacture of the coils and assembly of the magnet system. The sensitivity of the magnetic field to the different types of error has been investigated by introducing randomly distributed errors to the coil shapes and positions within the given tolerances. A statistical analysis of these error distributions was performed. This procedure will be used to assess the magnetic configuration of W7-X before the completion of each assembly step.


Objectives: The objectives of this study were to demonstrate the safety of auditory brainstem implant (ABI) surgery and document the subsequent development of auditory and spoken language skills in children without neurofibromatosis type II (NFII). Design: A prospective, single-subject observational study of ABI in children without NFII was undertaken at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Five children were enrolled under an investigational device exemption sponsored by the investigators. Over 3 years, patient demographics, medical/surgical findings, complications, device mapping, electrophysiologic measures, audiologic outcomes, and speech and language measures were collected. Results: Five children without NFII have received ABIs to date without permanent medical sequelae, although 2 children required treatment after surgery for temporary complications. All children wear their device daily, and the benefits of sound awareness have developed slowly. Intra-and postoperative electrophysiologic measures augmented surgical placement and device programming. The slow development of audition skills precipitated limited changes in speech production but had little impact on growth in spoken language. Conclusions: ABI surgery is safe in young children without NFII. Benefits from device use develop slowly and include sound awareness and the use of pattern and timing aspects of sound. These skills may augment progress in speech production but progress in language development is dependent upon visual communication. Further monitoring of this cohort is needed to better delineate the benefits of this intervention in this patient population.


AIMS
1. The visual contrast-response function in human subjects typically has low gradient at low contrast. This is inconsistent with signal detection theory, and we therefore aimed to measure precisely the contrast-response function at low contrast. 2. Recently published work shows that light decrements are detected sooner than increments. We aimed to see whether this observation held at low contrast.

METHODS
Visually normal adult humans were briefly presented with horizontal grating patches. The gratings were raised-cosine in form so that each presentation provided either an increment or decrement in luminance. Either the left or right half of the grating patch was shown and subjects indicated which half had been shown. Stimuli were randomly timed, and response correctness and reaction time were recorded.

RESULTS
There was a small range of contrasts, centred on zero, at which contrast sensitivity was indistinguishable from zero. Neurons in primary visual cortex have a resting membrane potential well below threshold (Tan et al., Nature, 509, 226): we propose that the contrast sensitivity plateau indicates the minimum contrast required to depolarise these neurons to threshold. Further, reaction times at low contrast were about 50 ms shorter for contrast decrements than for increments. This corresponds well with recently published work showing that off-dominated cortical neurons have shorter latencies to decrements than do on-dominated neurons to increments (Komban et al., Neuron, 82, 224).

CONCLUSION
Low-contrast measurements reveal behaviour that appears to reflect the properties of single neurons in primary visual cortex. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Low temperature plasma assisted nit riding treatments of 316 stainless steel produce a complex layer constituted by tow different metastable f.c.c. solid solution denoted (aN1 and aN2). About the formation of these double layers, different hypothesis was proposed in the literature. For verifying these hypotheses, the effects of differentes conditions such as nit riding temperature, cleaning and nit riding duration and cooling state have been studied. The results show that aN2 sub layer produce during the ion bombardment cleaning procedure, before the nit riding treatment. Also the formation of the aN2 layer is not connected to the cooling state of the sample after nit riding treatment.


Torture is prohibited by statutes worldwide, yet the legal definition of torture is almost invariably based on an inherently subjective judgment involving pain severity. In four experiments, we demonstrate that judgments of whether specific interrogation tactics constitute torture are subject to an empathy gap: People who are experiencing even a mild version of the specific pain produced by an interrogation tactic are more likely to classify that tactic as torture or as unethical than are those who are not experiencing pain. This discrepancy could result from an overestimation of the pain of torture by people in pain, an underestimation of the pain of torture by those not in pain, or both. The fourth experiment shows that the discrepancy results from an underestimation of pain by people who are not experiencing it. Given that legal standards guiding torture are typically established by people who are not in pain, this research suggests that practices that do constitute torture are likely to not be classified as such.


This thesis examines the phenomenon of strategy. Making as practised by small professional football clubs. The study was undertaken because football clubs were perceived to have problems with strategy-making and because it was believed that the specific circumstances of football clubs could be outside the range of views covered by conventional views of strategy-making. The characteristics of the club environment are its uncertainty and unpredictability, simultaneous competition and co--operation, strong regulations, and a not-for-profit orientation. Small clubs in particular face a constant struggle for financial viability and survival, due in part to split business and playing objectives. The study was designed to establish the extent and nature of the difficulties clubs experience with a view to preparing the way for creating practical guidance on ways to overcome them. Clearly, in order to survive in the long term, small professional football clubs require very effective strategic decisions. This study has addressed this issue by inquiring into the nature of strategy making for these organisations with the objective to establish the general direction in which the football clubs in question should be moving. As a result, the main research question to guide this investigation was determined as: Why do small professional football clubs have difficulties making strategies. The investigation was based on an analysis the concept of strategy and its elements, the strategic vision and objectives, the process by which strategic action comes about, the strategic action itself, and the context within which this action occurs. Data has been collected, analysed and interpreted in relation to each of these elements. Together with a wide variety of published material, 20 small football clubs have been sampled and personal interviews were conducted with board members of those clubs. The findings indicate that small football clubs do indeed experience considerable difficulties in making strategies, the reasons for which lie both in the characteristics of their competitive environment and their approaches to strategy-making. The competitive environment is characterised by a cartel-like structure with a high degree of regulation, high levels of uncertainty, little control over the core product or the production process, short-term business cycles and a close geographical link between a club with its local market. The management of clubs is characterised by the need to balance conflicting sporting and business objectives. Formal planning techniques are of little use in the small football club context as decision-making processes have a strong political character and the development of novel strategies is hindered by a strong conservative, industry paradigm and a lack of financial and managerial resources. It is concluded that there is no simple advice to be given to clubs, as they must re-examine the relationship between their playing and business objectives to create a unified and workable approach.


Joanna Mary Firth and Jonathan Quong argue that both an instrumental account of liability to defensive harm, according to which an aggressor can only be liable to defensive harms that are necessary to avert the threat he poses, and a purely noninstrumental account which completely jettisons the necessity condition, lead to very counterintuitive implications. To remedy this situation, they offer a "pluralist" account and base it on a distinction between "agency rights" and a "humanitarian right." I argue, first, that this distinction is spurious; second, that the conclusions they draw from this distinction do not cohere with its premises; third, that even if one granted the distinction, Firth's and Quong's implicit premise that you can forfeit your agency rights but not your "humanitarian right" is unwarranted; fourth, that their attempt to mitigate the counterintuitive implications of their own account in the Rape case relies on mistaken ad-hoc assumptions; fifth, that even if they were successful in somewhat mitigating said counterintuitive implications, they would still not be able to entirely avoid them; and sixth, that even in the unlikely case that none of these previous five critical points are correct, Firth and Quong still fail to establish that aggressors can be liable to unnecessary defensive harm since they fail to establish that unnecessary harm can ever be defensive in the first place.


01/07/2018 @ 2:00pm - 4:00pm - Sunday afternoon concert with the choir singing songs from a variety of musicals including Grease, West Side Story, Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Cabaret, Oklahoma etc On the same day The Big Picnic will once again take place in Valley Gardens from 11.30 to 4.30. Admission is free. This is a terrific family day out with lots of stalls, food outlets, funfair, bouncy castle, climbing wall and lots more. This event raises funds for the children's unit at Harrogate Hospital and is organised by The Friends of Harrogate Hospital. Bring a picnic, listen to the choir performing, and come along for a 'grand day out!'


Modern cell phones are required to receive and display alerts via the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) program, under the mandate of the Warning, Alert, and Response Act of 2006. These alerts include AMBER alerts, severe weather alerts, and (unblockable) Presidential Alerts, intended to inform the public of imminent threats. Recently, a test Presidential Alert was sent to all capable phones in the United States, prompting concerns about how the underlying WEA protocol could be misused or attacked. In this paper, we investigate the details of this system, and develop and demonstrate the first practical spoofing attack on Presidential Alerts, using both commercially available hardware as well as modified open source software. Our attack can be performed using a commercially-available software defined radio, and our modifications to the open source NextEPC and srsLTE software libraries. We find that with only four malicious portable base stations of a single Watt of transmit power each, almost all of a 50,000-seat stadium can be attacked with a 90% success rate. The true impact of such an attack would of course depend on the density of cell phones in range; fake alerts in crowded cities or stadiums could potentially result in cascades of panic. Fixing this problem will require a large collaborative effort between carriers, government stakeholders, and cell phone manufacturers. To seed this effort, we also discuss several defenses to address this threat in both the short and long term.


This article shows and catalogues leafs and pieces proceeding from 16 liturgical books printed on parchment. This association has been doing by the point of view of writting support proper the significance of these units in relation to the early printing. The pieces are printed between 1488 and 1567 and add up to 49 leafs, 6 halfleafs, 7 fragments and 3 strips. The stencil, an special printing system, has been mentioned, because it's an appropiate resort to leather printing.Finally has been marked some features of the music sings evolution, which have been influenced by the manuscript, and also by the printed tradition.The bibliography of the page hasn't been included because the text before the catalogue pretends to show the printed papers, not to study them in their different points of view.


Purpose: Recent studies have reported the anti-inflammatory effect of Sinomenium acutum. We investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of sinomenine on endotoxin-induced uveitis in a rat model. Methods: Endotoxin-induced uveitis was induced in rat by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) immunization. Sinomenine (50mg/kg and 100mg/kg) was administered at 30 minutes before, 6 hours and 12 hours after LPS immunization. Clinical and histological severity was evaluated. Protein concentration and levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and prostaglandin (PG)-E2 in aqueous humor were measured. Expression of activated Nuclear factor (NF)-κB p65 in ciliary body was also observed. Results: Clinical and histological severities were significantly milder in sinomenine-treated rat than in controls (P < 0.001). Sinomenine suppressed protein leakage and down-regulated the production of TNF-α and PG-E2 in a dose-dependent manner. Sinomenine treatment suppressed the translocation of the NF-κB p65 subunit into the nuclei. Conclusion: Systemic administration of sinomenine suppressed the inflammation of ocular tissues. These findings suggest that sinomenine could be a novel therapeutic agent for the control of endogenous ocular inflammatory disease.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate corporate governance and financial reporting quality in Nigeria. This research has been performed using a sample of 40 companies listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2006 to 2015. The relationship between corporate governance mechanisms (board characteristics, audit committees, board independence, board size and growth) and financial reporting quality was observed. The results of the multiple regression analysis were statistically significant at 0.05 level. The F statistics of 3.641 shows that the results typically explained the model. The findings of the study revealed thatcorporate governance improves the financial reporting quality in Nigeria.


This article presents a detailed textual analysis of Marx's actual account of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and attempts to recover the initial logic of the analysis It sets this against early discussion on Marx's value theory and shows, in a non-mathematical manner, how a purely physical conception of the profit rate was substituted for the value profit rate, as a consequence of the interpretation of Marx's value theory within a general equilibrium framework, introduced by Bortkiewicz and subsequently adopted by academic Marxism. It demonstrates how the consistency of Marx's logic emerges on the basis of a temporal interpretation of Marx's value theory. Presented to the 7th annual conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics, London, sessions on 'Whig History in Economics and (re) interpretation of theory. City University, July 15-17 2005.


Abstract Field biologists and ecologists are starting to open new avenues of inquiry at greater spatial and temporal resolution, allowing them to "observe the unobservable" through the use of wireless sensor networks. Sensor networks facilitate the collection of diverse types of data (from temperature to imagery and sound) at frequent intervals—even multiple times per second—over large areas, allowing ecologists and field biologists to engage in intensive and expansive sampling and to unobtrusively collect new types of data. Moreover, real-time data flows allow researchers to react rapidly to events, thus extending the laboratory to the field. We review some existing uses of wireless sensor networks, identify possible areas of application, and review the underlying technologies in the hope of stimulating additional use of this promising technology to address the grand challenges of environmental science.


In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments are currently implementing urgent, costly and radical measures to slow down the spread of the pandemic. Many of these measures result in very significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric pollution—some of them sparing lives, as a result of lower levels of air pollution. Though the global impact of the pandemic on climate change will be difficult to assess, one thing is certain: it is possible for world leaders to take urgent and radical measures in the face of an imminent threat, and for the populations to accept them. Yet we have not been able, so far, to take similar measures to confront climate change, despite repeated calls from activists and scientists alike to declare a state of 'climate emergency'. In the midst of the sanitary crisis, many were prompt to point out the similarities between climate change and the pandemic. Both were global crises, requiring urgent responses on the basis of scientific advice. Therefore, many activists were quick to suggest that the measures implemented to fight against the spread of the pandemic had to be replicated to slow down climate change: 'we must respond to climate change like we are responding to coronavirus', argued Zero Hour founder Jamie Margolin in Teen Vogue magazine. Others went a step further and claimed the pandemic was an 'ultimatum of nature', a 'revenge of the Earth' or even 'good news for the environment'. #WeAreTheProblem was a popular hashtag on social media as many countries were in lockdown, as if the pandemic were eventually a way for nature to reclaim its rights. In this piece, we argue that climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are not similar crises, even though they present some striking similarities. This has important consequences for the response measures to be deployed, but also for the way we communicate about climate change. Though this is a reflection on a situation that is still unfolding, we try to outline some early lessons from the sanitary crisis to improve our action and communication on climate change.


The present study investigated wastewater treatment for the removal of 11 different virus types (pepper mild mottle virus; Aichi virus; genogroup I, II, and IV noroviruses; enterovirus; sapovirus; group-A rotavirus; adenovirus; and JC and BK polyomaviruses) by two wastewater treatment facilities utilizing advanced Bardenpho technology and compared the results with conventional treatment processes. To our knowledge, this is the first study comparing full-scale treatment processes that all received sewage influent from the same region. The incidence of viruses in wastewater was assessed with respect to absolute abundance, occurrence, and reduction in monthly samples collected throughout a 12 month period in southern Arizona. Samples were concentrated via an electronegative filter method and quantified using TaqMan-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Results suggest that Plant D, utilizing an advanced Bardenpho process as secondary treatment, effectively reduced pathogenic viruses better than facilities using conventional processes. However, the absence of cell-culture assays did not allow an accurate assessment of infective viruses. On the basis of these data, the Aichi virus is suggested as a conservative viral marker for adequate wastewater treatment, as it most often showed the best correlation coefficients to viral pathogens, was always detected at higher concentrations, and may overestimate the potential virus risk.


To investigate the effect of lysine level in low-protein diets (LPD) an experiment was conducted with 36 barrows fed 174, 140 and 118 g/kg of crude protein (CP), and three digestible lysine levels. Low-protein diets were supplemented with crystalline amino acids (AA) to the same concentration as in the standard CP diet. Growth performance, carcass characteristics and plasma urea nitrogen concentration were evaluated. In nursery pigs, the addition of lysine to LPD quadratically increased backfat thickness (BF; P < 0.01), longissimus muscle area (LMA; P < 0.001), and lean meat percentage (LMP; P < 0.05). In the growing phase, reducing dietary protein decreased average daily gain (ADG; P < 0.09), final body weight (BW; P < 0.09), fat free lean gain (FFLG; P < 0.09), and LMA (P < 0.038); and increased BF (P < 0.05). Addition of lysine to LPD quadratically increased ADG (P < 0.01), average daily feed intake (ADFI; P < 0.05), final BW (P < 0.006), and FFLG (P < 0.002). In the finishing period, pigs fed LPD had lower ADFI (P < 0.03) and feed:gain ratio (FGR; P < 0.003). Addition of lysine to LPD linearly increased BF (P < 0.04), and quadratically increased ADFI (P < 0.02), FGR (P < 0.009), BF (P < 0.08), and LMA (P < 0.08). The plasma urea nitrogen concentration was reduced (P < 0.05) in all phases in pigs fed LPD. Lysine requirement for fattening barrows fed LPD may be higher than the recommended concentration for standard CP diets.


The AGNPS model was developed to provide a means of assessing water quality impacts from agricultural watersheds. AGNPS simulates sediment and nutrient transport from the headwaters to the outlet in a stepwise manner so that an assessment can be made at any point in the watershed. The basic model components are hydrology, erosion, sediment, and chemical transport. Point sources of sediment from gullies and inputs of water, sediment, nutrients, and COD from animal feedlots or other sources are also considered. The Minnesota Feedlot Model is incorporated as a subroutine into AGNPS. Water impoundments, such as tile-outlet terraces, are also considered as depositional areas of sediment and sediment associated nutrients. Two examples are presented showing how the AGNPS model has been used to pinpoint 'critical' areas of sediment and nutrient production in a watershed, and estimate the potential benefits of implementing best management practices to alleviate pollution problems.


Recently, a number of authors have proposed decoding schemes for Reed-Solomon (RS) codes based on multiple trials of a simple RS decoding algorithm. In this paper, we present a rate-distortion (R-D) approach to analyze these multiple-decoding algorithms for RS codes. This approach is first used to understand the asymptotic performance-versus-complexity trade-off of multiple error-and-erasure decoding of RS codes. By defining an appropriate distortion measure between an error pattern and an erasure pattern, the condition for a single error-and-erasure decoding to succeed reduces to a form where the distortion is compared to a fixed threshold. Finding the best set of erasure patterns for multiple decoding trials then turns out to be a covering problem which can be solved asymptotically by rate-distortion theory. Next, this approach is extended to analyze multiple algebraic soft-decision (ASD) decoding of RS codes. Both analytical and numerical computations of the R-D functions for the corresponding distortion measures are discussed. Simulation results show that proposed algorithms using this approach perform better than other algorithms with the same complexity.


From 2011 to 2015, a rise in anti-Americanism was strongly reflected in Russian public opinion during President Vladimir Putin's third term. The study examined the phenomenon of anti-Americanism in Russia and the role of state-controlled mass media in promoting anti-American attitudes. Statistical analysis of polls conducted in Russia by the Pew Research Center in 2012 demonstrated that anti-Americanism in Russian society should not be treated as a monolithic phenomenon. A segment of the Russian populace held a strong and deep-seated anti-American ideological bias that affected its perception of everything related to the United States. Other sentiments, however, fit a more complex structure congruent with Chiozza's dimensions of America theory. These respondents simultaneously held different opinions towards aspects of the United States and its influence. The data indicated that in Russia, at least on the level of the mass public, American soft power did not promote a positive attitude towards the United States. Analysis of polls conducted by the independent Levada Center in Moscow from 2011 to 2015 provided additional insights into the relationship between Russian mass media and anti-Americanism. The rise of anti-Americanism was detected across the audiences of various mass news media. Respondents who preferred different sources of information showed similar patterns in their shifting attitudes towards the United States. Major increases in anti-Americanism among all of the respondents occurred when Putin intensified his anti-western and anti-American rhetoric, and when the Russian mass media launched an aggressive anti-American propaganda campaign.


Due to its genetic amenability coupled with recent advances in genome editing, the zebrafish serves as an excellent model to examine the function of both coding and non-coding elements. Recently, the non-coding genome has gained prominence due to its critical role in development and disease. Here, we have re-purposed the Ac/Ds maize transposition system to reliably screen and efficiently characterise zebrafish enhancers, with or without germline propagation. We further utilised the system to stably express guide RNAs in microinjected embryos enabling tissue-specific CRISPR/dCas9-interference (CRISPRi) knockdown of lncRNA and enhancer activity without disrupting the underlying genetic sequence. Our study highlights the utility of Ac/Ds transposition for transient epigenome modulation of non-coding elements in zebrafish. Summary statement We adapted the Ac/Ds transposition system, which enables continuous expression of guide RNAs for CRISPR/dCas9 perturbation, to examine the function of non-coding RNAs and enhancer elements in zebrafish.


Objectives To evaluate the utilisation of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) at Tawam Hospital, a tertiary care teaching hospital, over a 1-year period. Methods Patients who received IVIG from March 2010 to April 2011 at Tawam Hospital were identified retrospectively using the hospital computer system. Their charts were subsequently reviewed and data were collected on patients' demographics, indication, dose regimen, adverse drug reactions and physician specialty. Indications were placed into three main categories: US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labelled; off-label indications with evidence favouring IVIG efficacy; and off-label indications with lack of evidence for efficacy. Results A total of 134 patients (74 paediatric and 60 adult) were identified. In 39%of paediatric versus 46% of adult patients, IVIG was dispensed for appropriate indications (US FDA labelled and off-label with support for use). However, 61%of paediatric patients and 54% of adult patients received IVIG for inappropriate indications (off-label use without support). The estimated annual cost of IVIG is US$1.25 million, of which US$0.7 million was considered as inappropriate use. Conclusions A significant amount of IVIG was prescribed for inappropriate indications, resulting in a large financial burden on the institution.


Structural Equation Modeling for SEM is second generation statistical analysis techniques for analyzing the inter-relationships among multiple variables in a model. SEM is an extension of the general linear model (GLM) that enables a researcher to test a set of regression equations simultaneously.

SEM software can examine complex relationships and models, such as confirmatory factor analysis and second order latent variables which improves the weaknesses of ordinary least square (OLS) method. Major applications of SEM are causal model, confirmatory factor analysis, second order factor analysis and multivariate analysis. It starts from explanation on SEM through empirical data focusing on quality management. Empirical data will provide better understanding of SEM application.

Hopefully this book will provide a useful reference towards a better understanding in SEM which can lead to implementing successful research for students and researchers.


The Syntactic web search scheme is upgraded by adding semantics through the recent trends of Semantic web. The importance of Semantic web is due to the increased level of appropriate results on information retrieval. It brings a wide participation of researchers all over the world. Even beginners could gain an easier understanding of the Semantic web standards. This paper clearly illustrates some of the tools and technologies that are applied for effective semantic web development. Most of the efficient tools are open for access. Certain commercial tools for specific mode of development are also available.


In the third part of this work what is described is how formless Consciousness, owing to the way in which it naturally relates to the world of forms once it has lost sight of Itself though identification with form, unknowingly keeps Itself caught up in, and so bound to, the relation with Itself that is creating its identification with form, and so unknowingly perpetuates both its identification with form as well as its inability to become aware or conscious of the Formlessness that is Itself, thereby also perpetuating the illusion that reality, i.e., apprehended form, is what is actually there where it appears to be. Also described in the third part of this work is what form-identified Consciousness must do, so to speak, in order to extricate Itself from the cage of form-identification in which it is, owing to the way it naturally relates to Itself through the proxy of form while still identified with form, unknowingly keeping Itself trapped. And what form-identified Formlessness must do, in order to extricate Itself from the cage of form-identification in which it has trapped Itself, is change the way it naturally and habitually relates to the universe of experiential forms, owing to its identification with form, while still identified primarily with form. This first article of Part 3 contains the following sections: The mutually exclusive nature of identification with form and identification with the Formless; The self-perpetuating nature of the Movement into identification with form; & The way out of form-identification.


A series of pyridine functionalized α-cyanostilbenes bearing different amino group donors, carbazole–phenyl (C-1), N-ethyl carbazole (C-3), dimethylamino (DM), julolidine (J-1) and triphenylamine (T-1), were synthesized, and their impact on the aggregation propensity of the α-cyanostilbenes was investigated. Distinct aggregation-induced emission (AIE) features have been obtained in water, where the emission intensity varied in the following order: C-1 > DM > C-3 > T-1 > J-1. The formation of aggregates was substantiated by fluorescence lifetime decay profiles and their average lifetime correlated with the rigidity of the molecular framework. The contributing factors behind the AIE phenomena are the bulkiness of the donor segments, their donating strength, planarity of the molecular framework, the distance between the α-cyano unit and the donors and its interaction with neighboring units. Based on the experimental observations from this study and previous research reports, we have used DFT and TDDFT methods to evaluate the donor–AIEE property relationship. Cyclic voltammetry techniques were used to examine the redox properties of the compounds. SEM and DLS studies provided us with a detailed picture of the morphology and hydrodynamic radii of the aggregates, respectively. The results obtained from this study would be helpful to understand the substituent dependent aggregation propensity of α-cyanostilbenes and provide design guidelines toward the development of AIE active materials for various optoelectronic and bioimaging applications.


In this paper, the authors engage in a collaborative inquiry illustrative of a dialogical process of meaning making addressing the future of teacher education in times marked by uncertainty, intense public and political scrutiny, changing policy, and imposed learning standards. The authors urge teacher education programs and teacher educators to reclaim their crucial role in driving education discourses rather than submitting to mandates based on flawed ideological assumptions about teaching, learning, children, and communities. Teacher educators need to participate in the counternarrative of the de-essentializing "turn" in teacher education. By critiquing and problematizing minimalist and flawed assumptions driving education policy, teacher education programs can shift the focus back to advocating for what is relevant and meaningful to the communities they serve. De-essentializing teacher education necessitates embracing complex curricula and pedagogies of unknowability, rather than perpetuating simplistic disciplinary pedagogies of safety and certitude.


Wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy and is promising as the number one source of clean energy in the near future. Among various generators used to convert wind energy, the induction generator has attracted more attention due to its lower cost, lower requirement of maintenance, variable speed, higher energy capture efficiency, and improved power quality [1-2]. Generally, there are two types of induction generators widely used in wind power systems – Squirrel-Cage Induction Generator (SCIG) and Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG). The straightforward power conversion technique using SCIG is widely accepted in fixed-speed applica‐ tions with less emphasis on the high efficiency and control of power flow. However, such direct connection with grid would allow the speed to vary in a very narrow range and thus limit the wind turbine utilization and power output. Another major problem with SCIG wind system is the source of reactive power; that is, an external reactive power compensator is required to hold distribution line voltage and prevent whole system from overload. On the other hand, the DFIG with variable-speed ability has higher energy capture efficiency and improved power quality, and thus dominates the large-scale power conversion applications. With the advent of power electronics techniques, a back-to-back converter, which consists of two bidirectional converters and a dc-link, acts as an optimal operation tracking interface between DFIG and loads [3-5]. Field orientation control (FOC) is applied to both rotorand stator-side converters to achieve desirable control on voltage and power [6,7]. In this chapter, a brief introduction of wind power system is presented first, which is followed by introduction of SCIG and DFIG from aspects of modeling and control. The basic FOC algorithm is derived based on DFIG model in dq reference frame. At last, the power generation efficiency is considered through different Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) methods that have attracted a lot of attention in the variable© 2015 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. speed operation systems. A comparative analysis involving advantage and disad‐ vantage of the methods is conducted.


ABSTRACT: The environmental setting of the Red River of the North basin within the United States is diverse in ways that could significantly control the areal distribution and flow of water and, therefore, the distribution and concentration of constituents that affect water quality. Continental glaciers shaped a landscape of very flat lake plains near the center of the basin, and gently rolling uplands, lakes, and wetlands along the basin margins. The fertile, black, fine-grained soils and landscape are conducive to agriculture. Productive cropland covers 66 percent of the land area. The principal crops are wheat, barley, soybeans, sunflowers, corn, and hay. Pasture, forests, open water, and wetlands comprise most of the remaining land area. About one-third of the 1990 population (511,000) lives in the cities of Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota. The climate of the Red River of the North basin is continental and ranges from dry subhumid in the western part of the basin to subhumid in the eastern part.

From its origin, the Red River of the North meanders northward for 394 miles to the Canadian border, a path that is nearly double the straight-line distance. The Red River of the North normally receives over 75 percent of its annual flow from the eastern tributaries as a result of regional patterns of precipitation, evapotranspiration, soils, and topography. Most runoff occurs in spring and early summer as a result of rains falling on melting snow or heavy rains falling on saturated soils. Lakes, prairie potholes, and wetlands are abundant in most physiographic areas outside of the Red River Valley Lake Plain. Dams, drainage ditches, and wetlands alter the residence time of water, thereby affecting the amount of sediment, biota, and dissolved constituents carried by the water.

Ground water available to wells, streams, and springs primarily comes from sand and gravel aquifers near land surface or buried within 100 to 300 feet of glacial drift that mantles the entire Red River of the North basin. Water moves through the system of bedrock and glacial-drift aquifers in a regional flow system generally toward the Red River of the North and in complex local flow systems controlled by local topography. Many of the bedrock and glacial-drift aquifers are hydraulically connected to streams in the region.

The total water use in 1990, about 196 million gallons per day, was mostly for public supply and irrigation. Slightly more than one half of the water used comes from ground-water sources compared to surface-water sources. Most municipalities obtain their water from ground-water sources. However, the largest cities (Fargo, Grand Forks and Moorhead) obtain most of their water from the Red River of the North.

The types and relative amounts of various habitats change among the five primary ecological regions within the Red River of the North basin. Headwater tributaries are more diverse and tend to be similar to middle-reach tributaries in character rather than the lower reaches of these tributaries for the Red River of the North.

Concentrations of dissolved chemical constituents in surface waters are normally low during spring runoff and after thunderstorms. The Red River of the North generally has a dissolved-solids concentration less than 600 milligrams per liter with mean values ranging from 347 milligrams per liter near the headwaters to 406 milligrams per liter at the Canadian border near Emerson, Manitoba. Calcium and magnesium are the principal cations and bicarbonate is the principal anion along most of the reach of the Red River of the North. Dissolved-solids concentrations generally are lower in the eastern tributaries than in the tributaries draining the western part of the basin. At times of low flow, when water in streams is largely from ground-water seepage, the water quality more reflects the chemistry of the glacial-drift aquifer system.

Ground water in the surficial aquifers commonly is a calcium bicarbonate type with dissolved-solids concentration generally between 300 and 700 milligrams per liter. As the ground water moves down gradient, dissolved-solids concentration increases, and magnesium and sulfate are predominant ions. Water in sedimentary bedrock aquifers is predominantly sodium and chloride and is characterized by dissolved-solids concentrations in excess of 1,000 milligrams per liter.

Sediment erosion by wind and water can be increased by cultivation practices and by livestock that trample streambanks. Nitrate-nitrogen concentrations also can increase locally in surficial aquifers beneath cropland that is fertilized, particularly where irrigated. Nitrogen and phosphorous in surface runoff from cropland fertilizers and nitrogen from manure can contribute nutrients to lakes, reservoirs, and streams. Some of the more persistent pesticides, such as atrazine, have been detected in the Red River of the North. Few data are available to conclusively define the presence or absence of pesticides and their break-down products in Red River of the North basin aquifers or streams.

Urban runoff and treated effluent from municipalities are discharged into streams. These point discharges contain some quantity of organic compounds from storm runoff, turf-applied pesticides, and trace metals. The largest releases of treated-municipal wastes are from the population centers along the Red River of the North and its larger tributaries. Sugar-beet refining, potato processing, poultry and meat packing, and milk, cheese, and cream processing are among the major food processes from which treated wastes are released to streams, mostly in or near the Red River of the North.


This paper studies a conceptually simple extension of Masked Autoencoders (MAE) to spatiotemporal representation learning from videos. We randomly mask out spacetime patches in videos and learn an autoencoder to reconstruct them in pixels. Interestingly, we show that our MAE method can learn strong representations with almost no inductive bias on spacetime (only except for patch and positional embeddings), and spacetime-agnostic random masking performs the best. We observe that the optimal masking ratio is as high as 90% (vs. 75% on images), supporting the hypothesis that this ratio is related to information redundancy of the data. A high masking ratio leads to a large speedup, e.g.,>4x in wall-clock time or even more. We report competitive results on several challenging video datasets using vanilla Vision Transformers. We observe that MAE can outperform supervised pre-training by large margins. We further report encouraging results of training on real-world, uncurated Instagram data. Our study suggests that the general framework of masked autoencoding (BERT, MAE, etc.) can be a unified methodology for representation learning with minimal domain knowledge.


Apart from traditional wired attendance systems or paper based attendance system a automated wireless fingerprint attendance system based on ZigBee technology is proposed. The system includes independent fingerprint acquisition module and attendance management module in computer. System realizes various functions such as information acquisition of fingerprint, processing, wireless transmission, fingerprint matching, and attendance management. Automatically considering topology of ZigBee network, the system uses wireless local area network. System comprises various wireless fingerprint attendance functions, which could be used for public/private institutes or schools.


The assembly of DNA sequences de novo is fundamental to genomics research. It is the first of many steps towards elucidating and characterizing whole genomes. Downstream applications, including analysis of genomic variation between species, between or within individuals critically depends on robustly assembled sequences. In the span of a single decade, the sequence throughput of leading DNA sequencing instruments has increased drastically, and coupled with established and planned large-scale, personalized medicine initiatives to sequence genomes in the thousands and even millions, the development of efficient, scalable and accurate bioinformatics tools for producing high-quality reference draft genomes is timely. With ABySS 1.0, we originally showed that assembling the human genome using short 50 bp sequencing reads was possible by aggregating the half terabyte of compute memory needed over several computers using a standardized message-passing system (MPI). We present here its re-design, which departs from MPI and instead implements algorithms that employ a Bloom filter, a probabilistic data structure, to represent a de Bruijn graph and reduce memory requirements. We present assembly benchmarks of human Genome in a Bottle 250 bp Illumina paired-end and 6 kbp mate-pair libraries from a single individual, yielding a NG50 (NGA50) scaffold contiguity of 3.5 (3.0) Mbp using less than 35 GB of RAM, a modest memory requirement by today's standard that is often available on a single computer. We also investigate the use of BioNano Genomics and 10x Genomics' Chromium data to further improve the scaffold contiguity of this assembly to 42 (15) Mbp.


We present a new representation of harmonic sounds that linearizes the dynamics of pitch and spectral envelope, while remaining stable to deformations in the time-frequency plane. It is an instance of the scattering transform, a generic operator which cascades wavelet convolutions and modulus nonlinearities. It is derived from the pitch spiral, in that convolutions are successively performed in time, log-frequency, and octave index. We give a closed-form approximation of spiral scattering coefficients for a nonstationary generalization of the harmonic source-filter model.


This study examines the relationship between student goal orientation and student satisfaction, academic engagement, and achievement. A variety of studies has shown that the type of goal orientation determines students' cognitive and behavioral reactions as well as their educational performance. Using data on 2309 college students from the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), this study analyzes the relationship between different types of goal orientations and student behavior and academic outcomes. Three questions are addressed in this paper: First, it explores how students can be classified according to their goal orientation. Second, the study examines how multiple achievement goals relate to different socio-demographic characteristics. Third, the relative influence of goal orientation on indices of satisfaction, achievement, and academic engagement among undergraduate students is assessed. The results support the notion that students pursuing both mastery and performance goals are more satisfied with their academic experience, show a higher degree of academic engagement, and achieve better grades than students who pursue a mastery orientation alone or a work-avoidance/performance orientation. One practical implication of the study of goal orientation is that student applicants could be screened on the basis of both a high mastery as well as a high performance orientation.


This article critically examines the use of single-observation case studies to develop causal explanations for significant legal events, detailing the evidential and inferential problems inherent in this methodology. Most significant among these problems is that focus on a single case necessitates the use of counterfactual thought experiments to test causal hypotheses. The pitfalls of such thought experiments are illustrated through discussion of recent attempts to explain the collapse of Enron Corporation using this approach. Application of a set of normative criteria to the products of these Enron thought experiments reveals the suspect nature of causal explanations and policy prescriptions drawn from single-observation case studies.


"Savage Theory" articulates the powerful mythology of cinema as the premier medium for magic in modern times. Envisioning the cinema as a form of magical ritual that possesses the power to enliven, heal, and enchant, Rachel O. Moore explores modernity's relationship to the primitive by analysing understandings of primitive belief and ritual in early film theory alongside illustrative scenes from popular as well as avant-garde film. Moore mines the theories of language, spectatorship, and cinematic expression in the writings of Vachel Lindsay, Sergei Eisenstein, Siegfried Kracauer, and Walter Benjamin, among others. Illuminating the links between these theorists' preoccupations with cinema as a form of primal communication and the numbing effects of modernity, she demonstrates how movies are uniquely able to negotiate the fragmentary and isolating nature of a modern world. In constructing an alternative to cognitive, psychoanalytic, and ideological approaches to film analysis, Moore provides eye-opening discussions of films such as Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising", Hollis Frampton's "Nostalgia", and Robert Bresson's "l'Argent'. Drawing from Marx's theory of the commodity and Lukics's work on second nature, she outlines the fetish character of the film image and reveals the emergence of the camera as a magical tool replete with animistic powers otherwise lost in the storm of progress. Bound to influence the way future scholars think about the connection between modernism and primitivism, as well as the role of cinema therein during the early twentieth century, "Savage Theory" will be welcomed by scholars of film theory and anthropology and will also appeal to a wider cultural studies audience.


HIV continues to spread unabated in many developing countries. Here we consider the interventions that are currently in place and critically discuss the methods that are being used to evaluate them as reported in the published literature. In recent years there has been a move away from highly individual-oriented interventions towards more participatory approaches that emphasise techniques such as community-led peer education and group discussions. However, this move towards more community orientated intervention techniques has not been matched by the development of evaluation methods with which to capture and explain the community and social changes which are often necessary preconditions for health-enhancing behaviour change. Evaluation research continues to rely on quantitative methodologies that fail to elucidate the complex changes that the newer interventions seek to promote within target communities. In addition, these methods of evaluation tend to rely on the use of highly individualistic and quantitative biomedical indicators such as HIV/STD rates, or knowledge, attitude, perception and behaviour (KAPB) survey questionnaires. We argue that such approaches are inadequate for the task of tracking and measuring important determinants of programme success such as psycho-social changes, features of the community-intervention interface and the degree of trust and identification with which members of target communities regard particular interventions. Rigorously conducted qualitative process evaluations taking account of the above factors could make a key contribution to the development of more successful HIV-prevention interventions.


Tennis: Steps to Success is excellent as a course text or a self-instrction guide. Either way, this unique progression of skills will help players get started quickly, make steady progress, and proceed at their own pace. The result - successful players who will enjoy the sport for the rest of their lives. In this book, 19 steps (chapters) explain why each concept or skill is important, identify keys to correct technique, help players correct common errors, explain how to practise each skill in realistic ways, list specific performance goals for each drill, and provide checklists for evaluating proper technique. Teachers and coaches need both the participant's guide and this companion teacher's guide to teach effectively. Teaching Tennis: Steps to Success follows the same skill progressions as the participant's book an features management and safety guidelines, rating charts for identifying players' skill levels, 104 drills to fit various skill levels, teaching cues to maximize learning, suggestions for identifying and correcting errors, and a complete test bank of written questions.


Muscular activity of the lips, cheeks, and the tongue are important factors, which not only guide the occlusal development but also affect the growth of the jaws. Bottle feeding has been known to cause a myriad of changes in the oro-facial development. But the adverse effects of feeding practices with respect to developing dentition has been a subject of controversy. Hence a study was designed with the aim and objectives to check the commonly adopted feeding practices in South Kanara, to compare the occlusion of 3- to 5-year-old children with breast feeding, bottle feeding or combination, and to check whether prolonged feeding has any adverse influence on developing dentition. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed to parents of 3- to 5-year-old children of which 153 were chosen for recording the impression and for studying the occlusion under various parameters. The results of the study indicated definite potential hazards of prolonged breast and bottle feeding especially with a tendency to develop openbite and posterior crossbite. It also suggested that an early preventive and interceptive approach.


Despite normal motor control, saccadic latencies are delayed in the non-preferred eye of patients with amblyopia (≈25-100ms1,2). This delay extends to manual reaction time when responding to targets with the amblyopic eye (≈50-100ms1,3,4). Previous researchers have shown a positive correlation between the delay and the magnitude of visual acuity impairment in the amblyopic eye5. This delay may be due to a difference in effective stimulus strength of the targets, since reaction times to weak stimuli are prolonged, decreasing as stimulus strength increases, until reaching a plateau6. Here, we measure saccadic and manual reaction times of normal and amblyopic subjects to the abrupt appearance of a Gabor patch at 5 degrees to the left or right of fixation, while varying the contrast of the patch. Even after adjusting for differences in effective stimulus strength, we find significant delays in both saccadic and manual response times when viewing with the amblyopic eye. We speculate that this irreducible delay may be a consequence of impaired ability to rapidly direct spatial attention with the amblyopic eye. 1 Mackensen, G. (1958). Reaktionszeitmessungen bei Amblyopia. Graefes Arch Ophthalmol 159:636 - 642. 2 Ciuffreda, K.J., Kenyon R.V. Stark L. (1978). Increased saccadic latencies in amblyopic eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 17: 697-702. 3 Von Noorden, G.K. (1961). Reaction time in normal and amblyopic eyes. Arch Ophthalmol 66:695-699. 4 Levi, D.M., Harwerth, R.S., and Manny, R.E. (1979). Suprathreshold spatial frequency detection and binocular interaction in strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 18:714-725. 5 Hamasaki, D.I. and Flynn, J.T. (1981). Amblyopic eyes have longer reaction times. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 21:846-853. 6 Pieron, H. (1952). The Sensations: Their Functions, Processes and Mechanisms. London: Frederick Muller Ltd. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


As the U.S. population ages, traditional sources of retirement income will likely fall short of what is needed to maintain pre-retirement living standards for many individuals. The issue of retirement security is especially important for women, because even today nearly 30 percent of single women, who represent a majority of households at older ages, are classified as poor or near-poor. One solution to the retirement security challenge is for women to work more during their lifetimes and to stay in the workforce longer as they age. By and large, those who continue to work until their mid-60s or beyond do not end up poor. The question is explored in this study is what determines women's labor force activity at older ages and what determines when they retire. Only by understanding these levers is it possible to make changes that are likely to encourage stronger labor force participation, and thus greater retirement security, for women.


Abstract. The interaction of mountain terrain with meteorological processes causes substantial temporal and spatial variability in snow accumulation and ablation. Processes impacted by complex terrain include large-scale orographic enhancement of snowfall, small-scale processes such as gravitational and wind-induced transport of snow, and variability in the radiative balance such as through terrain shadowing. In this study, a multi-scale modelling approach is proposed to simulate the temporal and spatial evolution of high-mountain snowpacks. The multi-scale approach combines atmospheric data from a numerical weather prediction system at the kilometre scale with process-based downscaling techniques to drive the Canadian Hydrological Model (CHM) at spatial resolutions allowing for explicit snow redistribution modelling. CHM permits a variable spatial resolution by using the efficient terrain representation by unstructured triangular meshes. The model simulates processes such as radiation shadowing and irradiance to slopes, blowing-snow transport (saltation and suspension) and sublimation, avalanching, forest canopy interception and sublimation, and snowpack melt. Short-term, kilometre-scale atmospheric forecasts from Environment and Climate Change Canada's Global Environmental Multiscale Model through its High Resolution Deterministic Prediction System (HRDPS) drive CHM and are downscaled to the unstructured mesh scale. In particular, a new wind-downscaling strategy uses pre-computed wind fields from a mass-conserving wind model at 50 m resolution to perturb the mesoscale HRDPS wind and to account for the influence of topographic features on wind direction and speed. HRDPS-CHM was applied to simulate snow conditions down to 50 m resolution during winter 2017/2018 in a domain around the Kananaskis Valley (∼1000 km2) in the Canadian Rockies. Simulations were evaluated using high-resolution airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) snow depth data and snow persistence indexes derived from remotely sensed imagery. Results included model falsifications and showed that both wind-induced and gravitational snow redistribution need to be simulated to capture the snowpack variability and the evolution of snow depth and persistence with elevation across the region. Accumulation of windblown snow on leeward slopes and associated snow cover persistence were underestimated in a CHM simulation driven by wind fields that did not capture lee-side flow recirculation and associated wind speed decreases. A terrain-based metric helped to identify these lee-side areas and improved the wind field and the associated snow redistribution. An overestimation of snow redistribution from windward to leeward slopes and subsequent avalanching was still found. The results of this study highlight the need for further improvements of snowdrift-permitting models for large-scale applications, in particular the representation of subgrid topographic effects on snow transport.


Many space robotic systems would be required to operate in uncertain or even unknown environments. The problem of identifying such environment for compliance control is considered. In particular, neural networks are used for identifying environments that a robot establishes contact with. Both function approximation and parameter identification (with fixed nonlinear structure and unknown parameters) results are presented. The environment model structure considered is relevant to two space applications: cooperative execution of tasks by robots and astronauts, and sample acquisition during planetary exploration. Compliant motion experiments have been performed with a robotic arm, placed in contact with a single-degree-of-freedom electromechanical environment. In the experiments, desired contact forces are computed using a neural network, given a desired motion trajectory. Results of the control experiments performed on robot hardware are described and discussed. >


This book relates how, between 1954 and 1961, the biologist Seymour Benzer mapped the fine structure of the rII region of the genome of the bacterial virus known as phage T4. Benzer's accomplishments are widely recognized as a tipping point in mid-twentieth-century molecular biology when the nature of the gene was recast in molecular terms. More often than any other individual, he is considered to have led geneticists from the classical gene into the molecular age. Drawing on Benzer's remarkably complete record of his experiments, his correspondence, and published sources, this book reconstructs how the former physicist initiated his work in phage biology and achieved his landmark investigation. The account of Benzer's creativity as a researcher is a fascinating story that also reveals intriguing aspects common to the scientific enterprise.