The postmodern novella Matsunoe no ki (The Matsunoe family; or, Branches of the Pine, 2012) by the Japanese writer EnJoe Toh falls within the category of what Thomas Beebee (2012) calls "transmesis," here taking the specific form of a metafictional and metanarrative exploration of author-translator relationships. One feature that distinguishes this instance of transmesis is that the fictional author and translator both take on each of these roles, thereby blurring the boundaries between writing and translating. In addition, a brain injury leads to a dissociation between the cognitive functions of reading and writing in one of the protagonists, resulting in effect in three distinct personas. This further complicates this representation of author-translator relationships and highlights the separate but interrelated components within and across the processes of writing and translating.


Remote detection of chemical warfare agents and toxic gases in the atmosphere is of current interest to both military and civilian agencies. Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) is a powerful technique for remote detection of such toxic agents in the atmosphere. This system uses two wavelengths - one corresponding to strong absorption characteristics of a toxic agent, and the other to weak absorption of that agent/gas molecule for detection at stand-off distances. In this paper, we present a theoretical estimation of design parameters of a DIAL system for detection of potential nerve and blister agents. A TEA CO2 laser-based system is considered as a transmitter and 500 mm cassegrain telescope as a receiver along with an MCT detection module. Our results reveal that a 100 mJ laser source is capable of detecting a few ppm concentrations of chemical warfare agents present anywhere between the ranges from a few metres to 1.5 km (range resolved measurements) to 5 km (co-operative target). The influence of interfering molecules of trace gases present in the atmosphere and the effect of the extinction coefficient on the maximum detectable range is also studied. The results show a significant reduction in the maximum detectable range.


The aim of this study was to explore the presence of resilience factors in families living in an informal settlement on the outskirts of a rural town that have lost their homes in a shack fire. A mixed methods research design was utilised. Qualitative data were obtained through responses to an open-ended question, and quantitative data were obtained through the completion of questionnaires by an adult representative of each of the 38 African families that were identified through convenience sampling. To identify resilience factors, content analyses (on the qualitative data) were performed and Spearman correlations (for the quantitative data) were calculated. The results show that supportive communication, a sense of being in control and having internal strengths and dependability, while working together as a family, are vital to the resilience of the families that took part in this study. Furthermore, material support from the municipality and extended family, shelter provided by members of the extended family, and financial support from the extended family were also indicated as essential in overcoming the crisis and being resilient. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


There are many reports which show a positive relationship between free radical damage and diseases such as cancer. Free radicals are formed when humans are exposed to ionizing radiation or during oxidation process in human beings can damage tissues and may potentially lead to development of cancers. Since radiation may be used in the management of cancer, there is need for the development of a radioprotective herbal medicine that can be used to increase the therapeutic index of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments by offering protection to non cancerous cells. Since most fruits contain polyphenols, they are radical scavengers which can effectively prevent cancer development due to increased reactive oxygen species. The aim of this research was to evaluate how fruit extracts of Annona stenophylla diels and Flacourtia indica may help in the prevention of cancer using UV light induced red blood cell (RBC) haemolysis and1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays. Since cancer pathogenesis may involve lipid peroxidation, UV induced haemolysis and DPPH assays were used to examine the role of the fruit extracts in radioprotection and free radical quenching in order to prevent peroxidation. Phenolic compounds were extracted using aqueous methanol and the two assays were carried out using concentrations ranging from 20 to 200 µg/ml. The results were analysed using T test. The fruit extracts from the two plants showed a marked antioxidant and radioprotection efficacy against lipid peroxidation in the presence of UV light. Both assays showed a significant absorbance inhibition at (p < 0.05) implying that the fruit extracts were effective radical scavengers and radioprotectors. The results obtained suggest that the fruit extracts were good plasma membrane stabilizers and good radical quenchers. The membrane of red blood cells was stabilized by preventing UV induced peroxidation, a process in which free radicals are formed. These findings suggests that fruit extracts obtained from A. stenophylla diels and F.indica plants  can be incorporated in pharmaceuticals formulations as nutraceuticals for prevention cancer and improvement of radiotherapy and chemotherapy therapeutic index.

 Key words: DPPH, radioprotective, cancer, UV visble, A. stenophylla diels, F.indica, reactive oxygen species.


Insite, North America's first legally sanctioned safe injection site, opened its doors in 2003. It did so after several years of political struggle by a network of community groups in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), the neighbourhood it serves. The grassroots movement secured support at municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government. The latter expressed its approval by granting an exemption that protected Insite staff and patients from prosecution for possession of illegal substances under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act ( CDSA ). The remarkable political consensus in favour of Insite came apart in 2008 when the federal government, after the election of the Harper Conservatives, declined to extend the exemption. As a consequence, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and the Portland Hotel Community Services Society (PHS), the non-profit that operates Insite, along with two Insite clients, brought an action against the federal government in the B.C. Supreme Court. The provincial government intervened. 2 The key arguments were that either the CDSA is inapplicable (and therefore the exemption is unnecessary) because primary jurisdiction over health resides with the province, or that the application of the provisions prohibiting possession in the federal statute violates the section 7 Charter rights 3 of clients seeking treatment at Insite.


Robert DeBard, Advisor The events of recent years have caused increased concern over the First Amendment free speech rights of faculty, often referred to as academic freedom. In addition to individual schools' contract and policy terms, it has been asserted that faculty speech is also protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. There is continuing debate over the extent of First Amendment protection and to what extent, if any, faculty should be treated differently from other public employees for First Amendment analysis. Although the United States Supreme Court has stated that the academic freedom is a "special concern" of the First Amendment, the Court has not defined First Amendment academic freedom or the extent of its protections. The United States Supreme Court has recently declined to address the issue of the extent of First Amendment protection for academic freedom, continuing to leave it to lower courts to decide these issues on a case-by-case basis. However, faculty at state colleges and universities are also public employees and the Supreme Court has decided First Amendment cases dealing with public employee speech. Thus, the Court's public employee speech doctrine must be examined and analyzed with regard to its application to faculty speech. By examining and analyzing the current Supreme Court guidance relating to academic freedom being considered a special concern of the First Amendment and the Court's public employee speech doctrine, higher education administration can have a better idea of how to apply the concept of academic freedom in policy and


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Dr. Özcan Özdamar. No. of pages in text. (199) Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) are commonly acquired to evaluate the structure and integrity of the ascending auditory pathway. Historically, AEPs are either acquired as transient or steady state responses, where recording protocols for each are typically mutually exclusive. Transient response waveforms contain rich information pertaining to neuroanatomical correlates, but their evaluation contains some degree of subjectivity. Steady state responses have gained clinical favorability due to the ease of objective evaluation. However, high stimulation rates used to acquire steady state responses result in significant waveform overlap that obscures waves corresponding to specific neuroanatomical structures. Deconvolution methods have been applied to overcome this restriction imposed by stimulation rate using jittered stimulation sequences that allow for the recovery of the transient (or unitary) response. However, application of deconvolution methods, derived from linear systems theory, to a non-linear and interactive system such as the human auditory system raises concern. The violation of linearity and time-invariance assumptions may result in a distortion of the derived transient response or may introduce nonlinear artifacts. While several authors have speculated about the severity of these issues, the extent of their severity has not been evaluated per application to acquiring the auditory evoked potential. In order to address these concerns, high fidelity deconvolvable sequences were used to obtain a multicomponent AEP transient response rate profile over a wide range of stimulation rates (0.3 40/sec) while maintaining uniform recording parameters across rates (stimulus, bandwidth, SNR). This range spans rates conventionally used for acquiring transient (≤2 Hz) and steady state responses (≥20 Hz). Such a rate profile is generated to facilitate investigation of the effects of stimulation rate (or adaptation) at the level of individual neuroanatomical components, as well as to provide a method to evaluate relationships between simultaneously acquired brainstem and cortical auditory processing that is potentially of clinical interest. Additionally, highly jittered sequences are acquired to explore potential deconvolution artifacts and waveform distortions introduced by applying linear systems deconvolution theory to the human auditory system. Synthetic responses for isochronic and jittered stimulation are generated using the deconvolved rate profile and compared to conventionally acquired responses. If the synthetic responses faithfully predict conventionally acquired responses in temporal and spectral domains, we can infer that: a) simple superposition theory is capable of explaining the steady state response for rates between 3.5-40/sec, and b) the sacrifice made in the form of jittered stimulation does not significantly distort the actual response content of the AEP. Results indicate that responses obtained by deconvolution with narrowly jittered sequences are capable of explaining the steady state response using simple superposition theory, and thus are faithful to the underlying neural generators under high rate stimulation. Deconvolution of broadly jittered sequences results in transient responses with minimal effects to early and middle latency responses, and provide a reasonable approximation of the cortical AEPs when considering the large rate span within the sequences. Additionally, use of highly jittered sequences may result in the introduction of predictable artifacts that can be mitigated with judicious sequence design.


This study was performed to investigate the effect of light restriction (RL) on performance of broilers fed conventional and non conventional growth promoters. One hundred and eighty day-old broiler chicks were randomly distributed into four groups (A, B, C and D), each having five replicates. The experimental period was 42 days and all the birds were reared in an open house. Groups A and B were reared under continuous light and given diet containing conventional (Zinc bacitracin: 0.5 gms/kg of feed) and non conventional growth promoters (Botanical growth promoter 1 (B.G.P 1):1 gms/kg of feed), respectively. Group C and D received regular light (RL: 20 hrs light and 4 hrs dark) and were fed same conventional and non conventional growth promoter, respectively. Weight gain, feed intake and FCR were not affected by either LR or feeding conventional and non-conventional growth promoters. However, microbial count was higher in groups fed diets containing conventional growth promoters as compared to those given non conventional growth promoters. Significantly higher (P<0.05) mortality was found in group A (8.8%) compared to C (6.6%), B (4.4%) and D (0%). Light restriction didn't affect growth performance of the broilers, yet overall economic performance was improved due to reduced mortality and cost of electricity.


EVEN AS MATTHEW ARNOLD WAS PUBLISHING HIS FIRST TWO VOLUMES of poetry (anonymously, in 1849 and 1852), he appears to have been fighting what we might well perceive, early in the twenty-first century, as a culture war. Arnold's famous "Preface" to his 1853 Poems suggests that the most powerful enemies of the poetic principles he formulates there, and (as I hope to demonstrate) of his foundational philosophical, moral, and spiritual values, are the phenomenally popular Spasmodic poets, or, as Arnold terms them in his "Preface," "the school of Keats." In fact, Arnold's "Preface," which has traditionally been read as a poetic and aesthetic manifesto, is, in addition, a political manifesto. As the generally negative reviews of Arnold's work that appeared between 1849 and 1853 make clear, Arnold's literary and aesthetic values, his "taste," opposed that of most middle-class readers of poetry and fiction. As has been frequently discussed, most of those reviews damn Arnold's work with faint praise; the poetry, although (as Clough himself characterized it) that of "a scholar and a gentleman," (1) is described as out of tune with the modern world, self-absorbed, uselessly erudite. About the 1849 volume, Charles Kingsley asked, "To what purpose [is] all the self-culture through which the author must have passed," given that the poems present only "dreamy, transcendental excuses for laziness" in their domination by "hungry abstractions ... stolen from the dregs of German philosophy"? (2) And William Edmonstoune Aytoun, who two years after the publication of Empedocles was to explode the Spasmodic fad through his Blackwood's parody of their work, attacked Arnold's volume as a "perversion of a taste which, with so much culture, should have been capable of better things." (3) One reviewer was distressed that a fellow Oxonian, "a man of high culture," should be so alienated from his generation and should through his verse propound an "indolent, selfish quietism." (4) Clough himself questioned Arnold's "ascetic and timid self-culture" (Armstrong, Scrutinies, p. 167). Such comments are typical of the reviews of Arnold's work from 1849 and 1852 and present a remarkable contrast, as we shall see, with the tone and content of responses to Alexander Smith's Poems, published on the heels of Arnold's volume. The responses to Smith's work were effusive. By March of 1853 Arnold had, it seems, read many of the reviews and appears at first to take a "quietist" stance in response to them. In a letter to his intimate friend, Arthur Hugh Clough, of March 21, Arnold espouses a kind of aesthetic relativism that is powerfully belied by the direction and force of his later prose writings on such matters, including the "Preface" to his 1853 volume (the first book he published under his own name). Of Clough, just several months before writing the "Preface," Arnold queried, "What is to be said when a thing does not suit you--suiting and not suiting is a subjective affair and only time determines, by the colour a thing takes with years, whether it ought to have suited or no." (5) Such a view may have eased Arnold's displeasure, not to say bafflement, at the reviews of both The Strayed Reveller (in 1849) and Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems. But he had not yet seen Clough's, which appeared in the July issue of the North American Review. Reading Clough's review as in itself a text for ideological analysis instructs us in the highly significant cultural conflict embedded in the reception history of Arnold's and Smith's works in 1853 and reified in Arnold's 1853 "Preface." While reviews of Arnold's Empedocles were somewhat slow to appear, Smith's Poems was immediately and widely reviewed. A sensation of the winter season, it was rushed into a second edition soon after the first printing. William Michael Rossetti, in fact, insisted that, during the spring of 1853, "nothing [was] talked of ... but Alexander Smith." (6) Dante Rossetti called A Life-Drama "wonderful" and compared it to Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. …


One of the mechanisms that are implemented in the cost containment movement in the health care sectors in western countries is the definition, by the third-party payer, of a set of preferred providers. The insured patients have different access rules to such providers when ill. The rules specify the copayments patients must pay when using an out-of-plan care provider. This paper studies the competitive process among providers in terms of both prices and qualities. Competition is influenced by the status of providers as in-plan or out-of-plan care providers. Also, there is a moral hazard of provider choice related to the trade-off between freedom to choose and the need to hold down costs. It is possible to achieve the first-best allocation by an appropriate definition of the reimbursement scheme when decisions on prices and qualities are taken simultaneously (as in primary health care sectors). In contrast, some type of regulation is needed to achieve the optimal solution when decisions are sequential (as in specialized health care sectors). We also derive normative conclusions on how price controls should be implemented in some European Union member states. Copyright (c) 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Like other disease outbreaks, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the rapid generation and dissemination of misinformation and fake news. We investigated whether subscribers to a fact checking newsletter (n = 1397) were willing to share possible misinformation, and whether predictors of possible misinformation sharing are the same as for general samples. We also investigated predictors of willingness to have a COVID-19 vaccine and found that although vaccine acceptance was high on average, it decreased as a function of lower belief in science and higher conspiracy mentality. We found that 24% of participants had shared possible misinformation and that this was predicted by a lower belief in science. Like general samples, our participants were typically motivated to share possible misinformation due to interest in the information, or to seek a second opinion about claim veracity. However, even if information is shared in good faith and not for the purpose of deceiving or misleading others, the spread of misinformation is nevertheless highly problematic. Exposure to misinformation engenders faulty beliefs in others and undermines efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19 by reducing adherence to social distancing measures and increasing vaccine hesitancy.


As in previous volumes, Kamii uses Piaget's groundbreaking work in constructivism as well as her own years of research in classrooms to closely observe what third grade children actually "do" when solving problems of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Her work translates Piaget's theory into a concrete programme that encourages children to use maths in real ways that stimulate them to reinvent arithmetic. She also challenges "quick-fix" theories of educational reform, replacing these with one that revolutionises our understanding of how human beings acquire knowledge, and thus drastically changing what we think schools should try to do. Educators have long been trying to transmit knowledge to children from the outside. What reform needs is a focus inside the child to maximise the process of construction from within. The volume is divided into four parts. The first gives a theoretical foundation, the second, goals and objectives, the third consists of chapters on problem solving, group games and other activities. The final part presents principles of teaching and answers frequently asked questions. The last chapter is about the evaluation of constructivist teaching and documents how children with three years of constructivist maths were able to reason far better than traditionally instructed children.


Beyond the emissions pledges made by different countries, a cornerstone for ensuring the effectiveness of the 2015 international climate change agreement will be the mechanisms in place to hold states to account for how they live up to their commitments. While legal form has been viewed as an important indicator of the strength of the agreement, we highlight how accountability mechanisms at both the international as well as domestic levels can be strengthened irrespective of the international legal form chosen for the agreement. This policy brief suggests that several actions can be taken by governments and other actors to strengthen the effectiveness of the 2015 agreement. It emphasizes that it requires a mix of steps at the domestic and international level that are aimed to strengthen accountability.


Artificial cognitive models and computational neuroscience methods have garnered great interest from both neurologist and leading analysts in recent years. Among the cognitive models, HMAX has been widely used in computer vision systems for its robustness shape and texture features inspired by the ventral stream of the human brain. This work presents a Color-HMAX (C-HMAX) model based on the HMAX model which imitates the color vision mechanism of the human brain that the HMAX model does not include. C-HMAX is then applied to the German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark (GTSRB) which has 43 categories and 51 840 sample traffic signs with an accuracy of 98.41%, higher than most other models including linear discriminant analysis and multi-scale convolutional neural network.


Purpose: The aim of the article is to identify the prospects for the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) customs regulation mechanism in digital transformation following the global trend. Design/Methodology/Approach: For the purpose of determining priorities for the EEU customs mechanism digitization, it is necessary to define the regulatory framework on which the digitalization process is based, to analyze the customs' regulation sphere digitization direction in the member states of the EEU and to formulate the priorities for improving the EEU customs' regulation mechanism on the information and communication technologies. Findings: EEU customs' regulation mechanism digitization key areas have been identified, based on the provisions of the EEU's Digital Agenda and the Declaration on further development of integration processes within the Union. Practical implications: The results can be implemented in the Eurasian Economic Commission management practice, the EEU member states customs' authorities in order to improve the customs regulation mechanism. Originality/Value: The main contribution of this study is to identify the differences in the customs regulation sphere digitization processes in the EEU member states and to identify the areas for implementing a unified strategy.


In recent years, more courts have allowed claims for "loss of chance" (LOC) in medical negligence claims, while denying it in other cases, including toxic torts. At the same time, most of the legal theoretical literature supports recognizing LOC in toxic torts, and claims that recognizing LOC in toxic torts is at least, if not more, advantageous than recognizing it in medical negligence.This article aims to explain this intriguing gap between theory and practice using behavioral law tools. The article claims that the differences in the way courts emotionally react to these kinds of cases leads courts to act differently in cases where current law does not allow them to rule in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant. In medical negligence cases, courts strongly feel that defendants' negligent behavior is an outrageous betrayal of trust and that the plaintiffs' unique situation is so unfair as to justify punishing the responsible person. Therefore, they seek new legal ways to find the defendant liable, and are inclined to adopt new liability theories when causation was not proved. In contrast, courts do not feel so strongly about toxic torts cases, since no trust is involved and the plaintiff did not expect anything out of the polluter in the first place. Therefore, their inclination to adopt new liability theories that will allow for a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the absence of proof of causation is much weaker. The above analysis has major implications for behavioral law analysis: it emphasizes the pervasiveness of behavioral elements in the legal decision making process; it shows that the willingness of courts to change the law is influenced by behavioral effects; and it can aid theorists and lawyers in identifying situations in which the courts would be susceptible to changing the law. Finally, it can aid in predicting in which cases the LOC doctrine has better chances to be accepted in the future - in situations involving betrayal, where the negligent behavior of the defendant is anomalous compared to the usual behavior in the defendant's reference group, and the plaintiff's damage is exceptional.


Introduction: Congenital anomalies are a common cause of disability and mortality in newborns and their treatments involves high costs for the society. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of congenital anomalies and their causes. Materials and methods: This research was a descriptive-analytical study and the population included all the newborns in hospitals of the city of Ilam in 2011. Variables of abnormality type, birth status, and medical and genetic illness histories were included into the data collection forms. Data was analyzed through Chi-square tests and Fisher's exact test using SPSS software. Results: Of 460 neonates, 5.4 percent (25 cases) had died at birth and 3.7 percent (16 infants) were born with a birth defect. 43.8 percent of malformed babies had a family history. 31.3 % of the malformed babies had genetic syndromes, whose parents had consanguineous marriage. 18.8% of babies with defects in the central nervous system and cardiovascular system showed a similar percentage of disorder. The defect in the urinary system, head and neck each accounted for 12.5 percent. Conclusion: This study shows that consanguineous marriages can be the most common genetic cause of genetic syndromes.


In the summer of 2000, Jane Steare received the phone call every mother dreads. Her daughter Lucie Blackman - tall, blonde, and twenty-one years old - had stepped into the vastness of a Tokyo summer and disappeared forever. That winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a desolate seaside cave. Her disappearance was mystifying. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? What did her work, as a 'hostess' in the notorious Roppongi district of Tokyo, really involve? And could Lucie's fate be linked to the disappearance of another girl some ten years earlier? Over the course of a decade, Richard Lloyd Parry has travelled to four continents to interview those caught up in the story and been given unprecedented access to Lucie's bitterly divided family to reveal the astonishing truth about Lucie and her fate.


While many of the roads on public lands provide a great service with relatively little harm, others create significant problems - from habitat fragmentation to noise pollution to increased animal mortality - with little or no benefit. In No Place Distant, author David Havlick presents for the first time a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the more than 550,000 miles of roads that crisscross our national parks, national forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, and wildlife refuges, considering how they came to be; their ecological, financial, and societal costs; and what can be done to ensure that those roads are as environmentally benign and cost-effective as possible, while remaining functional and accessible. The book: - places the profusion of roads on our public lands in historical context - offers an overview of the ecological effects of roads - explores the policies, politics, and economics that have fostered road-building on public lands - considers the contentious topic of motorized recreation - examines efforts to remove roads and restore degraded lands to health Bringing together an impressive range and depth of information along with a thoughtful analysis of the Issues, No Place Distant offers a definitive look at the debate over roads on public lands. With its well-crafted prose and extensive documentation, it is an unparalleled resource for anyone concerned with the health or management of public lands in the United States.


The influence of culture conditions and the effect of environmental factors on the growth and production of bioactive metabolites by Streptomyces cheonanensis VUK-A was the focus of this study. The strain exhibited broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive, Gram-negative, unicellular and multicellular fungi. The optimum pH and temperature for bioactive metabolite production were 7 and 30°C respectively. Production of bioactive metabolites by the strain was high in asparagine glucose broth as compared to other media tested. Studies on nutritional factors revealed that highest antimicrobial metabolite production was obtained when lactose and peptone at 1% and 0.25% were used as carbon and nitrogen sources respectively. Ninty six hours of incubation was found to be the optimum for bioactive metabolite production by the strain. As the strain exhibited potent antimicrobial activity, it may be explored for biotechnological purposes.


In this paper, we assess the ability of intra-site coordination schemes to combat inter-cell interference in cellular networks. We first focus on the static scheme proposed by the 3GPP standards where coordination is always performed in hand-over regions. Through the analysis of a flow-level model, we show that this scheme indeed improves cell-edge throughput at low loads but may make the system unstable at high loads, due to the suboptimal allocation of radio resources. We then propose a dynamic scheme where coordination decisions depend on the loads of the different sectors. Results show that this dynamic scheme behaves like the static one at low loads, outperforms it at medium loads and preserves the stability region of the network at high loads.


Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is transcriptionally active during latent infection in human peripheral sensory ganglia. Viral gene expression includes the latency-associated transcripts (LATs) which have been linked to the ability of the virus to resume replication and reactivate. However, the molecular basis of reactivation and the mechanisms of action of these transcripts are unknown. In order to study these parameters, an in vivo reactivation model is needed. We investigated use of the mouse as the experimental animal, modifying the route of infection, the viral strain and the reactivation protocol. Following administration of human immunoglobulin 1 day prior to corneal infection, no infectious virus was detected in trigeminal ganglia (TG). However, latency was established in all infected animals as indicated by explant reactivation of TG, and in vivo reactivation was achieved in 30 to 40% of them. DNA quantification revealed that TG of immunized mice contained more HSV-1 DNA than did those of non-immunized mice. By in situ hybridization twice as many neuronal cells in TG of immunized mice were positive for LATs, compared with infected but non-immunized, mice. These findings suggest that suppression of primary infection facilitates reactivation by increasing HSV-1 copy number in latently infected nervous tissue.


This thesis explores cultural influences in high-risk behaviour among Egyptian substance
users in the Middle Eastern, conservative, male-dominated and predominantly Muslim
society in which they live. It investigates why they practice unprotected sex despite the
risk of infection by blood-borne viruses (BBVs) and sexually-transmitted infections
(STIs), and the factors influencing their risk practices. The study seeks to inform policy
and to improve methods of preventing BBVs/STIs among Egyptian substance users,
particularly through health/sex education in peer groups and schools and through the
media, civil society organisations and the criminal justice system.
Data was collected via a questionnaire surveying the knowledge, attitudes and practices
(KAP) of 410 substance users. Responses were compared according to the gender, age
and education of the respondents and whether they took their drugs via intravenous
injection. Four focus group discussions were held with twenty-four substance users,
including female commercial sex workers (FCSWs), men who have sex with men
(MSM), intravenous drug users (IVDUs), and people living with HIV (PLHIV), as well
as in-depth interviews with fourteen policymakers.
Most respondents had little or moderate knowledge about the hepatitis C and/or B viruses
and little knowledge about HIV or its association with sex and drug injection. Knowledge
about risky sexual behaviour connected with BBV/STI infection among substance users
was low. The respondents' attitudes and practices regarding sex and intravenous drug use
indicated that they were at high risk of infection. They had negative attitudes towards
PLHIV, towards each other in the substance-user population and towards other
overlapping subgroups of most-at-risk populations (MARPs), i.e. FCSWs, MSM and
IVDUs. Respondents with higher education and older people were found to have greater
knowledge of safer sex practices. Males and IVDUs had significantly higher scores for
KAP regarding IV drug use than females and non-IVDUs. The females' KAP regarding
safe sex tended to be better than that of the males.
Stigma, gender and religion had a significant influence on substance use and sexual
behaviour. These three factors embedded in the culture form a taboo about drugs and sex,
impair substance users' quality of life and deprive them, especially the females, of their
rights, including the rights to education, employment, medical treatment, marriage and
children. These factors also affect the substance users' families, the judiciary system,
healthcare institutions and society at large. HIV-related stigmatisation was greater than
that for other BBVs/STIs. HIV-related stigmatisation with regard to infection via gay sex
was greater than that due to heterosexual sex or IV drug use. The media potentiates the
stigmatisation of substance users and PLHIV by showing negatives images of these
groups, causing them to suffer strongly from public shaming, desertion, seclusion,
imprisonment and unemployment. Recovery is harder for female than for male substance
users due to the harsher stigmatisation. Religion plays a pivotal role in Egyptians' lives,
and most of the participants were fatalists.
The participants said that they would prefer the following preventive interventions: a) sex
education programmes to be introduced in drug rehabilitation programmes, police
stations and prisons; b) the launch of opioid substitution therapy programmes in drug
detoxification centres; c) police referral of arrested active substance users to drug
detoxification and rehabilitation centres; d) a free rehabilitation service for poor and
illiterate substance users; e) a greater number of wide-ranging rehabilitation programmes
for MARPs.


What is the secret of Dutch Soccer? How can a nation of about 16 million inhabitants regularly produce world-class players like Cruyff, Haan, van Basten, Rijkaard, van Nistelrooy, van der Sar, van Bommel, Robben and van Persie and world-class coaches like Michels, Cruyff, Beenakker, Advocaat, Stevens and van Marwijk? What lies behind the successes of Ajax Amsterdam, of Louis van Gaal and of Dutch soccer manager Guus Hiddink? This book is a first attempt to present expert knowledge of internationally proven useful and effective Dutch soccer coaching in theory and practice, based on qualitative data collection.


The main prospective aim of modern research related to Artificial Intelligence is the creation of technical systems that implement the idea of Strong Intelligence. According our point of view the path to the development of such systems comes through the research in the field related to perceptions. Here we formulate the model of the perception of external world which may be used for the description of perceptual activity of intelligent beings. We consider a number of issues related to the development of the set of patterns which will be used by the intelligent system when interacting with environment. The key idea of the presented perception model is the idea of subjective reality. The principle of the relativity of perceived world is formulated. It is shown that this principle is the immediate consequence of the idea of subjective reality. In this paper we show how the methodology of subjective reality may be used for the creation of different types of Strong AI systems.


This Essay attempts to describe what is distinctive about the way the protection of individual rights in the areas of national security and foreign affairs has been occurring in recent decades. Historically, the right to protection under the U.S. Constitution and courts has been sharply limited by categorical distinctions based on geography, war, and, to some extent, citizenship. These categorical rules carved out domains where the courts and Constitution provided protections and those where they did not. The institutional design and operating rules of the national security state tracked these formal, categorical rules about the boundaries of protection. There have been many "legal black holes" historically, domains where legal protections did not exist for certain people. Foreign affairs and national security have historically been areas defined by their legal black holes.In recent years, legal black holes are disappearing, and previously distinct domains are converging. The importance of U.S. citizenship to protection under the Constitution and courts is decreasing, formal barriers to legal protection and judicial review based on geography and war are dissolving, and the dissolution of these categorical boundaries is changing the design and operation of the national security state. National security and foreign affairs law is being domesticated and normalized, as rights protections available in ordinary, domestic, peacetime contexts are extended into what were previously legal black holes. The jurisprudence of categorization and boundary-marking is fading away.The core of this Essay identifies, names, and discusses these trends, seeking to give a vocabulary and conceptual and historical coherence to current discussions of individual rights protection in national security and foreign affairs contexts. Secondarily, this Essay suggests some factors that might be driving convergence and closing of legal black holes today. Because most of these potential causal drivers are still exerting their force on the shape of the law, this Essay concludes that the future of national security law will likely see more convergence and fewer black legal holes and then offers several specific predictions.


Jean Baudrillard was perhaps the most controversial of all social and cultural theorists. He has been variously vilified as a 'postmodernist', an 'overrated French theorist' and one of the 'intellectual imposters'. In his seventies, he survived global fame and a name check in "The Matrix"; he also contracted cancer. His comments on 9/11, Abu Ghraib and Europe's suburban riots have been eagerly sought and digested. However, his translated publications since his first book in 1968 have left a trail of confusion and misinterpretation.Jean Baudrillard is a notorious figure but few have read many examples of his entire oeuvre. There is now though a chance to read Baudrillard's texts in an overall historical, social and political context and for a cool re-assessment to be made of his life and work, after his death. This book is a central part of that project. It concentrates on what Baudrillard has written over five decades and the order in which he wrote it. The Reader comprises extracts of Baudrillard's writings from the sixties to the noughties, with an editorial introduction and a concluding reading guide.This is the first collection of Jean Baudrillard's work in the English language It illustrates the development and interconnectedness of Baudrillard's work since the 1960s. Each section has an extract of one of Jean Baudrillard's writings translated into English, prefaced by a short bibliographical introduction setting the scene.


ABSTRACT The safe and successful performance of a lumbar puncture demands a working and yet specific knowledge as well as competency in performance. This review aims to aid understanding of the knowledge framework, the pitfalls and complications of lumbar puncture. It includes special reference to three dimensional relationships, functional anatomy, imaging anatomy, normal variation and living anatomy. A lumbar puncture is a commonly performed procedure for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Epidural and spinal anaesthesia, for example, are common in obstetric practice and involve the same technique as a lumbar puncture except for the endpoint of the needle being in the epidural space and subarachnoid space respectively. The procedure is by no means innocuous and some anatomical pitfalls include inability to find the correct entry site for placement of the lumbar puncture needle and lack of awareness of structures in relation to the advancing needle. Headache is the most common complication and it is important to avoid traumatic and dry taps, herniation syndromes and injury to the terminal end of the spinal cord. With a thorough knowledge of the contraindications, the regional anatomy and rationale of the technique and adequate prior skills practice, a lumbar puncture can be performed safely and successfully.


Fragile states are characterized by institutions which do not have the political will or ability to reduce poverty in the interests of their citizen, to establish basic social security, to promote a successful development process, and to guarantee security and human rights. The regional disintegration processes after the period of imperialism and the fall of the iron curtain have created many new states, which still are politically unstable and unable for a sustainable development. In the literature such states are describes as "weak", "failing or failed", "collapsed", "conflict or post-conflict" - dependant on the extent of the particular state failure. Several indicators try to describe such states and partly allow for projections of the future development. Then the role of taxation is discussed in detail before recommendations for the development cooperation are presented. Obviously taxation plays a key role for the democratization process in fragile states.


The current article starts from the hypothesis that, despite their different intentionalities, political anthropology and Gramsci's thought converge in the attempt to understand the political subjectivity of the subaltern groups and popular masses. The article then goes on to present the way in which Gramsci confronted the question in order to then discuss, in a chronological perspective, from the origin of the discipline to the present day, the contributions of political anthropology – sometimes under the direct influence of Gramsci – in the light of his considerations regarding the political dimension to the cultural expressions of the subaltern classes and also as regards the dilemmas that anthropology faces between the quest for a "connection of feeling" and the risk of a "populist representation.


This thesis is a study of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. It is a story about Pierre and Andrew, the male major characters, realizing their purpose of life. Both of them are in their own ordeal during the process of searching. The writer wants to know about the process of their realization. The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of the male major characters during their search and reveal the major characters' purpose of life. In analyzing the topic, the writer uses the library research to find the data. She uses literary approach, characterization and conflict. Andrew, a high pride and arrogant prince, faces many conflicts during his search. Pierre, weak and always influenced by others but has a kind heart also undergoes many conflicts before he finally realizes his purpose of life. At the end, after dealing with their conflicts, they finally realize that their purpose of life is forgiving and loving. Thus, they can find their balance in their life. Pierre stops his search and lives happily with his wife. However, Andrew dies peacefully on his death-bed. The important point of War and Peace is the author's invitation to the readers to appreciate this life. It is not the quantity of life but the quality of life that a man should consider and think of. Why not giving love and for giving others as long as he still has a chance? It is better to be late than never.


During terrane convergence, an influx of clastic sediment from an upper plate onto a lower plate is an early indication of terrane juxtaposition. In the Caledonides of Great Britain and Ireland, units accreted to Laurentia during the early Palaeozoic Era include peri-Gondwanan terrane assemblages that earlier separated from West Gondwana. However, the Southern Uplands Terrane contains detrital zircon populations apparently derived entirely from Laurentia, characterized by a large, asymmetric Mesoproterozoic peak and a scarcity of zircon at 600 Ma and 2.1 Ga. In contrast, Cambrian and Ordovician rocks from the Lake District and the Leinster Massif of Ireland show abundant grains with these ages, together with a range of Mesoproterozoic zircon. These characteristics are shared with the Monian terrane of Anglesey and with Ganderia in the Appalachians, indicating probable derivation from Amazonia in West Gondwana. Silurian sandstones from the Lake District show an influx of Laurentia-derived zircon, and lack the peri-Gondwanan signal. This indicates that in the Caledonides, Ganderia was not accreted to the Laurentian margin until c. 430 Ma, in contrast to the Ordovician accretion of Ganderian fragments recorded in the Appalachians, suggesting that the configuration of the closing Iapetus Ocean varied significantly along the strike of the orogen. Supplementary material: Details of sample coordinates, analytical procedure and U/Pb detrital zircon analytical data are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18739.


A standard definition of a just price asserts that it is determined solely by "willing consent between buyer and seller." This is a satisfactory prima facie definition, but its limitations are exposed in financial transactions that involve significant disparities in knowledge or power. Then it seems particularly important for a maximal definition of justice to incorporate the Golden Rule, so that a just price is "whatever amount is agreed upon by a willing buyer and a willing seller who do to the other as they would have done to them." This article sharpens that definition through dialogue with such seminal philosophers as Thomas Aquinas, Joseph Fletcher, and Nicholas Wolterstorff, and it concludes with heuristic observations to stimulate further discovery. Michael Wittmer, "Is Just Price Enough?" Journal of Markets & Morality 20, no. 2 (Fall 2017): 263-278


New analytical methods have been developed for measurement of the height distribution patterns of [3H]dThd-labeled epithelial cells in colonic crypts of high- and low-risk population groups. Labeled cells were segregated with respect to crypt-height into 10 compartments of equal size, plus a lumenal surface compartment for each subject. Members of families prone to polyposis coli and to non-polyposis colon cancer were compared to subjects at lower risk. The latter included persons from polyp-free and cancer-free branches of the same families, normal controls, and patients with colon cancer from the general population. Significant differences were found between groups of patients with familial polyposis or familial colon cancer and subjects at low risk, when labeled cell distributions were compared over all the crypt height compartments ( p < 0.001). Distributions of the occupancy fractions of labeled cells in the upper region ( i.e. , 40%) of the crypt (φ h ), measured for the fraction of each population (φ p ), revealed a discriminant level that separated over 90% of low-risk subjects from a major fraction of those affected with familial colon cancer or polyposis and from close to one-half of the at-risk progeny as expected for an autosomal dominant trait. However, subjects with colon cancer in the general population had (φ p ,φ h ) distributions closer to the low-risk groups, although a subgroup of patients had abnormal φ h values characteristic of hereditary disease. Thus, the (φ p ,φ h ) distribution appears to be a more precise measure of risk than previously used in discriminating populations with genetic susceptibility to colon cancer from those at lower risk and may be useful as a marker to identify individuals with the at-risk phenotype.


From Epic to Canon: History and Literature in Ancient Israel, by Frank Moore Cross. Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Pp. xv + 262. $45.00. Writing a book review of any book produced by a serious scholar is always an earnest undertaking. Writing the review of a book of one of the giants in the field of ancient Near Eastern studies is a daunting and challenging undertaking. However, it is worth the effort and extra heartbeat. The twelve studies included in this work are intended to continue the discussion begun with Cross's important work Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (1973), although they represent mainly earlier studies published between 1975 and 1995. Two of the articles have never before appeared in print: the first chapter, entitled "Kinship and Covenant in Ancient Israel" (pp. 3-21), and chapter 11, "The Stabilization of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible" (pp. 219-29). The essays are divided into six categories including epic traditions of early Israel (in continuation of his earlier 1973 work), two studies concerning priestly terminology and their ancient Near Eastern background, and two studies focusing on Hebrew prosody in general and specifically in Lam 1 and Jonah 2. Cross dedicates two more essays to the discussion of the history of postexilic Palestine involving a republication of his 1974 presidential address to the SBL concerning the historical reconstruction of that specific period. The next two studies focus on Qumran and the history of the biblical text (pp. 205-29), seeking to pinpoint the difficult questions of the fixation of the text of the Hebrew Bible and the stabilization of the canon. The final section includes only one essay, originally published in 1982 in Maarav, which deals with typology in historical and archaeological research. The book includes also four useful indices. It is clear that a book review cannot do justice to a collection of such diverse studies, so my comments will be limited to the two as yet unpublished essays as well as to the important methodological study of typology in research (pp. 233-45) and his essays on priestly terminology and its ancient Near Eastern background. Cross's discussion of "kinship and covenant in ancient Israel" (pp. 3-21) is of particular interest for those studying the origins of the entity called Israel. He suggests that kinship and covenant terminology is not-as suggested by J. Wellhausen and still often treated as gospel-bereft of legal connotations and mutuality, but formed the basis of the twelve-tribe league (pp. 15-16) and later on during the monarchic period functioned as a check against the arbitrary powers so often associated with monarchical states. Although Cross does not mention it, a parallel development can also be seen in Emar, whose "limited kinship" has been recently discussed (see D. E. Fleming, "A Limited Kinship: Late Bronze Emar in Ancient Syria," UF 24 [1992]: 59-71). It is interesting to note that both the Hebrew Bible and the Emar texts seem to describe Late Bronze societal realities. Cross suggests that the neo-Assyrian ads documents from the eighth/seventh century B.C.E. do not necessarily provide the adequate analogy to Israel's early covenant institutions, since these documents borrow most of the technical terms and their formulary material from ancient West Semitic texts to be dated a thousand years earlier (pp. 18-19). I would have liked to see Cross interact with H. U. Stymans's recent comparative analysis of the ade texts and Dent 28 (see H. U. Steymans, Deuteronomium 28 and die acl zur Thronfolgeregelung Asarhaddons [OBO 145; Fribourg: Universitatsverlag Fribourg, 1995]). Cross's first chapter should be a basic requirement for graduate courses on the history and religion of ancient Israel. Cross has updated his comments in chapter 2, originally published in 1983. He includes an insightful two-page note (pp. 29-31) discussing John Van Seters's attempt to demote the Yahwist to the exilic period and draws upon linguistic typology of grammar, lexicon, canons, and narrative genres in order to contest this point of view. …


ABSTRACT Abundant fossils of nesophontid lipotyphlan insectivores and capromyid rodents have been collected from late Quaternary deposits on the Cayman Islands, an island group separated by a major marine barrier from other Caribbean landmasses and isolated from anthropogenic impacts until the arrival of Columbus in 1503 CE. These collections have not previously been formally described. Using morphological and ancient DNA approaches, we document three new taxa of extinct endemic terrestrial mammals from this island group: Nesophontes hemicingulus (Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac), Capromys pilorides lewisi (Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac), and Geocapromys caymanensis (Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac). Morphometric comparisons with other extinct and living West Indian mammals indicate that the biogeographic origins of all three new taxa are from source populations on Cuba. Ancient DNA data indicate very low sequence divergence of Capromys pilorides lewisi from mainland Cuban C. pilorides (only 0.5% across the entire mitogenome). Using probabilistic analysis of existing and new radiometric dates, we calculate an estimated extinction date of 1700 CE (95% confidence interval = 1632–1774 CE) for the Cayman Brac Capromys population. This result suggests that at least one endemic Cayman terrestrial mammal population survived for well over a century following first European arrival in the Cayman Islands. The West Indies lost nearly all its species-rich late Quaternary land mammal fauna during the late Holocene due to direct or indirect human impacts, and this study provides a new baseline to understand the magnitude of human-caused mammal extinctions during the recent past.


Despite normative and legal injunctions against targeting civilians in war, as well as doubts regarding the effectiveness of such strategies, belligerents have frequently turned their guns on noncombatants. Two variablesdesperation to win and to save lives on one's own side in protracted wars of attrition, and the intention to conquer and annex enemy territoryexplain this repeated resort to civilian targeting. According to the desperation logic, costly and prolonged wars of attrition cause states to become increasingly anxious to prevail and to reduce their losses. Adopting a policy of civilian victimization permits states to continue the war while managing their losses and hopefully coercing the adversary to quit. In the appetite for conquest model, by contrast, belligerents specifically intend to seize and annex territory. Attackers in this model employ civilian victimization to eliminate enemy civilians, who can threaten the aggressor's immediate military position and present a future threat of rebellion. Multivariate analysis of interstate wars between 1816 and 2003 corroborates the importance of these factors,and a case study of the British starvation blockade of Germany in World War I supports the plausibility of the desperation mechanism.


Most transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are regulated by phosphatidylinositol-4,5-biphosphate (PIP2), although the structural rearrangements occurring on PIP2 binding are currently far from clear. Here we report that activation of the TRP vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channel by hypotonic and heat stimuli requires PIP2 binding to and rearrangement of the cytosolic tails. Neutralization of the positive charges within the sequence 121KRWRK125, which resembles a phosphoinositide-binding site, rendered the channel unresponsive to hypotonicity and heat but responsive to 4α-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate, an agonist that binds directly to transmembrane domains. Similar channel response was obtained by depletion of PIP2 from the plasma membrane with translocatable phosphatases in heterologous expression systems or by activation of phospholipase C in native ciliated epithelial cells. PIP2 facilitated TRPV4 activation by the osmotransducing cytosolic messenger 5′-6'-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid and allowed channel activation by heat in inside-out patches. Protease protection assays demonstrated a PIP2-binding site within the N-tail. The proximity of TRPV4 tails, analyzed by fluorescence resonance energy transfer, increased by depleting PIP2 mutations in the phosphoinositide site or by coexpression with protein kinase C and casein kinase substrate in neurons 3 (PACSIN3), a regulatory molecule that binds TRPV4 N-tails and abrogates activation by cell swelling and heat. PACSIN3 lacking the Bin-Amphiphysin-Rvs (F-BAR) domain interacted with TRPV4 without affecting channel activation or tail rearrangement. Thus, mutations weakening the TRPV4–PIP2 interacting site and conditions that deplete PIP2 or restrict access of TRPV4 to PIP2—in the case of PACSIN3—change tail conformation and negatively affect channel activation by hypotonicity and heat.


Safe Routes to Transit (SR2T) was initiated in 2004 with the adoption of the San Francisco Bay Area's Regional Measure 2 which established a $1 increase in Bay Area bridge tolls. The intended purpose of this funding was to support various transportation projects within the region in order to reduce congestion along the seven state-owned toll bridge corridors. Consistent with this purpose, the SR2T Program was awarded $20 million to fund enhancements to increase walking and cycling to regional transit stations. SR2T funds were used for the following improvements, among others: ssecure bicycle storage at transit stations; safety enhancements for pedestrian and bicycle station access to transit stations/stops; removal of pedestrian/bicycle barriers near transit stations; and system-wide transit enhancements to accommodate bicyclists or pedestrians. MTC collaborated with Fehr & Peers and the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) to oversee the assessment of the SR2T program on mode share, perceived traffic safety, traffic behaviors and perceived air quality. Additional data was collected to obtain economic feedback on spending behavior as related to mode choice. Transit stations were chosen based on key variables associated with travel behavior and mode choice, such as population density, employment density, and the percentage of households living beneath the poverty line. The transit stations included in the before and after study were the Balboa Park, Bay Fair, Civic Center, Glen Park, Lafayette, and Pittsburg BART stations, as well as the Palo Alto Transit station. Fremont and Rockridge BART stations were the control sites.


Recent experiments show that deep bidirectional long short-term memory (BLSTM) recurrent neural network acoustic models outperform feedforward neural networks for automatic speech recognition (ASR). However, their training requires a lot of tuning and experience. In this work, we provide a comprehensive overview over various BLSTM training aspects and their interplay within ASR, which has been missing so far in the literature. We investigate on different variants of optimization methods, batching, truncated backpropagation, and regularization techniques such as dropout, and we study the effect of size and depth, training models of up to 10 layers. This includes a comparison of computation times vs. recognition performance. Furthermore, we introduce a pretraining scheme for LSTMs with layer-wise construction of the network showing good improvements especially for deep networks. The experimental analysis mainly was performed on the Quaero task, with additional results on Switchboard. The best BLSTM model gave a relative improvement in word error rate of over 15% compared to our best feed-forward baseline on our Quaero 50h task. All experiments were done using RETURNN and RASR, RWTH's extensible training framework for universal recurrent neural networks and ASR toolkit. The training configuration files are publicly available.


An investigation into the applicability of the bond-graph methodology, using the so-called Model Transformation Tools software, has been undertaken to model parallel robots. This software is a novel, non-commercial, program developed at the University of Glasgow, and in addition to the standard bond graph, it contains a powerful tool called the Hierarchical Bond Graph for dealing with very large-scale dynamical systems. It is the first time this tool has been applied for the modelling of parallel manipulators.

A General Method for modelling parallel robots using the Hierarchical Bond-Graph concept has been developed. The method is based on related work on the modelling of closed chain robots using the Lagrange method.

Introduction of a new design concept to be known as the Multi-cell Parallel Planar Manipulator. The methodology allows for an increase in the workspace of the manipulator by increasing the number of cells without affecting the number of DOF. It can also be shown to enhance the manoeuvrability of the system.

Application of the multi-cell approach to a specific 2-DOF planar parallel manipulator and recognition of the need for a general model led to the development of a general dynamic model for the multi-cell manipulator using the Lagrange method. The reason for using the Lagrange formulation is that the necessary generalisation cannot be formalised using the Bond Graph technique due to the dependency of a bond graph on the specified structure of the system being modelled.

Static balancing of the new general manipulator was addressed and a new method for balancing has been introduced. The method reduces the number of parameters to be adjusted to only one.


The recently proposed new Copyright Directive was released on 14 September 2016. It has been described by EU law-makers as the pillar of the copyright package promised by the European Commission (EC), to be delivered before the end of Mr. Juncker's mandate. In its Communication of 6 May 2015, the EC had stressed "the importance to enhance cross-border access to copyright-protected content services, facilitate new uses in the fields of research and education, and clarify the role of online services in the distribution of works and other subject-matter." The proposed Copyright Directive is thus a key measure aiming to address two of these three issues. We concentrate on the third one, carefully examining the text of both the explanatory memorandum and the Directive itself, in an attempt to highlight its shortfalls. We hope that this exercise will prove useful for the debate that has now begun both in the European Parliament and in the Council. We begin with a brief assessment of the explanatory memorandum and then focus on the articles and recitals of the proposed Copyright Directive. Our conclusions are:1. A comprehensive re-assessment of Article 13 and Recital 39 in the light of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the E-commerce Directive (in particular Article 15) including Court of Justice of the European Union case law is needed, as the proposed Copyright Directive does not expressly address the issue of its compatibility with both of these texts. 2. Recital 38 does not clarify the domain and effect of Article 13. Rather, it creates confusion as it goes against settled CJEU case law (relating to Articles 14 and 15 of the E-commerce Directive and Article 3 of the Infosoc Directive). Recital 38 should therefore be deleted or substantially re-drafted/re-phrased. If the EU wants to introduce a change in this regard it should clearly justify its choice. In any case, a recital in the preamble to a directive is not an appropriate tool to achieve this effect.


An important issue in developmental research is whether children's ideas in a given domain display conceptual coherence or whether they constitute knowledge-in-pieces (see Vosniadou, 2008 and diSessa, 2008, respectively). Our earlier work (Bryce and Blown, 2006; 2007; Blown and Bryce, 2006) compared the broadly similar developmental patterns of boys and girls in two contrasting cultures (New Zealand and China) with regard to basic astronomy knowledge. The research revealed the extent of the developmental coherence of children's ideas looked at longitudinally. The current studies followed the same group of young people (those who were accessible, N = 345) for a further period of 5 years to investigate more advanced astronomical knowledge, including the dynamic concepts of the Earth's seasons and eclipses (requiring subjects to bring about a mental rotation of several objects; e.g., imagining the movements of the Earth and its Moon around the Sun). The study considered both the conventional view of a concept as a mental model or representation (Gentner & Stevens, 1983; Mandler, 1998) and newer interpretations of a concept as a skill; that is, regarding a concept as a creative ability rather than as a simple recall from memory (Barsalou, 2003). The investigations involved semi-structured, one-to-one, Piagetian interviews requiring the researcher to spend considerable periods of time in each country, enabling the young people involved to accept his presence, and interpreters and local assistants in the case of China in order to translate audio transcripts and maintain the necessary links and contacts with the participants in several school districts. This research involving in-depth, multi-media interviews certainly ties in with Barsalou's idea of a concept as a skill and, with it, the notion of conceptual coherence as an ability to consistently create more or less identical concepts using different media of representation involving different sensory modalities.


This paper proposes a flexible low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder which leverages graphic processor units (GPU) to provide high decoding throughput. LDPC codes are widely adopted by the new emerging standards for wireless communication systems and storage applications due to their near-capacity error correcting performance. To achieve high decoding throughput on GPU, we leverage the parallelism embedded in the check-node computation and variable-node computation and propose a parallel strategy of partitioning the decoding jobs among multi-processors in GPU. In addition, we propose a scalable multi-codeword decoding scheme to fully utilize the computation resources of GPU. Furthermore, we developed a novel adaptive performance-tuning method to make our decoder implementation more flexible and scalable. The experimental results show that our LDPC decoder is scalable and flexible, and the adaptive performance-tuning method can deliver the peak performance based on the GPU architecture.


We conduct an analysis of the Planck 2015 data that is complete in reionization observables from the large angle polarization $E$-mode spectrum in the redshift range $6lzl30$. Based on 5 principal components, all of which are constrained by the data, this single analysis can be used to infer constraints on any model for reionization in the same range; we develop an effective likelihood approach for applying these constraints to models. By allowing for an arbitrary ionization history, this technique tests the robustness of inferences on the total optical depth from the usual steplike transition assumption, which is important for the interpretation of many other cosmological parameters such as the dark energy and neutrino mass. The Planck 2015 data not only allow a high redshift $zg15$ component to the optical depth but prefer it at the $2\ensuremath{\sigma}$ level. This preference is associated with excess power in the multipole range $10\ensuremath{\lesssim}\ensuremath{\ell}\ensuremath{\lesssim}20$ and may indicate high redshift ionization sources or unaccounted for systematics and foregrounds in the 2015 data.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to addresses the impact of organizational ethical context (ethical climate and ethical culture) and Machiavellianism on organizational-professional conflict (OPC) and affective organizational commitment (OC) among Chinese accountants. The paper also aims to test for interactive effects of ethical context and Machiavellianism. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a field survey of 89 professional accountants employed by companies operating in Mainland China. Findings - Two aspects of the organizational ethical culture, expectations of obedience to authority and strong ethical norms/incentives, emerged as the dominant influences on both OPC and affective commitment. Strong negative correlations are observed between OPC and OC, and between Machiavellianism and OC. Contrary to expectations, the organizational ethical context had the greatest impact on OC among high Machiavellians. For low Machiavellians, OPC fully mediated the relationship between ethical context and OC, but no such mediation effects are found for high Machiavellians. Originality/value - This is the first study of the relationships among ethical context, OPC and OC among industry accountants in China, and the first study of the effects of Machiavellianism on these relationships. The results generally support our contention that organizational ethical context will be a key determinant of OPC and OC. The fact that weaker ethical cultures were strongly associated with increased conflict and decreased commitment suggests that managers of accounting/auditing departments should take a proactive approach to developing and nurturing positive or supportive cultures. The differences in results for high and low Machiavellians also raise interesting questions that should be addressed in future research.


Purpose: To evaluate the biomechanical changes of cornea after intracorneal ring segment (ICRS) implantation in keratoconic eyes Methods: In this study, 1 or 2 ICRS were inserted in 17 keratoconic eyes. Best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), refraction, and keratometry were evaluated preoperatively and 1 and 3 months after surgery. Corneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF) were also measured preoperatively and postoperatively with ocular response analyzer (ORA). Results: ICRS was inserted in 17 keratoconic eyes (12 patients). Mean UCVA significantly increased from 0.72±0.37 logMAR to 0.54±0.27 logMAR (P=0.027) and 0.46±0.30 logMAR (P=0.01) 1 and 3 months after surgery, respectively. Mean BSCVA increased from 0.41±0.29 logMAR to 0.32± 0.26 logMAR at the end of the 1 st month and 0.32±0.27 logMAR at the end of 3 rd month postoperatively. These changes were not significant. Spherical equivalent (SE) significantly decreased from -5.64±3.21 Diopter (D) to -3.36±2.74 D (P=0.009) 1 month and -3.51±2.04 D (P=0.002) at the 3 months after surgery. Mean keratometry also significantly decreased from 49.82±4.33 D to 48.10±3.64 D (P=0.010) and 47.40±3.47 D (P=0.003) at 1- and 3- month follow-ups, respectively. Mean CH was 7.48±1.65 mmHg and mean CRF was 5.98±2.06 mmHg, preoperatively. At 1-month follow-up, their values were 7.13±1.56 mmHg and 5.74±1.60 mmHg, respectively. At 3-month follow-up, their values were 7.20±1.23 mmHg and 5.80±1.72 mmHg, respectively. The CH and CRF changes at 1- and 3-month follow-ups were not significant. Conclusion: After ICRS insertion in keratoconic eyes, no significant changes were observed in mean values measured with the ORA at 1- and 3-month follow-ups.


Affect, understood here as embodied meaning-making, offers one useful point of departure in studying translation as an activity that involves both cognitive and social processes, because it functions as a hinge between subjective understandings and social environments. We approach affects related to translating with the theoretical framework of the translator's experiencing self, defined here as the perception that translators have of themselves, based on lived and embodied experience. In other words, we suggest that the study of affect in relation to translating should pay attention to translators' own processes of meaning-making. Since the processes of human meaning-making, including self-construction, have been argued to rest upon narrative practice, we furthermore argue for a narrative approach to studying affects. We illustrate the methodological opportunities provided by a narrative approach to affect with three cases deriving from three different research projects.


In this book, Lawrence Sklar demonstrates the interdependence of science and philosophy by examining a number of crucial problems on the nature of space and time - problems that require for their resolution the resources of philosophy and of physics. The overall issues explored are our knowledge of the geometry of the world, the existence of spacetime as an entity over and above the material objects of the world, the relation between temporal order and causal order, and the problem of the direction of time. Without neglecting the most subtle philosophical points or the most advanced contributions of contemporary physics, the author has taken pains to make his explorations intelligible to the reader with no advanced training in physics, mathematics, or philosophy. The arguments are set forth step-by-step, beginning from first principles; and, the philosophical discussions are supplemented in detail by nontechnical expositions of crucial features of physical theories.


A better understanding of root-soil interactions and associated processes is essential in achieving progress in crop breeding and management, prompting the need for high-resolution and non-destructive characterization methods. To date such methods are still lacking, or restricted by technical constraints, in particular for characterizing and monitoring root growth and function in the field. A promising technique in this respect is electrical impedance tomography (EIT), which utilizes low-frequency (< : < : 1 kHz) electrical conduction and polarization properties in an imaging framework. It is well established 5 that cells and cell clusters exhibit an electrical polarization response in alternating electric current fields due to electrical double layers which form at cell membranes. This double layer is directly related to the electrical surface properties of the membrane, which in turn are influenced by nutrient dynamics (fluxes and concentrations on both sides of the membranes). Therefore it can be assumed that the electrical polarization properties of roots are inherently related to nutrient ::: ion uptake and translocation processes in the roots ::: root ::::::: systems. We here propose broadband (mHz to hundreds of Hz) multi-frequency 10 EIT as a non-invasive methodological approach for the monitoring and physiological, i.e., : functional, characterization of crop root systems. The approach combines the spatial resolution capability of an imaging method with the diagnostic potential of electrical impedance spectroscopy. The capability of multi-frequency EIT to characterize and monitor crop root systems was investigated in a laboratory rhizotron experiment, in which the root system of oilseed plants was monitored in a waterfilled rhizotronunder ongoing nutrient deprivation, :::: that :: is, ::: in :: an ::::::: nutrient :::::::: deprived ::::::::::: environment. We found a low-frequency 15 polarization response of the root system, which enabled the successful delineation of the spatial extension of the root system. The magnitude of the overall polarization response decreased along with the physiological decay of the root system due to the nutrient deprivation :::: stress :::::::: situation. Spectral polarization parameters, as derived from a pixel-based Debye decomposition analysis of the multi-frequency imaging results, reveal systematic changes in the spatial and spectral electrical response of the root system. In particular, quantified mean relaxation times (of the order of 10 ms) indicate changes in the length scales on 20 which the polarization processes took place in the root system, as a response to prolonged nutrient deficiency :: the ::::::::: prolonged :::::: induced ::::: stress :::::::: situation. Our results demonstrate that broadband EIT is a capable non-invasive method to image root system extension as well as to monitor changes associated with root physiological processes. Given its applicability at both laboratory and field scales, our results suggest an enormous potential of the method for the structural and functional imaging of root system ::::::: systems for various applications. This particularly holds for the field scale, where corresponding methods are highly 25 desired but to date lacking.


This study was conducted to address some of the New England state transportation agencies' concerns associated with the use of Re-refined Engine Oil Bottoms (REOB) in asphalt binders and mixtures. The effects of REOB on the physical and rheological properties of an asphalt binder were investigated. This evaluation was completed after AASHTOspecified short-term and long-term aging and after extended long-term aging. Also, the effect of REOB modified binders on the performance of asphalt mixtures after short- and long-term aging was evaluated in terms of moisture damage, rutting, and cracking. Two straight run binders (PG 58-28 and PG 64-22), a typical PG 64-28, two sources of REOB, an aromatic oil, and PolyPhosphoric Acid (PPA) were utilized. The PG 64-22 was modified with each source of REOB separately to attain a PG 58-28. These modified PG 58-28 binders were compared to the straight run PG 58-28. The modified and the straight run PG 58-28 binders were further modified with PPA to attain a PG 64-28 which is commonly specified in the Northeast. This modified PG 64-28 was compared to a typical PG 64-28 that has been used in the past without REOB. This same binder modification to attain a PG 58-28 and PG 64-28 was repeated with the aromatic oil for comparison purposes. Rheological results plotted on the Black Space and wo—R-value Space diagrams showed that the addition of REOB to attain the PG 58-28 caused the binders to age more relative to the straight run binder. The results also indicated that the use of higher dosages of REOB can cause increased binder aging. Mixture moisture damage tests showed that REOB could result in mixture premature failure. The rutting tests indicated that generally the REOB did not cause the mixtures to fail. Cracking tests conducted at intermediate temperature on REOB-modified mixtures generally indicated a reduction in fracture energy, as compared to the straight run or typical binder counterpart. A flexibility index (FI) calculated from the same cracking test showed that the aromatic oil modified mixtures generally had a higher value than the REOB modified mixtures suggesting less susceptibility to cracking. Interaction plots developed using the FI and Hamburg test results revealed significant differences among mixes with various binder formulations and the effects of long-term aging on the interaction plots were evident. Low temperature cracking evaluations detected minor effects on low-temperature fracture properties associated with various combinations of REOB tested. Performance space diagrams indicated that the REOB modified mixtures remained within the passing zone in a Hamburg Wheel Tracking-Disc Shaped Compact Tension DC(T) tests diagram for low to medium traffic level. Overall, the particular mixture tests used in this study did not provide evidence that using REOB decreases performance. The performance data collected by using the two REOB sources varied by the particular test, and sometimes by the type of REOB or by the PG of the binder. The use of aromatic oil did not show this variability and the results generally indicated good performance. The variability of the data when REOB was used underscores the importance of thoroughly testing REOB modified binder and mixture for performance. Finally, other important issues like dosage and consistency of REOB are still currently being investigated.


In this paper, primary technical challenges for emerging optical mobile backhaul (MBH) networks are discussed, with a focus on novel optical access and digital signal processing (DSP) architectures for future MBH. The first downstream/upstream Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access and Time Division Multiple Access Passive Optical Network (OFDMA/TDMA-PON) achieving >;100 Mb/s per-cell mobile backhaul and burst-mode operation using off-the-shelf avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for last-mile optical MBH with 200 cells per fiber. In the new approach, the use of OFDMA is motivated by the capability to establish low latency, virtual point-to-point links in the frequency-domain to serve high-density cell areas, while a judicious hybrid of DSP-enhanced digital radio-over-fiber (dRoF) and TDMA is proposed as an efficient way to meet <; 1 ms latency constraints subject to a 3 dB upstream burst-mode dynamic range tolerance. By thus enabling high speed, low latency, and low cost via simplified optics, the novel OFDMA/TDMA-PON is promising for future 4G and beyond optical backhaul networks.


Major urban projects associated with sporting mega-events have set the tone for the urban agenda of local governments in Brazil since the country was announced as the host of FIFA's Football World Cup 2014 and the Olympics 2016. Development consent for these projects is at the core of rising urban-environmental conflicts over development goals and the uneven distribution of costs and benefits of urbanization. Environmental assessment (EA) operating within this political and developmental agenda plays a central role. EA governs the gathering of information, predicting impacts, defining and calculating mitigating and compensatory measures and engaging publics in decision-making, and in carrying out each of these aspects it may produce or reinforce distributional effects. In light of this, this thesis explores the extent to which the regulatory regime and practice of project-level EA can assist in securing environmental justice, particularly when operating within the planning control process for major urban projects in specific and local socio-political contexts. The thesis offers insights into both theory (Part I) and practice (Part II) of EA in terms of the degree to which it is able to incorporate the different dimensions of environmental justice. Part I focuses on developing a theoretically-informed framework of project-level EA in the context of urban-environmental decisionmaking by integrating social justice, environmental justice and urban-spatial justice as key elements of law and policy in the consent regime for major urban projects. In Part II, this is explored empirically by employing socio-legal methodology (comprised of qualitative research based on case study analysis) in the examination of Brazil's EA regime. The cases selected involve two major urban developments (the redevelopment and expansion of an avenue as part of the improvement of key transport links and the construction of a football arena, supported by the building of real estate) in one specific city in Brazil (Porto Alegre). Both developments took place in the context of preparations for hosting the World Cup. The empirical research comprised gathering and analysing qualitative data on the development consent and environmental licensing procedures documentation, in particular the content of environmental impact reports. Drawing on empirical and qualitative research methods used to compile the case studies, the key conclusion is that EA offers a central and critical stage for voicing urban-environmental conflicts: how the benefits and burdens of a development endeavour – economic, social, environmental, and cultural – are unevenly shared among different population groups in the cities. I argue that if EA, operating within development consent for urban development, is to incorporate urban-environmental justice concerns, distributional aspects, land rights, participation and just distribution of benefits and burdens of urbanization have to be taken into consideration. The case studies indicate that problems arise in this regard when the practice of EA fails to take such information into account, or when the EA process is embedded in the use of development consent arrangements in order to ensure predictability for developers and speed up decision-making, even though this is to the detriment of a thorough impact assessment and consistent public participation. Specific issues highlighted by examining the case study developments include the partial nature of participation requirements and the timing upon the calculation of mitigation and compensatory measures. In summary, the EA procedures researched show up that although socialeconomic and environmental impacts were capable of forming part of the process, these issues were not well studied in terms of how the impacts are felt differently amongst particular groups, particularly those most vulnerable to socio-environmental impacts.


Background: The majority of cognitive research conducted within the mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) population has been predominantly neuropsychologically based, lacking in-depth linguistic analysis. The effect of MTBI on language function has received little attention and remains largely unexplored. Aims: This study was undertaken to explore in detail cognitive-linguistic impairments following MTBI, via the application of a comprehensive assessment battery. Methods & Procedures: Four participants with MTBI were administered a comprehensive battery of cognitive-linguistic assessments at 6 months post injury. The control group consisted of 10 age-, sex- and education-level-matched, non-neurologically impaired participants. Non-parametric group comparisons between the MTBI and matched controls participants were carried out, followed by case-by-case analysis. Outcomes & Results: Non-parametric between-group comparisons failed to reveal statistically significant differences between the MTBI and control participants across subtests. In case-by-case analyses, however, below normal performance on a range of subtests was demonstrated by the MTBI participants. Conclusions: Findings suggest high-level cognitive-linguistic deficits may occur as a consequence of MTBI and imply that MTBI mechanisms may have the capacity to alter frontal lobe functioning. It is suggested that more sensitive measures of cognitive and high-level language function are needed in the assessment of MTBI.


Volcanic glass from pillow lavas and hyaloclastites displays distinctive alteration textures that suggest the activity of boring microbes. Analogous textures are common in volcanic sections of the seafloor, in ophiolites, and in greenstone belts up to 3.5 Ga in age. While the origin of such trace fossils remains poorly understood, they offer much potential for investigating processes in the present-day, deep-ocean, crustal biosphere and their role in biogeochemical cycles.


This paper presents FabricKeyboard : a novel deformable keyboard interface based on a multi-modal fabric sensate surface. Multi-layer fabric sensors that detect touch, proximity, electric field, pressure, and stretch are machine-sewn in a keyboard pattern on a stretchable substrate. The result is a fabric-based musical controller that combines both the discrete controls of a keyboard and various continuous controls from the embedded fabric sensors. This enables unique tactile experiences and new interactions both with physical and non-contact gestures: physical by pressing, pulling, stretching, and twisting the keys or the fabric and non-contact by hovering and waving towards/against the keyboard and an electromagnetic source. We have also developed additional fabric-based modular interfaces such as a ribbon-controller and trackpad, allowing performers to add more expressive and continuous controls. This paper will discuss implementation strategies for our system-on-textile, fabric-based sensor developments, as well as sensor-computer interfacing and musical mapping examples of this multi-modal and expressive fabric keyboard.


Although the amount of evidence demonstrating the beneficial effects of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on exercise performance is increasing, conclusions about its efficacy cannot yet be drawn. Therefore, the purposes of this review were to determine the effect of IPC on exercise performance and identify the effects of different IPC procedures, exercise types, and subject characteristics on exercise performance. The analysis comprised 19 relevant studies from 2000 to 2015, 15 of which were included in the meta-analyses. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated as the standardized mean difference. Overall, IPC had a small beneficial effect on exercise performance (ES = 0.43; 90% confidence interval [CI], 0.28 to 0.51). The largest ES were found for aerobic (ES = 0.51; 90% CI, 0.35 to 0.67) and anaerobic (ES = 0.23; 90% CI, -0.12 to 0.58) exercise. In contrast, an unclear effect was observed in power and sprint performance (ES = 0.16; 90% CI, -0.20 to 0.52). In conclusion, IPC can effectively enhance aerobic and anaerobic exercise performance.


It has been argued that increased life expectancy raises the rate of return on education, causing a rise in the investment in education followed by an increase in lifetime labor supply. Empirical evidence of these relations is rather weak. Building on a lifecycle model with uncertain longevity, this paper shows that increased life expectancy does not suffice to warrant the above hypotheses. We provide assumptions about the change in survival probabilities, specifically about the age dependence of hazard rates, which determine individuals' behavioral response w.r.t. education, work and age of retirement. Comparison is made between the case when individuals have access to a competitive annuity market and the case of no insurance.


OF THE THESIS Partial Order Reduction for Planning by You Xu Master of Science in Computer Science Washington University in St. Louis, 2009 Research Advisor: Professor Yixin Chen Partial Order Reduction (POR) is a technique that reduces the search space by recognizing interchangeable orders between actions and expanding only a subset of all possible orders during the search. It has been extensively studied in model checking and has proven to be an enabling technique for reducing the search space and costs. Several POR algorithms have been proposed in planning, including the Expansion Core (EC) and Stratified Planning (SP) algorithms. Being orthogonal to the development of accurate heuristic functions, these reduction methods show great potential to improve the planning efficiency from a new perspective. However, it is unclear how these POR methods relate to each other and whether there exist stronger reduction methods. In this thesis, we have proposed a unifying theory that provides a necessary and sufficient condition for two actions to be semi-commutative. We have also revealed that semi-commutativity is the central property that enables POR. We have also interpreted both EC and SP algorithms using this new theory. Further, we have ii proposed new, stronger POR algorithms based on the new theory. We have also applied these new algorithms to solve benchmark problems across various planning domains. Experimental results have shown significant search cost reduction.


A considerable effort is devoted to devising retrofit solutions for reducing space-heating energy in the domestic sector. Existing UK solid-wall dwellings, which have both heritage values and historic fabric, are being improved but yet they tend to have meagre thermal performance, partly, due to the heat-loss through glazings. This paper takes comparative analyses approach to envisage space-heating supply required in order to maintain thermal comfort temperatures and attainable solar energy gains to households with the retrofit of an experimentally achievable thermal performance of the fabricated sample of triple vacuum glazing to a UK solid-wall dwelling. 3D dynamic thermal models (timely regimes of heating, occupancy, ventilation and internal heat gains) of an externally-insulated solid-wall detached dwelling with a range of existing glazing types along with triple vacuum glazings are modelled. A dramatic decrease of space-heating load and moderate increase of solar gains are resulted with the dwelling of newly achievable triple vacuum glazings (having centre-of-pane U-value of 0.33 Wm-2K-1) compared to conventional glazing types. The space-heating annual cost of single glazed dwellings was minimised to 15.31% (≈USD 90.7) with the retrofit of triple-vacuum glazings. An influence of total heat-loss through the fabric of solid-wall dwelling was analysed with steady-state calculations which indicates a fall of 10.23% with triple vacuum glazings compared to single glazings.


The free-living ciliate protist Lacrymaria olor has an extendable neck, which extends up to 8 times longer than its cell body. Previous papers assessed several ultrastructural features of L. olor; however, dynamic features of the extension and contraction cycle of the neck have been unclear. As a first step to understand the mechanism of such dynamic processes, we tried to characterize the neck deformation of living L. olor using a high-speed camera and image processing. These analyses defined the four different cell states, namely, active, resting, activation and inactivation, and highlighted the features of the neck deformation of L. olor depending upon the cell states. Our analyses will make it possible to elucidate further details of the L. olor neck deformation mechanism.


The present investigation has been conducted to delineate the hydrogeochemical and environmental factors that control the water quality of the groundwater resources in the north-east of Cairo. A complementary approach based on hydrogeochemistry and a geographical information system (GIS) based protectability index has been employed for conducting this work. The results from the chemical analysis revealed that the groundwater of the Quaternary aquifer is less saline than that of the Miocene aquifer and the main factors that control the groundwater salinity in the studied area are primarily related to the genesis of the original recharging water modified after by leaching, dissolution, cation exchange, and fertilizer leachate. The computed groundwater quality index (WQI) falls into two categories: fair for almost all the Miocene groundwater samples, while the Quaternary groundwater samples are all have a good quality. The retarded flow and non-replenishment of the Miocene aquifer compared to the renewable active recharge of the Quaternary aquifer can explain this variation of WQI. The index and overlay approach exemplified by the DUPIT index has been used to investigate the protectability of the study aquifers against diffuse pollutants. Three categories (highly protectable less vulnerable, moderately protectable moderately vulnerable and less protectable highly vulnerable) have been determined and areally mapped.


Within contemporary society, television is a prevalent source of health information. This thesis draws on insights from health psychology, media studies, and medical sociology to explore the ways that people of lower socio-economic status draw on television health coverage to construct their views on health and illness. Three primary data sets are used in an interrelated manner to investigate the complexities of this process. First, an analysis of four New Zealand health documentaries investigates the ways contemporary health concerns are covered on television. Second, an analysis of the accounts constructed in twenty individual interviews is used to explore participants' views on health, illness, and these same health concerns. Third, an analysis of four focus group discussions is used to investigate the processes through which participants construct interpretations of the health documentaries and reconstruct their views. Generally, findings indicate that the programmes, individual interviews, and focus group discussions function as cultural forums within which various shared explanations are drawn on in order to make sense of four contemporary health concerns: the health reforms, the privatisation of medical services, men's health, and aging. By exploring these processes, this thesis contributes to knowledge of the shape and focus of health coverage and the role of health communication in the refinement of lay views.