Recent advances in experimental stimulation methods have raised the following important computational question: how can we choose a stimulus that will drive a neuron to output a target spike train with optimal precision, given physiological constraints? Here we adopt an approach based on models that describe how a stimulating agent (such as an injected electrical current or a laser light interacting with caged neurotransmitters or photosensitive ion channels) affects the spiking activity of neurons. Based on these models, we solve the reverse problem of finding the best time-dependent modulation of the input, subject to hardware limitations as well as physiologically inspired safety measures, that causes the neuron to emit a spike train that with highest probability will be close to a target spike train. We adopt fast convex constrained optimization methods to solve this problem. Our methods can potentially be implemented in real time and may also be generalized to the case of many cells, suitable for neural prosthesis applications. With the use of biologically sensible parameters and constraints, our method finds stimulation patterns that generate very precise spike trains in simulated experiments. We also tested the intracellular current injection method on pyramidal cells in mouse cortical slices, quantifying the dependence of spiking reliability and timing precision on constraints imposed on the applied currents.


Urban spaces became battlefields, signifiers have been invaded, new structures have been established: Netculture replaced counterculture in most parts and also focused on the everchanging environments of the modern city. Important questions have been brought up to date and reasked, taking current positions and discourses into account. The major question still remains, namely how to create culturally based resistance under the influence of capitalistic pressure and conservative politics. This collection of essays and contributions attempts to address this question and its implications for different scientific and artistic fields.


This paper compares two prominent stochastic assignment mechanisms in the laboratory: Random serial dictatorship (RSD) and top trading cycles with random endowments (TTC). In standard theory, both mechanisms are strategy-proof and Pareto-effcient for the house allocation problem without endowments. In the experiment, RSD outperforms TTC. This can be attributed to more dominant strategy play under RSD. The behavioral theory of obvious strategy-proofness can partly explain this difference in dominant strategy play. Generally, subjects with extremely high and low levels of contingent reasoning play their dominant strategies. These results suggest that one strategy-proof mechanism may outperform another one if individuals are boundedly rational.


The U.S. Treasury estimates that personal income tax receipts in fiscal year 1992 would have been $51 billion higher without the special provisions accorded employer-sponsored pension plans. It is at best unclear that taxpayers are getting their money's worth from this large tax expenditure. Despite a myriad of legislative changes, all of which combine to increase the likelihood that persons covered by pension plans will actually receive benefits, the U.S. pension system is still a very erratic and unpredictable way to provide retirement income and it benefits a relatively privileged subset of the population. ; This article argues that the time has come for the current taxation of compensation received in the form of deferred pension benefits. Such treatment is feasible, and is consistent with the broad definition of income envisioned under a comprehensive personal income tax and incorporated in the language of the Internal Revenue Code.


The political, economic and social changes experienced by China over the past decade have been mirrored by transformations in the literary realm. Writers, editors, critics and readers have contended with the acceleration of commercialisation, the rise of the Internet, and the Communist Party's subtly changing attitude to creative freedom. This essay examines the creative responses of three critically acclaimed generations of novelists – born between the 1950s and 1980s – to this new climate. It considers the way in which writers have become entrepreneurs, managing their own personality cults over the Internet and through media spin. It discusses widespread corruption in literary reviewing; the weaknesses in editorial standards that affect the work of even the most mature voices writing today; and the fluid way in which novelists often abandon fiction for other professions or expressive forms, such as film. Finally, it considers the limits of literary freedom in China's one-party cultural system.


Standard search models assume that consumers actively decide on the order, identity, and number of products they search. We document that online, a large fraction of searches happen in a more passive manner, with consumers merely reacting to online advertisements that do not allow them to choose the timing or the identity of products to which they will be exposed. Using a clickstream panel data set capturing full URL addresses of websites consumers visit, we show how to detect whether a click is ad-initiated. We then document that ad-initiated clicks account for more than half of all website arrivals, are more concentrated early on in the consumer search process, and lead to less in-depth searches and fewer transactions, consistent with the passive nature of these searches. To account for these systematic differences between active and passive searches, we propose and estimate a simple model that accommodates both types of searches, and describe the estimation bias arising in models that incorrectly treat all searches as active. Finally, we use our model's estimates to describe consumer substitution patterns across websites under different advertising scenarios.


This thesis deals with the political economy of mining laws
and regulation in Namibia from 1884 to 1986. Mining laws and
regulations have played an important role in the exploitation
of Namibia's mineral resources since the colonial period.
They have also played an important role in the exploitations
by foreign mining companies of Namibia's mineral resources.
The study shows how this process has evolved.
Chapter I discusses the link between colonialism and
exploitation. It also shows the special interest of the
colonial administration in mineral development. The formal
and substantive rules governing the acquisition of mineral
rights are discussed in detail in Chapter II. An important
element in the exploitation of Namibia's mineral resources is
the international market. Chapter III examines the marketing
of Namibia's minerals. It shows that the colonial
administration is unable and unwilling to exercise control in
this area. Special attention is paid to the marketing of
diamonds as it illustrates very well the dominant position of
the mining companies. Marketing of minerals is closely
linked with taxation. This is examined in Chapter IV. The
chapter reveals that the inadequacies of the legislation
enables mining companies to achieve their objective,
maximisation of profits without corresponding benefits to
Namibia. The exploitation of Namibia's mineral resources has
a direct effect on the environment. Chapter V shows that the
spread of multinational mining companies and their operations
have a direct effect on the environment, health and safety of
mine employees and the community in surrounding areas. It
also shows that mining laws and regulations are inadequate to
cope with this problem.
South Africa's continued occupation of Namibia since the
termination of the mandate in 1966 has important legal
consequences. The legal status of the mining concessions
granted by South Africa before and after the termination of
the mandate are examined in Chapter VI in the light of the
United Nations action in this respect. In order to clarify
the options for independent Namibia, Chapter VII discusses
the experience of other developing countries in mineral
development and their relationship with multinational
companies. In Chapter VII, we recommend that mining laws and
regulations of an independent Namibia should reflect the
needs of the Namibian population.


This dissertation reports case studies conducted at two secondary schools in Durban. With the introduction of the Further Education and Training (FET) curriculum in 2006, learners who terminate their study of Mathematics at the end of grade nine will have to study Mathematical Literacy, an applications-based mathematics course. In South Africa the Mathematics results at the grade twelve exit examination are generally poor and learners are known to underachieve in the field of geometry. This study was aimed at determining the readiness of learners in studying geometry under the Learning Outcome, Space, Shape and Measurement in the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. Questionnaires were administered to grade nine learners who had elected not to study, or were excluded from studying, Mathematics from grade ten onwards. Data was sought to determine what factors influence the decision to discontinue mathematics, and to gauge attitudes to the study of mathematics. Learners were given a test to measure geometry skills and knowledge that they ought to have acquired by the end of the senior phase in geometry. Data was also obtained from focus group interviews with both of learners and educators. This study indicates that learners do not continue mathematics because of the difficulties they experience. Furthermore they do not have the requisite skills and knowledge in Space, Shape and Measurement to cope with the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. Nevertheless, the attitudes of learners to the study of this new subject are positive. It is suggested that educators need to conduct baseline assessments to determine learners' abilities so as to plan appropriate revision measures before continuing with the teaching of Mathematical Literacy.


Purpose: Sharing understanding of healthcare stories lies at the heart of patient-centred care, shared decision making and service improvement. The People with Experience – User Involvement work group of CETL4HealthNE, a collaboration of Universities and NHS partners, established a web-based multi-media narrative archive to share stories of healthcare collected by partners and demonstrate the use of narratives in healthcare education.

Relevance: Pictures and poetry about living with PD were donated by artist/author Ruth Nicholson (RN), who has the condition, and with her permission scanned and placed on the internet with her audio commentary. RN is keen to educate people about PD, and physiotherapy educators want to link the psychosocial aspects of living with PD with its biological basis.

Description: A narrative approach using web-based materials supplemented with real time involvement of RN preand post-session via the lecturer is employed, to inform her of the session, gain an update on her condition and provide feedback. First year physiotherapy students, who have not undertaken a practice placement, are set preparatory independent learning via completion of a worksheet on PD. Students interact with pictures and poetry about living with PD in seminar groups with clear learning outcomes (in italics below). The WHO International Classification of Functioning (ICF) provides a theoretical focus for feedback from discussion in small groups.

Evaluation: The seminar was evaluated by student feedback (n = 131 (2006–2009) evaluated 5 learning outcomes), observation and interviews with an educator (n = 1) and students (n = 2). All students felt the seminar enabled them to gain a user perspective on PD; student interview data emphasised the power of connecting with a 'real' rather than 'paper-based' person. The seminar helped all students identify impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions associated with PD. Observation showed that the use of a familiar framework (ICF) combined with a novel teaching resource helped students to identify the relationship between theory, practice and the individual with the condition. The majority felt the seminar was useful in terms of identifying helpful characteristics in healthcare professionals, with interview data specifying evocation of empathy in particular. Observation highlighted group discussion about teamwork, communication and shared decision-making. The seminar provided an opportunity to consider how a user perspective could help in the education of healthcare professionals, and students reported that they would like more sessions in this format. The seminar aided identification of physical management approaches for most students; interview data suggested the educator could illustrate further physical management approaches through group discussion. Interview data highlighted the importance of completing preparatory independent learning in order for students to fully realise the seminar learning outcomes.

Conclusions: Evaluation data has demonstrated that a narrative approach is successful in supporting students to link psychosocial with biomedical aspects of PD, which extended to other neurological conditions later in practice. Likewise the significance of shared decision-making was validated during practice placements. Long term follow up of impact of narrative sessions is recommended.

Implications:Targeted use of a narrative approach across different levels of physiotherapy specific and interdisciplinary education could help promote a biopsychosocial and partnership approach to practice.


The last few years have seen a notable increase in the number of studies investigating the causes and effects of natural disasters in many dimensions. This paper seeks to review and assess available empirical evidence on the ex-post microeconomic effects of natural disasters on the accumulation of human capital, focusing on consumption, nutrition, education and health, including mental health. Three major findings come forward from this work. First, disasters appear to bring substantial damages to human capital, including death and destruction, and produce deleterious consequences on nutrition, education, health and many income-generating processes. Furthermore, some of these detrimental effects are both large and long-lasting. Second, there is a large degree of heterogeneity in the size – but not much in the direction – of the impacts on different socioeconomic groups. Yet, an empirical regularity across natural hazards is that the poorest carry the heaviest burden of the effects of disasters across different determinants and outcomes of human capital. Finally, although the occurrence of natural hazards is mostly out of control of authorities, there still is a significant room for policy action to minimize their impacts on the accumulation of human capital. We highlight the importance of flexible safety nets as well as the double critical role of accurate and reliable information to monitor risks and vulnerabilities, and identify the impacts and responses of households once they are hit by a disaster. The paper also lays out existing knowledge gaps, particularly in regard to the need of improving our understanding of the impacts of disasters on health outcomes, the mechanisms of transmission and the persistence of the effects in the long-run.


Book synopsis: This book offers a cross-national perspective on contemporary urban renewal in relation to social rental housing. Social housing estates – as developed either by governments (public housing) or not-for-profit agencies – became a prominent feature of the 20th century urban landscape in Northern European cities, but also in North America and Australia. Many estates were built as part of earlier urban renewal, 'slum clearance' programs especially in the post-World War 2 heyday of the Keynesian welfare state. During the last three decades, however, Western governments have launched high-profile 'new urban renewal' programs whose aim has been to change the image and status of social housing estates away from being zones of concentrated poverty, crime and other social problems. This latest phase of urban renewal – often called 'regeneration' – has involved widespread demolition of social housing estates and their replacement with mixed-tenure housing developments in which poverty deconcentration, reduced territorial stigmatization, and social mixing of poor tenants and wealthy homeowners are explicit policy goals.

Academic critical urbanists, as well as housing activists, have however queried this dominant policy narrative regarding contemporary urban renewal, preferring instead to regard it as a key part of neoliberal urban restructuring and state-led gentrification which generate new socio-spatial inequalities and insecurities through displacement and exclusion processes. This book examines this debate through original, in-depth case study research on the processes and impacts of urban renewal on social housing in European, U.S. and Australian cities. The book also looks beyond the Western urban heartlands of social housing to consider how renewal is occurring, and with what effects, in countries with historically limited social housing sectors such as Japan, Chile, Turkey and South Africa.


One of the characteristics of the kibbutz was that it belonged to a nation-wide movement, it was open to the outside world and was involved in all aspects of society. In view of the changes taking place in the kibbutzim and in their surroundings the kibbutz may forfeit its characteristics as an assertive and centralized, or at least federative, organization. In consequence the kibbutz may cease to be a social movement seeking to attain goals of universal value and turn into an organized self-interested pressure group. The dilemma faced by the kibbutz is whether it will be a system of egotistic people seeing themselves as shrewd-calculating-yuppies, or members of a social movement seeking to attain goals of universal value, considered by others as "freiers"


Organotin compounds are variously used industrial chemicals. One of the most toxicological relevant compounds is tributyltin (TBT). TBT has been used as an effective component in antifouling paints for decades. Thus, it is set free into the water column in considerable amounts and affects also non-target organismens in very low concentrations. Molluscs like snails and mussels are particularly sensitive and reproduction can be influenced significantly thereby. Once released into the water column, TBT accumulates in sediments and will remain there beyond years due to its high persistence. Several guideline values, target levels and quality standards were specified for TBT, its degradation products monobutyltin (MBT) and dibutyltin (DBT) as well as for other organotin compounds in sediments.


INTRODUCTION: Although it is widely considered that aseptic loosening is the most common cause of failure of total hip replacement (THR), studies at Queen's University Belfast indicate that routine microbiological practice underestimates the incidence of infection. By sampling directly from prostheses retrieved at the time of revision operation and adhering to strict anaerobic culture techniques the anaerobicbacterium Propionibacterium acnes is isolated as frequently as coagulase negative staphylococci. In addition non-culture detection using specific antibodies enables the detection of bacteria inculture negative samples. We now present data relating to the study of prostheses retrieved from a further 125 patients and in addition examine bone samples. METHODS: Samples were obtained from 125 patients undergoing revision operations for totalhip arthroplasty at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast. Upon removal from the patient, sampleswere transferred into an anaerobic jar for transport to the laboratory where they were transferred to an Anaerobic Work Station (Don Whitley) for processing. Samples were placed in pre-reducedquarter strength Ringer's solution containing L-cysteine and then subjected to mild ultrasoundtreatment to dislodge adherent biofilm. Samples of the Ringer's solution (sonicate) were then spread plated onto blood agars and incubated aerobically and anaerobically. Sonicate samples were also incubated with antibodies that reacted with either Staphylococcus spp or Propionibacterium acnes and FITC-conjugated secondary antibodies and then viewed using a fluorescence microscope. RESULTS: Of the 125 patients, 55 were male, 62 female and there was no gender information for 8patients. The mean age was 70 years (34 to 91); age details were absent in 12 cases. The meantime-span of the implant in situ before failure and the need for revision surgery was 12.1 years (range of 1 year to 22 years). The study confirmed our previous data that handling of samples using strict anaerobic practice resulted in the isolation of Propionibacterium acnes as frequently ascoagulase negative staphylococci. In addition, bacteria could also be cultured from bone samplesafter mild ultrasound treatment and detected by immuno-fluorescence microscopy (IFM). IFM revealed characteristic aggregates of bacteria that had been dislodged from adherent biofilm. Ninety seven percent of the patients in the study had evidence of osteolysis. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS: Clearly, bacterial infection in THR is not restricted tobacteria growing in biofilm on the prosthesis surface, but may include biofilm colonisation ofthe adjacent bone. This has important implications for the potential role of bacteria in the osteolysisobserved in these patients. These data also highlight the potential importance of the bacteriumPropionibacterium acnes in the failure of total hip replacements. The potential virulence of thisbacterium is becoming increasingly clear, with evidence of variable expression of putativedeterminants of virulence amongst different types.


In this thesis I argue that recently recorded izibongo must be read as literary texts that articulate responses to the multiple forces of constraint and possibility at the urban-rural interface. I argue that when scholars transcribe and translate performance texts they release them into new contexts of reception, and that the mediation processes involved in this recontextualisation become an important part of the way in which the texts make meaning for their new 'audiences'. As such, it is imperative that analysis of print-mediated izibongo should take into account both the performance text and context as well as the intervention of literate intermediaries in the creation of a print text. I argue for maintaining a dialectic between performance textuality, which shapes the text as it is recited to a participating audience, and the textuality of transcription. We have thus to keep in mind at least two sets of receivers those present at, and part of, the construction of the praise poem in performance, and the literate receiver, reading from a new moment and, often, a different social and cultural space. I argue that the scholar in English Studies has an important contribution to make to the recording and the study of izibongo as literary and performance texts. S/he must devise ways in which processes of translation and transcription can more adequately and creatively insist on performance textuality. The English Studies scholar must also read and write about izibongo as texts that have complex meanings and that speak to their changing contexts of reception. Such analysis necessitates attention to individual texts and requires of the critic a willingness to revise herlhis learned ways of reading. There is a need in oral literary studies to challenge print-influenced academic discourses in order to make these theories more receptive to the actual ways in which many people make sense of their lives through creative expression. In this thesis I consider the ways in which contemporary postcolonial and poststructural theory might more adequately listen to what postcolonial people say about themselves and others. In this, I argue for an academic approach that privileges cultural interdiscursivity, interdisciplinary co-operation, and an attitude of respect for the different ways in which forms like izibongo construct meaning. This thesis thus has a dual focus: it examines how recently recorded praise poems address the problem of reconstructing identity at the urban-rural interface, while considering the ways in which they speak to the uncertain identity of the scholar who tries to read them. Drawn from a variety of sources, the poems comprise both official and popular praises to suggest not only the variety of the form, but also the ways in which individual and group identities speak to each other across texts. Given the importance of self-expression at the heart of the form of izibongo, I argue that scholars in English Studies must resist the possibility, both in transcription and in criticism, of eliding the individual subjects involved in mediating identity and textuality. I also suggest that English Studies has a duty to write the oral back into institutionally defined literary histories by considering how our writing and ways of reading can better accommodate oral textuality.


Now a day food security issues become one of the critical concern and top priority area for developing countries. Having clear picture on food security status and its major determinants helps policy makers and planners to devise new policies that enhance food security. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the status of food security in the study area, to identify the major determinants of food security among the rural household, and to identify coping strategies employed by different food security status groups to cope with food insecurity. In order to achieve these objectives biophysical; demographic and socio-economic data were collected from 140 randomly selected households in Bule-hora District of Borana Zone, Oromia Regional State. A twostage sampling procedure was used to select 5 PAs. A survey was conducted to collect primary data from sample respondent. Secondary data were collected from various sources. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequency distribution. Univariate analysis such as one way ANOVA and Chi-square tests were also employed to describe characteristics of food secure, food insecure without hunger, food insecure with moderate hunger and food insecure with sever hunger categories. The survey result shows that about 23% of sampled farmers were food secure. Ordered logit regression model was fitted to analyze the potential variables affecting household food insecurity in the study area. Among 14 explanatory variables included in the logistic model, 6 of them were significant at less than 5% probability level. These are; Cultivate Land Size (LAND SIZE), Livestock holding (TLU) and Improved seed (SEEDUSE), SEX of household head, Soil fertility status (SOIL FER) and non-farm income (INCOMEON). The estimated model correctly predicted 85.2% and different recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.


In this paper, we present a novel, efficient search strategy for large vocabulary continuous speech recognition. The search algorithm, based on a stack decoder framework, utilizes phone-level posterior probability estimates (produced by a connectionist/hidden Markov model acoustic model) as a basis for phone deactivation pruning-a highly efficient method of reducing the required computation. The single-pass algorithm is naturally factored into the time-asynchronous processing of the word sequence and the time-synchronous processing of the hidden Markov model state sequence. This enables the search to be decoupled from the language model while still maintaining the computational benefits of time-synchronous processing. The incorporation of the language model in the search is discussed and computationally cheap approximations to the full language model are introduced. Experiments were performed on the North American Business News task using a 60000 word vocabulary and a trigram language model. Results indicate that the computational cost of the search may be reduced by more than a factor of 40 with a relative search error of less than 2% using the techniques discussed in the paper.


The methodology used to store a number of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land products is described. The approach has several scientific and data processing advantages over conventional approaches used to store remotely sensed data sets and may be applied to any remote-sensing data set in which the observations are geolocated to subpixel accuracy. The methodology will enable new algorithms to be more accurately developed because important information about the intersection between the sensor observations and the output grid cells are preserved. The methodology will satisfy the very different needs of the MODIS land product generation algorithms, allow sophisticated users to develop their own application-specific MODIS land data sets, and enable efficient processing and reprocessing of MODIS land products. A generic MODIS land gridding and compositing algorithm that takes advantage of the data storage structure and enables the exploitation of multiple observations of the surface more fully than conventional approaches is described. The algorithms are illustrated with simulated MODIS data, and the practical considerations of increased data storage are discussed.


Hydrocarbon generation is a temperature-dependent process and the prediction of hydrocarbon generation in basin modelling requires the crustal heat flow history to be predicted. Tectonically, the Faroe–Shetland Basin (FSB) has been subjected to a number of Cretaceous rifting events, followed in the Tertiary by Balder volcanism and, finally, by Oligo-Miocene inversion. In this study the thermal history of the FSB is derived using two independent methods (rifting–volcanic–subsidence history and maturation). The methodology is described using two wells (204/19-1 and 205/22-1) in the southern FSB. The vitrinite reflectance results predicted by the PresRo® model, which was devised for modelling maturation in overpressured basins such as the FSB, produced predicted vitrinite reflectances that matched the measured values. The method was then applied to a pseudowell within the Foinaven sub-basin, and the predicted vitrinite reflectance values for the Kimmeridge Clay Formation source at 8 km depth indicate that the source is still mature for oil generation due to the extensive retardation induced by the highly overpressured, argillaceous Mesozoic sediments.


A method is described for obtaining the true relative intensities of lines in a Raman spectrum excited by natural unpolarized light. Detection and intensity measurement was accomplished by means of a large photoelectric grating spectrograph. Correction of intensity measurements for the variable polarization and line breadth of the Raman lines is accomplished by methods described in this paper. Depolarization factors have been measured for natural unpolarized exciting light (ρn), for perpendicularly polarized exciting light (ρs), and for parallel-polarized exciting light (ρp). The spectra investigated are those of CCl4, CHCl3, C6H6, and CS2. The values obtained for ρn agree well with those obtained by numerous investigators. The values obtained for ρs and ρp seem to be in accord with the predictions of the theory. ρp seems to be highly sensitive to changes in symmetry of highly symmetrical vibrations, reaching a very large value for vibrations where ρn=.06 and rapidly approaches 1.00 for vibrations where ρn=.30 as well as for completely depolarized lines.Measurements of ρn, ρs, and ρp were made for the Rayleigh scattering of these same molecules, using the identical apparatus employed for the Raman spectrum. Qualitatively the measurements are satisfactory. The presence of parasitic light shows that modifications will have to be made in the scattering apparatus to obtain satisfactory quantitative ρ values, especially for highly isotropic molecules.


This article is about a simple two-variable equation forecasting presidential election outcomes and a three-variable equation forecasting seat change in House elections. Over the past two decades a cottage industry of political forecasting has developed (Lewis-Beck and Rice 1992; Campbell and Garand 2000). At the 1994 meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, several participants offered their forecasts of the upcoming midterm House elections. Unfortunately, not one of the forecasters was within 20 seats of the actual outcome. If, however, these forecasts had been pooled, as Gaddie (1997) points out, then they would have come remarkably close to the actual seat change that occurred. Moving forward, at the 1996 APSA Annual Meeting the collection of forecasters did a much better job with that year's presidential election. The forecasters also got the overall popular vote outcome correct at the 2000 APSA Annual Meeting for that year's presidential election. We all forecasted a victory for Al Gore, with James Campbell coming the closest to the actual total (50.2%) at 52.8%. At the panel at the 2004 APSA Annual Meeting almost every forecaster predicted the actual outcome correctly. Forecasting elections holds us accountable—we cannot go back and change our forecast for an election after it has occurred. Moreover, if we stick with one forecast, it easy to judge the overall accuracy of our equations.


John Courtney Murray is renowned for his contributions to American ethical debates and well known for his defense of civil religious freedom. He strongly felt that religion should be taught in public schools and universities. Murray had a decisive influence on juridical, political, and social theories. This intriguing volume includes, in addition to two of Murray's most important statements on religious freedom, two essays newly made available to the reading public. This fascinating collection will help readers look back at past struggles over religious liberty and forward to dilemmas presently facing the church. The Library of Theological Ethics series focuses on what it means to think theologically and ethically. It presents a selection of important and otherwise unavailable texts in easily accessible form. Volumes in this series will enable sustained dialogue with predecessors though reflection on classic works in the field.


Global anthropogenic emissions of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen are reviewed by major category. Both present and historical emissions are reviewed including respective uncertainty ranges. The article concludes with a brief discussion of how to relate trends in emissions to the evolution of their underlying driving forces using energy-related carbon emissions as an example.

Main conclusions for the three gases are summarized below:

Anthropogenic emissions of carbon are small compared to the sizes of natural carbon reservoirs and the annual flow rates between them. Yet they constitute important perturbations of the natural carbon cycle, well quantified for industrial carbon emissions (mostly the burning of fossil fuels), but remaining uncertain for carbon emissions arising from biomass burning and land-use changes. Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, some 530 billion tons of carbon (PgC) gross emissions have been released by human activities to the atmosphere, part of which was balanced by (highly uncertain) terrestrial biospheric carbon sinks. Net carbon emissions over the period 1800-2000 are estimated at 280 PgC. After accounting for oceanic uptake, these emissions have increased the atmospheric carbon loading by 200 PgC, or by one-third natural levels. In the absence of stringent climate policies, between 770 and 2540 PcG could be released to the atmosphere over the next 100 years. A significant amplification of humankind's "discernible influence on the climate system" is thus likely.

Anthropogenic emissions of sulfur have surpassed natural flows ever since the first quarter of the 20th century. Since about 1975 global emissions (mostly from burning of sulfur-rich fuels such as coal and oil) have stayed roughly constant. A continued rise in sulfur emissions in developing countries has been compensated by drastic declines in emissions in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries as a result of environmental policies. Similar policies will be required also in developing countries to counter local and regional environmental impacts of high sulfur emissions. A slowdown and ultimately a trend reversal of sulfur emission growth trends also in developing countries could thus be likely over the next few decades.

Emissions of nitrogen take a variety of forms and originate from a wide array of different sources including: nitrogen oxides, principally formed in high temperature combustion (burning of fossil fuels); ammonia, principally arising from animal manure; and nitrous oxide (N2O), a powerful greenhouse, principally arising from soil microbial process as well as agricultural activities and animal manure. Because of the multitude of gases and sources, emission estimates are poorly understood and uncertain. There is also a paucity of both past and present inventory data and future emission scenarios. More research is therefore needed before considering policy interventions to control these gases beyond well established source categories (e.g. nitrogen oxide emissions from automobiles, or nitrous oxide emissions from adipic acid production).


A model had been considered where there is price competition between two
manufacturers and one retailer. Subsequently, this model was extended by including
price competition between two manufacturers and two retailers. Moreover, price and
service competition had been studied where there are two manufacturers producing
competing products and selling them through a common retailer. The consumer
demand depends on two factors: (1) retail price and (2) service level provided by the
manufacturer.
In this study, a channel structure in which there are duopoly manufacturers and
duopoly common retailers in competition between channel members under wholesale
price and retail's margin and service provided by retailer was studied. Customer
demand depends on two factors: (1) price and (2) service level provided by the
retailer. Both of these manufacturers produce competing products and sell their
products to both common retailers. This study focuses on the role of service provided
by the retailer, how the bargaining power can affect the decision variables and
channel member's profit, when there is competition between the retailers service and margin and manufacturers price (decision variables). To overcome this problem a
solution on the effect of bargaining power to supply chain equilibrium was studied.
The demand function model was developed by considering service by retailer in
duopoly retailer channel structure. The effect of bargaining power on equilibrium
solution when the manufacturer or the retailer is a leader, and the effect of increase
production cost and market base and price and service competition index on the
channel's decision variables was determined. The game theory approach was used to
derive equilibrium solutions for wholesale prices, retailer margins and service, and
profits for each channel member. To study the effect of bargaining power in this
supply chain equilibrium solution, Manufacturer Stackelberg, Retailer Stackelberg,
and Vertical Nash were used. In this study, it was shown that customers receive the
least benefit from service when the retailer is leader. They are better off when the
manufacturer is leader. The effect of changes in price competition indexes (b p , θ p ),
service competition indexes (bs , θ s ), production cost ( ), and market base ( ) on
market sensitivity were analyzed. The result showed that when c of one
manufacturer increases, the firm can sell its product at a higher price and with lower
quantity but its competitor benefits. By increasing the market base of one of the
manufacturers, the wholesale and retail price increase. When customer tends to
choose a product with lower price, the manufacturer sells its product with lower
wholesale price. Since, it was assumed that the cost of providing service increases by
the power of 2, it is not economical to invest in service. Therefore, by increasing
ci aij
i θ sand bs the service level first increases and then decreases.


Managed language platforms such as the Java Virtual Machine or the Common Language Runtime rely on a dynamic compiler to achieve high performance. Besides making optimization decisions based on the actual program execution and the underlying hardware platform, a dynamic compiler is also in an ideal position to perform speculative optimizations. However, these tend to increase the compilation costs, because unsuccessful speculations trigger deoptimization and recompilation of the affected parts of the program, wasting previous work. Even though speculative optimizations are widely used, the costs of these optimizations in terms of extra compilation work has not been previously studied. In this paper, we analyze the behavior of the Graal dynamic compiler integrated in Oracle's HotSpot Virtual Machine. We focus on situations which cause program execution to switch from machine code to the interpreter, and compare application performance using three different deoptimization strategies which influence the amount of extra compilation work done by Graal. Using an adaptive deoptimization strategy, we managed to improve the average start-up performance of benchmarks from the DaCapo, ScalaBench, and Octane benchmark suites, mostly by avoiding wasted compilation work. On a single-core system, we observed an average speed-up of 6.4% for the DaCapo and ScalaBench workloads, and a speed-up of 5.1% for the Octane workloads; the improvement decreases with an increasing number of available CPU cores. We also find that the choice of a deoptimization strategy has negligible impact on steady-state performance. This indicates that the cost of speculation matters mainly during start-up, where it can disturb the delicate balance between executing the program and the compiler, but is quickly amortized in steady state.


Vibration control strategies strive to reduce the effect of harmful vibrations such as machining chatter. In general, these strategies are classified as passive or active. While passive vibration control techniques are generally less complex, there is a limit to their effectiveness. Active vibration control strategies, which work by providing an additional energy supply to vibration systems, on the other hand, require more complex algorithms but can be very effective. In this work, a novel artificial neural network-based active vibration control system has been developed. The developed system can detect the sinusoidal vibration component with the highest power and suppress it in one control cycle, and in subsequent cycles, sinusoidal signals with the next highest power will be suppressed. With artificial neural networks trained to cover enough frequency and amplitude ranges, most of the original vibration can be suppressed. The efficiency of the proposed methodology has been verified experimentally in the vibration control of a cantilever beam. Artificial neural networks can be trained automatically for updated time delays in the system when necessary. Experimental results show that the developed active vibration control system is real time, adaptable, robust, effective and easy to be implemented. Finally, an experimental setup of chatter suppression for a lathe has been successfully implemented, and the successful techniques used in the previous artificial neural network-based active vibration control system have been utilized for active chatter suppression in turning.


This informational document describes and identifies the requirements
for transactions to handle Public Key Certificate (PKC) lifecycle
transactions between Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) Virtual
Private Network (VPN) Systems using Internet Key Exchange (IKE)
(versions 1 and 2) and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Systems. These
requirements are designed to meet the needs of enterprise-scale IPsec
VPN deployments. It is intended that a standards track profile of a
management protocol will be created to address many of these
requirements. This memo provides information for the Internet
community.


This Essay identifies five assumptions that have worked their way into the debate on standing before the dispute settlement panels of the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). The dispute settlement process is one of the most visible — and most scrutinized — activities of the WTO. Moreover, the dispute settlement process constitutes an integral part of the international trade regime. The five assumptions discussed in this Essay are assumptions; they have neither been proven nor disproven by either side of the debate. This Essay does not empirically treat any of these assumptions, other than to demonstrate that they are assumptions. Rather, this Essay discusses the degradation to the debate over standing that could be caused by acceptance of these assumptions, and sets out ground rules for avoiding these harms. A real understanding of the WTO, and real progress in improving the international trade regime, will only be achieved through meticulous study that avoids easy assumptions. TWO SNOWFLAKES ARE ALIKE: ASSUMPTIONS MADE IN THE DEBATE OVER STANDING BEFORE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BOARDS


The paper will examine the dramatic rise of the right-wing Hindu organisations in India, especially since the 1990s. Most prominent among these organisations are RSS, BJP, VHP, Bajang Dal and Shiv Sena. However, they all work together under the philosophy of Hindutva (i.e. Hindu-ness) and are rabidly anti-minority in their stance. They appear to need an 'enemy' in the form of a religious minority to unite Hindus and consolidate their support. This study is important because RSS is too politically significant to be ignored. Since the BJP (BhartiyaJanta Party) came to power in May 2014, its ministers and senior party leaders have been coming out in support of Hindutva. Attacks against Muslims have risen sharply. Cultural issues such as cow slaughter and the building of the Ram temple at Ayodhya have been raised again by the RSS as a means of dividing communities and keeping Muslims in a state of constant fear and insecurity. This study argues that the failure of India's economic development to remove socio-economic constraints leading to slow and uneven development has intensified rivalry between castes and religious communities. Under such conditions, it became possible for extremist Hindu organisations to target people on the basis of religion.


Thirty-five Late Permian ostracode species are reported from subsurface samples of the David-1 and Emunah-1 wells in Israel, including the new species Arqoviella piscatoris, Arqoviella davidensis and Richterina? sylvieae . Together with previously recorded species, the total number of Late Permian ostracodes from Israel now amounts to forty-four. Similar taxa are reported mainly from Hungary, Greece, Oman and Turkey. The local ostracode zone is renamed the Sargentina (P) Assemblage Zone. The fauna indicates a normal marine, shelf environment of deposition.


This paper argues that our service-oriented conception of the enterprise is poised for a disruptive change. This change will leverage innovations in data science to enable us to continually learn and improve models the models that drive services. It will also enable us to manage these service using model-based dashboards, with models serving as both sensors (enabling us to view operational data using model-based abstractions) and effectors (enabling us to specify desired states of affairs in terms of changes to these models, with the associated machinery computing the necessary actions/interventions required to make the operational machinery to conform to these specifications). These changes need to be viewed in the context of a broader shift towards post-theoretic enterprises, where the traditional, largely static bodies of knowledge that have driven the enterprise will be supplanted by a much more fluid (and datadriven) collection of insights.


The world's governments have identified reducing the rate of biodiversity loss as a global priority. However, we lack robust measures of progress toward this target. Developing indicators that are generally representative of trends in global biodiversity has presented the scientific community with a significant challenge. Here we discuss the development and implementation of the IUCN Red List Index with a new sampled approach, permitting the assessment of the conservation status and trends of large, speciose taxonomic groups. This approach is based on the IUCN Red List and measures trends in extinction risk through time. The challenges in developing this new approach are addressed, including determining the species groups to be included in the index, identifying the minimum adequate samples size, and aggregating and weighting the index. Implementing this approach will greatly increase understanding of the status of the world's biodiversity by 2010, enabling the first assessment of a number of key groups.


This paper presents a computational study of ignition in nonpremixed Counterflowing CO/Hj versus heated air. To understand the chemical and dynamical mechanisms governing CO/H2 ignition, we have examined the following features: the effect of £[2 concentration on the system's ignition characteristics, the dominant chemical kinetics just prior to ignition, the role of convection and diffusion with respect to chemical kinetics, and the dependence of ignition temperature on pressure variation. Three ignition regimes were identified, based upon the influence of Ha concentration, which we have designated (1) Hj-dominating, (2) transition and (3) H2catalyzing. In the Hj-dominated regime, relevant for high H2 concentrations, the controlling ignition kinetics involves that of H2 chemistry with minimal CO influence. In the transition regime, the participation of CO kinetics, especially through its exothermicity, allows the CO/H2 system to be ignitable even when the analogous N2/H2 system ceases to be ignitable. Sensitivity analysis shows that it is the competition between Hj and HO2 chemistry in the two systems that determines whether or not the system is ignitable. Finally, in the Hj-catalyzed regime, relevant for low H2 concentrations, the dominant kinetics are found to include both H2 and CO chemistry. Furthermore, by studying the effects of pressure on the ignition temperature in the H2-catalyzed regime, three ignition limits corresponding to those of H2 explosion are identified, as is reasonable to expect.


Total Factor Productivity (TFP) measures the growth in output which is not accounted for by inputs. Data Envelopment Analysis which forms the basis for the computation of Malmquist TFP index is used in this paper to study the performance of different river basins in Andhra Pradesh state, India. The results indicated that average technical efficiency of all the basins is only 66%. In all the basins there was a decline in growth of agricultural output during the first two decades, viz., 1979-1980 to 1988-1989 and it had picked in the last decade (1999-2000). All the river basins have TFP change greater than 1 indicating progress in agricultural productivity. Out of the 40 river basins, 14 river basins have technical efficiency change less than 1 indicating decline in TFP growth whereas all the basins have technical changes greater than 1 implying that there is shift in production frontier over years. In general, within the TFP, technical change contributed more than technical efficiency change. Looking at the future options for increasing the agricultural output in the river basins, it is important to focus on improving the TFP growth compared to increasing the quantities of physical inputs.


In this Symposium contribution, I argue that ordinary moral discourse recognizes six categories of morally significant actions: (1) positively obligatory actions (actions that are required); (2) negatively obligatory actions (actions that are forbidden); (3) supererogatory actions (actions that are praiseworthy but not required); (4) suberogatory actions (actions that are blameworthy but not forbidden); (5) quasi-supererogatory actions (actions that are supererogatory if performed, and suberogatory if omitted); and (6) amoral or morally neutral actions (actions that merit neither praise nor blame). As I argue, super-, sub-, and quasi-supererogatory actions paradoxically rely upon the existence of "non-obligatory oughts" -- moral injunctions to do what as a moral matter we need not do. The remainder of the article is devoted to developing a theory that makes these non-obligatory oughts coherent. The theory that I advance distinguishes deontic duties from aretaic duties, and derives the oughts of super- and suberogation from our aretaic duties to develop certain dispositions or character traits. As I argue, our aretaic duties require us to perform actions that are deontically supererogatory and to refrain from actions that are deontically suberogatory. Only if we conceive of super- and suberogation as simultaneously governed by deontic permissions and aretaic obligations can we make sense of the dual claims implicit in daily gossip that we are obligated to cultivate such virtues as kindness and generosity, and that kindness and generosity consist in doing what we are not obligated to do. As the title elliptically suggests, the article thus advances the claim that we have (aretaic) duties to go beyond the call of (deontic) duty.


Recent research in psychology, especially that called "The New Unconscious", is discovering strange and unintuitive phenomena, some of which raise interesting challenges for the law. This paper discusses some of these challenges. For example, if much of our mental life occurs out of our awareness and control, and yet is subject to easy external manipulation, what implications does this have for holding defendants responsible for their deeds? For that matter, what implications does this have for trusting judges to judge and act as they should, and would, if their own mental processes were fully conscious and controlled? Some provocative ideas are suggested, such as how to make prison terms shorter and more deterring at the same time; assisting judges in overcoming inconsistency and biases; etc.


The scaling of CO 2 and water vapour transfer from leaf to canopy dimensions was achieved by integrating mechanistic models for physiological (photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and soil/root and bole respiration) and micrometeorological (radiative transfer, turbulent transfer and surface energy exchanges) processes. The main objectives of this paper are to describe a canopy photosynthesis and evaporation model for a temperate broadleaf forest and to test it against field measurements. The other goal of this paper is to use the validated model to address some contemporary ecological and physiological questions concerning the transfer of carbon and water between forest canopies and the atmosphere. In particular, we examine the role of simple versus complex radiative transfer models and the effect of environmental (solar radiation and CO 2 ) and ecophysiological (photosynthetic capacity) variables on canopy-scale carbon and water vapour fluxes.


Poor quality housing is an ongoing environmental injustice placing a significant burden on low-income and minority families. The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) in Baltimore, MD, grew out of the historical healthy homes work of the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, an organization dedicated to using housing as a platform for health to ensure environmental and social justice for families and children in low-income communities. GHHI's Healthy Homes Demonstration Project utilized the standards and practices created by GHHI: A Holistic Housing Assessment coupled with environmental health education and combined as an integrated environmental health and energy housing intervention for children with asthma, ages 2–14. The project braids resources from healthy homes, lead hazard reduction, weatherization, and energy efficiency projects to form a single multi-component, multi-factorial intervention. Findings from the health surveys at intake and six months after the intervention provide evidence of the impact on the reduction of asthma symptomatic episodes, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations, while showing improvements in school attendance and parents' work attendance. Findings will provide evidence that improved health outcomes and more stable and productive homes in primarily African American, low-income neighborhoods are related to the mitigation of asthma triggers and home-based environmental health hazards. Upstream integrated housing interventions are an effective means to improve health, economic, and social outcomes for children diagnosed with asthma.


Balinese traditional dance and music are imbued with the values, cultural identity and artistic expression of the Balinese, with close links to the Hindu religion. Balinese Hindus in particular strongly believe that dance and music are mediums to bring them closer to the gods. In Bali, religion, art and culture are fused together in daily life. For the Balinese, no religious ceremony is complete without the presence of art and culture. Equally as important as dance and music, living in harmony with the environment for the sake of human survival is another strong conviction among the people of Bali. In addition to music and dance performances, nature is believed to hold many supernatural powers which cannot be understood by mankind. People are expected to maintain a harmonious relationship between all elements. This is why dance and music are continuously maintained and developed over time. The strong adherence of the Balinese people to Hinduism contributes to the preservation of traditional dance and music so that these traditions may never be lost. This paper was first presented on the Workshop of Hindu Art in Southeast Asia hosted by SEAMEO SPAFA, on May 28, 2017, at ISI Denpasar and has been peer-reviewed.


Phytoremediation is an economic and environmentally friendly technique to remediate contaminated-soil. In this study, the effects of plants, rhizobacteria and physicochemical factors on phytoremediation have been reviewed. For successful phytoremediation, the selection of plants is primarily important. To remediate soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon, raygrass (Lolium multiflorum lam), white mustard, vetch (Vicia villosa), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), legumes, poplar, and Pine (Pinus densiflora) were mainly applied, and the removal efficiency of petroleum hydrocarbon were ranged 68 to 99%. Corn (Zea mays), raygrass (Lolium multiflorum lam), vetch (Vicia villosa), mustard, clover (Trifolium repens), and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) were used for the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and their removal efficiencies were 50-98%. Rhizobacteria play significant roles for phytoremediation because they can directly participate in the degradation of contaminant as well as promoting plants growth. The following rhizobacteria were preferred for phytoremediation: Azospirillum lipoferum, Enterobactor cloacae, Azospirillum brasilense, Pseudomonas putida, Burkholderia xenovorans, Comamonas testosterone, Pseudomonas gladioli, Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus megaterium, and Bacillus subtilis. Pysicochemical factors such as pH, temperature, nutrient, electron acceptor, water content, organic content, type of contaminants are consequential limiting factors for phytoremediation.


This article considers James Baldwin's last published novel, Just Above My Head  (1979), as the culmination of his exploration of kinship, reflecting on the ways distance and loss characterize African-American familial relations. By analyzing Baldwin's representation of Hall Montana's relationship to, and mourning of, his younger brother Arthur, this article argues that JAMH revises the terms of the black family to imagine an alternative, errant kinship that is adoptive, migratory, and sustained through songs of joy and grief. My approach to the novel's portrayal of kinship is indebted to Edouard Glissant's Poetics of Relation (1990), in which he defines "errantry" as a fundamental characteristic of diaspora that resists the claustrophobic, filial violence and territorial dispossession that are slavery's legacies. Baldwin represents errant kinship in JAMH through his inclusion of music and formal experimentation. Departing from previous scholarship that reads JAMH as emblematic of the author's artistic decline, I interpret the novel's numerous syntactic and figurative experiments as offering new formal insight into his portrait of brotherly love. Baldwin's integration of two distinctive leitmotifs, blood and song, is therefore read as a formal gesture toward a more capacious and migratory kinship.


Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an organism that causes several gastric issues in majority of the formulation, it is a gram negative bacteria that increases the secretion of acid in stomach causing ulcer of stomach and duodenum that may lead to several other conditions like Zollinger Ellison syndrome (ZES), gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) etc. A study was conducted on population of Karachi (n=400 i.e. 200 males and 200 females) having junk food in their diet either daily, per week, or in 15 days and those visiting OPD of different hospitals with having complain of acidity, to find out either the acidity was due to H. pylori or not, and found out that in majority of population H. pylori is the cause behind acidity, thus indicating the increased prevalence of H. pylori in the population having acidity issues, for which several measures should be taken.


In this work, theoretical analysis of shear-horizontal vibrations of crystal plates under lateral electric field excitation (LFE) without and with a fluid layer is presented. A crystal plate with separated electrodes under thickness electric field excitation (TFE) in contact with a fluid layer is also analyzed.We have started with analyzing the coupled face-shear (FS) and thickness-twist (TT) motions of piezoelectric plates with lateral electric fields, using the Mindlin's first-order theory of piezoelectric plates. Solutions for propagating waves, and for free and electrically-forced vibrations are obtained, leading to basic vibration characteristics for resonator applications including dispersion relations, frequency spectra, and motional capacitance. Numerical results are presented for AT-cut quartz plates. We have then studied the coupled face-shear (FS) and thickness-twist (TT) motions of a piezoelectric plate with mass layers on the central parts of the plate surfaces, driven by a lateral electric field. An analytical solution is obtained. Numerical results are presented for an AT-cut quartz plate, including the motional capacitance of the plate as a resonator and vibration modes trapped under the mass layers in the central portion of the plate. The relationship between the dimensions of the mass layers and the number of trapped modes is examined.We have studied the thickness-shear vibration of a rotated Y-cut quartz crystal plate whose one surface is in contact with a fluid layer. In this study, two configurations are considered. For the first configuration, we have analyzed the plate vibrations driven by a lateral electric field, using both the theory of piezoelectricity and the theory of Newtonian fluids. The solutions for both free and forced vibrations are obtained. Approximate expressions for the frequency shifts in the crystal plate due to the fluid are presented. The admittance of the structure is also calculated. The results illustrate the impacts of the thickness, the density and the viscosity of the fluid layer on the frequency shifts in the plate. In the second configuration, the fluid is under an electrode separated from the crystal plate and the driving electric field is in the plate thickness direction. This configuration qualitatively describes the effect of the liquid permittivity on the frequency shifts in a real LFE liquid sensor.Finally, I studied the propagation of shear-horizontal waves in a piezoelectric plate in contact with a fluid layer as an acoustic wave sensor for measuring fluid viscosity or density. Mindlin's first-order theory of piezoelectric plates and the theory of Newtonian fluids are used. Two kinds of fluid layers are considered. One is with finite thickness, and the other is semi-infinite. Approximate dispersion relations for long face-shear and thickness-twist waves are given analytically. In the first one, numerical results only show the effects of the fluid on wave characteristics. In the other, numerical results showing the effects of the fluid and the piezoelectric coupling in the plate on wave characteristics are presented.


Mel Bochner (b. 1940) is celebrated as a key Conceptual artist of the 1960s. Less well-known are his paintings made after that period: complex works based on an exploration of language, often crowded with typography in lush, contrasting hues that both embrace and challenge the painterly tradition. Mel Bochner: Strong Language focuses on this important body of work, in which Bochner investigates the lines between text and image. Ranging from bold admonishments and witty emoticons to provocative floods of words, these works demonstrate conceptual seriousness, as well as delight in the playful potential of language. Norman L. Kleeblatt discusses the evolution of Bochner's art from his early word experiments through his return to painting, while Bochner offers a personal perspective. Both Kleeblatt and Bochner address the question of Jewishness in Bochner's work, particularly the ways in which the Jewish intellectual tradition embraces language as a visual expressive form.


The influence of ultrasonication pretreatment on fermentative bioenergy [ethanol/hydrogen (H2)] production from a newly isolated microalgae biomass (Scenedesmus obliquusYSW15) was investigated. S. obliquusYSW15 biomass was sonicated for 0 min (control), 5 min (short-term treatment), 15 and 60 min (long-term treatment), which caused different states of cell lysis for microbial fermentation. Long-term sonication significantly damaged the microalgal cell integrity, which subsequently enhanced the bioenergy production. The accumulative bioenergy (ethanol/hydrogen) production after long-term sonication was almost 7 times higher than that after short-term treatment or the control. The optimal ratio of microalgal biomass to anaerobic inoculum for higher bioenergy production was 1:1. Microscopic analyses with an energy-filtering transmission electron microscope (EF-TEM) and an atomic force microscope (AFM) collectively indicated that cells were significantly damaged during sonication and that the carbohydrates diffused out of the microalgae interiors and accumulated on the microalgae surfaces and/or within the periplasm, which led to enhanced bioaccessibility and bioavailability of the biomass. These results demonstrate that ultrasonication is an effective pretreatment method for enhancing the fermentative bioenergy production from microalgal biomass.


In the last decade the US federal government proposed a transformation vision of mental health service delivery; patient-centered, evidence-based and recovery oriented treatment models. Health care reform brings additional expectations for innovation in mental/substance use service delivery, particularly the idea of creating systems where physical health, mental health and substance use treatment is fully integrated. Psychiatric nurses, as one of the four core US mental health professions, have the potential to play a significant role in the both the transformation initiative and health care reform vision. However, psychiatric nurses, particularly advanced practice psychiatric nurses, are an untapped resource due in part to significant state regulatory barriers that limit their scope of practice in many states. The purpose of this paper is to document what is currently known about advanced practice psychiatric nurses and discuss policy implications for tapping into the strengths of this workforce. Strategies for facilitating utilization of advanced practice psychiatric nurses discussed.


Crosstalk noise is an intrinsic characteristic of photonic devices used by optical router which is used in optical networks-on-chip. It also adds a new dimension to the design of the optical router based on the photonic devices. We analyzed crosstalk noise at device level and router level. Based on the detailed analysis, we proposed a general analytical model to study the transmission loss, crosstalk noise, optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR), and bit error ratio in the 5 × 5 hitless optical router. For the first time, this paper used the crossing angles of 60° or 120° instead of the conventional 90° crossing angle to design the optical router. It is obtained that by using this method OSNR is improved by about 10 dB.


Abstract : The aim of this work is to develop a metamaterial absorber that can be incorporated into a terahertz (THz) imaging system with a 4.7 THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) illumination source. Finite element (FE) simulations were utilized to design metamaterials, and a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) was employed to characterize the absorption spectrum of each metamaterial configuration. Process parameters for future work with the microfabrication devices have been established for the Naval Postgraduate School clean room. Analysis of experimental data provided insight in determining the refractive index of the metamaterial dielectric, SiOx, from 38 THz and confirmed the Lorentzian shape for the absorption spectrum as theoretically proposed by another group. Future work will incorporate the metamaterial absorber design of this research into a more efficient, cost effective, bi-material THz sensor that can be employed in a variety of naval applications.


Plant roots consist of various functional zones; the root cap and beyond the lateral root formation region have very low water permeability due to immature water conduit and root suberization, respectively. The root hair zone, which is located between these regions, is the most permeable zone, where both radial and axial conductivities are high, and has been suggested to play a role in water uptake enhancement. The conventional understanding of root hair function is that root hairs increase root surface area, thereby enhancing water and nutrient uptake. Yet, modeling the soil water status between root hairs shows that the soil water potential there reaches a value close to that of the root in a very short time. The corresponding low water content values within the inter‐root‐hair domain indicates limited mass water flow and ion diffusion rate toward the root. Consequently, we conclude that when the plant transpires (daytime), root hairs do not increase water and nutrient uptake by increasing root surface area. Instead we used both magnetic resonance imaging technology, for measurements and analysis of spatial and dynamic changes in water content in the rhizosphere, and numerical modeling to show that: (i) root hairs function mostly by water uptake through the root hair tip plane; (ii) the growth of root hairs, perpendicular to the root surface, expands the apparent diameter of the cylinder that is characterized by the root water potential, thereby increasing the effective surface area of the root for water uptake; and (iii) the growth of needle‐shaped root hairs requires minimal investment in biomass with less mechanical resistance compared with alternative strategies that require larger root diameter or root length.


Cloud Computing has become one of the popular buzzwords in the IT area after Web2.0. This is not a new technology, but the concept that binds different existed technologies altogether including Grid Computing, Utility Computing, distributed system, virtualization and other mature technique. Business Process Management (BPM) is designed for business management using IT infrastructure to focus on process modeling, monitor and management. BPM is composed of business process, business information and IT resources, which help to build a real-time intelligent system, based on business management and IT technologies. This paper describes theory on Cloud Computing and proposes a BPM implement on Cloud environments.


The thesis reports experimental and theoretical studies of premixed combustion rates at high pressure and temperature. It focuses on measurements of laminar and turbulent burning velocities at high pressures and temperatures approaching those in engines, with emphasis on flame instabilities. To encourage the development of such instabilities, mixtures with negative Markstein numbers were employed. Three different methods were used to measure burning velocities in a spherical bomb. The bomb was fitted with windows for observing flame propagation at the centre of the bomb and a transducer to measure pressure. Four fans at the wall of the bomb were employed for mixing and the generation of turbulence. The first two methods of measuring burning velocities were well established and involved central ignition. The third method was new and involved implosions of two flame kernels that originated at spark plugs mounted near the wall. It enabled the later stages of burning at the high pressures to be observed and burning velocities to be measured. The first method depended on highspeed schlieren photographic measurements of the flame speed, dr / dt , at different radii, r, supplemented by pressure measurements. The second method was employed when the flame front has propagated beyond the boundaries of the window and could no longer be observed. The expression for the burning velocity rested upon the assumption that the flame was spherical and the fractional pressure rise was equal to the fractional mass burned. Two different approaches were employed for the new third method, one was based on geometrical considerations, the other on the fractional pressure rise. A knowledge of the flame area and the appropriate geometrical analysis enabled two expressions to be obtained for the burning velocity. The agreement between the two different approaches for obtaining burning velocities, and the general consistency of the results for both initially laminar and turbulent flames, showed the technique to be accurate and suitable for obtaining burning velocities at high pressure. As a result, burning velocities, initially laminar, were measured for iso-octane air at equivalence ratios ranging from 0.8 to 1.6 at initial pressures of 0.5 and 1.0 MPa. They were also measured for hydrogen air mixtures at equivalence ratios of 0.3 to 0.5. Modification of the linear theory of flame instability of Bechtold and Matalon enabled the laminar burning velocity to be obtained from the values of unstable burning velocities. Enhancements of the laminar burning velocity of up to six fold were measured. Turbulent burning velocities were measured over a range of rms turbulent velocities ranging from 0.25 to 3 mls. It was found that these values of burning velocity were higher than those predicted from earlier expressions, derived predominantly from more stable flames close to atmospheric pressure. The possibility that turbulent burning velocities might be enhanced, not only by the effect of flame stretch at negative Markstein numbers, but also by flamelet instabilities was also investigated at high pressures and with mixtures with very low Markstein numbers. Stoichiometric and rich iso-octane-air flames were selected for this study and mixtures were ignited at initial pressures of 0.5 and 1.0 MPa. This enabled burning velocities to be measured up to 6 MPa.


Noting that stimulation of metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors attenuates release of the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in various brain regions by means of retrograde endocannabinoid signaling through presynaptic CB1 receptors (see Di Marzo and Cristino), Maccarrone et al. investigated endocannabinoid signaling in the striatum. A combination of pharmacological and electrophysiological analysis of striatal slices revealed that activation of mGlu5 receptors with 3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) led to the CB1-dependent inhibition of GABA release. There are two principal endocannabinoids, anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), and DHPG increased 2-AG concentration, but not that of anandamide, by stimulating activity of the 2-AG synthetic enzyme diacylglycerol lipase (DAGL) and inhibiting activity of the 2-AG degrading enzyme monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL). Although functional interactions between anandamide and 2-AG had not previously been shown, pharmacological inhibition of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH, the enzyme that degrades anandamide) blocked the DHPG-mediated increase in 2-AG and prevented its effects on GABAergic transmission, as did FAAH knockout. The stable anandamide derivative methanandamide also blocked DHPG-mediated increase in 2-AG and decreased basal 2-AG. Anandamide activates transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) channels, and the TRPV1 agonist capsaicin inhibited the effects of DHPG on 2-AG concentration and GABAergic transmission as well, whereas pharmacological inhibition of FAAH and capsaicin failed to block the effects of DHPG on 2-AG and GABAergic transmission in mice lacking TRPV1. Manipulations that increased anandamide concentration were associated with decreased DAGL activity, and capsaicin blocked a DHPG-dependent increase in striatal glutathione (which stimulates DAGL). Thus, anandamide can inhibit the production and effects of striatal 2-AG through activation of TRPV1, effects that seem to involve a glutathione-dependent pathway. M. Maccarrone, S. Rossi, M. Bari, V. De Chiara, F. Fezza, A. Musella, V. Gasperi, C. Prosperetti, G. Bernardi, A. Finazzi-Agrò, B. F Cravatt, D. Centonze, Anandamide inhibits metabolism and physiological actions of 2-arachidonoylglycerol in the striatum. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 152-159 (2008). [PubMed] V. Di Marzo, L. Cristino, Why endocannabinoids are not all alike. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 124-126 (2008). [PubMed]


We present a manufacturing method based on the dynamic use of phase plates to photowrite Bragg gratings. This process allows for control of the local value of the index modulation envelope in the grating. The application to apodized fiber Bragg gratings is discussed.


This paper aims to explore the corporate governance of banks in economic crisis and whether poor corporate governance has led to the crisis. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the complex world of financial regulation and that corporate governance is just one of the many possible culprits in the economic crisis. The level of financial crisis has been unprecedented and as such the regulatory response has been prolific. The researcher aims to discuss some of the reform proposals to see whether the time is right to legislate and whether these areas of reform indeed address the facets of the banking sector that need to be fixed.


Imagine that a group of foreign registered nurses approach their lawyer because they feel abused and want to quit their jobs. They signed an employment contract agreeing to remain employed for three years and are unsure of their rights. The contract that they signed also contains a $25,000 liquidated damage provision. The lawyer advised his clients that they have to right to quit, and after they quit, the lawyer and his clients find themselves at the center of a massive criminal and civil controversy. Both the lawyer and his clients are criminally charged with endangering the welfare of critically ill pediatric patients and related crimes because the nurses resigned en masse without notice. You might think that such a case could not arise in Twenty-First Century America, but in 2007 that is exactly what occurred in Suffolk County New York and resulted in a New York appellate court having to prohibit the criminal prosecution of both the nurses and their attorney. Matter of Vinluan v. Doyle, ___A.D.3d___, 2009 WL 93065 (2d. Dep't. Jan. 13, 2009).This Essay examines this troubling case, where the court held that such a prosecution offended the Thirteenth Amendment and the attorneys First Amendment right to provide legal advice to his clients. This Essay explores the public policy issues raised by this case, whether nurses have the same right to withhold their labor as other employees, as well as certain issues which the court did not reach such as whether criminal prosecution of the nurses is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act. Additionally, this Essay explores legal issues surrounding the criminal prosecution of an attorney based on advice he may have given which the court ultimately found to be "profoundly disturbing." The Essay concludes by explaining that the liquidated damage provision, which may have sparked this entire controversy, was probably unenforceable as a penalty, another issue not reached by the court, that criminal prosecution of both the nurses and their attorney was unwarranted and that the Appellate Division decision was correctly decided.


Studies of Old English dialects are based heavily on manuscript texts, of which none survive from Anglo-Saxon East Anglia. But coins produced in the kingdom bear forms of personal names, potential evidence for an East-Anglian dialect. Although East Anglia in the eighth and ninth centuries came under dogged Mercian control, this paper hypothesises that, just as Kentish coin-spellings conform to dialect characteristics of Kentish manuscripts, rather than to those of the dominating Mercians and West-Saxons, so the East-Anglian moneyers represented their own dialect on their coins. Somewhat deflatingly, the coin-spellings show nothing specifically 'East' about the Anglian features represented.


T he Archaeology of Chaco Canyon is one of two synthesis volumes resulting from the National Park Service Chaco Project (1971-1982) (see also Mathien 2005). As the capstone to that project, this volume has much to offer the student of Chaco and those interested in the intellectual history and trajectories of archaeological theory. From 1999 to 2004, Stephen Lekson (and many others) organized six working conferences to address different dimensions of Chacoan prehistory. Broadly called the Chaco Synthesis, the topics included ecology and economy, architecture, the organization of production, the Chaco world, and society and polity and concluded with a meeting chaired by Lynne Sebastian. (The results of some of those meetings are published in detail elsewhere: Kiva 69:2; Cordell, Judge, and Piper 2001; and American Antiquity 66:1.) In addition to summary chapters on these six topics, the volume also includes five contextualizing studies that frame the Chaco phenomenon both in space and time. The aim of this volume was to pull together Chaco Project data from the roughly 22 published monographs. But given the time and expertise that went into the process, the results are far richer and more varied. The volume also includes a comprehensive time line that charts 19 variables and a detailed appendix on Chacoan ecology and economy. The wealth of information addressed and interpreted in the text is truly a valuable contribution to the discipline. Many contributors have spent their careers working with these data; and their perspectives are both informed and, at times, in direct conflict with one another. In Sebastian's words, "When attempting to identify points of agreement that would lead to a


By factorial field experiments we analyzed the relative effects of increased nutrient (N+P) loading and natural grazing pressure on species composition, carbon storage, and nitrogen retention in the Baltic Sea littoral food web, composed of macroalgae, grazers (snails, isopods, amphipods), and predators (shrimps, crabs, fish). Nitrogen was depleted relative to phosphorus throughout most of the year. Increasing nitrogen (6–200% over ambient concentrations) enhanced algal productivity and cover of fast‐growing annual algae, grazer, and predator densities, suggesting a three‐alevel bottom‐up effect. With increasing nitrogen loading, annual algae increasingly blocked perennial algal recruitment (65‐98% decrease) and growth. Grazers counteracted the effects of nutrient enrichment on algal species composition through selective consumption of annual algae. Grazer exclusion had equivalent negative effects on perennial recruitment as a 85% increase in nitrogen loading. Nutrient enrichment increased algal nitrogen content and decreased tissue C: N ratios in spring and summer but not in fall. Carbon storage and nitrogen retention, measured as C and N retained in plant biomass at the end of the growth season, were increased by grazers (C: 39%, N: 24%) but decreased with increasing nitrogen loading (C: –%, N: –74%). Our results emphasize the important role of grazers in buffering moderate eutrophication effects and illustrate how food web interactions and shifts in species composition are tightly linked to coastal ecosystem function.


Background Healthcare cost and reforms are at the forefront of international debates. One of the current discussion themes in oncology is whether and how patients' life changes due to costs of cancer care. In Norway, the main part of the treatment costs is supported by general taxpayer revenues. Objectives The objective of this study was to clarify whether head and neck cancer patients (n=67) in northern Norway experienced financial health-related quality of life (HRQOL) deterioration due to costs associated with treatment. Design HRQOL was examined by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 in the beginning and in the end of radiation treatment in patients treated at the University Hospital in Northern Norway. Changes in financial HRQOL were calculated and compared by paired sample T-tests. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine correlations among gender, marital status, age and treatment with or without additional chemotherapy and changes in the HRQOL domain of financial difficulties. Results The majority of score results at both time points were in the lower range (mean 15-25), indicating limited financial difficulties. We observed no statistically significant differences by gender, marital status and age. Increasing financial difficulties during treatment were reported by male patients and those younger than 65, that is, patients who were younger than retirement age. The largest effect was seen in singles. However, differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions During the initial phase of the disease trajectory, no significant increase in financial difficulties was found. This is in line with the aims of the Norwegian public healthcare model. However, long-term longitudinal studies should be performed, especially with regard to the trends we observed in single, male and younger patients.


We suggest that the impact of globalization on wages has been missed because its effects must be captured by analyzing occupational exposure to globalization. In this paper, we extend our previous work to include recent years (2003-2008), a period of increasing import penetration, China's entry into the WTO, and growing US multinational employment abroad. We find significant effects of globalization, with offshoring to low wage countries and imports both associated with wage declines for US workers. We present evidence that globalization has led to the reallocation of workers away from high wage manufacturing jobs into other sectors and other occupations, with large declines in wages among workers who switch, explaining the large differences between industry and occupational analyses. While other research has focused primarily on China's trade, we find that offshoring to China has also contributed to wage declines among US workers. However, the role of trade is quantitatively much more important. We also explore the impact of trade and offshoring on labor force participation rates. While offshoring to China has a negative impact on US labor force participation, other factors such as increasing computer use and substitution of capital for labor are significantly more important determinants of US employment rates across occupations.


A fundamentally new approach to the theory of phonology and its relation to syntax is developed in this book, which is the first to address the question of the relation between syntax and phonology in a systematic way.This general theory differs from its predecessors in the generative tradition in several respects. By arguing that the intonational structure of a sentence determines certain aspects of its stress pattern or rhythmic structure, and not vice versa, it provides a novel view of the intonation-stress relation. It also offers a new theory of the focus-prosody relation that solves a variety of classic puzzles and involves an appeal to the place of a focused constituent in the predicate-argument structure of the sentence. The book also includes other novel features, among them a development of the metrical grid theory of stress (including a complete treatment of English word stress in this framework), the representation of juncture in terms of "silent" positions in the metrical grid (with a treatment of sandhi in terms of this rhythmic juncture), and a "rhythmic" nonsyntactic approach to the basic phonology of function words in EnglishElisabeth 0. Selkirk is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This book is tenth in the series, Current Studies in Linguistics.


To bring about a transformation in the provision of a meaningful education for gifted and talented students in regular classrooms, teachers need to develop a critical awareness about equity as 'needs-based' and address the 'taken for grantedness' of perceptions about giftedness and practices. It is argued that when teachers' thinking about equity, giftedness, gifted and talented students is changed first, their critical pedagogy will transform the status quo of gifted and talented education in regular classrooms. This thesis outlines research that examines the ways teachers think about giftedness and the education of gifted and talented students in regular classrooms in Western Australian primary schools and explores the circumstances in which teachers' thinking transforms individual teachers into 'thinking teachers'. A qualitative research approach with an emergent design and a critical interpretivist research paradigm grounded in Paulo Freire's perspective of critical consciousness was utilised to understand teachers' thinking. Twenty classroom teachers with different ethnic backgrounds and teaching experiences in both public and private primary schools were recruited through planned and snowball sampling. In-depth open ended face to face interviews were conducted with individual participants between December 2009 and July 2010 to find out what they thought about giftedness and the education of gifted and talented students. The recursive model of interviewing was used as the method for collecting data.

My overarching research question is: What do teachers think about giftedness and the education of gifted and talented students? My two specific research questions are: How does teachers' thinking affect their conceptualisations of giftedness, gifted and talented students and their work in regular classrooms? Under what circumstances does teachers' thinking change them into 'thinking teachers'? Within the context of this study, 'thinking teachers' are conceptualised as those who reflect on why they are doing what they are doing, evaluate how they do what needs to be done and become empowered to transform the status quo and unsuitable teaching practices to provide a meaningful education to every student.

The findings suggested that individual participants were at different stages in the process of becoming 'thinking teachers'. Participation in this study provided an opportunity for participants to examine more closely their ideas, beliefs and opinions about equity, giftedness, gifted and talented students and to reflect meaningfully about how they worked with those students. Despite their different perspectives of giftedness, all the participants acknowledged that giftedness is an above average ability to demonstrate an outstanding performance. There was a concern among many participants that certain teachers did not make any provisions for the gifted students in their regular classrooms. The findings also uncovered the notion of equity as equality (a concept based on sameness and equal shares) and a 'taken for grantedness' of perceptions about giftedness which affected both the participants' identification of gifted and talented students and teaching practices.

This study concludes that stakeholders such as teachers, school principals, policy makers, Department of Education and teachers' educational institutions need to bring about a transformation in the thinking of teachers to dispel misconceptions of giftedness and talent. Governments and the community need to support teachers with the resources and funds for teacher education and professional development in gifted education as well as gifted programs.


In the last decade, the interfacial instability and mixing enhancement in microfluidic flow systems have attracted much attention . The control of interfacial instability is very crucial in multi-phase flow systems, such as the droplet production systems. In microfluidic systems, rapid mixing has been a long-standing challenge for the small Reynolds number in which turbulence will not occur. Previous studies have demonstrated that rapid mixing can be achieved using an electric or magnetic field. In all of these systems, it is rather important to know the instability threshold. This thesis devotes to the discussion of the effects of electric field on the interfacial instability and electro-mixing in an annulus channel. Based on the evidence that the wave length is often much longer than the mean thickness of a fluid layer, Chapter 3 investigated the linear and nonlinear dynamics of a perfectly conducting liquid film coating on a metal fiber modulated by the gravity effect in the framework of longwave theory. A radial electric field was imposed between the inner fiber and a outer electrode and the dynamics of the gas phase was neglected. It was found that the electric field can either reinforce or suppress the interfacial instability by manipulating the distance between the outer electrode and the inner fiber. In Chapter 4, the interfacial instability of two coflowing annular liquids in a radial electric field has been discussed when taking into account the dynamics of the outer layer. Unlike the assumption made in Chapter 3 that the liquids were perfectly conducting, the two immiscible liquids in Chapter 4 were leaky-dielectrics. Moreover, in Chapter 4, interfacial instability of two immiscible leaky dielectric fluids was examined in the full range of wave numbers. It was found that in such a system, the interfacial instability can be either caused by the so-called Rayleigh-Plateau mechanism or the viscosity stratification between the two layers. A detailed study of the effects of normal and tangential Maxwell stresses on the two kinds of interfacial instabilities demonstrated that both of them can either stabilize or destabilize the interface, depending on the electrical properties of the two liquids. vi However, the two studies in Chapters 3-4 provided evidences that the interfacial instability caused by the Rayleigh-Plateau mechanism can be modulated by the external electric field and thereby control the formation of droplets. Electro-convection was investigated in Chapters 5-6. Chapter 5 discussed the electrohydrodynamic instability of an annular liquid layer with a radial electrical conductivity gradient which was developed from the imposed radial electric field. Chapter 6 studied the instability in two miscible liquids with an electrical conductivity stratification wherein a uniform axial electric field was imposed. Studies in the two chapters demonstrated that the instability is triggered by the dielectrophorectic effect. Study in Chapter 5 showed that the critical unstable mode in the annular liquid layer could be either stationary or oscillatory, dependenting on the conductivity gradient. However, in the two-miscible two flows, the critical unstable mode is always oscillatory. Furthermore, results in Chapter 5 indicated that the flow is least stable for a moderate conductivity gradient whereas Chapter 6 demonstrated that the flow is always more unstable for a larger contrast in conductivity. It should also be pointed out that, in Chapter 5, the critical instability could be reinforced by a weak shear flow; while the critical instability is always impeded by the shear flow in Chapter 6. A summary of the four Chapters 3-6 was made, and perspectives of future works built upon these works have been proposed in Chapter 7.