HARRIS CORP., a worldwide leader in the information processing industry, was founded in Niles, Ohio, in 1895 as the Harris Automatic Press Company. In the early 1890s, two brothers- Alfred and Charles G. Harris- began work to develop an automatic sheet feeder as a way to reduce the laborious nature of the hand-fed printing process. Once developed, the brothers' new printing press increased the productivity of older methods nearly ten-fold. Harris Automatic Press became an early leader in commercial printing press technology and a pioneer in offset lithography, moving to a new factory at 4510 East 71st Street in Cleveland in 1917. After a merger with the Seybold Machine Company and the Premier Potter Premium Press Company in 1926, the Harris-Seybold-Potter Company introduced a new 4-color press in 1931. The company's name was shortened to Harris Seybold in 1946.After GEORGE S. DIVELY gained control of the company in 1947, Harris-Seybold expanded its position within the growing graphic arts market by adding heavy and light industry subdivisions and strengthening the company's presence in the printing, copy machine, and electronics fields. Harris developed a professional-quality, portable printing press for the army in 1951 to produce on-site multicolor maps, charts, and reconnaissance photos. To enhance its electronics line and its defense work, the company acquired Autronics Research and Gates Radio. After merging with the Intertype Corporation in 1957, it changed its name to Harris-Intertype Corporation. Two years later, Harris-Intertype acquired the Brooklyn, New York-based PRD Electronics, a microwave test equipment manufacturer. Its 1967 merger with Radiation, Incorporated, a Florida-based manufacturer with ties to the growing aerospace industry surrounding Cape Canaveral, gave Harris-Intertype the electronic control technology needed to refine its typesetting equipment and provided for the company's initial entry into the semiconductor and communication systems business. By 1970, electronics provided 50% of the company's $380 million sales. Harris opened a new plant in Melbourne, Florida, that year and moved its headquarters there from Cleveland in 1978, after changing its name to the Harris Corporation just four years earlier. The company reorganized its printing equipment sector as the Harris Graphics Corporation in 1982 and acquired Atlanta-based office systems supplier, Lanier Business Products, the following year. By 1995, the Harris Corporation employed 27,000 people and had annual sales of approximately $3.5 billion. For a time, the Harris Graphics Corp., then a seperate firm from Harris Corp., retained Harris' Cleveland plant to make parts for a discontinued line of sheet-fed presses. By 2003, Harris Graphics ceased operations at E 71st Street and Accurate Precision Grinding used the location for its machine shop.


For the past forty years, United States Presidents have repeatedly called for a reduction in the country's dependence on fossil fuels in general and foreign oil specifically. Stronger efficiency standards and higher taxes on motor fuels are a step in this direction, but achieving even greater reductions in oil consumption will require changing the way Americans power their transportation system. Some officials advocate the electrification of the passenger vehicle fleet as a path to meeting this goal. The Obama administration has, for example, embraced a goal of having one million electric-powered vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015, while others proposed a medium-term goal where electric vehicles would consist of 20% of the passenger vehicle fleet by 2030—approximately 30 million electric vehicles. The technology itself is not in question—many of the global automobile companies are planning to sell plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and/or battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2012. The key question is, will Americans buy them? The answer depends on four additional questions: 1. Is the cost of purchasing and operating an electric vehicle more or less expensive than the cost of a comparable conventional gasoline-powered vehicle? 2. Are the comparative costs likely to change over the next twenty years? 3. Do electric vehicles provide the same attributes as conventional cars, and if not, do the differences matter? 4. Will electric car owners be able to access the electricity needed to power their vehicles? This paper attempts to answer these four questions.


PURPOSE
To introduce a novel graphical software tool to assist scientists and engineers in building new applications in TrueBeam Developer's Mode.

METHODS
As an option, TrueBeam users are provided with access to the full set of capabilities within the XML-based Developer's Mode. It is very laborious to compile a XML file, however, particularly when IMRT beams are included along with KV and MV imaging triggers. In this study, a choreographing software tool, TrueBeam TeachMod, was developed based on DICOMan-TX, a DICOM utility tool and a research platform for radiation therapy and radiology, to facilitate exploring potential technologies that can ultimately be applied to clinics. A DICOM RT plan from a treatment planning system is translated into a XML file which is further complemented with imaging triggers and axis changes. The tool allows the user to interactively edit any axis at any beam control point. It also includes predefined treatment and KV/MV imaging procedures that can be frequently used to build scientific applications.

RESULTS
IMRT plans from either static or dynamic were transferred via DICOM connection to DICOManTX where True Beam Teach Mod produced the coordinate beam components. Trajectories of all axes were graphically rendered and edited as needed. The process requires less than five minutes to generate sophisticated XML instructions containing tens of thousands lines. A series of test application was successfully implemented on the True Beam unit.

CONCLUSION
A XML composing tool is highly desirable for users who want to extensively explore the potential of the True Beam platform. It not only provides the users with a tool that could expedite their research and development but also opportunities for them to conduct unconventional techniques that are prohibitively time consuming without it.


Flatt, Lizann. Sizing Up Winter . Illus. Ashley Barron. Toronto, ON: Owlkids, 2013. Print. Children's book author, Lizann Flatt, is a freelance editor and writer of children's fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Ms Flatt has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Owl , beginning as a teen in 1981, when she won a writing contest and was published in Owl Magazine . Lizann went on to contribute in content development and editorial positions during and following her Arts degree. Hailing originally from Whitby, Ontario, Toronto-based illustrator, Ashley Barron is passionate about nature, and this comes through in her cut-paper collages.  Ms Barron's skillful use of simple shapes, choice of colour and texture, and attention to detail, result in visually stunning cut-paper collage works, which are a central feature in Sizing up Winter , as well as the other books in the same series. Sizing up Winter is the third book in the Math in Nature series, which includes "Counting on Fall", "Sorting through Spring". This book pairs rhyming text with colourful nature-inspired artwork to introduce young readers to measurement concepts such as depth, distance, size, area, and time. Highlight boxes on each page ask questions that encourage readers to examine the images closely, encouraging interactive reading. Many of the pages use rhyming text, but this approach is used inconsistently. Some words and concepts may not be clear to young readers (e.g., mass, capacity) a glossary or call-out boxes on the same page as the introduced terms would have been helpful. The back of the book includes Nature Notes with additional information about the animals featured in the pages of the book, in the order in which the animals appear, rather than in alphabetical order. The online Teacher's Guide resource, a pdf that includes support activities to reinforce measurement concepts from each page of the book, is a valuable addition to the book: http://www.owlkidsbooks.com/ResourcesActivities/TeacherGuides.aspx or http://www.owlkidsbooks.com/Portals/0/docs/teachersGuides/SizingUpWinter-TeacherGuides.pdf (pdf document). It's unfortunate that the book itself does not mention its availability (I only learned about it from a publisher promotional insert in the review copy of the book). "Shaping up Summer", a fourth book in the Math in Nature series will be released in Spring 2014. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Maria Tan Maria is a library intern at the University of Alberta's John W. Scott Health Sciences Library. She enjoys travelling and visiting unique and far-flung libraries. Maria firmly believes that children's literature is an essential component in the fountain of youth.


A totally positive mean-variance efficient aggregate market portfolio — one with no negative weights — is the key equilibrium feature of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Brennan and Lo (2010) designate an efficient frontier as "impossible†when every efficient portfolio has at least one negative weight. For randomly drawn covariance matrices, they prove that the probability of an impossible frontier approaches 1 as the number of assets grows. Impossible frontiers are also invariably found with empirical sample parameters, regardless of the sampling method. These results might seem like a deadly blow to the CAPM. However, we show here that slight variations in sample parameters, well within estimation error bounds, can lead to frontiers with positive portfolio segments. Parameters producing possible frontiers are somewhat like rational numbers on the real line: they occupy a zero-measure of parameter space, but there is always one close by. Thus, starting from an impossible frontier, slight changes in asset prices, as they converge to an economic equilibrium, deliver a possible frontier, consistent with the CAPM.


Purpose: Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) occur at increased frequency in individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), where they likely arise from benign plexiform neurofibroma precursors. While previous studies have used a variety of discovery approaches to discover genes associated with MPNST pathogenesis, it is currently unclear what molecular events are associated with the evolution of MPNST from plexiform neurofibroma. Experimental Design: Whole-exome sequencing was performed onbiopsymaterials representing plexiformneurofibroma (n1⁄4 3),MPNST, andmetastasis froma single individual withNF1 over a 14-year period. Additional validation cases were used to assess candidate genes involved inmalignant progression, while a murine MPNST model was used for functional analysis. Results: There was an increasing proportion of cells with a somatic NF1 gene mutation as the tumors progressed from benign to malignant, suggesting a clonal process in MPNST development. Copy number variations, including loss of one copy of the TP53 gene, were identified in the primary tumor and the metastatic lesion, but not in benign precursor lesions. A limited number of genes with nonsynonymous somatic mutations (bIII-spectrin and ZNF208) were discovered, several of which were validated in additional primary and metastatic MPNST samples. Finally, increased bIII-spectrin expression was observed in the majority of MPNSTs, and shRNA-mediated knockdown reduced murine MPNST growth in vivo. Conclusion: Collectively, the ability to track the molecular evolution of MPNST in a single individual with NF1 offers new insights into the sequence of genetic events important for disease pathogenesis and progression for future mechanistic study. Clin Cancer Res; 1–11. 2015 AACR.


One of the most dangerous natural hazards in the world is the risk of flood. Identification and zoning watershed flood can be effective in managing flood management, controlling and controlling it, and thus reducing its damages. The purpose of the present research is to zonation the khiyav chay basin in terms of potential flood occurrence. In this study, ten factors of slope, height, precipitation, CN, runoff height, distance from the river, soil, lithology, vegetation and land use were identified as effective factors for flood formation in the region. Then the layers of information were provided in the GIS environment. Layer weighing was done using the Critical method. The final analysis and modeling was performed using hot spots analysis as a spatial statistics method and the WLC method as a multi-criteria decision-making method. The results of this study showed that elevation, lithology, slope and precipitation factors have the highest effect on flood formation in study basins with weight coefficients of 0.173, 0/163, 0/139 and 0/133 percent, respectively. Also, according to the results, 11.37, 48.76 and 57.54 square kilometers of area were located in hot spot classes with a confidence level of 99, 95 and 90 percent. Highly hazardous areas (hot spot areas, with a 99% confidence interval) are mainly located in the city's Meshkinshahr area and then in the hilly and mountainous areas of the region. All in all, the results of the study show that the khiyav chay basin has very high potential in terms of happening flood, so accomplishment of conservation, watershed and management works and steps in the area of study is important and necessary.


With digital fabrication, our hardware is starting to bear greater resemblance to software. This paper explores the potential of processes used in the development of open-source software for the field of Architecture. The developed design process is connected to a building system that provides new insights on constructing with CNC-cut 2D elements and friction fit connections. Underlying the design process and the building system is Master's thesis research work conducted at Delft University of Technology.


Top economists consider how to conduct policy in a world where previous beliefs have been shattered by the recent financial and economic crises.Since 2008, economic policymakers and researchers have occupied a brave new economic world. Previous consensuses have been upended, former assumptions have been cast into doubt, and new approaches have yet to stand the test of time. Policymakers have been forced to improvise and researchers to rethink basic theory. George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate and one of this volume's editors, compares the crisis to a cat stuck in a tree, afraid to move. In April 2013, the International Monetary Fund brought together leading economists and economic policymakers to discuss the slowly emerging contours of the macroeconomic future. This book offers their combined insights.The editors and contributors?who include the Nobel Laureate and bestselling author Joseph Stiglitz, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen, and the former Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer?consider the lessons learned from the crisis and its aftermath. They discuss, among other things, post-crisis questions about the traditional policy focus on inflation; macroprudential tools (which focus on the stability of the entire financial system rather than of individual firms) and their effectiveness; fiscal stimulus, public debt, and fiscal consolidation; and exchange rate arrangements.


Comminution is usually the heaviest energy-consuming process in the mine site. These days when efficiency concerns are becoming more and more important, developing a reliable and highly efficient way to grind and crush ore is a new field being explored by main industrial players. This paper focuses on variable speed operation as the answer to improving current tumbling mill grinding circuits. Benefits related to reliability, sophisticated functionalities for wear reduction and maintenance issues can be obtained using latest technology Variable Speed Drives (VSD). How they work and how they can be easily integrated in the comminution circuit is analysed and discussed. This paper describes how INGEDRIVE VSD systems develop all these features and functionalities, upgrading the grinding process to a new level with higher degrees of productivity and profitability.


Herbicide resistance has become a major problem in dryland agriculture. In Australia this particularly applies to annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) which has developed multiple resistance to a wide range of commonly used selective herbicides. Although herbicides are a very cost-effective means of reducing weed density, major changes to their use are required if sustainable weed management is to be achieved. In this study a model of ryegrass population dynamics was used to identify the best integrated weed management strategies and to evaluate changes in the economic payoff when choosing to conserve herbicides rather than exploit them rapidly. A situation of evolving herbicide resistance was simulated for a continuous wheat-lupin rotation and two cropping sequences including one and two pasture phases. Conservation of the last four shots of the selective herbicide Hoegrass was found to be less profitable than their exploitation. Nevertheless, conservation provided a better long-term weed control. Benefits from conservation were lower in a situation of reduced level of weed control, but appeared to increase with the inclusion of more pasture in the rotation.


Abstract. Cloud glaciation is critically important for the global radiation budget (albedo) and for initiation of precipitation. But the freezing of pure water droplets requires cooling to temperatures as low as 235 K. Freezing at higher temperatures requires the presence of an ice nucleator, which serves as a template for arranging water molecules in an ice-like manner. It is often assumed that these ice nucleators have to be insoluble particles. We point out that also free macromolecules which are dissolved in water can efficiently induce ice nucleation: the size of such ice nucleating macromolecules (INMs) is in the range of nanometers, corresponding to the size of the critical ice embryo. As the latter is temperature-dependent, we see a correlation between the size of INMs and the ice nucleation temperature as predicted by classical nucleation theory. Different types of INMs have been found in a wide range of biological species and comprise a variety of chemical structures including proteins, saccharides, and lipids. Our investigation of the fungal species Acremonium implicatum, Isaria farinosa, and Mortierella alpina shows that their ice nucleation activity is caused by proteinaceous water-soluble INMs. We combine these new results and literature data on INMs from fungi, bacteria, and pollen with theoretical calculations to develop a chemical interpretation of ice nucleation and water-soluble INMs. This has atmospheric implications since many of these INMs can be released by fragmentation of the carrier cell and subsequently may be distributed independently. Up to now, this process has not been accounted for in atmospheric models.


A new, two-layer canopy module with thermal inertia as part of the detailed snow model SNOWPACK (version 3.2.1) is presented and evaluated. As a by-product of these new developments, an exhaustive description of the canopy module of the SNOWPACK model is provided, thereby filling a gap in the existing literature. In its current form, the two-layer canopy module is suited for evergreen needleleaf forest, with or without snow cover. It is designed to reproduce the difference in thermal response between leafy and woody canopy elements, and their impact on the underlying snowpack or ground surface energy balance. Given the number of processes resolved, the SNOWPACK model with its enhanced canopy module constitutes a sophisticated physics-based modeling chain of the continuum going from atmosphere to soil through the canopy and snow. Comparisons of modeled sub-canopy thermal radiation to stand-scale observations at an Alpine site (Alptal, Switzerland) demonstrate improvements induced by the new canopy module. Both thermal heat mass and the two-layer canopy formulation contribute to reduce the daily amplitude of the modeled canopy temperature signal, in agreement with observations. Particularly striking is the attenuation of the nighttime drop in canopy temperature, which was a key model bias. We specifically show that a single-layered canopy model is unable to produce this limited temperature drop correctly. The impact of the new parameterizations on the modeled dynamics of the sub-canopy snowpack is analyzed. The new canopy module yields consistent results but the frequent occurrence of mixed-precipitation events at Alptal prevents a conclusive assessment of model performance against snow data. The new model is also successfully tested without specific tuning against measured tree temperature and biomass heatstorage fluxes at the boreal site of Norunda (Sweden). This provides an independent assessment of its physical consistency and stresses the robustness and transferability of the chosen parameterizations. The SNOWPACK code including the new canopy module, is available under Gnu General Public License (GPL) license and upon creation of an account at https://models.slf.ch/.


Objective Trastuzumab-containing treatment regimens have been shown to improve survival outcomes in HER2-positive breast cancer (BC). It is much easier to infuse a fixed one-vial dose to every patient on a regular schedule in the general clinical setting. The aims of this study were evaluating the efficacy of a 440 mg fixed-dose of trastuzumab administered on a monthly infusion schedule, and the risk factors for cardiac events. Patients and methods We retrospectively reviewed data from 300 HER2-positive BC patients in our institute: 208 were early-stage BC patients undergoing adjuvant trastuzumab treatment, and 92 were metastatic BC patients treated with trastuzumab infusions until disease progression. There were 181 patients receiving regular trastuzumab infusions every 3 weeks (Q3W; 8 mg/kg loading dose followed by 6 mg/kg every 3 weeks), and the other 119 patients were treated monthly with a fixed 440 mg dose (QM; fixed 440 mg every 4 weeks). Results The medians of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the adjuvant setting were not reached in both treatment groups. In the metastatic setting, there was no significant difference between groups in PFS or OS. The median time to significant cardiovascular (CV) dysfunction was 4.54 months. The incidence of congestive heart failure requiring medication in our cohort was 3.4%. Conclusion In our study, we found that fixed-dose monthly trastuzumab was feasible and effective. In addition, the CV risk was not higher with the fixed-dose protocol. This treatment modality could lower the cost and was easier to implement in clinical practice. Larger prospective randomized studies with longer-term follow up are needed to confirm our results.


Law is a text-based discipline. The comprehension and interpretation of the written word lies at the core of legal reasoning and underpins legal writing. This article argues that developing the skills of critical legal reading is fundamental to all aspects of legal education and ultimately, to the practice of law. Law teachers have mastered and internalised the processes of legal reading, and sometimes therefore overlook the need to teach them explicitly to law students, who are novices. This paper examines the necessary mechanics, techniques and dispositions of critical legal reading in an overall taxonomy, contending that teaching these aspects in explicit and concrete ways is essential for students who are acquiring legal reading skills. Drawing on education, psychology and linguistic research fields, we offer a contemporary account of critical legal reading as a teachable skill and a core component of the undergraduate curriculum in law. The published pdf is also available at: http://epublications.bond.edu.au/ler/vol26/iss1/9/


This paper revisits the empirical evidence about the link between firms' performance and their international status, based on a large sample of Italian enterprises. To this purpose, we merged two waves of the Capitalia survey (1998-2000, and 2001-2003) retrieving firm level data for roughly 7,000 units. Three results stand out from our empirical exercise. First, firms that engage in the foreign production of final goods, in addition to export activities, are more productive than firms that only export abroad. Second, firms that engage in final goods off-shoring are more productive than firms that engage in inputs off-shoring. Third, in terms of the productivity dynamics over the period 1998-2003, exporters' performance in Italy was not any better than the non-exporters' one. Our results support the view that the better performance (in static terms) of globally engaged firms is chiefly due to the selection caused by the fixed costs associated to international operations.


ABSTRACT This paper looks at China's soft power strategy in relation to the film industry, which since the early 2000s has opened to international co-productions and investment. Despite many coproduction projects being endorsed by government, results have not added significantly to China's film-making reputation. The paper shows that coproductions have a diplomatic function, which implies a more conventional understanding of soft power. The paper also considers the tension between artistic freedom and censorship that impacts on all coproduction projects in China and which undermines the efficacy of China's soft power strategy. The paper advances the proposition that coproduction with countries in Eurasia under the cultural template of the Belt and Road Initiative might present new opportunities to blend China's stories into a narrative of shared prosperity. In doing this, the advance of China's economic power is supported by cultural policies that evoke a historical past as much as a shared future.


In the field of adoption, international and Latin American scientific production has largely addressed the experiences of adoptive mothers, the adoptive family understood as a unit that includes either both members of the couple, or considering more marginally, to mothers of origin and finally, lesbian mothers, appreciating a strong "feminization" of the study of this topic. Research has not paid more attention to parents of origin and the various configurations in adoptive fatherhood. As a result, it has invisibilized the singularity, specificity and heterogeneity of meanings, practices and experiences about birth fathers and adoptive fathers and are still a number of stereotypes and prejudices that limit a more active inclusion of them in the care tasks. Faced with the lack of knowledge and under the premise that studying men and parents in adoption represents a contribution to advance policies and practices of greater responsibility and gender equality, this paper identifies, classifies and analyzes of the findings of studies on masculinity, paternity and adoption, making special emphasis on some results and topics on this phenomenon, in order to visualize some current challenges and prospects for research and psychosocial intervention.


Recruitment phenology, or the timing of recruitment, can have a large influence on individuals and populations by affecting their exposure to adverse environmental conditions and interspecific competition. In this study, we examined whether temperature parameters could predict the timing of recruitment, the duration of recruitment and total recruitment in 18 benthic epifaunal species using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and ordinary least squares regres- sion. Additionally, we used a null model to test whether temperature parameters and inter-annual variation in those parameters affect the temporal niche overlap of these benthic species. We specifically examined the recruitment patterns of non-native species to help illustrate how shifts in phenology may help drive changes in the community composition. Results from the PLSR helped determine the most instructive regressors for univariate least-squares models. For many (14 of 18) of the species examined, recruitment patterns could be predicted by seasonal growing degree days. Additionally, communities at cooler sites exhibited greater temporal niche overlap than assemblages found at warmer sites. Finally, we observed a unique pattern among invasive species, with more recent invaders recruiting later in the season, which may be a result of shifts in niche overlap. The findings of this study illustrate potential mechanisms for species coexistence and increased rates of invasion resulting from climate change.


The tremendous rate of technological advancement in recent years has fostered a policy de-bate about improving the state's access to privately held data ('B2G data sharing'). Access to such 'data of general interest' can significantly improve social welfare and serve the common good. At the same time, expanding the state's access to privately held data poses risks. This chapter inquires into the potential and limits of mandatory access rules, which would oblige private undertakings to grant access to data for specific purposes that lie in the public interest. The article discusses the key questions that access rules should address and develops general principles for designing and implementing such rules. It puts particular emphasis on the opportunities and limitations for the implementation of horizontal B2G access frameworks. Finally, the chapter outlines concrete recommendations for legislative reforms.


This study analyzes the testimony given by Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns in response to the suicides of bullied teens. Like other testimonies included in the "It Gets Better" project, Burns's speech included his personal story of being bullied because of his sexual orientation, considering suicide, and persevering to lead a successful adult life. His speech was given in a city council meeting in Texas, but his message reached a much wider audience. Drawing on the public modalities framework, this study employs narrative and discourse analysis to examine his story and the public reactions to it. The analysis focuses on the discursive invocation of emotion, multiple audiences, and the role of technology to engage publics. This analysis furthers research on how personal stories function in public meetings and serve as a modality to engage broader publics.


Last Saturday, as I leapt in the air, salmon-like, to head the winning goal for the local football team, a clumsy defender bashed his head against mine. The impact of his forehead created such a deep, unsightly dent over my right eye that the other players, visibly repulsed by the wound, called for an ambulance. When the ambulance finally arrived, several interminable minutes past the government's eight minute target, the two paramedics waltzed in, sprightly and cheerful, in their green and yellow overalls. I was bothered by their apparent indifference to my plight—the alarming possibility of death or of life as a vegetable—but I mustered the inner strength to answer their questions: "How did it happen?" "Where were you hit?" "Where does it hurt?" and so on. I was trolleyed into the ambulance and taken to the hospital. The ambulance did not howl on the way there, which angered me further. Was my potentially life threatening injury not serious enough to warrant …


Abstract The field of psychoneuroimmunology has witnessed an explosion of empirical findings during the last two decades. Research has documented the mechanisms through which stressful emotions alter white blood cell function. Stress diminishes white blood cell response to viral infected cells and to cancer cells. Moreover, vaccination is less effective in those who are stressed and wounds heal less readily in those who are stressed. While stress decreases the activity of some white blood cells, stress does not compromise the function of all types of white blood cells. Indeed, some types of autoimmune disease, which involve particular subsets of white blood cells, are exacerbated by stress. The literature documents the efficacy of talk-therapy interventions in altering immune system parameters and enhancing the body's ability to combat disease. The literature also documents the impact of the chronic stress of poverty on immune system function.


The main topic of the present work is the experimental determination of level lifetimes in 58,60,62Cr by means of the recoil distance Doppler-shift technique. The corresponding experiment was performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University (USA). Excited states in 58,60,62Cr were populated by one-proton knockout reactions from fast radioactive 59,61,63Mn beams.
Level lifetimes were determined for the 2+ and 4+ states as well as - in case of 58,60Cr - for the 6+ states. The determined B(E2; 2+ -> 0+) values in 58,60,62Cr are in reasonable agreement with previous results from intermediate Coulomb-excitation experiments, although the present data suggests slightly enhanced collectivity. In 58Cr, the B(E2) values of the 4+ -> 2+ and 6+ -> 4+ transitions are comparable to the B(E2; 2+ -> 0+) value. From 58Cr to 60,62Cr, the B(E2; 4+ -> 2+) values evolve more rapidly compared to the B(E2; 2+ -> 0+) values which suggests rotor-like behaviour with pronounced quadrupole deformations ~0.3.
Compared to the neighbouring iron isotones, the evolution of B(E2) values along the chromium isotopes toward N=40 indicates a comparable trend, although the collectivity in chromium appears to be mildly enhanced.
The experimental results are discussed in the shell-model framework using the effective interaction LNPS. The comparison shows a pleasant agreement, although the experimental data suggests a slightly stronger enhancement of collectivity toward N=40.
Calculations with the interacting boson model were performed for 56,58,60,62Cr. They are able to reproduce the experimental excitation energies and transition strengths with reasonable accuracy but do not indicate a significant degree of quadrupole deformation.
Other isotopes that were produced in the experiment were investigated with respect to the identification of g-ray transitions and level lifetimes. Of particular interest are the neutron-rich 59,61Mn isotopes (Z=25), for which level lifetimes of the 7/2-, 9/2- and 11/2- states were determined (in 61Mn the assignment is only tentative). In addition, level lifetimes in 63Mn of the tentatively assigned (7/2-) and (9/2-) states were evaluated. The results are compared to shell-model calculations using the fp interaction KB3G as well as the state-of-the-art interaction LNPS-m. The present data indicates a structural change close to N=36. The experimental data for 61Mn suggests that the B(M1) value for the 7/2^- -> 5/2- is underestimated by the LNPS-m interaction when free g factors are used.
In the second part of this thesis, a tool is presented which allows to generate g-ray spectra of lifetime studies based on the electromagnetic Doppler-shift using empirical parameters. The tool is highly flexible which enables the incorporation of various experimental bounding conditions. It is applied to investigate the influence of velocity distributions on the lifetime analysis and results indicate that systematic deviations are minimized if distance-dependent mean recoil velocities are taken into account.


Microtools that will be useful for the positioning and investigation microstructures must operate relevant environments, such as cell culture media or blood plasma. They must also be comparatively strong, and preferably allow a muscle like mode of movement. This is given by a novel family of actuators based on conjugated polymers (like polypyrrole, PPy). By miniaturising these structures using standard photolithographic techniques, the authors can reduce the size down to 10-micrometer dimensions and build mechanically active microdevices. These can be moved and positioned by applying a potential to dope or undope the PPy. These novel structures are now being developed as a unique microactuator technology, suitable for operation in applications coupled to cell biology and biomedicine.


There are some important reasons why low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may choose to make greater use of competition law and policy to reduce the cost of treatment. First, multilateral trade rules allow substantial flexibility in the development and application of competition law and policy, taking into account different perspectives and approaches in this field that can and do shift over time. There is considerable room to manoeuvre. Second, as a consequence of accommodating the variety of potential competition approaches, remedies available to address anti-competitive behaviour may permit a broader range of remedial action than some other public health-related flexibilities associated solely with patents. Third, competition law typically empowers a broad range of affected parties to request or initiate enforcement action. Intellectual property (IP) law, by way of comparison, may limit remedial or enforcement action to narrowly defined parties and interests. These limitations may exclude various parties that might otherwise seek to vindicate the public interest.Measures against anti-competitive behaviour are not suggested to be the preferable launching pad in every case from which to pursue better access to health technologies, compared to other areas of law. But as a relatively underdeveloped yet promising mechanism for doing so, competition policy should be given greater prominence for its potential to complement efforts in other areas. The increased use of competition law and policy is not without its challenges. These include the relative novelty of these measures in many developing countries; the lack of a substantial body of precedent; underdeveloped competition law frameworks; and capacity constraints concerning enforcement structures in developing countries.This guidebook includes five chapters, each of which addresses a different aspect of the competition law environment and framework. The executive summary presents a brief overview of the content of each chapter. The guidebook also includes several 'model policies' addressing different areas of competition law enforcement that may be adaptable and useful in the LMIC context, and two annexes containing case studies in the development of competition law frameworks in different countries and examples highlighting the results of competition law put into practise.The objectives of competition law vary: promoting consumer welfare, increasing access to important commodities or as an industrial policy objective to increase local participation in a sector. These objectives will often overlap. A core objective around the protection of consumer welfare operates by restricting or regulating unfair business practices and anti-competitive concentrations of economic power. The objective of protecting consumer welfare is closely tied to the promotion and protection of human rights — in this particular context to the protection of the rights to life and health. For many LMICs, providing access to safe, effective and affordable health technologies is a major challenge that places a substantial burden on government and individual/family budgets.


This study investigated the adoption and use of electronic information resources by medical science students of the University of Benin. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study and 390 students provided the data. Data collected were analysed with descriptive Statistics(Simple percentage and frequency count). The findings revealed that medical science students use Electronic Information Resources for learning, for doing assignment, Google search, for personal development, and getting awareness of recent happenings. It w as also found that poor internet connection, and limited access and site restrictions were the major problems encountered when using electronic Information Resources. The study recommends that the university management should ensure that the school interne t connection is strongly developed, improved and made available in the entire campus including hostels to encourage quick and easy access to Electronic Information Resources. Key Words: Adoption, Use, Electronic, Resources, Information, Medical, Students, University


We derive annual and seasonal global climatologies of tropospheric NO2 profiles from OMI cloudy observations for the year 2006 using the cloud-slicing method on six pressure levels centered at about 280, 380, 500, 620, 720 and 820 hPa. A comparison between OMI and the TM4 model tropospheric NO2 profiles reveals striking overall similarities, which confer great confidence to the cloud-slicing approach to provide details that pertain to annual as well as seasonal means, along with localized discrepancies that seem to probe into particular model processes. Anomalies detected at the lowest levels can be traced to deficiencies in the model surface emission inventory, at mid-tropospheric levels to convective transport and horizontal advective diffusion, and at the upper tropospheric levels to model lightning NOx production and the placement of deeply transported NO2 plumes such as from the Asian summer monsoon. The vertical information contained in the OMI cloud-sliced NO2 profiles provides a global observational constraint that can be used to evaluate chemistry transport models (CTMs) and guide the development of key parameterization schemes.


As of today, the utilization of herbal medicines has taken up the pace in treating diseases. This is due to the fact that they have lower risk of adverse reactions. Numerous plants are being used traditionally to treat various dreadful diseases including diabetes. Piper longum is one of the major and important medicinal plants in various systems of medicine, including the Ayurvedic system of medicine. Among the major bioactive compounds found in this plant, few compounds, viz., piperine, piperlongumine, piperlonguminine, and retrofractamide A, have been selected for studying the effectiveness on antidiabetic activity. An in silico approach was utilized to observe the major phytochemical properties and interaction studies of the constituents of P. longum, and finally, a pharmacophore investigation was carried out. In this study, we have observed the interaction of the four bioactive compounds taken from P. longum with the receptors via molecular docking technique. The binding of the ligands firmly with the receptors confirmed the fact that piperine, piperlongumine, piperlonguminine, and retrofractamide A act as inhibitors for dipeptidyl peptidase-4, GKRP, 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1, glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate transaminase 1, and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B, which encourage the glucose digestion and increment insulin affectability. The information acquired from this investigation might be taken further for in vitro examinations, which may, in the long run, be useful in recognizable proof of novel and successful particles. The outcomes acquired from this examination might provide strong understanding in the utility of phytochemicals against diabetes.


Contents: E. Perecman, Consciousness and the Meta-Functions of the Frontal Lobes: Setting the Stage. K.H. Pribram, The Subdivisions of the Frontal Cortex Revisited. D.N. Pandya, C.L. Barnes, Architecture and Connections of the Frontal Lobe. J.S. Stamm, The Riddle of the Monkey's Delayed-Response Deficit Has Been Solved. M. Petrides, Conditional Learning and the Primate Frontal Cortex. J.M. Fuster, Single-Unit Studies of the Prefrontal Cortex. P.D. MacLean, The Midline Frontolimbic Cortex and the Evolution of Crying and Laughter. D.T. Stuss, D.F. Benson, The Frontal Lobes and Control of Cognition and Memory. E. Goldberg, R.M. Bilder, Jr., The Frontal Lobes and Hierarchical Organization of Cognitive Control. P.L. Wang, Concept Formation and Frontal Lobe Function: The Search for a Clinical Frontal Lobe Test. P. Malloy, Frontal Lobe Dysfunction in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. B.L.J. Kaczmarek, Regulatory Function of the Frontal Lobes: A Neurolinguistic Perspective. S. Jonas, The Supplementary Motor Region and Speech. J.W. Brown, The Microstructure of Action. G. Goldberg, From Intent to Action: Evolution and Function of the Premotor Systems of the Frontal Lobe.


We are pleased to publish this WSIA edition of Trudy's Govier's seminal volume, Problems in Argument Analysis and Evaluation. Originally published in 1987 by Foris Publications, this was a pioneering work that played a major role in establishing argumentation theory as a discipline. Today, it is as relevant to the field as when it first appeared, with discussions of questions and issues that remain central to the study of argument. It has defined the main approaches to many of those issues and guided the ways in which we might respond to them. From this foundation, it sets the stage for further investigations and emerging research.   This is a second edition of the book that is corrected and updated by the author, with new prefaces to each chapter.


SUMMARY We explore a practical approach to earthquake early warning in southern California by determining a ground-motion period parameter τc and a high-pass filtered displacement amplitude parameter Pd from the initial 3 s of the P waveforms recorded at the Southern California Seismic Network stations for earthquakes with M > 4.0. At a given site, we estimate the magnitude of an event from τc and the peak ground-motion velocity (PGV ) from Pd. The incoming threecomponent signals are recursively converted to ground acceleration, velocity and displacement. The displacements are recursively filtered with a one-way Butterworth high-pass filter with a cut-off frequency of 0.075 Hz, and a P-wave trigger is constantly monitored. When a trigger occurs, τc and Pd are computed. We found the relationship between τc and magnitude (M) for southern California, and between Pd and PGV for both southern California and Taiwan. These two relationships can be used to detect the occurrence of a major earthquake and provide onsite warning in the area around the station where onset of strong ground motion is expected within seconds after the arrival of the P wave. When the station density is high, the methods can be applied to multistation data to increase the robustness of onsite early warning and to add the regional warning approach. In an ideal situation, such warnings would be available within 10 s of the origin time of a large earthquake whose subsequent ground motion may last for tens of seconds.


The story, Lwaki Yayeri Muzira? (Ogutti 2013), translated as Why is Yayeri Great? (Gulere 2014), takes the form of a riddle whose answers are left to the reader to reflect and articulate. It is one of the Uganda Community Libraries Association (UgCLA) Local Language Literacy project books sponsored by Comic Relief under the African Storybook Project/South African Institute of Distance Education (SAIDE). Ogutti is the promoter of Busia Community Library, which is a member of UgCLA and one of the 20 writers who gathered from among the Eastern Library Cluster of UgCLA to create stories that would change the local literacy environment in Eastern Uganda and Africa as a whole. The UgCLA project produced 40 stories and about half of these were translated into English, illustrated, approved, and published on the creative commons African Storybook website. This critical study seeks to analyse the efficacy of the story to transform its audience basing on the understanding that stories transform society. The story portrays an ideal village girl child who stands prominently above his brother by acting independently and responsibly against all odds. She is an enigma and that is why she is a heroine like her biblical namesake Jael.


Here is the first ever popular collection of crime comics - the 24 best graphic short stories in the crime genre,spanning all the colours of noir, from classic American newspaper strip serials and notorious uncensored comic books to today's global graphic novel masterpieces. This must-have collection is fully loaded with some of the greatest writers and artists in comics publishing, including Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Will Eisner, Max Allan Collins, Johnny Craig, Alex Toth, Bernie Krigstein - plus adaptations of/collaborations by famous crime writers, such as Dashiel Hammett, Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler. Meet a gallery of hard-boiled, iconic heroes and killers inside including:Dashiell Hammett's smooth operator Secret Agent X-9, Will Eisner's masked mystery man The Spirit, Mickey Spillane's heavyweight tough-guy Mike Hammer, Munoz and Sampayo's brooding ex-cop Alack Sinner, Abuli and Bernet's venal hitman-for-hire Torpedo 1936, Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty's femme fatale investigator Ms. Tree, and Charles Burns' Mexican wrestler and defective detective El Borbah.


Real estate market is usually being analysed in terms of supply and demand factors definition and estimation in a certain geographical area at a certain period of time. Moreover, local real estate markets are often being compared with markets of other countries, usually similar in size. Market activity, price dynamics, market maturity are traditionally key factors for real estate market research. The importance and significance of the latter n market maturity - suggests to discuss the following issue n can we reasonably compare several markets representing different level of maturity. Part of the countries usually used for comparison (in most cases Scandinavian countries) have formed significantly earlier than Baltic real estate market and, moreover, operate under different conditions over long period of time if compare with the whole existence of the Baltic states market. Therefore, it is relevant to analyse Baltic real estate market functioning and make forecasts taking into consideration fundamental differences of markets, formed mainly due to different surrounding (economic) systems. This would help to reduce inaccuracy of any forecast important for market participantsi expectations and decisions. Qualitative market formation analysis was performed by reviewing and comparing two real estate distribution mechanisms n Soviet era distribution-based mechanism and market economy-based mechanism n and their major elements (property rights, participants, functioning of distribution mechanism, environment). The analysis provided several conclusions: - In almost twenty years Baltic real estate market and its residential segment developed fast; residential real estate distribution mechanism improved significantly and currently matches characteristics of market economy distribution mechanism. - Today, first of all due to economic recession, inconformity between purchasing power and real estate prices forms clear demand for financial intermediation. Effective demand is close to zero and has very low impact on real estate market functioning. - Despite distribution mechanism characteristics, most of which meet market mechanism criteria, it is irrelevant to compare homologous different markets, which have formed in totally different economic systems and were functioning under different conditions. This suggests applying different patterns for prognosis. Major part of residential property fund represents very low quality (more than 60% of total residential property is build in the period of 1961-1990), and forms need to renovate old buildings and build new ones. The volume of need mentioned-above may have impact for growing demand for financing, and shall fasten recovery of real estate market and general economy more quickly and significantly than in matured markets, where qualitative parameters of real estate meet needs of majority market participants and are not depreciated considerably.


It is hypothesized that a steady light in one eye will lower or inhibit the critical rate (CFF) of contralateral intermittent flashes of light in a manner consonant with the effect of an adapting field on the discrimination of single flashes. Luminances spanning a 6-log-unit range were variously combined in two 1.5° fields. Results indicate that there is an inhibitory effect which depends in part on relative luminances: except with very dim stimuli, an adapting light dimmer than a given flicker light reduces CFF somewhat; and CFF decreases progressively as adapting luminance increases. Viewed with bright adapting light, a moderately bright flicker field shows a 10–20% reduction in CFF and a dim flicker light (whose CFF is 8 cps or less) shows a 100% reduction in CFF. However, the data, when plotted in a ΔI/I format, show only partial similarity to curves of steady-field and single-flash luminance discrimination. Moreover, the upper limb in each of the family of binocular CFF-logI curves, in which adapting luminance is the parameter, parallels the monocular curve and may be fitted to a similar exponential equation.


Essam Kosba Intelligent Examination System to Support Teacher's Reflection Measurement of Students' Guided Feedback Feedback on student performance is a critical part of E-learning environments. Assessment is one of the most important activities in education to evaluate the knowledge level of a student and to highlight the mistakes and misconceptions especially, in Multiple Choices (MC) Exam which discovers the weak points of lesson in addition to prerequisite lessons. This paper proposes an Intelligent Examination Framework (I-EXAM), which includes two different types of adaptivity: a) Student receives immediate feedback during MC exam, b) Teacher monitors and tracks the students' attempts and measure the effectiveness of his/her given feedback via a Visual Suggestion Refinement Tool (VSRT) using Data Mining Techniques. This type of analytical and diagnostic visual tool enables teachers to drill down from a high-level overview into the details of student activities, which ultimately allows enhancement of the concept map and the given feedbacks to match students' needs.


Although it is now recognized that class conflict reaches into all spheres--not only politics and labor, but also family and private life--until recently scholars of nineteenth-century America have tended to reinforce the sentimental fiction of separate spheres, understanding the middle- or upper-class home not as a site of potential conflict, but as "a refuge from the city," a place "to escape from work" (Kleinberg 142-43), "a refuge from the fluctuations of men and markets," and "a bulwark against social strife" (Lang 15). When domestic spaces have been analyzed as loci of social class, they have sometimes been understood in terms of "the feminization of consumption," through which "equivalences [are constructed] between material and subjective 'refinement'--between commodity and psychological forms" (Merish 2). However, as Moira Donald has argued, "the extent to which work was separated from the home environment during the industrialisation process has been overestimated" (103-04). In fact, middle- and upper-class homes of the nineteenth century were dependent upon both the paid labor of domestic workers and the unpaid labor of "millions of unwaged workers, the wives, daughters, aunts, and nieces who also laboured daily in the home" (104). Thus, a complex understanding of class conflict in nineteenth-century America must take into account domestic space and women's bodies as sites of both labor and conspicuous consumption. There are few nineteenth-century American writers more aware of domestic class conflict than Louisa May Alcott, who explored women's work and consumerism in many genres, from sentimental novels such as Little Women to the farcical "How I Went Out to Service." Nonetheless, it might be tempting to dismiss Alcott's gothic thriller "Behind a Mask, or A Woman's Power," as mere escapist fantasy, published serially in The Flag of Our Union in 1866 under the penname A. M. Barnard (Stern xxxi) as a way to earn money for Alcott and to help United States readers forget about the race and class tensions building at the close of the Civil War. (1) However, as many critics have pointed out, although "Behind a Mask" is set among the British aristocracy and focuses on the disguise and unmasking of a con-woman femme fatale, this unlikely story exposes American class-related anxieties about sentimental womanhood, domestic theatricality, and women's labor and sexuality. "Behind a Mask" tells the story of Jean Muir, a thirty-year-old divorced actress who takes a job as governess for the aristocratic Coventry family. This is an acting job like any other for Muir, and she decides to play this one in the "meek ... pathetic" style (195), pretending to be a bashful nineteen-year-old girl. Muir plays the sentimental true woman so well that she wins the hearts of both of the family's sons and then goes on to marry the old titled uncle, Sir John. Alcott portrays Muir luring the family into her performance through intrigue and seduction, and by marrying into the family Muir finally draws all of the Coventrys into a conspiracy to hide the secrets of her past in order to protect their family name. Previous criticism of "Behind a Mask" has tended to emphasize Alcott's feminism, focusing either on her critique of women's economic dependence or her demonstration of the performativity (and hence inauthenticity) of women's sentimental roles. Madeleine Stern and Judith Fetterley, for example, have argued that "Behind a Mask" grew out of Alcott's own desperate economic circumstances and that Jean Muir's story demonstrates how hard it was for women to earn a living. Teresa A. Goddu takes this economic reading one step further, arguing that Alcott's sentimental and gothic fiction "participate[d] in a shared market economy" (119) and served to reveal "the economic witch behind the sentimental woman" (123). Critics such as Mary Elliott, Melanie Dawson, Alan Louis Ackerman, Jr., and Isabell Klaiber have emphasized Jean Muir's theatrical performance of "true womanhood," exploring the ways in which theatricality undermines sentimental notions of feminine authenticity. …


BRACKET BOND STRENGTH EFFECTS OF INCORPORATION OF NOVAMIN INTO AN ORTHODONTIC BONDING RESIN Jeffrey D. Waterhouse, D.D.S. Marquette University Despite advances in caries research and the development of protect ive mechanisms and materials, orthodontic white spot decalcification remains a significa t problem. Increased plaque buildup around orthodontic appliances, combined with inadequate hygiene and a susceptib le patient, can lead to unesthetic demineralized lesions in enamel. Relatively new to the arena of caries prevention, NovaMin, a bioactive g lass, has shown some promise in areas of remineralization of early lesions, protection ag ainst acidic challenge, and has demonstrated antiplaque properties. This study explored a new applic ation of the material, incorporation into an orthodontic bonding composite resin. Objectives of the study were: to determine if the experimental resin could release ionic pr ecursors to enamel formation in solution, and the effects on bracket shear bond strength. For ion release, NovaMin concentrations of 7.5, 15 and 22.5 wt% were incorporate d into a commercially available resin, TransBond LV. Resin discs were immer sed in 5 mL of both deionized water and lactic acid (pH~5). Calcium ion concentrations wer e m asured using a calcium-selective electrode. Solutions were replaced every 24 hours f or the first week, then remained unchanged for an additional 5 weeks. Controls were the resin wi thout the modification and solutions without a resin disc. Concentrations declined rapidly over t he fi st two days, reaching levels below that of the control solutions. Without solution repl ac ment, a significant increase in calcium ion concentration was observed for NovaMin levels of 15 and 22.5%. For bond strength, 39 extracted human premolar teeth were tested in three groups of 13. Standard twin brackets were bonded with either TransBond LV or the same res in with 15 or 22.5% NovaMin incorporated. Shear bond strength was tested using a universal testi ng machine. ARI scores were also obtained. There was no significant difference in mean s hear bond strength between the three groups (TransBond LV (15.13 ± 4.18MPa), TransBond LV + 15% Nov aMin (13.55 ± 2.84MPa), and TransBond LV + 22.5% NovaMin (13.27 ± 4.34MPa)). There was, however, a significant difference in ARI scores between the group without the modification and both NovaMin groups, with the as-provided TransBond LV showing less residual adhesi ve on the enamel after debond.


This paper intends to explore the role of law in establishing and directing corporate social responsibility in Peru mining sector for the purpose of awakening the concern of those involved and interested in the topic of identifying actions that would be most appropriate to promote and support the development of CSR in the mining industry in Peru. For this purpose we will review the legal framework in Peru and specially the legal domain in the mining sector through the special view of the Green Paper from the European Commission on Corporate Social Responsibility as a tool of reference since it represents the European Union's decision of being the leader in promoting CSR behaviour and the starting point, in an elaborate document of organised thoughts, lines of behaviour, guidelines and developments on CSR for EU's companies for fostering a new framework to promote CSR. There is no other document with such an aim and such challenges.


Abs tract The case report of squamous cell skin carcinoma diagnosed in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus 26 years after the onset of rheumatic disease is presented. The features of this case included the absence of skin manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus, the occurrence of a tumor at the site of ulcers and trophic disorders on the leg, a long period (6 years) from the onset of a ulcerative defect on the leg to the diagnosis of skin cancer (despite multiple biopsies and consultations of various specialists), as well as the occurrence of a cytokine release syndrome, which directly led to the death of the patient after the first use of the immune checkpoint inhibitors. Possible causes of skin cancer in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, as well as the features of the cytokine release syndrome after immunotherapy for oncological diseases, are discussed.


Chinese culture held a well-known fascination for modernist poets like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. What is less known but is made fully clear by Zhaoming Qian is the degree to which oriental culture made these poets the modernists they became. This ambitious and illuminating study shows that Orientalism, no less than French symbolism and Italian culture, is a constitutive element of Modernism.

Consulting rare and unpublished materials, Qian traces Pound's and Williams's remarkable dialogues with the great Chinese poets—Qu Yuan, Li Bo, Wang Wei, and Bo Juyi—between 1913 and 1923. His investigation reveals that these exchanges contributed more than topical and thematic ideas to the Americans' work and suggests that their progressively modernist style is directly linked to a steadily growing contact and affinity for similar Chinese styles. He demonstrates, for example, how such influences as the ethics of pictorial representation, the style of ellipsis, allusion, and juxtaposition, and the Taoist/Zen–Buddhist notion of nonbeing/being made their way into Pound's pre-Fenollosan Chinese adaptations, Cathay , Lustra , and the Early Cantos, as well as Williams's Sour Grapes and Spring and All . Developing a new interpretation of important work by Pound and Williams, Orientalism and Modernism fills a significant gap in accounts of American Modernism, which can be seen here for the first time in its truly multicultural character.


A steady-state, one-phase, Stefan problem corresponding to the solidification process of an ingot of pure metal by continuous casting with nonlinear lateral cooling is considered via the weak formulation introduced by H. Brezis et al . [C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Ser. A 287 (1978), no. 9, 711--714] for the dam problem. Two existence results are obtained, for a general nonlinear flux and for a maximal monotone flux. Comparison results and the regularity of the free boundary are discussed. A uniqueness theorem is given for the monotone case.


Building foundational skills in the early years for the later development of self-determination in adulthood for individuals with disabilities is important in the United States, but little research has been conducted to examine whether these skills are as important in other countries. In this phenomenological study, seven family interviews were conducted to understand how foundational skills for self-determination (choice making, self-regulation, engagement) were perceived and promoted by families of young children with disabilities in China. This study indicated that these skills were also valued in China. However, Chinese families emphasized the need to develop these three skills in the context of an emphasis on dependence and obedience in accordance with its collectivist culture. They used the popular Chinese parenting practice of guan to help their children make choices, regulate themselves according to li, and engage in educational study, which is highly valued in Chinese culture. These findings have important implications for interventionists in the United States who are working with families from Chinese culture.


Spoken words are easier to identify if they have been heard recently. This phenomenon, known as repetition priming, can be used to investigate the processes underlying word recognition. Using an implicit memory paradigm, this study looked at the effect of changing the voice of the speaker on repetition priming. Voice effects occur if repetition priming is reduced when a spoken word has been heard in different voices at study and test. Voice effects have been found in implicit memory tasks, such as word identification and word‐stem completion [B. A. Church and D. L. Schacter, JEP:LMC 20, 521–533 (1994); S. D. Goldinger, doctoral dissertation, 1992]. This study investigated if these results could be generalized to other implicit memory tasks—specifically, lexical decision, naming, and a new task, auditory fragment completion. No voice effects were found with any of these three tasks. These results are problematic for current accounts of word recognition and imply that as yet unidentified factors control the...


Congenital Pulmonary Vein Stenosis is a rare condition that presents in infancy with refractory wheezing from pulmonary venous obstruction. It should be considered when more common causes of wheezing have been excluded. Our case, a 6-month-old boy presented with a progressive course. His echocardiogram demonstrated stenosis of the right pulmonary veins which was defined and followed on cardiac computed tomography.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Refractory wheezing is recurrent or prolonged wheezing that is difficult to treat and unresponsive to therapy. In infancy, this type of wheezing should elicit investigation for less common causes. Due to the close relationship between the circulatory and respiratory systems, cardiac anomalies should be considered. Our case of congenital pulmonary vein stenosis presented with refractory wheezing from pulmonary venous obstruction. Unfortunately, this disorder has an unrelenting course. Even with early diagnosis and current surgical management, the outcome is poor.


Coenen L., Moodysson J. and Martin H. Path renewal in old industrial regions: possibilities and limitations for regional innovation policy, Regional Studies. This paper analyses the potential, barriers and limitations for regional innovation policy to facilitate industrial renewal in old industrial regions. It draws on a case analysis of the policy programme 'Biorefinery of the Future' geared to promote renewal of the forest industry in Northern Sweden. It is shown that infusion of radical emergent technology is necessary for new regional path development, but not sufficient. To avoid a singular focus on technology-push, policy should pay more attention to complementary experimentation processes in relation to demand-side characteristics, firm strategies and business models as well as regulatory aspects. Moreover, coordination between regional innovation policy and adjacent domains and levels of policy-making is needed as some of the most pressing obstacles for renewal are not specific to the region but instead to the industry at large.


In a cavern called The House of Thunder, Susan Thorton watched in terror as her lover died a brutal death in a college hazing. And in the following four years, the four young men who participated in that grim fraternity rite also died violently. Or did they? Twelve years later Susan wakes in a hospital bed. Apparently involved in a fatal accident, she is suffering from amnesia. She doesn't remember who she is or why she is there. All she knows is that her convalescence is unfolding into a fearful nightmare - and that the faces that surround her, pretending loving care, are those of the four men involved in that murder years before. Have the dead come back to life? Or has Susan plunged into the abyss of madness? With the help of her neurosurgeon, Susan desperately clings to her sanity while fighting to uncover who or what could be stalking her...


Attendant with the rise of the good governance discourse of the 1990s and beyond, contemporary research on social activism in Africa has tended to be rooted in normalised conceptions of civil society operating in partnership with the state. The proliferation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) over this period has attracted considerable attention from international donors and researchers alike – so much so that, for many, NGOs have now become synonymous with civil society. As a consequence, considerable gaps are evident in the literature on social movement activism and what this means in specific African contexts.

Drawing from an empirical study of political and social activism in Malawi over a six year period (2000-2006), this paper aims at making a contribution in this regard, focusing on the agency and activism of a civic network of organisations and individuals known as the Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN). Arguing that MEJN constitutes a social movement in that it embodies many of the associated characteristics identified within literature (a decentralised structure; an emphasis on popular participation and direct democracy; a dynamic membership; and a strong internal solidarity (Pichardo, 1997; della Porta and Diani, 1999; della Porta, 2009), the paper follows the journey of the network – from its genesis within the Jubilee campaign for debt cancellation, to its consolidation through the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) process, to its fragmentation with the attraction of donor funding, to its re-invigoration through challenges posed by its local district membership base – and identifies both the enabling factors and the constraints to its success in effecting social and political change over this time. MEJN's experience and journey demonstrates the increasingly globalised nature of African social movement activism and highlights both the opportunities and constraints to strategies for change posed by this globalisation.


This Master's thesis is one of two parts of a combined project called Sustainable development around the Lake Victoria, the purpose of which is to investigate the importance of local anchoring and active participation in the work towards sustainable development. The present study aims to investigate whether men and women are empowered by the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) process promoted in their villages by the VI Agroforestry Project Masaka/Rakai. The study is primarily based on interviews with farmers within the project area and brings up a local perspective on the concepts sustainable development, active participation and empowerment. The study shows that to improve the farmers' livelihood and to create a sustainable development in the community, the farmers have to be actively involved in, and in control of, the process. The people concerned are the ones who are most familiar with the local society and to make the development sustainable in a long-term perspective, activities and solutions need to be adapted to local conditions and circumstances. However, the farmers must first know what kind of development they want, i.e. where they want to go, and be aware of what means they may utilize to get there. In other words, the farmers need to be empowered before they can be in charge of their development process. According to the interviews, the farmers are encouraged by the VI Agroforestry Project's PRA process to discuss their present situation with each other, to develop strategies of how to improve it and to increase the collaboration within the villages. From this I come to the conclusion that the PRA process promoted in their villages has made the farmers more aware of their situation and better equipped to identify opportunities in their neighbourhood. Therefore, I argue that the farmers are empowered by the VI Agroforestry Project's PRA process. The study is published both as a Master's thesis for the Environmental Science Programme, Linköping University and as a Minor Field Study for Sida. There are only editorial differences between the two versions. ISBN _____________________________________________________ ISRN LIU-ITUF/MV-D--04/09--SE _________________________________________________________________


For the greater part of the past 50 years, music educators have advocated for contemporary approaches to music education that reflect the interests of students. This has recently manifested in an approach to music education that scholars call Modern Band. Though the term lacks any one definition, Modern Band classes typically involve popular music making with guitars, drum set, electric bass, and keyboard. Among the features of this approach is a student-centered orientation that is focused on the individual learner. Additionally, Modern Band is rooted in informal music-learning theory, which easily lends itself to the inclusive principles of universal design for learning and differentiated instruction. Because of this, Modern Band may be a perfect fit for inclusive music classrooms.


Background
This study aims to investigate the effect of ventilation of the non-ventilated lung in patients undergoing one-lung ventilation by a separate low-tidal-volume (1 mL/kg) ventilator at high frequency (30/min) on preventing the effect of one-lung ventilation-associated oxidative damage.

Methods
The study included 45 patients (24 males, 21 females; mean age 54.6±7.7 years; range, 18 to 65 years) with an American Society of Anesthesiologists risk group of 1 to 2 and scheduled for elective thoracotomy. Patients were randomly divided into three groups as those due for thoracotomy without one-lung ventilation (group 1, n=15), those due for thoracotomy with one-lung ventilation (group 2, n=15), and those due for thoracotomy in whom both lungs were ventilated (group 3, n=15). Blood specimens were collected for ischemia-modified albumin, malondialdehyde, and lactate measurements one minute before one-lung ventilation (t0), 30 minutes after one-lung ventilation (t1), 60 minutes after one-lung ventilation (t2), and at postoperative 24th hour (t3). For group 1, t0 was defined as the time at which the thorax was opened.

Results
A statistically significant increase in ischemia-modified albumin, malondialdehyde, and lactate levels occurred in group 2 as the duration of one-lung ventilation increased (p<0.01). Plasma ischemia-modified albumin and malondialdehyde levels in group 3 were statistically significantly lower at t1, t2, and t3 compared with group 2 (p<0.01). Plasma lactate levels were significantly lower in group 3 at t1 (p<0.05) and t3 compared with group 2 (p<0.01).

Conclusion
Separate ventilation of the non-ventilated lung with low tidal volume and high frequency reduces the response to one-lung ventilation-associated oxidative stress in thoracic surgery.


The removal of malachite green dye from aqueous solution by Ulva lactuca, Sargassum crassifolium, and Gracilaria corticata has been demonstrated in order to examine their potential use as low-cost adsorbents. The optimum pH (8.0), temperature (25 °C), contact time (150 min), and biomass (2.0 g) for removal of dye by algae are reported. The maximum removal percentage of the dye ranged between 95.6% and 98.3% by using Sargassum crassifolium at the optimal conditions. Minimum removal of dye by algae (69%-77.1%) was observed with the high dye concentration of 35 mg L-1 at the optimal conditions. Adsorption of the dye by using the biomass was found to fit well with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The adsorption reaction was spontaneous, exothermic, and highly favorable by the tested algae. The FT-IR analyses confirmed that hydroxyl, carboxyl, amino, and carbonyl groups were responsible for the dye binding process. Scanning electron microscopy showed great porosity on the algal surface, which allows the free passage of dye molecules. The biomass of brown algae was the most effective in the removal of malachite green, followed by green and red algae. The highest affinity of the brown biomass for dye removal may be due to its high binding site affinity, the negative free energy of adsorption, and the great pores on its surface.


An idealized, three-dimensional, cloud-system-resolving model is used to investigate the influence of surface enthalpy flux variations on tropical depression (TD) spinup, an early stage of tropical cyclogenesis in which the role of surface fluxes remains incompletely understood. A range of simulations supports the hypothesis that a negative radial gradient of surface enthalpy flux outside the storm center is necessary for TD spinup but can arise from multiple mechanisms. The negative radial gradient is typically created by the wind speed dependence of surface enthalpy fluxes, consistent with some previous theories for tropical cyclone intensification. However, when surface enthalpy fluxes are prescribed to be independent of wind speed, spinup still occurs, albeit more slowly, with the negative radial gradient of surface enthalpy fluxmaintained by an enhanced air–sea thermodynamic disequilibrium beneath the cold core of the incipient vortex. Surface enthalpy flux variations seemmore important for intensification than initial conditions. For example, a vortex forms and intensifies even from a state of rest when the center of the domain is initialized to be nearly saturated with water vapor, but this intensification is modest in amplitude and transient, lasting less than 12 h, without interactive surface enthalpy flux. Sustained spinup on time scales longer than a day does not occur when surface enthalpy fluxes are horizontally homogeneous or constant, even when fixed at the high value of 200Wm. In the ensemble of simulations presented here, the vortex intensification rate scales linearly with the storm-scale surface enthalpy flux anomaly relative to the undisturbed environment.


This paper examines some of the issues involved in developing an industrial strength hypermedia application for use across a manufacturing enterprise. In order to meet this objective, a range of topics need to be addressed, including the user interface, application authoring and portability of information, revision control, and communicating with external resources. These principles are discussed with reference to previous work at Southampton, namely the hypermedia application developed for Pirelli Cables, Aberdare.


The benefits of high-fever range hyperthermia have been utilized in medicine from the Ancient Greek culture to the present day. Amplitude-modulated electro-hyperthermia, induced by a 13.56 MHz radiofrequency current (mEHT, or Oncothermia), has been an emerging means of delivering loco-regional clinical hyperthermia as a complementary of radiation-, chemo-, and molecular targeted oncotherapy. This unique treatment exploits the metabolic shift in cancer, resulting in elevated oxidative glycolysis (Warburg effect), ion concentration, and electric conductivity. These promote the enrichment of electric fields and induce heat (controlled at 42 °C), as well as ion fluxes and disequilibrium through tumor cell membrane channels. By now, accumulating preclinical studies using in vitro and in vivo models of different cancer types have revealed details of the mechanism and molecular background of the oncoreductive effects of mEHT monotherapy. These include the induction of DNA double-strand breaks, irreversible heath and cell stress, and programmed cells death; the upregulation of molecular chaperones and damage (DAMP) signaling, which may contribute to a secondary immunogenic tumor cell death. In combination therapies, mEHT proved to be a good chemosensitizer through increasing drug uptake and tumor reductive effects, as well as a good radiosensitizer by downregulating hypoxia-related target genes. Recently, immune stimulation or intratumoral antigen-presenting dendritic cell injection have been able to extend the impact of local mEHT into a systemic "abscopal" effect. The complex network of pathways emerging from the published mEHT experiments has not been overviewed and arranged yet into a framework to reveal links between the pieces of the "puzzle". In this paper, we review the mEHT-related damage mechanisms published in tumor models, which may allow some geno-/phenotype treatment efficiency correlations to be exploited both in further research and for more rational clinical treatment planning when mEHT is involved in combination therapies.


We describe an 'open' design methodology for wide-field fluorescence, confocal and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), and how the resulting microscopes are being applied to radiation biology and protein activity studies in cells and human tissue biopsies. The design approach allows easy expansion as it moves away from the use of a monolithic microscope body to small, commercial off-the-shelf and custom made modular components. Details have been made available under an open license for non-commercial use at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~atdgroup. Two radiobiology 'end-stations' have been constructed which enable fast radiation targeting and imaging of biological material opening up completely novel studies, where the consequences of ionising radiation (signaling and protein recruitment) can be studied in situ, at short times following irradiation. One is located at Surrey University, UK, where radiation is a highly focused in beam (e.g. protons, helium or higher mass ions). The second is installed at the Gray Institute linear accelerator facility, Oxford University, which uses sub-microsecond pulses of 6 MeV electrons. FLIM capabilities have enhanced the study of protein-protein interactions in cells and tissues via Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Extracting FRET signals from breast cancer tissue is challenging because of endogenous and fixation fluorescence; we are investigating novel techniques to measure this robustly. Information on specific protein interactions from large numbers of patient tumors will reveal prognostic and diagnostic information.


The objective of this study was to determine the response rate in chemonaive patients with inoperable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer treated with pemetrexed (Alimta®, LY231514), a multitargeted antifolate. The patients were treated with either 500 mg/m2 (11 patients) or 600 mg/m2 (24 patients) of pemetrexed, administered as a 10-min infusion on day 1 of a 21-day cycle. Patients receiving 500 mg/m2 dose also received 5 mg/day oral folic acid supplementation beginning 2 days prior and ending on day 3 of each cycle. Of the 34 patients evaluable for efficacy, six patients (18%) had partial response, with median response duration of 3.8 months (range, 3.3–6.6 months). Twenty-four patients (71%) had stable disease, one patient (3%) had progressive disease, and three patients could not be assessed. Median overall survival was 15.2 months (range, 2.9–35.3+ months). Grade 4 hematologic toxicities consisted of neutropenia (37%), leukopenia (9%), anemia (6%), and thrombocytopenia (3%). One patient died of hypotensive shock associated with frank rectal hemorrhage that was considered to be related to the study drug. We conclude that pemetrexed therapy showed moderate activity, similar to other active agents, in the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic cervical cancer.


Background Epidemiological data from high-income countries suggest that women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are more likely to develop diabetes later in life. Objective We investigated the association between pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE&E) during pregnancy and the risk of diabetes in Indian women. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting India. Methods Data from India's third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2005–2006), a cross-sectional survey of women aged 15–49 years, are used. Self-reported symptoms suggestive of PE&E were obtained from 39 657 women who had a live birth in the 5 years preceding the survey. The association between PE&E and self-reported diabetes status was assessed using multivariable logistic regression models adjusting for dietary intake, body mass index (BMI), tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, frequency of TV watching, sociodemographic characteristics and geographic region. Results The prevalence of symptoms suggestive of PE&E in women with diabetes was 1.8% (n=207; 95% CI 1.5 to 2.0; p<0.0001) and 2.1% (n=85; 95% CI 1.8 to 2.3; p<0.0001), respectively, compared with 1.1% (n=304; 95% CI 1.0 to 1.4) and 1.2% (n=426; 95% CI 1.1 to 1.5) in women who did not report any PE&E symptoms. In the multivariable analysis, PE&E was associated with 1.6 times (OR=1.59; 95% CI 1.31 to 1.94; p<0.0001) and 1.4 times (OR=1.36; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.77; p=0.001) higher risk for self-reported diabetes even after controlling for dietary intake, BMI and sociodemographic characteristics. Conclusions HDP is strongly associated with the risk of diabetes in a large nationally representative sample of Indian women. These findings are important for a country which is already tackling the burden of young onset of diabetes in the population. However, longitudinal medical histories and a clinical measurement of diabetes are needed in this low-resource setting.


. We have used the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM), with 14 an updated treatment of loss processes, to determine the atmospheric lifetime of SF 6 . The model 15 includes the following SF 6 removal processes: photolysis, electron attachment and reaction 16 with mesospheric metal atoms. The Sodankylä Ion Chemistry (SIC) model is incorporated into 17 the standard version of WACCM to produce a new version with a detailed D region ion 18 chemistry with cluster ions and negative ions. This is used to determine a latitude- and altitude- 19 dependent scaling factor for the electron density in the standard WACCM in order to carry out 20 multi-year SF 6 simulations. The model gives a mean SF 6 lifetime over a 11-year solar cycle ( τ ) 21 of 1278 years (with a range from 1120 to 1475 years), which is much shorter than the currently 22 widely used value of 3200 years, due to the larger contribution (97.4%) of the modelled 23 electron density to the total atmospheric loss. The loss of SF 6 by reaction with mesospheric 24 metal atoms (Na and K) is far too slow to affect the lifetime. We investigate how this shorter 25 atmospheric lifetime impacts the use of SF 6 to derive stratospheric age-of-air. The age-of-air 26 derived from this shorter lifetime SF 6 tracer is longer by 9% in polar latitudes at 20 km 27 compared to a passive SF 6 tracer. We also present laboratory measurements of the infrared 28 spectrum of SF 6 and find good agreement with previous studies. We calculate the resulting 29 radiative forcings and efficiencies to be, on average, very similar to those reported previously. 30 Our values for the 20, 100 and 500-year global warming potentials are 18,000, 23,800 and 31 31,300, respectively.


Abstract We examined the distribution, resources and environmental conditions of the clonal aquatic fern Salvinia natans (L.) All., expansive in the Vistula delta (N Poland). Before 2006, there were 7 stands of this species, while in the years 2006-2010 their number increased to 21. The most abundant populations were found in the rivers: Tuga (133.0±37.6 indiv./0.1 m2), Fiszewka( 79.3±6.0), Szkarpawa (74.7±5.0), Struga Orłowska (61.0±2.0), Nogat (52.3±2.5), Elbląg (40.3±31.8), Wiślano-Zalewowy Canal (61.3±3.2) and in the SW part of Lake Druzno (72.3±2.5). S. natans did not colonise the weakly saline Vistula Lagoon and Elbląg Bay, which belong to the Baltic Sea. The plant under study occurred in shallow (2.2±1.5 m), narrow (17.9±13.6 m), slow-flowing (0.11±0.12 m s-1) and fertile (4.7±4.2 mg TN dm-3, 0.7±0.4 mg TP dm-3) watercourses. The water in them had neutral or alkaline pH (7.2-9.2) and was weakly saline (53.8±21.3 mg Cl dm-3). A dense mat of S. natans significantly affected the environmental conditions in the watercourses: water oxygenation, PAR intensity and concentration of biogenic substances, especially phosphorus, decreased.


Histomorphometric analysis was performed on transiliac undecalcified bone biopsies taken from eight adults and four children with osteogenesis imperfecta. Double tetracycline labelling done before the biopsy allowed measurement of the calcification rate in 11 patients. The adults, as well as the children, had thin iliac cortices and considerably decreased trabecular bone volume. In addition, the calcification rate was significantly reduced. Since the thickness index of osteoid seams was low or normal in all subjects, it indicated a reduced bone formation at the cellular level. In the adults, there was no significant increase in the parameters of bone resorption or in the bone formation rates at the basic multicellular unit and the tissue levels. Thus the histomorphometric profile of iliac bone in osteogenesis imperfecta is characterised by cortical and trabecular osteoporosis with decreased activity of the individual osteoblasts. These findings would suggest the use of therapeutic agents stimulating bone formation rather than agents inhibiting bone resorption in osteogenesis imperfecta.


Echo is a novel yet practical approach to the formal verification of large software systems. The Echo approach splits verification into two major parts. In the first part, the SPARK tools are used to verify an implementation written in SPARK Ada against a low-level specification written using the SPARK source-code annotations. In the second part, a high-level specification is extracted automatically from the annotated implementation, and a proof constructed using the PVS theorem proving system that the extracted specification implies the original specification. Part of what makes Echo practical is a technique called verification refactoring. The program to be verified is mechanically refactored specifically to facilitate verification. In both parts of the proof process, semantics-preserving refactorings are applied to the implementation to reduce the complexity of the software and thereby to reduce the difficulty of verification proof. Much of the Echo approach is automated. The verification burden is reduced by distributing the burden over separate tools and techniques. In this presentation, the Echo verification technology will be described. The technology will be illustrated using the verification of two security applications and a novel medical device.


While many progressive enterprises are becoming more network-centric, many research-oriented organisations retain a traditional hierarchy with an ego-centric culture. Paradoxically, network-centrism is associated with technology, innovation and creativity, the hallmarks of cutting-edge research. Using concepts of emergence from complexity theory, this study takes a developmental, action research approach to the application of social network analysis in legitimising a network of research groups in a traditionally managed institution. The results indicate that an emergent network is as valid an organisational structure as an imposed hierarchy for research management. The study also demonstrates the use of social network analysis and similar technological applications in democratising organisational decision-making in respective of group innovation.


Rising incomes in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) portend rising use of motor vehicles, with attendant challenges to manage traffic congestion, air pollution, energy security, and global warming, as well as growing disparities in access to opportunities between those who have cars and those who do not. International concern regarding the effects of climate change is leading to the creation of mechanisms to promote transport initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, there is an increasingly widespread interest in more sustainable transport strategies that not only reduce GHG emissions but also improve air quality and safety while at the same time providing access and supporting mobility and economic development. This monograph is intended to assist planners in LAC in understanding how to assess the GHG emissions reduction benefits of sustainable transport projects, policies, and strategies. The document should aid planners accessing climate finance to support sustainable transport initiatives, as well as to assist evaluators in understanding and measuring GHG benefits of proposed investments. While the focus of the document is on measuring GHG benefits, many of the methods discussed are broadly useful for understanding other important social benefits including air pollution and traffic congestion reduction, fuel savings, increased traffic safety, and access to opportunities across the income spectrum.


In this paper, a variant of solvatochromic frequency shift equation that accommodates intensity parameters such as solvent molecular polarizability (a), the molar refraction (R), stark term(µ/r3) and Einstein Coefficient (k) and oscillator intensity (f) had been developed. This was applied to the study of photo-physical properties of three thiophene derivatives: 3, 4-diphenylthiophene; 3, 4-dicarboxylic-2, 5-diphenylthiophene and benzo[b] thiophene in order to determine their transition polarizability (Aa), transition dipole moment (Ai) and other molecular properties using UV-visible spectrophotometer. The magnitudes of both the experimental oscillator strength in solution and vapour phase were calculated using Lorentz- reaction field model while the frequencies of the transitions in polar and non-polar solvents were used to characterize the observed bands. The spectra behaviours of these molecules in the different solvents in terms of dipole moments in the ground and excited states and calculated values Aa have been interpreted and related to the transition energies, intensities and the molecular structures of the compounds.