EU law affects the validity and applicability of intra-EU International Investment Agreements (IIAs) both under EU and international law. Although EU law and intra-EU IIAs create separate legal systems, they cover largely the same subject matter creating scope for potential conflicts. Using different tools and based on different legal principles, both EU law and international law require the determination of the specific incompatibilities between EU law and intra-EU IIAs in order to assess whether and to what extent the latter are applicable. In that regard, the provisions of intra-EU IIAs on dispute settlement and in particular investor-State arbitration present an outright incompatibility with EU law, as they violate the principle of autonomy of EU law and, thus, should be deemed inapplicable.


Abstract In vivo imaging technologies are presently receiving considerable attention in the biomedical and pharmaceutical research areas. One of the principal imaging modalities is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The multiparametric nature of MRI enables anatomical, functional and even molecular information to be obtained non-invasively from intact organisms at high spatial resolution. Here we describe the use of one MRI modality, namely angiography (MRA), to non-invasively study the arterial vascular architecture of APP23 transgenic mice modeling Alzheimer's disease. Because the spatial resolution of the technique is limited, the in vivo studies are complemented by a powerful analysis of the vasculature using vascular corrosion casting. Both techniques revealed age-dependent blood flow alterations and cerebrovascular abnormalities in these mice. Our experience suggests that MRA complemented by cast analysis are important tools to describe vascular alterations and test new therapy concepts in animal models of AD. Furthermore, being non-invasive, MRA can also be applied to studies in patients suffering from this disease.


Modularization refers to the opportunity for mixing-and-matching of components in a modular product design in which the standard interfaces between components are specified to allow for a range of variation in components to be substituted in a product architecture. It is through mixing-and-matching of these components, and how these components interface with one another, that new systems are created. Consequently, the degree of modularization inherent in a system is highly dependent upon the components and the interface constraints shared among the components, modules, and sub-systems. In this paper, a mathematical model is derived for analyzing the degree of modularization in a given product architecture by taking into consideration the number of components, number of interfaces, the composition of new-to-the-firm (NTF) components, and substitutability of components. An analysis of Chrysler windshield wipers controller suggests that two product architectures may share similar interface constraints, but the opportunity for modularization of one module is significant higher than the other due to the higher substitutability of its components and lower composition of NTF components.


This article examines the refusal of two UK manufacturers to adapt their strategic 'repertoires' to the recessionary and structural changes of the 1980s. From being industry leaders in 1980, both companies were relegated to overseas control by the end of the decade. Developing both institutionalist and contextualist approaches to organization, the article argues that this fatal resistance to change derived from the deep social structural roots of these two companies' politics and cultures. Conservative managers were able to defy new capitalist logics by drawing upon alternative social structural sources of power, legitimacy and inspiration. The article concludes by considering the implications of this plural structuring of organizations both for organizational theory and for the management of change in practice.


I. INTRODUCTION Since the 1980s, a wide range of courts and commentators have expressed concern over large punitive damages awards handed out by civil juries against a wide array of tortfeasors. A late 2001 study revealed that from 1985 to 2001, eight multi-billion dollar punitive damages awards were granted, with four of them being handed down in the years 1999 to 2001 alone.1 Not surprisingly, all but one of these verdicts were handed down against large corporations.2 Among the current members of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens in particular has regularly noted the especially dangerous tendency the current punitive damages regime poses: We have admonished that "[p]unitive damages pose an acute danger of arbitrary deprivation of property. Jury instructions typically leave the jury with wide discretion in choosing amounts, and the presentation of evidence of a defendant's net worth creates the potential that juries will use their verdicts to express biases against big businesses, particularly those without strong local presences."3 While many commentators note that punitive damages awards are still so rare that this should not pose a concern, others disagree, and still others posit that an even more pressing threat is the havoc that expectations of punitive damages awards can wreak on settlement negotiations.4 Within the past nine years, the United States Supreme Court has issued two landmark tort decisions, BMW of North America v. Gore, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, holding in both instances that excessive punitive damages awards, which were upheld by their respective state supreme courts, violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.5 In light of the fact-specific nature of these cases, as well as the Court's refusal to adopt a bright-line rule as to when punitive damages awards should be deemed excessive,6 questions remain regarding the precedential value of these cases and if the principles they espouse will be applied faithfully by the state courts that review punitive damages verdicts. In fact, it is unclear whether these two decisions will have any effect at all in causing lower courts to rein in punitive damages awards in post-verdict appellate review.7 The Supreme Court itself has acknowledged this worry, stating that "[b]ecause no two cases are truly identical, meaningful comparisons of such awards are difficult to make."8 With these worries in mind, many commentators have suggested imposing additional constraints to reduce the risk of excessive punitive damages rendered by juries, or alternatively, to make such awards easier to strike down once they are rendered.9 Somewhat surprisingly, the Supreme Court entered the fray in Gore by identifying a limit on excessive punitive damages awards imposed by substantive due process.10 While Gore and its progeny ostensibly focus on after-the-fact checks on civil juries, this Note asserts that a more prudent and efficient means of ensuring reasonable and "non-excessive" punitive damages verdicts would be to prevent juries from even hearing the type of evidence that Gore and State Farm chastised trial courts for admitting in the first place. The most effective way to accomplish this constitutionally required goal would be to have Congress amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to take some discretion away from trial judges in situations analogous to Gore and State Farm. In particular, the Federal Rules should be amended to render inadmissible all types of evidence describing wrongful conduct by the defendant which: (1) bears minimal relation to the tort at issue; (2) occurred in another jurisdiction; (3) was legal when and where it occurred; or (4) for some other reason has no "nexus to the specific harm suffered by the plaintiff."11 This Note will begin by offering in Part II a brief overview of the punitive damages landscape, and how the determination of whether a punitive damages award is "grossly disproportionate" was changed by Gore and State Farm. …


Purpose Dry eye is associated with inflammation, pain, and discomfort. Vitamin D is known to modulate immune responses and pain. This study investigates the level of serum vitamin D and tear-inflammatory proteins with relation to exaggerated symptoms in patients with mild dry eye. Methods Patients with mild dry eye signs (Dry Eye Workshop [DEWS] severity grade 1) but with exaggerated symptoms and healthy controls (n = 19, each) were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Schirmer's Test I (mm), tear film break-up time (TBUT; secs), and ocular surface disease index (OSDI) score were recorded. Serum vitamin D level and tear cytokine levels were measured. Results The mean OSDI score in the patient cohort (46 ± 3) was significantly higher than controls (8.4 ± 1.6). TBUT was lower (7.6 ± 0.3 secs) in patients compared with controls (11.0 ± 0.9 secs). Mean Schirmer's Test I value in patients (19.3 ± 1.4 mm) was lower than in controls (30.6 ± 1.9 mm). An inverse correlation was observed between serum vitamin D levels and OSDI score (r = −0.569; P = 0.01). Significantly higher levels of interleukin (IL)-17A/F, interferon (IFN)-γ, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1, intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, IL-4, IL-10, and decreased IL-2 concentrations was observed in the tears of patients compared with controls (P < 0.05). Conclusion Decreased serum vitamin D was associated with exaggerated symptoms in dry eye patients with mild dry eye signs. In addition, altered tear cytokine profile was also observed in these patients. Translational Relevance Vitamin D measurements would aid in the diagnosis and management of dry eye.


This study assesses public investment required for agricultural growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. Using time series data for public spending and agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth, the econometrically estimated results show that one percent of growth in agricultural spending generates 0.24 percent of growth in agricultural TFP. To support 9.5 percent in agricultural annual growth in 2009-17, a growth rate from the economy-wide analysis on options of growth for poverty reduction (Diao et al. 2009), required agricultural investment would have to grow at 23.8 percent annually in the same period. However, if the spending efficiency were improved based on an estimated elasticity for Sub-Saharan Africa as whole, then required agricultural investment would grow at 13.6 percent per year instead. The study also shows that investment outside agriculture benefits the agricultural sector. By taking into account such indirect effect of public investment, required growth in agricultural spending is much lower.


The concept of experiential tourism is a foundation for the valorisation of intangible cultural heritage of a rural area from south-eastern Transylvania, Romania. The experience was closely observed and analysed in order to determine how the regional tourism promotion organizations should use intangible heritage assets in order to promote this area, and also to be incorporated in the tourist offers by Romanian tour operators. Aiming to evaluate tourists' insights on their rural tourism experience, a close research was conducted among the participants at an international summer school, specially designed for the valorisation of the intangible cultural heritage. The results outline the sensorial triggers, which describe Italian tourists' experience in Fagaras Land.


The requalification of the area of La Boca in Buenos Aires: a periphery along the river This Master Degree thesis deals with a peripherical area of one of the biggest metropolis in the world, Buenos Aires. The first step concerns the analysis of the urban conglomeration, its development and its actual problems, followed by a deeper scan of the neighborhood: La Boca, the first settlement of the city, is now located along the southern border and presents several problems, similar to all the occidental cities, trying to face the recent crisis and the consequential closure of all the factories activities that enhance the spread of empty places and the need to rethink these huge spaces to convert them into hubs for new functions, avoiding the expansion of the urban tissue. Other issues are related to the multicultural feature of the city, that received in the last years new flows of inmigrants from the closest countries, representing a sort of South-American dream being one of the last chances of economic survival for the low-income people. For these reasons the neighbourhood has changed its morphological features from its foundation to the last years, adapting the needs of the population through a partial reuse of existent infrastructures and buildings, decreasing the comfort to a situation of just survival. The presence of the river Riachuelo, threating the maintenance of decent living conditions, especially for the people living under the highway, can represent the starting point for the process of renewal, which is proposed by this work. The approach chosen is not the usual in Latin America, consisting in demolishing to rebuilt something new, but it is conservative, in a way that not only provides the reuse of existent buildings, but also focuses its efforts to obtain an adaptation to the needs and the ideas of the users. It's not a rewriting on the present but a new draw of the future aims. Through the recreation of a waterfront as reappropriation of a public space actually almost abandoned and the conferment of social functions, the neighbourhood enrich itself with a new hope of getting out the decline and relive, especially thanks to the tourism still looking for the authenticity represented by its buildings and streets. At the same time, the need of basic life needs is solved by turning the abandoned depots into shelters and canteens, beside cultural spots represented by museums and laboratories to transmit the traditional arts of the locals. In this process the main role is handled by the population, that needs to be involved in all the stages of the design, from the identification of the most important characteristics that the neighbourhood has to consider and develop, to the actual and concrete realization of the works, guided by associations and stakeholders able to keep at the first place the needs expressed.


The scribe and break technique (or dicing) is a widely employed method in the industry of semiconductors to separate infrared laser diodes made from gallium arsenide (GaAs). The scribing step allows to create a precursor crack which is then propagated during the breaking step, along preferential {110} cleavage planes of GaAs. The main drawback of the scribing process is that it generates a lot of undesirable cracks and particles that degrade the performances of devices. In this dissertation, we have investigated the indentation process as a possible way to replace the scribing operation. For that purpose, we have investigated the morphology of the crack field and the cracking sequence as a function of the indenter geometry (shape, apex angle) and experimental conditions (maximal load, loading rate). Such investigations have been made with the help of a new tool: the in-situ SEM instrumented indentation which allows us to establish the cracking sequence and to correlate direct observations with the load-displacement histories. A new experimental technique has also been developed: cleavage cross-sectioning techniques allow us to determine the morphology of the crack field beneath the surface. The second research axis was focused on the interaction between deformation mechanisms and crack initiation. These investigations have been conducted with the help of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and cathodoluminescence. In the first part of the dissertation, we have shown that acute wedge indenters with an included angle of 60° promote the formation of a well defined half-penny crack, the nucleation of which is affected by load rate and indenter radius. The relation between the final half-penny crack size and the maximum indentation load was made with the help of a fracture mechanics model. The crack field has been compared for several indenter shape including conical (60° and 120° apex angles), cube corner and Vickers indenters. In the second part of this dissertation we have determined that the indenter apex angle influences the slip systems that are activated and the nature of dislocations that are found under the indenter. In particular, we have shown that below 60° wedge indenters, mainly diverging slip systems are activated whereas under obtuse wedge indenters, mainly converging slip systems are activated. The converging pattern predominant under obtuse indenters is correlated with a delayed half-penny crack formation and is so interpreted as a plastic shielding phenomenon. Some experiments have been performed on commercial devices under production conditions. Although some adjustments are needed to reduce the chipping-out effect that occurs at the indenter extremities, the results are encouraging.


Modern web applications face stringent requirements along many dimensions including latency, scalability, and avail ability. In response, several geo-distributed cloud stora ge systems have emerged in recent years. Customizing cloud data stores to meet application SLA requirements is a challenge given the scale of applications, and their diverse and dynamic workloads. In this paper, we tackle these challenges in the context of quorum-based systems (e.g. Amazon Dynamo, Cassandra), an important and widely used class of distributed cloud storage systems. We present models that seek to optimize percentiles of response time under normal operation and under a data-center (DC) failure. Our models consider a variety of factors such as the geographic spread of users, DC locations, relative priorities of read and writ e requests, application consistency requirements and inter -DC communication costs. We evaluate our models using realworld traces of three popular applications: Twitter, Wikipedia and Gowalla, and through experiments with a Cassandra cluster. Our results confirm the importance and effectiveness of our models, and offer important insights on the performance achievable with geo-distributed data stores.


Abstract Background: The use of iodine is a controversial issue even though it has been used in wound management for over 150 years. There is a large amount of published literature available for both povidone and cadexomer iodine although the results are often conflicting due to the large array of different preparations used and different study types employed. Objectives: This literature review concentrates on the use of povidone and cadexomer iodine. The review highlights their antimicrobial efficiency, the issue of bacterial resistance, and effects on tissue and cells involved in wound healing. Toxicity and adverse reactions associated with these antimicrobial agents are also considered. Major findings: The literature supports the use of povidone and cadexomer iodine as effective antimicrobial agents that bacteria have not developed resistance to. Other findings noted that povidone and cadexomer iodine should be used with caution and at decreased concentrations in patients with extensive burns and systemic complications such as renal failure, thyroid dysfunction, and other severely immunocompromised patients. Conclusions: The literature supports the use of povidone and cadexomer iodine in wound care for its effects on tissue and cells, especially in newer formulations. Cadexomer iodine has proven to be very effective in chronic wounds while povidone iodine has been noted to be more effective in infected acute wounds. Gaps in the research have been identified as a lack of clear evidence comparing new formulations of povidone iodine to traditional preparations. It is clear that more research evidence is required for clinicians who routinely use these antimicrobial agents in wound management.


Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis will form the primary focus or Ghon focus in the lungs of infected people. The primary focus can break and get into the bloodstream and/or lymph to the entire body, including the central nervous system, especially the brain. Tuberculosis infection in the brain can cause microglia secrete inflammatory factors such as TNF-α and IL-1β is emerging as the body's immune response. The factors that can trigger microglia to secrete iNOS (Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase) in order to protect the brain from attacking bacteria. iNOS is shown to have an important role in tuberculosis infection in the brain. TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokine which is mostly produced by macrophages/microglia through several mechanisms. Therefore, to investigate how the expression of TNF-α and iNOS in the brain tissue of the mice is not infected with tuberculosis, tuberculosis infection with an incubation period of 8 weeks and 16 weeks. This study is a semiquantitative study by comparing the amount of expression of TNF-α and iNOS and all three groups of samples with treatment as has been mentioned. The expressions observation of TNF-α and iNOS in brain cell tissue of mice was conducted using immunohistochemical staining, and was seen in a microscope with a magnification of ×100. Brain cells that express TNF-α and iNOS are brown core, cytoplasm and cell walls. The results were obtained by the longer exposure to infection of the higher expression of TNF-α (r > 0688) and the expression of iNOS decreased (–0.993).


A total of 18 case studies assembled in the report are the follow-up to the general approach laid out in the previous publication 'Overtourism'? – Understanding and Managing Urban Tourism Growth beyond Perceptions'. Launched in September 2018, it examines how to manage tourism in urban destinations to the benefit of visitors and residents alike, offering a wide range of strategies and measures for a better understanding and management of challenges and opportunities.

"Urban tourism is multifaceted and requires a city-wide strategy with cooperation between all stakeholders and the inclusion of tourism in the urban agenda", said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. "Sustainable and inclusive cities must mean creating cities for all: citizens, investors and visitors", he addedd.

As acomplement to the conceptual approach, the report presented today looks into concrete case studies from Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Besalu, Cambridge, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Ghent, Hangzhou, London, Lucerne, Macao (China), New York, Lisbon, Seoul, Porto, Prague and Venice,.

The examples show that there is no 'one-size fits all' measure to tackle overtourism, and that any successful destination management strategy needs to be context specific. Although this might not come as a surprise, there is a connecting thread between the fundamental challenges: congestion in specific locations and sites at specific moments, mobility, pressure on infrastructure and resources, decrease in 'place' authenticity and impact on social fabrics and residents daily lives.

Consequently, the most common measures currently being implemented by destinations relate to the dispersal of visitors within the city and beyond, showing the pressing need to manage tourism congestion in certain areas and attractions. Measures with the aim of improving the city infrastructure and facilities are also frequently mentioned, reflecting the fact that many challenges are linked not only to the growing number of visitors but also to the pressure placed by residents, commuters and tourists on the city's resources and services.


For senior-level undergraduate and first and second year graduate systems engineering and related courses. Systems Engineering and Analysis, 5/e, provides a total life-cycle approach to systems and their analysis. This practical introduction to systems engineering and analysis provides the concepts, methodologies, models, and tools needed to understand and implement a total life-cycle approach to systems and their analysis. The authors focus first on the process of bringing systems into being—beginning with the identification of a need and extending that need through requirements determination, functional analysis and allocation, design synthesis, evaluation, and validation, operation and support, phase-out, and disposal. Next, the authors discuss the improvement of systems currently in being, showing that by employing the iterative process of analysis, evaluation, feedback, and modification, most systems in existence can be improved in their affordability, effectiveness, and stakeholder satisfaction.


Accuracy Control System (ACS) in shipbuilding industries is proven to have reduced production time, rework, and improved productivity and finally achieved quality ofproduct. This concept had been implemented in many shipyards worldwide especially in Japan, USA and Europe. With the recent shipbuilding development in Batam region, with the emergence of more than forty shipyards, the application of ACS could brought a significant impact to the well being and competitiveness at aatam shipyards. Therefore, this research study is carried out to determine the status of the level ofACS implementation in Batam shipyards, hence proposed for suitable improvement or implementation wherever necessary. This research started with two different surveys; first survey conducted at fourteen shipyards by using questionnaire in order to determine the present status of ACS application. The second survey was conducted on a specific shipyard, Le. PT. Pan-United Shipyard in order to determine the present quality system employed. A pilot study on the initial implementation of ACS has also been carried out in this shipyard. A stem block (block 1) of a ongoing project (Hul1163) has been selected for the study and the measurement was taken and recorded systematically. Based on these measurements, several analysis have heen performed which lead to the conclusion that the percentage of rework, production time and production cost can be reduced significantly with the ACS implementation. Based on these findings, a proposal was then recommended to the shipyards on how ACS can be initiated. It is hope that with this recommendation, the quality of ship produced can be improved, hence reduces production cost and increase competitiveness.


1. Introduction, Nigel Ashton and Bryan Gibson Part I: Waging the War 2. Lessons Learned: Civil Military Relations during the Iran-Iraq War and its influence on the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War, Ibrahim Al-Marashi 3. Saddam and the Iran-Iraq War: Rule from the Top, Williamson Murray and Kevin Woods 4. Mustazafin and Taghutti: Iran and the War, 1980-1988, Rob Johnson Part II: Economic Dimensions of the War 5. The True Role of Oil in the Outcome of the Iran-Iraq War: Some Important Lessons in Historical context, Farzin Nadimi 6. The Finances of War: Iraq, credit and conflict, September 1980 - August 1990, Glen Rangwala Part III: Regional Perspectives 7. The Gulf States and the Iran-Iraq War: Cooperation and Confusion, Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen 8. The Ostensible 'Silent Victor' - The Long-Term Impact of the Iran-Iraq War on Turkey's Regional Position and Neighborly Relations, Elliot Hen-Tov Part IV: American Policy and the War 9. Reappraising the Carter Administration's Response, Chris Emery 10. Changing American Perspectives on the Iraq- Iran War, Judith Yaphe 11. Critical Oral History: A New Approach to Examining the United States' Role in the War, Malcolm Byrne Part V: International Perspectives on the War 12. France's Discrete Involvement in the Iran-Iraq War, Pierre Razoux 13. The Soviet Union and the Iran-Iraq War, Artemy Kalinovsky


The efficient solution of many large-scale scientific calculations depends on unstructured mesh strategies. For example, problems where the solution changes rapidly in small regions of the domain require an adaptive mesh strategy. In this paper we discuss the main algorithmic issues to be addressed with an integrated approach to solving these problems on heterogeneous parallel architectures. We review new parallel algorithms to solve two significant problems that arise in this context: the mesh refinement, partitioning and load balancing. The procedure to support parallel refinement and redistribution of two dimensional unstructured finite element meshes on heterogeneous computers is presented. The solver is based on the parallel conjugate gradient method. The error indicator and the resulting refinement parameters are computed in parallel.


Tomato yields in Eritrea are low (15 Mg/ha) compared with 19 Mg/ha in Africa and 27 Mg/ha worldwide. This is partly caused by poor quality of varieties used. This study analysed the diversity among and heterogeneity within farmers' varieties of tomato from Eritrea and compared these varieties with other African and Italian varieties. Fifteen simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used for the genetic analysis. Genetic similarities among the varieties were calculated and an Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean analysis was performed. Furthermore, individual plants of varieties were genotyped to evaluate uniformity within varieties. A high degree of diversity was observed among the Eritrean varieties. Thirteen out of the 15 SSRs were polymorphic, with 2 to 5 alleles per marker. The dendrogram showed two major types of varieties: San-Marzano and Marglob. Eritrean varieties were closely related to old Italian varieties in both types. Analysis of the within-variety variation showed that the Eritrean tomato genotypes were less uniform than the other varieties, probably because of deliberate mixing. A survey among farmers showed that some of them purposely mixed seeds to prolong the harvesting period, for yield stability and stress tolerance. Farmers value 'new material' as a source of influx.


Quantum simulations of High Energy Physics, and especially of gauge theories, is an emerging and exciting direction in quantum simulations. However, simulations of such theories, compared to simulations of condensed matter physics, must satisfy extra restrictions, such as local gauge and Lorentz invariance. In this paper we discuss these special requirements, and present a new method for quantum simulation of lattice gauge theories using ultracold atoms. This method allows to include local gauge invariance as a fundamental symmetry of the atomic Hamiltonian, arising from natural atomic interactions and conservation laws (and not as a property of a low energy sector). This allows us to implement elementary gauge invariant interactions for three lattice gauge theories: compact QED (U(1)), SU(N) and Z_N, which can be used to build quantum simulators in 1+1 dimensions. We also present a new loop method, which uses the elementary interactions as building blocks in the effective construction of quantum simulations for d+1 dimensional lattice gauge theories (d>1), without having to use Gauss's law as a constraint, as in previous proposals. We discuss in detail the quantum simulation of 2+1 dimensional compact QED and provide a numerical proof of principle. The simplicity of the already gauge invariant elementary interactions of this model suggests it may be useful for future experimental realizations.


When agencies make decisions that are binding on the public, they must provide public notice, accept and consider public comments, and provide explanations for their final decisions. Their actions are then subject to judicial review to ensure that they acted within the scope of their authority and the decision was not arbitrary or capricious.

The President, however, is not subject to such constraints, even when exercising purely statutory authority, i.e., acting as the "Statutory President." That autonomy is due to the Supreme Court's holding in Franklin v. Massachusetts that the President is not an "agency" under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Thanks to Franklin, the President exercises delegated authority to make policy decisions that have enormous implications for the public without the public involvement, transparency, deliberation, and political and judicial accountability that we demand when agencies make such decisions.

This article is the first to take Franklin v. Massachusetts head on. It demonstrates that the Court's 1992 holding conflicts with the plain language and history of the APA; it explains the flaws in the Court's constitutional analysis; and it presents the normative case for treating the Statutory President like any other agency.

Having shown that Franklin was wrong, this article sketches a new model for treating the Statutory President like an "agency" under the APA. It concludes by explaining how both the process and outcome of Trump v. Hawaii, in which the Supreme Court upheld the President's order barring immigration from certain Muslim-majority nations, would have been different had the President been subject to the APA.


We present the design and experimental demonstration of a cavity-backed, holographic metasurface capable of focusing microwaves in the Fresnel zone. The circular cavity consists of two stacked plates: microwaves are injected into the bottom plate via a coaxial connector, which forms the feed layer, and are coupled to the top holographic metasurface layer via an annular ring on the periphery of the cavity. This coupling results in an inward traveling cylindrical wave in the top layer, which serves as the reference wave for the hologram. A sparse array of slots, patterned into the upper plate, constitutes the hologram that produces the focal spot. To mitigate high sidelobe levels and improve performance, a tapered design, facilitated by varying the slot size, is also introduced. The proposed designs—which have a 10-cm diameter, operate at 20 GHz, and form a focal spot at a distance of 10 cm—are validated using full-wave simulations as well as measurements of fabricated samples. The proposed focusing metasurface may find application as a compact source for Fresnel zone wireless power transfer and remote sensing schemes.


People have a tendency to stick to an existing course of action, no matter how irrational. In the management literature, this is known as an escalation of commitment, and in nearly every academic case study on the demise of a former industry leader, it played a major role. The story of the British music company HMV—whose managing director dismissed downloadable music as "just a fad"—is a classic example.

Escalation of commitment is explained by a number of mutually reinforcing biases, among them: the sunk cost fallacy, loss aversion, the illusion of control, the preference for completion, pluralistic ignorance, and personal identification. The authors describe six practices that can help counteract these biases: (1) Set decision rules. (2) Pay attention to voting rules. (3) Protect dissenters. (4) Expressly consider alternatives. (5) Separate advocacy and decision making. (6) Reinforce the anticipation of regret. Overcommitted executives, they write, are prone to ignore signs of their company's imminent collapse. These practices will encourage managers at all levels to make decisions more objectively.


D.vulgaris (Woolwich) OMs can be extracted successfully and reproducibly from the cell envelopes by the selective solubilisation of cell membranes by sarkosyl. Three Omps (Omps 1, 2 & 3) occur consistently in the OMs of C-Fe, NC & C+Fe cells. NC C+Fe OMs have, in addition, minor proteins absent from C-Fe OMs. Omp2 band is seen to be enhanced in C-Fe and NC OMs as indicated by PAGE. PAGE-immunoblotting of LPS indicates heterogeneity of these molecules.

Immunological analyses of NC, C-Fe & C+Fe cells using specific antisera indicate no differences among these cell-types. Neither are antigenic differences revealed by further analyses of OM Western blots by specific antisera. However, pyrolysis analyses indicate that the cell-types analyses show variations in the cell ability of this technique to bacterial species cultured under different growth conditions indicates its potential as a tool for numerical taxonomy of the sulphate reducers.

D.vulgaris (Woolwich) does not produce extra Omps in response to iron deprivation. Instead, it increases the synthesis of 0mp2 and LPS in its OM as reflected in the OM PAGE pattern and increased yields of LPS extracted from C-Fe cultures.

HPLC sugar analyses indicate the LPS contain N-glucosamine, possibly rhamnose and an unidentified sugar. A change in HPLC sugar pattern of the C+Fe LPS samples indicates interactions between Fe(II) and LPS. This interaction is substantiated by X-ray microanalysis of the elemental content extracted LPS. The evidence indicates that LPS may be involved in Fe(II) uptake by the cells.

LPS also takes part in the adhesion of D.vulgaris (Woolwich) to mild steel surfaces. This is demonstrated by the data from experiments using anti-LPS Fab fragments. The presence of these antibodies reduces the number of cells adhering to mild steel coupons.

Fe-radiolabelling of OM components immobilised on nitrocellulose shows that Omps 1, 2 & 3 bind Fe(II). Blocking experiments using copper & magnesium indicate Omp1 to be Fe(II) specific while Omps 2 3 are not. The enhancement of Omp2 observed in C-Fe NC OMs in PAGE analyses indicates Omp2 to be principal cation binder, whose synthesis is increased under iron deprivation.


Indirect communication channeled through various forms of media is undoubtedly dominant in the modern world. This is especially true in a situation when a minority language is no longer the most important means of communication within a given community, i.e. when most direct contact between representatives of that minority take place in the dominant language. If the use of a minority language therefore becomes impossible in direct situations, it becomes increasingly eagerly used in forms of indirect communication. Minority language can find natural niches where it can be used in the contemporary world, the most important of these being the mass media. During past 20 years the situation of Kashubian language has changed. The very interesting, complex, and not yet complete processes of standardization, codification, and propagation of a literary language have enabled the Kashubian language to establish its presence in schooling, literature, and the media. Not only has the character of the language changed thanks to these new niches of occurrence, but new cultural niches where the language is used and groups which use it have also emerged.


The dissertation aims to achieve two goals. First, it attempts to establish a new theoretical framework—the collaborative scientific conceptual change model, which explicitly attends to social factor and epistemic practices of science, to understand conceptual change. Second, it report the findings of a classroom study to investigate how to apply this theoretical framework to examine the trajectories of collaborative scientific conceptual change in a CSCL environment and provide pedagogical implications. Two simulations were designed to help students make connections between the macroscopic substances and the aperceptual microscopic entities and underlying processes. The reported study was focused on analyzing the aggregated data from all participants and the video and audio data from twenty focal groups' collaborative activities and the process of their conceptual development in two classroom settings. Mixed quantitative and qualitative analyses were applied to analyze the video/audio data. The results found that, overall participants showed significant improvements from pretest to posttest on system understanding. Group and teacher effect as well as group variability were detected in both students' posttest performance and their collaborative activities, and variability emerged in group interaction. Multiple data analyses found that attributes of collaborative discourse and epistemic practices made a difference in student learning. Generating warranted claims in discourse as well as the predicting, coordinating theory-evidence, and modifying knowledge in epistemic practices had an impact on student's conceptual understanding. However, modifying knowledge was found negatively related to students' learning effect. The case studies show how groups differed in using the computer tools as a medium to conduct collaborative discourse and epistemic practices. Only with certain combination of discourse features and epistemic practices can the group interaction lead to successful convergent understanding. The results of the study imply that the collaborative scientific conceptual change model is an effective framework to study conceptual change and the simulation environment may mediate the development of successful collaborative interactions (including collaborative discourse and epistemic practices) that lead to collaborative scientific conceptual change.


Ptolemy is an ion trap based gas-chromatograph isotope ratio mass spectrometer which is on-board the Rosetta Lander [Wright et al., 2006; Tod et al., 2007]. The instruments uses the principles of MODULUS (Methods of Determining and Understanding Light Elements From Unequivocal Stable Isotope Compositions [Pillinger and Wright, 1993], to enable results obtained in space to be interpreted directly in the context of terrestrial analyses of meteorites and returned samples. MODULUS typically involves use of a complex sample processing system to purify and separate individual species from a complex starting sample, allowing analysis by a relatively simple, low resolution, but stable and precise mass spectrometer instrumentation.

A number of exciting future mission opportunities are arising where it is unlikely that it will be feasible to incorporate the full MODULUS-style sample processing system. Of particular interest are missions that offer the opportunity to gain access to surface and sub-surface material through the deployment of mass spectrometers from either high-speed penetrator platforms [Smith et al., 2009] or from sub-surface penetrating mole devices deployed by soft landers [Richter et al., 2003].

We will present work aimed at overcoming the resolution restrictions of ion trap mass spectrometers. It is anticipated that this will enable MODULUS style science return from relatively simple instrumentation which is compatible with the future miniaturised sampling platforms currently under consideration for Mars, asteroids, comets and planetary moons.


Summary.  Using a patient chart review process, we conducted a retrospective study to describe the frequency of allergic reactions in individuals with haemophilia B receiving factor IX (FIX) replacement therapy. The number of allergic reactions in individuals receiving a recombinant FIX (rFIX) product (BeneFix®) was then compared with the number of reactions in patients receiving plasma‐derived FIX (pdFIX) products. Of the 180 subjects in the study, 163 received rFIX, 88 received pdFIX; 71 received both product types. A total of seven (3.89%) subjects had a moderate or severe allergic reaction to a FIX product (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06–6.71%). Among those receiving rFIX, four subjects (2.45%) had an allergic reaction (95% CI, 0.08–4.83%). Of individuals taking pdFIX products, three (3.41%) developed an allergic reaction (95% CI, 0–7.20%). It was noted that three (1.84%) of those taking rFIX developed an inhibitor to FIX (95% CI, 0–3.90%), while four (4.55%) of those receiving a pdFIX product developed an inhibitor (95% CI, 0.19–8.90%). Inhibitor development was frequently associated with allergic reaction. These results provide evidence that there is no difference in the frequency of allergic reactions or inhibitor development in individuals receiving rFIX compared with those receiving pdFIX concentrates. The current study and a previous study of similar design have now compared the rate of allergic reactions associated with rFIX and pdFIX concentrates has now been compared in a total of 414 subjects; this represents the largest collection of data to date on this rare complication of haemophilia B therapy.


A simple but rigorous chain-matrix analysis is used to determine the plane-wave diffraction efficiencies and angular selectivities of planar pure-reflection gratings (zero-slant angle) of arbitrary thickness, arbitrary-starting and arbitrary-ending conditions, and arbitrary incidence angle. The results from rigorous coupled-wave theory in the angular limit as the fringes become parallel to the surfaces are shown to approach these results in a particular average sense.


Available soil N and a cultivar's genetic potential are primary factors determining grain protein concentration (GPC). This study focused on important genotypic and environmental factors that determine GPC and yield potential in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and investigated the use of GPC as a practical indicator of crop N deficiencies for a wide range of cultivars grown in 16 N fertilizer trials in western Canada. Large GPC responses to added N were accompanied by large increases in grain yield, and similar GPC-grain yield relationships were found at maximum grain yield and 90 and 80% of maximum grain yield. Both genotype and environment influenced the upper limit of yield when N was not limiting. The relationship between GPC and grain yield depended on the part of the N fertilizer response curve sampled, and there was a strong negative correlation between cultivar GPC and maximum potential grain yield. The latter observation indicates that the production of high-yielding cultivars with high GPC is more complicated than simply stacking yield genes in a high-GPC genetic background or vice versa. Large differences amongst cultivars also suggested that the critical GPC-grain yield responses must be known for each cultivar before GPC can be used as a practical postharvest indicator of N sufficiency. Growing season weather had a large influence on GPC-grain yield relationships, and GPC at the point of maximum grain yield increased as the potential grain yield of a cultivar was reduced by environmental limitations. These observations indicate that GPC may be a useful postharvest indicator of N deficiencies for crops that are under N stress, but caution must be used when employing GPC to develop management systems that optimize N fertilizer use.


First chapter of my dissertation uses an EGARCH method and a Stochastic Volatility (SV) method which relies upon Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) framework based on Efficient Importance Sampling (EIS) to model inflation volatility of Turkey. The strength of SV model lies in its success in explaining time varying and persistence volatility. This chapter uses the CPI index of Turkey as the inflation measure. The inflation series suffer from four exchange rate crisis in Turkey during this period. Therefore two different models are estimated for both EGARCH and SV models; with crisis dummies and without dummies. Comparison of different model results for EGARCH and SV models indicate the robustness problem for EGARCH and that SV model is far more robust than EGARCH. Stochastic Volatility (SV) models typically exhibit short-term dynamics with high persistence. It follows that volatility is conceptually predictable. Since, however, it is not observable; the validation of SV forecasts raises non-trivial issues. In second chapter I propose a new test statistics to evaluate the validity of one-step-ahead forecasts of returns unconditionally on volatility. Specifically, I construct a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test statistic for the null hypothesis that the predicted cumulative distribution of return evaluated at observed values is uniform. Estimation of the SV model is based upon an Efficient Importance Sampling procedure. Applications of this test statistic to quarterly data for inflation in the U.S. and Turkey fully support the validity of one-step-ahead SV forecasts of inflation. The basic SV model assumes that volatility is just explained by its first order lag. In the last chapter of my dissertation (coauthored with Jean-Francois Richard) we show that the difference between return and monthly moving average do granger-cause volatility. 35 S&P500 stock return applications from six different industries show that the difference parameter is both significant and addition of this variable to volatility equation affects both the persistence parameter and the standard deviation of volatility. Persistence increases with the inclusion of difference variable. Furthermore standard deviation of volatility decreases which is the indication of Granger-Causality. Likelihood-ratio (LR) test results also prove that the model improves when the difference variable is added.


Serious games for health and, more specifically, for elderly people have developed rapidly in recent years. The recent popularization of novel interaction methods of consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect, has provided an opportunity for the elderly to engage in computer and video games. These interaction methods, however, still present various challenges for elderly users. To address these challenges, we propose an architecture consisted of Augmented Reality (as an output mechanism) combined with gestured-based devices (as an input method). The intention of this work is to provide a theoretical justification for using these technologies and to integrate them into an architecture, acting as a basis for potentially creating suitable interaction techniques for the elderly players.


Professors utilize a variety of assessments, such as tests, quizzes, homework, projects and oral presentations to evaluate student mastery of subject matter. The various assessment scores are aggregated to arrive at a course grade. Different methods of aggregation can result in different course grades. This paper outlines the nature of the differences using illustrative examples and demonstrates the disparities that result from applying different aggregation methods on actual data for more than 1,000 students in accounting classes. Possible modifications to grading schema that would


In this fresh study Brian Schoen views the Deep South and its cotton industry from a global perspective, revisiting old assumptions and providing new insights into the region, the political history of the United States, and the causes of the Civil War. Schoen takes a unique and broad approach. Rather than seeing the Deep South and its planters as isolated from larger intellectual, economic, and political developments, he places the region firmly within them. In doing so, he demonstrates that the region's prominence within the modern world-and not its opposition to it-indelibly shaped Southern history. The place of "King Cotton" in the sectional thinking and budding nationalism of the Lower South seems obvious enough, but Schoen reexamines the ever-shifting landscape of international trade from the 1780s through the eve of the Civil War. He argues that the Southern cotton trade was essential to the European economy, seemingly worth any price for Europeans to protect and maintain, and something to defend aggressively in the halls of Congress. This powerful association gave the Deep South the confidence to ultimately secede from the Union. By integrating the history of the region with global events, Schoen reveals how white farmers, planters, and merchants created a "Cotton South," preserved its profitability for many years, and ensured its dominance in the international raw cotton markets. The story he tells reveals the opportunities and costs of cotton production for the Lower South and the United States.


Static Bustle is a gradute work that explores relationships between visual art and sound through experiments with new and traditional media, including sound, video, digital images prints and fibers. Through strategic processes of layering and repetition, the researcher seamlessly unifies this remarkable range of media into an accessible and cohesive vision. Overall, this research shows visual and sonic pattern achieved through repetitive processes.


Rabbit muscle myogen has been subjected to moving-boundary electrophoresis and velocity sedimentation in 0.0187 M-potassium phosphate buffer, pH7.7, I = 0.05. The ascending and descending and descending electrophoretic patterns are sufficiently non-enantiographic to suggest the existence of rapid, reversible interactions in the myogen solutions. However, no evidence of pronounced macromolecular association was obtained in velocity-sedimentation experiments. The source of the non-enantiography in electrophoresis has been traced to interactions of phosphate with components of myogen, which should therefore be considered as a mixutre, rather than a complex, of glycolytic enzymes.


Objective Pulmonary arterial hypertension is known to be associated with increased expression of endothelin (ET)-1 and its precursor big ET-1. Therefore, we hypothesised that in children with pulmonary hypertension (PH) altered levels of ET-1 and big ET-1 may have clinical and prognostic impact. Methods Sixty-six children with different forms of PH (mean age 10.4±9.7 years) were included. Blood samples were taken from the pulmonary artery and a systemic artery. Levels of ET-1/big ET-1 were measured via ELISA method and compared with clinical and haemodynamic data. To assess prognostic relevance, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was conducted with definition of end point as the composite of mortality, lung transplantation, use of intravenous prostanoids and Potts shunt creation. Results ET-1 levels ranged between 0.09 and 11.64 (mean 1.48±2.34) fmol/mL, and big ET-1 levels between 0.05 and 2.92 (mean 0.84±0.58) fmol/mL. No significant relationships were found between ET-1/big ET-1 levels and functional class as well as haemodynamic indices of PH severity. Mean follow-up after catheterisation was 63.2±44.1 months. While 31 of the 66 (47%) patients with PH reached a predefined end point, there was no significant relation between levels of ET-1/big ET-1 and patient outcome. Conclusions Although children with PH had alterations in ET-1/big ET-1 expression, which may reflect changes in net release or lung clearance, levels of ET-1/big ET-1 showed no correlation with clinical and haemodynamic parameters, and were not able to predict outcome.


A new concept developed for the successful implementation of integrated resource management in urban and protected areas is the production of 'designer' or custom-made recycled water for various reuse purposes. The Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility in El Segundo, California is an excellent example and the only facility in the world and the United States producing five distinct types of recycled water. This paper presents the plant design, critical milestones, water quality challenges faced and problems solved towards consistently meeting the needs of a diverse client base through delivery of a leading-edge range of custom-made recycled waters.


Philomela holds a privileged place in Euro-American poetry. Tracking the nightingales in Ovid, Marie de France, Gascoigne, Shakespeare, Milton, Coleridge, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning reveals a new dimension of an old trope. Frequently paired with images of architectural and bodily containment, the nightingale's song mediates between sound and space. This article builds on Michel Serres, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari, who use the bird to think about enclosure (sonic, spatial) and territorial possession. Nesting T. S. Eliot's nightingales within a wider context clarifies other kinds of containment in "A Game of Chess" from The Waste Land, resolving some of the section's enduring ambiguity concerning images of vacuity and the disembodied voice. Ultimately, this article contributes to debates in lyric studies, arguing for a reappraisal of the nightingale in comparative verse history.


This paper investigates inter-industry wage differentials in Belgium, taking advantage of access to a unique matched employer-employee data set covering all the years from 1999 to 2005. Findings show the existence of large wage differentials among workers with the same observed characteristics and working conditions, employed in different sectors. These differentials are persistent and no particular downward or upward trend is observed. Further results indicate that ceteris paribus, workers earn significantly higher wages when employed in more profitable firms. The time dimension of our matched employer-employee data allows us to instrument firms' profitability by its lagged value. The instrumented elasticity between wages and profits is found to be quite stable over time and varies between 0.034 and 0.043. It follows that Lester's range of pay due to rent sharing fluctuates between about 24 and 37 percent of the mean wage. This rent-sharing phenomenon accounts for a large fraction of the industry wage differentials. We find indeed that the magnitude, dispersion and significance of industry wage differentials decreases sharply when controlling for profits.


We present a theoretical and numerical method for solving problems of inverse scattering in optics given data on the far field, find the scattering object. This method is applied to perfectly conducting diffraction gratings. From the efficiency curve in a Littrow mounting and in the TE case, we derive the shape of the grating surface. Two different cases must be distinguished. The first problem, which we call "reconstruction," is to compute the profile when the efficiency is experimentally known. In the second one, called "synthesis," we give a priori an efficiency curve and look for the corresponding grating(s), if it actually exists. We show several theoretical reconstructions for various gratings, and present our first results in the very difficult field of synthesis. The relevance of this method in the domain of electromagnetic optics is then outlined by its application to two other problems.


Survey is a quick common instrument for information gathering. One of the most common forms of the survey is a questionnaire. Questionnaire is "a technique for gathering statistical information about the attributes, attitudes or actions of a population by administering standardized questions to some or all its members." [5] In this thesis we are discussing business impact of questionnaire and problems related to questionnaire design. Aim of this project is universal solution for questionnaire design. In our opinion, questionnaire design has appeared as the weakest link in the survey. Moreover, not everyone realizes that it causes frequently confusing results. We decided to design our own solution for that. We propose a new methodology of questionnaire design. Our approach is based on start-point framework and testing/verification part of the questionnaire on its developing stage. Notion consists of possibility to test and verify questionnaire for design issues before carry it out to the target group. This option additionally helps to design question types, avoid different sources of bias, and sometimes correct and review the research questions. The proposed approach for testing and verification includes three closed loops of iterations, researcher needs to run to improve the questionnaire. One of the advantages of our approach, which we would like to highlight, is simplicity of iterations, which can be repeated constantly until the quality of the questionnaire will be satisfactory. Loops give researcher different options of how to improve the questionnaire. Loops can be used separately or all together. Then, depending on time resources, researcher can choose one or more options and, additionally, the number of the iterations. We believe that our methodology will enhance the questionnaire performance significantly, hence, the survey results quality in general. To test our own methodology, the conducted survey at Gjovik University College has been chosen. The survey was addressed to measure the effectiveness of information security awareness program [43]. The survey was held in 2011 within the employees of Gjovik University College. The survey is a part of another master thesis, which has been done in collaboration with Norsk Senter for Informasjonssikring (NorSIS). In this master thesis, NorSIS has requested to perform a new evaluation of this survey to assume better results. In terms of this project, we provide a full re-evaluation of the survey: starting from questionnaire design and ending with results interpretation. For the re-evaluation, we use our own methodology to present it in working conditions. Evaluation of questionnaire design has an impact on the statistical analysis and influences the results. The statistical analysis is performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software solutions and addressed to measure effectiveness of the training programs and their separate performances. The re-evaluation results are presented with counted in impact of questionnaire design analysis.


We formulate simple graphical rules which allow explicit calculation of nonperturbative c = 1 S -matrices. This allows us to investigate the constraint of nonperturbative unitarity, which indeed rules out some theories. Nevertheless, we show that there is an infinite parameter family of nonperturbatively unitary c = 1 S -matrices. We investigate the dependence of the S -matrix on one of these nonperturbative parameters. In particular, we study the analytic structure, background dependence, and high-energy behavior of some nonperturbative c = 1 S -matrices. The scattering amplitudes display interesting resonant behavior both at high energies and in the complex energy plane.


AI-for-science approaches have been applied to solve scientific problems (e.g., nuclear fusion, ecology, genomics, meteorology) and have achieved highly promising results. Spatial precipitation downscaling is one of the most important meteorological problem and urgently requires the participation of AI. However, the lack of a well-organized and annotated large-scale dataset hinders the training and verification of more effective and advancing deep-learning models for precipitation downscaling. To alleviate these obstacles, we present the first large-scale spatial precipitation downscaling dataset named RainNet, which contains more than $62,400$ pairs of high-quality low/high-resolution precipitation maps for over $17$ years, ready to help the evolution of deep learning models in precipitation downscaling. Specifically, the precipitation maps carefully collected in RainNet cover various meteorological phenomena (e.g., hurricane, squall), which is of great help to improve the model generalization ability. In addition, the map pairs in RainNet are organized in the form of image sequences ($720$ maps per month or 1 map/hour), showing complex physical properties, e.g., temporal misalignment, temporal sparse, and fluid properties. Furthermore, two deep-learning-oriented metrics are specifically introduced to evaluate or verify the comprehensive performance of the trained model (e.g., prediction maps reconstruction accuracy). To illustrate the applications of RainNet, 14 state-of-the-art models, including deep models and traditional approaches, are evaluated. To fully explore potential downscaling solutions, we propose an implicit physical estimation benchmark framework to learn the above characteristics. Extensive experiments demonstrate the value of RainNet in training and evaluating downscaling models. Our dataset is available at https://neuralchen.github.io/RainNet/.


We describe a nonlinear method for generating, nearly instantaneously, a time-reversed replica of any monochromatic-beam wave pattern. The method employs the interaction of the incident beam, of arbitrary wave front, with counter-propagating plane "pump" waves in a homogeneous, transparent, nonlinear medium. Media are shown to exist in which time-reversed waves can be generated with high efficiency using available laser pump sources.


The photochem. of Dewar benzenes bridged at the 1,4- and 5,6-positions and substituted at the 2,3-positions is reported. Simple alkyl substitution leads to prismanes only to a minor extent. Introduction of Ph groups into the 2- or 2,3-positions gives the corresponding doubly bridged prismanes in yields ?80%. Pentamethylene-bridged bis-Dewar benzenes rearrange upon irradn. to compd. I. Irradn. of the doubly bridged Dewar benzene derivs. with one ester group at the 5-position does not yield isolable products. Introduction of one SO2CMe3 group such as in dewar benzene II (R = H, Me, PhCH2, Ph) gives almost quant. yields of isolable prismanes if pentamethylene or hexamethylene bridges are used. The non-bridged species, 2-tert-butylsulfonyl-1,4,5,6-tetramethylbicyclo[2.2.0]hexa-2,5-diene, aromatizes upon irradn. into 1-(tert-butylsulfonyl)-2,3,4,5-tetramethylbenzene. In contrast to the pentamethylene-bridged monosulfone, the corresponding disulfone II (R = SO2CMe3) undergoes no photochem. reaction. This is explained by the x-ray structure, which reveals a strong interaction between one of the tert-Bu groups and the pentamethylene chain bridging the double bond in II (R = SO2CMe3).


Two species of helicinid land snails, the Jamaican endemic Eutrochatella pulchella and the Cuban endemic Viana regina, display a colour pattern of white spots on a greenish background. Microstructural and optical investigations of the shells have revealed that the colour patterns are non-homologous. In E. pulchella the white spots are associated with areas of granular shell structure, in which the crystals have an irregular, peak-like form. In V. regina, there is no structural modification of the shell mineral associated with the spots. Modification of the organic matrix is responsible for the appearance of spotting. In V. regina, the shell pigment is yellow and located in the inner part of the shell. It appears greenish as seen from the outside through the translucent shell. The pigment fluoresces yellow under ultraviolet light. The greenish shell pigment of E. pulchella is non-fluorescent and is uniformly distributed through the shell (except in the white spots).

Since the colour patterns are non-homologous, their similarity must have arisen through convergent evolution. The adaptive value of the colour patterns is thus indicated. Both species live exposed on limestone rocks and their colour patterns (at least in the case of E. pulchella) cause them to be very cryptic. Predation by visually oriented predators (perhaps birds) is a probable cause of selection for shell colour pattern.

The association of polymorphism with wide habitat breadth and of monomorphism with narrow habitat breadth is proposed. This relationship is seen in the two helicinid species, both of which show little within-population variation as compared with polymorphic snails (e.g. helicids), which occupy a wide range of habitats. The generally monomorphic character of populations of Jamaican snails may be a result of habitat specialization associated with the unusually high species diversity on the island (some 450 species in 11,400 km2).

The need for studies on the relationship of shell colour and structure is pointed out.


Design and large-scale synthesis of DNA has been applied to the functional study of viral and microbial genomes. New and expanded technology development is required to unlock the transformative potential of such bottom-up approaches to the study of larger, mammalian genomes. Two major challenges include assembling and delivering long DNA sequences. Here we describe a pipeline for de novo DNA assembly and delivery that enables functional evaluation of mammalian genes on the length scale of 100 kb. The DNA assembly step is supported by an integrated robotic workcell. We assemble the 101 kb human HPRT1 gene in yeast, deliver it to mouse cells, and show expression of the human protein from its full-length gene. This pipeline provides a framework for producing systematic, designer variants of any mammalian gene locus for functional evaluation in cells.


This study presents the first implementation of functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging of the spinal cord to monitor local hemodynamic response to epidural electrical spinal cord stimulation (SCS) on two small and large animal models. SCS has been successfully applied to control chronic refractory pain and recently was evolved to alleviate motor impairment in Parkinson's disease and after spinal cord injury. At present, however, the mechanisms underlying SCS remain unclear, and current methods for monitoring SCS are limited in their capacity to provide the required sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolutions to evaluate functional changes in response to SCS. fUS is an emerging technology that has recently shown promising results in monitoring a variety of neural activities associated with the brain. Here we demonstrated the feasibility of performing fUS on two animal models during SCS. We showed in vivo spinal cord hemodynamic responses measured by fUS evoked by different SCS parameters. We also demonstrated that fUS has a higher sensitivity in monitoring spinal cord response than electromyography. The high spatial and temporal resolutions of fUS were demonstrated by localized measurements of hemodynamic responses at different spinal cord segments, and by reliable tracking of spinal cord responses to patterned electrical stimulations, respectively. Finally, we proposed optimized fUS imaging and post-processing methods for spinal cord. These results support feasibility of fUS imaging of the spinal cord and could pave the way for future systematic studies to investigate spinal cord functional organization and the mechanisms of spinal cord neuromodulation in vivo.


Two methods are presented to obtain optimal inverse kinematic solutions for redundant manipulators, according to two different performance criteria stipulated in the position and velocity levels. Both methods are analytical throughout except their final stages, which involve the numerical solution of a simplified minimization problem in a position-level case and the numerical integration of a set of differential equations derived optimally in a velocity-level case. Owing to the analytical nature of the methods, the multiple and singular configurations of the manipulator of concern can be identified readily and studied in detail. The methods are applicable for both serial and parallel redundant manipulators. However, they are demonstrated here for a humanoid manipulator with seven revolute joints. In the demonstrations, the first performance criterion is stipulated in the position level as the minimization of the potential energy. In that case, the optimal inverse kinematic solution is first obtained in the position level for a specified position of the hand. Then, it is compatibly extended to the velocity level for a specified motion of the hand. In the main analytical part of the solution, six of the joint variables are expressed in terms of the selected seventh one. Then, the optimal value of the selected joint variable is determined numerically by a simple one dimensional scanning. The second performance criterion is stipulated in the velocity level as the minimization of the kinetic energy. In that case, the optimal inverse kinematic solution is first obtained in the velocity level and then extended to the position level by integration. The main analytical part of the solution provides an optimally determined set of nonlinear differential equations. These differential equations are then integrated numerically in order to obtain the corresponding solution in the position level. However, the corrections needed to eliminate the numerical integration errors are still obtained analytically. The distinct optimal behaviors of the manipulator according to the mentioned criteria are also illustrated and compared for a duration, in which the hand moves in the same specified way.


The heterotrimeric kinesin-II holoenzyme purified from sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) eggs is assembled from two heterodimerized kinesin-related motor subunits of known sequence, together with a third, previously uncharacterized 115-kD subunit, SpKAP115. Using monospecific anti-SpKAP115 antibodies we have accomplished the molecular cloning and sequencing of the SpKAP115 subunit. The deduced sequence predicts a globular 95-kD non-motor "accessory" polypeptide rich in alpha-helical segments that are generally not predicted to form coiled coils. Electron microscopy of individual rotary shadowed kinesin-II holoenzymes also suggests that SpKAP115 is globular, with a somewhat asymmetric morphology. Moreover, the SpKAP115 subunit lies at one end of the 51-nm-long kinesin-II complex, being separated from the two presumptive motor domains by a approximately 26-nm-long rod, in a manner similar to the light chains (KLCs) of kinesin itself. This indicates that SpKAP115 and the KLCs may have analogous functions, yet SpKAP115 does not display significant sequence similarity with the KLCs. The results show that kinesin and kinesin-II are assembled from highly divergent accessory polypeptides together with kinesin related motor subunits (KRPs) containing conserved motor domains linked to divergent tails. Despite the lack of sequence conservation outside the motor domains, there is striking conservation of the ultrastructure of the kinesin and kinesin-II holoenzymes.


This paper examines the role of the dialogue manager component of a machine interpreter. It is a report on one project to design the discourse module for such a voice-to-voice machine translation (MT) system known as the Interpreting Telephone. The theoretical discourse framework that underlies the proposed dialogue manager supports the job of extracting and collecting information from the context, and facilitating human-machine language interaction in a multi-user environment. Empirical support for the dialogue theory and the implementation described herein, comes from an observational study of one human interpreter engaged in a three-way, bilingual telephone conversation. We begin with a brief description of the interpreting telephone research endeavor, then examine the discourse requirements of such a language-processing system, and finally, report on the application of the discourse processing framework to this voice-to-voice machine translation task.


The languages that we use are a result of our identities and the social contexts and related roles in which we participate. The language practices of one small community of ethnic NepaliBhutanese who were revoked citizenship in Bhutan, expelled into refugee camps in Nepal for nearly twenty years, and who now reside in Grand Haven, Michigan were of interest here. Identity, Language Practices and Ideologies among Nepali-Bhutanese in West Michigan builds on previous research that examines the relationship between language choice and socio-cultural factors such gender, age, language proficiency, education, citizenship, and context among multilingual speakers (Baquedano-Lopez 2009, Booth 2009, Grimley 2001, Kachru et al 2009, Meinhof & Galasinski 2005, Fillmore 2000). In the current study we examined the linguistic means by which Nepali-Bhutanese negotiate American English speaking culture while simultaneously retaining their Nepali-Bhutanese languages and culture. Data included recorded ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and written texts such as email, Facebook wall posts, and essays, and were organized on axes of grammatical indicators of identity, language loss, language perception and cultural identity formation through language. A potential benefit of this study is to aid ESL (English as a Second Language) tutors and teachers, social workers and the wider community of West Michigan in better serving, assimilating and welcoming this growing population. In addition, the results of the project may help trained educators, volunteers, and the Nepali-Bhutanese better understand language practices and their effects on identity, cultural assimilation and accommodation, as well as the teaching and learning of ESL.


Phase 1 of this project demonstrated the technical feasibility of using decentralized stormwater controls in urban areas for retrofits and controlling combined sewer overflows. This technical feasibility was illustrated by a number of early adopters using decentralized controls to complement their existing municipal stormwater and wastewater infrastructure. However, institutional and programmatic issues required further study to broaden the use of a distributed, decentralized stormwater approach. This research evaluates implementation strategies for incorporating decentralized controls into an infrastructure management system. The distributed nature and multiple environmental benefits of decentralized controls necessitate an integrated and inter-departmental management approach.

The results of this research identify various implementation strategies for incorporating decentralized controls into urban infrastructure management programs. Case studies and programmatic and regulatory examples detail alternatives to expedite the adoption of decentralized controls. Managing infrastructure by limiting demand is explored in the context of distributed controls. In addition, an evaluation of economic methods appropriate for assessing environmental costs and benefits is included to more fully capture the financial consideration of decentralized controls. Guidance for modeling decentralized controls with commonly used stormwater models is also provided.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series .

ISBN: 9781843393535 (Print)

ISBN: 9781780403588 (eBook)


Inactivation of p53-mediated signalling plays a major role in both the genesis and therapy resistance of human cancer. Nearly all tumors contain mutations in p53 itself or have perturbations in the p53 pathway. Since there is clear evidence that many tumor cells are more likely to die in response to wild-type p53 activation or restoration than are their normal counterparts, there has been considerable interest in the development of small molecules that target p53 for therapeutic gain. These include compounds that either revert mutant p53 back to its wild-type conformation or compounds which interfere with the binding to, or the ubiquitylation of, p53 by Hdm2. In both cases, however, the efficacy of the strategy depends on the presence of either mutant or wild-type p53 respectively thereby limiting their application to specific tumor settings. As a result, recent strategies have turned to the p53 family member, p73, which like p53 is a potent inducer of death, but in contrast is rarely lost or mutated in tumors. We discuss here all these different strategies and in particular focus on the discovery of an apoptotic peptide which targets not just p73, but potentially all p53 family members to cause tumor cell death.


Objectives: Adult studies have demonstrated the relationship between fluid overload and poor outcomes in acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome. The approach of pediatric intensivists to fluid management in acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome and its effect on outcomes is less clear. In a post hoc analysis of our Calfactant in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome trial, we examined the relationship of fluid balance to in-hospital outcomes in subjects with acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome. Design: Calfactant in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome was a masked randomized controlled trial of calfactant surfactant versus placebo in pediatric patients with acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome due to direct lung injury. Caregivers were encouraged to follow a conservative fluid management guideline based on the adult Fluid and Catheter Treatment Trial. Daily fluid balance was collected for the first 7 days after trial enrollment and correlated with clinical outcomes. Patients and Setting: Children admitted to PICUs with acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome from 24 children's hospitals in six different countries. Intervention: Post hoc analysis of daily fluid balance in subjects from the Pediatric Calfactant in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome trial. Measurements and Main Results: Despite the conservative fluid guideline, fluid management was more consistent with a "liberal" approach. On average, study subjects accumulated 1.96 ± 4.2 L/m2 over the first 7 days of the trial. Subjects who died accumulated on average 8.7 ± 9.5 L/m2 versus 1.2 ± 2.4 L/m2 in survivors. Increasing fluid accumulation was associated with fewer ventilator-free days and worsening oxygenation. Multivariable regression models that included age, gender, Pediatric Risk of Mortality score, initial oxygen saturation index and PaO2/FIO2 ratio, injury category, and treatment arm failed to account for the differences in fluid management. Conclusions: Pediatric intensivists generally follow a "liberal" approach to fluid management in children with acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome. Illness severity or oxygenation disturbance did not explain differences in fluid accumulation but such accumulation was associated with worsening oxygenation, a longer ventilator course, and increased mortality. A more conservative approach to fluid management may improve outcomes in children with acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome.


The discovery of sparse subnetworks that are able to perform as well as full models has found broad applied and theoretical interest. While many pruning methods have been developed to this end, the na\"ive approach of removing parameters based on their magnitude has been found to be as robust as more complex, state-of-the-art algorithms. The lack of theory behind magnitude pruning's success, especially pre-convergence, and its relation to other pruning methods, such as gradient based pruning, are outstanding open questions in the field that are in need of being addressed. We make use of recent advances in dynamical systems theory, namely Koopman operator theory, to define a new class of theoretically motivated pruning algorithms. We show that these algorithms can be equivalent to magnitude and gradient based pruning, unifying these seemingly disparate methods, and find that they can be used to shed light on magnitude pruning's performance during the early part of training.


Vestibular compensation is the spontaneous disappearance of postural and
oculomotor imbalance exhibited by the vestibular system in response to decreased
inputs from the labyrinths. Astrocytes in the vestibular nuclei have been reported to
have a role in the plasticity of the central nervous system. The present study was
conducted to investigate the behavioural changes of mice and the morphological
changes and distribution of astrocytes following unilateral labyrinthectomy.
Thirty-five mice (Mus musculus) underwent unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL)
and fourteen underwent sham-operation. Their behavioural changes following
surgical removal of labyrinths, or sham-operation, were observed. The UL groups
displayed behavioural changes including head tilt, circular walking, barrel-rolling and
extension and flexion of limbs. These behavioural symptoms disappeared within
approximately 3 hours. For the sham-operated animals, these symptoms were absent.


The present invention relates to a 3-dimensional nanostruc ture having nanomaterials stacked on a graphene Substrate; and more specifically, to a 3-dimensional nanostructure hav ing at least one nanomaterial selected from nanotubes, nanowires, nanorods, nanoneedles and nanoparticles grown on a reduced graphene Substrate. The present invention enables the achievement of a synergy effect of the 3-dimen sional nanostructure hybridizing 1-dimensional nanomateri als and 2-dimensional graphene. The nanostructure accord ing to the present invention is excellent in flexibility and elasticity, and can easily be transferred to any Substrate hav ing a non-planar Surface. Also, all junctions in nanomaterials, a metal catalyst and a graphene film system form the ohmic electrical contact, which allows the nanostructure to easily be incorporated into a field-emitting device.


This Ph.D. thesis is a study of the role of the general and statesman Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC) in the making of the Roman Empire. The first chapter describes the crisis of Roman imperial strategy that became apparent in the age of Sulla, leading to two subsequent wars, the Social War in Italy and the Mithridatic War in the Greek East, then followed by a Civil War at Rome. In both contexts large sectors of the local elites nearly succeeded in bringing Roman hegemony to an end. After defeating their attempt, Rome had to redefine her relationship with them. Sulla played a crucial and often overlooked role in this phase. The second chapter deals with Sulla's contribution to the adrninistration of the Empire. He brought about a fiscal reform in the province of Asia that created enormous difficulties for the local communities, the direct consequence of which was to compel them to seek the patronage or the support of members of the senatorial elite. In Italy, Sulla severely punished the communities that opposed his rise to power. In this case too they had to seek the support of members of the Roman governing class in order to limit the impact of Sulla's retaliation. The third chapter deals with the ideological aspect of the history of this period. Sulla made an important contribution to the ideology of Roman imperialism, and he made innovative use of some aspects of Roman religion. In the Greek East he portrayed himself and the Romans as descendants of Aphrodite/Venus, suggesting an interesting pattern where affinity and difference between Greeks and Romans coexisted and interacted. In Italy he developed this connection with Venus by representing himself as a new founder of Rome, a theme that is echoed in several piece of evidence.


F Hunter: Unlocking the Secrets of a Virus offers an engaging and highly readable homage to the influenza virus by one of the world's preeminent influenza virologists, Dr. Robert Webster. Although the book is nominally an autobiographical account of Webster's career, the central figure is often the influenza virus itself, with each of the 17 chapters focusing on an influenza-related event from the past century. Drawing on experience from 50 years as a virologist, Webster provides a first-person account of what happened in each event, and why and how it happened. Webster points out that it was the heavy toll in human suffering caused by the devastating 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that jump-started influenza research and ultimately led the international scientific community to implement many clinical and public health improvements. Research from this and subsequent influenza events, including the 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" pandemic, has shaped our current understanding of influenza as a continuously mutating pathogen that demands constant global attention. Two themes appear throughout the book. The first is that influenza is a quintessential One Health pathogen that can only be understood when studied in humans and other animals but especially in both its wild and domestic bird reservoirs. Throughout his career, Webster has championed this approach, which has led to many of the breakthroughs in how we approach influenza prevention and control today. The second theme is the need for collaboration and cooperation to successfully address the challenges posed by influenza, an idea Webster has lived out by mentoring and working with influenza scientists throughout the world. Webster weaves anecdotes throughout the book about himself, his family, and his colleagues, among these a walk on an Australian beach littered with dead birds that led to his lifelong interest in influenza. There are wonderful descriptions of his involvement in field expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef, horseshoe crab nesting sites on Delaware Bay, and Spitsbergen, Norway. However, some sections of the book focus so intently on describing influenza viruses or the work of other investigators that readers may be left wanting to hear more of the remarkable personal stories he has to tell. The book does not entirely shy away from controversial topics. In the latter sections of the book, Webster addresses the pros and cons, from scientific and societal perspectives, of reconstituting the 1918 influenza virus. This section includes a discussion of gain of function research into the potential transmissibility of novel influenza viruses—research that might be used for the benefit or to the detriment of humankind. Webster concludes the book with a discussion of as-yet unanswered questions about the virus and how prepared the world is for an inevitable future pandemic. Flu Hunter: Unlocking the Secrets of a Virus offers a welcome addition to the bookshelf of anyone wanting to know more about the science of influenza, whether as an interested observer or a seasoned virologist. Indeed, science aside, this story of a remarkable, rewarding, and impactful career and life makes for compelling reading on its own.


For hyperspectral data classification, the avoidance of singularity of covariance estimates or excessive near singularity estimation error due to limited training data is a key problem. This study is intended to solve problem via regularized covariance estimators and feature extraction algorithms. A second purpose is to build a robust classification procedure with the advantages of the algorithms proposed in this study but robust in the sense of not requiring extensive analyst operator skill.
A pair of covariance estimators called Mixed-LOOCs is proposed for avoiding excessive covariance estimator error. Mixed-LOOC2 has advantages over LOOC and BLOOC and needs less computation than those two. Based on Mixed-LOOC2, new DAFE and mixture classifier algorithms are proposed.
Current feature extraction algorithms, while effective in some circumstances, have significant limitations. Discriminate analysis feature extraction (DAFE) is fast but does not perform well with classes whose mean values are similar, and it produces only N-1 reliable features where N is the number of classes. Decision Boundary Feature Extraction does not have these limitations but does not perform well when training sets are small. A new nonparametric feature extraction method (NWFE) is developed to solve the problems of DAFE and DBFE. NWFE takes advantage of the desirable characteristics of DAFE and DBFE, while avoiding their shortcomings.
Finally, experimental results show that using NWFE features applied to a mixture classifier based on the Mixed-LOOC2 covariance estimator has the best performance and is a robust procedure for classifying hyperspectral data.


We develop a fully Bayesian inferential framework to quantify uncertainty in models defined by general systems of analytically intractable differential equations. This approach provides a statistical alternative to deterministic numerical integration for estimation of complex dynamic systems, and probabilistically characterises the solution uncertainty introduced when models are chaotic, ill-conditioned, or contain unmodelled functional uncertainty. Viewing solution estimation as an inference problem allows us to quantify numerical uncertainty using the tools of Bayesian function estimation, which may then be propagated through to uncertainty in the model parameters and subsequent predictions. We incorporate regularity assumptions by modelling system states in a Hilbert space with Gaussian measure, and through iterative model-based sampling we obtain a posterior measure on the space of possible solutions, rather than a single deterministic numerical solution that approximately satisfies model dynamics. We prove some useful properties of this probabilistic solution, propose efficient computational implementation, and demonstrate the methodology on a wide range of challenging forward and inverse problems. Finally, we incorporate the approach into a fully Bayesian framework for state and parameter inference from incomplete observations of the states. Our approach is successfully demonstrated on ordinary and partial differential equation models with chaotic dynamics, ill-conditioned mixed boundary value problems, and an example characterising parameter and state uncertainty in a biochemical signalling pathway which incorporates a nonlinear delay-feedback mechanism.


Enteric AH neurons, with multipolar Dogiel type II morphology, project around the circumference of the intestine to myenteric ganglia, the submucosa and mucosa. Using retrograde labeling in vitro, intracellular recording, dye filling and immunohistochemistry, the projections of these neurons along the intestine were studied. When the retrograde tracer, Dil, was applied to the myenteric plexus, labeled nerve cell bodies were located up to 111 mm orally but only 13 mm aborally, demonstrating a marked difference in the lengths of projections up and down the small intestine. Of labeled nerve cell bodies located 2–110 mm orally, 43% had Dogiel type II morphology and of these, 70% were immunoreactive for calbindin, a calcium binding protein exclusive to Dogiel type II neurons. Intracellular filling with neurobiotin revealed several long circumferentially directed nerve fibers and short, filamentous dendrites; thus these were "dendritic" Dogiel type II neurons. This class accounts for approximately 3–4% of all myenteric neurons, and about 10% of all Dogiel type II neurons. Intracellular recordings revealed AH cell characteristics, with long afterhyperpolarizations following their action potentials, pronounced slow excitatory synaptic inputs and a lack of fast excitatory synaptic inputs. Antidromic action potentials could be evoked from the Dil application site in some cells, confirming their aboral projection. This is the first account of a major aboral projection of AH/Dogiel type II neurons and suggests an important role in aborally directed reflexes in the intestine.


Abstract Double-differential neutron yields from 400 MeV/nucleon 56Fe stopping in C, Al, Cu, and Pb targets are reported, along with Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Code System (PHITS) transport model calculations of the data. The yields were measured at 90, 120, and 160 deg in all four systems. Neutron energies were measured from 1 to 2 MeV up to a few hundred mega-electron-volts. The data augment previous measurements made by Kurosawa et al. that were reported for angles between 0 and 90 deg. The measurements for each target were made at two different target orientations, resulting in two different thicknesses of target that neutrons had to traverse before reaching the neutron detectors. The differences in the spectra between two different target orientations are due to neutron transport through the target and as such provide an interesting test of transport model calculations. The data indicate that PHITS reproduces the effects of neutron transport very well but may overestimate neutron production between energies of 10 to 50 MeV in some cases.


Cloud computing enables data centres to provide resource sharing across multiple tenants. This sharing, however, usually comes at a cost in the form of reduced isolation between tenants, which can lead to inconsistent and unpredictable performance. This variability in performance becomes an impediment for clients whose services rely on consistent, responsive performance in cloud environments. The problem is exacerbated for applications that rely on cloud storage systems as performance in these systems is affected by disk access times, which often dominate overall request service times for these types of data services. In this thesis we introduce MicroFuge, a new distributed caching and scheduling middleware that provides performance isolation for cloud storage systems. To provide performance isolation, MicroFuge's cache eviction policy is tenant and deadline-aware, which enables the provision of isolation to tenants and ensures that data for queries with more urgent deadlines, which are most likely to be affected by competing requests, are less likely to be evicted than data for other queries. MicroFuge also provides simplified, intelligent scheduling in addition to request admission control whose performance model of the underlying storage system will reject requests with deadlines that are unlikely to be satisfied. The middleware approach of MicroFuge makes it unique among other systems which provide performance isolation in cloud storage systems. Rather than providing performance isolation for some particular cloud storage system, MicroFuge can be deployed on top of any already deployed storage system without modifying it. Keeping in mind the wide spectrum of cloud storage systems available today, such an approach make MicroFuge very adoptable. In this thesis, we show that MicroFuge can provide significantly better performance isolation between tenants with different latency requirements than Memcached, and with admission control enabled, can ensure that more than certain percentage of requests meet their deadlines.


The increase in the deployment of IoT networks has improved productivity of humans and organisations. However, IoT networks are increasingly becoming platforms for launching DDoS attacks due to inherent weaker security and resource-constrained nature of IoT devices. This paper focusses on detecting DDoS attack in IoT networks by classifying incoming network packets on the transport layer as either "Suspicious" or "Benign" using unsupervised machine learning algorithms. In this work, two deep learning algorithms and two clustering algorithms were independently trained for mitigating DDoS attacks. We lay emphasis on exploitation based DDOS attacks which include TCP SYN-Flood attacks and UDP-Lag attacks. We use Mirai, BASHLITE and CICDDoS2019 dataset in training the algorithms during the experimentation phase. The accuracy score and normalized-mutual-information score are used to quantify the classification performance of the four algorithms. Our results show that the autoencoder performed overall best with the highest accuracy across all the datasets.