This article deals with the implementation of International Conventional and Customary Law norms on genocide and crimes against humanity into sources of the Criminal Law of Lithuania. Lithuania adopted a special law on Genocide of the Lithuanian Population in 1992. Mentioned Law proclaimed that Lithuania is accessing UN Convention on Genocide and established a Crime of Genocide in Lithuanian Criminal Law. However, Crimes against humanity as a general category has not been introduced into system of criminal law up to the adoption of the New Criminal Code in 2000 (though the Code is not in force yet). The current concept of Genocide in Lithuanian criminal law according to the Article 99 of new Criminal Code is broader than in International Law. First of all, it includes political as well as social groups in the protected groups list; secondly, it includes two additional inhumane acts: deportations and torture. Such extensions may be justified by the needs of Lithuania according to the cases of genocide of Lithuanian population and it corresponds to the modern tendencies in national criminal law systems (e.g. protection of political and social groups is included in the definitions of genocide in French, Polish, Latvian criminal codes). However, it may cause and actually caused some problems with regard to international assistance in criminal matters with state that adopted a conventional concept of genocide (e.g. Russia). Crimes against humanity in the new Criminal Code are named as "Course of conduct with the people prohibited by International Law" (Article 100 of the new Criminal Code). It was drafted according to the International Criminal Court Rome Statute's Article 7, however some essential inadequacies shall be noted: firstly, the relations between general elements and features are not kept (e.g. Lithuanian version requires that act of person but not a attack shall be of systematic or wide spread nature); secondly, some inhumane acts are transferred without necessary clarifications (e.g. forced pregnancy). The author comes with the motivated proposals and proposes corresponding new definitions in order to eliminate enumerated shortcomings and inadequacies.


This paper explicates Foucault's conception of experience and defends it as an important theoretical resource for feminist theory. It analyzes Linda Alcoff's devastating critique of Foucault's account of sexuality and her reasons for advocating phenomenology as a more viable alternative. I agree with her that a philosophically sophisticated understanding of experience must remain central for feminist theory, but I demonstrate that her critique of Foucault is based on a mistaken view of his philosophical position as well as on a problematic understanding of phenomenology.


A large number of Red Sea species are colonizing the eastern Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, mainly following the Anatolian coasts and spreading westwards. Portunus pelagicus is one of the most common Red Sea swimming crabs, first recorded in the Levantine Basin in 1898. Four specimens of P. pelagicus were collected in different marine areas of Rhodes Island from 1991 to 2000, while three specimens of the lessepsian fish Apogon pharaonis , first recorded in the Mediterranean in 1947, were caught during 2002 in the NW coast of Rhodes. The sub-tropical character of the marine area around Rhodes seems to facilitate the propagation of lessepsian species. These migrants have reached the island at different velocity and degree of establishment of their populations. The occurrence of the blue swimmer crab P. pelagicus and of the bullseye cardinal fish A. pharaonis increases the number of the decapod Crustacea and fish species of Red Sea origin observed in Greek waters.


The objective for implementation of the self-assessment tax system (SAS) is
to increase voluntary tax compliance among taxpayers. Under SAS, taxpayers are
required to compute their own tax liability. Hence, taxpayers need to have basic
personal tax knowledge to fill out tax return form correctly and accurately. To help
them reduce tax liability within the tax laws, taxpayers need to understand the
differences between tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax planning.
This study aims to assess the level of tax knowledge of postgraduates from
non-accounting disciplines and examine their tax ethical beliefs. In addition, the
study attempts to identify whether they understand the differences between tax
evasion, tax avoidance and tax planning and to seek their opinions about the
introduction of tax subject at non-accounting postgraduate's level. A survey was
used to collect data from seven non-accounting faculties in Universiti Teknologi
MARA, Shah Alam. A total of 620 questionnaires were distributed and the response
rate was 35.97% (223/620).
The findings indicated that 640/0 of respondents (who are taxpayers) had
medium level of knowledge in personal taxation. About 62.80/0 of respondents (who
are taxpayers) showed negative level of tax ethics. Interestingly, majority of
respondents were unable to define and classify tax behaviours into tax evasion, tax
avoidance or tax planning correctly. The level of tax knowledge for those who had
studied taxation is higher than those that had not studied taxation. Furthermore, the
tax ethics score for male is higher than female which indicates that male taxpayers
had higher negative tax ethics level than female. In addition, there is significance
difference in the taxpayers experience and the level of tax knowledge. Only 37.7% of
respondents favoured that tax subject be introduced in their course.


P-p plots contain all the information that is needed for scale-invariant comparisons. Indeed, Empirical Distribution Function (EDF) tests translate sample p-p plots into a single number. In this paper we characterize the set of all distinct p-p plots for two balanced sample of size n absent ties. Distributions of EDF test statistics are embedded in this set. It is thus used to derive the exact finite sample distribution of the L1-version of the Fisz-Cramer-von Mises test. Comparing this distribution with the (known) limiting distribution shows that the latter can always be used for hypothesis testing: although for finite samples the critical percentiles of the limiting distribution differ from the exact values, this will not lead to differences in the rejection of the underlying hypothesis.


Organic non-linear optical salt bis-L-phenylalanine mandelate (BLPAMA) was synthesized and single crystal was grown using slow evaporation method in water. Single crystal XRD revealed that the grown crystals belong to monoclinic system with space group P21. The intra molecular and inter molecular hydrogen bonding present in the molecular sheet stabilizes three dimensional network present in the BLPAMA compound. The H NMR and C NMR studies confirmed in the structure of the compound. Functional groups in the compound were identified using FTIR spectrum. Thermal stability of the compound BLPAMA from TG-DTA analysis correlate with the melting point of the compound, mass analysis confirmed the mass of the material, UV-Visible absorption and photoluminescence study of the compound indicated the suitability NLO activity. NLO activity of the compound was studied, revealed the presence of second harmonic generation.


PERSPECTIVE OF ARCTIC DEEP-SEA DRILLING AND THE AURORA BOREALIS PROJECTThe geologic and paleoenvironmental histories of the Arctic Ocean basin are largely unknown because, in contrast to other oceans, it has not been possibleto sample and date the sedimentary record preserved in the basin beyond the length of a single core. As a result, the bulk of the Cenozoic record and all of theMesozoic record have not been studied. Paleoclimatic questions posed by scientific ocean drilling at lower latitudes require answers that can only be obtained by drilling deep beneath the Arctic Ocean seafloor. Restricted by the circulating sea ice, scientific drilling has been slow to arrive in the Arctic Ocean. After JOIDES RESOLUTION (escorted by an icebreaker; ODP Leg 151) had drilled the Yermak Plateau, it was not until 2004 that the famous ACEX expedition (an ECORD effort based on a drill ship escorted by 2 icebreakers) penetrated several hundred meters into the sedimentary sequence on top of Lomonosov Ridge, thereby proving that deep-sea drilling in permanently sea ice-covered ocean basis is feasible. Inspired by these successes, the European Polar Board of ESF and ECORD several years ago developed a plan for future work in the central Arctic Ocean which called for a novel research ship, known as the AURORA BOREALIS. This ship would be able to operate independently year-round in the Arctic Ocean. It would alsobe able to carry out deep-sea drilling expeditions during the favorable summer months with optimal ice conditions. It could become one of the alternate IODP mission specific drilling platforms. Funding is presently available to develop the technical specifications and preliminary design of the ship. European funding is sought for to prepare for the financial, legal and operational framework of the ship which will require the formation of an international consortium of interested partners. A dedicated Arctic Ocean drillship would require a pool of prepared sites ready for drilling. The preparation of drill sites requires substantial site survey work, but sufficient seimic reflection lines from the major structural units of the central Arctic Ocedan are available to define locations with great scientific promise. Several examples of potential drill sites will be presented.


Bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr) has emerged as a potential visible-light-driven photocatalyst with relatively high photocatalytic activity although modifications are still necessary to further promote its photocatalytic performance. Here, a facile chemical precipitation process was used to synthesize tetragonal BiOBr with a predominance of either {001} or {010} exposed crystal facets. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that BiOBr particles dominated by the {010} facet possessed a large plate-like morphology while the {001}-dominated BiOBr comprised smaller, more irregular particles. Ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra and Mott–Schottky analysis highlighted a difference in electronic band structure of the two materials; BiOBr-010 possessed a valence band potential and a band-gap of 2.71 and 2.95 eV versus normal hydrogen electrode (NHE), respectively, while BOBr-001 exhibited values of 2.63 and 3.15 eV versus NHE, respectively. BiOBr-010 displayed a better photo-oxidative capability than BOBr-001 for both water oxidation and formic acid degradation (aqueous phase). The higher photo-oxidative capability of BiOBr-010 was attributed to the suppression of photo-induced electron/hole recombination. Additionally, the improved charge transfer efficiency and reduced charge transfer resistance in BiOBr-010 was revealed to be beneficial for enhancing photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. The findings account for the better photo-oxidative activity and higher current density of BiOBr-010 despite its smaller specific surface area and illustrate the use of crystal facet engineering to promote photocatalytic performance.


In this paper we consider the coexistence of a single-input single-output (SISO) primary link with a multiple-input single-output (MISO) secondary user pair that has non-causal knowledge of the primary message. We study an achievable rate region that exploits this knowledge by combining selfless relaying to maintain the rate supported by the primary link with dirty paper coding to pre-cancel the interference at the secondary receiver. We find the optimal choice of power allocation between these operating modes at the secondary transmitter as well as the optimal beamforming vectors. Moreover, we address the robustness of the solution to uncertainties in the channel knowledge. Finally, we show by numerical evaluation the gains obtained due to the additional knowledge of the primary message.


The present study extends previous research on the influence of social dominance orientation (SDO) in international affairs by investigating the role of sociocognitive processes such as social identity complexity (SIC) and intergroup dehumanization in explaining the relationship between SDO and support for Arabs' autonomy. An Italian heterogeneous sample (N = 123), in terms of gender, age, political orientation, religiosity, and income level, was considered. We expected that those low on SDO would be more likely to support Arabs' autonomy, would have higher SIC, and would be less likely to dehumanize Arabs. We also expected that SIC and dehumanization would sequentially mediate the relationship between SDO and support for Arabs' autonomy. Results revealed that Italians low on SDO have higher SIC (i.e., a more inclusive social identity) which endorses lower dehumanization of Arabs. This in turn explained the influence of SDO on support for Arabs' autonomy. These findings integrate the literature about SDO and SIC and enhance the understanding of the sociocognitive processes underlying people's support for international egalitarian movements.


As a result of extreme operation conditions in gas turbines, high resistance materials with excellent behaviour at high temperature are required. Alloys, such as MarM-247 nickel based superalloy, with excellent mechanical properties at very high temperature (even at 85 % of their melting point) are being used in these applications. This extraordinary behaviour is mainly due to the presence of a strengthening phase (γ') with the following chemical composition: Ni3(Al, Ti). However, during welding these materials are susceptible to cracking and this is why weld inspections become crucial. In this work different strategies for defect detection in welds are introduced, all of them based on active thermography. The work covers aspects such as different excitation and data evaluation strategies.


The financial crisis that began in August 2007 has blurred the sharp distinction between monetary and financial stability. It has also led to a revival of practical central bank co-operation. This paper explains how things have changed. The main innovation in central bank cooperation during this crisis was the emergency provision of international liquidity through bilateral central bank swap facilities, which have evolved to form interconnected swap networks. We discuss the reasons for establishing swap facilities, relate the probability of a country receiving a swap line in a currency to a measure of currency-specific liquidity shortages based on the BIS international banking statistics, and find a significant relationship in the case of the US dollar, the euro, the yen and the Swiss franc. We also discuss the role and effectiveness of swap lines in relieving currency-specific liquidity shortages, the risks that central banks run in extending swap lines and the limitations to their utility in relieving liquidity pressures. We conclude that the credit crisis is likely to have a lasting effect on the international liquidity policies of governments and central banks.


This article explores the interrogatory relationship between the disciples' two questions in Matt 24:3 and Jesus' twofold answer in Matt 24:4–25:46 (divided 24:4-35 and 24:36–25:46). First, concerning how these questions and answers relate, Jesus answers inverted forms of their questions that imply the form, "what will be the signs of these things?" and "when will your coming and the consummation of the age happen?" Second, concerning why they relate in this way, Jesus does this to correct the disciples' wrong views about the destruction of the temple and eschatology. Lastly, the article offers a corrective to the various eschatological positions which are often superimposed upon Matt 24–25.


Investigation of selected physicochemical characteristics of industrially produced Sremska and Sudžuk sausages were conducted for complementing information about quality of typical pork and beef dry fermented products in Serbia. Analysis of production process was carried out at five meat industries. There were determined content of water, lipids, proteins, NaCl, ash, nitrites and also pH and water activity values at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of process. The results of chemical components analyses of Sremska were uniform, while in Sudžuk sausages showed great variations. However, both types of products in all examined meat industries were in an agreement with Serbian legislation for dry fermented sausages. The results of water activity and pH values showed that sausages can be considered as microbiologically stable products during whole production process.


In a side-by-side comparison of evolutionary dynamics between the 2019/2020 SARS-CoV-2 and the 2003 SARS-CoV, we were surprised to find that SARS-CoV-2 resembles SARS-CoV in the late phase of the 2003 epidemic after SARS-CoV had developed several advantageous adaptations for human transmission. Our observations suggest that by the time SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in late 2019, it was already pre-adapted to human transmission to an extent similar to late epidemic SARS-CoV. However, no precursors or branches of evolution stemming from a less human-adapted SARS-CoV-2-like virus have been detected. The sudden appearance of a highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 presents a major cause for concern that should motivate stronger international efforts to identify the source and prevent near future re-emergence. Any existing pools of SARS-CoV-2 progenitors would be particularly dangerous if similarly well adapted for human transmission. To look for clues regarding intermediate hosts, we analyze recent key findings relating to how SARS-CoV-2 could have evolved and adapted for human transmission, and examine the environmental samples from the Wuhan Huanan seafood market. Importantly, the market samples are genetically identical to human SARS-CoV-2 isolates and were therefore most likely from human sources. We conclude by describing and advocating for measured and effective approaches implemented in the 2002-2004 SARS outbreaks to identify lingering population(s) of progenitor virus.


A lawyer, it is said, once asked a judge to charge the jury: "It is better that a hundred guilty should go free, than that one innocent man should be convicted." (1) The judge agreed to give the charge, but said he would also tell the jury that he had already seen more than a hundred guilty go free at the current term of court. The release of many guilty people is inevitable in any decent legal system. That is because errors are inevitable, and decency requires us to err on the side of releasing the guilty rather than imprisoning the innocent. Still, I am convinced that our system releases many more guilty people than it has to. Probably the main reason for this is our overuse of exclusionary rules as sanctions for police or other governmental misconduct. Exclusionary rules, in almost all cases, protect the guilty without significantly reducing the chance of convicting the innocent. (2) I have grumbled about this problem in several dissenting opinions. (3) But in this article, for a change, I will grumble about something else--another rule that protects guilty defendants far more than innocent ones. That is the rule excluding prior consistent statements, 4 and particularly the narrowness of the "prompt outcry" exception to that rule in cases of rape or sexual abuse. (5) It is hornbook law that prior statements of a witness that are consistent with his or her testimony are inadmissible unless they fit within a hearsay exception, (6) though one of the hornbooks that states the rule also criticizes it. (7) This rule is merely an application of the hearsay rule itself: a prior consistent statement is, like any other out-of-court statement, hearsay, when it is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. (8) Prior consistent statements are often stigmatized as "bolster[ing]" of the witness's in-court testimony, and the rule excluding them is rationalized on the ground, among others, that "untrustworthy testimony does not become less so merely by repetition." (9) Like the authors of the New York Evidence Handbook, I find the rationales for excluding prior consistent statements unpersuasive. (10) It is true that such statements are sometimes merely cumulative, but not always: "[p]rior statements of witnesses, being closer in time to the described event, are sometimes more reliable than in-court testimony." (11) And the main reason for the existence of the hearsay rule--protecting the right to cross-examination--is absent in the case of prior consistent statements, because the witness is in court, and can be cross-examined about the prior statement as well as the present one. To quote my favorite form of authority, one of my own opinions: "[s]ince the admission of prior consistent statements is rarely prejudicial, courts should be ... willing to relax the rule excluding such statements when their admission will advance the efforts of a factfinder to learn the truth." (12) There is perhaps no better case for relaxation of the rule than one in which a victim of rape or sexual abuse has kept the crime secret for some time after it occurred, but has made an exception to the secrecy by confiding in someone close to her. Our court confronted two such cases not long ago, and decided them in a single opinion under the title People v. Rosario. (13) In both cases, trial judges had allowed evidence of the victims' prior consistent statements, applying the prompt outcry exception to the hearsay rule. (14) In both cases, a majority of the court held that the trial judges were wrong, and that the juries should never have learned of those statements. (15) In a separate opinion (dissenting in Rosario and concurring in the companion case, People v. Parada), I acknowledged that the majority was correctly applying the prompt outcry rule as found in previous decisions. (16) But I said that the application of the rule to these cases and cases like them was an invitation to miscarriages of justice--to the acquittal of undoubtedly guilty defendants--and that the rule should be changed. …


A B ST R A C T Voice morphing means the transition of one speech signal into another. Like image morphing, speech morphing aims to preserve the shared characteristics of the starting and final signals, while generating a smooth transition between them. Speech morphing is analogous to image morphing. In image morphing the in-between images all show one face smoothly changing its shape and texture until it turns into the target face. It is this feature that a speech morph should possess. One speech signal should smoothly change into another, keeping the shared characteristics of the starting and ending signals but smoothly changing the other properties. The major properties of concern as far as a speech signal is concerned are its pitch and envelope information. These two reside in a convolved form in a speech signal. Hence some efficient method for extracting each of these is necessary. We have adopted an uncomplicated approach namely cepstral analysis to do the same. Pitch and formant information in each signal is extracted using the cepstral approach. Necessary processing to obtain the morphed speech signal include methods like Cross fading of envelope information, Dynamic Time Warping to match the major signal features (pitch) and Signal Re-estimation to convert the morphed speech signal back into the acoustic waveform.


Development law, local laws and policy that influence private land developers to appropriately develop land, affect the concerns of several groups including, private developers, municipalities, and environmentalists. By promoting environmental principles and revoking local regulatory obstacles, local governments can help encourage cooperation among these groups. This article highlights the success many New York communities have experienced in accommodating population growth while still reducing taxes and providing protection for the natural environment.


Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) on invading organisms and are the first line of defense in innate immunity. To date, much has been learned about TLRs and their roles in autoimmune diseases are being unraveled. The autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) progresses as a consequence of the inappropriate recognition of self nucleic acids by TLRs. For the development of therapeutic approaches of SLE it is necessary to understand possible negative regulation mechanisms of TLR. Single immunoglobulin interleukin-1 receptor-related molecule (SIGIRR) is the best characterized TLR signaling inhibitor. It can interfere with the receptor complexes and attenuate the recruitment of downstream adaptors to the receptors. So far, the mechanisms of structural interactions between SIGIRR, TLRs and adaptor molecules are unknown. To develop a working hypothesis for these interactions, we constructed three- dimensional models for these single molecules based on computational predictions. Then, models of essential complexes involved in the TLR signaling and the SIGIRR inhibiting processes were yielded through protein-protein docking analysis.
With the high-throughput genome sequencing projects, a central repository for the growing amount of TLR sequence information has been created. However, subsequent annotations for these TLR sequences are incomplete. For example, the indicated numbers and positions of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs contained in individual TLR ectodomains are greatly distinct or missing in established databases. In this vein, we have developed a database of TLR structural motifs called TollML (http://tollml.lrz.de). It integrates all TLR protein sequences that have been identified to date. These sequences were semi-automatically partitioned into three levels of structural motif categories. The manual motif identification procedure provided TollML with the most complete and accurate database of LRR motifs compared with other databases that contain TLR data.
LRR motifs are present not only in TLRs, but also in many other proteins. To date, more than 6,000 LRR protein sequences and more than 130 crystal structures of them have been determined. This knowledge has increased our ability to use individual LRR structures extracted from the crystal structures as building blocks to model LRR proteins with unknown structures. Because the individual LRR structures are not directly available from any protein structure database, we have developed a conformational LRR database called LRRML (http://lrrml.lrz.de). It collects three- dimensional LRR structures manually identified from all determined crystal structures of LRR-containing proteins and thus provides a source for the structural modeling and analysis of LRR proteins. With the help of TollML and LRRML, we constructed models of the human/mouse TLR5-13 ectodomains and suggested some potential receptor-ligand interaction residues based on these models.


Objective: To determine the feasibility of next-generation sequencing (NGS) microbiome approaches in the diagnosis of infectious disorders in brain or spinal cord biopsies in patients with suspected CNS infections. Methods: In a prospective pilot study, we applied NGS in combination with a new computational analysis pipeline to detect the presence of pathogenic microbes in brain or spinal cord biopsies from 10 patients with neurologic problems indicating possible infection but for whom conventional clinical and microbiology studies yielded negative or inconclusive results. Results: Direct DNA and RNA sequencing of brain tissue biopsies generated 8.3 million to 29.1 million sequence reads per sample, which successfully identified with high confidence the infectious agent in 3 patients for whom validation techniques confirmed the pathogens identified by NGS. Although NGS was unable to identify with precision infectious agents in the remaining cases, it contributed to the understanding of neuropathologic processes in 5 others, demonstrating the power of large-scale unbiased sequencing as a novel diagnostic tool. Clinical outcomes were consistent with the findings yielded by NGS on the presence or absence of an infectious pathogenic process in 8 of 10 cases, and were noncontributory in the remaining 2. Conclusions: NGS-guided metagenomic studies of brain, spinal cord, or meningeal biopsies offer the possibility for dramatic improvements in our ability to detect (or rule out) a wide range of CNS pathogens, with potential benefits in speed, sensitivity, and cost. NGS-based microbiome approaches present a major new opportunity to investigate the potential role of infectious pathogens in the pathogenesis of neuroinflammatory disorders.


High end parallel and multi-core processors rely on compilers to perform the necessary optimizations and exploit concurrency in order to achieve higher performance. However, source code for high performance computers is extremely complex to analyze and optimize. In particular, program analysis techniques often do not take into account complex expressions during the data dependence analysis phase. Most data dependence tests are only able to analyze linear expressions, even though non-linear expressions occur very often in practice. Therefore, considerable amounts of potential parallelism remain unexploited. In this talk we propose new data dependence analysis techniques to handle such complex instances of the dependence problem and increase program parallelization. Our method is based on a set of polynomial time techniques that can prove or disprove dependences in source codes with non-linear and symbolic expressions, complex loop bounds, arrays with coupled subscripts, and if-statement constraints. In addition our algorithm can produce accurate and complete direction vector information, enabling the compiler to apply further transformations. To validate our method we performed an experimental evaluation and comparison against the I-Test, the Omega test and the Range test in the Perfect and SPEC benchmarks. The experimental results indicate that our dependence analysis tool is accurate, efficient and more effective in program parallelization than the other dependence tests. The improved parallelization results into higher speedups and better program execution performance in several benchmarks.


This paper analyzes the consumers in the context of non-professional subtitling (NPS). Using web scraping techniques to collect data about the downloading rate of non-professional subtitles we explore the behavior of consumers. Drawing on the case of the subtitles for House of Cards in Addic7ed.com, a popular multilingual non-professional subtitle distribution website, we describe the consumption of non-professional subtitles and the users' response. After outlining the situation of the international audiences for audiovisual products and the relevance of consumers as the driving force behind NPS communities, we analyze the collected data in terms of their interest in the originality of the content and their wish to access the content immediately after it is available. Our findings indicate that the users of non-professional subtitles are highly engaged consumers, eager to access the content as soon as possible and interested in watching it in its original language (English), even with intralingual (same-language) subtitles.


The reduction of pile capacity associated with volume contraction of the soil close to the pile surface has been reported in carbonate deposits offshore North West Australia and in residual deposits of Southern Africa. Knowledge of the load carried by the shaft and the pile tip is critical for the determination of the load settlement behavior of piles in structurally unstable and highly variable sand deposits. While the Static and Dynamic formulas and Pile load tests are used for the determination of pile carrying capacity, they are limited in terms of site coverage, cost and adequacy of load settlement data. Since the mode of shearing around a pile shaft is very similar to that observed in the direct shear tests, it is thus cost effective to develop analytical methods based on controlled laboratory model tests in order to predict load settlement behavior and bearing capacity of piles. A simple shear apparatus was developed to investigate whether or not significant contractile strains are induced in low density residual sands subject to simple shear strain and to study the effect of such contractile strain of a soil close to the pile shaft on pile load settlement behavior. The design and development of the simple shear apparatus was based on a new simple shear stress equation. Series of constant normal stresses, constant normal stiffness and constant volume tests were conducted on samples of Berea Sands compacted to low density in the new apparatus, supported by moisture induced collapse settlement and matric suction tests. The tests revealed significant volume contraction of Berea Sands due to imposed simple shear strain. The tests data were fed into a new Winkler type load transfer model and were used to determine the load transfer curves of vertically loaded piles. The curves revealed that both the loadsettlement behavior and pile capacity in low density sands are dependent on the volume contraction of the soil in the plastic zone close to the pile surface, horizontal stress normal to the pile shaft and stiffness of the soil outside the plastic zone.


A strategy for studying the binding mode of plasmid isoforms to an immobilized amino acid as a model support has been developed using Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). The binding of L-arginine to plasmid isoforms of pGL101, pUC19 and pVAX1-LacZ (supercoiled, open-circular and linear) is examined by measuring the equilibrium dissociation constants (KD). L-Arginine was immobilized on a CM5 sensor chip and bound to plasmid isoforms with similar SPR binding profiles (square-shaped) and binding affinities ranging between 10−4 and 10−9 M. There are significant differences in the apparent affinity that is correlated with the three plasmids (2.39, 2.69 and 6.05 kbp). pGL101 shows the highest binding on the arginine surface followed by pVAX1-LacZ, while pUC19 shows the lowest binding. For the three plasmid isoforms, the supercoiled ones have the higher binding affinity to the arginine surface. Different buffer environments affect the interaction strength with an increase in response for Tris–HCl and a marked decrease for high salt concentrations. The knowledge of the affinity parameters is expected to provide further insights into the effect of plasmid topology on the purification by affinity chromatography.


The miracle growth of the Chinese economy has decreased from a compound annual growth rate of 10% to less than 7% in 2015, raising questions about China?s prospects of avoiding the ?middle income trap?.

The two engines of growth -- exporting on a scale never before witnessed and massive infrastructure investments -- are approaching the limits of diminishing returns.  Assuming that current political arrangements prevail and that western socio-political economic models are not adopted, can China develop a new growth model with innovation at its center?

This volume brings together leading Chinese and international scholars who examine the role of culture, institutions, national policy, firm and individual dimensions in shaping the operation of firms, industries and technologies. Their analyses of the daunting challenges of building an innovation-driven growth model for China range from quite optimistic to deeply pessimistic. The book will appeal to scholars, policy-makers and business persons.


Abstract:This article discusses three different forms of genocide denial that have—broadly speaking—followed one another in post-genocide Rwanda since 1994. Genocide denial is considered a stage of genocide, and each of these three forms of genocide denial is outlined, drawing on the seminal study on denial of Stanley Cohen. The article suggests that collective denial such as genocide denial should be distinguished analytically from more everyday forms of denial of atrocities and suffering. Three types of genocide denial—literal, interpretative, and implicatory—are identified and related to particular phases in post-genocide Rwandan history. It is shown that denial of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda has been intertwined with post-genocide debates around fundamental causes and triggers of genocide. The article concludes with some reflections on instruments used by the Rwandan government to combat genocide denial, reflecting on the polarization of public and scholarly opinion on Rwanda's recent past.


The ability to take up and metabolize nutrients is vitally important for the survival of every living organism. Higher organisms need to control their energy uptake and expenditure as a positive energy balance over time can lead to obesity and even early death. The regulation of energy homeostasis, according to the neurocentric model, is performed by a small neuronal subnetwork in the hypothalamus. This network comprises, among others, satiety mediating, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) expressing neurons and hunger mediating, agouti-related protein (AgRP) expressing neurons. They integrate signals from the periphery about the nutritional status of the organism and relay this information onto second order neurons (e.g. SIM1 neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus; PVH). Diet-induced obese mice that have received a high-fat diet can be used to investigate the effects of a prolonged positive energy balance on this network. In the first part of this thesis, the effects of a high-fat diet on the calcium homeostasis of POMC neurons were investigated. Calcium plays a crucial role as a second messenger in many important cellular functions such as membrane excitability, synaptic plasticity, neurotransmitter release and activity dependent gene activation. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in voltage clamp were performed to characterize voltage-activated calcium influx in POMC neurons. Further, to determine the intracellular calcium handling parameters (calcium resting level, calcium buffering, calcium extrusion) whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and fast optical imaging were used in combination with the �added buffer� approach. The most important finding was that the high-fat diet affected calcium handling in POMC neurons. The calcium current density was found to be increased in POMC neurons of high-fat diet mice (-69.50 pA/pF) compared to normal diet mice (-59.63 pA/pF). Furthermore, the calcium binding ratio of POMC neurons in the high-fat diet cohort was lower (220) compared to normal diet mice (399). Also, the calcium resting level of POMC neurons was almost twice as high in the high-fat diet cohort (0.040 uM) as in the normal diet mice (0.021 uM). These observed diet dependent changes in calcium handling could impair the function, synaptic plasticity and synaptic output of POMC neurons, thus directly or indirectly influencing the energy uptake behaviour of the animal. For example, the increase in the calcium resting level could lead to a silencing of POMC neurons from high-fat diet mice through the activation of calcium dependent potassium channels, possibly reducing satiety signaling. In the second part of this thesis, candidates for putative second order neurons to POMC neurons in a genetically defined neuron population in the PVH (SIM1 neurons) were characterized. The PVH is a known target region of POMC neuron terminals and it was shown by earlier studies that SIM1 neurons in the PVH play an important role in energy uptake regulation. Current clamp patch-clamp recordings in the whole-cell configuration were performed on identified SIM1 neurons. Subtypes of SIM1 neurons in the PVH could be characterized according to their reaction to current injection protocols and matched with neurontypes found in previous studies. It could be shown that the SIM1 neuron population comprise the magnocellular neurosecretory, bursting, parvocellular neurosecretory (NS) and parvocellular pre-autonomic (PA) PVH neuron subtypes. Additionally, it was found that the parvocellular SIM1 neuron subtypes differ in their sensitivity to the adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel blocker tolbutamide (Only 22.23 % of the recorded NS subtype neurons were sensitive to tolbutamide and 92.31 % of the PA subtype) suggesting a possible differential expression of the KATP channel for each subtype and the possible existence of subpopulations of NS and PA neurons.


The purpose of this paper is to present a unified description of mass generation mechanisms that have been investigated so far and that are called the Mach and Higgs proposals. In our mechanism, gravity acts merely as a catalyst and the final expression of the mass depends neither on the intensity nor on the particular properties of the gravitational field. We shall see that these two strategies to provide mass for all bodies that operate independently and competitively can be combined into a single unified theoretical framework. As a consequence of this new formulation we are able to present an answer to the question: what is the origin of the mass of the Higgs boson?


Anthropometric and fitness observations were made on 32 members of a top level Gaelic football squad that reached the All Ireland final in the year in which these measurements were taken. The subjects were found to be large and well muscled with a mean somatotype of 2.6:5.6:3.1 (endomorphy:mesomorphy:ectomorphy). Body fat content of the whole squad averaged 15.0% but the most successful group of players averaged 12.4%. The body mass index (BMI) of the group was high and averaged 24.7 km.m-2. This group of Gaelic footballers was found to be taller and heavier than top level soccer players but smaller than Australian rules and American footballers. At 58.6 ml.min-1.kg-1 maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) was higher than that reported for rugby players and American footballers and is probably similar to that of professional soccer players. Scores on three lung function tests: (1) forced vital capacity (FVC), (2) forced expiratory volume during 1 s (FEV1), and (3) peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) were between 112% and 115% of the values predicted from height and age. There were wide variations in flexibility among the members of the group, the best individuals being as flexible as elite track and field athletes while the worst were less flexible than untrained subjects. Vertical jump scores were high and averaged 503 mm. The fitness observations made on this group of elite Gaelic footballers showed that they were not only fitter but more homogeneously fit than rugby players and American footballers and their fitness was generally similar to that reported for professional soccer players.


The occurrence of along-strike thickness variations in pretectonic sedimentary packages is expected to influence the structural architecture of doubly verging thrust wedges. To test this hypothesis, we used laboratory sandbox experiments. Model results show that longitudinal tapering of pretectonic sediments causes a great complexity in the internal tectonic fabric of the wedge, particularly in the pro-wedge, dominated by highly segmented, curvilinear thrusts. The along-strike variation of the mode by which the same amount of bulk contraction is accommodated in different regions of the orogen produces the obliquity of the deformation fronts in both the pro-wedge and the retro-wedge. Comparison with the overall architecture of the Lesser Antilles and Manila accretionary systems validates our experimental results.


The roadside network system for ITS services uses microcells in its access infrastructure. For the roadside network that provides the uninterrupted communication using microcells such as DSRC, an effective communication control scheme must be established so as to manage the communication passes to vehicles in the network. One of the fundamental requirements for the communication control scheme for the roadside network is to assure fault-tolerance, which means in this system that the communication control mechanism needs to be managed even in part of the base stations in the network might be in fault. On the other hand, for the communication control in the roadside network using microcells, issues to be solved are the handover mechanism for taking over connection information to provide uninterrupted communication environment, which causes the degradation of the end-to-end throughput. In order to solve those problems, the authors developed a communication control scheme. We implemented the scheme as the specific 'ADS algorism' to control the communication zone dynamically, which works effectively on the Autonomous Decentralized System (ADS) communication platform. Furthermore, we also developed the specific ADS algorism to assure fault-tolerance for the communication zone control, which can reconfigure the communication zone in case the BSs in the roadside network are in fault and can keep the operations by the reconfigured communication zone. We evaluated the ADS algorism for the communication zone control by computer simulation. The results show the effectiveness of the ADS algorism for the dynamic communication zone control mechanism and for the fault-tolerant mechanism for communication zone reconfiguration on fault.


Collaborations focusing on innovation are often born with the conception of a technology, typically as a result of one side's research effort. Collaborations for innovation can also be made through a deliberate process of identifying strategic synergies that should, with appropriate incentives, lead to jointly created technology in the selected area of interest. The predominant factors motivating the parties to collaborate will heavily influence the agreement structure selected to support the collaboration. If a specific technology was "born" prior to the collaboration, the parties will most likely memorialize their collaboration in an agreement specific to the joint development and commercialization for that technology. In contrast, when the parties are entering the collaboration to stimulate innovation, the agreement is often structured as a master agreement. Regardless of the agreement structure, there are two keys to a successful collaboration for innovation: (1) effective communication; and (2) balancing incentives.


Objective: To investigate the changes of the levels of serum inflammatory factors, high sensitivity CReactive Protein (hs-CRP) and complement Component 3 (C3) and Component 4 (C4) in neonates with Neonatal Gonococcal Conjunctivitis (NGC), and to explore the clinical significance.
Methods: Thirty-two neonates with NGC including 14 boys and 18 girls (3 d to 6 d old) were selected in the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University to serve as experimental group, at the same time 32 healthy neonates (16 boys and 16 girls) with the same age distribution were also selected to serve as control group. There were no significant differences in age, gender and other basic information between two groups. Venous blood (2 ml) was extracted from all neonates with NGC and healthy neonates before and 3 d after the beginning of treatment, and on the day of discharge to prepare serum sample. Levels of hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, C3 and C4 were detected by Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA).
Results: Before treatment, levels of serum hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, C3 and C4 in neonates with NGC were significantly higher than those in healthy neonates. With the progress of treatment, levels of hs- CRP, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, C3 and C4 were gradually reduced to reach normal level. Correlation analysis showed that levels of serum IL-6, C3 and C4 were positively correlated with the serum levels of hs-CRP.
Conclusion: Levels of serum hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, C3 and C4 were closely correlated with the development of NGC, and the detection of those factors can provide valuable information for the treatment of NGC.


The Herschel OB young stellar objects survey (HOBYS) has observed the Rosette molecular cloud, providing an unprecedented view of its star formation activity. These new far-infrared data reveal a population of compact young stellar objects whose physical properties we aim to charac-terise. We compiled a sample of protostars and their spectral energy distributions that covers the near-infrared to submillimetre wavelength range. These were used to constrain key properties in the protostellar evolution, bolometric luminosity, and envelope mass and to build an evolutionary diagram. Several clusters are distinguished including the cloud centre, the embedded clusters in the vicinity of luminous infrared sources, and the interaction region. The analysed protostellar population in Rosette ranges from 0.1 to about 15 M with luminosities between 1 and 150 L , which extends the evolutionary diagram from low-mass protostars into the high-mass regime. Some sources lack counterparts at near-to mid-infrared wavelengths, indicating extreme youth. The central cluster and the Phelps & Lada 7 cluster appear less evolved than the remainder of the analysed protostellar population. For the central cluster, we find indications that about 25% of the protostars classified as Class I from near-to mid-infrared data are actually candidate Class 0 objects. As a showcase for protostellar evolution, we analysed four protostars of low-to intermediate-mass in a single dense core, and they represent different evolutionary stages from Class 0 to Class I. Their mid-to far-infrared spectral slopes flatten towards the Class I stage, and the 160 to 70 μm flux ratio is greatest for the presumed Class 0 source. This shows that the Herschel observations characterise the earliest stages of protostellar evolution in detail.


Matrix approximation (MA) is one of the most popular techniques for collaborative filtering (CF). Most existing MA methods train user/item latent factors based on a user-item rating matrix and then use the global latent factors to model all users/items. However, globally optimized latent factors may not reflect the unique interests shared among only subsets of users/items, without which unique interests of users may not be accurately modelled. As a result, existing MA methods, which cannot capture the uniqueness of different user/item, cannot provide optimal recommendation.

In this paper, a mixture probabilistic matrix approximation (MPMA) method is proposed, which unifies globally optimized user/item feature vectors (on the entire rating matrix) and locally optimized user/item feature vectors (on subsets of user/item ratings) to improve recommendation accuracy. More specifically, in MPMA, a method is developed to find both globally and locally optimized user/item feature vectors. Then, a Gaussian mixture model is adopted to combine global predictions and local predictions to produce accurate rating predictions. Experimental study using MovieLens and Netflix datasets demonstrates that MPMA outperforms five state-of-the-art MA based CF methods in recommendation accuracy with good scalability.


Goniothalamin is a biologically active styrylpyrone derivative isolated from various
Goniothalamus sp., belonging to the Annonacae family. This plant extract has been
reported to be cytotoxic towards several tumor cell lines such as pancreas carcinoma
(PANC-1), gastric carcinoma (HGC-27) and breast carcinoma (MCF-7). The purpose of
this study was to examine and characterize the in vitro cytotoxicity effect of
goniothalamin on the human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells and normal liver
Chang cells and also to study the morphological and biochemical changes of
goniothalamin-treated HepG2 and Chang cells. Goniothalamin (2.3 -150 μM; 24, 48 and
72 hours) treatment to HepG2 and Chang cells resulted in a dose and time dependent
inhibition of cell growth as assessed by MTT and LDH assays. The data suggest that
goniothalamin selectively inhibits HepG2 cells (IC50 of MTT= 4.6(±0.23) μM; IC50 of
LDH= 5.20(±0.01) μM for 72 hours) with less inhibition of growth in Chang cells (IC50
of MTT= 35.0(±0.09) μM; IC50 of LDH= 32.5(± 0.04) μM for 72 hours. The cytotoxic
activity of goniothalamin on HepG2 cells was confirmed by Trypan blue dye exclusion assay. Goniothalamin reduced the number of viable cells (non-stained) associated with
an increase on the number of non-viable cells (stained) and the Viability Indexes were
52 ± 1.73% for HepG2 cells and 62 ± 4.36% for Chang cells at IC50 after 72 hours. Cells
were exposed to goniothalamin at lowest concentration (2.3 μM), IC50 (of MTT results),
and highest concentration (150 μM) for 24, 48, or 72 hours and then examined for
effects on cell cycle (using the flow cytometry) or proliferation (using the BrdU ELISA
assay). The cytotoxic activity of goniothalamin was related to the inhibition of DNA
synthesis, as revealed by the reduction of BrdU incorporation. At 72 hours with the
lowest goniothalamin concentration of 2.3 μM, the normal liver Chang cells retained
97.6% of control proliferation while the liver cancer HepG2 cells were reduced to 19.8%
of control proliferation. Goniothalamin caused the accumulation of hypodiploid
apoptotic cells in cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry. Goniothalamin arrested HepG2
and Chang cells in the G2/M phase with different degrees. Light microscopy
examination of HepG2 and Chang cells exposed to different concentrations of
goniothalamin up to 72 h demonstrated changes in cellular morphology; i.e. cell
rounding followed by a loss of adherence with subsequent cell shrinkage and blebbing.
In addition, the apoptotic cells were more abundant in goniothalamin-treated HepG2
cells (84 ± 4.58%) for 72 hours than in untreated cell (4 ± 2.65%) upon measurement by
TUNEL staining. In view of the toxicity of goniothalamin, the kind of cell death, namely
apoptosis or necrosis, was assessed. Therefore, staining with fluorescence labeled
annexin V in combination with propidium iodide was performed on HepG2 and Chang
cells exposed to goniothalamin. The laser scanning cytometry of propidium iodide and
annexin V-stained cells indicated that the growth inhibiting effect of goniothalamin was
consistent with a strong induction of apoptosis at late stage. This is because the cellular membrane integrity was lost, so the cells exhibited annexin V- and propidium iodidedouble
positive up to 85.87 ± 0.78 and 57.69 ± 1.12 in HepG2 and Chang cells after 24
hours, respectively. In order to confirm apoptotic mechanism in the goniothalamintreated
cells, caspase 3 activity upon the same treatment conditions was carried out. The
results indicate that caspase 3 activity was significantly elevated early in IC50 treated
Chang cells (574% of control) after 24 hours and late in IC50 treated cells after 72 hours
in HepG2 cells (879% of control). Our findings suggest a potential mechanism for the
strong growth inhibitory effect of goniothalamin on this HepG2 liver cancer cells.
However, less sensitivity to normal liver Chang cell line was observed by this
compound. An important feature of the cytotoxicity by goniothalamin is that it is
mediated through apoptosis.


Assessment of the functional activities of agonists acting on the human 6-opioid receptor (hDOR) which couples to G proteins of the Gi/Goalpha class usually involves the measurement of adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity. To assess the relative capacitiy of the hDOR to activate closely related G proteins, fusion proteins were constructed in which the a subunits of either Gi1 or Go1, containing point mutations to render them insensitive to the actions of pertussis toxin (PTx), were linked in frame with the C- terminus of the receptor. Following transient and stable expression in HEK293 cells both constructs bound the antagonist [3H] naltrindole with high affinity. D-ala2, D- leu5 enkephalin [DADLE] effectively inhibited forskolin-stimulated AC activity in intact cells in a concentration-dependent but PTx-insensitive manner. The high affinity GTPase activity of both constructs was also stimulated by DADLE with similar potency. However, enzyme kinetic analysis of agonist stimulation of GTPase activity demonstrated that the GTP turnover number produced in response to DADLE was more than 3 times greater for Gi1alpha than for Go1alpha. As the effect of agonist in both cases was to increase Vmax without increasing the observed Km, for GTP this is consistent with receptor promoting greater guanine nucleotide exchange on, and thus activation of, Gi1alpha compared to Go1alpha. An equivalent fusion protein between the human mu-opioid receptor-1 and Gi1alpha produced a similar DADLE-induced GTP turnover number as the hDOR-Gi1alpha fusion construct, consistent with agonist occupation of these two opioid receptor subtypes being equally efficiently coupled to activation of Gi1alpha. In addition, I have investigated the characteristics of the ternary complex of agonist-GPCR-G protein using high affinity agonist binding studies with the fusion proteins. GDP reduced the binding of the agonist [3H] DADLE but not the antagonist [3H] naltrindole to both the receptor alone and all the hDOR-Gi1alpha (Xaa351) fusion proteins. For the fusion proteins the pEC50 for GDP was strongly correlated with the n-octanol/H2O partition co-efficient of G protein residue351 Fusion proteins in which this residue was either isoleucine or glycine displayed similar association kinetics for [3H] DADLE. However, the rate of dissociation of [3H] DADLE was substantially greater for the glycine-containing fusion protein than that containing isoleucine, indicating the more hydrophobic residue imbued greater stability to the agonist-receptor-G protein ternary complex. This resulted in a higher affinity of binding of [3H] DADLE to the fusion protein containing isoleucine351. In expectation with the binding data, maximal DADLE-stimulated GTP hydrolysis was 2 fold greater with the isoleucine351 containing fusion protein and the potency of DADLE was 7 fold greater with the isoleucine351 fusion protein than for the version containing glycine. These results demonstrate that the stability of the ternary complex between hDOR, Gi1alpha and an agonist (but not antagonist) ligand is dependent upon the nature of residue351 of the G protein and that this determines the effectiveness of information flow from receptor to G protein.


Managed security service provider (MSSP) networks are a form of collaboration where several firms share resources such as diagnostics, prevention tools, and policies to provide security for their computer networks. While the decision to outsource the security operations of an organization may seem counterintuitive, there are potential benefits from joining an MSSP network that include pooling of risk and access to more securityenabling resources and expertise. We examine structural results explaining the reasons firms join an MSSP network, and characterize the growth of MSSP network size under different forms of ownership (monopoly versus consortium). We find that the need for an initial investment in MSSP networks (which is necessary to overcome the stalling effect) only affects the optimal network size for a consortium but has no impact on the optimal network size for a profit-maximizing monopolist. Our results provide an explanation why the majority of the MSSPs are for-profit entities and consortium-based MSSPs are less common. Such a market structure can be attributed to the potential for larger size by the for-profit MSSP owner combined with beneficial pricing structure and a lack of growth uncertainty for the early clients.


A major obstacle in the technology transfer agenda of behavioral analysis and design methods is the need for logics or automata to express properties for control-intensive systems. Interaction-modeling notations may offer a replacement or a complement, with a practitioner-appealing and lightweight flavor, due partly to the sub specification of intended behavior by means of scenarios. We propose a novel approach consisting of engineering a new formal notation of this sort based on a simple compact declarative semantics: VTS (visual timed event scenarios). Scenarios represent event patterns, graphically depicting conditions over traces. They predicate general system events and provide features to describe complex properties not expressible with MSC-like notations. The underlying formalism supports partial orders and real-time constraints. The problem of checking whether a timed-automaton model has a matching trace is proven decidable. On top of this kernel, we introduce a notation to state properties over all system traces: conditional scenarios, allowing engineers to describe uniquely rich connections between antecedent and consequent portions of the scenario. An undecidability result is presented for the general case of the model-checking problem over dense-time domains, to later identify a decidable-yet practically relevant-subclass, where verification is solvable by generating antiscenarios expressed in the VTS-kernel notation.


This article explores the optimization of plant characteristics and controller parameters for electrified mobility. Electrification of mobile transportation systems, such as automobiles and aircraft, presents the ability to improve key performance metrics such as efficiency and cost. However, the strong bidirectional coupling between electrical and thermal dynamics within new components creates integration challenges, increasing component degradation and reducing performance. Diminishing these issues requires novel plant designs and control strategies. The electrified mobility literature provides prior studies on plant and controller optimization, known as control co-design (CCD). A void within these studies is the lack of model predictive control (MPC), recognized to manage multi-domain dynamics for electrified systems, within CCD frameworks. This article addresses this through three contributions. First, a thermo-electro-mechanical hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) model is developed that is suitable for both plant optimization and MPC. Second, simultaneous plant and controller optimization is performed for this multi-domain system. Third, MPC is integrated within a CCD framework using the candidate HEV model. Results indicate that optimizing both the plant and MPC parameters simultaneously can reduce physical component sizes by over 60% and key performance metric errors by over 50%.


Writing with the vigor and elan that readers have come to expect from his many astute reviews and essays, Willard Spiegelman maintains that contemporary American poets have returned to the poetic aims of an earlier era: to edify, as well as to delight, and thus to serve the "didactic muse." What Spiegelman says about individual poets--such as Nemerov, Hecht, Ginsberg, Pinsky, Ammons, Rich, and Merrill, among others--is wonderfully insightful. Furthermore, his outlook on their work--the way he takes quite literally the teacherly elements of their poems--challenges long-standing conceptions both about contemporary writing and about the poetry of the Eliot-Pound-Stevens-Williams generation. Beginning the book with a meditation on W. H. Auden's legacy to American poets, Spiegelman ends with a discussion of the multiple scenes of learning in Merrill's The Changing Light at Sandover, which he identifies as not only the major epic poem of the second half of the twentieth century but also as the period's most important georgic: a textbook full of scientific, mythic, artistic, and human instruction. The Didactic Muse reminds us that poets have traditionally acknowledged their function as teachers, from Horace's advice that poetry should please and instruct to Robert Frost's aphorism that a poem "begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Whereas many of the critical remarks of the most important Romantic and modern poets suggest their desperate attempts to separate poetry from instruction, Spiegelman demonstrates that their practices often contradicted their theories. And he shows that our best contemporary poets are now embracing the older, classical paradigms.Originally published in 1989.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Every year millions of people are forced to flee their homes in the context of climate change and disasters. Their needs and rights are unclear. This paper presents and discusses some findings from a socio-legal case study exploring the rights of disaster-affected Somalis and Ethiopians in Yemen. The first main findings relate to the challenges that Ethiopians faced in accessing, and succeeding with, the formal asylum process. This is discussed in light of legal aid theory and research as well as research on credibility assessments. Another category of findings relates to interactions of local, religious law and international law. This is discussed in light of legal pluralism, which helps in identifying an emancipatory potential. While complex, dynamic and dependant on regional politics and other factors, the way Islamic law was applied — and influenced other bodies of law — seemed to ensure better protection than the 1951 Refugee Convention alone. This potential should be further explored and possibly expanded in order to strengthen the rights of people displaced in the context of climate change and disasters more generally.


Macromolecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Gd-DTPA-HSA (DTPA, diethylene triamine pentacetate acid; HSA, human serum albumin) as a model has been successfully conjugated with trimalonic acid modified C60 for contrast enhancement at clinically used magnetic field strength. The Gd-DTPA-HSA-C60 conjugate exhibit maximal relaxivity (r1 = 86 mM(-1) s(-1) at 0.5 T, 300 K) reported so far, which is much superior to that of the control Gd-DTPA-HSA (r1 = 38 mM(-1 )s(-1)) under the same condition and comparable to the theoretical maximum (r1 = 80-120 mM(-1) s(-1), at 20 MHz and 298 K), indicating the synergistic effect of HSA and carboxylfullerene on the increased contrast enhancement. TEM characterization reveals that both Gd-DTPA-HSA-C60 and Gd-DTPA-HSA can penetrate the cells via endocytosis and trans-membrane, respectively, suggesting the potential to sensitively image the events at the cellular and subcellular levels. In addition, the fusion of fullerene with Gd-DTPA-HSA will further endow the resulting complex with photodynamic therapy (PDT) property and thus combine the modalities of therapy (PDT) and diagnostic imaging (MRI) into one entity. More importantly, the payloaded Gd-DTPA may substitute for other more stable Gd-DOTA and HSA as a theranostic package can further work as a drug delivery carrier and effectively control drug release through proteolysis.


The process of developing a methodology for the management of education infrastructure in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean began with an analysis and discussion of types of variables, common content, and unified criteria across this group of countries. This produced a definition of school infrastructure as well as implications for managing it in accordance with each country's legislation, plans, and policies. Based on this analysis, it was possible to determine that in each of the educational infrastructure as a key factor in improving the quality of education, and this is reflected in their national policies that explicitly present the need to build, renovate, and maintain the physical plant of the schools.


Background:While studies of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are increasing among cardiovascular patients, very few have examined HRQOL in persons with aortic stenosis (AS). Purpose:A critical review of studies (1997-2008) of HRQOL in persons with AS was conducted to summarize findings and identify clinical and research implications. Results:Twenty-eight studies were identified, all of which were quantitative and evaluated HRQOL after aortic valve replacement (AVR). No studies conducted by nurses or studies measuring HRQOL in persons who did not undergo AVR were found. The literature focused on age and type of valve as variables influencing HRQOL postoperatively. Although results varied, elderly patients often scored similar or better than comparison groups. Health-related quality of life was found to be affected by valve noise and anticoagulation rather than the specific valve type when comparing patients receiving biological versus mechanical valves. Conclusions:Selection for surgery should not be based on age alone. Early consideration should be given to symptoms prior to surgery because of evidence that patients with fewer symptoms preoperatively have better HRQOL after AVR. Anticoagulation status should be evaluated as an independent variable of HRQOL in future studies. Implications for Research and Practice:Researchers need to augment generic HRQOL measures with disease-specific items that may pertain to life areas affected by AS, such as audible valve click, wound healing, and dyspnea. Future research should be inclusive of AS patients who do not undergo surgery. Nurses in a variety of roles can work independently or within a multidisciplinary team to provide interventions for the promotion of HRQOL for patients across all stages of the AS disease process.


Let f(n,k) be the minimum number of edges that must be removed from some complete geometric graph G on n points, so that there exists a tree on k vertices that is no longer a planar subgraph of G. In this paper we show that ( 1 / 2 )n2 / k-1-n / 2≤f(n,k) ≤2 n(n-2) / k-2. For the case when k=n, we show that 2 ≤f(n,n) ≤3. For the case when k=n and G is a geometric graph on a set of points in convex position, we completely solve the problem and prove that at least three edges must be removed.


Heap leach processing for extraction of gold began in 1985 at Summitville Mine in southwestern Colorado, and by 1994 the site was declared a Superfund Site by the USEPA. In 1995, we began a science-based approach aimed at restoring 200 ha of highly disturbed land. The short-term goal of the restoration was aimed at stabilizing soils and preventing off-site movement of metal-containing sediments. The longer-term goal was to encourage development of a plant community that resembled a reference condition. Here, we describe our systematic approach for restoration that included identification of constraints to plant establishment and growth, a greenhouse experiment to screen 36 growth medium treatments, and a field experiment to test a subset of best performing treatments. A greenhouse study identified several promising treatments that were implemented in the field experiment, which ultimately identified a single best approach (30 cm of waste rock amended with lime and mushroom compost and covered with 15 cm of limed, fertilized stockpiled topsoil). From 1999 to 2001, the site was re-contoured, amended, and seeded. From 2002 to 2009, we documented an increase in uniformity of vegetation cover on restored areas, an increase in species richness, and a significant shift from a plant community dominated by seeded species, to one more similar to a reference plant community as evidenced by a non-metric multi-dimensional scaling analysis. Overall, these results demonstrate how initial well-planned treatments can encourage a favorable trajectory for restoration of a seeded site, while also demonstrating the utility of this science-based approach for dealing with restoration of a highly disturbed landscape.


This study aims to understand local food and explore the barriers to development for small innovative food businesses. Research was conducted through depth interviews and a survey in North‐West England. Results indicate that small business success can be subjective and performance dependent on business aims. Identified were issues concerning access to finance, burden of regulations and the need for support from industry networks and government. Lack of an official and recognised definition of the term "local food" had implications for marketing strategy. Small businesses recognise that customers are increasingly concerned with food provenance and traceability, but that they and their representative associations need to do more to make these links.


A wide range of rare earth metal oxides (REOs) constitute promising candidates for high-k gate dielectrics, as they combine excellent dielectric properties, i.e., high dielectric constant and low leakage currents with wide bandgaps, in the range between 3.9 and 6 eV. Yet, another attractive feature of rare earth oxides that further boosted their research is the excellent stability and interface properties with silicon. Also, their relatively close lattice constant match to silicon further enhances the possibility of epitaxial growth. Epitaxial growth of REOs (i.e., Gd2O3) on GaAs has been reported, and further investigations demonstrated their potential applications in a number of III–V-based optoelectronic devices. Due to their wide bandgaps (>3 eV) however, metal oxide based semiconductors require gate dielectrics with a relatively wide in order to inhibit conduction by the Schottky emission of electrons or holes into the oxide bands. A number of wide bandgap REOs (La2O3, Y2O3, Nd2O3) have shown promise for implementation in TFTs employing metal oxide semiconducting channels. Among those, Gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) is the least investigated one and a small number of works have been reported. In this report we demonstrate the spray coating deposition of Gd2O3 thin films at moderate temperatures (≈400 °C) over large area, by using custom made Gadolinium tris(2-salicylaldiminoethanol) precursor. The films were deposited by spray coating at moderate substrate temperatures (440 oC) in air and characterised by UV-Vis, FT-IR, impedance spectroscopy, AFM, XRD and field-effect measurements. Data analysis revealed Gd2O3 films of cubic structure, wide band gap of about 5.5 eV and dielectric constant in the range between 9 and 13. TFTs employing Gd2O3 dielectrics and In2O3 semiconducting channels show low leakage currents ( 10^7) and electron mobilities in excess of 70 cm2 V−1 s−1.


This paper describes a method which determines the operating instants of the circuit breaker for controlled switching of shunt reactors independent of the network configuration, in order to reduce overvoltages and inrush currents. Some other previous papers offered the favorable instants for both isolated and directly earthed neutral case, but not for the earthed neutral through a reactor. The proposed method in this paper is based on two facts. First, the instant of a maximum voltage between contacts of the circuit breaker(CB) is the optimum point for closing to minimize the inrush current. And secondly, both the minimum arcing time of the CB and the current interruption instant of each poles should be considered as the reference for the opening instant. The performance of the proposed method was verified by the results of simulation studies using the electromagnetic transients program(EMTP). The behaviors of CB treated in the simulation involve the rate of decay of dielectric strength between contacts and the scatter of the operating time. Especially, the results of EMTP show that the closing and opening instants of the second one among the three poles shift continuously with the ratio of the impedance of a shunt reactor to that of the neutral reactor in the range of 30 phase angle, respectively. And also the maximum scatter of the CB closing time to ensure the inrush current of less than a certain level can be provided.


The performance of deep neural networks can be highly sensitive to the choice of a variety of meta-parameters, such as optimizer parameters and model hyperparameters. Tuning these well, however, often requires extensive and costly experimentation. Bayesian optimization (BO) is a principled approach to solve such expensive hyperparameter tuning problems efficiently. Key to the performance of BO is specifying and refining a distribution over functions, which is used to reason about the optima of the underlying function being optimized. In this work, we consider the scenario where we have data from similar functions that allows us to specify a tighter distribution a priori. Specifically, we focus on the common but potentially costly task of tuning optimizer parameters for training neural networks. Building on the meta BO method from Wang et al. (2018b), we develop practical improvements that (a) boost its performance by leveraging tuning results on multiple tasks without requiring observations for the same meta-parameter points across all tasks, and (b) retain its regret bound for a special case of our method. As a result, we provide a coherent BO solution for iterative optimization of continuous optimizer parameters. To verify our approach in realistic model training setups, we collected a large multi-task hyperparameter tuning dataset by training tens of thousands of configurations of near-state-of-the-art models on popular image and text datasets, as well as a protein sequence dataset. Our results show that on average, our method is able to locate good hyperparameters at least 3 times more efficiently than the best competing methods.


Ownership dispersion is a first-order determinant of M&A practices. Firms with dispersed ownership are more salient, and tend to be larger, but dispersion varies significantly among even large US businesses, and affects M&A deal size, duration, techniques, contract terms, and outcomes. These effects arise directly from the economics of dispersion, but also from interactions between economics and law. Dispersion creates transaction costs and heterogeneous beliefs and preferences that have straightforward effects on M&A deal size, techniques, and some contract terms. But dispersion also has less intuitive, indirect, and important effects as mediated through laws that among other things compensate for agency costs and collective action problems. Each key body of law for M&A – contract law, corporate law, securities law, and antitrust law – is shaped in practice by ownership of target firms. These effects are tested in 20 hypotheses on how ownership dispersion affects M&A, with comprehensive M&A data from the 1990s and 2000s, and a new detailed hand-coded matched sample of 120 recent public and private target M&A contracts. The data show the importance of ownership to M&A deal structure, choice of consideration, bid duration, completion rates, risk-allocation, and dispute resolution. Appreciation of how pervasive and powerful the effects of ownership are on M&A should improve contracting and has implications for investment bankers, boards, courts, and researchers in choosing comparable transactions for valuation, benchmarking, doctrinal analogies, drafting models, teaching M&A in business and law schools, and econometric modeling of M&A.


We propose a method for constructing a video sequence of high space-time resolution by combining information from multiple low-resolution video sequences of the same dynamic scene. Super-resolution is performed simultaneously in time and in space. By "temporal super-resolution," we mean recovering rapid dynamic events that occur faster than regular frame-rate. Such dynamic events are not visible (or else are observed incorrectly) in any of the input sequences, even if these are played in "slow-motion." The spatial and temporal dimensions are very different in nature, yet are interrelated. This leads to interesting visual trade-offs in time and space and to new video applications. These include: 1) treatment of spatial artifacts (e.g., motion-blur) by increasing the temporal resolution and 2) combination of input sequences of different space-time resolutions (e.g., NTSC, PAL, and even high quality still images) to generate a high quality video sequence. We further analyze and compare characteristics of temporal super-resolution to those of spatial super-resolution. These include: the video cameras needed to obtain increased resolution; the upper bound on resolution improvement via super-resolution; and, the temporal analogue to the spatial "ringing" effect.


This report develops a comprehensive economic optimization model for evaluating the economic feasibility of active solar energy systems to provide service hot water and combined space heating/service hot water in commercial buildings. The model is demonstrated in a number of case studies for office buildings and retail stores. Data and assumptions for use in the model are compiled for the selected case studies. Using these data, the model is applied to estimate present value net savings (or net losses) of the solar energy systems over a 20-year life cycle. Break-even values for hot water loads, solar energy system costs, and current and future energy prices are also calculated to determine the minimum conditions under which the solar energy systems become cost effec tive for the selected buildings. Economic optimization paths which show the optimal solar collector areas and the corresponding present value of net savings (or net losses) associated with a range of hot water loads are developed in the case studies. Sensitivity analysis is conducted for key variables. The relationship between total life-cycle costs and the solar fraction is tested for selected cities to demonstrate how net savings (net losses) change as the solar fraction is increased. In its approach, this report is of interest to solar analysts ; in its results, to the solar policy, research, and building communities.


Igel is a small XQuery-based web application for examining a collection of document grammars; in particular, for comparing related document grammars to get a better overview of their differences and similarities. In its initial form, Igel reads only DTDs and provides only simple lists of constructs in them (elements, attributes, notations, parameter entities). Our continuing work is aimed at making Igel provide more sophisticated and useful information about document grammars and building the application into a useful tool for the analysis (and the maintenance!) of families of related document grammars


Abstract A bentonite sample from the Petreşti deposit, Cluj County (Romania), was used to remove heavy-metal ions (Cd2+, Pb2+, Cr3+) from wastewaters. A representative sample of bentonite (P) was characterized using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method, wet chemical analyses, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The bentonite deposit from Petrești is present at the contact between Upper Jurassic limestones and basaltic andesites with subordinate basalt bodies. These rocks are composed of clay minerals (mainly smectite), with opal, quartz, feldspar and mica/illite as minor phases. The bentonite sample was used in powdered form (d < 0.2 mm) without any chemical treatment. The influence of the working regime, static and dynamic, on the process efficiency was studied using monocomponent synthetic wastewaters containing Cd, Pb and Cr ions. The bentonite sample proved to be efficient for the removal of these heavy-metal ions; removal efficiencies up to 100% (lead removal) were achieved.


Background Specific type and amount of high intensity training in athletes especially beginning before puberty, reduced body weight and lower percentage of fat mass have been put forward as potential factors responsible for female athlete triad. Objective Estimation risk of amenorrhoea in female athletes with menstrual irregularity basis of results of body composition, nutritional and endocrine factors. Patients 58 athletes with menstrual irregularity aged 18.0 ± 2.2 years participated in the study. Design The nutritional status was evaluated based on the analysis of body composition using the bioelectrical impedance analysis method – percentage of adipose tissue (FM), fat free mass. Nutritional value was estimated by dietary records for seven consecutive days. Moreover, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol (E), progesterone (P) and serum leptin levels were measured. Results The first group included athletes from endurance disciplines emergency department (ED) while the other comprised female from weight category (WC) disciplines. Second classification was also used. In the first group athletes with LH/FSH <0.6, diagnosed as a insufficiency of hypothalamus pituitary IH were included, while the other included female with LH/FSH>0.6, diagnosed as a good results (GR). In case of hormones significant differences between groups with different disciplines in level of LH (ED: 4.0 ± 2.5 mlU/ml, WC: 5.6 ± 2.4.mlU/ml, p<0.05) and FSH (ED: 4.8 ± 1.8 mlU/ml, WC: 6.3 ± 1.5 mlU/ml, p<0.05) were found. What is more, IH athletes has significantly lower LH level compared with GR athletes (IH: 2.9 ± 1.0 mlU/ml, GR: 6.0 ± 2.6 mlU/ml, p<0.05). FSH, LH, LH/FSH and leptin levels was positively correlated with energy and most of nutrients intake. Conclusion Diets of athletes with menstrual disorders were not properly balanced. Furthermore, athletes were characterised by low fat mass, low leptin level and inadequate relationship between level of gonadotrophins. Those factors can intensify menstrual disorders and lead to amenorrhoea.


Large surveys of galaxy clusters with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer, including the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble and the Frontier Fields, have demonstrated the power of strong gravitational lensing to efficiently deliver large samples of high-redshift galaxies. We extend this strategy through a wider, shallower survey named RELICS, the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey, described here. Our 188-orbit Hubble Treasury Program observed 41 clusters at 0.182 ≤ z ≤ 0.972 with Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and WFC3/IR imaging spanning 0.4–1.7 μm. We selected 21 of the most massive clusters known based on Planck PSZ2 estimates and 20 additional clusters based on observed or inferred lensing strength. RELICS observed 46 WFC3/IR pointings (∼200 arcmin2) each with two orbits divided among four filters (F105W, F125W, F140W, and F160W) and ACS imaging as needed to achieve single-orbit depth in each of three filters (F435W, F606W, and F814W). As previously reported by Salmon et al., we discovered over 300 z ∼ 6–10 candidates, including the brightest z ∼ 6 candidates known, and the most distant spatially resolved lensed arc known at z ∼ 10. Spitzer IRAC imaging (945 hr awarded, plus 100 archival, spanning 3.0–5.0 μm) has crucially enabled us to distinguish z ∼ 10 candidates from z ∼ 2 interlopers. For each cluster, two HST observing epochs were staggered by about a month, enabling us to discover 11 supernovae, including 3 lensed supernovae, which we followed up with 20 orbits from our program. Reduced HST images, catalogs, and lens models are available on MAST, and reduced Spitzer images are available on IRSA.


Anomalous ferromagnetic behaviour of the Y2O3 and CuO components in YBa2Cu3Oy (Y123) was observed after severe reduction of particle size. The particle size reduction was performed in two ways. First, Y2O3, BaCO3 and CuO were ground for different times to reduce the particle size to the nanoscale. It was found that the superconducting phase could not be obtained without heat treatment, but a weak ferromagnetic behaviour of the mixture was observed at liquid and room temperatures. Second, preheated Y123 powders were subjected to grinding for various times followed by a second sintering process. It was found that the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, was strongly suppressed by increasing grinding time, and ferromagnetic behaviour at both room and liquid nitrogen temperatures was also observed. In order to understand which compound is responsible for this weak ferromagnetism, the Y2O3, BaCO3 and CuO powders were separately ground and M‐H loops taken at 290 K. The results indicated that both Y2O3 and CuO powders showed weak ferromagnetism, but BaCO3 showed anti ferromagnetism. It is thought that energy transfer to the powder particles by grinding results in severe plastic deformation of the particles to produce dislocations, vacancies and atomic disorder. We discuss then the observations in the context of recent studies of the magnetic properties of nanoscale oxide materials.


Automated game design has remained a key challenge within the field of Game AI. In this paper, we introduce a method for recombining existing games to create new games through a process called conceptual expansion.Prior automated game design approaches have relied on hand-authored or crowd-sourced knowledge, which limits the scope and applications of such systems. Our approach instead relies on machine learning to learn approximate representations of games. Our approach recombines knowledge from these learned representations to create new games via conceptual expansion.We evaluate this approach by demonstrating the ability for the system to recreate existing games. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first machine learning-based automated game design system.


This paper examines the distributional impacts of a $50 tax per ton of CO2. Using Input-Output tables we calculate the carbon intensity of goods to estimate households' carbon footprints. Findings indicate the tax is regressive. Using the revenue to reduce taxes on labor leaves 60 percent of people worse off, while rebating the revenue in equal dividends increases welfare for 55 percent of individuals, including 84 percent in the bottom half of the distribution. Many economists have dismissed dividends on efficiency grounds, but we show that potential macroeconomic benefits of tax cuts are insufficient to protect the poor. JEL Numbers: H22, H23, Q48, Q52, Q54, Q58


Purpose: To raise attention to the quality of published validation protocols while comparing (in)consistencies and providing an overview on wearables, and whether they show promise or not. Methods: Searches from five electronic databases were included concerning the following eligibility criteria: (a) laboratory conditions with humans (<18 years), (b) device outcome must belong to one dimension of the 24-hr physical behavior construct (i.e., intensity, posture/activity type outcomes, biological state), (c) must include a criterion measure, and (d) published in a peer-reviewed English language journal between 1980 and 2021. Results: Out of 13,285 unique search results, 123 articles were included. In 86 studies, children <13 years were recruited, whereas in 26 studies adolescents (13–18 years) were recruited. Most studies (73.2%) validated an intensity outcome such as energy expenditure; only 20.3% and 13.8% of studies validated biological state or posture/activity type outcomes, respectively. We identified 14 wearables that had been used to validate outcomes from two or three different dimensions. Most (n = 72) of the identified 88 wearables were only validated once. Risk of bias assessment resulted in 7.3% of studies being classified as "low risk," 28.5% as "some concerns," and 71.5% as "high risk." Conclusion: Overall, laboratory validation studies of wearables are characterized by low methodological quality, large variability in design, and a focus on intensity. No identified wearable provides valid results across all three dimensions of the 24-hr physical behavior construct. Future research should more strongly aim at biological state and posture/activity type outcomes, and strive for standardized protocols embedded in a validation framework.


Modern experimental and computational fluid mechanics are increasingly concerned with the structure nature of fluid motion. Recent research has highlighted the analysis of one transport structure which is called Lagrangian coherent structure. However, the quantity nature of the flow transport is still unclear. In this paper, we focus on the transport characteristics of physical quantities and propose an approach to visualize the finite-time transport structure of quantity advection. This is similar to an integral convolution over a scalar field along path-lines of a flow field. Applied to a well-chosen set of physical quantity fields this yields structures giving insights into the dynamical processes of the underlying flow. We demonstrate our approach on a number of test data sets.


This research explores the long-run effect of industrialization on the process of development. In contrast to conventional wisdom that views industrial development as a catalyst for economic growth, the study establishes that while the adoption of industrial technology was conducive to economic development in the short-run, it has had a detrimental effect on standards of living in the long-run. Exploiting exogenous source of regional variation in the adoption of steam engines during the French industrial revolution, the research establishes that regions in which industrialization was more intensive experienced an increase in literacy rates more swiftly and generated higher income per capita in the subsequent decades. Nevertheless, intensive industrialization has had an adverse effect on income per capita, employment and equality by the turn of the 21st century. This adverse effect reflects neither higher unionization and wage rates nor trade protection, but rather underinvestment in human capital and lower employment in skilled-intensive occupations. These findings suggest that the characteristics that permitted the onset of industrialization, rather than the adoption of industrial technology per se, have been the source of prosperity among the currently developed economies that experienced an early industrialization.


Meta-learning allows an intelligent agent to leverage prior learning episodes as a basis for quickly improving performance on a novel task. Bayesian hierarchical modeling provides a theoretical framework for formalizing meta-learning as inference for a set of parameters that are shared across tasks. Here, we reformulate the model-agnostic meta-learning algorithm (MAML) of Finn et al. (2017) as a method for probabilistic inference in a hierarchical Bayesian model. In contrast to prior methods for meta-learning via hierarchical Bayes, MAML is naturally applicable to complex function approximators through its use of a scalable gradient descent procedure for posterior inference. Furthermore, the identification of MAML as hierarchical Bayes provides a way to understand the algorithm's operation as a meta-learning procedure, as well as an opportunity to make use of computational strategies for efficient inference. We use this opportunity to propose an improvement to the MAML algorithm that makes use of techniques from approximate inference and curvature estimation.


In the span of this thesis, I investigate the queer nature of John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and argue that in spite of the biblical subject matter it is in fact a text filled with instances of queer transgression. I focus on preexisting feminist critiques of Milton in my introduction in order to ground myself within the academic field, and in order to illustrate how I will be branching out from it. In my first chapter, I discuss the queered nature of the poem's landscapes, such as Chaos and Hell, and the specifically queer and masculine nature of reproduction, such as Sin's birth out of Satan's head and Eve's birth from Adam's rib. I then turn to an in-depth discussion of Sin in Chapter Two, illustrating how she is punished with reproduction and sexual violence, and how this contrasts with her queer birth while illustrating the poem's problematic stance toward fallen women. In my final chapter, I tackle the character of Eve, and argue that her narcissistic scene at the lake after her birth reveals her queer sexual desire for her feminine reflection. I also discuss how the poem sexualizes Sin and Eve, and how their physical appearances illustrate the state of women in the poem. I finish by arguing that a queer perspective of Milton is important because it allows modern critics to view as both illuminating and empowering.


Background. Proper disposal of sharps has been well studied in hospital settings but not often addressed in the home setting. This lack of attention has resulted in erratic use of proper sharps disposal techniques and thus increased risk of needle-stick injuries and infections. This study aimed to evaluate methods of disposal and patient demographic factors associated with correct disposal of diabetes-related sharps in the community. Methods. A survey was administered to diabetes patients at an endocrinology clinic of an academic tertiary care center. Correct disposal of sharps was defined as use of designated sharps or other leak-proof containers. Numerous patient factors were evaluated for a clinically significant association with correct disposal of sharps via χ2 testing. Results. Fifty-nine percent of patients reported disposing of their sharps correctly. Those with diabetes for >30 years had the lowest rate of correct disposal (36%). Age, sex, education level, type of diabetes, and type of diabetes regimen were not associated with correct disposal. Patients who received formal training on proper sharps disposal from a nurse or from other sources were more likely to dispose of sharps correctly (odds ratio [OR] 3.95, 95% CI 1.37–11.34, and OR 4.55, 95% CI 1.5–13.85, respectively). Married patients were less likely to correctly dispose of sharps (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.14–0.92, P = 0.033). Conclusion/Clinical Relevance. This study was the first to examine disposal practices and associated risk factors for poor disposal methods among patients in a U.S. tertiary medical center. A large portion of patients was found to have improper sharps disposal practices. Prior formal training in sharps disposal was associated with higher rates of correct practices, suggesting that increased emphasis on provider-patient education can lead to significant improvement in disposal habits.