Despite wide speculation about its use-value, there are very few large-scale Blockchain implementations, particularly in sophisticated financial applications and mature markets. The extent of Blockchain's disruptive potential in these domains is unproven. This article considers Blockchain's use-value for credit default swap contract execution, fulfillment and post-trade processing by using, as an assessment base, a series of derivatives industry whitepapers, academic and technological evaluative studies, and commentary relating to current market undertakings. In summary, when applied to credit default swaps, there are many barriers to implementation, as well as costs, fragmentation risks, technological deficiencies and practical drawbacks. As a result, there is some doubt on the extent of Blockchain's short-term transformational value for complex financial structures and mature trading markets. This, at least in part, explains the fact that Blockchain projects are currently slow to materialize in derivatives and other financial market applications.


Fibrosis, the production of scar tissue, occurs as a result of tissue damage and is associated with inflammation. In the liver, fibrosis is due to Kupffer cells (liver macrophages), which produce transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), a primary inducer of liver fibrosis, and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which differentiate into extracellular matrix-producing myofibroblasts. Because of accompanying stress on the gut wall, liver injury is associated with the increased abundance, in the liver and blood, of the bacterial product lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a ligand for Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), so Seki et al. (see the commentary by Friedman) compared liver fibrosis in wild-type and TLR4-mutant mice following liver injury. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that TLR4-mutant mice had less fibrosis than did wild-type mice. Both Kupffer cells and HSCs express TLR4 on their cell surface. In wild-type mice whose Kupffer cells (but not HSCs) were depleted, fibrosis after injury was similar in mice that received bone marrow transplantations from either TLR4-mutant or wild-type mice, indicating that LPS activation of HSCs (but not Kupffer cells) was important for fibrosis. LPS treatment of HSCs isolated from Coll-GFP reporter mice [in which the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene is controlled by the collagen-α1 promoter] did not induce GFP production or myofibroblast differentiation but sensitized them to TGF-β treatment. DNA microarray analysis showed that Bambi (encoding bone morphogenetic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor), a pseudoreceptor that binds to TGF-β but does not signal, was the only TGF-β-related gene whose expression was changed (it was down-regulated) by LPS treatment of HSCs. Thus, LPS in the liver, by decreasing the abundance of Bambi on the surface of HSCs, increases their responsiveness to Kupffer cell-derived TGF-β, leading to enhanced fibrosis. E. Seki, S. De Minicis, C. H. Österreicher, J. Kluwe, Y. Osawa, D. A. Brenner, R. F. Schwabe, TLR4 enhances TGF-β signaling and hepatic fibrosis. Nat. Med. 13, 1324-1332 (2007). [PubMed] S. L. Friedman, A deer in the headlights: BAMBI meets liver fibrosis. Nat. Med. 13, 1281-1282 (2007). [PubMed]


In this Essay, the Reporters for the American Law Institute Principles of Law, Data Privacy provide an overview of the project as well as the text of its black letter. The Principles aim to provide a blueprint for policymakers to regulate privacy comprehensively and effectively.

The United States has long remained an outlier in privacy law. While numerous nations have enacted comprehensive privacy laws, the U.S. has clung stubbornly to a fragmented, inconsistent patchwork of laws. Moreover, there long has been a vast divide between U.S. and European Union (EU) approaches to regulating privacy – a divide that many consider to be unbridgeable.

The Principles propose comprehensive privacy principles for legislation that are consistent with key foundations in the U.S. approach to privacy, but also better align the U.S. with the EU. Additionally, the Principles breathe new life into the moribund and oft-criticized U.S. notice-and-choice approach, which has remained firmly rooted in U.S. law. Drawing from a vast array of privacy laws and frameworks, and with a balance of innovation, practicality, and compromise, the Principles aim to guide policymakers in advancing U.S. privacy law.


Slaves and Slaveowners in Dutchess CountySixty nine year old Rhinebeck widow, Margaret Benner, owned one slave, Tam, in 1755. Rarely referred to in public records as anything but Valentine Bender's widow, Margaret had managed the 151 acre farm since 1727, the year her husband died. Left with four children, the oldest just 12, Margaret needed help to maintain the farm. She purchased or inherited Tam at the time of her husband's death. The slim record of slavery in Dutchess County during the colonial period reveals nothing more about Tam nor about Margaret's slaveowning pattern. Early histories and subsequent studies provide little information about how widespread the practice of slavery was in Dutchess County, a primarily rural county during the eighteenth century. Typically, one does not think of one or two slaves in a household, nor does one imagine a sixty nine year old woman, Margaret Benner, with a black man as part of her household. And yet, Margaret Benner's stow cannot be over-looked, but neither can she be taken as the prototype for slavery in Dutchess County or in rural New York.(2)Dutchess County, halfway between New York City and Albany on the east side of the Hudson River, was established in 1683. Initially the county was thought to be too cold or too mountainous to be fit for cultivation. Hence, its available land attracted little interest. However, following Governor Dongan's award in 1683 of a large tract of land in southwestern Dutchess County to Francis Rombout, Guilian Verplanck, and Stephanus Verplanck, other New York merchants, traders, entrepreneurs, speculators, and public officials acquired large tracts of land in Dutchess County. Only a decade and a half more passed before almost all of the land in Dutchess, approximately 1000 square miles, was acquired by a few wealthy individuals and political officials. The initial intent of Francis Rombout and others to expand the fur trade and harvest lumber was never realized but soon thereafter the rolling land in Dutchess County was recognized for its agricultural potential. Yet, settlement lagged until by 1714 there were only 67 families in the entire county, all of whom had settled near the Hudson River. Among these families, many of them Dutch, were the first slaves introduced into the county.(3)Once settlement began in Dutchess County expansion was rapid. After 1714 when the first census was taken Dutchess County's population doubled each decade until 1750, after which it doubled again by 1771 and again by 1790. The 67 families and 29 slaves counted in the 1714 census swelled by 1771 to 21,000 individuals in approximately 3400 multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural families, among which were 1360 slaves. Initially the new arrivals and offspring of the earliest settlers huddled in three settlements close to the Hudson River, Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, and Rhinebeck. Beginning in the 1730s large inland tracts of unsettled land were subdivided. Attracted by less expensive land the county's growing population and new arrivals spilled into these farm size properties, still heavily wooded virgin forest land. In fact, from 1737 to 1775 inland communities accounted for 70% of the nearly sixfold increase in the county population. Almost exclusively agricultural these new settlements differed from the older settlements. The three communities along the Hudson River were a mix of agriculture and agriculturally related commercial enterprises. As conduits for products transported along the Hudson River Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, and Rhinebeck developed mills, stores, and shipping enterprises to serve their own communities during Dutchess County's early years. When expansion into the inland occurred entrepreneurs in these communities capitalized on the needs of the newer communities. Slaves supplied the increased labor needed to meet expanding services in these three communities as Dutchess County grew and the demands on these communities increased. …


The supersonic gas plume of a landing rocket entrains lunar regolith, which is the layer of loose solids covering the lunar surface. This ejection is problematic due to scouring and dust impregnation of surrounding hardware, reduction in visibility for the crew, and spoofing of the landing sensors. To date, model predictions of erosion and ejection dynamics have been based largely on single-trajectory models in which the role of interparticle collisions is ignored. In the present work, the parameters affecting the erosion rate of monodisperse solids are investigated using the discrete element method (DEM). The drag and lift forces exerted by the rocket exhaust are incorporated via one-way coupling. The results demonstrate that interparticle collisions are frequent in the region immediately above the regolith surface; as many as 20% of particles are engaged in a collision at a given time. These collisions play an important role both in the erosion dynamics and in the final trajectories of particles. In addition, a direct assessment of the influence of collisions on the erosion rate is accomplished via a comparison between a "collisionless" DEM model and the original DEM model. This comparison shows that the erosion dynamics change drastically when collisions are considered and that the erosion rate is dependent on the collision parameters (coefficient of restitution and coefficient of friction). Physical explanations for these trends are provided.


Abstract Although the Westphalian model takes many forms the association of Westphalian and sovereign equality is a prominent one. This article argues firstly that sovereign equality was not present as a normative principle at Westphalia. It argues further that while arguments for sovereign equality were present in the eighteenth century they did not rely on, or even suggest, a Westphalian provenance. It was, for good reasons, not until the late nineteenth century that the linkages of Westphalia and sovereign equality became commonplace, and even then sovereign equality and its linkage with Westphalia were disputed. It was not until after the Second World War, notably through the influential work of Leo Gross that the linkage of Westphalia and sovereign equality became not only widely accepted, but almost undisputed until quite recently. The article concludes by suggesting that not only did Gross bequeath a dubious historiography but that this historiography is an impediment to contemporary International Relations.


Noise in photodiode-type CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) is primarily due to the reset (kTC) noise at the sense node, since it is difficult to implement in-pixel correlated double sampling for a 2-D array. Signal integrated on the photodiode sense node (SENSE) is calculated by measuring difference between the voltage on the column bus (COL) - before and after the reset (RST) is pulsed. Lower than kTC noise can be achieved with photodiode-type pixels by employing "softreset" technique. Soft-reset refers to resetting with both drain and gate of the n-channel reset transistor kept at the same potential, causing the sense node to be reset using sub-threshold MOSFET current. However, lowering of noise is achieved only at the expense higher image lag and low-light-level non-linearity. In this paper, we present an analysis to explain the noise behavior, show evidence of degraded performance under low-light levels, and describe new pixels that eliminate non-linearity and lag without compromising noise.


Increasing requirements for the physical and mechanical properties of building materials give impetus to the creation and improvement of new high-performance building materials, which include slagsilicate wood chip concrete. The object of research is high-performance wood chip concrete materials obtained using modified slag-silicate binders. On the first stage of the work, the physical and mechanical properties of fine-dispersed granulated blast furnace slag and wood chips were studied. Methods: The phase composition of the fine-dispersed granulated blast furnace slag was determined by x-ray phase analysis. Also, the microstructure of the sample of the ground granulated blast furnace slag was studied using electron microscopic analysis. Results: It was founded that that slag consists of a crystalline and amorphous phase. The content of its most active amorphous phase is on the level of 59.8%. The chemical composition for the ground slag sample was also done. As a result of that, the element composition of the ground slag was obtained. In particular, the slag basicity factor which value equals to 1.04, was defined. During the experiment, it was found that the slag mainly consists of large thickened irregular-shaped particles and their aggregates which diameters are from fractions of microns to several microns. At the same time, finer particles are subject to aggregation. On the second stage of the study, three experimental composition of slag-silicate wood chip concrete with different grouting fluid/slag ratio was developed. A water glass solution with a density equal to 1.31 g/cm3 was used as a grouting fluid. As a result of the study, the composite material with an average density of 730 kg/m3, and the strength in 1.92 MPa was obtained. The dependence of the strength changing of slags-silicate wood chip concrete on the ratio of the grouting fluid/binder and the functional relationship of its strength and density were determinate. Based on the results of the experiments, it was founded that the optimal physical and mechanical properties of the slag-silicate wood chip concrete are achieved for the composition with the grouting fluid slag ratio equal to 0.52.


Qualitative studies highlight the use of adult-oriented coaching as an alternative to traditional pedagogical practices when coaching Masters athletes (MAs; Callary et al., 2017). Studies have yet to quantitatively assess associations between various adult-oriented coaching practices and MAs' psychosocial outcomes. Four-hundred-and two MAs (Mage = 55.91, SD = 10.41) completed an online questionnaire comprising the Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS; Rathwell et al., 2019), Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sports and Psychological Needs Thwarting scales, Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CARQ), and items for liking, commitment, and investment. Cross-sectional relationships were analyzed using structural equation modeling. "Considering MAs' individuality" associated with autonomy satisfaction (Blocus causality = .42; Bvolition = .43), as did "respecting MAs' preferences for effort, accountability and feedback" (Bchoice = .43); these same practices related to autonomy frustration (Bs > -.40). "Respecting preferences" associated with competence frustration (B = -.37) as did "framing learning situations" (.38). "Creating personalized programming" related to CARQ commitment (B = .40). "Considering individuality" (B = .31) and "respecting preferences" (.36) each associated with CARQ closeness, with the latter also relating to CARQ complementarity (.37). MAs' liked to go to practice because of their coach when they reported having coaches who were "respecting their preferences" (B = .46), and they wanted to invest in sport more because of their coach when their coach "created personalized programming" (.27). Results support criterion validity for the AOSCS by demonstrating relations between discrete factors representing adult-oriented coaching and key outcomes for psychological needs, and indicators of a quality coach-athlete relationship.Acknowledgments: This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.


This thesis focuses on methods for quantification by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) of specific biomarkers for internal dose of chemicals which induce toxicity through their electrophilic reactivity. In vivo such compounds are short-lived, and could feasibly be measured as their reaction products (adducts) with biomacromolecules. Analysis by MS methods of stable adducts offers the specificity and accuracy required to generate data on internal dose useful in risk estimation.The primary aim was to develop a method for quantification by LC/MS of bulky adducts to serum albumin (SA) from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, using the genotoxic diolepoxide (DE) of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) as a model. A method for analysis of the BPDE adducts to His146 in SA was developed which is robust, easy-to-use, has good reproducibility and which reached a high sensitivity. A method for quantification of BPDE adducts to N2-deoxyguanosine (dG) in DNA by LC/MS was also established.In mice exposed to BP, adducts to SA and DNA from stereoisomers of BPDE were identified and quantified. The adduct level was shown to be >400 times higher in DNA than in SA, which from an in vitro study could be concluded to mainly depend on a large difference in the rates of adduct formation to His in SA and to dG in DNA. BPDE adduct levels to SA and DNA, and a biomarker of genotoxic effect (frequency of micronuclei), were compared in BP-exposed mice. The results were used to evaluate how these methods could be used in procedures for cancer risk estimation.An LC/MS method for analysis of valine hydantoins (VH) formed as adducts from isocyanates to N-termini in haemoglobin was established. VH, formed from urea/isocyanic acid, was investigated in mice as a potential biomarker of renal failure and for dose adjustment during treatment with a radioactive cytostatic drug. The kidney dysfunction was not severe enough to give a significant increase of VH in the experiment.


Nerve growth factor (NGF) is the Founding Member of the neurotrophins family of proteins, known for playing a critical protective role in the development and survival of sympathetic, sensory and basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in mammals, including humans. NGF has a neuroprotective action in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as showed by several studies in animal models and humans. NGF can be delivered to the CNS via nasal route and has a neuroprotective action in case of neurodegenerative diseases and brain injury. Furthermore, recent studies have shown an active link between the nasal pathway and the spinal cord in the delivery of NGF to the CNS, thus demonstrating the neuroprotective ability of NGF to support injured neurons in a mouse model of spinal cord injury. Intranasal delivery of NGF has so far been sufficiently investigated in animal models and only recently in humans, as demonstrated in a recent study on long-term intranasal administration of NGF in two patients affected by Frontotemporal Dementia associated with corticobasal syndrome (FTD/CBS) and in another study on intranasal administration of NGF in a Brain Injury. These studies demonstrated the neuroprotective role of NGF administered nasally. Intranasal administration is the most effective and noninvasive way to deliver NGF to the CNS. These neuroprotective properties of NGF make it a strong candidate for the future treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and other pathologies of CNS (brain injury, spinal cord injury, ischemic damage) when administered via nasal route. NGF would not be able to cure the FTD/CBS but these observations support the hypothesis that NGF slows down the usual decline of the disease. However, these studies reinforce the concept that neurotrophins are able to reach and protect the CNS via nasal route and open the way for new lines of research. Hence, these findings suggest the ability of NGF to protect CNS neurons when administered via nasal spray. Biography: Dr. Alberto de Bellis, Neurosurgeon, is the Founder and Chairman of Maria Rosaria Maglione Foundation onlus, nonprofit organization for Neuroscience based in Naples-Italy. The MRM Foundation runs in honor of the founder's mother, Maria Rosaria Maglione, who suffered from Frontotemporal Dementia. The activity of the MRM foundation is mainly aimed at research and health care for neurodegenerative diseases, brain tumors and spinal cord injury and in support of partner foundations operating in Kenya-Africa, such as the Gallmann Memorial Foundation and the African Neurological Diseases Research Foundation. Dr. de Bellis' work focuses on the management and surgery of brain tumors, spinal surgery, management and surgery of traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. The main research activities of the MRM foundation are focused on the study of the Nerve Growth Factor and its possible neurotherapeutic applications. Global Summit on Neurology and Neurosurgery; Lisbon, PortugalJanuary 16-17, 2020.


We propose a new model of small-world networks of cells with a time-varying coupling and study its synchronization properties. In each time interval of length /spl tau/ such a coupling is switched on with probability p and the corresponding switching random variables are independent for different links and for different times. At each moment the coupling corresponds to a small-world graph, but the shortcuts change from time interval to time interval, which is a good model for many real-world dynamical networks. We prove that for the blinking model, a few random shortcut additions significantly lower the synchronization threshold together with the effective characteristic path length. Short interactions between cells, as in the blinking model, are important in practice. To cite prominent examples, computers networked over the Internet interact by sending packets of information, and neurons in our brain interact by sending short pulses, called spikes. The rare interaction between arbitrary nodes in the network greatly facilitates synchronization without loading the network much. In this respect, we believe that it is more efficient than a structure of fixed random connections.


For improving the interaction between students and teachers, it is fundamental for teachers to understand students' learning levels. An intelligent computer system should be able to automatically evaluate students' answers when the teacher asks some questions. We first built the assessment corpus from the course in the university. With the corpus, we applied the following procedures to extract the relevant information and then built the feature model: (1) remove the punctuation and decimal numbers because it plays the noise roles, (2) apply the part-of-speech tagging such that the syntactic information is extracted, (3) for grouping the information, take the stemming and normalization procedure to sentences, and (4) extract other features. In this study, we treated the assessment problem as the classifying problem, and tried two kinds of classification strategies: two and three classifying classes. For two classes, we got an average of 66.3% precision rate at first. When adding n-gram concept to the feature model, the system reached to the average of 71.9% precision rate which increased performance by 5.6%. The same tendency emerged for three-class experiment. The experiments with SVM show exhilarating results and some improving efforts will be further made in the future.


There is no consensus yet on the definition of semantic information. This paper contributes to the current debate by criticising and revising the Standard Definition of semantic Information (SDI) as meaningful data, in favour of the Dretske-Grice approach: meaningful and well-formed data constitute semantic information only if they also qualify as contingently truthful. After a brief introduction, SDI is criticised for providing necessary but insufficient conditions for the definition of semantic information. SDI is incorrect because truth-values do not supervene on semantic information, and misinformation (that is, false semantic information) is not a type of semantic information, but pseudo-information, that is not semantic information at all. This is shown by arguing that none of the reasons for interpreting misinformation as a type of semantic information is convincing, whilst there are compelling reasons to treat it as pseudo-information. As a consequence, SDI is revised to include a necessary truth-condition. The last section summarises the main results of the paper and indicates some interesting areas of application of the revised definition.


Discussions of alternative fuel and propulsion technologies for transportation often overlook the infrastructure required to make these options practical and costeffective. We estimate ethanol production facility locations and use a linear optimization model to consider the economic costs of distributing various ethanol fuel blends to all metropolitan areas in the United States. Fuel options include corn-based E5 (5% ethanol, 95% gasoline) to E16 from corn and switchgrass, as short-term substitutes for petroleum-based fuel. Our estimates of 1-2 cents per L of ethanol blend for downstream rail or truck transportation remain a relatively small fraction of total fuel cost. However, for even the relatively small blends of ethanol modeled, the transportation infrastructure demands would be comparably larger than the current demands of petroleum. Thus if ethanol is to be competitive in the long run, then in addition to process efficiency improvements, more efficient transportation infrastructure will need to be developed, such as pipelines. In addition to these results, national and regional policy challenges on how to pay for and optimize a new fuel and distribution infrastructure in the United States are discussed.


Many control-flow integrity (CFI) solutions have been proposed to protect indirect control transfers (ICT), including C++ virtual calls. Assessing the security guarantees of these defenses is thus important but hard. In practice, for a (strong) defense, it usually requires great manual efforts to assess whether it could be bypassed, when given a specific (weak) vulnerability. Existing automated exploit generation solutions, which are proposed to assess the exploitability of vulnerabilities, have not addressed this issue yet. In this paper, we point out that a wide range of virtual call protections, which do not break the C++ ABI (application binary interface), are vulnerable to an advanced attack COOPLUS, even if the given vulnerabilities are weak. Then, we present a solution VScape to assess the effectiveness of virtual call protections against this attack. We developed a prototype of VScape, and utilized it to assess 11 CFI solutions and 14 C++ applications (including Firefox and PyQt) with known vulnerabilities. Results showed that real-world applications have a large set of exploitable virtual calls, and VScape could be utilized to generate working exploits to bypass deployed defenses via weak vulnerabilities.


First uses of personal pronouns are characterized by their variability and in- stability. Since the processes involved in reference to discourse entities and to speech roles do not overlap, the use of pronouns cannot merely be explained by grammatical factors. This chapter considers dialogue as both the context and the mediator of the formal and functional mastery of pronouns. Several facets of dialogue are analyzed as the context in which linguistic units make sense for children who experience their situated use. The progressive construction of the pronominal system is examined through the lenses of factors that contribute to the pairing of forms and functions in 'pre-constructed' discursive sequences: adult's uses, positioning, reflection of the other's voice, and dialogic dynamics. Children's mastery of pronouns is thus considered as grounded in their first di- alogic experiences.


In this paper we introduce two values for cooperative games with communication graph structure. For cooperative games the shapley value distributes the worth of the grand coalition amongst the players by taking into account the worths that can be obtained by any coalition of players, but does not take into account the role of the players when communication between players is restricted. Existing values for communication graph games as the Myerson value and the average tree solution only consider the worths of connected coalitions and respect only in this way the communication restrictions. They do not take into account the position of a player in the graph in the sense that, when the graph is connected, in the unanimity game on the grand coalition all players are treated equally and so players with a more central position in the graph get the same payoff as players that are not central. The two new values take into account the position of a player in the graph. The first one respects centrality, but not the communication abilities of any player. The second value reflects both centrality and the communication ability of each player. That implies that in unanimity games players that do not generate worth but are needed to connect worth generating players are treated as those latter players, and simultaneously players that are more central in the graph get bigger shares in the worth than players that are less central. For both values an axiomatic characterization is given on the class of connected cycle-free graph games.


Document Object Model (DOM) and Simple API for XML (SAX) are the two major programming models for XML document processing. Each, however, has its own efficiency limitation. DOM assumes an in-core representation of XML documents which can be problematic for large documents. SAX needs to scan over the document in a linear manner in order to locate the interesting fragments. Previously, we have used tree-to-table mapping and indexing techniques to help answer structural queries to large, or large collections of, XML documents. In this paper, we generalize the previous techniques into a prefiltering framework where repeated access to large XML documents can be efficiently carried out within the existing DOM and SAX models. The prefiltering framework essentially uses a tiny search engine to locate useful fragments in the target XML documents by approximately executing the user's queries. Those fragments are gathered into a candidate-set XML document, and is returned to the user's DOM- or SAX-based applications for further processing. This results in a practical and efficient model of XML processing, especially when the XML documents are large and infrequently updated, but are frequently being queried.


The National Health Service is Britain's greatest and most prized national institution. Ever since it's foundation the NHS has commanded extraordinary popular affection and loyalty. Its medical and non-medical staff force alike has been strongly committed to its success and values. However, now more than fifty years later, a huge gap has developed between what the NHS is able to deliver and the expectations and the needs of its users. The deterioration of the NHS dominates our news headlines today. In 1999 the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales established a Commission, chaired by Will Hutton, to examine the issue of the public interest and accountability of the NHS. The Commission's report has come up with some radical reforms that will transform the accountability of the NHS and will help rebuild the relationships between patients, doctors and NHS staff on a new basis of openness and trust.


The range of currently proposed active galactic nucleus (AGN) far-infrared templates results in uncertainties in retrieving host galaxy information from infrared observations and also undermines constraints on the outer part of the AGN torus. We discuss how to test and reconcile these templates. Physically, the fraction of the intrinsic AGN IR-processed luminosity compared with that from the central engine should be consistent with the dust-covering factor. In addition, besides reproducing the composite spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of quasars, a correct AGN IR template combined with an accurate library of star-forming galaxy templates should be able to reproduce the IR properties of the host galaxies, such as the luminosity-dependent SED shapes and aromatic feature strengths. We develop tests based on these expected behaviors and find that the shape of the AGN intrinsic far-IR emission drops off rapidly starting at ∼20 μm and can be matched by an Elvis et al.-like template with a minor modification. Despite the variations in the near- to mid-IR bands, AGNs in quasars and Seyfert galaxies have remarkably similar intrinsic far-IR SEDs at λ ∼ 20–100 μm, suggesting a similar emission character of the outermost region of the circumnuclear torus. The variations of the intrinsic AGN IR SEDs among the type-1 quasar population can be explained by the changing relative strengths of four major dust components with similar characteristic temperatures, and there is evidence for compact AGN-heated dusty structures at sub-kiloparsec scales in the far-IR.


Information is at the center of decision making in many systems and use-cases. In cooperative or hostile environments, agents communicate their subjective opinions about various phenomenon. However, sources of these opinions are not always competent and honest but often erroneous or even malicious. Furthermore, malicious sources may adopt certain behaviors to mislead the decision maker in a specific way. Fortunately, the reports of such misleading sources are correlated to ground truth. Using statistical methods, one can learn how likely a source distorts the ground truth and the associated distortion models so that reports from these sources can still be fused to enhance estimation of the ground truth. In this work, we propose to learn a number of statistically meaningful opinion transformations that represent various behaviors of information sources. Then, we exploit these transformations while fusing opinions from unreliable sources. Using real data from the Web and through extensive comparison with recent trust-based approaches over simulations, we show that our approach can be used to determine set of transformations that may lead to more accurate estimation of the truth.


In this paper, we show that end-host based congestion prediction is more accurate than previously characterized. However, it may not be possible to entirely eliminate the uncertainties in congestion prediction. To address these uncertainties, we propose Probabilistic Early Response TCP (PERT). PERT emulates the behavior of AQM/ECN, in the congestion response function of end-hosts. We present fluid-flow analysis of PERT/RED and PERT/PI, versions of PERT that emulate router-based RED and PI controllers. Our analysis shows that PERT/RED has better stability behavior than router-based RED. We also present results from ns-2 simulations to show the practical feasibility of PERT. The scheme presented here is general and can be used for emulating other AQM algorithms.


Abstract We consider the time-dependent response of a gravitationally thinning inviscid liquid sheet (a coating curtain) leaving a vertical slot to sinusoidal ambient pressure disturbances. The theoretical investigation employs the hyperbolic partial differential equation developed by Weinstein et al. (Phys. Fluids, vol. 9, issue 12, 1997, pp. 3625–3636). The response of the curtain is characterized by the slot Weber number, $W_{e_0} = \rho q V/2\sigma$, where $V$ is the speed of the curtain at the slot, $q$ is the volumetric flow rate per unit width, $\sigma$ is the surface tension and $\rho$ is the fluid density. Flow disturbances travel along characteristics with speeds relative to the curtain of $\pm \sqrt {uV/W_{e_0}}$, where $u = \sqrt {V^{2} + 2gx}$ is the curtain speed at a distance $x$ downstream from the slot. Here g is the acceleration of gravity. When the flow is subcritical ($W_{e_0} < 1$), upstream travelling disturbances near the slot affect the curtain centreline, and the slope of the curtain centreline at the slot oscillates with an amplitude that is a function of $W_{e_0}$. In contrast, all disturbances travel downstream in supercritical curtains ($W_{e_0} > 1$) and the slope of the curtain at the slot is vertical. Here, we specifically examine the curtain response under supercritical and subcritical flow conditions near $W_{e_0} = 1$ to deduce whether there is a substantial change in the overall shape and magnitude of the curtain responses. Despite the local differences in the curtain solution near the slot, we find that subcritical and supercritical curtains have similar responses for all imposed sinusoidal frequencies.


Additional available at the end of the chapter Abstract This chapter presents the changes and evolution of the physical and chemical properties of the seawater south of the El Hierro Island (Canary archipelago, Atlantic Ocean) as a consequence of the emissions of the Tagoro submarine volcano, over a 6 year study from 2011 to 2016. Since the eruption, a series of oceanographic studies have been carried out in the area focusing on the evolution of the redox potential and the pH, two master variables that control the chemical equilibrium in sea water. The changes experienced by the carbon dioxide system, the variations in the concentration of Fe(II) and their correla- tion with the decrease in the pH during the evolution of the volcano, from the beginning of the eruptive stage to the post-eruptive phase, are discussed. The increased TDFe(II) concentrations and the low associated pH T values have controlled the occurrence of an important fertilization event in the sea water around the volcano at the Island of El Hierro, providing optimal conditions for the regeneration of the area. The sites like the Tagoro submarine volcano, in its degasification stage, provide an excellent opportunity to study the carbonate system in a high CO 2 world, the volcanic contribution to the global volcanic carbon flux and the potential environmental impact of these emissions on the surrounding ocean and the ecosystem.


The most widespread interpretation amongst contemporary theorists of Kant's theory of punishment is that it is retributivist. On the contrary, I will argue there are very different senses in which Kant discusses punishment. He endorses retribution for moral law transgressions and consequentialist considerations for positive law violations. When these standpoints are taken into consideration, Kant's theory of punishment is more coherent and unified than previously thought. This reading uncovers a new problem in Kant's theory of punishment. By assuming a potential offender's intentional disposition as Kant does without knowing it for certain, we further exacerbate the opportunity for misdiagnosis – although the assumption of individual criminal culpability may be all we can reasonably be expected to use. While this difficulty is not lost on Kant, it continues to remain with us today, making Kant's theory of punishment far more relevant than previously thought.


Abstract Recent research has suggested that young children may have primitive knowledge of ratio and proportions. However, it is unclear how precisely young children represent ratio magnitudes and how well they apply their ratio knowledge across different contexts. The current study examined 4- to 6-year-olds' reasoning of ratio magnitudes. In the baseline task, children judged ratio relations between 2 D lengths. In the 3 D depth task, children judged ratio relations of two pictorial depths. In the 3 D cube task, children judged ratio relations of the volumes of two pictorially presented cubes. Linear regression models of estimated ratios on expected ratios were significant across all three tasks for all children groups. Children demonstrated a remarkable ability in understanding and expressing ratio magnitudes. However, relative to the baseline condition, the 3 D depth and cube tasks were associated with smaller explained variance and, hence, more noise. Children, particularly 4-year-olds, were unable to distinguish ratios of slightly different magnitudes in the 3 D cube task. Our study reveals both the potential and the limits of young children's ratio reasoning abilities.


This thesis investigates the children's horror film in Hollywood cinema. Children are typically thought of as being innocent and vulnerable, and horror – usually considered a genre for adult viewers – is one area of the media from which children are often thought of as needing protection. However, evidence shows that children's viewership and enjoyment of horror films dates to least as early as the 1930s, while violent imagery has been used as a pedagogical tool in fairy tales, cautionary tales and other children's stories for centuries. The number of horror films made specifically for and about children in US cinema has been steadily increasing since the 1980s, with recent releases including Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012) and Frankenweenie (2012). Despite this, scholarship dedicated exclusively to this rich and intriguing area is scarce.

One intention of the research, explored predominantly in Chapter One, is to chart the development of this subgenre in Hollywood, explore how it differs aesthetically, formally, narratively and thematically from 'adult' horror, and how it mediates its content in order to be recognisably 'horrific' while remaining 'child-friendly'. Following the review of scholarly literature in Chapter Two, the thesis is then divided into three case study chapters which focus on how horror films which are both addressed to a child audience and about child characters utilise iconography and conventions of the horror genre to represent specific fears and desires associated with children and childhood.

Chapter Three examines texts which feature 'monstrous' children. These child characters' 'monstrosities' are presented in a way that can be read as pleasurable and potentially cathartic for a child audience. As such, these representations largely subvert the common depiction of children as demonic antagonists in adult horror films. The chapter is also framed by societal fears that children may become 'monstrous' threats should they be exposed to horror in order to argue that these films offer critiques upon the relationship between children and the horror genre. Chapter Four explores texts from the late-1980s to early-1990s in which children must protect themselves and their communities from evil vampires, witches, and other monsters. These predatory 'risky strangers' are read as reflecting contemporaneous concerns about child abuse which were particularly prevalent during this period in the US. As such, the chapter queries whether these texts address adults' fears about or for children more than actual children's fears. Chapter Five examines films set in the home, which is presented as an uncanny and threatening space in which to address childhood fears and anxieties concerning maturation, independence, identity formation and familial relationships. It is argued that by facing their fears, the child protagonists of these films undergo beneficial experiences and emerge better prepared to face life ahead.

This thesis argues that children's horror films, by providing safe and pleasurable spaces in which to experience fear, can be read as offering positive and beneficial experiences for child viewers. Far from being 'unsuitable' for children, the imagery and conventions of the horror genre are in fact highly suited to addressing the fears and experiences of childhood. Simultaneously, however, this thesis questions the problematic ideological aspects of children's horror films which may be 'bad' for children: that is, in showing children how to overcome their fears, what, or who, do these films imply children should be afraid of?


Abstract According to the Peruvian agricultural ministry, the Pacific watersheds where the great cities and intense farming are located only benefit from 1% of the available freshwater in Peru. Hence a thorough knowledge of the hydrology of this region is of particular importance. In the paper, analysis of this region and of the two other main Peruvian drainages, the Titicaca and Amazonas are reported. Rainfall and runoff data collected by the Peruvian National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology (SENAMHI) and controlled under the Hydrogeodynamics of the Amazon Basin (HyBAm) project is the basis of this basin-scale study that covers the 1969–2004 period. Beyond the strong contrasting rainfall conditions that differentiate the dry coastal basins and the wet eastern lowlands, details are given about in situ runoff and per basin rainfall distribution in these regions, and about their different altitude–rainfall relationships. Rainfall and runoff variability is strong in the coastal basins at seasonal and inter-annual time scales, and related to extreme El Niño events in the Pacific Ocean. However, rainfall and runoff are more regular in the Andes and Amazonas at the inter-annual time scale. Warm sea-surface temperatures in the northern tropical Atlantic tend to produce drought in the southern Andes basins. Moreover, significant trends and change-points are observed in the runoff data of Amazonas basins where rainfall and runoff decrease, especially after the mid-1980s and during the low-stage season. Almost all the coastal basins show some change in minimum runoff during the last 35 years while no change is observed in rainfall. This means that human activity may have changed runoff in this region of Peru, but this hypothesis deserves more study. Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor Š. Blažková Citation Lavado C., W.S., Ronchail, J., Labat, D., Espinoza, J.C. and Guyot, J.L., 2012. Basin-scale analysis of rainfall and runoff in Peru (1969–2004): Pacific, Titicaca and Amazonas watersheds. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (4), 625–642.


Two sections of an interpersonal skills building university course were observed for the purposes of this matched study. The face-to-face (F2F) section was in a classroom on the Concordia University campus in Montreal, Canada, while the non-turn-taking real-time online section used a Web application, LBD eClassroom© designed specifically for highly interactive large size classes and meetings. Two sections used the same instructor, facilitators, pedagogy, and course content. This study revealed a unique pattern of non-turn-taking synchronous interaction in the online section. Online students were found to be more likely to participate and express themselves. Interaction of online participants led to the creation of a group entity – a polis – a cornerstone for collaborative group learning. In contrast, in the F2F section, interaction followed the traditional classroom pattern – centered on the teacher or expert, resulting in fewer students interacting, and hence, lower interaction overall. In sum, during these three hour sessions, it was found that the nature of online non-turn-taking environment afforded online students more time to express themselves compared to students learning the same material F2F.


This paper discusses the large reductions in full-time employment among unskilled Australian males that began in the 1970s and continued over the next three to four decades. Over this period, each recession led to large falls in the male full-time employment--population ratio, and during each economic recovery the employment ratio failed to move back to its previous levels. Unemployment fell during each output recovery, not in response to employment gains, but in response to large-scale withdrawals from the labour market into the welfare system. The loss of unskilled jobs for men has been associated with falling marriage rates and increasing use of the welfare system by single women. The paper concludes by briefly assessing some of the impacts of the new resource boom on these long-run labour market and welfare trends, and discusses the potential for different labour-market outcomes emerging across mineral and non-mineral Australian states.


The American Civil Liberties Union supports the use of alternate dispute resolution in employment if it is voluntary and meets reasonable standards of fairness. Because of the narrowness of legal bases for relief and economic barriers to litigation, many people with legitimate disputes with their employers are unable to obtain relief in the civil courts. ADR holds the promise of increasing the number of people who are able to obtain justice in workplace disputes. ADR, however, contains the potential for enormous abuse. Absent external constraints, the employer has the ability and the incentive to shape its private justice system in a manner that will allow it to prevail in most cases. Very few individual employees have sufficient bargaining power to resist such abuses. It is imperative that the law prevent employers from requiring a de facto surrender of civil rights as a condition of employment. ADR should be permitted, but only when it is voluntary and contains reasonable due process protections. There are significant problems achieving such a system, especially in providing a truly neutral arbitrator in the absence of a union. These problems, however, are soluble, and need not destroy the cost effectiveness of ADR. While ADR has much to offer, it does not relieve the government of its obligation to provide a civil justice system which the average person can afford. Comments Suggested Citation Maltby, L. L. (1994). Statement of the American Civil Liberties Union before the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations. Retrieved [insert date], from Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations site: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/358/ This statement is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/358


The continuously growing demands in high-density memories drive the rapid development of advanced memory technologies. In this work, we investigate the HfOx-based resistive switching memory (ReRAM) stack structure at nanoscale by high resolution TEM (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) before and after the forming process. Two identical ReRAM devices under different electrical test conditions are investigated. For the ReRAM device tested under a regular voltage bias, material redistribution and better bottom electrode contact are observed. In contrast, for the ReRAM device tested under an opposite voltage bias, different microstructure change occurs. Finite element simulations are performed to study the temperature distributions of the ReRAM cell with filaments formed at various locations relative to the bottom electrode. The applied electric field as well as the thermal heat are the driving forces for the microstructure and chemical modifications of the bottom electrode in ReRAM deceives.


This essay describes the surreality of Aboriginal housing in Australia, where images reroute remedial concern from the literal conditions toward a pathologization of the indigenous householder. Using governmental data against governmental interpretation, the essay shows how a pragmatic issue of substandard original construction, undersupervised repairs, poor to nonexistent maintenance, and rapid shifts in policy attention is hidden to reinsert householders as the main culprits of substandard living conditions in many Aboriginal communities. A dirty literalism that sees the surreal in the everyday is required to unpack the means and the methods through which such maneuvers are made.


Intercropping systems compared to monoculture systems can more efficiently use the existing resources which ultimately will lead to increased plant performance. Therefore, to evaluate the benefits of intercropping maize and beans and assess its impact on yield and yield's component, an experiment was conducted in factorial design with randomized complete block design in three replication, in 2012, at research station of Astane Ashrafiye, at Guilan province. Experiment factors was four planting patterns included maize monoculture, beans monoculture, planting a row of maize and two rows of beans and planting a row of maize and three rows of beans and three levels of vermicompost included 2, 4 and 6 ton.ha-1. The results of the analysis of variance showed significant interaction effect of planting pattern and levels of vermicompost on grain yield, 1000-grain weight and plant height of corn and traits included grain yield, 1000-grain weight and number of seeds in sheath of beans. Maize and beans intercropping planting pattern cause an increase in the mean values of most traits in maize and beans which shows the superiority of intercropping cultures compared with monoculture. The LER (land equivalent ratio) was calculated greater than 1 for all characters thus confirms the usefulness of intercropping compared to sole crop. Increasing of vermicompost level to 4 and 6 ton.ha-1 had a positive effect on most traits of maize and beans. The A4B3 (planting a row of maize and three rows of beans and 6 tons of vermicompost fertilizer per hectare) because of having the highest values for most traits in maize and beans was introduced as desirable treatment of experiment.


In an effort to protect the enormous volume of sensitive and valuable data that travels across the Internet and is stored on personal devices, private companies have created encryption software to secure data from criminals, hackers, and terrorists who wish to steal it. The greatest benefit of encryption also creates the biggest problem: Encryption software has become so secure that often not even the government can bypass it. The "Going Dark" problem—a scenario in which the government has obtained the legal authority to search a suspected criminal's encrypted device but lacks the technical ability to do so—is becoming increasingly common. In response, the government has resorted to obtaining court orders to compel private companies to assist it in bypassing encrypted devices, in some cases demanding that companies create entirely new software to accomplish this task. This raises a plethora of political, economic, and legal questions. This Note argues that given the weighty interests on all sides of the debate and the widespread effects that these cases will have, the encryption issue should be decided by the legislative branch instead of the courts. Because of the complexity of these issues and the lack of current legislation, the courts are being forced to stretch the law in ways that will likely lead to inconsistent and undesirable rulings. This Note advocates that the best method for Congress to solve this problem is to create an administrative body with rule-making, investigative, and adjudicative powers to address these situations on a case-by-case basis and to advise Congress on future legislation regarding encryption and digital security in general.


Bears Ears National Monument (BENM) is a new landscape-scale national monument in southeastern Utah, jointly administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service as part of the National Conservation Lands system. As initially designated in 2016, BENM encompassed 1.3 million acres of land with exceptionally fossiliferous rock units. Subsequently, in December 2017, presidential action reduced BENM to two smaller management units (Indian Creek and Shash Jaa). Although the paleontological resources of BENM are extensive and abundant, they have historically been under-studied. Herein we summarize prior paleontological work within the original BENM boundaries to provide a more comprehensive picture of the known paleontological resources, which are used to support paleontological resource protection. The fossil-bearing units in BENM comprise a nearly continuous depositional record from aproximately the Middle Pennsylvanian Period (about 310 Ma) through the middle of the Cretaceous Period (about 115 Ma). Pleistocene and Holocene deposits are known from unconsolidated fluvial terraces and cave deposits. The fossil record from BENM provides unique insights into several important paleontological intervals of time including the Carboniferous-Permian icehouse-greenhouse transition and evolution of fully terrestrial tetrapods, the rise of the dinosaurs following the end-Triassic mass extinction,and the response of ecosystems in dry climates to sudden temperature increases at the end of the last glacial maximum.


A study of the Huapinghsu Channel/Canyon System was conducted with bathymetric profiles, 3.5 kHz echograms and box cores, to investigate morphology and sedimentary features. This channel/canyon system consists of two distinct units: (1)a broad trough-shaped channel which cuts into the shelf, and (2) a narrow V-shaped canyon with steep walls on the upper slope, which merges shoreward with the first channel. It extends from the shelf to the slope and has a total length of about 120 Km.
Core samples indicate that coarse-grained sediments are the dominant surface sediments in the channel and adjacent shelves but muddy sediments occur in front of the canyon mouth and nearby slopes. Erosional processes of lateral widening predominated in the channel course on the shelf and intense downcutting was prevalent in the canyon on the upper slope.
This channel/canyon system probably was initiated by sediment failure eat the paleo-shelf edge. The canyon head then began to extend shoreward and resulted in a broad channel on the shelf. After later submergence the channel/canyon system has been preserved and enlarged by marine processes and mass wasting.
The Huapinghsu Channel/Canyon System on the shelf and slope was apart of seaward sediment-transport systems during the late Pleistocene low-sea-level stand. The subsequent transgression, some 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, inhibited the landward erosion of the channel. Because of cut-off from its main sediment source during the transgression, this channel/canyon system can no longer act as a modern conduit transporting sediments to the sea. The inadequate sediment supply from the China mainland and Taiwan has also prevented modern sediments from filling the submerged Huapinghsu Channel/Canyon System.


Summary Computer networks of today consist of a multitude of devices, technologies and protocols that each in themselves may impact the performance as experienced by the end user. A number of techniques exist to predict and/or model these variations, each with their own relative merit. Bandwidth-Nodes (B-Nodes) are one such technique that allows devices and/or technologies to be modelled as a single node or as a collection of nodes, each exhibiting their own performance characteristics. A simple formula is used to calculate the theoretical maximum bandwidth of a node which allows for efficiency decomposition. This incorporates device sub-optimal operation (eDi) and using empirically derived results, eDi for an individual process on a particular device can be calculated. This paper focuses on evaluating the impact the choice of device will have on network performance. By empirically evaluating Access Control Lists (ACLs) with a varying number of statements, as well as assessing different tunneling techniques, the specific device efficiencies for these can be calculated. Using this information, the anticipated performance of an ACL network given a technical specification can be easily and quickly determined.


A breathtaking and absorbing novel set in Malaya propelled by the superb storytelling instinct of the author of THE RICE MOTHER. Parvathi leaves her native Ceylon for Malaya and an arranged marriage to a wealthy businessman. But her father has cheated, supplying a different girl's photograph, and Kasu Marimuthu, furious, threatens to send her home in disgrace. Gradually husband and wife reach an accommodation, and the naive young girl learns to assume the air of sophisticated mistress of a luxurious estate. She even adopts his love child and treats Rubini as her own daughter - a generous act which is rewarded by a long-wished-for son. But it is a life without passion, and Parvathi dreams of loving - and being loved - with complete abandon. When the Japanese invade Malaya, in WW2, they requisition the estate. Marimuthu dies and Parvathi is forced to accept the protection of the Japanese general who has robbed her of her home. For the first time, she experiences sexual ecstasy. And gradually, her sworn enemy becomes the lover she has always yearned for ...


Two deformation events have been documented in the NW Persian Gulf during the Late Cretaceous and the Late Cenozoic. The most distinctive feature in this part of the Persian Gulf is the reactivation of the Late Cretaceous NNE-SSW Arabian trending folds by NE-SW shortening during the Late Cenozoic Zagros orogeny. In general, if a set of folds with horizontal axes is shortened roughly parallel to its fold axis, a dome-basin fold interference pattern is produced. In the NW Persian Gulf, reactivation of some old folds occurred instead of a fold interference pattern. Reactivation may be influenced by the following factors: i) the presence of incompetent layers (i.e. evaporites), ii) a variable overburden, iii) basement faults, and iv) obliquity between the younger deformation shortening axis and fold axis. It is this last factor that we investigated by means of analogue modelling. The experimental apparatus is similar to that commonly used for experiments with brittle-ductile systems at the Laboratory of Experimental Tectonics of Geosciences Rennes. The model consisted of an alternation of ductile and brittle horizontal layers with a stratigraphy similar to the one found in the NW Persian Gulf. The model was deformed by two deformation events with an angle α between the two directions of shortening. After deformation, the resulting structure resembled a fold facing the static wall with internal thrust faults and detachment faults arranged into a geometry similar to a fish tail. In the second shortening event, the fold was reactivated without formation of an interference pattern. Moreover, the displacement on both the reactivated and newly formed faults varied between almost pure thrust faults for low α and oblique thrust faults with a strike-slip component for high α. The models suggest that the presence of incompetent layers plays an important role in fold reactivation and confirm that basement faults are not necessary.


The identification of the two most prevalent susceptibility genes in breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2, was the beginning of a sustained effort to uncover new genes explaining the missing heritability in this disease. Today, additional high, moderate and low penetrance genes have been identified in breast cancer, such as P53, PTEN, STK11, PALB2 or ATM, globally accounting for around 35 percent of the familial cases. In the present study we used massively parallel sequencing to analyze 7 BRCA1/BRCA2 negative families, each having at least 6 affected women with breast cancer (between 6 and 10) diagnosed under the age of 60 across generations. After extensive filtering, Sanger sequencing validation and co-segregation studies, variants were prioritized through either control-population studies, including up to 750 healthy individuals, or case-control assays comprising approximately 5300 samples. As a result, a known moderate susceptibility indel variant (CHEK2 1100delC) and a catalogue of 11 rare variants presenting signs of association with breast cancer were identified. All the affected genes are involved in important cellular mechanisms like DNA repair, cell proliferation and survival or cell cycle regulation. This study highlights the need to investigate the role of rare variants in familial cancer development by means of novel high throughput analysis strategies optimized for genetically heterogeneous scenarios. Even considering the intrinsic limitations of exome resequencing studies, our findings support the hypothesis that the majority of non-BRCA1/BRCA2 breast cancer families might be explained by the action of moderate and/or low penetrance susceptibility alleles.


One of the major limiting factors of Oxisols for agricultural crop production is a very low negative charge, leading to deficiency of base cations imparted by leaching. This condition is exacerbated by the low pH and high Al saturation. Basalt is naturally available and well known as parent material of fertile and highly productive soils, whereas rice husk is an agro-waste that can cause serious environmental problems , which on the other hand, is a highly valuable material if used as a soil amendment. The general objective of this study was to assess charge characteristics of Oxisols and restore their productivity by generating surface negative charge and increasing nutrient content using basalt and rice husk compost for cocoa growth.

Charge characteristics of three Oxisols were determined using potentiometric titration method. Results indicate that the B horizons of profile derived from basalt (Kuantan Series) had considerably lower pH0 values (4.1-4.9) than those of the profiles derived from serpentinite (5.6-5.8 ) (Sungai Mas Series) and andesite (5.3-6.0) (Segamat Series). These high pH0 values indicate the soils have very low negative charge. The removal of SOM or iron oxides increased or decreased pH0 values, respectively, suggesting that SOM is responsible in lowering pH0 values, while iron oxides in increasing pH0 values.
The comparison of total SOC at corresponding application rates (0 to 20 t ha-1) of composted rice husk (CRH) under laboratory, glasshouse and field conditions for the first 12 months showed the magnitude of SOC content was in the order field> laboratory> glasshouse. The magnitude of SOC residual in soil was higher for the field conditions (0.24-0.69% C) than laboratory (0.05-0.23% C) and glasshouse (0.05-0.17% C) although the SOC loss was higher for the field (0.25-0.97 unit) than laboratory (0.04-0.16 unit) and glasshouse (0.04-0.22 unit). This is probably due to the interaction between CRH and Gliricidia litter to preserve organic C in the soils.

The type of organic C functional groups was determined using a solid state cross polarization magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The C functional groups were similar when determined under laboratory, glasshouse and field conditions. Under laboratory and glasshouse conditions, O-alkyl C was dominant, followed by acetal with minor proportion of alkyl, methoxyl, aromatic, phenolic and carboxyl C. For field conditions, the organic C functional groups were dominated by O-alkyl and alkyl C, followed by aromatic, carboxyl and acetal C.

The three decomposition indices: alkyl/O-alkyl C ratio (A/O-A), hydrophobicity/ hydrophilicity ratio (HB/HI) and aromaticity were related to the decrease in total SOC content and CO2 production. The trends of the three indices in all conditions were similar, i.e., all values increased with increasing duration of CRH application, suggesting the increase of decomposition rate. The changes of decomposition indices within different periods for the first 12 months were very small in all conditions. These findings indicate CRH decomposed slowly; thereby it has a long residence time in soil.

Point of zero net charge (PZNC) was determined using ion adsorption method. Charge characteristics obtained at various sampling times within 24 months of basalt application for laboratory and field conditions, and 15 months for glasshouse showed consistent decreases in pH0 and PZNC values with time, but they decreased slowly, suggesting that the basalt was able to generate negative charge. However, the process took place rather slow. The exception was basalt application in the subsoil under laboratory conditions which increased pH0 values.

The rates of basalt application for laboratory and glasshouse conditions were 0 to 80 t ha-1, whereas for field conditions they were 0 to 20 t ha-1. Hence, to indicate the generation of negative charge of the three conditions, application rates of 0 to 20 t ha-1 and sampling time of month 12 were used (except for field 24 month was used). The net negative charge generation (NetC) at equilibrium soil pH 5.0 was 1.5, 1.0 and 1.9 cmolc kg-1 for laboratory, glasshouse and field conditions, respectively. The corresponding NetC values under natural soil pH were 1.8, 0.3 and 2.0 cmolc kg-1. Further increase of application periods to 24 months and 15 months for laboratory and glasshouse, respectively increased NetC values by 3.5 and 0.6 cmolc kg-1, respectively. The application of basalt significantly increased Ca, Mg, K, Na and Si of the in situ soil solution. The concentration of base cations at any given incubation period under laboratory conditions is in the order of Na> Mg> Ca> K, suggesting that Na was released the fastest, followed by Mg, Ca and K. Under glasshouse and field conditions, the order of ion concentration is shifted to Mg> Ca> Na> K and Ca>Mg>Na~K, respectively.

For composted rice husk (CRH), the duration of application under laboratory, glasshouse and field conditions was similar to basalt. The CRH application of 0 to 20 t ha-1 consistently decreased pH0 and PZNC values in all conditions. In contrast to basalt, the CRH in the subsoil under laboratory conditions decreased pH0 values. The NetC generation at equilibrium soil pH of 5.0 was 0.4, 0.6 and 2.3 cmolc kg-1 for laboratory, glasshouse and field conditions, respectively. The corresponding NetC values under natural soil pH were 0.5, 0.5 and 3.3 cmolc kg-1.

The application of CRH significantly increased concentrations of Ca, Mg, K, Na and Si of the in situ soil solution at application rate of 40 to 80 t ha-1 under laboratory and at application rate of > 10 t ha-1 for glasshouse and field conditions. The order of released ions were K> Na> Si> Mg> Ca for laboratory, Si> K> Mg> Ca> Na for glasshouse and Si > Ca > K > Mg > Na for field conditions.

In contrast to K, Si, Mg, Na and Ca concentrations, the application of basalt or CRH and their combination significantly decreased concentrations of Mn and Al in all conditions.

The individual application of basalt and CRH significantly increased height, stem diameter and dry matter weight (DMW) of cocoa under glasshouse conditions. The cocoa growth significantly increased at application rates of > 10 t ha-1 for basalt and > 20 t ha-1 for CRH. The optimal rates of basalt and CRH under glasshouse conditions were 22 and 20 t ha-1, respectively. The results from glasshouse (for CRH) were in agreement with the results from the field experiment. CRH in combination with basalt significantly increased the height and stem diameter of cocoa under field conditions. The application of 5 t ha-1 is suggested for field application as this rate significantly increased cocoa growth compared to control but was not significantly different with 10 and 20 t ha-1 application rates.

Basalt and rice husk could be used to restore chemical properties of Oxisols as they are able to increase soil negative charge, increase nutrient content of in situ soil solution and reduce Al and Mn, which in turn significantly improved cocoa growth.


Latin American Urban Cultural Production. Editor: David William Foster. Hispanic Issues On Line, Volume 3 (Fall 2008). 1 online resource (PDF, page 9-29)


Abstract Background: To analyse the disability status of elderly Taiwanese dementia patients by using the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). Methods: We enrolled 12 126 disabled elderly (>65 years) patients with dementia during July 2012–January 2014 from the Taiwan Data Bank of Persons with Disability. Trained interviewers evaluated the standardised scores in the six WHODAS 2.0 domains. Student's t test was used for comparing WHODAS 2.0 scores of male and female dementia patients with different age groups. Results: The study population comprised 12 126 patients; 7612 were women and 4514 were men. The WHODAS 2.0 scores showed that the dementia patients had global activity limitation and participation restriction in all domains. Dementia-induced disability was prominent in male patients in all of the domains of the WHODAS 2.0. The domains of life activities, getting along with people and cognition were more strongly affected than the other domains. However, women experienced more rapid functional decline than men did as they aged. Conclusion: The data analysed in this large-scale, population-based study revealed crucial information on dementia-induced disability in elderly patients on the basis of the WHODAS 2.0 framework. Implications for rehabilitation Dementia patients have global functional disability in all domains of WHODAS 2.0 and multidisciplinary team is needed for rehabilitation programme intervention for these patients. When considering the rehabilitation resource and strategy, the domains of cognition, activities of daily living and life activities should be focussed. When dementia patients aged 65–75 years old, male patients got more restriction of function than female and more medical resource allocation for disabled male patients is recommended. With ageing, female dementia patients exhibited more rapid functional decline than male patients did and more budget about rehabilitation for maintain functional and dementia progression is crucial for female patients.


Research questions: How can our current knowledge of experiential learning be applied to cross-cultural web-based training? How do postproject interviews with the participants advance our knowledge about experiential learning? What practical recommendations for teachers and trainers can be offered based on this and similar case studies? Situating the case: Literature on virtual teams stipulates the importance of teaching leadership development within teams, including methods of conflict resolution, and flexibility in methods and tools of communication. Literature on experiential learning places a high value on learner experience, and on indirect and combined methods of assessing experiential learning projects. Methodology: The case was studied through the analysis of data obtained from unstructured class interviews with three of the US-based participants of the teaching project. Interview participants were chosen to ensure a variety of responses about their experiences while taking part in the project. About the case: The project was a part of an introductory graduate-level seminar in technical and scientific communication. Graduate students in technical communication from the US and graduate students in marketing from Ukraine participated in the project. The participants worked in virtual teams to create collaborative analyses of localized versions of websites of transnational corporations. The findings of this research are as follows. (1) Virtual teams work more effectively when given time to build trust and connections among participants. (2) Virtual teams work more effectively when time is devoted to the development of leaders and the articulation of leadership responsibilities within teams. (3) Experiential learning team participants use a variety of communication tools depending on the nature of the communicative task at hand. (4) As part of the learning process, virtual team members recognized and attempted to adjust to cultural and professional discourse differences between countries and professional fields.


Modern interactive means combined with new digital media processing and representation technologies can provide a robust framework for enhancing user experience in multimedia entertainment systems and audiovisual artistic installations with non-traditional interaction/feedback paths based on user affective state. In this work, the 'Elevator' interactive audiovisual platform prototype is presented, which aims to provide a framework for signalling and expressing human behaviour related to emotions (such as anger) and finally produce a visual outcome of this behaviour, defined here as the emotional 'thumbnail' of the user. Optimised, real-time audio signal processing techniques are employed for monitoring the achieved anger-like behaviour, while the emotional elevation is attempted using appropriately selected combined audio/visual content reproduced using state-of-the-art audiovisual playback technologies that allow the creation of a realistic immersive audiovisual environment. The demonstration of the proposed prototype has shown that affective interaction is possible, allowing the further development of relative artistic and technological applications.


The use of distributed strain and temperature in optical fiber sensors based on Brillouin scattering for the monitoring of nuclear waste repository requires investigation of their performance changes under irradiation. For this purpose, we irradiated various fiber types at high gamma doses which represented the harsh environment constraints associated with the considered application. Radiation leads to two phenomena impacting the Brillouin scattering: 1) decreasing in the fiber linear transmission through the radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) phenomenon which impacts distance range and 2) modifying the Brillouin scattering properties, both intrinsic frequency position of Brillouin loss and its dependence on strain and temperature. We then examined the dose dependence of these radiation-induced changes in the 1 to 10 MGy dose range, showing that the responses strongly depend on the fiber composition. We characterized the radiation effects on strain and temperature coefficients, dependencies of the Brillouin frequency, providing evidence for a strong robustness of these intrinsic properties against radiations. From our results, Fluorine-doped fibers appear to be very promising candidates for temperature and strain sensing through Brillouin-based sensors in high gamma-ray dose radiative environments.


Spring addresses most aspects of Java/Java EE application development and offers simple solutions to them. By using Spring, you will be lead to use industry best practices to design and implement your applications. The releases of Spring 2.x have added many improvements and new features to the 1.x versions. Spring Recipes: A ProblemSolution Approach focuses on the latest Spring 2.5 features for building enterprise Java applications. Spring Recipes covers Spring 2.5 from basic to advanced, including Spring IoC container, Spring AOP and AspectJ, Spring data access support, Spring transaction management, Spring Web and Portlet MVC, Spring testing support, Spring support for remoting, EJB, JMS, JMX, Email, scheduling, and scripting languages. This book also introduces several common Spring Portfolio projects that will bring significant value to your application development, including Spring Security, Spring Web Flow, and Spring Web Services. The topics in this book are introduced by complete and realworld code examples that you can follow step by step. Instead of abstract descriptions on complex concepts, you will find live examples in this book. When you start a new project, you can consider copying the code and configuration files from this book, and then modifying them for your needs. This can save you a great deal of work over creating a project from scratch. What youll learn Installing the Spring framework and Spring IDE, using the Spring IoC container and the Spring application context. Understanding AOP concepts, using classic and new Spring AOP, integrating Spring with AspectJ, and loadtime weaving aspects. Using Spring to simplify data access (with JDBC, Hibernate, and JPA) and manage transactions programmatically and declaratively. Building web applications and portlets with Spring Web MVC and Portlet MVC, and integrating Spring with Struts, JSF, and DWR. Understanding the unit testing and integration testing concepts, and Springs unit and integration testing support (on JUnit 3.8, JUnit 4, and TestNG). Using Springs support for remoting technologies (RMI, Hessian, Burlap, and HTTP Invoker), EJB, JMS, JMX, E-mail, scheduling, and scripting languages. Understanding security concepts (authentication, authorization, and access control), and securing web applications using Spring Security. Managing complex web application page flows using Spring Web Flow, and integrating Spring Web Flow with JSF. Exposing contractlast web services using XFire, and developing contractfirst web services using Spring Web Services. Who is this book for? This book is for Java developers who would like to gain handson experience rapidly on Java/Java EE development using the Spring framework. If you are already a developer using Spring in your projects, you can also use this book as a reference, and youll find the code examples very useful. You dont need much Java EE experience to read this book. However, it assumes that you know the basics of objectoriented programming with Java (e.g., creating a class/inte rface, implementing an interface, extending a base class, running a main class, setting up your classpath, and so on). It also assumes you have basic knowledge on web and database concepts and know how to create dynamic web pages and query databases with SQL statements. Related Titles Pro Spring Beginning Spring 2: From Novice to Professional Building Spring 2 Enterprise Applications


Performance budgeting is sweeping the globe. What role can legislatures play as agencies of monitoring and oversight? Observers are none too optimistic. "There is very little direct evidence that performance information in budgets and annual reports is directly used by members of parliament in their oversight", concludes one recent comparative study. Most parliaments have limited amending competence in budgetary decisions and exercise scant control and monitoring over the execution of budgets. There seems to be general agreement that MPs pay little attention to the formal reporting on administrative performance. But there are several ways in which parliaments can get involved in decisions on public policy and public finance. Enhancing their contribution to boosting government performance requires attention to the analytical resource base as well as to parliamentary procedure.


We report record capacity data transmission at 305 Tb/s over 10.1 km, using space division multiplexing (SDM) with 19 channels. To realize such a large SDM channel number, we fabricated a trench-assisted homogeneous 19-core fiber with average intercore crosstalk of about -32 dB at 1550 nm. We also fabricated a 19-channel SDM multiplexer/demultiplexer using free-space optics with low insertion losses and low additional crosstalk. The data signal transmitted through each SDM channel was 100 wavelength division multiplexing (100 GHz spacing) 2 × 86 Gb/s polarization-division-multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying signals and the spectral efficiency was 30.5 b/s/Hz.


We examine security domains where defenders choose their security levels in the face of a possible attack by an adversary who attempts to destroy as many of them as possible. Though the attacker only selects one target, and only has a certain probability of destroying it depending on that defender's security level, a successful attack may infect other defenders. By choosing a higher security level the defenders increase their probability of survival, but incur a higher cost of security. We assume that the adversary observes the security levels chosen by the defenders before selecting whom to attack. We show that under this assumption the defenders over-protect themselves, exhausting all their surplus, so optimal policy requires taxing security, as opposed to the subsidies recommended by alternative models for contagious attacks which do not take into account the attacker's ability to observe the defenders' choices.


Neurorehabilitation protocols based on the use of robotic devices provide a highly repeatable therapy and have recently shown promising clinical results. Little is known about how rehabilitation molds the brain to promote motor recovery of the affected limb. We used a custom-made robotic platform that provides quantitative assessment of forelimb function in a retraction test. Complementary imaging techniques allowed us to access to the multiple facets of robotic rehabilitation-induced cortical plasticity after unilateral photothrombotic stroke in mice Primary Motor Cortex (Caudal Forelimb Area - CFA). First, we analyzed structural features of vasculature and dendritic reshaping in the peri-infarct area with two-photon fluorescence microscopy. Longitudinal analysis of dendritic branches and spines of pyramidal neurons suggests that robotic rehabilitation promotes the stabilization of peri-infarct cortical excitatory circuits, which is not accompanied by consistent vascular reorganization towards pre-stroke conditions. To investigate if this structural stabilization was linked to functional remapping, we performed mesoscale wide-field imaging on GCaMP6 mice while performing the motor task on the robotic platform. We revealed temporal and spatial features of the motor-triggered cortical activation, shining new light on rehabilitation-induced functional remapping of the ipsilesional cortex. Finally, by using an all-optical approach that combines optogenetic activation of the contralesional hemisphere and wide-field functional imaging of peri-infarct area, we dissected the effect of robotic rehabilitation on inter-hemispheric cortico-cortical connectivity.


Recently, the exoskeletal power assistive equipment, which is a kind of wearable robot, has been widely developed to help human body motion. The exoskeleton for elderly people and patients, however, has some limitations due to the weight and volume of the equipment. In this paper, a tendon-driven exoskeletal power assistive device, exoskeleton for patients and the old by the Sogang University (EXPOS), is proposed as a feasible solution. In case of EXPOS, the caster walker carries heavy items such as motors, drivers, controllers, and batteries so that the weight and volume of the wearable exoskeleton are minimized. The tendon-connecting motors and pulleys of hip and knee generate the assistive power according to the requirement of the users. In this paper, the design concepts of the EXPOS, sensing techniques, and control methods are discussed


This research guide provides resources for those involved with International Human Rights Advocacy. The guide is of special use to organizations who are doing state-specific research related to the Universal Periodical Review process.


Purpose: To estimate the optimal levels of real economic growth rate needed to stabilize debt levels and carry out a stochastic debt simulation to determine the possible future debt path and its distribution in Kenya.
Methodology: The paper used time series data from 1963 to 2015. Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound test procedure was used to test for short run and long run relationships among the variables. A VAR model was estimated followed by a simulation process to forecast the future values of the variables in the modified equation of motion of debt. The stochastic simulation process involved the extraction of variance - covariance structure of shocks and Monte Carlo simulation to separately simulate paths for each of the determinants of debt which are needed to construct the fan chart. The simulated values of these variables were then used to estimate and forecast the debt to GDP ratio using the modified equation of motion of debt from 2016 to 2030.
Findings: The study found that an average economic growth rate of 5.4 percent between 2016 and 2030 will be sufficient to stabilize the debt levels in the country. The simulated debt shows the debt levels increasing from 56.2 percent in 2015 to 71.2 percent in 2030. Compared to the country's debt threshold of 74 percent by the World Bank, this puts the economy at high risk in the event of any adverse shocks. Further, if the government deliberately targets to increase economic growth by 5 percent of the previous year, it will reduce the debt levels from 56.2 in 2015 to 46 percent in 2030.
Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The government needs to explore innovative financing mechanisms for the desired infrastructural projects such as Build Operate and Transfer which will spur economic growth and at the same time ensure debt sustainability.
Key words: Debt stabilization, macroeconomic environment, public debt, stochastic simulation, fan chart.


We describe a model and implementation of evolutionary spiking neurons for embedded microcontrollers with few bytes of memory and very low power consumption. The approach is tested with an autonomous microrobot of less than 1 in3 that evolves the ability to move in a small maze without human intervention and external computers. Considering the very large diffusion, small size, and low cost of embedded microcontrollers, the approach described here could find its way in several intelligent devices with sensors and/or actuators, as well as in smart credit cards.


Coral cover is declining at an alarming rate, and it is estimated that 60% of reefs worldwide may be lost by 2030. Elevated seawater temperatures and ocean acidification are contributing to an increase in the frequency and severity of bleaching events. These events disrupt the symbiosis between corals and their photosynthetic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp). Relatively little is known about the ability of corals to acclimatize to changing environmental conditions or whether the rate of climate change is too fast for corals to keep up, limiting the accuracy of future predictions for reef resilience. However, the ability of some coral species to acclimatize to elevated seawater temperatures has been linked to Symbiodinium composition and the flexibility of these associations. This study compares Symbiodinium communities and the rates of photosynthesis of two coral species, Acropora loripes and Platygyra daedalea, under three conditions of water temperature and pCO2: ambient, predicted levels for 2050, and predicted levels for 2100. Pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry, which measures chlorophyll fluorescence, was used as an indicator of photosynthetic rate. Photosynthetic rates of A. loripes and P. daedalea differed significantly, and PAM yields were reduced in the 2050 and 2100 treatments, suggesting a stress response. The majority of genotypes of both coral species hosted clade C-type Symbiodinium suggesting that sub-type differences or host physiology may be involved in species-specific differences in photophysiology. Sequencing-based methods for Symbiodinium typing would help distinguish these possibilities and increase understanding of the influence of Symbiodinium type on photosynthetic rates of corals under changing environmental conditions.


Symphorema polyandrum Wight (Family Verbenaceae), an ethnomedicinal plant, is reported for its use in the management of snake bite by the tribal people of Odisha. In this study, the efficacy of S. polyandrum was evaluated for its antivenom activity. Seed powder 360 mg/kg was given to envenomed albino rats with sub-lethal dose of Naja naja venom (0.5 mg/kg), in normal saline by intraperitonial injection. Biochemical parameters like serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, serum total protein, albumin, globulin, alkaline phosphatase, blood sugar, SGPT and in haematological investigation only the total count was found significantly reversing the effect of venom between venom control and test drug group. The study also showed that the envenomation of rats led to increase in lipid peroxidation in all the three tissues. Administration of the test drug to venomised rat significantly decreased the lipid peroxidation in liver and heart. Further, it also enhanced the anti-oxidant activity through enzyme catalase in liver and heart.


Abstract. Carbonyl sulfide (COS) measurements are one of the emerging tools to better quantify gross primary production (GPP), the largest flux in the global carbon cycle. COS is a gas with a similar structure to CO2; COS uptake is thought to be a proxy for GPP. However, soils are a potential source or sink of COS. This study presents a framework for understanding soil–COS interactions. Excluding wetlands, most of the few observations of isolated soils that have been made show small uptake of atmospheric COS. Recently, a series of studies at an agricultural site in the central United States found soil COS production under hot conditions an order of magnitude greater than fluxes at other sites. To investigate the extent of this phenomenon, soils were collected from five new sites and incubated in a variety of soil moisture and temperature states. We found that soils from a desert, an oak savannah, a deciduous forest, and a rainforest exhibited small COS fluxes, behavior resembling previous studies. However, soil from an agricultural site in Illinois,  > 800 km away from the initial central US study site, demonstrated comparably large soil fluxes under similar conditions. These new data suggest that, for the most part, soil COS interaction is negligible compared to plant uptake of COS. We present a model that anticipates the large agricultural soil fluxes so that they may be taken into account. While COS air-monitoring data are consistent with the dominance of plant uptake, improved interpretation of these data should incorporate the soil flux parameterizations suggested here.


OBJECTIVES
Most Medicaid beneficiaries with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are not treated with direct-acting agents because of budget constraints, but they experience costly complications after becoming Medicare eligible. Maryland's "total coverage" proposal could receive a credit from Medicare to offset Medicaid investments in treatments that could lead to Medicare savings. This study analyzes the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of total coverage for HCV treatments sponsored by state Medicare and Medicaid.

STUDY DESIGN
A Markov model simulated patients going through the care continuum of HCV. The model simulated 3 pathways: standard coverage with a 50% probability of screening for HCV and 20% probability of treatment; risk-stratified total coverage with assumed 80% probability of screening and 60% treatment rate; and total coverage with assumed 80% probability of screening and 100% treatment rate.

METHODS
The model calculated US$ and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) to produce an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio evaluated at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000/QALY. The budget impact for the state of Maryland was calculated in terms of per member per year.

RESULTS
Total coverage and risk-stratified coverage saved $158 per patient and $178 per patient, respectively, compared with standard care at an increased effectiveness of 0.05 and 0.02 QALYs over 25 years. Total coverage and risk-stratified total coverage would save $1.0 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively, after 25 years.

CONCLUSIONS
Medicare-Medicaid partnerships to pay for all HCV treatments today represent good value and a low budget impact. States with trouble covering HCV treatments should consider using this model to plan coverage decisions.


ONE CHURCH IN ONE LOCATION: QUESTIONING THE BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL CLAIMS OF THE MULTI-SITE CHURCH MOVEMENT Darrell Grant Gaines, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012 Chair: Dr. Gregg R. Allison This dissertation argues that a multi-site church that is not characterized by campus-wide gatherings does not have a sound biblical or theological basis for considering itself one church and is inconsistent with historic congregationalism. This argument is made in six steps. First, a framework for determining whether or not a church practice is biblical is put forward. Second, it is shown that the people of God as one assembly is a central theme in the Old Testament. Third, it is demonstrated that this theme of the people of God as one assembly is also a central theme of the New Testament. Fourth, it is argued that there is not precedent for multi-site church structure in the house churches of the New Testament. Fifth, it is shown that multi-site is not consistent with historic congregationalism as seen in Baptist ecclesiology. And sixth, it is argued that multi-site church structure is consistent with historic connectionalism as seen, for example, in Methodist ecclesiogy—a fact that only serves to heighten the problem with multi-site from a congregationalist point of view.


The thesis deals with the selection of the sets of inputs and outputs using the energy properties of the controllability and observability of a system and aims to define input and output structures which require minimization of the energy for control and state reconstruction. Such a study explores the energy dimension of the properties of controllability and observability, develops computations for the controllability and observability Gramians for stable and unstable systems and examines measures of the degree of controllability and observability properties using SVD (Singular Value Decomposition) of Gramians to compute the maximal and minimal energy requirements. These characterize the relative degree of controllability and observability under conditions where the available energy is constrained. The notion of energy surfaces in the state space is introduced and this enables the characterization of restricted notions of controllability and observability when the available energy is bounded. The maximal and minimal energy requirements for different input vectors is demonstrated and this provides the basis for the development of strategies and methodologies for selection of systems of inputs and outputs to minimize the energy required for control, respectively state reconstruction. These results enable the development of input, output structure selection methodology using a novel optimization method. This thesis contributes in the further development of the area of systems, or global instrumentation, developed so far based on the assignment of structural characteristics by incorporating the role of energy requirements. The research provides energy based tools for the selection of input and outputs schemes with a main criterion the minimization of the energy required for control and observation and thus provide an alternative approach based on quantitative system properties in characterizing control and state observation as functions of given sets of inputs and output sets. The methodologies developed may be used as design tools where apart from energy requirements other design criteria may be also incorporated for the selection of inputs and outputs. The methodology that is used is based on linear systems theory and tools from numerical linear algebra. The solution to the problems considered here is an integral part of the effort to develop an integrated approach to control and global process instrumentation.