This article reviews the effects of radiation damage on GaN materials and devices such as light-emitting diodes and high electron mobility transistors. Protons, electrons and gamma rays typically produce point defects in GaN, in contrast to neutron damage which is dominated by more extended disordered regions. Regardless of the type of radiation, the electrical conductivity of the GaN is reduced through the introduction of trap states with thermal ionization energies deep in the forbidden bandgap. An important practical parameter is the carrier removal rate for each type of radiation since this determines the dose at which device degradation will occur. Many studies have shown that GaN is several orders of magnitude more resistant to radiation damage than GaAs, i.e. it can withstand radiation doses of at least two orders of magnitude higher than those degrading GaAs with a similar doping level. Many issues still have to be addressed. Among them are the strong asymmetry in carrier removal rates in n- and p-type GaN and interaction of radiation defects with Mg acceptors and the poor understanding of interaction of radiation defects in doped nitrides with the dislocations always present.


Harish-Chandra was born in Kanpur in Northern India on October 11, 1923 and had his early education there. At the University of Allahabad, he did his B.Sc. in 1941 and his M.Sc. in 1943. Harish-Chandra worked as a postgraduate research fellow on problems in theoretical physics, under Homi Bhabha, at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore in Southern India. Bhabha had been a student of P. A. M. Dirac in Cambridge, England, in the 1930s. Their joint work was largely inspired by ideas of Dirac \ref[Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A 167 (1938), 148--169; Zbl 23, 427], and they extended some of his results. Around 1945 both H. J. Bhabha and Harish-Chandra's teacher, K. S. Krishnan at Allahabad University, recommended him to Dirac for further research work at Cambridge, in particular, to be guided towards a Ph.D. degree. Dirac suggested that he analyse the irreducible unitary (necessarily infinite-dimensional, except in the trivial case) representations of the homogeneous Lorentz group ${\rm SO}(3,1)$ and of its universal covering group ${\rm SL}_2(\bold C)$, the special linear group of two-by-two matrices with complex entries. This topic was given in order understand previous ad-hoc constructions by Dirac of (reducible) unitary representations of ${\rm SO}(3,1)$. According to Dirac, his ideas were inspired by the analysis of the harmonic oscillator problem in quantum mechanics in the work of V. Fock. In quantum physics unitary representations of the various symmetry groups had begun to play a significant role.
Harish-Chandra succeeded in solving the problems posed to him, and was awarded his Ph.D. in 1947. He gave a complete classification of the irreducible unitary representations of ${\rm SL}_2(\bold C)$. The shift from the Lie group to its Lie algebra plays a role, algebraic methods are used, and the notion of a (nowadays called) minimal $K$-type occurs, $K={\rm SU}(2)$ a maximal compact subgroup. Independently, the same results were obtained by I. M. Gel\cprime fand and M. A. Na\u\i mark [resp. V. Bargmann]. In 1947, Dirac went to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA, and Harish-Chandra went with him as his assistant. It was at that time that his interests changed over from physics to mathematics, and he began to build his fundamental theory of infinite-dimensional representations of semi-simple and reductive groups. This is closely related to Harish-Chandra's achievements in the theory of harmonic analysis on these groups and their homogeneous spaces.
This paper gives a detailed account of the early period in Harish-Chandra's professional career. It focuses on the sources for the problem posed to him by Dirac, discusses previous works, notably by E. Majorana in 1932 and Dirac, and gives a short account of the ingredients of the classification of the irreducible unitary representations of ${\rm SL}_2(\bold C)$.


In telecommunications terminals speech quality is often degraded by acoustic echo. Various approaches to echo cancellation have been proposed and generally involve two separate stages, namely those of adaptive echo cancellation and, as is the focus here, residual echo suppression. Whilst computationally efficient, residual echo suppression approaches based on gain loss control have poor double talk performance. Sub-band approaches give better performance but generally introduce a significant signal delay. This paper reports new experimental work which assesses the performance of three low delay approaches to suppress residual echo through time domain convolution. Results show that a new approach, based on the inverse discrete Fourier transform, performs as well as the existing approaches for both linear and non-linear echo whilst maintaining computational efficiency and low signal delay.


Despite increased investment by unions in organising, across much of the developed world there is at best modest evidence of a recovery of union membership. This has led to a research interest in the barriers to successful union organising and it is with this critical issue that the following article is concerned. It uses survey and interview data from trainee organisers in Britain to identify the internal and external constraints they have encountered while working on organising campaigns. The findings point to a broad range of organising constraints both within and beyond trade unions. Experience of constraints varies and is shown partly to be a function of the characteristics of organisers, the nature of the organising task in which they are engaged and the systems in place to manage their work.


Variation in the size and the shape of neurocrania of a group of rock-dwelling cichlid fishes (mbuna; from Lake Malawi, Africa was analysed using principal components and regression analyses on a set of 24 neurocranial measurements of 86 individuals from 11 species. The results reveal effective morphological discrimination between species. Most of the structural variation between species demonstrates positive allometry and represents size-dependent species differences. Thus, morphological differentiation in these fish may be largely the result of heterochronic changes in relative growth rates. The vomerine region, however, exhibited shape differentiation. Distinct groupings, based on vomer shape, are identified. Foraging behaviour and diet are found to be correlated with this region of the neurocrania. The correlation of the shape of the vomer and fine-scale resource partitioning suggests that this structure may be important in the evolutionary success of the group. Also, most structural shape variation in neurocranial morphology is associated with structural variation in buccal jaws.


IMPORTANCE
A core tenet of occupational therapy is that practitioners should use evidence in their practice. Nevertheless, many occupational therapy practitioners feel limited in their evidence-based practice (EBP) knowledge. Conceivably, improving EBP knowledge in students would facilitate their greater knowledge as practitioners. Other researchers have modified teaching methods and content to enhance knowledge in students but did not empirically evaluate the acquisition of knowledge.

OBJECTIVE
To empirically evaluate EBP knowledge acquisition.

DESIGN
Descriptive, mixed-methods pilot study.

SETTING
A graduate occupational therapy program.

PARTICIPANTS
Fifty-one second-year occupational therapy students.

OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
We used the Adapted Fresno Test of Competence in Evidence-Based Practice to measure evidence-based practice knowledge. We also qualitatively assessed students' perceptions of what influenced their development of EBP knowledge and how they felt after completing the posttest.

RESULTS
We found significant improvements in EBP knowledge. We also found the following qualitative themes regarding influences on students' EPB knowledge development: helpful supports, learning activities, and the context of doing with others.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
We observed significant gains in EBP knowledge, as measured by the Adapted Fresno Test, after occupational therapy students completed an EBP course. We theorize that students' gains in EBP knowledge will support their ability to successfully use evidence in their future occupational therapy practice.

WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS
Our findings on the Adapted Fresno Test indicate that our course successfully promoted acquisition of EBP knowledge. We theorize that students' gains in evidence-based practice knowledge will support their ability to successfully use evidence in their future occupational therapy practice.


There is an association between childhood trauma and the development of psychosis in adulthood and a treatment recommended to reduce the symptoms of trauma is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). Studies of EMDR in adults with psychotic experiences and a history of trauma have shown encouraging results. As psychosis is a core feature of schizophrenia, and many persons with schizophrenia will have experienced childhood trauma, we review the evidence that EMDR may be a safe and effective adjunctive treatment for schizophrenia. We conclude that the evidence base supports well-designed and adequately powered randomised controlled studies of EMDR in schizophrenia with careful consideration given to inclusion criteria, participant acceptability and selection of clinically relevant outcome measures. Mechanism of action and potential effects on cognitive functioning should also be explored.


This essay discusses a lengthy review by Professor Michael McConnell of the Stanford Law School in the Yale Law Journal to my 2013 book WHY TOLERATE RELIGION? (Princeton University Press). I identify two important objections that Prof. McConnell raises, but also identify eight different mistakes or misunderstandings that mar other parts of the review. I conclude by taking Prof. McConnell to task for several rhetorical cheap shots that, together with the other errors, suggests that his essay was more a partisan brief than a scholarly evaluation of the arguments. Most surprisingly, the fact that Professor McConnell, in his lengthy review, never actually responds to my book's central thesis -- namely, that the inequality between religious and non-religious claims of conscience is not morally defensible -- suggests that there may really be no serious argument on the other side.


This study reviews, from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, the links between composition and quality of public finances, on the one hand, and long-term economic growth, on the other, focusing on the EU-15 countries. Specifically, for a given level of the general government balance, factors such us the composition of revenues and expenditures, an efficient use of public resources or even the public sector size may condition long-term growth insofar as they affect the allocation of resources. On the expenditure side, the available empirical evidence suggests that resources devoted to public investment on transport and communication infrastructures entail positive spillovers on the accumulation of physical capital and the productivity thereof. Moreover, expenditure on education is deemed to increase human capital and labour productivity. Conversely, as far as other R&D and health-care expenditure items are concerned, despite the theoretical arguments supporting their beneficial effects of on long-term growth, the evidence is less conclusive. In turn, public expenditure has to be financed by tax revenues, which on the other hand are also set to achieve other important goals such as income redistribution or macroeconomic stabilisation. However, taxes may involve a negative impact on economic efficiency by distorting agents' decisions. Nevertheless, from a theoretical point of view, the complexity of the analysis of the final incidence of the tax burden hampers a proper assessment of the effects of the different tax categories on economic growth. Finally, the more efficient fiscal policy is, the higher the stimulus on economic growth will be. This advocates for the implementation of budgetary techniques aimed at the fulfilment of the targets set by the general government at the lowest cost possible, notably budgeting according to the results obtained, cost-benefit analysis or medium-term budgetary strategies. However, the implementation of such mechanisms has yielded only moderately satisfactory results, suggesting the need for further improvements. In particular, available analytical tools for the measurement of the efficiency of fiscal policies, in terms of the achievement of given targets at the lowest cost possible, are not accurate enough. Therefore, further progress in this area is a priority.


While uncertainty estimation is a well-studied topic in deep learning, most such work focuses on marginal uncertainty estimates, i.e. the predictive mean and variance at individual input locations. But it is often more useful to estimate predictive correlations between the function values at different input locations. In this paper, we consider the problem of benchmarking how accurately Bayesian models can estimate predictive correlations. We first consider a downstream task which depends on posterior predictive correlations: transductive active learning (TAL). We find that TAL makes better use of models' uncertainty estimates than ordinary active learning, and recommend this as a benchmark for evaluating Bayesian models. Since TAL is too expensive and indirect to guide development of algorithms, we introduce two metrics which more directly evaluate the predictive correlations and which can be computed efficiently: meta-correlations (i.e. the correlations between the models correlation estimates and the true values), and cross-normalized likelihoods (XLL). We validate these metrics by demonstrating their consistency with TAL performance and obtain insights about the relative performance of current Bayesian neural net and Gaussian process models.


Aims: Facing maternal separation during early postnatal life leads to disturbances in the cognitive and neuro-chemical activities of the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of maternal separation on spatial learning and memory of morphine-dependent rats. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was carried out on 40 male Wistar rats of 45 days old. Animals were divided into control group (CO), morphine dependent (MD) and 3 group of rats which maternally separated during 1 (MS1), 2 (MS2) and 3 weeks (MS3) after birth. Except CO rats, the other groups were subcutaneously injected 10 mg/kg morphine every 12 hours for 10 days. At the 11th day signs of withdrawal syndrome were evaluated and during next 4 consecutive days spatial learning was evaluated by Morris water maze (MWM). The rats' spatial memory retrieval was also estimated at the last day. Findings: Although morphine dependence did not affects spatial learning and memory of rats, but 3 weeks maternal separation caused the animals spend more time and travel more distance to find the hidden platform than to CO group (P<0.001 for both of comparisons). Also, they spent less time and passed less distance in the target quadrant in probe trial (P<0.001 for both of comparisons). Conclusion: In conclusion, maternal separation impairs spatial learning and memory of rats.


Furfural is recognised as an attractive platform molecule for the production of solvents, plastics, resins and fuel additives. Furfurylamines have many applications as monomers in biopolymer synthesis and for the preparation of pharmacologically active compounds, although preparation via traditional synthetic routes is not straightforward due to by-product formation and sensitivity of the furan ring to reductive conditions. In this work transaminases (TAms) have been investigated as a mild sustainable method for the amination of furfural and derivatives to access furfurylamines. Preliminary screening with a recently reported colorimetric assay highlighted that a range of furfurals were readily accepted by several transaminases and the use of different amine donors was then investigated. Multistep synthetic routes were required to synthesise furfurylamine derivatives for use as analytical standards, highlighting the benefits of using a one step biocatalytic route. To demonstrate the potential of using TAms for the production of furfurals, the amination of selected compounds was then investigated on a preparative scale.


We report the first measurement of the fraction of J/ψ mesons coming from B-meson decay (FB→J/ψ) in p+p collisions at s=510  GeV. The measurement is performed using the forward silicon vertex detector and central vertex detector at PHENIX, which provide precise tracking and distance-of-closest-approach determinations, enabling the statistical separation of J/ψ due to B-meson decays from prompt J/ψ. The measured value of FB→J/ψ is 8.1%±2.3%(stat)±1.9%(syst) for J/ψ with transverse momenta 0<pT<5  GeV/c and rapidity 1.2<|y|<2.2. The measured fraction FB→J/ψ at PHENIX is compared to values measured by other experiments at higher center of mass energies and to fixed-order-next-to-leading-logarithm and color-evaporation-model predictions. The bb¯ cross section per unit rapidity [dσ/dy(pp→bb¯)] extracted from the obtained FB→J/ψ and the PHENIX inclusive J/ψ cross section measured at 200 GeV scaled with color-evaporation-model calculations, at the mean B hadron rapidity y=±1.7 in 510 GeV p+p collisions, is 3.63-1.70+1.92  μb. It is consistent with the fixed-order-next-to-leading-logarithm calculations.


Context: In India, patients with mental illness and mental retardation (MR) are cared by their families. In caregiving, problems such as disturbance of routine, family leisure, family health, and emotional stress can have a negative impact on quality of life (QOL). Aims: The purpose of this study is to assess and compare the QOL of the caregivers of children of early-onset psychosis (EOP) with caregivers of MR children and also to find out the correlation between sociodemographic variables and QOL. Settings and Design: A prospective study was carried out in the outpatient and inpatient unit of a tertiary care center teaching hospital of North India. Materials and Methods: Thirty caregivers each of two groups, i.e., children with EOP and mentally retardation, between the ages of 13 and 18 years with minimum 1 year of illness and fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were compared with a well-matched control group. QOL was assessed using the World Health Organization QOL-BREF (Hindi version). Statistical analysis was done using SPSS (version 16.0). Results: QOL was significantly affected in most of its dimensions in the caregivers of both EOP and MR groups in comparison to the control group but more deterioration was noted in caregivers of children with MR. Sociodemographic factors such as domicile, education, family type, and family size were important determinants of QOL. Conclusion: Multiple factors seem to be responsible for poor QOL of caregivers of children with MR and EOP.


This paper develops an economic framework to analyze the exchange rate of virtual currency. Three components are important. First, the current use of virtual currency to make payments. Second, the decision of forward-looking investors to buy virtual currency (thereby effectively regulating its supply). Third, the elements that jointly drive future consumer adoption and merchant acceptance of virtual currency. The model predicts that, as virtual currency becomes more established, the exchange rate will become less sensitive to the impact of shocks to speculators' beliefs. This undermines the notion that excessive exchange rate volatility will prohibit widespread use of virtual currency.


The insect Rhinocyllus conicus Froehlich is a flowerhead weevil deliberately intro duced into the United States for the biological control of invasive exotic thistles in the genus Carduus. This study documents the course and magnitude of the weevil population expansion onto nontarget host plants. No weevils were reared from either Platte thistle, Cirsium canescens Nuttall, or wavyleaf thistle, C. undulatum (Nuttall) Sprengel, from 1977 to 1993 at 2 Sandhills prairie preserves: Arapaho Prairie and Niobrara Valley. For Platte thistle, the number of both R. conicus adults on plants and the number oflarvae developing in flowerheads increased significantly from 1993 to 1996. Population growth lagged at the northcentral Niobrara Valley site, compared with the southwestern Arapaho Prairie site, but by 1996 the densities attained were similar. For wavyleaf thistle, a later flowering native species, the 1st weevils were also observed in 1993 at both sites. However, weevil densities on wavyleaf thistle grew more slowly and remained significantly lower than those on Platte thistle. The most likely hypothesis to explain the greater use of Platte thistle, compared with wavyleaf thistle at these sites, is greater phenological synchrony of its flowerhead development with R. conicus oviposition activity. The results suggest that inclusion of ecological characteristics, such as phenol ogy, in prerelease studies and completion oflong-term, follow-up studies on releases would improve our understanding and evaluation of risk to native species from potential biological control agents.


This work introduces an alternative architecture of a GNSS signal simulator, where the multiple GNSS services in the full GNSS bandwidth from L5 to L1 are generated and mixed in digital form. The digital-to-analog conversion and up-conversion to L-band is then applied to the single compounded wideband digital signal. The digital signal generation and mixing is implemented on a pair of strong GPUs with specially designed algorithms for massive parallel signal generation, mixing and quantization. Data transfer overlaps with the signal generation on both GPUs. The architecture uses up the full speed of the PCIe interface to transfer the signal to a broadband DAC-board and to reach high bandwidth for real-time generation. The digital part of the system was build up using low-cost mass-market components. The backbone of the system is a gaming PC system and two gaming-level graphic cards with total costs below 5000 €. The DAC conversion board and up-conversion need to reach high conversion rate and broad-band requirements, but it is only a single wide band channel to be processed without any inter-channel synchronization. The objective of the work was to reach real-time capability for a sufficient number of channels and GNSS signals to demonstrate viability of the concept. The potential and limits with respect to issues of signal quality, simulation settings flexibility and capacity to simulate important signal features were assessed as well.


The earliest British record of fossil dinoflagellate cysts is shown to have been published in 1838, in an appendix to Mantell's The Wonders of Geology. A biography of its author, the Reverend Joseph Bancroft Reade (1801–1870), is presented; it is shown that his discoveries resulted from an awareness of earlier work in Germany and France. Reade is shown, not only to have stimulated Mantell's interest in these microfossils, but also to have perceived their potential value as biostratigraphical indices. The present taxonomic placement of the forms illustrated by Reade in the 1838 note, and in his better-known paper published later in the same year, is summarized.


We use 6 waves of the Bank of Italy's Survey on household income and wealth (SHIW) to check the evolution of workers' expectations on future pension benefits and retirement age from 2000 to 2012. Based on these two subjective evaluations, we compute a measure of expected pension benefit and compare it with a "true" measure of the same variable that we estimate on the basis of the pension rules in each year of the considered time lapse. By comparing subjective and "true" measures of the variable, we are able to measure the evolution over time of the "expectation error" and its distribution among different economic and demographic subsets of the population. Finally, we estimate a subjective measure of social security wealth and the degree of substitution between this variable and the private net worth of workers' households, in order to quantify the effects of pension reforms approved in the period considered on wealth accumulation.


A new time-resolved Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique has been developed for commercial fast scanning interferometers. In contrast to the methods developed previously, this one has greater flexibility in the time resolution achievable (100 microseconds to seconds) and can be easily adapted to measure a variety of external experiments. Experiments are given demonstrating the correct operation of this technique and its applicability in following the deformation behavior in polymers.


Business enterprises and non-agricultural startups in rural economies play crucial roles in ending the vicious cycle of poverty. The propagation of business enterprises are, however, subject to a high degree of institutional frictions and vacuums e.g., information; but mobile infrastructure which has the externality of flowing information can help overcome most of these vacuums through reduced fixed costs, lower cost of information or search, and outreach to a broader customer base. This paper studies the effects of mobile infrastructure ("mobile use activity") on propagation of rural business enterprises in Niger. Instrumental variable estimates exploit the exogenous introduction of the 2013 national mandatory SIM registration reform which provides a quasi-experimental set-up for mobile use and activity. The mandate deactivated about one-third of all existing prepaid SIMs and led to a remarkable decline in mobile use activity. The results suggest that there is economically substantial effect of mobile infrastructure on propagation of business enterprises. Moving a household with mobile use activity to a no mobile use activity environment due to SIM deactivation results in roughly 33.1 percent points decline in the likelihood of engaging in non-agricultural business enterprises. Most of this effect come from three major sources: households'ownership of a business service or center; ownership of small income generating activities; and involvement in the transformation of agricultural products. There is suggestive evidence that the reform's impact is disproportionately larger for women. With the expansion of mandatory SIM registration reforms in developing countries, the findings have extended implications in these contexts.


What role do diplomacy and negotiations play in economic globalization? Many argue that great powers shape diplomacy to their advantage, others that, in a 'flat world', diplomacy helps everyone. Going beyond these polarized views, this book explores the conditions under which negotiations matter and the ways in which diplomacy is evolving in the global commercial arena. J. P. Singh argues that where there is a diffusion or decentralization of power among global actors, diplomacy can be effective in allowing the adjustment of positions so that mutual gains will result. In contrast, when there is a concentration of power, outcomes tend to benefit the strong. There will be little alteration in perception of interest, and coercion by strong powers is common. Singh's book suggests that there are possibilities for transformational problem-solving through multilateral diplomacy. Empirically, the book examines the most important information-age trade issues.


Based on monthly mass balances on 7–8 yr of data from 16 shallow (mean depth: 1‐10 m), eutrophic, unstratified, or only temporarily stratified Danish lakes, we developed a simple empirical model relating the seasonal variation in lake total phosphorus (TP) concentrations to external loading, accumulated phosphorus in the sediment, hydraulic retention time, and water temperature. The aim was to describe the early recovery phase following an external loading reduction, i.e., when internal phosphorus loading is high, and to include seasonal dynamics. We calibrated a common set of model parameters for all 16 lakes and lake‐specific estimates of the exchangeable phosphorus pool in the sediment (Ps). Estimated annual mean TP deviated on average 12% from observed values in the 16 lakes. Moreover, the estimated seasonal dynamics and trend following the external loading reduction closely mimicked the observed pattern. The model was successfully tested on nine of the lakes for which data were available for an additional 7‐yr period. The results suggest that TP in the sediment does not provide an adequate description of the exchangeable P pool. In Lake Arreskov, which has shifted from a turbid to a clear‐water state following fish kill and biomanipulation, the model significantly overestimated TP, indicating that the model is inadequate for describing seasonal dynamics during the shift from a turbid to a clear‐water state. Although simple, the empirical model predicts reasonably well the seasonal dynamics of TP following a P‐loading reduction in a variety of shallow turbid lakes.


We live in a complex, interconnected and constantly changing world. Human driven global climate change is now a local reality that reinforces the inherent need for adaptability in human systems. Adaptability, the capacity to adapt to disturbance and change and navigate system transformation, can be understood as a function of socio-political interactions. The capacity of governing systems to deal with novel challenges through novel forms of interaction is a key issue in the governance literature, but which is only beginning to be explored. We therefore know little of how global change will impact the local level and how institutions and governing systems will respond.The need for adaptability is likely to be more pronounced for tightly coupled human-environmental systems. Indigenous and natural resource dependent communities in general, and in the Northern hemisphere in particular, are among the most exposed to ongoing and projected climate change. In Sweden, reindeer husbandry is an Indigenous Sami livelihood and extensive land-use practice highly exposed to weather conditions and increasing competition over land and resources. Whereas herders struggle to deal with the challenges that now confront them, the practice is also known as resilient and sustainable, having withstood large-scale social, ecological and economic change before.The aim with this thesis is to explore adaptability from a governancetheoretical perspective in the case of Sami reindeer husbandry in Sweden. The thesis thereby contributes to the emerging literatures on governance and adaptability and addresses empirically identified needs.Theoretically, the thesis draws on Kooiman's interactive governance framework, which offers a multidimensional approach to governance analysis where structural aspects are addressed through modes (self-, coand hierarchical governing) and intentional aspects through governing elements (images, instruments and action). While conceptually encompassing, the framework has rarely been employed in empirical analyses. In advancing an operationalisation of the framework based on governing orders (operational, institutional and meta-order), the thesis thereby makes a theoretical contribution.Designed as a qualitative case study, the thesis explores how reindeer husbandry is governed and how governing has changed over time (institutional and meta-order); how the governing system restricts or facilitates adaptation and transformation (operational order); and how a governance-theoretical perspective can contribute to our understanding of adaptability. Methods include document analysis, focus groups, interviews and participatory observation. Studies focussing the operational order have been conducted in collaboration with Vilhelmina North reindeer herding community in Vasterbotten county, Sweden.The results show that only marginal change has occurred over time and state actors still dominate governing interactions. The governing system is riddled with inconsistencies among governing elements and particularly problematic is the lack of coherence between different meta-order images and between different actors. This gives rise to divergent and conflicting views as to 'what' the system of reindeer husbandry is and explains some of the observed governing inaction and limited problem-solving capacity of the governing system. Herders are currently highly restricted in their opportunities for adaptation and transformation and the governing system therefore acts restricting rather than facilitating on adaptability. By adopting a governance-theoretical approach, adaptability as a system quality has been decomposed and challenged and the important role of governing images and power in determining adaptability has been highlighted. It has called attention to questions such as who is forced to adapt, how images and governing interactions are constructed, and how different socio-political actors can exercise influence over the governing system and interactions taking place therein.The thesis calls for more critical and empirical research on adaptability and argues that future studies need to situate and balance adaptability against other fundamental values and rights. In the case of reindeer husbandry, efforts are needed to create a better internal fit between governing elements as well as between involved socio-political actors. This could enable more equal governing interactions with other land-users and thereby contribute to mitigating conflicts as well as increasing adaptability.


The present work was carried out on the catch yield fluctuation and population structure of the cockle fulvia mutica in Tokyo Bay. The fishing season of the cockle is from Apri1 to early August. Most of the catches are recorded in May and June. The CPUE is high in the beginning of the fishing season and shows a sharp decrease throughout the fishing season. It seems that the CPUE is a good index of the population size of Fulvia mutica.The catches are divided into six market size categories after landing. The two smallest market size categories account for most of the catches, and their percentages in the catch increase during the fishing season. However, shell lengths of the six market size categories are between about 43 to 70mm, and the difference in categories does not mean that in year class. More than 50 to 70 percent of the total catches are from 50 to 60mm in shell length, which corresponds to just one year in age. It is considered that the population of the cockle is dominated by one year class. Simplicity of age compositions in the population was supposed to be one of the important factors causing the drastic fluctuation in the catches in Tokyo Bay.


The first Russian translation of J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) was produced in 1960 by Rita Rait-Kovaleva, a renowned translator of contemporary Western literature (English, French, German) in the Soviet Union. This essay examines Rait's translation of The Catcher in the Rye in the context of the problem of censorship and translation, focusing on several instances of Rait's translation of profanities and sex-related passages of The Catcher in the Rye . It demonstrates how the creative strategies of the translator not only helped her overcome censorship barriers but also transformed a foreign text into a new cultural model.


The Unkar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup is one of the best-preserved remnants of Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks in the southwestern United States. It provides an exceptional record of intracratonic basin formation and associated tectonics kinematically compatible with protracted "Grenville-age" NW-directed shortening. New U/Pb age determinations from an air-fall tephra at the base of the Unkar Group dates the onset of deposition at ca. 1255 Ma, and 4 0 Ar/ 3 9 Ar K-feldspar thermochronology in the Grand Canyon indicates that basement rocks cooled through 150 °C between ca. 1300 and 1250 Ma, refining exhumation rates of basement rocks just prior to Unkar deposition. Abrupt thickness and facies changes in conglomerate and dolomite of the Bass Formation (lower Unkar Group) associated with NE-striking monoclinal flexures indicate NW-directed synsedimentary contraction at ca. 1250 Ma. A large disconformity (∼75 m.y. duration) is inferred between the lower and upper Unkar Group and is located below the upper Hakatai Shale, as documented by detrital zircons. A second style of Unkar Group deformation involved the development ofhalfgrabens and full grabens that record NE-SW extension on NW-striking, high-angle normal faults. Several observations indicate that NW-striking normal faulting was concurrent with upper Unkar deposition, mafic magmatism, and early Nankoweap deposition: (1) intraformational faulting in the Bass Formation, (2) intraformational faulting in the 1070 Ma (old Rb/Sr date) Cardenas Basalt and lower Nankoweap Formation, (3) syntectonic relationships between Dox deposition and 1104 Ma (new Ar/Ar date) diabase intrusion, and (4) an angular unconformity between Unkar Group and Nankoweap strata. The two tectonic phases affecting the Unkar Group (ca. 1250 Ma and ca. 1100 Ma) provide new insight into tectonics of southern Laurentia: (1) Laramide-style (monoclines) deformation in the continental interior at ca. 1250Ma records Grenville-age shortening; and (2) ca. 1100 Ma detrital muscovite (Ar/Ar) and zircon (U/Pb) indicate an Unkar Group source in the Grenville-age highlands of southwestern Laurentia during development of NW-striking extensional basins. We conclude that far-field stresses related to Grenville-age orogenesis (NW shortening and orthogonal NE-SW extension) dominated the sedimentary and tectonic regime of southwestern Laurentia from 1250 to 1100 Ma.


The Boolean logic is a tool to model the algebra of truth values. It is an essential subject in Computer Programming and Digital Electronics. While teaching the Boolean logic, teacher usually gives examples to elaborate the Boolean logic formulation. However, the physical meaning of the Boolean logic is difficult for students to imagine without the realization to real-world case. The classical Pac-Man game which has clear Boolean logic game rules and simple game scenario is chosen as the teaching aid. Accordingly, two learning activities, the Boolean logic realization activity and game scenario formulation activity, are proposed. Our idea is that through game rule tuning in the learning activities, the students can comprehend how the changing of game rule (Boolean logic) affects the game scenario. To manipulate the game scenario for teaching specific learning objectives of Boolean logic, the Game Rule of the original Pac-Man game is defined and seven versions of modified game scenarios provided as illustrations are appropriately organized for students to practice one Boolean logic concept each time. The experimental results showed the proposed activity can have higher learning achievements compared to the traditional lecturing.


The hybridization of porous coordination polymers (PCPs) with electronic devices is a powerful strategy for developing systems that are suitable for advanced applications, such as chemical sensing. The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique is one that allows minute mass changes to be resolved with a high temporal resolution, and the growth of PCP crystals that provide selective adsorption properties on a QCM substrate can facilitate the rapid detection of certain molecules from a gas or vapour mixture. Herein, we demonstrate the immobilization of the flexible PCP Zn(NO2-ip)(bpy) (Zn-CID-5; NO2-ip2− = 5-nitroisophthalate, bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine) on QCM substrates and investigate the adsorptive properties of the fabricated systems. Notably, the crystal orientation could be controlled by the anchoring of chemical functionalities on the substrate surface, or by the addition of coordination modulators (e.g. 4-phenylpyridine) at the time of growth of the PCP crystals on the substrates. Here, the crystal orientation plays a significant role in determining the detection kinetics of organic vapours (e.g. methanol), and the [010]-oriented case which displays the fastest adsorption kinetics among the samples tested is studied under mixed component (methanol–hexane) conditions to demonstrate its response profile. In all, the results demonstrate the potential utility of PCP/QCM hybrid systems in sensor applications, and also serve to highlight the importance of optimizing the physical orientation of crystal growth in such systems to maximize the overall performance of the system.


The deep-burrowing species Trypaea australiensis and Mysella vitrea inhabit intertidal sediments of the Richmond River, northern New South Wales. Laboratory experiments indicated that a facultative commensal association may exist between the two organisms, because although the bivalves survived independently, their vertical distribution in sediment was significantly different in the presence of T. australiensis. Field observations indicated that redox potential and bivalve abundance in sediment are weakly correlated. However, the absence of strongly reducing conditions in the first metre of the sediment, due to T. australiensis burrow irrigation, may increase potential niche size for M. vitrea. Tank observations revealed no aggregation of M vitrea around the burrows. Feeding observations suggested that M. vitrea can feed either by collecting particles off the sediment surface or by interstitial pedal feeding; the latter feeding mode would allow use of shrimp burrows for feeding. T. australiensis alters organic carbon distribution in the sediment profile, concentrations being significantly higher in the lowermost regions where T. australiensis was present than in controls. Thus, enrichment resulting from the activities of T. australiensis may provide some reward for the energetic cost to M. vitrea of burrowing deeply.


3 Abstract: Geographical routing has been widely deployed by many researchers to overcome the pitfalls of traditional routing strategies. Initially, geographical routing is merely based on location service and forwarding strategies. But this paper presents the review of conceptual and application specific idea behind their development. We investigate the ways that defines which type, how and swhy new geographical routing algorithms are developed. This paper have reviewed new paths towards development of other location based routing protocols with advanced feature. This paper represents an overview on the benefits as well as limitations of location based routing protocols on the basis of their evolution like routing with or without location information, network topological challenges, transmission ranges problem and Link Asymmetry solution.


A library of poly(methyl methacrylate)-based dendronized polymers with generation numbers g = 1–3 was prepared, which contain different degrees of dendritic substitution (0–50%) with strongly hydrogen bonding 2-ureido-4[1H]pyrimidinone (UPy) moieties at their respective g = 1 levels. Our rheological and thermal studies demonstrate that the strong intermolecular UPy interactions are suppressed for g = 2 and essentially eliminated for g = 3. Focusing on samples with short backbone degrees of polymerization (Pn ≈ 40), the linear viscoelastic response alters from liquid-like in the absence of UPy to gel-like with ever increasing moduli as the UPy content increases. Nonlinear rheological measurements indicate a transition from ductile to brittle behavior and, in parallel, a transition from shear strain thinning to shear strain hardening. This unique behavior makes UPy-DPs promising candidates for the design of new functional materials.


Occupancy as a surrogate for abundance estimation.— In many monitoring programmes it may be prohibitively expensive to estimate the actual abundance of a bird species in a defined area, particularly at large spatial scales, or where birds occur at very low densities. Often it may be appropriate to consider the proportion of area occupied by the species as an alternative state variable. However, as with abundance estimation, issues of detectability must be taken into account in order to make accurate inferences: the non–detection of the species does not imply the species is genuinely absent. Here we review some recent modelling developments that permit unbiased estimation of the proportion of area occupied, colonization and local extinction probabilities. These methods allow for unequal sampling effort and enable covariate information on sampling locations to be incorporated. We also describe how these models could be extended to incorporate information from marked individuals, which would enable finer questions of population dynamics (such as turnover rate of nest sites by specific breeding pairs) to be addressed. We believe these models may be applicable to a wide range of bird species and may be useful for investigating various questions of ecological interest. For example, with respect to habitat quality, we might predict that a species is more likely to have higher local extinction probabilities, or higher turnover rates of specific breeding pairs, in poor quality habitats.


A 0.79C-1.5Si-1.98Mn-0.98Cr-0.24Mo-1.06Al-1.58Co (wt%) steel was isothermally heat treated at 350°C bainitic transformation temperature for 1 day to form fully bainitic structure with nano-layers of bainitic ferrite and retained austenite, while a 0.26C-1.96Si-2Mn-0.31Mo (wt%) steel was subjected to a successive isothermal heat treatment at 700°C for 300 min followed by 350°C for 120 min to form a hybrid microstructure consisting of ductile ferrite and fine scale bainite. The dislocation density and morphology of bainitic ferrite, and retained austenite characteristics such as size, and volume fraction were studied using Transmission Electron Microscopy. It was found that bainitic ferrite has high dislocation density for both steels. The retained austenite characteristics and bainite morphology were affected by composition of steels. Atom Probe Tomography (APT) has the high spatial resolution required for accurate determination of the carbon content of the bainitic ferrite and retained austenite, the solute distribution between these phases and calculation of the local composition of fine clusters and particles that allows to provide detailed insight into the bainite transformation of the steels. The carbon content of bainitic ferrite in both steels was found to be higher compared to the para-equilibrium level of carbon in ferrite. APT also revealed the presence of fine C-rich clusters and Fe-C carbides in bainitic ferrite of both steels.


• Graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) is a frequent complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation but has been infrequently reported following autologous or syngeneic bone marrow transplantation. Ninety-six autologous and 19 syngeneic marrow transplants were performed at our institution between July 1977 and March 1984. We report acute cutaneous GVHD occurring in seven patients who received autologous marrow and two patients who received marrow from an identical twin. All nine patients had clinically detectable eruptions and had skin biopsy specimens with histologic changes of grade 2 acute GVHD. Although most cases were mild and self-limiting, four patients required systemic corticosteroids to treat their disease. Thus, acute cutaneous GVHD was seen in approximately 8% of patients receiving autologous or syngeneic bone marrow transplants at our institution. ( Arch Dermatol 1987;123:745-750)


Substrate properties and hydrological conditions at the base of Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland, are nonuniform. The thickness and grain size of subglacial sediment vary on length scales less than one ice thickness, whereas hydrological conditions vary seasonally and on length scales of about one ice thickness transverse to ice motion. There is a close relationship between the annually averaged velocity field and this nonuniformity of bed conditions. Basal motion dominates in an area with large water-level variations in boreholes, whereas ice deformation contributes significantly to total movement elsewhere. Localized enhanced basal motion occurs primarily in summer, especially during a July "spring event," but this motion is barely discernible in annually averaged surface velocity measurements, because transverse coupling suppresses surface expression of the basal motion discontinuity. These results highlight the need to include representations of bed nonuniformity in models of glacier flow and to consider ice deformation and basal motion as interdependent processes.


Indirect negative evidence is clearly an important way for learners to constrain over-generalisation, and yet a good learning theoretic analysis has yet to be provided for this, whether in a PAC or a probabilistic identification in the limit framework. In this paper we suggest a theoretical analysis of indirect negative evidence that allows the presence of ungrammatical strings in the input and also accounts for the relationship between grammaticality/acceptability and probability. Given independently justified assumptions about lower bounds on the probabilities of grammatical strings, we establish that a limited number of membership queries of some strings can be probabilistically simulated.


"Contaminants in fish. Ocean dumping. Biological diversity/integrity and endangered species. Pinelands and forest preservation. Wetlands protection. Watersheds and headwaters." In "Protecting New Jersey's Environment" these concerns translate into real human interest stories about people and their surroundings not only in the state-a critical site for the growth of environmentalism-but all around the country as well. And you can add even more to the list-"ozone depletion, nuclear power, toxic waste, sprawl, racial inequity, brownfields remediation versus environmental justice concerns." Through a series of gripping accounts organized by geographic area, Thomas Belton considers key environmental issues in New Jersey and champions the ways common citizens have sought justice when faced with unseen health threats. Often, as people search for remedies in their neighborhoods, the challenges they face result in what Belton calls bare-knuckles environmental protection, replete with back-room political deals, infighting, criminals, and hapless victims. With people as its focus, "Protecting New Jersey's Environment" explores the science underpinning environmental issues and the public policy infighting that goes undocumented behind the scenes and beneath the controversies. Belton demonstrates the ways that scientists, regulators, lobbyists, and politicians interact and offers the public a go-to guide on how to seek environmental protection in practical ways.


A shallow water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold dive in water typically shallower than five metres (16 feet), when the swimmer does not necessarily experience an urgent need to breathe and has no other obvious medical condition that might have caused it. It can be caused by taking several very deep breaths, or hyperventilating, just before a dive. Victims are often established practitioners of breath-hold diving, are fit, strong swimmers, and have not experienced problems before.


This article analyzes the role of soldiers' income compensation in the development of Swiss social policy. Introduced in 1940, compensation for wage losses incurred during militia duties (Erwerbersatzordnung, EO) became the forerunner of old age pensions, the cornerstone of the postwar welfare state. Yet, by entrenching links between citizenship, military service, and social rights, the EO also contributed to delaying programs such as family protection measures and maternity benefits. Besides underscoring the EO impact on the gendering of social policy, this article explores how this program was shaped by public-private partnerships and business interests.


Alcohol abuse has been a major burden on the society. In the fight against it a key issue the education of the primary care nurses has been ignored. This study evaluates the effect of education program on the attitudes, beliefs, and confidence levels of primary care nurses regarding alcohol abuse and its treatment. Data from the Project Mainstream educational intervention were used with permission from the investigators. Two hundred one students and faculty of nursing at Vanderbilt University participated in the intervention, which was designed to train primary care providers in the Brief Negotiated Intervention technique for early detection and treatment of alcohol problems. Participants completed questionnaires before and after the educational intervention. Analysis of the data using paired samples t-test and one way analysis of variance showed statistically significant positive change in the nurses' attitudes, beliefs, and confidence levels regarding alcohol abuse and its treatment after the educational intervention. This study has shown the importance of educational intervention in dealing with alcohol abuse.


In the coming pervasive society, Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) Tags will be affixed within every product and object including human. This technology is anticipated to be a major technology which will be utilized by several pervasive services where these tags will be used to identify various objects. However, the use of RFID tags may create new threats to the security and privacy of individuals holding RFID tags. Therefore, widespread deployment of RFID systems preserving users' privacy and data integrity is a major security challenge of the coming year. That is why research related to privacy preserving authentication is growing. And the envision is that: RFID systems can intermingle into human lives if they can offer practical, low cost and secured mechanisms for tag authentication which has been in the midst of researcher's interest for almost a decade. One extension of RFID authentication is RFID tag searching. Any RFID authentication protocol which provides adequate security and privacy can be used for RFID tag searching. However, when the number of tags within a system will increase, the overall data collection cost will also increase. Therefore, more efficient tag searching method is needed. RFID search protocol can play a major role for tag searching which has not been given much attention so far. But we firmly believe that in near future tag searching will be a significant issue. In this paper we propose a lightweight and serverless RFID tag searching protocol. This protocol can search a particular tag efficiently without server's intervention. Furthermore they are secured against major security threats.


The geometry of major bedrock landforms in a central part of the Northern Scandes has been examined for interpretation of landforming events and their chronology. Analysis of palaeosurfaces and palaeovalleys was undertaken based on digital elevation data. Four major landscape generations, governed by different base levels, were reconstructed within the mountains. In the east the generations more or less merge and form plains with residual hills. The configuration of the landscape generations suggests an asymmetrical uplift with maximum uplift in the west caused by discrete events during the Cenozoic and guided by reactivated Mesozoic faults west of the study area. The style and amount of uplift differs from the Southern Scandes and a hinge line is defined in between. The landscape generations were also used for estimations of the amount of glacial/fluvial erosion since the beginning of the Late Cenozoic glaciations. Erosion amounted up to 200 - 400 m in the valleys that hosted the major outlet glaciers, while the eastern plateaux and the plains with residual hills have experienced no or limited glacial erosion.


We propose an end-to-end trainable network that can simultaneously detect and recognize text of arbitrary shape, making substantial progress on the open problem of reading scene text of irregular shape. We formulate arbitrary shape text detection as an instance segmentation problem; an attention model is then used to decode the textual content of each irregularly shaped text region without rectification. To extract useful irregularly shaped text instance features from image scale features, we propose a simple yet effective RoI masking step. Additionally, we show that predictions from an existing multi-step OCR engine can be leveraged as partially labeled training data, which leads to significant improvements in both the detection and recognition accuracy of our model. Our method surpasses the state-of-the-art for end-to-end recognition tasks on the ICDAR15 (straight) benchmark by 4.6%, and on the Total-Text (curved) benchmark by more than 16%.


Electricity markets have been opening up for more local production units, due to large transportation costs and large daily and seasonal load fluctuations. Even small scale producers are gradually getting permission to deliver to the power markets. In some countries, there are electricity consumers who have the possibility for small industrial purposes. Such customers could install electricity production units on their premises, and they could produce excess electricity to sell if they were given the opportunity to do that. In a few countries, plans are underway to fully open up the electricity market to enable these small scale electricity producers to participate.Integrating the customer units with the utility may on one hand, maximise the use of other available energy resources, whilst on the other hand, significantly reduce the power demand on the network. In addition, utilities desire to provide their customers with necessary information on electricity prices, payments and need for energy by frequent messages throughout the day. In view of the above, there is an interesting aspect to design a unit that monitors market prices, and controls local production and consumption, to optimize the economy of a small scale producer. Such a unit is described as a power gateway controller.The thesis outlines an experiment of such a system, and simulates different typical load and price situations, to evaluate if such a unit could be beneficial from the point of view of the small scale producer. The thesis is not about analysing investment and infrastructure costs of setting up small scale electricity production units. It is mainly about the technicality of designing a power gateway controller, minimization of operational costs of electricity, and simulation of a plant for testing the functionality of the algorithm.This thesis presents a designed and simulated power gateway controller (PGC) which can be used at a customer premises. This PGC has the capability to optimize electricity costs at a customer premises, where there is potential to produce electricity locally, and sell excess electricity to the distribution spot market. Also presented is a simulated model of a plant where the PGC may be used and an experimental set-up which can be used for developmental work and extended study of customer-utility interaction.


The United States government has committed grave human rights violations by disappearing people during the past decade into the detention camps in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And for nearly thirty years, beginning with a 1983 decision from a case arising in Uruguay, there has been a well-developed body of international law establishing that parents, wives and children of the disappeared suffer torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CID). This paper argues that the rights of family members were severely violated when their loved ones were disappeared into Guantanamo. Family members of men disappeared by the United States have legitimate claims for torture or CID against the government under both international law and American law. However, rather than providing a forum to address the plaintiffs' sufferings of egregious human rights violations, the United States seeks to block all claims and evade accountability. In skirting claims, the United States has proven to be a powerful and skilled adversary both domestically and internationally. My work with the Witness to Guantanamo project -- in which we have filmed full-length interviews of former detainees and others, including military and government officials who have lived or worked in Guantanamo and family members of former detainees -- has inspired me to write this article, and informs its content. Our nation must address its human rights violations.


Written by the team that developed the software, this tutorial is the definitive resource for scientists, engineers, and other computer users who want to use PVM to increase the flexibility and power of their high-performance computing resources. PVM introduces distributed computing, discusses where and how to get the PVM software, provides an overview of PVM and a tutorial on setting up and running existing programs, and introduces basic programming techniques including putting PVM in existing code. There are program examples and details on how PVM works on UNIX and multiprocessor systems, along with advanced topics (portability, debugging, improving performance) and troubleshooting.PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) is a software package that enables the computer user to define a networked heterogeneous collection of serial, parallel, and vector computers to function as one large computer. It can be used as stand-alone software or as a foundation for other heterogeneous network software. PVM may be configured to contain various machine architectures, including sequential processors, vector processors, and multicomputers, and it can be ported to new computer architectures that may emerge.


Runtime monitoring and assessment of software products, features, and requirements allow product managers and requirement engineers to verify the implemented features or requirements, and validate the user acceptance. Gaining insight into software quality and impact of the quality on user facilitates interpretation of quality against users' acceptance and vice versa. The insight also expedites root cause analysis and fast evolution in the case of threatening the health and sustainability of the software. Several studies have proposed automated monitoring solutions and assessment, however, none of the studies introduces a solution for a joint assessment of software quality and quality impact on users. In this research, we study the relation between software quality and the impact of quality on Quality of Experience (QoE) of users to support the assessment of software products, features, and requirements. We propose a Quality-Impact assessment method based on a joint analysis of software quality and user feedback. As an application of the proposed method in requirement engineering, the joint analysis guides verification and validation of functional and quality requirements as well as capturing new requirements. The study follows a design science approach to design Quality-Impact method artifact. The Quality-Impact method has been already designed and validated in the first design cycle. However, next design cycles will contribute to clarify problems of the initial design, refine and validate the proposed method. This paper presents the concluded results and explains future studies for the follow up of the Ph.D. research.


Not many years ago it was usual to comment on the lack of an open lexical-semantic knowledge base, following the lines of Princeton WordNet, but for Portuguese. Today, the landscape has changed significantly, and researchers that need access to this specific kind of resource have not one, but several alternatives to choose from. The present article describes the wordnet-like resources currently available for Portuguese. It provides some context on their origin, creation approach, size and license for utilization. Apart from being an obvious starting point for those looking for a computational resource with information on the meaning of Portuguese words, this article describes the resources available, compares them and lists some plans for future work, sketching ideas for potential collaboration between the projects described.


General treebank analyses are graph structured, but parsers are typically restricted to tree structures for efficiency and modeling reasons. We propose a new representation and algorithm for a class of graph structures that is flexible enough to cover almost all treebank structures, while still admitting efficient learning and inference. In particular, we consider directed, acyclic, one-endpoint-crossing graph structures, which cover most long-distance dislocation, shared argumentation, and similar tree-violating linguistic phenomena. We describe how to convert phrase structure parses, including traces, to our new representation in a reversible manner. Our dynamic program uniquely decomposes structures, is sound and complete, and covers 97.3% of the Penn English Treebank. We also implement a proof-of-concept parser that recovers a range of null elements and trace types.


What is the real meaning of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'? Where did the idea for the 'Jubilee 2000' and 'Drop the Debt' campaigns come from? And what, really, are the 'Ten Commandments'? In God, Justice, and Society, Jonathan Burnside looks at aspects of law and legality in the Bible, from the patriarchal narratives in the Hebrew Bible through to the trials of Jesus in the New Testament. He explores the nature of biblical law, legal thinking, and legal institutions by setting the biblical texts in their literary, social, and theological context. Burnside questions the biblical texts from the perspective of an academic lawyer and criminologist and asks what the biblical materials contribute to our understanding about the nature and character of law. He examines much of biblical law and narrative that has formed the basis of Western civilization, while at the same time exploring differences between biblical law and modern legal concepts and legal assumptions. The resulting book is a cross-disciplinary analysis which recognizes the integration of law and theology. God, Justice and Society presents biblical law as an integration of instructional genres in the Bible which together express a vision of a society ultimately accountable to God. Burnside seeks to understand both the application of law and legal theory to the Bible and the extent to which biblical law contributes important insights into legal dilemmas in today's world. A holistic teaching website to support this book, containing downloadable resources, is available at www.seekjustice.co.uk.


In this paper we consider the problem of novelty detection, presenting an algorithm that aims to find a minimal region in input space containing a fraction α of the probability mass underlying a data set. This algorithm—the "single-class minimax probability machine (MPM)"—is built on a distribution-free methodology that minimizes the worst-case probability of a data point falling outside of a convex set, given only the mean and covariance matrix of the distribution and making no further distributional assumptions. We present a robust approach to estimating the mean and covariance matrix within the general two-class MPM setting, and show how this approach specializes to the single-class problem. We provide empirical results comparing the single-class MPM to the single-class SVM and a two-class SVM method.


"A new instrument known as the NACA three component accelerometer is described in this note. This instrument was designed by the technical staff of the NACA for recording accelerations along three mutually perpendicular axes, and is of the same type as the NACA single component accelerometer with the addition of two springs and a few minor improvements such as a pump for filling the dash-pots and a convenient method for aligning the springs. This note includes a few records as well as photographs of the instrument itself" (p. 1).


Resource Allocation Algorithms for Event-Based Enterprise Systems Alex King Yeung Cheung Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Toronto 2011 Distributed event processing systems suffer from poor scalability and inefficient resource usage caused by load distributions typical in real-world applications. The results of these shortcomings are availability issues, poor system performance, and high operating costs. This thesis proposes three remedies to solve these limitations in content-based publish/subscribe, which is a practical realization of an event processing system. First, we present a load balancing algorithm that relocates subscribers to distribute load and avoid overloads. Second, we propose publisher relocation algorithms that reduces both the load imposed onto brokers and delivery delay experienced by subscribers. Third, we present "green" resource allocation algorithms that allocate as few brokers as possible while maximizing their resource usage efficiency by reconfiguring the publishers, subscribers, and the broker topology. We implemented and evaluated all of our approaches on an open source content-based publish/subscribe system called PADRES and evaluated them on SciNet, PlanetLab, a cluster testbed, and in simulations to prove the effectiveness of our solutions. Our evaluation findings are summarized as follows. One, the proposed load balancing algorithm is effective in distributing and balancing load originating from a single server to all available servers in the network. Two, our publisher relocation algorithm reduces the average input load of the system by up to 68%, average broker message rate by up to 85%, and average delivery delay by up to 68%. Three, our resource allocation algorithm reduces the average broker message rate even further by up to 92% and the number of allocated brokers by up to 91%.


Due to stringent environmental regulations on the disposal and management of the traditional diesel oil-based mud used for drilling difficult formations such as shale, there is the necessity to develop an environmentally friendly drilling mud. Vegetable oils such as Jatropha have proven to be a comparable alternative to diesel oil. However, there have been concerns of compatibility of the vegetable oils with the chemical additives and the ability to achieve a low oil-water ratio mud, which is beneficial to low fluid loss for enhanced wellbore stability.
The focus of this study is to achieve a novel low oil-water ratio invert emulsion using Jatropha oil and egg yolk as an emulsifier. Shale-fluid interaction and the economic viability of the mud were also evaluated. The findings from this study show that the low oil-water ratio invert emulsion is beneficial to reducing fluid loss for enhanced wellbore stability and the reduction of oil retention on cuttings, thereby reducing cost of disposal and environmental impact. The mud was formulated without a fluid loss additive, wetting agent, secondary emulsifier and the need for high water content, thereby savings could also be made in material costs.
The results from this experimental study demonstrated that the electrical stability of the mud emulsified by egg yolk at a test temperature of 48.9 and 120˚C for any variation, were 398 and 289V respectively. Comparatively, the mud emulsified with a standard emulsifier versacleanVB gave stability values of 201 and 188V thus indicating higher stability with the egg yolk. Moreover, the 50/50 oil-water ratio mud gave stability values of 353 and 258V hence, giving plastic viscosity of 36 cP, at the yield point of 17 Ib/100 ft2 and 30 minutes fluid loss of 6ml with filter cake of 1.7 mm. This resulted to 50% reduction in fluid loss over the conventional 70/30 oil-water ratio mud, which was emulsified with the standard emulsifier with stability values of 480 and 393V, plastic viscosity of 31cP, yield point of 17 Ib/100 ft2 and fluid loss of 12 ml with filter cake of 3.2 mm.
Using the X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner, the shale-fluid interaction also showed a volume increase by 11 and 23% of the core sample when immersed into water based mud from one to 7 days respectively. The result indicates that a high interaction with the fluid are possible, thus leading to a non-stable condition compared to 0.88 and 2.53% obtained from diesel and jatropha oil based muds. There was negligible variation in the structure of the samples exposed to diesel and jatropha oil based muds, which further suggests the suitability of jatropha as diesel substitute.
The economic analysis of 50/50 oil-water ratio invert emulsion equally showed a potential saving of
57.91% of the $65.31 of the cost of formulation and 47.5% of $60 of the cost of disposal of the
conventional diesel oil-based mud. This has the potential to equate to saving of $37.82 per barrel of
invert emulsion formulated and $28.50 per barrel disposed.


We start by reflecting on what can be interpreted as LifeLong Learning (LLL), clarifying some of the different interpretations of what LLL can be like and introducing our own working definition for LLL as the continued education and training of people throughout their adult lives, encompassing all academic levels and all forms of learning, whether formal, non-formal, or informal, but focusing our interest in the continuing education and training of people at higher education level through structured (formal, non-formal or informal) courses or activities offered by Institutions of Higher Education. Furthermore, we discuss some of the European policy frameworks already in place, and some of the current efforts to implement LLL opportunities in throughout Europe, as well as some of the main obstacles still standing in its way. Next, we explore and characterize the diversity of the LLL student, mainly as an adult employed professional, and argue how all traditional sectors are represente d in the LLL spectrum of experiences. We then explore some of the opportunities presented by these three types of learning, and pay particular attention to how distance education can enhance both non-formal and informal LLL experiences. Moreover, gathering the experiences shared by the 14 participating institutions of higher education across Europe, we developed a list of success factors for organizing LLL around three main areas: content, pedagogical delivery, and organizational issues. Finally, we illustrate the potential of LLL with three representative examples of good practices that illustrate how institutions of higher education can develop successful LLL opportunities, in a variety of forms, and across traditional disciplinary fields.


Dengue viruses are the most important arboviruses causing disease in humans. Approximately 3 billion people live in areas of risk, and there are an estimated 50–100 million cases occurring each year. These estimates reflect an enormous burden of morbidity, predominantly affecting urban centres of the developing world. There is currently no specific treatment and disease control is limited to tackling the vector. Despite considerable scientific attention disease pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. A better understanding of dengue virus biology and disease pathogenesis has the potential to pave the way to successful therapeutic interventions. This article aims to review current understanding of virus and vector biology, disease pathogenesis and clinical manifestations and management. Finally the article will consider novel approaches to clinical management and disease control.

Key Concepts:

Dengue viruses are the most important arboviruses globally.

Dengue viruses are a significant cause of morbidity, particularly in the tropics.

The pathogenesis of dengue results from both virus and host factors.

Clinical management is limited to parenteral fluids, occasional use of blood products and supportive care.

Despite a long gestation and theoretical safety concerns a dengue vaccine may soon be a reality.

Novel approaches to vector control may aid global disease control efforts.

Keywords:

dengue;
Aedes aegypti;
haemorrhagic fever;
mosquito;
arbovirus;
infectious disease


Plantago maritima displays an extraordinary variation in breeding system. In northern Europe, the species occurs as either self-incompatible or self-compatible, and as unisexual females or co-sexual hermaphrodites. The isolation of polymorphic codominant markers will provide the necessary tools to investigate the proportion of self-fertilized seeds and levels of inbreeding depression in natural populations of this species. Isolation of microsatellite loci was achieved using a membrane-enrichment method for four loci, and a streptavidin-coated-beads method for two loci. Primers were designed in microsatellite flanking sequences and were analysed using fluorescent labels.


We present high-sensitivity 1.51 GHz e-MERLIN (e-Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network) radio images of the nearby galaxy NGC6217. We resolve the compact radio source at the centre of NGC6217 for the first time, finding a twin-lobed structure with a total linear size of ~4 arcsec (~400 pc). The radio source does not have a compact central core, but there is an unresolved hotspot near the outer edge of the southern lobe. Combining our e-MERLIN data with new VLA (Very Large Array) A-Array data and archival multiwavelength data, we explore possible scenarios which might explain this complex radio morphology. We conclude that this radio source is most likely powered by a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus but with a possible important contribution from nuclear star formation. We also investigate the origin of a putative X-ray jet in NGC6217, previously suggested in the literature. This 'jet' consists of three X-ray 'knots' in a line, pointed away from the nucleus, with a total size of ~3 arcmin (~15 kpc).We find no extended radio emission coincident with the 'jet'. An additional compact radio source, aligned with the knots but without an X-ray counterpart is detected. We detect infrared/optical sources falling within the X-ray extraction regions of the 'knots', but note that these sources could be chance associations due to high source density around the target field and we estimate the probability of three randomly aligned X-ray sources to be 0.3 per cent in this field.


In developing countries, innovation is to a large extent a matter of adoption of advanced technologies but also of conducting internal R&D to be able to better assimilate existing technologies. This paper, based on firm level data from 24 developing countries, examines the roles of internal R&D efforts (MAKE) and external technology sourcing (BUY) in fostering productivity in manufacturing firms. Is MAKE a substitute for BUY or are the two strategies complementary as evidenced in some developed countries? Our empirical investigation highlights the critical role of external technology acquisition in manufacturing industries in low-income countries and exhibits signs of complementarity only in middle-income countries.


Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has evolved greatly in the last 40 years since its introduction by Andreas Grüntzig in 1977. Since then, we've observed an evolution in balloons, the development of stents, changes in stent structure, development of drug eluting stents, improvements in strut design, thickness and even their polymeric coating. Most recently we saw the rise and "fall" of bioabsorbable scaffolds for PCI. Trials with the most diverse devices for PCI and diagnostic techniques have been conducted. Two of the most recent trials were reported in the last year and deserve special attention-SYNTAX II and SYNTAX III. These trials are completely different in design but present valuable information for doctors managing coronary artery disease (CAD). Both trials take into account contemporary technology for assessing and treating CAD. The first uses so-called "state-of-the-art" PCI and compares the outcomes of that approach with the outcomes of the PCI arm of the pivotal SYNTAX trial. SYNTAX III Revolution on the other hand does not focus on clinical endpoints: it is a blinded trial that does not randomize patients but randomizes doctors ("the heart team") to make a decision on the best treatment for complex CAD. This decision was based either on multi-slice CT with physiological assessment using FFRCT or on conventional angiography. In this review we bring the most important aspects of those trials and the key messages for surgeons together; also, what the surgeon may expect in the future after the publication of these interesting concepts.


The aim of this paper is to investigate Mansi ditransitive constructions from a typological point of view. Mansi has an alternation of indirective (indirect object) and secundative (secondary object) ditransitive constructions. Also passivization plays an important role in alternation. In Mansi both constructions can passivize, although the passivization of the secundative construction is more frequent. The alternation is related to topicality, the choice between the two ditransitive constructions (and the conjugation types and voice of the verb) is made in order to express the relative topicality of the arguments.


We study few-shot debugging of transformer based natural language understanding models, using recently popularized test suites to not just diagnose but correct a problem. Given a few debugging examples of a certain phenomenon, and a held-out test set of the same phenomenon, we aim to maximize accuracy on the phenomenon at a minimal cost of accuracy on the original test set. We examine several methods that are faster than full epoch retraining. We introduce a new fast method, which samples a few in-danger examples from the original training set. Compared to fast methods using parameter distance constraints or Kullback-Leibler divergence, we achieve superior original accuracy for comparable debugging accuracy.


The subject of the thesis is the issue of the trivialization of the concept of feminism in the segment of luxurious women's press. As a starting point the author adopted the phenomenon of negotiating the meaning of feminism in the media. The thesis was investigated at an angle of feminist discourse (understood as a way of using the language) trivialisation in Poland. The aim of this study was to describe the indications of post feminist discourse forms: latte-feminism, pop-feminism and girl power and to detect the connection between them and a particular press title ('Twoj Styl', 'Wysokie Obcasy', 'Wysokie Obcasy Extra' and 'Cosmopolitan'). In the course of the thesis definitions of forms of post-feminism – previously unheard in academic work – were developed. The study was based on content analysis that showed the most important trends, used later to critical discourse analysis.


Objective This study investigated the clinical efficacy and value of fractional flow reserve (FFR) in guiding the treatment of borderline coronary lesions. Methods Forty-three patients with borderline coronary lesions, as demonstrated by coronary angiography, and who had FFR measurements were selected. The patients were grouped according to FFR values. All patients were evaluated 6 months after surgery to record major adverse cardiac events (MACE [sudden cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, or revascularization]) and recurrence of angina pectoris. Results After the 6-month follow-up, no sudden cardiac deaths or myocardial infarctions occurred in either group, and there were no statistically significant differences (P>0.05). Inter-group comparisons showed that in the groups with a FFR<0.75, the recurrence rate of angina pectoris in the PCI group was significantly lower than the drug therapy group (0.08% vs. 0.27%, P<0.05). In contrast, the recurrence rate of angina pectoris in the PCI group among the groups with a FFR<0.75 revealed no statistical significance when compared to the groups with a FFR≥0.75 (0.08% vs. 0.05%, P>0.05). The recurrence rate of angina pectoris in the simple drug therapy group among the groups with a FFR<0.75 was higher than the same groups with a FFR≥0.75 (0.27% vs. 0.05%, P<0.05). Conclusion When coronary intervention is used to treat borderline lesions, guiding interventional therapy with measurement of FFR does not increase the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events in the short term and can better guide PCI therapy.


Nonlinear analysis has become an increasingly useful and important tool for evaluation, upgrade and design of structures for seismic resistance. However, despite steady improvements in analysis capability, most practice remains anchored to guidelines developed more than 20 years ago. Under its ATC- 114 project, the Applied Technology Council is developing updated hysteretic envelope models for use in seismic analysis of new and existing buildings. The intent of this project is to support the development of updated building code criteria contained in such standards as ASCE 7 and ASCE 41. Project support is provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.


What Does Google Know about You? And Who Are They Telling? When you use Googles free services, you pay, big timewith personal information about yourself. Google is making a fortune on what it knows about youand you may be shocked by just how much Google does know. Googling Security is the first book to reveal how Googles vast information stockpiles could be used against you or your businessand what you can do to protect yourself. Unlike other books on Google hacking, this book covers information you disclose when using all of Googles top applications, not just what savvy users can retrieve via Googles search results. West Point computer science professor Greg Conti reveals the privacy implications of Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, Google Groups, Google Alerts, Googles new mobile applications, and more. Drawing on his own advanced security research, Conti shows how Googles databases can be used by others with bad intent, even if Google succeeds in its pledge of dont be evil. Uncover the trail of informational bread crumbs you leave when you use Google search How Gmail could be used to track your personal network of friends, family, and acquaintances How Googles map and location tools could disclose the locations of your home, employer, family and friends, travel plans, and intentions How the information stockpiles of Google and other online companies may be spilled, lost, taken, shared, or subpoenaed and later used for identity theft or even blackmail How the Google AdSense and DoubleClick advertising services could track you around the Web How to systematically reduce the personal information you expose or give away This book is a wake-up call and a how-to self-defense manual: an indispensable resource for everyone, from private citizens to security professionals, who relies on Google. Preface xiii Acknowledgments xix About the Author xxi Chapter 1: Googling 1 Chapter 2: Information Flows and Leakage 31 Chapter 3: Footprints, Fingerprints, and Connections 59 Chapter 4: Search 97 Chapter 5: Communications 139 Chapter 6: Mapping, Directions, and Imagery 177 Chapter 7: Advertising and Embedded Content 205 Chapter 8: Googlebot 239 Chapter 9: Countermeasures 259 Chapter 10: Conclusions and a Look to the Future 299 Index 317


We present data on the pronunciation of oral and nasal vowels in northern and southern French varieties. In particular a sharp contrast exists in the fronting of the open /O/ towards [œ] in the North and the denasalisation of nasal vowels in the South. We examine how linguistic changes in progress may affect these vowels, which are governed by the left/right context and bring to light differences between reading and spontaneous speech. This study was made possible by automatic phoneme alignment on a large corpus of over 100 speakers.


Reflecting on the research process for Holocaust Remembrance between the National and the Transnational (HRNT), which explores and analyzes the significance of the European and global politics of the commemoration of the Holocaust and Nazi-era crimes in the late 1990s and 2000s, this article will consider the influence of the intellectual context of trauma theory for this book. It will offer a response to the increasing critique of Eurocentric trauma theory which developed during the period spent researching the Stockholm International Forum (SIF 2000) and the first decade of the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF, now the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA). This article will discuss how a revised trauma theory, along the lines suggested by scholars such as Joshua Pederson, continues to offer important possibilities for European studies of the histories and memories of the Holocaust in singular and comparative terms.


1. The big question here: How do you feel about Griffin? Is he a criminal mad scientist who should be killed? Or is he a guy who is trying to work things out, but other people and society keep getting in his way? 2. Is the ending of this book happy and just? Are you glad when Griffin is killed and Marvel gets to keep all the stolen money? Are you glad that the invisibility formula is hidden from Kemp, who could recreate it? If you don't think this is all rainbows, what would a happy ending to this story look like? 3. How do you feel about the chapters where Griffin tells his own story to Kemp? Do they make you sympathize with Griffin? Or does he seem like more of a monster when he casually talks about attacking people and stealing from his father? Would it change how you understood the Invisible Man if we heard his story from another source? 4. In The Invisible Man, it seems like Griffin starts out as a dangerous person even before he uses his invisibility formula. But in the famous 1933 movie version (and in many others), he only goes insane because of the formula. Why do you think the movie made this change? Does it change your opinion of Griffin? 5. Why did Kemp turn out differently than Griffin? After all, they're both scientists. Is Kemp less isolated than Griffin? Is it simply because Kemp has more money? 6. What does this story make you think about science? Is it as dangerous as Wells makes it seem 7. What did you think of Griffin's long explanation of how he made himself invisible? Would it change how you read this book if Griffin were made invisible by magic? 8. How do the shifts in point of view affect your understanding of the story? 9. How would you react to an invisible man or woman? Do you think the townsfolk in Iping react realistically? 10. How does the Invisible Man compare to other invisible figures in literature? Is invisibility more often used for good or for evil in these stories?


Abstract Introduction Being one of Europe's most densely populated countries, and having multiple nuclear installations, a heavy petrochemical industry, and terrorist targets, the Netherlands is at-risk for chemical, biological, or radionuclear (CBRN) incidents. Recent world and continental events show that this threat is real and that authorities may be underprepared. Hypothesis The hypothesis of this study is that Dutch hospitals are underprepared to deal with these incidents. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed. All 93 Dutch hospitals with an emergency department (ED) were sent a link to an online survey on different aspects of CBRN preparedness. Besides specific hospital information, information was obtained on the hospital's disaster planning; risk perception; and availability of decontamination units, personal protective equipment (PPE), antidotes, radiation detection, infectiologists, isolation measures, and staff training. Results Response rate was 67%. Sixty-two percent of participating hospitals were estimated to be at-risk for CBRN incidents. Only 40% had decontamination facilities and 32% had appropriate PPE available for triage and decontamination teams. Atropine was available in high doses in all hospitals, but specific antidotes that could be used for treating victims of CBRN incidents, such as hydroxycobolamine, thiosulphate, Prussian blue, Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), or pralidoxime, were less frequently available (74%, 65%, 18%, 14%, and 42%, respectively). Six percent of hospitals had radioactive detection equipment with an alarm function and 22.5% had a nuclear specialist available 24/7 in case of disasters. Infectiologists were continuously available in 60% of the hospitals. Collective isolation facilities were present in 15% of the hospitals. Conclusion: There is a serious lack of hospital preparedness for CBRN incidents in The Netherlands. MortelmansLJM, GaakeerMI, DieltiensG, AnseeuwK, SabbeMB. Are Dutch hospitals prepared for chemical, biological, or radionuclear incidents? A survey study. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(5):483–491.


Experiments are the plot that holds the story of biology together. ASKING ABOUT LIFE uses the process of experimentation to describe the scientific process and to illustrate the personal and professional motives that drive scientists to work so hard at asking and answering questions. In this important revision, the authors continue to use thought-provoking chapter-opening stories to engage students in the process of science. At the same time, they focus on making the text more accessible through streamlined coverage (100 fewer pages in this edition) and a refined organization and design. New features make it easier for students to remember the main ideas. For example, Key Questions begin each chapter, main headings are numbered to make it easier for students to locate previously read information, and Chapter Summaries are organized around Key Questions. All these features provide consistency throughout each chapter. Student support is also a main focus. A student CD-ROM, BiologyNow, packaged FREE with each copy of the text includes questions created around the text's opening stories and uses diagnostic pre-tests to generate a personalized learning plan for each student. Students also receive FREE access to InfoTrac College Edition, an online university library with articles from 5,000 periodicals. vMentor, a FREE online live tutoring service rounds this powerful student supplements package. For instructors, a Multimedia Manager provides all the text art in PowerPoint form, as well as a great Instructor's Guide, an Electronic Test Bank, and WebTutor course management options. Instructors will receive CNN clips in the multimedia manager but the full set of CNN Today video clips (294 in all) is available to adopters as well. Updated throughout, the Third Edition captures the terrific excitement of current 21st century science and is accompanied by powerful new learning tools that expand the text's themes.


This exegesis examines, and defines, the visual representation of the human body within
the framework of particular fantasy idioms. It also decodes the ideologies supporting
these representations. It is the continuation of an artistic program exploring contemporary
ideas on the status of the body. It initially concentrates on sub-cultural modes of
expression that have emerged over the last two decades, specifically the rhetoric of
American and Japanese cyberpunk, the cyborg, and Japanese animation (Manga). Within
these arenas, the focus is upon the representation of the female form, and how visual
codes within the set mediums, express anxieties towards the generative power of women.
The central focus of the cyber ethic is the desire to regard the body as redundant,
particularly with consideration to the latest developments in science and medical
engineering, and the increasing worldwide interaction with cyberspace; a two
dimensional plane where only consciousness is required - true to the dualist tradition.
American and Japanese cyberpunk have developed distinctly generic characteristics,
resulting in a bizarre variety of visual representations of the desired human form for the
next millennium. Both mediums, however, dominated by male artists and theorists,
provide abundant examples of the difficulties posed by the female form. If, as American
cyberpunk suggests, the way of the future is to abandon our inept mortal identities and
download our consciousness, then it follows that the presence of a female parthenogenetic
entity is problematic to this creationist ideology.
The characters who inhabit cyber fiction are unrepentantly bland and two dimensional.
Ultimately, the result of the cyber enthusiasts' encompassing penchant for denial and
negation of the physical is a selective ideology that reflects the ideals of its creators. They
continue to perpetrate a dualist tradition, exchanging the experience of the flesh for a
more responsive and pliable package, devoid of the challenges of sexual difference and
power. Their configuration is a depthless future, where fantasy has lost all traces of real
experience. This thesis challenges cyber ideology, by presenting the forgotten elements of
its dialogue; realisations of the missing links and aestheticised fears of a fantasised new
world.


Objective To document the learning curve for the laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) procedure and discuss the optimal usage of prospectively documented outcome data for reporting a surgeon's performance. Materials and methods Using prospectively collected data from the first series of patients to undergo LRP by two surgeons in the same institution, linear and logistic regression multivariate analyses per 25 patients were carried out to graphically represent the surgical learning curve for operative time, blood loss, complications, length of stay (LOS), and positive margins. Surgeon A carried out 275 operations between 2003–2009; Surgeon B carried out 225 between 2008–2012. Results Learning curves showing continuous improvement of each of the above outcomes were demonstrated for both cohorts. For surgeon A, a plateau was observed for LOS and T2 positive margins after 100 and 150 surgeries respectively. No such plateau was observed for surgeon B. Conclusion On documenting these learning curves and discussion of the reporting methods used, we concluded that the most informative outcome measure, with the least potential observer bias was T2 positive margins. Whether as a single measure or in combination with others, this has potential for use as an objective outcome representative of improvement in a surgeon's skill over time.