Elemental carbon (EC) is an important constituent of atmospheric particulate matter because it absorbs solar radiation influencing climate and visibility and it adversely affects human health. The EC measured by thermal methods such as thermal-optical reflectance (TOR) is operationally defined as the carbon that volatilizes from quartz filter samples at elevated temperatures in the presence of oxygen. Here, methods are presented to accurately predict TOR EC using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) absorbance spectra from atmospheric particulate matter collected on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE or Teflon) filters. This method is similar to the procedure developed for OC in prior work (Dillner and Takahama, 2015). Transmittance FT-IR analysis is rapid, inexpensive and nondestructive to the PTFE filter samples which are routinely collected for mass and elemental analysis in monitoring networks. FT-IR absorbance spectra are obtained from 794 filter samples from seven Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environment (IMPROVE) sites collected during 2011. Partial least squares regression is used to calibrate sample FT-IR absorbance spectra to collocated TOR EC measurements. The FT-IR spectra are divided into calibration and test sets. Two calibrations are developed: one developed from uniform distribution of samples across the EC mass range (Uniform EC) and one developed from a uniform distribution of Low EC mass samples (EC < 2.4 mu g, Low Uniform EC). A hybrid approach which applies the Low EC calibration to Low EC samples and the Uniform EC calibration to all other samples is used to produce predictions for Low EC samples that have mean error on par with parallel TOR EC samples in the same mass range and an estimate of the minimum detection limit (MDL) that is on par with TOR EC MDL. For all samples, this hybrid approach leads to precise and accurate TOR EC predictions by FT-IR as indicated by high coefficient of determination (R-2; 0.96), no bias (0.00 mu gm(-3), a concentration value based on the nominal IMPROVE sample volume of 32.8m(3)), low error (0.03 mu g m(-3)) and reasonable normalized error (21 %). These performance metrics can be achieved with various degrees of spectral pretreatment (e.g., including or excluding substrate contributions to the absorbances) and are comparable in precision and accuracy to collocated TOR measurements. Only the normalized error is higher for the FT-IR EC measurements than for collocated TOR. FT-IR spectra are also divided into calibration and test sets by the ratios OC/EC and ammonium/EC to determine the impact of OC and ammonium on EC prediction. We conclude that FT-IR analysis with partial least squares regression is a robust method for accurately predicting TOR EC in IMPROVE network samples, providing complementary information to TOR OC predictions (Dillner and Takahama, 2015) and the organic functional group composition and organic matter estimated previously from the same set of sample spectra (Ruthenburg et al., 2014).


The ability to predict health outcomes from gene expression would catalyze a revolution in molecular diagnostics. This task is complicated because expression data are high dimensional whereas each experiment is usually small (e.g., ∼20,000 genes may be measured for ∼100 subjects). However, thousands of transcriptomics experiments with hundreds of thousands of samples are available in public repositories. Can representation learning techniques leverage these public data to improve predictive performance on other tasks? Here, we report a comprehensive analysis using different gene sets, normalization schemes, and machine learning methods on a set of 24 binary and multiclass prediction problems and 26 survival analysis tasks. Methods that combine large numbers of genes outperformed single gene methods, but neither unsupervised nor semi-supervised representation learning techniques yielded consistent improvements in out-of-sample performance across datasets. Our findings suggest that using l2-regularized regression methods applied to centered log-ratio transformed transcript abundances provide the best predictive analyses.


Due to the beneficial effects of silicon (Si) on ornamental plants, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different sources and concentrations of Si on some characteristics of Rose (Rosa hybrida cv. Beverly Watson). This research was conducted in 2015 in one of the greenhouses of Parks and Landscape Organization of Urmia and in Research Laboratories of Horticultural Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University. A factorial experiment, based on completely randomized design, was conducted with 2 factors of Si source (calcium silicate, potassium silicate and sodium silicate) and Si concentration (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg/L) with 3 replications. Treatments were applied weekly via foliar spray for 10 weeks. Results showed that Si treatment increased leaf number and thickness, leaf fresh and dry weight, leaf chlorophyll content, soluble sugar content and protein content. Because of these beneficial effects of Si on leaf number and chlorophyll content, it can improve the photosynthesis. Potassium silicate spray caused the highest content of chlorophyll a and the highest content of chlorophyll b and carotenoid was resulted from the application of calcium silicate. The highest content of fresh and dry weight of leaf, chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll and carotenoid was achieved in 200 mg/L silicate application. Due to the positive effects of Si on growth characteristics and photosynthetic pigments, these materials can be used to improve the rose quality.


This paper investigates whether accounting standards harmonization enhances the comparability of financial information across countries. I hypothesize that a firm yet to announce earnings reacts more strongly to the earnings announcement of a foreign firm when both report under the same rather than different accounting standards. My analysis of abnormal price reactions for a global sample of firms supports the prediction. Next, in an attempt to control for the underlying economic comparability and the effects of changes in reporting quality, I use a difference-in-differences design around the mandatory introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards. I find that mandatory adopters experience a significant increase in market reactions to the release of earnings by voluntary adopters compared to the period preceding mandatory adoption. This increase is not observed for nonadopters. Taken together, the results show that accounting standards harmonization facilitates transnational information transfer and suggest financial statement comparability as a direct mechanism.


Wiki is a community-oriented collaborative network communication platform. Taking Wiki as a platform, this paper elaborates how the teachers and students carry out the process of English writing by using collaborative teaching philosophy. It also designs the Wiki-based English writing teaching mode with four steps, describes the respective role of teachers and students in every step. On the basis of teaching practice, it proved the importance of Wiki-based collaborative writing teaching model in improving students' English writing ability.


Safety schools gain their quality of management by setting up strategies for risk man - agement. The nature of safety schools relies on culture, management, and psychological guidance. In this respect, schools have intensified the need to concentrate on strategic planning for making school managements in quality context. The key term in quality for the school management is to focus on risk management. Risk management covers the potential pitfalls before facing threats. Therefore, strategy and policy establishment are important for managing the risks. In the first step, monitoring risks and examining opportunities and weaknesses are the major attempts to reach out quality. This research encapsulates examination of risk management in schools and current strategies and poli - cies for the risks in the school cultures within qualitative nature. Experiences of head masters and vice headmasters were gathered through interview. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine themes: culture of schools, strategy and policy of schools, and risk management. Research results revealed that headmasters and vice headmasters are aware of risk management. Schools are not enough to practice policies and strategies for establishing a school culture. It is seen that school culture and quality can be empowered through setting risk management and setting further policies and strategies.


Abstract The sustainable development model has largely failed to address the social and environmental challenges of the 21st century. True sustainability will only occur when it is valued as a part of the taken-for-granted daily life of individuals and cultures across the globe. This has not yet happened because humanity has not evolved a global consciousness quickly enough to match the global advances in telecommunications and transportation technologies that have created a socially and economically ever-shrinking planet. Travel and tourism contributes to the expansion of global consciousness, although only in a haphazard and unintentional manner. The COVID-19 pandemic is a result of planetary time-space compression and is forcing an expansion in human consciousness that will make humankind better able to address global problems. There will still be considerable diversity on the planet, as now, but the pandemic will stimulate growing numbers of people, businesses and governments to adopt new ways of thinking, behaving and operating that are more closely aligned with the goals of sustainable development. This could be further enhanced if travel and tourism were to adopt the expansion and awakening of global conscious as a fundamental and transformational value in the products and experiences that it offers.


Despite significant advances in 3D biomaterial printing, the potential of 3D printing for patient specific implants and tissue reconstruction has not been fully exploited. This is due in part to the lack of integration of image-based patient specific design with 3D biomaterial printing within a relevant regulatory framework, namely design control, required by the FDA. In this manuscript, we describe the integration of image-based, multi-scale patient specific design with 3D biomaterial printing within a design control framework for clinical translation. Specifically, we define design inputs for patient specific implants and scaffolds, and utilize image-based patient specific design to achieve these design inputs. We then illustrate realization of these topology designed patient specific implants by laser sintering of polycaprolactone (PCL). Finally, we present initial results in large animal models using 3D printed PCL implants addressing two challenging problems in tissue reconstruction: 1) designing and 3D printing implantable devices to allow growth in pediatric airway applications and 2) utilizing 3D printed scaffolds as foundations for pre-fabricated flaps to obtain vascularization and bone formation for large volume bone/soft tissue reconstruction. We illustrate these challenging problems as they need to be incorporated in design control, but as of yet there is little data to direct how growth and vascularization should be utilized in design control.


Background Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) has pathological roles in various cell types, including renal tubule cells, myocytes, and smooth muscle cells; however, the role of MR in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) has not been sufficiently evaluated. The intestine is the sensing organ of ingested sodium; accordingly, intestinal MR is expected to have essential roles in blood pressure (BP) regulation. Methods and Results We generated IEC‐specific MR knockout (IEC‐MR‐KO) mice. With a standard diet, fecal sodium excretion was 1.5‐fold higher in IEC‐MR‐KO mice, with markedly decreased colonic expression of β‐ and γ‐epithelial sodium channel, than in control mice. Urinary sodium excretion in IEC‐MR‐KO mice decreased by 30%, maintaining sodium balance; however, a low‐salt diet caused significant reductions in body weight and BP in IEC‐MR‐KO mice, and plasma aldosterone exhibited a compensatory increase. With a high‐salt diet, intestinal sodium absorption markedly increased to similar levels in both genotypes, without an elevation in BP. Deoxycorticosterone/salt treatment elevated BP and increased intestinal sodium absorption in both genotypes. Notably, the increase in BP was significantly smaller in IEC‐MR‐KO mice than in control mice. The addition of the MR antagonist spironolactone to deoxycorticosterone/salt treatment eliminated the differences in BP and intestinal sodium absorption between genotypes. Conclusions Intestinal MR regulates intestinal sodium absorption in the colon and contributes to BP regulation. These regulatory effects are associated with variation in epithelial sodium channel expression. These findings suggest that intestinal MR is a new target for studying the molecular mechanism of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.


Women's migration within Mexico and from Mexico to the United States is increasing; nearly as many women as men are migrating. This development gives rise to new social negotiations, which have not been well examined in migration studies until now. This pathbreaking reader analyzes how economically and politically displaced migrant women assert agency in everyday life. Scholars across diverse disciplines interrogate the socioeconomic forces that propel Mexican women into the migrant stream and shape their employment options; the changes that these women are making in homes, families, and communities; and the "structural violence" that they confront in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands broadly conceived—all within the economic, social, cultural, and political interstices of the two countries.


Methods of producing the biosurfactant surfactin from cultures of Bacillus subtilis (BBK006) have been investigated. A reactor with integrated foam fractionation was designed and used in batch mode, and the performance compared with that of the same culture in shaken flasks. In the batch reactor, significant foaming occurred between 12.5 h and 14.5 h of culture time. During this period, the foam was routed through the foam fractionation column to a mechanical foam breaker, and a biosurfactant-enriched foamate was collected. Concentration of surfactin in the foamate product was around 50 times greater than that in the culture medium. Using the integrated reactor, 136 mg L−1 of surfactin was produced, significantly more than was achieved in shaken flasks (92 mg L−1). The foam fractionation method allowed a real-time measurement of the rate of surfactin production during growth. This showed that the maximum rate of production occurred at the interphase between log and stationary modes of growth, in contrast to previous work showing that surfactin is exclusively a secondary metabolite. The high value of surfactin yield in relation to biomass (YP/x = 0.262) indicated that surfactin was produced very efficiently by Bacillus subtilis (BBK006) in this integrated bioreactor. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry


Proper targeting of policy interventions requires reasonable estimates of the benefits of the alternative options. To inform such decisions, we develop an integrated approach stemming from the small-area estimation literature that estimates the marginal returns to a range of assets across geographically defined subpopulations. We create a series of maps that can be overlaid with traditional poverty maps to identify strong candidate areas for intervention, though an efficiency/equity tradeoff sometimes exists. We apply our method using recent Ugandan data. Results are consistent with independent empirical findings and suggest asset specific transfer schemes would improve with a spatially targeted strategy.


This clinical practice guideline, intended for use by primary care clinicians, provides recommendations for the diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The Section on Pediatric Pulmonology of the American Academy of Pediatrics selected a subcommittee composed of pediatricians and other experts in the fields of pulmonology and otolaryngology as well as experts from epidemiology and pediatric practice to develop an evidence base of literature on this topic. The resulting evidence report was used to formulate recommendations for the diagnosis and management of childhood OSAS. The guideline contains the following recommendations for the diagnosis of OSAS: 1) all children should be screened for snoring; 2) complex high-risk patients should be referred to a specialist; 3) patients with cardiorespiratory failure cannot await elective evaluation; 4) diagnostic evaluation is useful in discriminating between primary snoring and OSAS, the gold standard being polysomnography; 5) adenotonsillectomy is the first line of treatment for most children, and continuous positive airway pressure is an option for those who are not candidates for surgery or do not respond to surgery; 6) high-risk patients should be monitored as inpatients postoperatively; 7) patients should be reevaluated postoperatively to determine whether additional treatment is required. This clinical practice guideline is not intended as a sole source of guidance in the evaluation of children with OSAS. Rather, it is designed to assist primary care clinicians by providing a framework for diagnostic decisionmaking. It is not intended to replace clinical judgment or to establish a protocol for all children with this condition and may not provide the only appropriate approach to this problem. Pediatrics 2002;109:704–712; obstructive sleep apnea, infant, child, adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, meta-analysis, polysomnography, sleep disorders, snoring. ABBREVIATIONS. OSAS, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome; PS, primary snoring; REM, rapid eye movement; CPAP, continuous positive airway pressure; PPV, positive predictive value; NPV, negative predictive value.


The minimal SO ( 5 )/ SO ( 4 ) linear σ model is extended including an additional complex scalar field, singlet under the global SO ( 5 ) and the Standard Model gauge symmetries. The presence of this scalar field creates the conditions to generate an axion à la KSVZ, providing a solution to the strong CP problem, or an axion-like-particle. Different choices for the PQ charges are possible and lead to physically distinct Lagrangians. The internal consistency of each model necessarily requires the study of the scalar potential describing the SO ( 5 ) → SO ( 4 ) , electroweak and PQ symmetry breaking. A single minimal scenario is identified and the associated scalar potential is minimised including coun-terterms needed to ensure one-loop renormalizability. In the allowed parameter space, phenomenological features of the scalar degrees of freedom, of the exotic fermions and of the axion are illustrated. Two distinct possibilities for the axion arise: either it is a QCD axion with an associated scale larger than ∼ 10 5 TeV and therefore falling in the category of the invisible axions; or it is a more massive axion-like-particle, such as a 1 GeV axion with an associated scale of ∼ 200


A particle entering a scattering and absorbing medium executes a random walk through a sequence of scattering events. The particle ultimately either achieves first-passage, leaving the medium, or it is absorbed. The Kubelka–Munk model describes a flux of such particles moving perpendicular to the surface of a plane-parallel medium with a scattering rate and an absorption rate. The particle path alternates between the positive direction into the medium and the negative direction back towards the surface. Backscattering events from the positive to the negative direction occur at local maxima or peaks, while backscattering from the negative to the positive direction occur at local minima or valleys. The probability of a particle avoiding absorption as it follows its path decreases exponentially with the path-length λ. The reflectance of a semi-infinite slab is therefore the Laplace transform of the distribution of path-length that ends with a first-passage out of the medium. In the case of a constant scattering rate the random walk is a Poisson process. We verify our results with two iterative calculations, one using the properties of iterated convolution with a symmetric kernel and the other via direct calculation with an exponential step-length distribution. We present a novel demonstration, based on fluctuation theory of sums of random variables, that the first-passage probability as a function of the number of peaks n in the alternating path is a step-length distribution-free combinatoric expression involving Catalan numbers. Counting paths with backscattering on the real half-line results in the same Catalan number coefficients as Dyck paths on the whole numbers. Including a separate forward-scattering Poisson process results in a combinatoric expression related to counting Motzkin paths. We therefore connect walks on the real line to discrete path combinatorics.


Symbolic regression, an application domain of genetic programming (GP), aims to find a function whose output has some desired property, like matching target values of a particular data set. While typical regression involves finding the coefficients of a pre-defined function, symbolic regression finds a general function, with coefficients, fitting the given set of data points. The concepts of symbolic regression using genetic programming can be used to evolve a model for fault count predictions. Such a model has the advantages that the evolution is not dependent on a particular structure of the model and is also independent of any assumptions, which are common in traditional time-domain parametric software reliability growth models. This research aims at applying experiments targeting fault predictions using genetic programming and comparing the results with traditional approaches to compare efficiency gains.


In modeling, actual crop transpiration as a function of soil hydraulic conditions is usually estimated from a water content or pressure head dependent reduction function. We compared the performance of the empirical pressure head based reduction function of Feddes (FRF) and a more physically based reduction function using matric flux potential as the main parameter (DRF), both available in the SWAP ecohydrological model. Model performance was evaluated by comparison of SWAP predictions and observed water contents and pressure head values in a field experiment with a common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) crop. For >50 d, no rain occurred and the soil reached very dry conditions with pressure heads in the range −100 to −150 m. The SWAP–DRF‐predicted pressure head and water content values were less sensitive to root length density distribution than those predicted by SWAP–FRF. Varying wilting pressure head did not improve predictive performance. Root water uptake distribution with time and depth simulated by SWAP showed very different patterns depending on the reduction function used. Root water uptake estimated by SWAP–FRF showed smooth transitions with time and between layers, whereas SWAP–DRF, highly sensitive to hydraulic conditions, generally predicted uptake to be concentrated at a few depths. The order of magnitude of the pressure head difference between root xylem and root surface based on SWAP–DRF‐predicted uptake rates, root length density, and reported values of root conductance was the same as the order of magnitude of the limiting root water pressure head, implying the necessity to include root hydraulic resistance in the DRF.


Due to their outstanding strength-to-weight ratio, carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) are of high interest for lightweight construction. Within industrial fields requiring lightweight design and energy efficiency, the demand for CFRP increases continuously. Until now, machining of CFRP, as a crucial step in the production chain of composite parts, is mainly performed by conventional techniques such as drilling, milling and abrasive water jet cutting. These techniques come with known drawbacks, including force input, handling of auxiliaries and tool wear. The laser cutting of CFRP has already shown its high potential to be a practical alternative due to wear-free and contactless processing. However, if sufficient cutting rates are required, laser cutting has to overcome the challenge of either non orthogonal cutting edges when using short pulsed high power lasers, or heat input into the material when using continuously emitting (cw) high power singlemode laser sources, as shown by Staehr et al.Within this investigation the machining with a novel short pulsed high power laser source by Trumpf Laser GmbH emitting at λ = 1030 nm will be examined. The lab-state laser source provides nanosecond pulses at tp = 20 ns, at a maximum pulse energy of Ep = 100 mJ and a maximum average power of Pavg = 1.5 kW, while maintaining a very good beam quality allowing for small focus diameters down to df = 84 µm with the focusing optics used. It was shown that processing with small focus diameters results in narrow cutting kerfs contributing to the cutting edge angle. In addition, the investigations revealed a minimized thermal load resulting from the short pulses. At the same time, challenges resulting from shielding effects when specific parameters are used will be displayed and discussed.Different processing strategies for adjusting the cutting edge angle towards orthogonality will be presented in the paper. This optimization procedure aims at the drilling of macroscopic holes with a diameter of O > 4 mm in CFRP laminates with a thickness of s ≥ 2 mm at very high precision.


More frequent and longer duration heat waves have been observed worldwide and are recognized as a serious threat to human health and the stability of electrical grids. Past studies have identified a positive feedback between heat waves and urban heat island effects. Anthropogenic heat emissions from buildings have a crucial impact on the urban environment, and hence it is critical to understand the interactive effects of urban microclimate and building heat emissions in terms of the urban energy balance. Here we developed a coupled-simulation approach to quantify these effects, mapping urban environmental data generated by the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) coupled to Urban Canopy Model (UCM) to urban building energy models (UBEM). We conducted a case study in the city of Los Angeles, California, during a five-day heat wave event in September 2009. We analyzed the surge in city-scale building heat emission and energy use during the extreme heat event. We first simulated the urban microclimate at a high resolution (500 m by 500 m) using WRF-UCM. We then generated grid-level building heat emission profiles and aggregated them using prototype building energy models informed by spatially disaggregated urban land use and urban building density data. The spatial patterns of anthropogenic heat discharge from the building sector were analyzed, and the quantitative relationship with weather conditions and urban land-use dynamics were assessed at the grid level. The simulation results indicate that the dispersion of anthropogenic heat from urban buildings to the urban environment increases by up to 20% on average and varies significantly, both in time and space, during the heat wave event. The heat dispersion from the air-conditioning heat rejection contributes most (86.5%) of the total waste heat from the buildings to the urban environment. We also found that the waste heat discharge in inland, dense urban districts is more sensitive to extreme events than it is in coastal or suburban areas. The generated anthropogenic heat profiles can be used in urban microclimate models to provide a more accurate estimation of urban air temperature rises during heat waves.


Here we report results on a sediment-trap study from the Santa Barbara Basin in which we examine the response of planktonic foraminifera to El Nino conditions. Planktonic foraminifera census counts were performed on biweekly sediment-trap samples collected over the interval spanning late summer 1995 through early spring 1998, a period that captured the transition from "normal" conditions in 1996 to full El Nino conditions during early 1997 through early 1998. Intra-annual variations in the foraminifera assemblage reflect changes in seasonal climate variability, significant differences occurring in both foraminiferal relative abundance and flux values between non–El Nino and El Nino years. Warmer waters in the basin during late 1997 were reflected by a significantly increased presence of warmer-water species generally absent under normal conditions. Surprisingly, despite greatly reduced upwelling conditions, foraminiferal flux values during the spring 1997 upwelling season were more than four times greater than the year before. The contrast between normal and El Nino foraminifer populations has important implications for reconstructing the past history of both El Nino events and more general climate histories from the Santa Barbara Basin varved sediment record.


Metallothioneins are small, cysteine-rich, metal-binding proteins which occur ubiquitously throughout the animal kingdom. After several decades of research, a definitive function for these metallothioneins has yet to be clarified. Many metallothioneins have been characterised in the placental mammals (subclass Eutheria) and their occurrence in complex multigene families has been confirmed. Subtle differences in protein structure and expression exist between metallothionein isoforms but it has yet to be established whether the various isoforms play differing roles physiologically. Of the vertebrates, the mammals alone manifest complex MT gene families. The birds, by contrast, express one or rarely two metallothionein genes.
The marsupials represent a mammalian subclass (Metatheria) distinct from the placental mammals. Gross differences in reproductive biology distinguish the two groups, but in other respects the marsupials differ only slightly from placental mammals in fundamental physiology. From several perspectives, characterisation of a marsupial MT should extend our understanding of the physiological role and the evolution of the mammalian metallothioneins. Marsupial metallothionein is identified here for the first time.
Several independent marsupial MT sequences were isolated from both liver and brain-derived cDNA libraries. The predicted marsupial MT proteins do not conform closely to eutherian isoforms when the traits of cognate proteins are compared, and cannot therefore be accommodated within the current classification system. The tissue-specific expression of the marsupial metallothioneins was investigated to further clarify their relationship to the eutherian metallothioneins. Here too, no confident correlation is possible. The specific and predictable expression profile of MT in the perinatal eutherian was compared with that of the marsupial neonate, which is relatively and strikingly underdeveloped. Marked differences in these profiles were observed.
Like the eutherian mammals, the marsupial mammals are here shown to express a complex family of metallothionein genes. Phylogenetic analysis of the vertebrate metallothionein gene family indicates that the amplification of ancestral genes into multiple isoforms occurred independently in both mammalian lineages. It can be inferred that the multiplicity of MT isoforms has arisen not just in response to the physiological requirements that distinguish the mammals, but to some stimulus that acted upon their particular physiology a considerable time after its establishment. Two metallothionein cDNA sequences from the echidna, an Australian monotreme of the mammalian subclass Prototheria, are included in the analysis and confirm these conclusions. It is shown that the mammalian metallothioneins have evolved from an MT3 homologue closely related to bird MT. The eutherian MT1 and MT2 isoforms arose subsequent to the separation of the eutherian and metatherian lineages, approx. 120 myrs ago. The position of the MT4 isoform is less clear but is likely to represent the most ancient of the metallothionein proteins.


The intricate morphology of neurons has fascinated since the dawn of neuroscience, and yet, it is hard to synthesize them. Current algorithms typically define a growth process with parameters that allow matching aspects of the morphologies. However, such algorithmic growth processes are far simpler than the biological ones. What is needed is an algorithm that, given a database of morphologies, produces more of those. Here, we introduce a generator for neuron morphologies that is based on a statistical sampling process. Our Reversible Jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) method starts with a trivial neuron and iteratively perturbs the morphology bringing the features close to those of the database. By quantifying the statistics of the generated neurons, we find that it outperforms growth-based models for many features. Good generative models for neuron morphologies promise to be important both for neural simulations and for morphology reconstructions from imaging data.


As competition has been introduced into electricity markets around the world, a fundamental challenge has been how to govern the vertical relationship between the monopolistic transmission networks and the potentially competitive activities of generation and supply. An innovative solution is to allow the incumbent to retain ownership of its network but to hand over their operation to an Independent Systems Operator (ISO). In principle, this should remove the opportunity for the owner of the transmission network to discriminate against third-party suppliers. It also allows the integration of transmission networks in separate regions and under separate ownership. This paper considers the lessons of the British and US experience of the ISO model. We conclude that if the British model works, it could be applied within Germany, with the regional networks operated by a single ISO. Ultimately, these types of arrangements could also allow supranational electricity transmission markets in Europe.


This thesis has assessed the outcomes of cataract surgery not only in terms of clinical
measures of impairment and but also using patient perceived measures of disability and
handicap. The inter-relationships between these measures and the additional
contributions that patient perceived measures can make to the assessment of cataract
outcomes have been identified.
Two prospective cohort studies were conducted in which patients admitted for surgery
for age related cataract were studied. The first of these described current surgical
practice and clinical outcomes (visual acuity after surgery and complications)
throughout the UK. Patients were followed up for three months and risk factors for
poor clinical outcome were identified and quantified. Using Poisson logistic regression
analysis, relative risks as measures of effect were calculated for this purpose.
The second cohort study was concerned with patients' perceptions of their visual
function (disability) and quality of life (handicap), before surgery and at 4 and 12
months after. Visual function was assessed using the VF-14. The Sickness Impact
Profile (SIP) was used to assess general quality of life, and its modification, the VRSIP,
was used as a vision-specific measure of quality of life. Measures of association
(provided by multiple regression and analysis of covariance) were used to examine the
relationships between the clinical measure of outcome (visual acuity) and the patient
perceived measures. The influence of the sensory input from both eyes on these
relationships was examined. Important confounders influencing the extent of change in
patient perceived measures achieved after surgery were identified.
The findings have implications for clinical practice as regards timing of surgery to
maximise benefit, and the additional contribution of second eye surgery. These are
discussed together with the role of clinical and patient perceived measures for the
assessment of the outcome of cataract surgery.


The biomechanical characteristics of stiff knee gait following neurological injury include decreased knee flexion velocity at toe-off, which may be due to exaggerated quadriceps activity. The neuromuscular mechanism underlying this abnormal activity is unclear, although hyperexcitable heteronymous reflexes may be a source of impaired coordination. The present study examines the contribution of reflex activity from hip flexors on knee extensors following stroke and its association with reduced swing-phase knee flexion during walking. Twelve individuals poststroke and six control subjects were positioned in supine on a Biodex dynamometer with the ankle and knee held in a static position. Isolated hip extension movements were imposed at 60, 90, and 120°/s through a 50° excursion to end-range hip extension. Reflexive responses of the rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), and vastus medialis (VM) were quantified during and after the imposed hip rotation. Gait analysis was also performed for all subjects in the stroke group. In subjects with stroke, imposed hip extension evoked a brief reflexive response in the quadriceps, followed by a heightened level of sustained activity. The initial response was velocity dependent and was larger in the stroke group than in the control group. In contrast, the prolonged response was not velocity dependent, was significantly greater in the VL and RF in subjects with stroke, and, importantly, was correlated to decreased swing-phase knee flexion. Hyperexcitable heteronymous connections from hip flexors to knee extensors appear to elicit prolonged quadriceps activity and may contribute to altered swing-phase knee kinematics following stroke.


Pressurized oxygen-blown entrained flow black liquor (BL) gasification, the Chemrec technology, has been demonstrated in a 3 MWth pilot plant in Pitea, Sweden for more than 25,000 h. The plant is owned and operated by Lulea University of Technology since 2013. It is well known that catalytic activity of alkali metals is important for the high reactivity of black liquor, which leads to a highly efficient BL gasification process. The globally available volume of BL is however limited and strongly connected to pulp production. By co-gasifying pyrolysis oil (PO) with BL it is possible to utilize the catalytic activity also for PO conversion to syngas. Adding PO leads to larger feedstock flexibility with the possibility of building larger biofuels plants based on BL gasification technology. This presentation summarizes new results from research activities aimed at developing and assessing the PO/BL co-gasification process. Results from laboratory experiments with PO/BL mixtures show that pyrolysis behavior and char gasification reactivity are similar to pure BL. This means that the decrease in the alkali metal concentration due to the addition of PO in the mixture does not decrease the reactivity. Pure PO is much less reactive. Mixing tests show that the fraction of PO that can be mixed into BL is limited by lignin precipitation as a consequence of PO acidity. Pilot scale PO/BL co-gasification experiments have been executed following design and construction of a new feeding system to allow co-feeding of PO with BL. The results confirm the conclusions from the lab scale study and prove that the co-gasification concept is practically applicable. Process performance of the pilot scale co-gasification process is similar to gasification of BL only with high carbon conversion and clean syngas generation. This indicates that the established BL gasification technology can be used for co-gasification of PO and BL without major modifications.


Moral narratives have a substantive effect on the research conclusions of economists. This is one of the findings from a recent survey of economists that we conducted, which found a relationship between views on empirical economic propositions and moral judgments. This finding may help to answer the question this symposium asks: Why don't U.S. economists ever support the welfare state and oppose the regulatory state, or vice versa? We find the same moral narrative supports or opposes both states in tandem. To support one and oppose the other would be morally incoherent.


This paper uses the illiquidity measure of Amihud (2002) in forming illiquidity estimates for South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt and London. These are used within an augmented CAPM framework to form risk firm illiquidity premiums in addition to premiums attributable to firm size. The evidence suggests that London and Johannesburg have the lowest cost of equity followed by Morocco and Egypt. While Kenya has the highest cost of equity the costs associated with a Main board listing are less than one third than those encountered on the fledgling Alternative Investment Market raising policy questions concerning the development of alternative markets.


We investigate a class of estimators for Linear Regression models where the dependent variable is subject to bid-ask censoring. Our estimation method is based on a definition of error that is zero when the predictor lies between the actual bid price and ask price, and linear outside this range. Our estimator minimizes a sum of such squared errors; it is non-linear, and indeed the criterion function itself is non smooth. We establish its asymptotic properties using the approach of Pakes & Pollard (1989). We compare the estimator with mid-point OLS.


The scope of this article is to expand the shepherd model of leadership functions as portrayed by the shepherd metaphor. The identification and the biblical usage of the shepherd and the sheep is explored, with special focus on the role of the shepherd. This role is identified as that of caring, courage, and guidance. The caring function includes activities such as restoration, feeding, watering, grooming, shearing, delivering lambs, leading, and protection. The function of courage focuses on activities of assuming responsibility, serving and participating in change. The function of guidance gives a special highlight on hodegos [leader or guide] – to lead or to guide in regard to a decision or future course of action. This is where the leadership training is based. The conclusion is the call for leaders in the ecclesiastical community to pursue the shepherd-leader model for the advance and the effectiveness of the mission De i [mission of God] in the world.


Oxidative aging can lead to the susceptibility of asphalt pavement to cracking. Most studies on oxidative aging of asphalt binders are related to the prediction of the aging properties of asphalt binders based on oxidation kinetics. Development of kinetics models often involves short-term and long-term aging in the laboratory of original binder at different temperatures and for different times, and experiments of original and aged binder. However, for many rehabilitation projects or forensic studies, the original materials of pavements that were constructed years ago are not readily available to develop kinetic models. The development of a kinetic model based on asphalt binder in an in-service pavement is greatly needed to predict the properties of asphalt binder subjected to further aging for the purpose of overlay design, or to backcalculate the original properties of binder before aging for the purpose of forensic studies. This study develops a methodology to develop Arrhenius kinetics aging models using asphalt binders that already have been aged, instead of using original binders. Five asphalt binders (one neat and four modified) were included in this study and were subjected to three stage aging. The carbonyl areas of the aged binders were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and the rheological properties and damage properties were determined using a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR). First, the relationships among the model parameters of the oxidation kinetics models for the crossover modulus, DSR function, shear strength, and critical strain energy density of the asphalt binders were developed based on aging of original materials. Based on the relationships between model parameters and experiment results of asphalt binders that have been aged separately, Arrhenius kinetics aging models were developed. The effectiveness of these models which are developed based on aged binder were verified. The developed kinetic models for crossover modulus, DSR function, shear strength, and critical strain energy density of the asphalt binders can be used to predict the properties of asphalt binders subjected to further aging in the field for the design of overlays in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide or Pavement ME, or to determine the properties of original asphalt binders before aging for the purposes of forensic studies, based on the cumulative aging effects of in-service pavement temperatures.


The relatively successful management of cross-border capital flows has enabled the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) to achieve an extremely high average growth rate of more than 10 percent while keeping inflation under control. The management of cross-border capital flows is an indispensable element of macroeconomic stability. In order to cool down the overheating economy, the PRC government will continue to implement a tight monetary policy. In the face of possible further cuts in US interest rates, the PRCs monetary tightening is becoming increasingly difficult. Hence, the PRC must maintain capital controls whenever possible, and improve its management of cross-border capital flows, to enable the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) to implement an independent monetary policy to sustain the economys growth into the next decade.


This article examines the origins and expansion of "empires for slavery" on the North American continent between the Seven Years War and the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, arguing that historians should rethink the origins, periodization, geography, and dynamics of slavery's growth in the interior of the North American continent through 1815. Slavery was central to British, French, and Spanish efforts to establish territorial hegemony in the interior of the continent in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Consequently, in the forty years between the Seven Years War and the Louisiana Purchase, slavery became one of the central economic, social, and political institutions in the imperial Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi Valleys. By the time of the Louisiana Purchase, these regions were joined in a distinct Mississippi Valley plantation complex that was itself part of a broader Atlantic world of empires, commerce, and slavery. Like its imperial rivals and predecessors, the United States used state support for slavery as a means to secure sovereignty. Furthermore, under American rule, the continuities that characterized slavery and its growth were more significant than the changes wrought by the extension of American sovereignty into the interior of the North American continent. In sum, this article argues that in the interior of the North American continent, the growth of slavery under American rule represented not a sharp break from the past but a significant continuity that stretched back to the 1760s and connected the region's colonial past to its place in the post-1815 American Union.


A theoretical and laboratory Investigation of rotating gravity currents and channel flows
is presented. The study is applicable to buoyancy driven flows through straits, mid ocean
ridge valleys and fracture zones, and intermittent gravity currents. In the theoretical study
two extensions are achieved to the energy conserving theory ofHacker (1996). Hacker
considered three flow geometries, case A - weak rotation, case B - intermediate rotation
and case C - strong rotation. Firstly, the theory is extended to include dissipation. This is
achieved in a similar manner to that used by Benjamin (1968) to include energy loss in the
non-rotating gravity current theory. The governing equations and numerical solutions for
the three flow geometries are presented. For shallow currents the energy loss theory
predicts that the Froude number tends to 2* irrespective of the rotation rate. For deeper
currents the Froude number increases with rotation. The second extension to the energy
conserving theory is the inclusion of an upstream potential vorticity boundary condition
in the current. The approach taken is based on a method used by van Heijst (1985). The
governing equations and preliminary solutions for each case are derived. The potential
vorticity theory provides an insight into the circulation that develops within the current.
However, varying the pre-set potential vorticity in the source region does not appear to
have a significant effect upon the front speed and the other principle variables.
In the laboratory investigation the effects of fractional depth and rotation rate on the
velocity and other parameters which characterise the flow are quantified. For weakly
rotating currents, w/R < 0.7 (where w is the width of the channel and R the Rossby
radius), the measured front speed is in fair agreement with the energy loss and potential
vorticity theories. At higher rotation rates the front speed is lower than predicted.
However, the theories assume that the fluid is inviscid, the no-slip condition is not applied
at the boundary, potential vorticity is conserved and that energy loss is uniform across the
channel. The theory does not include factors such as the enhanced vertical mixing and the
development of a geostrophic eddy. These are associated with strong rotation rates and
could account for the divergence of the experimental results from the theory.


software fault-tolerance, process replication failure masking, continuous availability, topology The ambition of fault-tolerant systems is to provide application transparent fault-tolerance at the same performance as a non-fault-tolerant system. Somersault is a library for developing distributed fault-tolerant software systems that comes close to achieving both goals. We describe Somersault and its properties, including: 1. Fault-tolerance — Somersault implements " process mirroring " within a group of processes called a recovery unit. Failure of individual group members is completely masked. 2. Abstraction — Somersault provides loss-less messaging between units. Recovery units and single processes are addressed uniformly as single entities. Recovery unit application code is unaware of replication. 3. High performance — The simple protocol provides throughput comparable to non-fault-tolerant processes at a low latency overhead. There is also sub-second failover time. 4. Compositionality — The same protocol is used to communicate between recovery units as between single processes, so any topology can be formed. 5. Scalability — Failure detection, failure recovery and general system performance are independent of the number of recovery units in a software system. Somersault has been developed at HP Laboratories. At the time of writing it is undergoing industrial trials. The ambition of fault-tolerant systems is to provide application transparent fault-tolerance at the same performance as a non-fault-tolerant system. Somersault is a library for developing distributed fault-tolerant software systems that comes close to achieving both goals. We describe Somersault and its properties, including: • Fault-tolerance – Somersault implements " process mirroring " within a group of processes called a recovery unit. Failure of individual group members is completely masked. • Abstraction – Somersault provides loss-less messaging between units. Recovery units and single processes are addressed uniformly as single entities. Recovery unit application code is unaware of replication. • High performance – The simple protocol provides throughput comparable to non-fault-tolerant processes at a low latency overhead. There is also sub-second failover time. • Compositionality – the same protocol is used to communicate between recovery units as between single processes, so any topology can be formed. • Scalability – failure detection, failure recovery and general system performance are independent of the number of recovery units in a software system. Somersault has been developed at HP laboratories. At the time of writing it is undergoing industrial trials.


Some months after the presentation of 2009 SVIMEZ's Annual Report on Mezzogiorno's economy, the analysis it proposes shows the dramatic effects of crisis in the South of Italy. Despite expectations, it was unavoidable since Mezzogiorno was in crisis before crisis would arise. Over 2009, then, anti-cyclical policies have been funded by resources allocated for South development, thus worsening the conditions of such regions. The reasons of breaking down a convergence trend, though very slight, precede crisis and are complex, as well as they largely refer to the general extended stagnation of domestic economy compared to the rest of Europe. Nevertheless, Mezzogiorno's deteriorating process occurred since the first part of the decade and strengthened by crisis, both at public overhead and productive capital level, highlights some domestic economic policies' failures, particularly cohesion policies'. These last ones revealed not only qualitative, but also quantitative troubles, as regards public spending. This report deals with the issue of reviewing development policies for Mezzogiorno, by offering the essential coordinates of both governance and policy choices. One of the strategic objectives for South is internationalization, through territories' competitiveness based on context policies aiming at strengthening material and immaterial infrastructures, as well as at increasing human capital and collective goods quality.


In this paper I show how higher unemployment in a region may reduce thepopulation's residential mobility within that region. A period of higher unemployment creates more uncertainty among individuals about future income and place of employment so those with significant moving costs are more likely to consider delaying a move. Periods of relatively higher unemployment may also be characterized by fewer new hirings and fewer job quits, both of which tend to dampen mobility. A multinomial logit analysis using Panel Study of Income Dynamics data is used to examine the effect of state unemployment rates on the decision to move.


Abstract Patients with minor defects of the alveolar ridge and hard palate can easily be treated by surgical closure, while patients with larger defects are more amenable to prosthetic restoration. The case report describes the rehabilitation of a dentate maxillectomy patient with a definitive closed hollow bulb cast partial obturator. A tripod retainer design was chosen for direct retention in the case. The tripod design consisted of a T-bar clasp placed on the left first central incisor and two embrasure clasps with buccal retention and palatal bracing components between the right first & second premolar and right first & second molar. A complete palate major connector was designed to ensure uniform distribution of functional load across tissues. The remaining teeth, the palate, and the rest provided support for the prosthesis. Prosthetic rehabilitation of the defect with a definitive obturator thus seals tissue openings in the palate, improves deglutition, speech, mastication, aesthetics, and significantly improves quality of life.


Max-CSPs are Constraint Optimization Problems that are commonly solved using a Branch and Bound algorithm. The BB Larrosa and Meseguer, 1996; Larrosa et al., 1999; Larrosa and Schiex, 2003; 2004]. All these algorithms traverse the search space in a chronological order and gain their efficiency from the quality of the consistency maintenance procedure.

The present study introduces Conflict-directed Backjumping (CBJ) for Branch and Bound algorithms. The proposed algorithm maintains Conflict Sets which include only assignments whose replacement can lead to a better solution. The algorithm backtracks according to these sets. CBJ can be added to all classes of the Branch and Bound algorithm, in particular to versions of Branch & Bound that use advanced maintenance procedures of local consistency levels, NC, AC and FDAC [Larrosa and Schiex, 2003; 2004]. The experimental evaluation of B&B CBJ on random Max-CSPs shows that the performance of all algorithms is improved both in the number of assignments and in the time for completion.


Rigorous mathematical techniques are used to compare the Islamic financial system based on variable return scheme (VRS) with the traditional one based on fixed return scheme (FRS). It is shown, under certain assumptions which include risk aversion on the part of investors, that the Pareto optimal contract is the VRS. Also VRS spreads risks more evenly than FRS allowing more risk taking in the economy. The domination of the real world by FRS, i.e. debts contracts, is shown to be caused mainly by informational asymmetry and higher monitoring Costs in case of VRS. But these costs are not prohibitive. The more effective the methods of monitoring and the higher the level of honesty on the part of economic agents, the more superior the Islamic financial system would prove to be in practice.


In this paper, we consider horseshoe motion in the planar restricted three-body
problem. On one hand, we deal with the families of horseshoe periodic orbits (which
surround three equilibrium points called L3, L4 and L5), when the mass parameter
µ is positive and small; we describe the structure of such families from the two-body
problem (µ = 0). On the other hand, the region of existence of horseshoe periodic
orbits for any value of µ ∈ (0, 1/2] implies the understanding of the behaviour of the
invariant manifolds of L3. So, a systematic analysis of such manifolds is carried out.
As well the implications on the number of homoclinic connections to L3, and on the
simple infinite and double infinite period homoclinic phenomena are also analysed.
Finally, the relationship between the horseshoe homoclinic orbits and the horseshoe
periodic orbits are considered in detail.


Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is a peripheral neuropathy characterised by
acute flaccid paralysis. The axonal variant is associated with anti-GD1a
ganglioside antibody-dependent, complement-mediated injury to the peripheral
axon with conduction block. The blood-nerve barrier (BNB) relatively protects
axons from factors in the extra-neural environment; however, it does not extend
over the neuromuscular junction, leaving this terminal portion of the axon
unprotected. It is here that susceptibility to antibody attack in a mouse model of
GBS has previously been demonstrated. It was the aim of this thesis to
determine to what extent more proximal portions of the distal axon are at risk
from circulating antibody and what exogenous protection can be provided
therapeutically.
GD1a is expressed at the nodes of Ranvier (NoR) of intramuscular axons.
To investigate the injury caused by anti-GD1a antibodies in relation to BNB
permeability, anti-GD1a antibodies were applied to mice genetically engineered
both to over-express GD1a and to express cyan fluorescent protein (CFP) in the
cytoplasm of axons. Endogenous fluorescence allowed identification of
intramuscular nerve bundles and their terminal branches, which were
categorized depending on bundle size. Within these categories, IgG and the final
product of the complement pathway (membrane attack complex, MAC)
deposition were quantified after an acute injury, alongside the deleterious
effects on NoR protein's. Nerve conduction studies were also performed to
better elucidate the pathological pathway.
IgG and MAC were localized in a gradient-dependent manner, with
significantly more deposition at NoR as the bundles progressively branch to a
single terminating fibre. Furthermore, MAC deposition was associated with the
loss or disruption to immunostaining for nodal protein's including voltage gated
sodium channel and ankyrin G. This is indicative of targeted injury to this region
of the distal axon in an acute model. The loss of nodal protein staining is
associated with the activation of complement and the Ca2+-dependent protease
calpain as determined by the protection of staining by the complement inhibitor
Eculizumab and the calpain inhibitor AK295. A similar disruption to nodal protein
staining is also shown at the proximal NoR of the desheathed phrenic nerve.
Extracellular nerve recordings demonstrate a detrimental effect on
function as there is a decrease in the peak of the compound nerve action
potential over time, which can be associated with Nav channel staining loss.
This study is suggestive of a resilient proximal barrier that becomes more
permeable towards the nerve terminal. Therefore, it is not only the axon at the
terminal that can be a target of injury, but also the distal axons at their nodes
of Ranvier, resulting in disruption at this site. Prevention of staining loss by
Eculizumab and AK295 exemplify the route of injury and identify a potential
point of therapeutic intervention in human disease.


We present spectropolarimetry of the solid CO feature at 4.67 μm along the line of sight to Elias 16, a field star background to the Taurus dark cloud. A clear increase in polarization is observed across the feature with the peak of polarization shifted in wavelength relative to the peak of absorption. This shows that dust grains in dense, cold environments (temperatures ∼20 K or less) can align and produce polarization by dichroic absorption. For a grain model, consisting of a core with a single mantle, the polarization feature is best modelled by a thick CO mantle, possibly including 10 per cent water-ice, with the volume ratio of mantle to bare grain of ∼5. Radiative torques could be responsible for the grain alignment provided the grain radius is at least 0.5 μm. This would require the grain cores to have a radius of at least 0.3 μm, much larger than grain sizes in the diffuse interstellar medium. Sizes of this order seem reasonable on the basis of independent evidence for grain growth by coagulation, as well as mantle formation, inside dense clouds.


Matching a raw GPS trajectory to roads on a digital map is often referred to as the Map Matching problem. However, the occurrence of the low-sampling-rate trajectories (e.g. one point per 2 minutes) has brought lots of challenges to existing map matching algorithms. To address this problem, we propose an Interactive Voting-based Map Matching (IVMM) algorithm based on the following three insights: 1) The position context of a GPS point as well as the topological information of road networks, 2) the mutual influence between GPS points (i.e., the matching result of a point references the positions of its neighbors; in turn, when matching its neighbors, the position of this point will also be referenced), and 3) the strength of the mutual influence weighted by the distance between GPS points (i.e., the farther distance is the weaker influence exists). In this approach, we do not only consider the spatial and temporal information of a GPS trajectory but also devise a voting-based strategy to model the weighted mutual influences between GPS points. We evaluate our IVMM algorithm based on a user labeled real trajectory dataset. As a result, the IVMM algorithm outperforms the related method (ST-Matching algorithm).


Control flow confusion is a software protection technique. There is uncertainty of obfuscation strength and extra cost by using the traditional garbage code control flow obfuscation algorithm. To solve this problem, a control flow obfuscation algorithm based on nested complexity is proposed. The cost introduced by obfuscation is calculated quantitatively, and the complexity of control flow is measured by nested complexity. The knapsack decision table is constructed based on the idea of packet knapsack. Considering the obfuscation strength and the cost, the garbage code insertion point is selected, and the obfuscation strength is increased as much as possible within the cost threshold. The results show that the obfuscation strength of the algorithm in this paper is higher than that of the control flow obfuscation algorithm using the traditional random insertion strategy.


This paper is a review of academic literature on research in civic education of Hong Kong covering period 1980s to 2000s. It reports only peer-reviewed journal articles, research-based books, and chapters in edited refereed volumes by academics who were engaged full-time when the work was published. It covers 73 refereed journal articles, 2 authored books and 31 chapters in edited refereed books: a total of 106 publications. The following areas of concern were included: (1) concepts of citizenship; (2) concepts and policies of civic education; (3) curriculum, textbooks and implementation of civic education; (4) themes of civic education, including political education, national education, global education, and human rights education; and (5) the influence of Asian values. Given its limitation, this review has revealed some under-developed and under-researched areas and themes which deserve attention and research and has suggested some concrete agenda for research in the future.


Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall is considered an important exemplar of Cornish, British and world industrial heritage. Most of the site is presented as a material representation of linear technological development and achievement, an approach underpinned by notions of historical progress. In contrast, one space - The Dry - has been reconstructed as a monument to a single moment in the site's history: the day the mine stopped being operational. As the key location on the site for representing the cohesion and distinctiveness of the local mining community, The Dry has a disproportionate influence over the way Geevor as a whole and the Cornish tin mining industry in general is understood by visitors. The Dry acts as a point of closure that distances Cornish mining from contemporary society, but it simultaneously disrupts the temporal narrative of inevitable, incremental technological development that underpins Geevor's other presentations. The authors draw on Oakley's decade of involvement with Geevor and other tin mining heritage sites in the Cornish Mining WHS, initially through the SWLLN development project (2006-8), and subsequent regular site visits; Orange's research undertaking archaeological ethnographies of the post-industrial Cornish mining landscape (2006-13); and the initial research undertaken by both authors for the Geevor Time Project (2016-17). Through an analysis of their material Oakley and Orange will demonstrate how contesting temporal narratives have been constructed, revised and promoted at Geevor, as well as explaining some of the wider social consequences of these activities.


The Electronic Communication Committee (ECC) in Europe proposed a location-based transmission power allocation rule for secondary devices operating in the TV white space (TVWS). The further the secondary device is located from the TV cell border the higher transmission power level it can utilize. The Federal Communication Committee (FCC) in the US proposed a fixed transmission power allocation rule for all secondary transmitters. Both rules do not consider the secondary system's self-interference while setting the transmission power levels. In this paper, we propose a power allocation scheme for a cellular secondary system. Unlike the ECC and the FCC proposals we do the power allocation by considering the self-interference. We define the power allocation scheme as an optimization problem. The sum cell border data rate of the secondary network is selected to be the optimization objective. We observe that the optimal transmission power levels become approximately constant over the secondary deployment area. The FCC rule captures the general trend for cellular deployment in the TVWS, since it suggests the use of constant power. However, the transmission power should not be set equal to 4W but according to the allowable generated interference at the borders of the TV and secondary cells.


We examine some generic features of surfaces in the Euclidean 3-space $\mathbb{R}^3$ related to the Gauss map on the surface. We consider these features on smooth surfaces and on singular surfaces with a cross-cap singularity.

We study some symmetries between two classical pairs of foliations defined on smooth surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$: the asymptotic curves and the characteristic curves (called harmonic mean curvature lines in \cite{garciasotomayorharmonic}). The asymptotic curves exist in hyperbolic regions of surfaces and have been well studied. The characteristic curves are in certain ways the analogy of the asymptotic curves in elliptic regions. In this thesis we extend this analogy.
. We use
We produce results on the characteristic curves mirroring those of Uribe-Vargas (\cite{uribevargas}) on the asymptotic curves. By considering cross-ratios of Legendrian lines in the manifold of contact elements to the surface we show that certain properties of the characteristic curves are invariant under projective transformations, and examine their behaviour at cusps of Gauss.

We establish an analogy of the Beltrami-Enepper Theorem, which allows us to distinguish between the two characteristic foliations in a natural geometric way. We show that the local properties of characteristic curves may be used to prove certain global results concerning the elliptic regions of smooth surfaces.

Motivated by the study of the asymptotic, principal and characteristic curves on surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$, we construct a natural one-to-one correspondence between the set of non-degenerate binary differential equations (BDEs) and linear involutions on the real projective line. We show that one may construct pairs of BDEs that have various symmetric properties using a single involution on $\mathbb{R}P^1$. We study the folded singularities of BDEs, and associate an affine invariant to such points. We show that one may associate a complex parameter to folded singularities that determines the relative positions of various curves of interest.

We show that the BDEs asymptotic, characteristic, and principal curves are related to other quadratic forms on surfaces. These include the BDE that defines the lines of arithmetic mean curvature which are studied in \cite{garciasotomayorarith}, and the third fundamental form of the surface. We define a new pair of foliations of a surface which we label the minimal orthogonal spherical image (MOSI) curves which are the integral curves of those tangent directions to a surface that have orthogonal images under the Gauss map, and are inclined at an extremal angle. We establish the configurations of the MOSI curves in a neighbourhood of umbilic points, parabolic points and cusps of Gauss.

We construct natural 1-parameter families of BDEs that interpolate between the BDEs we have studied, and establish relationships between these families.

We exhibit the existence of a curve of points of zero torsion of the characteristic curves, and a curve of points where the tangent plane to the surface is the osculating plane of a characteristic curve. We determine the behaviour of these curves near cusps of Gauss and umbilic points.

We study BDEs with coefficients that vanish simultaneously at an isolated point and with discriminant having an $A_2$-singularity at that point. We show that such BDEs can be grouped into three distinct types, and study the differences between these types in terms of their codimension and the linear parts of their coefficients. We establish the topological configurations of the solution curves in each case with codimension $\leq4$.

We study the asymptotic and characteristic curves in the neighbourhood of a parabolic cross-cap, that is, on a singular surface with a cross-cap singularity with a parabolic set having a cusp singularity at the singular point. We obtain the topological configurations of these foliations both in the domain of a parametrisation of such a surface, and on the surface itself. We construct a natural one-parameter family of surfaces with cross-cap singularities in which the parabolic cross-cap is the transition from a hyperbolic cross-cap to an elliptic cross-cap. We study the bifurcations of the asymptotic and characteristic curves in this family.


We investigate the distribution of European Union (EU) Structural Funds across EU regions. We draw from literature concerning the political economy of national intergovernmental grants, and regarding the EU's two-tiered bargaining process. Bargaining over the distribution of Structural Funds takes place between regions and their respective national governments, but is also influenced by bargaining that occurs on an intergovernmental level. We test our claims with a data set containing the distribution of Objective-1 and Objective-2 funds across EU regions, as well as other economic, institutional and electoral variables. Adjusting for selection bias, we find that the official allocation criteria are not sufficient determinants for explaining the distribution of regional transfers. For Objective-2 they may even be said to bear the opposite sign. Moreover, federalist regions and those with stronger electoral competition receive significantly more transfers than other regions.


Vereeniging, a drab and sooty industrial spot south of Johannesburg, was the spot where the British and the Boers signed the peace treaty of May 1902 which ended the South African War and paved the way to the first New South Africa. It was also there that, 94 years later, Nelson Mandela signed the final draft of his country's new post-apartheid constitution into law, sealing the arrival of the second New South Africa. Symbolically, it was a telling choice of place, and in more ways than one. Because that adoption ritual took place in Vereeniging's African township of Sharpeville, the location where in March 1960 South African police opened fire with live ammunition on Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)-led African demonstrators who had assembled to protest against the detested pass laws of the apartheid regime.


Ongoing globalisation combined with the rapid pace of technological change have generated significant growth in economic activities and have improved the welfare and living standards of many people around the world. e opening up of the world economy has also led to unprecedented surges in international trade and has fundamentally transformed the way that goods and services are produced, exchanged and consumed. In addition, the increasing separation of production and consumption activities has been accompanied by an increase in energy, resource and carbon content embodied in international trade. In general all economic activity requires the use of energy, which has a variety of environmental impacts. is dissertation examines how the relationship between energy use and economic growth evolved in high-income countries from 1970 to 2014 and the role of trade in this. e approach involves looking at the factors driving the change, how the importance of these factors has changed over time and how it differed across countries. (Less)


"Beyond Power Yoga" presents and explores the "complete" journey of the classical "astanga yoga" system, from power yoga to meditation and liberation. Bender Birch s first book, the groundbreaking "Power Yoga, " introduced one level of "astanga yoga" to mainstream America a high-heat, high-energy mind/body workout. Now, " Beyond Power Yoga" presents all eight levels, or limbs, of this ancient method a total practice for body and soul. Drawing a parallel between "astanga yoga'"s eight limbs and the mind/body energy centers "(chakras)" of Eastern philosophy, Bender Birch shows us how we can balance and heal our body, focus and relax our mind, amplify and direct our energy "(prana), " and ultimately reclaim our spiritual connection to Universal Consciousness. Each chapter offers specific practices to help the reader uncover and experience the insights of the "astanga yoga" journey. The YAMAS: Exploring the Fundamentals The NIYAMAS: Doing the Work ASANA: Practicing the Postures PRANAYAMA: Breathing Mindfully PRATYAHARA: Turning Inward DHARANA: Developing Concentration DHYANA: Experiencing Meditation SAMADHI: Living Joyfully Presented in the down-to-earth illuminating style and inspiring voice of the author, illustrated with easy-to-follow photos, plus a special "wall" chart of the "asana" sequences, "Beyond Power Yoga" offers a short form of the dynamic mind/body power yoga method, then journeys through the deeper levels of spiritual practice."


Tachinid flies are diverse and ecologically important insect parasitoids. However, the means by which tachinid species locate and select hosts are poorly known. Many tachinids exhibit unusually wide host ranges and they also possess well‐developed visual systems. These characteristics suggest that tachinids differ from parasitic wasps in their reliance on various sensory modes and types of cues. A series of behavioral assays using the generalist tachinid Exorista mella Walker (Diptera: Tachinidae) were conducted to examine what types of cues this parasitoid uses to locate and accept hosts, and how the cues used may reflect its ecological relationships with hosts. Female E. mella responded strongly to host motion in assays using both live hosts and host corpses, and this cue is shown to be an important elicitor of attack behavior. Females also responded to volatile chemicals associated with damaged food plants of their host in an olfactometer. Flies responded only weakly to direct visual contact with stationary hosts and odors directly associated with hosts. The behavior of female E. mella changed with experience such that more experienced flies recognized and attacked hosts more readily than did inexperienced flies. The use of general olfactory and visual cues by E. mella may be an effective strategy by this polyphagous parasitoid to locate a broad range of potential hosts.


For the past thirty years the Malaysian economy has been said to contribute well to the progress of the
nations. However, the intensification of global economic activity and the extensive use of ICTs in
recent years are challenging government's effort to further develop Malaysian society. The
competition posed by the low wage economies such as China and Vietnam have made the government
realise the importance of engaging in high-skill and high technology industries. It is hoped this will be
the basis of attracting more FDI (foreign direct investment) in order to help the country to compete in a
globalised world. Using Vision 2020 as its targeted vision, the government has decided to engage in
the use of ICTs and introduce many policies pertaining to it. This thesis is mainly concerned with the
study of ICT policy in Malaysia and its consequences for both the economy and society.
The investigation focuses on the three dimensions: 'ICTs and economic growth', 'ICTs and inequality'
and 'the element of neo-colonialism'. Two approaches are used to achieve the objectives of the study.
They are secondary analysis and semi-structured interviews. This thesis is largely dependent on library
research and secondary sources such as government official policies and data. Semi-structured
interviews are used as a means to support or test some of the arguments and evidence collected
throughout the analysis and discussion. For the interviews, three groups of people were identified:
policy developers, implementers and evaluators. These people are those involved directly and
indirectly with ICT policy establishment and implementation.
The findings show that policy pertaining to ICTs in Malaysia contributes to economic growth, but the
consequences of this have resulted in greater division within society. Although some of the divisions
such as gender and ethnicity are narrowing down, the gap in important areas such as regions and class
differences, is becoming wider. The widespread use of ICTs might contribute to the further
establishment of democracy in Malaysia, but the increasing number of foreign entities such as FDI and
foreign workers, cultural hybridisation and to some extent cultural doniination are contributing to neocolonialism
in Malaysia. This has obvious consequences for the government's effort to create a
Malaysian national identity. An important finding of this work is that there are contradictions within
ICT policy between the effort to develop the economy and society.


Observer perspective imagery is hypothesised to have wide ranging deleterious effects in social anxiety. This study examined the ways in which imagery perspective influenced negative thoughts and level of discomfort during a conversation. High and low socially anxious individuals were assigned to an observer or field perspective imagery induction condition. The effects of imagery type on negative thoughts and discomfort experienced were assessed using questionnaires. Participants with high (n= 24) and low (n = 24) social anxiety, as measured by the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory engaged in an imagery task to focus their attention on an observer or a field perspective image of the situation. They then took part in a semi-structured conversation with the experimenter. Following this, participants completed the Negative Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Discomfort Scale. Group comparisons showed that the high socially anxious group rated the images they formed as clearer, more realistic, and easier to keep in mind than the low socially anxious groups. Univariate analyses showed that high socially anxious individuals reported experiencing more negative thoughts and feelings of discomfort during the conversation, regardless of imagery type used. Univariate analyses also showed that participants who focused on an observer perspective image reported more discomfort than those who focused on a field perspective image, regardless of anxiety group. The findings support the possibility that images of social situations are particularly salient for socially anxious individuals. The findings also support cognitive models which suggest socially anxious individuals experience negative thoughts during social situations. The results also tentatively support the possibility that observer perspective imagery may have a causal role in social anxiety, possibly by causing a negative emotional response to the situation, which may then be reflected upon in maladaptive fashions and play a role in the provenance of more cognitive social anxiety. Results are discussed in the context of cognitive theories and therapies. This study supports the use of imagery modification as an element of CBT for social anxiety. The clarity, realism and persistence of both types of images for socially anxious individuals suggests that field perspective images in socially anxious people may warrant further investigation.


It is argued on the basis of exact solutions for uniform vortices in straining fields that vortices of finite cross-section in a row will disintegrate if the spacing is too small. The results are applied to the organized vortex structures observed in turbulent mixing layers. An explanation is provided for the disappearance of these structures as they move downstream and it is deduced that the ratio of average spacing to width should be about 3·5, the width being defined by the maximum slope of the mean velocity. It is shown in an appendix that walls have negligible effect.


Foreign direct investment (FDI) from Multinational enterprises (MNEs) can
 augment the productivity of domestic firms insofar as knowledge "spills over"
 from foreign investors to local producers. The capacity of local companies to
 exploit knowledge from MNEs can be affected by the technology gap between
 foreign and local enterprises at both horizontal (in the same industry) and
 vertical (in different industries) level. Whereas most of the empirical
 literature has focused exclusively on the analysis of horizontal and backward
 spillovers (i.e. between MNEs and local suppliers), the present paper also
 examines the relationship between FDI-related spillovers and technological
 gap in the Italian manufacturing sector at forward level (i.e. between MNEs
 and local buyers). Results suggest that at both intra-industry and forward
 level, the technological gap is of considerable importance for the spillover
 effect, particularly in the case of low-medium gap.


In this book, Monika Amsler explores the historical contexts in which the Babylonian Talmud was formed in an effort to determine whether it was the result of oral transmission. Scholars have posited that the rulings and stories we find in the Talmud were passed on from one generation to the next, each generation adding their opinions and interpretations of a given subject. Yet, such an oral formation process is unheard of in late antiquity. Moreover, the model exoticizes the Talmud and disregards the intellectual world of Sassanid Persia. Rather than taking the Talmud's discursive structure as a sign for orality, Amsler interrogates the intellectual and material prerequisites of composers of such complex works, and their education and methods of large-scale data management. She also traces and highlights the marks that their working methods inevitably left in the text. Detailing how intellectual innovation was generated, Amsler's book also sheds new light on the content of the Talmud. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.


This study involved (a) the development and testing of a solution turbidity fractionation analyser (TFA) and (b) the investigation of possible molecular weight effects on solution crystallisation. To investigate the latter highly isotactic polypropylene was polymerised with a C2 symmetric metallocene catalyst. Blends were made of these homopolymers. The homopolymers as well as the blends were fractionated by means of temperature rising elution fractionation (TREF). The fractionated and unfractionated homopolymers as well as the fractionated blends were characterised by C NMR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The TFA was successfully developed and helped in explaining the shifting of solution crystallisation temperature that was seen when blending of the homopolymers occurred. This was done performing analyses on the machine of blends of the homopolymers. Fractions, of the homopolymers and blends, obtained from TREF were also done. Subsequent runs of blends made from the fractions obtained from TREF were also done. In the end it was shown that the shift of the solution crystallisation temperature is either due to the tacticity or the molecular weight depending on the sample.


As it becomes clear that global warming is a reality, states are increasingly taking measures to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2). These efforts come largely in response to the federal government's failure to regulate CO2 emissions. Perhaps the most significant and novel example of states' efforts to combat this problem is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state attempt to establish a regional cap-and-trade program targeting CO2 emissions produced by fossil fuel-fired power plants. RGGI faces significant obstacles in its path to full implementation, including the possibility that it violates the Compact Clause of Article I of the United States Constitution. This Note argues that in its current iteration, RGGI likely does not conflict with the federal government's Compact Clause power as delineated by the Supreme Court in U.S. Steel Corp. v. Multistate Tax Commission. If RGGI's administrative body is ultimately vested with greater regulatory and enforcement powers, however, this Note concludes that the outcome under U.S. Steel could be much different.


This study was aimed to assess the nutritional potential of an unexplored wild edible plant,Digera muricata (L.) Mart. commonly used as food in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The nutritional, vitamins, minerals and trace elements were investigated, using standard methods of Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). Nutritional assessment included determination of moisture, ash, lipid, fiber, protein, carbohydrate, and energy. Among the nutrient values, fiber was found to be the highest, followed by ash, carbohydrates, moisture and protein. Lipid was present in very small quantity. The vitamins analyzed were found to have greater value for riboflavin than retinol. Among the macro minerals, potassium was present in high concentration than sodium. The trace elements were assessed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and their decreasing order was Fe>Zn>Mn>Co>Ni. Two toxic metals, Pb and Cd were present in very minute quantities. From the results it was suggested that D. muricata (L.) Mart. is a useful plant and can be used as food.

 Key words: Digera muricata (L.) Mart., nutritional evaluation, vitamins, minerals, Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC).


In this chapter I argue that much recent thinking about the links between 'development' and combating terrorism has been misguided and that the response to both poverty and terrorism has suffered as a result. At the conceptual level there is a potential clash between altruism and self-interest; whereas the purpose of development work is to secure human rights and justice for all people for altruistic reasons, counter-terrorism is usually framed in terms of self-defense and self-interest. There is also a moral deficit: Western governments pay more attention to the development needs of states seen as posing a global security threat than to those where human suffering is greatest, and the absence of a consistent foreign policy approach to issues of poverty and conflict undermines the authority of the West's interventions. At the practical level, the role of 'development' in combating terrorism is almost certainly overplayed. Poor people do not necessarily become terrorists, although poverty and – especially – injustice provide the narrative that leaders of terrorist organizations use to justify their activity. Successful action to combat terrorism requires us to acknowledge people's grievances and legitimate aspirations to a better life, and give some hope that these can be met, as well as to insist robustly on the rule of law. This should include a determined effort to engage armed groups in political processes rather than allow them to fall back on extremist tactics. Instead, the current policy preference is for the diversion of aid funds into military budgets, in the misguided belief that this will help win the 'war on terror'; this option also reflects the difficulties faced by donor governments struggling to reconcile their nominally altruistic development goals with their more self-interested security concerns. For all these reasons international NGOs and other independent development actors have of necessity to keep their distance from official action by governments to combat terrorism and even official development agencies struggle to define their role as part of a 'comprehensive approach'. I argue that governments can help to close this gap by adopting a broader concept of self-interest, based on the recognition that security is an entitlement of rich and poor people alike. Terrorist activity damages the poor as much as the rich (if not more so) but perceived injustice and the unaddressed grievances of the poor and marginalized – exacerbated by the exclusion of armed groups from political processes - allow it to flourish. The challenge facing Western governments engaged in the attempt to combat terrorism is to apply the principles of equity and social justice consistently across all aspects of our foreign and security policy so that development and counter-terrorism can be mutually reinforcing.


The present study is an attempt to investigate the use of vague expressions by intermediate EFL learners. More specifically, the current study focuses on the structures and functions of one of the most common categories of vague language, i.e. general extenders. The data include a 22-hour corpus of English-as-a-foreign-language conversations. A comparison is also made between this corpus and a 20-hour corpus of Persian conversations. The analyses show that the first language influences not only the structure but also the position of EFL general extenders. Additionally, the present study shows that some of the functions fulfilled by Persian general extenders can be transferred to EFL discourse. The current study can be interpreted as evidence suggesting that there is a complex intertwining between universal and language-specific features at least when one compares general extenders across languages.


In order to preserve the conditions for an environmentally safe machine, at present the selection of materials for the structural components of fusion reactors is made not only on the basis of adequate mechanical properties, behaviour under irradiation, and compatibility with other materials and cooling media, but also on their radiological properties, i.e. radioactivity, decay heat and radiotoxicity. These conditions strongly limit the number of suitable materials to a few families of alloys, generically known as low activation materials. The criteria for making decisions about such materials, the alloys resulting from the application of these ideas and the main issues and problems with their use in a fusion environment are discussed.


Background. Compulsive buying—defined as excessive, uncontrolled, and repetitive buying— is a serious problem in today's society, driven by consumeristic values and reinforced by marketing efforts. However, the research on the external influences (e.g., brand information) and underlying processes that explain consumer behavior in brand-manifesting situations in compulsive buying is relatively scarce. This thesis provides an integrative literature review and two experimental studies that yield cross-disciplinary insights into the compulsive buying phenomenon. The thesis aims to study the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses that characterize consumer-brand interactions at relevant brand touchpoints in compulsive buying. Research methodology. Two experimental studies investigate similarities and differences between two groups of consumers with high and low compulsive buying tendencies (CBTs) at two brand touchpoints that represent a pre-purchase and purchase phase of the consumer journey. Multimodal consumer neuroscience tools (i.e., eye-tracker, EEG, and EDA) are employed to collect neurophysiological and physiological responses during exposure to marketing information. The first study examines consumer information processing of advertisements during a simulated TV commercial-viewing experiment. The second study investigates consumer information processing of store environments during a field experiment conducted in two single-brand fashion-apparel stores (i.e., low-end vs. high-end). Findings. The findings from the first study indicate that, regardless of their CBT level, consumers tend to allocate a relatively equal amount of cognitive resources to attend to, process, and remember exposed advertising information during the entire duration of commercial viewing. The two groups differed in their visual processing of brand elements only when viewing advertisements related to social cause. In the consumer group with a high CBT, a higher cognitive workload was linked to a lower probability of subsequent brand recognition. The findings from the second study revealed that, regardless of the fashion-store type, consumers with a high CBT chose items that were more expensive than consumers with a low CBT. The changes in physiological arousal during the first minute of shopping showed that, although both consumer groups were more emotionally responsive to the high-end than the low-end fashion


Irregular applications, which manipulate large, pointer-based data structures like graphs, are difficult to parallelize manually. Automatic tools and techniques such as restructuring compilers and run-time speculative execution have failed to uncover much parallelism in these applications, in spite of a lot of effort by the research community. These difficulties have even led some researchers to wonder if there is any coarse-grain parallelism worth exploiting in irregular applications.
 In this paper, we describe two real-world irregular applications: a Delaunay mesh refinement application and a graphics application thatperforms agglomerative clustering. By studying the algorithms and data structures used in theseapplications, we show that there is substantial coarse-grain, data parallelism in these applications, but that this parallelism is very dependent on the input data and therefore cannot be uncoveredby compiler analysis. In principle, optimistic techniques such asthread-level speculation can be used to uncover this parallelism, but we argue that current implementations cannot accomplish thisbecause they do not use the proper abstractions for the data structuresin these programs.
 These insights have informed our design of the Galois system, an object-based optimistic parallelization system for irregular applications. There are three main aspects to Galois: (1) a small number of syntactic constructs for packaging optimistic parallelism as iteration over ordered and unordered sets, (2)assertions about methods in class libraries, and (3) a runtime scheme for detecting and recovering from potentially unsafe accesses to shared memory made by an optimistic computation.
 We show that Delaunay mesh generation and agglomerative clustering can be parallelized in a straight-forward way using the Galois approach, and we present experimental measurements to show that this approach is practical. These results suggest that Galois is a practical approach to exploiting data parallelismin irregular programs.