A novel magnetic ion-imprinted polymer (MIIP) was prepared by inverse microemulsion polymerization using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker, and 2,2-azo-bis-isobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator. Fe3O4 particles were incorporated into the imprinted polymer matrix containing 4-vinyl pyridine and acrylate-modified Spirulina platensis as the functional monomers, Pb(II) and Cd(II) as double-templates. The MIIP product was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy and then evaluated for the magnetic solid-phase extraction of Pb(II) and Cd(II) from environmental and food samples. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry detection was also performed. The obtained MIIP showed the magnetic property, agglomerates of globular particles and rough surface morphologies. The maximum static adsorption capacities of MIIP for Pb(II) and Cd(II) were 108 and 56 mg g−1, respectively. The factors affecting the adsorption and separation of Pb(II) and Cd(II), namely, solution pH, adsorbent dosage, eluting solvent, and elution time, were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits (S/N = 3) of the method were 0.1 and 0.08 μg kg−1 for Pb(II) and Cd(II), respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for 10-replicate detections of a soil sample were 3.3% and 3.7% for Pb(II) and Cd(II), respectively. Standard solutions containing Pb(II) and Cd(II) in the concentration range of 0.8 to 5000 μg kg−1 were analyzed by the proposed procedure and it was found that the calibration curve was linear in this range (R2 ≥ 0.999). The proposed method was successfully used to determine the Pb(II) and Cd(II) contents of cinnamon, lotus root and sweet potato with recovery rates ranging from 87.5% to 106%.


Patients remanded over a two-year period to Woodbridge Hospital by Court Order were studied retrospectively. Schizophrenia was the most common diagnosis, theft and robbery the most prevalent offences. Males greatly outnumbered females. There were important gender differences, with males tending to commit sexual offences and females, theft and mischief. Males were less likely to be acquainted with their victims but those who caused hurt were more likely to know their victims. Outrage of modesty and theft were more likely to be committed against strangers. The reconviction rate was 26%, with repeat offenders more likely to commit sexual offences and theft. Patients who had previous psychiatric hospitalisation were more likely to be attending follow-up prior to and after release from remand and were more likely to have schizophrenia. Those assessed to be fit to plead were either fined or given jail sentences. Unsoundness of mind and unfitness to plead were associated with further remand in this hospital.


Australia's federal system is in a state of flux and its relevance is being challenged. Dramatic shifts are occurring in the ways in which power and responsibility are shared between governments. Pressure for reform is coming not just from above, but from below, as the needs of local and regional communities - both rural and urban - occupy an increasingly important place on the national stage. How will these competing pressures for centralisation and devolution in the structures of federalism be reconciled? In this volume, experts and policy practitioners from diverse backgrounds canvass this uncertain future to conclude that the future of state, regional and local institutions is not only a vital question of federal governance, but must be addressed in a conscious and concerted way if Australian federalism is to evolve in ways that are sufficiently legitimate, effective, efficient and adaptive.


Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite of major public health and economic importance in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is the causative agent of sleeping sickness in man and Nagana in cattle. The complete genome sequence of T.brucei is now available and the diploid genetic system has recently been demonstrated to be Mendelian. This opens up the possibility of using a classical genetic approach to identify genetic loci that determine important phenotypic traits in this parasite, such as host specificity, drug resistance, and pathogenicity. A genetic map of the non human-infective subspecies, T.b.brucei, has already been assembled and successfully used in quantitative trait analysis of a number of traits specific to this pathogen.
This thesis describes the construction of a separate genetic map for the sub-species responsible for > 90% of human African trypanosomiasis infections, T.b.gambiense, which differs significantly from T.b.brucei in many key phenotypes. The genetic linkage map was constructed from the analysis of 119 polymorphic microsatellite markers in a population of 38 F1 progeny, obtained from the genetic cross of a T.b.gambiense group 2 strain, STIB 386, with a T.b.brucei strain, STIB 247. Eleven major linkage groups were resolved, one for each of the megabase chromosomes, resulting in a total genetic map length of 733 cM, and an average map unit size of 24 Kb/cM. The map provides a 90% probability of a marker being within 268 Kb of any genetic locus. A comparative analysis of the T.b.gambiense and T.b.brucei genetic maps revealed synteny and marker order to be conserved between the two sub-species. However, variation was observed in the location of regions of high and low recombination frequency (hot and cold spots) in the two maps. The genetic linkage map presented here is the first available for T.b.gambiense and can now be utilised to find the location within the genome of genes responsible for phenotypic traits in this clinically important sub-species. These traits include human infectivity, tsetse transmissibility and virulence, in addition to sensitivity to the trypanocidal drug, pentamidine, for which phenotypic variation between the parents was characterised both in vitro and in vivo in this thesis.
The ability of the T.brucei genetic maps to pinpoint loci underlying phenotypic variation is limited by the number of recombination events, and therefore progeny, available for analysis. To increase the utility of this approach for future studies, an improved method for progeny isolation from uncloned genetic cross populations was also developed. This in vitro bloodstream cloning procedure is scalable and efficient, and replaces a time consuming and technically demanding in vivo method. Twelve new progeny clones were isolated by this approach during the trial and incorporated into the analysis, representing a step toward a higher resolution second-generation genetic map.
Finally, whilst undertaking genotyping analysis with microsatellite markers the development of spontaneous chromosome 10 abnormalities was observed. A detailed investigation identified seven laboratory-adapted T.brucei lines in which loss of heterozygosity appeared to have occurred. These alterations to the karyotype significantly exceeded the well-characterised genomic rearrangements of subtelomeric regions that are frequently associated with antigenic variation in African trypanosomes. Microsatellite analysis, pulsed field gel electrophoresis and Illumina next generation sequencing demonstrated these changes to be the product of mitotic recombination events in the chromosome core, resulting in an extensive loss of heterozygosity of up to 75% of the chromosome and correlated with an improved growth phenotype. Further work is now required to determine the extent and frequency with which these abnormalities might occur, however these findings do highlight the potential instability of the molecular karyotype of T.brucei in prolonged in vitro culture.


The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) stabilises vision during head motion. Age-related structural changes predict a linear VOR decay, whereas epidemiological data show a non-linear temporal profile. Here, we model cerebellar-dependent VOR adaptation to link structural and functional changes throughout ageing. We posit that three neurosynaptic factors codetermine VOR ageing patterns: electrical coupling between inferior olive neurons, intrinsic plasticity at Purkinje cell synapses, and long-term spike timing dependent plasticity at parallel fibre - Purkinje cell synapses as well as mossy fibre - medial vestibular nuclei synapses. Our cross-sectional simulations show that long-term plasticity acts as a global homeostatic mechanism mediating the non-linear temporal profile of VOR. Our results also suggest that intrinsic plasticity at Purkinje cells acts as a local homeostatic mechanism sustaining VOR at old ages. Importantly, longitudinal simulations show that residual fibres coding for the peak and trough of the VOR cycle constitute a predictive hallmark of VOR ageing trajectories.


A senior surgeon jailed for manslaughter after a delay in operating on a patient with a perforated bowel should not have been convicted of causing or significantly contributing to the patient's death, three judges at the Court of Appeal were told this week.

The patient, James Hughes, was taking an anticoagulant that could have caused him to bleed to death if David Sellu had operated on him earlier, Mark Ellison QC, for Sellu, told the court in the surgeon's appeal against his conviction.

Sellu, a senior consultant colorectal surgeon, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in November 2013 for contributing to Hughes's death in February 2010 at the Clementine Churchill Hospital in Harrow, north London.1 The conviction and sentence, of which Sellu served half in …


Bird sighting records from 1964 through 1978 for 17 northeastern Arkansas counties were compiled according to the seasonal status, relative abundance and habitat distribution of each species. The five seasonal occurrence categories and their relative species composition were: transient visitant (46.6%), summer resident (20.3%), winter resident (14.8%), permanent resident (17.2%) and winter visitant (1.0%). The seven seasonal abundance categories and their relative species composition were: very rare (13.9%), rare 15.9%), uncommon (30.7%), fairly common (10.5%), common (25.6%), very common (1.7%) and abundant (1.7%). Eleven habitat categories were included: campestrian, abandoned fields, forest edge, lowland woods, upland woods, riparian woods, marshes, mud flats, flooded fields, lakes and ponds, and edificarian. Atotal of 268 species were recorded over the 15 year period.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease with a pathologic pattern marked by focal white matter demyelinative lesions and neural degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. Corpus callosum (CC) thinning and brain atrophy are the visible endpoints of irreversible tissue loss in MS, arising from multiple pathologic mechanisms. Research has uncovered a relationship between low circulating levels of vitamin D as it relates to MS susceptibility and severity, suggesting that vitamin D has neuroprotective properties. This study assesses the relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and midsagittal CC area in a sample of 33 adults diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS. We parcellated the CC into five distinct segments (genu, rostral body, midbody, isthmus, and splenium) to determine a more specific locus of white matter change as a function of vitamin D level. Co-varying for age, years diagnosed, and education level, results indicate splenium CC area is positively associated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D level. This finding confirms the possible importance of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of MS and the therapeutic potential of vitamin D for patients.


This study examines the construction of lecturer identities and how power is manifested through an analysis of interactional classroom strategies adopted by lecturers in creating effective teaching and learning environments. A series of ethnographic case studies of award-winning lecturers were conducted at a Russell group university in the UK. The ethnographic approach entailed participant observation of classroom discourse, interviews with lecturers and their students, the production of detailed field notes, and a series of written textual data including student evaluations of teaching, student evaluations of modules and Teaching Philosophy statements from lecturers themselves. Through an overarching sociolinguistic approach, an integrated analytical framework consisting of Critical Discourse Analysis and Positive Discourse Analysis, influenced by Interactional Sociolinguistics, Politeness Theory and Community of Practice, has been adopted, where data analysis at macro and micro levels has taken place, following Geertz's (1973) highly influential principles of 'thick description' for conducting effective ethnography. The findings demonstrate the range of interactional classroom strategies used by the award-winning lecturers, analyzed in the openings and closings in their classroom discourse, along with a detailed analysis of the type, range and multifunctionality of humour. The ethnographic approach demonstrates the emergence and constructions of their professional identities and power, materialized through politeness and relational devices in creating good rapport, maintaining positive relationships with their students and above all, creating, maintaining and facilitating effective teaching and learning opportunities.


OBJECTIVE To identify and quantify independent physiological risk factors for foot lesions in diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS There were 352 patients enrolled in a 1-year randomized controlled trial aimed at reducing risks for lower-extremity pathology through patient education and system interventions. Inclusion criteria were as follows: being age 40 years or over, being at or above ideal body weight, and having been diagnosed with NIDDM. Participants were predominantly African-American (76%), elderly (mean 60 years of age), indigent (77% with annual income < $10,000), or women (81%) who had diabetes for 10 years. Prospective multivariate modeling used baseline clinical signs (e.g., blood pressure, dermatological characteristics, and neuropathic measures) and laboratory values (e.g., lipid profiles and measures of glycemic control) to predict foot lesions rated using the Seattle Wound Classification. RESULTS When controlling for intervention effects, only measures of neuropathy (monofilament testing [odds ratio {OR} 2.75, 95% CI 1.55–4.88] and thermal sensitivity testing [2.18, 1.13–4.21]) predicted wounds classified 1.2 (minor injury), but investigation of wounds rated at least 1.3 (nonulcerated lesions) indicated baseline wounds (13.41), 3.19–56.26), monofilament abnormalities (5.23, 2.26–12.13), and low HDL (1.63, 1.11–2.39) as predictors. Although fungal dermatitis, dry cracked skin, edema, ingrown nails, microalbuminuria, fasting blood glucose, and hemoglobin A1c were candidates for one or both of the multivariable models (P < 0.3), they were not significant multivariate predictors. CONCLUSIONS Lesions may be preventable with aggressive screening for peripheral neuropathy and abnormal lipids. Also, these results provide empirical support for the commonly held belief that foot lesions prospectively predict future wounds.


What happens when learning in the "real world" is augmented by use of the virtual, and learning in virtual environments is augmented by use of the "real"? Augmented Education explores learning that takes place at the frontiers of reality. Using electronic devices, learners extend their perceptinos of and interactions with their environment. The book provides a detailed overview of the educational possibilities that are created by technologies, among them augmented reality applications, social media, and virtual worlds. It considers how pedagogy and augmenting technologies can be harnessed to inspire, motivate and engage learners and transform their learning experiences.


Large‐eddy simulation (LES) of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow is performed over a homogeneous surface with different heat flux forcings. The goal is to test the performance of dynamic subgrid‐scale models in a numerical framework and to compare the results with those obtained in a recent field experimental study (HATS (Kleissl et al., 2004)). In the dynamic model the Smagorinsky coefficient cs is obtained from test filtering and analysis of the resolved large scales during the simulation. In the scale‐invariant dynamic model the coefficient is independent of filter scale, and the scale‐dependent model does not require this assumption. Both approaches provide realistic results of mean vertical profiles in an unstable boundary layer. The advantages of the scale‐dependent model become evident in the simulation of a stable boundary layer and in the velocity and temperature spectra of both stable and unstable cases. To compare numerical results with HATS data, a simulation of the evolution of the ABL during a diurnal cycle is performed. The numerical prediction of cs from the scale‐invariant model is too small, whereas the coefficients obtained from the scale‐dependent version of the model are consistent with results from HATS. LES of the ABL using the scale‐dependent dynamic model give reliable results for mean profiles and spectra at stable, neutral, and unstable atmospheric stabilities. However, simulations under strongly stable conditions (horizontal filter size divided by Obukhov length >3.8) display instabilities due to basic flaws in the eddy viscosity closure, no matter how accurately the coefficient is determined.


ABSTRACT In the early morning of 4 October 2010, a loud noise was heard and shaking was felt in a rural area north of Menominee, Michigan. Within a day, residents discovered what we now identify as a "pop‐up" feature; due to the extensional crack along its crest, it has become known as the Menominee Crack. Within a few days, physical observations were made, and an additional geophysical survey was conducted in 2013 to further investigate the origin of the crack and associated ridge. An autoleveling and seismic refraction survey performed at the site revealed a bedrock layer approximately 2 m underneath the glacial till and also found a significant difference in bedrock velocities observed parallel and perpendicular to the crack. Modeling of a fractured limestone, assuming the seismic raypaths cross fractures in one direction but not in the other, is consistent with these velocities. The origin of the feature remains unknown. Glacial unloading was complete many thousands of years ago, and no significant removal of overburden occurred in recent years, although the occurrence and timing of the removal of a large tree may be more than coincidental.


Subject retrieval in web-based library catalogs : Master's thesis.
This thesis has been motivated by past research, problems and realizations that online library catalog users frequently perform subject searches - using keywords, subject headings and descriptors - and these searches have yielded unsatisfactory results. Web-based catalogs or WebPACs (Web-based Online Public Access Catalogs), belonging to the so-called third generation of online catalogs and providing a wide variety of search options, remain largely underutilized despite the continuous advancement of information retrieval systems. Users still encounter a number of problems, such as those related to translating their concepts to the language of the catalog's system and cross-references prepared to this purpose.
Subject access in online library catalogs can be provided through different access points. To that purpose natural and controlled indexing and retrieval languages are used, and each among them has its advantages and downsides. Natural language indexing is performed by the computer, in which process words from defined fields are automatically extracted. Controlled indexing languages are those in which selection of terms to be assigned to documents is manually performed. These are, for example, classification systems, subject heading languages and thesauri. During the 1970s, a consensus was reached that the best retrieval results are gained when using both types of indexing languages simultaneously. Apart from indexing languages, it is necessary to take into account user search behavior; and while designing user interface one has to allow for the users' skills and knowledge - ensuring instruction, help and feedback information at every step of the retrieval process.
The aim of the research was to determine the variety and quality of subject access to information in WebPACs of British university libraries, including searching by words or classification marks, natural and controlled languages, browsing options, and forming simple and complex queries in order to conclude about existing advancements, offered models and employed methods and compare them to WebPACs of Croatian university libraries.


Group communications are important in Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET). Multicast is an efficient method for implementing group communications. However, it is challenging to implement efficient and scalable multicast in MANET due to the difficulty in group membership management and multicast packet forwarding over a dynamic topology. We propose a Secured novel Efficient Geographic Multicast Protocol (EGMP). EGMP uses a virtual-zone-based structure to implement scalable and efficient group membership management. A network-wide zone-based bi-directional tree is constructed to achieve more efficient membership management and multicast delivery. The position information is used to guide the zone structure building, multicast tree construction and multicast packet forwarding, which efficiently reduces the overhead for route searching and tree structure maintenance. Several strategies have been proposed to further improve the efficiency of the protocol, for example, introducing the concept of zone depth for building an optimal tree structure and integrating the location search of group members with the hierarchical group membership management. To handle empty zone problem faced by most routing protocols using a zone structure. Finally, we design a scheme to handle security problem faced by multicasting. The scalability and the efficiency of EGMP are evaluated through simulations and quantitative analysis. Our results demonstrate that EGMP has high packet delivery ratio, and low control overhead and multicast group joining delay under all test scenarios, and is scalable to both group size and network size. Compared to Scalable Position-Based Multicast (SPBM) [15], EGMP has significantly lower control overhead, data transmission overhead, and multicast group joining delay.


We study the problem of fitting task-specific learning rate schedules from the perspective of hyperparameter optimization, aiming at good generalization. We describe the structure of the gradient of a validation error w.r.t. the learning rate schedule -- the hypergradient. Based on this, we introduce MARTHE, a novel online algorithm guided by cheap approximations of the hypergradient that uses past information from the optimization trajectory to simulate future behaviour. It interpolates between two recent techniques, RTHO (Franceschi et al., 2017) and HD (Baydin et al. 2018), and is able to produce learning rate schedules that are more stable leading to models that generalize better.


Initially published in Moscow in 1950 following the author's death, this book contains the first chapters of a large monograph Krylov planned entitled The foundations of physical statistics," his doctoral thesis on "The processes of relaxation of statistical systems and the criterion of mechanical instability," and a small paper entitled "On the description of exhaustively complete experiments."Originally published in 1980.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


In commercial micropropagation laboratories, the light source is one of the most important factors controlling plant morphogenesis and metabolism of plant cells and tissue and organ cultures. Lamp manufacturers have begun to rate lamps specifically for plant needs. The traditional light source used for in vitro propagation is fluorescent lamps (FLs). However, power consumption in FL use is expensive and produces a wide range of wavelengths (350–750 nm) unnecessary for plant development. Light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) have recently emerged as an alternative for commercial micropropagation. The flexibility of matching LED wavelengths to plant photoreceptors may provide more optimal production, influencing plant morphology and chlorophyll content. Although previous reports have confirmed physiological effects of LED light quality on morphogenesis and growth of several plantlets in vitro, these study results showed that LED light is more suitable for plant morphogenesis and growth than FLs. However, the responses vary according to plant species. This chapter describes the applications and benefits of LED lamps on chlorophyll in plant micropropagation. Two study cases are exposed, Anthurium (Anthurium andreanum) and moth orchids (Phalaenopsisis sp.), both species with economic importance as ornamental plants, where LEDs have a positive effect on in vitro development and chlorophyll content.


Ultramafic rocks are a major component of the oceanic lithosphere and are commonly exposed near and along slow- and ultra-spreading ridges and in other tectonically active environments. The serpentinization of mantle material is a fundamental process that has significant geophysical, geochemical and biological importance for the global marine system and for subduction zone environments. Mineral assemblages and textures are typically complex and reflect multiple phases of alteration, deformation and veining during emplacement, hydrothermal alteration, and weathering. In this paper, we review mineralogical and geochemical consequences of serpentinization processes in oceanic upper mantle sequences in different tectonic environments and discuss the relationship between serpentinization and fluid chemistry. We present phase equilibria that provide models for interpreting mineral-fluid relationships in oceanic serpentinites and allow the simultaneous evaluation of the conditions for redox, hydration and carbonation processes. These models predict that serpentinization reactions are sensitive to Si content of ultramafic rocks and that serpentine phases have an upper stability limit of ∼450°C, where H 2 O-rich fluids will be dominant. More pervasive serpentinization commences with olivine breakdown reactions below ∼425°C and leads to progressively more reduced fluids with decreasing temperature. Our calculations indicate that carbonates may have extensive stability fields in CH4-rich fluids in Si-deficient systems and that they may be significant in generating reducing conditions. If methane formation driven by serpentinization is common, its contribution to the carbon cycle in submarine biogeochemical systems may be substantial. Serpentinization may thus be an important process in sustaining diverse microbial communities in subsurface and near-vent environments and has consequences for the existence of a deep biosphere.


The effects of interleukin 16 (IL-16) on dendritic cell (DC) generation from human CD34(+) progenitor cells are not known. Here, we show that IL-16 added to a basal cocktail comprised of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), IL-4, Flt-3 ligand (Flt3L), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) does induce the CD34(+) hematopoietic cells to proliferate in vitro and to differentiate into phenotypically and functionally mature DCs. IL-16 exerts this function more efficiently than stem cell factor (SCF) as a control, thrombopoietin (TPO), or IL-16 plus TPO. Moreover, we show that the combination of IL-16 plus TPO induces the generation of tolerogenic DCs, able to induce an anergic state in T cells that persists when T cells are rechallenged with immunogenic DCs. An altered pattern of cytokine production, a reduced expression of the C-type lectin DC-SIGN, and an increased surface expression of the inhibitory molecules immunoglobulin-like transcript 2 (ILT-2), ILT-3, and ILT-4 may all contribute to confer the tolerogenic properties of these DCs. Generation of tolerogenic DCs may aid the exploration of new therapeutic strategies to promote tolerance to autoantigens and prevent disease development.


Five novel lanthanoid-containing silicotungstates with polymeric crystal structures [Ln(2)(H(2)O)(7)Si(2)W(18)O(66)](n)(10n-) [Ln = Gd(III) (Gd-1 and Gd-2), Tb(III), Ho(III)] and [Dy(2)(H(2)O)(6.5)(C(2)H(4)O(2))(0.5)Si(2)W(18)O(66)](n)(10n-) were obtained from the one-step reaction of Na(10)[SiW(9)O(34)]·nH(2)O with Ln(NO(3))(3)·nH(2)O in a sodium acetate buffer. The compounds were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and a wide range of analytical methods, including FT-IR, UV/vis, and photoluminescence spectroscopy as well as electrochemistry and thermogravimetric analysis. This new polyoxotungstate series is the first example of lanthanoids embedded in the open Wells-Dawson silicotungstate anion [α-Si(2)W(18)O(66)](16-). The lanthanoid-containing Wells-Dawson-type polyoxoanions [Ln(2)(H(2)O)(7)Si(2)W(18)O(66)](10-) [Ln = Gd(III) (Gd-1 and Gd-2), Tb(III), Ho(III)] and [Dy(2)(H(2)O)(6.5)(C(2)H(4)O(2))(0.5)Si(2)W(18)O(66)](10-) are linked by Ln(3+) cations to form 3D architectures for Gd-1 or 2D frameworks for the isostructural compounds Tb-2, Dy-2, Ho-2, and Gd-2. The structure-directing influence of the lanthanoid cation on the local structure of the dimeric building blocks and on the crystal packing motifs is investigated in detail. The photoluminescence properties of Tb-2 and Dy-2 were investigated at room temperature, and Ho-2 exhibits an interesting photochromic behavior. The magnetic susceptibility of Gd-1 and Gd-2 was studied in the temperature range between 2 and 300 K for its effective magnetic moment.


A wide variety of distortion functions, such as squared Euclidean distance, Mahalanobis distance, Itakura-Saito distance and relative entropy, have been used for clustering. In this paper, we propose and analyze parametric hard and soft clustering algorithms based on a large class of distortion functions known as Bregman divergences. The proposed algorithms unify centroid-based parametric clustering approaches, such as classical kmeans , the Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG) algorithm and information-theoretic clustering, which arise by special choices of the Bregman divergence. The algorithms maintain the simplicity and scalability of the classical kmeans algorithm, while generalizing the method to a large class of clustering loss functions. This is achieved by first posing the hard clustering problem in terms of minimizing the loss in Bregman information, a quantity motivated by rate distortion theory, and then deriving an iterative algorithm that monotonically decreases this loss. In addition, we show that there is a bijection between regular exponential families and a large class of Bregman divergences, that we call regular Bregman divergences. This result enables the development of an alternative interpretation of an efficient EM scheme for learning mixtures of exponential family distributions, and leads to a simple soft clustering algorithm for regular Bregman divergences. Finally, we discuss the connection between rate distortion theory and Bregman clustering and present an information theoretic analysis of Bregman clustering algorithms in terms of a trade-off between compression and loss in Bregman information.


Despite the literature on rural land property rights, studies on urban land property rights are rare. This paper studies the impact of an urban land titling program on firm investment. It finds that the program leads to increased investment rate for titling firms, and the positive effect holds only for politically connected firms. The effects are likely causal, because they are more pronounced for firms that are more likely to benefit from strengthened property rights. Connected titling firms experienced fewer disputes than nonconnected titling firms after the program, and the results remain robust when using instrumental variable estimation.


In 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote the concluding chapter in the Exxon Valdez litigation, which had spanned more than twenty years from the date of the oil spill on March 24, 1989. The concluding chapter related to appellate costs. Over the course of the nearly two decades of appellate litigation, Exxon paid approximately $70 million in costs, the majority of which went to secure a bond on the original $5 billion in punitive damages. The Ninth Circuit had to determine whether the plaintiffs should pay any of these costs. The U.S. Supreme Court was silent on the issue, and the applicable Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure — Rule 39(a)(4) — merely directed the judges to award costs "only as the court orders." The result: an angry dialogue between the majority, which thought each party should shoulder its own costs, and the dissent, which would have the plaintiffs pay most of Exxon's costs. This Article proposes that the current costs rule in mixed result cases provides insufficient guidance and that it should be amended so that courts know what to analyze in apportioning costs. In particular, this Article advocates that the rule be amended to provide that, in the ordinary case, each party bear its own costs, but where that would prove inequitable, courts should consider a variety of factors including the following: (1) which party prevailed, (2) the public interest, (3) the parties' ability to pay, (4) the parties' arguments and positions throughout the litigation, (5) attempts to settle, (6) the reasonableness of the costs, (7) the amount of costs, (8) federal statutes in related areas, (9) related state-court rules, and (10) the interests of justice.


The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) will soon revise the social work education continuum by welcoming practice doctoral programs into membership, leaving community colleges as the only excluded level of higher education in social work. The three connected products in this banded dissertation use critical pedagogy and post-positivist perspectives to explore how and why social work education evolved independently at community colleges, one of the largest, most diverse, and most affordable educational systems in the United States. Product One employs qualitative historical research to identify the forces which led community colleges and CSWE down separate paths between 1950 and 1975, despite consideration of expansion to include associate degrees in social work. Archived records indicate that differing goals, distrust, identity issues, inattentiveness, and class differences inhibited any on-going relationship between the developing two-year college system and social work's professional organizations. Product Two examines the claims of some community colleges that they teach social work. It reveals the existence of Associate in Social Work (ASW) programs at 57 colleges in 24 states and then compares them to accepted standards for social work education to examine whether their programs' offerings could be recognized as social work education. One-third of ASW program directors completed surveys. Their responses indicate voluntary adherence to 41% of select CSWE standards for Baccalaureate Social Work (BSW) programs. This quantitative, empirical research documents likenesses between some ASW programs and widelyaccepted methods of social work education. SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES iii Product Three is a presentation delivered at a national conference, the Council for the Study of Community Colleges conference in April 2018, applying ideas from social work education history to the needs of community colleges generally. This presentation suggested that pathways for upward transfer depend on advocates for professional and technical education organizing their efforts, building relationships with powerful gatekeepers, publishing research, and addressing their schools' actual and perceived weaknesses. This banded dissertation suggests the possibilities of social work education at community colleges in the United States, belying the long-held belief in a three-level continuum of social work education. ASW programs operate in nearly half the country, and though they could have become part of CSWE, they currently operate autonomously from professional social work organizations. Stakeholders now have the opportunity to evaluate ASW programs and establish mutually beneficial relationships, if they so choose.


Josephine Rector's fleeting career in cinema is inseparable from the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, specifically its outfit in Northern California. This paper traces the contours of Rector's involvement with Essanay, in particular her contribution as a scenario writer to the western genre. As head of the scenario department from 1912 to 1914, she was responsible for both writing and selecting suitable material for two-reel adventure stories, most notably the Broncho Billy series, which inaugurated the first cowboy star played by Gilbert M. Anderson. Due to the loss of the majority of Essanay films and the absent writing credits in the extant ones, a listing of Rector's entire output is difficult if not impossible to compile. Building on the previous research about Western Essanay by the historian David Kiehn, this paper brings to light Rector's career as that of a young woman who seized the opportunity offered to women by the burgeoning film industry in 1910s United States.


In their article "Intermediality, Rhetoric, and Pedagogy," Kris Rutten and Ronald Soetaert discuss how the notion of intermediality challenges the institutions that traditionally "mediate" culture and they discuss implications for pedagogy. First, they focus on how the museum as an institution is questioned and problematized by describing it as a "medium" that is increasingly influenced by cultural and technological developments. Second, they focus on the implications of new material culture and intermedial practice and how this requires new perspectives on pedagogy. Rutten and Soetaert elaborate on previous work on the curriculum as a "contact zone" (Pratt) by focusing on the rhetorical nature of curricula and by introducing (new) rhetoric as a theoretical and conceptual framework for discussing the relationship between intermediality, culture, and pedagogy.


Comprehensive and spatially mapped molecular atlases of organs at a cellular level are a critical resource to gain insights into pathogenic mechanisms and personalized therapies for diseases. The Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP) is an endeavor to generate 3-dimensional (3D) molecular atlases of healthy and diseased kidney biopsies using multiple state-of-the-art OMICS and imaging technologies across several institutions. Obtaining rigorous and reproducible results from disparate methods and at different sites to interrogate biomolecules at a single cell level or in 3D space is a significant challenge that can be a futile exercise if not well controlled. We describe a "follow the tissue" pipeline for generating a reliable and authentic single cell/region 3D molecular atlas of human adult kidney. Our approach emphasizes quality assurance, quality control, validation and harmonization across different OMICS and imaging technologies from sample procurement, processing, storage, shipping to data generation, analysis and sharing. We established benchmarks for quality control, rigor, reproducibility and feasibility across multiple technologies through a pilot experiment using common source tissue that was processed and analyzed at different institutions and different technologies. A peer review system was established to critically review quality control measures and the reproducibility of data generated by each technology before being approved to interrogate clinical biopsy specimens. The process established economizes the use of valuable biopsy tissue for multi-OMICS and imaging analysis with stringent quality control to ensure rigor and reproducibility of results and serves as a model for precision medicine projects across laboratories, institutions and consortia.


Struts framework based on MVC has brought the best code reuse and the legible code structure in entire system by far, but it has some problems such as complicated program, high coupling among layers and hard maintenance because its model part adopts JDBC to connect databases directly. The ORM characteristics of Hibernate make it simple and easy to implement the transplant and manipulation of databases. The development and maintenance of entire system become easier because of these characteristics. This paper proposed the integration of Struts and Hibernate and showed a simple system to explain the advantages of the integration.


The interplay of food, people, and market in the multi-religious and multi-ethnic neighborhood of Madina Zongo, Accra, results to some extent in food exchange. In a plural setting like Madina Zongo, an important aspect of their co-existence is the sharing of food; in so doing people claim their identities and mark boundaries; consequently, food in this sense becomes a potential for conflict. My primary aim in this paper is to focus on pig feet (trotter) sellers by drawing attention to their conflicting experiences and encounters in selling trotter. Pig feet (trotter) is a commodity that comes through a global network and is considered haram and unclean by Muslims. Actions by religious practitioners, thereby, play a pivotal role in provoking these experiences and, for this reason, it is prone to triggering tensions. In this paper, I explore the embodied encounters between these traders in the market (inhabited by people of different religious traditions) and, to some extent, the buyers and how this triggers religious sensibilities and at the same time evokes strong responses among those frequenting the space (e.g., market women and customers) and those (trotter sellers) who live in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. In my analysis on tensions and pollution, I take into consideration groundworks by authors such as Mary Douglas' Purity and Danger, Sara Ahmed's and Deborah Durham's notion of disgust and the anthropology of imagination, and inspired works on materiality such as the Latourian Actor-Network Theory (ANT) which draws attention to the agency of the non-human. This paper studies how religiously contested and so-called "contaminated" foodstuffs such as pig feet (trotter) result in boundary-making practices among members of the market and Zongo community. I argue that ideas of purity are influenced largely by cultural and religious convictions which seems not to be compromised by religious practitioners. The paper also investigates strategies people/sellers develop to negotiate these social relations.


Abstract As the next step in the development of fusion energy, ITER has to be safe, reliable and available whenever needed to produce the experimental data as defined by the scientific program. To ensure the success of this mission, a Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Inspectability (RAMI) analysis is being performed on the ITER plant systems to optimize the design and prepare both operation and maintenance over the ITER life. This analysis relies on a functional breakdown translated to Reliability Block Diagrams (RBDs) and on a Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) to provide reliability and availability calculations, to highlight the technical risks and to prioritize the ways to mitigate them in order to maximize the availability of the machine for plasma operation. Standardization is one way of addressing this concern in a cost-effective manner, as reducing the diversity of components allows keeping a reduced stock of interchangeable spares available on short notice and reducing the time to repair after a failure. This paper will present this approach as it is applied on the ITER power supplies systems: the Coil Power Supply and Distribution System (CPSDS) and the Steady-State Electrical Network (SSEN).


Over the last decade, the practice of using and exchanging locally adapted seeds has become a focal site of grass-roots organizing in the rural areas of Europe, spear-headed by the mobilization of seed networks in different countries and regions. Countering the restrictive scope of existing seed regulations, these networks are composed of family farmers, collectives, farmers movements, researchers, agronomists, and non-governmental organizations that are actively engaged in the development of farmer-based seed systems as a source of both peasant autonomy and environmental sustainability. Within the context of a broader struggle to overcome the multiple crises of the agro-industrial model, the reproduction of farm-saved seeds is closely associated with the promotion of agro-ecological alternatives that enhance integration, resilience, and livelihood security. Correspondingly, the goal to diversify food and seed systems puts renewed emphasis on the role of peasant innovation and localized consumption in processes of agrarian transformation. Combining sustainable farming methods, participatory forms of knowledge and de-commodified circuits of exchange, these initiatives reassert the centrality of the social and ecological role of agriculture in Europe beyond the reductionism of market-based approaches to rural change.


Macroeconomic downturns can have an important impact on the availability of informal and formal long-term care. This paper investigates how the market for informal care changed during and after the Great Recession in Europe. We use data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, which includes a rich set of variables covering waves before and after the Great Recession. We find evidence of an increase in the availability of informal care and a reduction in the use of formal health services (doctor visits and hospital stays) after the economic downturn when controlling for year and country fixed effects. This trend is mainly driven by changes in care provision of individuals not cohabiting with the care recipient. We also find a small negative association between old-age health and crisis severity. The results are robust to the inclusion of individual characteristics, individual-specific effects and region-specific time trends. JEL-Code: J100, I180.


Abstract. We present an analysis of the influence of colour distance on the user experience with choropleth maps. We systematically evaluated 5 se-quential and 5 qualitative colour schemes in a two-stage user experiment. At first, we conducted an online study to obtain performance metrics accu-racy and response time on a large variety of heterogeneous population. Following this, in a controlled lab study with eye-tracking, we re-examined the findings from the online study for a subset of experimental stimuli and further assessed the user experience through an analysis of their visual be-haviour. In this process, along with accuracy and response time , eye track-ing metrics fixation frequency, fixation duration and scanpath speed as well as a gaze transition analysis were utilized. In both experiments, par-ticipants were asked to compare two areas with controlled colour distances between them, and decide whether these areas are of the same colour. Re-sults suggest that we are able to discriminate narrower colour distances than commonly used in practice, however, not as narrow as suggested in previous literature.


A fundamental concern for researchers who analyze and design experiments is that the experimental result might not be externally valid for all policies. Researchers often attempt to assess external validity by comparing data from an experiment to external data. In this essay, I discuss approaches from the treatment effects literature that researchers can use to begin the examination of external validity internally, within the data from a single experiment. I focus on presenting the approaches simply using figures.


One of the most intriguing and managerially relevant findings in the multichannel customer management literature is the positive association between multichannel purchasing and customer profitability. The question is whether this is an actionable, causal relationship. We design and implement a randomized field experiment to investigate this issue. The field experiment tests four marketing campaigns that vary in the communications message and the provision of financial incentives. We find that the multichannel/profitability relationship indeed is actionable. A properly designed marketing campaign increases the number of multichannel customers and increases average customer profitability. That campaign's message emphasizes the benefits of multichannel shopping but does not rely on financial incentives. Moreover, we estimate a switching regression to show that, after accounting for self-selection bias, multichannel customers are more profitable than they would be if they were single channel. These results are important because they provide insights on how multichannel shopping leads to higher profit.


The studies, presented here, deal with the synthetic modification of 5-bromonicotinic acid on its nitrogen nucleus. The synthetic transformations were carried out by reacting equimolar amounts of 5-bromonicotinic acid and phenacyl halides in acetone. A range of phenacyl halides were used with the objective of getting a variety of quaternary ammonium salts of 5- bromonicotinic acid derivatives as multipurpose biologically active compounds. Twelve quaternary ammonium salts of 5-bromonicotinic acid have been synthesized and tested for cytotoxicity, antibacterial and antifungal activities. These compounds showed promising cytotoxicity against Artemia salina. Two compounds, 3-carboxy-1-(4′-methylphenacyl)-5-bromopyridinium bromide (2) and 3-carboxy-1-(4′-nitrophenacyl)-5-bromopyridinium bromide (12), were highly active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria among all the tested compounds. All the compounds were examined for antifungal activity against fifteen fungal cultures, but none of these compounds proved to be effective against these fungi. The parent compounds and its derivatives were also examined for their effect on mean arterial blood pressure in anaesthetized rats. Compounds 7 and 8 were found to be twofold more active than the parent compound. The rest of the products showed blood pressure lowering effects comparable to the parent compound. All compounds were characterised via elemental analysis UV, IR , mass and 1H NMR spectroscopy.


Virtual globes, i.e., geobrowsers that integrate multi-scale and temporal data from various sources and are based on a globe metaphor, have developed into serious tools that practitioners and various stakeholders in landscape and community planning have started using. Although these tools originate from Geographic Information Systems (GIS), they have become a different, potentially interactive and public tool set, with their own specific limitations and new opportunities. Expectations regarding their utility as planning and community engagement tools are high, but are tempered by both technical limitations and ethical issues [1,2]. Two grassroots campaigns and a collaborative visioning process, the Kimberley Climate Adaptation Project case study (British Columbia), illustrate and broaden our understanding of the potential benefits and limitations associated with the use of virtual globes in participatory planning initiatives. Based on observations, questionnaires and in-depth interviews with stakeholders and community members using an interactive 3D model of regional climate change vulnerabilities, potential impacts, and possible adaptation and mitigation scenarios in Kimberley, the benefits and limitations of virtual globes as a tool for participatory landscape planning are discussed. The findings suggest that virtual globes can facilitate access to geospatial information, raise awareness, and provide a more representative virtual landscape than static visualizations. However, landscape is not equally representative at all scales, and not all types of users seem to benefit equally from the tool. The risks of misinterpretation can be managed by integrating the application and interpretation of virtual globes into face-to-face planning processes.


Railroads are increasingly using new technologies to improve capacity and operating efficiency. To plan their investments and prepare for the implementation of these technologies, railroads must understand their net effect on operations. This requires understanding both the particular aspects of these technologies that affect capacity and the characteristics of the systems into which they are being introduced. Two important technologies in this regard are communications-based train control (CBTC) and electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes. Each element of CBTC and ECP brakes with the potential to affect capacity was identified, and its effect under various implementation scenarios was evaluated. The potential impact of each element was assessed and compared with the various baseline conditions and conventional technologies to understand the incremental effect. An extensive review of the literature on the subject was conducted in support of these evaluations. CBTC implementation with enforcement braking will generally result in a loss of capacity, but as these systems become more fully integrated, the potential for capacity enhancement improves. ECP brakes will provide benefits under most operational scenarios because of the shorter braking distances and thus the potential for the closer spacing of trains. The two technologies have a potential interactive effect: CBTC may make it possible to more effectively take advantage of one of the principal benefits of ECP brakes: shorter stopping distances. The results for either technology will be route and network specific, so individual railroads will need to conduct analyses to understand the net effect on the capacity of their systems.


Large, non-Gaussian spatial datasets pose a considerable modeling challenge as the dependence structure implied by the model needs to be captured at different scales, while retaining feasible inference. Skew-normal and skew-t distributions have only recently begun to appear in the spatial statistics literature, without much consideration, however, for the ability to capture dependence at multiple resolutions, and simultaneously achieve feasible inference for increasingly large data sets. This article presents the first multi-resolution spatial model inspired by the skew-t distribution, where a large-scale effect follows a multivariate normal distribution and the fine-scale effects follow a multivariate skew-normal distributions. The resulting marginal distribution for each region is skew-t, thereby allowing for greater flexibility in capturing skewness and heavy tails characterizing many environmental datasets. Likelihood-based inference is performed using a Monte Carlo EM algorithm. The model is applied as a stochastic generator of daily wind speeds over Saudi Arabia.


This chapter addresses Boolean algebra, which is based on Boolean logic. In the social sciences, Boolean algebra comes under different labels. It is often used in set-theoretic and qualitative comparative analysis to assess complex causation that leads to particular outcomes involving different combinations of conditions. The basic features of Boolean algebra are the use of binary data, combinatorial logic, and Boolean minimization to reduce the expressions of causal complexity. By calculating the intersection between the final Boolean equation and the hypotheses formulated in Boolean terms, three subsets of causal combinations emerge: hypothesized and empirically confirmed; hypothesized, but not detected within the empirical evidence; and causal configurations found empirically, but not hypothesized. This approach is both holistic and analytic because it examines cases as a whole and in parts.


Livestock Embryo Center/Balai Embrio Ternak (BET) Cipelang is one of the government institution under the supervision of Directorate General of Livestock and Animal Health Services, Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia. BET Cipelang has the main task of carrying out the production, development, and distribution of livestock embryo for all regions of Indonesia. BET Cipelang produced embryos using two methods, there are in vivo and in vitro. The produced embryos will be transferred to the recipient cow using embryo transfer technique.                Embryo transfer biotechnology can be used to enhance genetic improvement and to increase marketing opportunities with purebred cattle. Because of their relatively low reproductive rate and long generation interval, embryo transfer is especially useful with cattle. The success of embryo transfer depends on factors associated with the embryo, the recipient or an interaction among the factors of the embryo and recipient [1].                 Embryo quality is one of the main factors for successful embryo production. In vivo embryo production has better quality than in vitro such as cell number, morphology, growth and development ability and after freezing.  The frequency of occurrence of chromosomal abnormalities in in vivo-derived embryos are lower than in vitro and the consequence is that only 30-40% of oocytes resulting from in vitro maturation develop into blastocysts after in vitro fertilization and the in vitro yield rate of embryos are lower than from in vivo [2]. Recently, there are no studies about the performance of in vivo embryo production at BET Cipelang. The aim of this study is to explore the quality of in vivo embryos produced by BET Cipelang.


Various international agencies are faced with the challenge of sustainability. For the sake of economic growth it is necessary to attain levels of sustainability in order to ensure that there is continuity in life. In most countries, agriculture is considered to be an engine of growth and therefore, it is taken with utmost importance. Furthermore, international trade relies on the production that is obtained from the agricultural sector. Project management is an essential element in the agricultural sector and most especially in Chinese economy which has become popular among researchers. The aim of this study was therefore to explore how the use of modern agricultural project management techniques could boost development of the citrus industry, leading to quality production, expansion of sales markets, and increased brand awareness. The objectives that were formulated for the study included to establish the role of modern project management techniques in agricultural development, to investigate the problems facing the Guangfeng Ma Grapefruit Industry in China and to explore feasible solutions to Guangfeng Ma Grapefruit Industry's problems, through modern agricultural project management techniques. Data was collected using the qualitative method which utilised the interviews as the instrument of data collection. Employees of Guangfeng Ma were the sample size. The study found out that there are various challenges that are facing citric farming such as low production, unfavourable land terrain and unfavourable climatic conditions. Sustainability issues in agriculture were found to be gaining momentum in the country. Therefore, the study concluded that the industry has evidence of growth in the next five years.


Solution appraisal is difficult for large 3D, nonlinear inverse problems such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). We construct the volume of investigation index (VOI) as the sensitivity of the inversion result to a variable-reference model. This limited exploration of the model space provides an efficient and pragmatic method of appraisal for a particular data set and a 3D model domain. We present a synthetic example to demonstrate the applicability of the VOI as a tool for characterizing model reliability for 3D ERT and as a method of survey design. We show how the VOI provides a measure of model resolution and how insight gained from VOI analysis cannot be gained through similar examination of the average sensitivity distributions. In the context of ERT monitoring of an injection/withdrawal experiment, we utilize the VOI for judging the degree of reliability of hydrogeological interpretations that stem from features observed in the estimated electrical-conductivity models. We employ the VOI for the experimental data as a comparative measure of survey performance. For this experiment, the VOI shows that a larger, more artifact-free region of reliability is achieved using a circulating vertical dipole-dipole survey geometry, as opposed to a horizontal dipole-dipole survey geometry. The experimental VOI distributions exhibit dependence on the borehole infrastructure and the actual earth model.


How is credit for group work allocated when individual contributions are not perfectly observed? Do demographic traits like gender influence the allocation of credit? Using data from academic economists' CVs, I test whether coauthored and solo-authored publications matter differently for tenure for men and women. Because coauthors are listed alphabetically in economics, coauthored papers do not provide specific information about each contributor's skills or ability. Solo-authored papers, on the other hand, provide a relatively clear signal of ability. I find that men are tenured at roughly the same rate regardless of whether they coauthor or solo-author. Women, however, become less likely to receive tenure the more they coauthor. The result is most pronounced for women coauthoring with men and less pronounced among women who coauthor with other women. I contrast economics with sociology, a discipline in which coauthors are listed in order of contribution, and find that when contributions are made clear, men and women receive equal credit for coauthored papers.


Clusters of multicore nodes have become the most popular option for new HPC systems due to their scalability and performance/cost ratio. The complexity of programming multicore systems underscores the need for powerful and efficient runtime systems that manage resources such as threads and communication sub-systems on behalf of the applications.
 In this paper, we study several multicore performance issues on clusters using Intel, AMD and IBM processors in the context of the Charm++ runtime system. We then present the optimization techniques that overcome these performance issues. The techniques presented are general enough to apply to other runtime systems as well. We demonstrate the benefits of these optimizations through both synthetic benchmarks and production quality applications including NAMD and ChaNGa on several popular multicore platforms. We demonstrate performance improvement of NAMD and ChaNGa by about 20% and 10%, respectively.


Spots and Flares: Stellar Activity in the Time Domain Era James R. A. Davenport Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Suzanne L. Hawley Department of Astronomy Time domain photometric surveys for large numbers of stars have ushered in a new era of statistical studies of astrophysics. This new parameter space allows us to observe how stars behave and change on a human timescale, and facilitates ensemble studies to understand how stars change over cosmic timescales. With current and planned time domain stellar surveys, we will be able to put the Sun in a Galactic context, and discover how typical or unique our parent star truly is. The goal of this thesis is to develop techniques for detecting and analyzing the most prominent forms of magnetic activity from low-mass stars in modern time domain surveys: starspots and flares. Magnetic field strength is a fundamental property that decays over a star's life. As a result, flux modulations from both flares and starspots become smaller amplitude and more infrequent in light curves. Methods for detecting these forms of magnetic activity will be extensible to future time domain surveys, and helpful in characterizing the properties of stars as they age. Flares can be detected in sparsely sampled wide field surveys by searching for bright single-point outliers in light curves. Using both red optical and near infrared data from ground-based surveys over many years, I have constrained the rate of flares in multiple wavelengths for an ensemble of M dwarfs. Studying flares in these existing ground-based datasets will enable predictions for future survey yields. Space-based photometry enables continuous and precise monitoring of stars for many years, which is crucial for obtaining a complete census of flares from a single star. Using 11 months of 1-minute photometry for the M dwarf GJ 1243, I have amassed over 6100 flare events, the largest sample of white light flares for any low-mass star. I have also created the first high fidelity empirical white light flare template, which shows three distinct phases in typical flare light curves. With this template, I demonstrate that complex multi-peaked flares can be decomposed into their constituent flare events. This is the first modern study of the detailed white light morphology of stellar flares. Space-based survey data is also ideal for studying starspots, whose photometric modulation amplitude is typically much smaller than for flares. Using 4 years of 30 minute photometry for GJ 1243, I have traced the sizes and longitudes for multiple large starspots. A primary starspot is found that is stable in position and size over the 4 years of data, as well as secondary starspot features that decay on 100 to 500 day timescales and evolve in longitude. The secular longitude evolution of the secondary starspots indicates a very low rate of differential rotation on this rapidly rotating low-mass star. The presence of a transiting exoplanet can provide a great deal of information about the sizes and locations of starspots on the host star. When the planet crosses in front of a starspot, a small deviation in the predicted transit light curve is observed. By tracing these transit anomalies, I have detected more than 100 distinct starspots in 4 years of data on the young G2 dwarf, Kepler 17. These starspots are up to an order of magnitude larger than those on the Sun, and this star shows an almost four times larger amplitude of differential rotation than on the Sun.


Zero Speed Sensorless Control of Induction Motor with Ideal Voltage Source Kan Akatsu, Member, Atsuo Kawamura, Member (Yokohama National University) In the speed sensorless control of the induction motor, the machine parameters (especially the rotoi resistance R2) have a strong influence to the speed estimation. In addition, the output voltage error due to the dead time and the voltage drop of the inverter influence on the rotor flux estimation, but the simultaneous compensation of the output voltage and the stator resistance R1 is very difficult. In this paper the new algorithm of R2 estimation with utilizing only stator current is proposed. In the high frequency range, the R2 is estimated in the transient state, and in the very low frequency range, R2 is estimated in proportion to the estimated Ri when the ideal voltage source by the power op-amp is used instead of the voltage source inverter to avoid the output voltage error. In use of these algorithms, the low speed estimation was possible and the zero speed control was achieved under the 5 40% load condition in two motors. This paper clarified that the zero speed estimation is possible with the stator and rotor resistance estimations when the output voltage is ideal.


A comprehensive mathematical model of the respiratory system is developed using available physiological data and structural information. The model evolves through systemic analysis and development of causal relationships describing the three main subsystems; neural control, lung mechanics and gas exchange.
The subsystem models are based upon physiological evidence where possible but limited experimental data necessitates some structural hypothesisation particularly in the neural control model where knowledge concerning the central respiratory centre is scant and vague. Investigation of the neural system employs the concept of maintained respiratory rhythmicity through two coupled oscillators. Software and hardware models are generated and implemented and comparative testing gives a better understanding of the system behaviour. An improved model of the lung mechanics system is developed incorporating the concept of the equipressure point and a new theoretical approach to aid analysis. Performance of new experiments on humans allows further validation of a suitably adapted, existing gas exchange model. Detailed analysis and validation of the individual subsystem models using appropriate performance criteria, and their subsequent combination through the design of physiologically acceptable interfaces leads to the overall model of the respiratory system.
Model uniqueness may be revealed through validation processes and the applicability of two approaches to structural identification and parameter estimation to the models of the respiratory system is demonstrated. A combination of the two techniques (functional minimisation and feature space pattern recognition) in conjunction with sensitivity analysis and model reduction is proposed as a superior means of identification of physiological systems.
The comprehensive model of the respiratory system and the subsystem models highlight areas of uncertainty, providing , stimulation for future research in physiological and modelling fields,' Suggestions for further experimentation and theoretical studies in relevant areas are presented.


Alfred Hitchcock is often held up as the prime example of the one-man filmmaker, conceiving and controlling all aspects of his films' development - the archetype of genius over collaboration. An exhibition at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, however, put the lie to Hitchcock-as-auteur, presenting more than seventy-five sketches, designs, watercolors, paintings, and storyboards that, together, examine Hitchcock's very collaborative filmmaking process. The four essays in this collection were written to accompany the exhibition and delve further into Hitchcock's contributions to the collaborative process of art in film. Scott Curtis considers the four functions of Hitchcock's sketches and storyboards and how they undermine the impression of Hitchcock as a lone artist. Tom Gunning examines the visual vocabulary and cultural weight of Hitchcock's movies. Bill Krohn focuses sharply on the film "I Confess", tracking its making over a very cooperative path. Finally, Jan Olsson draws on the television series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," to show the ways that collaboration contributes to the formation of his well known public performance. Anchored by editor Will Schmenner's introduction, this book represents an important contribution to Hitchcock scholarship and a provocative glimpse at his unsung strength as a collaborative artist.


The cBioPortal enables integration, visualization, and analysis of multidimensional cancer genomic and clinical data. The cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics (http://cbioportal.org) provides a Web resource for exploring, visualizing, and analyzing multidimensional cancer genomics data. The portal reduces molecular profiling data from cancer tissues and cell lines into readily understandable genetic, epigenetic, gene expression, and proteomic events. The query interface combined with customized data storage enables researchers to interactively explore genetic alterations across samples, genes, and pathways and, when available in the underlying data, to link these to clinical outcomes. The portal provides graphical summaries of gene-level data from multiple platforms, network visualization and analysis, survival analysis, patient-centric queries, and software programmatic access. The intuitive Web interface of the portal makes complex cancer genomics profiles accessible to researchers and clinicians without requiring bioinformatics expertise, thus facilitating biological discoveries. Here, we provide a practical guide to the analysis and visualization features of the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics.


Adequate pain management depends on accurate assessment methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and responsiveness of a multidimensional composite scale for use in assessing postoperative pain in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy. Thirty cats were video recorded in four predetermined moments during the perioperative period: prior to surgery, before and after rescue analgesia postoperatively, and 24 hours after the end of surgery. Five observers blind to the times of assessment, and a gold standard observer (researcher who developed the scale) viewed the video segments in a random order, and the cat's pain scores were registered using the scale to be validated. The content and construct validity, and the responsiveness were established based on significant increase and reduction in the pain scores, in response to surgery and analgesics administration, respectively (Wilcoxon signed rank test, P<0.001). Criterion validity was determined by high agreement between the evaluations of the gold standard with the other observers, assessed by the percentage of absolute agreement and weighted Kappa coefficient. The findings support the validity and the responsiveness of a multidimensional composite scale to assess postoperative acute pain in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy, when used by veterinarians with clinical experience.


The avifauna identified in Europe during the first part of the Tertiary shows great affinities with the South American avifauna, fossil or recent : new discoveries indicate that this avifauna was also present in North America. It is possible to define an association of taxa, constituting a continental basal avifauna, common to these three continents, and amongst which some elements have survived only in South America. Some components of this avifauna having lost their ability to fly, or having a reduced flying ability, it is proposed that they diversified during the Upper Cretaceous or the Palaeocene and that they dispersed from South to North America, then to Europe, or the other way round, at a time when faunistic exchanges were possible by land routes, as has been demonstrated in other groups of vertebrates. The African avifauna at the same period is not very well known but, on the whole, the faunistic composition is different from that of the South America - North America-Europe group.


We present a systematic quantitative description of the magnetoconductance of split-gate quantum wires focusing on formation and evolution of the odd spin-resolved conductance plateaus. We start from the case of spinless electrons where the calculated magnetoconductance in the Hartree approximation shows the plateaus quantized in units of 2e 2 /h separated by transition regions, whose width grows as the magnetic field is increased. We show that the transition regions are related to the formation of the compressible strips in the middle of the wire occupied by electrons belonging to the highest spin-degenerate subband. Accounting for the exchange and correlation interactions within the spin density functional theory DFT leads to the lifting of the spin degeneracy and formation of the spin-resolved plateaus at odd values of e 2 /h. The most striking feature of the magnetoconductance is that the width of the odd conductance steps in the spin DFT calculations is equal to the width of the transition intervals between the conductance steps in the Hartree calculations. A detailed analysis of the evolution of the Hartree and the spin DFT subband structure provides an explanation of this finding. Our calculations also reveal the effect of the collapse of the odd conductance plateaus for lower fields. We attribute this effect to the reduced screening efficiency in the confined wire geometry when the width of the compressible strip in the center becomes much smaller than the extent of the wave function. A detailed comparison to the experimental data demonstrates that the spin DFT calculations reproduce not only qualitatively but also quantitatively all the features observed in the experiment. This includes the dependence of the width of the odd and even plateaus on the magnetic field as well as the estimation of the subband index corresponding to the last resolved odd plateau in the magnetoconductance.


We studied the optical properties of a dielectric photonic crystal structure with spirals arranged in a hexagonal lattice. The dielectric constant of the material was 9 and the filling ratio was 15.2%. We found that this kind of structure exhibits a significant polarization gap in the light that was incident along the axis of the spirals. The eigenmodes inside the polarization gap were predominantly right-hand (left-hand) polarized depending on the whether if the spirals are left-handed (right-handed). We calculated the transmission spectrum of a slab of such a structure and it matches well with the analysis of the eigenmodes.


Abstract Based on a completed, large-scale study of suburban cities in Southern California (N=202) this paper reports on the existence and usefulness of measuring local economic development policy in various ways. The policy measures were derived from an extensive survey of local economic development officials. Comparisons between simple additive scales of total policy activity and additive scales derived from factor analysis are made. After comparing the results of regression analysis of local policies measured in several ways, it is concluded that in some instances explanations of local policies are best approached by measuring policy in fairly simple ways. In this case, our set of conventional independent variables explains the most amount of variation in the additive measure. Moreover, the patterns of findings do not alter in substantively important ways when the policy measure is altered. The most salient finding is that both poverty levels and average income were both negatively correlated with our policy measures. Further examination of income and poverty show empirical support for Goetz's uneven development hypothesis. Introduction Competition among localities for economic growth is among the most pervasive facts of contemporary urban life. States and localities, in order to keep existing or attract new commerce, find themselves in bidding wars with neighboring jurisdictions and, sometimes, with distant counterparts. So we have the spectacle of communities in California and Virginia competing against each other for a Legoland theme park. A growing lore exists regarding these on-going economic battles over shopping centers, department stores, manufacturers, professional sports teams, auto centers, and government office buildings. Subsidies, incentives, and a host of efforts to shape the locational decisions of businesses have proliferated. Indeed, in any given period, when considering the nation as a whole, billions of dollars are allocated or committed by states and localities in order to woo commerce or to retain the affections of those commercial establishments that already reside there. Whether or not these efforts amount to anything for a state or locality is another matter. Indeed, there is a lively debate over the efficacy of these various efforts to attract and retain economic activity (Bartick, 1992; Feiock, 1991). But apart from the impact of these policies, it is clear that many resources are tied up in this competition and most local officials seem to believe they are beneficial, if not necessary. Indeed, whether or not such policies actually affect local economic activity, there are powerful political incentives for localities participating in the competition. Without state government actions to reduce such competition, it is likely that local government will continue to try to influence the deployment of economic activity. Moreover, in states where state revenue is disproportionately returned to communities of origin and where revenue-raising constraints have become severe there are fiscal motivations to seek the sort of development that raises more revenue than it imposes in service costs. There are at least two other reasons that communities might, apart from any evidence respecting the impact of such policies, continue to enact programs that purport to attract economic activity. First, as localities produce programs to attract economic development, their neighboring locales might react in what is perceived as a required response to "stay competitive." Second, the logic of competition makes even skeptical local officials likely to enact policies, since not producing is politically risky, while enacting them is not. For example, in a context where localities see one another as competing for economic development, officials who eschew enacting such policies run the risk of being indifferent to the well-being of their constituents. If a business locates in a community that courted that business and another locality was perhaps "in the running," then if officials seemed indifferent, then they will be blamed for the business locating elsewhere. …


This article explores some of the ways in which marine genetic resources conceptually and normatively intersect with the concept and idea of commons. Through an analysis of the terminological ambiguities and semantic slippages characterizing the usage of the concept of commons in international law, the article addresses questions relation to the idea of global commons and to the multiple reciprocal mapping of concepts, categories and legal regimes (can the different existing inflections of the idea of commons be considered articulations of the same underlying concept? What legal categories are associated with the multiple inflections and articulations of the concept of commons? What legal regime(s) do they, or should they, refer to?) The analysis shows that the commons is best understood as a narrative, which is then unpacked, in order to illustrate how it links in multiple ways to an ensemble of legal categories and legal regimes. Finally, the article explores how do marine genetic resources fit in this conceptual and normative narrative, in order to map the applicable regimes, and examine whether, to which extent, and in what ways, marine genetic resources are, can and/or should be considered as commons.


The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of occupational stress in Irish secondary school teachers, identify which stressors were the most prominent and if there were any differences between them, investigate the most prominent manifestations arising from stress and what were the most utilised and effective coping methods in dealing with the problem. In addition, various demographic variables were examined and their relationship with levels and sources of stress. An examination of gender and coping techniques was also conducted.

The results showed that the respondents experienced high levels of stress and significant numbers experienced stress for at least half of their typical week. Overall averages were not considerably different between the groups of stressors but professional investment seemed to result in the lowest level of stress. Closer examination did highlight excessive workload, time issues, lack of recognition, poorly motivated students and lack of effort from students were the top sources of stress. A formidably high percentage of participants encountered the majority of the stress manifestations investigated but in particular emotional and fatigue manifestations. Action planning was the most utilised coping technique but a Pearson's Correlation failed to show moderate to strong relationships between the stressors and coping methods.

The results of the research on demographic variables concluded that females experienced higher levels of work- related or job stress than that of the male participants. It also found that females were more likely to use the coping methods of professional help and seek advice and support from friends or colleagues. Teachers in urban schools experienced stress more frequently than their counterparts in rural schools. There were no significant differences relating to age and levels or sources of stress but those who were teaching for 11 to 15 years experienced greater levels of professional investment stress than those with less than 11 years teaching experience.


We have developed a technique for measuring paleoelevation on the basis of the vesicularity of basaltic lava flows. We are currently applying this technique to determine the timing and extent of Cenozoic uplift of the Colorado Plateau. Because the technique measures paleoatmospheric pressure, it is not subject to uncertainties stemming from the use of proxies that depend on environmental factors other than elevation alone. Vesicular lavas preserve a record of paleopressure at the time and place of lava emplacement because the difference in internal pressure in bubbles at the base and top of a lava flow depends on atmospheric pressure and lava flow thickness. The modal size of the vesicle (bubble) population is larger at the top than at the bottom. This leads directly to paleoatmospheric pressure and thus elevation because the thickness of the flow can easily be measured in the field, and the vesicle sizes can be measured in the laboratory. On the Colorado Plateau, volcanic fields are generally found around the margins of the plateau. Basaltic lavas range in age from 0 to 23 Ma; present elevations range from 1.7 km to 3.3 km. Samples were collected from lava flows in the areas of Marysvale, Springerville, Grand Mesa, and the San Juan Mountains and analyzed to determine the timing and extent of uplift. The analysis of the samples using X-ray computed tomography imaging and our numerical techniques for determining vesicle population statistics indicate uplift of 350-2200 m, depending on age. There is a clear relationship between age and amount of uplift (original elevation subtracted from present elevation). The results indicate slow uplift of ~40 m/m.y. between 25 Ma and 5 Ma (only 800 m of uplift during that time), and rapid uplift of 220 m/m.y. since 5 Ma (1100 m during that time). These results reconcile the long-standing controversy between interpretations of ancient versus recent uplift by providing an uplift history curve for the Colorado Plateau.


User-centric service and application management focuses on the quality of experience (QoE) as perceived by the end user. Thereby, the goal is to maximize QoE while ensuring fairness among users, e.g., for resource allocation and scheduling in shared systems. Although the literature suggests to consider consequently QoE fairness, there is currently no accepted definition of QoE fairness. The contribution of this letter is the definition of a generic <italic>QoE fairness index</italic> <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$F$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which has desirable key properties as well as the rationale behind it. By using examples and a measurement study involving multiple users downloading web content over a bottleneck link, we differentiate the proposed index from QoS fairness and the widely used Jain's fairness index. Based on results, we argue that neither QoS fairness nor Jain's fairness index meet all of the desirable QoE-relevant Properties, which are met by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$F$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Consequently, the proposed index <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$F$ </tex-math></inline-formula> may be used to compare QoE fairness across systems and applications, thus serving as a benchmark for QoE management mechanisms and system optimization.


Abstract We summarize the main ideas used to determine the thermodynamic properties of pure systems and binary alloys from first principles calculations. These are based on the ab initio calculations of free energies. As an application we present the study of iron and iron alloys under Earth's core conditions. In particular, we report the whole melting curve of iron under these conditions, and we put constraints on the composition of the core. We found that iron melts at 6350±600 K at the pressure corresponding to the boundary between the solid inner core and the liquid outer core (ICB). We show that the core could not have been formed from a binary mixture of Fe with S, Si or O and we propose a ternary or quaternary mixture with 8-10% of S/Si in both liquid and solid and an additional ~8% of oxygen in the liquid. Based on this proposed composition we calculate the shift of melting temperature with respect to the melting temperature of pure Fe of ~-700 K, so that our best estimate for the temperature of the Earth's core at ICB is 5650±600 K.


Genome-scale experiments provide an overwhelming amount of molecular information for biologist. New computational methods are needed for specific analysis and interpretation of such high-dimensional data. Here we take advantage of the massive public repositories to quantify the tissue-specific signals in gene expression profiles, characterize distinctive molecular features of human diseases, deconvolve the latent cell-type-specific factors in mixed clinical samples, and automatically integrate heterogeneous data sources in the context of a specific genome-wide dataset. First, we describe URSA (Unveiling RNA Sample Annotation) that incorporates the known tissue/cell-type relationships to better estimate the specific signal in any given gene expression profile. Our ontology-aware method combines independent discriminative classifiers in a Bayesian framework, outperforming other machine learning methods. We provide a molecular interpretation for the tissue and cell-type models learned by URSA, enabling a data-driven view of molecular processes specific to particular tissues and cell types. Then, we extend this work for human diseases. We use thousands of clinical disease-specific expression profiles in public repositories to quantify distinctive functional and anatomical characteristics of human diseases. Through our data-driven analysis, we explore the complexity of the human disease landscape and propose exploratory hypothesis for drug repurposing even for rare disease with no prior genetic knowledge. Lastly, we describe YETI (Your Evidence Tailored Integration) for targeted integration of heterogeneous genome-wide data sources. Biomedical researchers generate genome-wide datasets for data-driven exploration of specific questions but such analyses are disconnect from big public data collections. YETI is the first automatic integration method that effectively constructs functional networks specific to a genome-scale dataset. We show that the resulting integration reflect the biological context of the user-provided dataset while providing accurate prediction for functional interactions. iii


Purpose To describe the epidemiology and trends in eyelid malignancies in Singapore from 1996 to 2008. Methods The Singapore Cancer Registry has been collecting epidemiological data of all cancers seen in Singapore since 1968. Data of all eyelid cancers from 1996 to 2008 were retrieved for analysis. The age-standardised incidence rates and age-specific incidence rates were calculated with the direct method, using the 2000 world population as a standard. Results There were a total of 160 male patients (48%) and 173 female patients (52%). The median age at diagnosis was 66 years (range 31–95) for male subjects and 67 years (35–99) for female subjects. The average annual age-standardised incidence rate of all eyelid cancers over the 13 years was 5.0 per million. A significant decrease in rates from 6.6 per million in the 1996–1998 period to 3.9 per million in the 2005–2008 period with an annual percentage change of 3.6% (95% CI −6.5 to 0.7%; p=0.02) was noted for women. The most common cancer was basal cell carcinoma (82%), followed by sebaceous gland carcinoma (11%) and squamous cell carcinoma (4%). Conclusions The annual age-standardised incidence rates for male and female residents showed a steady decline over the last 13 years. These data suggest that factors related to sun protection have resulted in reduced eyelid cancers over time and provide a basis for such public health programmes elsewhere.


Action selection often requires the transformation of visual information into motor plans. Preventing premature responses may entail the suppression of visual input and/or of prepared muscle activity. This study examined how the quality of visual information affects frontobasal ganglia (BG) routes associated with response selection and inhibition. Human fMRI data were collected from a stop task with visually degraded or intact face stimuli. During go trials, degraded spatial frequency information reduced the speed of information accumulation and response cautiousness. Effective connectivity analysis of the fMRI data showed action selection to emerge through the classic direct and indirect BG pathways, with inputs deriving form both prefrontal and visual regions. When stimuli were degraded, visual and prefrontal regions processing the stimulus information increased connectivity strengths toward BG, whereas regions evaluating visual scene content or response strategies reduced connectivity toward BG. Response inhibition during stop trials recruited the indirect and hyperdirect BG pathways, with input from visual and prefrontal regions. Importantly, when stimuli were nondegraded and processed fast, the optimal stop model contained additional connections from prefrontal to visual cortex. Individual differences analysis revealed that stronger prefrontal-to-visual connectivity covaried with faster inhibition times. Therefore, prefrontal-to-visual cortex connections appear to suppress the fast flow of visual input for the go task, such that the inhibition process can finish before the selection process. These results indicate response selection and inhibition within the BG to emerge through the interplay of top–down adjustments from prefrontal and bottom–up input from sensory cortex.


This article summarizes the proceedings of a conference hosted by the Bank of Canada in November 1995. The conference examined the interaction between monetary policy operations and the money market. It provided an opportunity to assess current operations before the introduction of a large-value transfer system leads the Bank to change the techniques it uses to implement monetary policy on a day-to-day basis. From the Bank's perspective, the papers prepared externally provided some useful insights into recent innovations in money markets and their implications for the implementation of monetary policy. Meanwhile, the sessions devoted to the Bank's operations in financial markets were designed to provide market practitioners and academics with further insight into how the Bank operates in these markets.


Organic matter (OM) and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN: nitrite, nitrate and ammonium) in the sediments as well as in the water column of two temperate estuaries, the Scheldt Estuary in Belgium and the Netherlands, and the Fraser Estuary in Canada, were investigated. Three representative stations, differing in salinity and representing areas of fast sedimentation, were selected in each estuary. Samples were taken during periods of high and low river discharge. The results show, in both estuaries, that the vertical distributions of OM and DIN in a sediment layer are affected by the instability, caused by episodic resuspension and re-deposition, of the uppermost sediment layer. The findings of this study suggest a hypothesis, next to biogeochemical processes, that the OM and DIN distributions in upper sediment layers are influenced by sedimentary processes in the estuarine environment. The same sedimentary processes even in different estuaries affect OM and DIN distributions in an equivalent way. Correspondingly, the similarity or difference in OM and DIN distribution to a certain extent reflects the sedimentary dynamics. River runoff and sediment resuspension and sedimentation have important impacts on sediment behaviour and thus regulate OM and DIN distributions and shape their vertical profiles in the sediments. As a reflection, the coupling of sediment resuspension followed by redeposition can be deduced from the vertical profile of DIN in the bottom sediments which, in turn, can provide a time-integrated periodic record of the most recent sedimentary history.


The term Neo-Dada surfaced in New York in the late 1950s and was used to characterize young artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns whose art appeared at odds with the serious emotional and painterly interests of the then-dominant movement, abstract expressionism. Neo-Dada quickly became the word of choice in the early 1960s to designate experimental art, including assemblage, performance, pop art, and nascent forms of minimal and conceptual art. "An Audience of Artists" turns this time line for the postwar New York art world on its head, presenting a new pedigree for these artistic movements. Drawing on an array of previously unpublished material, Catherine Craft reveals that Neo-Dada, far from being a reaction to abstract expressionism, actually originated at the heart of that movement's concerns about viewers, originality, and artists' debts to the past and one another. Furthermore, she argues, the original Dada movement was not incompatible with abstract expressionism. In fact, Dada provided a vital historical reference for artists and critics seeking to come to terms with the radical departure from tradition that abstract expressionism seemed to represent. Tracing the activities of artists such as Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, and Jackson Pollock alongside Marcel Duchamp's renewed embrace of Dada in the late 1940s, Craft composes a subtle exploration of the challenges facing artists trying to work in the wake of a destructive world war and the paintings, objects, writings, and installations that resulted from their efforts. Providing the first examination of the roots of the Neo-Dada phenomenon, this groundbreaking study significantly reassesses the histories of these three movements and offers new ways of understanding the broader issues related to the development of modern art.