The electricity system is transitioning from a system comprised primarily of dispatchable generators to a system increasingly reliant on wind and solar power—intermittent sources of electricity with output dependent on meteorological conditions, adding both variability and uncertainty to the system. Dispatchable generators with a high ratio of fixed to variable costs have historically relied on operating at maximum output as often as possible to spread these fixed costs over as much electricity generation as possible. Higher penetrations of intermittent capacity create market conditions that lead to lower capacity factors for these generators, presenting an economic challenge. Increasing penetrations of intermittent capacity, however, also leads to more volatile electricity prices, with highest prices in hours that renewable sources are unavailable. The ability of dispatchable generators to provide energy during these high priced hours may counteract the loss of revenue from reduced operating hours. Given the disparate revenues received in this volatile market, the relative competitiveness of generation technologies cannot be informed by their cost alone; the value of generators based on their production profiles must also be considered. Consequently, comparisons of generator competitiveness based on traditional metrics such as the levelized cost of electricity are misleading, and power system models able to convey the relative value of generators should instead be used to compare generator competitiveness. The purpose of this thesis is to assess the relative competitiveness of generation technologies in an efficient market under various penetrations of intermittent power. This work is specifically concerned with the relative competitiveness of power plants equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, nuclear power plants, and renewable generation capacity. In order to assess relative competitiveness, this work presents an extensive literature review of the costs and technical flexibility of generators, with particular attention to CCS-equipped and nuclear capacity. These costs and flexibility parameters are integrated into a unit commitment model. The unit commitment model for co-optimized reserves and energy (UCCORE), developed as part of this thesis, is a mixed integer linear programming model with a focus on representing hourly price volatility and the intertemporal operational constraints of thermal generators. The model is parameterized to represent the ERCOT power system and is used to solve for generator dispatch and marginal prices at hourly intervals over characteristic weeks. Data from modeled characteristic weeks is interpolated to estimate generator profits over a year to allow for a comparison of generator competitiveness informed by both costs and revenues. Scenario analysis conducted using the UCCORE model shows that the difference in energy prices captured by generators becomes an important driver of relative competitiveness at modest penetrations of intermittent power. Increasing the ratio of intermittent to dispatchable capacity causes intermittent generators to depress market prices during the hours they are available due to their coordinated output. Prices, however, rise in hours when intermittent capacity is unavailable because of scarcity of available capacity. This work develops the weighted value factor to compare the revenues of intermittent and dispatchable generation capacity. The weighted value factor is the market value of a generators production profile relative to an ideal generator dispatched at full capacity for all hours. The results show that as the proportion of intermittent capacity increases, the relative value of dispatchable generators also increases and at an increasing rate. At high penetrations of intermittent capacity, the power system experiences increasing risk of generation shortages leading to exceptionally high prices. In these systems, dispatchable generators able to capture peak pricing become most profitable. At lower penetrations of intermittent capacity, peak pricing remains influential, but is less extreme and the relative importance of low capital and fixed costs increases. The sensitivity of generator profitability to assumed value of lost load, oil and gas price, and carbon price is also assessed. The key implication of these results is that efficient price signals may lead to opportunities for investment in dispatchable generators as the proportion of intermittent capacity on a power system increases. Markets and models that do not capture the full hourly volatility of efficient energy prices, however, are missing critical signals. The importance of these signals on relative competitiveness increases with the penetration of intermittent power. Without accounting for price volatility, markets and models will undervalue dispatchable capacity and overvalue intermittent capacity. Thesis Supervisor: Howard Herzog Title: Senior Research Engineer, MIT Energy Initiative Thesis Supervisor: R. Scott Kemp Title: Associate Professor of Nuclear Science & Engineering Thesis Reader: Sergey Paltsev Title: Senior Research Scientist, MIT Energy Initiative


OBJECTIVE
Neuroimaging studies show structural differences in both cortical and subcortical brain regions in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with healthy subjects. Findings are inconsistent, however, and it is unclear how differences develop across the lifespan. The authors investigated brain morphometry differences between individuals with ASD and healthy subjects, cross-sectionally across the lifespan, in a large multinational sample from the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics Through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) ASD working group.

METHOD
The sample comprised 1,571 patients with ASD and 1,651 healthy control subjects (age range, 2-64 years) from 49 participating sites. MRI scans were preprocessed at individual sites with a harmonized protocol based on a validated automated-segmentation software program. Mega-analyses were used to test for case-control differences in subcortical volumes, cortical thickness, and surface area. Development of brain morphometry over the lifespan was modeled using a fractional polynomial approach.

RESULTS
The case-control mega-analysis demonstrated that ASD was associated with smaller subcortical volumes of the pallidum, putamen, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens (effect sizes [Cohen's d], 0.13 to -0.13), as well as increased cortical thickness in the frontal cortex and decreased thickness in the temporal cortex (effect sizes, -0.21 to 0.20). Analyses of age effects indicate that the development of cortical thickness is altered in ASD, with the largest differences occurring around adolescence. No age-by-ASD interactions were observed in the subcortical partitions.

CONCLUSIONS
The ENIGMA ASD working group provides the largest study of brain morphometry differences in ASD to date, using a well-established, validated, publicly available analysis pipeline. ASD patients showed altered morphometry in the cognitive and affective parts of the striatum, frontal cortex, and temporal cortex. Complex developmental trajectories were observed for the different regions, with a developmental peak around adolescence. These findings suggest an interplay in the abnormal development of the striatal, frontal, and temporal regions in ASD across the lifespan.


An asymmetric polarization-maintaining single-mode fiber with one side-hole being incorporated into the fiber cladding has been investigated analytically in this work for potential pressure measurements. The material birefringence of the fiber is calculated using a thermo-elastic displacement potential method through the superposition of sectional displacement potentials. The results obtained are generic and are thus applicable to any one-hole fiber structures, should the hole diameter or position vary in the fiber cladding, or the fiber hole be empty or filled in with any material. This enables the analysis to be applied more widely in a range of optical fiber sensor applications.


The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway plays a crucial role in embryogenesis and has been linked to the development of several human malignancies. The transcription factor Gli2 plays a key role in the transduction of Hh signals by modulating transcription of some Hh target genes, yet the mechanisms that control Gli2 protein expression are largely unknown. Here we report that β-transducin repeat-containing protein (β-TrCP) E3 ubiquitin ligase is required for Gli2 degradation. β-TrCP2 directly binds wild type Gli2 and promotes its ubiquitination. Single amino acid substitution in Gli2 putative binding site inhibits its interaction with β-TrCP2, its ubiquitination, and stabilizes the Gli2 protein. Stable Gli2 mutant is expressed in higher levels and is more potent in the activation of Gli-dependent transcription as compared with wild type Gli2. We also found that GLI2 protein is expressed highly in prostate cancer cell lines and primary tumors, whereas the level of GLI2 mRNA is not appreciably different in normal and neoplastic prostate. These data identify β-TrCP2 as a pivotal regulator of Gli2 expression and point to an important role for posttranslational modulation of GLI2 protein levels in Hh pathway-associated human prostate cancer.


People with various degrees of disabilities (e.g., visually or hearing impaired) often find it difficult to access mainstream products and services and thus they are excluded from enjoying audio-visual services on an equal basis as people without disabilities. These people feel marginalized in today's digital society and they are unable to reach their maximum potential personally, professionally and socially. EasyTV aims to address these issues by providing numerous services that not only ease the access of people with disabilities to multimedia services, but also enhance interaction with the media through a multi-language approach that adapts content based on user's preferences. In this work, the main EasyTV services are described in detail. Furthermore, an evaluation of the main services by end users is presented and discussed in order to highlight the importance of offering accessibility services to people with disabilities.


This paper has proposed a Graph - semantic based conceptual model for semi-structured database system, called GOOSSDM, to conceptualize the different facets of such system in object oriented paradigm. The model defines a set of graph based formal constructs, variety of relationship types with participation constraints and rich set of graphical notations to specify the conceptual level design of semi-structured database system. The proposed design approach facilitates modeling of irregular, heterogeneous, hierarchical and non-hierarchical semi-structured data at the conceptual level. Moreover, the proposed GOOSSDM is capable to model XML document at conceptual level with the facility of document-centric design, ordering and disjunction characteristic. A rule based transformation mechanism of GOOSSDM schema into the equivalent XML Schema Definition (XSD) also has been proposed in this paper. The concepts of the proposed conceptual model have been implemented using Generic Modeling Environment (GME).


Trastuzumab (Herceptin®) is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody which is approved for therapy of HER2 positive breast cancer. Good clinical results and improvement of the patient's general condition makes it interesting for further conjugation, in order to increase the therapeutic effect of trastuzumab.
With the development of radiopharmacy many efforts are made for formulation of stable conjugates with various bifunctional chelators, further labelled with radioisotopes (α, β and γ emitters). According to the literature, successful conjugation of trastuzumab is achieved with DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid), DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid), TCMC (1,4,7,10-tetra-(2-carbamoyl methyl)-cyclododecane), HYNIC (succinimidyl-6-hydrazino-nicotinamide) and DTPA derivate 1B4M-DTPA (2-(4-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-6-methyl-diethylene-triaminepentaacetic acid).
Significant radiopharmaceuticals based on peptide and antibody for diagnostic and therapeutical purpose used different radioisotopes (99mTc/188Re, 67Ga, 177Lu, 90Y, 131I).
Several studies have shown that already existing radiolabeled formulations, using beta and alfa emitters (90Y-DTPA-trastuzumab, 86Y-DTPA-trastuzumab, 177Lu-DOTA-trastuzumab, 227Th-DOTA-p-benzil-trastuzumab, 225Ac-trastuzumab) are potent against HER2 positive breast cancer.
Our already obtained and published results related tothe method for ready to use production of freeze dried kit formulation of Rituximab imunnoconjugates for labeling with Lu-177 and Y-90 including preclinical assessment of three imunnoconjugates (p-SCN-Bn-DOTA, p-SCN-Bn-DTPA and 1B4M-DTPA ) including chemical characterization, animal imaging, biodistribution and toxicological studies, were good reason to have an indication to introduce the same approach for labeling HER2-targeting trastuzumab using 68Ga3+ under mild conditions without subsequent purification for PET imaging.
Work progress towards objectives and achievements
Progress results and research outcomes critical to work progress and achievements are listed under our project milestones, and referenced to project aims.

Our objectives are to synthesize and evaluate the immunoconjugate of the HER2-targeting trastuzumab with Galium – 68 using already established method of freeze dried kit formulation.
Milestone 1: Standardize previously established method used for freeze dried kit formulation of Rituximab imunnoconjugates for HER2-targeting trastuzumabmimunnoconjugates.
Milestone 2: Conjugation of bifunctional chelators to targeting for HER2-targeting trastuzumab, and radiolabeling with Ga-68 (define the most appropriate immunoconjugate).
Milestone 3: In vitro characterization and in vivo biodistribution of 68Ga-labeled conjugates.
Significance: Already established method for freeze dried kit formulation of conjugated Rituximab antibody ready for labeling with Lutetium-177, Yttrium-90 for therapeutical purpose that is under the final phase of the evaluation provide good information to introduce the same method for labeling of for HER2-targeting trastuzumab.
The simplicity and efficiency of labelling and the possibility of kit-based 68Ga tracer production without complex automated synthesis typical of multistep PET radiochemistry will greatly increase 68Ga PET access to hospitals, expanding the use of the 68Ga generator.
In the same time give opportunity to work on the same or similar kit formulation using with Lu-177 for therapy


Thanks to microscopes, scientists start to observe smaller samples and are now able to observe atoms. In biology, samples might be alive but as a microscope stage is not their natural environment they tend to die after a short period of time. This limiting factor questions the relevance and robustness of the produced results as a results obtained from an organism/organ/cell cultured in a non physiological environment will always remain questionable. The way to improve it was to recreate the optimum sample environment (temperature, pH, nutrient supply...) on the microscope stage.


The wavefront aberration induced by turbulent flow field in liquid-convection-cooled disk laser is numerically analyzed. By using the large-eddy-simulation model, the structure of time-random turbulent eddies are described and the effects of turbulent eddies on wavefront aberration are illustrated, indicating that the wavefront aberration varies primarily with the temperature field. By integrating the thermal-induced variations of the refractive index along the laser beam path within the flowing liquid, the two-dimensional wavefront aberration is obtained, showing that the wavefront aberration occurs mainly at the thermal boundary layer, where the temperature gradient is large.


Susceptibility of red blood cells (RBC) to hemolysis under mechanical stress is represented by RBC mechanical fragility (MF), with different types or intensities of stress potentially emphasizing different perturbations of RBC membranes. RBC membrane mechanics were shown to depend on cell environment, with many details not yet understood. Here, stress was applied to RBC using a bead mill with oscillation up to 50 Hz, over durations up to 50 minutes. MF profiles plot percent lysis upon stresses of progressive durations. Supplementing media with polyethylene glycol (PEG) which interacts with the cell membrane, but not Dextran which does not, resulted in higher resistance to hemolysis. Albumin, and to a lesser extent fibrinogen and globulins (at physiological concentrations), significantly increased cell ability to withstand mechanical stress versus with un-supplemented buffer solution and with PEG. This is partly due to changes in rheology, per tests done including (PEG) and Dextran, but is mostly due to cell-protein interaction, noting the effect of pH on RBC MF with albumin but not with buffer. Presence of lipids reduced RBC resistance to potentially hemolytic stress with lypemic plasma effecting lower "protection" from induced hemolysis than essentially fatty-acid free plasma. This effect was less dependent on incubation than on fatty-acid presence during stressing. The reduced propensity for hemolysis afforded by plasma proteins also depended markedly on the speed of the bead, potentially reflecting changes from a predominantly Von Karman trail at lower frequencies to an increasingly disorganized turbulent wake at higher frequencies.


Current work zone design and traffic control guidance is based on desirable speed outcomes; knowledge related to actual speed outcomes of design and traffic control decisions is limited. The objective of this research is to investigate relationships among speed behavior, roadway geometrics, and traffic control in freeway construction work zones. Four speed measures are modeled: 85th percentile passenger car speed, 85th percentile truck speed, passenger car speed deviation, and truck speed deviation. The research objective is accomplished through specification and estimation of a first-order autoregressive seemingly unrelated regression model to account for contemporaneous correlations between equation disturbances and positive autocorrelation. Data for model estimation were collected at 119 locations in 17 Pennsylvania and Texas work zones. Model estimation results show that several work design and traffic control features influence speed magnitudes and deviations. Findings also indicate that relationships among speed magnitude, speed deviation, work zone design, and traffic control are more complex than general engineering intuitions expressed in current work zone design guidance.


The spectral characteristics of the Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr4+:YAG laser have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. It was demonstrated that third-order dispersion provides a frequency downshift of the pulse spectrum (by as much as 70 nm) in combination with extra broadening (as much as 400 nm), in analogy with the generation of a spectral continuum in the fibers in the vicinity of zero-dispersion wavelength. The large redshift of the few optical cycle pulses (greater than 100 nm) and the dependence of the spectrum's position on dispersion can be explained only if stimulated Raman scattering in the active medium is taken into account. It was shown that third-order dispersion can act as either a stabilizing or a destabilizing factor, depending on the amount of group-delay dispersion. Stabilization is found to be due to the negative feedback produced by the spectral sidebands.


The treatment of aplastic anemia is currently with immunosuppressive therapy (IST) with anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) and cyclosporine, to which two thirds of patients respond. However, a significant proportion of these responders relapse and many have persistent cytopenias. The management of these patients is challenging. Modifications to this standard approach using alternative immunosuppressive agents or adding hematopoietic cytokines such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and erythropoietin (EPO) have not improved outcome. A recent trial has shown that eltrombopag, a thrombopoeitin mimetic, is efficacious in the treatment of patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) refractory to IST. There is evidence that this drug works by directly stimulating marrow stem and progenitor cells thereby promoting hematopoietic recovery in patients with bone marrow failure. Several trials are ongoing in our institution using this very promising drug in combination therapy in the upfront treatment of SAA, in IST-refractory SAA and in moderate disease.


"Current globalisation and borderless operations in manufacturing and services industries are creating a greater demand for international transport and logistics. Maritime (shipping and ports) is one of the key components in this business pattern. It is now estimated that approximately 90% of global trading freights are moved by maritime mode. As this trade increases it is becoming ever more important to have a clear understanding of the way in which freight is transported by sea and the role of ports in this exchange. Maritime Logistics examines the latest development, knowledge and practices taking place in logistics and supply chain within the port and shipping industry. Written by a team of international authors, who provide a truly global perspective on this increasingly key area of logistics, the book covers everything that students of logistics, as well as those working within the industry should know and understand including: shipping lines, container tankers, dry bulk, and port-centric logistics"--


This paper develops an approach to the design of an optimal Petri net supervisor that enforces liveness to flexible manufacturing systems. The supervisor contains a set of observer places with weighted inhibitor arcs. An observer place with a weighted inhibitor arc is used to forbid a net from yielding an illegal marking by inhibiting the firing of a transition at a marking while ensuring that all legal markings are preserved. A marking reduction technique is presented to decrease the number of considered markings, which can dramatically lower the computational burden of the proposed approach. An integer linear program is presented to simplify the supervisory structure by minimizing the number of observer places. Finally, several examples are used to shed light on the proposed approach which can lead to an optimal supervisor for the net models that cannot be optimally controlled via pure Petri net supervisors.


Background Stent-assisted coil embolization (SACE) is a viable therapeutic approach for wide-neck intracranial aneurysms. However, it can be technically challenging in small cerebral vessels (≤2 mm). Objective To present our experience with stents approved for SACE in aneurysms with small parent arteries. Methods All patients who underwent stent-assisted aneurysm treatment with either a Neuroform or an Enterprise stent device at our institution between June 2006 and October 2012 were identified. Additionally, we evaluated each patient's vascular risk factors, aneurysm characteristics (ruptured vs non-ruptured, incidental finding, recanalized) and follow-up angiography data. Results A total of 41 patients with 44 aneurysms met our criteria, including 31 women and 10 men. Most of the aneurysms were located in the anterior circulation (75%). Stent placement in vessels 1.2–2 mm in diameter was successful in 93.2%. Thromboembolic complications occurred in 6 cases and vessel straightening was seen in 1 case only. Initial nearly complete to complete aneurysm obliteration was achieved in 88.6%. Six-month follow-up angiography showed coil compaction in three cases, one asymptomatic in-stent stenosis and stent occlusion. Twelve to 20-months' follow-up showed stable coil compaction in two patients compared with previous follow-up, and aneurysm recanalization in two patients. Twenty-four to 36-months' follow-up showed further coil compaction in one of these patients and aneurysm recanalization in a previous case of stable coil compaction on mid-term follow-up. Conclusions Our results suggest that SACE of aneurysms with small parent vessels is feasible in selected cases and shows good long-term patency rates of parent arteries.


Building on ideas first advanced by Arnold Schoenberg and later developed by Erwin Ratz, this book introduces a new theory of form for instrumental music in the classical style. The theory provides a broad set of principles and a comprehensive methodology for the analysis of classical form, from individual ideas, phrases, and themes to the large-scale organization of complete movements. It emphasizes the notion of formal function, that is, the specific role a given formal unit plays in the structural organization of a classical work.


The story of the history of Western astrology begins with the philosophers of Greece in the 5th century BC. the Greeks added numerology, geometry and rational thought. The philosophy of Plato and later of the Stoics made astrology respectable, and by the time Ptolemy wrote his textbook the Tetrabiblos, in the second century AD, the main lines of astrological practice as it is known today had already been laid down. In future centuries astrology shifted to Islam only to return to the West in medieval times where it flourished until the shift of ideas during the Renaissance.


There is a need for a more sustainable, low carbon transport system to tackle issues such as congesting and climate change. Climate change is one of the most important issues of the 21st century and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is now more important than ever. One way to achieve a more sustainable transport system is an increased use of better public transport, but with a private-car based society, the switch from private to public transport is a complex issue that requires good alternatives to the car. This study used a questionnaire, which was completed by both bus and car users, to gain an insight into attitudes and opinions towards public transport and possibilities of private to public transport modal shift. The most significant results show a large acceptance towards the issues created by the car, and findings also point to the potential of initiatives such as bus lanes and Park & Ride services in encouraging more bus use.


It is well-known that the performance and reliability of integrated circuits and other electronics are functions of operating temperature. The accurate prediction of temperature distributions for such applications poses engineering challenges due to many factors, including complex convection flows, non-uniform thermal boundary conditions, extrapolation to operation in extreme environments, and demanding steady-state and transient design requirements. In addition, the ever-increasing heat dissipation in a smaller package volume requires solutions with ever-increasing heat transfer and heat capacity. Thermal analysis and prediction based on superposition techniques are currently not as well-known as the use of numerical simulation tools readily available today. However, they are a powerful alternative to numerical simulation tools, especially for the complex scenarios that arise in this application. Superposition techniques can be applied to the design and interpretation of experiments and numerical simulations, and have the potential to form the building blocks of engineering tools that are more generally applicable to a wide range of challenging heat transfer problems


Interest in Shi'i Islam is running at unprecedented levels. International tensions over Iran, where the largest number of Shi'i Muslims live, as well as the political resurgence of the Shi'i in Iraq and Lebanon, have created an urgent need to understand the background, beliefs and motivations of this dynamic vision of Islam. Abbas Amanat is one of the leading scholars of Shi'ism. And in this powerful book, a showcase for some of his most influential writing in the field, he addresses the colourful and diverse history of Shi' Islam in both premodern and contemporary times.Focusing specifically on the importance of apocalypticism in the development of modern Shi'i theology, he shows how an immersion in messianic ideas has shaped the conservative character of much Shi'i thinking, and has prevented it from taking a more progressive course. Tracing the continuity of apocalyptic trends from the Middle Ages to the present, Amanat addresses such topics as the early influence on Shi'ism of Zoroastrianism; manifestations of apocalyptic ideology during the Iranian Revolution of 1979; and the rise of the Shi'i clerical establishment during the 19th and 20th centuries. His book will be an essential resource for students and scholars of both religious studies and Middle Eastern history.


Silver-based nanoalloys owing to their cost, performance and stability are an attractive electrocatalyst system for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in the alkaline fuel cells and metal air batteries. A systematic computational and experimental approach has been adopted to investigate their performance for ORR in alkaline environment. Firstly, genet‐ ic algorithm (GA) based calculations have been performed to look for the stable composi‐ tions and structures of these nanoalloys. Later, density functional theory (DFT) is employed to simulate the working of those stable nanoalloys in actual working condi‐ tions. Finally, the most promising nanoalloys have been synthesized by physical and chemical routes to confirm their performance in real-life conditions. It has been found that the alloying of silver with copper enhances the catalytic performance of Ag nanopar‐ ticles. The enhancement in performance can be related to the modification of the electron‐ ic and physical structure of Ag due to copper doping. The superior performance of Ag– Cu nanocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells and metal air batteries along with their modest cost and long-term stability make them a promising candidate for deployment as a catalyst for ORR in alkaline media.


My artistic research emphasises the interwoven relationship between the subjective encounter and the surrounding world. I draw on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's notion of Flesh and Keiji Nishitani's Sunyata - or radical impermanence. For both writers, science and secularism involve an objectification of both the natural world and human subject, leading to the de-personalisation of both. Their approaches seek to unravel the distinction between self and other. In particular, the notion of a dissolving or omnidirectional vision proposed by both writers informs my interest in the greatest context that we cannot see but which sees us. The challenge in this research has been to develop artistic experiences that suggest a relationship of reciprocity and permeability between the subjective encounter and the surrounding world. In addition I explore through the works the conditions of seeing, which are characterised simultaneously by separation and continuity, visibility and invisibility, presence and absence. I contrast critiques of phenomenology with a re-emergence of phenomenological art practice. By grounding an introspective aesthetic experience within the social domain I seek a deeper understanding of the phenomenological framework, which my work draws upon. Painting is the informing artistic heritage of the installation practice I work with. Painting is constituted through the division of sight and touch, and inherently addresses visuality (learnt seeing) and seeing. I work with issues of framing, of real and pictorial space, opacity, transparency and displacement in my installation work to explore the enigmatic relationship between the haptic and the optic. Through these works I hope to prompt larger revelations about the conditions of perception. The ambition is that the viewer may become a navigator of visibility through revealing invisibility; through perceiving yourself perceiving. The implication is the experiencing subject may change their surroundings through an understanding of its conditions. These conditions are both introspective and social, and consequently have a cultural significance. This practice is a conditional one, focusing on the experience of light, space, time, and contingency in an attempt to identify the framework of perception in which the sensible is distributed. Drawing attention to these conditions in which the frame of invisibility is exposed is an allegorical approach intended ultimately to remind us of our place as embodied subjects open to otherness and the infinite.


This essay examines the connections between art and politics in Middle East arts events in the U.S. since 9/11/2001. It critiques the universalist assumptions about humanity and the agentive capacity of art to build bridges of understanding in contexts of so-called civilizational conflict—assumptions that have strong roots in anthropology. By juxtaposing evidence of how the notion of "humanity" is deployed in exhibitions of Palestinian art with an analysis of the three more predominant types of arts events (historical Islamic art, Sufi arts, and contemporary art by Muslim women), the essay demonstrates how American secular elite discourse on Middle Eastern art corresponds to that of the "War on Terror."


Each year many people suffer an accident or illness which leaves them with a permanent memory impairment. As a result they will fait to remember to do things, making it difficult for them to maintain employment or independent leisure activities. Conventional memory aids offer little assistance because their use depends on relatively normal memory functioning. A system designed specifically for memory-impaired people has been developed recently in the USA, however. 'NeuroPage' uses a combination of computing and telecom- munications to store and transmit reminders to a pager worn by the user. The system is designed to place minimal demands on memory. This paper presents a case study evaluation of NeuroPage in use by a young man with a severe memory impairment. The pager messages led to a marked increase in the probability that he would carry out his intended tasks. Issues of usability and acceptability of the system to the user and his family are also reported. A number of possible developments to the system are considered, including the incorporation of artificial intelligence and context-sensitivity. Broader issues in the design of memory aids for people with and without memory impairments are also considered, as well as the potential role of memory-impaired people in the design of technology for their own use.


The overall objective of the research project has been to assess the impact of provider diversity on quality and innovation in the NHS. The specific research aims were to identify the differences in performance between non-profit Third Sector organisations, for-profit private enterprises, and incumbent public sector institutions within the NHS as providers of health care services, as well as the factors that affect the entry and growth of new private and Third Sector providers.
The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods based on case studies of four Local Health Economies (LHEs). Qualitative methods included documentary analysis and interviews with key informants and managers of both commissioning and provider organisations. To provide a focus to the study, two tracer conditions were followed: orthopaedic surgery and home health care for frail older people. In the case of hospital inpatient care, data on patient characteristics were also collected from the HES database. The analysis of this data provided preliminary estimates of the effects of provider type on quality, controlling for client characteristics and case mix. In addition, a survey of patient experience in diverse provider organisations was analysed to compare the different dimensions of quality of provision of acute services between incumbent NHS organisations and new independent sector treatment centres.
The research has shown that, in respect of inpatient hospital services, diverse providers supply health services of at least as good quality as traditional NHS providers, and that there is ample opportunity to expand their scale and scope as providers of services commissioned by the NHS. The research used patient experience survey data to investigate whether hospital ownership affects the quality of services reported by NHS patients in areas other than clinical quality. The raw survey data appear to show that private hospitals provide higher quality services than the public hospitals. However, further empirical analysis leads to a more nuanced understanding of the performance differences. Firstly, the analysis shows that each sector offers greater quality in certain specialties. Secondly, the analysis shows that differences in the quality of patients' reported experience are mainly attributable to patient characteristics, the selection of patients into each type of hospital, and the characteristics of individual hospitals, rather than to hospital ownership as such. Controlling for such differences, NHS patients are on average likely to experience a similar quality of care in a public or privately-run hospital. Nevertheless, for specific groups of patients and for specific types of treatments, especially the more straightforward ones, the private sector provides an improved patient experience compared to the public sector. Elsewhere, the NHS continues to provide a high quality service and outperforms the private sector in a range of services and for a range of clients.


Detecting sequence homology between protein sequences is a fundamental problem in computational molecular biology, with a pervasive application in nearly all analyses that aim to structurally and functionally characterize protein molecules. While detecting the homology between two protein sequences is relatively inexpensive, detecting pairwise homology for a large number of protein sequences can become computationally prohibitive for modern inputs, often requiring millions of CPU hours. Yet, there is currently no robust support to parallelize this kernel. In this paper, we identify the key characteristics that make this problem particularly hard to parallelize, and then propose a new parallel algorithm that is suited for detecting homology on large data sets using distributed memory parallel computers. Our method, called pGraph, is a novel hybrid between the hierarchical multiple-master/worker model and producer-consumer model, and is designed to break the irregularities imposed by alignment computation and work generation. Experimental results show that pGraph achieves linear scaling on a 2,048 processor distributed memory cluster for a wide range of inputs ranging from as small as 20,000 sequences to 2,560,000 sequences. In addition to demonstrating strong scaling, we present an extensive report on the performance of the various system components and related parametric studies.


We have in earlier papers presented an extension of Mueller's dipole cascade model, which includes subleading effects from energy conservation and running coupling as well as colour suppressed effects from pomeron loops via a ``dipole swing''. The model was applied to describe the total cross sections in pp and gamma*p collisions. In this paper we present a number of improvements of the model, in particular related to the confinement mechanism. A consistent treatment of dipole evolution and dipole--dipole interactions is achieved by replacing the infinite range Coulomb potential by a screened potential, which further improves the frame-independence of the model. We then apply the model to elastic scattering and diffractive excitation, where we specifically study the effects of different sources for fluctuations. In our formalism we can take into account contributions from all different sources, from the dipole cascade evolution, the dipole--dipole scattering, from the impact-parameter dependence, and from the initial photon and proton wavefunctions. Good agreement is obtained with data from the Tevatron and from HERA, and we also present some predictions for the LHC.


Background and Aims: The human papilloma virus was introduced as the major etiological agent in outbreak of cervical cancer in 1970. Since it is very difficult to recognize these viruses and their types using the serological tests and cell culture, molecular methods such as PCR are of great importance. Therefore, in this study, our goal was to use a multiple specific PCR assay on L1 and E6 genes of HPV for molecular detection of this virus and its common type's detection in the society. Materials and Methods: After collecting the samples from malignant lesions of various patients, the viral DNA was extracted from paraffin blocks of 50 clinical samples and the PCR method was performed on the mentioned samples by specific primers for L1 and E6 genes together with β-globin (as internal control). The PCR product was analyzed on 2c/o agarose gel and the sensitivity of this test was examined. Results: from among 50 samples of the patients, 33 cases were HPV positive and 17 ones were negative. The sensitivity of this test was 20 copies from recombinant construct containing target genes for each reaction. Conclusion: this study confirmed that the designed PCR with specific primers on L1 and E6 genes of HPV proved to be an accurate method for detecting and determining the HPV types.


This paper presents the prototype of a lexicographic resource for spoken German in interaction, which was conceived within the framework of the LeGeDe-project (LeGeDe=Lexik des gesprochenen Deutsch). First of all, it summarizes the theoretical and methodological approaches that were used for the initial planning of the resource. The headword candidates were selected by analyzing corpus-based data. Therefore, the data of two corpora (written and spoken German) were compared with quantitative methods. The information that was gathered on the selected headword candidates can be assigned to two different sections: meanings and functions in interaction. Additionally, two studies on the expectations of future users towards the resource were carried out. The results of these two studies were also taken into account in the development of the prototype. Focusing on the presentation of the resource's content, the paper shows both the different lexicographical information in selected dictionary entries, and the information offered by the provided hyperlinks and external texts. As a conclusion, it summarizes the most important innovative aspects that were specifically developed for the implementation of such a resource.


Previous research has shown that novel objects that are merged from two identifiable parts predominantly elicit noun – noun compounds in Germanic languages. However, it is unclear whether Hungarian allows shape/appearance modifiers in noun – noun compounds. Using a novel object naming task we compare language-specific preferences for labels for: (i) novel hybrid objects composed of two identifiable parts (such as an animal that is half fox and half chicken, i.e. chicken fox ), and (ii) novel objects having a salient shape (such as a box shaped like a banana, i.e. banana box ). The results are explored regarding the degree of semantic influence on word-formation patterns and interpreted within a cognitive-linguistic framework.


Automated planning is an important research area of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In classical planning, which is a sub-area of automated planning, attention is given to 'agile' planning, i.e., solving planning problems as quickly as possible regardless of the quality of solution plans. Obtaining solutions quickly is important for real-time applications as well as in situations of imminent danger. Post-planning optimisation techniques for improving the quality of solution plans are a good option for improving poor quality plans. Since such techniques are run as post-processing, this avoids situations where there is a risk of not having solution plans in time. This thesis focuses on an important sub-area of post-planning optimisation; that is, on identifying and removing redundant actions from solution plans. In particular, this study extends the existing Action Elimination and Greedy Action Elimination algorithms by introduce two approaches to improve their efficiency. The AE and GAE algorithms are thereby developed into the UAIAE and UGAIAE systems respectively. The key to our approaches is based on optimise the process while keeping the same elimination power' (identifying and removing the same number of redundant actions). First approach improves the algorithms by considering situations where inverse actions are redundant, while the other identifies a subset of actions that cannot be present in any redundant actions set. This subset is named justified unique actions. The study's approach to identifying this subset has been motivated by a promising heuristic approach called 'landmarks', which are facts or actions that cannot be eliminated to achieve the goal.

The approaches in this study have been empirically evaluated using several benchmark domains, as well as several planning engines that participated in the Agile track of the International Planning Competition 2014. In addition, they have been evaluated against state-of-the-art optimal and satisficing planners, as well as they are evaluated against a plan repair technique.

The methods of AE family can be understood as polynomial methods that improve the quality of a plan by removing redundant actions, or as tools to complement more sophisticated plan optimisation techniques.


Background: Human onchocerciasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by Onchocerca volvulus and is transmitted by the species Simulium damnosum. Currently, onchocerciasis is estimated to have infected over 37million people in tropical Africa, Yemen and Latin America, resulting in a debilitating eye and skin disease in more than 5million people with over 1.2 million cases of visual impairment or blindness. Also, an estimate of about 120 million people is at risk of contracting the disease due to the breeding habit of the vector. Community-directed ivermectin administration has greatly reduced the infection burden in different parts of the world but they are persistent cases of onchocerciasis infection in Benue and Cross River States, Nigeria due to the terrain, relapse/poor ivermectin coverage, and COVID-19 outbreak. Aims and Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of onchocerciasis in these localities, this study reported the use of mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite markers for molecular identification studies of Onchocerca species amongst residents of Benue and Cross River State, Nigeria. Materials and Method: Three hundred (300) patients from Benue and Cross River State, Nigeria, 150 patients each from both states were screened using SD Bioline onchocerciasis test strip from South Korea with batch no: 61ADE002B for the detection of IgG4 antibodies against Ov16 in onchocerciasis. 25 were positive from Cross River State and 20 from Benue state. Six (6) from each state were sent for DNA extraction and PCR amplification (L1-6=Benue State, L6-12= Cross River) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COXI) genes using HC02198: 5'-TAAACTTCAGGGTGACCAAAAAATCA-3' primers and the primers of the respective microsatellites; (GT)AT(GT)AT(GT)10, (GT)GC(GT)10, (CAG)2(CAA)10(CAG), and (GT)11TT(GT). Results: The results showed amplification of COX 1 subunit of the mtDNA of onchocerca volvulus at 344bp DNA sequence and amplification of (GT)AT(GT)AT(GT)10 microsatellites at 193bp, (GT)GC(GT)10 at 180bp, (CAG)2(CAA)10(CAG) at 209bp, and (GT)11TT(GT) 195bp respectively. Conclusion: This study clearly showed that active transmission of human onchocerciasis infection is still ongoing in Wanikade and Igede communities of Benue and Cross River State as evident by the skin lesions and depigmentation presented by a 55 years old woman and the molecular parasitological evidence of the incidence Onchocerca volvulus using the parasites' genetic materials. Therefore, we recommend intensifying community-directed ivermectin intervention in these states.


The aim of this thesis is to get to know the process of making a 3D game for the Android platform using the Unity game engine. In the first part of this thesis we describe some basic concepts, which come in handy when making games, as we come across them when making almost all games. These are vectors and certain operations over them, 3D modeling, which is used to make the majority of objects, we see in a game, and ways of lighting these objects. Then we talk about physics engines, collision detection and introduce three popular physics engines. In the next part of the thesis we talk about different ways of making games and give some general information about game engines. After this part we represent the Android platform, here we talk about its architecture, give some useful information and talk a few words about game engines, which can be used to make games for this platform. The following chapter gives information about the Unity game engine, especially its characteristics and functions it provides. In the next chapter we again talk about the Unity game engine, this time about the process involved when making games using this game engine. The last chapter of the thesis is dedicated to our work in practice. In it we describe how we made our 3D game, which we tested on an Android smart phone.


This work experimentally demonstrates a remote sensing network which interrogates bending sensors using time-division multiplexing techniques and a broadband light source. The bending sensors are located 50 km away from the monitoring station. They are based on a simple tie displacement sensor and offer high-resolution measurements of displacement.


We describe a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on a gold surface with a carboxybetaine ester functionality to control the interaction between DNA and gold nanoparticles via pH. The negatively charged phosphate backbone of DNA interacts with and adsorbs to the positively charged carboxybetaine esters on the SAM. DNA release can be achieved by the hydrolysis of carboxybetaine ester (CBE) to a zwitterionic carboxybetaine state. Furthermore, the adsorption of negatively charged citrate-capped gold nanoparticles to a SAM-modified plain gold surface can be controlled by the pH. The SAM based on carboxybetaine ester allows for the homogeneous adsorption of particles, whereas the SAM after hydrolysis at high pH repels AuNP adsorption. The antifouling surface properties of the surface modified with carboxybetaine were investigated with protein samples.


Nonlinear optical (NLO) microscopy has proven to be a powerful tool especially for tissue imaging with sub-cellular resolution, high penetration depth, endogenous contrast specificity, pinhole-less optical sectioning capability. In this review, we discuss label-free nonlinear optical microscopes including the two-photon fluorescence (TPF), fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), polarization-resolved second harmonic generation (SHG) and coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) techniques with various samples. The nonlinear signals are generated from collagen in tissue (SHG), amylopectin from starch granules (SHG), sarcomere structure of fresh muscle (SHG), elastin in skin (TPF), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) in cells (TPF) and lipid droplets in cells (CARS). Again, the nonlinear signals are very specific to the molecular structure of the sample and its relative orientation to the polarization of the incident light. Thus, polarization-resolved nonlinear optical microscopy provides high image contrast and quantitative estimate of sample orientation. An overview of the advancements on polarization-resolved SHG microscopy including Stokes vector based polarimetry, circular dichroism, and susceptibility are also presented in this review article. The working principles and corresponding implements of above-mentioned microscopy techniques are elucidated. The potential of time-resolved TPF lifetime imaging microscopy (TP-FLIM) is explored by imaging endogenous fluorescence of NAD(P)H, a key coenzyme in cellular metabolic processes. We also discuss single laser source time-resolved multimodal CARS-FLIM microscopy using time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) in combination with continuum generation from photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Using examples, we demonstrate that the multimodal NLO microscopy is a powerful tool to assess the molecular specificity with high resolution.


The Extreme ultraviolet Solar Contained Autonomous Payload Experiment (ESCAPE) is a small payload scheduled to fly on the Space Shuttle in April 1992. This payload has been developed at the Space Grant College at the University of Colorado by graduate and undergraduate students with advice from industry. This payload contrasts with other big science missions in that it is small, pursues a very specific objective, and can be completed in a limited time frame. NASA has come under criticism for favoring big science. This payload is an example of what small science can accomplish. Students gain hands-on experience running and managing on the program, and development time and costs are minimal. Even with the minimal cost, this payload is scientifically important. ESCAPE measures the extreme ultraviolet flux from the sun - wavelengths that are absorbed in the upper atmosphere, and are not currently being measured. These wavelengths and their interaction in the upper atmosphere (thermosphere and mesosphere) are poorly understood; however, we do know that the temperature of these regions varies as much as 1000 degrees as a result of solar variability in these wavelengths. ESCAPE is an example of a small, inexpensive, fast, scientifically worthwhile payload. Not only is the science valid and important, the development process provides an educational experience, involving over fifty graduate and undergraduate students in two years.


We present a summary of recent calculations of the electron inelastic mean free paths (IMFPs) of 50-2000 eV electrons in 27 elements and 15 inorganic compounds. These calculations are based in part on experimental optical data to represent the dependence of the inelastic scattering probability on energy loss and the theoretical Lindhard dielectric function to represent the dependence of the scattering probability on momentum transfer. The calculated IMFPs for the elements were fitted to a modified form of the Bethe equation for inelastic electron scattering in matter and the four parameters in this equation were empirically related to other material parameters. The resulting formula, designated ΤPP-2, provides a convenient means for predicting IMFPs in other materials. We have used two powerful integral equations or sum rules to evaluate the optical data on which our IMFP calculations are based. While the optical data for the elements satisfied these sum rules to an acceptable degree, there were significant deviations in the data for the compounds. In addition, differences in IMFPs calculated from the optical data for the compounds and the values predicted by ΤPP-2 correlated with the average errors of the optical data as determined by the sum rules. IMFPs calculated from ΤPP-2 for these compounds are therefore believed to be more reliable than IMFPs obtained from the imperfect optical data. PACS numbers: 82.80.Pv, 79.20.Fv, 79.60.—i, 78.90.+t


Wanting Like a God introduces readers to the work of the 17th century metaphysical poet and theologian Thomas Traherne. Denise Inge pays particular attention to the recent discoveries of hitherto unknown manuscripts which have helped to raise Traherne's profile. Inge convincingly leads readers to a new understanding of Traherne, not only as a poet, but also as a theologian, capable of appreciating not only blissful rejoicing but also profound darkness. The book offers a close consideration of Traherne's literary and poetic writings, and considerably reevaluates his work, showing Traherne as a theologian whose main concern was to trace the dynamic between desire and satisfaction that he felt defined and structured the relationship between God and human beings. This publication provides readers with a persuasive reinterpretation of Traherne's spiritual vision and brings to market the first academic study of his work since the discovery of the Lambeth manuscripts.


There is a growing interest in the development of (nearly) zero-energy buildings (ZEBs), i.e., buildings that deliver (nearly) the same amount of energy to the supply grid as it is drawn from it on a yearly basis. This paper investigates the ability of such ZEBs to performing in a truly self-sustainable fashion, i.e., minimising the frequency of energy exchange with the outer grid, through appropriate charging/discharging actions of a storage system. A realistic simulation environment called EnergyTest is developed on purpose to simulate the electrical load consumption in an aggregate of houses, in order to perform the sustainability assessment.


This absorbing book explores the tensions within the Roman Catholic church and between the church and royal authority in France in the crucial period 1290-1321. During this time the crown tried to force churchmen to accept policies many considered inconsistent with ecclesiastical freedom and traditions--such as paying war taxes and expelling the Jews from the kingdom. William Jordan considers these issues through the eyes of one of the most important and courageous actors, the Cistercian monk, professor, abbot, and polemical writer Jacques de Therines. The result is a fresh perspective on what Jordan terms "the story of France in a politically terrifying period of its existence, one of unceasing strife and unending fear." Jacques de Therines was involved in nearly every controversy of the period: the expulsion of the Jews from France, the relocation of the papacy to Avignon, the affair of the Templars, the suppression of the "heresies" of Marguerite Porete and of the Spiritual Franciscans, and the defense of the "exempt" monastic orders' freedom from all but papal control. The stands he took were often remarkable in themselves: hostility to the expulsion of Jews and spirited defense of the Templars, for example. The book also traces the emergence of King Philip the Fair's (1285-1314) almost paranoid style of rule and its impact on church-state relations, which makes the expression of Jacques de Therines's views all the more courageous.


SUMMARY Forested areas of Kalimantan, Indonesia, are often inhabited by swiddeners, and are also targeted by a range of interventions related to development and forest conservation, including REDD+. Whether these interventions are adopted, adapted or rejected by the local people is linked to the varying degrees of access to information that different types of households have, which also leads to unequal sharing of the associated benefits. This paper analyses factors influencing household access to agriculture and forestry-related information using quantitative and qualitative methods in three communities in West-Kalimantan, and draws lessons for designing REDD+. Household socio-economic characteristics (origin, status, migration patterns) and the divide between sub-groups in the communities (caused by origin, opinions, residential location, and relationships) were found to influence household access to information. Suggestions for improved REDD+ information exchange include: having more targeted and incentivised REDD+ activities; encouraging more equitable information sharing; and taking better account of local realities while designing REDD+.


Legume content in legume-grass mixtures is a key parameter for the quantification of N 2 fixation, forage, and diet quality. This study was conducted (i) to develop a near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) based method to estimate the legume content in multispecies legume-grass mixtures as in widespread use in Western Europe, (ii) to compare end-points and artificial mixture calibration strategies and (iii) to evaluate the effect grinding may have on the NIRS predictions of legume content. Calibration samples were taken in 1999 and 2000 in legume-grass fields that comprised a broad variation of site conditions. The samples were hand-sorted, dried, and ground. End-points calibrations derived from sets of legume samples (=100% legume content) and sets of grass samples (=0% legume content) were compared with calibrations where 63 spectra of artificially mixed samples (increments of 5% legume content) were added to represent a continuum of possible values of legume content. The influence of the preparation protocol of defined dry mixtures was compared by preparing duplicate mixtures where one replicate was prepared from fresh material, dried, and ground as a mixture and the other mixed from dry, ground material. Log (1/R) (R = reflectance) spectra were taken of all samples. Partial least squares regression was applied to develop calibration algorithms in the spectral range of 7500 to 3950 cm -1 (1333-2532 nm). First derivative combined with vector normalization proved to be the best data pretreatment. For each strategy, three models were developed: One model was based on all samples validated with a one-leave-out cross-validation, and two models were based on half of the samples validated by the other half. Prediction errors were between 2.2 and 4.0%, and coefficients of determination of all validations were greater than 99% so that no remarkable differences between the models existed. At least 70% of the selected spectral regions were in common for all models. These regions do not describe legumes themselves but rather the information that discriminates them from grasses. It is emphasized that the calibrations introduced have the potential for a broad use that needs to be proved by further validations.


This paper is study about congregate Islamic Arabia with colonialism which instinctive many response among Islamic scholars defensively or accommodative. The accommodative response within variants ,one is  accommodate the product of modern scholars , other side even accommodative but still carry on the Islamic tradition. One of the African scholar who is accommodative is Fatima Mernissi. She is feminist from maroco who is concern on women studies. Based on her worry about social reality of women in Islam whom have been getting sub ordinance and discrimination in the patriarchy culture stronger in Islamic society, she struggle by interpretation of text of religion which is center of attention on women. In her interpretation, she tried to integrate Islamic tradition and feminism theories. Islam, according to her, is very appreciate with women existence which is imagined have equal position in religion and social base on value of equal universal humanity in which discovery in the text of religion. Agency of women relate to ability in making determinate and independence in the social and sexual relation that verified in the history of prophet.


The socio-economic subsystem encompassing fisheries may be defined as including not only the harvesting sector but also several related activities occurring both upstream (shipbuilding, gear manufacture) and downstream (processing, distribution and trade). But these closely interrelated economic activities can also be set within a much broader system which would include the ecological, institutional and political influences which frame economic behaviour. The value of this broader conceptualisation is that it treats fisheries not as an isolated and independent economic activity but as part of a more holistic and complex system. This broader perspective is of particular significance when attempting to examine the concept of regional dependence. The socio-economic subsystem for fisheries is dominated by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). And Peniche emerges as one of Portugal's most important fishing ports whether measured in terms of the volume of landings or the total numbers of fishermen. It also has one of the highest levels of fisheries dependence of all coastal municipalities in Portugal with over 20% of its workforce currently engaged in fisheries related employment, faces a daunting and uncertain future. The social fabric of fisheries dependent communities also suffers serious damage; once again, the technocratic approach to management has no solutions to offer. It is essential, therefore, to turn away from the existing approach and to develop instead new forms of intervention; in short, to provide a new vision. This implies change not only to the policy process but also in the attitudes of the social actors and in the preoccupations of fisheries related research. An integrated approach is required based on participative action and the development of an integrated information network.


Listening Comprehension involves the use of different strategies that interact freely with each other to help listeners construct a meaningful interpretations of what they hear. Iraqi learners face difficulties and lack the ability to comprehend spoken English. This study aims at identifying the difference between the first and fourth year college students, and identifying the level of each year in listening Comprehension, identifying the difference between first and fourth year, and identifying the relationship between the first and fourth year college students in listening strategies and listening comprehension. The procedures involves, choosing a sample of EFL College students, constructing a questionnaire to identify the Listening strategies use by EFL College students, and applying the test and the questionnaire to the first and fourth year college students Finally Suitable Statistical methods used and conclusion, suggestions and recommendations for further studies.


ABSTRACT Determining the present precise location of Amundsen's tent is a function of 1) the precision of Amundsen's navigation in 1911, 2) the flow of ice since then, and 3) the amount of burial by intervening snow fall. These factors are discussed and it is concluded that the best location that can be given for the tent in December 2011 is 89° 58′ 51″ S, 46° 14′ E, and lying 17 m below the present snow surface. The uncertainty in the position is 0.3 km, and is mainly related to uncertainties in the original positioning. It can be concluded with high certainty that the tent lies between 1.8 and 2.5 km from the South Pole.


Coalgebras in a Kleisli category yield a generic definition of trace
semantics for various types of labelled transition systems. In this paper we
apply this generic theory to generative probabilistic transition systems, short
PTS, with arbitrary (possibly uncountable) state spaces. We consider the
sub-probability monad and the probability monad (Giry monad) on the category of
measurable spaces and measurable functions. Our main contribution is that the
existence of a final coalgebra in the Kleisli category of these monads is
closely connected to the measure-theoretic extension theorem for sigma-finite
pre-measures. In fact, we obtain a practical definition of the trace measure
for both finite and infinite traces of PTS that subsumes a well-known result
for discrete probabilistic transition systems. Finally we consider two example
systems with uncountable state spaces and apply our theory to calculate their
trace measures.


ABSTRACT Higher education in the Gaza Strip has been subjected to four wars and over a decade of blockade. University staff and students have been killed whilst campus infrastructure has been attacked, rebuilt, and destroyed again. This paper examines opportunities for, and limits to, protecting higher education from attack in Gaza. It presents a framework for categorising protection measures and empirically explores the effectiveness of measures to protect higher education from attack in Gaza since 2007. It finds that whilst Gaza's academics and students generally express hopelessness at protection under blockade and asymmetric warfare, there are promising potential avenues for protection.


The Laundry Man by Ken Rijock - Memoirs of a multi-million money launderer - Mr Nice meets Catch Me If You Can. "Extraordinary". (Mail on Sunday). "A remarkable story of an ordinary man caught up in an extraordinary life". (Underground Book Club). Meet Ken Rijock. Twice decorated Vietnam veteran. High flying lawyer. And one of the world's biggest money launderers. In 1980s Miami Ken Rijock was the middle man between the Columbians and the Mafia flooding America's streets with cocaine and marijuana. Every Friday, carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in a tattered suitcase, he would fly by private jet to a tax haven in the Caribbean. Rijock's operation was responsible for 'cleaning' over $200 million of dirty cash. And all the time he was in love with a cop. It finally came crashing down when a client testified against him. He agreed go undercover for the FBI, and he now works with banks and governments to track the new generation of money launderers. Set in the evocative world of Miami Vice, The Laundry Man is a classic true crime story. Kenneth Rijock is a financial crime consultant based in Miami. He has more than 25 year's experience in the field of money laundering, as a practising laundryman, financial compliance consultant, and trainer/lecturer to law and intelligence agencies including the FBI. He has testified three times before US Congress committees. Rijock is a veteran of the conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia, and holds the Combat Infantryman's Badge and Bronze Star Medal.


Physicians use electrocardiogram (ECG) to diagnose cardiovascular diseases. It is mainly used in hospital environment; however, with advancements in ambulatory ECG, it is now available outside of hospital environment. Ambulation can lead to contamination of ECG with various noises leading to signal corruption, misdiagnosis, or false alarms. Removal of noise from ECG is possible; however, blindly applying noise removal techniques may reduce the fidelity of the ECG. As such, identification of the noise in the ECG and applying targeted techniques minimize information loss. In this study, a machine learning approach is used to identify the type of noise in ECG. ECG from Physionet's Normal S inus Rhythm Database was contaminated with noise (baseline wandering, electrode motion, and electromyography) from Physionet's MIT-BIH Noise S tress Test Database at different levels and combinations. The chosen machine learning algorithm was Random Forest with 1024 estimators. The Random Forest had a precision and recall of 1.0 when identifying clean ECG. The average precision and recall were 0.47 and 0.63, respectively, for segments with a single type of noise. The average precision and recall were were 0.44 and 0.27, respectively, for segments with multiple types of noise. The drop in precision and recall was due to the misclassification of the ECG with multiple noises as ECG with a single noise; as an example, classification of an ECG with baseline wandering and electromyography as an ECG with baseline wandering. The classifier performed well at identifying any of the noises in segments with multiple types of noises with an average precision and recall of 0.81 and 0.70, respectively. The classifier generally performed well in identifying types of noise in ECG allowing for future work in developing a framework for identification and mitigation of noise.


Foliar fertilization of crops can complement soil fertilization. Recent research showed that soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yield response to early season N-P-K foliar fertilization was inconsistent and difficult to predict. This study's objectives were to further evaluate soybean response to early season N-P-K fluid fertilizers with or without S or micronutrients and to assess the within-field response variation. The mixtures 3-8-15 (N-P-K), 3-8-15-1 (N-P-K-S), 10-4-8, 10-4-8-1, and 10-4-8-1 plus B, Fe, and Zn were evaluated in 18 conventional small-plot trials. The within-field variation in response to a 3-8-15 fertilizer mixed with glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine] herbicide was evaluated in eight strip trials harvested with combines equipped with yield monitors and differential global positioning systems receivers. A fertilizer rate of 28 L ha -1 was sprayed once at the V5 growth stage. There was a yield response to the 3-8-15 and 10-4-8-1 fertilizers in one small-plot trial (260 kg ha -1 ) and to 3-8-15 fertilizer in another trial (360 kg ha -1 ). There was a small response to the 3-8-15 fertilizer across the 18 trials (93 kg ha -1 ). Soybean responded to 3-8-15 fertilizer only in one strip trial where the yield response was higher in acidic soil areas. No response variation was detected across contrasting soil test values or soil types within other trials. Soybean response to foliar fertilization across all production conditions will seldom offset fertilization costs. The probability of economic yield response could be increased if the fertilizer is mixed with a postemergence herbicide because application costs are reduced.


We quantified the spatial and temporal variability of crustacean zooplankton abundance at annual time steps with 261 lake‐years of data from 22 lakes in three regions of central North America. None of these lakes had been experimentally manipulated. Using a nested three‐way analysis of variance, we apportioned variance among years, regions, lakes, and their interactions for 10 functional groups and 4 larger taxonomic aggregates. We proposed that relative variation in the abundance of zooplankton would be greatest among regions and lakes and least among years. We also explored how variability differed among functional groups and changed with taxonomic aggregation. Spatial sources of variation dominated the analysis, but a large interaction between lakes and years indicated that time cannot be ignored. Regional variation was half that found among lakes. Relative variance components differed widely among functional groups, which indicates that species will differ in their response to environmental controls and sensitivity to perturbation. Total explained variation also differed widely among zooplankton and decreased with increasing aggregation of taxa. Whether choosing ecological indicators or designing experiments and monitoring programs, these results clearly show that large‐scale temporal and spatial variability will be an important consideration.


Cognitive dissonance has traditionally been defined as the negative affective state which accompanies inconsistent cognitions and motivates one to make the cognitions consistent. This thesis critically evaluates two theories about cognitive dissonance. The action-based model of dissonance argues that inconsistent cognitions have the potential to interfere with effective and unconflicted action. The new look model of dissonance, contradicting the traditional definition of dissonance, argues that it is aversive consequences rather than inconsistent cognitions that cause dissonance. Recent studies investigating the neural correlates of dissonance show that parts of anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex seem to be involved in the dissonance process. One of the major predictions of the new look model of dissonance has been undermined by recent evidence. In contrast, the action-based model of dissonance is supported by recent studies.


Desired Supply Line is the product of expected acquisition lag and desired acquisition rate. This calculation ensures that supply line would produce the desired acquisition rate given that it is at this desired level. A wrongly calculated Desired Supply Line value leads to a steady-state error preventing stock approach its goal. Therefore, correct calculation of Desired Supply Line values is crucial. Desired acquisition rate is equal to the expected loss flow in a single-supplier system. However, it is not easy to decide on the desired acquisition rates for a multi-supplier system. We give a general formula for the calculation of Desired Supply Line values based on the supplier utilization priorities and supplier production/shipment capacities.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between rate of loss of CD4+ T lymphocytes and risk of AIDS in HIV-infected intravenous drug users (IVDU) enrolled in a methadone program in the Bronx, New York.

DESIGN
Serial CD4 percentages (CD4%) among lymphocytes before AIDS diagnosis were recorded at approximately 6-month intervals for 190 HIV-antibody-positive subjects.

METHODS
A nested case-control study was performed, in which all subjects who developed AIDS were compared with those who remained AIDS-free. The relationship between CD4% decline and AIDS risk was evaluated using proportional-hazards regression.

RESULTS
Analyses that used a single baseline CD4% measurement to adjust for CD4+ lymphocyte count suggested that both low (1-5 CD4% per semester) and high (> 5 CD4% per semester) rates of decline might be related to AIDS risk: relative risks were 1.83 and 1.44, although the 95% confidence intervals (Cl) included 1.0 in each case. Adjustment for current level of CD4% eliminated the association between low rates of CD4% decline and AIDS risk, but not that between high rates of decline and AIDS risk (adjusted relative risk, 1.80; 95% Cl, 0.57-5.70). Serial observations showed that a rate of decline of CD4% > 5 per semester was a significant predictor of AIDS risk after controlling for level of CD4% achieved (adjusted relative risk, 3.58; 95% Cl, 1.07-11.95).

CONCLUSIONS
IVDU who develop AIDS have a greater rate of CD4 cell loss than subjects who remain AIDS-free. A low rate of CD4+ lymphocyte depletion is not an important predictor of the immediate onset of AIDS in HIV-infected IVDU, compared with CD4+ lymphocyte level, but a high rate of CD4+ decline can be.


In order to facilitate corn production, herbicides such as nicosulfuron and topramezone are commonly used. Though they offer great advantages, they can affect crop productivity and induce DNA damage. The genotoxic activity of nicosulfuron was evaluated at two concentrations (40,000 and 80,000 ppm) and topramezone at four concentrations (1480, 148, 14.8 and 1.48 ppm) respectively, in sweet corn and hybrid accessions from Mexico and South America using a comet assay system. Sweet corn apical meristematic cell nuclei were tested in 113 accessions from Mexico and South America and five commercial hybrids for nicosulfuron and nine accessions and a hybrid for topramezone. Both nicosulfuron concentrations induced significant genetic damage to sweet corn and normal hybrids. Topramezone showed significant genotoxic activity in both sweet corn and normal hybrids. Normal hybrid corn was subject to genetic damage caused by the herbicides, and all showed significant


Together with a call for more effective and efficient regulations in the EU, there is a growing demand for transparency in the evaluation methods used to assess their effects. This paper proposes a classification of the impacts that food safety regulations can produce and discusses the quantitative methods that are used in the literature to measure those impacts. Along with the strengths and limitations of each methodological approach, this review highlights other transversal issues relevant when developing assessment strategies, like the unbalance between ex-ante and ex-post evaluation, the lack of adequate data, the difficulty of estimating the dynamic effects of regulations, and the possibility of endogenous relationships.


Underwater acoustics is in a period of renaissance with researchers actively pursing studies in many areas from short‐range high‐frequency shallow water acoustics to global low‐frequency acoustics. There has been renewed interest in inhomogeneous sediment acoustics as well as propagation in very shallow water bounded by these sediments. The recent Office of Naval Research ''SRP'' program studying deep water boundary reverberation has not only been fruitful, but has also laid the foundation for innovative research in the area of boundary scattering in coastal water acoustics. On the other scale, the Heard Island Feasibility Test as described by 18 papers in the October 1994 issue of JASA has re‐awakened interest in the myriad of possibilities of monitoring all scales of the ocean using acoustic methods. In an expanding number of efforts, underwater acoustics is distinguishing itself as developing the most physically based signal processing schemes presently being considered in any field. These and other hot topics will be discussed.


Male external genital differentiation is accompanied by implementation of a long-term, male-specific gene expression pattern indicating androgen programming in cultured genital fibroblasts. We hypothesized the existence of an epigenetic background contributing to this phenomenon. DNA methylation levels in 2 normal scrotal fibroblast strains from 46,XY males compared to 2 labia majora fibroblast strains from 46,XY females with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) due to androgen receptor (AR) mutations were analyzed by Illumina GoldenGate methylation arrays®. Results were validated with pyrosequencing in labia majora fibroblast strains from fifteen 46,XY patients and compared to nine normal male scrotal fibroblast strains. HOXA5 showed a significantly higher methylation level in complete AIS. This finding was confirmed by bisulfite pyrosequencing of 14 CpG positions within the HOXA5 promoter in the same strains. Extension of the 2 groups revealed a constant low HOXA5 methylation pattern in the controls in contrast to a highly variable methylation pattern in the AIS patients. HOXA5 represents a candidate gene of androgen-mediated promoter methylation. The constantly low HOXA5 DNA methylation level of normal male scrotal fibroblast strains and the frequently high methylation levels in labia majora fibroblast strains in AIS indicate for the first time that androgen programming in sexual differentiation is not restricted to global gene transcription but also occurs at the epigenetic level.


The kindergarten year is quite unlike preschool and not like first grade, either. What should teaching practice look like for this critical year? K Today offers a vivid picture of kindergarten children, perceptive discussion of the current kindergarten context and policy issues, and clear guidelines for teaching and assessing kindergartners. Also, for six curriculum domains - language and literacy, math, science, the creative arts, social studies, and physical education - leading experts outline what children should know and be able to do and how effective teachers ensure that learning. For both current and future practitioners, this fresh, engaging resource gets readers thinking and promotes well-informed, thoughtful teaching and leadership at the kindergarten level.


We now have a relatively good idea of how bulk microbial processes shape the cycling of organic matter and nutrients in the sea. The advent of the molecular biology era in microbial ecology has resulted in advanced knowledge about the diversity of marine microorganisms, suggesting that we might have reached a high level of understanding of carbon fluxes in the oceans. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are large gaps in the understanding of the role of bacteria in regulating carbon fluxes. These gaps may result from methodological as well as conceptual limita- tions. For example, should bacterial production be measured in the light? Can bacterial production conversion factors be predicted, and how are they affected by loss of tracers through respiration? Is it true that respiration is relatively constant compared to production? How can accurate measures of bacterial growth efficiency be obtained? In this paper, we discuss whether such questions could (or should) be addressed. Ongoing genome analyses are rapidly widening our understanding of possible metabolic pathways and cellular adaptations used by marine bacteria in their quest for resources and struggle for survival (e.g. utilization of light, acquisition of nutrients, predator avoidance, etc.). Further, analyses of the identity of bacteria using molecular markers (e.g. subgroups of Bacteria and Archaea) combined with activity tracers might bring knowledge to a higher level. Since bacterial growth (and thereby consumption of DOC and inorganic nutrients) is likely regulated differently in different bacte- ria, it will be critical to learn about the life strategies of the key bacterial species to achieve a compre- hensive understanding of bacterial regulation of C fluxes. Finally, some processes known to occur in the microbial food web are hardly ever characterized and are not represented in current food web models. We discuss these issues and offer specific comments and advice for future research agendas.


Given recent technological developments, ultrasound
Doppler can provide valuable measurements of blood velocity/flow in the conduit
artery with high temporal resolution. In human-applied science such as exercise
physiology, hemodynamic measurements in the conduit artery is commonly
performed by blood flow feeding the exercising muscle, as the increase in oxygen
uptake (calculated as a product of arterial blood flow to the exercising limb
and the arterio-venous oxygen difference) is directly proportional to the work
performed. The increased oxygen demand with physical activity is met through a
central mechanism, an increase in cardiac output and blood pressure, as well as
a peripheral mechanism, an increase in vascular conductance and oxygen
extraction (a major part of the whole exercising muscles) from the blood. The increase
in exercising muscle blood flow in relation
to the target workload (quantitative response) may be one indicator in
circulatory adjustment for the ac- tivity of muscle metabolism. Therefore, the
determination of local blood flow dynamics (potential oxygen supply) feeding
repeated (rhythmic) muscle contractions can contribute to the understanding
of the factors limiting work capacity including, for instance, muscle
metabolism, substance utilization and magnitude of vasodilatation in the
exercising muscle. Using non-invasive measures of pulsed Doppler ultrasound,
the validity of blood velocity/flow in the forearm or lower limb conduit artery
feeding to the muscle has been previously demonstrated during rhythmic muscle
exercise. For the evaluation of exercising blood flow, not only muscle
contraction induced internal physiological variability, or fluctuations in the
magnitude of blood velocity due to spontaneous muscle contraction and
relaxation induced changes in force curve intensity, superimposed in cardiac
beat-by-beat, but also the alterations in the blood velocity (external
variability) due to a temporary sudden change in the achieved workload, compared
to the target workload, should be considered. Furthermore, a small amount of inconsistency
in the voluntary muscle contraction force at each kick seems to be unavoidable,
and may influence exercising muscle blood flow, although subjects attempt to
perform precisely similar repeated voluntary muscle contractions at target
workload (muscle contraction force). This review presents the methodological considerations for the variability of
exercising blood velocity/flow in the limb conduit artery during
dynamic leg exercise assessed by pulsed Doppler ultrasound in relation to data
previously reported in original research.


Dynamic scheduling problems consist of both challenging combinatorics, as found in classical scheduling problems, and stochastics due to uncertainty about the arrival times, resource requirements, and processing times of jobs. To address these two challenges, we investigate the integration of queueing theory and scheduling. The former reasons about long-run stochastic system characteristics, whereas the latter typically deals with short-term combinatorics. We investigate two simple problems to isolate the core differences and potential synergies between the two approaches: a two-machine dynamic flowshop and a flexible queueing network. We show for the first time that stability, a fundamental characteristic in queueing theory, can be applied to approaches that periodically solve combinatorial scheduling problems. We empirically demonstrate that for a dynamic flowshop, the use of combinatorial reasoning has little impact on schedule quality beyond queueing approaches. In contrast, for the more complicated flexible queueing network, a novel algorithm that combines long-term guidance from queueing theory with short-term combinatorial decision making outperforms all other tested approaches. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a hybrid of queueing theory and scheduling techniques has been proposed and evaluated.


A drilling campaign was recently undertaken by Shell Oil Company in a region with high surface and submerged currents. The water depth ranged from 5500-7000 ft at the various well sites in the region. Strong surface currents with maximum speeds of 4.5-5.0 knots were measured using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). In addition, submerged currents with maximum speed of around 1.5 knots were recorded. High fidelity Subsea Vibration Data Loggers (SVDLs) were used to monitor the in-situ riser and BOP stack vibrations due to the arduous current environment, as well as wave and vessel-driven motions. A semi-analytical method was developed to estimate wellhead fatigue damage directly using the measured BOP stack motion data. High quality vibration data from the SVDLs were used in conjunction with analytical transfer functions to directly compute stress time histories and S-N fatigue damage at any location of interest in the conductor/wellhead/BOP system. The method was utilized in a larger fatigue reconstruction scheme that was applied to subsea wellhead and riser fatigue monitoring activities during drilling operations in the region. ADCP data was correlated to the SVDL data to determine the source of vibrations at low and high frequencies. Simultaneous ADCP and SVDL data were also used to calibrate SHEAR7 v4.2 parameters. In between SVDL deployments, wellhead and riser stress and fatigue values were determined using the calibrated SHEAR7 models, driven by the measured current profiles. Wellhead motions were tabulated from ROV video and used to validate vibration reconstruction from the SVDL data and predictions from SHEAR7 simulation. Using these methods, stress and fatigue life consumption estimates are robust to unavailability of ADCP data and/or ROV video and/or data from one or more SVDLs. Normalized vibration, stress and fatigue consumption are presented over the riser deployment period. It was found that moderate speed submerged currents, which extend over a broad range below typical fairing depths, lead to significantly higher wellhead stress and fatigue life consumption rate compared higher speed surface currents. The sensitivity of a typical wellhead and BOP stack to lower-frequency vibrations was examined. It is shown that because the submerged currents are of a lower speed, they excite modes that are closer in frequency to the "flagpole" mode of the casing/wellhead/BOP subsystem, leading to higher wellhead motion and stress. The methods introduced herein provide rapid turn-around of raw data to fatigue consumption, enabling informed decisions to be made in adverse conditions. The methodology is easily extendable to real-time fatigue monitoring using a cabled system or acoustic modem to transmit data to the surface. In addition, the significance of regional submerged currents for wellhead stress and fatigue is highlighted, as well as considerations for vibration mitigation.


Abstract. Measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations, single particle composition and size distributions at a high-elevation research site from March 2011 are presented. The temporal evolution of detailed single particle composition is compared with changes in CCN activation on four days, two of which include new particle formation and growth events. Sulfate-containing particles dominated the single particle composition by number; biomass burning particles, sea salt particles, and particles containing organic components were also present. CCN activation largely followed the behavior of the sulfate-containing particle types; biomass burning particle types also likely contained hygroscopic material that impacted CCN activation. Newly formed particles also may contribute to CCN activation at higher supersaturation conditions. Derived aerosol hygroscopicity parameters from the size distribution and CCN concentration measurements are within the range of previous reports of remote continental kappa values.


Recognition of signal colors has been studied by statistics of use of names of red, yellow, green, blue, and difficult, over a wide range of illuminance. Results have been compared with those obtained by other authors. The absence of "white" and inclusion of "difficult" in the permissible responses appear to be responsible for difficulties in the blue and yellow recognitions.


Plasma ALA levels peak about 2 h after ingestion, and 60‐85% is utilized by tissues for energy, higher than the 50% shown for other oils. This study determined if consuming 10.5 kcal/kg ALA‐rich chia seed oil before and during running to exhaustion improved performance compared to water. Runners (N=24, age 38.0±1.7 y, VO2max 47.9±1.6 ml/kg/min) reported to the lab twice in an overnight fasted state, 2 weeks apart (randomized, crossover). After a blood sample at 8:00 am, subjects ingested 10 ml/kg water with or without 7 kcal/kg chia seed oil, provided a blood sample at 8:30 am, and then ran to exhaustion (70% VO2max). Subjects ingested 3 ml/kg water/15 min during both trials, and 3.5 kcal/kg chia seed oil after 1 h running. Metabolic measures (Cosmed CPET, Rome, Italy) and RPE were measured during the running bouts. Blood samples were collected immediately‐ and 1‐h post‐exercise, and analyzed for ALA, glucose, lactate, cortisol, IL‐6, IL‐8, IL‐10, TNF‐α, and total leukocytes. Despite elevated plasma ALA during the chia seed oil (337%) compared to the water trial (35%) (70.8±8.6, 20.3±1.8 μg/ml, P<0.001), run time to exhaustion did not differ (1.86±0.10, 1.91±0.13 h, P=0.775). No trial differences were found for the respiratory exchange ratio (RER) (0.89±0.01, 0.90±0.01, P=0.210), RPE (P=0.917), plasma glucose (P=0.511), or lactate (P=0.308). Significant increases were measured for total leukocytes, plasma cortisol, and cytokines, with no trial differences. In summary, chia seed oil supplementation (10.5 kcal/kg) before and during high‐intensity running, increased plasma ALA but did not enhance run time to exhaustion, or influence RER, cortisol, and inflammation responses compared to water alone.


This paper sees a smart city not as a status of how smart a city is but as a city's effort to make itself smart. The connotation of a smart city represents city innovation in management and policy as well as technology. Since the unique context of each city shapes the technological, organizational and policy aspects of that city, a smart city can be considered a contextualized interplay among technological innovation, managerial and organizational innovation, and policy innovation. However, only little research discusses innovation in management and policy while the literature of technology innovation is abundant. This paper aims to fill the research gap by building a comprehensive framework to view the smart city movement as innovation comprised of technology, management and policy. We also discuss inevitable risks from innovation, strategies to innovate while avoiding risks, and contexts underlying innovation and risks.


For many years, the big news in United States Courts of Appeal was the skyrocketing immigration caseload. For Courts that traditionally had busy immigration dockets, the effect was tsunamic. One of those Circuits, the Second, instituted a nonargument calendar that, over the past five years, has enabled the Court to regain some control over its swollen docket. While this administrative strategy has rescued the Court from drowning, the flow of cases continues, somewhat abated, but with enduring force. The so-called surge had unanticipated consequences extending far beyond court management changes. As a result of their increased exposure to immigration cases at the hearing stage – reading transcripts and Immigration Judge decisions – federal judges increasingly found fault with immigration adjudication, criticizing the quality of both the judging and the lawyering. The glaring attention generated public reaction, forcing some reforms from the inside and continuing pressure from the outside. This paper examines the legacy of this exposure and its positive impact on the quest for better access to justice for immigrants facing removal.


6-Chloro-pyridin-2-yl-amine derivatives 3(a-h) were synthesized by using 2-amino-6-chloropyridine (1) as starting material. The newly synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental analyses, 1H NMR and mass spectral studies. The synthesized compounds were screened for antibacterial and antifungal activities. All the synthesized compounds showed the antibacterial activity against four pathogenic strains of Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 121), Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 7443), Xanthomonas campestris (MTCC 7908), Escherichia coli (MTCC 7410) and antifungal activity against pathogenic strains of Fusarium oxysporum (MTCC 2480). All compounds showed good to moderate antimicrobial activity. However, compounds 3a, 3f and 3h showed potent antibacterial activity against pathogenic strains used in the study.


This demonstration highlights the first of seven segments designed to develop a digital entity that will possess the potential for human empathy. The experiences in the first phase of the digital entity Zoe (Zero-One Entity) parallel a subset of learning and development activities encountered by human beings during their first nine months of existence. A website has been created to provide a window to observe Zoe's experiences and action selection process in order to make her basic learning observable, cumulative, and evolutionary. The human observer is invited to influence her action selection by setting the intensity of Zoe's digital personality traits such as assertiveness, reasoning ability, and disposition. Actions generate body-based and emotive-based feelings which are stored in memory structures. Significantly, these structures serve as a foundation for later stages of learning, understanding and reasoning.