For decades, mandatory consumer arbitration has been ground zero in the war between the business community and the plaintiffs' bar. Some courts, scholars, and interest groups argue that the speed, informality, and accessibility of private dispute resolution create a conduit for everyday people to pursue claims. However, others object that arbitration's loose procedural and evidentiary rules dilute substantive rights, and that arbitrators favor the repeat playing corporations that can influence their livelihood by selecting them in future matters. Since 2010, the stakes in this debate have soared, as the U.S. Supreme Court has expanded arbitral power and mandated that consumers resolve cases that once would have been class actions in two-party arbitration. But although the Court's jurisprudence has received sustained scholarly attention, both its defenders and critics do not know how it has played out behind the black curtain of the extrajudicial tribunal. This Article offers fresh perspective on this debate by analyzing nearly 5,000 complaints filed by consumers with the American Arbitration Association between 2009 and 2013. It provides sorely-needed information about filing rates, outcomes, damages, costs, and case length. It also discovers that the abolition of the consumer class action has changed the dynamic inside the arbitral forum. Some plaintiffs' lawyers have tried to fill this void by filing numerous freestanding claims against the same company. Yet these "arbitration entrepreneurs" are a pale substitute for the traditional class mechanism. Moreover, by pursuing scores of individual disputes, they have inadvertently transformed some large corporations into "extreme" repeat players. The Article demonstrates that these frequently-arbitrating entities win more and pay less in damages than one-shot entities. Thus, the Court's consumer arbitration revolution not only shields big businesses from class action liability, but gives them a boost in the handful of matters that trickle into the arbitral forum.


This classic by Sinclair Lewis shattered the sentimental American myth of happy small-town life with its satire. "Main Street" attacks the conformity and dullness of early 20th Century midwestern village life in the story of Carol Milford, the city girl who marries the town doctor. Her efforts to bring culture to the prairie village are met by a wall of gossip, greed, and petty small-minded bigotry. Lewis's complex and compelling work established him as an important character in American literature.


For many real-world applications, we often need to select correlated variables— such as genetic variations and imaging features associated with Alzheimer's disease—in a high dimensional space. The correlation between variables presents a challenge to classical variable selection methods. To address this challenge, the elastic net has been developed and successfully applied to many applications. Despite its great success, the elastic net does not exploit the correlation information embedded in the data to select correlated variables. To overcome this limitation, we present a novel hybrid model, EigenNet, that uses the eigenstructures of data to guide variable selection. Specifically, it integrates a sparse conditional classification model with a generative model capturing variable correlations in a principled Bayesian framework. We develop an efficient active-set algorithm to estimate the model via evidence maximization. Experimental results on synthetic data and imaging genetics data demonstrate the superior predictive performance of the EigenNet over the lasso, the elastic net, and the automatic relevance determination.


This thesis investigates the implications of information processing efficiency on decision making with respect to the ability of decision makers to process information in a rational and timely manner. In order to examine the different aspects of information efficiency with respect to decision making, three different settings were used. First, attitudes and perceptions held by individual decision makers play an important role in the information processing stage of a decision. Therefore, the first thrust of this thesis seeks to investigate the impact of demographic characteristics of decision makers (socially responsible investors (SRIs)) on their attitudes and perceptions (in relation to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) views). The results show that demographic characteristics are useful predictors of CSR views held by SRIs. This implies that companies can reduce their cost of capital by attracting the affluent members of SRIs community and increase their CSR rankings by creating diversity in their corporate boardrooms. These efforts, if undertaken by companies, can help increase share price of the respective companies. Government agencies can also encourage companies to implement CSR agendas by requiring companies to implement CSR agendas which will appeal to the specific members in the SRIs community (clientele effect). Second, the ability of decision makers to process information in a rational manner can be seriously undermined when decision makers are expected to match the different motivations underlying their own or others? objectives with the multiple choices which are available to them. In the second thrust of the thesis, a state contingent (UK horseracing pari-mutuel betting market) with multi-competitor choices is used to illustrate the discovery of the determinants of demand (day-of-the-week, weekend, public holiday, number of races in the same hour, field size, televised races, flat and jump races, race quality, timing of the race during the day, insider trading, track conditions, bookmakers? over-round and risk attitude of bettors) unique to different groups of decision makers (bettors). The results demonstrate that unique sets of determinants can be used to identify the different types of decision makers (that is, sophisticated and unsophisticated bettors). Clearly, the discovery of these unique determinants for demand can be used by the respective authorities (British Horseracing Board, Horseracing Betting Levy and Tote boards) in deciding which variables are important to influence the behavior of the respective decision makers (bettors and horseracing authorities). Third, decision makers ought to be able to arrive at a decision in a timely manner. The third thrust of this thesis attempts to investigate the speed of adjustment with respect to the arrival of new and unexpected information in understanding the financial integration process in the Asia Pacific region (APR). Using stock market capitalization as a measure of equity market size, it was also found that more advanced equity markets are more informationally efficient that those less advanced equity markets possibly due to the fact that the infrastructure which supports information flow enables information to be easily accessible by investors for decision making. The results suggest that a more integrated equity market in the APR can lead to a greater speed of adjustment with respect to information shocks. Therefore, domestic governments have a role to play in ensuring the necessary infrastructure to facilitate information flow is improved and better integrated with neighbouring equity markets. Finally, the thesis concludes that demographic characteristics play an important role in influencing the rational information processing involved in decision making by individuals. When confronted with choices, decision makers are affected by their various motivations and those who seek to capitalise on others? decisions need to be aware of these motivations. In addition, the infrastructure on which information flows is essential in influencing the speed at which information is processed


The herbicide glyphosate is an important tool for weed management in many agricultural systems, but concerns have been raised that its increasing use impacts soil biology. At present, the influence of glyphosate on soil microbial biomass (SMB) and soil microbial respiration (SMR) is unclear, with inconsistent results across published studies. We hypothesised that differences in rates and formulation of herbicide application, presence or absence of plants, and variability in soil parameters such as pH and organic carbon (OC), may have contributed to the inconsistent results. To identify trends in the literature, we conducted a meta-analysis using linear mixed-effect and boosted regression tree models. Moderator variables included glyphosate concentration, soil pH, OC, planted or un-planted soils, field or pot experiments and time after glyphosate application. Glyphosate application, as well as moderator variables (pH, glyphosate concentration, OC and time after application) significantly affected microbial biomass and its activity. Increases in glyphosate and OC concentrations led to transitory enhancement (less than 60 days) of SMR and SMB, while respiration tended to be reduced after 60 days. Notably, field application rates (i.e. <10 mg kg) had no significant effect on SMR or SMB, but SMB was significantly lower at glyphosate concentrations of 10-100 mg kg. Ultimately, the fact that management and environmental factors regulated the soil microbial response means that generalisations about the toxicity or safety of glyphosate to SMR and SMB should be qualified with details of the conditions under which glyphosate is applied.


ABSTRACT The concept of entry barriers has been passed from discipline to discipline--from Industrial Organization Economics to Strategic Management to Entrepreneurship. Recent attempts to examine the impact that entry barriers have on new venture performance (i.e., Yip, 1982, and McDougall, 1987), have found that the direct impact of entry barriers on new venture performance is difficult to gauge when entry barriers are measured in traditional ways. This paper suggests that the traditional view of entry barriers is incomplete and proposes a new construct, called "ease of entry," (1) which includes, but is not limited to entry barriers. INTRODUCTION Bain (1956) introduced the concept of "entry barriers" to the literature of industrial organization economics (IO). Hofer (1975) brought the concept of entry barriers to the field of strategic management. Porter (1980) expanded the concept, breaking entry barriers down into two classes: entry barriers created as a result of the structural characteristics of the industry ("structural entry barriers") and entry barriers created as a result of the threat of retaliation by incumbents ("retaliation entry barriers"). Yip (1982) expanded the understanding of entry barriers by applying the strategy paradigm to prior IO theories of entry and entry barriers. Yip expanded entry barrier theory to include entry through acquisition, rather than limiting entry to new legal entities, as had previously been done in IO theory. Yip also introduced the term "entry gateways" to represent situations in which an entrant may not face barriers to entry but, instead, may actually be in an advantageous position vis-a-vis incumbents in the industry. McDougall (1987) attempted to measure the impact that entry barriers have on new venture performance. In testing this relationship, McDougall operationalized "entry barriers" as a composite of five variables. Accepting IO theory, McDougall included as the five most significant sub-variables of entry barriers: 1. economies of scale (using minimum efficient plant size as a surrogate for economies of scale) 2. product differentiation (using advertising-to-sales ratio as a surrogate for product differentiation) 3. industry concentration, (using the four-firm concentration ratio) 4. capital intensity, (using the assets/value-added ratio as a surrogate for capital intensity) 5. rate of growth of total market demand in the industry. McDougall (1987) calculated a composite height of entry barriers score for each of nine four-digit Standard Industrial (SIC) codes, then compared this composite height of entry barriers score with the performance of the firms in that SIC code. McDougall found some support for the proposition that entry barriers affect profitability of firms within industries, but no support for the proposition that entry barriers affect market share or market share growth, measures of operational performance. McDougall's (1987) five sub-variables are based on those which IO theorists have most often suggested as the most important sub-variables in entry barriers. This paper makes three suggestions: 1. One of the five sub-variables which IO theory suggests as making up entry barriers (industry concentration) should not be included in entry barriers at all because it influences entry both positively and negatively. 2. There is a set of sub-variables called "entry gateways" which should be included along with entry barriers in the analysis of entry. 3. The inclusion of entry gateways along with entry barriers in the analysis of entry into industries suggests a new construct, called "ease of entry." EXCLUSION OF INDUSTRY CONCENTRATION FROM ENTRY BARRIERS IO researchers have consistently hypothesized that "industry concentration" is an entry barrier. McDougall (1987) included concentration ratio in the calculation of entry barriers, thereby implicitly accepting the IO assumption that concentrated industries are more difficult to enter than less concentrated industries. …


Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common, cancer-predisposing disease caused by mutations in the NF1 tumor gene. Patients with NF1 have an increased risk for benign and malignant tumors of the nervous system (e.g., neurofibromas, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, gliomas) and other tissues (e.g., leukemias, rhabdomyosarcoma, etc.) as well as increased susceptibility to learning disabilities, chronic pain/migraines, hypertension, pigmentary changes, and developmental lesions (e.g., tibial pseudoarthrosis). Pigs are an attractive and upcoming animal model for future NF1 studies, but a potential limitation to porcine model research has been the lack of validated reagents for direct translational study to humans. To address that issue, we used formalin-fixed tissues (human and pigs) to evaluate select immunohistochemical markers (activated caspase-3, allograft inflammatory factor-1, beta-tubulin III, calbindin D, CD13, CD20, desmin, epithelial membrane antigen, glial fibrillary acidic protein, glucose transporter-1, laminin, myelin basic protein, myoglobin, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, S100, vimentin, and von Willebrand factor). The markers were validated by comparing known expression and localization in human and pig tissues. Validation of these markers on fixed tissues will facilitate prospective immunohistochemical studies of NF1 pigs, as well as other pig models, in a more efficient, reproducible, and translationally relevant manner.


Neglect the elderly is an increasingly serious social problem. This issue is closely related to the phenomenon of the aging population by the 21st century because of increased life expectancy and the elderly population drastically. Thus, the phenomenon indirectly affects care problems as well as cause neglect and abuse, particularly to elderly parents who are experiencing health problems, physical and mental disabilities. Blindness among elderly patients also pose a challenge to the social worker at the hospital due to changing lifestyles and patterns of family structure in modern times now, and lack of support systems for elderly caregivers have implications on the role of social workers in the hospital. Scenario neglect elderly patients concluded that the need for early intervention role of the social worker at the hospital to prevent an increase in blindness in the future. The discussion of this scenario is also based on a content analysis of journal articles and scientific books related to issues of neglect and needs of social work services in the field of health than previous studies.


Background: The physico‐chemical properties of cefpirome (low protein binding, high water solubility and low molecular weight) suggest that it may be lost readily from the extracorporeal circulation of intensive care unit patients during continuous renal replacement therapy. Method: In order to make informed dosage recommendations for patients receiving artificial renal support, cefpirome loss from human blood has been quantified using in vitro models of continuous haemofiltration and haemodiafiltration. Cefpirome clearance was measured using three membrane types at varying ultrafiltrate (UFR) and dialysis flow rates (Qd). Results: During haemofiltration cefpirome was found to cross hollow fibre polyamide (PA) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membranes with equal efficiency. The mean sieving coefficients (S) of both PA and PAN membranes were consistently high (> 0·7) when two different ultrafiltration rates were used. Changing the ultrafiltration rate or membrane type had no significant effect on the sieving coefficient of cefpirome but did result in an increase in cefpirome filter clearance (F cl). Using the haemodiafiltration model, cefpirome penetrated PAN membranes (flat plate AN69S) more efficiently than hollow fibre PA membranes (FH66D). In each case, increasing the dialysis flow rate reduced the S‐value. However, although increasing Qd was associated with a greater F cl of cefpirome when PAN membranes were employed, no such relationship was found for the PA hollow fibre membrane. Conclusion: The information generated can be used to estimate a dosing regimen for intensive care patients prescribed cefpirome and receiving continuous renal replacement therapy.


We study an approach for the evaluation of approximation and solution methods for multistage linear stochastic programmes by measuring the performance of the obtained solutions on a set of out-of-sample scenarios. The main point of the approach is to restore the feasibility of solutions to an approximate problem along the out-of-sample scenarios. For this purpose, we consider and compare different feasibility and optimality based projection methods. With this at hand, we study the quality of solutions to different test models based on classical as well as recombining scenario trees.


We provide an overview of the sources of moisture that affect the major regimes of precipitation in China during the extended boreal summer (from April to September), as well as some indication of the variations in these sources during drier and wetter conditions. The Lagrangian FLEXPART model was used to identify the contributions of humidity to the moisture budget in a region by computing the changes in specific humidity along the backward trajectories of air masses for the previous 10 d. We carried out analyses for 2000 to 2004 and identified those years that had the highest and lowest average rates of precipitation in 13 different regions in China, each of which is characterised by different regimes in terms of precipitation. Although the period of the study was relatively short, the results suggest that the contributions of moisture from the East and South China Seas are significant for precipitation in the eastern and southeastern coastal areas, while the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are important sources of moisture for the southern and central regions of China. Moreover, the northern regions receive some moisture from western Asia. Our analysis of wetter and drier years suggests that, in general, a more unstable atmosphere prevailed over the different target areas during all wetter periods considered.


From Angus Wilson to Pat Barker and Salman Rushdie, British Culture of the Post-War is an ideal starting point for those studying cultural developments in Britain of recent years. Chapters on individual people and art forms give a clear and concise overview of the progression of different genres. They also discuss the wider issues of Britain's relationship with America and Europe, and the idea of Britishness.

Each section is introduced with a short discussion of the major historical events of the period. Read as a whole, British Culture of the Postwar will give students a comprehensive introduction to this turbulent and exciting period, and a greater understanding of the cultural production arising from it.


In recent years, deep convolution neural networks (DCNNs) have won many contests in machine learning, object detection, and pattern recognition. Furthermore, deep learning techniques achieved exceptional performance in image classification, reaching accuracy levels beyond human capability. Malware variants from similar categories often contain similarities due to code reuse. Converting malware samples into images can cause these patterns to manifest as image features, which can be exploited for DCNN classification. Techniques for converting malware binaries into images for visualization and classification have been reported in the literature, and while these methods do reach a high level of classification accuracy on training datasets, they tend to be vulnerable to overfitting and perform poorly on previously unseen samples. In this paper, we explore and document a variety of techniques for representing malware binaries as images with the goal of discovering a format best suited for deep learning. We implement a database for malware binaries from several families, stored in hexadecimal format. These malware samples are converted into images using various approaches and are used to train a neural network to recognize visual patterns in the input and classify malware based on the feature vectors. Each image type is assessed using a variety of learning models, such as transfer learning with existing DCNN architectures and feature extraction for support vector machine classifier training. Each technique is evaluated in terms of classification accuracy, result consistency, and time per trial. Our preliminary results indicate that improved image representation has the potential to enable more effective classification of new malware.


Sustainable out-of-home nutrition can help achieve overarching sustainability goals through a transformation in demands of consumers in this growing market. Studies indicate that individual food choice behaviours in out-of-home settings relate to a wide set of personal, social and situational factors. These factors can be influenced by various intervention strategies. In an expert meeting and a focus group we invited caterers and consumers to generate, discuss and evaluate various practical intervention ideas. Both parties largely perceive the explored ideas as useful and agree on key intervention ideas. Overall caterers and consumers state to prefer nudging strategies over information and participation interventions.


Infections that result in natural or manmade spread of lethal biological agents are a concern and require national and focused preparedness. In this manuscript, as part of an early diagnostics and pathogen treatment strategy, we have focused on extracellular vesicles (EVs) that arise following infections. Although the field of biodefense does not currently have a rich resource in EVs literature, none the less, similar pathogens belonging to the more classical emerging and non-emerging diseases have been studied in their EV/exosomal contents and function. These exosomes are formed in late endosomes and released from the cell membrane in almost every cell type in vivo. These vesicles contain proteins, RNA, and lipids from the cells they originate from and function in development, signal transduction, cell survival, and transfer of infectious material. The current review focuses on how different forms of infection exploit the exosomal pathway and how exosomes can be exploited artificially to treat infection and disease and potentially also be used as a source of vaccine. Virally-infected cells can secrete viral as well as cellular proteins and RNA in exosomes, allowing viruses to cause latent infection and spread of miRNA to nearby cells prior to a subsequent infection. In addition to virally-infected host cells, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi can all release small vesicles that contain pathogen-associated molecular patterns, regulating the neighboring uninfected cells. Examples of exosomes from both virally and bacterially infected cells point toward a re-programming network of pathways in the recipient cells. Finally, many of these exosomes contain cytokines and miRNAs that in turn can effect gene expression in the recipient cells through the classical toll-like receptor and NFκB pathway. Therefore, although exosomes do not replicate as an independent entity, they however facilitate movement of infectious material through tissues and may be the cause of many pathologies seen in infected hosts.


In this work very low-grade metamorphic assemblages found in the Northern Patagonian Andes (Argentina) are summarized. On the basis of previous studies, several occurrences of zeolites have been delimited. According to their mineralogy, textures and structures, three different alteration stages that evidence a progressive decrease in temperature have been established. The first one (stage I) was the consequence of an event of regional metamorphism that reached the greenschist facies (350 °C and 2 kbar). During this stage, pyroxene, amphibole and feldspar primary phenocrysts broke down to produce an assemblage of actinolite, grossular-andradite, chlorite, albite, prehnite, titanite, clinozoisite, epidote and calcite. In the subsequent stages, direct hydrothermal precipitation took place as the temperature decreased. Thus, zeolites, calc-silicates, calcite, quartz and cristobalite started to precipitate as cavity fillings. During stage II, temperature decreased below 220 °C and wairakite, yugawaralite, laumontite, pectolite, dachiardite, celadonite, thomsonite, pumpellyite and interstratified chlorite/smectite crystallized. Prehnite, adularia, titanite and albite were also deposited but only as minor species. These minerals mainly alter feldspar phenocrysts and fill amygdules of basalts and andesites. Stage III is characterized by a temperature drop (below 180 °C) and by the crystallization of hydrothermal secondary minerals within open spaces. Most of the alkaline zeolites were deposited during this last event of alteration, filling joints in metabasites and granitoids. Although Ca-stilbite is the most abundant alteration mineral, analcime, natrolite, barrerite, offretite, chabazite, stellerite, heulandite, mordenite, scolecite, mesolite, quartz, calcite, cristobalite and smectites were also produced.


This paper identifies sharp bounds on the mean treatment response and average treatment effect under the assumptions of both concave monotone treatment response (concave-MTR) and monotone treatment selection (MTS). We use our bounds and the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to estimate mean returns to schooling. Our upper-bound estimates are substantially smaller than (1) estimates using only the concave-MTR assumption of Manski (1997) and (2) estimates using only the MTR and MTS assumptions of Manski and Pepper (2000). They fall in the lower range of the point estimates given in previous studies that assume linear wage functions. This is because ability bias is corrected by assuming MTS when the functions are close to linear. Our results therefore imply that higher returns reported in previous studies are likely to be overestimated.


Recent studies have shown the feasibility of an Earth pole-sitter mission, where a spacecraft follows the Earth's polar axis to have a continuous, hemispherical view of one of the Earth's Poles. However, due to the tilt of the polar axis, the North and South Poles are alternately situated in darkness for long periods dur-ing the year. This significantly constrains observations and decreases mission scientific return. This paper therefore investigates transfers between north and south pole-sitter orbits before the start of the Arctic and Antarctic winters to maximize scientific return by observing the polar regions only when lit. Clearly, such a transfer can also be employed for the sole purpose of visiting both the North and South Poles with one single spacecraft during one single mission. To enable such a novel transfer, two types of propulsion are proposed, including so-lar electric propulsion (SEP) and a hybridization of SEP with solar sailing. A di-rect optimization method based on pseudospectral transcription is used to find both transfers that minimize the SEP propellant consumption and transfers that trade-off SEP propellant consumption and observation time of the Poles. Also, a feedback control is developed to account for non-ideal properties of the solar sail. It is shown that, for all cases considered, hybrid low-thrust propulsion out-performs the pure SEP case, while enabling a transfer that would not be feasible with current solar sail technology.


Focusing on player agents in professional ice hockey, this paper utilizes the theoretical construct of agency theory as a means of evaluating attempts by several stakeholder groups to find solutions to opportunistic agent behavior. As proposed by agency theorists, this would include the creation and implementation of monitoring mechanisms by industry stakeholders in order to regulate agent activities. Stakeholder groups involved include state and federal governments, the agents themselves, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and Players' Associations, which, at various times, all have adopted forms of certification programs in attempts to monitor player agents. Documentation on these programs and interviews with industry stakeholders are employed to develop criteria by which such programs can be assessed in terms of their ability to reduce traditional agency problems. In doing so, it is argued that the agency model can be used to provide additional insight into problems associated with th...


In this study, we compare haptic feedback and nonhaptic feedback conditions in which virtual characters bump into the participant who is immersed in a virtual environment. A questionnaire was developed to determine the influence of haptic feedback on a number of concepts (presence, embodiment, positive and negative affect, interaction realism with virtual character, and haptic feedback realism). Physiological data were also collected using galvanic skin response (GSR) to investigate the influence of haptic feedback on physiological arousal during human–virtual character interaction. Five conditions were developed (no haptic feedback, full intensity, half intensity, incorrect position, and delayed timing) to determine which aspects of haptic feedback are most important in influencing participant responses. Significant differences were found in embodiment, realism of virtual character interaction, and haptic feedback realism. In addition, significant differences were found in GSR amplitude after the first interaction with the virtual character. Implications for further research are discussed.


Brussels is a bilingual citv, where Dutch has gradually gained high status, both economically and politically over the past decades. However, there are no bilingual educational programmes for French and Dutch, which is why many Francophone parents chose to send their children to the Dutch-medium schools of Brussels. These schools are one of the very few places where French-speaking and Dutch-speaking pupils get in touch with each other. The present contribution analyses to what extent the contact situation in these schools influences the language learning motivation of the secondary7 school pupils. Results of the motivational aspects to learn their mother tongue and the second language are compared with those of peers from control schools in Flanders and Wallonia. The main conclusion is that the contact situation positively influences the motivation to learn the second language and does not affect the motivation to learn the mother tongue.


Vertigo is very common feeling, known more or less to everyone. It is a very common type of dizziness. Extensive studies confirmed that about 20% men and up to 40% of adult women from time to time have feeling of motion when one is stationary. There are several sophisticated methods which help to find a cause of vertigo. Many of them were described in the last century or even earlier. These methods still have their place in modern medicine, but the introduction of modern computer technology can make their implementation in many ways to refine and improve. Posturography is one of the non-invasive medical technique used to evaluate vertigo. Traditional static posturography has several results, such as charts describing speed, direction, harmony of patient's tilts, but for the medical studies and formation of norms are more sufficient numerical outputs, which we are going to deal with in this paper. This articles deals with processing of the balance examination results. Some evaluations have in the past been defined, but still some significant signs remain hidden in charts or worse, in raw data. This paper show traditional numeric approaches and try to point the new one, focused on lateral deviation and refining current options. The proposed algorithms need to be verified by the practical experience now and found of the rate of its usability.


Compared to fiber optic systems, on-chip optical devices provide reasonable optical performance and mechanical stability in a smaller footprint and at a lower cost. Such devices, including resonators and waveguides, have been applied in diverse areas of scientific research, including quantum information, nonlinear optics, cavity optomechanics, telecommunications, biodetection, rotation sensing, high stability microwave oscillators, and all-optical signal processing. As performance demands on these applications increase, resonators and waveguides with ultralow propagation loss become critical. In this thesis, we first demonstrate a new resonator with a record Q factor of 875 million for on-chip devices. The fabrication of our device avoids the requirement for a specialized processing step, which in microtoroid resonators has made it difficult to control their size and achieve millimeter- and centimeter-scale diameters. Attaining these sizes is important in applications such as microcombs. The resonators not only set a new benchmark for the Q factor on a chip, but also provide, for the first time, full compatibility of this important device class with conventional semiconductor processing. Meanwhile, we demonstrate a monolithic waveguide as long as 27 m (39 m optical path length), and featuring broadband loss rate values of (0.08 ± 0.01) dB/m measured over 7 m by optical backscattering. Resonator measurements show a further reduction of loss to 0.037 dB/m, close to that of optical fibers when first considered a viable technology. Scaling this waveguide to integrated spans exceeding 250 m and attenuation rates below 0.01 dB/m is discussed. This chip-based waveguide and resonator improve shock resistance, and afford the possibility of integration for system-on-a chip functionality. We finally demonstrate a highly sensitive nanoparticle and virus detection method by using a thermal-stabilized reference interferometer in conjunction with an ultrahigh-Q microcavity. Sensitivity is sufficient to resolve shifts caused by binding of individual nanobeads in solution down to a record radius of 12.5 nm, a size approaching that of single protein molecules. A histogram of wavelength shift versus nanoparticle radius shows that particle size can be inferred from shift maxima.


Disadvantaged populations, such as the poor, pose a complex set of challenges to the process of economic development. While a girl child born in Japan in 2005 is expected to live for 86 years, deliver her child in a medical institution under skilled supervision and receive appropriate attention during her old age, her contemporary born in Angola, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Zambia or Zimbabwe is expected to live for about 40 years, deliver her child at home without any skilled supervision and struggle to receive adequate care during old age if she survives that long. The child cannot be faulted for this diverse prospect of length and quality of life: countries that are home to such disadvantaged population groups are in extreme poverty and express their helplessness to rescue such groups. When countries are poor and small, their economies or governments are not in a position to respond effectively to diseases that predominantly affect their poor citizens. This inability to deal adequately with complex situations further impedes such countries' growth. As a result, many low-income countries, where most of the world's poor live, are drifting away, in developmental terms, from the rest of the world.

On the other hand, the poor living in countries that are doing well economically face a different set of problems. Such people live alongside the rich and face similar market conditions due to increased globalization and monetization of economies. Possibilities to deal with the problems of poverty exist in better-off countries, but the poor often lack access to them. In such countries, the usefulness of economic growth lies in what it does to enhance people's health and welfare. "Growth" has no meaning if millions of the poor lack access to basic amenities, such as health care.

Whether developing or not, many low-income countries are caught in several traps which prevent them from prospering. To make things worse, the present global economy is unfavourable to the bottom billion people and the countries in which they live. Hence, it is much harder for disadvantaged countries to break out of the traps in which they find themselves. In this book, Paul Collier discusses four such traps that have previously received little attention. Interestingly, what many people would consider to be a source of prosperity – natural resources – is seen as a trap by the author. The other traps he discusses are conflict, being landlocked and surrounded by bad neighbours, and bad governance.

The author claims that low-income, slow economic growth and high dependence on primary commodity exports are the key determinants of civil war, which is likely to continue longer if a country's income is low. Civil war also tends to reduce a country's economic growth by about 2.3% per annum. He notes that 73% of people among the bottom billion have been affected by civil war recently, 29% live in countries where natural wealth dominates the economy, 30% live in countries that are landlocked and resource-scarce and have bad neighbours, and 76% have lived through a prolonged period of bad governance and poor economic policies.

The future progress of the bottom billion people is crucial for health and health system development. These are the people caught in the poverty/ill-health trap. Inequities in access to health care suffered by this group further disadvantage it. Conflicts, bad governance and lack of development clearly have an effect on the national health systems of the worst-affected countries. Breaking out of the traps discussed in the book is important for future health system development, and understanding these and other barriers to development is the essential first step. The book is a welcome contribution to health development literature and makes excellent reading for those who are concerned about poverty and the poor, and for those who tend to think that economic growth is the sum total of human welfare.

The book powerfully describes the increasing income divisions between sections of populations; the difficulties that development agencies face in placing materials and staff in areas with maximum needs; governments' inabilities and failures to deal with the situation; and investment failures in poor settings. The book also serves as a timely reminder for carrying out suitable policy and development responses. The author's rich African experience is reflected in the valuable country examples provided, while the narrative style makes the book read well. A deliberately pessimistic view of the future prospects of the bottom billion is presented, but the book does provide some suggestions that the affected countries and the Group of Eight (G8) countries could adopt to improve the status quo. The book would have benefited from use of an analytical framework to better depict the evidence presented. ■


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) devices are widely used for the estimation of serum bilirubin levels in term and near-term infants. Our objective was to review the diagnostic accuracy of TcB devices in preterm infants. METHODS: Medline, Embase, Cochrane library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Scopus were searched (from database inception date until December 2012). Additional citations were identified by using the bibliographies of selected articles and from conference proceedings. The studies were included if they compared TcB with total serum bilirubin in preterm infants before phototherapy and presented data as correlation coefficients or as Bland-Altman difference plots. Data were extracted by 1 reviewer and checked for accuracy by the second reviewer. An assessment tool (quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies) was used for risk of bias assessments. RESULTS: Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria; 21 studies reported results as correlation coefficients, with pooled estimates of r = 0.83 for each site of measurement. Pooled estimates in infants <32 weeks' gestation were similar to the overall preterm population (r = 0.89 [95% confidence interval: 0.82–0.93]). For the 2 commonly used TcB devices (ie, JM103 and BiliCheck), the results were comparable at the forehead site, although the JM103 device exhibited better correlation at the sternum. Analysis of the Bland-Altman plots (13 studies) revealed negligible bias in measurement at the forehead or sternum site by using either the JM-103 or BiliCheck device; however, the JM-103 device exhibited better precision than the BiliCheck (SD for TcB – total serum bilirubin differences: 24.3 and 31.98 µmol/L, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The TcB devices reliably estimated bilirubin levels in preterm infants and could be used in clinical practice to reduce blood sampling.


The determination of trace quantities of elements present in foodstuff is of considerable importance, because of the essential and toxicological action of some of these trace elements to the human body. Wheat is one of the most grown crops in Saudi Arabia. It is grown in various regions of the country. Accurate knowledge of the various elemental concentrations in wheat is of great importance from nutrition point of view. As part of on going research to develop reference materials at KACST wheat samples were obtained from 10 - different regions in Saudi Arabia and analyzed using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analyses (INAA) techniques. Information of up to 50 elements in wheat samples were obtained. These results are also of great interest to research and related food industry.


OBJECTIVE Subjects with IDDM should take carbohydrate before exercise to avoid hypoglycemia. However, there is little information on the glycemic effect of recommended supplementation. This study is aimed to determine the glycemic effects of oral glucose or bread (30 g carbohydrate) before 45 min of moderate exercise. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Nine subjects with uncomplicated IDDM did 45 min of bicycle ergometer exercise at 60% VO2max in the morning before insulin injection on three occasions: 1) with no carbohydrate supplement, 2) with 30 g glucose in water at −5 min, and 3) with 30 g carbohydrate as white bread with water at −20 min. The glycemic responses were determined. The glycemic responses to glucose and bread were also determined without exercise in six subjects. RESULTS Without carbohydrate, exercise caused a small fall (−1.2 ± 0.6 mmol/l, mean ± SE) in plasma glucose (PG). With either glucose or bread, PG rose (the change in plasma glucose relative to basal [Δ PG] = 5.1 ± 0.8 and 2.6 ± 0.8, respectively). The rise was greater (P < 0.01) without exercise (Δ PG = 6.9 ± 0.7 and 4.5 ± 0.7, respectively). During exercise, glucose increased PG levels more than bread increased glucose levels P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Before morning insulin injection, the fall in PG during moderate exercise in IDDM subjects is generally small or absent. The glycemic effects of complex carbohydrate are slightly < glucose before exercise. Under these circumstances, the usually recommended amount of carbohydrate tends to cause an unwanted elevation of PG; thus, IDDM subjects should anticipate reducing or even omitting carbohydrate supplementation after monitoring their individual glycemic response.


Water erosion affects, in Tunisia, nearly 3 million hectares of agricultural land, and constitutes a threat to the sustainability of small lakes in the hilly regions. Twenty six lakes have been identified in the central part of Tunisia covering the Ridge area and Cap Bon. To predict the siltation in these lakes, we proposed a simple and practical model classification assessing the sediment fluxes at the outlet of the small watersheds and the sediment load of the receiving lakes. We further explored the links between the sediment prediction model parameters and various terrain attributes of the contributing catchments. Three statistical methods are used for the data analysis: the Principal Component Analysis method (PCA), the hierarchical classification method, and finally the step wise linear regression analysis. We identified three different classes of lakes. The first class is less vulnerable to the silting risk and is located on the southern and eastern borders, west of the ridge and the coastal plains. The lakes of this group are characterized by a low rate of silting, a large drainage area, a low relief, a relatively hierarchical hydrographic network and an effect of precipitation and little intense runoff. A second class which is the most degraded environments covers almost the entire semi-arid zone of Central Tunisia. This class has a very abrasive potential watershed, explained by high flow coefficients related, mainly to higher erosive rainfall intensities associated with a moderate or accentuate topography, structure of soil over marl and poor drainage and unimproved surface. The third class exists in the north and south of the Ridge. The catchments of this class are characterized by a moderate to high sedimentation rate which is governed by a more or less marl soil structure and an intense hydrodynamic compounded by the steep slopes of these basins. The represented lake will server to quantify and predict the


We experimentally demonstrate quasi-phase-matched (QPM) four-wave-mixing (FWM) in silicon (Si) nanowire waveguides with sinusoidally modulated width. We perform discrete wavelength conversion over 250 nm, and observe 12 dB conversion efficiency (CE) enhancement for targeted wavelengths more than 100 nm away from the edge of the 3-dB conversion bandwidth. The QPM process in Si nanowires is rigorously modeled, with results explaining experimental observations. The model is further used to investigate the dependence of the CE on key device parameters, and to introduce devices that facilitate wavelength conversion between the C-band and mid-IR. Devices based on a superposition of sinusoidal gratings are investigated theoretically, and are shown to provide CE enhancement over the entire C-band. Width-modulation is further shown to be compatible with zero-dispersion-wavelength pumping for broadband wavelength conversion. The results indicate that QPM via width-modulation is an effective technique for extending the spectral domain of efficient FWM in Si waveguides.


There has been much controversy concerning the identity of the components of the suspenso- rium in Siluriformes (catfishes). This confusion has implications not only for comparative morphology, but also for phylogenetic studies. The identity of the suspensorium components in catfish is reviewed here on the basis of : 1) dissections of numerous catfishes, including members of the most primitive group (Diplomystidae), and morphological descriptions in the literature; 2) developmental and paleontological data available; 3) functional morphology; and 4) comparisons with other member of the Ostariophysi, as well as with other teleosts. Our observations and comparisons indicate that catfish suspensorium consists of : 1) a hyomandibula+metapterygoid compound, which corresponds to the hyomandibula plus metapterygoid of other teleosts; 2) a symplectic+quadrate compound, which corresponds to the symplectic+quadrate of other teleosts; 3) an ectopterygoid+ectopterygoid compound, which corresponds to the entopterygoid plus ectopterygoid of other teleost. The small bones present in several catfishes between the anterior portions of the pars quadrata, the palatine, and the ethmoideal region are considered to be sesamoid ossifications.


Urban public space is obviously a key site of host-immigrant encounter. The heated debates in Europe about the establishment of purpose-built mosques or in Canada about monster houses show the deeper impact of changes in the urban streetscape consequent upon immigration. The establishment of ethnic shopping malls or commercial precincts, such as Chinatown or Klein Turkei, with their specific shop windows, street furniture and the whole shebang, is another, perhaps more promising case. The proliferation of these precincts is interesting because it is—at least partly—driven by commercial intentions and ties in with the emerging service economy and the role of cities as sites of consumption. The commodification and marketing of diversity, i.e. the commercial use of the presence of the ethnic Others or their symbols in the urban streetscape, help explain the growing enthusiasm for 'interesting' landscapes that have the potential to draw tourists and visitors. This transformation is not a 'natural' process, but the product of social, cultural, economic and political developments and conditions. This presentation examines the transformation of ethnic neighborhoods into places of leisure and consumption by a wider public in a number of cities and countries, and deals with the question of how and under what conditions this process helps foster immigrants' business success and the quality of the neighborhood at large. The primary focus is the role of immigrant entrepreneurs and their interaction with other relevant actors, especially the local government.


We have demonstrated the use of untargeted metabolomics- a high-throughput analysis to probe the small molecule landscape of natural products based traditional medicine. The approach provides a global perspective on the quality of such natural medicine and the depth of secondary metabolites present in them. We utilized Eclipta prostrata L. as an example to demonstrate the utility of LC-MS and GC-MS based untargeted metabolomics. The mentioned research utilized three different preparations and successfully demonstrated the small molecule landscape differences in these samples. Preliminary statistical analysis using R-based web programs, indicated the samples grouped well indicating batch-to-batch consistency. Heatmaps generated from LC-MS and GC-MS data indicated the difference in abundance of various small molecules across the samples.


The Fujii family is a carpenters who has performed active construction activities for the Hamochi region in southern part of Sado Island at the base from the early stages of Edo to the early stages of Showa. This paper considers the carved ornament and the technique of the bracket complex for 20 works among existing the works of the Fujii family. Unlike a general chronological index, even if a time goes down, the carved ornaments shows an old form and the depth and width of carving do not change a lot. Moreover, in the bracket complex, a peculiar technique of joining a component by Yatoihozo joint is seen, and it can classify into two forms of what used Yatoihozo joint for the Odaruki, and the thing used for Tesaki-Hijiki. As explained above, the Fujii family can be positioned as a carpenter group with very peculiar technology.


This thesis studies the distribution of Norman castles of the 11th-12th centuries across the north of England. A methodology is presented for assessing the reliability of identification of castle sites, and applied to the whole region in order to produce a substantial body of data. This data is then considered in two principal ways: the siting of castles in relation to other geographic features such as the topography, navigable rivers, Roman roads and forts; and the differing distribution patterns of the varied physical remains of castles. This study revealed a particularly significant difference in the distribution of stone-rebuilding of castles, as against the general distribution of earthwork sites as a whole. It is argued that this reveals the changing role of castles over the course of the Norman period, as different economic, military and social factors influenced their use by the landowning classes, both Norman and English. The archaeological evidence for stone-rebuilding of castles provides a chronological scheme for studying Norman castles that can be applied despite the lack of historical dating evidence for the majority of sites.


There are three major points to this article: 1. Measurement error causes biases in regression fits. The line one would obtain if one could accurately measure exposure to environmental lead media will differ in important ways when one measures exposure with error. 2. The effects of measurement error vary from study-to-study. It is dangerous to take measurement error corrections derived from one study and apply them to data from entirely different studies or populations. 3. Measurement error can falsely invalidate a correct (complex mechanistic) model. If one builds a model such as the IEUBK carefully using essentially error-free lead exposure data, and applies this model in a different data set with error-prone exposures, the complex mechanistic model will almost certainly do a poor job of prediction, especially of extremes. While mean blood lead levels from such a process may be accurately predicted, in most cases one would expect serious under- or over-estimates of the proportion of the population whose blood lead level exceeds certain standards.


Vacuum-based end effectors are widely used in industry and are often preferred over parallel-jaw and multifinger grippers due to their ability to lift objects with a single point of contact. Suction grasp planners often target planar surfaces on point clouds near the estimated centroid of an object. In this paper, we propose a compliant suction contact model that computes the quality of the seal between the suction cup and local target surface and a measure of the ability of the suction grasp to resist an external gravity wrench. To characterize grasps, we estimate robustness to perturbations in end-effector and object pose, material properties, and external wrenches. We analyze grasps across 1,500 3D object models to generate Dex-Net 3.0, a dataset of 2.8 million point clouds, suction grasps, and grasp robustness labels. We use Dex-Net 3.0 to train a Grasp Quality Convolutional Neural Network (GQ-CNN) to classify robust suction targets in point clouds containing a single object. We evaluate the resulting system in 350 physical trials on an ABB YuMi fitted with a pneumatic suction gripper. When evaluated on novel objects that we categorize as Basic (prismatic or cylindrical), Typical (more complex geometry), and Adversarial (with few available suction-grasp points) Dex-Net 3.0 achieves success rates of 98%, 82%, and 58% respectively, improving to 81% in the latter case when the training set includes only adversarial objects. Code, datasets, and supplemental material can be found at http://berkeleyautomation.github.io/dex-net.


Abstract Title: Entrepreneurial Risk taking propensity and Performance: A case study of Owner-Managed companies in the Ghana Club 100. Author: Desmond Dellor Supervisor: Anders Hederstierna Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Master's thesis in Business administration, 15 credits (ECTS). Background and Problem Discussion: This study seeks to assess how successful are Owner- Managed Companies in the "Ghana Club100". The broad question addressed by this study is whether Owners manage their businesses better or not and also to examine whether Owner Managers in aggregate exhibit decision biases in their investment decision making processes taking into account the risk bearing role of entrepreneurs. Purpose: This research sought to investigate the risk aversion of Ghanaian entrepreneurs, whether or not they are biased in their investment decision making and to assess the performance of Owner- managed companies against their counterparts employed to manage for shareholders. Method: The study employed both conceptual and empirical approach. That is theories and principles pertaining to the study were examined and steps were taken to establish factual evidence base on figures sought from respondents by the use of questionnaire. Primary and secondary data were used extensively for the study. Theory: There was an extensive review of existing literature on the subject matter with careful consideration for concepts which clearly bring alive the understanding of entrepreneurship, risk taking propensity, performance and good corporate governance and makes linkages with empirical data. Analysis: Both quantitative and qualitative measurements were employed in analyzing the data collected for the study. The quantitative analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis focused mostly on information derived from the interviews and questionnaire administered. The outcomes were used to test the hypotheses. Conclusion: I found that Ghanaian Entrepreneurs have two types of risk: demand uncertainty and ability uncertainty. They display a significant amount of risk aversion to demand uncertainty but are very confident about their capabilities, in other words, they are "risk seeking" in respect of their ability uncertainty. Accordingly, whilst they are risk-averse in the classic sense of preferring a "certain return" to an uncertain investment with commensurate expected value, their over-confidence predisposes them to bear economic risk under a given set of conditions. Key Words: Risk taking propensity, Overconfidence, Investment, Performance


Aspergillus fumigatus, an opportunistic fungal pathogen, infects the human host via inhalation of airborne conidia. Adhesion of fungal conidia, to host cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) components associated with host tissue surfaces, is thought to be the primary step in the pathogenesis and dissemination of infection. To identify novel adhesion proteins (adhesins) of A. fumigatus, we screened its proteome in silico using SPAAN (software program for prediction of adhesins and adhesin-like proteins using neural networks). One of the predicted adhesin-encoding genes with a P(ad) (probability of being adhesin) value >0.9, the gene encoding extracellular thaumatin domain protein (AfCalA), was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Recombinant AfCalAp showed significant binding with laminin and murine lung cells. Anti-AfCalAp antibodies inhibited the binding of AfCalAp to laminin in a dose-dependent manner. Significant binding of anti-AfCalAp antibodies to 2 h swollen conidia suggests the presence of AfCalAp on the conidial surface. AfCalA transcript was not detectable in resting conidia but was detected in conidia incubated with RPMI 1640 medium in the presence and absence of lung epithelial cell line (A539)-derived ECM. Elevated levels of IgE antibodies specific to AfCalAp were observed in the sera of two out of seven patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. The study confirms the relevance of the bioinformatic approach for predicting fungal adhesins and establishes AfCalAp as a novel laminin-binding protein of A. fumigatus.


The rupture process of the 2008 northern Iwate, Japan, earthquake ( M  6.8) has been derived from strong-motion records obtained at 22 regional stations by the multi-time-window linear waveform inversion method. This event occurred in the lower plane of the double seismic zone in the subducting Pacific slab at a depth of 115 km. A preliminary inversion analysis revealed that a single planar fault plane model was insufficient to satisfactorily explain waveforms at stations in a specific azimuth. A two-segment fault plane model was then assumed in which the fault model consisted of the northern and southern segments with a 44° difference in strike direction, which respectively followed the source mechanisms determined by moment tensor inversion and P -wave polarity analysis. The source model derived from the two-segment fault plane model greatly improved the waveform fitting at stations for which there was a large discrepancy in the preliminary analysis with the single planar fault plane model. The largest asperity was located on the northern segment, which generated the main phase observed at most stations. The amount of slip on the southern segment was smaller but contributed significantly to the first of the two pulses observed at the stations to the south of the source area. The stress drop of the largest asperity for this intraslab earthquake was large in comparison with that predicted from empirical relations obtained for crustal earthquakes, which may be one of the causes of the relatively large accelerations recorded during this earthquake.


The aim of this research was to apply a generalized regression neural network (GRNN) to predict neutron spectrum using the rates count coming from a Bonner spheres system as the only piece of information. In the training and testing stages, a data set of 251 different types of neutron spectra, taken from the International Atomic Energy Agency compilation, were used. Fifty-one predicted spectra were analyzed at testing stage. Training and testing of GRNN were carried out in the MATLAB environment by means of a scientific and technological tool designed based on GRNN technology, which is capable of solving the neutron spectrometry problem with high performance and generalization capability. This computational tool automates the pre-processing of information, the training and testing stages, the statistical analysis, and the postprocessing of the information. In this work, the performance of feed-forward backpropagation neural networks (FFBPNN) and GRNN was compared in the solution of the neutron spectrometry problem. From the results obtained, it can be observed that © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. despite very similar results, GRNN performs better than FFBPNN because the former could be used as an alternative procedure in neutron spectrum unfolding methodologies with high performance and accuracy.


Laser light is an invaluable tool for detailed experimental studies of chemical reactions. The ability to prepare reagent molecules in specific quantum states and to resolve the quantum state distribution of reaction products using laser radiation has been key to the field of chemical reaction dynamics, which studies chemistry at a fundamental microscopic level. Today, state-resolved experiments are common for unimolecular and bi-molecular reactions in the gas phase, but equivalent measurements for gas/surface reactions have only recently started to appear. This contribution reviews the methodology developed in our group at the EPFL for the quantum state resolved investigation of molecule/surface reactions and gives representative results on the dissociative chemisorption of methane on single crystal nickel surfaces.


The legal pragmatism movement that came to prominence in the 1990s adopted a skeptical attitude toward "foundationalism" – the idea that any one body of law can be adequately explained by some grand, foundational theory, or united by a single goal or value. The pragmatists' embrace of anti-foundationalism, in turn, emphasizes the virtues of concepts such as value pluralism, practical reason, and what Cass Sunstein refers to as "incompletely theorized agreements" for reaching consensus on particulars when opinions differ at a higher level of abstraction. In this Essay, I argue that a legal pragmatist approach to intellectual property (IP) law has both strengths and weaknesses. Among its strengths are its recognition of the competing values that animate IP policy and doctrine; its understanding of the limits of both instrumental and natural rights theories in explaining and shaping the contours of IP rights; and its appreciation for the common law method of incrementally adapting doctrine to changing technological environments. At the same time, however, a legal pragmatism that naively embraces totality-of-the-circumstances tests may induce overcompliance on the part of IP users. An approach that overemphasizes the unquantifiable and the incommensurable may inhibit the use of economic analysis as a tool (albeit an imperfect one) for precisely stating one's assumptions, predicting consequences, and testing results; and, more generally, may blunt the critical edge necessary to counter the ever-expanding scope of some IP rights. Policymakers, in short, should avoid the temptation to turn legal pragmatism's anti-foundationalist stance itself into a foundational principle of IP policy.


4-arm poly(ethylene glycol) end-capped with mimics of adhesive moiety found in mussel adhesive protein, dopamine, was combined with a biocompatible nano-silicate, Laponite, in creating a nanocomposite hydrogel with improved materials and adhesive properties. Dopamine's ability to form both irreversible covalent (cohesive and interfacial) and reversible physical (with Laponite) crosslinks was exploited in creating an injectable tissue adhesive. Incorporation of Laponite did not interfere with the curing of the adhesive. In some instances, increasing Laponite content reduced gelation time as dopamine-Laponite bond reduced the required number of covalent bonds needed for network formation. Incorporation of Laponite also increased compressive materials properties (e.g., max strength, energy to failure, etc.) of the nanocomposite without compromising its compliance as strain at failure was also increased. From lap shear adhesion test using wetted pericardium as the substrate, incorporating Laponite increased work of adhesion by 5 fold over that of control. Strong, physical bonds formed between dopamine and Laponite increased bulk materials properties, which contributed to the enhanced adhesive properties.


Angiogenesis has been postulated to be critical for the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma, a neoplastic disease characterized by abnormal proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM). Cleavage of the N- and C-terminal regions of circulating chromogranin A (CgA, CHGA), classically an antiangiogenic protein, can activate latent antiangiogenic and proangiogenic sites, respectively. In this study, we investigated the distribution of CgA-derived polypeptides in multiple myeloma patients and the subsequent implications for disease progression. We show that the ratio of pro/antiangiogenic forms of CgA is altered in multiple myeloma patients compared with healthy subjects and that this ratio is higher in BM plasma compared with peripheral plasma, suggesting enhanced local cleavage of the CgA C-terminal region. Enhanced cleavage correlated with increased VEGF and FGF2 BM plasma levels and BM microvascular density. Using the Vk*MYC mouse model of multiple myeloma, we further demonstrate that exogenously administered CgA was cleaved in favor of the proangiogenic form and was associated with increased microvessel density. Mechanistic studies revealed that multiple myeloma and proliferating endothelial cells can promote CgA C-terminal cleavage by activating the plasminogen activator/plasmin system. Moreover, cleaved and full-length forms could also counter balance the pro/antiangiogenic activity of each other in in vitro angiogenesis assays. These findings suggest that the CgA-angiogenic switch is activated in the BM of multiple myeloma patients and prompt further investigation of this CgA imbalance as a prognostic or therapeutic target. Cancer Res; 76(7); 1781-91. ©2016 AACR.


Foreword. List of Contributors. Homotopy types (H.-J. Baues). Homotopy theories and model categories (W.G. Dwyer, J. Spalinski). Proper homotopy theory (T. Porter). Introduction to fibrewise homotopy theory (I.M. James). Coherent homotopy over a fixed space (K.A. Hardie, K.H. Kamps). Modern foundations for stable homotopy theory (A.D. Elmendorf et al. Completions in algebra and topology (J.P.C. Greenlees, J.P. May). Equivariant stable homotopy theory (J.P.C. Greenlees, J.P. May). The stable homotopy theory of finite complexes (D.C. Ravenel). The EHP sequence and periodic homotopy (M. Mahowald, R.D. Thompson). Introduction to nonconnective Im(J)-theory (M.C. Crabb, K. Knapp). Applications of nonconnective Im(J)-theory (K. Knapp). Stable homotopy and iterated loop spaces (G. Carlsson, R.J. Milgram). Stable operations in generalized cohomology (J.M. Boardman). Unstable operations in generalized cohomology (J.M. Boardman et al.). Differential graded algebras in topology (Y. Felix et al.). Real and rational homotopy theory (E.H. Brown, Jr., R.H. Szczarba). Cohomology of groups (D.J. Benson, P.H. Kropholler). Homotopy theory of Lie groups (M. Mimura). Computing v1-periodic homotopy groups of spheres and some compact Lie groups (D.M. Davis). Classifying spaces of compact Lie groups and finite loop spaces (D. Notbohm). H-spaces with finiteness conditions (J.P. Lin). Co-H-spaces (M. Arkowitz). Fibration and product decompositions in nonstable homotopy theory (F.R. Cohen). Phantom maps (C.A. McGibbon). Wall's finiteness obstruction (G. Mislin). Lusternik-Sohmirelmann category (I.M. James). Subject Index.


Change is a central concern of archaeology, being imprinted on and variously visible in the material culture of the past. For changes in the ways that people conceived, created and socialised their material world correlate on various levels with changes in their society. This book analyses that dynamic through the lens of technology and innovation in shipping, one of the most sophisticated forms of material expression that many societies achieved. The complexity of watercraft as artefacts reflects need, aspiration and agency in perhaps more explicit ways than almost any other form of material culture. Inherent in their being as objects is a powerful symbolic profile finding expression in identity, as metaphor, as interface between alternate states of existence and in cosmology. Small wonder they are such a powerful medium for investigating materiality in general as well as the changes so important for our understanding of past societies. Until recently it is debatable how far we have capitalised on these qualities, tending to analyse ships as technological phenomena per se rather than relating them to the contexts of their production. This has produced a database of impressive richness but while it constitutes an eloquent record of changes that occurred, it does not explain them. Worse, it is punctuated with a series of enduring puzzles that have long defied explanation. But might these be solved if investigated together with the social contexts in which they were generated? Using recent, underwater archaeological discoveries, this book examines episodes of major technological change stemming from Europe's most significant social transformation of the last millennium, the transition from medieval to modern. The explanatory relationships that emerge not only reaffirm the central role of ships in the development of the modern world but suggest that the boat record is a potent yet under-exploited way of investigating prehistory.


Thermal expansion is a crucial factor for the performance of laser devices, since the induced thermal stress by laser irradiation would strongly affect the optical beam quality. For BaAlBO3F2 (BABF), a good non-linear optical (NLO) crystal, due to the highly anisotropic thermal expansion its practical applications are strongly affected by the "tearing" stress with the presence of local overheating area around the laser spot. Recently, the strategy to place the optical crystals in low-temperature environment to alleviate the influence of the thermal effect has been proposed. In order to understand the prospect of BABF for this application, in this work, we investigated its thermal expansion behavior below room temperature. The variable-temperature XRD showed that the ratio of thermal expansion coefficient between along c- and along a(b)- axis is high as 4.5:1 in BABF. The Raman spectrum combined with first-principles phonon analysis revealed that this high thermal expansion anisotropy mainly ascribe to progressive stimulation of the respective vibration phonon modes related with the thermal expansion along a(b)- and c-axis. The good NLO performance in BABF can be kept below room temperature. The work presented in this paper provides an in-depth sight into the thermal expansion behavior in BABF, which, we believe, would has significant implication to the manipulation in atomic scale on the thermal expansion of the materials adopted in strong-field optical facility.


Space-based inflatable technology is of current interest to NASA and DOD, and in particular to the Air Force and Phillips Laboratory. Potentially large gains in lowering launch costs, through reductions in structure mass and volume, are driving this activity. Diverse groups are researching and developing this technology for radio and radar antennae, optical telescopes, and solar power and propulsion applications. Regardless of the use, one common requirement for successful application is the accuracy of the inflated surface shape. The work reported here concerns the shape control of an inflated thin circular disk through use of a nonlinear finite element analysis. First, a review of the important associated Hencky problem is given. Then we discuss a shape modification, achieved through enforced boundary displacements, which resulted in moving the inflated shape towards a desired parabolic profile. Minimization of the figure error is discussed and conclusions are drawn.


Mustard Spinach (Florida Broadleaf) is an indigenized leafy vegetable grown in Southern Africa. It is a good source of vitamins and mineral nutrients. An understanding of its response to fertilizer application is important in developing cultural practices for improved yield of the crop. Furthermore, improving fertilizer use efficiency such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) would result in improving cropping system. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted in 2010 and 2011 winter cropping season to determine the influence of NPK applications and their interactions on biomass yield and nutritional values of Mustard spinach. A randomized complete block design replicated four times were used for the experiment. ANOVA showed significant variation among the treatments. The values for total fresh biomass yield ranged from 252–4,510 and 820–4,982 kg ha in 2010 and 2011 cropping seasons, respectively. Omission of P had 4,510 kg ha of total fresh biomass yield, while omission of K had 4,506 kg ha in the first season. The lowest N content (2.63%) was recorded when nitrogen fertilizer was omitted. Full NPK application increased the content of N and K on the leaf tissues of Mustard Spinach. The highest percentage of dietary fiber was observed when K was omitted. The values recorded for ascorbic acid content varied from 126.94 and 117.42 mg 100g, respectively for both seasons. Iron was more concentrated on the treatments, where K was omitted. Mustard Spinach responded to fertilizer application and the results validated that application of NPK had a beneficial effect on increased production and productivity of the crop tested for small scale farmers.


Individual students and student organizations may meet in school rooms or auditoriums, or at outdoor locations on school grounds, to discuss, pass resolutions and take other lawful action respecting any matter which directly or indirectly concerns or affects them, whether or not it relates to school. Such activities will not be permitted to interfere with the normal operation of the school. Peaceful demonstrations are permissible, however they must be held in designated places where they will present no hazards to persons or property and at designated times that will not disrupt classes or other school activities.


This study examines three hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the effects of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) in standing human subjects. The first assumes realignment to an altered representation of vertical. GVS‐evoked body tilt produced under conditions of different stability was compared with perceptions of the vertical which subjects indicated by two means, a visual line and a manipulandum. GVS produced body tilt that increased in unstable conditions but there were no differences in the perceived vertical in any condition. The second hypothesis is that the altered vestibular signal is interpreted as a tilt of the support surface. The postural response evoked by tilting the support surface was compared with the GVS response under conditions of varying stability. These responses were different, particularly for the lower body where movements were oppositely directed. Standing on foam augmented GVS responses whereas standing with feet apart augmented platform‐tilt responses. The third hypothesis is that GVS produces an illusion of movement, and this causes a reaction in the opposite direction. Perception of movement during GVS was determined in standing and immobilised subjects. Although immobilised subjects experienced illusions of movement in the direction opposite the sway response, this only happened after long periods of stimulation and never for standing where subjects accurately reported the true direction of sway. Thus, the results do not support any of these proposals. Instead, they and other observations support a simpler interpretation that the GVS signal is consistent with head movement and evokes an automated response to stabilise the head in space.


This study is a contribution to the debate around the creation of an unemployment insurance scheme for the EU/euro area by proposing an alternative mechanism to the Europeanisation of national insurance schemes. The authors make the case for a reinsurance mechanism and show that such a system delivers, for a small average contribution, large shock-absorption capacities. At the same time, due to a threshold issue, it is not suitable for EU-level absorption of small national shocks. It is rather meant to deliver a large punch once activated, which should occur only in case of MAJOR events for the labour market. Had such a scheme been in place in the EU during the period 2000-2012, it would have been triggered 40 times.


The ray-tracing procedure for modeling the power deposition into electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharge in an axisymmetric mirror trap with longitudinal launch of microwave power is presented. To deal with cyclotron absorption for normal waves of magnetized plasma propagating nearly along the magnetic field in the vicinity of electron cyclotron frequency approximate dispersion relation has been derived using Stix components for microwave electric field. Calculations have been performed for parameters corresponding to ECR multicharge ion (MCI) source (IAP RAS) as example. It is shown that the efficient power deposition into ECR discharge within single pass of radiation through the plasma column may be provided under conditions that parasitic cyclotron resonance (before the plug) is outside the plasma volume and the electron density in the vicinity of the main resonance is undercritical. This is in a qualitative agreement with experimental results.


How will human societies evolve in the face of the massive changes
humans themselves are driving in the earth systems? Currently, few data exist with which to address this question. I argue that archaeological datasets from islands provide useful models for understanding long-term socioecological responses to large-scale environmental change, by virtue of their longitudinal dimension and their relative insulation from broader biophysical systems. Reviewing how colonizing humans initiated biological and physical change in the insular Pacific, I show that varied adaptations to this dynamism caused diversification in social and subsistence systems. This diversification shows considerable path dependency related to the degree of heterogeneity/homogeneity in the distribution of food resources. This suggests that the extent to which the Anthropocene modifies agroeconomic land surfaces toward or away from patchiness will have profound sociopolitical implications.


This report presents the results of a study on policies and practices related to the incorporation of information and communications technologies (ICTs) into education systems in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The purpose of the study was to ascertain how well-defined the policy dimensions for ICTs in education are and to determine the extent to which they have been implemented. The study was designed using three theoretical approaches: Traditional concepts used to gauge ICT penetration in society. Findings of studies that seek to identify and describe factors impacting ICT use in school systems. The concepts linked to stages of ICT uptake by organizations, and, particularly, by schools. With this conceptual foundation, and taking into consideration the scarcity of reliable statistical data on these topics, the data were gathered by means of a questionnaire designed to cover the major concerns of the study, i.e. the design and implementation of policies for ICTs in education as assessed by a set of indicators. The questionnaire was sent to representatives designated by the ministries of education of 17 countries in the region, as described in the corresponding section of this report. The findings on policy definition show that, while only about half of the countries have formal, published policies, most of them have units that are responsible for policies related to ICTs in education. Most of these policies focus on the teaching-learning process and on school management, as well as the development of ICT competencies among students and teachers.


Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) constitute a family (currently FGF-1 to FGF-23) of polypeptides that are essential in embryonal development and adult physiology, in animals from nematodes to humans. FGFs bind to four receptor tyrosine kinases, denoted FGFR-1 to FGFR-4. For proper function, the FGFs and their receptors depend on specific polysaccharide co-receptors, denoted heparan sulfate (HS). This thesis describes HS regulation of FGFR-1 signal transduction using blood vessel endothelial cells as a model.We have determined HS structural features, necessary for FGF-2 induced FGFR-1 activation, using chemically modified heparin, which is structurally related to HS. Modified heparin, lacking sulfation at the 6-O position was inhibitory for FGFR-1 kinase activation and FGF-2 induced angiogenesis. Inhibition of blood vessel formation using modified heparin could be useful in treatment of diseases characterized by excess blood vessel formation. The critical role of HS sulfation for proper growth factor function was further underscored using an embryonal stem (ES) cell model. ES cells lacking expression of two isoforms of N-deacetyl N-sulfotransferase, NDST-1 and –2, failed to undergo embryonal development and to establish a vascular system. Exogenous heparin could not support development, but HS delivered from other ES cells allowed formation of primitive vessels and subsequent sprouting angiogenesis.We have, furthermore, shown that the mechanism whereby HS supports FGF receptor activation is qualitative, as well as quantitative. Kinase activity could be induced by FGF-2 in the absence of HS, but this allowed only selected phosphorylation. In the presence of HS, the kinase activity was stabilized, allowing a broader spectrum of phosphorylation of sites on the FGF receptor itself as well as on cytoplasmic substrates. Finally, using selected microarrays, we have examined the potential regulation of enzymes in the HS biosynthesis pathway and of different proteoglycans to which HS is attached. Overall, we found no evidence for dramatic regulation on the transcriptional level, but could identify specific upregulation of HS proteoglycan syndecan-2, during blood vessel formation in vitro.In conclusion, our studies demonstrate selective and complex regulation of HS synthesis and structure, essential in guiding growth factor function during health and disease.


The current Internet scenario is very different from that envisioned in the original plan. The original protocols of the Internet were designed to allow simple communications between a few hundreds of academic and government users, which were assumed to be fixed and trusted. Today, a wide range of new access technologies have been introduced, which make user mobility and ubiquitous access easier and widely adopted. On the other hand, new applications and services are spreading, some of which are becoming almost necessary for our life. This new scenario poses several challenges to the Internet infrastructure, and different approaches have been proposed in literature towards the Future Internet. Adopting an evolutionary approach, in this thesis we provide contributions in the area of space and time diversity at IP layer, aiming to overcome limitations of current Internet infrastructure. In particular, we propose new techniques implementing what we call informed diversity: space and time diversity using information about the status of the network to make informed decisions about the operating parameters. We adopt a methodology composed of theoretical, simulations, and experimental analysis, and we provide contributions in terms of methodologies and techniques for network monitoring, and in terms of innovative techniques and tools for space and time diversity at IP layer. Obtained results show that informed space and time diversity achieve better performance than traditional techniques.


Microbes are abundant in nature and often highly adapted to local conditions. While great progress has been made in understanding the ecological factors driving their distribution in complex environments, the underpinning molecular‐evolutionary mechanisms are rarely dissected. Therefore, we scrutinized the coupling of environmental and molecular adaptation in Thaumarchaeota, an abundant archaeal phylum with a key role in ammonia oxidation. These microbes are adapted to a diverse spectrum of environmental conditions, with pH being a key factor shaping their contemporary distribution and evolutionary diversification. We integrated high‐throughput sequencing data spanning a broad representation of ammonia‐oxidizing terrestrial lineages with codon modelling analyses, testing the hypothesis that ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (AmoA) – a highly conserved membrane protein crucial for ammonia oxidation and classical marker in microbial ecology – underwent adaptation during specialization to extreme pH environments. While purifying selection has been an important factor limiting AmoA evolution, we identified episodic shifts in selective pressure at the base of two phylogenetically distant lineages that independently adapted to acidic conditions and subsequently gained lasting ecological success. This involved nonconvergent selective mechanisms (positive selection vs. selection acting on variants fixed during an episode of relaxed selection) leading to unique sets of amino acid substitutions that remained fixed across the radiation of both acidophilic lineages, highlighting persistent adaptive value in acidic environments. Our data demonstrates distinct trajectories of AmoA evolution despite convergent phenotypic adaptation, suggesting that microbial environmental specialization can be associated with diverse signals of molecular adaptation, even for marker genes employed routinely by microbial ecologists.


This article examines the concept of a whole-of-life approach to tourism through presenting the case for 'accessible tourism'. The importance of this approach is that it has been estimated that 30% of a population will have access requirements at any point in time, and most people will have a disability at some stage during their life. This article presents the case for proactively developing a strategic accessible tourism approach by presenting a brief background to the area. First, the article outlines the relationship between access, disability, ageing and tourism. Second, it reviews the development of easy access markets and accessible tourism, and places these in context to universal design. Third, the article overviews pertinent legislation that shapes the accessible tourism environment in Australia. Fourth, accessible environments are placed within context to destination management and accessible destination experiences. The article concludes by presenting four contemporary Australian examples of accessible destination experiences within broader destination management approaches.


Objective: The hepatic integration of human adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAT-MSCs) in vivo with or without prior differentiation to hepatocyte-like cells in vitro was investigated. Methods and results: Cells, isolated either from peritoneal or subcutaneous adipose tissue, expressed mesenchymal stem cell surface markers and featured multiple lineage differentiation. Under conditions favouring hepatocyte differentiation, hAT-MSCs gained hepatocytic functions in vitro including urea formation, glycogen synthesis, cytochrome P450 enzyme activity, and expression of hepatocyte-specific transcripts of carbamoylphosphate synthetase, albumin and cytochrome P450 type 3A4 (CYP3A4). Transgenic expression of green fluorescent protein emerged upon hepatocyte differentiation when driven by the hepatocyte-specific promoter of the cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene but was constitutive from the ubiquitin gene promoter. Human AT-MSCs were transplanted into livers of immunodeficient Pfp/Rag2−/− mice with or without prior hepatocyte differentiation in vitro. Donor-derived human cells engrafted in the mouse host liver predominantly in the periportal region of the liver lobule. They expressed HepPar1 and albumin, typical features of differentiated human hepatocytes, in the otherwise negative mouse liver background. Engraftment was significantly more efficient using hAT-MSCs pre-differentiated to hepatocyte-like cells in vitro as compared with undifferentiated cells. Conclusions: Pre-differentiation of human MSCs from adipose tissue into hepatocyte-like cells in vitro facilitates long term functional hepatic integration in vivo.


A conformational analysis of iron alkyl complexes of the type [(C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3)CH2XR] that have an oxygen or sulphur substituent attached to C(α) has been conducted in order to investigate the dependence of conformation on solvent polarity. 1H n.m.r. analysis, including variable temperature and n.O.e. experiments, indicated that the primary factor controlling conformational preferences in these complexes is steric interaction. For the complexes that do not have a significant steric bias between alternative conformations, the preferred conformation is observed, to be dependent on solvent polarity. This phenomenon is due to a dipolar interaction between the polarised C(α)–heteroatom bond and the chiral auxiliary [(C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3)] metal fragment.


Abstract: The rose-ringed parakeet (RRP), Psittacula krameri, has become established in at least four Pacific Island countries (Hong Kong China, Japan, New Zealand, U.S.A.), including the Hawaiian islands of Kaua'i, O'ahu, and Hawai'i. Most Pacific islands are at risk of RRP colonization. This species was first introduced to Hong Kong in 1903 and Hawai'i in the 1930s–1960s, established since 1969 in Japan, and in New Zealand since 2005 where it has repeatedly established after organized removals. The founding birds were imported cage-birds from the pet trade. In native India, RRP are generally found associated with human habitation and are considered a severe agricultural pest. In the Hawaiian Islands, RRP are increasing and expanding their geographic ranges below 500 m elevation. Population estimates in 2018 on Kaua'i were ∼6,800 birds, which was a three-fold increase and a 22.5% annual growth rate in the prior 6 years, whereas O'ahu had ∼4,560 birds with a 21% annual growth rate the prior 9 years; these rates suggest a population doubling time of ∼3.5 years. Wild RRP can live 14+ years, can reproduce after 1.5 years, and have few effective predators. Breeding pairs produce 1–3 fledglings annually. RRP are seed predators and rarely seed dispersers; their flock-foraging behavior can result in severe damage to orchard and field agricultural crops including tropical fruit and corn (Zea mays), and such economic damages are especially pronounced on Kaua'i. Island societies should prevent new introductions and consider RRP deterrents and population control methods to protect resources.


How the Federal Reserve reacts to economic activity has significant implications for the way the economy behaves. Yet the importance of these responses has received limited attention in the economic literature. Much of the literature devoted to the economic effects of monetary policy concentrates on the impact of random monetary policy shocks. By contrast, the author analyzes the economic consequences of the systematic behavior of the monetary authority.


The West African crocodile ( Crocodylus suchus ) is an emblematic species from the Sahara-Sahel with scarce knowledge on distribution and conservation status. This study updated the knowledge on distribution, occupied habitats, population size, and factors that threaten C. suchus and its habitats in Mauritania. Five field expeditions to Mauritania (2011-2016), allowed the detection of 26 new localities, increasing by 27% the current number of all known locations (adding up to N = 96 ). In most localities less than five individuals were observed, and in all visiting sites the number of observed individuals ranged from one to 23. Eleven threat factors were identified, being droughts and temperature extremes (100% localities affected) and water abstraction for domestic use and nomadic grazing (94%) the most frequent. These findings suggest that crocodiles are apparently vulnerable in Mauritania and that future local conservation strategies are needed to assure the continuity of its fragile populations and preserve their habitats.


Relevant observed time series for the Baltic Sea region from the last 2 centuries were used to investigate climate variations and trends. These time series were: Stockholm air temperature and magnitude of seasonal temperature cycle, Stockholm sea level data, Baltic Sea maximum ice cover, and circulation types based on regional air pressure data. The definition of climate was analysed by considering how each parameter varies with the time scale. We found that 90% of the variance was for time scales shorter than 15 yr, the period then used as the climate-averaging time for all studied parameters. The results indicate positive trends for air temperature, sea level, and fre- quencies of anti-cyclonic circulation and westerly wind types over the last 200 yr. Negative trends were found for the magnitude of seasonal temperature cycle, sea-ice cover, and frequency of south- westerly wind. The major climate changes of the late 19th century were probably associated with the end of the 'Little Ice Age' and characterized by an unusual high frequency of cyclonic circulation. In the 20th century, pronounced positive trends were observed in sea level variation and anti-cyclonic circulation. In the most recent studied climate period (1985-2000), air temperature and sea level climate anomalies were positive and lay outside the range of last 200 yr normal variations. The study indicates that increased frequencies of anti-cyclonic circulation and westerly winds have resulted in a slightly warmer climate with reduced seasonal amplitude and reduced ice cover. Thereby, we support the hypothesis that the long-term climate change in the Baltic Sea region is at least partly related to changes in the atmospheric circulation.


The history of the Du Toitskloof Pass goes back to the early 1800s when routes from Cape Town to the interior were being investigated by the authorities. However, in 1845, the choice of Bains Kloof as the major new route across the mountains resulted in Du Toitskloof going back into obscurity until the early 1930s, when it again came into the limelight. Construction of the existing pass began in 1941 using Italian prisoners of war, but was only completed in 1948. By 1965 the capacity of the pass became inadequate and planning of a new route was undertaken, which resulted in the present tunnel, opened on 18 March 1988 by President P W Botha and now known as the Huguenot Tunnel.