This diploma work is built up around the topic on public walking spaces, based on the investigation and analysis of commercial pedestrian streets of Copenhagen in Denmark, Stockholm in Sweden and Nanjing in China. It intends to compare the pros and cons of these commercial pedestrian streets and enhance each other by extracting their positive attributes to improve the current situation and public walking space design. This work is constructed as follows: Firstly, the background and problems of public space and public walking space are introduced, and then the history of the subject and its classification are elaborated. Secondly, the relative theories of urban public space and walking space were investigated to provide the theoretical and scientific support to this thesis. Besides, in the case studies, the commercial pedestrian streets in three cities are analyzed respectively, in terms of context, location, transport situation, human-scale design and culture expression. Furthermore, regarding to how people use the public waling space, the investigations and interviews of these three walking streets were carried out. People are classified according to their different activities, and at the same time, their various relative demands for the streetscape are analyzed. 15 people from each street were selected randomly in the interview to provide feedback on four types of questions: traffic, protection, comfort, and enjoyment, which are proposed according to the 12 urban life qualities criteria of Jan Gehl's research. Their answers are gathered and referenced in the final design proposals. Finally, Hu'nan Road, the commercial street in Nanjing is renewed in the light of all the previous studies. Through the work of the overall planning, transportation planning, and streetscape design, the author tries to solve current problems in the public walking streets, and improve the unsatisfactory status in the public walking street.


Genomic clones were isolated and characterized using the human monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) cDNA to screen a phage library, constructed from a human 4X cell line (48, XXXX). The genomic contig derived from overlapping phage clones showed that the size of the MAOA gene is over 80 kb. Exon-containing fragments from these phage clones were subcloned and sequenced. The data from this showed that the MAOA gene consists of 15 exons. A YAC (yeast artificial chromosome) isolated using the MAOA cDNA was characterized. This YAC was found to contain both the MAOA and the MAOB genes. Using PFGE (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) to investigate the YAC, it was found that the MAOA and the MAOB genes are located within 50 kb and adjacent to each other. The two genes are localized in a 3'-to-3' fashion, suggesting their expression may be regulated independently. The analysis of the homology shown by the two genes clearly demonstrated that they were derived from duplication of a common ancestral gene. A CpG island was discovered to be associated with the 5' end of both genes. A restriction map of -2.5 Mb of genomic DMA around the MAO genes was generated by PFGE. Long-range mapping defined the physical relationship between the marker L1.28 and the MAO genes as L1.28_MAOA_MAOB. A number of genetic diseases have been linked to the Xp11.3 region. Strong linkage was known to exist between the Norrie disease locus and L1.28. Studies showed that some of the Norrie patients have deletions encompassing the region which contains L1.28 as well as the MAO genes. Another YAC isolated by using L1.28 as the probe was also characterized. A phage library was constructed from the L1.28 YAC and the end clones were isolated. Studies on some of the Norrie deletion patients showed that the proximal end clone of the YAC was retained in one of the deletion patients. Previous studies had shown that the Norrie disease locus was also localized proximal to the 5' end of the MAOB gene. The combined information placed the disease locus to an interval of 240 kb within the YAC. More phage clones were characterized in order to define further the region for the Norrie locus which was finally localized within 160 kb. A YAC fragment of 160 kb was isolated and used to screen two human retinal cDNA libraries. Among the cDNAs isolated, one group was found to be deleted in some of the Norrie patients previously without any known deletion, which established their candidacy as the transcripts of the Norrie disease locus. Further characterization of the candidate gene showed that it is conserved across species. The expression of the gene was detected in various tissues. The homology shared between the NDP gene and some of the growth factor binding proteins suggests its role in neural cell proliferation and differentiation.


Collaborations between psychology and mathematics education have the potential to yield progress on critical questions about the teaching and learning of mathematics. In this paper, we describe our experience of collaborating at this boundary. We have found that collaboration has many benefits: it strengthens the research, it is professionally enriching, and it brings novel perspectives to disciplinary communities. However, collaboration is also challenging, because different views about the nature of knowledge and the aims of inquiry can be difficult to bridge. Collaboration can also raise difficult questions about professional identity. We consider several factors that are critical to success in interdisciplinary collaboration, including methodological openness, a broad view of what constitutes "basic" and "applied" research, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives and varying levels of analysis. We close by offering some advice for others who wish to collaborate at the boundary of psychology and mathematics education.


We demonstrate that reproducible results can be obtained from tandem solar cells based on the wide-bandgap poly[N-9'-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4,7-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3'-benzothiadiazole] (PCDTBT) and the diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based narrow bandgap polymer (DT-PDPP2T-TT) with a decyltetradecyl (DT) and an electron-rich 2,5-di-2-thienylthieno[3,2-b]thiophene (2T-TT) group fabricated using an optimized interlayer (ZnO NPs/ph-n-PEDOT:PSS) [NPs: nanoparticles; ph-n: pH-neutral PEDOT: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene); PSS: polystyrene sulfonate]. The tandem cells are fabricated by applying a simple process without thermal annealing. The ZnO NP interlayer operates well when the ZnO NPs are dispersed in 2-methoxyethanol, as no precipitation and chemical reactions occur. In addition to the ZnO NP film, we used neutral PEDOT:PSS as a second interlayer which is not affect to the sequential deposited bulk heterojunction (BHJ) active layer of acidification. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a tandem device reaches 7.4 % (open-circuit voltage VOC =1.53 V, short-circuit current density JSC =7.3 mA cm(-2) , and fill factor FF=67 %). Furthermore, FF is increased to up to 71 % when another promising large bandgap (bandgap ∼1.94 eV) polymer (PBnDT-FTAZ) is used. The surface of each layer with nanoscale morphology (BHJ1/ZnO NPs film/ph-n-PEDOT:PSS/BHJ2) was examined by means of AFM analysis during sequential processing. The combination of these factors, efficient DPP-based narrow bandgap material and optimized interlayer, leads to the high FF (average approaches 70 %) and reproducibly operating tandem BHJ solar cells.


Previous phonological, morphological and semantic analyses of gender in French cannot fully account for gender assignment and changes in word-final pronunciation for French nouns or for loan words entering the French lexicon. The writer's own experiences, and the extensive research of Tucker et al. (1977) into the ability of native French speakers to predict gender assignment accurately, suggested the potential for underlying rule-based phenomena. Until now, the intuitive recognition of the significance of word-final phonology that suggested some formal link with gender assignment has provided only limited predictability. This thesis argues that French gender assignment and work-final pronunciation can be explain more adequately with reference to semantic principles similar to those of the morpho-syntactically complex classifier systems found in languages of Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. Like some of those languages, French involves not one but two separate, independent nominal classification systems. The primary classification system relates to gender though agreement and is semantically determined in terms of a limited range of oppositional features linked to masculine or feminine. An equally important secondary nominal classification system, also semantically determined, reflects a different set of oppositional features encoded on the noun through word-final surface phonetic constraints. Features pertaining to gender concern binary oppositions in form, mode of existence, and quantity. Many of the features in the French system occur as organising principles in other languages (eg. animate:inanimate, etc.). For living entities, attributes concern nature and the various ways that organic matter is perceived.


Madagascar—the name of this tropical island in the Indian Ocean is intrinsically linked to the country's fame of being one of the most valued hotspots for biodiversity, but also to its more tragic reputation of being one of the poorest countries in the world. Madagascar's struggle to overcome the increasingly accentuated dilemma between socioeconomic development and conservation is most prominently exemplified by an omnipresent and controversial phenomenon: the continuous burning of vegetation by peasants across the island, from the extensive grasslands and pastures in the western highlands to the remaining forests and fallow lands on the eastern escarpment. Christian Kull devotes his book to the so-called "fire problem" of Madagascar, which in reality is a century-long conflict over appropriate resource use between local farmers and external stakeholders. This view counters a well-established conviction that fires are ruining the island's natural heritage and preventing efficient use of natural resources, and that something must be done to stop the burning. This conviction, which the author calls the "antifire received wisdom," permeates almost all discussions of Madagascar as part of a larger discourse of environmental degradation. Given the serious impasse created by such perspectives with regard to harmonizing (local) livelihood needs and (external) conservation interests, Madagascar's fire problem was ripe for such a political-ecological analysis. In the first part of the book, the author lays out the fire problem, documents the theoretical and empirical bases of his work and introduces the reader to Madagascar. Having presented the chosen perspective of political ecology, he proceeds to outline the historical dimension of the topic. The dispute about fire is not a new problem but rather a centuryold struggle among different interest groups over access and characterization of resources, and the politics of conflict between them. Subsequently, Kull develops an elegant framework to analyze fire in Madagascar, which distinguishes causes or goals of fire from the effects of burning, and looks at contextual factors that mediate their relation. The analytic framework sets the stage for the second part of the book, which looks at how fire fits into land users' livelihood strategies around the island. Based on his own fieldwork and a thorough analysis of existing research, Kull examines 8 case studies, enabling him to develop a profound understanding of 3 distinct contexts: the agropastoral logic of fire in a grassland environment; the use and consequences of fire in the tapia woodlands; and the role of fire in a slashand-burn context on a forest frontier of the eastern escarpment. It is a meticulous account of farmers' realities skillfully triangulated by ecological and socioeconomic research perspectives. Three important qualities make this an outstanding section of the book. First, the empirical basis acquired through exhaustive fieldwork and the authors' competence as a precise observer. Second, the in-depth analysis and compilation of existing studies, which offers at the same time an excellent state of research on environment and development in Madagascar. Third, the analytical focus on distinct contexts of fire use, which allows the author to balance the account of inherent complexity and a meaningful generalization of main comparable characteristics. The third and final part of the book focuses on the historical and current politics of fire. The author demonstrates the mechanisms by which the state criminalized fire, and how the peasants resisted this criminalization. By taking advantage of the state's distended nature and of strategic village solidarity, and by harnessing fire's own ambiguities, the peasants have succeeded in defending their livelihoods and meeting their landscape management goals. Kull chronicles the pattern of criminalization and resistance through the history of Malagasy fire politics, revealing distinct historical periods in response to political, economic, and ideological changes. Finally, he critically reviews the most recent attempts to break the impasse between farmers and state over fire through community-based natural resource management. He assesses an imbalanced delegation of rights and duties in relation to the use of fire rooted in the ever-persisting antifire received wisdom. He notes that it is based in Western, urban culture, rooted in the ideas and institutions of natural sciences and biodiversity conservation, and fuelled by the economic interests of powerful international donors. Such indications nourish the curiosity of the reader to extend the political ecological analysis beyond the duality of peasants versus state actors, namely to explore the role of conservation and development agencies, donors and scientists in shaping and influencing what is the Malagasy state today. A more explicit attribution of responsibilities to the latter actors in supporting unavoidable tradeoffs between development and environment objectives would have benefited the rather pragmatic conclusions, where Kull proposes elements of a contextually differentiated fire policy. I highly recommend this book, not only to readers interested in fire as a resource management tool, but also to a broader public interested in scientific knowledge production that Isle of Fire: The Political Ecology of Landscape Burning in Madagascar


A numerical study of atmospheric turbulence effects on wind-turbine wakes is presented. Large-eddy simulations of neutrally-stratified atmospheric boundary layer flows through stand-alone wind turbines were performed over homogeneous flat surfaces with four different aerodynamic roughness lengths. Emphasis is placed on the structure and characteristics of turbine wakes in the cases where the incident flows to the turbine have the same mean velocity at the hub height but different mean wind shears and turbulence intensity levels. The simulation results show that the different turbulence intensity levels of the incoming flow lead to considerable influence on the spatial distribution of the mean velocity deficit, turbulence intensity, and turbulent shear stress in the wake region. In particular, when the turbulence intensity level of the incoming flow is higher, the turbine-induced wake (velocity deficit) recovers faster, and the locations of the maximum turbulence intensity and turbulent stress are closer to the turbine. A detailed analysis of the turbulence kinetic energy budget in the wakes reveals also an important effect of the incoming flow turbulence level on the magnitude and spatial distribution of the shear production and transport terms.


India is one of the world's largest food producers, making the sustainability of its agricultural system of global significance. Groundwater irrigation underpins India's agriculture, currently boosting crop production by enough to feed 170 million people. Groundwater overexploitation has led to drastic declines in groundwater levels, threatening to push this vital resource out of reach for millions of small-scale farmers who are the backbone of India's food security. Historically, losing access to groundwater has decreased agricultural production and increased poverty. We take a multidisciplinary approach to assess climate change challenges facing India's agricultural system, and to assess the effectiveness of large-scale water infrastructure projects designed to meet these challenges. We find that even in areas that experience climate change induced precipitation increases, expansion of irrigated agriculture will require increasing amounts of unsustainable groundwater. The large proposed national river linking project has limited capacity to alleviate groundwater stress. Thus, without intervention, poverty and food insecurity in rural India is likely to worsen.


This chapter uses categorical techniques to describe relations between various sets of operators on a Hilbert space, such as self-adjoint, positive, density, effect and projection operators. These relations, including various Hilbert-Schmidt isomorphisms of the form tr(A-), are expressed in terms of dual adjunctions, and maps between them. Of particular interest is the connection with quantum structures, via a dual adjunction between convex sets and effect modules. The approach systematically uses categories of modules, via their description as Eilenberg-Moore algebras of a monad.


We analyze a multiechelon inventory system with inventory stages arranged in series. In addition to traditional forward material flows, used products are returned to a recovery facility, where they can be stored, disposed, or remanufactured and shipped to one of the stages to re-enter the forward flow of material. This system combines the key elements of two simpler systems: the series system studied by Clark and Scarf (1960) and the single-stage remanufacturing systems studied by Simpson (1978) and Inderfurth (1997). We focus on identifying the structure of the optimal remanufacturing/ordering/disposal policy for such a system. In particular, we investigate whether the optimal policy inherits the basic structural properties of the simpler systems. We show that if remanufactured items flow into the most upstream stage, then this is the case. Specifically, the system can be solved by decomposition into a sequence of single-stage systems, with each downstream stage following an echelon base-stock policy and the most upstream stage following a three-parameter policy with a simple (and intuitive) structure. We show that similar results hold when remanufactured products flow into a downstream stage; however, in this case some modifications must be made. In particular, the definition of echelon inventory must be adjusted for stages upstream of the remanufacturing stage, and disposal of used items can no longer be allowed. We also compare the information required for managing this system to that required in the Clark and Scarf or Inderfurth settings, and we point out how the requirements are somewhat different depending on whether remanufacturing occurs upstream or downstream.


Since its inception in 1975 the freezing injunction has developed quite significantly. Apart from its change of name (from Mareva injunction), there has been an expansion of its jurisdictional basis as well as the safeguards provided for defendants. This paper looks at that expansion and considers three issues relating to the injunction (the extent of the applicant's duty to make full and frank disclosure of all material facts, contempt of court and the privilege against self-incrimination) before recommending a measure to enhance the injunction's efficacy.


Policy literature frames this research in order to investigate land use policy in Myanmar. Specifically, this paper draws on the multiple streams framework to explore how the Government of Myanmar defined the problem of land use. This project situates Myanmar as a nation in transition and it examines the development of the reformist administration through the introduction of the National Land Use Policy (NLUP) to improve land governance. The project argues that the process of policy development was captured by government policy entrepreneurs and 'cronies' who, in turn, set the policy agenda in ways that limited the views of traditional land users and failed to address land-use conflicts within the broader society. The project highlights the usefulness of multiple streams framework in examining land use policy in the context of a political transition. This project illustrates that the political changes in Myanmar constitute a 'window of opportunity' to germinate the new policy initiative, however the paper demonstrates the significant power of political cronies to influence the process. The project makes several recommendations to generate successful land reform in Myanmar; these include: reducing the influence of cronies in the political system, building institutional capacity and to learn successful strategies for land reform from neighbouring countries.


Expository reading materials, such as textbooks used in class, need careful reviewing by teachers. If, for example, there are too many new words on a page, these need to be clarified so meaningful reading occurs. Adequate time then needs to be given each new word so that pupils understand what is read. Merely being able to pronounce each new word correctly is not enough. A new word, in particular, needs to possess a contextual meaning so that pupils reading meaningfully. Meaning theory is important to stress in all learning opportunities for children. Factors making reading material too complex to understand need analyzing and remedying so that each pupil achieves optimally. ********** When supervising university student teachers in public school classrooms, the author's attention was brought, by the cooperating teacher, to selected pages in a social studies textbook. These pages had a plethora of new concepts. On one page, for example, sixth graders were to experience reading the following new terms: meridians, parallels, latitude, longitude, degrees, and polar regions. The cooperating teacher told about the difficulties pupils experienced in being able to identify each word in print, let alone knowing the meaning of these words. The complexity of expository reading materials does increase tremendously in difficulty when an excessive number of new words are placed on a single page of print discourse. Teachers need to write to the publisher to state how textbooks may be improved so that more optimal pupil achievement is possible. To omit those pages of complexity does not work since future references are made sequentially to previous pages of, content in the textbook (See Ediger, 1978, 412-416). Introducing New Words in Reading The manual section of a basal text may list the new words for pupils to read and understand in print. These can be a valuable resource for teachers to use in selecting new words to introduce to pupils prior to reading a selection. However, pupils are at different levels of achievement and important adjustments need to be made in which words to introduce. Thus, the teacher needs to study and attempt to realize at which level each pupil is reading. The teacher needs to list words, in a notebook, which pupils have difficulty with in identifying and provide needed help here. The new words need to be printed in manuscript style on the chalkboard for all to see clearly. The teacher should point to each new word as it is being pronounced clearly. The new word may be printed within a sentence or in isolation. The latter helps pupils to focus upon the individual word only, whereas the former assists pupils to notice that words are used contextually. The author has noticed teachers who even have one new word visible at a time, printed on the chalkboard, to avoid pupils having too many stimuli to look at when being introduced to a new word! Selected teachers here would cover all new words on the chalkboard with the pull down map located directly above and then lift the map for the next word to be introduced. The point being, and wisely so, that pupils view a word carefully so that it will be identified accurately while reading the expository text. Learners may then make discoveries of selected phonics elements. These elements include noticing words which begin alike and/or end alike. How much time to take in teaching phonics at this point depends upon the needs of the learner (Ediger, 2000, Chapter Seventeen). Phonics and Reading in the Content Areas Reading expository materials should be done to secure ideas, vital facts, concepts, and generalizations. However, pupils may fail to glean important subject matter due to the inability to recognize words independently. Thus, not being able to identify words may hinder comprehension. This is true also if a pupil reads haltingly and struggles to make sense of the abstract symbols or graphemes. …


In this article, we introduce the Special Section on Extreme Speech and Global Digital Cultures by developing the concept of "extreme speech." In addressing the growing cultures of online vitriol and extremism, this concept advances a critical ethnographic sensibility to situated online speech cultures and a comparative global conversation that moves beyond the legal-normative debates that have been dominant in North America and Europe. We demonstrate this intervention by highlighting three interlinked arguments: Extreme speech inhabits a spectrum of practices rather than a binary opposition between acceptable and unacceptable speech; the sociotechnological aspects of new media embody a context in itself; and the violence of extreme speech acts is productive of identity in historically specific ways. This approach entails a methodological move that takes account of the meanings online users attach to vitriol as historical actors. It thus allows for critical frameworks to emerge from emic terms of action rather than moral concepts superimposed from the outside. Ethnographic explorations of extreme speech, we suggest, open up a new avenue to critique the contemporary global conjuncture of exclusionary politics.


Gaussian graphical models with sparsity in the inverse covariance matrix are of significant interest in many modern applications. For the problem of recovering the graphical structure, information criteria provide useful optimization objectives for algorithms searching through sets of graphs or for selection of tuning parameters of other methods such as the graphical lasso, which is a likelihood penalization technique. In this paper we establish the consistency of an extended Bayesian information criterion for Gaussian graphical models in a scenario where both the number of variables p and the sample size n grow. Compared to earlier work on the regression case, our treatment allows for growth in the number of non-zero parameters in the true model, which is necessary in order to cover connected graphs. We demonstrate the performance of this criterion on simulated data when used in conjunction with the graphical lasso, and verify that the criterion indeed performs better than either cross-validation or the ordinary Bayesian information criterion when p and the number of non-zero parameters q both scale with n.


T here is a paradoxical gulf between the importance of Earth's climate and the level of public interest in it. To be sure, tornadoes, killer heat waves, and floods make the headlines, but it's important to remember that weather is not climate. Some of the public's confusion may relate to a certain failure to make that distinction, as in the occasional newspaper speculation that a particular weather event may be a consequence of global warming. For any given case, we simply don't know.

But we do know quite a lot about climate and how it is being changed. The basics are straightforward: As we add greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere, they form a blanket that intercepts infrared radiation as it leaves Earth. This "greenhouse effect" has been well understood for more than a century. Models that have tracked average global temperature over its fluctuations during the past 10 centuries show that it has followed natural events (such as volcanic eruptions and variations in solar flux) quite well up until the 20th century. Then it entered a rapidly rising phase, associated with an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from its preindustrial level of 280 parts per million (ppm) to the present level of 380 ppm—a value still accelerating as we continue business as usual. That's why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now attributes much of the present warming trend to human activity.

The results are everywhere, except in popular accounts of what's going on. Those, unfortunately, often emphasize distant possibilities rather than probable outcomes. A recent Pentagon scenario-building exercise suggested a sudden breakdown in the North Atlantic circulation, producing a dramatic regional cooling. A disaster film called The Day After Tomorrow , released a couple of weeks ago, suggests an apocalyptic future not foreseen by most serious climatologists. In fact, we do not know whether global warming will continue to increase on a steady ramp or possibly cross the threshold of some nonlinear process. We're in the middle of a large uncontrolled experiment on the only planet we have.

It's only natural that there is lively disagreement among scientists about what the future may hold. Modeling is an inexact science, although the general circulation models used in the world's major centers have become more sophisticated and now produce results that generally agree. Debate centers on the possibility of altered relationships between oceans and atmosphere, the role of clouds and aerosols, the influence of changes in Earth's ability to reflect light, and the regional distribution of climate effects. Unfortunately, these disagreements have often persuaded thoughtful newspaper readers that since the scientists can't agree, the issue can safely be ignored.

It shouldn't be, and for two reasons. First, the models project that a doubling of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide from preindustrial levels, which is probable by this century's end, would increase average global temperature by somewhere between 2° and 5°C, and they predict an increase in the average frequency of unusually severe weather events. Second, the modest increases we have already seen in this century are changing the rhythms of life on our planet. The effects of global warming have been most appreciable in the Arctic, where dramatic glacial retreats and changes in the reflectivity of the land have occurred. Even at low latitudes, mountain glaciers have shrunk; so much that the photogenic snowcap of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya will be gone by 2020. Plants and the organisms that depend on them have changed their schedules in many parts of the world, advancing their flowering and breeding times at a rate of about 5 days per decade. Sea levels have risen 10 to 20 centimeters in the past century, and more is in store for us.

We think the public deserves a considered consensus on the important matter of climate change, so the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and cosponsorship from the Conference Board, will hold a symposium on 14 and 15 June in its headquarters at 1200 New York Avenue, Washington, DC. Eleven distinguished experts on climate science will brief the press, policy-makers, and the public. The objective is straightforward: to make clear distinctions between certain knowledge, reasonable hypotheses, and guesswork. Our climate future is important and it needs more attention than it's getting.


In order to evaluate the effect of hydro priming on seed germination of Vigna radiata under salinity stress an experiment was arranged in a factorial based on a completely randomized design with three replications in laboratory of the Agricultural College of the University of Ramin Khuzestan. Treatments were salinity stress at 4 levels (0, 3, 6 and 9 Mmhos) and hydro priming at 3 levels (1, 1.5 and 3 h) and two sizes of seed (small and large seeds) that was carried out by NaCl. Results showed that all of germination characteristics decreased with increased salinity, but this decrement for seeds that primed at long time, was less. Also at all characteristics, small seeds, showed better reactions than large seeds. Generaly hydropriming was improved germination characteristics of Vigna radiata under saline conditions. According to this experiment, hydropriming improved germination and establishment.


Background Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for 6 months is ranked as the most effective way of feeding babies in Sub-Saharan Africa where HIV positive women are poor and infant mortality is high. However, mixed feeding is common, increasing risks of infant death due to malnutrition, diarrhoeal, HIV, and other infectious diseases. Community-based Interventions has proved effective in promoting EBF in poor settings. Results of MaiMwana intervention in Malawi are underway. However, there was little attention on the needs of HIV positive women during the design and conduct of these interventions. The aim of this study was to explore the importance and experiences with implementing the intervention in Mchinji, Malawi in the context of HIV. Method We purposively selected and conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 39 key informants in Mchinji, Malawi between January to August 2012 using a pre-designed interview guide. Responses were analysed by Framework analysis. The study was approved by the Malawi National Health Sciences and City University London research ethics committees. Results HIV positive and negative women were supportive of the intervention for continuity of infant feeding counselling as volunteers spend more time with them. HIV positive women appreciated the visit because they had to tell their storey to someone. However, some did not disclose their status due to fear of stigma and abandonment by family members present during the visit, making it difficult for counsellors to effectively provide counselling on EBF. Service users also find the intervention as not being cost-effective due to lack of time and money to travel to the hospital for other health services. Conclusion It is important for projects to consider the needs of HIV positive women when designing community-based interventions to reduce HIV transmission and deaths among infants. Integration of services is desired considering the levels of poverty and distance to health facilities.


Concepts of citizenship, rights, and even nationalism provide only weak links connecting the six essays in this section. Yet a common theme does emerge from packaging the essays together. Burbank's "imperial rights regime," Werth's civic acts in an imperial order, Stockdale's commemoration of the citizen soldier in the pre-October period, Alexopoulos's shaky Soviet citizenship, Yekelchyk's civic duty to hate, and Kozlov's shifting norms of the individual and social existence in the Soviet period all reveal aspects of the same question. How did the ruling elites, intelligentsia, and mass of the population accommodate to what Charles Taylor has called the "deep diversity" of a multinational, polyethnic society undergoing an uneven and accelerated process of social and economic transformation toward modernity? (1) Put in another way, what were the major elements of social cohesion in a system--whether imperial or Soviet--characterized by such a variety of strong multiple identities? These questions lead to others, or at least to one other salient question on which the essays of Alexopoulos and Burbank touch but none of the essays confronts directly. Can political concepts shaped by the practices of a particular cultural tradition culminating in the nation-state adequately serve to analyze the institutions of tsarist and Soviet Russia? If we take these concepts out of their original "Western" context, then there are two possible alternative ways of adapting them. One is to pluralize them. The other is to add modifiers: "substantive citizenship," "formal citizenship," or in Will Kymlicka's terms "multicultural citizenship." But none of these conceptual schemes will work as well as historicizing them, which is what these essays do. Jane Burbank claims that both rulers and subjects in imperial and Soviet Russia "held conceptions of the state, its powers, and its significance in social life that derived from their experience of a regime of differentiated, alienable, but nonetheless legal and meaningful rights" (397-98). Golfo Alexopoulos makes a similar point when she states that "Soviet citizenship reveals itself in fragments" (487). In these two systems, both authors agree, rights could be as easily revoked as granted by an authority that was not responsible to any representative institution. They were allocated to social groups rather than individuals. They lacked the quality of being universal that is normally associated with the concept. Such rights are so fragile and particularistic that despite their appearance in legal documents as prava there have always been questions in the Western literature as to whether they deserve the term "rights" at all. They do, Burbank and Alexopoulos insist, if we shift our perspectives. For Burbank this means a willingness to remove the blinders of Eurocentrism and recognize the existence in Russia of "a remarkably creative and long-lasting imperial politics of rights based on difference" (400). For Alexopoulos this means acknowledging that only one category of T. H. Marshall's tripartite definition of citizenship, namely social citizenship or material rights, is "truly meaningful in a Soviet context" (495). Yet even then difficulties arise in the analysis. Both authors concede that when it came to assigning rights to categories of groups within the population, state policies were changeable, inconsistent, or arbitrary. As Burbank points out for the tsarist period, in ethnic terms there were "multiple maps of 'theys'" (405) and no clear definition of the hegemonic "we"--that is, the Russian nationality. In the Soviet period, there were comparable if more radical shifts in assigning or denying rights on the basis of ethnicity. In the tsarist period, social classification by estates (sosloviia) was even more problematic. According to Burbank, the "grounds for classification and division and what was thought to be gained from differentiated governance shifted over time" (406). …


When a platform is an optional intermediary, should it require price coherence, i.e., that sellers charge the same price to the platform's users as they charge their direct customers? If the platform does this, how will it affect consumers' and overall welfare? In a model leveraging insight from the study of third-degree price discrimination, we show that, when demand has flexible curvature, a markup-versus-volume tradeoff arises that governs the platform's choice. When sellers' profits are concave enough, the platform prefers to let them charge separate prices. However, when it does require price coherence, there is a drawing-in effect, geared towards low-valuation platform users, which can make this policy surprisingly appealing for consumers.


Six genes involved in cellulose synthesis in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii were identified using Tn5 mutagenesis. Four of them displayed homology to the previously cloned and sequenced Agrobacterium tumefaciens cellulose genes celA, celB, celC and celE. These genes are organized similarly in R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii. In addition, there were strong indications that two tandemly located genes, celR1 and celR2, probably organized as one operon, are involved in the regulation of cellulose synthesis. The deduced amino acid sequences of these genes displayed a high degree of similarity to the Caulobacter crescentus DivK and PleD proteins that belong to the family of two-component response regulators. This is to our knowledge the first report of genes involved in the regulation of cellulose synthesis. Results from attachment assays and electron microscopic studies indicated that cellulose synthesis in R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii is induced upon close contact with plant roots during the attachment process.


This article discusses Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 using a Foucauldian perspective. The novel depicts a dystopian society living under discourse surveillance in which books are banned. There are two contradicting discourses in the novel. First, book banning discourse which is constructed as system surveillance, makes people live in uniformity and lose independent thoughts. Second, freedom of reading discourse posits that reading and books play a vital role in society. The writer finds that book banning discourse influences the society and eliminates freedom of speech. Thus, in order to free the society from the authority surveillance, the freedom of reading must be restored. Keywords: science fiction, book banning, discourse, surveillance, freedom


OBJECTIVE
To assess changes in concurrent use of products containing terfenadine and contraindicated macrolide antibiotics (erythromycin, clarithromycin, troleandomycin) and imidazole antifungals (ketoconazole, itraconazole) following reports of serious drug-drug interactions and changes in product labeling.

DESIGN
Retrospective review of computerized pharmacy claims.

SETTING
A large health insurer in New England.

PATIENTS
Health plan members with 1 or more paid pharmacy claims for products containing terfenadine between January 1990 and June 1994.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Among persons with paid claims for terfenadine in any given month, percentage with a prescription for any contraindicated drug that alternatively was dispensed on the same day as ("same-day dispensing") or had therapy days that overlapped those of ("overlapping use") a prescription for terfenadine.

RESULTS
Concurrent use of terfenadine and contraindicated drugs declined over the study period. The rate of same-day dispensing declined by 84% from an average of 2.5 per 100 persons receiving terfenadine in 1990 to 0.4 per 100 persons during the first 6 months of 1994, while the rate of overlapping use declined by 57% (from 5.4 to 2.3 per 100 persons). Most cases involved erythromycin.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite substantial declines following reports of serious drug-drug interactions and changes in product labeling, concurrent use of terfenadine and contraindicated macrolide antibiotics and imidazole antifungals continues to occur.


The flux of halogens into the Earth's mantle at subduction zones is a critical yet poorly constrained parameter in the geochemical evolution of the planet. Here we report the first ever combined high-precision measurements of chlorine, bromine, and iodine for backarc basin basalt (BABB) and ocean island basalt (OIB) glasses. The measurements were undertaken in order to evaluate the depth and extent of the halogen subduction cycle by comparing: (1) melts formed in the Manus Basin (Papua New Guinea) proximal to a modern subduction zone, and (2) melts formed from enriched mantle (EM) reservoirs that have been linked to ancient subduction recycling [EM1 and EM2 sampled by the Pitcairn and Society seamounts (central Pacific Ocean), respectively]. As expected from previous studies, the BABBs are strongly enriched in chlorine relative to other trace elements and mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORB); however, the combined Br/Cl and I/Cl data provide additional insights. The BABBs have I/Cl weight ratios of up to 5.3 × 10–4, that are up to five times higher than typical MORB; and the BABBs with the highest I/Cl have Br/Cl ratios of 2–3 × 10–3, that are lower than typical MORB, and significantly lower than either iodine-rich sediments or seawater-derived sedimentary pore fluids. The final breakdown of iodine-rich serpentine is considered the most likely source of the halogen enrichment in the BABB, suggesting that subduction of serpentinized peridotites enables transport of strongly incompatible, fluid-mobile, volatile elements, like iodine, beyond zones of arc-magma generation. The Pitcairn and Society melts exhibit a remarkable correlation between K/Cl and 87Sr/86Sr. The K/Cl ratios vary from MORB-like values of ~15 to maxima of ~40 in the isotopically most enriched EM end members. The trend reflects the lower subduction efficiency of halogens compared to K and other lithophile elements. Melts formed from EM and MORB mantle reservoirs have very similar Br/Cl and I/Cl weight ratios of 3.6 ± 0.8 × 10–3 and 85 ± 42 × 10–6 (2 ) respectively, that could indicate that subducted volatiles have been mixed throughout the mantle.


This paper reports design techniques for a broadband handset PA with high efficiency using a small-size matching network, serving as a solution to the converged PA module by combining the operation of at least two PAs from the hybrid module into a broader bandwidth. The solution employs class-J to achieve higher efficiency and broader bandwidth, combined with a new design technique for lumped matching networks, providing higher attenuation of the harmonics and smaller network size. The demonstrated design is the first realization of class-J using GaAs HBT in a handset PA.


The efficiency and selection gain of yield trial experiments is affected by experimental design. A larger number of genotypes, G, increases the chances of including markedly superior genotypes, and a larger number of replications, R, reduces errors and thereby increases the chances of correctly identifying truly superior material. But assuming that cost rises approximately as the number of plots GR, containing research cost imposes a tradeoff between G and R. This paper gives tables specifying the number of replications that optimizes selection of genotypes with the highest true yields. It also quantifies the impact of suboptimal choices. Even with an optimal level of replication, the value of a selection experiment rises logarithmically with the number of plots and hence the cost. Since benefits from more data follow this severe law of diminishing returns, statistical strategies for decreasing errors and improving selections are quite important.


The global inequality crisis is reaching new extremes. The richest 1% now have more wealth than the rest of the world combined. Power and privilege is being used to skew the economic system to increase the gap between the richest and the rest. A global network of tax havens further enables the richest individuals to hide $7.6 trillion. The fight against poverty will not be won until the inequality crisis is tackled.


Antitrust investigations typically focus on the competitive pressures coming from within the defined markets of interest. However, competitive pressures can also come from other markets. Even when individually these markets place only weak constraints on one another, collectively they may matter. A networks approach to modelling competition permits a systemic view of competition that can sometimes paint a more accurate picture. We demonstrate this through some simple examples, and show more generally how tools from the networks literature can be applied to capture competition across a system of interrelated markets. As a leading example, we consider antitrust investigations into supermarkets where local geographic markets have been used as the basis of investigation.


This paper analyzes the way in which international financial integration affects the transmission of monetary policy in a New Keynesian open economy framework. It extends Woodford's (2010) analysis to a model with a richer financial markets structure, allowing for international trading in multiple assets and subject to financial intermediation costs. Two different forms of financial integration are considered, in particular an increase in the level of gross foreign asset holdings and a decrease in the costs of international asset trading. The simulations in the calibrated model show that none of the analyzed forms of financial integration undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy in influencing domestic output and inflation. Under realistic parameterizations, monetary policy is more, rather than less, effective as the positive impact of strengthened exchange rate and wealth channels more than offsets the negative impact of weakened interest rate channels. The paper also analyzes the interaction of financial integration with trade integration, varying both the importance of trade linkages and the degree of exchange rate pass-through. These interactions show that the positive effects of financial integration are amplified by trade integration. Overall, monetary policy is most effective in parameterizations with the highest degree of both financial and real integration.


This dataset contains latitudes and longitudes computationally generated from the descriptions of individual photographs in the Luly Collection. The 'Geometry location type' indicates the accuracy of the location. APPROXIMATE indicates a suburb (or larger) level of accuracy. ROOFTOP indicates an accuracy at the level of individual buildings. GEOMETRIC_CENTER is used for large or long locations such as parks or streets. The middle point of these kinds of locations are given.

The Luly Collection consists of 325 colour transparencies taken in Melbourne, Australia, from the 1950s until the 1970s. Evan Luly was born in Preston in 1895 and lived there until his death in 1985. During his professional career he worked for the Victorian Lands Department, and was an avid traveller and photographer. His daughter Lexie Luly (b. 1924), a teacher at Presbyterian Ladies College and friend of fellow-teacher Sibely May (1924-1994), donated this set of slides to Sibely's son Professor Andrew May in the 1980s.

Much of the collection consists of photos of houses in suburban Melbourne, photos of modern suburban churches and an eclectic range of other buildings and places (factories, parks, freeways, airports, public buildings). Highlights include images of many of the city's Victorian masterpieces including the now demolished Federal Hotel in Spencer Street, as well as the Westgate Bridge and ICI House under construction.


Human action recognition is an important topic in computer vision with its applications in robotics, video surveillance, human-computer interaction, user interface design, and multimedia video retrieval, etc. In this paper, we propose a novel representation for human actions using Correlogram of Body Poses (CBP) which takes advantage of both the probabilistic distribution and the temporal relationship of human poses. To reduce the high dimensionality of the CBP representation, an efficient subspace learning technique called Spectral Regression Discriminant Analysis (SRDA) is explored. Experimental results on the challenging IXMAS dataset show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on action recognition.


Silicone-containing hybrid systems including functionalized and modified silica nanospheres as well as silica aerogels were synthesized using sol-gel process. The most important advantage of the developed silicon-containing hybrids lies in their high application potential, e.g. for the production of façade paints, polymer nanocomposites, highly efficient insulating materials and other high-tech products for construction industry. The possibility of precise steering of sol-gel process and synergism of very rich silicon compound chemistry allows to obtain materials with strategically designed architecture. Original methods of manufacturing following silicon-containing hybrids such as functionalized and non-functionalized silica nanospheres, silica nanospheres containing immobilized silver and/or copper nanoparticles and silica aerogels were developed. Homogeneous structural properties of synthesized materials were achieved due to carefully selected parameters of sol-gel process. The technology offers a possibility to control the grain size and uniformity of nanospheres by process parameters. The smallest nanosphere size is 10 nm and the largest 600 nm. The properties of aerogels obtained according to the original technology developed in the Industrial Chemistry Research Institute (ICRI) are extremely good and repetitive particularly taking into account their thermal conductivity. The main advantages of the developed aerogels are very good mechanical properties, very low dust formation and significantly decreased costs when compared to traditional silica aerogels.


Abstract Patient referral systems are fragile and overlooked components of the health system in Tanzania. Our study aims at exploring patient referral networks in two rural districts in Tanzania, Kilolo and Msalala. Firstly, we ask whether secondary-level facilities act as gatekeepers, mediating referrals from primary- to tertiary-level facilities. Secondly, we explore the facility and network-level determinants of patient referrals focusing on treatment of childhood illnesses and non-communicable diseases. We use data collected across all public health facilities in the districts in 2018. To study gatekeeping, we employ descriptive network analysis tools. To explore the determinants of referrals, we use exponential random graph models. In Kilolo, we find a disproportionate share of patients referred directly to the largest hospital due to geographical proximity. In Msalala, small and specialized secondary-level facilities seem to attract more patients. Overall, the results call for policies to increase referrals to secondary facilities avoiding expensive referrals to hospitals, improving timeliness of care and reducing travel-related financial burden for households.


The senior expedition is our final capstone of the Expeditionary Studies program at SUNY Plattsburgh. This is basically what we have been training for during our university career. Since being a student here, I have seen many of the senior expedition presentations and even went along on a few of the trips, but I had no idea what I would be doing for my own. Starting out exclusively as a climber, a climbing trip was the obvious choice, but as I continued my education, many other disciplines came to be a part of my regular schedule. In fact, climbing recently has taken a back seat to other sports such as white water kayaking and sea kayaking. In the last couple of years with the extensive traveling I have done, I thought about what my expedition would entail and ideas came around every corner. Many of these ideas were way over my head and I realized that after looking into them more extensively. Someday I would like to complete these more rigorous expedition ideas, but for now, I need to do something in my skills set. First I needed a discipline, and as climbing has slowly been moving out of the spot light, I decided sea kayaking would be a great plan. Climbing has always been a challenge for me to push my limits and I see that in sea kayaking too. Dealing with tides and currents, flat water, rough water, and the dynamic setting allows me to be challenged within and outside of my comfort zone. Along with white water kayaking has taught me so much on the water and gives me the same feeling I get while on the rock. This is what really has intrigued me to continue in this program primarily as a kayaker. 4 Next I needed a venue. I have been fortunate enough to paddle in so many different parts of the United States as well as a few other countries. I try to go to new places as much as I can but in this instance I decided to go back to Mexico. I love Mexico. I had paddled on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula in the past but this time I wanted to be in the Sea of Cortez side because I had never been there before. Originally I wanted to cross the entire sea from Baja to mainland, but after looking in to it, I determined logistically it would have been a nightmare, so then I found Isla Angel de la Guarda just outside Bahia de Los Angeles. This was it. A circumnavigation of this island would be perfect. The route would be perfect to fulfill the requirements of the trip but it would still be a serious undertaking. Recommended Citation  Download Included in Kinesiology Commons SHARE SENIOR EXPEDITION PROPOSALS


Buffer overflow vulnerabilities are caused by programming errors that allow an attacker to cause the program to write beyond the bounds of an allocated memory block to corrupt other data structures. The standard way to exploit a buffer overflow vulnerability involves a request that is too large for the buffer intended to hold it. The buffer overflow error causes the program to write part of the request beyond the bounds of the buffer, corrupting the address space of the program and causing the program to execute injected code contained in the request. We have implemented a compiler that inserts dynamic checks into the generated code to detect all out of bounds memory accesses. When it detects an out of bounds write, it stores the value away in a hash table to return as the value for corresponding out of bounds reads. The net effect is to (conceptually) give each allocated memory block unbounded size and to eliminate out of bounds accesses as a programming error. We have acquired several widely used open source servers (Apache, Sendmail, Pine, Mutt, and Midnight Commander). With standard compilers, all of these servers are vulnerable to buffer overflow attacks as documented at security tracking Web sites. Our compiler eliminates these security vulnerabilities (as well as other memory errors). Our results show that our compiler enables the servers to execute successfully through buffer overflow attacks to continue to correctly service user requests without security vulnerabilities.


Abstract Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a highly pathogenic virus in the sericultural industry, often causing severe damage leading to large economic losses. The immune mechanisms of B. mori against this virus remain obscure. Previous studies had demonstrated Bmlipase-1, BmNox and Bm-serine protease-2 showing antiviral activity in vitro, but data on the transcription levels of these proteins in different resistant strains were not reported. In order to determine the resistance level of the four different strains (P50, A35, A40, A53) and gain a better understanding of the mechanism of resistance to BmNPV in B. mori, the relative expression level of the genes coding the three antiviral proteins in larval haemolymph and midgut of different B. mori strains resistant to BmNPV was determined. The results showed that these genes expressed significantly higher in the resistant strains compared to the susceptible strain, and the differential expression levels were consistent with the LC50 values in different strains. The transcription level of the target genes almost all up-regulated in the larvae midgut and down-regulated in the haemolymph. The results indicate the correlation of these genes to BmNPV resistance in B. mori.


Goosegrass (Eleusine indica L.) is a serious weed in trafficked areas of bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) golf and sports turf. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil compaction and canopy cover as determinants ofgoosegrass competition in bermudagrass turf in sand soil. Goosegrass cover, plant density, and soil penetration resistance (SPR) were measured in traffic and no-traffic plots in bermudagrass golf course tees and sports field foul areas. Goosegrass plant density and cover were larger in traffic plots compared with no-traffic plots. Soil penetration resistance increased only at 5.0 cm depth due to traffic, while other soil properties including bulk density measured in golf course tees showed no effect from traffic. Two experiments measured the effect of controlled soil compaction on root and shoot dry weight ofgoosegrass and bermudagrass in containers. The first experiment evaluated effects of three soil compaction levels (1.14, 1.24, 1.33 g cm -3 bulk density) on goosegrass and bermudagrass grown separately. The second experiment evaluated effects on the two species grown together in competition, from two soil compaction levels (1.07 and 1.26 g cm -3 bulk density), two N application rates (48 and 96 kg ha -1 mo -1 ), and two mowing heights (1.3 and 2.5 cm). The second experiment also evaluated goosegrass seedling emergence and tiller numbers. When species were grown separately, bermudagrass root and shoot dry weight showed no effect from soil compaction, but goosegrass root weight was reduced. When species were grown together, bermudagrass root weight was reduced by compaction, but goosegrass was not affected. Goosegrass seedling emergence was reduced 58% by high mowing height, which paralleled an increase in bermudagrass canopy cover based on shoot dry weight. Canopy cover, not compaction, more readily explained the competition and infestation ofgoosegrass in trafficked areas in sand soil.


Compensating wage differentials is Adam Smith's idea that wage differences equalize differences in job and worker characteristics. Other than risk of death, however, no job characteristics have consistently been found to affect wages, likely because of problems with self-selection and unobservable job characteristics. We run experiments in an online labor market, randomizing offered pay and job characteristics, thereby overcoming both problems. We find, as predicted by our model, that increasing job disamenities significantly reduces both likelihood of working and amount of work supplied. Correspondingly, the wage increases necessary to compensate workers for worse job disamenities are substantial, supporting the theory.


Most people with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome are born with a port-wine stain. This type of birthmark is caused by swelling of small blood vessels near the surface of the skin. Port-wine stains are typically flat and can vary from pale pink to deep maroon in color. In people with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, the port-wine stain usually covers part of one limb. The affected area may become lighter or darker with age. Occasionally, portwine stains develop small red blisters that break open and bleed easily.


We study the behaviour of the Betfair betting market and the sterling/dollar exchange rate (futures price) during 24 June 2016, the night of the EU referendum. We investigate how the two markets responded to the announcement of the voting results. We employ a Bayesian updating methodology to update prior opinion about the likelihood of the final outcome of the vote. We then relate the voting model to the real time evolution of the market determined prices. We find that although both markets appear to be inefficient in absorbing the new information contained in vote outcomes, the betting market is apparently less inefficient than the FX market. The different rates of convergence to fundamental value between the two markets leads to highly profitable arbitrage opportunities.


PHILIP PULLMAN'S YOUNG ADULT TRILOGY HI SDARK MATERIALS DEALS WITH weighty issues such as good and evil, free will versus fate, and the true nature of a mysterious substance called Dust which seems to imbue living beings with consciousness. Across the trilogy, Pullman portrays a world in which a scientist wages a war against the God-like Authority, angels interfere in the affairs of men, and a corrupt church experiments on the source of original sin. Against this backdrop, the narrative follows the coming of age and first love of two children, Lyra and Will. The novels also describe the evolution of Mary Malone from Catholic nun to scientist to Dust observer as she journeys into the world of the strange, elephant-like mulefa. To date, critical treatment of the trilogy has pushed Mary's story line aside or oversimplified it in terms of its importance to the narrative. Yet Mary's transformative journey and the world of the mulefa are integral parts of the novel and hold great symbolism in terms of the trilogy's larger narrative. In order to fully address the importance of Mary's narrative, this article will re-examine the philosophical implications of Pullman's narrative through the use of what Fredric Jameson terms "dialectical criticism" or a form of criticism that enacts the Hegelian dialectic. Jameson stresses the dialectic as a system, which starts from a specific concept or system and identifies its natural or logical negation. By working through the differences, the contradictions, and the contrarieties of these first two terms, a new, more productive term emerges. This critical approach is useful to "propose a startling new perspective from which to rethink the novelty in question, to defamiliarize our ordinary habits of mind and to make us suddenly conscious not only of our own non-dialectical obtuseness but also of the strangeness of reality as such" (Valences 50). Jameson's use of dialectical criticism, most notably in Archaeologies of the Future, is particularly useful in works of science fiction and Utopia, which present a negation of our reality and thus can present an implied critique of political, social, and other systems. This paradox-by design leads readers to think dialectically, comparing their own world to the fictional one and constructing mentally a synthesis of the two, which Jameson argues is the ultimate productivity of Utopian texts (Archaeologies 142). By following Jameson's lead, we can better understand the contradictory, Utopian, and dialectical possibilities of Pullman's fantastic universe. This article will first evaluate the positioning of the mulefa within the novels and within the critical reception of the novels. Then, by examining the dialectical nature of the mulefa and Dust, it will become clear that the land of the mulefa is uniquely drawn as the only space in which Mary can come to understand the nature of Dust. Finally, after reading the mulefa against the Hegelian dialectic of the master/slave, we can come to understand Mary's symbolic role within the Hegelian narrative and her vital importance to the resolution of the novels. Mary's journey and engagement with dialectic thought allows the reader to develop a dialectical understanding of the contradictions of Dust in order to reach a higher understanding of the universe. Through the dialectical examination of Mary's story line within the novels, it is possible to demonstrate that Mary's investigations into the meaning of Dust, her intervention in the lives of the mulefa, and the aid she offers to Lyra are essential to the trilogy's successful conclusion, both in narrative and thematic terms. Thus, future critical treatments of this trilogy must create a central space for Mary Malone and the mulefa. The trilogy His Dark Materials, published between 1995-2000, was well received by critics. The Golden Compass was awarded the Carnegie Medal for children's literature and The Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread book of the year award. …


Although pervious concrete was first used in the nineteenth century, it has only recently begun to increase in popularity. As urban areas expand, the problems associated with runoff management have become more challenging. The focus on the negative environmental effects associated with pavement runoff has also increased. These two issues have spurred the recent interest in pervious concrete pavements; pervious concrete, however, has deficiencies which limit its application as pavements. These limitations include low compressive strength, flexural strength, clogging, and other durability issues. The overall purpose of this project was to provide tools to evaluate and improve the durability and strength of pervious concrete such that it may be more confidently employed in urban roadways. The specific objectives of this project were to (a) investigate the effect of mixture design on strength of pervious concrete (including the effect of fibers), (b) evaluate effect of clogging materials on coefficient of permeability, (c) and investigate the use of the dynamic pressurization test to evaluate the durability of pervious concrete. This report documents the results of the laboratory testing, and presents recommendations for mixture proportioning. In addition, recommendations are provided for optimizing the balance between compressive strength and permeability.


Industrial Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology is an optional 128h-course for Chemistry and Biology students at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This course is usually attended by 25 students, working in teams of two. The curriculum, with 8 lab exercises, includes an oil bioremediation practice covering an insight of bioremediation processes: the influence of pollutants on autochthonous microbiota, biodegrader isolation and biosurfactant production for bioavailability understanding. The experimental steps are: (A) evaluation of microbial tolerance to pollutants by constructing pristine soil microcosms contaminated with diesel or xylene and (B) isolation of degraders and biosurfactant production analysis. To check microbial tolerance, microcosms are incubated during one week at 25-28ºC. Samples are collected at 0, 4 and every 48 h for CFU/g soil testing. An initial decrease of total CFU/g related to toxicity is noticed. At the end of the experiment, a recovery of the CFU number is observed, evidencing enrichment in biodegraders. Some colonies from the CFU counting plates are streaked in M9-agar with diesel as sole carbon source. After a week, isolates are inoculated on M9-Broth supplemented with diesel to induce biosurfactant production. Surface tension and Emulsification Index are measured in culture supernatants to visualize tensioactive effect of bacterial products. Besides the improvement in the good microbiological practices, the students show enthusiasm in different aspects, depending on their own interests. While biology students explore and learn new concepts on solubility, emulsions and bioavailability, chemistry students show curiosity in bacterial behavior and manipulation of microorganisms for environmental benefits.


A review of liquid and gas phase models for fuel droplet heating and evaporation, suitable for implementation into CFD codes with a view to modelling the processes in Diesel engines, is presented. To describe properties of 'hot' Diesel fuel sprays, new sub-models for spray break-up, droplet heating and evaporation and Shell autoignition were implemented into the KIVA II CFD code. This customised version of the KIVA II code was used to simulate autoignition in Diesel engines. The results of simulation were shown to be consistent with in-house experimental data referring to autoignition timing at in-cylinder pressures from 5 to 9 MPa and an injection pressure of 160 MPa. The autoignition delay time is shown to be sensitive to the choice of liquid phase models for droplet heating, but not sensitive to the choice of gas phase models. It is recommended that the effective thermal conductivity liquid phase model and the gas phase model taking into account the effects of finite thickness of the thermal boundary layer are used for the simulation of the ignition process in Diesel engines. Some recent non-traditional developments of the models referring to droplet heating and evaporation are discussed. These are the model based on the coupled solution for the liquid and gas phases, the kinetic model of evaporation, and the dynamic decomposition technique for the solution of ordinary differential equations describing droplet heating and evaporation and the ignition of the fuel vapour/air mixture.


Mesh deformation is a performance critical part of many problems in fluid dynamics. Radial basis function (RBF) based interpolation methods for mesh deformation have addressed the increasing complexity for larger data sets. Recently a domain decomposition method has been introduced which allows mapping these algorithms well to distributed memory systems. Because heterogeneous systems have proven to be more time and energy efficient for some applications, the HPC resources available to engineering users and researchers become increasingly heterogeneous. In this paper, we describe two optimisations performed on a RBF based interpolation solver for mesh deformation. Motivated by a theoretical performance analysis, the existing MPI distributed model was extended to hybrid parallelisation with OpenMP to achieve better scaling efficiency on systems with hundreds of cores. In addition, an auto-tuning step at compile time which selects a threshold for code paths was introduced which yields up to twofold performance compared to a constant parameter approach across all test systems. Our results indicate scaling efficiency in excess of 50 70 % for fully utilised dual socket systems of up to 96 cores, which is above the theoretical ideal performance of the baseline code. Utilisation of a single GPU improves time and energy to solution when a single CPU core is used, constraints of the applied domain decomposition which degrade performance when a single GPU is combined with many CPU cores are identified.


Access to foundational energy performance data is key to improving the efficiency of the built environment. However, stakeholders often lack access to what they perceive as credible energy performance data. Therefore, even if a stakeholder determines that a product would increase efficiency, they often have difficulty convincing their management to move forward. Even when credible data do exist, such data are not always sufficient to support detailed energy performance analyses, or the development of robust business cases. One reason for this is that the data parameters that are provided are generally based on the respective industry norms. Thus, for mature industries with extensive testing standards, the data made available are often quite detailed. But for emerging technologies, or for industries with less well-developed testing standards, available data are generally insufficient to support robust analysis. However, even for mature technologies, there is no guarantee that the data being supplied are the same data needed to accurately evaluate a product?s energy performance. To address these challenges, the U.S. Department of Energy funded development of a free, publically accessible Web-based portal, the Technology Performance Exchange(TM), to facilitate the transparent identification, storage, and sharing of foundational energy performance data. The Technology Performance Exchange identifiesmore » the intrinsic, technology-specific parameters necessary for a user to perform a credible energy analysis and includes a robust database to store these data. End users can leverage stored data to evaluate the site-specific performance of various technologies, support financial analyses with greater confidence, and make better informed procurement decisions.« less


In the age of globalization, the question whether inequality in the world rose or fell down, is a hot topic. Leading scholars in the field of economic inequality measurement developed methods to estimate empirically the distribution of welfare (income) amongst world citizens. Despite their similar methodologies, they do not seem to agree about the conclusion. In the present paper we pinpoint down what drives the two extreme positions apart. Sala-i-Martin (2002a,b), who claims that there can be no doubt that world inequality went down between the late seventies and the late nineties, has in fact calculated population weighted inequality between countries. Milanovic (2002a,b,c) does not deny this, but illustrates the empirical importance of divergent tendencies at the sub-national level (especially urban versus rural regions) for assessing true world inequality and comes to the reverse conclusion. Nevertheless, there seems to be unanimity, especially amongst the contributions quoted here, about the inequality measure(s) to be used for assessing world income distributions. We show that at least for international inequality, there is empirical evidence for rank reversals among the class of generalized entropy measures and expect the same to be true of world inequality. However, the normative debate about which inequality measure to use for assessing true world inequality has not yet begun.


Background:
Fibromyalgia (FM) is psychosomatic disorder characterized by central sensitization with increased reactivity of pain-sensitive nerve cells in the spinal cord or brain, which results in hypersensitivity to painful and no painful stimuli in person usually presented anxiety or mood disorders. Chronic pain, sleep disturbances, and depression, which are leading symptoms of FM, have been reported to be associated with an increased possibility of suicidal behaviors. Non-suicidal self-injuries are rather not demonstrated in FM and not described in literature.
Objective:
We present the case of patient with FM, in which pain typical for this syndrome resulted in harmful behavior as banging and hitting. This is the first case of FM in our knowledge, not described yet in literature, in which strong painful stimuli induced by self - strokes caused in general pain relieve but also destruction of body tissue i.e. bruises typical for hemorrhagic purpura.


Purchasing a quality Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) or Energy Control System (ECS) at a reasonable price for a particular installation can be a challenging undertaking. This is not only true for an initial system installation where little previous computerized control system experience exists, but also when replacing an existing computerized system that has reached obsolescence. Such acquisitions normally occur only once or twice in a project employees career. This paper presents guidelines for each step of the procurement process, including justification and requirements analysis, specification writing, proposal evaluation, potential supplier negotiations, and ending with the actual contract award. Although there is no one best way for the overall acquisition process, the experiences encountered at Grand Coulee and several other installations should be helpful to others in advance procurement planning of a new or replacement system.


Canada celebrated a bittersweet 125th anniversary as a nation in 1992, bittersweet because many Canadians fear that their country may soon fall apart. As Quebec decides its own fate of voting for sovereign independence, the rest of Canada could follow suit and splinter as did the former Soviet Union. The likelihood of that actually happening is slim, however, there are major referendums on the coming ballot in Canada that could possibly alter not only the Canadian Constitution but the style and power of the government as well. Canada's own security is complex and will certainly be drawn-out, however, the United States could be of some assistance. For the foreseeable future, the most important connection between Canada and the United States are their economic ties and the bilateral relationship for both the U.S. corporate and labor sectors. With over three million jobs tied directly to trade, investment, and tourism linkages with Canada, the United States should be very concerned about what is transpiring north of the border. For far too long the American relationship with Canada has been overlooked and understudied. In this essay Earl H. Fry reports on the Canadian confederation and how it may now be at risk, and how the United States' own economic well-being may suffer as a result of the serious problems currently confronting Canada.


Background: Oxidative stress associated with hyperglycemia is a key factor in the development of diabetic complications. The organosulfur compounds in garlic have been shown to possess antioxidative, antidiabetic and immunological potency. Probiotics in fermented milk (FM) also enhance antioxidant and hypoglycemic therapy through the modulation of gut microbes in type 2 diabetes. Aim : To examine the effects of administration of garlic supplement, probiotics, and their combination on glycemic, lipid, and antioxidant status in type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods : Diabetes was induced by STZ-injection in thirty male albino rats. Animals were equally divided to 5 groups: garlic (G) (20 mg/kgBW/Allicin), probiotics (Prob) (0.5 ml/kg/BW), garlic with probiotics (G + Prob), oral hypoglycemic drug (OGD), diabetic control (DM). After 45 days of treatment, tests were conducted for fasting glucose, glycated hemoglobin (GHbA1c), insulin, malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TOAC), total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C, HDL-C, and TG. Results: Glucose and GHbA1c were significantly reduced with all treatments. GHbA1c was significantly lower in the G and G + P groups compared to DM and OGD. No significant difference was observed for insulin. Garlic reduced TC and TG compared to DM, and reduced LDL-C compared to OGD. G + Prob treatment raised LDL-C compared to G, Prob, and OGD groups. HDL-C significantly increased in the P and G + Prob groups compared to DM, OGD, and G groups. MDA decreased with all treatments, while TOAC increased with G and G + P groups compared to DM and OGD. Conclusion: G arlic, or its combination with probiotics might promote beneficial effects in controlling glycemia, dyslipidemia, and oxidative stress. Probiotics was not as efficient as G and G + Prob treatments.


Studies of the spatial dimensions of inequality in developing countries are mostly restricted to states, provinces, or districts, typically the smallest geographical units for which data are representative in national surveys.We introduce a procedure to calculate inequality between and within smaller spatial units in the context of India, taking advantage of census and satellite data available for a large number of characteristics at the level of the village and the urban sub-district (block). Using prediction models based on those characteristics and estimated at the district level, we impute average per capita consumption expenditure for villages and urban blocks in 2004 and 2011. These imputations allow us to calculate (spatial) inequality between villages and blocks and to derive (local) inequality within these spatial units.We find that the divergence observed for states and districts is not amplified at lower levels of disaggregation. Hence, the increase in inequality in urban India is mostly due to rising inequality within urban blocks. Neither rural inequality nor its local and spatial components have changed much at the national level, but there is substantial heterogeneity between states and across poor and rich districts. Finally, we find that urbanization, growth of employment, and 'good' jobs may be moving hand in hand with falling spatial inequalities but rising local inequalities. On the other hand, the expansion of literacy and access to banking and sanitation are linked to lower rises in inequality.


"Pygmy music" has captivated students and scholars of anthropology and music for decades if not centuries, but until now this aspect of their culture has never been described in a work that is at once vividly engaging, intellectually rigorous, and self-consciously aware of the ironies of representation. Seize the Dance! is an ethnomusical study focused on the music and dance of BaAka forest people, who live in the Lobaye region of the Central African Republic. Based on ethnographic research that Michelle Kisliuk conducted from 1986 through 1995, this book describes BaAka songs, drum rhythms, and dance movements-along with their contexts of social interaction-in an elegant narrative that is enhanced by many photographs, musical illustrations, and field recordings on a companion website.


The abundance of mosquitoes is strongly influenced by biotic and abiotic factors that act on the immature (aquatic) and adult (terrestrial) life stages. Rapid changes in land use and climate, which impact aquatic and terrestrial mosquito habitat, necessitate studying the ecological mechanisms, and their interplay with the changing environment, that affect mosquito abundance. These data are crucial for anticipating how environmental change will impact their roles as pests, disease vectors, and in food webs. We studied a population of Arctic mosquitoes (Aedes nigripes, Diptera: Culicidae) in western Greenland, a region experiencing rapid environmental change, to quantify spatial variation in adult abundance and reproduction. Using sweep nets, we collected about sevenfold more mosquitoes within the town of Kangerlussuaq and within a low‐elevation tundra valley compared to three other tundra locations. Dissections of adult female mosquitoes revealed that only 17% were gravid overall, with a range of 7–43% among sites. If gravid, mosquitoes matured an average of 60 eggs per individual—more in larger females. We found no indication of autogenous egg development. Analyses using our field data indicated that spatial variation in adult fecundity and survival of immatures could each account for a 10‐fold range in the per capita growth of mosquito populations. The availability of vertebrate hosts and aquatic habitat is changing in many parts of the Arctic and can be expected to influence Arctic mosquito abundance. In the Arctic, and elsewhere, life‐history data from natural populations of mosquitoes will significantly aid in understanding controls on the abundance of these globally ubiquitous insects.


Germany experienced an even deeper fall in GDP in the Great Recession than the United States, with little employment loss. Employers' reticence to hire in the preceding expansion, associated in part with a lack of confidence it would last, contributed to an employment shortfall equivalent to 40 percent of the missing employment decline in the recession. Another 20 percent may be explained by wage moderation. A third important element was the widespread adoption of working time accounts, which permit employers to avoid overtime pay if hours per worker average to standard hours over a window of time. We find that this provided disincentives for employers to lay off workers in the downturn. Although the overall cuts in hours per worker were consistent with the severity of the Great Recession, reduction of working time account balances substituted for traditional government-sponsored short-time work.


Internet has unfolded a new market for businesses to explore and exploit. The enormous flexibility and speed of Internet makes it the most modern platform for businesses as well as consumers to execute business transactions. The goods and services of diverse nature are being offered to the businesses or to the consumers globally. The whole world has been converted in to the market to be available on the click of a mouse on the laptop or palmtop. To provide security and legal recognition to the transactions executed electronically, the Indian Parliament enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000 modeled on UNCITRAL's Model Law, though it departs in many respects from the spirit of the Model Law. Immediately after the enactment of the IT Act, it was found that certain significant provisions are missing in this enactment; its provisions lack harmony and above all many legal issues have not been properly spelled out. The IT Act was amended in the year 2008 with four fold objectives. Interestingly, the draftsmen have admitted that the digital signatures prescribed for authentication of electronic records in the original IT Act are linked with specific technology, it has become necessary to provide for alternative technology of electronic signatures, nevertheless the original provision for digital signatures has been retained which has compounded the confusion. Furthermore, the Indian courts have not yet found any opportunity to appraise the impact of the provisions of the IT Act on substantive principles of contract formation codified in the Indian Contract Act, 1872. An analytical evaluation is therefore, needed to identify the issues raised by the information technology relating to contract formation, impact of the IT Act on the principles relating to contract formation provided in the Contract Act, and impact of non-inclusion of the principles governing e-commerce, provided in the Model Law but not reflected in the IT Act.


Abstract Accurate dating is necessary to get insight in the temporal variations in sediment deposition in floodplains. The interpretation of such dates is however dependent on the fluvial architecture of the floodplain. In this study we discuss the fluvial architecture of three contrasting Belgian catchments (Dijle, Geul and Amblève catchment) and how this influences the dating possibilities of net floodplain sediment storage. Although vertical aggradation occurred in all three floodplains during the last part of the Holocene, they differ in the importance of lateral accretion and vertical aggradation during the entire Holocene. Holocene floodplain aggradation is the dominant process in the Dijle catchment. Lateral reworking of the floodplain sediments by river meandering was limited to a part of the floodplain, resulting in stacked point bar deposits. The fluvial architecture allows identifying vertical aggradation without erosional hiatuses. Results show that trends in vertical floodplain aggradation in the Dijle catchment are mainly related to land use changes. In the other two catchments, lateral reworking was the dominant process, and channel lag and point bar deposits occur over the entire floodplain width. Here, tracers were used to date the sediment dynamics: lead from metal mining in the Geul and iron slag from ironworks in the Amblève catchment. These methods allow the identification of two or three discrete periods, but their spatial extent and variations is identified in a continuous way. The fluvial architecture and the limitation in dating with tracers hampered the identification of dominant environmental changes for sediment dynamics in both catchments. Dating methods which provide only discrete point information, like radiocarbon or OSL dating, are best suited for fluvial systems which contain continuous aggradation profiles. Spatially more continuous dating methods, e.g. through the use of tracers, allow to reconstruct past surfaces and allow to reconstruct reworked parts of the floodplain. As such they allow a better reconstruction of past sedimentation rates in systems with important lateral reworking.


Scalar fields are used to represent physical quantities measured over a domain of interest. Study of symmetric or repeating patterns in scalar fields is important in scientific data analysis because it gives deep insights into the properties of the underlying phenomenon.
This thesis proposes three methods to detect symmetry in scalar fields. The first
method models symmetry detection as a subtree matching problem in the contour tree, which is a topological graph abstraction of the scalar field. The contour tree induces a hierarchical segmentation of features at different scales and hence this method can detect symmetry at different scales. The second method identifies symmetry by comparing distances between extrema from each symmetric region. The distance is computed robustly using a topological abstraction called the extremum graph. Hence, this method can detect symmetry even in the presence of significant noise. The above methods compare
pairs of regions to identify symmetry instead of grouping the entire set of symmetric regions as a cluster. This motivates the third method which uses a clustering analysis for symmetry detection. In this method, the contours of a scalar field are mapped to points in a high-dimensional descriptor space such that points corresponding to similar contours lie in close proximity to each other. Symmetry is identified by clustering the points in the descriptor space.
We show through experiments on real world data sets that these methods are robust in
the presence of noise and can detect symmetry under different types of transformations. Extraction of symmetry information helps users in visualization and data analysis. We design novel applications that use symmetry information to enhance visualization of scalar field data and to facilitate their exploration.


Study of packet interference is important because interference affects the throughput of a piconet. Motivated by the fact that applications will benefit, in terms of higher available data rate in one direction, by using multiple-slot packets in an asymmetric manner, in this paper, we present an analytical model of packet interference in a cluster of piconets using multiple-slot packets. Also, considering that all the portable devices can have a Bluetooth interface and people are highly mobile these days, it will not be uncommon to find a cluster of piconets of both the 79-hop and the 23-hop types in the same area. We then present an analytical model of interference of multiple-slot packets in a heterogeneous cluster of Bluetooth piconets. By a heterogeneous cluster we mean some piconets are of the 23-hop type and the rest are of 79-hop type. We show how the aggregate throughput in a cluster of piconets degrade under various traffic scenarios, such as 1-slot, 3-slot, and 5-slot packets in symmetric and asymmetric modes in synchronous and asynchronous conditions of master clocks. Our analytic model is based on the idea of probabilistic graphs, where a node denotes a piconet and an edge denotes the probability of interference between two nodes.


A generalized method to define the Divide & Conquer paradigm in order to have processors acting on its own data and scheduled in a
parallel fashion. MapReduce is a programming model that follows this paradigm, and allows for the definition of efficient solutions by both decomposing a problem into steps on subsets of the input data
and combining the results of each step to produce final results. Albeit used for the implementation of a wide variety of computational problems, MapReduce performance can be negatively affected
whenever the replication factor grows or the size of the input is larger than the resources available at each processor. In this paper we show an alternative approach to implement the Divide & Conquer
paradigm, named pipeline. The main features of pipeline are illustrated on a parallel implementation of the well-known problem of counting triangles in a graph. This problem is especially interesting either when the input graph does not fit in memory or is dynamically generated. To evaluate the properties of pipeline, a dynamic pipeline of processes and an ad-hoc version of MapReduce are implemented in the language Go, exploiting its ability to deal with channels and spawned processes.
An empirical evaluation is conducted on graphs of different sizes and densities. Observed results suggest that pipeline allows for the implementation of an efficient solution of the problem of counting
triangles in a graph, particularly, in dense and large graphs, drastically reducing the execution time with respect to the MapReduce implementation.


The troubled status of the immigration court system has garnered much attention from scholars, appellate judges, and even the United States Attorney General. This article suggests a new lens through which to examine the acknowledged crisis in immigration courts: judicial ethics. Because the term judicial ethics encompasses a broad array of principles, the article narrows its focus to bias and incompetence on the part of immigration judges in the courtroom. Immigration judges operate as a unique judiciary under the Executive Branch of government. An examination of the modern immigration court system, including inadequate disciplinary procedures for immigration judges, reveals that the existing structural crisis has substantial implications for judicial ethics. Evidence of biased and incompetent judicial conduct has been found in statistics showing inconsistent decisions and cases reviewed by circuit courts. Recognizing the breadth and severity of the problem, the Attorney General proposed new ethical Codes of Conduct for immigration judges in June 2007. However, the proposed Codes are weakened by their lack of specificity and enforceability. Accordingly, the article recommends reforms designed to encourage unbiased and competent judicial behavior. Implementation of these reforms will initiate the process of restoring the ethical integrity of the immigration bench.


This case addressed the issue of whether the Clean Air Act (CAA) preempts state law tort claims of private landowners brought in the state where emissions are occurring. Additionally, the case determined whether the political question doctrine barred the complaint as a policymaking decision constitutionally allocated to the U.S. Congress. The court decided that the cooperative purpose of the CAA is not frustrated when actions are brought under the law of the pollution's source state, rather than the state law of affected parties. The federal regulations serve as a floor that state law may exceed but not lower. The court also determined that no court has ever held, under the political question doctrine, that the legislative branch carries constitutional authority to redress private property rights regarding air pollution, so the claim was constitutional. It was thus proper for the Bell parties to seek redress for individual tort damages