It has been suggested that much of the information we acquire from our external
environment involves processes that do not require conscious awareness (e.g.
Reber, 1989; Reber and Winter, 1994). Such knowledge acquisition has been
termed implicit learning and this has been put forward as a fundamental process
in allowing learning of complex information (e.g. Reber, 1992; Schmidke and
Heuer, 1997). It has been proposed that acquisition of the underlying rule
structure of stimulus events provides an indication of such a process as being
fundamental and general. In contrast, learning bound to more peripheral
processes should only be shown when subjects learn, for example, surface
features of stimuli or a sequence of motor responses, but not the underlying rules
(e.g. Perruchet and Pacteau, 1990; Seger, 1998). The research in this thesis
investigates systematically whether implicit learning of sound stimuli behaves
any differently to such learning of visual stimuli. This expands the empirical
scope of previous studies in the implicit learning field and allows assessment of
such processes as fundamental and general.
Chapter 1 provides a background to implicit learning in general and introduces
the different concepts involved. Chapters 2 to 4 investigated the generality of
findings from visual implicit learning studies in the auditory domain. In
particular, they studied the role of rule abstraction in sequence learning (Nissen
and Bullemer, 1987) and invariant learning tasks (McGeorge and Burton, 1990).
Findings from the sequence learning experiments in Chapters 2 and 3 suggest
that subjects were unable to abstract the underlying rule structure of stimuli, as
would have been evident from learning of the auditory sequences employed by
listening alone. Instead, subjects were only able to learn the relevant
associations between their actions (keypress responses) and a set of stimuli.
These findings add to evidence from visual implicit learning studies that found
peripheral processes involved in such learning. Findings from the invariant
learning experiments in Chapter 4 show what types of auditory invariant features subjects can and cannot learn. This identified for the first time the exact
information, or rule, that subjects acquire in such a task in an auditory context.
Additionally, it provides some evidence that explicit processes may have been
involved. Overall, the findings from the experiments in this thesis put into
question that implicit learning is a fundamental process, which involves implicit
rule abstraction.


This study investigated the representation of teenage characters on teen drama television. Content from a sample of six television series aired between 1989 and 2006 were analyzed, with the intent of describing the underlying discourse of "teenageness" that shapes the portrayal of young people in popular media. Qualitative content analysis found significant, ongoing trends in youth representation that reflect common cultural conceptions of teens. Teen drama narratives were found to suggest that the experiences represented in television story lines are universally shared amongst young people. Teenagers were also represented in the process of discovering or choosing an identity, while socially preoccupied with peer relationships. These representations position teenagers as irresponsible, unreliable, and ultimately in need of adult protection and control. Narrative contradictions occasionally suggested that young people deserve greater responsibility and respect, but overall, representations of teenagers on teen drama television reflect a discourse that promotes youth disempowerment.


Approximately 3% of the general population is affected by epilepsy during lifetime,
making epilepsy one of the most common neurological diseases. Genetic generalized
epilepsies (GGE) are the most common of genetic epilepsies and account for 20-30%
of all epilepsies. GGE is subdivided into genetically determined subgroups with
gradual transition, including genetic absence epilepsies (GAE), juvenile myoclonic
epilepsy (JME), and epilepsy with generalized tonic-clonic seizures (EGTCS). In spite
of a high heritability rate of 80% and a predominant genetic etiology, the genetic
factors predisposing to GGE are still mostly unknown. In the present study, we
carried out association studies to investigate whether genomic microdeletions and
common susceptibility variants increase risk for GGE.
To test the common disease/common variant hypothesis, genome-wide association
studies (GWAS) were performed in several GGE cohorts using case-control and
family-based study designs. For analysis, all patients were either pooled or stratified
according to the subgroup they belong to in order to detect common or subgroupspecific
risk factors, respectively. The GWAS comprised a case-control cohort of
1,523 European GGE patients and 2,454 German controls and a sample cohort of 566
European parent-offspring trios. Meta-GWAS analyses revealed significant
association (P < 5.0 × 10-8) with GGE at 2p16.1 (rs35577149, meta-analysis P = 1.65E-08, OR[C] = 0.78, 95% CI 0.71 - 0.86). Significant association with JME was
detected at 1q43 (rs12059546, meta-analysis P = 2.27E-08, OR[G] = 1.53, 95% CI
1.33 - 1.78). Suggestive evidence for association (P < 1.0E-05) was found for GGE
at 8q12.2 (rs6999304, meta-analysis P= 1.77E-06, OR[G] = 1.33, 95% CI 1.17 -
1.51) and for GAE at 2q22.3 (rs75917352, meta-analysis P = 1.41E-07, OR[T] =
0.67, 95% CI 0.58 - 0.79). The associated regions harbor high-ranking candidate
genes: CHRM3 at 1q43, VRK2 at 2p16.1, and ZEB2 at 2q22.3. Further replication
efforts are necessary to elucidate whether these positional candidate genes
contribute to the heritability of the common GGE syndromes.
Exploring the rare variant/common disease hypothesis, we investigated the impact
of six recurrent microdeletions on the genetic risk of GGE at the genomic hotspot
regions 1q21.1, 15q11.2, 15q13.3, 16p11.2, 16p13.11, and 22q11.2, which had been implicated as rare genetic risk factors in a wide range of neurodevelopmental
disorders. Recurrent microdeletions were assessed in 1,497 European GGE patients,
5,374 controls, and 566 GGE trios using high-resolution SNP microarrays.
Considering all six microdeletion hot spots together, we found a significant excess of
these microdeletions in 2,563 GGE patients versus 5,940 controls (P < 2.20E-16,
OR = 7.65, 95% CI 4.59 - 13.18). Individually, significant associations with GGE were
observed for the microdeletions at 15q11.2 (P = 1.12E-4, OR = 3.59, 95% CI 1.80
- 7.25), 15q13.3 (P = 5.48× 10−9) and 16p13.11 (P = 4.42E-06, OR = 17.39, 95% CI
3.86 - 159.88).
In a candidate-gene approach, we tested whether exon-disrupting/removing
microdeletions in the genes encoding NRXN1 and RBFOX1 confer susceptibility for
GGE. We found a significant association with GGE at both loci (NRXN1: P = 0.0049;
RBFOX1: P = 0.0083). However, high phenotypic variability and incomplete
penetrance, resulting in apparently imperfect segregation, indicate that partial
NRXN1 and RBFOX1 deletions represent susceptibility factors rather than highly
penetrant mutations.
The present study substantiates a role of both genomic microdeletions and common
susceptibility variants in the genetic predisposition of common GGE syndromes. We
strengthened the statistical evidence for associations of genetic variants at 1q43,
2p16.1, and 2q23.2 with GGE syndromes and identified a novel susceptibility locus
at 8q12.2. Although individually rare, the associations of all microdeletions at
15q11.2, 15q13.3, 16p13.3, NRXN1, and RBFOX1 taken together contribute
significantly to the genetic variance of GGE.


Pultruded glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bridge decks distribute punctual vehicular loads to the underlying superstructure and can also act as the upper chord of hybrid main girders. The deck's structural performance in both cases is influenced by its transverse behavior. The static bending behavior in the transverse-to-pultrusion direction of two GFRP bridge deck systems with trapezoidal and triangular cell cross-sectional geometry was experimentally studied. The deck with trapezoidal cell core exhibited significantly lower apparent bending stiffness and in-plane shear stiffness than the deck with triangular cell cross-section. The two studied decks showed different load-displacement behaviors and failure modes in their transverse direction. Load transfer mechanisms were also found to differ depending on the cross-sectional geometry. An existing analytical method for composite girders with flexible shear connection was used to obtain the in-plane shear stiffness of both decks in their transverse direction using the experimental deflection results.


The deficit in STEM skills is a matter of concern for national economies and a major focus for educational policy makers. The development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) has resulted in a rapidly changing workforce of global scale. In addition, ICT have fostered the growth of digital and mobile technologies which have been the learning context, formal and informal, for a generation of youth. The purpose of this study was to design an intervention based upon a competency-based, digitally-mediated, learning intervention: digital badges for learning STEM habits of mind and practices. Designed purposefully, digital badge learning trajectories and criteria can be flexible tools for scaffolding, measuring, and communicating the acquisition of knowledge, skills, or competencies. One of the most often discussed attributes of digital badges, is the ability of badges to motivate learners. However, the research base to support this claim is in its infancy; there is little empirical evidence. A skills-based digital badge intervention was designed to demonstrate mastery learning in key, age-appropriate, STEM competencies aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and other educational standards. A mixed methods approach was used to study the impact of a digital badge intervention in the sample middle and high school population. Among the findings were statistically significant measures which substantiate that in this student population, the digital badges increased perceived competence and motivated learners to persist at task.


How does the group that calls itself "Islamic State" communicate? How has Islamic State been understood and contested? This Special Section gathers emergent scholarly voices, many deploying humanistic inquiry, to probe a phenomenon that has predominantly been the province of social scientists, to explore and understand the players, patterns, and practices that have mediated Islamic State: the communicative ways in which the group has been studied, reported on, visualized, narrated, mocked, spoofed, and resisted. We use "mediation" rather than "media" to shift public discourse on Islamic State beyond the focus on technology that has characterized research on media and sociopolitical change generally, and Islamic State communication in particular. We seek to understand the historical, ideological, technological, and cultural complexity of Islamic State, meshing translocal struggles with global geopolitics. Mediation connotes a broad approach to media, which includes words, images, bodies, platforms, and the expressive capacities and meaning-making practices that communicators generate when they deploy these media.


In this paper we present an average-case analysis of closed lambda terms with restricted values of De Bruijn indices in the model where each occurrence of a variable contributes one to the size. Given a fixed integer k, a lambda term in which all De Bruijn indices are bounded by k has the following shape: It starts with k De Bruijn levels, forming the so-called hat of the term, to which some number of k-colored Motzkin trees are attached. By means of analytic combinatorics, we show that the size of this hat is constant on average and that the average number of De Bruijn levels of k-colored Motzkin trees of size n is asymptotically Θ(√ n). Combining these two facts, we conclude that the maximal non-empty De Bruijn level in a lambda term with restrictions on De Bruijn indices and of size n is, on average, also of order √ n. On this basis, we provide the average unary profile of such lambda terms.


Several recent standards address virtual containers for rich multimedia content: collections of media with metadata describing the relationships between them and providing an immersive user experience. While these standards - which include MPEG-21 and TVAnytime - provide numerous tools for interacting with rich media objects, they do not provide a framework for streaming or delivery of such content. This paper presents the bitstream binding language (BBL), a format-independent tool that describes how multimedia content and metadata may be bound into delivery formats. Using a BBL description, a generic processor can map rich content (an MPEG-21 digital item, for example) into a streaming or static delivery format. BBL provides a universal syntax for fragmentation and packetization of both XML and binary data, and allows new content and metadata formats to be delivered without requiring the addition of new software to the delivery infrastructure. Following its development by the authors, BBL was adopted by MPEG as Part 18 of the MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework.


A greatly scaled-down version of the wide plate crack arrest test has been developed to characterize the crack arrest performance of a high strength, low alloy (HSLA) steel alloy in the upper region of the ductile-brittle transition. The specimen is a single-edge notched, 152 mm wide by 19 mm thick by 910 mm long plate subjected to a strong thermal gradient and a tensile loading. The thermal gradient is required to arrest the crack at temperatures high in the transition region, close to the expected service temperature for crack arrest applications in surface ships. Strain gages are placed along the crack path to obtain crack position and crack velocity data, and this data, along with the applied loading is combined in a "generation mode" analysis using finite element analysis to obtain a dynamic analysis of the crack arrest event. A prior investigation demonstrated the feasibility of the technique and this investigation was devised to obtain a larger dataset of crack arrest toughness values of an HSLA-100 steel plate to better characterize the upper transition crack arrest performance of this alloy. Brittle crack initiation, significant cleavage crack propagation, and subsequent crack arrest was achieved in all eight of the tests conducted in this investigation. The cleavage cracks were observed to propagate at nearly constant velocity, typically in the range of 350–400 m/s before arresting abruptly. A crack arrest master curve approach was used to characterize the fracture toughness and a crack arrest reference temperature, TKIA=−136°C was determined for the HSLA-100 plate. This corresponded to a shift in the crack initiation reference temperature of +36°C. The shift in reference temperature was much less than that observed for low Ni steel alloys.


The design of an all-optical nor gate is presented. The logic operation is performed by the nonlinear Kerr interaction between beams that enter with cosine field shapes in a planar waveguide, as could be obtained, for example, by input channel guides. The beams have orthogonal polarizations. The gate is not phase dependent, grants a fan-out of two, and might also work in the presence of moderate nonlinear absorption.


The intersection of antitrust and intellectual property circumscribes two century-long debates. The first pertains to questions about how antitrust law and intellectual property law interact, and the second pertains to questions about how parties can exploit property rights, including intellectual property rights, to exclude competitors. In this paper I finesse these questions and turn to practical considerations about how innovation and intellectual property can impinge antitrust enforcement. I develop two propositions. First, collaborative research and development has often been unwittingly misunderstood and remains poorly understood, but what is understood about it is consistent with the long-standing observation that antitrust has rarely interfered with collaborative ventures. Second, shifting focus from intellectual property rights to uncertain property rights makes it easier to understand what innovation and intellectual property imply for enforcement processes. Both intellectual property and tangible assets imply the same processes, but the boundaries of intellectual properties may be uncertain and may, in turn, allow parties to game enforcement processes in ways that would not be feasible in antitrust matters that principally feature tangible assets. Even so, uncertain property rights might not frustrate enforcement processes as the antitrust authorities may yet be able to factor parties' strategic behaviors into the design of antitrust remedies. I illustrate these propositions with examples.


Periodic (harmonic or frequency-modulated) signals, which reflect the behavior of some real processes in the course of a discrete time, are widely used. At the same time, such signals are quite often corrupted by different kinds of noise. The examples of such signals are seismic waves which are deformed by a noise in the course of their propagation. Therefore, much attention is given by many researchers to problems of processing and studying such data. The objective of this paper is studying parameters and characteristics of periodic signals by using the cluster analysis methods. The efficiency of the approach proposed is demonstrated by attracting a periodic signal model.


Women and African Americans—groups targeted by negative stereotypes about their intellectual abilities—may be underrepresented in careers that prize brilliance and genius. A recent nationwide survey of academics provided initial support for this possibility. Fields whose practitioners believed that natural talent is crucial for success had fewer female and African American PhDs. The present study seeks to replicate this initial finding with a different, and arguably more naturalistic, measure of the extent to which brilliance and genius are prized within a field. Specifically, we measured field-by-field variability in the emphasis on these intellectual qualities by tallying—with the use of a recently released online tool—the frequency of the words "brilliant" and "genius" in over 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessors.com, a popular website where students can write anonymous evaluations of their instructors. This simple word count predicted both women's and African Americans' representation across the academic spectrum. That is, we found that fields in which the words "brilliant" and "genius" were used more frequently on RateMyProfessors.com also had fewer female and African American PhDs. Looking at an earlier stage in students' educational careers, we found that brilliance-focused fields also had fewer women and African Americans obtaining bachelor's degrees. These relationships held even when accounting for field-specific averages on standardized mathematics assessments, as well as several competing hypotheses concerning group differences in representation. The fact that this naturalistic measure of a field's focus on brilliance predicted the magnitude of its gender and race gaps speaks to the tight link between ability beliefs and diversity.


Southeast Asia has undergone a significant political transformation over the past two decades. Until 1986, not a single Southeast Asian state could be classified as genuinely democratic. Today, Indonesia is the world's third largest democracy, East Timor has emerged as Asia's newest democratic state, and the Philippines and Thailand remain nominal, if deeply troubled, democracies, Thailand having returned to unstable civilian rule following the 2006 coup, while defective democracy continues in the Philippines. All of these Southeast Asian countries also meet Huntington's 'two-turnover test' of democratic development (Huntington, 1991, 1 further page (266-7)) - that is, they have experienced at least two peaceful turnovers of power via the electoral process. By contrast, there have been no turnovers of power in the long-standing 'semi-democracies' of Malaysia and Singapore, although both maintain regular and mostly fraud-free elections, albeit with heavy restrictions on opposition movements backed by a compliant judiciary and a pro-government press. A third Southeast Asian state, Cambodia, could also be seen as a borderline member of this 'semi-democratic' group: while there have been no turnovers of power since the UN -sponsored polls of 1993, competitive elections do take place, although marred by significant voting irregularities, intimidation, and violence.


Author(s): Yarmosky, Alena | Abstract: In October 2017, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office piloted the Pre-Trial Release Unit (PRU) to enhance access to pre-arraignment legal representation for indigent arrestees. Using data provided by the Office, this study finds the pilot program doubled the likelihood of release at arraignment – from 14% to 28% for arrestees who received arrest-responsive interventions from the PRU. The intervention is projected to save approximately 11,200 jail bed-days per year at an annual cost of approximately $335,000. Furthermore, the PRU's efforts to advocate for the dismissal of parole holds reduced pre-trial incarceration by 44%, or an average of 9.5 days, among eligible parolees who were held in custody for violation of their parole orders.


The realization of next-generation portable electronics, medical implants and miniaturized, autonomous microsystems is directly linked with the development of compact and efficient power sources and energy storage devices with high energy and power density. As the components of these devices are continuously scaled down in size, there is a growing demand for decreasing the size of their power supply as well, while maintaining performance comparable to larger assemblies.

This dissertation presents a novel approach for the development of microbattery electrodes that is based on integrating both micro and nano structured components for the formation of hierarchical electrodes. These electrodes combine both high energy density (enabled by the high surface area and mass loading) with high power density (due to the small thickness of the active battery materials). The key building block technologies in this work are the bottom-up self-assembly and metallization of a biological template and the top-down microfabrication processes enabled by Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) technology. The biotemplate used is the Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a rod-like particle that can be genetically modified to express functional groups with enhanced metal binding properties. In this project, this feature is combined with standard microfabrication techniques for the synthesis of nanostructured energy-related materials as well as their hierarchical patterning in device architectures. Specifically, synthesis of anode (TiO2) and cathode (V2O5) materials for Li-ion batteries in a core/shell configuration is presented, where the TMV biomineralization is combined with atomic layer deposition of the active material. These nanostructured electrodes demonstrate high energy storage capacities, high rate capabilities and superior performance to electrodes with planar geometries. In addition, a toolbox of biofabrication processes for the defined patterning of virus-templated structures has been developed. Finally, the nanocomposite electrodes are integrated with three-dimensional micropillars to form hierarchical electrodes that maintain the high rate performance capabilities of nanomaterials while exhibiting an increase in energy density compared to nanostructures alone. This is in accordance with the increase in surface area added by the microstructures. Investigation of capacity scaling for varying active material thickness reveals underlying limitations in nanostructured electrodes and highlights the importance of this method in controlling both energy and power density with structural hierarchy. These results present a paradigm-shifting technology for the fabrication of next-generation microbatteries for MEMS and microsystems applications.


In Indonesia almost 20.000 woman died because of complication in giving birth (Stalker, 2008). Indonesia's number of dead mother increase to 359/100.000 women in 2012 (SDKI, 2012). And also Indonesia' s number of dead baby is reach 6th in ASEAN (SDKI, 2007). Indonesia's number of dead baby is 32/1000 birth (SDKI, 2012). This condition far from MDG's, which is the number of dead mother 102/100.000 and number of dead baby 23/1.000. One reason in highly increase number is because lack in finance. The government created solution like, Jampersal, Antenatal Care (ANC), and National Health Insurance (JKN). National Health Insurance (JKN) is a must health insurance from government for every Indonesian people. But National Health Insurance JKN aplied the system of conventional insurance which is have a problem, like over usage of country money (APBN) for poor people every month. There is another insurance system, it' s Syariah Insurance. It's growing widely in Indonesia. It shows good development when Indonesia's economy grow slower betwen 2000 until 2012 it grows 50% every year. That is the reason why Indonesia need Syariah Health Insurance to give the financial needs in mothers' health and baby. That is why we found JKN Syariah with Community of Nurse program as the pioneer team in decreasing number of dead mother and number of dead baby. And here we are give solution to solve the problem by our idea JKN Syariah (National Health Insurance with syariah insurance system) as the health Insurance to decrease the number of dead mother and number of dead baby to accomplish MDGs (Milleneum Development Goals) target. Keywords: Number of dead mother, Number of dead baby, Insurance, Syariah.


It has not yet been elucidated whether the observed flux suppression for ultra- high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) at energies above � 4x1 0 19 eV is a signature of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff or a consequence of other phenomena. In both cases, violations of the standard fundamental principles of Physics can be present and play a significant role. They can in particular modify cosmic-ray interactions, prop- agation or acceleration at very high energy. Thus, in a long-term program, UHECR data can hopefully be used to test relativity, quantum mechanics, energy and momentum con- servation, vacuum properties... as well as the elementariness of standard particles. Data on cosmic rays at energies � 10 20 eV may also be sensitive to new physics generated well beyond Planck scale. A typical example is provided by the search for possible sig- natures of a Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV) associated to a privileged local reference frame (the "vacuum rest frame", VRF). If a VRF exists, the internal structure of standard particles at ultra-high energy can undergo substantial modifications. Similarly, the con- ventional particle symmetries may cease to be valid at such energies instead of heading to a grand unification and the structure of vacuum may no longer be governed by standard quantum field theory. Then, the question whether the notion of Planck scale still makes sense clearly becomes relevant and the very grounds of Cosmology can undergo essential modifications. UHECR studies naturally interact with the interpretation of WMAP and Planck observations. Recent Planck data analyses tend to confirm the possible existence of a privileged space direction. If the observed phenomenon turns out to be a signature of the spinorial space-time (SST) we suggested in 1996-97, then conventional Particle Physics may correspond to the local properties of standard matter at low enough energy and large enough distances. This would clearly strengthen the cosmological relevance of UHECR phenomenology and weaken the status of the Planck scale hypothesis. Another crucial observation is that, already before incorporating standard matter and relativity, the SST geometry naturally yields a Ht = 1 law where t is the age of the Universe and H the ratio between relative speeds and distances at cosmic scale. As standard cosmology is not required to get such a fundamental result, the need for a conventional Planck scale is far from obvious and the study of UHECR can potentially yield evidence for an alter- native approach including new physics and new ultimate constituents of matter. UHECR may in particular allow to explore the possible indications of the existence of a transition scale at very high energy where the standard laws would start becoming less and less dominant and new physics would replace the conventional fundamental principles. We discuss prospects of searches for potential signatures of such a phenomenon.


Although information on the spawning seasons of commercially important snappers (Lutjanidae) and groupers (Serranidae, subfamily Epinephelinae) is available for the north and central west Atlantic, there is little information for the tropical western South Atlantic (Brazil). As a consequence, there are few fishery regulations in this entire region that take into consideration such information. In this study, we characterized the reproductive cycles of three Epinephelinae serranids ( Epinephelus morio, Mycteroperca bonaci and Cephalopholis fulva ) and five lutjanids ( Lutjanus synagris, L. jocu, L. analis, Ocyurus chrysurus and Rhomboplites aurorubens ) that occur in the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil, the largest reef complex in the tropical western South Atlantic. A total of 3528 gonads were collected from May 2005 to October 2007. Temporal variability in spawning patterns was evaluated using the Gonadosomatic Index (GSI) and macroscopic analyses. The peak of reproductive activity for the three grouper species occurred between July and August. Snappers exhibited two peaks of reproductive activity, the more intense of which occurred between September and October. The other peak occurred between February and March, with the exception of the deep-dwelling species R. aurorubens , which only reproduced between February and March. Seasonal patterns were consistent over the two consecutive years that we studied, and these patterns are equivalent to those observed for the Northern Hemisphere, as are the sizes at maturity and at the time of sexual change (for the three protogynous hermaphrodite groupers). Fisheries management in this region could be significantly improved by a combination of catch and effort limitations being imposed during spawning seasons and by overall size limitations, particularly considering that most of the fish caught are generally below size at maturity. The proposed buffer zones for the marine areas that are presently protected in Abrolhos represent an opportunity for implementing both spatial (e.g. setting no-take zones that cover spawning sites) and temporal (e.g. seasonal closures during spawning peaks) management tools, using a participatory approach at the regional scale.


Demand for cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels has been on the rise, due in part to federal targets enacted in 2005 and extended in 2007. The industry faces major challenges in meeting these worthwhile and ambitious targets. The challenges are especially severe in the logistics of timely feedstock delivery to biorefineries. Logistical difficulties arise from seasonal production that forces the biomass to be stored in uncontrolled field-side environments. In this storage format physical difficulties arise; transportation is hindered by the low bulk density of baled biomass and the unprotected material can decay leading to unpredictable losses. Additionally, uncertain yields and contractual difficulties can exacerbate these challenges making biorefineries a high-risk venture. Investors' risk could limit business entry and prevent America from reaching the targets. This paper explores pelletizer strategies to convert the lignocellulosic biomass into a denser form more suitable for storage. The densification of biomass would reduce supply risks, and the new system would outperform conventional biorefinery supply systems. Pelletizer strategies exhibit somewhat higher costs, but the reduction in risk is well worth the extra cost if America is to grow the advanced biofuels industry in a sustainable manner.


Abstract. Solar energy applications need global aerosol optical depth (AOD) information to derive historic surface solar irradiance databases from geostationary meteorological satellites reaching back to the 1980's. This paper validates the MATCH/DLR model originating in the climate community against AERONET ground measurements. Hourly or daily mean AOD model output is evaluated individually for all stations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East – an area highly interesting for solar energy applications being partly dominated by high aerosol loads. Overall, a bias of 0.02 and a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.23 are found for daily mean AOD values, while the RMSE increases to 0.28 for hourly mean AOD values. Large differences between various regions and stations are found providing a feedback loop for the aerosol modelling community. The difference in using daily means versus hourly resolved modelling with respect to hourly resolved observations is evaluated. Nowadays state-of-the-art in solar resource assessment relies on monthly turbidity or AOD climatologies while at least hourly resolved irradiance time series are needed by the solar sector. Therefore, the contribution of higher temporally modelled AOD is evaluated.


In her article "The Anti-Colonial Revolutionary in Contemporary Bollywood Cinema" Vidhu Aggarwal discusses several contemporary films including Rakesh Omprakash Mehra's Rang de Basanti with focus on the figure of the revolutionary hero. The Bollywood film is a cultural form that combines several aesthetic styles, from within India and from the outside. With its formal heterogeneity and as a product of one of India's largest cities, Mumbai Bollywood has had an ongoing fascination with "arrival," that is, with India's status as a contemporary nation-state. While some Bollywood films seem to celebrate fantasy scenarios of India's arrival on the global scene, at the same time they express anxiety about affective possibilities within a new Bollywood of higher production values and larger global reach, an India of mobile borders and attenuated historical context. Aggarwal examines the way the contemporaneity of Bollywood — both in terms of acting style and aesthetics — is negotiated through reenactments of the colonial period and compares Bollywood cinema with aspects of the British film Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle. Vidhu Aggarwal, "The Anti-Colonial Revolutionary in Contemporary Bollywood Cinema" page 2 of 10 Thematic issue New Modernities and the "Third World." Ed. V. DeSousa, J.E. Henton, and G. Ramanathan CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 12.2 (2010):


Why do you shift from walking to running at a particular speed? How can we predict transition speeds for animals of different sizes? Why must the flexible elastic of arterial walls behave differently than a rubber tube or balloon? How do leaves manage to expose a broad expanse of surface while suffering only a small fraction of the drag of flags in high winds? The field of biomechanics - how living things move and work - hasn't seen a new general textbook in more than two decades. Here a leading investigator and teacher lays out the key concepts of biomechanics using examples drawn from throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. Up-to-date and comprehensive, this is also the only book to give thorough coverage to both major subfields of biomechanics: fluid and solid mechanics. Steven Vogel explains how biomechanics makes use of models and methods drawn from physics and mechanical engineering to investigate a wide range of general questions - from how animals swim and fly and the modes of terrestrial locomotion to the way organisms respond to wind and water currents and the operation of circulatory and suspension-feeding systems. He looks also at the relationships between the properties of biological materials - spider silk, jellyfish jelly, muscle, and more - and their various structural and functional roles. While written primarily for biology majors and graduate students in biology, this text will be useful for physical scientists and engineers seeking a sense of the state of the art of biomechanics and a guide to its rather scattered literature. For a still wider audience, it establishes the basic biological context for such applied areas as ergonomics, orthopedics, mechanical prosthetics, kinesiology, sports medicine, and biomimetics.


Two important issues in the context of the provision of public goods are examined: the preference of price-distorting over nondistorting transfers, and the choice of specific output or input markets to carry the distorting taxes or subsidies. An explanation is given as to why some industries have more price distortion per dollars transferred due to firm heterogeneity rather than industry lobbying power. In the framework presented, a government desires to target transfers to a subset of heterogeneous innovators to circumvent obstruction of producer-harming policies such as public investment in supply-enhancing R&D. We also offer an explanation for the use of output taxes and input subsidies in developing countries in contrast to output subsidies and input restrictions in developed countries' agricultural sectors.


• The root epidermis of most angiosperms comprises hair (H) cells and nonhair (N) cells. H cells are shorter than N cells in grasses (Poaceae). • The aim of this study was to determine the developmental basis for differences in H and N cell size in the grasses Brachypodium distachyon and Oryza sativa. • We show that cytokinesis in the last cell division in each epidermal file is asymmetric in B. distachyon. The smaller daughter cell becomes an H cell and the larger cell forms an N cell. By contrast, asymmetric cytokinesis does not occur during H cell and N cell development in O. sativa and the differences in size arise because there is more cell expansion in N cells than in H cells after root hair initiation. • The different sizes of mature H and N cells result from cell division asymmetry in B. distachyon but different rates of cell expansion in O. sativa. We hypothesize that the mechanism that includes asymmetric cytokinesis during the development of H and N cells evolved among the Pooideae or ancestors of this subfamily.


Background: Intestinal transplantation provokes an intense inflammatory response within the graft muscularis that causes intestinal ileus. We hypothesised that endogenously produced anti-inflammatory substances could be utilised as novel therapeutics. Therefore, we tested the protective effects of inhaled carbon monoxide (CO) and an endogenous haeme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) anti-inflammatory mediator on transplant induced inflammatory responses and intestinal ileus in the rat. Methods: Gastrointestinal transit of non-absorbable FITC labelled dextran and in vitro jejunal circular muscle contractions were measured in controls and syngeneic orthotopic transplanted animals with and without CO inhalation (250 ppm for 25 hours). Inflammatory mRNAs for interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), inducible nitric oxide (iNOS), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), and IL-10 were quantified by real time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and HO-1 by northern blot. Histochemical stains characterised neutrophil infiltration and enterocyte apoptosis. Results: Transplantation delayed transit and suppressed jejunal circular muscle contractility. Transplantation induced dysmotility was significantly improved by CO inhalation. Transplantation initiated a significant upregulation in IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, ICAM-1, iNOS, COX-2, and HO-1 mRNAs with the graft muscularis. CO inhalation significantly decreased expression of IL-6, IL-1β, iNOS, and COX-2 mRNAs. CO also significantly decreased serum nitrite levels (iNOS activity). Conclusions: CO inhalation significantly improved post-transplant motility and attenuated the inflammatory cytokine milieu in the syngeneic rat transplant model. Thus clinically providing CO, the end product of the anti-inflammatory HO-1 pathway, may prove to be an effective therapeutic adjunct for clinical small bowel transplantation.


This paper explores the effectiveness of Juilland's D as a measure of vocabulary dispersion in large corpora. Through a series of experiments using the BNC, we explored the influence of three variables: the number of corpus-parts used for the computation of D, the frequency of the target word, and the distributions of those words. The experiments demonstrate that the effective range for D is greatly reduced when computations are based on a large number of corpus-parts: even words with highly skewed distributions have D values indicating a relatively uniform distribution. We also briefly explore an alternative measure, Gries' DP (Gries 2008), showing that it is a more reliable and effective measure of dispersion in a large corpus divided into many parts. In conclusion, we discuss the implications of these findings for quantitative methods applied to the creation of vocabulary lists as well as research questions in other areas of corpus linguistics.


In June 2016, participants in a United Kingdom referendum voted to leave the European Union (EU) by a margin of 52% to 48%. The timing and terms of Britain's exit (commonly known as "Brexit") are the subject of on-going public and parliamentary debate. But the mechanism by which Brexit is to be formally commenced was clarified by the U.K. Supreme Court at the end of January 2017 in the landmark case R (Miller) v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. The question presented was whether ministers of Theresa May's government could give notice of the U.K.'s withdrawal from the EU "without prior legislation passed in both Houses of Parliament and assented to by HM The Queen." The secretary of state argued that the power to withdraw was part of the royal prerogative exercisable by ministers without prior parliamentary action. However, in light of the far-reaching changes to domestic law that would result from terminating EU membership treaties, the court held that withdrawal "must be made in the only way in which the UK constitution permits, namely through Parliamentary legislation."

On the one hand, the Miller decision may be seen as a resounding reaffirmation of the principle of parliamentary sovereignty in British constitutional law. Notwithstanding the facts that a majority of voters supported Brexit and that government ministers ordinarily have the power to terminate treaties without legislative approval or judicial review, formal notice of withdrawal under Article 50 of the EU Treaties could not be given unless and until Parliament so agreed. Yet on the other hand, a comparative analysis of Miller also reveals some significant limitations on parliamentary power in the United Kingdom relative to congressional power in the United States—even though Congress is constrained by the Constitution and enjoys no sovereignty over the other branches of government. This Essay explores these limitations on parliamentary power and argues that legislative sovereignty is best understood not as an immutable principle laid down in Britain's constitutional history, but rather as an evolving ideal that continues to develop to this day.


Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate and extend previously reported sex differences in object location memory by comparing the performance of heterosexual and homosexual males and females. Subjects were 240 healthy, right-handed heterosexual and homosexual males and females. They were instructed to study 16 common, gender-neutral objects arranged randomly in an array and subsequently tested for object recall, object recognition and spatial location memory. Females recalled significantly more objects than males, although there were no group differences in object recognition. Decomposition of significant interactions between sex and sexual orientation on spatial location memory (controlling for differences in object recall, age and IQ) revealed that heterosexual females and homosexual males scored better than heterosexual males, and no different from each other. There were no differences between homosexual and heterosexual females. The findings suggest that homosexual males and heterosexual females encode, store and retrieve positional and relational information about spatial layouts similarly, pointing to within-sex variations in the neural architecture underlying spatial memory. (JINS, 2003, 9, 376–383.)


A central argument for increased protections of property rights (PR) is the role they play in encouraging economic transactions, investment and economic growth. Likewise, the utilitarian justification of intellectual property laws is that such rights promote creative inventions and innovation, and thus can make a nation better off. A further argument is psychological: it has also been argued (though rarely tested) that enhanced rights contribute to increases in well-being enjoyed by a county's citizens. Many Latin American countries have made efforts to improve property rights (and their enforcement) in the recent past, with varying success. Using three data sources (the Latinobarometer, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum's Global Competitive Index), this investigation considers the relationship between property rights and intellectual property protection, economic growth, and well-being. The results, which are heterogeneous with respect to labour force status, suggest that policy makers in Latin America should pursue improvements in property rights if they wish to improve citizen well-being while also promoting economic growth.


Abstract. In this era of rapid climate change there is an urgent need for interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding in the study of what determines resistance to disasters and recovery speed. This paper is an economist's contribution to that effort. It traces the entrance of the word "resilience" from ecology into the social science literature on disasters, provides a formal economic definition of resilience that can be used in mathematical modeling, incorporates this definition into a multilevel model that suggests appropriate policy roles and targets at each level, and draws on the recent empirical literature on the economics of disaster, searching for policy handles that can stimulate higher resilience. On the whole it provides a framework for simulations and for formulating disaster resilience policies.


Miscible recovery techniques are among the most efficient and widely used enhanced oil recovery methods both in conventional and in heavy oil reservoirs (miscible gas flooding and solvent injection, respectively). The efficiency of a miscible flood is significantly dependent on the degree of mixing that occurs between the fluids. Mixing of the injected gas/solvent with oil leads to solvent dilution and thus reduces the effective strength of miscible displacement. The primary mechanisms of miscible mixing in pore space are molecular diffusion and convection (mechanical spreading) due to bulk flow velocity. The combined effect of these two mechanisms on the degree of mixing can be characterized by the dispersion coefficient. Laboratory measurement of this parameter is difficult due to the fact that it is strongly dependent on flow and porous media properties. An alternative approach is to numerically calculate dispersion coefficient using pore scale digital core analysis. In this study, pore level miscible displacements in heterogeneous porous media are computationally modeled through simultaneous solving of NavierStokes, Continuity, and Convection-Diffusion equations on virtual unconsolidated granular porous media. These virtual media are constructed by a pattern generator using the concept of random packing of grains. The heterogeneity level of these media is characterized by a coefficient of variations defined as the ratio of standard deviation in grain diameter to the mean grain diameter. Using the results of numerical simulations, longitudinal (along the flow direction) dispersion coefficient is calculated at different values of flow velocity, viscosity ratio, and pore scale medium heterogeneity. The input diffusion coefficients are either constant or functions of concentration. The results of the simulations show that when viscosity ratio is unity, at very low Peclet numbers the dominant transport mechanism is molecular diffusion. At high Peclet numbers, however, advection is dominant and the magnitude of longitudinal dispersion coefficient scales with N!. Higher heterogeneity of media will results in higher values of longitudinal dispersion coefficient. Also, it is found that using an appropriate average diffusion coefficient over the range of concertation interval can adequately account for concentration dependency of diffusion coefficient. The effect of viscosity contrast on


Radiocarbon-based accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facilities at Uppsala University include a measurement center for archaeological applications and a separate entity dedicated to life science research. This paper addresses the latter, with the intention of giving a brief description of the biomedical activities at our laboratory, as well as presenting new data. The ultra-small sample preparation method, which can be used down to a few μg C samples, is outlined and complemented with new results. Furthermore, it is shown that the average secondary ion current performance for small samples can be improved by increasing the distance between the cathode surface and the pressed graphite surface. Finally, data is presented for a new application: Amyloidoses are a group of diseases where the conformational changes in specific proteins' structure lead to the formation of extracellular deposits that spread and increase in mass and eventually may lead to total organ failure and death. The formation timeframe is unknown and yet it is an important clue for the elucidation of the mechanism. We present results on bomb-peak dating of 4 different types of purified amyloid proteins from human postmortem heart and spleen samples. The data indicates that the average measured age of the carbon originating from the systemic amyloid types studied here correspond to a few years before the death of the subject. This suggests that a major part of the fibril formation takes place during the last few years before death, rather than as an accumulation of amyloid deposits over decades.


This paper provides an overview of the U.S. regulatory process to facilitate discussion of stakeholder consultation at the joint Bertelsmann Stiftung and George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center workshop on December 1, 2010. U.S. procedures for developing regulations derive from the U.S. Constitution and the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act (APA). While more recent laws and executive orders provide for additional analytical requirements, review, and consultation, the APA has guided the regulatory process and the role for the public for almost 65 years. This paper summarizes the Constitutional framework and the APA requirements, and then reviews the stages of rulemaking and the role for public consultation at each stage.


Aquatic pharmaceutical pollution poses ecotoxicological risks to the environment and human health. Consumer attitudes and behavior represent a significant source of pharmaceutical compounds found in water. Thus, understanding public perceptions of aquatic pharmaceutical pollution and developing effective risk communication techniques are critical to engaging society in the type of widespread change necessary for addressing the presence of pharmaceuticals in water. This mixed-methods study applies conceptual metaphor theory in conjunction with construal level theory of psychological distance to assess how metaphoric framing affects perceptions of aquatic pharmaceutical contamination across four principal dimensions of psychological distance (geographic, social and temporal distance and uncertainty). Additionally, this study assesses the direct impact of metaphor use on concern and willingness to act, which are positively associated with perceived psychological distance. Data were collected from a convenience sample (n = 20) of university students in Burlington, Vermont using cognitive interviewing. Results indicate that pharmaceutical pollution was initially perceived as geographically distant, socially distant, temporally both proximate and distant and certain (versus uncertain). Our findings suggest people perceive distances in various ways, suggesting a need for validated questions to consistently measure psychological distance. Participants preferred the metaphorically-framed visual intervention to the non-metaphor visual intervention. Further, participants' perception of pharmaceutical pollution changed to being more geographically and socially close after viewing the metaphoric visual only. Previous research indicates perceived psychological closeness leads to increased motivation and preparedness to act. Theoretical and practical implications of metaphor use in risk communications are discussed.


Half of humanity now lives in cities and within two decades nearly 60 per cent of the world's people will be urban dwellers. Urban growth is most rapid in the developing world where cities gain an average of 5 million residents every month. As cities grow in size and population harmony among the spatial social and environmental aspects of a city and between their inhabitants becomes of paramount importance. This harmony hinges on two key pillars: equity and sustainability.


With the rapid deterioration of the U.S. trade balance in the 1980s, the United States was forced to finance deficits by borrowing heavily from the rest of the world. In doing so, the United States went from being the world's largest creditor country to the world's largest debtor, while Japan and West Germany experienced a rise in trade surpluses. Such a shift in international trade flows has had profound effects on the world economy. McKibbin and Sachs address a range of issues involving macroeconomic imbalances in the world economy. Through the use of a new simulation model of the world economy they explore how policy actions undertaken in one country affect the trade flows and macroeconomic patterns among the other counties. The authors show that key macroeconomic features of the 1980s can be explained by shifts in monetary and fiscal policies in the major economies and by supply shocks due to changes in oil prices. In addition to showing how the global macroeconomic experience can be understood, they focus on a number of current policy issues, including the reduction of global trade imbalances, the consequences of U.S. fiscal consolidation, the effects of an oil price shock, the implications for the U. S. economy of increases in Japanese and German fiscal spending, the effects of targeting exchange rates among the major currencies, and the gains of increased coordination of macroeconomic politics among the major economies. In several cases, their conclusions are shown to be quite different from those that form the basis of many conventional views. The authors also analyze the importance of interaction between policymakers in industrial economies and conclude by reemphasizing the need for U.S. politicians and policy experts to recognize that macroeconomic results in the U.S. now depend heavily on events abroad.


Objective: Manual detection of interictal epileptiform activity in long-term EEG recordings is time-consuming and highly susceptible to individual interpretation. Automatic detection algorithms offer a faster, reproducible and more objective, and therefore more efficient method for EEG evaluation. These algorithms are able to reach human-like sensitivities. Nevertheless, they are rejected in the clinical practice due to their high false-positive rate and mostly impractical manner of displaying their results. Therefore, the objective of this research is to design a clustering algorithm and graphical user interface, that presents the automatically detected Interictal Epileptiform Discharges according to their morphology and localisation.

Methods: The clustering algorithm was based on the events found by the Persyst P13 spike detector. We divided single lead EEG segments into groups according to their localisation. The events within these groups were then clustered with the K-means algorithm. The Squared Euclidean distance and Dynamic Time Warping distance were considered as distance measures for the clustering. The combination of clustering algorithm and graphical user interface is referred to as the Cluster Tool.

The Cluster Tool was evaluated with usability and clinical performance tests. A total of 23 EEGs was used. The usability tests were performed by five EEG experts, through moderated testing. The clinical performance assessments were done by two test participants. Mutually agreed on clinical conclusions were compared to the clinical conclusion that was described in the EEG report, which was considered the gold standard.

Results: The usage of the tool resulted in remarkably similar clinical diagnoses in comparison to the EEG report. However, the clusters derived by the algorithm did not consistently meet the expectations of the neurologists. This decreased their trust in the performance of the tool and caused them to spend time on manually checking detections within clusters. The use of the Cluster Tool did not speed up the EEG evaluation. The Dynamic Time Warping distance showed a slightly better separation of the cluster results than the SE distance.

Discussion: The Cluster Tool shows the potential of a comprehensive visualisation of interictal epileptiform discharges for improving EEG evaluation. However, the clustering algorithm was too inaccurate to impact the clinical workflow positively. After the implementation of a sufficiently accurate clustering algorithm, the designed prototype promises a faster, reproducible and more objective method for EEG evaluation.
The post-processing of the output of automatic spike detection algorithms is a step which has been underestimated for too long. Focusing on the visualisation of these detections is an important step toward the clinical implementation of such algorithms.


The Australian fishery for spanner crabs is the largest in the world, with the larger Queensland (QLD) sector's landings primarily exported live overseas and GVP valued ~A$5 million per year. Spanner crabs are unique in that they may live up to 15 years, significantly more than blue swimmer crabs (Portunus armatus) and mud crabs (Scylla serrata), the two other important crab species caught in
Queensland. Spanner crabs are caught using a flat net called a dilly, on which the crabs becoming entangled via the swimming legs.

Quota setting rules are used to assess and adjust total allowable harvest (quota) around an agreed target harvest of 1631 t and capped at a maximum of 2000 t. The quota varies based on catch rate indicators from the commercial fishery and a fishery-independent survey from the previous two years, compared to target reference points. Quota management applies only to 'Managed Area A' which includes waters between Rockhampton and the New South Wales (NSW) border.

This report has been prepared to inform Fisheries Queensland (Department of Agriculture and Fisheries) and stakeholders of catch trends and the estimated quota of spanner crabs in Managed Area A for the forthcoming quota period (1 June 2015–31 May 2016). The quota calculations followed the methodology developed by the crab fishery Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) between November 2007 and March 2008.

The total reported spanner crab harvest was 917 t for the 2014 calendar year, almost all of which was taken from Managed Area A. In 2014, a total of 59 vessels were active in the QLD fishery, the lowest number since the peak in 1994 of 262 vessels. Recent spanner crab harvests from NSW waters have been about 125 t per year.

The spanner crab Managed Area A commercial standardised catch rate averaged 0.739 kg per net-lift in 2014, 24% below the target level of 1.043. Mean catch rates declined in the commercial fishery in 2014, although the magnitude of the decreases was highest in the area north of Fraser Island.

The NSW–QLD survey catch rate in 2014 was 16.849 crabs per ground-line, 22% above the target level of 13.972. This represented a decrease in survey catch rates of 0.366 crabs per ground-line, compared to the 2013 survey.

The Queensland spanner crab total allowable harvest (quota) was set at 1923 t in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, the quota was calculated at the base level of 1631 t. However, given that the 2012 fisheryindependent survey was not undertaken for financial reasons, stakeholders proposed that the total
allowable commercial catch (TACC) be decreased to 1777 t; a level that was halfway between the 2012/13 quota of 1923 t and the recommended base quota of 1631 t. The results from the current analysis indicate that the quota for the 2015-2016 financial year be decreased from 1777 t to the base
quota of 1631 t.


*The process of agricultural production, and especially anything related to the management of fertilisation, largely determines the uncertainty in the estimation of the different environmental impact of biofuel production.
*The most widely used methodologies for estimating the impact on biofuel production are not sufficiently precise for the production agricultural stage of the same.
*The handling of nitrogen fertilisers and the effect of climatology during the cultivation stage greatly affects nitrous oxide emissions and are the major determinants of the carbon footprint during biofuel production.
*Organic fertilisation promotes the reduction of the carbon footprint during the production of biofuels such as wheat-derived ethanol and rapeseed-derived diesel. They in turn increase other effects such as water contamination or the acidification of ecosystems.
*There is very little likelihood of meeting the requirement of legislation on biofuel sustainability, which recommends a reduction of at least 35 % in greenhouse gases compared to its equivalent fossil fuel, in the case of the production of ethanol and diesel through the use of crops such as wheat and rapeseed for the current limited fertilisation conditions in those areas vulnerable to nitrate contamination and especially in the case of mineral fertilisers .
*While organic fertilisation is more likely to meet the standards of sustainability, the direct impact on the use of the land is even greater than in the case of minerally fertilised crops .


The concept of phenomenology is an unfamiliar one to American readers but has a considerable following on the continent of Europe. For example, the major work by Karl Jaspers, General Psychopathology, (University of Chicago Press, 1972), is the pioneering application of this approach by an individual who was both a talented philosopher and psychiatrist to the subject of psychiatric diagnosis and psychotherapy. Some sections of that work are of great value even today, and those mental health professionals who are interested in the application of phenomenology to psychotherapy, and who have little background in philosophy, would be well advised to start their study of the phenomenological approach with the sections of Jaspers's book that deal with psychotherapy. On the whole, phenomenology is a philosophical movement. It began with the obsession of Husserl (see Husserl, Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology, Macmillan, 1962), who attempted to put philosophy on what he thought was a scientific basis. His proposal was to grasp one's experience, for example, one's experience with a patient, "phenomenologically," that is without theoretical preconceptions such as DSM-IV ordinarily used in advance to organize the data. Pioneer psychoanalysts such as Boss (Psychoanalysis and Dasein Analysis, Basic Books, 1963) and Binswanger (Being-in-the-World, Basic Books, 1963) took up this approach especially in their effort to understand seriously disturbed and psychotic patients, and it is of great value even today in psychotherapy. Unfortunately, phenomenology has been applied and used in many ways in philosophy, psychology, and psychiatry, and it takes a book (see Spielberg, Phenomenology in Psychology and Psychiatry, Northwestern University Press, 1972) to review this. One should remember that Freud attended a seminar in philosophy once a week for a couple of years, and that seminar was run by a very popular teacher named Franz Brentano, whose ideas foreshadowed the phenomenological movement. A phenomenon is whatever appears for us immediately in experience. Husserl's method rests on what he calls "transcendental-phenomenological reduction"; he does not permit the selection out of experience of certain specific things, sensations, feelings, and so on, since to do so would assume classificatory principles about the world. Phenomenological statements cannot be called empirical because empirical statements are about already assumed "things" out there. Phenomenological statements therefore attempt what Husserl called presuppositionless inquiry-no theories, just descriptions of phenomena as they present themselves to an unprejudiced view. Husserl defined phenomenological reduction as the "bracketing of existence" or epoche, the unbiased contemplation of phenomena without intellectual considerations. One must suspend belief in everything, use "imaginative variations," and then intuit the essence of the phenomena. From the point of view of the psychotherapist, the phenomenological stance is just to react to what is simply there in a felt experience. The therapist does not disconnect, isolate, or interpret aspects of this experience. Phenomenological reduction demands refrainment from judgment about morals, values, causes, background, and even the subject (the patient) and the objective observer (the therapist). One pays special attention to one's own state of consciousness in the presence of a patient-for example, to the "feel" of a schizophrenic, the ambience such an individual creates (see Pao, Schizophrenic Disorders, International Universities Press, 1979). Phenomenologist psychotherapists such as R. D. Laing attempted to bridge the gap between the couch and the analyst's chair by focussing on the effect of the therapist as a detached technician who reinforces the patient's problems by becoming one more in a chain of powerful individuals who have pretended to take an interest in the patient. What is more and what is worse, they argue, is the demand that the patient too must pretend that this interest is real, while in truth both therapists and patients know that therapists' responses are all too often determined by their definition of themselves as therapists rather than by the feelings that the patient as a person arouses in them. …


Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) on the risk of diabetes mellitus (DM) among patients with upper gastrointestinal disease (UGID). Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study with a follow-up period of 5 years. We identified 388,098 patients who were diagnosed with UGID between 2000 and 2006 from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance program. We used Cox proportional hazard ratio (HR) to compare the risk of DM between UGID patients received PPIs and those did not receive PPIs. HRs were adjusted for possible confounders, including age, sex, hypertension, gout and/or hyperuricemia, coronary artery disease, stroke, pancreatitis, hyperlipidemia, obesity, H2-blocker use, and clozapine or olanzapine use. The dose-related effects of PPIs on the risk of DM were evaluated according to the defined daily dose (DDD). Results: The adjusted HR was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.73–0.88) for the study group (UGID patients with PPIs) compared with comparison group I (UGID patients without PPIs). Among patients who used PPIs, those older than 60 years of age had a lower risk of DM (HR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.63–0.83) than those younger than 40 years. Additionally, the effect of PPIs was significantly dose-dependent (P for trend <0.001). Patients with UGID who received >540 DDDs of PPIs exhibited the greatest reduction in the risk of DM. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated a decreased risk of DM in UGID patients who used PPIs; the risk appeared to be significantly dose-dependent.


Background When faced with developing orthopaedic services for children in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is little objective evidence-based data on the magnitude and type of services needed. Rwanda is a small country that is in the process of developing orthopaedic and rehabilitation services, and its Ministry of Health supported a survey that would provide information necessary for planning such services. Methods A national survey of musculoskeletal impairment (MSI) prevalence was undertaken. Of a population of 8.4 million, 8368 people were enumerated. Four thousand one hundred thirty-four were aged 16 years or less. Cases who failed a screening test for MSI were examined, allocated a diagnostic category, and assessed as to treatment needed. Results Of 4134 people aged 16 years or less who were enumerated, 3526 (85%) were screened and 91 had MSI, giving a prevalence of MSI among children of 2.58% (95% confidence interval; 2.06-3.10). Twenty-three percent of MSIs were a result of congenital deformity, 14% neurologic conditions, 12% trauma, 3% infection, and 46% other acquired pathology. Of the MSIs, 56.7% were mild, 37.8% moderate, and 5.6% severe. Extrapolated treatment needs suggest that 2% of Rwandan children (approximately 80,000) need orthopaedic physical therapy, 1.2% (50,000) need orthopaedic surgery, and approximately 10,000 need orthopaedic appliances. Conclusions These results will be of use in planning future paediatric orthopaedic services in Rwanda, and for comparative studies in other low-income countries.


We use a two-color lattice to break the homogeneous site occupation of an atomic Mott insulator of bosonic 87Rb. We detect the disruption of the ordered Mott domains via noise correlation analysis of the atomic density distribution after time of flight. The appearance of additional correlation peaks evidences the redistribution of the atoms into a strongly inhomogeneous insulating state, in quantitative agreement with the predictions.


Abstract The Furongian (late Cambrian) is an extremely poorly sampled time in the history of echinoderms, with only few localities yielding complete specimens. Here, we document an exquisitely preserved stemmed echinoderm from the Furongian Sandu Formation in South China that provides important new data illuminating the origin of Glyptocystitida, a common Palaeozoic clade of echinoderms. Sanducystis sinensis n. gen. n. sp. displays an organized theca bearing three circlets of plates (basal, infralateral and lateral), a laterally positioned periproct in the CD interray, a lack of respiratory pectinirhombs and a stem divided in two parts, with expanded inner and outer columnals proximally and narrow, elongate, homeomorphic columnals distally. A phylogenetic analysis places Sanducystis more derived than the columnal-bearing 'eocrinoid' Ridersia and sister group of a clade encompassing Macrocystella-like glyptocystitoid rhombiferans from the Furongian onwards. By filling in an important morphological gap, Sanducystis provides a clear understanding of character evolution within Glyptocystitida.


Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) bind the receptor neogenin to trigger pathways that inhibit BMP signaling through the transcriptional regulators Smads. Neogenin is a receptor for neuronal guidance cues, such as netrins. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) control differentiation by signaling through receptors of the transforming growth factor receptor family, such as BMPRs. BMP signaling that triggers bone formation is inhibited by the guanosine triphosphatase Rho and the Rho effector ROCK. Hagihara et al. show that BMPs bind and activate the neogenin receptor, which activates Rho and inhibits BMP-induced osteoblast differentiation by inhibiting activation of the transcriptional regulators Smads, in response to BMP binding to the BMPRs. With a combination of cell-based assays and in vitro assays, the authors demonstrated specific binding of recombinant BMP2, BMP4, BMP6, and BMP7 to neogenin. The interaction between the BMPs and neogenin was detected in cells transfected with neogenin, in C2C12 cells (a pluripotent mesodermal cell line that natively expresses neogenin and BMPRs and can be induced to differentiate into osteoblasts by BMP), and in mouse cerebral cortex lysates. Knockdown of neogenin enhanced BMP-mediated osteoblast differentiation of C2C12 cells, and transcripts for neogenin were increased by BMP, suggesting a feedback loop. Cells in which neogenin was knocked down exhibited enhanced Smad phosphorylation in response to BMP, whereas overexpression of neogenin reduced BMP-induced Smad phosphorylation and the accumulation of Id-1, which is encoded by a Smad target gene. In neogenin knockdown C2C12 cells, BMP failed to stimulate RhoA GTP loading, and expression of a dominant-negative RhoA enhanced BMP-stimulated Smad phosphorylation. Although application of BMP in the presence of a ROCK inhibitor failed to enhance Smad phosphorylation, the C2C12 cells had increased production of alkaline phosphatase (ALP, a marker of bone cells) relative to cells only exposed to BMP. Thus, BMP appears to stimulate two signaling systems—a positive one through the BMPRs and a negative one through neogenin, which appears to inhibit BMPR signaling through at least two mechanisms. M. Hagihara, M. Endo, K. Hata, C. Higuchi, K. Takaoka, H. Yoshikawa, T. Yamashita, Neogenin, a receptor for bone morphogenetic proteins. J. Biol. Chem. 286, 5157–5165 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text]


As digital images become ubiquitous in many applications, the need for efficient and effective retrieval techniques is more demanding than ever. Query by Example (QBE) and Query by Concept (QBC) are among the most popular query models. The former model accepts example images as queries and searches for similar ones based on low-level features such as colors and textures. The latter model allows queries to be expressed in the form of high-level semantics or concept words, such as "boat" or "car," and finds images that match the specified concepts. Recent research has focused on the connections between these two models and attempts to close the semantic-gap between them. This research involves finding the best method that maps a set of low-level features into high-level concepts.
Automatic annotation techniques are investigated in this dissertation to facilitate QBC. In this approach, sets of training images are used to discover the relationship between low-level features and predetermined high-level concepts. The best mapping with respect to the training sets is proposed and used to analyze images, annotating them with the matched concept words. One principal difference between QBE and QBC is that, while similarity matching in QBE must be done at the query time, QBC performs concept exploration off-line. This difference allows QBC techniques to shift the time-consuming task of determining similarity away from the query time, thus facilitating the additional processing time required for increasingly accurate matching. Consequently, QBC's primary design objective is to achieve accurate annotation within a reasonable processing time. This objective is the guiding principle in the design of the following proposed methods which facilitate image annotation: (1) A novel dynamic similarity function. This technique allows users to query with multiple examples: relevant, irrelevant or neutral. It uses the range distance in each group to automatically determine weights in the distance function. Among the advantages of this technique are higher precision and recall rates with fast matching time. (2) Object recognition based on skeletal graphs. The topologies of objects' skeletal graphs are captured and compared at the node level. Such graph representation allows preservation of the skeletal graph's coherence without sacrificing the flexibility of matching similar portions of graphs across different levels. The technique is robust to translation, scaling, and rotation invariants at object level. This technique achieves high precision and recall rates with reasonable matching time and storage space. (3) ASIA (Automatic Sampling-based Image Annotation) is a technique based on a new sampling-based matching framework allowing users to identify their area of interest. ASIA eliminates noise, or irrelevant areas of the image. ASIA is robust to translation, scaling, and rotation invariants at the object level. This technique also achieves high precision and recall rates. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)


William Allen White was known as the editor of the Emporia Gazette, as a political leader in the Republican Party in Kansas, and as a spokesman for the Middle West. His contributions to literature in the form of two novels and more than fifty short stories are seldom remembered today, but it was his ambition at one time to earn his living and reputation as an author, and not as a politician or a journalist. White's biography forms the second chapter of this study, emphasizing the elements in his early life which most affected the form and content of his fiction and defining the events of his political and journalistic career which changed the direction his fiction took. His philosophy of life as seen in his attitudes toward social, political, and economic issues of the day is discussed in the third chapter. The fourth chapter is devoted to his theories of literature and to their practical application in his fiction. Like many other writers at the turn of the century, he was caught up in the ferment of ideas which marked that era. A detailed study of representative examples of White's short fiction is contained in the fifth chapter. White's technical accomplishments and failures and the recurrent themes he used in his fiction are at the center of the study and are illustrated by a large sampling of his stories.


Abstract. Motivated by the need to develop instrumental techniques for characterizing organic aerosol aging, we report on the performance of the Toronto Photo-Oxidation Tube (TPOT) and Potential Aerosol Mass (PAM) flow tube reactors under a variety of experimental conditions. The PAM system was designed with lower surface-area-to-volume (SA/V) ratio to minimize wall effects; the TPOT reactor was designed to study heterogeneous aerosol chemistry where wall loss can be independently measured. The following studies were performed: (1) transmission efficiency measurements for CO2, SO2, and bis(2-ethylhexyl) sebacate (BES) particles, (2) H2SO4 yield measurements from the oxidation of SO2, (3) residence time distribution (RTD) measurements for CO2, SO2, and BES particles, (4) aerosol mass spectra, O/C and H/C ratios, and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity measurements of BES particles exposed to OH radicals, and (5) aerosol mass spectra, O/C and H/C ratios, CCN activity, and yield measurements of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) generated from gas-phase OH oxidation of m-xylene and α-pinene. OH exposures ranged from (2.0 ± 1.0) × 1010 to (1.8 ± 0.3) × 1012 molec cm−3 s. Where applicable, data from the flow tube reactors are compared with published results from the Caltech smog chamber. The TPOT yielded narrower RTDs. However, its transmission efficiency for SO2 was lower than that for the PAM. Transmission efficiency for BES and H2SO4 particles was size-dependent and was similar for the two flow tube designs. Oxidized BES particles had similar O/C and H/C ratios and CCN activity at OH exposures greater than 1011 molec cm−3 s, but different CCN activity at lower OH exposures. The O/C ratio, H/C ratio, and yield of m-xylene and α-pinene SOA was strongly affected by reactor design and operating conditions, with wall interactions seemingly having the strongest influence on SOA yield. At comparable OH exposures, flow tube SOA was more oxidized than smog chamber SOA, possibly because of faster gas-phase oxidation relative to particle nucleation. SOA yields were lower in the TPOT than in the PAM, but CCN activity of flow-tube-generated SOA particles was similar. For comparable OH exposures, α-pinene SOA yields were similar in the PAM and Caltech chambers, but m-xylene SOA yields were much lower in the PAM compared to the Caltech chamber.


In The Algebraic Mind, Gary Marcus attempts to integrate two theories about how the mind works, one that says that the mind is a computer-like manipulator of symbols, and another that says that the mind is a large network of neurons working together in parallel. Resisting the conventional wisdom that says that if the mind is a large neural network it cannot simultaneously be a manipulator of symbols, Marcus outlines a variety of ways in which neural systems could be organized so as to manipulate symbols, and he shows why such systems are more likely to provide an adequate substrate for language and cognition than neural systems that are inconsistent with the manipulation of symbols. Concluding with a discussion of how a neurally realized system of symbol-manipulation could have evolved and how such a system could unfold developmentally within the womb, Marcus helps to set the future agenda of cognitive neuroscience.


To link Marxism and ecological transition may seem at first like trying to bridge two entirely different movements and discourses, each with its own history and logic: one having mainly to do with class relations, the other with the relation between humans and the environment. However, historically socialism has influenced the development of ecological thought and practice, while ecology has informed socialist thought and practice. Since the nineteenth century, the relationship between the two has been complex, interdependent, and dialectical.… This essay unearths the deep ecological roots of Marx's thought, showing how he brought an environmental perspective to bear on the overarching question of social transformation. From there it traces the evolution of Marxian ecology, illuminating its profound, formative link to modern ecological economics and systems ecology. It concludes with the wider project of building the broad and deep social movement required to halt and reverse ecological and social destruction.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Although a good deal of recent critical attention to Melville's writing has followed the lead of Robert K. Martin in addressing the issue of sexuality, the predominant themes in discussions of "Bartleby" remain changes in the nature of the workplace in antebellum America and transformations in capitalism. But, if one of the abiding mysteries of the story is the failure of the lawyer–narrator to sever his relationship with his young scrivener once Bartleby embarks upon his policy of preferring not to, it is a mystery that makes sense within both of these critical discourses. On the one hand, the longevity of the relationship dramatizes a tension implicit in Michael Gilmore's suggestion that the lawyer–narrator straddles the old and the new economic orders of the American market-place. Although he may employ his scriveners "as a species of productive property and little else", his attachment to his employees is overwhelmingly paternalistic and protective. On the other hand, James Creech suggests that Pierre (published the year before "Bartleby") is a novel preoccupied with the closeting of homosexual identity within the values of an American middleclass family, while Gregory Woods describes Melville as the nearest thing in the prose world of the American Renaissance to the Good Gay Poet Whitman. In this critical context the longevity of the relationship suggests that the lawyer–narrator's desire to know Bartleby, to protect him, to tolerate him, to be close to him, to have him for his own, and then to retell the story of their relationship, needs to be considered in relation to sexual desire.


Anthropogenic conversion of natural habitats is the greatest threat to biodiversity and one of the primary reasons for establishing protected areas (PAs). Here, we show that PA establishment outpaced habitat conversion between 1993 and 2009 across all biomes and the majority (n = 567, 71.4%) of ecoregions globally. However, high historic rates of conversion meant that 447 (56.2%) ecoregions still exhibit a high ratio of conversion to protection, and of these, 127 (15.9%) experienced further increases in this ratio between 1993 and 2009. We identify 41 "crisis ecoregions" in 45 countries where recent habitat conversion is severe and PA coverage remains extremely low. While the recent growth in PAs is a notable conservation achievement, international conventions and associated finance mechanisms should prioritize areas where habitat is being lost rapidly relative to protection, such as the crisis ecoregions identified here.


Considerable controversy swirls around the extent to which Russia's elections have been falsified. We argue here on the basis of an assessment of aberrant distributions of turnout in official election returns for each of Russia's national elections beginning in 1995, that falsifications in the form of stuffed ballot boxes and artificially augmented election counts, whose significance was first apparent in its ethnic republics, has now spread to and metastasized within both rural and urban oblast districts. That spread, moreover, unashamedly accelerated during the Putin administration - notably the 2004 election - and has sustained itself thru the 2007 Duma parliamentary vote.


The electricity generation mix of many European countries is strongly dominated by fossil fuelled power plants. Given that CO2-emissions are responsible for a major part of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, emission trading has been introduced in the EU in 2005. Under the European emissions trading scheme (ETS), the emission quantities of major industry branches, most notably the electricity industry are capped and a system of tradable CO2 emission permits is established. Although the effects of emission trading on emissions, industry structure and investment had been analysed on beforehand by a number of models, the impact of rules for primary permit allocation has so far hardly been focused on. This was mostly seen as a distributional issue not affecting the efficiency of the market mechanism itself. However a closer look at the permit allocation rules shows that the number of permits allocated to new plants often depends on their fuel and technology (e. g. in Germany). This may consequently have distorting effects on market prices and investment decisions, which so far have been hardly investigated quantitatively. In order to analyse such effects, a mixed complimentary programming (MCP) model is developed, which allows to model investment incentives in the electricity sector. It takes into account major power generation technologies, emission constraints, endogenous investment allocation rules and price elasticity of demand. In particular also the time-varying structure of electricity demand is accounted for and the corresponding distinction of base- and peak-load technologies. The model is applied to the EU-27 focusing on the year 2015, i.e. on the third trading period, where so far no decision has been made on the allocation rules to be applied. From this analysis we derive the average market prices for emission allowances and electricity and the optimal power plant capacities under different allocation schemes. In a pure environmental perspective the auctioning of permits is expected to be a first-best solution, but it could endanger the competitiveness and the security of supply of the European Union. The reason for the latter is that the generation mix becomes biased in favour of gas fuelled plants, which are associated with the least specific CO2-emissions, but have to be imported to a large extent from politically unreliable regions like Russia or the Middle East. The results of our analysis however show that allocating emissions for free, based on expected full-load hours and fuel specifics, will lead to higher CO2-prices whilst the effect of securing supply is only limited. Also electricity prices will only be slightly lower, so that the contribution of free allocation schemes to economic competitiveness is also limited.


Intensive research over the past few years has provided evidence, that stress is a potent modulator of brain function and cognition. In particular cognitive and emotional processes have been shown to be susceptible to modulation by stress. Whereas acute stress and/or a transient activation of the stress system can have beneficial consequences on learning and memory processes, prolonged or extensive stress can induce structural and functional alterations in various brain regions, which are accompanied by cognitive impairments and emotional changes. Moreover, increasing evidence points out that inappropriate stress response and/or control might be associated with the development and exacerbation of a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), a cell surface macromolecule which is abundantly expressed in the vertebrate nervous system, plays a key role during neural development and has been implicated in activity induced synaptic plasticity as well as cognitive and emotional processes in adulthood. Altered expression of NCAM has been hypothesized to be one of the key events underlying structural and functional alterations in response to stress and accumulating evidence in rodents are showing decreased hippocampal NCAM expression after chronic stress. However, since most of the available evidence for this hypothesis has been either correlational or circumstantial, we aimed here to provide evidence for a causal involvement of NCAM in stress-induced cognitive and emotional disturbances. For this purpose, we evaluated the consequence of 4 weeks of chronic stress in adult wild-type mice on NCAM expression levels in brain regions, known to play a key role in cognition and emotions in a variety of cognitive and emotional tests. We found, that chronically stressed mice have reduced hippocampal NCAM expression levels and display learning and memory impairments, in hippocampus dependent behavioral tasks. Strikingly, similar patterns of cognitive impairments were also found in conditional NCAM-deficient mice, in which the NCAM gene is ablated in the forebrain postnatally. Interestingly, spatial learning and memory impairments of these mice could be recovered by treatments with NCAM mimetic peptides, which are known to potentiate NCAM functioning. Moreover, conditional NCAM-deficient mice displayed increased vulnerability to develop cognitive and emotional disturbances following subchronic stress exposure, a condition which has been shown to induce none (or only slight) structural and behavioral alterations in wild-type rodents. In the amygdala, a brain structure involved in consolidation of emotional memories, NCAM expression was increased in mice exposed to chronic stress. Additionally, chronically stressed mice displayed facilitated auditory fear conditioning, a behavioral task that critically depends on amygdala functions. Contrary, conditional NCAM-deficient mice displayed reduced conditioned auditory fear responses, which indicates a possible involvement of changes in amygdala NCAM expression and altered auditory fear conditioning. Together, the findings of the present study support a functional involvement of alterations in NCAM expression levels in stress-induced cognitive and emotional alterations and highlight this molecule as a potential target for the treatment of stress-related cognitive and emotional disturbances.


Background: Cardiac dysfunctions have been recognized as a common complication of sickle cell anaemia (SCA), and together with pulmonary disorder accounts for many deaths in these patients. However, sickle cell traits appear clinically normal, although they have genetic abnormality. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of sickle cell trait on cardiac prognostic markers by measuring high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), cardiac creatine kinase (CK-MB), ultra-sensitive C reactive protein (us-CRP), total homocysteine (Hyc), and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP) tests in adult Sudanese patients with sickle cell trait. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 200 healthy volunteers as a control group and 200 diagnosed patients with sickle cell trait. It was carried out in Khartoum Specialized Hospital, Al-Bayan Hospital, Obayed Clinical Center and Dr. Nadir Specialized Hospital, Sudan between January 2015 and January 2016. All participants were between 20-32 years old. LDL-C, HDL-C, CK-MB, NT-proBNP and hs-CRP concentrations were measured by Hitachi 912 full-automated Chemistry Analyzer (Roche Diagnostics, Germany) as manufacturer procedure, while homocysteine level was measured by ELISA technique using special kit. Results: When compared to control group, the levels of LDL-C, hs-CRP and NT-proBNP revealed significant increase in patients' sera (p<0.001), while Hyc and CK-MB levels were increased insignificantly in patients with SCT (p=0.069, p=0.054 respectively). On the other hand, comparison to control group, HDL-C showed insignificant reduction in patients (p=0.099). Conclusion: The results suggest that sickle cell trait increased the risk of patient-related complication secondary to cardiac dysfunction.


Recent
advances in sensor technologies and data acquisition platforms have led to the
era of Big Data. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), computing
power and machine learning (ML) algorithms allow Big Data to be processed within
affordable time constraints. This opens abundant opportunities to develop novel
and efficient approaches to enhance the sustainability and resilience of Smart
Cities. This work, by starting with a review of the state-of-the-art data
fusion and ML techniques, focuses on the development of advanced solutions to
structural health monitoring (SHM) and metamaterial design and discovery
strategies. A deep convolutional neural network (CNN) based approach that is
more robust against noisy data is proposed to perform structural response
estimation and system identification. To efficiently detect surface defects
using mobile devices with limited training data, an approach that incorporates
network pruning into transfer learning is introduced for crack and corrosion
detection. For metamaterial design, a reinforcement learning (RL) and a neural
network based approach are proposed to reduce the computation efforts for the
design of periodic and non-periodic metamaterials, respectively. Lastly, a
physics-constrained deep auto-encoder (DAE) based approach is proposed to
design the geometry of wave scatterers that satisfy user-defined downstream
acoustic 2D wave fields. The robustness of the proposed approaches as well as
their limitations are demonstrated and discussed through experimental data
or/and numerical simulations. A roadmap for future works that may benefit the
SHM and material design research communities is presented at the end of this
dissertation.


Studies on democracy development and peace-building in post-conflict areas in Indonesia have been conducted with consideration that beside halting conflicts and reaching peace deals, maintaining peace by preserving political dynamics and development is very important and challenging. Beside that, many recent studies were conducted with more focus on the dynamics of conflicts and vio- lence during the conflict and post-conflict periods. There are few studies that focus on how post-conflict democratization is sustained to preserve develop- mental process and maintain peace. The study is expected to fill in such gap.
The study is conducted as part of the National Violence Monitoring Sys- tem (NVMS/SNPK) program, in cooperation with The Habibie Center and the Deputy I Office for Environmental and Social Vulnerability Coordina- tion, Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, and with support from The World Bank. The program is funded by Korean grant of Trust Fund for Economic and Peacebuilding Transitions. The publication of the book is also supported by DFAT-TAF Partnership.
NVMS Research team of The Habibie Center obtained huge support from var- ious parties during the development and execution of the study. For this, the team would like to extend its gratitude particularly to Aryos Nivada (Aceh Institut), Muhajir Juli, and Joko Sutranto (Provinsi Aceh); Franklin Nikijuluw, Jamal Riry, Hilda Rolobessy, Dominggus Jacob Loury Sipasulta (Maluku Province's ITDM). The team would feel thankful for critical and constructive inputs from Badrus Sholeh (Islamic State University (UIN) of Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta), Cahyo Pamungkas (LIPI), Philips Vermonte (CSIS), Dr. Marwan Syaukani, Nelwan Harap, and Mafud Salatunlayl (Kemenko PMK), as well as Adrian Morel and Wa- hyu Handoyo (World Bank). The NVMS research team would also like to thank all the informants/respondents for providing information during the research; the executive body and staff of The Habibie Center that have supported the research completely, especially Ms. Ima, Mr. Ghazali, Mr. Kun, Vivi, and Tasha.
All of the views in this publication are those from the Habibie Center's NVMS research team and do not reflect the view of other program partner institutions.
Finally, we hope this research would be useful and contribute to the dis- course of democracy development and peace-building.