An exuberant, hands-on fly-on-the-wall account that combines the thrill of canyoneering and rock climbing with the intellectual sleuthing of archaeology to explore the Anasazi. David Roberts describes the culture of the Anasazi the name means enemy ancestors in Navajo who once inhabited the Colorado Plateau and whose modern descendants are the Hopi Indians of Arizona. Archaeologists, Roberts writes, have been puzzling over the Anasazi for more than a century, trying to determine the environmental and cultural stresses that caused their society to collapse 700 years ago. He guides us through controversies in the historical record, among them the haunting question of whether the Anasazi committed acts of cannibalism. Roberts s book is full of up-to-date thinking on the culture of the ancient people who lived in the harsh desert country of the Southwest."


This paper discusses the need for employer internship opportunities that are based on employer-community partnerships. Interpreter graduates lack the experience necessary to allow them to successfully make the transition between interpreting student and working community interpreter. The failure to make this transition impedes the professionalisation of the field as interpreters with widely varying skills are providing service in the community. The Canadian Hearing Society (CHS), an organization serving Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing consumers, has developed and piloted an Interpreter Internship Program. Unlike a placement opportunity, interns are graduates from interpreter training programs hired by the agency. The process of establishing such a program, developing curriculum and blending formal training with hands on experience is highlighted. Discussion will focus on initial outcomes and lessons learned.


Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is the second most common cause of cognitive impairment in the elderly population and it very often co-occurs with impairment resulting from other neurodegenerative pathologies. Cognitive impairment due to vascular pathology is potentially treatable; i.e. the progression could be slowed or even stopped by managing the underlying vascular disease. However, there is no specific treatment available for VCI up to date. One of the main reasons for this is an insufficient understanding of the disease pathophysiology.
Cerebral small vessel disease is the primary pathology leading to VCI and therefore its study provides the chance to elucidate the mechanisms leading from vascular pathology to cognitive impairment. Understanding the underlying disease mechanisms is crucial for diagnosis, prevention and managing the disease. For this purpose, markers play an important role, as they indicate which disease processes are at play within the brain.
This PhD-work aimed at finding optimal imaging markers for diagnosing cerebral small vessel diseases and estimating the vascular disease burden in the brain. Advances in brain imaging tools, in particular diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), have enabled the exploration of microstructural changes in the human brain, which precede the occurrence of lesions that are visible on conventional MRI. The first project focused on developing and establishing a DTI-based imaging marker for small vessel disease that is quantitative, reliable, and fully automated. This marker (peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity, PSMD) was then systematically investigated - along with conventional imaging markers - in patients with hereditary and sporadic SVD, memory clinic patients as well as in patients with Alzheimer pathology. The results showed that PSMD outperformed the conventional markers in explaining the cognitive impairment scores. Furthermore, in longitudinal analysis, PSMD was more sensitive to disease related changes than any other imaging markers, which resulted in low sample size estimations for a hypothetical clinical trial. Additionally. PSMD showed very high interscanner reproducibility suggesting that it might be especially useful in multicenter studies. Interestingly, increases in PSMD were mostly linked to vascular but not to neurodegenerative disease. Therefore, PSMD could be a valuable tool to disentangle effects caused by these different pathologies, a common challenge in understanding cognitive impairment. This suggests that the newly established marker PSMD could be easily applied to large samples and may be of great utility for both research studies and clinical use.
The second project focused on the evaluation of cortical superficial siderosis (cSS) as a potential new marker for cerebral small vessel diseases. cSS emerged recently as a marker for cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). However, the presence of cSS is associated with many other signs of cSVD, such as cerebral microbleeds (CMB) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH), and therefore its specificity for CAA was questionable. The results of the second project revealed that the distribution patterns and frequency of CMB and WMH overlap between different subtypes of cSVD. This clearly demonstrated that these imaging features have limited discriminative value. More importantly, the presence of cSS was found to be strongly indicative of CAA.
To summarize, the key findings reported in this PhD-work have important implications for diagnosing patients with cerebral small vessel disease, disentangling underlying pathologies, as well as for managing and treating the disease. The newly established imaging marker PSMD can be utilized to select the target population for clinical studies and may function as a surrogate marker for treatment effects. PSMD can be further used to identify patients who have a low disease burden as targets for prevention and early treatment.


This thesis details the development of linear control systems that allow a vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle to perform transitions between vertical and horizontal flight. Two mathematical models are derived for the control system design. A large non-linear model, describing all the dynamics of the aircraft, is linearised in order to perform optimal control using linear quadratic regulator theory. Another model is decoupled using time scale separation to form separate rigid body and point mass dynamics. The decoupled model is controlled using classical control techniques. Simulation results are used to judge the relative performance of the two control schemes in several fields including: Trajectory tracking, sensitivity to parameters, computational complexity and ease of use.


The choroid plexus (ChP) produces cerebrospinal fluid and forms a critical barrier between the brain and the circulation. While the ChP forms in each brain ventricle, it adopts a different shape in each one and remarkably little is known about the mechanisms underlying its development. Here, we show that epithelial WNT5A is critical for determining fourth ventricle (4V) ChP morphogenesis and size. Systemic Wnt5a knockout, or forced WNT5A overexpression beginning at E10.5, profoundly reduced the size and development of ChP in all ventricles. However, conditional deletion of Wnt5a expression in Foxj1-expressing epithelial cells affected only the branched, villous morphology of the 4V ChP. We found that WNT5A was enriched in epithelial cells localized to the distal tips of 4V ChP villi, where WNT5A acted locally to activate non-canonical Wnt signaling via Ror1/Ror2 receptors. During 4V ChP development, MEIS1 bound to the proximal Wnt5a promoter, and gain- and loss-of-function approaches demonstrated that MEIS1 regulated Wnt5a expression. Collectively, our findings demonstrate a dual function of WNT5A in ChP development and identify MEIS1 and MEIS2 as upstream regulators of Wnt5a in the 4V ChP epithelium.


ABSTRACT This paper tries to examine recent changes in political leaderships and subsequent policy shifts toward China in Taiwan and the United States. The primary focus will be on the historic democratic transition and the resulting changes of Taiwan's China policy in the March 18, 2000 presidential election, in which the 55-year rule of the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), was peacefully replaced by the opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). More precisely, the focus will be sharpened to look at the policy shift the new president, Chen Shui-bian, was forced to make to depart from his predecessor, Lee Teng-hui. The policy contrast between the two presidents says a lot about not only the statesmanship of the two leaders but also Taiwan's predicament in dealing with the complex cross-Taiwan-Strait relations. In addition, it shows the difficulty the new Chen administration faces in running a minority government in the newly democratized polity. For comparison, the paper will also look at the leadership change in Washington and the new foreign policy toward China of the new president, George W. Bush. In Taiwan, from Lee Teng-hui to Chen Shui-bian, and in the United States, from Bill Clinton to George Bush, the policy shifts are interesting. By pinpointing policy shifts in Taipei and Washington, if not explicitly, the paper should present a macro-picture of the dynamics and complexity of the triangular Taiwan-China-US relations. JEL: H77 Keywords: Taiwan-US-China relations; Leadership; Democracy; Independence; Reunification; Partnership; Competitors I. INTRODUCTION If war is an extension of diplomacy, then diplomacy, or foreign policy, is an extension of domestic politics. This is particularly so in the politics of Taiwan's fledgling democracy. The change of guards from KMT's Lee Teng-hui to DPP's Chen Shui-bian in May 2000 was such a dramatic event that it must have impact on Taiwan's most important, indeed critical, relations with its giant neighbor across the Taiwan Strait. However, the irony is that the expected sea change has so far failed to eventuate as many people predicted. On the contrary, in terms of China policy, Chen Shui-bian has not only not gone further than Lee Teng-hui but rather retreated from the 'two-state' position, the legacy Lee had left behind when he stepped down. In Taiwan, there is a popular analogy. Taiwan's Moses, Lee Teng-hui, was supposed to lead Taiwanese people out of Egypt and he did. Like Moses' successor, Joshua, Lee's 'true' disciple, Chen Shui-bian, is supposed to bring Taiwanese people to Canaan, the promised land. Will Chen do so? Many Taiwanese are pondering over such a poignant question. II. LEE TENG-HUI AND 'NEW TAIWANESE' In a transitional society, leadership is important. In Taiwan, the leadership change from Chiang Kai-shek and son Ching-kuo to Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian marked a paradigm shift. The Chiangs retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after they lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong and his communists. Both of them wanted to reclaim their 'mandate of heaven' and return to rule the Middle Kingdom. Lee and Chen are both 'native sons' of Taiwan. They have nothing to do with the Chinese civil war. They do not want to have quarrels with the Chinese communists. All they want is to democratize Taiwan and build it into a new, free and prosperous nation-state. Lee Teng-hui was born in Taipei County, Taiwan, in 1923. He attended Japanese school, up to high-school level, in Taiwan and in 1943 went to the Imperial Kyoto University to study agriculture economics. He was a kendo (Japanese swordsmanship) enthusiast. While still in high school, in 1940, he changed his Chinese name to Japanese name. Before 1945, he thought he was Japanese. After the War, he returned to attend the National Taiwan University and became a lecturer there. He witnessed the 2-28 (February 28, 1947) massacres and was once arrested for suspicion of links with communist activities. …


Law resists theorems. We have hypotheses, typologies, heuristics, and conundrums. But, until now, only one plausible theorem - and that we borrowed from economics. Could there be a second, the Rose Theorem?
Any theorem must generalize, be falsifiable, and have predictive power. Law's theorems, however, seem to require three additional qualities: they emerge from tales of ordinary stuff; are named for, not by, their creators; and have no single authoritative form. For example, Ronald Coase wrote of ranchers and farmers. He has always shied away from the Theorem project. When later scholars formalized his parable, they created multiple and inconsistent versions. Likewise, Carol Rose writes rich narratives of maypoles and foxes, rivers and roman roads. She offers a theory of human motivation and predictions about our behavior. And we may ask, though she might not, whether the rich alluvial mud of her scholarship crystallizes into a Rose Theorem.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize the bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of oral and injectable formulations of methadone after IV, oral, and intragastric administration in horses.

ANIMALS
6 healthy adult horses.

PROCEDURES
Horses received single doses (each 0.15 mg/kg) of an oral formulation of methadone hydrochloride orally or intragastrically or an injectable formulation of the drug orally, intragastrically, or IV (5 experimental treatments/horse; 2-week washout period between each experimental treatment). A blood sample was collected from each horse before and at predetermined time points over a 360-minute period after each administration of the drug to determine serum drug concentration by use of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and to estimate pharmacokinetic parameters by use of a noncompartmental model. Horses were monitored for adverse effects.

RESULTS
In treated horses, serum methadone concentrations were equivalent to or higher than the effective concentration range reported for humans, without induction of adverse effects. Oral pharmacokinetics in horses included a short half-life (approx 1 hour), high total body clearance corrected for bioavailability (5 to 8 mL/min/kg), and small apparent volume of distribution corrected for bioavailability (0.6 to 0.9 L/kg). The bioavailability of methadone administered orally was approximately 3 times that associated with intragastric administration.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Absorption of methadone in the small intestine in horses appeared to be limited owing to the low bioavailability after intragastric administration. Better understanding of drug disposition, including absorption, could lead to a more appropriate choice of administration route that would enhance analgesia and minimize adverse effects in horses.


We describe a technique for real-time rendering of dynamic, spatially-varying BRDFs in static scenes with all-frequency shadows from environmental and point lights. The 6D SVBRDF is represented with a general microfacet model and spherical lobes fit to its 4D spatially-varying normal distribution function (SVNDF). A sum of spherical Gaussians (SGs) provides an accurate approximation with a small number of lobes. Parametric BRDFs are fit on-the-fly using simple analytic expressions; measured BRDFs are fit as a preprocess using nonlinear optimization. Our BRDF representation is compact, allows detailed textures, is closed under products and rotations, and supports reflectance of arbitrarily high specularity. At run-time, SGs representing the NDF are warped to align the half-angle vector to the lighting direction and multiplied by the microfacet shadowing and Fresnel factors. This yields the relevant 2D view slice on-the-fly at each pixel, still represented in the SG basis. We account for macro-scale shadowing using a new, nonlinear visibility representation based on spherical signed distance functions (SSDFs). SSDFs allow per-pixel interpolation of high-frequency visibility without ghosting and can be multiplied by the BRDF and lighting efficiently on the GPU.


This book is part of the celebrations to mark CIMA's 90th anniversary in 2009. It looks at the development of cost and management accounting from the founding of the Institute to today. It considers a number of immediate challenges to management accountants and surveys a range of issues and challenges that will likely affect management accounting thought and practice in the future. The authors examine the possibilities for accountants to widen their focus and become more familiar with the enterprise technology determining their organizations' cost structures and with the effects of multiple production in various locations, such as economies or diseconomies of scale. Such change may require the alteration of traditional cost models used by accountants to become more nuanced. The book suggests how this may be accomplished and highlights the need for management accountants to work as part of management teams throughout the organization as business partners rather than remain grounded in specialist information provision roles. Alnoor Bhimani is Professor of Management Accounting at the London School of Economics. He is also a Certified Management Accountant as well as an author of 15 books and over 100 articles. Michael Bromwich was CIMA's Professor of Accounting and Financial Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science (1985 to 2006), now Emeritus. He is a Past President of CIMA (1987/88) and currently serves on CIMA's Technical Committee. This is a unique survey of 90 years of CIMA research. It analyzes the research to determine future challenges for management accounting and business practices. It charts the history of management accountancy and business practice over nearly 100 years.


The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS), which involves mandates for various biofuels, is complex and has been often misinterpreted or oversimplified in previous studies. In this paper we analyze the implications of the RFS for the U.S. domestic and international ethanol markets. We demonstrate the vital role of the advanced biofuel mandate within the RFS. Impacts of changes in tariffs on imported fuel ethanol and subsidies for U.S. domestic ethanol production are examined. One of our important findings is that the RFS could result in serious misallocation of resources in both a national and international context. There is a possibility that the United States could be required to import sugarcane-based ethanol to meet the advanced biofuel mandate, simultaneously exporting corn-based ethanol, while satisfying the national overall mandate. Since the provision of subsidies for domestic ethanol production can stimulate exports of corn-based ethanol, they are equivalent to export subsidies in this situation. The removal of tariffs can reduce the burden imposed on consumers in the United States from the operation of the RFS. Our analysis shows that it is extremely important to understand the potential impact of the RFS on agricultural and energy markets.


Search engines can be portrayed both as champions of freedom and as agents of surveillance. By facilitating the retrieval of online data, they enable a global public to seek, receive and impart information. Where information about individuals is concerned, however, search engine services can also pose a risk to privacy. Due to the increase in personal information available online, search engine providers are frequently confronted with requests to remove certain web pages from their search results. A 'notice-and-takedown' procedure, similar to the one employed for copyright purposes, could offer considerable relief for the individuals' concerned. However, questions have been raised regarding the compatibility of such mechanisms with the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, due process, as well as the principle of proportionality. The objective of this paper is to analyze whether the different interests at stake can be adequately reconciled within the framework of EU Data Protection Directive 95/46, using Google Spain (C-131/12) as a case study.


Background We aimed to investigate prospective associations of circulating or adipose tissue odd-chain fatty acids 15:0 and 17:0 and trans-palmitoleic acid, t16:1n-7, as potential biomarkers of dairy fat intake, with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods and findings Sixteen prospective cohorts from 12 countries (7 from the United States, 7 from Europe, 1 from Australia, 1 from Taiwan) performed new harmonised individual-level analysis for the prospective associations according to a standardised plan. In total, 63,682 participants with a broad range of baseline ages and BMIs and 15,180 incident cases of T2D over the average of 9 years of follow-up were evaluated. Study-specific results were pooled using inverse-variance–weighted meta-analysis. Prespecified interactions by age, sex, BMI, and race/ethnicity were explored in each cohort and were meta-analysed. Potential heterogeneity by cohort-specific characteristics (regions, lipid compartments used for fatty acid assays) was assessed with metaregression. After adjustment for potential confounders, including measures of adiposity (BMI, waist circumference) and lipogenesis (levels of palmitate, triglycerides), higher levels of 15:0, 17:0, and t16:1n-7 were associated with lower incidence of T2D. In the most adjusted model, the hazard ratio (95% CI) for incident T2D per cohort-specific 10th to 90th percentile range of 15:0 was 0.80 (0.73–0.87); of 17:0, 0.65 (0.59–0.72); of t16:1n7, 0.82 (0.70–0.96); and of their sum, 0.71 (0.63–0.79). In exploratory analyses, similar associations for 15:0, 17:0, and the sum of all three fatty acids were present in both genders but stronger in women than in men (pinteraction < 0.001). Whereas studying associations with biomarkers has several advantages, as limitations, the biomarkers do not distinguish between different food sources of dairy fat (e.g., cheese, yogurt, milk), and residual confounding by unmeasured or imprecisely measured confounders may exist. Conclusions In a large meta-analysis that pooled the findings from 16 prospective cohort studies, higher levels of 15:0, 17:0, and t16:1n-7 were associated with a lower risk of T2D.


A hard-hitting and readable book which examines Mahathir's character, his ideas and policies and relates them to the social, economic and political setting inside Malaysia. Up until recently, high rates of economic growth and a striking reduction in poverty have been the hallmarks of this vibrant Tiger economy. Mahathir's success has now been placed in jeopardy by the recent economic crisis, and his rule is coming under hostile scrutiny. As one of the most controversial political figures in South-east Asia, Mahathir's success at managing ethnic tensions, policies of industrialization, modernization and foreign policy are explored, as are his grandiose projects, his human rights record and approach to corruption. Milne and Mauzy, leading authors in this field, assess Mahathir's rule within this context as well as the abrupt dismissal from office, arrest and trial of Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir's deputy, in late 1998.


Different extracts of Portulaca oleracea Linn. (Portulacaceae) were tested for their antihepatotoxic effect against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in wistar albino rats. The degree of antihepatotoxicity was measured by using biochemical parameters like serum transamiases (SGOT and SGPT), alkaline phosphatase, total protein and total bilirubin in the treated groups, compared to the control. The alcoholic, aqueous and petroleum ether extracts showed the significant activity as comparable with standard drug silymarin. Other extract than chloroform did not exhibit a potent activity as compared to standard drug silymarin. Thus, the present study provides a significant rationale for the traditional use of this plant in the management of liver diseases.


Background. In order to improve the treatment of medication-resistant negative symptoms in schizophrenia, new interventions are needed. Neuropsychological considerations and older reports in the literature point towards a potential benefit of body-oriented psychological therapy (BPT). This is the first randomized controlled trial specifically designed to test the effectiveness of manualized BPT on negative symptoms in chronic schizophrenia. Method. Out-patients with DSM-IV continuous schizophrenia were randomly allocated to either BPT (n=24) or supportive counseling (SC, n=21). Both therapies were administered in small groups in addition to treatment as usual (20 sessions over 10 weeks). Changes in negative symptom scores on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) between baseline, post-treatment and 4-month follow-up were taken as primary outcome criteria in an intention-to-treat analysis. Results. Patients receiving BPT attended more sessions and had significantly lower negative symptom scores after treatment (PANSS negative, blunted affect, motor retardation). The differences held true at 4-month follow-up. Other aspects of psychopathology and subjective quality of life did not change significantly in either group. Treatment satisfaction and ratings of the therapeutic relationship were similar in both groups. Conclusions. BPT may be an effective treatment for negative symptoms in patients with chronic schizophrenia. The findings should merit further trials with larger sample sizes and detailed studies to explore the therapeutic mechanisms involved.


This research project installed, tested, and evaluated the Mobilizer video imaging system within the Washington State Department of Transportation's (WSDOT's) Traffic Systems Management Center (TSMC). The Mobilizer (developed by Condition Monitoring Systems (CMS)) is a third generation video image processing system that uses a tracking technology as opposed to previous generation systems that use a tripwire technology. CMS advertises Mobilizer's ability to link vehicle sightings at multiple camera locations, translating to travel time estimates along a roadway section. In addition to travel time estimates, the system produces volume, speed, density, distance headway, vehicle classification, and truck percentage data at each camera location. The data are reported for individual lanes, as well as for a section aggregate. Some of the key objectives of this research were to (1) determine site locations for evaluation and test video compatibility (e.g., quality, field of view, freeway flow levels, camera reliability); (2) establish methods for obtaining reference or "ground truth" data for comparison with the system output; and (3) study the feasibility of using the Mobilizer in measuring volume, density, and travel time and its accuracy for different flow and environmental conditions.


Accurate diagnosis of disease is of fundamental importance in clinical practice and medical research. Before a medical diagnostic test is routinely used in practice, its ability to distinguish between diseased and nondiseased states must be rigorously assessed through statistical analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is the most popular used tool for evaluating the discriminatory ability of continuous-outcome diagnostic tests. It has been acknowledged that several factors (e.g., subject-specific characteristics, such as age and/or gender) can affect the test's accuracy beyond disease status. Recently, the covariate-adjusted ROC curve has been proposed and successfully applied as a global summary measure of diagnostic accuracy that takes covariate information into account. We motivate the use of the covariate-adjusted ROC curve and develop a highly robust model based on a combination of B-splines dependent Dirichlet process mixture models and the Bayesian bootstrap. Multiple simulation studies demonstrate the ability of our model to successfully recover the true covariate-adjusted ROC curve and to produce valid inferences in a variety of complex scenarios. Our methods are motivated by and applied to an endocrine study where the main goal is to assess the accuracy of the body mass index, adjusted for age and gender, for predicting clusters of cardiovascular disease risk factors. The R-package AROC, implementing our proposed methods, is provided.


Margaret Valerie Douglas
Ascent from Descent: The Theological Context of Rogier van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross
The remaining central panel to an altarpiece Rogier van der Weyden completed in 1435, known as The Descent from the Cross, is one of the finest examples of the work of The Flemish Primitives. Their paintings are characterised by their technical innovation, superlative workmanship, purity of realism as well as their, often tranquil spirituality and emotional expression. Yet despite these qualities, they have never sat comfortably within the general oeuvre of Western Fine Art Studies, as has the work of the Italian Renaissance: Theirs was the last flowerings of the French Gothic. Additionally, given that the painting it is a pre-Reformation work, it can never, legitimately, be separated from the Christian religious culture that bore it. That culture had two important elements in the early fifteenth century, the piety of the laity and the mysticism that had developed from the early 1200's. How may these facts be linked, to facilitate a greater understanding of this painting, from those critical pre-Reformation years?
 Whilst aware of research during the last twenty years, my aim is to contribute to a greater understanding of the religious context of Rogier's Descent from the Cross. I have approached the task in the manner in which the devout would have considered a mystical ascent: exploring the physicality of the work alongside its historical situation and increasingly seeking the deeper theological references. I began by looking at artist and commissioners, the more obvious clues within the work and the Chambers of Rhetoric who dramatised Scriptural events; the very active life of the era. Mary has a dominant role in the painting and though dismissed by Reformation, she has a vibrant history and presence. Uniting the visual image with mysticism required a 'journey to Byzantium', to consider the legitimacy of the image within Liturgy, and understand how differently its use evolved in the West. And lastly, to draw the laity into both, I called upon three eminent theologians from the second millennium St. Anselm, St. Bonaventure and the Blessed Jan van Ruusbroec.


Indeterminate organisms have received comparatively little attention in theoretical ecology and still there is much to be understood about the origins and consequences of community structure. The fungi comprise an entire kingdom of life and epitomize the indeterminate growth form. While interactions play a significant role in shaping the community structure of indeterminate organisms, to date most of our knowledge relating to fungi comes from observing interaction outcomes between two species in two-dimensional arena experiments. Interactions in the natural environment are more complex and further insight will benefit from a closer integration of theory and experiment. This requires a modelling framework capable of linking genotype and environment to community structure and function. Towards this, we present a theoretical model that replicates observed interaction outcomes between fungal colonies. The hypotheses underlying the model propose that interaction outcome is an emergent consequence of simple and highly localized processes governing rates of uptake and remobilization of resources, the metabolic cost of production of antagonistic compounds and non-localized transport of internal resources. The model may be used to study systems of many interacting colonies and so provides a platform upon which the links between individual-scale behaviour and community-scale function in complex environments can be built.


Western tonal music relies on a formal geometric structure that determines distance relationships within a harmonic or tonal space. In functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, we identified an area in the rostromedial prefrontal cortex that tracks activation in tonal space. Different voxels in this area exhibited selectivity for different keys. Within the same set of consistently activated voxels, the topography of tonality selectivity rearranged itself across scanning sessions. The tonality structure was thus maintained as a dynamic topography in cortical areas known to be at a nexus of cognitive, affective, and mnemonic processing.


Hiett, D. M. (1974).British Journal of Industrial Medicine,31, 53-58. Tests of ventilatory function for use in long-term animal studies. Techniques for use in long-term experiments to measure total resistance and total compliance of the guinea-pig ventilatory system are described. The resonance characteristics, required for use of the forced oscillation techniques to determine total resistance, were satisfied by the guinea-pig ventilatory system, and the resonant frequency of these animals was found to be 32 Hz. The total resistance and total compliance techniques were tested to determine the variability of repeated measurements on individual animals, on groups of animals, and on groups of animals measured over intervals of time. A coefficient of variation of less than 20% was found for repeated measurements on individuals and groups of animals. A gradual increase in total compliance and decrease in total resistance occurred over a period of several weeks when the animals were maturing. Values of 0·13 ml/cmH2O for total compliance and 0·40 cmH2O/ml per second for total resistance were found for young guinea-pigs (250-500 g weight), and these are similar to previously reported pulmonary values for similar guinea-pigs. The value of total measurements of ventilatory function of the complete animal when detecting changes in the lung alone are discussed with respect to guinea-pigs. The tests are believed to be adequately sensitive and practicable for long-term studies of ventilatory function.


Trade creation in agricultural products is defined as a statistically significant positive break in the trend function of the growth in exports and imports between member countries. The present study attempts to determine the time of any break in the trend of real exports and imports between the Canada–USA Free Trade Agreement (CUSTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) member countries for the years 1980:I through 1999:II, and document the scale of the phenomenon. The present study finds trade creation only occurs in USA agricultural exports to Canada because of CUSTA. The results confirm the theory that the regionalism of NAFTA did not lead to regionalisation or an increasing share of intraregional international trade.


Authors : Jill Stephenson, Marie Vaganay, Robert Cameron, Caoimhe McGurk, Neil Hewitt Abstract : Purpose: The key aim of the research was to identify the secondary stressors experienced by businesses affected by single or repeated flooding and to determine to what extent businesses were affected by these stressors, along with any resulting impact on health. Additionally, the research aimed to establish the likelihood of businesses being re-exposed to the secondary stressors through assessing awareness of flood risk, implementation of property protection measures and level of community resilience. Design/methodology/approach: The chosen research method involved the distribution of a questionnaire survey to businesses affected by either single or repeated flood events. The questionnaire included the Impact of Event Scale (a 15-item self-report measure which assesses subjective distress caused by traumatic events). Findings: 55 completed questionnaires were returned by flood impacted businesses. 89% of the businesses had sustained internal flooding while 11% had experienced external flooding. The results established that the key secondary stressors experienced by businesses, in order of priority, were: flood damage, fear of reoccurring flooding, prevention of access to the premise/closure, loss of income, repair works, length of closure and insurance issues. There was a lack of preparedness for potential future floods and consequent vulnerability to the emergence of secondary stressors among flood affected businesses, as flood resistance or flood resilience measures had only been implemented by 11% and 13% respectively. In relation to the psychological repercussions, the Impact of Event scores suggested that potential prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was noted among 8 out of 55 respondents (l5%). Originality/value: The results improve understanding of the enduring repercussions of flood events on businesses, indicating that not only residents may be susceptible to the detrimental health impacts of flood events and single flood events may be just as likely as reoccurring flooding to contribute to ongoing stress. Lack of financial resources is a possible explanation for the lack of implementation of property protection measures among businesses, despite 49% experiencing flooding on multiple occasions. Therefore it is recommended that policymakers should consider potential sources of financial support or grants towards flood defences for flood impacted businesses. Any form of assistance should be made available to businesses at the earliest opportunity as there was no significant association between the time of the last flood event and the likelihood of experiencing PTSD symptoms.


Abstract Background Childhood abuse is a risk factor for poorer illness course in bipolar disorder, but the reasons why are unclear. Trait-like features such as affective instability and impulsivity could be part of the explanation. We aimed to examine whether childhood abuse was associated with clinical features of bipolar disorder, and whether associations were mediated by affective instability or impulsivity. Methods We analysed data from 923 people with bipolar I disorder recruited by the Bipolar Disorder Research Network. Adjusted associations between childhood abuse, affective instability and impulsivity and eight clinical variables were analysed. A path analysis examined the direct and indirect links between childhood abuse and clinical features with affective instability and impulsivity as mediators. Results Affective instability significantly mediated the association between childhood abuse and earlier age of onset [effect estimate (θ)/standard error (SE): 2.49], number of depressive (θ/SE: 2.08) and manic episodes/illness year (θ/SE: 1.32), anxiety disorders (θ/SE: 1.98) and rapid cycling (θ/SE: 2.25). Impulsivity significantly mediated the association between childhood abuse and manic episodes/illness year (θ/SE: 1.79), anxiety disorders (θ/SE: 1.59), rapid cycling (θ/SE: 1.809), suicidal behaviour (θ/SE: 2.12) and substance misuse (θ/SE: 3.09). Measures of path analysis fit indicated an excellent fit to the data. Conclusions Affective instability and impulsivity are likely part of the mechanism of why childhood abuse increases risk of poorer clinical course in bipolar disorder, with each showing some selectivity in pathways. They are potential novel targets for intervention to improve outcome in bipolar disorder.


Abstract. Due to their usefulness in various implementations, such as energy evaluation, visibility analysis, emergency response, 3D cadastre, urban planning, change detection, navigation, etc., 3D city models have gained importance over the last decades. Point clouds are one of the primary data sources for the generation of realistic city models. Beside model-driven approaches, 3D building models can be directly produced from classified aerial point clouds. This paper presents an ongoing research for 3D building reconstruction based on the classification of aerial point clouds without given ancillary data (e.g. footprints, etc.). The work includes a deep learning approach based on specific geometric features extracted from the point cloud. The methodology was tested on the ISPRS 3D Semantic Labeling Contest (Vaihingen and Toronto point clouds) showing promising results, although partly affected by the low density and lack of points on the building facades for the available clouds.


In order to be an accountable organisation, Cloud Providers need to commit to being responsible stewards of other people's information. This implies demonstrating both willingness and capacity for such stewardship. This paper outlines the fundamental requirements that must be met by accountable organisations, and sketches what kind of tools, mechanisms and guidelines support this in practice.


This most recent volume in the Artefacts series, Challenging Collections: Approaches to the Heritage of Recent Science and Technology , focuses on the question of collecting post–World War II scientific and technological heritage in museums, and the challenging issue of how such artifacts can be displayed and interpreted for diverse publics. In addition to examples of practice, editors Alison Boyle and Johannes-Geert Hagmann have invited prominent historians and curators to reflect on the nature of recent scientific and technological heritage, and to challenge the role of museum collections in the twenty-first century. Challenging Collections will certainly be part of an ever-evolving dialogue among communities of collectors and scholars seeking to keep pace with the changing landscapes of science and technology, museology, and historiography.


Spirituality therapy means considering the cultural-religious beliefs of the people
in the therapy process and considering the transcendental dimension of the clientele which guides them
towards transcendental source. The importance of spirituality and spiritual growth in human is
increasingly gaining the attention of psychologists and mental health specialists within the recent
decades. The purpose of this research is determining the effectiveness of spiritual therapy on the life
quality of the women with breast cancer in Tehran in 2016.
Material & Methods: In this study, quasi-experimental research and pretest-posttest plan id applied with
control groups. The statistical population includes 30 patients with breast cancer who referred
toSoleimanzadehSpecialized Clinic of Oncology and Chemotherapy in Tehran, who were selected with
the convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into two groups of 15 as a control group
and the other 15 persons as a test group. The test group went on spiritual intervention for 12 sessions of
60 minutes and the control group only got the chemotherapy without spiritual intervention. The
shortened version of 1999 World Health Organization HRQL questionnaires were completed before and
after the treatment period.
The questionnaire measures 4 areas including: physical health, mental health, social relations and
environmental health.SPSS 19 software was usedat descriptive and inferential level to analyze the data.
Covariance analysis method (ANCOVA) and multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA) were used
to investigate the hypothesis.
Results: Results of covariance analysis of life quality shows thatthe life quality score for women with
breast cancer in the test groupis increased after applying the independent variable (spiritual therapy) and
the difference with the control group was significant.
The results of Multivariate Covariance analysis of life quality subscale show that the average scoreof
test group in three subscales (Physical health, psychological and social relationship health) in post-test
is higher than in the control group ; and is statistically significant.There was no significant difference
between the two groups in environmental health subscale.
Conclusion: According to the findings, it seems that spiritual intervention is effective in life quality of
women affected with breast cancer. So, through training the spiritual therapy virtual actions could be
taken to improve their life quality and their mental health


»Dokumentenauszeichnung – Warum? Wie?«. In this paper I argue that markup and writing belong to related systems for storing information and/or speech and that there is no clear border between the two. In addition I argue that marking up text done as more or less separate from ordinary writing has been used in Western scholarly work at least since the times of the library in the Museum in Alexandria and up until today. Markup means that some part of a document is identified and some statement is made about the linguistic and/or textual status and interpretative frame of that part or it is extracted for some scholarly purpose. The ways and means by which this is done may vary. It will depend both on the aim: why exactly do we wish to identify this part of the text? And on the technology available: papyrus scrolls and reed pens make for different markup than what is done with computer stored texts. In this paper selected uses for digital text and markup are discussed with examples mainly taken from the electronic edition of Henrik Ibsen's Writings.


exclusively by the same enzyme. As a ratio of metabolite to par-ent drug, the NMR is a measure of enzymatic activity through that pathway (i.e., CYP2A6 activity). The activity of CYP2A6 is determined in part by genetics. The CYP2A6 gene is Abstract Introduction: Genome-wide association studies have linked single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CHRNA5/A3/ B4 gene cluster with heaviness of smoking. The nicotine metabolite ratio (NMR), a measure of the rate of nicotine metabolism, is associated with the number of cigarettes per day (CPD) and likelihood of cessation. We tested the potential interacting effects of these two risk factors on CPD. Methods: Pretreatment data from three prior clinical trials were pooled for analysis. One thousand and thirty treatment seekers of European ancestry with genotype data for the CHR-NA5/A3/B4 SNPs rs578776 and rs1051730 and complete data for NMR and CPD at pretreatment were included. Data for the third SNP, rs16969968, were available for 677 individuals. Linear regression models estimated the main and interacting effects of genotype and NMR on CPD. Results: We confirmed independent associations between the NMR and CPD as well as between the SNPs rs16969968 and rs1051730 and CPD. We did not detect a significant interaction between NMR and any of the SNPs examined. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the additive and independent association of the NMR and SNPs in the CHRNA5/ A3/B4 gene cluster with smoking rate in


The role of management consulting in Italy has progressively changed during the last two decades, as did the requirements from the clients. Until the eighties Italian firms did not have in-house capabilities to define a full fledged corporate strategy. Entrepreneurs needed to be supported and guided by experts. Those experts were mainly consultants. Nowadays, with markets changing at breathtaking pace and with easier access to knowledge and information, Italian firms have on average become more sophisticated. Hence, what is often asked to management consultants is to support the implementation of a strategy already internally defined.


A case of atresia ani with recto-vaginal fistula was observed in a two-month old Sudanese crossbred lamb. On physical examination, the abdomen was distended, and there was bulging around the perineal region and severe straining. Upon palpation, the anal ring was felt at the anal area, voiding of feaces and urine from the vaginal opening was seen, while the fistula was felt upon vaginal palpation. Reconstructive surgery  by incising the bulged, palpable region was done. The rectum was located and sutured to the perineal wall. The patency of the newly constructed anal opening was however maintained with the use of fabricated syringe barrel. Full recovery was attained within 21 days. The animal was relived of pressure strain, pain through the surgical intervention with resultant increase in body condition score.

 Key words: Atresia ani, fistula, anal, palpation.


As the emphasis in climate change research, international negotiations, and developing‐country activities has shifted from mitigation to adaptation, vulnerability has emerged as a bridge between impacts on one side and the need for adaptive changes on the other. Still, the term vulnerability remains , its meaning changing with the scale, focus, and purpose of each assessment. Understanding regional vulnerability has advanced over the past several decades, with studies using a combination of indicators, case studies and analogs, stakeholder‐driven processes, and scenario‐building methodologies. As regions become increasingly relevant scales of inquiry for bridging the aggregate and local, for every analysis, it is perhaps most appropriate to ask three 'what' questions: 'What/who is vulnerable?', 'What is vulnerability?', and 'Vulnerable to what?' The answers to these questions will yield different definitions of vulnerability as well as different methods for assessing it. Vulnerability research that is primarily quantitative has been dominated by the use of indicators. Regional vulnerability research can also focus on or include stakeholder involvement processes, especially helpful in generating agreement on issues and understanding context‐specific aspects of vulnerability and prospective adaptations. Creating scenarios is another increasingly useful method that helps researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders think about the future and plan options for alternative futures. Current research efforts are emphasizing stakeholder involvement, with a dual focus on vulnerability assessment and social learning in the process; and scenario analyses, which may be expert‐defined or stakeholder‐driven. Both tend to span impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation decision making for a particular place and conditions. WIREs Clim Change 2011 2 462–474 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.116


Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare progressive lung disease of women. LAM is caused by mutations in the tuberous sclerosis genes, resulting in activation of the mTOR complex 1 signaling network. Over the past 11 years, there has been remarkable progress in the understanding of LAM and rapid translation of this knowledge to an effective therapy. LAM pathogenic mechanisms mirror those of many forms of human cancer, including mutation, metabolic reprogramming, inappropriate growth and survival, metastasis via blood and lymphatic circulation, infiltration/invasion, sex steroid sensitivity, and local and remote tissue destruction. However, the smooth muscle cell that metastasizes, infiltrates, and destroys the lung in LAM arises from an unknown source and has an innocent histological appearance, with little evidence of proliferation. Thus, LAM is as an elegant, monogenic model of neoplasia, defying categorization as either benign or malignant.


With the development of China's society and economy, especially entering the 21st century, the Chinese university library alliances (CULA) have made great progress, not only have built the China Academic Library & Information System (CALIS), China Academic Social Sciences and Humanities Library (CASHL) such as national alliance organizations, but large-scale regional alliances in various provinces have also been established, and "Opening-up, Co-construction and Sharing" (OCS) has become the strong voice of the cooperation. The construction of CULA has gone through the stage of networking and digitization. With the continuous emergence of new information technologies, whether to use cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things, blockchain and other technologies to meet the increasingly professional, intelligent and personalized needs of readers is an important issue. It can be said that the development of CULA has reached an important stage where they can use emerging technologies to realize its own transformation and upgrading. This article will adopt the method of case analysis to study the construction ideas (CI), organizational structure (OS), and operation methods (OM) of the CULA.


In every hour of every day we are faced with options; which route to take to work, where to go for a meal, which stocks to invest in. However, with limitations of movement, time and budget, our options are constrained. We are obliged to cut off (decide: from Latin dēcīdere, to cut off) and reduce the available options until we are left with a single course to pursue.
Since the 1970s, the decision-making process has been described by the centralized view of a good-based model in which options are cut off within the executive brain areas in the frontal lobe (Norman & Shallice 1980; Padoa-Schioppa 2011), with the resulting choice outcome fed into sensorimotor areas in order to plan the chosen movement. More recently, an increasing body of evidence has revealed a decision-making network spanning multiple brain regions, including sensorimotor cortices which have been found to represent potential motor plans before the decision is made (Cisek 2012). Representation of potential actions has been proposed to play a crucial role in decision-making: options are first identified so that values can be assigned to each of them, then the decision-making process will weigh these options and, finally, produce a choice (Rangel et al. 2008). This emerging view regards action-based decision-making, at least for decision involving movement, as a competition between movement plans (Cisek 2007). Neural activity in the sensorimotor system has been shown to represent, before the decision is made, available options (Klaes et al. 2011; Thura & Cisek 2014; Yang & Shadlen 2007) and reward expectation (Sugrue et al. 2004; Platt & Glimcher 1999). Furthermore, perturbation of the sensorimotor systems, via micro-stimulation or inactivation of the neural population representing one of the potential action plans, has been shown to bias choice probability (McPeek & Keller 2004; Carello & Krauzlis 2004; Schieber 2000; Oliveira et al. 2010; Cisek 2012). However, to our knowledge, no study has so far shown that the effect of imbalanced planning alone, without reward contrast between options, could also induce selection bias.
This thesis deals with the influence of planning on decision-making and comprises two main experiments, upon which the structure of this thesis will be organized. First, a psychophysical experiment was conducted with human participants, in which behavioral responses were collected and analyzed to provide first insights into how the decision-making process deals with different task manipulations. The second electrophysiological experiment in monkeys allowed us to record activities at the level of single neurons while rhesus monkeys (macaca mulatta) solved choice tasks, yielding data with high temporal and spatial resolution. As the behavioral task involved reach movements, our sensorimotor areas of interest were the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and the parietal reach region (PRR), which are known to form the frontoparietal network of reach planning.
The first chapter will start with brief literature reviews of the different perspectives on decision-making mechanisms in the brain, then it will introduce the current state of knowledge of sensorimotor transformations in the frontoparietal network, followed by an overview of known properties of neurons in the areas of interest. It will introduce some terminology and experimental paradigms frequently employed in the field, and will end with the summarized aim of this PhD project. The second chapter will describe and discuss the psychophysical experiment, entitled "I plan therefore I choose: Free-choice bias due to prior action-probability but not action-value". The third chapter will deal with the monkey physiology experiment under the title "Biased action selection due to imbalanced action preparation". Finally, the last chapter will comprise a brief summary and general discussion of the project.


This paper provides a comparative overview of the experiences of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) with structural transformation since the 1980s. We evaluate the different outcomes in industrialisation in these countries, explore the reasons for success (and failure); we also ask what currently industrially lagging countries can learn from the BRICS in this regard, and what impact their industrialisation had on poverty reduction. We point out that important areas for future research and current challenges remain. Foremost in this is the need for BRICS to drive their further structural economic transformation through innovation, taking into consideration their stage of development and the particulars of the sectors involved. As they develop, entrepreneurship and the role of the private sector seem to become more important. The paper is based on our edited book published in 2015 by Oxford University Press 'Structural Change and Industrial Development in the BRICS'.


The Musala section, south-east of Villa S. Giovanni (Calabria, Italy), shows a sequence of sand and gravel deposita, their source area being the emerged metaniorphic substratum.
The section exhibits two basal levels, poorly fossiliferous and characterized by several sedimentary structures such as «grain flow» and «cross bedding». These deposits are followed by a level of coarse-grained sands rich in fossils and lacking in sedimentary structures. The top of the sequence showing a low content of fossils, consists of fine sands, grading up to gravels and overlying coarse-grained sands.
The palaeoecologic study of the intermediate fossiliferous level, mainly concerning Molluscan and Bryozoan faunes, allows a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. The observed association has been referred to an in situ palaeocommunity which can be related to the modem Biocoenosis (SGCF) mixed with several other species suggesting different habitats and ages. In fact, in this level species which are characteristic of Infralittoral and/or Circalittoral biocoenosis surroundings toghether with species of deeper habitats from coeval levels, and a last stock of species reworked from older strata are present.
The sands of Musala can be related to the latest Lower Pleistocene, because of the presence of «boreal guests» such as Buccinuin undatum, Spisula elliptica, Chlamys septemradiata and Tapes rhomboides, This is, also, confirmed by the size increase of some species such as Timoclea ovata.


Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430) is arguably the most controversial Christian thinker in history. His positions on philosophical and theological concerns have been the subjects of intense scrutiny and criticism from his lifetime to the present.Augustine and his Critics gathers twelve specialists' responses to modern criticisms of his thought, covering: personal and religious freedom; the self and God; sexuality, gender and the body; spirituality; asceticism; cultural studies; and politics.Stimulating and insightful, the collection offers forceful arguments for neglected historical, philosophical and theological perspectives which are behind some of Augustine's most unpopular convictions.


I correlated 12 years of annual movement of 18 points on a large, continuously moving, deep-seated landslide with a regional moisture balance index (moisture balance drought index, MBDI). I used MBDI values calculated from a combination of historical precipitation and air temperature data from A.D. 1895 to 2010, and downscaled climate projections using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A2 emissions scenario for 2011–2099. At the landslide, temperature is projected to increase ~0.5 °C/10 yr between 2011 and 2099, while precipitation decreases at a rate of ~2 mm/10 yr. Landslide movement correlated with the MBDI with integration periods of 12 and 48 months. The correlation between movement and MBDI suggests that the MBDI functions as a proxy for groundwater pore pressures and landslide mobility. I used the correlation to forecast decreasing landslide movement between 2011 and 2099, with the head of the landslide expected to stop moving in the mid-21 st century. The MBDI, or a similar moisture balance index that accounts for evapotranspiration, has considerable potential as a tool for forecasting the magnitude of ongoing deep-seated landslide movement, and for assessing the onset or likelihood of regional, deep-seated landslide activity.


When I first began my career in hepatology in October 1959, investigative and treatment measures for patients with liver disease were limited. It was not until the discovery of hepatitis B virus in 1967 and hepatitis C virus in 1989 that the specialty began to expand, particularly with the development of effective antiviral therapy. Phenomenal advances in the knowledge of immune reactions also led to advances in our understanding and treatment of autoimmune disorders affecting the liver and in the continued development of liver transplantation--a major success story. The new liver support devices are currently showing promise but on the negative side is the rising prevalence of alcohol-related liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.


An examination experiment has been carried out to investigate whether fingerprint powder and lifting technique can recover and transfer latent fingerprints from human skin surfaces of dead bodies. For recovery Swedish Black powder and for transfer White Fingerprint Gelatine were used. Crime scene investigation is a process that aims at recording the scene as it is first encountered, and recognizing and collecting all physical evidence potentially relevant to the solution of the case. Crime scene investigators who have received comprehensive forensic training usually quickly take over the work at the scene and implement ideas from research institutes in practice. The personnel processing crime scenes should be aware of equipment necessary to process a crime scene and a mechanism to secure and transport the evidence to the laboratory. Physical evidence has the potential to play a critical role in the overall investigation and resolution of a suspected criminal act. We can therefore say that in investigating crimes, we are using traditional investigative approaches with modern methods and "state of the art" tools.


This thesis is devoted to the study of the optical properties of small metal clusters and metal cluster organic compounds. For this purpose a ultra-high vacuum (UHV) experimental apparatus has been built which allows for the deposition of mass selected neutral clusters in a size range up to 16,000 amu which corresponds to Ag150 or Au80. Cluster cations are produced in a gas aggregation cluster source, steered in an ion optics device and co-deposited with electrons and excess rare gas on a cryogenic deposition head. Neutral mono dispersed clusters are analyzed by optical absorption, fluorescence and excitation spectroscopy in the UV-visible energy range. A novel custom-made conical octupole combined to an organic molecule injector has been built, serving as a generator of metal cluster-organic compounds. These are atomically precise model systems which permit to study surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) in order to test the theoretical models and better understand the mechanism of SERS. Optical absorption on size-selected silver clusters of Agn (n= 20 − 120) embedded in neon solid matrix was investigated. The spectra show plasmon-like absorption profiles around a photon energy of 4.0 eV which match in energy molecular like absorption spectra for the smallest Ag clusters but are sensitively higher than what would be expected for the dipolar absorption for bulk silver of about 3.3 eV. The central absorption peak, i.e. the plasmon energy as a function of cluster size is presented. The data fall in a transition between a blueshift of the plasmon resonance with decreasing size to a superimposed red shift for the very smallest sizes. Superimposed, we observe a distinct structure where clusters with atom number of 8,18,34,58,92 show a localized maximum value of the plasmon energy. These numbers correspond perfectly to the fully filled states of 1p, 1d, 1f, 1g and 1h according to the electronic shell model, manifesting a clear sub-shell effect. Optical absorption, fluorescence and excitation spectroscopy on size-selected small gold clusters of Aum (m= 19,20,21) embedded in solid neon were measured. These are the first optical data on ligand free neutral atomically precise Au clusters. Au20, the famous tetraedic structure, shows a rich structured absorption spectrum, superimposed on a continuous background increasing to the UV part of the spectrum. Au21 and Au19 show the same tendency, however without any superimposed structure. Very interestingly, all three Au clusters show strong fluorescence centered at around 1.85 eV, here again Au20 being the prominent species. Comparison to ligand protected Au clusters clearly proves that the fluorescence comes from the Au cluster itself and is only weakly influenced by the ligands. For the first time, size-selected small metal-organic compounds of silver-pyridine AgaPyb (a= 1,3; b= 1,2) which are prototypes for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) have been produced and isolated in a solid Ne matrix. Optical absorption and fluorescence spectra have been measured. Raman scattering cross sections with an enhancement factor of 103 have been found in fair agreement with recent high level time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations.


The effects of ion channel fluctuations on the transmembrane voltage activity are potentially profound in small-size excitable membrane patches. Different groups have extended Hodgkin-Huxley equations into stochastic differential equations to capture the effects of ion channel noise analytically (Fox & Lu, 1994; Linaro, Storace, & Giugliano, 2011; Güler, 2013). Studies have shown that the accuracy of spiking statistics by Fox and Lu's model does not match well with the corresponding statistics from the exact microscopic simulations. The models of both Linaro et al. and Güler, however, were found to produce highly accurate statistics. Here we extend the examination of these models to the case in which the rate functions for the opening and closing of gates are under the influence of noise. For that purpose, the usual rate functions are accompanied additively by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck–type stochastic angular variables. Moreover, we argue that the existence of such noise in the rate functions is a plausible physiological phenomenon for finite-size membranes. It is observed that the presence of noise in the rates is not effective on the degree of inaccuracies within the Fox and Lu model. Güler model's accuracy is found to remain high as in the case of noise free rates. But the performance of Linaro et al.'s model is seen to degrade seriously with the increasing strength of the introduced rate function noise. We attribute this failure of Linaro et al.'s model to the use of the covariance function of open channels at the steady state, in its derivation.


The critical current density (Jc) of DI-BiSCCO superconducting tapes was measured as a function of magnetic field (B), field orientation (θ), temperature (T) and strain (e) in a 15 T split-pair horizontal superconducting magnet using probes designed and built in-house. Strain was applied to samples using a modified bending beam apparatus with a copper beryllium springboard-shaped sample holder, which is capable of applying uniaxial strains of -1.4% < e < 1.0%. The temperature of the sample was controlled with the use of an inverted insulating cup with a temperature stability of +/-80 mK to +/-200 mK. The vapour-cooled brass critical-current leads (incorporating high-temperature superconducting tapes) were optimised to minimise helium consumption. Optimisation includes consideration of the maximum safe temperature of the current leads and the effects of duty cycle and static helium boil-off. The optimised helium consumption of the leads is a factor of two lower than standard current leads optimised for magnets. Jc(B,T,θ,e) data of the DI-BiSCCO tapes were characterised based on the superconducting-normal-superconducting Josephson junction model where Jc is determined by flux flow along the grain boundaries (or the normal junctions). It was found that grain boundaries in the DI-BiSCCO tapes are thick (several tens of nanometre) and exhibit semiconducting behaviour. The degree of misalignment has been included into the anisotropy analysis of Jc and the correlation between the effective anisotropy and texturing of the sample obtained. Analysis of three different samples (Nb3Sn, YBCO and BiSCCO) is presented where the average local properties of the grain boundaries were extracted from magnetisation and the transport Jc data.


The corona generated from high-voltage direct-current transmission lines can induce the ion around the lines, which will increase the electric field and the ion current density and influence the environment nearby. Based on the finite-element method, an iterative algorithm to analyze the electric field and the ion current density at the ground level generated from the bundled conductors of bipolar lines is proposed. After the validity of the method is testified, some examples are analyzed. The method has been used to design plusmn800 kV transmission lines system in China


'...among the glories of modern publishing...edited with exemplary authority and lack of fuss...' - London Review of Books This definitive edition contains all Keynes's published writings, including less accessible articles and letters to the press, as well as previously unpublished speeches, government memoranda and minutes, drafts and economic correspondence. No other writer in this century has done more than Maynard Keynes to change the ways in which economics is taught written. No other economist has done more to change the ways in which nations conduct their economic and financial affairs. The Collected Writings are indispensable to all economists. They are a vital reference work for students, academics and professionals alike.


Abstract Due to increasing concerns about global warming and dwindling oil supplies, the world's attention is turning to green processes that use sustainable and environmentally friendly feedstock to produce renewable energy such as biofuels. Among them, biodiesel, which is made from nontoxic, biodegradable, renewable sources such as refined and used vegetable oils and animal fats, is a renewable substitute fuel for petroleum diesel fuel. Biodiesel is produced by transesterification in which oil or fat is reacted with short chain alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The process of transesterification is affected by the mode of reaction, molar ratio of alcohol to oil, type of alcohol, nature and amount of catalysts, reaction time, and temperature. Various studies have been carried out using different oils as the raw material; different alcohols (methanol, ethanol, butanol); different catalysts; notably homogeneous catalysts such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, and supercritical fluids; or, in some cases, enzymes such as lipases. This article focuses on the application of heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production because of their environmental and economic advantages. This review contains a detailed discussion on the advantages and feasibility of catalysts for biodiesel production, which are both environmentally and economically viable as compared to conventional homogeneous catalysts. The classification of catalysts into different categories based on a catalyst's activity, feasibility, and lifetime is also briefly discussed. Furthermore, recommendations have been made for the most suitable catalyst (bifunctional catalyst) for low-cost oils to valuable biodiesel and the challenges faced by the biodiesel industry with some possible solutions.


Abstract Context. Changes in abundance following fire are commonly reported for vertebrate species, but the mechanisms causing these changes are rarely tested. Currently, many species of small mammals are declining in the savannas of northern Australia. These declines have been linked to intense and frequent fires in the late dry season; however, why such fires cause declines of small mammals is unknown. Aims. We aimed to discover the mechanisms causing decline in abundance of two species of small mammals, the pale field rat, Rattus tunneyi, and the western chestnut mouse, Pseudomys nanus, in response to fire. Candidate mechanisms were (1) direct mortality because of fire itself, (2) mortality after fire because of removal of food by fire, (3) reduced reproductive success, (4) emigration, and (5) increased mortality because of predation following fire. Methods. We used live trapping to monitor populations of these two species under the following three experimental fire treatments: high-intensity fire that removed all ground vegetation, low-intensity fire that produced a patchy burn, and an unburnt control. We also radio-tracked 38 R. tunneyi individuals to discover the fates of individual animals. Key results. Abundance of both species declined after fire, and especially following the high-intensity burn. There was no support for any of the first four mechanisms of population decline, but mortality owing to predation increased after fire. This was related to loss of ground cover (which was greater in the high-intensity fire treatment), which evidently left animals exposed to predators. Also, local activity of two predators, feral cats and dingoes, increased after the burns, and we found direct evidence of predation by feral cats and snakes. Conclusions. Fire in the northern savannas has little direct effect on populations of these small mammals, but it causes declines by amplifying the impacts of predators. These effects are most severe for high-intensity burns that remove a high proportion of vegetation cover. Implications. To prevent further declines in northern Australia, fire should be managed in ways that limit the effects of increased predation. This could be achieved by setting cool fires that produce patchy burns, avoiding hot fires, and minimising the total area burnt.


Summary Treatment of volume overload in refractory heart failure Heart failure is an increasing health problem due to the aging population and the improvement in the prognosis of patients with established heart disease. In recent years new treatments have emerged that seek to improve the clinical situation, the quality of life and survival of patients who develop refractoriness to diuretics. The use of these new drugs could have a positive impact on the acute but it would not provide additional benefits for patients with chronic congestive heart failure. In these cases, extracorporeal ultrafiltration techniques and especially peritoneal dialysis seem to show improvement in functional class, reduction in hospitalization rates, improved quality of life and reduction in mortality, besides being cost-efficient.


This research has focused on five aspects of the biology and ecology of Moustached Warblers (Acrocephalus melanopogon) in the Cabanes-Torreblanca Natural Park. First, with respect to populaton abuaaandance, average density of this species during breeding season was 1.9 birds/ha. Average densities for other species of the community were: Reed Warbler (A. scirpaceus) 0.17 birds/ha, Great Reed Warbler (A. arundinaceus) 0.39 birds/ha, Savis Warbler (Locustella luscinioides) 0.39 birds/ha and Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis) 0.28 birds/ha. A comparison of the composition and structure of passerine communities of several mediterranean wetlands (Delta del Ebro, Prat de Cabanes-Torrebloanca, Albufera de Valencia, Fondo dElx y SAlbufera de Mallorca) has shown that the community of Prat is the most singular and stable, owing to the high density of A. melanopogon associated with low densities of the migrant A. scirpaceus. The monitoring of the population trend of A. melanopogon shows a decline of density between the period before and after the drought of the years 1994-95. Breeding density decreased form 4 birds/ha to 2 birds/ha while winter density decreased from 3 to 1 birds/ha. The species is present in the study area duirng the whole year. Its density increases in march and reaches a maximum early in summer, but decreases until a minimum by the end of this season. Density increases again in autumn and decreases in mid winter. The analysis of ringing recoveries has shown important differences between the four european populations with enough data available (lake Neusiedler, Camargue, Prat, SAlbufera). The population of Prat makes movementes in two opposite directions (NE and SW). Youngs of this population diseperse from may to july while adults disperse between july and september. Native birds of the Prat are recaptured in other wetlands mainly between july and november, but may remain there even until february and march. There are no differences between young and adults in the temporal distribution of captures in these wetlands. The biometrical analysis identified differences between males and females in most paremeters studied. Moreover, wing length and weight increase with age. It has been possible to develop a logistic regression model, based in the lenght of primaries 2, 3, 8 and 9, that allows the classification of most wintering individuals as being native of the Prat or coming from the french population. This model has been used to study the winter phenology of both populations. Finally, the capture-recapture data have been used to estimate apparent survival (?). This parameter has decreased along the study years, form values of about 0.7 in the period 1990-93 to values of 0.5 in 1994-2002. Survival of youngs has oscillated around 0.3. The climatic variables analyzed seem to be not related to survival fluctuations, but it is probable that this decrease of survival be one of the causes of the population decrease.


Global hydrological models (GHMs) have become an established tool to simulate water resources worldwide. Most of the GHMs are however uncalibrated and typically use a set of basic hydrological parameters, that could potentially lead to unrealistic projections of the terrestrial water cycle. The calibration of hydrological models is usually performed by using and comparing modeled to observed discharge. Accurate station data and reliable time series data of discharge are, however, often not available for many parts of the world and classic calibration approaches are therefore not feasible. In this paper, we aim to develop a new calibration approach that requires no additional data, is easy to implement, and substantially improves model performance, especially in regions where uncalibrated model performance is rather poor. This is achieved by using the Budyko framework, which provides a conceptual representation of the long‐term water and energy balance. We use a state‐of‐the‐art GHM and calibrate the model within nine river catchments of different sizes and characteristics. Since observed river discharge is available for these catchments, we are able to compare the Budyko‐based calibration approach to a classic discharge‐based calibration scheme and the uncalibrated model version. In all catchments, the Budyko‐based calibration approach decreases biases and increases model performance compared to the uncalibrated model version although performance improvements obtained through a classic calibration approach are greater. Nonetheless, a Budyko‐based calibration is a valuable, intermediate approach between use of a basic set of a priori hydrological parameters and classical calibration against discharge data.


The purpose of this paper is to set out the history and origins of dementia-friendly communities (DFCs) and age-friendly communities (AFCs) in the UK, the differing frameworks and how they compare, and set out some key messages about how they might learn from each other.,This paper is a summary piece written by leaders in the two fields.,It aims to reduce potential confusion around AFCs and DFCs, and provides some practical ways that the two initiatives might work together and find common ground. By learning from each other, both age-friendly and DFCs can grow their reach and their impact as complementary, and not competing, programmes.,The original development of some of the ideas in this paper comes from a paper Natalie Turner co-wrote with Lydia Morken at AARP (www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/livable-communities/documents-2016/Better-Together-Research-Report.pdf). For this paper, the authors reviewed the approach within the UK context and have furthered and added to the original insights.


The typical British publicly traded company has widely dispersed share ownership and is run by professionally trained managers who collectively own an insufficiently large percentage of shares to dictate the outcome when shareholders vote. This separation of ownership and control has not only dictated the tenor of corporate governance debate in Britain but serves to distinguish the UK from most other countries. Existing theories fail to account adequately for arrangements in the UK. Corporate Ownership and Control accordingly seeks to explain why ownership became divorced from control in major British companies. The book is organized by reference to the 'sell side', which encompasses the factors that might prompt those owning large blocks of shares to exit or accept dilution of their stake, and the 'buy side', which involves factors that motivate investors to buy equities and deter the new shareholders from themselves exercising control. The book's approach is strongly historical in orientation, as it examines how matters evolved from the 17th century right through to today. While a modern-style divorce of ownership and control can be traced back at least as far as mid-19th century railways, the 'outsider/arms-length' system of ownership and control that currently characterizes British corporate governance did not crystallize until the middle of the 20th century. The book brings the story right up to date by showing current arrangements are likely to be durable. Correspondingly, the insights the book offers should remain salient for some time to come.


This study examined how Math-Curriculum Based Measurement (M-CBM) benchmark assessment scores predict fifth grade math Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment scores. Three school districts participated in the study by providing student data on math benchmark assessments and fifth grade math SOL assessment scores. Scores were organized and analyzed to determine the level of prediction between the two data sets. The results of the study indicated that M-CBM benchmark assessments were good predictors of fifth grade math SOL assessment scores. A second purpose of the study was to measure the differences in the capacity of three different M-CBM benchmark assessments in predicting fifth grade math SOL assessment scores. The three school districts used M-CBM benchmark assessments that varied in the method of creation and the type (commercial, teacher created, released test item) to develop the assessments. The findings show the M-CBM benchmark assessments created by teachers were better predictors of student scores on the fifth grade math SOL assessment followed by released test items and the commercially developed assessments. The third goal of the research study was to determine if there were differences in costs associated with three different M-CBM benchmark assessments. The reported costs for each of the three assessment types were analyzed but the gross cost per student did not accurately reflect the total costs involved in creating, operating, and/or maintaining the M-CBM benchmark assessment systems in any of the three districts. A literature review identified contributions in the field in the areas of assessment, Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM), and predicting student performance. The research design was quantitative and the school district data collected was over the 2009-2010 school year. Recommendation for future research was to focus on the implementation methods and utilization of M-CBM benchmark assessments by teachers to modify instruction. Possible research on how the benchmark data can be utilized or converted into a practical classroom predictor of SOL assessment outcomes was recommended also.


Compact arrays of gold nanoantennas can be used to create optical structures that bend the path of light in unusual ways. The bent appearance of a stick half-submerged in water is caused by the difference in refractive indices of air and water—light travels more slowly in water than in air (see the figure, panel A) and refracts and reflects off the air-water interface. Snell's law (1) lets us calculate the bending angle if we know the geometry and the refractive indices. In complex optical instruments, where several lenses, mirrors, and other components may be present, designers control the bending by keeping track of the phase shifts imposed along the wavefront of the light; for example, a light beam can be focused by different phase shifts that occur along a curved lens. These optical components are much larger than the wavelength of light, which limits the minimum size of devices. On page 333 of this issue, Yu et al. (2) show how arrays of structures smaller than the wavelength of light, V-shaped nanoantennas made of gold, bend light by creating abrupt phase shifts through the excitation of resonances. The authors show that these compact "metasurfaces" follow a more general version of Snell's law that accounts for the bending of a light beam in unconventional but potentially useful ways.


Starting from the working hypothesis that both physics and the corresponding mathematics and in particular geometry have to be described by means of discrete concepts on the Planck-scale, one of the many problems one has to face in this enterprise is to find the discrete protoforms of the building blocks of our ordinary continuum physics and mathematics living on a smooth background, and perhaps more importantly find a way how this continuum limit emerges from the mentioned discrete structure. We model this underlying substratum as a structurally dynamic cellular network (basically a generalisation of a cellular automaton). We regard these continuum concepts and continuum spacetime in particular as being emergent, coarse-grained and derived relative to this underlying erratic and disordered microscopic substratum, which we would like to call quantum geometry and which is expected to play by quite different rules, namely generalized cellular automaton rules. A central role in our analysis is played by a geometric renormalization group which creates (among other things) a kind of sparse translocal network of correlations between the points in classical continuous space-time and underlies, in our view, such mysterious phenomena as holography and the black hole entropy-area law. The same point of view holds for quantum theory which we also regard as a low-energy, coarse-grained continuum theory, being emergent from something more fundamental. In this paper we review our approach and compare it to the quantum graphity framework.


The control-word negotiation mechanism specified in RFC 4447 has a
problem when a PE (Provider Edge) changes the preference for the use
of the control word from NOT PREFERRED to PREFERRED. This document
updates RFC 4447 and RFC 6073 by adding the Label Request message to
resolve this control-word negotiation issue for single-segment and
multi-segment pseudowires. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


We established the relationship between photosynthetic carbon fixation rates and pH, CO2 and HCO3- concentrations in the diazotroph Trichodesmium erythraeum IMS101. Inorganic 14C-assimilation was measured in TRIS-buffered ASW medium where the absolute and relative concentrations of CO2, pH and HCO3- were manipulated. First, we varied the total dissolved inorganic carbon concentration (TIC) (< 0 to ~ 5 mM) at constant pH, so ratios of CO2 and HCO3- remained relatively constant. Second, we varied pH (~ 8.54 to 7.52) at constant TIC, so CO2 increased whilst HCO3- declined. We found that 14C-assimilation could be described by the same function of CO2 for both approaches but showed different dependencies on HCO3- when pH was varied at constant TIC than when TIC was varied at constant pH. A numerical model of Trichodesmium's CCM showed carboxylation rates are modulated by HCO3- and pH. The decrease in Ci assimilation at low CO2, when TIC was varied, is due to HCO3- uptake limitation of the carboxylation rate. Conversely, when pH was varied, Ci assimilation declined due to a high-pH mediated increase in HCO3- and CO2 leakage rates, potentially coupled to other processes (uncharacterised within the CCM model) that restrict Ci assimilation rates under high-pH conditions.


A quality document for maintenance was developed to assist project managers for a contract maintenance provider to understand the requirements for the delivery of their services. The manual was intended to form part of the quality system of the company, bridging between the general procedures observed under ISO9000 and the day-to-day running of the operation. The methods and systems incorporated into the document cover work flow, reliability analysis, inspections, the CMMS and financial management.


In the next 45 years it is estimated that individuals aged 65 and older will increase by 93% in the United States. This population will require a reexamination in thinking related to what retirement is and how seniors desire to maintain their quality of life. Thus, with this demographic shift, new career opportunities will be available for students in older adult fitness, and kinesiology graduates can be at the forefront of providing physical activity to promote public health. Through the exploration of an off-campus clinical exercise gerontology experience at Northern Illinois University, specifics of the program and potential barriers are discussed, with an eye toward assisting other institutions that wish to begin/enhance a similar program. Finally, benefits and future opportunities are highlighted showing how this partnership has led to an improved quality of life for seniors and strengthened relationships with the larger community.


From Francois Nars, one of the most respected and imitated cosmetics designers in fashion today, comes a totally new, revolutionary instruction manual on makeup for today's woman. Established in 1994 by renowned cosmetics designer Francois Nars, NARS Cosmetics is one of the most recognizable and coveted cosmetics and skin-care brands, with a huge international following. Nars's visionary approach to makeup and innovation within the industry has forever changed the face of beauty. Here Nars combines his expertise in makeup and photography to create a makeover manual that transforms the application of makeup into the ultimate form of self-expression. The book celebrates Nars's unrivaled vision as a makeup artist, providing visual and textual narratives of his cosmetic process, inspiring readers to re-create his lessons on their own, and featuring examples of the newest, freshest looks and color palettes popular today. Employing Nars's own before and after makeover photographs of a variety of models of all different ages, races, and skin tones--and combining these images with the designer's instructional sketches on transparent overlays--this volume is the definitive do-it-yourself guide for anyone interested in the transformative power of cosmetics.


Postmodernity marks the end of modernity, and the Enlightenment promise of an objective understanding of the world that would enable our control of it. Modernity itself was a break with the preeminence of the medieval church as arbiter of truth and knowledge. As Enlightenment came to signify the preeminence of scientific rationality, it pushed Christianity and eventually all religion to the social and cultural margins. Both Christianity and Enlightenment, belief and modernity, are metanarratives, to use the term coined by Jean Francois Lyotard - universal accounts of human nature and history that purport to be independent of time, place, culture, and other contexts. But whereas the displacement of Christianity by Enlightenment was the substitution of one metanarrative for another, the displacement of Enlightenment by postmodernism brought no new universal account in place of modernity, for postmodernism denies the possibility of any such account. The irony of religion in a postmodern age is that postmodernism re-opens the space for radical religious pluralism by denying the possibility of metanarratives, while each religion from its own particular perspective potentially understands its beliefs as precisely the metanarrative that defines how the world must be understood. Enlightenment displaced the metanarrative of the unity of society under the umbrella of the one true Christian church. Today, we would call such an understanding of religion fundamentalist, based on its self-confident certainty that knowledge of Truth justifies using government power to persuade all people to submit to it. Postmodernism's rejection of metanarratives, however, means that religion may return from the margins of public life, but only as a partial, local, and unprivileged account of our place in the world, rather than the one true account of that place. This understanding of religion resonates with spirituality, an increasingly common attitude of religious self-discovery with which one seeks meaning for one's own life by adopting only those religious images and interpretations that seem relevant and important. Contemporary Religion Clause doctrine is constituted by a dialectic between fundamentalism and spirituality. The development of religious liberty through constitutional history mirrors the displacement of belief by modernity, and modernity by post-modernity. The competing religious conceptions of spirituality and fundamentalism are currently reflected in the competing doctrinal conceptions of religious nondiscrimination and separationism. Nondiscrimination is a doctrinal response to spirituality, the quintessentially postmodern expression of belief. The instinct of spirituality is for religious liberty in its classic form, as the residuum of government absence, and not liberty in its contemporary form, as the creation of government action. Separationism, on the other hand, is a doctrinal response to fundamentalism. Separationism responds to the risk fundamentalism could capture governmental functions and thereby use government power to endorse and to enforce a religious metanarrative. Fundamentalism generates fear and controversy precisely because it attempts to enlist the authority of the state on the side of a metanarrative, in an era in which the possibility of metanarratives has dissolved. For religious pluralism to flourish in a postmodern era, the predominant expression of belief must be spiritual, rather than fundamentalist.


By using the modular modeling method, a real-time dynamic simulation model for the non-supplementary tri-pressure reheat Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) is developed. On the basis of mass and energy conservation law, the paper discusses the model algorithms of the evaporator system and single-phase medium heat transfer system in HRSG according to its work mechanism and characteristics. Along with the related modular algorithm, the real-time simulation model, which the simulated object is a non-supplementary tri-pressure reheat HRSG applied in the F class combined cycle power unit in China, is built on the STAR-90 simulation system platform developed by North China Electric Power University. The simulation tests show that the dynamic simulation model can accurately simulate the transient behavior of the simulated object. It also has good static precision and generic characteristics. The model can be used for the combined cycle unit simulator development, and provides a useful tool for the control system design and analysis of the HRSG.


Relating the notion of political community to those of discrimination and legitimacy — and, consequently, setting up a typology which will contrast communities by the criteria they use to distinguish members from non-members and by the location they give to legitimacy, placed either in a ruler or in a process — will be made easier if we consider first of all certain striking similarities which exist between the most private of social groups, the family, and the most public, the state, similarities which probably facilitate the transfer of the ideological constructs formed in infancy and childhood into the political expectancies and assumptions of adulthood. Let us distinguish communities defined through the brothers from communities defined through the father: communities centered around a leader from those centered on themselves. These contrasts will suggest to us a natural/ artificial continuum along which political communities can be ranked, those most resembling the family in their ideas about legitimate authority and legitimate membership being closer to the 'natural' end of the continuum. I will explain later the reasons for this distinction between 'natural' and 'artificial', but I must at the outset make it absolutely clear that the use of these terms does not in any way imply an evaluative preference on my part.


High-resolution numerical simulations of the urban heat island (UHI) effect with the widely-used Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are assessed. Both the sensitivity of the results to the simulation setup, and the quality of the simulated fields as representations of the real world, are investigated. Results indicate that the WRF-simulated surface temperatures are more sensitive to the planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme choice during nighttime, and more sensitive to the surface thermal roughness length parameterization during daytime. The urban surface temperatures simulated by WRF are also highly sensitive to the urban canopy model (UCM) used. The implementation in this study of an improved UCM (the Princeton UCM or PUCM) that allows the simulation of heterogeneous urban facets and of key hydrological processes, together with the so-called CZ09 parameterization for the thermal roughness length, significantly reduce the bias (<1.5 °C) in the surface temperature fields as compared to satellite observations during daytime. The boundary layer potential temperature profiles are captured by WRF reasonable well at both urban and rural sites; the biases in these profiles relative to aircraft-mounted senor measurements are on the order of 1.5 °C. Changing UCMs and PBL schemes does not alter the performance of WRF in reproducing bulk boundary layer temperature profiles significantly. The results illustrate the wide range of urban environmental conditions that various configurations of WRF can produce, and the significant biases that should be assessed before inferences are made based on WRF outputs. The optimal set-up of WRF-PUCM developed in this paper also paves the way for a confident exploration of the city-scale impacts of UHI mitigation strategies in the companion paper (Li et al ).