The nation's approach to regulating its transportation, telecommunications, and energy industries has undergone a great transformation in the last quarter-century. The original paradigm of regulation, which was established with the Interstate Commerce Act's regulation of railroads beginning in 1887, was characterized by legislative creation of an administrative agency charged with general regulatory oversight of particular industries. This approach did not depend on whether the regulated industry was naturally competitive or was a natural monopoly, and it was designed to advance accepted goals of reliability and, in particular, non-discrimination. By contrast, under the new paradigm, which is manifested most clearly in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the goals of regulation have become the promotion of competition and maximization of consumer choice. The role of agencies has been reduced to monitoring access and pricing of 'bottleneck' monopolies such as the local telecommunications loop and electricity distribution systems.Having described this transformation in six core common carrier and public utility industries-railroads, airlines, trucks, telecommunications, electricity, and natural gas-the Article sets out on a quest to find its causes. No consistent pattern of institutional leadership can be discerned in any of the three types of government actors with the power to compel change: the regulatory agencies, the courts, and the Congress. This suggests that the causes are rooted in deep-seated economic and social forces, such as technological changes, and chain reactions that have emerged as regulatory reform in one industry segment has spread to another segment. The Article concludes that the two most persuasive explanations are that key interest groups have discovered that regulatory change is in their interests, and that an ideological consensus has emerged among economists and other policy elites that the original paradigm entails risks of regulatory failure that exceed the risks of market failure under the new paradigm.


According to conventional wisdom, American public schools have suffered a terrible decline and are in need of dramatic reform. Today's high school students, it is alleged, display an ignorance of things that every elementary student knew a generation ago. American business leaders warn that rising illiteracy and "innumeracy" threaten our competitiveness in the global marketplace. Political scientists worry that poor schooling is undermining the very foundations of our democracy as American adults exercise their citizenship on the basis of dumbed-down sound-bites. But are things really that bad? What evidence are these criticisms based on, and does it hold up under examination? In this book, Richard Rothstein analyzes the statistical and anecdotal evidence and shows that public schools, by and large, are not falling down on the job of educating our children. To the contrary, by many measures they are doing better than in the past. Minority students have improved their test scores significantly, and overall dropout rates have fallen. Moreover, our schools educate more poor children, and more children whose native language is foreign, than ever before. Further improvement in American education, Rothstein argues, should be based on an accurate appraisal of strengths and weaknesses rather than on exaggeration. Rothstein shows in convincing detail how standardized tests comparing American students' performance today with that of the past, and with student performance internationally, frequently confuse apples with oranges. The nation's student population today is very different from that of decades ago and from the student population in other nations. As critics of public education promote private alternatives and politicians debate the value of standardized national testing, The Way We Were? is especially timely.


Differentially-private mechanisms for text generation typically add carefully calibrated noise to input words and use the nearest neighbor to the noised input as the output word. When the noise is small in magnitude, these mechanisms are susceptible to reconstruction of the original sensitive text. This is because the nearest neighbor to the noised input is likely to be the original input. To mitigate this empirical privacy risk, we propose a novel class of differentially private mechanisms that parameterizes the nearest neighbor selection criterion in traditional mechanisms. Motivated by Vickrey auction, where only the second highest price is revealed and the highest price is kept private, we balance the choice between the first and the second nearest neighbors in the proposed class of mechanisms using a tuning parameter. This parameter is selected by empirically solving a constrained optimization problem for maximizing utility, while maintaining the desired privacy guarantees. We argue that this empirical measurement framework can be used to align different mechanisms along a common benchmark for their privacy-utility tradeoff, particularly when different distance metrics are used to calibrate the amount of noise added. Our experiments on real text classification datasets show up to 50% improvement in utility compared to the existing state-of-the-art with the same empirical privacy guarantee.


Abstract. Transport of aerosols in pollution plumes from the mainland Asian continent was observed in situ at Jeju, South Korea during the Cheju Asian Brown Cloud Plume-Asian Monsoon Experiment (CAPMEX) field campaign throughout August and September 2008 using a 3-laser photoacoustic spectrometer (PASS-3), chemical filter analysis, and size distributions. The PASS-3 directly measures the effects of morphology (e.g. coatings) on light absorption that traditional filter-based instruments are unable to address. Transport of mixed sulfate, carbonaceous, and nitrate aerosols from various Asian pollution plumes to Jeju accounted for 74% of the deployment days, showing large variations in their measured chemical and optical properties. Analysis of eight distinct episodes, spanning wide ranges of chemical composition, optical properties, and source regions, reveals that episodes with higher organic carbon (OC)/sulfate (SO42−) and nitrate (NO3−)/SO42− composition ratios exhibit lower single scatter albedo at shorter wavelengths (ω405). We infer complex refractive indices (n–ik) as a function of wavelength for the high, intermediate, and low OC/SO42− pollution episodes by using the observed particle size distributions and the measured optical properties. The smallest mean particle diameter corresponds to the high OC/SO42− aerosol episode. The imaginary part of the refractive index (k) is greater for the high OC/SO42− episode at all wavelengths. A distinct, sharp increase in k at short wavelength implies enhanced light absorption by OC, which accounts for 50% of the light absorption at 405 nm, in the high OC/SO42− episode. Idealized analysis indicates increased absorption at 781 nm by factors greater than 3 relative to denuded black carbon in the laboratory. We hypothesize that coatings of black carbon cores are the mechanism of this enhancement. This implies that climate warming and atmospheric heating rates from black carbon particles can be significantly larger than have been estimated previously. The results of this study demonstrate ways in which atmospheric processing and mixing can amplify particle light absorption for carbonaceous aerosol, significantly at short wavelength, underscoring the need to understand and predict chemical composition effects on optical properties to accurately estimate the climate radiative forcing by mixed carbonaceous aerosols.


Historical accounts of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment generally assume that John Bingham based the text on Article IV of the original Constitution and that Bingham, like other Reconstruction Republicans, viewed Justice Washington's opinion in Corfield v. Coryell as the definitive statement of the meaning of Article IV. According to this view, Justice Miller in the Slaughterhouse Cases failed to follow both framers' intent and obvious textual meaning when he distinguished Section One's privileges or immunities from Article IV's privileges and immunities. A close analysis of antebellum law, however, suggests that Justice Miller's approach was faithful to long-standing legal doctrines regarding the meaning of Article IV and a distinct category of rights known as the "privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States." As of Reconstruction, Article IV's protection of "privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states" was broadly understood as providing sojourning citizens equal access to a limited set of state-conferred rights. The "privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States," on the other hand, was an accepted term of art which referred to those rights conferred upon United States citizens by the Constitution itself. Even as the country came apart over the issue of slavery, slave-state advocates and the proponents of abolition both expressly maintained the distinction between Article IV and national privileges and immunities. In the Thirty-Ninth Congress, John Bingham, the drafter of Section One, insisted that this distinction informed the meaning of the final draft of the Fourteenth Amendment. According to Bingham, the Privileges or Immunities Clause protected "other and different privileges and immunities" than those protected by Article IV. Understanding the roots of this distinction in antebellum law helps illuminate Bingham's explanation of Section One, and the likely reception of the Privileges or Immunities Clause by the public at large. This is the first of a three-part investigation of the origins of the Privileges or Immunities Clause. This first part explores antebellum law in order to determine the historical understanding of words, phrases, and case law at the time of Reconstruction. Part II, "John Bingham and the Second Draft of the Fourteenth Amendment" (also available on SSRN) considers how the historical understanding of "privileges and immunities" affected the debates on the first and second draft of the Fourteenth Amendment. It turns out that a critical number of Republicans in the Thirty-Ninth Congress maintained the antebellum distinction between Article IV privileges and immunities and federal privileges and immunities-a fact which ultimately led John Bingham to withdraw his original Article IV-based draft of the Fourteenth Amendment and replace it with a second and final draft which protected the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.


Considerable confusion prevails in the mutual positioning and relationship of concepts like management, leadership, governance and governmentality in projects. This article first develops a framework to distinguish these terms conceptually by use of Archer's structure and human agency philosophy. This provides for clearer conceptualization and lesser redundancy in the use of terms. Then the interaction between governance and governmentality in the context of projects is assessed, using a contingency theory perspective. This addresses long-standing questions about the nature of the impact of governance and governmentality on each other and on project and organizational performance. The results show that higher levels of project sovereignty (as a measure of governance), are associated with lower levels of authoritarian, but higher levels of neo-liberal governmentality, as well as higher levels of project and organizational performance. The article continues with a discussion of the theoretical implications from different perspectives of causality, which provides for different approaches to improve project performance through deliberate fine-tuning of governance and governmentality.


The relationship between bodies and images has long occupied feminism. The becoming of bodies explores the way in which this relationship has primarily been approached and offers an alternative framework for analysis.

Thinking through her original empirical research with teenage girls, involving focus groups, individual interviews and image-making sessions, Coleman moves from a consideration of media images, the focus of much feminist research, to examine images more widely; as mirrors, photographs, glimpses, comments, imagination. Addressing issues of appearance and selfhood, sex and gender, and temporality, the book takes a Deleuzian position to argue that bodies and images are not separable entities but rather entangled processes of becoming. It asks the question: how do bodies become through images?

Making links between empirical research, feminist theory and Deleuzian theory, this book will be essential reading for scholars and students of Sociology, Cultural Studies and Feminist and Gender Studies.


How does an evolutionary process interact with a decentralized, distributed system in order to produce globally coordinated behavior? Using a genetic algorithm (GA) to evolve cellular automata (CAs), we show that the evolution of spontaneous synchronization, one type of emergent coordination, takes advantage of the underlying medium's potential to form embedded particles. The particles, typically phase defects between sychronous regions, are designed by the evolutionary process to resolve frustrations in the global phase. We describe in detail one typical solution discovered by the GA, delineating the discovered synchronization algorithm in terms of embedded particles and their interactions. We also use the particle-level description to analyze the evolutionary sequence by which this solution was discovered. Our results have implications both for understanding emergent collective behavior in natural systems and for the automatic programming of decentralized spatially extended multiprocessor systems.


Maps of apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) of the soil profile are widely used in precision agriculture practice and research. A number of ECa sensors are commercially available, each with a unique response function (i.e., the relative contribution of soil at each depth to the integrated ECa reading). In past research we estimated depth to an argillic horizon (i.e., topsoil depth, TD) on claypan soils by fitting empirical equations to ECa data from such sensors, either individually or in combination. The objective of this research was to take a more theoretical approach, estimating TD using a two-layer soil model incorporating data from different ECa sensors along with their published response functions. Data were obtained with three sensors having five different ECa depth-response functions (Veris 3150, Geonics EM38 vertical dipole mode, and DUALEM-2S) on two Missouri claypan-soil fields. Soil cores were also obtained in each field to provide calibration and validation TD data. Using a numerical optimization approach, response-function calibration models were developed for each ECa dataset. Best TD estimates (root mean square error of validation, RMSEv = 19 cm) were obtained with the shallower reading from the DUALEM-2S, while the least accurate estimates were obtained from the Veris datasets (RMSEv = 24-25 cm). Results from the model-based approach were very similar to those obtained by regressing TD on ECa. For both approaches, most occurrences of high TD error were localized in one area of one field, possibly due to the presence of subsoil features of lower conductivity that violated the two-layer assumption. TD error in this area was reduced by including additional ECa terms from multiple sensors in the regression approach. Inclusion of multiple ECa terms in the model inversion approach will be a subject of future investigation.


Background: Brain metabolism depends largely on oxygen and therefore constant delivery of oxygen to the brain is more important than to any other organ. Previously we reported a newly developed method to automatically calculate red blood cell (RBC) flow and its temporal modulations at the layer 1 of the rat cerebral cortex. Objective: To examine a general tendency of frame-rate dependency of RBC velocities and heterogeneity of RBC movements in single capillaries identified by fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran staining. Methods: In urethane-anesthetized rats with a closed cranial window, intravenously administered FITC-labeled RBCs were traced at 125, 250 or 500 frames/s (fps) with a laser-scanning confocal fluorescence microscope and their velocities were automatically calculated with home-made software KEIO-IS2. Results: RBC velocities in single capillaries were not constant but variable, and were dependent on frame rate, with average values of 0.85 ± 0.43 mm/s at 125 fps, 1.34 ± 0.73 mm/s at 250 fps, and 2.05�1.59 mm/s at 500 fps. When all capillary RBCs were plotted against their velocities (frequency distribution function of RBC velocities), RBC velocities were clustered at around 1.0 mm/s, smearing at higher velocities up to 9.4 mm/s. High RBC velocity was only detected from frame analysis with high frame rates since such high-flow RBCs were uncounted at low frame rates. RBC velocities higher than 6.5 mm/s were statistically significantly outlined from the main population (p<0.01). Such a group of capillaries was considered to belong to thoroughfare channels, although their diameter was almost the same as that of ordinary ones. Conclusion: Extra-high flow capillaries are confirmed in the cerebral cortex and these may be thoroughfare channels or non-nutritional capillaries carrying 42 % of the blood in reserve.


The bone destruction disease including osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis are caused by the imbalance between osteoblastogenesis and osteoclastogenesis. Inhibition of the NF-κB pathway was responsible for decreased osteoclastogenesis. Recently many studies indicated that niclosamide, the FDA approved an antihelminth drug, inhibits prostate and breast cancer cells growth by targeting NF-κB signaling pathways. This study evaluated the effects of niclosamide on osteoclast and osteoblast differentiation and function in vitro. In RANKL-induced murine osteoclast precursor cell RAW264.7 and M-CSF/RANKL-stimulated primary murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMM), niclosamide dose-dependently inhibited the formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts and resorption pits formation between 0.5uM and 1uM. In addition, niclosamide suppressed the expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (NFATc1) and osteoclast differentiated-related genes in M-CSF/ RANKL-stimulated BMM by interference with TRAF-6, Erk1/2, JNK and NF-κB activation pathways. However, the cytotoxic effects of niclosamide obviously appeared at the effective concentrations for inhibiting osteoclastogenesis (0.5-1uM) with increase of apoptosis through caspase-3 activation in osteoblast precursor cell line, MC3T3-E1. Niclosamide also inhibited ALP activity, bone mineralization and osteoblast differentiation-related genes expression in MC3T3-E1. Therefore, our findings suggest the new standpoint that niclosamide's effects on bones must be considered before applying it in any therapeutic treatment.


Abstract—Sediments are an important source of accumulation of toxic contaminants within the aquatic environment. Bioassays are a powerful tool for the study of sediments in relation to their toxicity, but they can be expensive. This article presents a methodology to estimate the main physical property of intertidal sediments in coastal zones: heavy metals concentration. This study, which was developed in the Bay of Santander (Spain), applies classical and robust statistic to CASI-2 hyperspectral images to estimate heavy metals presence and ecotoxicity (TOC). Simultaneous fieldwork (radiometric and chemical sampling) allowed an appropriate atmospheric correction to CASI-2 images.


A new integrated biomass-to-liquids conceptual process was developed to produce 2.6 million litres of biodiesel per year from harvested micro-algal biomass. Three unconventional harvesting methods, a thermochemical liquefaction process to extract oils from micro-algal biomass, and a process to produce biodiesel through the acidcatalyzed transesterification of micro-algal oil, were combined into an integrated BtL process. The new process combined four renewable energy sources to produce biodiesel from micro-algal biomass. Wind power is utilized indirectly, as prevailing south-easterly winds concentrate micro-algal biomass against the dam wall of the Hartbeespoort Dam. The hydraulic head of 583 kPa of the 59.4 meter high dam is utilized for transportation of the biomass through the facility, which is located down-stream of the dam. Solar energy is used to dry the microalgae, which in turn is combusted in a furnace to release its 18,715 kW of bio-energy, which is used for heating in the energy-intensive extraction unit of the processing facility.


Abstract Since the introduction of electronic gaming machines into public hotels (pubs) and clubs across most of Australia from the mid-1990s onwards, research attention has largely focussed on the impact of gambling venues in densely-populated urban areas along the eastern seaboard. In contrast, despite remote areas being well provisioned with gaming machines and pubs and clubs being important social foci for outback towns, the impact of this form of gambling in remote areas is very poorly understood. As a fi rst step in investigating the spatial catchments of gambling venues in remote Australia we conducted a case study of Lasseter's Hotel and Casino in Alice Springs. To determine the spatial extent of the casino's catchment, we adopted a cognitive mapping approach with Aboriginal people, support service workers and regulatory authorities. The collective findings from the cognitive mapping exercise clearly demonstrated that the trade area of the casino is vast, spanning three states and drawing upon many vulnerable remote communities in the central desert. The analysis also revealed that the casino catchment is spatially coincident with the service catchment for Alice Springs. We discuss the potential social impacts of a catchment of this nature, the associated regulatory implications, and the potential of the cognitive mapping methodology for investigating rural and remote accessibility more generally


Gnosticism, together with alchemy, was for C.G. Jung the chief prefiguration of his analytical psychology. Jung did not simply interpret Gnostic texts psychologically but also cited them as confirmation of his psychology. An authority on theories of myth and Gnosticism, Robert Segal has searched the Jungian corpus to bring together in one volume Jung's main discussions of this ancient form of spirituality. Included in this volume are both Jung's sole work devoted entirely to Gnosticism, "Gnostic symbols of the Self," and his own Gnostic myth, "Seven Sermons to the Dead." the book also contains key essays by two of the best-known writers on Jungian psychology and Gnosticism: Father Victor White and Gilles Quispel, whose "C.G. Jung and die Gnosis" is here translated for the first time. In his extensive introduction Segal discusses Jung's fascination with Gnosticism, the parallel for Jung between ancient Gnostics and modern Jungian patients, the Jungian meaning of Gnostic myths and of the Seven Sermons, Jung's possible misinterpretation of Gnosticism, and the common characterization of Jung himself as a contemporary Gnostic.


The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 introduced the most sweeping reforms of financial markets since the Great Depression. Nestled among its numerous provisions was the amendment to section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act expressly authorizing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt rules for shareholders to nominate directors to the boards of reporting companies. Earlier, financial institutions had long lobbied the SEC for a rule providing shareholders access to the nominating process of publicly held corporations. Their cause gained momentum with a 2003 SEC staff report recommending that large, long-term holders, under very limited circumstances, should have the right to nominate a minority of the directors to be elected. After that report, a battle royal ensued, a pro-access chairman was terminated, and under the new SEC chairman the SEC side-tracked shareholder access and even curbed the institutions' access to the proxy machinery as a means to authorize shareholder nominations to the board. Then, with the imprimatur of Dodd-Frank, the SEC acted, albeit timidly, to provide, in Rule 14a-11, a process for limited shareholder board nominations. In broad overview, Rule 14a-11 permitted a shareholder or group of shareholders that has held at least three percent of the voting power for over three years to nominate a maximum of 25 percent of the board. Institutions rejoiced, but only briefly. Rule 14a-11 never became operative. The rule was immediately challenged so that the SEC suspended its effect until the legal challenge to the rule was resolved. Ultimately the D.C. Circuit held that Rule 14a-11 was invalid due to the SEC's failure to "consider, in addition to the protection of investors, whether the action will promote efficiency, competition, and capital formation" when adopting rules approved.


This study aims to highlight the contribution made by different international institutions in the field of urban generation of renewable energy, as a key element to achieve sustainability. This has been possible through the use of the Scopus Elsevier database, and the application of bibliometric techniques through which the articles content published from 1977 to 2017 has been analysed. The results shown by Scopus (e.g., journal articles and conferences proceedings) have been taken into account for further analysis by using the following search pattern (TITLE-ABS-KEY ({Renewable energy} AND ({urban} OR ({cit*})). In order to carry out this study, key features of the publications have been taken into consideration, such as type of document, language, thematic area, type of publication, and keywords. As far as keywords are concerned, renewable energy, sustainability, sustainable development, urban areas, city, and energy efficiency, have been the most frequently used. The results found have been broken down both geographically and by institution, showing that China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and India are the main research countries and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Education China and Tsinghua University the major contributing institutes. With regard to the categories, Energy, Environmental Sciences, and Engineering are positioned as the most active categories. The scientific community agrees that the study of the renewable energy generation in cities is of vital importance to achieve more sustainable cities, and for the welfare of a growing urban population. Moreover, this is in line with the energy policies adopted by most of developed countries in order to mitigate climate change effects.


This thesis attempts a psychological investigation of hemispheric functioning in developmental dyslexia. Previous work using neuropsychological methods with developmental dyslexics is reviewed ,and original work is presented both of a conventional psychometric nature and also utilising a new means of intervention. At the inception of inquiry into dyslexia, comparisons were drawn between developmental dyslexia and acquired alexia, promoting a model of brain damage as the common cause. Subsequent investigators found developmental dyslexics to be neurologically intact, and so an alternative hypothesis was offered, namely that language is abnormally localized (not in the left hemisphere). Research in the last decade, using the advanced techniques of modern neuropsychology, has indicated that developmental dyslexics are probably left hemisphere dominant for language. The development of a new type of pharmaceutical prep~ration (that appears to have a left hemisphere effect) offers an oppertunity to test the experimental hypothesis. This hypothesis propounds that most dyslexics are left hemisphere language dominant, but some of these language related operations are dysfunctioning. The methods utilised are those of psychological assessment of cognitive function, both in a traditional psychometric situation, and with a new form of intervention (Piracetam). The information resulting from intervention will be judged on its therapeutic validity and contribution to the understanding of hemispheric functioning in dyslexics. The experimental studies using conventional psychometric evaluation revealed a dyslexic profile of poor sequencing and name coding ability, with adequate spatial and verbal reasoning skills. Neuropsychological information would tend to suggest that this profile was indicative of adequate right hemsiphere abilities and deficits in some left hemsiphere abilities. When an intervention agent (Piracetam) was used with young adult dyslexics there were improvements in both the rate of acquisition and conservation of verbal learning. An experimental study with dyslexic children revealed that Piracetam appeared to improve reading, writing and sequencing, but did not influence spatial abilities. This would seem to concord with other recent findings, that deve~mental dyslexics may have left hemisphere language localisation, although some of these language related abilities are dysfunctioning.


The role of high energy events in determining beach morphology on mixed sand and gravel barrier beaches is examined. Analysis of the beach response to high energy events contributes to the understanding of the significance of these events in determining the general and long term function of mixed sand and gravel beach systems. Issues concerned with the contribution of events of differing sizes to the geomorphic character of landforms are an ongoing area of debate in geomorphology. The concepts of magnitude and freql.Jency of events, and thresholds or turning pOints in the behaviour of geomorphological systems have not been extensively studied in respect of coastal science. These concepts are an underlying theme of the study. The morphological adjustments of seven beach profile sites along the Wainono Lowland Coast in South Canterbury are analysed using data from repeated profile surveys during a four year period. Excursion distance analysis was carried out on the survey data, and used to examine temporal and spatial variations in response between the study sites. There were fewer storms during the study period than were expected after consideration of documented historical event occurrence for the area. From an examination of the beach response to the seven storm events that occurred during the study, a semi-quantitative characterisation of high energy events is advanced. Due to the lack of quantitative data describing the oceanographic components of each event, this characterisation was based on the beach response. Three classifications of high energy beach response were adopted. These are 'Destructive' events, which result in overtopping or barrier crest lowering; 'Damaging/ Erosive' events, which change the status of the beach by reducing its ability to dissipate wave energy and protect the coastal hinterland; and 'Damaging/Constructive events, which result in changes to the foreshore form by net accretion to the profile. It is proposed that episodes with breaking wave heights in excess of 2.5 metres can be considered as high energy events. Waves of this magnitude produce run-up that affects over half of the beach profile. Damaging events during the study period had wave run-up to at least 4.5 m AMSl. The main differences between damaging and destructive events are in the storm water levels and the storm duration. Higher storm water level set-up occurs for destructive events than .. "':amaging events. Long duration storms ( over 20 hours) will result in destructive beach adjllstments. Four factors were no.:->d from this study as being important to the way the beach responds to high energy events. These c:re the slope of the foreshore, the presence and dimensions of intermediate berms, the pre-stoml volume of beach sediment seaward of the barrier crest, and the sediment composition and structure within the foreshore. Most of the foreshore adjustment occurs in the middle and upper foreshore during high energy events. The antecedent condition of the foreshore, especially the sedimtlnt volume content, is an important control on the type of beach response, It was found that profiles with foreshore volumes over 130 m3.m,j of beach, and foreshore widths greater than 35 metres sustained less damage to the barrier crest than those with lesser dimensions. iii A spatial analysis of the field data showed both alongshore and across-shore variations in morphology and morphological adjustments between profile surveys, A quasi-stationary 'slug', or collective unit of sediment was identified in the field area. The'crest' of the slug is represented by the region of greatest seaward protrusion, and a foreshore volume in excess of the mean volume over time. The slug 'trough' is the area between crests, which has less than the mean volume over time. The average difference between the slug 'crest' and 'troughs' was 101 m3.m·\ of beach. The difference between the foreshore width at the crest and trough was approximately 20 metres. Movement of the slug of sediment alongshore is a result of the longshore sediment transport processes at work on the mixed sand and gravel beach. The predominant longshore drift for the study area is northwards. Storms generally approach from the south or south east. Due to the low incidence of storms during the study period, there was no evidence of a net northwards passage of the slug through the field area. The presence of a slug at a site on the coast plays an important role in determining the antecedent morphology of the profile and its ability to dissipate wave energy and protect the coastal hinterland. A site adjacent to a slug crest will present a 'healthier' protection against wave attack than a site adjacent to the trough because there is more sediment available during episodes of erosion, and more beach surface area between the breaking wave and the barrier crest to absorb or dissipate swash energy, therefore reducing the risk of crest erosion or ove rtopping. Across-shore variations in process response and sediment shape characteristics were determined from field evidence. The beach profile was divided into six zones. These zones are the 'Backshore', the 'Barrier Crest', the 'Upper Foreshore', the Intermediate Berm', the Interberm Nadir', and the 'Lower Foreshore'. It was noted that no general model of across· shore zonation of sediment shape characteristics exists for mixed sand and gravel beaches. This lack of an applicable model has hindered the effective description and comparison of mixed sediment beaches from different parts of the world. Sediment shape data from this study were used to develop such a model. Materials from each zone possess a unique sediment shape signature. which is represented by a frequency histogram of sediment shapes. The model provides a baseline against which other mixed sand and gravel beaches can be compared.


This contribution presents total oxygen uptake (TOU) rates and nutrient fluxes of organically poor permeable shelf sands of the German Bight. Measurements have been made in situ with the novel autonomous benthic chamber system Sandy under controlled conditions of advective pore‐water exchange. Average oxygen consumption rates of 31.3 ± 18.2 mmol m−2 d−1 measured in this study were relatively high as compared with rates reported from shelf sediments with much higher organic contents. TOU of highly permeable medium and coarse grained sands was substantially enhanced in the presence of advection. This indicates that advective oxygen supply contributed significantly to respiration in these sediments and that advection has to be considered when assessing oxygen consumption and organic matter mineralization in shelf areas. In fine‐grained, less permeable sands, no effect of advection could be measured. A lower advective oxygen supply in these sediments is in agreement with a release of ammonium instead of nitrate and a shallower oxygen penetration depth. Scaled up to the entire German Bight, the results imply that in 40% of the area an effect of advection on benthic oxygen uptake and other advectionrelated processes can be largely excluded, while in the remaining 60% significant pore‐water advection potentially takes place. However, because permeabilities of the sediments investigated in this study were widely spaced, a significant effect on oxygen supply was only verified for highly permeable sands that are likely to cover approximately 3% of the area.


ABSTRACT We study a security problem in which an adversary seeks to attack a landscape by setting a wildfire in a strategic location, whereas wildfire managers wish to mitigate the damage of the attack by implementing a fuel treatment in the landscape. We model the problem as a min–max Stackelberg game with the goal of identifying an optimal fuel treatment plan that minimizes the impact of a pyro-terror attack. As the adversary's problem is discrete, we use a decomposition algorithm suitable for integer bi-level programs. We test our model on three test landscape cases located in the Western United States. The results indicate that fuel treatment can effectively mitigate the effects of an attack: implementing fuel treatment on 2, 5, and 10% of the landscape, on average, reduces the damage caused by a pyro-terror attack by 14, 27, and 43%, respectively. The resulting fuel treatment plan is also effective in mitigating natural wildfires with randomly placed ignition points. The pyro-terrorism mitigation problem studied in this article is equivalent to the b-interdiction-covering problem where the intermediate nodes are subject to interdiction. It can also be interpreted as the problem of identifying the b-most-vital nodes in a one-to-all shortest path problem.


The use of graphene in conventional plasmonic devices was suggested by several theoretic research studies. However, the existing theoretic studies are not consistent with one another and the experimental studies are still at the initial stage. To reveal the role of graphenes on the plasmonic sensors, we deposited graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) thin films on Au films and their refractive index (RI) sensitivity was compared for the first time in SPR-based sensors. The deposition of GO bilayers with number of deposition L from 1 to 5 was carried out by alternative dipping of Au substrate in positively- and negatively charged GO solutions. The fabrication of layer-by-layer self-assembly of the graphene films was monitored in terms of the SPR angle shift. GO-deposited Au film was treated with hydrazine to reduce the GO. For the rGO-Au sample, 1 bilayer sample showed a higher RI sensitivity than bare Au film, whereas increasing the rGO film from 2 to 5 layers reduced the RI sensitivity. In the case of GO-deposited Au film, the 3 bilayer sample showed the highest sensitivity. The biomolecular sensing was also performed for the graphene multilayer systems using BSA and anti-BSA antibody.


Organ donation continues to be low among ethnic minorities especially within the South Asian community, with a disproportionate number of South Asian people waiting for transplants because suitable matches are often found between people of same ethnic group. This thesis seeks to explore, identify and overcome the barriers to increase the number of South Asian organ donor registrants (ODR's) and actual donors in the North West of England using and measuring the impact of different education approaches.
A two phased, sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach was underpinned by health belief model theory. Phase 1: Questionnaire survey (n=907) and in-depth interviews (n=10) to understand South Asian beliefs, barriers and awareness of organ donation. Chi-squared tests and thematic analysis explored the existence of associations between outcomes, demographics and attitudes. Phase 2: Implementation of education approaches: (1) Education and training of Specialist Nurse for Organ Donation (SNOD) to develop skills/confidence to approach South Asian families for cadaver organ donation, measured by 12-month before/after audit of cadaver organs. (2) Education from the General Practioner's (GP's). (3) Peer education at South Asian community events, impact measured by number of new organ ODR's. Out of 907 South Asian people sampled, 55% did not know about organ donation, they lacked knowledge, mistrusted health professionals, and were misinformed regarding religious objections, despite 88% having higher education. Over 24 months, 2874 South Asian new ODR's were successfully recruited through peer education at 289 community events by a passionate, committed South Asian health professional. Recruitment of ODR within primary care was poor, GPs reluctant and lacking confidence to discuss organ donation, due to lack of time and uncertainty of religious issues. Targeted SNOD's cultural education increased slightly the number of cadaver donors, as their confidence in approaching South Asian families increased. Formal training of SNODs and health professionals (GPs) with respect to culture and religious organ donation was scant and required a national cohesive approach. The research provides a deeper understanding of the reasons for the scarcity of South Asian organ donors gathered from what is currently the largest UK data set of South Asian perspectives. Peer education of the South Asian and collaboration with religious leaders is crucial to overcoming the shortage of organ donors in the future. However, the important and pivotal role played by a South Asian co-ordinator/networker to engage and sustain relationships with key ethnic community leaders cannot be overstated.


Since 2001 the Swedish Higher Education institutions have been required by the government to produce action plans for widened recruitment and widened participation. The current action plan for the University of Boras covers the years 2009-2012. In 2010 the University of Boras appointed a committee to prepare a new action plan for widened recruitment and widened participation. This committee was complemented by an Advisory Board. Both the Committee and the Advisory Board have taken a proactive and strategic role in helping to build capacity across the university to widen participation. The Committee and the Advisory Board have been mentored and advised by Professor John Storan, University of East London, who has worked extensively in Sweden and is recognised as a leading expert in widening participation in the UK. In 2011 the Board commissioned an internal data report to broaden its understanding of the profile of students. The report will feed into the new action plan. The Student Union delegate in the Advisory Board, Frida Edberg, was employed to undertake field work on diversity among the students for the report and also explore how these matters were dealt with at the different schools of the university. This work was supervised by Annika Malm, coordinator of the Committee and the Advisory Board, and Rolf Appelkvist. Joint editing with contributions from the Board was a vital part of the process with the final version which has been edited by Rolf Appelkvist. The report covers the following issues: • Students geographical descent • Students ethnical origin/background • Student exchange with other countries • Students social background • Non-completions • Student with disabilities • Gender distributions within the university • Induction activities for new students • Results from the first course/courses • How is the work done at different schools and what can be done – recommendations GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND Most of the students come from the Vastra Gotalands-region where Boras is situated (figure 1, p. 3). A substantial proportion of the students come from Goteborg, the largest city in the region. There has been a conception at the university that the students from Goteborg mostly come from the suburbs with lower socio-economic status. This seems to be contradicted by the findings (figure 2, p. 4). However the data only tells us from where the students come, not the socio-economic level of each student. STUDENTS ETHNICAL BACKGROUND Twenty-one percent of the students at the University are either born abroad or have one or two parents with non-Swedish origin (figure 3, p. 5). This is in line with the corresponding proportion in the Swedish population. STUDENT EXCHANGE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES One important part of ethnical diversity is the amount of incoming exchange students and free-movers. One condition for this is that many Swedish students enough chooses to study abroad for a period. However the imbalance in favor of incoming students is quite large (figure 4, p. 6). This means that because of recent regulations from the government the amount of out-going students needs to be increased to make it possible to maintain a high proportion of incoming students. SOCIAL BACKGROUND – PARENTS´ EDUCATIONAL LEVEL There has been a widely shared conception at the University that the students' socio-economic distribution has been similar to the distribution in the Swedish population. This is changing. Obviously the proportion of students of parents with lower educational background is decreasing while students with parents of higher educational background are increasing in proportion (figure 5, p. 7). Even though the University of Boras still reach a fairly good proportion of students from families with lower educational background, there seems to be a slight tendency that this proportion is getting lower than the national proportion. NON-COMPLETIONS No investigations on the reasons for non-completion have been made at the university as a whole. There are data on this at the national level which indicate gender differences and some schools at the university try to investigate in the matter. STUDENTS WITH FUNCTIONAL DISABILITIES The University works actively to support students with functional disabilities. Student Service at Library and Learning Resources is mainly responsible for this work. Their main task is to support students in order to make them continue and complete their studies. They are thereby especially working with widened participation. Higher Education institutions can get additional funding for pedagogical support to students with functional disabilities, which are confirmed by a medical certification. The number of students that applied for and got extra support is increasing while the number of students who do not apply is decreasing. However support to students with temporary functional disabilities is not covered by this support, each institution has to finance such support within its own budget. GENDER DISTRIBUTION WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF BORAS There is a large imbalance in gender distribution within the university compared to the total Higher Education sector in Sweden. This is largely due to the mix of educational programmes offered at the university. The gender distribution of the specific educational programmes reflects the imbalances within the intended professions in the Swedish society. Gender imbalances are a complex issue at many levels but a Higher Education Institution still has to contribute to influence these in a direction toward less imbalances. In the report the situation at the dominant educational programmes at each school is described. At the School of Health, the School of Textile, the School of Education and Behavioural Science and the School of Library and Information Science female students are dominating while there is a better balance at the School of Business and IT and at the School of Engineering male students are dominating. All schools use students of both sexes in marketing their educational programmes. Small changes in a favoured direction can be noted but the imbalances are still very large. INTRODUCTION ACTIVITIES Before the students begin at the university they get written information about the university and 2011 they also got information about the services offered by Student Service. During the first three weeks of introduction this is supplemented by oral information at several occasions. The first two days at the university and all afternoons during these three weeks are filled with activities whose purpose is to make the students informed about the university, their school and their educational programme but also to further fellowship among the students and with the staff. These activities are managed by the student union. Most educational programmes offer a first course that not only give an introduction to the entire programme but also gives a fair picture of different academic activities that can be expected during the coming studies. Academic writing, study techniques are introduced in many of these courses. The retention rate during these first courses is fairly high except at programmes given as distance studies. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The introductory activities should be considered further as there are students who find some of them not very interesting. A lot of students do not participate, partly because they are commuting, to a large extent from Goteborg. The activities could be broadened to meet the demands of different student groups, not only the traditional young single students. Also the university must continuously evaluate the information given during this period as there always are students not reached by it. Maybe the university and its schools should participate more in the introductory activities. Most students seems to be content with the introductory courses but more emphasis could be put on informing them about how to do when you fail with an assignment, with an exam etc. Maybe a mobile application could be built to make it easier for the newcomer to navigate in their studies. The university could consider following up all non-completions on the first course/courses. A closer co-operation between the schools and Student Service is recommended. The proportion of students from lower educated homes is fairly high at the university but a slight tendency to getting closer to the imbalance in recruiting such students that is common at the large universities can be seen. This needs to be considered continuously. There is a fairly good representation of students with other ethnical backgrounds at the university but this has to be kept up actively, e.g. by language support. Also the university needs to continue its efforts to convince Swedish students to study abroad in countries outside the European Higher Education area to give room for more incoming exchange students. The university could give more education to its staff on functional disabilities in order to prevent prejudice regarding these students´ capabilities. Student Service should keep on sending information in advance about their services offered. Also students with functional disabilities could be offered a possibility to meet with the staff at the centre in advance, even before they know if they have been accepted to their applied for programme or not, all to avoid queuing during the first weeks of the academic year. Alternatively resources of the coordinator for students with functional disabilities could be increased.


Flash floods in desert streams can be more sudden, brief, and severe compared to floods in mesic streams. To determine their biotic and abiotic effects, substrate composition, organic detritus abundance, and aquatic animal taxonomic richness and abundance were measured 8-16 d before and 7d after a flash flood in a 122 m reach of a montane desert stream (Chihuahuan Desert, USA). The flash flood severely altered channel morphology by scouring and depositing substrates, but it did not change the overall abundance of any substrate particle size class. The flood removed most coarse detritus from the stream reach, although the quantity of organic particles <2 mm was unchanged. High losses were observed in most animal taxa (95 % overall), and reach-wide taxonomic richness was reduced from 35 to 21 taxa. Ephemeroptera were entirely eliminated from the study reach. The taxon experiencing the lowest percent loss (the belostomatid hemipteran Abedus herberti, 14 % loss) is known to possess behavioral mechanisms for flash flood avoidance. Compared to studies of flooding in mesic streams, this study suggests that flash floods in montane desert streams cause greater mortality in animal populations and remove more detritus. Ecologically, these high local mortality rates stress the importance of recolonization mechanisms. Evolutionarily, flash floods provide a strong selection pressure that may influence the genetic structure of populations.


The aim of the work is to assess the role of local-scale lithological, textural, and structural factors in the distribution of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in different ultramafic rocks from the high-pressure ophiolitic Voltri Massif (Central Liguria, NW Italy). The results evidenced that Cr (up to 4183 ppm), Ni (up to 3900 ppm), and Co (up to 334 ppm) are invariably the PTEs with the highest concentrations; in addition, V, Cu, and Zn are systematically found in non-negligible amounts. Spinel-group minerals (chromium spinel, ferrian chromite, chromium magnetite, and magnetite) are by far the main potential source of the PTEs. Nevertheless, several PTEs are also present within serpentines, olivines, pyroxenes, chlorites, as well as within accessory phases (e.g., ilmenite and Ni-sulphides) and within authigenic minerals formed in the early stages of rock weathering (cryptocrystalline to amorphous Fe-oxides and -oxyhydroxides). The result obtained allowed to evidence that the main factors controlling the PTEs distribution within the rocks resulted to be the serpentinization degree and the deformation style and intensity which, in turn, strictly control the mineral assemblages and the mineral chemistry.


To evaluate the seasonal trends of viral respiratory tract infections in a tropical environment, a retrospective survey of laboratory virus isolation, serology and immunofluorescence microscopy in two large general hospitals in Singapore between September 1990 and September 1994 was carried out. Respiratory tract viral outbreaks, particularly among infants who required hospitalization, were found to be associated mainly with respiratory syncytial (RSV) infections (72%), influenza (11%) and parainfluenza viruses (11%). Consistent seasonal variations in viral infections were observed only with RSV (March–August) and influenza A virus (peaks in June, December–January). The RSV trends were associated with higher environmental temperature, lower relative humidity and higher maximal day-to-day temperature variation. Although the influenza A outbreaks were not associated with meteorological factors, influenza B isolates were positively associated with rainfall. These data support the existence of seasonal trends of viral respiratory tract infections in the tropics.


One of the most critical challenges facing society today is climate change and thus the need to realize massive energy savings. Since buildings account for about 40% of global final energy use, energy efficient building climate control can have an important contribution. In this paper we develop and analyze a Stochastic Model Predictive Control (SMPC) strategy for building climate control that takes into account weather predictions to increase energy efficiency while respecting constraints resulting from desired occupant comfort. We investigate a bilinear model under stochastic uncertainty with probabilistic, time varying constraints. We report on the assessment of this control strategy in a large-scale simulation study where the control performance with different building variants and under different weather conditions is studied. For selected cases the SMPC approach is analyzed in detail and shown to significantly outperform current control practice.


The recent Spectre attacks have demonstrated the fundamental insecurity of current computer microarchitecture. The attacks use features like pipelining, out-of-order and speculation to extract arbitrary information about the memory contents of a process. A comprehensive formal microarchitectural model capable of representing the forms of out-of-order and speculative behavior that can meaningfully be implemented in a high performance pipelined architecture has not yet emerged. Such a model would be very useful, as it would allow the existence and non-existence of vulnerabilities, and soundness of countermeasures to be formally established. This paper presents such a model targeting single core processors. The model is intentionally very general and provides an infrastructure to define models of real CPUs. It incorporates microarchitectural features that underpin all known Spectre vulnerabilities. We use the model to elucidate the security of existing and new vulnerabilities, as well as to formally analyze the effectiveness of proposed countermeasures. Specifically, we discover three new (potential) vulnerabilities, including a new variant of Spectre v4, a vulnerability on speculative fetching, and a vulnerability on out-of-order execution, and analyze the effectiveness of existing countermeasures including constant time and serializing instructions.


In the past twenty years, improvements have been made in the quality of geotechnical information on tunnel projects. Even with good exploratory information, it remains difficult to predict the effect of rock conditions on support and lining behavior, particularly for deep rock tunnels. With the advent of tunnel boring machines, rates of advance have increased dramatically. They have been increasingly used in difficult ground conditions where rock stability around the machine must be controlled to maintain advance rates. Large underground chambers, both deep and shallow, are being excavated in difficult ground conditions, taking advantage of the ability to stabilize the openings with tied-back and continuous supports. Many more construction tools and procedures are available, and there is a growing understanding of the conditions in which their use is appropriate. The evaluation of performance is important for understanding the often subtle rock behavior effecting tunnel excavation and support. Index properties can be correlated with performance if the mechanisms controlling behavior are understood. Two contrasting groups of case histories in which field measurements were carried out are summarized: small, deep tunnels in highly stressed ground, and large chambers at shallow depth.


This work assessed the impact of aerosol-cloud-radiation (ACR) interactions on U.S. regional ozone and PM2.5 using the NASA Unified Weather Research and Forecasting modeling system. A series of three-month simulations have been carried out for the year 2010, in which the factor separation method has been applied in order to isolate the contributions from aerosol-radiation (AR), aerosol-cloud (AC), and their synergistic effects. The overall ACR effects were to reduce the average cloud liquid water path by 25 g·m−2 (ca. 40% of the baseline) and to increase the downward shortwave radiation by 8 W·m−2 (ca. 3% of the baseline). The spatial difference in response to ACR was large, with ca. 50 W·m−2, 1 K, and 100 m increases in downward shortwave radiation, surface temperature, and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH), respectively, while ca. 60 g·m−2 decrease in cloud liquid water path in central Texas. The AC effect dominated for changes in downward shortwave radiation, cloud liquid water path, wind, and temperature, while both AC and AR effects contributed profoundly to PBLH change. As a result, surface ozone and PM2.5 changed with large temporal-spatial variations. More than a 10 ppbv of surface ozone and a 5 μg·m−3 of PM2.5 difference induced by ACR occurred frequently in the eastern U.S.


During the beam commissioning of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) [LHC Design Report No. CERN-2004-003-V-1, 2004 [http://cds.cern.ch/record/782076?ln=en]; O. Bruning, H. Burkhardt, and S. Myers, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 67, 705 (2012)] with 150, 75, 50, and 25-ns bunch spacing, important electron-cloud effects, like pressure rise, cryogenic heat load, beam instabilities, or emittance growth, were observed. Methods have been developed to infer different key beam-pipe surface parameters by benchmarking simulations and pressure rise as well as heat-load observations. These methods allow us to monitor the scrubbing process, i.e., the reduction of the secondary emission yield as a function of time, in order to decide on the most appropriate strategies for machine operation. To better understand the influence of electron clouds on the beam dynamics, simulations have been carried out to examine both the coherent and the incoherent effects on the beam. In this paper we present the methodology and first results for the scrubbing monitoring process at the LHC. We also review simulated instability thresholds and tune footprints for beams of different emittance, interacting with an electron cloud in field-free or dipole regions.


The evanescent field of an optical waveguide can be used to trap and propel microscopic particles. A 1μm particle is trapped on a strip waveguide and propelled forward until it reaches a 10μm gap at the centre of a loop, created by splitting the waveguide into two branches. According to simulations, the particle will be elevated 3μm in the gap and be stably trapped in the middle of the gap. The goal of this thesis is to implement an algorithm that can track a spherical particle in three dimensions and verify the simulated results. Information about all three coordinates is found by using off-focus images, in which diffraction rings will appear around the particle. The x and y coordinates are determined by calculating the centre of the particle in each image. A linear relationship between the radius of the diffraction ring and the displacement along the z-axis (vertical) is exploited to determine the z coordinate. Prior to tracking, it is necessary to make a calibration series where the radius is found for known displacements along the z-axis. First, the algorithm was applied on a video of a trapped particle made with darkfield microscopy. That did not work, because of too much noise from the waveguides near the gap. Instead, fluorescence microscopy was used. Unfortunately, trapping within the gap was not achieved with the latter technique, but a video of a particle moving along the waveguide was analysed. The precision of ±0.2μm with fluorescence will be sufficient to verify simulations where the particle is elevated 3μm.


Post-stroke depression is a common neuropsychiatric affective disorder that may develop after a stroke event. In addition to abnormalities in the biogenic amine neurotransmitters and cytokine expression induced by stroke we will focus on the role of oxidative stress and hypothesize that polyphenols may be useful as therapeutics targets for the treatment of post-stroke depression. In this paper, we discuss the hypothesis that increased oxidative stress in cerebral tissues during ischemia is implicated in the pathogenesis of depressive-like symptoms following stroke. There is substantive evidence regarding the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of both stroke and depression, which provides support to this hypothesis. Reactive oxygen species, generated during stroke, cause oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, and DNA damage in neural tissues. The resultant pathophysiological processes in the neural tissues could be considered a leading mechanism in the induction of post-stroke depression. Antioxidants including polyphenols therefore, may play an important role in the outcomes of ischemia and stroke, due to their ability to protect neurons against oxidative stress, to mitigate ischemic damage via inhibition of lipid peroxidation and ability to interact with the generation of nitric oxide from the vascular endothelium, and also to decrease inflammation. These data suggest that polyphenols may therefore be a useful new therapeutic target for the treatment of post-stroke depression.


Toasted marshmallows stuffed with raisins? Green-and-white luncheons? Chemistry in the kitchen? This entertaining and erudite social history now in its fourth paperback edition tells the remarkable story of America's transformation from a nation of honest appetites into an obedient market for instant mashed potatoes. In "Perfection Salad", Laura Shapiro investigates a band of passionate but ladylike reformers at the turn of the twentieth century - including Fannie Farmer of the Boston Cooking School - who were determined to modernize the American diet through a 'scientific' approach to cooking. Shapiro's fascinating tale shows why we think the way we do about food today.


This research analyzes how local stakeholder participation helps reach, develop, and sustain collaborative management in urban wetlands of Bogota. Trajectories of management are traced from the early 1990s to present. Based on semi-structured interviews and focus groups carried out in seven urban wetlands, comparison were made by using a framework that allows analyzing deliberate social transformations. The results indicate that types of local stakeholder participation have effect on reaching, developing and sustaining collaborative management. The trajectories toward collaborative management of seven urban wetlands show that five of them reached this type of management at some point, two of these five were able to develop it, and only one could sustain it. All cases start with independent actions but only those that routinize collaborative and transformative participation events were able to develop collaborative management. The only case that sustains this type of management is because local stakeholder participation to make decisions is secured by court ruling that protects it from changes in the city's political leadership. The case sheds light on the vulnerability of local stakeholder participation and collaborative management under unstable government rules to manage urban wetlands. The most successful strategy that local stakeholders use to address this volatile management condition is legal actions, which not only allows reaching collaborative management, but also protects their participation to develop and sustain this type of management.


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CREDIT: HERBERT KNOSOWSKI/AP

The German government recognizes that our future lies in a knowledge-based society founded on freedom and responsibility. This is what will enable Germany to rise to the challenges of today's world, be they national or global, or economic, social, or ecological in nature. That is why the promotion of science, research, and innovation is one of my top priorities.

"People love chopping wood," Albert Einstein once said. "In this activity one immediately sees results." Science policy, by contrast—like science itself—demands staying power. It requires cooperation between many different actors, the investment of considerable resources, and the courage to strike out in new directions. German science and research have a long and proud tradition that we must cultivate and build on. We want to offer German science and research conditions that rival the best in the world. Our benchmarks are excellence, internationality, and freedom. With our new 6-billion-Euro program to fund innovative beacon projects, we are investing more than ever before in top-flight science and research. The conceptual framework for this will be provided by a comprehensive high-tech strategy action plan. Our efforts to promote higher education and research institutions are geared to encouraging healthy competition. With our Excellence Initiative, Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation, and Pact for the Universities, we want to strengthen institutions and academics that are particularly outstanding and creative and also network successfully. By 2010, we aim to increase spending on R&D to 3% of gross domestic product. Science and research will be one of the priorities of Germany's European Union (EU) presidency.

We are working hard to make German higher education more international, because excellence today is defined in global terms. In a few years, we will have completed the switch to internationally compatible bachelor's and master's degree courses. We are keen for our higher education and research institutions to expand their international links and are also committed to strengthening cooperation in Europe. To build new experimental research facilities such as the x-ray free-electron laser in Hamburg, we have joined forces with partners from all over the world.

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CREDIT: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

We also plan to give science and research a freer hand. The task of government is to create conditions in which they can flourish and to provide the right kind of stimulus. That means that our universities and research institutions must be given more independence. They need greater freedom to choose their students and staff, develop their own profiles, cooperate with industry, and spend their funds as they see fit.

We believe there should be intensified dialogue between policy-makers, scientists, and industry on all aspects of science and technology policy. This is particularly crucial in fields where new scientific advances may raise difficult ethical issues or where policy decisions on the right innovation strategy for the future are at stake. That is why I have established a Council for Innovation and Growth, which brings together prominent representatives of the scientific, business, and political communities. For the same reason, we strongly support, at the European level, the establishment of a European Research Council to advise and comment on research policy decisions of the EU.

Germany's future depends on first-class research, creative talent, and high-quality education and training that are geared toward international standards as well as a fair deal for everyone, irrespective of social or ethnic background, who is willing to contribute to our society. Dedicated people and pioneering spirits are our greatest assets. An important goal of the German government's science policy is to encourage the creative talent of everyone who lives, works, or conducts research in Germany and to ensure that their working conditions and quality of life are continually improved.

I profoundly believe (to quote Albert Einstein again) that "Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest for all technical endeavours … in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse for mankind."

 [1]: pending:yes


The fate of pollutants in rivers is mainly affected by the longitudinal dispersion coefficient (Kx). Thus, improved Kx estimation could greatly enhance the water quality management of rivers. In this regard, evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) was used to accurately predict Kx in rivers as a function of flow depth, channel width, and average and shear velocities. The predicted Kx by EPR modelling was compared with results obtained by more conventional Kx estimation formulas. Initial data analyses using general linear models of variance revealed that all input variables were statistically significant for Kx estimation. The calibrated EPR model showed good performance with coefficient of determination and root mean square error of 0.82 and 79 m2/s, respectively. This is better that other more conventional estimation methods. Application of sensitivity analysis for the EPR model indicated that channel width, average velocity, shear velocity, and flow depth were the main variables in descending order that affected Kx variability. The introduced EPR estimation model for Kx can be incorporated in one-dimensional water quality models for improved simulation of solute concentration in natural rivers. (Less)


Responsible Investments is currently paving new paths in the financial industry. UnitedNation´s Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) has in four years attracted over 700signatories in 36 countries. The principles are voluntary and kept in an open non-governingstructure. The lack of formal definitions and the actual value or effects of the UN PRIadoption is difficult to assess. Many researchers today are involved in attempts to measure thefinancial performance of responsible investments. This study takes a different stand point andinvestigates the motivation for joining UN PRI, how the implementation has been carried outand what the effects are, by the use of a case study. The six largest investors in terms of assetunder management (AUM) among the Swedish UN PRI signatories were interviewed, and aqualitative based semi structured interview was used. A structural analysis was carried out onthe results. Institutional Theory was used to explain the motivation for joining UN PRI andserved as the theoretical framework. Interpretation of UN PRI´s implementation differed insome instances to a large degree between the respondents. Transparency was uncovered as amajor success factor to the investors in support of decision making. All interviewedsignatories had developed their own way of working with UN PRI in terms of organization,priorities and the attempts to measure its effects. There is still a great need for moreknowledge around how these principles shall be implemented successfully and become part ofmainstream investments.The target audience for this paper is academics or business professionals with an interest inwhy and how UN´s principles for responsible investments are adopted by the financialindustry.


Almost a half of the Republic of Ireland is underlain by Carboniferous limestone, most of which is sufficiently pure to be karstified. Upland outcrops of limestone are largely confined to plateaux in the west and NW such as the Burren but the great majority of the limestone underlies the undulating lowland of central Ireland, which only locally exceeds 100 m in elevation. The lowland limestones are the principal source of groundwater in Ireland and also coincide with the most economically developed and intensively farmed areas, unlike the situation in Britain, where most karst limestone areas are relatively peripheral uplands. Such limited hydrogeological investigations as have been undertaken of the lowland limestones of Ireland suggest that karstic flow systems predominate, that they are intimately related to surface drainage systems and that the groundwater and associated karst features are often highly vulnerable to anthropogenic influences.


Cell-cell interactions play a pivotal role in preserving tissue integrity and the barrier between the different compartments of the mammary gland. These interactions are provided by junctional proteins that form nexuses between adjacent cells. Junctional protein mislocalization and reduced physical associations with their binding partners can result in the loss of function and, consequently, to organ dysfunction. Thus, identifying protein localization and protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in normal and disease-related tissues is essential to finding new evidences and mechanisms leading to the progression of diseases or alterations in developmental status. This manuscript presents a two-step method to evaluate PPIs in murine mammary glands. In protocol section 1, a method to perform co-immunofluorescence (co-IF) using antibodies raised against the proteins of interest, followed by secondary antibodies labeled with fluorochromes, is described. Although co-IF allows for the demonstration of the proximity of the proteins, it does make it possible to study their physical interactions. Therefore, a detailed protocol for co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) is provided in protocol section 2. This method is used to determine the physical interactions between proteins, without confirming whether these interactions are direct or indirect. In the last few years, co-IF and co-IP techniques have demonstrated that certain components of intercellular junctions co-localize and interact together, creating stage-dependent junctional nexuses that vary during mammary gland development.


The Gorbachev era call for "all power to the soviets" initiated a period of reform of local government in the USSR and Russia. The USSR's local soviets had served as political outreach instruments of party rule, enabling the state to penetrate society all the way down to the tiniest town and village. In the postSoviet era, despite the reform efforts, local bodies have continued to exercise social control reminiscent of their predecessors, the local soviets.


This critical literature review frames a discussion about the reasons for a lack of research attention on the intersection of queer East Asian youth and their relationship to Traditional East Asian Medicine in North America. Without research evidence, queer East Asian youth are made invisible, while traditional East Asian medicine continues to be under-researched, under-funded, and under-regulated. These outcomes affect the availability, accessibility, and relevance of health resources. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches that deal with issues of racial minorities and queer populations will benefit from the explicit use of social theories such as Intersectionality, Queer Theory and Postcolonial Theory; doing so challenges shallow engagement with identity categories, as well as White supremacist, heteronormative, and homonormative assumptions implicit in research. Taking a critically reflexive approach is necessary for identifying and challenging power differences in research relationships.


Recent work on functional brain architecture during dreaming provides invaluable clues for an understanding of dreaming, but identifying active brain regions during dreaming, together with their waking cognitive and cognitive functions, informs a model that accounts for only the grossest characteristics of dreaming. Improved dreaming models require cross discipline apprehension of what it is we want dreaming models to "explain." [Hobson et al.; Neilsen; Revonsuo; Solms]


In this Special Report, Levy scholars Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Kijong Kim provide a preliminary assessment of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a package of transfers and tax cuts that is expected to provide relief to low-income and vulnerable households especially hurt by the economic crisis, while at the same time supporting aggregate demand. By the administration's estimate, ARRA will create or save approximately three and a half million jobs by the end of 2010; while the ameliorating impact of the stimulus plan on the employment situation is surely welcome, say the authors, the government could have achieved far more at the same cost by skewing the stimulus package toward outlays rather than tax cuts. Their analysis points toward the necessity for a comprehensive employment strategy that goes well beyond ARRA. The need for public provisioning of various sorts--ranging from early childhood education centers to public health facilities to the "greening" of public transportation--coupled with the severe underutilization of labor, naturally suggests an expanded role for public employment as a desirable ingredient in any alternative strategy.


Airborne in situ measurements over the eastern Pacific Ocean in January 2004 have revealed a new category of nitric acid (HNO3)-containing particles in the tropical lower stratosphere. These particles are most likely composed of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT). They were intermittently observed in a narrow layer above the tropopause (18 ±0.1 km) and over a broad geographic extent ( >1100 km). In contrast to the background liquid sulfate aerosol, these particles are solid, much larger (1.7–4.7 μm vs. 0.1μm in diameter), and significantly less abundant ( <10−4 cm−3 vs. 10 cm−3). Microphysical trajectory models suggest that the NAT particles grow over a 6–14 day period in supersaturated air that remains close to the tropical tropopause and might be a common feature in the tropics. The small number density of these particles implies a highly selective or slow nucleation process. Understanding the formation of solid NAT particles in the tropics could improve our understanding of stratospheric nucleation processes and, therefore, dehydration and denitrification. Correspondence to: P. J. Popp (email@example.com)


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity in children as measured with objective (sweep visually evoked potential) and subjective, psychophysical techniques, including signal detection theory (SDT), which attempts to control for differences in criterion or behavior between adults and children. Furthermore, this study examines the possibility of applying SDT methods with children.

METHODS
Visual acuity and contrast thresholds were measured in 12 children 6 to 7 years old, 10 children 8 to 9 years old, 10 children 10 to 12 years old, and 16 adults. For sweep visually evoked potential measurements, spatial frequency was swept from 1 to 40 cpd to measure VA, and contrast of sine-wave gratings (1 or 8 cpd) was swept from 0.33 to 30% to measure contrast thresholds. For psychophysical measurements, VA and contrast thresholds (1 or 8 cpd) were measured using a temporal two-alternative forced-choice staircase procedure and also with a yes-no SDT procedure. Optotype (logMAR [log of the minimum angle of resolution]) VA was also measured.

RESULTS
The results of the various procedures were in agreement showing that there are age-related changes in threshold values and logMAR VA after the age of 6 years and that these visual functions do not become adult-like until the age of 8 to 9 years at the earliest. It was also found that children can participate in SDT procedures and do show differences in criterion compared with adults in psychophysical testing.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings confirm a slightly later development of VA and contrast sensitivity (8 years or older) and indicate the importance of using SDT or forced-choice procedures in any developmental study to attempt to overcome the effect of criterion in children.


Recent decades have seen rapid change in the urban transport of many eastern Asian cities. Some cities have been hailed internationally as transport success stories while others have become known for their intense traffic crises to the extent of threatening both their environmental qualities and economic performance. Accordingly, there is great interest in better understanding urban transport patterns in the large cities of eastern Asia. However, the literature lacks clear internationally comparable information on these cities and their transport systems. A review of the literature on land use and transport in Asian cities reveals many misunderstandings and inaccurate interpretations of the current situation in these cities. This thesis attempts to redress this lack of sound urban data and to improve policy interpretations by focusing on nine major cities in Pacific Asia (Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Surabaya and Tokyo). The study provides an international comparative perspective on these cities using a large set of data on urban transport, land use and economic factors, as part of a wider study on 46 international cities.

 A historical review of transport and urban development between 1900 and the 1960s found that, by the end of the period, most of the Asian cities were more vulnerable to problems from an influx of private vehicles than Western cities had been at the equivalent stage in their motorisation. This greater vulnerability was primarily due to higher densities and greater dependence on road-based public transport in most Asian cities, which could be described as "bus cities", an archetype that is developed in the thesis. This archetype is found to be useful in better understanding Asian cities in relation to more Western-based theories of city evolution based on the dominant transport technology, as well as helping to interpret past and present transport problems.

 Analysis of comparative transport and other data for 1990 found that the Asian cities in the sample generally had much lower levels of private vehicle use than European, Canadian, Australian and American cities in the international sample. This is in line perhaps with general expectations, though not without significant variations within the group. The Asian cities also generally had greater roles for public transport and non-motorised transport and much higher urban densities than cities in the other regions, though variations were again significant. A detailed investigation of the special opportunities and challenges for transport of the highdensity urban forms of most of the Asian cities reveals new insights on the root causes of transport problems in such cities. High density offers the opportunity to foster successful public transport and non-motorised accessibility. However, it also means that very high levels of motorised traffic per unit of land area (and hence intense traffic impacts) can emerge quickly, even if vehicle use per capita remains low. Traffic congestion can also emerge rapidly as dense cities motorise. This is a result, not just of poorly developed road systems, but of the fact that road capacity per capita is inherently low in dense cities. This research thus challenges notions in the literature that congestion problems in Asian cities can be solved by road expansion. It establishes, through sound comparative urban data, that there are inherent limits to road provision in dense cities.

 Contrasting urban transport strategies or models were identified within the Asian sample of cities. In particular, upper-middle-income cities, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, were shown to have experienced very rapid motorisation and to have had little success in increasing the relative roles of public transport and non-motorised modes. These trends have led to a severe mismatch between emerging car and motorcycle-oriented transport patterns and the pre-existing highdensity urban form, especially in Bangkok. This "unrestrained motorisation" model is contrasted with the experiences of wealthier Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo, which have all restrained and slowed the pace of motorisation to some extent and enhanced the role of public transport. In all four cities, 1990 levels of motorisation and vehicle use were low relative to their levels of income. This "restraint" model takes advantage of the transport opportunities that are inherent in existing dense urban forms while avoiding many of the problems. It is also shown to have encouraged, or complemented, the evolution of public transport-oriented patterns of urban development. Jakarta, Surabaya and Manila face the choice of following either of these models, but appear more likely to follow Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, unless policy changes are made.

 The study then reviews key choices and policies in urban transport in the nine Asian cities over recent decades. It identifies which have been most decisive in defining the models "chosen" by each city. Although many decisions are important, the thesis argues that a particularly crucial choice is the decision of whether or not to restrain private vehicle ownership and use. The Asian cities following the "restraint" model began to restrain private vehicles at an early stage in their motorisation and generally well before they had developed high-quality or high-capacity public transport systems. This challenges the common view that a city must already have a first-class public transport system before traffic restraint can be effective or politically acceptable. In fact, this study suggests that early introduction of traffic restraint can facilitate the gradual development of well-functioning transport systems, including mass transit systems. Insights drawn from the results of this study potentially have important implications for transport and urban policy debates in low-income and middle-income cities everywhere, particularly those that are beginning to motorise quickly from previously low levels of vehicle ownership.


Central question of this paper is what effects a state border has on the development of cross-border economic relationships in border regions. First the geographical spread of these relationships is analysed. Next a theoretical model is proposed to explain the pattern and the decision-process of bilateral international economic relationships. The model is mainly based on four theories: 1. the transaction costs approach on cross border economic relations under the condition of uncertainty. 2. The 'psychic distance' approach, which considers internationalization as an incremental learning process. The speed of the internationalization of a firm is determined by the experiential knowledge about the foreign country. 3. The network-approach, which considers (international) markets as networks. Firms are linked in patterns of cooperation and affiliation. Cooperation and not efficiency of transactions determine the behaviour of firms. 4. The socio-psychological approach of relations and social identity, which stresses the role of cognitive and affective aspects of cross-border relationships. These theories have lead to the model of INTERnational Formation of Autonomous Cooperation between Entrepreneurs (INTERFACE). The INTERFACE model distinguishes between different phases of relationship-building, namely contact, attraction (the choice for the partner), interaction (the negotiation about the conditions), transaction (the realization of the agreement/contract) and relationship. This relationship-development model is used to describe the process of the development of cross-border economic relationships and to explain the number and success of cross-border economic relationships. The model is empirically tested for a large sample of firms in two Dutch-Belgian border regions. The study is part of a dissertation on the development of cross-border economic relationships. The findings of the model suggests that the action-space of the firms, in terms of informal embeddedness and economic relationships, is spatially limited by the presence of the border. The factors of similarity and trust between the partners are found to be the most important determinants of success of cross-border economic relationships. The dimensions of expectations on the discrepancy in business conventions, the expectations on the success of economic relations in the neighbouring country and the strictness of the financial-economic terms of the relationship play a major role in determining the number of cross-border economic relationships. This is defined as the 'mental distance' effect of borders.


ABSTRACT. Recent compelling evidence that HIV medication may decrease the chances of HIV transmission and acquisition bring to light once again the issue of ethical responsibilities of those infected and uninfected when engaging in sexual intercourse. Using data collected in New York City from 120 gay men who engaged in "barebacking" (operationalized as intentional unprotected anal intercourse in an HIV-risk context), we analyzed participants' attributions of responsibility to self and/or others and how these attributions varied by HIV status. Nearly all participants concurred that ethical judgments were involved and frequently offered a two-tiered response based on the right to individual decision-making and recognition of one's responsibility not to harm others. However, respondents merged the imperative for ethical action with an implicit requirement for communication, and their descriptions of sexual negotiations suggested ambiguities and conflicting assumptions. The result was a frequent tendency to shift the ethical burden to the partner rather than oneself in the context of diminished community dialogue about HIV. New scientific knowledge about HIV transmission offers opportunities for community discussions of sexual fulfillment, rights and responsibilities.


There have been numerous definitions of culture. Dwight Heath1 offers a simple definition: "It [culture] is a system of patterns of belief and behavior that shape the worldview of the member of a society. As such, it serves as a guide for action, a cognitive map, and a grammar for behavior."


The research discussed in this book uses multivariate methods to analyze the data; namely Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) besides multiple regression analysis. Two SEM models were formulated and their fit was tested using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Scientists). One SEM model was found to have a better fit for the data i.e. covariance structure or correlation. With this SEM model it was found that the best causal relationship was between O-level Mathematics (OMATH) and dependent variables with physical science orientation, while O-level English (OENG) was found to have a causal relationship with dependent variables with social science orientation. OENG had more causal relationship with more dependent variables. The implication was, a good performance in social sciences was to a great extent due to previous good performance in OENG while a good performance in physical science was to a great extent due to previous good performance in OMATH. The study did not provide the probability of these. Thus, the study did in fact establish beyond any reasonable doubt that there is a causal relationship between o-level grades and performance in final year college examinations.


We defend contract law's preference for the expectation remedy against economic, doctrinal, and moral critics, who argue that a promisee should have a right to specific performance. It follows from this claim of right that the expectation remedy unjustifiably favors promisors, by allowing a promisor to capture the entire gain from unilaterally exiting a contract as long as she compensates her promisee for whatever profit he would have realized had he received the goods or services the contract described. We show, however, that a promisee's gross payoff under the typical contract is invariant to the remedy the law accords him, but that his net payoff, for transaction cost reasons, is higher under a contract that protects his expectation. This showing supports the dual performance hypothesis, which holds that the promisee typically gives his promisor discretion either to trade the goods or services at issue or to make a transfer to the promisee in lieu of trade. A promisor who transfers rather than trades therefore does not breach; rather, she breaches only when she rejects both trade and transfer. Moreover, a promisee's suit to recover his expectation is a specific performance action to enforce the contract's transfer term. We further explain that this approach renders contract law coherent; is consistent with the law's immanent normativity; and is consistent also with the morality of promising.


Over the last decade especially, the promise of stem cell technology to cure a multitude of genetic disorders and diseases has been at the forefront of medical research. To meet the large supply of these cells needed for clinical applications, three-dimensional modes of culture in combination with differing bioreactor designs will most likely be necessary, optimised relative to the particular cell or tissue sought. Stress upon cells or tissues, oxygen concentration, and mixing capacity are all important factors that influence the culture outcome. As such, the optimisation of bioreactor designs should include the fluid dynamic perspective. Within this thesis two novel bioreactors are investigated numerically primarily from the fluid dynamic perspective, providing insight into the effect that control and geometry parameters have on these factors. The first bioreactor studied was a Radial Aerial Disk Bioreactor (RADB), consisting of a layer of culture medium, within a shallow cylindrical vessel, beneath a layer of air. The flow within the fluid medium is driven by a disk rotating in the air layer. Three steady-state flow states within the medium were found, as the rotating speed of the impeller and the bioreactor geometry were varied. Additionally, metastability of these states was also identified. Importantly the stress distributions and oxygen concentrations within each state differed significantly, even at the same Reynolds number. The second bioreactor studied was an Inclined Disk Bioreactor (IDB), consisting of a cylindrical vessel full of fluid, again also beneath a layer of air, although in this instance the flow within the medium was directly driven at the bottom by a rotating end disk. The vortex breakdown bubble that occurs within this configuration was primarily investigated with regard to its structure as the control parameters, Reynolds number and tilt angle of the cylinder with the vertical axis, were varied. An open structure was found, with the degree of modification to the structure quantified as the parameters were varied. Overall, this thesis provides flow field, concentration, and stress characteristics for the bioreactors as a function of flow and geometrical parameters. It is hoped that this information will provide guidance to optimal bioreactor design and operation when combined with further biological focused studies conducted within Monash University and elsewhere.


It is widely recognised that street works are disruptive, have high social costs and are deleterious to highway structures. Notwithstanding this, utility works are critical so that society can enjoy the amenities of a modern world. In striking this balance, this study investigates the policy landscape of street works management in England to gain an insight into stakeholder perspectives of the industry. Semistructured interviews with industry stakeholders have helped to identify the complexity of the industry and revealed that a number of issues compromise effective street works management. Principal problems include Street Authorities failing to take enough ownership of the coordination process, highway legislation not encouraging joint working due to inherent challenges arising from reinstatement guarantees, and entrenched attitudes and adversarial practices in the construction industry encouraging silo working. Key recommendations include amending highway legislation to support and recognise multi-agency working and Street Authorities undertaking reinstatements on behalf of undertakers to help reduce fragmentation and discharge undertakers of onerous guarantees which contribute to silo working.