The waste product resulting from the alumina refining process consists of residue sand and mud which is laid on bauxite residue disposal areas (RDAs). Once the RDAs have been effectively solar dried they are revegetated to minimise deep drainage and potential groundwater contamination. In this study, two RDAs located at Alcoa's Pinjarra refinery were seasonally monitored to determine the effects of irrigation on soil water availability and plant water use. Three experimental Blocks were established by Alcoa, each with an irrigated and unirrigated site. Since then, irrigation has been applied to the three treated sites to maintain the root zone water holding capacity throughout the dry months (October April). Soil samples were collected at 0.25 m intervals to a maximum depth of 3 m and analysed for their gravimetric soil water content, soil water potential, soil particle size, pH and .electrical conductivity. Plant water potential, stomatal conductance and transpiration were measured for three species, Eucalyptus gomphocephala, Acacia cochlearis and Hardenbergia comptoniana. In addition, these measurements were also carried out at a native site for comparison between vegetation growing on the artificial RDAs, reliant solely on soil stored water and native vegetation, with access to deeper water sources. This study identified the RDAs to have sufficient soil water availability at both the irrigated and unirrigated sites to maintain seasonally high plant water potentials and contribute to only mild levels of plant water stress. All plants lowered their stomatal conductance in the dry months with the first rains of the wet season increasing stomatal activity and transpiration. Over the wet period, the unirrigated plants exhibited lower stomatal conductance and transpiration rates than irrigated plants, most likely due to their smaller leaf area. H comptoniana maintained the highest water potential of the three species, which may be attributed to significant leaf shedding in the dry months. This species also responded rapidly to the first rains with the establishment of new growth and higher rates of transpirational water losses through the wet period compared to E. gomphocephala and A. cochlearis. It appears that irrigation plays an important role in the rapid establishment of seedling biomass, however it has no significant effect on the level of water stress experienced by plants growing , on the RDAs. There is the possibility that the dense biomass and potential shallow rooting depth of plants growing on irrigated RDAs may reduce the ability of · plants to withstand natural summer drought once irrigation has ceased and therefore reduce the capability of vegetation to minimise deep drainage and potential groundwater contamination in the long-term.


This paper investigates the International Criminal Court's prosecutorial and sentencing strategies in supplying durable international, and through complementarity, national accountability mechanisms with clearly defined sentencing objectives. By scrutinising the scope of plea agreements as a validated trial strategy for international crimes and the sentencing rationale of the same, this work evaluates the impact these have on restorative and reconciliatory justice. An overview of this practice as well as that of amnesties aims to illustrate the ideologically ambivalent model of international justice under the ICC Statute and its detrimental outcome, or impartial approach to international justice and, importantly, to the quest for truth. This results in potential distortion of the historical record accompanying conflict, which in turn is fundamental to any peace building and reconciliation process.


Peer Review is regarded as an important quality assurance mechanism in Open Source Software (OSS) development. Every change and its impact need to be assessed by developers to assure the quality of software. For effective code review, experience and skilled reviewers are required. However, in OSS peer review process, there is no explicit policy for selecting appropriate reviewers among available developers. The manual selection of those reviewers can be a costly and time-consuming task. To ease developers in OSS peer review process, we propose a reviewer recommendation algorithm determining similarity of file paths. As a case study, we recommended reviewers for the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). For this case study, our proposed algorithm obtained an accuracy of 75% while a previous approach obtained an accuracy of 30%.


Since Vladimir Putin first became Russia's President in 2000, the state has played an increasingly active and interventionist role in the economy, including through its involvement in a large number of coercive takeovers of privately-owned businesses. The best known case
is the Yukos affair, but there have been many other, less prominent takeovers. These have largely been explained as predatory acts by state officials seeking to enrich themselves or increase their power. This has contributed to the perception that Putin's Russia is a kleptocracy, with the state given free rein to engage in economically-destructive attacks on property rights.

This thesis studies a number of state-led coercive takeovers in Putin's Russia, including the Yukos affair, and argues that they cannot be explained as predatory acts initiated by rent-seeking state officials. Instead, they were the work of state officials attempting to pursue economic development while countering perceived threats to state sovereignty.

The Yukos affair resulted in the company's de facto nationalisation and heralded a broader trend of expanding state ownership in the economy. But two other coercive takeovers studied here instead resulted in the companies being transferred to new private owners. In other cases
where nationalisation was the clear goal, the state-owned companies who emerged as buyers chose indirect forms of ownership over their new assets. The varying ownership outcomes are found to have been determined by institutional factors which constrained the behaviour of the state, contributing to its preference for takeovers that were negotiated rather than entirely coercive, and turning each case into a bargaining game between state and targeted business owner. Thus Russia is some way from kleptocracy, not only because of the developmental
aspirations of its political leadership, but also thanks to partial progress towards institutional checks on arbitrary state coercion.


This paper explains and discusses the outcomes from an action research study into on-line participation. Two, often countervailing notions of rationality are examined, firstly by deconstructing individually held, subjective constructs of trust and power and, secondly, by examining collectivist assumptions regarding the formation of online communities. We contest assumptions from the literatures, which over emphasise the importance of IT in 'constructing' online communities, stemming from the adoption of a wholly rationalist view of the human participants – as pursuers of knowledge, regulated and directed by rational principles.


International Journal of Exercise Science 6(3) : 208-216, 2013. The purpose of the study was to determine if preseason and postseason body fat percentages (BF%) change relative to playing time in Division I women's basketball players. Subjects for the study included 11 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I female collegiate basketball athletes over the age of 18 from a Midwest public university. Demographic data of each subject (age 20.09 +1.81 yrs., weight 71.13 +10.85 kg., height 176.48 + 8.33 cm.) was taken before the initial body fat assessment. The subjects underwent preseason and postseason BOD POD® testing to get an accurate measure of body fat percentages. Data analyses looked for changes between preseason and postseason body fat percentage. A Pearson's Correlation was performed to determine if changes in preseason and postseason BF% changed relative to playing time. Body fat percentage varied across preseason and postseason (average decrease in BF%: -1.83%) but such a difference was not significant (t1,10 = 1.89, p = .088). A negative relationship was found between preseason BF% and playing time (r = -.707) and postseason BF% and playing time (r =.728). No relationship was found between change in BF% and playing time.


The purpose of this article is to provide a succinct summary of the different experimental approaches that have been used in preclinical postoperative cognitive dysfunction research, and an overview of the knowledge that has accrued. This is not intended to be a comprehensive review, but rather is intended to highlight how the many different approaches have contributed to our understanding of postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and to identify knowledge gaps to be filled by further research. The authors have organized this report by the level of experimental and systems complexity, starting with molecular and cellular approaches, then moving to intact invertebrates and vertebrate animal models. In addition, the authors' goal is to improve the quality and consistency of postoperative cognitive dysfunction and perioperative neurocognitive disorder research by promoting optimal study design, enhanced transparency, and "best practices" in experimental design and reporting to increase the likelihood of corroborating results. Thus, the authors conclude with general guidelines for designing, conducting and reporting perioperative neurocognitive disorder rodent research.


Calcific tendinitis is a relatively rare condition in which calcium is inap- propriately deposited in tendons, resulting in a local inflammatory reaction that can cause severe symptoms in certain cases. The cause of this disease process is not completely understood, although repetitive microtrauma likely plays a role in its development. Although the disorder most often involves the rotator cuff, it can affect other structures throughout the body, such as the tendons about the ankle and hip—including the rectus femoris and gluteus maximus. Nonoperative management typically involves using an anti-inflam- matory medication and activity modification and can be augmented with formal physical therapy and modalities. Although nonoperative management provides adequate relief for many patients, sometimes operative debridement of the calcific deposit with or without repair of the involved tendon is re- quired. The authors report an unusual case of calcific tendinitis of the gluteus maximus insertion in a golfer. The patient had tried nonoperative treatment for approximately 2 years with no real relief, and a recent exacerbation of the pain was significantly delaying his return to sport. Although plain radio- graphs did not show abnormalities, magnetic resonance imaging showed a calcific deposit in the insertion of the gluteus maximus tendon. After dis- cussing further treatment options with the patient, the decision was made to remove the deposit and repair the insertion. He recovered completely and was able to return to play. The frequency, pathogenesis, and treatment of this condition are discussed in this case report, as well as the possible link to golf in this patient. (Orthopedics. 2016; 39(5):e997-e1000.)


Experiments recently carried out in a microgravity environment with the electromagnetic levitation facility TEMPUS are reviewed. Containerless processing in microgravity provides optimum conditions for measuring thermophysical properties of liquid metals. Specific heat, density, electrical conductivity, viscosity, and surface tension were obtained as a function of temperature over a wide temperature range, including the undercooled regime for a variety of metals and alloys. The choice of materials investigated included pure metals, binary alloys, and multicomponent alloys. Among the latter, special attention was given to glass-forming systems. Most of these data have been derived for the first time; where comparison to data obtained under terrestrial conditions is possible, the agreement is excellent.


'[D]efamation is essentially an attack on reputation', by the publication of libellous statements, which identify a person or company. [1] Thus 'an action for defamation ... provides a remedy to a claimant who can prove that a publication lowers his or her reputation in the view of reasonable people.' [2] America and England have different approaches to this area of law. In fact, according to Robert Balin, 'in many ways, libel laws in the United States and England constitute mirror images of each other--with the burden of proof placed on the claimant in the United States, but on the media defendant in the United Kingdom'. [3] Their different approaches stem from how they balance the right to freedom of speech against the competing right to protection of reputation. America favours protecting free speech, whilst England favours protecting reputations. Both libel approaches have attracted criticism; America for making successful defamation suits too difficult, and England for conversely making them too easy, and enabling the proliferation of libel tourism. The issue of libel tourism has been exacerbated by the internet, in conjunction with England applying the multiple publication rule, rather than the single publication rule, like America. Internet libel has also posed the difficult question of who the plaintiff should sue; the Internet Service Provider (ISP), or the person actually behind the libellous comments? Consequently, both America and England have had to develop ways to deal with the distinct challenges raised by internet libel. However, as this article will demonstrate, America's libel law has largely dealt with the problems posed, by both traditional and internet libel, better than the corresponding English law. [1] Samtani Anil, 'Cyberspace and the Law of Defamation: Developing a Workable Model' (2001) 7(7) Computer and Telecommunications Law Review 175, 176. [2] Howard Davis, Human Rights Law: Directions (2 nd Edn OUP, New York 2009) 425. [3] Robert Balin, Laura Handman and Erin Reid, 'Libel Tourism and the Duke's Manservant - An American Perspective' (2009) 3 European Human Rights Law Review 303, 304.


CONTEXT
Chromosomal abnormalities (namely 13q, 17p, and 11q deletions) have prognostic implications and are recurrent in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), suggesting that they are involved in a common pathogenetic pathway; however, the molecular mechanism through which chromosomal abnormalities affect the pathogenesis and outcome of CLL is unknown.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the microRNA miR-15a/miR-16-1 cluster (located at 13q), tumor protein p53 (TP53, located at 17p), and miR-34b/miR-34c cluster (located at 11q) are linked in a molecular pathway that explains the pathogenetic and prognostic implications (indolent vs aggressive form) of recurrent 13q, 17p, and 11q deletions in CLL.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS
CLL Research Consortium institutions provided blood samples from untreated patients (n = 206) diagnosed with B-cell CLL between January 2000 and April 2008. All samples were evaluated for the occurrence of cytogenetic abnormalities as well as the expression levels of the miR-15a/miR-16-1 cluster, miR-34b/miR-34c cluster, TP53, and zeta-chain (TCR)-associated protein kinase 70 kDa (ZAP70), a surrogate prognostic marker of CLL. The functional relationship between these genes was studied using in vitro gain- and loss-of-function experiments in cell lines and primary samples and was validated in a separate cohort of primary CLL samples.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Cytogenetic abnormalities; expression levels of the miR-15a/miR-16-1 cluster, miR-34 family, TP53 gene, downstream effectors cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (p21, Cip1) (CDKN1A) and B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2 binding component 3 (BBC3), and ZAP70 gene; genetic interactions detected by chromatin immunoprecipitation.

RESULTS
In CLLs with 13q deletions the miR-15a/miR-16-1 cluster directly targeted TP53 (mean luciferase activity for miR-15a vs scrambled control, 0.68 relative light units (RLU) [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.63-0.73]; P = .02; mean for miR-16 vs scrambled control, 0.62 RLU [95% CI, 0.59-0.65]; P = .02) and its downstream effectors. In leukemic cell lines and primary CLL cells, TP53 stimulated the transcription of miR-15/miR-16-1 as well as miR-34b/miR-34c clusters, and the miR-34b/miR-34c cluster directly targeted the ZAP70 kinase (mean luciferase activity for miR-34a vs scrambled control, 0.33 RLU [95% CI, 0.30-0.36]; P = .02; mean for miR-34b vs scrambled control, 0.31 RLU [95% CI, 0.30-0.32]; P = .01; and mean for miR-34c vs scrambled control, 0.35 RLU [95% CI, 0.33-0.37]; P = .02).

CONCLUSIONS
A microRNA/TP53 feedback circuitry is associated with CLL pathogenesis and outcome. This mechanism provides a novel pathogenetic model for the association of 13q deletions with the indolent form of CLL that involves microRNAs, TP53, and ZAP70.


The gastrointestinal health is very important aspect concerning human health. It refers to nutrient and vitamin absorption, food digestion and various infectious diseases. The Paecilomyces hepiali and Cordyceps militaris are highly enriched with cordycepin and ergosterol which are considered as anti bacterial substances. Present study finds out comparative effect of hot water extract of particular fungal material on growth of six species of gastrointestinal bacteria that belong to both aerobic and anaerobic and, consist with harmful and commensal categories. The appropriate concentration level of hot water extract of both strains was identified. The individual specific bacterial growing media were prepared and calculated; amounts of bacteria cultures were inoculated by using micro pipettes. The optical density and number of bacterial colonies were measured after 24 hours. The pure mycelial extract of P. hepiali with 2 × 10-3 g/ml of concentration has significant effect on depleting the growth of E. coli, E. faecalis, S. aureus, L. gasseri and B. ovatus bacteria. B. longum has no significant effect by particular extract. Same type of extract of C. militaris has significantly reduced the growth of every bacteria used in this study. Hot water extract of C. militaris cultivated on soy bean has significant growth retardation toward E. coli, E. faecalis, S. aureus and L. gasseri. It has stimulated the growth of B. ovatus and B. longum which are considered as beneficial bacteria for human gut. This study shows that extracts of both mycelia include antimicrobial substances like cordycepin and ergosterol which can be used as food supplements to enhance human gut health.


E-Learning and distance education have become common choices for academic institutions. Based on advances in information technology systems, educational institutions have enabled the employment of e-learning systems as teaching courses and evaluation students. However, security issues related to e-learning systems have been raised by e-learning environment stakeholders which including faculty members, and students as well as data. In addition, e-learning opponents argue that incapability of e-learning environment to authenticate examination takers is one of the major challenges. E-assessment is an important element of LMS based e-courses, and student authentication is mostly realized as one of the major concerns for e-assessments. For this reason, the main challenge facing the security of e-assessment and the e-learning environment is how to authenticate students because unauthorized persons can access and manage information. In this work, we propose a novel security scheme that contributes in resolving this vital issue by introducing an efficient secure model for supervising online evaluation including e-assessment or e-exam. The scheme addresses this imperative problem by proposing a novel approach that incorporates available databases authentication technologies in conjunction with e-learning environments for controlling unethical behavior during e-learning evaluation. Moreover, the proposed scheme considers the continuous random authentication using students' information stored previously in the databases that guarantee identity and authentication. To validate our proposal, and evaluate its performances and effectiveness, extensive simulation work is conducted over e-learning platform similar to Desire to learn (D2L).


1. The electrical and mechanical activities of the alimentary canal of the silver carp, Carassius auratus, were investigated using the strain-gauge tension-recording method and also the double sucrose-gap method. 2. In responses to field stimulation of the alimentary canal four different responses from the stomach and three different responses from the intestine could be evoked. (i) An initial rapid contraction was produced by stimulation of high-frequency or long pulses. The onset of the contraction appeared 0.5 sec after the stimulation. The initial rapid contraction was blocked by tetrodotoxin and D-tubocurarine. This response is thought to be from the striated muscles distributed in the stomach muscle layers. (ii) With or without the initial rapid contraction, field stimulation of low frequency (1-5 c/s) evoked relaxation of the tissue. The latency for the onset of the relaxation was 2 sec. This response was blocked by tetrodotoxin, but α- and β-adrenergic blocking agents had no effect on it. This response is thought to be from thesmooth muscle and to be due to the release of an unknown inhibitory chemical transmitter from the nerve fibres. (iii) The slow phasic contraction appeared with a latency of 8.2 sec, and the amplitude of the contraction was reduced by treatment with atropine and tetrodotoxin but not D-tubocurarine. This response is thought to result from release from the nerve terminals of acetylcholine, which acts on the muscarinic receptors of the smooth muscle. (iv) The delayed contraction appeared with a latency of 11 sec after the onset of field stimulation. The contractions often continued for several minutes. The amplitude and duration of the contraction were reduced or abolished by atropine and tetrodotoxin and were slightly reduced by D-tubocurarine. This response is thought to result from release from the enteric plexus of acetylcholine, which diffuses on to the muscarinic receptors of the muscle. 3. It was difficult to demonstrate a response of the muscle to the excitation of the adrenergic nerve by field stimulation, since α- and β-adrenergic blocking agents had no marked effects on the responses evoked by field stimulation. However, treatment with adrenaline and noradrenaline hyperpolarized the circular muscle membrane and blocked the spike generation. 4. The spontaneous slow potential changes and contractions originated from the myogenic and the neurogenic components. The former was blocked by Mn2+ but not by tetrodotoxin and atropine. The latter was blocked by atropine and tetrodotoxin. 5. Spontaneous hyperpolarizations of the membrane could be recorded. The adrenergic blocking agents had no effect on them. 6. Tetraethyl-ammonium enhanced the tone of the muscle and the amplitude and frequency of the slow depolarizations and contractions recorded from the longitudinal as well as from the circular muscle, in the presence or absence of tetrodotoxin. 7. From the above results it was concluded that there are two kinds of slow depolarization of the muscle, i.e. neurogenic and myogenic. There are three kinds of nerve distributed in the muscle, i.e. excitatory vagal nerve, inhibitory vagal nerve and inhibitory sympathetic nerve. Excitatory nerves innervated two different receptors, i.e. nicotinic striated muscle receptors and muscarinic smooth-muscle receptors.


Problem area: It is important to understand how women view their abortion experiences retrospectively, how they reconstruct their meaning after undergoing personal, psychological and emotional events changes. The central aspect of the argument is that women's retrospective understandings of abortion are not static and unchanging and these meanings are not the same for all women. Retrospective meanings are when with time women may bring new perceptions to their reflections on the first abortion experience. After many years this process can be a painful for women, because when they look back on something, they might discover more options than at the time of their abortions. They might think about their abortions as a mistake can feel varying degrees of pain, grief and loss. However some might feel that they have made the right decision. THE AIMS OF MASTER THESIS The overall aim of this master thesis was to investigate and describe how women create meaning about their experiences of first abortion. The thesis is designed as a two parts study. Systematically review of the literature relating to abortion and women's experiences was used in 1st study. A literature review based on thirty one scientific articles from 1989-2004, from the databases of PubMed, MUSE and Elin @ Blekinge, with the purpose to describe women's experiences about abortion. A qualitative method with semi-structured interviews was used in 2 study. Data collected from gynecology units X and Y of Women's Consulting Centers. Twelve women took part in a semi-structured interview one-two times (about 30 min. to 1 hour). Four women took part in interview before the abortion, then the first days following the abortion and eight women answered questions after few (1 to 12) months after abortion. The author was the sole interviewer to the participants and pilot-tested the interview guide with one woman. Data analysis. Content analysis was used to classify the answers of the semi– structured questions. There was no specific theory used to classify information, data was the sole source of the analysis. The content analysis study goal is to offer knowledge of the experience relating to certain phenomenon (first abortion) and will also give a deeper understanding of the studied phenomenon. Through this analysis, the author tried to perceive the themes/categories in the written material. Results. Three themes - meaning of abortion, psychological effects of the abortion, retrospective abortion experiences - emerged from the literature review (I part). Results of the qualitative study (II part) will be offered (presented) through the 4 main themes: struggling to find meaning of abortion for self and for life, coping with emotional subsequences, keeping on being who I was or perceiving life, wishing emotional supporting from family and friends. The result of the study showed that most of women experienced negative feelings after their first abortion, which they expressed verbally. However, those feelings are subjective. The results showed that, this knowledge would help us understand the importance of how to manage women feelings after their first abortion, in order to minimize their discomfort and alleviate the suffering.


This paper aims to contribute to the on-going discourse on how to design and introduce governance technology for highly reliable professional work within healthcare. With this aim, we study the Greek ePrescription initiative. The empirical data used in this paper were collected over a nine month period from three different pharmacies implementing the new ePrescription platform. The analysis of data led to the identification of tensions between the established way of performing work (which was based on professionalism and discretion) and the new way imposed by ePrescribing (which is based on activity control and monitoring). Pharmacists traditionally interpreted rules in the light of knowledge, practice/habitude and contextual specificities but with ePrescribing the rules are solidified. From "rules to interpret" they turned to "rules to follow". The tensions are currently resolved by pharmacists with the employment of workarounds. We view workarounds as indications of incongruence between technology and task that can be productively used for design improvement. Furthermore, we attempt to generalise the case-specific insights by linking redesign recommendations to the concepts of usability, tailorability, and generativity of information systems.


The paper develops a comprehensive framework demonstrating how patents provide the foundation of the market for inventions. Patents support the establishment of the market in several key ways. First, patents provide a system of intellectual property (IP) rights that increases transaction efficiencies and stimulates competition by offering exclusion, transferability, disclosure, certification, standardization, and divisibility. Second, patents provide efficient incentives for invention, innovation, and investment in complementary assets so that the market for inventions is a market for innovative control. Third, patents as intangible real assets promote the financing of invention and innovation. The market foundation role of patents refutes the economically incorrect "rewards" view of patents. The discussion considers how economic benefits of the market for inventions should guide IP policy and antitrust policy.


Carlsson, D. O. 2014. Structural and Electrochemical Properties of Functionalized Nanocellulose Materials and Their Biocompatibility. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1109. 73 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-8842-0. Nanocellulose has received considerable interest during the last decade because it is renewable and biodegradable, and has excellent mechanical properties, nanoscale dimensions and wide functionalization possibilities. It is considered to be a unique and versatile platform on which new functional materials can be based. This thesis focuses on nanocellulose from wood (NFC) and from Cladophora algae (CNC), functionalized with surface charges or coated with the conducting polymer polypyrrole (PPy), aiming to study the influence of synthesis processes on structural and electrochemical properties of such materials and assess their biocompatibility. The most important results of the work demonstrated that 1) CNC was oxidized to the same extent using electrochemical TEMPO-mediated oxidation as with conventional TEMPO processes, which may facilitate easier reuse of the reaction medium; 2) NFC and CNC films with or without surface charges were non-cytotoxic as assessed by indirect in vitro testing. Anionic TEMPO-CNC films promoted fibroblast adhesion and proliferation in direct in vitro cytocompatibility testing, possibly due to its aligned fibril structure; 3) Rinsing of PPy-coated nanocellulose fibrils, which after drying into free-standing porous composites are applicable for energy storage and electrochemically controlled ion extraction, significantly degraded the PPy coating, unless acidic rinsing was employed. Only minor degradation was observed during long-term ambient storage; 4) Variations in the drying method as well as type and amount of nanocellulose offered ways of tailoring the porosities of nanocellulose/ PPy composites between 30% and 98%, with increments of ~10%. Supercritical CO2-drying generated composites with the largest specific surface area yet reported for nanocellulose/ conducting polymer composites (246 m/g). The electrochemical oxidation rate was found to be controlled by the composite porosity; 5) In blood compatibility assessments for potential hemodialysis applications, heparinization of CNC/PPy composites was required to obtain thrombogenic properties comparable to commercial hemodialysis membranes. The proinflammatory characteristics of non-heparinized and heparinized composites were, to some extent, superior to commercial membranes. The heparin coating did not affect the solute extraction capacity of the composite. The presented results are deemed to be useful for tuning the properties of systems based on the studied materials in e.g. energy storage, ion exchange and biomaterial applications.


We present a theoretical analysis of a recent whole body motion planning method, the Randomized Possibility Graph, which uses a high-level decomposition of the feasibility constraint manifold in order to rapidly find routes that may lead to a solution. These routes are then examined by lower-level planners to determine feasibility. In this paper, we show that this approach is probabilistically complete for bipedal robots performing quasi-static walking in "semi-unstructured" environments. Furthermore, we show that the decomposition into higher and lower level planners allows for a considerably higher rate of convergence in the probability of finding a solution when one exists. We illustrate this improved convergence with a series of simulated scenarios.


Biofouling is the unwanted colonisation of organisms on a living or artificial surface. Convergent evolution has led to the development of antifouling textures on many marine species. This thesis provides novel investigation into creating biomimetic antifouling surface directly onto marine grade stainless steel using laser micro machining. The investigation was split into three main research questions: (1) can laser surface texturing be used to create antifouling surfaces, and their effects on surface parameters (roughness / contact angle); (2) can biomimetic antifouling surfaces be created using laser surface texturing?; (3) can features of those successful surfaces be combined to create enhanced biomimetic antifouling surface?. All three experiments had similar methods, as laser processing was used to transfer the selected biomimetic micro-topography patterns onto marine grade stainless steel (316L). Samples were deployed in the field (Liverpool South Docks, UK) for 7 days. Abundance of biofilm was assessed using random systematic sampling. For the biomimetic surfaces, a fringe projection microscope (GFM) was used to investigate 3D scans of the surface topography of shells of bivalve and crab species, to provide bio-inspiration for the design of the surfaces created in this research. It was found that the micro-topography pattern limits the attachment of the biofilm to the surface. This thesis shows that (1) laser surface texturing can be used to create antifouling surfaces; (2) biomimetic antifouling surfaces can be created and enhance antifouling efficacy, and (3) that combining biomimetic features into multi-scale and multi-feature patterns have enhanced antifouling effects. This reinforces that biomimetic surfaces have the potential to be a non-toxic, eco-friendly antifouling technology that work directly on marine metal structures without the need for further coatings or chemicals.


Background: Reflective practice has become an integral element in healthcare and education.1,2 Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is the largest healthcare organization in Qatar and it aims to: develop highly competent healthcare practitioners, promote nurses' critical thinking, enhance the implementation of evidence-based practice, encourage deep learning approaches, create positive learning environments, maintain patient safety, and bridge the gap between theory and practice in the critical care clinical settings.3 To achieve this, in 2015, reflective learning conversations and debriefing educational methods have been introduced by the HMC Nursing Education and Research Department. Methods: The HMC critical care education team introduced a new one-hour Continuing Professional Development (CPD) educational activity under the title of "Reflective learning conversation and debriefing". This educational activity has been officially added to the critical care monthly and annual education plans and calendars. The reflective and debriefing discussion aims to give the chance for the critical care practitioners to share their real clinical experiences.1,2,4,5 The critical care nurses of HMC attend each session in a group of 5-7 clinicians and they are asked to reflect critically on a real clinical cases in relation to challenges, limitations, pitfalls, and improvement plan.2,5 A facilitator with a clinical and educational background facilitates the discussion and nurses are encouraged to summarize the learning lessons from that experience in addition to the recommendations and action plans which will be decided accordingly. This is then disseminated and shared with other healthcare facilities if it fits their scope of service. The reflective learning conversation and debriefing guidelines and protocol were established by the corporate nursing education team and are available to clinicians and facilitators (Table 1). Results: Reflective learning conversation with a debriefing improves nurses and health care practitioner's critical thinking and competency level which was evident by learners' feedback and clinical competency assessment (Table 2). Furthermore, that educational activity is an attractive teaching and learning method to create dynamic learning environments in the critical care clinical settings which was evident by learners and facilitators' feedback (Table 2). Moreover, nurse empowerment and active engagement were enhanced and encouraged by applying that educational method which was evidenced by the clinical experts' feedback (Table 2). Finally, applying that method was effective to enhance evidence-based practice and patient safety in critical care settings (Table 3). Conclusion: Reflective learning conversations and debriefing has been perceived to be an effective learning method. Healthcare practitioners can learn from errors and previous experiences to avoid future mistakes in clinical practice. Sharing clinical experiences provides a medium to discuss cases from different angles and in depth which helps to promote deep learning, evidence-based practice, active learning, and patient safety. The recommendations of reflective learning conversations and debriefings can be applied and utilized to change current practice toward best practice and are applicable in all clinical domains and specialties. Although currently attended only by nurses, such sessions would be even more beneficial if attended by multiple professions.


The alcoholic beverage absinthe is recently experiencing a revival after a yearlong prohibition. This review article provides information on all aspects of this bitter spirit and its major components, especially wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.), which contains the toxic monoterpene thujone. Over 100 references on historic and current literature are provided. The topics comprise the history of the alcoholic drink starting from its invention in the eighteenth century. Historical and modern recipes are discussed in the context of different quality categories and possibilities to reduce the content of thujone are given. The analytical techniques used to verify compliance with the maximum limit of thujone as well as further possibilities for quality control of absinthe are discussed. The toxicology of absinthe is reviewed with regard to the cause of a syndrome called "absinthism," which was described after chronic abuse of the spirit in the nineteenth century. Finally, a food regulatory and food chemical evaluation is provided and minimum requirements for absinthe are suggested. Absinthe should have a recognizable wormwood flavor and after dilution with water the characteristic clouding should arise (louche-effect). Products, which are advertized as being of premium grade should be made by distillation, should have an alcoholic strength of at least 45%vol, and should not contain artificial dye.


This prospective study concerning the perception of audio virtual surfaces (AVSs) was inspired by two different research fields: sensory substitution and haptic and touch perception. We define an Audio Virtual Surface as a region of space that triggers sounds when the user touches it or moves into it. First, we describe an example of interactive setup using an AVS to simulate a sonic interaction with a virtual water tank. Then, we present an experiment designed to investigate the ability of blindfolded adults to discriminate between concave and convex AVSs using only the gesture-sound interaction. Two groups received different sound feedback, a static one indicating presence in the AVS, and a static+dynamic one (related to the component of the hand velocity tangential to the surface). In order to demonstrate that curvature direction was correctly perceived, we estimated their discrimination thresholds with a psychophysical staircase procedure. Results show that most of the participants were able to learn the task. The best results were obtained with the additional dynamic feedback. Gestural patterns emerged from the interaction, suggesting the use of auditory representations of the virtual object. This work proposes a contribution to the introduction in Virtual Reality of sonic interactions with auditory virtual objects. The setups we present raise new questions at both experimental (sensory substitution) and application levels (design of gesture-sound interaction for virtual reality).


Out of 253 patients fulfilling criteria for a first episode of schizophrenic illness, 120 entered a randomised placebo-controlled trial of maintenance neuroleptic medication on discharge; they were followed to relapse or loss to follow-up, for two years or to the end of the study. Of those on active medication, 46% relapsed, as did 62% of those on placebo; the most important determinant of relapse was duration of illness prior to starting neuroleptic medication. This finding might be because extended duration of symptoms before admission is more likely to be present in illnesses which in any case will have poor prognosis, or because susceptibility to relapse is reduced by early institution of treatment. The study provides no data on which a decision between these alternative explanations can be based.


A spectral-projected gradient method and an extension of the Kubelka-Munk theory are applied to obtain the relevant parameters of the theory from measured diffuse reflectance spectra of pigmented samples illuminated with visible diffuse radiation. The initial estimate of the spectral dependence of the parameters, required by a recursive spectral-projected gradient method, was obtained by use of direct measurements and up-to-date theoretical estimates. We then tested the consistency of the Kubelka-Munk theory by repeating the procedure with samples of different thicknesses.


Carnivorous plants are known to secrete acid proteinases to digest prey, mainly insects, for nitrogen uptake. In the present study, we have purified, for the first time, to homogeneity two acid proteinases (nepenthesins I and II) from the pitcher fluid of Nepenthes distillatoria (a pitcher-plant known locally as badura) and investigated their enzymic and structural characteristics. Both enzymes were optimally active at pH approx. 2.6 towards acid-denatured haemoglobin; the specificity of nepenthesin I towards oxidized insulin B chain appears to be similar, but slightly wider than those of other APs (aspartic proteinases). Among the enzymic properties, however, the most notable is their unusual stability: both enzymes were remarkably stable at or below 50 degrees C, especially nepenthesin I was extremely stable over a wide range of pH from 3 to 10 for over 30 days. This suggests an evolutionary adaptation of the enzymes to their specific habitat. We have also cloned the cDNAs and deduced the complete amino acid sequences of the precursors of nepenthesins I and II (437 and 438 residues respectively) from the pitcher tissue of N. gracilis. Although the corresponding mature enzymes (each 359 residues) are homologous with ordinary pepsin-type APs, both enzymes had a high content of cysteine residues (12 residues/molecule), which are assumed to form six unique disulphide bonds as suggested by computer modelling and are supposed to contribute towards the remarkable stability of nepenthesins. Moreover, the amino acid sequence identity of nepenthesins with ordinary APs, including plant vacuolar APs, is remarkably low (approx. 20%), and phylogenetic comparison shows that nepenthesins are distantly related to them to form a novel subfamily of APs with a high content of cysteine residues and a characteristic insertion, named 'the nepenthesin-type AP-specific insertion', that includes a large number of novel, orthologous plant APs emerging in the gene/protein databases.


Kwasi Kwarteng is the child of parents whose lives were shaped as subjects of the British Empire, first in their native Ghana, then as British immigrants. He brings a unique perspective and impeccable academic credentials to a narrative history of the British Empire, one that avoids sweeping judgmental condemnation and instead sees the Empire for what it was: a series of local fiefdoms administered in varying degrees of competence or brutality by a cast of characters as outsized and eccentric as anything conjured by Gilbert and Sullivan. The truth, as Kwarteng reveals, is that there was no such thing as a model for imperial administration; instead, appointees were schooled in quirky, independent-minded individuality. As a result the Empire was the product not of a grand idea but of often chaotic individual improvisation. The idosyncracies of viceroys and soldier-diplomats who ran the colonial enterprise continues to impact the world, from Kashmir to Sudan, Baghdad to Hong Kong.


Secretory immunoglobulin A in saliva (sigA), self-reported stress, and arousal were measured in 16 undergraduates over a 4 hr time span during a class devoted to individual short oral presentations of academic work which was formally assessed. At the start of the class session, stress and arousal reports were already high, peaked at the time of an individual's presentation, and then declined to their lowest point half an hour after the presentation (the final measurement occasion). sigA rose to a peak immediately after the presentation and then declined. sigA effects were independent of changes in saliva flow, which did not significantly vary across occasions. These results add further evidence to support the view that immunological responses to psychological challenge can be very acute. Specifically, the results support earlier speculation that in the case of sigA the acute effects of a stressor may be transitory elevation of levels. The results are discussed in terms of possible rapid neuroendocrine modulation of the secretory process.


Climate change politics in Australia has been defined by incendiary rhetoric and increasing public disillusionment. Debate has been slipping into the partisan arena of the "culture wars". Social democrats can learn from the Australian experience, which underlines the need to move away from cosmopolitan ethics and towards muscular nation-building. Climate change action requires broad coalitions of support and an acknowledgement that reform will be costly. In 2007, staking his claim to become prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd famously described climate change as "the greatest moral, economic and social challenge of our time." Climate change was, for Rudd, one of his defining concerns as opposition leader. If the Labor Party were elected, it would ratify the Kyoto Protocol and introduce an emissions trading scheme (ETS). A Rudd Labor Government wouldn't be waiting for the rest of the world to act on climate change; it would ensure Australia was leading it. Some three years later, Rudd is indeed Australian prime minister. His government's first formal act was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Yet Rudd's attempts to introduce an ETS have thus far failed. Once a sure vote-winner for Rudd and Labor, climate change has now become something of an electoral yoke. The public mood has shifted. Bipartisan support for an ETS has disappeared, with the replacement of former Howard environment minister Malcolm Turnbull as the leader of the Liberal-National opposition. The new leader, Tony Abbott, a well-known climate sceptic, has gained considerable political traction by dismissing an ETS as just "a great big new tax." The Rudd Government, once so sure-footed on climate change matters, is now reluctant to fight the next general election on the issue. Australia may, on the face of things, appear an atypical case study for social democrats seeking to recapture the political initiative on climate change. After all, the fortunes of the Australian economy are tied to fossil fuels: primary commodities including coal and natural gas account for the bulk of merchandise export income. During the last decade Chinese demand for raw materials has fuelled a resources boom that will continue for decades and whose windfall is expected to be the largest of its kind ever. Moreover, the climate change debate in Australia has had something of an exceptionalist character. For it has been arguably subsumed into the so-called "culture wars" that have raged in Australia in recent years. Although a majority of Australians believe in anthropogenic climate change, some of the language of climate change scepticism has been expressed in the familiar cadences of rightwing populism. With echoes of previous debates about the Australian republic, multiculturalism and Aboriginal reconciliation, the scientists who compose the body of the IPCC are portrayed as pernicious, rent-seeking "elites" attempting to capture the state. The so-called "climategate" incident involving leaked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, and the controversy surrounding the IPCC's findings about the melting of ice glaciers, have only lent credence to accusations of elite scientific conspiracy. Yet one shouldn't dismiss the Australian experience on account of its peculiarities. In various ways, it reveals a good deal about the underlying challenges for progressives elsewhere. On the one hand, Australia's vulnerability is a reminder of the truly grave threat global warming poses to biodiversity and ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef, for example, has experienced unprecedented bleaching over the last twenty years. Rising temperatures could mean that the kind of firestorms that engulfed Victoria that Black Saturday of 7 February 2009 will become more common. On the other hand, the political journey of the Rudd Government highlights the pitfalls of climate change reform. For all of Rudd's belief in the urgency of climate change action, he has failed thus far to score a decisive reform victory. This is because his Government hasn't yet convinced voters that structural reform demands hard choices, nor has it offered a compelling political narrative about climate change action. In this paper, we outline three lessons progressives can draw from Australia's climate change debate: (1) that the task of structural reform necessarily incurs high costs; (2) that the case for climate change action is more persuasive when supported by a nation-building story; and (3) that the politics of climate change require progressives to build broad coalitions of support.


Denoising autoencoders (DAEs) have proven useful for unsupervised representation learning, but a thorough theoretical understanding is still lacking of how the input noise influences learning. Here we develop theory for how noise influences learning in DAEs. By focusing on linear DAEs, we are able to derive analytic expressions that exactly describe their learning dynamics. We verify our theoretical predictions with simulations as well as experiments on MNIST and CIFAR-10. The theory illustrates how, when tuned correctly, noise allows DAEs to ignore low variance directions in the inputs while learning to reconstruct them. Furthermore, in a comparison of the learning dynamics of DAEs to standard regularised autoencoders, we show that noise has a similar regularisation effect to weight decay, but with faster training dynamics. We also show that our theoretical predictions approximate learning dynamics on real-world data and qualitatively match observed dynamics in nonlinear DAEs.


Paleomagnetically determined rotations about vertical axes of 15 to 12 Ma flows of the Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group of Oregon and Washington decrease smoothly with distance from the plate margin, consistent with a simple physical model for continental deformation that assumes the lithosphere behaves as a thin layer of fluid. The average rate of northward translation of the continental margin since 15 Ma calculated from the rotations, using this model, is about 15 mm/year, which suggests that much of the tangential motion between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates since middle Miocene time has been taken up by deformation of North America. The fluid-like character of the large-scale deformation implies that the brittle upper crust follows the motions of the deeper parts of the lithosphere.


Arguably, governance and forensic accounting metrics should be predictors of future stock returns. Do empirical tests confirm this view? This article describes the logic and analytics used to calculate a metric called the Forensic Alpha Model (FAM), which was then used to test the hypothesis that it could predict future stock returns. The results of these tests, conducted with out-of-sample data, confirm that forensic accounting and governance metrics did indeed predict future stock returns. Implementing the FAM requires enormous data collection, detailed peering, industry normalizations, forensic accounting and governance taxonomies, sophisticated measures of association and interactions, rigorous testing, and advanced supervised machine learning.


The law and finance literature characterizes debt covenants as a means to manage agency conflicts between creditors and shareholders. While both banks and bondholders make use of these covenants, they do so in quite different ways. Banks typically monitor their debtors closely and rely on financial maintenance covenants to protect their interests. When these covenants get triggered, banks can use the leverage of accelerating the loan to achieve their governance goals. This ability to monitor and renegotiate suggests that tailoring precise ex ante contract restrictions is not of paramount importance because a bank and a debtor can negotiate around those restrictions based on ex post contract conditions. Bondholders, in contrast, face substantial barriers to monitoring and renegotiating with their debtors because these bondholders tend to be large groups of passive investors who face substantial collective action problems. As a consequence, ex ante restrictive terms in the contract are likely to be the primary means through which bondholders can address potential conflicts with shareholders. These differences in contracting technologies suggest that the restrictions in bond contracts are more likely to respond to changes in background legal rules. This paper tests this theory by treating two Delaware decisions that limited the default duties that the directors of Delaware corporations owe to creditors as a shock to the contracting conditions for Delaware firms. Difference-in-difference and triple difference tests suggest that restrictive terms in bond contracts for Delaware firms increased in reaction to this change, while there was not a detectable shift in the strictness of loan agreements.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that is primarily characterized by insulin resistance . This disease is not infectious but common in the world. Type 2 diabetes mellitus may lead to many dangerous complications such as diabetic retinopathy , possible blindness, risk of heart stroke , diabetic neuropathy , chronic diarrhea , kidney failure... Recently, many investigations have been carried out to search for effective therapies which can then be used to diagnose and cure this disease. However, most of known therapies are mainly based on measurement of blood glucose levels, which does not allow detecting the early stage of diabetes disease. To overcome this disadvantage, biomarkers, that are very promising factor to early prognosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus, have recently been considered and searched. In this study, such biomarkers were looked for by employing proteomics tools. Lectin concanavalin A (ConA) was used to receive glycoproteins from human serum. These collected glycoproteins were then digested and analyzed by nanoLC coupled with ESI MS/MS. Afterward, 57 glycoproteins were identified. In addition, glycoprotein expression level of the patients was compared with that of healthy individuals by using 2-D electrophoresis technique. As a result, expression of five proteins (haptoglobin alpha 2 chain, alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein, clusterin percursor, Apolipoprotein E percursor, Anti TNFa antibody light chain) increased significantly.


In this work, we tackle the challenging problem of arbitrary image style transfer using a novel style feature representation learning method. A suitable style representation, as a key component in image stylization tasks, is essential to achieve satisfactory results. Existing deep neural network based approaches achieve reasonable results with the guidance from second-order statistics such as Gram matrix of content features. However, they do not leverage sufficient style information, which results in artifacts such as local distortions and style inconsistency. To address these issues, we propose to learn style representation directly from image features instead of their second-order statistics, by analyzing the similarities and differences between multiple styles and considering the style distribution. Specifically, we present Contrastive Arbitrary Style Transfer (CAST), which is a new style representation learning and style transfer method via contrastive learning. Our framework consists of three key components, i.e., a multi-layer style projector for style code encoding, a domain enhancement module for effective learning of style distribution, and a generative network for image style transfer. We conduct qualitative and quantitative evaluations comprehensively to demonstrate that our approach achieves significantly better results compared to those obtained via state-of-the-art methods. Code and models are available at https://github.com/zyxElsa/CAST_pytorch.


Airborne particles seem to be associated with health effects. The main question is what kind of particles (ultrafine, fine — PM2.5 or PM10) cause these adverse health effects. Linked with this question is the problem of exposure pattern and/or exposure scenarios and what is the contribution to the doses coming from outdoor and indoor exposure. In urban areas, ultrafine particles primarily originate from traffic. The influence of traffic on outdoor and indoor concentrations is therefore of special interest. Within epidemiological studies the exposure situation is usually characterized using outdoor particle concentrations, despite people spending most of their time indoors. The aim of the following study was to elucidate how indoor particle size distributions correlate with outdoor concentrations in the absence of significant indoor sources. The outdoor and indoor particle size distributions were measured with scanning and differential mobility particle analyzer systems. In absence of major indoor sources total indoor particle number concentrations were always lower than outdoor concentrations. Obviously the indoor environment is generally shielded against outdoor particulates. The indoor size distributions of particles are different from outdoor ones: the concentrations of very fine particles are decreased significantly and the concentration maxima are shifted to larger diameters with respect to outdoor particle sizes. Furthermore a time lag exists in the correlation between outdoor and indoor number concentrations. Outdoor particle concentrations contribute considerably to indoor concentrations. Therefore, in the absence of actual indoor measurements, outdoor particle size distributions can be used in epidemiological investigations as a surrogate for actual indoor particle concentrations. To assess the resulting particle burden for humans, a suitably weighted average emphasizing indoor aerosol particles must be used. To classify the health effects of particles of different diameters, different reductions of particle number concentrations depending on the particle sizes must be taken into account if indoor concentrations cannot be measured and outdoor concentrations are used in place of indoor measurements.


The Role of Gap Junctions in Cellular Migration Bado Hewa DeFranco, MS.University of Pittsburgh, 2009The body of work presented here focuses on characterizing the role that gap junction intercellular channels play in regulating cellular migration. Cell migration is a ubiquitous process that is required for embryonic development and for maintaining the integrity of tissues and organs. Yet, the status of gap junction channels, with regard to structure and function, in migrating cells is not completely understood. We hypothesized that, "Gap junction channels, as mediators of intercellular communication, play a role in cell migration," and have investigated and characterized gap junctions in migrating cells. Accordingly, the aims of this dissertation were: (i) to characterize gap junctions and their function during migration, (ii) to determine the effect of altering the status of gap junction expression on cell migration and to (iii) characterize the mechanism of gap junction internalization in migrating cells. With combined molecular and imaging approaches we have demonstrated that in cells migrating as a sheet, gap junction plaque structures are retained on the plasma membrane surface; that gap junction communication is continuous in migrating cells and that interrupting this communication with connexin 43 specific mimetic peptides reduces migration. We have established a system in a human adrenal cortical cell line (SW13) wherein we significantly reduce gap junction protein expression with siRNA and show that cellular migration is inhibited. We have also demonstrated that gap junction plaque size and orientation are modified during migration. We also discovered that sometimes, migrating cells will spontaneously detach from one another at cellular processes and that during this event the gap junction plaques are internalized. Analysis of gap junction plaque internalization in migrating cells revealed that clathrin and several adaptor proteins associate with surface gap junctions and cytoplasmic annular gap junction structures and possibly regulate the unique mechanism of gap junction plaque removal from the plasma membrane. Within the field of gap junction research this work expands our understanding of gap junctions in living cells as dynamic structures that may play a key role in coordinating the migration of entire cell populations.


A large, well-preserved vertebrate coprolite was found in a lacustrine sediment in the Malmros Klint Formation of the Late Triassic Fleming Fjord Group in the Jameson Land Basin, central East Greenland. The size and internal and external morphology of the coprolite is consistent with that of crocodilian coprolites and one end of the coprolite exhibits evidence of post-egestion trampling. As the associated vertebrate fauna of the Fleming Fjord Group contains abundant remains of pseudosuchian phytosaurs, the coprolite is interpreted as being from a large phytosaur.


Abstract We present a Dynamic Provable Data Possession (PDP) system with Public Verifiability and Data Privacy. Three entities are involved: a client who is the owner of the data to be stored, a server that stores the data and a Third Party Auditor (TPA) who may be required when the client wants to check the integrity of its data stored on the server. The system is publicly verifiable with the possible help of the TPA who acts on behalf of the client. The system exhibits data dynamicity at block level allowing data insertion, deletion and modification to be performed. Finally, the system is secure at the untrusted server and data private. We present a practical PDP system by adopting asymmetric pairings to gain efficiency and reduce the group exponentiation and pairing operations. In our scheme, no exponentiation and only three pairings are required during the proof of data possession check, which clearly outperforms all the existing schemes in the literature. Furthermore, our protocol supports proof of data possession on as many data blocks as possible at no extra cost.


A bloody coup attempt, the government responding by dismantling the state of law and an unending series of terror attacks have turned Turkey into a different country. In foreign policy, Ankara's rapprochement with Moscow raises the question of whether the West can still consider Turkey a reliable partner. Officially, the country continues to be a candidate for membership of the European Union. However, for some time now the talk has been more of the dangers that an unstable and anti-Western Turkey creates for the EU than of how Brussels might influence Turkish politics. NATO too is concerned about Turkey. Will it remain in the Western camp? Can it recover domestically? What sort of future do the more recent developments in foreign and domestic policy predict for Turkey?


A model of the quantum efficiency of a planar silicon photodiode that is useful in connection with high-accuracy optical-radiation measurements is developed. The model is based mostly on macroscopic (phenomenological) optical and electronic properties of the device that must be determined from experiments on the device, but the connection with the microscopic physical properties (band structure) of silicon is made. The predictions of this model differ significantly from recent experimental results for the variation of the internal quantum efficiency with angle for a silicon photodiode as reported by Durnin et al. [ J. Opt. Soc. Am.71, 115 ( 1981)]. A repetition of these measurements is described. The results do not agree with those reported by Durnin et al. but do agree well with the predictions of the quantum-efficiency model.


ABSTRACT We investigate the long-term relationship between conflict-related migration and individual socioeconomic inequality. Looking at the post-conflict environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), a former Yugoslav state most heavily impacted by the wars of the early 1990s, the paper focuses on differences in educational performance and income between four groups: migrants, internally displaced persons, former external migrants, and those who did not move. The analysis leverages a municipality-representative survey (n ≈ 6,000) that captured self-reported education and income outcomes as well as migration histories. We find that individuals with greater exposure to conflict had systematically worse educational performance and lower earnings two decades after the war. Former external migrants now living in BiH have better educational and economic outcomes than those who did not migrate, but these advantages are smaller for external migrants who were forced to move. We recommend that policies intended to address migration-related discrepancies should be targeted on the basis of individual and family experiences caused by conflict.


Poultry health has been traditionally maintained by hygenic measures, vaccinations, and the use of antibiotics. Modern husbandry management considers the use of probiotics as a natural way to protect birds against many everyday pathogens. Different strains of Bacillus spp. have proved to have beneficial effects in poultry production. However, the most used bacterium in commercial probiotics is Lactobacillus, a vegetative cell. In contrast, Bacillus spp are bacterial spores, highly resistant to harsh conditions, which makes them preferable, in some cases, to Lactobacillus because of shelf life and storage conditions. There is published information regarding mycotoxin detoxification by bacteria. Mycotoxins are a common threat for the poultry industry and different management strategies have been implemented to avoid their negative impact in the poultry industry. Additionally, not much information is provided on the effect of mycotoxin on intestinal inflammation. In chapter one, the ability of Bacillus spp. as direct-fed microbials (DFM) to biodegrade aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) by using an in vitro digestive model simulating in vivo conditions was evaluated. The experiment was performed with three groups: a) control feed; b) control feed contaminated with 0.01% AFB1; c) control feed contaminated with 0.01% AFB1 supplemented with 10 9 spores/g. In vitro digestion time was insufficient to confirm biodegradation of AFB1. In chapter two, two experiments were conducted in broilers to evaluate the effect of 3 concentrations of AFB1 (2, 1.5 or 1 ppm of AFB1) on gastrointestinal leakage and liver bacterial translocation (BT). Results from these experiments suggest that AFB1 does not increase gut leakage. In chapter three, three independent experiments were conducted to evaluate the biodegradation potential of previously selected Bacillus spp. provided as DFM in broiler chickens consuming feed containing different concentrations of AFB1: a) 2 ppm AFB1; b) 1.5 and 1 ppm AFB1; c) 500 ppb and 50 ppb AFB1. Even though the individual isolates incorporated in the DFM showed some in vitro activity to biodegradate AFB1, when administered in the diets at 5 different concentrations of AFB1, no significant performance differences were observed when compared with their respective control diets.


Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant species, has been heavily studied to determine the genetic contributions that lead to gynoecium development. The Arabidopsis fruit is created from two carpels that form a gynoecium, which contains the stigma, style, and ovary. The ovary is divided into two sub-compartments by a septum, and the ovules develop within the ovary. The fruit's purpose is to protect, nurture, and eventually disperse the mature ovules, or seeds, and if the septum does not fuse properly, the plant's fertility will be impacted. SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM) and ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA HOMEOBOX GENE1 (ATH1) are two genes that are known to be involved in fruit development, specifically meristem maintenance and organ boundary specification. Plants with mutations in both STM and ATH1 produce fruit with multiple developmental defects.
To investigate the effects of stm and ath1 mutations on septum development, I analyzed the septa of stm, ath1, stm/+ ath1, and stm ath1 fruit in comparison to wild-type fruit. Because STM maintains the stem cell population in flower meristems and induces the biosynthesis of cytokinin in the carpel margin meristem (which includes the septum), I hypothesized that stm mutant fruit would display moderate septum defects. Also, because previous studies have shown that ATH1 and STM act redundantly in promoting fruit development, I hypothesized that the stm ath1 double mutant fruit would have enhanced septum defects compared to the stm single mutant. To evaluate the septum fusion defects, I measured the amount of septum surface area missing in relation to the total potential septum surface area for each fruit. This study revealed that 50 of the 51 stm single mutant fruit had septa fusion defects, while none of the ath1-5 fruit had abnormal septa. In addition, I found that the fusion defects present in the stm ath1-5 double mutant were not significantly enhanced relative to the stm single mutant. These results suggest that STM alone plays a critical role in fusion of the septum during fruit development.


When will the mokopuna stop inheriting the hara of Rangiaowhia? Koorero tuku iho, is
based on oral traditions praxis of my kuia as 'handed down' by three generations of her
whaanau, for her mokopuna. Her eyewitness account of the massacre at Rangiaowhia
February 1864, 'talks back' to the oppressive power systems that brand the indigenous as
guilty.
"History can frequently dismiss whole groups of people as lost causes, or as irrelevant. Entire
sections of society, usually the poor, the minorities, and the politically powerless are thereby
obliterated from memory (Binney & Chaplin 1990:3)".
Ultimately, it is only through re-claiming, re-defining and re-storing of the principle of tino
rangatiratanga that the hara can be lifted from Ngaati Apakura mokopuna. However, it is
through the discursive practice of koorero tuku iho by and from Ngaati Apakura voices
that the burden and prejudice can be brought out of obscurity into open dialogue with the
Crown.
This study is an indigenous history lesson on core taonga tuku iho praxis as handed down
from grandmother to mokopuna in daily actions that seek to restore the balance. This is the
legacy of the waahine Maaori intergenerational indigenous literacy's that seek for
indigenous justice and freedom from oppression.


ABSTRACT. A new species of peacock bass, Cichla cataractae, is distinguished from all congeners by molecular evidence and unique patterns of adult and juvenile pigmentation. Juveniles (<150 mm SL) have sides of body dominated by a series of three conspicuous dark blotches with the one below soft dorsal fin largest, attenuated posteriorly (long teardrop shape) but distinctly separated from elliptical caudal blotch; same blotches eventually with pale border (ocellated) in largest juveniles. Adult pattern on sides dominated by two distinct dark blotches, each one ocellated; anterior blotch rounded, located below anterior base of spinous dorsal fin and not extending above anterior lateral line; posterior blotch highly irregular in shape, located below soft dorsal fin and often displaced dorsally; additional dark blotch below posterior base of spinous dorsal fin generally absent or small, ocellated or not, and level with anterior blotch; vertical bars on sides generally absent or faint; postorbital stripe always present, highly broken into irregular series of dark spots, each one usually ocellated. Cichla cataractae is endemic to the Essequibo Basin where it typically inhabits rocky shoals in river channels with swift current. The new species is sympatric with the more widely distributed C. ocellaris, a species that prefers lentic habitats. Molecular analysis supports C. cataractae as a distinct lineage in a clade of Cichla containing C. temensis, C. melaniae, C. mirianae, C. piquiti and C. pinima. The oldest extant specimens of the new species were collected by Carl H. Eigenmann in 1908 and documented in his seminal "The Freshwater Fishes of British Guiana" (Eigenmann, 1912).


The aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008 certainly marks a "stress test" for European welfare states. Massive increases in fiscal deficits and public debt, required to pre-empt a more severe global meltdown, have since forced policymakers to consider deep cuts in welfare services, including health, education, and social transfers to the poor, the unemployed and pensioners, in order to shore up public finance solvency and economic stability. The crisis has affected different economies differently, as a result of their relative vulnerability to endogenous and external economic shocks and also because of the differing institutional capacities they were able to mobilise to address the economic duress. Policies with a social investment flavour (activation, childcare) have been somewhat more resilient in the face of fiscal austerity in the early days of financial crisis management. But will the social investment carry the day as demographic headwind will bring social contracts under further duress, especially in countries facing high unemployment and the most daunting budgetary pressures, where long-run population ageing and the feminization of the workforce have not been adequately dealt with before the crisis. In the current context of fiscal predicament, it is crucial not to overlook the growth potential of productive social policies. This contribution examines what is needed to rescue an affordable social investment impetus from the one-sided short term policy orientations triggered by the financial and fiscal crisis at both the level of the European Union and its member states. Questions of institutional design today encompasses two, tightly interconnected, dimensions. Any long term resolution to the crisis has to be both effective and legitimate at level of the EU as well as at the domestic level of the national politics. At the level of the EU, the task is to devise a stable macroeconomic regime for the euro-zone, which is able to better accommodate and discipline the diverse needs of different member economies. Domestically, institutional change requires recalibrating the welfare state by combining capacitating social policy supports with a fair distribution of life chances. The key challenge is to make long-term social investment and short-term fiscal consolidation mutually supportive at both the EU level and in the Member States. The critical challenge lies in redirecting the broad political support for the welfare state in most EU member countries toward designing a new model of welfare state that is able to equip European citizens and societies to face endogenous social change and growing global competition.


This review surveys the literature on sorting in the labor market. There are inherent differences in worker ability and across-firm productivity. Two fundamental questions are whether the exact composition of skills of workers and productivity of firms affects output and how this composition determines the equilibrium allocation of workers within a firm and between firms. There has been a surge of research investigating the causes and consequences of the process of allocation of heterogeneous workers to firms. The focus in this review is on theory that sheds light on open questions in macroeconomics, labor, and industrial organization, with a particular emphasis on the role of firm size. Those models allow us to infer from the observed sorting patterns (who matches with whom) what the underlying technological determinants are and how they have evolved in recent decades. Furthermore, they help us understand the technological origins of important labor market trends, such as the increase in wage inequality and the change in labor market and firm dynamics.


In challenging times for European energy security, the European Union (EU) is seeking to extend its energy policy powers. At the same time, with its message that the High North represents diversification away from less stable energy regions, Norway is trying to get attention in Brussels. This article inquires into the place of Norway and its Arctic oil and gas in the processes of developing an Energy Policy for Europe and the Northern Dimension Initiative. Central questions to be addressed are whether Norwegian Arctic areas are emerging as a new energy region to rely on for diversified oil and gas imports for the European Union, and whether Norway, as a small state but a major energy exporter with a considerable part of the Barents Sea shelf, is able to take advantage of this position in its diplomatic relations with Brussels. The study shows that Norway has managed to use its Arctic oil and gas to create awareness of the Norwegian High North in Brussels between 2006 and 2008, but these efforts have not resulted in more active political interest on the part of the EU. A combination of institutional confusion in the EU, lack of coherence and clarity in the Norwegian High North initiative, and Norway's established reputation as an energy supplier place important constraints on the prospects for more concrete political attention from the EU, and thus on Norway's ability to take advantage of its High North oil and gas in a foreign policy context.


The federal government controls far more offshore public lands - the Outer Continental Shelf - than it controls terrestrial lands, but the oceans have been bereft of the kind of comprehensive planning mandated for other public lands under statutes like the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) or the National Forest Management Act (NMFA). Beginning with the Oceans Act of 2000, however, the federal government has considered adopting comprehensive planning for the oceans, generally known as marine spatial planning or marine zoning. Indeed, reports such as those from the Pew Oceans Commission in 2003 and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy in 2004 strongly recommended national and regional marine spatial planning for the United States' oceans.When the National Ocean Council proposed its Implementation Plan for the newly created U.S. Ocean Policy, it would have required comprehensive regional marine spatial planning in all U.S. ocean waters. In April 2013, however, the Council's Final Implementation Plan reclassified marine spatial planning from a mandatory activity to a voluntary one, once again leaving the nation's offshore lands and waters without any legal mandate for comprehensive planning. This gap has important implications for offshore energy production and adaptation to climate change; it also perpetuates the regulatory fragmentation of ocean jurisdiction that prompted Congress to enact the Oceans Act fourteen years ago. This Article explores the implications of the Final Implementation Plan for the future of a comprehensive governance regime for the nation's offshore resources, comparing the history of marine spatial planning in the United States to the histories of comprehensive planning for other federal public lands.


The global significance of the Southern Ocean as a carbon sink as well as the individual dynamics and budgets are still open questions. The response of the biogeochemical system to climate changes and related processes were studied by looking at marine archives from a north-south transect across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the southeast Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Paleoproductivity was calculated from total (marine) Corg and accumulation rates by the equation of Stein (1991) for four ODP Leg 177 sites. High-resolution series (sample spacing between 500 and 820 years) were taken from Sites 1089, 1091, 1093 and 1094 from Recent down to 500 kyr. The Bender (2002) Vostok ice core age model was used to map the stratigraphic data (O-isotopes, bio-, lithostratigraphy and seasurface paleotemperatures) on equal scales and to allow comparisons to dust and other climate records from ice cores.Site 1089 in the Subantarctic Zone shows the highest Corg and paleoproductivity values. Maxima of about 100-150 gC (per square meter and year) were reached during cold intervals and minima of about 50 gC during climate optima. The paleoproductivity record shows a significant precession related periodicity pattern. This pattern fades to the south were it becomes progressively replaced by the 100-kyr cycle. Paleoproductivity values decreased from Sites 1091 via 1093, both in the Polar Frontal Zone, to 1094 in the Antarctic Zone. Maxima below 100 gC were reached at the end of glaciations just before terminations, and were immediately followed by minima of about 15 gC during peak surface temperature conditions.References:Stein, R., 1991. Accumulation of organic carbon in marine sediments. In: Bhattacharji, S., Friedman, G.M., Neugebauer, H.J., Seilacher, A. Eds. , Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p. 217.Bender, M.L., 2002. Orbital tuning chronology for the Vostok climate record supported by trapped gas composition. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 204, 275-289.


Fear of nuclear weapons is rational, but its extension to terrorism has been a vehicle for fear-mongering that is unjustified by available data. The debate on nuclear terrorism tends to distract from events that raise the risk of nuclear war, the consequences of which would far exceed the results of terrorist attacks. And the historical record shows that the war risk is real. The Cuban Missile Crisis and other confrontations have demonstrated that miscalculation, misinterpretation, and misinformation could lead to a "close call" regarding nuclear war. Although there has been much commentary on the interest that Osama bin Laden, when he was alive, reportedly expressed in obtaining nuclear weapons, evidence of any terrorist group working seriously toward the theft of nuclear weapons or the acquisition of such weapons by other means is virtually nonexistent. The acquisition of nuclear weapons by terrorists requires significant time, planning, resources, and expertise, with no guarantees that an acquired device would work. It requires putting aside at least some aspects of a group's more immediate activities and goals for an attempted operation that no terrorist group has accomplished. While absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence, it is reasonable to conclude that the fear of nuclear terrorism has swamped realistic consideration of the threat.


Substantial downscaling of the feature size in current CMOS technology has confronted digital designers with serious challenges including short channel effect and high amount of leakage power. To address these problems, emerging nano-devices, e.g., Silicon NanoWire FET (SiNWFET), is being introduced by the research community. These devices keep on pursuing Moore's Law by improving channel electrostatic controllability, thereby reducing the Off –state leakage current. In addition to these improvements, recent developments introduced devices with enhanced capabilities, such as Controllable-Polarity (CP) SiNWFETs, which make them very interesting for compact logic cell and arithmetic circuits. At advanced technology nodes, the amount of physical controls, during the fabrication process of nanometer devices, cannot be precisely determined because of technology fluctuations. Consequently, the structural parameters of fabricated circuits can be significantly different from their nominal values. Moreover, giving an a-priori conclusion on the variability of advanced technologies for emerging nanoscale devices, is a difficult task and novel estimation methodologies are required. This is a necessity to guarantee the performance and the reliability of future integrated circuits. Statistical analysis of process variation requires a great amount of numerical data for nanoscale devices. This introduces a serious challenge for variability analysis of emerging technologies due to the lack of fast simulation models. One the one hand, the development of accurate compact models entails numerous tests and costly measurements on fabricated devices. On the other hand, Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) simulations, that can provide precise information about devices behavior, are too slow to timely generate large enough data set. In this research, a fast methodology for generating data set for variability analysis is introduced. This methodology combines the TCAD simulations with a learning algorithm to alleviate the time complexity of data set generation. Another formidable challenge for variability analysis of the large circuits is growing number of process variation sources. Utilizing parameterized models is becoming a necessity for chip design and verification. However, the high dimensionality of parameter space imposes a serious problem. Unfortunately, the available dimensionality reduction techniques cannot be employed for three main reasons of lack of accuracy, distribution dependency of the data points, and finally incompatibility with device and circuit simulators. We propose a novel technique of parameter selection for modeling process and performance variation. The proposed technique efficiently addresses the aforementioned problems. Appropriate testing, to capture manufacturing defects, plays an important role on the quality of integrated circuits. Compared to conventional CMOS, emerging nano-devices such as CP-SiNWFETs have different fabrication process steps. In this case, current fault models must be extended for defect detection. In this research, we extracted the possible fabrication defects, and then proposed a fault model for this technology. We also provided a couple of test methods for detecting the manufacturing defects in various types of CP-SiNWFET logic gates. Finally, we used the obtained fault model to build fault tolerant arithmetic circuits with a bunch of superior properties compared to their competitors.


Rhodamine 6G is spin-cast onto gold surfaces and the reflectance, emission, excitation, and SERS spectra are reported. Electron microscopy shows that the particle sizes of the gold are uniform for all preparations. Reflection spectra demonstrate the spectroscopic signature for Rh6G aggregates for thicker films and that the gold plasmon band shifts due to the refractive index change on the surface. The intensity of the SERS spectra increases with increasing surface coverage but the change is nonlinear between submonolayer and multilayer surface densities. The SERS resonance frequencies are unchanged as a function of Rh6G thickness, indicating that there is no coupling between Rh6G molecules in the ground state. The emission spectra behave unexpectedly as a function of Rh6G coverage. At submonolayer coverage the emission is relatively strong, decreases as the surface density increases to a monolayer, and then increases as the Rh6G thickness increases. Excitation spectra demonstrate that the emitting species at low surface density is monomeric but for thicker layers the moiety responsible for emission is Rh6G excited state aggregates. For the thicker films, the Rh6G acts as its own dielectric layer for metal enhanced fluorescence of the aggregates, which is the first example of a system where the fluorophore acts as its own dielectric for metal enhanced fluorescence. The intensity of the aggregate emission on gold intensity is three times of that found when Rh6G is deposited on glass. The gold induces emission in the Rh6G excited state aggregates that are quenched in the absence of the plasmon field.


Photo-generated charge carrier dynamics in Ruddlesden–Popper 2D perovskites with linear (n-BA) and branched (iso-BA) butylamine as spacing cations have been studied by using transient absorption and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopies. Both n-BA and iso-BA perovskites consist of mixed-phase 2D quantum wells with various layer thicknesses, where the photo-generated charges undergo inter-phase charge transfer from thinner quantum wells to thicker ones. By shortening the spacer from n-BA to iso-BA, the transfer rates are significantly increased, which can also diminish the charge accumulation in thin quantum wells induced by the unbalanced electron and hole charge transfer rates. Under high excitation intensity, the shorter spacing cation is found to further facilitate the energy transfer, which can compete with fast high-order carrier recombination and consequently improve the charge transfer efficiency. Intriguingly, we observe the existence of extra bulk 3D phases embedded within iso-BA perovskites, which can efficiently collect the confined charges within 2D phases and then transport them with faster carrier mobility and slower recombination rates.


The concept of mosaic steganography was proposed by Lai and Tsai [4] for information hiding and retrieval using techniques such as histogram value, greedy search algorithm, and random permutation techniques. In the present paper, a novel method is attempted in mosaic image steganography using techniques such as Genetic algorithm, Key based random permutation .The creation of a predefined database of target images has been avoided. Instead, the randomly selected image is used as the target image reduces the enforced memory load results reduction in the space complexity .GA is used to generate a mapping sequence for tile image hiding. This has resulted in better clarity in the retrieved secret image as well as reduction in computational complexity. The quality of original cover image remains preserved in spite of the embedded data image, thereby better security and robustness is assured. The mosaic image is yielded by dividing the secret image into fragments and embed these tile fragments into the target image based on the mapping sequence by GA and permuted the sequence again by KBRP with a key .The recovery of the secret image is by using the same key and the mapping sequence. This is found to be a lossless data hiding method.


The evolution of qualitatively new functions is fundamental for shaping the diversity of life. Such innovations are rare because they require multiple coordinated changes. We sought to understand the evolutionary processes involved in a particular key innovation, whereby phage λ evolved the ability to exploit a novel receptor, OmpF, on the surface of Escherichia coli cells. Previous work has shown that this transition repeatedly evolves in the laboratory, despite requiring four mutations in specific regions of a single gene. Here we examine how this innovation evolved by studying six intermediate genotypes that arose during independent transitions to use OmpF. In particular, we tested whether these genotypes were favored by selection, and how a coevolved change in the hosts influenced the fitness of the phage genotypes. To do so, we measured the fitness of the intermediate types relative to the ancestral λ when competing for either ancestral or coevolved host cells. All six intermediates had improved fitness on at least one host, and four had higher fitness on the coevolved host than on the ancestral host. These results show that the evolution of the phage's new ability to use OmpF was repeatable because the intermediate genotypes were adaptive and, in many cases, because coevolution of the host favored their emergence.


Self-reported work disability is analyzed in the US, the UK and the Netherlands. Different wordings of the questions lead to different work disability rates. But even if identical questions are asked, crosscountry differences remain substantial. Respondent evaluations of work limitations of hypothetical persons described in vignettes are used to identify the extent to which differences in self-reports between countries or socio-economic groups are due to systematic variation in the response scales. Results suggest that more than half of the difference between the rates of self-reported work disability in the US and the Netherlands can be explained by response scale differences. A similar methodology is used to analyze the reporting bias that arises if respondents justify being on disability benefits by overstating their work limiting disabilities. JEL codes: J28, I12, C81


Following the miniaturization of integrated circuitry and other computer hardware over the past several decades, DNA sequencing is following a similar path. Leading this trend is the Oxford Nanopore sequencing platform, which currently offers the hand-held MinION instrument and even smaller instruments on the near horizon. This technology has been used in several important applications, including the analysis of genomes of major pathogens in remote stations around the world. However, despite the simplicity of the sequencer, an equally simple and portable analysis platform is not yet available. iGenomics is the first comprehensive mobile genome analysis application, with capabilities to align reads, call variants, and visualize the results entirely on an iOS device. Implemented in Objective-C using the FM-index, banded dynamic programming, and other high-performance bioinformatics techniques, iGenomics is optimized to run in a mobile environment. We benchmark iGenomics using a variety of real and simulated Nanopore sequencing datasets and show that iGenomics has performance comparable to the popular BWA-MEM/Samtools/IGV suite, without needing a laptop or server cluster. iGenomics is available open-source (https://github.com/stuckinaboot/iGenomics) and for free on Apple's App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/igenomics-mobile-dna-analysis/id1495719841).